THE CONQUEST OF WALES
In the old days, the Britons had fled before the Northmen, who came
conquering from the east-ward; but those who dwelt in the mountain
fastnesses of the west had been secure from Saxon and Norman foes.
Their country was called Wales or the land of the foreigner, by all who
heard of it. Between England and Wales lay the borderland or Marches as
the Normans named it, and there the troublesome Norman barons had been
given lands by the King to keep them far from the court and busy with
their wild neighbours.
When Edward ruled in England, Llewelyn, "towering above the rest of
men, with his long red lance, and red helmet of battle, crested with a
fierce wolf," was Prince of Snowdon. The bards sang of his fame and
prophesied that he should rule from sea to sea. "Men spoke of the
return of King Arthur, they whispered that the Northmen should be
driven back to their fatherland" and the nation waited in expectation.
Llewelyn desired to marry the daughter of one of the Lords of the
Marches and to find friends among those barons. Edward, fearing this,
captured the bride on her way to Wales and summoned the prince to
London to do homage for his lands; but he would not come.
"We dare not submit to Edward," said the Welsh, "nor will we suffer our
prince to do so, nor do homage to strangers whose tongue, ways and laws
we know nought of."
So the King raised an army and marched into their country by way of the
old Roman road along the north coast. His army marched untroubled with
heavy stores and baggage, for Edward was a great soldier and had
planned that his fleet should attend him, sailing in sight of the
coast, till they reached the island of Anglesey, the granary of the
Welsh.
As he marched, he gave orders to build strong castles. Builders and
architects were as busy as soldiers and there was great rivalry amongst
them. Some boasted of the number of towers, some of their size, some of
the speed at which they were able to build. The fine castle of Conway
was made from the stones of a stronghold close by. Carnarvon and
Beaumaris were built to guard the island of Anglesey, and Caerphilly
looked towards the lands of the South Welsh.
Llewelyn, hidden in the wilds of Snowdon, hoped ever that the King
would risk a march into these unknown paths, but he waited in vain.
Then Llewelyn fought on the coast road, but with dismay he saw himself
cut off on all sides but one, and, looking towards the south, he knew
it to be his only way of escape, and that was the land of his enemies.
There, it is said, he died, by the treachery of the South Welsh, as he
stood upon the bank of a river, but the South Welsh say that he was
slain in battle by his enemies, the English.
Then Edward summoned the Welsh to meet him at Carnarvon Castle, where
he promised they should do homage to a new Welsh Prince, whom he would
choose. When the day came, he showed to them his eldest son, who had
just been born at Carnarvon, and they paid homage.
Among the laws which he made, he bade the Welsh speak English, but to
this day they can speak in their own tongue. "My people," said the
Welsh chieftain, "may be weakened by your might and even in great part
destroyed, but unless the wrath of God be on the side of its foe it
will not perish utterly, nor deem I that other race or other tongue
will answer for this corner of the world before the Judge of all at the
last day save this people and the tongue of Wales."