Plot, plot, plot, plot, plot

“The cruel Thomas Turberville, disturbed our peace with wicked will.”

In September 1295 Sir Thomas Turberville was tried and executed for treason. After his conviction, he was dragged on a hurdle to a gallows and hanged on an iron chain. This was part of a bizarre ritual execution, in which the hangmen wore special uniforms of 'trowsers' and furred jackets, and beat the prisoner with clubs on his way to the gallows. Afterwards his body was torn to pieces by horses.*

Turberville was a former household knight and trusted servant of Edward I. In 1294 he was captured by the French in Gascony and agreed to turn traitor. The French sent him back to England, where he spied on English military preparations and sent a detailed report back to Paris.

The king of France, Philip the Fair, had great plans for Turberville. Two English chronicles state that, after he had conquered England, Philip meant to install the traitor as Prince of Wales. The idea of appointing a Welshman does not seem to have occurred to him: Philip was close kin to the Anglo-Norman ruling elite, after all. At this stage Anglo-French rivalry was a family quarrel over sovereignty, as opposed to the national conflict it later became.

The details of Turberville's capture are murky. We know he was lurking close to the Welsh border shortly before his arrest; on 23 September a fee of £1 was paid to William Wither, a royal agent, for watching Turberville's movements in Gloucestershire.

Now, in his report to Paris, Turberville twice claimed to be in secret contact with a certain 'Morgan' in Wales. These are worth quoting. In the first instance, Turberville wrote that he had met Edward I in London, and assured him the land of Wales was at peace:

“...wherefore I did not dare to deliver unto Morgan the thing which you well wot of.”

This would imply that Turberville was carrying some message from the French, which he dared not deliver to Morgan while he held the king's attention. Second, he claimed to have organised a widespread revolt in Scotland and Wales, and that the Scots and Welsh would rise in arms against the English as soon as Edward sailed for France:

“And this I have well contrived, and Morgan has fully covenanted with me to that effect.”

The Morgan in question can only be Morgan ap Maredudd, a descendant of the old kings of Morgannwg. Whether or not he was really plotting against the king, or acting as agent provocateur, is uncertain. What we do know is that he suffered no punishment after Turberville's arrest, and is later found acting as Edward's spy and commissioner of array.

However, between the arrest and his later royal service, Morgan did lead a major revolt in south-east Wales. These medieval folk did love a good plot. Plot, plot, plot. It was the spice of life. Right up until the point they got horribly killed.

*Please don't ask me why they wore trousers and furred jackets. I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it was the fashion.