1055
AD - The Norman-educated Edward (the
Confessor) is king. Hereford's defences
have been extended to enclose St Guthlac's
monastery. Edward's nephew, Ralph, now
Earl of Hereford, has built an earth
and wood castle next to the monastery.
There are only three castles in England.
Bishop Aethelstan has built a new stone
cathedral.
Aelfgar's and Gruffydd ap Llewellyn's
force of Vikings and Welsh have defeated
Ralph's Normans and English and have
entered the town, which is starting
to burn.
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Edward
the Confessor
When King Edward 'the Confessor' arrived
from exile in Normandy in 1042 he brought
the beginnings of a new mainland European
system to England. His nephew Ralph
was created Earl of Hereford in 1052
and built a castle here. Castles were
unknown in England and represented the
power of a noble family and a military
elite rather than the defence of a community
as in the traditional Anglo-Saxon system.
Ralph was accompanied by a body of Norman-French
and attempted to turn the county militia
into a mounted force on the continental
pattern, but without success. |
Hereford Sacked
The experiment was short-lived. In 1055 Gruffydd
ap Llewellyn, King of Gwynedd and Powys, led
a Welsh army towards Hereford. With him was
Aelfgar, the outlawed Earl of East Anglia
and son of Godifu - the 'Lady Godiva' of naked
horse-riding fame. Aelfgar led a force of
eighteen ships companies of Vikings that he
had recruited in Ireland. Ralph led his force
of Normans and English to meet them. In the
battle that followed Ralph was decisively
beaten and the Welsh, with their Viking allies
entered and burnt the town of Hereford. Gruffydd
returned home in triumph and laden with booty.
The
combined militias of England were put
under the command of Harold Godwinson
who forced the Welsh back into the Black
Mountains, west of Hereford, while he
camped in the Golden Valley beneath.
The stalemate was utilised by Harold
to rebuild the defences of the town
of Hereford.
The shock of the events of 1055 may
have had a terminal effect on the Bishop
of Hereford, Aethelstan, who died early
in 1056 and was succeeded by Harold's
chaplain, Leofgar. This rash prelate
did not wait for help in moving against
Gruffydd and moved up the Wye Valley
into Wales. On 16th June 1056 he found
Gruffydd near Glasbury-on-Wye. In the
action which followed Bishop Leofgar,
the Sheriff of Hereford, priests, and
several leading citizens were killed. |
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St
Cuthbert's Church, Holme Lacy. In the
reign of Edward the Confessor Hamme
was one of a large number of manors
held unjustly by Earl, later briefly
King, Harold. Harold's father, Godwin,
was notorious for stealing the church's
property, leading his wife to threaten
to starve herself to death rather eat
the food so acquired. |
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Repulsed, but not defeated, by the English,
Gruffydd seized Glamorgan, expelling its ruler,
Cadwgan ap Meurig, and for the first time
Wales was unified under a single king. On
5th August 1063 Gruffydd was murdered in Snowdonia
and his unified kingdom disintegrated.
King
Harold
Harold Godwinson was soon to have other problems
than that of the Welsh. In 1066 King Edward
the Confessor died with no clear successor.
Three claimants to the English throne, Harold
Hardrada King of Norway, Duke William of Normandy
and Harold himself, were to settle the issue
in battle. Godwinson defeated and killed Hardrada
at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire. A rapid march
south took him to Senlac near Hastings where
after a close-fought battle, Harold was killed
and the Norman-French duke William 'the Conqueror',
became King of England.
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