The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin Through Wales

Transcribed from the 1912 J. M. Dent and Sons edition by David Price,

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THE ITINERARY OF ARCHBISHOP BALDWIN THROUGH WALES

by

Giraldus Cambrensis

INTRODUCTION

GERALD THE WELSHMAN—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 {0a} 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.

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, united like brothers in the most adventurous undertaking

of that age, the Conquest of Ireland.

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 _Cynghanedd_, 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 _differentia_ 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 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.”

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, 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.

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 _natio et

cognatio_, 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,

“Felices facti si quid mea carmina possuit.”

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 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. {0b} 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.

Professor Freeman in his “Norman Conquest” described 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. {0c} 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 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.

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. 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

(_vir suâ sorte contentus_ 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.

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. {0d} In 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 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?”

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 importunate creditors

in another, and at Rome he was betrayed by a countryman whom he had

befriended. He himself has told us

Of the most disastrous chances

Of moving accidents by flood and field,

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.”

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 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 _Awdl_ or a _Pryddest_ 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—

Cambria Giraldus genuit, sic Cambria mentem

Erudiit, cineres cui lapis iste tegit.

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.

It would be impossible to exaggerate the enormous services which three

great Welshmen of the twelfth 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.” {0e} The romantic literature of England owes its origin to

Geoffrey of Monmouth; {0f} 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; {0g} and John Richard Green has truly called Gerald himself “the

father of popular literature.” {0h} 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 {0i} 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 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 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.”

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 _bon mots_, 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 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. {0j} 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.”

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

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.

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.

W. LLEWELYN WILLIAMS.

_January_ 1908.

* * * * *

The following is a list of the more important of the works of Gerald:—

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.

FIRST PREFACE

TO STEPHEN LANGTON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

AS 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,

“Mille hominum species et mentis discolor usus;

Velle suum cuique est, nec voto vivitur uno.”

“Nature is ever various in her name;

Each has a different will, and few the same.”

The comic poet also says, “_Quot capita tot sententiæ_, _suus cuique mos

est_.” “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.

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 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.”

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,

“— — tantum

Carmina nostra valent tela inter Martia, quantum

Chaonias dicunt, aquila veniente, columbas.”

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.

According to the poet,

“Pascitur in vivis livor, post fata quiescit;

Cum suus ex merito quemque tuetur honor.”

And also

“Denique si quis adhuc prætendit nubila, livor

Occidet, et meriti post me referentur honores.”

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

_acumen_, 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.e._ 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:—

“Sic ne perdiderit non cessat perdere lusor,

Dum revocat cupidas alea blanda manus;”

which, by substituting the word _curia_ for _alea_, 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.

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 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.

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, 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.

SECOND PREFACE

TO THE SAME PRELATE

SINCE 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.

CONTENTS

BOOK I

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Journey through Hereford and Radnor 11

II. Journey through Hay and Brecheinia 18

III. Ewyas and Llanthoni 34

IV. The Journey by Coed Grono and Abergevenni 44

V. Of the Progress by the Castle of Usk and the 50

Town of Caerleon

VI. Newport and Caerdyf 56

VII. The See of Landaf and Monastery of Margan, and 61

the Remarkable Things in those Parts

VIII. Passage of the Rivers Avon and Neth—and of 65

Abertawe and Goer

IX. Passage over the Rivers Lochor and Wendraeth; 71

and of Cydweli

X. Tywy River—Caermardyn—Monastery of Albelande 73

XI. Of Haverford and Ros 76

XII. Of Penbroch 82

XIII. Of the Progress by Camros and Niwegal 91

BOOK II

I. Of the See of Saint David’s 95

II. Of the Journey by Cemmeis—the Monastery of St. 102

Dogmael

III. Of the River Teivi—Cardigan, and Emelyn 105

IV. Of the Journey by Pont Stephen, the Abbey of 109

Stratflur, Landewi Brevi, and Lhanpadarn Vawr

V. Of the River Devi, and the Land of the Sons of 113

Conan

VI. Passage of traeth mawr and traeth bachan, and 115

of nevyn, carnarvon, and bangor

VII. The island of mona 118

VIII. Passage of the river conwy in a boat, and of 125

dinas emrys

IX. Of the mountains of eryri 127

X. Of the passage by deganwy and ruthlan, and the 128

see of lanelwy, and of coleshulle

XI. Of the passage of the river dee, and of 131

chester

XII. Of the journey by the white monastery, 133

oswaldestree, powys, and shrewsbury

XIII. Of the journey by wenloch, brumfeld, the 137

castle of ludlow, and leominster, to hereford

XIV. A description of baldwin, archbishop of 139

canterbury

THE ITINERARY THROUGH WALES

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

JOURNEY THROUGH HEREFORD AND RADNOR

IN the year 1188 from the incarnation of our Lord, Urban the Third {11}

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 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.

The archbishop proceeded to Radnor, {12a} on Ash Wednesday (_Caput

Jejunii_), accompanied by Ranulph de Glanville, privy counsellor and

justiciary of the whole kingdom, and there met Rhys, {12b} 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, {12c} a monk of the abbey of Cluny, and then by Eineon,

son of Eineon Clyd, {12d} 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 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.”

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.

Early on the following morning, after the celebration of mass, and the

return of Ranulph de Glanville to England, we came to Cruker Castle, {13}

two miles distant from 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.

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, {14a} who had entered the church of Saint Avan

(which is called in the British language Llan Avan), {14b} 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.

Another circumstance which happened in these our days, in the province of

Warthrenion, {14c} distant from 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.

In this same province of Warthrenion, and in the church of Saint

Germanus, {15a} there is a staff of Saint Cyric, {15b} 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 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.

At Elevein, in the church of Glascum, {16a} is a portable bell, endowed

with great virtues, called Bangu, {16b} 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, {16c} 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.

The church of Luel, {16d} in the neighbourhood of Brecheinoc

(_Brechinia_), was burned, also in our time, by the enemy, and everything

destroyed, except one small box, in which the consecrated host was

deposited.

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 {17} 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.

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.

CHAPTER II

JOURNEY THROUGH HAY AND BRECHEINIA

HAVING crossed the river Wye, we proceeded towards Brecheinoc, and on

preaching a sermon at Hay, {18a} 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, {18b} 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; {18c} and every place where one river falls into another is

called Aber in the British tongue. Landeu signifies the church of God.

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.

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, {19a} that the large lake, and the river Leveni, {19b} which

flows from it into the Wye, opposite Glasbyry, {19c} 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 {19d} 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, {19e} who has the audacity 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.

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

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.

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,

{21} adhered to the stone on which he leaned, through the miraculous

vengeance, 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, {22a}

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.

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.

In the north of England beyond the Humber, in the church of Hovedene,

{22b} the concubine of the rector incautiously sat down on the tomb of

St. Osana, sister of king Osred, {22c} 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 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.

What miraculous power hath not in our days been displayed by the psalter

of Quindreda, sister of St. Kenelm, {23a} 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, {23b} 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, 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.

Moreover I must not be silent concerning the collar (_torques_) which

they call St. Canauc’s; {24} 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.

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 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.

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 {25a} led the life of a

hermit at Llanhamelach, {25b} 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.

Bernard de Newmarch {26a} was the first of the Normans who acquired by

conquest from the Welsh this province, which was divided into three

cantreds. {26b} 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, whom she owned as the legitimate child of Bernard, in marriage

to Milo Fitz-Walter, {27} 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,

“— Nihil est audacior illis

Deprensis, iram atque animos a crimine sumunt.

— Mulier sævissima tunc est

Cum stimulos animo pudor admovet.

— colllige, quod vindicta

Nemo magis gaudet quam fœmina.”

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,

{28a} in the castle of Brendlais, {28b} 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.

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, 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, {29a} 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: {29b} 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.

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, {30a} 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, {30b} son of Rhys ap Tewdwr, held under

the king one comot, namely, the fourth part of the cantred of Caoc, {31}

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 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.”

The lake also {32} (according to the testimony of the inhabitants) 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; {33a} on the

southern, by that range, of which the principal is Cadair Arthur, {33b}

or the chair of Arthur, so 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.

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. {34a} 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.

CHAPTER III

EWYAS AND LLANTHONI

IN the deep vale of Ewyas, {34b} which is about an arrow-shot broad,

encircled on all sides by lofty mountains, stands 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, {35} 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,

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 {36a} 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.

It seems worthy of remark, that all the priors who were hostile to this

establishment, died by divine visitation. William, {36b} who first

despoiled the place of its herds and storehouses, being deposed by the

fraternity, forfeited his right of sepulture amongst the priors. Clement

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.

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

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, {38} 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.

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, 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.

“Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque secundis,

Nec facile est æqua commoda mente pati;”

And again:

“Creverunt opes et opum furiosa cupido,

Et cum possideant plurima, plura petunt.”

And also the poet Horace:

“—scilicet improbæ

Crescunt divitiæ, tamen

Curtæ nescio quid semper abest rei.

Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam

Majorumque fames.”

To which purpose the poet Lucan says:

“—O vitæ tuta facultas

Pauperis, angustique lares, o munera nondum

Intellecta Deûm!”

And Petronius:

“Non bibit inter aquas nec poma fugacia carpit

Tantalus infelix, quem sua vota premunt.

Divitis hic magni facies erit, omnia late

Qui tenet, et sicco concoquit ore famem.”

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.”

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:

“Qui color albus erat, nunc est contrarius albo.”

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, 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, {41} a good

and holy man, by whom 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 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.

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.

In these temperate regions I have obtained (according to the usual

expression) a place of dignity, but no great omen of future pomp or

riches; and possessing a small residence {44a} 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.

CHAPTER IV

THE JOURNEY BY COED GRONO AND ABERGEVENNI

FROM thence {44b} we proceeded through the narrow, woody tract called the

bad pass of Coed Grono, leaving the 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.

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, {45} 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.

A sermon having been delivered at Abergevenni, {46} 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.

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, 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,—

“Non habet eventus sordida præda bonos.”

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

“—Ridendo dicere verum

Quis vetat?”

and

“—fas est et ab hoste doceri,”

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 at Landinegat, {48} near Monmouth, with the

assistance of the army he had brought from Hereford, he was attacked at

break of day, when

“Tythoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile”

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 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. {49a}

It seems worthy of remark, that the people of what is called Venta {49b}

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

_alva_, 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,

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.

But let us again return to our Itinerary.

CHAPTER V

OF THE PROGRESS BY THE CASTLE OF USK AND THE TOWN OF CAERLEON

AT 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, {50a} who faithfully accompanied us through his

diocese, were signed with the cross; Alexander archdeacon of Bangor {50b}

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. {50c} 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 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.

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.”

Not far hence is a rocky eminence, impending over the Severn, called by

the English Gouldcliffe {51} or golden rock, because from the reflections

of the sun’s rays it assumes a bright golden colour:

“Nec mihi de facili fieri persuasio posset,

Quod frustra tantum dederit natura nito rem

Saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos hic sine fructu.”

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,

“—labor omnia vincit

Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas.”

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, 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, {53} 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.

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 risk of

damnation every one who swears falsely by them, deviates from the paths

of truth. The fall of Enoch, abbot of Strata Marcella, {54} 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.

At the same time there was in Lower Gwent a demon 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.

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,” 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.

CHAPTER VI

NEWPORT AND CAERDYF

AT 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, {56a} situated on the banks of the river Taf. In the

neighbourhood of Newport, which is in the district of Gwentluc, {56b}

there is a small stream called Nant Pencarn, {56c} 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 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 _hir_, long, and

_cornu_, 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, {57} who, besides that

castle, possessed by hereditary right all the province of Gwladvorgan,

{58a} 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,

“Spectandum est semper ne magna injuria fiat

Fortibus et miseris; tollas licet omne quod usquam est

Argenti atque auri, spoliatis arma supersunt.”

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. {58b} As he mounted his horse at the 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, {59} 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

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.”

Not far from Caerdyf is a small island situated near the shore of the

Severn, called Barri, from St. Baroc {60} who formerly lived there, and

whose remains are deposited in a chapel overgrown with ivy, having been

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.

CHAPTER VII

THE SEE OF LANDAF AND MONASTERY OF MARGAN, AND THE REMARKABLE THINGS IN

THOSE PARTS

ON 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, {61a} a discreet and

good man. The word Landaf {61b} 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 {61c} to the noble Cistercian

monastery of Margan. {62} 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, 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.

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.

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. 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.”

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 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.

CHAPTER VIII

PASSAGE OF THE RIVERS AVON AND NETH—AND OF ABERTAWE AND GOER

CONTINUING our journey, {65} 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 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 {66} 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.

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 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.

Entering the province called Goer, {67a} we spent the night at the castle

of Sweynsei, {67b} 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 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.

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.”

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

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.

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 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.

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 _a_ being changed into

_e_—Salt in English, by the addition of _t_ 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 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.

CHAPTER IX

PASSAGE OVER THE RIVERS LOCHOR AND WENDRAETH; AND OF CYDWELI

THENCE we proceeded towards the river Lochor, {71a} 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, {71b} we

arrived at the castle of Cydweli. {71c} In this district, after the

death of king Henry, whilst Gruffydd 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. {72} 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.

CHAPTER X

TYWY RIVER—CAERMARDYN—MONASTERY OF ALBELANDE

HAVING crossed the river Tywy in a boat, we proceeded towards Caermardyn,

leaving Lanstephan and Talachar {73a} 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 {73b} signifies the city of Merlin, because,

according to the British History, he was there said to have been begotten

of an incubus.

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, {73c} built 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:

“Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?”

and

“Et si non recte possis quocunque modo rem,”

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. {74a}

Not far to the north of Caermardyn, namely at Pencadair, {74b} 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 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.

On our journey from Caermardyn towards the Cistercian monastery called

Alba Domus, {75a} 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, {75b} who

had assassinated the young man, were on the following day signed with the

cross at Alba Domus, as a punishment for their crime. Having traversed

three rivers, the Taf, then the Cleddeu, under Lanwadein, {76a} 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, {76b} being enclosed and terminated, as

it were, by two swords, for cleddue, in the British language, signifies a

sword.

CHAPTER XI

OF HAVERFORD AND ROS

A SERMON having been delivered at Haverford {76c} 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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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 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, {79a} 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 {79b} 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.

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. {80} 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 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.

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 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.

CHAPTER XII

OF PENBROCH

THE 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, {82a} 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, {82b} his constable and

lieutenant-general, a 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, {83} 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.

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.

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.

The castle called Maenor Pyrr, {84} that is, the mansion of 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.

In this part of Penbroch, unclean spirits have conversed, nor visibly,

but sensibly, with mankind; first in the house of Stephen Wiriet, {86a}

and afterwards in the house of William Not; {86b} 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 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.”

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,

“Summa petit livor, perflant altissima venti,

Summa petunt dextra fulmina missa Jovis.”

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 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.

In the province of Penbroch, another instance occurred, about the same

time, of a spirit’s appearing in the house of Elidore de Stakepole, {88}

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 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.

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;

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.

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 {90} of 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.

CHAPTER XIII

OF THE PROGRESS BY CAMROS AND NIWEGAL

FROM Haverford we proceeded on our journey to Menevia, distant from

thence about twelve miles, and passed through Camros, {91a} 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. {91b} 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 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.

BOOK II

PREFACE

SINCE, therefore, St. David’s is the head, and in times past was the

metropolitan, city of Wales, though now, alas! retaining more of the

_name_ than of the _omen_, {94} 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.

CHAPTER I

OF THE SEE OF SAINT DAVID’S

WE 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.

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 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, {96}

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.

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 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 {97}

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 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.e._ 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.

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 {98} 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 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.

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, {99a} 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. {99b} 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 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. {100} 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 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 _Pipe_ 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.”

CHAPTER II

OF THE JOURNEY BY CEMMEIS—THE MONASTERY OF ST. DOGMAEL

THE 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 {102a} to meet prince Rhys at Aberteive. {102b} 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, {102c} 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 mountains, {103a} 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, {103b} 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.

I shall not pass over in silence the circumstance which occurred in the

principal castle of Cemmeis at Lanhever, {103c} 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 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.

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, which his wife spontaneously sewed on her husband’s arm.

Near the head of the bridge where the sermons were delivered, the people

immediately marked out the site for a chapel, {105a} 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.

CHAPTER III

OF THE RIVER TEIVI, CARDIGAN, AND EMELYN

THE 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, {105b} 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 _salio_. Their particular manner of leaping (as I have

specified in my Topography of Ireland) is thus: fish of this kind,

naturally swimming against the 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, {106a} 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; {106b} 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 western sides against hunters; and also concerning their

fish-like tails.

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 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,

“—Qui se

Eunuchum ipse facit, cupiens evadere damno

Testiculi.”

And St. Bernard,

“Prodit enim castor proprio de corpore velox

Reddere quas sequitur hostis avarus opes.”

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 times of fasting, eat the

tails of this fish-like animal, as having both the taste and colour of

fish.

We proceeded on our journey from Cilgerran towards Pont-Stephen, {109a}

leaving Cruc Mawr, _i.e._ 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. {109b}

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.

CHAPTER IV

OF THE JOURNEY BY PONT STEPHEN, THE ABBEY OF STRATFLUR, LANDEWI BREVI,

AND LHANPADARN VAWR

A SERMON having been preached on the following morning at Pont Stephen,

{109c} by the archbishop and archdeacon, and also by two abbots of the

Cistercian order, John of Albadomus, and Sisillus of Stratflur, {109d}

who faithfully 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,

{110a} 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, {110b} 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 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.

Having rested that night at Lhanpadarn Vawr, {111} 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

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 {112}

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.

CHAPTER V

OF THE RIVER DEVI, AND THE LAND OF THE SONS OF CONAN

APPROACHING to the river Devi, {113a} 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. {113b} We

slept that night at Towyn. Early next morning, Gruffydd son of Conan

{113c} 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, {113d} where Malgo, son of Rhys,

who had attached himself to the archbishop, as a companion to the king’s

court, discovered a ford near the sea. That night we lay at Llanvair,

{114a} that is the church of St. Mary, in the province of Ardudwy. {114b}

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.

CHAPTER VI

PASSAGE OF TRAETH MAWR AND TRAETH BACHAN, AND OF NEVYN, CARNARVON, AND

BANGOR

WE continued our journey over the Traeth Mawr, {115a} and Traeth Bachan,

{115b} 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.

{115c} 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, {115d} 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.

{115e}

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 {116a} 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.

The archbishop having, by his sermon the next day, induced many persons

to take the cross, we proceeded towards Banchor, passing through

Caernarvon, {116b} 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, {116c} with many

broken ascents and descents, we dismounted 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, _spec_, 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, {117} the metropolitan see of North Wales, and

were well entertained by the bishop of the diocese. {118a} 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.

CHAPTER VII

THE ISLAND OF MONA

FROM hence, we crossed over a small arm of the sea to the island of Mona,

{118b} 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, {118c} many persons

were 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 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, {120a} 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.

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, {120b} 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, {120c} 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.

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, {121} 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. 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.

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.

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 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, {123a} or the ecclesiastical island, because many

bodies of saints are deposited there, and no woman is suffered to enter

it.

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, {123b} whose father, during

the pregnancy of his 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. {124} 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.

CHAPTER VIII

PASSAGE OF THE RIVER CONWY IN A BOAT, AND OF DINAS EMRYS

ON our return to Banchor from Mona, we were shown the tombs of prince

Owen and his younger brother Cadwalader, {125a} 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 {125b} 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, 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, {126} 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

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.

CHAPTER IX

OF THE MOUNTAINS OF ERYRI

I MUST 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:—

“Et quantum longis carpent armenta diebus,

Exigua tautum gelidus ros nocte reponet.”

“And what is cropt by day the night renews,

Shedding refreshful stores of cooling dews.”

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 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.

CHAPTER X

OF THE PASSAGE BY DEGANWY AND RUTHLAN, AND THE SEE OF LANELWY, AND OF

COLESHULLE

HAVING crossed the river Conwy, {128a} or rather an arm of the sea, under

Deganwy, leaving the Cistercian monastery of Conwy {128b} on the western

bank of the river to our right hand, we arrived at Ruthlan, a noble

castle on the river Cloyd, belonging to David, the eldest son of Owen

{129a} where, at the earnest invitation of David himself, we were

handsomely entertained that night.

There is a spring not far from Ruthlan, in the province of Tegengel,

{129b} 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.” {129c}

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; {129d} 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, {129e} 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, {129f} 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 of men. {130} 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.

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.

CHAPTER XI

OF THE PASSAGE OF THE RIVER DEE, AND OF CHESTER

HAVING 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, {131a} 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.

Chester boasts of being the burial-place of Henry, {131b} 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 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. {132} 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.

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.

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.

CHAPTER XII

OF THE JOURNEY BY THE WHITE MONASTERY, OSWALDESTREE, POWYS, AND

SHREWSBURY

THE 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, {133a} 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,

{133b} 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, {133c} a

noble and liberal 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.

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, {134a} earl of Shrewsbury,

brought into this country: on which account the horses sent from hence

are remarkable for their majestic proportion and astonishing fleetness.

Here king Henry II. entered Powys, in our days, upon an expensive, though

fruitless, expedition. {134b} Having dismembered the hostages whom he

had previously received, he was compelled, by a sudden and violent fall

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.

From Oswaldestree, we directed our course towards Shrewsbury

(_Salopesburia_), 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,

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.

It is to be remarked that three princes, {136} distinguished for their

justice, wisdom, and princely moderation, ruled, 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.

CHAPTER XIII

OF THE JOURNEY BY WENLOCH, BRUMFELD, THE CASTLE OF LUDLOW, AND

LEOMINSTER, TO HEREFORD

FROM 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 (_Peccatum_), 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.” {137}

From Wenloch, we passed by the little cell of Brumfeld, {138} 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.

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 Paul went to Italy, and suffered so dreadful a

shipwreck? But the ship of his heart remained unbroken amidst the waves

of the sea.

CHAPTER XIV

A DESCRIPTION OF BALDWIN, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY {139}

LET 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, {140} 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.”

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, 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.

FOOTNOTES:

{0a} 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.

{0b} “Mirror of the Church,” ii. 33.

{0c} “Social England,” vol. i. p. 342.

{0d} Published in the first instance in the “Transactions of the

Cymmrodaian Society,” and subsequently amplified and brought out in book

form.

{0e} Introduction to Borrow’s “Wild Wales” in the Everyman Series.

{0f} 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.

{0g} Walter Map, another Archdeacon of Oxford, was born in

Glamorganshire, the son of a Norman knight by a Welsh mother. _Inter

alia_ he was the author of a Welsh work on agriculture.

{0h} Green, “Hist. Eng. People,” i. 172.

{0i} “England under the Angevin Kings,” vol. ii. 457.

{0j} has released “The Description of Wales” as a

separate eText—David Price.

{11} 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,

A.D. 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.

{12a} New Radnor.

{12b} 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.

{12c} 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.

{12d} In the Latin of Giraldus, the name of Eineon is represented by

Æneas, and Eineon Clyd by Æneas Claudius.

{13} 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.

{14a} 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.

{14b} 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.

{14c} 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.

{15a} 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.

{15b} Several churches in Wales have been dedicated to Saint Curig, who

came into Wales in the seventh century.

{16a} Glascum is a small village in a mountainous and retired situation

between Builth and Kington, in Herefordshire.

{16b} 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.

{16c} Rhaiadyr, called also Rhaiader-gwy, is a small village and

market-town in Radnorshire. The site only of the castle, built by prince

Rhys, A.D. 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.

{16d} 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.

{17} 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.”—_Leland_, _Itin._ tom. v. p. 72.

{18a} 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.

{18b} 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.

{18c} 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.]

{19a} 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.

{19b} 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.

{19c} A pretty little village on the southern banks of the Usk, about

four miles from Hay, on the road leading to Brecknock.

{19d} 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.

{19e} 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.

{21} 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.”—_Leland_, _Itin._ tom. v.

p. 69.

{22a} David Fitzgerald was promoted to the see of Saint David’s in 1147,

or according to others, in 1149. He died A.D. 1176.

{22b} Now Howden, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

{22c} Osred was king of the Northumbrians, and son of Alfred. He

commenced to reign in A.D. 791, but was deprived of his crown the

following year.

{23a} 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.

{23b} Winchelcumbe, or Winchcomb, in the lower part of the hundred of

Kiftsgate, in Gloucestershire, a few miles to the north of Cheltenham.

{24} 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.

{25a} 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.

{25b} Lhanhamelach, or Llanamllech, is a small village, three miles from

Brecknock, on the road to Abergavenny.

{26a} 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.

{26b} 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.

{27} 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.

{28a} 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.

{28b} 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.

{29a} 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.

{29b} 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.

{30a} The umber, or grayling, is still a plentiful and favourite fish in

the rivers on the Welsh border.

{30b} 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.

{31} 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.

{32} 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.

{33a} 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.

{33b} 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.

{34a} 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.

{34b} 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.

{35} 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 A.D.

1136, by Simon, bishop of Worcester, and Robert Betun bishop of Hereford,

and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

{36a} The titles of mother and daughter are here applied to the mother

church in Wales, and the daughter near Gloucester.

{36b} 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.

{38} 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.

{41} 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.’”

{44a} 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.

{44b} 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.

{45} 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.

{46} 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. “A.D. 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.

{48} Landinegat, or the church of St. Dingad, is now better known by the

name of Dingatstow, or Dynastow, a village near Monmouth.

{49a} [For the end of William de Braose, see footnote 34.]

{49b} 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.”—_Leland_, _Itin._ tom. v. p. 6. Ancient

Gwentland is now comprised within the county of Monmouth.

{50a} William de Salso Marisco, who succeeded to the bishopric of

Llandaff, A.D. 1185, and presided over that see during the time of

Baldwin’s visitation, in 1188.

{50b} Alexander was the fourth archdeacon of the see of Bangor.

{50c} Once at Usk, then at Caerleon, and afterwards on entering the town

of Newport.

{51} 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.

{53} [Geoffrey of Monmouth.]

{54} 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.

{56a} Cardiff, _i.e._, the fortress on the river Taf.

{56b} 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.

{56c} 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.

{57} 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, A.D.

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 A.D. 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, A.D. 1179;

Hamon, who died at the siege of Toulouse, A.D. 1159; and Philip.

{58a} 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.

{58b} 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.

{59} So called from a parish of that name in Glamorganshire, situated

between Monk Nash and St. Donat’s, upon the Bristol Channel.

{60} 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].

{61a} William de Salso Marisco.

{61b} The see of Llandaff is said to have been founded by the British

king Lucius as early as the year 180.

{61c} 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.

{62} The Cistercian monastery of Margam, justly celebrated for the

extensive charities which its members exercised, was founded A.D. 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.

{65} 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.

{66} 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.”—_Leland_, _Itin._ 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.

{67a} 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.

{67b} 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.”]

{71a} 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.”—_Leland_, _Itin._

tom. v. p. 23. [The ferry is no more. The river is crossed by a fine

railway bridge.]

{71b} 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.”

{71c} 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.”—_Leland_, _Itin._ tom. v. p. 22.

{72} 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.]

{73a} The castle of Talachar is now better known by the name of

Llaugharne.

{73b} 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.

{73c} 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.]

{74a} 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.

{74b} Pencadair is a small village situated to the north of Carmarthen.

{75a} 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.”

{75b} 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.

{76a} Lanwadein, now called Lawhaden, is a small village about four

miles from Narberth, on the banks of the river Cleddeu.

{76b} 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.

{76c} 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.]

{79a} 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.

{79b} 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.]

{80} 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.

{82a} 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.

{82b} 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.e._ 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.

{83} 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.

{84} 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.e._ 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.

{86a} 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, A.D. 1612.

{86b} 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.]

{88} 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.

{90} Ramsey Island, near St. David’s, was always famous for its breed of

falcons.

{91a} 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.

{91b} 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.

{94} Giraldus, ever glad to _pun_ upon words, here opposes the word

_nomen_ to _omen_. “_Plus nominis habens quàm ominis_.” He may have

perhaps borrowed this expression from Plautus. Plautus Delphini, tom.

ii. p. 27.—Actus iv., Scena iv.

{96} 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.”—_Cæsar_. _Comment_, lib. vii.

{97} The bishops of Hereford, Worcester, Llandaff, Bangor, St. Asaph,

Llanbadarn, and Margam, or Glamorgan.

{98} 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.

{99a} 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.

{99b} See the Vaticinal History, book i. c. 37.

{100} Lechlavar, so called from the words in Welsh, Llêc, a stone, and

Llavar, speech.

{102a} Cemmeis, Cemmaes, Kemes, and Kemeys. Thus is the name of this

district variously spelt. Cemmaes in Welsh signifies a circle or

amphitheatre for games.

{102b} [Cardigan.]

{102c} There is place in Cemmaes now called Tre-liffan, _i.e._ 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.

{103a} Preseleu, Preselaw, Prescelly, Presselw.

{103b} 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.

{103c} 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.

{105a} 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.

{105b} 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.

{106a} 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.”—_Leland_, _Itin._, tom.

viii. p. 95.

{106b} 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.

{109a} 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.

{109b} In 1135.

{109c} Lampeter, or Llanbedr, a small town near the river Teivi, still

retains the name of Pont-Stephen.

{109d} 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.

{110a} [Melenydd or Maelienydd.]

{110b} Leaving Stratflur, the archbishop and his train returned to

Llanddewi Brefi, and from thence proceeded to Llanbadarn Vawr.

{111} 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.

{112} 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.

{113a} This river is now called Dovey.

{113b} 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.]

{113c} 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 A.D. 1200, and was buried in a

monk’s cowl, in the abbey of Conway.

{113d} 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.

{114a} 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.

{114b} 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.

{115a} 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.

{115b} 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.

{115c} 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.”

{115d} 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.

{115e} 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.

{116a} 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.

{116b} 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.

{116c} 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.

{117} 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.e._ 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.

{118a} Guianus, or Guy Rufus, dean of Waltham, in Essex, and consecrated

to this see, at Ambresbury, Wilts, in May 1177.

{118b} Mona, or Anglesey.

{118c} 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.e._ 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).]

{120a} This hundred contained the comots of Mynyw, or St. David’s, and

Pencaer.

{120b} 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.”

{120c} 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.”

{121} 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.

{123a} 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.

{123b} 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 A.D. 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.

{124} “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.

{125a} 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.—_Hengwrt_. _MSS._ Cadwalader brother of Owen

Gwynedd, died in 1172.

{125b} 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.

{126} 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.

{128a} The travellers pursuing their journey along the sea coast,

crossed the æstuary of the river Conway under Deganwy, a fortress of very

remote antiquity.

{128b} 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.

{129a} [David was the illegitimate son of Owen Gwynedd, and had

dispossessed his brother, Iorwerth Drwyndwn.]

{129b} 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.

{129c} See before, the Topography of Ireland, Distinc. ii. c. 7.

{129d} 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.

{129e} 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.

{129f} 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.

{130} The three military expeditions of king Henry into Wales, here

mentioned, were A.D. 1157, the first expedition into North Wales; A.D.

1162, the second expedition into South Wales; A.D. 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.

{131a} 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.

{131b} Giraldus seems to have been mistaken respecting the burial-place

of the emperor Henry V., for he died May 23, A.D. 1125, at Utrecht, and

his body was conveyed to Spire for interment.

{132} 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.

{133a} 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.

{133b} 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.

{133c} 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.

{134a} 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.

{134b} This expedition into Wales took place A.D. 1165, and has been

already spoken of.

{136} 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.

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.

{137} Malpas in Cheshire.

{138} 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.

{139} 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.

{140} Giraldus here alludes to the dignity of archdeacon, which Baldwin

had obtained in the church of Exeter.