| Summary: | This thesis analyses the political behaviour of Welsh and Marcher lords in a geographically-distinct region: south-west Wales. It examines the challenges they faced and how they responded, and in the light of this, offers new perspectives on the political narrative of the period between the outbreak of war in south-west Wales following the accession of Richard I in 1189 and the end of Welsh lordship in the region with Rhys ap Maredudd’s revolt in 1287. The work fills historiographical gaps by studying both Marcher lords and Welsh lords, so that their political behaviour can be properly compared; by taking account of the political challenges that Marcher lords faced when they also had lands outside Wales; and by providing the first major study of the political predicaments and behaviour of the thirteenth-century Welsh lords of Ystrad Tywi. The thesis has three parts. Part 1 provides thematic analysis of the region’s Marcher lords. This shows how the pattern and character of Marcher lordships in south-west Wales differed from the model held to be typical in the Welsh Marches, and how this shaped political behaviour. It also considers challenges stemming from transnational lordship. Part 2 analyses the Welsh lords of Ystrad Tywi, arguing that their political behaviour must be understood in the context of their relationships with their uchelwyr (freeborn landholders), and examining how they generated the resources necessary for lordship. Parts 1 and 2 also analyse how Welsh and Marcher lords reacted to Crown legal jurisdiction as it strengthened. Part 3 offers new perspectives on the region’s political narrative, drawing on the preceding thematic analysis. It demonstrates that until the mid-thirteenth century there was much more political cooperation between Welsh and Marcher lords than hitherto understood and considers why the pattern of politics changed, drawing comparison with medieval Ireland.
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