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.