A great hosting against the Welsh

In the spring and summer of 1245, while Henry III prepared to invade North Wales, a string of payments was made to his garrisons in the Marches. On 12 May the sheriff of Hereford was ordered to transport 6000 crossbow bolts from St Briavels to Monmouth to help supply the army based at Buellt. Later in the months arrears of wages were paid out at Montgomery and other places. These included money for loss of horses, implying the Marchers were under orders to mount constant forays against the allies of Prince Dafydd.

Montgomery castle

For instance, at the end of February 1245 a pitched battle was fought near Montgomery, in which three hundred of Dafydd’s men were killed. This engagement is reflected in the payment of fifty marks (£33 6s 8d) sent from Deganwy to the garrison at Montgomery for ‘the horses lately lost on service at Montgomery’. Thus, in this case, it is possible to tally the chronicle accounts of a battle with the records of the administration. If only it was possible in all cases.

Not that the administration was perfect. On 18 June 1245 the king ordered a payment of four marks to a squad of royal sergeants for guarding Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and other Welsh prisoners in the Tower of London for forty days. This was an unfortunate hiccup, since Gruffydd had died the previous March when he fell off the Tower trying to escape from prison. Presumably his guards were happy to take the cash for a job they hadn’t been doing.

The annals of Connacht

For his great effort in Wales, Henry also turned to the resources of Ireland. An Irish lord of Connacht, Fedlimid mac Cathail Chrobdeirg, was summoned to join the king’s host at Deganwy. This was recorded in the Annals of Connacht (translated from the Gaelic):

“The King of the English made a great hosting against the Welsh. They encamped at Cannock Castle, and the King sent legates bearing letters to the Irish Galls and to Fedlimid mac Cathail Chrobdeirg, bidding them to attend him, to conquer the Welsh. Then the Justiciar and the Irish Galls repaired to the King, and Fedlimid O Conchobair with a great army went to the help of the King in Wales.”