Keeping the Players Straight

For a little more than two centuries, the Welsh fought the Normans, trying to keep them from totally taking the land of their fathers. This border warfare continued along the "Marches" until the time of Edward I, beginning 1272, when he decided that enough was enough, and began a campaign to take this wild west county. It is always difficult to keep all the players straight, so the following is a time line for the Norman(English) rulers, and the Welsh rulers:

Norman Kings \ Welsh Lords

William I (the Conqueror) - 1066-1087

Rhys ap Tedwy (Tudor) d. 1093

William II (Rufus) - 1087-1100

Henry I - 1100-1135

Gruffydd ap Cynan d. 1137

Gruffydd ap Ryhys d. 1137

Stephen - 1135-1154

Henry II - 1154-1189

Madoc ap Maredydd d. 1160

Owain Gwynedd d. 1170

Richard I - 1189-1199

Rhys ap Gruffydd (Lord Rhys) d.1197

John - 1199-1216

Henry III - 1216-1272

Llewelyn ap Iorwerth (the Great) d. 1240

Edward I - 1272-1307

Llewelyn ap Gruffydd d. 1282


The Normans were actually introduced to the Welsh around 1055 when Edward the Confessor used their assistance in fighting the Welsh under Gruffydd ap Llewelyn. Excellent references for this period of history are:

"England Under The Norman and Angevin Kings 1075 - 1225", by Robert Bartlett, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2000.

"The Feudal Transformation 900 - 1200" , by Jean-Pierre Poly and Eric Bournazel, Holmes & Meier, London, 1991.

"The Normans", by Christopher Gravett & David Nicolle, Osprey Publishing, Ltd, Oxford, 2006.

"The Normans and the Norman Conquest", by Allen Brown, The Boydell Press, Suffolk, 1968.

"1066 The Year of The Conquest", by David Howarth, Dorset Press, a division of The Viking Press, 1978.

"The Bayeux Tapestry", by Simone Bertrand, ouest france, Rennes, 1978.

Isn't amazing that any of our JONES family survived!