Edward I's Castle-Building Campaign in Medieval Wales

Introduction: Edward I's Reign and Military Ambitions

The reign of King Edward I of England (1272–1307) was marked by almost constant military activity in the British Isles and France. Edward's policy of expansion and conquest in Scotland and Wales was aggressive and, broadly, successful. Among the notable characteristics of his warlike policies was the construction of a large number of castles — above all in Wales — as centres of military and civilian administration in conquered territories. The programme of Edwardian castle-building was second only to that which followed the Norman Conquest of 1066, and in terms of the size and complexity of the structures themselves it is without parallel in British history.

The first part of Edward's reign was dominated by war in Wales, which lasted (with interruptions) from 1276 to 1284; the second part, from 1290–1, by war in France and Scotland. These campaigns arose from Edward's determination to reinforce the English crown's position in France and to enforce English claims to overlordship within the British Isles. Such policies were not in themselves an innovation of Edward's reign — English claims to supremacy over Wales and Ireland, for example, had been intensified and pursued militarily during the 1240s and 1250s — but they reached a new intensity once Edward succeeded Henry III on the throne.

In Wales, the rebellion of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd between 1258 and 1265 had undermined English authority; Edward was determined not to allow such a disturbance to succeed again, and when Llywelyn and his brother Dafydd rebelled again in 1282 they were ruthlessly dealt with. The English conquest of North Wales was successful, and the stable and enduring integration of Wales into the English political system was one of Edward I's most lasting legacies. In Scotland, it was the succession crisis provoked by the death of King Alexander III and his heiress, his seven-year-old granddaughter Margaret, that brought about English intervention. Edward's unreasonable demands of John Balliol — the king he had placed on the Scottish throne — and Scotland's alliance with France (with which England was also at war) in 1296 opened the way to prolonged and indecisive fighting. Unlike in Wales, Edward was unable to bequeath a settled Anglo-Scottish situation to his son, Edward II, when he died in 1307.

All of Edward I's military adventures in France, Wales, and Scotland involved castles to some degree: castles newly built, rebuilt, besieged, captured, and destroyed. It is in Wales, however, that he achieved most as a castle builder, with no fewer than ten new royal castles — incorporating the latest thinking in military engineering — being constructed between 1277 and the end of his reign. Six of these castles, Flint, Rhuddlan, Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech, and Beaumaris, rank among the most significant contemporary castles in Europe in their size and sophistication. Edward's castle-building campaign in Wales has rightly been described as "the most ambitious and costly ever known in British history." It is also in Wales that the role of castles within Edwardian military and civil policy as a whole can most clearly be seen, and accordingly it is with the Welsh castles that this essay is chiefly concerned.

The Purpose and Context of Edwardian Castle-Building in Wales

Edward I became king in 1272, but was away on crusade at the time and did not return to England until 1274. Once returned and with the reins of government firmly in his hands, he wasted no time in dealing with the threatening instability of Wales. The first of Edward's Welsh wars lasted from 1276 to 1277, and his first programme of castle-building dates from the end of this conflict. There were already several important castles in Wales — such as Caerphilly, a great baronial castle in the south then under construction, the castles at Chepstow and Pembroke dating from the eleventh century, and the native Welsh princes' strongholds such as Dolwyddelan and Ewloe. The Edwardian castles, however, were very different from their predecessors in structure and purpose.

Whereas baronial castles such as Caerphilly and Chepstow were associated with local lordships and extensive landholdings, King Edward's castles were not the strongholds of particular lords, nor the centres of large estates. While Welsh castles such as Ewloe were built in inaccessible locations and were intended to serve as defensive refuges, the English castles were designed "to be easily supplied, to serve as bases for the operation of large armies, [and] to act as administrative headquarters." The purpose of Edward's castles was not to serve as boltholes against besieging enemies or as bases for further conquest; their role was to provide an infrastructure — both civilian and military — once conquest was complete, through which continued English dominance could be assured.

This role was crystallised in the close relationship between castle construction and the plantation of new towns. As a recent historian of Edward's reign has written: "English domination [of Wales] was not confined to alien laws and administration. Following the victory of 1277, Edward embarked upon his famous programme of castle building… These huge projects were designed not only to ensure English supremacy, but to function as secure bases for merchants and royal officials. They also became a focus for new town plantation in a country largely unfamiliar with towns."

The First Welsh War: Flint and Rhuddlan

The first of Edward's major castles — Flint and Rhuddlan in north-eastern Wales — were begun after the end of the First Welsh War of 1276–7 and were both closely associated with new towns built for English settlers. These towns were intended to become the focuses of local administration and economic activity. Militarily, the castles were designed to dominate the coastal plain of North Wales, and it is significant that both are positioned so that they can be supplied by sea, without any need to use vulnerable land routes of communication.

In the case of Rhuddlan, the River Clwyd was diverted and improved to enable deep-water shipping to travel to new docks serving the castle and its associated town — a clear example of the integration of economic and military objectives in Edwardian castle-building, and of the scale of the construction and engineering required. As military strongholds, both Flint and Rhuddlan are effective and up-to-date for their era, featuring well-sited round towers, concentric curtain walls, deep moats, and carefully planned fields of fire.

Flint in particular shows the influence of French models of castle construction in its large tower-keep. These structures are among the first for which Edward's Savoyard master-mason James of St. George was responsible, and James was clearly well-informed about the latest developments in military architecture across western Europe, incorporating them effectively into the structures he built for Edward.

Works Cited

Platt, Colin. The Castle in Medieval England and Wales. London: Secker & Warburg, 1982.

Pounds, N.J.G. The Medieval Castle in England and Wales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Prestwich, Michael. War Politics and Finance under Edward I. London: Faber, 1972.

Prestwich, Michael. Edward I. London: Methuen, 1988.

Raban, Sandra. England under Edward I and Edward II, 1259–1327. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.

Ross, David. Edward I's Castles in Wales. http://www.britainexpress.com/wales/history/edwardian-castles.htm

Thomas, Jeffrey L. Castles of Wales. http://www.castlewales.com.

Bibliography

Brown, R. Allen. The Architecture of Castles. London: Batsford, 1984.

Platt, Colin. The Castle in Medieval England and Wales. London: Secker & Warburg, 1982.

Pounds, N.J.G. The Medieval Castle in England and Wales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Prestwich, Michael. War Politics and Finance under Edward I. London: Faber, 1972.

Prestwich, Michael. Edward I. London: Methuen, 1988.

Prestwich, Michael. The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272–1377. London: Routledge, 1992.

Raban, Sandra. England under Edward I and Edward II, 1259–1327. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.

Ross, David. Edward I's Castles in Wales. http://www.britainexpress.com/wales/history/edwardian-castles.htm

Thomas, Jeffrey L. Castles of Wales. http://www.castlewales.com.