The obstinate spear

The Dragon of Chirk (4)

In the years after 1277, Llywelyn found that his defection to the English crown was not a passport to joy. He did not go without rewards: in November 1279 the king granted him and his heirs a weekly market and annual fair at Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in Cynllaith. This promised to create new wealth in the lordship, but also caused friction with the rival market at Oswestry.

Llywelyn had a bitter ongoing feud with the men of Ellesmere and Oswestry. Ellesmere had only been part of England for about thirty years, since Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn surrendered it to Henry III. The town was previously part of the marriage portion of King Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd and Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, when they took English royal wives. By the reign of Edward I, though located in the east of the north Shropshire borderland, Ellesmere still supported a significant Welsh population.

A (possible) bust of Llywelyn the Great

Shortly after the war ended, Llywelyn complained to the king that certain of “the Welsh” were rejoicing at his difficulties. These Welsh can probably be identified with the men of Ellesmere, whom the poet Llygad Gwr encouraged Llywelyn to attack:

“Llywelyn, may there be a host of armed steeds,
And fame and the conquest of the vale of Ceiriog.
Thou brave one of the claim of content and of the long wrathful charge,
Who makes commotion with your men, may they be submissive
To you, the dragon of Chirk, with the obstinate spear;
And burning Whittingdon be yours, overshadowing lord.
And may Ellesmere bear your wounds, thou of the honoured following.
Fleet eagle of spears, of subduing vehemence,
In the front of battle almighty prince…”

To add to his problems, Ellesmere and Oswestry were under the jurisdiction of Roger and John Lestrange of Knockin, whom Llywelyn hated. When Roger gave shelter to the men of Whittingdon, Llywelyn informed the king in no uncertain terms that the Lestranges were:

“...our enemies and challenge us for other lands of our right and to whom we do not propose in the least to show faith nor ought we.”