Monmouthshire Wales


Monmouth Celtic Silures, Romans, Saxons, Normans, Bretons, Flemish, English and Welsh peoples have thrived in Monmouth, at the meeting of the Monnow and the Wye. Four languages were spoken within a day's ride from Monmouth as early as the 12th century. For close on 1,500 years great rival powers fought for control of the town, guarding as it does the two main river routes into the mountain heart of southern Wales. In the 13th century alone, Monmouth changed hands four times between the English and Welsh forces. Two battles have been fought at the extraordinary Monnow Bridge, the only two-storey fortified bridge that survives in Britain; but most of all Monmouth is renowned for its most famous sons - Geoffrey of Monmouth and Henry V. This famous fortified bridge across the River Monnow into Monmouth survives from the 13th century

Geoffrey of Monmouth   Perhaps the child of Monmouth to whom we owe the most is the 11th century writer and historian Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey's History of the British Kings, which he completed in 1075, remains one of the most influential books ever written in Britain. Translated, he says, from an ancient Welsh text, his story stretches over 1,900 years and 99 kings, from the founding of Britain by the Trojan hero Brutus to the Saxon invasion and wars. It is in Geoffrey's History that we first hear of Lear and his three daughters; but his work is most renowned for giving us Arthur's story. The great Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages owe everything to Geoffrey. His book was translated and read throughout Europe; his story was the source and inspiration for the great French romancers such as Chretien de Troyes. In Geoffrey's History we first hear of Kay, Gawain and Bedevere, and of the treacherous Mordred. It was Geoffrey who transformed the insane prophet Myrddin of Welsh legend into the great character Merlin. It is in Geoffrey's Historia that we first hear of Guinevere: 'the most beautiful woman in the entire island'; and of the Isle of Avalon to where they carried Arthur went 'so that his wounds might be attended to'.

Henry V   Perhaps the greatest British king, Henry V was known as Harry of Monmouth. Henry was born in Monmouth Castle on 9th August 1388, in the midst of his father's wars against the Welsh. Amongst his father's many foes was Owain Glyndwr - the brilliant Welsh hero who fought to restore the Plantaganets and most of all for a free Wales. Glyndwr, Shakespeare's Glendower, had fought a persistent campaign of constant ambush and retreat against the far larger English forces. Glyndwr's inspirational victories had almost united the many Welsh kingdoms against the English, when at just 16 years old, Prince Henry was appointed Royal Deputy of Wales. Henry immediately took the fight to Glyndwr; within that year Henry was put in command of all military operations in Wales. In 1405, Henry, now 18 years old, routed the Welsh army at Grosmont; Glyndwr retaliated by attacking english forces at monmouth. But glyndwr had lost 1500 men at Grosmont and many more were now deserting to Henry's cause. By the time that Harry succeeded his father to the throne in 1413, he was a veteran and respected soldier. Glyndwr had been defeated and the feared Gwent longbows were now a crucial part of Henry's force. At Agincourt, most famously, the Gwent archers brought Henry a great victory.

link's:
| | |