Wales and its History

In 1212 King John held 28 sons of Welsh noble families hostage. Some as young as 12, lived at the castle for some time and then one day, King John ordered all the hostages executed."A chronicler states that the boy's pitiful cries rang around the castle as one after the other they were taken up on the ramparts and hanged in a row."  ***The words bellow are taken from  A short history of Nottingham castle  *** In order to keep the Welsh Prince Llewellyn in subjection, John, had taken as hostages 28 boys, ranging from 12 to 14 years of age, and kept them in his Castle at Nottingham. It is said the news came to the King while staying at his hunting palace at Clipstone that the Welsh Prince had again broken out in revolt. Hastily summoning his followers, he held a Council beneath the spreading branches of an oak tree (now known as Parliament Oak), when the execution of the. hostages was decided upon. Then he swore “by the teeth of God” that he would not eat again u...

  Cadwallon ap Cadfan    Historia Regum Britanniae We all know of the English invasions of our little old Cymru. The Saxons invaded a few hundred times and the Normans took 200 years of invasions to subdue the Welsh. However, the traffic wasn’t always one way. On numerous occasions, the Welsh have taken the fight to the English/Saxon/Norman’s on English/Saxon/Norman soil. I will cover many of these in future posts but I want to concentrate on what is probably the most successful (sadly very brutal) Welsh conquest. It is the invasion and occupation of the kingdom of Northumbria by King Cadwallon ap Cadfan. To the ancient Welsh, this occupation was hugely symbolic as to them it was the native Britons taking back land that belonged to them before the Saxons invaded. Cadwallon was remembered as a national hero by the Welsh, naturally, the Saxons saw him as a brutal tyrant. The invasion took place around 633 where Cadwallon joined forces with King Penda of Mercia, to d...

*************WIP************** In any other country, the heroes of these battles would be remembered. The Welsh were nearly always outnumbered but still won many battles that shouldn't be forgotten. Please share what you feel should or shouldn't be on this list. 1257 Battle of Cadfan Who? Welsh from Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi vs the English Result Welsh victory numbers several thousand on each side Casualties and losses The English had up to 3000 casualties, the Welsh very few The Battle of Cadfan was two engagements, one was at Coed Llathen and the other at Cymerau. The word Cadfan translates to 'place of battle'. ****WIKI**** "In the years before the battle, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd prince of Wales had been rapidly gaining power. Llywelyn had received support from the lords of Deheubarth, and as a reward for their loyalty, he gave them land that he had stripped from their nephew, Rhys Fychan (who was a supporter of the English king). P...

WELSH WARS, BATTLES AND  REBELLIONS FROM 616 TO 1409. ****IF YOU FIND MISTAKES LET ME KNOW. ****   There is an article on wiki called 'list of anglo Welsh wars" it doesn't cover most of the conflicts, battles, wars that involve the Welsh so iv always intended on adding to it, but for now, I decided to put as many as I can find in one place.  All I'm doing (doing because iv not finished) is searching through the lives of the Welsh princes, primary sources, secondary sources, various articles and adding whatever I can find and trust me, the list as easily five or six times bigger than the wiki list so far. There are many medieval writers who describe the Welsh as brave and vicious fighters who dont often stick by the rules of war. They would often come out of nowhere and attack an invading army and disappear before the invaders knew what hit them. quote from Itinerarium Cambriae 1191 "My Lord King, this nation may now be harassed, ...