Mathrafal

The House of Mathrafal, also called the Lleision or House of Powys, took its name from Mathrafal Castle, seat of the kings of Powys from the ninth century. The family rose in 1063, when Harold and Tostig Godwinson installed Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in north Wales. Driven out of Gwynedd, the house was rebuilt by Maredudd ap Bleddyn, who restored Powys.

The house reached its height under Madog ap Maredudd. After his death in 1160 Powys split into Powys Fadog and Powys Wenwynwyn; Llywelyn the Great destroyed Mathrafal Castle in 1213. The house survived the Edwardian conquest largely intact, exchanging its royal claims for the English lordship of Powys at Shrewsbury in 1283.

Under Edward II the heiress Hawys Gadarn married John Charlton, carrying the southern lordship to an English line. The northern branch produced Owain Glyndŵr, who led the Welsh Revolt against Henry IV in the early fifteenth century.