When we
think of the knights of old, we see them through the time worn dusty effigies
of their splendid tombs, hands clasped in eternal silent prayer yet clad in
iron mail and armed with their sword, immortalized in stone and depicted as
they were in life and how they wanted to be remembered in death, as fighting
men. This is how the medieval knight is perceived in popular culture, for the
knight and his castle were very much central to medieval life – so much so
that, even long after the end of their world of feudalism, this enduring image
is still very much with us - no one remembers the manorial reeve or villein
(if at all) with the same reverence as the knight.
The effigy of legendary knight William Marshall (d 1219), Temple Church, London. Whether he was from Glamorgan or elsewhere, the tombs of these knights were always impressive. Not many survive from Glamorgan, Sir Roger Berkerolles fourteenth century tomb in St Tathan’s Church, St Athan is an exception. The knight is always depicted dressed for war. (Photo - World History Encyclopedia)
It is not
possible to discuss the knights of medieval Glamorgan without first looking at
their origins – this background is fundamental to our understanding of the role
they held in medieval Glamorgan society. The
knight started off as a mounted soldier of a fairly low status, often a
household knight without land who fought for and protected his lord as a
retainer or, he may have possessed enough land to sustain himself, a fief
– it was only later on during the medieval period did the knight in his own
right take-on all the trappings of rank and social status. It is highly likely
that the knights who accompanied Robert Fitzhamon on his conquest of Glamorgan
were at first themselves landless household knights armed and sustained by
their lord.
They first
appeared in Britain during the Norman invasion where their devastating full-on mounted
attack was used to great effect. It was descendants of these Norman knights or milites
who took over the area of land in south Wales which came to be known as the Lordship
of Glamorgan which, incidentally, in its first creation was a size comparable
to that of the Vale of Glamorgan. This event occurred during the very late
eleventh century and the first Marcher lord of Glamorgan, Robert Fitzhamon,
divided out fertile parcels of this land to his followers (enfeoffing),
partially as a reward but also so these knights could live of the labour of the
villeins (peasant farmers who worked the land) to sustain their warrior
commitments – what is known as a knight’s fee. In the later medieval period
this conquest era was referred to as the old enfeoffment. This was the
genesis of our Glamorgan knight - he was essentially a product of feudalism
where fealty to one’s overlord was expected and services rendered – for the knights
of Glamorgan this meant military service which, unless there happened to be a
war on usually meant guard duty at Cardiff Castle for a number of months of the
year.
Despite his
glamorous image, he was more than just a warrior. The knight was a person of
importance and status within medieval society – their land holdings, meaning
their lordship or manor meant they were landowners in their own right and they
dominated the social and political life of their time. In medieval Glamorgan
the knights of the shire were only ever small in number, around 36 for the
whole lordship during the time of the de Clares in the thirteenth
century, this reflects their elite status. It was from their land that they
derived their income which allowed them to pay for their articles of war and
sustain a lifestyle befitting a member of the lordship’s elite. The knight of
medieval Glamorgan would have shown his status through architecture as he would
have dwelled in a fortified building, either a strong house such as once
existed at Marcross, a tower house such as Malefant Castle (Llanmaes – held by de Sully) or a
small castle such as we see at Penmark (de Umfravill) or at Barry (de
Barry) which, compared to the village cots (a small dwelling for the
villagers, sometimes co-habited with animals) which were often clustered around
the manor house or castle such as we see at Barry, was palatial medieval luxury
which would have had dressed stone fireplaces and window tracery, slate roofs
such as evidenced at Barry Castle and even glass windows. The most important
room, the great hall leads us to another function of the knight, presiding over
his manorial court.
The running
of his manor, basically an estate which would have been a vast land holding
farmed by either free or unfree peasants would have occupied most of his time.
Most of the knights’ land was parceled out to these peasants or villeins
who farmed it in strips, the characteristic ridge and furrow which has left an
indelible scar on the rural landscape. The knight of medieval Glamorgan would
have taken a keen interest in his own land holdings from within his lordship,
the demesne, from which he took all of the profits and produce – in the
unequal world of medieval feudalism, this demesne would have been farmed
with free labour from the knight’s peasantry within his lordship, a source of
great resentment. At his manor house or castle, such as Barry Castle, basically
a manor house with muscles, he would have presided over his own manorial court
where he would resolve local matters pertaining to his lordship such as
disputes over land, law and order, fines, local by-laws but most importantly
rents for land– the knight then was in effect judge, jury and landlord.
The status
of the knight was known far and wide; an interesting observation was made by
the twelfth century Arab writer and poet Usama Ibn Munqidh, a close observer of
the period after the First Crusade and who, despite being some 3000 miles away
from Glamorgan remarks upon the status of knighthood among the Franks
(Crusaders) in the Holy Land and of their role outside of combat. He says:
‘They
(the Franks) have neither precedence nor high rank except that of the knights,
they have no men worthy of the name except knights – it is they who are the
masters of legal reasoning, judgment and sentencing’.
Whether then
he was a knight of Glamorgan or a Crusader in the Holy Land - the knight’s elite
status was the same.
It was not
just his own court our Glamorgan knight would have presided over; he was
required to attend the court of his overlord, the comitatus
which was held at Cardiff Castle. This court was powerful – given the independent
Marcher lord status of the lord of Glamorgan and that his lands were acquired
by right of conquest, this court was outside of royal jurisdiction with
the king’s writ having no legal power.
The knights as tenants in chief of the lord of Glamorgan were busy people – they would assist the sheriff of Glamorgan with his duties, one of these was presiding over the comitatus. He would hear pleas from tenants of the lordship as well as being witness to the enrolling of charters and deeds. The sheriff was more often than not a household knight but it was not unknown for a knight of the shire to hold the position. Walter de Sully, knight and lord of Sully once held this important position during the thirteenth century as did William de Berkerolles, knight and lord of St Athan during the early fourteenth century. The knight then, far from his brutal and thuggish image was in fact a master of the law. On occasion, when the Lordship of Glamorgan reverted to Royal control which was usual when the heir to an important lordship such as Glamorgan was a minor, a knight of the shire could be expected to be called upon to act as a temporary custodian on behalf of the young lord. In 1234 Richard Siward, knight and lord of Llanblethlian was appointed by king Henry III to act as Keeper of Glamorgan – his knowledge of the comitatus would have meant he could have taken over and ensured the smooth running of the lordship.
The knights
of Glamorgan were obliged to provide annual military service. Given that in the
thirteenth century the de Clares as Lords of Glamorgan were constantly
feuding with the local Welsh commotal lords, particularly to the north of
Cardiff in the Welsh cantref of Senghennydd, there
was plenty of action to keep the Glamorgan knights busy. Even more
opportunities for the knights of Glamorgan to provide military service to their
overlord arose after the construction of Caerphilly Castle, the purpose of
which was to prevent Welsh encroachment into the fertile lowlands (Bro
Morgannwg). During the mid thirteenth century Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Gwynedd and recognised
authority in much of Wales had encroached into Senghennydd;
concerned by this threat the de Clares built the impressive Caerphilly
Castle to defend their lordship. In fact, Glamorgan knight William de
Berkerolles was captured here by Llewelyn Bren in 1316 when he was acting as
keeper of Caerphilly Castle.
Occasionally
the knights of medieval Glamorgan were required to serve outside of the
lordship, this was usually paid for by their overlord. The lordship of Barry,
itself a sub-manor of Penmark which was rated at four knight’s fees
(Barry being one of these fees) had as its lord during the early fourteenth
century one Lucas de Barry (1287 – 1323) who under his feudal
obligations rendered military service and found himself accompanying King
Edward I (Longshanks) during one of this many campaigns up north attempting to
subdue the Scots.
Barry Castle, depicted here in the late nineteenth
century, by which point it was a ruin was once the center of the lordship of
Barry. The lordship of Barry, rated at one knight’s fee would have been
sufficient to sustain its warrior caste lords to ensure they could fulfil their
feudal obligations to their overlord, in the thirteenth century this would have
been the powerful de Clare family who were also the earls of Gloucester.
If a knight
had a legal issue, usually concerning land ownership then he had a choice of
action, one was trial by combat. Trial by combat is something that viewers of
the popular tv series Game of Thrones will be familiar with but this method of
settling disputes was far from fiction. Although not an everyday occurrence, it
was a feature of life for the medieval knight of Glamorgan, and it was a very
real possibility that he might be expected to settle a dispute in this manner. Like
dueling of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, trial by combat was the
exclusive preserve of the elite. Trial by combat seemed to be an accepted
method of settling disputes during the early feudal period. For example, the
Agreement of Woodstock (1126) between Earl Robert and Bishop Urban of Llandaff
makes an interesting stipulation in that trials by combat involving their men
should be carried out in castello de Kardi (at Cardiff Castle).
We have
another reference to Cardiff Castle as a place to settle a dispute by combat
when at a county court meeting in 1245 celebrity knight and usurper of Talyfan
Richard Siward was ‘offered out’ in a trial by combat by Earl Richard de
Clare against one of his best knights, Stephen Bauzan to settle a charge of sedition.
Siward, however, declined the invitation
to fight a duel, possibly reasoning that he could rely on his friend King Henry
III to help him. But within the lordship of Glamorgan the lord’s authority was
absolute and there was little that even the king could do to help Siward, and
he thus lost all that he had gained as quickly as he had appropriated it.
As we have
seen, much of the Glamorgan knight’s interests evolved around war and violence,
a reflection of the time in which they lived. One violent pleasure indulged in
by all knights was the tourney (tournament) – this was not the one-on-one tilt
– yard jousting of the later medieval period for which knights are particularly
famous but a violent combat simulation, a mock war which took place over a vast
area – the twelfth century knight William Marshall (1147 – 1219) was made
famous by his reputedly undefeated status as master of the tourney. There is an
account of Cogan knight Miles de Cogan partaking in a tourney in Ireland
in 1182, so realistic and violent was the fighting that Miles was killed in the
melee. It was not though all war and violence. His pastimes were the preserve
of the elite. One of the knight’s main pastimes was hawking. Owning a sparrow
hawk was a sign of status and wealth and these birds were greatly valued, so
much so they upon occasion they were rendered in payment in lieu of cash.
Given how influential the knights of Glamorgan were and their longevity, what happened to them? Where did the knights of Glamorgan vanish to? At the end of the medieval period and into the early modern they simply became obsolete; given the changing nature of warfare, the knight’s role on the battlefield came to an end. Due to a combination of environmental and economic factors during the fourteenth century such as the Bubonic Plague which arrived in England in 1349 and decimated the population – workers became scarce and the landed knights began to compete for the labour of those they once oppressed, simple supply and demand which reduced the knight’s hold over the peasantry which they once so relied upon. There were also a series of devastating crop failures during the fourteenth century and a deterioration of the climate – the warm and dry age of the thirteenth century was replaced by a century of cold and rain which impacted the economy of the manor. The social change brought about by these events effected the feudal power of the knight as lord of the manor – his power was reduced. As the early modern period arrived, the knights of old turned into the landed gentry with knight being a social rank as opposed to a mounted warrior.
Their
lordly residences were abandoned in favour of the fashionable and more
comfortable architecture of the early modern period – their castles crumbled. For
example: Penmark Castle, once home to a powerful medieval lordship under the de
Umfravilles was abandoned to its sad fate and was a ruin by the early modern
period. This fate is typical of the knightly residences of Glamorgan.
Writing in
the early nineteenth century and in reference to Penmark Castle, we will let
the Reverend J. Evans have the last word:
‘But
alas! What is wealth and power and transitory fame. In this instance its vanity
is striking. The seat of it is annihilated, the family is extinct; the very
name obliterated from the records of time’.
Mark and Jonathan Lambert are archaeology graduates of Cardiff University and have written a number of books. They have been writing about and researching local history for the past 20 years and have a wealth of knowledge. All articles are original compositions - we hope you enjoy our content.
Enquiries: hiddenglamorgan@outlook.com
©Jonathan and Mark Lambert 2025
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