More grain and oats

In 1245, after the defeat of the Marchers, Henry III was obliged to come to Wales again. His first measure was to release Owain Goch, eldest son of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, and send him to North Wales in the hope he might draw away some of the supporters of Owain’s uncle, Prince Dafydd.

A reconstruction of Deganwy castle

Away from chronicles, most of the detail of these wars come from the records of the English state; from about 1200 onwards the government in England started to generate enormous amounts of documentation, much of which has survived. This allows us to piece together the details of supply and logistics and the movements of the king’s army (etcetera), but very little from the Welsh side of things.

Dafydd’s plan, to judge from the difficulties Henry encountered, was to cut English supply lines and harry the invaders as they pushed deeper into Welsh territory. Henry’s plan was to march to Deganwy and refortify the castle there, to help protect the royal castle at Dyserth and shield the northern coast from Welsh attacks.

Robin Hood

Things went awry for Henry from the start. When he arrived at Chester, where the army was due to muster, he realised not enough food was coming in. On the 12 he wrote to the Sheriff of Nottingham, demanding more grain and oats to be sent to the army, along with as much wine as possible. The sheriff - possibly too busy chasing Robin Hood - apparently ignored the king, for on 25 August Henry wrote to him again in no uncertain terms:

“Know that although the expedition was happily begun by us, much is now lacking in the supplies sent to our army in Wales and we may have to shamefully abandon our army if assistance in supplies does not come to us, because you and our other sheriffs have failed us in this.”

Henry threatened to disinherit all the sheriffs in England unless they got their backsides into gear. He also tried to ease the supply situation by staggering the deployment of his forces: one army was sent to Deheubarth and Glamorgan, another from Brecon to Shrewsbury. Yet another was paid at Buellt, suggesting there were four royal armies operating independently of each other in Wales.