A watercolour of Chester Castle, included in A Tour in Wales by artist Thomas Pennant (1726-1798), chronicling three journeys he made through Wales between 1773 and 1776. Chester was the base chosen for Henry II’s operation in North Wales in 1157: it gave him the opportunity to attack by land and also by sea, thanks to the River Dee. In 1283, Henry’s great-grandson Edward I subdued the Welsh princes at last, annexed the Kingdom of Gwynedd, and gave the title of Prince of Wales to his son, the future Edward II. Ever since the days of Edward III (r. 1327-1377) the title has been conferred on the heir to the English crown.
Introduction
When Henry II came to the throne in 1154, Welsh princes no longer paid England the respect they had paid to his great-grandfather, William the Conqueror. But then one of them, Cadwallader, came and begged Henry to help win back his lands from his brother Owen Gwyneth. Henry saw his chance, and at a council in Northampton in July, 1157, resolved to march on North Wales.
THE invasion of Wales was both by land and sea. The English forces assembled near Chester, on Saltney Marsh, and were joined by Madoc Ap Meredith,* prince of Powys, while the Welsh forces under [Owen] Gwyneth* with his three sons were entrenched at Basingwerk.*
The King, with his youthful daring,* set off at once by way of the sea coast, hoping to surprise the Welsh. But Owen’s sons were on the watch and suddenly attacked the foe in the narrow passage of Coleshille,* where they had secretly hidden a powerful ambuscade. The English, entangled in the woody, marshy ground, were easily routed by the nimble light-armed Welsh. Suddenly a cry was heard “The King is slain,” as a result of which Henry of Essex, the hereditary Standard-bearer of England, dropped the Royal Standard and fled in terror.* King Henry, however, soon showed himself alive, rallied his troops and cut his way through the ambush with such vigour that Owen judged it prudent to withdraw from Basingwerk, and seek a safer retreat amongst the hills round Snowdon.
* Madog ap Maredudd, Prince of Powys from 1132 to his death in 1160.
* Owain of Gwynedd (?-1170), Prince of Gwynedd from 1137, succeeding his father Gruffudd [Griffith] ap Cynan. His brother was Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd (?1100-1172).
* Henry turned twenty-four on March 5th, 1157.
* Basingwerk Abbey near Holywell in Flintshire, consecrated in 1132.
* Coleshille or Coleshill in Flintshire, Wales, some seven miles west of Chester near the mouth of the River Dee. The battle is sometimes called the Battle of Ewloe. Ewloe Castle was raised nearby as a hunting lodge by Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales (r. 1255-1282); it still stands, though abandoned in 1277 and now ruined.
* See also The Battle of Assandun in 1016, where King Edmund Ironside was almost undone by a similar ruse.
Précis
Seizing an opening afforded by Welsh infighting, Henry II made a bid to annex the region in 1157. His land army was ambushed at Colehill, and fared so badly that word spread of the king’s death in battle, and even his standard-bearer fled; but Henry fought back so vigorously that his enemy, Owain of Gwynedd, withdrew to the mountains. (59 / 60 words)
Seizing an opening afforded by Welsh infighting, Henry II made a bid to annex the region in 1157. His land army was ambushed at Colehill, and fared so badly that word spread of the king’s death in battle, and even his standard-bearer fled; but Henry fought back so vigorously that his enemy, Owain of Gwynedd, withdrew to the mountains.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, despite, may, must, not, or, unless.
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