Reasons for Caerphilly Castle

Wales had always been a difficult place for the Norman conquerors of England. The
mountainous land was hard to subdue and there were many local chiefs and uprisings
against attempts to impose Norman rule. One Welsh ruler of Senghennydd, Ifor
Bach, led a daring raid on the Norman castle at Cardiff in 1158, capturing the Earl of
Gloucester, his wife and son, holding them ransom. This meant that English rule was
weak in Wales and English Kings generally supported the attempts of Norman lords
to control parts of the area.

The Clare family came over to England with William the Conqueror in 1066 (the
original baron was William’s half brother). They acquired the earldom of Gloucester
and became leading barons, later taking over parts of Glamorgan in South Wales.
Richard de Clare (1222-62) was the father of Gilbert and was very powerful. He
wanted to extend his control over Glamorgan – he managed to defeat the rulers of
Meisgyn and Glynrhondda and Afan in 1246-7. The one area he failed to control was
Senghennydd.

Wales was very profitable for the de Clare family. They got rents and court fees
from their tenants, owned mills, animals, grain and wood as well as mines in
Glamorgan that produced silver, lead and iron. In all, their Welsh lands provided
about one-third of the wealth of the de Clare family. They could not afford to lose
this.

Richard de Clare was a leading member of the reforming party of barons in England.
King Henry III’s personal style of government and his reliance on foreign advisers
(especially his half-brothers) had antagonized many of the barons who thought the
King was ignoring them. The King and his barons were soon at war with each other.

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (d.1282), prince of Gwynedd, exploited the division and

dissension amongst the English. When Richard de Clare died in 1262, Llywelyn moved
up the Usk valley, capturing the Brecon lands of Humphrey de Bohun (guardian of the
young de Clare heir, Gilbert, who was only 19 years old and inexperienced), and
reaching the northern edge of Glamorgan. By 1267 Llywelyn had become master of
the greater part of modern Wales, except for the southern coastal plain (the
Glamorgan area, owned by the de Clare family).

Gilbert de Clare soon proved he was a good warrior and was strong enough to keep
Llywelyn back, but there was a constant threat from the heirs of people he (and his
father) had dispossessed of land in Glamorgan.

Gilbert, like his father, joined with the rebel barons who were fighting against
Henry III. The rebels were led by Simon De Montfort. The rebels attacked the
King’s castle at Rochester in April 1264. In retaliation, the King attacked the castle
owned by the de Clare family at Tonbridge in Kent, taking Gilbert’s wife, Alice,
prisoner and setting fire to the castle. Finally the rebels got the upper hand at the
Battle of Lewes where the King was defeated.

Gilbert was happy at this – until he heard that the rebel leader, De Montfort,
planned an alliance with the Welsh prince Llywelyn. Llywelyn was a constant threat to
the de Clare lands in Glamorgan, so Gilbert decided to switch sides and joined up
with the King against de Montfort. This meant the King could fight another battle
and, with Gilbert’s help, beat the rebels at the Battle of Evesham. In return for this
help, the King promised Gilbert that he would help him against Llywelyn.

However, following the Baronial revolts, there was only one potential enemy of King
Henry III; Llywelyn ap Gruffyd. Llywelyn was a powerful Lord holding most of the
land in Northern Wales. Rather than force confrontation with the King and his
armies, Llywelyn was smart enough to make peace with the King in the treaty of
Montgomery (29th September 1267). In exchange for this peace, the treaty made
Llywelyn the Prince of Wales and proclaimed him the feudal lord over the other
Welsh princes. His domains stretched from Gwynedd and Powys to the Marcher
lands of the border, and south to the boundaries of Glamorgan. This probably upset
Gilbert as it made Llywelyn a big threat to his lands.

There was a major loophole in the nature of the Treaty of Montgomery that gave
rise to the dispute between De Clare and Llywelyn. The treaty made Llywelyn the
feudal lord over all of the Welsh rulers. However, the treaty did not make clear
whether Llywelyn would have power over Norman rulers with holdings in Wales.

Llywelyn was not keen on the fact that Glamorgan was not his and was run by the de
Clare family. Similarly, de Clare was not keen on having such a powerful northern
neighbour and was upset that the King had made this treaty with the prince.

Because Baron Gilbert ‘The Red’ de Clare supported King Henry in the later stages of
the Baronial revolts, he was very much a favourite of the King. The King gave Gilbert
the power to take over the lands of those in Glamorgan who had supported the
Barons in the revolt. Amongst these was Gruffyd ap Rhys – the ruler of
Senghennydd. Baron De Clare swiftly defeated Gruffyd ap Rhys after several
battles in the region, and proclaimed himself Lord of Senghennydd.

In order stake a claim to the lands in and around the district of Senghennydd, Baron
de Clare decided to build a castle in the area at Caerphilly. As a result of this, the
construction of the castle began on April 11th 1268, just a few months after the
Treaty of Montgomery had been sealed.

The district in and around Caerphilly castle would have been subject to Llywelyn ap
Gruffyd as a feudal Lord if de Clare had not beaten Gruffyd ap Rhys. The exact
wording of the treaty of Montgomery left the ownership of the land open to
interpretation, and Gilbert de Clare was not about to allow this factor to stop him
staking his claim to the territory. The idea of Caerphilly castle was therefore born
in order to protect his lands in and around the district of Senghennydd.

During the summer of 1268, Llywelyn’s armies invaded upper and northern
Senghennydd. De Clare complained to the King, who ordered both sides to cease
hostile actions while arbiters (including the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of
Coventry, Lichfield and Worcester) attempted to solve the dispute between the two.

Various conferences and discussions took place over the next two years, each
promising to decide on which Lord rightfully owned the land. During this time, de
Clare continued construction of the castle – probably against the spirit of the
negotiations. Irritated at the lack of progress in the negotiations (and probably
worried about the speed at which Caerphilly castle was being built) Llywelyn launched
an attack against the half-built Caerphilly castle on October 11th 1270. The castle
was easily captured and Llywelyn celebrated his victory by burning it to the ground.

Probably thinking that the destruction of the castle effectively ended the argument
about ownership of the land, Llywelyn headed back to North Wales. However, De
Clare was not a man who was discouraged easily. In 1270 Gilbert had agreed to go
with Henry III on a crusade, but as he was about to leave he heard that Llyelyn had
destroyed his castle at Caerphilly. So Gilbert took his knights to Wales instead and
quickly rebuilt a great stone castle at Caerphilly. On June 1st 1271, building
recommenced on a much grander scale: the vision of Caerphilly castle had been born.
The design for the castle was one of the most ambitious and remarkable in history.
De Clare actually intended to build one of the largest castles in the country and take
on the Welsh Prince in his own backyard.

Although the work on the new castle obviously irritated Llywelyn, both sides were
again ordered to refrain from hostilities. Llywelyn’s worries deepened as his spies
brought back word about the great speed with which the castle was being built.
Llywelyn led his army “bannered and with arms displayed” to defeat Caerphilly castle
once and for all. A letter from King Henry to his brother at the time states that
Llywelyn “had sworn to cast down the castle and uproot it in three days and had only
accepted the plan on the condition that nothing should be added to the castle,
whether in walls, ditches, or garniture, nor should any walls be raised, crenellated,
bretached or changed”.

The second attack on Caerphilly castle was only prevented by intervention by

arbitrators sent in by the King who did not want the trouble to blow up again. The
arbitrators were bishops who managed to negotiate a truce. The bishops themselves
would take over the castle on behalf of the Crown until the ownership dispute was
settled. The truce was initially scheduled for 8 months.
Once more, Llywelyn and his army headed back to North Wales, confident that the
threat of Caerphilly castle had ended.

Shortly after the surrender of the castle to the bishops, the constable of Cardiff
castle (another of de Clare’s men) and two knights requested permission to check
the inventory of Caerphilly castle to ensure all was in order. Once the gates were
opened, 40 hidden men-at-arms charged into the castle and ejected the bishops’
men.

De Clare denied any prior knowledge of this action, but justified the action of his
men because he had not been present when the arrangement to hand over the castle
was made (his constable had been persuaded by the presence of Llywelyn’s army),
and therefore could not be bound by the conditions.

Again repelled, Llywelyn was forced to accept the promise of future arbitration over
ownership of the land. This arbitration never happened. De Clare was gaining
influence, popularity and allies in the area: notably Humphrey de Bohun, Lord of
Brecon. With this support, de Clare was able to drive Llywelyn back further and
further north. Llywelyn himself never again threatened the walls of Caerphilly
castle.

And thus Caerphilly castle was built. It did prove useful in protecting the Clare lands
from some attacks, but it swiftly lost its importance as a frontier castle because
Edward I took over after Henry III died and Edward, angry that Llywelyn did not go
to court to accept him as his lord, launched a successful attack against the Welsh
prince, beating him and setting up strong concentric castles in Northern Wales to
finally control the Welsh once and for all. Caerphilly simply became a centre for
administration of the Clare lands.

Gilbert de Clare was very powerful and able to do his own thing – he controlled over
500 manors in Britain. Even the powerful King Edward I needed to guarantee his
loyalty – and so tried to persuade him in 1283 to divorce his wife and marry the
King’s daughter, Joan. Even then, Gilbert didn’t do this for 6 years!

Earl Gilbert was to experience further difficulties in the autumn of 1294 when the
Welsh broke in revolt under Madog ap Llywelyn, mainly against the actions of new
royal administrators in north and west Wales. The uprising quickly spread to
Glamorgan, where it was led by Morgan ap Maredudd, a local Welsh ruler
dispossessed by Earl Gilbert in 1270, and attacks were directed against the de Clare
estates - half the town of Caerphilly was burnt - although the castle itself held out.
Eventually the rebels surrendered.

Earl Gilbert died at the age of 52 in December 1295, and his estates were
administered by his widow until her death in 1307.