As one reader put it, my After Cilmeri series turns the Statutes of Rhuddlan on its head, changing established history so that both Wales and Scotland remain independent of England in the Middle Ages.
In our history, King Edward of England had his eyes on Wales for thirty years before the final conquest in 1282, ever since Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s forces had swept through his lands (held custodially by Edward’s parents and guardians) in 1256. That year, Llywelyn’s army marched all the way to Deheubarth that summer and fall, and set the stage of Llywelyn’s twenty-year supremacy in Wales. However, it wasn’t until 1267 that Edward’s father, Henry III, acknowledged Llywelyn as the Prince of Wales, a title he inherited from his grandfather–and another ten years after that before things fell apart for the Welsh prince.
Meanwhile, Edward participated in the Ninth Crusade, and despite the fact that his father died in 1272, he didn’t return to England until 1274, at which point he immediately turned a covetous eye on Wales.
Why Wales instead of Scotland? It seems likely that Wales looked to be the easier target. Scotland had always been a separate kingdom from England, whereas Wales had fallen under the jurisdiction of England as a principality since the turn of the 13th century. It also was still divided into multiple kingdoms with multiple men vying for overall hegemony.
Thus, invading Scotland meant attacking a reigning monarch; attacking Wales meant reining in a rebellious prince–a different matter entirely. In addition, in the winter of 1274, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Llywelyn’s brother, conspired to assassinate Llywelyn, and only a sudden snowstorm averted the attack. Dafydd was a long time friend of Edward from a childhood spent in the Tower of London. He fled to England—and to Edward. Perhaps Edward believed if he unseated Llywelyn, he’d have a malleable prince in Dafydd.
Back in Scotland, when King Alexander III of Scotland married Margaret of England in 1251 (Henry III’s daughter), Henry had tried to insist that Alexander give homage to him. Alexander refused. By 1261, at the age of 21, Alexander was well on his way to having as grand a plan for Scotland as Llywelyn had for Wales. He maintained a firm grip on power until his death in 1286.
By then, Llywelyn had been murdered (in 1282) and Wales had fallen finally—permanently—to England. Subsequently, in 1283, Edward hanged, drew, and quartered Dafydd, the first man of standing to die such a heinous death. Edward inflicted the same death on William Wallace in 1305.
With the death of King Alexander, Edward saw Scotland as ripe for picking. With no obvious heir (all of Alexander’s children had died by 1284), only a granddaughter, Margaret, remained. When she died in 1290, upwards of fourteen different magnates claimed the throne, and they turned to Edward to arbitrate the dispute. Eventually, John Balloil was appointed king. Still, Edward maintained that he was the rightful overlord–and when he demanded the Scots join him in a war against France, the Scots instead allied withFrance. Unfortunately, this gave Edward the excuse he needed to invade Scotland, which he did in 1296.
All this is upended in the alternate universe of the After Cilmeri series, of which Refuge in Time is the latest book. In it, as Anna, one of the twenty-first century time travelers, puts it, speaking to her brother, the King of England: “Here’s your challenge and our dream, David: to leverage your unique position into a meaningful monarchy of the whole of Britain, one that doesn’t make everyone English, but makes room for everyone.”
Refuge in Time was released March 19th, 2019.
Sarah Woodbury, March 25, 2019
