40. CONFLICTS BETWEEN AND AMONG WELSH AND ENGLISH AFTER THE EDWARDIAN CONQUEST: THE WELSH ASSIZE ROLL, 1277–1284
INTRODUCTION
Before the conquest of North Wales by King Edward I in the 1270s, Welsh people were not subject to English Common Law. If a Welshman or -woman lived in one of the regions controlled by a marcher baron, the so-called Liberty of the March prevented the king’s writ from “running” in the barony. If the Welsh person lived in a part of Wales controlled by a native prince, then Welsh law (collected as the Laws of Hywl Dda) prevailed. Welsh law was based on custom and oral transmission down to the thirteenth century. It did not have the administrative infrastructure seen in the English common law courts and differed significantly from English law procedurally.
After the conquest and the establishment of the English principality of Wales, King Edward extended both English law and legal procedure into the regions of Wales where it had not appeared before. The first assizes heard in Wales, beginning in 1277, thus represented a new form of dispute resolution in a region that had retained customary procedures.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
Although Welsh people might not have appeared in English royal courts in Wales itself, they were not unfamiliar with the kinds of procedures maintained in those courts—as the novel disseisin case in the Shropshire Eyre attests. Welsh people who lived on the border between England and Wales probably had some access to English courts, especially if they held land from English lords. Nevertheless, the use of the English-style courts to resolve violent disputes between Welsh people was a new development after the Edwardian conquest.
Document 1: Cases from the Welsh Assize Roll
Membrane 12. Pleas Heard at Rhuddlan, Sunday after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, 6 Edward I [1278] before Sirs Reginald de Grey, Roger Lestrange, Walter de Hopton, Hywel ap Meurig, and Gronw ap Heilyn, Justices.
Merig ap Madog, Ieuan ap Madog, and Ithel Vychan complain that certain thieves, after the peace made between the King and Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, about the feast of St. Martin, 5 Edward I [1277], robbed them of 30 oxen and cows, 23 pigs and led away the animals to the castle of Flint and that Guncelin de Badlesmere, then Justice of Chester, took these animals from them, and although he had a mandate from the King that they should be delivered, he detained them and still detains them.
Guncelin, called and questioned by the Justices on the matter, answers that he did not receive these animals after the making of the peace, and puts himself on an inquisition of the country. [The jurors conducting the inquisition] say that Meurig, Ieuan, and Ithel were in the King’s peace when the animals were taken but, nevertheless, it was before the common proclamation of the peace between the King and the Prince of Wales. And Meurig and his followers acknowledge that they had come to do homage and fealty the day after the robbery was committed on them.
Membrane 25. Pleas Heard at Montgomery, a week from St. John the Baptist, 7 Edward I [1279] before Walter de Hopton and his associates, Justices.
Einon Llwyd and Rhydderch Kavernethy appeal Roger Impias of the death of Owain Foel, their brother, killed in the town of Oswestry, which Roger Impias evilly and feloniously killed the same Owain Foel, their brother, against the King’s peace, etc.
Roger comes and denies all felony and all death and whatsoever is against the King’s peace, etc. And for good and ill puts himself upon the country. And 12 jurors say upon their oath that Roger is not guilty of the said death. Therefore he is acquitted of it.
Membrane 30. Pleas Heard at Montgomery, Wednesday after St. Andrew the Apostle, 9 Edward I [1280]
Richard de Camera, who sues for the King and his men, and [for] Isabella Mortimer and her men of Oswestry [acts as their attorney], complains of Llewelyn Vychan that Hwfa ap Heilyn, Madog Treydras, and others named in the writ, by previous consent and sending of Llewelyn, maliciously burnt, against the peace, etc., the King’s mill of Coedgoch and certain houses of Isabella Mortimer and her men of Oswestry with the goods and chattels within the mill and houses, by which they say they are injured and suffered the loss of £100. The trespass was done them on Friday after Michaelmas, 8 Edward I [just a few weeks before]. And on it they produce suit, etc. Llewelyn comes and denies previous consent and sending and all wrong and puts himself on the country. Therefore let the country of the neighboring and nearest, etc., be summoned, namely Knockin, Ellesmere, Wem, Deuddwr.
Source: The Welsh Assize Roll, 1277–1284. Edited by James Conway Davies. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1940. Pp. 259–260, 296, 309. Reprinted with permission.
AFTERMATH
The Welsh countryside was persistently subject to upheaval and disruption throughout the Middle Ages, with numerous small revolts against English dominance and English rule occurring after the Edwardian conquest, and one major revolt, that of OWAIN GLYNDWR (Owen Glendower) in 1400–1412. Kings of England who attempted to take control of Wales through a centralized court system found themselves competing with local landlords as well, with conflicted jurisdictions a common problem. Even so, as the system of English law advanced in Wales, the establishment of local courts to adjudicate disputes became more common and more efficient.
ASK YOURSELF
Why would Welsh people use English law courts to resolve disputes?
The disputes excerpted here demonstrate a certain level of lawlessness, especially on the border. What benefit would people derive from engaging in litigation instead of simply resorting to self-help?
Why weren’t the Welsh princes able to stem the tide of violence in their regions in Wales?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
Compare the cases heard in the Welsh assizes to those heard at the Shropshire eyre.
Consider the possible conflicts that could arise in mixed communities of Welsh and English residents and how they might have been adjudicated in assize courts.
Analyze the potential benefits of adopting English law or of retaining Welsh customary law in resolving disputes.
Further Information
Davies, R. R. “Colonial Wales.” Past & Present 65, no. 1 (1974): 3–23.
Price, Huw. “Lawbooks and Literacy in Medieval Wales.” Speculum 75, no. 1 (2000): 29–67.