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The Norman invasion of Wales began shortly after the Norman conquest of England under William the
Conqueror, who believed England to be his birthright. Initially (10671081), the invasion of Wales was not
undertaken with the fervor and purpose of the invasion of England. However, a much stronger Norman invasion
began in 1081 and by 1094 most of Wales was under the control of William's eldest son, King William II of
England. The Welsh greatly disliked the "gratuitously cruel" Normans and by 1101 had regained control of the
greater part of their country under the long reign of King Gruffudd ap Cynan, who had been imprisoned by the
Normans for twelve years before his escape. Gruffudd had some indirect help from King Magnus III of Norway
(Magnus Barefoot) who attacked the Normans briefly off the Isle of Anglesey in northwest Wales near Ynys
Seiriol, killing Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury and leaving the Normans depleted and demoralized.
Magnus went on to take the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides, and the Isle of Man, islands north of Wales and west and
north of Scotland and England, in 1098.
Under William's fourth son, King Henry I of England, the Normans, now well established in England, responded
by pushing west into Wales. This time, both the Welsh and the Normans were more interested in making peace
than fighting bloody battles, and a relatively stable situation developed, although the Normans fared worse in
southeast Wales than in the west of the country. The standoff continued from 1135 to 1154 under Stephen, King of
the English, nephew of Henry and a maternal grandson of William, who became locked in a power struggle and
civil war with Empress Matilda, Henry's daughter and only surviving legitimate child.
By the 1150s, Matilda's son King Henry II of England had set upon fighting back, leading his first expedition into
Wales in 1157. He met with heavy and humiliating defeat, particularly in the Battle of Ewloe at Coleshill / Coed
Eulo, where Henry was entirely unsuccessful and was almost killed in the fighting, his army routed and fleeing. He
moved against his British adversaries again in 1163. Later sources related how he gained an unclear form of
homage from the two most powerful princes of Wales, Rhys ap Gruffydd and Owain Gwynedd, along with the
king of Scotland. This was the catalyst to revolt in Wales; Henry II met with humiliating defeat in 1165 at the
Battle of Crogen by the Berwyn range. Henry never successfully invaded Wales and he was obliged to seek
compromise with Rhys ap Gruffydd for control of the south.
Contents
1 Welsh attacks in England
2 Early battles
3 William's response
4 Relations with Henry I
5 Henry II and Wales
6 See also
7 References
7.1 Bibliography
Early battles
See also The Norman Invasion of Gwynedd and the Aberffraw resistance
It took some time for the Normans to concentrate any level of might against the Welsh, however, as they were
more concerned, in the aftermath of Hastings, with England and Normandy.[4] In addition, it was not Williams
goal to conquer Wales; he had come to inherit what he believed to be his birthright, the English throne, which
entailed taking on the responsibilities of Edward and the Anglo-Saxon kings, including their relationships with
Wales and Scotland. However, Wales had begun to force the matter, supporting English rebellions against the
Normans.
William's response
In response to Welsh advances, William established a series of earldoms in the borderlands, specifically at Chester,
under Hugh d'Avranches; Shrewsbury, under Roger de Montgomerie; and Hereford, under William FitzOsbern. He
instilled a great deal of power into each earldom, allowing them control of the surrounding towns and land, rather
than retaining it within the kingship. The inspiration for such an action seems to have been the overextended nature
of the Norman troops, thus preventing William from exercising his own power in the area.[5] It very well may have
been implicit in the power granted the earldoms that they were to attack Wales, and, indeed, they did, beginning
with south-east Wales, where many of the previous rebellions against England had begun. By the time of
FitzOsbern's death in 1071, a castle had been established at the mouth of the Wye, and it served as a base from
which the Normans continued to expand westward into Wales, establishing a castle at Caerleon by 1086 and
extinguishing the Welsh Kingdom of Gwent.[6] However, the attacks in south-east Wales "faltered badly when [the
earl of Herefords] son [Roger de Breteuil]... forfeited his estates for treason in 1075 and involved some of his
vassals on the Welsh frontier in his downfall".[7] Nonetheless, the Normans pressed on.
See also
Norman conquest of England
Norman invasion of Ireland
Welsh uprising of 1211
Conquest of Wales by Edward I
References
1. Davies (2000), p. 26 6. Davies (1993), pp. 100102
2. Chibnall, Marjorie (2000). The Normans. 7. Davies (2000), p. 29
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. p. 65. 8. Walker (1990), p. 41
3. Davies (2000), p. 24 9. Davies (2000), p. 45
4. Davies (2000), p. 27 10. Davies (2000), p. 52
5. Davies (2000), p. 28
6. Davies (1993), pp. 100102
Bibliography
Carr, A. D. (1995). Medieval Wales. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-333-54772-1.
Davies, John (1993). A History of Wales. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-028475-3.
Davies, R. R. (2000). The Age of Conquest: Wales, 10631415. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-19-820198-2.
Walker, David (1990). Medieval Wales. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31153-5.
Categories: Medieval Wales Invasions by the Normans Invasions of Wales 11th century in Wales
12th century in Wales 11th-century conflicts 12th-century conflicts History of Wales by period
EnglandWales relations