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The Financial Cost of War
Expenses associated with Edward I's Welsh campaign of 1282/83
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Expenses associated with Edward I's Welsh campaign of 1282/83
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The information below comes from the landmark study by John E. Morris, "The Welsh Wars of Edward I," originally published in 1901. The figures concern the expenses directly associated with the Second Welsh War of 1282/83 against Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. They include two great rolls of payments to the infantry and cavalry as well as the expenses of the king and his headquarters and gross expenses of all the other divisions.
The tables below show that the total cost of the war was over £98,000, an enormous sum for the late 1200s. Keep in mind too that these expenses did not reflect the costs of the First Welsh War of 1276/77 or Madoc's War of 1294/95, nor the total cost of building Edward's "Iron Ring" of castles in north Wales, and the repair of existing castles.
I hope you find this information useful. Hopefully additional facts and figures relating to this topic will be forthcoming. Stay tuned.
Payments to Infantry at: Cost £ Chester 1282 1,115 With the Earl of Lincoln, 1282 255 Oswestry, May 1282 240 Hope, 1282 941 Montgomery, 1282 & 1283 1,740 Anglesey, 1282 & 1283 3,540 Soldiers in Ships 590 Rhuddlan, 1283 706 Caernarvon & Criccieth, 1283 809 Caernarvon, 1284 120 South & West Wales, 1282 & 1283 3,011 Headquarters army & small details 11,663 Total £24,730
Payments to Cavalry at: Cost £ Chester 1282 973 Hope, 1282 246 Montgomery, 1282 & 1283 1,721 Anglesey 1282 & 1283 3,761 Rhuddlan, Conway, Caernarvon 162 South & West Wales, 1282 & 1283 1,681 Various Garrisons, 1284 536 Headquarters army 8,606 Total £17,686
Other Expenses Cost £ Ships from Cinque Ports 1,404 The Gascons 7,618 Mounted Crossbowman, 1283 979 Household at Rhuddlan 2,220 Miscellanea 5,409 Payments to Workmen 9,414 Castle Operations to November 1284 5,795 Total £32,819
Castles Cost £ Caernarvon, 1285 onwards 6,621 Conway 7,787 Harlech 8,167 Criccieth 332 Bere 259 Total £23,166 Total Expenses, all tables £98,421 Below: In this medieval manuscript Edward I (center) is flanked by King Alexander of Scotland (left) and Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of Wales (right).
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