War against the earl (1)

In October 1293 Earl Gilbert de Clare, lord of Glamorgan and Kilkenny, went to Ireland to deal with a revolt on his estates. The rebellion was serious, and he was obliged to spend the next twelve months putting it down. Clare took his family with him and stripped his garrisons in Glamorgan for the Irish campaign. 

Ireland and Wales were in a state of flux. In 1294 the long-running feud between the Burghs and the Geraldines erupted into open conflict; as a consequence the Irish rose and devastated Leinster, Newcastle McKynegan and other towns. One of the Irish leaders was Maurice Mac Murrough, who declared himself King of Leinster and united the mountain septs against the English government. 

These events roughly coincided with a widespread revolt in Wales. In the southeast, Clare's absence enabled the Welshry of Glamorgan to rise under their leader, Morgan ap Maredudd. It may be the revolts either side of the Irish Sea were co-ordinated, though evidence of communication between the Welsh and Irish leaders is lacking. 

English and Welsh sources agree the revolt in the southeast started in October 1294. Subsequent events are a matter of conjecture, and it doesn't help that the revolt was split in two. The Welsh in Morgannwg were led by Morgan, while those in Gwent were led by Meurig ap Dafydd, a former royal tax officer. 

 An English chronicle, Annales de Wigornia, records that Abergavenny was under siege by February 1295, and that the Welsh captured the castles of Morlais and Cefnllys. Morlais, a huge rambling place above the Taff Gorge near Merthyr Tydfil, had been the cause of a recent private war between Clare and Earl Humphrey de Bohun. Now it was seized by the Welsh. 

The English response is confusing. About 4000 troops had been sent to Cardiff in November 1294, but these were men of the earl, not the king. An English chronicler, Peter Langtoft, gave an interesting account of Morgan's motives: 

 “The earl of Gloucester, I know not the reason, has lost in South Wales moor and dwelling. Morgan attacks him, and does him destruction. But to King Edward, Morgan means nothing but well.” 

Morgan had every reason to hate Clare, who had disinherited his father. In context, he appears to have exploited Earl Gilbert's absence to get revenge.