Battle of Maes Moydog

The Battle of Maes Moydog was a battle that took place at the field of Moydog (Welsh: Maidog, also Meidiog) on 5 March 1295 during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn and others against English rule, near the modern-day town of Llanfair Caereinion in Powys, Wales.

Battle of Maes Moydog
Date5 March 1295
Location
Field of Moydog
Result English victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of England Wales
Commanders and leaders
William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick Madog ap Llywelyn
Casualties and losses
100 700

The battle

Madog's opponent was the Earl of Warwick who, on hearing that Madog's army was camped in a valley close to his base at Welshpool, made a night march on 4 March and surrounded Madog's army. Madog had his spearmen formed into a square, and repelled an English cavalry charge, killing around 10 men at arms. However, Warwick's innovative deployment of archers and crossbows gave the English the upper hand. Surrounded, Madog's men fought their way out of the encirclement and killed a further 90 English men, then retreated across the swollen river Banwy, in which many drowned. A second, smaller engagement near a place that the English records call 'Thesseweit' - the location of which remains uncertain - resulted in the loss of Madog's supply train. English losses totalled around one hundred dead; Welsh losses were placed at seven hundred. The battle was a crucial step in breaking Welsh resistance in the revolt; Madog went to ground and was captured in late July.

References
  • Richard Morgan, 'Thesseweit', Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 68, pp. 87–9 (1980).
  • J. E. Morris, The Welsh Wars of Edward I (Oxford, 1901).
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