The relevant section of the membrane is as follows:
"[m. 2][ It is unclear whether the present m 2 originally followed the present m 1, but the damage pattern across the join would suggest that it probably did.] [Payments made by] Walter de Notingham, clerk, to bannerets, knights, esquires and foot-soldiers staying in the lord king’s garrisons at Carmarthen, Dinefwr, [...] [and Card]igan from [Monday], the morrow of the translation of St Wulfstan, namely 8 June in the [tenth] year of the reign of king Edward, with covered and uncovered horses [...][ This and the following missing headings were presumably just the names of the recipients.] [The same] Walter accounts for payment to lord John de Bello Campo, himself the third knight, with 13 covered horses, from Monday on the morrow of St Wulfstan, namely 8 June, until Tuesday in the vigil of St John the Baptist, for 16 days, each day counted, £14 8s. And know that a banneret takes 4s per day, a knight 2s, and each of the other covered horses 12d. [...] Item, payment to lord Hugh de Corten’, himself the fourth knight, with 12 covered horses, from 8 June until Tuesday in the vigil of St John the Baptist, for 16 days, each day counted, £14 8s. [...] Item, payment to H. de Monte Forti, himself the other knight, with 8 covered horses, from 8 June until Saturday next after the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed John the Baptist, namely 27 June, for 20 days, each day counted, £10. [Si]mon de Monte Acuto Item, payment to lord Simon de Monte Acuto, with 4 covered horses, from 8 June until Saturday next after the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, namely for 20 days, each day counted, 100s. Hugh Poinz Item, payment to lord Hugh Poinz, with 4 covered horses, from 8 June until Saturday next after the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, for 20 days, each day counted, 100s. William de Moun Item, payment to lord William de Moun, himself the other knight, with 8 covered horses, who came from England on Thursday next after the feast of St Augustine, namely 28 May, until Thursday in the feast of St Botulph, 17 June, for 21 days, each day counted, £10 10s. And therefore he received payment for the 11 days of the time for which the said knights received payment from the king’s wardrobe because the same lord William received no payment in the same wardrobe. And know that all the said bannerets and knights at that time were in the army which lord G. de Clare led into ‘Estratewy’.”
Much of our understanding of the battle comes from John Morris and his book The Welsh Wars of Edward I, published in 1901. Unfortunately Morris made mistakes. Of the aftermath of the battle, he wrote:
“The English in the south seem to have been completely paralyzed for the next six weeks. The paid cavalry, suspiciously reduced in number since the battle of Llandeilo, were divided into two bodies of about thirty-five lances each, one sent to garrison Cardigan under Philip Daubeney, the other remaining under Alan Plukenet to hold Dynevor, while John de Beauchamp and his troops were probably at Carmarthen”.
Morris failed to notice the header of the membrane, which shows the English were already in garrison at these places from 8 June, eight days before the battle. Wages were paid out as normal, with no sign of panic or disruption or a break in accounting, which one might expect after a heavy defeat. There is, in fact, no sign of an engagement at all.
All the accounts, English and Welsh, agree the most important casualty of the battle was William de Valence junior, heir to the earldom of Pembroke. The only other named casualty is Richard Argentine, an English knight. Neither of these men are mentioned anywhere on Clare’s payroll. Therefore the assumption must be that Valence was in charge of a separate division of the army, for which a payroll has not survived. This division was ambushed and mauled by the Welsh in a narrow wooded pass somewhere near Llandeilo. The main host under Clare was untouched.
Since Clare was in overall command, this can only mean he had split his forces in the middle of enemy territory: an apt comparison would be Lord Chelmsford before Isandlwana, with similar results. He paid for his incompetence and was stripped of command by King Edward, who replaced him with William de Valence senior as ‘captain of the army of West Wales’.
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