Wales And The Wars Of The RosesI didn’t expect to find anything connected with the Wars of the Roses when we went to Pennal for a holiday. I hadn’t even checked up on Welsh historical associations, so was delighted to find Owain Glyndwr’s parliament building in nearby Machynlleth on the first morning. He held a parliament there in 1404 and was crowned King of Wales.
Next we visited the Church of St Peter ad Vincula in Pennal where a memorial garden is dedicated to Owain, overlooked by a statue of him. Here he wrote a letter to the French Pope Benedict XIII asking for an independent Welsh church, and the creation of two universities to educate the clergy. The Pennal Letter, as it is now known, was written on March 31st 1406 and sent to Paris.
It was probably written at Cefn Caer, a mediaeval hall house, just up a lane out of Pennal. It is privately owned but the delightful Mr Rowlands will show you round for £5 if you ring him first to arrange a convenient time. The house is built on the site of a Roman fort and is full of ancient furniture. Owain’s crown and sword of state take pride of place.
Back to our time - a village display about the history of Pennal mentioned Wtra’r Beddau - The Road of the Graves. This is the road between Cwrt and Pennal. A battle was fought between the soldiers of Thomas ab Gruffydd ab Nicholas (York) and Harri ab Gwilym (Lancaster). The former was victorious and the road is said to be paved with the graves of the fallen. Others are also buried in a tumulus on the north side of the road.
Onto Harlech Castle, another place well worth visiting if you are in the area, but don’t miss the main approach - the other road is almost vertical and full of bends! Here Queen Margaret took shelter in 1460, and from 1461 to 1468 it was held for the Lancastrians by a Welsh constable, Dafydd ab Ieuan ab Einion. Then King Edward sent a large army commanded by the Herbert brothers, William and Richard, who stormed the castle. The defenders surrendered after less than a month on 14 August 1468. The siege is supposed to have given rise to the song Men of Harlech. Edward IV was delighted and made William Earl of Pembroke. William Herbert was the first member of the Welsh gentry to join the English peerage.
Some weeks later we visited Raglan Castle, the home of William Herbert. The remains are magnificent and well worth a visit. William’s father bought the manor of Raglan in 1432 from the Berkeley family and built a castle. The south gate and the great tower date from his time.
William Herbert succeeded his father in 1445. In the 1450's he built up trade with France and the Low Countries from the port of Bristol. In 1461 he attached himself to Edward, Earl of March, and helped him win the battle of Mortimer’s Cross. A month later, Edward was king and rewarding Sir William with the role of Chief Justice and Chamberlain of South Wales. Later that year Edward made him Baron Herbert of Raglan. In 1462 he was created a Knight of the Garter and in 1467 Chief Justice of North Wales. Henry Tudor was placed in Herbert’s custody in 1462 and brought up at Raglan.
During the 1460's Herbert was able to extend his father’s castle, and the ruins you see today mostly date from his time. Unfortunately he did not enjoy it for long as he and his brother were defeated at the battle of Edgecote in July 1469 and executed by the Earl of Warwick.
William was buried at Tintern Abbey. Nothing now remains of his tomb but there is an illustration of it in the family chronicle in Cardiff Central Library.
William’s son, also called William, was only fourteen when his father died, and already married to Mary Woodville, one of the queen’s sisters. He had to give up the earldom of Pembroke in 1479 so that King Edward could give it to his eldest son. Edward made him Earl of Huntingdon instead. Richard III made him Chief Justice of South Wales, as his father had been.
At his death in 1491 the barony passed to his daughter Elizabeth as he had no son. Raglan was owned by William’s brother Walter, who had been a supporter of the House of York, but who now supported the Tudors. In 1502 he entertained Elizabeth of York at Raglan. He was her uncle.
When Walter died in 1507, Henry VII gave Raglan to his widow, but when she remarried it passed to Elizabeth Herbert, the daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon, and her husband Sir Charles Somerset. The Somersets became Earls of Worcester under Henry VIII.