The Lordship of Bromfield and Yale was formed in 1282Rogers 1992, p. viii. by the merger of the medieval

commote A commote (Welsh ''cwmwd'', sometimes spelt in older documents as ''cymwd'', plural ''cymydau'', less frequently ''cymydoedd'')''Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales ...

s of

Marford Marford is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, near the Wales-England border. Marford covers some , where the hills of north-east Wales meet the Cheshire Plain. Distant landmarks that can be seen clearly from Marford include Eaton Hall ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. It was part of the Welsh Marches and was within the cantref of

Maelor The Maelor is an area of north-east Wales along the border with England. It is now entirely part of Wrexham County Borough. The name ''Maelor'' is an old Welsh word: it can be translated as "land of the prince", from ''mael'' ("prince") and ''l ...

in the former

Kingdom of Powys The Kingdom of Powys ( cy, Teyrnas Powys; la, Regnum Poysiae) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern t ...

. In the records of 1630 and 1649, under Charles Stuart, Prince of Wales, we see the lordship of Bromfield and Yale containing 16 Manors and 63

township 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, C ...

s, with

John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater KB, PC (1579 – 4 December 1649) was an English peer and politician from the Egerton family. The son of Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley and Elizabeth Ravenscroft, he matriculated at Brasenose ...

, recorded as Chief Steward of the lordship. The

marcher lordship 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 ...

was originally bestowed on the

Earls of Surrey Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror. It is currently held as a subsidiary title by the Dukes of Norfo ...

of the

Warenne family The de Warenne family were a noble family in England that included the first Earls of Surrey, created by William the Conqueror in 1088 for William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, who was among his companions at the Battle of Hastings. The family ...

. In 1347 it passed to the

Earls of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The ...

of the

FitzAlan family FitzAlan is an English patronymic surname of Anglo-Norman origin, descending from the Breton knight Alan fitz Flaad (d. 1120), who accompanied king Henry I to England on his succession. He was grandson of the Seneschal of the Bishop of Dol. T ...

, a branch of the

House of Howard The House of Howard is an English noble house founded by John Howard, who was created Duke of Norfolk (third creation) by King Richard III of England in 1483. However, John was also the eldest grandson (although maternal) of the 1st Duke of the ...

. In 1415 the male line went extinct and the lordship was divided between three and eventually just two branches of the female line of the Fitzalans. The lordship followed the law of the March rather than the

law of England Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

or the

law of Wales Welsh law ( cy, Cyfraith Cymru) is an autonomous part of the English law system composed of legislation made by the Senedd.Law Society of England and Wales (2019)England and Wales: A World Jurisdiction of Choice eport(Link accessed: 16 March 20 ...

.Davies 1970, p. 2.

Notes

{{reflist

Bibliography

*R. R. Davies. "The Law of the March". ''

Welsh History Review = Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru ''The Welsh History Review'' (Welsh: Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru) is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of Wales. It is published in four parts per volume, one volume every two years. The journal was established in 1960. The editors ...

'' 5 (1970): 1–30. *Thomas Peter Ellis. ''The First Extent of Bromfield and Yale, A.D. 1315''. London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1924. *Derrick Pratt. "Anatomy of Conquest: Bromfield and Yale, 1277–84." ''Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society'' 56 (2008): 17–58. *Derrick Pratt. "Medieval Bromfield and Yale: The Machinery of Justice." ''Transactions of the Denbighshire Historical Society'' 53 (2004): 19–78. *Michael Rogers. ''The Welsh Marcher Lordship of Bromfield and Yale, 1282–1485''. PhD diss. University of Wales, 1992. 1282 establishments