In cold and nakedness

In late August 1245 Henry III arrived at Deganwy after a slow march from Chester, hampered by Welsh guerilla attacks and a large supply train. While his engineers set about refortifying the castle, the king’s soldiers camped on the exposed heights.

On 24 September one of Henry’s nobles (which one isn’t stated) sent a letter to his friends in England. Matthew Paris happened to include a copy of the letter in his Chronica Majora, and the text supplies an extremely rare first-hand account of warfare in medieval Wales. The correspondent makes it sound like a thirteenth century version of the Eastern front in World War II. He describes the wretched state of the army, devoid of supplies and winter gear:

 “We are dwelling around it [Deganwy] in tents, employed in watchings, fastings, and prayers, and admidst cold and nakedness. In watchings, through fear of the Welsh attacking us by night; in fastings, on account of a deficiency of provisions, for a farthing loaf now costs five pence; in prayers, that we may soon return home safe and uninjured; and we are oppressed by cold and nakedness, because our houses are of canvas, and we are without winter clothing.”

Henry’s commissariat had started to break down early in the month. On 6 September he ordered that supplies were to be sent from Chester even on a Sunday, and that he would pay for them as soon as he could. On the following day he ordered John Lestrange at Chester to buy fifteen wagonloads of iron and steel and send them by the first available ships to Deganwy. Another 15,000 crossbow bolts were to be sent from St Briavels to Chester and then shipped to Deganwy. On 20 September compensation was paid out to to drivers who had lost their carts and horses in the king’s service, and six days later Henry ordered another massive supply of 30,000 crossbow bolts to be sent to Deganwy “with all possible speed, by day and by night”.

Increasing Welsh pressure meant that supplies could no longer be sent to the army by land. The king had predicted this emergency in June, when he ordered the justiciar of Ireland to prepare all the galleys he had for the king’s expedition into Wales. The Irish navigators were not up to the task: it seems just one vessel made it through, only to ground on a sandbank on the Welsh side of the River Conwy. The stranded vessel became the focal point of the only pitched battle of the war.