General Notes

Madog ap Gruffydd (d 1236) lord of Powys; elder son of Gruffydd Maelor I, and Angharad, daughter of Owain Gwynedd. With his brother Owen, he succeeded Gruffydd in 1191 and, on Owen's death in 1197, became sole ruler of Powys north of the Rhaeadr and the Tanat. Under his son, Gruffydd Maelor II, this area, comprising Welsh and English Maelor, Ial, Cynllaith, Nanheudwy, and part of Mochnant, became known as Powys Fadog, in contrast with Powys Wenwynwyn. At first friendly with Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Madog deserted his cousin when the latter's fortunes were at a low ebb in 1211. He continued to hold aloof after Llywelyn, in 1212, had re-formed the Welsh confederacy, being treated as an official ally in king John's pay. By 1215 he had adhered finally to Llywelyn's cause, remaining faithful to the end. After his death in 1236 the unity of Powys Fadog was disrupted by partible succession among his five sons, Gruffydd Maelor II, Gruffydd Ial, Maredudd, Hywel, and Madog Fychan. He was buried at his own foundation of Valle Crucis, the last Cistercian Monastery to be founded in Wales. [Dictionary of Welsh Biography p607]

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Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor (d 1236), prince of Northern Powys, probably succeeded on the death of his father, Gruffydd Maelor, in 1191, to the greater part of that principality, and in 1197, by the death of his brother Owain, became ruller of the whole. It was in the latter year that Gwenwynwyn inherited from his father, Owain Cyfeiliog, the southern half of Powys, so that the two regions, remaining for some twenty years in the hands of these two princes, came naturally to be known as Powys Fadog and Powys Wenwynwyn.

Madog was a contemporary of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, and is at all times found acting with the minor princes whom that great ruler controlled and occasionally drove into rebellion. He joined Llywelyn, Gwenwynwyn, and the South Welsh princes in writing to complain to Innocent III of the ecclesiastical tyranny exercised by England over Wales. In 1211, when John invaded Wales in order to humble Llywelyn, Madog was one of the band of princes who seized the opportunity to cast off the yoke of Gwynedd. Like the rest, he returned in 1212 to his old allegiance. His name appears in a list of Llywelyn's allies drawn up on 18 Aug 1214, and his household troops were with the Prince of Gwynedd in the South Welsh expedition of December 1215. In 1223 he was one of the princes who undertook, in case Llywelyn did not observe his promises to the king, to make good the default. He died in 1236.

Madog was founder of Valle Crucis (or Llan Egwestl) Abbey, the building of which began in 1200. The 'Myvyrian Archaiology' contains one poem in his honour by Llywarch ab Llywelyn and two by Einion Wan. [Dictionary of National Biography XII:747-748]




SOURCES:
Ancestry/Jane Williams Frank
Ancestry/James H. Maloney
Ancestry/Kirk Larson
http://experts.about.com/e/1/li/List_of_rulers_of_Wales.htm