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1107. A kidnap and a devastating shipwreck. King Henry I reigns over England, Normandy and Wales, but his rule is far from secure. He faces treacherous assassination attempts and rebellion. Nuns and bards are tasked as spies to carry dangerous messages across the kingdom.
Untangling the Legend of Nest ferch RhysThe Drowned Court, the second book in my Conquest trilogy, has just been reissued. The trilogy focuses on the turbulent life of the Welsh noblewoman, Nest ferch Rhys, and the Norman king, Henry I. The three books cover the protracted Norman invasion of Wales at the end of the 11th century and into the 12th century.
The central event in The Drowned Court is the kidnap of Nest ferch Rhys by the Welsh prince Owain ap Cadwgan. Owain assaulted a castle belonging to Nest’s Norman husband Gerald FitzWalter and abducted her.
Regan Walker, imagined portrait of Owain ap Cadwgan
Many of the details of Nest’s life are unclear and untangling a credible tale from the legend is a challenge. The primary source for the kidnap is the Brut y Tywysogion (Brut) (Chronicle of the Princes), a chronicle of the deeds of the rulers of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys and Deheubarth 681–1282, compiled at and based on the annals of the abbey of Strata Florida.
Roger Kidd / The west doorway to Strata Florida Abbey, Ceredigion
This abbey was founded in the 12th century by Nest’s youngest son, Robert FitzStephen and given patronage by her nephew, Rhys ap Gruffudd, the Welsh ruler of Deheubarth. Many of the princes of the House of Dinefwr, Nest’s family, were buried here. The fabulous Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym is also buried at the abbey and I use his poem ‘Yr Wylan’ (anachronistically) in my novel.
Uncertainties about the kidnap are legion. The date, place and Nest’s role are all uncertain. Owain’s attack occurred soon after Christmas in either 1106 or 1109. The Brut states Nest was kidnapped with two of her sons and a daughter and a son of Gerald’s by a concubine. This tells us that Nest must have been at least four years into her marriage with Gerald at the time of the kidnap.
Uncertainties about the kidnap are legion. The date, place and Nest’s role are all uncertain. Owain’s attack occurred soon after Christmas in either 1106 or 1109. The Brut states Nest was kidnapped with two of her sons and a daughter and a son of Gerald’s by a concubine. This tells us that Nest must have been at least four years into her marriage with Gerald at the time of the kidnap.
Another uncertainty is the question of when Nest was the mistress of King Henry and whether or not one of the children kidnapped with her might have been the king’s son. Susan Johns suggests Nest’s relationship with the king took place around 1114, after the kidnap, whereas Kari Maund argues Nest was King Henry’s mistress before she married Gerald FitzWalter. If Maund is correct, there is a possibility that her royal son, Henry FitzRoy, was with her (although he could also have been born at the earlier time but reared at Henry’s court). The Brut makes no mention of a royal child, only saying that the incident was an affront to the king’s steward, Gerald.
The Brut describes an assault at Cenarth Bychan, a castle Gerald had just built. Cenarth Bychan has been provisionally identified as Cilgerran Castle, on the border of Prince Owain’s lands, or alternatively as Carew Castle, in modern Pembrokeshire, which was likely Nest’s primary home. The threat of Gerald building Cilgerran so close to the border of the kingdom of Owain’s father seems to make that castle the more likely contender. Carew was deep inside the Norman-held territory of Deheubarth, surrounded by other well-garrisoned Norman castles including Pembroke, Llansteffan, and Carmarthen. Norman castles had generally been unassailable by Welsh rebel fighters.
The Brut describes an assault at Cenarth Bychan, a castle Gerald had just built. Cenarth Bychan has been provisionally identified as Cilgerran Castle, on the border of Prince Owain’s lands, or alternatively as Carew Castle, in modern Pembrokeshire, which was likely Nest’s primary home. The threat of Gerald building Cilgerran so close to the border of the kingdom of Owain’s father seems to make that castle the more likely contender. Carew was deep inside the Norman-held territory of Deheubarth, surrounded by other well-garrisoned Norman castles including Pembroke, Llansteffan, and Carmarthen. Norman castles had generally been unassailable by Welsh rebel fighters.
Cilgerran Castle. Helge Klaus Rieder, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The possibility that Owain had inside help has to be entertained, however, that doesn’t have to have been Nest herself. Any number of people on the inside could have facilitated this unusually successful attack. One of the Brut manuscripts suggests that Owain and fourteen men came over the wall. Another version states that they tunnelled under the gates.
The Brut describes Nest urging her husband to escape down the castle toilet chute, which speaks to her concern for Gerald’s life. One version of the chronicle states Owain violated Nest. The Brut depicts her negotiating for the return of the four small children to their father in exchange for her staying with Prince Owain. Owain refused to give her up despite the serious political consequences of his actions.
He was driven into exile and his father, Cadwgan was stripped of his territory by King Henry. The event enabled the king to manipulate the Powys royal family and set them on a course of murderous in-fighting, leading eventually to Cadwgan’s murder. The king intervened with Owain via Richard Belmais, the bishop of London and Nest was eventually returned to Gerald.
Gerald of Wales, Nest’s grandson does not mention Owain’s kidnap of his grandmother at all in his account of his family but he does rant misogynistically about another parallel incident involving an Irish princess:
She [Derbforgaill, wife of O’Ruairc], who had long entertained a passion for Dermitius [Diarmaid] took advantage of the absence of her husband and allowed herself to be ravished not against her will. As the nature of women is fickle and given to change, she thus became the prey of the spoiler of her own contrivance. For as Mark Anthony and Troy are witnesses, almost all the greatest evils in the world have arisen from women.
This appears to be a version of blaming a woman for her own rape.
Was Nest a victim of a violent rape and kidnap or did she collude with her kidnapper? John Lloyd (1911) characterised the story as a romantic affair in which Nest, who he dubbed Helen of Wales, colluded in ‘a fascinating … story of passion and daring’ resistance to Norman rule. Nest is depicted by some commentators as a ravishingly irresistible beauty and Owain is cast as the romantic Welsh hero who saves her from her Norman oppressors.
Gerald of Wales, Nest’s grandson does not mention Owain’s kidnap of his grandmother at all in his account of his family but he does rant misogynistically about another parallel incident involving an Irish princess:
She [Derbforgaill, wife of O’Ruairc], who had long entertained a passion for Dermitius [Diarmaid] took advantage of the absence of her husband and allowed herself to be ravished not against her will. As the nature of women is fickle and given to change, she thus became the prey of the spoiler of her own contrivance. For as Mark Anthony and Troy are witnesses, almost all the greatest evils in the world have arisen from women.
This appears to be a version of blaming a woman for her own rape.
Was Nest a victim of a violent rape and kidnap or did she collude with her kidnapper? John Lloyd (1911) characterised the story as a romantic affair in which Nest, who he dubbed Helen of Wales, colluded in ‘a fascinating … story of passion and daring’ resistance to Norman rule. Nest is depicted by some commentators as a ravishingly irresistible beauty and Owain is cast as the romantic Welsh hero who saves her from her Norman oppressors.
So, in another version of ‘it was her fault’, she is seen as causing her own abduction due to her beauty. Rees Davies (2000) has described her as ‘a lady of easy charm and many lovers’, and John Davies (2007) has stated that owing to her ‘numerous affairs’ her seduction by Owain would not have been ‘a novel experience for her’. Irritation with such accounts was one of the initial spurs for my writing a series of novels about Nest.
Susan Johns (2012) analysed Lloyd’s version as romantic nation-building. The kidnap was not just about taking Nest but ‘about the retaking of the nation’. Kari Maund contested the male historians’ interpretations too, arguing that ‘Nest embodies Welsh resistance to, but also integration with, the Normans’. Caroline Dunn (2012) has argued that many medieval women in England arranged their abductions as a smokescreen for their escapes from unwanted marriages or to ‘join their desired lovers’.
It is likely that Nest was attractive. She was (at some point) the mistress of King Henry I and bore him a child. As king, he could select any woman he liked as mistress. The Normans had massacred her family, annexed her father’s kingdom, and reduced her from royal daughter to king’s mistress and steward’s wife. She may well have felt hatred for them and longed for a Welsh prince to rescue her.
Susan Johns (2012) analysed Lloyd’s version as romantic nation-building. The kidnap was not just about taking Nest but ‘about the retaking of the nation’. Kari Maund contested the male historians’ interpretations too, arguing that ‘Nest embodies Welsh resistance to, but also integration with, the Normans’. Caroline Dunn (2012) has argued that many medieval women in England arranged their abductions as a smokescreen for their escapes from unwanted marriages or to ‘join their desired lovers’.
It is likely that Nest was attractive. She was (at some point) the mistress of King Henry I and bore him a child. As king, he could select any woman he liked as mistress. The Normans had massacred her family, annexed her father’s kingdom, and reduced her from royal daughter to king’s mistress and steward’s wife. She may well have felt hatred for them and longed for a Welsh prince to rescue her.
However, she had been living with Normans since 1093, had been married to Gerald FitzWalter for at least four years and had a number of children with him at the time the kidnap occurred. It seems likely she was integrated in Norman life and had significant investment in her marriage and family. Bartering herself to return the children to safety has the ring of truth.
What should we make of Owain’s actions? The Brut notes Owain’s turbulent relationship with his father, Cadwgan, and states Owain ‘unworthily governed’ his Powys lands. The fallout from the incident was detrimental for Owain and Cadwgan. It is credible that Owain’s primary motivation was to contend against the Norman threat to his patrimony. After Nest’s return, Owain was reconciled with King Henry who took the prince on campaign with him to Normandy. However, this strategy of keeping your enemy close was a commonplace for this king and speaks more to Henry’s character than to Owain’s.
And what did the husband make of it all? How did he feel about both the kidnap and the eventual return of his wife? His grandson, Gerald of Wales, describes Gerald FitzWalter as ‘a stalwart, cunning man’. His defence of Pembroke Castle reported in the Brut and his survival of the fall of the Montgomery family, who were his original overlords, all suggest that Gerald was pragmatic and shrewd.
What should we make of Owain’s actions? The Brut notes Owain’s turbulent relationship with his father, Cadwgan, and states Owain ‘unworthily governed’ his Powys lands. The fallout from the incident was detrimental for Owain and Cadwgan. It is credible that Owain’s primary motivation was to contend against the Norman threat to his patrimony. After Nest’s return, Owain was reconciled with King Henry who took the prince on campaign with him to Normandy. However, this strategy of keeping your enemy close was a commonplace for this king and speaks more to Henry’s character than to Owain’s.
And what did the husband make of it all? How did he feel about both the kidnap and the eventual return of his wife? His grandson, Gerald of Wales, describes Gerald FitzWalter as ‘a stalwart, cunning man’. His defence of Pembroke Castle reported in the Brut and his survival of the fall of the Montgomery family, who were his original overlords, all suggest that Gerald was pragmatic and shrewd.
Gerald of Wales states that his grandfather married Nest ‘with the object of giving himself and his troops a firmer foothold in the country’. Eleanor Searles has convincingly argued that property and succession claims inhered strongly in women in Anglo-Norman society. Marriage to heiresses did not simply enrich men, it legitimised their position within power groups and the bloodlines of their heirs. For the incoming Normans it strengthened their territorial claims. However, we have no way of knowing what degree of affection existed between Gerald and Nest before or after the kidnap.
It is interesting to consider other incidences of adultery in hybrid Norman/Welsh marriages. In the 1120s, Agnes, the wife of Bernard de Neufmarché (her Welsh name was Nest), who was half-Welsh and half-Norman, swore to King Henry I that her son was not her husband’s child. She may simply have hated her husband. The son was disinherited, which suited King Henry.
It is interesting to consider other incidences of adultery in hybrid Norman/Welsh marriages. In the 1120s, Agnes, the wife of Bernard de Neufmarché (her Welsh name was Nest), who was half-Welsh and half-Norman, swore to King Henry I that her son was not her husband’s child. She may simply have hated her husband. The son was disinherited, which suited King Henry.
In 1153, Mabel, wife of Ranulf de Gernon, may have been involved, along with her lover William de Peverel, in the poisoning of her husband, which eventually led to de Gernon’s death and the exile of de Peverel. In 1230, Joan (the natural daughter of King John), the wife of Prince Llewellyn the Great, was caught in flagrante with William de Braose. De Braose was hanged. Joan was confined for a year but then forgiven by Llewellyn. Perhaps these incidents were the inevitable outcome of forced marriages, often of younger women to older men for territorial reasons.
In 1116, Gerald FitzWalter encountered Owain ap Cadwgan on a routine patrol and there was a skirmish. Owain was killed and Gerald may have taken a death wound. He died soon after. Gerald may have been taking vengeance against Owain for Nest’s sake or simply for the sake of his own honour.
My novel, The Drowned Court, imagines its way into the tangled psychologies and motivations of these characters to create one possible version of events.
Tracey Warr
In 1116, Gerald FitzWalter encountered Owain ap Cadwgan on a routine patrol and there was a skirmish. Owain was killed and Gerald may have taken a death wound. He died soon after. Gerald may have been taking vengeance against Owain for Nest’s sake or simply for the sake of his own honour.
My novel, The Drowned Court, imagines its way into the tangled psychologies and motivations of these characters to create one possible version of events.
Tracey Warr
(See Tracey's blog https://traceywarrwriting.com for a bibliography of the sources cited above.)
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