This article is about the 13th–15th-century anti-English revolts in Wales. For all medieval wars between England and Wales, see List of Anglo-Welsh wars.
During the late Middle Ages in medieval Wales, rebellions were instigated by the Welsh people in a series of battles and wars before and after the 13th century conquest of Wales by Edward I. By 1283, the whole of Wales was under the control of the Kingdom of England for the first time. Then, by 1400, after centuries of intermittent warfare in Wales, the discontent of the Welsh people with English rule in Wales culminated in the Welsh Revolt, a major uprising led by Owain Glyndŵr, who achieved de facto control over much of the country in the following years. The rebellion petered out after 1409, and after complete English control was restored in 1415, there were no further major rebellions against England in the former Kingdoms in Wales.
Medieval kingdoms in Wales had seen rebellions as a direct consequence of the Norman invasion of Wales. By the 1080s, Wales had become fragmented, and the English kings took full advantage of the situation, launching 21 royal expeditions between 1081 and 1267. The introduction of Marcher lords by the Normans saw the dismantling of kingdoms in Wales. Then King Edward I of England introduced his son as the newly crowned Prince of Wales in 1301. This was seen as an extreme provocation against the Welsh people. Then a century later, Henry V of England was bestowed the title by his father, Henry IV of England in 1399, which is seen as a contributing factor to Owain Glyndwr's proclamation of this title, and subsequent rebellion from 1400.[1]
Llywelyn the Last marble statue, City Hall, Cardiff.
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great), Prince of Aberffraw was the first ruler to unite Wales, forcing other Welsh princes to submit to him, and in 1218 Henry III of England formally recognised him as Prince of Wales in the Treaty of Worcester.[2] However, his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn gave up all his lands outside Gwynedd.[2] It was left for his nephew, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, to reunite Wales once more under his reign. He ruled from 1246–1282, and used the title Prince of Wales from 1258 with Scottish recognition.[3]
In November 1276, Edward I of England declared war on Llywelyn ap Gruffudd over a series of disputes,[4] and in 1277 led 15,500 men into Wales. Realising his position was hopeless, Llywelyn surrendered without battle. Edward negotiated a settlement, rather than a conquest.[5] War broke out again in 1282, as a result of a rebellion by Llywelyn's brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd, who was discontented with the reward he had received from Edward in 1277. Edward I was sucked into war again, and this time he turned to a war of conquest.[6]
The war turned in Edward's favour when Llywelyn ap Gruffudd unexpectedly marched out of North Wales towards Builth in mid-Wales.[7] He was lured into a trap and killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge on 11 December 1282.[8] Dafydd took over leadership of the Welsh force, but was caught in 1283. He was dragged through the streets of Shrewsbury by a horse, hanged, drawn and quartered.[9]
Rhys ap Maredudd was the great-grandson of The Lord Rhys and he led a Welsh revolt in south Wales in 1287–88.[13]
In 1277, Rhys ap Maredudd submitted to English king Edward I, and surrendered the castle of Dinefwr, but was allowed to retain Dryslwyn. In 1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffydd presented "grievances" on behalf of Rhys against the royal officers in west Wales. Rhys abstained from the revolt in West Wales and assisted Edward in attacking Llanbadarn and patrolling Ceredigion on behalf of the English king in the absence of the royal commander.[14]
After 1283 Rhys was recognized as dominus de Estretewy and granted homage of Welsh chieftains in north Carmarthenshire. He married Ada de Hastings in 1285, receiving the castle of Newcastle Emlyn. He revolted against Edward, 8 June 1287 in Iscennen expelling Giffard; he continued across west Wales to Llanbadarn and possibly Brycheiniog. The regent directed royal troops to Dryslwyn, which was taken from Rhys around 5 September and eventually Newcastle Emlyn on 20 January 1288. He was on the run in 1289 and a writ wrote[clarification needed] that he was likely to attempt an escape to Ireland. Rhys was eventually caught and executed in 1292 at York.[14]
Stone memorial to Madog ap Llywelyn at All Saints' Church, Gresford, Wales. He died in 1331. A Welsh document describes him as "the best man that ever was in Maelor Gymraeg"
Madog ap Llywelyn, the then heir of Lord of Merioneth (Merionethshire) led a Welsh revolt in 1294–95 against English rule in Wales, and was proclaimed "Prince of Wales".[15] On (29 September) 1294, Madog put himself at the head of a national revolt. The revolt was a response to new royal administrators in north and west Wales and the imposition of taxes such as that levied on one fifteenth of all movables.[16] As a royal prince descended directly from Owain Gwynedd and a distant cousin of the last Prince of Aberffraw (Dafydd ap Gruffudd, the executed brother of Llywelyn), Madog declared himself to be the lawful successor and assumed the royal titles of his predecessors including that of Prince of Wales (an example of which can be seen in the so-called Penmachno Document).[17] The uprising had been planned for months and attacks occurred on the same day across Wales. While Madog acted in the north, the attacks in mid and south Wales were led by Cynan ap Maredudd, Maelgwn ap Rhys, and Morgan ap Maredudd of Gwynllwg in Glamorgan. The rebel leaders hoped that by the end of September King Edward and most of his forces would be in France on a planned campaign. However, due to bad weather Edward's army had not yet sailed and he quickly cancelled the French campaign to deal with the Welsh uprising.[18]
In December 1294 King Edward led an army into north Wales to quell the revolt, stopping at Wrexham, Denbigh, Abergele, and elsewhere on his way to Conwy Castle, which he reached shortly before Christmas. His campaign was timely, for several castles remained in serious danger: Harlech Castle was defended at one point by just 37 men. Edward himself was ambushed and retreated to Conwy Castle, losing his baggage train. The town of Conwy was burnt down and Edward besieged until he was relieved by his navy in 1295.[19]
The crucial battle between Madog's men and those of the English crown was the Battle of Maes Moydog in Powys on 5 March 1295. Surprised by an army led by the Earl of Warwick, the Welsh army regained their composure and successfully defended against an English cavalry charge by using the "porcupine" pike men formation, or schiltron, a formation favoured by the Scots armies against English knights. However, arrows from English archers inflicted heavy losses, and in a pursuit of the Welsh from the battlefield, many Welsh soldiers drowned trying to cross a swollen river.[19] Madog barely escaped from this episode with his life and was a fugitive until his capture by Ynyr Fychan of Nannau and hand over to John de Havering in Snowdonia in late July or early August 1295.[20]
Llywelyn Bren was a nobleman who led a 1316 revolt in Wales in the reign of King Edward II of England.[21] When he was commanded to appear before the king, Llywelyn raised an army of Welsh Glamorgan men which laid siege to Caerphilly Castle. The rebellion spread throughout the south Wales valleys and other castles were attacked, but this uprising only lasted a few weeks.[22] It marked the last serious challenge to English rule in Wales until the attempts of Owain Lawgoch to invade with French support in the 1370s. Hugh Despenser the Younger's unlawful execution of Llywelyn Bren helped to lead to the eventual overthrow of both Edward II and Hugh.[23][24]
A depiction of Owain's death at Mortagne from a medieval manuscript. Owain is pictured as killed by an arrow, rather than by an assassin' knife.
In May 1372 in Paris, Owain Lawgoch (English: Owen with the red hand) announced that he intended to claim the throne of Wales. Owain set sail from Harfleur with money borrowed from Charles V.[25] Owain first attacked the island of Guernsey,[26] and was still there when a message arrived from Charles ordering him to abandon the expedition in order to go to Castile to seek ships to attack La Rochelle.[27]
In 1377 there were reports that Owain was planning another expedition, this time with help from Castile. The alarmed English government sent a spy, the Scot John Lamb, to assassinate Owain, who had been given the task of besieging Mortagne-sur-Gironde in Poitou.[26][28][27] Lamb gained Owain's confidence and stabbed Owain to death in July 1378, something Walker described as 'a sad end to a flamboyant career'.[25] The Issue Roll of the Exchequer dated 4 December 1378 records "To John Lamb, an esquire from Scotland, because he lately killed Owynn de Gales, a rebel and enemy of the King in France ... £20".[29] Owain was buried at the Church of St. Leger, near Cognac, France.[26]
With the assassination of Owain Lawgoch the senior line of the House of Aberffraw became extinct.[27][30] As a result, the claim to the title 'Prince of Wales' fell to the other royal dynasties, of Deheubarth and Powys. The leading heir in this respect was Owain Glyndŵr, who was descended from both dynasties.[25][30]
The immediate and initial cause of Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion is likely the incursion onto his land by Baron Grey of Ruthin and the late delivery of a letter requiring Glyndŵr to provide armed services to King Henry IV of England, as well as unfair mediation of this dispute by the English king. Glyndŵr was pronounced Prince of Wales in Glyndyfrdwy in September 1400; and with his armies he proceeded to attack English towns in north-east Wales with guerilla tactics, disappearing into the mountains.[31] Allies of Glyndŵr, the Tudor family then captured Conwy Castle at Easter 1401, He gathered much support across Wales. King Henry led several attempted invasions of Wales but with limited success. Bad weather and the guerilla tactics of Glyndŵr created a mythical status for him, a man at one with the elements who had control over the weather.[32]
The immediate response of the English was to pass a series of coercive and discriminatory laws in 1401 and 1402, designed to quell the rebellion.[33] These laws imposed punitive sanctions against Welsh and assert English dominance in Wales.[34] The laws failed in their immediate effect as the resentment they caused drove up the numbers taking up arms.[35]
Arms of Owain Glyndwr (and Owain Lawgoch)
In 1404, Glyndŵr captured Aberystwyth and Harlech castles, formed an agreement with the French and held a Senedd at Machynlleth. He was crowned Prince of Wales,[36] there were emissaries from Scotland, France, and Castille in Spain.[citation needed] French assistance arrived in 1405, and much of Wales was in Glyndŵr's control.[37] In 1406 Glyndŵr wrote the Pennal Letter at Pennal near Machynlleth, offering Welsh allegiance to the Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII, rather than the Rome Pope and seeking recognition of St David as the seat of the bishop of Wales,[38] clerics fluent in Welsh, two Welsh universities, retention of Welsh Church revenues and that the "usurper" Henry IV should be excommunicated. The French did not respond and the rebellion began to falter. Aberystwyth Castle was lost in 1408 and Harlech Castle in 1409; and Glyndŵr was forced to retreat to the Welsh mountains, from where he continued occasional guerilla raids. It is likely that he died in 1416 at Kentchurch at the Anglo-Welsh border at the home of his daughter Alys.[39][40]
His legacy at the time was the penal laws, which remained in force long after the rebellion. Although never consistently enforced, they made the Welsh second class citizens in their own nation, until they were abolished by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.[41][42] With hopes of independence ended, there were no further wars or rebellions against English colonial rule.[43]
Owain ap Gruffydd, commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the late Middle Ages, who led a 15-year-long Welsh revolt with the aim of ending English rule in Wales. He was an educated lawyer, forming the first Welsh parliament under his rule, and was the last native-born Welshman to claim the title Prince of Wales.
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Llywelyn II, also known as Llywelyn the Last, was Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 1282. Llywelyn was the son of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth and grandson of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, and he was one of the last native and independent princes of Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England and English rule in Wales that followed, until Owain Glyndŵr held the title during the Welsh Revolt of 1400–1415.
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn the Great, was a medieval Welsh ruler. He succeeded his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, as King of Gwynedd in 1195. By a combination of war and diplomacy, he dominated Wales for 45 years.
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 there, and this region is referred to in later Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys".
The Principality of Wales was originally the territory of the native Welsh princes of the House of Aberffraw from 1216 to 1283, encompassing two-thirds of modern Wales during its height of 1267–1277. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I of England of 1277 to 1283, those parts of Wales retained under the direct control of the English crown, principally in the north and west of the country, were re-constituted as a new Principality of Wales and ruled either by the monarch or the monarch's heir though not formally incorporated into the Kingdom of England. This was ultimately accomplished with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 when the Principality ceased to exist as a separate entity.
Owain Lawgoch, full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri, was a Welsh soldier who served in Lombardy, France, Alsace, and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War. As a politically active descendant of Llywelyn the Great in the male line, he was a claimant to the title of Prince of Gwynedd and of Wales.
Madog ap Llywelyn was the leader of the Welsh revolt of 1294–95 against English rule in Wales. The revolt was surpassed in longevity only by the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr in the 15th century. Madog belonged to a junior branch of the House of Aberffraw and was a distant relation of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last recognised native Prince of Wales. During his revolt, Madog issued a land grant in which he used the title "Prince of Wales".
Powys Fadog was the northern portion of the former princely realm of Powys. The princes of Powys Fadog would build their royal seat at Castell Dinas Brân, and their religious center at Valle Crucis Abbey. Some of its lordships included those of Maelor, Mochnant, Glyndyfrdwy, Yale, and Bromfield and Yale. Following the division of Powys, their cousin branch, the princes of Powys Wenwynwyn, would build Powis Castle.
Llywelyn ap Maredudd was a minor Welsh prince of the House of Gwynedd who was the last vassal Lord of Meirionydd. He lived during the mid 13th century. He was the son of Maredudd ap Llywelyn ap Maredudd ap Cynan and was a direct descendant of Owain Gwynedd through his son Prince Cynan, Lord of Meirionydd.
Wales in the late Middle Ages spanned the years 1282–1542, beginning with conquest and ending in union. Those years covered the period involving the closure of Welsh medieval royal houses during the late 13th century, and Wales' final ruler of the House of Aberffraw, the Welsh Prince Llywelyn II, also the era of the House of Plantagenet from England, specifically the male line descendants of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou as an ancestor of one of the Angevin kings of England who would go on to form the House of Tudor from England and Wales.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1201–1300 to Wales and its people.
Wales in the Middle Ages covers the history of the country that is now called Wales, from the departure of the Romans in the early fifth century to the annexation of Wales into the Kingdom of England in the early sixteenth century. This period of about 1,000 years saw the development of regional Welsh kingdoms, Celtic conflict with the Anglo-Saxons, reducing Celtic territories, and conflict between the Welsh and the Anglo-Normans from the 11th century.
The history of Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages is a period in the history of Wales spanning the 11th to 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 diplomacy and representation, not only with the Angevin kings of England, but with the king of France and the Papacy. Distinctive achievements in Gwynedd include the further development of medieval Welsh literature, particularly the work of the princely court poets known as Beirdd y Tywysogion and 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 on Wales.
The House of Aberffraw was a medieval royal court based in the village it was named after, Aberffraw, Anglesey within the borders of the then Kingdom of Gwynedd. The dynasty was founded in the 9th century by a King in Wales whose descendants founded the Welsh Royal Houses. The other medieval Welsh dynasties were the Royal Houses of Dinefwr, Mathrafal.
The Royal House of Mathrafal began as a cadet branch of the Welsh Royal House of Dinefwr, taking their name from Mathrafal Castle. They effectively replaced the House of Gwertherion, who had been ruling the Kingdom of Powys since late Roman Britain, through the politically advantageous marriage of an ancestor, Merfyn the Oppressor. King Bleddyn ap Cynfyn would join the resistance of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, against the invasion of William the Conqueror, following the Norman Conquest of England. Thereafter, they would struggle with the Plantagenets and the remaining Welsh Royal houses for the control of Wales. Although their fortunes rose and fell over the generations, they are primarily remembered as Kings of Powys and last native Prince of Wales.
Dafydd ap Gruffudd, also known as Dafydd III, was a Prince of Gwynedd until after the death of his brother, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, when he proclaimed himself as the Prince of Wales from 11 December 1282. He became a fugitive after waging war against the English occupation of Wales, but was captured, and then executed on 3 October 1283, which were on the orders of King Edward I of England. He was the last native Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1283.
↑ Williams 1993, p. 10. "It seems very likely that there was never any intention of literally enforcing these measures at all times. They were, essentially, an emergency measure, not to say an act of desperation, designed to allay the hysterical fears aroused in the English by the Rebellion".
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