The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages

Ralph A. Griffiths

Description

This is a study of royal government in the southern counties of the principality of Wales between the beginning of Edward I’s conquest in 1277 and Henry VIII’s ‘act of Union’. This reprinted edition of the book, first published in 1972, includes a new introduction to incorporate recent writings on the subject. Part I discusses the administrative framework of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire and the way in which it evolved in response to the political needs and reactions of governors and governed. Part II is a comprehensive biographical calendar of the officers of English kings and princes in south Wales, based on a wide range of published and unpublished sources – their careers, experience and wealth. The book has been of great value to political and administrative historians, not only of Wales but of England too, and it also retains a value for students of Welsh society, and for literary and personal-name scholars. No comparable comprehensive study of the involvement of men (rarely of women) in public service in late-medieval Wales (or indeed England) exists for this level of society and government.

Introduction
PART I: THE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH WALES
1. The Royal Counties
2. The Justiciar and Judicial Administration
3. The Chamberlain and Financial Administration
4. Shire Government: Cantrefmawr and Cardiganshire
5. Commote Government
PART II: A CALENDAR OF THE ROYAL OFFICERS OF SOUTH WALES, 1277-1536
Abbreviations
1. Justiciars of South Wales
2. Chamberlains of South Wales
3. The Castle-Constables
4. Sheriffs
5. Stewards
6. Beadles or Bailiffs Itinerant
7. Escheators
8. The Local Officials of Carmarthenshire
9. The Local Offcials of Cardiganshire
10. Other Officers
INDEX

Sujets

• Public Affairs
• Political Science
• Wales
• Administration

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786832665
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE PRINCIPALITY OF WALES IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages
The Structure and Personnel of Government
SOUTH WALES, 1277-1536
RALPH A. GRIFFITHS
with the assistance of Roger S. Thomas
First published by the University of Wales Press in 1972, for the
University of Wales Board of Celtic Studies (History and Law series, vol. 26).
Ralph A. Griffiths, 2018
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. Applications for the copyright owner s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-264-1
eISBN 978-1-78683-266-5
Rights of authorship for this work have been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover image: Henry V s seal (1422) of the Principality in South Wales (Penrice Margam No. 244, National Library of Wales). Cover design: Olwen Fowler
IN MEMORY OF
MY PARENTS
MARION LOVIN GRIFFITHS AND
THOMAS ROWLAND GRIFFITHS
PREFACE
T HIS book is a contribution to the study of the principality of Wales in the later middle ages. It deals with the two royal shires in south Wales, Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, which together came to be known conveniently (though not with constitutional propriety) as the principality of south Wales , and with those people, both great and small, who administered these shires during the two and a half centuries following the Edwardian Conquest of Wales.
A large part of the volume is a calendar of the royal officers of south Wales: more than a mere list, it is a chronological arrangement of biographical notes illustrating the personnel of each office, both central and local. Where an officer performed his duties by deputy, the deputy s note is indented beneath that of his superior. These biographical notes do not claim to be exhaustive; the intention is simply to indicate wherever possible the kind of person (in terms of family background, geographical origins, public career, wealth and experience) to be employed in principality administration between the Edwardian Conquest and the reorganisation of Welsh government by Henry VIII. For this purpose, the more important and accessible sources have been consulted as well as, in the case of unpublished material, some that are less easily available. The financial records of government (especially the numerous Ministers Accounts ) identify many of the officials, and hence their term of office in the Calendar coincides with the mediaeval financial year, from M ichaelmas to M ichaelmas . Official appointments enrolled by the royal Chancery survive in profusion, and yet others have been culled from less predictable sources in truly magpie fashion. Inevitably the choice of source material for the biographical notes has been selective, dependent on the author s knowledge, the resources of the libraries he has been able to use, and the limitations of road, rail and time. Where adequate biographical notes are already easily available in print, these have been indicated, while the additional information which has sometimes been added to them refers primarily to Wales. Biographical notes hidden away in unpublished theses have been summarised. In a work of such detail there will be omissions to be remedied and errors to be corrected; the author will be grateful for notice of both.
In compiling the biographical notes, it was felt that connected, grammatical prose was preferable to a series of disjointed phrases and, secondly, that it would facilitate the verification of statements if references were placed in the appropriate place in the body of each note rather than in an amalgamated footnote at its end. This has undoubtedly lengthened the notes and perhaps made them less easy to read, but the virtues of this method of presentation seemed to outweigh its disadvantages. Cross references posed a problem. It was thought best that the first mention of an officer in the Calendar should carry his full biographical note and that subsequent appearances of the same officer should be accompanied by a simple cross reference to the earlier, fuller note. Unpublished material in the Public Record Office and British Museum, London, and in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, is not distinguished in the notes by the name of the repository, but a complete tally of the collections consulted in each of these institutions (with the respective abbreviation used in the Calendar ) has been provided. Local record offices, however, are specifically noted in the text. The abbreviations used are intended to illuminate rather than to mystify: many of them are self-explanatory and the others can be understood by referring to the list of abbreviations. The only concession to economy which the reader might find irritating is the absence of the abbreviatory stop and the occasional oddity that results, e.g., Corn for Cornwall!
Modern Welsh orthography has been adopted in the spelling of Welsh personal names, except where they are known to have an English form in general use among historians (e.g., the Vaughans of Brecknock). I have also had to standardise where contemporaries showed considerable variation (e.g., Gruffydd instead of Griffith, Griffin , etc.); where there was contemporary consistency in the use of more than one form, the distinction has been retained (e.g., between William and Gwilym ). Adjectival mutations present a problem to modern scholars, let alone to medievalists, and so I have retained the contemporary form even though this has produced some inconsistencies (e.g., both Du and Ddu put in an appearance). In spelling place names, I have employed the modern Welsh form as indicated by Elwyn Davies (ed.), A Gazeteer of Welsh Place-Names (3rd. ed., Cardiff, 1967), or Melville Richards, Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units, Medieval and Modern (Cardiff, 1969). The exceptions include well known place names with Anglicised forms in general use (e.g., Kidwelly rather than Cydweli, Cardiff instead of Caerdydd ). Above all, common sense and consistency have been my guide.
My interest was first drawn to the late-medieval principality by my friend Mr. T. B. Pugh, who has generously answered my queries ever since. I am also deeply grateful to my supervisor and friend Dr. Margaret Sharp, who carefully guided my first steps in investigating a problem which her father, Professor Tout, never had an opportunity of tackling in his magisterial study of English government. As an expansion of earlier work, this volume was commissioned in 1961 by the History and Law Committee of the Board of Celtic Studies of the University of Wales: it has been a long time a-writing. In 1968 the Committee assigned one of its research assistants, my former pupil Mr. (now Dr.) Roger S. Thomas, to the project and his help has made the publication of the volume possible now. My greatest immediate debt is to Dr. Thomas, who extended my own work on the Calendar for the period 1422-1536 and bore with remarkable equanimity the difficult task of understanding and augmenting someone else s notes. I have also been very fortunate in the encouragement and help given me unstintingly by other friends and colleagues. Professor Sir Goronwy Edwards and Sir David Evans gave me general guidance at the outset, and Sir Goronwy has been a wise and sympathetic counsellor ever since. Professor Glanmor Williams s friendship and encouragement have been of greater value to me than he probably realises, and as chairman of the History and Law Committee he ensured a smooth passage towards publication for this volume. Dr. R. R. Davies, Dr. R. W. Dunning, Mrs. Anne Marshall, Dr. C. F. Richmond, Mr. J. B. Smith and Mr. Graham Thomas have all generously made information available to me; Dr. Nesta Lloyd, Mr. D. J. Bowen and Mr. Gerallt Harries kindly offered me useful advice about Welsh poetry; and Dr. Prys Morgan and Professor T. J. Morgan were invaluable interpreters of Welsh personal names. I am especially grateful to Dr. R. R. Davies and Mr. J. B. Smith, in whose company I have studied late-medieval Wales; their example and criticism have supported my own efforts and, on this occasion, greatly improved the first part of this book. To all these scholars go my heartfelt thanks-and, of course, complete exoneration from responsibility for the way in which I may have misused their information or misunderstood their advice.
The visits which Dr. R. S. Thomas and I made to a number of record repositories were a pleasant experience and we frequently received courtesies beyond expectation; in particular, the kindness of Mr. E. K. Timings of the Public Record Office greatly facilitated the formidable task of checking references. Moreover, these visits would not have been possible but for the generosity over several years of the Field Work and Research Committee of the Council of the University College of Swansea: I am glad to have this opportunity of thanking its members. Special acknowledgement is due to H.R.H. Prince Charles for allowing us to consult the records of the Duchy of Cornwall and to Mr. S. A. Opie for making them available; also to His Grace The Marquis of Bath and his Comptroller for allowing us access to the private archives at Longleat