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diff --git a/1148-h/1148-h.htm b/1148-h/1148-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ef6783 --- /dev/null +++ b/1148-h/1148-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7007 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, by Giraldus Cambrensis</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through +Wales, by Giraldus Cambrensis + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales + + +Author: Giraldus Cambrensis + + + +Release Date: February 9, 2015 [eBook #1148] +[This file was first posted on December 14, 1997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ITINERARY OF ARCHIBISHOP +BALDWIN THROUGH WALES*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1912 J. M. Dent and Sons edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1><span class="smcap">The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin +through Wales</span><br /> +by<br /> +Giraldus Cambrensis</h1> +<h2><a name="pagevii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +vii</span>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Gerald the Welshman</span>—Giraldus +Cambrensis—was born, probably in 1147, at Manorbier Castle +in the county of Pembroke. His father was a Norman noble, +William de Barri, who took his name from the little island of +Barry off the coast of Glamorgan. His mother, Angharad, was +the daughter of Gerald de Windsor <a name="citation0a"></a><a +href="#footnote0a" class="citation">[0a]</a> by his wife, the +famous Princess Nesta, the “Helen of Wales,” and the +daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr Mawr, the last independent Prince of +South Wales.</p> +<p>Gerald was therefore born to romance and adventure. He +was reared in the traditions of the House of Dinevor. He +heard the brilliant and pitiful stories of Rhys ap Tewdwr, who, +after having lost and won South Wales, died on the stricken field +fighting against the Normans, an old man of over fourscore years; +and of his gallant son, Prince Rhys, who, after wrenching his +patrimony from the invaders, died of a broken heart a few months +after his wife, the Princess Gwenllian, had fallen in a skirmish +at Kidwelly. No doubt he heard, though he makes but sparing +allusion to them, of the loves and adventures of his grandmother, +the Princess Nesta, the daughter and sister of a prince, the wife +of an adventurer, the concubine of a king, and the paramour of +every daring lover—a Welshwoman whose passions embroiled +all Wales, and England too, in war, and the mother of +heroes—Fitz-Geralds, Fitz-Stephens, and Fitz-Henries, and +others—who, regardless of their mother’s eccentricity +in the choice of their fathers, <a name="pageviii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. viii</span>united like brothers in the most +adventurous undertaking of that age, the Conquest of Ireland.</p> +<p>Though his mother was half Saxon and his father probably fully +Norman, Gerald, with a true instinct, described himself as a +“Welshman.” His frank vanity, so naïve as +to be void of offence, his easy acceptance of everything which +Providence had bestowed on him, his incorrigible belief that all +the world took as much interest in himself and all that appealed +to him as he did himself, the readiness with which he adapted +himself to all sorts of men and of circumstances, his credulity +in matters of faith and his shrewd common sense in things of the +world, his wit and lively fancy, his eloquence of tongue and pen, +his acute rather than accurate observation, his scholarship +elegant rather than profound, are all characteristic of a certain +lovable type of South Walian. He was not blind to the +defects of his countrymen any more than to others of his +contemporaries, but the Welsh he chastised as one who loved +them. His praise followed ever close upon the heels of his +criticism. There was none of the rancour in his references +to Wales which defaces his account of contemporary Ireland. +He was acquainted with Welsh, though he does not seem to have +preached it, and another archdeacon acted as the interpreter of +Archbishop Baldwin’s Crusade sermon in Anglesea. But +he could appreciate the charm of the <i>Cynghanedd</i>, the +alliterative assonance which is still the most distinctive +feature of Welsh poetry. He cannot conceal his sympathy +with the imperishable determination of his countrymen to keep +alive the language which is their <i>differentia</i> among the +nations of the world. It is manifest in the story which he +relates at the end of his “Description of +Wales.” Henry II. asked an old Welshman of Pencader +in Carmarthenshire if the Welsh could resist his might. +“This nation, O King,” was the reply, “may +often be weakened and in great part destroyed by the power of +yourself and of <a name="pageix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +ix</span>others, but many a time, as it deserves, it will rise +triumphant. But never will it be destroyed by the wrath of +man, unless the wrath of God be added. Nor do I think that +any other nation than this of Wales, or any other tongue, +whatever may hereafter come to pass, shall on the day of the +great reckoning before the Most High Judge, answer for this +corner of the earth.” Prone to discuss with his +“Britannic frankness” the faults of his countrymen, +he cannot bear that any one else should do so. In the +“Description of Wales” he breaks off in the middle of +a most unflattering passage concerning the character of the Welsh +people to lecture Gildas for having abused his own +countrymen. In the preface to his “Instruction of +Princes,” he makes a bitter reference to the prejudice of +the English Court against everything Welsh—“Can any +good thing come from Wales?” His fierce Welshmanship +is perhaps responsible for the unsympathetic treatment which he +has usually received at the hands of English historians. +Even to one of the writers of Dr. Traill’s “Social +England,” Gerald was little more than “a strong and +passionate Welshman.”</p> +<p>Sometimes it was his pleasure to pose as a citizen of the +world. He loved Paris, the centre of learning, where he +studied as a youth, and where he lectured in his early +manhood. He paid four long visits to Rome. He was +Court chaplain to Henry II. He accompanied the king on his +expeditions to France, and Prince John to Ireland. He +retired, when old age grew upon him, to the scholarly seclusion +of Lincoln, far from his native land. He was the friend and +companion of princes and kings, of scholars and prelates +everywhere in England, in France, and in Italy. And yet +there was no place in the world so dear to him as +Manorbier. Who can read his vivid description of the old +castle by the sea—its ramparts blown upon by the winds that +swept over the Irish Sea, its fishponds, its garden, and its +lofty nut trees—without feeling that here, after all, <a +name="pagex"></a><span class="pagenum">p. x</span>was the home of +Gerald de Barri? “As Demetia,” he said in his +“Itinerary,” “with its seven cantreds is the +fairest of all the lands of Wales, as Pembroke is the fairest +part of Demetia, and this spot the fairest of Pembroke, it +follows that Manorbier is the sweetest spot in +Wales.” He has left us a charming account of his +boyhood, playing with his brothers on the sands, they building +castles and he cathedrals, he earning the title of “boy +bishop” by preaching while they engaged in boyish +sport. On his last recorded visit to Wales, a broken man, +hunted like a criminal by the king, and deserted by the ingrate +canons of St. David’s, he retired for a brief respite from +strife to the sweet peace of Manorbier. It is not known +where he died, but it is permissible to hope that he breathed his +last in the old home which he never forgot or ceased to love.</p> +<p>He mentions that the Welsh loved high descent and carried +their pedigree about with them. In this respect also Gerald +was Welsh to the core. He is never more pleased than when +he alludes to his relationship with the Princes of Wales, or the +Geraldines, or Cadwallon ap Madoc of Powis. He hints, not +obscurely, that the real reason why he was passed over for the +Bishopric of St. David’s in 1186 was that Henry II. feared +his <i>natio et cognatio</i>, his nation and his family. He +becomes almost dithyrambic in extolling the deeds of his kinsmen +in Ireland. “Who are they who penetrated into the +fastnesses of the enemy? The Geraldines. Who are they +who hold the country in submission? The Geraldines. +Who are they whom the foemen dread? The Geraldines. +Who are they whom envy would disparage? The +Geraldines. Yet fight on, my gallant kinsmen,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Felices facti si quid mea carmina +possuit.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gerald was satisfied, not only with his birthplace and +lineage, but with everything that was his. He makes +complacent references to his good looks, which he had <a +name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xi</span>inherited +from Princess Nesta. “Is it possible so fair a youth +can die?” asked Bishop, afterwards Archbishop, Baldwin, +when he saw him in his student days. <a name="citation0b"></a><a +href="#footnote0b" class="citation">[0b]</a> Even in his +letters to Pope Innocent he could not refrain from repeating a +compliment paid to him on his good looks by Matilda of St. +Valery, the wife of his neighbour at Brecon, William de +Braose. He praises his own unparalleled generosity in +entertaining the poor, the doctors, and the townsfolk of Oxford +to banquets on three successive days when he read his +“Topography of Ireland” before that university. +As for his learning he records that when his tutors at Paris +wished to point out a model scholar they mentioned Giraldus +Cambrensis. He is confident that though his works, being +all written in Latin, have not attained any great contemporary +popularity, they will make his name and fame secure for +ever. The most precious gift he could give to Pope Innocent +III., when he was anxious to win his favour, was six volumes of +his own works; and when good old Archbishop Baldwin came to +preach the Crusade in Wales, Gerald could think of no better +present to help beguile the tedium of the journey than his own +“Topography of Ireland.” He is equally pleased +with his own eloquence. When the archbishop had preached, +with no effect, for an hour, and exclaimed what a hardhearted +people it was, Gerald moved them almost instantly to tears. +He records also that John Spang, the Lord Rhys’s fool, said +to his master at Cardigan, after Gerald had been preaching the +Crusade, “You owe a great debt, O Rhys, to your kinsman, +the archdeacon, who has taken a hundred or so of your men to +serve the Lord; for if he had only spoken in Welsh, you would not +have had a soul left.” His works are full of +appreciations of Gerald’s reforming zeal, his +administrative energy, his unostentatious and scholarly life.</p> +<p>Professor Freeman in his “Norman Conquest” +described <a name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xii</span>Gerald as “the father of comparative +philology,” and in the preface to his edition of the last +volume of Gerald’s works in the Rolls Series, he calls him +“one of the most learned men of a learned age,” +“the universal scholar.” His range of subjects +is indeed marvellous even for an age when to be a +“universal scholar” was not so hopeless of attainment +as it has since become. Professor Brewer, his earliest +editor in the Rolls Series, is struck by the same +characteristic. “Geography, history, ethics, +divinity, canon law, biography, natural history, epistolary +correspondence, and poetry employed his pen by turns, and in all +these departments of literature he has left memorials of his +ability.” Without being Ciceronian, his Latin was far +better than that of his contemporaries. He was steeped in +the classics, and he had, as Professor Freeman remarks, +“mastered more languages than most men of his time, and had +looked at them with an approach to a scientific view which still +fewer men of his time shared with him.” He quotes +Welsh, English, Irish, French, German, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, +and with four or five of these languages at least he had an +intimate, scholarly acquaintance. His judgment of men and +things may not always have been sound, but he was a shrewd +observer of contemporary events. “The cleverest +critic of the life of his time” is the verdict of Mr. +Reginald Poole. <a name="citation0c"></a><a href="#footnote0c" +class="citation">[0c]</a> He changed his opinions often: he +was never ashamed of being inconsistent. In early life he +was, perhaps naturally, an admirer of the Angevin dynasty; he +lived to draw the most terrible picture extant of their lives and +characters. During his lifetime he never ceased to inveigh +against Archbishop Hubert Walter; after his death he repented and +recanted. His invective was sometimes coarse, and his abuse +was always virulent. He was not over-scrupulous in his +methods of controversy; but no one can rise from a reading of his +works without <a name="pagexiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xiii</span>a feeling of liking for the vivacious, cultured, +impulsive, humorous, irrepressible Welshman. Certainly no +Welshman can regard the man who wrote so lovingly of his native +land, and who championed her cause so valiantly, except with real +gratitude and affection.</p> +<p>But though it is as a writer of books that Gerald has become +famous, he was a man of action, who would have left, had Fate +been kinder, an enduring mark on the history of his own time, and +would certainly have changed the whole current of Welsh religious +life. As a descendant of the Welsh princes, he took himself +seriously as a Welsh patriot. Destined almost from his +cradle, both by the bent of his mind and the inclination of his +father, to don “the habit of religion,” he could not +join Prince Rhys or Prince Llewelyn in their struggle for the +political independence of Wales. His ambition was to become +Bishop of St. David’s, and then to restore the Welsh Church +to her old position of independence of the metropolitan authority +of Canterbury. He detested the practice of promoting +Normans to Welsh sees, and of excluding Welshmen from high +positions in their own country. “Because I am a +Welshman, am I to be debarred from all preferment in +Wales?” he indignantly writes to the Pope. +Circumstances at first seemed to favour his ambition. His +uncle, David Fitz-Gerald, sat in the seat of St. +David’s. When the young scholar returned from Paris +in 1172, he found the path of promotion easy. After the +manner of that age—which Gerald lived to denounce—he +soon became a pluralist. He held the livings of Llanwnda, +Tenby, and Angle, and afterwards the prebend of Mathry, in +Pembrokeshire, and the living of Chesterton in Oxfordshire. +He was also prebendary of Hereford, canon of St. David’s, +and in 1175, when only twenty-eight years of age, he became +Archdeacon of Brecon. In the following year Bishop David +died, and Gerald, together with the other archdeacons of the +diocese, was nominated by the chapter for the king’s +choice. <a name="pagexiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xiv</span>But the chapter had been premature, urged, no doubt, by +the impetuous young Archdeacon of Brecon. They had not +waited for the king’s consent to the nomination. The +king saw that his settled policy in Wales would be overturned if +Gerald became Bishop of St. David’s. Gerald’s +cousin, the Lord Rhys, had been appointed the king’s +justiciar in South Wales. The power of the Lord Marches was +to be kept in check by a quasi-alliance between the Welsh prince +and his over-lord. The election of Gerald to the greatest +see in Wales would upset the balance of power. David +Fitz-Gerald, good easy man (<i>vir suâ sorte contentus</i> +is Gerald’s description of him), the king could tolerate, +but he could not contemplate without uneasiness the combination +of spiritual and political power in South Wales in the hands of +two able, ambitious, and energetic kinsmen, such as he knew +Gerald and the Lord Rhys to be. Gerald had made no secret +of his admiration for the martyred St. Thomas à +Becket. He fashioned himself upon him as Becket did on +Anselm. The part which Becket played in England he would +like to play in Wales. But the sovereign who had destroyed +Becket was not to be frightened by the canons of St. +David’s and the Archdeacon of Brecon. He summoned the +chapter to Westminster, and compelled them in his presence to +elect Peter de Leia, the Prior of Wenlock, who erected for +himself an imperishable monument in the noble cathedral which +looks as if it had sprung up from the rocks which guard the city +of Dewi Sant from the inrush of the western sea.</p> +<p>It is needless to recount the many activities in which Gerald +engaged during the next twenty-two years. They have been +recounted with humorous and affectionate appreciation by Dr. +Henry Owen in his monograph on “Gerald the Welshman,” +a little masterpiece of biography which deserves to be better +known. <a name="citation0d"></a><a href="#footnote0d" +class="citation">[0d]</a> In <a name="pagexv"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. xv</span>1183 Gerald was employed by the +astute king to settle terms between him and the rebellious Lord +Rhys. Nominally as a reward for his successful diplomacy, +but probably in order to keep so dangerous a character away from +the turbulent land of Wales, Gerald was in the following year +made a Court chaplain. In 1185 he was commissioned by the +king to accompany Prince John, then a lad of eighteen, who had +lately been created “Lord of Ireland,” to the city of +Dublin. There he abode for two years, collecting materials +for his two first books, the “Topography” and the +“Conquest of Ireland.” In 1188 he accompanied +Archbishop Baldwin through Wales to preach the Third +Crusade—not the first or the last inconsistency of which +the champion of the independence of the Welsh Church was +guilty. His “Itinerary through Wales” is the +record of the expedition. King Richard offered him the +Bishopric of Bangor, and John, in his brother’s absence, +offered him that of Llandaff. But his heart was set on St. +David’s. In 1198 his great chance came to him. +At last, after twenty-two years of misrule, Peter de Leia was +dead, and Gerald seemed certain of attaining his heart’s +desire. Once again the chapter nominated Gerald; once more +the royal authority was exerted, this time by Archbishop Hubert, +the justiciar in the king’s absence, to defeat the +ambitious Welshman. The chapter decided to send a +deputation to King Richard in Normandy. The deputation +arrived at Chinon to find Coeur-de-Lion dead; but John was +anxious to make friends everywhere, in order to secure himself on +his uncertain throne. He received the deputation +graciously, he spoke in praise of Gerald, and he agreed to accept +the nomination. But after his return to England John +changed his mind. He found that no danger threatened him in +his island kingdom, and he saw the wisdom of the +justiciar’s policy. Gerald hurried to see him, but +John point blank refused publicly to ratify his consent to the +nomination which he had already given <a name="pagexvi"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. xvi</span>in private. Then commenced the +historic fight for St. David’s which, in view of the still +active “Church question” in Wales, is even now +invested with a living interest and significance. Gerald +contended that the Welsh Church was independent of Canterbury, +and that it was only recently, since the Norman Conquest, that +she had been deprived of her freedom. His opponents relied +on political, rather than historical, considerations to defeat +this bold claim. King Henry, when a deputation from the +chapter in 1175 appeared before the great council in London and +had urged the metropolitan claims of St. David’s upon the +Cardinal Legate, exclaimed that he had no intention of giving +this head to rebellion in Wales. Archbishop Hubert, more of +a statesman than an ecclesiastic, based his opposition on similar +grounds. He explained his reasons bluntly to the +Pope. “Unless the barbarity of this fierce and +lawless people can be restrained by ecclesiastical censures +through the see of Canterbury, to which province they are subject +by law, they will be for ever rising in arms against the king, to +the disquiet of the whole realm of England.” +Gerald’s answer to this was complete, except from the point +of view of political expediency. “What can be more +unjust than that this people of ancient faith, because they +answer force by force in defence of their lives, their lands, and +their liberties, should be forthwith separated from the body +corporate of Christendom, and delivered over to Satan?”</p> +<p>The story of the long fight between Gerald on the one hand and +the whole forces of secular and ecclesiastical authority on the +other cannot be told here. Three times did he visit Rome to +prosecute his appeal—alone against the world. He had +to journey through districts disturbed by wars, infested with the +king’s men or the king’s enemies, all of whom +regarded Gerald with hostility. He was taken and thrown +into prison as King John’s subject in one town, he was +detained by <a name="pagexvii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xvii</span>importunate creditors in another, and at Rome he was +betrayed by a countryman whom he had befriended. He himself +has told us</p> + +<blockquote><p> Of +the most disastrous chances<br /> +Of moving accidents by flood and field,</p> +</blockquote> +<p>which made a journey from St. David’s to Rome a more +perilous adventure in those unquiet days than an expedition +“through darkest Africa” is in ours. At last +the very Chapter of St. David’s, for whose ancient rights +he was contending, basely deserted him. “The laity of +Wales stood by me,” so he wrote in later days, “but +of the clergy whose battle I was fighting scarce +one.” Pope Innocent III. was far too wary a +politician to favour the claims of a small and distracted nation, +already half-subjugated, against the king of a rich and powerful +country. He flattered our poor Gerald, he delighted in his +company, he accepted, and perhaps even read, his books. But +in the end, after five years’ incessant fighting, the +decision went against him, and the English king’s nominee +has ever since sat on the throne of St. David’s. +“Many and great wars,” said Gwenwynwyn, the Prince of +Powis, “have we Welshmen waged with England, but none so +great and fierce as his who fought the king and the archbishop, +and withstood the might of the whole clergy and people of +England, for the honour of Wales.”</p> +<p>Short was the memory and scant the gratitude of his +countrymen. When in 1214 another vacancy occurred at a time +when King John was at variance with his barons and his prelates, +the Chapter of St. David’s nominated, not Gerald, their old +champion, but Iorwerth, the Abbot of Talley, from whose reforming +zeal they had nothing to fear. This last prick of +Fortune’s sword pierced Gerald to the quick. He had +for years been gradually withdrawing from an active life. +He had resigned his archdeaconry and his prebend stall, he had +made a fourth pilgrimage, this time for his soul’s <a +name="pagexviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xviii</span>sake, +to Rome, he had retired to a quiet pursuit of letters probably at +Lincoln, and henceforward, till his death about the year 1223, he +devoted himself to revising and embellishing his old works, and +completing his literary labours. By his fight for St. +David’s he had endeared himself to the laity of his country +for all time. The saying of Llewelyn the Great was +prophetic. “So long as Wales shall stand by the +writings of the chroniclers and by the songs of the bards shall +his noble deed be praised throughout all time.” The +prophecy has not yet been verified. Welsh chroniclers have +made but scanty references to Gerald; no bard has ever yet sung +an <i>Awdl</i> or a <i>Pryddest</i> in honour of him who fought +for the “honour of Wales.” His countrymen have +forgotten Gerald the Welshman. It has been left to Sir +Richard Colt Hoare, Foster, Professor Brewer, Dimmock, and +Professor Freeman to edit his works. Only two of his +countrymen have attempted to rescue one of the greatest of +Welshmen from an undeserved oblivion. In 1585, when the +Renaissance of Letters had begun to rouse the dormant powers of +the Cymry, Dr. David Powel edited in Latin a garbled version of +the “Itinerary” and “Description of +Wales,” and gave a short and inaccurate account of +Gerald’s life. In 1889 Dr. Henry Owen published, +“at his own proper charges,” the first adequate +account by a Welshman of the life and labours of Giraldus +Cambrensis. When his monument is erected in the cathedral +which was built by his hated rival, the epitaph which he composed +for himself may well be inscribed upon it—</p> +<blockquote><p>Cambria Giraldus genuit, sic Cambria mentem<br /> +Erudiit, cineres cui lapis iste tegit.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And by that time perhaps some competent scholar will have +translated some at least of Gerald’s works into the +language best understood by the people of Wales.</p> +<p>It would be impossible to exaggerate the enormous services +which three great Welshmen of the twelfth <a +name="pagexix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xix</span>century +rendered to England and to the world—such services as we +may securely hope will be emulated by Welshmen of the next +generation, now that we have lived to witness what Mr. Theodore +Watts-Dunton has called “the great recrudescence of Cymric +energy.” <a name="citation0e"></a><a href="#footnote0e" +class="citation">[0e]</a> The romantic literature of +England owes its origin to Geoffrey of Monmouth; <a +name="citation0f"></a><a href="#footnote0f" +class="citation">[0f]</a> Sir Galahad, the stainless knight, the +mirror of Christian chivalry, as well as the nobler portions of +the Arthurian romance, were the creation of Walter Map, the +friend and “gossip” of Gerald; <a +name="citation0g"></a><a href="#footnote0g" +class="citation">[0g]</a> and John Richard Green has truly called +Gerald himself “the father of popular literature.” <a +name="citation0h"></a><a href="#footnote0h" +class="citation">[0h]</a> He began to write when he was +only twenty; he continued to write till he was past the allotted +span of life. He is the most “modern” as well +as the most voluminous of all the mediæval writers. +Of all English writers, Miss Kate Norgate <a +name="citation0i"></a><a href="#footnote0i" +class="citation">[0i]</a> has perhaps most justly estimated the +real place of Gerald in English letters. +“Gerald’s wide range of subjects,” she says, +“is only less remarkable than the ease and freedom with +which he treats them. Whatever he touches—history, +archæology, geography, natural science, politics, the +social life and thought of the day, the physical peculiarities of +Ireland and the manners and customs of its people, the +picturesque scenery and traditions of his own native land, the +scandals of the court and the cloister, the petty struggle for +the primacy of Wales, and the great tragedy of the fall of the +Angevin Empire—is all alike dealt with in the bold, +dashing, offhand <a name="pagexx"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xx</span>style of a modern newspaper or magazine article. +His first important work, the ‘Topography of +Ireland,’ is, with due allowance for the difference between +the tastes of the twelfth century and those of the nineteenth, +just such a series of sketches as a special correspondent in our +own day might send from some newly-colonised island in the +Pacific to satisfy or whet the curiosity of his readers at +home.” The description aptly applies to all that +Gerald wrote. If not a historian, he was at least a great +<a name="pagexxi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxi</span>journalist. His descriptions of Ireland have been +subjected to much hostile criticism from the day they were +written to our own times. They were assailed at the time, +as Gerald himself tells us, for their unconventionality, for +their departure from established custom, for the freedom and +colloquialism of their style, for the audacity of their stories, +and for the writer’s daring in venturing to treat the +manners and customs of a barbarous country as worthy the +attention of the learned and the labours of the historian. +Irish scholars, from the days of Dr. John Lynch, who published +his “Cambrensis Eversus” in 1622, have unanimously +denounced the work of the sensational journalist, born out of due +time. His Irish books are confessedly partisan; the +“Conquest of Ireland” was expressly designed as an +eulogy of “the men of St. David’s,” the +writer’s own kinsmen. But in spite of partisanship +and prejudice, they must be regarded as a serious and valuable +addition to our knowledge of the state of Ireland at the latter +end of the twelfth century. Indeed, Professor Brewer does +not hesitate to say that “to his industry we are +exclusively indebted for all that is known of the state of +Ireland during the whole of the Middle Ages,” and as to the +“Topography,” Gerald “must take rank with the +first who descried the value and in some respects the limits of +descriptive geography.”</p> +<p>When he came to deal with the affairs of state on a larger +stage, his methods were still that of the modern +journalist. He was always an impressionist, a writer of +personal sketches. His character sketches of the +Plantagenet princes—of King Henry with his large round head +and fat round belly, his fierce eyes, his tigerish temper, his +learning, his licentiousness, his duplicity, and of Eleanor of +Aquitaine, his vixenish and revengeful wife, the murderess of +“Fair Rosamond” (who must have been known to Gerald, +being the daughter of Walter of Clifford-on-the-Wye), and of the +fierce brood that they reared—are of extraordinary +interest. His impressions of the men and events of his +time, his fund of anecdotes and <i>bon mots</i>, his references +to trivial matters, which more dignified writers would never +deign to mention, his sprightly and sometimes malicious gossip, +invest his period with a reality which the greatest of +fiction-writers has failed to rival. Gerald lived in the +days of chivalry, days which have been crowned with a halo of +deathless romance by the author of “Ivanhoe” and the +“Talisman.” He knew and was intimate with all +the great actors of the time. He had lived in the Paris of +St. Louis and Philip Augustus, and was never tired of exalting +the House of Capet over the tyrannical and bloodthirsty House of +Anjou. He had no love of England, for her Plantagenet kings +or her Saxon serfs. During the French invasion in the time +of King John his sympathies were openly with the Dauphin as +against the “brood of vipers,” who were equally alien +to English soil. For the Saxon, indeed, he felt the twofold +hatred of Welshman and Norman. One of his opponents is +denounced to the Pope as an “untriwe Sax,” and the +Saxons are described as the slaves of the Normans, the mere +hewers of wood and drawers of water for their conquerors. +He met Innocent III., the greatest of Popes, in familiar +converse, he jested and gossiped with him in slippered ease, he +made him laugh at his endless stories of the glory of Wales, the +iniquities of the Angevins, and the bad Latin of Archbishop +Walter. He <a name="pagexxii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxii</span>knew Richard Cœur-de-Lion, the flower of +chivalry, and saw him as he was and “not through a glass +darkly.” He knew John, the cleverest and basest of +his house. He knew and loved Stephen Langton, the precursor +of a long line of statesmen who have made English liberty +broad—based upon the people’s will. He was a +friend of St. Hugh of Lincoln, the sweetest and purest spirit in +the Anglican Church of the Middle Ages, the one man who could +disarm the wrath of the fierce king with a smile; and he was the +friend and patron of Robert Grosstete, afterwards the great +Bishop of Lincoln. He lived much in company with Ranulph de +Glanville, the first English jurist, and he has +“Boswellised” some of his conversations with +him. He was intimate with Archbishop Baldwin, the saintly +prelate who laid down his life in the Third Crusade on the +burning plains of Palestine, heart-broken at the unbridled +wickedness of the soldiers of the Cross. He was the near +kinsman and confidant of the Cambro-Normans, who, landing in +Leinster in 1165, effected what may be described as the first +conquest of Ireland. There was scarcely a man of note in +his day whom he had not seen and conversed with, or of whom he +does not relate some piquant story. He had travelled much, +and had observed closely. Probably the most valuable of all +his works, from the strictly historical point of view, are the +“Itinerary” and “Description of Wales,” +which are reprinted in the present volume. <a +name="citation0j"></a><a href="#footnote0j" +class="citation">[0j]</a> Here he is impartial in his +evidence, and judicial in his decisions. If he errs at all, +it is not through racial prejudice. “I am +sprung,” he once told the Pope in a letter, “from the +princes of Wales and from the barons of the Marches, and when I +see injustice in either race, I hate it.”</p> +<p>The text is that of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who published an +English translation, chiefly from the texts of Camden and +Wharton, in 1806. The valuable historical notes have been +curtailed, as being too elaborate for <a +name="pagexxiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxiii</span>such a +volume as this, and a few notes have been added by the present +editor. These will be found within brackets. +Hoare’s translation, and also translations (edited by Mr. +Foster) of the Irish books have been published in Bohn’s +Antiquarian Library.</p> +<p>The first of the seven volumes of the Latin text of Gerald, +published in the Rolls Series, appeared in 1861. The first +four volumes were edited by Professor Brewer; the next two by Mr. +Dimmock; and the seventh by Professor Freeman.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">W. LLEWELYN WILLIAMS.</p> +<p><i>January</i> 1908.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>The following is a list of the more important of the works of +Gerald:—</p> +<p class="gutindent">Topographia Hibernica, Expugnatio Hibernica, +Itinerarium Kambriæ, Descriptio Kambriæ, Gemma +Ecclesiastica, Libellus Invectionum, De Rebus a se Gestis, +Dialogus de jure et statu Menevensis Ecclesiæ, De +Instructione Principum, De Legendis Sanctorum, Symbolum +Electorum.</p> +<h2><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 3</span>FIRST +PREFACE<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">TO STEPHEN LANGTON, ARCHBISHOP OF +CANTERBURY</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> the times are affected by the +changes of circumstances, so are the minds of men influenced by +different manners and customs. The satirist [Persius] +exclaims,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Mille hominum species et mentis discolor +usus;<br /> +Velle suum cuique est, nec voto vivitur uno.”</p> +<p>“Nature is ever various in her name;<br /> +Each has a different will, and few the same.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The comic poet also says, “<i>Quot capita tot +sententiæ</i>, <i>suus cuique mos est</i>.” +“As many men, so many minds, each has his way.” +Young soldiers exult in war, and pleaders delight in the gown; +others aspire after riches, and think them the supreme +good. Some approve Galen, some Justinian. Those who +are desirous of honours follow the court, and from their +ambitious pursuits meet with more mortification than +satisfaction. Some, indeed, but very few, take pleasure in +the liberal arts, amongst whom we cannot but admire logicians, +who, when they have made only a trifling progress, are as much +enchanted with the images of Dialectics, as if they were +listening to the songs of the Syrens.</p> +<p>But among so many species of men, where are to be found divine +poets? Where the noble assertors of morals? Where the +masters of the Latin tongue? Who in the present times +displays lettered eloquence, either in history or poetry? +Who, I say, in our own age, either builds a system of ethics, or +consigns illustrious <a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +4</span>actions to immortality? Literary fame, which used +to be placed in the highest rank, is now, because of the +depravity of the times, tending to ruin and degraded to the +lowest, so that persons attached to study are at present not only +not imitated nor venerated, but even detested. “Happy +indeed would be the arts,” observes Fabius, “if +artists alone judged of the arts;” but, as Sydonius says, +“it is a fixed principle in the human mind, that they who +are ignorant of the arts despise the artist.”</p> +<p>But to revert to our subject. Which, I ask, have +rendered more service to the world, the arms of Marius or the +verses of Virgil? The sword of Marius has rusted, while the +fame of him who wrote the Æneid is immortal; and although +in his time letters were honoured by lettered persons, yet from +his own pen we find,</p> + +<blockquote><p> “— +— tantum<br /> +Carmina nostra valent tela inter Martia, quantum<br /> +Chaonias dicunt, aquila veniente, columbas.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Who would hesitate in deciding which are more profitable, the +works of St. Jerom, or the riches of Crœsus? but where now +shine the gold and silver of Crœsus? whilst the world is +instructed by the example and enlightened by the learning of the +poor cœnobite. Yet even he, through envy, suffered +stripes and contumely at Rome, although his character was so +illustrious; and at length being driven beyond the seas, found a +refuge for his studies in the solitude of Bethlehem. Thus +it appears, that gold and arms may support us in this life, but +avail nothing after death; and that letters through envy profit +nothing in this world, but, like a testament, acquire an immortal +value from the seal of death.</p> +<p>According to the poet,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Pascitur in vivis livor, post fata +quiescit;<br /> + Cum suus ex merito quemque tuetur +honor.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And also</p> +<blockquote><p>“Denique si quis adhuc prætendit +nubila, livor<br /> +Occidet, et meriti post me referentur honores.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>Those who +by artifice endeavour to acquire or preserve the reputation of +abilities or ingenuity, while they abound in the words of others, +have little cause to boast of their own inventions. For the +composers of that polished language, in which such various cases +as occur in the great body of law are treated with such an +appropriate elegance of style, must ever stand forward in the +first ranks of praise. I should indeed have said, that the +authors of refined language, not the hearers only, the inventors, +not the reciters, are most worthy of commendation. You will +find, however, that the practices of the court and of the schools +are extremely similar; as well in the subtleties they employ to +lead you forward, as in the steadiness with which they generally +maintain their own positions. Yet it is certain that the +knowledge of logic (the <i>acumen</i>, if I may so express it, of +all other sciences as well as arts) is very useful, when +restricted within proper bounds; whilst the court (<i>i.e.</i> +courtly language), excepting to sycophants or ambitious men, is +by no means necessary. For if you are successful at court, +ambition never wholly quits its hold till satiated, and allures +and draws you still closer; but if your labour is thrown away, +you still continue the pursuit, and, together with your +substance, lose your time, the greatest and most irretrievable of +all losses. There is likewise some resemblance between the +court and the game of dice, as the poet observes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Sic ne perdiderit non cessat perdere +lusor,<br /> + Dum revocat cupidas alea blanda +manus;”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>which, by substituting the word <i>curia</i> for <i>alea</i>, +may be applied to the court. This further proof of their +resemblance may be added; that as the chances of the dice and +court are not productive of any real delight, so they are equally +distributed to the worthy and the unworthy.</p> +<p>Since, therefore, among so many species of men, each follows +his own inclination, and each is actuated by different desires, a +regard for posterity has induced me <a name="page6"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 6</span>to choose the study of composition; +and, as this life is temporary and mutable, it is grateful to +live in the memory of future ages, and to be immortalized by +fame; for to toil after that which produces envy in life, but +glory after death, is a sure indication of an elevated +mind. Poets and authors indeed aspire after immortality, +but do not reject any present advantages that may offer.</p> +<p>I formerly completed with vain and fruitless labour the +Topography of Ireland for its companion, the king Henry the +Second, and Vaticinal History, for Richard of Poitiou, his son, +and, I wish I were not compelled to add, his successor in vice; +princes little skilled in letters, and much engaged in +business. To you, illustrious Stephen, archbishop of +Canterbury, equally commendable for your learning and religion, I +now dedicate the account of our meritorious journey through the +rugged provinces of Cambria, written in a scholastic style, and +divided into two parts. For as virtue loves itself, and +detests what is contrary to it, so I hope you will consider +whatever I may have written in commendation of your late +venerable and eminent predecessor, with no less affection than if +it related to yourself. To you also, when completed, I +destine my treatise on the Instruction of a Prince, if, amidst +your religious and worldly occupations, you can find leisure for +the perusal of it. For I purpose to submit these and other +fruits of my diligence to be tasted by you at your discretion, +each in its proper order; hoping that, if my larger undertakings +do not excite your interest, my smaller works may at least merit +your approbation, conciliate your favour, and call forth my +gratitude towards you; who, unmindful of worldly affections, do +not partially distribute your bounties to your family and +friends, but to letters and merit; you, who, in the midst of such +great and unceasing contests between the crown and the +priesthood, stand forth almost singly the firm and faithful +friend of the British church; you, who, almost the only one duly +elected, fulfil the scriptural designation of the episcopal +character. It is not, however, <a name="page7"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 7</span>by bearing a cap, by placing a +cushion, by shielding off the rain, or by wiping the dust, even +if there should be none, in the midst of a herd of flatterers, +that I attempt to conciliate your favour, but by my +writings. To you, therefore, rare, noble, and illustrious +man, on whom nature and art have showered down whatever becomes +your supereminent situation, I dedicate my works; but if I fail +in this mode of conciliating your favour, and if your prayers and +avocations should not allow you sufficient time to read them, I +shall consider the honour of letters as vanished, and in hope of +its revival I shall inscribe my writings to posterity.</p> +<h2><a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>SECOND +PREFACE<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">TO THE SAME PRELATE</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Since</span> those things, which are known +to have been done through a laudable devotion, are not unworthily +extolled with due praises; and since the mind, when relaxed, +loses its energy, and the torpor of sloth enervates the +understanding, as iron acquires rust for want of use, and +stagnant waters become foul; lest my pen should be injured by the +rust of idleness, I have thought good to commit to writing the +devout visitation which Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, made +throughout Wales; and to hand down, as it were in a mirror, +through you, O illustrious Stephen, to posterity, the difficult +places through which we passed, the names of springs and +torrents, the witty sayings, the toils and incidents of the +journey, the memorable events of ancient and modern times, and +the natural history and description of the country; lest my study +should perish through idleness, or the praise of these things be +lost by silence.</p> +<h2><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +9</span>CONTENTS</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p style="text-align: center">BOOK I</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">CHAPTER</span></p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">I.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Journey through Hereford and Radnor</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page11">11</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">II.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Journey through Hay and Brecheinia</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page18">18</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">III.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Ewyas and Llanthoni</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page34">34</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">IV.</p> +</td> +<td><p>The Journey by Coed Grono and Abergevenni</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page44">44</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">V.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the Progress by the Castle of Usk and the Town of +Caerleon</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page50">50</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VI.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Newport and Caerdyf</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page56">56</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>The See of Landaf and Monastery of Margan, and the +Remarkable Things in those Parts</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page61">61</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Passage of the Rivers Avon and Neth—and of Abertawe +and Goer</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page65">65</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">IX.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Passage over the Rivers Lochor and Wendraeth; and of +Cydweli</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page71">71</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">X.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Tywy River—Caermardyn—Monastery of +Albelande</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page73">73</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XI.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of Haverford and Ros</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page76">76</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of Penbroch</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page82">82</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the Progress by Camros and Niwegal</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page91">91</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p style="text-align: center">BOOK II</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">I.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the See of Saint David’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page95">95</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">II.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the Journey by Cemmeis—the Monastery of St. +Dogmael</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page102">102</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">III.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the River Teivi—Cardigan, and Emelyn</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page105">105</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">IV.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the Journey by Pont Stephen, the Abbey of Stratflur, +Landewi Brevi, and Lhanpadarn Vawr</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page109">109</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><a name="page10"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 10</span>V.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the River Devi, and the Land of the Sons of Conan</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page113">113</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VI.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Passage of traeth mawr and traeth bachan, and of nevyn, +carnarvon, and bangor</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page115">115</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>The island of mona</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page118">118</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Passage of the river conwy in a boat, and of dinas +emrys</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page125">125</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">IX.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the mountains of eryri</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page127">127</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">X.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the passage by deganwy and ruthlan, and the see of +lanelwy, and of coleshulle</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page128">128</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XI.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the passage of the river dee, and of chester</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page131">131</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the journey by the white monastery, oswaldestree, +powys, and shrewsbury</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page133">133</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p>Of the journey by wenloch, brumfeld, the castle of ludlow, +and leominster, to hereford</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page137">137</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XIV.</p> +</td> +<td><p>A description of baldwin, archbishop of canterbury</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page139">139</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>THE +ITINERARY THROUGH WALES<br /> +BOOK I</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">JOURNEY THROUGH HEREFORD AND +RADNOR</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the year 1188 from the +incarnation of our Lord, Urban the Third <a +name="citation11"></a><a href="#footnote11" +class="citation">[11]</a> being the head of the apostolic see; +Frederick, emperor of Germany and king of the Romans; Isaac, +emperor of Constantinople; Philip, the son of Louis, reigning in +France; Henry the Second in England; William in Sicily; Bela in +Hungary; and Guy in Palestine: in that very year, when Saladin, +prince of the Egyptians and Damascenes, by a signal victory +gained possession of the kingdom of Jerusalem; Baldwin, +archbishop <a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +12</span>of Canterbury, a venerable man, distinguished for his +learning and sanctity, journeying from England for the service of +the holy cross, entered Wales near the borders of +Herefordshire.</p> +<p>The archbishop proceeded to Radnor, <a +name="citation12a"></a><a href="#footnote12a" +class="citation">[12a]</a> on Ash Wednesday (<i>Caput +Jejunii</i>), accompanied by Ranulph de Glanville, privy +counsellor and justiciary of the whole kingdom, and there met +Rhys, <a name="citation12b"></a><a href="#footnote12b" +class="citation">[12b]</a> son of Gruffydd, prince of South +Wales, and many other noble personages of those parts; where a +sermon being preached by the archbishop, upon the subject of the +Crusades, and explained to the Welsh by an interpreter, the +author of this Itinerary, impelled by the urgent importunity and +promises of the king, and the persuasions of the archbishop and +the justiciary, arose the first, and falling down at the feet of +the holy man, devoutly took the sign of the cross. His +example was instantly followed by Peter, bishop of St. +David’s, <a name="citation12c"></a><a href="#footnote12c" +class="citation">[12c]</a> a monk of the abbey of Cluny, and then +by Eineon, son of Eineon Clyd, <a name="citation12d"></a><a +href="#footnote12d" class="citation">[12d]</a> prince of Elvenia, +and many other persons. Eineon rising up, said to Rhys, +whose daughter he had married, “My father and lord! with +your permission I hasten to revenge the injury offered to the +great father of all.” Rhys himself was so fully +determined upon the holy <a name="page13"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 13</span>peregrination, as soon as the +archbishop should enter his territories on his return, that for +nearly fifteen days he was employed with great solicitude in +making the necessary preparations for so distant a journey; till +his wife, and, according to the common vicious licence of the +country, his relation in the fourth degree, Guendolena, +(Gwenllian), daughter of Madoc, prince of Powys, by female +artifices diverted him wholly from his noble purpose; since, as +Solomon says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way, but +the Lord directeth his steps.” As Rhys before his +departure was conversing with his friends concerning the things +he had heard, a distinguished young man of his family, by name +Gruffydd, and who afterwards took the cross, is said thus to have +answered: “What man of spirit can refuse to undertake this +journey, since, amongst all imaginable inconveniences, nothing +worse can happen to any one than to return.”</p> +<p>On the arrival of Rhys in his own territory, certain canons of +Saint David’s, through a zeal for their church, having +previously secured the interest of some of the prince’s +courtiers, waited on Rhys, and endeavoured by every possible +suggestion to induce him not to permit the archbishop to proceed +into the interior parts of Wales, and particularly to the +metropolitan see of Saint David’s (a thing hitherto unheard +of), at the same time asserting that if he should continue his +intended journey, the church would in future experience great +prejudice, and with difficulty would recover its ancient dignity +and honour. Although these pleas were most strenuously +urged, the natural kindness and civility of the prince would not +suffer them to prevail, lest by prohibiting the +archbishop’s progress, he might appear to wound his +feelings.</p> +<p>Early on the following morning, after the celebration of mass, +and the return of Ranulph de Glanville to England, we came to +Cruker Castle, <a name="citation13"></a><a href="#footnote13" +class="citation">[13]</a> two miles distant from <a +name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>Radnor, where +a strong and valiant youth named Hector, conversing with the +archbishop about taking the cross, said, “If I had the +means of getting provisions for one day, and of keeping fast on +the next, I would comply with your advice;” on the +following day, however, he took the cross. The same +evening, Malgo, son of Cadwallon, prince of Melenia, after a +short but efficacious exhortation from the archbishop, and not +without the tears and lamentations of his friends, was marked +with the sign of the cross.</p> +<p>But here it is proper to mention what happened during the +reign of king Henry the First to the lord of the castle of +Radnor, in the adjoining territory of Builth, <a +name="citation14a"></a><a href="#footnote14a" +class="citation">[14a]</a> who had entered the church of Saint +Avan (which is called in the British language Llan Avan), <a +name="citation14b"></a><a href="#footnote14b" +class="citation">[14b]</a> and, without sufficient caution or +reverence, had passed the night there with his hounds. +Arising early in the morning, according to the custom of hunters, +he found his hounds mad, and himself struck blind. After a +long, dark, and tedious existence, he was conveyed to Jerusalem, +happily taking care that his inward sight should not in a similar +manner be extinguished; and there being accoutred, and led to the +field of battle on horseback, he made a spirited attack upon the +enemies of the faith, and, being mortally wounded, closed his +life with honour.</p> +<p>Another circumstance which happened in these our days, in the +province of Warthrenion, <a name="citation14c"></a><a +href="#footnote14c" class="citation">[14c]</a> distant from <a +name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>hence only a +few furlongs, is not unworthy of notice. Eineon, lord of +that district, and son-in-law to prince Rhys, who was much +addicted to the chase, having on a certain day forced the wild +beasts from their coverts, one of his attendants killed a hind +with an arrow, as she was springing forth from the wood, which, +contrary to the nature of her sex, was found to bear horns of +twelve years’ growth, and was much fatter than a stag, in +the haunches as well as in every other part. On account of +the singularity of this circumstance, the head and horns of this +strange animal were destined as a present to king Henry the +Second. This event is the more remarkable, as the man who +shot the hind suddenly lost the use of his right eye, and being +at the same time seized with a paralytic complaint, remained in a +weak and impotent state until the time of his death.</p> +<p>In this same province of Warthrenion, and in the church of +Saint Germanus, <a name="citation15a"></a><a href="#footnote15a" +class="citation">[15a]</a> there is a staff of Saint Cyric, <a +name="citation15b"></a><a href="#footnote15b" +class="citation">[15b]</a> covered on all sides with gold and +silver, and resembling in its upper part the form of a cross; its +efficacy has been proved in many cases, but particularly in the +removal of glandular and strumous swellings; insomuch that all +persons <a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +16</span>afflicted with these complaints, on a devout application +to the staff, with the oblation of one penny, are restored to +health. But it happened in these our days, that a strumous +patient on presenting one halfpenny to the staff, the humour +subsided only in the middle; but when the oblation was completed +by the other halfpenny, an entire cure was accomplished. +Another person also coming to the staff with the promise of a +penny, was cured; but not fulfilling his engagement on the day +appointed, he relapsed into his former disorder; in order, +however, to obtain pardon for his offence, he tripled the +offering by presenting three-pence, and thus obtained a complete +cure.</p> +<p>At Elevein, in the church of Glascum, <a +name="citation16a"></a><a href="#footnote16a" +class="citation">[16a]</a> is a portable bell, endowed with great +virtues, called Bangu, <a name="citation16b"></a><a +href="#footnote16b" class="citation">[16b]</a> and said to have +belonged to Saint David. A certain woman secretly conveyed +this bell to her husband, who was confined in the castle of +Raidergwy, <a name="citation16c"></a><a href="#footnote16c" +class="citation">[16c]</a> near Warthrenion, (which Rhys, son of +Gruffydd, had lately built) for the purpose of his +deliverance. The keepers of the castle not only refused to +liberate him for this consideration, but seized and detained the +bell; and in the same night, by divine vengeance, the whole town, +except the wall on which the bell hung, was consumed by fire.</p> +<p>The church of Luel, <a name="citation16d"></a><a +href="#footnote16d" class="citation">[16d]</a> in the +neighbourhood of Brecheinoc <a name="page17"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 17</span>(<i>Brechinia</i>), was burned, also +in our time, by the enemy, and everything destroyed, except one +small box, in which the consecrated host was deposited.</p> +<p>It came to pass also in the province of Elvenia, which is +separated from Hay by the river Wye, in the night in which king +Henry I. expired, that two pools <a name="citation17"></a><a +href="#footnote17" class="citation">[17]</a> of no small extent, +the one natural, the other artificial, suddenly burst their +bounds; the latter, by its precipitate course down the +declivities, emptied itself; but the former, with its fish and +contents, obtained a permanent situation in a valley about two +miles distant. In Normandy, a few days before the death of +Henry II., the fish of a certain pool near Seez, five miles from +the castle of Exme, fought during the night so furiously with +each other, both in the water and out of it, that the +neighbouring people were attracted by the noise to the spot; and +so desperate was the conflict, that scarcely a fish was found +alive in the morning; thus, by a wonderful and unheard-of +prognostic, foretelling the death of one by that of many.</p> +<p>But the borders of Wales sufficiently remember and abhor the +great and enormous excesses which, from ambitious usurpation of +territory, have arisen amongst brothers and relations in the +districts of Melenyth, Elvein, and Warthrenion, situated between +the Wye and the Severn.</p> +<h2><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +18</span>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">JOURNEY THROUGH HAY AND +BRECHEINIA</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> crossed the river Wye, we +proceeded towards Brecheinoc, and on preaching a sermon at Hay, +<a name="citation18a"></a><a href="#footnote18a" +class="citation">[18a]</a> we observed some amongst the +multitude, who were to be signed with the cross (leaving their +garments in the hands of their friends or wives, who endeavoured +to keep them back), fly for refuge to the archbishop in the +castle. Early in the morning we began our journey to +Aberhodni, and the word of the Lord being preached at Landeu, <a +name="citation18b"></a><a href="#footnote18b" +class="citation">[18b]</a> we there spent the night. The +castle and chief town of the province, situated where the river +Hodni joins the river Usk, is called Aberhodni; <a +name="citation18c"></a><a href="#footnote18c" +class="citation">[18c]</a> and every place where one river falls +into another is called Aber in the British tongue. Landeu +signifies the church of God. <a name="page19"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 19</span>The archdeacon of that place +(Giraldus) presented to the archbishop his work on the Topography +of Ireland, which he graciously received, and either read or +heard a part of it read attentively every day during his journey; +and on his return to England completed the perusal of it.</p> +<p>I have determined not to omit mentioning those occurrences +worthy of note which happened in these parts in our days. +It came to pass before that great war, in which nearly all this +province was destroyed by the sons of Jestin, <a +name="citation19a"></a><a href="#footnote19a" +class="citation">[19a]</a> that the large lake, and the river +Leveni, <a name="citation19b"></a><a href="#footnote19b" +class="citation">[19b]</a> which flows from it into the Wye, +opposite Glasbyry, <a name="citation19c"></a><a +href="#footnote19c" class="citation">[19c]</a> were tinged with a +deep green colour. The old people of the country were +consulted, and answered, that a short time before the great +desolation <a name="citation19d"></a><a href="#footnote19d" +class="citation">[19d]</a> caused by Howel, son of Meredyth, the +water had been coloured in a similar manner. About the same +time, a chaplain, whose name was Hugo, being engaged to officiate +at the chapel of Saint Nicholas, in the castle of Aberhodni, saw +in a dream a venerable man standing near him, and saying, +“Tell thy lord William de Braose, <a +name="citation19e"></a><a href="#footnote19e" +class="citation">[19e]</a> who has the audacity <a +name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>to retain the +property granted to the chapel of Saint Nicholas for charitable +uses, these words: ‘The public treasury takes away that +which Christ does not receive; and thou wilt then give to an +impious soldier, what thou wilt not give to a +priest.’” This vision having been repeated +three times, he went to the archdeacon of the place, at Landeu, +and related to him what had happened. The archdeacon +immediately knew them to be the words of Augustine; and shewing +him that part of his writings where they were found, explained to +him the case to which they applied. He reproaches persons +who held back tithes and other ecclesiastical dues; and what he +there threatens, certainly in a short time befell this withholder +of them: for in our time we have duly and undoubtedly seen, that +princes who have usurped ecclesiastical benefices (and +particularly king Henry the Second, who laboured under this vice +more than others), have profusely squandered the treasures of the +church, and given away to hired soldiers what in justice should +have been given only to priests.</p> +<p>Yet something is to be said in favour of the aforesaid William +de Braose, although he greatly offended in this particular (since +nothing human is perfect, and to have knowledge of all things, +and in no point to err, is an attribute of God, not of man); for +he always placed the name of the Lord before his sentences, +saying, “Let this be done in the name of the Lord; let that +be done by God’s will; if it shall please God, or if God +grant leave; it shall be so by the grace of God.” We +learn from Saint <a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +21</span>Paul, that everything ought thus to be committed and +referred to the will of God. On taking leave of his +brethren, he says, “I will return to you again, if God +permit;” and Saint James uses this expression, “If +the Lord will, and we live,” in order to show that all +things ought to be submitted to the divine disposal. The +letters also which William de Braose, as a rich and powerful man, +was accustomed to send to different parts, were loaded, or rather +honoured, with words expressive of the divine indulgence to a +degree not only tiresome to his scribe, but even to his auditors; +for as a reward to each of his scribes for concluding his letters +with the words, “by divine assistance,” he gave +annually a piece of gold, in addition to their stipend. +When on a journey he saw a church or a cross, although in the +midst of conversation either with his inferiors or superiors, +from an excess of devotion, he immediately began to pray, and +when he had finished his prayers, resumed his conversation. +On meeting boys in the way, he invited them by a previous +salutation to salute him, that the blessings of these innocents, +thus extorted, might be returned to him. His wife, Matilda +de Saint Valery, observed all these things: a prudent and chaste +woman; a woman placed with propriety at the head of her house, +equally attentive to the economical disposal of her property +within doors, as to the augmentation of it without; both of whom, +I hope, by their devotion obtained temporal happiness and grace, +as well as the glory of eternity.</p> +<p>It happened also that the hand of a boy, who was endeavouring +to take some young pigeons from a nest, in the church of Saint +David of Llanvaes, <a name="citation21"></a><a href="#footnote21" +class="citation">[21]</a> adhered to the stone on which he +leaned, through the miraculous vengeance, <a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>perhaps, of +that saint, in favour of the birds who had taken refuge in his +church; and when the boy, attended by his friends and parents, +had for three successive days and nights offered up his prayers +and supplications before the holy altar of the church, his hand +was, on the third day, liberated by the same divine power which +had so miraculously fastened it. We saw this same boy at +Newbury, in England, now advanced in years, presenting himself +before David the Second, <a name="citation22a"></a><a +href="#footnote22a" class="citation">[22a]</a> bishop of Saint +David’s, and certifying to him the truth of this relation, +because it had happened in his diocese. The stone is +preserved in the church to this day among the relics, and the +marks of the five fingers appear impressed on the flint as though +it were in wax.</p> +<p>A small miracle happened at St. Edmundsbury to a poor woman, +who often visited the shrine of the saint, under the mask of +devotion; not with the design of giving, but of taking something +away, namely, the silver and gold offerings, which, by a curious +kind of theft, she licked up by kissing, and carried away in her +mouth. But in one of these attempts her tongue and lips +adhered to the altar, when by divine interposition she was +detected, and openly disgorged the secret theft. Many +persons, both Jews and Christians, expressing their astonishment, +flocked to the place, where for the greater part of the day she +remained motionless, that no possible doubt might be entertained +of the miracle.</p> +<p>In the north of England beyond the Humber, in the church of +Hovedene, <a name="citation22b"></a><a href="#footnote22b" +class="citation">[22b]</a> the concubine of the rector +incautiously sat down on the tomb of St. Osana, sister of king +Osred, <a name="citation22c"></a><a href="#footnote22c" +class="citation">[22c]</a> which projected like a wooden seat; on +wishing to retire, she could not be removed, until the people +came to her assistance; her clothes were rent, her <a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>body was laid +bare, and severely afflicted with many strokes of discipline, +even till the blood flowed; nor did she regain her liberty, until +by many tears and sincere repentance she had showed evident signs +of compunction.</p> +<p>What miraculous power hath not in our days been displayed by +the psalter of Quindreda, sister of St. Kenelm, <a +name="citation23a"></a><a href="#footnote23a" +class="citation">[23a]</a> by whose instigation he was +killed? On the vigil of the saint, when, according to +custom, great multitudes of women resorted to the feast at +Winchelcumbe, <a name="citation23b"></a><a href="#footnote23b" +class="citation">[23b]</a> the under butler of that convent +committed fornication with one of them within the precincts of +the monastery. This same man on the following day had the +audacity to carry the psalter in the procession of the relics of +the saints; and on his return to the choir, after the solemnity, +the psalter stuck to his hands. Astonished and greatly +confounded, and at length calling to his mind his crime on the +preceding day, he made confession, and underwent penance; and +being assisted by the prayers of the brotherhood, and having +shown signs of sincere contrition, he was at length liberated +from the miraculous bond. That book was held in great +veneration; because, when the body of St. Kenelm was carried +forth, and the multitude cried out, “He is the martyr of +God! truly he is the martyr of God!” Quindreda, +conscious and guilty of the murder of her brother, answered, +“He is as truly the martyr of God as it is true that my +eyes be on that psalter;” for, <a name="page24"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 24</span>as she was reading the psalter, both +her eyes were miraculously torn from her head, and fell on the +book, where the marks of the blood yet remain.</p> +<p>Moreover I must not be silent concerning the collar +(<i>torques</i>) which they call St. Canauc’s; <a +name="citation24"></a><a href="#footnote24" +class="citation">[24]</a> for it is most like to gold in weight, +nature, and colour; it is in four pieces wrought round, joined +together artificially, and clefted as it were in the middle, with +a dog’s head, the teeth standing outward; it is esteemed by +the inhabitants so powerful a relic, that no man dares swear +falsely when it is laid before him: it bears the marks of some +severe blows, as if made with an iron hammer; for a certain man, +as it is said, endeavouring to break the collar for the sake of +the gold, experienced the divine vengeance, was deprived of his +eyesight, and lingered the remainder of his days in darkness.</p> +<p>A similar circumstance concerning the horn of St. Patrick (not +golden indeed, but of brass [probably bronze], which lately was +brought into these parts from Ireland) excites our +admiration. The miraculous power of this relic first +appeared with a terrible example in that country, through the +foolish and absurd blowing of Bernard, a priest, as is set forth +in our Topography of Ireland. Both the laity and clergy in +Ireland, Scotland, and Wales held in such great veneration +portable bells, and staves crooked at the top, and covered with +gold, silver, or brass, and similar relics of the saints, that +they were much more afraid of swearing falsely by them than by +the gospels; because, from some hidden and miraculous power with +which they are gifted, and the vengeance of the saint to whom +they are particularly pleasing, their despisers and transgressors +are severely punished. The <a name="page25"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 25</span>most remarkable circumstance +attending this horn is, that whoever places the wider end of it +to his ear will hear a sweet sound and melody united, such as +ariseth from a harp gently touched.</p> +<p>In our days a strange occurrence happened in the same +district. A wild sow, which by chance had been suckled by a +bitch famous for her nose, became, on growing up, so wonderfully +active in the pursuit of wild animals, that in the faculty of +scent she was greatly superior to dogs, who are assisted by +natural instinct, as well as by human art; an argument that man +(as well as every other animal) contracts the nature of the +female who nurses him. Another prodigious event came to +pass nearly at the same time. A soldier, whose name was +Gilbert Hagernel, after an illness of nearly three years, and the +severe pains as of a woman in labour, in the presence of many +people, voided a calf. A portent of some new and unusual +event, or rather the punishment attendant on some atrocious +crime. It appears also from the ancient and authentic +records of those parts, that during the time St. Elwitus <a +name="citation25a"></a><a href="#footnote25a" +class="citation">[25a]</a> led the life of a hermit at +Llanhamelach, <a name="citation25b"></a><a href="#footnote25b" +class="citation">[25b]</a> the mare that used to carry his +provisions to him was covered by a stag, and produced an animal +of wonderful speed, resembling a horse before and a stag +behind.</p> +<p><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>Bernard +de Newmarch <a name="citation26a"></a><a href="#footnote26a" +class="citation">[26a]</a> was the first of the Normans who +acquired by conquest from the Welsh this province, which was +divided into three cantreds. <a name="citation26b"></a><a +href="#footnote26b" class="citation">[26b]</a> He married +the daughter of Nest, daughter of Gruffydd, son of Llewelyn, who, +by his tyranny, for a long time had oppressed Wales; his wife +took her mother’s name of Nest, which the English +transmuted into Anne; by whom he had children, one of whom, named +Mahel, a distinguished soldier, was thus unjustly deprived of his +paternal inheritance. His mother, in violation of the +marriage contract, held an adulterous intercourse with a certain +knight; on the discovery of which, the son met the knight +returning in the night from his mother, and having inflicted on +him a severe corporal punishment, and mutilated him, sent him +away with great disgrace. The mother, alarmed at the +confusion which this event caused, and agitated with grief, +breathed nothing but revenge. She therefore went to king +Henry I., and declared with assertions more vindictive than true, +and corroborated by an oath, that her son Mahel was not the son +of Bernard, but of another person with whom she had been secretly +connected. Henry, on account of this oath, or rather +perjury, and swayed more by his inclination than by reason, gave +away her eldest daughter, <a name="page27"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 27</span>whom she owned as the legitimate +child of Bernard, in marriage to Milo Fitz-Walter, <a +name="citation27"></a><a href="#footnote27" +class="citation">[27]</a> constable of Gloucester, with the +honour of Brecheinoc as a portion; and he was afterwards created +earl of Hereford by the empress Matilda, daughter of the said +king. By this wife he had five celebrated warriors; Roger, +Walter, Henry, William, and Mahel; all of whom, by divine +vengeance, or by fatal misfortunes, came to untimely ends; and +yet each of them, except William, succeeded to the paternal +inheritance, but left no issue. Thus this woman (not +deviating from the nature of her sex), in order to satiate her +anger and revenge, with the heavy loss of modesty, and with the +disgrace of infamy, by the same act deprived her son of his +patrimony, and herself of honour. Nor is it wonderful if a +woman follows her innate bad disposition: for it is written in +Ecclesiastes, “I have found one good man out of a thousand, +but not one good woman;” and in Ecclesiasticus, +“There is no head above the head of a serpent; and there is +no wrath above the wrath of a woman;” and again, +“Small is the wickedness of man compared to the wickedness +of woman.” And in the same manner, as we may gather +grapes off thorns, or figs off thistles, Tully, describing the +nature of women, says, “Men, perhaps, for the sake of some +advantage will commit one crime; but woman, to gratify one +inclination, will not scruple to perpetrate all sorts of +wickedness.” Thus Juvenal, speaking of women, +say,</p> +<blockquote><p>“— Nihil est audacior illis<br /> +Deprensis, iram atque animos a crimine sumunt.<br /> +— Mulier sævissima tunc est<br /> +<a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>Cum +stimulos animo pudor admovet.<br /> +— colllige, quod vindicta<br /> +Nemo magis gaudet quam fœmina.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But of the five above-mentioned brothers and sons of earl +Milo, the youngest but one, and the last in the inheritance, was +the most remarkable for his inhumanity; he persecuted David II., +bishop of St. David’s, to such a degree, by attacking his +possessions, lands, and vassals, that he was compelled to retire +as an exile from the district of Brecheinoc into England, or to +some other parts of his diocese. Meanwhile, Mahel, being +hospitably entertained by Walter de Clifford, <a +name="citation28a"></a><a href="#footnote28a" +class="citation">[28a]</a> in the castle of Brendlais, <a +name="citation28b"></a><a href="#footnote28b" +class="citation">[28b]</a> the house was by accident burned down, +and he received a mortal blow by a stone falling from the +principal tower on his head: upon which he instantly dispatched +messengers to recal the bishop, and exclaimed with a lamentable +voice, “O, my father and high priest, your saint has taken +most cruel vengeance of me, not waiting the conversion of a +sinner, but hastening his death and overthrow.” +Having often repeated similar expressions, and bitterly lamented +his situation, he thus ended his tyranny and life together; the +first year of his government not having elapsed.</p> +<p>A powerful and noble personage, by name Brachanus, was in +ancient times the ruler of the province of Brecheinoc, and from +him it derived this name. The British histories testify +that he had four-and-twenty daughters, <a name="page29"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 29</span>all of whom, dedicated from their +youth to religious observances, happily ended their lives in +sanctity. There are many churches in Wales distinguished by +their names, one of which, situated on the summit of a hill, near +Brecheinoc, and not far from the castle of Aberhodni, is called +the church of St. Almedda, <a name="citation29a"></a><a +href="#footnote29a" class="citation">[29a]</a> after the name of +the holy virgin, who, refusing there the hand of an earthly +spouse, married the Eternal King, and triumphed in a happy +martyrdom; to whose honour a solemn feast is annually held in the +beginning of August, and attended by a large concourse of people +from a considerable distance, when those persons who labour under +various diseases, through the merits of the Blessed Virgin, +received their wished-for health. The circumstances which +occur at every anniversary appear to me remarkable. You may +see men or girls, now in the church, now in the churchyard, now +in the dance, which is led round the churchyard with a song, on a +sudden falling on the ground as in a trance, then jumping up as +in a frenzy, and representing with their hands and feet, before +the people, whatever work they have unlawfully done on feast +days; you may see one man put his hand to the plough, and +another, as it were, goad on the oxen, mitigating their sense of +labour, by the usual rude song: <a name="citation29b"></a><a +href="#footnote29b" class="citation">[29b]</a> <a +name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>one man +imitating the profession of a shoemaker; another, that of a +tanner. Now you may see a girl with a distaff, drawing out +the thread, and winding it again on the spindle; another walking, +and arranging the threads for the web; another, as it were, +throwing the shuttle, and seeming to weave. On being +brought into the church, and led up to the altar with their +oblations, you will be astonished to see them suddenly awakened, +and coming to themselves. Thus, by the divine mercy, which +rejoices in the conversion, not in the death, of sinners, many +persons from the conviction of their senses, are on these feast +days corrected and mended.</p> +<p>This country sufficiently abounds with grain, and if there is +any deficiency, it is amply supplied from the neighbouring parts +of England; it is well stored with pastures, woods, and wild and +domestic animals. River-fish are plentiful, supplied by the +Usk on one side, and by the Wye on the other; each of them +produces salmon and trout; but the Wye abounds most with the +former, the Usk with the latter. The salmon of the Wye are +in season during the winter, those of the Usk in summer; but the +Wye alone produces the fish called umber, <a +name="citation30a"></a><a href="#footnote30a" +class="citation">[30a]</a> the praise of which is celebrated in +the works of Ambrosius, as being found in great numbers in the +rivers near Milan; “What,” says he, “is more +beautiful to behold, more agreeable to smell, or more pleasant to +taste?” The famous lake of Brecheinoc supplies the +courntry with pike, perch, excellent trout, tench, and +eels. A circumstance concerning this lake, which happened a +short time before our days, must not be passed over in +silence. “In the reign of king Henry I., Gruffydd, <a +name="citation30b"></a><a href="#footnote30b" +class="citation">[30b]</a> son of Rhys <a name="page31"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 31</span>ap Tewdwr, held under the king one +comot, namely, the fourth part of the cantred of Caoc, <a +name="citation31"></a><a href="#footnote31" +class="citation">[31]</a> in the cantref Mawr, which, in title +and dignity, was esteemed by the Welsh equal to the southern part +of Wales, called Deheubarth, that is, the right-hand side of +Wales. When Gruffydd, on his return from the king’s +court, passed near this lake, which at that cold season of the +year was covered with water-fowl of various sorts, being +accompanied by Milo, earl of Hereford, and lord of Brecheinoc, +and Payn Fitz-John, lord of Ewyas, who were at that time +secretaries and privy counsellors to the king; earl Milo, wishing +to draw forth from Gruffydd some discourse concerning his innate +nobility, rather jocularly than seriously <a +name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>thus +addressed him: “It is an ancient saying in Wales, that if +the natural prince of the country, coming to this lake, shall +order the birds to sing, they will immediately obey +him.” To which Gruffydd, richer in mind than in gold, +(for though his inheritance was diminished, his ambition and +dignity still remained), answered, “Do you therefore, who +now hold the dominion of this land, first give the +command;” but he and Payn having in vain commanded, and +Gruffydd, perceiving that it was necessary for him to do so in +his turn, dismounted from his horse, and falling on his knees +towards the east, as if he had been about to engage in battle, +prostrate on the ground, with his eyes and hands uplifted to +heaven, poured forth devout prayers to the Lord: at length, +rising up, and signing his face and forehead with the figure of +the cross, he thus openly spake: “Almighty God, and Lord +Jesus Christ, who knowest all things, declare here this day thy +power. If thou hast caused me to descend lineally from the +natural princes of Wales, I command these birds in thy name to +declare it;” and immediately the birds, beating the water +with their wings, began to cry aloud, and proclaim him. The +spectators were astonished and confounded; and earl Milo hastily +returning with Payn Fitz-John to court, related this singular +occurrence to the king, who is said to have replied, “By +the death of Christ (an oath he was accustomed to use), it is not +a matter of so much wonder; for although by our great authority +we commit acts of violence and wrong against these people, yet +they are known to be the rightful inheritors of this +land.”</p> +<p>The lake also <a name="citation32"></a><a href="#footnote32" +class="citation">[32]</a> (according to the testimony of the +inhabitants) <a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +33</span>is celebrated for its miracles; for, as we have before +observed, it sometimes assumed a greenish hue, so in our days it +has appeared to be tinged with red, not universally, but as if +blood flowed partially through certain veins and small +channels. Moreover it is sometimes seen by the inhabitants +covered and adorned with buildings, pastures, gardens, and +orchards. In the winter, when it is frozen over, and the +surface of the water is converted into a shell of ice, it emits a +horrible sound resembling the moans of many animals collected +together; but this, perhaps, may be occasioned by the sudden +bursting of the shell, and the gradual ebullition of the air +through imperceptible channels. This country is well +sheltered on every side (except the northern) by high mountains; +on the western by those of cantref Bychan; <a +name="citation33a"></a><a href="#footnote33a" +class="citation">[33a]</a> on the southern, by that range, of +which the principal is Cadair Arthur, <a +name="citation33b"></a><a href="#footnote33b" +class="citation">[33b]</a> or the chair of Arthur, so <a +name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>called from +two peaks rising up in the form of a chair, and which, from its +lofty situation, is vulgarly ascribed to Arthur, the most +distinguished king of the Britons. A spring of water rises +on the summit of this mountain, deep, but of a square shape, like +a well, and although no stream runs from it, trout are said to be +sometimes found in it.</p> +<p>Being thus sheltered on the south by high mountains, the +cooler breezes protect this district from the heat of the sun, +and, by their natural salubrity, render the climate most +temperate. Towards the east are the mountains of Talgarth +and Ewyas. <a name="citation34a"></a><a href="#footnote34a" +class="citation">[34a]</a> The natives of these parts, +actuated by continual enmities and implacable hatred, are +perpetually engaged in bloody contests. But we leave to +others to describe the great and enormous excesses, which in our +time have been here committed, with regard to marriages, +divorces, and many other circumstances of cruelty and +oppression.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">EWYAS AND LLANTHONI</span></h2> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the deep vale of Ewyas, <a +name="citation34b"></a><a href="#footnote34b" +class="citation">[34b]</a> which is about an arrow-shot broad, +encircled on all sides by lofty mountains, stands <a +name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>the church of +Saint John the Baptist, covered with lead, and built of wrought +stone; and, considering the nature of the place, not unhandsomely +constructed, on the very spot where the humble chapel of David, +the archbishop, had formerly stood decorated only with moss and +ivy. A situation truly calculated for religion, and more +adapted to canonical discipline, than all the monasteries of the +British isle. It was founded by two hermits, in honour of +the retired life, far removed from the bustle of mankind, in a +solitary vale watered by the river Hodeni. From Hodeni it +was called Lanhodeni, for Lan signifies an ecclesiastical +place. This derivation may appear far-fetched, for the name +of the place, in Welsh, is Nanthodeni. Nant signifies a +running stream, from whence this place is still called by the +inhabitants Landewi Nanthodeni, <a name="citation35"></a><a +href="#footnote35" class="citation">[35]</a> or the church of +Saint David upon the river Hodeni. The English therefore +corruptly call it Lanthoni, whereas it should either be called +Nanthodeni, that is, the brook of the Hodeni, or Lanhodeni, the +church upon the Hodeni. Owing to its mountainous situation, +the rains are frequent, the winds boisterous, <a +name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>and the +clouds in winter almost continual. The air, though heavy, +is healthy; and diseases are so rare, that the brotherhood, when +worn out by long toil and affliction during their residence with +the daughter, retiring to this asylum, and to their +mother’s <a name="citation36a"></a><a href="#footnote36a" +class="citation">[36a]</a> lap, soon regain their long-wished-for +health. For as my Topographical History of Ireland +testifies, in proportion as we proceed to the eastward, the face +of the sky is more pure and subtile, and the air more piercing +and inclement; but as we draw nearer to the westward, the air +becomes more cloudy, but at the same time is more temperate and +healthy. Here the monks, sitting in their cloisters, +enjoying the fresh air, when they happen to look up towards the +horizon, behold the tops of the mountains, as it were, touching +the heavens, and herds of wild deer feeding on their summits: the +body of the sun does not become visible above the heights of the +mountains, even in a clear atmosphere, till about the hour of +prime, or a little before. A place truly fitted for +contemplation, a happy and delightful spot, fully competent, from +its first establishment, to supply all its own wants, had not the +extravagance of English luxury, the pride of a sumptuous table, +the increasing growth of intemperance and ingratitude, added to +the negligence of its patrons and prelates, reduced it from +freedom to servility; and if the step-daughter, no less enviously +than odiously, had not supplanted her mother.</p> +<p>It seems worthy of remark, that all the priors who were +hostile to this establishment, died by divine visitation. +William, <a name="citation36b"></a><a href="#footnote36b" +class="citation">[36b]</a> who first despoiled the place of its +herds and storehouses, being deposed by the fraternity, forfeited +his right of sepulture amongst the priors. Clement <a +name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>seemed to +like this place of study and prayer, yet, after the example of +Heli the priest, as he neither reproved nor restrained his +brethren from plunder and other offences, he died by a paralytic +stroke. And Roger, who was more an enemy to this place than +either of his predecessors, and openly carried away every thing +which they had left behind, wholly robbing the church of its +books, ornaments, and privileges, was also struck with a +paralytic affection long before his death, resigned his honours, +and lingered out the remainder of his days in sickness.</p> +<p>In the reign of king Henry I., when the mother church was as +celebrated for her affluence as for her sanctity (two qualities +which are seldom found thus united), the daughter not yet being +in existence (and I sincerely wish she never had been produced), +the fame of so much religion attracted hither Roger, bishop of +Salisbury, who was at that time prime minister; for it is virtue +to love virtue, even in another man, and a great proof of innate +goodness to show a detestation of those vices which hitherto have +not been avoided. When he had reflected with admiration on +the nature of the place, the solitary life of the fraternity, +living in canonical obedience, and serving God without a murmur +or complaint, he returned to the king, and related to him what he +thought most worthy of remark; and after spending the greater +part of the day in the praises of this place, he finished his +panegyric with these words: “Why should I say more? the +whole treasure of the king and his kingdom would not be +sufficient to build such a cloister.” Having held the +minds of the king and the court for a long time in suspense by +this assertion, he at length explained the enigma, by saying that +he alluded to the cloister of mountains, by which this church is +on every side surrounded. But William, a knight, who first +discovered this place, and his companion Ervistus, a priest, +having heard, perhaps, as it is written in the Fathers, according +to the opinion of Jerome, “that the church of Christ <a +name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>decreased in +virtues as it increased in riches,” were accustomed often +devoutly to solicit the Lord that this place might never attain +great possessions. They were exceedingly concerned when +this religious foundation began to be enriched by its first lord +and patron, Hugh de Lacy, <a name="citation38"></a><a +href="#footnote38" class="citation">[38]</a> and by the lands and +ecclesiastical benefices conferred upon it by the bounty of +others of the faithful: from their predilection to poverty, they +rejected many offers of manors and churches; and being situated +in a wild spot, they would not suffer the thick and wooded parts +of the valley to be cultivated and levelled, lest they should be +tempted to recede from their heremitical mode of life.</p> +<p>But whilst the establishment of the mother church increased +daily in riches and endowments, availing herself of the hostile +state of the country, a rival daughter sprang up at Gloucester, +under the protection of Milo, earl of Hereford; as if by divine +providence, and through the merits of the saints and prayers of +those holy men (of whom two lie buried before the high altar), it +were destined that the daughter church should be founded in +superfluities, whilst the mother continued in that laudable state +of mediocrity which she had always affected and coveted. +Let the active therefore reside there, the contemplative here; +there the pursuit of terrestrial riches, here the love of +celestial delights; there let them enjoy the concourse of men, +here the presence of angels; there let the powerful of this world +be entertained, here let the poor of Christ be relieved; there, I +say, let human actions and declamations be heard, but here let +reading and prayers be heard only in whispers; there let +opulence, <a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +39</span>the parent and nurse of vice, increase with cares, here +let the virtuous and golden mean be all-sufficient. In both +places the canonical discipline instituted by Augustine, which is +now distinguished above all other orders, is observed; for the +Benedictines, when their wealth was increased by the fervour of +charity, and multiplied by the bounty of the faithful, under the +pretext of a bad dispensation, corrupted by gluttony and +indulgence an order which in its original state of poverty was +held in high estimation. The Cistercian order, derived from +the former, at first deserved praise and commendation from its +adhering voluntarily to the original vows of poverty and +sanctity: until ambition, the blind mother of mischief, unable to +fix bounds to prosperity, was introduced; for as Seneca says, +“Too great happiness makes men greedy, nor are their +desires ever so temperate, as to terminate in what is +acquired:” a step is made from great things to greater, and +men having attained what they did not expect, form the most +unbounded hopes; to which the poet Ovid thus alludes.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque +secundis,<br /> + Nec facile est æqua commoda mente +pati;”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And again:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Creverunt opes et opum furiosa cupido,<br +/> + Et cum possideant plurima, plura petunt.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And also the poet Horace:</p> +<blockquote><p>“—scilicet improbæ<br /> +Crescunt divitiæ, tamen<br /> + Curtæ nescio quid semper abest rei.<br /> +Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam<br /> + Majorumque fames.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>To which purpose the poet Lucan says:</p> +<blockquote><p>“—O vitæ tuta facultas<br /> +Pauperis, angustique lares, o munera nondum<br /> +Intellecta Deûm!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>And +Petronius:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Non bibit inter aquas nec poma fugacia +carpit<br /> + Tantalus infelix, quem sua vota premunt.<br /> +Divitis hic magni facies erit, omnia late<br /> + Qui tenet, et sicco concoquit ore famem.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The mountains are full of herds and horses, the woods well +stored with swine and goats, the pastures with sheep, the plains +with cattle, the arable fields with ploughs; and although these +things in very deed are in great abundance, yet each of them, +from the insatiable nature of the mind, seems too narrow and +scanty. Therefore lands are seized, landmarks removed, +boundaries invaded, and the markets in consequence abound with +merchandise, the courts of justice with law-suits, and the senate +with complaints. Concerning such things, we read in Isaiah, +“Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to +field, till there be no place, that they be placed alone in the +midst of the earth.”</p> +<p>If therefore, the prophet inveighs so much against those who +proceed to the boundaries, what would he say to those who go far +beyond them? From these and other causes, the true colour +of religion was so converted into the dye of falsehood, that +manners internally black assumed a fair exterior:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Qui color albus erat, nunc est contrarius +albo.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>So that the scripture seems to be fulfilled concerning these +men, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in +sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous +wolves.” But I am inclined to think this avidity does +not proceed from any bad intention. For the monks of this +Order (although themselves most abstemious) incessantly exercise, +more than any others, the acts of charity and beneficence towards +the poor and strangers; and because they do not live as others +upon fixed incomes, but depend only on their labour and +forethought for subsistence, they are anxious to obtain lands, +farms, <a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>and +pastures, which may enable them to perform these acts of +hospitality. However, to repress and remove from this +sacred Order the detestable stigma of ambition, I wish they would +sometimes call to mind what is written in Ecclesiasticus, +“Whoso bringeth an offering of the goods of the poor, doth +as one that killeth the son before his father’s +eyes;” and also the sentiment of Gregory, “A good use +does not justify things badly acquired;” and also that of +Ambrose, “He who wrongfully receives, that he may well +dispense, is rather burthened than assisted.” Such +men seem to say with the Apostle, “Let us do evil that good +may come.” For it is written, “Mercy ought to +be of such a nature as may be received, not rejected, which may +purge away sins, not make a man guilty before the Lord, arising +from your own just labours, not those of other men.” +Hear what Solomon says; “Honour the Lord from your just +labours.” What shall they say who have seized upon +other men’s possessions, and exercised charity? +“O Lord! in thy name we have done charitable deeds, we have +fed the poor, clothed the naked, and hospitably received the +stranger:” to whom the Lord will answer; “Ye speak of +what ye have given away, but speak not of the rapine ye have +committed; ye relate concerning those ye have fed, and remember +not those ye have killed.” I have judged it proper to +insert in this place an instance of an answer which Richard, king +of the English, made to Fulke, <a name="citation41"></a><a +href="#footnote41" class="citation">[41]</a> a good and holy man, +by whom <a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +42</span>God in these our days has wrought many signs in the +kingdom of France. This man had among other things said to +the king; “You have three daughters, namely, Pride, Luxury, +and Avarice; and as long as they shall remain with you, you can +never expect to be in favour with God.” To which the +king, after a short pause, replied: “I have already given +away those daughters in marriage: Pride to the Templars, Luxury +to the Black Monks, and Avarice to the White.” It is +a remarkable circumstance, or rather a miracle, concerning +Lanthoni, that, although it is on every side surrounded by lofty +mountains, not stony or rocky, but of a soft nature, and covered +with grass, Parian stones are frequently found there, and are +called free-stones, from the facility with which they admit of +being cut and polished; and with these the church is beautifully +built. It is also wonderful, that when, after a diligent +search, all the stones have been removed from the mountains, and +no more can be found, upon another search, a few days afterwards, +they reappear in greater quantities to those who seek them. +With respect to the two Orders, the Cluniac and the Cistercian, +this may be relied upon; although the latter are possessed of +fine buildings, with ample revenues and estates, they will soon +be reduced to poverty and destruction. To the former, on +the contrary, you would allot a barren desert and a solitary +wood; yet in a few years you will find them in possession of +sumptuous churches and houses, and encircled with an extensive +property. The difference of manners (as it appears to me) +causes this contrast. For as without meaning offence to +either party, I shall speak the truth, the one feels the benefits +<a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>of +sobriety, parsimony, and prudence, whilst the other suffers from +the bad effects of gluttony and intemperance: the one, like bees, +collect their stores into a heap, and unanimously agree in the +disposal of one well-regulated purse; the others pillage and +divert to improper uses the largesses which have been collected +by divine assistance, and by the bounties of the faithful; and +whilst each individual consults solely his own interest, the +welfare of the community suffers; since, as Sallust observes, +“Small things increase by concord, and the greatest are +wasted by discord.” Besides, sooner than lessen the +number of one of the thirteen or fourteen dishes which they claim +by right of custom, or even in a time of scarcity or famine +recede in the smallest degree from their accustomed good fare, +they would suffer the richest lands and the best buildings of the +monastery to become a prey to usury, and the numerous poor to +perish before their gates.</p> +<p>The first of these Orders, at a time when there was a +deficiency in grain, with a laudable charity, not only gave away +their flocks and herds, but resigned to the poor one of the two +dishes with which they were always contented. But in these +our days, in order to remove this stain, it is ordained by the +Cistercians, “That in future neither farms nor pastures +shall be purchased; and that they shall be satisfied with those +alone which have been freely and unconditionally bestowed upon +them.” This Order, therefore, being satisfied more +than any other with humble mediocrity, and, if not wholly, yet in +a great degree checking their ambition; and though placed in a +worldly situation, yet avoiding, as much as possible, its +contagion; neither notorious for gluttony or drunkenness, for +luxury or lust; is fearful and ashamed of incurring public +scandal, as will be more fully explained in the book we mean (by +the grace of God) to write concerning the ecclesiastical +Orders.</p> +<p>In these temperate regions I have obtained (according to the +usual expression) a place of dignity, but no great <a +name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>omen of +future pomp or riches; and possessing a small residence <a +name="citation44a"></a><a href="#footnote44a" +class="citation">[44a]</a> near the castle of Brecheinoc, well +adapted to literary pursuits, and to the contemplation of +eternity, I envy not the riches of Croesus; happy and contented +with that mediocrity, which I prize far beyond all the perishable +and transitory things of this world. But let us return to +our subject.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE JOURNEY BY COED GRONO AND +ABERGEVENNI</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> thence <a +name="citation44b"></a><a href="#footnote44b" +class="citation">[44b]</a> we proceeded through the narrow, woody +tract called the bad pass of Coed Grono, leaving the <a +name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>noble +monastery of Lanthoni, inclosed by its mountains, on our +left. The castle of Abergevenni is so called from its +situation at the confluence of the river Gevenni with the +Usk.</p> +<p>It happened a short time after the death of king Henry I., +that Richard de Clare, a nobleman of high birth, and lord of +Cardiganshire, passed this way on his journey from England into +Wales, accompanied by Brian de Wallingford, lord of this +province, and many men-at-arms. At the passage of Coed +Grono, <a name="citation45"></a><a href="#footnote45" +class="citation">[45]</a> and at the entrance into the wood, he +dismissed him and his attendants, though much against their will, +and proceeded on his journey unarmed; from too great a +presumption of security, preceded only by a minstrel and a +singer, one accompanying the other on the fiddle. The Welsh +awaiting his arrival, with Iorwerth, brother of Morgan of +Caerleon, at their head, and others of his family, rushed upon +him unawares from the thickets, and killed him and many of his +followers. Thus it appears how incautious and neglectful of +itself is too great presumption; for fear teaches foresight and +caution in prosperity, but audacity is precipitate, and +inconsiderate rashness will not await the advice of the +leader.</p> +<p><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>A +sermon having been delivered at Abergevenni, <a +name="citation46"></a><a href="#footnote46" +class="citation">[46]</a> and many persons converted to the +cross, a certain nobleman of those parts, named Arthenus, came to +the archbishop, who was proceeding towards the castle of Usk, and +humbly begged pardon for having neglected to meet him +sooner. Being questioned whether he would take the cross, +he replied, “That ought not be done without the advice of +his friends.” The archbishop then asked him, +“Are you not going to consult your wife?” To +which he modestly answered, with a downcast look, “When the +work of a man is to be undertaken, the counsel of a woman ought +not to be asked;” and instantly received the cross from the +archbishop.</p> +<p>We leave to others the relation of those frequent and cruel +excesses which in our times have arisen amongst the inhabitants +of these parts, against the governors of castles, and the +vindictive retaliations of the governors against the +natives. But king Henry II. was the true author, and Ranulf +Poer, sheriff of Hereford, the instrument, of the enormous +cruelties and slaughter perpetrated here in our days, which I +thought better to omit, <a name="page47"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 47</span>lest bad men should be induced to +follow the example; for although temporary advantage may seem to +arise from a base cause, yet, by the balance of a righteous +judge, the punishment of wickedness may be deferred, though not +totally avoided, according to the words of the poet,—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Non habet eventus sordida præda +bonos.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>For after seven years of peace and tranquillity, the sons and +grandsons of the deceased, having attained the age of manhood, +took advantage of the absence of the lord of the castle +(Abergevenni), and, burning with revenge, concealed themselves, +with no inconsiderable force during the night, within the woody +foss of the castle. One of them, name Sisillus (Sitsylt) +son of Eudaf, on the preceding day said rather jocularly to the +constable, “Here will we enter this night,” pointing +out to him a certain angle in the wall where it seemed the +lowest; but since</p> +<blockquote><p>“—Ridendo dicere verum<br /> +Quis vetat?”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>and</p> +<blockquote><p>“—fas est et ab hoste +doceri,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>the constable and his household watched all night under arms, +till at length, worn out by fatigue, they all retired to rest on +the appearance of daylight, upon which the enemy attacked the +walls with scaling-ladders, at the very place that had been +pointed out. The constable and his wife were taken +prisoners, with many others, a few persons only escaping, who had +sheltered themselves in the principal tower. With the +exception of this stronghold, the enemy violently seized and +burned everything; and thus, by the righteous judgment of God, +the crime was punished in the very place where it had been +committed. A short time after the taking of this fortress, +when the aforesaid sheriff was building a castle <a +name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>at +Landinegat, <a name="citation48"></a><a href="#footnote48" +class="citation">[48]</a> near Monmouth, with the assistance of +the army he had brought from Hereford, he was attacked at break +of day, when</p> +<blockquote><p>“Tythoni croceum linquens Aurora +cubile”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>was only beginning to divest herself of the shades of night, +by the young men from Gwent and the adjacent parts, with the +descendants of those who had been slain. Through aware of +this premeditated attack, and prepared and drawn up in battle +array, they were nevertheless repulsed within their +intrenchments, and the sheriff, together with nine of the chief +men of Hereford, and many others, were pierced to death with +lances. It is remarkable that, although Ranulf, besides +many other mortal wounds, had the veins and arteries of his neck +and his windpipe separated with a sword, he made signs for a +priest, and from the merit of his past life, and the honour and +veneration he had shewn to those chosen into the sacred order of +Christ, he was confessed, and received extreme unction before he +died. And, indeed, many events concur to prove that, as +those who respect the priesthood, in their latter days enjoy the +satisfaction of friendly intercourse, so do their revilers and +accusers often die without that consolation. William de +Braose, who was not the author of the crime we have preferred +passing over in silence, but the executioner, or, rather, not the +preventer of its execution, while the murderous bands were +fulfilling the orders they had received, was precipitated into a +deep foss, and being taken by the enemy, was drawn forth, and +only by a sudden effort of his own troops, and by divine mercy, +escaped uninjured. Hence it is evident that he who offends +in a less degree, and unwillingly permits a thing to be done, is +more mildly punished than he who adds counsel and authority to +his act. Thus, in the sufferings of Christ, Judas was <a +name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>punished with +hanging, the Jews with destruction and banishment, and Pilate +with exile. But the end of the king, who assented to and +ordered this treachery, sufficiently manifested in what manner, +on account of this and many other enormities he had committed (as +in the book “De Instructione Principis,” by +God’s guidance, we shall set forth), he began with +accumulated ignominy, sorrow, and confusion, to suffer punishment +in this world. <a name="citation49a"></a><a href="#footnote49a" +class="citation">[49a]</a></p> +<p>It seems worthy of remark, that the people of what is called +Venta <a name="citation49b"></a><a href="#footnote49b" +class="citation">[49b]</a> are more accustomed to war, more +famous for valour, and more expert in archery, than those of any +other part of Wales. The following examples prove the truth +of this assertion. In the last capture of the aforesaid +castle, which happened in our days, two soldiers passing over a +bridge to take refuge in a tower built on a mound of earth, the +Welsh, taking them in the rear, penetrated with their arrows the +oaken portal of the tower, which was four fingers thick; in +memory of which circumstance, the arrows were preserved in the +gate. William de Braose also testifies that one of his +soldiers, in a conflict with the Welsh, was wounded by an arrow, +which passed through his thigh and the armour with which it was +cased on both sides, and, through that part of the saddle which +is called the <i>alva</i>, mortally wounded the horse. +Another soldier had his hip, equally sheathed in armour, +penetrated by an arrow quite to the saddle, and on turning his +horse round, received a similar wound on the opposite hip, which +fixed him on both sides of his seat. What more could be +expected from a balista? Yet the bows used by this people +are not made of horn, <a name="page50"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 50</span>ivory, or yew, but of wild elm; +unpolished, rude, and uncouth, but stout; not calculated to shoot +an arrow to a great distance, but to inflict very severe wounds +in close fight.</p> +<p>But let us again return to our Itinerary.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE PROGRESS BY THE CASTLE OF USK AND +THE TOWN OF CAERLEON</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> the castle of Usk, a multitude +of persons influenced by the archbishop’s sermon, and by +the exhortations of the good and worthy William bishop of Landaf, +<a name="citation50a"></a><a href="#footnote50a" +class="citation">[50a]</a> who faithfully accompanied us through +his diocese, were signed with the cross; Alexander archdeacon of +Bangor <a name="citation50b"></a><a href="#footnote50b" +class="citation">[50b]</a> acting as interpreter to the +Welsh. It is remarkable that many of the most notorious +murderers, thieves, and robbers of the neighbourhood were here +converted, to the astonishment of the spectators. Passing +from thence through Caerleon and leaving far on our left hand the +castle of Monmouth, and the noble forest of Dean, situated on the +other side of the Wye and on this side the Severn, and which +amply supplies Gloucester with iron and venison, we spent the +night at Newport, having crossed the river Usk three times. <a +name="citation50c"></a><a href="#footnote50c" +class="citation">[50c]</a> Caerleon means the city of +Legions, Caer, in the British language, signifying a city or +camp, for there the Roman legions, sent into this island, were +accustomed to winter, and from this circumstance it was styled +the city of legions. This city was of undoubted <a +name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>antiquity, +and handsomely built of masonry, with courses of bricks, by the +Romans. Many vestiges of its former splendour may yet be +seen; immense palaces, formerly ornamented with gilded roofs, in +imitation of Roman magnificence, inasmuch as they were first +raised by the Roman princes, and embellished with splendid +buildings; a tower of prodigious size, remarkable hot baths, +relics of temples, and theatres, all inclosed within fine walls, +parts of which remain standing. You will find on all sides, +both within and without the circuit of the walls, subterraneous +buildings, aqueducts, underground passages; and what I think +worthy of notice, stoves contrived with wonderful art, to +transmit the heat insensibly through narrow tubes passing up the +side walls.</p> +<p>Julius and Aaron, after suffering martyrdom, were buried in +this city, and had each a church dedicated to him. After +Albanus and Amphibalus, they were esteemed the chief protomartyrs +of Britannia Major. In ancient times there were three fine +churches in this city: one dedicated to Julius the martyr, graced +with a choir of nuns; another to Aaron, his associate, and +ennobled with an order of canons; and the third distinguished as +the metropolitan of Wales. Amphibalus, the instructor of +Albanus in the true faith, was born in this place. This +city is well situated on the river Usk, navigable to the sea, and +adorned with woods and meadows. The Roman ambassadors here +received their audience at the court of the great king Arthur; +and here also, the archbishop Dubricius ceded his honours to +David of Menevia, the metropolitan see being translated from this +place to Menevia, according to the prophecy of Merlin +Ambrosius. “Menevia pallio urbis Legionum +induetur.” “Menevia shall be invested with the +pall of the city of Legions.”</p> +<p>Not far hence is a rocky eminence, impending over the Severn, +called by the English Gouldcliffe <a name="citation51"></a><a +href="#footnote51" class="citation">[51]</a> or golden rock, <a +name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>because from +the reflections of the sun’s rays it assumes a bright +golden colour:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Nec mihi de facili fieri persuasio +posset,<br /> +Quod frustra tantum dederit natura nito rem<br /> +Saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos hic sine fructu.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Nor can I be easily persuaded that nature hath given such +splendour to the rocks in vain, and that this flower should be +without fruit, if any one would take the pains to penetrate +deeply into the bowels of the earth; if any one, I say, would +extract honey from the rock, and oil from the stone. Indeed +many riches of nature lie concealed through inattention, which +the diligence of posterity will bring to light; for, as necessity +first taught the ancients to discover the conveniences of life, +so industry, and a greater acuteness of intellect, have laid open +many things to the moderns; as the poet says, assigning two +causes for these discoveries,</p> +<blockquote><p>“—labor omnia vincit<br /> +Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It is worthy of observation, that there lived in the +neighbourhood of this City of Legions, in our time, a Welshman +named Melerius, who, under the following circumstances, acquired +the knowledge of future and occult events. Having, on a +certain night, namely that of Palm Sunday, met a damsel whom he +had long loved, in a pleasant and convenient place, while he was +indulging in her embraces, suddenly, instead of a beautiful girl, +he found in his arms a hairy, rough, and hideous creature, the +sight of which deprived him of his senses, and he became +mad. After remaining many years in this condition, he was +restored to health in the church of St. David’s, through +the merits of its saints. But having always an +extraordinary familiarity with unclean spirits, <a +name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>by seeing +them, knowing them, talking with them, and calling each by his +proper name, he was enabled, through their assistance, to foretel +future events. He was, indeed, often deceived (as they are) +with respect to circumstances at a great distance of time or +place, but was less mistaken in affairs which were likely to +happen nearer, or within the space of a year. The spirits +appeared to him, usually on foot, equipped as hunters, with horns +suspended from their necks, and truly as hunters, not of animals, +but of souls. He particularly met them near monasteries and +monastic cells; for where rebellion exists, there is the greatest +need of armies and strength. He knew when any one spoke +falsely in his presence, for he saw the devil, as it were, +leaping and exulting upon the tongue of the liar. If he +looked on a book faultily or falsely written, or containing a +false passage, although wholly illiterate, he would point out the +place with his finger. Being questioned how he could gain +such knowledge, he said that he was directed by the demon’s +finger to the place. In the same manner, entering into the +dormitory of a monastery, he indicated the bed of any monk not +sincerely devoted to religion. He said, that the spirit of +gluttony and surfeit was in every respect sordid; but that the +spirit of luxury and lust was more beautiful than others in +appearance, though in fact most foul. If the evil spirits +oppressed him too much, the Gospel of St. John was placed on his +bosom, when, like birds, they immediately vanished; but when that +book was removed, and the History of the Britons, by Geoffrey +Arthur, <a name="citation53"></a><a href="#footnote53" +class="citation">[53]</a> was substituted in its place, they +instantly reappeared in greater numbers, and remained a longer +time than usual on his body and on the book.</p> +<p>It is worthy of remark, that Barnabas placed the Gospel of St. +Matthew upon sick persons, and they were healed; from which, as +well as from the foregoing circumstance, it appears how great a +dignity and reverence is due to the sacred books of the gospel, +and with what danger and <a name="page54"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 54</span>risk of damnation every one who +swears falsely by them, deviates from the paths of truth. +The fall of Enoch, abbot of Strata Marcella, <a +name="citation54"></a><a href="#footnote54" +class="citation">[54]</a> too well known in Wales, was revealed +to many the day after it happened, by Melerius, who, being asked +how he knew this circumstance, said, that a demon came to him +disguised as a hunter, and, exulting in the prospect of such a +victory, foretold the ruin of the abbot, and explained in what +manner he would make him run away with a nun from the +monastery. The end in view was probably the humiliation and +correction of the abbot, as was proved from his shortly returning +home so humbled and amended, that he scarcely could be said to +have erred. Seneca says, “He falls not badly, who +rises stronger from his fall.” Peter was more +strenuous after his denial of Christ, and Paul after being +stoned; since, where sin abounds, there will grace also +superabound. Mary Magdalen was strengthened after her +frailty. He secretly revealed to Canon, the good and +religious abbot of Alba-domus, his opinion of a certain woman +whom he had seen; upon which the holy man confessed, with tears +in his eyes, his predilection for her, and received from three +priests the discipline of incontinence. For as that long +and experienced subtle enemy, by arguing from certain conjectural +signs, may foretell future by past events, so by insidious +treachery and contrivance, added to exterior appearances, he may +sometimes be able to discover the interior workings of the +mind.</p> +<p>At the same time there was in Lower Gwent a demon <a +name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>incubus, who, +from his love for a certain young woman, and frequenting the +place where she lived, often conversed with men, and frequently +discovered hidden things and future events. Melerius being +interrogated concerning him, said he knew him well, and mentioned +his name. He affirmed that unclean spirits conversed with +mankind before war, or any great internal disturbance, which was +shortly afterwards proved, by the destruction of the province by +Howel, son of Iorwerth of Caerleon. At the same time, when +king Henry II., having taken the king of Scotland prisoner, had +restored peace to his kingdom, Howel, fearful of the royal +revenge for the war he had waged, was relieved from his +difficulties by these comfortable words of Melerius: “Fear +not,” says he, “Howel, the wrath of the king, since +he must go into other parts. An important city which he +possesses beyond sea is now besieged by the king of France, on +which account he will postpone every other business, and hasten +thither with all possible expedition.” Three days +afterwards, Howel received advice that this event had really come +to pass, owing to the siege of the city of Rouen. He +forewarned also Howel of the betraying of his castle at Usk, a +long time before it happened, and informed him that he should be +wounded, but not mortally; and that he should escape alive from +the town. In this alone he was deceived, for he soon after +died of the same wound. Thus does that archenemy favour his +friends for a time, and thus does he at last reward them.</p> +<p>In all these singular events it appears to me most wonderful +that he saw those spirits so plainly with his carnal eyes, +because spirits cannot be discerned by the eyes of mortals, +unless they assume a corporeal substance; but if in order to be +seen they had assumed such a substance, how could they remain +unperceived by other persons who were present? Perhaps they +were seen by such a miraculous vision as when king Balthazar saw +the hand of one writing on the wall, “Mane, Techel, +Phares,” <a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +56</span>that is, weighed, numbered, divided; who in the same +night lost both his kingdom and his life. But Cambria well +knows how in these districts, from a blind desire of dominion, a +total dissolution of the endearing ties of consanguinity, and a +bad and depraved example diffused throughout the country, good +faith has been so shamefully perverted and abused.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">NEWPORT AND CAERDYF</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> Newport, where the river Usk, +descending from its original source in Cantref Bachan, falls into +the sea, many persons were induced to take the cross. +Having passed the river Remni, we approached the noble castle of +Caerdyf, <a name="citation56a"></a><a href="#footnote56a" +class="citation">[56a]</a> situated on the banks of the river +Taf. In the neighbourhood of Newport, which is in the +district of Gwentluc, <a name="citation56b"></a><a +href="#footnote56b" class="citation">[56b]</a> there is a small +stream called Nant Pencarn, <a name="citation56c"></a><a +href="#footnote56c" class="citation">[56c]</a> passable only at +certain fords, not so much owing to the depth of its waters, as +from the hollowness of its channel and muddy bottom. The +public road led formerly to a ford, called Ryd Pencarn, that is, +the ford <a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +57</span>under the head of a rock, from Rhyd, which in the +British language signifies a ford, Pen, the head, and Cam, a +rock; of which place Merlin Sylvester had thus prophesied: +“Whenever you shall see a mighty prince with a freckled +face make an hostile irruption into the southern part of Britain, +should he cross the ford of Pencarn, then know ye, that the force +of Cambria shall be brought low.” Now it came to pass +in our times, that king Henry II. took up arms against Rhys, the +son of Gruffydd, and directed his march through the southern part +of Wales towards Caermardyn. On the day he intended to pass +over Nant Pentcarn, the old Britons of the neighbourhood watched +his approach towards the ford with the utmost solicitude; +knowing, since he was both mighty and freckled, that if the +passage of the destined ford was accomplished, the prophecy +concerning him would undoubtedly be fulfilled. When the +king had followed the road leading to a more modern ford of the +river (the old one spoken of in the prophecy having been for a +long time in disuse), and was preparing to pass over, the pipers +and trumpeters, called Cornhiriet, from <i>hir</i>, long, and +<i>cornu</i>, a horn, began to sound their instruments on the +opposite bank, in honour of the king. The king’s +horse, startling at the wild, unusual noise, refused to obey the +spur, and enter the water; upon which, the king, gathering up the +reins, hastened, in violent wrath, to the ancient ford, which he +rapidly passed; and the Britons returned to their homes, alarmed +and dismayed at the destruction which seemed to await them. +An extraordinary circumstance occurred likewise at the castle of +Caerdyf. William earl of Gloucester, son of earl Robert, <a +name="citation57"></a><a href="#footnote57" +class="citation">[57]</a> who, besides that castle, <a +name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>possessed by +hereditary right all the province of Gwladvorgan, <a +name="citation58a"></a><a href="#footnote58a" +class="citation">[58a]</a> that is, the land of Morgan, had a +dispute with one of his dependants, whose name was Ivor the +Little, being a man of short stature, but of great courage. +This man was, after the manner of the Welsh, owner of a tract of +mountainous and woody country, of the whole, or a part of which, +the earl endeavoured to deprive him. At that time the +castle of Caerdyf was surrounded with high walls, guarded by one +hundred and twenty men-at-arms, a numerous body of archers, and a +strong watch. The city also contained many stipendiary +soldiers; yet, in defiance of all these precautions of security, +Ivor, in the dead of night, secretly scaled the walls, and, +seizing the count and countess, with their only son, carried them +off into the woods, and did not release them until he had +recovered everything that had been unjustly taken from him, and +received a compensation of additional property; for, as the poet +observes,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Spectandum est semper ne magna injuria +fiat<br /> +Fortibus et miseris; tollas licet omne quod usquam est<br /> +Argenti atque auri, spoliatis arma supersunt.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In this same town of Caerdyf, king Henry II., on his return +from Ireland, the first Sunday after Easter, passed the +night. In the morning, having heard mass, he remained at +his devotions till every one had quitted the chapel of St. +Piranus. <a name="citation58b"></a><a href="#footnote58b" +class="citation">[58b]</a> As he mounted his horse at the +<a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>door, a +man of a fair complexion, with a round tonsure and meagre +countenance, tall, and about forty years of age, habited in a +white robe falling down to his naked feet, thus addressed him in +the Teutonic tongue: “God hold the, cuing,” which +signifies, “May God protect you, king;” and +proceeded, in the same language, “Christ and his Holy +Mother, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Peter salute thee, and +command thee strictly to prohibit throughout thy whole dominions +every kind of buying or selling on Sundays, and not to suffer any +work to be done on those days, except such as relates to the +preparation of daily food; that due attention may be paid to the +performance of the divine offices. If thou dost this, all +thy undertakings shall be successful, and thou shalt lead a happy +life.” The king, in French, desired Philip de +Mercros, <a name="citation59"></a><a href="#footnote59" +class="citation">[59]</a> who held the reins of his horse, to ask +the rustic if he had dreamt this? and when the soldier explained +to him the king’s question in English, he replied in the +same language he had before used, “Whether I have dreamt it +or not, observe what day this is (addressing himself to the king, +not to the interpreter), and unless thou shalt do so, and quickly +amend thy life, before the expiration of one year, thou shalt +hear such things concerning what thou lovest best in this world, +and shalt thereby be so much troubled, that thy disquietude shall +continue to thy life’s end.” The king, spurring +his horse, proceeded a little way towards the gate, when, +stopping suddenly, he ordered his attendants to call the good man +back. The soldier, and a young man named William, the only +persons who remained <a name="page60"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 60</span>with the king, accordingly called +him, and sought him in vain in the chapel, and in all the inns of +the city. The king, vexed that he had not spoken more to +him, waited alone a long time, while other persons went in search +of him; and when he could not be found, pursued his journey over +the bridge of Remni to Newport. The fatal prediction came +to pass within the year, as the man had threatened; for the +king’s three sons, Henry, the eldest, and his brothers, +Richard of Poitou, and Geoffrey, count of Britany, in the +following Lent, deserted to Louis king of France, which caused +the king greater uneasiness than he had ever before experienced; +and which, by the conduct of some one of his sons, was continued +till the time of his decease. This monarch, through divine +mercy (for God is more desirous of the conversion than the +destruction of a sinner), received many other admonitions and +reproofs about this time, and shortly before his death; all of +which, being utterly incorrigible, he obstinately and obdurately +despised, as will be more fully set forth (by the favour of God) +in my book, “de Principis Instructione.”</p> +<p>Not far from Caerdyf is a small island situated near the shore +of the Severn, called Barri, from St. Baroc <a +name="citation60"></a><a href="#footnote60" +class="citation">[60]</a> who formerly lived there, and whose +remains are deposited in a chapel overgrown with ivy, having been +<a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +61</span>transferred to a coffin. From hence a noble +family, of the maritime parts of South Wales, who owned this +island and the adjoining estates, received the name of de +Barri. It is remarkable that, in a rock near the entrance +of the island, there is a small cavity, to which, if the ear is +applied, a noise is heard like that of smiths at work, the +blowing of bellows, strokes of hammers, grinding of tools, and +roaring of furnaces; and it might easily be imagined that such +noises, which are continued at the ebb and flow of the tides, +were occasioned by the influx of the sea under the cavities of +the rocks.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE SEE OF LANDAF AND MONASTERY OF MARGAN, +AND THE REMARKABLE THINGS IN THOSE PARTS</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> the following morning, the +business of the cross being publicly proclaimed at Landaf, the +English standing on one side, and the Welsh on the other, many +persons of each nation took the cross, and we remained there that +night with William bishop of that place, <a +name="citation61a"></a><a href="#footnote61a" +class="citation">[61a]</a> a discreet and good man. The +word Landaf <a name="citation61b"></a><a href="#footnote61b" +class="citation">[61b]</a> signifies the church situated upon the +river Taf, and is now called the church of St. Teileau, formerly +bishop of that see. The archbishop having celebrated mass +early in the morning, before the high altar of the cathedral, we +immediately pursued our journey by the little cell of Ewenith <a +name="citation61c"></a><a href="#footnote61c" +class="citation">[61c]</a> to the <a name="page62"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 62</span>noble Cistercian monastery of Margan. +<a name="citation62"></a><a href="#footnote62" +class="citation">[62]</a> This monastery, under the +direction of Conan, a learned and prudent abbot, was at this time +more celebrated for its charitable deeds than any other of that +order in Wales. On this account, it is an undoubted fact, +that, as a reward for that abundant charity which the monastery +had always, in times of need, exercised towards strangers and +poor persons, in a season of approaching famine, their corn and +provisions were perceptibly, by divine assistance, increased, +like the widow’s cruise of oil by the means of the prophet +Elijah. About the time of its foundation, a young man of +those parts, by birth a Welshman, having claimed and endeavoured +to apply to his own use certain lands which had been given to the +monastery, by the instigation of the devil set on fire the best +barn belonging to the monks, which was filled with corn; but, +immediately becoming mad, he ran about the country in a +distracted state, nor ceased raving until he was seized by his +parents and bound. Having burst his bonds, and tired out +his keepers, he came the next morning to the gate of the +monastery, incessantly howling out that he was inwardly burnt by +the influence of the monks, and thus in a few days expired, +uttering the most miserable complaints. It happened also, +that a young man was struck by another in the guests’ hall; +but on the following day, by divine vengeance, the aggressor was, +in the presence of the fraternity, killed by an enemy, and his +lifeless body was laid out in the same spot in the hall where the +sacred house had been violated. In our time too, in a +period of scarcity, while great multitudes of poor were daily +crowding before the gates for relief, <a name="page63"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 63</span>by the unanimous consent of the +brethren, a ship was sent to Bristol to purchase corn for +charitable purposes. The vessel, delayed by contrary winds, +and not returning (but rather affording an opportunity for the +miracle), on the very day when there would have been a total +deficiency of corn, both for the poor and the convent, a field +near the monastery was found suddenly to ripen, more than a month +before the usual time of harvest: thus, divine Providence +supplied the brotherhood and the numerous poor with sufficient +nourishment until autumn. By these and other signs of +virtues, the place accepted by God began to be generally esteemed +and venerated.</p> +<p>It came to pass also in our days, during the period when the +four sons of Caradoc son of Iestin, and nephews of prince Rhys by +his sister, namely, Morgan, Meredyth, Owen, and Cadwallon, bore +rule for their father in those parts, that Cadwallon, through +inveterate malice, slew his brother Owen. But divine +vengeance soon overtook him; for on his making a hostile attack +on a certain castle, he was crushed to pieces by the sudden fall +of its walls: and thus, in the presence of a numerous body of his +own and his brother’s forces, suffered the punishment which +his barbarous and unnatural conduct had so justly merited.</p> +<p>Another circumstance which happened here deserves +notice. A greyhound belonging to the aforesaid Owen, large, +beautiful, and curiously spotted with a variety of colours, +received seven wounds from arrows and lances, in the defence of +his master, and on his part did much injury to the enemy and +assassins. When his wounds were healed, he was sent to king +Henry II. by William earl of Gloucester, in testimony of so great +and extraordinary a deed. A dog, of all animals, is most +attached to man, and most easily distinguishes him; sometimes, +when deprived of his master, he refuses to live, and in his +master’s defence is bold enough to brave death; ready, +therefore, to die, either with or for his master. <a +name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>I do not +think it superfluous to insert here an example which Suetonius +gives in his book on the nature of animals, and which Ambrosius +also relates in his Exameron. “A man, accompanied by +a dog, was killed in a remote part of the city of Antioch, by a +soldier, for the sake of plunder. The murderer, concealed +by the darkness of the morning, escaped into another part of the +city; the corpse lay unburied; a large concourse of people +assembled; and the dog, with bitter howlings, lamented his +master’s fate. The murderer, by chance, passed that +way, and, in order to prove his innocence, mingled with the crowd +of spectators, and, as if moved by compassion, approached the +body of the deceased. The dog, suspending for a while his +moans, assumed the arms of revenge; rushed upon the man, and +seized him, howling at the same time in so dolorous a manner, +that all present shed tears. It was considered as a proof +against the murderer, that the dog seized him from amongst so +many, and would not let him go; and especially, as neither the +crime of hatred, envy, or injury, could possibly, in this case, +be urged against the dog. On account, therefore, of such a +strong suspicion of murder (which the soldier constantly denied), +it was determined that the truth of the matter should be tried by +combat. The parties being assembled in a field, with a +crowd of people around, the dog on one side, and the soldier, +armed with a stick of a cubit’s length, on the other, the +murderer was at length overcome by the victorious dog, and +suffered an ignominious death on the common gallows.”</p> +<p>Pliny and Solinus relate that a certain king, who was very +fond of dogs, and addicted to hunting, was taken and imprisoned +by his enemies, and in a most wonderful manner liberated, without +any assistance from his friends, by a pack of dogs, who had +spontaneously sequestered themselves in the mountainous and woody +regions, and from thence committed many atrocious acts of +depredation on the neighbouring herds and flocks. I shall +take this opportunity of mentioning what from <a +name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>experience +and ocular testimony I have observed respecting the nature of +dogs. A dog is in general sagacious, but particularly with +respect to his master; for when he has for some time lost him in +a crowd, he depends more upon his nose than upon his eyes; and, +in endeavouring to find him, he first looks about, and then +applies his nose, for greater certainty, to his clothes, as if +nature had placed all the powers of infallibility in that +feature. The tongue of a dog possesses a medicinal quality; +the wolf’s, on the contrary, a poisonous: the dog heals his +wounds by licking them, the wolf, by a similar practice, infects +them; and the dog, if he has received a wound in his neck or +head, or any part of his body where he cannot apply his tongue, +ingeniously makes use of his hinder foot as a conveyance of the +healing qualities to the parts affected.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PASSAGE OF THE RIVERS AVON AND +NETH—AND OF ABERTAWE AND GOER</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Continuing</span> our journey, <a +name="citation65"></a><a href="#footnote65" +class="citation">[65]</a> not far from Margan, where the +alternate vicissitudes of a sandy shore and the tide commence, we +forded over the river Avon, having been considerably delayed by +the ebbing of the sea; and under the guidance of Morgan, eldest +son of Caradoc, proceeded along the sea-shore towards the river +Neth, which, on account of its quicksands, is the most dangerous +and inaccessible river in South Wales. A pack-horse +belonging <a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +66</span>to the author, which had proceeded by the lower way near +the sea, although in the midst of many others, was the only one +which sunk down into the abyss, but he was at last, with great +difficulty, extricated, and not without some damage done to the +baggage and books. Yet, although we had Morgan, the prince +of that country, as our conductor, we did not reach the river +without great peril, and some severe falls; for the alarm +occasioned by this unusual kind of road, made us hasten our steps +over the quicksands, in opposition to the advice of our guide, +and fear quickened our pace; whereas, through these difficult +passages, as we there learned, the mode of proceeding should be +with moderate speed. But as the fords of that river +experience a change by every monthly tide, and cannot be found +after violent rains and floods, we did not attempt the ford, but +passed the river in a boat, leaving the monastery of Neth <a +name="citation66"></a><a href="#footnote66" +class="citation">[66]</a> on our right hand, approaching again to +the district of St. David’s, and leaving the diocese of +Landaf (which we had entered at Abergevenny) behind us.</p> +<p>It happened in our days that David II., bishop of St. +David’s, passing this way, and finding the ford agitated by +a recent storm, a chaplain of those parts, named Rotherch Falcus, +being conversant in the proper method of crossing these rivers, +undertook, at the desire of the bishop, the dangerous task of +trying the ford. Having mounted a large and powerful horse, +which had been <a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>selected from the whole train for this purpose, he +immediately crossed the ford, and fled with great rapidity to the +neighbouring woods, nor could he be induced to return until the +suspension which he had lately incurred was removed, and a full +promise of security and indemnity obtained; the horse was then +restored to one party, and his service to the other.</p> +<p>Entering the province called Goer, <a +name="citation67a"></a><a href="#footnote67a" +class="citation">[67a]</a> we spent the night at the castle of +Sweynsei, <a name="citation67b"></a><a href="#footnote67b" +class="citation">[67b]</a> which in Welsh is called Abertawe, or +the fall of the river Tawe into the sea. The next morning, +the people being assembled after mass, and many having been +induced to take the cross, an aged man of that district, named +Cador, thus addressed the archbishop: “My lord, if I now +enjoyed my former strength, and the vigour of youth, no alms +should ransom me, no desire of inactivity restrain me, from +engaging in the laudable undertaking you preach; but since my +weak age and the injuries of time deprive me of this desirable +benefit (for approaching years bring with them many comforts, +which those that are passed take away), if I cannot, owing to the +infirmity of my body, attain a full merit, yet suffer me, by +giving a tenth of all I possess, to attain a half.” +Then falling down at the feet of the archbishop, he deposited in +his hands, for <a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +68</span>the service of the cross, the tenth of his estate, +weeping bitterly, and intreating from him the remission of one +half of the enjoined penance. After a short time he +returned, and thus continued: “My lord, if the will directs +the action, and is itself, for the most part, considered as the +act, and as I have a full and firm inclination to undertake this +journey, I request a remission of the remaining part of the +penance, and in addition to my former gift, I will equal the sum +from the residue of my tenths.” The archbishop, +smiling at his devout ingenuity, embraced him with +admiration.</p> +<p>On the same night, two monks, who waited in the +archbishop’s chamber, conversing about the occurrences of +their journey, and the dangers of the road, one of them said +(alluding to the wildness of the country), “This is a hard +province;” the other (alluding to the quicksands), wittily +replied, “Yet yesterday it was found too soft.”</p> +<p>A short time before our days, a circumstance worthy of note +occurred in these parts, which Elidorus, a priest, most +strenuously affirmed had befallen himself. When a youth of +twelve years, and learning his letters, since, as Solomon says, +“The root of learning is bitter, although the fruit is +sweet,” in order to avoid the discipline and frequent +stripes inflicted on him by his preceptor, he ran away, and +concealed himself under the hollow bank of a river. After +fasting in that situation for two days, two little men of pigmy +stature appeared to him, saying, “If you will come with us, +we will lead you into a country full of delights and +sports.” Assenting and rising up, he followed his +guides through a path, at first subterraneous and dark, into a +most beautiful country, adorned with rivers and meadows, woods +and plains, but obscure, and not illuminated with the full light +of the sun. All the days were cloudy, and the nights +extremely dark, on account of the absence of the moon and +stars. The boy was brought before the king, and introduced +to him in the presence of the court; who, having examined him <a +name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>for a long +time, delivered him to his son, who was then a boy. These +men were of the smallest stature, but very well proportioned in +their make; they were all of a fair complexion, with luxuriant +hair falling over their shoulders like that of women. They +had horses and greyhounds adapted to their size. They +neither ate flesh nor fish, but lived on milk diet, made up into +messes with saffron. They never took an oath, for they +detested nothing so much as lies. As often as they returned +from our upper hemisphere, they reprobated our ambition, +infidelities, and inconstancies; they had no form of public +worship, being strict lovers and reverers, as it seemed, of +truth.</p> +<p>The boy frequently returned to our hemisphere, sometimes by +the way he had first gone, sometimes by another: at first in +company with other persons, and afterwards alone, and made +himself known only to his mother, declaring to her the manners, +nature, and state of that people. Being desired by her to +bring a present of gold, with which that region abounded, he +stole, while at play with the king’s son, the golden ball +with which he used to divert himself, and brought it to his +mother in great haste; and when he reached the door of his +father’s house, but not unpursued, and was entering it in a +great hurry, his foot stumbled on the threshold, and falling down +into the room where his mother was sitting, the two pigmies +seized the ball which had dropped from his hand, and departed, +shewing the boy every mark of contempt and derision. On +recovering from his fall, confounded with shame, and execrating +the evil counsel of his mother, he returned by the usual track to +the subterraneous road, but found no appearance of any passage, +though he searched for it on the banks of the river for nearly +the space of a year. But since those calamities are often +alleviated by time, which reason cannot mitigate, and length of +time alone blunts the edge of our afflictions, and puts an end to +many evils, the youth having been brought back by his friends and +mother, and <a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +70</span>restored to his right way of thinking, and to his +learning, in process of time attained the rank of +priesthood. Whenever David II., bishop of St. +David’s, talked to him in his advanced state of life +concerning this event, he could never relate the particulars +without shedding tears. He had made himself acquainted with +the language of that nation, the words of which, in his younger +days, he used to recite, which, as the bishop often had informed +me, were very conformable to the Greek idiom. When they +asked for water, they said Ydor ydorum, which meant bring water, +for Ydor in their language, as well as in the Greek, signifies +water, from whence vessels for water are called +ὑδζιαι; and Dûr also, in +the British language, signifies water. When they wanted +salt they said, Halgein ydorum, bring salt: salt is called +ἁλ in Greek, and Halen in British, for that +language, from the length of time which the Britons (then called +Trojans, and afterwards Britons, from Brito, their leader) +remained in Greece after the destruction of Troy, became, in many +instances, similar to the Greek.</p> +<p>It is remarkable that so many languages should correspond in +one word, ἁλ in Greek, Halen in British, and Halgein +in the Irish tongue, the g being inserted; Sal in Latin, because, +as Priscian says, “the s is placed in some words instead of +an aspirate,” as ἁλς in Greek is called +Sal in Latin, +ἑμι—semi—ἑπτα—septem—Sel +in French—the <i>a</i> being changed into +<i>e</i>—Salt in English, by the addition of <i>t</i> to +the Latin; Sout, in the Teutonic language: there are therefore +seven or eight languages agreeing in this one word. If a +scrupulous inquirer should ask my opinion of the relation here +inserted, I answer with Augustine, “that the divine +miracles are to be admired, not discussed.” Nor do I, +by denial, place bounds to the divine power, nor, by assent, +insolently extend what cannot be extended. But I always +call to mind the saying of St. Jerome; “You will +find,” says he, “many things incredible and +improbable, which nevertheless are true; for nature cannot in any +respect prevail <a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +71</span>against the lord of nature.” These things, +therefore, and similar contingencies, I should place, according +to the opinion of Augustine, among those particulars which are +neither to be affirmed, nor too positively denied.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PASSAGE OVER THE RIVERS LOCHOR AND +WENDRAETH; AND OF CYDWELI</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Thence</span> we proceeded towards the +river Lochor, <a name="citation71a"></a><a href="#footnote71a" +class="citation">[71a]</a> through the plains in which Howel, son +of Meredyth of Brecheinoc, after the decease of king Henry I., +gained a signal victory over the English. Having first +crossed the river Lochor, and afterwards the water called +Wendraeth, <a name="citation71b"></a><a href="#footnote71b" +class="citation">[71b]</a> we arrived at the castle of Cydweli. +<a name="citation71c"></a><a href="#footnote71c" +class="citation">[71c]</a> In this district, after the +death of king Henry, whilst Gruffydd <a name="page72"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 72</span>son of Rhys, the prince of South +Wales, was engaged in soliciting assistance from North Wales, his +wife Gwenliana (like the queen of the Amazons, and a second +Penthesilea) led an army into these parts; but she was defeated +by Maurice de Londres, lord of that country, and Geoffrey, the +bishop’s constable. <a name="citation72"></a><a +href="#footnote72" class="citation">[72]</a> Morgan, one of +her sons, whom she had arrogantly brought with her in that +expedition, was slain, and the other, Malgo, taken prisoner; and +she, with many of her followers, was put to death. During +the reign of king Henry I., when Wales enjoyed a state of +tranquillity, the above-mentioned Maurice had a forest in that +neighbourhood, well stocked with wild animals, and especially +deer, and was extremely tenacious of his venison. His wife +(for women are often very expert in deceiving men) made use of +this curious stratagem. Her husband possessed, on the side +of the wood next the sea, some extensive pastures, and large +flocks of sheep. Having made all the shepherds and chief +people in her house accomplices and favourers of her design, and +taking advantage of the simple courtesy of her husband, she thus +addressed him: “It is wonderful that being lord over +beasts, you have ceased to exercise dominion over them; and by +not making use of your deer, do not now rule over them, but are +subservient to them; and behold how great an abuse arises from +too much patience; for they attack our sheep with such an +unheard-of rage, and unusual voracity, that from many they are +become few; from being innumerable, only numerous.” +To make her story more probable, she caused some wool to be +inserted between the intestines of two stags which had been +embowelled; and her husband, thus artfully deceived, sacrificed +his deer to the rapacity of his dogs.</p> +<h3><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +73</span>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">TYWY +RIVER—CAERMARDYN—MONASTERY OF ALBELANDE</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> crossed the river Tywy in a +boat, we proceeded towards Caermardyn, leaving Lanstephan and +Talachar <a name="citation73a"></a><a href="#footnote73a" +class="citation">[73a]</a> on the sea-coast to our left. +After the death of king Henry II., Rhys, the son of Gruffydd, +took these two castles by assault; then, having laid waste, by +fire and sword, the provinces of Penbroch and Ros, he besieged +Caermardyn, but failed in his attempt. Caermardyn <a +name="citation73b"></a><a href="#footnote73b" +class="citation">[73b]</a> signifies the city of Merlin, because, +according to the British History, he was there said to have been +begotten of an incubus.</p> +<p>This ancient city is situated on the banks of the noble river +Tywy, surrounded by woods and pastures, and was strongly inclosed +with walls of brick, part of which are still standing; having +Cantref Mawr, the great cantred, or hundred, on the eastern side, +a safe refuge, in times of danger, to the inhabitants of South +Wales, on account of its thick woods; where is also the castle of +Dinevor, <a name="citation73c"></a><a href="#footnote73c" +class="citation">[73c]</a> built <a name="page74"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 74</span>on a lofty summit above the Tywy, the +royal seat of the princes of South Wales. In ancient times, +there were three regal palaces in Wales: Dinevor in South Wales, +Aberfrau in North Wales, situated in Anglesea, and Pengwern in +Powys, now called Shrewsbury (Slopesburia); Pengwern signifies +the head of a grove of alders. Recalling to mind those +poetical passages:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Dolus an virtus quis in hoste +requirat?”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>and</p> +<blockquote><p>“Et si non recte possis quocunque modo +rem,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>my pen shrinks with abhorrence from the relation of the +enormous vengeance exercised by the court against its vassals, +within the comot of Caeo, in the Cantref Mawr. Near +Dinevor, on the other side of the river Tywy, in the Cantref +Bychan, or the little cantred, there is a spring which, like the +tide, ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours. <a +name="citation74a"></a><a href="#footnote74a" +class="citation">[74a]</a> Not far to the north of +Caermardyn, namely at Pencadair, <a name="citation74b"></a><a +href="#footnote74b" class="citation">[74b]</a> that is, the head +of the chair, when Rhys, the son of Gruffydd, was more by +stratagem than force compelled to surrender, and was carried away +into England, king Henry II. despatched a knight, born in +Britany, on whose wisdom and fidelity he could rely, under the +conduct of Guaidanus, dean of Cantref Mawr, to explore the +situation of Dinevor castle, and the strength of the +country. The priest, being desired to take the knight by +the easiest and best road to the castle, led him purposely aside +by the most difficult and inaccessible paths, and wherever they +passed through woods, the priest, to the general surprise of all +present, fed upon grass, asserting that, in times of need, the <a +name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>inhabitants +of that country were accustomed to live upon herbs and +roots. The knight returning to the king, and relating what +had happened, affirmed that the country was uninhabitable, vile, +and inaccessible, and only affording food to a beastly nation, +living like brutes. At length the king released Rhys, +having first bound him to fealty by solemn oaths and the delivery +of hostages.</p> +<p>On our journey from Caermardyn towards the Cistercian +monastery called Alba Domus, <a name="citation75a"></a><a +href="#footnote75a" class="citation">[75a]</a> the archbishop was +informed of the murder of a young Welshman, who was devoutly +hastening to meet him; when turning out of the road, he ordered +the corpse to be covered with the cloak of his almoner, and with +a pious supplication commended the soul of the murdered youth to +heaven. Twelve archers of the adjacent castle of St. Clare, +<a name="citation75b"></a><a href="#footnote75b" +class="citation">[75b]</a> who had assassinated the young man, +were on the following day <a name="page76"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 76</span>signed with the cross at Alba Domus, +as a punishment for their crime. Having traversed three +rivers, the Taf, then the Cleddeu, under Lanwadein, <a +name="citation76a"></a><a href="#footnote76a" +class="citation">[76a]</a> and afterwards another branch of the +same river, we at length arrived at Haverford. This +province, from its situation between two rivers, has acquired the +name of Daugleddeu, <a name="citation76b"></a><a +href="#footnote76b" class="citation">[76b]</a> being enclosed and +terminated, as it were, by two swords, for cleddue, in the +British language, signifies a sword.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF HAVERFORD AND ROS</span></h3> +<p>A <span class="smcap">sermon</span> having been delivered at +Haverford <a name="citation76c"></a><a href="#footnote76c" +class="citation">[76c]</a> by the archbishop, and the word of God +preached to the people by the archdeacon, whose name appears on +the title-page of this work, many soldiers and plebeians were +induced to take the cross. It appeared wonderful and +miraculous, that, although the archdeacon addressed them both in +the Latin and French tongues, those persons who understood +neither of those languages were equally affected, and flocked in +great numbers to the cross.</p> +<p>An old woman of those parts, who for three preceding years had +been blind, having heard of the archbishop’s arrival, sent +her son to the place where the sermon was to be preached, that he +might bring back to her some <a name="page77"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 77</span>particle, if only of the fringe of +his garment. The young man being prevented by the crowd +from approaching the archbishop, waited till the assembly was +dispersed, and then carried a piece of the earth on which the +preacher had stood. The mother received the gift with great +joy, and falling immediately on her knees, applied the turf to +her mouth and eyes; and thus, through the merits of the holy man, +and her own faith and devotion, recovered the blessing of sight, +which she had entirely lost.</p> +<p>The inhabitants of this province derived their origin from +Flanders, and were sent by king Henry I. to inhabit these +districts; a people brave and robust, ever most hostile to the +Welsh; a people, I say, well versed in commerce and woollen +manufactories; a people anxious to seek gain by sea or land, in +defiance of fatigue and danger; a hardy race, equally fitted for +the plough or the sword; a people brave and happy, if Wales (as +it ought to have been) had been dear to its sovereign, and had +not so frequently experienced the vindictive resentment and +ill-treatment of its governors.</p> +<p>A circumstance happened in the castle of Haverford during our +time, which ought not to be omitted. A famous robber was +fettered and confined in one of its towers, and was often visited +by three boys, the son of the earl of Clare, and two others, one +of whom was son of the lord of the castle, and the other his +grandson, sent thither for their education, and who applied to +him for arrows, with which he used to supply them. One day, +at the request of the children, the robber, being brought from +his dungeon, took advantage of the absence of the gaoler, closed +the door, and shut himself up with the boys. A great +clamour instantly arose, as well from the boys within, as from +the people without; nor did he cease, with an uplifted axe, to +threaten the lives of the children, until indemnity and security +were assured to him in the most ample manner. A similar +accident happened at Chateau-roux in France. The lord of +that <a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 78</span>place +maintained in the castle a man whose eyes he had formerly put +out, but who, by long habit, recollected the ways of the castle, +and the steps leading to the towers. Seizing an opportunity +of revenge, and meditating the destruction of the youth, he +fastened the inward doors of the castle, and took the only son +and heir of the governor of the castle to the summit of a high +tower, from whence he was seen with the utmost concern by the +people beneath. The father of the boy hastened thither, +and, struck with terror, attempted by every possible means to +procure the ransom of his son, but received for answer, that this +could not be effected, but by the same mutilation of those lower +parts, which he had likewise inflicted on him. The father, +having in vain entreated mercy, at length assented, and caused a +violent blow to be struck on his body; and the people around him +cried out lamentably, as if he had suffered mutilation. The +blind man asked him where he felt the greatest pain? when he +replied in his reins, he declared it was false and prepared to +precipitate the boy. A second blow was given, and the lord +of the castle asserting that the greatest pains were at his +heart, the blind man expressing his disbelief, again carried the +boy to the summit of the tower. The third time, however, +the father, to save his son, really mutilated himself; and when +he exclaimed that the greatest pain was in his teeth; “It +is true,” said he, “as a man who has had experience +should be believed, and thou hast in part revenged my +injuries. I shall meet death with more satisfaction, and +thou shalt neither beget any other son, nor receive comfort from +this.” Then, precipitating himself and the boy from +the summit of the tower, their limbs were broken, and both +instantly expired. The knight ordered a monastery to be +built on the spot for the soul of the boy, which is still extant, +and called De Doloribus.</p> +<p>It appears remarkable to me that the entire inheritance should +devolve on Richard, son of Tankard, governor of the aforesaid +castle of Haverford, being the <a name="page79"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 79</span>youngest son, and having many +brothers of distinguished character who died before him. In +like manner the dominion of South Wales descended to Rhys son of +Gruffyd, owing to the death of several of his brothers. +During the childhood of Richard, a holy man, named Caradoc, led a +pious and recluse life at St. Ismael, in the province of Ros, <a +name="citation79a"></a><a href="#footnote79a" +class="citation">[79a]</a> to whom the boy was often sent by his +parents with provisions, and he so ingratiated himself in the +eyes of the good man, that he very often promised him, together +with his blessing, the portion of all his brothers, and the +paternal inheritance. It happened that Richard, being +overtaken by a violent storm of rain, turned aside to the +hermit’s cell; and being unable to get his hounds near him, +either by calling, coaxing, or by offering them food, the holy +man smiled; and making a gentle motion with his hand, brought +them all to him immediately. In process of time, when +Caradoc <a name="citation79b"></a><a href="#footnote79b" +class="citation">[79b]</a> <a name="page80"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 80</span>had happily completed the course of +his existence, Tankard, father of Richard, violently detained his +body, which by his last will he had bequeathed to the church of +St. David; but being suddenly seized with a severe illness, he +revoked his command. When this had happened to him a second +and a third time, and the corpse at last was suffered to be +conveyed away, and was proceeding over the sands of Niwegal +towards St. David’s, a prodigious fall of rain inundated +the whole country; but the conductors of the sacred burthen, on +coming forth from their shelter, found the silken pall, with +which the bier was covered, dry and uninjured by the storm; and +thus the miraculous body of Caradoc was brought into the church +of St. Andrew and St. David, and with due solemnity deposited in +the left aisle, near the altar of the holy proto-martyr +Stephen.</p> +<p>It is worthy of remark, that these people (the Flemings), from +the inspection of the right shoulders of rams, which have been +stripped of their flesh, and not roasted, but boiled, can +discover future events, or those which have passed and remained +long unknown. <a name="citation80"></a><a href="#footnote80" +class="citation">[80]</a> They know, also, what is +transpiring at a distant place, by a wonderful art, and a +prophetic kind of spirit. They declare, also, by means of +signs, the undoubted symptoms of approaching peace and war, +murders and fires, domestic adulteries, the state of the king, +his life and death. It happened in our time, that a man of +those parts, whose name was William Mangunel, a person of high +rank, and excelling all others in the aforesaid art, had a wife +big with child by her own husband’s grandson. Well +aware of the fact, he ordered a ram from his own flock to be sent +to his wife, as a present from her neighbour, which was carried +to the cook, and dressed. At dinner, the <a +name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>husband +purposely gave the shoulder-bone of the ram, properly cleaned, to +his wife, who was also well skilled in this art, for her +examination; when, having for a short time examined the secret +marks, she smiled, and threw the oracle down on the table. +Her husband, dissembling, earnestly demanded the cause of her +smiling, and the explanation of the matter. Overcome by his +entreaties, she answered: “The man to whose fold this ram +belongs, has an adulterous wife, at this time pregnant by the +commission of incest with his own grandson.” The +husband, with a sorrowful and dejected countenance, replied: +“You deliver, indeed, an oracle supported by too much +truth, which I have so much more reason to lament, as the +ignominy you have published redounds to my own +injury.” The woman, thus detected, and unable to +dissemble her confusion, betrayed the inward feelings of her mind +by external signs; shame and sorrow urging her by turns, and +manifesting themselves, now by blushes, now by paleness, and +lastly (according to the custom of women), by tears. The +shoulder of a goat was also once brought to a certain person, +instead of a ram’s—both being alike, when cleaned; +who, observing for a short time the lines and marks, exclaimed, +“Unhappy cattle, that never was multiplied! unhappy, +likewise, the owner of the cattle, who never had more than three +or four in one flock!” Many persons, a year and a +half before the event, foresaw, by the means of shoulder-bones, +the destruction of their country, after the decease of king Henry +I., and, selling all their possessions, left their homes, and +escaped the impending ruin.</p> +<p>It happened also in Flanders, from whence this people came, +that a certain man sent a similar bone to a neighbour for his +inspection; and the person who carried it, on passing over a +ditch, broke wind, and wished it in the nostrils of the man on +whose account he was thus troubled. The person to whom the +bone was taken, on examination, said, “May you have in your +own nose, that which you wished to be in mine.” In +our time, a soothsayer, on <a name="page82"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 82</span>the inspection of a bone, discovered +not only a theft, and the manner of it, but the thief himself, +and all the attendant circumstances; he heard also the striking +of a bell, and the sound of a trumpet, as if those things which +were past were still performing. It is wonderful, +therefore, that these bones, like all unlawful conjurations, +should represent, by a counterfeit similitude to the eyes and +ears, things which are passed, as well as those which are now +going on.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF PENBROCH</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> province of Penbroch adjoins +the southern part of the territory of Ros, and is separated from +it by an arm of the sea. Its principal city, and the +metropolis of Demetia, is situated on an oblong rocky eminence, +extending with two branches from Milford Haven, from whence it +derived the name of Penbroch, which signifies the head of the +æstuary. Arnulph de Montgomery, <a +name="citation82a"></a><a href="#footnote82a" +class="citation">[82a]</a> in the reign of king Henry I., erected +here a slender fortress with stakes and turf, which, on returning +to England, he consigned to the care of Giraldus de Windesor, <a +name="citation82b"></a><a href="#footnote82b" +class="citation">[82b]</a> his constable and lieutenant-general, +a <a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>worthy +and discreet man. Immediately on the death of Rhys son of +Tewdwr, who a short time before had been slain by the treachery +of his own troops at Brecheinoc, leaving his son, Gruffydd, a +child, the inhabitants of South Wales besieged the castle. +One night, when fifteen soldiers had deserted, and endeavoured to +escape from the castle in a small boat, on the following morning +Giraldus invested their armour bearers with the arms and estates +of their masters, and decorated them with the military +order. The garrison being, from the length of the siege, +reduced to the utmost want of provisions, the constable, with +great prudence and flattering hopes of success, caused four hogs, +which yet remained, to be cut into small pieces and thrown down +to the enemy from the fortifications. The next day, having +again recourse to a more refined stratagem, he contrived that a +letter, sealed with his own signet, should be found before the +house of Wilfred, <a name="citation83"></a><a href="#footnote83" +class="citation">[83]</a> bishop of St. David’s, who was +then by chance in that neighbourhood, as if accidentally dropped, +stating that there would be no necessity of soliciting the +assistance of earl Arnulph for the next four months to +come. The contents of these letters being made known to the +army, the troops abandoned the siege of the castle, and retired +to their own homes. Giraldus, in order to make himself and +his dependants more secure, married Nest, the sister of Gruffydd, +prince of South Wales, by whom he had an illustrious progeny of +both sexes; and by whose means both the maritime parts of South +Wales were retained by the English, and the walls of Ireland +afterwards stormed, as our Vaticinal History declares.</p> +<p><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>In our +time, a person residing at the castle of Penbroch, found a brood +of young weasels concealed within a fleece in his dwelling house, +which he carefully removed and hid. The mother, irritated +at the loss of her young, which she had searched for in vain, +went to a vessel of milk that had been set aside for the use of +the master’s son, and raising herself up, polluted it with +her deadly poison; thus revenging, as it were, the loss of her +young, by the destruction of the child. The man, observing +what passed, carried the fleece back to its former place; when +the weasel, agitated by maternal solicitude, between hope and +fear, on finding again her young, began to testify her joy by her +cries and actions, and returning quickly to the vessel, overthrew +it; thus, in gratitude for the recovery of her own offspring, +saving that of her host from danger.</p> +<p>In another place, an animal of the same species had brought +out her young into a plain for the enjoyment of the sun and air; +when an insidious kite carried off one of them. Concealing +herself with the remainder behind some shrubs, grief suggested to +her a stratagem of exquisite revenge; she extended herself on a +heap of earth, as if dead, within sight of the plunderer, and (as +success always increases avidity) the bird immediately seized her +and flew away, but soon fell down dead by the bite of the +poisonous animal.</p> +<p>The castle called Maenor Pyrr, <a name="citation84"></a><a +href="#footnote84" class="citation">[84]</a> that is, the mansion +of <a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>Pyrrus, +who also possessed the island of Chaldey, which the Welsh call +Inys Pyrr, or the island of Pyrrus, is distant about three miles +from Penbroch. It is excellently well defended by turrets +and bulwarks, and is situated on the summit of a hill extending +on the western side towards the sea-port, having on the northern +and southern sides a fine fish-pond under its walls, as +conspicuous for its grand appearance, as for the depth of its +waters, and a beautiful orchard on the same side, inclosed on one +part by a vineyard, and on the other by a wood, remarkable for +the projection of its rocks, and the height of its hazel +trees. On the right hand of the promontory, between the +castle and the church, near the site of a very large lake and +mill, a rivulet of never-failing water flows through a valley, +rendered sandy by the violence of the winds. Towards the +west, the Severn sea, bending its course to Ireland, enters a +hollow bay at some distance from the castle; and the southern +rocks, if extended a little further towards the north, would +render it a most excellent harbour for shipping. From this +point of sight, you will see almost all the ships from Great +Britain, which the east wind drives upon the Irish coast, +daringly brave the inconstant waves and raging sea. This +country is well supplied with corn, sea-fish, and imported wines; +and what is preferable to every other advantage, from its +vicinity to Ireland, it is tempered by a salubrious air. +Demetia, therefore, with its seven cantreds, is the most +beautiful, as well as the most powerful district of Wales; +Penbroch, the finest part of the province of Demetia; and the +place I have just described, the most delightful part of +Penbroch. It is evident, therefore, that Maenor Pirr is the +pleasantest spot in Wales; and the author may be pardoned for +having thus extolled his native soil, his genial territory, with +a profusion of praise and admiration.</p> +<p><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>In this +part of Penbroch, unclean spirits have conversed, nor visibly, +but sensibly, with mankind; first in the house of Stephen Wiriet, +<a name="citation86a"></a><a href="#footnote86a" +class="citation">[86a]</a> and afterwards in the house of William +Not; <a name="citation86b"></a><a href="#footnote86b" +class="citation">[86b]</a> manifesting their presence by throwing +dirt at them, and more with a view of mockery than of +injury. In the house of William, they cut holes in the +linen and woollen garments, much to the loss of the owner of the +house and his guests; nor could any precaution, or even bolts, +secure them from these inconveniences. In the house of +Stephen, the spirit in a more extraordinary manner conversed with +men, and, in reply to their taunts, upbraided them openly with +everything they had done from their birth, and which they were +not willing should be known or heard by others. I do not +presume to assign the cause of this event, except that it is said +to be the presage of a sudden change from poverty to riches, or +rather from affluence to poverty and distress; as it was found to +be the case in both these instances. And it appears to me +very extraordinary that these places could not be purified from +such illusions, either by the sprinkling of holy water, or the +assistance of any other religious ceremony; for the priests +themselves, though protected by the crucifix, or the holy water, +on devoutly entering the house, were equally subject to the same +insults. From whence it appears that things pertaining to +the sacraments, as well as the sacraments themselves, defend us +from hurtful, but not from harmless things; from annoyances, but +not from illusions. It is worthy of note, that in our time, +a woman in Poitou was possessed by a demon, who, through her +mouth, artfully and acutely disputed with the learned. He +sometimes upbraided people with <a name="page87"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 87</span>their secret actions, and those +things which they wished not to hear; but when either the books +of the gospel, or the relics of saints, were placed upon the +mouth of the possessed, he fled to the lower part of her throat; +and when they were removed thither, he descended into her +belly. His appearance was indicated by certain inflations +and convulsions of the parts which he possessed, and when the +relics were again placed in the lower parts, he directly returned +to the upper. At length, when they brought the body of +Christ, and gave it to the patient, the demon answered, “Ye +fools, you are doing nothing, for what you give her is not the +food of the body, but of the soul; and my power is confined to +the body, not to the soul.” But when those persons +whom he had upbraided with their more serious actions, had +confessed, and returned from penance, he reproached them no +more. “I have known, indeed,” says he, “I +have known but now I know not, (he spake this as it were a +reproach to others), and I hold my tongue, for what I know, I +know not.” From which it appears, that after +confession and penance, the demons either do not know the sins of +men, or do not know them to their injury and disgrace; because, +as Augustine says, “If man conceals, God discovers; if man +discovers, God conceals.”</p> +<p>Some people are surprised that lightning often strikes our +places of worship, and damages the crosses and images of him who +was crucified, before the eyes of one who seeth all things, and +permits these circumstances to happen; to whom I shall only +answer with Ovid,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Summa petit livor, perflant altissima +venti,<br /> + Summa petunt dextra fulmina missa Jovis.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On the same subject, Peter Abelard, in the presence of Philip +king of France, is said to have answered a Jew, who urged these +and similar things against the faith. “It is true +that the lightning descending from on high, directs itself most +commonly to the highest object on <a name="page88"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 88</span>earth, and to those most resembling +its own nature; it never, therefore, injures your synagogues, +because no man ever saw or heard of its falling upon a +privy.” An event worthy of note, happened in our time +in France. During a contention between some monks of the +Cistercian order, and a certain knight, about the limits of their +fields and lands, a violent tempest, in one night, utterly +destroyed and ruined the cultivated grounds of the monks, while +the adjoining territory of the knight remained undamaged. +On which occasion he insolently inveighed against the fraternity, +and publicly asserted that divine vengeance had thus punished +them for unlawfully keeping possession of his land; to which the +abbot wittily replied, “It is by no means so; but that the +knight had more friends in that riding than the monastery;” +and he clearly demonstrated that, on the other hand, the monks +had more enemies in it.</p> +<p>In the province of Penbroch, another instance occurred, about +the same time, of a spirit’s appearing in the house of +Elidore de Stakepole, <a name="citation88"></a><a +href="#footnote88" class="citation">[88]</a> not only sensibly, +but visibly, under the form of a red-haired young man, who called +himself Simon. First seizing the keys from the person to +whom they were entrusted, he impudently assumed the +steward’s office, which he managed so prudently and +providently, that all things seemed to abound under his care, and +there was no deficiency in the house. Whatever the master +or mistress secretly thought of having for their daily use or +provision, he procured with wonderful agility, and without any +previous directions, saying, “You wished that to be done, +and it shall be done for you.” He was also well +acquainted with their treasures and secret hoards, and sometimes +upbraided them on that account; for as often as they seemed to +act sparingly <a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +89</span>and avariciously, he used to say, “Why are you +afraid to spend that heap of gold or silver, since your lives are +of so short duration, and the money you so cautiously hoard up +will never do you any service?” He gave the choicest +meat and drink to the rustics and hired servants, saying that +“Those persons should be abundantly supplied, by whose +labours they were acquired.” Whatever he determined +should be done, whether pleasing or displeasing to his master or +mistress (for, as we have said before, he knew all their +secrets), he completed in his usual expeditious manner, without +their consent. He never went to church, or uttered one +Catholic word. He did not sleep in the house, but was ready +at his office in the morning.</p> +<p>He was at length observed by some of the family to hold his +nightly converse near a mill and a pool of water; upon which +discovery he was summoned the next morning before the master of +the house and his lady, and, receiving his discharge, delivered +up the keys, which he had held for upwards of forty days. +Being earnestly interrogated, at his departure, who he was? he +answered, “That he was begotten upon the wife of a rustic +in that parish, by a demon, in the shape of her husband,” +naming the man, and his father-in-law, then dead, and his mother, +still alive; the truth of which the woman, upon examination, +openly avowed. A similar circumstance happened in our time +in Denmark. A certain unknown priest paid court to the +archbishop, and, from his obsequious behaviour and discreet +conduct, his general knowledge of letters and quick memory, soon +contracted a great familiarity with him. Conversing one day +with the archbishop about ancient histories and unknown events, +on which topic he most frequently heard him with pleasure, it +happened that when the subject of their discourse was the +incarnation of our Lord, he said, amongst other things, +“Before Christ assumed human nature, the demons had great +power over mankind, which, at his coming, was much diminished; <a +name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>insomuch that +they were dispersed on every side, and fled from his +presence. Some precipitated themselves into the sea, others +into the hollow parts of trees, or the clefts of rocks; and I +myself leaped into a well;” on which he blushed for shame, +and took his departure. The archbishop, and those who were +with him, being greatly astonished at that speech, began to ask +questions by turns, and form conjectures; and having waited some +time (for he was expected to return soon), the archbishop ordered +some of his attendants to call him, but he was sought for in +vain, and never re-appeared. Soon afterwards, two priests, +whom the archbishop had sent to Rome, returned; and when this +event was related to them, they began to inquire the day and hour +on which the circumstance had happened? On being told it, +they declared that on the very same day and hour he had met them +on the Alps, saying, that he had been sent to the court of Rome, +on account of some business of his master’s (meaning the +archbishop), which had lately occurred. And thus it was +proved, that a demon had deluded them under a human form.</p> +<p>I ought not to omit mentioning the falcons of these parts, +which are large, and of a generous kind, and exercise a most +severe tyranny over the river and land birds. King Henry +II. remained here some time, making preparations for his voyage +to Ireland; and being desirous of taking the diversion of +hawking, he accidentally saw a noble falcon perched upon a +rock. Going sideways round him, he let loose a fine Norway +hawk, which he carried on his left hand. The falcon, though +at first slower in its flight, soaring up to a great height, +burning with resentment, and in his turn becoming the aggressor, +rushed down upon his adversary with the greatest impetuosity, and +by a violent blow struck the hawk dead at the feet of the +king. From that time the king sent every year, about the +breeding season, for the falcons <a name="citation90"></a><a +href="#footnote90" class="citation">[90]</a> of <a +name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>this country, +which are produced on the sea cliffs; nor can better be found in +any part of his dominions. But let us now return to our +Itinerary.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE PROGRESS BY CAMROS AND +NIWEGAL</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> Haverford we proceeded on our +journey to Menevia, distant from thence about twelve miles, and +passed through Camros, <a name="citation91a"></a><a +href="#footnote91a" class="citation">[91a]</a> where, in the +reign of king Stephen, the relations and friends of a +distinguished young man, Giraldus, son of William, revenged his +death by a too severe retaliation on the men of Ros. We +then passed over Niwegal sands, at which place (during the winter +that king Henry II. spent in Ireland), as well as in almost all +the other western ports, a very remarkable circumstance +occurred. The sandy shores of South Wales, being laid bare +by the extraordinary violence of a storm, the surface of the +earth, which had been covered for many ages, re-appeared, and +discovered the trunks of trees cut off, standing in the very sea +itself, the strokes of the hatchet appearing as if made only +yesterday. <a name="citation91b"></a><a href="#footnote91b" +class="citation">[91b]</a> The soil was very black, and the +wood like ebony. By a wonderful revolution, the road for +ships became impassable, and looked, not like a shore, but like a +grove cut down, perhaps, at <a name="page92"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 92</span>the time of the deluge, or not long +after, but certainly in very remote ages, being by degrees +consumed and swallowed up by the violence and encroachments of +the sea. During the same tempest many sea fish were driven, +by the violence of the wind and waves, upon dry land. We +were well lodged at St. David’s by Peter, bishop of the +see, a liberal man, who had hitherto accompanied us during the +whole of our journey.</p> +<h2><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>BOOK +II</h2> +<h3><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +94</span>PREFACE</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Since</span>, therefore, St. David’s +is the head, and in times past was the metropolitan, city of +Wales, though now, alas! retaining more of the <i>name</i> than +of the <i>omen</i>, <a name="citation94"></a><a +href="#footnote94" class="citation">[94]</a> yet I have not +forborne to weep over the obsequies of our ancient and undoubted +mother, to follow the mournful hearse, and to deplore with +tearful sighs the ashes of our half-buried matron. I shall, +therefore, endeavour briefly to declare to you in what manner, +from whence, and from what period the pall was first brought to +St. David’s, and how it was taken away; how many prelates +were invested with the pall; and how many were despoiled thereof; +together with their respective names to this present day.</p> +<h3><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +95</span>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE SEE OF SAINT +DAVID’S</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> are informed by the British +histories, that Dubricius, archbishop of Caerleon, sensible of +the infirmities of age, or rather being desirous of leading a +life of contemplation, resigned his honours to David, who is said +to have been uncle to king Arthur; and by his interest the see +was translated to Menevia, although Caerleon, as we have observed +in the first book, was much better adapted for the episcopal +see. For Menevia is situated in a most remote corner of +land upon the Irish ocean, the soil stony and barren, neither +clothed with woods, distinguished by rivers, nor adorned by +meadows, ever exposed to the winds and tempests, and continually +subject to the hostile attacks of the Flemings on one side, and +of the Welsh on the other. For the holy men who settled +here, chose purposely such a retired habitation, that by avoiding +the noise of the world, and preferring an heremitical to a +pastoral life, they might more freely provide for “that +part which shall not be taken away;” for David was +remarkable for his sanctity and religion, as the history of his +life will testify. Amongst the many miracles recorded of +him, three appear to me the most worthy of admiration: his origin +and conception; his pre-election thirty years before his birth; +and what exceeds all, the sudden rising of the ground, at Brevy, +under his feet while preaching, to the great astonishment of all +the beholders.</p> +<p>Since the time of David, twenty-five archbishops presided over +the see of Menevia, whose names are here subjoined: David, +Cenauc, Eliud, who was also called <a name="page96"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 96</span>Teilaus, Ceneu, Morwal, Haerunen, +Elwaed, Gurnuen, Lendivord, Gorwysc, Cogan, Cledauc, Anian, +Euloed, Ethelmen, Elauc, Malscoed, Sadermen, Catellus, +Sulhaithnai, Nonis, Etwal, Asser, Arthuael, Sampson. In the +time of Sampson, the pall was translated from Menevia in the +following manner: a disorder called the yellow plague, and by the +physicians the icteric passion, of which the people died in great +numbers, raged throughout Wales, at the time when Sampson held +the archiepiscopal see. Though a holy man, and fearless of +death, he was prevailed upon, by the earnest intreaties of his +people, to go on board a vessel, which was wafted, by a south +wind, to Britannia Armorica, <a name="citation96"></a><a +href="#footnote96" class="citation">[96]</a> where he and his +attendants were safely landed. The see of Dol being at that +time vacant, he was immediately elected bishop. Hence it +came to pass, that on account of the pall which Sampson had +brought thither with him, the succeeding bishops, even to our +times, always retained it. But during the presidency of the +archbishop of Tours, this adventitious dignity ceased; yet our +countrymen, through indolence or poverty, or rather owing to the +arrival of the English into the island, and the frequent +hostilities committed against them by the Saxons, lost their +archiepiscopal honours. But until the entire subjugation of +Wales by king Henry I., the Welsh bishops were always consecrated +by the bishop of St. David’s; and he was consecrated by his +suffragans, without any profession or submission being made to +any other church.</p> +<p>From the time of Sampson to that of king Henry I., nineteen +bishops presided over this see: Ruelin, Rodherch, Elguin, +Lunuerd, Nergu, Sulhidir, Eneuris, Morgeneu, who was the first +bishop of St. David’s who ate flesh, and was there killed +by pirates; and he appeared <a name="page97"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 97</span>to a certain bishop in Ireland on the +night of his death, shewing his wounds, and saying, +“Because I ate flesh, I am become flesh.” +Nathan, Ievan (who was bishop only one night), Argustel, +Morgenueth, Ervin, Tramerin, Joseph, Bleithud, Sulghein, Abraham, +Wilfred. Since the subjugation of Wales to the present +time, three only have held the see: in the reign of king Henry +I., Bernard; in the reign of king Stephen, David II.; and in the +reign of king Henry II., Peter, a monk of the order of Cluny; who +all, by the king’s mandate, were consecrated at Canterbury; +as also Geoffrey, prior and canon of Lanthoni, who succeeded them +in the reign of king John, and was preferred to this see by the +interest of Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, and afterwards +consecrated by him. We do not hear that either before or +after that subjugation, any archbishop of Canterbury ever entered +the borders of Wales, except Baldwin, a monk of the Cistercian +order, abbot of Ford, and afterwards bishop of Worcester, who +traversed that rough, inaccessible, and remote country with a +laudable devotion for the service of the cross; and as a token of +investiture, celebrated mass in all the cathedral churches. +So that till lately the see of St. David’s owed no +subjection to that of Canterbury, as may be seen in the English +History of Bede, who says that “Augustine, bishop of the +Angles, after the conversion of king Ethelfred and the English +people, called together the bishops of Wales on the confines of +the West Saxons, as legate of the apostolic see. When the +seven bishops <a name="citation97"></a><a href="#footnote97" +class="citation">[97]</a> appeared, Augustine, sitting in his +chair, with Roman pride, did not rise up at their entrance. +Observing his haughtiness (after the example of a holy anchorite +of their nation), they immediately returned, and treated him and +his statutes with contempt, publicly proclaiming that they would +not acknowledge him for their archbishop; alleging, that if he +now refused to rise up to us, how much <a name="page98"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 98</span>more will he hold us in contempt, if +we submit to be subject to him?” That there were at +that time seven bishops in Wales, and now only four, may be thus +accounted for; because perhaps there were formerly more cathedral +churches in Wales than there are at present, or the extent of +Wales might have been greater. Amongst so many bishops thus +deprived of their dignity, Bernard, the first French [<i>i.e.</i> +Norman] bishop of St. David’s, alone defended the rights of +his church in a public manner; and after many expensive and +vexatious appeals to the court of Rome, would not have reclaimed +them in vain, if false witnesses had not publicly appeared at the +council of Rheims, before pope Eugenius, and testified that he +had made profession and submission to the see of +Canterbury. Supported by three auxiliaries, the favour and +intimacy of king Henry, a time of peace, and consequent plenty, +he boldly hazarded the trial of so great a cause, and so +confident was he of his just right, that he sometimes caused the +cross to be carried before him during his journey through +Wales.</p> +<p>Bernard, however commendable in some particulars, was +remarkable for his insufferable pride and ambition. For as +soon as he became courtier and a creature of the king’s, +panting after English riches by means of translation, (a malady +under which all the English sent hither seem to labour), he +alienated many of the lands of his church without either +advantage or profit, and disposed of others so indiscreetly and +improvidently, that when ten carucates <a +name="citation98"></a><a href="#footnote98" +class="citation">[98]</a> of land were required for military +purposes, he would, with a liberal hand, give twenty or thirty; +and of the canonical rites and ordinances which he had miserably +and unhappily instituted at St. David’s, he would hardly +make use of one, at most only of two or three. With respect +to the two sees of Canterbury and St. David’s, I will +briefly explain my opinion of their <a name="page99"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 99</span>present state. On one side, you +will see royal favour, affluence of riches, numerous and opulent +suffragan bishops, great abundance of learned men and well +skilled in the laws; on the other side, a deficiency of all these +things, and a total want of justice; on which account the +recovery of its ancient rights will not easily be effected, but +by means of those great changes and vicissitudes which kingdoms +experience from various and unexpected events.</p> +<p>The spot where the church of St. David’s stands, and was +founded in honour of the apostle St. Andrew, is called the Vale +of Roses; which ought rather to be named the vale of marble, +since it abounds with one, and by no means with the other. +The river Alun, a muddy and unproductive rivulet, <a +name="citation99a"></a><a href="#footnote99a" +class="citation">[99a]</a> bounding the churchyard on the +northern side, flows under a marble stone, called Lechlavar, +which has been polished by continual treading of passengers, and +concerning the name, size, and quality of which we have treated +in our Vaticinal History. <a name="citation99b"></a><a +href="#footnote99b" class="citation">[99b]</a> Henry II., +on his return from Ireland, is said to have passed over this +stone, before he devoutly entered the church of St. Andrew and +St. David. Having left the following garrisons in Ireland, +namely, Hugh de Lacy (to whom he had given Meath in fee) in +Dublin, with twenty knights; Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitzgerald, +with other twenty; Humphrey de Bohun, Robert Fitz-Bernard, and +Hugh de Grainville at Waterford, with forty; and William +Fitz-Adelm and Philip de Braose at Wexford, with twenty; on the +second day of Easter, the king embarked at sunrise on board a +vessel in the outward port of Wexford, and, with a south wind, +landed about noon in the harbour of Menevia. Proceeding +towards the shrine of St. David, habited like a pilgrim, and +leaning on a staff, he met at the white gate a procession of the +canons of the church coming forth to <a name="page100"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 100</span>receive him with due honour and +reverence. As the procession solemnly moved along, a Welsh +woman threw herself at the king’s feet, and made a +complaint against the bishop of the place, which was explained to +the king by an interpreter. The woman, immediate attention +not being paid to her petition, with violent gesticulation, and a +loud and impertinent voice, exclaimed repeatedly, “Revenge +us this day, Lechlavar! revenge us and the nation in this +man!” On being chidden and driven away by those who +understood the British language, she more vehemently and forcibly +vociferated in the like manner, alluding to the vulgar fiction +and proverb of Merlin, “That a king of England, and +conqueror of Ireland, should be wounded in that country by a man +with a red hand, and die upon Lechlavar, on his return through +Menevia.” This was the name of that stone which +serves as a bridge over the river Alun, which divides the +cemetery from the northern side of the church. It was a +beautiful piece of marble, polished by the feet of passengers, +ten feet in length, six in breadth, and one in thickness. +Lechlavar signifies in the British language a talking stone. <a +name="citation100"></a><a href="#footnote100" +class="citation">[100]</a> There was an ancient tradition +respecting this stone, that at a time when a corpse was carried +over it for interment, it broke forth into speech, and by the +effort cracked in the middle, which fissure is still visible; and +on account of this barbarous and ancient superstition, the +corpses are no longer brought over it. The king, who had +heard the prophecy, approaching the stone, stopped for a short +time at the foot of it, and, looking earnestly at it, boldly +passed over; then, turning round, and looking towards the stone, +thus indignantly inveighed against the prophet: “Who will +hereafter give credit to the lying Merlin?” A person +standing by, and observing what had passed, in order to vindicate +the injury done to the prophet, replied, with a loud voice, +“Thou art not that <a name="page101"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 101</span>king by whom Ireland is to be +conquered, or of whom Merlin prophesied!” The king +then entering the church founded in honour of St. Andrew and St. +David, devoutly offered up his prayers, and heard mass performed +by a chaplain, whom alone, out of so large a body of priests, +Providence seems to have kept fasting till that hour, for this +very purpose. Having supped at St. David’s, the king +departed for the castle of Haverford, distant about twelve +miles. It appears very remarkable to me, that in our days, +when David II. presided over the see, the river should have +flowed with wine, and that the spring, called Pistyll Dewi, or +the <i>Pipe</i> of David, from its flowing through a pipe into +the eastern side of the churchyard, should have run with +milk. The birds also of that place, called jackdaws, from +being so long unmolested by the clergy of the church, were grown +so tame and domesticated, as not to be afraid of persons dressed +in black. In clear weather the mountains of Ireland are +visible from hence, and the passage over the Irish sea may be +performed in one short day; on which account William, the son of +William the Bastard, and the second of the Norman kings in +England, who was called Rufus, and who had penetrated far into +Wales, on seeing Ireland from these rocks, is reported to have +said, “I will summon hither all the ships of my realm, and +with them make a bridge to attack that country.” +Which speech being related to Murchard, prince of Leinster, he +paused awhile, and answered, “Did the king add to this +mighty threat, If God please?” and being informed that he +had made no mention of God in his speech, rejoicing in such a +prognostic, he replied, “Since that man trusts in human, +not divine power, I fear not his coming.”</p> +<h3><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +102</span>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE JOURNEY BY CEMMEIS—THE +MONASTERY OF ST. DOGMAEL</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> archbishop having celebrated +mass early in the morning before the high altar of the church of +St. David, and enjoined to the archdeacon (Giraldus) the office +of preaching to the people, hastened through Cemmeis <a +name="citation102a"></a><a href="#footnote102a" +class="citation">[102a]</a> to meet prince Rhys at Aberteive. <a +name="citation102b"></a><a href="#footnote102b" +class="citation">[102b]</a> Two circumstances occurred in +the province of Cemmeis, the one in our own time, the other a +little before, which I think right not to pass over in +silence. In our time, a young man, native of this country, +during a severe illness, suffered as violent a persecution from +toads, <a name="citation102c"></a><a href="#footnote102c" +class="citation">[102c]</a> as if the reptiles of the whole +province had come to him by agreement; and though destroyed by +his nurses and friends, they increased again on all sides in +infinite numbers, like hydras’ heads. His attendants, +both friends and strangers, being wearied out, he was drawn up in +a kind of bag, into a high tree, stripped of its leaves, and +shred; nor was he there secure from his venomous enemies, for +they crept up the tree in great numbers, and consumed him even to +the very bones. The young man’s name was Sisillus +Esceir-hir, that is, Sisillus Long Leg. It is also recorded +that by the hidden but never unjust will of God, another man +suffered a similar persecution from rats. In the same +province, during the reign of king Henry I., a rich man, who had +a residence on the northern side of the Preseleu <a +name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 103</span>mountains, +<a name="citation103a"></a><a href="#footnote103a" +class="citation">[103a]</a> was warned for three successive +nights, by dreams, that if he put his hand under a stone which +hung over the spring of a neighbouring well, called the fountain +of St. Bernacus, <a name="citation103b"></a><a +href="#footnote103b" class="citation">[103b]</a> he would find +there a golden torques. Obeying the admonition on the third +day, he received, from a viper, a deadly wound in his finger; but +as it appears that many treasures have been discovered through +dreams, it seems to me probable that, with respect to rumours, in +the same manner as to dreams, some ought, and some ought not, to +be believed.</p> +<p>I shall not pass over in silence the circumstance which +occurred in the principal castle of Cemmeis at Lanhever, <a +name="citation103c"></a><a href="#footnote103c" +class="citation">[103c]</a> in our days. Rhys, son of +Gruffydd, by the instigation of his son Gruffydd, a cunning and +artful man, took away by force, from William, son of Martin (de +Tours), his son-in-law, the castle of Lanhever, notwithstanding +he had solemnly sworn, by the most precious relics, that his +indemnity and security should be faithfully maintained, and, +contrary to his word and oath, gave it to his son Gruffydd; but +since “A sordid prey has not a good ending,” the +Lord, who by the mouth of his prophet, exclaims “Vengeance +is mine, and I will repay!” ordained that the castle should +be taken away from the contriver of this wicked plot, Gruffydd, +and bestowed upon the man in the world he most hated, his brother +Malgon. Rhys, also, about two years afterwards, intending +to disinherit his own daughter, and two granddaughters <a +name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>and +grandsons, by a singular instance of divine vengeance, was taken +prisoner by his sons in battle, and confined in this same castle; +thus justly suffering the greatest disgrace and confusion in the +very place where he had perpetrated an act of the most consummate +baseness. I think it also worthy to be remembered, that at +the time this misfortune befell him, he had concealed in his +possession, at Dinevor, the collar of St. Canauc of Brecknock, +for which, by divine vengeance, he merited to be taken prisoner +and confined.</p> +<p>We slept that night in the monastery of St. Dogmael, where, as +well as on the next day at Aberteivi, we were handsomely +entertained by prince Rhys. On the Cemmeis side of the +river, not far from the bridge, the people of the neighbourhood +being assembled together, and Rhys and his two sons, Malgon and +Gruffydd, being present, the word of the Lord was persuasively +preached both by the archbishop and the archdeacon, and many were +induced to take the cross; one of whom was an only son, and the +sole comfort of his mother, far advanced in years, who, +steadfastly gazing on him, as if inspired by the Deity, uttered +these words:—“O, most beloved Lord Jesus Christ, I +return thee hearty thanks for having conferred on me the blessing +of bringing forth a son, whom thou mayest think worthy of thy +service.” Another woman at Aberteivi, of a very +different way of thinking, held her husband fast by his cloak and +girdle, and publicly and audaciously prevented him from going to +the archbishop to take the cross; but, three nights afterwards, +she heard a terrible voice, saying, “Thou hast taken away +my servant from me, therefore what thou most lovest shall be +taken away from thee.” On her relating this vision to +her husband, they were struck with mutual terror and amazement; +and on falling asleep again, she unhappily overlaid her little +boy, whom, with more affection than prudence, she had taken to +bed with her. The husband, relating to the bishop of the +diocese both the vision and its fatal prediction, took the cross, +<a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>which +his wife spontaneously sewed on her husband’s arm.</p> +<p>Near the head of the bridge where the sermons were delivered, +the people immediately marked out the site for a chapel, <a +name="citation105a"></a><a href="#footnote105a" +class="citation">[105a]</a> on a verdant plain, as a memorial of +so great an event; intending that the altar should be placed on +the spot where the archbishop stood while addressing the +multitude; and it is well known that many miracles (the +enumeration of which would be too tedious to relate) were +performed on the crowds of sick people who resorted hither from +different parts of the country.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE RIVER TEIVI, CARDIGAN, AND +EMELYN</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> noble river Teivi flows here, +and abounds with the finest salmon, more than any other river of +Wales; it has a productive fishery near Cilgerran, which is +situated on the summit of a rock, at a place called Canarch Mawr, +<a name="citation105b"></a><a href="#footnote105b" +class="citation">[105b]</a> the ancient residence of St. Ludoc, +where the river, falling from a great height, forms a cataract, +which the salmon ascend, by leaping from the bottom to the top of +a rock, which is about the height of the longest spear, and would +appear wonderful, were it not the nature of that species of fish +to leap: hence they have received the name of salmon, from +<i>salio</i>. Their particular manner of leaping (as I have +specified in my Topography of Ireland) is thus: fish of this +kind, naturally swimming against the <a name="page106"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 106</span>course of the river (for as birds +fly against the wind, so do fish swim against the stream), on +meeting with any sudden obstacle, bend their tail towards their +mouth, and sometimes, in order to give a greater power to their +leap, they press it with their mouth, and suddenly freeing +themselves from this circular form, they spring with great force +(like a bow let loose) from the bottom to the top of the leap, to +the great astonishment of the beholders. The church +dedicated to St. Ludoc, <a name="citation106a"></a><a +href="#footnote106a" class="citation">[106a]</a> the mill, +bridge, salmon leap, an orchard with a delightful garden, all +stand together on a small plot of ground. The Teivi has +another singular particularity, being the only river in Wales, or +even in England, which has beavers; <a name="citation106b"></a><a +href="#footnote106b" class="citation">[106b]</a> in Scotland they +are said to be found in one river, but are very scarce. I +think it not a useless labour, to insert a few remarks respecting +the nature of these animals—the manner in which they bring +their materials from the woods to the water, and with what skill +they connect them in the construction of their dwellings in the +midst of rivers; their means of defence on the eastern and <a +name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 107</span>western +sides against hunters; and also concerning their fish-like +tails.</p> +<p>The beavers, in order to construct their castles in the middle +of rivers, make use of the animals of their own species instead +of carts, who, by a wonderful mode of carnage, convey the timber +from the woods to the rivers. Some of them, obeying the +dictates of nature, receive on their bellies the logs of wood cut +off by their associates, which they hold tight with their feet, +and thus with transverse pieces placed in their mouths, are drawn +along backwards, with their cargo, by other beavers, who fasten +themselves with their teeth to the raft. The moles use a +similar artifice in clearing out the dirt from the cavities they +form by scraping. In some deep and still corner of the +river, the beavers use such skill in the construction of their +habitations, that not a drop of water can penetrate, or the force +of storms shake them; nor do they fear any violence but that of +mankind, nor even that, unless well armed. They entwine the +branches of willows with other wood, and different kinds of +leaves, to the usual height of the water, and having made +within-side a communication from floor to floor, they elevate a +kind of stage, or scaffold, from which they may observe and watch +the rising of the waters. In the course of time, their +habitations bear the appearance of a grove of willow trees, rude +and natural without, but artfully constructed within. This +animal can remain in or under water at its pleasure, like the +frog or seal, who shew, by the smoothness or roughness of their +skins, the flux and reflux of the sea. These three animals, +therefore, live indifferently under the water, or in the air, and +have short legs, broad bodies, stubbed tails, and resemble the +mole in their corporal shape. It is worthy of remark, that +the beaver has but four teeth, two above, and two below, which +being broad and sharp, cut like a carpenter’s axe, and as +such he uses them. They make excavations and dry hiding +places in the banks near their dwellings, and when they hear the +<a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>stroke +of the hunter, who with sharp poles endeavours to penetrate them, +they fly as soon as possible to the defence of their castle, +having first blown out the water from the entrance of the hole, +and rendered it foul and muddy by scraping the earth, in order +thus artfully to elude the stratagems of the well-armed hunter, +who is watching them from the opposite banks of the river. +When the beaver finds he cannot save himself from the pursuit of +the dogs who follow him, that he may ransom his body by the +sacrifice of a part, he throws away that, which by natural +instinct he knows to be the object sought for, and in the sight +of the hunter castrates himself, from which circumstance he has +gained the name of Castor; and if by chance the dogs should chase +an animal which had been previously castrated, he has the +sagacity to run to an elevated spot, and there lifting up his +leg, shews the hunter that the object of his pursuit is +gone. Cicero speaking of them says, “They ransom +themselves by that part of the body, for which they are chiefly +sought.” And Juvenal says,</p> +<blockquote><p>“—Qui se<br /> +Eunuchum ipse facit, cupiens evadere damno<br /> +Testiculi.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And St. Bernard,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Prodit enim castor proprio de corpore +velox<br /> + Reddere quas sequitur hostis avarus opes.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Thus, therefore, in order to preserve his skin, which is +sought after in the west, and the medicinal part of his body, +which is coveted in the east, although he cannot save himself +entirely, yet, by a wonderful instinct and sagacity, he +endeavours to avoid the stratagems of his pursuers. The +beavers have broad, short tails, thick, like the palm of a hand, +which they use as a rudder in swimming; and although the rest of +their body is hairy, this part, like that of seals, is without +hair, and smooth; upon which account, in Germany and the arctic +regions, where beavers abound, great and religious persons, in <a +name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>times of +fasting, eat the tails of this fish-like animal, as having both +the taste and colour of fish.</p> +<p>We proceeded on our journey from Cilgerran towards +Pont-Stephen, <a name="citation109a"></a><a href="#footnote109a" +class="citation">[109a]</a> leaving Cruc Mawr, <i>i.e.</i> the +great hill, near Aberteivi, on our left hand. On this spot +Gruffydd, son of Rhys ap Tewdwr, soon after the death of king +Henry I., by a furious onset gained a signal victory against the +English army, which, by the murder of the illustrious Richard de +Clare, near Abergevenny (before related), had lost its leader and +chief. <a name="citation109b"></a><a href="#footnote109b" +class="citation">[109b]</a> A tumulus is to be seen on the +summit of the aforesaid hill, and the inhabitants affirm that it +will adapt itself to persons of all stature and that if any +armour is left there entire in the evening, it will be found, +according to vulgar tradition, broken to pieces in the +morning.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE JOURNEY BY PONT STEPHEN, THE ABBEY +OF STRATFLUR, LANDEWI BREVI, AND LHANPADARN VAWR</span></h3> +<p>A <span class="smcap">sermon</span> having been preached on +the following morning at Pont Stephen, <a +name="citation109c"></a><a href="#footnote109c" +class="citation">[109c]</a> by the archbishop and archdeacon, and +also by two abbots of the Cistercian order, John of Albadomus, +and Sisillus of Stratflur, <a name="citation109d"></a><a +href="#footnote109d" class="citation">[109d]</a> who faithfully +<a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>attended +us in those parts, and as far as North Wales, many persons were +induced to take the cross. We proceeded to Stratflur, where +we passed the night. On the following morning, having on +our right the lofty mountains of Moruge, which in Welsh are +called Ellennith, <a name="citation110a"></a><a +href="#footnote110a" class="citation">[110a]</a> we were met near +the side of a wood by Cyneuric son of Rhys, accompanied by a body +of light-armed youths. This young man was of a fair +complexion, with curled hair, tall and handsome; clothed only, +according to the custom of his country, with a thin cloak and +inner garment, his legs and feet, regardless of thorns and +thistles were left bare; a man, not adorned by art, but nature; +bearing in his presence an innate, not an acquired, dignity of +manners. A sermon having been preached to these three young +men, Gruffydd, Malgon, and Cyneuric, in the presence of their +father, prince Rhys, and the brothers disputing about taking the +cross, at length Malgon strictly promised that he would accompany +the archbishop to the king’s court, and would obey the +king’s and archbishop’s counsel, unless prevented by +them. From thence we passed through Landewi Brevi, <a +name="citation110b"></a><a href="#footnote110b" +class="citation">[110b]</a> that is, the church of David of +Brevi, situated on the summit of that hill which had formerly +risen up under his feet whilst preaching, during the period of +that celebrated synod, when all the bishops, abbots, and clergy +of Wales, and many other persons, were collected <a +name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>thither on +account of the Pelagian heresy, which, although formerly exploded +from Britain by Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, had lately been +revived in these parts. At this place David was reluctantly +raised to the archbishopric, by the unanimous consent and +election of the whole assembly, who by loud acclamations +testified their admiration of so great a miracle. Dubricius +had a short time before resigned to him this honour in due form +at Caerleon, from which city the metropolitan see was transferred +to St. David’s.</p> +<p>Having rested that night at Lhanpadarn Vawr, <a +name="citation111"></a><a href="#footnote111" +class="citation">[111]</a> or the church of Paternus the Great, +we attracted many persons to the service of Christ on the +following morning. It is remarkable that this church, like +many others in Wales and Ireland, has a lay abbot; for a bad +custom has prevailed amongst the clergy, of appointing the most +powerful people of a parish stewards, or, rather, patrons, of +their churches; who, in process of time, from a desire of gain, +have usurped the whole right, appropriating to their own use the +possession of all the lands, leaving only to the clergy the +altars, with their tenths and oblations, and assigning even these +to their sons and relations in the church. Such defenders, +or rather destroyers, of the church, have caused themselves to be +called abbots, and presumed to attribute to themselves a title, +as well as estates, to which they have no just claim. In +this state we found the church of Lhanpadarn, without a +head. A certain old man, waxen old in iniquity (whose name +was Eden Oen, son of Gwaithwoed), being abbot, and his sons +officiating at the altar. But in the reign of king Henry +I., when the authority of the English prevailed in Wales, the +monastery of St. Peter at Gloucester held quiet possession of +this church; but after his death, the English being driven out, +the monks were expelled from their cloisters, and their places +supplied by the same <a name="page112"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 112</span>violent intrusion of clergy and +laity, which had formerly been practised. It happened that +in the reign of king Stephen, who succeeded Henry I., a knight, +born in Armorican Britain, having travelled through many parts of +the world, from a desire of seeing different cities, and the +manners of their inhabitants, came by chance to Lhanpadarn. +On a certain feast-day, whilst both the clergy and people were +waiting for the arrival of the abbot to celebrate mass, he +perceived a body of young men, armed, according to the custom of +their country, approaching towards the church; and on enquiring +which of them was the abbot, they pointed out to him a man +walking foremost, with a long spear in his hand. Gazing on +him with amazement, he asked, “If the abbot had not another +habit, or a different staff, from that which he now carried +before him?” On their answering, “No!” he +replied, “I have seen indeed and heard this day a wonderful +novelty!” and from that hour he returned home, and finished +his labours and researches. This wicked people boasts, that +a certain bishop <a name="citation112"></a><a href="#footnote112" +class="citation">[112]</a> of their church (for it formerly was a +cathedral) was murdered by their predecessors; and on this +account, chiefly, they ground their claims of right and +possession. No public complaint having been made against +their conduct, we have thought it more prudent to pass over, for +the present, the enormities of this wicked race with +dissimulation, than exasperate them by a further relation.</p> +<h3><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +113</span>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE RIVER DEVI, AND THE LAND OF THE +SONS OF CONAN</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Approaching</span> to the river Devi, <a +name="citation113a"></a><a href="#footnote113a" +class="citation">[113a]</a> which divides North and South Wales, +the bishop of St. David’s, and Rhys the son of Gruffydd, +who with a liberality peculiarly praiseworthy in so illustrious a +prince, had accompanied us from the castle of Aberteivi, +throughout all Cardiganshire, to this place, returned home. +Having crossed the river in a boat, and quitted the diocese of +St. David’s, we entered the land of the sons of Conan, or +Merionyth, the first province of Venedotia on that side of the +country, and belonging to the bishopric of Bangor. <a +name="citation113b"></a><a href="#footnote113b" +class="citation">[113b]</a> We slept that night at +Towyn. Early next morning, Gruffydd son of Conan <a +name="citation113c"></a><a href="#footnote113c" +class="citation">[113c]</a> came to meet us, humbly and devoutly +asking pardon for having so long delayed his attention to the +archbishop. On the same day, we ferried over the bifurcate +river Maw, <a name="citation113d"></a><a href="#footnote113d" +class="citation">[113d]</a> where Malgo, son of Rhys, who had +attached himself to the archbishop, as a companion to the +king’s court, discovered a ford near <a +name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>the +sea. That night we lay at Llanvair, <a +name="citation114a"></a><a href="#footnote114a" +class="citation">[114a]</a> that is the church of St. Mary, in +the province of Ardudwy. <a name="citation114b"></a><a +href="#footnote114b" class="citation">[114b]</a> This +territory of Conan, and particularly Merionyth, is the rudest and +roughest district of all Wales; the ridges of its mountains are +very high and narrow, terminating in sharp peaks, and so +irregularly jumbled together, that if the shepherds conversing or +disputing with each other from their summits, should agree to +meet, they could scarcely effect their purpose in the course of +the whole day. The lances of this country are very long; +for as South Wales excels in the use of the bow, so North Wales +is distinguished for its skill in the lance; insomuch that an +iron coat of mail will not resist the stroke of a lance thrown at +a small distance. The next morning, the youngest son of +Conan, named Meredyth, met us at the passage of a bridge, +attended by his people, where many persons were signed with the +cross; amongst whom was a fine young man of his suite, and one of +his intimate friends; and Meredyth, observing that the cloak, on +which the cross was to be sewed, appeared of too thin and of too +common a texture, with a flood of tears, threw him down his +own.</p> +<h3><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +115</span>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PASSAGE OF TRAETH MAWR AND TRAETH BACHAN, +AND OF NEVYN, CARNARVON, AND BANGOR</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> continued our journey over the +Traeth Mawr, <a name="citation115a"></a><a href="#footnote115a" +class="citation">[115a]</a> and Traeth Bachan, <a +name="citation115b"></a><a href="#footnote115b" +class="citation">[115b]</a> that is, the greater and the smaller +arm of the sea, where two stone castles have newly been erected; +one called Deudraeth, belonging to the sons of Conan, situated in +Evionyth, towards the northern mountains; the other named Carn +Madryn, the property of the sons of Owen, built on the other side +of the river towards the sea, on the head-land Lleyn. <a +name="citation115c"></a><a href="#footnote115c" +class="citation">[115c]</a> Traeth, in the Welsh language, +signifies a tract of sand flooded by the tides, and left bare +when the sea ebbs. We had before passed over the noted +rivers, the Dissenith, <a name="citation115d"></a><a +href="#footnote115d" class="citation">[115d]</a> between the Maw +and Traeth Mawr, and the Arthro, between the Traeth Mawr and +Traeth Bachan. We slept that night at Nevyn, on the eve of +Palm Sunday, where the archdeacon, after long inquiry and +research, is said to have found Merlin Sylvestris. <a +name="citation115e"></a><a href="#footnote115e" +class="citation">[115e]</a></p> +<p><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>Beyond Lleyn, there is a small island inhabited by very +religious monks, called Cælibes, or Colidei. This +island, either from the wholesomeness of its climate, owing to +its vicinity to Ireland, or rather from some miracle obtained by +the merits of the saints, has this wonderful peculiarity, that +the oldest people die first, because diseases are uncommon, and +scarcely any die except from extreme old age. Its name is +Enlli in the Welsh, and Berdesey <a name="citation116a"></a><a +href="#footnote116a" class="citation">[116a]</a> in the Saxon +language; and very many bodies of saints are said to be buried +there, and amongst them that of Daniel, bishop of Bangor.</p> +<p>The archbishop having, by his sermon the next day, induced +many persons to take the cross, we proceeded towards Banchor, +passing through Caernarvon, <a name="citation116b"></a><a +href="#footnote116b" class="citation">[116b]</a> that is, the +castle of Arvon; it is called Arvon, the province opposite to +Môn, because it is so situated with respect to the island +of Mona. Our road leading us to a steep valley, <a +name="citation116c"></a><a href="#footnote116c" +class="citation">[116c]</a> with many broken ascents and +descents, we dismounted <a name="page117"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 117</span>from our horses, and proceeded on +foot, rehearsing, as it were, by agreement, some experiments of +our intended pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Having traversed the +valley, and reached the opposite side with considerable fatigue, +the archbishop, to rest himself and recover his breath, sat down +on an oak which had been torn up by the violence of the winds; +and relaxing into a pleasantry highly laudable in a person of his +approved gravity, thus addressed his attendants: “Who +amongst you, in this company, can now delight our wearied ears by +whistling?” which is not easily done by people out of +breath. He affirming that he could, if he thought fit, the +sweet notes are heard, in an adjoining wood, of a bird, which +some said was a woodpecker, and others, more correctly, an +aureolus. The woodpecker is called in French, <i>spec</i>, +and with its strong bill, perforates oak trees; the other bird in +called aureolus, from the golden tints of its feathers, and at +certain seasons utters a sweet whistling note instead of a +song. Some persons having remarked, that the nightingale +was never heard in this country, the archbishop, with a +significant smile, replied, “The nightingale followed wise +counsel, and never came into Wales; but we, unwise counsel, who +have penetrated and gone through it.” We remained +that night at Banchor, <a name="citation117"></a><a +href="#footnote117" class="citation">[117]</a> <a +name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>the +metropolitan see of North Wales, and were well entertained by the +bishop of the diocese. <a name="citation118a"></a><a +href="#footnote118a" class="citation">[118a]</a> On the +next day, mass being celebrated by the archbishop before the high +altar, the bishop of that see, at the instance of the archbishop +and other persons, more importunate than persuasive, was +compelled to take the cross, to the general concern of all his +people of both sexes, who expressed their grief on this occasion +by loud and lamentable vociferations.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE ISLAND OF MONA</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> hence, we crossed over a small +arm of the sea to the island of Mona, <a +name="citation118b"></a><a href="#footnote118b" +class="citation">[118b]</a> distant from thence about two miles, +where Roderic, the younger son of Owen, attended by nearly all +the inhabitants of the island, and many others from the adjacent +countries, came in a devout manner to meet us. Confession +having been made in a place near the shore, where the surrounding +rocks seemed to form a natural theatre, <a +name="citation118c"></a><a href="#footnote118c" +class="citation">[118c]</a> many persons were <a +name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>induced to +take the cross, by the persuasive discourses of the archbishop, +and Alexander, our interpreter, archdeacon of that place, and of +Sisillus, abbot of Stratflur. Many chosen youths of the +family of Roderic were seated on an opposite rock, and not one of +them could be prevailed upon to take the cross, although the +archbishop and others most earnestly exhorted them, but in vain, +by an address particularly directed to them. It came to +pass within three days, as if by divine vengeance, that these +young men, with many others, pursued some robbers of that +country. Being discomfited and put to flight, some were +slain, others mortally wounded, and the survivors voluntarily +assumed that cross they had before despised. Roderic, also, +who a short time before had incestuously married the daughter of +Rhys, related to him by blood in the third degree, in order, by +the assistance of that prince, to be better able to defend +himself against the sons of his brothers, whom he had +disinherited, not paying attention to the wholesome admonitions +of the archbishop on this subject, was a little while afterwards +dispossessed of all his lands by their means; thus deservedly +meeting with disappointment from the very source from which he +expected support. The <a name="page120"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 120</span>island of Mona contains three +hundred and forty-three vills, considered equal to three +cantreds. Cantred, a compound word from the British and +Irish languages, is a portion of land equal to one hundred +vills. There are three islands contiguous to Britain, on +its different sides, which are said to be nearly of an equal +size—the Isle of Wight on the south, Mona on the west, and +Mania (Man) on the north-west side. The two first are +separated from Britain by narrow channels; the third is much +further removed, lying almost midway between the countries of +Ulster in Ireland and Galloway in Scotland. The island of +Mona is an arid and stony land, rough and unpleasant in its +appearance, similar in its exterior qualities to the land of +Pebidion, <a name="citation120a"></a><a href="#footnote120a" +class="citation">[120a]</a> near St. David’s, but very +different as to its interior value. For this island is +incomparably more fertile in corn than any other part of Wales, +from whence arose the British proverb, “Mon mam Cymbry, +Mona mother of Wales;” and when the crops have been +defective in all other parts of the country, this island, from +the richness of its soil and abundant produce, has been able to +supply all Wales.</p> +<p>As many things within this island are worthy of remark, I +shall not think it superfluous to make mention of some of +them. There is a stone here resembling a human thigh, <a +name="citation120b"></a><a href="#footnote120b" +class="citation">[120b]</a> which possesses this innate virtue, +that whatever distance it may be carried, it returns, of its own +accord, the following night, as has often been experienced by the +inhabitants. Hugh, earl of Chester, <a +name="citation120c"></a><a href="#footnote120c" +class="citation">[120c]</a> <a name="page121"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 121</span>in the reign of king Henry I., +having by force occupied this island and the adjacent country, +heard of the miraculous power of this stone, and, for the purpose +of trial, ordered it to be fastened, with strong iron chains, to +one of a larger size, and to be thrown into the sea. On the +following morning, however, according to custom, it was found in +its original position, on which account the earl issued a public +edict, that no one, from that time, should presume to move the +stone from its place. A countryman, also, to try the powers +of this stone, fastened it to his thigh, which immediately became +putrid, and the stone returned to its original situation.</p> +<p>There is in the same island a stony hill, not very large or +high, from one side of which, if you cry aloud, you will not be +heard on the other; and it is called (by anti-phrasis) the rock +of hearers. In the northern part of Great Britain +(Northumberland) so named by the English, from its situation +beyond the river Humber, there is a hill of a similar nature, +where if a loud horn or trumpet is sounded on one side, it cannot +be heard on the opposite one. There is also in this island +the church of St. Tefredaucus, <a name="citation121"></a><a +href="#footnote121" class="citation">[121]</a> into which Hugh, +earl of Shrewsbury, (who, together with the earl of Chester, had +forcibly entered Anglesey), on a certain night put some dogs, +which on the following morning were found mad, and he himself +died within a month; for some pirates, from the Orcades, having +entered the port of the island in their long vessels, the earl, +apprised of their approach, boldly met them, rushing into the sea +upon a spirited horse. <a name="page122"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 122</span>The commander of the expedition, +Magnus, standing on the prow of the foremost ship, aimed an arrow +at him; and, although the earl was completely equipped in a coat +of mail, and guarded in every part of his body except his eyes, +the unlucky weapon struck his right eye, and, entering his brain, +he fell a lifeless corpse into the sea. The victor, seeing +him in this state, proudly and exultingly exclaimed, in the +Danish tongue, “Leit loup,” let him leap; and from +this time the power of the English ceased in Anglesey. In +our times, also, when Henry II. was leading an army into North +Wales, where he had experienced the ill fortune of war in a +narrow, woody pass near Coleshulle, he sent a fleet into +Anglesey, and began to plunder the aforesaid church, and other +sacred places. But the divine vengeance pursued him, for +the inhabitants rushed upon the invaders, few against many, +unarmed against armed; and having slain great numbers, and taken +many prisoners, gained a most complete and bloody victory. +For, as our Topography of Ireland testifies, that the Welsh and +Irish are more prone to anger and revenge than any other nations, +the saints, likewise, of those countries appear to be of a more +vindictive nature.</p> +<p>Two noble persons, and uncles of the author of this book, were +sent thither by the king; namely, Henry, son of king Henry I., +and uncle to king Henry II., by Nest, daughter of Rhys, prince of +South Wales; and Robert Fitz-Stephen, brother to Henry, a man who +in our days, shewing the way to others, first attacked Ireland, +and whose fame is recorded in our Vaticinal History. Henry, +actuated by too much valour, and ill supported, was pierced by a +lance, and fell amongst the foremost, to the great concern of his +attendants; and Robert, despairing of being able to defend +himself, was badly wounded, and escaped with difficulty to the +ships.</p> +<p>There is a small island, almost adjoining to Anglesey, which +is inhabited by hermits, living by manual labour, and serving +God. It is remarkable that when, by the <a +name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>influence +of human passions, any discord arises among them, all their +provisions are devoured and infected by a species of small mice, +with which the island abounds; but when the discord ceases, they +are no longer molested. Nor is it to be wondered at, if the +servants of God sometimes disagree, since Jacob and Esau +contended in the womb of Rebecca, and Paul and Barnabas differed; +the disciples also of Jesus disputed which of them should be the +greatest, for these are the temptations of human infirmity; yet +virtue is often made perfect by infirmity, and faith is increased +by tribulations. This island is called in Welsh, Ynys +Lenach, <a name="citation123a"></a><a href="#footnote123a" +class="citation">[123a]</a> or the ecclesiastical island, because +many bodies of saints are deposited there, and no woman is +suffered to enter it.</p> +<p>We saw in Anglesey a dog, who accidentally had lost his tail, +and whose whole progeny bore the same defect. It is +wonderful that nature should, as it were, conform itself in this +particular to the accident of the father. We saw also a +knight, named Earthbald, born in Devonshire, whose father, +denying the child with which his mother was pregnant, and from +motives of jealousy accusing her of inconstancy, nature alone +decided the controversy by the birth of the child, who, by a +miracle, exhibited on his upper lip a scar, similar to one his +father bore in consequence of a wound he had received from a +lance in one of his military expeditions. Stephen, the son +of Earthbald, had a similar mark, the accident being in a manner +converted into nature. A like miracle of nature occurred in +earl Alberic, son of Alberic earl of Veer, <a +name="citation123b"></a><a href="#footnote123b" +class="citation">[123b]</a> whose father, during the pregnancy of +his <a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +124</span>mother, the daughter of Henry of Essex, having laboured +to procure a divorce, on account of the ignominy of her father, +the child, when born, had the same blemish in its eye, as the +father had got from a casual hurt. These defects may be +entailed on the offspring, perhaps, by the impression made on the +memory by frequent and steady observation; as it is reported that +a queen, accustomed to see the picture of a negro in her chamber, +unexpectedly brought forth a black child, and is exculpated by +Quintilian, on account of the picture. In like manner it +happened to the spotted sheep, given by Laban out of his flock to +his nephew Jacob, and which conceived by means of variegated +rods. <a name="citation124"></a><a href="#footnote124" +class="citation">[124]</a> Nor is the child always affected +by the mother’s imagination alone, but sometimes by that of +the father; for it is well known that a man, seeing a passenger +near him, who was convulsed both behind and before, on going home +and telling his wife that he could not get the impression of this +sight off his mind, begat a child who was affected in a similar +manner.</p> +<h3><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +125</span>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PASSAGE OF THE RIVER CONWY IN A BOAT, AND +OF DINAS EMRYS</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> our return to Banchor from Mona, +we were shown the tombs of prince Owen and his younger brother +Cadwalader, <a name="citation125a"></a><a href="#footnote125a" +class="citation">[125a]</a> who were buried in a double vault +before the high altar, although Owen, on account of his public +incest with his cousin-german, had died excommunicated by the +blessed martyr St. Thomas, the bishop of that see having been +enjoined to seize a proper opportunity of removing his body from +the church. We continued our journey on the sea coast, +confined on one side by steep rocks, and by the sea on the other, +towards the river Conwy, which preserves its waters unadulterated +by the sea. Not far from the source of the river Conwy, at +the head of the Eryri mountain, which on this side extends itself +towards the north, stands Dinas Emrys, that is, the promontory of +Ambrosius, where Merlin <a name="citation125b"></a><a +href="#footnote125b" class="citation">[125b]</a> uttered his +prophecies, whilst Vortigern was seated upon the bank. +There were two Merlins; the one called Ambrosius who prophesied +in the time of king Vortigern, <a name="page126"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 126</span>was begotten by a demon incubus, and +found at Caermardin, from which circumstance that city derived +its name of Caermardin, or the city of Merlin; the other Merlin, +born in Scotland, was named Celidonius, from the Celidonian wood +in which he prophesied; and Sylvester, because when engaged in +martial conflict, he discovered in the air a terrible monster, +and from that time grew mad, and taking shelter in a wood, passed +the remainder of his days in a savage state. This Merlin +lived in the time of king Arthur, and is said to have prophesied +more fully and explicitly than the other. I shall pass over +in silence what was done by the sons of Owen in our days, after +his death, or while he was dying, who, from the wicked desire of +reigning, totally disregarded the ties of fraternity; but I shall +not omit mentioning another event which occurred likewise in our +days. Owen, <a name="citation126"></a><a +href="#footnote126" class="citation">[126]</a> son of Gruffyth, +prince of North Wales, had many sons, but only one legitimate, +namely, Iorwerth Drwyndwn, which in Welsh means flat-nosed, who +had a son named Llewelyn. This young man, being only twelve +years of age, began, during the period of our journey, to molest +his uncles David and Roderic, the sons of Owen by Christiana, his +cousin-german; and although they had divided amongst themselves +all North Wales, except the land of Conan, and although David, +having married the sister of king Henry II., by whom he had one +son, was powerfully supported by the English, yet within a few +years the legitimate son, destitute of lands or money (by the aid +of divine vengeance), bravely expelled from North Wales those who +were born in public incest, though supported by their own wealth +and by that of <a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +127</span>others, leaving them nothing but what the liberality of +his own mind and the counsel of good men from pity suggested: a +proof that adulterous and incestuous persons are displeasing to +God.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE MOUNTAINS OF ERYRI</span></h3> +<p>I <span class="smcap">must</span> not pass over in silence the +mountains called by the Welsh Eryri, but by the English Snowdon, +or Mountains of Snow, which gradually increasing from the land of +the sons of Conan, and extending themselves northwards near +Deganwy, seem to rear their lofty summits even to the clouds, +when viewed from the opposite coast of Anglesey. They are +said to be of so great an extent, that according to an ancient +proverb, “As Mona could supply corn for all the inhabitants +of Wales, so could the Eryri mountains afford sufficient pasture +for all the herds, if collected together.” Hence +these lines of Virgil may be applied to them:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Et quantum longis carpent armenta +diebus,<br /> +Exigua tautum gelidus ros nocte reponet.”</p> +<p>“And what is cropt by day the night renews,<br /> +Shedding refreshful stores of cooling dews.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On the highest parts of these mountains are two lakes worthy +of admiration. The one has a floating island in it, which +is often driven from one side to the other by the force of the +winds; and the shepherds behold with astonishment their cattle, +whilst feeding, carried to the distant parts of the lake. A +part of the bank naturally bound together by the roots of willows +and other shrubs may have been broken off, and increased by the +alluvion of the earth from the shore; and being continually <a +name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 128</span>agitated by +the winds, which in so elevated a situation blow with great +violence, it cannot reunite itself firmly with the banks. +The other lake is noted for a wonderful and singular +miracle. It contains three sorts of fish—eels, trout, +and perch, all of which have only one eye, the left being +wanting; but if the curious reader should demand of me the +explanation of so extraordinary a circumstance, I cannot presume +to satisfy him. It is remarkable also, that in two places +in Scotland, one near the eastern, the other near the western +sea, the fish called mullets possess the same defect, having no +left eye. According to vulgar tradition, these mountains +are frequented by an eagle who, perching on a fatal stone every +fifth holiday, in order to satiate her hunger with the carcases +of the slain, is said to expect war on that same day, and to have +almost perforated the stone by cleaning and sharpening her +beak.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE PASSAGE BY DEGANWY AND RUTHLAN, AND +THE SEE OF LANELWY, AND OF COLESHULLE</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> crossed the river Conwy, <a +name="citation128a"></a><a href="#footnote128a" +class="citation">[128a]</a> or rather an arm of the sea, under +Deganwy, leaving the Cistercian monastery of Conwy <a +name="citation128b"></a><a href="#footnote128b" +class="citation">[128b]</a> on the western bank of the river to +our right hand, we arrived at Ruthlan, a noble castle on the <a +name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>river +Cloyd, belonging to David, the eldest son of Owen <a +name="citation129a"></a><a href="#footnote129a" +class="citation">[129a]</a> where, at the earnest invitation of +David himself, we were handsomely entertained that night.</p> +<p>There is a spring not far from Ruthlan, in the province of +Tegengel, <a name="citation129b"></a><a href="#footnote129b" +class="citation">[129b]</a> which not only regularly ebbs and +flows like the sea, twice in twenty-four hours, but at other +times frequently rises and falls both by night and day. +Trogus Pompeius says, “that there is a town of the +Garamantes, where there is a spring which is hot and cold +alternately by day and night.” <a +name="citation129c"></a><a href="#footnote129c" +class="citation">[129c]</a></p> +<p>Many persons in the morning having been persuaded to dedicate +themselves to the service of Christ, we proceeded from Ruthlan to +the small cathedral church of Lanelwy; <a +name="citation129d"></a><a href="#footnote129d" +class="citation">[129d]</a> from whence (the archbishop having +celebrated mass) we continued our journey through a country rich +in minerals of silver, where money is sought in the bowels of the +earth, to the little cell of Basinwerk, <a +name="citation129e"></a><a href="#footnote129e" +class="citation">[129e]</a> where we passed the night. The +following day we traversed a long quicksand, and not without some +degree of apprehension, leaving the woody district of Coleshulle, +<a name="citation129f"></a><a href="#footnote129f" +class="citation">[129f]</a> or hill of coal, on our right hand, +where Henry II., who in our time, actuated by youthful and +indiscreet ardour, made a hostile irruption into Wales, and +presuming to pass through that narrow and woody defile, +experienced a signal defeat, and a very heavy loss <a +name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>of men. <a +name="citation130"></a><a href="#footnote130" +class="citation">[130]</a> The aforesaid king invaded Wales +three times with an army; first, North Wales at the +above-mentioned place; secondly, South Wales, by the sea-coast of +Glamorgan and Goer, penetrating as far as Caermarddin and +Pencadair, and returning by Ellennith and Melenith; and thirdly, +the country of Powys, near Oswaldestree; but in all these +expeditions the king was unsuccessful, because he placed no +confidence in the prudent and well-informed chieftains of the +country, but was principally advised by people remote from the +marches, and ignorant of the manners and customs of the +natives. In every expedition, as the artificer is to be +trusted in his trade, so the advice of those people should be +consulted, who, by a long residence in the country, are become +conversant with the manners and customs of the natives; and to +whom it is of high importance that the power of the hostile +nation, with whom, by a long and continued warfare, they have +contracted an implacable enmity and hatred, should be weakened or +destroyed, as we have set forth in our Vaticinal History.</p> +<p>In this wood of Coleshulle, a young Welshman was killed while +passing through the king’s army; the greyhound who +accompanied him did not desert his master’s corpse for +eight days, though without food; but faithfully defended it from +the attacks of dogs, wolves, and birds of prey, with a wonderful +attachment. What son to his father, what Nisus to Euryalus, +what Polynices to Tydeus, what Orestes to Pylades, would have +shewn such an affectionate regard? As a mark of favour to +the dog, who was almost starved to death, the English, although +bitter enemies to the Welsh, ordered the body, now nearly putrid, +to be deposited in the ground with the accustomed offices of +humanity.</p> +<h3><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +131</span>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE PASSAGE OF THE RIVER DEE, AND OF +CHESTER</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> crossed the river Dee below +Chester, (which the Welsh call Doverdwy), on the third day before +Easter, or the day of absolution (holy Thursday), we reached +Chester. As the river Wye towards the south separates Wales +from England, so the Dee near Chester forms the northern +boundary. The inhabitants of these parts assert, that the +waters of this river change their fords every month, and, as it +inclines more towards England or Wales, they can, with certainty, +prognosticate which nation will be successful or unfortunate +during the year. This river derives its origin from the +lake Penmelesmere, <a name="citation131a"></a><a +href="#footnote131a" class="citation">[131a]</a> and, although it +abounds with salmon, yet none are found in the lake. It is +also remarkable, that this river is never swollen by rains, but +often rises by the violence of the winds.</p> +<p>Chester boasts of being the burial-place of Henry, <a +name="citation131b"></a><a href="#footnote131b" +class="citation">[131b]</a> a Roman emperor, who, after having +imprisoned his carnal and spiritual father, pope Paschal, gave +himself up to penitence; and, becoming a voluntary exile in this +country, ended his days in solitary retirement. It is also +asserted, that the remains of Harold are here deposited. He +was the last of the Saxon kings in England, and as a punishment +for his perjury, was defeated in the battle of Hastings, fought +against the Normans. Having received many wounds, and lost +his left eye by an <a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +132</span>arrow in that engagement, he is said to have escaped to +these parts, where, in holy conversation, leading the life of an +anchorite, and being a constant attendant at one of the churches +of this city, he is believed to have terminated his days happily. +<a name="citation132"></a><a href="#footnote132" +class="citation">[132]</a> The truth of these two +circumstances was declared (and not before known) by the dying +confession of each party. We saw here, what appeared novel +to us, cheese made of deer’s milk; for the countess and her +mother keeping tame deer, presented to the archbishop three small +cheeses made from their milk.</p> +<p>In this same country was produced, in our time, a cow +partaking of the nature of a stag, resembling its mother in the +fore parts and the stag in its hips, legs, and feet, and having +the skin and colour of the stag; but, partaking more of the +nature of the domestic than of the wild animal, it remained with +the herd of cattle. A bitch also was pregnant by a monkey, +and produced a litter of whelps resembling a monkey before, and +the dog behind; which the rustic keeper of the military hall +seeing with astonishment and abhorrence, immediately killed with +the stick he carried in his hand; thereby incurring the severe +resentment and anger of his lord, when the latter became +acquainted with the circumstance.</p> +<p>In our time, also, a woman was born in Chester without hands, +to whom nature had supplied a remedy for that defect by the +flexibility and delicacy of the joints of her feet, with which +she could sew, or perform any work with thread or scissors, as +well as other women.</p> +<h3><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +133</span>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE JOURNEY BY THE WHITE MONASTERY, +OSWALDESTREE, POWYS, AND SHREWSBURY</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> feast of Easter having been +observed with due solemnity, and many persons, by the +exhortations of the archbishop, signed with the cross, we +directed our way from Chester to the White Monastery, <a +name="citation133a"></a><a href="#footnote133a" +class="citation">[133a]</a> and from thence towards Oswaldestree; +where, on the very borders of Powys, we were met by Gruffydd son +of Madoc, and Elissa, princes of that country, and many others; +some few of whom having been persuaded to take the cross (for +several of the multitude had been previously signed by Reiner, <a +name="citation133b"></a><a href="#footnote133b" +class="citation">[133b]</a> the bishop of that place), Gruffydd, +prince of the district, publicly adjured, in the presence of the +archbishop, his cousin-german, Angharad, daughter of prince Owen, +whom, according to the vicious custom of the country, he had long +considered as his wife. We slept at Oswaldestree, or the +tree of St. Oswald, and were most sumptuously entertained after +the English manner, by William Fitz-Alan, <a +name="citation133c"></a><a href="#footnote133c" +class="citation">[133c]</a> a noble and liberal <a +name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>young +man. A short time before, whilst Reiner was preaching, a +robust youth being earnestly exhorted to follow the example of +his companions in taking the cross, answered, “I will not +follow your advice until, with this lance which I bear in my +hand, I shall have avenged the death of my lord,” alluding +to Owen, son of Madoc, a distinguished warrior, who had been +maliciously and treacherously slain by Owen Cyfeilioc, his +cousin-german; and while he was thus venting his anger and +revenge, and violently brandishing his lance, it suddenly snapped +asunder, and fell disjointed in several pieces to the ground, the +handle only remaining in his hand. Alarmed and astonished +at this omen, which he considered as a certain signal for his +taking the cross, he voluntarily offered his services.</p> +<p>In this third district of Wales, called Powys, there are most +excellent studs put apart for breeding, and deriving their origin +from some fine Spanish horses, which Robert de Belesme, <a +name="citation134a"></a><a href="#footnote134a" +class="citation">[134a]</a> earl of Shrewsbury, brought into this +country: on which account the horses sent from hence are +remarkable for their majestic proportion and astonishing +fleetness.</p> +<p>Here king Henry II. entered Powys, in our days, upon an +expensive, though fruitless, expedition. <a +name="citation134b"></a><a href="#footnote134b" +class="citation">[134b]</a> Having dismembered the hostages +whom he had previously received, he was compelled, by a sudden +and violent fall <a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +135</span>of rain, to retreat with his army. On the +preceding day, the chiefs of the English army had burned some of +the Welsh churches, with the villages and churchyards; upon which +the sons of Owen the Great, with their light-armed troops, +stirred up the resentment of their father and the other princes +of the country, declaring that they would never in future spare +any churches of the English. When nearly the whole army was +on the point of assenting to this determination, Owen, a man of +distinguished wisdom and moderation—the tumult being in +some degree subsided—thus spake: “My opinion, indeed, +by no means agrees with yours, for we ought to rejoice at this +conduct of our adversary; for, unless supported by divine +assistance, we are far inferior to the English; and they, by +their behaviour, have made God their enemy, who is able most +powerfully to avenge both himself and us. We therefore most +devoutly promise God that we will henceforth pay greater +reverence than ever to churches and holy places.” +After which, the English army, on the following night, +experienced (as has before been related) the divine +vengeance.</p> +<p>From Oswaldestree, we directed our course towards Shrewsbury +(<i>Salopesburia</i>), which is nearly surrounded by the river +Severn, where we remained a few days to rest and refresh +ourselves; and where many people were induced to take the cross, +through the elegant sermons of the archbishop and +archdeacon. We also excommunicated Owen de Cevelioc, +because he alone, amongst the Welsh princes, did not come to meet +the archbishop with his people. Owen was a man of more +fluent speech than his contemporary princes, and was conspicuous +for the good management of his territory. Having generally +favoured the royal cause, and opposed the measures of his own +chieftains, he had contracted a great familiarity with king Henry +II. Being with the king at table at Shrewsbury, Henry, as a +mark of peculiar honour and regard, sent him one of his own +loaves; he immediately brake it into small pieces, like +alms-bread, and having, <a name="page136"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 136</span>like an almoner, placed them at a +distance from him, he took them up one by one and ate them. +The king requiring an explanation of this proceeding, Owen, with +a smile, replied, “I thus follow the example of my +lord;” keenly alluding to the avaricious disposition of the +king, who was accustomed to retain for a long time in his own +hands the vacant ecclesiastical benefices.</p> +<p>It is to be remarked that three princes, <a +name="citation136"></a><a href="#footnote136" +class="citation">[136]</a> distinguished for their justice, +wisdom, and princely moderation, ruled, <a +name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>in our +time, over the three provinces of Wales: Owen, son of Gruffydd, +in Venedotia, or North Wales; Meredyth, his grandson, son of +Gruffydd, who died early in life, in South Wales; and Owen de +Cevelioc, in Powys. But two other princes were highly +celebrated for their generosity; Cadwalader, son of Gruffydd, in +North Wales, and Gruffydd of Maelor, son of Madoc, in Powys; and +Rhys, son of Gruffydd, in South Wales, deserved commendation for +his enterprising and independent spirit. In North Wales, +David, son of Owen, and on the borders of Morgannoc, in South +Wales, Howel, son of Iorwerth of Caerleon, maintained their good +faith and credit, by observing a strict neutrality between the +Welsh and English.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE JOURNEY BY WENLOCH, BRUMFELD, THE +CASTLE OF LUDLOW, AND LEOMINSTER, TO HEREFORD</span></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> Shrewsbury, we continued our +journey towards Wenloch, by a narrow and rugged way, called +Evil-street, where, in our time, a Jew, travelling with the +archdeacon of the place, whose name was Sin (<i>Peccatum</i>), +and the dean, whose name was Devil, towards Shrewsbury, hearing +the archdeacon say, that his archdeaconry began at a place called +Evil-street, and extended as far as Mal-pas, towards Chester, +pleasantly told them, “It would be a miracle, if his fate +brought him safe out of a country, whose archdeacon was Sin, +whose dean the devil; the entrance to the archdeaconry +Evil-street, and its exit Bad-pass.” <a +name="citation137"></a><a href="#footnote137" +class="citation">[137]</a></p> +<p>From Wenloch, we passed by the little cell of Brumfeld, <a +name="citation138"></a><a href="#footnote138" +class="citation">[138]</a> <a name="page138"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 138</span>the noble castle of Ludlow, through +Leominster to Hereford leaving on our right hand the districts of +Melenyth and Elvel; thus (describing as it were a circle) we came +to the same point from which we had commenced this laborious +journey through Wales.</p> +<p>During this long and laudable legation, about three thousand +men were signed with the cross; well skilled in the use of arrows +and lances, and versed in military matters; impatient to attack +the enemies of the faith; profitably and happily engaged for the +service of Christ, if the expedition of the Holy Cross had been +forwarded with an alacrity equal to the diligence and devotion +with which the forces were collected. But by the secret, +though never unjust, judgment of God, the journey of the Roman +emperor was delayed, and dissensions arose amongst our +kings. The premature and fatal hand of death arrested the +king of Sicily, who had been the foremost sovereign in supplying +the holy land with corn and provisions during the period of their +distress. In consequence of his death, violent contentions +arose amongst our princes respecting their several rights to the +kingdom; and the faithful beyond sea suffered severely by want +and famine, surrounded on all sides by enemies, and most +anxiously waiting for supplies. But as affliction may +strengthen the understanding, as gold is tried by fire, and +virtue may be confirmed in weakness, these things are suffered to +happen; since adversity (as Gregory testifies) opposed to good +prayers is the probation of virtue, not the judgment of +reproof. For who does not know how fortunate a circumstance +it was that <a name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +139</span>Paul went to Italy, and suffered so dreadful a +shipwreck? But the ship of his heart remained unbroken +amidst the waves of the sea.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">A DESCRIPTION OF BALDWIN, ARCHBISHOP OF +CANTERBURY</span> <a name="citation139"></a><a +href="#footnote139" class="citation">[139]</a></h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Let</span> it not be thought superfluous +to describe the exterior and inward qualities of that person, the +particulars of whose embassy, and as it were holy peregrination, +we have briefly and succinctly related. He was a man of a +dark complexion, of an open and venerable countenance, of a +moderate stature, a good person, and rather inclined to be thin +than corpulent. He was a modest and grave man, of so great +abstinence and continence, that ill report scarcely ever presumed +to say any thing against him; a man of few words; slow to anger, +temperate and moderate in all his passions and affections; swift +to hear, slow to speak; he was from an early age well instructed +in literature, and bearing the yoke of the Lord from his youth, +by the purity of his morals became a distinguished luminary to +the people; wherefore voluntarily resigning the honour of the +archlevite, <a name="citation140"></a><a href="#footnote140" +class="citation">[140]</a> <a name="page140"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 140</span>which he had canonically obtained, +and despising the pomps and vanities of the world, he assumed +with holy devotion the habit of the Cistercian order; and as he +had been formerly more than a monk in his manners, within the +space of a year he was appointed abbot, and in a few years +afterwards preferred first to a bishopric, and then to an +archbishopric; and having been found faithful in a little, had +authority given him over much. But, as Cicero says, +“Nature had made nothing entirely perfect;” when he +came into power, not laying aside that sweet innate benignity +which he had always shewn when a private man, sustaining his +people with his staff rather than chastising them with rods, +feeding them as it were with the milk of a mother, and not making +use of the scourges of the father, he incurred public scandal for +his remissness. So great was his lenity that he put an end +to all pastoral rigour; and was a better monk than abbot, a +better bishop than archbishop. Hence pope Urban addressed +him; “Urban, servant of the servants of God, to the most +fervent monk, to the warm abbot, to the luke-warm bishop, to the +remiss archbishop, health, etc.”</p> +<p>This second successor to the martyr Thomas, having heard of +the insults offered to our Saviour and his holy cross, was +amongst the first who signed themselves with the cross, and +manfully assumed the office of preaching its service both at home +and in the most remote parts of the kingdom. Pursuing his +journey to the Holy Land, he embarked on board a vessel at +Marseilles, and landed safely in a port at Tyre, from whence he +proceeded to Acre, where he found our army both attacking and +attacked, our forces dispirited by the defection of the princes, +and thrown into a state of desolation and despair; fatigued by +long expectation of supplies, greatly afflicted by hunger and +want, and distempered by the inclemency of the air: finding his +end approaching, <a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span>he embraced his fellow subjects, relieving their wants +by liberal acts of charity and pious exhortations, and by the +tenor of his life and actions strengthened them in the faith; +whose ways, life, and deeds, may he who is alone the “way, +the truth, and the life,” the way without offence, the +truth without doubt, and the life without end, direct in truth, +together with the whole body of the faithful, and for the glory +of his name and the palm of faith which he hath planted, teach +their hands to war, and their fingers to fight.</p> +<h2>FOOTNOTES:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote0a"></a><a href="#citation0a" +class="footnote">[0a]</a> It is a somewhat curious +coincidence that the island of Barry is now owned by a descendant +of Gerald de Windor’s elder brother—the Earl of +Plymouth.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0b"></a><a href="#citation0b" +class="footnote">[0b]</a> “Mirror of the +Church,” ii. 33.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0c"></a><a href="#citation0c" +class="footnote">[0c]</a> “Social England,” +vol. i. p. 342.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0d"></a><a href="#citation0d" +class="footnote">[0d]</a> Published in the first instance +in the “Transactions of the Cymmrodaian Society,” and +subsequently amplified and brought out in book form.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0e"></a><a href="#citation0e" +class="footnote">[0e]</a> Introduction to Borrow’s +“Wild Wales” in the Everyman Series.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0f"></a><a href="#citation0f" +class="footnote">[0f]</a> Geoffrey, who ended his life as +Bishop of St. Asaph, was supposed to have found the material for +his “History of the British Kings” in a Welsh book, +containing a history of the Britons, which Waltor Colenius, +Archdeacon of Oxford, picked up during a journey in Brittany.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0g"></a><a href="#citation0g" +class="footnote">[0g]</a> Walter Map, another Archdeacon of +Oxford, was born in Glamorganshire, the son of a Norman knight by +a Welsh mother. <i>Inter alia</i> he was the author of a +Welsh work on agriculture.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0h"></a><a href="#citation0h" +class="footnote">[0h]</a> Green, “Hist. Eng. +People,” i. 172.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0i"></a><a href="#citation0i" +class="footnote">[0i]</a> “England under the Angevin +Kings,” vol. ii. 457.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0j"></a><a href="#citation0j" +class="footnote">[0j]</a> Project Gutenberg has released +“The Description of Wales” as a separate +eText—David Price.</p> +<p><a name="footnote11"></a><a href="#citation11" +class="footnote">[11]</a> Giraldus has committed an error +in placing Urban III. at the head of the apostolic see; for he +died at Ferrara in the month of October, <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1187, and was succeeded by Gregory +VIII., whose short reign expired in the month of December +following. Clement III. was elected pontiff in the year +1188. Frederick I., surnamed Barbarossa, succeeded Conrad +III. in the empire of Germany, in March, 1152, and was drowned in +a river of Cilicia whilst bathing, in 1190. Isaac Angelus +succeeded Andronicus I. as emperor of Constantinople, in 1185, +and was dethroned in 1195. Philip II., surnamed Augustus, +from his having been born in the month of August, was crowned at +Rheims, in 1179, and died at Mantes, in 1223. William II., king +of Sicily, surnamed the Good, succeeded in 1166 to his father, +William the Bad, and died in 1189. Bela III., king of +Hungary, succeeded to the throne in 1174, and died in 1196. +Guy de Lusignan was crowned king of Jerusalem in 1186, and in the +following year his city was taken by the victorious Saladin.</p> +<p><a name="footnote12a"></a><a href="#citation12a" +class="footnote">[12a]</a> New Radnor.</p> +<p><a name="footnote12b"></a><a href="#citation12b" +class="footnote">[12b]</a> Rhys ap Gruffydd was grandson to +Rhys ap Tewdwr, prince of South Wales, who, in 1090, was slain in +an engagement with the Normans. He was a prince of great +talent, but great versatility of character, and made a +conspicuous figure in Welsh history. He died in 1196, and +was buried in the cathedral of St. David’s; where his +effigy, as well as that of his son Rhys Gryg, still remain in a +good state of preservation.</p> +<p><a name="footnote12c"></a><a href="#citation12c" +class="footnote">[12c]</a> Peter de Leia, prior of the +Benedictine monastery of Wenlock, in Shropshire, was the +successful rival of Giraldus for the bishopric of Saint +David’s, vacant by the death of David Fitzgerald, the uncle +of our author; but he did not obtain his promotion without +considerable opposition from the canons, who submitted to the +absolute sequestration of their property before they consented to +his election, being desirous that the nephew should have +succeeded his uncle. He was consecrated in 1176, and died +in 1199.</p> +<p><a name="footnote12d"></a><a href="#citation12d" +class="footnote">[12d]</a> In the Latin of Giraldus, the +name of Eineon is represented by Æneas, and Eineon Clyd by +Æneas Claudius.</p> +<p><a name="footnote13"></a><a href="#citation13" +class="footnote">[13]</a> Cruker Castle. The +corresponding distance between Old and New Radnor evidently +places this castle at Old Radnor, which was anciently called +Pen-y-craig, Pencraig, or Pen-crûg, from its situation on a +rocky eminence. Cruker is a corruption, probably, from +Crûg-caerau, the mount, or height, of the +fortifications.</p> +<p><a name="footnote14a"></a><a href="#citation14a" +class="footnote">[14a]</a> Buelth or Builth, a large market +town on the north-west edge of the county of Brecon, on the +southern banks of the Wye, over which there is a long and +handsome bridge of stone. It had formerly a strong castle, +the site and earthworks of which still remain, but the building +is destroyed.</p> +<p><a name="footnote14b"></a><a href="#citation14b" +class="footnote">[14b]</a> Llan-Avan, a small church at the +foot of barren mountains about five or six miles north-west of +Buelth. The saint from whom it takes its name, was one of +the sons of Cedig ab Cunedda; whose ancestor, Cunedda, king of +the Britons, was the head of one of the three holy families of +Britain. He is said to have lived in the beginning of the +sixth century.</p> +<p><a name="footnote14c"></a><a href="#citation14c" +class="footnote">[14c]</a> Melenia, Warthrenion, Elevein, +Elvenia, Melenyth, and Elvein, places mentioned in this first +chapter, and varying in their orthography, were three different +districts in Radnorshire: Melenyth is a hundred in the northern +part of the county, extending into Montgomeryshire, in which is +the church of Keri: Elvein retains in modern days the name of +Elvel, and is a hundred in the southern part of the county, +separated from Brecknockshire by the Wye; and Warthrenion, in +which was the castle built by prince Rhys at Rhaiadyr-gwy, seems +to have been situated between the other two. Warthrenion +may more properly be called Gwyrthrynion, it was anciently one of +the three comots of Arwystli, a cantref of Merioneth. In +the year 1174, Melyenith was in the possession of Cadwallon ap +Madawc, cousin german to prince Rhys; Elvel was held by Eineon +Clyd and Gwyrthrynion by Eineon ap Rhys, both sons-in-law to that +illustrious prince.</p> +<p><a name="footnote15a"></a><a href="#citation15a" +class="footnote">[15a]</a> The church of Saint Germanus is +now known by the name of Saint Harmans, and is situated three or +four miles from Rhaiadyr, in Radnorshire, on the right-hand of +the road from thence to Llanidloes; it is a small and simple +structure, placed on a little eminence, in a dreary plain +surrounded by mountains.</p> +<p><a name="footnote15b"></a><a href="#citation15b" +class="footnote">[15b]</a> Several churches in Wales have +been dedicated to Saint Curig, who came into Wales in the seventh +century.</p> +<p><a name="footnote16a"></a><a href="#citation16a" +class="footnote">[16a]</a> Glascum is a small village in a +mountainous and retired situation between Builth and Kington, in +Herefordshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote16b"></a><a href="#citation16b" +class="footnote">[16b]</a> Bangu.—This was a hand +bell kept in all the Welsh churches, which the clerk or sexton +took to the house of the deceased on the day of the funeral: when +the procession began, a psalm was sung; the bellman then sounded +his bell in a solemn manner for some time, till another psalm was +concluded; and he again sounded it at intervals, till the funeral +arrived at the church.</p> +<p><a name="footnote16c"></a><a href="#citation16c" +class="footnote">[16c]</a> Rhaiadyr, called also +Rhaiader-gwy, is a small village and market-town in +Radnorshire. The site only of the castle, built by prince +Rhys, <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1178, now remains at a +short distance from the village; it was strongly situated on a +natural rock above the river Wye, which, below the bridge, forms +a cataract.</p> +<p><a name="footnote16d"></a><a href="#citation16d" +class="footnote">[16d]</a> Llywel, a small village about a +mile from Trecastle, on the great road leading from thence to +Llandovery; it was anciently a township, and by charter of Philip +and Mary was attached to the borough of Brecknock, by the name of +Trecastle ward.</p> +<p><a name="footnote17"></a><a href="#citation17" +class="footnote">[17]</a> Leland, in his description of +this part of Wales, mentions a lake in Low Elvel, or Elvenia, +which may perhaps be the same as that alluded to in this passage +of Giraldus. “There is a llinne in Low Elvel within a +mile of Payne’s castel by the church called Lanpeder. +The llinne is caullid Bougklline, and is of no great quantite, +but is plentiful of pike, and perche, and +eles.”—<i>Leland</i>, <i>Itin.</i> tom. v. p. 72.</p> +<p><a name="footnote18a"></a><a href="#citation18a" +class="footnote">[18a]</a> Hay.—A pleasant +market-town on the southern banks of the river Wye, over which +there is a bridge. It still retains some marks of baronial +antiquity in the old castle, within the present town, the gateway +of which is tolerably perfect. A high raised tumulus +adjoining the church marks the site of the more ancient +fortress. The more modern and spacious castle owes its +foundation probably to one of those Norman lords, who, about the +year 1090, conquered this part of Wales. Little notice is +taken of this castle in the Welsh chronicles; but we are informed +that it was destroyed in 1231, by Henry II., and that it was +refortified by Henry III.</p> +<p><a name="footnote18b"></a><a href="#citation18b" +class="footnote">[18b]</a> Llanddew, a small village, about +two miles from Brecknock, on the left of the road leading from +thence to Hay; its manor belongs to the bishops of Saint +David’s, who had formerly a castellated mansion there, of +which some ruins still remain. The tithes of this parish +are appropriated to the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and here was +the residence of our author Giraldus, which he mentions in +several of his writings, and alludes to with heartfelt +satisfaction at the end of the third chapter of this +Itinerary.</p> +<p><a name="footnote18c"></a><a href="#citation18c" +class="footnote">[18c]</a> Aberhodni, the ancient name of +the town and castle of Brecknock, derived from its situation at +the confluence of the river Hodni with the Usk. The castle +and two religious buildings, of which the remains are still +extant, owed their foundation to Bernard de Newmarch, a Norman +knight, who, in the year 1090, obtained by conquest the lordship +of Brecknock. [The modern Welsh name is Aberhonddu.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote19a"></a><a href="#citation19a" +class="footnote">[19a]</a> Iestyn ap Gwrgant was lord of +the province of Morganwg, or Glamorgan, and a formidable rival to +Rhys ap Tewdwr, prince of South Wales; but unable to cope with +him in power, he prevailed on Robert Fitzhamon, a Norman knight, +to come to his assistance.</p> +<p><a name="footnote19b"></a><a href="#citation19b" +class="footnote">[19b]</a> This little river rises near the +ruins of Blanllyfni castle, between Llangorse pool and the +turnpike road leading from Brecknock to Abergavenny, and empties +itself into the river Usk, near Glasbury.</p> +<p><a name="footnote19c"></a><a href="#citation19c" +class="footnote">[19c]</a> A pretty little village on the +southern banks of the Usk, about four miles from Hay, on the road +leading to Brecknock.</p> +<p><a name="footnote19d"></a><a href="#citation19d" +class="footnote">[19d]</a> The great desolation here +alluded to, is attributed by Dr. Powel to Howel and Meredyth, +sons of Edwyn ap Eineon; not to Howel, son of Meredith. In +the year 1021, they conspired against Llewelyn ap Sitsyllt, and +slew him: Meredith was slain in 1033, and Howel in 1043.</p> +<p><a name="footnote19e"></a><a href="#citation19e" +class="footnote">[19e]</a> William de Breusa, or Braose, +was by extraction a Norman, and had extensive possessions in +England, as well as Normandy: he was succeeded by his son Philip, +who, in the reign of William Rufus, favoured the cause of king +Henry against Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy; and being +afterwards rebellious to his sovereign, was disinherited of his +lands. By his marriage with Berta, daughter of Milo, earl +of Hereford, he gained a rich inheritance in Brecknock, Overwent, +and Gower. He left issue two sons: William and Philip: +William married Maude de Saint Wallery, and succeeded to the +great estate of his father and mother, which he kept in peaceable +possession during the reigns of king Henry II. and king Richard +I. In order to avoid the persecutions of king John, he +retired with his family to Ireland; and from thence returned into +Wales; on hearing of the king’s arrival in Ireland, his +wife Maude fled with her sons into Scotland, where she was taken +prisoner, and in the year 1210 committed, with William, her son +and heir, to Corf castle, and there miserably starved to death, +by order of king John; her husband, William de Braose, escaped +into France, disguised, and dying there, was buried in the abbey +church of Saint Victor, at Paris. The family of Saint +Walery, or Valery, derived their name from a sea-port in +France.</p> +<p><a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21" +class="footnote">[21]</a> A small church dedicated to Saint +David, in the suburbs of Brecknock, on the great road leading +from thence to Trecastle. “The paroche of Llanvays, +Llan-chirch-Vais extra, ac si diceres, extra muros. It +standeth betwixt the river of Uske and Tyrtorelle brooke, that +is, about the lower ende of the town of +Brekenok.”—<i>Leland</i>, <i>Itin.</i> tom. v. p. +69.</p> +<p><a name="footnote22a"></a><a href="#citation22a" +class="footnote">[22a]</a> David Fitzgerald was promoted to +the see of Saint David’s in 1147, or according to others, +in 1149. He died <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> +1176.</p> +<p><a name="footnote22b"></a><a href="#citation22b" +class="footnote">[22b]</a> Now Howden, in the East Riding +of Yorkshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote22c"></a><a href="#citation22c" +class="footnote">[22c]</a> Osred was king of the +Northumbrians, and son of Alfred. He commenced to reign in +<span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 791, but was deprived of his +crown the following year.</p> +<p><a name="footnote23a"></a><a href="#citation23a" +class="footnote">[23a]</a> St. Kenelm was the only son and +heir of Kenulfus, king of the Mercians, who left him under the +care of his two sisters, Quendreda and Bragenilda. The +former, blinded by ambition, resolved to destroy the innocent +child, who stood between her and the throne; and for that purpose +prevailed on Ascebert, who attended constantly on the king, to +murder him privately, giving him hopes, in case he complied with +her wishes, of making him her partner in the kingdom. Under +the pretence of diverting his young master, this wicked servant +led him into a retired vale at Clent, in Staffordshire, and +having murdered him, dug a pit, and cast his body into it, which +was discovered by a miracle, and carried in solemn procession to +the abbey of Winchelcomb. In the parish of Clent is a small +chapel dedicated to this saint.</p> +<p><a name="footnote23b"></a><a href="#citation23b" +class="footnote">[23b]</a> Winchelcumbe, or Winchcomb, in +the lower part of the hundred of Kiftsgate, in Gloucestershire, a +few miles to the north of Cheltenham.</p> +<p><a name="footnote24"></a><a href="#citation24" +class="footnote">[24]</a> St. Kynauc, who flourished about +the year 492, was the reputed son of Brychan, lord of Brecknock, +by Benadulved, daughter of Benadyl, a prince of Powis, whom he +seduced during the time of his detention as an hostage at the +court of her father. He is said to have been murdered upon +the mountain called the Van, and buried in the church of Merthyr +Cynawg, or Cynawg the Martyr, near Brecknock, which is dedicated +to his memory.</p> +<p><a name="footnote25a"></a><a href="#citation25a" +class="footnote">[25a]</a> In Welsh, Illtyd, which has been +latinised into Iltutus, as in the instance of St. Iltutus, the +celebrated disciple of Germanus, and the master of the learned +Gildas, who founded a college for the instruction of youth at +Llantwit, on the coast of Glamorganshire; but I do not conceive +this to be the same person. The name of Ty-Illtyd, or St. +Illtyd’s house, is still known as Llanamllech, but it is +applied to one of those monuments of Druidical antiquity called a +cistvaen, erected upon an eminence named Maenest, at a short +distance from the village. A rude, upright stone stood +formerly on one side of it, and was called by the country people +Maen Illtyd, or Illtyd’s stone, but was removed about a +century ago. A well, the stream of which divides this +parish from the neighbouring one of Llansaintfraid, is called +Ffynnon Illtyd, or Illtyd’s well. This was evidently +the site of the hermitage mentioned by Giraldus.</p> +<p><a name="footnote25b"></a><a href="#citation25b" +class="footnote">[25b]</a> Lhanhamelach, or Llanamllech, is +a small village, three miles from Brecknock, on the road to +Abergavenny.</p> +<p><a name="footnote26a"></a><a href="#citation26a" +class="footnote">[26a]</a> The name of Newmarche appears in +the chartulary of Battel abbey, as a witness to one of the +charters granted by William the Conqueror to the monks of Battel +in Sussex, upon his foundation of their house. He obtained +the territory of Brecknock by conquest, from Bleddyn ap Maenarch, +the Welsh regulus thereof, about the year 1092, soon after his +countryman, Robert Fitzhamon, had reduced the county of +Glamorgan. He built the present town of Brecknock, where he +also founded a priory of Benedictine monks. According to +Leland, he was buried in the cloister of the cathedral church at +Gloucester, though the mutilated remains of an effigy and +monument are still ascribed to him in the priory church at +Brecknock.</p> +<p><a name="footnote26b"></a><a href="#citation26b" +class="footnote">[26b]</a> Brecheinoc, now Brecknockshire, +had three cantreds or hundreds, and eight comots.—1. +Cantref Selef with the comots of Selef and Trahayern.—2. +Cantref Canol, or the middle hundred, with the comots Talgarth, +Ystradwy, and Brwynlys, or Eglyws Yail.—3. Cantref Mawr, or +the great hundred, with the comots of Tir Raulff Llywel, and +Cerrig Howel.—Powel’s description of Wales, p. +20.</p> +<p><a name="footnote27"></a><a href="#citation27" +class="footnote">[27]</a> Milo was son to Walter, constable +of England in the reign of Henry I., and Emme his wife, one of +the daughters of Dru de Baladun, sister to Hameline de Baladun, a +person of great note, who came into England with William the +Conqueror, and, being the first lord of Overwent in the county of +Monmouth, built the castle of Abergavenny. He was wounded +by an arrow while hunting, on Christmas eve, in 1144, and was +buried in the chapter-house of Lanthoni, near Gloucester.</p> +<p><a name="footnote28a"></a><a href="#citation28a" +class="footnote">[28a]</a> Walter de Clifford. The +first of this ancient family was called Ponce; he had issue three +sons, Walter, Drogo or Dru, and Richard. The +Conqueror’s survey takes notice of the two former, but from +Richard the genealogical line is preserved, who, being called +Richard de Pwns, obtained, as a gift from king Henry I., the +cantref Bychan, or little hundred, and the castle of Llandovery, +in Wales; he left three sons, Simon, Walter, and Richard. +The Walter de Clifford here mentioned was father to the +celebrated Fair Rosamond, the favourite of king Henry II.; and +was succeeded by his eldest son, Walter, who married Margaret, +daughter to Llewelyn, prince of Wales, and widow of John de +Braose.</p> +<p><a name="footnote28b"></a><a href="#citation28b" +class="footnote">[28b]</a> Brendlais, or Brynllys, is a +small village on the road between Brecknock and Hay, where a +stately round tower marks the site of the ancient castle of the +Cliffords, in which the tyrant Mahel lost his life.</p> +<p><a name="footnote29a"></a><a href="#citation29a" +class="footnote">[29a]</a> St. Almedha, though not included +in the ordinary lists, is said to have been a daughter of +Brychan, and sister to St. Canoc, and to have borne the name of +Elevetha, Aled, or Elyned, latinised into Almedha. The +Welsh genealogists say, that she suffered martyrdom on a hill +near Brecknock, where a chapel was erected to her memory; and +William of Worcester says she was buried at Usk. Mr. Hugh +Thomas (who wrote an essay towards the history of Brecknockshire +in the year 1698) speaks of the chapel as standing, though +unroofed and useless, in his time; the people thereabouts call it +St. Tayled. It was situated on an eminence, about a mile to +the eastward of Brecknock, and about half a mile from a +farm-house, formerly the mansion and residence of the Aubreys, +lords of the manor of Slwch, which lordship was bestowed upon Sir +Reginald Awbrey by Bernard Newmarche, in the reign of William +Rufus. Some small vestiges of this building may still be +traced, and an aged yew tree, with a well at its foot, marks the +site near which the chapel formerly stood.</p> +<p><a name="footnote29b"></a><a href="#citation29b" +class="footnote">[29b]</a> This same habit is still (in Sir +Richard Colt Hoare’s time) used by the Welsh ploughboys; +they have a sort of chaunt, consisting of half or even quarter +notes, which is sung to the oxen at plough: the countrymen +vulgarly supposing that the beasts are consoled to work more +regularly and patiently by such a lullaby.</p> +<p><a name="footnote30a"></a><a href="#citation30a" +class="footnote">[30a]</a> The umber, or grayling, is still +a plentiful and favourite fish in the rivers on the Welsh +border.</p> +<p><a name="footnote30b"></a><a href="#citation30b" +class="footnote">[30b]</a> About the year 1113, +“there was a talke through South Wales, of Gruffyth, the +sonne of Rees ap Theodor, who, for feare of the king, had beene +of a child brought up in Ireland, and had come over two yeares +passed, which time he had spent privilie with his freends, +kinsfolks, and affines; as with Gerald, steward of Penbrooke, his +brother-in-law, and others. But at the last he was accused +to the king, that he intended the kingdome of South Wales as his +father had enjoied it, which was now in the king’s hands; +and that all the countrie hoped of libertie through him; +therefore the king sent to take him. But Gryffyth ap Rees +hering this, sent to Gruffyth ap Conan, prince of North Wales, +desiring him of his aid, and that he might remaine safelie within +his countrie; which he granted, and received him joiouslie for +his father’s sake.” He afterwards proved so +troublesome and successful an antagonist, that the king +endeavoured by every possible means to get him into his +power. To Gruffyth ap Conan he offered “mountaines of +gold to send the said Gruffyth or his head to him.” +And at a subsequent period, he sent for Owen ap-Cadogan said to +him, “Owen, I have found thee true and faithful unto me, +therefore I desire thee to take or kill that murtherer, that doth +so trouble my loving subjects.” But Gruffyth escaped +all the snares which the king had laid for him, and in the year +1137 died a natural and honourable death; he is styled in the +Welsh chronicle, “the light, honor, and staie of South +Wales;” and distinguished as the bravest, the wisest, the +most merciful, liberal, and just, of all the princes of +Wales. By his wife Gwenllian, the daughter of Gruffyth ap +Conan, he left a son, commonly called the lord Rhys, who met the +archbishop at Radnor, as is related in the first chapter of this +Itinerary.</p> +<p><a name="footnote31"></a><a href="#citation31" +class="footnote">[31]</a> This cantref, which now bears the +name of Caeo, is placed, according to the ancient divisions of +Wales, in the cantref Bychan, or little hundred, and not in the +Cantref Mawr, or great hundred. A village between Lampeter +in Cardiganshire and Llandovery in Caermarthenshire, still bears +the name of Cynwil Caeo, and, from its picturesque situation and +the remains of its mines, which were probably worked by the +Romans, deserves the notice of the curious traveller.</p> +<p><a name="footnote32"></a><a href="#citation32" +class="footnote">[32]</a> The lake of Brecheinoc bears the +several names of Llyn Savaddan, Brecinau-mere, Llangorse, and +Talyllyn Pool, the two latter of which are derived from the names +of parishes on its banks. It is a large, though by no means +a beautiful, piece of water, its banks being low and flat, and +covered with rushes and other aquatic plants to a considerable +distance from the shore. Pike, perch, and eels are the +common fish of this water; tench and trout are rarely, I believe, +(if ever), taken in it. The notion of its having swallowed +up an ancient city is not yet quite exploded by the natives; and +some will even attribute the name of Loventium to it; which is +with much greater certainty fixed at Llanio-isau, between +Lampeter and Tregaron, in Cardiganshire, on the northern banks of +the river Teivi, where there are very considerable and undoubted +remains of a large Roman city. The legend of the town at +the bottom of the lake is at the same time very old.</p> +<p><a name="footnote33a"></a><a href="#citation33a" +class="footnote">[33a]</a> That chain of mountains which +divides Brecknockshire from Caermarthenshire, over which the +turnpike road formerly passed from Trecastle to Llandovery, and +from which the river Usk derives its source.</p> +<p><a name="footnote33b"></a><a href="#citation33b" +class="footnote">[33b]</a> This mountain is now called, by +way of eminence, the Van, or the height, but more commonly, by +country people, Bannau Brycheinog, or the Brecknock heights, +alluding to its two peaks. Our author, Giraldus, seems to +have taken his account of the spring, on the summit of this +mountain, from report, rather than from ocular testimony. I +(Sir R. Colt Hoare) examined the summits of each peak very +attentively, and could discern no spring whatever. The soil +is peaty and very boggy. On the declivity of the southern +side of the mountain, and at no considerable distance from the +summit, is a spring of very fine water, which my guide assured me +never failed. On the north-west side of the mountain is a +round pool, in which possibly trout may have been sometimes +found, but, from the muddy nature of its waters, I do not think +it very probable; from this pool issues a small brook, which +falls precipitously down the sides of the mountain, and pursuing +its course through a narrow and well-wooded valley, forms a +pretty cascade near a rustic bridge which traverses it. I +am rather inclined think, that Giraldus confounded in his account +the spring and the pool together.</p> +<p><a name="footnote34a"></a><a href="#citation34a" +class="footnote">[34a]</a> The first of these are now +styled the Black Mountains, of which the Gadair Fawr is the +principal, and is only secondary to the Van in height. The +Black Mountains are an extensive range of hills rising to the +east of Talgarth, in the several parishes of Talgarth, Llaneliew, +and Llanigorn, in the county of Brecknock, and connected with the +heights of Ewyas. The most elevated point is called Y +Gadair, and, excepting the Brecknock Van (the Cadair Arthur of +Giraldus), is esteemed the highest mountain in South Wales. +The mountains of Ewyas are those now called the Hatterel Hills, +rising above the monastery of Llanthoni, and joining the Black +Mountains of Talgarth at Capel y Ffin, or the chapel upon the +boundary, near which the counties of Hereford, Brecknock, and +Monmouth form a point of union. But English writers have +generally confounded all distinction, calling them +indiscriminately the Black Mountains, or the Hatterel Hills.</p> +<p><a name="footnote34b"></a><a href="#citation34b" +class="footnote">[34b]</a> If we consider the circumstances +of this chapter, it will appear very evidently, that the vale of +Ewyas made no part of the actual Itinerary.</p> +<p><a name="footnote35"></a><a href="#citation35" +class="footnote">[35]</a> Landewi Nant Hodeni, or the +church of St. David on the Hodni, is now better known by the name +of Llanthoni abbey. A small and rustic chapel, dedicated to +St. David, at first occupied the site of this abbey; in the year +1103, William de Laci, a Norman knight, having renounced the +pleasures of the world, retired to this sequestered spot, where +he was joined in his austere profession by Ernicius, chaplain to +queen Maude. In the year 1108, these hermits erected a mean +church in the place of their hermitage, which was consecrated by +Urban, bishop of Llandaff, and Rameline, bishop of Hereford, and +dedicated to St. John the Baptist: having afterward received very +considerable benefactions from Hugh de Laci, and gained the +consent of Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, these same hermits +founded a magnificent monastery for Black canons, of the order of +St. Augustine, which they immediately filled with forty monks +collected from the monasteries of the Holy Trinity in London, +Merton in Surrey, and Colchester in Essex. They afterwards +removed to Gloucester, where they built a church and spacious +monastery, which, after the name of their former residence, they +called Llanthoni; it was consecrated <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1136, by Simon, bishop of Worcester, +and Robert Betun bishop of Hereford, and dedicated to the Virgin +Mary.</p> +<p><a name="footnote36a"></a><a href="#citation36a" +class="footnote">[36a]</a> The titles of mother and +daughter are here applied to the mother church in Wales, and the +daughter near Gloucester.</p> +<p><a name="footnote36b"></a><a href="#citation36b" +class="footnote">[36b]</a> William of Wycumb, the fourth +prior of Llanthoni, succeeded to Robert de Braci, who was obliged +to quit the monastery, on account of the hostile molestation it +received from the Welsh. To him succeeded Clement, the +sub-prior, and to Clement, Roger de Norwich.</p> +<p><a name="footnote38"></a><a href="#citation38" +class="footnote">[38]</a> Walter de Laci came into England +with William the Conqueror, and left three sons, Roger, Hugh, and +Walter. Hugh de Laci was the lord of Ewyas, and became +afterwards the founder of the convent of Llanthoni; his elder +brother, Robert, held also four caracutes of land within the +limits of the castle of Ewyas, which king William had bestowed on +Walter, his father; but joining in rebellion against William +Rufus, he was banished the kingdom, and all his lands were given +to his brother Hugh, who died without issue.</p> +<p><a name="footnote41"></a><a href="#citation41" +class="footnote">[41]</a> This anecdote is thus related by +the historian Hollinshed: “Hereof it came on a time, whiles +the king sojourned in France about his warres, which he held +against king Philip, there came unto him a French priest, whose +name was Fulco, who required the king in anywise to put from him +three abominable daughters which he had, and to bestow them in +marriage, least God punished him for them. ‘Thou +liest, hypocrite (said the king), to thy verie face; for all the +world knoweth I have not one daughter.’ ‘I lie +not (said the priest), for thou hast three daughters: one of them +is called Pride, the second Covetousness, and the third +Lecherie.’ With that the king called to him his lords +and barons, and said to them, ‘This hypocrite heere hath +required me to marry awaie my three daughters, which (as he +saith) I cherish, nourish, foster, and mainteine; that is to say, +Pride, Covetousness, and Lecherie: and now that I have found out +necessarie and fit husbands for them, I will do it with effect, +and seeks no more delaies. I therefore bequeath my pride to +the high-minded Templars and Hospitallers, which are as proud as +Lucifer himselfe; my covetousness I give unto the White Monks, +otherwise called of the Cisteaux order, for they covet the divell +and all; my lecherie I commit to the prelats of the church, who +have most pleasure and felicitie therein.’”</p> +<p><a name="footnote44a"></a><a href="#citation44a" +class="footnote">[44a]</a> This small residence of the +archdeacon was at Landeu, a place which has been described +before: the author takes this opportunity of hinting at his love +of literature, religion, and mediocrity.</p> +<p><a name="footnote44b"></a><a href="#citation44b" +class="footnote">[44b]</a> The last chapter having been +wholly digressive, we must now recur back to Brecknock, or +rather, perhaps, to our author’s residence at Landeu, where +we left him, and from thence accompany him to Abergavenny. +It appears that from Landeu he took the road to Talgarth, a small +village a little to the south east of the road leading from +Brecknock to Hay; from whence, climbing up a steep ascent, now +called Rhiw Cwnstabl, or the Constable’s ascent, he crossed +the black mountains of Llaneliew to the source of the Gronwy-fawr +river, which rises in that eminence, and pursues its rapid course +into the Vale of Usk. From thence a rugged and uneven track +descends suddenly into a narrow glen, formed by the torrent of +the Gronwy, between steep, impending mountains; bleak and barren +for the first four or five miles, but afterwards wooded to the +very margin of the stream. A high ledge of grassy hills on +the left hand, of which the principal is called the Bal, or Y +Fal, divides this formidable pass (the “Malus passus” +of Giraldus) from the vale of Ewyas, in which stands the noble +monastery of Llanthoni, “montibus suis inclusum,” +encircled by its mountains. The road at length emerging +from this deep recess of Coed Grono, or Cwm Gronwy, the vale of +the river Gronwy, crosses the river at a place called Pont Escob, +or the Bishop’s bridge, probably so called from this very +circumstance of its having been now passed by the archbishop and +his suite, and is continued through the forest of Moel, till it +joins the Hereford road, about two miles from Abergavenny. +This formidable defile is at least nine miles in length.</p> +<p><a name="footnote45"></a><a href="#citation45" +class="footnote">[45]</a> In the vale of the Gronwy, about +a mile above Pont Escob, there is a wood called Coed Dial, or the +Wood of Revenge. Here again, by the modern name of the +place, we are enabled to fix the very spot on which Richard de +Clare was murdered. The Welsh Chronicle informs us, that +“in 1135, Morgan ap Owen, a man of considerable quality and +estate in Wales, remembering the wrong and injury he had received +at the hands of Richard Fitz-Gilbert, slew him, together with his +son Gilbert.” The first of this great family, Richard +de Clare, was the eldest son of Gislebert, surnamed Crispin, earl +of Brion, in Normandy. This Richard Fitz-Gilbert came into +England with William the Conqueror, and received from him great +advancement in honour and possessions. On the death of the +Conqueror, favouring the cause of Robert Curthose, he rebelled +against William Rufus, but when that king appeared in arms before +his castle at Tunbridge, he submitted; after which, adhering to +Rufus against Robert, in 1091, he was taken prisoner, and shortly +after the death of king Henry I., was assassinated, on his +journey through Wales, in the manner already related.</p> +<p><a name="footnote46"></a><a href="#citation46" +class="footnote">[46]</a> Hamelin, son of Dru de Baladun, +who came into England with William the Conqueror, was the first +lord of Over-Went, and built a castle at Abergavenny, on the same +spot where, according to ancient tradition, a giant called Agros +had erected a fortress. He died in the reign of William +Rufus, and was buried in the priory which he had founded at +Abergavenny; having no issue, he gave the aforesaid castle and +lands to Brian de Insula, or Brian de Wallingford, his nephew, by +his sister Lucia. The enormous excesses mentioned by +Giraldus, as having been perpetrated in this part of Wales during +his time, seem to allude to a transaction that took place in the +castle of Abergavenny, in the year 1176, which is thus related by +two historians, Matthew Paris and Hollinshed. “<span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1176, The same yeare, William de +Breause having got a great number of Welshmen into the castle of +Abergavennie, under a colourable pretext of communication, +proposed this ordinance to be received of them with a corporall +oth, ‘That no traveller by the waie amongst them should +beare any bow, or other unlawful weapon,’ which oth, when +they refused to take, because they would not stand to that +ordinance, he condemned them all to death. This deceit he +used towards them, in revenge of the death of his uncle Henrie of +Hereford, whom upon Easter-even before they had through treason +murthered, and were now acquited was the like +againe.”—Hollinshed, tom. ii. p. 95.</p> +<p><a name="footnote48"></a><a href="#citation48" +class="footnote">[48]</a> Landinegat, or the church of St. +Dingad, is now better known by the name of Dingatstow, or +Dynastow, a village near Monmouth.</p> +<p><a name="footnote49a"></a><a href="#citation49a" +class="footnote">[49a]</a> [For the end of William de +Braose, see footnote 34.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote49b"></a><a href="#citation49b" +class="footnote">[49b]</a> Leland divides this district +into Low, Middle, and High Venteland, extending from Chepstow to +Newport on one side, and to Abergavenny on the other; the latter +of which, he says, “maketh the cumpace of Hye +Venteland.” He adds, “The soyle of al Venteland +is of a darke reddische yerth ful of slaty stones, and other +greater of the same color. The countrey is also sumwhat +montayneus, and welle replenishid with woodes, also very fertyle +of corne, but men there study more to pastures, the which be well +inclosed.”—<i>Leland</i>, <i>Itin.</i> tom. v. p. +6. Ancient Gwentland is now comprised within the county of +Monmouth.</p> +<p><a name="footnote50a"></a><a href="#citation50a" +class="footnote">[50a]</a> William de Salso Marisco, who +succeeded to the bishopric of Llandaff, <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1185, and presided over that see +during the time of Baldwin’s visitation, in 1188.</p> +<p><a name="footnote50b"></a><a href="#citation50b" +class="footnote">[50b]</a> Alexander was the fourth +archdeacon of the see of Bangor.</p> +<p><a name="footnote50c"></a><a href="#citation50c" +class="footnote">[50c]</a> Once at Usk, then at Caerleon, +and afterwards on entering the town of Newport.</p> +<p><a name="footnote51"></a><a href="#citation51" +class="footnote">[51]</a> Gouldcliffe, or Goldcliff, is +situated a few miles S.E. of Newport, on the banks of the +Severn. In the year 1113, Robert de Candos founded and +endowed the church of Goldclive, and, by the advice of king Henry +I., gave it to the abbey of Bec, in Normandy; its religious +establishment consisted of a prior and twelve monks of the order +of St. Benedict.</p> +<p><a name="footnote53"></a><a href="#citation53" +class="footnote">[53]</a> [Geoffrey of Monmouth.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote54"></a><a href="#citation54" +class="footnote">[54]</a> The Cistercian abbey here alluded +to was known by the several names of Ystrat Marchel, Strata +Marcella, Alba domus de Stratmargel, Vallis Crucis, or Pola, and +was situated between Guilsfield and Welshpool, in +Montgomeryshire. Authors differ in opinion about its +original founder. Leland attributes it to Owen Cyveilioc, +prince of Powys, and Dugdale to Madoc, the son of Gruffydh, +giving for his authority the original grants and endowments of +this abbey. According to Tanner, about the beginning of the +reign of king Edward III., the Welsh monks were removed from +hence into English abbeys, and English monks were placed here, +and the abbey was made subject to the visitation of the abbot and +convent of Buildwas, in Shropshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote56a"></a><a href="#citation56a" +class="footnote">[56a]</a> Cardiff, <i>i.e.</i>, the +fortress on the river Taf.</p> +<p><a name="footnote56b"></a><a href="#citation56b" +class="footnote">[56b]</a> Gwentluc—so called from +Gwent, the name of the province, and llug, open, to distinguish +it from the upper parts of Wentland, is an extensive tract of +flat, marshy ground, reaching from Newport to the shores of the +river Severn.</p> +<p><a name="footnote56c"></a><a href="#citation56c" +class="footnote">[56c]</a> Nant Pencarn, or the brook of +Pencarn.—After a very attentive examination of the country +round Newport, by natives of that place, and from the information +I have received on the subject, I am inclined to think that the +river here alluded to was the Ebwy, which flows about a mile and +a half south of Newport. Before the new turnpike road and +bridge were made across Tredegar Park, the old road led to a ford +lower down the river, and may still be travelled as far as +Cardiff; and was probably the ford mentioned in the text, as +three old farm-houses in its neighbourhood still retain the names +of Great Pencarn, Little Pencarn, and Middle Pencarn.</p> +<p><a name="footnote57"></a><a href="#citation57" +class="footnote">[57]</a> Robert Fitz-Hamon, earl of +Astremeville, in Normandy, came into England with William the +Conqueror; and, by the gift of William Rufus, obtained the honour +of Gloucester. He was wounded with a spear at the siege of +Falaise, in Normandy, died soon afterwards, and was buried, <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1102, in the abbey of Tewkesbury, +which he had founded. Leaving no male issue, king Henry +gave his eldest daughter, Mabel, or Maude, who, in her own right, +had the whole honour of Gloucester, to his illegitimate son +Robert, who was advanced to the earldom of Gloucester by the +king, his father. He died <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1147, and left four sons: William, +the personage here mentioned by Giraldus, who succeeded him in +his titles and honours; Roger, bishop of Worcester, who died at +Tours in France, <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1179; Hamon, +who died at the siege of Toulouse, <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1159; and Philip.</p> +<p><a name="footnote58a"></a><a href="#citation58a" +class="footnote">[58a]</a> The Coychurch Manuscript quoted +by Mr. Williams, in his History of Monmouthshire, asserts that +Morgan, surnamed Mwyn-fawr, or the Gentle, the son of Athrwy, not +having been elected to the chief command of the British armies, +upon his father’s death retired from Caerleon, and took up +his residence in Glamorganshire, sometimes at Radyr, near +Cardiff, and at other times at Margam; and from this event the +district derived its name, quasi Gwlad-Morgan, the country of +Morgan.</p> +<p><a name="footnote58b"></a><a href="#citation58b" +class="footnote">[58b]</a> St. Piranus, otherwise called +St. Kiaran, or Piran, was an Irish saint, said to have been born +in the county of Ossory, or of Cork, about the middle of the +fourth century; and after that by his labours the Gospel had made +good progress, he forsook all worldly things, and spent the +remainder of his life in religious solitude. The place of +his retirement was on the sea-coast of Cornwall, and not far from +Padstow, where, as Camden informs us, there was a chapel on the +sands erected to his memory. Leland has informed us, that +the chapel of St. Perine, at Caerdiff, stood in Shoemaker +Street.</p> +<p><a name="footnote59"></a><a href="#citation59" +class="footnote">[59]</a> So called from a parish of that +name in Glamorganshire, situated between Monk Nash and St. +Donat’s, upon the Bristol Channel.</p> +<p><a name="footnote60"></a><a href="#citation60" +class="footnote">[60]</a> Barri Island is situated on the +coast of Glamorganshire; and, according to Cressy, took its name +from St. Baruc, the hermit, who resided, and was buried +there. The Barrys in Ireland, as well as the family of +Giraldus, who were lords of it, are said to have derived their +names from this island. Leland, in speaking of this island, +says, “The passage into Barrey isle at ful se is a flite +shot over, as much as the Tamise is above the bridge. At +low water, there is a broken causey to go over, or els over the +shalow streamelet of Barrey-brook on the sands. The isle is +about a mile in cumpace, and hath very good corne, grasse, and +sum wood; the ferme of it worth a £10 a yere. There +ys no dwelling in the isle, but there is in the middle of it a +fair little chapel of St. Barrok, where much pilgrimage was +usid.” [The “fair little chapel” has +disappeared, and “Barry Island” is now, since the +construction of the great dock, connected with the mainland, it +is covered with houses, and its estimated capital value is now +£250,000].</p> +<p><a name="footnote61a"></a><a href="#citation61a" +class="footnote">[61a]</a> William de Salso Marisco.</p> +<p><a name="footnote61b"></a><a href="#citation61b" +class="footnote">[61b]</a> The see of Llandaff is said to +have been founded by the British king Lucius as early as the year +180.</p> +<p><a name="footnote61c"></a><a href="#citation61c" +class="footnote">[61c]</a> From Llandaff, our crusaders +proceeded towards the Cistercian monastery of Margam, passing on +their journey near the little cell of Benedictines at Ewenith, or +Ewenny. This religious house was founded by Maurice de +Londres towards the middle of the twelfth century. It is +situated in a marshy plain near the banks of the little river +Ewenny.</p> +<p><a name="footnote62"></a><a href="#citation62" +class="footnote">[62]</a> The Cistercian monastery of +Margam, justly celebrated for the extensive charities which its +members exercised, was founded <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> +1147, by Robert earl of Gloucester, who died in the same +year. Of this once-famed sanctuary nothing now remains but +the shell of its chapter-house, which, by neglect, has lost its +most ornamental parts. When Mr. Wyndham made the tour of +Wales in the year 1777, this elegant building was entire, and was +accurately drawn and engraved by his orders.</p> +<p><a name="footnote65"></a><a href="#citation65" +class="footnote">[65]</a> In continuing their journey from +Neath to Swansea, our travellers directed their course by the +sea-coast to the river Avon, which they forded, and, continuing +their road along the sands, were probably ferried over the river +Neath, at a place now known by the name of Breton Ferry, leaving +the monastery of Neath at some distance to the right: from thence +traversing another tract of sands, and crossing the river Tawe, +they arrived at the castle of Swansea, where they passed the +night.</p> +<p><a name="footnote66"></a><a href="#citation66" +class="footnote">[66]</a> The monastery of Neath was +situated on the banks of a river bearing the same name, about a +mile to the westward of the town and castle. It was founded +in 1112, by Richard de Grainville, or Greenefeld, and Constance, +his wife, for the safety of the souls of Robert, earl of +Gloucester, Maude, his wife, and William, his son. Richard +de Grainville was one of the twelve Norman knights who +accompanied Robert Fitz-Hamon, and assisted him in the conquest +of Glamorganshire. In the time of Leland this abbey was in +a high state of preservation, for he says, “Neth abbay of +white monkes, a mile above Neth town, standing in the ripe of +Neth, semid to me the fairest abbay of al +Wales.”—<i>Leland</i>, <i>Itin.</i> tom. v. p. +14. The remains of the abbey and of the adjoining +priory-house are considerable; but this ancient retirement of the +grey and white monks is now occupied by the inhabitants of the +neighbouring copper-works.</p> +<p><a name="footnote67a"></a><a href="#citation67a" +class="footnote">[67a]</a> Gower, the western district of +Glamorganshire, appears to have been first conquered by Henry de +Newburg, earl of Warwick, soon after Robert, duke of Gloucester, +had made the conquest of the other part of Glamorganshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote67b"></a><a href="#citation67b" +class="footnote">[67b]</a> Sweynsei, Swansea, or Abertawe, +situated at the confluence of the river Tawe with the Severn sea, +is a town of considerable commerce, and much frequented during +the summer months as a bathing-place. The old castle, now +made use of as a prison, is so surrounded by houses in the middle +of the town, that a stranger might visit Swansea without knowing +that such a building existed. The Welsh Chronicle informs +us, that it was built by Henry de Beaumont, earl of Warwick, and +that in the year 1113 it was attacked by Gruffydd ap Rhys, but +without success. This castle became afterwards a part of +the possessions of the see of St. David’s, and was rebuilt +by bishop Gower. [The old castle is no longer used as a +prison, but as the office of the “Cambria Daily +Leader.” It is significant that Swansea is still +known to Welshmen, as in the days of Giraldus, as +“Abertawe.”]</p> +<p><a name="footnote71a"></a><a href="#citation71a" +class="footnote">[71a]</a> Lochor, or Llwchwr, was the +Leucarum mentioned in the Itineraries, and the fifth Roman +station on the Via Julia. This small village is situated on +a tide-river bearing the same name, which divides the counties of +Glamorgan and Caermarthen, and over which there is a ferry. +“Lochor river partith Kidwelli from West +Gowerlande.”—<i>Leland</i>, <i>Itin.</i> tom. v. p. +23. [The ferry is no more. The river is crossed by a +fine railway bridge.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote71b"></a><a href="#citation71b" +class="footnote">[71b]</a> Wendraeth, or Gwen-draeth, from +gwen, white, and traeth, the sandy beach of the sea. There +are two rivers of this name, Gwendraeth fawr, and Gwendraeth +fychan, the great and the little Gwendraeth, of which Leland thus +speaks: “Vendraeth Vawr and Vendraith Vehan risith both in +Eskenning commote: the lesse an eight milys of from Kydwelli, the +other about a ten, and hath but a little nesche of sand betwixt +the places wher thei go into the se, about a mile beneth the +towne of Kidwely.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote71c"></a><a href="#citation71c" +class="footnote">[71c]</a> Cydweli was probably so called +from cyd, a junction, and wyl, a flow, or gushing out, being +situated near the junction of the rivers Gwendraeth fawr and +fychan; but Leland gives its name a very singular derivation, and +worthy of our credulous and superstitious author Giraldus. +“Kidwely, otherwise Cathweli, i.e. Catti lectus, quia +Cattus olim solebat ibi lectum in quercu facere:—There is a +little towne now but newly made betwene Vendraith Vawr and +Vendraith Vehan. Vendraith Vawr is half a mile +of.”—<i>Leland</i>, <i>Itin.</i> tom. v. p. 22.</p> +<p><a name="footnote72"></a><a href="#citation72" +class="footnote">[72]</a> The scene of the battle fought +between Gwenllian and Maurice de Londres is to this day called +Maes Gwenllian, the plain or field of Gwenllian; and there is a +tower in the castle of Cydweli still called Tyr Gwenllian. +[Maes Gwenllian is now a small farm, one of whose fields is said +to have been the scene of the battle.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote73a"></a><a href="#citation73a" +class="footnote">[73a]</a> The castle of Talachar is now +better known by the name of Llaugharne.</p> +<p><a name="footnote73b"></a><a href="#citation73b" +class="footnote">[73b]</a> Much has been said and written +by ancient authors respecting the derivation of the name of this +city, which is generally allowed to be the Muridunum, or +Maridunum, mentioned in the Roman itineraries. Some derive +it from Caer and Merddyn, that is, the city of the prophet +Merddyn; and others from Mûr and Murddyn, which in the +British language signify a wall. There can, however, be +little doubt that it is derived simply from the Roman name +Muridunum. The county gaol occupies the site of the old +castle, a few fragments of which are seen intermixed with the +houses of the town.</p> +<p><a name="footnote73c"></a><a href="#citation73c" +class="footnote">[73c]</a> Dinevor, the great castle, from +dinas, a castle, and vawr, great, was in ancient times a royal +residence of the princes of South Wales. In the year 876, +Roderic the Great, having divided the principalities of North and +South Wales, and Powys land, amongst his three sons, built for +each of them a palace. The sovereignty of South Wales, with +the castle of Dinevor, fell to the lot of Cadell. [The +ruins of Dinevor Castle still crown the summit of the hill which +overshadows the town of Llandilo, 12 miles from Carmarthen.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote74a"></a><a href="#citation74a" +class="footnote">[74a]</a> There is a spring very near the +north side of Dinevor park wall, which bears the name of +Nant-y-rhibo, or the bewitched brook, which may, perhaps, be the +one here alluded to by Giraldus.</p> +<p><a name="footnote74b"></a><a href="#citation74b" +class="footnote">[74b]</a> Pencadair is a small village +situated to the north of Carmarthen.</p> +<p><a name="footnote75a"></a><a href="#citation75a" +class="footnote">[75a]</a> Alba Domus was called in Welsh +Ty Gwyn ar Daf, or the White House on the river Taf. In the +history of the primitive British church, Ty Gwyn, or white house, +is used in a sense equivalent to a charter-house. The White +House College, or Bangor y Ty Gwyn, is pretended to have been +founded about 480, by Paul Hên, or Paulius, a saint of the +congregation of Illtyd. From this origin, the celebrated +Cistercian monastery is said to have derived its +establishment. Powel, in his chronicle, says, “For +the first abbey or frier house that we read of in Wales, sith the +destruction of the noble house of Bangor, which savoured not of +Romish dregges, was the Tuy Gwyn, built the yeare 1146, and after +they swarmed like bees through all the countrie.” +(Powel, p. 254.)—Authors differ with respect to the founder +of this abbey; some have attributed it to Rhys ap Tewdwr, prince +of South Wales; and others to Bernard, bishop of Saint +David’s, who died about the year 1148. The latter +account is corroborated by the following passage in +Wharton’s Anglia Sacra: “Anno 1143 ducti sunt monachi +ordinis Cisterciensis qui modo sunt apud Albam Landam, in West +Walliam, per Bernardum episcopum.” Leland, in his +Collectanea, says, “Whitland, abbat. Cistert., Rhesus +filius Theodori princeps Suth Walliæ primus +fundator;” and in his Itinerary, mentions it as a convent +of Bernardynes, “which yet stondeth.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote75b"></a><a href="#citation75b" +class="footnote">[75b]</a> Saint Clears is a long, +straggling village, at the junction of the river Cathgenny with +the Tâf. Immediately on the banks of the former, and +not far from its junction with the latter, stood the castle, of +which not one stone is left; but the artificial tumulus on which +the citadel was placed, and other broken ground, mark its ancient +site.</p> +<p><a name="footnote76a"></a><a href="#citation76a" +class="footnote">[76a]</a> Lanwadein, now called Lawhaden, +is a small village about four miles from Narberth, on the banks +of the river Cleddeu.</p> +<p><a name="footnote76b"></a><a href="#citation76b" +class="footnote">[76b]</a> Daugleddeu, so called from Dau, +two, and Cled, or Cleddau, a sword. The rivers Cledheu have +their source in the Prescelly mountain, unite their streams below +Haverfordwest, and run into Milford Haven, which in Welsh is +called Aberdaugleddau, or the confluence of the two rivers +Cledheu.</p> +<p><a name="footnote76c"></a><a href="#citation76c" +class="footnote">[76c]</a> Haverford, now called +Haverfordwest, is a considerable town on the river Cledheu, with +an ancient castle, three churches, and some monastic +remains. The old castle (now used as the county gaol), from +its size and commanding situation, adds greatly to the +picturesque appearance of this town. [The old castle is no +longer used as a gaol.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote79a"></a><a href="#citation79a" +class="footnote">[79a]</a> The province of Rhos, in which +the town of Haverfordwest is situated, was peopled by a colony of +Flemings during the reign of king Henry I.</p> +<p><a name="footnote79b"></a><a href="#citation79b" +class="footnote">[79b]</a> St. Caradoc was born of a good +family in Brecknockshire, and after a liberal education at home, +attached himself to the court of Rhys Prince of South Wales, whom +he served a long time with diligence and fidelity. He was +much esteemed and beloved by him, till having unfortunately lost +two favourite greyhounds, which had been committed to his care, +that prince, in a fury, threatened his life; upon which Caradoc +determined to change masters, and made a vow on the spot to +consecrate the remainder of his days to God, by a single and +religious life. He went to Llandaff, received from its +bishop the clerical tonsure and habit, and retired to the +deserted church of St. Kined, and afterwards to a still more +solitary abode in the Isle of Ary, from whence he was taken +prisoner by some Norwegian pirates, but soon released. His +last place of residence was at St. Ismael, in the province of +Rhos, where he died in 1124, and was buried with great honour in +the cathedral of St. David’s. We must not confound +this retreat of Caradoc with the village of St. Ismael on the +borders of Milford Haven. His hermitage was situated in the +parish of Haroldstone, near the town of Haverfordwest, whose +church has St. Ismael for its patron, and probably near a place +called Poorfield, the common on which Haverfordwest races are +held, as there is a well there called Caradoc’s Well, round +which, till within these few years, there was a sort of vanity +fair, where cakes were sold, and country games celebrated. +[Caradoc was canonised by Pope Innocent III. at the instance of +Giraldus.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote80"></a><a href="#citation80" +class="footnote">[80]</a> This curious superstition is +still preserved, in a debased form, among the descendants of the +Flemish population of this district, where the young women +practise a sort of divination with the bladebone of a shoulder of +mutton to discover who will be their sweetheart. It is +still more curious that William de Rubruquis, in the thirteenth +century, found the same superstition existing among the +Tartars.</p> +<p><a name="footnote82a"></a><a href="#citation82a" +class="footnote">[82a]</a> Arnulph, younger son of Roger de +Montgomery, did his homage for Dyved, and is said, by our author, +to have erected a slender fortress with stakes and turf at +Pembroke, in the reign of king Henry I., which, however, appears +to have been so strong as to have resisted the hostile attack of +Cadwgan ap Bleddyn in 1092, and of several lords of North Wales, +in 1094.</p> +<p><a name="footnote82b"></a><a href="#citation82b" +class="footnote">[82b]</a> Walter Fitz-Other, at the time +of the general survey of England by William the Conqueror, was +castellan of Windsor, warden of the forests in Berkshire, and +possessed several lordships in the counties of Middlesex, +Hampshire, and Buckinghamshire, which dominus Otherus is said to +have held in the time of Edward the Confessor. William, the +eldest son of Walter, took the surname of Windsor from his +father’s office, and was ancestor to the lords Windsor, who +have since been created earls of Plymouth: and from Gerald, +brother of William, the Geralds, Fitz-geralds, and many other +families are lineally descended. The Gerald here mentioned +by Giraldus is sometimes surnamed De Windsor, and also +Fitz-Walter, <i>i.e.</i> the son of Walter; having slain Owen, +son of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, chief lord of Cardiganshire, he was +made president of the county of Pembroke.</p> +<p><a name="footnote83"></a><a href="#citation83" +class="footnote">[83]</a> Wilfred is mentioned by Browne +Willis in his list of bishops of St. David’s, as the +forty-seventh, under the title of Wilfride, or Griffin: he died +about the year 1116.</p> +<p><a name="footnote84"></a><a href="#citation84" +class="footnote">[84]</a> Maenor Pyrr, now known by the +name of Manorbeer, is a small village on the sea coast, between +Tenby and Pembroke, with the remaining shell of a large +castle. Our author has given a farfetched etymology to this +castle and the adjoining island, in calling them the mansion and +island of Pyrrhus: a much more natural and congenial conjecture +may be made in supposing Maenor Pyrr to be derived from Maenor, a +Manor, and Pyrr the plural of Por, a lord; <i>i.e.</i> the Manor +of the lords, and, consequently, Inys Pyrr, the Island of the +lords. As no mention whatever is made of the castle in the +Welsh Chronicle, I am inclined to think it was only a castellated +mansion, and therefore considered of no military importance in +those days of continued warfare throughout Wales. It is one +of the most interesting spots in our author’s Itinerary, +for it was the property of the Barri family, and the birth-place +of Giraldus; in the parish church, the sepulchral effigy of a +near relation, perhaps a brother, is still extant, in good +preservation. Our author has evidently made a digression in +order to describe this place.</p> +<p><a name="footnote86a"></a><a href="#citation86a" +class="footnote">[86a]</a> The house of Stephen Wiriet was, +I presume, Orielton. There is a monument in the church of +St. Nicholas, at Pembroke, to the memory of John, son and heir of +Sir Hugh Owen, of Bodeon in Anglesea, knight, and Elizabeth, +daughter and heir of George Wiriet, of Orielton, <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1612.</p> +<p><a name="footnote86b"></a><a href="#citation86b" +class="footnote">[86b]</a> The family name of Not, or Nott, +still exists in Pembrokeshire. [The descendants of Sir Hugh +continued to live at Orielton, and the title is still in +existence.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote88"></a><a href="#citation88" +class="footnote">[88]</a> There are two churches in +Pembrokeshire called Stackpoole, one of which, called Stackpoole +Elidor, derived its name probably from the Elidore de Stakepole +mentioned in this chapter by Giraldus. It contains several +ancient monuments, and amongst them the effigies of a +cross-legged knight, which has been for many years attributed to +the aforesaid Elidore.</p> +<p><a name="footnote90"></a><a href="#citation90" +class="footnote">[90]</a> Ramsey Island, near St. +David’s, was always famous for its breed of falcons.</p> +<p><a name="footnote91a"></a><a href="#citation91a" +class="footnote">[91a]</a> Camros, a small village, +containing nothing worthy of remark, excepting a large +tumulus. It appears, by this route of the Crusaders, that +the ancient road to Menevia, or St. David’s, led through +Camros, whereas the present turnpike road lies a mile and a half +to the left of it. It then descends to Niwegal Sands, and +passes near the picturesque little harbour of Solvach, situated +in a deep and narrow cove, surrounded by high rocks.</p> +<p><a name="footnote91b"></a><a href="#citation91b" +class="footnote">[91b]</a> The remains of vast submerged +forests are commonly found on many parts of the coast of Wales, +especially in the north. Giraldus has elsewhere spoken of +this event in the Vaticinal History, book i. chap. 35.</p> +<p><a name="footnote94"></a><a href="#citation94" +class="footnote">[94]</a> Giraldus, ever glad to <i>pun</i> +upon words, here opposes the word <i>nomen</i> to +<i>omen</i>. “<i>Plus nominis habens quàm +ominis</i>.” He may have perhaps borrowed this +expression from Plautus. Plautus Delphini, tom. ii. p. +27.—Actus iv., Scena iv.</p> +<p><a name="footnote96"></a><a href="#citation96" +class="footnote">[96]</a> Armorica is derived from the +Celtic words Ar and Mor, which signify on or near the sea, and so +called to distinguish it from the more inland parts of +Britany. The maritime cities of Gaul were called +“Armoricæ civitates—Universis civitatibus +quæ oceanum attingunt, quæque Gallorum consuetudine +Armoricæ +appellantur.”—<i>Cæsar</i>. +<i>Comment</i>, lib. vii.</p> +<p><a name="footnote97"></a><a href="#citation97" +class="footnote">[97]</a> The bishops of Hereford, +Worcester, Llandaff, Bangor, St. Asaph, Llanbadarn, and Margam, +or Glamorgan.</p> +<p><a name="footnote98"></a><a href="#citation98" +class="footnote">[98]</a> The value of the carucate is +rather uncertain, or, probably, it varied in different districts +according to the character of the land; but it is considered to +have been usually equivalent to a hide, that is, to about 240 +statute acres.</p> +<p><a name="footnote99a"></a><a href="#citation99a" +class="footnote">[99a]</a> This little brook does not, in +modern times, deserve the title here given to it by Giraldus, for +it produces trout of a most delicious flavour.</p> +<p><a name="footnote99b"></a><a href="#citation99b" +class="footnote">[99b]</a> See the Vaticinal History, book +i. c. 37.</p> +<p><a name="footnote100"></a><a href="#citation100" +class="footnote">[100]</a> Lechlavar, so called from the words in +Welsh, Llêc, a stone, and Llavar, speech.</p> +<p><a name="footnote102a"></a><a href="#citation102a" +class="footnote">[102a]</a> Cemmeis, Cemmaes, Kemes, and +Kemeys. Thus is the name of this district variously +spelt. Cemmaes in Welsh signifies a circle or amphitheatre +for games.</p> +<p><a name="footnote102b"></a><a href="#citation102b" +class="footnote">[102b]</a> [Cardigan.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote102c"></a><a href="#citation102c" +class="footnote">[102c]</a> There is place in Cemmaes now +called Tre-liffan, <i>i.e.</i> Toad’s town; and over a +chimney-piece in the house there is a figure of a toad sculptured +in marble, said to have been brought from Italy, and intended +probably to confirm and commemorate this tradition of +Giraldus.</p> +<p><a name="footnote103a"></a><a href="#citation103a" +class="footnote">[103a]</a> Preseleu, Preselaw, Prescelly, +Presselw.</p> +<p><a name="footnote103b"></a><a href="#citation103b" +class="footnote">[103b]</a> St. Bernacus is said, by +Cressy, to have been a man of admirable sanctity, who, through +devotion, made a journey to Rome; and from thence returning into +Britany, filled all places with the fame of his piety and +miracles. He is commemorated on the 7th of April. +Several churches in Wales were dedicated to him; one of which, +called Llanfyrnach, or the church of St. Bernach, is situated on +the eastern side of the Prescelley mountain.</p> +<p><a name="footnote103c"></a><a href="#citation103c" +class="footnote">[103c]</a> The “castrum apud +Lanhever” was at Nevern, a small village between Newport +and Cardigan, situated on the banks of a little river bearing the +same name which discharges itself into the sea at Newport. +On a hill immediately above the western side of the parish +church, is the site of a large castle, undoubtedly the one +alluded to by Giraldus.</p> +<p><a name="footnote105a"></a><a href="#citation105a" +class="footnote">[105a]</a> On the Cemmaes, or +Pembrokeshire side of the river Teivi, and near the end of the +bridge, there is a place still called Park y Cappel, or the +Chapel Field, which is undoubtedly commemorative of the +circumstance recorded by our author.</p> +<p><a name="footnote105b"></a><a href="#citation105b" +class="footnote">[105b]</a> Now known by the name of +Kenarth, which may be derived from Cefn y garth—the back of +the wear, a ridge of land behind the wear.</p> +<p><a name="footnote106a"></a><a href="#citation106a" +class="footnote">[106a]</a> The name of St. Ludoc is not +found in the lives of the saints. Leland mentions a St. +Clitauc, who had a church dedicated to him in South Wales, and +who was killed by some of his companions whilst hunting. +“Clitaucus Southe-Walliæ regulus inter venandum a +suis sodalibus occisus est. Ecciesia S. Clitauci in Southe +Wallia.”—<i>Leland</i>, <i>Itin.</i>, tom. viii. p. +95.</p> +<p><a name="footnote106b"></a><a href="#citation106b" +class="footnote">[106b]</a> The Teivy is still very justly +distinguished for the quantity and quality of its salmon, but the +beaver no longer disturbs its streams. That this animal did +exist in the days of Howel Dha (though even then a rarity), the +mention made of it in his laws, and the high price set upon its +skin, most clearly evince; but if the castor of Giraldus, and the +avanc of Humphrey Llwyd and of the Welsh dictionaries, be really +the same animal, it certainly was not peculiar to the Teivi, but +was equally known in North Wales, as the names of places +testify. A small lake in Montgomeryshire is called Llyn yr +Afangc; a pool in the river Conwy, not far from Bettws, bears the +same name, and the vale called Nant Ffrancon, upon the river +Ogwen, in Caernarvonshire, is supposed by the natives to be a +corruption from Nant yr Afan cwm, or the Vale of the +Beavers. Mr. Owen, in his dictionary, says, “That it +has been seen in this vale within the memory of man.” +Giraldus has previously spoken of the beaver in his Topography of +Ireland, Distinc. i. c. 21.</p> +<p><a name="footnote109a"></a><a href="#citation109a" +class="footnote">[109a]</a> Our author having made a long +digression, in order to introduce the history of the beaver, now +continues his Itinerary. From Cardigan, the archbishop +proceeded towards Pont-Stephen, leaving a hill, called Cruc Mawr, +on the left hand, which still retains its ancient name, and +agrees exactly with the position given to it by Giraldus. +On its summit is a tumulus, and some appearance of an +intrenchment.</p> +<p><a name="footnote109b"></a><a href="#citation109b" +class="footnote">[109b]</a> In 1135.</p> +<p><a name="footnote109c"></a><a href="#citation109c" +class="footnote">[109c]</a> Lampeter, or Llanbedr, a small +town near the river Teivi, still retains the name of +Pont-Stephen.</p> +<p><a name="footnote109d"></a><a href="#citation109d" +class="footnote">[109d]</a> Leland thus speaks of Ystrad +Fflur or Strata Florida: “Strateflere is set round about +with montanes not far distant, except on the west parte, where +Diffrin Tyve is. Many hilles therabout hath bene well +woddid, as evidently by old rotes apperith, but now in them is +almost no woode—the causes be these. First, the wood +cut down was never copisid, and this hath beene a cause of +destruction of wood thorough Wales. Secondly, after cutting +down of woodys, the gottys hath so bytten the young spring that +it never grew but lyke shrubbes. Thirddely, men for the +monys destroied the great woddis that thei should not harborow +theves.” This monastery is situated in the wildest +part of Cardiganshire, surrounded on three sides by a lofty range +of those mountains, called by our author Ellennith; a spot +admirably suited to the severe and recluse order of the +Cistercians.</p> +<p><a name="footnote110a"></a><a href="#citation110a" +class="footnote">[110a]</a> [Melenydd or Maelienydd.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote110b"></a><a href="#citation110b" +class="footnote">[110b]</a> Leaving Stratflur, the +archbishop and his train returned to Llanddewi Brefi, and from +thence proceeded to Llanbadarn Vawr.</p> +<p><a name="footnote111"></a><a href="#citation111" +class="footnote">[111]</a> Llanbadarn Fawr, the church of +St. Paternus the Great, is situated in a valley, at a short +distance from the sea-port town of Aberystwyth in +Cardiganshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote112"></a><a href="#citation112" +class="footnote">[112]</a> The name of this bishop is said +to have been Idnerth, and the same personage whose death is +commemorated in an inscription at Llanddewi Brefi.</p> +<p><a name="footnote113a"></a><a href="#citation113a" +class="footnote">[113a]</a> This river is now called +Dovey.</p> +<p><a name="footnote113b"></a><a href="#citation113b" +class="footnote">[113b]</a> From Llanbadarn our travellers +directed their course towards the sea-coast, and ferrying over +the river Dovey, which separates North from South Wales, +proceeded to Towyn, in Merionethshire, where they passed the +night. [Venedotia is the Latin name for Gwynedd.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote113c"></a><a href="#citation113c" +class="footnote">[113c]</a> The province of Merionyth was +at this period occupied by David, the son of Owen Gwynedd, who +had seized it forcibly from its rightful inheritor. This +Gruffydd—who must not be confused with his +great-grandfather, the famous Gruffydd ap Conan, prince of +Gwynedd—was son to Conan ap Owen Gwynedd; he died <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1200, and was buried in a +monk’s cowl, in the abbey of Conway.</p> +<p><a name="footnote113d"></a><a href="#citation113d" +class="footnote">[113d]</a> The epithet +“bifurcus,” ascribed by Giraldus to the river Maw, +alludes to its two branches, which unite their streams a little +way below Llaneltid bridge, and form an æstuary, which +flows down to the sea at Barmouth or Aber Maw. The ford at +this place, discovered by Malgo, no longer exists.</p> +<p><a name="footnote114a"></a><a href="#citation114a" +class="footnote">[114a]</a> Llanfair is a small village, +about a mile and a half from Harlech, with a very simple church, +placed in a retired spot, backed by precipitous mountains. +Here the archbishop and Giraldus slept, on their journey from +Towyn to Nevyn.</p> +<p><a name="footnote114b"></a><a href="#citation114b" +class="footnote">[114b]</a> Ardudwy was a comot of the +cantref Dunodic, in Merionethshire, and according to Leland, +“Streccith from half Trait Mawr to Abermaw on the shore XII +myles.” The bridge here alluded to, was probably over +the river Artro, which forms a small æstuary near the +village of Llanbedr.</p> +<p><a name="footnote115a"></a><a href="#citation115a" +class="footnote">[115a]</a> The Traeth Mawr, or the large +sands, are occasioned by a variety of springs and rivers which +flow from the Snowdon mountains, and, uniting their streams, form +an æstuary below Pont Aberglaslyn.</p> +<p><a name="footnote115b"></a><a href="#citation115b" +class="footnote">[115b]</a> The Traeth Bychan, or the small +sands, are chiefly formed by the river which runs down the +beautiful vale of Festiniog to Maentwrog and Tan y bwlch, near +which place it becomes navigable. Over each of these sands +the road leads from Merionyth into Caernarvonshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote115c"></a><a href="#citation115c" +class="footnote">[115c]</a> Lleyn, the Canganorum +promontorium of Ptolemy, was an extensive hundred containing +three comots, and comprehending that long neck of land between +Caernarvon and Cardigan bays. Leland says, “Al Lene +is as it were a pointe into the se.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote115d"></a><a href="#citation115d" +class="footnote">[115d]</a> In mentioning the rivers which +the missionaries had lately crossed, our author has been guilty +of a great topographical error in placing the river Dissennith +between the Maw and Traeth Mawr, as also in placing the Arthro +between the Traeth Mawr and Traeth Bychan, as a glance at a map +will shew.</p> +<p><a name="footnote115e"></a><a href="#citation115e" +class="footnote">[115e]</a> To two personages of this name +the gift of prophecy was anciently attributed: one was called +Ambrosius, the other Sylvestris; the latter here mentioned (and +whose works Giraldus, after a long research, found at Nefyn) was, +according to the story, the son of Morvryn, and generally called +Merddin Wyllt, or Merddin the Wild. He is pretended to have +flourished about the middle of the sixth century, and ranked with +Merddin Emrys and Taliesin, under the appellation of the three +principal bards of the Isle of Britain.</p> +<p><a name="footnote116a"></a><a href="#citation116a" +class="footnote">[116a]</a> This island once afforded, +according to the old accounts, an asylum to twenty thousand +saints, and after death, graves to as many of their bodies; +whence it has been called Insula Sanctorum, the Isle of +Saints. This island derived its British name of Enlli from +the fierce current which rages between it and the main +land. The Saxons named it Bardsey, probably from the Bards, +who retired hither, preferring solitude to the company of +invading foreigners.</p> +<p><a name="footnote116b"></a><a href="#citation116b" +class="footnote">[116b]</a> This ancient city has been +recorded by a variety of names. During the time of the +Romans it was called Segontium, the site of which is now called +Caer Seiont, the fortress on the river Seiont, where the +Setantiorum portus, and the Seteia Æstuarium of Ptolemy +have also been placed. It is called, by Nennius, Caer +Custent, or the city of Constantius; and Matthew of Westminster +says, that about the year 1283 the body of Constantius, father of +the emperor Constantine, was found there, and honourably +desposited in the church by order of Edward I.</p> +<p><a name="footnote116c"></a><a href="#citation116c" +class="footnote">[116c]</a> I have searched in vain for a +valley which would answer the description here given by Geraldus, +and the scene of so much pleasantry to the travellers; for +neither do the old or new road, from Caernarvon to Bangor, in any +way correspond. But I have since been informed, that there +is a valley called Nant y Garth (near the residence of Ashton +Smith, Esq. at Vaenol), which terminates at about half a +mile’s distance from the Menai, and therefore not +observable from the road; it is a serpentine ravine of more than +a mile, in a direction towards the mountains, and probably that +which the crusaders crossed on their journey to Bangor.</p> +<p><a name="footnote117"></a><a href="#citation117" +class="footnote">[117]</a> Bangor.—This cathedral +church must not be confounded with the celebrated college of the +same name, in Flintshire, founded by Dunod Vawr, son of Pabo, a +chieftain who lived about the beginning of the sixth century, and +from him called Bangor Dunod. The Bangor, <i>i.e.</i> the +college, in Caernarvonshire, is properly called Bangor Deiniol, +Bangor Vawr yn Arllechwedd, and Bangor Vawr uwch Conwy. It +owes its origin to Deiniol, son of Dunod ap Pabo, a saint who +lived in the early part of the sixth century, and in the year 525 +founded this college at Bangor, in Caernarvonshire, over which he +presided as abbot. Guy Rufus, called by our author Guianus, +was at this time bishop of this see, and died in 1190.</p> +<p><a name="footnote118a"></a><a href="#citation118a" +class="footnote">[118a]</a> Guianus, or Guy Rufus, dean of +Waltham, in Essex, and consecrated to this see, at Ambresbury, +Wilts, in May 1177.</p> +<p><a name="footnote118b"></a><a href="#citation118b" +class="footnote">[118b]</a> Mona, or Anglesey.</p> +<p><a name="footnote118c"></a><a href="#citation118c" +class="footnote">[118c]</a> The spot selected by Baldwin +for addressing the multitude, has in some degree been elucidated +by the anonymous author of the Supplement to Rowland’s Mona +Antiqua. He says, that “From tradition and memorials +still retained, we have reasons to suppose that they met in an +open place in the parish of Landisilio, called Cerrig y +Borth. The inhabitants, by the grateful remembrance, to +perpetuate the honour of that day, called the place where the +archbishop stood, Carreg yr Archjagon, <i>i.e.</i> the +Archbishop’s Rock; and where prince Roderic stood, Maen +Roderic, or the Stone of Roderic.” This account is in +part corroborated by the following communication from Mr. Richard +Llwyd of Beaumaris, who made personal inquiries on the +spot. “Cerrig y Borth, being a rough, undulating +district, could not, for that reason, have been chosen for +addressing a multitude; but adjoining it there are two eminences +which command a convenient surface for that purpose; one called +Maen Rodi (the Stone or Rock of Roderic), the property of Owen +Williams, Esq.; and the other Carreg Iago, belonging to Lord +Uxbridge. This last, as now pronounced, means the Rock of +St. James; but I have no difficulty in admitting, that Carreg yr +Arch Iagon may (by the compression of common, undiscriminating +language, and the obliteration of the event from ignorant minds +by the lapse of so many centuries) be contracted into Carreg +Iago. Cadair yr archesgob is now also contracted into +Cadair (chair), a seat naturally formed in the rock, with a rude +arch over it, on the road side, which is a rough terrace over the +breast of a rocky and commanding cliff, and the nearest way from +the above eminences to the insulated church of Landisilio. +This word Cadair, though in general language a chair, yet when +applied to exalted situations, means an observatory, as Cadair +Idris, etc.; but there can, in my opinion, be no doubt that this +seat in the rock is that described by the words Cadair yr +Archesgob.” [Still more probable, and certainly more +flattering to Giraldus, is that it was called “Cadair yr +Arch Ddiacon” (the Archdeacon’s chair).]</p> +<p><a name="footnote120a"></a><a href="#citation120a" +class="footnote">[120a]</a> This hundred contained the +comots of Mynyw, or St. David’s, and Pencaer.</p> +<p><a name="footnote120b"></a><a href="#citation120b" +class="footnote">[120b]</a> I am indebted to Mr. Richard +Llwyd for the following curious extract from a Manuscript of the +late intelligent Mr. Rowlands, respecting this miraculous stone, +called Maen Morddwyd, or the stone of the thigh, which once +existed in Llanidan parish. “Hic etiam lapis lumbi, +vulgo Maen Morddwyd, in hujus cæmiterii vallo locum sibi e +longo a retro tempore obtinuit, exindeque his nuperis annis, quo +nescio papicola vel qua inscia manu nulla ut olim retinente +virtute, quæ tunc penitus elanguit aut vetustate +evaporavit, nullo sane loci dispendio, nec illi qui eripuit +emolumento, ereptus et deportatus fuit.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote120c"></a><a href="#citation120c" +class="footnote">[120c]</a> Hugh, earl of Chester. +The first earl of Chester after the Norman conquest, was Gherbod, +a Fleming, who, having obtained leave from king William to go +into Flanders for the purpose of arranging some family concerns, +was taken and detained a prisoner by his enemies; upon which the +conqueror bestowed the earldom of Chester on Hugh de Abrincis or +of Avranches, “to hold as freely by the sword, as the king +himself did England by the crown.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote121"></a><a href="#citation121" +class="footnote">[121]</a> This church is at Llandyfrydog, +a small village in Twrkelin hundred, not far distant from +Llanelian, and about three miles from the Bay of Dulas. St. +Tyvrydog, to whom it was dedicated, was one of the sons of +Arwystyl Glof, a saint who lived in the latter part of the sixth +century.</p> +<p><a name="footnote123a"></a><a href="#citation123a" +class="footnote">[123a]</a> Ynys Lenach, now known by the +name of Priestholme Island, bore also the title of Ynys Seiriol, +from a saint who resided upon it in the sixth century. It +is also mentioned by Dugdale and Pennant under the appellation of +Insula Glannauch.</p> +<p><a name="footnote123b"></a><a href="#citation123b" +class="footnote">[123b]</a> Alberic de Veer, or Vere, came +into England with William the Conqueror, and as a reward for his +military services, received very extensive possessions and lands, +particularly in the county of Essex. Alberic, his eldest +son, was great chamberlain of England in the reign of king Henry +I., and was killed <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1140, in a +popular tumult at London. Henry de Essex married one of his +daughters named Adeliza. He enjoyed, by inheritance, the +office of standard-bearer, and behaved himself so unworthily in +the military expedition which king Henry undertook against Owen +Gwynedd, prince of North Wales, in the year 1157, by throwing +down his ensign, and betaking himself to flight, that he was +challenged for this misdemeanor by Robert de Mountford, and by +him vanquished in single combat; whereby, according to the laws +of his country, his life was justly forfeited. But the king +interposing his royal mercy, spared it, but confiscated his +estates, ordering him to be shorn a monk, and placed in the abbey +of Reading. There appears to be some biographical error in +the words of Giraldus—“Filia scilicet Henrici de +Essexia,” for by the genealogical accounts of the Vere and +Essex families, we find that Henry de Essex married the daughter +of the second Alberic de Vere; whereas our author seems to imply, +that the mother of Alberic the second was daughter to Henry de +Essex.</p> +<p><a name="footnote124"></a><a href="#citation124" +class="footnote">[124]</a> “And Jacob took him rods +of green poplar, and of the hazel, and of the chesnut tree, and +peeled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was +in the rods. And he set the rods, which he had peeled, +before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs, when +the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they +came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, +and brought forth cattle speckled and spotted.”—Gen. +xxx.</p> +<p><a name="footnote125a"></a><a href="#citation125a" +class="footnote">[125a]</a> Owen Gwynedd, the son of +Gruffydd ap Conan, died in 1169, and was buried at Bangor. +When Baldwin, during his progress, visited Bangor and saw his +tomb, he charged the bishop (Guy Ruffus) to remove the body out +of the cathedral, when he had a fit opportunity so to do, in +regard that archbishop Becket had excommunicated him heretofore, +because he had married his first cousin, the daughter of Grono ap +Edwyn, and that notwithstanding he had continued to live with her +till she died. The bishop, in obedience to the charge, made +a passage from the vault through the south wall of the church +underground, and thus secretly shoved the body into the +churchyard.—<i>Hengwrt</i>. <i>MSS.</i> +Cadwalader brother of Owen Gwynedd, died in 1172.</p> +<p><a name="footnote125b"></a><a href="#citation125b" +class="footnote">[125b]</a> The Merlin here mentioned was +called Ambrosius, and according to the Cambrian Biography +flourished about the middle of the fifth century. Other +authors say, that this reputed prophet and magician was the son +of a Welsh nun, daughter of a king of Demetia, and born at +Caermarthen, and that he was made king of West Wales by +Vortigern, who then reigned in Britain.</p> +<p><a name="footnote126"></a><a href="#citation126" +class="footnote">[126]</a> Owen Gwynedd “left behind +him manie children gotten by diverse women, which were not +esteemed by their mothers and birth, but by their prowes and +valiantnesse.” By his first wife, Gladus, the +daughter of Llywarch ap Trahaern ap Caradoc, he had Orwerth +Drwyndwn, that is, Edward with the broken nose; for which defect +he was deemed unfit to preside over the principality of North +Wales and was deprived of his rightful inheritance, which was +seized by his brother David, who occupied it for the space of +twenty-four years.</p> +<p><a name="footnote128a"></a><a href="#citation128a" +class="footnote">[128a]</a> The travellers pursuing their +journey along the sea coast, crossed the æstuary of the +river Conway under Deganwy, a fortress of very remote +antiquity.</p> +<p><a name="footnote128b"></a><a href="#citation128b" +class="footnote">[128b]</a> At this period the Cistercian +monastery of Conway was in its infancy, for its foundation has +been attributed to Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, in the year 1185, (only +three years previous to Baldwin’s visitation,) who endowed +it with very extensive possessions and singular privileges. +Like Stratflur, this abbey was the repository of the national +records, and the mausoleum of many of its princes.</p> +<p><a name="footnote129a"></a><a href="#citation129a" +class="footnote">[129a]</a> [David was the illegitimate son +of Owen Gwynedd, and had dispossessed his brother, Iorwerth +Drwyndwn.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote129b"></a><a href="#citation129b" +class="footnote">[129b]</a> This ebbing spring in the +province of Tegeingl, or Flintshire, has been placed by the old +annotator on Giraldus at Kilken, which Humphrey Llwyd, in his +Breviary, also mentions.</p> +<p><a name="footnote129c"></a><a href="#citation129c" +class="footnote">[129c]</a> See before, the Topography of +Ireland, Distinc. ii. c. 7.</p> +<p><a name="footnote129d"></a><a href="#citation129d" +class="footnote">[129d]</a> Saint Asaph, in size, though +not in revenues, may deserve the epithet of +“paupercula” attached to it by Giraldus. From +its situation near the banks of the river Elwy, it derived the +name of Llanelwy, or the church upon the Elwy.</p> +<p><a name="footnote129e"></a><a href="#citation129e" +class="footnote">[129e]</a> Leaving Llanelwy, or St. Asaph, +the archbishop proceeded to the little cell of Basinwerk, where +he and his attendants passed the night. It is situated at a +short distance from Holywell, on a gentle eminence above a +valley, watered by the copious springs that issue from St. +Winefred’s well, and on the borders of a marsh, which +extends towards the coast of Cheshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote129f"></a><a href="#citation129f" +class="footnote">[129f]</a> Coleshill is a township in +Holywell parish, Flintshire, which gives name to a hundred, and +was so called from its abundance of fossil fuel. Pennant, +vol. i. p. 42.</p> +<p><a name="footnote130"></a><a href="#citation130" +class="footnote">[130]</a> The three military expeditions +of king Henry into Wales, here mentioned, were <span +class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1157, the first expedition into +North Wales; <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1162, the second +expedition into South Wales; <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> +1165, the third expedition into North Wales. In the first, +the king was obliged to retreat with considerable loss, and the +king’s standard-bearer, Henry de Essex, was accused of +having in a cowardly manner abandoned the royal standard and led +to a serious disaster.</p> +<p><a name="footnote131a"></a><a href="#citation131a" +class="footnote">[131a]</a> The lake of Penmelesmere, or +Pymplwy meer, or the meer of the five parishes adjoining the +lake, is, in modern days, better known by the name of Bala +Pool. The assertion made by Giraldus, of salmon never being +found in the lake of Bala, is not founded on truth.</p> +<p><a name="footnote131b"></a><a href="#citation131b" +class="footnote">[131b]</a> Giraldus seems to have been +mistaken respecting the burial-place of the emperor Henry V., for +he died May 23, <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1125, at +Utrecht, and his body was conveyed to Spire for interment.</p> +<p><a name="footnote132"></a><a href="#citation132" +class="footnote">[132]</a> This legend, which represents +king Harold as having escaped from the battle of Hastings, and as +having lived years after as a hermit on the borders of Wales, is +mentioned by other old writers, and has been adopted as true by +some modern writers.</p> +<p><a name="footnote133a"></a><a href="#citation133a" +class="footnote">[133a]</a> Some difficulty occurs in +fixing the situation of the Album Monasterium, mentioned in the +text, as three churches in the county of Shropshire bore that +appellation; the first at Whitchurch, the second at Oswestry, the +third at Alberbury. The narrative of our author is so +simple, and corresponds so well with the topography of the +country through which they passed, that I think no doubt ought to +be entertained about the course of their route. From +Chester they directed their way to the White Monastery, or +Whitchurch, and from thence towards Oswestry, where they slept, +and were entertained by William Fitz-Alan, after the English mode +of hospitality.</p> +<p><a name="footnote133b"></a><a href="#citation133b" +class="footnote">[133b]</a> By the Latin context it would +appear that Reiner was bishop of Oswestree: “Ab episcopo +namque loci illius Reinerio multitudo fuerat ante +signata.” Reiner succeeded Adam in the bishopric of +St. Asaph in the year 1186, and died in 1220. He had a +residence near Oswestry, at which place, previous to the arrival +of Baldwin, he had signed many of the people with the cross.</p> +<p><a name="footnote133c"></a><a href="#citation133c" +class="footnote">[133c]</a> In the time of William the +Conqueror, Alan, the son of Flathald, or Flaald, obtained, by the +gift of that king, the castle of Oswaldestre, with the territory +adjoining, which belonged to Meredith ap Blethyn, a Briton. +This Alan, having married the daughter and heir to Warine, +sheriff of Shropshire, had in her right the barony of the same +Warine. To him succeeded William, his son and heir. +He married Isabel de Say, daughter and heir to Helias de Say, +niece to Robert earl of Gloucester, lady of Clun, and left issue +by her, William, his son and successor, who, in the 19th Henry +II., or before, departed this life, leaving William Fitz-Alan his +son and heir, who is mentioned in the text.</p> +<p><a name="footnote134a"></a><a href="#citation134a" +class="footnote">[134a]</a> Robert de Belesme, earl of +Shrewsbury, was son of Roger de Montgomery, who led the centre +division of the army in that memorable battle which secured to +William the conquest of England, and for his services was +advanced to the earldoms of Arundel and Shrewsbury.</p> +<p><a name="footnote134b"></a><a href="#citation134b" +class="footnote">[134b]</a> This expedition into Wales took +place <span class="GutSmall">A.D.</span> 1165, and has been +already spoken of.</p> +<p><a name="footnote136"></a><a href="#citation136" +class="footnote">[136]</a> The princes mentioned by +Giraldus as most distinguished in North and South Wales, and most +celebrated in his time, were, 1. Owen, son of Gruffydd, in North +Wales; 2. Meredyth, son of Gruffydd, in South Wales; 3. Owen de +Cyfeilioc, in Powys; 4. Cadwalader, son of Gruffydd, in North +Wales; 5. Gruffydd of Maelor in Powys; 6. Rhys, son of Gruffydd, +in South Wales; 7. David, son of Owen, in North Wales; 8. Howel, +son of Iorwerth, in South Wales.</p> +<p>1. Owen Gwynedd, son of Gruffydd ap Conan, died in 1169, +having governed his country well and worthily for the space of +thirty-two years. He was fortunate and victorious in all +his affairs, and never took any enterprise in hand but he +achieved it. 2. Meredyth ap Gruffydd ap Rhys, lord of +Caerdigan and Stratywy, died in 1153, at the early age of +twenty-five; a worthy knight, fortunate in battle, just and +liberal to all men. 3. Owen Cyfeilioc was the son of +Gruffydd Meredyth ap Meredyth ap Blethyn, who was created lord of +Powys by Henry I., and died about the year 1197, leaving his +principality to his son Gwenwynwyn, from whom that part of Powys +was called Powys Gwenwynwyn, to distinguish it from Powys Vadoc, +the possession of the lords of Bromfield. The poems +ascribed to him possess great spirit, and prove that he was, as +Giraldus terms him, “linguæ dicacis,” in its +best sense. 4. Cadwalader, son of Gruffydd ap Conan, prince +of North Wales, died in 1175. Gruffydd of Maelor was son of +Madoc ap Meredyth ap Blethyn, prince of Powys, who died at +Winchester in 1160. “This man was ever the king of +England’s friend, and was one that feared God, and relieved +the poor: his body was conveyed honourably to Powys, and buried +at Myvod.” His son Gruffydd succeeded him in the +lordship of Bromfield, and died about the year 1190. 6. +Rhys ap Gruffydd, or the lord Rhys, was son of Gruffydd ap Rhys +ap Tewdwr, who died in 1137. The ancient writers have been +very profuse in their praises of this celebrated Prince. 7. +David, son of Owen Gwynedd, who, on the death if his father, +forcibly seized the principality of North Wales, slaying his +brother Howel in battle, and setting aside the claims of the +lawful inheritor of the throne, Iorwerth Trwyndwn, whose son, +Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, in 1194, recovered his inheritance. +8. Howel, son of Iorwerth of Caerleon, appears to have been +distinguished chiefly by his ferocity.</p> +<p><a name="footnote137"></a><a href="#citation137" +class="footnote">[137]</a> Malpas in Cheshire.</p> +<p><a name="footnote138"></a><a href="#citation138" +class="footnote">[138]</a> It appears that a small college +of prebendaries, or secular canons, resided at Bromfield in the +reign of king Henry I.; Osbert, the prior, being recorded as a +witness to a deed made before the year 1148. In 1155, they +became Benedictines, and surrendered church and lands to the +abbey of St. Peter’s at Gloucester, whereupon a prior and +monks were placed there, and continued till the +dissolution. An ancient gateway and some remains of the +priory still testify the existence of this religious house, the +local situation of which, near the confluence of the rivers Oney +and Teme, has been accurately described by Leland.</p> +<p><a name="footnote139"></a><a href="#citation139" +class="footnote">[139]</a> Baldwin was born at Exeter, in +Devonshire, of a low family, but being endowed by nature with +good abilities, applied them to an early cultivation of sacred +and profane literature. His good conduct procured him the +friendship of Bartholomew bishop of Exeter, who promoted him to +the archdeaconry of that see; resigning this preferment, he +assumed the cowl, and in a few years became abbot of the +Cistercian monastery at Ford. In the year 1180, he was +advanced to the bishopric of Worcester, and in 1184, translated +to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury. In the year 1188, +he made his progress through Wales, preaching with fervour the +service of the Cross; to which holy cause he fell a sacrifice in +the year 1190, having religiously, honourably, and charitably +ended his days in the Holy Land.</p> +<p><a name="footnote140"></a><a href="#citation140" +class="footnote">[140]</a> Giraldus here alludes to the +dignity of archdeacon, which Baldwin had obtained in the church +of Exeter.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ITINERARY OF ARCHIBISHOP BALDWIN +THROUGH WALES***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 1148-h.htm or 1148-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/1/4/1148 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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