Faith and Peace...or not

The Order of the Faith and Peace or Order of the Sword was a military order founded in Gascony in the mid-thirteenth century. It is first mentioned by Pope Gregory IX in 1231 in a letter to the master of the order:

“magistro militiae ordinis sancti Jacobi ejusque fratribus tam presentibus quam futuris ad defensionem fidei et pacis in Guasconia constitutis.”

(the master of the military order of Saint James and his brothers present and future constituted for the defence of the faith and of the peace in Gascony.)

The order was founded by the Archbishop of the province of Auch. Its stated purpose was not to fight heresy, but keep the peace. Somewhat ironically, the order’s first major patron was Gaston VII de Montcada (1225-1290) Viscount de Béarn, one of the most belligerent and grasping noblemen in the duchy.

The idea behind a military order that acted as a police force was a good one, but doomed to fail since the Gascon gentry had no interest in peace. If they weren’t fighting the French or the English, they were predating on each other. The order is mentioned in the only surviving ‘sirventes’ - Occitan lyric poetry - composed by Peire Guillem de Tolosa. This took the form of a duet between Peire and his co-writer, the contemporary Italian poet, Sordello de Goito.

Peire apparently started out as a monk in Toulouse, but according to the poem he chose to leave his monastery and enter the “Order of Spaza” or Order of the Sword. Peire is depicted twice in an illustrated manuscript; once in his early life as a monk, and then in later life as a Knight of Santiago. The Order of Santiago in Spain was the parent house of the Order of the Sword, and it appears the knights of both wore the same “uniform”.

Whoever chooses may take him...

Over the winter of 1244-45 warfare continued to rage in Wales. A remarkably complete account survives of the expenses of John Lestrange, justice of Chester, in his efforts against Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn. The account lists the payments made to mounted and foot serjeants in rescuing the castles of Dyserth and Mold from Dafydd, implying the prince focused his efforts on these two strongholds. He had hoped to gain Mold via arbitration with Henry III in 1241, but was disappointed.

Henry managed to keep his garrisons in Wales supplied over the winter, and the conflict started to drift into stalemate. Then, on 5 February 1245, the Welsh gained a victory over the southern Marcher army, led by Herbert Fitz Matthew. On the night before the battle, Herbert is said to have experienced a premonition of his death, and in the morning said to his comrades:

“Many times have I indulged in the use of arms, and exposed myself to the dangers of war, but today, as I sincerely believe, my oft-repeated feats of arms will be brought to a final close.”

After this less than inspiring speech, Herbert led his men into a narrow pass between Margam and Aberafan near Baglan castle. The local Welsh were lying in wait, and from the crags hurled stones and javelins down at the English as they struggled through the pass. Herbert was buried under a mass of rock, and his men halted to bury him on the spot.

Another version of the tale says that Herbert was only knocked off his horse, and the Welsh came down to capture him. They fell to arguing over who should take him prisoner, until one of them stabbed him from behind and declared:

“Now, whoever chooses may take him.”

His body was stripped naked and only recognised the next day by an emerald ring. Shortly afterwards the fortunes of war swung the other way, and three hundred of Prince Dafydd’s men were slaughtered in an ambush near Montgomery. Dafydd stuck to his task and finally captured Mold castle on 28 March 1245. The constable, Roger Monthaut, had escaped before the castle fell, and both sides now took to butchering innocents, with neither party showing any respect to age, sex or rank.

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.

Longsword review

A nice review of the latest Longsword tale from a fellow author, Joe Corso:

 "I have made it a practice to read David Pilling's books concerning historical fiction. The King's Rebels was as good as his other books, full of intrigue and spycraft. If you enjoy ancient books on the Roman Legions, or action books written about ancient European history you will enjoy this book. Another great job by Pilling."

Joe Corso author of Lafitte's Treasure

Longsword (V): The King's rebels on Amazon US

Independence come early

In the summer of 1244, while Prince Dafydd raised war in Wales, Henry III marched north to confront Alexander II of Scotland. Henry had already given orders to mobilise at Newcastle in preparation for a massive invasion, including the construction of siege engines and 30,000 crossbow bolts. If the invasion had gone ahead, the Wars of Independence might have come early with Longshanks (born in 1239) barely astride his first pony.

The cause of the trouble was apparently a statement by Alexander, who declared he held nothing of his realm from the King of England. There was also a hefty dollop of intrigue, with a band of Scottish exiles at Henry’s court accusing the King of Scots of plotting an alliance with France. As with Henry’s Welsh campaigns in this decade, the situation eerily foreshadowed the later conflicts under Edward I.

The details are confusing. Henry’s specific allegation against the Scots was that Walter Comyn and other Scottish nobles had fortified two castles in Galway and Lothian, to the prejudice of the king of England, and contrary to the charters of their ancestors. Comyn had also entered into a secret alliance with the French, and received outlaws and fugitives from England. He did this, Henry alleged, to draw men away from the king’s allegiance.

Alexander moved first and invaded England. According to Matthew Paris, he pitched camp near Newcastle with an army of a thousand mounted knights and a hundred thousand footsoldiers; an impossible figure, though Alexander had obviously come fully loaded. Henry advanced to confront him with five thousand knights, which again sounds impossibly large: Edward I could only raise two thousand knights for the Falkirk campaign in 1298, when he raised the largest army seen in the British Isles since 1066.

Battle was avoided thanks to the efforts of Walter Gray and Richard of Cornwall, Henry’s brother, who brokered peace between the two armies. Alexander promised not to enter into any foreign alliance against Henry unless he was ‘unjustly oppressed’ by him.

In the charter or peace agreement, Alexander referred to Henry as his liege lord. Possibly that only applied to Alexander’s lands in England, though the text doesn’t say as much. The pope was then asked to confirm the agreement, and to restrain and censure Alexander and his heirs if they ever deviated from it.

Vassal states

Attached is a fairly important document relating to the history of medieval Wales. It is a response from Pope Innocent IV to Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn, dated 8 April 1245, to the latter’s plea that Wales should be held from Rome as a papal fiefdom. This would sever feudal ties to the English crown, and make Wales a vassal state of the papacy.

Most of this story comes from Matthew Paris, who cannot be trusted. Fortunately this response from the pope survives, which confirms the essence of it. The letter of the papal court references Dafydd’s argument that his parents had given him to the church of Rome as a child - an alumnus or ward - and on this account he sought absolution from the pledges forced upon him by Henry III via the treaties of Rhuddlan and London.

Dafydd claimed that these pledges had been extracted from him by ‘force and fear’. If so this rendered them null and void, for medieval jurisprudence discounted any oath exacted under duress. The document of the treaty of London states that Dafydd had surrendered Gwynedd to King Henry of his own free will - his ‘liberality’ - which is a classic example of medieval legalism. No prince in command of his faculties ever surrendered his patrimony unless he was forced: in crude terms, we may imagine Dafydd putting his seal to the London treaty while a man stood behind him with a big stick.

Coincidentally - or not - Dafydd’s request was the exact same deal later offered by Edward I to Pope Boniface VIII over the duchy of Gascony. If Boniface agreed to take Gascony as a papal fief, that would have severed feudal ties with France and meant future kings of England did not have to swear homage and fealty to the Capetian kings in Paris. It would also remove any legal pretext for French invasions of Gascony. Equally, Dafydd sought to cut Wales loose from the English crown and remove any cause for English military aggression against his country. Whether or not Edward was influenced by Prince Dafydd, a Welsh prince who died when he was just seven years old, is unknowable. That said, the strategy in both cases is the same. Neither ploy worked.

Within a year of Dafydd’s request, Pope Innocent responded that every Christian knew that the prince of Wales was no more than a minor vassal of the king of England. Innocent’s view may have been influenced by a hefty English bribe. As Lloyd put it, the response of His Divine Brilliance revealed “not obscurely the influence of the weightier purse”.