General Notes

ruled Powys 1132-60

Last ruler of all of Powys

Interred: Meifod yn Powys. Prominent Welsh Prince. source re: internment place Impressed by Henry II's power, he yielded to him (1156). Convinced he needed Henry to withstand Owain ap Gruffydd ofGwyned. Assisted (1157) Henry II vs. Owain ap Gruffydd of Gwyned. His death caused a struggle for succession. Allowed his nephews Owain & Meurig rule of Cyfeilioc. Resulted in Powys' loss of status as equal with kingdoms of Gwynedd & Deheubarth. Such rule was to be as an appendage to the kingdom. When Madoc's son & heir succeeded, Owain was able to keep Cyfieliog separate. Resulted in only northern Powys going to his son Gruffydd. ------------------------ MADOG ap MAREDUDD (buf. 1160), Brenin Powys; mab Maredudd ap Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. Efe oedd yr olaf o'i linach i reoli fel brenin dros Bowys gyfan, gan gynnwys arglwyddiaeth (Fitzalan) Croesoswallt (gw. Owain Bwogyntyn). Wedi iddo ddilyn ei dad yn 1132, y ddyletswydd a ystyriai ef yn fwyaf ei phwysigrwydd, yn enwedig rhwng y blynyddoedd 1149 a 1157, oedd amddiffyn Powys yn erbyn gormes Owain Gwynedd [q.v.]. Gan ei fod yn cael ei fygwth gan adeiladu castell Tomen-y-Rhodwydd ym mhen deheuol Dyffryn Clwyd, heriodd Madog, mewn cynghrair a Ranulf, iarll Caer, nesad Owain tuag ato, eithr ni Iwyddodd yr her, a chollodd Madog, am beth amser, lywodraeth ar ei diroedd yn lal. Daeth tro ar fyd yn hyn o beth, fodd bynnag, yn 1157 pan wnaeth Harri II, gyda chymorth Madog, ddatganiad pendant o'i awdurdod fel brenin yng Ngogledd Cymru. Hyd ei f. dair blynedd yn ddiweddarach yr oedd Madog yn parhau i fod ar delerau cyfeillgar a'i gynorthwywr pwerus yng Ngogledd Cymru. Canwyd ei glodydd gan feirdd pennaf ei oes; ceir hefyd mewn rhamantau pros cyfoes adlewyrchiad o'i ddylanwad ar ganolbarth Cymru. Claddwyd ef ym mam-eglwys Powys- eglwys Tysilio ym Meifod. Ei wraig oedd Susanna, ferch Owain Gwynedd. Rhannwyd ei diroedd cydrhwng nifer o is-arglwyddi Powys -meibion a neiaint iddo-ac ni bu iddynt byth mwy gael eu haduno yn nwylo un rheolwr (am ei etifeddion gw. Gruffydd Maelor I, Owain Fychan, Owain Brogyntyn, ac Owain Cyfeiliog).  Hist. W.; Llawysgrif Hendregadredd, 1933; 'Breuddwyd Rhonabwy.' T.J.P. .................................... Madog ap Maredudd (d 1160), king of Powys, son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. He was the last of his dynasty to rule as king over the whole of Powys, including, for a time, the Fitzalan lordship of Oswestry. Succeeding his father in 1132, his main pre-occupation, particularly between the years 1149-57, was the defence of Powys against the agression of Owain Gwynedd. Threatened by the building of the castle of Tomen-y-Phodwyndd at the southern end of the Vale of Clwyd, Madog, in alliance with Ranulf, earl of Chester, unsuccessfully challenged Owain's advance, losing, for a time, the control of his lands in Ial. This loss was retrieved in 1157 when Henry II, with Madog's support, made a decisive assertion of authority in North Cymru. When he died three years later he was still there sung by the influence which he asserted in central Cymru is enshrined in contemporary prose romances. He was buried in the mother-church of Powys - S Tysilio at Meifod. He m. Susanna, daughter of Owain Gwynedd. His dominions were divided among a number of minor lord of Powys - his sons and nephews - and were never again to be reunited in the hands of a single ruler. [Dictionary of Welsh Biography p608] ------------------------ When Madog died in 1160 there was a struggle for succession. In 1149 Madog had allowed his nephews, Owain and Meurig, to rule Cyfieliog as an appendage to the kingdom according to the custom of those times - never intending that the area should be separated from the kingdom of Powys. When Madog's son, Gruffudd, succeeded his father, Owain was able to keep Cyfieliog and some adjacent areas for himself, leaving only northern Powys for Gruffudd. This split the kingdom into two resulting in Powys' loss of generally equal status with the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Deheubarth. ------------------------- Madog ap Maredudd (d 1160), prince of Powys, was the son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and nephew of Iowerth ab Bleddyn. His father, who at his death in 1132 was lord of all Powys. The son Madog, if he did not at once succeed to his father's position, doutless attained it before long, and held it for some years. The contemporary poet, Gwalchmai speaks of the influence of Madog as stretching from Plynlimmon to the gates of Chester, and from Bangor to the extremity of Meirionydd i.e. over all Powys; the same idea prevailed, too, as to the extent of his power when (probably at the end of the twelfth century) the story of ;Fhonabwy's Dream' was cast into its present form. According to Powel, on the other hand, Madog ruled only over Northern Powys, which thus got its title of Powys Fadog. Maredudd, Powel tells us, 'had two sons, Madoc . . . and Gruffyth, betweens whom Powys was dinided;' but the fact is that Gruffydd died before his father in 1128. As to the name Powys Fadog, it clearly came into existence at the same time of Powys Wenwynwyn, viz. about the beginning of the thirteenth century, when Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor and Gwenwynwyn ruled Northern and Southern Powys respectively. Madog ap Maredudd was certainly lord of Powys Wenwynwyn, for about 1149 he gave Cyfeiliog, one if its regions, to his nephews, Owain and Meurig ap Gruffydd, and in 1156 he built at sronghold in Caer Einion, which was also a region of Southern Powys.  Madog was prince of Powys during the reign of Stephe, the period during which the Welsh shook off the rigid control established by Henry I, and regained much which they had lost through the Noman conquest. Like other Welsh princes, he seems to have profited by this movement. About 1149 he rebuuilt the castle at Oswestry, a spot which had not been Welsh ground for nearly a century, and which was soon recovered by the English. Madog's appearance in the district was probably directly due to the turmoil caused by the civil war, for Oswestry was part of the Fitzalans' territory and William Fitzalan took active part on the side of the empress. Rhys Cain's attempt to represent the Fitzalans as teh new-comers is discredited by it s gross anachronisms.  The salient feature of Madog's career is not, however, his success against the English, but his friendship with them. During the first half of the twelfth century Gwynedd had been gradmaclly growing at the expense of the minor northern principalities, until in Madog's time it was a formidable neighbour to Powys, conterminous with it from Machynlleth to Chester. Madog first adoped the policy, which afterwards became popular with princes of Powys, of protecting his realm by cultivation the friendship of his English neighbors. In the year in which he had fortified Oswestry, his neighbour, Owain Gwynedd, had built a castle in Ial, always reckoned a district of Powys. The encroachment called for immediate notice, and in the followin year (1150?) Madog enlisted the aid of Ralph, earl of Chester in an attacke upon the prince of Gwynedd. The battle was fought at Consillt, near Flint, and proved a signal victory for Owain. Foiled in this first enterprise, Madog nevertheless adhered to his policy. In 1157, when Henry II made his first expedition into Cymru, Madog took no part in the national resistance organised by Owain Gwynedd, but watched the conflict as a spectator, probably in virtue of a secret understanding with the king. The chronicle known as 'Brut y Saeson' says that Madog was commander of the fleet which attacked Anglesey in the course of the campaign, but this statement, in itself improbable, is made by no other authority, and probably arose through the confusion of two consecutive sentences in 'Brut y Tywysogion.' What the latter (and better) authority says of Madog is that 'he chose a place for encampment betwen the king's host and Owain's, that he might receive the first onset the king should make' - a sarcastice description, probably of Madog's real attitude of armed neutrality. It is not without significance that one resulf of the campaign was that Iorwerth the Red, Madog's brother, was enabled to destroy the obnoxious castle in Ial.  Madog died in 1160, and was buried in the church of St Tyailio at Meifod. His son Llywelyn died almost immediately afterwards; other children who survived him longer were: Gruffydd Maelo (d 1191), Owain Fychan (d 1186), Elise, Owain Brogyntyn, Marred, who married Iowerth Drwyndwn, and Gwenllian, who married the Lord Rhys. The genealogists add Cynwrig Efaill and Einion Efaill. The 'Myvyrian Archaiology' contains two contemporary poems in honour of Madog by Gwalchmai and four by Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr.  [Dictionary of National Biography XII:745-6]