Welsh history shorts part 3

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 The murder of the Norman noble Robert of Rhuddlan

Rhuddlan was enjoying a nap in his castle at Deganwy when the news was brought to him that Welsh raiders had landed in three ships underneath the Great Orme and pillaged his lands. Some sources say that these raiders were led by King Gruffudd ap Cynan, who had escaped from captivity in Chester. The raiders had beached their ships and were busy loading the plunder. Robert despatched messengers to gather his troops and hastened to the Great Orme, where he found that the rising tide was about to allow the Welsh to refloat their vessels and get away with the loot before Robert's troops could appear. In a fury, Robert rushed down the slopes to attack them, followed only by his armor-bearer. He was killed by a volley of javelins, and the raiders sailed off with his head attached to the mast of one of the vessels.'


 from the north side according to Dextra Visual

Ednyfed Fychan

Ednyfed Fychan was a warrior who became Seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd, serving Llywelyn the Great and his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn.  He also was the ancestor of Owen Tudor and thereby of the Tudor dynasty

Ednyfed is said to have first come to notice in battle, fighting against the army of Ranulph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester, who attacked Llywelyn at the behest of King John of England. Ednyfed cut off the heads of three English lords in battle and carried them, still bloody, to Llywelyn, who commanded him to change his family coat of arms to display three heads in memory of the feat

22 Welsh prisoners blinded

Another invasion of Wales and another failure by Henry II , defeated by constant attacks from the Welsh and the weather, The English retreated and then returned to Shrewsbury. 

King Henry was furious and had taken his anger out on 22 Welsh prisoners, including two sons of Owain Gwynedd who he had blinded.

    Laws of Cymru

At the time of Hywel's laws, Cymry – the modern Welsh for all of the Welsh people – apparently only applied to the free classes and not to serfs or slaves. However, none of them counted as a "foreigner" and, even if they moved from one Welsh "kingdom" (gwlad) to another, they did not suffer that status but were considered fully native.

Those from outside Wales were considered between serfs and slaves, forbidden to offer testimony, and obliged to pledge themselves to a native Welshman (even a serf) who would be responsible for them. This status could only be removed after three generations in the north and possibly as many as nine elsewhere, after which the foreigner's descendants were considered to be native serfs.

 King John kills 28 sons of Welsh noble families 

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 until he had wreaked his vengeance, and mounting his steed, he rode in all haste to Nottingham Castle, where he gave instructions for the execution of the hostages, as a preliminary to quelling the rising; and the shameful order was immediately carried out before his eyes, the boys being taken from their play—some screaming, others pleading in vain for mercy—and hanged on the Castle walls. Another barbarity recorded by Matthew Paris, confirms the despicable character of the King. A clerk of the Exchequer—Geoffrey by name — on small suspicion was thrown into a dungeon at Nottingham Castle and there done to death: “He closed him in leade, and so, by depryvinge him of al ayre bereft him of his life withal.”

part 4 to follow

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