This volume presents a collection of essays providing a picture of the current knowledge of castles in Wales and the Marches. The essays have been brought together to honour a leading scholar in the field of castle studies. The collection is set out in chronological order starting with early earthwork castles and extending through to the 17th-century Civil War. The majority of the papers look at an architectural, archaelogical or histroical aspect of a particular castle. There are in addition three synoptic papers. The interest of the volume goes beyond the medieval period, and six of the essays have particular relevance for post-medievalists.
"Excavations at Dryslwyn between 1980 and 1995 uncovered a masonry castle, founded in the late 1220s by Rhys Gryg for his son Maredudd ap Rhys, the first Lord of Dryslwyn. The first castle was a simple round tower and polygonal walled enclosure, within which were constructed a kitchen, prison and wood-framed, clay-floored great chamber beside a great hall. In the mid 13th century a second ward was added and the great chamber rebuilt in stone. This castle was greatly expanded in the period 1283-87 by Rhys ap Maredudd, the second and final Lord of Dryslwyn, who built an Outer Ward and gatehouse. He also rebuilt much of the Inner Ward, adding an extra storey to the great hall and great chamber, apartments and a chapel. At the end of the 13th century a large three-ward castle stretched along the eastern and southern edge of the hill while the rest of the hilltop was occupied by a settlement defended by a wall and substantial ditch with access through a gatehouse. This castle and its associated settlement were besieged and captured in 1287 by an English royal army of over 11,000 men following damage inflicted by a trebuchet and mining of the walls. Throughout the 14th century the English Crown garrisoned and repaired the castle, supervised by an appointed constable, before it was surrendered to Owain Glyn Dwr in 1403. During the early to mid 15th century the castle was deliberately walled up to deny its use to a potential enemy and it was subsequently looted and demolished. By the late 13th century, the castle had a white rendered and lime-washed appearance, creating a very dramatic and highly visible symbol of lordship. Internally, the lord's and guest apartments had decorative wall paintings and glazed windows. Evidence from charred beams still in situ, the sizes, shapes and distribution of nails, sheet lead, slates and postholes recovered during excavation has enabled some of the wooden as well as masonry buildings to be reconstructed. Waterlogged deposits had preserved a rich assemblage of seeds, birds, fish and animal bone which reveal evidence of the dining habits of Welsh lords, their guests and household. Of particular interest are the finds associated with the siege of 1287 which include a knop-headed mace, spearheads and armour-piercing arrowheads which indicates that the longbow was the weapon of choice. Damage and repairs to the castle walls correlate with historic accounts while three stone balls recovered by the excavation were undoubtedly thrown by the trebuchet recorded in contemporary accounts."
It is the only book available that covers all types of architecture and building in Wales over a period of two thousand years, from Roman times to the present. The book is illustrated by 254 colour and black & white photographs, drawings and plans. The book has fourteen specially-drawn maps illustrating ranges of building types. The book is intended for the general reader as well as architectural specialists.
This book examines the making of the March of Wales and the crucial role its lords played in the politics of medieval Britain between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and the English conquest of Wales in 1283. Max Lieberman argues that the Welsh borders of Shropshire, which were first, from c.1165, referred to as Marchia Wallie, provide a paradigm for the creation of the March. He reassesses the role of William the Conqueror's tenurial settlement in the making of the March and sheds new light on the ways in which seigneurial administrations worked in a cross-cultural context. Finally, he explains why, from c.1300, the March of Wales included the conquest territories in south Wales as well as the highly autonomous border lordships. This book makes a significant and original contribution to frontier studies, investigating both the creation and the changing perception of a medieval borderland.
This is the first full-length study of a Welsh family of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries who were not drawn from the princely class. Though they were of obscure and modest origins, the patronage of great lords of the March – such as the Mortimers of Wigmore or the de Bohun earls of Hereford – helped them to become prominent in Wales and the March, and increasingly in England. They helped to bring down anyone opposed by their patrons – like Llywelyn, prince of Wales in the thirteenth century, or Edward II in the 1320s. In the process, they sometimes faced great danger but they contrived to prosper, and unusually for Welshmen one branch became Marcher lords themselves. Another was prominent in Welsh and English government, becoming diplomats and courtiers of English kings, and over some five generations many achieved knighthood. Their fascinating careers perhaps hint at a more open society than is sometimes envisaged.
This book provides an introduction to the history of medieval Wales, with particular emphasis on political developments. It traces the growth of Welsh princely power, and the invasion and settlement of Welsh territories by Norman adventurers which resulted in the creation of the marcher lordships and the steady erosion of Welsh princely authority in the south. The subsequent development of a powerful Welsh state under the leadership of the princes of Gwynedd was checked by Edward I in 1277, and thereafter the principality was deliberately overrun and destroyed: the Edwardian castles are symbols of conquest. Despite valiant attempts by local leaders in the thirteenth century, and by a national leader Owain Glyn Dwr early in the fifteenth, the English domination of Wales persisted, even beyond the advent of the Tudor dynasty. This is the first comprehensive short textbook on medieval Wales to be written for school and university students. It will also attract anyone with a general interest in Celtic studies or in the centuries which played such a formative role in the development of the Welsh national character.
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Original Title -- Original Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors -- Site Entries by Country -- Subject Guide -- Entries A to Z -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Index.
This is the first reference work to cover the archaeology of medieval Europe. No other reference can claim such comprehensive coverage--from Ireland to Russia and from Scandinavia to Italy, the archaeology of the entirety of medieval Europe is discussed.
