June 22nd, 2020

Today is the anniversary of the capture of Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, on the Bera mountain inside Gwynedd in 1283. This post takes a look at events in the months leading up to his final defeat at the hands of Edward I.

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Dafydd became prince in December 1282, after his predecessor Prince Llywelyn was lured into an ambush and killed by the Marcher lords. There is no proof that Edward was involved in the killing, and his closest advisers briefly feared the Marchers would come after the king next. In the dark confusion of the days after Llywelyn's death, the newly crowned Prince Dafydd sent his wife Eleanor to the king. Her task was to plead for mercy and bring an end to the war.

Eleanor was an unfortunate choice of envoy. She was the sister of Robert de Ferrers, Edward's old enemy, and the king was in no mood to compromise. Threatened by the Marchers, sunk deep in debt to Italian financiers, he was determined to crush the House of Gwynedd once and for all. The barons of his council had made Dafydd an offer of peace back in November 1282, on condition he went to the Holy Land. Dafydd gave the following proud rebuttal:

"When he wishes to visit the Holy Land, he will do so voluntarily and by pledge to God, not to man. He is therefore reluctant to give pilgrimage to God, because he knows forced service is displeasing to God."

The proud defiance of November had shrivelled away by January, but events were already in motion. In the west, Edward's uncle William de Valence summoned his knights once more to ‘ride afresh upon the enemies of the lord king’. On 9 January he and Robert Tibetot set out at the head of some forty heavy cavalry and over sixteen hundred infantry to face the Welsh gathered in force at Llanbadarn on the coastline of northern Ceredigion. They were led by the diehards Gruffudd and Cynan ap Maredudd and their neighbour Rhys Maelgwn. These men had fought and squabbled with each other in the past, but were now united in a futile last stand.

Whatever took place at Llanbadarn - a battle, negotiation or surrender - the result was clear enough. By 26 January Cynan and Rhys had been captured and were on their way to the king at Rhuddlan, guarded by a strong escort. Gruffydd escaped and made his way to Snowdonia to join Dafydd. Edward must have had some choice words for the prisoners when they were brought before him, but Cynan and Rhys were not killed or imprisoned. Instead they were put on royal wages and sent back west to serve in Valence’s army. They spent the remainder of the war patrolling Llanbadarn at the head of small bands of horse and foot.

This marked the end of the campaign in the west. In March, after a break in operations, King Edward was ready to move again.

In early March the noose tightened further around Prince Dafydd. The king himself led one army to occupy Conwy and begin the construction of the massive new castle between 11 and 13 March. On the 14 he ordered those forces serving under William Valence in West Wales to be ready to set out for Meirionydd by 2 May. Simultaneously the army at Bangor under Othon Grandson and John Vescy began to push southwards, supported by the navy of the Cinque Ports.

The Welsh stronghold at Criccieth, where Prince Llywelyn had once imprisoned the lords of Ystrad Tywi, had already fallen by 14 March. It was probably taken by a division of the royal army sent on from Dolwyddelan by the old road through the mountains, and from the 14 one of the king’s officers, Henry Greenford, started to draw wages as constable. There is no evidence of a siege, and it seems the Welsh garrison fired the castle and withdrew. A sum of £200 was spent on repairs at Criccieth in the following months. The castle was also home to a large store of wine, possibly Llywelyn’s private stash, which was sent on to the king.

William Valence worked quickly to bring up his army up from the west. By 13 April he had gathered a force of 688 infantry and 9 constables at Aberystwyth, drawn mainly from Kidwelly, Cemais and Cilgerran. Just two days later Valence arrived before the walls of Castell y Bere, Dafydd’s stronghold in Meirionydd. Valence had been joined by Rhys ap Maredudd, and their combined army swelled to 961 infantry, 15 constables and some light horse.

Castell y Bere lies near Afon Dysinni, south of the massive range of Cader Idris mountains. Today it lies in ruin, but in 1282 the castle presented a formidable obstacle, surrounded by marshes and only approachable via narrow pathways. Prince Dafydd himself refused to be trapped in the castle and was somewhere in the hills nearby at the head of his horsemen. This was standard tactics for the day. There was no point allowing oneself to be bottled up inside a castle, so a commander would usually leave the garrison to defend the stronghold while he remained outside the walls at the head of a flying column of cavalry.

Against the numerical might of Edward’s war machine, Prince Dafydd could only retreat further into his mountains. His garrison at Castell y Bere was left isolated, surrounded by the king’s forces. Valence and Rhys were soon joined by another army led by Roger Lestrange, lord of Knockin on the Welsh March, at the head of 2000 infantry. These were raised from his and John Lestrange’s lands at Knockin and Montgomery, and the lands of Peter Corbet of Caus and Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, lord of southern Powys. Their reinforcements brought the army up to over 3000 strong. Lestrange had been present at the death of Llywelyn in December, and now brought his men north to stamp on the last embers of resistance.

There was no dramatic last stand at Bere. On 22 April, after a week’s siege, the garrison agreed to surrender on terms. Valence and Lestrange promised to pay over the sum of £80 in silver, in return for which Kenewreg ap Madog, the constable, and his associates delivered up the castle. It was duly surrendered on 25 April, and Kenewerg and his men allowed to go free. Only two-thirds of their promised bribe was paid over.

Bere was given into the custody of Lewis de la Pole, one of the sons of Gruffudd ap Gwenwynyn. Like Rhys ap Maredudd, Gruffudd and his family probably viewed this war as the final chapter in an ancient dynastic struggle against Gwynedd. Now the houses of Dinefwr and Mathrafal had finally truimphed over the House of Aberffraw. The real victor was Edward Plantagenet.

It was only a matter of time before Dafydd was taken. On 2 May he was at Llanberis, deep inside Snowdonia, where he made a last-ditch attempt to summon men to fight for him. Dafydd issued a charter granting the cantref of Penwedding in northern Ceredigion to Rhys Maelgwn if he would raise troops against the king. Penweddig was in the hands of Gruffudd ap Maredudd, who graciously yielded possession. Apart from Gruffudd, Dafydd’s council at Llanberis consisted of Hywel ap Rhys Gryg, Rhys Wyndod, Llywelyn ap Rhys, Morgan ap Maredudd and the prince’s steward, Goronwy ap Heilyn.

None of these men were aware that Rhys Maelgwn had joined the king’s army. There is something tragic and farcical about Dafydd’s last days as Prince of Wales, sat in his half-empty stronghold in the mountains, surrounded by a handful of diehard councillors issuing futile charters to men who had already deserted him. On 14 May the king was at Dolwyddelan, which meant the royal army was just ten miles (as the crow flies) from Dafydd’s last redoubt at Dolbadarn.

Bands of soldiers were sent out in all directions to hunt down Dafydd and his followers, who led them a merry chase for several weeks. A number of Welshmen laid down their arms and joined in the hunt; the prince was sought not only in Gwynedd but much further afield, in Powys and the marches, the lands of Gruffudd ap Maredudd in Ceredigion and Rhys Wyndod in Ystrad Tywi. The search was gradually narrowed down to the lands of North Wales, Ardudwy and Penllyn and the mountains of Snowdonia.

Finally, on about 22 June, Dafydd was brought to bay at Llanberis, at the very foot of Snowdon. He was captured by ‘men of his own tongue’ and there is talk of two clerics of Llanfaes, Gregory and Gervaise, who allegedly betrayed the prince. Dafydd was severely wounded in the struggle and the younger of his sons, Owain, captured with him. They were sent to the king at Rhuddlan on the same night.

On 28 June King Edward publically announced the capture of Dafydd, ‘the last survivor of the family of traitors’, and summoned his magnates to Shrewsbury. There they would debate with the king in parliament on what should be done with Dafydd, "whom the king received as an exile, nourished as an orphan, and endowed with lands and cherished with clothing under his protection, placing him among the greater ones of the palace."

Three days earlier the king had been presented at Rhuddlan with a holy relic, Y Groes Naid or The Cross of Neath. This was believed to contain a fragment of the True Cross, kept at Aberconwy by the kings and princes of Gwynedd. Now, with the principality falling to bits and the last prince a fugitive in his own land, a band of Welsh clerics chose to give up their most sacred possession to King Edward. He carried the cross about with him for the rest of his life, and it was listed on an inventory of his personal possessions after the king’s death in 1307.