Battle of Crug Mawr
The Battle of Crug Mawr was a battle during the Welsh uprising after the death of King Henry I of England in 1136. At the hill of Crug Mawr in west Wales, the army of the allied Welsh princes of Gwynedd and Deheubarth won a decisive victory over an Anglo-Norman Army.
prehistory
Since 1067, Norman barons, with the support of the English kings, had conquered large parts of the South Welsh principalities . After the death of Henry I, there were numerous uprisings in the conquered areas. On January 1, 1136, a Welsh army from Brycheiniog defeated the Anglo-Normans of Gower in a battle between Loughor and Swansea . The Prince of Deheubarth, Gruffydd ap Rhys also saw the chance to shake off the Anglo-Norman rule over his empire and allied himself with Owain Gwynedd , heir to the throne of Gwynedd. After the Lord of Ceredigion , Richard FitzGilbert de Clare was killed on April 15, 1136 in a battle near Abergavenny , Owain Gwynedd, his brother Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd and Gruffydd ap Rhys invaded Ceredigion. The Anglo-Normans gathered their troops at Cardigan under the leadership of Stephen, the constable of Cardigan, Robert FitzMartin , Lord of Cemais and Lord of Nevern Castle, and William and Maurice FitzGerald , two sons of Gerald of Windsor .
battle
The Anglo-Normans marched against the Welsh, at Crug Mawr there was a battle between the two armies in September or October 1136. Presumably, Crug Mawr is the same as the hill known today as Banc-y-warren , about three kilometers north of Cardigan. The Welsh fought back the Anglo-Normans who fled over a bridge over the Teifi . When the bridge collapsed under the weight of the refugees, they suffered heavy losses and numerous Anglonormans were killed or drowned. The Welsh people then stormed the town of Cardigan and set it on fire. Cardigan Castle, on the other hand, could not be conquered, as the castle was supplied with ships across the sea.
consequences
As a result of the anarchy in England, the Anglonormans in West Wales received no military support from the English king. Also, some of the leading Anglo-Norman lords in Wales, such as Robert of Gloucester, Lord of Glamorgan or Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester, were so deeply involved in the power struggle for the throne that they could not bother to defend their Welsh territories . Therefore, Owain Gwynedd and his brother Cadwaladr were able to conquer much of Ceredigion after the battle. Gruffydd ap Rhys, the prince of Deheubarth, died as early as 1137, but his sons and successors Anarawd and Cadell were able to expand their empire considerably through conquests and thus laid the foundations for the rule of their younger half-brother Rhys ap Gruffydd, who later became lord Rhys was called.
literature
- John Edward Lloyd: History of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest , Volume 2, Longmans, Green, & Co., London, 2nd ed. 1912, p. 473 f.
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 5 ′ 44.8 " N , 4 ° 37 ′ 13.4" W.