THE WELSH LIEGEMEN OF THE COMMUNITY OF WEST WALES TO THE KING AND COUNCIL:
The lord the King, father of the present King, after the conquest of Wales granted them their laws and customs which they had before the conquest, which are called Cyfraith Hywel, and which they and their ancestors have used in all particulars until the thirteenth year of the present King [1319-20] when Roger de Mortimer, former Justice of Wales, had before him in his Sessions at Llanbadarn, Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Emlyn, introduced the law of England which is unfamiliar to your liege people and entirely contrary to their laws and usages, to the great loss and disinheritance of the same. And the present Justice and Rees ap Gruffydd introduced them in the same manner, as did Sir Roger de Mortimer; wherefore all the people of those parts feel themselves seriously aggrieved, and pray the King that they may have their laws and customs in all particulars as he had granted them after the conquest and that the Justice be commanded to do thus, otherwise they cannot live in those parts.
The petition goes on to list more specific grievances, such as the constables of royal castles in Wales taking beasts without warrant, Welsh people being forced to perform labour services etc.
This is one of a stream of complaints from Wales submitted to the parliament of 1321-22. They were all aimed at the abuses committed by Roger Mortimer of Chirk, Justice of Wales, and his nephew Roger Mortimer (the more famous one, executed in 1330). Edward II had previously granted relief from these oppressions in the parliament of 1316 (attached), but it seems the Mortimers chose to ignore the mandate. This is another example of royal ministers doing as they liked in Wales, regardless of what the king said.
The 1316 instruction contains details of the native laws that the Mortimers had repealed in favour of English law. They were:
Amobr: payment due to the lord when a maiden was married or otherwise lose her maidenhood.
Blodwyte: a fine for shedding blood, derived from Anglo-Saxon law.
Gwestfa: a food render supplied to the princely court.
Surprisingly, one of the ministers accused of abuses and removing Welsh law was Rhys ap Gruffudd, a Welsh knight. Overall it seems the Mortimers attempted to govern Wales as a semi-independent state, which fits with their ambitions and antics in this era.
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