Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Enter the Normans
When the Normans claimed England in 1066, William the Conqueror set up feudal barons,
the Marcher Lords, along the Welsh border to secure his kingdom. Under sustained attack,
the Welsh rulers were pushed back and it was not until Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Llywelyn
the Last) that a pan-Welsh leader again emerged. He adopted the title 'Prince of Wales' and
by 1267 had forced England's Henry III to recognise him as such. But Llywelyn's triumph
was short-lived and by 1277 he had lost much of what he had achieved.
Edward I fought to control the Welsh upstart and eventually killed both Llywelyn and his
brother Dafydd. He then set up his 'Iron Ring' of castles to prevent further Welsh revolt. Of
these, Caernarfon is the ultimate expression of military and royal authority, and it was here
that his infant son, the future Edward II, was born. The younger Edward was later invested
with the title Prince of Wales, a title bestowed, to this day, on the eldest son of the reigning
monarch.
Curiously, against this troubled backdrop Welsh storytelling and literature flourished. In
1176 Rhys ap Gruffydd (Lord Rhys), one of Wales' great leaders, convened the first bardic
tournament - the original eisteddfod. The 13th-century Black Book of Carmarthen, the old-
est surviving Welsh-language manuscript, also dates from this period and is today held at
the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.
The Marcher Lordships had a degree of autonomy from the English crown and maintained a separate legal
status right up until the time of Henry VIII. Eventually the Marches came to cover much of the south and
east of Wales, and some of the neighbouring English counties.
