{{Short description|Welsh medieval commote}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{redirect|Ial|other uses|IAL (disambiguation){{!}}IAL}} [[File:Print (BM 1878,0511.441).jpg|thumb|250px|Castell Dinas Bran, North Wales, also known as Castle of Yale]]
'''Yale''' ({{langx|cy|Iâl}}) was a commote of medieval Wales within the cantref of Maelor in the Kingdom of Powys.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rees|first1=William|title=An Historical Atlas of Wales from Early to Modern Times|date=1951|publisher=Faber & Faber}}</ref> When the Kingdom was divided in 1160, Maelor became part of the Princely realm of Powys Fadog (Lower Powys or Madog's Powys), and belonged to the Royal House of Powys. Yale eventually merged with another commote and became the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bwb_KV-423-725/page/4/mode/2up The First Extent of Bromfield and Yale, A. D. 1315], Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, T. P. Ellis, London, 1924, p. 4</ref> later a royal lordship under the Tudors and Stuarts.<ref>[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/almer-%28aylmer%29-edward-1516-74-or-later ALMER (AYLMER), Edward (by 1516-74 or later), of Denbigh and Gresford, Denb.], The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryOfThePrincesTheLordsMarcherAndTheAncientNobilityOfPowys/page/n409/mode/2up?q=ial|title=The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient ..., Volume 1|author=Jacob Youde, William Lloyd|year=1887|page=394}}</ref>
== History == [[File:Inside of the cave, Llanarmon, c.1795.jpg|160px|thumb|The Neolithic cave next to Castle Tomen y Faerdre, Llanarmon-yn-Yale, c.1795]] [[File:Gwynedd General Map.png|thumb|Map showing the commote of Iâl (Yale) on the right side, when part of the former Kingdom of Gwynedd]]
The commote of Iâl, anglicised as Yale, was the stronghold of the Principality of Powys Fadog, and its capital was at Llanarmon-yn-Iâl, in Denbighshire, Wales, in a village situated at a shrine dedicated to the Roman Bishop, Germanus of Auxerre ({{langx|cy|Garmon}}).<ref>Bartrum, Peter C. (1993). [https://archive.org/details/a-welsh-classical-dictionary-people-in-history-and-legend-up-to-about-a.-d.-1000/page/82/mode/2up?q=ial A Welsh Classical Dictionary; People In History And Legend Up To About A. D. 1000], National Library of Wales, p.83</ref>
[[File:Elisegs Pfeiler 4 Norden.jpg|thumb|210px|Pillar of Eliseg, 9th century stone cross next to Valle Crucis Abbey]]
Within the lordship, a monument dating back to the 9th century was erected by king Cyngen ap Cadell of Powys named the Pillar of Eliseg, in honor of his great-grandfather king Elisedd ap Gwylog, born c. 725.<ref>[https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/2399/6/Houses_Old_Cross_JDay%20v2.pdf The Houses of the Old Cross], University of Wales, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, National Library of Wales, Jenny Day, p. 8</ref> The stone cross in Llangollen, next to Valle Crucis Abbey, depicts the claimed lineage of the kings of Powys from a daughter of the 4th century Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus, of the Imperial Theodosian dynasty, named Sevira, wife of Vortigern.
One of the castles within Yale, Tomen y Faerdre, built next to a Neolithic cave, was erected by the first Prince of Wales, Owain Gwynedd, after capturing the commote from the last Prince of Powys, Madog ap Maredudd. The castle was later rebuilt by King John of England, signatory of Magna Carta and brother of Richard the Lionheart, as a way to secure the area for his military campaign against the Prince of North Wales, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth.
Other castles were built in the commote such as Tomen y Rhodwydd, also built by Owain Gwynedd, in the form of a motte and bailey castle made out of timber, and the "Castle of Yale", built by Prince Gruffydd II ap Madog, one of the Lords of Yale.<ref>Yale, Rodney Horace, 1908, page 32 {{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/yalegenealogyhis00byuyale/page/n49/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=castle+of+yale|title="Yale Genealogy, and History of Wales; The British Kings and Princes; Life of Owen Glyndwr: Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale, for Whom Yale ..."}}</ref><ref name="LordsYale1">[https://ia802906.us.archive.org/28/items/topographicaldic12lewi/topographicaldic12lewi.pdf A topographical dictionary of Wales], Vol. II, Llangollen section, Samuel Lewis, London, 1833, p. 106</ref> For centuries the Castle of Dinas Bran was the seat and possession of the Lords of Yale.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/wanderingsexcurs00rosc/page/86/mode/2up?q=yale Wanderings and excursions in North Wales], Thomas Roscoe, Esq., C. Tilt and Simpkin & Co., Wrightson and Webb, Birmingham, London, 2020, p. 87</ref><ref name="LordsYale1"/>
{{Blockquote |text= For iron mallets for breaking the rocks in the ditch of the Castle of Yale. |author=King John of England, when he re-occupied the site in 1212 |source= in the Pipe rolls entry for 1212-13 }}
During the Conquest of Wales by King Edward Longshanks, Iâl would be taken very early on and added to the county of Shropshire, annexing the commote into the Kingdom of England. However, the commote would remain Welsh in culture and retain Welsh laws and customs under the terms accorded by the Statute of Rhuddlan.
===Later history=== [[File:Valle Crucis Abbey (Abaty Glyn Egwestl) - geograph.org.uk - 6039074.jpg|thumb|Ruins of Valle Crucis Abbey, Yale's religious center]]
King Edward would later merge the Lordship with others nearby, renaming it the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale, and would award it to his relative, the military commander and Guardian of Scotland, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey.<ref>[https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0ea15251-bbca-4864-b07f-060af7b43836 John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, lord of Bromfield and Yale, and his niece Eleanor, The National Archives]</ref><ref>[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A36794.0001.001/1:6.16?rgn=div2;view=fulltext The baronage of England, or, An historical account of the lives and most memorable actions of our English nobility in the Saxons time to the Norman conquest], University of Michigan, Dugdale, William, Sir, 1605-1686.</ref> After his successful conquest of Wales, King Edward would go on a campaign to conquer Scotland. John de Warenne would be one of his Commanders at the Battle of Stirling, fighting against William Wallace, and later, fighting at the Battle of Falkirk.
The title of Lord of Yale would eventually be reclaimed by the Princes of Powys Fadog, while the title of Lord of Bromfield and Yale would be passed to the Earls of Surrey of the House of Warenne, and later on, to the Earls of Arundel of the House of Howard.
The co-Lordship of Yale, when part of the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale, featured the manor of Llan Egwestl belonging to Valle Crucis Abbey, and the manor of Llandegla belonging to St Asaph Cathedral, next to Horseshoe falls, in Llangollen.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3AwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA167|title=A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in the Marches of North Wales|year=1910|author=Alfred Neobard Palmer|page=167}}</ref> Valle Crucis Abbey was Yale's religious center, its monastery, and the main burial place of the princes of Powys Fadog.<ref name="poet11">[https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/2399/6/Houses_Old_Cross_JDay%20v2.pdf The Houses of the Old Cross], University of Wales, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, National Library of Wales, Jenny Day, p. 12</ref> It was referred to as the Rome of Yale by poet Gutun Owain during the Tudor period.<ref name="poet11"/>
The rest of the Lordship of Yale was divided into two manors called the Manor of Yale Raglaria, and the Manor of Yale Praepositura, dating back to the Welsh period before English rule.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3AwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA167|title=A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in the Marches of North Wales|year=1910|author=Alfred Neobard Palmer|page=167}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DwLAAAAYAAJ&q=Lordship+of+Bromfield+and+Yale|title=The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient ..., Volume 6|author=Jacob Youde, William Lloyd|year=1887|page=494}}</ref> Anglicized as the Manor of Yale Raglar, it later belonged to Roger, son of John Wynne, ancestor of the Rogers of Bryntagor and the Yales of Plas-yn-Yale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DwLAAAAYAAJ&q=Lordship+of+Bromfield+and+Yale|title=The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient ..., Volume 6|author=Jacob Youde, William Lloyd|year=1887|page=496}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWRHAAAAYAAJ&q=roger+ap+john+wynne| title=A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1852 | last1=Burke | first1=Bernard | year=1852 |page=1485}}</ref>
In 1536, with the Act of Union brought forward by Thomas Cromwell on behalf of Henry VIII, the Welsh marcher lordships like Yale lost their special status and became unified with England.<ref>[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/constituencies/denbighshire Denbighshire County], Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
Category:Commotes Category:History of Powys Category:Lordship of Bromfield and Yale Category:Yale family