Welsh Journals

CASTLES AND PATRONAGE IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY WALES WHEN, in 1608, Ralph, Lord Eure, lord president of the Council in the Marches of Wales, wrote to the marquess of Salisbury asking for the constableship of Harlech Castle on the death of the present incumbent, Sir Henry Lee, the reasons he gave were the traditional ones of military expediency and personal profit. These were accompanied by a plea that the office be used to augment the powers of his post as lord president, 'for it is a castle of strength near unto the sea, and a fit place for an enemy, if any such shall be, to seize and retain, and not fit to be in strangers' hands who neither remain nor come at any time into that country, but make benefit of the fee of 501 paid without respect of the King's service'. The value of the fee was undoubted; at £ 50 it was one of the best-paid constableships in Wales. The military significance of the castle is more open to challenge. While it was not as decayed as some of the Crown's castles in Wales, the only parts kept in good repair were the gaol and the lodging used for the sheriff and the justices during quarter and great sessions. The office did, however, carry with it the right for the occupant to be ex officio mayor of the borough, and this was an office of some significance in the politics of this remote part of Wales. Eure was appointed in 1609, to hold office during his tenure as lord president of the Council in the Marches. At the same time, he was ingratiating himself with the inhabitants of Harlech by supporting (for a consideration of £ 50 if he succeeded) their petition to have the great and quarter sessions for Merioneth fixed at Harlech rather than being shared with the other small towns of the shire. The town's petition was bolstered by the argument that this would contribute to the repair of the castle. A further price for Eure's support appears to have been a grant of some of the corporation's land in Ardudwy. Eure also attempted to use his position as mayor to secure a favourable division of Harlech marsh, but in neither case did he achieve what he had hoped for. His schemes resulted only in a damaging quarrel with Sir William Maurice of Clennenau, one of the most powerful Merioneth landowners and sometime sheriff and M.P. for the county, who was also bailiff of Harlech and had claims in Harlech marsh. Maurice had, in 1604, been offered £ 100 by the burgesses of Harlech for using his influence towards fixing the sessions at Harlech, and had also been asked by the burgesses to I HMC. Salisbury (Cecil) MSS., XX (1968), 295.