‘In each and every part of Wales I will build a mighty castle! To prevent the emergence of any upstart, traitorous rascal!’ Edward confers with master builder, James of St George, concerning the intricacies of castle construction. The aftermath of the unpleasantness in Wales. Perhaps Edward’s wife, Eleanor, might have asked him about the savage …
‘As time passes, so turns the tide! For the ap-Gruffydd brothers, there is nowhere now to hide’! Edward I Edward’s offensive in Wales had been halted, and a confident Llewelyn had rejected the king’s offers of negotiations. However, the tide now turned in Edward’s favour. Llewelyn had descended from Snowdonia, had travelled to Powys and …
‘King Edward asks the Archbishop of Canterbury to mediate in this deadly dispute! The man of God finds the Welsh badly behaved, lazy and the country, a place of general ill-repute!’ Edward had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury, Franciscan friar and a truly remarkable man, John Peckham to mediate in the conflict. Peckham’s task was …
Edward I In 1282, Llewelyn-ap-Gruffydd, holed up in his mountainous lair and still smarting over his humiliating defeat in 1277 was eager to strike against Edward. In fact it was Llewelyn’s estranged brother, Daffyd who seized the initiative by mounting an attack on Hawarden Castle which had been rebuilt by Edward as a safeguard in …
When he ascended to the throne in 1272, , the Lord Edward was now a mature and accomplished man of thirty-three. He had married Eleanor of Castile at the age of fifteen and when she was thirteen. Although a marriage arranged through political convenience, as most were, it proved to be an unusually happy union. …
Old King Henry breathed a sigh of relief as he was pulled from the ground. Although relief turned to boundless joy when he learned of the slaughter of Monty and his allies. The twelve man assassination squad were selected for particular praise: ‘You tore that treacherous Monty limb from limb! Giving him a death, agonizingly …
This time the Lord Edward was ready. His father, the king was still a prisoner of Monty, but of that, nothing as yet could be done. Simon ( Monty) de Montfort. The Lord Edward enjoyed support not only from the lords of the Welsh Marches, but also from Llewellyn ap Gruffydd who agreed to provide …
Monty, standing high above all others in the realm including the king. However, it was not to last. The king of England was now a captive of one of his own barons; a fate which had not befallen any of his Norman/Angevin predecessors. Henry engulfed by unbearable indignation, could only reflect upon the situation with …
‘Oh Simon de, dear brother-in-law! How I would like to take my royal fist to your wretched jaw!’ King Henry III. The meeting of the Easter parliament in 1258 which had resulted in the humiliating Provisions of Oxford left King Henry seething. The mere memory of having to put his seal to that offensive piece …
‘The brother in-law who became the unbrotherly outlaw!’ Well, that would come later, but to begin with everything was sweetness and light. Oh! Oh! For a happy family life! Well, that involves men, women and children! King Henry was devoted to his wife and children and could not bear to be separated from them for …