Homage and fealty

In 1238, at Strata Florida, the princes of Wales swore fealty or ‘fidelity’ to Dafydd, second son and heir to Llywelyn the Great. Llywellyn had summoned them all in an effort to secure Dafydd’s succession before his father died.

Strata Florida

The nature of the oath is important, and reveals the mindset of the princes. There were two forms of oath-taking: homage and fealty. Homage was a binding oath between a lord and his vassal. Fealty was less binding, and could be taken to more than one lord.

Llywelyn wanted the princes of Wales to swear homage and fealty to his son. They did not. This failure to secure a binding agreement made it virtually inevitable that Llywelyn’s supremacy would start to fall apart after his death.

The arms of Powys Fadog

Why did the princes refuse to swear homage? Every individual had his reasons. The princes had their own interests to safeguard, and the records of the chancery show their anxiety to swear homage to Henry III in the summer of 1240. This was after they had sworn the lesser oath to Prince Dafydd. Among the first to swear homage to the king was Gruffudd ap Madog of Powys Fadog, who hated Dafydd anyway and had waged war on him in the last years of Llywelyn’s reign. He also wished to see off the threat of his brothers and preserve a united Powys Fadog, which could only be done with royal support.

In the south, Maredudd ap Rhys Gryg had only inherited a portion of Ystrad Tywi from his father. The death of Prince Llywelyn gave him the opportunity to secure a broader dominion, which again could only be achieved with the king’s consent and support.

Henry III

Dafydd, for his part, was keen to swear homage to Henry III as quickly as possible, so he could return to Gwynedd to deal with his brother, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. He came before the king at Gloucester, did homage for his right to North Wales, was knighted, and “wore the talaith or coronet which was the special symbol of his rank”. Dafydd also agreed with Henry to submit to arbitration the rights to land claimed by the lords of Powys Wenwynwyn, ‘as barons of the lord king’. Not for the last time, the House of Mathrafal chose to identify as English-style barons instead of Welsh princes in order to gain a legal advantage.

By the terms of the peace at Gloucester, Dafydd surrendered ‘all the homages of the barons of Wales’ to the king and his heirs without question. This concession, freely given by the prince, would have dire consequences for the future.