The Battle of Crogen is an engagement said to have taken place in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
during
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
's summer 1165 campaign against an alliance of
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
kingdoms led by King of Gwynedd,
Owain Gwynedd
Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...
. Later Welsh chronicles recorded that a detachment of Welsh troops inflicted a number of casualties on the Anglo-Norman army in the
Ceiriog Valley
The Ceiriog Valley ( cy, Dyffryn Ceiriog) is the valley of the River Ceiriog in north-east Wales. Its Welsh name, "Dyffryn Ceiriog", is the name of an electoral ward of Wrexham County Borough. The ward is the largest ward of the county borough ...
; Henry subsequently abandoned the campaign after an attempt to cross the
Berwyn Mountains
The Berwyn range (Welsh: ''Y Berwyn'' or ''Mynydd y Berwyn'') is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland in the northeast of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the northeast, Corwen in the northwest, Bala in the southwest, and ...
was thwarted by severe weather.
It is unclear whether events in the Ceiriog Valley represented a pitched battle, a series of smaller engagements or a minor skirmish: all three have been argued, as well as the possibility no fighting took place during the 1165 campaign. It has been suggested that the idea of a "battle" should be considered as
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
rather than as a genuine historical event.
[Pratt, D. "Crogen: Myth and Reality", ''The Clwyd Historian'', 8 (1981), 18] There are few contemporary accounts: 19th century and later accounts of the "battle" rely heavily on
David Powel
David Powel (1549/52 – 1598) was a Welsh Church of England clergyman and historian who published the first printed history of Wales in 1584.
Life
Powel was born in Denbighshire and commenced his studies at the University of Oxford when he was 1 ...
's 1584 ''Historie of Cambria'', an unreliable historical source.
Background
Anglo-Norman involvement in Wales was centred on a number of
Marcher Lords
A Marcher lord () was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales.
A Marcher lord was the English equivalent of a margrave (in the Holy Roman Empire) or a marquis (in Fra ...
hips set up by
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
. These had considerable legal independence: Marcher barons could hold their own courts and had a
licence to crenellate
In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...
. The Crown sought to strengthen the position of the Marcher Lords against the native Welsh kings, and in July 1163 several of the kings were compelled to do
homage
Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to:
History
*Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance
*Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts
*Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...
to Henry II at
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
, giving guarantees for their peaceful conduct.
Henry II began planning a punitive campaign into
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
in 1164, ostensibly to take action against several Welsh kings, particularly
Rhys ap Gruffudd
Rhys ap Gruffydd, commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh ''Yr Arglwydd Rhys'' (c. 1132 – 28 April 1197) was the ruler of the Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197 and native Prince of Wales.
It was believed that h ...
of
Deheubarth
Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of ...
, who had been responsible for disturbances along the border in breach of the 1163 settlement.
[Latimer, P.]
Henry II's Campaign Against the Welsh in 1165
in ''The Welsh Historical Review'', 14:4 (1989), 523-552 Welsh chronicles of the time argued that Henry's Marcher Lords, particularly
Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford
Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, 5th Lord of Clare, 5th Lord of Tonbridge, 5th Lord of Cardigan (1116–1173) was a powerful Anglo-Norman noble in 12th-century England. He succeeded to the Earldom of Hertford and Honor of Clare, Tonbridge an ...
, had themselves failed to keep to the terms of the agreement.
[ Rhys had used Roger's actions as a pretext to continue his conflict with the Normans, attacking the castles of Mabwynion and Aberrheidol and overrunning much of Ceredigion. Owain ap Gruffydd of Gwynedd was in open rebellion by autumn 1164 and sent several letters to Henry's main rival, ]Louis VII of France
Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...
, asking to be considered amongst Louis' "faithful and devoted friends".[Duffy, S. (2007) "Henry II and England's Insular Neighbours" in Harper-Bill (ed.) ''Henry II: New Interpretations'', Woodbridge, p.135] The Welsh annals spoke of a concerted effort by the Welsh kingdoms, which were more usually in competition with each other, to "throw off the rule of the French .e. the Angevins.[
In early 1165 Owain Gwynedd's son Dafydd ravaged the '']cantref
A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law.
Description
Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which were ...
'' of Tegeingl
Tegeingl, in English Englefield, was a cantref in north-east Wales during the mediaeval period. It was incorporated into Flintshire following Edward I of England's conquest of northern Wales in the 13th century.
Etymology
The region's name was ...
, threatening the Norman castles at Rhuddlan
Rhuddlan () is a town, community, and electoral ward in the county of Denbighshire, Wales, in the historic county of Flintshire. Its associated urban zone is mainly on the right bank of the Clwyd; it is directly south of seafront town Rhyl. I ...
, Basingwerk
Basingwerk Abbey ( cy, Abaty Dinas Basing) is a Grade I listed ruined abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales. The abbey, which was founded in the 12th century, belonged to the Order of Cistercians. It maintained significant lands in the English ...
and Prestatyn
Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085,
History Prehistory
There is evidence that the ...
. Henry returned from Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
in May. During the summer of 1165 he assembled a substantial force at Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
, including troops from England and mercenaries from the Continent: several contemporary chronicles emphasised the large size of the Angevin army. Henry's overall objectives in the campaign are uncertain; Welsh annals alleged that he planned a complete conquest of the Welsh kingdoms, but a more likely interpretation is that he sought the submission of Rhys and Owain and a settlement with more effective guarantees than in 1163.[
The reason for Henry's choice of route into Wales is similarly unclear, as it led initially into the minor kingdoms of northern Powys, which had not been in conflict with him.][ Shrewsbury was not the most convenient base for a campaign against either Rhys or Owain: it may have been selected in order to be able to advance northward or southward as the campaign required.] Henry's subsequent advance towards Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
and the Ceiriog Valley may indicate that a decision had been made to attack Owain Gwynedd first.[ In response Owain raised an army at ]Corwen
Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llango ...
in the ''cantref'' of Penllyn, comprising forces from several kingdoms. Including his own forces, led by himself and his brother Cadwaladr
Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (also spelled Cadwalader or Cadwallader in English) was king of Gwynedd in Wales from around 655 to 682 AD. Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682; he himself was a victim of the ...
, the alliance was made up of men from Deheubarth
Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of ...
under the leadership of Rhys ap Gruffydd, troops from Mochnant
Mochnant, a name translating as "the rapid stream", was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys.
In the 12th century it was divided into the commotes of Mochnant Is Rhaeadr (in the north) and Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr (in the south) (''Is'' signif ...
in northern Powys under Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd Iorwerth Goch ap Maredudd (c. 1110 – c. 1171), a minor prince and nobleman of the Kingdom of Powys, was the illegitimate son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn and Cristin ferch Bledrus. The appellation "Goch", meaning red, probably referred to the colour of ...
and from southern Powys under Owain Cyfeiliog
Owain ap Gruffydd (c. 1130–1197) was a prince of the southern part of Powys and a poet. He is usually known as Owain Cyfeiliog to distinguish him from other rulers named Owain, particularly his contemporary, Owain ap Gruffydd of Gwynedd, who is k ...
, although the latter had been on good terms with Henry until that point. Powysian involvement in the alliance may have been less than enthusiastic, particularly as Gwynedd had recently overrun Powysian lands in Penllyn, and it is possible that Henry hoped a show of Angevin strength would encourage the lords of Powys back under his protection.[Stevenson (2016) ''Medieval Powys: Kingdom, Principality and Lordships, 1132-1293'', Boydell and Brewer, pp.64-65]
The battle
Contemporary sources are patchy and conflicting, and there has been a great deal of disagreement over events during the campaign. Some scholars, such as Austin Lane Poole
Austin Lane Poole, FBA (6 December 1889 – 22 February 1963) was a British mediaevalist.
Poole came from an academic lineage, being the son of Reginald Lane Poole (archive keeper at the University of Oxford), the nephew of Stanley Lane Poole (p ...
, have concluded that no fighting actually took place at all in 1165.[Hosler (2004), "Henry II's Military Campaigns in Wales" in Bacharach et al. (eds), ''Journal of Medieval Military History'', p.69]
The main reasonably contemporary source for events in the Ceiriog Valley is the ''Brut y Tywysogion
''Brut y Tywysogion'' ( en, Chronicle of the Princes) is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. ''Bru ...
'', which was based on now-lost materials contemporary with the battle. After describing Henry's arrival at Oswestry and Owain's at Corwen, it states:
Henry II had ordered woodsmen
Woodsman (also, woodsmen, pl.) is a competitive, co-ed intercollegiate sport in the United States, Canada and elsewhere based on various skills traditionally part of forestry educational and technical training programs. In North America, the sp ...
to clear trees from the area, allowing his forces to move more freely through the pass, or perhaps in an attempt to force the Welsh into open battle.[ The Welsh chronicles suggest Henry's army was ambushed, possibly close to a gap in ]Offa's Dyke
Offa's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Offa) is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from AD 757 until 796, who is traditionally believed to h ...
, by Welsh skirmishers, who inflicted a number of casualties. The more detailed account given by Powel in 1584 claimed that the skirmish happened while Henry and his main army "laie at Oswestry" and involved only a group "sent to trie the passages".[Mahler (1912) ''A History of Chirk Castle and Chirkland'', p.23] It is unknown what sources Powel used for his information; he may have had access to oral traditions or manuscripts now lost.[
The Gwynedd chronicle '']O Oes Gwrtheyrn Gwrtheneu
''O Oes Gwrtheyrn Gwrtheneu'' (From the Age of Vortigern the Most Slender) is a fourteenth-century Welsh chronicle. The work spans the age from Vortigern
Vortigern (; owl, Guorthigirn, ; cy, Gwrtheyrn; ang, Wyrtgeorn; Old Breton: ''Gurd ...
'' located this engagement at a place called "Coed Ceiriog"; Powel, writing several centuries later, was the first to identify it taking place at a narrow gap in "Offa's ditch, at the castle of Crogen".[ The name "Battle of Crogen" first appeared in 1778 in an account by ]Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...
: "This conflict is sometimes called the battle of Corwen; but with more propriety that of Crogen: for it happened beneath Castell Crogen, the present Chirk Castle
Chirk Castle ( cy, Castell y Waun) is a Grade I listed castle located in Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
History
The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Edward ...
". More recent scholarship has confirmed that the medieval "Castell Crogen" was in fact near Llandderfel
Llandderfel is a village and a sparsely populated community in Gwynedd, Wales, near Bala, formerly served by the Llandderfel railway station. The community also includes the settlements of Glan-yr-afon, Llanfor, Cefnddwysarn and Frongoch. T ...
: Pennant may have confused the name with the townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
of Crogen Iddon and Crogen Wladys in the Ceiriog Valley.
Some modern sources repeat a story that Hubert de St Clare, the Constable of Colchester Castle, sacrificed his own life when he threw himself in front of an arrow meant for Henry. This event in fact happened at the siege of Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079.
History
B ...
in 1155, the source of the confusion again being Powel, who inserted a passage from Holinshed's Chronicles
''Holinshed's Chronicles'', also known as ''Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland'', is a collaborative work published in several volumes and two editions, the first edition in 1577, and the second in 1587. It was a large, co ...
into his account.
Undeterred by their losses in the Ceiriog Valley, Henry's army continued into the Berwyns, possibly making for Corwen via a pass still known as the "English Road" (''Ffordd y Saeson'').[ While the mountains appeared easily passable in summer a spell of high winds and torrential rain, which made resupply impossible and caused men to start dying of exposure, forced Henry to retreat within a matter of days without bringing the main Welsh force to battle.] The ''Brut y Tywysogion'' said that the army retreated after being "oppressed by a mighty tempest of wind and exceeding great torrents of rain":[Jones (1955), p.147] Henry's supporter Gerald of Wales
Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and English historians in the Middle Ages, historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and w ...
, in his ''Itinerarium Cambriae
The ''Itinerarium Cambriae'' ("The Itinerary Through Wales") is a medieval account of a journey made by Gerald of Wales, written in Latin.
Gerald was selected to accompany the Archbishop of Canterbury, Baldwin of Forde, on a tour of Wales in 11 ...
'', gave the same story but added that Henry had also made the mistake of failing to listen to his local advisors.
Aftermath
Estimates of the losses suffered at Crogen vary; most modern historians consider them to have been relatively light. The place where the skirmishes occurred is called Adwy'r Beddau, "the Gap of the Graves": the dead were said to have been buried in the fosse of Offa's Dyke, at a spot where an account of 1697 claimed that graves were still visible.[Simpson, T. (1837) ''Some Account of Llangollen and its Vicinity, etc'' London: Whittaker and Company, p.20][''An Inventory of Ancient Monuments in the County of Denbighshire'' (1914), Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, p.192]
His attempt to deal with Owain and Rhys a failure, Henry returned to Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
and there ordered the blinding of twenty-two hostages held since the 1163 treaty, two of whom were Owain's sons.[ He then moved his army to ]Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
: the Welsh annals claimed that this was in order to wait for a fleet from Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, with whose rulers Henry had recently entered into a treaty,[Duffy, p.136] but rather than continuing his campaign he abandoned the plan completely and returned to his court at Anjou. The collapse of such a well-financed and planned campaign was a considerable humiliation to Henry and an encouragement to his political opponents.[ Despite this, he was back on good terms with the kings of Powys within a year; both Owain Cyfeiliog and Iorwerth Goch were in friendly contact with Henry's court within months.][
By the following year, both Rhys ap Gruffydd and Owain Gwynedd had resumed attacks on the lands of the Norman marcher barons; Henry withdrew much of his support from the latter by the end of the decade, turning to diplomacy to deal with Gwynedd and Deheubarth.][ Rhys later met personally with Henry, and was within a few years confirmed in his possession of lands previously occupied by the Normans: he even later sent troops to aid Henry in Normandy, in effect becoming "one of the great feudatories of the Angevin empire".][Carr, A. D. (1995) ''Medieval Wales'' Macmillan, p.45] It has been suggested that Henry's lack of support for the marcher barons after 1165 ultimately encouraged them to seek lands and opportunities elsewhere, contributing substantially to the subsequent Norman invasion of Ireland
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanc ...
.[Duffy, p.137]
Notes
External links
History of Chirk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crogen, Battle of
Battles involving England
Battles involving Wales
Conflicts in 1165
Henry II of England
1165 in Wales
England–Wales relations