The printed register of John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, contains all of the complaints submitted by Welsh lords and communities against royal government between 1277-82. It is an invaluable record of events leading up to the war of 1282 and the conquest of Wales. To gain any kind of proper understanding, each complaint needs to be considered on its own merits.
One such is the protest of Llywelyn Fychan of Bromfield. He was engaged in a private war against the men of Oswestry and Ellesmere, and at the same time at loggerheads with fellow Marcher lords. His principal enemies were Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn and the Lestranges of Knockin.
Llywelyn claimed the constable of Oswestry had plundered a third part of the vill of Lledrod, a township of Llansilin, and his father’s court, which lay nearby. They had also stolen his pastureland, along with £70 of Llywelyn’s money. The same constable allegedly hanged two of Llywelyn’s officers and imprisoned sixty others, only releasing them on a payment of 10 shillings per head. He also seized cattle when the beasts were brought to market and detained them at Oswestry castle, refusing to return or pay for them. The same constable stole pack-horses as well as Llywelyn’s own horse.
Worst of all (he claimed), Llywelyn himself, when on the road to Chester carrying letters from the king, had been ambushed and kidnapped by the soldiers of Gwenwynwyn and Roger Lestrange. He and his men were held in prison until they bought themselves out. This protest should be cross-referenced with a separate entry in the Welsh assize roll. The latter reveals that Llywelyn had sent his men to burnt the mill at Coedgoch and houses belonging to Isabella Mortimer and the men of Oswestry, to the value of £100. Or so they alleged.
The truth of all this is impossible to sift, but it is clear that the situation in Wales was steadily darkening. Once again the Mortimers of Wigmore were at the heart of it.
[The first pic is of Peckham’s effigy]
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