Powys and FitzEmpress (3)

In 1160 Madog ap Maredudd died at Whittingdon Castle in Shropshire. The poet Cynddylan records how Powysian forces, the teulu of Madog and his son Llywelyn, had been called to Cynwyd Gadfor in Edeirnion in January to give advice on a crisis that was brewing.

Whittingdon was one of a group of castles held for the king, which also included Overton and Chirk. All three were held by Welsh castellans of considerable reputation: the brothers Roger and Jonas de Powis and Madog’s own brother Iorwerth Goch.

Madog’s death at Whittingdon was followed immediately by that of his son, Llywelyn. He had many sons, but it seems Llywelyn was regarded as the best of them: the shield of Powys, the one man who could keep the kingdom intact after Madog was gone.

The Brut says this of him:

Y gwr a oed unic obeith y holl wyr Powys (The only hope for all the men of Powys)

Cynddelw wrote: Marw Madawg, mawr ei eilyw/Lladd Llywelyn, llwyr ddilyw! (The death of Madog, a cause for grief/the death of Llywelyn, utter catastrophe!) 

Another poet, Gwalchmai, hints at foul play:

Gwelais frad a chad a chamawn Cyfrwng llew a llyw Merfyniawn (I saw treachery and strife between a lion [warrior] and the leader of the descendants of Merfyn [the dynasty of Gwynedd]

Gwalchmai’s precise meaning is unclear, but he implies Llywelyn died at the hands of the rival dynasty of Gwynedd. Immediately after his death, the forces of Owain Gwynedd invaded Edeirnion. Cynddelw laments that if Llywelyn was still alive, the Venedotians would not have set foot on Powysian territory. As it was, the Powysians turned to the bank of Henry again. Entries in the Pipe Roll for Michaelmas 1160 show royal payments to Roger de Powis for the garrison at Edeirnion, implying he had regained control of the sector.

Whittingdon Castle

There is something deeply sinister about the way Madog and Llywelyn were lured into Edeirnion to give ‘advice’, and then done to death. Over a century later Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Owain Gwynedd’s descendant, would be lured onto enemy territory and killed in the same way. Among those he found waiting for him was Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, a descendant of Llywelyn ap Madog’s cousin, Owain Cyfeiliog. What goes round comes round.