Rhys founded two religious houses during this period. Talley Abbey was the first Premonstratensian abbey in Wales, while Llanllyr was a Cistercian nunnery, only the second nunnery to be founded in Wales and the first to prosper.Turvey pp. 85–86. He became the patron of the abbeys of Whitland and Strata Florida and made large grants to both houses.Cowley pp. 25–26. Giraldus Cambrensis, who was related to Rhys, gives an account of his meetings with Rhys in 1188 when Giraldus accompanied Archbishop Baldwin around Wales to raise men for the Third Crusade. Some Welsh clerics were not happy about this visit, but Rhys was enthusiastic and gave the Archbishop a great deal of assistance. Giraldus says that Rhys decided to go on crusade himself and spent several weeks making preparations, but was eventually persuaded to change his mind by his wife Gwenllian, "by female artifices".Giraldus Cambrensis Itinerary pp. 12–13.
