Steven Till

Marcher Lords

1) The name commonly given to Norman landholders on the Welsh border.
(MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms)

2) Lord of a border district, such as the boundaries of Wales and Scotland.
(Gies, Joseph and Francis. Life in a Medieval Castle, 230)

3) A lord of a frontier territory as in Wales where he had considerable independence.
(Seward, Desmond. Henry V: The Scourge of God, 223)

*term definitions retrieved from Netserf’s Medieval Glossary (http://www.netserf.org/Glossary)

From Matthew of Westminster on Simon de Montfort’s Rebellion, 1265

There was but little mention made for a year of the deliverance of Edward, the king’s eldest son, until he himself, as the price of his release, gave his palatine county of Chester to the aforesaid earl of Leicester, and thus he purchased his liberation from the imprisonment and custody of the knights, his enemies. No one can adequately relate the condition of the nobles of the Marches, and the persecutions which they endured for a year and more. But when the earl of Leicester endeavored to banish these lords marchers into Ireland, they, entering the camp of the king’s eldest son, on the extreme borders of Wales, plundered the Welsh castles of their enemies before mentioned, and thus furnished themselves with the necessary supplies…

Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on November 6th, 2009