Cedewain (or Cydewain) was a medieval

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which wer ...

in the

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 ...

. It possibly consisted of the

commote A commote (Welsh ''cwmwd'', sometimes spelt in older documents as ''cymwd'', plural ''cymydau'', less frequently ''cymydoedd'')'' Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wal ...

s (''cymydau'') of Cynan, Hafren and Uwch Hanes. Other sources give the commotes as Cedewain, Eginlle and

Ceri Ceri () is a hamlet (''frazione'') of the ''comune'' of Cerveteri, in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio (central Italy). It occupies a fortified plateau of tuff at a short distance from the city of Cerveteri. History Inhabited before the 7t ...

. It lay at the south of the kingdom, bordering with the cantrefi of

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 ki ...

and Ystlyg to the north across the river Rhiw, and the cantrefi of

Arwystli Arwystli was a cantref in mid Wales in the Middle Ages, located in the headland of the River Severn. It was chiefly associated with the Kingdom of Powys, but was heavily disputed between Powys, Gwynedd, and the Norman Marcher Lords for hun ...

(subject to disputes between Powys and

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the North West Wales, north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County B ...

) and Maelienydd (originally an independent kingdom) to the south. Its easterly border, which was the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_ ...

, faced England. Bettws Cedewain takes its name from the cantref. The lords of Cedewain resided at Dolforwyn Castle.

Maredudd ap Rhobert Maredudd ap Rhobert (died 1244) was a minor Welsh ruler of Cedewain in the thirteenth century. A descendant of Trahaearn ap Caradog, he allied with king John of England against the prince of Gwynedd Llywelyn ab Iorwerth during the king's campaign ...

was Lord of Cedewain and Chief Counsellor of Wales when he died in 1244 after joining the religious order at Strata Florida Abbey. Knighton was attacked by 'the lords of Ceri and Cydewain' in 1260, but the following year saw the death of Owain ap Maredudd, Lord of Cydewain, nephew of Maredudd ap Rhobert. In early 1278, his daughter Angharad claimed Cydewain in litigation as Owain's heir, stating that Owain's enemy,

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1223 – 11 December 1282), sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, also known as Llywelyn the Last ( cy, Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf, lit=Llywelyn, Our Last Leader), was the native Prince of Wales ( la, Princeps Wall ...

, had taken possession of it immediately after her father's death.Llywelyn ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales, page 183, J. Beverley Smith, University of Wales Press In 1330-1331 Maredudd ap Madog and Owain ap Madog petitioned King Edward III for a judgement on the ownership of Cedewain, which was then under the king's control. They claimed to be the rightful heirs to the cantref and that it was seized from their ancestors by the Marcher Lord family of the Mortimers. They said that Roger Mortimer had allowed them to keep some land between the River Severn and Ceri (the northern commote of Maelienydd), but

Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

had seized that too.

References

{{reflist Cantrefs History of Powys