Deheubarth Although the area is not mentioned by it, an allegorical poem in the
Black Book of Carmarthen has been extrapolated by some writers to conclude that the area must have once been under the rule of , a descendant of whom was later granted land in the nearby
Preseli Hills by charter. In this period, Nevern served as the ecclesiastical centre of the area, and may have been the seat of a bishop.
11th century In the mid 11th century, Dyfed was part of
Deheubarth ruled by
Rhys ap Tewdwr who had accepted the
suzerainty of
William the Conqueror following the
Norman Conquest of England. When William died in 1087, Rhys took the view that his vassalage was for William's life only; with other magnates, he attacked
Worcester during the
rebellion of 1088. Rhys was subsequently killed in battle at
Brecon. His landforfeit for rebelling against Norman suzeraintywas seized by various Norman magnates. In about 1094, Martin de Turribus sailed from Devon to Fishguard. According to local tradition recounted by
Richard Fenton, following a skirmish at
Morvil, de Turribus was victorious and violent towards the inhabitants he encountered. Except for
Dewislandthe lands owned by the
Bishop of St. Davidsde Turribus took most of northern coastal Dyfed. He chose
Nevern for his
caput and secured it by establishing a castle there. Kemes remained almost exclusively
Welsh-speaking. In 1189, King Henry II died, and Rhys went to Oxford to render homage to Henry's successor
Richard the Lionheart; he had been accompanied by
Prince John (Richard's brother), but Richard actively refused to meet Rhys, which made Rhys furious. In 1326, two years after his similarly named father, the reigning Lord Martin (the
Fitz having been dropped earlier in the previous century) died childless, and the Lordship was inherited by his sister, Joan, and her husband, James Audley. The
Barons Audley arising from their marriage held the Lordship of Kemes until 1497, when
the 7th Baron Audley rebelled against
King Henry VII, failed, and was thus executed for high treason, with his lands declared forfeit.
16th century Pembrokeshire In 1534,
Henry VIII transferred the lands from the crown to
John Tuchet, 8th Baron Audley, as an
English feudal barony. Henry had already decided upon the course which would see the status of Marcher Lord entirely abolished the following year, by the first of the
Laws in Wales Acts. This Act transformed the former Marcher Lordship of Kemes and the surrounding Marcher Lordship of Pembroke (together with
Dewisland) into
Pembrokeshire. Pembrokeshire was administratively subdivided into
Hundreds, with Cemais largely falling into the new Hundred named
Cemais, except for the
parish of
Llantood (which became part of the neighbouring
Cilgerran hundred). A small portion of the former
Cantref of Gwarthaf was also included in the Hundred of
Cemais. John sold the feudal barony of Cemais two years later, to a local lawyer, William Owen. He was succeeded in 1574 by his son,
George Owen, whose antiquarian interests led him to produce a detailed parish-by-parish description of the Lordship in his second book as well as a detailed description of the boundaries of the hundred. ==See also==