Broken Reed: The Lords of Gower and King John

By Ann Marie Thomas

William de Breos rose to a position of great power and influence as a close confidant of King John, but when his wife revealed John's greatest secret John's revenge was brutal. William's sons and grandson turned to Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd to help them regain their lands. The fall of the de Breos family was the final spark that lit the fire of Magna Carta and led to the offer of the English crown to the prince of France.

Amazon Reviews:
1. As a resident of the Gower Peninsula, I’ve really enjoyed Ann Marie Thomas’s colourful and insightful accounts of the area’s troubled history. The sequel (or prequel) to Ms Thomas’s previous book Alina: the White Lady of Oystermouth (Paperback) , ‘Broken Reed’ tells of Alina’s ancestor William de Breos and his turbulent friendship with King John (he of the Magna Carta). Ms Thomas’s conversational style and attention to detail make for an easy, interesting and informative read, while the extensive bibliography and endnotes provide ample resources for further exploration.
2. There are very few well written non-fiction Welsh historical books. This is one of them. If you want to know more about the Gower's history and why such a small peninsula has the ruins of so many Norman castles this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed a glimpse into the past of one of the most beautiful parts of Wales

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ann Marie Thomas
• Release date: Sep 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780957198838

Ann Marie Thomas

Writing poetry and making up stories since I was a child, I only started to write seriously when my children were grown. My main ambition is to write science fiction, but along the way I got fascinated by local history and distracted by a major stroke. I wrote poetry about my stroke and spent my recovery writing a local history book. Taking early retirement gave me the chance to concentrate on my writing. I have been married for over 45 years, with 4 grown children and 8 grandchildren.I had already written up my research into the de Braose family before my stroke, but the long hours in hospital gave me time to think about it in detail. Once I came home, rather than sitting doing nothing, I rewrote the book, and taught myself to format and publish in both ebook and print. My husband contacted the art department of the local university, who helped me find a wonderful artist to illustrate my books.Alina, The White Lady of Oystermouth came out as an ebook and in print for the locals and the tourist market at Easter 2012 and it's success gave me the impetus to write another, Broken Reed: The Lords of Gower and King John, which came out in September 2013.The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 led me to adapt and enlarge my Broken Reed book and produce The Magna Carta Story: The Layman's Guide to the Great Charter. This came out in May 2015.During my research I found other fascinating stories which are not long enough for a book, so I collected them together into Medieval Gower Stories, published in October 2017.I am now working on another great story from Gower medieval history: Swansea Miracle.When I was in hospital I wrote a flood of poetry, about my stroke, my therapy, my faith, and random things like the rain outside my window. I have now published them as an ebook and print, My Stroke of Inspiration. 22 poems in all: verse, doggerel, and blank verse. The poems talk about suffering and patience, therapy and faith, and are surprisingly cheerful. If you are a stroke survivor or know someone who is, or just enjoy poetry, these poems will comfort, encourage and inspire you.There is also a Christian non fiction book, Blinded by the Light, warning of the traps Christians can fall into, published in February 2020.I continue to work on my recovery from the stroke, and although I am disabled I lead a very busy life. I am involved in my church and active on social media. I am still writing science fiction, a series called Flight of the Kestrel, about the adventures of the crew of the Fast-Response spaceship the Kestrel. The first book in the series - Intruders - was published in April 2016, and the second - Alien Secrets - was published in October 2017. The third - Crisis of Conscience - was published in June 2021. Watch out for book 4 Planet Fall.

Book preview

Broken Reed

The Lords of Gower and King John

Ann Marie Thomas

Cover Illustration by Carrie Francis,

designed by Brynymor Digital Press http://digipress.co.uk/

Illustrations by Carrie Francis

Published by Alina Publishing

Copyright 2013 Ann Marie Thomas

This book is also available in print ISBN 978-0-9571988-2-1

Smashwords Edition, Licence Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN for epub version: 978-0-9571988-3-8

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 – King John's Background

Chapter 2 – The Rise & Fall of William III de Breos

Chapter 3 – The Kingdoms of Wales

Chapter 4 – Llywelyn the Great: Master of the Power Play

Chapter 5 – Magna Carta & Civil War

Chapter 6 – King Henry III & the de Breos Heirs

Conclusion

About the Author

Other books by the same author

Bibliography

Endnotes

Introduction

Map of the Angevin Empire

Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff,

which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it.

(Isaiah 36:6)

Most people's knowledge of history is pretty patchy, and often influenced by the odd television documentary they might have seen and some frequently inaccurate films. Many of us didn't enjoy history lessons in school, especially the ones involving boring lists of kings and laws and wars. But history is about people – their lives, their loves, their decisions – and not always the kings and famous names.

Swansea and the Gower peninsular is a tiny area on the South Wales coast, currently an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was a major world centre for coal mining and metal smelting. But the area is full of Norman castles – Swansea Castle ruins are right in the city centre. Researching what life was like when these castles were in use led me to the story of the heir to the Lordship of Gower whose little rebellion ended up toppling Edward II from the English throne. That story, about Alina de Breos, was told in my book Alina, The White Lady of Oystermouth. Now here's another astounding story about another de Breos and the fallout from his life a century earlier. Since so many of the de Breoses were called William, I have numbered them to distinguish between them.

The de Breos Lords of Gower were involved in virtually every major event in English history for three hundred years after the Norman conquest, yet their name