Conflict and War
(Captured by Owain Gwynedd)
Duke William of Normandy’s attitude to the conquest of Britain could be summed up as ‘brutal’:
‘Destroy your enemies and waste their country; let everything be set alight by flame and burning, leave nothing for them …. on which they could have dinner … this is how war should be begun.’ [Source: ‘Mold Town and Country’ T W Pritchard, 2012, page 33]
Many parts of Britain rebelled against the Norman invasion. The Normans wrought much destruction across England, especially on the North of England during the winter of 1069-70 (referred to as the ‘harrying of the North’). Their knights lay waste to Yorkshire and neighbouring shires, entire villages were razed, the inhabitants killed, livestock slaughtered and crops and food-stores destroyed.
Castles were routinely used by the Normans to protect Norman ‘gains’ – that is, land and authority grabbed by force from the native inhabitants.
The Normans chose to build a castle at Mold because of its proximity to the Alun valley route into Wales. Hugh FitzNorman, who had been given land in the area of Mold by the Earl of Chester, is thought to have built the motte and bailey at Mold in the decades after the Battle of Hastings. The castle soon passed into the hands of the Monhaut family.
The motte and bailey castle would have demonstrated to the local people and the Welsh kings that the Normans had moved in to the area, with force, and intended to keep it. Whilst the lord and his family lived in the tower, a garrison of soldiers would be housed in the inner and outer baileys below. The soldiers’ job was to terrorise and intimidate the local people into obeying the new laws that were enforced on them.
A Norman style town quickly grew up around the castle and a new Norman church was built on the site of an existing Welsh one which reinforced the power and prestige of the Norman lord in the area under his control.
The Welsh did not submit willingly to Norman rule, they fought back strongly, and repeatedly. Many battles were fought in the 12th and 13th centuries as the Welsh kings tried to regain territory from Marcher lords such as the Earl of Chester. The most powerful Welsh dynasty in north Wales at this time was the House of Gwynedd and Owain Gwynedd, Llewelyn the Great and Dafydd ap Llewelyn of this dynasty all seized Mold castle from the Normans at various times.
Owain Gwynedd captured Mold Castle in 1146. The ‘Brut y Tywysogion’ (Chronicle of the Princes) notes Owain’s delight at finally taking the castle after many attempts by laying siege to it, then burning and ravaging it, slaying some of the garrison and capturing and imprisoning others. The victory at Mold Castle played an important part in inspiring Owain to continue to pursue his ambition to become ‘Prince of the Welsh’. He had been overcome with grief on hearing of the death of his eldest son Rhun and had become deeply depressed, as described by J E Lloyd:
“There had been no consolation for the sorrowing father, cut to the heart by the bitter stroke, until the unexpected news of the capture of the long-coveted fortress awake him from his stupor and reminded him that he still had a country for which to live.” [Source: A History of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian Conquest’. J E Lloyd, 1911, Vol 2, page 492].
It was recaptured by Robert de Mohaut in 1156. As with many border castles, Mold changed hands many times during the turbulent years of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
At the beginning of winter 1199, Llewelyn ap Iorwerth (Llewellyn the Great) led his army from their base at Dolwyddelan, over the mountains in order to attack the Normans at Mold castle. Some of his men fell to their deaths on the way as the mountain paths proved treacherous due to ice and snow. An attack on a castle was very unusual in winter and so Mold castle was unprepared, however, the garrison at the castle managed to fight off the attack. Llewelyn directed some of his men to continue to attack at the original position, whilst he split the remainder of his army in two and these men attacked from two new positions using the woods as cover and this time they managed to defeat the Normans. Llewelyn didn’t want Mold castle to be used in future by the Normans to assist their plans to advance into North Wales so he ordered the castle to be burnt.
The poet Cynnddelw Brydydd Mawr (c1155-1200) tells us that the river Alun ran red with blood and the castle was heavily damaged. Llewellyn’s court bard Llywarch ap Llewelyn (C1150-1220) proudly informs us that it was a complete victory, involving a great fire, with the local inhabitants fleeing in panic. He makes reference to more than one tower:
“Tyreu poets, peithiawc pob un” ‘Burnt towers, destroyed every one’ which perhaps relates to gatehouses in addition to the principle tower raised upon the motte. [Source: ‘The Manor & Marcher Lordship if Mold during the Early Middle Ages, 1039-1247, Ken Lloyd Gruffrydd, moldcivicsociety.org.uk].
In 1241, the Castle was returned to the Monhaults, rebuilt and strengthened between 1241 and 1244 and called a ‘royal stronghold’. In 1245 Mold castle was taken by Dafydd ap Llewelyn but retaken by Roger de Munthaut II the following year. In 1256 the castle again changed hands when Llewelyn ap Gruffudd captured it.
By the Treatry of Conwy 1277, Edward I regained the castle but in 1282 Daffydd ap Gruffydd captured and destroyed the castle.It is unlikely that it was repaired again as it was no longer the family home of the Monhaults who were now living in Lincolnshire. In 1329 the last of the Monhauts died and Mold castle fell into disrepair and by the 1650s Bailey Hill was described as a piece of waste ground.
