Coat of arms of Gruffydd Maelor I ap Madog Prince of Powys Fadog

Gruffydd Maelor (died 1191) was a Prince of Powys Fadog in Wales. He married a daughter of King

Owain Gwynedd Owain ap Gruffudd ( – 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great () and the first to be styled "Prince of Wales" and th ...

, first

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

, and was a brother of Prince Owain Brogyntyn, ancestor of the Barons of Cymmer-yn-Edeirnion.

Lineage

Maelor was a son of Prince

Madog ap Maredudd Madog ap Maredudd (, ; died 1160) was the last prince of the entire Kingdom of Powys, Wales. He held for a time, the FitzAlan Lordship of Oswestry, family of the Earl of Arundel, Earls of Arundel, of Arundel Castle. His daughter married Lord Rhys ...

by Susanna, daughter of King

Gruffudd ap Cynan Gruffudd ap Cynan (–1137) was List of rulers of Gwynedd, King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to House of Normandy, Norman rule. As a descen ...

of the

House of Aberffraw The House of Aberffraw was a medieval royal court based in the village it was named after, Aberffraw, Anglesey (Wales, UK) within the borders of the then Kingdom of Gwynedd. The dynasty was founded in the 9th century by a King in Wales whose de ...

. He is known as Gruffydd Maelor I to distinguish him from his grandson, Gruffydd Maelor II, Lord of Dinas Bran. He was to be the founder of the principal ruling family of northern Powys during the 13th century.

Inheritance

View in the vale of Llangollen - Crow castle in the distance

On his father's death in 1160 Powys was divided between his three sons (Gruffydd, Owain Brogyntyn and

Owain Fychan Owain Fychan ap Madog (alternatively ''Owain Vychan ap Madoc''; c. 1125 – 1187) was styled Lord of Mechain, Mechain Is Coed and one of the sons of Madog ap Maredudd. His mother was Susanna, daughter of Gruffudd ap Cynan. Division of the Kingd ...

), a nephew (Prince

Owain Cyfeiliog Owain ap Gruffydd (c. 1130–1197) was a prince of the southern part of Powys and a poet. He is usually known as Owain Cyfeiliog to distinguish him from other rulers named Owain, particularly his contemporary, Owain ap Gruffydd of Gwynedd, who is ...

) and a half-brother (Prince Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd). Gruffydd received the Lordship of Maelor (also known as Bromfield) and the Lordship of

Iâl Ial or Yale () was a commote of medieval Wales within the cantref of Maelor in the Kingdom of Powys. When the Kingdom was divided in 1160, Maelor became part of the Princely realm of Powys Fadog (Lower Powys or Madog's Powys), and belonged ...

(also known as Yale), as his allotted portion of Powys. These lordships later merged and became the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale, belonging to John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, who was later defeated at the Battle of Stirling Bridge by

William Wallace Sir William Wallace (, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of St ...

. Gruffydd later added Nanheudwy,

Cynllaith Cynllaith or Cynllaeth was a commote () of north east Wales in the cantref of (later Chirkland) which was once part of the Kingdom of Powys and later part of the smaller kingdom of Powys Fadog. Cynllaith, or at least the part of it called ''C ...

Owain and

Mochnant was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys. In the 12th century it was divided into the commotes of Mochnant Is Rhaeadr (in the north) and Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr (in the south) (''Is'' signifying 'below' and ''Uwch'' 'above' the River Rhaeadr) ...

Is Rhaeadr after the death of his half-brother Owain Fychan in 1187.

Unification of northern Powys

His inherited and acquired lands in effect unified and reunited most of northern Powys forming what became known as Powys Fadog after it was inherited by his son.

Marriage

He married Princess Angharad, his cousin, and daughter of

, King of

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

.Pierce, T. J., (1959)
GRUFFYDD ap MADOG or GRUFFYDD MAELOR I (died 1191)
. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 7 Mar 2024

Death and issue

He died in 1191, leaving issue: * Madog, who succeeded his father. * Owen, joint ruler with his brother, died 1197.

References and sources

*Prof. T Jones Pierce MA FSA, ''The History of Wales'' (Aberystwyth) *Lloyd, ''History of Wales'' Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruffydd Maelor 1191 deaths Monarchs of Powys 12th-century Welsh monarchs Year of birth unknown Welsh princes House of Mathrafal The Lordship of Bromfield and Yale