Wales and its History

A massacre as bad as the Red Wedding in the Game of Thrones. The borderlands between Wales and England were always a brutal place, but after the Norman invasion of England, they became even more brutal .   The new English king created 3 lordships that covered the border with Wales; these were called the Welsh Marches. He gave these lands to his most loyal and brutal lords to keep the Welsh under check. These lords were given special powers that were normally reserved for the king alone; they practically ruled like a king and were encouraged to expand.  100+ years later they were well established and had expanded, creating new lordships. the native Welsh hated these lords, as they treated them badly. the normans were brutal anyway so you can imagine how brutal they were to a people they seen as less that human,  Lords like hugh the fat of Chester were famous for their hatred for the Welsh; another was William de Braose In 1175 William de Braose, 4th lord of Bramber, w...

Browsing through Amazon, Netflix, the BBC and more you will see hundreds, if not thousands, of documentaries and films about English, Irish and Scottish history but nothing covering Welsh history, nothing about a country built on a history to match any nation. People talk of Glyndŵr and Llywelyn movies but the times of Gruffudd ap Cynan were much more eventful, in my opinion.  I did a lot of Research into this and the best script of all would be around the 11-12th centuries and also the life of Gruffudd ap Cynan, he lost and won back his crown 4 times, Each time he would run back to Ireland and return with another army, one time he was helped by a Norman lord but attacked his castle anyway, while he was attacking his castle ,THE Welsh and Irish in his army started fighting, his rival took advantage of this and attacked, off he runs to Ireland again, he returned again and joined with Rhys ap Tewdwr of Deheubarth who was in a similar situation with the ruthless Caradog of Gwent who o...

 Welsh built Abbey as big as Canterbury and Salisbury Cathedrals The Kings and princes of medieval Wales built many grand abbeys but none would be more grand than Abaty Cwm Hir This was the largest abbey in Wales but was never completed. Its fourteen-bay nave was longer than Canterbury and Salisbury Cathedral naves and twice as long as that at St. Davids . The princes of Gwynedd gave the monastery their patronage, and twice in the 13th century the abbey granges were burnt by English soldiers, and in 1231 the abbot was also fined £200 for aiding the Welsh cause in helping Llywelyn ab Iorwerth destroy an English force near Hay on Wye . The headless body of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd , was buried in the abbey after his death nearby in December 1282. These rulers built abbeys, castles and churches all over Wales, something often overlooked for the Norman buildings. The Normans built the highest concentration of castles in Europe in Wales. but no religious building built by the Normans i...

 1114 and another invasion of Wales , this time the king of Scotland was involved.  By 1114 Norman lords in Wales were under attack, and in Mid-Wales in , Owain ap Cadwgan had blinded one of the political hostages he had been holding. In North Wales Gruffudd ap Cynan was threatening the power of the Earl of Chester.  Henry the 1st sent three armies into Wales.  Gilbert FitzRichard would lead a force from the south.  Alexander, the King of Scotland would press on from the north  King Henry invaded from Mid-Wales

  No matter what mediaeval Welsh kingdom/principality you came from, you weren't considered a foreigner unless you were from outside of Wales; if you were from England you had the status of a serf or below and had to be vouched for by someone born in Wales (regardless of what part of Wales); all the sources confirm this. The reason I'm saying this is many people seem to think that the kingdoms of north Wales and south Wales considered themselves as different as they would the English or anyone else; this is utter nonsense, and I can't find anything in the whole of Welsh history that would suggest such a thing. those west of Offa's Dyke did consider themselves the same people; they spoke the same language and had the same laws, culture, traditions and customs, all unique to Cymru and different to everywhere else. Here is something for you: from the laws of Wales itself, written down by one of the greatest kings of Wales; this alone proves everything these people say is w...

BBC's King and Conqueror: Wales played a huge part in real life, but will it in the BBC show. Harold Godwenson, ''1066 and all that'' , the future Harold who fought William the Conqueror, played a huge part in Welsh history before he was killed in 1066. However , I wouldn't be surprised if the Welsh parts are ignored in this upcoming drama by the BBC that covers the period. In the early 1060s Wales was united under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn , a brutal king who united Wales through brutal conquests. During all this he attacked the border areas, which included a famous sacking of Hereford, killing monks. burning churches and wiping out the large English army sent to defend against him. See below what the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said about this.  "In the same year Gruffydd, the Welsh king, raided in Herefordshire so that he came very near to Leominster; and men gathered against him, both local men and French men from the castle. And there were killed very many good m...

  funny story, The Welsh outsmarted, which wasnt a rare thing in Medieval times lol in 1095 the Welsh began a sustained campaign of resistance. By early 1096 Hywel ap Goronwy had become one of the leaders of the Welsh revolt. That Spring he, together with Uchtryd ab Edwin and the war band of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, laid waste the province of Penfro and strongly besieged Gerald Windsor in Pembroke castle. Unfortunately for the Welsh the wily Gerald outfoxed them and baffled, forced them to break off their siege, though they returned home with great booty. In the meantime Hywel's cousins, Gruffydd and Ifor, the sons of Idnerth ap Cadwgan, operating in Brycheiniog and Glamorgan won a great victory over a Norman force at Aber-llech in the river valley between Brecon and Swansea (Remfry, 211) Gerald of Wales wrote not long after of the siege Initially this castle was built by Arnulf Montgomery, during the reign of King Henry I, from stakes and turf.  Which afterwards, on his return to ...