Chapter 4
THE NORMAN RULE OF THE ABERDARE AREA, 1091–1485.

1. By 1066, Wales had developed a distinctive pattern of culture, recognisably Celtic and Welsh, yet the land was still politically disunited.

“Life was intensely local and man’s first allegiance was to his family, his clan, and his ruler of one of the petty kingdoms into which Wales at that time was divided. It was this absence of unity that made Wales an easy prey to the Norman invader”.

(W. Rees - “Wales Through the Ages,” p.81).

When Robert Fitzhamon invaded Glamorgan in 1091, he rapidly defeated the Welsh led by their chief Iestyn ap Gwrgant, prince of Glamorgan (Morgannwg). Fitzhamon made his headquarters in a motte-and-bailey castle at Cardiff, and parcelled out the conquered kingdom among his knights, who quickly built castles in their areas.

Fitzhamon divided his lordship into ten lesser ones. Five in the lowlands and five in the uplands of Glamorgan. Of these, the lordships of Miscin and Senghenydd are the ones that were in, and nearest, to the Aberdare valley and district.

Though the Normans held the fertile lowlands of Glamorgan they were forced to leave the rugged uplands to the rule of their native lords, and these in the first phase of Norman rule were virtually independent. Their only dues being a heriot of horse and arms at the death of a chief. Thus, the uplands of Glamorgan became Norman hunting grounds, though Einion ap Iestyn, lord of Senghenydd, had to provide facilities for the chase and charcoal for the castles.

Yet the relations between the Normans and the upland Welsh were one of incipient war all the time. There were incessant raids by the Welsh, and the Normans tried to penetrate into the uplands and build estates there. In 1158, Ivor Bach raided Cardiff Castle and in 1175 Gruffydd, Ivor’s son, ravaged the coastal areas of Glamorgan. Again in 1211 Cadwallon, lord of Senghenydd, raided the lowlands. So did Llewellyn the Great in about 1220.

In 1246, Rhys ap Gruffydd of Senghenydd, and Hywel ap Maredudd of Miscin, attacked the coastal areas, and Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Lord of Glamorgan was sent to quell the revolt. Hywel of Miscin was deposed and sent to Kilkenny in Ireland, where he died. Thus, native Welsh rule in the Aberdare district ended 160 years after the conquest of lowland Glamorgan. But it was not to be an easy peace.

In 1268 Llewelyn the Last, Prince of Wales, came down from the north, and De Clare had to recognise Llewelyn’s rule over North Glamorgan. It was fear of the upland Welsh that impelled De Clare and his successors to build Caerphilly castle, the largest fortress of the Middle Ages. De Clare also built Morlais castle in Merthyr in 1288 against the upland Welsh and the men of Brecknock and their Norman lords.

In 1294, the men of upland Glamorgan again rebelled. Edward I came through Wales and received the submission of the men of Aberdare and Merthyr at Merthyr on the 14th June 1295. They said that they rose against De Clare and not against the king.

In the 14th century the men of the uplands of Glamorgan followed their Norman lords to the French wars. It is agreed by the historians of that period that the victories of Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415) were largely due to the terrible power of the long bowmen of the men of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Men of Aberdare were there, for gold nobles of the period have been found at Tonllwyd in Aberdare.

(“History of Merthyr Tydfil,” NUT. p.64).

Interesting facts about the Welsh at this period have been given by Gerald the Welshman.

“Not only the nobles, but all the people are trained to war, and when the trumpet sounds the alarm the husband-man rushes as eagerly from his plough, as the courtier from his court. All the people live upon the products of their herds, with oats, milk, cheese and butter. They esteem it a disgrace to die in bed, and an honour to die on the field of battle”.

(“History of Merthyr Tydfil,” NUT. pp.65-66).
 

2 Owain Glyn Dŵr — The Wars of the Roses and Aberdare.

On the 16th September 1400, Owain Glyn Dŵr was proclaimed Prince of Wales. By this act a savage civil war, which devastated Wales, raged for more than ten years. Yet while it lasted it enjoyed wide national support in Wales for it was a part of the general European discontent which upset Western Christendom in that period: the French Jacquerie, the English Peasants Revolt, the Hussite wars. For the basic cause was the same, the breakdown of the old order, the emergence of new classes on the medieval scene, and the fusing of this in Wales with a nationalist, racialist revolt. Most Welshmen in this war fought and longed for a more just society, in a Wales freed from English oppression.

(Gwyn A. Williams — “Wales Through the Ages,” pp. 176–177).

It is known that large numbers of men from north Glamorgan flocked to the standard of Owain Glyn Dŵr when he marched into Glamorgan in 1403, and when he took castles, and overran the coastal plains of South Wales. Tradition says that some of the place-names in Merthyr Tydfil, such as Ynys Owen and Bryn Cae Owen, commemorate the great leader’s stay in that area, but we have no definite proof. In 1407, large numbers of men from the hills of Glamorgan returned home and gave up fighting. In 1410, Owain Glyn Dŵr gave up the struggle and disappeared forever.

3 .The Wars of the Roses and Aberdare and District.

During and after the Owain Glyn Dŵr revolt the Welsh wore deprived of the most elementary rights of citizenship and this made for much bitterness between the Welsh and the Norman citizens of Wales.

In the years that followed the death of Henry IV many Welsh gentlemen followed King Henry V to the wars in France, and served in the king’s administration and in that of the marcher lords.

With the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, Wales was in 1460, equally divided between York and Lancaster, but in the prolonged struggle the Welsh gradually veered round to the claims of the House of Lancaster, though generally the poor people followed the allegiance of their lords in the struggle.

Yet, in 1485, the victory of Henry Tudor, something of a Welshman, was felt as the coming to the English throne of a man who had the interests of the Welsh people at heart. The road to advancement of the ambitious Welsh in England was now open.

(“Wales Through the Ages,” E.D. Jones. pp,184-185).

In Aberdare the victory of the Tudors was felt especially keenly. Jasper Tudor was the new Lord of Glamorgan. He gave new bells and belfry to Llandaff and gifts to the yeomen of Glamorgan.