Wikipedia

Commote

Not to be confused withcommode.

Acommote(Welsh:cwmwd,sometimes spelt in older documents ascymwd,pluralcymydau,less frequentlycymydoedd)[1]was aseculardivision of land inMedievalWales.The word derives from the prefixcym-( "together", "with" ) and the nounbod( "home, abode" ).[1]The English word "commote" is derived from the Middle Welshcymwt.[2]

Commotes of Medieval Wales
Note that some areas are shown as reorganised by the Normans, forhundred-stylepurposes, or in a manner that is not chronologically consistent

The basic unit of land was thetref,a small basic village or settlement. In theory, 100trefimade up acantref(literally, "one hundred settlements"; plural:cantrefi), and half or a third of acantrefwas acymwd,although in practice the actual numbers varied greatly. Together with thecantrefi,commotes were the geographical divisions through which defence and justice were organised. In charge of a commote would be a chieftain probably related to the ruling Prince of the Kingdom. His court would have been situated in a specialtref,referred to as amaerdref.Here, the bonded villagers who farmed the chieftain's estate lived, together with the court officials and servants.[3]Commotes were further divided intomaenorauormaenolydd.

Domesday Book and later history

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Domesday Bookhas entries for those commotes that in 1086 were underNormancontrol, but still subject to Welsh law and custom. However, it refers to them using the Anglo-Norman word "commot" instead ofhundred[citation needed],the word used at the time for the equivalent land division inEngland.The commotes mentioned in the Domesday Book, in general, represented recentAnglo-Normanadvances into Welsh territory. Although the commotes were assessed for military service and taxation, their obligations were rated incarucates(derived from Latin for cattle or oxen), not in hides as on the English side of the border.

The customs of the commotes are described in the Domesday accounts of the border earldoms ofGloucestershire,Herefordshire,ShropshireandCheshire.The principal commotes described in Domesday wereArchenfield,Ewias,and the commotes ofGwentin the south;Cynllaith,Edeirnion,andIâl(Shropshire accounts); andEnglefield,RhosandRhufoniog(Cheshireaccounts).

In legal usage, the English word 'commote' replacedcwmwdfollowing theEdwardian conquest of Walesin the 13th century, when English was made the official language for all legal documents. The Welsh, most of whom knew not a word of English, naturally continued to usecwmwdand still do so today. In much of Wales, commotes had become more important thancantrefiby the mid-13th century and administration ofWelsh lawbecame the responsibility of the commote court rather than thecantrefcourt.Owain Glyndŵrcalled representatives from the commotes for his two parliaments during therising of 1400–1409.

The boundaries of commotes, or in some cases cantrefi, were in many cases subsequently more accurately represented by church rural deaneries than by the hundreds issuing from the 16th century Acts of Union.

IsandUwchin commote names

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A considerable number of the names of adjacent medieval Welsh commotes containis(meaning "lower", or "below" as a preposition) anduwch(originallyuchand meaning "higher", or "above" as a preposition), with the dividing line between them being a natural boundary, such as a river, mountain or forest. Melville Richards noted that, in almost every instance where this occurs, the point of central authority was in the "isdivision "when the commote was named, and he suggested that such commotes were originally named in the sense of 'nearer' and 'farther' based on the location of that central authority—i.e.,the terminology is for administrative purposes and not a geographical characterisation.[4]

Richards attributed the use ofisanduwchto some confusion in translating Latinsub(meaning "lower" ) andsupra(meaning "upper" ) into Welsh in too literal a sense, when the proper sense was to considersubto be an administrative synonym for Latincis(meaning "this side of" ), and to considersuprato be an administrative synonym for Latintrans(meaning "the other side of" ).[4]

A number of smaller units, such as manors, parishes and townships, also use the administrative distinction ofisanduwch,sometimes in their Latin forms (e.g.,the manor of Clydach in Uwch Nyfer, divided into Sub Clydach and Ultra (Supra) Clydach).[5]

This is unrelated to the common use ofisafanduchafin farm names, where the terms are used in the geographical sense.[6]

List of commotes, organised by cantref

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TheRed Book of Hergest(1375–1425) provides a detailed list of commotes in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.[7]The list has some overlaps and is ambiguous in parts, especially in the Gwynedd section. It should also be borne in mind that the number and organisation of the commotes was different in the earlier Middle Ages; some of the units and divisions listed here are late creations. The original orthography of the manuscript is given here together with the standard modern Welsh equivalents.

Gwynedd

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Powys

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Maelienydd

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  • Cantrefoed Maelenyd
    • Kymwt Llwythyfnwc

Buellt

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Elfael

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Brecheinawc (Brycheiniog)

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Ystrad Tywi

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  • Cantref Bychan
    • Kymwt Hirvryn
    • Kymwt Perued
    • Kymwt Iskennen
  • Cantref Eginawc (Eginog)
    • Kymwt Kedweli (Cydweli)
    • Kymwt Carnywyllawn (Carnwyllion or Carnwyllon nowLlanelli)
    • Kymwt Gwhyr (Gŵyr nowSwansea)
  • Cantref Mawr
    • Kymwt Mallaen
    • Kymwt Caeaw
    • Kymwt Maenawr Deilaw
    • Kymwt Cetheinawc
    • Kymwt Mab Eluyw
    • Kymwt Mab Utryt
    • Kymwt Widigada

Ceredigyawn (Ceredigion)

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  • Cantref Penweddig
    • Kymwt Geneurglyn (Cwmwd Genau'r Glyn)
    • Kymwt Perued (Cwmwd Perfedd)
    • Kymwt Creudyn (Cwmwd Creuddyn)
  • Cantref Mabwynyon (Cantref Mabwnion)
    • Kymwt Meuenyd (Cwmwd Mefenydd)
    • Kymwt Anhunyawc (Cwmwd Anhuniog)
    • Kymwt Pennard (Cwmwd Penardd)
  • Cantref Caer Wedros (Cantref Caerwedros)
    • Kymwt Wenyionid (Cwmwd Gwinionydd)
    • Kymwt Is Coed (Cwmwd Is Coed)

Dyfed

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Morgannwg

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  • CantrefGorvynyd
    • Kymwt Rwng Net A Thawy
    • Kymwt Tir Yr Hwndryt
    • Kymwt Rwng Neth ac Avyn
    • Kymwt Tir Yr Iarll
    • Kymwt Y Coety
    • Kymwt Maenawr Glyn Ogwr
  • CantrefPenn Ychen
    • Kymwt Meisgyn
    • Kymwt Glyn Rodne
    • Kymwt Maenawr Tal y Vann
    • Kymwt Maenawr Ruthyn
  • Cantref Breinyawl
    • Kymwt Is Caech
    • Kymwt Uch Caech
    • Kymwt Kibwr (Ceibwr; laterKibbor)
  • CantrefGwynllwc
    • Kymwt Yr Heid
    • Kymwt Ydref Berued
    • Kymwt Edelygyon
    • Kymwt Eithyaf
    • Kymwt Y Mynyd
  • CantrefGwent
    • Kymwt Is Coed
    • Kymwt Llemynyd
    • Kymwt Tref y Gruc
    • Kymwt Uch Coed

Citations

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  1. ^abGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru(University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643
  2. ^Brown, Lesley (ed), "New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary", Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1993ISBN0-19-861134-X
  3. ^Rhys & Brynmor-Jones 1906:401–402,The Welsh People
  4. ^abRichards 1964:9–10
  5. ^Richards 1964:17–18
  6. ^Richards 1964:18
  7. ^Rhys & Evans 1890:407–412,Red Book of Hergest,Cantreds and Commotes of Wales.

References

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