Conveniece and coercion
So in 1165 Owain Gwynedd defeated Henry II and drove him back to England. Now, to fulfil his ambition of becoming Princeps Walliarum (Prince of the Waleses), he had to make the victory count.
This proved difficult. Within months, the coalition of Welsh rulers was falling apart. The Pipe Roll for 1166 shows that two of Owain's Powysian allies, Owain Cyfeiliog and Iorwerth Goch, were back in friendly contact with Henry's government.
Why? The concern of the Powysians was to preserve Powys. Gwynedd was just as much their traditional enemy as England. In previous years, Owain Gwynedd had tried to impose his power on Powys through military force, murdered the heir to the throne and slaughtered Powysian warriors at the battle of Coleshill. This man was not their friend, and any alliance was one of convenience (or coercion).
Iorwerth Goch's career is worth a closer look. He first appears in 1157, in receipt of a payment of 4 pounds 3 shillings from Henry II. In that year his brother, King Madog of Powys, allied with Henry against Owain Gwynedd. Iorwerth himself destroyed Owain's castle at Ial, which had threatened the borders of Powys and Cheshire. He was then granted four manors in Shropshire by the king, in return for his services as a Welsh interpreter. Iorwerth married Maud, the daughter of Roger de Manley of Cheshire.
So, like many a medieval Welsh landholder (Owain Glyn Dwr being another example) Iorwerth had English connections and interests. These, plus his concerns for his homeland of Powys and his own power and status, overrode any loyalty to the ruler of Gwynedd. Owain Gwynedd might well call himself Princeps Walliarum. To paraphrase a Byzantine Emperor, he could call himself King of Jerusalem, if it made him feel better.
Iorwerth used Henry's defeat in Wales as a way of negotiating the best deal for himself. The Pipe Roll for 1165-66 shows that the Crown paid him 14 pounds 6 shillings 8 pence for fifteen horses from Iorwerth's stud farm. This important stud had been established by Robert de Belleme, Earl of Shrewsbury, at the start of the century, after which the dynasty of Powys gained control over it. Gerald of Wales, in his Journey Through Wales, remarked on the handsome breed of Powysian horses, the finest in the country.
Caught between Gwynedd and England, the Powysians developed a knack for flipping identity at will. Despite his fluctuating loyalties, Iorwerth was eulogised by the poet Cynddelw as an enemy of the 'Bernicians' (the English).
His brother King Madog, Henry II's ally against Owain Gwynedd, was praised as 'ysgwyd pedeiriaith' (shield/protector of four peoples/cultures/languages). By this, Cynddelw meant that Madog had lordship over the Welsh, the English, the Anglo-Normans and the users of Latin i.e. the clergy. Even Owain Cyfeiliog, who became Henry II's dinner companion and made jokes at the king's expense in public, was hailed as a great border raider who slaughtered the Marcher lords.