A rout at Llandeilo

#OTD in 1282 the battle of Llandeilo Fawr was fought in West Wales. When I wrote my book on Edward I and Wales, back in 2019, I obtained translations of all the chronicle sources for this battle. For clarity, I will include them in this post.

The context was Edward I’s Welsh campaign of 1283-1283. He had sent Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and lord of Glamorgan, into the west to suppress the allies of Prince Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Edward’s former ally.

Clare was not Edward’s first choice for the command, and had to pull rank to get himself appointed. He performed badly, ignoring the king’s orders and dividing his army in the middle of hostile territory. His only achievement of note was to re-occupy the castle at Carreg Cennen (pictured).

On 15 June Clare was encamped at Llandeusant, some four miles east of Llandeilo. Part of his army went off, under William de Valence junior, on a plundering expedition. On the 16th Valence and his division were ambushed by the Welsh. The accounts below describe what happened next. I have posted each in turn with the names of the various chronicles and scribes.

‘William de Valence Junior, the heir to Pembroke, was killed in Ystrad Tywi on 16 June (Annales Cambriae).

The Annals of F. Nicholas Trivet

(The Welsh defeated by the Earl of Gloucester)

Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, making great plunders of the Welsh with his army, once an opportunity had been given for fighting in the open next to Llandeilo, fought with the same men in a hard battle, in which many men on the side of the Welsh were killed, and Gilbert, himself, lost five knights; one of these was William de Valence the younger, kinsman of the king of England. After the departure of the Earl of Gloucester, the Prince of Wales invaded the lands of Cardigan and Stradewi, and devastated the lands of Rhys, son of Maredudd, who had stayed with the king against the prince in this war.

The Annals of Oseney

In this conflict there were slain the son of the lord William de Valence, nephew on his uncle’s side of the lord king, and the lord Richard de Argentine, and several others, with hardly any escaping by flight.

The Chronicle of Thomas Wykes

The king, once an army had been gathered, handing out retaliation upon Lewellin, prince of Wales, laid waste to his lands with very cruel pillaging. Indeed, on one of these days, some of the king’s men, coming forth from the army, giving out retaliation upon Lewellin, prince of Wales, and having withdrawn less wisely, were giving attention to taking plunders; and here were the Welsh breaking out from the hiding-places of the woods and the marshes, and they began to attack the English who were very few in comparison to the Welsh, in which conflict there were killed the son of lord William de Valence, uncle of the king, [and] lord Richard de Argentine. Hardly any men escaped by flight, but most were cruelly killed.

The Chronicle of William of Rishanger

During this time, Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, making great plunders of the Welsh with his army next to Llandeilo, once an opportunity had been given for fighting in the open, fought with the same men in a hard battle, in which many men on the side of the Welsh were killed, and the earl, himself, lost five knights; one of these was William de Valence the younger, kinsman of the king of England. After the departure of the Earl of Gloucester, the Prince of Wales invaded the lands of Cardigan and Stratewy, and devastated the lands of Rhys son of Maredudd, who had stayed loyal to the King against the Prince in this war.

Annals of Chester

In the same year William de Valence, son of William de Valence [Earl of Pembroke], uncle of King Edward, was slain, and many others with him, in a certain narrow pass in South Wales.’

The Welsh won, though the battle was hard-fought. We know nothing of the Welsh army and its leaders - they may have been allies of Prince Llywelyn, or a local scratch force who objected to Clare’s army stamping all over their territory.

Edward used the debacle as an excuse to strip Clare of command and replace him with the more capable William de Valence senior, Earl of Pembroke. One of Pembroke’s first acts was to recruit Welsh soldiers from, erm…Llandeilo Fawr.