The Christmas Massacre at Abergavenny

Happy holidays, APHOUT fans! Join Kelli as she goes over a Welsh Christmas Day Massacre! In 1175, William de Braose committed a massacre against some rival families in Gwent, southeast Wales.

De Braose, a Norman who was given control of Abergavenny Castle after his uncle Henry Fitzmiles was killed, decided to seek retribution against the man responsible - Seisyll ap Dyfnwal. Seisyll, his son, and many of his men, came to have a peaceful Christmas dinner at de Braose's Abergavenny keep. Once inside, de Braose locked the doors and slaughtered them all - a scene that no doubt inspired Game of Thrones' Red Wedding.

De Braose then went out to slaughter the rest of Seisyll's family, including his wife and 7-year-old son Cadwalladr.

He got vengeance for his Uncle's death, but worsened tensions between the Welsh noble families and the invading Normans.

So let's take a look at this story and place it in historical context - what was this massacre really about?

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Transcript

The Christmas Massacre at Abergavenny

Intro
Welcome to A Popular History of Unpopular Things, a mostly scripted podcast that makes history more fun and accessible. My kind of history is the unpopular stuff - disease, death, and destruction. I like learning about all things bloody, gross, mysterious, and weird. 

Christmas is normally a time for peace - families and friends get together, celebrate one another and whatever they believe in, and get ready for the new year. But for one Welsh noble family in 1175, Christmas wasn’t the peaceful occasion they planned for - it ended with their brutal deaths.

Happy holidays APHOUT fans! In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the Christmas Massacre at Abergavenny Castle back in the early Medieval period. This reference dates me horribly, but for you Game of Thrones fans out there… the massacre reminds me very much of the Red Wedding. We’ve got feuding clans coming together to celebrate, one group deciding to attack the other during a big event, and lots of death. 

Like we normally do, we’ll start with the historical context - what does 12th-century Wales look like? After we get a good idea of what medieval Welsh politics was like, we’ll dive into the event itself and the aftermath, because you just know that there was retribution for all that Christmastime murder.

And what better way to celebrate the holidays than with a massacre? This is Christmas APHOUT style 🙂

So let’s get started!
Historical Context
Wales today, as most of you know, is part of the United Kingdom, which is England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, at the time of today’s story in 1175, Wales hadn’t yet been conquered by the English under Plantagenet King Edward I.

Neil don’t include this line, it won’t make sense with the videos that are out

I just talked about the Plantagenets a bit in my previous episode on the Ball of the Burning Men - they ruled England for 331 years from 1154 until 1485.

Neil - cut back in

Prior to all that, in the 12th century, Wales was divided into a few Kingdoms. And I promise you I’m trying my best with pronunciation in today’s episode. You’ve got the kingdoms of Gwynedd [GWINN-UTH], Deheubarth [DEH-HAY-BARTH], and Powys. Hey, my father-in-law lives in Powys! Hey Dad! I hope I’m pronouncing your county properly!

And if you know anything about Medieval politics, or frankly just politics in general, when you’ve got a bunch of rival Kingdoms all shoved together in a small space… we can assume that they’re going to be at war with each other. It’s always a delicate balance, sharing a small land mass like that - each rival house is going to want more land and power, so it leads to conflict.

We see that happening in the world now, right? Conflict between two or more rival powers that want control over the same land, for whatever reason - access to resources, political legitimacy, cultural supremacy… you name it.

But anyways, in Wales, you’ve got these three main Kingdoms: Gwynedd [GWINN-UTH] in the northwest, Powys in the Northeast and also a good chunk of central Wales, and Deheubath [DEH-HAY-BARTH] in the southwest. And despite being rival powers, after a while they actually worked together to try and reclaim some stability for the people. Because outside of these three Kingdoms, to the south and the east in Wales, were the Normans, who were changing everything.

The Normans invaded England in 1066 with William the Conquerer at the Battle of Hastings, and it was the Normans who brought feudalism over, building their castles everywhere, subjugating the Anglo-Saxons… all that good stuff. And by the end of the 11th century, the same century they arrived, they had begun raids in Wales. The full takeover happened later in the 13th century, some 200 years later.

So that’s something to consider as well - you’ve got the Welsh Kingdoms vying for control against each other, but also the Normans, taking the portions of land that bordered England. The Norman area was known as the Marches, while the Welsh portion, ruled by those three main kingdoms, was known as Pure Wallia - to distinguish them from the invaders.

The name “marches” stuck, by the way, and refers to the counties that border England, like Shropshire and Herefordshire [HAIR-URH-FERD-SURE].

So let’s zoom in on Abergavenny, then.

Abergavenny is in southeastern Wales, not too far from the border. So therefore, not in Pure Wallia - not in the Welsh lands controlled by the Kingdoms. Instead, it was in Norman Territory, in a Kingdom known as Gwent.

Are there any Witcher 3 fans out who just had their ears perk up when I said that? Because when I was doing my research for this and discovered that a massacre happened in a castle in Gwent, I was super excited! 

But anywho, Abergavenny Castle was built in 1087 by a man named Hamelin de Ballon, who served as its first Norman lord. It was a motte and bailey-style castle. Let’s talk a bit about their architecture because I find them pretty cool.

So typically, motte and bailey castles were wooden structures, maybe with some stone parts. Sure, stone castles would be better than wood for so many reasons, and the Normans built those too, but the wooden motte and baileys could be built faster, so they were usually the first ones erected. If we think about what the Normans are doing in England and Wales - engaging in territorial expansion, trying to overpower the Anglo-Saxons and other groups - then they needed to build castles and structures quickly. Hence the wooden motte and baileys. And once established, and when the Normans fully controlled the area, sometimes they would invest the time to replace the motte and baileys with stone castles.

Now the “motte” part was a raised hill, or mound, where the keep would be built. This places the lord or ruler of the castle literally higher than everyone, making it easier for them to keep an eye on the people they wanted to subjugate. There was also an intimidation factor there - if I’m up high, I can see you, so don’t do anything stupid, okay? When you think of medieval castles, you might even be picturing a motte and bailey castle.

The “bailey” part was the rest of the castle town, enclosed in walls, at the foot of the mound and keep. This is where the soldiers and servants would live, typically. We wouldn’t expect the locals to live there, or peasants, or anything like that. They’d be outside the walls.

And occasionally, where possible, a moat was put around the whole structure, motte and bailey, to keep out the riff-raff and serve as an additional defense. Was this what you were picturing? I bet it waaasssss :) 

Now it’s a castle, so yes it was there as a defensive structure, but the main point of a Norman motte and bailey castle was to maintain control over the people of that area.

Abergavenny was one of those - built by the Normans in 1087. Only 21 years after they first arrived in England with William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings! …They’re moving quickly. And once one Norman castle was built to establish control over that area within Gwent, they’d fan out and engage in territorial expansion, taking more land. 

And in 1175, Abergavenny was the site of a Christmas Day Massacre, where tensions between different houses in southern Wales - some Welsh, some Norman - erupted and resulted in tragedy.
The Christmas Massacre
There are a bunch of characters in our story, but I’m going to simplify them to the main ones to make it easier to keep track.

Our story begins back in the 1160s with another death - that of Henry Fitzmiles, the lord of Abergavenny at that time. Fitzmiles and his only son were killed, and it was thought that Seisyll ap Dyfnwal [SAY-SITH  AP  DEVON-WELL], a Welshman with lands of his own a few miles away, did it. For those of you just listening to this episode, you will have no idea how that’s spelled. For those of you watching on YouTube… Seisyll ap Dyfnwal [SAY-SITH  AP  DEVON-WELL].

So why did Seisyll [SAY-SITH] kill him? Well, don’t forget we’ve got conflict between the Welsh and the Norman invaders. Seisyll [SAY-SITH] had ties to the Kingdom of Deheubarth [DEH-HAY-BARTH] - one of the Pure Wallia Welsh domains, over in the West. And Henry Fitzmiles was part Norman - and therefore seen as one of the outsiders.

Fitzmiles didn’t have any surviving male heirs, so nobody in his family line to take over from him upon his death. This would potentially mean that another family could take control of Abergavenny. Did Seisyll [SAY-SITH] do this in the hopes that he might take control? Swiping some lands from the Norman invaders and reclaiming it for the Welsh? Probably. Some sources I’ve read say that Seisyll [SAY-SITH] got control of the castle for a while, but eventually, the King gave Abergavenny to Fitzmiles’ nephew, William de Braose [BRAY-OSE].

So now that de Braose was lord of Abergavenny, he came up with a plan for retribution.

Christmas, traditionally, was a time when local squabbles would be put on pause. Families would come together peacefully to celebrate, in hopes that they could put aside their differences for the new year. So, when invited to a lord’s castle on Christmas, you would leave your weapons at the door. If it’s a time for forging peace, you don’t need your swords or bows.

De Braose invited Seisyll [SAY-SITH], his oldest son Geoffrey, and other family members and his knights and whatnot to dine with him at Abergavenny, to clear the air, get out any grievances, and start the new year fresh. As customary, the guests left their weapons outside. Other Gwent Welsh leaders were supposedly invited too, but the story focuses on this beef between de Braose and Seisyll [SAY-SITH]. Once the men were all inside, defenseless, De Braose locked the doors and massacred them. 

Here’s how one author recounts the story. I read this in Chris Barber’s 1941 book The Seven Hills of Abergavenny, which, to be fair, is a walking tour book, but it contains cool anecdotes from people who grew up there with the stories, so I consider it like an oral history. Quote:

The guests sat down at long tables loaded with food and William de Braose rose to his feet and welcomed the Welshmen to Abergavenny Castle. But after the goblets had been passed around, he changed the tone of his voice and announced that henceforth all the Welsh of his domain should be deprived of the right to carry arms, and that all who were present should swear to abandon that right. His guests were deeply shocked by his words and no doubt stared at him in astonishment, for they had come here that night in good faith and had not expected such a demand.

Then de Braose gave a pre-arranged signal and soldiers led by… the Sheriff of Hereford [HAIR-UH-FURD] rushed into the hall with gleaming swords in their hands. The Welshmen now rose to their feet in horror. Without their weapons they were unable to defend themselves and they were savagely cut to pieces. Their blood mingled with the wine that they had been drinking and one by one they fell to the stone floor until the massacre was complete.

End quote.

So, in short, all of the guests were killed - I’ve read around seventy of them. 

But not content with killing off just Seisyll’s [SAY-SITH] family members in attendance, William de Braose sought out the only surviving heir who didn’t attend the feast, his seven-year-old son Cadwalladr. And poor young Cadwalladr was slaughtered as well. The noe deceased Seisyll’s [SAY-SITH] wife was taken from the castle, only a few miles away from Abergavenny, but she disappears from the historical record, so we can only make assumptions about what happened to her. In the same book I quoted just a minute ago, the author writes that, quote,

When William de Braose’s men came… to murder Seisyll’s [SAY-SITH] son they set fire to the wooden fortress and took the grief stricken widow, Anharad, back to Abergavenny Castle, where she no doubt died in the castle dungeons.

End quote.

I mean, it’s as good a guess as any.

For perpetrating this bloody, deceitful, Christmas Day massacre, William de Braose earned the nickname “the Ogre of Abergavenny.” Well earned, in my opinion. But the Normans didn’t see him to blame. 

A Norman priest and historian named Gerald of Wales wrote a book called Journey through Wales in 1188, where he essentially said that the King ordered the attack, and William de Braose wasn’t responsible. Now obviously we’re looking at biased sources on both sides; the Welsh will see da Braose as a monster, and the Normans or English will see him as a hero, trying to hold his ground against the Welsh. When we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the conflict over Welsh vs. Norman control of these southern Welsh Marches, then it makes more sense, right? The Welsh will see the Norman-controlled Abergavenny as tyranny, outsiders coming to take their land away. And the Normans will see the Welsh as backward folk who need to be conquered and controlled. Abergavenny was just one of many, many battlegrounds between the Welsh and Norman English.

Now even though William de Braose was successful in avenging his uncle's death, you can imagine that this vengeance didn’t sit well with the other Welsh lords in and around Gwent. Some historians note that de Braose knew this, and was hoping to cause instability on purpose so he could potentially seize more land and power. It’s very likely. But one thing is clear - it made the tension between the Welsh and Normans in southeastern Wales even worse.
Retribution
In retribution, Seisyll [SAY-SITH] and the other slain lords’ descendants attacked the castle in 1182. De Braose wasn’t there at the time, so they couldn’t get the revenge they were seeking. But Abergavenny was set on fire and most of de Braose’s men were taken hostage. The castle was later rebuilt, and over time ownership went back and forth between the Welsh and English. 

As I hinted at earlier in the episode, the Welsh were eventually conquered a little more than a century after the Christmas Day Massacre. But in the ensuing years, Wales was no longer divided into rival Houses - they united under Llewelyn [LOO-EL-IN] the Great, who became Prince of Wales in 1194. Not the modern title, Prince of Wales. But, like, a single ruler the Welsh rallied behind. Under his leadership, the Welsh drove the English out of northern Wales in 1212, and then actually pushed into English territory. Llewelyn [LOO-EL-IN] and his heirs fought back against the English under King Henry III, resisting any further conquest and maintaining their borders. But things turned against the Welsh in 1272, when King Henry III died and his son, Edward I, took over. Edward really wanted to conquer the Welsh, so he organized a series of large-scale invasions to conquer them once and for all. Llelwelyn [LOO-EL-IN] II, grandson of the original LLewelyn [LOO-EL-IN] the Great, couldn’t withstand the massive English army, and was forced to capitulate. Over the next two decades, Wales was essentially defeated and turned into an English colony by 1284. 

Centuries later, in 1536, Henry VIII incorporated Wales into England, and today England and Wales together remain as one of three jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, alongside Scotland and Northern Ireland. So even to this day, Wales is just absorbed into England, though many Welsh people maintain a distinct identity, language, and culture.

As evidenced by my attempts to pronounce Welsh throughout this episode.

And when we look back in history at the Christmas Day Massacre, alone its a really gnarly event that might have inspired the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones. But when we look at the context of the times, what happened at Abergavenny was a microcosm of the broader Welsh-Norman tensions that eventually led to the English conquest of Wales, forever changing the fate of the Welsh people.
Outro
Thanks for joining me for this episode of A Popular History of Unpopular Things. My name is Kelli Beard, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the story of the Christmas Massacre at Abergavenny. Thank you for supporting my podcast, and if you haven’t already checked out my other episodes, go have a listen!

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