The wars of Gwenwynwyn (1)

In 1195 Owain Cyfeiliog entered the monastery of Strata Marcell which he had founded over two decades previously. His eldest son, Gwenwynyn, set about establishing himself as the sole ruler of southern Powys. This process had started back in 1187 when Gwenwynwyn and his brother, Caswallon, lured Owain Fychan to Carreg Hofa and murdered him at night. This allowed their father to seize Owain’s lordship of Mechain. 

After their father’s retirement, it seems a rivalry developed between Gwenwynwyn and Caswallon. The Pipe Rolls of the English Exchequer for 1195 record payments for an escort of twenty footsoldiers and eleven cavalry to take Caswallon from Carreg Hofa to Lincoln and back. The castle was in English hands at this time, and at Lincoln Caswallon met with Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury and justiciar of England in the absence of Richard I. Details of their little talk have not survived, though it seems likely Walter offered Caswallon a heap of gold to make life difficult for Gwenwynwyn.

From all this it appears Caswallon had fled southern Powys and taken refuge in English-held territory. For the next decade he was in receipt of regular payments from the Exchequer, many of them substantial, to keep him in royal service; the old bribe-and-rule strategy of Henry II. Caswallon was also given custody of of the castle and lands of Stretton near the Long Mynd in Shropshire.

From his new castle, Caswallon rode out to plunder the lands of Gwenwynwyn in southern Powys. The Pipe Roll for the year ending at Michaelmas 1198 record a payment from the Exchequer to Gwenwynwyn, to compensate him for damage inflicted by Caswallon.