Why is Wales important to historians of medieval England? Through a case study of the Welsh Marcher lord, Sir William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke, this paper aims to show that the political history of England cannot be fully understood without a consideration of power relations in Wales and the Marches. In histories of the reign of Edward IV, Sir William Herbert is the invisible man, and yet he was crucial to Edward’s success. Drawing on Welsh praise poetry to Sir William, the paper throws light on his relationships with Edward and with the Earl of Warwick, while demonstrating the value of literary texts to historical study.

Professor Helen Fulton holds the Chair in Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol and is a Visiting Fellow at the HRC. She has published widely on medieval Welsh and English literatures and the political and social interconnections. She is the co-editor of the Cambridge History of Welsh Literature (2019) and is currently leading a major 5-year research project which aims to produce a cultural history of the medieval March of Wales.