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same Castles;" he was also "commanded to be prepared to go to Ireland to fetch victual for their munition.

An order was given about this time to John de Grey, Justice of Chester, to replace the wooden palisade round Chester Castle with stone and repair that of Dissard; no date is given, though in 34 Hen. III (1250) there was an acquittance of suits of counties and hundreds for one year, in Wiltshire made to Will. de Grimested, Constable of Dissard; and Alan la Zuche, who was appointed Justice of Chester in 1251, is commanded to appoint the Constables of Gannoc and Dissard, the overseers of the King's works there.

On July 2nd, 1250, a Mandate was issued from Marlborough to Walkelin de Ardern, William de Boydell, Geoffrey de Dutton, and Robert Patric, to go personally to the Castles of Gannoc and Dissard, in North Wales, and the King's castles and manors in the county of Chester, and to view in what state J. de Grey let them go, and in what state A. la Zuche, Justice of Chester, accepted them, and how they are munitioned with arms and other necessaries, and what they find they are to draw up in writing and cause it to be chirographed between them and the said Justice; one part to be delivered to the said Justice, and the other to be sent under their seals to the King.

Rightly or wrongly, we learn from Matthew Paris that Zuche replaced De Grey, promising to make the Welsh portion of his charge more profitable to the Exchequer. He extracted' 1100 marks from a district,

1 Pat. Rolls, Letters, Hen. III, vol. ii, 45.

2 Close Rolls, 34 Hen. III.

3 Annales Cestrienses.

4 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 35 Hen. III.

5 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 34 Hen. III.

6 Matt. Paris, Chron., v, 227. Cf. Ann. Cest., s. a.

7 Matt. Paris, s. a., 1251-2.-Parry's Royal Visits, 123.

which, in the time of his predecessors, only yielded 500, and declared publicly at St. Albans, when on his way to the Treasury, that the whole of Wales was now at length subdued to absolute obedience to the English laws, and that it was in a state of profound tranquility.

Alan la Zuche,1 however, resigned his Justiciary and was commanded on September 16th to deliver his charge to Gilbert Talbot, by whom he was succeeded on September 29th, 1255. The appointment of Justiciary of Ireland was given to Zuche in 1256, and he sailed from Chester on June 24th.

The efforts of King Henry to obtain tenants for the property near Dissard Castle met with success, although there appears to have been some question as to the holding of the same. It was decided that the lands should be held by free and own tenure, not by knights' service, as the following Mandate to Alan la Zuche, Justice of Chester, shows:

Jany. 12 (1251), Westminster,2 35 Hen. III. To cause burgages to be assessed and assigned by view and testimony of good men of Gannoc and Dissard, as the King commanded him at another time; and the King has granted to all persons dwelling there or hereafter the same liberties and free customs hitherto used among the burgesses of Chester.

In October, 1254, a change of affairs was brought about by the marriage of the King's son and heir, Edward, on whom he conferred the earldom of Chester, and all his lands in Wales (practically, Flintshire and Denbighshire, etc.). Edward, who was but a boy of 16, took some part in the administration, though the real government was conducted by ministers who

1 Ann. Cestrienses, 71.

2 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 35 Hen. III.

3 Married Eleanor, daughter of Ferdinand the Saint.

treated the Welsh unjustly. The charter of King Henry granted, on February 14th, 1254, at Bazas,

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Edward, the King's first-born son and heir, the whole of Ireland, except Dublin and Limerick. The whole county of Chester with its castles and towns, with the King's conquest of Wales in these bounds to wit-Rothelan, Dissard, Gannoc, and the other land of Pervethelat .. to hold to him and his heirs on condition that they never be separated from the Crown of England, and that no one by reason of this grant may at any time claim any right therein, but remain wholly to the Kings of England for ever."

A Mandate was also issued at the same time, to Alan la Zuche, Justice of Chester, to give full seisin to Edward of the above castles.

A Mandate from Reading, on March 14th, 1254, to the tenants of the county of Chester, and of Rothelan, Dissard, and Gannoc, to whom the King has granted to his son and heir by charter-saving to the King the lands of the church and wardships of void churches, wherein he ought to have the ward, and Bartholomew Peeche is sent to those parts.

A writ de intendendo was issued on April 14th, 1254, at Meilham, "to the tenants of the County of Chester, and of Rothelan, Dissard, Gannoc, etc., which the King has granted to his son and heir by charter."

Prince Edward's first visit to Chester and the Castles of Dissard and Gannoc was on the festival of St. Kenelm, two years after his nomination to the earldom (1256). He farmed all his land to Alan de la Zouche for the small sum of 100 marks, who

1 Pat. Rolls, 37-38 Hen. III.

2 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 37-38 Hen. III.
3 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 37-38 Hen. III.
4 Rymer's Foedera, 43.

in turn exacted large tribute from the Welsh, although they were deprived by the grant of their pasture lands. There is little wonder, that with the severity of the laws at the time, against both the English and the Welsh, and the virtual deposition of Henry by the "Mad Parliament" at Oxford, on June 11th, 1258, that the Welsh complaints to Llywelyn received both his sympathy and vigorous denunciation.'

The jealousy of Owain and David at the growing popularity of their brother Llywelyn led to their taking up arms against him at Bryn Derwin2 in 1254. Owain was captured and confined in Dolbadarn Castle, but David escaped to England and did much mischief.

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Llywelyn alone took up the Welsh cause' to combat the annexation of their land, with the probable destruction of their customs and incidents of tenure. Individuals had already suffered much injustice by reason of illegal imprisonment, violent evictions, and general oppression at the hands of Edward's officers." Llywelyn took the field in 1256, and subdued Perfeddwlad, with the exception of the Castles of Dyserth and Deganwy. He was secretly assisted by the Barons. Prince Edward led a force into his own territories, but effected nothing beyond

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1 His speech is given in Parry's Royal Visits, 121.

2 Brut s. a., 1254.

4 Brut s. a., 1255.

3 Leland, v, 45.

5 Geoffrey de Langley, 1256 A.D. Ann. Camb., 1256: "Henricus filius tunc Comes Cestriæ circa Kalendas Augusti ad castra sua, videlicet de Digannoy et de Disserth videndum et Terrasquo recedente et facta visitatione nobiles Walliæ indignati et suis spoliati libertatibus et honoribus, more Machabaeorum, zelo justitiæ accensi elegerunt potius cum honore in bello pro libertate sua mori quam sic ab extraneis et indignis hostibus calcari, ad nobilem juvenem, videlicet Lewelinum filium Grifini filii Lewelini accesserunt, suam ei exponentes captivitatem, tribulationem, cum lachrymis et gemitibus.'

6 Wykes, 133. Flores, ii, 478.

temporary relief to the hard-pressed garrisons of Dyserth and Deganwy, and was then recalled by his father. This increased the courage of the Welshmen, who carried their devastation right up to the walls of Chester.

The King came to his son's assistance with a great army, and also with the help of a naval contingent from the Cinque Ports,' on August 19th, 1257. The army was divided into two parts, one of which he joined at Chester.2 The sieges at Dyserth and Deganwy were raised, and Henry remained at the latter fortress from August 26th until the Feast of St. Mary (September 4th) expecting to receive assistance from Ireland, which failed. Llywelyn was at this time in the fastnesses of Snowdon, together with the families of his troops and their flocks. During the King's retreat towards Chester, after this, his final, inglorious and unprofitable invasion of the Principality, Henry was severely harassed by Llywelyn.*

On September 11th Henry was again encamped at Dyserth, but his late disappointment threw him into a fever which kept him in bed for some time. The war was chiefly confined to the lands of Prince Edward and those of zealous Royalists, until June 1258, when a truce was agreed upon at Oxford in the following terms :—

June 16th, Oxford. Grant by the King for himself, Edward his son, and all his men, English and Welsh, to Llywelyn son of Griffith, by Anian, Abbot

1 Annales Monastici de Osseneia, vol. iv, Rolls Series.

2 Rymer's Foedera, i, 361; Matt. Paris.

3 Brut y Tywys., 345.

4 Chronica Maiorum et Vicecomitum London., 29.

5 Rymer's Foedera, 363.

Parry's Royal Visits.

7 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 42 Hen. III.

8 2000 marks, the money of A., bishop-elect of Winchester, was taken for the war in Wales! Cal. Pat. Rolls, 43 Hen. III.

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