Welsh Soldiers In The Later Middle Ages 1282 1422

Examines the role of Welsh soldiers in English armies, from the conquests under Edward I through to the Battle of Agincourt.

This is a study of the landed gentry of north Wales from the Edwardian conquest in the thirteenth century to the incorporation of Wales in the Tudor state in the sixteenth. The limitation of the discussion to north Wales is deliberate; there has often been a tendency to treat Wales as a single region, but it is important to stress that, like any other country, it is itself made up of regions and that a uniformity based on generalisation cannot be imposed. This book describes the development of the gentry in one part of Wales from an earlier social structure and an earlier pattern of land tenure, and how the gentry came to rule their localities. There have been a number of studies of the medieval English gentry, usually based on individual counties, but the emphasis in a Welsh study is not necessarily the same as that in one relating to England. The rich corpus of medieval poetry addressed to the leaders of native society and the wealth of genealogical material and its potential are two examples of this difference in emphasis.

The late 13th century witnessed the conquest of Wales after two hundred years of conflict between Welsh princes and the English crown. In 1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the only native Prince of Wales to be formally acknowledged by a King of England, was slain by English forces. His brother Dafydd continued the fight, but was eventually captured and executed. Further revolts followed under Rhys ap Maredudd, a former crown ally, and Madog ap Llywelyn, a kinsman of the defeated lords of Gwynedd. The Welsh wars were a massive undertaking for the crown, and required the mobilization of all resources. Edward’s willingness to direct the combined power of the English state and church against the Prince of Wales, to an unprecedented degree, resulted in a victory that had eluded all of his predecessors. This latest study of the Welsh wars of Edward I will draw upon recently translated archive material, allowing a fresh insight into military and political events. Edward’s personal relationship with Welsh leaders is also reconsidered. Traditionally, the conquest is dated to the fall of Llywelyn in December 1282, but this book will argue that Edward was not truly the master of Wales until 1294. In the years between those two dates he broke the power of the great Marcher lords and crushed two further large-scale revolts against crown authority. After 1294 he was able to exploit Welsh manpower on a massive scale. His successors followed the same policy during the Scottish wars and the Hundred Years War. Edward enjoyed considerable support among the ‘uchelwyr’ or Welsh gentry class, many of whom served him as diplomats and spies as well as military captains. This aspect of the king’s complex relationship with the Welsh will also feature.

How did the Welsh travel beyond their geographical borders in the Middle Ages? What did they do, what did they take with them in their baggage, and what did they bring back? This book seeks for the first time to capture the medieval Welsh on the move, and core to its purpose is the exploration of identity within and outside the Welsh territories – particularly since ‘Welsh’ may have become a fluid term to describe a stranger, often pejoratively. The contributors also seek to explore the nature of ‘Welsh history’ as a discipline. How can a consideration of the Welsh abroad draw upon wider paradigms of nationhood, diaspora and colonisation; economic migration; gender relations; and the pursuit of educational, religious and cultural opportunities? Is there anything specifically ‘Welsh’ about the experiences of medieval migrants and correspondents? And what can the medieval experience of Welsh people exploring the then known world contribute to the longer-term history of emigration and exchange? Examining archaeological, historical and literary evidence together, this book enables a better understanding of the ways in which people from Wales interacted with and understood their near and distant neighbours.

In this highly readable and groundbreaking book, the ‘story’ of the castle is integrated into changes in warfare throughout this period providing us with a new understanding of their role.

This is the first full-length study of a Welsh family of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries who were not drawn from the princely class. Though they were of obscure and modest origins, the patronage of great lords of the March – such as the Mortimers of Wigmore or the de Bohun earls of Hereford – helped them to become prominent in Wales and the March, and increasingly in England. They helped to bring down anyone opposed by their patrons – like Llywelyn, prince of Wales in the thirteenth century, or Edward II in the 1320s. In the process, they sometimes faced great danger but they contrived to prosper, and unusually for Welshmen one branch became Marcher lords themselves. Another was prominent in Welsh and English government, becoming diplomats and courtiers of English kings, and over some five generations many achieved knighthood. Their fascinating careers perhaps hint at a more open society than is sometimes envisaged.

Owain Glyndwr is a towering figure in Welsh history. He was the warrior who led the Welsh Revolt and the last war of Welsh independence (1400-1415). He defeated Henry IV's army, was a worthy opponent of the king's champion, the legendary Henry Percy - 'Hotspur' – and last native Welshman to bear the title Prince of Wales. He held court at Harlech and envisioned an independent Welsh state and church with national universities. Yet Glyndwr's success was short-lived - his ultimate defeat at the hands of the English saw the final abandonment of the Welsh cause by France and his own disappearance into an unmarked grave. Gideon Brough here provides a new biography of this iconic man – as military leader, diplomat, medieval statesman and staunch Welsh nationalist.

This book surveys the economy of Wales from the first Norman intrusions of 1067 to the Act of Union of England and Wales in 1536. Key themes include the evolution of the agrarian economy; the foundation and growth of towns; the adoption of a money economy; English colonisation and economic exploitation; the collapse of Welsh social structures and rise of economic individualism; the disastrous effect of the Glyndŵr rebellion; and, ultimately, the alignment of the Welsh economy to the English economy. Comprising four chapters, a narrative history is presented of the economic history of Wales, 1067–1536, and the final chapter tests the applicability in a Welsh context of the main theoretical frameworks that have been developed to explain long-term economic and social change in medieval Britain and Europe.