Wales and its History

Marcher lordships were set up just after the Norman conquest of England to try and keep the Welsh under control. Given to the English king's most trusted nobles , the lords who ruled these areas were given special powers that were usually reserved for the king. The marcher lordships were among the heaviest fortified areas in all of Europe, and also among the most brutal. In the 200 years, it took the Normans to subdue the Welsh these Marcher Lords committed some brutal acts which alone caused many rebellions and many of these lords being detested and killed. One example of the Brutality of the Marches was the so-called Abergavenny massacre. Seisyll ap Dyfnwal Lord of Gwent Uwchcoed along with all the other Welsh princes and leaders from the area was invited to Abergavenny Castle at Christmas by William De Braose. Some Welsh leaders stayed away, mistrusting de Braose but Seisyll attended along with his eldest son Geoffrey. Most other leaders followed suit and attended, assured of p...

  When people talk of the 'welsh wars' with England (Normans and Saxons), they nearly always talk of the Edwardian conquest of Wales and Glyndwr's uprising.  However, the years between 1067 and 1255 are the most violent in the very violent history of the Welsh. Within those years we see a people struggling with famine and disease, resist the Normans and send them packing time and time again, only for them to return again and again. There were many full-scale invasions of wales with armies as large as 30,000 butchering their way through the Welsh countryside.  The Welsh princes stopped killing each other and joined together to fight a common enemy on a number of occasions and many battles were won at great cost to all sides.  The sources paint a picture of a people obsessed with keeping their independence. Defending their customs, laws, and traditions seemed central to the Welsh of the middle ages. The Itinerarium Cambriae ("The Itinerary Through Wales"...