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Heirs to Merlin Chapter Nine: Wales

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Chapter 9: Wales

In 1220 Wales is split into two parts. In the south the land is controlled by Anglo-Norman lords, while in the north native Welsh princes retain control. Both sets of lords swear homage to the king of England. The political realities are dealt with in the Politics chapter, while this chapter deals with the difference between Welsh and English customs. These differences affect the whole country, but are more in evidence in the north.

Daily Life

Wales is a poorer country than England. The climate and topography restrict the possible farming, and the people rely more heavily on pastoral farming than is common in England. In general, property in Wales is less spectacular than its English equivalent. The defining difference between Wales and England is that in Wales, the native language of the peasantry is Welsh. In the north, this is also the native language of the nobility.

Celtic Survivals

Wales and Scotland are not the only Celtic survivals in Britain. The people of Cornwall still speak Cornish, and some of the people of Cumbria know another language, compounded from Celtic and Norse roots. The Cornish community is fairly vigorous, but Cumbrian is a dying language. Neither language is written to any great extent.

Welsh law and society classify men into bond and free. The sharpness of the distinction is gradually eroding, but it is still of great social importance. A poor free man is still a free man, and, in Wales, can claim to be a noble. The purest form of bondage, amounting to slavery, is found in the villages set aside to supply the courts of the Welsh princes.

One reason for the erosion of differences in social class comes from Welsh inheritance customs. Unlike in England, where the eldest male heir gets almost everything, property is divided more or less equally among the sons, or other male relatives if there are no sons. Traditionally, the youngest divides the property, and then the sons pick a section in order of age. Thus, over a few generations holdings can become very small. Among the nobility, it is not uncommon for one heir to mutilate his rivals (usually blinding or castrating them) so that he gets the entire holding.

This practice contributes to the importance of kinfolk in Welsh society. A man can only inherit from a man in his cenedl, the group of men descended in the male line from a single ancestor. This ancestor is generally located more than a century in the past, so that this group can be very large and diffuse. More important is the kindred, the group of men descended in the male line from a common great-grandfather. The kindred is responsible for keeping order among its members, and if one of them is accused of a crime, he may be cleared if the others swear that he is innocent. Homicide may trigger a blood feud, or galanas. In general, the kindred of the dead man restrict themselves to plundering the property of the kindred of the killer, although they may accept a payment in compensation, to cleanse their honor. This payment, also called galanas, is paid by the entire kindred, the amount contributed by each man depending on his relationship to the killer. It is distributed among the kin of the dead man in a similar way.

The kin group is also important in daily life, being responsible for looking after orphans and widows, and for resolving minor disputes. They must also agree to sales of land, as they would have a right in it if the current holder were to die. No land can be truly given away or sold without their consent. Despite the important role played by the kindred, however, the nuclear family is still the most important unit of kinship in daily life — people do not live in extended families, nor carry on their business in such groups.

Marriage is the central element in forming the kin-group, and the Welsh attitude to it differs from the English. While it is a woman's solemn duty to be a virgin at her first wedding, the Welsh see marriage as a contract rather than a sacrament, and as such it can be dissolved at any time, leaving the couple free to marry again. As a consequence of this, a man may adopt any of his sons as an heir, irrespective of whether he was married to the mother. The church strongly disapproves of both aspects, but its fulminations have had little effect.

The Welsh climate, and the demands of pastoral agriculture, lead to the use of summer and winter pasturage for the animals, mainly cows with a few sheep. The summer pastures are in the highlands, while in winter the animals are brought down into the valleys. The valleys may be used in summer for growing crops, which requires cooperation, as very few Welshmen own their own ploughs.

Much of Wales is heavily wooded, and the country is undeveloped compared to England. This is changing, in the south under the impact of Anglo-Norman lords, and in the north as a response to changes in the south and east. The changes are also a response to a steady growth in population, both of native Welshmen, and of immigrants in the south. However, there are still few towns in Wales (Cardiff is the most important), and the economy uses very little money, relying almost entirely on barter, and the use of cattle to pay taxes.

Law & Governance

Most Welshmen have a great respect for the law, at least as an abstract concept. The laws of Wales were created by Hywel Dda many centuries ago, and are much the same as they were then. They have been written down, but they are known by wise men all over Wales, and all Welshmen know the general outline.

The community of the village is the main court of justice, both for civil and criminal offenses. This is beginning to change, as the lords of Wales start to demand jurisdiction over criminal offenses, and the people begin to rely on the strength of the lord to enforce the law. Nevertheless, most justice is still delivered through the mediation of kingroups, and a desire to reach a settlement that restores the peace, rather than necessarily keeping to the strictest interpretation of the law.

Wales has never been a unified principality, although Lord Rhys of Deheubarth nearly managed it in the twelfth century and Llewelyn the Great, the prince of Gwynedd, is making an attempt now. The complexity and sophistication of princely administration is increasing, but is nowhere near the level found in England. There are three ancient Welsh principalities: Deheubarth in the south, Powys in the central regions, and Gwynedd in the north. Each is centered on a fort, which is the primary residence of the prince's court (Aberffro in Gwynedd, Mathrafal in Powys, and Dinefwr in Deheubarth). These are not towns; rather, they are ancient settlements with great mythic resonance for the people of Wales. The major lords frequently style themselves with the fort's name, for example "lord of Dinefwr." However, the Welsh courts, like the English, move around the country and dispense justice where they are.

Each court has a warband, and its head, the penteulu, is the highest official of the court, beyond the immediate royal family. The prince also has a council of leading nobles, whose advice he is expected to take, and their head is the distain. The distain is gradually taking on more functions as government expands, overseeing justice and administration. There are clerks attached to the court to deal with written records, although nothing as advanced as the English chancery, and the gwas ystafell, originally the keeper of the king's chamber, has evolved into a treasurer of sorts. For local government, the land is divided into commotes, and the highest official in each is the rhaglaw. However, the prince as yet has only a minor impact on these areas, and local custom is still the main guide to governance.

A perennial problem in Welsh government is the tendency of lords to change their allegiance, whether between the native Welsh lords, or from those lords to the king of England. This is usually a matter of political expedience, or even survival, but it undermines the attempts to develop a strong state. As a result, Welshmen have a reputation for treachery.

Problems of Death

A covenant in Wales is built on land owned by the senior magus. He has no children, as is normal, and finally dies. His male relatives arrive at the covenant claiming ownership of all of it, and showing no desire to have sorcerers living on their land. The law is entirely on their side: the magi must either move, leaving much of their property behind, fight, or reach a political compromise. If they fight, they will be in trouble with the mundane authorities and the quaesitores.

Llywelyn ab Iorweth, called the Great

Prince of Gwynedd since 1194

Llywelyn ab Iorweth ab Owain is the only legitimate heir of Owain Gwynedd, the prince of North Wales. However, his inheritance was seized by Dafydd, his halfbrother, and he was born and raised in exile in England. In the late twelfth century he allied with his uncle Rhodri against Dafydd, and they drove him out of Gwynedd in 1194. Llywelyn became the Prince, and spent the next nine years consolidating his power, fighting against his Welsh neighbors and rebels in his own principality. Gwenwynwyn of Powys was a particularly persistent foe, but he was unable to defeat Llywelyn. In 1203 Dafydd died in exile in England, and Llywelyn's power was secure.

Around the same time, King John began trying to enlist Llywelyn as an ally, and in 1206 he married the king's illegitimate daughter, Joan. As John's ally Llywelyn was able to take control of Powys from Gwenwynwyn, and then tried to push further south. This was not to John's liking, and war broke out between the English and Welsh lords in 1209. He was pushed back to Gwynedd, and in 1211 John led an army that managed to push him back into the mountains of Snowdonia. He might have been defeated had it not still been early in the year, because John's army had to withdraw due to difficult conditions. In the summer, however, John returned, and captured Bangor. At this point Llywelyn's chieftains forced him to sue for peace.

In 1212, Llywelyn managed to put together a Welsh federation, including Gwenwynwyn, to fight against John, and he regained all the land that he had lost. As John lost support from the English nobles, Llywelyn pushed south. He was able to have many of his gains confirmed in Magna Carta, and in 1215 the southern Welsh rose in revolt, giving him control of all of Wales apart from Pembroke. His growth in power alarmed his allies, and in 1216 Gwenwynwyn went back to John. In response, Llywelyn invaded his lands, and took them under his own control.

While England was distracted by the threat of French invasion, Llywelyn attacked the regent's lands, and extended his power somewhat further, but in 1218 he was forced to swear fealty to the young King Henry. Since then he has held on to his gains by political guile, and it seems that he may be able to weld Wales into a single, unified principality.

Llywelyn is a great warrior, and brilliant war leader, and a superb politician. He has come nearer to unifying Wales than anyone before him since the Romans. He is also renowned for his generosity to the church and to Welsh bards, meaning that the written ecclesiastical records and the tales told throughout Wales are all full of praise for him.

The Marcher Lords

The marcher lords are the Anglo-Norman lords who hold land in Wales, or along its borders. The Marshals, de Braoses, Mortimers, and Bohuns are the important families. The lordships originated soon after the Norman Conquest, as the Normans tried to push into Wales. They made less headway there than in England, and the division between the native Welsh and the marches has been established for well over a century.

A marcher lordship differs from a lordship within England in a number of ways, which combine to make it much like a palatinate (see page 107). In particular, the lord is assumed to be pacifying hostile territory, and he is thus allowed to fortify towns and build castles without royal permission. Since the Welsh are not very happy with Anglo-Norman rule, the marcher lords do build a lot of castles, with the result that southern Wales and the border with England are the most heavily fortified areas in the country.

This degree of independence makes the marcher lordships a good place to build a power-base, and as a result the king keeps a close eye on these lords. The Welsh princes may also want to ally with the marchers, and this provides opportunities for the lords to play one side off against the other.

The Church

The Welsh church is undeniably part of Western Christendom, but it does have a couple of distinctive features. The first is a relic of its past, the second a new addition. The relic of the past is the clas church, a church supporting a college of priests and serving a large area. The priests at these churches are not under monastic vows, and were often married, even in the recent past. Married priests are now rare, as the Church's prohibition has become part of the general culture, and the areas that the clas used to serve are being split into parishes. This process is complete in the south, but still in progress in the north. Nevertheless, there are still some clas churches, and the right to present a priest to them usually belongs to local families. Indeed, as the right is treated as a partible inheritance, there are sometimes dozens of people with a say in the appointment of a priest.

There are many churches which used to be clas churches, but which have been reformed. Sometimes they have been turned into normal parish churches, with single priests and narrower areas. Others have been converted to houses of Augustinian canons, cathedral chapters (at Bangor and St. Davids), or collegiate churches. Gerald of Wales, has spent much of his life campaigning for St. Davids to be made into an archbishopric with authority over the Welsh sees, but he has not succeeded.

The recent change is the growth in Cistercian monasticism. There are many monasteries of this order in Wales, and they have the main hold on benefactions. Most of these houses have been founded since 1130, but they have already taken over the roles of repositories of history and the mausoleums of the princely dynasties. The monastery of Strata Florida, in Powys, is particularly important.

A Welsh Relic

A staff which is said to have belonged to St. Curig can be seen in the church of St. Germanus. It is all encased in gold and silver, and the top is in the rough shape of a cross. It has many miraculous powers, but is most effective in curing tumors. Anyone who presses it against a tumor and makes an offering of one penny will have the tumor removed.

One time, a man with a tumor gave a halfpenny, and half of his tumor went down. Some time later he gave another halfpenny, and the other half was cured. Another man promised to give the penny later, and his tumor was cured. Once he was healthy he forgot his promise, and soon the tumor swelled again. In fear, he offered three pence, and the staff healed him.

— From The Journey Through Wales by Gerald of Wales

The Dream of Rhonabwy

Rhonabwy was a warrior of Powys, and one night he took shelter in a hall foul beyond imagining. The floor was covered with mounds and pits, and on the mounds one could hardly stand for they were slippery with cow-dung, while the pits would soak your feet to the instep with water and urine. The air was filled with smoke, and the beds were thin sheets drawn over sticks with a few wisps of straw, filled nonetheless with fleas. Rhonabwy could not sleep there, and saw a yellow ox-skin on the platform at the end of the hall. Thinking he might sleep there, he lay down on it, and quickly fell asleep.

In his sleep, he dreamed, and in his dream he was pursued by a man on a powerful horse. When the horse exhaled, he got ahead of it, but when it inhaled, he was drawn nearly to its chest. Finally, the man caught him, and he begged for mercy.

"You shall have mercy," replied his captor. "I am Iddawg son of Mynyo, and I will take you to Arthur's court." He led Rhonabwy across the sea, to the fort where Arthur was holding court. Iddawg took Rhonabwy into the presence of the king and said,

"Do you see that stone, in the ring on his finger?" "Yes, I do," replied Rhonabwy.

"Because you have seen that stone, you will remember everything you see here. If you had not seen it, you would have remembered nothing."

Gwenn, the white mantle, was spread on the ground, and Arthur sat on it. One of the properties of the mantle is this: that anyone wrapped in it can see everyone, although no one can see him. Owein, son of Uryen stood before Arthur, and the king said to him,

"Come, let us play gwyddbwyll." Owein agreed and sat down, and the servants brought a gwyddbwyll set whose men were of gold and whose board was of silver.

They were deep in the game when a messenger came into the hall and spoke to Owein.

"Lord, is it with your permission that Arthur's young lads and servants are harassing your ravens? If not, please have him call them off," he said. Owein spoke to Arthur.

"Do you hear what he is saying, lord? Please call them off." But Arthur merely said,

"Your move."

They finished their game and started another, and half way through another messenger came to Owein, saying "Lord, Arthur's pages are stabbing your ravens, killing some and wounding others." Again, Owein appealed to Arthur but again, Arthur said simply "Your move."

They finished that game and began another, and a third messenger came for Owein, bearing a standard. He was very angry, and he said, "Lord, the noblest ravens have been killed, and the rest are so wounded that they cannot raise their wings from the ground." Again, Owein appealed to Arthur, but he said only "Your move."

So Owein turned to the messenger and said "Go to the fiercest part of the fighting, and there raise the standard."

As soon as the messenger reached the place and raised the standard, the ravens were filled with energy and rose up in the air, attacking violently the men who were fighting them.

Arthur and Owein were still playing gwyddbwyll, and a messenger approached Arthur, saying that the ravens were killing the young men. Arthur said "Call off your ravens," but Owein replied "Your move, lord."

They finished their game and began another, and another messenger approached Arthur, telling him that the ravens had killed his pages and squires, and the sons of the nobles. Arthur said "Call off your ravens," but Owein merely said "Your move, lord."

They finished their game and began another, and another messenger came to Arthur, saying that the ravens had killed his retinue and the sons of the nobles of the island. Arthur looked at Owein and, saying "Call off your ravens," he took the golden men from the board and squeezed them until they were dust. Then Owein sent word for his servant to lower the banner, and peace was restored.

Then Rhonabwy woke up, and found that he had slept for three days and nights.

— Adapted from The Mabinogion


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