<g>After</g> Laurence, succeeded his sonne <g>John</g>, who, being taken prisoner by
the Spaniards in a battle at sea, and in the end ransomed, died in
France in the yeere 1375. The circumstances are these: “Having undergone
four years’ imprisonment in Spaine, with most inhumane usage, he sent to
Bertrand Clekyn, Constable of France, desiring that he would use some
means for his enlargement; who thereupon interceding for him to the
<g>Bastard</g> of Spaine, then calling himself King, obtained his liberty, in
consideration of part of that money due to himself: which being agreed
upon, he was brought to Paris. But after his coming thither, it was not
long ere he fell mortally sick of poysin, as some thought, given him by
the Spaniards, who were reputed to have such a special faculty in that
<g>art</g>, as that the potion should kill at what distance of time they
pleased. The French, therefore, seeing his death approaching, being
eager to get his ransom before he died, made haste to remove him to
<g>Calais</g>; but on his journey thitherward he departed this life, upon the
xvi. day of April, leaving his sonne and heire only two and a half years
old.”
Agreeably to the superstition of the time, all his misfortunes and death
were looked upon as judgments, for various alleged offences committed
against the Church revenues: recommending that the clergy should be
taxed more than the laity--for living an ungodly life--for “everything
that could render him hateful in the eyes of monks, whom he insulted and
exposed.”
After him followed his sonne <g>John</g>, second Earle of his line, who, in
running a tilt[377] at Woodstock, was slaine by Syr John <g>Saint John</g>,
casually, in the yeare 1397. And hereupon, for default of his issue,
there fell very many possessions and fair revenewes into the King’s
hands, as our lawiers use to speake: and the <g>Castle</g> of Penbrock was
granted unto Francis <g>At-Court</g>, a courtier in especiell great favour, who
commonly thereupon was called Lord Penbrock. Not long after, Humfrey,
sonne to King Henry the Fourth, before he was Duke of Gloucester,
received this title of his brother, King Henry the Fifth: and before his
death Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion--a thing not before
heard of--to William <g>De la Pole</g>, Earle of Suffolk, after whose downfall
the said King, when he had enabled Edmund of <g>Wadham</g>, and Jasper of
<g>Hatfield</g>, the sonnes of Queen Katherine, his mother, to be his lawfull
half brethren, created <g>Jasper</g> Earle of Penbroke, and <g>Edmund</g> Earl of
Richmond, with pre-eminence to take place above all Earles--for Kings
have absolute authority in dispensing honours. But King Edward the
Fourth, depriving Jasper of all his honours by attainder and forfeiture,
gave the title of <g>Penbrok</g> to Syr William <g>Herbert</g>, for his good service
against Jasper in Wales;[378] but he shortly afterwards lost his life at
the battle of Banbury. Then succeeded his son, bearing the same name,
whome King Edward the Fourth, when he had recovered the kingdom,
invested in the Earldom of Huntingdon, and bestowed the title of
<g>Penbrok</g>, being surrendered, upon his eldest sonne and heire, <g>Edward</g>
Prince of Wales.--[Chronicle.]
Long after this period, “<g>Henry</g> the Eighth invested <g>Anne</g> Bollen, to whom
he was affianced, Marchioness of Penbroke, with a mantle and coronet, in
regard both of her nobility and also her virtues--for so runne the
wordes of the patent. At length King <g>Edward</g> the Sixth adorned Sir
William Herbert, lord of <g>Caerdiff</g>, with the title of Earl of Penbroke,
after whom succeeded his sonne Henry, who was Lord President of <g>Wales</g>
under Queen Elizabeth. And now”--says our old <g>King-at-arms</g>, speaking
courteously of his contemporaries--“his sonne, richly accomplished with
all laudable endowments of body and minde, enjoyeth the same title. And
this family of Herberts, he concludes, is honourable, and of great
antiquity in these parts of Wales, as lineally propagated from Henry
Fitz-Herbert, Chamberlayne to King Henry the First, who married the said
King’s <g>Paramour</g>, the mother of Reginald, Earle of Cornwall, as I was
first informed by Robert <g>Glover</g>, a man passing skilfull in the study of
genealogies, by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a
great losse.”
So much for the Genealogy of the old lords of Pembroke. In this
department of history--the tracing of genealogies--in which the Cambrian
families are proverbially expert, but which others affect to ridicule,
we must not omit the defence of a learned Welshman: “That there have
been,” says he, “parasites in the art, must be acknowledged; and family
pride may sometimes have been flattered. However, upon the whole, much
credit is due to our ancient genealogists, who were appointed and
patronized by Royalty, and professed that art prior to their initiation
into the higher mysteries of <g>Bardism</g>. Their records are still extant,
and bear every mark of authenticity. A bard and a _genealogist_ were
synonymous; and though a bard can plead _licentia poetica_, yet fiction
was not allowed in recording the actions of their heroes,[379] nor in
registering the descent of families. The Welsh bards continued their
genealogical pursuits down to the reign of Elizabeth; therefore, as
Humphrey Lwyd, a learned antiquary and historian, observes: “Let such
disdainful heads as cant know their own grandfathers, leave their
scoffing and taunting of Welshmen for that thing that all other nations
in the world do glory in.” Yet, in justice to the ancient Saxons on this
point, it must be allowed that they themselves were not altogether
indifferent to the study of genealogy, since their deducing of their
King Ethelwulph from <g>Adam</g> is an instance of their _accuracy_ in the
art--
“Can Bourbon or Nassau go higher?”[380]
On the “Herbert genealogy,” Mr. Willatt relates the following
characteristic <g>Anecdote.</g>--About two miles from Abergavenny, says he, is
Handel--once a mansion of no less magnificence than antiquity; but in
the present day it is only interesting from its having been the cradle
of the ancient and numerous family of <g>Herbert</g>. Of the vast possessions
of this family, the inheritance of the last lineal descendant, who died
twenty years ago, had dwindled down to less than two hundred a year. But
however reduced in fortune, his pride of ancestry had lost nothing of
its strength or spirit by the change. Meeting a stranger one day near
his mansion, who took an interest in the local history and natural
beauties of the scenery, they entered into conversation.
“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “whose is that antique-looking
mansion before us?”
“That, Sir,” replied the last of the Herberts, “is Handel--a very
ancient house, for _out_ of it came the Earls of <g>Pembroke</g> of the first
line; and the Earls of Pembroke of the second line; the Lords Herbert of
Cherburg; the Herberts of Coldbrook, Rumney, Cardiff, and York; the
<g>Morgans</g> of Acton came _out_ of it; so also did the Earl of <g>Hunsdon</g>; the
<g>Joneses</g> of Treowen and Llanarth, and all the <g>Powells</g>. Out of this house
also, by the female line, came the Dukes of <g>Beaufort</g>!”
“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “who lives in it now?”
“I, Sir--I live in it,” was the answer.
“Then pardon me, Sir, if I presume to give you a little advice. Do not
lose sight of so many prudent examples, but come _out_ of it yourself,
or it will assuredly fall _in_ upon you, and crush you in its ruins!”
With this digression, suggested by the subject, we return to Pembroke.
<g>The Castle.</g>--In the words of Giraldus, already quoted in our motto, the
situation of the Castle of Pembroke is thus correctly described:--A
tongue of the sea, shooting forth of Milford-Haven, encloseth in the
forked end thereof the principal town of the whole country, and chief
place of Dimetia, seated on the ridge of a certain craggy and
long-shaped rock, from which circumstance the Britons gave it the name
of <g>Penbro</g>, which signifies a head of the sea. Arnulph Montgomery, so
often mentioned in the early portion of this work, was the first who
built a temporary fortress on this promontory--a very weak and slender
thing, God wot, says Giraldus--consisting of merely walls, held together
by stake and turf; and which, after returning into England, he delivered
unto Girald of <g>Windesor</g>, his constable and captain, to be kept with a
garrison of a few soldiers. The absence of Arnulph, however, was the
signal for immediate revolt; and the warlike inhabitants of South Wales
hastening to the spot, laid siege to the brittle fortress. But here they
met with such a hot reception and stubborn resistance from Girald and
his small garrison, that they were speedily disheartened and raised the
siege. This attack served as a warning for Girald to strengthen his
position; and he lost no time in fortifying the town and castle with
walls and towers, sufficient to maintain him in quiet possession of the
new territory. When this was accomplished, he began to retaliate; and
acting upon the aggressive, invaded the surrounding country far and
near. At length, finding himself at the head of a powerful garrison, yet
willing to conciliate the natives--and thereby preserve his own estates
and those of his followers free from the vexation of hostile
irruptions--he ingratiated himself with <g>Gruffin</g>, the prince of the
country, who gave him his sister, the beautiful <g>Nesta</g>,[381] in marriage;
and thus cemented a friendly alliance between the native Welsh and the
Anglo-Normans. Great prosperity followed this event, and the
Anglo-Normans--as Giraldus Cambrensis, who was a scion of the family,
informs us--not only maintained peace along the sea-coasts of South
Wales, but won also the “waulls of Ireland.”
The Giraldus de Windesor above mentioned was the first of that name; and
is considered as the great progenitor of the Fitzgeralds of the present
day--of whom the chief families are of Irish extraction, and familiar in
the pages of modern history.
It is also written in the same documents, in regard to the tenure of
this castle and town, likewise of the “castle and town of Tenbigh, of
the Grange of Kingswood, of the Convent of Croytargath, and of the
manors of Castle-Martin and Tregoire, that Reginald Grey, at the
coronation of King Henry the Fourth, made suit to carry the second
sword, but in vain; for answer was made him, that those castles and
possessions were in the King’s hands, in the same manner as the town and
castle of Pembroke now are”--[that is, at the date of the present
extract.]
<g>The Siege.</g>--We now proceed to give a few details of Pembroke Castle, as
it figures in the chronicles of <g>Richard</g> the Third and <g>Charles</g> the First.
* * * * *
The more rational and less bigoted part of the nation regarded Henry,
Earl of Richmond, as the future deliverer of the kingdom, from the
thraldom it endured from the tyranny of the sanguinary King Richard; for
in Henry were to be united the pretensions of both the “Houses” of York
and Lancaster. The Earl was, meanwhile, resident in Brittany, and living
on good terms with the duke of that Province, who appeared to favour his
claims, and treated him with marked respect and hospitality. But the
circumstance that more immediately favoured his accession to the throne
of England was the following:--Morton, Bishop of Ely, was confined in
the Castle of Brecon, in custody of Henry, Duke of Buckingham, who had
been a minion of Richard, and a powerful instrument of his advancement
to the throne; but finding that his services in a bad cause were
forgotten, and that Richard refused to ratify his claims to the Bohun
estates and titles--to which he was heir--Buckingham entered warmly into
the plans concerted by Morton and others for the recall of Richmond, and
by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward the Fourth, to
establish a double right to the throne. Dugdale assigns another reason
for Buckingham’s secession from the usurper: after asserting that he was
reinstated in those possessions which he claimed as a descendant of
Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and giving him an abstract of the
instrument that put him in possession, he adds his opinion on the
alteration which took place in his political sentiments, and ascribes it
either to a remorse of conscience for raising Richard to the throne,
after the murder of his nephews, or finding himself neglected by him:
but with this question we have nothing to do.[382] Having concerted the
plan of elevating Richmond to the throne, the secret was intrusted to
Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, and Richard Kyffin, Dean of Bangor--both strenuous
friends of the House of Lancaster--who transmitted, by means of
fishing-boats, the necessary intelligence to the Earl of Richmond, with
assurance of all possible aid on his arrival in Wales. This was an
occasion too alluring for the Welsh Bards to continue silent; one of
whom, Dafydd ap Llwyd ap Llywelyn ap Dryffyd, lord of Mathafarn, an
illustrious poet and herald, rendered himself very serviceable in the
cause. His dark, mysterious, Pythonic prophecies, that a chieftain of
Wales would liberate the nation from Saxon bondage, so wrought upon the
valour of his countrymen, that many thousands enlisted under the banner
of Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, who afterwards joined Richmond on his arrival at
Milford.
Apprized of the state and feeling of the country, and of the facilities
which were now presented to him of recovering his position and station,
Henry embraced the invitation as a message from Heaven; and, in the
month of August, 1485, set sail for England. For this enterprise the
Duke of Brétagne furnished him with a military force of two thousand
men; and, with these distributed in a small fleet, he landed at
Milford-Haven, where he was received with joy and acclamation by a vast
concourse of friends, who now openly espoused his cause and predicted
his triumph.
From Milford, Richmond proceeded to Dale and Haverfordwest, where he was
joined by the above-named Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, Arnold Butler, Richard
Gryffydd, John Morgan, Sir George Talbot, with the young Earl of
Shrewsbury, his ward, Sir William Stanley, lord of Bromfield Yale and
Chirkland, Sir Thomas Burchier, and Sir Walter Hungerford.[383]
After a most hospitable reception at Carew Castle, it was agreed, in
order to prevent disputes between the armies, that in the march to
Shrewsbury, the Earl should shape his course to Cardigan, and Sir
Rhys-ap-Thomas by Carmarthen. In this march, Dafydd-ap-Ievan had the
honour of entertaining the illustrious Prince and his army at
Llwyn-Dafydd, Cardiganshire, for one night; and the following night he
was received with loyal enthusiasm at Wern-Newyd, by Einon-ap-Dafyd
Llwyd. To Dafydd-ap-Ievan the Earl presented a superb hirlas, or
drinking-horn, richly mounted on a silver stand, which was afterwards
presented to Richard, Earl of Carbery, and may still be seen[384] at
Golden Grove, the seat of Lord Cawdor, Carmarthen.
“Pride of feasts, profound and blue,
Of the ninth wave’s azure hue;
The drink of heroes formed to hold,
With art enriched and lid of gold.”--_Hoare’s Gir._
From his hospitable quarters in Cardiganshire, Richmond sallied forth to
meet the usurper; and marching through Shrewsbury, Newport, Stafford,
and Lichfield, encountered him at Bosworth--
“What, ho! young Richmond, ho! ’tis Richard calls thee!
I hate thee, Harry, for thy blood of Lancaster!
Now, if thou dost not hide thee from my sword,
Now, while the angry trumpet sounds alarms
And dying groans transpierce the wounded air;
Richmond, I say, come forth and singly face me!
Richard is hoarse with daring thee to arms!”
The fate of that day is so familiar in the page of Shakspeare, that we
close this part of our subject, and proceed to other particulars:--
<g>Anecdote.</g>--Of one of Richmond’s adherents, the following is told by
Turner in his “History of Remarkable Providences:”--Mr. Henry Wyatt, a
gentleman of Kent, was a confederate in the plan, and intrusted with the
correspondence between the friends of the Earl, which he conducted with
great personal risk, but the greatest fidelity, being the bearer of
several dispatches to and from the parties at home and abroad. But at
last his conduct being suspected, he was arrested, examined, and
discharged for want of conclusive evidence. But on a second charge being
brought against him, he was committed to the Tower, and there put to the
torture; but such were his fortitude and resolution, that nothing could
be drawn from him either to prove his own participation in the designs
laid to his charge, or to incriminate others. Finding threats, tortures,
and fair promises alike unavailing, he was cast into a dungeon, fed upon
bread and water, and thus continued until the question of supremacy was
decided by the battle of Bosworth Field. The pittance, it is said, to
which he was condemned, would have been quite inadequate to support
nature, _had not a cat brought him food daily_. He lived to be made a
baronet, in compliment to his unflinching loyalty, and served in the
Privy Council of Henry VII.-VIII.
A picture is said to be still preserved in the family, in which a cat is
represented creeping in at a grate--having a pigeon in its mouth--with
these lines:--
Hunc. macrum. rigidum. mæstum. fame. frigore. cura
Pavi. fovi. acui. carne. calore. joco.
<g>Cromwell</g>, before marching against the Scottish army, thought it
advisable to suppress the returning loyalty of South Wales, which had
recently defeated the Parliamentary forces. The town and castle of
Pembroke had been consigned by Parliament to the government and defence
of Colonel Poyer; but on his declaring for the King, the “gallant
conduct of himself and the garrison afforded a brilliant example of
devotion to the Royal cause.” The defence was continued with so much
obstinacy and resolution, that the presence of Cromwell himself was
necessary for the reduction of the castle: while the garrison, having
suffered for some time from great deficiency of provisions, was at
last--owing, as we shall see, to Lord Jermyn’s total neglect of his
engagements--reduced to the verge of absolute famine.
Cromwell, in the meantime, was quite unaware of the real position of
affairs within the walls; and thinking, from the resistance already
offered, that the place might hold out much longer than would be
consistent with his other plans, was on the point of raising the siege.
But while this question was agitating his mind, a deserter from the
Royalist camp brought him intelligence that, owing to the pressure of
famine, it was impossible that Poyer and his companions could maintain
their post beyond twenty-four hours. This unexpected news determined him
to continue the siege; but however much he prized his timely
information, he determined to express his abhorrence of the “informer;”
and--as a salutary warning to all traitors--he ordered him to be hanged.
It has been doubted, however, whether, in his “military capacity,”
Cromwell was ever in this part of Wales--though Mr. Yorke allows that he
might have made a friendly visit there; for in an old house at Kinmael,
that once belonged to the Llwyds, of the tribe of Maredudd--but at that
period to Colonel Carter, an officer in his favour--there is a room
called <g>Cromwell’s parlour</g>; and, with other circumstances taken into
consideration, little doubt, he thinks, can be entertained of Cromwell’s
having in person conducted the siege of Pembroke.[385]
But the following documents, written by Oliver Cromwell himself, are
conclusive:--
“To Major Thomas Saunders, at Brecknock, these:
“Before PEMBROKE, 17th June, 1648.
“SIR,--I send you this enclosed by itself, because it’s of greater
moment. The other you may communicate to Mr. Ramsey, as far as you
think fit, and I have written. I would not have him and other
honest men be discouraged that I think it not fit, at present, to
enter into contests. It will be good to yield a little for public
advantage; and truly that is my end: wherein I desire you to
satisfy them. I have sent, as my letter mentions, to have you
remove out of Brecknockshire; indeed, into that part of
Glamorganshire which lieth next Monmouthshire. For this end: We
have plain discoveries that Sir Trevor Williams of Llangibby,” &c.,
[is suspected, and must be _secured_. See “Raglan,” page 178.]