Mategriffon

Mategriffon or Mategrifon or Mathegriffon^[1] was a medieval castle near Messina, Sicily, initially built as a wooden castle by Richard Ist, king of England and demolished before his departure in 1191 from Messina for the conquest of Cyprus^[2]. Another reference to the castle is also made during the Sicilian Vespers, as the place where Charles I of Naples's Vicar Herbert and his family safely stayed during the uprising until their safe departure was negotiated.

Mattegriffon was also an alternative name to the castle of Akova in Peloponnese, used by the local governors of the Principality of Achaea around the 13th and the 14th centuries^[3].

References

1. ^ Unknown crusader castles, Kristian Molin p.236, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001
2. ^ Two accounts of the conquest of Cyprus by Richard I (1191)
3. ^ Voula Konti, BYZANTINA SYMMEIKTA, ΣΥΜΜΕΙΚΤΑ 6, ΣΥΜΒΟΛΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΗ ΓΕΩΓΡΑΦΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΡΚΑΔΙΑΣ (395-1209) (Contribution to the Historical Geography of Arcadia 395-1209), page 95