7 - Under the heel: Wales in the fourteenth century

Summary

The framework of the Edwardian settlement was provided by the statute of Rhuddlan, issued on 19 March 1284, barely six months after the execution of Dafydd ap Gruffydd. To issue a major and definitive document after a period of strife was not uncommon in England. The early conflicts of Henry III's reign, and especially the social problems revealed by the work of the leading judges, produced the reforms loosely known as the statute of Merton in 1236. After the constitutional struggles of the years 1258–64, the social reforms which had been expressed in the Provisions of Oxford in 1259 were preserved and promulgated in the statute of Marlborough of 1267. Each was an important and lasting statement of principles. The statute of Rhuddlan belongs in the same category, but since it was designed to do two very different things, it was, and has remained, a contentious and controversial document. The statute was a political affirmation: it proclaimed the annexation of Wales. Beyond that, the statute extended to Wales, with significant emendations and exceptions, the legal system which prevailed in England. For legal historians, the importance and attraction of the statute lie in the precision and detail with which this system of law was defined. Rhuddlan is partly a statement of legal principles, partly a register of writs, and partly a commentary on legal procedure. After 1284, no working lawyer or administrator in Wales could afford to be without it, or could fail to benefit from its guidance.