Finding Jerusalem

The Commendiato Lamentabilis in Transitu Magni Regis Edwardi is a lengthy eulogy to Edward I of England, composed shortly after his death in 1307 by John of London. John was a clerk in the service of Edward’s widowed consort, Margaret of France. His text was widely copied and distributed about England at the time, and presents a highly complex image of fourteenth-century kingship.

The text consists of a short summary or preface followed by eight lamentations, proffered respectively by the Pope, the kings of Christendom, Queen Margaret, the prelates, earls and barons, clergy, and general laity, each highlighting different aspects of royal virtue. Edward is presented as the greatest of kings, comparable to Arthur and various Biblical figures. His people, the Pope exhorted, should now grieve as Job had grieved over the loss of his sons, Abraham over the death of Sarah, Judah over the death of Josiah, and Christ over Lazarus.

Edward’s deeds in life, so often portrayed as negative or even wicked in modern times, are shown as proof of his greatness. His crusade, the conquest of Wales, the wars against the Scots and the expulsion of the Jews are all celebrated. The Commendiato is a form of propaganda, of course, but we should not fall into the trap of imagining that Edward’s contemporaries thought as we do. So far as they were concerned, his war-mongering and bigotry - as his more extreme critics might put it - were ideal traits in a king.

The dominant theme is Edward’s piety and desire to rescue the Holy Land. His Christian enemies, especially Philip IV of France, are condemned as enemies of holy church and worse than Saracens. Philip had, after all, prevented Edward from liberating Jerusalem. There is some basis for this hyperbole: Edward did genuinely plan to go on crusade again in 1293, but the outbreak of war with France prevented it.

A depiction of Jerusalem

Interestingly, the Commendiato is echoed by another eulogy for Edward, composed in Anglo-Norman. This repeats the charge against Philip and expresses the hope that, even in death, Edward’s spirit might yet find its way to the Holy Land:

“Place à Dieu en Trinité,/Que vostre fiz en pust conquere/Jerusalem la digne cite,/E passer en la seinte tere!”

The sheer length of the Commendiato is unusual for royal eulogies at this time. One comparison is the panegyric for King Wenceslas II of Bohemia (died 1305), who was praised in similar terms. He, too, was a pious king who had aggressively expanded his territory: not for reasons of mere empire-building, but because he loved justice and hated evil-doers. The peculiar emphasis on mercy and clemency, as necessary adjuncts to brutal wars of conquest, may come across as laughable hypocrisy to us. Yet these were the traits and behaviours required of successful kings.

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Goronwy's end

Goronwy ap Heilyn is last seen at Llanberis, at the foot of Snowdon, on 2 May 1283. He was among the last cohort of supporters of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, who had assumed the title Prince of Wales after the death of his brother, Llywelyn, the previous December.

Sunset over Llanberis

Dafydd had wanted the crown all his life. Now it was finally in his grasp, in circumstances that resemble the last act of Macbeth. He had no soldiers left, no castles after the fall of Castell y Bere in April, and was reduced to hiding in the mountains issuing pointless charters to men who had already deserted him.

His final acts as prince occured on 2 May. On that day Gruffudd ap Maredudd, one of Dafydd’s remaining supporters, agreed to grant Cantref Penwedding to Rhys Fychan of Ceredigion. At the same time Dafydd empowered one of his officers, John son of David, to call out the men of Builth, Brecon, Maelienydd, Elfael, Gwerthyrnion and Kerry. The intention was to summon one last army and stage a final stand against the troops of Edward I as they poured into the mountain citadel.

Unknown to Dafydd, Rhys Fychan had surrendered to the king at Rhuddlan at the start of March. In exchange for his life, Rhys agreed to do military service at Aberystwyth for forty days for a fee of £16:

“Payment to Res ap Mailgun, admitted to the lord king’s wages, by order of lord W. de Valence, the lord bishop of St David’s and lord Robert Tybbetot, to guard the land of ‘Lanpader’ with 2 covered horses and 4 uncovered horses and 24 foot-soldiers, from 11 March until Monday 19 April, for 40 days, £16.”

Nobody answered Dafydd’s military summons, since the men of Maelienydd and elsewhere had already submitted to the king.

Goronwy was one of those who witnessed these two futile charters. He was killed shortly afterwards, probably in a skirmish during the final days of the invasion. All we know of his death is a brief note in the survey of the Honour of Denbigh, drawn up in 1334. This records that Goronwy ap Heilyn Sais had died ‘contra pacem’ - against the peace. The lands of his son, Madog, escheated to the crown, while another son, Llywelyn, was still in prison in 1316.

Ruthless justice

A foot in both camps (5)

On 14 November 1281 Reynold de Grey was appointed justice of Chester, with custody of the men of Chester and the two cantreds of Rhos and Englefield in northeast Wales. Grey’s appointment, more than any other, has been identified as the greatest single contributor to the war of 1282-3 in Wales. As a direct result of his actions, the men of North Wales regarded themselves as absolved from the oaths they had sworn to the English crown:

“Reynold de Grey, on an objective appraisal of the evidence which is available to us, must bear a grave responsibility for the resort to armed resistance in the spring of 1282.”

- J Beverley-Smith, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales

Yet, despite the importance of the evidence against Grey, nobody has ever translated it from the printed material in the register of Archbishop John Peckham. So it falls to yours truly and my friends, for which we will no doubt receive knighthoods.

One of those who protested against Grey was Goronwy ap Heilyn. He presented his own complaints before the king, while another set of complaints was presented on his behalf by the men of Rhos and Englefield. I’ve only just started looking at this material and will provide translations in future posts.

Grey’s first action was to remove Goronwy from his office as bailiff of Rhos, and his kinsman Cynfrig ap Goronwy as bailiff of Englefield. They were replaced by Grey’s officers, Welsh and English, each of whom was identified as agents of ‘ruthless justice’. The likes of Cynfrig Sais and Cynfrig Fychan would incur the wrath of Welsh communities no less than Hick Lemayn and Robert Crevequer.

A mix of kings

A foot in both camps (3)

In December 1279 Goronwy ap Heilyn took an inquisition concerning the manor of Prestatyn in the Four Cantreds, northeast Wales. He presided alongside the Justice of Chester, Guncelin de Badlesmere, Cynrwig ap Gronw, bailiff of Rhuddlan, and the Archdeacon of St Asaph.

It was presented that Richard, once king of England, had possessed the manor by right of conquest and bequeathed it to Henry III, who in turn bequeathed it to Edward I. The ‘right of conquest’ was perfectly valid in law, which makes one wonder why anyone bothered to dress it up with claims of legitimacy and birth etc. This applied to William the Conqueror all the way down to Henry Tudor.

Owain Gwynedd

Sir Robert Banastre challenged the king’s right to Prestatyn on the basis that the aforesaid King Richard - presumably Richard the Lionheart - had granted the same manor to Robert’s grandfather, another Robert. Owain Gwynedd, then Prince of Wales, then violently ejected the grandfather and destroyed the town he built on the manor.

Several points of interest. One, Robert didn’t know his history, or pretended not to. His ancestors first came to Wales during the time of William the Conqueror, and his grandfather was granted Prestatyn by Henry II, not Richard I. Second, Owain Gwynedd died in 1170, nineteen years before Richard became king. In 1167 he destroyed the tower at Prestatyn built by Robert’s grandfather. Afterwards the Banastres fled into Lancashire, where they were granted lands by the Earl of Chester.

Despite getting his kings mixed up, it seems Robert’s plea was succesful. His granddaughter Anghard married Sir Henry Conwy of Richmond, Yorkshire, after which Prestatyn remained in the Conwy family for centuries. They became Welsh gentry and eventually married into Welsh royalty: Jenkyn Conwy, Robert’s descendent, married the daughter of Maredudd ap Hywel ap Dafydd, who was lineally descended from…Owain Gwynedd.

History is irony.

The obstinate spear

The Dragon of Chirk (4)

In the years after 1277, Llywelyn found that his defection to the English crown was not a passport to joy. He did not go without rewards: in November 1279 the king granted him and his heirs a weekly market and annual fair at Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in Cynllaith. This promised to create new wealth in the lordship, but also caused friction with the rival market at Oswestry.

Llywelyn had a bitter ongoing feud with the men of Ellesmere and Oswestry. Ellesmere had only been part of England for about thirty years, since Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn surrendered it to Henry III. The town was previously part of the marriage portion of King Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd and Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, when they took English royal wives. By the reign of Edward I, though located in the east of the north Shropshire borderland, Ellesmere still supported a significant Welsh population.

A (possible) bust of Llywelyn the Great

Shortly after the war ended, Llywelyn complained to the king that certain of “the Welsh” were rejoicing at his difficulties. These Welsh can probably be identified with the men of Ellesmere, whom the poet Llygad Gwr encouraged Llywelyn to attack:

“Llywelyn, may there be a host of armed steeds,
And fame and the conquest of the vale of Ceiriog.
Thou brave one of the claim of content and of the long wrathful charge,
Who makes commotion with your men, may they be submissive
To you, the dragon of Chirk, with the obstinate spear;
And burning Whittingdon be yours, overshadowing lord.
And may Ellesmere bear your wounds, thou of the honoured following.
Fleet eagle of spears, of subduing vehemence,
In the front of battle almighty prince…”

To add to his problems, Ellesmere and Oswestry were under the jurisdiction of Roger and John Lestrange of Knockin, whom Llywelyn hated. When Roger gave shelter to the men of Whittingdon, Llywelyn informed the king in no uncertain terms that the Lestranges were:

“...our enemies and challenge us for other lands of our right and to whom we do not propose in the least to show faith nor ought we.”

Of land and lordship

The Dragon of Chirk (3) The war of 1277 ended with mixed fortunes for the sons of Gruffudd ap Madog. They all survived it, though not for very long in the case of Madog, the eldest. He died a month after the Treaty of Aberconwy in November, leaving two young sons and a widow.

Of the others, Gruffydd Fychan was the only one to stand by Prince Llywelyn during the war. He was pardoned by the king and permitted to hold part of Edeirnion and Ial as a tenant-in-chief. Llywelyn Fychan and Owain retained their lands.

A fresh disaster then swept over Powys Fadog. The territory had been subdivided twice in six years, first by Prince Llywelyn and then by King Edward, exposing the weakness of Gruffudd’s dynasty. Suddenly a glut of long-lost heirs popped out of the woodwork, all claiming to be descendants of ancient Powysian princes. These men had long since been deprived of land and lordship, but now they smelled blood.

The claimants included the four sons of Einion ap Gruffudd of Bromfield, who demanded part of Cynllaith; Gruffudd ap Gruffudd of Kinnerton, his three brothers and a certain Iorwerth Fychan, all descendants of Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd (died 1171), who demanded the lands of Nanheudwy, Mochnant Is Rhaeadr and Cynllaith; and a certain Roger ap Gruffudd of Bromfield, who demanded one-fifth part of Bromfield, Nanheudwy, Ial and Mochnant Is Rhaeadr.

Roger claimed to be another son of Gruffudd ap Madog. If true, this is very odd: he was the only one to have an English name and doesn’t appear on any previous documents or charters. Possibly he was a bastard, fathered by Gruffudd on an unknown Englishwoman. Llywelyn Fychan and his brother Owain denied Roger’s right in court at Montgomery, held at Michaelmas in 1281.

A Welsh judge or ynaid

Llywelyn and his brothers refused to surrender an inch of ground to these upstarts. The sons of Einion ap Gruffudd won their case in respect of the vill of Nancennin, and the king’s bailiff of Dinas Bran was ordered to put them in possession. He reported he could not so because of the power of Llywelyn Fychan, who refused a direct order from royal justices to give up the vill.

The Pillar of Eliseg

Castell Dinas Bran, high above the Dee valley near Llangollen. One of the earliest notices of the castle is in December 1270, when the heirs of Gruffudd ap Madog confirmed grants that their father had made to his wife, Emma Audley. The deed is dated at Dinas Bran, which means that enough of a structure must have existed by then; otherwise the family would have gathered on an exposed hilltop, which seems unlikely.

The reasons for building a stone castle on this lofty perch were twofold. It overlooked the dynastic abbey of Valle Crucis and the pillar or cross of Eliseg, suggesting the lords of Powys Fadog regarded this area as the cradle of their dynasty. Second, the castle shows traces of design influences from Gwynedd, and may have been intended as part of a defensive cordon of strongholds devised by Prince Llywelyn. These also included Ewloe, Dolforwyn, Bryn Amlwg and Rhyd y Briw. The D-tower at Dinas Bran is typical of the design of castles of the princes of Gwynedd.

Gruffudd had died in 1269. Hailed as “potens et prudens” - powerful and discreet - by chroniclers, his loss was a severe blow to Prince Llywelyn, who had already lost another valued advisor, Goronwy ab Ednyfed, in the previous year. The death of these men in quick succession may have been key to Llywelyn’s downfall, since his fortunes declined from 1269 onward.

Following the death of Gruffudd, his lordship was divided among four of his sons. Prince Llywelyn gave Maelor Gymraeg and Maelor Saesneg to Madog, and half of Glyndyfrdwy. Llywelyn Fychan, the Dragon of Chirk, got Nanheudwy, part of Cynllaith, part of Mochnant and Carreghofa. Gruffydd Fychan, a direct ancestor of Owain Glyn Dwr, got part of Glyndyfrdwy and Ial, while Owain got Bangor Is Coed and another part of Cynllaith. Madog’s primacy among the brothers is shown in the record of the trial of Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn in 1274, where Madog witnessed the main record of the trial.

The crowned one of Mathrafal

The closeness of the relationship between Gruffudd ap Madog and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was made apparent in 1258, when Llywelyn proposed to marry his sister Margaret to his new ally. Gruffudd also took the opportunity to seize those lands in Powys that had been held by his brothers, especially those of Hywel. Consequently Hywel ap Madog remained loyal to the English and received cash gifts from Henry III. In October Henry wrote to Hywel condoning his efforts to recover his lost lands, but warned him not to disturb the truce that existed between the king and the Welsh. Quite how Hywel was supposed to take back his lands without disturbing the peace is unclear, but he was doubtless grateful for the money.

The parity or partnership with equals between Llywelyn and Gruffudd could not last long. Llywelyn first assumed the title Prince of Wales in March 1258, in an agreement between Scottish and Welsh lords in which Gruffudd was named third in the list of Welsh rulers, after Llywelyn and his brother Dafydd. A man who would be king (or prince) could have no equals, and Gruffudd found himself slowly relegated to the B-list.

The fragile nature of Gruffudd’s relationship with Llywelyn is implied in the poetry of Llygad Gwr. In 1258, Llygad emphasised Gruffudd’s rightful lordship over Powys:

“Gruffudd…a ddalio Powys” (may Gruffudd hold Powys)

“Ohonawd henyw dadanudd” (the recovery of a patrimony springs from you)

In a slightly later poem, Llygad changes his tune somewhat and praises Llywelyn as supreme in Gwynedd and the war-leader active from Pulford to Cydweli. He is also praised as the “crowned one of Mathrafal”. Mathrafal, at least as far as Gwynedd jurists were concerned, was the chief court of Powys.

Llywelyn’s influence in Powys was also demonstrated by his agreement with Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn in December 1263. Among the lands Llywelyn restored to Gruffudd was Deuddwr, part of Y Tair Swydd. Deuddwr had been a bone of contention between Gwenwynwyn and Gruffudd ap Madog, and Llywelyn chose to award it to the former.

[The grassy bump in the ground is all that remains of Mathrafal castle]

Secret treasure

In 1926 a pottery jug containing seventy silver pennies was discovered at Wrexham, in the heart of Maelor Gymraeg or “the Welsh Maelor”. Though some of the coins have been dispersed since the original discovery, those that are available for study indicate a deposition of c.1245: this study was made in the mid-1980s by George C. Boon, an archaeologist and museum curator.

The dating of the hoard, and the signs of it being hastily deposited in the ground, most likely connect it to the ravaging of Powys by the armies of Gwynedd. This was a consequence of the refusal of Gruffydd ap Madog, lord of northern Powys, to abandon his fealty to Henry III and join with Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn. According to the Bruts, Dafydd had sent letters to all the princes of Wales, encouraging them to join a movement to free the country from English control. He appears to have warned Gruffydd that King Henry was planning to undermine native rule in Powys by introducing English laws and customs: this would explain a surviving letter from the king to Gruffydd, in which Henry insisted that it was never his intention to make changes in the customs and laws used hitherto.

For good measure, Henry also confirmed Gruffydd in all the lands that his father had justly held. Further evidence of the ravaging of Gruffydd’s lands can be found in the account rolls. These show Henry making compensation payments to Gruffydd and his brother Hywel (40 marks to Gruffydd and 25 to Hywel) in October 1244, and then a second payment of 100 marks to them both in November. Their nephew Einion ap Gruffudd was paid fifteen marks. More payments followed, indicating Henry was following the policy of his ancestor, Henry II, in retaining the loyalty of the lords of Powys via regular cash sweeteners. In total Gruffydd received about £460 over a period of fifteen years.

Henry III

Great things

By the autumn of 1246 the blockade on Wales, imposed by Henry III, had started to wear down the resistance of the princes. In September two prominent Welsh nobles, supporters of the late Llywelyn the Great and Prince Dafydd, defected to the king. One, Tewdwr ab Ednyfed, was gifted a horse to serve in the royal army. Another, Roger Vychan the son of Prince Gwallter Clud of Elfael, also came to the king’s peace and was granted wages to maintain himself in royal service.

Henry III

The scene now shifted to northern Ceredigion, where the men of Maelgwn Fychan were still holding out. Over the summer Robert Walerand led the Marcher army in two separate expeditions against Maelgwn’s followers, for which he was paid £102 12 shillings from the lands of Earl Walter Marshal. On 30 August Maelgwn himself was conducted to the king by Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, who was ordered:

“not to allow any harm to come to Maelgwn in his lands whether he makes peace with the king or not until his safe conduct expires.”

This final surrender had been brought about by Walerand, who was paid an extra £40 for leading a third and final cavalry raid against Maelgwn’s lands. Some resistance was maintained by the ‘old man who was Maelgwn’s steward’. This elderly gent captured two of the young sons of John Luring, one of the Marchers, and held them in prison for a while. Luring was pardoned ten marks by the king so he could send the money to feed his children in prison: it seems the steward chose to treat the captives decently.

Shortly before 6 November the old steward was in turn captured by Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, and delivered up to John Lestrange at Chester. On 25 November the king declared he had taken Maelgwn Fychan into his peace and granted him two commotes in Ceredigion, namely Genau’r Glyn and Iscoed.

This went directly against Henry’s earlier agreement with Maredudd ab Owain. In exchange for his service, Maredudd had been promised all the lands of his neighbour Maelgwn. Now the king reneged on that agreement and gave Genau’r Glyn and Iscoed, which had belonged to Maredudd, to Maelgwn. Henry seems to have tried to compensate: in January 1249, three years later, he granted Maelgwn’s land of Iscoed Uwch Hirwyn to Maredudd.

Such a fudged compromise cannot have pleased Maredudd. He had expected great things, but instead lost two manors and (eventually) received one in return. Maelgwn was probably relieved just to survive, but such arbitrary actions cannot have pacified the proud Welsh princes:

“Wales at this time experienced a cessation of arable and dairy farming and of commerce, and the inhabitants suffered from want. They accepted English rule unwillingly; their time-honoured aristocratic pride fell into decline; and the harps even of the churchmen turned to mourning and lamentation.”

 - Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora

Eight pence equals one hen

On 23 September 1245 a pitched battle took place - we might call it a mass brawl - over a stranded supply ship from Ireland on the banks of the River Conwy. The ship was loaded with provisions for sale to the army of Henry III, camped at Deganwy, but it had run aground on the Welsh side of the river.

Seeing this, the Welsh rushed down from the heights to grab the supplies as the boat lay on dry ground. Henry sent three hundred Welsh borderers, some crossbowmen and a band of knights to stop them. The Welsh retreated to the mountains and woods, pursued by the king’s men. Some of the fugitives were killed, but then the pursuers stopped to plunder the Cistercian abbey of Aberconwy.

This gave the Welsh time to rally. They ‘rushed with noisy shouts’ upon the king’s men, who were laden with goodies taken from the abbey. Now it was their turn to flee in panic; many were slaughtered in the rout or drowned in the river. Among the casualties were four knights, Alan Bucel, Adam Moia, Geoffrey Sturmy and a Gascon crossbowman named Raymond, who had evidently risen from low birth only to be struck down in North Wales. Raymond was a favourite of Henry’s, who used to make ‘great sport’ of him.

At this point the war got really nasty. Some of the English knights were taken prisoner, and soon afterwards the Welsh learned that Henry’s men had killed some Welsh captives, including a nobleman named Naveth son of Odo. In revenge they dragged their prisoners to the banks of the Conwy, tore them to pieces and threw the body parts into the river, in full sight of the English army on the other side.

The Welsh launched a second attack on the stranded boat, now defended by Walter Bisset and his men. Fighting raged on until midnight, until the sea rose and caused the ship to roll. At this the Welsh withdrew again, only to come back in the morning to find the English had abandoned ship. They promptly seized the sixty casks of wine aboard and made off with them.

Starving and desperate, King Henry’s men were reduced to a state of feral savagery. They threw themselves upon the Welsh, slaughtered and decapitated a hundred of them, and brought the reeking heads back into camp to claim the customary bounty of twopence per head. Thanks to the lack of supplies, one chicken inside the English camp now cost eightpence: thus, four Welsh lives bought one hen. Food supplies continued to dwindle, and men and horses died in droves.

In cold and nakedness

In late August 1245 Henry III arrived at Deganwy after a slow march from Chester, hampered by Welsh guerilla attacks and a large supply train. While his engineers set about refortifying the castle, the king’s soldiers camped on the exposed heights.

On 24 September one of Henry’s nobles (which one isn’t stated) sent a letter to his friends in England. Matthew Paris happened to include a copy of the letter in his Chronica Majora, and the text supplies an extremely rare first-hand account of warfare in medieval Wales. The correspondent makes it sound like a thirteenth century version of the Eastern front in World War II. He describes the wretched state of the army, devoid of supplies and winter gear:

 “We are dwelling around it [Deganwy] in tents, employed in watchings, fastings, and prayers, and admidst cold and nakedness. In watchings, through fear of the Welsh attacking us by night; in fastings, on account of a deficiency of provisions, for a farthing loaf now costs five pence; in prayers, that we may soon return home safe and uninjured; and we are oppressed by cold and nakedness, because our houses are of canvas, and we are without winter clothing.”

Henry’s commissariat had started to break down early in the month. On 6 September he ordered that supplies were to be sent from Chester even on a Sunday, and that he would pay for them as soon as he could. On the following day he ordered John Lestrange at Chester to buy fifteen wagonloads of iron and steel and send them by the first available ships to Deganwy. Another 15,000 crossbow bolts were to be sent from St Briavels to Chester and then shipped to Deganwy. On 20 September compensation was paid out to to drivers who had lost their carts and horses in the king’s service, and six days later Henry ordered another massive supply of 30,000 crossbow bolts to be sent to Deganwy “with all possible speed, by day and by night”.

Increasing Welsh pressure meant that supplies could no longer be sent to the army by land. The king had predicted this emergency in June, when he ordered the justiciar of Ireland to prepare all the galleys he had for the king’s expedition into Wales. The Irish navigators were not up to the task: it seems just one vessel made it through, only to ground on a sandbank on the Welsh side of the River Conwy. The stranded vessel became the focal point of the only pitched battle of the war.

A great hosting against the Welsh

In the spring and summer of 1245, while Henry III prepared to invade North Wales, a string of payments was made to his garrisons in the Marches. On 12 May the sheriff of Hereford was ordered to transport 6000 crossbow bolts from St Briavels to Monmouth to help supply the army based at Buellt. Later in the months arrears of wages were paid out at Montgomery and other places. These included money for loss of horses, implying the Marchers were under orders to mount constant forays against the allies of Prince Dafydd.

Montgomery castle

For instance, at the end of February 1245 a pitched battle was fought near Montgomery, in which three hundred of Dafydd’s men were killed. This engagement is reflected in the payment of fifty marks (£33 6s 8d) sent from Deganwy to the garrison at Montgomery for ‘the horses lately lost on service at Montgomery’. Thus, in this case, it is possible to tally the chronicle accounts of a battle with the records of the administration. If only it was possible in all cases.

Not that the administration was perfect. On 18 June 1245 the king ordered a payment of four marks to a squad of royal sergeants for guarding Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and other Welsh prisoners in the Tower of London for forty days. This was an unfortunate hiccup, since Gruffydd had died the previous March when he fell off the Tower trying to escape from prison. Presumably his guards were happy to take the cash for a job they hadn’t been doing.

The annals of Connacht

For his great effort in Wales, Henry also turned to the resources of Ireland. An Irish lord of Connacht, Fedlimid mac Cathail Chrobdeirg, was summoned to join the king’s host at Deganwy. This was recorded in the Annals of Connacht (translated from the Gaelic):

“The King of the English made a great hosting against the Welsh. They encamped at Cannock Castle, and the King sent legates bearing letters to the Irish Galls and to Fedlimid mac Cathail Chrobdeirg, bidding them to attend him, to conquer the Welsh. Then the Justiciar and the Irish Galls repaired to the King, and Fedlimid O Conchobair with a great army went to the help of the King in Wales.”

To control the Welsh

“It is not easy to control the Welsh except through one of their own race.” This is from a letter addressed to John Monmouth, Justiciar of South Wales, from Nichola Fitz Martin of Cemais and other Marcher lords in September 1244.

The context of the letter is the war between Henry III and Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Over the summer the Marchers invaded the lands of Maredudd ab Owain in Cardiganshire, only to find there was nothing to plunder. This implies that Maredudd had stripped his lands of goods and livestock etc to induce the Marchers to parley.

The Marshal arms

They agreed to talk. Maredudd stated that he had only left the king’s fealty and joined Dafydd because of lack of ‘maintenance and aid’ i.e. the crown wasn’t sending him enough money. After some haggling, it was agreed that Maredudd would come back to the king in exchange for land originally granted to him by Henry’s ancestors; these included the lands of Maelgwn ap Maelgwn, the king’s enemy, who would be disinherited in favour of Maredudd.

Pembroke Castle

The Marchers recommended this form of peace, since it was easier to control the Welsh via a friendly Welsh prince: we could call this a divide and rule policy. They cited as an example the career of William Marshal junior, son of the famous Earl of Pembroke, who had ‘controlled the Welsh at his will’. Marshal did this by granting two manors to one Cynan ap Hywel, a Welsh noble, in order to hold down the Welsh through him. And, the letter concludes, ‘so he did’.

Prince Dafydd and Henry III

Away from the tabloid waffle of Matthew Paris, Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn’s war against Henry III in 1245 is quite well-documented. In June John Lestrange, justice of Chester, wrote to the king:

“If you cannot send an army to Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn’s district in the March, send forty or fifty knights with sergeants thither, so that the Welsh who are loyal may see that help is forthcoming, and lest they should cease to be loyal. Prince Dafydd has a strong force between Chester and Diserth castle, and Lestrange cannot without a great force approach the castle to stock it with supplies. He has sufficient money for the moment, but there are not in the three counties thirty men who have horses for use in necessity.”

The arms of Powys Wenwynwyn

Henry’s response was to purchase one horse each for his captains in Wales. These were named as John Lestrange himself, John Monmouth, Gruffydd ap Madog of Bromfield and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. The two Gruffydds, therefore, continued in their bitter opposition towards Dafydd. In the south another Marcher army under Robert Chandos and Nicholas Fitz Martin invaded the lands of Maredudd ab Owain of Ceredigion. Maredudd, who would later win the battle of Cymerau, opened talks with the Marchers. He stated his willingness to come to the king’s peace, provided he was given the lands of Maelgwn Fychan, one of his neighbours. This was granted.

In the meantime, Henry took steps to ensure the security of the sons of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, who were in his custody. On 16 July he ordered the sheriff of London to send Owain Goch and his fellows, prisoners in the Tower, to the custody of John Lestrange. Lestrange was then ordered to provide food and clothing for Rhodri, Gruffydd’s third son, held in Chester prison for safe keeping.

Further orders reveal the split loyalties in Wales. Again on 16 July, Henry ordered provison to be made for the men of Englefield or Tegeingl in northeast Wales, who had abandoned Prince Dafydd and crossed the border to join the king’s army. He also told Lestrange to maintain Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn and his men, who had nothing for their subsistence.

On the banks of the Elwy

In the autumn of 1240, after swearing homage to Henry III, Prince Dafydd returned to Gwynedd and arrested his brother Gruffydd for a second time. He did this by inviting Gruffydd to a council and then breaking the safe-conduct:

“Dafydd, simultaneously forgetful of their fraternity and their honesty, ordered him to be seized and, even though the leaders were unwilling and cried out in protest, he ordered him to be consigned to the safe keeping of jail.”

 - Matthew Paris

Rhuddlan Castle

Along with Dafydd’s contumacy over the rights to Mold castle, King Henry now had all the reasons he needed to invade North Wales. In August he advanced from Chester to Shrewsbury, accompanied by Ralph Mortimer, Gruffudd ap Madog and his brothers Hywel and Maredudd, Maredudd ap Robert of Cydewain, Walter Clifford, Roger of Mold and Maelgwn Fychan.

Henry III

At Shrewsbury, on 12 August, Henry was met by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn’s wife, Senana. Earlier, at Easter, she had gone to Henry’s court to persuade the king to secure her husband’s release from Dafydd’s prison. Now she tried again, and this time offered cash. In exchange for 600 marks (£400), she asked Henry to deliver Gruffudd and her son Owain Goch from captivity.

Henry took the money, but his agreement was carefully worded. He offered to deliver Gruffydd and Owain from prison on condition that Gruffudd would ‘abide by the judgement of the king’s court, whether lawfully he ought to be detained in prison’. Unless Senana was naive, she must have appreciated what this meant: Gruffydd and Owain would be taken from Dafydd’s prison into royal custody. So long as Henry could use him as leverage against Dafydd, Gruffydd would never be released. Perhaps Senana realised this, but had better hopes of obtaining the release of her son. In any event, it was better than Gruffydd should abide with his step-uncle than his half-brother, who would in all likelihood have him killed.

The king moved on. Like his son over thirty years later, he overran the northeast coast and pitched his headquarters at Rhuddlan. Before the end of August, on the banks of the Elwy in the cantref of Rhos, Prince Dafydd came to the king and threw down his arms.