The kingdom which Gwynllyw the legendary Welsh warrior carved out with his sword was pierced through and gradually deflated by the lances of Norman knights led by the all-too historical de la Haye.
Gwent Local History
Journal of the Gwent Local History Council
Number 85
Autumn 1998
ROBERT DE LA HAYE AND THE LORDSHIP OF GWYNLLWG: THE NORMAN SETTLEMENT OF A WELSH CANTREF
by BRUCE COPLESTONE-CROW
Robert de la Haye, a curialis of the count of Mortain and also, eventually, of the king of England, accompanied Robert fitzHamon into south-east Wales in about 1093 and received from him there the lordship of the cantref of Gwynllwg in Gwent for the service of four knights' fees. Using a pre-existing castle on Stow Hill by the church of St Gwynllyw (St Woolos's: the principal church of Gwynllwg) as his base he established a feudal lordship within the cantref, building further castles where necessary and enfeoffing men he had brought with him from Normandy, and from the barony of Halnaker in Sussex he acquired from the king in 1102, with sufficient knights' fees for the discharging of his knight-service obligations to his overlord without recourse to his own resources. He also founded two monasteries, at Bassaleg and Malpas, as cells of Norman-dominated English houses, and in so doing continued the process of reform of the native Welsh church within his lordship begun by king William II in 1093 when he gave the church of St Gwynllyw to Gloucester
Abbey. ...
... Robert de la Haye was the son of Ranulf, hereditary steward to the count of Mortain on his Norman lands. The family took their name from La-Haye-du-Puits on the west coast of the Cotentin where there was a castle which stood at the head of the large honourial-barony they held from the count. They also held the fief of Créances from the lord of Mortain and from the duke of Normandy himself they held the honour of Le Plessis. The majority of their lands lay around the towns of La Haye, Lessay, Créances and Le Plessis-Lastelle in central Cotentin, although there were isolated manors near Cherbourg in the north and Coutances in the south and also around Bayeux in Calvados. They also had undefined lands or rights in the county of Avranches to the south of the Cotentin. ...
... It was in Wales, however, that Robert profited more substantially from his relationship with fitzHamon. He took part in the Norman occupation and settlement of Glamorgan and Gwynllwg 9 (see Map 1 for the location of these territories) undertaken by fitz Hamon from about 1093 onwards and received from him a mesne lordship in the cantref of Gwynllwg. ...
[ THESE AGGRESSIVE FEUDAL ORGANISATIONS WERE THE TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, SO PERHAPS THE BEST WAY TO THINK ABOUT THE CONQUEST OF WALES IS IN COMPARISON TO THE WAY THAT MODERN RIVAL SUPERMARKETS COMPETE TO CONTROL BOTH THE SUPPLIES AND SALES OF GOODS ON THE MARKET IN ORDER TO LEVER OPEN THEIR PROFIT MARGINS - AND IN ORDER TO AVOID PAYING ANY TAXES OR OBEYING THEIR MONARCHS OF COURSE - WITHOUT THEMSELVES BEING EXECUTED ! ]
Although Gwynllwg was under Norman influence from about 1070 onwards there was no direct Norman interference in the cantref until a few years after earl William fitzOsbern's death. The indirect cause of this further Norman advance was the unsuccessful rebellion against the king of the earl's son Roger in 1075. The rebellion was quickly put down, but Caradog ap Gruffydd of Gwynllwg, the subregulum, harboured certain knights sympathetic to the rebel earl and unwisely defied the king's request to hand them over. The Conqueror therefore sent his second son William on a punitive expedition into Caradog's realm of Gulatmorgantium with the avowed purpose of devastating and burning the kingdom and causing it to 'lose the whole of its wealth'. Caradog had added Glamorgan to his kingdom, to make the kingdom of Gulatmorgantium, in 1072 in a battle on the banks of the Rhymney in which he had been aided by certain Normans, perhaps the very men he was now harbouring. The twelfth century Vita Sancti Gundleii, 'Life of St Gwynllyw', our sole source for prince William's campaign in Gwynllwg, gives few details of its course, but does have the prince camped by St Gwynllyw's church (now St Woolos's Church in Newport) for one night. ...
... Although the rule of Robert fitzHamon and his lieutenants dominated the lowland areas of Gwynllwg and Glamorgan their interests did not extend into the relatively unproductive upland areas. These were left to their native Welsh rulers, who were required merely to acknowledge Norman overlordship, an overlordship that may have been reinforced at intervals by the collection of tribute and surrender of hostages for good behaviour. After the death of Caradog ap Gruffydd, leadership of the Welsh of upland Gwynllwg fell to his son Owain Wan. Although Owain came eventually to accept Norman domination so, perhaps, earning his epithet Wan, 'weak' and even to defend its interests, he was doubtless affected at first by the spirit of revolt against Norman encroachment in Wales that spread through the country in the mid 1090s. At first he and his colleagues carried all before them and a Norman army sent into Gwent in 1096 achieved nothing. But they were unable to take the castles, which 'remained intact, with their garrisons in them' as one of the Welsh chronicles puts it, and the Normans were able to use these to gradually regain control of their lands. By 1098 it was all over and Owain Wan had re-submitted to the overlordship of Robert fitzHamon and his lieutenant in Wentloog. He was killed eighteen years later defending the Norman castle at Carmarthen against the attacks of his compatriots.21 With a more permanent peace now established Robert de la Haye was free to carry forward the Norman settlement of Gwynllwg.22
[ SO - THAT AFFORDS A GLIMPSE INTO THE DEMISE OF THE KINGDOM FOUNDED BY GWYNLLYW AND THE NOTABLE THING ABOUT IT IS THE WAY IN WHICH THIS WAS NO NATIONAL STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM BY THE WELSH BUT WAS MORE A SORT OF POKER GAME IN WHICH THEIR LEADERS HAD FEWER CARDS TO PLAY AND WAGERED SMALLER SUMS WHICH WERE MORE EASILY LOST - AND THEY PLAYED FOR THEIR OWN ADVANTAGES RATHER THAN CONCIENTIOUSLY ON THE PART OF THOSE OTHERS WHOM THEY RULED IN THE PURSUIT OF PERSONAL GAINS : THEY WERE A BIT LIKE THE PROPRIETORS OF CORNER SHOPS WHO HAVING WEIGHED UP THE BENEFITS DECIDED TO APPLY FOR AN INTERNATIONALLY BRANDED FRANCHISE - ? ]
