Barons and castellans · The March of Wales · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Montgomery

The earth-and-timber castle of Hen Domen guarding the Severn ford of Rhydwhiman, the old meeting place of English kings and Welsh princes, and the Marcher lordship of Montgomery round it, held by the Boulers since Henry I.

Which Boulers holds on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Who he is

Name
A Boulers lord: Robert or Baldwin (II) de Boulers, grandsons of Baldwin I
Title
Lord of Montgomery (Hen Domen)
Since
Not pinned
Born
Not pinned
Family
The de Boulers (later Bowdler) family, holding since Henry I's grant after 1102; the last Baldwin dies about 1207 and the lordship is sold to Thomas de Erdington in 1214-15.
Confidence
low

castlewales.com (Hen Domen); Wikipedia (Montgomery Castle).

Overlord

King John

What it holds

  • Hen Domen castle
  • The lordship of Montgomery in the Vale of Montgomery

How it was acquired

Royal grant after 1102.

Allies and rivals

Faces Gwenwynwyn's Powys across the Severn.

How things stand that morning

Held by the Boulers.

Wealth

The Severn ford.

Military

Hen Domen castle.

Threats

  • Gwenwynwyn

Places of note

  • Rhydwhiman ford: Severn ford, meeting place of kings and princes

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Holder name not pinned.

On the map: Approximate.

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. castlewales.com: Hen Domen
  2. Wikipedia: Montgomery Castle

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