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} Project Gutenberg 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.