Adam of Usk: an unsung local hero - or was he?

   Whenever my microadventures take me abroad into England, I always try to find a Welsh connection to famous sites. Even when overawed by the Tower of London I still looked out for this link and was thrilled to realise that Adam of Usk had been here on a historic mission: to visit the imprisoned King Richard II. He also met with other kings as well as popes but is little recognised in his home town although he maintained ties with Usk and the surrounding area throughout his life. At one time he was the incumbent of St. Cybi's Church, Langibby, in Monmouthshire near Usk.

His reputation
   He is probably buried in St. Mary's Church, Usk but, if you want to pay homage - and I hope to convince you that he is worthy of it - you have to go down the right-hand aisle, pass behind the choir screen to the eastern side, clamber over a lectern cunningly placed as an obstacle and peer at a small brass plaque in ancient Welsh. To be fair, there is a leaflet which translates this in the words of a Mr. T.R.N. Edwards: "Bring praise to the grave of one noble in learning. A celebrated London lawyer and a 'Judge of the World' privileged in wit, may heaven be thine, a scholar. A Solomon of wisdom, a wonder. Here sleeps Adam of Usk, eloquent, wise man of ten commotes. Behold, this place is full of learning." Even then the Welsh were not renowned for the succinctness - and neither was he.
   Who's Who in Late Medieval England, in an uncharitable summary, notes his tendency to self-aggrandisement: he "was once silenced by a bishop for an untimely display of learning. Vain and boastful, he probably exaggerated the eminence of his friends, the quality of his advice, and his influence on decisions and events, for he revealed himself to be a man without tact, sense of timing, discretion or judgement." You'd meet him in any Welsh pub any evening - and enjoy his company!

His life

Usk Castle

   What did he actually do then? Born probably in 1352 in the Gatehouse of  Usk Castle, he wrote a Chronicle in Latin, though apparently not in the purest form of that language, and not in strictly chronological order, starting with the coronation of Richard II and closing during the reign of Henry V. The value lies chiefly in the fact that he was present at many of the important events he describes. When he visited Richard II, he records: "I was present while he dined and I marked his mood and bearing." He went to Oxford under the patronage of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and took the degree of Doctor of Laws and canon law. He pleaded in the court of the archbishop, Thomas Arundel for 7 years and writes of the trial of his brother, Richard giving the detail of how he was made to remove his belt and scarlet hood before being led off to his beheading on Tower Hill.
    His opinion on the downfall of Richard II is that one cause was the unruly behaviour of his 400 Cheshire guards "very evil; in all places they oppressed his subjects unpunished and beat and robbed them." An account of the famous encounter between the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk has again the ring of an eye-witness version as he notes the wet ditch surrounding the appointed place as well as the fact that Hereford "appeared far more gloriously distinguished with diverse equipments of seven horses." We read also: "the matter of setting aside King Richard and of choosing Henry, Duke of Lancaster, in his stead and how it was to be done ... was commissioned to be debated on by certain doctors, bishops and others of whom, I, who am now noting down these things, was one." Momentous - as any reader of Shakespeare will agree.
The mundane side
   There are stories of a more domestic nature such as that of King Richard's greyhound which lay at his side "with grim and lion-like face" until that owner fled whereupon it found its way from Carmarthen to Shrewsbury to Henry IV where it crouched before this new master "with a submissive but bright and pleased aspect" and was allowed to sleep on his bed. The deposed Richard took it "sorely to heart" when the dog then refused to acknowledge him. This tale is mentioned also by Froissart.
   My favourite narrative is that surrounding the death of John of Usk, Abbot of Chertsey, who, with 13 brother monks, died of the plague. A brother, William Burton roused him from sleep, bidding him to be of good cheer for he would do well. The abbot replied: "Blessed be God! I shall fare well. Be silent and hearken!" The monk said: "Unto what shall I hearken?" I love his questioning mind as it is just what I would have asked. It seems he was supposed to hear angels singing but was unworthy and failed.
 His troubles
   Adam seems to have fallen from grace - probably for the theft of "A horse, colour black, saddle and bridle, value one hundred shillings, together with the sum of fourteen marks in cash, all the property of one Walter Jakes." In addition, he had unwisely been remonstrating with Henry IV on the faults of his government and vanished to Rome where he was well received by the Pope and given positions. He was deeply involved with the rebellion of Owain Glyndwr and writes about it - there are other elements of roughness in his life such as his presence in Oxford broils leading to loss of life between men of the South and Wales on the one hand and men of the North on the other. For this he was indicted "as the chief leader and abettor of the Welsh, and perhaps not unrighteously." There is much to like in this honest summary. On his return from Rome, he was again in trouble and had to go into hiding. He was prone to dreams and visions which were always notably apt and he seems to have been of a superstitious nature. The Chronicle ends on an anxious note concerning the rebellious attitude of the people over the taxation imposed by Henry V because of his French wars.
His Will
   He probably died in 1430 and had requested to be buried in Usk Church, though no-one knows exactly where.

Amongst other bequests, he left the Historia Policronica of Ralph Higden to his kinsman, Edward ap Adam and another book of theological wisdom to the church in Usk, the vicar receiving a legacy worth a few pounds in modern money. Some of the nuns of Usk Priory were related to him and they all received about half that: he had secured for them important concessions from the Pope in his lifetime. His main gift is the Chronicle of events from 1377 to 1421, with its vivid, if somewhat disorganised, sense of immediacy and personal involvement. It is available in a scanned edition plus translation by Edward Maunde Thompson which is admittedly quite hard to follow, originated by the Royal Society of Literature.

I fear I may have absorbed by osmosis some of his garrulousness and lack of cohesion here but I have become intrigued by him and will pursue my research further and let you know what I find. I'd like him to become better known although much what we believe of his life is speculation.

To read about the planting of Usk town by the Normans, click here. There are 3 posts about Owain Glyndwr, you could start with this one.  Usk Castle is also of great historic interest. My visit to the Tower of London led me to write about the menagerie that was once part of its identity. For more about Llangybi, click here.
   

   

Bodiam Castle: the film star with the enigma

                             

   Bodiam Castle has starred in TV series and Hollywood feature films because of its aura, beauty and charisma: historians have debated if this showiness was its true purpose rather than military defence and so there is a central enigma behind the celebrity smile.

   The question would seem to be answered by a public document issued on 20th October 1385 by King Richard II to Sir Edward Dalyngrigge or Dallingridge, the owner, which gave him permission to "strengthen with a wall of stone and lime, crenellate and make into a castle his manor house at Bodiam, next to the sea, for the defence of the adjacent country and resistance to the king's enemies." The idea of such a licence  was to narrow the scope for castle building or adding battlements and meant that not every upstart could do so on a whim and thereby threaten the power of the crown. Yet Sir Edward built his castle further up the hill from his house and endowed it with features which would not have served as a strong defence but which did bring him status because of their lavish nature. Bodiam is a 10-mile march from the sea, access by the River Rother was not very threatening and Sir Edward was probably anxious to rise in society from being a knight to a member of the higher lordly aristocracy. Ownership of a castle provided that upward mobility, particularly if this possession appeared to be for the public good and safety of the realm. The licence proved to the neighbours that he was the possessor of a castle not a house.

The moat

   Ignoring the silly and demeaning bunting, one can see here that the moat emphasises the grandeur of the castle by setting it in a sea of reflections and by isolating it from surroundings that might make it look smaller. Moats were used as defensive feature because they impeded access to the walls which could be undermined if soldiers came close. Yet this one, although 6 feet deep and broad, is held in place along half its length by a dam which could be easily breached and it is not strengthened by stonework. Originally there were 6 (fish?) ponds making it part of extensive watery landscaping - hardly a military necessity - and the presence nearby of natural springs may have induced the designer (probably Henry Yevele, a royal mason) to suggest the new site, the moat etc giving the building symbolic and aesthetic appeal. Because it is not squeezed onto a rocky platform dictating its shape, the designer had a free hand to create a nearly square, regular and symmetrical plan. The weather was dull when I took these photographs but Bodiam is at its Mona Lisa best in shimmering sun or mysterious mist.

The windows etc

   You can also see that the external windows are larger than a truly military castle would have demanded: the South and East walls have huge ones and the others are vulnerable including those in the hall and the 3-light Gothic window in the chapel. The arrow-loops are narrow and awkwardly placed, the gun-openings inflexible and the murder holes through which all kinds of nastiness could be poured onto the enemy are small. The battlements, the main object of the licence, are not all full sized, being half scale on the turrets and in miniature round the rims of chimneys and on the main fireplace (why have crenellations in those places except for ornament?) The magnificent gatehouse, which boasts some of these apparently warlike features as well as twin projecting towers with machicolations, could not have had a drawbridge because of the design and, anyway, a hostile force could have attacked through the poorly defended rear Postern gate. Guests would have entered there, full of admiration after viewing the parks, farmlands and hunting grounds. Most importantly - there is no keep. Have a piece of CAKE if you had noticed!

Domestic apartments and arrangements

   Bodiam Castle rejoices in 28 en suite toilets (mostly draining into the moat) and 33 fireplaces, hospitable accessories for a family's visitors but far too lavish for a garrison. The range of domestic buildings, including pantry (French "pain"), buttery (French "bouteille") and kitchen were in the handsome central courtyard and, together with the Great Hall, placed opposite the main gate. Sir Edward's (note that I am avoiding spelling his surname!) private apartment was on the upper floor and would have been splendid, although his wealth may not have extended to tapestries, merely to painted hangings.  All would have been affluent, comfortable and classy. There is even evidence that there was a separate banqueting hall or gazebo even higher up the hill with views of the surroundings and the splendour of the castle.

Backdrop to Sir Edward's situation.

   Although in the 12th and 13th centuries the country was in turmoil, by the later 14th century the atmosphere was calmer, despite the peasants' revolting (I nearly wrote "being revolting"), rebellion against the king and a threat of dangerous French invasion by armada after their recent burning and raiding on the south coast as part of what we now call the Hundred Years' War. There is no evidence, though, that Sir Edward was terrified by this and he had made many excursions across the Channel to commit similar actions. If there were battles they were pitched in open fields rather than being castle sieges. At the moment of applying for his licence Sir Edward was facing imprisonment over his dramatic quarrel with the eminent John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, over the murder of his sub-forester, William Mouse, (love that name!) and may have suddenly wanted proven respectability. As he was from a comparatively humble background, having married a wealthy heiress and made a mint on the continent, he probably wanted to accentuate his position. His income of around £200-300 p.a. was very comfortable but not sufficient to pay for this extravaganza and, although he sold off some of his wife's lands from 1381 onwards, we may assume that some money came from foreign pillaging, ransoms and sale of captured French knights' armour (typically worth £400) in the company of Sir Robert Knolles or Knowles, who was reputed to have made 100,000 gold crowns as a mercenary and whose arms are displayed over the Postern gate. (Consistency of spelling became a fetish much later - in the 18th century.)

The full Monty - though not necessarily French

Summary
   Not only is Bodiam Castle alluring in its beauty but it raises intriguing questions about the definition and function of castles in the late 14th century as well as causing some disquiet about the chivalry of knights such as Sir Edward. Chaucer's portrait of the knight in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales has been taken at face value as the picture of a perfect chivalrous gentleman of roughly this period but has been proved definitively - in my opinion - by Terry Jones to be a scathing description of a ruthless mercenary. Sir Edward was not of that ilk but may have built his fantasy castle on some ill-gotten gains, at least considered by modern standards. It was later owned and restored by John Fuller, George Cubitt and Lord Curzon. I bet they didn't string up manky bunting. You can play at spot-the-W.W.II-pill-box on your way out: use the loos nearby on your way in - go before you go.

    My keen-eyed readers will have clocked that Bodiam is far from the Welsh Marches and its buses but there are interesting contrasts and comparisons with castles there: it is similar to stunning Raglan Castle in being a Toff's residence and very different from isolated White Castle whose purpose was entirely military. The vast Caerphilly Castle is also enlarged and mirrored by lakes which are truly defensive. An earlier fortress such as imposing Chepstow Castle conforms to the linear structure of the threatening cliffs and was built to emphasise Norman political power whereas the designer of Bodiam had a free space to exploit as he chose and probably was instructed to underline personal prestige. Another Welsh connection is that, in the 1380's, the great magnate, the Earl of Arundel, put sir Edward in charge of his estates in Wales. My verdict on the main debate is that it was built as a castle, looks like a castle and so is a castle and that Sir Edward of the unpronounceable surname just wanted to indulge himself with a seductive folly. The rest of us will have to be content with CAKE.

For opening times and activities and a chance to complain about the bunting click here.

Owain Glyn Dwr: an unlikely hero?

The young man
    Although we may think of Owain Glyn Dwr as a rebellious warrior, his early life was peaceful and prosperous. His name, Owen of the Glen of Water, derives from one of two main family estates, Glyndyfrdwy, the Glen of the Water of Dee. The main family residence was at Sycharth, destroyed by Prince Henry (later Henry V.) Both sides of the family could claim to be descended from Welsh princes but the date of his birth is uncertain as are details of his childhood.
   He probably spent 7 years at the Inns of Court in London, as an "apprentice of the law" and trained as a squire and soldier. He passed a period in the home of Sir David Hanmer, a knight and one of the principal lawyers of Edward III, who introduced the young man to the affluent world of landowners and to his daughter, whom Owain married. Margaret was described by a poet as "the best of wives" and together the couple reared 6 sons and 3 daughters, a "beautiful nest of chieftains."
   They were comfortably settled at Sycherth with an annual income of £200 (multiply by 2-300 for modern equilvalence) making Owain extremely wealthy and able to maintain a house described by poets as "frequented by bards, the best place in the world," with a moat, a gatehouse, richly-filled private chambers and stained glass windows, surrounded by "smiling green meadows", stables, pigeon-house, deer-park, orchards etc. The poets, Iolo Goch and Gruffudd Llwyd, found in Owain qualities derived from impeccable birth, breeding and leadership: aristocratic hospitality, generosity to the vulnerable and ferocity towards his enemies. Why then, did he, in prosperous middle age, forsake all these advantages to lead a rebellion against mighty forces and royal power?

Why rebel? Why then?

   One of the causes lies in what we have already noted: the influence of bards and poets. They extolled a time when the forefathers of the Welsh had ruled over a great empire before sinking to present lowliness and there was a sense that a much-needed new leader was due to appear after the deaths of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth (the Great, 1194-1240), Llewelyn ap Gruffudd (the Last, 1247-1282) and his brother, Dafydd who was captured and executed. Edward I had hammered North Wales, built huge castles and established English boroughs around them, although he did not suppress Welsh literature nor the language.
   Owain may have also felt personally disappointed in aspects of his career: 3 men who might have furthered his promotion because of his early service to the crown had not done so: Richard II, Henry of Lancaster and Thomas, Earl of Arundel had failed to help him to the knighthood he might have expected. He had also been humiliated by Henry IV in a land dispute with Lord Grey of Ruthin. Yet he had support for rebellion from the church, the uchelwyr, (the great and the good) and ordinary people - Welsh students came from Oxford and Cambridge to join him and farmers left farms in England to enlist.
   The Welsh Marches had never been fully subjugated and England was in a state of weak control because of the insecure position of Henry IV, whose right to the throne was disputed. The climate had deteriorated causing famines, the 100 Years' War had started with consequent heavy taxation and the waves of plague, the Black Death, had ravaged the populations of Europe. Wales suffered perhaps more than many other areas from these unsettling, even catastrophic events. The anti-Welsh Penal Laws were passed in 1401 and 1402. Conditions were ripe for attention to bards who proclaimed the coming of a Welsh deliverer, possibly, some maintained, called Owain. Economic circumstances combined with prophecies and a folk-memory of Merlin to welcome an otherwise unlikely rebel.

The war

   This section will have to be summarised even more than the previous ones because of its complexity and because otherwise you would have to come to grips with names such as Dafydd ap Hywel Fychan ap Hywel ap Dafydd when you would prefer to be eating CAKE.
  Owain was victorious for several years against huge odds and was a thorn in the flesh of Henry IV and an enormous expense to him. He used mostly guerrilla tactics but there were 3 main battles, excluding the Battle of Shrewsbury when Henry intercepted the forces of Henry Percy (Hotspur), Owain's partner, before he could arrive. These were: Bryn Glas in 1402 when Owain scored a notable victory and Edmund Mortimer was captured - his nephew of the same name had a claim to the throne; Grosmont, where 800-1000 of Owain's men were killed and Pwll Melyn, near Usk, where Owain's forces were heavily defeated under the command of his son who was captured and imprisoned. At Llandovery, on 9th October 1401, Llewelyn ap Gruffudd Fychan of Caeo was executed in front of the king for his part and a superb statue commemorates his bravery.

   The years 1405-6 were the climax of Owain's powers with a Tripartite Indenture drawn up giving him not only Wales but parts of England, the French army on its way and the Pennal letter sent to France which would transfer loyalty to the Pope at Avignon and free the Church in Wales from English control as well as creating universities. He had been enthroned as Prince of Wales (very annoying to the English who called their heir to the throne by that title), he had his own great seal and was holding tournaments to show his influence.
  During the next 5 years he lost his position: England began to recover with Henry IV's victory over the Percy family; the French army went home; maintaining guerrilla war was costly and he had gained few castles; the men of the lordships of Caerleon and Usk ceased to support him and there was a terrible winter in 1407-8. He held Harlech Castle and Aberystwyth for a while but they were low on provisions. Prince Hal attacked Aberystwyth and, finally, Owain became an outlaw and bandit and his wife was taken prisoner with his daughters and 3 granddaughters. The 6 sons had joined the rebellion and died childless No-one knows where he is buried and this led to a belief in some quarters that he had not died and would return.

Finally
   - yet not so as I find this whole uprising and the character of Owain so complex and fascinating that I will write another post analysing the issue and doubtless causing controversy and much discussion over CAKE.

Avoid saying "Ll" as you eat!

   If you are not Welsh-speaking you may like to know that "ap" means "son of" (which accounts for the way names build up into strings) and that you can pronounce "ll" convincingly by voicing this phoneme with your tongue curled up behind your top gum/palate. The "dd" in names is pronounced "th" and the "ch" is hard and formed at the back of the throat.There should be a circumflex on the "w" of Glyndwr but my technical skills fall short here.
  If you prefer simply to visit the places connected with the narrative without twisting your tongue you could start with Usk Castle and nearby Pwll Melyn and move on to Abergavenny where scorch marks from his arson have been found in the Tithe Barn. His legacy spreads throughout Wales and as you ride your bus in the Marches, you are never far from scenes of skirmish or major destruction.

For an appraisal of his rebellion and its effects click here. To read more about the castles involved, use the search button on the top right of this blog post.
 

Caldicot Castle

The Site
   Caldicot Castle is somewhat unusually situated on the Gwent levels whereas many castles take advantage of a high position. The name Caldicot could mean "Cold cot", a rough shelter built by the Romans on a main road: the Roman town of Caerwent is 2 miles north (on the road called Via Julia in those times) and the garrison at Caerleon is 10 miles away. According to the Domesday Book of 1086 the town was held by Sheriff Durand and was recorded as being "in demesne [worked on lord's behalf  by villeins or serfs] three ploughs and 15 villeins, four serfs and one man at arms. All these have twelve ploughs. Here is a mill of ten shillings. All is worth £6." The site is near Harold Godwinson's former Saxon castle and has, despite first impressions, strategic value being near the Bristol Channel so that the comings and goings of ships could be tracked and transport of supplies easily managed.

First building 
   Dates and stages of building are quite difficult to establish but the green motte (mound) topped by a round stone keep was probably constructed around 1221 after Humphrey de Bohun, the "Good Earl", inherited the lordship. The motte would have helped to compensate for the flat site and some historians have argued that it would have had to be virtually demolished and rebuilt for the foundations of the keep to go so deeply into it. The keep was a formidable structure with 9 foot thick walls of local gritstone, 4 storeys and inner lavish accommodation, spiral staircases, elaborate architectural detail, hooded fireplaces, window seats and, that ultimate in comfort, a semi-circular latrine turret. In the basement is a vaulted dungeon. The exterior is faced with finely-cut smooth stone and the top was crowned with battlements.

Later

  The castle changed hands many times and the various owners added different parts: as this information is lengthy and readily available, I will summarise it briefly. Sturdy curtain (connecting) walls were added with round towers encompassing the inner ward. The first gate-house was erected in the mid 13 th century and allowed rapid and covert movement into and away from the castle proper. During the 14th century it was modified and, in the 1340's, the Great Hall was constructed. Thomas de Woodstock did extensive and costly works in the late 1380's (he deserves a paragraph of his own!) The castle fell into a ruinous state between 1507 and 1830 when it was leased as an agricultural holding only but was admired by lovers of the picturesque with its covering of ivy. J. R. Cobb, a wealthy Victorian barrister,  bought it in 1885 to become a family residence and restored and altered it considerably: he was a castle buff who also owned Manorbier and Pembroke castles.

Thomas de Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester

He was the 14th and youngest child of Edward III and obtained the castle through marriage to Eleanor de Bohun. His building works, lasting from 1384 and 1389, included the Great Gateway on the south and the Woodstock Tower on the north. This tower was itemised in the building account for 1385: "50 ft high with battlements 6 ft high with a portcullis and vault for drawing the portcullis, with 3 chambers and stone windows, 3 fireplaces and 3 latrines to be made in the same chamber." His name and that of his wife "Alianore" were carved on the jambs of the postern gate but the latter stone is now in the guardroom.
   He was murdered in the English bastion at Calais in 1397 because of his complicity with the Lords Appellant, a band of peers who brought about the downfall of the young king's favourites. Richard II had Gloucester arrested for treason and killed, some say by smothering him with a mattress, others by strangling with a towel. Gloucester may have had pretensions to the throne earlier: almost certainly Thomas Mowbray had a hand in his murder. His memory is the subject of a dispute in the second scene of Shakespeare's Richard II between the Duchess of Gloucester and John of Gaunt in which she incites him to avenge the death. This account suggests a different method of killing as it speaks of the "butchers of his life" and "envy's hand and murder's bloody axe" but Shakespeare might have altered facts for dramatic potential since "murder's feather bed (or towel)" does not have quite the same ring!


The cannon
  This greets you as you enter the open grassy area and was used on Nelson's flagship, the 80 gun HMS Foudroyant (terrible, thundering) from 6 June 1799 till the end of June 1801. Joseph Cobb and his son bought the ship, which had also served in the Napoleonic wars, to save it from being dismantled abroad. Geoffrey, the son, wanted it to be a training ship and took it in a fund-raising trip round the coast but it was wrecked at Blackpool in a storm and this gun, amongst other items was salvaged. One of the minor ironies of history!
Your visit
  The castle is surrounded by 45 acres of country park where you can stroll and walk your dog (that pooch will soon be the most learned animal for miles around as it learns the difference between a machiolation and a murder hole - if there is any!)  Opening times are on its website. The castle is a short walk down the road opposite Caldicot Cross: Caldicot is on the 74 bus route from Newport to Chepstow where you can visit another magnificent castle or lounge by the river Wye and its beautiful bridge.