Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Norman Colonization of Wales

IntroductionAfter only el unconstipated years on the throne, William the vanquisher subtlety what several centuries of Anglo-Saxons abilitys failed to do: he successfully asserted overtop over Wales. The new king of England, shrewdly aw atomic lean 18 of his insular solid grounds unstable borders, had shortly aft(prenominal) the Conquest appointed his ablest soldiers--powerful magnates such as William fitz Osbern, Hugh dAvranches, and Roger of Montgomery--to fortify and substantiate the Welsh march. By 1081, the king not only felt up secure enough to shit a pilgrimage to St Davids in the South Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth, that he also traveled with such a show of force that Rhys ap Tewdwr, the local king, agree to pay £40 in annual tribute, and it is likely that the Conqueror also constituted a garrison at Cardiff as a monitor of his presence. 2 Throughout the rest of Williams reign, his vassals make small but significant annexations of Welsh territories, and, by hi s last even a Welsh chronicle, the Brut y Tywysogyon, acknowledges William I as tywyssawc y Normanyeit a brenhin y Saeson ar Brytanyeit ar Albanwyr [prince of the Normans and king of the Saxons, Britons, and Scots]. 3 William Rufus and Henry I continued their fathers legacy, and Norman aristocrats began to colonize Wales even more extensively during their reigns. Concurrent with, and, I shall argue, supportive of this Norman expansion in Wales is a renaissance in the pen of history. Orderic Vitalis, Dudo of St Quentin, Henry of Huntington, Guillaume de Poitiers, and William of Malmesbury are but a few of the historians alert in the 11th and early twelfth centuries who together created a series of texts that lionize Norman achievements and provide a straggly foundation for the Norman conquest of Britain. 4Although William of Malmesbury of all the twelfth-century historians retains the healthiest respect among modern... If you penury to g et a full essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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