Welsh and Norman Home Life in the 12th Century
"In the far past...stray glimpses of home life appear as pleasant rifts among the clouds of disorder that shadowed the Principality..."
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From Glimpses of Welsh Life and Character by Marie Trevelyan, 1893.
In the far past, when Norman lords married Welsh ladies, and the people of Wales became more resigned to the strangers, stray glimpses of home life appear as pleasant rifts among the clouds of disorder that shadowed the Principality. It was probably due to the influence of change in home life and domestic arrangements consequent upon the intermarriages between the Normans and the Welsh, that, as time rolled on, Welsh princes and Norman lords stood together, and willingly offered their services as soldiers for the Third Crusade.
The very earliest peeps into home life in the Principality are to be found in the account which Giraldus Cambrensis gives of Archbishop Baldwin's celebrated itinerary through Wales in 1188. These glimpses are few and far between, because Giraldus dwells chiefly upon the hospitality extended to the archbishop by the abbots, and the kindness of the Church to the poor. Giraldus tells us that during his visit, Wales, and the county of Glamorgan especially, was famine-stricken, and that the good monks of Margam sent a vessel from Port Talbot to Bristol for corn.
He adds that the "noble Cistercian Abbey under Conan, a learned and prudent abbot, was at this time more celebrated for its charitable deeds than any other of that order in Wales. On this account, it is an undoubted fact that as a reward for that abundant charity which the monastery had always in time of need exercised towards strangers and poor persons in a season of approaching famine, their corn and provisions were perceptibly, by Divine assistance, increased like the widow's cruse of oil through the instrumentality of the prophet Elijah."
In those days it is stated that the Cymric ladies and heiresses who married Norman lords, sang the songs of Normandy and of wild Wales, to the accompaniment of the harp; and, although highly accomplished in instrumental and vocal music, they were equally skilled in household management and famed for domestic comfort and thrift.
These ladies excelled in making metheglin or mead, and there were women mead-brewers who sold the "meth," as they called it, together with herb tea and botanical mixtures for various disorders.
But even then, the home life was rudely and frequently interrupted by Welsh insurrections upon the persons and property of the Normans. The Welsh ardently desired to win back their own possessions, and, according to the "Annals of Margam," towns were burnt, castles assailed, cattle and flocks slaughtered, and many ravages committed in quick succession. Very little peace existed, and matters would doubtless have been much worse, were it not for the very powerful, and, to a certain extent, beneficial influence which the Church exercised over the Normans and Welsh alike.
Still the Welsh keenly felt the injustice of the Norman sway; and it is very evident that while the Welshmen fulfilled at an early date the duties of citizens under the "Conquest," it is also certain that constant ravages were made by fierce native marauders upon the possessions of their enemies.
The following incident, related by Sir Edward Mansel, serves to illustrate the social state of the period. "After eleven of the knights had been endowed with their lands, Pagan de Turberville asked Sir Robert Fitzhamon where was his share. To which Sir Robert answered, 'Here are men, here are arms; go, get it where you can.' So Turberville with his men went to Coyty, and sent to Morgan, the Welsh lord, a messenger to ask if he would yield up the castle. Upon this Morgan brought out his daughter Sara in his hand, and passing through with his sword in her right hand, came to Pagan de Turberville, and told him if he would marry his daughter, and so come like an honest man into his castle, that he would yield to him quickly, and, if not, said he, 'Let not the blood of any of our men be lost, but let this sword and arm of mine, and those of yours, decide who shall call this castle his own.’
Upon this Pagan de Turberville drew his sword, and took it by the blade in his left hand, and gave it to Morgan, and with the right hand embraced the daughter; and, after settling every matter to the liking of both sides, he went with her to church and married her, and so came to the lordship of Coyty, by true right of possession, and being so counselled by Morgan, kept in his castle two thousand of the best of his Welsh soldiers.
Upon account of his getting possession by marriage, Pagan would never pay the noble which was due to the chief lord, Fitzhamon, every year, but chose rather to pay it to Cradoc ap Jestyn, the person whom he and the Welsh recognised as the Lord of Glamorgan. This caused hot disputes about it; but Pagan, with the help of his wife's brother, got the better, till some time afterwards it was settled that all the Norman lords should hold the seignory, which was made up of the whole number of lords in conjunction together."
Home life at that time must have been strangely confused, and in many respects painful, especially when the Normans fought against their wives' relatives, while the latter destroyed the castles which had become the homes of their kinswomen. Song was then broken by the clash of arms, and the harp was laid aside for the sword. The Norman-French language mingled musically with the sonorous Welsh, and many a Celtic maiden living in the wilds of Wales was lured by the wealth of the Normans to become their wives.
In fragments of history, and scraps of ancient MSS. that float like driftwood upon the tide of time, mention is occasionally made of Welsh ladies who were the "most saintly women of their day," and who "all through life kept at their own expense many poor folk." Through Lent they attended the triple matins of the Trinity, the Cross, and St. Mary. Every day they read the Psalter through, and "persevered in good and holy works to their lives' end."
Turning from the religious fervency of the women to the domestic life of the period, we find the following list of viands consumed at a feast: Sewin, which is a fish peculiar to Wales alone. It resembles salmon trout, and is mistaken for that fish, although it is quite a different species. Pilchard, hake, pike, eels; pies made of layers of apples, bacon, mutton and onions; cream cheese and flummery, which resembles porridge; great caldrons of soup; salads; red deer and doe roasted on the embers; spits of pheasants, partridges, larks, and buntings; and fruit also. There were red and beautiful apples and grapes, for Glamorganshire was celebrated for its orchards and vineyards. In these feasts, fair hands placed burdock leaves for platters, and willing maidens brought huge flagons of ale from cool and rocky cellars.
Then again it is stated that the Norman nobles prided themselves upon their civilised and smooth-shaven chins, while the Welsh princes were proud of their beautiful beards, and hair of black, brown and in many instances in South Wales, golden locks left unkempt and tossed back by the hand when the brow was hot and burning in the fray, or blown from the forehead by .the wild winds of the west when the battle was over. The Normans dressed in the full armour of the period, while the Welsh wore the skins of animals killed in the chase. They also wore garments of roughly woven woollen material, chiefly in block patterns of red and black, or black and white, or grey and white or black.
The age then divided its time between warfare and debauchery, and the work of civilisation and instruction was accomplished by the monks. The enthusiasm of the Cistercians was very great. Each abbey was the centre of culture of its district, where it gave a striking example of its peaceful industry and orderly life. The monks attended to the education and religious training of the people. They also drained the lands, reclaimed the forests, repaired dykes, introduced new fruits and vegetables, and employed new methods of agriculture. So far back as the fifth century, Illtyd the knight and saint improved the manner of cultivating the ground in Glamorgan, and it is said that he taught the Welsh the art of ploughing, and invented the plough which is now in use. Before his time the land was cultivated with a mattock and a spade only.
Of the Norman sway in England and Wales, Thorkel Skallason sang
"Cold heart and bloody hand
Now rule English land."
In A.D. 1137, an old chronicle states:
"The French had filled the land full of castles. They greatly oppressed the wretched people by making them work at those castles; and when the castles were finished, they filled them with devils and evil men. They took those whom they suspected of having any goods, both men and women, and they put them in prison for their gold and silver, and tortured them with pains unspeakable, for never were any martyrs tormented as these were. They hung some by their feet, and smoked them with foul smoke; some by the thumbs or by the head, and put burning things on their feet. They put a knotted string round their heads, and twisted it till it went into the brain. They put them into dungeons wherein were adders and snakes and toads, and thus wore them out. Some they put into a crucet-house, that is, into a chest that was short and narrow, and they put sharp stones therein, and crushed the man so that they broke all his bones. There were hateful and grim things called sachenteges in many of the castles, which two or three men had enough to do to carry. This sachentege was made thus: it was fastened to a beam, having a sharp iron to go round a man's throat and neck, so that he might no ways sit not lie nor sleep, but he must bear all the iron. Many thousands they wore out with hunger....Then was corn dear, and flesh and cheese and butter, for there was none in the land. Wretched men starved with hunger. Some lived on alms who had been once rich. Some fled the country. Never was there more misery, and never heathens acted worse than these."
The above is a gruesome picture, and perhaps, to a certain extent overdrawn, but it gives the modern mind some idea of Welsh life in the far past, when the spirit of freedom was held in bitter bondage, out of which, slowly, as the ages rolled on, it was to rise triumphant.
Trevelyan, Marie. Glimpses of Welsh Life and Character. J. Hogg, 1893.
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