Edward I and Wales
By R.R.Davies
Edward I and Wales, ed. Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1988)
Introduction: Conquest and foreign domination are the themes of this volume. They are probably the most traumatic experiences that any country can undergo. Medieval Wales is no exception. The impact of the final Edwardian conquest of Wales 1277–83 was, it is true, greatly reduced by the fact that much of eastern and southern Wales had already been conquered in a piecemeal fashion over two centuries; the inhabitants of those districts had thereby had ample opportunity to come to terms with Anglo-Norman rule over many generations. Even in the rest of Wales the prospect of foreign conquest had loomed dangerously close on several occasions in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Nevertheless the shattering impact of the events of 1277–83 on north and west Wales and on what we may call the Welsh national psyche can hardly be denied. ‘Is it the end of the world?’ (Oes derfyn byd?), wondered one poet in a mood of suicidal despair; ‘Ah God, that the sea would drown the land!’ (Och hyd atat-ti, Dduw, na ddaw mor dros dir!) yearned another. The native Welsh chronicler was more prosaic, but the telegraphic brevity of his comment could not conceal his sense of utter cataclysm: ‘And then all Wales was cast to the ground’ (Ac yna y bwriwyd boll Gymru i’r llawr).
It is not difficult to understand this hysterical response. Within the space of five years the three great Welsh princely dynasties of Gwynedd, Deheubarth and northern Powys were either virtually extinguished or peremptorily dispossessed or, at best, their surviving members were reduced to the status of distressed gentlefolk. Such dispossession and demotion were not only a tragedy for the families concerned; they also severed those ties of service, loyalty, patronage and reward which were the very cement of medieval social relations.
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