Wales: English Conquest of Wales c.1200 - 1415

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• 1. Norman takeover
• 2. Wales on the eve of Edward I's Conquest
• 3. Rise of the Llywelyns - Wales in the time of King John and Henry III
• 4. Invasion: Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd and Edward I
• 5. Wales Rebels - The Declaration of Defiance, 1282
• 6. Wales subdued: the legacy of the Conquest
• 7. Wales: a conquered nation
• 8. Anglo-Welsh relations in the 14th century
• 9. Plague and rebellion: 1348 - 1415
• 10. Find out more
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Wales on the eve of Edward I's Conquest

However compromised, the Norman and Angevin kings allowed this settlement to continue and so by the reign of Henry III (1216-72), Wales could be called a 'half conquered country', in Professor Bartlett's words. Needless to say, only the lords were Norman; the vast bulk of the settlers that followed in their wake were Saxon-English and brought their native tongue with them.

On the eve of the wars unleashed by Edward I's invasion in 1276, Wales had essentially become divided into three zones. The outer one, along the south coast and traditional English border, belonged to the so-called 'Marcher' lords, the descendants of those first advancing Norman barons and the crown itself.

Often branches of the great noble houses and bitter rivals, these 'Marcher' lords were the first line of England's defence against Welsh invasion; they also formed the shock troops of noble and Crown incursions into central Wales.

'Here we can see the continuation of a separate Welsh society, with clear traditions, customs and native laws.'

As befitted such a strange nether-land of authority and conflict, the Marches enjoyed their own law for many generations. It was a hybrid of local customs and the common law. The central area of Wales changed hands on many occasions, depending on who had the initiative at any one time.

If a strong Welsh prince won the support of his rivals and faced a weak or divided English Crown, like that of Henry III, then the Welsh prince's influence would extend to the centre.

When faced by a strong English king or an aggressive generation of Marcher lords, the native Welsh princes would be hemmed within the ancient principality of Gwynedd in the north-west: greater Snowdonia and neighbouring Anglesey. Here we can see a clear continuation of a separate Welsh society, with clear traditions, customs and native laws.

We should not forget that the Vikings continued to raid north-west Wales well into the 1130s. In the 11th century, parts of Wales remained Norse lands, and it was only the increasing incursions of the Normans that shifted the Welsh perspective on the world from Scandinavian centred to Anglo focused.

From then on, Wales became internally divided, with the native inhabitants spending as much time fighting each other as the Anglo-Normans. As Professor Davies has written:

'In the 12th and 13th centuries the paradox of the diversity of Wales on the one hand and the convictions of its own unity on the other came into ever sharper focus. On the capacity of the Welsh to resolve, or to fail to resolve, that paradox would turn very considerably the very survival of Welsh political independence'.

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Published: 2001-05-01