Battle at Coleshill
| date | July or August 1157 |
|---|---|
| place | At Coleshill by Flint |
| output | English victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Owain Gwynedd ; Dafydd from Owain ; Cynan from Owain
|
|
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The Battle of Coleshill , also known as the Battle of Ewloe , was a battle between English and Welsh forces during King Henry II's campaign against Wales in 1157 . It ended in an English victory.
prehistory
Owain Gwynedd , King of the Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd , had been able to expand his empire at the expense of the Kingdom of Powys and the English county of Chester during the Anarchy in England . In the summer of 1157 the young English King Henry II undertook a well-prepared campaign to recapture the lost English territories and to restore English supremacy over Gwynedd. The English army, consisting of a feudal contingent of knights and foot soldiers and a contingent of archers from Shropshire , moved north-west from Chester along the west bank of the River Dee in July or August 1157 , and then advanced along the north coast of Wales to Gwynedd.
The battle
Owain Gwynedd chose a form of defense that was unusual for the Welsh and opposed the English with his army in the region not far from Chester on the River Dee. The exact battle location is disputed between the present-day cities of Flint and Hawarden . The Welsh built a fortified position between the River Dee and the thickly forested hills to the west, crisscrossed by deep stream valleys. Henry II then divided his army. He ordered most of his army with the heavy cavalry to advance along the river bank towards the Welsh position. He himself tried to bypass the Welsh position from the west with part of his army and to attack from the flank. On the way through the densely wooded hills on Coleshill, they were ambushed by Welsh troops under Dafydd and Cynan from Owain , two sons of Owain Gwynedd. The English suffered heavy losses in the attack, including Eustace FitzJohn , the Constable of Cheshire, and the royal Dapifer Robert de Courcy . The king himself was probably slightly wounded. The royal constable Henry d'Essex then believed that the king had fallen, threw away the royal standard and fled. Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford was able to save the royal standard and regroup the English troops. When Henry II rejoined his troops, the English made another advance, pushed the Welsh back, and resumed their advance through the woods. Faced with the threat of being attacked from the flank and in their rear by English troops, the Welsh withdrew from their positions in the river plain to Tal-Illwyn Pina, west of the River Clwyd, presumably near St Asaph .
consequences
The English army pushed on to Rhuddlan Castle , which, like Basingwerk Castle, was rebuilt. In the face of the English superiority, Owain Gwynedd submitted to the English king.
Contrary to the fact that Henry II's plan to bypass the Welsh positions was successful, the battle in which the English king was in peril, was often celebrated by older Welsh historiography as a similarly significant victory as the Battle of Cymerau .
literature
- David J. Cathcart King: Henry II and the fight at Coleshill . In: Welsh history Review, 2 (1965), pp. 367-373
- John D. Hosler: Henry II: a medieval soldier at war, 1147-1189 . Brill, Leiden 2007. ISBN 978-90-04-15724-8 , pp. 138-140
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ David J. Cathcart King: Henry II and the fight at Coleshill. In: Welsh History Review, 2 (1965), p. 372
- ^ J. Goronwy Edwards: Henry II and the fight at Coleshill: some further reflections . In: Welsh History Review, 3 (1967), p. 251
- ^ Richard Mortimer: Clare, Roger de (Oxford DNB). Retrieved September 2, 2014 .
- ^ David J. Cathcart King: Henry II and the fight at Coleshill . In: Welsh history Review, 2 (1965), p. 367
Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 10.1 ″ N , 3 ° 8 ′ 48.7 ″ W.