The might of Clare

In summer 1257 Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd marched into Glamorgan and attacked the Clare stronghold of Llangynwyd. This was part of the 'great war' described in the Annales Cambriae, whereby Llywelyn and his allies made a determined effort to achieve hegemony over Wales.

The destruction of Llangynwyd is recorded in a Latin chronicle in the British Library (BL Royal 6B xi f. 108 v), noticed by Professor J Beverley Smith. It translates as:

“Lord Richard, Earl of Gloucester, came to Cardiff with a multitude of armed men. And Llywelyn was near Margam abbey with a strong force. On the 13 July Llywelyn advanced upon Llangynwyd and burnt the castle of the lord earl, killing twenty-four of the earl's men, the lord earl then being with a strong force at Llanblethian.”

It appears Llywelyn stormed and razed the castle and slaughtered the garrison. A later charter of 1262 notes that eighty houses in the adjoining vill were also destroyed. This was after Llywelyn's invasion of the lordship of Gower, recorded in the Peniarth Brut:

“In Lent he came with a great army to Kidwelly and Carnwyllion and Gower and he completely burned the part belonging to the English in those lands, along with Swansea, and he subjugated to himself all the Welsh of those lands.”

Llywelyn had caused much destruction, but he had not affected a permanent conquest or subjugation. In the following year, 1258, another Venedotian army marched into the lordship and attacked Neath. The castle held out, but the mill was destroyed along with 150 houses of the town. Llantrisant may have been attacked at the same time. All of this may have prompted Earl Richard to build Morgraig Castle to protect his territory from the uplands Welsh of Senghenydd.

At his death in 1262, it is clear that the earl had not subdued the Welsh of Blaenau on the fringes of his land. This is shown by the appointment of Humphrey Bohun to keep strong garrisons at Cardiff, Llantrisant, Neath and Tal-y-Fan. He was also given Llangynwyd, which had been hurriedly rebuilt; during his brief custodianship (1262-3), payments are recorded for repairs along with 28 men and 8 horses maintained at the castle.

Earl Richard was succeeded by Gilbert de Clare, 'the red dog', who would play a major role in the wars of England and Wales. As lord of the mighty Honour of Clare, able to call upon the military service of 456 knights, with extensive manors and rights in both countries, Gilbert was almost a king in his own right. Which was seriously bad news for everyone, not least the Welshry of Senghenydd.