Welsh National Anthem
"The Land of My Father" Midi Version © Barry Taylor

This symbol mark areas added specifically for the
History of the Isle of Standauffish

500-100 B.C.     The Celts Settle in Wales 

43 A.D.     Romans Invade
 The troops of the Roman Emperor Claudius invade Briton. 
It takes 35 years to fully conquer Wales {78 A.D.}

359 A.D.     Irish Raiders
 Irish raiders make permanent settlements in South West Wales. 

410 A.D.     Romans Leave
 Four hundred years of occupation end for Briton as the Romans leave.
Saxon invaders seize the opportunity and start invading.
Waves of Saxons descend upon Briton. 

500 A.D.     Battle of Mount Badon 
 The Saxons are defeated at Mount Badon. One of King Arthur's twelve battles. 
Supposed rule of King Arthur for 45 plus years. This is also the period of the Saints. Celtic Saints set up sites throughout Wales teaching Christianity.
In the east of Briton, the Saxons remain pagan. 

784 A.D.     Offa of Mercia 
 Offa of Mercia, a powerful Saxon king, builds Offa's Dyke, marking the eastern 
boundary. The Dyke is not a fortified one, but a permanent boundary line. 

878 A.D.     Rhodri Mawr 
 The most notable Welsh figure before the arrival of the Normans is slain. Rhodri 
Mawr was the first Welsh ruler to unite the Welsh tribes and kingdoms under one rule. During his reign, the Vikings increase their raids. 

927 A.D.        English Rule
 Welsh Kings formally submit to the English as over-king. 

1039     Gruffydd ap Llywelyn 
 The last of the Welsh high kings, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, assumes the throne. His 
short 20 plus years rule brings unity to Wales. 

1063     Earl Harold 
 The English under future king Earl Harold, drive their army into Wales. Gruffydd 
ap Llywelyn is killed by his own men and relatives and thus England's 
ascendancy is reaffirmed. 

1066     Battle of Hastings 
 At the Battle of Hastings King Harold is killed. The Norman conquest of England 
is assured. Marcher Lords are established along the Welsh borders. 

1141     Henry I 
 Henry I dies and Wales experiences a resurgence under the two Llywelyns of 
Gwynedd. Wales moves toward unity as their territory is reclaimed and the culture 
flourishes. 

1215     Magna Carta Signed 
 The Magna Carta is signed, restoring Welsh lands taken unjustly,
and some Welsh laws. 

1267     Llywelyn II 
 Llywelyn II, with the treaty of Montgomery is recognized as the Prince of Wales, 
with over lordship of all other Welsh Princes and Barons. 

c.1280     Prince Rhys, Prince of South Wales 
 His daughter married Ednyfed Fychan, and thus started the Tudor line. 

1288     Llywelyn II Killed
  Llywelyn II is killed and Wales' resurgence comes to an end. Walls fall 
beneath Edward I's advances. Wales becomes an English Principality under the Statute of Rhuddlan. In the future, the eldest son of the English King is designated Prince of Wales. The building of castles in Wales is started by Edward I. 

1301     Caernarfon Castle
 At Caernarfon castle, Edward's son is invested as the Prince of Wales.

1348     Edward III founds the Order of the Blue Garter
In 1347 and 1348 tournaments on a great scale were held at Windsor, birthplace of Edward III, and foreign Knights came from all over Europe to joust at them. The Order of the Blue Garter, under the patronage of St. George, the patron saint of England, was founded

1349     The Plague 
 The Plague, or Black Death, sweeps through Wales, leaving up to
40 percent of the population dead. 

1400     Owain Glyndwr
 Owain Glyn Dwr, with the whole of Wales behind him, leads a revolt against 
England. The three surviving Tudur brothers, Gorowyn, Rhys, and Maredudd 
fight with him. 

1410     Owain Glyndwr Disappears 
 Owain Glyndwr short rebellion ends as he disappears. Henry IV and his son 
suppressed the rebellion. Defeat means second class citizenship
for the Welsh and humiliation. 

1412     Rhys ap Tudur 
 According to the chronicler Adam of Usk, Rhys ap Tudor was executed at Chester 
in 1412. All the Tudur estates were confiscated. 

1429     Owen Tudur marries Katherine Valois 
 At some point in the 1420's Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudur became Clerk of the 
Wardrobe to Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois, and that in 1429, or it may have been 1432, he and the Queen were married. 

3rd of January 1437    Katherine Valois dies. 
 When Katherine retired into the Abbey of Bermondsey some time in 1436 there is 
no evidence that this was due to anything but a "long and grievous illness" 
which finally killed her. 

November 1439   Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudur 
 He was finally granted a general pardon for all offences committed before October, 
though there is still no indication as to what those offences had been.

12th of December, 1451  Lord Zorgon of Shalott 
 Lord Zorgon of Shalott is born at Castle Shalott in the Welsh mountains. Shalott 
was a rich merchant household with ships in the Port of Tenby, that had managed to stay neutral when the War of the Roses started.

1454     Edward of Westminster 
 Edward of Westminster, son of Henry VI becomes Prince of Wales 

1455     Edmund Tudor marries Margaret Beaufort 
 Edmund Tudor married Margaret Beaufort, an event which took him a giant step 
up the social ladder and which was to have had an incalculable effect
on the whole course of English history. 

1455     War of the Roses 
 War of the Roses starts in  England as the York's and the 
Lancastrians fight for the Throne. 

28th of January, 1457  Henry Tudor
 Henry Tudor,  2nd Earl of Richmond, is born at Pembroke Castle
in South West Wales 

March, 1461    Battle of Mortimer’s Cross
 Early in 1461 came disaster, when the Lancastrians were heavily defeated at the 
battle of Mortimer’s Cross. One casualty of this reversal was Owen Tudor, who was 
beheaded at Hereford after being taken prisoner by Yorkists. 

May, 1461    Battle of Towton 
 Another major Lancastrian defeat, confirming Edward IV as King. Soon after 
Margaret of Anjou and her son were forced to take refuge in France

November, 1461   Pembroke Surrenders 
 Pembroke Castle surrendered to the Yorkists in November 1461, and Henry Tudor 
was separated from his mother and transferred to the custody of  Lord Herbert of Raglan. It  must have been a traumatic experience for a child of four and a half, but his guardian treated him kindly. Jasper flees to the wilderness, and is hidden out for a time at Castle Shalott, which became one of his many safe houses over the next few years. This is the first official connection between Shalott and the Tudor household. 

1469     Reversal 
 In 1469 Edward IV fell out with his most powerful supporter, Richard Neville, 
Earl of Warwick, known as "the Kingmaker" Warwick went over to the other side and by the summer of 1470 he was in France, burying the hatchet with Queen Margaret, once his bitterest enemy, and canvassing the support of Louis XI for
another coup d’etat. 

Easter Day 1471   Edward Returns 
 Barely six months later, Edward returned, and defeated Warwick at Barnet, on 
Easter Day 1471, a battle fought in heavy fog. 

21st of May 1471   Henry VI dies 
 On Tuesday, 21 May, King Edward returned in triumph to London and that same 
night, "between eleven and twelve of the clock", King Henry VI was released from his earthly troubles by a Yorkist sword. 

September 1471   Tudors escape from Tenby 
 Jasper and Henry, with a small party of servants and followers, reached the coast 
at Tenby where they found a ship, helped, it is said, by Thomas White, mayor of the town. According to the official Tudor History, Henry's mother had made the arrangements with the Major to hire an "anonymous ship" to take them out of Wales. The ship belonged to the House of Shalott and was making ready to sail for France when the mayor sent word to Lord Zorgon's father, who was known to be in Tenby on business at the time, asking his old friend for a favour. 

June 1473    Tragedy Strikes Shalott 
 In an attack on the Castle of Shalott by Yorkists, though the attackers were 
defeated, Lord Zorgon's parents were killed, leaving him soul heir to the family fortune. Lord Zorgon was fourteen at the time. Because of its position deep in the Welsh mountains, and lying in predominantly neutral territory fortunately assured that it remained untouched for most of the war. 

1477     Edward of York 
 Edward of York, or of the Sanctuary, was rescued by Edward IV after he 
eliminated all his enemies. He becomes Prince of Wales at 6 years old.
He goes on to become Edward V of England 

October 1480    Lord Zorgon leaves for Vega 
 Due to the Wars, business had become poor and the House of Shalott needed new 
revenues. Also, doing business from the closest port to the Castle, that of Tenby, was dangerous at best during those days. So Lord Zorgon took a small fleet in search of a Principality he had been told about that might become an ally and trade source, 
that of the Principality of Vega. 

February 1483   Shalott Enters the War 
 Having recently returned from doing business abroad to maintain the family 
business while Wales and England were embattled, Baron Zorgon, a title earned him in the now Kingdom of Vega which Shalott had played a role in the forming of, decided to use his wealth to aide the House of Tudor. It was thought by Zorgon and his advisers that this would be the best way to help end the strife. The House of Shalott preferred to stay behind the scenes, but none the less secretly provided enormous aide to Henry Tudor. 

April 1483    Edward IV dies, Richard takes over. 
 Suddenly, in April 1483, Edward IV was dead. His two small sons fell into the 
hands of their uncle Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, and were taken to the Tower of London, never to be seen again. Richard had made his move and by the end of June 1483 had been proclaimed King of England. The Yorkists, 
however were still in control. 

June 1483    Edward of Middleham 
 Edward of Middleham, son of Richard III, becomes Prince of Wales. He was the 
last of the Plantegenets and for that reason alone was later killed by Henry VII to prevent his claim to the throne. 

October 1483    Henry Sails for Wales 
 Henry makes his first attempt at return. The Duke of Brittany was prepared to help with a  loan of 10,000 crowns. The Tudors raised a small force of ships and mercenaries, and by the second week in October 1483, were ready to go. Within the fleet and men were those of the House of Shalott and their supporters. This attempt failed as they had lost the element of surprise. 

1st August 1485   Henry Makes his Second Return 
 Henry borrowed money from the French King and more where ever he could get it, and managed to find a few pieces of artillery and a force of between two and three thousand mercenaries from Normandy to supplement his 500 or so Englishmen. It was here that the House of Shalott proved most useful, as Henry had little funds left to hire ships for his forces. Small as the fleet was , it proved enough to carry that army to England. The tiny armada, no more than a dozen ships, sailed north from the mouth of the Seine on August 1st, 1485. 

7th  August 1485   The Fleet makes Harbour 
 A little before sunset on Sunday 7th of August the fleet carrying Henry and Jasper 
Tudor nosed into the entrance of Milford Haven and dropped anchor in Mill Bay under St. Anne's Head. The army disembarked without incident and marched over the headland in the summer twilight to make camp for the night at Dale. It was almost exactly fourteen years since they had fled from Tenby, 
just a few miles down the coast. 

21st August 1485   The Night Before 
 Richard had slept badly the night before the battle, disturbed, so he said, by a 
terrible dream, {bad conscience according to Vergil}, and woke before dawn on 22nd of August to find no breakfast ready and no chaplains about to say mass. His kitchen and priests had deserted him! 

22nd August 1485   Battle of Bosworth Ends 
 Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond, and of Welsh descent, wins the battle of 
Bosworth and becomes the first Welsh King of England. This marks the end of the War of the Roses and establishes Welsh lineage to the English throne. 

30th October 1485   Henry Tudor officially crowned 
 Henry Tudor officially crowned at Westminster, followed by a" royal and excellent 
feast" in Westminster hall.

16th January 1486   Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York 
 Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York, King Edward's daughter.
She was twenty one and considered pretty.

16th of June, 1487   Battle of Stoke Ends
 The final conflict in the War of the Roses according to some, 
when Henry VII once more bests the York's 

10th of October, 1487  Deed and Title 
 The Island was presented to Baron Zorgon and the House of Shalott in perpetuity 
by Henry Tudor, {Henry VII of England} for aide and service rendered during the War of the Roses to the House of Tudor in Henry Tudor's bid to become King.

10th of October, 1487  Letter of Marque 
 Presented to the Isle of Standauffish by Henry Tudor along with the Deed to the 
Isle for service and future considerations 

4th of March, 1489   Duke Winter of Aragon 
 The Duke of Aragon formally invite the Isle of Standauffish to participate in their 
War of the Fools, a tournament in jest and good spirit. It was here that an offer was made to the Isle to become an ally of the Duchy of Aragon, which was a few years later re-confirmed at the new Dukes coronation to which the Isle was invited.


The New Beginning
The current living History of the Isle

March, 1499   The Isle nears Completion
Ten years have passed while the new Port and other towns on the Isle were built, though commerce and other activities were kept up at the same time in order to fund the building of the towns. The Wars were over, prosperity and peace were the mainstay of life by this time. As England had no Royal Navy at this point, the ships of the Isle were still in the service of King Henry VII on call when needed. In this service they still bore the heavy armament provided by His Majesty in return for their service. This was of course most advantageous for the Isle. {See Navy}

Current Events will be recorded in the New Chronicles as they take place. Recorded here will be appointments, awards, titles and other major events of import to the citizens of the Isle.

Live the Dream