Welsh Journals

Brydydd Mawr, in an ode to Madog ap Maredudd (d. 1160), tells how the sods were trodden in the plain (maes) of Mathrafal by the hoofs of noble steeds. At what time a stronghold was erected hereabouts is uncertain, for the statement that the capital of Powys was fixed here after Shrewsbury had fallen to Offa of Mercia is only found in late -authorities, and Mathrafal does not appear as a "principal seat," com- parable to Aberffraw and Dinefwr, in the works of Giraldus Cam- brensis or in the ancient legal codes. The first historical mention of a castle here is in Brut y Tywysogion, s.a. 1211 (really 1212), which records the conquest by the Welsh of Mathrafal (so spelt in MS. c), previously constructed by Robert de Vieuxpont. There is also a poetical allusion to Castell Mathraval" in an elegy by Prydydd y Moch to Gruffydd ap Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd this need not be much, if any, earlier than the historical notice. By the time of Lly- welyn ap Gruffydd, the primacy of Mathrafal was well established, as appears from a poem addressed to this prince by Llygad Gwr, in which he is hailed as taleithiog," i.e. diademed of Aberffraw Dinefwr and Mathrafal.