Richard Whittington of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal, City of London, was an English merchant and a politician of the late medieval period. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale Dick Whittington and His Cat. He was four times Lord Mayor of London, a member of parliament and a Sheriff of London. In his lifetime he financed a number of public projects, such as drainage systems in poor areas of medieval London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, nearly 600 years later, continues to assist people in need.
The Welsh Marches is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods.
Ellesmere is a town in the civil parish of Ellesmere Urban, in Shropshire, England, located near the Welsh border and the towns of Oswestry and Whitchurch, and the Welsh city of Wrexham. It is notable for its proximity to a number of prominent meres.
The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Powys and part of today's English West Midlands. More precisely, and based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys".
The Maelor is an area of north-east Wales along the border with England. It is now entirely part of Wrexham County Borough.
English Maelor comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part of Cheshire and later a detached portion of Flintshire. The area is currently in Wales, despite its name, and administered as part of Wrexham County Borough.
Clun Castle is a medieval ruined castle in Clun, Shropshire, England. Clun Castle was established by the Norman lord Robert de Say after the Norman invasion of England and went on to become an important Marcher lord castle in the 12th century, with an extensive castle-guard system. Owned for many years by the Fitzalan family, Clun played a key part in protecting the region from Welsh attack until it was gradually abandoned as a property in favour of the more luxurious Arundel Castle. The Fitzalans converted Clun Castle into a hunting lodge in the 14th century, complete with pleasure gardens, but by the 16th century the castle was largely ruined. Slighted in 1646 after the English Civil War, Clun remained in poor condition until renovation work in the 1890s.
Pengwern was a Brythonic settlement of sub-Roman Britain situated in what is now the English county of Shropshire, adjoining the modern Welsh border. It is regarded as possibly being the early seat of the kings of Powys before its establishment at Mathrafal, further west, but the theory that it was an early kingdom has also been postulated. Its precise location is uncertain.
Whittington is a village and civil parish in north west Shropshire, England, lying east and north-east of Oswestry. The parish had a population of 2,592 at the 2011 census. The village of Whittington is in the centre of the parish, and three smaller villages, Park Hall to its west, Hindford to the north-east and Babbinswood to the south, are also within the parish.
Fulk FitzWarin, variant spellings, the third, was a prominent representative of a marcher family associated especially with estates in Shropshire and at Alveston in Gloucestershire. In young life, early in the reign of King John (1199–1216), he won notoriety as the outlawed leader of a roving force striving to recover his familial right to Whittington Castle in Shropshire, which John had granted away to a Welsh claimant. Progressively rehabilitated, and enjoying his lordship, he endured further setbacks in 1215–1217.
Madog ap Maredudd was the last prince of the entire Kingdom of Powys, Wales and for a time held the Fitzalan Lordship of Oswestry.
Brycheiniog was an independent kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It allied with the Mercian kingdom in the post Roman era, to stabilise and control a central (Marches) area key to dominance over central Proto-England to the east and the south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Armorican Normans between 1088 and 1095, though it remained Welsh in character. It was transformed into the Lordship of Brecknock and later formed the southern and larger part of the historic county of Brecknockshire. To its south was the Kingdom of Morgannwg.
Cynddylan, or Cynddylan ap Cyndrwyn was a seventh-century Prince of Powys associated with Pengwern. Cynddylan is attested only in literary sources: unlike many kings from Brittonic post-Roman Britain, he does not appear in the early Welsh genealogies or other historical sources. The son of King Cyndrwyn, Cynddylan is described in the probably seventh-century poem Marwnad Cynddylan and seems to have been a chieftain in Powys.
Bernard de Neufmarché, also Bernard of Newmarket or Bernard of Newmarch was the first of the Norman conquerors of Wales. He was a minor Norman lord who rose to power in the Welsh Marches before successfully undertaking the invasion and conquest of the Kingdom of Brycheiniog between 1088 and 1095. Out of the ruins of the Welsh kingdom he created the Anglo-Norman lordship of Brecon.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1101–1200 to Wales and its people.
Baron FitzWarin was a title in the Peerage of England created by writ of summons for Fulk V FitzWarin in 1295. His family had been magnates for nearly a century, at least since 1205 when his grandfather Fulk III FitzWarin obtained Whittington Castle near Oswestry, which was their main residence and the seat of a marcher lordship.
Owain Brogyntyn ap Madog was prince of Powys and the third and illegitimate son of king Madog ap Maredudd, the last king of a united Kingdom of Powys. He was the son of Madog by the daughter of the Maer du or "black mayor" of Rûg in Edeyrnion however some sources cite his mother as Susanna making him legitimate instead. He was the brother of Gruffydd Maelor the ancestor of Owain Glyndŵr. Presumably Owain Brogyntyn would have been raised by his mother at Rûg in Edeyrnion. He was acknowledged by his father and granted by him the lordship of Edeyrnion and also Dinmael. It is quite possible that he inherited some of these lands through his maternal grandfather, the Maer Du, which were confirmed and perhaps extended by his father the king of Powys. At some point he also came into possession of Castle Brogyntyn on the English borders at Selattyn close to Oswestry.
The Royal House of Mathrafal began as a cadet branch of the Welsh Royal House of Dinefwr, taking their name from Mathrafal Castle, their principal seat and effective capital. They effectively replaced the House of Gwertherion, who had been ruling the Kingdom of Powys since late Roman Britain, through the politically advantageous marriage of an ancestor, Merfyn the Oppressor. King Bleddyn ap Cynfyn would join the resistance of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, against the invasion of William the Conqueror, following the Norman conquest of England. Thereafter, they would struggle with the Plantagenets and the remaining Welsh Royal houses for the control of Wales. Although their fortunes rose and fell over the generations, they are primarily remembered as Kings of Powys and last native Prince of Wales.
The feudal barony of Bampton was one of eight feudal baronies in Devonshire which existed during the mediaeval era, and had its caput at Bampton Castle within the manor of Bampton.
Oswestry Castle is a medieval castle in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. The castle has also been known as, or recorded in historical documents as: Album Monasterium; Blancminster; Blankmouster; Blancmustier; Croes Oswald; L'Oeuvre; L'uvre; Castle Loure; Luure; Luvre; Lvvre: Castle Philip; Oswaldestre; Meresberie.
