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Welsh Marches

Coordinates:52°N3°W/ 52°N 3°W/52; -3
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TheWelsh Marches(Welsh:Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along theborderbetweenEnglandandWalesin theUnited Kingdom.The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods.

The English termWelsh March(inMedieval LatinMarchia Walliae)[1]was originally used in theMiddle Agesto denote themarchesbetween England and thePrincipality of Wales,in whichMarcher lordshad specific rights, exercised to some extent independently of theking of England.In modern usage, "the Marches" is often used to describe those English counties which lie along the border with Wales, particularlyShropshireandHerefordshire,and sometimes adjoining areas of Wales. However, at one time the Marches included all of the historic counties ofCheshire,Shropshire, Herefordshire,WorcestershireandGloucestershire.

Etymology[edit]

The termMarchis from the 13th-centuryMiddle Englishmarche( "border region, frontier" ). The term was borrowed fromOld Frenchmarche( "limit, boundary" ), itself borrowed from aFrankishterm derived fromProto-Germanic*markō( "border, area" ). The term is adoubletof Englishmark,and iscognatewith GermanMark( "boundary" ).[2]Cognates are found in the Englishtoponyms"Mercia"and"Mersey",and in continental place-names containingmark,such as "Denmark".

The term is distantly related to the verbmarch,both ultimately derived fromProto-Indo-European*mereg-,"edge" or "boundary".

Origins: Mercia and the Welsh[edit]

Offa's DykenearClunin Shropshire

After the decline and fall of theRoman Empirewhich occupied southernBritainuntil about AD 410, the area which is now Wales comprised a number of separateRomano-Britishkingdoms, includingPowysin the east. Over the next few centuries, theAngles,Saxonsand others gradually conquered and settled in eastern and southern Britain. The kingdom ofMercia,underPenda,became established aroundLichfield,and initially established strong alliances with theWelsh kings.

However, his successors sought to expand Mercia further westwards into what is nowCheshire,Shropshire andHerefordshire.As the power of Mercia grew, a string of garrisonedmarket townssuch asShrewsburyandHereforddefined the borderlands as much asOffa's Dyke,a stronger and longer boundary earthwork erected by order ofOffa of Merciabetween AD 757 and 796. The Dyke still exists, and can best be seen atKnighton,close tothe modern borderbetween England and Wales.[3]Campaigns and raids from Powys led, possibly around about AD 820, to the building ofWat's Dyke,a boundary earthwork extending from theSevernvalley nearOswestryto theDee estuary.[4][5]

In the centuries which followed, Offa's Dyke largely remained the frontier between the Welsh and English.Æthelstan,often seen as the first king of a united England, summoned the British kings to a meeting at Hereford in AD 926, and according toWilliam of Malmesburylaid down the boundary between Wales and England, particularly the disputed southern stretch where he specified that theRiver Wyeshould form the boundary.[6]

By the mid-eleventh century, Wales was united underGruffydd ap LlywelynofGwynedd,until his death in 1063.[citation needed]

The Marches in the Middle Ages[edit]

Immediately after theNorman Conquest,King William of Englandinstalled three of his most trusted confidants,Hugh d'Avranches,Roger de Montgomerie,andWilliam FitzOsbern,asEarlsof Chester, Shrewsbury and Hereford respectively, with responsibilities for containing andsubduingtheWelsh.The process took a century and was never permanently effective.[7]

The term "March of Wales" was first used in theDomesday Bookof 1086. Over the next four centuries, Norman lords established mostly smallmarcher lordshipsbetween the Dee and Severn, and further west. Military adventurers went to Wales fromNormandyand elsewhere and after raiding an area of Wales, then fortified it and granted land to some of their supporters.[8]

One example wasBernard de Neufmarché,responsible for conquering and pacifying the Welsh kingdom ofBrycheiniog.The precise dates and means of formation of the lordships varied, as did their size.

Wales in the 14th Century showing Marcher Lordships

The March, orMarchia Wallie,was to a greater or lesser extent independent of both the English monarchy and thePrincipality of WalesorPura Wallia,which remained based inGwyneddin the north west of the country. By about AD 1100 the March covered the areas which would later becomeMonmouthshireand much ofFlintshire,Montgomeryshire,Radnorshire,Brecknockshire,Glamorgan,Carmarthenshire andPembrokeshire.Ultimately, this amounted to about two-thirds of Wales.[4][9][10]

During the period, the Marches were a frontier society in every sense, and a stamp was set on the region that lasted into the time of the Industrial Revolution. Hundreds of smallcastleswere built in the border area in the 12th and 13th centuries, predominantly by Norman lords as assertions of power as well as defences against Welsh raiders and rebels. The area still contains Britain's densest concentration ofmotte-and-baileycastles. The Marcher lords encouraged immigration from all the Norman-Angevin realms, and encouraged trade from "fair haven" ports likeCardiff.Peasants went to Wales in large numbers:Henry IencouragedBretons,Flemings,Normans,and English settlers to move into the south of Wales. Many new towns were established, some such asChepstow,Monmouth,LudlowandNewtownbecoming successful trading centres, and these tended also to be a focus of English settlement. At the same time, the Welsh continued to attack English soil and supported rebellions against the Normans.[4]

The Norman lords each had similar rights to the Welsh princes. Each owed personal allegiance, as subjects, to the English king whom they were bound to support in times of war, but their lands were exempt from royal taxation and they possessed rights which elsewhere were reserved to the crown, such as the rights to create forests, markets and boroughs.[10]

The lordships were geographically compact and jurisdictionally separate one from another, and their privileges differentiated them from English lordships. Marcher lords ruled their lands by their own law—sicut regale( "like unto a king" ) asGilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucesterstated[11]— whereas in England fief-holders were directly accountable to the king. The crown's powers in the Marches were normally limited to those periods when the king held a lordship in its own hands, such as when it was forfeited for treason or on the death of the lord without a legitimate heir whereupon the title reverted to the Crown inescheat.At the top of a culturally diverse, intensely feudalised and local society, the Marcher barons combined the authority offeudallord and vassal of the King among their Normans, and of supplanting the traditionaltywysogamong their conquered Welsh. However,Welsh lawwas sometimes used in the Marches in preference to English law, and there were disputes as to which code should be used to decide a particular case. From this developed the distinctiveMarch law.[4][5][11]

TheStatute of Rhuddlanin 1284 followed theconquest of the PrincipalitybyEdward I of England.It assumed the lands held by the Princes of Gwynedd under the title "Prince of Wales"as legally part of the lands of the Crown, and established shire counties on the English model over those areas. The Marcher Lords were progressively tied to the English kings by the grants of lands and lordships in England, where control was stricter, and where many marcher lords spent most of their time, and through the English kings' dynastic alliances with the great magnates. TheCouncil of Wales and the Marches,administered fromLudlow Castle,was initially established in 1472 byEdward IV of Englandto govern the lands held under the Principality of Wales which had become directly administered by the English crown following theEdwardian conquest of Walesin the 13th century.[12]

The end of Marcher powers[edit]

Marches in Wales Act 1534
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long titleAn Act that Murthers and Felonies done or committed within any Lordship Marcher in Wales, shall be inquired of at the Sessions holden within the Shire Grounds next adjoining; with many goods Orders for Ministration of Justice there to be had.
Citation26 Hen. 8.c. 6
Dates
Royal assent18 December 1534

By the 16th century, many marcher lordships had passed into the hands of the crown, as the result of the accessions ofHenry IV,who was previouslyDuke of Lancaster,andEdward IV,the heir of theEarls of March;of theattainderof other lords during theWars of the Roses;and of other events. The crown was also directly responsible for the government of the Principality of Wales, which had its own institutions and was, like England, divided into counties. The jurisdiction of the remaining marcher lords was therefore seen as an anomaly, and their independence from the crown enabled criminals from England to evade justice by moving into the area and claiming "marcher liberties".[citation needed]

Under theLaws in Wales Acts 1535–1542introduced underHenry VIII,the jurisdiction of the marcher lords was abolished in 1536. The acts had the effect of annexing Wales withEnglandand creating a single state and legaljurisdiction,commonly referred to asEngland and Wales.The powers of the marcher lordships were abolished, and their areas were organised into the new Welsh counties ofDenbighshire,Montgomeryshire,Radnorshire,Brecknockshire,Monmouthshire,andCarmarthenshire.The counties ofPembrokeshireandGlamorganwere created by adding other districts to existing lordships. In place ofassize courtsof England, there wereCourts of Great Sessions.These administered English law, in contrast with the marcher lordships, which had administered Welsh law for their Welsh subjects. Some lordships were added to adjoining English counties:Ludlow,Clun,Causand part ofMontgomerywere incorporated into Shropshire;Wigmore,Huntington,Cliffordand most ofEwyaswere included in Herefordshire; and that part ofChepstoweast of theRiver Wyewas included inGloucestershire.[4]

The Council of Wales, based atLudlow Castle,was reconstituted as theCouncil of Wales and the Marches,with statutory responsibilities for the whole of Wales together with, initially,Cheshire,Shropshire,Herefordshire,WorcestershireandGloucestershire.TheCity of Bristolwas exempted in 1562, and Cheshire in 1569.[13][14]

The Council was eventually abolished in 1689, following the "Glorious Revolution"which overthrewJames II(VII of Scotland) and establishedWilliam III(William ofOrange) as king.[citation needed]

List of Marcher lordships and successor shires[edit]

See also:List of Marcher lordships

List of Marcher lordships and successor shires:[8]

The Marches today[edit]

the map of the Welsh Marches line, with the area labeled
Welsh Marches Line
AClass 175 'Coradia'running through currently closedDinmore railway station,Herefordshire on theWelsh Marches Lineon anArriva Trains Walesservice.

There is no modern legal or official definition of the extent of the Welsh Marches. However, the term the Welsh Marches (or sometimes just the Marches) is commonly used to describe those English counties which lie along the border with Wales, particularly Shropshire and Herefordshire.[16] The term is also sometimes applied to parts of Powys, Monmouthshire and Wrexham.[17]

TheWelsh Marches Lineis a railway line fromNewportin the south of Wales to Shrewsbury, via Abergavenny, Hereford, andCraven Arms.

TheMarches Wayis along distance footpathwhich connects Chester in the north of England, viaWhitchurch,Shrewsbury,LeominsterandAbergavennyto the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

The Marches Schoolis a secondary school inOswestry,Shropshire. The school has several meeting rooms named in Welsh, and has students and staff from both sides of the border.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Often renderedMarcia Walliein documents.
  2. ^"march".Online Etymology Dictionary.Retrieved1 November2023.
  3. ^David Hill and Margaret Worthington,Offa's Dyke – history and guide,Tempus Publishing, 2003;ISBN0-7524-1958-7
  4. ^abcdeJohn Davies,A History of Wales,Penguin, 1993;ISBN0-14-028475-3
  5. ^abTrevor Rowley,The Welsh Border – archaeology, history and landscape,Tempus Publishing, 1986;ISBN0-7524-1917-X
  6. ^Roderick, A. J. (1952)."The feudal relation between the English crown and the Welsh princes".The Journal of the Historical Association.37(131): 201–212.doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1952.tb00238.x.Archivedfrom the original on 27 August 2020.Retrieved27 August2020.
  7. ^"Norman Castles".www.castlewales.com.Archivedfrom the original on 20 December 2008.Retrieved20 December2008.
  8. ^abMax Lieberman,The March of Wales, 1067–1300: a borderland of medieval Britain,University of Wales Press, 2008;ISBN978-0-7083-2115-7
  9. ^Davies, R. R.,The Age of Conquest: Wales 1063–1415(Oxford 1987, 2000 edition), pp. 271–88.
  10. ^abPaul Courtney,The Marcher Lordships: Origins, Descent and Organization,inThe Gwent County History Vol. 2,University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2008;ISBN978-0-7083-2072-3
  11. ^abNelson, Lynn H., 1966.The Normans in South WalesArchived10 April 2005 at theWayback Machine,1070–1171(Austin and London: University of Texas Press)
  12. ^William Searle Holdsworth,A History of English Law,Little, Brown, and Company, 1912, pg. 502
  13. ^"Welsh Joint Education Committee: The Council of Wales and the Marches".Archivedfrom the original on 4 March 2009.Retrieved20 December2008.
  14. ^Marriott, Sir John Arthur Ransome (17 June 1938).This Realm of England; Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy.Books for Libraries Press.ISBN9780836956115.Archivedfrom the original on 15 May 2019.Retrieved7 February2016– via Google Books.
  15. ^P. Brown, P. King, and P. Remfry, 'Whittington Castle: The marcher fortress of the Fitz Warin family',Shropshire Archaeology and HistoryLXXIX (2004), 106–127.
  16. ^•"The Marches".The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership.Archivedfrom the original on 23 July 2016.Retrieved30 June2016.•"The Welsh Marches".Ludlow.org.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2016.Retrieved30 June2016.
  17. ^"The Autumn Epic, Welsh Marches, Powys".TheGuardian.com.2 March 2007.Archivedfrom the original on 22 August 2016.Retrieved30 June2016.•"Discover Herefordshire and the Southern Marches".Countryfile.com.Archivedfrom the original on 15 August 2016.Retrieved30 June2016.•"Chirk Castle – Magnificent medieval fortress of the Welsh Marches".NationalTrust.org.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 10 July 2016.Retrieved30 June2016.

References[edit]

Attribution

Further reading[edit]

52°N3°W/ 52°N 3°W/52; -3

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