Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor ap Madog

Madog founded the Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis in 1200 or 1201.

Events

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: 1236.

Place of Death: unknown.

The date is given by Carr. It is recorded in Brut y Tywysogion s.a. 1236.

Place of Burial: Valle Crucis.

The place is given by Carr.

Relationships

Father: Gruffudd Maelor ap Madog ap Maredudd.

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 4), and given by Davies (p. 130), by Stephenson, and by Carr.

Mother: Angharad ferch Owain Gwynedd.

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 4), and given by Stephenson, and by Carr.

Spouse: Iseult.

A 1222 grant by Madog to Valle Crucis Abbey was made with the consent of “domine I. uxoris mee”. A (spurious) grant to Combermere Abbey from the mid-1200s by Gruffudd Maelor was made for the health of “matris mei Iseude”. A 1270 grant and confirmation made by the sons of the younger Gruffudd Maelor mentions “domine Emme matris nostre”, “dominus Griffin(us) pater noster”, and “domina Ysota avia nostra”. (Pryce, nos 506, 510, 526) A letter from Walter de Lacy to Hubert de Burgh shows that Angharad was the daughter of a niece of Walter's. Shirley's note states: "Margaret, wife of Walter de Lacy, and Maud, wife of Griffith, prince of S. Wales, were sisters, being daughters of William de Braose." I am not sure the note is reliable, given that the name ("Maud" for Ysota) is wrong.

(supposed) Spouse: Gwladus ferch Ithel.

This relationship is shown by Bartrum (Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 4). Carr notes that most pedigrees give Madog’s wife as Gwladus ferch Ithel ap Rhys of Gwent, but draws attention to the evidence given by Pryce noted above.

Children (by Iseult):

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Bartrum.)

Gruffudd Maelor (about 1190 - 1269) married Emma de Aldithley.

Gruffudd Iȃl (died 1238).

Madog Fychan (died 1269).

Maredudd (died 1256) married Catrin ferch Gruffudd.

Hywel (died about 1268).

Angharad.

Evidence

Pryce (nos. 498 - 509) gives various documents made by Madog.

References

Bartrum, Peter C., “Bleddyn ap Cynfyn 4” in An Electronic Version of Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1500.

[The sources Bartrum cites for Madog are: Brut y Tywysogion; Peniarth 131 (123, 179), written by Gutun Owain about 1480; and Peniarth 127 (24, 156), written by Syr Thomas ap Ieuan ap Deicws between about 1510 and 1523.]

Carr, A.D. “Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor (d. 1236)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Davies, R.R. The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dŵr. (Oxford U.P., 1995).

Guy, Ben. Medieval Welsh Genealogy. (The Boydell Press, 2020).

From Guy’s critical edition of the Gutun Owain recension of the Llywelyn ab Iorwerth genealogies, which were based on an archetype created no later than the first half of the fourteenth century from an original compilation dating to the early thirteenth century, partly based on earlier written sources (Note that Guy is striving for textual rather than genealogical accuracy):

G2.2 Madog ap Gruffudd Maelawr ap Madog ap Mredudd ap Bleddyn ap Kynvyn ap Gwerystan ap Gwaithvoed...

G2.2.1 Mam Madog oedd Yngharad verch Ywain Gwynedd ap Gruffudd ap Kynan.

Pryce, Huw (ed.) The Acts of the Welsh Rulers 1120 - 1283 (Malta, 2005).

Royal and Other Historical Letters Illustrative of the Reign of Henry III (Walter Waddington Shirley, ed.) Vol. 1 1216-1235 (London, 1862).

Stephenson, David. Medieval Powys: Kingdom, Principality and Lordships, 1132-1293. (The Boydell Press, 2016).

Williams ab Ithel, John (ed.). Brut y Tywysogion; or, The Chronicle of the Princes (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; 1860).