Welsh uprising after the death of King Henry I.
The I. Welsh uprising after the death of King Henry was a survey of the Welsh against the Norman conquest of Wales .
The death of the English King Henry I became a signal for the Welsh to rise up against Norman rule in large parts of the country. The Normans had taken control of large parts of south and north-east Wales from the Welsh Marches since 1067 . Under Henry I, the Norman conquest of Wales had advanced. By two campaigns in 1114 and 1121 the king had demonstrated his supremacy over the princes of Gwynedd and Powys .
Welsh attacks until 1137
The first recorded attack took place in the spring of 1136, when a Welsh force under Hywel ap Maredudd von Brycheiniog defeated an army of the Anglo-Norman settlers of Gower, probably at Mynydd Carn Goch between Loughor and Swansea . Then the Gower peninsula was sacked by the Welsh, only in 1138 the Lord of Gower, Henry de Neubourg , could bring the peninsula back under his control. In a Norman counterattack, Maurice de Londres of Ogmore Castle was able to destroy a Welsh army led by Gwenllian ferch Rhys , the wife of the Prince of Deheubarth , at Kidwelly Castle . Later that year, the Welsh Prince Morgan from Owain ambushed and killed the Lord of Ceredigion , Richard FitzGilbert de Clare , in an ambush at Crickhowell in Gwent . Then Morgan conquered the castles Usk and Caerleon Castle and established Welsh rule again in the middle of the previously Norman-controlled south-east Wales. After the death of Richard FitzGilbert, Owain and Cadwaladr , the sons of Gruffydd ap Cynan von Gwynedd, invaded Ceredigion. Allied with Gruffydd ap Rhys von Deheubarth, they were able to destroy an Anglo-Norman army in the battle of Crug Mawr . The survivors holed up in Cardigan Castle , where they had to be rescued by a relief army under the command of Miles de Gloucester , sent on behalf of King Stephen . The defeat of Crug Mawr led to the fact that the Normans lost to Cardigan Castle Ceredigion and the adjacent rule Cemais with Nevern Castle to the Welsh. In South Wales, the Cliffords lost the Cantref Bychan, and even Carmarthen Castle was conquered by Owain Gwynedd in 1137. On the border with Herefordshire , the mighty Marcher Lord Pain FitzJohn was killed in an ambush by Welsh in 1137.
Consequences of the English succession dispute for the Welsh Marches
The Welsh conquests were favored by the succession controversy in England, which began in 1135 and which turned into a civil war that lasted for years, called The Anarchy . With Robert of Gloucester , Ranulf of Chester , Miles de Gloucester and Brian FitzCount , the leading barons of the Welsh Marches were involved in the Civil War. Since they were all on the side of Matilda , daughter of Henry I, Chester, Bristol, Gloucester and Hereford were in the hands of King Stephen's opponents, who thus had little opportunity to intervene in Wales.
The Welsh princes, however, used the English Civil War to expand their principalities through conquests. Owain Gwynedd invaded the areas between River Conwy and Dee , and the sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys, killed in 1137, conquered Ceredigion. Madog ap Maredudd of Powys even conquered Oswestry in Shropshire in 1149 . Internal quarrels and wars between the Welsh however prevented greater successes, so Owain Gwynedd was involved in a conflict with his brother Cadwaladr and in a war with Madog ap Maredudd von Powys, while Anarawd was killed in a feud by Cadwaldr and by the four princely sons in Deheubarth Cadell was badly wounded in an Anglo-Norman ambush. After the sudden death of the third son Maredudd , the youngest son of Gruffydd ap Rhys, Rhys, had to take control.
After the civil war in England ended in 1154, the new King Henry II tried in several campaigns from 1157 to restore Anglo-Norman rule in Wales.
literature
- Rees R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415 . Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford 1991. ISBN 0-19-820198-2
- Lynn H. Nelson: The Normans in South Wales, 1070-1171 . University of Texas Press, Austin 1966. ku.edu
- David Walker: Medieval Wales . Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 0-521-32317-7
Individual evidence
- ^ Diane M. Williams: Gower. A Guide to ancient and historic monuments on the Gower peninsula. Cadw, Cardiff 1998. ISBN 1-85760-073-8 , p. 6
- ↑ Cadw: Heroes and Heroines of Wales: Gwenllian. (PDF; 823 kB) Retrieved on August 11, 2013 .
- ↑ Lynn H. Nelson: The Normans in South Wales, 1070-1171 . University of Texas Press, Austin 1966, p. 127