THE OTHER "SIR ROGER OF POWYS"
By
Darrell Wolcott
The familiar man known as Roger
of Powys was a son of Gronwy ap Tudor ap Rhys Sais I and held Whittington in Salop in the mid-twelfth century.
He died about 1186 and had a brother named Jonas. They were half-brothers of the Peverel siblings which included Miletta
who married Warin de Metz and gave birth to the first Fulk fitz Warin.
This Roger was followed by his son, Meurig, to whom King Henry II confirmed possession
of Whittington.[1]
The medieval pedigrees[2] also
claim Sir Roger of Powys had sons named Roger Fychan and Gronwy, that he was a Knight of Rhodes and married Sissely ferch
Hwfa ap Iorwerth ap Gruffudd ap Ieuaf ap Nynnio ap Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon. They further claim Roger divided his lands
at Estwick between those two sons, with Gronwy also receiving a manor called Pentref Madog. The pedigrees claim his
eldest son, Meurig, received Whittington.
Our work on this family
indicates two wholly different men called Roger of Powys are rolled into one by the pedigrees. While both appear to
have descended from Tudor Trevor, the second Roger (who lived over 100 years after the first) probably belongs to the family
of Iddon ap Rhys Sais II who held lands at Dudleston north of Ellesmere. We have dated this later Roger by these marriage
connections:
Further confirmation of the chronology
of the second man named Roger can be seen by another branch of his descendants:
Rhys Sais I 1025
l
Tudor 1055
__________l________
l
l
Bleddyn
1085 Gronwy 1090
l
l
Rhys Sais II 1124 Roger 1120
l
(Whittington)
Tudor 1154
l
Bleddyn 1185
l
Owain 1215
l
1245
Sir Roger Cynwrig 1245
l
l
1280 Roger Fychan Cynwrig Sais 1275
l
l
1315
Maredudd Gwilym 1305
l
l
1345
Gwerfyl=====Ieuan Foel[8] 1335
(Estwick)
Having
placed the Roger of Estwick (now called Eastwick) chronologically
as occurring over 100 years after the known era of the Roger who held Whittington, we turn our attention to his identification.
The pedigree evidence[4] tells us that Dudleston had been the share inherited by Iddon ap Rhys Sais II (the latter born c.
1124), and we find a single son, Trahaearn, cited for Iddon. That man is credited with 4 sons who, together with their
inheritance, were:
1. Morgan, who received
Pentref Morgan
2. Heilyn, who received
Pentref Heilyn
3. Hwfa, who received Plas
Thomas
4. Cadifor, who received
Cilhendref
These four brothers would have been
born c. 1210/1215 or exactly the generation where one should expect to find the father of a Roger of Powys born c. 1245.
We suspect there was a 5th brother[5] named Madog whose share of Trahaearn's lands was called Pentref Madog. Probably
the name of a single manor, Pentref Madog and the surrounding land then called Estwick are ascribed to the Sir Roger of c.
1245 so we feel comfortable positing that he was the son of Madog ap Trahaearn ap Iddon.
Having now determined both by chronology
and land holdings that the Roger of Whittington was father to Meurig (and his siblings Maredudd and Thomas) and that the Roger
of Dudleston was father to Roger Fychan and Gronwy[6], the final question to be resolved is which man was a "Knight of Rhodes".
Known as the Hospitallers of Jerusalem until 1309 when the order acquired the island of Rhodes, it appears that sometime between
1165 and 1187, Roger of Whittington donated land called Halston from his demense property to the Hospitallers on which they
built a preceptory.[7] He also granted the tithes from Whittington to Halston, apparently for them providing a chaplain
at Whittington Castle. Although it is possible the 13th century Roger of Dudleston was also a member of that order (his
son Roger Fychan of Estwick would have been living when the name Knights of Rhodes was first used), it is more likely the
"Sir" which prefixes the later Roger was earned militarily. Whether or not the earlier Roger of Whittington was a dedicated
member of the religious and charitable order of Hospitallers, he may well have been given its honorary title of "Knight" for
his financial support to them. And no sources have been seen to connect Roger of Dudleston to the Hospitallers.
NOTES:
[1] A comprehensive study of Roger of Powys was written by Frederick Suppe and
published in The Welsh History Review, vol 21, June 2002, pp 1-23. He is also discussed by Joseph Morris in his article
on the Fitz-Warine family published in Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1852, pp 282-291. Some of the genealogy is cited by
J.Y.W. Lloyd in "History of Powys Fadog", vol iii, pp 381-384 and pp 401/402. Also see the paper entitled "The
Mysterious Peverel Family" at the link below:
[2] Dwnn i, 324 and Harleian Ms 4181
[3] This family is often confused with a cousin line descended from Owain
ap Bleddyn ap Tudor ap Rhys Sais. The Tudor ap Bleddyn of c. 1120 had a brother, Owain ap Bleddyn, who had
a son, Iorwerth Hen ap Owain, born c. 1153. That family continued with an Iorwerth Fychan (c. 1190), Iorwerth Foel (c.
1225), Ednyfed (c. 1260)
[4] Harlean Ms 4181; Lloyd's "History of Powys Fadog", vol iv pp 88-96
[5] A pedigree for the family of Vaughan of Plas Thomas was compiled in 1675
by John Salusbury (reproduced in "History of Powys Fadog" vol iv, pp 95) in which Hwfa was described as the fifth son of Trahaearn
ap Iddon
[6] Frederick Suppe's article referenced in note 1 incorrectly charts as brothers the
sons of both men named Roger, and would assign them all to Roger of Whittington. This even though he describes Roger son of
Roger as "Estwick" and assigns him the son, Maredudd, who (from the marriage of his daughter) must have occurred c. 1315
[7] "House of Knights Hospitallers: Preceptory at Halston" from the Victorian
County History of Shropshire, vol 2, pp 87/88
[8] This marriage is also cited in Dwnn i, 324
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