Welsh War of Edward 1 1277 - 1282 Previous kings of England had made repeated attempts to invade the Welsh stronghold of Snowdonia. However, the feudal army was not suited to campaigning in mountainous country, where the Welsh simply disappeared into the high mountains, and after the feudal army disbanded at the end of its forty day period of service, the Welsh would come back down from the mountains and reoccupy their lands. Edward I responded to this in three ways. First, he altered the nature of his army. Many nobles appeared with a fraction of their full quota, and stayed on after the forty days in return for a wage, while he also paid for a large number of infantry, amongst whom there were a large number of south Welsh troops. Second, Edward embarged on a largescale road building program throughout Snowdonia, clearing forests to avoid ambush and allowing his troops much easier access to the Welsh heartland. Thirdly, he embarked on a huge program of castle building, by far the biggest undertaken by any English king - indeed, Wales was truly pacified before all of the castles were completed,. and were not tested until Glendowers revolt, over a century later.
Evening Woopert - Sports Day looms sunny and bright with a beer or two at the end - at the moment the minister of finance war and home affairs is trying to get me to have three alcohol free days a week its nigh on impossible with so few days in a week