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Mathrafal
Mathrafal near Welshpool, in Powys, Mid Wales, was the seat of the Kings and Princes of Powys probably from the 9th century until its destruction in 1213 by Prince Llywelyn the Great. Location On the banks of the River Banwy, just above its confluence with the river Vyrnwy, about 5 km (3 miles) NE of Llanfair Caereinion and 10 km (6 miles) NW of Welshpool on the A495 at its junction with the B4389. Description The site known today as "Mathrafal Castle" is a 90 m by 80 m compound defended by a bank and outer ditch on three sides, the fourth side being the river. Little remains of the original walls. Mathrafal is the original capital of the Kingdom of Powys, in the cantref of Caereinion. After the division of Powys in 1160 it became the capital of the southern portion which eventually became known as Powys Wenwynwyn. This structure probably replaced an earlier hill fort, about 1 km away to the NW, which dates from around 656 at the time of the fall of th ...
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House Of Mathrafal
The Royal House of Mathrafal began as a cadet branch of the Welsh Royal House of Dinefwr, taking their name from Mathrafal Castle, their principal seat and effective capital. They effectively replaced the House of Gwertherion, who had been ruling the Kingdom of Powys since late Roman Britain, through the politically advantageous marriage of an ancestor, Merfyn the Oppressor. His son, King Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, would join the resistance of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, against the invasion of William the Conqueror, following the Norman conquest of England. Thereafter, they would struggle with the Plantagenets and the remaining Welsh Royal houses for the control of Wales. Although their fortunes rose and fell over the generations, they are primarily remembered as Kings of Powys and last native Prince of Wales. History The House of Mathrafal was effectively established in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon King, Harold Godwinson, and his brother, Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northum ...
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Kingdom Of Powys
The Kingdom of Powys ( cy, Teyrnas Powys; la, Regnum Poysiae) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Powys and part of today's English West Midlands (see map). More precisely, and based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys" (an epithet retained in Welsh for the modern UK county). Name The name Powys is thought to derive from Latin ''pagus'' 'the countryside' and ''pagenses'' 'dwellers in the countryside', also the origins of French "pays" and English "peasant ...
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Bleddyn Ap Cynfyn
Bleddyn ap Cynfyn ( owl, Bledẏnt uab Kẏn ỽẏn;  AD 1075), sometimes spelled Blethyn, was an 11th-century Welsh king. Harold Godwinson and Tostig Godwinson installed him and his brother, Rhiwallon, as the co-rulers of Gwynedd on his father's death in 1063, during their destruction of the kingdom of their half-brother, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Bleddyn became king of Powys and co-ruler of the Kingdom of Gwynedd with his brother Rhiwallon from 1063 to 1075. His descendants continued to rule Powys as the House of Mathrafal. Background Bleddyn was born to a poorly documented Powys nobleman named Cynfyn ap Gwerystan, known only from the late traditional pedigrees reporting Bleddyn's parentage. Cynfyn's claimed father, Gwerstan or Gwerystan, is given contradictory Welsh pedigrees consisting mostly of otherwise unknown names, a possibly spurious derivation since his name perhaps actually represents a rendering of the Anglo-Saxon name Werestan.Davies, Sean, ''The First P ...
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Maredudd Ap Bleddyn
Maredudd ap Bleddyn (1047 – 9 February 1132) was a prince and later King of Powys in eastern Wales. Maredudd was the son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn who was King of both Powys and Gwynedd. When Bleddyn was killed in 1075, Powys was divided between three of his sons, Iorwerth, Cadwgan and Maredudd. Marriages and children Maredudd married first Hunydd ferch Einudd, who bore him two sons, Madog ap Maredudd and Gruffydd ap Maredudd. He later had a relationship with Cristin ferch Bledrus, who gave him two illegitimate sons, Hywel ap Maredudd and Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd. Life Maredudd initially appears to have been the least powerful and the least mentioned in the chronicles. The three brothers held their lands as vassals of Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1102 the Earl was summoned to answer charges at the court of King Henry I of England and responded by rising in rebellion against the king. All three brothers initially supported Robert and took up arms on his behalf, ...
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Powys Wenwynwyn
Powys Wenwynwyn or Powys Cyfeiliog was a Welsh kingdom which existed during the high Middle Ages. The realm was the southern portion of the former princely state of Powys which split following the death of Madog ap Maredudd of Powys in 1160: the northern portion (Maelor) went to Gruffydd Maelor and eventually became known as Powys Fadog; while the southern portion (Cyfeiliog) going to Owain Cyfeiliog and becoming known, eventually, as Powys Wenwynwyn after Prince Gwenwynwyn ab Owain, its second ruler. Powys Wenwynwyn and Gwynedd became bitter rivals in the years that followed, with the former frequently allying itself with England to further its own aims of weakening the latter. Princes of Powys Wenwynwyn * 1160–1195 Owain Cyfeiliog married a daughter of Owain Gwynedd and abdicated in 1195. * 1195–1216 Gwenwynwyn ab Owain Gwenwynwyn seized the cantref of Arwystli in 1197, when he was aligned with England. Following the marriage of Llywelyn the Great and Joan of Engl ...
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Caereinion
Caereinion (fort of Einion) was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys, or possibly it was a commote (''cwmwd'') within a cantref called Llŷs Wynaf. It was divided into the manors of Uwch Coed and Is Coed. It lay towards the south of the kingdom, bordering with the commote of Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr of the cantref of Mochnant and the cantref of Mechain to the north, the commotes of Ystrad Marchell and Llanerch Hudol in the cantref of Ystlyg to the east, the cantrefi of Cedewain to the south and Cyfeiliog to the west. It roughly corresponds to the later hundred of Mathrafal. Castle Caereinion, Caereinion Fechan, Llanfair Caereinion, Llanerfyl, Llangadfan, Llangyniew and part of Berriew Berriew ( cy, Aberriw) is a village and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. It is on the Montgomeryshire Canal and the Afon Rhiw, near the confluence (Welsh: ''aber'') with the River Severn (Welsh: Afon Hafren) at , 79 miles (128 k ... are within the territory of this cant ...
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Wroxeter
Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury. '' Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited here, and is gradually being excavated. History Roman Wroxeter, near the end of the Watling Street Roman road that ran across Romanised Celtic Britain from ''Dubris'' (Dover), was a key frontier position lying on the bank of the Severn river whose valley penetrated deep into what later became Wales following brytons fall to the Anglo Saxons, and also on a route to the south leading to the Wye valley. Archaeology has shown that the site of the later city first was established about AD 55 as a frontier post for a Thracian legionary cohort located at a fort near the Severn river crossing. A few years later a legionary fortress (''castrum'') was built within the site of the later city for the Legio XIV Gemina during their invasion of ...
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Viroconium Cornoviorum
Viroconium or Uriconium, formally Viroconium Cornoviorum, was a Roman city, one corner of which is now occupied by Wroxeter, a small village in Shropshire, England, about east-south-east of Shrewsbury. At its peak, Viroconium is estimated to have been the 4th-largest Roman settlement in Britain, a '' civitas'' with a population of more than 15,000.Frere, ''Britannia'', p.253 The settlement probably lasted until the end of the 7th century or the beginning of the 8th. Extensive remains can still be seen. Toponym ''Viroconium'' is a Latinised form of a toponym that was reconstructed as Common Brittonic ''*Uiroconion'' (" ityof ''*Uirokū''". ''*Uirokū'' ( "man-wolf") is believed to have been a masculine given name meaning "werewolf". The original capital of the local British tribe of the Cornovii was the impressive hillfort on the Wrekin known as *Uiroconion. When the Cornovii were eventually subdued by the Romans, their capital was moved to Wroxeter and given its Roman ...
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River Banwy
The River Banwy is a river about long in Powys, Wales. It is a tributary of the River Vyrnwy. The Banwy rises in the hills near the pass which takes the A458 road between Mallwyd and Welshpool. The river is called Nant Cerrig-y-groes at its source near Moel y Llyn. Then flowing east, it joins a number of lesser streams before reaching Pont Twrch near the village of Y Foel, at its confluence with the river Twrch. Two miles further on, it is joined by the river Gam, which flows down from the Nant yr Eira, between Y Foel and Llangadfan. After flowing past the small village of Llanerfyl, the river meanders between hills of moderate altitude to reach a bridge at Llanfair Caereinion. For the last of its course it turns northwards through a narrow valley. 'Yr Hafesb' is its local name here. It passes Mathrafal, the seat and court of the kings of Powys. Its confluence with the Vyrnwy is near Newbridge. References External links ... {{authority control Banwy Banwy is a ...
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Welshpool
Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' means "the marshy or sinking land". The community includes Cloddiau and Pool Quay. In English it was initially known as Pool but its name was changed to Welshpool in 1835 to distinguish it from the English town of Poole. The community had a population of 6,664 (as of the 2011 United Kingdom census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for Nationa ...), with the town having 5,948. It contains much Georgian architecture and is just north of Powis Castle. History St Cynfelin is reputed to be the founder of two churches in the town, St Mary's a ...
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Gwenwynwyn
Gwenwynwyn ab Owain Cyfeiliog (died c. 1216) was the last major ruler of mid Wales before the completion of the Norman English invasion. He was one of few native rulers to represent a real threat to the rule of Llywelyn the Great. Lineage Gwenwynwyn ruled southern Powys (Powys Wenwynwyn) from 1195, and was given charge of the kingdom following the retirement of his father Owain Cyfeiliog. Prior to this, in 1187, he had made an attack on Carreghofa Castle with his brother Cadwallon, in the course of which they killed their father's cousin and former ally, Owain Fychan. He had assisted Maelgwn ap Rhys in taking Aberystwyth Castle and capturing Maelgwn's brother Gruffydd ap Rhys II, whom he handed over to the English. His military ambitions were temporarily thwarted by his failure at the siege of Painscastle, when Gruffydd returned to battle. Owain Cyfeiliog had been a notable poet as well as a leader of the resistance against English invasion, and chose to enter the abbey of Stra ...
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Madog Ap Maredudd
Madog ap Maredudd ( wlm, Madawg mab Maredud, ; died 1160) was the last prince of the entire Kingdom of Powys, Wales and for a time held the Fitzalan Lordship of Oswestry. Madog was the son of King Maredudd ap Bleddyn and grandson of King Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. He followed his father on the throne of Powys in 1132. He is recorded as taking part in the Battle of Lincoln in 1141 in support of the Earl of Chester, along with Owain Gwynedd's brother Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd and a large army of Welshmen. In 1149 he is recorded giving the commote of Cyfeiliog to his nephews Owain Cyfeiliog and Meurig. The same year Madog was able to rebuild Oswestry Castle, a fortress of William Fitzalan. It would seem likely that he had gained both the fortresses of Oswestry and Whittington in 1146. Defeat by Gwynedd At this time the King of Gwynedd, between 1149 and 1150, Owain Gwynedd was exerting pressure on the borders of Powys, despite the fact that Madog was married to Susanna, Owain's sister. A ...
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