Welsh Journals

occurs in Ralph of Diceto, in an entry for 1198, to castles 'in marchia', and in 1203, for the first time in a royal document, Ellesmere was located as situm est in marchia; but in the context of both extracts, it is more likely that it is not the Marchia Walliae that is being referred to but 'borderlands'.5 This reveals some of the many problems in tracing terminology: the term could be used in this wider sense and the task is further complicated, as in the case of Diceto, when the names of the places concerned are not given. What this evidence also indicates, not surprisingly, is that geographical imprecision and uncertainty were inevitable when the fortunes of war created constantly shifting patterns of landholding. The pages of the Brut y Tywysogyon clearly demonstrate the continuous state of violence that existed in Wales and the March. Nevertheless, the issue of the frontier is an important one. R. R. Davies was correct when he argued that 'there was no well defined border between England and Wales in the medieval period', though that may overstate the case.6 Certainly the question of whether men were conscious of entering 'Wales' or of being 'in Wales' beyond or at a certain point is hard to determine and the evidence itself difficult to use. According to Ralph of Diceto, Cadwallon ap Madoc of Maelienydd had often 'transgressed the ancient boundaries between the English and the Welsh', while the Severn and the Wye were regarded as important barriers by contemporaries. Gerald of Wales was in no doubt that a border existed, at least in south Wales, and that it was marked by definite boundaries. In Descriptio Kambriae and Itinerarium Kambriae, Gerald referred not only to the old borders of Wales but also to the new one; the Severn 'for many years formed the boundary between England and Wales' and the Wye formed 'the recent boundary between England and Wales'.8 Contemporaries usually used fines in these instances yet Gerald used marchia- on both occasions here and the same term was 5 W. Stubbs (ed.), Opera Historica (Rolls Series (RS), 1876), II, 163. The entry is in the lower case and is not used in conjunction with Wallia; T. D. Hardy (ed.), Rotuli de Liberate ac de Misis et Praestitis (RS, 1844), p. 56. 6 Lordship and Society, p. 15. 7 Opera Historica, II, p. 437; W Dugdale (ed.), Monasticon Anglicanum (6 vols., 1817-30), VI, p. 51; K. R. Potter (ed.), Gesta Stephani (1955), p. 16. 8 J. S. Brewer, J. F. Dimock and G. F.Warner (eds.), Opera (RS, 1861-91), IV, p. 36; VI, p. 171.