Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The March of Wales · as at first light, 1 January 1200

King's officers (March)

There is no single royal governor of the March.

The king acts towards Wales through the justiciar, who in 1197 (Hubert Walter) recognised Gruffydd ap Rhys and in 1198 (Geoffrey FitzPeter) led the army that destroyed Gwenwynwyn's host at Painscastle; through the sheriffs of the border shires, who keep Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth and Hereford castles and call out the shire levies; through the constables of the royal castles in Wales (Carmarthen, Cardigan, Swansea, the Three Castles); and through great Marcher lords trusted with royal tasks, above all William de Braose. Archbishop Hubert Walter, now chancellor, remains the man the princes deal with: he arranged Dafydd ab Owain's release in 1198.

Who he is

Name
Geoffrey FitzPeter, earl of Essex, justiciar of England (from July 1198), with the sheriffs of Shropshire (William FitzAlan) and Herefordshire, and the constables of the royal castles
Title
The justiciar and the sheriffs and constables who act for the king towards Wales
Since
FitzPeter justiciar from July 1198; earl from 27 May 1199
Born
Not pinned
Family
See ese.
Confidence
medium

Wikipedia; the list of sheriffs of Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Overlord

King John

What it holds

How it was acquired

Royal appointment.

Allies and rivals

Braose, Marshal, Mortimer and Lacy; the client princes Maelgwn and Hywel ab Iorwerth.

How things stand that morning

The king is overseas; the justiciar governs England. No campaign in Wales is under way that winter as far as the records show.

Wealth

Not applicable.

Military

The shire levies, royal garrisons and the Marcher lords' forces; FitzPeter's army of 1198 is the model.

Threats

  • A league of the princes
  • Gwenwynwyn's ambitions

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. July 1201The justiciar and the king's council conclude the treaty with Llywelyn.Depends on: John's need for peace Stopped by: War

Places of note

  • Hereford castle: Base of royal campaigns into south and mid Wales
  • Shrewsbury castle: Base against Powys and Gwynedd

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The structure is clear; individual constables are not.

On the map: Not drawn as ground; a marker at Hereford only.

Primary sources for March of Wales

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Annals of Wales, Anonymous (St Davids and other Welsh houses) (10th to 13th centuries; the B and C texts continue to 1286 and 1288). Short Latin annals whose later versions are kept at St Davids and Cistercian houses. Read online
  • Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
  • Chronicle of the Princes, Anonymous (Welsh translation of a lost Latin chronicle kept at Strata Florida) (Latin original to about 1282, compiled from contemporary annals; Welsh versions about 1300 and later). The native Welsh record of the year. Read online
  • Monastic Annals (Margam, Tewkesbury, Burton, Winchester, Waverley, Dunstable, Bermondsey, Worcester, Osney) (12th to 14th centuries). Nine sets of house annals, each with a short entry for 1200. Read online
  • The History of William Marshal, Anonymous (a poet called John, writing for the Marshal family) (about 1224 to 1226). A knight's view of the Angevin succession: the council at Vaudreuil in April 1199 where the Marshal and Hubert Walter argued for John over Arthur, the Marshal's crossing to secure England, John's coronation, and the Marshal's part in Normandy in 1199 and 1200 as holder of Longueville and Orbec and a go-between with Philip. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
  • The Charter Rolls of King John (1199 to 1216, at the royal chancery). The enrolled charters of John's first years, beginning with his accession in 1199: confirmations to towns, bishoprics and abbeys, grants of land and office, and the great grants to men like William Marshal and the king's new allies in Poitou. Read online
  • The Great Rolls of the Pipe for 1199 and Michaelmas 1200 (1199 and 1200, at the Exchequer). The audited accounts of every sheriff and farmer for the Exchequer year ending Michaelmas 1200: county farms, the scutage of 1199, the carucage of 1200, debts of magnates and towns, wardships, and the fines offered to the new king.

3 more in the sources library for The British Isles.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex
  2. Wikipedia: High Sheriff of Shropshire
  3. Wikipedia: High Sheriff of Herefordshire

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.