The Hundred of Roose (sometimes called Rowse) was a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

in Pembrokeshire,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It has its origins in the pre-

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

cantref of Rhos and was formalised as a hundred by the

Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 ( cy, Y Deddfau Cyfreithiau yng Nghymru 1535 a 1542) were Acts of the Parliament of England, and were the parliamentary measures by which Wales was annexed to the Kingdom of England. Moreover, the legal sys ...

. Its area was about . The area became an English "plantation" in the 12th century, part of the English-speaking

Little England beyond Wales Little England beyond Wales is a name that has been applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from England. I ...

Etymology

The name Roose is derived from the earlier Welsh name ', describing its position nearly surrounded by water. It is bounded to the east by the tidal

Western Cleddau The River Cleddau ( cy, Afon Cleddau) consists of the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. They unite to form the Daugleddau estuary and the important harbour of Milford Haven. The name of the combined estuary – ...

, south by Milford Haven and west by

St. Brides Bay St Brides Bay ( cy, Bae Sain Ffraid) is a bay in western Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Either Skomer Island or the mainland extremity of Wooltack Point at the western end of the Marloes Peninsula marks the southern limit of the bay whilst its no ...

. ' locally means (among other things) "promontory". The English form is a corruption of the Welsh. The pre-

'' Cantref of Rhos'' was a

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

administrative division, which became the ''Hundred of Roose'' and was formalised by the

History

The pre-Norman history of the cantref is uncertain, as is the site of its civil headquarters. It had been popularly assumed that the chief town of

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

does not pre-date the Norman conquest. However archaeological discoveries in Pembrokeshire as early as the 1920s by Sir Mortimer Wheeler at Wolfscastle earlier Iron Age and Roman coinage and artefact discoveries, and recent excavations by the Dyfed Archaeological Trust under the direction of Heather James at Carmarthen (Maridunum) in the 1980s point convincingly to Roman penetration to the westernmost parts of Wales. A Roman road running west of Carmarthen has been identified with the possibility of Roman Fortlets at Whitland and Haverfordwest. The strategic position of Haverfordwest with its defensive bluff overlooking the lowest fordable point on the Western Cleddau accessible to sea traffic suggest a Roman origin probably modest in scale for the town from about 96 AD. The ecclesiastical centre (perhaps the seat of a bishop in the Age of the Saints) was probably one of the several churches of the local St. Ismael, most probably St. Ishmael's. The hundred, with its capital at Haverfordwest was the original centre of the

/English "plantation" in the 12th century, and it has been essentially English-speaking since then, forming the core of

. The cantref was said in the post-Norman period to be divided into two or perhaps three

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. The

Red Book of Hergest The ''Red Book of Hergest'' ( cy, Llyfr Coch Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111) is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preser ...

mentions Hwlffordd (Haverfordwest) commote and Castell Gwalchmei (Walwyn's Castle) commote. The former is an English name, and the "commotes" correspond to the Norman lordships. The northern part of Hwlffordd commote was sometimes distinguished as Roch commote (a French name). None of these is likely to be a real native Welsh subdivision, and the small Cantref of Rhos was probably not actually divided into commotes. The fragmentary Norman lordships are shown in the map.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Pembrokeshire hundreds Cantrefs History of Pembrokeshire

Etymology

History

See also

References

Bibliography