Sir David Mathew
Sir David Mathew (1400–1484; born Dafydd ap Mathew, was a Welsh Knight. He was Lord of Llandaff and Seneschal of Llandaff Cathedral, and one of the ten Great Barons of Glamorgan, a Marcher Lord. It was said he was one of the most distinguished men of his age and a zealous supporter of the Yorkist cause. After saving the life of King Edward IV at the Battle of Towton in 1461, he was appointed Grand Standard Bearer of England and King Edward IV granted the use of 'Towton' on his arms. Biography. Sir David Mathew was the  son of Mathew ap Ieuan (or Evan). Sir David was also Lord of Llandaff and Seneschal of Llandaff Cathedral. He had a grant of 2,232 acres of land from Henry VI, the reversion of Caneton, and from William, Earl of Pembroke lands at St Fagans and at Pentyrch. Sir David was a zealous supporter of the Yorkist cause, whose extraordinary prowess and daring in the field, even at a very advanced age, were used on behalf of the White Rose of York. He was a very tall man, said to stand tall. At the Battle of Towton, on Palm Sunday , 29 March 1461, although by then about sixty years old, he saved the life of Edward IV and was rewarded by his grateful monarch with the honour of Grand Standard Bearer of England. Sir David was one of the ten Great Barons of Glamorgan, and a Marcher Lord. He received from Edward IV the grant of the use of the word "Towton" as an augmentation over his crest. In 1480 he restored the shrine of Saint Teilo which had been pillaged and desecrated by a gang of pirates from Biston, and was presented by Bishop Marshall with St. Teilo's  skull, set in a costly reliquary, to be an heirloom in his family, who carefully preserved it for about 200 years, until the death of William Mathew in 1658 at Llandeilo. Browne Willis reported in his "An survey of the Cathedral-Church of Landaff" that Sir David was murdered in an altercation at Neath, West Glamorgan by some members of the Turberville family of Coity Castle. Armorials. Two different arms are recorded as having been used by the Mathew family, both consisting of a lion rampant, but with differing tinctures. The branch seated at Llandaff, thus the senior line, is  generally ascribed "Or, a lion rampant sable", whilst the branch seated at Radyr, descended from Sir David Mathew's younger brother, is generally ascribed "Sable, a lion rampant argent". Yet confusingly the 1980 heraldic restoration of the Mathew tombs at Llandaff carried out by Hugh P. Mathew, who was recognised by the College of Arms as having proved his direct descent from Sir David Mathew, has resulted in the Radyr coat being painted on the tomb of Sir Christopher, who was head of the Llandaff branch. Rev. Murray Mathew (1895) assigns to Sir David the Radyr coat. Moreover, the Earls  Landaff used the coat of the Llandaff branch even though they were descended from the Radyr branch. Unfortunately the tomb of Sir David bears no heraldry by which the confusion might be resolved. The arms of Radyr "Sable, a lion rampant argent" were supposedly adopted in honour of the White Rose, according to Rev Murray Mathew. Crest. The crest is also not without confusion, being given variously as a "heathcock" (another name for partridge, of the pheasant family), a "moorcock", a "fieldcock", (a vague term possibly denoting grouse), a blackcock, (of the grouse family) and is shown on the Earl  Landaff memorial in a form akin to a farmyard cock or rooster. The effigy of Sir David does however show most of the bird forming the crest of his helm upon which he rests his head, but it is missing the head. The feet are short and sturdy, suggesting a grouse-type bird and are not the long legs of a rooster A gilded bird, probably a dove, is used as a foot-rest in the effigy of St Teilo in Llandaff Cathedral. Motto. The motto of Mathew is in Welsh: "Y Fyn Duw A Fydd" ("What God willeth will  be"). Family. Sir David married Wenllian 1396–1470 of Glamorgan, daughter of Sir George Herbert. He left by Wenllian three sons. He had the following three sons: