Broken kinships

On 26 July 1298, four days after the battle of Falkirk, the Justiciar of North Wales claimed compensation for loss of horses in his military retinue. This consisted of the justiciar himself, John de Havering, and twenty-four soldiers. The claim was made at Stirling on the River Forth, which Edward I had rushed to secure after the battle.

Among Havering's retinue was Brother Ednyfed, Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Wales and commander of the houses at Ellesmere and Halston. Havering's men also included Gwilym de la Pole, his brother Gruffydd, Einion ap Ieuan, Meurig Atteben and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (not the late Prince of Wales, obviously). Gruffudd and Gwilym were two of the sons of Prince Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn.

Brother Ednyfed was a member of the kin-group called the Wyrion Eden, descendants of Enyfed Fychan, who had served as seneschal or 'distain' to Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. Ednyfed was a warlike man and frequently served the king in Wales and Scotland.

He first appears in December 1294, when he helped to suppress the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn in North Wales. On 11 December Ednyfed received royal letters of protection for himself and his household, 'staying with the king in Welsh parts on the king's command'. Throughout December 1294-January 1295 he and Madog ap Dafydd of Hendwr received payments for loyalist Welsh infantry stationed at Penllyn inside Meirionydd.

This conflict was, to a degree, a family feud. While Brother Ednyfed stayed loyal to Edward I, several of his kin joined Madog. Two of these were Tudur and Goronwy, grandsons of Ednyfed Fychan, who witnessed Madog's sole charter (pictured) as Prince of Wales, dated at Penmachno on 19 December. On the same day the charter was drawn up, Brother Ednyfed was with Edward at Derwen Llanerch, where he received £100 to pay his soldiers.

The Hospitaller survived the war in Wales, and the battle at Falkirk. He served again in Scotland in 1303-4, where his name appears among a list of 21 men drawn from North Wales. On this occasion Brother Ednyfed was again leading Welsh infantry, paid 12 shillings for his expenses and the expenses of his squire for four days, at three shillings per day. His name appears three times on the list, but does not appear on the fourth round of payments at Carlisle from 28 June-1 September 1304. It is possible he died or was killed on service.