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 until

"was said to be disappointed and incensed when the first Act of Union was enacted in 1536, as he believed the Welsh could not be trusted as part of England" "As the lord president, on the direction of Thomas Cromwell, he set out to bring law and order to the Welsh regions. What ensued was a reign of terror, in which Lee decided the best way to deal with the 'lawless' Welsh was to convict and hang with impunity. Lee claimed to have hanged 5000 Welshmen in his five years; possibly an exaggeration, but in any event, indicates the character of the man described as a "great despiser of Welshmen" by Dafydd Jenkins."

Upon the death of Llywelyn,  longshanks did all he could to get rid of any sign of Welsh independence. Firstly he dismantled most of llywelyns halls and castles.  He then tried to kill off the lineage of Llywelyn by executing his brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd and ensuring Llywelyn's only child   Gwenllian along with the daughters of her uncle Dafydd ap Gruffudd, were all confined for life in remote priories in  Lincolnshire  and never allowed freedom.  Edward also took from the welsh  Llywelyn’s coronet, the matrix of his seal, the crown  of Arthur and the most sacred of all,  the most cherished relic in the whole history of Wales, the piece of the t rue Cross known as Y Groes Naid.   It is recorded that  ''Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales and Lord of Aberffraw had deposited this crown (Welsh: Talaith) and other items (such as the Cross of Neith) with the monks at Cymer Abbey for safekeeping at the start of his final campaign in 1282'' After given to Edward