Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to history here at Oak National Academy.

My name's Mr. Newton, and I will be your teacher today, guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right.

Let's get started.

We will be thinking about our big inquiry question.

"What stopped Edward I uniting all of Britain?" This is the question we will use to investigate Edward I's reign.

We know that Edward believed he should rule all of Britain, that he had a reputation as a fearsome warrior, but he could also be a just ruler, and he ruled alongside parliament.

He has managed to unite England after a difficult civil war, and now he has the support of parliament in raising taxes, he can launch campaigns to build his empire.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain why Edward I launched a campaign in Wales in 1277.

Before we begin, there are a few key words we need to understand.

Overlord is the lord ranking above other lords in the feudal system.

They ruled through their vessels, rather than direct rule.

Britain is the name for England, Scotland, and Wales.

A Marcher lord was a noble appointed by the King of England to guard the border, known as the Welsh Marches, between England and Wales.

Conquest is to take control of foreign land by force.

And finally, paying homage is to publicly submit and swear an oath of fealty to someone above you in the feudal system.

Okay, so today's lesson is split into three parts.

The first part, Edward I's desire to be overlord of all of Britain.

Then we're gonna look at the princes of Wales.

And then we'll move on to, finally, Edward I's first campaign in Wales.

So let's begin the lesson with Edward I's desire to be overlord of all Britain.

Edward may have used his parliament to keep peace in England, but his reign was marked by almost constant warfare abroad.

So let's go back in time a little bit here.

Since William the Conqueror, England and parts of France have been connected in the same empire.

However, Edward's father, Henry III, and grandfather, King John, had lost most of their lands in France, including their ancestral homelands.

After the loss of the land in France had been made permanent in the 1259 Treaty of Paris, Edward set his sights instead on conquest within the British Isles.

Edward I wanted to be overlord of all Britain.

If you have a look at the map on the left, this is a map showing England, Scotland, and Wales, and Britain is highlighted in green.

Again, let's go back in time a little bit here.

In the early 10th century, the Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan had used the title Rex totius Britanniae, or "King of All Britain" on his coins.

In reality, however, the kings of England had never had real control over the peoples of Wales or Scotland.

Edward I might not have been able to be king of all Britain, but he was determined to become overlord of all Britain.

Edward's father had lost land to Scotland and Wales, who had both continued to cause problems to Edward's rule.

In 1277, Edward I attempted to deal with a troublesome prince in Wales.

Okay, let's have a quick check for understanding.

Fill in the two correct missing words.

Pause the video and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's check those answers.

Edward wanted to be overlord of all Britain.

Okay, let's move straight onto task A.

What I want you to do is use the correct words below to complete the text underneath, and you can see I've given you six words there, highlighted in purple.

And I want you to use those words to complete the text underneath.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's check those answers.

Edward's grandfather had lost most of his lands in France.

Edward's father had also lost land to Scotland and Wales, which had both continued to cause problems to Edward's rule.

Edward set his sights on conquests within the British Isles.

He was determined to become overlord of all Britain.

In 1277, Edward I attempted to deal with a troublesome prince in Wales.

Okay, that's excellent.

Let's move on to the second part of the lesson.

The princes of Wales.

Mediaeval Wales was a collection of different kingdoms which fought with each other and England.

Let's have a look at the map.

This is a map from 1250, and we can see Britain looks slightly different to our maps of it today.

And here I've highlighted Wales, in the green circle there, and we can see that it's divided into different kingdoms. And we can see, here is the kingdom of England, next to Wales.

Before the Norman Conquest, some of these kingdoms fought with each other and with Anglo-Saxon England to take control over more land.

When the Normans invaded in 1066, William the Conqueror wanted the border between England and Wales to be made secure.

William established the Marcher Lordships to defend the Welsh border, and the Normans eventually conquered most of Southern Wales.

By the 13th century, Wales was divided between the Welsh princes, the Marcher lords, and the English king.

Look at the map of Wales.

The orange bit is where the Marcher lordships are located.

The red bits are the lands the English king controlled, the King's lordships, and the remaining land was divided between the different Welsh princes.

Now, by 1265, Henry III, Edward's father, was caught up in a civil war in England, and a powerful Welsh prince, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, emerged calling himself the Prince of Wales.

The dark green area on the map there, that is the land that Llywelyn controlled.

Whilst Henry III was distracted by civil war in England, Llywelyn took the opportunity to conquer two-thirds of Wales, including some Marcher lord land.

The light green area shows the land conquered by Llywelyn.

Look at the drawing.

It shows Llywelyn, highlighted in green, sitting beneath the English king in parliament.

In 1267, Henry III agreed to recognise Llywelyn as Prince of Wales, and Llywelyn agreed to pay homage to Henry as overlord.

In 1267, Henry III agreed to recognise Llywelyn as Prince of Wales, and Llywelyn agreed to pay homage to Henry as overlord.

Okay, let's have another check for understanding.

By the 13th century, who was Wales divided between? Select the three correct answers.

Was it A, English king? B, Marcher lords? C, Scottish King? D, Welsh princes? Pause the video, select your three correct answers, and come right back.

Okay, good.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew it was A, the English king, B, Marcher lords, and D, the Welsh princes.

Okay, let's have another check here.

How much of Wales did Llywelyn ap Gruffudd conquer? Was it A, one-third? B, two-thirds? C, the whole of Wales? Pause the video, have a go, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew it was two-thirds.

Yes, that's right.

Llywelyn conquered two-thirds of Wales.

Okay, let's have another check.

Fill in the correct missing word.

Pause the video, have a go, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So the correct sentence should have read, "Llywelyn ap Gruffudd used the title 'Prince of Wales'." Okay, let's move on to task B.

Are the statements below true or false? Reword any false statements to make them correct.

So you can see I provided you with three statements, and you just need to decide which of them are true or false, and then you only need to reword the false statements, and you can leave the true statement as it is.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew that these were the correct answers.

So the first two statements were false statements, and they are going to require rewording, but the last statement was true.

Okay, so let's have a look at how the statements should have looked.

Okay, let's have a look at the first statement.

"Wales was a collection of different kingdoms which fought with each other and with England to take control over more land." And we could have reworded the second statement like this.

"By the 13th century, power in Wales was divided between the Welsh princes, the Marcher lords, and the English king." And the final statement you didn't need to reword at all, that was, "Llywelyn ap Gruffudd took the opportunity to conquer two-thirds of Wales, including some Marcher lord land." Okay, that's excellent.

Let's move on to the third and final part of today's lesson, Edward I's first campaign in Wales.

So let's continue the story.

All the Welsh princes had paid homage to Henry III as their Lord previously, but when Edward I first came to the throne, Llywelyn refused to renew his homage to the English king.

Between 1274 and 1277, Llywelyn failed to answer five orders to pay homage.

Instead, he began to stir up anti-English feelings amongst the Welsh, urging them to join him in rebellion.

In 1277, Edward then assembled the biggest army Wales had ever seen.

It included 800 knights and 15,000 soldiers, including 9,000 Welsh rivals of Llywelyn.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Llywelyn paid homage to Edward I in 1274.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go, and come right back.

Okay, good.

Welcome back.

Yes, that was false.

But why is that false? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it false because, A, Llywelyn refused to pay homage five times? Instead he stirred up anti-English feeling amongst the Welsh.

Or B, Llywelyn paid homage to the Scottish king instead of Edward? He visited Scotland five times.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, good.

Welcome back.

Yes, well done if you knew it was A.

Llywelyn refused to pay homage five times, instead stirring up anti-English feeling amongst the Welsh.

Okay, let's continue.

Edward took control of Anglesey, which cut off the Welsh army from their main food supply.

So early on in the campaign, Edward took control of Anglesey, and that's an island off the northwest coast of Wales, and I've highlighted that in blue on the map.

Edward's control of Anglesey meant the Welsh army did not have access to the grain supply, which was their main source of food.

Edward used the grain to feed his own army instead.

With the winter approaching, and the Welsh army in danger of starvation, Llywelyn had no choice but to surrender.

Llywelyn finally paid homage to Edward I at Worcester in 1278.

He had now accepted Edward I as his overlord.

All the lands Llywelyn had conquered were taken from him, apart from Gwynedd.

This was the area in the northwest of Wales, which I've highlighted in blue on the map.

Okay, let's check your understanding.

How did Edward I defeat the Welsh princes in 1277? Was it A, he attacked their capital city in Anglesea? B, he blocked access to their grain supply? Or C, he made a surprise nighttime attack? Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, good.

Welcome back.

Yes, and well done if you knew it was B, he blocked access to their grain supply.

Okay, let's move on to task C.

Explain in one or two paragraphs why Edward I launched the campaign in Wales 1277.

In your answer, include as many of the following words as you can.

Overlord, Britain, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and homage.

Okay, what I want you to do is take all the knowledge you've learned in today's lesson and use that to answer this question, and try to include as many of those words as you can.

Pause the video and have a go at the task.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

Now, there's many ways you could have answered this question, so check your answers with what I have here.

"Edward I launched the campaign in Wales in 1277 because he wanted to be overlord of all Britain.

Edward set his sights on conquest within the British Isles, because he wanted to recover lands lost by his father and grandfather.

In 1277, Edward I first attempted to deal with a troublesome prince in Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.

Llywelyn had conquered two-thirds of Wales, including some Marcher lord land, and refused to renew his homage to the English king.

In 1277, Edward assembled the biggest army Wales had ever seen.

Llywelyn had no choice but to surrender and accept Edward as overlord." Okay, great.

We've reached the end of the lesson, so let's summarise today's lesson, "Edward I's first campaign in Wales." So Edward I wanted to be overlord of all Britain.

Wales was divided between Welsh princes, the Marcher lords, and the English king.

And then Llywelyn ap Gruffudd conquered two-thirds of Wales and was known as the Prince of Wales.

Llywelyn refused to renew his homage to Edward I, and then Edward I defeated the Welsh princes and Llywelyn finally paid homage in 1278.

Okay, well done on a brilliant lesson.

And thank you for joining me for this fascinating story of Wales and Edward I.

I will see you next time, when we continue to investigate what stopped Edward uniting all of Britain.

See you next time.