1st To Record

William the Conqueror (began to reign 1066, d. 1087, reigned 21 yrs.) divided his conquered lands into 700 baronies or great fiefs. These were the lands that did not belong to the church, and were not already reserved for himself. He bestowed these baronies on his family, particular friends, or those who had distinguished themselves in his service. These baronies were subdivided into 60,215 knights' fee. [We would consider "rent"!] No Saxons or Welsh had any of these first fiefs, and only a few Saxons were allowed (elevated enough) to obtain any of the later. This explains why most of the English genealogy books begin their lineage with the Norman conquest. An abstract of English printed peerage, by Richard Sims (1856), reports that out of 249 "nobleman", only 35 laid claim to have traced their descent beyond the Conquest. (14%) The Welsh are not even in the picture! Of course, Welsh documents were not considered to be legitimate records of the realm.

There were other records that had been kept before the Normans arrived. Monastic records head the list, and are the most ancient records known to exist. They (religious houses) needed to keep records of their secular estates. Many of these records were destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII. [Religious houses were considered abbies, priories, and cathedrals.] These monastic records have been divided into: 1) Chartularies, 2) Leiger-Books, 3) Registers, 4) Obituaries, 5) Necrologies, 6) Calendars, and 7) Chronicles. [seven, a good religious number] These are given in great detail in one of the first genealogial text titled "Sims's Manual For The Genealogist and Antiquary", by Richard Sims (of the British Museum), John Russell Smith, London, 1856. A copy I have in my hand as I write this post!

It was the Celtic church writers that were the first to record the family trees of the Welsh! [see post called Eliseg Pillar under blog on Welsh genealogy] Writing in Latin, these records began 500 years before the Normans arrived to our island. Who would have guest.

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!

A Precarious Position

We left our Welsh ancestors in a very precarious position. The Norman invasion and conquest of England was at hand, and by 1086, the military conquest of Wales was underway. However, several key events took place which changed the future timing of the complete conquest of Wales and the gradual introduction of the JONES surname.

First, William I died in 1087 leaving his son William II to continue his plan of Welsh conquest. However, with any change in power, there is a change in control and administration. This change in leadership allowed at least a "break" in the intensity of the military invasion.

Second, the Norman lords and barons were becoming increasingly independent, and the death of William I allowed for a more lax sense of loyalties. Also, these same "lords" were beginning to want more independence and control of their own lands. Thus, the Normans starting fighting one another.

Third, the Welsh princes began to recognize that the Norman invasion was threatening to become a permanent occupation of Welsh territories. They realized that actions needed to be taken to maintain their remaining lands and to recover occupied lands.

It is important to recognize that the Welsh responses to the Norman invasion were different within the geographic regions of Wales. The multiple family groups tried to figure out how to face this new challenge to the best of their advantage.

The northern most sections of Wales responded to the Norman invasion by intense and fierce rebellion for the next 200 years. Influenced by the heritage of the oldest son of Rhodi Mawr (Royal Tribe I), this geopolitical region maintained resistance to Norman conquest until 1282 A.D. The last direct heir, Llwewllyn ap Griffith, Prince of North Wales, was killed at the battle of Builth on the Wye.

The border areas of Wales were bound by a stronger Roman tradition, laws, roads, and commercial ties with the Anglo-Saxons. Already more "Anglicized" [the Welsh term was Sais], this geopolitical region tended to respond to the Norman invasion by offering their daughter in marriage to the Norman lords. This strategy helped them to maintain their lands, resources and trade, while keeping Welsh lands identified with ancient Welsh traditions. However, this strategy also gave lands to the Normans as the Welsh-Norman families evolved under this new breed of "land barons". It was in this geopolitical region that the most powerful Norman "lords" evolved. This area became known as the "March" and the nobles were know as the "Lords of the March". [Lords of the Border] Their strength was partly due to the Welsh support obtained by marriage. This strategy often produced treaties which could be used by the Welsh princes to use the Norman military to their advantage. By treaties, the Welsh princes agreed to aide the Normans in their battles. In return, the Welsh families obtained recognition of their royal and legal claims under Norman law, while becoming essentially vassals to the Norman lords. It was in this context that the JONES surname evolves.