Transcript
HUW EDWARDS:
One ruler from Gwynedd is the only Welshman who was ever recognised by England as Prince of Wales. He is Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, better known as Llywelyn the Last.
This story of Wales is all about discovery. I’m on a country lane above the village of Abergwyngregyn overlooking the Menai Straits, and I’m in search of a place that in all likelihood is one of the most significant sites in the history of Wales, and yet, it is relatively unknown. Here it is.
This is Pen y Bryn. It’s now privately owned. Archaeologists tell us that parts of this building date back to 1200, and there is a growing body of evidence now to suggest that at one stage this was the home of Llywelyn Fawr, Llywelyn the Great, who ruled for 46 years, and of his grandson, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd is a bold man, taking command of much of Wales and capturing land from English lords. His opponent, the English king Henry III, is a weak and unpopular monarch. After struggling with years of civil war in England, he is willing to listen to Llywelyn.
It’s late in the summer of 1267 when Henry’s men and Llywelyn’s men hold a summit meeting in Shrewsbury. It lasts for four days, and some of the most notable people of the time were present, including the Pope’s envoy, and what they’re after is a deal which defines Llywelyn’s power in Wales, and it turns out to be a very significant moment.
On the 29th of September 1267, King Henry and Llywelyn meet at a ford on the Welsh-English border, a formal meeting place to ratify the Treaty of Montgomery. King Henry recognises Llywelyn as the official Prince of Wales so long as Llywelyn swears allegiance to the English crown.
Llywelyn becomes the first Welsh ruler to be formally acknowledged as Prince of Wales by an English king, so it is a very significant moment, but this treaty isn’t really about Llywelyn’s relationship with Henry. It is more to do Llywelyn’s determination to legitimise his power over other Welsh princes and lords. It helps, of course, that he’s now backed by a powerful military machine.
It is Llywelyn’s hunger for power that creates the Principality of Wales. Llywelyn is ruler of 200,000 subjects from Gwynedd to Brecon. It is a new start for Wales, a time of peace to begin the business of building its own state, but this promising age would last only 10 years. The treaty Llywelyn has signed comes at a heavy price.
The price demanded of Llywelyn is painfully high, but he does agree to it. Not only does he pay homage to the king, he pays a lot of money too, and the first instalment is 5,000 marks. That’s around 3,000 pounds. It’s probably as much as the prince’s entire annual income.
As well as Llywelyn’s financial pressures, he loses his deal with the English when Henry dies. The new king, Edward I, is an imposing figure, fierce of temper and violent. He wants to crush this new Prince of Wales and win back power over all of Britain for himself.
Llywelyn’s problems start to multiply. He can’t bring himself to pay homage to King Edward, and he stops the system of regular payments that he’s agreed to make. The response to that is entirely predictable. The king judges him to be untrustworthy, unreliable, and he declares him a rebel.
In 1277, Edward gathers the biggest army seen in Britain since the Norman invasion. They force their way into Anglesey, the breadbasket of Wales, and confiscate the harvest, and then Edward redistributes Llywelyn’s land.
Llywelyn is cut off from most of his lands, and he has very few allies, so he’s forced to surrender, and in fact, he retreats here to the heart of Snowdonia. There’s more bad news for him, because a new treaty is signed where most of the Welsh lords declare their loyalty to the king and not to Llywelyn, so all the power that he’s built up over the past decade just fades away.
For the next five years, Llywelyn tries to patch up his relationship with King Edward. He even resumes payments, but on Palm Sunday in 1282, things go badly wrong.
Llywelyn’s brother decides to take his own initiative and attack an English castle without Llywelyn’s permission. It sparks a rebellion, and other Welsh lords join in. That gives Llywelyn an impossible dilemma. Does he stand aside, or does he join in too? What happens is that fate intervenes.
For several months, Llywelyn hesitates. He’s desperate to keep the vengeful English king at bay. But on the 12th of June 1282, his wife Eleanor dies while giving birth to their daughter. In mourning and with no male heir, he has nothing to lose. He joins his brother to attack the King of England. Edward retaliates, attacking Llywelyn from all sides, including from the sea.
Edward’s forces are closing in on Gwynedd, and the king has one principal demand. He wants Llywelyn to surrender Wales. Llywelyn’s advisors, the main figures here in Snowdonia, send an urgent appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and they declare the prince should not throw aside his inheritance-
LLYWELYN’S ADVISOR:
-and that of his ancestors in Wales and accept land in England, a country with whose language, way of life, laws, and customs he is unfamiliar.
HUW EDWARDS:
The view of Llywelyn’s council is uncompromising. They declare that Wales is an ancient inheritance. It owes nothing to the King of England. And Llywelyn himself writes to the king, and he says that he will never abandon the people who’ve been protected by his ancestors since the days of Brutus. It really is a cry of defiance at a desperate time.
By summoning the legend of Brutus, the mythical ancestor of the Celts, Llywelyn lays claim to a much older connection to this land than the English ever can. But just a month later, Llywelyn, the last native Prince of Wales, will be dead.