A Few More Squares

        The last post gave a "color code" of small squares to represent a concept of the land use phenomena that had joined together my Jones surname ancestors. The smallest square colored "pink" represented the toft where the first generation [Gadforch JA-1] enclosed the land and, to "plant" the first seeds of the family tree. His son [Ynyr JB-1] continued the four-acre plot system, to the next son Tudor Trevor [JC-1], to Dingad [JC-1] who began the branch to my own Jones surname family tree.  Generation after generation (see post June 3rd: "To Tell The Tale, Follow The Yellow Brick Road") from "shareland", to "holding" and, to "Townland" it continued. Now, just imagine when the generations grew to the "Maenol" (4 Townlands) and, to the "Commote" which joined 12 "Maenol"! The following figure continues the thought process to show how all this living might relate.

       The "Townland" is outlined in orange and adjoining groups of "Townland" are shown in all sorts of colors trying to demonstrate the possible relationship to one another. The clusters fill the page with all sorts of little squares each representing a toft of 4 acres. Each "Townland" clusters about and, when 4 of these [256 acres each] expand, a "Maenol" (manor) [1023 acers] is organized with a mayor and others (post of April 10th). Now expanding the whole bunch of little squares to the whole page a "Commote" (12,288 acres!) is named. This "Commote" became the standard social and cultural unit of all the ancestors of the day. {ca. 800 A.D. to before the black death of 1350 A.D.}

 

From One Small Square To Another

        Mental pictures of the life and times of the ancestors can be hard to develop. This is especially difficult if these ancestors lived many years in the past. My Jones ancestors started their journeys before any such surname existed. Finding the culture that wrapped them in daily living became a challenge one little step at a time. The following figure is my mental image of how my ancestors might have built some of their existence one small square at a time.

       Now it certainly helped when they stared to write important social principles into some agreeable form such as a law book. It is from this series of writings that has been used to piece together some social images. [Beginning from post starting this past March 7th.] 

       The small squares colored above are drawn using simple graph paper and, in my mind, helped organize a number of items scattered about as to the daily living arrangement over many generations. Let's see now, each small square represents a single toft. [Post March 12th] It is colored "pink" and contained 4 acres of land surrounding the founding owner (proprietor). Having family and moving on down the family tree, each son when of legal age could join the father with his own toft and family sharing the fruit of their joint endeavors. They called this "shareland" [Post of March 14th] and, indeed it was giving the growing family a place to call their own. 

       Next, as each son had his sons, the family joined these shared lands into a "holding" which grew in size to around 64 acres. Four "shareland" to each "holding" [Post of March 21] is shown colored blue. Each generation would occupy at least 30 years (birth to marriage 20 years and youngin's around the hearth the next 10 years). However, during this period a lifetime was considered 60 years! [Hywel Dda, The Law, p. 123.] Anyway, you can begin to picture the conflicts that could arise when four of these "holdings" reached 256 acres called a "townland" and bumped against a not so close family member.       All told, this would cover around 180 years of family growth. Do you get the picture one small square to another?

To Tell The Tale...Follow The Yellow Brick Road

        It was 1936 when Dorothy and her three travel companions were advised the best way to reach their heart-felt goals. Since starting this genealogy adventure through the corridors of time to around 800 A.D. [starting 1959 A.D.], there have been a number of yellow brick "Walls" that have been confronted. Since Dorothy and her crew kept to the yellow bricks most of the day, I thought this TRIPTIK might serve to assist others on their Jones surname travels. Here's the start of my yellow brick road beginning post March 20, 2023 with Gadforch JA-1.

      Each yellow brick (grandfather shown above) is placed in the context of the culture they lived between 800 A.D. to 1350 AD. and will be discussed in future posts. Oh...to tell the tale one toft at a time.
 

Celebrating

       Graduation days from high school for eldest grandson. Celebrating with family this month of May. Returning to blogs soon.

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.