Medieval Wales c.1050-1332

David Stephenson

Description

After outlining conventional accounts of Wales in the High Middle Ages, this book moves to more radical approaches to its subject. Rather than discussing the emergence of the March of Wales from the usual perspective of the ‘intrusive’ marcher lords, for instance, it is considered from a Welsh standpoint explaining the lure of the March to Welsh princes and its contribution to the fall of the native principality of Wales. Analysis of the achievements of the princes of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries focuses on the paradoxical process by which increasingly sophisticated political structures and a changing political culture supported an autonomous native principality, but also facilitated eventual assimilation of much of Wales into an English ‘empire’. The Edwardian conquest is examined and it is argued that, alongside the resultant hardship and oppression suffered by many, the rising class of Welsh administrators and community leaders who were essential to the governance of Wales enjoyed an age of opportunity. This is a book that introduces the reader to the celebrated and the less well-known men and women who shaped medieval Wales.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Maps
Genealogical tables
Introduction
CHAPTER 1- An outline survey of Welsh political history, c.1050–1332
CHAPTER 2 - The Age of the Princes: shifting political cultures and structures
CHAPTER 3 - The other Wales: the March
CHAPTER 4 - The limits to princely power
CHAPTER 5 - New ascendancies
Envoi
Notes
Select bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Histoire
• Great Britain
• History
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786833877
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

Extrait

RETHINKING THE
HISTORY OF WALES
MEDIEVAL
WALES
c . 1 050–1 33 2
MW.indd 1 20/02/2019 08:23:15RETHINKING THE HISTORY OF WALES SERIES
Series Editors:
Professor Paul O’Leary, Aberystwyth University
and Professor Huw Pryce, Bangor University
This series aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the history of Wales
by introducing particular periods and themes in ways that challenge
established interpretations. Whether by offering new perspectives on
familiar landmarks in the historiographical landscape or by venturing
into previously uncharted terrain, the volumes, each written by
a specialist in the feld, will provide concise and selective surveys
that highlight areas of debate rather than attempting to achieve
comprehensive coverage. The series will thus encourage an engagement
with diverse understandings of the Welsh past and with its continuing
– and sometimes contested – signifcance in the present day.
MW.indd 2 20/02/2019 08:23:15RETHINKING THE
HISTORY OF WALES
MEDIEVAL
WALES
c . 1 050–1 33 2
CENTURIES OF AMBIGUIT Y
David Stephenson
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
2019
MW.indd 3 20/02/2019 08:23:15© David Stephenson, 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material
form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic
means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this
publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in
accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any
part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press,
University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-386-0
eISBN 978-1-78683-387-7
The right of David Stephenson to be identifed as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset by Marie Doherty
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham.
MW.indd 4 20/02/2019 08:23:15For Jan
g
MW.indd 5 20/02/2019 08:23:15TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements • ix
Abbreviations • xi
Maps • xv
Genealogical tables • xxiii
Introduction • 1
CHAPTER 1
An outline survey of Welsh political history,
c.1050–1332 • 7
CHAPTER 2
The Age of the Princes:
shifting political cultures and structures • 35
CHAPTER 3
The other Wales: the March • 63
CHAPTER 4
The limits to princely power • 85
CHAPTER 5
New ascendancies • 121
Envoi • 153
Notes • 159
Select bibliography • 191
Index • 201
MW.indd 7 20/02/2019 08:23:15ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
should like to thank Huw Pryce both for the invitation to
write this book, and also for the time and effort which he put
in to comment, with typical perceptiveness, on a draft of it. I I owe a great debt of gratitude to fellow historians of medieval
Wales, past and present, for the stimulus which their works have
provided. The extent of that debt will be apparent throughout this
book. Conversations with Hugh Brodie, whose work promises to shed
much light on this period, have proved consistently stimulating and
enlightening. I am particularly grateful to Emma Cavell for
allowing me to read important papers prior to their publication, and for
her careful scrutiny of, and illuminating comments on, a draft of the
book. Cath D’Alton has drawn the maps with her customary skill and
forbearance. I am grateful to Llion Wigley and all his colleagues at the
University of Wales Press for their guidance and support. Particular
thanks are due to Elin Nesta Lewis for her careful and very helpful
copy-editing. In the course of the volume’s preparation I have received
notable help from Bethan Phillips and Dafydd Jones. The biennial
Bangor Colloquia on medieval Wales and the meetings of the Welsh
Chronicles Research Group have been important sources of ideas. Not
for the frst time I want to thank the members of the medieval history
groups at Llanidloes, Newtown and Berriew. They have heard much
of this book. Their good humour and their comments are invaluable.
The Powysland Club remains a great source of learned
companionship and of resources, not least in its splendid library. As always, my
greatest thanks are due to my wife Jan, who has contributed to this
book in so many ways: she has borne with remarkable tolerance my
frequent disappearances into the medieval centuries and has offered
crucial support when it has been most needed.
MW.indd 9 20/02/2019 08:23:15ABBREVIATIONS
AC John Williams ab Ithel (ed.), Annales Cambriae
(London: Rolls Series, 1860). Note that all
references in this source should be checked
against Henry Gough-Cooper’s online edition,
for which see the select bibliography
AWR Huw Pryce (ed.), The Acts of Welsh Rulers,
1120–1283 (Cardiff: University of Wales
Press, 2005)
BBCS Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies
Bartrum, Welsh P. C. Bartrum (ed.), Welsh Genealogies
Genealogies AD 300–1400, 8 vols (Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 1974)
ByT Pen. 20 Trans. Thomas Jones (ed. and trans.), Brut y
Tywysogyon, Peniarth MS 20 Version (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1952)
ByT, RBH Brut y
Tywysogyon, Red Book of Hergest Version
(Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1955)
CACW J. G. Edwards (ed.), Calendar of Ancient
Correspondence Concerning Wales (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1935).
CAP William Rees (ed.), Calendar of Ancient
Petitions Relating to Wales (Cardiff: University
of Wales Press, 1976).
CChR Calendar of Charter Rolls, 1226–1516, 6 vols
(London: HMSO, 1903–27)
CCR Calendar of Close Rolls, 1272–1500, 46 vols 1900–55)
Close Rolls Close Rolls, 1227–1272, 4 vols (London:
HMSO, 1902–38)
MW.indd 11 20/02/2019 08:23:15xii • Rethinking the History of Wales
CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1232–1509, 53 vols
(London: HMSO, 1891–1916)
Davies, Age of R. R. Davies, The Age of Conquest: Wales
Conquest 1063–1415 (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2000) [Originally published as Conquest
Coexistence and Change; Wales 1063–1415
(Oxford: Oxford University Press 1987)]
Davies, Lordship R. R. Davies, Lordship and Society in the
and Society March of Wales, 1282–1400 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1978)
GBF Rhian M. Andrews et al. (eds), Gwaith
Bleddyn Fardd a Beirdd Eraill Ail Hanner y
Drydedd Ganrif ar Ddeg (Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 1996)
GDB N. G. Costigan et al. (eds), Gwaith Dafydd
Benfras Fardd ac Eraill o Feirdd Hanner Cyntaf
y Drydedd Ganrif ar Ddeg (Cardiff: University
of Wales Press, 1995)
GLlF K. A. Bramley et al. (eds), Gwaith Llywelyn
Fardd I ac Eraill o Feirdd y Ddeuddegfed Ganrif
(Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994)
GLlLl Elin M. Jones (ed.), Gwaith Llywarch
ap Llywelyn ‘Prydydd y Moch’ (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1991)
GMB J. E. Caerwyn Williams et al. (eds), Gwaith
Meilir Brydydd a’i Ddisgynyddion (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1994)
Littere Wallie J. G. Edwards (ed.), Littere Wallie (Cardiff: ales Press, 1940)
Lloyd, A History J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest
Times to the Edwardian Conquest, 2 vols with
continuous pagination (3rd edn; London:
Longman: 1939)
LTMW Dafydd Jenkins (ed.), The Law of Hywel Dda:
Law Texts from Medieval Wales (Llandysul:
Gomer Press, 1986)
MW.indd 12 20/02/2019 08:23:15Abbreviations • xiii
Patent Rolls Patent Rolls, 1216–32, 2 vols (London: HMSO,
1901–3)
Smith, Llywelyn J. Beverley Smith, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd,
ap Gruffudd Prince of Wales (2nd edn; Cardiff: University
of Wales Press, 2014)
Stephenson, David Stephenson, ‘Empires in Wales: from
‘Empires in Wales’ Gruffudd ap Llywelyn to Llywelyn ap
Gruffudd’, Welsh History Review, 28, 1 (2016),
26–54
Stephenson, David Stephenson, Medieval Powys: Kingdom,
Medieval Powys Principality and Lordships, 1132–1293
(Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2016)
Stephenson, David Stephenson, Political Power in Medieval
Political Power Gwynedd: Governance and the Welsh Princes
(Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2014)
WAR James Conway Davies (ed.), The Welsh Assize
Roll, 1277–84 (Cardiff: University of Wales
Press, 1940)
WHR The Welsh History Review
WKC T. M. Charles-Edwards, Morfydd E. Owen
and Paul Russell (eds), The Welsh King and
his Court (Cardiff: University of Wales Press,
2000)
MW.indd 13 20/02/2019 08:23:15MAPS
MW.indd 15 20/02/2019 08:23:15xvi • Rethinking the History of Wales

MAP 1: Uplands and principal rivers
NLand above
600 feet
Land above
2000 feet
0 miles 50
0km50
Map 1: Uplands and principal rivers © Cath D’Alton
MW.indd 16 20/02/2019 08:23:16
©CLDMaps • xvii

MAP 2: Principal medieval political divisions: realms and lordships
0 miles30 N
0km30
2
11 3
4
5
7
6
89Principal medieval
political divisions: 10realms and lordships
12121111
14 1315
1620
19 17
18
Gwynedd Uwch Conwy Montgomery1 8
Gwynedd Is Conwy (Perfeddwlad, lordship2
the Four Cantrefs) Cedewain Ystrad Tywi9 14
Northern Powys Arwystli Dyfed3 10 15
Edeirnion (Powysian lordships) Ceredigion (with Ystrad 11 Gwent4 16
Penllyn (Powysian until 1202, Tywi constituted Deheubarth) Gwynllwˆ g5 17
when annexed by Gwynedd) Rhwng Gwy a Hafren (Lands Glamorgan 12 18
Southern Powys between Wye and Severn: 6 (Morgannwg)
Ceri, Maelienydd, Elfael, Buellt)Marcher lordships of Oswestry Gower (Gwˆ yr)7 19
and Whittington Brycheiniog Cydweli13 20
Map 2: Principal medieval political divisions: realms and lordships© Cath D’Alton
MW.indd 17 20/02/2019 08:23:16
©CLDxviii • Rethinking the History of Wales

MAP 3: Cistercian lands in Welsh polities
N
Diocesan boundary
Cistercian estates
in territories controlled
by 13th century Welsh
rulers
0 miles 50
0km50
© Cath D’AltonMap 3: Cistercian lands in Welsh polities
MW.indd 18 20/02/2019 08:23:17
©CLDMaps • xix
MAP 4: The regional ascendancy of Cadwallon ap Madog