Princesses were traded as commodities, Queen's and King's were kidnapped, maimed, and killed. Medieval life for Welsh Royalty was far from luxurious.
The common practice of medieval Wales was to put sons into fosterage. There they were raised and trained by noble, adoptive families. The results of this were two fold.
•Each child was trained in kingly pursuits, such as sword-play and horsemanship, as well as a host of other pursuits.
•A loyalty grew for the adoptive families, rather than their own fathers, mothers, and siblings.
This created problems of family loyalty when the young prince was returned home. Often he felt alienated and as a result he felt no remorse in taking over his father’s kingdom, no sorrow for killing his brother to gain more land, and in turn, having been reared the same way, no guilt on the part of his brothers in taking his life to further their own ends.
In the book, Medieval Wales, by David Walker, an example is given:
•In 814, Griffri ap Cyngen was slain by the treachery of his brother
•In 904, Merfyn ap Rhodri of Gwynedd was killed by his own men
•In 696, Ieuaf ab Idwal of Gwynedd was seized by his brother Iago and imprisoned
•In 974, Meurig ap Idwal was blinded.
One of the most prominent of Welsh rulers was Gruffyd ap Llywelyn, and his nephew accused him of smothering one heir, stabbing another, and pushing yet another over a cliff. Llywelyn showed no remorse, and justified many other killings by saying that “…I blunt the horns of Wales, lest they hurt their mother.”
A princess of Wales might be considered ready for marriage by twelve. A marriage decided by her parents according to the needs of their country at the time. Usually she was traded with a dowry or as a pact between royal houses. Worse, she was usually excluded from the loop of knowledge in her husband’s daily working life, and rarely consulted otherwise. Only upon the death of her husband, did she have any choices in marriage, or with her dowry.
Her daily life was comparable to that of her tenants, she worked hard making candles, directing food for the day (a feat in itself), and caring for the arrival of guests. She would make sure that guest quarters were clean, and then feed them as well. Sadly, her children were taken away for fosterage at the very young age of five to eight, by the time she saw them again they might not remember her. She would watch her daughters marry young, knowing it was likely she'd never see them again. Life was hard for a medieval queen.
War also accounted for the death of many prominent Kings and nobles. Those battles were bloody even when they were over, one King taking another for ransom, blinding him, before sending him home, then he, himself being sent to some dungeon to languish and die. It was a constant battle back and forth between one power and another. Royal life in Wales was no picnic.
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