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.

Abergavenny Castle: the villainous William de Braoze versus the Welsh

William de Braoze
   This sunny view of the castle belies the terrible massacre of 1175 when William invited Seisyll and followers for Christmas and then slaughtered them. This treacherous act does not stand alone: I have told its particular story in another post linked lower down. Here is some background.
   Modern historians seem to fight shy of discussing William's character and so one must look further back for enlightenment. The ancestral home of the de Braoze family was in Normandy but their chief English fief was Bramber in Sussex.
   The Marcher Lords were put in power after the Conquest to keep order in that part of Wales and William, 4th Lord of Bramber, acquired great estates. Some came by marriage around 1166 to the heiress, Moll Wallbee or Maud de St. Valérie, a "prudent and chaste woman" who, according to legend, built Abergavenny Castle in one night, carrying the stones in her apron. Through her he obtained Brecknock and Overwent. He also became Lord of Limerick, Gower, Hay, Radnor, Builth, Kington, Painscastle and of the Three Castles in 1203 and 1205 and so was hugely powerful. Maud defended Painscastle against a massive Welsh attack - she seems to have been quite a heroine! King John granted William the right to to conquer Welsh territories, a massive bonus for him.
   In 1208, William lost the friendship of King John, whose court favourite he had been, for a reason not fully understood but it is possible that Maud made comments about the murder of the king's nephew, Arthur of Brittany. William owed the king the large amount of 5000 marks and was asked to send his son, William, (one of 16 children reputedly) as hostage. It seems that Maud may have refused by stating within earshot of the officers that she would not "deliver her children to a king who had murdered his own nephew."  John led troops to the Welsh border and seized all the castles belonging to William de Braoze. He and his family fled to Ireland but his wife and eldest son were captured and starved to death at Corfe Castle (or possibly Windsor) whilst he escaped to France, dying on the 9th August 1211: he is buried at the Abbey of St. Victor, Paris.

From the Wallace Collection

   The man himself
   William was called "the Ogre of Abergavenny" by the Welsh although Geraldus Cambrensis in the last half of the 12th century is lenient on the subject of the massacre, absolving William from the responsibility of being its instigator. He claimed that William was tossed into the moat at its deepest point when the murder squads were running beserk and was rescued by divine intervention alive and completely unharmed. Geraldus blames Henry II for agreeing to the act of treachery and giving the order for it to be carried out.
   It was said by Geraldus of William that he would pause a conversation if he saw a cross or a church, pray and then resume the talk and that he tended to overload "or perhaps I should say honour" his letters with words referring to God so that they became "quite boring not only to his scribes but also to the recipients when they had the letters read aloud to them". A little touch of honesty! Perhaps one could say that William was a sanctimonious hypocrite but he was also a benefactor of the priories of Brecon and Abergavenny.
   Whilst in no way wishing to whitewash him, I feel that one must judge him against the violence of other periods where men were put on the rack, hanged, drawn and quartered or burned alive at the stake. I found one record of his torturing a man but, remember: 200 Catholics (123 priests) suffered death in the reign of Elizabeth I; 300 Protestant martyrs during Mary's and 308 were executed by Henry VIII as a result of the Treason Act of 1534. Many of these deaths were of unbelievable cruelty. Before that there was the Harrying of the North (of which the Conqueror might have repented) and the terrible death of Edward II.

Means of Warfare
   Again, Geraldus is eloquent on the means by which the Welsh made war, pointing out that the men of Gwent were more skilled with the bow and arrow than those from elsewhere.  In the capture of Abergavenny Castle later by Seisyll the son of Eudas, 2 men-at-arms were rushing across a bridge to take refuge in the tower on its mound of earth. The Welsh shot at them from behind and the arrows actually penetrated the oak doorway. This attack was in revenge for the massacre and the walls were scaled by ladders so that the castle could be occupied and burned down. It was then rebuilt of Old Red Sandstone.
   William de Braoze testified that one of his men-at-arms was struck by a Welsh arrow which went right through the top of his thigh where it was protected outside and inside by iron "cuishes", and then through the leather skirt of his tunic, into the saddle and finally lodged in his horse, killing it. Another man was swiftly hit on both sides as he turned his mount in a half-circle. These bows, says Geraldus, were carved from dwarf elm-trees in the forest and left rough and unpolished, not capable of long distance shooting but powerful enough to inflict serious wounds in a close fight. They were an early harbinger of victory at Agincourt.
   Geraldus summarises the issue: "The English are striving for power, the Welsh for freedom; the English are fighting for material gain, the Welsh to avoid a disaster; the English soldiers are hired mercenaries, the Welsh are defending their homeland." He was part Norman and part Welsh himself.

Giraldus in Manorbier castle, his brithplace.

   You can read my account of the infamous massacre by clicking here. Activating the Search button (top right of this post) will show more interesting sites in Abergavenny or you may want to visit other castles in the area such as Raglan, the smaller Usk Castle or the imposingly situated Chepstow Castle.