On 19 June 1312 Piers Gaveston, Edward II’s notorious favourite, was taken onto Blacklow Hill in Warwickshire. There, watched from afar by Thomas of Lancaster and several others, he was butchered by two Welshmen. One ran him through with a sword, then the other cut off his head.
Over a year later, October 1313, Edward pardoned all those who were implicated in Gaveston’s death. Apart from Lancaster himself, this included many of his followers. Amongst them was Madog ap Meilir, one of the subjects of this series of posts.
To recap: Madog was a landholder of the Powysian March, who had risen high in the service of Edward I and served as a military captain and tax officer. He was a retainer of Owain ap Gruffudd/de le Pole, lord of southern Powys. After Owain’s death in 1294, Madog switched to the household of his younger brother, Gwilym. In 1295 he served in the royal army that won the battle of Maes Moydog.
After that he vanishes from the record until his appearance on the pardon roll in 1313. He is one of nine Welshmen (by my count) on the very long list of men whom Edward pardoned - very reluctantly, no doubt - for the slaughter of his favourite.
Thus, sometime between 1295 and 1312, Madog abandoned his long career as a Plantagenet loyalist and joined the political enemies of the new king, Edward II. He might even have been one of the two Welshmen who hacked Piers to death on Blacklow, although we cannot be certain. Even if not, he was definitely amongst Lancaster’s following.
Whatever his good points, Edward II had a disastrous habit of losing the support of his father’s old loyalists: Madog is just one of numerous examples. While the king was popular with some of the Welsh gentry, he was opposed by others. As for Madog himself, he does not appear again in the record, and probably died before the end of the reign.
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