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.