Welsh Marches
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The Welsh Marches (Welsh: Y Mers) is an area along the border of England and Wales on the island of Great Britain, in the current United Kingdom. The word "march" means a border region or frontier, and is cognate with the verb "to march," both ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *mereg-, "edge" or "boundary." Marches are thus border regions between centres of power. The precise context of the term has varied at different periods.
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[edit] Mercia and the Welsh
The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia (Old English: Miercna) took its name from this same root word which in this instance referred explicitly to the territory's position on the frontier between the Romano-British in the west and the Anglo-Saxons in the east and would have meant "border people". The region was militarily important during the Dark Ages after the decline and fall of Rome, as can be seen in huge defensive earthworks such as Wat's Dyke. The early Mercians under Penda established strong alliances with the Welsh kings, and Penda's successor Wulfhere later expanded Mercia to absorb the northern end of the Marches area around Chester. Wulfhere’s successor established good alliances with the Welsh tribes, and very little is heard in the records of raids from Wales into Mercia.
As the power of Mercia grew, a string of garrisoned market-towns defined the borderlands as much as Offa's Dyke, the official boundary erected by order of King Offa of Mercia at the end of the 8th century. The immense Dyke still exists, and the best place to see Offa's Dyke is at Knighton, which borders England and Wales in the respective counties of Shropshire and Powys.
[edit] Medieval Wales
- See Also Marchia Wallie and Pura Wallia
In the medieval period, the march was those parts of Wales that were ruled as marcher lordships by Marcher Lords. These were Welsh kingdoms, commotes, cantrefs, or other polities conquered by Anglo-Norman barons, sometimes on the orders of the king of England, or at least with their tacit approval. Ultimately, this amounted to about two-thirds of Wales. It was the whole country, apart from the Principality of Wales that had been ruled by Llywelyn the Last. In this period a distinction was made between pura Wallia and the March.[1]
The precise dates and means of formation of marcher lordships varied, as did their size. A few (such as Oswestry, Whittington, Clun, and Wigmore) had been part of England at the time of Domesday Book and have been in England again since 1536. A few such as the Lordship of Powys were Welsh principalities that passed by marriage inot the hands of Norman barons.
In England national institutions (such as courts) covered the whole of a united country under the direct rule of the king. In contrast, each marcher lord was virtually the independent ruler of a petty state. He owed allegiance personally to the king, but the king had little right to interfere in the internal government of the lordship (apart from treason).
[edit] The Acts of Union
By the 16th century, many marcher lordships had devolved upon the crown. This was the result of the accession of Henry IV, who was previously Duke of Lancaster, and Edward IV (heir of the Earls of March; of the attainder of other lords during the Wars of the Roses; and of other events.
In 1536 under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, the jurisdiction of the marchers lords was abolished and the lordships were organised into new Welsh counties. In place of assize courts of England, there were Courts of Great Sessions. These administered English law, in contrast with the marcher lordships, which had administered Welsh law for their Welsh subject. However a few lordships along the English border were annexed to English counties.
[edit] Council of the Marches
The new system was overseen by the Council of Wales and the Marches, whose jurisdiction also included English border counties such as Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire. Its administrative centre was established at Ludlow in Shropshire. This operated until its abolition in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution.
The term 'march' seems to have come to refer to the area outside Wales that was subject to the Council. In doing so, the term has reverted to its original meaning, of a boundary.
[edit] Today
There is no legal definition of the extent of the March. Discounting modern administrative boundaries, the Welsh Marches are sometimes deemed to be the area that lies between the mountains of Wales itself and the river valleys of England. But today the Welsh Marches is a term commonly used to describe those parts of the English counties which lie along the border with Wales, mainly on the English side of the border, though it is not an official term. Principally, the counties belonging to the Welsh Marches are Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire (English counties). Also occasionally, and after the 14th century, Monmouthshire and Powys (now Welsh counties). The western half of Gloucestershire (England), as well as Pembrokeshire, Flintshire and Wrexham (Wales) are also sometimes included, depending on the speaker and the era in which the terms was used.
[edit] See also
- Category:Towns of the Welsh Marches
- Category:Counties of the Welsh Marches
- Marches - for other examples, including Scottish Marches between England and Scotland.
- Council of the Marches
- Earl of March - some of the dynastic families controlling the Welsh Marches
- Welsh Marches Line - railway line that runs through the marches
- Marches Way a long distance footpath from Chester to Cardiff through the Welsh Marches
- A49 - main road that runs north-south through the marches
- Stokesay Castle, near Ludlow, Shropshire
- Bernard de Neufmarche
- William de Braose
- Honour of Richmond
[edit] External links
- Richard Williams, "The Welsh Marches": a brief introduction
- Local Web site for a Marches Town:
[edit] References
- Nelson, Lynn H., 1966. The Normans in South Wales, 1070–1171 (Austin and London: University of Texas Press).
- ^ Davies, R. R., The Age of Conquest: Wales 1063-1415 (Oxford 1987, 2000 edition), pp. 271-88.
