Theosophy Wales, UK:- Pages About Wales.

PAGES ABOUT

Wales is a Principality within the United Kingdom and has an eastern border with England. The land area is just over 8,000 square miles. Snowdon is the highest mountain at 3,650 feet. The coastline is almost 750 miles long. The population of Wales as at the 2001 census is 2,946,200.

Theosophy Wales is pleased to present

general pages about Wales, Welsh History

and The History of Theosophy in Wales

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The Marcher Lords

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The Marcher Lords were the Norman-English barons who held and ruled lands in Wales and on the Welsh border. They were a form of colonial occupation system design to extend the influence of the English monarch into Wales.

The Marches of Wales did not revolve around the current borders of Wales. The Normans held lands deep within Welsh territory and maintained castles in Wales as far west as the Irish Sea.

The Lords of the March were not subject to the laws of England, and the March was not part of England. The Lords held their own courts and did not bend to the writ of royal law.

Within the lands of these Norman lords were pockets of Welsh territory. To simplify the situation once more, we can say that the English held the lowlands and the Welsh held the highlands, but again there enough exceptions to make this a dubious statement.

The authority of the Marcher Lords was far different from that enjoyed by English barons. The right to crenellate (i.e. build castles or fortify existing structures) was jealously guarded by the king within England. He granted that right carefully, and then only to men he deemed trustworthy. Yet the Marcher Lords could build and fortify castles at will.

They could also wage war on their own, a right definitely not available to their English counterparts. Yet many of the Marcher Lords also owned large estates in England, where they spent most of their time.

The English crown was not without authority in Wales and would sometimes confront of replace a Marcher Lord.

Henry I (1100 – 1135) seized the lands of the rebellious Earl of Shrewsbury in 1102, and took Pembroke Castle for his own. He built Carmarthen Castle and established some measure of royal control over the Marcher Lords of Deheubarth.

Henry did his best to extend royal power in Wales. If we can judge by his various bequests of land and titles he believed that he had the right and the authority to administer Wales. In so doing, he sought to grant holdings in Wales to those men he deemed trustworthy and supportive of royal rights.

Peasants as well as knights migrated to Wales in large numbers to serve the Marcher Lords as these territories offered opportunities. Henry I encouraged Bretons, Flemings, Normans, and English settlers to move into Welsh territory, mostly in the south. Knights were granted their own lands, which they held in feudal service to the Norman lords. Settlement was also encouraged in towns, most of which grew up under the protective shadow of Norman castles