Welsh Journals

GWEHELYTH ENID ROBERTS, M.A. "Lineage" deals with the period from the death of Gruffudd ab Owain, the last 'prince' of Powys in 1309 to the formation of the county of Montgomery in 1536. Many Anglo-Norman families who were granted lands in Wales and the Borders in the 1Ith-14th centuries, e.g. the Pulestons, Conyers, etc., became Welsh in culture and outlook but the de Cherletons who inherited Powis Castle and the lands of the old princely family remained alien and were never assimi- lated. History based exclusively on official records cannot always be relied upon to give a correct picture of affairs and this is true of those records which relate to Powys under the de Cherletons and their successors, the Greys. The native uchelwyr of Powys maintained a stubborn and independent attitude which can be illustrated by a reading of Welsh literary sources, the poetry of the bards, pedigrees, heraldry, local traditions, etc. These give a different complexion to the story of Powys in this period. The native uchelwyr traced their lineage to the old royal and noble families of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Brochwel, Elystan Glod- rydd, Uchdryd ab Aleth, etc.-being dispossessed of practically all else they paid great attention to the lineage which gave them a claim to the lands they had lost. The uchelwyr had their roots deep in the commotes of Powys and intermarriage among them created a unified community which stretched from the borderlands to Mawddwy. Against this background the de Cherletons appear as an isolated and intrusive element in their castle at Pool. Glyndwr obtained considerable support in his struggle, from many of the uchelwyr of Powys. The old enmity between them and the Anglo-Norman family is illustrated by the long delayed pardon of some of them for their support of Glyndwr and by the murder of one of them, Sir Gruffudd Vaughan, in Powis Castle in 1447. To these native families the Wars of the Roses were not merely a struggle between York and Lancaster (although the Yorkists held the lordships of Kerry and Cedewain and the Anglo-Normans of Powis Castle were their supporters), but the desire to seat a Welshman on the throne was all important. Among the supporters of Henry Tudor in 1485 were many from families which had par- ticipated in the Glyndwr revolt. Had Powys been solidly Yorkist, as we are led to believe from official sources, surely Henry would never have chosen to