Spies and traitors

The Hagnaby chronicle for 1295:

“Item, on the same day in South Wales (March 1295) the messenger of the earl of Hereford, who was Welsh, fraudulently came to the Welsh, who were assembled in one column, as eight hundred, and he said to them: ‘The English are going out to seize booty: come wisely and capture those men for nothing’. They believed the words of this deceiver, and they came against the English in battle, but were deprived of their desire, because thanks to God they all fell to the English sword.”

This chronicle was only translated in the 1990s by Michael Prestwich and his colleagues. It is partially illegible, but the sections that can interpreted cast fresh light on the wars in Wales and Gascony.

The above entry reports a massacre in south Wales, towards the end of the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294-5. It is supported by an entry in the Annales Monastici, which describes the earl of Hereford breaking the Welsh siege of Abergavenny at this time.

The interesting bit – setting aside the gloating tone of an English chronicler – is the reference to a Welsh spy. Who was this turncoat, who lured eight hundred of his fellow countrymen to their doom?

Until recently, it was thought that the Welsh revolt in Glamorgan and Gwent was led by Morgan ap Maredudd. David Stephenson has discovered that the Welsh of Gwent were in fact led by another man, a former royal tax collector named Meurig ap Dafydd. This is shown by a brief entry in a version of the Brut:

“Item: the Welsh of Gwent made Meurig ap Dafydd their lord”.

Neither of the English chronicles name the defeated Welsh commander at Abergavenny. However, since the town lay in Gwent, it is most likely that Meurig was in charge.

We know, from previously misdated correspondence, that Morgan ap Maredudd served as Edward I's spy on the Welsh Marches. Exactly how long he was in royal service is unclear, but we can take an educated guess. Virtually alone of Welsh leaders, he suffered no punishment for fighting against the king in 1282-3 and 1294-5.

Before we yell “TRAITOR!”, it might be considering Morgan's background. He was the heir of Maredudd ap Gruffudd, a lord of Glamorgan. In 1270 Maredudd was violently dispossessed of almost all his lands by Gilbert de Clare. After his father's death, Morgan was summoned to Snowdonia to do homage to Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. As soon as he had sworn the oath, Llywelyn ejected him from his last land of Hirfryn. There was no pretext or trial: it was simply done, for no other reason than Llywelyn was in a position to do it.

In the space of a few years, Morgan's family had been brutally disinherited by two greater powers, the Earl of Gloucester and the Prince of Wales. His resentment lingered, unsurprisingly, and he devoted the rest of his career to undermining them both.

I have no evidence that Morgan was the spy who lured Meurig's men into a trap in March 1295. But if we read between the lines – as I was severely instructed the other day – it all fits. Morgan was the man on the spot, he was a royal agent, and his career afterwards went from strength to strength. He eventually died in the 1330s, old, rich and respected. And full of secrets.