More on Fouk Fitz Warine
Guest post by Adrian Price
Dr Adrian Price is a former Senior Lecturer in Welsh at the University of Glamorgan and during that time he also lectured on Welsh and Celtic history.
A few days ago I published a blogpost titled Whittington Castle and the romance of Fouk Fitz Warine
Delighted to find that a WWW contact of mine, Adrian Price, had written a longer and more thorough piece about Fouke Fitz Warine, which originally appeared in an anthology titled 'Bandit Territories : British Outlaws and Their Traditions' edited by Helen Phillips , first published 2008. And have agreed with Adrian to share as a guest post. There is a particular emphasis on Fouk's connection to Wales. I have reproduced without editing.
FOUKE FITZ WARYN
The first outlaw with a Welsh connection who merits attention is the Lord of Whittington, Shropshire, Fouke Fitz Waryn, whose family came originally from Metz, Lorraine in France. Although not strictly speaking a Welsh outlaw, he was a Welsh Marcher lord who became an outlaw and whose exploits, in fiction at least, have similarities to other outlaw tales, including tales of Robin Hood. Fouke III was a historical character who regained possession of the family estate, Whittington, Shropshire, in 1204 after a period spent as an outlaw between 1200 and 1203. He allied himself with Llywelyn ap Iorwerth against the English in 1217 but they were enemies by 1223 when Llywelyn captured Whittington. Fouke died c.1256. The basis of Fouke’s fame as an outlaw derives from the romance of Fouke Fitz Waryn, an Anglo-Norman prose ‘history’ of c.1320, a prose rendering of a lost thirteenth-century verse romance. It recounts many of Fouke’s adventures in Europe and North Africa. However, what is most interesting from the perspective of this post are his exploits as the leader of a band of outlaws and the numerous references to Wales. The text begins with a narrative describing the establishment, after the Norman Conquest, of Norman lords in the Welsh Marches. This is historically garbled, combining events of the eleventh century with those of the twelfth, but it tells of family territorial acquisitions, feuds and alliances, involving Norman and Welshlandowners, and thus explains the background to the young Fouke’s own career as depicted in the romance, which is devoted to attempts to take vengeance on his family’s enemies, especially King John, and recover the FitzWaryn’s Whittington estate. King John outlawed Fouke. Fouke, with a company of outlaws who included his brothers and cousins, hid in forests and other strongholds. The romance says that he only did harm or robberies that would injure the King: John functions in this romance as the Sheriff of Nottingham does in the Robin Hood tales, as an authority against whom illegality is justified. The narrative of Fouke’s life is remarkable for its many references to Welsh princes: Owain Gwynedd, Iorwerth Goch, Iorwerth Drwyndwn, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Owain Cyfeiliog, and Gwenwynwyn of Powys. At one point, having slain Morys Fitz Roger, Fouke seeks refuge with Prince Llywelyn and their friendship endures, despite the fact that Morys was Llywelyn's cousin. Llywelyn's wife, King John’s sister Joan, is presented as reconciling the two men. Fouke’s good agency persuades Llywelyn to make peace with Gwenwynwyn of Powys. Kelly points to this as one of many ways in which the romance presents Fouke as a good outlaw. Similarly, it presents John’s gift of Fouke’s estate to Morys, which provoked Fouke’s vengeance, as an act of unjust use of authority. The romance is a family romance, written to glorify the Fitz Waryn family; it records marriages, births, and the gain or loss of estates.
Nothing of this kind is present in the medieval Robin Hood tradition. Prophecies embedded in the romance, one of them by Merlin, help to promote the idea of Fouke, the ‘Wolf’ (a wolf’s head, an outlaw), as a divinely ordained revenger against the ‘Leopard’, King John, and the ‘Boar’, Morys. Fouke’s adventures include battles against fabulous enemies, including a dragon, flying serpents and a giant: again, things unknown inthe Robin Hood tradition. The romance, however, does include elements, however, found in other outlaw tales, including those of Eustace the Monk and Robin Hood, such as tricks involving disguise, and in one story Fouke robs merchants and measures the stolen cloth and rich furs against his lance before generously distributing it and giving the merchants a forest. Similarly, in the Gest of Robyn Hode, Little John measures cloth against his bow and is particularly generous with it.
Good outlaws, as presented in tales like this, are men of magnificent generosity, like greenwood princes, and they are not motivated solely by a desire for sordid gain. Both as outlaw and as lord of his estates, Fouke is presented as munificent and hospitable. There was a Middle English romance, now lost,about Fouke. English and Anglo-Norman tales of Foukeperhaps formed part of the background for the Robin Hood stories.
Particularly intriguing is the romance’s statement that Prince John, Fouke and Llywelyn ap Iorwerth in boyhood were raised together in the court of Henry II of England: the author attributes to a boyhood quarrel over chess the lifelong malevolence from Prince John towards Fouke. The romance depicts the friendship between Fouke and Llywelyn ap Iorwerth as also going back to this shared upbringing. Later, however, John prevails on Llywelyn to plot to try to capture Fouke, though Fouke escapes. At the end of the romance Llywelyn marries Fouke’s daughter as his second wife. The era the romance depicts, that of the Norman acquisition of estates along the Welsh borders, is not one of simple national conflict between Welsh and Norman but of shifting alliances, both political and marital between princes and lords from both nations. Another historical outlaw, about whom there appears to have developed a literary tradition, is Sir John Giffard of Brimpsfield, who operated in the 1260s during De Montfort’s rebellion with a band of followers in the Forest of Dean, and he also made alliances with Welsh princes and extended his robberies to the Welsh border.
Though there is no extant Welsh version of the romance of Fouke, it would appear that the Welsh were familiar with the tradition. This is attested by the fairly frequent references to Syr Ffwg and Ffwg ap Gwarin by the ‘Poets of the Gentry’, including Iolo Goch (fl. 1320–98) and Tudur Aled (fl. 1480– 1526). However, these poets do not refer to the content of the romance or to Fouke’s fame as an outlaw. Syr Ffwg for them is merely a symbol of knightly prowess and gracious hospitality: his name is invoked, like Guy of Warwick's, as a compliment in praise poems. However, Fouke reappears in a moral parable printed by the aptly named Isaac Foulkes in his collection of folklore, 'Cymru Fu' (1862–4), as both Ffowc Ffitswarren and Ffowc o Forgannwg (Fouke of Glamorgan). The hero of thistale is sheriff of Cardiff and lives in Cardiff Castle but is clearly the same as the hero of the romance because we are told of his combats with Saracens. This association with Glamorgan is further corroborated by a reference to Fouke as a generous lord, under the title Ffwg Morgannwg, in an englyn to Ifor Hael, his patron, a landowner in south-east Wales, by the fourteenth-century poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym.’
ENDS
UPDATE New blog by Michael Bully launched February 2023 Bleak Chesney Wold related to Charles Dickens/ 'dark' Victoriana
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