Y BARWN, Dinmael Denbighshire.
Edeyrnion Merionethshire.
Glyndyfrdwy Ibid.
Y RHIW, Yale, or Ial Denbighshire.
Ystrad Alun, or Mold Flintshire.
Hope Ibid.
UWCHNANT, Merffordd Ibid.
Maelor Gymraeg, or Bromfield Denbighshire.
Maelor Saesnaeg Flintshire.
TREFRED, Croes-Vaen Denbighshire.
Tref-y-Waun, or Chirk Ibid.
CROES-OSWALLT, or Oswestry Shropshire.
RHAIADR, Mochnant-is-Rhaiadr, Cynllaeth, Denbighshire.
&c.
Nanheudwy Ibid.
Whittington Shropshire.
To Madog is assigned the honour of erecting the Castle of Oswestry.
Whether he is entitled to this distinction it would be difficult now to
prove. Welsh historians assert, that he built also the Castles of
Overton (Flintshire) and Caereinion, and that in the former, which
received the additional name of Madog, he resided. Powell says of him,
that he was “ever the King of England’s friend, and was one that feared
GOD, and relieved the poor.” Madog married Susanna, daughter of Grufydd
ab Cynan, Prince of North Wales, by whom he had two sons, Grufydd Maelor
and Owain ab Madog. To the first he gave the two Maelors, Yale,
Hopedale, Nanheudwy, Mochnant-is-Rhaiadr, &c.: to Owain, the land of
Mechain-is-Coed; and to his natural son, Owain Brogyntyn, a nobleman of
distinguished talents, he granted the lordships of Edeirnion and Dinmael.
The last-named Owain resided at Brogyntyn, near Oswestry, now called
Porkington, whence he assumed his surname. His dagger and cup are still
preserved at Rûg: and many families in Merionethshire and Denbighshire
are directly descended from him. Madog’s second wife was Maud Verdon, an
Englishwoman of noble lineage. He died in 1159 at Winchester, whence his
body was conveyed to Meivod, in Montgomeryshire, where it was deposited
in the Church of St. Mary, which he himself had built some years before.
His widow is stated to have been married to William Fitz-Alan, Lord of
Clun, and he, in right of his wife, obtained the town and castle of
Oswestry. Fitz-Alan was a descendant of Alan, one of the companions of
the Conqueror, and was the first of his name who bore the title of “Baron
of Oswaldestre.” Alan was progenitor of the entire noble family which
from him derived the name of Fitz-Alan, and for many succeeding centuries
were the most distinguished personages in Shropshire. From this powerful
race is descended the present Duke of Norfolk, who holds the title of
“Baron of Oswaldestre,” in addition to his other patrician honours. His
Grace’s ancestor, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, married Lady Mary, daughter of
Henry, the last Earl of Arundel named Fitz-Alan, 13th Elizabeth, when the
barony of “Oswaldestre” was conveyed to the Duke.
The Norman conquest was “a heavy blow and great discouragement” to the
impetuous Britons. During that eventful period almost the whole of
Shropshire was parcelled out, and bestowed by William the Conqueror on
his kinsman, Roger de Montgomery, as a reward for his great military
services in the conquest. The Earl of Shrewsbury, whilst thus taking
possession of Powys, among his other newly-acquired lands, brought under
his subjection the town and castle of Trefaldwyn, (from Baldwin,
Montgomery’s lieutenant,) which fortress he strongly fortified, and
afterwards called it after his own family name. Hugh Lupus, Earl of
Chester, (the founder of the Grosvenor family,) likewise did homage for
Englefield and Rhûvoniog, with the country extending along the sea shore
from Chester to the waters of Conway. Ralph Mortimer did the same for
the territory of Elvel; as did Hugh de Lacie for the lands of Eulas; and
Eustace Cruer for Mold and Hopedale. Brady relates out of Domesday, that
William the Conqueror granted to Hugh Lupus North Wales in farm, at the
rent of £40 per annum, besides Rhos and Rhûvoniog. These Norman Barons
erected fortresses on their lands, and, so far as they were able, settled
in them English and Norman defenders. In a MS., relating to the Welsh
Marches, from the library of the late Philip Lloyd Fletcher, Esq., of
Gwernhaylod, in Flintshire, it is stated “that about this time, Bristol,
Gloucester, Worcester, Shrewsbury, and Chester were rebuilt and
fortified, and formed a line of military posts upon the frontiers.” Thus
the last asylum of the Welsh was invested on almost every side, or broken
into by their enemies. The kingdom of North Wales, reduced to the island
of Anglesey, to Merioneth and Caernarvonshire, and to part of the present
counties of Denbigh and Cardigan, still preserved the national character
and importance. The natives of Wales, aided by the virtue and courage of
their Princes, became more formidable than ever to the English; and at
times, as they acquired union with additional vigour from despair, their
invaders, instead of being able to make new conquests, held those which
they had already obtained by a precarious tenure. William’s policy, in
giving to his barons the power to make such conquests in Wales as they
were able, led to the erection of the Marches Lordships, of which
Oswestry formed a part. These lordships consisted of more than a hundred
petty sovereignties, and were the fruitful source of innumerable
disorders, till their partial suppression in the reign of Henry VIII.
Pennant says, that William’s design was, in establishing these seignories
and jurisdictions, to give to those whom he had brought over to England
the power of providing for themselves, and to reduce, at the same time,
the opposition of the Welsh people. The precise extent of the Marches
Lordships it is difficult, as we have already said, to define. During
the Saxon period the Severn was considered the ancient boundary between
England and Wales. The lands conquered by Offa on the western side of
that river were annexed to Mercia, and afterwards incorporated with the
monarchy by Alfred the Great. The term _Marches_ signifies generally the
limits or space between England and Wales, of which the western part of
Shropshire, Oswestry included, formed a principal portion. Of the Norman
Barons, besides the first Earl of Shrewsbury, who did homage for royal
grants of territory, were Fitzalan for Oswestry and Clun; Fitz-Gwarine
for Whittington; and Roger le Strange for Ellesmere. The tenure by which
the _Baronies Marches_ were held, was, that—
“in case of war the lords should send to the army a certain number of
their vassals; that they should garrison their respective castles,
and keep the Welsh in subjection. In return for these services the
lords had an arbitrary and despotic power in their own domains. They
had the power of life and death, in their respective courts, in all
cases except those of high treason. In every frontier manor a
gallows was erected; if any Welshman passed the boundary line fixed
between the two countries, he was immediately seized and hanged.
Every town within the Marches had a horseman armed with a spear, who
was maintained for the express purpose of taking these offenders. If
any Englishman was caught on the Welsh side of the line, he suffered
a similar fate. The Welsh considered everything that they could
steal from their English neighbours as lawful prize.”
After the conquest of Wales by Edward I. the Baronies Marches were
continued, but under regulations somewhat different from the former. In
the reign of Edward IV. they were governed by a Lord President and
Council, consisting of the Chief Justice of Chester, and three Justices
of Wales. In cases of emergency other parties were called in. By a
statute passed in the reign of Henry VIII. the principality and dominion
of Wales became formally annexed to England; and all the Welsh laws, and
most of their peculiar customs and tenures, were by this statute entirely
abolished. By this statute also four new counties were formed,
Brecknockshire, Denbighshire, Montgomeryshire, and Radnorshire. The
Marches became annexed partly to England, and partly to the new counties
of Wales. The President and Council of the Marches were however allowed
to continue as before, and their general court was held at Ludlow. A
statute was passed in the reign of William III., by which the government
of the entire principality was divided between two peers of the realm, on
whom was conferred the title of Lords Lieutenant of North and South
Wales. From that period the Lordship Marches were entirely abolished.
There is another salient point in the history of Wales which it will not
be inappropriate here to mention. Many of our readers have heard or read
of the Royal Tribes of Wales.
“The five regal Tribes, and the respective representative of each,
were considered as of royal blood. The fifteen common Tribes, all of
North Wales, and the respective representative of each, formed the
nobility, were lords of distinct districts, and bore some hereditary
office in the palace. Grufydd ab Cynan, Prince of North Wales, Rhys
ab Tewdwr, of South Wales, and Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, of Powys, regulated
both these classes, but did not create them; as many of the persons,
placed at their head, lived before their times, and some after.
Their precedence, as it stands, is very uncertain, and not governed
by dates; the last of them were created by Davydd ab Owain Gwynedd,
who began his reign in 1169. We are left ignorant of the form by
which they were called to this rank. Mr. Vaughan, of Hengwrt,
informs us that Grufydd ab Cynan, Rhys ab Tewdwr, and Bleddyn ab
Cynvyn made diligent search after the arms, ensigns, and pedigrees of
their ancestors, the nobility and kings of the Britons. What they
discovered by their pains in any paper or records, was afterwards by
the Bards digested, and put into books, and they ordained five Royal
Tribes, there being only three before, from whom their posterity to
this day can derive themselves, and also fifteen special Tribes, of
whom the gentry of North Wales are for the most part descended!’”
It will be seen from the foregoing pages that we have abstained from all
minute detail in our description of the continued struggles for mastery
between the Welsh and their own kindred, as well as of the strife for
power and dominion between the Cambrian princes and their foreign
invaders. These scenes in the history of Wales are nothing more, to use
the eloquent language of Warrington, than “a recital of reciprocal
inroads and injuries—a series of objects unvaried and of little
importance, which pass the eye in a succession of cold delineations, like
the evanescent figures produced by the _camera obscura_. The characters
and events are not brought distinctly into view, nor are they
sufficiently explained, to enable the historian to judge of their
proportions, their beauty, or defects; whence he can neither develope the
principles of action, nor trace the connection of causes with effects, by
leading incidents, or by the general springs which govern human affairs.”
“The story of our country under its native princes,” observes another
impartial writer on Welsh history, “is a wretched calendar of crimes, of
usurpations, and family assassinations; and in this dismal detail we
should believe ourselves rather on the Bosphorus than the banks of the
Dee.” The British or Welsh rulers had doubtless much to complain of
against their Roman, Saxon, and Norman invaders; but their own conduct
towards their own people—to those who by affinity claimed their
protection and regard—was quite as guilty as that of their foreign foes.
Throughout the entire reign of Henry I. we read in the Welsh annals of
nothing but “a series of retaliated injuries arising in regular
succession; evils naturally springing from the passions, where they usurp
the sword of justice.” Henry died about the year 1135, and Stephen
succeeded to the English throne, and was soon embarked in a sea of
troubles. Engaged in continual hostilities, and in supporting a doubtful
title, he prudently concluded a peace with the Welsh, and allowed them to
retain the territories they had lately recovered, free of homage or
tribute. The incidents of Stephen’s reign were marked by no feature of
national interest; and the only reference made to it in connection with
this district is William Fitz-Alan’s espousal of the claim made by the
Empress Maud to the English crown. His union with other noblemen, to
dethrone Stephen, exposed him to danger, and he was compelled to leave
the kingdom, abandoning his lands and other property to the incensed
monarch. Whilst an exile from England he remained faithful to the
interests of the Empress; and on his return to this country on the death
of Stephen, and the accession to the throne of Henry II., he reaped the
reward of his spirit and fidelity, by receiving back all his forfeited
honours and estates, including the Castles of Oswestry and Clun. Of
Oswestry Castle we shall speak particularly in subsequent pages. Of Clun
we may at present say, that it remained in the direct line of William
Fitz-Alan down to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the last Earl died.
By the marriage of Mary Fitz-Alan with Philip Howard, the son of Thomas,
Duke of Norfolk, it became vested in that noble family. From them it
passed to the Walcotts, and afterwards, by purchase, to Lord Clive, in
whose family it continues. The Duke of Norfolk still retains the title
of “Baron of Clun,” as well as that of “Baron of Oswaldestre.”
Henry was an inveterate and formidable enemy to the interests of Wales.
He speedily employed his utmost force in attempting to subjugate the
Cambrian people; and it is recorded of Madog ab Meredydd, Prince of
Powys, who had united with the enemies of his country, that he incited
the English king to an invasion of North Wales. Henry listened to the
solicitations of the Powysian prince, and eagerly exerted every means for
the conquest of the country. He quickly raised a powerful army, and
marched without delay into North Wales. Mathew Paris states that the
levy of Henry, raised at this time, amounted to 30,000 men. Owain
Gwynedd, in this campaign, gallantly led the Welsh, and in one of the
actions, at _Coed Euloe_, near Hawarden, Flintshire, the monarch himself,
who had encamped near the field of battle, escaped from the hands of the
Welsh with the greatest difficulty. The English forces, having been
strengthened, pursued the Welsh, and at length Prince Owain, fearful that
his army would perish for want of provisions, concluded a peace with the
King of England. He himself and his chieftains submitted to do homage to
Henry, and to yield up the castles and districts in North Wales which, in
the last reign, had been obtained from the English. Lord Lyttleton tells
us, that to complete this humiliating position, Owain was obliged to
deliver up two of his sons as pledges of his future obedience. The year
after this important event a general peace took place between England and
Wales; the princes and all the chieftains of South Wales repaired to the
court of England, where Henry granted peace, on the Welsh doing homage
for their own territories, and formally ceding to him the districts
recovered from the English in the last reign. This peaceful state of
things was but of short duration. Rhys, the son of Grufydd ab Rhys,
immediate heir to the sovereign power of South Wales, having been
outraged by several English lords, threw off his allegiance, commenced a
revolt, and rallied around him a numerous force, which perplexed and
baffled the English monarch. Shortly afterwards, fired by the gallant
example of Rhys, the Prince of North Wales (Owain Gwynedd), and all his
sons, his brother Cadwaladr, and the chieftains of Powys, united with
him, in the endeavour to regain their independence and honour. After
some slight skirmishes with the Welsh, Henry gathered together a
formidable force, with which he marched into Powys, breathing slaughter
and extermination against the inhabitants. All the historical writers,
in describing this fearful onslaught, admit that few events of ancient
times were more deeply stained with the blood of innocence. The English
army, formed of the choicest troops, from Normandy, Anjou, Flanders,
Brittany, and other territories which Henry possessed in France, entered
the Welsh confines at Oswestry, where it was encamped for some time. The
forces of North Wales were collected under the command of Owain Gwynedd
and his brother Cadwaladr; the army of South Wales was headed by the
chivalrous Rhys ab Grufydd; and the men of Powys were led by Owain
Cyveiliog, and the sons of Madog ab Meredydd. The combined forces of the
Welsh assembled at Corwen, where they awaited the approach of the
English. Henry, burning with ardour to attack the enemy, marched his
army to the banks of the Ceiriog, near the present village of Chirk, and
at once ordered that the woods on each side of the river be cut down, to
prevent ambuscades and sudden approaches of the enemy. It is related by
some writers, that on the passage of the Ceiriog Henry was in imminent
danger of losing his life: attempting to force a bridge, an arrow aimed
at him by the hand of a Welshman must inevitably have pierced his body,
if Hubert de St. Clare, Constable of Colchester, perceiving the danger,
had not in a moment sprang before his sovereign and received it into his
own bosom, and thereby met with his death-wound. Whilst the English
soldiers were employed in felling the woods, a detachment of the Welsh
forces forded the river, and suddenly attacked the van of Henry’s army,
composed of pikemen, considered to be the most daring and gallant portion
of his soldiers. A fierce battle ensued; many were killed on both sides,
but at length Henry gained the passage, and advanced onward to the Berwyn
mountains, to recruit his troops. There he remained in camp for several
days. The Welsh were posted on the mountain-heights opposite, watching
with lynx-eyed care every movement of the enemy. They succeeded in
cutting off his supplies, and his army was reduced to extreme distress
and privation, for want of food for man and horse. To increase his
difficulties, sudden and heavy rains fell, which rendered the country on
the Berwyn side so slippery and dangerous, that neither men nor horses
could stand on their feet. Torrents of water, from the incessant rains,
poured down from the mountains into the vale where Henry was encamped;
and, unable to maintain his ground amidst all these unexpected disasters,
he retired, with great loss of men, and, what was more annoying to his
vaunting spirit, with defeat and disgrace. Fired with revenge, and urged
by the barbarism which ever marks the tyrant, he commanded that the eyes
of all the hostages which had been placed in his hands should be put out.
The two sons of Rhys ab Grufydd, Prince of South Wales, and the two sons
also of Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, became the unfortunate
victims of Henry’s cruelty. Holinshead, in his Chronicles, tells us,
that besides these young chieftains, the atrocious monarch caused the
sons and daughters of several Welsh lords to be treated with the same
severity; ordering the eyes of the young striplings to be pecked out of
their heads, and the ears of the gentlewomen to be stuffed.
In the annals of Wales this battle is ranked among the brightest
achievements of the Welsh, in their long-continued struggles for liberty.
The site is known by the mournful designation of _Adwy’r Beddau_, or the
Pass of the Graves. The conflict is called in most of the ancient books,
“_The Battle of Crogen_.” Yorke observes, “it has been erroneously said
that the term Crogen was used in contempt and derision of the Welsh; but
that was not the truth: the English meant to express by it animosity, and
the desire of revenge.” “Many of the English,” he adds, “were slain, and
buried in Offa’s Dyke, below Chirk Castle, and the part so filled up is
to be seen, and forms a passage over it, called to this day _Adwy’r
Beddau_, or the Pass of the Graves.” The late Mr. William Price, in an
annotated edition of his “History of Oswestry,” published in 1815, has
the following note on the Battle of Crogen:—
“Owain Gwynedd slept at Tyn-y-Rhos, the present residence of Richard
Phillips, Esq., who has still in preservation the bedstead he at that
time lay upon. Likewise a Deed or Lease of a piece of land, of five
acres, for 2s. 8d. per year; with a cock and hen at Christmas, and a
man a day in the harvest; which still preserves the name.”
Turning for a moment to the civil government of Oswestry, it may be
mentioned that in the reign of Henry II, the first Charter was granted to
Oswestry, by William, Earl of Arundel. The Welsh called it “_Siarter
Cwtta_,” the Short Charter. It was a Charter of protection, of which
there were many granted about this period. It states, “I have received
in protection my Burgesses of Blanc-Minster. Richard de Chambre was
Constable of White-Minster. Thomas de Rossall held Rossall, of John
Fitz-Alan, in chief, of one knight’s fee at White-Minster.” Guto (y
Glyn), an excellent poet who flourished from 1430 to 1460, a native of
Llangollen, and domestic bard to the Abbot of Llanegwestl, or Valle
Crucis, near that romantic town, speaks of White-Minster in his days. He
says, “I know not of any Convent of Monks superior to White-Minster.”
About the year 1188, William Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, gave a sumptous
banquet in the Castle of Oswestry, to Giraldus Cambrensis, and Baldwin,
Archbishop of Canterbury, on their return from Wales, the bleak and
barren mountains of which they had just travelled over, in an attempt to
incite the people to the intended Crusade to the Holy Land. Giraldus
seems to have considered that the entertainment given by the Norman Earl
was too luxurious for saintly personages. He speaks, however, with much
complacency of the comfortable accommodations provided for him and the
Archbishop at Shrewsbury, whither they repaired from this town. “From
Oswestry,” says he, “that Prelate and his retinue came after Easter
(1188) to Slopesbury, where they remained some days to recruit and
refresh themselves, and many assumed the cross in obedience to the
precepts of the Archbishop, and the gracious sermon of the Archdeacon of
St. David’s. Here also they excommunicated Oen de Cevelioc (Owain
Cyveiliog, Prince of Powys), because he alone of all the Welsh princes,
had not advanced to meet the Archbishop.” The visit of Giraldus and
Baldwin to Oswestry might have been induced by a two-fold motive, namely,
to partake of the princely hospitality of Fitz-Alan, in his baronial
castle, and to hold “ghostly communication” with Regner, Bishop of St.
Asaph, who at this period resided in Oswaldestre.
The succeeding portion of Henry II’s long reign was largely occupied with
plans and movements to subdue the Welsh princes and their people. After
repeated struggles, the English monarch saw, with exulting spirit, that
he had reduced Cambrian independence to a bye-word of contempt, by
seducing them from patriotism and virtue, and rendering them a disunited
and improvident people. When he had accomplished this signal victory
over them, and hoped to enjoy further years of sovereign power in
comparative ease and tranquillity, the fate even of monarchs was dealt
out to him. His mortal career was ended, and he was “gathered to his
fathers:”—
“The glories of our blood and state are shadows, not substantial
things;
There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings.”
Henry was succeeded by Richard, his son, surnamed Cœur-de-Lion, whose
reign continued for about ten years, when he was slain at the siege of
Chalons, in France, and John, his brother, ascended the throne. During
Richard’s monarchy the town of Oswestry was not marked by any event
worthy the record of the contemporary historian.