Gower History Series

Alina: The White Lady of Oystermouth

The Ghost Haunting Oystermouth Castle

Ann Marie Thomas

The misted times of the 14th century bore the present-day Swansea Castle with a different name. The grotesque Lordship of Gower went ruthless with Alina de Braose disinheriting her from this Gower legacy. In the 1320s, the King of England was toppled in a civil war that snowballed from this castle through the Lordship of Gower 

‘was not a very important lordship’.

Ann Marie Thomas in 2012 flipped back tomes of sepia pages to reestablish the Lordship of Gower and enact the ensuing saga, once again for her readers. It’s a brilliant nugget of local historiography of those lesser-known yet profound places.

Alina gets alienated with her prized possession nonetheless providence prevails in the Tower of London. Oyestermouth Castle comes to her rescue and her elegant apparition is still wafting across.  

Gower aristocrats at the end of the 13th century had the most uncouth traditions of underage marriage and childbirth. King Edward 1 was fraught with homosexuality. The writer discreetly chips in tempting moments of women’s envy, love, and avarice – in the breakout of civil war with the constable of Leed Castle’s wife slur the queen, love in the Tower of London, and an intrepid queen moving across kingdoms for suzerainty.

The revolt of Marcher Lords and barons escalated and froze the king into submission for some time. The disgruntled Queen Isabella trooped in with mercenaries. A 14-year-old became the king after his father abdicated for this lad. Grisly tales of intrigue and rebellion raze across Gower. There were horrendous executions with bodies flailng for years. Treachery was reeking everywhere. 

Though this book winds up in 33 pages, Ann Marie Thomas rummaged through a mound of history as evident in the interminable bibliography appended at the end of the book. All six chapters start with a sketch that sets the tale to roll over treasures of 29 million pounds stashed in a castle.  

Alina: The White Lady of Oystermouth is a part of the Gower series of 5 booklets that discuss medieval England and it book remains the only book written on Alina de Braose.

Paperback: 40 pages