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Land, People and Power in Early Medieval Wales: The cantref of Cemais in comparative perspective
Rhiannon Comeau
This is a study of the seasonal activity cycles of a pre-urban society, examined through the lens of an early medieval Welsh case study. It considers the patterns of power and habitual activity that defined spaces and structured lives. Key areas of early medieval life - agriculture, tribute-payment, legal processes and hunting - are shown to share a longstanding seasonal patterning that is preserved in medieval Welsh law, church and well dedications, and fair dates. Focussing on a cantref (‘hundred’) land unit in south-west Wales, it uses an innovative GIS-based multidisciplinary, comparative analysis to circumnavigate a restricted archaeological record and limited written sources. The study presents the first systematic survey of assembly site evidence in Wales, and reassesses widely-used interpretative models of the early medieval landscape. Digital resources include databases of geolocated pre-1700 place-names and of sixteenth-century demesne and Welsh-law landholdings.
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Front Cover
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Land, People and Power in Early Medieval Wales
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Copyright
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UCL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY PHD SERIES
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Of Related Interest
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Acknowledgements
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Contents
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List of Figures
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List of Tables
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List of Abbreviations
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Abstract
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1. Introduction
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2. Review of Related Literature
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Local Literature: Cemais
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Regional Literature: Wales
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Settlement
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Irish and Viking Impact
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Landscape
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Agriculture
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Transhumant Practice
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Summary: Key Problems of Local and Regional Scholarship
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Relevant Areas of Research
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Theme 1: Structures of Power in the Landscape – the Multiple Estate Model
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Theme 2: Economic Power – Early Medieval Trade andExchange
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Theme 3: Places of Power – Assemblies
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Theme 4: Markers of Power – Early Medieval Inscribed Stones
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Summing Up
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3. Theory and Methodology
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Priority 1: An Ordering Framework – Possible Theoretical Approaches
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Ranked Societies
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Change, Agency and Practice
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The Problem of Evidence
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Practice, Processes and Time
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Événements, Conjonctures and the Longue Durée
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The Question of Scale
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Theoretical Approach: Summing Up
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Priority 2: Comparative Analysis – Considerations of Methodology
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Case Study Areas
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Method of Data Collection and Analysis
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Methodological Issues
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Place-Name Evidence
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Written Evidence and Oral Traditions
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Retrogressive Analysis and the Question of Continuity
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Methodology and Theory: Summing Up
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4. Patterns of Evidence Across the Whole Study Area
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Archaeological Evidence
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Written Sources
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Early Medieval Written Sources
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Territorial Evidence for Pre-Conquest Cemais
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Evidence for the Commote
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Post-Conquest/High Medieval Period
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Later Medieval/Sixteenth Century
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Discussion: Major Territorial Divisions
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Commotes
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The Maenor
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Discussion: Lands that Directly Supported the Pre-Conquest Prince
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Demesne Areas and Services
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Discussion: Territorial/Tribute-producing Units within the Commote/Cantref
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Evidence for the Welsh Community, Thirteenth-Fourteenth Century
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Evidence for the Welsh Community, Sixteenth Century
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Grants to the Church, 1130 Onwards
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Landholdings of Anglo-Norman Knights
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Summing up
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5. Living Off the Land: Pre-Conquest Agriculture and Settlement
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Seasonal Patterns: Welsh Law and Historical Evidence
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The Land: Environmental Evidence
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Pollen Sampling
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Crop Processing Evidence
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Descriptions of Local Agricultural Methods
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Crops and Ploughing
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Transhumance
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Seasonal Pasture in Cemais
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A Central Shared Pasture Resource in the Pre-Conquest Period?
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Settlement Evidence Across the Cantref
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Case Study Detailed Example 1, North of the Preselis:Bayvil, Crugie Quarter and Moylgrove (Figures 5.9, 5.10, 5.11; Appendices 12, 15)
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Case Study Detailed Example 2, North of the Preselis: Dinas (Figure 5.12; Appendices 12, 15)
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Case Study Detailed Example 3, South of the Preselis: Puncheston, Little Newcastle, Morvil and Castlebythe (Figures 5.13, 5.14; Appendices 12, 15)
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Case Study Detailed Example 4, an Upland Seasonal Site: Carn Goedog (Figures 5.15, 5.16, 5.17)
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Agriculture and Settlement Patterns in Context
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Bond Settlements: Tir Cyfrif
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Bond Settlements: Tir Corddlan
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Freeholders, Bondsmen and Girdle Patterns
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Food Rents, Services and Seasons
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Summary and Discussion: Assessing and Modelling the Interrelated Patterns of Bond Settlement, Agriculture and Trade/Exchange
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6. Power in the Land: Spatial and Seasonal Patterning of Focal Zones
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Identifying Focal Zones
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Spatial Indicators
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Assembly Sites (Appendices 4A-G)
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Assembly: Records
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Assembly-Attesting Place-Names
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Battle Sites
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Assemblies: Site Patterning Indications
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Monumental Stones (Appendices 4H-J)
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Early Medieval Inscribed and Carved Stones
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Group I Stones with Ogham and Roman-Letter Inscriptions
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Freestanding Crosses, Cross Slabs and Pillars
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Unmarked Monumental Stones
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Sacral Sites: Multiperiod Ritual Complexes and Barrow Cemeteries
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Christian Cult Sites and Pre-Conquest Clas Churches (Appendices 4M-P)
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Pre-Conquest Clas Churches and Areas of Sanctuary (Noddfa)
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Royal or Aristocratic Residences: Llys Sites and Earlier Manifestations (Appendices 4Q-T)
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Royal Centres in Cemais – Archaeological and Written Evidence
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Significant Functions, Cult, Juridicial, Political, Administrative (Appendices 4U, 4Z)
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Seasonal Indicators
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Fairs and Other Popular Gatherings (Appendix 4G)
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Documented Medieval Fairs
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Market Activity
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Other Seasonal Gatherings – Cnapan (Hurling) Games, pre-1600, and Gŵyl Awst
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Saints Festivals (Appendices 4M-N)
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Hunting (Appendix 4X)
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Discussion: Summing Up the Polyfocal Evidence
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Assembly Sites
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Royal or High Status Sites
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Early Medieval Assemblies, Ecclesiastical, Royal and Prehistoric Sites: Focal Clusters
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Microlevel Patterning
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Strategic Locations
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Focal Zones – Final Thoughts
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7. Synthesis and Conclusion: Spatial and Seasonal Patterning in Context
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Spatial Patterning of the Early Medieval Landscape
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Maenorau
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Seasonal Patterning
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Activities that Structured Lives and Supported Processes of Power
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Seasonal Patterning and the Longue Durée
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Trading Processes
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Relationship of Cemais Evidence to Models of the Early Medieval Landscape
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Redefining a Landscape Paradigm
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Summing Up
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Recommendations for Further Research
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Concluding Thoughts
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Glossary of Terms
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Bibliography
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Published Sources and Reports
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Manuscript Sources for Main Text
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Appendix 1: The Seasonal Patterns of Welsh Law
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Appendix 2: Pre-Conquest Landholding Units
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Appendix 3: Food Renders and Circuit Dues
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Appendix 4: Key Focal Zone Elements
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Appendix 5: Key Cemais Charters
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Appendix 6: Ecclesiastical Land Transfers – Cemais and Borders
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Appendix 7: Cemais and Environs: Timeline of Documented Events
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Appendix 8: Demesne Areas of the Medieval Lord of Cemais
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Appendix 9: Cemais Commotes and Possible Freeholder Maenorau –Speculative Analysis
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Appendix 10: Landholding Patterns in Medieval and Sixteenth-Century Welsh Cemais: Reassessing the Observations of Howells (1956) on Freeholders
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Appendix 11: Evidence for Seasonally-Used Pasture in Cemais
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Index
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Back Cover
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Citable Link
Published: 2020
Publisher: BAR Publishing
- 9781407357126 (paper)
- 9781407357133 (ebook)
BAR Number: B659