Edward poured an enormous amount of money and effort into both the construction of new castles and the rebuilding of those damaged during the rebellion, all in the hope that this would ensure the pacification of Wales. Once again, however, it was Edward's plans for how Wales should be governed that precipitated a rebellion. With the introduction of the English shire system into Wales, some features of Welsh and Marcher law remained untouched, while others were done away with. The result was that, as one of Edward's justiciars noted, The land was much troubled and irritated. The rebellion of another former ally, Rhys ap Maredudd, in 1287 and 1288 reflected that resentment, even if it failed to generate any popular support. Welsh discontent was brought to a head in 1294, when the final payment of an unpopular tax coincided with the raising of Welsh troops for Edward's campaign in Gascony.

On September 30, 1294, as the Welsh soldiers were due to muster at Shrewsbury, they suddenly mutinied, killing their English officers and attacking English strongholds. The uprising was widespread, even reaching into previously untouched areas such as the Marcher lordship of Glamorgan. Initially led by a variety of local rulers, the Welsh eventually rallied around a distant cousin of Prince Llywelyn, Madog ap Llywelyn. Soon, virtually every important castle in Wales was under siege.

Lulled into a false sense of security because of his new castles, Edward was taken completely by surprise. Fortunately for him, it would be an easy matter to redirect the forces he had already summoned to Portsmouth for his war in Gascony. In early October, Edward ordered the main army to muster at Worcester. However, as an indication of how bad the situation had become, he directed immediate reinforcements to Brecon Castle and the southern port of Cardiff, rather than the usual points of Montgomery and Carmarthen.

Once again Edward embarked on what was, for the Middle Ages, the unusual expedient of a winter campaign. Because the immediate area west of Chester still needed to be cleared, he divided his main army into two detachments. Leading a column of 50 horse and 5,000 foot soldiers, Edward rode south to Wrexham on December 5 and then turned westward toward the upper Clwyd. According to the Hagnaby chronicle, some 10,000 rebels surrendered to Edward. He pardoned them on the condition that they serve with him in France. The rebels, in turn, pledged to hand their leader over to Edward. Madog, however, convinced his followers that it was better to die defending their homes than to do so in a foreign land. The Welsh resistance continued.

On Christmas Eve, Edward was reunited at his new castle on the Conway estuary with Reginald de Grey's force of 74 horse and 11,000 foot, which had traveled along the coast. The king then decided to conduct another raid. On January 6, 1295, Edward traveled down the northwestern coast of Snowdonia into the Lleyn Peninsula, reaching the town of Nefyn on the 12th. On the return trip, Edward's raiding party, slowed down by their booty, was ambushed near Bangor. Although the column returned to Conway Castle on the 20th, the baggage train had been lost. To make matters worse, the rough winter seas prevented supplies from reaching Conway. If, according to the Dominican Friar Nicholas Trivet, the king was reduced to dining on salted fish and water flavored with honey, the plight of the common soldier must have been desperate indeed. Instead of cowing the rebels and increasing his food stocks, Edward's raid resulted in the raising of Welsh morale and the loss of precious supplies.

As in the previous war, with Edward's advance on Snowdonia stalled, the head of the rebellion judged the time right to launch an indirect counterattack. Madog decided to lead his army eastward to threaten Shrewsbury. According to the Hagnaby chronicle, [Madog] came into Powys with the elite of his Welshmen. The Welsh army camped at Maes Moydog, northeast of Montgomery. English agents, however, informed the commander of the central force of Madog's location. Gathering together 120 knights and 2,500 infantrymen, William de Beauchamp raced back from Oswestry to his base at Montgomery. From there, he approached the Welsh camp under cover of darkness.

On the morning of March 5, the Welsh prepared to do battle. According to Trivet, They planted the butts of their spears on the ground, and turned the points against the charging cavalry so as to defend themselves from their rush. Initially the results were promising, as the first charge was repulsed with the loss of 10 horses. In the words of the Hagnaby chronicle, The Welshmen held their ground well, and they were the best and bravest Welsh that anyone had seen. Beauchamp then placed his archers between his knights, so that their fire could produce gaps in the Welsh line of spearmen that his knights could exploit. Presumably that tactic succeeded, as the Welsh formation was broken by the second assault and their army was routed. At the cost of only 90 infantrymen, according to the Hagnaby chronicle, the English managed to kill 700 Welsh of the nobler sort. Although Madog escaped, the defeat at Maes Moydog tore the heart out of the rebellion.

In turn, the destruction of Madog's army may have lifted the spirits of Edward's troops at Conway, for even though relief had come six weeks before the victory at Maes Moydog, Edward failed to act until five days after the battle. On March 10, a picked party of archers, led by a few knights, made a sortie against the rebel camp. The Welsh, who were literally caught napping, lost 500 men. Even some of the English baggage lost back in January was retrieved. On April 15, an English force was sent to occupy Anglesey, where they began to erect Beaumaris Castle.

The successful raid on the Welsh camp and the attack on Anglesey–following, as they did, on the heels of the defeat at Maes Moydog–drove home to most of the Welsh the futility of further resistance. Edward now embarked on what amounted to a victorious circuit around Wales, during which he received the submission of various bands of rebels. Like Daffydd before him, Madog had become a fugitive. He finally surrendered in late July, after trying to lead a raid into Shropshire. Oddly enough, rather than having him executed, Edward imprisoned him in the Tower.

Despite their eventual defeat, the Welsh leaders had demonstrated a clear grasp of strategy. When the traditional approach of delay and evasion failed in 1277, Prince Llywelyn sought a viable alternative during the war of 1282-83. Since he could not openly challenge Edward's advance on Gwynedd by land or sea, he resolved to divert it by distracting Edward with an attack on the English central area. Consciously or otherwise, Madog ap Llywelyn followed the same strategy of an indirect attack during the war of 1294-95. Both attempts ended in disaster for the Welsh, but while the defeats of Irfon Bridge and Maes Moydog represented a failure of Welsh forces to stand up to English armies in open battle, they did not necessarily represent a failure of Welsh strategy. In both instances Edward was compelled to postpone his advance on Snowdonia until the threat to his central area had been eliminated. Ultimately, the defeat of the Welsh stemmed from the weaknesses of a small society in transition, rather than any failure on the part of that society's leaders to understand military strategy.

Ironically, while an independent principality of Wales failed to survive, the title of Prince of Wales has endured. This was co-opted by Edward, who bestowed it upon his son, the future Edward II, in February 1301. To this day, the title Prince of Wales has traditionally been given to the intended successor to the English throne.

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This article was written by Paul V. Walsh and originally published in the February 1999 issue of Military History magazine.

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