who died in 1148. However to fully understand how the Hospitallers came to gain a foothold in Wales it is necessary to go back to the Norman Conquest. Shortly after the Conquest, Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, established the lordship of Pembroke in West Wales. In the early 12th century the Montgomery family revolted against the Crown. Pembroke was confiscated by Henry I and much of the area gifted to the Flemings. Henry had signed a treaty with the court of Flanders who had provided troops to help quell the Welsh rebellion (Ibid: 22). The lordship of Daugleddau, in which Slebech was situated, was granted to Wizo the Fleming. Prior to 1115 Wizo endowed the Benedictine Abbey of Gloucester with the churches of Daugleddau. Some years later the Prior of Worcester disputed the right of the Abbey to hold this land. As a consequence Wizo’s son or grandson, Walter (both had the same name, causing confusion in historical sources), withdrew the grant altogether and transferred it to the Hospitallers (Rees 1900: 13).4 The Prior appealed but, after the intervention of the Pope at the Hospitallers request, the Order retained their new possessions in Daugleddau. A charter made sometime between 1161 and 1176 confirmed that the Hospitallers were to hold Slebech, which by this time included a church, mill and fishery (Rees 1947: 27-28). During the later 12th century and early 13th century there were extensive donations to the Order in West Wales. Most of this support came from the area populated by the Flemings; southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire, sometimes called ‘Little England beyond Wales’. This land was administered from Slebech Commandery, which served as the headquarters of the Hospitallers bailwick (administrative area). By the mid-13th century Hospitaller possessions in West Wales were largely complete. The Templars had notably less success here; their territories including only the manor of Llanmadoc, the hamlet of Templeton (Templar’s town) and a mill at Pembroke (Rees 1947: 32) The first major insight into life at Slebech Commandery is given by the report issued in 1338. This shows that the commandery included a garden, a church, two mills, two fish-weirs and 53 acres of land (Larking 1857: 34-35). Those listed as occupying the commandery included John de Frouwyck, the knight commander, two brothers; Simon Launcelyn and James de Mount Gomery, a chaplain, four corrodary holders (including one of whom was a chaplain), a squire, a chamberlain, a steward, a cook, a baker and his boy, a clerk, a reaper, a porter, a gardener, a swineherder and his boy, and a cowherder (Ibid: 35). The revenue from the bailiwick amounted to £307 1s. and there was £141 2s. in expenses leaving more than half free to be paid into the treasury of the Order. Among the expenses were £14. 10s. for the stipends of seven chaplains; 50 shillings for the chaplain at Slebech and 40 shillings to the chaplains serving other churches in its possession. This indicates that there may have been a clerical hierarchy within the Order; those providing services in the commanderies were above those serving in associated churches. Security for the Hospitallers estates within the bailiwick was provided by two magnates who were paid to drive away ‘highway robbers and malefactors of the countryside of Wales, who are fierce 4
MSS No. 19880 held in Cardiff Library states: ‘Walter Son of Wizo hath given to God and to the Blessed Virgin and to the brethren of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem the land of Slebech, to wit, one hundred acres of land with a mill and a fishery with all the tithes appertaining to the same land for charitable purposes for ever.’ (Parry 1996: 24).