Battle of Ewloe
The Battle of Ewloe (also known as the Battle of Coleshill) was
a battle fought in July 1157 between a large army led by Henry
II of England and an army led by the Welsh prince Owain Gwynedd.
Background
King Henry (who ascended to the throne in 1154) decided to
invade Gwynedd to halt the recent expansion of Owain Gwynedd
into the lands of Powys, and to expand his empire into northern
Wales. With the support of the Prince of Powys Madog ap Maredudd
and Owain's brother Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd (who Owain had
recently stripped of his lands in Ceredigion), Henry led a large
army (claimed to be as many as 30,000 men) into northern Wales
and sent a fleet (led by Henry FitzRoy) to capture Anglesey to
cut off Owain's supplies. Owain responded by raising a Welsh
army of around 3000 men.
The battle
Owain's army made camp at Basingwerk to block the route to
Rhuddlan. Henry split from his main army with a smaller force
that would march through the nearby Ewloe woods (near
Flintshire) to outflank Owain's army. Sensing this, Owain is
said to have sent a large army led by his sons Dafydd ab Owain
Gwynedd and Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd into the woods to guard
Owain's main force from Henry's outflanking army. Owain split
his army and decided to personally lead an extra 200 men into
the Ewloe woods to reinforce his sons' armies. When Henry's
outflanking force advanced into the wood, they were ambushed by
Owain's forces and cut down. The remainder of Henry's force
retreated, with Henry narrowly avoiding being killed himself
(having been rescued by Roger, Earl of Hertford).
Aftermath
Henry managed to escape back to his main army alive. Not wishing
to engage the Norman army directly, Owain repositioned himself
first at St. Asaph, then further west, clearing the road for
Henry II to enter into Rhuddlan "ingloriously". Once in
Rhuddlan, Henry II received word that his naval expedition had
failed. Instead of meeting Henry II at Deganwy or Rhuddlan as
the king had commanded, the English fleet had gone to plunder
Môn and the Norman troops on board had been defeated by the
local Welsh soldiers (Henry FitzRoy himself had also been
killed). Despite Owain's success in the Ewloe woods and his men
on Anglesey's success, Henry had still succeeded in securing
Rhuddlan, and so Owain felt obliged to make peace with him.
Owain surrendered the lands of Rhuddlan and Tegeingl to Chester.
He also gave Cadwaladr his lands back in Ceredigion, which
re-cemented the alliance between the two brothers. Owain also
agreed to render homage and fealty to Henry.
POD: Roger, Earl of Hereford is a little too late and Henry falls in
battle aged twenty-four after a reign of a little over two and a half
years. In OTL his legitimate children conceived before the battle of
Ewloe were
William 1153-1156
Henry 1155-1183
Richard 1157-1199
Richard was born in September, so Eleanor was in the fairly late stages
of pregnancy at the time of the battle. In this time line *Henry III
presumably becomes king aged two, his brother is the heir presumptive
from birth. Henry II's widow Eleanor of Aquitaine posses huge
territories in her own right and has a fairly strong claim to be her
son's regent. However there are some complicating factors, firstly Queen
Matilda, Henry II's mother is still alive (she died in 1167) she does
still have her claim to the throne and is an adult with a certain amount
of experience at ruling, she administered Normandy on her son's behalf.
It is therefore possible that she might be restored with her grandson as
the heir she has resources to back up her claim. Secondly another
possible threat is William the twenty year old son of the usurper
Stephen. In OTL he had fled to Normandy suspected of involvement in a
plot against Henry II in 1154, he was married to the extremely wealthy
Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey, he died childless in 1158. He
was succeeded as Count of Blois by his sister Marie; who had to leave
her convent in consequence. This provides at least one plausible
alternative heir if any of the nobility fancy restarting the Anarchy.
Suddenly shortly after Stephen had managed to settle one long running
succession dispute caused by Henry I dying without an adult male heir by
accepting Matilda's son Henry as his heir following the death of his
eldest son Eustace in 1153 another king has died without a clear adult
male heir. Henry II also had some brothers, the twenty-three year old
Geoffrey, Count of Nantes who died in 1158 and the twenty year old
William FitzEmpress who died 1164. The King of Scots was the six
year old Malcolm IV the Maiden who swore fealty to Henry for his English
earldom of Huntington at Chester in 1157 so was actually quite close to
the battle, but lost the Cumbria and his brother William lost
Northumbria which he may try to regain. There had been a succession
dispute in Scotland following Malcolm's accession at the age of twelve.
List of some possible Contenders:
Person Claim
Henry III Eldest son of Henry II Senior male Angevin has
heir Richard
Matilda Heiress of Henry I
Geoffrey Senior adult male Angevin, rather rebellious
William FitzEmpress Very wealthy, based in England and loyal to his
eldest brother [1] may be viewed as more
trustworthy
William of Blois Heir of Stephen, has heiress Marie
Given the enormous wealth at stake, Henry II was the wealthiest monarch
in Europe some of these may try their luck. And the King of Scots may
try to take advantage of any weakness to reclaim Cumbria and
Northumbria. William the Lion made several attempts to regain
Northumbria after succeeding his brother as king.
[1] Henry seems to have blamed Thomas Becket for his brother's
death, Becket refused to support a request for a dispensation
for William to marry his cousin Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess
of Surrey the widow of William of Blois. One of the three
murderers, Richard le Breton, was a former retainer of William's
and is said to have cried out "take that, for the love of my
lord William, the king's brother!" when he slew the Archbishop.
--
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