On 12 April 1277 Madog ap Gruffudd, eldest son of Gruffudd of Bromfield, defected to the king of England. His brother Llywelyn Fychan had done so back in December 1276, and now he followed suit. Madog was pressured into this decision by Prince Dafydd ap Gruffudd and William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who marched an army down from Chester into Powys Fadog.
Professor J Beverly-Smith states that Dafydd and his English ally ‘tore apart’ the unity of northern Powys. This is a rare mistake by Prof B-Smith, since the lordship had already been divided by Prince Llywelyn in 1270.
The terms of Madog’s submission hint at pre-existing internal divisions inside Powys. Madog was not to reproach or harm those of his tenants who had already gone over to the king. He would in future hold his lands as a tenant-in-chief of the crown, just as his brother Llywelyn had agreed to separate his lands from the principality of Wales. It was further provided that if Prince Llywelyn drove Madog from his lands, the king was obliged to find houses for Madog and his men to live in.
This agreement undermined Prince Llywelyn’s efforts to take direct control of Powys Fadog at the start of the war. In 1278 Madog’s mother, Emma Audley, claimed that Llywelyn had invaded her lands of Overton and Maelor Saesneg “in time of war” and given them to Madog. Llywelyn’s sister Margaret claimed that Llywelyn had invaded her land in Glyndyfrdwy and given it to Gruffydd Fychan, one of Madog’s brothers.
In summary: the Prince of Wales took his sister’s land and gave it to her brother-in-law and took his sister’s mother-in-law’s land and gave it to her son who was also his sister’s brother-in-law and then the two brothers surrendered to the king who divided the lands all over again and gave them to separate people who were all the same people. Sort of. Probably.
Let that be a lesson to you all.
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