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Cardiganshire County History Volume 2 , livre ebook

University of Wales Press - and Eryn M. White , Richard Suggett , Geraint H. Jenkins

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Cardiganshire County History Volume 2 is published by the University of Wales Press on behalf of the Ceredigion Historical Society, in association with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. This volume provides a comprehensive and authoritative account, written by distinguished authors in fifteen chapters, of the wide range of social, economic, political, religious and cultural forces that shaped the ethos and character of the county of Cardiganshire over a period of 600 years. This was a period of great turbulence and change. It witnessed conquest and castle-building, the impact of the Glyndŵr rebellion, the coming of the Protestant Reformation, and the turmoil of civil war. Over time, the inhabitants of the county developed a sense of themselves as a distinctive people who dwelt in a recognisable entity. From very early on, literate people took pride in their native patch; in the eyes of the learned Sulien (d. 1091) and his sons, the land of Ceredig was a sacred patria. Poets and scribes burnished the reputation of the county, and a vibrant poem by Siôn Morys in 1577 maintained that it was the best of shires and ‘the fold of the generous ones’.

Sujets

Medieval

Histoire

Mid Wales

History

Europe

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Publié par	University of Wales Press
Date de parution	15 septembre 2019
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781786834539
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	353 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,2850€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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CARDIGANSHIRE COUNTY HISTORY

VOLUME 2

The famous west doorway at Strata Florida Abbey.

CARDIGANSHIRE COUNTY HISTORY General Editor: Geraint H. Jenkins

VOLUME 2 Medieval and Early Modern Cardiganshire

Edited by Geraint H. Jenkins, Richard Suggett and Eryn M. White

Published on behalf of Cymdeithas Hanes Ceredigion Historical Society in association with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales by the University of Wales Press CARDIFF 2019

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-78683-452-2 ISBN 978-1-78683-453-9 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without clearance from the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NS.

Jacket design by Charles Green, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales Typeset by Owain Hammonds, Dylunydd Graffeg – Graphic Designer, Pennant, Bont-goch, Ceredigion Printed in Wales by Gwasg Gomer Press, Llandysul.

PREFACE

It is with a mixture of joy and relief that we present the second, and final, volume of the Cardiganshire County History series to members of the Ceredigion Historical Society and the public at large. It represents a major achievement in the history of the Society and we hope that it provides an authoritative and accessible guide to our understanding of the history of the county. This particular volume has had a longer gestation than had been hoped. Not least of our problems was an unexpected turnover in editors. None of us figured among the original editors and we are grateful to those authors who contributed their chapters in good time and gave us their full support. Paradoxically, the unforeseen difficulties which caused the lapse in time enabled us to revise some of the chapters fully, to make use of additional information which had come to light, to take advantage of advances in the fields of aerial photography and dendrochronology and, most of all, to capitalize on the digital revolution which is currently transforming our lives. Critically, we have seized the opportunity to include many more colour illustrations than had previously been thought possible. We are confident that this has greatly enhanced the content and appearance of the volume. Our framing dates are 1091 and 1714, a span of around 600 years, and, although there are some omissions and some knots left untied, the major events in the formation of Cardiganshire are fully covered in the fifteen chapters which follow. One of our most distinguished historians, doubtless with his tongue firmly in cheek, once claimed that Cardiganshire in this period ‘sounds like a backwater’. There is no doubt that the relative isolation and poverty of the county placed severe restraints on what people were able to accomplish, but equally there is abundant evidence here that our story does not lack colour, drama and excitement. Although Cardiganshire was a thinly-populated county of pastures, moorland and woodland, it was nonetheless, as Gerald of Wales shrewdly observed, ‘the heartland of Wales’, a place where historic landscapes offered a pattern of ‘deep antiquity and continuity’. Over several centuries, war and rebellion disrupted daily life. Common people, already deprived of many basic necessities and living very close to the margins of subsistence, suffered at the hands of military conquerors and also found themselves having to respond to the efforts of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and especially Owain Glyndŵr to express and establish Welsh statehood. These were years of conf lict and military service, extortions and oppressions, disputes and revolts. Aberystwyth castle became the most prominent symbol of the armed might of Anglo-Norman invaders and of their determination to bring the populace to heel by establishing castles, garrisons, lordships and boroughs. Equally, by rallying to the banner of Glyndŵr, fighting like lions at the famous battle of Hyddgen in 1401 and playing their part in destroying large

vi CARDIGANSHIRE COUNTY HISTORY II parts of Aberystwyth castle, local warriors expressed their pent-up grievances. But there were also striking places of prayer and piety to offer solace. The massive parish and church of Llanbadarn was a dominant inf luence in sustaining medieval worship and traditions, the collegiate church at Llanddewibrefi was a significant centre of clerical learning, while Strata Florida, founded in 1164 in the most captivating setting at the foot of the Cambrian mountains, ushered in a new chapter in the history of monasticism, played a key role in sustaining the expectations of Welsh princes and became a vibrant centre of manuscript production where Welsh scribes were determined to ensure that people should not lose their grasp on the past. At parish level, too, by the mid-fifteenth century there were unmistakable signs of religious renewal. The cult of the saints and the inf luence of shrines like Our Lady of the Taper at Cardigan, the popularity of roods and rood-screens, wall paintings and stained-glass windows indicate that Catholicism meant more to the general populace than is often admitted. The coming of the Tudors brought about changes of fortune. Horizons expanded for the aff luent and the literate. The Acts of Union (1536–43) bound the county, at least in theory, more closely to central government. In practice, however, gentry families with the greatest rent-rolls, led by those at Gogerddan, Trawsgoed and, later, Nanteos, were well aware of the advantages union offered, especially as local governors and administrators, but also as representatives in parliament. No strangers to bribery and extortion, they knew how to make nuisances of themselves and how to exercise control in their determination to exploit the land market and better themselves. Unsurprisingly, they were ready to support the royalist cause in its hour of need in the civil wars and also to set their face against republicans and ministers who spread the puritan gospel. Common people, too, had little good to say of Protestant and especially puritan reformers who mocked the ancient faith as well as well as folk traditions and superstitions. Middling sorts, however, were increasingly seeking books to read and in 1718 the hamlet of Trerhedyn in the southernmost quarter of the Vale of Teifi was the first community in Wales to open a licensed Welsh-language printing press. Yet, only a small minority of people received any kind of formal schooling and not until Griffith Jones, Llanddowror, established his remarkably successful circulating schools from the 1730s onwards did Cardiganshire begin to nurture a substantial reading public. Until then, this was very much an oral society. The Welsh language, of course, was deeply woven into the fabric of life, and our tale encompasses the work of poets, scribes and scholars as well as warlords, soldiers and administrators. Gerald of Wales was forcibly struck by the purity of spoken Welsh in the county and, even by the end of our period, Lewis Morris was able to claim that there were many parishes ‘where there is not a word of English spoken’. Poets, whether sponsored by noblemen or the gentry, were local patriots who often dwelt on the glories of the past in displaying their creative talents. Although it would be an exaggeration to claim that the assembly of poets and minstrels in lively competition at Cardigan castle in 1176 was the ancestor of the modern eisteddfod, it was nonetheless a significant cultural rallying-cry. Thanks to the hospitality of Cistercian monks, critically important Welsh texts like the Hendregadredd Manuscript (a sizeable collection of the poetry of the court poets), the White Book of Rhydderch (the earliest complete text of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi) andBrut yTywysogyon(a Welsh translation of the chronicles which J. E. Lloyd described as ‘the greatest monument of Welsh historiography’) were produced by gifted scribes at Strata Florida. That Dafydd ap Gwilym, the greatest of all Welsh poets, was born, bred and buried in Cardiganshire, is something of which we are justly proud and the most recent critical study of his work, in digital and printed form, confirms his extraordinary talent.

PREFACE vii Other gifted, idiosyncratic and even sinister figures peep out from the following pages. Ieuan ap Rhydderch of Parcrhydderch in the Aeron valley was a remarkable fifteenth-century polymath and patron. Medieval poets were noted for their gallows humour, but even by their standards Dafydd ap Maredudd Glais of Aberystwyth, cleric, poet and convicted murderer, was a particularly mottled figure. Thomas Jones of Porthyffynnon, a gentleman herald who produced lavish pedigree rolls, became better known in later folklore as the colourful scamp ‘Twm Siôn Cati’. John Lewis of Glasgrug, a Cardiganshire gentleman, was the first to call, in 1646, for a ‘national’ college for Wales, while no Welshman rose to such dizzy heights in the legal profession as Sir John Vaughan of Trawsgoed, who became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1668. That enigmatic woman of letters, Katherine Philips of Cardigan, achieved fame far beyond the county as ‘the Matchless Orinda’, while the shadowy Elsbeth Ifan composed popularhalsingodin the late Stuart period which mark her out as the first female Welsh-language poet in Cardiganshire. More could be added to this roll-call, including the splendidly-named Englishman, John Cherrylickhum, happily noted by Dr Stephen Roberts in chapter 12, and what would we not give to learn more about the inhabitants of Tyddyn y Gwragedd Moelion, a cottage located in the commote of Creuddyn in mid-Tudor times? Throughout this period there is clear evidence that the inhabitants had developed a sense of themselves as a distinctive people who dwelt in a recognizable entity. From very early on, literate people evidently took pride in their native patch. Far from being a blighted shire with few redeeming features, it was a sacredpatriain the eyes of Sulien (d. 1091), the most learned of bishops, scholars and teachers at Llanbadarn, who passed on his scholarly attainments and knowledge to his four sons, Rhygyfarch, Arthen, Daniel and Ieuan. Ieuan ap Sulien likened the land of Ceredig to a table with four sides and he and Rhygyfarch deplored the tyranny of foreign invaders who trespassed on this historic entity. ‘One vile Norman’, cried Rhygyfarch, ‘intimidates a hundred natives.’ In these stressful times, poets became cheerleaders for the ‘sparkling’ local dialect and vocabulary, and scribes at Strata Florida readily burnished the cultural and historical portfolios of the county. We know that the ancient kingdom of Ceredigion was an identifiable unit between the fifth century and the Edwardian conquest but, as a result of wars, disputes and English inf luences, the town of Cardigan, with its impressive castle rebuilt by the Lord Rhys, and the commote of Is Coed were described from the 1240s as a ‘county’. When the Statute of Rhuddlan (1284) proclaimed the annexation of Wales, it formally recognized the shire of Cardiganshire. Ceredigion had become Cardiganshire, though the earliest cartographers tell us that the monoglot Welsh, who formed the overwhelming majority, referred to the shire as ‘sir Aberteifi’. Even though the first Act of Union incorporated Wales into the English realm in 1536, provincial loyalty was maintained and local commentators, usually poets, were seldom reluctant to sing the praises of unselfish luminaries. A vibrant poem by Siôn Morys in 1577 insisted that it was the best of shires and ‘the fold of the generous ones’. Local pride, so long as it does not become an obsession, is no bad thing. In the preparation of this volume we have incurred many obligations. As was the case with the two previous volumes, this publication was prepared in collaboration with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, a major cultural institution whose collections and offices are now located in the National Library of Wales. We are indebted to its present secretary, Mr Christopher Catling, for his full and generous support. Two former chairmen of the Commission, Professor J. Beverley Smith and Professor Ralph A. Griffiths, have contributed substantial chapters to this volume, while specialist contributions have been received from past and present members of

viii CARDIGANSHIRE COUNTY HISTORY II staff: David Browne, the late Jack Spurgeon and Richard Suggett. Special mention must be made of the contributions of John Dollery (mapping), Toby Driver (aerial photography), Fleur James (image production), Charles Green (finished drawings) and Iain Wright (location photography). The majority of the illustrations in this book derive from the archival collections of the Royal Commission (The National Monuments Record of Wales) and their availability has been facilitated by Lynne Moore and Penny Icke. We warmly thank the authors of chapters for helping us to reach a notable milestone in the history of the county and for their patience in waiting for their work to appear in print. Sadly, Professor Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, former president of the Society and general editor of the series, did not live to witness the publication of this volume. Failing health had prevented him for some years from taking an active role, but he maintained a keen interest in the progress of the venture until his death, aged 97, in 2018. We are profoundly grateful to him and miss him sorely. Editors always need able lieutenants and we happily acknowledge the assistance of the following officers of the Ceredigion Historical Society: Siân E. Bowyer (secretary), Linzi Evans (treasurer), Michael Freeman (membership secretary), Dafydd M. Jones and Brynley F. Roberts (vice-presidents), Lona Mason (programme secretary) and Helen Palmer (vice-chair). We also extend our sincere thanks for their support to the following members of the Society’s executive committee: Stephen Benham, Charles Green, D. Russell Davies, Rhianydd Davies, Toby G. Driver, Rhun Emlyn, David Moore, D. Huw Owen and Paul O’Leary. Our thanks also go to Professor Dafydd Johnston, Professor John Gwynfor Jones, Professor Ann Parry Owen and Professor Huw Pryce for their help. Most of all, we wish to record our deepest gratitude to Dyfed County Council, Ceredigion District Council and the present Ceredigion County Council for their extremely generous financial assistance and continuing support for this project, without which publication would have been impossible. The University of Wales Press is delighted to publish this volume and its two predecessors on our behalf and we are especially grateful to Sarah Lewis, Siân Chapman and Bronwen Swain for their cooperation. William E. Howells eased our burdens considerably by preparing the index with meticulous care, while the contribution of Owain Hammonds to the typesetting, design and layout of the volume has been admirable in every way. Major Francis Jones once memorably referred to the National Library of Wales as ‘a veritable Ali Baba’s cave of historical treasures’ and its collections on the history of this county are particularly rich and varied. We, and all our contributors, have made extensive use of the Library’s holdings andgratefully acknowledge the polite assistance we have received from the staff of this splendid institution. Finally, we hope that this volume will provide illuminating reading for all who take pleasure in the history of the county, that they will pardon any errors it may contain, and that they will be encouraged to take an active interest in the history and antiquities of one of the oldest county societies in Wales.

June 2019

Geraint H. Jenkins Richard Suggett Eryn M. White

Preface List of Figures List of Contributors List of Abbreviations

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

CONTENTS

The Medieval Landscapes of Cardiganshire David Austin and Jemma Bezant

Agriculture Gerald Morgan

The Castles of Cardiganshire D. J. Cathcart King, Jack Spurgeon and David M. Browne

Medieval Dwellings and their Successors Richard Suggett

The Church in Medieval Ceredigion John Reuben Davies

The Cistercian Houses David H. Williams

Princes, Lords and English Monarchy: Ceredigion, 1081–1197 J. Beverley SmithLords of Ceredigion, Princes of Gwynedd and Kings of England, 1197–1283 J. Beverley SmithCrown and County: an Age of Transformation and Crisis, 1283–1400 Ralph A. Griffiths

An Age of Turmoil and Opportunity, 1400–1540 Ralph A. Griffiths

The Growth of Gentry Estates Gerald Morgan

Cardiganshire and the State, 1540–1689 Stephen K. Roberts

v xi xx xxii

111

175

197

241

279

327

357

391