Battle of Mechain

{{Short description|Battle in Powys, Wales, in about 1067, for rule of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{Infobox military conflict

|conflict= Battle of Mechain

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|date= 1070Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, (© Crown copyright 2017). The Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Wales. Retrieved 23 August 2020, from http://battlefields.rcahmw.gov.uk/collections/getrecord/405112.

|place= Powys, Wales

|result= Victory for Bleddyn ap Cynfyn

|combatant1=Bleddyn ap Cynfyn
Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn{{KIA}}

|combatant2= Maredudd ap Gruffydd{{KIA}}
Idwal ap Gruffydd{{KIA}}

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The Battle of Mechain was fought in Powys, Wales, in 1070,{{Cite book|last=Lloyd|first=John Edward|url=https://www.library.wales/digital-exhibitions-space/digital-exhibitions/europeana-rise-of-literacy/history-books/a-history-of-wales-from-the-earliest-times-to-the-edwardian-conquest#?c=&m=&s=&cv=6&xywh=140%2C87%2C2227%2C1893|title=A History of Wales: from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest. Volume 2|year=1911|pages=377}} for rule of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys. The battlefield may be near Llanfechain in northern Powys.{{Coflein|num=405112 |desc=Mechain, Possible site of Battle, near Llanfechan (sic) |access-date=31 May 2023 }} A written account is included in the Brut y Tywysogion, the medieval Welsh chronicle of the princes.{{cite book|title=Collections Historical & Archaeological Relating to Montgomeryshire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5cxAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA195|year=1871|publisher=The Club|pages=195}} It is also referred to in the work of medieval poets such as Lewys Glyn Cothi.

After the murder of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, Harold Godwinson married his widow Ealdgyth and divided Gruffydd's realm into the traditional kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, the rule of which were given to Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn. Gruffydd left two sons{{mdash}} Maredudd and Idwal{{ndash}}who in 1070 challenged Bleddyn and Rhiwallon at Mechain in an attempt to win back part of their father's kingdom. However, both sons were defeated, Idwal (or Ithel) being killed in combat and Maredudd dying of exposure after the battle.

Rhiwallon was also killed in this battle, leaving Bleddyn to rule Gwynedd and Powys alone.