WALES CONQUERED
Between Prince Edward and Llewelyn, in so far as the latter
represented his grandfather's policy, there was no fundamental
conflict of ideal. The essence of that policy was that Wales should
remain independent and united, but within the bounds of allegiance to
the King of England. To the modern man, who has inherited from the
century of the Reformation the conception of national sovereignty,
such a position may appear to be an impossible one; but to the man of
the Middle Ages, accustomed as he was to the underlying principles of
feudalism, there was nothing at all paradoxical in the position. Now
in recent years we have again learned the soundness of the principle;
and it has become the foundation upon which the British Empire rests.
There are many of the elements of real tragedy in this mighty
conflict between Edward and Llewelyn. Both were able, {86} valiant,
sincere, and high-minded men. Both were statesmen of more than
ordinary capacity. It is hard that a _modus vivendi_ should not have
been discovered between them; and it looks as if some cruel Fate had
placed each of them in a false position of inevitable hostility the
one towards the other. To Edward the Welsh appeared in the light
only of rebellious subjects. They owed him fealty; and with the
strict sense of feudal obligations which, with Edward, amounted
almost to an obsession, he viewed their disobedience as the breach of
a legal and a moral duty. "The last survivor of that race of
traitors" were the words with which the Parliament of Shrewsbury
described Davydd, Llewelyn's brother. To Llewelyn and the people of
Wales, on the other hand, the struggle was that of an independent
State, fighting for the preservation of its independence against the
encroachments of a powerful neighbour. It was unfortunate that
Edward had come to think of Llewelyn as shifty and faithless, and
that Llewelyn had come to think of Edward as cruel, crafty, and
deceitful. The two men regarded one another with intense personal
hatred and suspicion; and an accommodation which might have proved
fairly easy of {87} attainment in an atmosphere of goodwill and
confidence, was rendered quite impossible by the atmosphere of
dislike and distrust in which negotiations were conducted.
The trouble began when Henry III presented his son Edward, then a boy
of sixteen, with the palatine earldom of Chester, upon the extinction
of the great Norman family by which it had hitherto been held. This
grant carried with it, as we have seen, certain lands in Wales--the
Four Cantrefs, and the lands between the Dovey and Carmarthen Bay.
These lands were recent acquisitions of the English Crown; and it was
with extreme reluctance that the chieftains of Gwynedd had
acquiesced. Nevertheless, all might have been well but for the
ruthless policy of anglicisation upon which Edward's officials
immediately embarked. Professor Tout is undoubtedly right when he
says that "the germ of all Edward's later Welsh policy lies in his
early attempts to establish the shire system in his Welsh estates."
He might have added with equal truth that therein lies too the germ
of all Edward's subsequent troubles in Wales; for the introduction of
the shire system meant the substitution of English law for the laws
of Howel, a new and different division of the {88} country for
administrative purposes, and eventually the imposition of English
manners and the English language upon the Welsh people.
The brutality of the soldiers left by Edward in the Four Cantrefs
infuriated the inhabitants so that they rose in rebellion, and
appealed to Llewelyn for help. Llewelyn knew that it would be
impolitic for him to go to their assistance; but his chivalrous and
patriotic soul was stirred to its depths by their tale of outrage and
oppression, and reluctantly he agreed to go. Within the course of a
few days the whole country from the Conway to the Dee was overrun.
But Llewelyn knew that it would not be possible to confine the
struggle within one locality. The whole might of England would be
brought against him; and to resist such overwhelming power the united
efforts of the whole of Wales would be required. It was thus that
Llewelyn, from being the avenger of the wrongs of the people of a
small province, came to be the champion of the whole of Wales. The
country rose with rare unanimity; and Llewelyn moved on irresistibly
towards Chester, where Edward was stationed, impotent in the face of
the superior power of his foes. Edward appealed to his father for
help; but at first the appeal {89} was met only with a rebuke. In
1257, however, Henry came to his assistance with a big army. He
succeeded in reaching Deganwy; but further he was unable to
penetrate, and his retreat was disastrous. Indeed the only effect of
the whole campaign was to demonstrate to all waverers the feebleness
of Henry and the strength of Llewelyn.
Llewelyn was now as powerful as any Welsh prince had ever been; while
England was in the throes of the bitter struggle between the king and
the barons led by Simon de Montfort. An alliance was concluded
between the Welsh and Simon; and the defeat and capture of Henry at
Lewes in May 1258 gave Llewelyn a respite in which to consolidate his
gains and to strengthen his position. So long as England remained
disunited Llewelyn was perfectly secure, but the death of Simon, and
the triumph of the king, altered the whole situation. This Llewelyn
knew perfectly well, for he was no idle dreamer; and he was then, as
indeed always, willing to come to terms with the king upon the old
conditions--Wales to be independent, and the Prince of Wales to do
homage to the King of England. In September 1267 Henry led an army
to Shrewsbury; and with them came the legate Ottobon, {90} for the
purpose of negotiating with Llewelyn. The Welsh prince had now, for
some years, been excommunicated. Indeed, throughout the long
struggle the Church proved itself to be the implacable enemy of Welsh
independence. Recognizing the hopelessness and the futility of war
against the whole strength of England, Llewelyn, at Shrewsbury, came
to terms with Henry; and four days afterwards the terms were embodied
in the Treaty of Montgomery. Llewelyn was to do homage to Henry, and
to pay him an indemnity. His own position as Prince of Wales was
recognized; and he was to retain possession of the Four Cantrefs.
This was the position in 1273, when Henry III died.
The accession of Edward I completely altered the situation. He and
Llewelyn were ancient enemies, and each was, from the first, on the
lookout for assault and aggressions on the part of the other. Edward
was crowned in London, upon his return from the Holy Land in August
1274. In accordance with feudal usage he summoned the King of
Scotland and the Prince of Wales to do homage to him. Alexander of
Scotland obeyed and went; but Llewelyn refused. He sought to justify
his refusal on the ground that Edward had proved so faithless in the
past that he dare {91} not venture his life inside the English
capital; furthermore he accused Edward of having broken the Treaty of
Montgomery. A year elapsed; and then Edward came to Chester, and
again summoned Llewelyn to his presence. Acting on the advice of his
council, Llewelyn refused to go; and Edward returned to London in
deep displeasure. At this juncture Fate played into the hands of the
English king. Llewelyn was betrothed to Eleanor, daughter of Simon
de Montfort, at that time living with her mother in France. It was
arranged that she should come over in 1275 for the purpose of getting
married; but on the way she was captured by a vessel from Bristol and
taken to London, where Edward kept her in captivity. The crafty
monarch saw his opportunity. Eleanor should not become the wife of
Llewelyn until the latter had performed the long-delayed act of
homage. This condition Llewelyn indignantly refused; and in 1277 war
began. The English army moved in four divisions, one from Chester,
one from Shrewsbury, one from Hereford, and one from Carmarthen.
South Wales was speedily reduced to subjection; and Llewelyn
presently found himself besieged in the fastnesses of Snowdonia, an
army hemming him {92} in on the land side, while a fleet from the
Cinque Ports rendered escape by sea impossible. Perceiving that
further resistance would be useless, in November 1277 he signed the
Treaty of Rhuddlan in Edward's presence. The terms of the treaty
were severe--an indemnity of fifty thousand marks, the restoration of
the Four Cantrefs, a yearly rent to be paid for Anglesey, all barons
except those of Snowdon to hold their lands of the English king, the
title Prince of Wales to cease with Llewelyn's life, and Llewelyn to
come to England once every year to do homage. It was made a
condition that the inhabitants of the Four Cantrefs were to be
allowed to retain their old customs, and to be judged by their own
laws. Eleanor was then released; and her marriage to Llewelyn took
place at Worcester in October 1278.
It is well known by all historians and statesmen that a too severe
treaty is always the parent of new wars, and the Treaty of Rhuddlan
was undoubtedly too severe. The latent discontent which was felt
throughout Wales, and especially in the North, was greatly
exacerbated by the oppressive administration of the king's Welsh
lands by his officials. Justice was denied. Englishmen {93} might
murder and steal with impunity so long as their victims were only
Welsh. Offices were sold; and extortionate fines were exacted. The
old Welsh laws were disregarded, the excuse being that they
conflicted with the king's superior sense of justice. So terrible
was the oppression, and so impossible was it to obtain redress by
constitutional means, that in 1282 revolts broke out in many parts of
the country. Llewelyn had scrupulously abstained from giving the
least encouragement to any of these revolts; but once they had broken
out of their own accord, he perceived how essential it was that they
should be directed by one mind, and placed himself at their head.
This time Edward determined to make an end of his troublesome vassal,
and to crush the independent power of the Welsh chieftain once and
for all. Llewelyn prepared himself to meet the enormous English army
which was marching against him, his mind filled with evil
forebodings, and his heart heavy with sorrow at the recent death of
his wife. The meddlesome Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, after
first excommunicating Llewelyn, tried to mediate. But Edward
insisted upon unconditional surrender, and {94} that Llewelyn would
not stoop to make. Meanwhile winter was coming on, and Edward had
only succeeded in reaching Penmaenmawr. To try to penetrate the
towering mountain barrier of Arfon at that season of the year would
be reckless folly; and so he retreated to Rhuddlan to await the
return of spring.
Accorded this brief respite, Llewelyn paid what was intended to be a
flying visit to South Wales, in order to encourage his allies. In a
lonely dell near Builth, on December 11th, the last Prince of Wales
was slain in a chance skirmish with some Cheshire soldiers who were
quite ignorant of his identity. He was refused Christian burial by
the Archbishop; and whether his body eventually found a resting place
within the sacred precincts of Cwm Hir, as tradition says it did, we
have no means of ascertaining.
With the death of Llewelyn the rebellion instantly collapsed, except
that his brother Davydd, who had once betrayed him, kept up a show of
resistance in the heart of Snowdonia. But in March 1284 he was
betrayed and captured, and sent by Edward in chains to Shrewsbury to
abide his trial. Davydd was unquestionably a bad man; but it is
difficult to conceive of any degree of turpitude {95} meriting the
dreadful penalties which were inflicted upon him. A special
Parliament was summoned to meet at Shrewsbury; and it was this body,
representing, as we may fairly assume that it did, the finest
intellect and character in the England of the day, that, sitting in
cold blood, condemned the hapless prisoner to be drawn at the tails
of horses through the streets of Shrewsbury, to be hanged, to be
disembowelled while still alive, then to be quartered and beheaded.
English historians have been known to contrast the superior
civilization of the England of Edward I with the barbarity of the
Wales of Llewelyn. One might well invite them to think the matter
over afresh in the light of the doings of the Parliament of
Shrewsbury. About the native Welsh princes, Owen M. Edwards has
finely and truly said that "they had never tortured a prisoner, or
betrayed a guest, or wreaked inhuman vengeance on a fallen enemy."
Wales was now conquered, and the "English Justinian" could proceed
with the task of organization. In this work he was keenly
interested, as is vouched for by the fact that he spent the greater
part of the succeeding two years in the country. From Rhuddlan, {96}
in 1284, he issued the great Statute of Wales which, until the
changes wrought by Henry VIII, remained the foundation upon which the
government of Wales rested. The shire principle was extended. In
the north Anglesey, Carnarvon, and Merioneth were made into shires,
under the jurisdiction of the Justice of Snowdon. Likewise Flint
became a shire under the jurisdiction of the Justice of Chester. In
the south Cardigan and Carmarthen were made shires under the Justice
of South Wales. There were to be County Courts as in England; and
twice every year the new official, the sheriff, was to make his tourn
through the commotes. The main body of Welsh law was to remain in
force; but it was subject to a good deal of modification. For the
protection of the land, and especially for the subjugation of
Llewelyn's stronghold of Gwynedd, a circle of the newly-devised
concentric castles was built--Conway, Beaumaris, Carnarvon,
Criccieth, and Harlech. In order to break the old tribal system, and
in order to anglicise the population as much as possible, the growth
of towns was encouraged. These were given special privileges by
Royal Charter. Cardigan, Builth, Montgomery, Welshpool, Rhuddlan,
Aberystwyth, Carnarvon, Conway, Criccieth, {97} Harlech, Caerwys,
Beaumaris, and Newburgh were among those which received charters from
Edward I; while Edward II gave charters to Bala, Llanfyllin, Cardiff,
Usk, Caerleon, Newport, Cowbridge, and Neath.
In 1284 Edward, accompanied by his wife Eleanor, made a tour of the
Principality. At the beginning of the tour Edward, the first English
Prince of Wales, had been born; and, according to tradition, had been
presented by his father publicly to the people of Carnarvon. From
Carnarvon the royal progress wended its way to Nevin, where a
splendid tournament was held. From Nevin it proceeded to
Aberystwyth, and thence to St. David, and finally to Bristol.
But Edward was destined never to find rest in his relations with
either Scotland or Wales. In 1294 a rebellion broke out, caused by
the injustice of the new sheriffs. It was fairly general, breaking
out simultaneously in Dyfed in Glamorgan, and in the North. Again
the king led an army to Conway; and in a comparatively short time the
rebellion was quelled. It was not, however, altogether fruitless.
Edward seems to have realised that his policy was goading the country
into revolt, and that a greater measure of clemency would serve {98}
his interests better. At all events administration became, for a
time at least, more pure and less harsh. The last attempt to win
independence for Wales in the reign of Edward I was, curiously
enough, made by a Norman lord, Sir Thomas Turberville. He entered
into an agreement with the French, by which he was to bring Wales to
their assistance in their war against England, the reward for this
service being the Principality itself. Before anything had been
done, however, the plot was discovered; and Turberville's head was
placed to rot on the Tower of London.
The question whether the Edwardian conquest was a benefit or a
misfortune to Wales in the long run is one to which no certain answer
can be given. In so far as it put an end to the rivalries and the
internecine strife which, for centuries, had convulsed the land, it
was an unalloyed blessing. But there were signs that Welshmen had
already learnt the lesson of the past; and that they were willing,
without the drastic measures applied to them from without, to set
their own house in order. The multiplication of small States is now,
no doubt, an evil; but the same cannot be said with confidence about
the Middle Ages. The {99} assertion of writers, unable themselves to
read a line of Welsh, that the culture of England in the latter half
of the thirteenth century was superior to that of Wales is certainly
untrue. Indeed the direct contrary is the fact. Welsh literature,
both prose and poetry, was far ahead of that of England; and the
Welsh language had attained a decidedly higher stage of development.
Welsh customs were "barbarous" only in the sense in which all that is
strange is considered barbarous by the man of insular mind. We have
now learned (and it is our good fortune that we have learned) that a
nation can live its own free life of the mind and the spirit while
forming, for political purposes, part of a larger body called a
State; but it does not follow that, in the thirteenth century, a
nation could exist at all without enjoying a large measure of
political independence, if not sovereignty itself. Llewelyn may have
been crafty, proud, and impulsive; but it is equally true that Edward
was harsh, perfidious, and a narrow legalist always thinking in terms
of strict feudal law. His plea that the amending or abrogating of
Welsh laws was for the good of the Welsh people themselves is the
excuse which strong empires have always made use {100} of when
seeking to justify the subjugation and assimilation of small nations.
He talked much about justice; but this justice, which sounded so fair
in theory, resolved itself in practice into the oppression and
cruelty of ruthless and unsympathetic foreign officials. At heart
what Edward most desired was not that Welshmen should remain Welshmen
and be at peace with him, but that they should as quickly as possible
be turned into Englishmen. It has been noted that in the towns which
Edward founded in Wales English was the language of the people down
to the close of the sixteenth century.
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