The Penmachno Document was a letters patent drawn up at

Penmachno Penmachno is a village in the isolated upland Machno valley, south of Betws-y-Coed in the county of Conwy, North Wales. The B4406 road runs through part of the village. The village is at the confluence of the Glasgwm and Machno rivers. It has ...

in Gwynedd and signed on 19 December 1294 by

Madog ap Llywelyn Madog ap Llywelyn (died after 1312) was the leader of the Welsh revolt of 1294–95 against English rule in Wales and proclaimed "Prince of Wales". The revolt was surpassed in longevity only by the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr in the 15th century. M ...

at the height of his revolt against English rule in Wales. Though unremarkable in its content – the document consists of the grant of two parcels of land to a minor noble named Bleddyn Fychan – its importance lies in the fact that it is the only surviving document issued by Madog in which he styles himself

prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the ruler ...

as well as lord of Snowdonia (this refers to the Welsh tradition that Snowdonia was the seat of power for previous Welsh princes).

Notable signatories

The document was signed by a number of prominent persons in north Wales society, including three descendants of

Ednyfed Fychan Ednyfed Fychan ( 1170 – 1246), full name Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig, was a Welsh warrior who became Seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in Northern Wales, serving Llywelyn the Great and his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Ednyfed claimed descent fr ...

and the

seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

of two earlier princes of Wales. One of them, 'Tudur ab Gronw' or Tudur Hen, is described as 'our steward' in the document, suggesting that Madog had (or intended to) reconstitute the prince's council on which the governance of Wales rested until the loss of independence in 1283. As

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal ...

's invasion of Wales proceeded, the terms of the document quickly became irrelevant, as the land referred to in it reverted once more to English control.

References

{{reflist, 1 Medieval Wales Medieval documents of Wales Bro Machno

Notable signatories

See also

References