8 Woolgar 2011, pp. xvii–xviii; Jack 1972, pp. 127–31; Smith 1981, pp. 25–29, 133–35, 179–87. 9 Jack 1972, pp. 134–37; National Library of Wales, ‘Wills’ (accessed 22 Jan. 2024). 10 Crouch 1988, nos. 63, 68; Pryce 1993, pp. 118–19, n. 31 (citing Canterbury Cathedral Archives, CCA-DCc/ESRoll/39 and 222). 11 Obituary notices in chronicles generally praise Welsh rulers for their deeds and qualities and sometimes describe their receipt of last rites and burial, but none mention bequests. oral bequests and written wills in medieval wales before 1397 and few survive from the rest of the pre-Reformation period.8 In addition, very few records survive from Welsh ecclesiastical courts, a potential source for disputes over the validity of wills as well as of copies of wills deriving from the probate process; the latter are found only in the fuller Welsh ecclesiastical court records surviving from the Reformation onwards.9 Nevertheless, there are occasional indications that a similar system to England was introduced by the thirteenth century, especially in the two southern dioceses of St Davids and Llandaff that were subject to greater Anglo-Norman and English influence than the northern dioceses of Bangor and St Asaph. For example, two acta by bishops of Llandaff in the earlier thirteenth century mention legacies and testaments in a way that suggests these were fairly common, while details of a case regarding a disputed will in the diocese of St Davids in 1272 survive among the ecclesiastical court records of Canterbury as the result of an appeal from the official of St Davids.10 As we shall see, there is also some evidence from the later twelfth century onwards for will-making by the bishops and canons of St Davids. However, the best evidence for distinctively Welsh approaches to the making of wills comes from north Wales, covered by the dioceses of Bangor and St Asaph, and, more significantly, the location of the most powerful Welsh principality of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, namely Gwynedd. As already mentioned, its prince Llywelyn was killed in 1282 during Edward I’s conquest of the principality, a crucial turning point that extinguished a tradition of native rule in Wales originating in the post-Roman period. In his last years as prince, Llywelyn came into conflict with his bishops over a range of issues, including the making of wills. However, before turning to those conflicts, I would like to consider the only extant account of the bequests of a native Welsh ruler, namely Llywelyn’s ancestor Gruffudd ap Cynan,King of Gwynedd (d.1137).11 Gruff428
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=