Powys and FitzEmpress (4)

n 1165 Henry II gathered a massive army from all across his empire to invade Wales. His aim, according to the Welsh chronicles, was to ‘annihilate all Welshmen’.

This splendid bit of hyperbole has obscured the king’s actual strategic aims. He chose to enter Wales via the Ceiriog valley and the Berwyn mountains, only to come unstuck when the heavens opened as his army marched across the high crests of the Berwyns. The foul weather forced him to call off the campaign and retreat into Shropshire.

In the context of Henry’s relationship with the Powysians, his strategy becomes clear. The king had spent the past decade paying lavish subsidies to the princes of Powys, but in 1165 many of them chose to join Owain Gwynedd: Truly after that all the Welsh of North Wales, South Wales and Powys unanimously threw off the French yoke (Annales Cambriae). Not all the Powysians deserted Henry. Payments in the Pipe Roll accounts show that Owain Brogyntyn, one of the many sons of Madog ap Maredudd, continued to take the king’s money. Two other ‘sons of Madog’, possibly twins, were in receipt of 40 shillings. The ‘French yoke’ consisted of a steady flow of English cash, and not everyone was prepared to abandon the gravy train. Roger of Powys, a Welsh castellan, served in Henry’s retinue. The most important of those who joined the Venedotian alliance were Owain Cyfeiliog and Iorwerth Goch, explicitly named in the Brut.

Thus it appears that Henry’s intention was to drive a wedge between Owain Gwynedd and his allies in northern Powys, followed by an invasion of Gwynedd. The king may have also hoped that his massive show of force would draw the Powysians back to his side. If so, then the campaign was more successful than Welsh chroniclers were prepared to admit. The Pipe Roll for 1165 shows that Owain Cyfeiliog and Iorwerth Goch were back on Henry’s payroll a few months after the war ended. The king’s justiciar paid out 100 shillings for messages carried between Owain and the king, while Iorwerth Goch was paid for bringing horses to the English court for Henry’s own use. Owain and Iorwerth may have required little persuasion.

The show of determined unity reported in the chronicles does not reflect the history, which was one of bitter hatred. In the years leading up to 1165 Owain Gwynedd had butchered a Powysian army at Coleshill, murdered the heir to the Powysian throne and repeatedly invaded and ravaged Powysian territory.