The Most devastating Weapon in Medieval History! - Battle of Crug Mawr 1136 — Transcript

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1. 0:09It is the autumn of 1136, and for decades,  Norman lords and their Welsh allies had expanded
2. 0:15their control across the region, seizing lands,  constructing castles, and steadily pushing native
3. 0:21Welsh rulers into smaller territories. But in  1136, that expansion began to unravel. A rebellion
4. 0:30had erupted across southern Wales. Norman castles  were being attacked, soldiers ambushed, and Welsh
5. 0:36princes who had once fought among themselves  were beginning to unite against a common enemy.
6. 0:43In response, a large Norman Flemish force was  assembled and dispatched from South Wales to
7. 0:49suppress the rebellion. The army was commanded by  Robert Fitz Martin. Robert Fitz Stevens, Maurice
8. 0:55Fitzgerald, and Steven, Constable of Cardigan.  Medieval sources do not provide a reliable figure
9. 1:02for the army's strength, and later estimates vary  considerably, so claims of 10,000 to 12,000 men
10. 1:10should be treated with caution. The force likely  consisted primarily of infantry supported by
11. 1:16Norman knights and mounted warriors. The Welsh  forces, meanwhile, had gathered to meet this
12. 1:23advancing army northeast of Cardigan. The precise  location of the coming battle remains uncertain,
13. 1:29but historians have traditionally associated it  with a prominent ridge or hill near a farm known
14. 1:35as Krug Mau, meaning great hill. The Welsh army  was led by Owen Gwyneth and his brother Cadwalader
15. 1:44Abg Griffith alongside Griffith Apprisath and  other Welsh leaders who had joined the rebellion.
16. 1:52Their army was probably smaller than the Norman  Flemish force, although the exact numbers
17. 1:57are unknown. The Welsh also lacked the heavily  armored cavalry for which the Normans were famous.
18. 2:04Instead, they relied heavily on their skilled  Welsh longbowmen. Welsh archers had already earned
19. 2:11a formidable reputation for their ability to  fight from difficult terrain and deliver effective
20. 2:16missile fire. Their importance would become  increasingly apparent as the battle unfolded.
21. 2:23The Normans, confident in the strength of their  disciplined heavy infantry and heavily armed
22. 2:29cavalry, stood patiently and allowed the enemy  to come to them. They expected to crush what they
23. 2:36regarded as a poorly equipped Welsh rebellion.  But what they had in numbers and superior cavalry,
24. 2:43they lacked in ranged troops. As reports suggest,  they fielded no ranged units of any kind. The
25. 2:51Welsh army finally faced the Norman Flemish  force near Cardigan sometime in late September
26. 2:58or October 1136. Both sides understood what was at  stake. For the Welsh, victory could break Norman
27. 3:08control over much of Western Wales and give  the rebellion new momentum. For the Normans,
28. 3:15defeat could jeopardize their entire position in  Western Wales, threatening the castles, lands,
29. 3:22and influence they had spent decades establishing.  Neither side could afford to retreat. The Welsh
30. 3:31prepared to defend their homeland. The Normans  prepared to crush the rebellion. Then, according
31. 3:39to the surviving accounts, the Welsh opened the  battle. Welsh archers moved within effective
32. 3:47range of the Norman army and began unleashing  volleys of arrows against the stationary enemy.
33. 4:02As previously noted, the Normans appear to have  had little comparable missile capability with
34. 4:09which to answer. Instead, their infantry  had to endure the barrage. The front ranks
35. 4:17tightened their formations and raised their  almond shaped kite shields above their heads,
36. 4:23attempting to protect themselves from  the storm of arrows falling upon them.
37. 4:41For the Norman soldiers, it may have seemed  like something they simply had to endure. A
38. 4:47brief storm, a temporary inconvenience. They  expected their armor and shields to protect
39. 4:55them until they could close with the Welsh and  bring their superior close combat forces into
40. 5:01action. But they were about to discover that  the Welsh had no intention of allowing them to
41. 5:07advance unchallenged. The arrows kept coming.  Volley after volley crashed into the Norman
42. 5:16formation. And what the Normans may have expected  to be a passing storm was becoming something far
43. 5:23more dangerous. The battle had only just begun.  Norman casualties began to mount. Arrows were
44. 5:33finding their way through slits, cracks, and any  minor openings, resulting in sheer devastation.
45. 5:40There is no detailed eyewitness account  describing every movement on the battlefield,
46. 5:45and the surviving sources leave much of the  battle's sequence unclear. However, modern
47. 5:51reconstructions suggest that the Norman cavalry  eventually entered the fighting. It was clear that
48. 5:58the Welsh archers had become too much of a threat.  Robert Fitz Martin and Norman commanders appear
49. 6:05to have committed their mounted forces, likely  hoping to break the Welsh formation and bring
50. 6:10the battle to a swift conclusion. Perhaps the  Normans believed their cavalry could simply ride
51. 6:17them down. The Norman cavalry began to advance.  Among them were the elite of the Norman army,
52. 6:25the mounted knights. Heavily armed and trained  for mounted combat, Norman knights had earned a
53. 6:31formidable reputation across Western Europe. Their  combination of armor, horses, discipline, and
54. 6:38shock tactics made them one of the most powerful  military forces of the age. Their effectiveness
55. 6:45had already been demonstrated repeatedly. At  Hastings in 1066, Norman cavalry had played
56. 6:52a crucial role in defeating the Anglo-Saxon army.  During the first crusade, Norman and other Western
57. 7:00European cavalry had again demonstrated their  value in battles such as Doraleam in 1097. To
58. 7:08the Norman commanders, the solution may have  seemed straightforward. Close the distance.
59. 7:14Break through the Welsh ranks. overrun the  archers, then destroy the rest of the army.
60. 7:43The Welsh front ranks closed together,  presenting a formidable wall of shields
61. 7:48and spears to the advancing cavalry. As the  Norman horsemen crashed into the Welsh formation,
62. 7:55the impact was tremendous. Men  were knocked from their feet,
63. 7:59formations were disrupted, and the Welsh  front line was put under immense pressure.
64. 8:18But it did not break. The Welsh warriors fought  desperately to hold their ground. They knew what
65. 8:25was at stake. Their lands, their homes, and  the future of their resistance were all on
66. 8:31the line. They had no intention of giving way. The  Norman cavalry pressed the attack, relying on the
67. 8:39tremendous shock of their mounted charges to break  through the Welsh formation. But Norman cavalry
68. 8:46were most dangerous when they had momentum.  Against a dense formation of determined infantry,
69. 8:52supported by long spears and protected by  shields, the situation became far more difficult.
70. 8:59The Marcel held their ground as the Norman horses  pushed into the formation. Welsh infantry attacked
71. 9:07from below, striking at the riders and their  mounts whenever an opportunity presented itself.
72. 9:13Some Norman horsemen were pulled from their  saddles. The cavalry's initial momentum had faded
73. 9:20and then gradually the momentum of the battle  began to shift. The Welsh formation remained
74. 9:26intact with the Welsh troops pressing forward  together, forcing the Normans to give ground. What
75. 9:34had begun as a Norman attempt to break the Welsh  line was turning into a dangerous struggle for
76. 9:40survival. By this point, the Norman cavalry saw  no way through, and after sustaining casualties,
77. 9:48they broke off the attack. Witnessing the collapse  of their heavy knights and cavalry, the Norman
78. 9:55infantry followed. The Welsh had taken what  initially appeared to be an unfavorable situation
79. 10:01and turned it into a stunning victory. The Norman  retreat quickly descended into disaster. As the
80. 10:08defeated army fled toward Cardigan and the river  Ty, the Welsh pursued them relentlessly. Many were
81. 10:15killed during the route, while others  drowned attempting to cross the river.
82. 10:21The exact casualties at Krug Mauo remain  uncertain. Medieval sources give widely varying
83. 10:27figures, many of which were likely exaggerated.  What is clear is that Norman losses were severe
84. 10:35and the Norman Flemish army had been decisively  defeated. The consequences were significant.
85. 10:42The victory strengthened the reputation  of Owen Gwyneth and allowed Gwyneth to
86. 10:47extend its influence farther into western Wales as  Norman authority in the region weakened. However,
87. 10:55the victory was not solely Gwyneth's. Griffith  Appris and the forces of Deheubarth had played
88. 11:01an important role in the campaign. Nevertheless,  Krug Mau shifted the balance of power toward
89. 11:08Gwyneth. The battle had demonstrated that the  Normans could be defeated in the open field,
90. 11:14checking their expansion across Wales. From the  chaos of the rebellion, Gwyneth emerged as the
91. 11:21strongest Welsh power, resisting Norman rule. The  struggle for Wales would continue for generations,
92. 11:28eventually ending with Edward I's conquest.  But in 1136, the outcome was far from certain.