Markets in the Middle Ages in South Wales: Medieval retail therapy

  Markets have been held in the Welsh Marches since Medieval times: this one, in Abergavenny has been on Tuesdays for nearly 800 years. We have a reference to it between 1256 and 1267 when Lord Edward was in possession of the lordships of Abergavenny, Monmouth and the Three Castles.          Recently some official (officious?) pronouncement advised the elderly that, when walking on icy pavements, they should imitate the gait of the penguin and toddle slowly, beak down and body bent forward. That is exactly how I proceed in a market so that I am sure of spotting any bargains whilst honing my bartering skills.
   Before the advent of markets, trade was more in the form of barter and we know that a good horse was worth 12 cows as was a quality hawk or a sword: the earliest mention of money in this area was towards the end of the 11th century when payment was in gold or silver or even in coins from Saxon England. An interesting cashless sale by 2 brothers in 740 was 500 acres of land between the Rivers Monnow and Wye in exchange for 24 cows, a good horse, a precious sword and a Saxon woman but we do not know who received what.

The growth and organisation of markets
   Towns grew up around the great castles imposed by the Norman conquerors in the Welsh Marches and provided defence as well as supplying goods. A chain of markets in these settlements evolved according to 2 different systems: the "trader" model and the "consumer" type. It is likely that the Marches combined both. In the trader model, local markets were held on consecutive weekdays within a day's journey of one another so that a merchant could visit them all in turn and stock up on Saturday at ports such as Gloucester.
   There were 2 circuits in Monmouthshire although they were probably not discrete: Grosmont held a market on Mondays; Abergavenny on Tuesdays; Monmouth on Wednesdays; Ross on Thursdays and Newent on Fridays. There was another market at Grosmont on Fridays, a Monday and Thursday one at Crickhowell and one established later on Wednesdays at Tretower. On a different route, Usk's day was Monday, Tryleg's Wednesday, Caerleon's Thursday and Newport's on Saturday, leaving Tuesday again free for Abergavenny. Where there was sufficient trade, markets could be held in nearby places on the same day (consumer model) and there were others I have not mentioned.

   Records for a comparable town (Newark in 1328) show that goods traded included: corn, salted meat and bacon, furs, sheep, goats, pigs, fresh meat, fleeces, tanned hides, cloth, iron, steel, tin, woad, wine, wool, fruit, nuts, timber, horses, hay, rushes glass, garlic, salt, firewood, coal, nails and horseshoes. To maximise trade, markets were placed so that travellers had to pass through them to go on their way and shops may have grown around them. The trade they engendered in the 13th and 14th centuries did not reach such intensity again until the agrarian and industrial revolutions. Records reveal exports, too, into England from Chepstow, Caerleon and Usk of salmon, oxen, pigs, lampreys, partridges, malt and vinegar.

Their place in the political structure
    Permission for markets and fairs in South East Wales was in the hands of the Marcher Lords (not in the control of the king as in England) and these happenings became part of a calculated political strategy for their emerging aspirations. Such commercial dealings led to great social change as surplus consumers and traders were brought together in a recognised place from which a ruling elite could draw revenue. This facilitated the funding of armies so that territorial ambitions could be fulfilled. It was therefore in the best interest of the lords to encourage an efficient system in their area and the process of establishing a market went along with the growth of a new town and borough. A lord would then have to co-operate or at least take into account the patterns of trade in a neighbouring lordship of which there were several in this area in that period. No point in disrupting a working economy!

   We still love a market and the bustle and excitement that a good one creates. Added to this we can enjoy a sense of partaking in a way of life that is hundreds of years old - and, as always in this blog, savour a large slice of CAKE after our retail therapy.

In the Tithe Barn cafe, Abergavenny

As these towns mostly grew up around castles, you might like to fit in a visit whilst you are there. I have written about Abergavenny Castle, Usk Castle and Monmouth Castle and there are also the Roman remains at Caerleon and fascinating things to see at Trellech (Tryleg.) Of the Three Castles, Skenfrith, Grosmont and White Castles, I have, so far, covered the last.

Owain Glyn Dwr: an assessment

Owain Glyn Dwr: the mystery
   Why Owain Glyn Dwr led a revolt against the crown when he was advanced in age for such a risk and was happily married, father of several children in a beautiful home, is a question I have addressed in a previous post (link below). Bards who had the status of prophets spoke of the coming of a new leader after the deaths of the two great Princes who might have succeeded in forming a united Wales to endure for generations: Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (the Great) and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (the Last.)
    Dissatisfaction with the status quo combined with fierce national pride produced an impetus towards rebellion in a country where - it must be admitted - various factions had warred against one another and failed to accept a single leader to maintain a strong and independent state.
   Histories have given the details of his guerrilla campaigns and fixed battles at first seeming to lead to triumph but then failing, leading to his defeat near Usk in May 1405, the turning point.
The downside.
   There seems little doubt that his rebellion caused widespread devastation in the country he hoped to make powerful. His invasion of Gwent in 1402 caused dislocation of economic life and the structures of society. No courts were held in 1402 and 1403 in Monmouth, White Castle, Grosmont and Dingestow nor could revenue be collected at Monmouth in 1405. Tenants protested that they could not sow crops for 3 years and rents were uncollected as late as 1411. Tenements were burned and destroyed and the value of properties fell continuously until, in 1410, the manor of Caerleon was worth as little as 16s 8d. In August 1403 Newport was laid waste by his followers, one of many towns to be attacked and ruined. Abergavenny was burned in that same year. Life in Gwent was on a war footing and civilian governance was replaced by a series of ad hoc military commands.
   The plague had earlier caused a massive decline in population which exacerbated the background situation. Works on sea defences had ceased and storm and winds increased pressure on them until 350 - 600 metres were lost. Grain prices rose and production decreased. These factors caused simmering amongst the population and law and order were breaking down. In August 1403 William Beauchamp reported himself all but ruined (his villeins had risen against him releasing 3 criminals) and claimed that his soldiers could not travel safely between Abergavenny and Hereford without being killed or captured.
   By 1410 the revolt was over but the effects were persistent and deep. Boroughs were in arrears and the Assize roll in Monmouth in 1413 recorded over 60 tenants fined for non-appearance. The lordships had been shaken but castles had had a new lease of life, having been repaired and fortified at vast expense although many suffered in the war. The countryside was hugely impoverished, the troops having burned, looted, ravaged crops, damaged mills and rustled cattle all as acts of reprisal against lordships by depriving them of income. It sounds like the infamous "Harrying of the North" by William I except that this was done, ironically, by would-be leaders to their own. In Usk "all the tenants had fled, certain of them had been killed" and the priories of Abergavenny and Usk pleaded poverty. Some towns were ghostly and the equilibrium of a frontier society was overturned.

The vision
   It may seem hard to balance this devastation with anything positive but hindsight casts a shadow. The rebellion might be viewed differently had Owain Glyn Dwr's forces won and his ideas been put into practice. We have some insight into his vision from the Pennal Letter of 31st March 1406, written in Latin on goatskin parchment after a "Senedd" or meeting of lords near Machynlleth in which the leading churchmen decided to switch allegiance to the Pope at Avignon.
   There would have been an alliance with the recipient, Charles VI of France, severance of the Welsh church from Canterbury, the creation of an archbishopric at St. David's and the foundation of 2 universities in Wales, one in the north and one in the south so that Wales could be spiritually and intellectually empowered to work out her own destiny. This is truly a prophetic mission, not a desire for personal aggrandisement.

Summary
    Perhaps Shakespeare hit the spot in Henry IV pt i. Although there is no historical evidence that the real Glyn Dwr boasted of strange events at his nativity and magical powers, such an aura surrounded him and added to his charismatic appeal. Mortimer puts the other view that he is a "worthy gentleman, exceedingly well read" whilst the lower orders complain of the rise in the price of oats and Falstaff, in a moment of seriousness, points out that "you may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel."  The great ones quarrel and the ordinary man and woman suffer.

 For my earlier post on Owain Glyn Dwr and an account of the battles, click here. I have also written about Usk Castle, White Castle and Monmouth Castle.

The Welsh Marches: history, castles and CAKE

   The term Welsh Marches (French "marche = border - in Welsh "Y Mers") was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales. This region, "Marchia Walliae", formed a porous barrier between England and "Pura Wallia" (true Wales), and was a frontier society created by William I when he established 3 Marcher Lordships to subdue and govern the unruly Welsh. Castles sprang up immediately and were symbols of power as well as practical means of defence and attack. These were mostly wooden motte-and-bailey structures but later were enlarged and fortified in stone: the Marches still have the highest concentration of such castles in Gt. Britain - and possibly the best CAKE.

The Marcher Lords

Chepstow and Usk castles

  William I honoured 3 of his most loyal supporters as earls with portions of this area: Hugh d'Avranches in Chester; Roger de Montgomerie in Shrewsbury and William fitzOsbern in Hereford. Each lordship was distinct, independent and different from the rest. Yet all the Marcher Lords had powers unlike those of comparable magnates in England. Their remit if keeping the region in order at all costs without interference allowed them particular rights: to make war on their neighbours for personal gain; to own lands exempt from taxation; to be able to create forests (uninhabited spaces for hunting), markets and boroughs.  They could keep any territory they conquered but the area was never completely subjugated.
   After the pattern of the Welsh princes, they owed allegiance to the crown in times of war but otherwise had a remarkable degree of autonomy and could construct castles free from the restrictions imposed in England. Wherever castles were built, small town tended to grow up around them; examples are Monmouth, Chepstow and Ludlow. At first these towns were little more than groups of merchants living under the protection of the seignorial castle but, in the second half of the 13th century, they acquired corporate existence, Monmouth being one of the first.
   The lordships were geographically discrete, separate from England and ruled by their own laws "sicut regale" - "like unto a king" as Gilbert de Clare stated. The Welsh provided wartime man power for English kings throughout this period (their bowmen were highly skilled) and smaller lordships proliferated as the Normans encourage immigration from Norman and Angevin regions. The king's writ never ran during this period in the whole area.
 

Organisation

Ludlow Castle

   The area tended to become divided into the Englishry and the Welshry: the incomers took possession of the lower, fertile parts for rural settlement and arable farming, using the meadows and riverside regions for feeding livesstock. Sometimes manors were established. The Welsh were not usually displaced but, by and large, were left with the uplands and other less profitable land for sheep and cattle with winter quarters ("hendre") and summer pastures ("hafod"). It is notable that "da" meant "cattle" or "wealth/goods" and taxes could be paid by "cymorth", the rendering of a valuable beast to the lord. Other income came from the sale of demesne crops, tenant rents, court fines and resources such as mills and fisheries. 

   The unit of governance was not called the hundred as in England but the "commote" and the Domesday Book has entries for those which were under Norman control but still subject to Welsh law and custom. They were assessed for military purposes and taxation and Welsh law was administered in Welsh courts by Welsh officials although English officials might deal with English tenants - disputes arose over this jurisdiction (similar to those caused by the choice of a rugby referee of an England/Wales match but less bloody.)

   Ludlow Castle later became the organising centre of the Council of Wales (and the Marches) until its abolition in 1536 by Henry VIII. Between the high point in the Middle Ages and that demise, there was a gradual decline in powers after Edward I, on conquering the area, established shire counties on the English model instead. Yet the notion remained until the Industrial Revolution.

  The Welsh Marches retain a distinctive flavour and offer the visitor fascinating historical sites to savour with rewards of excellent CAKE after an educational and enjoyable trip or microadventure. Here is the River Wye near Symonds Yat on a lovely winter walk. Buses roam all over, from Chepstow Castle onwards to Usk Castle as well as the later Raglan Castle. A little further away is Ludlow Castle, intriguing with its round chapel - and magnificent Goodrich Castle still houses Roaring Meg, the formidable mortar.  Further information about William fitzOsbern, one of the powers behind the original invasion can be found in my post about him. For an account of trade and markets in the area click here.