The Battle of Crogen is an engagement said to have taken place in Wales during Henry II of England's summer 1165 campaign against an alliance of Welsh kingdoms led by King of Gwynedd, Owain Gwynedd. Later Welsh chronicles recorded that a detachment of Welsh troops inflicted a number of casualties on the Anglo-Norman army in the Ceiriog Valley; Henry subsequently abandoned the campaign after an attempt to cross the Berwyn Mountains was thwarted by severe weather.
It is unclear whether events in the Ceiriog Valley represented a pitched battle, a series of smaller engagements or a minor skirmish: all three have been argued, as well as the possibility no fighting took place during the 1165 campaign. It has been suggested that the idea of a "battle" should be considered as folklore rather than as a genuine historical event.[1] There are few contemporary accounts: 19th century and later accounts of the "battle" rely heavily on David Powel's 1584 Historie of Cambria, an unreliable historical source.
Background
Anglo-Norman involvement in Wales was centred on a number of Marcher Lordships set up by William the Conqueror. These had considerable legal independence: Marcher barons could hold their own courts and had a licence to crenellate. The Crown sought to strengthen the position of the Marcher Lords against the native Welsh kings, and in July 1163 several of the kings were compelled to do homage to Henry II at Woodstock, giving guarantees for their peaceful conduct.
Henry II began planning a punitive campaign into Wales in 1164, ostensibly to take action against several Welsh kings, particularly Rhys ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth, who had been responsible for disturbances along the border in breach of the 1163 settlement.[2] Welsh chronicles of the time argued that Henry's Marcher Lords, particularly Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, had themselves failed to keep to the terms of the agreement.[2] Rhys had used Roger's actions as a pretext to continue his conflict with the Normans, attacking the castles of Mabwynion and Aberrheidol and overrunning much of Ceredigion. Owain ap Gruffydd of Gwynedd was in open rebellion by autumn 1164 and sent several letters to Henry's main rival, Louis VII of France, asking to be considered amongst Louis' "faithful and devoted friends".[3] The Welsh annals spoke of a concerted effort by the Welsh kingdoms, which were more usually in competition with each other, to "throw off the rule of the French [i.e. the Angevins]".[3]
In early 1165 Owain Gwynedd's son Dafydd ravaged the cantref of Tegeingl, threatening the Norman castles at Rhuddlan, Basingwerk and Prestatyn. Henry returned from Normandy in May. During the summer of 1165 he assembled a substantial force at Shrewsbury, including troops from England and mercenaries from the Continent: several contemporary chronicles emphasised the large size of the Angevin army. Henry's overall objectives in the campaign are uncertain; Welsh annals alleged that he planned a complete conquest of the Welsh kingdoms, but a more likely interpretation is that he sought the submission of Rhys and Owain and a settlement with more effective guarantees than in 1163.[2]
The reason for Henry's choice of route into Wales is similarly unclear, as it led initially into the minor kingdoms of northern Powys, which had not been in conflict with him.[2] Shrewsbury was not the most convenient base for a campaign against either Rhys or Owain: it may have been selected in order to be able to advance northward or southward as the campaign required.[2][4] Henry's subsequent advance towards Oswestry and the Ceiriog Valley may indicate that a decision had been made to attack Owain Gwynedd first.[2] In response Owain raised an army at Corwen in the cantref of Penllyn, comprising forces from several kingdoms. Including his own forces, led by himself and his brother Cadwaladr, the alliance was made up of men from Deheubarth under the leadership of Rhys ap Gruffydd, troops from Mochnant in northern Powys under Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd and from southern Powys under Owain Cyfeiliog, although the latter had been on good terms with Henry until that point.[2][5] Powysian involvement in the alliance may have been less than enthusiastic, particularly as Gwynedd had recently overrun Powysian lands in Penllyn, and it is possible that Henry hoped a show of Angevin strength would encourage the lords of Powys back under his protection.[6]
The battle
Contemporary sources are patchy and conflicting, and there has been a great deal of disagreement over events during the campaign. Some scholars, such as Austin Lane Poole, have concluded that no fighting actually took place at all in 1165.[7]
Red plaque of the Battle of Crogen, unveiled in 2009; it has been suggested that the engagement might be better regarded as a "series of minor harassments" than a single battle.
The main reasonably contemporary source for events in the Ceiriog Valley is the Brut y Tywysogion, which was based on now-lost materials contemporary with the battle. After describing Henry's arrival at Oswestry and Owain's at Corwen, it states:
after staying long in their tents there without the one daring to attack the other, [the king] moved his host into the wood of Dyffryn Ceiriog, and had the wood cut down and felled to the ground. And there a few picked Welshmen, who knew not how to suffer defeat, manfully encountered him in the absence of their leaders. And many of the doughtiest fell on both sides. And then the king, and the advanced forces along with him, encamped on the Berwyn Mountains.[9]
Henry II had ordered woodsmen to clear trees from the area, allowing his forces to move more freely through the pass,[10] or perhaps in an attempt to force the Welsh into open battle.[7] The Welsh chronicles suggest Henry's army was ambushed, possibly close to a gap in Offa's Dyke, by Welsh skirmishers, who inflicted a number of casualties.[10] The more detailed account given by Powel in 1584 claimed that the skirmish happened while Henry and his main army "laie at Oswestry" and involved only a group "sent to trie the passages".[11] It is unknown what sources Powel used for his information; he may have had access to oral traditions or manuscripts now lost.[11]
The Gwynedd chronicle O Oes Gwrtheyrn Gwrtheneu located this engagement at a place called "Coed Ceiriog"; Powel, writing several centuries later, was the first to identify it taking place at a narrow gap in "Offa's ditch, at the castle of Crogen".[11] The name "Battle of Crogen" first appeared in 1778 in an account by Thomas Pennant: "This conflict is sometimes called the battle of Corwen; but with more propriety that of Crogen: for it happened beneath Castell Crogen, the present Chirk Castle". More recent scholarship has confirmed that the medieval "Castell Crogen" was in fact near Llandderfel: Pennant may have confused the name with the townships of Crogen Iddon and Crogen Wladys in the Ceiriog Valley.
Some modern sources repeat a story that Hubert de St Clare, the Constable of Colchester Castle, sacrificed his own life when he threw himself in front of an arrow meant for Henry. This event in fact happened at the siege of Bridgnorth in 1155, the source of the confusion again being Powel, who inserted a passage from Holinshed's Chronicles into his account.
Ffordd y Saeson, the ancient trackway above Tregeiriog along which Henry II's army was said to have attempted to reach Corwen in August 1165.
Undeterred by their losses in the Ceiriog Valley, Henry's army continued into the Berwyns, possibly making for Corwen via a pass still known as the "English Road" (Ffordd y Saeson).[2] While the mountains appeared easily passable in summer a spell of high winds and torrential rain, which made resupply impossible and caused men to start dying of exposure, forced Henry to retreat within a matter of days without bringing the main Welsh force to battle.[2][4] The Brut y Tywysogion said that the army retreated after being "oppressed by a mighty tempest of wind and exceeding great torrents of rain":[12] Henry's supporter Gerald of Wales, in his Itinerarium Cambriae, gave the same story but added that Henry had also made the mistake of failing to listen to his local advisors.
Aftermath
Estimates of the losses suffered at Crogen vary; most modern historians consider them to have been relatively light. The place where the skirmishes occurred is called Adwy'r Beddau, "the Gap of the Graves": the dead were said to have been buried in the fosse of Offa's Dyke, at a spot where an account of 1697 claimed that graves were still visible.[13][14]
His attempt to deal with Owain and Rhys a failure, Henry returned to Shrewsbury and there ordered the blinding of twenty-two hostages held since the 1163 treaty, two of whom were Owain's sons.[2] He then moved his army to Chester: the Welsh annals claimed that this was in order to wait for a fleet from Dublin, with whose rulers Henry had recently entered into a treaty,[15] but rather than continuing his campaign he abandoned the plan completely and returned to his court at Anjou.[10] The collapse of such a well-financed and planned campaign was a considerable humiliation to Henry and an encouragement to his political opponents.[2] Despite this, he was back on good terms with the kings of Powys within a year; both Owain Cyfeiliog and Iorwerth Goch were in friendly contact with Henry's court within months.[6]
By the following year, both Rhys ap Gruffydd and Owain Gwynedd had resumed attacks on the lands of the Norman marcher barons; Henry withdrew much of his support from the latter by the end of the decade, turning to diplomacy to deal with Gwynedd and Deheubarth.[2] Rhys later met personally with Henry, and was within a few years confirmed in his possession of lands previously occupied by the Normans: he even later sent troops to aid Henry in Normandy, in effect becoming "one of the great feudatories of the Angevin empire".[16] It has been suggested that Henry's lack of support for the marcher barons after 1165 ultimately encouraged them to seek lands and opportunities elsewhere, contributing substantially to the subsequent Norman invasion of Ireland.[17]
Notes
↑ Pratt, D. "Crogen: Myth and Reality", The Clwyd Historian, 8 (1981), 18
Rhys ap Gruffydd, commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh Yr Arglwydd Rhys was the ruler of the Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197 and native Prince of Wales.
Owain ap Gruffudd was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great and the first to be styled "Prince of Wales". He is considered to be the most successful of all the North Welsh princes prior to his grandson, Llywelyn the Great. He became known as Owain Gwynedd to distinguish him from the contemporary king of Powys Wenwynwyn, Owain ap Gruffydd ap Maredudd, who became known as Owain Cyfeiliog.
Gruffudd ap Cynan, sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembered as King of all the Welsh and Prince of all the Welsh.
Deheubarth was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd. It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of Dinefwr, but that Deheubarth itself was not considered a proper kingdom on the model of Gwynedd, Powys, or Dyfed is shown by its rendering in Latin as dextralis pars or as Britonnes dexterales and not as a named land. In the oldest British writers, Deheubarth was used for all of modern Wales to distinguish it from Hen Ogledd, the northern lands whence Cunedda originated.
The Kingdom of Gwynedd was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Powys and part of today's English West Midlands. More precisely, and based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys".
Nest ferch Rhys was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last King of Deheubarth in Wales, by his wife, Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys. Her family is of the House of Dinefwr. Nest was the wife of Gerald de Windsor, Constable of Pembroke Castle and son of the Constable of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, by whom she was the ancestress of the FitzGerald dynasty.
Rhys ap Tewdwr was a king of Deheubarth in Wales and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great. He was born in the area which is now Carmarthenshire and died at the battle of Brecon in April 1093.
Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd was Princess consort of Deheubarth in Wales, and married to Gruffydd ap Rhys, Prince of Deheubarth. Gwenllian was the daughter of Gruffudd ap Cynan (1055–1137), Prince of Gwynedd and Angharad ferch Owain, and a member of the princely Aberffraw family of Gwynedd. Gwenllian's "patriotic revolt" and subsequent death in battle at Kidwelly Castle contributed to the Great Revolt of 1136.
Madog ap Maredudd was the last prince of the entire Kingdom of Powys, Wales and for a time held the Fitzalan Lordship of Oswestry.
The Battle of Crug Mawr, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Cardigan, took place in September or October 1136, as part of a struggle between the Welsh and Normans for control of Ceredigion, West Wales.
Cadwgan ap Bleddyn (1051–1111) was a prince of the Kingdom of Powys in north eastern Wales.
The Royal House of Dinefwr was a cadet branch of the Royal House of Gwynedd, founded by King Cadell ap Rhodri, son of Rhodri the Great. Their ancestor, Cunedda Wledig, born in late Roman Britain, was a Sub-Roman warlord who founded the Kingdom of Gwynedd during the 5th century, following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. As Celtic Britons, the House of Dinefwr was ruling before the Norman conquest, having to fight with their neighbors such as the Celtics, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, before struggling with the Normans afterwards. Many members of this family were influential in Welsh history, such a Hywel Dda, who codified Welsh law under his rule, and achieved the important title of King of the Britons, or Lord Rhys, Prince of Wales, who rebelled against Richard the Lionheart, and became one of the most powerful Welsh leaders of the Middle ages.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1201–1300 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1101–1200 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1001–1100 to Wales and its people.
Wales in the High Middle Ages covers the 11th to 13th centuries in Welsh history. Beginning shortly before the Norman invasion of the 1060s and ending with the Conquest of Wales by Edward I between 1278 and 1283, it was a period of significant political, cultural and social change for the country.
The history of Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages is a period in the History of Wales spanning the 11th through the 13th centuries. Gwynedd, located in the north of Wales, eventually became the most dominant of Welsh polities during this period. Contact with continental courts allowed for Gwynedd to transition from a petty kingdom into an increasingly sophisticated principality of seasoned courtiers capable of high level deplomacy and representation; not only with the Angevine kings, but also the king of France and the Papal See. Distinctive achievements in Gwynedd include further development of Medieval Welsh literature, particularly poets known as the Beirdd y Tywysogion associated with the court of Gwynedd; the reformation of bardic schools; and the continued development of Cyfraith Hywel. All three of these further contributed to the development of a Welsh national identity in the face of Anglo-Norman encroachment of Wales.
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Deheubarth 
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