The Early History of the Counties of Carmarthen and Cardigan

Home , Cantref, Commote, Llywelyn the Great, Perfeddwlad

90 SUMMONS TO A GREAT COUNCIL, 1313 January not appear to have been elected ; the barons ought to have been summoned singly and not through the sheriff;n the knights were summoned only ad loquendum and not as was usual ad tractandum, faciendum, et consentiendum. Prynne seems to have no idea that a Vjhodel' parliament was de- veloped only after a long period of experiment; he regards the parliament of 1265 as the first and the complete example of a representative assembly. It must be remembered, however, that Prynne had always a political axe to grind, and that his whole treatment of the origin of the lower house (particularly Downloaded from in 1649) was coloured by his antagonism to Ldlburne and by his scorn of earlier historians, such as Lambard. Perhaps, however, the last word on the subject lies with a contemporary critic M of Prynne, who suggests that it would have been better if the author had first defined the word parliament, before attempting to http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ decide whether the assembly of 1213 was or was not a parliament. Certain it is that the idea of calling together representative knights of the shire ' to talk with the king about the king- dom's business ' had occurred to John by 1213, and that this is of the essence of a parliament, although the motive and the significance of the summons remain obscure. A. ELIZABETH LEVETT. at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015

The Early History of the Counties of Carmarthen and Cardigan THE royal lands in Wales during the later middle ages were grouped for purposes of government into two independent administrative districts known respectively in official language as 'North Wales' and 'West Wales'. The northern portion was created by the Statutum Walliae in 1284 ; but ' West Wales ', subdivided into the two counties of Cardigan and Carmarthen, was already in existence before that date. The object of the following notes is to trace some of the steps in the process of its evolution, and to indicate a few of the peculiarities of its organization. Carmarthen was seized for the king, and a castle erected there, early in the reign of Henry I.1 It appears as a recognized " It is just possible that some irregular summons of the barons through the sheriff (such as this writ seems to imply) led to the explicit demand in clause 14 of Magna Carta that the barons should be summoned separately. «• Cf. Historical and Political Discourse of the Laws and Government of England, together with A Vindication of the Ancient Way of Parliaments in England, collected from some manuscript notes of John Selden, Esq., by Nathaniel Bacon (1689). The criticism seems to be Bacon's, not Selden's. 1 J. E. Lloyd, History of Wales, ii. 427. 1916 COUNTIES OF CARMARTHEN AND CARDIGAN 91 administrative centre in 1130,2 but it was more than once retaken by the Welsh in the course of the following century, and was not permanently annexed to the Crown until 1241, after the death of Llywelyn the Great.3 Cardigan, after having been first held by Roger of Montgomery and his son Amulf, passed into the possession of the Clares, but after some vicissitudes was wrested from them by the Lord Rhys in 1165 ; 4 later it was surrendered by Rhys's son Maelgwn to King John,5 then once more regained for the Welsh by Llywelyn the Great,6 and like

Carmarthen, was only finally secured by Henry III after the Downloaded from prince's death.7 That the counties dependent on these two fortresses were established before the enactment of the Statute of Wales is abundantly clear. Their existence, indeed, is implied by the language of the statute itself.8 Other evidence in support 9 of the fact was long ago adduced by Professor Tout, and a good http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ deal more has come to light since he wrote. Basing his opinion on a passage in the Annals of Dunstable, Mr. Tout inclined to the view that the two shires probably originated in 1256, as the result of an attempt made in that year (as the chronicler alleges) to introduce the shire and hundred organization into the Welsh lands granted by Henry III to the Lord Edward in 1254.10 It seems most likely, however, that the annalist's words were really intended to refer only to the Perfeddwlad.u At any rate they at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015 can scarcely be applied to West Wales, for as a matter of fact there is mention of the ' counties ' of Carmarthen and Cardigan in the Patent Rolls as early as 1241, a**d in 1242 their ' county courts' and their ' metes and bounds' were already fixed and known.12 It was not until the reign of Edward I that comitatus became the regular designation for them. Previously, several names were in use. Down to 1241 the terms found in the records are honor and casteliaria, both with the same meaning.13 From that date to the end of Henry Ill's reign,

Hunter, The Pipe Roll of 31 Henry I, p. 90. Lloyd, ii. 699. * Ibid. pp. 400 f., 426, 519. Ibid. p. 618 ; the surrender was made in 1199. Ibid. pp. 674-6; it was captured in 1231. ' Ibid. p. 699. Statutes of the Realm (ed. 1810), i. 66. The closing sentences of section ii speak of Carmarthen, with its cantreds and commotes and ancient metes and bounds', and so also of Cardigan. The Welsh Shires, published in Y Gymmrodor, ix. 201-26, especially pp. 210-16. " Annals of Dunstable in Annales Monaslici (Rolls Series), iii. 200. Of. Annales Cambriae (Rolls Series), p. 90; Brut y Tywysogion (Rolls Series), p. 340. " Cal. of Patent Rolls, 30 October 1241, p. 265 ; ibid. 1 March 1242, p. 292-3. The original of the former entry (Patent Roll, 26 Henry m, part i, membrane 13) reads as follows: ' Rex baronibos, militibuB, liberis hominibus et probis hominibus de manerio et comitatu de Kardygan, et probis hominibus de manerio de Kaermerdin et comitatu de Kaermerdin ', &c. u The Pipe Roll of 81 Henry I, p. 90 (' honour of Carmarthen ') ; Cal. of Patent Rolls, 18 August 1226, p. 58 ('honour of Cardigan and of Carmarthen') ; so also 92 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE January Tumor alternates with comitatus, and the two are employed synonymously.14 The shires of Cardigan and Carmarthen were in origin, therefore, the older honours or castellaries—the terri- tories attached respectively to each stronghold for purposes of administration and justice—under i? new title. They were not definitely created as were those of North Wales ; like Lancashire they were pre-existing aggregations of territory which acquired the name of county.15 During the thirty-eight years following their definitive acquisition by Henry HI in 1241, the honour-counties of Cardigan Downloaded from and Carmarthen were in the hands of three successive lords. They were retained by the Tring himself until 1254, when they were granted by him to the Lord Edward along with the earldom of Chester and various other lands in Wales and elsewhere ;16

and in 1265 Edward in turn granted Carmarthen and Cardigan http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ to his brother Edmund,17 who remained in possession till 1279. None of these changes made any difference in the machinery of administration. The two counties were not administered by sheriffs, but were under the joint government of a single official called the bailiff or steward.18 The gntot to Edmund in 1265, however, introduced an important alteration in their status ; for the bailiff, hitherto appointed by the king, now became 19 Edmund's nominee, and the two shires were constituted at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015 a marcher lordship.20 From the point of view of the Crown such a turn of events was under any circumstances unwelcome, and after his accession to the throne, Edward came to perceive more closely the unfortunate consequences of the change he had made in 1265. As a result of his viotory over LJywelyn in 1277, Edward found himself master of five out of the six commotes of Ceredigion, namely, Geneu'r Glyn, Perfedd, Creuddyn, An- huniog, and Mefenydd. In March 1275 these five commotes were joined for administrative purposes to ' the castle and honour of LJanbadarn Fawr ', that is, Aberystwyth, and com- ibid. 25 April 1228, p. 184, and 8 October 1229, pp. 276-7 ; ibid. 17 Maroh 1218, p. 143 (' de honoribus de castellariis de Kaermerdin et de Kardigan '). 14 For ' honour ' see Cal. of Patent RoOt, 3 November 1242, pp. 342 f., and 6 May 1254, p. 369; for ' county' see ibid. 13 March 1242, p. 276, 3 November 1242, pp. 342 f., and 10 February 1271, p. 516. CasteUaria occurs in 1246 ; ibid. 17 February 1246, p. 474. 11 The ' honour of Lancaster ' of Norman times became a shire under the Angevins. Pembroke and GUmorgan, it may be added, came to be called shires very much in the same way. 11 CaL of Patent BoOs, 14 February 1264; p. 270. " Ibid. 28 November 1266, p. 513. 11 e.g. Aid. 13 March 1242, p. 276; 20 August 1248, p. 26; 24 January 1277, p. 189. a Ibid. 10 February 1271, p. 516 ; 24 January 1277, p. 189. M Ibid. 6 November 1268, p. 299, especially the phrase ' as other marchers in the march of Wale* have their lands'. 1916 COUNTIES OF CARMARTHEN AND CARDIGAN 93 mitted to the charge of Roger de Molis, who bore the title of steward.21 The arrangement, however, cannot have been satis- factory to Edward, for if he had only kept Cardigan and Car- marthen, he would now have had a much larger tract of territory at his command in south-west Wales. It was natural, therefore, that the king should wish to recall the grant made to his brother, and it was not long before he found a means of doing so. In November 1279 he recovered Cardigan and Carmarthen by an exchange with his brother for certain lands in Derbyshire.22 About a month after the transfer had been effected, the five Downloaded from commotes were consolidated with Carmarthen and Cardigan to form one whole. Over this new district Edward set Bogo de Knoville, with the title of ' justice of West Wales \23 It is important to notice, however, that the justice was not an abso- lutely new official. As the two counties which he ruled were the http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ old honours under a new name, so also the justice was really only the old ' bailiff ' or ' steward of Carmarthen and Cardigan ', with a more important title to express the greater extent of his authority. The older title died hard, for six months after his appointment as justice of West Wales, Bogo de Knoville was still occasionally addressed as ' steward of Cardigan and Car- marthen '.M at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015 The subject of the organization of the two counties of which West Wales was composed cannot be treated in more than a fragmentary and provisional fashion until the much neglected Welsh records are further explored. The following statements are based almost entirely upon evidence contained in the accounts of the chamberlains of Carmarthen during the reign of Edward I. Unfortunately, only four of these accounts are extant, and none are of earlier date than 1298 ;25 they have also the limitation a Cal. of Chancery SoUs, Various (Welsh Roll), p. 166, 8 March 1278 : he was appointed to keep ' the castle and honour of Llanbadarn Fawr together with all the king's lands in the oounty of Cardigan '; his aocounte for his term of office (P. R. 0. Ministers' Accounts 1158/1) show that the five commotes were the lands in Cardigan alluded to. For the title steward (rendered in Latin as senescallus) see Ministers' Accounts, ibid., passim. • " Cal. of Charter Rolls, ii, 10 November 1279, pp. 215, 218. n Cal. of Chancery Rolls, Various, p. 182, 5 January 1280. Edmund had directed John de Beauchamp, his ' steward of Carmarthen and Cardigan', to hand over his charge on 30 November ; Cal. of Charter Bolls, ii. 218. " CaL of Patent Bolls, 30 July 1280, p. 412. " The extant accounts are : Pipe Roll 146, mm. 51-3, accounts from 29 May 1298 to 1 April 1300; m. 35, account* from 1 April 1300 to 7 February 1301; Ministers' Accounts 1218/1, accounts for the year ending Michaelmas 1302; 1218/2, accounts for the year ending Michaelmas 1304; 1218/2, (fragmentary) accounts for the year ending Michaelmas 1306. All these accounts are arranged on the same plan, and are largely identical even in the wording of their items, but the Pipe Roll versions are not, of course, so detailed as those of the ministers. In the following pages references are made almost entirely to Ministers' Aocounte 1218/1, which is typical of the rest. 94 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE January that being concerned only with finance, they often withhold as much information as they impart; but a certain number of important facts can nevertheless be gathered from them. It may first be stated that the solitary passage of the Statutum WaUiae in which reference is made to West Wales is of no real value as evidence. It merely ordains that there shall be sheriffs, coroners, and bailiffs of commotes in each of the southern shires in the manner already prescribed for the three counties of North Downloaded from THE COUNTIES OF CARMARTHEN & CARDIGAN CIRCA 1300 IUK CcunCy Boundtnts r\_ csmoovji k. -. http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ Bountarms of Connotesi Sutrards/ips

Conmocts am ISCOED / HEFENYDD ,^N DEUOOWR *', LmMsJuahitUt at comitatus of Carmarthtn unOuiiMd.

1 1 /MIr_JiC0ED"--'-% " ,_>$§&<« w^l at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015

r-^PEBIDIQG ,i/ '

mta , ( J itatrtDO ^M2 ^^

w V ^^*

Wales.26 It thus conceals the material point that the local administration of West Wales was not a mere duplicate of that of the north, but that it had distinctive peculiarities of its own. The chamberlains' accounts show that the term county, in the case of both Cardigan and Carmarthen, really covered a very complex state of things.27 Carmarthenshire was in fact a double county, consisting of a comitatus Anglicorum de Kermerdyn, and

«• Statutes of the Realm, i. 56. 17 In connexion with the present paragraph see the accompanying map, which is based upon the very useful map included by Professor J. E. Lloyd in his History of Wales, and also upon the valuable chapter on ' The Tribal Divisions of Wales', in the same work. The boundaries of Elfed, Derllys, and Widigada are only approxi- mate. 1916 COUNTIES OF CARMARTHEN AND CARDIGAN 95 a comitatus Waliensium de Kermerdyn. The Welsh county was made up of the two commotes of Elfed and Widigada.28 The English county consisted of three parts. First, there was the comitatus Anglicorum de Kermerdyn proper, which was confined to the commote of Derllys, in which Carmarthen itself stood. To this were attached for purposes of justice, secondly, a number of scattered districts : such as the cantred of Pebidiog, which was territorially a part of the liberty of the bishop of St. David's,29 the commotes of Emlyn Uch Cuch30 and Ystlwyf,31 and the march lands of St. Clears, Laugharne, Llanstephan, Cydweli, Downloaded from and Carnwyllion, Gower, and the bishop of St. David's barony of Llawhaden.32 Thirdly, there was the dtiera pars comitatus Anglicorum de Kermerdyn, otherwise known as Cantref Mawr, which is described as consisting of the six commotes of Catheiniog, Maenor Deilo, Mallaen, Caio, Mabelfyw, and Mabudryd. This http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ altera pars of the English county is treated in the accounts as a distinct unit called the stewardship {senescalcia) of Cantref Mawr.33 Cardiganshire was equally composite. In strictness, the county of Cardigan consisted only of the commote of Iscoed,84 in which Cardigan town itself stood. The rest of the shire, in the wider sense, was divided into the two stewardships of Is Aeron

(Sub Ayron) and Uch Aeron (Supra Ayron) ; the former made at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015 up of the three commotes of Caerwedros, Mabwnion, and Gwin- ionydd, the latter of the six commotes of Geneu'r Glyn, Perfedd, Creuddyn, Anhuniog, Mefenydd, and Deuddwr.38 Two questions at once arise with regard to this curious medley of areas : how it originated, and how the various parts were related. Both are much easier to ask than to answer. It will have been noticed that, as the comitatus Anglicorum de Kermerdyn was made up of the single commote of Derllys, so in like manner the county of Cardigan consisted of tantum unum commotum dictum Iscoyt. Evidently the original nucleus of each shire was

•» ' Commoti de Elveth in oomitatu Wallensiuin de Kermerdyn . . . oommoti de Wytigada in oomitatu Waliensium de Kermerdyn • . . totius comitatus Wallensiom continents dittos duos commotos '; Ministers' Accounts, 1218/1. " ' Cantref Fenbidiok in libertate Episoopi Menevensis, cuius patrie habitatores plaoitant in dicto comitatn '; ibid. " Bridgeman, Prince* of South Wale*, p. 187, quoting an inquisition of 1288. " Ibid. ; so also Col. of Charter Rolls, ii. 427. •* Daniel-Tyssen and Evans, Royal Charters relating to Carmarthen, pp. 48-9 (an inquisition taken in 1275). " 'Patrie dicte de Cantrefmaur, continentis sex oommotos . . . que patria est ana senescalcia per Be'; Ministers' Accounts, ibid. The six commotes are specified as above. M ' Comitatus de Cardigan, oontinentis tantum unum commotum dictum Iskoyt'; Ministers' Accounts, ibid. " ' Patrie de Subayron continentis tres oommotos . . . que patria est una senescalcia per se . . . patrie de Supra Ayron oontinentis sex commotos . . . que patria est ana senescalcia per se'; ibid. The commotes are specified as above. 96 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE January the commote in which the castle town stood. The complexity of the resultant counties as they appear at the close of the thirteenth century was due, there can be little doubt, to the fact that they were not created at one stroke, like those of North Wales, but grew by degrees. The stewardships were the later, or rather the last accretions which, although forming part of their respective counties, were not completely merged in them, but retained a good deal of their separate individuality : they

were in fact the acquisitions made by Edward I himself. Uch Downloaded from Aeron and Is Aeron represent the territory gained in the south after the wars of 1277 and 1284,36 while Cantref Mawr was the patrimony of Rhys ap Maredudd, forfeited in 1287 as the result of his rebellion in that year.37 The most interesting fact with regard to the stewardships, however, is that in spite of their http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ designation, they were really ancient divisions. Each of them perpetuated the name and boundaries of an old Welsh cantred. And they were not, like the cantreds of North Wales, terri- torial divisions occasionally used for purposes of government: on the contrary, each had its regularly constituted head in the person of its steward, and was a definite unit in the system of local administration. The stewards seem always to have

been Welshmen, and this fact suggests that the office was some at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015 older institution masquerading—like so much else in West Wales—under a new name : it is natural to suppose that the steward represented some former cantred official such as the Maer or Raglot, and if so, it seems to follow that the cantred in West Wales must have retained some of its old functions right through the thirteenth century, even after it had been super- seded for most purposes, and especially for purposes of justice, by the commote. It is more difficult to explain the relation of the comitatus Wallensium de Kermerdyn to the comitatus Anglicorum ; or in what sense the senescalcia of Cantref Mawr was the altera pars comitatus Anglicorum ; or again what was the bond that united the commote-county of Cardigan with the two stewardships of Uch Aeron and Is Aeron to form the greater Cardiganshire. Some light may be obtained by considering the position of the sheriffs. The Statute of Wales ordained that there should be

" These districts had been part* of Cardiganshire for judicial purposes before 1277, and the commotes of Anhuniog, Perfedd, and Creuddyn had been in Edward's possession for a time during Henry UFs reign (Bridgeman, op. tit., p. 152): it was not until after the two wars with Llywelyn, however, that they were permanently annexed. " Cantref Mawr was apparently in some way justiciable at the comilaius of Car- marthen before 1287 (Peckham's Letters, Rolls Series, ii. 451-2), but the position seems to have been uncertain, and the uncertainty was one of the causes of Rhys's rebellion. 1916 COUNTIES OF CARMARTHEN AND CARDIGAN 97 a sheriff in ea<;h county. The office does not appear to have previously existed in Cardigan and Carmarthen, and it may therefore have been the creation of the ordinance of 1284 ;38 if so, it was the one administrative innovation that West Wales owed to the Statutum WaUiae. When the Exchequer records for West Wales emerge fourteen years later, references are indeed made to the- sheriffs, but they do not tell us very much about them. Plainly indeed their status was much inferior to that of their northern colleagues. The sheriff of Carmarthen was apparently little more than a clerk in the employment of the justice,39 Downloaded from and received a fee of only two shillings per week ; 40 whereas the North Wales sheriffs had their independent official standing, with the respectable salary of £20 a year. As to the duties of the sheriff of Carmarthen, nothing can be gathered from the chamberlains' accounts beyond the fact that he kept a roll http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ containing particulars of the amounts derived from the pleas and perquisites of the comitatus.a Presumably, therefore, he acted as presiding officer of that assembly. It would seem, however, that the courts of the English and Welsh parts, of the shire were distinct—although they were doubtless held at the same time a—for the receipts derived from the pleas and per-

quisites of each court are separately entered in the chamberlains' at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015 accounts. Of the sheriff of Cardigan nothing can be learned from the accounts beyond the mere mention of a rotulus vicecomitis recording the amounts received de placitis et perquisites ; there is no reference, as in the case of the neighbouring county, to any definite person that held the office, or of wages paid on its account. Nor does either of the sheriffs in West Wales seem to have performed the amount of financial work associated with the office in the north. At Carnarvon a great part of the revenue received by the local exchequer was paid in through the sheriffs, but at Carmarthen the chamberlain seems to have dealt directly with the commote officials, except in the case of issues of the

M The earliest reference to a sheriff of Carmarthen notioed by the present writer comes in December 1284 ; Col. of Chancery Rolls, Various, p. 297. " Pipe Boll 140, m. 52 : Walter do Pederton, tho justice, receives £20 a year for the custody of Carmarthen castlo and also for ' Thomo filio Willolmi vicecomiti ibidem, et Willelmo lo Ffort latimeri ibidem, quos idem Waltems habuit in sua oomitiva'. " Pipe Roll 146, m. 35 : 'In vadiis Thomo olerici vieeoomitis de Kennerdyn eapientis qualibet soptimana ii solidos.' So too Ministers' Accounts 1218/1 and 1218/2, for William de Klebury. 41 Ministers' Accounts 1218/1 : ' De placitis ct perquUitia curie comitatus de Cardigan . . . ut patet per particulaa extractas a rotulo vicecomitis loci.' " Cf. Col. of Chancery RoUs, Various, p. 184 : royal order, dated 23 May 1280, that the king wills, by reason of the multitude of suitors, both Englishmen and Welsh- men, of his county of Carmarthen, that whereas the court used to be held always in times past on Thursday, it shall henceforth always be held on two days, to wit, on Thursday and 1'riday. VOL. XXXI.—NO. OXXI. H 98 CARMARTHEN AND CARDIGAN January pleas and perquisites of the commote courts, which were apparently accounted for by the various stewards.*3 We must infer, therefore, that the connexion between Cantref Mawr and the comitatus Anglicorwm de Kermerdyn, and between Uch Aeron and Is Aeron and the comitatus de Cardigan continens tantum unum commotum dictum Iscoyt on the other, was in some respects rather slight. In many ways the counties of Cardigan and Carmarthen (using the term ' county ' in the larger sense, as including the stewardships) must have been very vague organisms, and this lack of consolidation is reflected in the comparative Downloaded from insignificance of their sheriffs. Nevertheless, in one sense they were real organisms : Cantref Mawr was still an atiera pars of the county of Carmarthen, just as surely as Uch Aeron and Is Aeron were Cardiganshire.44 The grounds of the unity are nowhere openly stated, but no doubt Cantref Mawr was part of Car- http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ marthenshire, and Uch Aeron and Is Aeron were parts of Cardiganshire, for the reason that their inhabitants owed suit to the respective county courts. J. G. EDWARDS.

The Legend of the Incendiary Birds at University of Manitoba on September 9, 2015 1 DURING the baronial attack on London in the spring of 1267, Richard of Suthchirche, the sheriff of Essex, came to the hundred of Chafford and there made various requisitions for the fighters and the wounded. A remarkable point in the record, which is preserved in the Essex Hundred Rolls of 1274, is the threat which accompanied these extortions. The return is partly in Latin, partly in French. 1. Idem Eicardus de Sutcherche cepit iniuste a Thoma de la Newe- launde frumentum avenam et siliginem precium tocius x solidonun et gallos ad portandum ingneni ad incendium Lundoniarum.1 2. Ricardus de Sutcherche cepit in ecclesia de Opministre xxv quar- teria de brais et xiii bacones et ii carcoiflta boum et i pisam et dimidium casei et XL gallos ad portandum ingnem ad incendendum civitatem Lundoniarum et LX gallinas ad sustinendum wulneratos et nlum ad cordos balistarum et stupes ad sanandum plagas wulneratorum et ova ad faciendos entretes ad opus wulneratorum et piscoisas et tribulos ad prostemendum muros Lundoniarum precium tocius x libri.3

** The amounts of the pleaa and perquisites of each of the commotes in Cantref Mawr, Uch Aeron, and Is Aeron are always entered as taken from the roll of the steward: ' Ut patet per partionlas extraotas a rotulo X. Y. seneBcalli de Cantrefmaur', &<•. " A certain Ieuan ap Moelwyn, who was steward of both Uch Aeron and Is Aeron in 1304, is called tenttcallua totius Cardiganshire : Ministers' Accounts, 1218/2. 1 Thomas Wykes, Chron., in Ann. monast. iv. 198 (Rolls Series); Trevet, Ann. (Engl. Hist. Soc.), p. 271. 1 Rotvli Hundrtdorum (Record Commission), i. 148 a. • Ibid. i. 148 b.