Mategriffon or Mategrifon or Mathegriffon was a medieval castle near Messina, Sicily, initially built as a wooden castle by Richard Ist

Richard I of England

Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...

, king of England and demolished before his departure in 1191 from Messina for the conquest of Cyprus. Another reference to the castle is also made during the Sicilian Vespers

Sicilian Vespers

The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Angevin king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks three thousand French men and women were slain by...

, 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

Principality of Achaea

The Principality of Achaea or of the Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, along with the Duchy of Athens, until Thessalonica...

around the 13th and the 14th centuries.