The Cantref

        Land use and who owned it, was a foundational concept accepted daily by my early Welsh ancestors. The final grouping of the folks (kindred clustering) was termed the Cantref. It was defined as two commotes (see last post) and, was accepted as legal rights by all others participating socially. Dafydd Jenkins in his translation of the laws of the day writes: "This is the number of acres that it is right should be in the cantred: four legal acres in every toft: sixteen in every shareland; sixty-four in every holding; two hundred and fifty-six in the townland; one thousand and twenty-four acres in every maenol; twelve thousand two hundred and eighty-eight acres in the twelve maenolydd. It is right that there should be five hundred and twelve acres in the townlands which belong to the court; and that is, when all the acres in the commote come together, twelve thousand eight hundred; and as much as all that in the other commote: that is a total of acres in the cantred of twenty-five thousand six hundred, no more and no less." (p. 121)

       Now, the law books define the cantref as two commotes. Jenkins (p. 268) states that most of the cantred (old-established and convenient English spelling for cantref p.323) had more than two commotes. He gives Llyn(^) [over letter y] with 3, Anglesey with 6 and, Ceredigion with 10. No wonder all the justices (Maers) were needed to help provide fairness among the folks. Stolen goods (p.158) and stolen property (p. 160) seemed to have been a common problem. Appears, not much has changed from these days of old! Hywel Dda died 950 A.D.!

       Here is a copy of my cover of the translation by Dafydd Jenkins published 1986. My book is by Gomer Press, Llandysul, Dyfed, 1990. The word cantred is found on pp. 65, 121, 122, 154, 158, and 160. Wow, what a deal as they would often say around my days in Iowa.

The Commote

        My Celtic ancestors, becoming my Welsh ancestors, who during their social development phases, seemed to have special attraction to the number (4) four. Count all the times the number 4 appears in the social grouping of land in the previous 4 posts. (Just kidding, it is actually the last 5 posts) Four of this, leads to four of that, leads to 4 of...you name it. Well, we now come to land grouping called "commote". Drum roll please... 12 Maenols (48 townlands) plus two additional townland was to become the commote. That would be 12,288 legal acres. Can you believe it? The English had their "hundred" which was considered a 100 hides. A hide was counted as 120 acres which would equal 12,000 English acres. Close enough I guess. Anyway, the English called their land a "shire" and the Welsh called theirs a commote. In both, Royal administration and legal rights were administered.  To the Welsh ancestors this land area (commote) was to be judged as an independent district, self-contained and, self-sufficient. A large kindred group it would become with its 48 townlands. That would be 256 toft, roughly over 5,000 folks related in some degree to a common ancestor.

       Let's see now, to try and summarize:

  4 legal acres in each toft (post of 12 March)                                                                                                  4 tofts  in each shareland (post of 14 March)                                                                                                4 sharelands in each holding (post of 21 March)                                                                                          4 holdings in each townland (post of 27 March)                                                                                          4 townlands in each Maenol (post of 21 April)

                       and here we go... 12 Maenols and 2 townlands in each commote.

                 

    

The Maenol

       By now you might begin to understand the potential for all kinds of difficulty arising from the grouping of all these lands. Let's see now, from a single enclosed (fenced) house, which was called the toft,  you placed together 4 of these single-family homes to become a shareland. (Good size barn yard). Next, you counted 4 of these  sharelands (all in the family) which became a holding.  Then, the next grouping became the townlands (4 holdings), which might be considered the family farm. Whew, what a deal! If it is hard to keep everything straight...hold your breath...for now, we then come to the Maenol. 

       You guessed it, 4 townlands established a Maenol. Hum, one thousand and twenty-four legal acres might give cause to a few disagreements about the placement of all those fences. Assuming there were an average of five folks living in each toft, a Maenol would average over 1200 individuals. Lots of head butting here would be possible. [You can breathe now.] Like the four previous posts, what follows is my own notes which demonstrates my attempt to keep a mental image afloat.

       Shape and position would depend on the geography of the area. All those mountains, streams, rivers, and valleys would have something to do with its anatomy. What is distinct about this group of townlands is the attention it received from those who gave the military protection to all the kin groups. You know, the strongest among them who could swing the sword, the overlord. It was his job to keep things in order and train all those age 14 and over to swing their own sword. One thousand and twenty-four legal acres [4 townlands, 16 holdings, 64 sharelands and 256 tofts] would certainly keep one busy. 

       "Royal Officials" they came to be called. The Maer and Cynghellor were the two new players selected by the overlord to be the administrators of the lands he protected. These officials could hire two of their own assistants to help circulate throughout the of Maenol. All these folks were to be sure that the dues (services) to the overlord had been collected (taxes) and, to take control of any problems occurring among all those fences out there. The Maer (Mayor) was to be the judge and, the Cynghellor (Chancelor) was to arrange the courts and dates for the courts in the townlands. Two times each year this was to occur and, the four assistants would move around the townlands to hear the complaints brewing.