Hawise Lestrange

Hawise Lestrange (died 1310) was the daughter of the Marcher lord John Lestrange (d.1269) of Great Ness, Cheswardine and Knockin (Shropshire). Married at a young age to the ruler of southern Powys, Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, she became a key figure in border affairs and in the management of her family and estates until her death at a great age. She was deeply implicated in a plot to overthrow the prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, in 1274, and with her husband sided with Edward I in the English king's conquest of Wales.

Early life and marriage The date of Hawise's birth is unknown, but she was probably still a teenager when she was married to Gruffudd around 1242. In that year that Gruffudd gained the king's permission to dower Hawise with land in the royal manor of Ashford in Derbyshire. Hawise and Gruffudd are unlikely to have been complete strangers at marriage, for Gruffudd - part-English by birth - had spent most of his life to that point in exile in England and the Marches. His mother Margaret was a member of the prominent Corbet family from the nearby Marcher lordship of Caus, and appears to have considerable contact with her son and daughter-in-law until her death around 1250. In 1257, however, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Gwynedd and would-be ruler of Wales at large, invaded southern Powys and Hawise and Gruffudd were driven out. Finding a lack of royal support for their plight, in 1263 Gwenwynwyn transferred his allegiance to Llywelyn.

Attitude toward Llywelyn ap Gruffudd

Although her husband allied himself to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1263, Hawise's natal family were (with one or two exceptions) notable allies of the Crown. Hawise herself seems to have remained hostile to Llywelyn for much of her career.

Attempt to overthrow Llywelyn

By 1274, Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn was firmly back in royal favour. In that year his family became involved in an attempt on the life of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. Hawise and her eldest son, Owain, were leading participants in the plot, which also involved Llywelyn's disaffected younger brother, Dafydd ap Gruffudd. The intention had been for Dafydd and Owain to murder Llywelyn at his court and for Dafydd to take his place, while Owain would marry Dafydd's daughter and take the commotes of Ceri and Cydewain as a marriage settlement. Ultimately the plot failed, foiled by a snowstorm that prevented the would-be assassins from carrying out their mission, and Llywelyn's suspicions were aroused. Owain was taken into captivity. Our knowledge of Hawise's involvement comes from a confession allegedly made by Owain in the presence of the bishop of Bangor and others, and set down in a letter written by the Bangor clergy to the archbishop of Canterbury in the spring of 1276. In this confession, Owain identified his mother as the designated guardian of the conspirators' plot documents, keeping them under lock and key in her own private chest in the family residence at Pool. She was a figure of family authority, seemingly central to the arrangements made both for her children's marriages and for the future of her husband's patrimonial lands. Certain of these territories had also been held in dower by her mother-in-law Margaret Corbet.

After Gruffudd's death in 1286, Hawise ruled her family and much of their territory with something of an iron fist, becoming involved in (among other things) the determined harassment of her daughter-in-law Joan, the widow of her eldest son Owain. In 1308 she relinquished the custody of the barony of Pool to her only surviving son, Gruffudd Fychan.

Hawise Lestrange died in November 1310, probably aged in her mid-late eighties. There is evidence to suggest that she was buried at the Cistercian Abbey of Strata Marcella Abbey, the foundation of her husband's ancestor Owain Cyfeiliog.

Family Hawise's first child with Gruffudd was a daughter, Margaret, possibly named after her mother-in-law Margaret Corbet. Several sons followed, of which six sons survived into adulthood: Margaret, married Fulk, son of Fulk FitzWarin of Whittington Owain 'de la Pole', married Joan Corbet Llywelyn, married Sybil Turberville, and widow of Grimbald Pauncefoot, a knight of Edward I Gruffudd Fychan, married a kinswoman of Roger Springhose of Shropshire Gwilym, married Gwladus, daughter of Sir Howel Y Pedolau Dafydd, a cleric Ieuan, a cleric