tes -^/9 - mo 
 
 Book .AlT<7 
 

THE 
 
 HEROINE S 
 
 OF 
 
 WELSH HISTORY: 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 Pnurirs grit §itfgii]#trf flota 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CELEBRATED WOMEN OF WALES, 
 
 ESPECIALLY 
 
 THE EMINENT FOR TALENT, THE EXEMPLARY IN CONDUCT, 
 THE ECCENTRIC IN CHARACTER, AND THE CURIOUS 
 " BY POSITION, OR OTHERWISE ; 
 
 BY y/ 
 
 T. J. LLEWELYN PRICHARD, 
 
 Author of " The Adventures and Vagaries of Twm Short " Editor of 
 
 " The Cambrian Wreath" etc., etc. 
 
 Hail Ladies of Cymru with loveliness blest, 
 
 Fair Sina the faithful, the beautiful Nest, 
 
 Young Morvid of Mona, unfading thy wreath, 
 
 And gallant Gwenllian's who battled till death . 
 
 Mevanwy the maid of Llangollen of old, 
 
 Arid Tydvil the martyr, your tales have been told ; 
 
 Poor ill-fated Bronwen here Pity records, 
 
 While Fleer's base abduction drew thousands of swords. 
 
 Ellen th' armipotent shines in our sphere 
 
 And Lucy of Penal, the fond and sincere ! 
 
 Beauties, and Martyrs, and Heroines — your tales 
 
 As Glory's rays shine round the Genius of Wales- ■ 
 
 Price, Bound in Cloth, Seven Shillings and Sixpence. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 W. AND F. G. CASH, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET, (Without.) 
 
 BRISTOL: C. T. JEFFERIES, CANYNGE'S HOUSE, REDCLIFF STREET. 
 
 SWANSEA: WILLIAM MORRIS, STAMP OFFICE, HIGH STREET. 
 
 ' 1854. 
 
n. 
 
 C. T. J^eries, Printer, Canynge's House, 97, liedcliff-street, Bristol. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 i 
 
 TO 
 
 THE VIRTUOUS VOTARIES 
 
 OF 
 
 TRUE WOMANHOOD, 
 
 IN ALL 
 
 ITS GRACES, PURITY, AND EXCELLENCE 
 
 AS CONTRA-DISTINGUISHED FROM 
 
 THE FANTASTIC FOOLERIES AND ARTIFI- 
 CIAL CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 OF 
 
 FINE LADYISM 
 
 IN THE MIDDLE WALKS OF LIFE, 
 
 THIS WORK IS DEDICATED 
 
 BY THEIR ARDENT ADMIRER, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 [NOT TO BE PASSED OVER UNREAD.] 
 
 As Prefaces are not always honored with a perusal, and as this 
 especial one involves a question or two interesting to the reader, I 
 have deemed it necessary, for a moment, to bar and obstruct his 
 passage to these Memoirs, with the above unusual heading ; which 
 however, if fairly entertained, I trust will be found neither imper- 
 tinent nor unprofitable. 
 
 Certain parties in our principality, who may be designated the 
 fanatics of welsh nationality, have somewhat pertinaciously 
 harped upon the question why I have written both this work and my 
 "Adventures and Vagaries of Twm Shon Catty" in the English 
 rather than the Welsh vernacular, I might reply, although from my 
 childhood acquainted with both languages, that a long residence in 
 England, and a partiality for its language and literature had decided 
 my preference. Such an announcement however would only 
 provoke a rejoinder on the comparative antiquity, originality, and 
 other imputed merits of the Welsh that would prove as interminable 
 as utterly unprofitable. Therefore, as a general reply to all such 
 inquiries, in addition to my averment of the decided preference 
 which I shall ever entertain for the English, I beg leave to suggest 
 the following considerations. In a commercial view of the question 
 I have endeavoured to profit by the experience of others, who, to 
 their sorrow have discovered that Welsh readers and book buyers 
 are so very circumscribed in number that in these times, both 
 authors and publishers are severe losers by such experiments as 
 publishing books in the Welsh language. One of the latest failures 
 in such an attempt has been that of the translator and publisher of 
 the very meritorious work, " Chambers's Information for the People, 5 ' 
 which fell from the press almost still born. To a certain extent 
 the same may be said of the Welsh translation of " Knight's Penny 
 Magazine." These are ominous and veritable signs of the times ; 
 and should become an emphatic warning to all enthusiastic specu- 
 lators in the resuscitate of the dying language of ancient Britain. 
 
 The sound philosophical opinion put forth in the following pas- 
 sage (with which I heartily coincide), may go far towards setting 
 at rest the question as to the merit or mischief of reviving in 
 literature an antiquated and degenerated language, over which Time 
 
VI. PREFACE. 
 
 is gradually expanding his lethean hand, and suggesting for it after 
 an honorable fulfilment of its long-enduring mission, an eternity 
 of repose. The quotation is from a letter of the eminent critic, 
 William Taylor, of Norwich, the correspondent of the late Dr. 
 Southey . 
 
 " It is surely more desirable that the Low Dutch should sink 
 into a provincial jargon and gradually disappear, than that it should 
 be polished into a classical language. It is already the misfortune 
 of modern Europe to possess too many cultivated dialects. The 
 Literati, who would keep pace with the progress of the general 
 mind, must be acquainted with many of them, and the emergence 
 of every new nation into learning and refinement, multiplies the 
 elementary toil of each student. It is therefore important that the 
 smallest possible number of leading languages should contain the 
 whole stock of information and amusement; and that inconsiderable 
 districts, such as Holland, Denmark, Piedmont, and Wales, should 
 not endeavour to immortalize their respective phraseology, but con- 
 tentedly slide into the speech of the larger contiguous nations." The 
 critic of the Athenaeum remarks on this, " We would recom- 
 mend this passage to the attention of those who would wish to 
 revive the Irish language, as a medium of instruction for the 
 people." 
 
 In the Preface to Parry's Cambrian Plutarch he remarks: — " It 
 is not sufficient that Welshmen have at last learnt to appreciate the 
 value of their ancient literary remains, whether of History or Poetry. 
 In order to do full justice to their national literature, and to make 
 it an object of interest to others, they should divest it of its native 
 garb (the Welsh language), and present it to the world in a form 
 more qualified to allure the general reader ; namely, an English 
 costume." Acting on these suggestions I here present the public 
 with the following work ; and proceed to account for some of the 
 materials of which it is composed. 
 
 In the year 1824 the late Jonathan Harris, bookseller, of Carmar- 
 then, favored me with the loan of an old black letter edition of 
 Caradoc of Llancarvon's History of Wales, translated by Dr. 
 Powell, interleaved throughout, and copiously full of manuscript 
 notes of great value, evidently the result of very extensive anti- 
 quarian reading. Whoever had been the former owner of that book 
 and the writer of the notes (of whom Mr. Harris possessed no clue, 
 having purchased it among many others at various sales), he appears 
 to have had access to more matter connected with Welsh history 
 than any man, living or dead, whom it has been my fortune to be 
 
PREFACE. Vll. 
 
 acquainted with, and to have made the best possible use of the trea- 
 sures which came in his way ; unless, indeed, instead of placing 
 the amount of his reading and observation in notes and comments, 
 he had himself written a history of his country, for which great task 
 he appears to have been well qualified. The initials I. L. appeared 
 in various parts of these notes ; and from the peculiarity of the old 
 fashioned hand-writing, browned by time or bad ink, and exhibiting 
 occasionally the evidence of the tremulous nerves of advanced life, 
 although its general style was stiff, firm, and formal, approaching 
 that of the ancient engrossing law hand — gave tokens that the 
 writer, whoever he may have been, was decidedly an old man ; pro- 
 bably past the period for such a laborious undertaking as the pro- 
 duction of a national history, unless by the aid of an amanuensis. I 
 copied many of these notes and comments, which included several 
 legends and much traditionary matter, fully intending, on my re- visit 
 to Carmarthen, to transcribe the whole, or purchase the book, if the 
 owner would part with it. On my return however, most unfor- 
 tunately, the work was no longer to be found, nor could Mr. Harris 
 give any account how he lost it to the day of his death. Ever since 
 I have deeply to regret my omission in copying the whole while I 
 had the opportunity. 
 
 The information derived from those manuscript notes has enabled 
 me to give a fuller account of several of these Heroines of Welsh 
 History than I could otherwise have accomplished with the aid of 
 all which 1 had collected, either in the British Museum or the pri- 
 vate libraries to which I have had access in search of materials for the 
 foundation of this work. I have noticed in these Memoirs, as they 
 respectively occurred, in what instances I have used these Notes ; 
 especially in those of Gwenllian, daughter of Griffith ab Cynan 
 and queen of Prince Griffith ab Rhys ab Tewdwr, and of the Lady 
 Nest, wife of Bernard de Newmarch. From the same authority I 
 derived some interesting traditionary matter relative to '* Mary,. 
 Llwyd ;" a barbarous relic of which Heroine has been familiarized \ 
 to the public, by the annual custom of parading about a Skeleton \ 
 Horse's Head, by a set of low mummers, through the towns and J 
 villages of the counties of Monmouth and Glamorgan, the v Gwent/ 
 and Morganwg" of the ancient divisions of the principality. / 
 
 Having now to refer exclusively to the present publication as it 
 stands, I therefore solicit attention to the following particulars. At 
 the commencement of the undertaking I expected tbe quantity 
 which I had prepared for the press would be comprised in a single 
 volume of about six hundred pages, or six numbers at one shilling 
 
each, as promised to the patrons of the work. However, the mosl 
 important part of this announcement is, that 1 committed an error 
 in my calculation ; for I now find that my written matter, when 
 reduced into printed type will run to double the quantity originally 
 intended for making the Work complete. Consequently, I have a 
 similar portion to offer for a Second Volume ; so that the question to 
 be asked and ansivered is, Will the public encourage the continuation 
 of the Work to that extent, or must it be limited to the present Volume? 
 
 I am well assured there are many among those who have thus far 
 patronized my book that will gladly consent to its extension; gener- 
 ously rejoicing in the prospect of so much additional biography of 
 our national Female Worthies. Yet, I regret to say, there are 
 others, so intensely imbued with the crying vice of our Welshland 
 portion of Britain, a most apathetic and most discreditable indif- 
 ference — not only to literature in general, and their own country's 
 history in particular — but to every thing save and except the accu- 
 mulation of property : enjoying no music but the sordid Mammon 
 Duet produced by knocking one shilling against another— no 
 Choral Harmony but what is produced by the rattling of coin within 
 the craving vortex of their money-bags — that will make this small 
 affair of mine a question of the pocket, and cause such to hesitate in 
 incurring the expense of an additional volume ; without the slightest 
 reference to the amount of value received in exchange. To such I 
 would say withhold this if it seems good to you — but in the end the 
 loss may prove as much yours as my own. When once this head of 
 mine, such as it is, is laid low (and the period is not remote), though 
 many more gifted may arise, but you will not readily meet another 
 so patient under your niggardly patronage — so content to walk the 
 same path through regions so unpromising of either laurels or 
 profit; — and the more intelligent may yet have to regret the 
 encouragement withheld, or niggardly bestowed, from finishing a 
 Work that their children may prize more than their dull apathetic 
 parents. Be that as it may, for I leave the matter in the hands of 
 Providence, having, as the homely phrase goes, other fish to fry and 
 to feed upon — i.e. other works to put forth; and shall act according 
 to the signs held out to me, either to finish or discontinue the 
 Heroines of Welsh History. 
 
 In proof that my materials are far from approaching a state of ex- 
 haustion, and that the Tales untold will be as interesting in quality 
 as abundant in quantity, I submit the following as a programme of 
 the Memoirs which are to form the second volume; — The Princess 
 Nest, daughter of Prince Griffith ab Llewelyn, and queen of 
 
Trahaern ab Caradoc; whose amour with Fleance, the son of Ban- 
 quo, originated the royal race of the Stuarts of Scotland. The 
 Lady Nest, or Brecon (daughter of the last-named), wife of 
 Bernard de Newmarch ; embracing the strange tradition explana- 
 tory of her mysterious conduct in causing her son Mahael (destined 
 to the earldom of Hereford), to be bastardized and disinherited. 
 The Lady Nest, daughter of Iestyn ab Gwrgant, the last native 
 lord of Glamorgan, embracing the entire account of the subjugation 
 of Glamorgan by the Norman Knights. Mary Llwyd, the He- 
 roine of the War Horse at the battle of Hirwain. The Princess 
 Nest, daughter of Prince Rhys ab Tevvdwr, mistress of King Henry 
 I., mother of the learned Robert of Gloucester, and grandmother of 
 Giraldus Cambrensis. The Dames of Arergwayn, or Women 
 of Fishguard, who, dressed in their red whittles, in 1797, were 
 mistaken by the French invaders for soldiers, which created the 
 panic that caused them to lay down their arms and yield them- 
 selves prisoners to the Welsh. Tydvil, the Marthyr (24th 
 daughter of Bryehan Brecheiniog, the tragic close of whose life is 
 here related in continuation of what has been already given), 
 from whom the town of Merthyr Tydvil derives its name. The 
 Princess Sina, or Ss&nenna, mother of Prince Llewelyn, the last 
 native sovereign of Wales ; one of the most amiable and talented 
 of the celebrated women of Wales. The Beauties of Merion- 
 ethshire, Or " MORWYNION GLAN MERIONETH" RoWENA, Or AHs 
 Ronwen, daughter of Hengist, leader of the first Saxon invaders of 
 Britain, whose fatal beauty led to the massacre of the Long Knives, 
 and terminated in the conquest of the country by the Saxons. The 
 Women of the Vale of Clewyd, including a description of that 
 fertile and extensive valley. The Ladies of Llangollen, 
 namely, Lady Eleanor Butler and the Honorable Miss Ponsonby ; 
 whose fanciful residence became the object of fashionable pil- 
 grimages, as herein narrated by Madame Genlis, Sir Walter Scott, 
 Mr. Lockhart, the humorous Matthews, the comedian, and others. 
 The Princess Morvyth, daughter of the last Silurian Sove- 
 reigns. St. Tecla, patroness of the churches of Llandegley. 
 St. Ursula and the eleven thousand Virgins. St. Winnifred, 
 patroness of the Holy Well in Flintshire. Blanche Parry, lady 
 of the Privie Chamber and Mistress of the Robes to Queen Eliza, 
 beth, of the Llandevileog family, near Brecon. Grace Parry, 
 the eccentric mistress of a ferry-boat in North Wales. Lucy Wal- 
 ters, mistress of Charles II. and mother of the Duke of Monmouth 
 beheaded by James II. for aspiring to the Crown. Bridget Jones, 
 
the handsome young widow of Llanelly, celebrated by the poet 
 Savage. Lucy Lloyd of Penal, an interesting love narrative of the 
 14th century. Lady Winnifred Herbert, Countess of Nithis- 
 dale, whose lord being involved in the Pretender's rebellion of 
 1715, and condemned to suffer death in company with the rebel 
 lords of Derwentwater and Kenmuir. She saved his life by a series 
 of ingenious contrivances, aided by faithful Welsh servants, and 
 ultimately exchanging clothes with him, he escaped from the 
 Tower of London ; and in the succeeding reign of George II. 
 obtained his pardon. 
 
 Let this suffice as a list of the principal Memoirs to come; al- 
 though there are many others of considerable interest, but, perhaps, 
 of minor importance. 
 
 I cannot close this Preface without acknowledging my obligation 
 
 to Lady Hall, of Llanover, b y whose inte rest I obtained admission 
 
 toj^fldibiai^ fl£jj;p JRri|jjdi- ..Mnapnjri , wfi'ence much of the matter 
 contained in this Work has been derived. In especial terms I 
 have also to express my gratitude to the Rev. William Jenkin 
 Rees, rector of Cascob, not only for the personal aid which he 
 rendered me in transcribing from the valuable books in his library, 
 arid his Manuscript History of Radnorshire, but at an unfortunate 
 period of my life, for the hospitality of his house for many weeks 
 while so employed, during the inclemency of a severe winter. 
 
 In conclusion I may mention, that as the peculiar dedication 
 which I have prefixed to this Work, may excite the curiosity of 
 many, who may wonder at my choice of ideal patronesses, while 
 among living personages of rank one might have been selected, 
 to whom my book might have been more profitably inscribed : I 
 reply, that an Explanatory Essay respecting the characters referred 
 to, is intended to accompany the second volume, should such an 
 extension of the Work be called for by the Public. 
 
 T. J. LLEWELYN PRICHARD. 
 
 Swansea, 
 
 1st Nov., 1854. 
 
!l 
 
 ACTRESSES OE CELEBRITY BORN 
 IN VALES. 
 
 In the high glow of his Cambrian nationality Edward 
 Pugh, author of" Cambria Depicta,'' was passionatelyanx- 
 ious to have the fact established that Mrs^ jkrijan was born 
 in "Wales , as Mrs. Siddojis indisputably was. He says — 
 "my journey to this place (the village of Nantglyn, Den- 
 bighshire) was to gain, if possible, either an affirmative or a 
 negative to a report in circulation in this country, that the 
 celebrated Thalia, of our day, was born in a respectable 
 ancient house, half-a-mile from the village called Plas yn 
 Nantglynn, but I have met with no satisfactory or decisive 
 account. But several old people assert positively, that 
 Mis p Bk nd (the proper name) was the daughter of a Mr. 
 J ordan Bland, one of three brothers, Irishmen, many years 
 ago residing here." Since the death of Mr. Pugh it has 
 been ir refutably ^ established that she really was the daughter 
 of the above-named Mr. Jordan Bland, with the additional 
 claim to Welsh birth, that her mother was a Pembrokeshire 
 lady, whose maiden name was Philipps , and tne residence 
 of her family the town of Haverfordwest ; that they were 
 remotely related to the late L ord Milfb rd. and consequently 
 to his successor in the estate, the present Sir Richard 
 Philipps of P icton Castl e. 
 
 Mrs. Siddons, it is well kown, was born in the town of 
 Brecon, at an inn called the Shoulder of Mutton ; and the 
 room in which she first saw the light there, is marked with an 
 inscription, in which the claim to that honour is announced. 
 Thus we have to boast (if comfort can be found in boasting) 
 that Wales is the country which gave birt^to two of the 
 most perfect and wonderful actresses the worToT'ever pro- 
 duced, in their respective spheres of comedy and tragedy. 
 
 An attempt to add a leaf or two to Mrs. Siddons's 
 superabundant wreath of laurel, would appear a work of 
 
12 ACTRESSES OF CELEBRITY. 
 
 supererogation ; yet we fancy our little addenda can he 
 weaved into the main circlet of her queenly brow, with no 
 ungraceful effect. We remember reading of some enthu- 
 siastic admirer of this stately actress, who protested that he 
 would as soon think of making love to the Pope as to that 
 magnificent creature. Entertaining similar ideas of the gran- 
 deur of her bearing, we were not a little surprised to learn 
 that in her elegant retreat, in the neighbourhood of London, 
 she evinced tastes and habits as g^yej^djdomestic as ever 
 graced the mild bosom of the most retiring and home-abiding 
 of the daughters of Eve ; and that the stately Sarah, the 
 "observed of all observers" on the tragic scene, was passion- 
 ately &BiL f flowers. This feature in her character, we 
 believe, has noToeen descanted upon by the eminent poet 
 Campbell, who has considerably added to his numerous 
 literary honours by becoming the biographer of Mrs. Siddons, 
 A London florist, and author of a treatise on the growth 
 and culture of flowers,* in advocating the Dutch taste for 
 a particular mode of planting, says — "in some cases I am 
 inclined to copy the Dutchman ; and I would have my bed of 
 hyacinths distinct, my tulips distinct, my anemonies distinct, 
 my ranunculuses, my pinks, my carnations distinct ; and even 
 my beds of double-blue violets, and dwarf larkspur distinct; 
 to say nothing of hedgerows of different sorts of roses. Inde- 
 pendent of the less trouble you have in cultivating them 
 when kept separate, you have, as I have said before, beauty 
 in masses; and you have likewise their fragrance and per- 
 fume so concentrated, that they are not lost in the air, but 
 powerfully inhaled whenever you approach them." 
 
 "Mrs. Siddons, the celebrated tragic actress, is a great 
 admirer of this mode of planting, and fond of contemplating 
 this " beauty in masses." She adopted this style of garden- 
 ing at her late residence on the Harrow-road. One favourite 
 flower with her was the viola amcena, the pansy, 7 or common 
 
 * Thomas Hogg. 
 
 f Pansy, from panacea, derived from the Greek, and signifying " heal-all." 
 Although "heart's-ease" has become the name by which it is known among 
 the people of England, we frequently heard it called " love in vain" (doubtless 
 derived from its Shaksperean title of "love in idleness") by the cottagers of 
 the west of England. 
 
ACTRESSES OF CELEBRITY. 13 
 
 purple heart's-ease ; and this set with unsparing profusion 
 all round her garden."* 
 
 No devotee at the shrine of Shakspeare can be at a loss 
 to discover whence our great actress derived her taste for 
 flowers. The source of her inspiration, as the high priestess 
 of Melpomone, was also the altar at which she formed her 
 flosculous attachment; and well might that he, for what 
 poet ever wrote so frequently, so wisely, or so so well, of 
 flowers, as the great master who drew forth the homage of 
 her heart and soul ? Her special patronage of the pansy, 
 that peculiar gem in the treasury of Flora, was doubtless 
 suggested by the singular notice of it, which occurs in the 
 celebrated passage of " Midsummer's Night's Dream," so 
 frequently a point of contention among commentators, for 
 the imputed political allusions which it contains. 
 Oheron— My gentle Puck, come hither : Thou rememb'rest 
 
 Since once I sat upon a promontory, 
 
 And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, 
 
 Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath 
 
 That the rude sea grew civil at her song ; 
 
 And certain stars shot madly from their spheres 
 
 To hear the sea-maid's music. 
 Puck. — I remember. 
 Oberon.— That very time I saw (but thou couldst not), 
 
 Flying between the cold moon and the earth, 
 
 Cupid all arm'd ; a certain aim he took 
 
 At a fair vestal throned by the west, 
 
 And loosd his love- shaft smartly from his bow, 
 
 As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ; 
 
 But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft 
 
 Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon ; 
 
 And the imperial votress passed oh, 
 
 In maiden meditation, fancy free. 
 
 Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell : 
 
 It fell upon a little western flower-— 
 
 Before, milk-white ; now purple with Love's wound— 
 
 And maidens call it Love in idleness.^ 
 
 * Notwithstanding their admiration of the great Sarah Siddons, the London 
 tradesmen were fond of contrasting the economcial habits of the Kembles 
 with the liberality, or rather lavish expenditure, of the eccentric tragedian 
 Edmund Kean ; whence the following anecdote by our florist :— " Her greats 
 and constant call for this flower, every spring, to keep the purple-bordering 
 complete and perfect, induced the gardeners in the neighbourhood to give the 
 name of ' Miss Heart's-ease,' to her managing handmaid, who used to chaffer 
 for it, in the true spirit of hard and thrifty dealing." , 
 
 f The juice of this flower was to lave the eyelids of^Titania, queen of the 
 fairies, while sleeping, to act as a charm, so that she might fall in love with the 
 first object she might behold on awakening — and this happened to be the head 
 of an ass ; the principal source of the comic humour in " Midsummer's Night's 
 Dream." 
 
14 ACTRESSES OF CELEBRITY. 
 
 But as this passage involves more important matter than 
 what relates to this flower, and as some of our readers may 
 not have met with Warhurton's interpretation of its mystery, 
 the insertion of it here may not be altogether out of place. 
 Finding that " the fair vestal throned by the west," could 
 be no other than Queen Elizabeth, that discovery suggested 
 to him that the poet had in view some other public cha- 
 racters of that period ; and one especially whom he aimed 
 to eulogise, but dared not do so openly^ whence this singular 
 mode of introducing covert. praise, which, if noticed, might 
 be explained away ; as it fairly admits of both the obviously 
 poetic, as well as the hidden meaning. He decided that 
 the "mermaid," was Mary Queen of Scots; and the "dol- 
 phin," her husband the French Dauphin : " uttering such 
 dulcet and harmonious breath, &c," referred to Mary's 
 eloquence and skill in music ; and the " certain stars," to 
 the English nobility who involved themselves, and perished 
 in her cause. 
 
 Our florist remarks further on Mrs. Siddon's gardening 
 peculiarities: "her garden was remarkable in another respect, 
 and might with great propriety be styled a garden of ever- 
 greens, which, together with a few diciduous shrubs, were of 
 the most sombre, sable, and tragical cast ; such as box, fir, 
 privet, philligrea, arbor vitae, holly, cypress, the red cedar, 
 laurel, Irish ivy, bay -tree, arbutus daphne or spurge laurel, 
 cneorum tricoccum, or the 'widow's wail,' the branches 
 and flowers of which, according to Pliny, were carried by 
 the Roman matrons in their funeral processions. 
 
 ' Purpores spargam flores.' 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 The only part of the year in which it could be viewed with 
 any degree of satisfaction, was the winter, as giving rise to 
 a pleasing association of ideas, in beholding these retain their 
 green verdure and clothing, at a time when the rest of the 
 surrounding trees were stripped, naked, and bare." 
 
If 
 
 ALICE, COUNTESS OP CLAR E, 
 
 WIDOW OF RICHARD FITZGILBERT EARL OF CLARE, AND 
 SISTER OF RANULPH EARL OF CHESTER. 
 
 In the year 1135, the thirty-third and last of the reign 
 of Henry L, and the first of King Stephen, during the 
 successful career of the Welsh princes in recovering the 
 independence of their country, from the usurpation of the 
 Normans, an atrocious event 'took place, which has been 
 related at large in the memoir of the princess Gvyenllian. 
 This was the beheading of a lady, the princess last named, 
 wife of the prince of South Wales, and daughter of the 
 prince of North Wales, by a Norman knight named Mau- 
 rice de Londres, whose fortune it was to take her prisoner, 
 at Kidwelly, in Carmarthenshire, while leading an army 
 against him, in the absence of her husband. An act like 
 this, *' without precedent even jn these times," rather calls 
 in question the vaunted chivalry and " gentle blood" of 
 these Norman marauders, so partially cited by Warrington, 
 in contradistinction to the imputed ferocity of the Welsh. 
 
 This additional reference to that event is made here pre- 
 vious to introducing the following account of a, far lighter 
 evij,, said to have befallen a N orma n lady at this very 
 period, treated by Warrington, however, as if meriting 
 the highest consideration of a national historian, then pro- 
 fessedly writing a history of Wales. By a candid exami- 
 nation of his narrative, and comments on it, we hold that 
 this author stands self-convicted of partialities and antipa- 
 thies, intolerable in a historian. The following is his 
 account of the perils and rescue of the countess of Clare : — 
 
 " In the course of these events, Richard earl of Clare, to 
 whom the territory of Cardigan had been given by Henry, 
 was murdered by Iorwerth, the brother of Morgan of Caer- 
 lleon, as he was riding through a forest, enjoying the 
 pleasure of music, and without suspicion of an enemy. His 
 a2 
 
16 ALICE, COUNTESS OF CLARE. 
 
 widow, the countess of Clare, and sister to the earl of Ches- 
 ter, had retired into one of his castles on the murder of her 
 husband. In this fortress, during the late campaign, she 
 was besieged by the W elsh. The situation of this lady 
 was truly deplorable. She was invested by an irritated 
 enemy, and in want of provisions ; the English were nearly 
 all slain, or expelled the country ; her brother was at a dis- 
 tance, and so employed in defending his own territories, 
 that he could not afford her any timely relief: and what 
 contributed to render her situation still more wretched, 
 she had reason to expect every hour, a fate she might deem 
 more cruel than death itself; the Welsh, like manv__ other 
 nations, having usually taken their female captives, even 
 those of the highest rank, to be their concubines.* In this 
 dreadful state Milo Fitzwalter, who by right of his wife, the 
 daughter of Bernard de Newmarch, was the lord of Breck- 
 nock, received orders from King Stephen to use his utmost 
 endeavours, to set at liberty the unfortunate countess. 
 There was so much difficulty and danger in the enterprize, 
 that its success appeared almost impossible. A generous 
 pity which a brave mind ever feels for weakness in distress, 
 and the gallant spirit of chivalry, made him however at- 
 tempt at every hazard, to deliver the lady out of danger. 
 He lost no time, therefore, in marching with a chosen body 
 of troops, through ways which were least frequented, tra- 
 versing along the tops of mountains, and through the deep 
 woods of the country, and at length having had the good 
 fortune to arrive at the castle, unseen by the Welsh, he car- 
 ried away the countess of Clare and all her retinue. An 
 action so gallant and humane, equals many of the fanciful 
 descriptions which are found in romance, and proves such 
 pictures to have borne some resemblance to the manners of 
 the feudal ages." 
 
 * The Welsh -were by no means singular, even in this island, for that species 
 of barbarity. We read in Saxon annals that Atholbald king of ihe West 
 Saxons, combined the revolting crime of incest with the lesser offence of keep- 
 ing a concubine, in a manner which proved the injunction that a man may not 
 marry his mother or a>andmotha; was not altogether a superfluous command. 
 On his accession to the crown he k jpt bis ^fipmntfafxr , the second wife of Ethel- 
 wulf his lather (uncle of the greatATfred), in the disreputable character of a 
 concubine, and afterwards married her in the city of Chester. 
 
ALICE, COUNTESS OF CLARE. 17 
 
 Then follows his comment on this marvellous feat. "We 
 see not on this occasion the same gallantry of spirit in Owen 
 and Cadwalader (Owen Gwyneth and his brother) ; nor in 
 other parts of their subsequent conduct; though these prin- 
 ces, it is said,* were highly distinguished for humanity and 
 courteous manners.'' 
 
 The invidious remark respecting the want of alacrity 
 on the part of these princes, to exert their gallantry on this 
 occasion, would imply that Mr. Warrington expected them 
 to forego for the time, their important national enterprize of 
 driving out the enemies of their country, to undertake a 
 Quixotic mission for liberating the widow of one of their 
 most active of enemies : a man who had been sent by their 
 arch enemy the king of England, and forced on their nation, 
 to take possession of the estates of the ejected Welsh pro- 
 prietors. Besides, at this very period, Owen Gwyneth and 
 Cadwalader were furiously engaged in avenging upon the 
 Normans the chivalrous act of Maurice de Londres, who, as 
 before mentioned, had beheaded their sister Gwenllian. It 
 would seem that Mr. Warrington had forgotten the eulogies 
 extorted from him by the intrepid conduct of these princes 
 on that spirit-stirring occasion ; so that the present implied 
 censure is a direct contradiction of himself as the reader 
 will find on referring to the close of our memoir of Gwen- 
 llian, queen of prince Griffith at Rhys. That the countess 
 of Clare herself did not think meanly of these Welsh prin- 
 ces, is evident, from the circumstance that she gave her 
 daughter in marriage, about a year after her husband's 
 death, to the gallant and accomplished Cadwalader. 
 
 With the candour which has always distinguished his 
 historical investigations, Theophilus Jones, the Breckonshire 
 historian, has given two authorities for this story of the 
 rescue of the countess of Clare, either of which was equally 
 within the reach of Warrington ; but the latter adopted 
 that version only, which was most unfavourable to the 
 Welsh, although the other is far more circumstantial, and 
 
 * " It is said," is a favourite phrase -with this historian, when compelled by 
 its obviousness to insert any fact, honourable to the Welsh, and the reverse to 
 their antagonists; of course implying that it is of doubtful authority, and not 
 worthy of implicit belief. 
 
18 ALICE, COUNTESS OF CLARE. 
 
 therefore more probable, and could not fail to be preferred 
 by any unbiassed examiner of the two narratives. We have 
 also in this latter account, a very different story of the 
 imputed murder of the earl of Clare. 
 
 " An old chronicle,* by an anonymous author has preserved 
 an exploit by Milo Fitzvvalter, soon after Stephen's assuming 
 the crown, which, if it could be depended upon, would per- 
 petuate his courage as well as gallantry, and place him 
 almost in the same rank with Amadis de Gaul, Orlando 
 Furioso, or any other visionary hero of romance. Lord 
 Lyttleton, in his life of Henry II. has erroneously referred 
 to Giraldus Cambrensis for this anecdote ; *j" but the story 
 of the assistance rendered by Milo to the countess of Clare, 
 widow of Richard Fitzgilbert, or Richard de Tonbrugge, 
 or Clare, first earl of Hertford, is quoted by Carte, with 
 more accuracy from the chronicle mentioned below,! where 
 we learn that this Richard was betrayed and murdered by 
 the Welsh, at the very time when he proposed joining them 
 in an insurrection against the king of England, and that 
 his lady who was sister to the earl of Chester, being, soon 
 after the death of her husband, besieged in one of his cas- 
 tles in Cardiganshire, with scarcely any expectations of 
 relief, was almost miraculously saved from death, or a more 
 ignominious fate, by the interference and bravery of Milo 
 Fitzwalter, who with a handful of men, at the command of 
 King Stephen, marched through an enemy's country, over 
 the tops of mountains and through impervious wilds, 
 brought her and her whole suite into England, leaving the 
 besiegers to batter bare walls, and to plunder a deserted 
 fortress. " 
 
 The Welsh chronicle gives a very different account of 
 the death of the earl of Clare, and the siege of his castle. 
 In this year (1138) there was a dispute between King 
 Stephen and his nobles, says this history, and the king laid 
 siege to Lincoln, where they were assembled. To their 
 
 * Gesta Regis Stephani, vol. 930. 
 
 t Warrington lias repeated the error, without acknowledging his obligation 
 to his lordship ; referring as the source of his information, to Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis Itin. lib. i., cap iv. 
 
 % Bruty Tywysogion, history of the princes. 
 
ALICE, COUNTESS OF CLARE. 19 
 
 assistance came Robert Consul (Robert earl of Gloucester) 
 to support the cause of his sister Maud, who had married 
 the emperor of Germany. With Robert came also Ralph 
 earl of Chester, and the men of Rhyvoniog and Tygengyl, 
 and Gilbert earl of Clare, with a strong force from Dyved, 
 and the Norman and Saxon nobility pressed hard upon the 
 king and took him prisoner; and in that battle the valour 
 of the Welsh was particularly conspicuous.* In this con- 
 flict lor worth ab Owen ab Caradoc led the van, leaving the 
 earl of Clare in his rear. This, the earl resented highly, 
 and soon afterwards, seeiag Iorworth by the river's side 
 fishing, he struck him a violent blow on the ear, at the 
 same time calling him a clownish Welshman, and telling 
 him he was totally ignorant of the manners of a gentleman, 
 or he would not have presumed to take the lead of his su- 
 perior. The Briton, though he might want politeness, 
 certainly did not want courage, the only answer, therefore, 
 he returned to this rude address (as far as now appears), 
 was by laying the assailant dead at his feet, with one blow 
 of his fist. Upon hearing of this event the Welsh imme- 
 diately laid siege to the castle of Uwchtyd, in Cardigan- 
 shire, to which place the countess of Clare had retired from 
 Carmarthen for safety, and compelled the garrison to fly 
 for their lives. 
 
 Thus differently related are the transactions of those 
 days by the historians of the two different countries; the 
 reader will determine to which he will give credit. My 
 opinion is (loath as I am to deprive the lord of Brecknock 
 of the honour of this gallant adventure) that the whole 
 story, as related by the Gesta Regis Stephani, appears to 
 be extremely doubtful, as well as improbable, and not suffi- 
 ciently authenticated. Giraldus Cambrensis, though he 
 wrote soon after this supposed event, and though he fre- 
 quently mentions the name of Milo Fitzwalter, says not a 
 
 * The reverse appears to have heen the case ; Theophihis Jones states, on the 
 authority of English history, that the Welsh were so far from dsitinguishing 
 themselves in this fight (though their defeat throws little, if any, disgrace upon 
 their national character), that being thinly clad and poorly armed, they were 
 put to flight on the first outset of the king's troops under William D'Ypres 
 whose coats of mail, and "ribs of steel," were impenetrable to the rude 
 weapons of the mountaineers. 
 
20 ALICE, COUNTESS OF CLARE. 
 
 syllable of his having rescued the countess of Clare from 
 her enemies ; and the whole of this tale, unsupported as it 
 is, except by an anonymous writer, savours too much of the 
 marvellous. On the other hand, the name of Gilbert has 
 been inaccurately introduced by the British historian, in- 
 stead of Richard Fitzgilbert, and the latter part of the 
 account in which the lady and the garrison, who fled into 
 the castle for safety, are made to fly out of it, for the same 
 purpose, into the very heart of an enemy's country, is con- 
 fused, if not incredible. 
 
 The same author concludes his observations by showing 
 that Milo Fitzwalter, as constable of all England, was 
 residing then at Gloucester Castle, whence, if the tale be 
 true, he must have been dispatched by King Stephen, " as 
 he never afterwards appeared in the character of the king's 
 friend or subject," having abandoned his cause and joined 
 the party of the empress Maud. 
 
 To recur again to Warrington's high estimate of Milo 
 Fitzwalter's romantic feat, even if true, is by no means 
 surpassed by the daring and clever achievement of Kenuric 
 Heer* (Kenrie the tall), who liberated prince Griffith ab 
 Cynan from an imprisonment endured for twelve years in 
 Chester Castle, as related in the memoirs of Angharad 
 his queen. His motives for the hazardous attempt were 
 founded on the highest principles of patriotism, and his 
 destruction certain, if he failed in his enterprize. His suc- 
 cess involved great consequences of good to his country, 
 over-run, devastated, and seized upon, by the Norman ma- 
 rauders miscalled knights, in the long absence of its captived 
 prince, and his devotion to the perilous act — to succeed or 
 die — was equal to any species of heroism on record. Yet 
 the best eulogy which Warrington could afford to bestow 
 on this young Welshman's achievement, consists of this 
 brief, and not very striking sentence, when compared with 
 the long and elaborate eulogies on Milo Fitzwalter. 
 
 " It is with pleasure we contemplate an action like this, 
 heroic in itself, and directed by a principle of masculine 
 virtue.'* 
 
 * In Welsh written Hir. 
 
II 
 
 ALMEDHA THE MARTYR, 
 
 TWENTY-THIRD DAUGHTER OF ERYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 Almedha, the twenty-third daughter of this prince, has 
 several names assigned to her in different MSS. The 
 Welsh designations were Elud, Elyned, and Aluned ; the 
 latter was latinized by the monks into Almeda, or Almedha. 
 " She lived, as we are informed, at a place called Ruthin, 
 in GJ^injQr^aiishire, and suffered mj rf;yy4pm u P on ^a""]£iP 
 near Brecon, called Pen-ginger.* This hill is now gene- 
 rally known by the name of SlvgcJk though part of it still 
 retains its old appellation. Pen- ginger is a corruption of 
 Pen cefn y Gaer, i. e., the summit of the ridge of the forti- 
 fication, from an old British camp, the remains of which are 
 still visible. Not far from the camp stood the monastic 
 house, which Giraldus Cambrensis calls a stately edifice, 
 where Almedha is supposed to have officiated as principal, 
 or lady abb ess. It is now completely ruinated, and can only 
 be traced oy tradition to a spot where a heap of stones and 
 an aged yew tree, with a wall at its root, marks its site.f 
 It is about a mile eastward o f i ( Br ec_ q n. on the left-hand side 
 of the road, leading from that place to a farm house called 
 Slwch. According to Dr. Owen Pughe, another church 
 was consecrated to her memory, at Mold in Flintshire. 
 She was undoubtedly the li Almedha" of Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis, who particularly notices the " Basilica" upon Pen- 
 ginger, " This devout virgin," says he, " rejecting the 
 proposals of an earthly prince, who sought her in marriage, 
 and espousing herself to the eternal king, consummated her 
 life by a triumphant martyrdom. The day of her solemnity 
 
 * Cressy's Church History. 
 
 f In a parchment roll, in the Augmentation Office, containing a list of the 
 possessions of the religious houses in the time of Henry VIII., this structure ia 
 culled the chapel of St. Alice (another name for this many-named lady !) It 
 fell down in the latter end of the 17th century. 
 
-} 
 
 ALMEDHA THE MARTYR. 
 
 is celebrated every year on the first day of August." He 
 then proceeds to record the miracles of the saint, and the 
 faith and religious frenzy of her votaries ; upon which his 
 annotator is a little waggish, and hints that they might now 
 and then have taken a cup too much. 
 
 The particulars of Almedha's martyrdom are not upon 
 record ; but it is probable, like her sister Tydvil, and her 
 brother Cynog, that she met her death at the hands of some 
 of the pagan Saxons, who, in their freebooting incursions, 
 always visited the early British christians with their utmost 
 hatred. Possibly those brutal people marked those religious 
 with their especial animosity only in the spirit of robbers, 
 conceiving that there was more treasure among them than 
 elsewhere, from the liberality of credulous devotees, who 
 visited their cells and hermitages.* 
 
 * As Almedha is the first of the Welsh martyrs that comes under notice, we 
 shall make a few remarks on Welsh saints generally, as contradistinguished 
 from those of the Roman Catholic church. In William Salisbury's letter 
 respecting the imputed devastation committed on certain Welsh manuscripts, 
 he incidentally strikes an oblique blow at our pretensions to Welsh saints, alleg- 
 ing them to have been uncanonized; meaning that they were nominated saints 
 only for their piety and devotion to the sacred cause of religion by the suffrage of 
 their own clergy and countrymen alone. Thus inferring, that as tbey had not paid 
 the sanctification fees, and received the warrantry of saiutsbip from his holiness 
 the Pope, they were, therefore, uncanonized saints- The ancient British chris- 
 tians, however, held Papistic sanctification at a very low estimate. Previous 
 to the intrusion of Augustine the monk, in bis vain attempt at christianizing 
 those who were already better christians than himself, it was the custom of the 
 pious Britons to make then - pilgrimages to Jerusalem instead of Rome. It was 
 also their honest boast that their dignified clergy received their appointments at 
 the hands of the highest authorities in the holy city of the apostles, truly sanc- 
 tified as it had been, by the p tesence and ministry of the Saviour of the world. 
 
zS 
 
 ANGLESEA BEAUTIES. 
 
 Lewis Morris, the Welsh poet and antiquary, has immor- 
 talized the female beauty, so abundantly prevailing in 
 Merionethshire, by his popular song of <4 Morwynion glan 
 Merioneth;" but it appears that the famed island of Anglesea 
 is no less proverbial for that description of excellence. In 
 olden time the little island was renowned for the Egyptian 
 plenty of its corn harvests, in seasons when comparative 
 famine prevailed in other counties of Wales. But in modern 
 times a brief record of its riches may be comprised in the 
 following Triban : — 
 
 " In Mona's isle three glories reign, 
 Abounding fields of w beaten grain ; 
 Rare treasures of the min'ral world, 
 And woman's charms by worth impearl'd. " 
 
 The late Edward Pugh, author of that delightful work 
 " Cambria Depicta," travelled the island fully imbued with 
 the right feeling to enjoy the presence of these fairies as 
 they were presented to him ; and the beautifully embellished 
 book of his production is the noblest monument that could 
 be raised to perpetuate the memory of the gifted artist, poet, 
 philanthropist, and antiquary. In the following notice of 
 a cottage beauty , it will be perceived that -he was one of 
 those intense worshippers at the shrine, who sought and 
 found the alliance of the mental with the exterior charms ; 
 and he had also the advantage here of rinding a scenic para- 
 dise to enshrine his living statue. 
 
 " After an early and excellent breakfast, I pushed on 
 across a desert sandy country of two miles, through the 
 whole of which I could not discover one object worthy of 
 observation, till I gained the hill of Lanverian. My atten- 
 tion was now taken up by a scene I had been deprived of 
 for several days, but which was highly improved from 
 this site. I think this the most beautiful eminence in 
 Anglesea. It commands a pro?pect of nearly the whole of 
 the island ; the promontory of Holyhead is seen westward ; 
 on the north and north-east are the Parys and Bodavon 
 
 B 
 
24 ANGLESEA BEAUTIES* 
 
 mountains, and the great stretch of sea, from the head to the 
 extremity of the great horn of Carnarvonshire, with the 
 triad conic mountain called Reilf, with Snowdon and his 
 companions terminating beyond Pen-maen-mawr. William 
 Jones, who occupies the cottage on this spot, enjoys the best 
 summer situation in all Anglesea. I was not a little pleased 
 with his good-looking daughter, who seemed to take the 
 greatest pleasure in pointing out to me these fine objects ; 
 and, though familiarized to all the varieties that surrounded 
 her, she spoke of them with a warmth of soul, and strength 
 of judgment, that would have done honour to some in much 
 more exalted situations." 
 
 Our artist's fascination had nearly cost him dear, and led 
 him to an adventure, which, but for the difference of a sandy 
 instead of a rocky coast, somewhat resembles the perilous 
 scene described in Sir Walter Scott's " Antiquary .'' Hence 
 let all " adorers,'' whether poets or painters, beware of 
 indulging their propensities by the sea-side during the 
 season of an insiduous advancing flood-tide. He says — 
 
 " I now descended this hill with some degree of haste, 
 in order to gain Malldraeth sands before the tide could 
 prevent my crossing them, but should have effected this 
 with much less trouble, had not the artless manner and 
 unaffected address of the young woman just mentioned, 
 kept me longer on the spot than it was prudent to stay. 
 The tide was making rapid advances, and a race with it was 
 necessary before I could gain a safe place to pass over.'' 
 
 After minutely describing the architectural and scenic 
 charms of Plas-coch (red mansion) and Plas-newydd (new 
 mansion), on leaving the latter, he came in contact with 
 a delightful object that drew forth his warmest powers of 
 description. He says, "on quitting these grounds, at the 
 north-east lodge, a woman very neatly apparelled opened the 
 gate, the child she held in her arms arrested and engrossed 
 my attention for some time. Of all the children that I have 
 ever seen in my travels over various parts of Great Britain, 
 among the poor, the middle classes, and the rich, my eyes 
 have not yet been blessed with one so lovely. Its form was 
 so angelic, and its face so divine, that for a moment one 
 
ANGLESEA BEAUTIES. 25 
 
 might have fancied it had made a transitory visit from the 
 realms above, in order to raise admiration in those below." 
 
 ". The lovely babe was born with every grace ; 
 Such was its form, as painters, when they shew 
 Their utmost art, on naked loves bestow." 
 
 Dbtden's Ovid. 
 
 At Tregarnedd (Tumulus farm), " the handsome residence 
 of Mr. Grindley," Mr. Pugh found himself on classic ground, 
 amidst very interesting historical associations ; for, in a 
 mansion of the same name, at a short distance in the rear of 
 Mr. Grindley's house, dwelt of yore the celebrated Siri 
 Griffith Lloyd, knighted by Edward I. for bearing the 
 earliest intelligence of a prince having been born to him in 
 Carnarvon Castle. But more renowned for the spirited but->^ 
 despair-inspired motto which he assumed on his revolt and^_ 
 struggle for recovering the independence of his groaning 
 country — "Gnell marw vel dyn, na byw vel ci. r * The 
 gentle artist found himself very comfortable here; and, not-x^-" 
 withstanding the anti- Cambrian name of his host and family, 
 his fair daughter delighted him with truly Cambrian music, 
 though not upon the national instrument. He states, "early 
 in the morning I was most agreeably awakened by the sounds 
 of that feminine instrument the piano-forte, on which Mr. 
 Grindley 's amiable daughter was playing the sprightly na- 
 tional air of Sir Harry «Ddu, or Black Sir Harry, which she 
 touched with so much certainty, feeling, and unassuming 
 ornament, that it produced a most rapturous effect upon my 
 nerves." 
 
 Whoever is acquainted with the Welsh character, will be 
 aware that one of the peculiarities of the people, in every 
 part of the principality, is that of forming all sorts of 
 conjectures about the strangers who happen to pass in 
 their neighbourhood, and even acting on conjectures, in- 
 correct as they mostly are, as if they were founded on 
 indubitable facts. Whimsical instances of these sort of 
 errors are detailed by Pugh. It seems, as a pedestrian 
 artist, he travelled with a light knapsack at his shoulders, 
 an umbrella in his right hand, and a small portfolio, sus- 
 
 * In English, " better die like a man than live like a dog." 
 
26 ANGLESEA BEAUTIES. 
 
 penciled to his right shoulder hy a broad piece of tape, came 
 under his arm. Such an appearance, according to the 
 notions of certain merry maids of Mona, implied that he was 
 hawking different articles of female finery, and essentials of 
 the seamstress or work-table, and a bevy of the island's 
 beauties, full of mirth and mischief, suddenly set upon him. 
 
 " I was all at once greeted by three or four pretty white- 
 teethed, rosy-cheeked, black-eyed nymphs, with 'pray, Moses, 
 vat be you got to shell; open your bags, Moses, for we want 
 some bodkins, sheezars, and oder tings.' A plague upon 
 these wicked girls, thought I, they have taken me for a Jew 
 pedlar." He relates a somewhat similar anecdote of another 
 artist travelling in Wales. " I know an artist who, the 
 summer before, in company with a clergyman of Chester, 
 was on his way to Carnarvonshire, when he perceived an old 
 woman running and shouting after him to stop : he did so, 
 and the old dame arriving, nearly out of breath, said, 'for 
 God's sake, Mr. Abraham, I am almost blind ; I want a pair 
 / of spectacles.' " 
 
 It may here be remarked that the peculiar character of 
 the female beauty of North _lYal.es,. is the bright brown 
 complexion called brunette ; the finely chiselled nose and 
 mouth; black or hazel eyes; white, small, and even teeth; 
 and the most polished silken tresses that ever came under 
 the description of glossy, coal-black hair. In mercy to the 
 race of man, and as a matter of fair-play to other fair ones, in 
 not permitting the brunettes to monopolize too many charms 
 to themselves, we are bound to state as a drawback on them, 
 that these splendid features are rarely accompanied by a fine 
 high forehead, but often the extreme reverse. In the his- 
 torical Triads of the ancient Britons, the Cymru* are said 
 to have come, originally, from the Summer Country, over the 
 Hazy Sea, which appellations are generally descriptive of 
 Asia, and the German ocean. It is rather corroborative of 
 this that the complexions and cast of countenance of those 
 North- Walian families, who seem to be of unmixed^filiic 
 blood, appear to be somewhat Asiatic, although, of course, 
 much changed by climate. 
 
 * Pronounced Cumree. 
 
ANGLESEA BEAUTIES. 27 
 
 In two instances Warner mentions with admiration these 
 features of the Anglesea females among the humbler classes, 
 accompanied with favourable remarks on their exemplary I 
 industry and general good conduct. Of the people working 1 
 at the mine of the Parys mountain, he says, " they are a 1 
 remarkably decent and orderly race of people — the men 
 healthy and strong; the women tall and robust with fine 
 countenances, sparkling black eyes, and teeth like ivory." 
 Of an Anglesea pair, who managed one of the ferry-boats 
 between them, he observes — "anxious to reach Barmouth 
 this evening, we quitted Pen-morva early in the morning, 
 crossing the mouth of the Traeth-mawr and the Traeth-bach, 
 in a small leaky skiff, with a heavy gale of wind right against 
 us. Across this pass, however, we were safely rowed by the 
 man and his wife who keep the ferry; the former a true Celt 
 in stature and appearance, the latter exhibiting the remains 
 of a beautiful person, with the eye of lustre and the teeth of "} 
 ivory almost peculiar to her country. Unfortunately we 
 could exchange no communication with this harmonious 
 couple, as they scarcely spoke a word of English." 
 
 It is said of the female, in the above account, that " she 
 exhibited the remains of a beautiful person." The remark 
 brings sadly on our recollection the numerous instances which 
 we have witnessed of the prjm>tuxe decay of female beauty. 
 A few remarks on the causes of tnHTamentable failure, 
 which generally accompanies a still more deplorable loss, 
 that of health, with their antidotes, will not be unacceptable 
 to our female readers ; at least to those whose good sense 
 will enable them to relish rough but honest truths, which 
 we disdain sugaring, to suit the palates of those fastidious 
 and fanciful fools who are the principal objects of our well- 
 meaning censures. To uphold the glories of true woman- 
 hood, in contradistinction to that trashy mass of foolery and 
 affectation called fne-ladyism, is our grand point of moral to 
 the different memoirs in this publication. 
 
 Wealthy females, of the higher and middle-classes, fre- 
 quently banish their beauties, very soon after they have 
 become matrons, by undue personal indulgences ; especially 
 where rank and fortune would seem to make them irrespon- 
 sible or their enormities. But honest, equitable Nature, who 
 b2 
 
ANGLESEA BEAUTIES. 
 
 is no class legislatress, laughs to scorn such insolent violators 
 of her righteous laws ; and to prove that all are amenable to 
 them, brands every offender with the fiery stamp of their 
 crime right in the front, and shoots the poison which they 
 have imbibed through every vein and artery. 
 
 Although the evil pasdons, spleeny chagrin, heart-nursed 
 malignity, and stormy rage, carve deep and unseemly grav- 
 ings in the human countenance, which becomes a mirror to 
 reflect them, are the greatest destroyers of female beauty ; 
 but in the second degree, inordinate indulgence in the 
 luxuries of the table carry the annihilating rod with almost 
 equal certainty. Fair sluggards, who eschew all exercise or 
 exertion — fair gluttons and epicures — and they are no fabu- 
 lous birds — soon become what is plainly called/a^ andfubzy 
 — and learn to emulate the uncomely rotundity and compass 
 of a haystack; while those who imbibe stronger potations 
 than the tea-table can supply, should feel no surprise if the 
 lily and the rose be ultimately supplanted by those unsightly 
 flowers of intemperance called wine-buds, and grog-blossoms. 
 
 When that rough, honest, unmincing surgeon, John 
 Abernethy, once gave audience to a lady of high rant, she 
 feigned great surprise on consulting a looking-glass, and 
 discovering a certain crop of scarlet abominations that had 
 recently made their appearance, where more modest flowers 
 had once bloomed. " Bless me, Mr. Abernethy ! where 
 could these horrid pimples come from ?" was her question ; 
 "from the braudy-bottle, madam, from the brandy-bottle," 
 was his prompt reply. 
 
 That high crime against the purity of nature's ordinances, 
 so frequently perpetrated by ladies of rank, of transferring 
 their maternal duties to a hireling, declining the sweetest boon 
 and prerogative of the young mother, that of nursing and 
 feeding her own offspring, carries home a punishment, a well 
 merited punishment, to every offender, however the con- 
 temptible cant of fashion, and the inane prate of exclusive 
 cotories may aver to the contrary'. The object of this insane 
 conduct is, to preserve their fine figures, forsooth ! and save 
 their beauties from suffering under the irritation and care 
 entailed on the whole human race, and supposed to assail 
 them especially during the process of these sacred duties. 
 
ANGLESEA BEAUTIES. 29 
 
 The cruel selfishness which prompts such a deriliction of 
 duty is not only founded in error, but meets its just punish- 
 ment in that most severe infliction, the alienation of their 
 offsprings affection. Whoever has witnessed the sweet 
 serenity, and heartful affection beaming in the countenance 
 of the nursing mother, as she folds her thriving baby to her 
 bosom — her clear-skinned healthiness and purity of look — 
 has beheld one of nature's sweetest objects of heart-touching 
 veneration. Look next at her extreme contrast, the opulent 
 member of the exclusive classes, the heartless dame who places 
 her offspring out to nurse ! This imaginary beauty preserver, 
 by such an arrangement, is in fact the active destroyer of 
 that very treasure which she elaborately attempts to enshrine 
 — at the heavy expense of health, duty, morality, and even 
 her religion. The peevishness and chagrin engendered by 
 disappointment are the most certain destroyers of female 
 charms. 
 
 But the middle and humbler classes have also their 
 mutilators of beauty, which, with an antidote to the evil, is 
 well described in the following passage : — 
 
 " A woman's beauty depends so much upon expression 
 that if that be spoilt, farewell to all her charms ; and which 
 nothing tends more to bring about than a countenance 
 soured with imaginary cares, instead of being lighted up 
 with thankfulness for innumerable blessings. That is what 
 makes half the women wither into wrinkles so early in life ; 
 whilst nothing renders their beauty so lasting as that placid 
 look of pure benevolence which emanates from a heart full of 
 thankfulness to God, affection for those nearest and dearest 
 to them, and good will towards all mankind. * * * 
 A woman may be of great assistance to her husband in 
 business, by wearing a cheerful smile continually upon her 
 countenance. A man's perplexities and gloominess increase 
 a hundredfold when his better-half moves about with a con- 
 tinual scowl upon her brow. A pleasant, cheerful wife is a 
 rainbow set in the sky, when her husband's mind is tossed 
 with storms and tempests; but a dissatisfied and fretful wife, 
 in the time of trouble, is like one of those fiends who delight 
 to torture lost spirits."* 
 
 * I am sorry not to know the name of the author of this well- written and 
 beautifol passage, having extracted it from an aj| bum . 
 
ANGHARAD, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF GWGAN AB METRIC AB DYVENWAL, AB ARTHEN, 
 ABSEISYLLT, KING OF CARDIGAN, AND QUEEN OF RODERIC 
 THE GREAT, KING OF ALL WALES AND THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 " Angharad,* the fair queen of Roderic the great." 
 
 As there is no positively personal history to be related of 
 this priDcess, we should not have felt justified in introducing 
 her into this work, were it not that she became a partner, 
 by wedlock, in certain momentous events, originating in 
 her time, and possibly influenced by her in her maternal 
 character. 
 
 On the death of Mervyn Vrych, A.D. 843, his son Roderic 
 succeeded to his dignity, as sovereign prince of North Wales, 
 Powys, and the Isle of Man. Soon afterwards he espoused 
 Angharad, daughter of Meyric ab Dyvenwal , by which mar- 
 riage he united all South Wales to his other dominions, and 
 became the sole sovereign of the whole, as one principality. 
 
 It appears unaccountable how Roderic acquired the dis- 
 tinction of " mawr," or the great, as none of his deeds are 
 of such pre-eminent import as to entitle him to such a 
 superlative mark of national approbation. Casting a retro- 
 spective glance through the long and dark vista of ages, 
 into the modes and measures of his remote reign, we find 
 them abounding with such glaring error, and fatal impolicy^ 
 that he could in no manner merit the distinctive appellation 
 bestowed on him by his flattering subjects — unless, indeed, 
 in a sense too ridiculous for the dignity of history, as, 
 among the rulers of the nations, he may be classed with 
 the greatest of great blunderers. 
 
 After treating of the fine position in which fortune had 
 placed him, as Brenhin Cymru oil, or sovereign of all Wales, 
 Warrington remarks — "the firmness resulting from this 
 u nio n, the nature of the country, and valour of the inhabi- 
 tants, their inveteracy against the Saxons, and the perilous 
 situation of that people, were important advantages which 
 opened with the reign of Roderic. If this fortunate com- 
 bination of circumstances had been directed agreeably to a 
 
 r * The English of Angharad, is Harriet, said to be derived from Harrietts 
 1 or little Harry. 
 
ANGHARAD 31 
 
 wise policy, it would probably have secured the^independency 
 ofJWales, and have fixed its government upon a Dasis"so 
 solid and permanent, that it might have sustained the~> 
 storms of ages, and have fallen at length amid the ruins of ^ 
 time, unless undermined by the refinements and luxury of a «*> 
 bordering and more civilized and powerful people. «->*»^J l 
 
 Instead of taking advantage of this fortunate conjuncture, 
 a crisis which will nevermore return in the annalsjrf Wales, 
 a Jaial and irreparable mej&ure took place. For Eoderic. 
 early in his reign, divided his dominions into three princi^ 
 polities (North Wales, South Wales, and Powys), which,-** 
 during his life, were governed by chieftains acting under 
 his authority ; and this singular event seems to have arisen 
 from the narrow idea, that the Welsh, accustomed to be 
 ruled by their native princes, ought not to yield obedience 
 to a common sovereign." 
 
 It will be noticed, that on the death of Roderic, his three 
 sons were placed to supersede the governors originally 
 appointed by their father, and each became the future 
 sovereign of his respective principality. It is possible that 
 Angharad, the subject of our memoir, was not altogether 
 blameless in this preposterous arrangement; considering 
 how much female influence can bias, and generally carry its 
 point, when the object is to favour their offspring ; and, we 
 conceive, that nothing short of maternal partiality and 
 woman's weakness, would induce Roderic to make a per- 
 manent division of his dominions between his sons. 
 
 In the third year of his reign, AD, 846, Roderic ac- 
 quired some celebrity by the spirited repulse which he gave 
 Berthred the king of Mercia, supported by Ethulwulph 
 king of England, who had invaded his dominions ; but 
 neglecting to take measures against the recurrence of similar 
 invasions, his memory has justly been subjected to the 
 following rebuke from the page of history : — " If Rodericj 
 had possessed the qualities of a truly great prince, he wouk 
 at least, at this fortunate period have attempted to provide 
 against future evils ; and the nature of the country, inter- 
 sected by rivers, and fortified by mountains, and almost (t 
 surrounded by the ocean, might have pointed out the I 
 rational means of defence. Had this prince made a proper / 
 
32 ANGHARAD. 
 
 f 
 
 use of the leisure which the troubkso^.Englarid had given 
 him, he would have placed garrisons in the frontier towns, 
 would have collected magazines, and fortified the passes, 
 and would have exerted his utmost ability to secure his 
 country from foreign invaders, by forming a naval power. 
 He would also have endeavoured to reduce his subjects to a 
 just subordination, by promoting among them a spirit of 
 union, and a steady obedience to the laws. Instead of these 
 regulations, that period seems to have been distinguished by 
 a total neglect of every measure, which if steadily pursued, 
 might have given security to his kingdom."* 
 
 In 872, twenty- nine years after Roderic's accession to 
 sovereignty, Alfred ascended the throne of England. After 
 ages have unanimously acknowledged the great capacity and 
 genius for government which distinguished this prince, and 
 with the evidence of his undying claims to their suffrages 
 before them, have readily ratified the title of " great," so de- 
 servedly bestowed on him by his grateful contemporaries and 
 subjects. Were Roderic Alfred's junior, instead of being 
 considerably his senior,his assumption of a similar distinction 
 might be open to suspicion, that his countrymen had awarded 
 it, in imitation of that so justly bestowed npon his English 
 contemporary without troubling themselves in discriminating 
 the difference between their respective claims. Thus giving 
 an instance of affection overbearing wisdom, and of loyalty 
 surpassing the calm dictates of justice; a national rivalry 
 between the subjects of two sovereigns, in evincing their 
 devotion to the memory of their deceased kings. But as 
 the fact is contrary, and Alfred young enough to have been 
 Roderick's junior son, no such inference can be made; and 
 the mist of incertitude must still envelop what no rational 
 conjecture can effectually dissipate. 
 
 Strangely enough, the Saxon Alfred did more, in some 
 respects, for the glorification of Cambrian fame, than ever 
 was performed by their own vaunted " Rodri mawr," whose 
 memory is associated with the source of all their direst 
 
 * Warrington. 
 
 Among the minor blunders of Eoderic he changed the royal residence from 
 Caer Segont, near the present town of Qarnaryon. to Aberfran in the island of 
 Anglesea. Warrington remarks, " it is strange that he should desert a country 
 where every mountain was a natural fortress ; and in time's of such difficulty 
 and danger should make choice of a residence so exposed and defenceless." 
 
 (\ 
 
ANGHARAD. 33 
 
 t 
 
 afflictions and national calamities for ages after his decease. 
 Our history records of the former — " engaged through his 
 reign in affairs of war or legislation, or in introducing 
 into his kingdom learning and the arts, this prince filled 
 every department in the state, and those appertaining to 
 science, with men of the greatest abilities. Having founded 
 the university of Oxford, he invited out of Wales two 
 persons distinguished for their learning, John De Erigena, 
 surnamed Scotus, and Asser, surnamed Menevensis, who 
 had been educated at the college of St. David, the former of 
 whom he appointed a professor to the university he had 
 lately established. And taught by experience the impolicy 
 of contending with the Danes by land, and the necessity of 
 establishing such a navy as might enable them to oppose 
 them at sea, he engaged in his service many Welshmen 
 acquainted with the art of ship-building, whom he appointed 
 superintendants of the dockyards, and afterwards employed 
 in honourable stations in the fleet." 
 
 In the year 877 Angharad became a widow, Roderic 
 having fought with his usual gallantry of spirit against the 
 English, who invaded the island of Anglesea, at length fell 
 in defence of his country, being, with his brother Gwyriad, 
 slain in battle. This engagement was called by the Welsh 
 Gwaith- dydd sul y Mon; the Sunday's work of Mona, from 
 the battle having been fought on the sabbath. 
 
 At this period Angharad was the widowed mother of eight 
 children, three of whom, Anarawd, Cadell, and Mervyn, 
 were respectively appointed by the will of their father to b«r^ 
 the sovereigns of North Wales, Powys, and South Walesr—v 
 *' These princes were called y Tri Twysoc Talaethioc, or the,. ■ f 
 three crowned princes, by reason that each of them wore A 
 upon his helmet a cornet of gol3, being a broad headband, ■^n 
 indented upwards, and wrought with precious stones, which— -r 
 in Welsh is called Talaeth."* The names of the other 
 children were Roderic, Meyric, Edwal, Gwyriad, and Ga- 
 thelic. It is probable these children, for their protection, 
 were divided among the three sovereign brothers, who 
 might employ them in honourable posts under their respective 
 governments. 
 
 * Wynn's History of Wales. 
 
34 ANGHARAD. 
 
 • 
 
 The date or particulars of Angharad's death are not upon 
 record. As Cadeli, although the second son of Roderic and 
 Angharad, had South Wales, the best portion of the father's 
 dominions assigned him, it is probable that he was his 
 mother's favourite, and that she spent the rest of her life 
 under his protection A writer of the age of James I., finds 
 a different motive for this peculiar assignment of South 
 Wales to Cadeli, in preference to his elder brother Anarawd. 
 
 " It may perhaps be marvelled at why Rodericke the great, 
 in the division above-mentioned, gave to his younger sonne 
 the greatest and most fruitfull part of this whole country. 
 To which we can answer that South Wales indeed, was the 
 greater and richer, but yet accompted the worser part, because 
 the nobles there refused to obey their prince ; and allsoe for 
 that the sea-coasts were grievously infested with Flemings, 
 English, and Normans, inasmuch that the prince was enforced 
 to remove his seat of sovereignty from Camarthen to Denevor 
 Castle."* 
 
 The fatal measure of Roderic in dividing his dominions 
 between his three sons, caused his example to become a 
 precedent, not only for them, but their posterity to alL 
 future time, to subdivide their possessions, according to the 
 number of their children, grandchildren, &c, till from 
 princes they dwindled into lords and lordlings, and in a few 
 generations to small land-proprietors or farmers. This was 
 called the law of ^ vel-lnnd, and had Wales been a republic, 
 such a custom would have w r rought gloriously for the benefit 
 of the state, by reducing those mischievous bloodshedding 
 would-be potentates, into the more innocent and useful cha- 
 racters of tillers of the soil. But to the disastrous workings 
 of that evil system in monarchy — or numberless monarchies 
 — at variance with each other, and to the occasional dis- 
 regard of the law of primogeniture, which led to usurpations 
 and filled the land with pretenders to sovereignty, Britain - 
 first, and ultimately Wales, owed their subjection and ruin. 
 But the discussion of these matters is the peculiar province 
 of our national history, to which, for further and better illus- 
 tration, we now refer our readers. 
 
 (y^w^u ^ 
 
 * In Welsh Dinas-vawr, signifying the great fortress. 
 
ANGHARAD, 
 
 SOLE DAUGHTER AND HEIRESS OF MEREDITH AB OWEN, KING 
 OF SOUTH WALES AND POWTS, AND QUEEN OF LLEWELYN 
 AB SEISYLLT, KING OF ALL WALES. 
 
 By the right proceeding from his marriage with this prin- 
 cess, Llewelyn ab Seisyllt succeeded his father in law, 
 Meredith ab Owen, at his death, in the year 998, in the 
 sovereignty of South Wales and Powys. In the year 1015 
 having defeated iEthan ab Blegored the usurper of the crown 
 of North Wales, and slain him a,nd his four sons in battle, 
 he united, once more, the three principalities, and became 
 the sovereign of all Wales. 
 
 " This prince, maternally decended from the royal blood of 
 Wales, had some colourable pretence for his ambition, his 
 mother Trawst being the daughter of Elis, the second son 
 of Anarawd, who was the eldest son of Roderic the great." * 
 Although Llewelyn was a brave and most successful 
 warrior, yet y by wisely coinciding in the salutary and 
 amiable suggestions of his wife the princess Angharad, who 
 intensely and most actively studied and forwarded the hap- 
 piness of their subjects in numerous instances of reform, he 
 acquired his brightest laurels by his prolongation of the 
 days of peace — ever eschewing war, till the necessity for 
 crushing rebellion compelled him to have recourse to vigour- 
 ous and decisive measures. 
 
 Although the interference of females in politics and public 
 business has been frequently censured, as productive of 
 much mischief to a state ; yet, it is not always that that the 
 world has been just enough to yield to woman her due share 
 of fame where her influence has been every thing in in- 
 creasing national glory, by forwarding the good of mankind 
 step-by-step from the lowest of the domestic altar. The 
 evil of female as well as male sway, is traceable only to the 
 
 * Warrington. 
 C 
 
36 ANGHARAD. 
 
 weakness or wickedness of the party ; sex, certainly hag 
 nothing to do with the question ; as the numerous cases of 
 national suffering and national felicity proceeding from 
 imbecility in man, and wonderful capacity for government 
 discoverable at times in women — and the contrary — suffi- 
 ciently proves. The present is one of those rare and happy 
 instances, wherein the influence of a bright-minded, good- 
 hearted, highly-gifted woman, casts the radiance of her 
 beatified sunny soul, to vivify the dormant deeds of human 
 happiness, in the neglected soil of social government. In 
 all the pacific glories of the most happy reign of this well 
 matched pair, we can clearly discern — both in the written 
 and unwritten details — 'the woman's tastes, and woman's 
 feelings which suggested the points that led to such felicitous 
 results. 
 
 "The wise administration of Llewelyn soon produced 
 national prosperity. To express the happiness of this reign, 
 contrasted with preceding times, we, are told, " that the 
 earth brought forth double ; that the people prospered in all 
 their affairs, and multiplied wonderfully ; and that the cattle 
 increased in such numbers that there was not a po/)r man in 
 all Wales, from the southern to the northern sea /but every 
 man had plenty, every house a dwell&c^ an^ every town 
 inhabitants."* 
 
 Again we aver — that such a state of national happiness 
 was never produced without the coinciding assistance of 
 woman, and that, although the dull monkish chroniclers have 
 passed over her share in the production of those blissful 
 doings, it is certain that Angharad was as active a labourer 
 in the vineyard as him who has engrossed all the credit. 
 That, notwithstanding the silence of record, she was fully 
 appreciated by her royal husband, as his right hand ; as 
 ready to promulgate new ideas, as to second his efforts, for 
 the far-spreading of the general happiness. What would 
 have availed the gentle tastes and humane ministries of such 
 a woman, mystically chosen by a superior power, as a mis- 
 sioner of mercy, to implant the embellished arts of peace in 
 the affections of a rugged race brutalized by warfare, if that 
 
 * Welsh Chronicles, page 84. 
 
ANGHARAD. 37 
 
 same power had not given her a mate of congenial mind ? 
 Or, of what service, on the other side, would have been the 
 humanizing efforts of a generous prince, if crossed in his 
 aims by the paltry selfishness of a vain, proud woman, full of 
 those mean fancies so characteristic of fine-ladyism, as 
 opposed to the nobleness of true womanhood ? Such a 
 being, like Elinour, the wife of Edward I.,* would prefer her 
 own personal bedeckment, and grandeur from the spoils of 
 war, to nurturing the innocence of life and sowing know- 
 ledge and virtue in the meek soil of the lowly heart. It is 
 clear, although we have no transcript from parchment 
 vouchers to the fact, that Llewelyn ab Seisyllt f and his 
 princess Angharad worked together, and, likewise as 
 gentle co-mates, drew the same way, and together attained 
 the same goal, in fertilizing the sterility both of the earth 
 and of the human mind. 
 
 In an age so barbarous, when to the restless and the 
 turbulent, a season of general pacification seemed an un- 
 worthy innovation in their rapacious and bloodshedding 
 existence, it is pleasant to contemplate the happiness dif- 
 fused among the heart-softened sufferers from the woes of 
 war. We can conceive the gentle Angharad visiting and 
 visited by the wives and daughters of the nobles of the day, 
 conferring and expatiating with them on that state of society, 
 especially dear to woman, but which in those days was as 
 difficult of attainment as to realize the fantastic fictions of 
 the nursery about the marvels of fairyland — a general peace 
 with the world — the novel feeling of fearlessness and the 
 soul- soothing comforts of the homely hearth. Her culti- 
 vated mind and benevolent feelings would suggest to those 
 who would similarly enlighten others, the happiness derivable 
 from agricultural and other pacific pursuits ; where the 
 sower would also be the reaper and consumer — or if he was 
 of the numerous tribe of the L&cklands, and sold his 
 
 * See the memoir of the princess Sina in this work. 
 
 t We may here suggest that our mere/English readers who should boggle at 
 the pronunciation of this name, Seisyllt/ may icall it Cecil. The great minister 
 of Queen Elizabeth of that name, claimed descent from the line of this excellent 
 prince, and his family adopted that Anglofied Jnode of writing and pronouncing 
 their names. N^ r J 
 
38 ANGHARAD. 
 
 exertions, his payment in coin or kind was certain. That 
 such conferences did take place in reality, is most certain, 
 for the result, however ungarnished by details, is upon 
 record, in that sunny page which informs us of the glories 
 of Llewelyn ab Seisyllt's reign. "The earth brought forth 
 double — the people prospered in all their affairs, and mul- 
 tiplied wonderfully • — there was not a poor man in all Wales, 
 from the southern to the northern sea ; — every man had plenty, 
 every house a dweller — and every town inhabitants''' Alas, 
 that days so truly glorious, should be so limited in duration ! 
 For seventeen years after their accession to sovereignty, 
 the civilizing efforts of this amiable prince and princess 
 were limited to their dominions of South Wales and 
 Powys. But in the year 1015, as before related, Llewelyn 
 ab Seisyllt defeated and slew in battle an ambitious ad- 
 venturer, who had usurped the throne of North Wales, 
 named iEthan ab Blegored, with his four sons ; he then 
 added that principality to his former possessions, and 
 thus became sovereign of all Wales. This circumstance, 
 which would appear to have been the most auspicious 
 of his life, and the most fortunate for the welfare of the 
 country, ultimately proved the most fatal. On the conquest 
 of North Wales, Llewelyn and his princess determined^ to 
 make it their principal residence, as it was always considered 
 superior or first in the order of precedence of the three 
 principalities. With this view they commenced the erection 
 of the castle of Rhyddlan, and spent many of their pacific and 
 happy days in superintending its erection ; and at the same 
 time they both pursued the natural bent of their genius in 
 favouring the arts of peace in their new dominions as they 
 had formerly done in the old. This dwelling becoming a 
 favourite residence, they consumed more of their days in it 
 than accorded with their usual wisdom and policy, the 
 satisfaction of their earlier subjects, or the usage of the 
 Cambrian princes. This was an especial error, indeed a 
 fatal innovation in a country like Wales, where the people 
 of every district were accustomed at stated periods to see 
 the person of their sovereign. Perhaps such residence and 
 progresses through the land were indispensible to the safety 
 
ANGHARAD. 39 
 
 of the sovereign, as they served to keep alive the flame of 
 loyalty among such fluctuating and variable dispositions as 
 he had to deal with, where credulity in believing the insi- 
 nuations and professions of a traitorous aspiring demagogue 
 was one of the unfortunate characteristics of this people, and 
 the frequent source of their national calamities. In general 
 the prince had a Llys or palace in every Cantrev, or hundred, 
 where he could command the services of certain tenants, to 
 act, for the time of their stay, as domestic servants. It migh t 
 be conceived, perhaps, that the burdensome expense of quar- 
 tering their prince upon the people, in the different districts, 
 would be grudgingly assented to, and render the custom 
 "more honoured in the breach than the observance," and 
 the omission of their visits more desirable than their pay- 
 ment. But such churlish feelings and harsh mode of think- 
 ing were very foreign to the Welsh, who generally might be 
 said to idolize their prince, and literally rejoiced in his 
 presence ; while, on the contrary, they resented and punished 
 his absence, by their disobedience and rebellion, as the 
 discontent and insurrections we are about to record aptly 
 illustrate. 
 
 Endeared, as we may conceive such sovereigns as Llewelyn 
 and Angharad to have been, to the better disposed portion 
 of the people, an absence of four years from their earlier 
 subjects seems to have alienated their affections, and 
 smouldering discontent for their apparent preference to the 
 northern principality, at length burst into a flame of indig- 
 nation among the southerns, and completely annihilated 
 every feeling of deference and loyalty. 
 
 " The first appearance of disaffection broke out (A.D. 
 1019) in the rebellion of Meyric, a chieftain of eminence, 
 but was easily checked by Llewelyn, who slew the traitor 
 with his own hand, and defeated his forces. So alienated 
 from their loyalty were the people of South Wales, that they 
 engaged a Scotsman of mean birth to be the instrument of 
 their design, imposing him upon the world as the son of their 
 late prince Meredith,* and by the name of Rheenf the dis- 
 affected chieftains proclaimed this impostor their sovereign." 
 
 * In Welsh written Meredydd. t In Welsh written Khan. 
 c2 
 
40 ANGHARAD, 
 
 "Llewelyn ab Seisyllt having intelligence of the rebellion, 
 collected his forces, and marched into South Wales to give 
 an early check to the evil at its source, and having advanced 
 to Abergwilley, * near the town of Carmarthen, he found the 
 whole power of the country waiting his approach, under the 
 command of the newly created prince. At the moment 
 when the two armies were going to engage, Rheen encour- 
 aged his t soldiers by a confident assurance of victory, after 
 which he privately withdrew out of the battle. Llewelyn 
 boldly confronting the danger, and placing himself at the 
 head of his troops, led them on to the charge, calling aloud 
 upon the impostor, whose cowardice so little justified the 
 character he had assumed. This battle was bloody, and on 
 each side disputed with great spirit ; for, strange as it may 
 appear, the rebels fought with determined bravery for a 
 despicable coward, though an idol of their own raising, while 
 the royalists were scarcely animated in the cause of their 
 sovereign, a native of their own country, and of such incom- 
 parable merit. At length the troops of Llewelyn, fired with 
 the extraordinary valour of their prince, and ashamed to be 
 defeated by men over whom they had been often victorious, 
 made a vigorous effort, which put the enemy to flight, and 
 the impostor, notwithstanding the stratagem he had made 
 use of to save his life, was overtaken and slain in the pursuit/'f 
 
 Having thus fortunately put an end to the rebellion, 
 Llewelyn ab Seisyllt once more returned a conqueror to his 
 anxious and affectionate princess. But their happiness was 
 not destined to be of long continuance. The next jear 
 Angharad had to lament the violent and bloody death of this 
 heroic and excellent prince, by the vile hands of assassins. 
 Warrington thus relates the melancholy catastrophe : — 
 
 " The small remainder of his days this prince passed in tran- 
 quility ; but his great and virtuous qualities could not exempt 
 him from the destiny which usually attended the princes of 
 Wales. For Howel and Meredith, the sons of Edwyn,| 
 
 * In Welsh written Abergwili, each of the names being pronounced as spelt 
 in the text. 
 
 t Warrington and the Welsh Chronicles. 
 
 } Ab Eineon, ab Owen, at Howel Dda . 
 
ANGHARAD. 41 
 
 whose family for some years had been set aside in the suc- 
 cession to the throne of South Wales, engaged in a con- 
 spiracy against him, and either by their emissaries, or with 
 their own hands, assassinated this brave and amiable prince," 
 in the year 1021. He left one son, Griffith, who in after 
 time succeeded to his father's throne. 
 
 Some years after the death of Llewelyn ab Seisyllt* 
 Angharad contracted marriage again, with a chieftain named 
 Cunvvn Heerdreve;* by whom she had several children. 
 The different claims preferred by those pretenders, in after 
 times, by their violent attempts to seize the sceptre of 
 sovereignty, caused great confusion and civil commotions in 
 the land. Thus her latter union became as disastrous as the 
 former had been brilliant and auspicious, in a country where 
 she had effected so much towards bettering the condition of 
 the people, and disseminating universal happiness.! The 
 period or particulars of her death are unknown; but the 
 share she took in the government of one of the best of the 
 Welsh princes, has greatly endeared her memory to after 
 ages. 
 
 * In Welsh written Cymin HirdreT. 
 
 fin the days of Welsh independence, it was a frequent manoeuvre of an 
 aspirant to sovereignty to contract marriage with the widow or near relative of 
 a deceased legitimate prince ; which union seems to have been respected bj- the 
 people, and gave the usurper some colour of pretension for his assumption of 
 the royal dignity. But, as in this case of Angharad's second union, it led to 
 dire evil consequences in aftertime. Kegular hereditary descent being thus 
 interrupted ; it gave birth to that most monstrous of national calamities, a 
 disputed succession. 
 
ANGHARAD, 
 
 QUEEN OF THE FUGITIVE PRINCE HOWEL AB EDWYN, RIGHT- 
 FUL SOVEREIGN OF SOUTH WALES. 
 
 This princess owes her celebrity to her beauty and her 
 misfortunes ; — often the cause and effect of the falls and 
 follies of woman, but not so in the present instance. 
 Angharad was as virtuous as she was beautiful, and her 
 misfortunes entirely unmerited, but traceable only to the 
 exceeding folly, presumption, and we may add criminality of 
 her husband. 
 
 Angharad became the wife of the fugitive prince Howel 
 ab Edwyn ab Eineon ab Howel Dda, or Howel the Good, 
 the celebrated Welsh legislator. But great parts are not 
 always hereditary : the husband of Angharad, though brave 
 to excess, possessed no portion of the wisdom of his ancestor ; 
 his bravery was nullified by his rashness ; his claim to a 
 crown, set aside by the popular dread of his indiscretion, and 
 his entire life evinced a headlong, impatient, ill-considered 
 course of conduct, that led to numerous discomfitures, and 
 ultimately produced his own untimely death, and the long- 
 sorrowing captivity and ruin of his blameless wife. 
 
 Splendid as was the reputation of Howel's grandfather, 
 the famed Howel the Good, his fame availed little to aid the 
 cause of his hot-headed descendant; Howel ab Edwyn had 
 for his opponent a prince equally wise, brave, and popular 
 as his progenitor; the gallant capable Llewelyn ab Seisyllt. 
 During the un solvable intricacy of an agitated question of 
 right, entangled by a train of usurpations and irregular 
 successions, this prince, as before related, was, in the year 
 1015, by the suffrage of the people, the best and truest 
 of titles, combined with his victories over other pretenders, 
 raised to the sovereignty of all Wales. As the merits of 
 Llewelyn ab Seisyllt have been discussed in the preceding 
 article, the memoirs of his wife Angharad, a repetition is 
 unnecessary. To recover his long-opposed right to the 
 
ANGHARAD. 43 
 
 throne of South Wales, Howel ab Edwyn, assisted by his 
 brother Meredith, engaged in various plots and stratagems 
 to dispossess Llewelyn ab Seisyllt of that portion of his 
 dominions : failing to dethrone him by the force of arms, these 
 dishonourable brothers, restless and tenacious in their aims 
 through all failures, at length descended to the baseness of 
 entertaining a plan of assassination. In the year 1021, just 
 as that wise and gallant prince had returned home to North 
 Wales, triumphant over certain rebels, these unscrupulous 
 and dark-minded sons of Edwyn, either by their own hands or 
 the agenc} 7 of others, murdered him. Their villany, however, 
 proved utterly unavailing in forwarding their ambitious 
 views. The odium naturally excited by the assassination 
 of a prince, so greatly and very generally beloved as 
 Llewelyn ab Seisyllt, precluded the murderers from attain- 
 ing the ends they sought. Ah hough Howell and Meredith, 
 favoured by the lawlessness of the times, for the present 
 escaped the punishment due to their crimes, they had the 
 mortification to see the throne they had made vacant occu- 
 pied by another pretender, who defeated their forces and 
 kept his seat. So absolutely crushed were their powers at 
 this time, the year 1021, that for ten years they remained in 
 a state of exile and retirement. During this period we 
 entirely lose sight of the unhappy lady of this memoir» 
 without a trace of either her place of refuge or mode of 
 existence. But we may conceive that her state was wretched 
 indeed, without a home, or even a prospect; of the settlement 
 of her affairs, so as to rest once more beneath the safety of a 
 secure roof. Although the mate of an aspirant to a throne, 
 she must have found her condition, in those murderous 
 times, far less felicitous than the humblest cottage wife, 
 whose lowly lot became her security from molestation. 
 
 In the year 1031 Howell and Meredith once more brought 
 an army into the field, principally composed of Irish and 
 Scotch mercenaries, with the view of driving Rhytherch ab 
 Iestyn from the throne of South Wales. Fortune at length 
 seemed to smile on their efforts, for they conquered his 
 forces and slew the usurper. Scarcely had they attained 
 the object of a life of contention and vicissitudes, when the 
 
44 ANGHARAD. 
 
 sons of Rhytherch came in great force and gave them battle, 
 but the latter were soon defeated, and their armj entirely 
 routed. 
 
 " These victories might have secured to Howel and Me- 
 redith the quiet possession of their dominions, if the spirit of 
 revenge, kept alive ia that age by every incitement which 
 influence the passions, had Rot retaliated on these princes 
 the murder of Llewelyn ab Seisyllt— for the nephews of that 
 prince engaged in a conspiracy against them, assassinated 
 Meredith, and forced Howell into exile. Thus the unhappy 
 Angharad, with her fierce and wretched husband, was again 
 driven forth, to endure the sad and sudden transition from 
 sovereignty to wandering beggary — from the security of a 
 castle palace to the dreary shelter of caves and forests, iu 
 perpetual peril of the knife or arrow of the assassin — and all 
 this after the brief possession of a crown for a single year. 
 But long gloom and brief sunshine were the unhappy for- 
 tunes destined for this suffering princess. Having shared 
 the miserable lot of her sullen and restless mate for some 
 years, he once more succeeded to recover his lost dominions. 
 Happy as the winged bearer of the olive branch from the 
 wrecks of a lost world, Angharad felt truly grateful for what 
 appeared to her the acme of human felicity — the blessings of 
 a recovered home — a secure place of sojourn — food and fire, 
 and the couch for slumber — equal enjoyments to the high 
 and lowly, when contrasted with a recent heartfelt pining 
 for all these necessaries of nature. Praying for a conti- 
 nuance of these, in a hallowed season of peace and security, 
 Angharad made no reference, in an appeal to her maker, to 
 the durability of the pride and pomp of sovereign dominion. 
 But limited as were her desires, her meek and sinless wishes 
 — they were not to be fulfilled ; for the demon war was once 
 more lighting his torch, and baring his brand to drive her and 
 hers again into the wilderness — and, even that, becoming a 
 blessed refuge from the horrors of sword and fire. Four 
 years was the utmost limit of their newly acquired felicity, 
 when all these sufferings and sorrows came to pass." 
 
 In the 1037, Griffith ab Llewelyn having grown to man- 
 hood, and favoured by the popular memory of his father, 
 
ANGHARAD, 45 
 
 added to his own prowess in arms, took the field against 
 lago ab Edwal, then the occupant of the throne of North 
 Wales. Having defeated his forces, and slain that prince, 
 Griffith was well received by the people of that country as 
 their sovereign. Immediately after this, he was called upon 
 to repel a confederate army of English and Danes, who had 
 entered Wales. Meeting them at Crossford, on the hanks 
 of the Severn, he entirely defeated their forces. Elated 
 with success, he proceeded thence into South Wales, then 
 under the dominion of Howell ab Edwyn the murderer of 
 his father. Fortune again smiling on his banners, he soon 
 drove Howel from his possessions ; when he, and the heroine 
 of this memoir, again became wanderers on the face of the 
 earth. Howel, however, who wanted neither courage nor 
 tenacity of character to endeavour to recover his losses, 
 repaired to Edwyn, the brother of Leofric, earl of Chester, 
 and raised by his means, an army of English and Danes, 
 with which he marched into Wales against Griffith ab 
 Llewelyn. Fortune, however, continuing propitious, that 
 prince overthrew the foreigners, slew, Edwyn, and again 
 forced Howel to a speedy flight, on which he returned to 
 Rhuddlan castle, the seat of his sovereignty in North Wales. 
 
 Twelve months having elapsed since his last discomfiture, 
 that time had been fully employed by Howel in reinforcing 
 and greatly enlarging his army for another strenuous at- 
 tempt fur the recovery of his dominions. Accordingly, in 
 the year 1038, in the glowing pride of his heart, he led forth 
 his enlarged powers, full of the most flattering hopes of 
 success. So very sanguine was he now of winning a deci- 
 sive battle, that he brought with him towards the field of 
 contention, his beautiful though long suffering wife Angharad, 
 the partner of his wild wanderings through every change of 
 fortune, to share in the glories of his anticipated victory; — 
 glories, alas! which neither was ever destined to enjoy. 
 
 11 Griffith ab Llewelyn receiving intelligence of this event, 
 marched with his usual celerity into South Wales, and 
 meeting Howell at Penca lair, in Carmarthenshire, he there 
 gave him battle, and entirely defeated his army. The 
 unhappy Howel escaped with difficulty ; but to render his 
 
46 ANGHARAD. 
 
 fate more deplorable, his wife, the unhappy Angharad, was 
 taken prisoner, and fell into the hands of his rival in power, 
 the man whose father he had himself murdered. The 
 beauty of Angharad captivated the heart of her conqueror, 
 and Griffith, with all his merits, had no pretensions to the 
 character of a Scipio. " Instead of protecting her honour, 
 or yielding up this princess to her husband, she was detained 
 by Griffith as his concubine." " In times less savage than 
 these, such an action, measured by civilized ideas of heroism, 
 incapable of offering violence to weakness, or of insulting the 
 feelings of a vanquished enemy, would have been received 
 with general abhorrence. But it does not appear that 
 Griffith lost any reputation with his subjects — the Welsh 
 regarding whatever they had taken in war, even the wives 
 of the vanquished, as the lawful property of the conqueror." 
 The above passage is the remark of Lord Littleton on this 
 event. Setting aside the preposterous absurdity of " measur- 
 ing an action,'' perpetrated in times comparatively savage by- 
 civilized ideas of heroism, greatly as the conduct of Griffith 
 is to be reprobated, his lordship might have remembered 
 that the Welsh are by no means singular in such instances 
 of barbarity, as parallel cases of equal atrocity may be cited 
 done by English heroes, " of the gentle Norman blood," as 
 Sir Walter Scott delights to designate it, in contradistinc- 
 tion to the Saxon and Celt. The pitiable helplessness of 
 the young princess Nest, daughter of the sovereign prince 
 Rhys ab Tewdwr, on the death of her father in battle, the 
 flight of her brothers for their lives, from those who were 
 thirsting for their blood, the utter destruction of her pa- 
 ternal home, and her consequent orphancy and destitution, 
 proved no arguments of protection against the lustful bar- 
 barity of the Anglo-Norman king, Henry I., who made the 
 descendant of a long line of princes his concubine. And 
 this took place more than a century later than the instance 
 here cited ; and, among others, we might enlarge on a still 
 more modern piece of barbaric atrocity, perpetrated by the 
 infamous King John, in the hanging of the boy-hostages, the 
 sons and representatives of both royal and noble families of 
 Wales, entrusted to his custody and care by their confiding 
 parents. 
 

 ANGHARAD. 47 
 
 In the year 1040, we find Hpwel again in the field at the 
 head of an army; — " stung with the keen resentment which 
 such injuries would naturally excite, Howel came the third 
 time into South Wales, in hopes of revenging the late insult 
 upon his honour, and, by another brave effort, to recover his 
 wife and his crown. He had not been there long before a large 
 body of foreigners landed in the country, who, spreading 
 themselves abroad, committed great depredations. Howel, 
 though desirous of reserving his strength for the main con- 
 test with the prince of North Wales, could not be indiffe- 
 rent to their ravages ; but with much gallantry of spirit, and 
 with an honest desire of conciliating the affections of his 
 former subjects, he suddenly attacked the foreigners, and 
 forced them with great loss to retire to their ships." Highly 
 creditable both to his bravery and his patriotism, as was this 
 event, towards the main object of his enterprise Howel 
 seems to have done nothing this year, although his great 
 enemy was opposed by another foe, and even taken prisoner 
 by Cunnan ab lago. But Griffith was soon rescued by his 
 truly loving subjects of North Wales. 
 
 In the two next years we find Howel ab Edwyn again at 
 the head of warlike forces, indefatigable in the aim that he 
 seems to have considered the only business of his life, the 
 recovery of his wife and dominions ; but, alas! for the san- 
 guine hopes of mortals ! those golden dreams of felicity for 
 which he so often pined and nearly maddened in solitude, 
 and fought and bled in the field, were never on earth to be 
 realized. 
 
 In the year 1042 the two hostile armies, commanded 
 respectively by the princes Howel ab Edwyn and Griffith ab 
 Llewelyn, met in the mountains of , South Wales, near the 
 source of the river Towey, Carmarthenshire. Although 
 strongly supported by certain Danish auxiliaries, and the 
 friends, with their forces, who still adhered to his fortunes, 
 the unfortunate Howel was completely defeated, the greater 
 part of his arnry cut to pieces, and himself slain. Thus was 
 the full measure of vengeance poured upon the head of this 
 prince and family for the murder they had lately committed 
 on the great and good prince Llewelyn ab Seisyllt, 
 
48 ANGHARAD. 
 
 This was heavy news for the unhappy Angharad ; all hope 
 of relief was now lost for ever ; and her captivity became per- 
 petual, under the most degrading, added to the most lament- 
 able of circumstances. It is probable, although the times were 
 fierce and pitiless, that a mind so gentle could find no com- 
 fort in the fierce passion of revenge ; or the degradation 
 which befel Nest, Llewelyn's daughter, in the affair with 
 Fleance the son of Banquo, might have proved to her that 
 she was not alone in sorrow, but there was one beneath the 
 same roof with her, a heavy sufferer. The particulars of 
 Angharad's after-life, and the period of her death are alike 
 unknown.* 
 
 * The disastrous life and unhappy death of the fugitive prince Howel ah 
 Edwyn naturally suggest striking reflections on the ill-defined nature of the 
 national government of the Welsh princes generally ; and are highly illustrative 
 of those anarchial disorders inherent in their imperfect system of succession. 
 Some writers assert that the royal dignity became legally elective in Wales — 
 while others hold the opinion that it was strictly hereditary, till extraordinary 
 circumstances made it necessary, in the exigencies of the hour, to suspend the 
 primogenial law of the land. Those extraordinary circumstances, were in fact the 
 vices of the system, and became at length of ordinary and common occurrence. 
 The vicious restlessness and turbulence of the semi-barbarous people, impelled 
 them ever to seek a new chief, capable of present governing, on the decease of 
 their sovereign : nor would they tolerate the long minority of a juvenile heir to 
 the crown, although he might be the descendant of the best of their princes. The 
 most patriotic chieftains or nobles of the country frequently coincided in the 
 popular opinion that the bravest warrior and most consummate politician of the 
 day should be elevated to the throne, but never stipulated whether he should 
 possess it only during the non-age of the heir, or in perpetuity. Thus the problem 
 of future government was left to the working of blind chance — the state impreg- 
 nated with the seed of future wars, and the guardian knot of perplexity sub- 
 jected to the edge of the keenest sword. Notwithstanding the violence inflicted 
 on the law of primogeniture, by suppressing the hereditary claims of Howel ab 
 Edwyn, doubtless it was beneficial to the nation, that it was successively 
 governed by such superior, though usurping princes as Llewelyn ab Seisyllt, 
 and his son, of Griffith ab Llewelyn. But other cases might be cited where the 
 election of a new prince, conquests of civil war, and other disturbances of regu- 
 lar succession, caused more evil than good, and tended more to licentious 
 lawlessness and bloodshedding contention than either stability in government, 
 or the happiness of the human race. 
 
n 
 
 ANGHARAD, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF OWEN AB EDWIN LORD OF ENGLEFIELD, AND 
 QUEEN OF GRIFFITH AB CUNNAN, KING OF NORTH WALES. 
 
 " Angharad, ab Cunnaa's * wise Queen of the North. 
 
 t\xS 
 
 As the Welsh princes were no strangers to the policy of 
 forming alliances by marriage with the heiresses, to princi- 
 palities, or the daughters of powerful princes whose forces 
 could aid them in all emergencies for defence or invasion, 
 it is curious to observe a departure from this interested, 
 but almost essential custom, in so prudent a prince as Grif- 
 fith ab Cunnan. Instead of seeking a wife among the 
 daughters of the reigning princes of his time, much as he 
 needed such an alliance, he seems to have been enslaved by the 
 surpassing charms of Angharad, daughter of Owen ab Ed- 
 wyn 'ab Gorono,f a subject, lord of Englefield whom he 
 wooed, won, and wedded, when he might have had ladies of 
 regal parentage (as the homely saying goes) " for the 
 asking." 
 
 Although of the legitimate line of princes, Griffith ab 
 Cunnan had been excluded from the succession to the throne 
 of North "Wales in consequence of his youth in the first 
 instance, and afterwards from the well supported usurpa- 
 tions of different warlike adventurers. But the result of 
 the decisive battle of Carno, in which, by the aid of his 
 Irish auxiliaries, and prince Rhys ab Tewdwr of South 
 
 * In Welsh written Cynan, and pronounced as above. 
 
 t Owen ab Edwyn was by descent one of the numerous princes of Powys 
 or central Wales, who by the disastrous law of gavelkind had their original sove- 
 reignties so divided, that in the course of a few generations their " dominions" 
 dwindled into estates, and at length into mere farms. Happy had it been for 
 themselves and the country, if contentment accompanied their reduction of 
 rank ; but so far was that from being the case, that they were ever engaged in 
 some turbulent undertaking for seizing the possessions of others, and holding 
 them by force of arms, till subdued and expelled by superior powers. 
 
 h 
 
50 ANGHARAD. 
 
 Wales, he slew Trahaern ab Caradoc and defeated his 
 forces, seated him securely on the throne of his ancestors. 
 
 Griffith ab Cunnan was born in 1047, consequently on 
 his accession to the crown of North "Wales, in 1079, he was 
 thirty-two years of age, about which time he may be sup- 
 posed to have married Angharad, who must then have been 
 under the age of twenty. A deplorable misfortune which 
 happened to her husband, soon after their union, made 
 Angharad early acquainted with grief, and drugged her 
 cup of happiness with exceeding bitterness. 
 
 " A native of Wales, called Meiron Gjch (Red Meirion), 
 entered into a conspiracy to betray him into the hands of 
 the English. Agreeably to the plan which had been pre- 
 viously concerted with the earls of Shrewsbury and Ches- 
 ter, a strong body of infantry and horse were stationed at 
 Rug* in Edeyrnion. The snare being laid, Griffith ab 
 Cunnan was desired by his treacherous subject, at the 
 instance of the two English lords, to give them the meeting, 
 under the colour of a friendly conference. With a simple 
 confidence, which neither agreed with the character of the 
 times nor with the dictates of prudence, the Welsh king 
 came to the place appointed, attended only by a few re- 
 tainers, whom he had brought out of Ireland. He had no 
 sooner made his appearance, than he was seized, and car- 
 ried in chains to the castle of Chester. His Irish atten- 
 dants were allowed to depart, without receiving any other 
 injury than the loss of a thumb, which was cut off from the 
 right hand of each. This instance of whimsical barbarity 
 might arise from the instigation of Meirion Goch, who 
 from the prejudices of his country, would detest them as 
 foreigners, and who might also resent the partiality which 
 this prince had always entertained for the Irish." f 
 
 The captivity of Griffith ab Cunnan was extended to a 
 period of twelve years ; and was, doubtless, intended to 
 have been continued till released by the friendly hand of 
 
 * Rug is pronounced Reeg. 
 
 t Warrington. It appears to us there was move than mere " whimsical bar- 
 barity" in this affair. By the deprivation of the thumb of the right hand, 
 these men were for ever disabled from acting as soldiers, as they could neither 
 draw the bowstring nor effectively grasp either a sword, spear, or battle axe. 
 
ANGHARAD. 51 
 
 death. But that dreadful fate was averted by the devoted 
 patriotism of an humble individual, one of Nature's own 
 nobles, whose gallant daring in rescuing his sovereign from 
 his long durance, richly merited a title of nobility in the 
 land of his birth. But in the absence of such . an hour, 
 posterity awarded him something better, perpetual fame 
 and ever- verdant laurel in the annals of his nation. As if 
 to compensate a country stigmatised by the production of 
 the traitor Meirion Goch, the same district gave birth to 
 the young hero who now became the deliverer of his prince. 
 But we will give the relation in the words of history. 
 " The situation of this prince excited the compassion of a 
 young man, named Kenric Heer * (Kenric the tall), a 
 native of Edeyrnion, who determined, if possible, to ef- 
 fect his escape out of prison, though at every hazard to 
 himself. The enterprize was bold, generous, and full of 
 danger. Attended by a few followers, he repaired to Ches; 
 ter, under pretence of purchasing necessaries, and having 
 early in the evening gained admittance into the castle, 
 while the keepers were engaged in feasting, he carried on 
 his back the captive prince, loaded with chains, and con- 
 veyed him with safety into his own dominions. It is with 
 pleasure we contemplate an action like this, heroic in it- 
 self, and directed by a principle of masculine virtue.""j* 
 
 We are not informed what became of Angharad during 
 the twelve years of her husband's captivity. But as North 
 Wales and Powys were overrun and ravaged by the En- 
 glish immediately on the seizure and imprisonment of 
 Griffith ab Cunnan, it is probable she made her escape and 
 found an asylum with her father at Englefield. In the year 
 1080 she became the mother of a son, who was christened 
 after her father, by the name of Owen. To nurse this boy, 
 who became so famous in after time, as the renowned hero 
 Owen Gwyneth,+ was the sweetest solace of the young 
 mother, during the long-lasting 'captivity of her lord and 
 husband. When at length restored to his freedom by the 
 heroic action of Kenric Heer, it was long, very long before 
 
 * In Welsh orthography, Cennric_H ir. t Warrington. 
 
 % In Welsh written Owain Gwynedd. 
 
 d2 
 
52 ANGHABAD. 
 
 she could rejoin him with her royal son. Warrington says : 
 " Though Griffith ab Cunnan had thus fortunately escaped 
 out of the hands of his enemies, he had many difficulties 
 still to encounter — as his own subjects were either dis- 
 spirited, or alienated from him, and the English were 
 masters of the country. His danger was sometimes so 
 great, that he was obliged to lie concealed in woods, and 
 other places of security. But after he had endured a va- 
 riety of evils, and taken those castles which the Normans 
 had erected during his captivity, he recovered the entire 
 possession of his kingdom." 
 
 Angharad had too much of real, true, generous woman- 
 hood in her nature, to wait for the sunny days of prosperity, 
 but determined to hasten to her husband, in spite of all 
 obstacles, to solace him in the dark and stormy season of 
 his adversity, and share all his fortunes whether weal or woe. 
 Beside her affectionate desire to rejoin her lord after so 
 long a separation, she had a powerful reason for taking 
 both a sudden and secret flight from her paternal habita- 
 tion. What fixed her mind in this resolution was, she had 
 at this time the bitter mortification to suspect, that her 
 father had turned traitor, and was in actual rebellion 
 against his sovereign and son-in-law, and in sworn alliance 
 with the invaders of his dominions. It would be inter- 
 esting to know all particulars of the manner by which this 
 model of feminine fidelity succeeded in escaping through 
 disturbed districts overrun with the armed invaders and 
 desolaters of her country, with her bold, resolute, but well 
 instructed son, now in the sixteenth year of his age — in 
 what peasant or pilgrim disguises they threaded thus the 
 perils of the way — what forest they crossed, what marsh, 
 and moorland, and sylvan scenes they traversed, on their 
 sure-footed mountain steeds, under the faithful guidance 
 of an attached servant, well qualified in the art of duping 
 all dangerous interrogators who might be disposed to inter- 
 rupt their journey. It would be pleasant to be enlight- 
 ened, even by a legend, however doubtful, of the particulars 
 of their progress — what towering castles frowned upon their 
 way, and with ghastly eyelets glared their bloodless faces 
 
ANGHARAD. 53 
 
 into stone, as they noted the threatening arrow points pre- 
 pared for flight from the death- dealing Norman bows — and 
 ■what holy brotherhoods gave them welcome to their monas- 
 teries and relieved their exhaustion with the much»needed 
 blessings of shelter, bed, and board, after days and nights of 
 exposure to the midnight storm, and all the agitating ter- 
 rors of being taken prisoners, or perishing with hunger in 
 the stormy wilds. The details of their sufferings, however, 
 remain unchronicled. It is probable that it was towards 
 the latter end of the year 1096, Angharad succeeded in 
 finding her husband, in the midst of warfare, encamped in the 
 island of Anglesea— now, the sole remaining remnant of his 
 dominions, as sovereign of North Wales. And what a meet- 
 ing of touching tenderness and overwhelming rapture must 
 that have been to each of them. That long-parted pair, 
 who had been sundered almost since their marriage, six- 
 teen years before — the blooming youth, who then for the 
 first time, beheld his heroic father, the subject of his 
 mother's eulogies, and the songs of tn^ patriot bards, since 
 the earliest dawn of his youthful intellect — clasped in that 
 father's arms, who never before had seen hrsJace — in mutual 
 ecstasy of sorrow-mixed endearments. ^^^-^ 
 
 Although the great object of her perilous pilgrimage was 
 now attained, Angharad soon found the household god 
 Tranquility was not within their palace gates ; but that 
 terror, disquietude, and alarm were to be their spectral 
 familiars, their hourly companions in their reduced sove- 
 reignty—that their throne was placed on a volcano, whose 
 explosion was daily to be dreaded ; and that the threat of 
 the English king to exterminate the inhabitants of North 
 "Wales, and to re-people it with his own subjects, appeared 
 to be progressing towards a terrible completion. Again she 
 had to endure a temporary parting with her lord ; and at 
 this time with her son Owen. She was left in the best secu- 
 rity at the palace of Abervraw, in the island of Anglesea, 
 while they joined the army on the opposite side of the 
 Straights of Menai, to oppose the advance of the English. 
 
 " At the secret instigation of the treacherous lord of 
 Englefield, Owen ab Edwyn (the unworthy father of Ang- 
 
harad), and of other chieftains of North Wales, a very 
 formidable army invaded that country, under the command of 
 the earls of Chester and Shrewsbury. Griffith ab Cunnan 
 and his friend Cadwgan ab Bleddyn, not being able on a 
 sudden to collect a force sufficient to oppose them, and 
 already suspecting treason, had no confidence in their troops, 
 therefore, with great foresight and prudence, gave way for a 
 time, and retired into the mountains, for security and ob- 
 servation. The two earls, meeting with no resistance, 
 continued their march into that part of Carnarvonshire which 
 lies opposite Anglesea. Griffith ab Cunnan and his son, in 
 terrible alarm for the safety of Angharad, and the danger 
 which threatened his seat of government, returned to An- 
 glesea, attended by his associate Cadwgan — and having 
 received a slight reinforcement from Ireland, he seemed 
 determined to defend the island. At this critical moment 
 Owen ab Edwyn, Angharad' s father, who was in high trust 
 with Griffith, openly avowed his treason, deserted from the 
 banners of bis country, the service of his sovereign, and the 
 protection of his own daughter, and with his whole forces 
 joined the English army. Alarmed at the perfidy and 
 revolt of so power. ul a chieftain, and unable to oppose the 
 united force of the enemy, Griffith ab Cunnan, with the aid 
 of the faithful Cadwgan, embarked his whole family and 
 friends and set sail for Ireland, where they arrived in safety. 
 In Ireland they experienced the hospitality of the gene- 
 rous king of Dublin, whose court was always open to the 
 unfortunate refugee princes of Wales. Here they sojourned 
 two years of mournful exile from the disasters of their poor 
 country, whose inhabitants were doomed to the direst fate of 
 houseless destitution, or butchery, at the hands of their 
 victorious invaders.* During their residence in Ireland 
 Angharad gave birth to a young prince and princess, respect- 
 ively named Cadwalader and Marret. 
 
 * For a relation of the wanton barbarities exercised by the English on the 
 Welsh, on the conquest of Anglesea, in the year 1096, we refer the reader to 
 the pages of Warrington's history of Wales, 8vo. vol. i.,p. 396. But this his- 
 torian, with his usual aptitude to find excuses for the enormities of the English, 
 calls this terrible affair, " a full measure of retaliation for the cruelties which 
 they had committed on the English borders," although he is unable to state the 
 particulars of these imputed cruelties. 
 
ANGHARAD. 55 
 
 Unable to endure a longer absence from his country, in the 
 year 1098, Griffith ab Cunnan, accompanied by his princess 
 and family, and attended by Cadwgan ab Bleddyn, returned 
 into Wales, and yielding to the deplorable exigencies of the 
 times, he made peace with the English upon terms of great 
 disadvantage. The death of William Rufus, and accession 
 of king Henry I. ; to the English throne, followed ; while the 
 death of Rhys ab Tewdwr, who fell in battle, and the suc- 
 cessful invasion of the Norman knights, deprived South 
 Wales of two of its best provinces — and of its monarchial 
 independence. 
 
 The succeeding thirty years from this period, is but the 
 history of English encroachment, Welsh resistance, and 
 ultimate retreat, into the mountainous regions — while their 
 adversaries, advancing into the abandoned plains and vallies, 
 built their monasteries in all the fairest and most fertile 
 districts. But a great day of retribution was at hand, that 
 came at length in all its terrors, to the invaders of the 
 Cambrian soil. 
 
 Many years previous to the favourable occurrences about 
 to be related, certain matters of domestic interest took place 
 in the royal family of North Wales — among which may be 
 stated the birth of their son Cadwallon, and four daughters.* 
 Angharad and her husband had also the happiness to see their 
 eldest son Owen, who had assumed the surname of Gwyneth, 
 married to Gwladys, the daughter of Llywarch ab Trahaern,f 
 lord of Pembroke. Some years later their youngest daugh- 
 ter Gwenllian was married to Griffith ab Rhys, sovereign 
 prince of South Wales, still all was not felicity in their 
 domestic circle ; while yet a very young man their younger 
 son Cadwallon was taken prisoner on the English borders, 
 and immediately put to death. As the dates of these dif- 
 ferent occurrences are not recorded, it is impossible to trace 
 
 * These were Susanna, Ranullt, Nest, and Gwenlian. 
 
 t Llywarchern was the son of Trahaern ab Caradoc, who was prince of North 
 Wales, till defeated and killed at the battle of Carno by Griffith ab Cunnan. 
 Nothing could have been more politic than this marriage between the son of 
 Griffith and the daughter of Llywarch, considering the power, grievance, and 
 malignity of that ferocious chief, whose murderous exploits are detailed in the 
 memoirs of Nest, daughter of Rhys ab Tewdwr, and of Gwenllian, wife of 
 Griffith ab Rhys. It was the pacific union of two hostile houses — the son of a 
 dethroned prince united to the daughter of a reigning sovereign. 
 
56 ANCHARAD. 
 
 them at this distance of time, with any thing like certainty, 
 except the marriage of Gwenllian, which must have taken 
 place about the year 1116. Some time previous to this date 
 we find Griffith ab Cunnan deserting the integrity of his 
 character, cajoled by the false courtesies and presents of 
 Henry I., whose court he was induced to visit ; he actually 
 attempted the destruction of Griffith ab Rhys, the young 
 prince of South Wales, who afterwards became his son-in-law, 
 although Rhys ab Tewdwr, the father of Griffith, had been 
 mainly instrumental in recovering for him the throne which 
 he then occupied. But as the prince of North Wales after- 
 wards made amends, ratifying by his approval, his daughter's 
 marriage with the son of his ancient friend, history deals 
 leniently with this dark spot in his otherwise unsullied 
 career. 
 
 The events of the succeeding twenty years, as far as they 
 affect the personage of this memoir, will find their more 
 appropriate place, according to the arrangements of this 
 work, in the life of the princess Gwenllian, whose marriage 
 is referred to above ; therefore, we come at once to the period 
 of immense changes in the political hemisphere of Wales 
 and England. 
 
 The year 1135 produced the great blessing to Wales of 
 the death of King Henry I., and the usurpation of the crown 
 of England by King Stephen. A grand retribution was 
 manifest in the wonderful reaction which followed this 
 change of dynasties. The princes and chieftains of Wales, 
 reviving from the paralysis with which overwhelming 
 calamity had stricken them, sprung into new life, like the 
 awakened dead at the sound of the final trumpet. For once 
 they forgot their native animosities, and seemed united in 
 the general virtuous resolution to reconquer their country, 
 and drive the foreign invaders beyond their ancient boundary. 
 Prince Griffith ab Rhys, with his heroic wife Gwenllian, rose 
 up in the south ; in Powys every chieftain with inspiring 
 energy was busy in the work of expulsion and restoration ; 
 while in the north, Griffith ab Cunnan, assisted by his two 
 gallant sons (Owen Gwyneth and Cadwalader), succeeded 
 in regaining every portion of his lost dominions. 
 
ANGHAKAD. 57 
 
 During the triumph of the national arms, and the ac- 
 companiments of public rejoicing, the royal family of North 
 Wales experienced a private calamity of the most distressing 
 nature, that plunged them all from the height of felicity 
 into the deepest gloom of anguish. This was the death of 
 their youngest daughter Gwenllian, queen of South Wales, 
 in a manner the most violent and unprecedented ever re- 
 corded by the pen of history. As the particulars of that 
 tragic catastrophe are related in the memoirs of that princess, 
 it is unnecessary to repeat them here. 
 
 It is especially due to the memory of Angharad, to take a 
 review of the characters of her children, formed under her 
 own auspices, and developed under different circumstances 
 in after time. This exemplary princes presents to us the 
 noblest phase of true womanhood, in the perfection of the 
 maternal character which she personally manifested. The 
 brightest effulgence of the hallowed relationship of mother 
 is best exhibited in the conduct of the children she has 
 nurtured, taught, and embellished with the best acquirements 
 her time afforded ; and those of A.ngharad, whose names so 
 pre-eminently stand forth in history, glorify their mother in 
 the merited eulogies which they received : anterior, of 
 course, to the era when the selfish fooleries of fine-ladyism 
 imposed on society the pestilent infliction of the hireling 
 nurse and mercenary governess, for, be it remembered, we are 
 treating of nature's own epoch, when princely matrons did 
 not disdain, personally to nurse, tend, and implant the earliest 
 seed of instruction in the infant mind of their progeny. 
 
 After treating in a high strain of eulogy on the heroism 
 displayed by queen Gwenllian, at the time she met her death, 
 Warrington writes thus of the merits of her two brothers who 
 undertook to avenge the death of their sister, whom the 
 brutal English general, Maurice de Londres, had caused to be 
 beheaded. 
 
 " Alive to an injury so singular and atrocious, her brothers, 
 Owen Gwyneth and Cadwalader, laid waste with infinite 
 fury the province of Cardigan. Among a people whose 
 manners seem to have been little refined by chivalrous feeling, 
 we are surprised at the appearance of characters whose in- 
 
58 Angharad. 
 
 dividual qualities and bravery of spirit, whose courteous and 
 gentle demeanour, might have entitled them to dispute the 
 palm with the most accomplished knights of feudal ages. 
 These distinguished persons were the sons of Griffith ab 
 Cunnan." , 
 
 Angharad, though many years her husband's junior, had 
 now arrived at that period when life is declining towards its 
 "sere and yellow leaf;" but sorrow more than years produced 
 its usual effect. We are told that besides his legitimate chil- 
 dren Griffith ab Cunnan had no less than five others, by "ano- 
 ther woman.'' Although the vicjous custom of concubinage^., 
 was too commonly indulged by theWelsH^sdV'ertJlgrrg'jTb be 
 considered by their queens in the light of bitter grievances, 
 or divorcible offences, yet it is not to be supposed that such 
 evil was not without its due weight of infelicity in the conjugal 
 state. But the mind of Angharad appears to have been 
 deeply imbued with the dictates of woman's best philosophy, 
 that sweet enduring patience, and studied prudence, which 
 enabled her to neutralize, and ultimately to triumph over 
 the gall and wormwood of that peculiar infliction, by in- 
 dulging in the meek reflection, that no fault of her own 
 had given birth to the evil ; and that, in the eye of omni- 
 potence, and even that of her own erring lord, she stood 
 exonerated from all personal imputation of faults of temper, 
 or imperious assumption of superior merit. 
 
 As she advanced further in years Angharad had to bend 
 beneath a load of accumulated sorrows, which religion alone 
 could alleviate, but nothing remove; — sorrows no. less sacred 
 than affecting, from the harsh and untimely removals from 
 this scene of existence of those near and most dear ones, 
 whose infancy she had nursed — little deeming, in their days 
 of youth and innocence* they were destined for a bloody grave. 
 She had successively to bewail the violent deaths of her son 
 Cadwalader, her daughter Gwenllian, and her grandson 
 Morgan ; the latter killed with his mother, at the battle of 
 Kidwelly ; * and lastly, for her gallant son in law Griffith ab 
 Rhys, king of South "Wales, who died in 1137, having sur- 
 vived his beloved wife but two years. The next year 
 
 * In Welsh written Cidwelli, but pronounced Kidwelley. 
 
ANGHARAD. 59 
 
 brought with it the crowning sorrow of all, the death of her 
 venerable husband Griffith ab Cunnan at the advanced age 
 of eight j- two ; af(er a prolonged reign of fifty years over the 
 principality of North Wales. This prince had eight children 
 by his queen, Angharad; and five by a mistress. The names 
 of the former were, Owen Gwyneth, Cadwalader, and Cad- 
 wallon; Marrett, Susanna, Ranulft, Nest, and Gwenllian; and 
 of the latter, Iago, Ascain, and Edwal ; Dolhing,and Ellen.* 
 
 Perhaps there can be no fairer criterion by which to judge 
 of a woman's worth, than by the estimation in which she is 
 held by her husband at the latest period previous to his final 
 farewell to herself and the world. By the wording of his 
 will, and the disposal of his worldly possessions, he is en- 
 abled to evince the comparative extent of his love, resent- 
 ment, or indifference ; either feeling curbed and corrected, 
 according to the acknowledged measure of her merits, or 
 claims upon his justice or affection. For, however stern, or 
 sensitive to offence, real or supposed, a man may be in his 
 full glow and insolence of health and prosperity, towards the 
 closing scene of life, "a change comes o'er the spirit of his 
 dream," and the humbliDg process of self-examination, pro- 
 duces the blessed fruit of charity, mercy, and all the better 
 attributes of the christian state. The lesson and terms of 
 forgiveness, too, as taught in the prayer of frequent recurrence, 
 becomes then something more than a heartless utterance of 
 words, and has its due weight in the meditative hour pre- 
 ceeding our latest look on life and its concerns. Examined 
 by this test, Angharad comes off triumphantly. She had 
 assigned to her a larger portion of her dying lord's possessions 
 than could be expected for a queen dowager of those days, 
 when there were so many left, whose helpless condition 
 called for his provident consideration. 
 
 Griffith ab Cunnan's death-bed scene is solemnly in- 
 teresting, from the air of patriarchal simplicity imparted to 
 it by the " ancient monk" by whom it is described.f " His 
 
 * Warrington in his history of Wales has not given the names of this prince's 
 daughters, a remarkable omission in a work professing to be a national history. 
 
 t " Griffith ab Cynan, his troublesome life and famous acts are compiled in 
 Welsh," says Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, " by a most anncient friar, or monk 
 of Wales ;" " and," continues the historian, " this was found by the posterity of 
 the said Griffith, in the house of Gwydir ; and at the request of Maurice Wynne, 
 
60 ANGHARAI*. 
 
 sons were among them, and he blessed them, and foretold 
 their fortune, and what peculiar character each should sup- 
 port, as the patriarch Jacob did on taking his dying leave of 
 his sons in Egypt. And he solemnly enjoined them to 
 combat their enemies, with vigour and constancy, after the 
 examples he had set them. Angharad his queen was present, 
 to whom he bequeathed one-half of his personal estate, with 
 two rhandir or portions of land, and the customs of Aber- 
 menai. His daughters and nephews were also present ; and 
 he left to each a legacy, sufficient for their maintenance." 
 The following account of the general regret in foreign states, 
 on the death of Griffith, concluding with a description of his 
 person, in ourj?JxLmoji|:Js tt usual style, is not without interest. 
 
 " The*"Welsh, the Irish, and the men of Denmark, lamented 
 Griffith, as the Jews mourned for Joshua ; he was eighty-two 
 years old, and was buried on the left side of the great altar 
 at Bangor. And let us pray that his soul, &c/' 
 
 " Griffith in his person was of moderate stature, having 
 yellow hair, a round face, and a fair agreeable complexion; 
 eyes rather large, light eyebrows, a comelie beard, a round 
 neck, white skin, strong limbs, long fingers, straight legs, 
 and handsome feet. He was moreover skilful in divers 
 languages, courteous and civil to his friends, fierce to his 
 foes, and resolute in battle. Of a passionate temper, and 
 fertile imagination." 
 
 Angharad outlived her husband many years, but the exact 
 period of her decease is unknown. She is supposed to be 
 buried by his side, near the great altar at Bangor. With 
 whimsical minuteness and brevity her person and merits are 
 thus drawn and summed up by the pen of our old Welsh 
 nionk before quoted. 
 
 " She was an accomplished person — her hair was long and 
 of a flaxen colour — her eyes large and rolling, and her fea- 
 tures brilliant and beautiful. She was tall and well-propor- 
 tioned — her leg and foot handsome — her fingers long, and her 
 nails thin and transparent. She was good tempered, cheerful, 
 discreet, and witty — gave advice, as well as alms to her 
 needy dependants, and never transgressed the laws of duty." 
 
 Esq , had the same written in a most anncient book, and was lineally descended 
 from him. Was translated into Latin, by INicholas llobinson, bishop of Bangor." 
 
£f 
 
 
 ANGHARAD THE NO, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF THE LADY NEST, AND IVOR HAEL LORD 
 OF MAESALEG, MONMOUTHSHIRE, IN THE FOURTEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 This lady was doubtless the first love of the poet Davyth ab 
 Gwilym, of whom so much has been written in this work 
 under the heads of Ardidvil, Angharad, Deethgee, and 
 Morvyth of Mona. It has been mentioned in the memoir 
 of Ardidvil, that in consequence of disagreement with his 
 parents he quitted them, and was kindly received at Gwern- 
 y-gleppa, in the lordship of Maesaleg, in Monmouthshire, 
 where he enjoyed the friendship and patronage of Ivor Hael, 
 a near relative of his father. 
 
 "Ivor, deservedly surnamed Hael, or 'the generous,'* 
 received his young kinsman with an affectionate kindness, 
 which he even carried so far as to appoint him his steward 
 and the instructor of his only daughter (the lady of our 
 memoir), although Davyth ab Gwilym' s qualifications for 
 these duties, were not, it is probable, at that time, of the most 
 obvious character, At least the inconvenient effects of one 
 of these appointments was too soon apparent in the reci- 
 procal attachment that grew up between the poet and his 
 fair charge. The precise nature of Ivor's conduct towards 
 the former, on the discovery of this circumstance, is un- 
 known ; but he appears to have treated him with an 
 indulgence which his own regard for the enamoured tutor 
 could alone explain. He is recorded, however, to have been 
 somewhat severe in the treatment of his daughter, whom 
 
 • The Morgans of Tredegar and Rupera, previous to their alliance with the 
 English family of the Goulds, could boast their descent from that splendid 
 chieftain Ivor Hael. By the English union a double spirit of liberality has 
 poured its beneficence on the land under their influence. The universally ac- 
 knowledged benevolence and generosity of the late Sir Charles Morgan, his 
 fatherly protection and support of the poor and afflicted, and his patronage of 
 every thing laudable in industrial pursuits, have won the plaudits of an admiring 
 and grateful country that will long venerate and bless his memory, and respect 
 his worthy descendants. 
 
62 
 
 ANGHARAD the nun. 
 
 he forthwith conveyed to a convent in the island of Angle- 
 sea. Thither she was followed by her devoted swain, who, 
 in the humble capacity of a servant at a neighbouring mo- 
 nastery, consoled himself during his hours of disappointed 
 love, by offering to his mistress the tributes of his muse — all 
 he had then to bestow ; and several poems of considerable 
 beauty are still extant, said to have been written during 
 this period. The following forms one of his poetical epis- 
 tles, in which he instructs a swift winged bird to lure " the 
 nun"* to the grove : — 
 
 True messenger of love— away ! 
 And from the Marches bring in May: 
 Thou truant ! thou wert not at hand 
 When most the hard in need did stand 
 Of thy tame wings ! oh ! seek once more 
 The place thou visitedst of yore, 
 Thou of fair form and flight sublime, 
 Visit the damsels white as lime I 
 If in the churchyard thou shouldst meet 
 The gaolerf of the maiden, greet 
 ("Thou poet's treasure, fair and fleet I) 
 Her ears with psalms of all the ills 
 With which that maid my bosom fills ! 
 Bless'd nuns, fair saints, from ev'ry land. 
 In their bright cells my suit withstand : 
 Those sacred snow-hued virgins, white 
 As gossamer, on mountain height ; 
 Those maids, like swallows to behold 
 Those holy damsels of the choir, 
 Sisters to Morvyth,J bright as gold t 
 Oh ! visit her at my desire ; 
 And if thy efforts vain should be, 
 To lure her from the priory, 
 And thou the snow-complexioned maid 
 With songs of praise canst not persuade 
 Her lover in the grove to meet, 
 Then carry her upon thy feet — 
 Delude the nun who, in yon shrine 
 Rings the small bell||— the abbess cheat f 
 Before the summer moon shall shine 
 With pure white ray, the black-robed nun 
 To the green woodland must be won ! 
 
 * It seems most probable that she had not actually become a nun, but was 
 merely an inmate in the nunnery; perhaps for the double purpose of being 
 educated, and at the same time kept out of the way of harm. 
 
 t Probably the abbess is meant. 
 
 X This lady, the chief object of the poet's love and songs, was a native of 
 Anglesea, and it is, perhaps, for that reason that he calls the nuns her sisters. 
 
 U In "Welsh " clochyddes"— an office in the Roman catholic service. 
 
ANGHARAD THE NUN. 63 
 
 At length, apparently weary of his fruitless fidelity, he 
 returned to the hospitable mansion of his patron ; and the 
 welcome manner in which he seems to have been again 
 received, proves that his affection for the daughter had not 
 produced any serious displeasure on the part of her father, 
 however, from motives of prudence the latter might have 
 thought it advisable to discountenance the attachment. 
 The young poet seems also at this period to have been 
 reconciled to his parents, between whose house and Gwern- 
 y-gleppa his time was divided. 
 
 During the second residence with Ivor, Davyth ab 
 Gw ilym must in all probability have devoted much attention 
 to the cultivation of^his favourite pursuit, since we find him, 
 about this period, elected to fill the post of chief bard of 
 Glamorgan.* His poetical reputation made him also a wel- 
 come, and, in some respects, a necessary guest at the festivals 
 which, in those long- departed days of social cheer and 
 princely hospitality, were common in the houses of the 
 higher orders in Wales. The mansions of Ivor Hael and 
 Llewelyn ab Gwilym were the frequent scenes of these 
 festive assemblies, at which particular respect was shown 
 to the sons of the awen.f And here it was that Davyth ab 
 Gwilym seems to have had the first opportunity of signal- 
 izing himself amongst his bardic compeers, in those poetical 
 contests, formerly so frequent in Wales, and which are not 
 even now wholly discontinued. It was at Emlyn, the seat 
 of his uncle Llewelyn, that, on one of these occasions, the 
 deep rooted enmity which existed between him and a 
 brother bard named Rhys Meigan, had its origin, and 
 became the fertile source of the most satirical and even 
 virulent strains on both sides. The laurel in this " war of 
 words" was, however, finally adjudged to the subject of 
 this memoir, whose antagonist is even reported to have 
 fallen dead on the spot, a victim to the unendurable poig- 
 nancy of our poet's satire. Strange and incredible as this 
 
 * Dr. Jones in his history of Wales says— "in 1630 he was elected to the 
 bardic chair of Glamorgan, and in succeeding years composed several poetic 
 pieces with a talent and taste hitherto denied to Welsh versifiers, and which 
 entitle him to the epithet of the father of Welsh poetry." 
 
 t Awen, a Welsh word implying poetic genius, or inspiration. 
 e2 
 
64 ANGHARAD THE NUN. 
 
 incident may appear, it is in a great measure confirmed by 
 one of Davyth ab Gwilym's effusions, in which he alludes 
 with some minuteness, to the extraordinary occurrence. 
 
 Doubtless the happiest days of our bard's life were those 
 that he spent in the house of Ivor Hael, which may be 
 gathered from the poems that he wrote, breathing of enjoy- 
 ment, high spirits, and fervent gratitude, while an inmate 
 of that hospitable mansion. 
 
 In one of these spirited productions, we find him sending 
 a messenger to Anglesea to acquaint his friends that he did 
 not intend to return thither in consequence of the kind 
 reception which he met with from Ivor. In that curious 
 poem we have many interesting allusions both to the indoor 
 pastimes and field sports of the times. 
 
 " Honours great for me are stored 
 If I live, from Ivor's hand, 
 Hound and huntsman at command, 
 
 Daily banquet at this board, 
 (Princely baron !) at the game 
 With his piercing shafts to aim ; 
 And to let his falcons fly 
 On the breezes of the sky. 
 * * * » 
 
 Dice and draughts, and every sport, 
 Of Maesaleg's joyous court, 
 Will the host who governs there 
 Freely with the poet share." 
 
 In another poem, written previous to going on his clera* 
 expedition to North Wales, he thanks Ivor for the muni- 
 ficence with which he had been treated during his stay at 
 Maesaleg. 
 
 " I obtained from thee the gifts I desired, 
 
 Kind words and silver, 
 
 And pure gold, 
 
 And gay French arms ; 
 
 Abundance of mead and wine, 
 
 Jewels fit for a second Taliesin ." 
 
 * The clera expedition means the tour or circuit made by the bards of Wales 
 once in three years, when in a high spirit of festal hospitality they were re- 
 ceived by the nobility and gentry of the country at their castles and mansions 
 with incredible cordiality of welcome : this noble entertainment they returned 
 by reciting their poems composed in praise of their patrons. For the best ac- \ 
 count extant of the bards and bardism of Wales we refer the reader to Stephens' \ 
 " Literature of the Kymry," recently published, one of the most complete and I 
 comprehensive of works ever dedicated to the service of Wales; and a valuable / 
 acquisition to every student or writer on Celtic or European antiquities. 
 
ANGHARAD THE NUN. v 65 
 
 In a spirited poem also written on the occasion of his 
 departure for North Wales, he expresses his gratitude to 
 Ivor for what appears to have been a very acceptable present 
 — that of a pair of buckskin gloves full of money; the 
 right-hand glove filled with gold, and the left with silver,* 
 he says — 
 
 " From hi3 grasp these gloves to gain, 
 Maidens oft have vied in vain ; 
 For the bard to fair or friend, 
 Ivor's gift will never lend." 
 
 He then proceeds to express his sense of his patron's libe- 
 rality in a strain of considerable beauty, still extolling his 
 buckskin gloves as superior to those of sheepskin, and such 
 as were worn by the " surly Saxon ;" an epithet with which 
 he generally honours the English nation, and by reiterating 
 the praises of his benefactor. But the opening couplet of 
 this poem sufficiently explains how well Ivor deserved the 
 surname of " the generous." / 
 
 " All who Ivor's palace leave, \ 
 
 Gold from Ivor's hand receive." # * 
 
 We shall conclude this Memoir with another poem ad- 
 dressed by the bard to our " nun : " it appears to be the 
 first which he addressed to her after her entrance into the. 
 sacred sisterhood. From the poet's description of his three 
 beauties Angharad, Doethgee, and Morvyth, it would appear \ 
 that the two first were black-eyed, raven-haired brunettes ; 
 and the last, whom he calls — 
 
 1 
 
 was what in these days would be called a blonde, 
 
 " The dark- eyed maid my love hath won, 
 And hence all food and rest I shun, 
 Oh, did my heart another prize, 
 None but the fool would deem me wise ! 
 
 * Mr. Arthur J. Johnes, appends the following interesting note: — " It was\ 
 the custom of those times to make presentsof money in gloves. When Sir Thos. \ 
 More was chancellor, in the time of Henry VIII., a Mrs. Croker, for whom" he \ 
 made a decree against Lord Arundel, came to him to request his acceptance of 
 of a pair of gloves, in which were contained forty pounds in angels; he told 
 her with a smile, that it would be ill manners to refuse a lady's present, but ] 
 though he should keep the gloves, he must return the gold, which he enforced ^ 
 herto receive."— Life of Sir John More, by Sir James Mackintosh, in Lardner's / 
 Cyclopedia. / 
 
 " Maid of the glowing form and lily brow 
 Beneath a roof of golden tresses." 
 
66 ANGHARAD THE NUN. 
 
 Girl of my love, and can it be, 
 
 That the luxuriant birchen tree 
 
 Of summer, has no charms for thee ? 
 
 That thou dost ceaselessly repeat 
 
 Thy Psalter in yon stiU retreat ? 
 
 And that, oh, star-hued maid ! thou art 
 
 Of yonder holy choir a part ? 
 
 Hence with the bread and water— hence 
 With the vile crosses — and dispense 
 With pater nosters — and give o'er 
 The Romish monk's religious lore : 
 Join not ia Spring the devotees, 
 Groves are more bright than nunneries ; 
 Thy vows, oh ! beauty, bright and mild ! 
 With love cannot be reconciled ; 
 The ring, the cloak, the verdant dress 
 Are better pledge of holiness. 
 Haste to the knotted birchen tree, 
 And learn the Cuckoo's piety"; 
 There in the greenwood will thy mind 
 A path to heaven, oh ! lady, find. 
 There Ovid's volume shalt thou read, 
 And there a spotless fife we'll lead, 
 A life of liberty where rise 
 The woodbines o'er the precipice. 
 Doubt not there, too, thou maystbe " shriven," 
 Full absolution may be given ; 
 !Nor is it harder to reach heaven 
 For those who make the groves their home 
 Than to the sojourners at Rome." 
 
 It appears Angharad paid but slight regard to these 
 poetic flights, but became greatly attached to a monastic 
 life from the commencement of her noviciate, and readily 
 took the final vows which separated her from all further 
 concerns with the world. However, she died soon after her 
 entrance into the holy sisterhood ; and a pathetic elegy on 
 her death appears among the poems of Davy th ab Gwilym. 
 
/ 
 
 ARDIDVIL,* 
 
 "WIFE OF GWILYM GAM, AND MOTHEJL_QFTI 
 
 BARD DAYYTH AB GWILYM. -L ,% , 
 
 This lady lived in the fourteenth century ; she was a native 
 of South Wales, allied to some of the principal magnates of 
 the land, and sister to Llewelyn ab Gwilym Vychan of 
 Emlyn ; a person of considerable importance in that part 
 of the country, styled in some accounts lord of Cardigan, 
 and was the proprietor of D61 Goch in that county. 
 
 About the year 1339 she was united to Gwilym Gam, but 
 it would seem, not by the ceremonies of the church : such 
 was the state of Isociety in those days, that the omission of 
 the hqlyjtite was not considered either derogatorylo mora- 
 lity or respectability. In speaking of the renowned son of 
 this lady, hereafter to be noticed, from whom she derives 
 her only claim to celebrity, his biographer, Arthur James 
 Johnes, gives a differen t turn to this circumstance. He 
 says, " whatever may have been Davyth ab Gwilym's pre- 
 tensions to an illustrious descent, there is reason to believe 
 that his birth was illegitimate, or, at leas t, that the union of 
 his parents, if it had been previously sanctioned by legal 
 rites, had not received the countenance of their friends." 
 Ardidvil's husband, Gwilym Gam, was a descendant of Lly- 
 warch ab Bran, head of one of the " fifteen tribes,'* who 
 composed the aristocracy of that division of Wales, and. 
 related by marriage to Prince Owen Gwyneth, a monarch 
 no less distinguished as a patron of genius than by the 
 valour and sagacity with which he protected the liberties 
 of his country against the ambitious projects of Henry II. 
 of England. 
 
 The residence of Ardidvil and her husband was at 
 BroGynin, in the parish of Llanbadarn-vawr, Cardigan- 
 shire, where, about the year 1340, she gave birth to a boy, 
 who in after years became no less an honour to his family 
 than the glory of his country as one of the most eminent of 
 her bards. This was no other than the celebrated amator y 
 poet Davyth ab Gwilym. 
 
 * In Welsh written Ardudvul, but pronounced as above. 
 
68 AEDIDVIL. 
 
 Of Ardidvil, personally, we have scarcely anything more 
 to rela te : but as parents, however obscure in their own 
 lives, may be said to partake, in some degree, of the celebrity 
 of their progeny, according to the plan of this work, we shall 
 now proceed to give a slight sketch of the career of her illus- 
 trious son Davyth ab Gwilym. These we derive from the 
 researches and arrangement of Dr. William Owen Pughe, 
 John Humphreys Parry, Dr. Jones, and Arthur James 
 Johnes, the latest biographer of that poet,* who, in 1834, 
 published an elegant English translation of his most select 
 productions, accompanied with a memoir of his life, from 
 which we transcribe the following interesting particulars : — 
 
 *' One of the most remarkable consequences of the,con- 
 quest of Wales by Edward I. wasthe depression of that 
 lofty poetical spirit which had previously distinguished the 
 Welsh nation. " Before that event the Cambro-British bards 
 appear to have devoted their genius to the grand theme of 
 national independence. Habituated to regrard the martial 
 spirit of their countrymen as the only bulwark against foreign 
 oppression, they naturally selected the single virtue of 
 miltary prowess as the great subject of their eulogy and 
 their songs. Hence it was, that with the destruction of 
 their country's freedom, they appear to have lost the only 
 object of their art, and the sole source of their inspiration — 
 and nearly a century elapsed before we find any symptoms 
 of its reviving influence. To this result other causes must 
 have powerfully contributed : the jealous policy of the En- 
 glish authorities, by whom the bards were justly viewed as 
 the great promoters of a spirit of independence among the 
 people ; the fanaticism of the mendicant friars, who appear 
 to have denounced many of the refinements and amusements 
 of life, as at variance with Christianity — and above all, that 
 general feeling of fear and despondency, which always per- 
 vades a recently subjugated nation, and destroys all sympathy 
 with the joyous songs of the minstrel." 
 
 * To give each party their respective dues, I here subjoin a remark by the 
 latter editor. " For the materials of the following life of Davyth ab Gwilym 
 we are entirely indebted to the ingenuity and research of Dr. Wm. Owen 
 Pughe. They were first published by him, in 1789, in the form of a biogra- 
 phical sketch, prefixed to the original poems. In the present arrangement of 
 them I have for the most part adopted the memoir published by Mr. Hum- 
 phreys Parry." 
 

 ardidvil. 69 
 
 "About the middle of the fourteenth century, the poetical 
 genius of the Welsh began to break forth anew, but with its 
 characteristics essentially changed : both in sentiment and 
 style, the awen of the bards had undergone a complete 
 revolution. We no longer meet in their works with those 
 warlike scenes, and those songs in praise of the heroes 
 of their country, which occurs so often in the poems of 
 their predecessors. The Welsh minstrel was now content 
 to tune his harp to themes of love and social festivity — and 
 sportive allusions to objects of nature, and to the pictu- 
 resque manners of that interesting period, were made to 
 supply the place of lays in celebration of martial achieve- 
 ments. Whatever may have been lost in fire and sublimity 
 by this transition was, perhaps, more than compensated by - 
 the superior polish, vivacity, and imaginativeness which 
 distinguish the bards of the new school. The dawn of the 
 epoch here noticed was signalized by the birth of Davy th ab 
 Gwilym, on whom the appellation of the Petrarch of Wales 
 has, with some degree of propriety, been bestowed. A full 
 and authentic history of the life of Davy th ab Gwilym would 
 be a great literary treasure ; not only would it throw much 
 light upon the poetry and manners of his age, it would, no 
 doubt, add also to our historical knowledge. Unhappily, how- 
 ever, the only materials extant for such a work consist of a 
 few traditionary anecdotes preserved in manuscript, and the 
 allusions to his personal history contained in the bard's own 
 poems. The exact year of his birth is involved in obscurity, 
 but we possess data from which it may be conclusively esta- 
 blished, that he began, and ended his days within the 14th 
 century. Even the spot of his nativity has furnished food 
 for controversy; and our bard may be numbered among 
 the men of genius, whose birthplace has been a subject of 
 patriotic rivalry; accordingly, on one hand, we find the 
 island of Anglesea* strenuously laying claim to this honour, 
 while on the other it appears to be satisfactorily proved that 
 
 * " The ground on which it has been contended, that the poet was a native of 
 Anglesea, is that there was a house called Bro Gynin, in that island; but it is 
 plain that Bro Gynin in South Wales, must be the place of his birth ; for in many 
 passages of his works he called himself a native of Bro Cadell, or the country of 
 Cadell. Now this term is a poetical appellation for South Wales. Kodri Mawr, 
 sovereign prince of the entire principality, having in the year 877 divided his 
 dominions between his three sons, when South Wales fell to the share of Cadell." 
 —A. J. Jbhnes's Life of Davyth ab Gwilym. 
 
70 ardedvil. 
 
 the poet first saw the light, about the year 1340, at a place 
 called Bro Gynin, in the parish of Llanbadarn-vawr, in the 
 county of Cardigan. It is recorded in an old poem which has 
 been handed down to us, that Taliesin, the most celebrated 
 of the ancient Welsh bards, foretold the honour that awaited 
 this spot, in being the birthplace of a minstrel, whose song 
 would be as the sweetness of wine?* 
 
 It has been mentioned, doubtfully, that if the union of 
 Davyth's parents had been previously sanctioned by legal 
 rites, it had not received the countenance of their friends. 
 It is added by his biographer, that " at no distant period, 
 however, a reconciliation must have been effected, as the 
 embryo bard was taken in his infancy under the protection 
 of his uncle, Llewelyn ab Gwilym, who is stated to have 
 been a man of some parts. He accordingly became his 
 nephew's tutor, and seems to have discovered in him the 
 early indications of that particular talent, for which he was 
 afterwards so conspicuous, and in the cultivation of which 
 Llewelyn afforded his young pupil all the encouragement 
 and assistance in his power. 
 
 About the age of fifteen, Davyth returned to his paternal 
 home, in Cardiganshire, where, however, he resided but a 
 short time, owing, as it would appear, to the unpleasant 
 bickerings that took place between him and his parents, 
 in consequence of his satirical propensities, which, even at 
 that early age he could not restrain. Some of his effusions 
 written during this period, have been preserved, and what- 
 ever ingenuity they may evince, considering the years of the 
 writer, they are by no means indicative of his filial affection. 
 These domestic altercations caused the young bard once 
 more to be separted from his natural guardians, and we 
 accordingly find him at an early age, enjoying at Gwern-y- 
 gleppa, in Monmouthshire, the friendship and patronage of 
 Ivor Hael, a near relative of his father, and lord of Maesaleg 
 in that country. 
 
 There we leave him for the present, and when the reader 
 desires his future acquaintance, the rest of his life will be 
 found in connection with the memoirs of Angharad, Deeth- 
 gee, and Morvyth ofMona,as they occur in successive order 
 here named, in the different portions of this work. 
 
 * In Welsh the passage runs, " Brydydd a' i gywydd fal gwin." 
 
>/ 
 
 LADIES OF THE COURT OE KING ARTHUR. 
 
 Caerleon on the river Usk, in Monmouthshire, was the 
 grand city and seat of sovereignty of the Silurian princes, 
 and it was here that king Arthur held his court. " He had 
 also a palace in Cornwall, probably at Lestwithiel ; another 
 at Penrhyu, in Cumberland."* The northern minstrels 
 frequently in their ballads state his palace to have been at 
 Carlisle, which is frequently miswritten for Caerleon, a piece 
 of misrepresentation founded on the local egotism of the 
 writers. 
 
 O bserving on the ancient state of the city of Caerleon 
 "Warner says, " here it was that Arthur received the crown 
 from the hand of Dubricius, the archbishop, on being elected 
 the king of all Britain ; and here he instituted that order 
 of chivalry, the round table, which makes so conspicuous a 
 figure in the old romances." And Seldon, in a note to 
 Drayton's Poly-Olbion, says, "at Caerleon, in Monmouth- 
 shire, after his victories, a pompous celebration was made 
 at Whitsuntide, whither were invited divers kings and 
 princes of the neighbouring coasts ; and with them his 
 queen Gwinever ( Gwenhwy var), with her ladies keeping 
 these solemnities, in the several conclaves, for the British 
 story makes it, according to the Trojan custom, that in 
 festival solemnities both sexes should not sit together." 
 
 " These jollities, however," says Warner,f "seem to have 
 had but an unfavourable effect on the morals of the ladies. 
 The fair Gwinever, Arthur's consort, and her female at- 
 tendants, if not dealt unjustly by, were certainly not 
 Lucretias ; and the tea-tables of ancient Caerleon must have 
 buzzed with whispers somewhat discreditable to their pru- 
 dence." The facetious Warner confesses that the sole source 
 of his information on these delicate points was the legendary 
 ballad called the "Boy; andjhe Mantle." But whatever merit 
 may be attached to that truly humorous and very pictu- 
 resque production, it should be borne in recollection that, 
 after all, it is but an ingenious satirical romance ; and to 
 
 * Hughes' Horse Britannicae. 
 
 f Author of a tour entitled " A Walk through Wales" and various Tours in 
 different parts of England. 
 
72 
 
 LADIES OF KING ARTHUR S COURT. 
 
 take the character of Arthur's court ladies from such a 
 source would be about as liberal and just, as to look for a 
 correct description of the palace inmates and drawing room 
 visitors of George the Third and queen Charlotte in the 
 pages of that laughter-loving wag Peter Pindar. 
 
 Whatever censure may attach to the fame of some of the 
 ladies of the court of Arthur (and what courtly \atmosphere, 
 ancient or modern, was ever found taintless ?) happily there 
 were some who merited and won the highest meed of popular 
 applause that the most virtuous of their contemporaries 
 could award. Foremost among these, both by seniority 
 and her position, was the venerable princess Eigir, mother 
 of the king, stated to have been in her time one of the most 
 beautiful women in Britain. The chronicles are silent as 
 to her further claims to celebrity ; and it is probable, from 
 her age, that she was not a frequent visitor to the court of 
 her royal son, dazzling as it is reputed to have been, by the 
 presence of the youth, beauty, and magnificence, of the 
 fair worthies who became the satellites of the scene, and 
 sparkled in the atmosphere of the great hero of the age. 
 Had her conduct been in any degree blameable, or at 
 variance with her rank, the pen of the bardic satirists 
 would no more have spared her than other less distinguished 
 offenders against propriety whom they placed on the records 
 of censure. 
 
 " Enid, the daughter of earl Yniwl, is celebrated in the 
 Triads, with Dyvyr Wallteuraidd, and Tegan Eurvron, as 
 the three ' gwenriain,' or exalted ladies of the court of 
 Arthur. She was the wife of Geraint ab Erbin. She 
 became a distinguished personage in Welsh romance, and 
 is the heroine of the Mabinogi of Geraint ab Erbin, the 
 accomplished editor of which says of her — ' throughout the 
 broad and varied region of romance it would be difficult to 
 find a character of greater simplicity and truth than that of 
 Enid. Conspicuous for her beauty and noble bearing, we 
 are at a loss whether most to admire, the untiring patience 
 with which she bore all the hardships she was destined to 
 undergo, or the unshaken constancy and devoted affection 
 which finally achieved the triumph she so richly deserved.' 
 The bards of the middle ages have frequent allusions to 
 her in their poems ; and Davyth ab Gwilym could pay no 
 
LADIES OF KING ARTHUR^ COURT. 73 
 
 higher compliment to his lady-love than to call her a second 
 Enid."* ~""""~~ 
 
 Then we have what in the original Welsh is called Teir 
 gohoyw riein, signifying the three sprightly ladies, or the 
 witty belles, of the court of Arthur, in the persons of 
 ingharad don Velen, (Angharad the brunette),f daughter 
 of Rhytherch the generous ; Annan the daughter of Maig 
 Mygotwas ; and Perwyr, daughter of Rhn Rhyveddmawr. 
 
 Tegan Eurvron, before referred to, as one of the three 
 exalted ladies ef the court of Arthur, was the wife of Ca- 
 radoc of the brawny arm ; and bore the fame of pre- 
 eminence in chastity and other amiable virtues ; thus was 
 she appropriately associated in the Triad, with the highly 
 extolled Enid. Among the comments on the " Boy and the 
 Mantle" her claim to further notice is incidentally brought 
 forward. Warton imagines that strange tale to be 
 taken from an o ldjFrencb . pie ce. entitled "Le Court Mantel ;" 
 " but/' adds Bishop Pej^v^from whose "Reliques of Ancient 
 _English Poetry'' we transplant this sto^, "after all it is most 
 y*likely that all the old stories concerning kinff Arthur are*\ 
 C originally of . BritJsTT^rowth , and that what the French \ 
 Land other southern nations have of this kind, were at first\ 
 f expor ted from this island." The Rev. Evan Evans, editqrj " 
 ** of "Specimens of Welsh Poetry," confirms this opinion. He 
 says the story of the " Boy and the Mantle" is taken for 
 what is related in some of the old Welsh manuscripts of 
 Tegan Eurvron, a lady of king Arthur's court ; she is said 
 to have possessed a man tie that would not fit any inconti- 
 nent woman : this, which the old writers say was reckoned 
 among the curiosities of Britain, is often alluded to by 
 the old Welsh bards. 
 
 How the ladies of the court of Arthur have been depicted 
 by the pen of an ancient satirist shall appear, by the inser- 
 tion of the ballad so often referred to, called the " Boy and 
 the Mantle." This quaint relic of the olden times, we have 
 found necessary both to modernize and deprive of certain 
 
 * William's Biography of eminent Welshmen, p. 145, wherein is quoted 
 lady Guest's Mabinogion ii., 165, and Myv. Arch, ii., 73. 
 
 t Angharad don Velen, is liter/Chy, Angharad of the yellow skin ; the Welsh, 
 like the English language, being; deficient of the elegant and expressive French 
 term brunette. V^/ 
 
LADIES OF KING ARTHUR S COURT. 
 
 objectionable phrases on the score of delicacy, in order to 
 make it presentable in the circle of our fair readers. Pity 
 it were that they should be deprived of so much mirthful 
 matter, when a little judicious weeding may remove the 
 embargo laid by modern taste on its production. 
 
 THE BOY AND THE MANTLE. 
 
 In Caerleon dwelt king Arthur, a prince of passing might, 
 And there maintain'd his table round beset with many a knight; 
 And there he kept his Christmas with mirth and princelie cheere, 
 When, lo ! a strange and cunning boy before him did appeare. 
 
 A kirtle and a mantle this boy had him upon, 
 I With brooches, rings, and owches full daintilie bedone, 
 ; He had a sarke of silk, too, about his middle meet, 
 
 And thus with seeming curtesy he did king Arthur greet. 
 
 " God speed thee brave king Arthur, thus feasting in thy bowre, 
 And Gwinever thy goodlie queen, that fair and peerless flowere : " 
 Then straitway from his bosome a little wand he drew, 
 And with it eke a mantle of wondrous shape and hue. 
 
 Now have thou here king Arthur, now have thou this of mee, 
 
 And give unto thy comelie queene, all shapen as you see : 
 No wife it shall become e'er, that once has been to blame, 
 
 Then ev'ry knight in Arthur's court glanced slylie at his dame. 
 
 Then first came lady Gwinever, the mantle she must trye ; 
 This dame she was new-fangled and of a roving eye ; 
 When she had tane the mantle, and with it all was cladde, 
 From top to toe it shiver'd as though with sheers bestradde,* 
 
 / On^ while it was too long far, another while too shorte, 
 | And wrinkled on the shoulders in most unseemly sorte ; 
 Now green, now red it seemed, then all of sable hue, 
 " Beeshrew me/' quoth king Arthur, " I think thou be 'est not true/' 
 
 Then down she threw the mantle, no longer Would she stay, 
 
 But storming like a fury to her chamber flung away. 
 
 She curst the rascal weaver who had the mantle wrought, 
 
 And doubly curst the froward imp that here the mantle brought. 
 
 " I'd rather five in desarts beneath the greenwood tree, 
 
 Than here, base king, among thy grooms, the sporte of them and thee. 
 
 Sir Kay called forth his lady, and bade her to come neare, 
 Yet, dame, if thou be guilty, I pray thee now forbear ; 
 This lady pertiy giggling with forward step came on, 
 And boldly to the little boy with fearless face is gone. 
 
 When she had tane the mantle with purpose for to wear, 
 It shrunk up to her shoulder and left her nearly bare : 
 The king and ev'ry gay knight that was in Arthur's court, 
 Gibed, and laugh'd, and flouted, to see that pleasant sport. 
 Soon down she threw the mantle, no longer bold or gay, 
 But with a face all fierce and wan to her chamber slunk away. 
 
 * Cut in shreds. 
 

 75 
 
 Then forth there came an old knight a pattering o'er his creed, 
 And proffer'd to the little hoy five nohles to his meed ; 
 « And all the time of Christmas plum-porridge shall be thine, 
 If thou wilt let my ladye within the mantle shine." 
 
 A saint this ladye seemed, with step demure and slow, 
 And gravelie to the mantle with mincing step doth goe; 
 When she the same had taken, that was so fine and thin, 
 It shrivell'd all about her, and shew'd her dainty skin. 
 Ah ! little did her mincing, or his long prayers bestead, 
 She had no more hung on her than a tassel and a thread : 
 And down she threw the mantle with terror and dismay, 
 And with a face of scarlet to her chamber hied away. 
 Sir Caradoc calTd his lady, and bade her to come neare, 
 " Come, lady, win this mantle and do me credit here ; 
 Come, win this mantle, lady, for now it shall be thine 
 If thou hast never done amiss since first I made thee mine." 
 
 The lady gently blushing with modest grace came on, 
 And now to try the mantle courageously is gone ; 
 When she had tane the mantle, and put it on her backe, 
 About the hem it seemed to wrinkle and to cracke. 
 
 " Lye still," she cried, " mantle ! and shame me not for nought, 
 I'll freely own whate'er amiss or blameful I have wrought : 
 Once kiss'd I sir Caradoc beneath the greenwood tree, 
 But once I kiss'd Caradoc's mouth before he married mee.*' 
 
 When thus she had her shriven and her worst fault had told, 
 The mantle strait became her right comelie as it shold ; 
 Most rich and fair of colour, like gold it glitt'ring shone, 
 And much the knights of Arthur's court admired her ev'ry one. 
 
 Then towards king Arthur's table the boy he turn'd his eye, 
 Where stood a boar's head garnish'd with bayes and rosemarye, 
 When thrice he o'er this boar's head his little wand had drawne, 
 Quoth he, " there's ne'er a cuckold's knife can carve this head of brawne." 
 
 Then some their whittles sharpen'd on whetstone and on hone, 
 
 Some threw them under the table and swore that they had none — 
 
 Caradoc had a small knife of steel and iron made, 
 
 And in an instant through the skull he thrust the shining blade. 
 
 He thrust the shining blade in, right easily and fast, 
 
 And ev'ry knight in Arthur's court full plenty had to taste. 
 
 The boy brought forth a horn then, all golden was the rim. 
 Saith he, " no cuckold ever can set mouth unto the brim ; 
 No cuckold can this little horn lift fairly to his head, 
 But he on this or that side will full quick his liquor shed." 
 
 Some shed it on their shoulder, some shed it on their thighe, 
 / And he that could not hit his mouth was sure to hit his eye ; 
 / Thus he that was a cuckold was known to ev'ry man, 
 Sir Caradoc lifted easily and won the golden can. 
 
 jHistory informs us that Arthur had successively three 
 wives of the name of Genever, or Gwenhwyvar; and that 
 f2 
 
76 LADIES OF KING ARTHUR^ COURT. 
 
 his last queen was seduced from him by a profligate youth, 
 his near relative. The affair is thus stated by Hughes : — 
 " Modred, the nephew of Arthur, being the son of his sister 
 Anna, married to a chieftain in the north, acted a base and 
 unworthy part. This young prince seduced the queen, and 
 eloped with her into Cumberland, where he fomented dis- 
 turbances ; and rather than submit himself to his uncle and 
 his sovereign, he raised a civil war ; and thus the British 
 princes, who ought to have" had one common interest, spent 
 their strength in domestic feuds.** 
 
 If the ladies of the court of Arthur, as Warner says, were 
 not all Lucretias, most assuredly the major portion of the 
 gentlemen were far from being Scipios. If the king him- 
 self was unfortunate in his queen, it is probable that he set 
 the first example of infidelity. It stands on record that 
 Arthur had three mistresses of the names of Garwen, 
 Gwyl, and Indeg, all of the rank of princesses ; and some of 
 his courtiers were far from being second to their sovereign 
 in their degrees of profligacy. 
 
 Those curious historical rj^cordsjrfthe Welsh called the 
 3]riads, from the classification in the number three, state 
 the names and rank of several of Arthur's courtiers, whence 
 it will be seen that the " Llys"* of Carleon on Usk was made 
 brilliantly attractive by the presence of princes, military 
 heroes, bards, divines, and other eminencies of the times. 
 There were three sovereign princes, we are told, who pre- 
 ferred leaving their own dominions for the felicities to be 
 found in a life of pleasure at the court of Arthur. These 
 were Cadair Ail Seithin Seidi; Goronw, the son of Echel ; 
 and Fleudur. Cadair is also joined with Gwalchmai and 
 Gadrwy, to form a Triad of the three noblemen in the court 
 Arthur who were eminent for their courtesy and generous 
 behaviour to strangers, and so greatly were they beloved that 
 no one could refuse granting whatever wish they expressed.f 
 
 Caradoc of the brawny arm,{ the " sir Caradoc" of the 
 romances, seems to have held the post of Master of the Horse, 
 
 * Llys is the Welsh word for " palace" or " court." 
 
 t Myryian Archaeology, page 2, 4, 13, 19, 74, 77, 79. 
 
 X In Welsh, Caradoc Vraich vras. This chieftain was one of the great 
 grandsons of Brychan Brecheiniog, and succeeded in his turn to become like 
 his ancestor the sovereign prince of Brecheiniog, or the district now called 
 Breconshire. 
 
LADIES OF KING ARTHUR'S COURT. 77 
 
 and is celebrated in several of the Triads for his manly bear- 
 ing and warlike prowess. In one of them he is called " one 
 of the three Cadvarchogion, or knights of battle of the Isle 
 of Britain ; and in the following englyn or epigram, attri- 
 buted to Arthur himself, he is called the pillar of Wales : — 
 
 
 " These are my three cavaliers of battle, \ \ ^ *|r 
 
 Mael the tall, and Llyr the armipotent, 
 And the pillar of Wales, Caradoc." 
 
 That is to say, they were the best of all battle horsemen ; 
 and, therefore, dominion and power were given them as 
 they chose. And it was their disposition to do nothing but 
 what was discreet and just, to whatever country or power 
 they came. Another Triad celebrates Caradoc's noble steed 
 Lluagor, the "opener of the host offices." But the prin- 
 cipal glory of Caradoc was in being the husband of the 
 eminently lovely and virtuous Lady Tegan Eurvron, who 
 is in fact the heroine of the "Boy and the Mantle," and other 
 romances. He is mentioned in terms of high admiration 
 by Aneurin, in his Gododin, for his exploits at the battle 
 Cattraeth, where he is supposed to have fallen. In th r e* N \ 
 Armorican romances he is always introduced as one of the J 
 principal knights of the round table. ^/ 
 
 The three celebrated " compeers" of the court of Arthur 
 were Trystan ab March ; Rhiawd ; and Ail Cynvin Cov 
 Dalldav — of whose career nothing particular is related. 
 Another of the courtiers was Drem ab Dremidith, names 
 literally signifying " Sight," the " son of Seer." He was 
 renowned as a warrior, as well as a mystic philosopher. His 
 father was somewhat of a bard, sage, or utterer of pithy 
 sayings — one of which runs thus :— 
 
 " Hast thou heard what Dremidith sang — 
 An ancient watchman on the castle walls ? 
 A refusal is better than a promise unperform'd. 1 
 
 3 
 
 Drem, the father, is celebrated in one of the tales of the 
 Mabinogion for his astonishing power of vision. It is there 
 said of him that " when the Gnat arose in the morning with 
 the sun, he could see it from Gelliwig, in Cornwall, as far off 
 as Penblaetheon in North Britain." In a composition by 
 lolo Goch (the bard of Owen Glyndwr) in 1400, he is said 
 to have been so sharp-sighted that he could descry a mote 
 
78 LADIES OF KING ARTHUR S COURT. 
 
 in the sunbeam in the four corners of the world. Notwith- 
 standing the exaggerating spirit of romance which array 
 these wild statements, the author of the " Biographical 
 Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen" is of opinion that Drem 
 is an historical character, founding his conviction on the 
 above quoted sayings of his father.* 
 
 The three eminent naval commanders of the court of 
 Arthur were Geraint ab Erbyn, Gwenwynwyn ab Nav, and 
 March ab Merchion. Each of these had six score ships, and 
 six score men in each ship. Edeyrn was one of the most 
 valiant knights of this court, celebrated for his successful 
 warfare against the Romans. Among these courtiers were 
 three knights of such surpassing eloquence that they were 
 known as the three silver-tongued knights. Their per- 
 suasive powers were so very great that no one could refuse 
 whatever they might ask. These were respectively of the 
 names of Drudwas ab Tryffin, Gwalchmai ab Gwyar, and 
 Elywlod ab Madoc ab Uther. 
 
 It is pleasing to learn that among these notables of lofty 
 pre-eminence that humble and low-born personal merit was 
 acknowledged and duly honoured. On terms of equality 
 with these courtly worthies were three young men of exceed- 
 ing w r orth, but void of the advantages of illustrious birth, 
 classed as the "three plebeian knights of the court of Ar- 
 thur." Their nameT'wefe Eineon ab Gooron, Glethog ab 
 Gwyn, and Geraint Heer.f They were so distinguished 
 for their transcendant wisdom, courtesy, and other excellent 
 qualities, that the humbleness of their lowly birth was 
 overlooked. Not among the least, but the most profoundly 
 honoured and esteemed by the loftiest of the land, the wisest 
 and the best, were *« the three wise bards of the court of 
 
 + He refers, as the source of his information to Englynion y Clywed Myr, 
 Arch, i., 24. 
 
 t These names are written in Welsh Eineon ab Gwron, Gleddog ab Gwyn and 
 Geraint Hir, but pronounced as in the text. The w in a Welsb word is always 
 sounded as the English oo. It may here be mentioned, that the " ab " so 
 frequently occurring in these pages, appended to Welsh proper names, is an 
 abbreviation of the word » mab," signifying "son." The sharp and peculiar 
 articulation of Welshmen in former days, induced the English to think they 
 called it " ap ;" hence the adoption of the latter bv those who have written on 
 Cambrian subjects ; especially when the object has been to hold Welsh neculia- 
 nties up to ridicule. 
 
LADIES OF KING ARTHUR'S COURT. 79 
 
 Arthur," in the persons of Catwg,* Taliesin, and Llywarch\ 
 hen. Their principles were said to have been so excellent J 
 that they never admitted any thing into their literary/ 
 productions that was not dictated by wisdom and virtue. 
 
 We shall now conclude our observations on the worthies 
 of the court of Arthur, male and female, with a brief notice 
 of the most curious trio of all that brilliant assemblage ; 
 namely, the Holy Bachelors. There were three personages 
 included in this courtly train called " the three Gwynvebydd, 
 or holy bachelors of the isle of Britain," who were held in 
 high esteem. For the satisfaction of our lady readers who 
 may doubt the possibility of such creatures as "holy 
 bachelors," we shall endeavour to prove that these were no 
 fictitious beings, but veritably what they pretended to be. 
 They were in fact what we may describe as religious 
 knights ; ecclesiastics, who deemed it no disparagement of 
 their christian profession and holy orders to don the war- 
 rior's coat of mail in defence of the church and people, so 
 frequently molested in that age by the pagan barbarians 
 who infested the country. In modern times the knights of 
 Rhodes, of the Holy Sepulchre of Malta, and of St. John 
 of Jerusalem, bear a modified resemblance to the holy 
 bachelors of the age of king Arthur. 
 
 As various works on Welsh antiquities have treated on 
 the history and traditions of king Arthur, it will be unne- 
 cessary here to dilate further on that subject. But we 
 shall indicate to those unenviable worthies of our day 
 whose apathy and parsimony have united to keep them 
 ignorant of the annals of their country, where such in- 
 formation may be found. We refer them especially to 
 Warrington's " History of Wales ;" Price's " Hanes y 
 Cymry ;" Williams's " Biographical Dictionary of Eminent 
 Welshmen;" Rees's "Welsh Saints;" Lady Charlotte 
 Guest's " Translation of the Mabinogion," or '* Ancient 
 Romances of Wales;" Rees's "Liber Landavensis ;" and 
 Stephens' " Literature of the Kymry.'" 
 
 f The name of Catwg appears misplaced in this Triad, as that eminent per-^v 
 sonage is principally known as a philosophical ecclesiastic, and little as a bard. \ 
 It is probable that his name was inserted by the mistake of a transcriber, / 
 instead of that of the illustrious Aneurin, which would have been entirely / 
 appropriate. J 
 
LADY WILLIAM BEAUCLERK 
 
 OF PLAS-Y-NANT IN THE VALE OF CLEWYD. 
 
 This excellent lady was of the highly respectable family of 
 the Thelwalls, whose numerous branches have so long spread 
 far and wide in the vale of Clewyd and elsewhere ; and 
 wherever that name occurs, it is always accompanied with 
 every honourable association. She was the only daughter 
 of a dignitary of the church, renowned for his munificent 
 spirit, so frequently exemplified in his day — the Rev. Dr. 
 Carter Thelwall, both of Plas-y-nant, Denbighshire, and of 
 Redburn in Lincolnshire. To estimate the worth and 
 excellence of this lady, both while known as Miss Carter 
 Thelwall, and as lady William Beauclerk, it will be neces- 
 sary to describe the habits and manners of her father, who 
 was her honoured model in acts of liberality. 
 
 "The poorer and unprovided clergy of the neighbourhood 
 became the especial objects of Dr. Thel wall's generosity; 
 but such was the delicate manner in which he conferred his 
 favours that it was well said ' his left-hand knew not what 
 his right-hand did.' A third person was never present on 
 these occasions, and his gifts were always made easy to the 
 receiver, accompanied with expressions synonimous with, 
 ' my dear sir, it is only a bit of waste paper — good morning; 
 to-morrow I shall expect the pleasure of your company 
 to dinner.' On disengaging hands, the befriended found 
 his own full of the sweetest notes, that ever banished thence 
 the discords of indigence, and chased away the sounds of 
 melancholy."* 
 
 The following account by Edward Pugh, of his own 
 descent from the neighbouring hills upon Plas-y-nant, 
 describes that elegant spot, and exhibits the owner and 
 
 * Cambria Depicta, p. 435. 
 
LADY WILLIAM BEAUCLERK. 81 
 
 his family to great advantage. That agreeable artist and 
 author has pourtrayed the scenic charms of the place in 
 language as descriptive as his pencil could have drawn 
 them : — 
 
 " Still descending along the concave side of this hollow, 
 and through a small farm yard, the stranger suddenly comes 
 to a sylvan scene, the most quiet and rural that can be 
 conceived, where peace seems ever to reign, unruffled by 
 ambition — and where the solitary cottager, protected on 
 all sides by towering mountains above him, feels secure from 
 the asperity of the winter's storm, and enjoys happiness 
 through the medium of his own industry. At the lower 
 extremity of the beautiful lawn adjoining the farm yard, 
 is a railed fence and a gate, that leads to a thick wood ; 
 embosomed in which is the picturesque moss-covered 
 cottage — 
 
 close 
 
 Environed with a ring of branching elms 
 That overhang the thatch, itself unseen 
 Peeps at the vale below, so thick beset 
 With foliage of dark redundant growth." 
 
 '* A few yards further an effect like enchantment is pro- 
 duced, by the prompt appearance of the handsome gothic 
 villa, Plas-y-nant, in a small verdant opening, surrounded 
 by an almost impenetrable wood, of such a variety of species 
 as it would be endless to enumerate. It is watered by an 
 ever-babbling stream, which, impelled by every successive 
 fall, rushes with a murmuring noise through the deep glen 
 to the meadows below. This handsome box, with the tall 
 trees about it, and the conic hill above, is a sweet picture ; 
 and it may be considered as such from other points of view. 
 This little elysium owes its first cultivation, and the house its 
 exsistence, to Thelwall Price, Esq., of Bathavarn Park, who 
 erected it about the year 1760. The estate next passed 
 into the possession of Dr. Carter Thelwall, and by him the 
 spot was improved, and the house repaired, and made 
 convenient, annually to entertain his friends of the vale. 
 They first dined at the mansion, and the ladies and gentle- 
 men, as they felt inclined, walked or rode the mile to tea 
 and the lightsome dance. 
 
LADY WILLIAM BEAUCLERK. 
 
 " The great stillness of the woods was excellently calcu- 
 lated to give effect to the soft and mellifluous sounds of the 
 flute, which always upon these occasions was touched by the 
 fingers of skilful performers ; the doctor himself wa» an 
 excellent player upon this instrument; always happy to con- 
 tribute to the amusement of his friends, he would conceal 
 himself in the dark and silent recesses of the wood, and 
 delight them with the melody of a Florio, the execution of 
 a Nicholson, or the still more bewitching performance 
 of an Humpreys." 
 
 "When Dr. Carter Thelwall died every class of society in 
 this neighbourhood felt the severity of their loss ; nor, indeed, 
 was his loss less felt in other places. The Chester Infirmary 
 found twice every year the sum of fifty pounds sterling 
 deposited in the letter box, by an unknown hand, which 
 discontinued only on the demise of this good man. 
 
 Emulating the habits of her excellent father, as did the 
 lady of this memoir especially, " doing good by stealth," and 
 living unostentatiously amid the seclusions of private life, 
 it will not be surprising that but little matter for forming a 
 biographical memoir has come with our reach. 
 
 Lord William Beauclerk, on his marriage with her, as the 
 only daughter and heiress of Dr. Carter Thelwall, became 
 the possessor of this estate. 
 
 Edward Pugh remarks, " she was a lady of most amiable 
 manners, and well taught in the school of honour and hu- 
 manity ; she trod in the steps of her good father and mother; 
 but died a few years after her marriage."* 
 
 * For further notice of the family of the Thelwalls, the reader is referred to 
 the Memoirs of Catherine of Berain in this work. 
 
*?> 
 
 BELLA THE FORTUNETELLER. 
 
 Among the illustrations to his " Cambria Depicta," Edward 
 Pugh has introduced a likeness of this Cambrian Pythoness. 
 It is a face of decided beauty, considering the age of the 
 original, and thoroughly Welsh in its character ; and were 
 it not that she was known to be of a sisterh ood of impostors 
 might pass for a female in the middle ranks, of some respect- 
 ability. Pugh's account of his visit to her dwelling at 
 Denbigh is amusing. 
 
 " Here lived, a few years ago, a fortuneteller of the name 
 of Sionet* Gorn. On her death it was not likely that so 
 lucrative an office should be suffered to lie dormant ; and 
 it has ever since been filled up by two wonderful women ; 
 of whom it is reported that they can see into futurity with 
 half an eye, and that many of their remarkable predictions 
 have been eventually verified. Among their devotees 1 
 had the curiosity to pay a visit to the one most in repute. 
 I was requested to take a seat in the passage, the lady 
 being then deeply engaged in her calculations on the fate 
 of a man, who was weak enough, as I understood, to come 
 from Barmouth, a distance of sixty miles, to consult this 
 old woman. I could plainly hear their conversation. It 
 seems that this person had a complaint on him, similar to ^*s 
 a consumption , which was not understood by the faculty ;A % 
 of the neighbourhood; but which he fancied to have been p 
 the effect of a curse, on a visit to Llanelian Well, by some '"S 
 secret enemy. She managed this man's case with a gooeL****^ 
 deal of art, and it may be added, with excellent advice. 
 She told him that he might easily prevent any mischief to T 
 himself, by frequent petitions to the Almighty ; and that 
 he might rest assured that if he did not succeed, that the J 
 fault was his own, in not praying with that degree of fer- ^ 
 
 * Sionet is pronounced Shonet. 
 G 
 
84 BELLA THE FORTUNETELLER. 
 
 (vency which his case required. But that, if he should prove 
 sincere, he would get the better of his complaint in a short 
 time. After paying his fee he was dismissed, and I was ush- 
 ered into the presence of this awful divineress. I was re- 
 quested to take a chair opposite to her's, when she wished I 
 would tell her the business I came upon, and be free and 
 communicative. I took out my sketch-book ; but being 
 dilatory in my reply, ' come, come,' said she, 1 1 know your 
 concerns ; you are bashful, a thing very common with those 
 who apply to me ; but as here are only you and I in the 
 room, you need not be under the least apprehension of being 
 heard." * But,' continued she, ' I know your business and 
 employment : you are a merchant, and are travelling among 
 your correspondents in this country; but you have been 
 somewhat unhappy for some time, and (with a smile and 
 a bending of the head) you are in love with a pretty lady, 
 whom at present you cannot obtain ; but, be not too much 
 cast down, the lady is yours.' Upon this I replied, ' that she 
 had well predicted my case : that I had accordingly partly 
 secured the lady already; but wished to know if she liked her, 
 at the same time shewing her her own portrait, in sketch- 
 ing which I had been tolerably successful. She appeared 
 very angry ; and whatever use I intended to make of it, 
 she said she cared very little ; she was conscious of having 
 done no harm to any one. The proffered fee, however, 
 appeased her resentment, and we parted very good friends. 
 The money which this woman gets in this way enables her 
 and her sprightly daughter to live and dress well ; and her 
 respectable appearance only increases her consequence 
 among the deluded, who are eager to listen to her jargon 
 and nonsense." 
 
 Edward Pugh concludes his notice of this impostor with a 
 regret, since the same laws govern Wales as England, that 
 our magistrates do not put down the nuisance here as in the 
 latter country. But the faci^fc, though apparently unknown 
 to Mr. Pugh, that fortune/tellerf are in reality more numerous 
 in England, allowing for tyiedjnerence of geographical extent, 
 than in Wales. The evil will probably linger among us as 
 long as our girls find fun in fortunetellers, and continue to 
 
BELLA THE FORTUNETELLER. 85 
 
 receive such an inferior degree of education to the boys of 
 their families. While young ladies, who ought to know 
 better, continue to find amusement in having their fortune 
 told, they little consider that they are perpetuating an evil 
 to society, that would gradually decline, and in time alto- 
 gether cease, but for their foolish encouragement. While 
 they are taken with the fine black eyes, dusky skin, jetty 
 locks, and picturesque red cloak of the gypsey fortuneteller 
 — and especially their all-absorbing prate about the young 
 gentlemen who admires them so much — poor simpletons! 
 they little think that the dark object before them is the 
 subtle member of a race of the most vulgar and impudent of 
 impostors that ever clogged the wheels of national advance- 
 ment either in intellectual or industrial progress — whose 
 daily bread-winning is lying, thieving, and deception. That, 
 at the moment of their intercourse with her, she is sagely 
 measuring their minds, insulting their understanding, pick- 
 ing their pockets, and laughing in her sleeve, to think what 
 shallow dupes young ladies of good families and fine modern 
 education can be made. At the same time, perhaps, shrewdly 
 weighing their votary's limited modicum of common sense, 
 against what they well know is often possessed by the hum- 
 blest of the "hard-handed daughters of labour," that ever 
 trundled a mop or flourished a dish-clout.* 
 
 * The intelligent reader will perceive according to the alphabetical arrange- 
 ment of this work that the ancient and modern memoirs are here necessarily 
 intermixed. At the same time it is to be noted, that by a reference to the 
 different epochs in which these characters flourished, the book may be read 
 according to the order of chronology. Thus the candid examiner, on consult- 
 ing the biographies of succeeding periods (however placed or separated according 
 to this plan), may find the attempt to render it a Biographical History of the 
 Principality of Wales, not altogether a failure, even in this first attempt at 
 such an arduous undertaking. 
 
BOADICEA, 
 
 WIDOW OF KING PRASUTAGUS, AND QUEEN OF THE ICENI. 
 
 The original name of this princess, in "Welsh, was Areg- 
 wedd Voeddawg;* after her triumph over the Romans, her 
 country, it would appear, conferred on her the honourable 
 appellation of Buddig,f signifying victorious — which might 
 fairly be rendered Victoria — by which arrangement our 
 present gracious queen would have become the second, 
 instead of the first of that name. The universal name, 
 however, by which this heroine has become known to all 
 posterity is Boadicea.j; 
 
 This warrior princess, the glory of her country, and the 
 terror of its foes, has been treated almost as harshly by 
 modern writers as by her ancient foes. The latter by their 
 atrocious usage having driven her to a revolt, which ended in 
 her discomfiture and suicide ; while the former, by circu- 
 lating an erroneous account of her identity, nearly assassi- 
 nated her transcendant reputation as the famed martyr of 
 ancient British patriotism, and vindicatress of outraged 
 human nature. 
 
 Dr. Owen Pughe, in his " Cambrian Biography," has most 
 unaccountably confounded Boadicea with a contemporary 
 warrior princess, the infamous Cartismandua, queen of the 
 Brigantes, who betrayed the renowned Caractacus into the 
 power of the Romans. This singular mistake has misled other 
 authors and antiquaries, who have repeated the error in 
 several instances, but we shall cite one case only. Taliesin 
 "Williams, in a note to his prize translation of a Welsh ode 
 on the British Druids, wherein he adopts Dr. Owen Pughe's 
 
 * Pronounced Aregweth Voethog, the full three syllables of each word being 
 sounded. 
 
 t Pronounced Beethig. "^N^ 
 
 X This name is variously written, Xiphiline ; Dion's Epitomizer, has it 
 Bonduca ; Tacitus calls her Voadica, and Boudicia ; Camden and others Boe- 
 dicia; but modern writers are now pretty well agreed in recognizing the 
 standard designation of Boadicea. 
 
BOADICEA. 87 
 
 opinion that Boadicea and Cartismandua are one and the 
 same person, says — " whatever treachery may be imputed 
 to the conduct of Boadicea towards the Romans, the clas- 
 sical reader is accustomed to consider her as any thing but a 
 traitress to her own country. I have, therefore, in obedience 
 to the popular opinion translated * Foeddawg' by ' Cartis- 
 mandua,' who is mentioned by the Roman authors as the 
 betrayer of Caractacus.'' If the above lines can be in any 
 measure construed into a defence of this princess, most 
 assuredly they form a very lame and somewhat puzzling one. 
 Never was a completer illustration of what is understood by 
 the term " begging the question." He tacitly acknowledges 
 the justice of the stigma on her fame, and yet, because 
 " the classical reader is accustomed to consider her as anything 
 but a traitress to her own country," he concludes his obser- 
 vation by actually recording her as such. 
 
 But the character of this great woman is susceptible of a 
 more decided defence, and her vindication indisputable. It 
 is rather strange that it did not occur to these authors, and 
 others who have been misled by them, that the question has 
 been absolutely set at rest by Tacitus, who describes Boa- 
 dicea as queen of the Iceni, and Cartismandua as queen of 
 the Brigantes. The latter is also recorded in the twenty-first 
 and the Twenty-second Triad as the daughter of Avarwy, 
 who is said to have traitorously invited Julius Caesar over 
 to Britain, and in return for his treason, he and his adherents 
 to the Roman invader received annually a large sum of gold 
 and silver. Besides these lines of demarcation between the 
 female sovereigns in question, Boadicea was as famous for 
 her patriotism and courage in a generous cause, as Cartis- 
 mandua was notorious for her selfish policy and traitorous 
 duplicity. The first was most exemplary in her private 
 character of wife, widow, and mother — while the latter 
 proved the scandal of her age and nation for an ill-spent 
 life of adulterous intercourse, and the most open and shame- 
 less licentiousness. 
 
 The best version, perhaps, of the life and times of Boa- 
 dicea, derived like others principally from Tacitus, is to be 
 found in a recently published work, entitled " Researches 
 g 2 
 
88 EOADICEA. 
 
 into the Ecclesiastical and Political State of Ancient Bri- 
 tain under the Roman Emperors ;" by the Rev. Francis 
 Thackeray, A.M. From this excellent work we shall com- 
 mence our quotations with the destruction of the Druids 
 and the conquest of Mona by the Roman governor Suetonius 
 Paulinus, A.D. 59. " After conducting the civil and mili- 
 tary operations of his government for two years with great 
 success, Suetonius projected the conquest of Mona (now 
 known as the isle of Anglesea), which, in those times, was 
 the residence of the Arch Druid, and a principal resort of 
 the disaffected. Britons. With great promptitude and skill 
 he effected a landing on the island with his army. Every 
 thing that fanaticism could effect was now put into practice 
 by the Druids to stimulate the efforts of their countrymen, 
 and to appal the Roman invaders. Women clad in funeral 
 attire, with dishevelled hair, and with burning torches in 
 their hands, were every where seen running through the 
 ranks of the British army. Multitudes of Druids and 
 Druidae stood in view, with uplifted hands imprecating 
 curses on their enemies. These were sights and sounds to 
 which the Roman soldiers were unaccustomed, and their 
 firmness was for the moment shaken. But discipline resumed 
 its ascendancy over their minds, and the sagacity and 
 vigilance of their general assured them of victory. The 
 contest was fierce but brief. A dreadful slaughter took 
 place, not only of the British combatants, but also of the 
 Druids. Their groves were cut down, their altars demo- 
 lished, and themselves burned upon the very fires which 
 they had prepared for their enemies. The fall of Druidism 
 in. Britain may be dated from that day; and, although it 
 lingered for centuries afterwards in different parts of the 
 island, it ceased to oppose any very material obstacle to the 
 progress^ of Christianity. 
 
 " Before Suetonius had time to complete the conquest of 
 Mona, he was called back into Britain by the memorable 
 insurrection of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni. This people 
 had been permitted by the Romans to live under the sove- 
 reignty of their own native prince Prasutagus, who was 
 remarkable for his wealth and possessions. Caister, his 
 
EOADICEA. 89 
 
 capital (called Venta Icenorum by the Romans) was about 
 three miles distant from the modern city of Norwich; where, 
 according to Mr. Horsley, traces of the old walls are still 
 visible. Adopting a policy then by no means unusual, and 
 in the hope that his family would be allowed to remain in 
 the quiet possession of a moiety of his kingdom, Prasu- 
 tagus by his last will made the emperor his joint heir with 
 his own two daughters. But the measure which he fondly 
 hoped would be the security of his house proved the cause 
 of its utter destruction. Upon the death of Prasutagus, 
 the Roman soldiers, instead of evincing regard to his 
 memory, or the least respect towards his widow and 
 family, seemed to consider all his possessions as their own 
 of right, and proceeded to commit every act of license 
 and rapacity. When his widow, Boadicea, remonstrated 
 against these outrages, instead of redress she experienced a 
 treatment of which Nero, the reigning emperor himself, would 
 scarcely have been guilty. The queen was Jbeateji with 
 stripes, her daughters were violated, and her kindred re- 
 duced to slavery. No tigress robbed of its young was ever 
 more furious than this miserable woman. She flew at once to 
 arms. She told her cruel wrongs to the neighbouring states. 
 Her appeal to their feelings was successful; and one dreadful 
 cry resounded from every . quarter, * destruction to the Ro- 
 mans ! ' More than 200,000 of her own people, of the Tri- 
 nobantes, and other tribes now ranged themselves under her 
 banners. They encountered the ninth Roman legion, which 
 they cut to pieces. They took Camalodunum, London, and 
 Verulanium, and destroyed 80,000 Romans and their allies 
 in those cities, by fire, the sword, and the gibbet. But 
 Suetonius was not to be dismayed. He collected his forces, 
 which, although inconsiderable in point of number, consisted 
 of ten thousand of the bravest and best troops in the world. 
 He chose his ground with the greatest prudence, and awaited 
 unmoved the furious onset of the enemy. Nothing that 
 Cyrus or Alexander ever did could shew more strongly what 
 discipline can effect against numbers than the result of the 
 battle which ensued. On the one side we behold a multi- 
 tude of assailants, not unused to war, athletic in frame, fierce 
 
90 BOADICEA. 
 
 in courage, flushed with success, and burning with a desire 
 of vengeance : on the other side we see a small body of men, 
 supported by the proud consciousness that they were Roman 
 soldiers. Notwithstanding all their efforts the assailants 
 were repelled and routed. The heart sickens at the scene of 
 slaughter that followed. Men, women, and the very beasts 
 which were yoked to the chariots and wagons of the Britons 
 were put to the sword. Boadicea, seeing all was lost, 
 upheld the character of a British heroine to the last ; she. 
 disappeared suddenly, and never more was seen. The ge- 
 neral conclusion being that she had poisoned herself." 
 
 Anxious to award this princess a full measure of historical 
 justice we have yielded to the temptation of giving another 
 version of her career, even at the risk of some unavoidable 
 repetition. The following account is from an interesting 
 work by Gait, entitled " Pictures, Historical and Bio- 
 graphical :'' — 
 
 " Boadicea was the wife of Prasutagus, who in expectation 
 of procuring for his family and people the protection of the 
 emperor, left by will Nero, along with his own daughters, 
 coheirs to his treasures, which are represented as having 
 been very great ; but this precaution had quite a contrary 
 effect. For no sooner was the deceased king laid in his 
 grave than the imperial officers, in their master's name, 
 seized on his effects. Boadicea, surprised at this unlooked 
 for treatment, remonstrated with these officials; but met 
 only with insult. Being a woman of noble and courageous 
 spirit, she resented this insolence ; and the brutal Romans, 
 not only in spite, caused her to be p uhlickly whipped, but 
 her daughters to be ravished by the soldiers. 
 
 "This enormous outrage Tnflamed the whole country with 
 the spirit of revenge, and the subjects of Prasutagus flew to 
 arms. Boadicea, burning with a sense of justice for her 
 own wrongs, and the degradation of her daughters, headed 
 the insurrection, and exhorted the Britons to free them- 
 selves from slavery by putting their foreign oppressors to 
 the sword. The Britons, roused by their sufferings, and 
 animated by her call, fell upon the Romans in their different 
 stations throughout the country, and without distinction of 
 
BOADICEA. 91 
 
 age or sex, endeavoured to put them all to death. Thus 
 eighty thousand were sacrificed to atone for a long career 
 of insult and injustice. 
 
 " Paulinus* the Roman general, on hearing of this avenging 
 revolution, came suddenly from the isle of Mona,f where he 
 was at the ^ime. destroying that last asylum of British 
 independence, abolishing the worship of the Druids, and 
 cutting down their sacred groves, The army under Boa- 
 dicea had in the meantime increased to a hundred thousand 
 men, and the sense of her wrongs was sharpened by the exul- 
 tations of the revenge which she had already taken. The 
 whole forces which Paulinus could muster, did not amount 
 to ten thousand, and with these, on the first alarm, he 
 marched directly to London. 
 
 " He had not, however, been long there, till he learnt that 
 the vast multitude assembled round the standard of Boadicea, 
 did not consist alone of men, but was swelled by women and 
 children, who having hastily flocked together, were not 
 prepared to keep the field long. Paulinus was a bold and able 
 general ; his men had full confidence in his talents, and his 
 own genius was undaunted by the circumstances in which 
 he was placed. He immediately, therefore, determined to 
 abandon London in the first instance, knowing that if he 
 was successful he could easily regain it, and if defeated it 
 would still afford him a place of refuge ; and thus reinforced 
 by his experience and resolution, he advanced towards the 
 indignant queen. He found her with a prodigious multitude 
 in battalions and squadrons, and bands of helpless old men, 
 women, and children, occupying an extensive plain; and he 
 drew up his army upon a narrow piece of ground with a 
 forest behind, that screened him from being attacked in 
 the rear. 
 
 " When Boadicea saw the enemy advancing, she placed 
 her unfortunate daughters, by her side in a chariot, and 
 driving amidst the numerous bands and squadrons devoted 
 to her cause' and their own, exhorted them to put forth all 
 their spirit and strength. * This will not be the first time,* 
 
 * Suetonius Paulinus. 
 
 t Mona, the ancient name of Anglesea in North Wales. 
 
92 EOADICEA. 
 
 she exclaimed, 'that the Britons have been victorious under 
 the conduct of their queens. For my part I come not as 
 one descended :rom royal progenitors, to fight for empire or 
 spoil, but as one of the common people, to avenge the loss 
 of liberty, the wrongs done to my own person, and the 
 violated chastity of these my virtuous daughters. The 
 Roman lust has grown to that height, that neither age nor 
 sex escapes pollution ; but the gods have already begun to 
 punish their crimes, and we have seen one legion driven 
 before us. If you consider the motives of this war, you will 
 resolve to conquer or die, for surely it is nobler to fall 
 honourably in defence of our rights and liberties, than be 
 exposed again to the outrages of the Romans. But let those 
 who would rather live, depart and be slaves — I am resolved 
 to die ! '" 
 
 The Romans in the meantime advanced to the charge; 
 but having spent their quivers, their arrows being shot short 
 of the Britons, they came forward with quick and close 
 steps, and burst among the multitude, who were ill prepared 
 to contend with the disciplined legions — a terrible confusion 
 ensued ; the women and children flying in all directions, 
 marred the movements of the men. Boadicea was seen 
 urging her chariot with frantic gestures in every qurrter. 
 The shouts of the Romans were drowned in the screams and 
 cries of the helpless that were trodden down ; upwards of 
 forty thousand of the Britons were slain. The victory, 
 from the moment of the close ontset, w r as decidedly with 
 Paulinus, and the Roman soldiers glutted their ferocity for 
 the massacre of their countrymen. But Boadicea escaped, 
 and vindicated the greatness of her resolution by swallowing 
 poison, rather than submit to be taken by the conqueror. 
 
 In Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick's splendid work on British 
 costumes, he has given an interesting pictorial groupe, with 
 queen Boadicea placed centrally in her full historical dress ; 
 her daughters in a car behind, and all the surrounding 
 Britons in varied cost urns. The following is his account of 
 the entire picture : — 
 
 " We are now arrived at the period coeval with the resi- 
 dence of the Romans in Britain, and in contemplating the 
 
BOADICEA 93 
 
 dress of this time — the first specimen that occurs, is that of 
 the queen of the Iceni. Of Boadicea, or Aregwedd Voed- 
 dug, z.e., the victorious, as she was styled by her country- 
 men, of which epithet, the Romans latinized a name for her ; 
 ancient anthors have been studious to preserve a particular 
 description. Comparing, therefore, the accounts of Strabo 
 with those of Dion Cassius, and by carefully examining the 
 dresses of the Celtic females, on the columns of Trajan and 
 Antoninus, the basso relievos found in this country, and the 
 coins of Caraucius, there is little difficulty in delineating the 
 cost ume of this princes s^ Accordingly this plate represents^. 
 her as a full grown handsome woman, but of a stern counte- S 
 nance, with long yellow hair * flowing over her shoulders. 
 She wears the pais much longer than that which was worn ^L 
 by the men, hence that word is now confined to designate the /, 
 petticoat. It is woven checquerwise, of many colours* •-, 
 which, according to Strabo and Pliny, were purple, light 
 and dark red, violet, and blue. Over this is the shorter 
 garment, open on the bosom, and with short sleeves ex- 
 posing the arms, termed gwn, the Gaunacain,f of Varro, 
 which reached as far as the knee, also of interwoven colours* 
 On her shoulders was thrown her cloak, fastened by a 
 fibula, and from her neck depended a golden torque. J 
 Bracelets ornamented her arms and wrists, and rings her 
 fingers. This was her usual habit, says Dion ; but when 
 she went to war, she bore in her hand a lance, and addressed 
 her troops on a tumulus of turf. At the back are seen the 
 Britons, busily employed in their warlike preparations, and 
 the petoritum, or car of the queen, containing her daughters, 
 one of whom is in sight. 
 
 The heroic history of this warrior queen has ever been a 
 favourite subject for the display of their respective talents 
 with our painters and poets — and few themes, so national 
 and patriotic, have excited so much emulation, or have been 
 
 is not ^ 
 
 * Whether this was flaxen hair, or discoloured by the chalky lixivium, 
 mentioned. 
 
 t Gown, or outer garment. 
 
 t Pennant remarks that the torch, or torques, of the Gauls differed from those 
 of the Britons, the latter being a collar of gold, or other metal, worn round the 
 neck. Boadicea, he adds, had a large one of gold. For a learned and inter- 
 esting article on the golden torques, see Pennant, vol. ii.,p. 283. 
 
94 BOADICEA. 
 
 so effectively illustrated. In the Cartoons exhibited at 
 Westminster Hall, in 1843, there was no less than five 
 ' Boadiceas,' by different artists, all of great merit, but 
 varying in their degrees of excellence — and one of them 
 winning a third-class premium of one hundred pounds, In 
 the opinions of many, this masterly piece deserved a place 
 among the first class productions, far more richly than some 
 which were fortunate enough to obtain that enviable dis- 
 tinction. The following list of the ' Boadiceas,' in the 
 Cartoons, will show how much this subject has engrossed 
 the attention of artists, and fired the ambition of our aspi- 
 rants in the fine and grand art of historic painting : — No. 69, 
 Boadicea relating the outrages she and her daughters had 
 suffered from the Romans, by R. N. Wornum ; No. 73, 
 Boadicea haranguing the Britons, by Spence ; No. 74, Boa- 
 dicea animating the Britons previous to the last battle with the 
 Romans under Suetonius, by E. M. "Ward ; No. 78, Boadicea 
 haranguing the Iceni, by H. C. Slous — this won the hundred 
 pound premium as referred to above ; No. 96, Boadicea 
 attacking the Romans. There is no painter's name attached 
 to this in the catalogue, but it is a production of much 
 vigour, of which no artist need be ashamed.'' 
 
 Of the poems inspired by this eventful and spirit-stirring 
 piece of history, the following ode by Cowper, is incompar- 
 ably the best in our language : — 
 
 " When the British -warrior queen, 
 
 Bleeding from the Boman rods, 
 Sought, with an indignant mien, 
 
 Counsel from her nation's gods: 
 
 Sage, beneath the spreading oak 
 
 Sat the Druid, hoary chief ; 
 Ev'ry burning word he spoke 
 
 Full of rage, and full of grief. 
 
 ' Princess ! if our aged eyes 
 
 Weep upon thy matchless wrongs, 
 'Tis becanse resentment ties 
 
 All the terrors of our tongues. 
 
 ' Eome shall perish — write that word 
 
 In the blood which she has spilt ; 
 Perish, hopeless and abhorr'd, 
 
 Deep in rain as in guilt. 
 
BOADICEA. 95 
 
 - Eome, for empire far renown'd, 
 
 Tramples on a thousand states ; 
 Soon her pride shall kiss the ground— 
 
 Hark ! the Gaul is at her gates ! 
 
 * Other Romans shall arise 
 
 Heedless of a Eoman's name ; 
 Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize, 
 
 Harmony the path to fame. 
 
 ' Then the progeny that springs 
 
 From the forests of our land, 
 Arm'd with thunder, clad with wings, 
 
 Shall a wider world command. 
 
 ' Regions Csesar never knew 
 
 Thy posterity shall sway ; 
 Where his eagles never flew, 
 
 None invincible as they !' 
 
 Such the bard's prophetic words, 
 
 Pregnant with celestial fire ; 
 Bending, as he swept the chords 
 
 Of his sweet, but awful lyre . 
 
 She, with all a monarch's pride, 
 
 Felt them in her bosom glow ; 
 Eush'd to battle, fought, and died— 
 
 Dying, hurl'd them at the foe. 
 
 ' Ruffians ! pitiless as proud ! 
 
 Heaven awards the vengeance due ; 
 Empire is on us bestow'd, 
 
 Shame and ruin wait upon you.' " 
 
 In the time of Caractacus and Boadicea, those mighty 
 ones of Britain "while a Roman colony — the one a king great 
 in defeat, the other who preferred death to slavery; the 
 Ordovices inhabited North Wales, and the Silures the 
 southern principality. The other considerable tribes of 
 Britons were the Belgae in the w r est, the Iceni in Norfolk 
 and Suffolk, and the Tribantes on the banks of the Thames ; 
 while the Brigantes, a powerful people, possessed Yorkshire, 
 Lancashire, Durham,Westmoreland, and Cumberland. South 
 Wales included at that time the counties of Hereford, 
 Radnor, Brecon, Monmouth, and Glamorgan. — Scott's Life 
 of Fronlinus the Roman Conqueror of the Silures. 
 
Ce<? pj^y 
 
 BRONWEN, 
 
 D AUGHT EB_OF LLYE. . OE LEAE, KING OF BBITAIN, ATTNT GT 
 CAEACTACUS, AND QUEEN OF MATHOLWCH, KING OF IBELANDY 
 
 In the task that we have undertaken of unravelling old 
 fabrics, in order to examine of what materials they have 
 been originally woven, there are few intricacies more em- 
 barrassing than to trace out the true genealogies of certain 
 ancient families, and separate them from the fictitious 
 addendas of the early romancists. The family of King 
 Llyr, or Lear, are of this description ; in one account he is 
 represented as the father of the three ladies who flourish in 
 Shakspeare*s "Tragedy of King Lear,'' of which Cordeilla, or 
 Cordelia is the heroine. In the Welsh Triads, however, 
 the only paternity attributed to this ancient sovereign is 
 that of a son — the celebrated Bran ab Llyr ; and a daughter 
 named Bronwen,* the subject of the present memoir. 
 
 This Bran ab Llyr, the brother of Bronwen, was the 
 father of the renowned Caractacus, and accompanied him to 
 Rome, where he remained with him during his captivity, 
 and long after his liberation. On his submitting to become 
 a hostage for his son, Caractacus returned to Britain and 
 resumed his government. It was during the seven years in 
 which Bran resided in this capacity at Rome, that St. Paul 
 is said to have preached there, and under his ministry this 
 British prince became a convert to Christianity. In the 
 " Triads of the Island of Britain/' Bran abLlyr is distinctly 
 mentioned as the person who first introduced Christianity 
 into Britain ; and he stands recorded in the '* Genealogies 
 of the Saints'' as Bran Fendigaid (Bran the blessed}, a 
 distinction accorded to him in consequence of his being the 
 first introducer of the " new faith" into his country. It is 
 also stated there, that he brought with him to Britain two 
 venerable personages to aid him in propagating Christianity; 
 these were St. Cyndav and St. Hid, both of whom are 
 described as " men of Israel," probably Jews, converted by 
 the great apostle at Rome. 
 
 * Bronwen signifies "white breast," from bron, breast, and wen, the fe- 
 minine appellative of white. 
 
 
BRONWEN. 97 
 
 With such a brother and nephew as Bran and Caractacus, 
 added to the consideration of her royal birth, Bronwen may 
 doubtless be deemed illustriously connected. Added to the 
 records, few and brief, which time has spared, illustrative 
 of the reality of the existence of this princess, it is grati- 
 fying to trace the verification of a general tradition respect- 
 ing her by an accidental discovery made by certain modern 
 antiquaries. Although she is presented as the heroine of 
 some of those ancient Welsh Romances called the Mabi- 
 nogion, that circumstance ought not to be urged as a point 
 against her to invalidate the authenticity of her historical 
 character. Such an objection would be as ill-founded as to 
 deny the historical existence of Queen Elizabeth because she 
 flourishes also in the romance of Kenilworth. The well 
 attested authenticity of her life, as proved in the following 
 details, goes far towards establishing a historical found- 
 ation for all those ancient tales the Mabinogion ; and the 
 presumed credit due to the historical Triads for their indis- 
 putable antiquity. 
 
 There is (or rather we should say there was, till lately) 
 a earn, or ancient British grave, by the side of the river Alaw 
 in the island of Anglesea, bearing the name of Ynis Bron- 
 wen, or Bronwen's isle, as the water had so formed itHay 
 forcing a channel between the earn and the shore. General 
 tradition had long given this Celtic sepulchre asjthe burial 
 place of the princess Bronwen, the subject of this memoir. All 
 the known particulars of her life, and the recent exhumation 
 of her remains, are thus stated in Williams's " Biographical 
 Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen.*' " She is recorded in 
 the Triads as having suffered the infliction of a blow, which, 
 from its after consequences, was called one of the three fatal 
 blows of the isle of Britain. In the Mabinogi, or ' Juvenile 
 Tale of Bran Vendigaid,' it is explained to us what is meant 
 by the expression. Bronwen, who resided at Harlech castle, 
 in Merionethshire, anciently called from her Twr Bronwen, 
 (Bronwen's tower*), was sought and obtained in "marriage 
 by Matholwch, king of Ireland. Being afterwards ill-treated 
 
 * Twr Bronwen, it appears was the most ancient name of this fortress. In 
 after times it was called Caer Collwyn, from Collwyn ab Tango, one of the 
 fifteen tribes of North Wales, and lord of Evionj'dd, Ardudwy, and part of 
 Llyn. His grandchildren flourished in the time of Griffith ab Cynan. Accord- 
 
98 BRONWEN. 
 
 by him, and insulted by a blow on the face, she left the 
 country to return to her paternal home ; but on landing in 
 Wales we are told that she looked back upon Ireland, which 
 freshening the memory of the indignity she had suffered, 
 broke her heart. Bran, to avenge his sister, invaded Ire- 
 land, and destroyed an immense number of the people of 
 that country. The historical romance also states that a 
 square grave was made for Bronwen, on the banks of the 
 river Alaw, and there she was buried. In 1813 a most 
 interesting discovery was made, which serves to give great 
 authenticity to our Welsh documents, as, in the present 
 instance, the romance has evidently been founded on his- 
 torical facts. A farmer living on the banks of the river 
 Alaw, in Anglesea, having occasion for some stones, sup- 
 plied himself from a carnedd, which was close to the river, 
 and having removed several he came to a cist of close 
 flags covered over, on removing the lid he found within 
 an urn of ill-baked earth, about a foot high, placed with 
 its mouth downwards, full of ashes, and half- calcined 
 fragments of human bones. Another circumstance may be 
 added, that the very spot has always been called Ynis 
 Bronwen, or the islet of Bronwen, which is a remarkable 
 confirmation of the genuineness of the discovery. All the 
 circumstances together seem to place the matter beyond a 
 doubt that the remains were actually those of Bronwen. 
 Publicity was first given to this discovery by Sir Richard 
 Hoare, who received the account from his friend Fenton the 
 Pembrokeshire historian. The latter in his statement says, 
 ' the report of this discovery soon went abroad, and came 
 to the ears of the parson of the parish and another neigh- 
 bouring clergyman, both fond of, and conversant with 
 Welsh antiquities, who were immediately reminded of a 
 passage in one of the early Welsh romances called the 
 Mabinogion, the same that is quoted in Dr. Davies's ' Latin 
 and Welsh Dictionary,' as well as in Kichards's under the 
 ^/v, j word petrual (square). 'Bedd petrual a wnaed i Fronwen 
 ferch Llyr ar Ian Alaw ac yno y claddwydd hi.' A square 
 \ grave was made for Bronwen the daughter of Lear, on the 
 
 ing to Pennant he resided for some time in a square tower in the ancient 
 fortress, the remains of which are very apparent ; as are those of part of the. 
 old walls, which the more modem in certain places are seen to rest on» 
 
BRONWEN. 99 
 
 banks of the Alaw, and there she was buried." u Happening 
 to be in Anglesea soon after this discovery," says Fenton, '* I 
 could not resist the temptation of paying a visit to so memo- 
 rable a spot, though separated from it by a distance of 
 eighteen miles. I found it, in all local respects, exactly as 
 described to me by the clergyman above mentioned, and as 
 characterized by the cited passage from the romance. The 
 tumulus raised over the venerable deposit was of consider- 
 able circuit, elegantly rounded, but low, about a dozen paces 
 from the river Alaw. The urn (of which a sketch is given 
 in the Cambro Briton, vol. II., p. 72) was preserved entire, 
 with an exception of a small bit out of its lip, was ill-baked, 
 very rude, and simple, having no other ornament than little 
 pricked dots ; in height from about a foot to fourteen inches." 
 In conclusion he remarks, " never was there a more inter- 
 esting discovery, as it greatly serves to give authenticity to 
 our ancient British documents, even though they be intro- 
 duced to minister to romance, as in the present instance, 
 and fixes the probable date of the interment in question 
 within a few years — a desideratum we despaired of being 
 ever gratified with — a circumstance beautifully alluded to in 
 the close of Mr. Bowles's * Barrow Poem.' '' 
 
 We have to add to the foregone details, from our own 
 information, that the urn of Bronwen with its contents, 
 became by purchase the property of the late Richard Llwyd, 
 author of " Beaumaris Bay." On visiting that patriotic poet, 
 in the year 1829, we were favoured by him with a sight of 
 that antique relic of buried ages, which minutely agreed 
 with the account given by Fenton, even to "the little 
 pricked dots," and the " small bit broken out of the lip." 
 Mrs. Llwyd, our host's lady, we learnt, was quite ignorant of 
 the antiquarian treasure of which her husband was pos- 
 sessed, nor did he ever enlighten her on that subject; as he 
 felt convinced, he said, that the terror of a visit from the 
 ghost of Bronwen would keep her sleepless ever after, or 
 induce her to insist on the re-interment or removal of her 
 remains. Before his death Mr. Llwyd presented the urn 
 and its contents to the British Museum. He had previously 
 stipulated with the authorities there, that a conspicuous and 
 h 2 
 
100 BRONWEN. 
 
 appropriate place should be assigned to this ancient British 
 relic, proportionate to its interest in the appreciation of the 
 antiquary, and the Welsh patriot. 
 
 Highly as we estimate that grand national depository of 
 all that is curious, interesting, and time-honoured, the 
 British Museum, still we regret that Bronwen's urn was 
 not restored to its original earn — where, in its native and 
 only appropriate place, it would have concentrated all 
 consideration, instead of causing our contemplation to be 
 distracted and divided between a million of interesting 
 members of the past, the wonderful, or the remote. We 
 contend that, without proportionably enriching the collec- 
 tions of the Museum, its removal has robbed the island of 
 Anglesea, abounding as it does with glorious associations of 
 historic and traditional lore, of one of its fairest objects of 
 contemplative consideration. There, additionally honoured 
 with a modern inscription, setting forth its claim to our 
 contemplation, and a brief record of its recent discovery, it 
 would have g-iven a sort of classic reputation to the banks of 
 the Alaw, invited the footsteps of thousands, and created an 
 interest in the bosom of every enlightened visitor of her 
 rural and antique shrine. There the embrio-poet might 
 draw his earliest inspiration, and the far-travelled pilgrim of 
 Welsh nationality might gaze with admiration on the long- 
 ^enduring illustration of the union of truth and fiction in the 
 I Mabinogion, and the presumed verity of the historical 
 ^•Triads ; the antiquity of which has been so frequently dis- 
 cussed, doubted, denied, but never disproved in the scru- 
 tinies of modern antiquarians. 
 
 Notwithstanding the removal of the urn, we would es- 
 pecially impress on, and most earnestly recommend to the 
 attention of the inhabitants of that locality, the restoration 
 of the grave of Bronwen, as near as possible to its original 
 construction. Attached to the earn, the liberality of a 
 patriotic public might raise a monument, inscribed with a 
 history of the whole affair, both in Welsh and English. A 
 prize for the best inscription, in both languages, would be 
 well worthy the consideration of the patrons of our Cym- 
 reigyddions and Eisteddvods, wherever held within the prin- 
 cipality of Wales, or the metropolis of the British empire. 
 
 ^JA^^Wt^MIV^ 
 
PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG'S FE- 
 MALE FAMILY, 
 
 INCLUDING HIS MOTHEE, THEEE SUCCESSIVE WIVES, AND 
 TWENTY-SIX DAUGHTEES. 
 
 . . . . . • f 
 
 Brychan Brecheiniog became the patriarch of a mighty / 
 tribe in Wales, of far-spreading branches ai|A deeply-fixed S 
 roots ; inasmuch that many of the most respectable families / 
 of the present day inhabiting the region- .that originally 
 owned his sway, as well as ^ome/ others' in various parts of 
 the principality, date their best- authenticated pedigrees 
 from him, as their fountain head. Therefore it becomes as } 
 necessary as desirable, to give as clear an account of him and 
 his progeny as- the evidences which time has left us will £ 
 permit ; although those scanty records may occasionally be 
 found interweaved with legendary fable. 
 
 At the period preceding the birth of Brychan, a prince 
 named Tewdrig ruled the district then called Garthmadrin,* 
 now known as the county of Brecon, or Brecknock ; he was 
 the contemporary of the Roman emperor Valentinian I. 
 We now arrive at the epoch that marked the existence of 
 
 MARCHEL, PRINCE BRYCHAn's MOTHER. 
 
 Prince Tewdrig had an only daughter, whom he ten- 
 derly loved, named Marchel, or Marcella. At the period 
 when this young princess arrived at the age of womanhood 
 a dangerous pestilence visited and prevailed in the country. 
 Her anxious father, fearing for the life of his only child and 
 heiress to his dominions, determined on removing her from 
 the scene of peril, resolved to send her on a friendly visit to 
 the court of Cormac Mac Eubre,f king of the Brigantes, or 
 
 * Garthmadryn signifies " fox-hold," from the abundance of that species of 
 vermin, which in the sylvan ages made its home there. 
 
 t By some writers this prince has been called Cormac Mac Carbery. 
 
102 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 Britons of Dublin.* Previously, according to an ancient 
 legend in the Cottonian library ,f he addressed her in the 
 following words : — " I am very uneasy least your health 
 should suffer from this pestilential disorder which at present 
 ravages our country." (Now Marchel had a girdle made of 
 a certain skin, to which popular opinion attributed such 
 virtue* that whoever girded their loins with it would be safe 
 from any pestilential infection ; therefore, personally, she 
 entertained no fears of an attack from the disorder; however 
 she listened to her father, who continued his address to 
 her.) — " Go, therefore, my daughter, to Ireland, and God 
 grant that you may arrive there in safety.' ' 
 
 According to the same legend, " Tewdrig king of Garth - 
 madrin, with his captains, elders, and all his family, removed to 
 Bryncoyn, near Llanmaes ; J he then appointed an honour- 
 able and appropriate escort, to attend her to her destination." 
 
 However we may be inclined to smile at the primitive 
 simplicity and minuteness of the details given in this ancient 
 document, with its quaint phraseology, fashioned after the 
 style of the scriptures, which doubtless betrays the hand of 
 a monkish scribe, these characteristics are certainly very 
 curious and interesting, notwithstanding that our imagi- 
 nation may occasionally be put to the utmost stretch in 
 ascertaining the meaning of some portions of them. We 
 are next informed that king Tewdrig appointed three hun- 
 dred men and twelve honourable maids to attend his daugh- 
 ter on her journey ; which, according to the following 
 account was very disastrous : — " On the first night they 
 reached Llansemin,§ where one hundred of her attendants 
 died from the excessive rigour of the cold. On the morrow, 
 
 * Or rather, as Theophilus Jones, the Breconshire historian, suggests, that 
 part of Ireland now known as Wexford. 
 
 t Inserted in the " History of the Town and County of Brecknock," from 
 whence we quote it. 
 
 t Llanmaes, or Llanvaes, signifies " church in the field." Surmising the 
 locality of Bryncoyn, Theophilus .Tones observes, "there is a field near Llanvaes 
 (the western suburbs of the town of Brecon) , being part of Newton farm, which 
 is called Bryn-gwyn ; (white hill,) on this field were formerly heaps of stones 
 and vestiges of buildings." As Bryn-gwyn may be a corruption of Bryn-coyn, 
 possibly those crumbled buildings might mark the site of the mansion or palace 
 of king Tewdrig. 
 
 § Perhaps Llansevin, in Llangadock, Carmarthenshire. 
 
PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 103 
 
 anxious and alarmed at this melancholy event, she arose and 
 proceeded on her journey, and arrived the same night at 
 Madrum,* where, as at the former place, she lost one hun- 
 dred men. On the following morning she arose very early, 
 and the third night brought them to Porthmawr ;f from 
 whence, with her surviving hundred men and maidens, she 
 passed over to Ireland. Upon the news of her arrival, 
 Aulach, the son of Cormac, the king of the country, met 
 her with a princely train, and the cause of her coming being 
 explained to him, he was so smitten with her beauty, and 
 pleased with her high rank, that he fell in love with, and 
 afterwards married her ; making at the same time a solemn 
 vow, that if she produced him a son, he would return with 
 her to Britain. J Aulach then made honourable provision 
 for her twelve maidens,§ giving each of them away in mar- 
 riage. In process of time Marchel conceived and brought 
 forth a son, whom his father named Brychan ; and when 
 Brychan had completed his second year, his parents took him 
 to Britain, and they resided at Benni.|| He was then put 
 under the care of an ancient man named Drychan. At four 
 years of age he was brought to Garthmadrin, where Tew- 
 drig, his grandfather, held his court, and in his seventh 
 year Drychan said to Brychan, bring my cane to me ; and 
 Drychan was dim in his latter years, and while he lay 
 waking, a boar came out of the woods, and stood on the 
 banks of the river Yschir,^[ and there was a stag behind 
 him in the river, and there was a fish under the belly 
 of the stag, which portended that Brychan should be 
 happy in plenty of wealth. Likewise there was a beech, 
 which stood on the banks of the said river, wherein the 
 bees made honey. And Drychan said to his foster son 
 Brychan, behold this tree of bees and honey, I will give thee 
 
 * Meidrim, Carmarthenshire. 
 
 t A haven near St. David, Pembrokeshire. 
 
 t The date of this marriage A. D. 382. 
 
 § An ancient precedent and provident arrangement for the benefit of maids of 
 honour on the marriage of their royal mistress ; better still, if her bachelor 
 attendants had been similarly considered and provided for. 
 
 || Probably Abergavenny, twenty-four miles from Brecon. The Welsh 
 name of that town is Venni, pronounced Vennee, 
 
 ^ Known at present as the river TJslc. 
 
104 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 also full measure of gold and silver, and may the grace of 
 God remain with thee here and hereafter." 
 
 Theophilus Jones remarks, " the plain English of this 
 legend, as far as it can be made out is, that this princess and 
 her countrymen, to avoid a famine or some contagious 
 disorder, were driven into Ireland, where she married, and 
 afterwards returned with her husband to her native land, 
 when the scarcity was over, or the disorder had ceased.'' * 
 
 Aulach, in the right of Marchel his wife, succeeded Tew- 
 drig as sovereign of Garthmadrin ; and on his death his son 
 Brychan, surnamed Brecheiniog, became king of that country, 
 and began his reign A.D. 400. Brychan changed the name 
 of Garthmadrin to Brecheiniog, which, in Welsh, it retains 
 to the present day; while in English the same name is 
 modified into Brecon, and occasionally Brecknockshire. 
 
 As the mixture of legendary matter with real history, in 
 this memoir of Marchel, may be unwisely objected to, 
 we avail ourselves of the great historian Gibbon's obser- 
 vation ; " that the ancient legendaries deserve some regard, 
 as they are obliged to connect their fables with the real 
 history of their own times ;" and another author remarks, 
 that in the grand collection of French historians, executed 
 with a care and magnificence worthy of a great nation, 
 the ancient lives of the saints are inserted under each 
 century or division, as equal vouchers with the ancient 
 historians. 
 
 Relieved from our wanderings in the uncertain labyrinths 
 of tradition by a faint perception of the lightly trodden 
 paths through the wilderness of primitive history, we shall 
 now endeavour to pursue the foot-prints of Brychan Bre- 
 cheiniog, wherever they are traceable, from his boyhood 
 onward. 
 
 * Theophilus Jones says — " the arms given by the British herald to Marchel 
 were, or, three bats, or (as they call them, rere-mice) azure-beaked and clawed 
 gules : perhaps these ill-boding harbingers of darkness were adopted in com- 
 memoration of the gloomy pestilence which then raged in the country ; and 
 their beaks and claws were represented red, to denote the bloody characters 
 which marked its track. These arms, quarterly, second, and third with those 
 of Brychan, viz., sable, a fess, or, between two swords, in pale, points up and 
 down, argent, pommelled and hilted of the second, are now those of the county 
 of Brecon ; they are borne by the Gwynnes of Glanbran, in Carmarthenshire, 
 and Garth and Buckland in Breconshire ; as well as by several other descend" 
 ants of Aulach and Marchel, the parents of Brychan Brecheiniog. 
 
PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECSEINIOG. 105 
 
 He is said, in his youth, to have addicted himself to martial 
 exercises, in which it is probable he became a proficient, 
 although we have no record that he ever distinguished 
 himself in arms. Notwithstanding the exceedingly pious 
 character which he acquired in after time, it is evident his 
 early days were marked by very dissolute proceedings. 
 
 It appears that about the period when Brychan was 
 emerging from youth to manhood, a treaty of some descrip- 
 tion, perhaps on a point of territorial integrity, took place 
 between Aulach, the father of Brychan, and Bedanell, or 
 Benlli-gawr king of Deyrnllwg or Powys ; when, in security 
 for his faithfulness, the former gave his son as a hostage to 
 the said king. 
 
 brychan's illegitimate son cynog.* 
 
 While residing at the court of this rival- prince of his 
 father's in that perilous character, held sacred in primitive 
 times, while marked by innocence and truth, but punishable 
 with death, on the discovery of treachery on the part of 
 either the hostage or his principal, Brychan became guilty 
 of an offence, by which his life might have been forfeited to 
 the violated laws. He seduced the daughter of Bedanell, 
 by whom he had a male child, whom he named Cynog, in 
 after times the most celebrated for sanctity of all his nume- 
 rous sons. 
 
 In the first instance it may appear strange in a person so 
 renowned in aftertime as Brychan, for his patronage of 
 Christianity, and every thing which assimilated with sanctity, 
 that there is no evidence either of his having made, or 
 offered reparation to the daughter of the king of Powys, by 
 espousing her in the bands of wedlock. It is equally 
 strange that in an age so rude, barbarous, vindictive, and 
 self-avenging, we hear of no revengeful proceedings either 
 from the parent or kindred of the injured party. However, 
 both these omissions may be accounted for by the following 
 contemporaneous history : — 
 
 14 It appears that Bedanell, or Benlli-gawr, was a man of 
 the most morose and brutal character, who evinced his ani- 
 
 * Pronounced Kunnog. 
 
106 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 mosity to the christians on all occasions. The late dis- 
 covery of these repulsive qualities might actuate Brychan in 
 avoiding a family alliance with a being so depraved, al- 
 though the impetuosity of youth had led him to the com- 
 mission of a flagrant act. When a Gallican council at the 
 request of the British christians sent their bishops, SS. Ger- 
 man and Lupus, to preach against the Palagian heresy, the 
 former prelate visited the dwelling of Bedanell, and claimed 
 his protection and hospitality. But being inimical either to 
 the christian cause in general, or to the anti-Palagianism of 
 these bishops, this ungracious potentate repulsed him harshly, 
 and denied him either entertainment or shelter. In this di- 
 lemma, probably at a late hour, and during the prevalence of 
 severely tempestuous weather, St. German called at a poor 
 cottage, inhabited, as it turned out, by one Cadell, the chief 
 swineherd of Bedanell or Benlli-gawr. On relating his case 
 to this humble individual, he was received both with respect 
 and cordiality — attended, lodged, and entertained in a man- 
 ner strikingly in contrast with the brutal incivility of the 
 barbarous prince. Affected with the generosity and humble 
 worth of Cadell, St. German related to him the narrative 
 of man's creation, his fall through disobedience, and the 
 consequent condemnation of his posterity. Then followed 
 the pathetic and sublime history of a self-offered mediator, 
 in the person of the sinless son of the ' creator, and withal, 
 rendered clear to the capacity of his pupil, the mysteries 
 and mercies of Christianity. Thus it was that Cadell the 
 swineherd (hereafter to be known as Cadell the king, and 
 founder of a regal dynasty), for his humanity and hos- 
 pitable treatment of this illustrious stranger, was first con- 
 verted to the christian faith; after which he became a 
 strenuous supporter of its doctrines and people. Many 
 wonderful events which could not possibly happen in an 
 age of advanced civilization, in primitive times were doubt- 
 less of frequent occurrence ; and a collection of such narra- 
 tives, however well authenticated, would appear more like 
 the fabrications of romance than the records of history, and 
 go far to illustrate the truth of the modern adage — "fact is 
 strange, stranger than fiction." Of such a description is 
 
PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 107 
 
 the sequel to the history of Cadell, as handed down to us 
 on the authority of Nennins. He informs us that on the 
 same day or night on which Benlli denied to St. German 
 the rites of hospitality, his city and palace, the latter sup- 
 posed to contain himself and family, were destroyed by fire 
 from heaven. This is perhaps a primitive mode of express- 
 ing that on the stormy night in question, his dwellieg was 
 consumed by lightning, and its inmates lost in the awful 
 conflagration. It is added that on the destruction of Beda- 
 nell, or Benlli, Cadell, the hospitable swineherd, was made 
 king in his stead* 
 
 The elevation of Cadell was doubtless owing to the pa- 
 tronage of St. German, supported by the anti-Palagian 
 British clergy of the day. It is worthy of especial notice, 
 that Cadell not only proved highly worthy of his election, 
 but his gratitude towards the sons of the church, the found- 
 ers of his fortune, became hereditary in his descendants, 
 The liberality of his race towards christian establishments, 
 through many generations, is traceable in the grants of land 
 for the erection of churches, abbeys, and other sacred edi- 
 fices, and their liberal endowments at their hands. 
 
 The occurrences here stated will serve to account for 
 Brychan Brecheiniog's sins of omission towards the daugh- 
 ter of the former king of Powys, who, as the mother of his 
 celebrated son Cynog, claims thus much of consideration at 
 the hand of the historian. The period of the above-stated 
 events appears to have been that immediately previous to 
 the favourable change which is said to have taken place in 
 the character and conduct of Brychan, and therefore would 
 appear to have wrought the impressions which brought forth 
 such desirable results. A catastrophe so awful as the de- 
 struction of his late friends, including the lady of his ear- 
 liest love, in the manner recorded, was well calculated to 
 bring forth profound contemplation, contrition for his 
 offences, and amendment of life, in a mind of such generous 
 aspirations as seem to have distinguished Brychan. Accord- 
 ingly he became a christian, by the formalities of baptismal 
 immersion at the hands of the venerable bishop Dubricius. 
 We are also informed that at this time he had his son 
 
 
108 PEINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEIN10G. 
 
 f* brought to the tents, and there baptized by the name of 
 Cynog." 
 
 On this occasion Brychan is represented to have taken 
 from his own arm, and placed on that of his infant son, a 
 certain bracelet, of supposed magic power, probably an heir- 
 loom gift from his pagan parents, and in those simple times 
 not considered repugnant to a profession of Christianity. 
 An ancient legend states, "this Cynog is famous in his- 
 native country, and the bracelet is still preserved as a curious 
 relic." While treating of Cynog, Cressy, the Roman church 
 historian states, "to him refers that which Giraldus re- 
 porteth of the wreath of saint Canawg* (so he calls him), 
 that the inhabitants of the county esteem to be a precious 
 relic of wonderful virtue ,* insomuch, that if any one is to 
 give testimony, when that wreath is placed in sight, he dare 
 not commit perjury .''I 
 
 According to the manuscript of Thomas Traman of Pant- 
 llwyd, in Llansannor, Glamorganshire, quoted by Theophil us 
 Jones, and other authorities, Cynog, the eldest son of Bry- 
 chan, was murdered by a party of pagan Saxons upon a 
 mountain called the Van, situated between BualH and Bre- 
 con ; and from that circumstance the parish took and retains 
 the name of Merthyr Cynog or Cunnog the martyr. In the 
 Romish calendar he is recorded as a saint of great celebrity ; 
 and Cressy says the fame of his sanctity was most eminent 
 among the Silures. His name is celebrated among our 
 English martyrology, on the 11th of February, where he 
 nourished "in all virtues'' about the year of Christ 492. 
 
 * This ancient relic we find occasionally called a bracelet, a wreath, and a 
 collar. Giraldus Cambrensis describes it thus : — " I must not be silent concern- 
 ing a collar chain, which they call St. Canauc's ; for it is most like to gold in 
 weight, nature, and colour. It is in four pieces, wrought round, joined together 
 artificially, and cl-ef ted as it were in the middle with a dog's head, the teeth 
 standing outward. It bears the marks of some severe blows, as if made with 
 an iron hammer : for a certain man, as it is said, endeavouring to break the 
 collar for the sake of the gold, experienced the divine vengeance, was deprived 
 of his eye-sight, and lingered the remainder of his days in darkness." Bonedd 
 y Saint, Rees's Welsh Saints, Jones's Brecknockshire, Hoare's Giraldus, Wil- 
 liams's Cambrian Biography. 
 
 t Theophilus Jones observes on these statements—" when this author wrote 
 we do not know, but unfortunately we do know that the relic has been long, I 
 fear irrecoverably lost ; as, without asserting that mankind are more wicked 
 than they were in the year 492, I may venture to affirm that, in proportion as 
 population has increased, and oaths have multiplied, it would be ten thousand 
 times more useful in 1805 than it was in the days of Cynog." 
 
PRINCE RRYCHAN BRECHEINIOGU 109 
 
 brychan's THREE WIVES AND PROGENY. 
 
 Brychan was thrice married. Theophilus Jones quarrels 
 with the names of his three successive partners, and de- 
 scribes them truly as most unintelligible and uncouth, even 
 to a Welshman, whose powers of swallowing consonants are 
 supposed to be equal to an ostrich in devouring and 
 digesting iron. The antiquary George Owen Harry calls 
 them Eurbrost, Ambrost, and Pharwystry ; other au- 
 thors will have them to be Eurbrawst, Rhybrawst, and 
 Peresgri ; by no means an improvement upon the former, 
 nor indeed can any thing be said in favour of their eupho- 
 nious sound, in either version. 
 
 Brychan became as famous for his progeny as king Priam, 
 as by those three wives, and another woman or two, he had 
 no less than fifty children, twenty-four of them were 
 sons, and twenty- six daughters. The number would be 
 still more extensive if we can suppose that some of 
 the names rejected, and substituted by others, were in 
 reality what should be considered as additions to the list. 
 But even while limiting the number to fifty, professor Rees 
 and other late writers suggest the probability that some of 
 his grandchildren are included in the account. What grounds 
 these authors have for their doubts we have never learnt, 
 therefore must confess we have met with no reason for 
 shaking our faith in the number of children originally 
 attributed to Brychan ; especially as we have modern in- 
 stances of certain vigorous old Welshmen of the north who 
 gave the world a similar patriarchal issue.* 
 
 * This refers in the first instance to William ab Howell ah Ionverth, the patri- 
 arch of Tregaian, mentioned by Pennant, who died in the year J 580. at the age 
 of one hundred and five. He had by his first w ife twe nty-tw o children, by his 
 second ten, by his third four, and by his two conyi^ii>feg'fe eTen, in all &rty- 
 three . His eldest son was eighty-three at the time of fh"e~father's deathTand 
 the youngest son only two years and-a-half old ; so that between his first 
 child and last, there was an lnYervai ' of eighty-two years ; nor did there less 
 than three hundred people descend from this stock. To the above may be 
 added the following instance of ^0ff pv itiY anr) n^^rnity of a numerous race, 
 which, in several points, appears strangely coincidental -—Writing of the valley 
 of Festeiniog, Merionethshire, in the year 1 756, lord Lyttleton states — " not 
 long ago there died in that neighbourhood HHFnonest Welsh farmer who was 
 one hundred and five years of age. By his first_wife he had thirty children ; 
 by his second four ^ and by Ms third and two concubines sevenT His youngest 
 son was eighty-one years younger than his eldest, and eight hundred persons 
 descended from bis body attended his funeral." Thus it appears he exceeded 
 
 $V-W 
 
110 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHElNtOG. 
 
 In tracing the character of Brychan Brecheiniog, it would 
 appear that after his conversion to Christianity and his re- 
 ception of baptism, that he afterwards relapsed into profli- 
 gacy. The offences with which his life has been charged 
 are incontinence and faithlessness to the marriage vow ; 
 as, besides his first son Cynog, no less than three of his 
 children were illegitimate. It is certain, however, that a 
 thorough reformation marked the after course of his life. 
 Notwithstanding the fault of character here referred to, it 
 is evident that Brychan was a man who reverenced virtue, 
 and was free from the general vices of his time. This is 
 proved by the care which he took of having his children 
 educated and imbued in christian principles. The tender 
 solicitude and laudable zeal which he evinced on this occa- 
 sion were not without their fruit, as both his children and 
 grandchildren, male and female, became famous for religious 
 learning and practical piety — which enabled them to instruct, 
 in the christian faith and practice, the converts which they 
 and others similarly disposed made from barbarian pagan- 
 ism. The most eminent theologian in Britain at this time 
 was Dubricius (afterwards known as the celebrated arch- 
 bishop of Caerleon), whose collegiate establishment at 
 Gwenddwr,* on the banks of the Wye, drew forth the pious 
 from all quarters, and acquired great celebrity from his 
 ministry and teaching — as was strikingly proved by the 
 capable scholars which issued from this seminary to doc- 
 trinate and civilize the land in after times. It is said that 
 the first disciples or scholars of Dubricius were some of the 
 children and grandchildren of Brychan. It is conjectured 
 by Hughesf that Brychan himself was also one of the con- 
 verts of this early father of the British church, "as the 
 christian religion had not been introduced into Ireland at 
 
 Brychan Brecheiniog in the number of his children by one. Another instance 
 appears in the case of William Parry. LL.D., who was executed, in 1534, for 
 plotting with the Papists against Queen Elizabeth. While waiting for the final 
 blow that was to launch him into eternity, he boasted among other claims to 
 honourable notice, that Ins father had thirty children by two wives, and died at 
 the age of one hundred and eight. 
 
 * Gwenddwr is now hnown only as a parish, and vill age of fi rf . c-Tmnshire . The 
 village stands on high ground, about a mile^'rom another village beneath it 
 called Erwood, on the road between the towns of Builth and Hay, seven 
 miles from the former. 
 
 t John Hughes author of Horce Britannkce, the best history of the early 
 British church and primitive British Christianity extant. 
 
PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINTOG. Ill 
 
 the period when he eame over to Britain." According to 
 this account Dean Swift's celebrated vaunt on the early 
 civilization of Ireland, 
 
 " This happy island Pallas called her own, 
 When haughty Britain was an isle unknown," 
 
 applies only to the profane knowledge which existed pre- 
 vious to the introduction of Christianity, the priority of 
 which is thence ceded to Britain. 
 
 Hughes suggests of Brychan, "he might have been a 
 profligate character in his youth, and was perhaps converted 
 (for the second time) in his old age by Dubricius." This 
 conjecture receives some countenance from the inferior de- 
 gree of pious celebrity attached to his name compared to 
 what fell to the lot of some of his children, as champions of 
 Christianity, who are chronicled as martyrs and patron 
 saints. Brychan, however, stands recorded in the annals of 
 his country as an illustrious patriarch of a far-extending 
 tribe, being as before observed, the father of fifty children ; 
 twenty-four sons and twenty- six daughters. His family is 
 styled in the Triads u one of the three holy families of the 
 isle of Britain," with those of Bran ab Llyr and Cunedda 
 Wledig, in consequence of *' having brought up his children 
 in learning and the liberal arts, that they might be able to 
 show their faith in Christ to the nation of the Cymry, wher- 
 ever they were without faith." Hughes remarks, " learning 
 was evidently a rare acquirement in those days when the 
 children of princes esteemed it so great an ornament : and 
 it shows the docility of many great men in that rugged age, 
 that they were induced to take so decided a part in sup- 
 porting the interests of Christianity." 
 
 According to Bonedd y Saint the names of Brychan's 
 twenty-four sons were, Cynog, Cledwyn, Dingad, Arthen, 
 Cyvlevyr, Rhain, Dyvnan, Gerwyn, Cadog, Mathairn, Pas- 
 gen, Nefai, Pabiali, Llechan, Cynbryd, Cynvran, Hychan, 
 Dyvrig, Cynin, Dogvan, Rhawin, Rhun, Cledog, and Caian. 
 The names^ of the daughters will be found in the next divi- 
 sion of this memoir. Nearly all these embraced a religious 
 life, and were the founders of numerous churches in Wales 
 as may be seen on consulting Rees's " Welsh Saints." 
 i2 
 
H2 PRINCE BRTCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 BRTCHAN BRECHEINIOg's DAUGHTERS. 
 
 The principal genealogists, chroniclers, antiquaries, and 
 historians who have supplied lists of the children of Brychan 
 are, Llewelyn Offeiriad,* Edward Llwyd, Hugh Thoraas,f 
 George Owen Harry, j John Jones of Devynnock, Leland, 
 and Carte. Scarcely two of these perfectly agree as to the 
 correctness of the names either of the sons or daughters of 
 this British patriarch. According to Theophilus Jones 
 the names of thirty-four, copied from a Welsh manuscript 
 of Llewelyn Offeiriad by Edward Llwyd, were sent by 
 him to Hugh Thomas. Thomas informed Llwyd, as 
 appears by a letter of his, still preserved amongp his papers 
 in the British Museum, that he had also a list copied from 
 a manuscript of John Jones of Devynnock. George Owen 
 Harry gives another ; Leland another, from the life of St. 
 Nectanus ; and the My vyrian Archaeology another ; all 
 differing as to some of their names. 
 
 The children of Brychan, as before observed, were fifty in 
 number ; twenty-four sons and twenty-six daughters. The 
 names of the former have been given in our notice of their 
 father; according to Bonedd y Saint the names of the 
 daughters were — first Gwladys, second Arianwen, third 
 Tangwystl, fourth Mechel, fifth Nevyn, sixth Gwawr, seventh 
 Gwrgon, eighth Eleri, ninth Lleian, tenth Nevydd, eleventh 
 Rheingar, twelfth Golenddydd, thirteenth Gwenddydd, four- 
 teenth Tydian, fifteenth EKned, sixteenth Ceindrych, seven- 
 teenth Gwen, eighteenth Cenedlon, nineteenth Cymorth, 
 twentieth Clydai, twenty-first Dwynwen, twenty- second 
 Ceinwen, twenty-third Envail, twenty-fourth Tydvil, twen- 
 ty-fifth Hawystyl, and twenty- sixth Tybian. 
 
 The other names allowed to Brychan* s daughters by some 
 parties, and rejected by others, are second Wrgan, third 
 Marchel or Marcella, fourth Gwtlith, fifth Drwynwen, sixth 
 
 * Llewelyn Offeiriad (Llewelyn the priest), was the second son of Griffith ab 
 Owain ab Bledri ab Owain Brogyntyu, a chieftain of Powys. His works are 
 still preserved at Jesus' College Oxford ; the MS. bears "the title of Llvyr 
 Llewelyn Offeiriad, " the book of Llewelyn the priest." He was a learned 
 herald, bard, and antiquary. 
 
 t Hugh Thomas was a deputy herald to Sir Henry St. George, Garter prin- 
 cipal King at Arms in the year 1703. 
 
 + George Owen Harry was rector of Whitchurch, Cemeys, Pembrokeshire, 
 and flourished as a herald in the reign of James I. 
 
PRINCE BRTCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 113 
 
 Cyngar, seventh Rhynhyder, eighth Melari or Eleri, tenth 
 Gwtvil, eleventh Gwenvrewi, twelfth Eitech, sixteenth 
 Gwenllian, seventeenth Felii, eighteenth Tibie, nineteenth 
 Emmrhaith, twentieth Rhymeiden, twenty-first Cledy, 
 twenty-third Almedha the martyr. 
 
 Several of those particularized in both the above series 
 of names are noticed elsewhere in this work, and the subjects 
 of brief biographical notices. But the following are so little 
 known to history, that we may dismiss them at once with the 
 slight records appended which the lenient wing of Time 
 has been too merciful to expunge. 
 
 Arianwen, or Wrgen, each said to be the second daughter of 
 Brychan, we are informed, was married to Iorworth Hir- 
 vlawdd (Edward the tall and active), a chieftain of Powys. 
 She became the mother of Caenog-mawr, to whom was 
 dedicated the church of Clog-canog in Denbigshire. Ior- 
 worth was descended from Beli-mawr, who was also the 
 ancestor of Elystan Glodrydd, prince of Ferregs, and of 
 Iestyn ab Gwrgant, lord of Glamorgan. Marchel or Mar- 
 cell a, was married to Hirvardrwch, or white bushy-Ion gbeard, 
 a personage of whom we have no genealogical account. 
 Nevyn became the wife of Gynvarch Oer, and the mother of 
 the celebrated Urien Rheged. Gwtlith is said do have lived 
 in obscurity at Llysronwy, in Glamorganshire. Of Cyngar 
 and Rhynhyder we have no account. Eleri or Melari, was 
 the mother of Dewi, or St. David ; according to Cressy, 
 who says that Melari was another name for Non or Nona or 
 Nonnitta. She is said to have been one of the most distin- 
 guished female saints of the ancient British church. There 
 is a church dedicated to her in Gwyr, and another at Cy dwell 
 (Kidwelly), Carmarthenshire. Nevydd became the wife of 
 a chieftain named Tudwall Bevyr, and had a church dedi- 
 cated to her at a place called Llech Gelyddon, in Scotland, 
 Of Eitech we know nothing further than that she resided at 
 Towyn in Merionethshire. Goleuddydd was married to a 
 chieftain named Tutwawl Bybyr, or Tutwawl the valiant, a 
 prince, according to Llwyd, of some territory in Scotland. 
 Llian was married to Gavran, and became the mother of a 
 son stigmatized in the annals of his country as Aeddan 
 Vradawg, or the traitor ; the only instance in this illus- 
 
114 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 trious and exemplary family of an unworthy descendant." 
 H Aeddan became a prince of the northern Britons in the 
 latter part of the fifth century. He deserted the cause of 
 his countrymen, and traitorously fought with the Saxons 
 against Rhydderch Hael, king of the Strathclyde Britons. 
 For this enormous crime he was handed down to posterity 
 branded with infamy, in company with Gwrgi and Medrod, 
 who together form a Triad as the three arrant traitors of 
 the isle of Britain, who were the cause of the Britons losing 
 the sovereignty of the island."* Of Felii, Tybie, Emrhaith, 
 and Rhyneiden, we have no account or tradition, except that 
 Tybie was buried in Carmarthenshire at a place called 
 from her Llanybie, or Llandebie, and Rhyneiden at Cyd- 
 weli (Kidwelly), in the same county. Cledy lived at 
 Emlyn, in Carmarthenshire, where a church was said to have 
 been dedicated to her called Cleyden, or Clyday. 
 
 Doubtless most of these names will appear as coarse, unin- 
 telligible, and unpronounceable to an English reader as so 
 many German or Russian designations ; but as the supposed 
 repulsiveness or non-appreciation can proceed only from igno- 
 rance of the meaning of them, we shall endeavour to show 
 that what is unintelligible, is not necessarily unreasonable : 
 and that much inward beauty attaches to what apparently 
 •-possess ungainly exteriors. 
 / A Welshman cannot fail to notice in these Celtic proper 
 / names an elegance and sense of refinement, full of poetic 
 / beauty, little to have been expected in so early an epoch as 
 the fifth or sixth century. The first daughter's name is 
 Gwladys, pronounced Gladdis; punning Englishmen will 
 sometimes have it glad -eyes, thus furnishing an agreeable 
 etymon of their own. Inoffensive at least to the most fas- 
 tidiously musical Italian ear. The Latin version of it is 
 Claudia. Gwawr (Latinized Julia), is the Welsh of the 
 rosy-finger Aurora, or the dawn of day. Arianwen, signi- 
 fies silver-white, and carries its own eulogy. Gwron, is 
 heroic ; in what sense it could be an appropriate name for an 
 infant girl is not easily conceivable. Perhaps she sported 
 
 * See Williams's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen, p. 11* 
 Triads 46, 52, Myvyrian Archaeology, p. 11, 65. 
 
PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 115 
 
 smiles instead of cries at the baptismal test of cold water ; and X, 
 for her baby courage won her honorary designation. Goleu- 
 ddydd, is the light of day ; and Gwenddydd, clear or fair 
 day — one of the most rare, far-spreading, and universal of 
 the good things with which the creator has blest our moist 
 and cloudy clime.* Gwen,is a smile ; or if the name should 
 be Gwen, it simply signifies white, or fair; and Ceinwen, 
 means comely -fair, or fairly beautiful. Some names we 
 pass over, of meanings too obscure for comment ; but Tang- 
 lwstl, the third daughter of Brychan, we have reserved for 
 especial notice, with which we shall close our observations 
 on this fair and exemplary sisterhood. Truly this name 
 Tanglwstl, with its tough-looking consonants and somewhat 
 etrange sound, is alarming enough to the eye, ear, and tongue 
 of the Saxon — although Tanglwstl is not very difficult to 
 utter. But when he is informed that it carries the meaning 
 of " a pledge of peace," or " hostage of tranquility/' as the j 
 name of a little girl, surely it may be allowed to pass j 
 uncensured, especially if we may be allowed to suppose j 
 that this pledge of peace came very seasonably to calm some I 
 family feuds between the lady Brychan and her lord, origi- I 
 nating in certain discoveries connected with his notorious 
 gallivantings ; four of his children having other mothers j 
 than either of the three ladies of inharmonious names whom 
 our famed worthy had espoused. 
 
 THE TIMES OF BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 The public events which agitated these early times were 
 neither weak nor despicable in relation to the race affected 
 by them, but such as were calculated to draw forth the 
 energies and self-preserving instincts of a people that, 
 though but recently emerged from rank barbarism, were ever 
 on the move (certainly not yet amounting to a march) to- 
 wards civilization. These all- engrossing subjects of human 
 thought and action appear to have been two-fold: how to, 
 repel the incursions of their enemies, and how to think, on 
 that perplexing question in the church, whether the inno- 
 
 * Gwenddydd, is literally \white-dayh implying the white silvery clouds 
 contrasting with the blue ethere&iJiue'Suininer's day. 
 
116 PBINCE BRTCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 vating opinions of Palagius were true or false, and to choose 
 their parties accordingly. 
 
 The public enemies of the Britons in these times "were 
 certain large bands of freebooters, or armed barbarians, who 
 prowled through the country in great strength, and terrified 
 every well-disposed and settled community. These ruthless 
 savages, it appears, would at times conceal themselves in the 
 depths of solitary ravines, and in the wild sylvan forests, 
 nearest to the settlements which they had resolved to attack, 
 and in the night issue forth like wolves on the slumbering 
 fold, or fiends in human flesh, on their mission of plunder 
 and murder. They also, according to the description of 
 country which they traversed, would at times wend along 
 the tops and sides of hills and mountains, from the most 
 northern to the extreme southern ends of the island, on these 
 marauding expeditions. From such " vantage ground'* they 
 were enabled to look down into every plain, vale, or dingle, 
 where human habitations appeared, and attracted their cupi- 
 dity on their far-extending march of villany from sea to sea, 
 Thence bursting downwards in swarming numbers on seclu- 
 ded neighbourhoods, it is probable that accumulation of pro- 
 perty by robbery was their main and perhaps only original 
 object, and that murder and utter annihilation of their 
 opponents was the consequence of resistance. It is certain 
 they were often successfully opposed, mastered, and subjected 
 to as little mercy as they were in the habit of dealing to 
 others, except the few who were fortunate enough to save 
 themselves by flight from the scene of slaughter ; as we shall 
 have occasion to show in the course of these memoirs. 
 
 It would be paying these, loathsome barbarians too high a 
 compliment to imagine (as it has often been stated) that 
 their animosity was more pointedly directed towards those 
 who held the doctrines of Christianity than other natives of 
 the island, on account of hatred of doctrines or opinions 
 opposed to their own. It were a rueful and sorry jest to 
 speculate on the probable opinions held by professed robbers 
 and murderers by occupation. Living in clustered commu- 
 nities of dwellings,. accumulating cattle, tilling the land, 
 erecting churches, religious houses, and what have been 
 
PEINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 117 
 
 denominated colleges, were peculiarities that distinguished 
 the early British christians ; and these being also signs of the 
 possession of property, became allurements to their invaders. 
 As they were the most industrious in the island, it follows 
 that they became the most affluent : doubtless, the only^cause 
 for being selected as peculiar marks for despoilment and 
 destruction. Three of the children of Brychan are recorded 
 to have become the victims of these ferocious people ; 
 Cynog, his eldest son; Almedha, his twenty-third, and 
 Tydvil his twenty- fourth daughter. The particulars of the 
 murder, or martyrdom (as it has been called, from their 
 occupying at the time certain offices in the church) of the 
 two former, are not upon record. But the dreadful massacre 
 of Tydvil and her travelling party is related in her memoir, 
 where the death of the venerable Brychan himself, with 
 several members of his family, has also met the fullest 
 statement. 
 
 These murderers of many an exemplary and peaceful 
 population have usually and very correctly been described as 
 pagan " Gwyddel," or Irish, Picts, and Saxons ; and it has 
 been objected by other writers that the latter people had not 
 yet become inhabitants of this island : concluding, therefore, 
 that the account which included them in these dark trans- 
 actions must consequently be inaccurate. It is known, how- 
 ever, and among others we have the authority of the learned 
 archbishop Usher for the statement, that long before the 
 Saxons appeared in the characters of national invaders and 
 conquerors, they had ft^quen ted Britian as p irates; and 
 settling for a time on the coasts, occasionally issued from 
 thence into the interior on these chivalrous expeditions. 
 
 The incursions of these miscreants called forth the ener- 
 gies and conduct of the young and old among the Britons to 
 oppose and repel them — in which gallant undertakings they 
 were greatly assisted by the Roman legions, who, doubtless, 
 admired and honoured the patriotism of the brave islanders, 
 over whom it was their glory to preside, for their vigorous 
 manliness in wars so justifiable in the eye of virtue and even 
 piety. The author of " Horae Britannic ae'' quotes Ammianus 
 Marcellinus as his authority to prove that the Romans found 
 
118 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 it necessary in latter times to institute a new officer for the 
 express purpose of watching the motions and marching his 
 forces against these barbarians, "a comes litteris Saxonici 
 per Britannias." 
 
 The secondary subject of public agitation, as before obser- 
 ved, was that most striking feature in these times, called in 
 church history the Palagian Heresy, It originated in the 
 promulgation of certain new scriptural opinions put forth by 
 a British ecclesiastic of the most bold and decisive character, 
 however erroneous he may have been in his conclusions. 
 
 The founder of this new sect of religionists, whose heresies 
 are said to have disturbed the peace of the church for the 
 space of two hundred years, was a Briton named Morgan , 
 evidently a man of strong intellect, and it appears full of 
 the ambition of becoming the founder of a_new se ct, in the 
 christian churc h, and a reformer of ancient errors. With 
 the view of spreading his doctrines far beyond the limits of 
 his native island, he paused his n am e to be translat ed into 
 Greek, whence he became generally known on the continent 
 of Europe by the designation of Palagins, and his doctrines 
 stigmatized by his opponents as the Palagian heresy. 
 
 Without entering into the question of the truths or false- 
 hoods, the degree of verity or amount of error in this man's 
 innovating opinions, we consider the mere circumstance of 
 his starting a new theory in so early an age, a proud and 
 elevating evidence of intellectual originality and reasoning 
 powers in an, ancient Briton, of the fifth century : ought we 
 not, therefore, to be proud that such a man as Morgan or 
 Palagius had his being amongst us ? The amount of merit 
 that should be conceded to him, is that he was theJSxst who 
 taught the people the art of thinking for themselves on theo- 
 logical matters, and incited them to examine and test the 
 precepts of their teachers ; thus laying the foundation of the 
 right of private judgment, in opposition to the assumptions 
 of dogmatic and dominant religious professors. It has been 
 well remarked by Carlyle, that all dominant religionists of 
 later times have echoed each other in vivifying Palagius as 
 an arch heretic, a piece of dogmatic insolence, worthy only 
 of the persecuting intolerance of the Roman priesthood 
 
PRINCE BRTCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 119 
 
 That his opinions spread abroad, and were embraced 
 (whether for good or evil) by thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands, affords a proof that the reasoning powers of our 
 islanders were awakened, and that they were no longer 
 content to yield a blind obedience amounting to a surrender 
 of their mental functions to any one set of men. That they 
 had become, in a certain degree, a thinking people, and men- 
 tally energetic in entertaining the question which agitated 
 society, is very manifest from the earnestness and vehement 
 ardour with which each party supported or opposed their 
 respective views in the Palagian controversy, now raging 
 throughout the most populated portions of the island. The 
 opponents of Palagian ism, among the most strenuous of whom 
 were Brychan Brecheiniog and his family, became greatly 
 alarmed at the continual growth of converts to the new opi- 
 nions, and in their zeal made application to the ruling powers 
 of the christian church in Gaul for assistance to oppose the 
 evil. The orthodox party in the Gallic church, who were 
 also bearded with Palagian opposition on their own ground, 
 gave immediate attention to their request, and sent over the 
 two eminent bishops, St. German and Lupus. 
 
 It is due to the memory of the primitive ecclesiastics of 
 Britain in these times to show with what a spirit of libe- 
 rality they met this innovation or heresy of Palagius. They 
 did not pretend to evince their love of the God of truth and 
 mercy by burning alive or butchering with the sword the 
 author of these new opinions, or even by burning or destroying 
 his writings; but most wisely they put to work the machine of 
 human intellect instead of that of the merciless Inquisition. 
 It is to the permanent honour, the everlasting glory of these 
 early British christians, that no other force or coercive aid 
 was resorted to, or thought of by either party, than those of the 
 reasoning and persuasive powers of man, to elicit and support 
 what they respectively considered the truth. The voice of the 
 preacher, not the brand of the warrior, was the only approved 
 weapon in this war of opinion. It was reserved for the refine- 
 ment of later ages to bring forth fire and sword as the elements 
 of conviction in the settlement of a controversy on points of 
 disagreement in the christian church. They were no 
 
120 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 « Fire-eyed disputants, who deemed their swords 
 On points of faith more eloquent than words,"* 
 
 Appealing to the reasoning capacities of their hearers, they 
 not merely denied, but disproved the assumptions and con- 
 clusions of their adversary, to the satisfaction and conviction 
 of thousands. This was noble, this was honourable and 
 generous dealing; none were compelled to repudiate the 
 opinions they had perhaps too hastily adopted; but on a 
 thorough conviction of their unsoundness, by the arguments 
 of the patient and discerning preacher, their abjuration 
 became a voluntary concession. 
 
 Church history informs us that by the persuasive eloquence 
 and perseverance of the two continental bishops, aided by 
 the zeal of the British ecclesiastics, the Palagian heresy 
 was at length suppressed. But that in the course of time 
 it was revived, and embraced by the succeeding followers of 
 Palagius with amazing energy, and supported by the most 
 tenacious zeal of that party. That notwithstanding the 
 argumentative opposition which it met with, it continued to 
 disturb the tranquility of the church till towards the con- 
 clusion of the next age ; when it was finally put down and 
 extinguished for ever by the transcendant eloquence of David 
 the Monk, known to posterity as St. David, the patron saint 
 of the ancient Britons. 
 
 We shall conclude this memoir of the family and times 
 of Brychan Brecheiniog with the following detail of one of 
 the most memorable and characteristic of occurrences in 
 that early era of British history : — There is a place in Flint- 
 shire, north Wales, that bears the name of Maes Garmon,f 
 or St. German's field. It is situated about a mile west 
 of the town of Mold, on the side of the river Alyn, 
 and gained that significant appellation from an eventful 
 occurrence of these times called the "Halleluiah Vic- 
 tory." The particulars are thus related by Pennant. 
 " Visited Maes Garmon, a spot that still retains the name 
 of the saintly commander in the celebrated battle the Vic- 
 toria Alleluiatica, fought in 420 between the Britons, headed 
 by the bishops Germanus and Lupus, and a crowd of pagan 
 
 * Moore's Veiled Prophet of Korhassan. 
 
 t Gannon is the Welsh of St. German, or Germanus. 
 
 
PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 Picts and Saxons, who were carrying desolation through the 
 country. This event happened in Easter week, when the 
 christian army, wet with their recent baptism in the river 
 Alyn, were led by their holy commanders against the pagan 
 host. Germanus instructed them to attend to the word he 
 gave, and repeat it. Accordingly, he pronounced that of 
 Alleluia. His soldiers caught and repeated the sacred sound 
 with such ecstatic force that, the hills re-echoing with the 
 cry, struck terror into the enemy who fled on all sides ; num- 
 bers perished by the sword, and numbers in the adjacent river.'* 
 Pennan adds, "such is the relation given by Constantius of 
 Lyons, who wrote the life of Germanus within thirty-two 
 years after the death of the saint." 
 
 The traditions of the country, though somewhat wilder, 
 differ slightly from Pennant's version of the affair of Maes 
 Garmon ; and, we may add, are more graphic and descriptive 
 of the occurrence. When we visited that spot in the year 
 1829, the following was the relation which we received 
 from a person well versed in the traditions of the neigh- 
 bourhood : — While the bishops, St. German and Lupus, were 
 busily engaged in the ceremony of baptizing an immense 
 multitude in the river Alyn, they were suddenly surprised 
 by a host of barbarians, who made their appearance in the 
 gap, or mountain pass, immediately above them, and with 
 their usual murderous purpose, making a rapid descent 
 upon them. The Britons being mostly unarmed, little 
 expecting such intruders, might soon have become their 
 victims, but for the singular presence of mind evinced by 
 the venerable St. German, whose piety and great capacity 
 in averting peril in its wildest hour, became strikingly 
 apparent. He briefly addressed them, and checked their 
 alarms, which would have led to their confusion and certain 
 destruction, by an assurance of divine protection, provided 
 they followed his instructions. He desired them to fall 
 upon their knees in prayer, and remain so immovably, and 
 in utter silence, till he gave a certain word on the approach 
 of the foe, which they were to repeat, and rush upon them 
 at the same instant. Accordingly when the barbarians, 
 sword in hand, and thirsting for blood, attained ttie river's 
 side, instead of dashing over the stx^ajgaajid commencing 
 
122 PRINCE BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 the work of death, astonished at the solemn silence and inert 
 appearance of the kneeling multitndeT^theyj^ade a pause 
 and gazed in wonderment at a scene so new and mystical to 
 them. While this feeling possessed the invaders St. Ger- 
 man exclaimed aloud "Halleluiah!" — the Britons all at 
 once springing on their feet, in one grand chorus shouted 
 out the sacred word till the neighbouring hills re-echoed 
 with their multitudinous voices ; the armed portion of the 
 party rushed on the enemy at the same instanty' Astounded 
 and bewildered, the barbarians commenced/ a rapid and 
 disorderly retreat, scampering up the hill and through the 
 Iwlch, or mountain gap, by which they -so lately entered for 
 the purposes of destruction and conquest. Many fell in the 
 pursuit, both in the river and on the hill's side, the victims 
 of a panic of very simple foundation. The catastrophe, 
 according to the spirit of the times, was attributed by the 
 British christians to the immediate interference of the deity 
 in their favour ; as, according to their conception, nothing 
 short of a miracle could have preserved an unprepared 
 assemblage against the powerful opposition of such an 
 armed multitude. 
 
 It is pleasant to record the public spirit and good taste 
 of a "Welsh gentleman, Nehemiah Griffith, Esq., of Rhual, in 
 this neighbourhood, which induced him to erect a column, 
 with an appropriate inscription in Latin, commemorative of 
 this event. It runs as follows : — 
 
 Ad Annum 
 
 ccccxx. 
 
 Saxones Pictiq. Bellum adversus 
 
 Briton.es junctis viribus susceperunt 
 
 In hac regione, hodieq. Maesgarmon 
 
 Appellata : cum in praslium descenditur, 
 
 Apostolicis Britonum Germane- 
 
 Et Lupo, Christus militabat in castris : 
 
 Alleluia tertio' repetitum exclamabant; 
 
 Hostile agmen terrore prosternitur ; 
 
 Triumphant 
 
 Hostibus fusis sine sanguine ; 
 
 Palma fide non viribus obtenta 
 
 M.P. 
 
 In Yictorise Alleluiaticse memoriam. 
 
 N.G. 
 
 MDCCXXXV*. 
 
1$ 
 
 CATHERINE, 
 
 WIFE OF THE RENOWNED CHIEFTAIN IEVAN AB ROBERT OF 
 CESELGYVARCH. 
 
 The lady upon whose memoirs we are now engaged lived 
 in a perilous and stirring age of violence and bloodshed, 
 when energy of character, and the virtues of courage, and 
 quickness of intellect, in meeting the danger of the hour, 
 with corresponding vigour or stratagem, were most in 
 request in the female as well as the male character. Conse- 
 quently a jury of Fine Ladies of our times are scarcely 
 competent to decide upon her claims to applause, or to give 
 a just verdict of reprehension. Neither can the gentlemen 
 of our times he fair judges of what constituted excellence of 
 character in the females of those days, measuring their 
 merits by the standard of their own fair contemporaries. 
 But let the contemplative eye glance on the Greek and 
 Turkish warfare of our times — and let a French or English 
 lady of fashion put herself on a parallel with the wife of a 
 Grecian chief whose camp is surprised in the night, and 
 unless mightily self-flattered, she may soon discover her 
 helplessness and inutility in such a sphere of perilous tumult. 
 A discovery so humiliating, perhaps, may produce toleration 
 for such a being as the lady under present consideration. 
 In England this period was distinguished by the wars of 
 th e Roses b etween the rival houses of York and Lancaster ; 
 while in Wales (though many became partizans of either 
 of those houses) they had a bye-play of murderous violence 
 of their own to enact, which was marked by great depravity 
 of manners, and an utter estrangement to good morals. 
 
 Catherine was of the ancient house of Bryn y Voel in 
 Evioneth, North Wales. She was married to one of the 
 bravest men of his country and time ; and what may have 
 flattered her woman's vanity the more, Ievan ab Robert* 
 
 * Iefan, or Ievan, has been frequently misprinted Jevan, from the inat- 
 tention of authors in correcting their proof sheets. That name is now univer- 
 sally modernized into Evan. 
 
 K 2 
 
124 CATHERINE. 
 
 was a very handsome man, indeed as it should seem, the 
 most handsome of his contemporaries. Sir John Wynn of 
 Gwydir says of him, " he was a goodly man of personage, 
 of great stature (as may appeare by the Welsh songes made 
 unto him), and most valiant with all. Besides the tur- 
 moyles abroad, he sustayned deadly feud (as the northern 
 man termeth) at home, in his doore* a war more dangerous 
 than the other." 
 
 Although very near relatives, there was a bitter feud 
 between the husbands of Catherine, Ievan ab Robert, and 
 his near kinsman, Howel ab Rhys. The intermarriages in 
 these families seem as extraordinary as the rivalry and 
 hatred between them ; the wife of Ievan ab Robert being a 
 sister to Howel ab Rhys, and the first wife of the latter a 
 sister to Ievan ab Robert. The second wife of Howel ab 
 Rhys was the daughter of Tudor ab Griffith ; and as in all 
 family feuds the ladies generally contrive to fulfil their 
 parts to admiration, this woman certainly was no exception 
 to that rule. Doctor Johnson has left it on record that he 
 loved a good hater — in which case here is a woman after 
 his own heart, who hated and hunted her enemies to the 
 death, and became an ever-burning but unconsumable fire- 
 brand for the destruction of peace both in her own family 
 and her neighbour's. Sir John Wynnf describes her as 
 " Tudor ab Griffith ab Eineon's daughter, of Ardydwy, a 
 courageous stirring woman, who never gave over to make 
 debate betweene her husband and his next neighbour and 
 brother-in-law my ancestor. Many bickerings passed 
 betweene them, either making as many friends as he could, 
 and many men were slayne, but commonly the losse fell on 
 Howel ab Rhys his side. This woman caused the parson of 
 Llanvrothen to be murthered because he had fostered to 
 my ancestor ;| but God soe wrought that the murtherers, 
 
 * A mode of expression tliat seems to explain itself. 
 
 t In our numerous quotations from this very picturesque old author, we 
 purposely avoid either modernizing the language or altering the old English 
 spelling— which would be about as barbarous a proceeding as dressing up the 
 statue of an ancient hero in the trim^attire of a modish dandy, or French dancing 
 master. 
 
 % Sir John takes many opportunities of boasting his descent from Ievan ab 
 Kobert. 
 
CATHERINE. 125 
 
 being three bretheren, were all slayne afterwards by my 
 ancestor, in revenge of the parson's unworthie death." Re- 
 ferring to the cause of this " mortal hatred" between the 
 two brothers-in-law, Sir John Wynn makes it appear that it 
 originated in the preference manifested by Ievan ab Robert 
 for his nephew John ab Meredith, who (as he expresses it) 
 l> affected him best," as he was also his fbsterbrother, 
 although nearly allied to the other — "which was taken 
 soe heinously by Howel ab Rhys, that he converted the 
 summe of his rancour upon his brother-in-law and next 
 neighbour." It would seem also, that on the death of 
 Howel ab Rhys's first wife (sister to Ievan ab Robert), 
 that all ties between them were finally broken, and they 
 shunned each other's company, while the malignant nature 
 of his second wife poured oil upon their fire of discord. As 
 the whole of ^this account is derived from that quaint piece 
 of antiquity, the " Historie of the Gwydir Family, by Sir 
 John Wynn," the first baronet of that name, we shall give 
 as much as possible of these details in the venerable author's 
 own pjaraseology. 
 
 " The beginning of the quarrell and unkindness between 
 Ievan ab Robert and Howel ab Rhys grew in this sort. 
 Ievan ab Robert, after his sister's death, upon some mislike 
 left (abandoned) the company of Howel ab Rhys, and 
 accompanied John ab Meredith his nephew and his chil- 
 dren, who where at continuall hate with Howel ab Rhys. 
 The fashion was, in those days, that the gentlemen and 
 their retainers met commonly every day to shoote matches 
 and masteries :* there was noe gentleman of worth in the 
 country but had a wine cellar of his owne, which wine was 
 solde to his profit. Thither came his friends to meete him, 
 and there spente the day in shooting, wrestling, throwing 
 the sledge, and other acts of activitie ; and drinking (very 
 moderately withall) not according to the healthing-f and 
 gluttonous manner of our dayes. 
 
 * To shoot at' a target with bows and arrows, one party aiming at mastery 
 in skill as a good shot over the other. 
 
 f Drinking healths. Drinking and gluttony being the vices of wealthy civi- 
 lized times, would have ill accorded with the activity requisite for self-preser- 
 vation in the lawless period here described. 
 
126 CATHERINE. 
 
 " Howel ab Rhys did draw a draught* upon Ievan ab 
 Robert, and sent a brother of his, to lodge over nighte at 
 Keselgyvarch, to understand which way Ievan ab Robert 
 meante to go next daye, who was determined to shoote a 
 matche with John ab Meredith's children, at Llanvihangel y 
 Pennant, f not farre from John ab Meredith's house. This 
 being understood, the spie, Howel ab Rhys' s brother, slips 
 away in the night, to his brother, and lets him know where 
 he should lay for him. j Now had Howel ab Rhys provided 
 a butcher for the purpose, that should have murthered him ; 
 for he had directions from Howel to keepe himself free, and 
 not to undertake any of the company untill he saw them in a 
 medley, and every man fighting. Then was this chardge 
 [given to him], to come behind the tallest man in the com- 
 pany (for otherwise he knew him not, being a stranger), and 
 to knocke him downe ; for Howel ab Rhys sayd — ' thou 
 shalt soone discerne him from the rest by his stature, and 
 he will make way before him. There is aJbsterbrother of 
 his, one Robin ab Inko, a little fellow/ that usefh to watch 
 him behinde ; take heede of him; /for be the/encountre 
 never soe hot, his eye is ever on his fosterbrother.' "§ 
 
 Catherine, the subject of our memoir, in t}te next passage 
 makes her appearance ; and a most viYid^picture our ancient 
 historian draws of this affectionate and energetic matron, in 
 contrast with her sullen, dogged, determinedly murderous 
 brother. Although she was uninformed of the intended 
 murder, yet, having just parted with her husband, and on 
 her return homeward meeting her brother, his deadly enemy, 
 
 * Draw a draught is a phrase frequently used by this author, and imports 
 arranging a stratagem ; or as some of our old dramatists have phrased a similar 
 idea, " hatched a plot." 
 
 f Llanvihangel y Pennant, St. Michael the archangel of the brook-head. 
 
 % Way-lay, to murder him. 
 
 , '' § This a powerful illustration of the affection between foster-brethren ; and 
 the love of the foster-parents towards the child whom they had nursed, was, if 
 possible, greater still. To understand this long obsolete fostering system, it is 
 to be observed, the custom was for an infant of the " great house" of the 
 locality to be sent to a neighbouring farmer's, or some such person,- to be nursed, 
 or fostered, where it was brought up among their own children, and the little 
 stranger became the pet of the whole family. The love between these foster- 
 parents and their children towards the fostered child, thence took its deepest 
 root ; and was through life a binding tie of the dearest regard between the rich 
 and poor of olden times in Wales, that is scarcely conceivable in our days. 
 
CATHERINE. 127 
 
 riding with his emissaries at full speed after him and his 
 company, as if in pursuit, her womanly loving nature intui- 
 tively discovered his peril ; and in her terrible apprehensions 
 she was stirred to the most heart-touching expostulations, 
 which she made to avert the dreaded rencontre. 
 
 *' Ievan ab Robert, accordinge as he was appointed, went 
 that morning with his ordinary company towards Llanvi- 
 hangel to meete John ab Meredith. You are to understand 
 that in those dayes, and in that wilde worlde, every man 
 stoode upon his guarde, and went not abroad but in sorte and 
 soe armed, as if he went to the field to encountre with his 
 enemies. Howel ab Rhys's sister, being Ievan ab Robert's 
 wife, went a mile, or thereabout, with her husband and the 
 company, talking with them, and soe parted with them; 
 and in her way homewards, she met her brotherjm horse- 
 backe, with a grete companie of people armed, riding after 
 her husbande as fast as they coulde. On this she ciied out 
 upon her brother, and desired him, for the love of God, not 
 to harme her husbande, who meant him no harme; and 
 withall steps to his horse, meaning to have caught him by 
 the bridle, which he seeing, turned his horse about. She 
 then c aught the horse by the taile, hanging upon him soe 
 long, and crying upon her brother, that in the end he drew 
 out his short sword, and strucke at her arme. "Which she 
 perceiving, wasiaineto lett slippe her hold, and running 
 before him to a narrow passage, whereby he must passe 
 through a brooke where there was a footbridge neare the 
 forde : she then steppes to the footbridge and takes away the 
 canllaw* or handstay of the bridge, and with the same letts 
 flie at her brother ; and if he had not avoyded the blow, 
 she had strucke him downe from his horse. — Furor arma 
 ministrat.'' 
 
 s. The diabolical murder, cunningly as it was concerted, 
 utterly failed of execution ; but brought destruction on the 
 wretched instrument employed to carry it into effect through 
 the watchful affection of the fosterbrother of the intended 
 victim. But we shall give the details in the words of our 
 old Welsh historian. 
 
 * The top rail of the side fence of a rustic bridge. 
 
128 CATHERINE* 
 
 " Howel ab Rhys and his companie, withine a mile ovef- 
 tooke levari ab Robert and his followers, who turned heade 
 upon him, though greatlie overmatched. The bickering 
 grew verie hott, and manie were knocked downe of either 
 side. In the ende, when thatt shoulde be performed which 
 they came for, the murthering butcher haveing not strucke 
 one stroake all day, but watching opportunity, and finding 
 the companie more scattered than at first from Ievan ab 
 Robert, thrust himselfe among Ievan ab Robert's people 
 behiude, and, makeing a blow at him, was prevented by 
 Robin ab Tnko, his fosterbrother, and knocked downe ; 
 God bringing upon his head the destruction that he meant 
 for another : which Howel ab Rhys perceiving, cryed to his 
 people, ' let us awaie and begone ; I had given chardge that 
 Robin ab Inko should have been better looked unto :' and 
 soe that bickering brake with the hurte of manie, and the 
 deathe of that one man." 
 
 Another instance of the savage depravity of these times is 
 given in the next passage of Sir John Wynnes history, 
 detailing the murder of the parson of Llanvrothen by the 
 machinations of the ferocious wife of Howel ab Rhys, 
 which was referred to in another part of this memoir. 
 
 " It fortuned anon after, that the parson of Llanvrothen* 
 tooke a childe of Ievan ab Robert's to foster, which sore 
 grieved Howel ab Rbys's wife, her husbande haveing then 
 more lande in that parish than Ievan ab Robert ; in revenge 
 whereof she plotted the death of the said parson in this 
 manner. She sente a woman to aske lodgeing of the parson, 
 who used not to deny any,~\ The woman being in bed, after 
 midnight, began to strike and to rave ; whereupon the 
 parson, thinking that she had been distracted, awakeing out 
 
 * Llanvrothen is a small village in Merionethshire, situated near the Traeth- 
 mawr sands. 
 
 t The diabolical nature of the woman may be conceived from this circum- 
 stance ; the benevolent trait in the character of this hospitable Welsh parson 
 became the snare that ensured his destruction. '« He used not to deny any ;" a 
 simple but ^ffectingly comprehensive expression, that forcibly reminds us of 
 Goldsmith's beau ideal of a country parson, 
 
 " His house was known to all the vagrant train, 
 He chid their wanderings but relieved their pain." 
 
 Deserted Village. 
 
CATHERINE. 129 
 
 of his sleep, and wondering at so suddaine a crie in the 
 night, made towards her, and his household also ; then she 
 vowed with great vehemence, that he soughte to take undue 
 freedome with her, and soe gott out of doores, threatening 
 revenge to the parson. This woman had her brethren, 
 three notable rogues, of a vile crew, fit for any mischief, 
 being followers of Howel ab Rhys. In a morning these 
 brethren watched the parson, as he went to look to his cattle, 
 in a place in that parish called Gogo yr Llechwin, being 
 tiow a tenement of mine, and there murthered him. Two 
 of them fled to Chirkeland, in Denbighshire, and some to 
 the Trevors, who were friends or of a kinne to Howel ab 
 Rhys or his wife. It was the manner in those dayes, that 
 the murthereronelv, he that gave the death-wound, should 
 flye, which was called in Welsh Llawrudd, which is, a red 
 handg, because he h ad blouded his hand e : the accessaries 
 and abbettors to the murtherers were never harkened (sought) 
 after.'' 
 
 The following account of the apprehension and punish- 
 ment of the " Llawnid d." or red-ha nds, is strikingly inter- 
 esting. It describes a state of things once common to all 
 the countries of Europe, and to Italy especially, in later 
 times, when the powerful outlaw was in reality the despotic 
 sovereign of his own locality. Supported by his own bands, 
 the " captaine of the country,'' as Sir John Wynn calls the 
 Welsh freebooter, he raised his contributions when and 
 where he pleased, defended his most guilty friends against 
 the law of the land, and the wrath of rival outlaws, and 
 made war to the death on those whose possessions he 
 covetted, or whose persons he disliked. 
 
 " In those dayes, in Chirkeland and Oswaldstreland,* two 
 sects, or kindred (clans), contended for the soveraignty of 
 the countrie, and were at contintiall strife one with another : 
 the Kyffins and the Trevors. They had their alliance, par- 
 tisans, and friends in all the countreys round thereabouts, to 
 whome, as the manner of the time was, they sente such of 
 their followers as committed murther or manslaughter, 
 
 * Now called Oswestry ; it adjoins Chirkeland, where the Trevors continue 
 still to be a very considerable family. 
 
1 30 CATHERINE. 
 
 which were safely kept as very precious jewellg; and they 
 received the like from their friendes. These kinde of people 
 were stowed in the day time in chambers in theire houses, 
 and in the night they went to the next wine house that 
 belonged to the gentleman, or to his tenants houses, not 
 farre off, to make merry, or to wench. Meredith ab Howel 
 ab Moris, in those dayes chiefe and leader of the sect of the 
 Kyffins, was a kinne to levan ab Robert, and in league with 
 him, to whome he sente to desire him to draw a draught to 
 catch those murtherers ; who sente him worde that he 
 shoulde come privately into Chirkelande onely accompanied 
 with but six, and he made noe doubt to deliver the mur- 
 therers into his handes. As levan ab Robert was in his 
 way going thither, passing by Ty yn y Rhos,* being a wine 
 house, standing in Pendryn Deydraeth, Howel ab Rhys's 
 wife being in the house said to the people that were with 
 her, ' yonder goeth levan ab Robert,' Hwyr y dial ev ei 
 dadwaeth, which is as much as to say ' that he would not in 
 haste be revenged of the wrong done to his foster.' Being 
 come to Chirkelande he abode there manie dayes in secret 
 and unseen, sleeping in the day, and watching all night. In 
 the ende, with the helpe of his friendes, he caught the two 
 murtherers, whome he had no sooner in hand but the crie 
 did rise, the Trevors to their friendes , and the Kyffins to their 
 leaders. To the latter of these cries Meredith ab Howel 
 ab Moris resorted, who told levan ab Robert that it was 
 impossible for him to carry them out of the country to any 
 place to have judiciall proceedings against them, by reason 
 that the faction of the Trevors woulde lay the way and nar- 
 row passages of the countrie, and if they were brought to 
 Chirke castle gate to receive the triall of the countrie lawes, 
 it was lawefull for the offender's friendes, whosoever they 
 were, to bring five poundes for everie man for a fine to the 
 lord, and to acquit them, soe it were nott in cases of 
 treason. A damnable custome used in those dayes, in the 
 lordship's marches, which was used alsoe in Mawddwy, untill 
 the new ordinance of Wales, made in the seven and twen- 
 tieth yeare of Henery VIII. Hereupon levan ab Robert 
 
 * Ty yn y Rhos, t. e., house on the common. 
 
CATHERINE. 131 
 
 commanded one of his men to strike off their heads, which 
 the fellow doing faintlie, the offender tolde him that if he had 
 his necke under his sworde, he would make it take better 
 edge than he did : so resolute were they in those dayes and 
 in contempt of death — whereupon Ievan ab Robert, in a rage 
 stepping to them, strucke off their heads." Thus two out 
 of the three murderers met their fate ; and as we shall soon 
 see, the third did not escape. 
 
 We have more, in the next passage, on the "goodlie 
 personage" of Ievan ab Robert, the husband of our Cathe- 
 rine ; he must have been almost gigantic in stature, and a 
 fair match for his contemporary Sir Richard Herbert, the 
 celebrated Yorkist commander, had it been their lot ever to 
 meet in battle. The perseverance with which he followed 
 up this adventure, sleeping in caves, or wherever he could 
 conceal himself by day, and searching out the murderers by 
 night, cost no trifling bodily fatigue and suffering, it would 
 appear by the latter part of this passage. 
 
 " Davydd Llwyd ab Griffith Vychan, grandchild to Ievan 
 ab Robert, in his youth- waited upon Hugh, son to Mr. 
 Robert ab Rhys, at Cambridge, elected Abbot of Conway 
 by his father's procurement, in his minoritie. He being at 
 Plas Iolon,* at the house of Mr. Robert ab Rhys, an old 
 woman that dwelt there tolde him that she had seene his 
 grandfather Ievan ab Robert at that house, both in goeing 
 and comeing from his voyage into Chirkeland, and that he 
 was the tallest and goodliest man that ever she had seene^— \ 
 for sitting at the fire upon t he spur ,t the hinder parte of his -^ 
 heade was to be seene over the spur, which she never saw to *N 
 any other man. She also said, that in his returne from 
 Chirkeland she saw Lowry, daughter of Howe], Rhys ab N 
 Meredith's wife, his kinswoman, wash his eyes with white 
 wine, being bloudshot by long watching/' 
 
 The destruction of the third and last of the murderers of 
 the parson of Llanvrothen is next narrated ; which event 
 made Ievan ab Robert's expedition into Chirkeland, upon the 
 
 * Plas Iolyn is in Denbighshire, not far from Gelar and Voelas : it belongs to 
 the Middletons of Chirke castle. 
 
 t Pronounced spear; the high-backed oaken settle once common to the bet- 
 ter sort of farm-houses. — ' 
 
132 CATHERINE. 
 
 whole, a very complete adventure, unique in its details, and 
 unsurpassed for its ultimate poetic justice, by the most 
 elaborate of our tales of fiction. 
 
 " Ievan ab Robert, in his returne from Chirkeland, riding 
 home to his house by Gail Lg Morva-h ir,* by moonshine 
 (the tide in Traeth-niawr giveing him noe sooner passage, 
 talking with his men carelessly, and out of danger as he 
 imagined), suddainlie lighted an arrowe shot amongst them 
 from the hill side, which was then full of wood. On this 
 they made a stande, and shot wholly, all seven, towards 
 the place from whence the other arrowe came, with one 
 of which arrowes of theirs, shot soe at random, they killed 
 him that shot at them — being the third brother of the 
 murtherers." 
 
 This triumphant achievement of Ievan ab Robert's, in the 
 destruction of these pestilent wretches, as miglit be expected, 
 excited the highest resentment in the family of his brother- 
 in-law. The history states that " Howel ab Rhys, and es- 
 peciallie his wife, boyling in revenge, drew another draught 
 against Ievan ab Robert in this manner. Ievan ab Robert's 
 mother was of the house of Even-mel-goed, in the county of 
 Cardigan, and sister to Rhytherch ab Ievan LIo3 r d, then, and 
 yet, the greatest family in that countie." ****** 
 [Here an omission of a few lines in copying the original 
 MS. leaves us at a loss to discover what Ievan ab Robert's 
 maternal family had to do with what follows. However, a 
 little consideration makes the matter clear enough.] It 
 would appear that these Cardiganshire relatives of his had 
 sent to him, for his safe keeping and protection, certain par- 
 tisans and followers of theirs who had been implicated in 
 some of the dreadful feuds of the day, and sought conceal- 
 ment from justice. Thus hiding away in the premises of 
 Ievan ab Robert, they stood as known outlaws and mur- 
 derers, precisely on the same footing with the emissaries of 
 Howel ab Rhys, whom his brother-in-law had caused to be 
 executed at Chirkeland. But here we return to our old 
 historian again. 
 
 » Gallt or Allt, is a wooded precipice, or hill side, and Morva-hir the long 
 marsh ; the whole implying the hill-side wood by the long marsh. 
 
CATHERINE. 133 
 
 '* It hath before been mentioned to have been customary 
 in Chirkeland and other parts of Wales, for the jLlawr,udds 
 [red-hands], to resorte to the most powerfull of th e gentry, 
 where they were kepte v ery_choicely . Howel ab Rhys, 
 understanding that Ievan ab Robert and his people had 
 occasione to goe to Carnarvon assiz es, thought it a fit 
 time [a fair opportunTtyj by force to enter his house, and 
 apprehend all those [under his protection], and to bring 
 them to Carnarvon to be hanged ; for there were none of 
 them but stoode outlawed of murfher. To this end, to 
 strengthen himselfe in his purpose, he sent for David ab 
 Jenkin, his cousin-german, then a fam£u§mitlawe in the 
 rocke of Carreg y walch, with his crew and followers to 
 assist him, and suddainlie came in a morning to the hall of 
 Ievan ab Robert's house, where they were in the outhouses 
 about, and stowed in upper chambers, in the lower end of 
 the hall, and none to be seen." 
 
 Some details of this hreak-of-day attack on the house of 
 Ievan ab Robert differ a little in the relation in the different 
 editions of the " History of the Gwyder Family." In one, 
 it is stated that the watcher on the Garreg ("the highest 
 rock in the vicinity of the house) announced the approach 
 of the hostile party ; and in the next instant they rushed 
 forward, broke down the court gate, and commenced batter- 
 ing the outer door of the mansion. It happened most fortun- 
 ately for the family that this especial morning was devoted 
 by the careful mistress of the habitation, thejady Catherine, 
 for that useful piece of domestic housewifery mead-brewing. 
 Unlike our lie-a-bed modern mistresses, in theTFIghTgood 
 spirit of the olden day, the wife of Ievan ab Robert was 
 personally superintending the distilling process of that 
 important convivial beverage, and might be seen this event- 
 ful morning, passing to and fro, giving orders to her maids, 
 among the steaming vats and seething cauldrons. Sud- 
 denly the ominous warning of the watcher struck upon her 
 ear, and in the consequent agitation dissipated all further 
 thoughts of her present occupation in the thrilling and all- 
 absorbing consideration how the house was to be defended. 
 In the next instant the tumultuous rush, shouts, and batter- 
 
134 CATHERINE. 
 
 ing of the assailants came nearer and louder. The destruc- 
 tion of the court gate by the sledge hammers and axes of the 
 foe, as might be expected, was scarcely an instant's impedi- 
 ment to their destructive march, and their loud shouting and 
 thundering at the outer door of the mansion immediately 
 followed. The lady of Ievan ab Robert on the first notice 
 of danger had sent one of the girls to r ouse the sleep ing men 
 in the different parts of jfchfc house, few as they were in num- 
 ber, many having accompanied her husband to Carnarvon ; 
 while another hearty lSss was put to ring the alarm bell with 
 her whole strength of arm and body. In'the meantime, 
 with the coolness and intrepidity of a practised leader, she 
 gave her instructions to the rest of the fair ministers of the 
 jmea d brew ery, how they were to turn warriors on the occa- 
 sion, and with such_weapons as never before or since has 
 been used for attack or defence. In an instant every female 
 followed their mistress, each bearing a^^n_jyi,ojLthaJjQiling 
 mead-wort, ready to salute the first intruder. As the inner 
 door flew to splinters under the ponderous blows of the 
 assailants, and the foremost of the enemy crossed the 
 threshold, while wondering to see none but women to 
 oppose them, each had dashed in his face a vessel full of the 
 scalding fluid prepared for his reception. Those behind, 
 ignoranT oF the impediment to their intrusive ingress, 
 pushed forward T and received similar compliments the mo- 
 ment they exhibited their faces, land quickly dropped on 
 their prostrate companions who, on the floor, were wjrjjLhmg 
 and roaring with excessive torture. The maidens who had 
 retrea ted in good order, under the instructions of their un- 
 daunted mistress, immediately returned to the charge with 
 pans refilled with the steaming mead, and discharged them 
 as before with similar effect in the faces of the assailants, 
 which for a while prevented their advances m.aujiyards into 
 the interior of the dwelling. Happily at this time the sleep- 
 ing men having been roused from their heavy slumbers, now 
 came armed to the attack, and relieved the fair combatants 
 from their toil and peril. The ever-wakeful genius of the 
 lady Catherine, fatigued as she was, did not limit her exer- 
 tions to what we have related — for as we learn from Sir John 
 
CATHERINE. 1 35 
 
 Wynn's history, that the alarm was given out of doors, far 
 and near, which brought assistance to the defenders of the 
 house; all the men within being engaged, the information 
 could be conveyed only through the agency of the females, 
 one of whom, it is probable, was dispatched by her mistress 
 for the purpose through the rear of the mansion . But the 
 rest of the narrative of this memorable attack and defence of 
 Ievan ab Robert's house we give in the words of our old 
 historian. 
 
 "These p eople of Ievan ab Robert 's that were in the 
 hajj [those first up] raysed a crie, and betooke themselves to 
 their weapons ; whereupon the o utlawes aw aked, and alsoe 
 betooke themselves to their weapons, and bestirred them- 
 selves handsomely. The hpjisewas_^ajsalted with all force, 
 and pierced in divers places, but was well defended by those 
 that were within : for having made diverse breaches, they 
 durst not enter ; a few resolute men being able to make a 
 breach good against manie. Upon this the crie of the coun- 
 try did rise, and Ievan ab Robert's tenants and friendes as- 
 sembled in greate numbers (whereof Robert ab Inco was 
 captaine), who fought with the besiegers, and in the ende 
 with their arrowes did drive them from one side of the house, 
 who continually moved round and assembled the other side. 
 After they Ijad continued all that da y, and all the following 
 pjght^ in that manner, the next morning, seeing they could 
 prevayle little to enter the house, they came to a parley with 
 Robin ab Inco, who advised them to begone in time : * for, 
 said he, as soon as the water of Traeth-mawr will give 
 leave,* Ievan Krach, my master's kinsman, will be here with 
 his Ardydwy men, and then you shall be all slayne.' This 
 Ievan Krach was a man of greate accounte in those dayes in 
 Ardydwy,f an( * dwelt at Gaily- lydan, in the parish of 
 Maen-turog. Whereupon they gave over their enterprize, 
 and returned to Bron-y-voel, to Howel ab Rhys his house ; 
 when the outlawe David ab Jenkin advised his cosen Howel 
 to take his brother-in-law Ievan ab Robert for his friende 
 and neighbour. * For, said he, I will not come with thee to 
 
 • Meaning as soon as the tide would permit him to cross. 
 t Ardyd wy is a Hundre d in the N. W. of Merionethshire. 
 l2 ~~~ 
 
1 36 CATHERINE. 
 
 invade this man's house when he is at home, seeing I finde 
 such hot resistance in his absence.' " In this last allusion, 
 it is probable that he more particularly referred to the 
 'scalding mead by which his first advances were so signally 
 defeated. 
 
 The affectionate meeting of Ievan ab Robert and his 
 heroic wife on his return from Carnarvon assizes may be 
 easily conceived. She had not only been the means of de- 
 fending his household, but utterly baffled the aim of his ad- 
 versary to wound his pride, and obtained for her husband 
 one more triumph over his implacable enemy, although that 
 enemy was her own brother. 
 
 It is by no means difficult to conceive the state of animo- 
 sity between two such females as the wives of Howel ab 
 Rhys and Ievan ab Robert, for very different was the cha- 
 racter of Catherine to that of her brother's mischief-brewing 
 wife. If the former may be allowed to stand as the 
 "Boadicea" of private life of those days, the latter has her 
 full claim to a criminal parallel with Cartismandua, of cruel 
 and treacherous memory. Catherine ever aimed to avert 
 evil, while her opponent " nursed her wrath" till it teemed 
 with deadly bitterness, and overflowed in deeds of blood- 
 shed, as in the heinous case of the murder of the parson of 
 Llanvrothen. 
 
 It was soon after this spirited defence of her household 
 that Catherine departed this life, doubtless to the deep 
 regret of her admiring contemporaries ; and most especially 
 of her husband and children, to whom such a woman must 
 have been singularly dear, in those noblest of feminine cha- 
 racters — a good wife and mother. 
 
 It was a short space after the Yorkist earl of Pembroke 
 made his destructive visit to North Wales, the plague came 
 to aid his desolating march, and in the flower of his life, the 
 thirty-first year of his age, carried off Ievan ab Robert, at his 
 house at Caselgyvarch. He had married a second time, and 
 left three children by his first,, and as many by his second 
 wife ; but his death entirely ended the strife between his 
 survivors and the fierce, restless family of Howel ab Rhys, 
 his brother-in-law. 
 

 CATHERINE, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF ROBIN VAUGHAN OF DENBIGHLAND, AND WD7E! 
 OF RHYS AB EINEON OF HENBLAS, DENBIGHSHIRE. 
 
 This lady, the cousin of Ievan ab Robert, who, with his 
 wife, figures in the preceding memoir, was a gentle contrast 
 to the spirited females of these turbulent times ; and as 
 gentleness in woman is more attractive and winning than 
 any demonstrations of violent passion, although elicited in 
 our own behalf, it is probable that sweet attribute won 
 her kinsman's best regards, and saved her and her family 
 from ruin ; otherwise his public duties must have doomed 
 them to destruction. Catherine was the daughter of Robin 
 Vaughan of Denbighland, and married to a gentleman 
 named Rhys ab Eineon. They resided at Henblas* in 
 Maethbrwd, Denbighshire; and although they were parti- 
 sans of the house of York, and Ievan ab Robert the active 
 adherent of the Lancastarians, the latter allowed the do- 
 mestic affections to predominate over his politics. In 
 his terrible and destructive visit to their neighbourhood, 
 while the dwellings of the friends of York blazed, and their 
 inmates fled to the mountains, or perished by the sword or 
 fire, the domicile of his gentle cousin Catherine was held 
 sacred, and he even made it his temporary place of sojourn. 
 As a stern picture of the ferocity of the times, and the re- 
 lentless cruelty of that memorable civil war, and to exhibit 
 the danger which this family escaped, from the interest of 
 Catherine with her cousin, we quote the following from Sir 
 John Wynn's " History of the Gwydirf Family: "— 
 
 " The warrs of Lancaster and Yorke, beginning this sum- 
 mer, made Ievan ab Robert forgetfull of his promise to 
 redeems the hnds ; for in the time of that civill warre land 
 
 * Henblas signifies old-place. 
 
 t The name of Gwydir is derived from Gwaed-dir, signifying "bloody land," 
 from the mansion being built near the spot where a bloody battle was fought, in 
 the year 592, between the sons of Howel Dda and Ievan and Iago, two sons of 
 Edwal Voel, who had usurped the sovereignty of North Wales. The house 
 was erecled about tbe year 1558, by John Wynne ab Meredith. 
 
138 
 
 CATHERINE. 
 
 was not ought worth, neither was it redeemed during his 
 life. In those warrs Ievan ab Robert ab Meredith, even in 
 the sixth of Edward the Fourth, with David ab Jenkin and 
 other captaines of the Lancastarian faction, wasted with fire 
 and sword the suburbs of the town of Denbigh. In revenge 
 of this Edward the Fourth sent Willliam, earle of Pembroke, 
 with a great army to waste the mountaine countreys of 
 Carnarvon and Merionethshire, and take the castle of Hard- 
 lech (held then by David ab Eineon for the two earles, 
 Henry, earle of Richmond, and Jasper,* earle of Pembroke), 
 which garle did execute his chardges to the full, as witnesseth 
 this Welsh rime — 
 
 'Hardlech a Dinbech pob dor 
 
 Yn cunnev, 
 Nantconway yn farwor 
 
 Mil a phedwarcant mae lor 
 A thrugain ag wyth rhagor.' " 
 
 Translation — At Harddlech and Denbigh every house was 
 in flames, and Nantconwy in cinders — one thousand four 
 hundred (years) from our Lord, and sixty-eight more. 
 
 " In that expedition Ievan ab Robert lay one night at the 
 house of Rhys ab Eineon, at Henblas, who married his cosen 
 Catherine, daughter of Robin Vaughan ; and setting forth 
 very early, before day, unwittingly carried upon his finger 
 the wrestf of his cosen* s harpe, whereon (as it seemeth) he 
 had played over night, as the manner was in those days, to 
 bring himselfe asleepe. This he returned by a messenger, 
 unto his cosen, with this message withall, that he came not 
 into Denbighland to take from his cosen as much as the 
 wrest of her harpe: whereby it appeareth that by his 
 means neither her house, nor any of her goods were burnt, 
 wasted, hurt, or spoyled. Thus both her houses, Henblas 
 and Brynsyllty escaped the earl Herberte's desolation, 
 though the same consumed the whole burrough of Llanrwst, 
 and all the vale of Conway besides, to cold coals (cinders)* 
 
 * England had a duplicate set of nobles in those days, one of the Yorkist, and 
 the other of the Lancastarian side. As the king of either party prevailed, hia 
 followers displaced those who held their estates and titles. In this instance we 
 have two earls of Pembroke at the same time ; William Herbert under the 
 house of York, and Jasper Tudor of the Lancastarian side ; the former having 
 received his honours from Edward the IV. and the latter from Henry VI. 
 
 t The wrest of a harp is the hollow iron with which the strings are tuned; 
 this term is still used by the harpsichord tuners for an instrument which they 
 use for the same purpose. — Note by the Eon. Dairies Barrington. 
 
idf 
 
 CATHERINE OF FRANCE, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF CHARLES VI. OF FRANCE, QUEEN OF HENRY V. 
 OF ENGLAND, AND AFTERWARDS WIFE OF OWEN TUDOR, 
 FOUNDER OF THE ROYAL RACE OF TUDOR. 
 
 Catherine, the youngest daughter of Charles •VI. of 
 France and Isabella of Bavaria, was born in 1401. Her 
 elder sister Isabella, had been married to Richard II. of 
 England at seven years of age ; and on the murder of that 
 unhappy king, in 1400, she was detained in honourable 
 custody by the usurper of his throne Henry IV., perhaps the 
 youngest widow and queen-dowager on record, being then 
 only eleven years old. The court of France repeatedly 
 demanded the liberation and return of the young queen ; 
 but instead of acceding to their desires, Henry made over- 
 tures to the royal family of France to have her married to 
 his son, the prince of Wales, afterwards king Henry V. 
 Avoiding a positive refusal, they evaded his desire as long 
 as possible ; " for," says Rapin, «' neither Charles's brother 
 nor uncles would ever consent to it, not being able to 
 think of marrying the young queen to a prince whose father 
 was generally reckoned the murderer of her first husband. 
 They alleged, however, another reason for declining it ; 
 namely, that her father not being in a condition to manage 
 his affairs, they durst not treat of his daughter's marriage 
 without his consent.* A second reason why Henry deferred 
 
 * Her father being at this time insane ; the cause of his insanity (whence 
 the mental imbecility of his grandson Henry VI. of England) is thus related 
 by the French historians. "As the king was marching at the head of his 
 army, to subdue and arrest a criminal baron, when he entered the forest of 
 Mans, a man clothed in white, and of a hideous aspect, suddenly sprang from a 
 thicket, and seizing his horse's head, exclaimed, ' advance no farther— thou art 
 betrayed oh king !" ' Thiers observes, " such an incident was scarcely needed to 
 turn so weak a brain as that of Charles VI." He became raging mad. Having 
 recovered some time afterwards, he relapsed into derangement at the end of a 
 masked ball, in which his clothes caught fire. It was in vain that a pretended 
 magician came forth to cure him : he remained demented with lucid intervals 
 throughout his life. 
 
140 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 Isabella's restitution was, because he knew the money 
 Richard received with her would be demanded. However, 
 as he had no plausible pretence to detain her, he consented 
 at last to restore her with part of her jewels.* 
 
 When Henry V. came to the chrone, instead of repeating 
 the demand of Isabella, his pride perhaps being hurt at the 
 former evasion or refusal, he sought her younger sister 
 Catherine for his future queen. Henry's first introduction 
 to Catherine was in France, on May 29th, 1419, during the 
 negociations between the English and French commissioners, 
 respecting the terms on which the conqueror of Agincourt 
 consented to arrest hostilities between the two countries — 
 Rapin relates the matter thus — " The court of France being 
 at Pontoise, Henry came to Mante in order to be near the 
 place of conference. From these two towns it was that the 
 two courts repaired every day to the place appointed. 
 The first day the queen of France brought the princess 
 Catherine her daughter, with whom Henry was charmed. 
 The effect of this first sight being very visible, the queen 
 believed she should inflame the desires of the prince by not 
 letting her daughter appear any more. Henry soon perceived 
 her design. He found the princess was to serve for a decoy 
 
 * Bapin remarks, " he (Henry IV.) managed so artfully, that in the conven- 
 tions made at Lelingham, there was no mention of restoring her treasure ; 
 that became the subject of another negotiation." As queen Isabella's dowry and 
 jewels became the fruitful source of disputation between the two kingdoms, a 
 statement of the particulars will not be uninteresting. Richard's second mar- 
 riage was with Isabella of France, in 1396, solemnized under splendid tents, 
 raised between Andres and Calais, where the respective courts met and vied 
 with each other in magnificence, and where the treaty for a twenty-eight years' 
 trace between England and France was signed. Richard is said to have ex- 
 pended on this occasion three hundred thousand marks, " a sum," says Rapin, 
 " far exceeding that of two hundred thousand marks, which he received in de- 
 duction, of what was promised him with Ms queen." In 1402, the French 
 ambassadors again demanded the restitution of queen Isabella's dowry and 
 jewels, but were quickly silenced when the English ambassadors, as instructed 
 by the wily Bolinbroke, made reply, " that their master would doubtless agree 
 to deduct that sum out of the million and a half of crowns, still due to England, 
 for the ransom of their king John (taken prisoner by Edward III. at Poictiers)." 
 In the project of a treaty with Henry V., in the year 1419, the following article 
 appears :— " The king of England shall repay the six hundred thousand crowns 
 given to Richard II. in part of the eight hundred thousand promised with qtieen 
 Isabella ; and, moreover, four hundred thousand for that princess's jewels 
 detained in England, to which ' Harry of Monmouth,' replied with humorous 
 bluntness, ' the king is willing that this article be allowed out of the arrears 
 due for king John's ransom. However he is surprised at the demand of four 
 hundred thousand crowns for queen Isabella's jewels, when they were not worth 
 a quarter of that sum.' " It is to be remembered that the gallant Henry married 
 Catherine without either dowry or jewels ; the sovereignty of France, according 
 to treaty, being his after her father's death. 
 
CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 141 
 
 to ensnare him. But to frustate the queen's expectation, he 
 told the duke of Burgundy, it might be depended upon, he 
 would never quit his arms till he had the king and the 
 princess his daughter in his power, and had expelled him 
 the kingdom in case he opposed it." Thus the common 
 trick of a "managing mother," resorted to by this cunning 
 French queen, was demolished at once and given to the 
 winds by the rough plain dealing of the English king, who, it 
 must be admitted, adopted rather a Petruchio-like style of 
 wooing — and ultimately may be said to have carried his 
 point at the end of his sword. Accordingly, agreeable to 
 the conditions of the treaty of Troyes, he was married to 
 that princess on the 2nd June, 1420 ; Catherine being then 
 in her nineteenth year, and Henry in his thirty-second. 
 She was crowned queen of England in February, 1421, and 
 in the latter part of the same year, she gave birth to a young 
 prince, who afterwards became Henry VI. This was 
 perhaps the most happy, as it certainly was the most 
 brilliant period of the life of Catherine — as she was at the 
 same time queen of England and queen -regent of France. 
 After her marriage both Henry and Catherine passed fre- 
 quently to and fro between England and France — residing 
 for a brief space alternately in each. Rapin states, " in April, 
 1422, Queen Catherine arrived from England, attended by 
 the duke of Bedford, who had left the regency to the duke 
 of Gloucester his brother. The two courts joining at Bois 
 de Vincennes, went from thence soon after to keep the 
 Whitsun holidays at Paris. Henry lodged in the Louvre, 
 and Charles in the palace of St. Pol, where he had but a 
 small court, whilst the regent-king's was numerous and splen- 
 did. On Whitsunday they dined together in public, the two 
 kings and two queens with crowns on their heads." 
 
 All this time Henry was carrying on the war against the 
 French Dauphin ; and " whilst he was pleasing himself with 
 the hopes of a victory that would render him master of all 
 France, he was seized with a flux which obliged him to 
 stay at Senlis." Brilliant as the carreer of Henry had 
 hitherto been, it was destined to be of brief duration ; and 
 he little thought, at the commencement of his illness, that 
 
142 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 he was stricken with the fatal malady that doomed him to 
 an early grave. His fortitude, under the severe pains of his 
 complaint, was as exemplary as his courage in the day of 
 battle. He gave the necessary orders suitable to the 
 emergency of the occasion with his usual calmness; and 
 sent the duke of Bedford to supply his presence, with the 
 required troops to oppose the Dauphin — whose arrange- 
 ments were thereby entirely baffled and destroyed. " Hop- 
 ing his distemper would wear off, after resting a little 
 at Senlis, he took a litter, in which he was carried at the 
 head of his army. But his illnes still increasing, he resolved 
 to return to Vincennes. Convinced at length that there 
 were no hopes of his recovery, and that he was on the point 
 of death, his dying words, amidst his assembled nobles, 
 manifested his intense care for the kingdom's weal, and his 
 tenderness for those most near and dear to him. He 
 coDJured them, for God's sake, to remain in strict union for 
 the service of the infant prince who was going to be their 
 king, to take care of his education, and give the queen all 
 the consolation that lay in their power ', and for which she had 
 so great occasion. This great prince expired on the 31st 
 August, 1422, in the thirty -fourth year of his age, after a 
 triumphant reign of nine years, five months, and eleven days* 
 His body was brought to England and buried amongst 
 his ancestors in Westminster Abbey, with a funeral pomp 
 suitable to the grandeur he enjoyed whilst alive, and to the 
 esteem conceived of him by his subjects."* He was interred 
 at the feet of Edward the Confessor, in a little chapel, since 
 enlarged and beautified with several statues, and fenced with 
 two iron grates by Henry VII. Queen Catherine who was 
 deeply immersed in grief for the loss of a husband as affec- 
 tionately tender towards her as he was illustrious in the 
 nation's eyes for his public virtues, to honour his memory 
 to the best of her power, she caused a tomb of grey marble 
 of exquisite conception and workmanship to be erected 
 over his grave. She also had cast a massy silver gilt 
 image of the deceased prince, in royal attire, said to have 
 
 * Rapin. 
 
CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 143 
 
 been extremely like him,* which was placed on his tomb ; 
 altogether a very touching memorial of conjugal affection, 
 happily combining with the national sympathy, for the loss 
 of one of England's greatest heroes. 
 
 Severely as Catherine was afflicted by the loss of her 
 renowned royal husband, she had yet another blow to en- 
 dure, which she was ill prepared to withstand. On the 21st 
 October of this same year, less than two months after the 
 death of Henry, she had to lament the decease of her father 
 Charles VI. of France, whose long insanity became the 
 source of the most frightful evils to that unhappy land. 
 The position of her native country at this time, in regard 
 of the nation of her adoption, must also have been exces- 
 sively distressing to her ; for her infant son, then only nine 
 months old.f and her brother Charles, late Dauphin, were 
 by their different partisans at the same time proclaimed 
 kings of France. 
 
 Rapin gives the following picture of these times — " whilst 
 the duke of Bedford (protector and uncle of the infant king) 
 was taking all necessary precautions to settle the affairs of 
 his royal nephew, the Dauphin was no less intent upon 
 his. He was at Espaly, a house belonging to the bishop of 
 Puy, when he heard of his father's death. He shed many 
 tears at the news, whether Nature roused herself upon the 
 occasion, or he had really preserved an affection for a father 
 who was not to be blamed for the mischiefs he had done 
 him. The first day he appeared in mourning, but on the 
 morrow put on scarlet, and was proclaimed king of France 
 with all the solemnity the circumstances of his court, and 
 the place he was in, would permit. After that he came to 
 Poictiers, where he had removed the parliament of Paris. He 
 was crowned there in the beginning of November, because the 
 city of Rheims, where the coronation of the kings of France 
 is usually performed, was in the hands of the English. 
 Thus Henry VI. and Charles VII. assumed, both at the 
 
 * "About the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. the head, being of massy 
 silver, was broken off and conveyed away with the plates of silver that covered 
 his trunk, which now only remains of heart of oak." — Rapin's History of England. 
 
 t In the first parliament of the reign of Henry VI. , queen Catherine came 
 and sat among the lords with the infant king in her lap. 
 
 M 
 
144 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 same time, the title of king of France, and disputed with 
 each other the possession of the throne thirty years.'' 
 
 The history of Catherine, from the death of Henry V. to 
 the manhood of her son, must have been that of a queen- 
 mother without a court, in consequence of the war, which 
 kept the nobility of the country so long away ; and perhaps, 
 from the first female in the state, she came to be considered 
 of secondary, if not of third degree importance. We infer 
 this from the circumstances of the duke of Bedford, regent 
 of France, and the duke of Gloucester, protector of the young 
 king, being both married ; and their high and haughty 
 ladies perhaps capable enough, with impunity, of morti- 
 fying the quiet and unassuming Catherine, who appears in 
 all things to have been a happy and amiable contrast to her 
 mischievous and intriguing mother, the queen of France ;* 
 and yet Catherine, as we shall see, was not deficient in 
 spirit when occasion called it forth. 
 
 We have now arrived at the portion of this biography 
 which may fitly be distinguished as the second part of the 
 memoirs of Catherine of France. In the first division of 
 her life, we have seen her surrounded with all the " pomp 
 and circumstance" attendant on her felicitous position, as 
 the daughter of one mighty king, and the honoured wife of 
 a still mightier. We have seen her, from a daughter of 
 France and a crowned queen of England, by the sudden 
 death of her heroic lord, become a queen dowager at the 
 early age of twenty- one ; and from having been " the 
 observed of all observers,'' almost sink into a cypher at the 
 court where she was so lately idolized. That she afterwards 
 evinced the possession of a mind which dared to break 
 through the wretched conventionalities which cast their mist 
 of false seeming around her, and seize on the best realities 
 within her reach appertaining to human happiness ; that 
 she dared to think and act according to her convictions of 
 what is best — these noble instances of true womanhood, 
 
 * Isabella of Bavaria, queen dowager of France, died on the 30th September, 
 1 435. Rapin says, " seeing the prosperity of the king, her son, whom she mortally 
 hated, and the desperate condition of the English, she died at Paris with grief 
 and vexation. She was universally hated by the French, who considered her 
 the principal cause of the ruin of the kingdom." 
 

 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 145 
 
 drew from the minions of the mighty, the parasites of power, 
 the sycophants of place and office, and such palace furniture 
 and machines, nothing but unmerited obloquy, the echoed 
 cant of the heartless and truthless of her day. 
 
 In the year 1427, among the visitors at court, queen 
 Catherine particularly noticed a young gentleman of very 
 handsome features and graceful carriage. Learning that he 
 was a Welshman, his name Q_wp>n Judo r. and that his 
 countrymen were famous for dancing, with the animated 
 gaiety of Frenchwoman, the young queen dowager desired 
 him to dance in her presence. Willing, perhaps, to 
 show off his graces in an accomplishment of which he was 
 reputed to be somewhat masterly, Owen immediately com- 
 plied — and with the utmost animation danced a Welsh jig ; 
 and during its performance met the applause of the sur- 
 rounding ladies, especially of the queen herself. But towards 
 the conclusion of this Welsh specimen of the " poetry of 
 motion," an accident took place of a whimsical description. 
 According to one record, in the course of his evolutions, he 
 trod upon her majesty's toe, and thereby lost his footing and 
 fell ; according to another account, in a turn of over-wrought 
 agility, not being able to recover his equilibrium, the dis- 
 aster we are about to state occurred. But all accounts agree 
 that his fall was lt into the queen's lap as she sat on a low 
 stool with many of her ladies about her." Pughe, in his 
 14 Cambria Depicta" says, " the gracefulness of his manner in 
 making an apology, soon procured him a pardon ; the queen, 
 very pleasantly jesting with him, said, that so far from 
 offending her, it would only increase the pleasure of fcterself 
 and the company if he would repeat the same false step or 
 mistake." 
 
 It is to be inferred from subsequent events, as well as 
 from the statement of different authors, that the queen 
 became deeply in love with him ; and that by private 
 arrangements they afterwards frequently met ; and the 
 upshot of their improved acquaintance was a resolution on 
 the part of Catherine to give her hand in marriage to this 
 private gentleman of Wales. When her majesty's deter- 
 mination to espouse him became known, malignity, envy, 
 
146 CATHERINE OF TRANCE. 
 
 and national prejudice, with every other species of uncharit- 
 ableness, seemed to have formed a combination with the 
 fiends, who came singly, in pairs, and in parties, to buz in 
 her ears that she was about to commit an inconceivable 
 enormity in marrying a Welshman. That a Welshman was 
 but another name for a savage, or barbarian ; one whose 
 claim to a relationship with the human race was more than 
 problematical, and some day or other might very probably 
 be disproved. It was with some such logic as this that the 
 catholic priesthood of Spain denounced Joseph Bonaparte 
 as a one-eyed monster, which eye of fiendish lustre they 
 said he sported in Cyclopean fashion in the centre of his fore- 
 head. Although the Spaniards of Madrid daily saw this 
 handsome brother of the French emperor on horseback 
 riding through the streets with the usual number of eyes 
 set in their accustomed places, none but the heretical and 
 impious dared believe what so plainly appeared contrary to 
 the statements of their confessors — for the good fathers 
 insisted that occular demonstration was by no means to be 
 depended on, but was evidently a delusion caused by the evil 
 one. So the pious people of Madrid, like " good catholics,'* 
 as they were, according to the rules of blind obedience 
 exacted by their church, resigned up their private judgment, 
 and fervently believed that king Joseph bore a most bro- 
 therly resemblance to Polyphemus of old, and execrated 
 him accordingly. Queen Catherine, however, was not so 
 docile towards her informants, nor could she by any means 
 be bothered into a belief that was contrary to the evidence 
 of her senses. 
 
 Preferring her own taste and judgment in a matter that 
 so nearly concerned herself to those of any others, and 
 perceiving Owen Tudor to be a better looking man, more 
 elegant in his motions, and polite in his manners, than nine 
 out of ten of his traducers, settled the matter one fine morn- 
 ing, in the year 1428,* by committing with him the unrecal- 
 able act of matrimony. 
 
 * Some of the recorders of this marriage insinuate that it occurred soon after 
 the death of her first husband, for the obvious purpose of defaming her ; but 
 Halle, the severest of her censurers, admits it was in 1428, after six years* 
 widowhood. 
 
Y^qfvT 
 
 jwr-artW-^Mfc) 
 
 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 147 
 
 Yorke, in his "Royal Tribes of Wales," informs us that 
 " Queen Catherine being a French woman born, the relict of 
 Henry V., knew no difference between the English and the 
 Welsh nations* until her second marriage being published, 
 when Owen Tudor's kindred and countrymen were objected 
 to, to disgrace him as most vile and barbarous ; which made 
 her desire to see some of his kinsmen. Whereupon Owen 
 brought to her John ab Meredith,f and Howel ab Llewelyn, 
 his near cousins, and men of goodly stature and personage, 
 but wholly ignorant of the English language and the easy 
 manners of courtly life ; for when the queen had spoken to 
 them in different languages, and they were not able to 
 answer her, she said they were the goodliest looking dumb 
 creatures that she ever bebeld." 
 
 The different authors who have written of this marriage 
 have done their utmost endeavours to disparage both parties; 
 and as Owen and his Welsh supporters insisted on his 
 descent from ancient British princes, in after time satis- JT" 
 factorily proved,! both the English and French united to <r 
 cast a doubt on the assertion. Rapin says " Catherine of 
 France, who had married Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman, 
 descended, it is said, from the ancient kings of Wales. I do 
 not know whether in those days his descent was much^-' 
 regarded, or was endeavoured to be traced, till after the 
 crown was devolved to the family of the Tudors by the 
 advancement of Henry VII. to the throne. However that 
 be, when queen Catherine espoused Owen Tudor, the 
 marriage appeared so unsuitable that all England was 
 6ffended at it ; and the more, as it was made unknown to the 
 duke of Gloucester, who was then protector. But that 
 
 * This is very improbable, asherftytb^CharlesVI., sent a French army and 
 navy to^assisJuQwen^jQ^^ In 1405 the marshal de 
 
 Montmorency arrived in MUford Haven with a fleet of one hundred and forty 
 sail, and twelve thousand men. It is true Catherine was very young then, but 
 as a matter of history of her own times she must have heard of these stirring 
 events. 
 
 t Of these gallant Welshmen more hereafter in this memoir. 
 
 t When Henry VII. came to the throne, he set this matter at rest for ever by 
 sending commissioners into Wales to examine into the pedigree of his grand- 
 father. They testified the accuracy of Owen's descent from the Welsh princes 
 of most remote antiquity; and proved rather too much than otherwise, as 
 among the records they consulted were those contained in the spurious history 
 concocted by that notorious fabulist Jeffery of Monmouth. 
 
 M 2 
 
148 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 prince's veneration for the memory of the king, his brother, 
 prevented him from giving the queen, his sister-in-law, any 
 trouble." This generous forbearance was worthy of the 
 "good duke Humphrey," whose worth, justice, and great 
 qualities made him the darling of the people of England. 
 Halle, speaking of Catherine says, " who beyng yonge and 
 lusty e, folowying more her owne appetyte than frendlely 
 consaille, and regardying more her privat affectione than her 
 open honor, toke to husbonde privilie (in 1428) a goodlie 
 gentylman and a beautifulle personne, garniged (garnished) 
 with manye goodlye giftes bothe of nature and of grace, 
 callyde Owen Teuther,* a man brought furth and com of 
 the nobyle lignage and aunciente lyne of Cadwalader, the 
 last kynge of the Brittones. ,> 
 
 It is to be regretted that so little is known of the private 
 lives of Owen and Catherine, but there is every reason to 
 believe they lived very happily together ; as their traducers 
 would have been glad enough could they put on record any 
 scandalous anecdote illustrative of the slightest shadow of 
 connubial infelicity between them. Doubtless Catherine 
 made a good exchange of a dull widowhood, attended with 
 all the hollow-hearted formalities of courtly state, for the 
 solid and pure comforts of private life, and the faithful affec- 
 tions of the kindest of husbands, who was also, " unbon- 
 netted"f as he stood, one of the handsomest men, and of the 
 noblest presence in the kingdom. The pictured likenesses 
 of the royal race of Tudor, from the first to the last, hear us 
 out in the latter statement — inferior as they are all supposed 
 to be, compared with their ancestor Owen, who, although 
 noJJnghimself, nor evenknighted till late in life, became 
 the founder of a line of princes the Imb^tnnjeanTSfable and 
 renowned in English history. 
 
 Nine years after this union Owen was destined to lose his 
 amiable consort. Catherine died at the monastery of 
 Bermondsey, in South wark, on the 3rd of January, 1437» 
 
 C* This is an attempt at spelling the name according to the proper Welsh pronun- 
 ciation of it. The correct orthography is Tewdwr ; figurative of a stalwart 
 warrior in the field, signifying stout tower of battle— a tower of strength. The 
 brawny figure of Henry VIII. is a fair illustration of it. 
 t " Unbonnetted," a Shakspearean phrase implying without coronet, or bonnet 
 of state. 
 
CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 149 
 
 in the thirty-sixth year of her age. If the splendour of her 
 obsequies could compensate for the obloquy cast on her 
 while living, and since her death, rarely was there seen so 
 magnificent a funeral. Her corpse lay in state at JBer- 
 mondsey monastery from the 3rd of January to the 18th of 
 February following, set forth and attended with all the 
 pompous ceremonies peculiar to funeral pageants of the 
 church of Rome. From thence a grand procession of the 
 priesthood, in their canonicals, bearing the host and singing 
 requiems, attended the body to St. Catherine's, by the 
 tower of London — from thence to St. Paul's — and so on to 
 Westminster Abbey, where she was interred.* 
 
 By his marriage with queen Catherine, Owen had four 
 children — three sons and a daughter.f His eldest son was 
 Edmund, surnamed of Hatfield, that royal residence having 
 been his birth place. The second son was Jasper — the 
 third Owen — and the daughter bore her mother's name? 
 Catherine. On the death of their mother Edmund and 
 Jasper were placed under the care of an eminent lady, 
 Catherine de la Pole, daughter of Michael de la Pole, earl 
 of Suffolk, and lady abbess of Berking. A petition from 
 her dated 1440 appears on record for the payment of certain 
 money due to her on their account. Notwithstanding the 
 persecution and ultimate neglect which became the lot of 
 Owen Tudor, his children were nobly provided for. Ed- 
 mund of Hatfield was created earl of Richmond, married 
 Margaret, sole daughter of John, duke of Somerset, and 
 became the father of Henry who succeeded him in that 
 earldom, and afterwards known as king Henry VII. Jas- 
 per Tudor was successively created earl of Pembroke and 
 duke of Bedford. | Owen, the youngest son, embraced an 
 
 * When Henry VII. laid the foundation of his new chapel there, her corpse 
 (or rather her coffin) was taken up ; and says Rapin, on the authority of Sandford 
 and Stow, " she was never since buried, but remaineth still above ground, in a 
 coffin of boards, near the sepulchre of Henry V. her first husband." 
 
 t He had also an illegitimate son named Davydd, knighted by king Henry 
 VII., who also took care that his near kinsman should be honourably married, 
 and bestowed on him the hand of Mary, the daughter and heiress of John 
 Bohun of Midhurst, in Sussex, and with her a great inheritance. 
 
 t The reader of English history will be aware that, during the civil wars of 
 York and Lancaster, there were not only two kings, alternately on and off the 
 
150 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 ecclesiastical life in the abbey of Westminster ; and had he 
 lived, might have been destined to a mitre or the scarlet hat 
 of a Cardinal ; but he died in early life, as did also his sister 
 Catherine. 
 
 Alas for Owen Tudor! — splendid and above his sphere as 
 his union with the young widowed queen was deemed, 
 except in his happy intercourse with her during the brief 
 period of their union, little had he to boast of gain in the 
 sum of human happiness by his elevation. Well authen- 
 ticated history informs us, as before noticed, that " the good 
 duke Humphrey/' of Gloucester, had too much veneration 
 for the memory of his deceased royal brother to disturb his 
 widow* for her unsanctioned marriage with Owen Tudor. 
 But Rapin adds, " when she was dead, the council (at the 
 head of whom was cardinal Beaufort) had not the same 
 regard for her second husband. They considered it their 
 duty to punish him for his rashness in daring to espouse the 
 king's mother without the consent of those who governed 
 the kingdom, and ordered him to be imprisoned.f Accord- 
 throne, but two sets of nobles also enjoying and enduring similar fortunes : as 
 each of the sovereigns with their followers prevailed or lost the ascendant, 
 their partisan nobles were elevated or deprived. Thus, on the defeat of the 
 Lancastarians and the success of the arms of York, Jasper Tudor ceased to be 
 earl of Pembroke, as king Edward IV. raised to that rank Sir William Herbert, 
 the eldest son of William ab Thomas of Rhagland castle, and grandson of the 
 celebrated Sir David Gam. When a change ot fortune enabled king Henry VI. 
 to recover his crown, Jasper Tudor also resumed his lost coronet, and ultimately 
 was raised to the dukedom of Bedford. 
 
 * That Gloucester spared him was a sufficient motive for the malignant 
 cardinal of Winchester, who was then chief counsellor to the king, to persecute 
 and oppress him to the utmost of his power. Of this bitter dignitary of the 
 church Rapin says, " the cardinal of Winchester, one of the principal authors of 
 the (Hike of Gloucester's death, enjoyed but one month the satisfaction of his 
 enemy's fall. He is said to die in a sort of a passion, that his riches were not 
 capable of exempting him from the common fate of all mankind, and to see 
 himself thereby on a level with the most miserable. One of the masterly efforts 
 of Shakspeare is the death scene of this demon cardinal, in his historical drama 
 of king Henry VI., when prince Henry witnessing the violent contortions and 
 terrible struggles of his final hour, affectingly entreats him to lift his hand, in 
 token of his dying at peace with the world and in confidence of salvation— seeing 
 Mm expire, exclaims— 
 
 * He dies— and makes no sign !' 
 
 Six words, combining a sentence of the most awful import that ever was con- 
 ceived by poet or uttered by man." 
 
 t During the lifetime of the queen we are told the marriage had been winked 
 a£— notwithstanding that a law had been made after the occurrence of that 
 event enacting that no person, under severe penalties, should marry a queen 
 dowager of England without the special license of the king. 
 
CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 151 
 
 ingly he was seized and committed — not as some writers 
 have affirmed, to the tower, but as if determined to mortify 
 and degrade him, even in the place selected for his incar- 
 ceration, to the common ^ison^of Newg ate. From thence 
 he escaped by tKeassTsfance of his confessor and his servant. 
 He was soon after retaken, and placed in close confinement 
 under the custody of the earl of Suffolk, constable of the 
 castle of Wallingford. His persecutors deeming such cap- 
 tivity too honourable, perhaps, caused him once more to be 
 committed to Newgate — from which he a second time con- 
 trived to escape. The extent of his second confinement is 
 unknown, but it does not appear that he was ever committed 
 to custody again. The death of that great criminal and 
 odious statesman, Beaufort, cardinal of Winchester, his 
 prime enemy, occurring in the year 1447, may be the reason 
 why he was no further molested by the authorities of the 
 time. 
 
 Although we have now passed the boundary of the 
 personal life of Catherine of France, yet, as a portion of the 
 history of her times, it behoves us to cast a glance on the 
 fortunes of her illustrious widower and sons, who in a short 
 space after her decease became actively engaged in the civil 
 wars which broke out between the rival houses of York and 
 Lancaster, that for thirty years after, with brief intervals 
 between, deluged England with blood, almost annihilated 
 the nobles and gentry of the land on both sides, and ended 
 in the battle of Bosworth field ; the result of which was the 
 elevation of her grandson to the throne of England as king 
 Henry VII. 
 
 In the year 1452, king Henry VI. was disturbed in his 
 reign by the open claim to the crown of the duke of York, 
 as the nearest descendant of Richard II., dethroned by 
 Henry IV., the former's grandfather. To strengthen their 
 interest, among other means, the government became aware 
 of the expediency of conciliating the natives of North Wales, 
 and engaging them in their cause by bestowing honours on 
 the race of Tudor — as they saw those of South Wales were 
 notoriously under the influence of the Herberts of Mon- 
 mouthshire devotedly engaged in the service of the house 
 
152 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 of York.* To that end, it was at this time of peril to the 
 reigning dynasty that the two sons of Owen Tudor were 
 ennobled and created earls. As before observed, Edmund 
 became earl of Richmond, and Jasper earl of Pembroke.")" 
 But it seems the olden grudge against their father, though 
 diminished in its asperity, still existed in a subdued degree, 
 as neither title nor favour of any kind was bestowed on 
 Owen at this period. However, in the wars that imme- 
 diately followed, Owen Tudor generously became a zealous 
 partisan of the house of Lancaster, from which he had 
 endured so much persecution, and highly distinguished 
 himself by his valour and conduct. "What rank he held in 
 the army, or by what means he was introduced into military 
 life, is not on record, but it is supposed he fought in the first 
 instance as a volunteer, and won his subsequent promotion 
 by distinguished services. 
 
 Ini;he course of these eventful wars of the Roses, in the 
 year 1460, Owen Tudor was taken prisoner by the Yorkists, 
 and confined in the new castle on the Usk,J where his fate 
 appeared inevitably sealed ; as in this most rentless of civil 
 wars, capital punishment was always the destiny of every 
 prisoner of rank of either party. But an instance of heroism 
 and refined generosity, on the part of his relatives and 
 countrymen of North Wales, is about to be related, which 
 for the present averted his doom, and at the same time it 
 
 * In addition to attachment to their native military leaders the Herberts, 
 the people of South Wales and a portion of those of the North, were biassed, in 
 favour of the cause of York by the consideration that the head of that house, 
 who aimed at the crown, was descended maternally from their own regal race ; 
 one of the Mortimers having married the princess Gwladys Ddu, daughter of 
 Llewelyn ab Iorworth, and aunt of our last native prince Llewelyn ab Griffith, 
 
 'A her memoir in this work. 
 
 f Remarking on this elevation of the sons of Owen Tudor, Pennant states, 
 '• the Welsh, flattered by the honours bestowed on their young countrymen, 
 ever after faithfully adhered to the house of Lancaster." How a writer, gene- 
 rally so accurate, could make such a statement appears strange. It is true that 
 the majority of the people of North Wales became Lancasterians ; and it is 
 equally true that almost all the natives of South Wales, for reasons before stated, 
 -followed the fortunes of the house of York ; and no less than five thousand 
 Welshmen perished on the fatal field of Danesmoor, when their army wa3 
 defeated by the Lancastarians. See the memoir of Ellen Gethin in this work. 
 
 % The New castle on the Usk, was Newport castle, and not Usk castle, as 
 reported by some writers . In fact the Welsh name of Newport is Castell Newydd, 
 or Newcastle. The ruins of this castle, by Newport bridge, have been turned 
 into a brewery these many years past ; and we regret to have witnessed how 
 modern Vandalism has destined a portion of the venerable fortress to be pulled 
 down to facilitate the approach to the new railroad bridge over the Usk. 
 
CATHERINE OP FRANCE. 153 
 
 aids powerfully to falsify the barbarity imputed by Pin- 
 kerton to be inherent and unchangeable in the Celtic race. 
 
 The capture of J3 wen Tudor, his imprisonment in a strong 
 castleTanlnns impending fate were soon known, and created 
 a powerful sensation in North Wales. One hundred gentle- 
 tlemen of that country formed themselves into a band, and 
 volunteered their services to rescue him from his captivity 
 or perish in the attempt. Placing themselves under the 
 command of John ab Meredith, who first inspired them 
 with the idea of this enterprize, they travelled southward 
 with the celerity which the imminent peril of the illustrious 
 captive required, till they reached the new castle on the 
 bank of the river Usk. It has not been stated in what 
 manner they contrived to enter this fortress ; but probably it 
 was either by bribing its guards, or some well-contrived 
 stratagem, for they were neither in sufficient force nor pro- 
 vided with the necessary engines for taking it by storm. 
 However that may have been they succeeded in their object, 
 rescued their countryman, and bore him off in triumph. On 
 their return towards the north, when only four miles from 
 the castle which they had left, and only two miles beyond 
 Caerleon,* they suddenly found themselves opposed by a 
 superior number of their enemies, the partisans of the house 
 of York, drawn up in order of battle, to intercept their 
 retreat. Conceiving the destruction of their small party 
 next to a certainty, with undaunted coolness that reflects 
 immortal honour on the man, John ab Meredith made his 
 arrangements for a sudden and desperate onset, as their only 
 feasible chance of escape appeared to be to cut their way 
 through the midst of their enemies. Placing Howel ab 
 Llewelyn and others, who were the sole heirs of their 
 respective houses, in the rear, and out of the brunt of the 
 attack, whilst all his own sons were drawn out in the van, 
 headed by himself. With an animated countenance, full of 
 daring, hope, and confidence, he addressed to them a few 
 
 * Caerleon was formerly an archi-episcopal British city, a Roman station, 
 and king Arthur's seat of sovereignty — but is now, and has been for centuries a 
 mere village, situated two miles from the town of Newport, in Monmouthshire. 
 Donovan the tourist and others have been very successful in their discoveries of 
 remains of antiquity there, especially of Roman coins and utensils. 
 
1 54 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 inspiring words — he begged of them to remember that 
 their conduct in that hour should be correspondent to the 
 prowess and fame of their ancestors ; " never let it be said," 
 added he, " when pointing to this spot in after times, that 
 here a hundred gentlemen of North Wales fled before their 
 foes ; but rather let the place be ever memorable hereafter 
 as the honoured scene where a hundred north Welsh gentle- 
 men were slain in a noble enterprize before an unequal 
 number of their enemies !" then rushing forward with a 
 shout, imitating his example, they cut a passage through 
 the midst of the Yorkists, and, strange to say, escaped, 
 without losing a man, or suffering any material injury to 
 any of their party except their chief himself. John ab 
 Meredith received a sabre- cut in the face that caused him 
 to be called Squier y graith, the squire of the scar, to his 
 dying day. 
 
 It is supposed to have been immediately after this fortu- 
 nate rescue, in the year 1460, that Henry VI. knighted bis 
 step-father and half-brother. It must have appeared strange 
 to see his two sons, Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond, and 
 Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke, while their father still 
 remained a commoner ; but it has been truly remarked, prior 
 to his knighthood, the goverment took no further notice of 
 Owen than to punish him for marrying the queen. But 
 this honour of well-earned knighthood, slight as it was, 
 considering his position as the widowed consort of the late 
 queen dowager, the half-brother and step-father of the 
 reigning king, and father of two earls, at least preceded 
 similar honours bestowed in after years on his rival country- 
 men, the two Herberts of the south, by Edward IV., although 
 the elder of them afterwards, for a brief period, succeeded 
 to the earldom then occupied by Jasper Tudor. This 
 knighthood, however, was not the only reward which accrued 
 to Owen at this time. He had, as a patent expresses it, 
 "in regard of his good services" a grant of the parks and the 
 "agistment" of the parks in the lordship of Denbigh, and the 
 " wodewardship" of the same lordship awarded to him by the 
 government, as the gift of the crown. 
 
 Late as these honours and acquisitions fell to him, his 
 enjoyment of them was of very brief space. The following 
 
CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 155 
 
 year, the last of his mortal career, became also the harbinger 
 of the downfall and utter extinction of the cause for which 
 he fought. It was now drawing towards the final setting of 
 the astral glories of the house of Lancaster, while the star 
 of York was in the ascendant. The triumphs of both 
 houses were marked with some of the wildest atrocities 
 during the whole of this merciless and inhuman civil war. 
 Queen Margaret having gained the battle of Wakefield, in 
 which the duke of York, the pretender to the throne, was 
 slain, she caused his head, crowned with paper, to be placed 
 over the gates of the city of York ; and the earl of Salisbury, 
 who had the misfortune to be taken prisoner, was beheaded 
 at Pontefract by the command of that remorseless queen, 
 and his head fixed on a pole near the duke of York's.* 
 
 Breathing vengeance against the ferocious queen Mar- 
 garet and her partisans for the death and dishonouring of 
 his father, the earl of March, soon to be known as king 
 Edward IV., gave battle to her generals, Jasper Tudor, earl 
 of Pembroke, and James Butler, earl of Ormond, whom he 
 met at Mortimer's cross, in Herefordshhje, on the 2nd Feb- 
 ruary, 1461. As he was much superior in the number of 
 his army, Edward easily defeated them, and slew three thou- 
 sand eight hundred of their men — principally Welsh and 
 Irish. 
 
 Jasper Tudor, the defeated general in this battle, had the 
 good fortune to escape ; but his father, with the ancient 
 spirit of his countrymen, deeming it dishonourable to take to 
 flight under any circumstances of peril, refused to quit the 
 field, and was wjithjjej^ taken 
 
 prisoner. Being conducted to the city of Hereford, they 
 w^ere soon after JpeheadecL by the stern command of the earl 
 of March, by this victory now became king Edward IV., 
 in revenge for the death of his father and the earl of 
 Salisbury. 
 
 Thus fell the adventurous Welshman Owen Tudor, who, 
 supposing him to have been twenty years of age at the time 
 
 * When Edward IV. won the battle of Towton, on the 29th of March, 1461, 
 he caused the head of his father and the earl of Salisbury to be taken down, 
 and the heads of the earl of Devonshire, the earl of Kyme, and Sir William 
 Hill, to take their places on the city walls. 
 
 N 
 
156 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 of his marriage with queen Catherine, in 1428, was only 
 fifty-three at the period of his death. The end of the reign 
 of Henry VI., and ruin of the house of Lancaster, and 
 consequent exaltation of the family of York immediately 
 followed. Had Owen lived twenty-four years longer, he 
 might have witnessed another instance of political ration, 
 and seen hi s grandson , " Harry of Richmond," on the throne 
 of England in the character of king Henry VII. 
 
 The sjn^ularly r o m an tic origin of the m o^ powerful rac e 
 of sovereign^that eveV swayefl the sceptre of these realms, 
 has always been a subject of curious investigation with all 
 our chroniclers and historians. Narrative, poetry, romance, 
 and even satire,* have respectively drawn their materials 
 
 * The English satirists of olden time found abundant food for their avocation 
 in this subject. One of them pretended that queen Catherine, to appease her 
 tormentors who objected to Owen's respectability, sent commissioners of her 
 own choosing to Wales to visit his mountain home, the farm house of Pen- 
 myuydd, in the island of Anglesea, to gather and report all the information 
 gleanable there. These worthies were said to have been bribed both by Owen 
 and the queen to give a favourable account ; and the former hurried home 
 before them to put all things in their best order previous to their arrival — 
 however they arrived in ^pglesea almost as soon as him. On their entrance into 
 his paternal dwelling his ancient mother was seen sitting by the kitchen fire 
 in her beehive pattern straw arm chair, while a long-bearded, lofty-horned he- 
 goat, that seemed the very patriarch of his mountain race, was seated by her 
 side : doubtless a very formidable and trusty guard, as immediately on the 
 entrance of the strangers, he sprang forward and made head against them in- 
 stanter, butting the foremost of them in the stomach — he knocked him and his 
 followers backward in a heap, and would have pursued his advantage as they 
 rose had not the servants seized and confined him with a rope attached to a 
 staple in the wall, just as a vicious bull-dog is sometimes collared and muzzled 
 in our days. The old lady was taking her dinner of flummery and milk from 
 a wooden bowl with a horn spoon off one of the most primitive of native tables 
 that the early world ever furnished — namely her lap, or knees. The gentleman 
 who acted as secretary accordingly wrote down that they found his venerable 
 parent supported by a guard such as no sovereign in Europe ever possessed the 
 like ; and that she was dining off a table so exceedingly costly that she would 
 not sell it for all the money in the treasury of England. Owen, who had 
 dallied too long before he took his departure from the queen, not expecting 
 these visitors so soon, happened at this very time to be shaving himself, and 
 trimming his moustaches to the most fascinating cut, in the earthen-floor 
 parlour, at a glass of the dimensions of a ticket porter's badge— but suddenly 
 made his appearance to subdue the goat rumpus in his turned up shirt-sleeves, 
 strapping his razor the while on his bare arm. The commissioners therefore 
 recorded that they found in his possession a razor strap of such exceeding high 
 value that he protested he would not part with it for ten thousand pounds. 
 Possessing in an eminent degree the poetic talent of turning ugliness to beauty, 
 the accommodating secretary had equally curious entries to read respecting the 
 birch broom worn to the stump standing behind the door, the iron dinner pot 
 and bakestone, with the musical concert performed by the bleating nanny-goats 
 and their kids about the door. The English however would not suffer him to 
 proceed in his report, but confessed they felt fully satisfied that Owen Tudor 
 was a gentlemau of more consideration than ever they had previously 
 conceived ! 
 
CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 157 
 
 from the simple tale of the loves and happy union of the 
 Welsh ad y^^ur < er M^ 0^eiaJE^dor and the romantic queen 
 Cathermcfrom their own far distant day to the present ; 
 yet, after the lapse of four centuries, their story continues to 
 interest the readers of history with unabated zest. A 
 retrospective glance over the memoir here presented to 
 public inspection, in connection with the portion that is to 
 follow, may aid to throw some new light on what has always 
 been questionable, the pretensions of Owen Tudor to a 
 descent from the sovereign princes of ancient Britain. 
 Whatever demerit may attach to this essay on a subject 
 that has engaged so many pens, at least it will not be found 
 that undue national partiality has biassed the writer from 
 the straight path of historical integrity. 
 
 Rapin was, doubtless, right in his conjecture that there 
 was very little, if any, inquiry made respecting the descent 
 of Owen Tudor at the time of his marriage. The ani- 
 mosity borne to him by the English appears to have in 
 it less of personality than of that rancorous race-hatred 
 existing from time immemorial between the Saxons and 
 the Celts of Britain.* The high-born and ennobled of the 
 land despised him probably for his plebeian position in 
 addition to the antipathy of nationality ; many may be 
 supposed to have founded their dislike on envy at his suc- 
 cess ; while the mass of the English population saw nothing 
 worse in him than the heinous offence of being a Welshman. 
 Had those in authority not been blinded by such foolish 
 prejudices, and assiduously put forth judicious inquiries into 
 what really concerned the honour of the nation to learn, the 
 respectability of the family and person on whom the queen 
 had placed her affection, previous to the marriage, it is 
 useless to deny or blink the question, discoveries might have 
 
 * A feeling happily extinct in the present day, if we exeept certain slight 
 instances generated principally by trade rivalry between the English settlers 
 in Wales and the natives, and some isolated cases, " few and far between," 
 of race-hatred among the most rude and ignorant worshippers of the past, who 
 perversely turn their backs upon the sun of civilization and the onward velo- 
 city of the train of progress— wilfully blind to the inexpressible blessings of frater- 
 nal and national unity. Fortunately they are very few, periodically declining ; 
 and may they be doomed, like those creatures in natural history, to utter ex- 
 tinction when their prolonged existence would rather mar than aid the world 
 in its advances. 
 
158 CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 been made fatal to this alliance. There certainly existed a 
 dark family secret, which, if divulged and bruited abroad 
 among the English detractors of Owen Tudor, might have 
 ruined his reputation, however personally blameless, even 
 with the enamoured queen herself, and perhaps justified 
 the protector and the council in authoritatively forbidding 
 their union. But the secret was well kept — a proof that 
 Owen had no enemies among the rival families of his 
 own country, proverbial as the Celts have ever been for 
 want of unison among themselves, and for their bitter 
 local animosities. Had popular rumour ever breathed the 
 tale that he was offspring of a man so tainted with infamy 
 that he was compelled to fly his country to preserve his life, 
 and whose name he was ashamed to bear, but bore his 
 grandfather's instead — his ambitious hopes might have been 
 at once blasted by the repugnance even of the queen 
 herself at the startling announcement that she was about to 
 take to her arms the son of a murderer. 
 
 He was the grandson of Tudor ab Gorono, who, in addition 
 to his undoubted descent from Cambrian blood-royal (as 
 we shall presently make manifest), was a gentleman not only 
 of high esteem among his own countrymen, but also a 
 favourite of Edward III., who conferred on him the honour 
 of knighthood in acknowledgment of his valour and military 
 services. Meredith, the fourth son of Tudor ab Gorono was 
 the father of Owen. His lot appears to have been more 
 lowly cast than that of the generality of his progenitors, as 
 he filled no higher station in life than that of Scutiger, or 
 squire, to the bishop of Bangor; but this comparatively 
 humble state would have been no disparagement to his 
 respectability and standing in the world had his conduct 
 been unimpeachable. It appears, however, that he was 
 guilty of the heinous crime of murder, had to fly his 
 country in consequence, passed the latter portion of his life 
 as a refugee in a foreign land, and died an exile. Thus it is 
 accounted for why the partisans and eulogizers of Owen 
 always dwelt emphatically on his high descent from royal 
 and renowned ancestors, while they took especial care to 
 evade, or pass over unanswered, the question of his imme- 
 
CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 159 
 
 diate parentage. Doubtless (though never hitherto assumed) 
 that gallant and highly meritorious person John ab Meredith, 
 •who accompanied him to court on his first interview with 
 the queen, and who saved his ]ife by organizing and carrying 
 out his perilous and eventful rescue from the new castle on 
 the Usk, although called his "cousin," was in reality his 
 brother, and probably his elder.* But Owen, like Napoleon, 
 was the genius of his family, and nursing adventurous and 
 ambitious projects, renounced the name of his crime- tainted 
 father, and assumed that of his illustrious grandfather : and 
 at the same time, as if to conciliate English prejudices, he 
 dropped the * ap" that linked him to his race, which was as 
 much an object of proud distinction with his countrymen 
 as of ridicule among the natives of England. It appears 
 also that h e alone , of all his kindred, spoke the English 
 language, a polite and rare accomplishmenT^mongthe 
 Welsh in those days, and held in high esteem by the better 
 educated, though scorned by the rude votaries of exclusive 
 nationality. 
 
 In the utter absence of record and documentary evidence 
 to cast a light on the subject, the introduction of Owen at 
 the English court has never been accounted for. Pennant 
 imagined that military services, the usual road in those 
 days to such distinction, might have given him the entrance 
 there ; but it is unlikely, for had that been the case, it would 
 have been a fair subject for blazoning his reputation and 
 pretensions. The "Welsh bards, apt as they were to seize 
 on subjects flattering to their national pride, have been as 
 silent on that theme .as the chroniclers and historians. 
 Other writers, with greater colour of probability, have sug- 
 gested that he might have been a retainer in the retinue of 
 one of the noble families of the day, and went there in the 
 train which accompanied his lord. 
 
 Pennan t judiciously curtails his long pedigree in the 
 
 * In confirmation of the probability that this conjecture is well founded, it 
 •will be observed that John always bore his presumed father's name linked to 
 his own, according to the national custom, " John ab Meredith ;" but taking a 
 different method of concealing his parentage, he assumed the relationship of 
 " cousin" to Owen — while his devotedly affectionate conduct towards him 
 evinced the nearer tie of consanguinity. 
 
 n2 
 
1 60 CATHERINE OP FRANCE. 
 
 manner following : — " Notwithstanding that Owen was ca- 
 lumniated, he certainly was of very high desce nt. Henry 
 VII. early in his reign issued a commission to Sir John 
 Leiaf, priest, Guttyn Owen, and a number of others, to 
 make inquiry into his paternal descent, and they, from our 
 Welsh chronicles, proved incontestably that he was lineally 
 descended by issue male (saving one woman) from Brutus, 
 grandson of iEneas the Trojan, and that he was son t o 
 Brute in five score degrees/' He then adds, " I shaH~drop 
 a little short of this long descent. Owen Tudor was assur- 
 edly of high blood. He was seventh in fosnfaf , frn ™ 
 EdnyvedVych.au, councellor and leader of the armies of 
 Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, and a successful warrior against the 
 English. His origin was from Marchydd, one of the fifteen 
 tribes. Ednyved's wife was ^wenllfan, daughter df Rhys,* 
 prince of South "Wales : so that he might boast of two royal 
 descents, and deliver down a posterity not unworthy of the 
 British empire." "\^__^/' 
 
 Well aware how distasteful long genealogical discussions 
 are to the majority of readers, we shall here close this some- 
 what extended memoir. What further regards the ancestors 
 of Owen Tudor the reader will find in our memoir of the 
 princess Morveethe, an ancestress of that worthy ; wherein 
 the curious in Welsh pedigrees will find his descent from 
 the last reigning kings of Gwent clearly traced, even to the 
 birth of Owen himself. This addenda to former researches 
 we derived from a rare old tract written in the days of 
 queen Anne, and preserved in the library of the British 
 Museum. 
 
 * Meaning the "lord" Rhys, grandson to the illustrious prince Rhys ah 
 Tudor. 
 
GENERAL NOTES TO CATHERINE OF FRANCE. 
 
 1. Notwithstanding the general accuracy of Rapin, he gives a very confused 
 and erroneous account of the^e^athofOw^c^uJQr- He remarks on his repeated, 
 escapes from the tower: — ^Some^say he found means to escape a second 
 time, but being retaken, lost his head. Others say he was not beheaded till 
 1460, upon being taken in battle fighting for the house of Lancaster. I don't 
 know whether it be certain that Owen was put to death, but it may be affirmed 
 that those who say it was in 1460 were guilty of an error, by taking Owen 
 Tudor the third son for Owen Tudor the father." Sandford remarks on this 
 passage, " it could not be his third son, for he was a monk in Westminster 
 Abbey." Thus the only party in error was Rapin himself, as it was the 
 elder OAven Tudor who suffered decapitation after the battle of Mortimer's 
 Cross, in 1461, a year later than the above record, as correctly stated in 
 our text. 
 
 2. Among the historical items of these times the following are worthy of 
 notice. The year 1437 was remarkable for the deaths of two queen dowagers 
 of England : Joan of Navarre, widow of Henry IV., and Catherine of France, 
 widow of Henry V. Joan died at Havering, in Essex, July 10th, and was 
 (interred] by the side of her husband in Canterbury cathedral, "where her 
 effigies are still to be seen." — Sand/. Geneal. p. 285, Hall, folio 134. 
 
 3. Of one of the contemporaries and court^mDj^gnj of Catherine of France, 
 we have the following curious account,"ffi6sT^smkingly illustrative of the _da.tfe 
 age in which it occurred. The enemies of " the good duke Humphry," of Glou- 
 cester, failing to injure him personally, determined to wound liim through his 
 wife the duchess. Rapin states, on the authority of Hall — " by narrowly observ- 
 ing what passed in his family they learnt that his duchess had frequent 
 conferences with one Sir^Roger_ Bolinbroke, a priest, who was reckoned a ne- 
 cromancer, and a certain, woman who was counted a witc h. This was suffi- 
 cient to form a cBafgT'oFTSgh treason against her? "she was accused of 
 making, with these two persons, the king's image in wax ; and that placing it 
 before a gentle fire, she intended the king's strength should waste insensibly, 
 as the wax melted, and his life be at an end when the image was all dissolved. 
 By this accusation it was intended to show, the duchess's design was to destroy 
 the king, that the crown might fall to the duke her husband. When the parties 
 accused were examined, the priest denied all, but the duchess confessed she 
 had desired the woman to make her a love potion for her spouse, icho sometimes 
 went astray. Though this confession did not make her guilty of the crime laid 
 to her charge, the priest was condemned to be hanged and the woman to be 
 burnt alive. Their execution took place accordingly ; Sir Roger Bolinbroke 
 was hanged and quartered, and the woman, one Margery Gurdemain of E3'e, 
 was hn_rnt_jn Smi^hfi£ld^Octol^ei^27th. - 1441 . As for the duchess, though she 
 would have been the most guilty, had the charge been well proved, out of a 
 pretended regard for the duke, she was only condemned to do public penance in 
 St. Raul's church, and to be imprisoned for life." So much for the wisdom and 
 justice of " the good old times." 
 
 4. Catherine had for her contemporaries in England and France, some of 
 the most celebrated femalesTnat^ve*rSrTac!ed extraordinary parts on the great 
 stage of history, in any age of the world. To begin with the least— Agnes Sorrel, 
 the influential mistress of her royal brother Charles VII., and Mary of Anjou, 
 his queen ; both of whom used the most praiseworthy efforts to rouse this 
 lethargic prince from his inactivity, and excited his energies to battle with the 
 invaders of his country. But above all Joan of Arc, the glory of France and 
 the wonder of the world, who ultimately ctJnTJTRyreaTthe conquerors of her native 
 land, and freed the soil of France from the presence of her invaders and 
 usurping occupiers. While in England, Margaret of Anjou (Catherine's 
 daugter-in-law), scarcely second to the French heroine in warlike achievements, 
 while supporting the Lancastarian interests, against the pretensions of the 
 house of York during the " wars of the roses," won imperishable fame. 
 
CATHERINE OF BERAIN, 
 
 DAUGHTER AND HEIRESS OF TUDOR AB ROBERT VYCHAN OF 
 BERAIN— WIDOW, FIRSTLY, OF SALUSBURY OF LLEWENNI ; 
 SECONDLY, OF SIR RICHARD CLOUGH OF BACH T GRAIG ; 
 THIRDLY, OF MAURICE WYNN OF GWYDIR— AND WIFE OF 
 EDWARD THELWAL, ESQ., OF PLAS Y WARD. 
 
 In addition to written record, this lady of many husbands 
 has been ushered down to posterity, in all her Elizabethan 
 grandeur of costume, by a fine painting of her likeness in 
 Llewenni hall,* Denbighshire, and an excellent engraving 
 from the same in Yorke's " Royal Tribes of Wales." The 
 latter author calls her "a singular character," without 
 giving any instance of her singularities, or referring his 
 readers to any other authority. However, on turning to 
 Pennant, the everlasting text-book to Tourists and note- 
 book fillers on North Wales, we are more amply compensated, 
 and found Yorke had derived from him all that he knew 
 about the lady who is the subject of this memoir. 
 
 In his notice of the paintings in Llewenni hall, Pennant 
 says, " I must not omit the portrait of a lady exceedingly 
 celebrated in this part of Wales, the famous Catherine 
 JTudor . better known by the name of 'Catherine of Berain 
 from her estate in the neighbourhood.'' She was the 
 daughter and heiress of Tudor ab Robert Vvchan of Be- 
 rain, and married successively four husbands. Notwiths- 
 tanding Pennant's remark about her exceeding celebrity, 
 which would imply the possession of genius, or the suc- 
 cessful exertion of high talents, there appears nothing 
 in her life to entitle her to fame or the homage of pos- 
 
 * Pennant states, " her portrait is an excellent three quarters on wood." By 
 the date, 1568, it seems to have been painted by Lucas de Heere, the only artist 
 1 know of in that period equal to the performance. Edward Pugh, who pub- 
 lished his " Cambria Depicta" about forty years after Pennant's time, says, " her 
 picture, supposed to have been painted by Lucas de Heere, is now at Lleuesog, 
 the residence of Mrs. Wynn's mother." 
 
CATHERINE OF BERAIN. 163 
 
 terity. She is principally remarkable as a greatheiress 
 of her time, for her marria ges with four men of rank 
 and fortune, and for the i^fflkej^F^^ 
 These became allied, according to their claims, to the most 
 distinguished families of North Wales ; and Catherine of 
 Berain, in reference to her exemplary obedience to the 
 primitive command "increase and multiply," was called 
 Mow^M^mrw, the mother of Wales. 
 
 Her first marriageTwas with Salusbury, the wealthy heir 
 of Llewenni, by whom she had two sons, the eldest of whom, 
 Thomas Salusbury, brought heavy grief to his family for 
 his unhappy fate. He was implicated in Babington's plot 
 for the destruction of queen Elizabeth, and was executed 
 as a traitor, on the 21st of September, 1587. Her se- 
 cond son, Sir John Salusbury the strong, succeeded at 
 Llewenni. Her estate of Berain in after time followed 
 the heiress of the Llewenni house into the Combermere<~T 
 family. " Tradition goes," says Pennant, " that at the 
 funeral of her beloved spouse (her first husband) she was 
 jed to ,.ch"rn,h .*>y Sir Richard Clough of Bach y Graig, and 
 from church by Maurice Wynn of Gwydir, who whispered 
 to her his wish of becoming her second husband. She 
 refused him with great civility, informing him that she had 
 accepted the proposals of Sir Richard in her way to church ; 
 but assured him, that in case she performed the same sad 
 duty (which she was then about) to the knight, he might 
 depend on being her third." She kept her word most reli- 
 giously, and on the death of Sir Richard Clough, she married 
 Maurice Wynn of Gwydir. She was destined to outlive 
 that worthy also. Pennant says, "as soon as she had com- 
 posed this gentleman, to show that she had no superstition 
 about the number three, she concluded with Edward Thelwal, 
 Esq. (a widower), of Plas y ward, in Denbighshire, who 
 became her fourth husband, and outlived Jher. By her 
 second husband, Sir Richard Clough, Catherine had two 
 daughters ; one married to Wynn of Melai, the other to 
 Salusbury of Bach y Graig, whence is descended our inge- 
 nious countrywoman Mrs. Piozzi. By Maurice Wynn she 
 had one daughter, but no children by Edward Thelwal. 
 
 
164 CATHERINE OF BERAIN. 
 
 The following account of the jntermarriages in this family 
 are curious, and illustrative also of the selfish policy pursued 
 in aristocratic families, with the view of keeping their 
 fortunes among themselves, by causing such unseemly unions 
 between kindred near in blood. " Her daughter, by Maurice 
 Wynn of Gwydir, married Simon Thelwal the eldest son of 
 her last husband by a former marriage. Simon Thelwal's son 
 Edward married Sydney the daughter of William Wynn of 
 Garthgynan, the fourth son of Sir John Wynn of Gwydir, 
 the historian ; and their daughter and heiress married Sir 
 William Williams of Llanvorda, the eldest son of the speaker 
 of the House of Commons in the reign of king James II. 
 Hence the connection with Sir John Wynn of Wynnstay, 
 who was first cousin to Sidney, and who left his great pro- 
 perty to Mr. Williams, her grandson, afterwards Sir Watkin 
 Williams Wynn, the great grandfather of the present Sir 
 Watkin Williams Wynn Catherine, as before observed, 
 died in the lifetime of her fourth husband Thelwal, and 
 was buried at Llan y vydd.* Edward Pugh, in his " Cam- 
 bria Depicta," says — " from hence (Mr. Yorke, of Erthig's), 
 after a walk of several miles across som e black and barren 
 hills through Llan y vydd, I reached the abode of the beauti- 
 fu jCatherine Tudor, called Berain house, a building of great 
 solidity, but little elegance — assuming more the appearance 
 of a monastic cell than a family residence.' ' He concludes 
 his remarks — " but thus, alas ! after all her succession of vows 
 poor Catherine herself met the common fate of mortals, and 
 was interred at Llan y vydd.'' He might have added "where 
 neither monument nor stone is found to record her name 
 or merits." According to Pennant, she departed this life 
 August 27th, and was buried on September 1st, 1591. "I 
 was told that in the locket she wore attached to her gold 
 chain was the hair of her s^cgniLaiid favourit^tmjjband, Sir 
 Richard Clough of Bach y Graig." 
 
 The following account, oftheaccomplishedandphilosophical 
 Edward Thelwal, her fourth husband, the Welshman who 
 could command his temper, as a lesson to posterity, is too 
 
 * Pronounced Llan-y-veethe. 
 
CATHERINE OF BERAIN. 165 
 
 valuable to be omitted ; especially as the record is from the 
 pen and experience of that eminent worthy whom Yorke 
 denominates "the historical, the philosophical, and right 
 whimsical peer Edward Herbert, first Baron of Cherbury ; 
 a man at once and together, the negociator, the scholar, 
 statesman, soldier ; the genius and absurdity of his time and 
 nation." 
 
 "After I had attained the age of nine, during all which 
 time I lived in my grandmother's house at Eyton, my 
 parents thought fit to send me to some place where I might 
 learn the Welsh tongue, as believing it necessary for me to 
 treat with my friends and tenants who understood no other 
 language. Whereupon I was recommended to Mr. Edward 
 Thelwal of Plas y ward, in Denbighshire. This gentleman, 
 I must remember with honour, as having of himself acquired 
 the most exact knowledge of Greek, Latin, French, Italian, 
 and Spanish, and all other learning, having for that purpose 
 neither gone beyond seas, nor so much as had the benefit of 
 any university. Besides he was of that rare temper in 
 governing his choler, that I never saw him angry during 
 the time of my stay there, and have heard the same of him 
 many years before. When occasion of offence was given 
 him, I have seen him redden in the face, and after remain 
 for a time silent, but when he spake his words were so calm 
 and gentle that I found he had digested his choler ; yet, I 
 confess, I could never obtain that perfection, as being subject 
 to passion and choler more than I ought, and generally, to 
 speak my mind freely, sought rather to imitate those who, 
 having fire within doors, chose rather to give it vent than 
 suffer it to burn the house. I commend much more the 
 manner of Mr. Thelwal; and certainly he that can forbear 
 speaking for some while will remit much of his passion." 
 
\<elo 
 
 CENAI THE VIRGIN, 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH DAUGHTEK OF BRYCHAN BRECHEINTOG. 
 
 Cenai,* otherwise called Cenedlon, is a Welsh saint of 
 considerable note. The church in Breconshire, called 
 Llangenay, is dedicated to her — whence the parish and 
 sainted well, near Crickhowell, of the same name. Theo- 
 philus Jones, the Breconshire historian, gives the following 
 account of her from the n oonkish chronicler Cressy . — " I 
 shall make a short extract from the ponderous folio of this 
 writer. She (St. Ceyna, so he. calls her) was of royal blood, 
 being the daughter of BreganusV prince of Brecknockshire. 
 When she came to ripe years many nobles sought her in 
 in marriage, but she utterly refused that state, having conse- 
 crated her virginity to our Lord by a perpetual vow ; for 
 which she was ever after called Keyna the Virgin. At 
 length she determined to forsake her country, and find out 
 some desert place where she might give up her mind entirely 
 to holy contemplation. Therefore directing her journey 
 beyond_Severn, and there meeting a woody place, she made 
 her request to the prince of that country that she might be 
 permitted to serve God in that solitude. His answer was, 
 that he was very willing to grant her request, but that the 
 place did so^warin^jsdihus^xpejats that neither man nor 
 beast could inhabit it. But she replied that her firm trust 
 was in the name and assistance of almighty God to drive 
 all that poisonous brood out of that region. Hereupon the 
 place was granted to the holy virgin, who, prostrating 
 herself before God, obtained of him to change the serpent s 
 and vipers i nto stone s. And to this day the stones in that 
 region do_ resemble the windings of serpents, through all 
 the fields and vUlagesTas if they had been framed by the 
 
 * Pronounced Kennay— the emphasis being on the first syllable. 
 
GENAI THE VIRGIN. 167 
 
 nand of the sculptor." Camden, who notices this story in 
 his account of Somersetshire, says that the place is now called 
 Keynsham, between Bristol and Bath, where abundance of 
 tnaT"fossil*, termed by the naturalists Corau .^mmonis, is 
 frequently dug up. He is not quite an inliael7 though not 
 perfectly convinced of the truth of the origin and cause of 
 these petrifications of serpents, but calls them miracles o f 
 sportingna ture. Jones adds, ** the idea of Nature's working 
 or sporting a miracle, is certainly Camden's own ; though it 
 must be admitted that the sports of Nature are sometimes 
 most whimsical.' ' Camden expressed some degree of surprise 
 at one which he saw dug up from a quarry near the place 
 which he had been describing, " which/ ' says he, "repre- ' 
 sented a serpent rolled up into a spire ; the head of it 
 stuck out into the outward surface, and the end of the tayle . 
 terminated in the centre." Cressy proceeds to tell us ./ 
 on the authority of Capgrave, that " after many yeafs 
 spent in this solitary place, and the fame of her sanctity 
 every where divulged, and many oratories built by her, her 
 nephew St. Cadoc* performing a pilgrimage to the mount 
 of St. Michael, met there with his blessed aunt Keyna ; at 
 whose sight, he being replenished with joy, and being desi- 
 rous to bring her back to her own country — the inhabitants 
 of that region would not permit him. But afterwards, by 
 the admonition of an angel, the holy maid returned to the 
 place of her nativity. There, on the top of a hillock, 
 seated at the foot of a high mountain, she made a little 
 habitation for herself; and by her prayers obtained a spring 
 1&£T£jUUlQ^Qja^^ which, by the merits<oT~£Ke 
 
 holy virgin, affordeth health to divers infirmities." In his 
 account of tliepansnof Llangenney, Theophilus Jones 
 
 * £MGP (properly Catwg), the son of ftwladys T Brychan Brecheiniog*s eldest 
 daughter, was an eminent British ecclesiastic of the sixth century, entitled "the 
 wise," and considered the Solomon of his age. He was abbot of Llancarvan, 
 and became tutor to the celebrated bard Taliesi n. He is distinguished for being 
 the first who made a collection of the proverbs,'maxims, and adages of the Welsh, 
 augmented by Ms own compositions, all bearing the general title of " Diarkebion 
 of Catwg," signifying the aphorisms of Catwg. This collection is to be found, both 
 in Welsh and English, in that most excellent past-periodical the "Cambro-Briton," 
 by the late John Humphry Parry. There are several churches in Wales dedi- 
 cated to Catwg, they are called Llangattock, and his name has been inserted on 
 the Boman roll of saints ; an evidence at least of his traditional reputation for 
 sanctity. 
 
168 CENAI THE VIRGIN. 
 
 says, u the situation of the original chapel or oratory, whether 
 erected in her life time or consecrated after death to her 
 V memory, is marked by the finding of a small bell used to call 
 I the neighbouring audience to prayers." No vestige of any 
 | walls appears ; but near this spot is Fynon Genau, or the well 
 l of St. Cenai — the miraculous origin of which -we have just 
 ^•^ referred to. It was formerly celebrated for its medicinal 
 virtues as most of the saints' w r e lls have been. Perhaps 
 some of the sanctimonious votaries~of the ancient faith, who 
 still venerate both the well and its patroness, may consider 
 the following piece of jocularity by Jones, as little short of 
 profanation. "But though this good lady's piety and chastity 
 may have gained her the approbation of her country and the 
 veneration of posterity, though this well at her intercessions 
 may have produced health to the sick — and above all. though 
 she may have inflexibly adhered to her vow of perpetual 
 virginity, it should seem that she occasionally interfered too 
 far in the domestic concerns of the marriage state, appa- 
 rently from waggery or envy." For we learn from Carew's 
 survey of Cornwall that St. Cenai, or as he writes it, St. 
 Keyne's well, there, had this remarkable effect : that if a 
 new married couple, or one of them approached, the fir st 
 who drank of the water obtained the command of the house 
 forjife. This author rotates, in indifferent verse,* a very 
 humorous story about the well. A stranger being asked by 
 a clown if he knew the effects of the water replied in the 
 negative; being informed of them, and finding Hobbinol 
 was married, asks — 
 
 " ' You drank of the well, I warrant, betimes ?' 
 
 He to the countryman said, 
 But the countryman smiled as the stranger spoke, 
 
 And sheepishly shook his head ; 
 ' I hasten'd as soon as the wedding was done, 
 
 And left my wife in the porch, 
 But she had been wiser i' faith than me, 
 
 For she took a bottle to church.' " 
 
 The present fabric of Llangenny church was probably not 
 erected until the ancient oratory of St. Cenai was in ruins. 
 
 * The doggrel ballad in question was bv no less a personage than the late 
 Dr. Sou H l gJ F ." ' 
 
CENAI THE VIRGIN. 169 
 
 It is built close to the river Grwyne, at the bottom of a cwrn 
 or narrow deep valley. 
 
 Saint Cenai is said to have departed this life on the 8th 
 day of the ides of October, A.D. 490, and to have been 
 buried in her own oratory by her nephew Cadoc. Sometime 
 previous to her death we are informed she had a prospect 
 of her eternal happiness in a future world in a vision — being 
 ministered to, and comforted^bv^angels. To her nephew 
 Cadoc she thus prophesied, " this is the place above all others 
 beloved by me ; here my memory shall be perpetuated ; 
 this place I will often visit in spirit, if it may be permitted 
 me — and I am assured it shall be permitted me, because 
 our Lord hath granted me this place as a certain in- 
 heritance. The time will come when this place shall be 
 inhabited by a sinful people which, notwithstanding, I will 
 violently root out of this seat. My tombe shall lye a long time\ 
 unknown, untill the coming of other people, whom by my^ 
 prayers I shall bring hither ; them will I protect and defend, 
 and in this place shall the name of the Lord be blessed for 
 ever." These good strangers are not yet arrived, nor hasTJ 
 the tomb of the saint been discovered ; but we must have S 
 patience — who knows what time may bring to pass ? j/ 
 
^MAr^WAMTv^^ Jr0*>$y**&«** 
 
 l"10 
 
 CORDEILLA, 
 
 DAUGHTEK OF LEIK, KING OF BKITAIN—WIFE AND WIDOW OF 
 AGANIPPUS, ONE OF THE KINGS OF GAUL. 
 
 Although this princess of legendary celebrity belongs 
 to that era of ajjocr y pha l hij^ftgy called the fabulqus a ge s, 
 yet, as the story ot J her supposed life is fraught with pathetic 
 interest and noble sentiment, we trust its insertion here will 
 be found both appropriate and desirable ; and as this ancient 
 piece of biography is the fpundation^j e&jhat masterpiece of 
 dramatic genius, Shaksgear V* Tragedy of King Lear," it wins 
 additional interest and claims oTlnvestigation. To the ad- 
 mirers of our great dramatist (viz., the whole civilized 
 world except the fanatics and utilitarians), it will afford the 
 gratification of comparing the slight and rude materials here 
 presented, with the graceful and stupendous fabric raised 
 by " the man of all time" to the immortal memory of king 
 
 v \g & % Leir and his daughter Cordeilla. 
 
 To avoid all suspicion of an ambitious attempt at deco- 
 
 \~LiXj^ ration, we shall here put forth the quaint and fantastic 
 
 version from the "Welsh Chronicles/' edited by Percy 
 
 u *o* Enderbie, who, in„1661 J published a history of Wales (so 
 
 \5 fJpy called !) entitled ^'Cambria Triumphans."* With the foppery, 
 pedantry, and inflated affectation which generally disfigures 
 the style of this learned Scot, we have no more to do than 
 to bespeak the reader's patience and tolerance, as Hamlet 
 endured the " gadfly" Osrick ; not for the manner, but the 
 matter of his discourse. 
 
 He commences by informing us " that Leir the son of 
 Bladud began his reign in the year of the world's creation 
 4333. ""This king was of a most noble and heroick mind, as 
 being questionlesse bred under the discipline of those philo- 
 sophers which his father had brought from Athens, besides 
 a natural propension of his own to moral vertue ; insomuch 
 that his kingdom flourished in great peace and abundance of 
 
 * This most impudent fabrication of a false history of Wales, and the author's 
 motives are fully exposed in our memoir oTtnTpnncess Nest, queen of Trahaern 
 ab Caradoc. 
 
CORDEILLA. 17 1 
 
 wealth." * * * (Here follows a tedious account of the 
 cities built by king Leir, with heavy Latin quotations from 
 Cambden and Matthew Paris, which in this, and other 
 instances, as they do not relate to Cordeilla, we omit.) 
 
 " King Leir beginning now to be aged and full of years, 
 having no heir male,* he called unto him Gonorilla, Ragan, 
 and Cordeilla, intending, out of the discovery of their love 
 and filial affection and duty towards him, to settle his king- 
 dome upon them. To the eldest he said, ' daughter, I shall 
 desire you to expresse unto me how well and dearly you 
 love and esteem me your aged father ;' the young lady 
 hearing a question of so high a nature proposed unto her, 
 first, that her answer may not seem forged, or to have any 
 smack or relish of dissimulation, calls the immortal gods 
 (being then the custome amongst pagans) and all the celes- 
 tial powers to witnesse her assertion, and then replies — 
 * my princely lord and father, I love you more than my own 
 soul.' The feeble old man was much taken with this 
 answer, resting satisfied that his daughter did cordially and 
 entirely love him. He calls for the second, propounds the 
 same question ; she thinking to outvie her eldest sister, and 
 thereby to endear and engratiate herself into the old man's 
 favour, spares no oaths or invocations and imprecations, 
 assuring him ' that her tongue was too slender a messenger 
 to deliver the depth of her affection and duty, and that she 
 loved him far beyond all creatures.' Leir is tickled and 
 exceedingly solaced 'with these two answers, and thinks 
 no mortal man more happy in his children than himself. 
 Cordeilla is called for ; the same interrogatory used : she 
 wittily perceiving the deep dissimulation and fawning of 
 her* sisters, replies — * my dearest father, I am much joyed 
 to see you so well pleased with the expressive answers of 
 my two sisters ; for my own part, as a father, I have ever 
 honoured, obeyed, and loved you, and for ever shall ; and if 
 you desire further expression from me, know honoured sir, 
 
 * It may here be remarked this account does not agree with the Welsh P 
 
 Triads, in which a chieftain of celebrity is mentioned named Bran ab Llyr, or ^S 
 
 Bran the son of Lear ; and no notice occurs of the three daughters of that 4^ 
 
 ancient British king who flourish in this chronicle. On the contrary, the only J 
 
 daughter of Llyr, or Lear, recorded in the Welsh Triads is Bronwen, whose / 
 memoir has had a place in this work. **& 
 o 2 
 
l7'2 CORDEILLA. 
 
 that as much as you deserve to be loved, so much I love 
 you, and no more.' 
 
 " King Leir being nothing pleased with the integrity of 
 his third daughter's answer, obsequium amicos Veritas odium 
 parit — bethinks himself how he may best dispose and bestow 
 his two eldest daughters, to their most content, honour, and 
 advancement. The eldest, therefore, he espouseth to the 
 duke of Cornwall; the second to the duke of Albania, 
 which is now called Scotland ; dividing his kingdome be- 
 twixt them in reversion, and a moiety for their present 
 maintenance and livelihood : nothing being left for the 
 poor lady Cordeilla, whose tongue was the true embassador 
 of her heart, and whose heart hated all dissimulation and 
 hypocrisie. 
 
 " Fame, who is nothing slow in reporting the transactions 
 of eminent persons, especially kings, sounds this passage of 
 king Leir in France, and with a shrill note echoes forth the 
 beauty, modesty, virtue, and the adorning graces which wait 
 upon Cordeilla. Aganippus (an eminent personage, and by 
 some styled king of France through a great mistake, for as 
 Policronicon, Petrus Pictaniensis, Robert Gag wine, Antonius 
 Episcopus, and divers others affirm the name of France was 
 not then known, neither were there any kings, the inha- 
 bitants being called Galli, and tributaries to the Romans, 
 and so continued till the time of Valentinianus the emperor) 
 hearing Cordeilla's beauty so highly extolled, her vertue so 
 superlatively commended, deems her a fit companion for his 
 princely bed and fortunes — if so rare a jewel may be pur- 
 chased. Upon a mature resolution he sends his agents to 
 the court of king Leir, with full instructions to demand 
 Cordeilla in marriage. The offered fortune pleaseth the 
 king, yet he fears the success by reason of his own folly 
 which had given all to the two sisters and left nothing for 
 the third. Leir returns thanks to Aganippus by his embas- 
 sadors, shews a willingness to comply with their master's 
 request, and withall lays open his insufficiency to bestow 
 any dowry upon her. 
 
 " Aganippus, informed by letters of these passages, is glad 
 his suit and motion finds friendly acceptance, and for 
 
CORDEILLA. 173 
 
 valuing the rich endowments of his so much affected Cor- 
 deilla, hefore all terrene* riches, |so he enjoy the beloved 
 treasure of his heart, desires no more. The espousals are 
 with all solemnity celebrated, and Cordeilla anlwerable to 
 the greatnesse of her birth and quality conveyed to Aga- 
 nippus, who (by the opinion of those who write that France 
 was governed by twelve kings) was one, and so Cordeilla a 
 queen. 
 
 "Leir having thus happily, as might be thought, disposed 
 of his three daughters, being aged, betakes himself to ease 
 and quietness, and so intends to spin out the remnant of his 
 time: but his sons-in-law Monaghlanus and Henninus, the 
 dukes of Cornwall and Albania, envy the happy tranquility 
 of the feeble old king, and each daughter, for all their deep 
 and large expressions of filial love and duty, patrls inquirit 
 in annos : Leir lives too long, too much at ease, his bones 
 would better become a sepulchre than a throne, and since 
 the fatal sisters will not of their own accord cut his thread 
 of life, his daughters, by the hands of their ambitious and 
 covetous husbands will undertake that task. 
 
 " Nothing is now heard in Brittaine but the clashing of 
 arms, neighing ©f horses, thundering of trumpets and war- 
 like musick. The impotent king is begirt on all sides with 
 martial troops, and not able to resist two such powerfull 
 enemies, to preserve that small span of life, is forced to flie 
 for succour, being quite forlorn, to his daughter Cordeilla, 
 whom formerly he had so much slighted. The arrival of 
 the father is not long unknowne to the daughter who 
 acquaints her husband with the sad occurrence. Aganippus, 
 out of a heroic spirit compassionating the calamity of a 
 distressed prince, 'especially his wife's father, puts on a 
 resolution to chastise and revenge so gross an injury, and 
 re-invest him in his throne again. Cordeilla is not idle in 
 meantime, but with all obsequious behaviour, like a dutifull 
 childe, cherisheth her drooping father, accommodates him 
 with all princely provision, and with pleasant speeches 
 drives away his melancholy thoughts, and leaves nothing 
 undone or said which may add vigour and alacrity to his 
 
 * Earthly. 
 
1 74 CORDEILLA. 
 
 pierced heart. Aganippus arrives in Brittaine with his 
 
 father-in-law, gives battel to the disobedient rebels, gives 
 
 them the overthrow, and again establisheth king Leir in his 
 
 regal dignify. But the author of so great happinesse lived 
 
 not long after, leaving Cordeilla a sad and disconsolate 
 
 widow. 
 
 M King Leir once more holding and guiding the stern of the 
 
 British monarchy, passed his time with perfect quietness 
 
 the space of three years ; after which time he left this 
 
 transitory world, leaving his daughter Cordeilla, as well she 
 
 deserved, to succeed him in his kingdome. His body was 
 
 buried at Leicester in a vault under the river side which he 
 
 himself had built, and consecrated to Janus Bifrons. 
 ********* 
 
 " Cordeilla (this heroine lady), after just revenge taken 
 upon her two sister's husbands, and her father and husband's 
 death, by the consent of most writers, by the joint suffrages 
 and votes of the Brittains, was admitted to the royal sceptre, 
 in the year from the world's creation four thousand three 
 hundred and ninety eight years. She governed her people 
 and subjects for the space of five years with great applause 
 and general liking. But the two sons of her sisters, Mor- 
 gan of Albania, and Cunedagius of Cambria and Cornwall, 
 envying her prosperity and thinking themselves injured in 
 their birthright, their grandfather Leir having divided the 
 kingdom equally betwixt their mothers upon their mar- 
 riages, conspire together, and mustering their forces, invade 
 Cordeilla, and reduce her to that necessity that she is taken 
 prisoner, and by her merciless nephews cast into gaoL 
 This turn of hard fortune she patiently endured awhile; 
 but perceiving no hopes to regain her freedom and repossess 
 her kingdome, scorning to be any longer a slave to her 
 insulting enemies — seeing she could not free her body from 
 bondage — with true Trajan and masculine heroick spirit, 
 she makes a divorce between her purer soul and encaged 
 carcass, giving it free power to pass into another world, 
 leaving those parts which participated of drossic mold, to 
 be interred again in the earth, from whence at first it came, 
 at Leicester, in the temple of Janus, by the sepulchre of 
 her father.'* 
 
^ 
 
 CLAUDIA, OR GWLADYS RUFFINA. 
 
 As the life of this illustrious lady involves so much of the 
 history of the introduction of Christianity into Britain, we 
 may be pardoned for necessarily dilating on that eventful 
 circumstance. It was about A.D. 52, while St. Paul was a 
 prisoner at Rome that the celebrated British chieftain, called 
 in his own language Caradoc, and in the Latin Caractacus, 
 arrived also at the capital of the world. This brave Silurian 
 prince, who had perseveringly opposed the Roman arms for 
 nine years, after being betrayed by the infamous Cartis- 
 mandua, and previously defeated by Ostorius Scapula, the 
 commander of the Roman forces in Britain, ultimately was 
 destined, with his family, to grace the triumph of Claudius 
 over the subjugated Britons. His noble bearing and spi- 
 rited address while delivering his celebrated speech before 
 the emperor, and perhaps the ignoble manner in which the 
 Roman arms triumphed over him, through the treachery of 
 a rival sovereign, seems to have wrought powerfully in his 
 favour on the mind of Claudius. The clemency of the 
 emperor ordained that his chains should be knocked off, and 
 the heinous offence of supporting the independence of his 
 country against invaders pardoned. But when he and a 
 portion of his family returned to Britain, hisjfather, B ran ab 
 LJyr, remained in Rome seven years a hostage for his 
 future conduct. It has not been settled by our antiquaries 
 or historians whether Claudia, or Gwladys Ruffina, cele- 
 brated for her beauty in Martial's " Epigram,'* and noticed in 
 St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy, was the sister or the daughter 
 of Caractacus, but it is generally supposed the latter. 
 
 Hughes, in his " Horse Britannicae," observes on this period 
 of history — "the state of Britain during the reign of Clau- 
 dius and of Nero attracted the attention of the whole 
 Roman empire ; and the intercourse between the new pro- 
 vince and the seat of government was daily increasing in 
 
176 CLAUDIA. 
 
 importance. In that state of things St. Paul was brought 
 to Rome a prisoner ; famed, even before his coming, as an 
 abettor of a new religion. As the apostle was permitted 
 to live in his own apartments, although guarded as a captive, 
 he received all those who chose to resort to him for infor- 
 mation and instruction ; and hereby the purpose of divine 
 providence, with respect to the spread of Christianity through 
 the world, was promoted. In that great capital persons of 
 different ranks, employments, and offices might be found; 
 ambassadors, captive princes, merchants, and mechanics. 
 Several of these would be prompted by curiosity to make 
 inquiries respecting Paul, the principal teacher and propa- 
 gator of the religion of him who was condemned by Pilate 
 to the cross.'* On the arrival of Caractacus and his family 
 at Rome Hughes remarks— "St. Paul could not continue 
 unacquainted with these transactions ; nor was it possible 
 for a mind like his to feel indifferent to events that regarded 
 the happiness or misery of mankind by deciding the fate of 
 nations. The subjugation of the island of Britain by the 
 Romans would be regarded by the apostle as likely to ter- 
 minate in the good of that country. That by means of the 
 British captives returning home to their native land, where 
 they had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the 
 christians and their religion, the knowledge of Christianity 
 might be conveyed to our island is no improbable con- 
 jecture. Pious soldiers in the Roman army, as well as 
 officers, civil or military, must also become instruments of 
 diffusing the same divine knowledge in Britain, as well as 
 in other parts of the empire where they were stationed. 
 
 It is therefore reasonable to suppose that, by means of the 
 family of Caractacus returning to Britain, the gospel might 
 have been introduced among their countrymen. That what 
 we here suppose was so in reality, we are assured from 
 faithful documents long preserved, though in obscurity, and 
 therefore not to be despised because not blazoned abroad in 
 the world like most of the monkish fictions. In those 
 historical notices, handed down to us in the form of Triads, 
 we have some account of the blessed event of which we are 
 speaking. 
 
CLAUDIA. 177 
 
 After quoting the well-known Triads and other autho- 
 rities bearing on the question of the christian religion 
 having been brought into Britain by the agency of Bran 
 ab Llyr, father of Caractacus, Hughes comes to the imme- 
 diate subject of our memoir, the claims of the lady Claudia, 
 or Gwladys Ruffina, to be considered the first British 
 christian. 
 
 Another circumstance has been noticed by archbishop 
 Usher, and before him by bishop Goodwin. St. Paul, in his 
 second Epistle to Timothy, makes mention of Linus, Pudens, 
 and Claudia ; Linus is supposed to be the same as the first 
 bishop of Rome of that name. Pudens and Claudia are 
 thought to be the same persons on whom the poet Martial 
 composed his epigrams. Martial's Claudia was undoubtedly 
 a British lady, as appears by the poet's enconium upon the 
 graces~bf her person, the honour of which he seems to envy 
 her native isle — 
 
 " Claudia cseruleis, cum sit Ruffina Britannis 
 
 Edita, cur Latiae pectoed plebis habet ? 
 Quale decus formse ? Romanum credere matres 
 
 Italides possunt, Attides esse suas, &c." 
 
 This handsome compliment of the jtoma n poet, paid to our 
 British b eauty, is thus imitated by theRevT*Peter Roberts — 
 
 " If Claudia's of the wood-stain'd British race 
 Whence is that lovely form, that heavenly face ? 
 Why does the Roman and the Grecian dame 
 Dispute her birth, and urge a jealous claim ? 
 Thus blest ye Gods, still bless the happy pair, 
 And make their offspring your peculiar care ; 
 j Her love, his only ; mutual be their will, 
 
 ) Ai O* ■^ nd may ber sons her latest ^i 8 * 1 fulfil." 
 ^Thackeraj, whose new work on British church history we 
 have rererred to under the head of " Boadicea," translates 
 Martial's epigram more literally — 
 
 \ 
 
 " Claudia, of azure-painted Britons born, 
 
 What Latian wit and Latian grace adorn ! 
 
 Such forms might Rome among her daughters place, 
 
 And Attic matrons deem of Attic race. 
 
 From another epigram,* by the same poet, it appears that 
 
 * Martial, Lib. IV., Epi. 13. 
 
178 CLAUDIA. 
 
 Claudia was ultimately married to the Roman named Pudens, 
 before referred to ; it is thus translated by Thackeray — 
 
 " Rufus ! Pudens, whom I own my friend, 
 Has ta'en the foreign Claudia for his wife ; 
 
 Propitious Hymen, light thy torch, and send 
 Long years of bliss to their united life." 
 
 Thackeray considers Claudia Roman born, but of British 
 parents, who were then living in the " eternal city" as 
 hostages. He thus concludes his remarks — "under these 
 circumstances, we may, I think, consider this Pudens, and 
 this Claudia, the same with the persons of those names 
 mentioned by St. Paul in his second Epistle to Timothy, 
 * Eubuleth greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and all the 
 brethren.' 
 
 The following observations, by Hughes , are both argu- 
 mentative and decisive of the question at issue : — " Some 
 have thought that the very name of this lady indicates her 
 British origin ; and they argue that her name, in the 
 language of her country, would be Gwlady s Ruffyth. But 
 was this lady then the same with the Claudia of St. Paul 
 as our antiquaries have argued ? it is observedtotmsTlffiat 
 Martial flourished in the reign of Trajan ; to obviate which, 
 it may be said, that the poet in his youthful days composed 
 the epigrams on Linus, Pudens, and Claudia. On the same 
 ground we shall not object to Claudia being the daughter 
 of Caractacus. After the decision of the learned Usher in 
 this case it - would not be decorous to dispute the point ; 
 and it follows that Claudia was the first n ative Briton who 
 embraced Christianity; that by her means the restof her 
 family were converted; and that these, in company with 
 certain other disciples of St. Paul, were the instruments of 
 planting the tree of life in Britain.* 
 
 * In addition to Claudia we have two other ladies in this work, who were 
 not only contemporaries, but of similar tastes, convictions, and aspirations : 
 namely, Pomponia Grascine, wife of Aulus Plautius, first Roman governor of 
 Britain, who was tried for her life on account of her attachment to Christianity 
 and abandonment of the gods of Rome ; and a Roman lady named Tecla, also 
 one of the converts of St. Paul. She sbecame yery famous in Britain for the 
 sanctity of her life ; and to her are dedicated those churches called Llandegley, 
 in various parts of the principality of 'Wales. J These three memoir§** um.y -"ti e 
 advantageously read in connection with each cjiher. 
 
 
7T 
 
 DEETHGEE.* 
 
 The parentage of this lady of the fourteenth century is 
 unknown, but from certain allusions in*a poem addressed to 
 her, by her illustrions lover, it appears she was of lowly rank, 
 and humbly descended. Deethgee is one of thos^fcir ones 
 immortalized by the the muse of the celebrated Davyth ab 
 GwJJyjn. To her praise be it added, she was as modest as 
 beautiful, and appears to have r ejected the sui t and denied 
 her company to a wooer whose lays and principles savoured 
 too strongly of liber tinism. That poet's biographer re- 
 marks, "whatever may have been the inconstancy of Davy th 
 ab Gwilym in his general conduct towards the fair sex, he 
 appears in two instances to have entertained a sincere and 
 honourable passion — the object of which, under the names 
 of Deethgee and Morvyth, he has celebrated in some of his 
 choicest effusions. But, in both cases, the result was equally 
 unpropitious, though in different ways, to the hopes he had 
 indulged. The fair one first-named, who is represented by 
 the bard as endowed with every grace both of body and 
 mind, seems to have proved inaccessible to all the overtures 
 of his heart, enforced as they were by all the fascinations 
 of his muse.f However gratified she may have been by the 
 offerings of the bard, she seems to have paid no attention to 
 the adoration of the lover." 
 
 The following are extracts from the translation of Arthur 
 James Johnes, Esq., barrister at law, the last biographer and 
 editor of the poems of Davyth ab Gwilym : — 
 
 " Thou dear, perfect Deethgee — thou lamp of my heart ! 
 That rulest my thoughts with thy wiles and thy art : 
 I am none of your lovers who gravely revere 
 Ev'ry nobly-born damsel as stiff as a spear. 
 
 * In Welsh writtenU)yddgulbut pronounced as above, the g being sounded 
 as in give, geer, gain,d ^ » —^ 
 
 t The poems, addressed to Deethgee, now extant are seven in number, from 
 No. 14 to 20 inclusive iu the original Welsh. 
 
 P 
 
180 DEETHGEE. 
 
 I leave the mad squirrel to clamber and climb 
 'Mid brushwood, and brambles, and branches sublime ; 
 The squirrel may scramble so high up the tree 
 That he cannot come down— but no climbing for me ! 
 I leave the rash sailor the ocean to sweep, 
 With a puny iuch plank between him and the deep ; 
 Let him rove till he tires o'er his perilous track, 
 A proverb of luck if he ever comes back. 
 The archer who aims at the target his blow, 
 Flings the dust from his arrow, the dust from his bow; 
 And rarely he poises his arrow in vain, 
 If he aim but aright — if he shoot but with pain. 
 But, poor bard ! if one maiden but fall to his lot 
 In a thousand — alas, 'tis a more random shot! . 
 Thou girl with the eyebrow so auburn and thin, 
 Thrice happy the man who thy beauty shall win ; 
 Thou wilt not be mine for abundance of song— 
 I know that thou wilt not — while thou art yet young : 
 But still I despair not, enchantress divine! 
 When nobody'll have thee, thou then shalt be mine." 
 
 C* 
 
 In another poem he asks the roebuck to be his love-envoy 
 to Deethgee, telling him he has nothing to fear from the 
 hounds of the " tall baron ;" that if they pursue him he may 
 hide himself in the fern. He adds, that if he carries the 
 love letter safe to Deethgee he will be rewarded. The fol- 
 lowing is a literal translation of a portion of this curious 
 poem : — 
 
 " No hand shall flay thee ; thou shalt live in health and joy; 
 
 Thy skin shall not be possessed by an old Saxon ; 
 
 Nor shall thy horns or thy hoofs 
 
 Fall to the lot of false Eithig.* 
 
 Thou shalt be preserved against treachery, 
 
 With the strength 01 the arm of Cyhelyn.f 
 
 I will ever welcome thee, 
 
 Should I live to an old age — thou ! 
 
 With horns like Eglantine." 
 
 But the most curious of all the poems addressed by the 
 bard is the poem in which he invites her to a feast in the House 
 of Leaves, namely, a bower in the grove, or forest. The 
 viands with which he proposed to treat his lady-love were to 
 be the nightingale's song, the sparkling mead, and the ena- 
 
 * Jealousy— a name applied by the bards to their rivals, 
 t An ancient Welsh hero. 
 
DEETHGEE. 181 
 
 moured bard's caresses. Perhaps, deeming such fare too 
 poetic, or too dangerous, the prudent Deethgee denied her 
 presence on this occasion. Finding his suit unavailing, the 
 poet appears to have given up the point, and with laudable 
 philosophy transferred both his affections and the labours of 
 his muse to another object, by whom they were more readily 
 received. This was the celebrated Morvyth, a lady who, 
 however pre-eminent in attractions, seems to have been far 
 less fastidious than the modest and cautious fair one of our 
 memoir. Deethgee's gentle tastes and retiring manners, 
 evinced in her rejection of a lover whose principles were 
 but too questionable, deserve the meed of applause. And 
 however they may have doomed her to future obscurity, she 
 doubtless met the reward of her virtues in the esteem and 
 admiration of those better spirits, who are capable of pre- 
 ferring unostentatious goodness in the seclusions of life to 
 the false glare of assumption and recklessness. 
 
 We shall conclude this scanty biographical notice by the 
 insertion of the celebrated " House of Leaves" poem, before 
 referred to, as translated by Arthur James Johnes, Esq. : — 
 
 " Maid of dark and glossy tresses,* 
 Humbly I request, 
 In D61 Aer^on'st green recesses, 
 Thee to be my guest 
 At a feast— but not of food — 
 Fit for a husbandman's repast, 
 Or for Saxonf— -comrade rude ! 
 Not of flesh that might supply 
 Nuptial festivity : 
 Not of mingled wheat and rye, 
 Meat to break a reaper's fast : 
 On no other sweets we'll feed 
 Than the nightingale and mead ! 
 
 In that room above thy head, 
 Birchen boughs their shelter spread — 
 
 * There appears some confusion in the description of this beauty ; in ano- 
 ther poem he says " thou girl with the eyebrow so auburn and thin." 
 
 ( t Aeron is a river in Cardiganshire; D61 Aeron, or Dol yr Aeron, implies a 
 \neadow on the bank of Aeron. 
 
 % Gluttony is a vice generally ascribed to the English of those days, who 
 were termed Saxons by their Welsh neighbours. 
 
182 DEETHGEE. 
 
 Beauteous spot of fairest ground 
 
 For the deer to range around, 
 
 For grey philomel's clear wail, 
 
 And the thrush's wild, merry tale. 
 There nine trees together stand, 
 
 Mid the woods foh, lovely hand !) 
 
 Twined into a bright retreat 
 
 For the birds of heaven to meet, 
 
 Forming round our leafy seat 
 
 On the earth a circle fair — 
 
 A green steeple in the air — 
 
 And below a glorious hall, 
 
 Made of golden trefoils all. 
 
 Noble arbour — verdant nook — 
 
 For the maid of modest look ; 
 
 House by bright, clear waters piled- 
 Waters ne'er by smoke defiled, 
 
 Place of ecstacy and song, 
 
 Of tall trees and tangled ground ; 
 
 There the ousels rear their young, 
 
 There a fortress may be found — 
 ^ Verdant turrets that enclose 
 
 wbfe Faithful lovers from their foes ! 
 5^ Wilt thou then, or wilt thou not, 
 
 Visit me in that blest spot ? 
 
 For thyself thou must declare, 
 
 Come— thou must— and meet me there." 
 
 But come she did not — and in consequence of her refusal, 
 it seems, there ended their intercourse, as this was his last 
 poem addressed to this prudent beauty. 
 
/«3 
 
 EMMA DOLBEN, 
 
 WIFE OF THE REV. DR. HUGH WILLIAMS, RECTOR OF LLAN- 
 TRISANT, ANGLESEA, AND ANCESTRESS OF NUMEROUS 
 GREAT FAMILIES IN NORTH WALES. 
 
 This lady, like Catherine Tudor of Berain, lives in her 
 descendants more than in her own proper person"; and fo" 
 those wTTo feel an interest in the origin of certain great 
 families of North Wales, the little that is to be gleaned about 
 her will doubtless be very acceptable. While on his pro- 
 fessional tour, like Dr. Syntax, in search of the picturesque, 
 at Penrhos, in Anglesea, " the agreeable seat of Lady 
 Stanley,'' Edward Pugh, author and illustrator of " Cambria 
 Depicta," collected the following account of her : — 
 
 '•Lady Stanley has now in her possession a portrait of 
 Emma Dolben, her great grandmother, of which the an- 
 nexed plate is a faithful copy.* This lady was daughter of 
 John Dolben, of Caegwnnion, near Denbigh, Esq., from the 
 same origin as Dr. David Dolben, bishop of Bangor, in 1631, 
 and Sir William Dolben, Bart., late M.P. for Oxford. She 
 married, about 1650, the Rev. Hugh Williams, D.D., rector 
 of Llantrisant and Llanrhyddlad in Anglesea, second son 
 of William Williams, of Chwaen Isav and Nautanog, in 
 the same county, Esq. By this lady (not less remarkable 
 for her worth and accomplishments, than for the rank, afflu- 
 ence, and respectability of her numerous descendants) Dr. 
 Williams had issue, Sir William Williams, solicitor general 
 and speaker of the House of Commons in 1684, ancestor of 
 Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart. Sir John Williams, of 
 Bodlewyddan, Bart, and the late Watkin Williams, of 
 Penbedw, Esq., M.P., for the borough of Flint, and Emma, 
 
 * She appears a handsome, stately, taper-waisted, grandly attired lad}', 
 worthy of her illustrious position. Vide Pugh's Cambria Depicta, p. 62. 
 p 2 
 
184 EMMA DOLBEN. 
 
 the lady of Sir Arthur Owen, Bart., ancestor of Sir Hugh 
 Owen of Orielton and Bodowen, Bart. The Viscount Bul- 
 keley is also fifth in descent from Emma Dolben, by Emma, 
 the wife of William Roberts, of Caerau, Esq., and in the same 
 degree Holland Griffith, of Carreg-lwyd, Esq., by Emma, 
 daughter of John Owen, of Penrhos, Esq., great grandfather 
 to Lady Stanley." The last named gentleman was buried 
 in the church of Holyhead, in which the inscription on his 
 tomb appears to be the only thing remarkable. It runs 
 thus. " In memory of John Owen, of Penrhos, Esq., a 
 person, who having never travelled for education beyond 
 the circuit of his native island — yet, by the singular felicity 
 of his genius, attained to such accomplishments as to be its 
 greatest delight and ornament, for wit ; its chief oracle, 
 for civil prudence ; a stranger to few parts of useful learn- 
 ing ; and that which excelled all, a great pattern of unaf- 
 fected piety — died at the age of eighty-four, 1712." 
 
 Thus it is undeniable that Emma Dolben, or rather Mrs. 
 Hugh Williams, is more than commonly honoured in the 
 number and high respectability of her far-spreading de- 
 scendants.* 
 
 * One of her sons, as before-mentioned, was the talented and witty Sir 
 William Williams, who so reputably filled high ofiices in the state. While yet 
 a noteless, if not a briefless barrister, he paid his adresses to the daughter 
 of a man of rank and fortune. On being questioned by him as to his pos- 
 sessions and pretensions to ally himself so honourably, he replied — " I have 
 a gown, a wig, and a tongue !" The gallant inference was understood and 
 accepted. This bold barrister successively won the lady — the honour of 
 knighthood at the hand of his sovereign— the solicitor-generalship and the 
 speakership of the House of Commons, in the reign of James II. 
 
/SS" 
 
 DOLLY OF PENTREATH. 
 
 Dolly Pentrea.th, a woman of the humbler walks of life, 
 is celebrated in QornjaL annals as* the last of the Britons 
 in that county who spoke thejCcornjlshJanguage, and for 
 the great age at which she arrived before her death. Her 
 surname, Pentreath, which is a corruption of the British or 
 Welsh word Pentraeth, must have been derived from the 
 place of her residence, and properly written in pure Welsh 
 would have been Dolly o'Ben y traeth, and in English Dolly 
 of Strand-head. 
 
 The following brief notice of this last animated relic of 
 the Cornish Britons, we transcribe from that beautiful and | 
 most interesting work " Qyrus Redding' s Illustrated Iti 
 nerary of the County of Cornwall," whefe^sne T¥*inci 
 Hentally introduced in a dissertation on the decline and § 
 extinction of the British language in that county. 
 
 " In the deathof a lan guage there is something painfully 
 striking — as being the medium through which, for perished 
 ages, perished generations of men communicated alike wants 
 the most trivial, or the thoughts that wander through eter- 
 nity* There are ™ JY Wltff4 books in the Cornish tongue. 
 Dr. Moreman, of Menheniot, in tB^w»igD„.pf Henry VIII., 
 was the first who taught his parishioners the " Lord's Prayer" 
 in English. In 1640, at Feock, near Truro, the sacrament 
 was administered in Cornish, and the Rev. Mr, Robinson, 
 near the Lizard Point, preached in Cornish in 1768. In 
 1700 , the language was still spoken bv the tinners and fish- 
 ~peopTe"bf St.' Just' and the western side of Mount's Bay. 
 Borlase said that, in 1758, it had ceased to be spoken ; but, 
 
 '->. 
 
 \. 
 
 * This touching reflection, written in a pure style of sublime simplicity, 
 cannot but come home, doubly charged with pathetic reference, to the bosom of 
 every Welchraan or Celt — descendant as he is of the earliest colonisers of 
 Europe— and whose language, notwithstanding every effort made or making \\ \£. 
 for its support or revival, is aJ§o^_on ihe eve of ex t in ctipji. To the utilitarian*, 
 whose creed and mental aspirations favour nothing but progress, this, of course, 
 is " a consummation devoutly to be wished ;" but to the philosopher, or profound 
 meditator on the wreck of nations and the general mutability of human affairs, 
 not the less interesting, or intensely affecting — however deeply he may parti- 
 cipate in warm wishes for the success of progression, and ardently desire the 
 removal of every prejudice that proves a stumbling-block in the way of ad- 
 vancement. 
 
186 DOLLY OF PENTREATH. 
 
 ten years after that, two old women of Mousehole under- 
 stood, according to Daines Barrington, what was said by a 
 neighbour called Dolly Pentreath, than whom they were 
 ten or twelve years younger. This woman, commonly 
 reputed the last who could speak Cornish, was in her 
 eighty-seventh year in 1773, but would frequently walk 
 three miles out and home'the same morning. One William 
 Bodener, in ^776, could w rite both Cornish and English ; 
 and he stated that four or five others then'^Wea^wTTo could 
 speak the language. John Nancarrow, of Marazion, learned 
 the language in his youth. Mr. Polwhele says, that this 
 William Bodener, of Mousehole, was many years younger 
 than Dolly Pentreath, and used to converse with her. He 
 died in 1794, and left two sons, but neither knew enough of 
 the language to converse in it." Thus it seems he survived 
 her six years, by which he deprived this heroine of popular 
 tradition of a portion of her peculiar laurels ; as Dolly 
 Pentreath is recorded to have died J _in_l778, at the great age 
 of one hundred and two years. Our author continues, " she 
 was buried very humbly, in St. Paul's churchyard, near 
 Penzance, where some ignorant writers have given her both 
 a tomb and an epitaph." Mr. Tompson, an engineer of 
 Truro, who had made the old Cornish language his study, 
 wrote the following epitaph upon Dolly, which he circu- 
 lated among his friends — hence the tale of a tombstone that 
 never honoured her remains : — 
 
 Old Doll Pentreath, one hundred aged and two, 
 Deceas'd and buried in Paul parish too, — 
 
 Not in the church with people great an high, 
 But in the churchyard doth old Dolly lie."* 
 
 The work from which we have quoted this account, 
 among its numerous interesting engravings, is embellished 
 with a characteristic likeness of Dolly Pentreath, " from a 
 drawing made by an inhabitant of Penzance, who died about 
 the close of the last century." 
 
 * For the amusement of those who may take pleasure in comparing the 
 original with the Cambro British, we subjoin the Cornish version of this 
 epitaph, which runs thus :— *»^ 
 
 "Coth Doll Pentreath cans ha deau; ^ 
 
 Marow ha kledyz ed Paul pleu 
 
 Na ed an eglos, gan pobel bras, 
 
 Bes ed eglos-hay, coth Dolly es 
 
 •J> 
 
ELYN DONE, OR ELLEN DWN, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF SIR JOHN DONE OF UTKINTON, IN CHESHIRE— A 
 MAID, TWICE A WIFE, AND_A WIDOW THE SAME DAY. 
 
 Additionally to the interest connected with the strange 
 details of this lady's life, this well authenticated narrative 
 cannot fail to excite the curiosity of all readers, when they 
 are informed that it is the^p resumed- or igjiDgft on which Sir 
 Walter Scott founded his admirable ballad of The Young 
 LogfliaxARL In whatever degree of approval Hie general 
 reader may regard that beautiful production, we cannot con- 
 ceive that the eminent author of it would have lost a single 
 leaf of his superabundant laurel wreath, had he done Wales 
 the justice of acknowledging the foundation on which he has 
 reared so elegant a superstructure. But so it is; these 
 Welsh incidents have been Scolgi^^, without the slightest 
 reference to their Ca^jrianorigin. 
 
 The principal interest oftfTis ; memoir, notwithstanding, 
 lies in the ma tter- of-fajgj^omap^e of this extraordinary 
 story ; wherein the transactions of the entire life of its heroine 
 are compressed into the adventures of a_single jday ; yet in 
 that eventful day was enfranchised such subtile essence, as 
 in the hands of a capable artist, has frequently expanded 
 into the five long acts of the drama, or the three ample 
 volumes of the modern romance or novel. 
 
 Elyn Done, the lady of this memoir, was the daughter of 
 Sir John Done, and resided with her parents at Utkinton, in 
 the co^t^jDfChgs£er. Her affections had been won by a 
 Welsh gentleman named David Myddelton, but her parents 
 were strongly opposed to their union, and determined on 
 having her married to her cousin Richard Done, of Croten, 
 in their own immediate neighbourhood. This relative, how- 
 ever, Elyn held in absolute aversion — repulsed his advances, 
 refused his offered hand and heart, ultimately denied her 
 presence to him, and made no secret of her partiality for his 
 rival David Myddelton. 
 
 To understand the secret spring of the hostility mani- 
 fested by the parents of Ellen to the honourable match with 
 Myddelton, it will be necessary to take the following parti- 
 
18S ELYN DONE, OR ELLEN DWN. 
 
 culars into consideration. Although residing in England, 
 and aiming to be considered as English, it appears that this 
 family was originally Welsh — that following the bias of 
 their taste or policy, they had crossed the river Dee, and 
 settled within the English territories. Like many others of 
 their countrymen, finding their fortunes thriving there 
 under more favouring influences than in the land of their 
 birth, they finally made themselves English subjects, and 
 Anglofied their family name of Dwn into Done — in later 
 times usually written D unn . Thus, according to the policy 
 which guided their actions, to give their daughter in mar- 
 riage to a native of the country they had abandoned and 
 repudiated, appeared to them as a retrograde movement 
 highly reprehensible and opposed to their English partia- 
 lities and interests. Without this explanation their rejection 
 of a person so highly respectable as David Myddelton for a 
 son-in-law would appear unaccountable. But it appears 
 they neither considered his identity with the elevated family 
 of the Myddeltons of Chirk Castle, his descent from the 
 ancient tribe of Ririd Vlaidd, nor the high office which he 
 held under the reigning sovereign Edward IV., of sufficient 
 weight to alter their resolution of marrying their daughter 
 to their kinsman Richard Done of Croten. These were the 
 high days of paternal tyranny T when those absolute autho- 
 rities were impressed with the most extreme notions of their 
 own divine rights in the disposal of the hands, hearts, and 
 fortunes of their offspring — and of the obligation of passive 
 obedience on the part of those children, to whom they 
 assigned whatever partners that suited with their policy, 
 caprice, or a prior arrangement, formed often during the 
 very infancy of the parties principally concerned. The 
 heroism or audacity of the mind had not yet conceived the 
 heresy of doubting, much less of questioning this "right 
 divine." Even the suffering subjects of the tyrannical 
 system stood self-condemned, and in their deliberative moods 
 concluded their reluctance to obedience to be criminal ; and 
 in their superstitious awe, yielded to the most unreasonable 
 decrees, more as repentant criminals than the victims of the 
 most degrading and mind-enslaving rigour. From this state 
 
ELYN DONE, OR ELLEN DWN. 189 
 
 of culpability, the milder minds, harrassed to imbecility, 
 were soon persuaded by those perpetual panders to erratic 
 authority, the priesthood, their spiritual guides, who alone 
 possessed the talisman of tranquilizing disturbed nerves, as 
 well as consciences, by the imposing necromancy (for the 
 the imposture deserves no better term) of absolution, ob- 
 tained only by obedience. 
 
 Repulsed by the parents of Elyn, David Myddelton rarely 
 beheld his beloved mistress — and, when he did so, it was 
 only at a distance while vigilantly guarded during her de- 
 votions at church. However, it would seem, he consoled 
 himself with a firm-rooted conviction of possessing her 
 entire affections. With this assurance, to avoid compro- 
 mising her domestic peace, it is probable he avoided making 
 a too conspicuous display of his presence, and with manly 
 patience waited the eventful births of time, doubtless, look- 
 ing anxiously for the period, when with her own consent he 
 should forcibly remove her from the paternal dwelling and 
 protection into his own. That time, so long looked for, at 
 length came, but attended with circumstances more terrible 
 than ever could have been anticipated by either of the par- 
 ties who stood as principals in the adventure. 
 
 It is very probable that Sir John and his lady, availing 
 themselves of every circumstance tending to work on their 
 daughter's mind, to bend it to their views, might instance to 
 her the infrequency of her lover's appearance at the church 
 as a proof of his waning affection, a presumption that he 
 held her in light regard, and the probability that he had 
 abandoned all further thoughts of her. Discovering the 
 effect of such an insinuation as touching her woman's pride 
 at fancying herself slighted, or held over cheap, nothing 
 could be more natural than that they should seize the op- 
 portunity thus presented of extorting from her a promise, 
 that unless he appeared there to claim h ^^^^i£!ii^ 
 that she should consent to give up^aTTfurther tnlmgnts of 
 him, and marry her cousin Richard Done of Croten. That, 
 yielding for a moment to the bitter thought of his faith- 
 lessness, unconscious of, or forgetting at the same time, the 
 generous motives that induced him to forego his devotional 
 
190 ELYN DONE, OR ELLEN DWN. 
 
 visits, and to absent himself so long — and forgetting also 
 the distance of his home, at the castle of Denbigh, in the 
 vale of Clewyd, from her own on the English side of the 
 river Dee, it is by no means improbable that Elyn, in her 
 transient resentment, and in the hope of obtaining a tem- 
 porary peace from the incessant persecution of her family, 
 might be induced to yield such a conditional promise — little 
 thinking that it was within the compass of possible events 
 that she would ever be called upon to ratify this compact by 
 an absolute fulfilment. 
 
 Greatly alarmed, and intensely troubled on reflection, at 
 the consequence of her weakness, a strong conviction of her 
 peril flashed across her mind, as the insidiousness of the 
 insinuations which had betrayed her into such unfounded 
 fears, and the consequent advantage taken of her, the mo- 
 ment she became ensnared in the meshes of her circum- 
 venters, the thought of extricating herself succeeded her 
 first convulsive emotions. She soon decided on a resolute 
 attempt to rescue herself from the consequence of her im- 
 prudence, by sending off a secret and well-instructed mes- 
 senger to Denbigh castle to inform Myddelton of her 
 dangerous position, emphatically impressing her conviction 
 that her stern parents would enforce the conditions of her 
 fata Lprom ise the moment that time and inauspicious cir- 
 cumstances placed it in their power. 
 
 Most unfortunately David Myddelton was absent when 
 Elyn's messenger arrived at Denbigh, and several days 
 elapsed before he was found. At length, however, the 
 astounding intelligence reached him that not a moment was 
 to be lost or the beloved mistress of his heart would be 
 estranged to him for ever. 
 
 Distressed beyond measure at the details of the trusty 
 messenger, the unhappy young man could well conceive 
 in what manner her ungenerous parents had put such evil 
 constructions on his self-denying, prolonged absence, and 
 the momentary doubt of his truth which betrayed Elyn 
 into her grievous mistake. He could mentally see how 
 their incessant entreaties, threats, and other importunities, 
 had driven the poor girl into a reluctant confused consent to 
 
ELYN DONE, OR ELLEN DWN. 19 L 
 
 abandon him — and his active fears suggested that at that 
 very moment they might be enforcing the forfeited con- 
 ditions — for, he remembered with agony, this was the fatal 
 morning fixed for the marriage of Elyn with her hated cousin 
 —and that the belated morning was so far advanced, that to 
 arrive at Utkinton in time to rescue her was next to impos- 
 sible. Rendered desperate with such convictions, and stung 
 with self-reproach for not having foreseen and anticipated 
 those evils, and prevented the possibility of the event he 
 dreaded, he was now for flying to her rescue. 
 
 Ever more ready for action than deliberate reflection 
 David Myddelton immediately decided on the course to 
 pursue, and rapidly commenced putting his intentions into 
 execution. He raised the most resolute of his friends, whose 
 homes were nearest his own, and each being well armed with 
 goodly weapons and mailed breast plates— and mounted on 
 strong, fleet, and vigorous steeds, off rode the resolute ca- 
 valcade, to the number of a couple of dozen, with the fiery 
 lord of Denbigh at their head. 
 
 In the meantime poor Elyn's state of mind was troubled 
 in the extreme. With renewed confidence she believed to 
 the last that the timely arrival of her favoured lover would 
 save her from the extremity she dreaded, and put an end to 
 her peril and misery by a sudden transition from despond- 
 ence to the height of mortal felicity. Guarded in her cham- 
 ber, and strictly watched, she spent those feverish, miserable 
 hours in gazing from her lattice, while daylight lasted, for 
 the sight of some being to relieve her hopes — and in the 
 darkness of the night listened so intently for some indicating 
 sound of a strange arrival, that the beating of her own heart, 
 in the wildness of her imagination, was exaggerated into the 
 ttaraiB&iiLi^ -^ ut ' as f hese delusions 
 
 vanished, it was with heart-crushing anguish she beheld, 
 unrelieved, the arrival of the bridal morning, and with it 
 the detested bridegroom and his party, whom she was com- 
 pelled to accompany to the altar, while in her frantic despair 
 she wished every moment the last of her existence. 
 
 With all the incredible exertions of David Myddelton and 
 his friends to reach Utkinton in time to frustrate the 
 
 Q 
 
192 ELYN DONE, OR ELLEN DWN. 
 
 schemes of his enemies, unfortunately, from the lateness of 
 the intelligence he had received, he utterly failed to get 
 there till he heard, with the utmost consternation, that the 
 bridal party had been in church a considerable time, Al- 
 most frantic on discovering this state of things, while his 
 followers kept in their saddles wandering what would be his 
 next movement, he was seen to spring from his horse and 
 pace to and fro in violent agitation. Before he had taken 
 many turns he was roused by the merry peals of the "mar- 
 riage bells," while the wedding party were seen issuing from 
 the porch of the church, preceded by the bride and bride- 
 groom. No sooner were his eyes fixed on the melancholy 
 bride, mechanically holding by the arm of the smirking, 
 insignificant-looking Richard Done, who strutted forward in 
 all the triumphant pride of a bridegroom, than he turned 
 deadly pale ; but, all at once, as if suddenly possessed of the 
 maddened spirit of a raging demon, the impetuous blood of 
 the race of Riridj£jajdd* seemed boiling in his veins. His 
 sword was in hisgrasp/aTid seen flying from its scabbard as 
 he rushed on the unhappy bridegroom, and rapid as the. 
 lightning flash thrusfr him „_ through the heart. While the 
 astounded guests and witnesses of the* wedding seemed 
 petrified at this tragic catastrophe, David Myddelton whisked 
 off the now widowed bride towards his party, who, with 
 their drawn swords, closed around them ; he lifted her on 
 his horse, and vigorously sprung into the saddle before her. 
 In the greatest excitement David voiciferated the energetic 
 monosyllable *' on !" and, taking the lead himself, in an in- 
 stant the whole party were in a violent gallop on their 
 homeward course. Dashing their horses into the river Dee, 
 they urged them forward, at the peril of being carried away 
 by the rapidity of the powerful stream — yet, fortunately, 
 imitating the caution intermingled with the daring of their 
 leader, they waded and swam the sagacious, sure-footed 
 animals, and got every one safe over without a single failure. 
 Now secure within their native Cambrian, territory, in brief 
 space they were gently riding up the vale of Clewyd, where, 
 at the abbey of Denbigh, Elyn became again espoused — but 
 at this time in ties more enduring than those of the morning 
 * Ririd Vlaidd signifies the bloody wolf. 
 
ELYN DONE, OR ELLEN DWN. 193 
 
 wedding. Thus was the gentle daughter of Sir John Done, 
 in one brief day — the most terrible, if not the happiest of 
 her existence, a maid, a bride, a widow, and again a wife. 
 
 As the principal object, for the satisfaction of the public, 
 Is to establish the authenticity of the above incidents, it 
 behoves us to produce our vouchers — which, though liable 
 to the charge of repetition, we shall render in our text, 
 Instead of the general mode of casting such valuable docu- 
 ments into the notes or the appendix. Be it known then, 
 that the world, including the illustrious author of '« The 
 Young Lochinvar" and the present biographer, originally 
 stand indebted to the researches of the indefatigable Pennant 
 for the story of this wild abduction — thus given in his 
 41 North Wales Tours :"— 
 
 41 In rummaging over the papers of this house (the house 
 of Gwaenynog, the respectable family seat of the Middel- 
 tons)* I met with an anecdote of it too singular to be 
 suppressed. It will prove, at least, that private morals and 
 respect to the laws were, in that distant jperiod, but in a 
 very low state, for no notice seems/to be taken of so atrocious 
 an offence. The criminal enjoyedv the favour of the crown 
 in common with others of its peacetol-stibjects. 
 
 ** David Mydde lton»_who is styled Receiver of Denbigh 
 in the 19th of Edward IV., and Valechis Coronas l)ni Regis 
 in the 2nd of Richard III., made his addresses to Elyn, 
 daughter of Sir John Done of Utkinton, in Cheshire, and 
 gained the lady's affections, but the parents preferred their, 
 relation Richard Done, of Croten. The marriage was 
 accordingly celebrated, which David having notice of, 
 watched the groom leading his bride out of church, killed 
 him on the spot, and then carried her away his mistress and 
 married her the same day, so that she was a maid, widow, 
 and twice a wife, in one day."f 
 
 * Situated near Denbigh, in the vale of Clewyd. ^\ 
 
 (f Pennanfyhere adds, "from Roger, the eldest son of this marriage, descended^ 
 the Myddeltons of Gwaenynog." This author incidentally states what cannot 
 but prove singularly interesting as a more general feature in Celtic character- 
 istics than was generally known. \' I mention Thomas Myddelton, another of 
 his progeny, only to prove that the ^j^KUPft, .thftj nsh ho wl, or Scotch cora- 
 nich, was in use among us (the Welsh) ; for we are told he was buried « cum 
 magno dolore et clamore cognatorum et propinquorum omnium.' "^ 
 
DRWYNWEN, 
 
 FIFTH DAUGHTER OF BRYCHAN BRECHEINTOG, WIFE OF CYN- 
 VARCH-OER, AND MOTHER OF URIEN RHEGED. 
 
 Drwynwen (white nose), the fifth daughter of Brychan, 
 became the wife of Cynvareh-oer (Kynvarch the cold) ; 
 he was the son of Meirchion cul-galed (Meirchion the 
 slender and hardy), a chieftain of the North of England. 
 Many of the sisters of this lady became the mothers either of 
 martyrs, saints, or founders of monastic establishments, in 
 the primitive days of British Christianity. But, in contra- 
 distinction to them, Drwynwen gave birth to a wonderful 
 boy* who in the course of time won the fame of a hero 
 and became the munificent patron of the greatest bards on 
 record — no less a personage than the celebrated Urien 
 Rheged; and his twin-sister, the beautiful Eirddil. He 
 flourished about the year 560. Urien was of high celebrity, 
 in the court of king Arthur, as a most valiant and courteous 
 knight. He gained the surname of Rheged, from the small 
 northern kingdom to which he was elected as sovereign, 
 which in after time was called Gwlad y Cymric, then 
 Cumbria — and latterly Cumberland. Many notices may 
 be found of him in "Evans's Specimens of Welsh Poetry," as 
 well as in the British Triads ; he was the most famous of 
 all the kings of Cumbria, being the Urbgen of the additions 
 to Ne,nnius ; and in his court flourished the three great 
 poets Aneurin, Taliesin, and Llywarch-hen. The second, 
 in noems that are still extant, enumerates twelve pitched 
 Ies fought by Urien ; that of Argoed Llwyvain, or 
 rood, is particularly described, it was fought with 
 Bjjlamddwyn, or flame-bearer, as, for his destructive mode of 
 Warfare, the Britons called Ida, the first king of Northum- 
 berland."* 
 
 * Ttaeophilus Jonea. 
 

 
 DWYNWEN, 
 
 THE TWENTY-SIXTH AND YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF BEYCHAN. 
 
 " Dwynwen,* the youngest daughter of Brychan, accord - 
 djpg, to the.,MJ§«-i" the British Museum, though omitted 
 by Llewelyn Ofeiriad, was a saint of such celebrity that the 
 shade of Davyth ab GwilymTfrowning while I hesitate, 
 imperiously requires me to notice her, as some atonement 
 for the silence of Llewelyn the priest. A church, from her 
 called" Llanddwyn, was built and dedicated to this saint, in 
 the Isle of Anglesea, in the year 590. She has been called 
 the Wftjsh Vp.niyi 7 or goddess of love. The amatory poet 
 of Wales, Davyth ab Gwilym, addresses her, "holy Dwyn- 
 wen, prodjpsa o f love , daughter of Brychan." He has also 
 poem or invocation to Dwynwen, a translation of which is 
 inserted in " Jones's Reliques of the Welsh Bards." HerJ) 
 shrine was much resorted to by desponding swains and love- 4, 
 sick maidens of olden times, who entreated her propitious / 
 smiles, and solicited her intercessions and good offices with/ 
 the objects of their affections. 
 
 ** These garlands, ever green, and ever fair, 
 •With vows were offered, and with solemn pray'r, 
 A thousand altars in temple smoked ; 
 £A thousand bleeding hearts her power invok'd.'y 
 
 We leave to future commentators the task of reconciling 
 these mixtures of heathen and christian rites and references, 
 nor envy them their laurels — having merely transcribed 
 these notices from the pages of Theophilus Jones's " History 
 of the Town and County of Brecon." 
 
 * The meaning of this name is rather curious — Dwyn signifies to carry, to 
 bear, also to steal— and wen white. Thus the name implies that she was the 
 bearer off, or stealer, of the palm of fairness. 
 
 Q 2 
 
\(\ip 
 
 ELEANOR DE, MONTFORD, 
 
 QUEEN OF PRINCE LLEWELYN AB GRIFFITH, THE LAST NATIVE 
 SOVEREIGN OF THE WELSH. 
 
 Eleanor de Montford, niece to King Henry III,* and 
 daughter of that powerful nobleman and great soldier Simon 
 de Montford, earl of Leicester, had been betrothed to 
 prince Llewelyn ab Griffith at an early age. Although 
 Llewelyn became most passionately attached to her, yet it 
 would seem that he had also consulted his own interest in 
 allying himself to the family of this potent English baron. 
 Simon de Montford was one of the most astonishing charac- 
 ters of the age. When the violent conduct of Henry and 
 his ministers had driven many of the English barons into 
 open revolt, he was unanimously chosen for their general ; 
 and well did he justify their election. In the year_12^^ 
 and the forty -seventh of the reign of Henry III., he won 
 the battle of Lewes, when the fortune of war threw that 
 monarch and his son Edward (afterwards the celebrated 
 King Edward I.) prisoners into his power. Although his- 
 tory has sufficiently blazoned the ultimate successes and 
 triumphs of Edward, so disastrous to his foes and glorious 
 to himself, yet the records of his nation testify that there 
 was a time when he shared his father's disgrace, as the beaten 
 in the field and humbled captive of the earl of Leicester. 
 Doubtless it was a humiliating epoch in their lives, when 
 the subdued sovereign and his haughty son were paraded 
 through the land, as pageants of state, to suit the triumph 
 of a rebel subject — and at the same time compelled to sanc- 
 tion by their presence the proceedings of their conqueror, 
 who in reality had overthrown the power of his prince. But 
 
 * Her father Simon de Montford espoused Eleanor, dowager of William earl 
 of Pembroke, and sister to Henry the third. Matthew Paris, p. 314. 
 
> ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 197 
 
 % 
 
 great as was the power of de Montford, this order of things 
 was not to last. Warrington says, " Sir Roger Mortimer, 
 and the other lords engaged in the royal cause, expecting to 
 be attacked by Simon de Montford, had broken down the 
 bridge of Worcester and having destroyed the ferryboats 
 on the Severn, they encamped on the opposite banks of the 
 river. These precautions prevented the earl of Leicester 
 from penetrating farther than Worcester. The entrance 
 into the country was soon opened by Llewelyn, his friend 
 and ally — who, by a sudden inroad upon the English borders, 
 diverted the attention and weakened the operations of the 
 lords of the marches. The confederate army, under the 
 command of the two leaders (de Montford and Llewelyn) 
 having left prince Edward a prisoner in the city of Hereford, 
 ravaged the estates of Sir Roger Mortimer, and taking the 
 castles of Hay and Ludlow, proceeded to Montgomery. An 
 admonitory bull was issued by Ottobani, the pope's legate, to 
 the Welsh prince, requiring him to restore the castles which 
 he had taken, and to withdraw from the confederacy. This 
 mandate did not produce the desired effect. The lords of 
 the marches therefore yielding to a superior force, and desi- 
 rous of obtaining the liberty of prince Edward, submitted to 
 the earl of Leicester. They agreed to surrender to him 
 their estates and their castles, and to relinquish the realm 
 for one year. Soon after this treaty, in the year 1265, a 
 general peace was concluded between Llewelyn and the earl 
 of Leicester with the king and lords of the marches, at a 
 conference which they held for that purpose at Hereford." 
 
 We have drawn thus largely on general history merely to 
 show under what circumstances the earl of Leicester sought 
 a lasting alliance with Llewelyn, to be cemented by a matri- 
 monial union between his daughter and the prince of Wales ; 
 wherein we must again cite the authority of Warrington, 
 who has well availed himself of the lights cast on these tran- 
 sactions by the chroniclers of the times. 
 
 "Dissatisfied, no doubt, with the late peace, prince Ed- 
 ward, who since his captivity had resided in the English 
 court in Hereford, escaped out of the power of the earl of 
 Leicester. The young prince was instantly joined by the 
 
198 ELEANOR DE MONTTORD. 
 
 lords of the marches, who, recovering the possession of their 
 own fortresses, made themselves masters of the country be- 
 tween Hereford and Chester. By a sudden and rapid move- 
 ment of the enemy Leicester found himself surrounded by 
 different bodies of troops. In this situation he had no other 
 resource than to throw himself into the arms of Llewelyn." 
 
 It is to be observed that while Simon de Montford was 
 ostensibly fighting in the king's name against that monarch's 
 enemies, having Henry, with his court, the captives of his 
 camp, to verify his proceedings, he was in reality fighting 
 his own and confederates' battles against the king's ministers 
 and their partizans. Much in the manner that in a later age 
 the audacious Bolingbroke treated the imbecile Richard II., 
 the bold and wily Leicester bore himself towards Henry ; 
 with loyalty on his lip and determination in his heart to 
 brave his resentment, and compel him to the course which 
 he had marked out for him to follow. With a full under- 
 standing of the earl's position, and the personal peril in which 
 he then stood, Llewelyn dexterously treated with him as if 
 he were the king's authorized and chosen official. The 
 prince of Wales "resolving to make every advantage of the 
 present conjuncture, demanded, as the only condition of 
 affording him protection, a full restitution to the inheritance 
 and dignity of his ancestors. Under the sanction of the 
 king's name, the sovereignty of Wales was restored to 
 Llewelyn, with the homage of all the Welsh barons ; he 
 received a grant also of the lordship of Whittington, and the 
 hundred Elesmere, with the castles of Hay, Hawarden, and 
 Montgomery."* 
 
 These were the bright days of Llewelyn's existence. At 
 the same time that he was admiring the youthful graces of 
 the lady Eleanor, he had the supreme gratification of hearing 
 her father's applause for the very able manner in which he 
 had conducted his own affairs — and afforded to him, the 
 efficient aid of arms in his dark hour of adversity. He had 
 the proud satisfaction to hear, from the stern and haughty 
 de Montford, a desire to strengthen their present union ; 
 
 * Warrington. 
 
ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 199 
 
 and to render their future friendship indissolubly lasting, he 
 received from him the offer of the hand of his daughter. 
 Such an offer, under circumstances so flattering, of course 
 was rapturously accepted by the prince of Wales ; and being 
 then too young for marriage, Eleanor was formally betrothed 
 to him accordingly. 
 
 Strange reverses followed soon after. From the very 
 height crowned with the sunshine of good fortune, both the 
 earl of Leicester and the prince of Wales had to endure a 
 sudden descent, rapid as unforeseen, into the gulph of gloom 
 and disaster. To dilate circumstantially on the historical 
 events which subsequently took place, is no part of our plan 
 further than relates to the fortunes of Eleanor de Montford. 
 The release of king Henry, by the successful effort of his 
 son and adherents, was followed by the reverses of the earl 
 of Leicester; and although again succoured by Llewelyn, 
 his inauspicious star seemed to gain the ascendant. To 
 crown the evil fortune of Llewelyn and his bethrothed with 
 tenfold darkness, in that same year (1265), the war-worn, 
 spirit-crushed Simon de Montford departed this life ; to the 
 joy of his enemies, and the irreparable loss of his friends. 
 On the death of her father, Eleanor de Montford was sent to 
 join her mother and brother, and to finish her education at 
 a nunnery in France. Without dwelling on the momentous 
 public events which followed, we may summarily notice the 
 submission of the malcontent barons to king Henry, and 
 the union of all parties against Llewelyn, to punish him for 
 the assistance which he had rendered to Simon de Montford. 
 Although he necessarily suffered, the prince survived the 
 storm, and by the mediation of Ottobani, the pope's legate, 
 obtained peace on fairer terms than could have been expected. 
 The death of his old antagonist Henry III. took place 
 in 1273 ; but he found a more relentless and determined 
 adversary in his son who succeeded. The commencement 
 of the reign of Edward I. was marked by the unfriendly bear- 
 ing of that monarch towards Llewelyn ab Griffith, manifested 
 by vexatious and irritating demands of his personal pre- 
 sence to do him homage as his superior lord ; at the same 
 time refusing the prince the customary hostages for his secu- 
 
200 ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 
 
 rity.* This insolent and barefaced denial justified Llewelyn 
 in his refusal to quit his dominions and to risk his safety in 
 the territories of a monarch so hostile to him. 
 
 " This refusal was rendered still more disagreeable to 
 Edward, as he was likely to be deprived of another fruit of 
 vassalage ; for Llewelyn seemed at this time determined to 
 solemnize his marriage with Eleanor de Montford, though he 
 had not obtained the king's consent. The pope likewise 
 appeared so sensible of the justice of his plea that he inhi- 
 bited the archbishop of Canterbury from issuing any papal 
 censure against Llewelyn. When the nature of his situation 
 is considered, the caution of the Welsh prince was justified 
 upon the principle of self-preservation. In the bosoms of 
 the two princes, jealousy and hatred had long mingled with 
 the love of glory and the desire of dominion : David and 
 Roderic, the younger brothers of the prince of Wales, were 
 entertained in the court of England : many Welsh chieftains 
 also, who had fled from the justice of their country, were 
 under the protection of Edward — and, influenced by every 
 motive of hope and despair, must have been anxious to pro- 
 mote the destruction of their sovereign. Llewelyn, like- 
 wise, too well remembered the fate of his father Griffith,*} - 
 to place any confidence in the protection or honour of the 
 English. He surely then, when interest and hatred con- 
 spired his ruin, would have been guilty of folly and rashness 
 in the extreme, if he had hazarded a life, of such importance 
 to his country, on no better security than the courteous 
 ideas of the age, or the fluctuating principles of political 
 integrity."! 
 
 After this, Llewelyn was successively summoned to 
 Shrewsbury, and to appear before the parliament sitting at 
 Westminster, to do homage to Edward, with which demands 
 he refused compliance on the same grounds which he had 
 heretofore alleged. Edward summoned him next to do him 
 
 * The pledges which Llewelyn demanded were Edmund, the king's brother, 
 the earl of Gloucester, and the chief justice of England. 
 
 t For the particulars of which, see Memoirs of the Princess Sinai in this 
 work. 
 
 $. Warrington. 
 
ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 201 
 
 homage at Chester, which, with three other similar demands, 
 met the like rejection. To justify these refusals still more 
 to the clergy and to the world, Llewelyn sent a memorial,* by 
 the abbots of Conway and Strata Florida, to be delivered 
 into the hands of the archbishops of York and Canterbury, 
 and of other bishops who were then assembled in convocation. 
 There is a native simplicity which runs through the whole 
 of this memorial, reciting his grievances, and justifying his 
 conduct, which pleads more ably the cause of the Welsh 
 prince than could have been effected by the exercise of the 
 finest talents. 
 
 The tenor of Edward's conduct with respect to Llewelyn 
 did not delude the segacity of that prince. He saw that a 
 blow was meditating by the English king, which, though 
 suspended for a time, would be the more severe, and would 
 fall with greater weight upon his country, from the coolness, 
 the delay, and increasing power of that firm and ever 
 prudent monarch. 
 
 Llewelyn, therefore, thought it prudent at this time, to 
 fulfil an engagement which he had formerly made ; and to 
 enter into an alliance with a family which might yield him 
 support against the formidable power of his rival. In the 
 course of the late war (as before related) he had been be- 
 trothed to Eleanor, the daughter of Simom de Montford, 
 and cousin to king Edward. On the death of her father the 
 young lady had retired into the monastery of Montargis, in 
 France. In this court her mother, the countess of Leicester, 
 and her brother, the heir of the family, lived in great splen- 
 dour. The adherents of the house of Montford were still 
 powerful in England, and the fame of the English monarch 
 had made him the object of jealousy with the French king. 
 To unite the views of the two parties in support of his interest, 
 which happily coincided with his ardent affection for the 
 lady Eleanor, now matured into womanly beauty, the prince 
 of Wales demanded of the king of France the daughter of 
 the late earl of Leicester. Philip, with much facility grant- 
 ed his request ; and Llewelyn waited with impatient expect- 
 ation of his bride. But the pleasing ideas which the pros- 
 * See appendix, No. II, to Warrington's history of Wales. 
 
202 ELEANOR DE MONTF0RD. 
 
 pect of his approaching nuptials afforded to Llewelyn, were 
 on a sudden embittered by disappointment, and lost in the 
 ruder avocations of war. 
 
 Eearly in the year 1296, the young lady, who was cousin 
 to the English king, attended by her brother Amaury, a 
 clergyman, set sail for the coast of Wales, to solemnize her 
 marriage with Llewelyn ; but near the Isle of Scilly, she had 
 the misfortuue to be taken prisioner by four ships from the 
 port of Bristol, and was conveyed to the court of England. 
 Instead of yielding up this lady into the hands of her lover, 
 which the ideas of the age might have suggested, and which 
 prudence too, as well as the laws of chivalry demanded, she 
 was detained in the English court, in an honourable atten- 
 dance on the queen. Her brother, likewise, was kept in con- 
 finement many years in the castles of Corfe and Sherburn ; 
 nor did he at length obtain his liberty, until demanded by 
 the pope as his chaplain — and after he had taken an oath 
 that he would relinquish the realm and never be concerned 
 in any commotion in the kingdom. 
 
 After so decisive a conduct as the detention of Eleanor de 
 Montford, all lenient measures, and the arts of expediency 
 were weak, delusive, and fruitless. Edward now determined 
 to exert every effort, which his power and his talents 
 afforded, to obtain what had long been the object of his am- 
 bition or policy, the entire conquest of Wales. Before 
 measures were taken to carry this design into execution, the 
 archbishop of Canterbury, with other prelates and lords of 
 the realm, desired Edward, that as the last expedient, he 
 would afford to Llewelyn one other opportunity of acknow- 
 ledging the sovereignty of England, and of yielding to its 
 orders unconditional obedience. With this design, the arch- 
 deacon of Canterbury was sent into Wales, with an injunc- 
 tion to the Welsh prince, that he should appear in the En- 
 glish court, and should there perform the customary duties 
 of a vassal. But at this time Llewelyn was in arms, and 
 had ravaged the English borders ; resenting the late conduct 
 of Edward, and alive to the feelings of an injured prince, 
 deeply wounded by the captivity of his much loved Eleanor.* 
 * Warrington. 
 
ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 203 
 
 Still consistent in his conduct, Llewelyn, however, sent 
 letters to Edward consenting that he would come either 
 to Montgomery or Oswestry to perform his homage, pro- 
 vided a safe conduct was allowed him, under the sanction 
 of the archbishop and the archdeacon of Canterbury, the 
 bishop of Winton, and five other English lord3. In return 
 for which acknowledgment of superiority, the prince of 
 Wales demanded that the king should abide by the articles 
 of peace which had been concluded between Henry III. 
 and himself. And that he should liberate and deliver into 
 his hands Eleanor de Montford, the lady to whom he was 
 contracted, as well as her retinue— all of whom, he asserted, 
 had been detained in custody contrary to the faith of nations. 
 
 The high pitch of overbearing insolence at which the 
 English nation had arrived, in their treatment of Wales, 
 may be conceived from the circumstance that "these just 
 and simple demands," as Warrington designates them, 
 should have excited in the parliament a general indignation. 
 Edward however had gained his point in justifying his 
 proceedings to his people, so as to gain their acquiescence 
 to the uncompromising war which he meditated ; for a fair 
 adjustment of his differences with Llewelyn was no part 
 of his object. The parliament and the clergy united to 
 supply their sovereign with money to crush his neighbouring 
 prince, and the pope put a final seal to the general enmity, 
 by excommunicating the prince of Wales, and laying his 
 dominions under an interdict. 
 
 The great scale on which Edward had made his military 
 arrangements for the coming conflict proves his deter- 
 mination never to recede from his fixed resolution of an 
 entire subjugation of the principality of Wales. " In the 
 late negoeiation the prince of Wales had offered to the 
 English king a large sum of money as a ransom for Eleanor 
 de Montford. Edward, on his part, refused to restore her, 
 unless the Welsh prince would reinstate the former pro- 
 prietors in the possession of those estates which he had 
 lately taken from them, and would also repair the castles 
 he had demolished. However ardent his desire of obtaining 
 the lady might be a sense of the duty which he owed his 
 
04 ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 
 
 country prevailed, and Llewelyn rejected the proposal with 
 disdain. Upon which the two princes proceeded in their 
 preparations for war."* 
 
 The immense disproportion between the means in the 
 hands of Edward and of Llewelyn might give a discerning 
 eye the anticipated result of this unequal conflict. While 
 the ranks of the English king were hourly swelled by the 
 arrival of fresh powers, from the continent, from Scotland 
 and Ireland, in addition to his own military vassals, the 
 prince of Wales, without an ally, had the mortification to 
 witness the defection of many of his own countrymen; it 
 was at this critical time that Rhys ab Meredith, titulary 
 lord of South Wales, and other chiefs of that country, 
 abandoned the cause of Llewelyn and consented to hold 
 their lands of Edward. While the one was elated with 
 his favourable prospects, it naturally follows that the other 
 was depressed from opposite causes. Doubtless these 
 unhappy presages weighed heavily on the mind of the 
 Welsh prince, and disabled him from pursuing, with his 
 wonted foresight and alacrity, the necessary precautions 
 for the support of a great army. Like his predecessors, 
 the Cambrian sovereigns of past times, Llewelyn fatally put 
 his trust in the natural strength of his mountain barriers, 
 deeming the fastnesses of Snowdon sufficient protection 
 against the mightiest power that could confront him. But 
 there was one enemy which he had overlooked, and against 
 whom he had made no preparation — that dire enemy of 
 armed multitudes, famine. The events to be expected 
 speedily came to pass. " The prospect which opened to 
 Llewelyn upon the mountains of Snowdon was dreary and 
 desolate. His enemies were masters of the country below, 
 and seemed determined, by their perseverance, to starve 
 him into submission. The island of Anglesea, his usual 
 resource for provisions, was then possessed by the English. 
 No diversion could be made in his favour in South Wales, 
 or in England, as the former country had lately submitted 
 to Edward's authority ; and in the latter, the adherents of 
 
 * Warrington. 
 
ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 205 
 
 the house of Montford were satisfied by having their for- 
 feited estates restored. The distress of Llewelyn was 
 heightened still more by the prospect of an immediate 
 famine. 
 
 "Thus surrounded by dangers, he had no better alternative 
 than to throw himself on the mercy of the English king. 
 A magnanimous prince like Llewelyn, the freedom of his 
 country being lost, would scarcely have wished to survive 
 its ruin — if the sufferings of his people, crowding around 
 him and perishing by famine, had not claimed his pity, 
 and inclined him to hazard his own . interests and personal 
 safety from a tender regard to theirs. It is possible, too, 
 the Welsh prince might hope that, in the event of some 
 future day, he might again rise upon the wheel of fortune. 
 In this state of affairs the prince of Wales sent to propose 
 an accommodation with the king of England. There was 
 little generosity or pity to be expected in the tenms which 
 would be offered by Edward."* 
 
 The galling stipulations on which Llewelyn and his com- 
 patriots were relieved from present destruction, by want of 
 the sustenance of existence, has been sufficiently shown 
 and commented on in our national history, nor is it neces- 
 sary to repeat them here. A ruined prince in the lowest 
 abyss of despair, surrounded by many of the weaker sex, 
 craving for the word that will give bread to their perishing 
 young, could have but little disposition to remonstrate with 
 an armed enemy of known remorselessness, who menaces 
 him with immediate destruction unless he will embrace 
 whatever terms he may choose to offer. Such being the 
 position of Llewelyn, the most spirit-crushing advantage 
 was taken of it by his adversary, by which he was reduced 
 to dependence and degradation, accompanied by morti- 
 fications of the most painful description. 
 
 A peace, such as it was, followed ! Edward entered 
 London triumphantly, with Llewelyn in his train to do him 
 the long-claimed homage. The rigorous and insupportable 
 terms of this semblance of a peace proved the king of 
 
 * Warrington. 
 
206 ELEANOR DB MONTFORD. 
 
 England's determination to annex Wales to his dominions 
 on the death of the prince of Wales ; hut he imagined there 
 stood in his way the popular delusions said to be entertained 
 by the Welsh, that king Arthur was yet alive, and destined to 
 reslore to them their ancient independence. To dissipate 
 these superstitious ideas (if ever they were entertained), 
 the English king, with his queen, court, and parliament, 
 took up their residence at Glastonbury, and had the bones 
 of the ancient Silurian hero disinterred and publicly ex- 
 posed. With the barbarous view of insulting the sovereign of 
 Wales, Llewelyn was summoned to appear, and witness 
 this act of sacrilegious folly ; but notwithstanding his 
 adverse fortunes, and perilous position in offending the king 
 of England, the prince of Wales had the spirit to deny his 
 presence on the occasion. 
 
 ** It is easy to conceive that Edward, alive to his inter- 
 ests, and jealous of his power, would be eager to check the 
 contumacy of a vassal in Llewelyn's situation. To enforce 
 his obedience, the king, attended by his queen, repaired to 
 Worcester, from whence he sent an order to the Welsh 
 prince to appear at his court, and to account for his late 
 conduct. The rigour of this summons was softened by an 
 invitation to a royal feast which was to be held in that 
 city — with an assurance, too, that he should be treated with 
 honour, and that the lovely Eleanor de Montford should be 
 the reward of his obedience. There was a decision in this 
 mandate which love would not suffer him to evade nor 
 prudence to disobey, and which soon brought Llewelyn 
 to the English court."* The greatest of modern warriors 
 has asserted, that to yield to the force of circumstances, 
 the inevitable decrees of fate, is no stain on the fame of the 
 war-worsted hero. If that be admitted in any case, Lle- 
 welyn stands excused to posterity for the humiliating 
 homage which history records that he rendered to Edward 
 on this occasion, which smoothed his path towards the pos- 
 session of the long-sought lady of his love. 
 
 " Having now succeeded in his views, and as he thought, 
 having rendered Llewelyn docile in the duties of vassalage, 
 
 * Warrington. 
 
ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 207 
 
 Edward gave him back the hostages which he had lately 
 received; and also delivered up to him Eleanor de Mont- 
 ford, with the estate which had been the property of her 
 father. The marriage was celebrated on the 13th of Oc- 
 tober, in the year 1278, the expense of which was defrayed 
 by Edward; and as a farther mark of his favour, the cere- 
 mony was graced by the presence of the king himself and 
 his queen." 
 
 With what disgust must the conduct of Edward be 
 viewed, for the ungenerous exaction recorded of him by 
 the historian, in the passage following. Such was the 
 ungraciousness of his nature that he could not help dropping 
 poison into the sweet cup of nuptial benediction — and 
 spreading gloom and mistrust on the day hallowed even 
 among the humblest of mankind, and dedicated to unal- 
 loyed happiness, as the brightest in human life. But history 
 itself shall give the loathsome statement. 
 
 " On the very day that the marriage was to be solemnized, 
 and in consequence, as Llewelyn and his bride were going 
 to hear mass, the English king required of that prince that 
 he should enter into a covenant never to protect any person 
 whatever contrary to his pleasure The rigid sentiments 
 of duty, put to so severe a trial, were too weak to subdue in 
 the bosom of the Welsh prince the feelings of nature. 
 Alive to love and its keen sensibilities, and in fear, no doubt, 
 for his liberty or life^ the firmness of the gallant Llewelyn 
 sunk under their influence. The enamoured prince, besides 
 conceding to other requisitions, signed a covenant, which 
 loosened every tie of confidence, and which might in future 
 give up to the resentment, or to the interested views of 
 Edward, the most faithful adherent to his interests. It is 
 only from a motive of personal dislike, for it could not have 
 arisen from any just principle of policy, that we are able 
 to account for the insult which was offered to Llewelyn — in 
 detaining this lady so long in the English court, and im- 
 peding the views of honourable love. In these traits of 
 Edward's character we see no traces of heroism — no resem- 
 blance of the courteous manners which distinguished the 
 most cultivated period of the feudal ages. 
 r 2 
 
208 ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 
 
 " As soon as the ceremony was finished, Llewelyn with his 
 amiable wife returned into Wales to sooth the asperity of 
 adverse fortune in the enjoyment of domestic felicity." 
 
 But two years, two short years, were allotted to this 
 unhappy prince, of connubial enjoyment, before he was 
 overwhelmed with private sorrows, poignant and embit- 
 tering as the public griefs which he had previously endured. 
 In the year 1280, he had the inexpressible distress to lose 
 his beloved wife, who died in child-bed. The liberties of 
 his country already lost, and his people indignant at the 
 concessions made to the grasping rapacity of the English 
 king, there seemed nothing now to attach the bereaved 
 prince of Wales to existence. 
 
 Llewelyn ab Griffith was the third of the princes of 
 North Wales who had successively espoused English wives. 
 When David, the son and successor of Owen Gwynedd, 
 married Emma, daughter of Henry II., it was with the 
 intent of occupying, in despite of his people, an usurped 
 throne by the concurrence of the English king and the 
 assistance of his army. But in these unworthy views he 
 signally failed, and was hurled headlong trom his height 
 by the laudable efforts of a patriotic people, who restored 
 the rightful line which had been disturbed by his usurp- 
 ation. Llewelyn ab lor worth following the same policy, 
 on the death of his first wife, married Joan, the daughter 
 of king John, whom, previous to the disgrace which put an 
 end to her influence, was viewed more in the light of the 
 disguised spy of England than the honoured wife of the 
 prince of Wales. Remembering these things, it is but 
 natural to expect that the people of Wales looked with 
 abhorrence on these English alliances. Although exem- 
 plary in her own person, and blameless of any political 
 bearing prejudicial to Wales, Eleanor de Montford, how- 
 ever dearly beloved by her husband for her beauty and 
 worth, could scarcely be a favourite with the people at 
 large. They must have remembered with bitterness the 
 national sacrifices made by Llewelyn for the attainment 
 of her hand; and willingly blind to her excellence of 
 conduct, and known partiality for her adopted country, 
 
ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 209 
 
 rather rejoiced than grieved for her death — by which the 
 last semblance of a friendly tie with England was snapped 
 asunder. Had she lived longer, her influence with Edward 
 could have availed nothing ; nor could she, in the least, 
 have averted those momentous events which speedily fol- 
 lowed her decease. Those events are matters of history ; 
 a general reference to which is alone within the province 
 of these memoirs. 
 
 In two years after the death of Eleanor de Montford, 
 the fatal war (the termination of which sealed the destiny 
 of Cambria) came to a sudden close by the death of 
 Llewelyn ab Griffith, when followed the annexation of 
 Wales as a province of the British empire.* 
 
 * That the final conquests of Wales and Scotland, and the union of all 
 Britain under oue sovereign, ultimately proved the greatest of blessings to 
 people, ever harrassed by wars, public or intestine, which tore the vitals of 
 these countries, is indisputable. But ; no thanks to the sinister calculators on 
 booty, and blood-blinded actors in the awful drama. Though personally actu- 
 ated by evil passions and selfish views, doubtless they were but the unconscious 
 puppets which were worked by the great master-hand that ruled the universe 
 for good, who thus mysteriously advanced the interests of a people capable 
 of attaining the highest state of civilization and happiness. Surely we now 
 can pause and ponder on the past without rancour. Let us hope that the 
 respective descendants of the Saxons and the Celts can meet in social inter- 
 course for better purposes than to twit each othe r with the crimes and cruelties 
 of their ancestors ; trusting a magnanimity ' of thought will ultimately teach ug 
 to concede all tilings to truth and kindliness. It is a poor and small heart that 
 can contain no more than its own immediate kindred, or people. 
 
 
GENERAL NOTES TO ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 
 
 A writer in that excellent literary paper the Bristol Mercury, under the signature 
 of Hengist, has been at considerable pains in connecting the account of Eleanor's 
 treacherous capture with the history of Bristol. However meritorious such 
 a transaction may have appeared in the eyes of Edward I., and whatever 
 glory the Bristolians of that day may have assigned to it, it redounds but little 
 to their credit in the lights of a more liberal age that has learnt the wholesome 
 art of forgetting the enmity of races. The treacherous manner in which the 
 gristoljilo ts ensnared the ship, and consigned a helpless woman into the power 
 o?h"erpersecutor, deserves to rank as the first of the trio of stigmas on the fame 
 of that city, perpetuated in their heraldic arms ; the other two are more po- 
 pularly known— the persecution to death of the poet Savage , and their flagrant 
 neglect of their own poet Chattert on. thence driven to starvation, despair, and 
 suicide. Had Savage been aware of the chivalric act commemorated by the 
 ship and castle in the city arms, what a stern feature might it have formed in 
 the vituperative pages of his " London and Bristol Compared ! " The following 
 is Hengist's account of this affair : — 
 
 " The circumstances of Eleanor's capture are most interesting, if, as Mr. 
 Dallaway opines, they are the origin of the design engraved upon our Bristol 
 seal. If our readers will regard the ship and castle which we have adopted 
 as an emblem of the present series, to which we have appended the modern 
 motto, partly for its brevity, and partly as a symbol that we connect modern 
 ideas with ancient memorials, they will find, by comparison with well-known 
 engravings, that the once-familiar legend is omitted. That legend runs thus — 
 * Secreti clavis sum portus. Navita navis 
 Portam custodit. Portum vigil indice prodit.' 
 Which is thus translated by Mr. Dallaway—' I am the key of the secret port. 
 The pilot steers the helm of the ship. The warder points out the port with 
 his forefinger,' and which he connects with Eleanor by the following suggestion. 
 
 " The vessel in which she was taken, he says, was discovered by pilots at the 
 mouth of the Avon. The vessel was becalmed, and the pilots (cives) who were 
 only four, according to Walshingham, induced the mariners, by promises of 
 safety, to enter the harbour of Bristol, /or it was not possible that they could 
 have compelled them by actual force. The surprise, as it is termed by other 
 chroniclers, consisted in the piloting of this ship, carrying, possibly, the marriage 
 portion of the bride, with other splendid furniture, into the creek, or secret port 
 of the castle, instead of the open port of the town; and there surrendering the 
 prize into the hands of the king himself, who, it may be inferred, was at that 
 time keeping his court within his castle of Bristol. 
 
 " It is surmised by Mr. Dallaway that the design of the seal commemorates 
 this event to the credit of the townsmen. His conjecture, to say the least, 
 is ingenious, and there are grounds, moreover, for believing it true. Mr. 
 Dallaway carefully scrutinized the facts, and they seem to bear out his striking 
 suggestion. If the register of the abbey of Kainsham, which he quotes as to 
 the death of Eleanor, in 1279, the year after her marriage with Llewelyn, be 
 correct, then a part of our own speculations must fail." 
 
 And fail they necessarily must, if Hengist is open to conviction, and lost the 
 occasion for the pathetic allusion following : — " Llewelin's head with a crown 
 
GENERAL NOTES TO ELEANOR DE MONTFORD. 211 
 
 of willow was placed on the gate of the tower of London, but Eleanor wore the 
 willow in her heart." If so, it must have been literally planted on her grave, 
 as her death occurred at the time and in the manner before stated. 
 
 The tendency of the next passage is very invidious and offensive to the nation- 
 ality of our countrymen. It aims to prove that the final conquest of Wales 
 was delayed— not by the valour of its patriotic and intrepid defenders— but 
 from the forbearance of the Norman barons, who for selfish ends wished to keep 
 it as a place of refuge when in rebellion against their own sovereigns. 
 
 " There are some excellent remarks., by the late George Ellis, respecting the 
 independence of Wales, and ihe means by which it was preserved for so long. 
 Pointing out, as he does, the comparative ease with which Edward the I. 
 reduced it, while it had proved a continual rock of stumbling to his otherwise 
 equally great predecessors, he accounts for it in this way : that the Norman 
 barons had many of them an interest in preserving its freedom, and were not 
 disposed to facilitate its submission. He hints that they made Wales a sort of 
 sanctuary to which they fled when their liberty was in danger. Moreover, 
 they obtained thence, if they pleased, volunteer armies to aid them in their 
 projects. And we can so far verify his observations, that we have seen the 
 earl of Gloucester and others thus making use of their British connections ; and 
 we may further add. the obscurity he complains of, as enveloping the history 
 of Wales from the conquest, is illustrated best through the medium of Bristol. 
 Bristol in fact, like Chester in the north, was the channel by which the races 
 communicated " 
 
 In reference to one of the passages which runs, "pointing out as he does the 
 comparative ease with which Edward the I. reduced it, while it proved a continual 
 block of stumbling to his otherwise equally great predecessors ;"— we may boldly 
 demand who were they— the equally great predecessors of Edward ?— certainly 
 not the Conqueror William, who troubled^imsel| ;but .little iabj^t a Welsh affairs 
 — nor his barbarous son William Rum's— nor even Henry L, excepting Edward 
 himself, the greatest and most dangerous of all the royal foes of Wa'es. Henry 
 Beauclerc, utterly failing to subdue the Welsh by force of arms, had recourse to 
 the most unkingly mode of employing assassins to destroy the chiefs of the 
 nation, and used the base chicanery of fomenting intestine broils among the 
 people, to the end that they should butcher each other. In the reign of Stephen 
 the terrible reaction which took place in Welsh military affairs enabled the 
 natives of the principality utterly to destroy the power of the Norman barons 
 In Wales, who were fairly beaten in battle, and ultimately the survivors of these 
 sanguinary feuds were driven from all their castles beyond the Welsh boundaries. 
 Henry II- certainly proved a very formidable foe to the Welsh. Richard Cceur 
 de Lion kept aloof from them ; John, ever restless in attempting conquests in 
 in Wales, met his match in the hnrd -fighting Llewelyn ab Iorworth, while 
 Henry III, gained no laurels in his Welsh campaigns. Having now named 
 all the English sovereigns from William the Conqueror to Edward the I. we are 
 at a loss to discover the equally great predecessors of the latter prince in their 
 battles with the mountaineers of Wales. Effectually to controvert the above 
 assumptions of George Ellis, we have merely to direct our readers to the pages 
 of Warrington which treat of the hostile occurrences during the periods in 
 question. Be it remembered also, that the said historian of Wales always quotes 
 his authorities, on all material statements— that he was an Englishman by birth 
 and prejudices, and by no means an enthusiast in favour of Cambrian prowess, 
 or Cambrian pretensions of any description. 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF EUDAV OR OCTAVIUS, LORD OF EWIAS, COUSIN 
 OF CON AN MERIADOC, AND WIFE OF MAXIMUS THE ROMAN 
 IMPERIAL USURPER. 
 
 " Ellen th' armipotent shines in our sphere." 
 
 "FVlTpn t^P^armipotent, otherwise distinguished in our 
 Welsh records, the Triads, as Ellen of the mighty host, was 
 a celebrated woman of the fourth centu ry, of the line of 
 the Cornish Britons. In Roman and "English annals she 
 is called Helen, and Helena; but in Welsh always written 
 Elen, and pronounced Ellen. She is often confounded with 
 Helena, the daughter of Coel Godebog, and mother of Con- 
 stantine the Great. After our memoir of the latter lady, 
 this heroine forms the succeeding link in the genealogical 
 chain of the Roman-British government of our island. 
 
 Ellen was the daughter of a British chieftain named 
 Eudav, but by the Roman writers designated Octavius, a 
 man who played a very conspicuous part in the annals of 
 his time. He was lord of a state called Ewias, and appears, 
 to have been a very energetic and capable person, but very 
 ambitious, intriguing, and unscrupulous as to the means 
 by which he attained his desired ends. Previous to the 
 departure from this island of Constantine and his mother, 
 the personage whom he appointed to fill the high office of 
 Roman governor of Britain was a British prince named 
 Trahaiarn. But as the young emperor found it necessary 
 to avail himself of the counsel and talents of this discreet 
 Briton, he decided on taking him to the continent in his 
 retinue, and to appoint Octavius to act as his deputy until 
 Trahaiarn's return 
 
 But it soon appeared that the father of the lady of this 
 memoir was no less remarkable for great abilities than for 
 the most grasping and insatiable ambition. While fulfilling 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 213 
 
 his deputed functions as imperial lieutenant, he soon usurped 
 a supreme royal authority in this country, which, however, 
 he ruled with wisdom and moderation. When the tidings 
 of these occurrences reached Constantine, although deeply- 
 engaged in enforcing his claim to the imperial diadem, he 
 despatched Trahaiarn with three Roman legions to subdue 
 the usurper, and resume his original office. Octavius gave 
 him battle soon after he landed, the result of which was the 
 signal defeat of his opponent, at a place called Maes Urieu, 
 near Winchester. Finding he had to deal with a leader 
 of far superior abilities to what he probably anticipated, 
 Trahaiarn did not venture on a second battle with him 
 till he was fully prepared by re-inforcements, and all neces- 
 sary warlike appointments, to insure his triumph. By 
 such wise precautions, in the next engagement, Trahaiarn 
 not only became the victor, but compelled his defeated 
 enemy to fly the island. Octavius, however, was as perse- 
 vering and resolute in his efforts to regain his lost authority 
 as, unfortunately for his fame, he proved unscrupulous in 
 the means of its attainment. He stands charged in history 
 with having caused the assassination of Trahaiarn — when 
 he once more seized the reigns of empire in the double 
 capacity of Roman govenor and supreme king of Britain. 
 
 Octavius shrewdly foresaw that by his hostile bearing 
 towards Constantine, and the destruction of his officer, he 
 could not fail to ingratiate himself with the ruling powers at 
 Rome, to whom the son of the late emperor Constantius 
 Chlorus appeared in the light of an enemy of the empire, 
 which he aimed to seize by force of arms — notwithstanding 
 the solemnity with which his dying father had invested 
 him with the purple, and the unanimity with which the 
 soldiery had hailed " imperator." He not only succeeded in 
 obtaining a confirmation of his rank as the lieutenant of the 
 empire in Britain, but by the intrigues, carried on by his 
 emissaries in the imperial city, he obtained the appointment 
 for a military man then at Rome to take office under him as 
 commander of the Roman legions in this island. This 
 person was Maximus, a daring adventurer, whose career 
 soon became a matter of history— and whose marriage, in 
 
214 ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 
 
 after time, with Ellen the daughter of Octavias, the lady 
 of this memoir, became the source of many political trouble* 
 connected with the destinies of this island. 
 
 As the epoch of which we are treating became pregnant 
 with national evils that affected the welfare of this country 
 to very remote aftertimes, to enable the reader to see his 
 way clearly through the intricacy of conflicting incidents, 
 we shall here briefly present a view of Roman- British affairs 
 previous to the appearance of Maximus on the stage of 
 history. 
 
 In the year 364, south Britain was exposed to a furious 
 incursion from the marauders of the north, under the names 
 of the Picts and the Scots, with other barbarous auxiliaries 
 While Britain was thus overrun, and subjected to the depre- 
 dations of the rude tribes of Caledonians, joined by the wild 
 Hibernian rovers, the Franks and Saxons also came and pil- 
 laged the coasts, so that the whole island was in a flame. It 
 required therefore a powerful force, led by some great com- 
 mander, to repress the depredators and to rescue the province 
 from its calamitous situation. It is difficult for us to conceive 
 how so large a territory should so easily be laid waste and 
 overrun without the supposition that the great body of 
 the inhabitants were not well affected to the Roman govern- 
 ment — and if they were become a dispirited people, and felt 
 they had no country of their own to defend, we can easily 
 account for their pusillanimity. In order to rescue the 
 province, the emperor Valentinian sent over the celebrated 
 Theodosius, father to the great emperor of that name. The 
 general took with him several bands of Roman veterans, 
 and lost no time after his landing to meet the enemy. In 
 his march, from Sandwich to London, he defeated several 
 parties of the barbarians, released a multitude of captives, 
 and, after distributing to his soldiers a small portion of the 
 spoil, he restored the remainder to the rightful proprietors. 
 The citizens of London received the hero with exulting joy 
 as a deliverer ; and, by his consummate skill and bravery, 
 he soon routed the invaders, and drove them home. By 
 pursuing his conquests Theodosius restored the country 
 between the two walls to the Roman empire, and gave it, 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY H08T. 215 
 
 in honour of the emperor, the name of Valentia.* He dili- 
 gently restored the ruined cities, and made the fortifications 
 secure, after rescuing every part of the province from the 
 hands of a cruel and rapacious enemy. 
 
 The valour and prudence of this able and political general 
 raised him to high estimation in Britain, which he left in 
 such a state of defence as to provide for its tranquility for 
 many years. The first interruption of this happy state of 
 things was occasioned by the adherence of the Britons to 
 the usurpation of Octavius, and the assumption of the 
 imperial purple by ** the tyrant" Maximus. 
 
 Maximus was the son of a Spaniard who appears to have 
 attached himself to Roman interests — having left his own 
 country and entered Britain among the followers of Con- 
 stantius Chlorus. He married a British lady related to 
 the empress Helena, who became the mother of this Max- 
 imus ; thus it was that the intimacy originated between 
 the family and the latter. Maximus had occupied, it would 
 appear, a subordinate rank in the Roman army, which, 
 agreeably to the restlessness of his character, he quitted, 
 and went to Rome with a view either of intriguing for 
 promotion or some other personal end. It was during 
 this absence of Maximus that the aspiring Octavius, as 
 before related, raised himself to sovereignty ; and appa- 
 rently knowing his man well for congeniality of sentiments, 
 employed him to forward his views with the reigning 
 powers at Rome, and rewarded his services by getting 
 him appointed commander of the Roman legions which 
 then garrisoned Britain. Maximus in return seems to have 
 entered fully into all the interests of Octavius. He led 
 the imperial forces against the Picts and Scots, who were 
 perpetually infesting the southern parts of the island, and 
 succeeding in destroying immense numbers of these bar- 
 barians, and driving the rest homeward, discomfited, 
 their bands broken and dispersed. These gallant actions, 
 together with his half British origin, gained him great 
 popularity both among the Roman troops and the natives of 
 
 * See Qibbou, vol. Hi., c. 25. 
 
 s 
 
216 ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 
 
 the island. But there was one master-stroke of policy yet 
 to be achieved, calculated to crown the pyramid, from 
 whose summit he might look down on the whole array of 
 favouring circumstances which led direct to the attainment 
 of ambition's highest hope. This was, to win the heart and 
 hand of the fair Ellen, only daughter of Oetavius, and the 
 subject of this memoir. 
 
 Besides his elevated position as commandant of the impe- 
 rial legions, Maximus appears to have been a very personable 
 soldier, bold, dashing, and intrepid ; superficial qualities* 
 it is true, but generally such as find favour in a woman's eye, 
 when the most transcendant virtues, divested of tinsel 
 pretensions, utterly fail. These were not the times for 
 fair ladies to exclaim— 
 
 " Wisdom and wit were all he had, 
 But these were all to me." 
 
 Whatever might be her feelings and her opinions respecting 
 this imposing personage, certain it is, that Ellen did not 
 reject his advances ; perhaps very few ladies would be 
 disposed to act otherwise, especially as she found this lover 
 a great favourite with her father, who had discouraged the 
 addresses of a former suitor. The gentleness of character 
 attributed to Ellen would warrant us in concluding that 
 filial obedience had the principal share in her assentive 
 decision. In those days, as well as all others up to our 
 own, interested compulsory marriages, for the advancement 
 of ambitious or political purposes, formed one of the saddest 
 links in the long historical chain of woman's wrongs. 
 The adventurer Maximus, however, at length gained his 
 point, and was united in marriage with the daughter of hi3 
 friend and patron. 
 
 What makes it probable that this union was not exactly 
 founded on mutual affection is, that there was a disap- 
 pointed lover in the case — not rejected by Ellen, but by her 
 father, who in the first instance favoured such an intended 
 match, and then, as his ambitious aspirations unfolded and 
 expanded their dazzling glories, commanded her to love and 
 wed another. 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 217 
 
 The rejected suitor was Octavius's own nephew, Conan 
 Meriadoc, a very eminent British chieftain of these times, 
 whose name stands ever memorable in ancient British his- 
 tory. He was lord of the region of Denbigh, in addition to 
 which he held the dukedom of Cornwall, and was celebrated 
 for his energy of character and great influence among the 
 people. Conan had also his ambitious projects in the once 
 intended union with his fair cousin, whom, notwithstanding, 
 he held in affectionate regard for her personal merits. He 
 calculated that on the death of her father, whenever it might 
 happen, that he should, through this anticipated marriage, 
 succeed him both in his Roman governorship and his British 
 sovereignty. But thus disappointed both in his love and 
 ambitious anticipations his resentment was boundless. A 
 deadly enmity was cherished between him and Maximus, 
 and many a fierce and mutually destructive battle fought, 
 to the grievous annoyance of the public peace, and the great 
 unhappiness of the lady of this memoir, the wife of one of 
 the parties and cousin of the other. 
 
 By the interference of their mutual friends, however, the 
 rancour of their hostility gradually declined, and each party 
 was persuaded that great advantages would result from the 
 establishment of a permanent peace between them. Thus 
 it has ever been with the contentious in all ages, the ex- 
 ample of former sufferers avails nothing; neither party will 
 see their advantage in sheathing the war-sword till their 
 mutual exhaustion compel them to the measure— and the 
 desolation they have caused becomes the finger point of 
 Destiny, warning them to desist or perish. 
 
 As it will soon appear that Maximus had most to gain by 
 pacification — agreeably to the plausibility of his character 
 we may conceive the earliest overtures came from him — and 
 that the pride of the British chieftain being so conciliated 
 that they were readily accepted. Thus from the bitterest of 
 enemies these men soon became excellent friends, speedily to 
 be united in their aims, and bound by mutual interests. In 
 this reconciliation and unanimity we may trace the wily 
 address of the Roman commander, to whose advanced 
 schemes of ambition the assistance of the British chieftain 
 now became so essential and even indispensable. 
 
218 ELLEN OF THE MIGHTT HOST. 
 
 By the machinations of Maximus Britain now became a 
 theatre for certain politico-dramatic exhibitions, long in 
 rehearsal, at length ready for production. Having himself, 
 for a considerable time, enacted the part of an intriguing 
 demagogue, alternately exciting and soothing the passions of 
 the tumultuous soldiery, these amiable worthies conceived 
 they could do nothing better than treat their commander 
 with a performance of the oft-repeated farce of emperor- 
 making, choosing him as their hero — and relying on his 
 promises of wealth, honours, and advancement for all his 
 supporters. Accordingly Maximus was hailed "imperator" 
 by the wild but unanimous acclamations of his licentious 
 legionaries — adding one more to the several imperial pre- 
 tenders already in the field, all using their best exertions 
 for the destruction of their country, and of all men who 
 opposed their individual aggrandizement. 
 
 It must have been about this prosperous period of his 
 adventurous fortunes that Maximus found an opportunity 
 of representing to Conan Meriadoc what a superior field 
 would be opened to his ambition, could he be persuaded to 
 abandon his small domains in Britain, and accompany him 
 to the continent. That there, their united forces would 
 soon acquire for him ample territories where he might found 
 a future kingdom, in which his latest posterity should 
 flourish in regal magnificence. 
 
 Certain it is, that the British chieftain immediately- 
 caught the fire of these ambitious conceptions, and deter- 
 mined on an immediate attempt to realize them, by joining 
 the expedition of the new emperor elect.* 
 
 "We now arrive at the period when the lady of this 
 memoir comes into public notice. One of the first acts of 
 Maximus, after his elevation to the empire, was to hold out 
 alluring prospects to the spirited youth of Britain, to induce 
 
 * J. Hughes remarks, " by his accession to the imperial dignity and retiring 
 from the island, a new change took place in the dynasty of the British kings ; 
 but during the life of Maximus the sovereignty must be considered as existing 
 entire, though lost in the superior dignity of the imperial title." — Horee Brit. 
 This author seems to have forgotten that Octavius, the father of Ellen, was one 
 of the firmest of the adherents of Maximus, and became his officer and repre- 
 sentative when that adventurer abandoned this island. 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 219 
 
 them to become warriors in his cause. His views were to 
 dazzle the senate and the inhabitants of Rome and the other 
 soldiers of the empire, with conquests yet to be achieved 
 in Gaul and elsewhere, in order to gain from the general 
 voice a ratification of his election to the purple by his own 
 legions : or in case that honour was denied him, to put 
 down his opponents by force of arms. To attain this end 
 he was indebted to his newly-formed friendship with Conan 
 Meriadoc, who being a native-born prince, as might be 
 expected, had the superiority over him in popularity with 
 his countrymen. Besides his nativity in the island, much 
 of the influence of Conan, and Ellen the wife of Maximus, is 
 traceable to their being also born christians, and having 
 distinguished themselves as supporters and propagators of 
 the faith — as, at their period, the christians of Britain 
 appear to have been numerous. Thus the known hostility 
 of Maximus to the christians, although from policy he 
 abstained from persecuting those of this island, utterly 
 debarred him from a chance of enlisting them in his legions 
 without the assistance of his British connections. Octavius, 
 now grown aged, the most active agents in forwarding the 
 views of Maximus were Ellen, his wife, and Conan Meriadoc, 
 who appears to have been looked up to by the christians as 
 the heads of their community, and their natural protectors. 
 They soon succeeded in raising him an army of sixty 
 thousand men. Strange as it may appear, in this unfemi- 
 nine undertaking the name of Ellen stands more prominent 
 than her warlike cousin's, and her influence is supposed to 
 have been greater, in encouraging the Britons, especially 
 the christian portion of them, to enter the army of Maximus. 
 This speaks strongly for her intellectual capacity, as the 
 multitude in all ages will be found to have given their 
 suffrages principally where superiority of mind was most 
 manifest ; and the preponderance of female influence over 
 a devotional community where a mission of mercy is the 
 foundation of their creed, is but a natural result. This 
 army, in " the Welsh Triads" is called one of the three emi- 
 grating hosts of the island of Britain ; as their purpose was 
 to settle in the lands which they should conquer in Gaul. 
 s 2 
 
220 ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 
 
 With this "mighty host" Maximus now prepared to 
 embark for Gaul. It was arranged that Ellen, now his 
 empress, was to remain in Britain till the success of his 
 arms should enable him to ensure her security, when a stately 
 escort would be provided to attend her over — so as to 
 introduce her with due honours to the inhabitants of the 
 " eternal city," as the partner of his imperial dignities. 
 Alas, for the futility of mortal hopes founded on the grandest 
 schemes of human ambition ! They now parted never to 
 meet again. 
 
 Maximus embarked with the first division of this great 
 army, and crossed the seas to Gaul, leaving Conan Meriadoc 
 as his second in command, who speedily followed with the 
 rest of his forces. They were soon employed against the 
 Armoricans, who inhabited that part of France then called 
 Armorica,* but since known as Bretagne, or Brittany. In 
 this enterprize Conan and his followers appear to have made 
 incursions and fought separately from the Romans, and to 
 have commenced operations by making conquests for them- 
 selves. They soon overthrew the army of their opponents, 
 killed Imball, their king, in battle, and entirely conquered 
 the country. As all this was done ostensibly for the service 
 of Maximus, he assented that Conan Meriadoc should assume 
 the sovreignty of the conquered nation, to be holden by him 
 and his heirs as a dependency of the British crown. 
 Leaving garrisons to protect his conquests, the British 
 chieftain now joined his forces to those of Maximus — when 
 they both proceeded on their destructive course to conquer 
 the rest of Gaul as well as the Roman legions that adhered 
 to the present government. The two acknowledged em- 
 perors of this period were Theodosius and Gratian ; the 
 former governed the east, and the latter the west, and who 
 was at this time in command of the Roman army in Gaul. 
 Among the vices of Maximus was the black one of ingrati- 
 tude ; and it appears that this very emperor, Gratian, whom 
 he came to oppose and destroy, had been his very gracious 
 benefactor ; and to him he was indebted for his appointment 
 
 * Armorica is derived from the Welsh description uf its geographical situ- 
 ation. " Ar m5r ucha," signifying "on the upper sea.'' 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 221 
 
 as commander of the Roman legion3 in Britain. Fortun- 
 ately the career of this " bold bad man" proved as brief as 
 it had been atrocious. 
 
 Entering Gaul in imperial state, the Roman soldiery who 
 had admired his spirit and martial bearing, as a favourable 
 contrast to the pleasure-seeking inactivity of the emperor 
 who commanded them, they received the usurper with joyful 
 acclamations, deserted their legitimate sovereign, and united 
 themselves with the forces of Maximus. 
 
 The indolent Gratian, then at Paris, seeing his standard 
 forsaken by his troops, fled precipitately towards Lyons 
 with a train of only three hundred horse. There he was 
 delivered into the hands of Andragathius, master of the 
 cavalry of the usurper, by whom he was despatched. The 
 death of the emperor was followed by the destruction of 
 of the most powerful of his generals, among whom was 
 Mellobandes, king of the Franks, 
 
 The successes of Maximua increased his insolence, and 
 emboldened him to make proposals to the emperor Theo- 
 dosius, who governed the east. That emperor found it 
 necessary to dissemble his resentment, and to acccept the 
 alliance of the tyrant, the murderer of his benefactor. At 
 the same time it was stipulated that Maximus should con- 
 tent himself with the countries on this side of the Alps, 
 whereby he was acknowledged emperor of Britain, Gaul, 
 Spain, and Germany. 
 
 Had Maximus remained satisfied with this ample territory, 
 he might have ended his days in peace ; but he aspired to 
 the entire empire of the west. He marched over the Alps 
 into Italy, and bid fair at one time of success : but Theo- 
 dosius hastened from Constantinople to quell the tyrant. 
 A fierce conflict in Panonia decided the fate of Maximus 
 by giving success to the arms of Theodosius. Maximus 
 fled to Aquileia, in Italy ; but he had scarcely reached that 
 city when he was surrounded by his victorious enemy. 
 The indignation of the people, and the disaffection of his 
 soldiers, conspired to deliver him up to his fate. He was 
 conducted like a malefactor to the camp of Theodosius, 
 who abandoned him to the rage of his soldiers, by whom his 
 
222 ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 
 
 head was severed from his body. Such was the end of 
 Maximus, whose ambition was not only ruinous to himself 
 but to the country where he first set up his title to sovereign 
 power, for he drained Britain of her warlike youth, and left 
 her a prey to the inroads of her barbarian neighbours, 
 A.D. 388. 
 
 The native Britons who had followed Maximus to the 
 continent were not present at either of the two engagements 
 which decided the fate of their adventurous leader. Max- 
 imus had a son named Victor, born of a British lady, and to 
 whom he expected the Britons would be ardently attached. 
 This youth headed an army who engaged in defending the 
 the cause of the usurper and his son in Gaul; but the son 
 soon shared the misfortunes of the father, for the British 
 troops were defeated, and Victor fell at the head of them. 
 In this most pitiable condition they had been left, exposed 
 to the insults of a triumphant enemy, forlorn and destitute, 
 until that in their wanderings they found an asylum in 
 Armorica, or Britanny."* 
 
 This last passage would infer that the Britons under the 
 command of Conan Meriadoc did not conquer, or *' find an 
 asylum" in Armorica, till after the defeat and death of 
 Maximus. But such a conclusion meets its confutation, by 
 a passage previous to the last, in the admission that the 
 native Britons were not present at either of the two engage- 
 ments which decided the fate of Maximus. Where else 
 could they be then but with their leader, actively planting 
 themselves in Armorica, which doubtlessly, according to our 
 former statement, had been conquered by them previous to 
 the final catastrophe which dispersed the followers of the 
 imperial pretender. The Britons who assisted Victor, the 
 son of Maximus, appear to have been very inconsiderable in 
 number, and nothing can be more probable than that they 
 returned to, and found refuge with, the rest of their coun- 
 trymen in Armorica, in the forlorn condition ascribed to 
 them. 
 
 A peculiar feature in the character of Conan Meriadoc 
 appears corroborative of our latter assumption — his exceed- 
 
 * Hughes's Horse Britamiicae. 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 223 
 
 ing prudence ; or, if it must have a less gainly name, his 
 cautious selfishness. This led him to be very sparing of his 
 aid to Maximus until he had foreserved himself and his compa- 
 nions by insuring a certain resting place, a secure retreat in 
 case of reverses — a piece of good generalship creditable to 
 the forethought which at all times seems to have guided his 
 actions and marked his character. Even after making these 
 acquisitions, the calculating policy of the British chieftain 
 is discernible by the manner in which he avoided committing 
 himself and his followers with the adverse Roman powers, 
 in case they came off victorious ; his forces were absent from 
 the two last battles which decided the fate of Maximus, 
 Since his arrival on the continent, the real character of that 
 vicious man must have gradually opened to him, and by its 
 hideousness have repelled him from too close a partizanship ; 
 his cruelty, rashness, and insatiable avarice. Those unpo- 
 pular vices would direct the shrewdness of the British 
 chieftain to foresee their consequences in the probability of 
 his ultimate failure, and so justified his own policy of 
 standing aloof from the impending perils which in the end 
 crushed the headlong unprincipled adventurer. Added to 
 these self-saving views on the part of Conan, considering 
 what human nature is, unrefined by principles estranged to 
 a rude era, it is not improbable but some portion of his 
 ancient grudge to Maximus for supplanting him in the 
 affections of his cousin Ellen may have in some degree 
 influenced his conduct, and damped his ardour in the cause 
 which had brought him from Britain, when his own turn had 
 been effectually served. Of course, these are any thing but 
 elevating views of the character of Conan Meriadoc; yet, 
 notwithstanding, it is likely they come nearer the truth than 
 more favourable assumptions coloured by national prejudices. 
 In proof that he was no mean politician, however, the conse- 
 quences resulting from the line which he adopted were exactly 
 what he sought, worked for, and anticipated. His equivocal 
 position in regard to aiding Maximus, and his apparent 
 desertion of the usurper's cause, saved him from the ven- 
 geance of the conquering Roman army, and induced Theo- 
 dosius to leave him unmolested in his Gallic conquests, 
 
224 ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance, amidst conflicting historical 
 details, that the French writers have strenuously denied that 
 our insular Britons formed the settlement here described 
 under Conan Meriadoc, or that they planted any colony 
 on the continent till after the Saxon invasion ; but mere 
 denial, notwithstanding, is no disproval. However, this 
 sort of antiquarian opposition or encyclopedean disputation 
 amounts to little more than a tenacious quibbling about 
 dates — as no writhings of wounded national pride, or that 
 smaller prejudice, local egotism, could ever assume a denial 
 of the fact that the Britons did conquer Armorica, settled 
 there, vvhere their descendants still remain, and gave the 
 country the name which it still retains, of Bretagne in 
 French, and in English Brittany. Our circumstantial ac- 
 count of its conquest under Conan Meriadoc agrees so well 
 with every probability of correctness as to the era assigned 
 to it in our records, that any attempt to overthrow such united 
 testimonies, unsupported by well authenticated proofs, must 
 be futile and utterly unavailing. 
 
 We now return to Ellen, the lady of this memoir, who, by 
 the tragical death of Maximus at this time, became a widow. 
 "Whether she gave way to any sanguine anticipations result- 
 able from the warlike expedition of her lord, or to any 
 violent emotions of sorrow, on his failure and pitiable death, 
 is unknown. Considering the ungenial influences which 
 brought about her union, and of the headlong wildness of 
 that adventurer's exaltation, a sedate mind like hers would 
 augur too wisely to build her structure of worldly happiness 
 on so infirm a foundation, and might be disciplined to 
 anticipate the fearful evils that followed — so that, altogether, 
 it is probable that Time found no wounds beyond his power 
 to cicatrize, nor sorrows too insurmountable for him to 
 subdue. Although her lord was no more, and her dream of 
 ambition, if ever she entertained such, melted into air — the 
 public call for the services of Ellen had yet to be responded 
 to, by as strange a requisition as ever tasked the energies or 
 ingenuity of a woman. 
 
 The conquest and occupation of Armorica by Conan Me- 
 riadoc and his followers gave rise to one of the most remark- 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 225 
 
 able incidents in the early history of this country ; yet, it is 
 but fair to confess, the whole narrative is considered by 
 many in the light of a fabulous legend. With our faith in 
 those national records " the Historical Triads," and the 
 Welsh chroniclers, which avouch the fact, we are not of that 
 opinion, but decidedly conceive, that however the detail 
 may be garnished by monkish fiction, that it has truth for 
 its foundation. It is said that Conan Meriadoc, after taking 
 possession of the country with his British army, prohibited his 
 men from marrying with the Armoricans, or any of the 
 native women of Gaul — being determined to banish all whom 
 the sword of war had spared of the original population, and 
 to people the country anew with a genuine British race. 
 For this purpose he sent messengers to Dionethas, whom he 
 had left as his deputy in the government of the dukedom 
 of Cornwall, and to his cousin Ellen, the heroine of this 
 memoir. Of the former he desired that he would send him 
 for his bride his daughter Ursula, to whom it is presumed 
 he was previously betrothed, with a numerous retinue of 
 young ladies and maidens of humbler degree to become the 
 wives of his officers and men. 
 
 But it was to his cousin Ellen, whose popularity and 
 influence with the christian community was so great, that 
 he looked for the fulfilment of this unparalleled requisition ; 
 nor, as far as her efforts were concerned, did he look in vain. 
 Though hitherto noticed without dissent by any of the wri- 
 ters who have treated of this subject, it is manifest that 
 Conan Meriadoc's design of dispossessing of their country, 
 and probably annihilating the conquered natives of Ar- 
 morica, was, morally considered, most atrocious; and in a 
 political view most unwise; it is, therefore, we behold with 
 regret, a gentle-minded female, imbued with the merciful 
 precepts of Christianity, thus imposed upon by the unscru- 
 pulous votaries of ambition, to bend herself to a purpose so 
 unhallowed — but which, from her confidence in her cousin's 
 representations, she doubtless considered of the most vir- 
 tuous tendency, and conducive to the propagation of that 
 humanizing faith which she ardently believed was ultimately 
 to civilize and redeem a barbarous and condemned world. 
 
226 ELLEW OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 
 
 With her feelings strongly enlisted in a cause, so spe- 
 ciously set forth to win her enthusiastic support, but the 
 true bearing of which was carefully veiled from her view, 
 Ellen went to work with all the energetic spirit with which 
 she appears to have been endued. It is probable, however, 
 that she found her mission of matrimony a very popular 
 one, and that, as she travelled to different districts remote 
 and near to address the numerous assemblages prepared to 
 receive her, that she met very ready and attentive hearers, 
 and that it required no strenuous force of argument, flowers 
 of rhetoric, or pathetic demonstration, to persuade some 
 portion of her auditory to embrace her views ; and by a 
 short sea voyage to enter a territory where husbands were 
 to be found "plentiful as blackberries;" especially as it 
 may be presumed that many of these fair ones already had 
 professed admirers, brothers, or other relatives, in the army 
 of Conan Meriadoc. However, the result of Ellen's oratory, 
 seconded perhaps by predisposal on the part of Tier as - 
 sentive hearers, was, that the daughters of the land came 
 forward in dozens, scores, fifties, hundreds, and at length 
 thousands, as pious candidates for wedlock, or volunteer 
 votaries for the hymeneal altar. We are told that Ellen had 
 the address to induce no less than rlrrrn _thpuinnd,JBritit'h 
 virgins to embrace this undertaking. 
 
 We are told that the Lady Ursula and this vast concourse 
 of females, embarked in the different ships prepared for their 
 reception ; but it seems that Ellen, personaljy, was not of 
 their number; and it is probable she was at that time a 
 middle-aged woman, and by no means desirous of a matri- 
 monial connection. It is certain that in after time she 
 repented, suffered, and sorrowed most intensely, for the well- 
 intentioned part which she had taken in advocating this 
 fatal emigration ; as it is in the natural course of things, 
 that as none of the party reached their destination, but 
 suffered and perished far from their homes and friends, that 
 their relatives in Britain should reproach her as the prin- 
 cipal cause of their bereavement. And perhaps taunted her 
 with keeping aloof herself from the perils of an expedition 
 which she had so earnestly advised, and energetically eulo- 
 
ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 227 
 
 gized, but was too prudent to stake her personal safety in 
 it. "We see the cruelty and injustice of such a charge, and 
 can conceive the impassioned vehemence and inconsolable 
 affliction of those so bereft of their near and dear ones ; their 
 desolate firesides and overflowing hearts, the most fitting 
 monuments of the distressing catastrophe. And sad as the 
 saddest, we can cjonceive Ellen enduring these piercing 
 taunts with silent resignation — a heart consumed with unex- 
 pressed grief — appealing for the truth of her blamelessness 
 to the only true scanner of all hearts, without censuring the 
 human injustice which condemned her. 
 
 There are different and very conflicting accounts of the 
 tragic termination of this singular and disastrous voyage. 
 The details of it, as stated in Roman catholic church history, 
 is so greatly overcharged with monkish fables and incre- 
 dible absurdities, concocted in the school of holy frauds, as 
 to violate the probability of the results narrated. However, 
 to give the reader a specimen of the extravagance here 
 deprecated, in the article entitled " St. Ursula and the 
 eleven thousand virgins/ 1 we have cited one of their versions 
 of this catastrophe. 
 
 In the Welsh chronicles we are informed that " adverse 
 winds and a tempest arose on their departure, by which the 
 fleet was scattered ; the ships containing the gentle Ursula 
 and her ill-fated maidens, either foundered at sea or were 
 wrecked upon the shores possessed by Guarrius, king of the 
 Huns, or Melga, king of the Picts, by whose barbarous 
 subjects, it is said, the unhappy females were cruelly treated 
 and afterwards slain." 
 
 Thus the cruelty and injustice originally contemplated, 
 of forbidding the Britons to unite themselves with the women 
 of Armorica, who had been widowed or orphaned by their 
 arms, by this fatal catastrophe, was completely averted ; 
 and it is probable that many of the war-worn Britons were 
 glad to sue to those females whom the virulence of national 
 animosity had in the first instance induced them to reject. 
 The Britons, however, were predominant in the land, which 
 decidedly proves that the survivors of the Roman contests 
 were somewhat numerous, or that the men of Armoriea 
 
 T 
 
228 ELLEN OF THE MIGHTY HOST. 
 
 had been nearly exterminated by the arms of Maximus and 
 Conan Meriadoc. Both history and tradition are silent as 
 to the further state of Ellen. Conan Meriadoc became 
 the first king of Britanny, and founder of the dynasty of 
 British kings there. 
 
 Whatever good points may have graced these expeditions, 
 upon the whole they must be considered the most disas- 
 trous of measures in their ultimate results that ever was 
 conceived. The departure of so vast a portion of the popu- 
 lation drained the south of Britain so fearfully of its inha- 
 bitants, that it became a temptation to the rapacity of the 
 barbarous Picts of the north, who invaded the vacated 
 territories in great force; and in their many marauding 
 expeditions they were too fatally successful. It was the 
 continual incursions and depredations of these barbarians 
 that in after- times induced Vortigern to embrace the fatal 
 project of calling in the aid of the Saxons to assist in ex- 
 pelling them ; in this they succeeded, but seized the country 
 for themselves, and for centuries did their utmost by assas- 
 sination and remorseless wars, to exterminate the descend- 
 ants of their original hosts and employers. 
 
 General Note. — Buchanan relates the following anecdote of Maximus, who 
 lias figured in this memoir, exhibiting his character in a more favourable light 
 than his bearing in other respects seems to warrant. When Maximus, in con- 
 junction with the Picts, was fighting against the Scotch, the Tictish leader sug- 
 gested to the Koman governor the necessity of utterly annihilating the Scottish 
 race, as they were a people, he said, who were insensible alike to the terror 
 of the Eoman arms and the forbearance of Eoman clemency. Struck with the 
 atrocity of the proposal, Maximus replied, "immortal gods ! know barbarian, we 
 noble Romans war not so : we come to save and civilize, and not to massacre 
 mankind." 
 
I If 
 
 THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF ALFRED THE GRE AT, AND WIDOW OF EDELRED, 
 KING OF MERCIA. 
 
 Although this terrific warrior^^ueen of the Saxons came 
 among the Welsh only to shed their^T6^6 t ^ i ano!'*^etze upon 
 their possessions, to burn their dwellings, and cast the chain 
 of captivity on all whom the sword of war deigned to spare — 
 yet she shall have, what it is probable she never gave our 
 ancestors — fair play at our hands. It is true, that had she 
 appeared in life amidst her present company, her presence 
 would have created any but pleasant sensations ; but as the 
 heroic Elfleda is not without her merits, they shall be duly 
 stated and candidly descanted upon. 
 
 Elfleda, the daughter of Alfred the Great, was as jnas- 
 culine in frame as she proved intrepid in mind. There is a 
 singular anecdote related of her, that when she received 
 young Edelred, son of the king duke, or earl of Mercia, as 
 her lover, the youthful pair took every precaution to keep 
 their meetings secret. One of these interviews took place 
 during a winter's night ; and time, as time always does in 
 such cases, passed more rapidly and unnoted than when the 
 hours are employed it study or devotion. When, at length, 
 the lovers were about to part, at an hour well described as 
 " between the late and early," to their mutual terror, they 
 discovered that a great Jail of sn Jgw na( i covered all the 
 ground, so that t he footsteps of any retreating party would 
 be traceable in the morning. While in this unutterable 
 state of consternation, the young prince was under the 
 influence of great distress of mind at the probable conse- 
 quences of a discovery that appeared inevitable — his own 
 audacity in clandestinely visiting- his great sovereign's 
 daughter — the peril that threatened his beloved princess 
 from the severity of her father — these reflections hung 
 heavily about his heart — while the fair partner of his 
 imprudence, more wisely, pondered on expedients how to 
 extricate themselves from their troubles. A happy thought, 
 like the golden wing of a passing angel hastening onward 
 
230' THE PRINCESS ELFLRDA. 
 
 on a mission of mercy, flashed suddenly on the mind of 
 Elfleda, and changed her pallid cheek to the glowing 
 radiancy of revived confidence. In a few words she explained 
 the nature of her plan, and refused for a moment to enter- 
 tain the delicate scruples of her lover. In an instant she 
 was out at the lattice, or window, of the ground floor 
 apartment which they occupied ; then turning her face from 
 it, and bending her back to a convenient state for the prince 
 to mount, she received his weight, and bore him off trium- 
 phantly ! She carr^d^him^vjlith ease and rapidit y, a consi- 
 derable distance beyond the precincts of the palace, put him 
 down in security, wished him good speed, then hurried back 
 to her apartment, which she re-entered at the window. 
 
 But this feat of fine horsemanship performed upon the 
 back of a king's daugfiiterT^id not pass unwitnessed ; two 
 pair of human eyes were expanded to their utmost stretch, 
 in wonderment of a scene so strange — those of king Alfred 
 and the learned Asser his chancellor. The sleepless cares, 
 said to inhabit the kingly crown, and perhaps the chan- 
 cellor's black cap, had made these sages watchers the 
 livelong night ; pondering, perhaps, how best to extirpate 
 certain swarms of national vermin, in the hated forms of the 
 red-haired men of Denmark, who then infested the king- 
 dom ; and aimed to perform by the Saxons what the rats 
 are said to do by the rabbits — to kill the whole community, 
 and repeople their dwellings with their own party. 
 
 Notwithstanding the cares of state, the vigilant Alfred 
 was no stranger to the amatory meetings between his 
 daughter and the young prince of Mercia ; but on witnessing 
 this strange exploit of the young lady's, he determined to 
 put an end to such vagaries for the future. Unknown to 
 the princess, the prince of Mercia was overtaken by swift 
 horsemen, who, according to their instructions, soon brought 
 him back a prisoner. Alfred occupied his chair of state in 
 the throne room, surrounded by his courtiers, when Edelred, 
 in chains, was led in by a party of guards — and to their 
 mutual astonishment and terror confronted with the princess. 
 
 After a grave silence of some moments' duration, Alfred 
 demanded of his assembled courtiers, lords and ladies in 
 
THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA. 231 
 
 their different groups, u whajt-'does that man deserve, who 
 presumes to make a mule of a king's daughter?'' The 
 ready answer of more tha^i one voice was? " he deserves 
 death." After enjoying theWonderment of his court, and 
 the perplexity of the young offenders for/a short space, the 
 benevolent Alfred called them td^hinvalid with an outburst 
 of mirth that would shock the etiquette of modern courts, 
 declared that as a punishment due to their enormities they 
 should be made man and wife before sunset ,• a decree that 
 was accordingly put into speedy execution.* 
 
 But, alas, for the brevity of youthful felicity — those sunny 
 days that well may be called the romance of life ! Elfleda 
 has no more to be related in the spirit of the scene we have 
 attempted to describe. The stern and stirring business of 
 life, diversified alone by different degrees of affliction, pos- 
 sessed the rest of her unenviable days. She lost her 
 husband in early life,f who left her the widowed mother of 
 an only daughter named Alfwyen.J Soon after this heavy 
 blow occurred the death of her venerable father, the illus- 
 trious Alfred, deservedly styled the great. In addition to 
 her affliction for these grievous bereavements, she had to 
 endure much from the rapacity and cruelty of her brothers, 
 who, in their quarrels for the succession to her father's 
 throne, alternately ravaged her little kingdom of Mercia, 
 and seized on a considerable portion of her dominions. 
 Immediately on the death of her father, her eldest brother, 
 Edward, was enthroned in the royal dignity ; " which," in 
 the words of Wynne the historian, "so displeased the 
 ambitious spirit of his brother Adelwulph that presently 
 he raised a cruel war against him," and flying to Northum- 
 berland, he united his army with that of the hereditary 
 enemies of his family and country the Danes. The Danes 
 and Angles, with a certain number of traitorous Saxons, 
 made him their king. Marching proudly^ at the head of 
 this barbarous horde, he ravaged the country wherever he 
 
 * As a similar anecdote is related^ a daugh ter ^ ™» V^IMS.'T Jt would be 
 a difficult matter to vouch for the authenticity of this romantic incident, but 
 the character of all parties places it quite the within the verge of probability. 
 
 t In the year 912. 
 
 t By some authors called Elfwina. 
 
 T 2 
 
232 THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA. 
 
 came, destroying all who refused to acknowledge the legit- 
 imacy of his title as their sovereign. Among these was 
 his sister Elfleda, the widowed princess of Mercia, who, 
 notwithstanding the ruin which threatened her, had the 
 firmness to deny his right to the dignity which he had 
 arrogated to himself— and who probably rated him in no 
 very choice terms, for his presumption and treason against 
 his elder brother and lawful sovereign. To revenge 
 himself on his sister, Adelwulph had the dastardly cruelty 
 to destroy her country with fire and sword ; wherever he 
 passed, desolation marked his progress. It merits par- 
 ticular notice, how history distinguishes that he subdued the 
 country of the east Saxons — but only spoiled the country 
 of Mercia ; from which it may be inferred that the former 
 country acknowledged him for its sovereign, while the latter 
 refused — which argues strongly for the popularity of Elfleda 
 with her subjects. Some time after Adelwulph was skin 
 in a decisive battle, wherein his brother Edward was the 
 victor. Notwithstanding the generosity and loyalty of 
 Elfleda towards Edward, as her elder brother and sovereign, 
 which had subjected her to the revengeful cruelties of Adel- 
 wulph, the former, in a spirit of gratuitous heartlessness, 
 deprived her of her sovereignty and revenues in the cities 
 of London and Oxford — on no other plea than what was 
 derived from the suggestions of selfish ambition.* 
 
 If a woman, under any circumstances, can stand excused 
 before the judgment seat of man, for subduing those attrac- 
 tive graces which make her lovely in his eye, her soft 
 demeanour, retiring gentleness, and yielding flexibility of 
 character, to trespass over the sexual boundary with which 
 nature has fenced his prerogatives — to put on the stern 
 characteristics of manhood— not the masquerading foolery 
 of the helmet and war-boots of Mars upon the shrinking 
 frame of Venus — but the dire, fateful earnestness of the 
 life or death hazards of the day of battle — then surely 
 Elfleda is not only uncensurable, but feelingly commendable 
 for the subsequent part she took in repelling personally the 
 
 * The kingdom, or earldom of Mercia, comprised all the country lying north 
 of the Thame3. 
 
THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA. 233 
 
 aggression of ambitious neighbours and every description of 
 marauders or assailants. The unenviable functions which 
 she embraced, glowing as the results of her daring appear 
 in the dubious lustre imposed by success, was not a matter 
 of choice, but literally enforced upon her by the merciless 
 necessity which environed her position. Deprived of the 
 natural support of the dependent state, her womanly con- 
 dition unprotected by the powerful arm and daring heart 
 of man, she said to her soul in the extremity of her help- 
 lessness, " my husband is in the grave, my father's sleep is 
 dreamless of mv woes, — my brother — let me not think of 
 him ! — no, I have none to help me — then I will be a man 
 myself — as far as in me lies, I will emulate his virtues, and 
 nerve my woman's heart with manly resolution." 
 
 In the year 914, when king Edward was busily employed, 
 in opposing and expelling the Danes from the north of 
 England, Hwgan, lord of Brecon and prince of west Wales, 
 ** seized, as he thought a favourable opportunity of reveng- 
 ing the many insults which had been offered to his country, 
 and recovering, by well-timed exertions, the possessions 
 which had been wrested from his ancestors ; and with the 
 strongest levy be could muster, he passed the Saxon bound- 
 ary and commenced hostilities."* 
 
 Seeing her brother's dominions thus invaded m his 
 absence, forgetful of his cruelty and injustice towards her 
 and her country, with a refined spirit of magnanimity that 
 would have done honour to a more refined nation and period, 
 this generous daughter of the royal Alfred, who, of all the 
 children of that great prince, seemed alone to inherit the 
 virtues of her father personally, led an army to oppose the 
 prince of Wales. Meeting with Hwgan on the borders, 
 a severe engagement ensued, in which she not only defeated 
 him, but compelled him, with his broken bands, to seek 
 safety in flight. He took his course towards the north 
 of England, and at Derby — the strong hold of the Danish 
 powers, being favourably received by those in power there, 
 he joined his army to theirs, and thus strengthened the 
 enemies of king Edward. Assured of the correctness of 
 * Theoptulus Jones's history of Brecoushire. 
 
234 THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA. 
 
 this intelligence, Elfleda immediately marched her army 
 into Wales, and entered the town of Brecon in battle array. 
 She attacked the castle* of prince Hwgan, soon took 
 it by storm, and made the princess, his wife, and thirty- 
 three of her people prisoners of war, whom she sent off to 
 a safe custody in Mercia. This battle in Welsh is called 
 Gwaith y Dinas Nemydd; signifying the work of the new 
 fortress. 
 
 " Hwgan being thus disconcerted in his projects and 
 disgraced in his arms (as before observed), fled to Derby, 
 where he joined the Danes, who cordially received and 
 tendered him their assistance. Supported by his new 
 friends, he prepared for a recommencement of hostilities ; 
 but all his attempts to elude the vigilance, or resist the 
 good fortune of Elfleda, were vain ; with incredible activity 
 she hastened with her victorious army and pursued her 
 defeated foe to his rallying place; here, before he was 
 enabled to complete his schemes, she laid close siege to the 
 town. Though Hwgan, on the other side, was not idle, 
 and though he encouraged the garrison, both by exhortation 
 and example, to make a spirited defence, yet after a trifling 
 advantage, the gates of the city were set on fire by 
 Gwayne, lord of Ely, steward to Elfleda, and after a vigorous 
 attack, possession was taken of the citadel by the assailants. 
 Hwgan, perceiving that every thing was irrecoverably lost, 
 determined to die bravely rather than surrender himself 
 dishonourably to a woman — he therefore rushed furiously 
 into the heat of battle, and fell, covered with innumerable 
 wounds."f 
 
 Still anxious to assist her brother in clearing the country 
 of those restless intruders the Danes, we find Elfleda next 
 year besieging the city of Leicester, " which was quickly 
 surrendered, and the Danes therein perfectly subdued." 
 The fame of these several actions being bruited abroad, the 
 inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces became, as Wynne 
 expresses it, fearful and timorous ; and the Yorkshire men 
 voluntarily did her homage, and professed their services. 
 
 Such, accomplished in a very brief space of time, were 
 
 * Wynne's history of Wales. t Wynne's history of Wales. 
 
THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA. 235 
 
 the warlike feats of the intrepid, never-failing princess 
 Elfleda. Some of our Cambrian historians, who are more 
 remarkable for the warmth of their patriotism, than the 
 coolness of an unbiassed judgment on her claims to admi- 
 ration, have cast their sneers at her assumption of the 
 functions of a general, and called her an amazon ; observing 
 also, " that from her masculine talents and military exploits, 
 she was generally called the king :''* but fortunately for 
 her fame, none could disparage her with more invidious 
 terms. 
 
 But Elfleda was not distinguished merely as an emulator 
 of the '* town-battering, homicidal, gory Mars,"f fo% 
 honourable mention is made of her, as '* a woman of singular 
 virtues — and one that greatly strengthened the kingdom 
 of Mercia, by building towns and castles against the incur- 
 sions of foreign enemies."]; She is also favourably noticed 
 for having repaired and rebuilt those portions of the city 
 of Chester which had been battered or destroyed by the 
 Danes. The towns which she built in Mercia were Stren- 
 gat and Bruge, by the forest of Morph ; Tamworth, 
 Stafford, Edelburgh, Cherenburgh, Wadeburgh, and Run- 
 cofe — eight fortified towns or cities! more than double 
 the number that she is said to have destroyed. Thus, 
 to her glory be it recorded, amazon as she is called, her 
 pacific deeds far surpass in magnitude all that is attributed 
 to her destructive feats in war; and, therefore, the good 
 which she performed for the benefit of the human race, in 
 the same proportion will be found to over-balance the evil. 
 
 She died at Tamworth, in the year 920, after eight years 
 rule over the kingdom of Mercia. Her ceaseless exertions 
 for the protection and general benefit of her subjects, must 
 have won her their most devoted love and admiration while 
 living, and their deepest regret for their irreparable loss 
 at her decease. She lies buried at St. Peter's, in the city 
 of Gloucester. 
 
 It is with no slight degree of indignation we learn, that 
 on the death of this generous heroine, her brother, king 
 
 * Theophilus Jones. t Wynne's history of Wales* 
 
 % Cowper's floraer's Iliad. 
 
236 THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA. 
 
 Edward, the unworthy successor of the great king Alfred, 
 had the unspeakable baseness to disinherit her orphaned 
 daughter Alfwyen ; when he seized all her lands in Mercia, 
 under the unfounded pretence that he had heard she was 
 about to contract a private marriage with Reynald, king 
 of the Danes, unknown to him, whom her mother had 
 appointed her guardian. 
 
 We intended to conclude this memoir here ; but since 
 writing the foregone, we have alighted on Pennant's account 
 of this heroine. As he records some matters not included 
 in our researches, and has omitted many points herein 
 ^embraced, we will give his account entire, so that altogether 
 the reader will have as perfect a biography as can be gleaned 
 at this time of day of the celebrated Elfleda.* 
 
 " This lady (Ethelfleda) is so frequently mentioned in 
 the Mercian history, that it will not be impertinent to give 
 a brief account of her. She was the undegenerate daughter 
 of*the great Alfred, and the wi^oFBdelred, earl of Mercia, 
 under his brother-in-law Edward king of England. On the 
 birth of her first childf/she separated herself from her 
 husband, and for the rest "of her days, likejan amazon of old, 
 determined on a life of (^astityj^BtT" devoted herself to 
 deeds of arms. She kept on the best terms with her 
 husband : they united in all acts of munificence and piety ; 
 restored cities, founded abbeys, and removed to more suit- 
 able places the bones of long-departed saints. After the 
 death of her husband, in 912, she assumed the government 
 of the Mercian earldom, and the command of the army. 
 She became so celebrated for her valour, that the effe- 
 minate titles of lady, or queen, were thought unworthy of 
 her : she received in addition, those of lord, and king. 
 
 Elfleda potens, terror virgo virorum 
 Victrix nature, nomine digna viri 
 
 * Pennant and some other authors write her name Ethelfleda, but in the 
 earlier accounts of her she is generally called Elfleda. 
 
 t Rapin, and other authors state, that the agony and life-peril of travail, at 
 the birth of her child, caused her to form this resolution, being assured that 
 if again subjected to such danger, that her death would probably be the 
 consequence. m 
 
THE PRINCESS ELFLEDA. 
 
 237 
 
 Ta quo splendidior fieres, natura puellam, 
 
 Te probitas fecit nomen habere viri. 
 Te mutare decet, sed solum nomine sexus, 
 
 Tu Kegina potens Kexque trophcea params, 
 Nee jam Cassare splendidior virgo virago vale. 
 
 Henry Huntington, lib. v., p. 354. 
 
 Elfleda, terror of mankind ! 
 Nature, for ever unconfined , 
 Stamped thee in woman's tender frame, 
 Though worthy of a hero's name. 
 Thee, thee alone, the mute shall sing 
 Dread empress and victorious king ! 
 E'en Caesar's conquests were out-dfne 
 By thee, illustrious amazon ! — R. W. 
 
 The heroine appears well to have united this eulogium.* 
 Her abilitie s and activity were perpetually exerted in the ser- 
 vice of her country. She erected a castle at Sceargate ; 
 another at Briege, the modern Bridgeworth ; the third at 
 Tammeorthige, or Tamworth ; a fourth at Stsefford; a fifth at 
 Eadesbyrig, now the chamber in the forest in Cheshire ; 
 a sixth at Wseringwic, or Warwick; a seventh at Cyric- 
 byric,orChirbury ; an eighth atWeardbyrig, or Wedsburrow, 
 in Staffordshire ; and a ninth at Rumcof, or Runcorn, in 
 Cheshire. She took Brecknock, and made its queen pri- 
 soner : she stormed Deoraby, or Derby, but lost four thanes 
 within the place ; and finally she restored the city of Leger- 
 ceaster, after its desolation by the barbarians, rebuilt the 
 walls, and, as some pretend, enlarged the city so greatly 
 as to include the castle, which before stood without the 
 ancient precincts. Death put an end to her glorious course, 
 at Tamworth, in the summer of 922, from whence her body 
 was translated to Gloucester. Her loss was regretted by 
 the whole kingdom, and by none so sensibly felt as by her 
 brother Edward, for she was as useful to that prince in the 
 cabinet as in the field. f 
 
 * Much as we admire the fame of Elfleda, we must protest against this 
 conclusion, this ridiculous instance of exaggerated eulogy, contained in the two 
 last lines of the poem. The comparison with Csssar certainly is altogether 
 injudicious in the extreme, 
 
 t If this eulogy ^f Edward is founded in truth, how are we to accouut for 
 his very questionable conduct in disinheriting the daughter of Elfleda, as before. 
 recorded ? 
 
,3 V 
 
 THE LADY EMMA, 
 
 WIFE OF GRIFFITH AB MADOO, LORD OF DINAS BRAN AN 
 LOWER POWYS. 
 
 Among her other claims to the notice of posterity, thi 
 lady and her unpopular lord stand recorded, in a direct line, 
 as the immediate ancestors of our great national hero Owen 
 Glendower.* 
 
 Of the husband of Lady Emma, Pennant says, " Griffith 
 ab Madoc, lord of Dinas Bran (so styled in consequence 
 of his making that castle his chief residence), unfortunately 
 became enamoured of Emma, daughter of Lord James 
 Audley,f who alienating his affections from his country, 
 made him one instrument of its suhjection, and the destruc- 
 tion of his own family. He took part with Henry III. 
 and Edward I. against his own natural prince. The resent- 
 ment of his countrymen was raised against him, and he 
 was obliged to confine himself in his castle of Dinas Bran, 
 where probably grief and shame put an end to his life in 
 1270. 
 
 Proverbially accurate as Pennant is generally allowed to 
 be, he is not altogether correct in this statement. When 
 Llewelyn ab Griffith, the last native prince of Wales, found 
 his star in the ascendant, he paid a hostile visit to Powys, 
 punished the adherents of Edward I., and pardoned those 
 whose unhappy circumstances compelled them to desert 
 the cause of their country, on their abandoning the standard 
 of their invaders, and returning to their duty. Thomas, 
 in his "memoirs of Owain Glyndwr/' says — "he banished 
 Griffith Gwenwynwyn out of the country, but Griffith ab 
 Madoc's submission restored him into favour, and reinstated 
 him in his patrimony. Griffith's policy was commendable ; 
 
 * In Welsh written Owain Glyndwr. 
 
 * Lord James Audley was a valiant English captain o£ these times, who 
 dread fully annoyed the Welsh with his German cavalry, which, however, was 
 at length totally destroyed. 
 
THE LADY EMMA. 239 
 
 the fortune of England was now at a low ebb ; he returned 
 to the duty he had long deserted, and found protection in 
 his natural sovereign. His return to allegiance and fidelity 
 diffused joy and satisfaction through every breast ; nor does 
 history record any disobedient acts of his to the day of 
 his death — which happened in 1270, at his castle of Dinas 
 Bran. He was buried in the neigbouring abbey of Llane- 
 gwest,* which his father had erected.f 
 
 "Kegibus Anglorum fult hie Griffinus Amicus, 
 Aversatus herum Leolinum, cujus ab iram 
 Se bene munitum Castello Semper in illo 
 Continuit latitans, nomen locus indidit hide : 
 Orbati teneris nati linquuntur in armis."— Pentarchia. 
 
 The conclusion at which Pennant and the Welsh histo- 
 rians have arrived, respecting the evil consequences of 
 Griffith ab Madoc's marriage with the lady Emma, is 
 scarcely warranted, on a fair investigation of the history of 
 this period, so disastrous to Cambrian independance. There 
 were other, and very powerful reasons for the conduct 
 which he adopted, without attributing undue blame to a 
 Woman, whose greatest misfortunes were being too lovely, 
 a foreigner in a strange land, and native of that hostile 
 nation, most abhorred by her husband's countrymen. In 
 fact there was nothing new or strange in the conduct of 
 Griffith ab Madoc, however unworthy it may be deemed. 
 
 The chieftains of Powys were always notorious for their 
 anti- patriotism and alliance with their national enemies. 
 Even Owen ab Madoc ab Meredith, the grandfather of 
 
 * Llanegwest was one of the last founded abbeys ; it was founded 26th 
 Henry VIII., to be endowed with £188 8s. per annum, according to Dugdale; 
 and, £214 3s. 5d. according to Speed. " It was granted 9th James I. to Edward 
 Wotton."— Tanner's Not. Mon. " There still remain the ruins of the church, 
 and part of the abbey ; the last inhabited by a farmer. The church was 
 built in the form of a cross, in different styles of architecture, the most ancieirt 
 is that of the east end, where the windows are in form of long and narrow 
 slips, pointed at top. The window at the west end is large, divided by stone 
 tracery, and above is a round window of elegant work.."'— Pennant. 
 
 t Griffith left four sons by the lady Emma, his only wife— Madoc, Llewelyn, 
 Griffith, and Owen. Griffith became the founder of the family which gave 
 Wales her Owen of Glendower. 
 
 V 
 
240 THE LADT EMMA. 
 
 this Griffith, married to Susannah, sister of the patriotic 
 Owen Gwyneth, and therefore, without the pretence of 
 being biassed by an English wife, being a leading man in 
 the times of Henry II., Richard I., and king John, was 
 generally in opposition to the interests of his country. Io 
 an assembly of chieftains convened by Llewelyn ab Ior- 
 worth, at which Madoc (the father of Griffith) stood fore- 
 most, that hard-fighting generous prince made known to 
 them his determination to rescue his nation from English 
 vassalage. He represented to them in strong pathetic 
 terms the evils resulting from their lamentable disunion 
 and their want of virtue in deserting the interests of their 
 country, whose miserable situation he painted in such 
 colours as wrought upon their minds a momentary but 
 too transient gleam of patriotism. Madoc, doubtless, felt 
 this appeal as a reflection on the infamy of his father, who 
 confederated with Henry II., and incited him to invade 
 North Wales, commanded his navy, and made a descent on 
 the island of Anglesea, where a cruel butchery of the 
 inhabitants, and an immense destruction of property, was 
 the result, although the ravagers were ultimately worsted 
 and cut to pieces, by the islanders.* Another princely 
 traitor of the Powysian race was Owen ab Edwyn the 
 father of Angharad, consort of Griffith ab Cynan, as nar- 
 rated in the memoir of that amiable princess. He deserted, 
 with his whole army, to king Henry I., which compelled 
 his son-in-law, the sovereign of North Wales, to fly his 
 dominions and seek refuge in Ireland. With these striking 
 instances before us, of the defection of former princes of 
 Powys, it is unjust to charge the English wife of Griffith ab 
 Madoc as the sole* cause of her husband's attachment to the 
 sovereign of England. 
 
 * His treachery towards his native country, and alliance with Henry, arose 
 from a spirit which could not brook submission, in conformity to the 
 rules of Eoderic the Great, to Owen Gwyneth, the reigning prince of Korth 
 Wale3. Powel, in his history of Wales, says, " notwithstanding his defection 
 from the cause of his country, he was a man who feared God and relieved the 
 poor."— As much has been said in favour of the greatest villain that ever 
 disgraced humanity, William de Breos, lord of Abergavenny. See the memoir 
 of Matilda de Haia in this work. 
 
THE LADY EMMA. 241 
 
 Setting these considerations aside, the private conduct of 
 the lady Emma appears to have been both wise and exem- 
 plary in all respects. The lordships of Griffith ab Madoc 
 stood, as We might say, centrally between the English and 
 Welsh belligerants. Perceiving perhaps, with a prophetic 
 eye, what must ultimately prove the issue of the contest 
 between a powerful and a weak state, the natural conclusion 
 must be that what be considered prudence, got the better 
 of his patriotism, and determined him to join the strongest 
 party ; the success of which, in his view, was most likely 
 to bring about the earliest settlement of the peace of the 
 country, and be a bulwark of protection to his family. 
 Judged by Spartan or ancient Roman principles, his conduct 
 must be contemned. But, if prudence is indeed a virtue, 
 and the preservation of his own family allowable to have 
 a first hold on his affections, the decision of Griffith ab 
 Madoc, in the eye of modern civilization, cannot be consi- 
 dered in the light of very deep criminality, even if counselled 
 thereto by his beloved English partner. But whatever 
 may have been the lady Emma's political sins in the esti- 
 mation of Welshmen of olden times (and indeed it is doubt- 
 ful whether any better foundation can be found for the 
 charges against her than the violent prejudices of the times, 
 and the bitterness of national antipathy), in the eye of 
 humanity, her private worth calls for deep appreciation, 
 as a highly honoured wife and a greatly beloved mother. 
 Previous to his death Griffith ab Madoo manifested his 
 affection by the settlement on her of considerable lands for 
 her own personal revenue. There is a hundred in Flint- 
 shire bearing the name of Maelor Saesnaeg ;* so called 
 from its being a part of the jointure of this English lady. 
 As witnesses to this settlement on their mother, in their 
 father's lifetime, the four sons of Griffith set their hands 
 and seals, and became also the faithful executors of a deed 
 which deprived them of a portion of their inheritance. 
 
 * According to Pennant, Maelor Saesneg consists of these parishes— Worthen- 
 bury, Bangor, Hanmer, and the chapelry of Overton on this side of the Dee ; 
 of Erbistoek on the other side, opposite to Overton ; and of Hope in the other 
 portion of the county of Flint. Part only of Erbistoek is in the county of Flint, 
 the rest is in Denbighshire. 
 
242 THE LADY EMMA. 
 
 The crowning proof of the excellence of character which 
 distinguished the lady Emma, in her own family, is to be 
 found in the affection of these sons. It is pleasant to see 
 recorded, long after the death of their father, these worthy 
 young men not only confirmed and renewed their father's 
 settlement on their widowed mother, but made considerable 
 additions to the original grant. 
 
 It has been mentioned, that at the death of Griffith ab 
 Madoc, he left four sons ; consequently, from the peculiarity 
 of her position, the lady Emma found herself placed under 
 circumstances of great difficulty in respect of these chil- 
 dren. Her husband's nearest kindred claimed the guard- 
 ianship of the four boys, which their mother determined 
 to resist, and opposed with all the energy of her character, 
 which became more developed when she found herself with- 
 out a protector, and thrown upon the resources of her own 
 mind. These paternal relatives naturally feared, that if 
 the children were taken by their mother to England to be 
 reared there, they would become thoroughly English in 
 their feelings and future political bias, inclining, of course, 
 more to the king of England than to the princes of Wales. 
 Notwithstanding her watchful vigilance to thwart their 
 designs, they succeeded in depriving her of Griffith and 
 Owen, the two youngest of them ; but Emma retained the 
 two eldest, Madoc and Llewelyn in her own hands. How- 
 ever, finding herself subjected to a long and harassing 
 system of annoyance from these kindred, mental disquietude 
 on this account, and the difficulty she found in maintaining 
 her own jointure, so wrought upon her firmness, that at 
 length she resolved upon a measure more fatal to her inter- 
 ests than the most cruel machinations of her enemies could 
 have devised. " She thought it expedient to transfer the 
 care of them to king Edward L, alleging that their ancestors 
 had sworn fealty to the king of England, and that they 
 were feudally his wards. Edward accepted their wardship, 
 and committed Madoc to the care of John, earl Warren, 
 and Llewelyn to Roger Mortimer, third son of Ralph Mor- 
 timer (second husband of Gwladys Ddu), lord of Wigmore. 
 It will be observed that these children had a portion of 
 
THE LADT EMMA. 243 
 
 their late father's estates assigned them ; Madoc the elder, 
 the lordships of Bromfield and Yale,* and had a claim to 
 the reversion of Moldsdale, Hopesdale, and Maelor Saes- 
 naegj his mother's jointure, and detached part of Flintshire 
 before described. Llewelyn, the second son, had allotted 
 to him the lordships of Chirk and Nathewdwy — no small 
 temptations to guardians -who bore them but little regard. 
 However, we are informed that earl Warren built the castle 
 of Holt in Bromfield — and Roger Mortimer the castle of 
 Chirk — and placed English garrisons in each of them, 
 ostensibly to protect the property of those children from 
 their father's relations, but in reality to keep them for them- 
 selves — for the unhappy children were doomed from the 
 hour they fell into the custody of their English guardians. 
 
 Pennant remarks on the English king's cruel policy — on 
 the death of Griffith ab Modoc, Edward I. ungratefully 
 bestowed on John earl Warren the wardship of the eldest 
 son of his old partizanf — as he did that of the second on 
 Roger Mortimer. Both guardians understood the meaning 
 of the favour ; and accordingly made away with the poor 
 children, and gained full possession of their estates. Yorke, 
 in his royal tribes of Wales, says, " and, as it might happen, 
 the wards were missed — and no more found. 
 
 -Tali, curantes arte pupillos, 
 
 Kursus ut ad patrias nunquam rediers penates. 
 
 Pentarchia. 
 
 " What manner of death they suffered is unknown ; tra- 
 dition says they were drowned in the night in the river 
 Dee, at Holt. They perished by some secret and violent 
 death, by the hands of their guardians, without a doubt, 
 who, by the grants of Edward, succeeded generally to their 
 
 * In Welsh written Ial. 
 
 t Edward I., when prince of Wales and earl of Chester, experienced Griffith 
 ab Madoc's friendship and attachment, and was assisted by him in his attacks 
 upon Wales. For him the unhappy chieftain had to endure the hatred and 
 execrations of his countrymen, and what might be called a long imprisonment 
 in his castle of Dinas Bran, from whence he dared not stir for many years 
 dreading their vengeance as a partizan of the English king. But neither those 
 considerations, nor the eminent services of lord James Audley, father of tho 
 lady Emma, availed with that iron hearted destroyer of nations. 
 v 2 
 
244 THE LADY EMMA. 
 
 estates. Edward, however, participated in the spoil, but it 
 is to be hoped not in the destruction of the wards. Tho- 
 mas, the biographer of Owen Glendower remarks— "his 
 animosity and vindictive spirit towards the last prince of 
 Wales might justify the insinuation^ and his acquittal 
 would be very dubious before a jury of Welshmen." 
 
 It appears, further researches and accidental discovery 
 enabled Pennant to correet certain very material errors in 
 the above accouut, which he does in the following statement. 
 
 Historians have been mistaken in supposing that the 
 children who were murdered were the two eldest sons of 
 Griffith ah Madoc ;* they were, in fact, the children of 
 Madoc, Griffith's eldest son ; so that in reality, it was her 
 grandsons whom the lady Emma gave to the wardship of 
 the heartless Edward, and whom earl Warren and sir Roger 
 Mortimer caused to be drowned under Holt bridge. What 
 crowns the satisfaction of the settlement of this historical 
 question is the following addition by Pennant : — n This I 
 discovered in a manuscript communicated to me by the 
 reverend Mr. Price, keeper of the Bodleian library. Before 
 that, the manner of the death had been current in the 
 country under the fable of the two fairies who had been 
 destroyed in that manner, and in the same place ; but the 
 foundation of the tale was till very lately totally lost. The 
 barbarity of the two guardians, so far from being punished 
 by their master, was rewarded : Warren had the grant of 
 Dinas Bran,* and all Bromfield, confirmed to him, dated 
 from Rhyddlan, Oct. 7th, 1281 ; and Mortimer that of Chirk." 
 
 To return to the lady Emma— finding herself an object of 
 persecution from the hostility of her late husband's kindred, 
 and being molested in her jointure by them in revenge for 
 having delivered her grandsons to the care of the English, 
 
 * It is evident the children of this chieftain had arrived at manhood before 
 his death— as we find the four sons witnesses to a settlement made by their 
 father on lady Emma, their mother, as before related in this memoiy. 
 
 f Dinas Bran castle stands on a great height, opposite to the town of Llan- 
 gollen ; its ruins nearly cover the summit of a vast conoid hill, steeply sloped 
 on every side. It was one of the primitive Welsh castles. From the Warrens 
 this property passed by marriage to the Fitzalans, and followed the succession 
 of the lord* of Bromfield 
 
THE LADY EMMA. 245 
 
 she was thrown into great perplexity. She made applica- 
 tion, to king Edward to take Maelor Saesnaeg, her jointure 
 into his own possession, and give her lands in England for it, 
 where she could spend the residue of her days in peace. 
 Edward, of course, acquiesced in her desires, and thus got 
 into possession of those noble domains, and held the same 
 ever after. On the death of the lady Emma, these lands 
 should have reverted to her family. But Edward kept both 
 the demesnes of Hopesdale and Maelor Saesnaeg, the latter 
 he annexed to Flintshire under the pretence that the heirs 
 were rebels. 
 
 The period of the lady Emma's decease, or any record of 
 what further befel her, is unknown. Doubtless she disco- 
 vered, when too late to recal the past, that the greatest error 
 of her life was attaching too high an opinion to the character 
 of her sovereign, by giving her grandchildren to his protec- 
 tion. When, in the evening of life and the solitude of a 
 sorrowing old age, she had to endure the agony of reflecting on 
 this false step, which brought the poor children to a premature 
 and cruel death — and the contrast presented in the safety 
 and happiness of those who remained in Wales, under the 
 guardianship of her husband's kindred — it is probable that 
 poignancy of her grief made her latter days so extremely 
 wretched, that her prospect of the grave was more soothing 
 than severe. 
 
 Pennant adds, Warren usurped the property of Madoc, 
 but was seized with remorse for his crime, and instead of 
 removing the other object of his fear, as a Machiavelian 
 politician would have done, procured from Edward a grant 
 ot Glyndyfrdwy to Griffith, the third son of Emma and 
 Griffith ab Madoc, dated from Rhyddlan, 12th February, 
 1282. Griffith held his lordship under the king of England 
 in chiefty, and was, by the Welsh, called y Barwn Gwyn % 
 or the white baron. He possessed also his deceased brother 
 Owen's portion of Cynllaeth, and so in descent to Owen 
 Glendower. 
 
 Wynne, in his history of Wales, says, "Griffith's wife had 
 in her possession for her dowry, Maelor Saesneg, Hopesdale, 
 and Moulsdale, with the presentation of Bangor rectory." 
 
246 THE LADY EMMA. 
 
 Elsewhere he observes, " seeing two of her sons disinherited 
 and done away, and the fourth dead without issue, and doubtjng 
 lest Griffith, her only surviving child, could not long con- 
 tinue, she conveyed her estate to the Audleys, her own kin, 
 who, getting possession of it, took the same from the king. 
 From the Audleys it came to the house of Derby, where it 
 continued a long time, till sold to Sir John Glynne, sergeant- 
 at-law, where it still continueth." 
 
 Thus by this unfortunate arrangement, Griffith, the third 
 son of Emma and Griffith ab Madoc, was deprived of that 
 portion of his inheritance, but succeeded to the lordship of 
 Glyndwrdwy, and became the great great grandfather of 
 Owen Glendower, as thus. He was the father of Madoc 
 Crupl, or the cripple, who was the father of Madoc Vychan, 
 who was father of Griffith Vychan, who was the father of 
 Owen Glendower. 
 
x*rj 
 
 ESSYLLT, 
 
 SOLE DAUGHTER AND HEIRESS OF CYNAN TYNDAETHWY, KING 
 OF NORTH WALES, AND {ftU EEN OF MERVYN VYRCH, KING 
 OF ALL WALES AND THE ISLE OF MA& . 
 
 To account for the marriage of this princess with the king 
 of_thfi Tslg^of Man, we must commence by relating some 
 incidents which took place in the reign of her father. Cynan 
 Tyndaethwy, king of north Wales, was disturbed in his 
 government by the hostility of his brother Howel, who 
 claimed of him a division of the sovereignty, and to have the 
 island of Anglesea for his own share. Sensibly aware of 
 the impolicy of such a measure, and its certain tendency to 
 weaken the nation when opposed to a foreign power, as 
 fatally proved in after years by his grandson Roderic's 
 adoption, the king resolutely opposed a scheme so pregnant 
 with national disasters. Howel, equally tenacious of what 
 he considered his right, according to the law of gavelkind (so 
 fatal to monarchies and excellent in republics — the ultimate 
 ruin of Wales), determined to compel his brother to yield 
 him that portion of his dominions. The brothers met in 
 arms, and in two hard-fought battles Howel came off vic- 
 torious, and for a while held the sovereignty of Anglesea in 
 defiance of Cynan. But, in a third engagement between 
 them, Howel was overthrown, and being compelled to fly 
 his country, became a ruined, homeless refugee. 
 
 Ireland, £$Hhe Isle of Man, appeared to be the only coun- 
 tries where a Welsh prince under such unfortunate circum- 
 stances could meet entertainment and protection, and to the 
 latter island Howel bent his course. The Isle of Man was 
 then ruled by Mervyn Vyrch, a prince of very amiable cha- 
 racter, courteous manners, and of similar royal descent with 
 his own family. He was the son of Gwyriad ab Elidure, 
 descended from Belinus, the brother of Brennus, one of the 
 early kings of Britain. His mother was Nest, daughter of 
 
248 ESSTLLT. 
 
 Cadell the son of Brochwell Yscythraeg, king of Mathravel, 
 or Powys. Mervyn received the unhappy prince with the 
 utmost urbanity, kindness, and hospitality. The revenues 
 of certain lordships in the north of the island were assigned 
 for his maintenance, and every attention that a noble mind 
 could suggest, to ameliorate the severities of fortune, were 
 with studied delicacy accorded him. This honourable 
 treatment wrought powerfully on the mind of Howel ; over- 
 whelmed with gratitude towards his generous host, he sug- 
 gested to Mervyn that he should seek the hand of his niece 
 the princess Essyllt, sole heiress of his brother Cynan Tyn- 
 daethwy, king of north Wales, in marriage. Speedily 
 acting on this advice, and following the instructions of Howel, 
 Mervyn wooed, won, and married the lady. Howel died in 
 the fifth year of his exile in the Isle of Man, which was A.D. 
 822. He survived his brother the king of north Wales 
 about two years ; and so far from yielding to any sugges- 
 tions of ambition to seize on the vacant throne, as a less 
 generous prince might have done, he seems to have found a 
 superior pleasure in seeing his niece and friend enthroned 
 in that sovereignty. 
 
 It is pleasant to contemplate, in rude times like these, 
 such an instance of a naturally turbulent and ambitious 
 mind overcome by a sense of obligation, and yielding to 
 the dictates of friendship and the most refined notions of 
 honour. 
 
 Thus, on the death Cynan Tindaethwy, about the year 
 820, the princess Essyllt and her husband Mervyn Vyrch 
 became the king and queen of north Wales and the Isle of 
 Man, which were united into one sovereignty. To prevent 
 the jealousy and discontent commonly entertained bv a semi- 
 barbarous people against a prince or princess not native 
 born, the government was carried on under the joint names 
 of Mervyn Vrych and Essyllt. 
 
 Of personal memoirs we have scarcely anything more to re- 
 late of this princess^ but by her position in joint sovereignty, 
 and perhaps in the executive department of the government, 
 her life may be supposed to be completely mixed up with 
 the public affairs of the day. Her existence was passed 
 
ESSYLLT. 249 
 
 amidst the most stirring events ever recorded in the annals 
 of her country — when Danish irruptions and Saxon inva- 
 sions scarcely allowed an interval of peace to either the 
 Britons or their assailants. 
 
 The contemporary Saxon sovereign of this period was that 
 ever restless wielder of the battle-brand and desolating war- 
 torch,Egbert,*kingofthe west Saxons. The personal character 
 and great abilities of this prince rendered the epoch not only 
 remarkable in a high degree, but to the Britons it was the 
 most terrible and disastrous ever experienced by them since 
 the landing of Hengist and Horsa. The public events of 
 her father's time and her own compose a chain of the most 
 dire national evils, of which each link is a calamity, that 
 hitherto had ever befallen their nation. 
 
 In her father's reign, and the early part of her own and 
 partner's, the important cities of Shrewsbury and Chester, 
 and a considerable circuit of country, embracing many dis- 
 tricts attached to each, were torn for ever from the Welsh ; 
 the British inhabitants slaughtered or driven thence, and 
 repeopled by the Saxons. The island of Mona was seized 
 in the same manner, and to make its conquest the more 
 memorable, the name was changed to Anglesea, or the En- 
 glishmen's isle — which, although reconquered in after time, 
 it has retained ever since. Her fathers contemporary was 
 the barbarous and butchering Offa, king of Mercia, who 
 caused the deep dyke and high rampart bearing his name 
 to be made. It extended a hundred miles over the rocks 
 and mountains, across valleys and rivers, from the waters of 
 the Dee to the mouth of the Wye, where the latter falls into 
 the Severn. The only season of peace sought, or acceded 
 to, by Offa, was for the insiduous purpose of finishing this infa- 
 mous dyke unmolested ; the purpose of which was, to divide 
 the fair and fertile portion of the country, that had been torn 
 from the Welsh and seized by the Saxons, from the stark 
 and sterile mountainous regions, to which he meditated to 
 
 * Although Egbert failed in conquering the Britons, he succeeded in mas- 
 tering all the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy, and united them all into one 
 under his own sovereignty— and then, for the first time, ordered his dominions 
 to be called England, and his subjects Englisbrnen. 
 
250 ESSYLLT. 
 
 confine them, and made it penal, under terrible consequences 
 (often exacted), to pass its boundary. To revenge himself 
 on the Welsh who had despised his dyke, and levelled it for 
 considerable length, Offa with a strong army sought their 
 forces. "Both parties coming at length to a general en- 
 gagement upon Rhuddlan Marsh, the Welsh, under the 
 command of Caradoc, a chieftain of the country, were en- 
 tirely defeated, with a dreadful slaughter, and their leader 
 slain in the action. Besides this great loss which the 
 Welsh had suffered, the Saxon prince commanded all 
 the children and the men who had fallen into his hands to 
 be massacred, the women scarcely escaping his. fury.*'* 
 
 In the year 808, twelve years before the accession of Essyllt 
 to her father's throne, in the course of one of the Saxon 
 invasions, the city of St. David's was laid in ashes by that 
 remorseless people. That event was preceded by an eclipse 
 of the sun and moon — a terrible distemper likewise seized 
 upon the cattle — and the next year the city of Diganwy 
 was destroyed by lightning. These incidents, arising from 
 natural causes, were marked by superstition as presages of 
 national calamity."f 
 
 Matthew of Westminster recites no less than two inva- 
 sions of Wales by Egbert in the years 810 and 811, and in 
 the year 819 he again over-ran the dominions of the Britons 
 with a powerful army, " desolated the country as far as the 
 mountains of Snowdon, and seized on the lordship of Rhy- 
 voniac. He then advanced to Mona and took possession of 
 that island, having fought a bloody battle with the Welsh at 
 Lanvaes, near Beaumaris. It was at this period, as before 
 related, that the island irrecoverably lost its ancient name. 
 This formidable inroad was no sooner over, as if the Welsh 
 
 * Warrington. The memory of the massacre of Morva Rhuddlan is pre- 
 served in an ancient Welsh ballad attached to an air of singular pathos. Theo- 
 philus Jones, the Breconshire historian, relates, that when this was played 
 by a Welsh harper before Colonel Shebbert, a venerable foreign officer settled 
 in that country, that the old gentleman was affected to tears, declaring that 
 he was certain the powerful pathetic music which he heard commemorated the 
 defeat of a great army. 
 
 t From this time Diganwy ceased to be the residence of the kings of north 
 Wales. 
 
ESSYLLT. 251 
 
 were to enjoy no interval of peace, than Kenulph, king of 
 Mercia, in two successive inroads, committed great devas- 
 tation in west Wales and in Powys. 
 
 Matthew of Westminster mentions another invasion of 
 Wales, in the year 830, in which he partially subdued the 
 the country, and made its kings tributary. The Welsh, in 
 excessive resentment of these numerous invasions, in the 
 year 833 allied themselves with a Danish army which then 
 invaded the Saxon territory, " as the less and more distant 
 evil, to wreak their vengeance on the Saxons, and to esta- 
 blish the Danish power on the ruin of their more immediate 
 and hereditary enemies." 
 
 In consequence of this alliance, the Welsh joined their 
 forces with the Danes, and after having ravaged a great part 
 of his dominions, and destroyed many of his castles and 
 fortified towns, they fought a severe battle with the Saxon 
 prince upon Hengist Down ; but in this action they sus- 
 tained a terrible defeat, with the slaughter of a great part 
 of their army. 
 
 In 835, to revenge himself on the Welsh for their combi- 
 natien against him with his mortal enemies the Danes, Egbert 
 invested Chester, the chief city of ancient Vendotia, in Welsh 
 called Caerlleon Ddwrdwy, one of the most important posts 
 on the British frontiers. Having taken the city, he caused 
 the brazen effigies or statues of Cadwallon, king of Britain, 
 with which the town was adorned, to be pulled down and 
 defaced — forbidding, on pain of death, the erecting of such 
 again. 
 
 We are too apt, like the ancient historians and chroniclers 
 of our country, to overlook the effect of female influence in 
 political and warlike doings ; but were the real parts which 
 that sex look in these transactions duly recorded, it is pro- 
 bable we should find many of the vaunted warriors of the 
 day in the position of puppets — the wires that set them in 
 motion being guided by the fertile head and dexterous hand 
 of a woman. We are told, in the present instance, that 
 Egbert was influenced in his excessive severity against the 
 Welsh citizens of Chester, by the inveterate malice of his 
 wife Redburga, whose hatred of the Welsh almost amounted 
 
 
252 ESSYLLT. 
 
 to frenzy. The merciless pair united their venom in a pro- 
 clamation, as cruel as it was unavailing, commanding that 
 all the men, with their wives and children, who were de- 
 scended from British blood, should depart their territories 
 in six months on pain of death. And to add injury to 
 insult, Egbert promulgated another law, as'savage and use- 
 less as the former, which affixed the penalty of death to 
 every Welshman who passed the limits of Offa's dyke and 
 should be taken on the English borders. But he did not 
 live to see these barbarities put into execution, but died very 
 soon after the conquest of Chester. " His death," says 
 Warrington, " probably suspended for several ages the destiny 
 of Wales." 
 
 " A short cessation of the Danish inroads gave leisure to 
 Berthred, the tributary sovereign of Mercia, to renew hos- 
 tilities against the Welsh, and a severe battle was fought, in 
 S43, by the two princes, at a place called Kettel, upon the 
 frontiers, in which Mervyn, the prince of north Wales, was 
 slain. Her son Roderic the Great succeeding to the sove- 
 reignty, the widowed princess Essyllt,*as queen dowager, it 
 is probable, lived the remainder of der days in the quietude 
 of obscurity ; but the particulars of her after life, and the 
 period of her death remain alike unrecorded. 
 
 * In Bassett's " Antiquarian Researches," an excellent work on Glamorgan- 
 shire Genealogy, commenced in 1846, we have the following pedigree of this 
 royal lady: — "Essyllt, sole danghter and heiress of Cynan Tyndaethwy, being 
 thirteen generations from Coel-godebog (father of the empress Helena,). We must 
 now give a genealogy of this princess by way of ascent up to Cynedda Wledig. 
 Her father, Cynan Tyndaethwy, lived about A.D. 770, and was the son of Rodri 
 Molwynog (the raging or foaming Roderic) who reigned about 710, and wasthe son 
 of Cadwalader Fendigiad, living about 680, and was the son of Cadwallon, living 
 about 640 ; he was the son of Cadvan, who flourished about 605, and was the 
 son of Jago ab Beli, living in 565, and was the son of Beli, living in 585, and was 
 the son of Rhun, living in 555, and was the son of Maelgwn Gwynedd, who lived 
 about 520, and was the son of Caswallon Lawhir, living about 470, who was the 
 son of Einion Yrth (Einion the resister), living about 420, who was the son of 
 Cynedda Wledig aforesaid, living about 370." Cynedda Wledig was the son of 
 Edeyrn, the husband of Gwawl, or Julia, the sister of the empress Helena. 
 
 
j.*3 
 
 MEGAN VERCH EVAN, 
 
 OR MARGARET EVANS OF PENLLYN. 
 
 Megan verch Evan,* or Margaret Evans, of Penllyn (lake 
 head), was a very extraordinary character ; and, although 
 occupying but a homely position in life, as the human race 
 are all creatures of circumstances, it is not uninteresting to 
 surmise what she might have been had fortune cast her lot 
 in another sphere and era, and given a fair field to her genius. 
 It is undeniable that this PugtfcJjSKflBe of a comparatively 
 lowly lot possessed more of what is called the master mind 
 than many who have been born to empire, swaying the fate 
 of nations, and conducting them to eminence and glory. 
 
 The only written account which we have met of her is in 
 the pages of Pennant's " Tour in North Wales," where her 
 tastes, talents, capacities and qualifications, are enumerated 
 more in the style of an auctioneer's catalogue than anything 
 resembling a biographical memoir. He says, " near this end 
 of the lake (of Lanberris) lives a celebrated personage, whom 
 I was disappointed in not finding at home. This was Mar- 
 garet verch Evan, of Penllyn, the last specimen of the 
 strength and spirit of the British fair. She is at this time 
 (the year 1786) about ninety years of age. This extraordi- 
 nary female was the greatest hunter, shooter, and fisher of 
 her time. She kept a dozen, at least, of dogs, terriers, 
 greyhounds, and spaniels, all excellent in their kinds. She X^ 
 killed more foxes in one year than all the confederate hunts 
 do in ten ; rowed stoutly in a boat, and was queen of the 
 lake ; fiddled excellently, and knew all our old music ; did 
 not neglect the mechanic arts, for she was a very good 
 joiner, boat builder, harp maker, blacksmith, and shoemaker. 
 
 * Megan or Margaret verch Evan, signifies Megan daughter of Evan ; she is 
 farther designated "of Penllyn," from her house being situated at the head of 
 the lake of Lanberris, at the foot of Snowdon. 
 
 
254 MEGAN VERCH EVAN. 
 
 She shoed her own horses, made her own shoes, and built her 
 
 / 
 
 own boats while she was under contract to convey the 
 copper ore down the lakes. At the age of seventy she was 
 the best wjestJjg^JjEL the country, and few young men dared 
 to try a fall with her. She had once a maid servant of con- 
 >»* genial qualities — but death, that mighty hunter, at last 
 earthed this faithful companion of hers. It must not be for- 
 gotten that all the neighbouring bards paid their addresses 
 w* to Megan, and celebrated her exploits in pure British 
 verse. At length she gave her hand to the most effeminate 
 V^of all her admirers, as if pre-determined to maintain the 
 superiority which nature had bestowed on her.*' 
 
 Recurring again to the consideration of what this homely 
 heroine might have been under other and more favouring 
 circumstances, we shall venture to steer our course into the 
 region of probabilities, and contemplate her in certain ele- 
 vated positions. 
 
 The late Louis Philippe, king of the French, was in his 
 day emphatically styled the Napoleon of p eace, with equal 
 justice, in the estimation of philosophy, might not this won- 
 derful woman be designated the Boadicea of humble life ? 
 Of such materials, mental and bodily, as gave being to 
 Megan verch Evan, most assuredly was that ancient British 
 heroine composed, and under different auspices these extra- 
 ordinary females might have changed places; the same 
 might be said of the doughty Sarah, duchess of Marlborough, 
 and even of the greatly capable, firm willed, and ready 
 witted queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Let us imagine Megan verch Evan, with her manifold and 
 wonderful capacities, born in another land, and coming in 
 contact with the great Peter of Russia, under similar cir- 
 cumstances with the Swedish corporal's widow — and this is 
 a fairer parallel than might at first appear ; for our intrepid 
 Welsh woman's condition through life was much superior 
 to Catherine's original state.* The strong but coarse mind 
 of Peter did not revolt against the circumstances of degra- 
 
 * For a real account of Catherine, see Voltaire's History of Charles XII., 
 and of Peter the Great, and especially the graphic memoirs of the Margravine 
 of Bareith. The wretched ruhbish in general circulation in England, called the 
 
MEGAN VERCH EVAN. 255 
 
 dation in which he found the fair Swede, as the mistress of 
 the ennobled cook's boy, prince Menzikoff, but captivated 
 by her native graces, transferred her to his own palace, 
 and kept her in the same capacity till her merits became 
 developed, when he espoused and made her his empress. 
 It is probable that Catherine in early life was really 
 handsome, and a very graceful little woman — and the credit 
 of a good address is generally conceded to her; but with 
 the proverbial penchant of tall men for dimunitive women, 
 it is likely .the czar exaggerated her claims to high re- 
 gard. With the exception of her fortunate hit, which ex- 
 tricated Peter from the disasters of Pultowa, it is probable 
 her other merits were to be sought for, like those of the 
 majority of her sex, in the peculiar taste and imagination of 
 her admirer. 
 
 The Margravine of Bareith, with little respect for the 
 romance in which her history had arrayed her,* strips away 
 the trappings of fancy, and exhibits her as she appeared at 
 the court of Prussia — a dumpy little woman, overdecked 
 with ornaments, but somewhat of an economist in soap and 
 water.f According to the traditions of north Wales, Megan 
 verch Evan was tall, firm set, and of a noble presence. 
 What a congenial partner would she have been for such a 
 man, who, of all others, would have valued those original but 
 
 " Life of Catherine," appears to have been concocted by some insipid spinster to 
 suit the taste of those squeamish members of the frivolous classes, who rejoice 
 in the attributes of fine-ladyism as opposed to true womanhood—parallels 
 and points of contrast we are never tired of showing up, to the glory of the 
 latter. The spurious life of Catherine has been industriously divested of historic 
 facts, and filled with polite fictions— which makes it a worthy companion for 
 that shallow piece or desecration, the " Family Shakspeare," a darling object of 
 patronage among inane dowagers and drawingroom dawdles." 
 
 * It is a matter both of surprise and regret that the so-called life of Cathe- 
 rine I. of Russia, in the pages of that excellen^periodical, Chambers's Edinburgh 
 Journal, deviates strangely from the correctness which usually distinguish the 
 articles in that work. It is, though elegantly written, no exception to other 
 fanciful and spurious " lives" of this princess, a polite fiction, but would appro- 
 priately come under the head of the romance of biography. 
 
 t The witty and satirical Margravine represents Catherine as overloaded with 
 the portraits of Russian saints, which jingled as she walked, and gave a rather 
 lively idea of a trotting mule in harness. 
 x 2 
 
256 MEGAN VERCH EVAN. 
 
 masculine qualifications, so repulsive to the generality of 
 mankind. And what an empress of Russia Megan would 
 have made ! especially after burying the autocrat, when her 
 genius might soar uncontrolled. Even the second Cathe- 
 rine might have been surpassed in her better course, that of 
 emulating the reform spirit of the great Peter ; but in her 
 darker deeds Catherine was, doubtless, unapproachable. 
 
 But, alas ! for Megan, poor Megan — great Megan — li- 
 mited as she was to a lowly sphere, and playing a small 
 part in the great drama of human existence, she was above 
 the frailties of either of these empresses, guiltless of the 
 crimes and cruelty of the last, dying in the esteem of all 
 whom she valued — and not one, of all the earth, " to the last 
 syllable of recorded time," will ever curse her memory. 
 Oh! happy contrast in the humble heroine of the lowly cot. 
 
FLEER, 
 
 
 THE DAUGHTER OP MYGNACH THE DWARF, AND WIFE OF 
 CASWALLAWN AB BELI, THE CASSIVELAUNUS OF ROMAN- 
 HISTORY, 
 
 This lady belongs to a y££yearl^jejgoch in our national 
 history, and was not only coevalwith, but said to have been 
 the origin al caus e of the earliest i nvasio n of this country by 
 the Romans. 
 
 Fleer* was the daughter of a dwarf named Mygnach Cor, 
 and, although her father might have been considered as one 
 of the least comely of mankind, his daughter is said to have 
 shone very the p aragon of the fe male beauti es of her time. 
 
 One of the Celtic or Gaulish kings of Gascony, called 
 Murchan Lleidr, or Murchan the thie f, has had his memory 
 consigned to infamy for his heinous offences against this 
 ancient British beauty. This contemptible king of the 
 Gascons, dreading the arms of the Romans, who had already 
 made conquests in Gaul, and incapable of acting the hero in 
 defence of his nation, found it easier and more congenial to 
 his ignoble nature to play the parasite and sycophant to 
 Julius Csesar, distinguished himself in the capacity of a 
 royal pimp to that imperial terror of the barbaric world. 
 
 The celebrity of Fleer having reached the continent, pro- 
 bably carried thither by the bards and minstrels of the time, 
 her fame for surpassing beauty at length became known to 
 king Murchan. This amiable specimen of Gascon royalty 
 then determined on a personal visit to our island, to ascer- 
 tain whether this reputed beauty was equal to the extrava- 
 gant eulogies floating amidst popular report. But nothing 
 could be less royal either in its motives or appointments 
 than the sinister visit of king Murchan. Instead of entering 
 
 * In Welsh written Flur, but pronounced as above. 
 
258 FLEEE. 
 
 Britain with the state and retinue of a sovereign prince to 
 demand in marriage the hand of this superlatively lovely 
 woman, he came like the satrap of a despot whom he feared, 
 on a nefarious errand — sneaked into the country with all 
 the cautious cunning of a peering spy, a very thief, to ascer- 
 tain, by occular inspection, whether the thing he coveted 
 as a marketable commodity was worth the peril and igno- 
 miny of his contemplated robbery. 
 
 The chroniclers of the olden time have given us no account 
 of the disguises assumed, or the motives assigned by the 
 Gascon prince and his followers ; but of one thing we are 
 assured by them — that as soon as king Murchan found him- 
 self in the presence of the beautiful Fleer, all his doubts as 
 to the extent of her imputed charms instantly vanished. 
 He found her to exceed, in an immense degree, the most 
 florid descriptions ever penned by the poets or sung by the 
 bards. 
 
 On ascertaining this important fact, king Murchan, in a 
 business-like manner, determined on her immediate ab- 
 duction, which it is probable he carried into execution on 
 the very night succeeding the day of his introduction to 
 her. Like the Sallee Rovers of later times, the Gascon king 
 and his gang of fellow scoundrels, is supposed to have sur^ 
 prised her dwelling in the night, borne the struggling beauty 
 off to his galley, and rowed towards his dominions in Gaul. 
 There he kept her, under forcible detention, for the amiable 
 purpose of presenting her as a mistress to the great con- 
 queror Julius Caesar. 
 
 The dismay of the family of Fleer on discovering that she 
 had been carried away by strangers may be easily conceived. 
 Among the admirers of that lady was a gallant chieftain 
 named Caswallawn ab Beli ; the same who shines in Roman 
 records under the latinized name of Cassiv elaunus. The 
 tenderest attachment appears to have existed between them, 
 therefore his emotions on this trying occasion will be better 
 conceived than expressed. To his restless activity, exceed- 
 ing energy, and acuteness in inquiry at every probable source 
 of intelligence — her family were indebted for the information 
 which he gained, that the infamous foreigners who had 
 
FLEER. 259 
 
 violated the sanctity of the home of his beloved, were Mur- 
 chan, king of Gascon y, and his followers, and that the galley 
 which bore her away had departed at midnight. 
 
 To take instant measures for overtak ing her and rescuing 
 her,, and punishing her abductors, now became the only object 
 "of Caswallawn' s care. Stung by the insult, enraged by the 
 atrocity, and deeply grieved for her probable sufferings and 
 ultimate fate, unless speedily recovered from the power of her 
 captors, Caswallawn in an incredible short space of time levied 
 an army of sixty-one thousandmen, with whom he embarked 
 for Gaul, for the declared purpose of invading the dominions 
 of the infamous king of Gascony, and the recovery of his 
 beloved Fleer.* 
 
 Dates, and minor detaifs, were matters that appear to 
 have been beneath th£ notile of the most antique chroniclers 
 and legend writers ; |hey Jlealt only in the grand results of 
 the enterprizes which tl^ undertook to record. Thus it 
 is in the present instance — all that we are permitted to 
 know is, that Caswallawn led his great army against the 
 forces of king Murchan, that he utterly routed them, having 
 slain no less than six thousand of the enemy — and that he 
 recovered the object of his affections, with whom, and his 
 victorious army, he returned in triumph to his native land. 
 
 Were these historic statements mere matters of romance, 
 which in some respects they may be said to resemble, poetic 
 justice would demand that signal retnolition should fall 
 personally on the head of king Murchan, whose death at 
 least, amidst his broken bands and flaming palace, would be 
 indispensably required. But unluckily we have no data to 
 support the assumption of his punishment in the flesh ; and 
 we conclude that this royal rip., like many successful crimi- 
 nals of all periods, lived out his after days in prosperity, 
 lauded for his magnanimity and graciousness, while devising 
 other schemes of atrocity, and exulting in their completion. 
 
 *A ccording to Dr. Owen Pug h's account of this expedition, Caswallawn and 
 his army passed over into Gaul,~ln conjunction with his nephews Gwenwynwyn 
 and Gwenar, with numerous auxiliaries from the people bordering on Galadin, 
 or Netherlands, and from the Belwennys, a race who inhabited the country 
 about Boulogne. 
 
260 FLEER. 
 
 The Welsh, however, in addition to the chastisement in- 
 flicted by the army of Caswalkwn, avenged themselves on 
 the Gascon king by affixing to his name the stigma which 
 has clung to it for ages, and may distinguish it while the 
 letters and languages of this isle exist, of Murclian Leidr, or 
 Murchanjthe thief. 
 
 The beautiful Fleer, the lady whose transcendant charms 
 on this occasion put sixty-one thousand men in motion to 
 avenge her abduction, arid probably as many to commit and 
 uphold the deed, unfortunately became the direct cause of 
 what was then considered the direst evil that could befal her 
 country, the invasion and ultimate conquest of Britain by 
 the legions of Rome. 
 
 Although we have this instance of a hostile visit made by 
 a British army to Gaul, it appears that the Britons had more 
 frequently been the friends and allies of that country, and 
 rendered it the most efficient aid against the Roman invaders. 
 But as this expedition, for the liberation of Fleer, being the 
 greatest army ever sent from the shore of Britain, was 
 directed against a tributary state, the presumed friend and 
 ally of Rome, both that circumstance and the magnitude of 
 the armament combined to give umbrage to Julius Caesar. 
 That great commander and statesman saw at once the neces- 
 sity of bringing Britain under Roman control, as an addi- 
 tional security for his Gallic conquests and the fidelity of 
 the Gauls. Caesar's own account partially confirms this 
 view of his motives, wherein he states that it was in consider- 
 ation of the assistance which the Britons rendered the 
 Gauls in their battles with the Romans that determined 
 him on the subjugation of the island. "Some of the ene- 
 mies of Caesar, glancing at his notorious avarice, raised a 
 report that the beauty and costliness of British pearls, with 
 which some of our rivers then abounded, was in reality the 
 principal motive for his invasion,"* which taken literally was 
 a very puerile insinuation, but we are told that this was 
 only a poetical metaphor, signifying the female beauties of 
 Britain, the celebrity of whom was then vivid and in general 
 
 * Dr. Owen Pugh's Cambrian Biographical Dictionary. 
 
FLEER. 261 
 
 circulation, like the fame of Circassian beauties of modern 
 times, founded on the eventful circumstances connected 
 with the adventures of Fleer, the lady of this memoir. 
 
 Caswallawn ab Beli, the distinguished lover and after- 
 wards the husband of the lovely Fleer, was the most cele- 
 brated chieftain of his time, and proved, with his gallan t 
 Britons, a most formidable opponent to the invading legion s 
 of Rome. He is mentioned with respect in Roman annals 
 by the latinized name of Cassivelaunus — while in the his- 
 torical Triads of his own country, his importance as a great 
 and active leader in the most perilous times is strikingly 
 recorded. 
 
 After conquering king Murchan, Caswallawn is stated to 
 have entered his presence in a golden car, whence he stands 
 recorded in the Triads as one of the three royal possessors 
 of a golden car. In another of those vehicles of primitive 
 history he is celebrated as one of the three eminently faithful 
 lovers of the isle of Britain. 
 
 In one Triad he is stated to have been one of the three 
 elected chiefs of battle, or generalissimo, for the purpose of 
 opposing the legions of Caesar, being the first instance of 
 the kind recorded in British history. Dr. Owen Pughe 
 remarks on this Triad — " whatever impression the disci- 
 plined legions of Rome might have made on the Britons in 
 the first instance, the subsequent departure of Caesar they 
 considered as a cause of joyful triumph ; and it is stated 
 that Caswallawn proclaimed an assembly of the various states 
 of the island for the purpose of celebrating that event by 
 feasting and public rejoicing." 
 
 In another Triad, Caswallawn is recorded to have been 
 one of the three Good Persecutors of the isle of Britain, 
 on account of the long and harrassing warfare in which he 
 persevered, to the grievous annoyance of the Romans, whom 
 he aimed to sicken of residing in this island after its partial 
 conquest. 
 
SAINT FRAID, 
 
 ST. BRIDE, OR ST. BR IDGET, PATRONESS OF THE CHURCHES OF 
 LLANSANTFRAID, ST. BRIDE'S, AND ST. BRIDGET'S. 
 
 The name of this saint, and the numerous churches dedi- 
 cated to her in Wales, under the designation of Llansaut- 
 fraid, point to a period when the public mind was more 
 impressed with veneration for supposed guardian angels and 
 peculiar protecting saints, than agitated with matters of 
 commercial enterprize, or any of those laudable schemes for 
 improving the worldly condition of mankind, which in after- 
 times distinguished the inhabitants of this island. In those 
 dreamy days Wales might have vied with Spain and Por- 
 tugal in their saint-admiring propensities — and, doubtless, 
 there was no small matter of discussion that served to keep 
 the national mind languidly awake respecting the supposed 
 merits of some saints in preference to others. 
 
 The two principal favourites in Wales, as patron saints, 
 next to Dewi, or St. David himself, appear to have been 
 St. Michael the archangel, to whom are dedicated all those 
 churches bearing the name of Llanvihangel, and St. Fraid, 
 the subject of this memoir, to whom so many sacred edifices 
 and parishes owe their designation. 
 
 Saint Fraid is the same pious personage who is known in 
 England as St. Bridget and St. Bride, to whom the churches 
 bearing those names have been devoted or dedicated. 
 
 To the valuable researches of our respected contemporary, 
 the Rev. Robert Williams, editor of that excellent work, the 
 " Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen," which 
 every patriot Welshman ought to possess, we stand indebted 
 for the following information respecting the lady saint of 
 this memoir : — 
 
 " According to the ancient records quoted in Bonedd y 
 Saint, she was the daughter of Cadwrthai, or Cadwthlach 
 Wyddel, otherwise Dwyppws ab Cevyth. The Irish ac- 
 
ST. FRAID. 263 
 
 counts state that she was born at Fochard, in the county of 
 Louth, about A.D. 453, and that she was the illegitimate 
 daughter of Dubtach, or Dubtachus, a man of considerable 
 rank in his country. When she grew up, no importunities 
 could prevail upon her to enter the married state, so she 
 took the veil from the hands of St. Meb, a disciple and 
 nephew of St. Patrick, who received her profession and 
 vow of perpetual virginity. 
 
 "She formed a religious community of her companions 
 Who had been veiled with her, which increased so much, 
 that she was obliged to erect several nunneries in many 
 different parts of Ireland. Her fame spread through the 
 British isles, and besides the numerous churches dedicated 
 to her in Wales, there are several in England and Scotland, 
 also in the Isle of Man, and especially in the Hebrides, 
 near to Isla, a celebrated monastery was built to her honour, 
 called Brigidiani. 
 
 u Iorwyth Vynglwyd, a Welsh poet of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, has put her legend in verse, with the miracles 
 attributed to her, which are printed in " Williams's History 
 of Aberconwy."* ■ It is also to be found in English verse, 
 in a work entitled "a Friend of Irish Saints;'' Patrick, 
 Columba, and Bright, published at Louvain in 1647. Among 
 other wonders it is said that she sailed over from the Irish 
 coast on a green turf, and landing near Holyhead, at the spot 
 now known as Towyn y Capel; the sod became a green 
 hillock, on which she caused a chapel to be built which Was 
 called after her name." f 
 
 Here it appears to us exceedingly curious how a reputed 
 holy personage, long before her appearance among her Welsh 
 admirers, could have become so astonishingly popular, so in- 
 tensely venerated for her imagined sanctity, as to inspire the 
 people of every district in this country with a determination 
 to build churches and chapels, and to dedicate them to this 
 Irish abbess and saint. But the poetic legend and attributed 
 
 * An octavo volume published at Denbigh in 1835. 
 t " See an interesting account of Towyn y Capel, in the Journal of the 
 Archaeological Institute, III, 223, by the Hon. W. Owen Stanley."-- Williams's 
 Biographical Dictionary. 
 
 Y 
 
264 ST. FRA1D. 
 
 miracles explain all. In those palmy days of priestly im- 
 posture, human credulity, and the general prostration of in- 
 tellect among the people, we can conceive with what ardour 
 the simple population listened to the legends setting forth 
 the virtues of living saints, residing in remote places ; the 
 more remote the better, as, even in that period of the infancy 
 of human reason, a saint or a prophet was more honored afar 
 than at home. No statement, however improbable or impos- 
 sible, was too gross for the gullibility of the childish public, 
 a miracle sanctioned and reconciled everything ; and woe to 
 him who dared to express a doubt : he became the object of 
 priestly vengeance, and a general mark of reprobation and 
 persecution. To return again to Mr. Williams's account of 
 the subject of this memoir; he says — 
 
 " That she visited Wales at some period seems corroborated 
 by the great veneration paid to her, for there are no less than 
 eighteen i churches and chapels dedicated to her in the Prin- 
 cipality, viz.— Disserth, in Flintshire ; Llansantfraid Glan 
 Conwy, and Llansantfraid Glynceiriog, in Denbighshire ; 
 Llansantfraid in Mechain, Montgomeryshire ; Llansantfraid 
 Glyn Dwrdu, in Merionethshire ; St. Bride's, in Pembroke- 
 shire; Llansantfraid, in Cardiganshire; Llansantfraid Cwm- 
 mwd Deuddwr, and Llansantfraid in Elvael, Radnorshire ; 
 Llansantfraid, in Breconshire; St. Bride^sJ^ajor, St.J3ride|s_ 
 MjLoor, and St. Bride's supjerJSJai, ^.Glamorganshire; St. 
 Bride or Llansantfraid, Skenfreth, St. Bride's in Netherwent, 
 and St. Bride's Wentloog, in Monmouthshire; besides Capel 
 Llansantfraid, now in ruins near Holyhead. 
 
 Saint Fraid, St. Bride, or St. Bridget, died on the 1st of 
 February, A- D. 5 2^ on which day, in Roman Catholic 
 countries, her memory is celebrated." * 
 
 * " There was another St. Bridged dy Saint Bridget of Sweden, who is often 
 confounded with her, but she Uved|ma^y ages later."— Williams's Biographical 
 Dictionary. \ t 
 
ST. FRAID. 
 
 GENERAL NOTES TO SAINT FRAID. 
 
 265 
 
 Our ancient British saints are said to be held in an inferior degree of repute, in 
 comparison with those whom Rome delights to honour, in consequence of 
 the reputed non-payment of their canonization fees, although some of them 
 have been admitted into the Roman calendar. This omission truly might well 
 have been excused, as the requisition of such fees had not been established till 
 ages after their era. However, to exhibit fairly the comparative merits of the 
 two systems of saint-making we extract the following from Sir Culling Eardly' 3 
 " Romanism in Italy." 
 
 Ten thousand pounds for making a saint; — "the 
 Beatification of Maria Frahcesca." 
 This Is one of the cases where I need not name my authority, for the Roman 
 Catholic Institute does not question the fact. I have been credibly informed 
 that the beatification of this person cost the king of Naples ten thousand pounds 
 sterling, which must have been expended, on the showing of the Institute, 
 partly in "a spiritual process," and partly in a gorgeous ceremonial. 
 
 Let us approach, however, the merits of the system of canonization, or 
 recognising persons as saints. In the Bible the name of saint is given to 
 every holy man. Error, however, began to creep in at an early period of 
 Christian antiquity. Dupin, in his Ecclesiastical History of the tenth Cen- 
 tury, says that " in the primitive church it was given to all christians in 
 their life-time, and even after their death, when they died in communion of the 
 church, having preserved their innocence of baptism.'' A more particular respect 
 was shown to martyrs ; and, in process of time, the memory of virgins, an~- 
 chorites, and bishops, renowned for their sanctity, were likewise honoured; and 
 lastly the memory of those persons whose singular virtues were remarkable in 
 their life-time. Their names were inserted in the diplych, and were recited at 
 the altar, and they were styled by the title of " Saints," and *' blessed." Every 
 particular church used to place in that rank those who had propagated the 
 christian religion, the bishops, and those who had lived in great reputation for 
 their sanctity. Afterwards calendars and martyrologies of the saints of several 
 particular churches were made, which were by little and little dispersed through 
 the eastern and western parts. The Church of Rome, as others had done, made 
 use of these martyrologies, from which Ado composed his, and afterwards that of 
 Usurandus. Some time elapsed before anything like authority was assumed in 
 this matter. Dupin proceeds to say " it does not appear that before the tenth 
 century any solemn decrees were made at Rome or elsewhere for the canoniza- 
 tion of the saints. Indeed the custom was entirely established in the eleventh 
 century. Pope Alexander III. first reserved to himself the canonization of 
 saints as a matter of great consequence. In 1587 Sextus V. established ' the 
 congregation of rites,' to take cognizance interalia of all canonizations. Under 
 the arrangements made by him canonizations are now conducted. What a 
 lesson does the above history leach us! When men once leave the Bible, where 
 will they stop ? The church began by using the word 'saint' in an unscriptural 
 sense, and has ended in demanding ten thousand pounds sterling for the expence 
 of canonization" 
 
 It appears that at one period the English entertained the whimsical fancy of 
 having that wretched puppet of sovereignty, their Henry VI., made a saint. 
 The enormous demands made by popedom for his intended canonization for- 
 tunately brought John Bull to his senses, and caused him to button up his 
 breeches pocket with the utmost indignation at the undisguised attempt to over- 
 
266 ST FRAID. 
 
 reach him in a matter of barter, where the value to be received appeared so 
 ludicrously insignificant in proportion to the high price demanded. Although, 
 for the sake of dramatic effect, Shakespeare has shown the miserable Henry of 
 Windsor in the light of a pious character, history more truly depicts him 
 like his maternal grandfather, Charles VI. of France, whose malady he inherited, 
 merely as a royal idiotic driveller ; remarkable also for incapacity for all the 
 purposes of life, and at a period when the highest abilities were requisite to 
 support him on the throne usurped by his grandfather. But in spite of the short 
 comings of this wretched specimen of exalted humanity, Henry, it seems, had 
 his admirers, who deemed him worthy of being sainted ; and as the poor thing 
 had the merit of being harmless, he would doubtless have made a far more 
 respectable saint than many devoid of that negative characteristic, who have 
 the questionable honour of a place in the Roman Catholic Calendar. 
 

 THE LADY HAWYS GADARN, 
 
 GREAT GREAT GRANDAUGHTER OP OWEN CTVEILIOG, GREAT 
 GRANDAUGHTER OF GWENWYNWYN, SOVEREIGN PRINCE 
 OF POWYS; AND DAUGHTER OF OWEN AB GRIFFITH. 
 
 Hawys Gadarn, or Hawys the intrepid, acquired the latter 
 
 designation by executing a feat of spirited resolution, which 
 
 well deserved whatever honor that appellation was intended 
 
 to convey. Her mother died during her infancy ; she was 
 
 brought up and educated under the care and immediate 
 
 inspection of her father, at her paternal home, Cas tell Coch , ^?\tfl> J &^ft 
 
 or the Red Castle,* which was the original name of Pqwy^ 
 
 Ca s^ e ; the residence of the sovereign princes of Powys, of 
 
 whom Owen ab Griffith was the lineal living descendant. 
 
 By the evil working of the law of Gavel-kind, which had 
 been convulsing the country and destroying its peace ever « i < 
 since its enactment, by the decree of Roderic the Great, the J. } -''. 
 soveveignt^sdJI^ixs^x na( * at l ^ s tRne hecome a matter 
 ridiculous to contemplate. Besides the subdivision of the 
 principality in the different generations preceding him, the 
 live brothers of Owen ab Griffith claimed of him a new and 
 equal division of the principality of Powys, in six several pro- 
 portions, of which he was to retain only one. The natural 
 jealousy attending such a distribution of allotments, made 
 the supremacy of an elder brother, in such a case, far from 
 an enviable position ; especially when the irascibility of ill 
 regulated minds in a state of semi-barbarism from perpetual 
 civil broils is taken into consideration. 
 
 Probably annoyed beyond endurance by their turbulent 
 opposition to his measures, disdaining- the foolery of such 
 petty sovereignty, and perjiaj^sa^acj^iisl^foj'eseeing the 
 impending conquest of the country by the English", Owen 
 ab Griffith came to a resolution as singular for its origin- 
 ality, as it ultimately proved wise and beneficial to his 
 posterity, although to the eyes of his countrymen it ap- 
 
 * So called from the colour of the stones of which it was built. 
 
 y2 
 
268 THE LADY HAWYS GADAEN. 
 
 peared at first nothing less than treason against his native 
 land. The father of Hawys repaired to the parliament 
 held at Shrewsbury, and re^ignedjhis-4emains and title 
 to the English King Edward I. and received them again 
 of him, to hold in capite and free Baronage, aecorTfing to > the 
 custom of England. By this act, it is true, he extinguished 
 his sovereignty, and became a mere English nobleman ;~but 
 then he probably exchanged tranquility for empty state, and 
 security both against foreign foes, domestic jars, and fra- 
 ternal treachery. By this arrangement he baffled the cupis 
 dity of those marauding English knights and nobbles who 
 warred forjprey, and laid their account in dispossessing the 
 native proprietors, and obtaining a gracious grant of their 
 domains from the king. He also secured to himself and 
 daughter a protection against the combinations and rapacity 
 of his brothers. 
 
 Soon after this act of abdication of sovereignty, Owen ab 
 Griffith died, leaving his only child, his daughter Hawys, an 
 orphan, still in her girlhood. 
 
 In his last illness, with all the circumspective anxiety of 
 an affectionate parent who was about to leave to the mercy 
 of a harsh world his helpless girl, he devised by his will all 
 his estates and property, still great for a subject, however 
 diminutive for a prince, to his beloved and only jlaughter 
 Hawys ; placing her, until she attained her majority, in the 
 guardianship of her five uncles. Conscious as Owen was 
 of the graspingpropensitiesof his brothers, his sagacity seems 
 rather questionable in such an arrangement. It would seem 
 however, that he naturally calculated that such a plurality 
 of guardians would cause them to become checks upon each 
 other ; and that his child was less likely to be wronged by 
 so many, than if under the uncontrouled authority of merely 
 one, or even two of those relatives. But human calculation, 
 grounded on the most sage views of probability, cannot 
 always be secure against the machinations of the selfish and 
 unprincipled; as, unfortunately, was verified in this instance. 
 
 The five brothers of the late Owen ab Griffith, and uncles 
 of Hawys, were Llewelyn, John, Griffith Vychan, David, 
 and William Lord of Mawddwy. .From some unknown 
 
THE LADY HAWVS GADARN. 269 
 
 cause the latter refused to act, as one of the guardians of his 
 niece, therefore the guardianship remained in the hands of 
 her four first-named uncles. From the subsequent conduct 
 of these unworthy abusers of a sacred trust, it would seem 
 their brother William, whose entire conduct proved him a 
 man of unimpeachable probity, excluded by them, was not 
 of their council ; or that aware of their duplicity of charac- 
 ter, he had purposely alienated himself from them ; disdain- 
 ing to become a participator in any of their schemes of in- 
 justice. In this decision he may appear somewhat blameable, 
 as from his known worth and consequent hostility to their 
 selfish and unjust measures, he might have proved their 
 sturdy opponent and an available protector of the rights of 
 his niece and ward. But his quietness of character appears 
 to have unfitted him for contention with those, who agreeing 
 so well together, he knew would always have it in their 
 power to form majorities against him, in any good he might 
 propose, favourable to the rights of Hawys : therefore the 
 prudence of his withdrawal, all things considered, appears 
 unquestionable. 
 
 Gratified by the voluntary retirement of their brother 
 William, the four uncles then laid their heads together, and 
 formed a combination to deprive their youthful helpless 
 charge of the possessions assigned by her father's will, which 
 they arranged to divide among themselves, with an intention 
 perhaps, common to such invaders of the property of female 
 orphans, to seclude the poor girl for life in a Nunnery. 
 
 In defence of their unworthy proceedings, this junto could 
 certainly plead, that by the laws of Wales, a female was 
 incapable of holding lands in that country, in her. own right. 
 The statute of Rhyddlan (12th Edward 1.), recites that 
 women were not dowerable by the laws of Wales. But the 
 far-seeing shrewdness of Owen ab Griffith is here strikingly 
 apparent ; it was evidently to protect his daughter against 
 this deprivation, that he laid down his titular sovereignty 
 and made himself a subject of the crown of England* There- 
 fore, however tenaciously the guardians of Hawys might 
 cling to the laws and usages of Wales, the laws of England, 
 
270 THE LADY HAWYS GADARN. 
 
 to which, by her father's act, she became subjected, pro- 
 tected her claims from the intended spoliation.* 
 
 Young Hawys it appears was naturally gifted with strength 
 of mind, and proved as quick-witted and prudent as she was 
 beautiful. Not being insensible of the great wrong medi- 
 tated against her by her uncles, she quietly nursed in her 
 bosom a determined purpose of thwarting their probable in- 
 tentions of injustice whenever circumstances warranted that 
 her suspicions were well founded : and those worthy guar- 
 dians did not keep her long in suspense. 
 
 At that timejafiife when she was emerging from buoyant 
 girlishness into blooming womanhood, it is probable that she 
 sought from them a more liberal pecuniary allowance than 
 she had been accustomed to receive. In answer to their 
 evasive replies, she may have rejoined, with pouting pettish- 
 ness as to the pressure of her present necessities, and ulti- 
 mately referred, somewhat pointedly, to the approaching 
 period when their controul would cease, and she should become 
 her own mistress and succeed in her own rights to her father's 
 lands. Such an appeal as this, which her circumstances 
 have warranted us in imagining, would give these amiable 
 relatives the opportunity which they desired of speaking 
 out; a task however rendered difficult, by the awe-creating 
 presence of the innocent victim, the helpless girl, whom 
 they had preconcerted to despoil ; and it is easily conceiv- 
 able how the audacity of these hoary elders quailed and 
 lost the flush of insolence before the forceful truthfulness of 
 her just claims. But the evil spirits of covetousness and 
 fraud, in this instance, however abashed at first, unfortunately 
 were of too tough materials to be finally put down, and on 
 
 * Although by the laws of Wales women were not entitled to the dower of 
 the lands- of the husband, they possessed a proportion of his effects, and that 
 not only upon his death, but immediately upon the marriage ; aud they had a 
 separate controul, and a sole disposal of their own personal property even during 
 the life of the husband. Theophilus Jones remarks, " so fully was this right 
 recognised that the Welsh married ladies could not be prevailed upon to part 
 with it for nearly two centuries after the English laws were , i ntroduced. 
 Several of the wills of testators in Breconshire, from 150 J to 170(J recapitulate 
 and acknowledge debts due from, and to married women ; andTn others the 
 husband admits that a sum or sums is due to his wife, by mortgage, bond, 
 note, &c." 
 
THE LADY HAWYS GADAEN. 271 
 
 rallying from their involuntary tribute to the majesty of 
 truth, returned to the charge, trebly weaponed with the 
 rude arms of impudence, insolence, and the assumption of 
 unquestionable authority. At length, it is certain, out they 
 spoke with a vengeance, and apprised her, that as a female, 
 the laws of her native land forbade her the inheritance erro- 
 neously devised to her by the will of her father. 
 
 Her good uncles may have attempted to sooth her first 
 out-burst of grief and indignation at such a beggaring an- 
 nouncement, as Fraud is ever fond of Religion's tone and 
 semblance to conceal the startling ugliness of her fiendish 
 nakedness, by assuring her of their unchangeable regard for 
 her present and future welfare. That there was still a 
 goodly refuge for her, where with a devout and humbled 
 mind, she might pass her days very happily — namely, the 
 seclusion of a convent. Winding up their edifying discourse 
 with a stern assurance that they had irrevocably destined 
 her for a monastic life, and she mast forthwith prepare 
 herself for quitting the world and entering a nunnery. 
 
 However the reality of the explanatory scene between 
 Hawys and her guardians may have differed from our con- 
 jectures, the result of their conference is on record, and 
 beyond dispute — they utterly denied her right to succeed 
 to her father's domains; and this firm hearted Celtic 
 maiden formed the heroic resolution of escaping from their 
 power, and of throwing herself on the protection of 
 Edward II., the reigning king of England. 
 
 It is highly probable that she was counselled to adopt 
 this course by her father, previous to his death, as he doubt- 
 less anticipated the possibility of such an emergency ; and 
 to this course, it is equally probable, her generous uncle 
 William would have advised her, could they have met and 
 conferred on a subject so momentous to her interests. But 
 in the absence of direct information on the point we can 
 only state what written records have warranted. 
 
 It has been shown in the memoir of the Lady Emma 
 wife of Griffith ab Madoc, that it was nothing uncommon 
 for the natives of central Wales, or Powys, when oppressed 
 by their own lords or chieftains, to appeal to the king of 
 
272 THE LADY HAWYS GADARN. 
 
 England, to decide their differences ; their ancestors having 
 acknowledged that sovereign as lord paramount of their 
 principality, long before the final conquest of Wales by 
 Edward I. But the resolution of a young female of imma- 
 ture age to % from ji ex^hpme, and to venture on and per- 
 severe in a journey of above two hundred miles ; and to 
 appeal personally to the king, would appear almost too ro- 
 mantic for an historical fact ; and were it not well authenti- 
 cated, would be almost incredible. It proves, however, that 
 Hawys Gadarn was no maudlin 
 
 " Moppet, made of prettiness and pride, 
 That oft'ner would her giddy fancies change, 
 That glitt'ring dew-drops in the sun do colour."* 
 
 While History is entirely silent as to the particulars of 
 her flight, and the perils she may have encountered on the 
 way, we are not prevented from surmising either their 
 nature or extent. A^ saddled horse and an armed attendant 
 were the fairest accommodations, that at least, her circum- 
 stances could have commanded to aid her undertaking ; and 
 with these, it is not improbable, but she might have been 
 assisted. Butinanage when neither turnpike -roads, stage- 
 coaches, nor roadside inns, were existent, and when robbers 
 and desperadoes of many descriptions, were as " plentiful 
 as blackberries" in their season, even with these supposed 
 auxilliaries, her travelling cannot be conceived to have 
 been very felicitous. Her occasional resting places were of 
 course the monasteries, but as these edifices of ancient 
 hospitality were often situated so very far apart, that many 
 of her nights were doubtless spent in the open air, and 
 probably while dozing on her saddle or slumoering on the 
 damp earth. The worthies of her time, however, have 
 recorded their impression of her daring flight and perilous 
 journey, by the cognomen which they bestowed on her — 
 the honourable surname of Gadarn, or the intrepid, or en- 
 terprizing. The certain accomplishment of her journey, 
 and its felicitous result, has been handed down to us, fairly 
 recorded : she succeeded in being ushered into the presence 
 
 * Rowe's Jane Shore. 
 
THE LADY HAWYS GADARN. 273 
 
 of the king, who granted her petition, on the usual.terms 
 dictated by English policy, that she should bestow her hand 
 in marriage upon an Englishman. 
 
 lit would appear that while Hawys was enduring that 
 severest of inflictions on human patience, the tedious waiting 
 for the presentation of her suit and self before the monarch 
 whom she had chosen for her umpire, and to be the redresser 
 of her wrongs, that a certain English nobleman found favour 
 in her eye, and won an interest in her heart. This inter- 
 esting personage proved to be Sir John Charleton, valectus 
 regis, or gentleman of the bed-chamber to King Edward, 
 and a native of Appley in Shropshire. 
 
 This young nobleman being from the county adjoining 
 the native country of Hawys (the modern Montgomeryshire), 
 it may be presumed, even if she made a secret of her rank, 
 that he must have felt compassion for the sufferings of a 
 tender female, and admiration for the singular courage of 
 one who had dared, in the face of many dangers and difficul- 
 ties, to undertake such a journey ; independent of a more 
 gentle sentiment, inspired by the free- graces of the dauntless 
 mountain maiden. 
 
 This young nobleman, during the uncertainty of her suit, 
 and the dejection incidental to " the law's delay and the 
 insolence of office,'* courteously soothed and cheered her 
 into confidence ; did his utmost in forwarding her wishes, 
 and ultimately ushered her into the royal presence, where 
 her suit, as before stated, was provisionally granted. 
 
 When Hawys, for the first time, was known to be a 
 claimant of immense possessions, and a descendant of one of 
 the sovereign-princes of Wales, it doubtless created a con- 
 siderable sensation among the nobles, from whose order, it 
 was understood, she was at liberty to select her future lord. 
 The curious in heiresses among that proverbially hungry 
 race, the courtiers, were immediately roused to an amazing 
 pitch of anxiety. But of all the humming swarm whom the 
 sunshine of fortune induced to buzz their adulatory congratu- 
 lations on her success, and who strove to recommend them- 
 selves to her favour, she encouraged only the modest 
 advances of him who befriended her when only known as 
 
274 THE LADY HAWYS GADARtf. 
 
 a distressed wanderer from the distant principality of Wales. 
 On a second audience when required by the king to name 
 among his nobles the knight of her cEbTce~,~Jor her future 
 lord and champion of her rights, she unhesitatingly, and 
 with smiling frankness, gave her hand to Sir John Charleton. 
 Their union soon followed;* and to elevate him as a fitting 
 match for the high-born lady, his sovereign created him 
 Lord JPowys, of Powys castle, Montgomeryshire ; by which 
 title he was summoned to parliament as a member of the 
 House of Lords. 
 
 The return of the Lady Hawys, attended by her gallant 
 lord, with a gay and numerous company of knights and 
 ladies, the whole protected by a strong division of men-at- 
 arms, must have formed a striking contrast to her unfriended 
 state on her flight and departure for England. Such an 
 assemblage appearing suddenly at the gates of Powys Castle, 
 may have rather disturbed the serenity of the j our old 
 gentlemen-guardians and uncles of this illustrious heroine. 
 It is ^probable the. appearance of the knights and men-at- 
 arms rather intimidated them when required to decamp 
 from their snug quarters, and to yield up every iota of the 
 property of their late ward. 
 
 However, notwithstanding the unexpected turn which 
 affairs had taken, the four uncles of Hawys Gadarn deter- 
 mined on resolute resistance, and prepared to take the field 
 in defence of their usurpation. Anticipating such a result 
 on their part from the representations of his lady, who was 
 very capable of entertaining a just estimate of the qualities 
 of her relatives, the gallant and cautious John Charleton had 
 solicited from the king the aid of those troops which he had 
 brought to Wales with him. Assisted by these he com- 
 menced hostile movements, and soon broke up their measures • 
 and succeeding in majmigj^soner^ of his~"wlfe's 
 
 uncles, Llewelyn, John, and David, he placed them in safe 
 custody in the king's castle of Harlech. 
 
 Griffith Vychan, the fourth uncle, the most active and 
 influential of the brothers, was still at large ; but the new 
 
 * The union of Sir Joan Charleton with the Lady Hawys took place in the 
 year 1268. 
 
THE LADY HAWYS GADARN. 2?5 
 
 lord of Powys was determined not to rest till he had him 
 also in his custod}'. According to Wynn, he obtained a 
 writ from the king to the sheriff of Shropshire, and to 
 Sir Roger Mortimer, lord of Chirkland, and justiciary of 
 North Wales, for the apprehension both of Griffith Vychan 
 and his sons-in-law Sir Roger Chamber and Hugh Mont- 
 gomery, all of whom were then in active hostility against the 
 Lord of Powys and his wife the Lady Hawys. 
 
 What seems rather curious in this matter is, to find so 
 many of the English nobility involved in this affair, and in 
 alliance with the refractory uncles, but when the characters 
 of the different parties are considered, our wonder will 
 speedily vanish. Speculation in Welsh heiresses that could 
 give title to lands and lordships, was a very animating prin- 
 ciple among the Anglo-Norman barons of this period, se- 
 condary only to that of forcible appropriation, according to 
 the sword- in-hand, or robber's law of the day, current then 
 in England for the spoliation of Wales. Aware of the 
 master-passion, the grasping rapacity, which governed the 
 minds of these worthies, it is probable that before the actual 
 marriage of Hawys, these cunning uncles held out prospects 
 to different individuals of winning the hand of their highly 
 dowered niece, with a portion of her lands, as the price of 
 their interference and aid ; a promise subjected to deep 
 reservation — either to be evaded altogether, or very stint- 
 ingly fulfilled, according to the duplicity of such tricksters 
 when their turns are served. 
 
 But the restless activity and acute measures of the hus- 
 band of Hawys frustrated all their schemes, disarmed their 
 opposition, and broke the confederacy to pieces. 
 
 In an age when neither an Official Gazette nor the Daily 
 Papers could carry abroad the occurrences at court, the 
 marriage of the lady of our memoir must have remained a 
 considerable time uncertified to the remote districts of the 
 kingdom, which may account for the English partizanship 
 not being sooner withdrawn from the indefatigable Griffith 
 Vychan, the fourth uncle. But when once convinced of 
 the certainty of that event, under the patronage of the king, 
 it is natural to surmise that the English nobility would no 
 
 z 
 
2jO THE LADY HAWYS GADARN. 
 
 longer waste their time in useless contention for an unat- 
 tainable object, nor appear hostile to a measure which their 
 sovereign had sanctioned, under the peril of being attainted 
 as rebels. Thus we learn from Wynn that " Griffith Vychan 
 and his accomplices, suspecting their own strength,* from 
 having lost Thomas, earl of Lancaster, their main support, 
 thought it most advisable to submit themselves to the king's 
 pleasure, touching the difference between them and Hawys." 
 Another consideration which is said to have determined 
 them on the adoption of this course was, they found upon 
 record that Griffith ab Meredith an ancestor of the lady 
 Hawys, upon his submission to Henry I., became subject 
 to the king of England, and thereupon was created baron 
 of Powys, which barony he and his posterity had ever since 
 held in capite from the king. 
 
 To account for this new plea and assertion of an anterior 
 subjection of a former prince of Powys to the king of Eng- 
 land, we can only surmise, that in the hour of peril from 
 intestine broils, the ancestor of Hawys may have laid down 
 his Welsh royalties for an English lordship, but resumed 
 his original dignities, without consulting the king of England 
 when the star of his destiny was in .the ascendant, and the 
 day of danger passed away. Otherwise there would have 
 been no necessity for the father of Hawys to have again 
 performed the ceremony of homage, as by the act of his 
 ancestor he was already an English subject. 
 
 Whether the plea of anterior subjection to England was 
 well or ill founded, the act of Griffith ab Owen himself 
 secured for his daughter the protection of English law. 
 This, the four refractory uncles jcould very well foresee, 
 and they were sagacious enough to be feelingly aware that 
 this view of the question was put forward at the dictation 
 of the stronger party, the English ; and what they would 
 have to be law, was, and should be law against all cavillers. 
 Therefore 41 Griffith Vychan and his abettors shrewdly con- 
 sidered, that if the matter came to be argued in a court of 
 law that the point at issue would be decided against them, 
 as it was evident, according to English law, that Hawys 
 * Queiy weakness. 
 
THE LADY HAWYS CADARN. 2 (( 
 
 had more right to her father's possessions, lands included, 
 than they could possibly pretend. 
 
 It would appear that the rapacity of lawyers, and the 
 terrort of expense in a court of law, were as awful evils in 
 the twelfth century as in the nineteenth, and proved quite as 
 effective in restraining the animosities of the contentious 
 within the boundaries of prudence. Influenced by such 
 considerations, as much as misgivings respecting the final 
 result, the present parties came to a aetermination of com- 
 posing their differences as amicably as possible, without 
 subjecting themselves to the innumerable perils attendant 
 on a trial at law . 
 
 It was ultimately agreed that Hawys should enjoy her 
 inheritance in fee simple, to her and her heirs for ever, after 
 the tenure of England. And that her uncles, Llewelyn, 
 John, David, and Griffith Vychan, should enjoy their re- 
 spective portions, and the same to descend to their heirs male 
 only, perpetually ; but in the default of heirs male, the same 
 was t ) descend to Hawys and her heirs. 
 
 Having at length passed over these jarrings, both of law 
 and lances, it is pleasant to return to our notice of the fifth 
 uncle of Hawys, horilst William, familiarly among his 
 friends called Wilcox Mawddy ; the popular lord of that 
 locality, who so creditably kept aloof from the sinister 
 designs of his unworthy brothers. It is probable, as before 
 hinted, that her kind uncle William counselled her, in the 
 first instance, to make her escape from the power of her 
 guardians, and aided her in her dangerous and spirited flight. 
 But unfortunately we have no written evidence of such 
 liberal dee^s, which appear, however so congenial to the 
 generosity of lUs character. Of the cordiality ot his recep- 
 tion at Powys castle there can be no doubt, as we find it 
 recorded that the gratitude of Hawys and her husband 
 towards him was manifested by the favourable terms 
 awarded him in the ultimate settlement of their family dis- 
 pute. All his lands and other possessions were confirmed 
 to him for ever, and all his heirs, male or female, to succeed 
 in due relation, to the end of his line. 
 
 This William, lord of Mawddy married his kinswoman 
 
278 THE LADY HAWYS GADARN. 
 
 Elianor, who was the sister of Ellen, the mother of our cele- 
 brated hero, Owen Glendower, both ladies lineally descended 
 from Rhys ab Tewdwr, king of South Wales, who fell in 
 battle against the Norman invaders of Glamorganshire. 
 
 Hawys Gadarn and her English lord proved liberal patrons 
 of the public institutions of their time. Hawys is especially 
 mentioned as a benefactress of monastic establishments; 
 and she is recorded to have made the first movement for 
 the erection of the mdhastery of the Grey Friars in the town 
 of Shrewsbury. 
 
 It appears the lady Hawys departed this life before the 
 year 1353, which was the time of her husband's death* 
 deeply lamented by her family and friends, and regretted 
 by a vast number who had been befriended by her benefac- 
 tions. She was interred in the convent of the Grey Friars, 
 Shrewsbury. 
 
 John Charleton, lord of Powys, had issue by his wife 
 Hawys, a son named John, who enjoyed the lordship about 
 seven years ; and then left it to his son of the same name, 
 who was lord of Powys fourteen years. The estate and 
 title then descended to his son, John Charleton the third, 
 who held them twenty-seven years*; when dying without 
 issue, the lordship of Powys fell to his brother, Edward 
 Charleton. The particulars of a long train of descendants 
 from this marriage are to be found in Wynne's History of 
 Wales. In our memoir of Lady Mary Herbert in this work 
 may* be traced the successors of this family in the lordship 
 of Powys, up to t^^resent^possessorsjthe Clives, descended 
 from the modern hero of England's wars in India, 
 
ELLEN GETHIN, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF VAUGHAN OP HERGEST, HEREFORDSHIRE, AND 
 WIFE OF THOMAS AB ROSSER (SON OF SIR ROGER VAUGHAN, 
 OF TRETOWER, AND THE LADY GWLADYS.) AND GRANDSON 
 OF SIR DAVID GAM. 
 
 The family name of this lady was Vaughan, but a remark- 
 able act of vengeance perpetrated by her in the days of her 
 maidenhood, caused her ever after to be called Ellen Gethin, 
 or gllen the Terri^ e. The latter appellation, so far from 
 being intended as a stigma of disgrace, was meant as an 
 honorary designation ; and although by her marriage in after 
 years sn*e was ej^led^tojjie^ she still 
 
 retained , p roud ly as the warrior who is honoured by his 
 sovereign with a title of honour, for heroic deeds in battle, 
 the unchangeable name of Ellen Gethin. 
 
 She was the daughter of a gentleman of the name of 
 Vaughan, who possessed an estate and mansion in Hereford- 
 shire, called Herast or IJergest, where with an only brother 
 named David, she was borrilmd brought up, in the reign of 
 King- Henr yJ/X After the death of their parents, David 
 succeeded to his father's estate, and it seems Ellen was 
 living with her brother , who was unmarried, at Hergest, at 
 the time when the fatal affray about to be related took 
 place. 
 
 David Vaughan was Ellen's junior, and a fine spirited 
 young man ; and there appears to have been much affection 
 between the brother and sister, who lived together in great 
 harmony, opulence, and respectability. 
 
 Another branch of the familv of the Vaughans (or Vychans 
 as th e namfi^j>a>aa^ajicjently written), of equal standing in 
 respectability, opulence, and consequence, resided at Tal- 
 garth, in the county of Brecon. It would appear that there 
 existed a degree of rivalry between the two houses, of so 
 touchy and inflammable a nature, that a breath, at any time, 
 might blow it into a blaze of animosity. The subjects of 
 
 z 2 
 
280 ELLEN GETHItf. 
 
 dispute between these hot-headed personages, were worthy 
 of the rudeness and insolence of that semi-barbarous feudal 
 age, and characteristic of the Celtic family pride, when brute 
 force supplanted the claims of justice and the decisions of 
 reason. Which was the senior, and consequently the domi- 
 nant branch of the family — which was possessed of the most 
 extensive lands, forests of timber, and other sources of 
 property — which was the most renowned for martial deeds 
 in ages past, or the most opulent, capable, or respectable at 
 present — or which was the best man at running, fighting, 
 shooting, drinking, &c, became the fruitful source of many 
 an unworthy brawl and violent altercation, settled only by 
 an appeal to arms. The discomfited in one quarrel sought 
 the earliest opportunity of avenging their disgrace by origi- 
 nating another feud ; and thus there wasjrio end to their 
 mutual heart-burnings and violent proceedings; and their 
 respective partizans often became compromised in the ani- 
 mosity of their chiefs, and fought, bled, and died in quarrels 
 not their own, till the whole land was tainted with the evil 
 spirit and wrathful propensities of the times. 
 
 The heads of the two houses of the Vaughans rarely met, 
 and then only by chance; for each party was too proud 
 either to seek or shun a meeting, when any unforeseen cir- 
 cumstances brought them together. At the time of which 
 we are treating, the elder chiefs of the two families were 
 deceased, and the present representatives were two young 
 men v David Vaughan of Herast, brother of the lady of this 
 memoir, and Shon Heer,* or John the tall, so called from 
 his great stature, son of the late Philip Vaughan of Talgarth. 
 
 It happened that these two cousins met by chance, at a 
 place in Radnorshire called Llinwent, situate near the 
 village of Llanbister. The probability is, that they entered 
 together one of those houses of entertainment known in 
 their time as a Wine Hous e,t and in a spirit of apparent 
 good-humour and hilarity, perhaps, at first, commenced 
 
 * The orthography of this name in Welsh is Sion Hir, but pronounced as we 
 have given it, Shon Heer. ^"~ 
 
 t For an account of the nature of a " Wine house," the reader is referred to 
 the Memoir of Catherine, wife of levan ab Robert, in this work. 
 
ELLEN GETHIN. 281 
 
 drinking and conversation. After bandying about their 
 jests, rough and smooth, for a while, accompanied by those 
 frequent potent draughts, that proverbially " take the reason 
 prisoner," the irritating topics which their fathers loved, all 
 springing from the old family grudge, were touched upon, 
 and produced the usual consequences ; claims of superiority 
 and precedence being urged by the one and opposed by the 
 other, till the fury of altercation wrought animosity to its 
 utmost height. At length the enraged cousins rushed out 
 of doors to settle their dispute by an appeal to their swords. 
 Having fought desperately for some time, Shon Heer, being 
 the oldest as well as the most strong and powerful of the 
 two, seemed to gain the advantage, notwithstanding the 
 superior dexterity of his smaller and slighter kinsman ; and 
 in the end David Vaughan fell, mortally wounded, and 
 immediately died. 
 
 Ellen Gethin appears to have been a woman of keen 
 sensibility, strong passions, and, as it ultimately proved, of 
 dauntless resolution. When the melancholy tidings of her 
 beloved brother's death, by the hand of her cousin, reached 
 her, she gave way for a while to the violent transports of her 
 grief, deeply mingled with hatred for his destroyer ; whom 
 she also viewed in the light of the triumphant enemy of her 
 house, of which she was now become the sole representative. 
 The latter consideration, aided by her tender recollections 
 of her beloved brother David, seems to have worked power- 
 fully on her mind, and stimulated her to a determination of 
 vengeance. In one of her paroxisms of resentment, dis- 
 daining all the consolation offered by her friends, and we 
 may suppose, the duty of resignation urged by her clerical 
 advisers, she solemnly vowed to accomplish the death of him 
 who had been the destroyer of her brother. Besides the 
 impulse of her headlong will, and the suggestions of hatred 
 against the representative of the rival house, who now, as 
 she felt, triumphed over her own — which was become 
 desolate and lonely, save the faint vitality imparted to it by 
 her own existence, she indulged the fatal idea so prevalent 
 in her day, and not extinct iu the present, that she had a 
 sacred duty to fulfil, in order to appease the manes of her 
 
282 ELLEN GETHIN. 
 
 brother, and to blot out the insult to her line of kindred by 
 the terrible revenge, the deed of blood which she meditated. 
 
 In those days of la wless violence, no notice was taken by 
 the authorities of the times of the fatal affray which we 
 have described; and in a few weeks after its occurrence, 
 Shon Heer, according to the resolute audacity of his cha- 
 racter, ever ready to repel as to give offence, went about his 
 business and his pleasures as if nothing extraordinary had 
 happened, without the slightest expectation of being ques- 
 tioned, much less molested on the occasion. It is not un- 
 likely but that he felt himself exonerated from blame, and 
 that he considered the result of the duel both fortunate for 
 himself and by no means blameworthy on his part, towards 
 his adversary, who fell, as he conceived, in a fair fight. The 
 latter part of his probable reflections might not be ill- 
 founded, as nothing unfair had been imputed to him, or 
 censure passed, except, possibly, casual reflections on his 
 intemperate conduct and quarrelsome disposition, which led 
 to the affray; and the exception which might be taken to 
 the disparity of the comparative strength and size of the 
 combatants. 
 
 It was some weeks after this tragic catastrophe that 
 Ellen Vaughan gained the information she required, in 
 answer to the inquiries which she had instituted, respecting 
 the movements of her cousin, whom she had so bitterly 
 devoted to destruction. Having learnt from the spies whom 
 she had set to dog his steps and discover his intentions, that 
 on a certain day Shon Heer was engaged to " sh oot a match /' 
 as they called aiming at a target with bows an a" arrows, 
 with a party of young men in the shooting ground attached 
 to a wine-house, at a place called Llandewi, or David's 
 Church, in the adjoining county of Radnor, and situated a 
 short distance from Llinwent, the scene of the late affray. 
 
 On the reception of this intelligence she prepared a suit 
 of male attire for a disguis e, and on the appointed day 
 sallied forth towards the place indicated, with sword at her 
 side, cap and feather, according to the fashion of the time, 
 and the usual appendages of a young gentleman of no 
 ordinary pretensions. As in her journey thither she had to 
 
ELLEN GETHIN. 283 
 
 pass Llinwent, where her brother's blood had so lately 
 saturated the earth, the stern resolution with which she had 
 steeled her heart and braced her woman's nerves, we may 
 conceive, received redoubled impulse from the affecting 
 recollection ; and she hurried on, unattended it would seem, 
 intensely devoted to revenge, but at the same time generously 
 resolved not to implicate others in the consequences, what- 
 ever they might be, of her desperate undertaking. 
 
 When she arrived at the place, thenceforth destined to a 
 melancholy celebrity, she found the whole party at the 
 shooting ground, in full enjoyment of their exciting sport, 
 where merriment, spirit, and hilarity, seemed to animate 
 every bosom. Finding that her cousin, her hated and 
 doomed cousin, in several successive matches had been de- 
 clared the hero of the day, or " master of the field," as the 
 term went, for the most expert and successful feats of 
 archery, with an effort at the semblance of easy effrontery, 
 and a slight display of spirit in imitation of the off-hand 
 manners of the young gallants present, she boldly chal- 
 lenged the best on the ground to shoot a match with her. 
 Treating the matter as a personal appeal to himself, Sh6n 
 Heer immediately accepted the challenge, and as a point of 
 courtesy towards a stranger, however presumptious in his 
 bearing, invited h er to shoo t first, as soon a > she was suited 
 with the weapmiT^lieTiadsomewhat fastidiously selected. 
 Declining the offer, Shon Heer seized his bow, fixed his 
 arrow, and with his usual masterly execution, shot it into 
 the very centre of the bull's eye. " There," cried the 
 Vaughan of Talgarth, in the pride of his achievement^ 
 " beat that if you can !" 
 
 11 Til try, v was the ready reply, muttered hoarsely be- 
 tween her teeth, in a resolute undertone, by the assumption 
 of which she sought to smother the rising agitation which 
 she feared might render her voice tremulous and so betray 
 her sex, disguise, and determined purpose. After fixing the 
 arrow firmly in the centre of the bow, she appeared to be 
 taking a very deliberate aim at the target, towards which 
 every eye was anxiously directed ; when suddenly she 
 turned to the right and faced Shon Heer, with her shaft 
 
ELLEN GETHIN, 
 
 directed towards him ; instantly drawing her bowstring to 
 its utmost stretch, with heart and hand resolved on deadly- 
 doing, away flew the arrow, true to the mark she had fixed 
 on, and pjpj^p<ljigr_ nonsln fn J[jlfi, h°* rt 
 
 Amidst the consternation and confusion which ensued 
 she made her escape. But Ellen, henceforth to be known 
 only as Ellen Gethin, made no secret of the matter, but 
 triumphed in the vengeance she had so daringly taken, and 
 proclaimed herself the avengeress of her brother's death. 
 
 It would appear that the feud between these rival families 
 ended here, as there is no record of any further vengeance 
 taken by the Vaughans of Talgarth for this dreadful act of 
 assassination. That house seems to have declined from this 
 period, as the house of Hergest revived, and acquired greater 
 celebrity than ever, although the name was changed by the 
 marriage of its female representative. It is curious to 
 observe, as a striking contrast pre'sentednHne spirit of those 
 times and the present, that the very deed which in these days 
 would have consjfrned Ellen Gethin to the gallows, 
 and her memory to abhorence and execration, in her own 
 age recommended her to the admiraikffi of her contem- 
 poraries. It is true she was now become a great heiress, 
 and the sole repcsentative of the house of Hergest ; but 
 whether it was from the idea of heroism attached to her 
 name, for so daringly avenging the wrongs of her family, or 
 from more selfish considerations, certain it is that she was 
 sought in marriage by the sons of some of the first families 
 in the adjoining counties. Ultimately she gave her hand to 
 Thomas ab Rosser, the second son of Sir Roger Vaughan,* 
 Knight, of Tretower, " in the county of Brecon, a military 
 man illustriously descended ; and in him acquired a 
 champion capable of defending her fame and rights. 
 
 The grandeur, affluence, hospitality, and high consider- 
 ation of the house of Hergest, were celebrated in numerous 
 poems yet extant, by a bard of the time, the renowned 
 
 * Sir Roger Vaughan, as elsewhere observed, was the first husband of the 
 Lady Gwladys, who fell, with his father-in-law, Sir David Gam, at the battle 
 of Agincourt; for the particulars of their feats of heroism see the memoirs of 
 that celebrated woman in this work. 
 
ELLEN GETHIN. 285 
 
 Lewis Glyncothi, the warmest tributes of whose ardent 
 muse were showered on its different members. From this 
 happy marriage Ellen Gethin became the mother of a family 
 of three sons ; but had to lament the premature death of 
 her second son, Richard Rosser; and at length, of her 
 affectionate husband, when he had attained sixty years of 
 age, who fell at the battle of Danesmore, between the 
 partizans of the houses of York and Lancaster. 
 
 It certainly can neither be fair, judicious, nor philoso- 
 phical, to try Ellen Gethin, a woman of the fifteenth century, 
 at the bar of public opinion, before a jury of that of the 
 nineteenth. Yet she stands charged by a modern author 
 with "ferocity" of character; and is further stigmatised 
 by him as "a devilish woman," 'without making due 
 allowance for the spirit of the age in which she flourished.* 
 
 It has been objected to Nell Gwynn and other " beauties 
 of the court of Charles II.,'' that they were habitually guilty 
 of such gross vulgarity as swearing, and using^hrases of 
 the most unfeminine and indelicate description ; but the 
 objection has been well answered, that in their time such 
 conduct was scarcely remarkable, much less severely 
 censurable, as almost evetry " lady of quality/' was guilty 
 of the same offences agaibst morality and good manners. 
 The charges so unwisely made against the lady of this 
 memoir forms a parallel case. Far be it from us to defend, 
 or extenuate the degree of heinousness attached to the 
 murderous deed recorded of Ellen Gethin ; but we contend, 
 that as she lived in an age the most terribly conspicuous in 
 our annals for ferocious doings, when a long civil war had 
 brutalised mankind, and the most murderous revenge of a 
 family insult was considered in the light of an heroic virtue, 
 we, a people of nearly four hundred years further advanced 
 in civilisation, have no right to decide on her conduct, 
 
 * In Lewis's Typographical Dictionary, article " Glasbury, " stands the 
 record to which we refer; it runs thus : — " A singular instance of the ferocity 
 of one of the female descendants of the Vaughan family is preserved in an old 
 manuscript pedigree. Ellen Gethin of Hergest, a devilish woman, was cousin- 
 germ an to John Hir ap Philip Vaughan, who was killed by the said Ellen at 
 David's Church, for that he before had killed her brother at Llinwent, in 
 Llanbister, Radnorshire." 
 
286 ELLEN GETHIN. 
 
 according to the standard of public opinion in our own 
 times. 
 
 Had the poems of the Welsh bard, Lewis Glyncothi, been 
 earlier known to our English historical writers, as his Celtic 
 muse is ever the handmaid of history in recording the 
 prevalent feelings, as well as the warlike occurrences of his 
 times, his authority must, in a considerable degree, have 
 influenced their writings. In his manifold compositions 
 the instances are numerous where he holds of bloodshedding 
 revenge as most commendable of virtues. In his elegy on 
 the death of Meredith ab Morgan ab Sir David Gam, he 
 commences with wondering that no one had come forward 
 to avenge the premature death of that gallant young man ; 
 notwithstanding that he is stated to have fallen in fair 
 warfare, during a skirmish between the abettors of the rival 
 roses. As one wearied of delay, the bard opens his poem 
 with great spirit, demanding the reason of such neglect. 
 " The least punishment/' he says, S* that could be executed 
 upon his enemies, was toihave sacrificed the lives of twelve of 
 them, but not even this had been done.''* Without citing 
 further examples, a reference to Sir John Wynn's History of 
 the Gwydir family, a contemporary of the bard whom we have 
 quoted, and to the English history of the period in question, 
 will bear us out in the assertion, that the conduct of Ellen 
 Gethin, however censurable in a moral and religious point 
 of view, refined also by the more correct habits of thinking 
 and acting in our day, was scarcely extraordinary for the 
 fifteenth century ; and that she deserves not to be branded 
 by the pen of history as ** a devilish woman." 
 
 As a necessary addenda to this memoir, descriptive of the 
 t imes of Elle n Gethin, we here append a brief account of the 
 circumstances which led to the fatal battle that deprived her 
 of her unfortunate but gallant husband, Thomas ab'Rosser, 
 the father of her three sons. 
 
 This was the epoch, as before observed, of the great civil 
 commotions of England, between the rival houses of York 
 and Lancaster, called the wars of t he roses. These desola- 
 
 * Rev. John Jones, editor and partial translator 'of the poems of Lewis 
 Olyncothi. 
 
EliLEN GETHIN. 287 
 
 ting contentions appeared to have been brought to a close m 
 the year 1461, when the house of Lancaster lost the sove- 
 reignty by the deposition and imprisonment of Henry VI., 
 and Edward IV. commenced his reign. The latter monarch 
 had worn the crown eight years, when a certain party 
 determined on dethroning him, and commenced their ope- 
 rations accordingly. These powerful conspirators were the 
 celebrated earl of Warwick, his two brothers, the archbishop 
 of York, and John Neville, marquis of Montague, with the 
 king's own brother, George, duke of Clarence. The open- 
 ing of their conspiracy, which was a renewal of the wars of 
 the roses, commenced with an insurrection in Yorkshire, 
 thus narrated in the pages of Rapin : — 
 
 " In the beginning of October, 1469, there was a sedition 
 in Yorkshire, which all the historians ascribe to the secret 
 practices of the marquis of Montague and his brother the 
 archbishop of York,* the occasion or pretence was this. 
 There was in the city of York an hospital, for the main- 
 tenance whereof the whole city had always contributed, with- 
 out, however, being obliged. In time these voluntary contribu- 
 tions were changed into a kind of right, wholly founded 
 upon custom, and for which there were collectors appointed, 
 They who had been bribed to stir up the people artfully 
 spread a report that the contributions were misapplied, and 
 served only to enrich the directors of the hospital. That 
 besides, the hospital being sufficiently endowed, these col- 
 lections were needless. Whereupon the country people 
 took fire, as if it had been an affair of the utmost importance. 
 They assembled to the number of fifteen thousand, and 
 killing some of the collectors marched towards York, under 
 the command of one Robert Huldern. Upon this news the 
 marquis of Montague, who resided at York, assembling a 
 body of the citizens, sallied out upon the rebels, slew a 
 great number, and taking their leader prisoner, ordered his 
 hand to be struck off. This conduct would give occasion 
 to presume the sedition was not raised by himself, had not 
 his after proceedings been less ambiguous. 
 
 " The first rumour of this commotion made the king ap- 
 
 * Hume denies that "Warwick himself had any hand in this outbreak. 
 2 A 
 
ELLEN GETHIN. 
 
 preheasive of the consequences. Indeed the cause was not 
 very important, hut knowing how numerous the Lancas- 
 terian partj' still were, he did not doubt but it was raised by 
 some lord, friend to that house. However, he was very far 
 from mistrusting his brother and the earl of Warwick to be 
 the chief authors. Whatever the issue might be, he 
 dispatched orders to William, earl of Pembroke, governor 
 of Wales,* to assemble all the forces of those parts, and 
 keep himself ready to march. Meantime, the Yorkshire 
 malcontents, rather animated than discouraged at the ill 
 success of their first attempt, took arms again, and set at 
 their head Henry, son of the Lord Fitzhaugh, and Henry 
 Neville, son of the Lord Latimer. These two young 
 leaders had not much experience, but were directed by Sir 
 John Conyers, a person of great conduct and valour, and 
 well versed in the art of war. Their first project was to 
 make themselves masters of York ; but suddenly altering 
 their resolution and route they marched towards London, 
 not at all doubting that their army would be increased by 
 the way, as it really happened. Then it was that the affair 
 of York hospital appeared to have been only a pretence to 
 draw the people together. For the hospital afforded the 
 seditious no manner of pretence to take the route to 
 London. 
 
 Meanwhile the earl of Pembroke having drawn together 
 about ten thousand men, principally Welsh, began his 
 march in quest of the malcontents. t He was joined on the 
 road by the Lord Stafford with eight hundred archers. 
 The two armies being come near one another, the earl of 
 Pembroke sent Sir Richard Herbert, his brother, with a 
 detachment of two thousand horse, to view the enemy as 
 near as possible. Sir Richard, who was a very good officer, 
 executed his orders with great conduct, without exposing 
 himself, however, to be attacked. But his men, who had 
 
 * Half brother to Ellen Gethin's husband. 
 
 f When he came to Llandilo-vawr, Carmarthenshire, Earl Herbert made his 
 
 mi the altar in the church, reserving four thousand marks of Ills own 
 
 money, in pocket, to defray expenses.— Jones's A'otes to Lewis Glyncothi's 
 
 ■:u Works. 
 
ELLEN GETHIX. 289 
 
 not his experience, preposterously imagining he would lose 
 a fair opportunity to defeat the enemies, fell, against his 
 will, upon their rear. But Sir John Conyers who foresaw 
 this indiscretion, was so well prepared that the detachment 
 was routed with great loss. 
 
 King Edward hearing this news wrote to the earl of 
 Pembroke not to be discouraged for so inconsiderable a loss, 
 assuring him he would come in person and join him, or send 
 a strong reinforcement. Meanwhile the seditious, finding 
 they had near them an army which might daily increase 
 and fearing to meet the king in the way, resolved to return 
 to Warwick, where, very likely, the leaders knew they should 
 be received. But the earl of Pembroke, impatient to have 
 his revenge, marched directly towards them, and forced 
 them to halt upon Danesmoor, near Hedgecot, and within 
 three miles of Banbury, where the two armies encamped at 
 a small distance one from the other. 
 
 The earl of Pembroke's impatience to have his vengeance,, 
 one of his most striking characteristics, led him into another 
 indiscretion, impossible in either case to be committed by a 
 truly great man or a competent general. At a season like 
 this, a night preceding an eventful battle, when great com- 
 manders have usually been described as firmly tranquil, 
 while concentrating their entire energies on the momentous 
 business of the morrow ; at such a moment the Demon of 
 Discord interrupted the harmony which should have reigned 
 at the head quarters of the king's general and his officers. 
 Indeed it seems as if the evil genius of the Herberts had 
 been doing his work of obstruction from the commencement 
 of this ill-fated expedition, against what at first seemed a 
 mere handful of rioters. According to Hall, it was agreed 
 among the commanders, that whoever first possessed himself 
 of an inn for his quarters, should keep it, and not be liable to 
 be turned out ; yet, notwithstanding such settlement of the 
 point, when the royal army entered Banbury, the earl of 
 Pembroke presuming on his superiority of rank as com- 
 mander-in-chief, most uncourteously, nay, forcibly, took 
 possession of the inn where Lord Stafford had established 
 himself ; a house, in fact, that was kept by a mistress of this 
 
290 ELLEN GETHIN. 
 
 his 
 
 nobleman. It was, literally, like turning him out of 
 own house. But there is no adequate excuse to be offered 
 for the conduct adopted by Lord Stafford in consequence of 
 this usage. Forgetting his public duty, in the bitterness of 
 this private quarrel, he withdrew from the scene of contest, 
 and took with him his eight hundred archers, 
 
 " On the morrow, at break of day, the malcontents 
 marched in good order to attack the king's army. They 
 had heard by deserters of the Lord Stafford's retreat, and 
 were resolved to improve it. Henry Neville, son of Lord 
 Latimer, one of their generals, advancing in order to engage, 
 for fear the royalists should retire, was fiercely repulsed, 
 made prisoner, and slain in cold blood. This barbarous 
 action inspiring the northern men with a sort of fury, they 
 rushed upon their enemies, and notwithstanding the valour 
 of Sir Richard Herbert, who performed that day actions 
 extolled by all historians, the king's army was put to the 
 rout."* 
 
 The Welsh poet Lewis of Glyncothi, who was an officer 
 in the army of Edward IV., calls it a most strenuously con- 
 tested battle, and asserts it was through heedlessness the 
 field was lost. Notwithstanding that the desertion of Lord 
 Stafford contributed greatly to weaken the army of the 
 Yorkists, yet there were other circumstances that aided to 
 cause their overthrow. The following statement, from 
 Baker's History of Northamptonshire, throws a strong light 
 on the subject. " Victory was on the point of declaring for 
 the Welshmen, when a ruse de guerre turned the fortune of 
 the day. John Clapham, Esq., one of the retainers of the 
 earl of Warwick was seen mounting up the eastern hill • 
 though only attended by five hundred of the rabble from 
 Northampton and the neighbouring villages, he displayed in 
 front the banner of the earl, with the white bear and ragged 
 staff, and his followers raising a shout of ' a Warwick ! a 
 Warwick!' the Welshmen thinking the great earl was 
 actually advancing with his forces, fled in utter dismay, and 
 were slain by their pursuers without mercy, insomuch that 
 five thousand were left dead in the field, including Sir 
 * Rapin's History of England. 
 
ELLEN GETHIST. 291 
 
 Roger Vaughan, Henry ab Morgan, Thomas ab Rosser, 
 husband of Ellen Gethin, and Watkin Thomas, son of Sir 
 Roger Vaughan. Among the prisoners were the earl of 
 Pembroke and his brother Sir Richard Herbert, who, with 
 ten other gentlemen, were taken to Banbury, and there 
 beheaded." * 
 
 Lewis Glyncothi's elegy on the death of Thomas ab 
 Rosser, is thus referred to by his translator, the Rev. Tegid 
 Jones. " This poem commemorates the battle of Danes- 
 moor. It opens with stating it to have been one of the most 
 bravely contested engagements that ever took place in 
 Christendom ; and in the next moment we are told how it 
 was lost ; and what dreadful havoc the enemy committed 
 there among the Welsh. The bard carries us, as it were, 
 into the scene of the conflict ; and we can fancy we hear the 
 war-shout of the different battalions, and the clashing of 
 arms. He describes the lord of Hergest and his division as 
 having fought and suffered desperately, and how he fell at 
 the head of his men, like Arthur who was slain at the battle 
 of Camlan. He next alludes to the valour, -the mighty- 
 personal strength, and the virtues of the lord of Hergest. 
 After mentioning the death of others who fell in the battle, 
 he records the lamentation of Ellen Gethin, the widow of 
 the deceased; and promises that the death of her ld*rd should 
 be speedily avenged by his three sons." 
 
 The din and tumult of the battle, as well as the mob-like 
 clamour of these ill disciplined armies, may be conceived 
 from the following portion of the poem : " There was heard 
 one simultaneous shout, a crying out among the mighty 
 spearmen, some calling Herbert ! some Henry! others War- 
 wick! and some "our Edward!" (i. e. Edward IV.) Mr 
 Jon. s remarks on the latter part of this passage ; — " from 
 the bard's introducing here the pronoun ni f our ; and also 
 fro. n his employing his pen to lament the fall of the parti- 
 
 * Thus it appears that instead of being beheaded, like his half brothers the 
 two Herberts, as erroneously stated in various accounts, Thomas ab llosser the 
 husband of Ellen Gethin, fell at the head of his division, while in the act of 
 charging the enemy. For an interesting account of the last moments of the 
 earl of Pembroke and his brother Sir Richard Herbert, see the close of the 
 " memoirs of Gwenhwyvar" in thi3 work. 
 
 2 a 2 
 
ELLEN GETHIN. 
 
 zans of Edward, one would be inclined to infer that he was a 
 Yorkist. But as he is reported to have been a Lancasterian, 
 in the service and pay of Jaspar Tudor, (King Henry's 
 Earl of Pembroke,) it is not unlikely but that he might 
 have been hired to write by Ellen Gethin, whence came the 
 iVI S. called Lywr Coch, (Red Book) now in the library of 
 Jesus College Oxford. However it would seem alter all, 
 that he was attached in earnest, to neither party ; 
 for in this poem he does not lament that the Yorkists were 
 defeated at Banbury ; but what occasioned his real grief 
 was, the fall of his own countrymen, the Welsh : he was 
 national to excess, and his antipathy to the English was 
 boundless." * 
 
 By the number, and eulogistic style, of the poems ad- 
 dressed by this bard to the different members of the Hergest 
 family, it would appear that Ellen Gethin was a munificent 
 patroness, and rewarded the efforts of his muse so well, as 
 to encourage his perseverance in extolling both the dead and 
 the living. It is evident also, that her affluence and good 
 housekeeping were exactly such as would encourage the 
 frequent visits of the bards and minstrels, who always knew 
 the value of such attractions. The heading of another 
 elegy of this poet's, on the death of Ellen Gethin's husband 
 is thus gijren by its editor, Mr. Jones. 
 
 " The bard was probably within sight of Hergest when 
 he began this elegy ; for the opening language of it is that 
 of a person looking from a distance, after a long absence, at 
 a favourite spot, which he was now hastening to re-visit. 
 According to his account of Hergest, there were eight 
 strong buildings, or fortresses, on the estate ; and in each; of 
 them a refectory and a good stock of wine. The poet pre- 
 sents us with a graphic description of the family monument, 
 which, according to his delineation of it, must have been 
 
 * The editor of Lewis Glyncothi's poems, in his veneration for the character 
 of a Welsh bard, cautiously avoids applying to him, the odious expletive con- 
 tained in the expressive monosyllable " Spy"; although by his own account, 
 Lewis was no other than a spy, employed and paid by Jaspar Tudor, the 
 Lancasterian Earl of Pembroke, and also in the pay and employment of 
 William Herbert, the Yorkist Earl of Pembroke, with the consent and con- 
 nivance of the former. 
 
ELLEN GETHIN. 293 
 
 exceedingly handsome. And by way of winding up, Watkin, 
 the eldest son of the late lord of Hergest and Ellen Gethin, is 
 complimented as being a warrior, and descended from a 
 noble and ancient race." In an ode to Sir Richard Vychan 
 (or Sir Roger Vaughan), of Tretower, this bard implores 
 him to muster a posse comitatus in Wales, and to march 
 against the English of the north, in order to be revenged 
 upon them for having slain his brother, Thomas ab Rosser, 
 of Hergest, and beheaded his half brothers, William earl of 
 Pembroke, aud Sir Richard Herbert, of Coldbrook, together 
 with several more of his relatives, at Banbury, after the 
 fatal battle of Danesmoor, in July, 1469." In an elegy on 
 the death of Richard Vaughan, second son of Ellen Gethin 
 and her late husband, he exhorts her to " set her thoughts 
 upon God ; and whilst lamenting the death of her son, to 
 call to mind the death of Christ ; and what painful agony 
 the Virgin Mary, his mother, must have suffered in witness- 
 ing the sight." The lamentation after Richard he describes 
 as being very great and general. He was buried in St. 
 Mary's Church, Kington, where the bard says, " his golden 
 locks are now concealed from view beneath a monument of 
 white marble." He then comforts the mother by telling her 
 what kind offices the blessed virgin had performed, in con- 
 ducting both her husband and her son into happiness." 
 
 The period of the death of Ellen Gethin is not upon 
 record, but it is probable she outlived the poet> Lewis Glyn- 
 cothi, otherwise we might calculate with certainty on an 
 elegy to her memory from the hand of that bard.* 
 
 * For a portion of these records of Ellen Gethin we have been indebted to 
 the favour of the Rev. William Jenkin Rees, rector of Cascob, who obligingly 
 permitted a perusal of his manuscript history of Radnorshire. It is to be re- 
 gretted that this valuable county history, containing the laborious researches 
 and embellishments of its venerable editor, has not been sufficiently encouraged 
 to induce him to publish it. But the well known apathy and indifference of the 
 gentry of Wales in forwarding matters of literary enterprise connected with 
 their national records, is unhappily too notorious to require comment. From 
 that cause, four only out of the twelve counties of Wales have been provided 
 with histories ; those are Brecon, Cardigan, Pembroke, and Anglesea. 
 
>V\ 
 
 OWEN GLENDOWER'S FEMALE FAMILY. 
 
 As many of our readers may be but little acquainted with 
 "Welsh history, and the particulars of the life of Owen Glen- 
 dower, it will be necessary here to give a brief outline of 
 that hero's career. 
 
 His proper appellation, according to the usage of his 
 country, would be Owen ab Griffith ; being the son of 
 Griffith Vychan, and successor as lord of Glyndwrdwy, but 
 in the annals of fame he is always known, in Welsh, as 
 Owain Glyndwr, and in English, immortalized by the muse 
 of Shakespeare, as Owen Glendower, or Owen of Glendower. 
 He makes Henry IV. say, when one of his officers boasted of 
 having fought personally with that hero : — 
 
 " I'll not believe it ; you might as well have met 
 The devil, as Owen of Glendower 
 Alone upon the mountains." 
 
 Pennant states that one manuscript fixes his birth on the 
 28th of May, 1354 ; Lewis Owen places it five years earlier, 
 "for in the year 1349" says he, was distinguished by the 
 first appearance of the pestilence in Wales, and by the 
 birth of Owain Glyndwr. Holinshed relates that his father's 
 horses were found the night of his birth standing in the 
 stables up to their bellies in blood : ominous, no doubt, of 
 his son's cruelty, and indicative of the slaughter he should 
 commit. 
 
 The superstitions and popular notion that signs and sym- 
 bols marked by the commotion of the elements, prognos- 
 ticating their future carreer, ever attended the birth of 
 extraordinary men, has in this instance been well expressed 
 by Shakespeare ; wherein he makes Glowdower say . — 
 
 " At my birth 
 
 The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes ; 
 The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds 
 Were strangely clamorous in the frighted fields ; 
 These signs have mark'd me extraordinary, 
 And all the courses of my life do shew, 
 I am not in the roll of common men." 
 
OWEN GLENDOWER'S FEMALE FAMILY. 295 
 
 It appears Griffith Vychan gave his son an excellent 
 English education ; and as if shrinking from a retrospect of 
 national events, and sensibly aware of the woe-impending 
 nature of a warrior's course, determined that his pursuits 
 should be pacific, and his profession that of a civilian. 
 Whatever may be said of the anti-patriotism of the princes 
 and chieftains of Powys (for it must be admitted they were 
 generally disloyal to their native and natural sovereigns), 
 they doubtless became the earliest pioneers in clearing away 
 the obstacles to an ultimate annexation of their country to 
 England, by their voluntary adherence to that crown. Thus 
 it appears, curiously enough, that the father of Owen Glen- 
 dower intended his son r.hould become an English statesman 
 and courtier. To forward these views, he was placed to 
 study English law in the inns of court, and Owen became 
 a Barrister. His father's influence was then exerted to get 
 him an appointment at the court of King Richard II. and 
 he became the scutiger, or esquire of that monarch. As 
 the latter was a military post, and not in consonance with 
 his former pursuits, it is probable that Owen at that time 
 renounced the intention of following any further the functions 
 of a lawyer and civilian. Having attended the king in his 
 Irish wars, and acquired a taste for military achievements, 
 he doubtless proved himself worthy of that martial post, as 
 he received the honour of knighthood at the hand of his 
 sovereign. Thus Griffith Vychan's original views were 
 entirely frustrated, and an opening formed for all the after 
 evils that stimulated his son in his insurrectionary career. 
 
 It was at this period of Owen's life that a lawsuit took 
 place between him and Lord Reginald Grey, of Ruthin, 
 about a piece of land, centrally situated between their re- 
 spective estates, the lordships of Ruthin and Glyndwrdwy.* 
 The event of this sharp legal contest was, that the law 
 awarded to Owen the subject of the dispute. The revo- 
 lution that afterwards took place, which ended in the de- 
 posal aud murder of Richard II., and the elevation of the 
 duke of Lancaster as King Henry IV., deprived Owen 
 Glendower of his place at court, when he retired to the 
 * It was a common called Croesau.or the Crosses, 
 
296 owen glendower's female family. 
 
 country to spend the rest of his days at his noble residence 
 of Glyndwrdwy. 
 
 There he was not permitted to remain long undisturbed. 
 His old adversary the potent lord of Ruthin, taking the ad- 
 vantages of his competitor's loss of influence at court, seized 
 on the land which the law had awarded to Owen in the late 
 suit between them. Owen complained of lord Grey to par- 
 liament for this usurpation of his right, but his suit was dis- 
 missed unredressed. "Lord Grey injured him also in his 
 honour, and represented him as disobedient to the reigning 
 sovereign. Previous to an expedition against the Scots, 
 Henry summoned his barons to attend with their vassals, 
 among whom Owen was inoluded. Unfortunately for the 
 peace of the realm, the king's writ for the purpose was handed 
 to lord Grey, which the demon of discord would not suffer 
 him to deliver sufficiently early to Owen, so as to enable 
 him to appear among the other barons. Wilful disobedience 
 was ascribed to him, aggravated we may suppose, by his 
 antagonist by every insinuation he could instil. His non- 
 appearance was construed into disaffection for the cause; 
 and by this piece of treachery, under pretence of forfeiture, 
 Grey took possession of such parts of Glendower's estates as 
 lay adjacent to his own. 
 
 When the subject of Glendower's complaint was so slightly 
 entertained by the pe3rs, John Trevor, bishop of St. Asaph 
 advised the lords to be circumspect, lest by slighting Owen's 
 complaint, they should irritate and provoke the Welsh into 
 insurrection. Had this advice been attended to, and the 
 salutary maxim of "Principus Obsta" been adopted, fifteen 
 years war might have been averted, and all the horrors at- 
 tendant on it. Instead of redressing the complainants 
 wrongs, and paying a little deference to an injured Welsh- 
 man's feelings, some of the lords replied, " that they did not 
 fear those rascally barefooted people." 
 
 When Owen saw that parliament, so far from doing j astice 
 to his remonstrance against Grey's vindictive and rapacious 
 conduct, that they added insult to injustice, the die was cast, 
 and the period had arrived to vindicate his own and his 
 country's wrongs. 
 
OWEN GLENDOWER's FEMALE FAMILY. 297 
 
 No sooner had Owen displayed his standard of revolt than 
 the country was up in arms ; thousands flocked to it from all 
 parts of the principality, encouraged by the prophecies of 
 ancient times, promulgated by Merlin, and by Aquila, who 
 foretold that the sovereignty of Britain, after having been in 
 the possession of the Saxons and the Normans, should ulti- 
 mately return to the Ancient Britons. Besides the inflam- 
 matory strains of the bards and minstrels, who encouraged 
 the people to follow his fortunes, the Franciscan friars, as 
 partizans of the late Richard II., invited Owen to invade 
 England. 
 
 As it is not within our limits to relate the particulars of 
 Owen Glendower's various battles with the English, during 
 his warfare of fifteen years, we shall briefly state the results 
 of some of his campaigns. 
 
 Hostilities commenced in the summer of 1400, by Glen- 
 dower's attack on the domains of Lord Reginald Grey ; but 
 when he had entirely recovered his own lands, the object of 
 his enterprise was attained; and it does not seem that he 
 meditated further hostilities. Doubtless he would at this 
 time have sheathed his sword, dismissed his forces, and 
 retired to his home, but for the ill- directed severity and im- 
 policy of the king of England. 
 
 Aware that Owen was a staunch partizan of the late king, 
 Henry chose to regard the attack on the domains of Reginald 
 Grey as against himself, and sent that nobleman, supported 
 by Lord Talbot, and as he deemed with sufficient forces to 
 crush the Lord of Glyndwrdwy. By no means anticipating 
 such measures they came upon him unawares, and Owen 
 very narrowly escaped, and sheltered himself and partizans 
 in the woods. The sagacious mind of Owen immediately 
 suggested powerful measures of self-defence ; he saw that 
 once in the hands of the English authorities, not only his 
 entire possessions, but his life would be forfeited. There- 
 fore this attempt to capture or destroy him and his followers, 
 literally forced him to take up arms again, and his temporary 
 insurrection for redressing private wrongs, entirely changed 
 its character, and assumed the ominous features of a national 
 rebellion. 
 
298 owen glendower's female family. 
 
 Decision of character, that master-spring of human great- 
 ness, discovered itself early in Owen's career. Encouraged 
 by the enthusiasm and devotedness of his countrymen, who 
 had long groaned under the exactions and tyranny of the 
 English, he caused himself to be proclaimed prince of Wales, 
 and was solemnly invested with the diadem of sovereignty, 
 as the legitimate successor of Llewelyn, the last native prince 
 of that country. He also made common cause with the 
 English nobility who were disaffected towards the reigning 
 king whom they aimed to dethrone, and raise to the crown 
 the young earl of March, the legitimate successor of 
 Richard II., who was then the prisoner, or rather protegee of 
 Owen Glendower. 
 
 As before observed, our present object is not to celebrate 
 the exploits of Owen Glendower, or to enter minutely into 
 the events of his career, but merely to sketch, for the in- 
 formation of strangers to Welsh History, some particulars 
 of his position in the stirring incidents of his age ; with the 
 view of giving some slight notices of the Celtic dames and 
 damsels who composed the female family of that singular 
 and celebrated chieftain,* pursuant to the title and purpose 
 of this work. Thus much, however, may be appropriately 
 stated : — in the course of his fifteen years' warfare, Time 
 saw the capable and warlike Henry IV. assisted by his son, 
 the gallant " Harry of Monmouth," no less than thrice per- 
 sonally in the field against him, supported by all the avail- 
 able forces of England ; and each time, as Shakespeare ex- 
 presses it, sent " bootless back." Time saw Owen aided by 
 and in alliance with the king of France, and acknowledged 
 by his ambassador as the legitimate sovereign of Wales. 
 Time saw the Percies of Northumberland and the Douglas 
 of Scotland seeking his arms and counsel against the usurper 
 Bolingbroke ; and Time saw them crushed at the battle of 
 Shrewsbury, and their arch-enemy Harry victorious, and 
 thus by their ruin firmly fixed on the English throne. And 
 lastly, Time saw Owen himself a d?serted and ruined man, 
 
 * Those who wish to read his entire history, are referred to his Life in the 
 Cambrain Plutarch, by John Humphreys Parry, and the "Memoirs of Owain 
 Glyndwr, by the Rev. Thomas Thomas, vicar of Aberporth. 
 
OWEN GLENDOWER* S FEMALE FAMILY, 299 
 
 a disguised wanderer in the land, concealed in caverns, and 
 the secret recesses of the mansions of his friends. 
 
 It has been ascertained, however, that a free pardon to 
 Owen and his followers, in case they should request it, was 
 issued by the English crown on the accession of Henry V. 
 Thomas states that " our hero terminated his hopes and 
 fears on the 20th of September, 1415, , on the eve of St. 
 Matthew, in the sixty-first year of his age, at the house of 
 one of his daughters ; but whether of his daughter Scuda- 
 rnore or his daughter Monnington is uncertain." 
 
 Owen Glendower's pretensions to Cambrian royalty were 
 derived from his mother; her name was Ellen, or Elena ; 
 she w r as the eldest daughter of Thomas ab Llewelyn ab 
 Owen, by his wife Eleanor Goch. The latter was the 
 eldest daughter of Catherine,* wife of Philip ab Ivor, lord 
 of Iscoed, and eldest daughter of Prince Llewelyn ab 
 Griffith, the last native prince of Wales. 
 
 The wife of Owen Glendower was Margaret,"daughter of 
 Sir David Hanmer, of Hanmer, in the county of Flint, one 
 of the justices of the king's bench, by the appointment of 
 Richard II, in 13S3, and knighted by him in 1387. Her nup- 
 tials were previous to her father's promotion ; for it is certain 
 that some of the daughters were married, and the sons grown 
 to manhood before Glendower appeared in arms in 1400. 
 
 lolo Goch, (Edward the Red) the domestic bard of Owen 
 Glendower, paid the following tribute of praise on this lady, 
 her offspring, and her general hospitality. 
 
 " His lady wife, of generous aims, 
 The kindest, best, of wedded dames ! 
 Ki 
 W 
 
 01 
 
 Fj 
 B, 
 T.1 _ a . I 
 
 * Pennant observes ;hat Catherine was probably married before the death 
 of her father, otherwise Edward's jealously aboat the succession to the prin- 
 cipality would have made her share the fate of her sister Gwenllian, who 
 perforce took the veil in the convent of Shaftesbury. Warrington on the other 
 hand says that Catherine was married to Malcom, earl of Fife. The two ac- 
 counts are not reconcilable unless we give Gwenllian to the earl of Fife. 
 2 B 
 
300 OWEN GLENDOWER'S FEMALE FAMILY. 
 
 Her children source of joys and cares. 
 Sweet rosy loves ! come forth in pairs, 
 A nest of chieftains, fair to see, 
 Destin'd for future chivalry !" * 
 
 Alas for the flattering predictions of the friendly bard ! the 
 utmost that we can learn of the fates of the chieftains of this 
 " nest," is comprised in a single line ; " it is probable that they 
 fell in battle." Browne Willis, however, asserts that on their 
 fathers death they fled into Ireland; that one of them 
 settled in Dublin, and took the name of Baulf, or the strong, 
 and was ancestor to a respectable family in that city. 
 
 This admirable wife who blessed the peaceful portion of 
 her husband's days with the mild virtues of a tender partner, 
 a faithful friend, and a fondly cherishing mother, bore him 
 amongst the above-mentioned " nest of chieftains," a little 
 bevy of fair daughters also ; whom we afterwards find united 
 by marriage to some of the most noble of English families. 
 Several were wooed and wedded into the most eminent of 
 the houses of their own Cambria. We read in certain 
 English pedigrees, that Alicia, one of the most beautiful of 
 Glendower's daughters, was married to Scudamore of 
 Holm Lacy, in the county of Hereford ; and Janet his third, 
 and most accomplished daughter, (for her wit and wisdom 
 were the wonder of all who knew her,) became the wife of 
 Crofts, of Croft castle, in the same county. Jane the fourth 
 daughter married Lord Reginald Grey, of Ruthin castle, in 
 
 * The lines in the text, form rather a paraphrase than a translation ; the 
 original of lolo Goch ran thus : — 
 
 The following is Pennant's literal translation : — 
 His wife the best of wives ! 
 Happy am I in her wine and metheglin: 
 Eminent woman of knightly family, 
 Honourable, beneficent, noble. 
 Eer children come in pairs, 
 A beautiful nest of chieftains. 
 

 OWEN GLENDOWER'S FEMALE FAMILY. 301 
 
 the county of Denbigh,* North Wales ; and Margaret, the 
 fifth, bestowed herself, M from violent love," on the brave and 
 handsome Monnington of Monnington, also in the land of 
 Hereford.^ By these marriages, towards the end of the 
 fifteenth century, we see that the Saxon and the ancient 
 Briton could unite in one interest, and that by the most in- 
 timate and hallowed of all ties, the rites of marriage. Even 
 the three illegitimate daughters of Owen were married into 
 houses of considerable note. One was wedded into the 
 house of Gwernan ; another, named Mevanwy, to Llewelyn 
 ab Adda of Trevor; and Gwenllian, of whom we have a 
 separate notice in this work, to Griffith ab Rhys, of St. 
 Harmon, in Radnorshire. 
 
 Thomas, in his notice of Glendower's residence, thus 
 describes its situation and extent. " The tract, ever memor- 
 able for its hero, called Glyndwrdwy, or the Valley of the 
 Dee, (which name it still retains) extends about seven 
 miles in length, and lies in the parish of Llangollen, Llan- 
 dysilio Llansaintfraid, and Corwen. It was anciently a 
 Comot, in the kingdom of Mathravel, or Powys. This 
 dale is narrow, fertile, bounded by lofty hills, and in various 
 parts profusely covered with trees." 
 
 Iolo Goch, has handed down by the songs of his harp, a 
 very particular description of the habitation and its hos- 
 pitalities. He describes it as a kind of palace-castle, with 
 a gate tower, and surrounded by a moat. It contained 
 nine halls of entertainment, and each furnished with a ward- 
 robe filled with clothes for his retainers, and garments for 
 the passing traveller, who might need such change. Near 
 to the main building, but beyond the moat, and on the side 
 of a green hill, appeared a goodly dwelling, divided into 
 various apartments for the accommodation of wayfaring 
 strangers, to lodge them in. There were also, in and about 
 the castle, a church and several small chapels. The place 
 was in the midst of every convenience for family provision, 
 
 * It appears that Lord Reginald Grey wooed and won " the gentle Jane,' ' 
 while he was a prisoner to her father. 
 
 + We are indebted for a portion of this notice of Glendower's wife and 
 daughters to an article in an Annual called the Boudoir. 
 
302 OWEN glendower's female family. 
 
 and support of the most generous hospitality ; a park for 
 deer, a warren for rabbits, fields for cattle, a pigeon-house 
 near at hand, a mill, orchard, and vineyard, and a well 
 stocked fish-pond. A heronry and a falconry for sport. 
 Then the wine and the ale, and the mead, flowed like water 
 on each welcoming board. In short the bard describes with 
 the grateful fidelity of one who had often partaken of the 
 feast, that the life of the cook was estimated, by the laws of 
 hospitality, at the worth of a hundred and twenty other men! 
 And such was the hospitality of the house, the place of a 
 porter was deemed useless ; and (oh rare boast !) such was 
 the honesty of the Welshmen of those days, that locks and 
 bolts were unknown. 
 
IxP, 
 
 POMPONIA GEJ3CINA, 
 
 WIFE OF ATJLTJS PLAUTIUS, THE FIRST ROMAN GOVERNOR IN 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 From Hughes's Horse Britannicae, and the high authority 
 which he quotes, we glean the following account of this lady, 
 whose history is coeval with the earliest Roman domination 
 in Britain. " Among the Romans of distinction that came 
 to Britain, it is reasonable to suppose that a few converts to 
 Christianity might be found: one we know there assuredly 
 was, that illustrious person, Pomponia Gicecina, the wife of 
 Aulus Plautius, the first governor of Britain. Of that lady 
 Tacitus gives us the following account : — •' Pomponia Grae- 
 cina, an illustrious lady married to Plautius ; who was 
 honoured with an ovation, or lesser triumph for his victories 
 gained ia Britain, was charged with having embraced a 
 stran ge and foreign sup exatUipn; for which alleged crime 
 her trial was committfthto her husband. He, agreeable to 
 the laws and ancient forms of proceeding in such cases, con- 
 vened her family and friends together ; and, being in their 
 presence tried for her life and fame, she was pronounced 
 innocent." The historian adds, " the lady lived long after 
 this, but in perpetual sadness." 
 
 Hughes remarks, " that Pomponia was injieart a Christian, 
 there can be little doubt, for that was the foreign religion of 
 which the Romans were become sojealous ; and the worship 
 of the Gods of Heathenism was supposed essential to the 
 prosperity of the empire. To embrace a religion which was 
 in hostility to that of Rome, was therefore considered highly 
 criminal, and especially in a person of quality. But this was 
 not always strictly attended to, as we find there were 
 Christians even in Caesar's household, after St. Paul came 
 to Rome, as appears from his epistle to the Philippians, 
 ch. iv., v. 22.* 
 
 * Another writer on this subject observes, " we may reasonably conclude 
 that its spirit had already touched Ccesar's household, although it was only in 
 the veiled meekness of a gentle domestic influence." 
 2 b 2 
 
304 POMPONIA GR^ECINA. 
 
 Pomponia may not have publicly professed Christianity, 
 and was cleared of the charge brought against her, while she 
 was prohibited from adhering to what Tacitus, according to 
 the usual mode of expression, styles a strange and foreign 
 superstition. In consequence of her being thus situated, 
 she lived in great privacy; renouncing the pomp of high life, 
 and cherishing in her own breast the sentiments which she 
 dared not divulge. This account of Pomponia appears also 
 to be a confirmation of what we have supposed, that there 
 were other persons partial to Christianity among the Romans 
 who were at this time in Britain ; or this lady could not 
 have been so strongly suspected, since her coming to Britain, 
 of evincing a partiality to the Christian cause. The trial of 
 Plautius's lady occurred, according to Dr. Stilingfleet, when 
 Nero and Calphurnias Piso were consuls, or A.D. 57, which 
 being, according to him, after St. Paul's coming to Borne, 
 he considers her to have been one of the apostle's converts.* 
 
 * Pomponia Graecina, with Claudia, otherwise Gwladys Ruffina, and St. 
 Tecla, the virgin and martyr, are supposed to hare been contemporaries, and 
 form a trio of our earliest Roman-British female Christians .The following are 
 our two attempts at working their names and celebrity into Tribans, or Welsh 
 Epigrams : — 
 
 TRIBAN THE FIRST. 
 
 The Roman-British Christians three 
 In name and order thus they be ; 
 Pomponia Graseina — mild and gracious ! 
 The spouse beloved of Aulus Plautius ; 
 Gladdis Ruffina— Pudens' wife, 
 Most lovely in her faith and life ; 
 Lastly, the gentle martyr, fair 
 St. Tecla— famed for merits rare. 
 
 TRIBAN THE SECOND. 
 
 Pomponia Grsecina, 
 
 And Gladdis Ruffina 
 With Tecla, the virgin, the martyr, and saint, 
 
 Were three wondrous fair ones, 
 
 For piety rare ones, 
 Their race Roman-British, of legends most quaint. 
 
7*3" 
 
 GWAWR, 
 
 SIXTH DAUGHTER OF BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG, WIFE OF ELYDE 
 LLYDANWYN, AND MOTHER OF THE RENOWNED BARD 
 LLYWARCH-HEN. 
 
 Gwawr, was the sixth daughter of Brychan Brecheiniog 
 Her name may sound uncouthly to an English ear, and look 
 any thing but agreeable to an English eye, composed as it 
 is of five letters, out of which four of them are consonants 
 and only one vowel. But translated, Gwawr h ears the beau- 
 tiful and poetic meaning of the Dawn, or Aurora, as per- 
 sonified in classic lore, the rosy-fingered. She became the 
 wife of Elydr Llydanwyn, the younger brother of Kyn- 
 varch-oer, and it appears curious that so many of the sons 
 of this chieftain became the admirer > and husbands of as 
 many of the daughters of Brychan. Fortunate, as several of 
 the females of this family were, in the eminence of character 
 attained by their progeny, the lady of our present notice 
 yields to none of her sisters in that respect, as she became 
 the mother of that patriot prince, heroic warrior, and illus- 
 trious bard, Llywarch-hen, (Llywarch the venerable,) 
 one of the trio, formed between himself, Aneurin, and Tal- 
 iesin Penbeirdd. 
 
 " This prince had a considerable territory in the north of 
 England ; he not only cultivated an acquaintance with the 
 Muses, but shone in arms, and was one of those who sig- 
 nalized themselves in an age remarkable in the history of 
 Britain, for terrible wars and devastations. Llywarch- 
 hen, however, took no part in the civil war which brought 
 on the catastrophe at Caralan so fatal to the Britons, 
 wherein Arthur fell in the year 542. Foreseeing the im- 
 pending storm, he entered into a confederacy with his rela- 
 tion Urien Rheged, and his valiant son Owen, to repel the 
 incursions of the Saxons, who menaced the very existence 
 of the British government in the North : these persevering 
 invaders having already possessed themselves of all that 
 
8f6'6 GWAWR. 
 
 country to the East, called Deivr a Brynich, or Deira, and 
 Bernicia."* 
 
 Llywarch-hen lost twenty-four of his sons in these long- 
 continued battles ; and lived to the age of one hundred and 
 fifty it is said, when the epithet "hen" became, attached to 
 his name. He died upon the banks of thel Dee,j" near Bala, in 
 Merionethshire, where is still a secluded spot, called Pabell 
 Llywarch-hen, or Llywarch, the venerable's old tent or cot. 
 Dr. Davies says, that in his time there was an inscription 
 to his memory to be seen on the wall of the church, wherein 
 it was said the venerable bard was interred ;" but the beau- 
 tif cations, (I use a Gothic term to describe a Gothic act,) 
 of succeeding churchwardens, have long obliterated all traces 
 ofit.J 
 
 A literal prose translation of his poems was published, 
 some years ago, by the late Dr. Owen Pughe, under the 
 title the Heroic Elegies of Llywarch-hen, accompanied with 
 a brief sketch of his life. Theophilus Jones remarks;^- 
 " his poems are plaintive and elegiac, several of them, par- 
 ticularly that in which he laments the death of his sons 
 have great merit, the English translation, however, of the 
 latter, by Mr. Elliot, published in Jones's reliques of the 
 Welsh bards, in my opinion, far surpasses the original^ in 
 poetic beauty. 
 
 || "See the warlike train advance, 
 Skill'd to poise the pond'rous lance ; 
 Golden chains their breasts adorn ; 
 Sure for conquest were they Lorn. 
 
 * The latter was erected into a kingdom by Ida, (called Flamddwyn in Tal- 
 iesin's poem of the battle of Argoed,) in the year 547, as the Saxon chronicle 
 and all our historians affirm. Upon the death of Ida, in 580, Ella the son of 
 Iff! assumed the title of king of Deira. Richard of Hexam, a Northumbrian 
 writer in 1180, says, that Deira extended from 1he Humber to the Tees; and 
 Bernicia, from the Tees to the Tweed. They were both afterwards united 
 by Ethelfred, who formed from them the kingdom of Northumberland,— 
 " Carte's History qfjtegjand; 
 
 Written Du,]but pronouuced Dee, in Welsh. 
 '% Theophilus Jones. 
 
 K Forgetting his criticism on a passage of Taliesin, paraphrased like this, by 
 an English author, Mr. Jones has greatly over-rated these lines, six of which 
 
GWAWR. 307 
 
 Four and twice ten sons were mine, 
 Used in battle's front to shine : 
 But low in dust my sons are laid, 
 Not one remains his sire to aid. 
 Hold ! oh hold, my brain thy seat ! 
 How doth my bosom's monarch beat; 
 Cease thy throbs, perturbed heart, 
 Whither would thy stretched strings start ? 
 From frenzy dire and wild affright, 
 Keep my senses through the night." 
 
 are given at the close, while the following single line expresses the whole of the 
 original, far more forcibly. 
 
 " Oh God ! that my senses be left me this night." 
 The two first lines of the above, and the last but one, are plagiarisms from 
 Gray, and how doth " my bosom's monarch beat," from Shakspeeje. 
 
10^ 
 
 GWENHWIVAR,*" 
 
 WIFE OF THOMAS AB ROBIN, LORD OF COCHWILLAX, AND 
 
 THE OLD WOMAN OF ANGLESEA. 
 
 A solitary pathetic incident in the life of each of the two_ 
 females under present consideration, is all that we hav« to 
 offer respecting them. As their misfortunes were of the 
 most calamitous description, the interest attached to them 
 will amply make up for the brevity of the details ; con- 
 nected as they are with the national history of that eventful 
 period, when the desolating civil wars of York and Lancaster 
 made the entire land of England alternately a reeking field 
 of slaughter, and a Golgotha among the nations. 
 
 During those commotions between the descendants of 
 Richard II. and those of Henry IV. and their partizans, 
 although the larger number of the Welsh attached them- 
 selves to the house of York, there were many of the best 
 families in Wales who espoused the cause of the Lancas- 
 terian party. Among the latter was Thomas ab Robin, lord 
 of Cochwillan, a gentleman of considerable rank and estate, 
 the husband of the lady of this memoir; whose ill fortune 
 it was to be taken prisoner and brought to Conway, by a 
 party of the Yorkists, under the command of William 
 Herbert, the new earl of Pembroke, during the ascendancy 
 of the house of York, whose king, Edward IV., was now 
 upon the throne. 
 
 In these terrific times of anarchy and bloodshedding, 
 originating in the dispute of two cousins as to which of 
 them had a right to be king, the whole nation became par- 
 tizans with one or the other of them ; and not unfrequently 
 
 * As much pertness has been displayed by certain witlings in their (so called) 
 Tours in Wales, on the supposed unpronounceable Welsh names that came in 
 their way, we beg leave to suggest that any English tongue may utter this 
 name with ease and pi-opriety, recollecting that the Welsh w is sounded like 
 the English oo in hood. The entire pronunciation is Gwen-hooey-var, without 
 accenting either of the syllables. 
 
GWENHWYVAR AND THE OLD WOMAN OF ANGLESEA. 309 
 
 the members of the same family espoused different sides in 
 the party politics of the day — brother against brother, 
 parents against their children, and children against their 
 parents, till the nation became demoralized, nay brutalized 
 to the most astounding extremity. Each of the belligerents 
 became infuriated with the madness of party rage to such a 
 fearful degree, that their resentment against each other was 
 as violent as it was implacable. Their mutual hostility was 
 also as blind as it was fierce and destructively overwhelming, 
 for the brief hour in which their power was in the ascendant. 
 Thus we see him, who one day in all the insolence of demi- 
 sorereignty, adjudged his captives to a violent and immediate 
 death, crushed in his turn, and subjected to as stern a fate 
 as he so lately doomed others. But notwithstanding the 
 frequency of such retributions, they seemed to teach no 
 lesson to the implacable spirit of the age, whose motto 
 appeared to be, to destroy or be destroyed, captivity and 
 death being literally synonymous terms, for rarely was a 
 prisoner of either party spared the final introduction to the 
 axe of the executioner. 
 
 Impressed with these gloomy convictions, it may be con- 
 ceived with what intense terror Gwen hwyvar learnt that 
 the captors of her husband and the masters~oT his fate were 
 the jtwo Her berts, William, earl of Pembroke, who received 
 that title on the deprivation of Jasper, the second son of 
 Owen Tudor, for his zealous adherence to the fortunes of 
 Edward IV., and his brother Sir Richard Herbert, of Cold- 
 brook ; the two most stern and unrelenting of all the com- 
 manders for the house of York. These brothers, as stated 
 in their mother's memoirs in this work, were the sons of 
 Sir William ab Thomas, of Raglan C astle, and the Lady 
 Gwladys, daughter of the renowned Sir David Gam, of 
 Brecon, who fell on the field of Agincourt. We are in- 
 formed that they dropped their Welsh designation and 
 adopted the surname of Herbert, according to the English 
 fashion, at the request of Edward IV., whose especial fa- 
 vourites they were, and well might be, for their undeviating 
 adherence to his cause in every extremity, although their 
 illustrious maternal grandfather gained his laurels and lost $ArW 
 
310 GWENHWYVAR AND THE 
 
 his life in defence of a sovereign of the house of Lancaster, 
 The Welsh heralds and etymologists derive the name of 
 Herbert from Hirbert (Hir signifying tall, and bert hand- 
 some) ; which is said to he personally descriptive of these 
 grandsons of Sir David Gam. However plausible such a 
 derivation might be, the English antiquaries very justly 
 deny a Welsh orig in to the name of Herbert, and say the 
 founder of it was Henry Fitzherbert, who espoused 
 Lucy Corbet, one of that profligate monarch's, (Henry 1.,) 
 twelve mistresses! But the pedigree formed by the Welsh 
 genealogists at the command of Edward IV. (which is still 
 preserved in the herald's office), originate the family from 
 Herbert Fitzroy, a natural son of Henry I. '* This dif- 
 ference of opinion," observes Cpypin his Monmouthshire 
 tour, " may be reconciled, as the above mentioned Lucy 
 Corbet urns concubine to the kirig^as well as wife t* the lord 
 chamberlain." Truly, these Normarrized Welshmen must 
 have been deeply infatuated with the king they served, to 
 have accepted, as an especial mark of grace, such a ques- 
 tionable honour, in exchange for their own unblemished 
 paternal designation; although the illegitimate offspring of 
 the king or chamberlain by the concubine in question, was 
 said to be Edward the Fourth's own ancestor. "But," say 
 all ignoble nobles, and the echoes of courtly parasites, in 
 defiance of truth and honesty, "the king can do no wrong 
 — the king is the source of honour — infamy becomes honour 
 and vice virtue, when sanctioned by the practices of 
 royalty."* 
 
 Lord Herbert of Cherbury, a descendant of the Herberts 
 
 * The question respecting this nam e, were the matter in any way important 
 is easily set at rest ; and without doubt, precisely as stated in the text, origin- 
 ating from Henry the First's accommodating lord chamberlain, so honourably 
 allied to the king's still retained concubine, Lucy Corbet ; and by no means, as it 
 is impudently pretended by some parties, from a count of the name of Herbert, 
 or Fitzherbert, said to have come to this country in the train of William the 
 Conqueror, and to have afterwards become chamberlain to his brutal son 
 William Eufus. The Norman name of Herbert and the Welsh name of 
 Hibbert, have been confounded together. The latter it is, and not Herbert, 
 that is derived from Hir (tall) and bert (handsome). There are several families 
 in Glamorganshire of this name : the change of a single letter would restore it 
 to its original propriety of Hirbert. 
 
OLD WOMAN OF ANGLESEA. 311 
 
 under present consideration, has given these ancestors of 
 his a magnificent report, in his life of Henry VIII., and 
 notwithstanding his obvious personal interest in magnifying 
 the prowess and exalting the fame of those relatives from 
 whom he derived whatever he had to boast of lineal glories, 
 succeeding historians have taken his word, and merely 
 echoed or reproduced his overdrawn pictures as veritable 
 likenesses. A peep into the pages of that honest old his- 
 torian, Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, would have exhibited 
 them more faithfully pourtrayed, as furious demons rushing 
 through their fatherland, and with fire and sword blighting 
 the verdure of humanity ;* a disgraceful contrast to Ievan 
 ab Robert, the Welsh chieftain in the Lancasterian interest, 
 whose moderation towards the Yorkists in his power, and 
 filial consideration for the Cambrian soil he trod, forbad his 
 staining it with the blood of man. Lord Herbert dwells 
 especially upon the " Chivalry" of the Herberts, a term which 
 was intended to convey something infinitely superior to 
 mere personal courage ; but chivalry with them appeared 
 as an indefinite ficton of the Feudal ages, and proved as 
 hollow and heartless as the the hypocrisy of those who dress 
 themselves in an external garb of piety, when such vesture 
 " becomes the fashion at court." It is true onthe part of Sir 
 Richard Herbert, the younger brother, we have two in- 
 stances that aid to show a slight glimmering of humanity 
 lurking at the bottom of a heart, darkened and made callous 
 by the usages of war, in his pleading with his brother to 
 grant the prayer of the old woman of Anglesea, and his 
 manly reply to his dishonourable and brutal king, who re- 
 fused to ratify his terms with the Welsh captain, on the 
 capitulation of Harlech Castle. But of the elder brother, 
 William, earl of Pembroke, we have nothing on record to 
 
 * Sir John Wynne of Gwydir records numerous instances of the brutal in- 
 humanity of the Herbert s in their desolating course through NorthT^ales. ' 
 Among otter relations of their unsparing vindictiveness, he mentions that M Earl 
 Herberts desolation consumed the whole borough of Llanrwst, and all the vale 
 of Conway to cold cinders, whereof the print is yet extant ; the very stones of _. 
 the ruins of many habitations carrying yet the colour of fire." We may add, 
 meet monuments to the memory of such scourges of the human race, embel- . 
 lished forsooth ! as they were said to be, by the graces of the age of chivalry. 
 
 2 c 
 
312 GWENHWYVAR AND THE 
 
 distinguish him from the most common-minded man of the 
 sword. 
 
 They possessed the common .yirtue_ of courage in an 
 eminent degree ; the ruffian qualities of muscular strength 
 and fearlessness of danger, a mere matter of nerves and 
 muscles set in motion by the animal propensity of an in- 
 domitable self-will; but no generosity of sentiment, no 
 heroism properly so-called, could be attributed to them; 
 none of the great self-denying qualities that roused the ad- 
 miration of friends and foes to deify the valiant of the Greek 
 and Roman era. They were even deficient of common hu- 
 manity, much less those brighter attributes, which may be 
 called the civilization of warfare, in contradistinction to the 
 unscrupulous barbarity of slaughtering savages : the Her- 
 berts, in fact, were fitted only to shine their hour and be 
 extinguished, in a war of extermination, like that in which 
 they were engaged.* 
 
 Attired in the deepest mourning and absorbed in excessive 
 grief, the lady Gwenhwyvar presented herself before the earl 
 of Pembroke, and in the agony of despair entreated that her 
 husband's life might be spared, feelingly urging thatalthough 
 a nominal adherent of the house of Lancaster, he was un- 
 distinguished for any particular acts of hostility against his 
 opponents of the house of York ; and surely on no estimate 
 of demerits could his faults be found to deserve the extreme 
 punishment of death. Her pathetic pleading, as might be 
 expected, was unavailing : and although she implored in the 
 most touching accents of a broken heart, her solicitation 
 was harshly repulsed, and absolutely denied ; at the same 
 time, an intimation was given that his execution should take 
 place immediately. 
 
 With astonishing firmness of character, equalled only by 
 the tenderest spirit of conjugal affection, which distinguished 
 her entire life, Gwenhwyvar witnessed the dire deed that 
 widowed her; which took place in the neighbourhood of 
 Conway' Castle. An appalling ceremony followed, little cal- 
 
 * Had Sir Richard Herbert not been so entirely influenced by his relentless 
 brother, the earl of Pembroke, he would have been an exception to these ob- 
 servations, but as he followed in the same path of cruel devastation, reluctantly 
 or not, he cannot be exempted from the well-founded censures of posterity. 
 
OLD WOMAN OF ANGLESEA. 313 
 
 culated upon by the authors of this wanton and uncalled for 
 tragedy. When Gwenhwy var received the severed head of 
 her beloved husband in hexapxpu, she fixed her piercing gaze 
 on the face of Earl Herbert ; impenetrable as he was thought, 
 her words and manner appeared to thrill him to the heart's 
 core ; after pointing in emphatic silence to the ghastly ob- 
 ject, still quivering with recent life, a wild spirit of prophesy 
 seemed suddenly to inspire her with superhuman energy. 
 In the impassioned language of her%reat agony and despair, 
 she vehemently vowed that it should not fall unavenged :— ■ 
 that for the one foe destroyed in him, scores of enemies to 
 the house of York should start into being to punish his 
 murderers: and that the pitiless heart which denied her 
 prayer, should soon be as cold as that within the mutilated 
 trunk of her unhappy husband, and his severed head should 
 lie as low. 
 
 There is another case recorded of the unrelenting bar- 
 barity of the Earl of Pembroke, attended with a mother's 
 malediction as this was by the evil prophesy of a bereaved 
 wife. After having inflicted the utmost evil in their power 
 on the inhabitants of the other countries of North Wales 
 who had favoured the Lancasterians, the two brothers passed 
 over to the Island of Anglesea, where the unhappy people 
 became subject to similar severities. Seven brothers, who 
 were reported to have been zealous partizans of Lancaster, 
 and active opponents of the Yorkists, at length fell into the 
 dreaded power of the Earl of Pembroke, who immediately 
 sentenced them to be hanged. The mother of these un- 
 happy victims of the chances of civil war, came before the 
 Earl, and in the extreme agony of matronly despair im- 
 plored him to pardon two, out of her seven doomed sons, on 
 the plea that they were the youngest, mere boys, and conse- 
 quently incapable of having caused much evil to any party. 
 Her prayer was sternly denied; when the miserable mother 
 vehemently pleaded for the life of the youngest, 
 who was a mere child; — but although his gallant and 
 more generous brother Sir Richard Herbert, seconded her 
 petition, the Earl still continued inexorable, stigmatizing them 
 all as a nest of thieves and murderers, although in fact their 
 
314 GWENHWYVAR AND THE 
 
 ojil^_criraes were being of Lancasterian principles; he declared 
 them all equally guilty, and ordered them for execution. 
 
 It was then, that the ancient woman was seen to fall 
 upon her knees, and with a pair of wooden beads on her 
 arms, with her face piteously raised to heaven, as if appeal- 
 ing to the benevolence of the eternal power against the in- 
 humanity of man, she commenced the Roman Catholic 
 ceremony of foriixy;ly.«cj^jijQghim ; praying that " God's 
 mischief" might overwhelm him at the first battle in which 
 he might be engaged. 
 
 The haughty earl of Pembroke, however, paid as littl e 
 regard to her curses as to her previous prayers; especially 
 as the triumphant paeans of his party had deafened his ears 
 to the touching accents of maternal agony, and converted 
 the wailings of the foe into the music that he loved. The 
 star of York was in the ascendant ; and the insolence of 
 success had hardened the hearts of all, against the prostrate 
 enemies of their cause, while the dazzling splendours of 
 their fortune's luminary absolutely blinded them to the 
 possibility of a future downfall, or a distant day of retri- 
 bution. The failure of the Lancasterians, the deposition 
 and imprisonment of Henry VI., with the murder of his 
 son, were national events coincident with the triumph of the 
 rival house, when Edward IV. was formally enthroned, and 
 his warrior- par tizans became the partakers of his good fortune. 
 
 The latter part of our memoir of Ellen Gethin has indi- 
 cated the manner in which the peace was broken, and the 
 flames of war rekindled between the factions of York and 
 Lancaster, after Edward IV. had reigned eight years, and 
 the country, for that period had been comparatively tran- 
 quillized. As some circumstances connected with the fate 
 of the two Herberts are therein purposely omitted, we shall 
 supply them here. 
 
 Although so great a space of time had intervened, since 
 the ojd _woman of Anglesea uttered her malediction, 
 doubtless there were many, in that superstitious age, who 
 believed that her terrible words were not cast upon the 
 scattering winds, but had reached the ear of Omnipotence, 
 and that the day of retribution would yet become a verity. 
 
OLD WOMAN OF ANGLESEA. 315 
 
 Perhaps the haughty Herbert was not altogether free from 
 secret misgivings, on a point too strikingly urged not to be 
 impressed upon his memory, as the day of his first battle 
 after *« the curse" was approaching. That his brother Sir 
 Richard Herbert was powerfully affected by the scene, is 
 evident, both from his becoming an intercessor in favour of 
 the unhappy mother, and his behaviour in the hour pre- 
 ceding the fatal conflict. 
 
 " The Earl of Pembroke having arranged his men in order 
 of battle on the plain of J3anesmoor, found his brother Sir 
 Richard Herbert, leaning on his pole-axe, in a sad and pen- 
 sive manner; whereupon the earl said, " what, doth thy 
 greaJJbody apprehend any thiug, that thou art so melan- 
 choly, or art thou weary with marching, that thou dost lean 
 upon thy pole-axe? " Sir Richard replied" that he was nei- 
 ther, whereof he shonld see the proof presently, only I can- 
 not but apprehend on your part lest the curse of the woman 
 with the wooden beads fall upon you." It has been stated in 
 the memoir of Ellen Gethin, in what manner the battle of 
 Danesmoor was lost by the Yorkists, that with a more com- 
 petent general, could not fail of being won ; and how the 
 two Herberts became prisoners to the Lancasterians, by 
 whom they were doomed to deat h, with as little mercy as 
 in their own hour of triumph they had accorded to others. 
 The following anecdotes of them, and their behaviour at 
 their final hour exhibit them to advantage. Of "William 
 Earl of Pembroke it may be said that 4 nothing in his life 
 became him like his leaving of it;" we are told that "he 
 met his fate with the most noble fortitude and resignation, 
 and gave a memorable instance of contempt of death and 
 fraternal affection. As he was laying his head on the block, 
 he said to Sir John Conyer who ordered the execution, 
 ** let me die, for I am old ;* but save my brother, who is 
 young, lusty, and hardy, mete and apt to serve the greatest 
 prince in Christendom." 
 
 Had Sir Richard Herbert been the senior instead of the 
 junior brother, doubtless his career would have been 
 
 * This could only be meant in a comparative sense, the Earl's half brother 
 by their mother" s first marriage, Thomas ab Rosser, who fell in this battle 
 being then sixty, was probably about five years this nobleman's senior. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
 W*v«, 
 
316 GWENHWVVAR AND THE 
 
 far more brilliant, and distinguished in many instances with 
 magnanimous generosity, a trait of native character which 
 he appears to have checked, in deference to his elder and 
 ennobled brother; a man of great ferocity and gloomy 
 pride, and far his inferior in every merciful feeling and 
 ennobling virtue. The following anecdote of his bearing 
 before Edward IV., tells proudly in his favour, as a man of 
 the strictest honour and knightly integrity. 
 
 One of the great achievements of the Herberts was the 
 capture of H arlech c astle from the Lancasterians. Thut 
 fortress was held for Henry VI., by a Welsh chieftain 
 named Davydd ab Ieuan ab Eineon, a strong partizan of 
 the house of Lancaster. He was besieged here by William 
 Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, after a march through the heart 
 of our Cambrian Alps, attended with incredible difficulties 
 and dangers. In some places the soldiers were obliged to 
 climb, in others to creep and precipitate themselves down 
 the rocks ;* and at length they invested the place, till that 
 time deemed impregnable. Pembroke committed the care 
 of the siege to his brother Sir Richard Herbert who hap- 
 pened, singularly enough, to be in size and prowess on a 
 par with the Welsh commandant. In course of the siege 
 Sir Richard sent him repeatedly a summons to surrender, 
 but Davydd stoutly answered, and always in the same svordsj 
 "that he had once kept a castle in France so long, that his 
 defence of it became a subject of conversation among all the 
 old women of Wales ; and that he was determined to keep 
 this, till all the old women in France should hear and talk 
 of it." But famine, it is supposeiV-ftfr-leegth .subdued him, 
 and he yielded up the castle on honourable terms, Sir 
 Richard Herbert having pawned his honour foi? the secu- 
 rity of his life. Edward at first disavowed those terras, 
 when Sir Richard told him plainly, his highness might 
 take his life instead of that of the Welsh captain, for that he 
 would assuredly replace Davydd in the castle/and the king 
 might send whom he pleased to take him out, again. This pre- 
 vailed ; but Sir Richard received no reward for his services. 
 
 Sir Richard Herbert was a man of uncommon stature and 
 
 * This route still bears the name of Lie Herbert signifying Uerbert's place, or 
 route. 
 
OLD WOMAN OP ANGLE SEA. 317 
 
 prowess ; and in the days when heavy armour was worn, 
 and personal strength an object of high consideration, 
 greatly signalized himself in feats of arms. In the battle 
 of Danesmoor he displayed such striking instances of cou- 
 rage and force, as are scarcely to be equalled in the annals 
 of chivalry. With his pole-axe he made a lane, and passed 
 and returned twice through the enemy's army, killing with 
 his own hand one hundred and forty men ; which, according- 
 to his relative and biographer, from whom we quote, " is more 
 than is famed of Amadis de Gaul, or the knight of the sun." 
 
 "Much lamentation, and no less entreaty were made to 
 save his life, both for his goodly personage, and for the noble 
 chivalry which he had displayed in the field of battle." But 
 all intercession proved ineffectual ; the sentence was car- 
 ried into execution, and Sir Richard Herbert suffered death 
 with spirit and resignation. Lord Herbert of Cherbury thus 
 closeshis notice of this valiant knight : — " Thus fell Sir Rich- 
 ard Herbert, the intrepid soldier, and the flower of chivalry !" 
 
 The Earl of Pembroke was buried at Tintern Abbey ; 
 and Sir Richard Herbert in St. John's church, Abergavenny, 
 where a costly monument of very elaborate sculpture was 
 raised to his memory, near the magnificent tomb of his 
 mother the Lady Gwladys. They are now complete 
 wrecks,, the figures and ornaments of them broken and 
 defaced, from the indurability of the alabaster of which they 
 were composed : the mass of ruins seem to mock the vanity 
 of the erection, and pointedly to ridicule all human attempts 
 at perpetuating mortal glory.* 
 
 * The following description of this monument is transcribed from—" Cox's 
 History of Monmouthshire." 
 
 " Beneath an alabaster monument containing two recumbent figures under 
 an arch between the chapel and the choir are deposited the remains of Sir 
 Richard Herbert of Coldbrook and Margaret his wife ; the tomb is orna- 
 mented on the sides with a variety of figures in relievo, but so defaced as to be 
 with difficulty made out. The figures are recumbent with uplifted hands; Sir 
 Richard Herbert is represented in a full suit of mail, with his head bare, and 
 supported by a sheaf of arrows, whijh was his crest. His feet rest on a lion. 
 His lady is habited in a long robe, her head reposes on a cushion, supported by 
 two figures, much broken— in all probability angels; and her feet rest upon two 
 dogs." We may add to this, that as the duck wings that generally distinguish 
 sepulchral angels, are absent without leave, it requires a discerning eye to dis- 
 cover which are the .logs and which the angels. 
 
GWENLLIAN, 
 
 ^ SIXTEENTH DAUGHTEK OF BRYCHAN BRECHEINIOG, WIFE OF 
 LLYR MERINI, AND MOTHER OF CARADOC YRAICH-VRAS. 
 
 Gwenllian, the seventeent h daughter of Brychan, was 
 married to Llyr Marini, who in different accounts is described 
 both as "lord of Gloucester," and " a chieftain of the North 
 of England." He was the son of Meirchion Cul-Galed and 
 brother to Kynvarch-oer, the husband of Drynwin, Gwen- 
 llian's fifth sister. Like many of her sisters, the glory of 
 Gwenllian was in becoming the mother of a most illustrious 
 son, Caradoc Vraich-vras, or Caradoc of the Brawny || ( A t rm . 
 
 This celebrated chieftain was contemporary "with King 
 Arthur, Urien Rheged, and other worthies of that stirring 
 and romantic age, including the bards, Taliesin, Aneurin, 
 and Llywarch-hen. He is said to have conquered a portion 
 of the Western, or mountainous part of Breconshire, either 
 from some of his uncles, or their children. Latterly how- 
 ever, the whole of the principality of Brecheiniog devolved 
 upon him, as its sovereign. Theophilus Jones says, " many 
 arguments might be adduced to prove that Caradoc Vraich- 
 vras was brought into Breconshire by the general consent, 
 if not by the invitation of the inhabitants, at that time suf- 
 fering under the oppression of an usurper, whose defeat, 
 about the latter end of the sixth century, conferred upon 
 his competitor the government of that part of the country 
 over which he ruled." 
 
 In right of his wife's father, it seems, he became "lord of 
 Gloucester," and claimed the sovereignty of the province of 
 Brecheiniog by his maternal descent from Brychan, as well as 
 by conquest or election. Caradoc Vraich-vras is also 
 named as one of the most celebrated of King Arthur's 
 kni ghts of the ^un' o ^TaUI e, and the lord keeper of y Cas- 
 tell DoldYus" or the DolorusTovyer ; which was no other 
 than a dungeon, where prisoners of war or traitors of the 
 state were confined.* Dispensing with the wonderful stories 
 * This officer, in after times, was denominated Constable of the Keep. 
 

 GWENLLIAN. 319 
 
 told of him by the Romance writers, we are informed by 
 Carte, upon the authority of a Triad (No. 64 in the Myvy- 
 rian Archaeology), that Caradoc Vraiach-vras was king or 
 prince of the i j K prnish Brjft-Qfl s. in the latter end of the reign 
 of King Arthu£ "Onexamining the Triad in question, this 
 is very clearly disproved by the Breconshire historian, who 
 also by another Triad established the fact, that this knight 
 or chieftain, as a courtier of Kin^ Arthur 's by his office of 
 president of the council, was bound to attend his sovereign, 
 in his ambulatory courts, one of which was in Cornwall; 
 whence the mistake in supposing him to have been a sove- 
 reign prince of that country, while in reality both he and 
 his descendants were settled in Breconshire. Caradoc 
 Vraich-vras has been celebrated in the bardic strains of 
 Taliesin and Aneurin, and most especially in several of these 
 curious historical documents of the ancient Britons — the 
 Triads. In one of them he is recorded as one of the grand 
 supporters or defenders of the principality of Wales. " The 
 three beloved chiefs of Arthur's court, who never could bear 
 a superior in their families ; of whom Arthur sung the follow- 
 ing stanza : — 
 
 " My three good knights for battle's shock, 
 Mael and Lludd, in armour clad, 
 And that same brave intrepid lad, 
 The prop of Wales, Caradoc."* 
 
 It is to be remarked, that Caradoc Vraich-vras, in common 
 with Arthur and his other knights, shine both in history and 
 romance. To separate the latter from the former has been 
 our aim ; but when we have to mention his wife, history 
 seems to sink, as romance rises. Her name was Tegau 
 Euvron ; by some translated Fair one, silver breasted; per- 
 haps the latter part refers to the ornaments she wore. Theo- 
 philus Jones confesses he can make nothing of it ; his words 
 are : — w a name, the definition of wkich, I am at a loss to 
 account for. If all the pedigrees were not against me, I 
 
 • The original runs thus :— «« Tii anwyl Llys Arthur, a thri chadvarchawg ^ 
 ni Vynassant Penteulu arnynt erioed, ac y cant Arthur englyn iddynt, nid-j 
 amgen.Sev:"— 
 
 " Yw vy nrhi Carvarchawc, 
 Mael a Llydd Llygyrrawc, 
 A cholovn Cymru Cradawc. 
 
 c. 2 
 wc. M \ 
 
320 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 should have conceived it ought to be written T6g ei Vron, 
 or Fairbosom." She is said to be the daughter of King 
 Pelynor (perhaps Pwll mawr), and was celebrated by the 
 bards as one of the three eminently chaste women of Britain, 
 who possessed three valuable ornaments, of which she alone 
 was reputed worthy ; her knife, her golden goblet, and her 
 mantle. The last was certainly with great propriety es- 
 teemed one of the thirteen curiosities of the Isle of 
 Britain. It would not fit, nor could it be worn by any but 
 a chaste woman. Theophilus Jones adds : — " Percy, in his 
 reliques of ancient poetry, has a long ballad or tale in rhyme 
 upon this subject, which has little to recommend it besides 
 its antiquity.* 
 
 * As a matter of taste, we must heartily protest against this opinion. It is 
 true, the unweeded ancient ballad referred to, is slightly faulty on the score of 
 indelicacy, which has been entirely removed in the modernized edition of it, in 
 the Cambrian Wreath. It is full of the most ludicrous incidents ; and the Boy 
 and*the Mantle has always been considered, besides its entertaining qualities 
 one of the most singular vestiges of antique British balladry. The reader can 
 form his own opinion of it by referring to page 74 in this work. 
 
z 
 
 GWENLLIAN, 
 
 j«A,- 
 
 1 i ° 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 HEIRESS OF THE VALE OF CLEWYD, DAUGHTER OF RHYS AB 
 MARCHANT, AND WIFE OF GWERNWY AB MARIEN AB MOR- 
 GENEN AB CYMX'AB GWAITHVOED, A CELEBRATED CHIEF- 
 TAIN OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 
 
 AlO'.HaoGH-mtrst'Tsf tire "original -Welsh names of women, 
 suj^a»H3ina, Angharad, Swtedys, and Mevanwy, have 
 ^g£o W ».«e«#-@fe-«t&age with our modern *aee, except in such 
 rare instances as where a revival of Welsh nationality has 
 encouraged a taste for their restoration among the " literary 
 few " in our land, s4iU^ihe*4^ra*8*o£ €»wenlHan retains all its 
 a*e4eat~p©pula^y^ai3ti'gefi«ra^ 
 
 bj^-4Je*€r^feeen-4i«e^mtk}u^-^^ny period of- our-history. 
 Jbijtf^4>r>ese»t»^^jA^ rural 
 
 population both of North and South Wales ; in the former, 
 tk@*f>e4ftte*i*H3»4ia^^^ and in the latter 
 
 GUBaaft^E-and few are the districts in- whieha "dozen or 
 twft*of-JSFW«nny->vachs are- no^t to be founder English writers 
 oil -Wales have frequently endeavoured to identify this name 
 with. WianJJredr ancUWinny , -with either-of which; however, 
 it^ha#*»othing to do ; and we can only pity the stupid bad 
 taste of those who would sacrifice all national appellations at 
 the shrine of their own prejudices, in their works of fact or \ 
 fiction. 
 
 It is difficult, however, to account for tj^popularity of 
 the name of Gwenlliarii throughout Waljfs, as no definite 
 ideas are now entertain ed\of the meaning which it conveys. 
 In these days, when the gkass-bleacj^d fabrications of the 
 Irish loom are among the Wst common articles in vogue, 
 its origin may appear almost m (porously simple; as it is de- 
 rived from Gwen, the feminine of white, and Llian, linen 
 cloth ; which combined formi the designation of white-linen. 
 In a note to his brief notice of the lady of this memoir, in 
 the Royal Tribes of Wales, Yorke remarks as an apology 
 for the apparent homeliness of toe name, " linen was so rare 
 in the reign of Charles the Seventh, of France, who lived 
 

 ! 
 
 322 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 about the time of our Henry the Sixth, that her*Majesty the 
 Queen could boast of only two shifts of that commodity." 
 Ben Jonson, in a much later and more courtly age, has used 
 such similes for symmetrical beauty as " a skein of silk," and 
 "a fair page of a printed book," each of which, however 
 common now, was once rare and new, and is still undeniably 
 beautiful ; change of times, therefore, has no power to ren- 
 der the name by any means derogatory to its origin, as a 
 symbol of purity. 
 
 On further researches respecting the origin of the name 
 of Gwenllian, we were not a little surprised to find that Dr. 
 Davies, in his Lexicon, derives it from Gwe?i, white ; and 
 Llian, a vestal virgin or nun. But the learned lexicographer 
 has not informed us how the worcl llian^ literally linen cloth, 
 came also to signify a vestal virgiri\or Nun. We shall, how- 
 ever, venture to assume, that the Costume, or drapery of a 
 certain order of Nuns being of white linen, in the course of 
 time they were so designated from t^eir dress, perhaps in 
 contradistinction to those who were clacLin black, and called 
 the white-clothed, or Gwenllians- That\such a name, thus 
 sanctified, should become a favourite with fond and pious 
 parents, who bestowed it; like a blessing, on their little 
 daughters at the baptismal font, is by no means surprising ; 
 suggesting as it does the beau-ideal of spotless purity, con- 
 secrated by the adoption of religious characteristics. 
 
 To support the probable correctness of this assumption, 
 we shall point out the following parallel case of a designation 
 that has deviated from its origin, and firmly fixed itself in 
 general usage till the corruption has become legitimatized. 
 Llan, in its first or literal sense> signified an inclosure, or 
 the embanking and hedging round or walling of a piece 
 of ground, to fix its limits, or boundary. Secondly, the ap- 
 plication of the word became . exclusively to an enclosure 
 about a church and its ground or yard ; and thirdly, it be- 
 came the term for the church itself — entirely supplanting 
 the proper word Eglwys* throughout North Wales, but 
 not in the southern division of the principality. 
 
 * The church, or building so called, is invariably styled yr Eglwys, in South 
 Wales, and y Llan most frequently in the North. The adoption of the latter 
 
HEIRESS OF THE VALE OF CLEWYD. 323 
 
 Gwenllian, the subject of this memoir, was the highly 
 dowered daughter of the affluent chieftain Rhys ab Marchan 
 ab Cynwrig ab Cynddelw Gam, and lived about the be- 
 ginning of the tenth century. For eminence she was called 
 Heiress of Dyffryn Clwyd, in which glorious valley, as 
 Yorke remarks, " she had great possessions." Consequently, 
 in the modern sense of female appreciation she was a very 
 desirable woman,* and as we have no data for recording any 
 especial virtues that graced the existence of this fair lady, 
 the following brief chronicle of her property may not be un- 
 interesting to the curious in heiresses. Gwenllian was the 
 owner of seven townships in the neighbourhood of Ruthin. 
 Her sovereign and kinsman, Prince Bleddyn ab Cynvin, 
 took much interest in her happiness, and married her to his 
 cousin Gwernwy ab Marien ab Morgenen ab Cynan ab 
 Gwaithvoed, a chieftain of considerable note. To make him 
 a suitable match for so great an heiress, and in reward of his 
 military services to himself and his country, he bestowed on 
 him seven townships, a parallel number with Gwenllian's. 
 These are Almor, Trevalun, Gresford, Allington, Lleprog- 
 vawr, Lleprog-vechan, and Trevnant. 
 
 It seems the only issue from this union was a son named 
 Eunydd, who succeeded to the extensive possessions of both 
 his parents ; and stands recorded as the head of one of the 
 Fifteen Tribes of Wales. Her grandson Ithel ab Eunydd 
 
 term in that sense, points to the earlier and more general corruption, prior to 
 which the church signified the communicants, and not the mass of masonry so 
 designated in after times. 
 
 * In Coleman the younger's Comedy of John Bull, we have the following 
 Morceau in a scene between the Honourable Tom Shuffleton, a fashionable 
 scamp, and Frank Rochdale the son of a borough-mongering Cornish Baronet, 
 illustrative of the term " a desirable woman." 
 
 Frank. — Give mejoy — I am going to be married. 
 
 Honourable Tom. — To how much? 
 
 Frank.— How like a modern man of the world's your question ! formerly 
 they would have asked to whom. 
 
 Honourable Tom.— We never do at the West end of the Town— what's the 
 sum? 
 
 Fran k — Fifty thousand pounds. 
 
 Honourable Tom.— What a devilish desirable woman ! my dear fellow I wish 
 you joy. 
 
 D 2 
 
324 GWENLLIAN, HEIRESS 0E THE VALE OF CLEWY©. 
 
 had six sons, and these six great grandsons of Gwernwy and 
 Gwenllian jointly gave the land on which the beautiful church 
 of Gresford is built. " This is a fact well known/' says 
 Lewis Dwnn, the antiquary, " the sepulchres of the grand- 
 children of the said Ithel are in the church of Gresford." 
 
 Yorke, in his " Royal Tribes of Wales," concludes a note 
 on Gwenllian with the following inquiry ; " should not the 
 gentlemen of this tribe, (that of Dyfiryn Clwyd and Alling- 
 ton,) carry their ancestress's arms, Azure, a fess, Or, 
 between three nags heads, erased Argent ; at least quartered 
 with their own, since she was so considerable an heiress." 
 This question can be answered only by the learned in Welsh 
 heraldry. Williams in his " Cambrian Biography of 
 eminent Welshmen," states " that her son Eunydd bore for 
 his arms, Azure a lion rampant salient Or, wherewith he 
 quartered his mother's coat, being azure between three 
 Nag's heads erased argent, a less Or." 
 
Y%JL W^JUmU^ «5n4 
 
 3 
 
 
 GWENLLIAN, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF GRIFFITH AB KUNNAN* AND ANGHARAD, KING 
 AND QUEEN OF NORTH WALES, AND WIFE OF GRIFFITH 
 AB REES AB TUDOR, PRINCE OF SOUTH WALES. 
 
 t 
 
 Gwenllian was the youngest of the four sons and five 
 daughters of the above-named sovereigns. She was born at the 
 ^oyalpalace of Abervraw, in the island of Anglesea, about 
 the year V5WT~Yi has been shewn in the life of her mother, 
 that her infancy, childhood, and youth, were passed amidst 
 the most perilous and tumultuous times ever known in her 
 country, when English aggression overwhelmed her native 
 land with such startling disasters as threatened the utter 
 annihilation of its future independence as a nation. As 
 there are no incidents ©n record respecting her early life, 
 except that, like the rest of her family, her youth was spent 
 amidst the terrors of sudden invasion, or in scenes of actual 
 contention, we shall pass on to what has, been generally 
 deemed the most momentous of events in the existence of a 
 female, the period when she first attracted the gaze of man's 
 admiration. 
 
 In the year 1114, when Gwenllian was a blooming beauty 
 of seventeen, an illustrious visitor, often the subject of their 
 family conversation, and long expected, appeared at the 
 royal palace of Abervraw. This was the young prince 
 Griffith, son of her father's ancient friend Rees Tudor, 
 whose arms at the decisive battle of Carno proved mainly 
 instrumental in recovering for him, the throne of his ances- 
 tors which he then enjoyed. 
 
 As we have had to treat of so many contemporaneous 
 characters in the respective lives of Angharad, queen of 
 Griffith ab Kunnan ; of Nest, daughter of Rees ab Tudor ; 
 
 * According to Welsh orthography this name is written Gryffudd ab Cynan, 
 and Rees ab Tudor, is written Rhys ab Tewdwr ; from which we deviate to 
 avoid the mispronunciation of the English reader. 
 
 " The gallant Gweffian who battled till death." 
 
326 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 of Nest, daughter of Iestyn ab Gwrgant; and now of 
 Gwenllian, the subject of our present memoir; in each of 
 which we have had occasion, incidentally to narrate some 
 particulars in the life of this prince (Griffith ab Rees,) there- 
 fore some repetitions will be found to occur, which however 
 are essential, to make this narrative effectively per- 
 spicuous. 
 
 In this memoir, especially, it becomes necessary to remind 
 the reader of some of the earliest incidents of his life, 
 When his father, the venerable Rees ab Tudor, at ninety- 
 years of age was overthrown in Glamorgan by the united 
 forces of Iestyn ab Gwrgant, and the Norman baron Fitz- 
 hamon, and at the instigation of the former beheaded; two 
 of the sons of Rees were still in the field, at the head of 
 their late father's army, that was soon after entirely routed. 
 These were Gorono, the eldest, and Kunnan.* The former 
 was soon taken, and like his illustrious father, beheaded. 
 The unfortunate Kunnan was then literally hunted to death ; 
 being very closely pursued in his retreat towards the vale of 
 Towey, to save his life he plunged into a lake called Crem- 
 lyn, and aimed to swim over it, but was drowned in the 
 attempt.f Thus, there were but two surviving, of the four 
 sons of the late sovereign of South Wales ; these were 
 Gwenllian, daughter of prince Griffith ab Griffith, soon to 
 be in the closest ties of relationship with the lady of this 
 memoir, and his youngest brother Howel. Both Griffith 
 and Howel were at this time in their infancy ; and being 
 the next claimants in the succession to the crown of South 
 Wales, were in eminent peril of their lives both from the 
 insatiable ambition and relentless cruelty of Iestyn ab Gwr- 
 gant, and the equally ferocious emissaries of the King of 
 England. In what manner the life of Howel was preserved, 
 how, where, or by whom he was concealed and nurtured 
 has never been made clear by any of our historians, although 
 it stands recorded that he was at length in his boyhood 
 
 * In "Welsh -written Cynan, but pronounced Kunnan. 
 
 ■f From this circumstance the lake had its name changed, and was ever 
 after called Llyn Cynan, or Kunnan's lake. 
 
GWENLLIAN. 327 
 
 captured and imprisoned by the English.* To secure the 
 life of Griffith, whose heirship to the throne of South Wales 
 had placed him in especial danger, he was sent, for safety 
 and education to Ireland, where all the claims of a fugitive 
 prince and w heir of dominion" were most hospitably ex- 
 tended to him, by Murcart the reigning King of Dublin, 
 There he remained till this period, when he was twenty-five 
 years of age; and now returned with all the gifts and 
 graces of a young warrior, panting for an opportunity to 
 distinguish himself in arms, for the recovery of his long- 
 lost sovereignty and dominions. 
 
 Prince Griffith ab Rees was received with great cordiality 
 by the royal family of North Wales. Griffith ab Kunnan 
 could not but recollect, with feelings of intense gratitude 
 his obligations to his late father, when he was precisely in 
 the same predicament as his son, his present guest, a 
 wandering refugee, throneless, and even homeless ; and yet, 
 such was his unfortunate position, he dared not openly to 
 appear as his friend, dreading the consequent hostility of 
 that cunning, capable, but. unscrupulous, and most rapacious 
 sovereign, Henry I, King of England ; who had already, 
 to the keen eye of the observing politician, divulged his plans 
 for the annexation of South Wales to his own dominions. 
 However, for some time, Griffith ab Rees was entertained 
 as happily as he could have wished, among the family of the 
 northern prince, of whose scruples to befriend and assist 
 him, he was not yet aware. It was soon discovered, that of 
 all the females of the royal family, his especial attentions 
 were devoted to Gwenllian ; who, flattered by his preference, 
 we may conceive by after results, was by no means back- 
 ward in meeting his respectful advances : for coquetry at 
 this period, had not been studied as an art, supposed to en- 
 hance the merits of female attraction. 
 
 It may be conceived with what an all absorbing interest 
 
 * Parry in his life of Khys ab Tewdwr, has omitted altogether the name 
 of Howel. In the like manner he makes no reference whatever to the after 
 fate of the female raemhers of that scattered and ruined royal family,- except 
 respecting Nest, the daughter of that Prince, who became the wife of Gerald 
 de Windsor, after being the mistress of Henry I. 
 2 d 2 
 
328 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 this younger daughter of a royal family beheld this young 
 prince, whose grievous wrongs, romantic adventures, and 
 unmerited sufferings had been so frequently the subject of 
 her parents' conversation, before his arrival ; — but now she 
 saw and conversed with the long pitied being with whom 
 her secret soul so deeply sympathised : — beheld in him the 
 future liberator of his country from English usurpation, whose 
 arrival his depressed subjects so long looked for — and more 
 than all perhaps, when she learnt from him the acknow- 
 ledged power of her own fascination, her entire soul appeared 
 to have become devoted to him, 
 
 Happy were the days thus spent by Griffith ab Rees at 
 the court of North Wales. The princes Owen 
 Gwyneth and Cadwalader, he found to be as manly in ath- 
 letic sports and exercises as courteous and refined in man- 
 ners. The venerable Queen Angharad treated him like a 
 son, and all her daughters like a brother, although one or 
 two perhaps might look a little askance at the preference 
 which he manifested for the youthful Gweullian. Griffith ab 
 Kunnan the aged king, " like a grey Lion," as one of our 
 poets has happily described him, became somewhat distant 
 though civil ; and latterly grew cold and even petulant, 
 when the subject of the enterprise of the prince of South 
 Wales became the theme of family conversation* The 
 natural shrewdness of Griffith ab Rees enabled him soon to 
 detect this peculiar bearing of the old prince, from which 
 he dreaded the worst results. But with the manly frank- 
 ness so peculiar to him, he determined soon to learn from 
 his own lips, how far he might depend upon his friendship 
 and assistance. 
 
 At length the prince of South Wales found an op- 
 portunity for the private conference with his royal host 
 which he had for some time sought ; and explained to him 
 the nature of his hopes and expectations. He conjured him, 
 by the friendship which he bore his father, to assist him 
 with military forces^ whereby he might commence his cam- 
 paign for the recovery of his dominions ; assuring him that 
 besides the assistance in men and arms which he had been 
 promised by the generous king of Dublin, that South Wales, 
 
GWENLLIAN. 
 
 329 
 
 throughout all its hills and valtes, would declare for him and 
 be up in arms, as intimated to him by many of its most 
 powerful chieftains as soon as he appeared there at the head 
 of an army. 
 
 This was exactly the point which the northern prince was 
 predetermined to evade, as long as possible, and like all equi- 
 vocators, ultimately to deny altogether the assistance sought, 
 for the politic reasons before referred to. The plain straight- 
 forwardness of the young prince, unpractised in the arts of 
 political negociation, served him better on this occasion, 
 than the deepest experience in machiavelian wiles and state 
 chicanery. The artless honesty of his appeal took the old 
 prince by surprise ; and the sophistry which he had prepared 
 for his defence against the reasoning of a deeper diplo- 
 matist, was utterly nullified, and fell to the ground unused. 
 His only refuge from yielding a direct reply was to assure 
 him of the insurmountable difficulties presented by the 
 watchful vigilancy of the English court, and the numerous 
 forces of the Barons, who exercised a vice-regal authority 
 in the marches, and were unassailably potent in their 
 numerous castles throughout the Cambrian territory. In 
 conclusion he advised him to defer, if he would not be per- 
 suaded to yield up his views altogether ; and here their con- 
 ference terminated. 
 
 Bitterly chagrined at his disappointment the young 
 Prince now felt the necessity of a graceful acquiescence with 
 his destiny— of " yielding to the force of circumstances/' as 
 Napoleon designated such a condition; and of *' waiting 
 the births of time," as Cromwell philosophically has de- 
 scribed such a state of inaction in a revolutionary warrior's 
 life. Accordingly he now resolved to remain quiet for the 
 present, among the royal family of North Wales, and spend 
 those hours in reflection and observation, which he would 
 more gladly have devoted to action, had circumstances 
 favoured his aspirations. By this turn in his affairs, how- 
 ever thwarted ambition might feel it, he became a gainer in 
 real felicity, as he thus continued in daily intercourse with 
 the gentle Gwehllian, the lady of our memoir. 
 
 Early misfortunes, frequent and heavy vicissitudes, a 
 
330 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 whole life worn, wasted, and chafed in warfare, had long 
 checked the native daring and intrepidity of soul, which 
 had distinguished the early career of the once heroic 
 Griffith ab Kunnan. His energies exhausted, and now 
 desirous only of repose, the homely and selfish virtue of 
 prudence had entirely supplanted his former dauntless 
 characteristics. Like several other Welsh sovereigns, his 
 predecessors as well as his successors, this prince com- 
 menced his daring life like a bounding Lion, the terror of 
 all opponents; and ended it like a jaded war steed, aged and 
 war-worn, whose brightest laurels seemed trodden into 
 litter; his only desire a tranquil shelter, where he could 
 spend his latest hours in peace, and then lie down and die, 
 free from all disquietude whether of domestic altercation or 
 foreign broil. 
 
 Griffith ab Kunnan's statement respecting the vigilance 
 of the English court, in observing all movements within the 
 Cambrian territory, was quite correct, although uttered 
 iu the spirit of evasive confusion — an accidental truth of 
 lamentable accuracy ; for a very brief space of time had 
 elapsed before Henry was informed of the landing of Griffith 
 ab Rees, his reception at the court of North "Wales, and the 
 evasion, amounting to a refusal of Griffith ab Kunnan to 
 assist him with an army to support his pretensions. Henry 
 now had recourse to a scheme of some profundity to frus- 
 trate the future attempts of the prince of South Wales. He 
 sent a letter composed in the most flattering terms to Griffith 
 ab Kunnan, highly calculated to sooth and inflate his natural 
 pride, wherein he addressed him as his friend and brother 
 sovereign, concluding with a cordial invitation to pay him 
 a visit. Having hitherto received nothing from Henry but 
 the severe inflictions of his invading armies, and the repeated 
 threats of annihilating the native population of Wales, and 
 re-peopling it with Englishmen, his present condescension 
 and offer of friendship on equal terms without any assump- 
 tion of superiority, quite overcame the old prince, and under- 
 mined his habitual cautiousness of character. Contrary to 
 the wishes of his counsellors, his queen, and family, he ac- 
 cepted the invitation; and, as an honourable escort of a 
 
GWENLLIAN. 331 
 
 splendid description was already prepared, consisting of the 
 English nobles, who were the bearers of the king's letter, 
 with the addition of a slight retinue of his own, the prince 
 of North Wales, and the whole cavalcade set off for the 
 English capital. 
 
 Previous to the departure of the prince of North Wales 
 for the English court, Howel the younger brother of Griffith 
 ab Rees made his escape from the custody of Arnulph, lord 
 of the castle of Montgomery, and went to his brother Rees 
 at the court of Griffith ab Kunnan. There are but few re- 
 cords of the life of this unhappy youth — one more of the 
 living relics of Rees ab Tudor's ruined and far-scattered 
 family : — it would appear that in early life he was by some 
 means torn from his relatives and natural protectors, and 
 brought up among the English lords of castles in Wales, 
 literally a child-prisoner of state, for whose security those 
 who held him in custody were answerable to the king of 
 England. Probably he was destined by that unscrupulous 
 monarch, like his elder brother, for that destruction which 
 was only postponed till he could be detected in seeking the 
 restoration of some portion of the lost honors of his house 
 and family. The touching scene of their meeting — the long 
 estranged brothers, who by the most calamitous of destinies 
 had been separated from infancy, must have been interesting 
 in the highest degree to the gallant sons and amiable daugh- 
 ters of the aged sovereign of North Wales ; and doubtless 
 neither the last nor least of partakers in the general sym- 
 pathy was the benevolent old Queen Angharad. To the 
 young Gwenllian, it must have been a very gratifying cir- 
 cumstance, that the long lost brother of her admirer was at 
 length restored to him, and thus one scource of deep anxiety 
 removed. Griffith pleasingly felt he was no longer a lonely 
 branch on the stricken tree of Cambrian royalty. He now 
 had found in his long sundered brother, a friend and partizan 
 in the future enterprizes which he contemplated. 
 
 At the time of Griffith ab Kunnan's departure for the 
 English court two years had expired since Griffith ab Rees 
 had first become his guest. That time had neither been 
 spent in idleness, nor altogether in promoting his love-suit 
 
332 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 with the lady of this memoir. It appears that during this 
 interval he had visited his sister Nest and her husband 
 Gerald de Windsor at Pembroke castle ; and doubtless 
 mixed much with the chieftains of the South, to sound their 
 inclinations towards his future proceedings for the recovery 
 of their long lost national independence. In these excur- 
 sions it is probable he went forth in disguise ; as he was 
 given to understand agents and spies from England hired to 
 assassinate him were neither few nor faint in their purpose 
 to earn King Henry's reward. 
 
 Previous to his departure from Ireland he was led to 
 expect, from the representations of certain chiefs who had 
 visited him in his retreat, and vehemently urged his speedy 
 return to his native country, that thousands of his natural 
 subjects would flock to his standard as soon as it became 
 unfurled, and that his army would meet reinforcements 
 wherever he appeared, as he advanced into the country and 
 announced himself the son of the late Rees ab Tudor, and 
 their present sovereign by right of inheritance. Of this 
 romantic view of the subject he found nothing verified : con- 
 sequently he listened with suspicion to all whom he found 
 too prone to gloss over the existing impediments, and to 
 represent his intended course as a smooth plain of flowers. 
 He wisely resolved to subdue his chagrin, and disabuse his 
 mind by rejecting all such highly coloured representations, 
 and rely only on those probabilities founded on his own 
 actual experience, and that of a few sage and trusty par- 
 tizans in whom he felt warranted in confiding. He now 
 found that during his long minority and exile, a strange and 
 unnatural degeneracy had taken possession of the minds of 
 his countrymen, many of whom took part with the invaders 
 of their country against the few generous patriots who staked, 
 and in many instances lost their all in defending it. The 
 general depravity had produced national anarchy and hos- 
 tility to order among the Welsh, which enabled those who 
 coveted their possessions to make an easy prey of them, by 
 fomenting intestine quarrels. In these civil conflicts, when 
 each party had exhausted his means of hostility, in stepped 
 the wily Norman, who had either been invited, or had 
 
GWENLLIAN. d33 
 
 arrogated to himself the office of umpire, and with his over- 
 whelming forces trod down the claims of both, and seized for 
 himself the subject of contention. Thus it has ever been, 
 and ever will be, in all countries where a third party is in- 
 vited or allowed to interfere between two conflicting dis- 
 putants in a nation. 
 
 Well might the royal family of North Wales feel alarmed 
 at the probable consequences of the aged king, now almost 
 in his dotage, being brought in contact with a prince so 
 corrupt and unprincipled as the then reigning king of Eng- 
 land. The boasted learning which gained him the surname 
 of Beauclerc, or the Scholar, was of a description that tended 
 more to vitiate the heart, and make it revel in the abomi- 
 nations of its all-absorbing selfishness, than to enlighten 
 and civilize his species. In our memoir of the Lady Nest, 
 we have attempted to delineate the character of this royal 
 libertine and patron of assassins ; therefore it becomes un- 
 necessary here to repeat what is to be found a few pages off. 
 His fascinating manners, daring immorality, and dangerous 
 political aims, made him a perilous companion for the old 
 Northern sovereign. Griffith ab Kunnan on the contrary, 
 was an aged prince of simple tastes and plain manners ; and 
 although at an earlier period of his life rather given to some 
 of Henry's favourite foibles in what has been called " his 
 inordinate love of women ;'* in later days he became more 
 morally correct in conduct, and severely serious in his 
 demeanor. Henry was not slow in discovering that one of 
 the surviving passions of his royal guest whom he aimed to 
 dupe, was for Bacchanalian enjoyments ; and accordingly 
 ministered copiously to that fatal weakness, through which 
 he made the necessary breaches for assailing the citadel of 
 his highest virtues. The credulity of the Welsh sovereign, 
 founded upon his own sincerity, made him blind to the arts 
 of Henry, and slow to credit the duplicity attributed to him 
 by his own attendant councillors ; so that from the evils of 
 this eventful and fatal visit he lost his previous character 
 for the most ennobling virtues that could adorn a royal 
 personage. 
 
 A faint sketch of the reception and entertainment of 
 
334 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 Griffith ab Kunnan, at the court of Henry I., and the 
 consequences that followed have been rendered by *the 
 old chroniclers, in their usual meagre style ; and the 
 few details handed down to us are thus stated by Dr. Mal- 
 kin, one of the most judicious of our Welsh tourists ; as- 
 sisted as he was by the antiquarian researches of Edward 
 Williams. 
 
 *«When the king heard this" (the meeting between the 
 two brothers, Griffith and Howell, the sons of Rees ab 
 Tudor)," he sent messengers in the most nattering manner 
 to Griffith ab Kunnan, inviting him to his court in London, 
 with a princely guard for his safe conduct. Having enter- 
 tained him nobly for some time, and bestowed on him very 
 numerous and rich presents of gold, silver, and jewels, the 
 king disclosed his mind to his royal guest, and represented 
 what danger it would be to him and his principality of 
 North Wales, to protect or assist Griffith ab Rees. He 
 promised to Griffith ab Kunnan his dominions and estates, 
 to be held freely, and his rights or prerogatives according 
 to his own will and wishes, with whatever support he might 
 on any occasion want, if he would only send Griffith ab 
 Rees a prisoner to him, or else put him to death privately, 
 and transmit his head, as an incontestible evidence of the 
 deed. Cruel and disgraceful as such an act must have 
 appeared, Griffith ab Kunnan bound himself to the king by 
 an oath to perform it. But he related this in a fit of intoxi- 
 cation at the king's court, and was overheard by one of 
 Gerald's relations, who sent a messenger on full speed with 
 the information. Gerald acquainted his wife Nest, sister to 
 Griffith ab Rees with the whole affair ; and she, with all 
 possible haste sent messengers to her brothers in North 
 Wales, t% inform them of the plot against their lives. As 
 soon as they heard of it they put themselves into the 
 sanctuary of the church. 
 
 44 When Griffith ab Kunnan returned to North Wales, he 
 inquired for his own guests, and on being informed where 
 they were, sent an armed force to fetch them away. This, 
 the Ecclesiastics would not suffer, alleging it to be inconsis- 
 tent with their holy office to consent that the sanctuary of 
 
GWENLLIAN. 335 
 
 God and his saints should be violated. While this was in 
 debate between the clergy and the officers of the northern 
 king, a ship from Pembrokeshire arrived off the coast. The 
 sailors compassionating the condition of the two princes, 
 took them into their ship and conveyed them in safety to 
 South Wales." 
 
 It has been stated by some historians that Gerald de 
 Windsor assisted his brother-in-law Griffith ab Rees in his 
 ambitious projects of recovering the sovereignty of South 
 Wales. The preceeding extract would seem to favour that 
 supposition, the fact, however, is very doubtful. Gerald, 
 from his position as the English king's lieutenant and re- 
 presentative in South Wales, could not have supported the 
 pretensions of Griffith without being in actual rebellion 
 against his sovereign. But that he should secretly have 
 connived at his assumptions, at the instigation of his wife» 
 is very probable ; considering with what a boundless degree 
 of affection he loved "the beautiful Nest/' as manifested in 
 his reception of her, after the many years of involuntary 
 absence, occasioned by her abduction by the villanous 
 Owen ab Cadwgan, as related in that lady's memoirs. 
 
 The fortunate escape of the young princes Griffith and 
 
 Howel, and deliverance from the most imminent life-peril, 
 
 created sensations in different quarters as intense and 
 
 various as the interests that were either served or thwarted 
 
 by the eventful occurrence. The fury and disappointment 
 
 of Henry, the impotent wrath of the " old grey lion," now 
 
 become a very tiger in his rage for blood, may be well- 
 
 imagined. Contrasted with these evil passions it is pleasant 
 
 to conceive how rapturous and full of pious thankfulness 
 
 was the joy of Gwenllian, her venerable mother, and 
 
 generous brothers and sisters, and not the least, that of the 
 
 Lady Nest. To the princes themselves this was, indeed, 
 
 *a most memorable epoch in their lives, and appeared even 
 
 an especial interference of Providence manifested in their 
 
 preservation. Never were the wily machinations of a subtle, 
 
 far-reaching despot more signally foiled, than in this failure 
 
 of Henry's murderous scheme. The many and mighty 
 
 waters of his wrath which were to quench the kindling fires 
 
 2 E 
 
336* GWENLLIAK. 
 
 of the Welsh war of independence, proved as fountains of 
 oil that set the whole in a blaze — strengthened and multi- 
 plied his foes, in the same degree that his partizans were 
 weakened and diminished. % 
 
 Griffith ab Rees knew all this, and elated with his new 
 prospects and freedom from all shackles, felt that the star of 
 his destiny had risen from its shrouding clouds, and now 
 was soaring in the ascendant. Disdaining half measures, 
 of which there was no further necessity, abjuring the in- 
 activity in which he had hitherto only thought and planned 
 his future proceedings, he determined on vigorous and im- 
 mediate action. Yielding at once to the impulsive fire of 
 his genius, he unfurled the national banners, resolutely took 
 the field, appealed to the manhood and patriotism of the 
 country, which was eagerly responded to, and soon found 
 himself at the head of such numerous forces as promised 
 speedily to become a powerful army. It appeared as if 
 Fortune, suddenly enamoured of his prowess and the holiness 
 of his cause, had determined to make up for former per- 
 secution by now showering on him a full abundance of her 
 long withheld favour. Notwithstanding the bustle and 
 peril of these momentous times, it would appear it was at 
 this period that Gwenllian, the lady of our memoir, deter- 
 mined to unite her prosperous fortunes with those of the 
 young liberator. History gives no details of this union. 
 That it was in one respect clandestine, without the sanction 
 of her father, is certain ; but doubtless secretly favoured by 
 every other member of her family. Her romantic escape 
 to South Wales is conceivable only to have been in con- 
 sequence of a secret understanding between her and Griffith, 
 her future lord; the method of it was probably similar to 
 that which brought Griffith and Howel in safety to the 
 South : but what members of her family attended and ac- 
 companied her on shipboard, or afterwards witnessed the 
 marriage, has never been recorded. Her safe arrival, cordial 
 reception, espousal to Griffith, and her future sojourn with 
 him, cheerfully partaking of, and solacing the most perilous 
 period of his adventurous career — is all that history has 
 permitted us to learn of that portion of her life. 
 
GWENLLIAN. 
 
 337 
 
 
 We may clearly trace in this alliance both the wise and 
 generous policy which dictated the measure, -and the peculiar 
 sort of opposition rendered by his family to the preposterous 
 notions and aims of Griffith ab Kunnan. Notwithstanding 
 the fatuity and determined wrong-headedness of the old 
 king, and his ruinous tendency to second the atrocious 
 views of the English court, it is both curious and pleasant 
 to witness the bearing of his family towards him, while the 
 •weakness and wiekedness of this part of his life so loudly 
 called for a curb to his mischievous proceedings. To princes 
 so shrewd and patriotic as Owen Gwyneth, the heir ap- 
 parent, and his brother Cadwalader, the faults of their 
 father's government must have been very manifest ; yet the 
 filial respect so long habitual to them, for his great age, and 
 their deference for the feelings of their mother, the good 
 old queen Angharad, who could remind them of what her 
 lord had been in other days— forbade them to oppose his 
 will openly. At the same time they saw it was indis- 
 pensable for the interests of the country that a speedy end 
 jshould be put to the present order of things, by which the 
 nation was writhing under a virulent malady that threatened 
 to devour the very vitals of society. The scheme which 
 they at length organized did infinite credit to their sagacity, 
 and statesmanship ; hinging altogether on the marriage 
 which we have stated to have taken place between Griffith 
 ab Rees and the lady of this memoir. They contrived that 
 this occurrence should appear to their aged parent and 
 sovereign in the light of a clandestine union in which none 
 were concerned except the youthful parties themselves : 
 and that being past remedy, to be forgiven and forgotten, 
 as a fault, as soon as might be. By this contrivance, and 
 the peculiar aspect thus given of the affair, the hostility 
 of Griffith ab Kunnan, towards the Prince of South Wales 
 became nullified ; as, to pursue his own son-in-law with a 
 murderous intent, was entirely out of the order of crimes 
 known in those days of kindred love, and wouM have 
 stigmatized with infamy either subject or sovereign who 
 could be guilty of it Thus while these prudent princes 
 gently deprived their father of the power of mischief in that 
 
338 
 
 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 quarter without wounding his pride as a sovereign, the rest 
 of his promised services to the King of England, by the 
 same stroke of policy were also rendered entirely ineffective. 
 Never were a youthful pair, of high destinies united under 
 circumstances less favourable to immediate happiness, or 
 the possession of domestic comforts, than what attended 
 Griffith and Gwenllian. A rustic bower in the wild forest 
 of Ystrad Towey,* afforded the best accommodations that 
 the future sovereign of South Wales had to offer, for thei# 
 nuptial couch. But the generous Gwenllian anticipated all 
 such discomforts, ani like her excellent mother, under 
 similar disastrous fortunes disdained to wait till the 
 sunshine of prosperity casts its glories on the pompous halls 
 and chambers of a citadel of safety within the walls of a 
 garrisoned castle. The romantic ballad couplet 
 
 " Betide me weal, betide me woe* 
 O'er hill and dale with thee I'll go," 
 
 describes the sentiment, and would have been an appro- 
 priate motto for the adoption of this dauntless single- 
 minded princess ; determined as she was, in the high spirit 
 of adventurous enterprise, to brave the worst that could 
 happen beside her chosen lord. The heart-devoted true 
 womanhood of the primitive times was here developed in 
 noble contrast to the calculating selfishness and squeamish 
 caution of our modern Fine-lady-ism ; and in all the bear- 
 ings of this youthful royal lady, we trace nothing but emi- 
 nent generosity as the source of all her actions. Doubtless 
 the stern realities of their precarious lodgment, on their 
 first entrance into the forest of Ystrad Towey, was any 
 thing but favourable to the continuance of mere 
 romantic sentiment; but the worst discomforts that 
 could beset them were utterly unable to generate 
 discontent or impatience, in the bosoms of this 
 devoted pair. What availed the evils opposed to their feli- 
 cities, when glowing aspirations towards a happy and glo- 
 rious future, bade them disdain the present petty obstruc- 
 tions placed between them and their final destiny. Affection 
 
 * In Carmarthenshire, South Wales. 
 
GWENLLTAN. 339 
 
 the most pure and tender, connubial love, was ever present, 
 to blunt the edge of distastefulness in their inauspi- 
 cious days, and they could even afford to laugh at the shifts 
 and discomforts, incidental to their houseless, homeless, 
 semi-savage condition ; while meaner spirits would have 
 sunk under such inflictions. 
 
 It was in the year 1116, that the events just narrated 
 took place. Determined to win a better home for his lovely- 
 bride, with the utmost speed Griffith ab Rees collected the 
 adherents of his cause and the long-established friends of 
 his family, around him in the forest of Ystrad Towey, and 
 made them acquainted with his plans and the courses which 
 he meant to pursue for reconquering the long-lost British 
 sovereignty of the country. At the head of these faithful 
 friends he issued forth and commenced immediate hostilities 
 against the Normans and Flemings. Success attended all 
 his movements, and he destroyed several strong castles 
 belonging to the English. On his forces increasing, which 
 was a daily occurrence, he extended his warlike operations 
 into that strong hold of the English and Flemings, the 
 district of Pembroke, even to this day called Little England 
 beyond Wales ; but kept aloof from the possessions of his 
 brother-in-law Gerald de Windsor. Elated with his career 
 of success and grown audacious in his daring, he even 
 menaced with a siege the strong castle of Carmarthen^, 
 which the king of England had made the principal seat of 
 his government. The Norman officers who had the charge 
 of this fortress, struck with the daring character of Griffith 
 ab Rees's operations, judging that their own forces were 
 insufficient to maintain the place, sent for the Welsh chief- 
 tains who were the sworn vassals of the king of England, 
 requiring each of them, with their followers, to defend the 
 castle in their turns for fourteen days ; and accordingly the 
 fortress was delivered into their custody. Owen ab Cara- 
 doc whose mother was a daughter of Bleddyn ab Cynvin 
 was the first on whom its defence devolved. Learning 
 from the spies whom he had sent to reconnoitre the strength 
 of the place, that the works were assailable, Griffith ab Rees 
 suddenly invested it. 
 
 2 e 2 
 
340 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 The spirited manner in which this powerful fortress was 
 attacked and carried, has been more minutely recorded than 
 the generality of such actions ; and may give some idea of 
 the resistless impetuosity with which this gallant prince 
 conducted his various enterprizes of this description. It 
 appears that his mode of attacking castles was not unlike 
 the manner of our sailors in boarding the ship of an enemy. 
 Griffith ab Rees and his followers, ii#lhe imperfect light of 
 the declining day made their way towards any guarded 
 part of the castle, and contrived in secresy and silence to 
 climb or scale the battlements. When the whole party had 
 attained the summit of the walls they united in a terrific 
 shout, that announced their presence to Owen ab Caradoc, 
 and at the same time rushed forward, sword in hand, and 
 assailed the bewildered foe. The temporary comman- 
 dant, relying on the support of his garrison, dashed forward 
 to repel the invaders. His gallant efforts however were 
 unavailing ; deserted by his soldiers who were supposed to 
 be favourable to the cause of Griffith ab Rees and Welsh 
 independence, Owen ab Caradoc was slain on the ramparts, 
 and the castle yielded to the conquerors. The town of 
 Carmarthen, inhabited entirely by the vassals or partizans of 
 the king of England, was taken, plundered, and demolished ; 
 but the castle was only dismantled. Griffith ab Rees then 
 wisely retreated ; aware of the extensive combinations of 
 his foe3, to unite their forces for his destruction. The 
 costly spoils of war taken in this splendid campaign, from 
 the different fortresses which he had conquered, and lastly 
 from the important town and castle of Carmarthen, enabled 
 him to reward his followers amply; who, in high spirits 
 and literally loaded with treasure, accompanied him on his 
 return to his strong and temporary home in the forest of 
 Ystrad Towey : where once more, he sought brief repose 
 in the company of Gwenllian. 
 
 From motives of prudence that do credit to his sagacity- 
 he abstained for a while from making any particular demon- 
 stration of his strength, allowing it to accumulate before he 
 again took the field; but from his forest camp, on the op- 
 portunities suggested to him from the reports of his spies, 
 
GWENLLIAN. 341 
 
 or the country people, he occasionally issued forth, with a 
 small but desperate band, and committed terrible havoc 
 upon his enemies. His absence and retreat were alike so 
 sudden, that in these superstitious times they appeared truly 
 supernatural; and such were the rap'dity and mystery of his 
 movements, that neither friend nor foe could cal ;ulate upon 
 his presence or absence. Thus was he at leugth, feared 
 when far away, as if invisibly, close at hand; and when dis- 
 covered to be so in reality, the terror of his name performed 
 more than half the work of the sword and bow. Like the 
 heroic Wallace of Scotland whom he resembled in many 
 points, but whom he preceded about a century, he frequently 
 rushed from his forest covert, and like the avenging spirit 
 of his wronged country, dealt destruction upon its foreign 
 occupants and oppressors. Woe to the tax-gatherers 
 of those days — who in armed bodies issued from those strong 
 holds of tyranny, the gloomy Norman castles, and wherever 
 they could, either by bullying, cajoling, or the gently 
 persuasive power of blows, compelled the poor tiller of the 
 soil, personally and by his servants, to take the produce of 
 his land, wood, corn, or cattle, to be consumed and devoured 
 in those fearful dens of sensuality and brute coercion. The 
 name of Griffith ab Rees, with the slightest demonstration 
 of a force, we may imagine, has scattered not a few of such 
 unceremonious visitor*, and kept at home the booty intended 
 for the lordly robber and his confederate followers and 
 retainers. Woe to the Norman, Saxon, or Fleming, whoever 
 ventured in slight strength, to wander from the shelter of 
 their strong walls — the name of the Welsh liberator, shouted 
 by a few of his partizans, even in his absence ; would hurry 
 homeward a host of such enemies, who could be fortunate 
 enough to escape the swords of their assailants. 
 
 Griffith ab llees had by this time gained considerable 
 reputation as a leader, and won the confidence of the country. 
 The people began to see in him their destined liberator from 
 English bondage, and their future sovereign. The best 
 patriots of the country, whose prudence had hitherto kept 
 them aloof from the projects of a young untried adventurer, 
 now, inspired with a sense of his high talents, great capa- 
 
 H^ 3 
 
342 
 
 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 bility, and dauntless heroism, recognized in him also the 
 genuine offspring of the gallant Rees ab Tudor, now rushed 
 to his standard with ardour ; in full belief that the day was 
 approaching when he would recover the Cambrian sway and 
 mount the long-vacated throne of South Wales.* 
 
 Thus reinforced Griffith lost no time in pursuing his suc- 
 cess, and once more came out in his strength, resigning for 
 a while those conjugal endearments which had been to him 
 so sweet a relaxation from the toils of war; and poor Gwen- 
 llian, now a mother, resigned herself again to the solitude of 
 the forest, supported by the best hopes of a tranquil and 
 felicitous future. Griffith soon made himself master, suc- 
 cessively, of two more fortresses. These were the castle of 
 Gower, in Glamorgan, and the castle of Kidwelley, in Car- 
 marthen. He then retired again to his forest home, with . 
 the cattle and other spoil so bravely won, and so seasonably 
 acquired for the food and pay of his array. 
 
 The acquisition of the castle of Kidwelley, of which he 
 had deprived Maurice de Londres, one of the most stern, 
 proud, and vindictive of the Anglo-Norman barons, in his 
 bearing and retaliations on the Welsh who opposed the 
 usurpations of his countrymen, makes an especial feature at 
 this season of the career of Griffith ab Rees. It will be re- 
 membered by the reader, where we have stated in the memoir 
 of Nest, daughter of Iestyn ab Gwrgant, how this district 
 was invaded and torn from its original proprietors by 
 William de Londres, the grandfather of this Maurice ; and 
 how the castle of Kidwelley was built to protect the dis- 
 
 * We notice with indignation how Warrington, in his history of Wales, 
 takes pleasure in assimilating the young prince to a robber chief, although 
 fighting in the best cause that ever drew a patriot warrior's sword, the libe- v 
 ration of his country from the usurped occupation of ravaging murderous for- 
 eigners, whose aim was to annihilate the native deprived proprietors. That 
 historian calls the spoils taken in war " booty," and " plunder ;" and likens the 
 heroic chieftain to a fierce tiger, issuing forth to ravage the country. The 
 only motive which he assigns for the influx of Welshmen who at this time 
 joined the army of Griffith, was the attraction of the " spoil," and the view of 
 sharing in the future plunder of the enemy ; although he cannot but admit " the 
 feme which he had acquired drew to his standard great numbers of men, 
 whose age and spirit were congenial to his own ; and who admiring his courage 
 and activity, felt a conviction of his ultimate i 
 
GWENLLIAN. 348 
 
 honest and unwarriorlike acquirement in question. Con- 
 ceiving the winning of this fortress to be a signal retribution 
 on the iniquitous proceedings of those who had erected it on 
 land belonging to others, he seems to have enjoyed its pos- 
 session beyond the rest of his conquests. It is supposed that 
 at this period he made it his residence, and removed the 
 Princess Gwenllian and his infant heir from the gloomy forest 
 of Ystrad Towey to the security of its well-appointed walls 
 and towers. 
 
 These and former exploits of Griffith ab Rees, his astonish- 
 ing success against the massive walls and strongly garrisoned 
 Norman castles, supported only by the naked valour, as we 
 may term it, of his highly excited and patriotic mountaineers, 
 had their due effect in influencing the minds of men, friends 
 as well as foes. The fame of his heroic actions, as if borne 
 on the wings of the wind, was carried far and wide ; and 
 served as much to strike his opponents with dismay as to 
 nerve and inspirit his own partizans. At length the chief- 
 tains of Caredigion, of Cardigan, although noted for their 
 slow calculating caution, (a characteristic which their de- 
 scendants still retain,) espoused his cause with heart and 
 hand; tendered their submission to his government, and sent 
 a deputation to invite -him to visit their country, with a 
 promise to aid him in routing thence the foreigners, and 
 punishing those natives of the district who continued in 
 their vassalage to England 'and were opposed to the re- 
 actionary movements of the day. Delighted with such an 
 instance of patriotism from a quarter so long infested by the 
 Normans and the degenerate Welshmen, who had become 
 the creatures of the English king, he lost no time in acceding 
 to their proposal. He entered their territories in high 
 heart ; and was received with cordiality and honor ; — such 
 as faithful subjects might tender to an acknawledged 
 sovereign, whose right to the southern throne was unques- 
 tionable. From the first hour of his entrance into this part 
 of the country, the most northern district of South "Wales, 
 Griffith maintained the high reputation which he had pre- 
 viously gained. With his usual rapidity of movement, and 
 startling presence where least expected, he appeared sud- 
 
344 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 denly with his forces in Cardigan Iscoed, and laid siege to 
 a fortress which the earl of Striguil had erected at Blaen- 
 porth Gwithan. This castle held out bravely for many 
 hours ; but after a hard contest, where victory was most 
 obstinately sought by each party, after sustaining many 
 assaults and great destruction of human life, it yielded at 
 length; and Griffith ab Rees caused it to be burnt to the 
 ground. It is recorded that this victory cost the winner 
 but the life of one man — an astonishing proof of his excel- 
 lent arrangements, and the good fortune which attended his 
 expeditions : and well would it have been for him and his 
 cause had these continued, but the brilliance of his career 
 was soon to be dimmed by the gathering clouds of adversity. 
 The victor then shaped his course towards Penwedic, 
 principally inhabited by the English and their Welsh par- 
 tizans. Aware that they would become the peculiar objects 
 of his vengeance, these people fled with the utmost dismay 
 from the approach of the Welsh army, and their deserted 
 houses were stripped and burnt to the ground. In brief 
 space after this he laid siege to a fortress called Ystrad 
 Peithyll, in Cardigan, belonging to the steward of the earl 
 of Striguil, which he took by assault; and with a severity 
 by do means commendable, however excusable on the score 
 of retaliating vengeance, which marked the barbarous spirit 
 of the times, he put the garrison to the sword. 
 
 Here may be said to terminate the prosperous part of the 
 career of Griffith ab Rees. His future attempts to recover 
 the throne of his ancestors will be found marked with dis>- 
 asters unknown to his earlier movements. Nor was Fortune 
 alone to blame as the sole cause of his reverses ; as we no 
 longer can trace the same line of conduct, the wise precau- 
 tionary tact, nor even the same intrepidity which formerly 
 insured the invariable success of his enterprises. Although 
 our main object has been to put forth every attainable 
 record of the life of his wife Gwenllian, our discerning 
 readers who are conversant with Welsh history will be 
 aware how scanty are the notices of that princess until cir- 
 cumstances altered her position, and from the gentle wife of 
 a hero she became herself a heroine — a change of character 
 
GWENLLIAN. 345 
 
 as disadvantageous to her, as it proved fatal in the end, 
 however admirable in the peculiarity of its features. Thus 
 it will be conceded that it was indispensable that the 
 achievements of Griffith ab Rees should be detailed, in order 
 to indicate the exact standing of Gwenllian herself— her 
 mere position — the utmost that could be done, with due 
 regard to historical fidelity. With this apology for her long 
 absence from view, and her meagre personal records, we 
 return to the national movements of her times — whose floods 
 at length were to bear the intrepid little barque of her fortunes 
 into publicity — only to sweep it to destruction. 
 
 On the conquest of Ystrad Peisyll castle Griffith marched 
 his army towards Aberystwith castle, with the view of cap- 
 turing, and adding that powerful fortress to the rest of his 
 conquests. His deviations from his former wise courses were 
 immediately apparent on his arrival there. Instead of ap- 
 pearing suddenly with his array before the castle, like a host 
 of demons bursting from a thunder-cloud, and commencing 
 an instantaneous attack, while the foe was under a panic of 
 surprise and terror, as in former instances, he resolved on 
 encamping his exhausted army at Plas Creeg,* at a short 
 distance and within sight of the threatened fortress, and 
 giving them a day's rest. Doubtless such rest and recruit- 
 ing of their exhausted strength and spirits after their late 
 exertions were highly needful ; but all that should have been 
 effected before his arrival at the place of his final destination 
 — and in such secresy as the wild country through which 
 they passed, easily admitted ; and within the distance of a 
 short march from the scene of his intended operations. As 
 one error is generally a leader to another, in addition to this 
 military blunder, he ordered or permitted his soldiers to 
 seize and slay for their food certain cattle, then feeding 
 within the precincts of the great sanctuary church of Llan- 
 badan-vawr, in the immediate neighbourhood of the place of 
 his encampment. This, as might have been expected, created 
 him new enemies, who otherwise might have been his friends, 
 or at least would have remained neutral during these cou- 
 
 * In Welsn written Plas Crug, but the latter word is pronounced Creeg. 
 
346 GWENLLXAN. 
 
 tentions. The indignant priesthood, keenly tenacious of 
 their privileges and the inviolability of their sacred order, 
 vindictively sensitive to the scorn and defiance implied by 
 this offence were artful and malignant enough to place him 
 in the light of a profane man, the declared foe of the church 
 itself, and a sacrilegious violator both of human and divine 
 ordinances. It certainly detracts from the merit of this 
 chieftain, whom we have been justified in regarding hitherto 
 both as a wise prince and a generous hero, that his charac- 
 teristic shrewdness could not have anticipated these results ; 
 and that he should have forgotten his deep obligations to an 
 institution like this, whose rights he now violated; as he 
 doubtless owed the preservation of his life to the monks of 
 the sanctuary of Aberdaron, when menaced by Griffith ab 
 Kunnan, as the agent of the king of England. It has been 
 urged in extenuation of this fatal step, that however im- 
 politic, the exhausted state of the Welsh army made the 
 measure indispensible ; but had Griffith ab Rees encamped 
 and refreshed his forces elsewhere, as before suggested, both 
 his first and second blunder could have been avoided. The 
 consequences of both these errors immediately followed their 
 commission. The governor of Aberystwith castle sent to 
 Ystrad Meyric castle, the nearest English military station, 
 for a reinforcement; and it is highly probable that the 
 willing messenger dispatched on this occasion, was one of 
 the monks belonging to the sanctuary establishment of Llan- 
 badan vawr, whose irritated feelings would make him the 
 ready instrument of the revenge of his brotherhood -, while 
 the sacredness of the priestly character would enable him 
 to pass unquestioned by either the Welsh or English, when 
 every other description of person was liable to be arrested 
 in his progress by the soldiery or partizans of Griffith ab 
 Rees. 
 
 The reinforcement, however, was duly sent, and arrived 
 in the course of the night at Aberystwith castle; which 
 could not have happened had a vigilant watch been kept 
 through the night, and the picquets and sentinels of the 
 Welsh been on their guard. Thus when Griffith brought 
 his army next day to invest the castle, the governor was 
 
GWENLLIAN. 347 
 
 fully prepared for his reception. Ignorant of all this, the 
 Welsh prince, with his usual confidence, assured his army of 
 the certainty of their success, if they behaved with their 
 former intrepidity. The relaxation of discipline consequent 
 upon their late festal enjoyment, which was probably 
 attended with a dissipated indulgence in drink, however, 
 had given the soldiers a disorderly impulse ; and Griffith 
 upon this eventful occasion appeared incapable of keeping 
 under due restriction a tumultuous body of men, who 
 seemed more disposed to follow their own respective notions 
 and inclinations, than yield obedience to the dictates of 
 their prince and commander, who had so frequently led 
 them on to victory. Consequences the most fatal speedily 
 ensued. The English governor, who appears to have been 
 a brave and sagacious commander, lured the Welsh into a 
 labyrinth of inextricable difficulties, which he had prepared 
 for them. A body of mounted troops suddenly issued from 
 the castle, and rode off with eager speed in the direction of 
 Mount Pendinas, without any indication of entering on im- 
 mediate conflict further than self-defence, in case of being 
 attacked, and to cut their way through any impediments 
 thrown in their course. A large portion of the Welsh army, 
 with blind impetuosity, immediately rushed to encounter it, 
 following their foes across the river Rheidol, to the foot of 
 Pendinas hill. Behind that mount the English governor 
 had placed an ambuscade, consisting of a large detachment 
 of his forces. The moment the Welsh were thus decoyed 
 to cross the river, the party which they had pursued sud- 
 denly faced about to attack them ; at the same time the 
 party in ambush rushed forward to their aid. Discovering 
 their inveiglement too late, and the hopelessness of success- 
 fully engaging such an overwhelming force, they attempted 
 flight, in the direction they came ; but found their retreat 
 cut off by a division of English archers, which lined the 
 opposite bank of the Rheidol, that had occupied the point 
 immediately on their crossing it, and thus irretrievably fell 
 into the snare so adroitly prepared for them. Thus hemmed 
 in by enemies on all sides, the Welshmen saw that nothing 
 remained for them but to fight to the last, aud to die like 
 2 ? 
 
348 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 gallant men, sword in hand. A desperate conflict ensued ; 
 but surrounded as they were by such superior numbers, 
 although battling with the fury of despair, overwhelmed 
 at length, they sank beneath the multitude of foes, and to a 
 man were cut to pieces. 
 
 Prince Griffith, who remained with the main body of his 
 army before Aberystwith castle, was speedily informed of 
 this disastrous issue, and soon saw the triumphant troopers 
 returning, with their blooded swords ostentatiously dis- 
 played, and preparing to assail the remnant of his army. 
 A powerful force from the castle made a spirited sortie in 
 the opposite direction, and soon the engagement became 
 general. The Welsh, with their usual impetuosity, fought 
 desperately ; but found themselves overmatched by the 
 united forces of the two castles, and giving way at length, 
 in a panic of despair, commenced a disorderly flight. In 
 the pursuit many were cut to pieces ; and Prince Griffith 
 himself, for the first time during his military career, had to 
 seek his safety in the general flight, and it was with con- 
 siderable difficulty he escaped with his life. 
 
 These were direful tidings for poor Gwenllian. It is 
 probable that Griffith was the bearer of them himself; and 
 that foreseeing how his foes would pursue their advantages, 
 he removed his wife from Kidwelly castle, and again sought 
 refuge with her in his old haunts, the forest of Ystrad 
 Towey. 
 
 On this part of the life of Griffith ab Rees, Warrington 
 judiciously remarks. " The conduct of this prince, which 
 brightened his early life, promised to open with still greater 
 lustre ; but the disaster which he had lately experienced, or 
 perhaps a diminished reputation, seems to have given a check 
 to his career, and to have cooled the ardour of his enter- 
 prizing spirit." 
 
 Encouraged by the evil fortunes which had befallen the 
 Welsh prince, Henry L, king of England, now aimed at his 
 utter destruction ; and agreeable to the unscrupulous pirate 
 policy of the Norman race of sovereigns, determined on 
 having him taken off by assassination. For this dark pur- 
 pose he engaged the services of Owen ab Cadwgan, the 
 
GWENLLIAN. 349 
 
 most atrocious and determined villain to be found among 
 the degenerate Welshmen of those times. The particulars 
 of the attempt, failure, and death of that notorious ruffian, 
 have been narrated in our memoir of the Lady Nest, wife of 
 Gerald de Windsor, and sister to Griffith ab Rees, to which 
 we refer the reader. In this mission of murder, to the per- 
 formance of which he was piously sworn on the Evangelists 
 by the " scholar king," Henry Beauclerc, the " merrie 
 monarch" of the twelfth century, Owen ab Cadwgan marked 
 out for himself a peculiar line of policy, certainly worthy of 
 himself, his ferocious confederate, Llewarch, son of Trahaern 
 ab Caradoc, and his equally savage employer. This was, to 
 seek his intended victim amid the fastnesses of the forest 
 in his retreat of Ystrad Towey — to slaughter every inhabitant 
 in that district, and burn each dwelling to the ground ; so 
 that it would be impossible for Prince Griffith either to find 
 a roof to shelter him, or to escape in disguise. Notwith- 
 standing this diabolical scheme, which as far as he was able, 
 he carried into effect to the last hour of his pernicious life, 
 the miserable miscreant perished himself, in that very forest 
 which he had destined to be a fiery furnace for the destruc- 
 tion of every creature, human or otherwise, within its 
 boundary. 
 
 Of the earliest entrance of Owen and his myrmidons into 
 the forest, fortunately Prince Griffith gained timely in- 
 telligence ; and with his wife and infant family, assisted by 
 some of their attached friends and domestics, got safely out 
 ©f the reach of danger, leaving behind them all their domes- 
 tic and other worldly possessions a prey for the rapacity of 
 the depredators. The details of their escape, or where next 
 they sheltered or sojourned, have found no record in the 
 pages of history ; but it is evident that in these evil times 
 they found friends among the patriots of the land, by whom 
 they were served, loved, reverenced, and intensely honored. 
 However harsh these calamitous visitations were to Griffith 
 himself, they could not be otherwise than doubly severe to 
 Gwenllian — a delicate female and a young mother — as well 
 as to the children of tender age. But this generous daughter 
 of a reigning sovereign, and wife of a refugee prince, sus- 
 
350 GWENLLIAtf. 
 
 tained her trials and endured the gall and wormwood of her 
 lot with the sublimated spirit of a heroine and a martyr; 
 and, as we shall soon see, upheld these glorious charac- 
 teristics to the latest hour of her existence. 
 
 Although Prince Griffith was fortunate enough to escape 
 the dagger of the assassin, and the horrors of suffocation in 
 the fired forest, yet he had to endure the bitter fortune of 
 being deserted by his former partizans, the minions of his 
 prosperous days ; who now imagined that the splendid 
 dream of his rising fortunes, and the liberation of the 
 country from the odious government of foreigners, was but 
 a vision of delusion that never could be realized. Many of 
 these not only reentered into vassalage to the king of 
 England, but actually turned their arms against the un- 
 fortunate prince, their late leader, victorious commander, 
 and legitimate sovereign. Thus he was not only forsaken 
 by his natural subjects, but stood in continual peril of assas- 
 sination by other secret emissaries of England, so that he 
 found it necessary to seek a secret abiding place, probably 
 often changed, and to venture abroad only in disguise. 
 The faithful Gwenllian, however, solaced him in his solitude, 
 and encouraged his hopes of better times, evincing her de- 
 votedness to his person and broken fortunes as ardently in 
 those dark days of danger, destitution, and despondency, as 
 in those hours of brilliant vision when the star of his destiny 
 seemed ascending to the zenith of permanent success. 
 
 Although this deplorable disorder of affairs lasted several 
 years, we have no account of any of the occurrences in the 
 family of Prince Griffith ; the only details which have floated 
 down the tide of time are those which record that several 
 children born to Griffith and Gwenllian, were nursed and 
 instructed by their parents in these days of adversity, that 
 in after time did credit to their parentage. But neither the in- 
 nocence nor bravery of the youthful unfortunates, as will soon 
 be seen, could preclude them from the general fate of Cam- 
 brian patriots, of having their names inscribed on the awful 
 tablet of national calamity. Other insurgent chieftains 
 arose in arms against the king of England — worthless men, 
 who, in order to be supported in possessions unjustly oh- 
 
GWENLLIAN. 
 
 351 
 
 tained, yielded servile vassalage to the English crown ; but 
 on feeling the galling weight of the yoke they had bargained 
 for, evinced a turbulent desire to assert the independence 
 which they had so basely sold, aiming at the same time to 
 dignify their selfish quarrel by the hallowed designation of 
 patriotism. From such as these Griffith ab Rees proudly 
 stood aloof, disdaining the slightest participation in their 
 affairs. But there were other reasons why he could make 
 no common cause with these men, whatever might be their 
 undertakings, which will be perceivable when it is stated 
 who they were. They were no other than the three 
 brothers of the late atrocious Owen ab Cadwgan, and their 
 uncle Meredith, the sole survivor of the three sons of 
 Bleddyn ab Cynvin — the most servile of the unworthy 
 Welshmen of the times, who became the ready instruments 
 in the hands of Henry for subduing the liberties of their 
 country. The hostile feeling between this base family and 
 Prince Griffith doubtless received considerable accession by 
 the circumstance that their kinsman, Owen ab Caradoc, 
 had met his death at his hand, although in fair fight, on the 
 ramparts of Carmarthen castle, on the storming of that 
 fortress in 1116. 
 
 In the year 1121 the king of England entered Wales in 
 hostile array, for the ostensible purpose of punishing thos« 
 vassals who had revolted from their allegiance ; but doubt- 
 less Henry calculated that the crushing vengeance with 
 which he had threatened them might be made to fall on 
 Griffith ab Rees, as his principal victim, for whose destruc- 
 tion in various ways he had laboured so long, and whose 
 existence, as the living representative of Welsh sovereignty 
 in the South, was the grand source of his disquietude, and 
 the only bar to the annexation of that principality to the 
 English crown. Henry was too imperiously proud to recog- 
 nise the dignified bearing of Prince Griffith, in thus absent- 
 ing himself from a battle field in which he was not a princi- 
 pal, and where the stake in the game of war was anything 
 less than the crown of his ancestors. Although opposed by 
 adversaries of far inferior pretension and capacity to Griffith 
 ab Rees, King Henry found warfare among the Welsh 
 2 f 2 
 
352 GWENLLlAtf. 
 
 mountains no holiday pastime, and soon returned to England 
 without accomplishing the objects of his ostentatious threats, 
 and narrowly escaped with his life. 
 
 Construing the long cessation of Griffith ab Rees from 
 active operations against England in no other light than the 
 probable one that he was secretly preparing a general rise 
 in the country to favor his pretensions, he resolved on a 
 new line of conduct towards that unhappy prince. Veiling 
 his concession under the assumption of an act of grace for 
 not being in arms against him in the late hostilities, he 
 offered him the secure possession of certain domains of 
 limited extent, on the terms that he should no more make 
 war on English subjects, or the Welsh vassals of England. 
 Either from despair of success, owing to the evil aspect of 
 the times, or a tender regard for the matronly comforts of 
 his long-enduring wife Gwenllian, to secure for whom a 
 tranquil home once more, at whatever cost, must have been 
 one of the dearest objects of his life ; he was induced to 
 accede to this proposal, and accepted the offer. Such a 
 public acknowledgment of the delusion of his aspiring 
 hopes, as was implied by this acceptance, was doubtless 
 immensely galling to his feelings, but the sacrifice, however 
 great, had become imperiously indispensable, perhaps, to the 
 very existence of the beloved partner of his sufferings and 
 perils, who was no longer able to stand up against the 
 continued buffets of adversity. 
 
 The locality of their new home is not on record, but 
 wherever it was, it appears to have been surrounded by the 
 liegemen of England, under whose surveillance they passed 
 their cheerless days. In this equivocal asylum, brooding 
 over their broken fortunes, Griffith and his wife, the subject 
 of this memoir, with their young family, lived a quiet 
 retired life for the space of six years. It is to be inferred, 
 they were never on gracious terms with either the Norman 
 lords or their Welsh partizans during this period ; and that 
 the only society acceptable to them would be that of the 
 known patriots of the land, who like themselves moved joy- 
 lessly about under the settled gloom of adversity. But even 
 thi3 state of sepulchral tranquillity was destined to be brought 
 
GWENLLIAN. g&J 
 
 to brief termination, and the sufferers to be thrown again on 
 the turbulent ocean of worldly cares and dissension. In the 
 year 1127, the sixth of their sojourn in this prison-like re- 
 treat, a complaint was made to King Henry against Prince 
 Griffith, the nature of which has never transpired, although 
 all the historians agree in terming the charge u fictitious." 
 Probably the haughty Normans felt chagrined at the lofty 
 bearing assumed by the prince ; and as he neither visited 
 them or received their visits, nothing could be more likely 
 that they should describe those whom he did receive, as the 
 supposed or known enemies of the king, and consequently 
 to insinuate or audaciously assert that he was secretly hatch- 
 ing a new rebellion. On this charge Prince Griffith was 
 deprived of his domain, and with his wife and family, again 
 became houseless, homeless, and in fact, a fugitive in his 
 native land, of which he was the rightful sovereign. War- 
 rington states and remarks on this passage in his life, 
 " though given for the support of his family, or to secure 
 his fidelity, this estate was however taken from him by Henry, 
 on a fictitious charge brought against him by the Normans 
 near whom he resided. There was something singular and 
 cruel in thus driving a prince into want, dependence, and 
 despair, in the very country of which he was the natural 
 sovereign." 
 
 Under these grievous circumstances, nothing consolatory 
 remained for them but that poor Gwenllian should accom- 
 pany her husband, and take to the forest life once more, 
 within the leafy wilderness of Ystrad Towey. The charred 
 and burnt trees and the ruins of human dwellings, the happy 
 homes of many of their devoted followers, effected by the 
 inhuman fury of Owen ab Cadwgan, gave the earliest indi- 
 cation of the sad change which had taken place since the 
 departure of the family thence ; among which, on a further 
 advance into the recesses of the wood, the destruction of 
 their former rude, but ponderously secure dwelling place, 
 was the most affecting and melancholy spectacle. It was 
 there, a spot especially endeared to her, Gwenllian could not 
 but remember, with the tenderest feelings of a mother, that 
 all her children first saw the light of the turbulent world, 
 
854 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 in which they were so early called upon to enact their parts. 
 These Mere her three boys :— Rhys, born in 1117, and now 
 in his tenth year, and his two brothers, Maelgwn and Mor 
 gan, who were twins, a year younger. In brief space, with 
 the affectionate aid of the strongly attached cottars of the 
 forest, Griffith with his active sons and willing servants, 
 soon reared another capacious and secure dwelling, of which 
 the hoary fathers of the ancient wood formed the principal 
 materials. And here, the high-hearted family of royal 
 fugitives, reposing once more within the arms of liberty, 
 although sharing the savage haunts of the wolf, the wild boar, 
 and the deer, felt their bosoms glow and their hearts dilate, as 
 the breeze of freedom invigorated their frames and buoyed 
 up their future hopes— now that no despot's minions blighted 
 their intercourse with the expanded eye of espial and malig- 
 nant observance — when the open ear of the eaves-dropper no 
 longer caught their accents, and checked the free expression 
 of their thoughts and feelings, or the poisonous tongue of 
 obloquy could no longer forge the unfounded tale of accu- 
 sation, to drive them into further destitution, at the impe- 
 rious mandate of a foreign tyrant. 
 
 Tidings of the expulsion of Prince Griffith and his family 
 by the Normans, and his return to Ystrad Towey, soon 
 reached and gladdened his friends in various districts far 
 and near, and many assembled round him, to render present 
 aid, and to assist in whatever enterprizes he might plan for 
 the future. Thus, while occasionally acting the part of the 
 intrepid hunter to supply h\s family board, he continued his 
 former mode of annoyance to the English, although neces- 
 sarily on a reduced scale, for eight years of severe trial (from 
 1127 to 1135), when a political event occurred of astounding 
 interest, that immediately changed the aspect of his affairs, 
 and filled his heart with all the glowing ardour and the am- 
 bitious aspirations of his early life. These buoyant and ex- 
 hilarating sensations were equally shared by our gallant 
 Gwenllian, who had fared and battled with so many troubles 
 by his side ; and their mutual enthusiasm was naturally 
 imbibed by their hopeful sons, when the new events of the 
 hour were explained to them. 
 
GWENLLIAN. 355 
 
 The agitating and all-engrossing event to which we refer 
 was the death of that mortal enemy of the Welsh, and 
 determined appropriator of their country, King Henry I. of 
 England. This occurred in the year 1135, when the usur- 
 pation of Stephen, which caused a civil war in England, 
 immediately followed. These auspicious tidings were no 
 sooner spread over the Cambrian territory than the whole 
 country, North and South, seemed in a ferment of agitation, 
 deeming the time at length arrived for casting off the 
 English yoke, and a general revolt speedily followed. Gwen- 
 llian had the satisfaction to learn, from information received 
 by her husband from the North, that her aged father 
 Griffith ab Kunnan now held himself free of the promises 
 extorted from him by the late king, and with his gallant 
 sons Owen, Gwyneth, and Cadwalader, was among ihe 
 foremost to encourage the revolt to reconquer the 
 liberties of their country. 
 
 With such brightened prospects flashing on their imagi- 
 nation a vivid change came over this long- depressed family ; 
 all was excitement and mental renovation : and these feelings, 
 like the products of a tropic summer, seemed to burst into 
 leaf, flower, and fruitage simultaneously. Prince Griffith 
 erected his war camp in the neighbouring open country 
 adjoining the forest. The national colours of Wales, the 
 renowned Red Dragon, on its field of green, floated from the 
 top of the highest tree, denuded of its lower branches, so as 
 to give it the appearance of a gigantic flag-staff; and seemed 
 by its presence to tell the history of its elevation, inter- 
 preted by its enthusiastic beholders as a prognostic of its 
 ultimate triumph — thus inviting the patriots of the long- 
 oppressed land to place their hopes and enlist their energies 
 under that banner of their independence. The new spirit of 
 the times, with electric force and rapidity in its universal 
 transmission, seemed to pervade all bosoms. The natural 
 subjects of Griffith, the men of South Wales, rushed forward 
 from their various districts to offer their immediate services ; 
 so that in brief space a large concourse of people, which were 
 daily and hourly increasing, were seen assembled round him. 
 Gwenllian now freed from the domestic duties of rearing 
 
356 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 her offspring, her eldest son being eighteen, and the younger 
 twin boys seventeen years of age, now proved she was equally 
 capable of shining in a very different sphere, appeared 
 actively engaged in welcoming, encouraging, and enter- 
 taining these supporters of their own personal and the national 
 cause, who thronged so numerously towards Ystrad Towey. 
 Thus while the Normans and Flemings quailed within their 
 castle walls, at these, to them, disastrous signs of the times, 
 the Welsh rejoined to the melody of their many harpers and 
 minstrels, or listened with deep attention and entire credence 
 to the graver bards, who united with their poetic art the 
 province of sooth-sayers, and were prodigal of their favour- 
 able prophecies of the eventual success of their arms in the 
 coming struggle. 
 
 "After recovering his lands, (dominions) in 1135, Griffith 
 abRees, had a large feast prepared in Ystrad Towey, whither 
 he invited all to come in peace from North Wales, Powys, 
 South Wales, Glamorgan, and the marshes. And he pre- 
 pared everything that was good in meat and drink, wise con- 
 versations, songs, and music ; and welcomed all poets and 
 musicians; and instituted various plays, illusions, and ap- 
 pearances, and manly exercises. And to the feast there 
 came Griffith ab Kunnan and his sons, and many chieftains 
 of various parts of Wales, and the feast was kept up for 
 forty days, and all were allowed to depart, and the bards, 
 musicians, learned men, and performers of every sort were 
 honourably rewarded. After the feast Griffith ab Rees 
 invited the wise men, and scholars, and consulting them, 
 instituted rule and law on every person within his do- 
 minions ; and fixed a court in every Cantrev, and an inferior 
 court in every Coraot. Griffith ab Kunnan did the same 
 in North Wales ; and the Normans and Saxons, sorry to see 
 this, made complaints against these princes to King Ste- 
 phen, who stating that he knew not .where the blame lay, 
 declined to interfere." A very wise conclusion of the con- 
 siderate King Stephen. Doubtless these astounding revi- 
 vals, and other unmistakable signs of recovering national 
 independence among the Welsh, must have been gall and 
 wormwood to the deeply mortified barons of England, who 
 
GWENLLIAN. 357 
 
 had been signally overthrown and driven out of the country 
 where they had acquired immense possessions, built mighty 
 castles, and so long exercised an unbounded usurped 
 authority. And as to the poor usurper King Stephen, he 
 was too deeply overwhelmed with his own perplexed 
 affairs and the slight and dubious tenure on which he held 
 his crown, to undertake the office of umpire, between his 
 subject barons and the recovering fortunes of the princi- 
 pality of South Wales. 
 
 In his long-enforced seclusion, Griffith ab Rees had evi- 
 dently reflected deeply on his former miscarriages, and pro- 
 fiting by the stern lessons of adversity, which he wisely 
 digested in his solitude, did not allow the present favorable 
 appearances to elevate his hopes with undue buoyancy. 
 He shrewdly foresaw the necessity of a very powerful force 
 to carry out his designs, and therefore came to a resolution 
 of visiting North Wales, the dominions of his father-in-law, 
 where, he conceived, by the aid of that prince, he might 
 obtain a reinforcement of disciplined troops, that would 
 enable him, with the assistance of his native subjects, to 
 prosecute the war with the vigor essential to so great an 
 enterprize. Gwenllian heartily concurred in this proposal 
 to visit her father's court, and conceived that even if the old 
 prince should prove cool in the matter, that with the assured 
 influence of her venerable mother and brothers, the happiest 
 results would follow. It was settled that young Rees their 
 eldest son should accompany his father, so that he should 
 bear with him the best credentials for insuring a kind recep- 
 tion from the whole family, when their grandson was pre- 
 sented to the aged sovereigns — the elder son of their long- 
 lost darling young daughter. Accordingly Griffith ab Rees 
 and his son took an affectionate leave of Gwenllian, with 
 the understanding that their return would be as speedy as 
 the urgent necessity for his presence at home demanded. 
 
 Alas, unhappy father and husband, and fond unhappy 
 youth, whose cheeks are wet with the tears of parting — and 
 alas for her, the more unhappy wife and mother — whose 
 hopeful heart enabled her to endure this temporary sepa- 
 ration ! little thought either that the farewell was to be 
 
358 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 eternal, but so it proved — as our few remaining records of 
 the life of this most unhappy and meritorious lady will too 
 sadly declare, they have seen each other's love-beaming agi- 
 tated faces for the last time in this life. 
 
 Thus Gwenllian was left, with her two sons, Maelgwn and 
 Morgan, whilst Prince Griffith and young Rees on their 
 hardy mountain steeds pursued their journey towards North 
 Wales, To those unacquainted with certain points in the 
 national character of the Welsh, and indeed peculiar to the 
 Celtic race generally, it may appear strange that this shrewd 
 and clever prince should not appoint one of the chieftains 
 to command in chief during his temporary absence. But 
 Griffith knew the character of his countrymen better. How- 
 ever obedient to him as their acknowledged sovereign and 
 supreme leader, like all semi- barbarous people, the natives 
 of the different districts of which these forces were com- 
 posed, they would obey none but their own native chiefs; 
 so that to give one the command over the rest, would be 
 seen in no other light than an insult, a preference originating 
 in mere favoritism ; as these ill-informed men were so in- 
 tensely imbued with their local egotism, that they were 
 utterly incapable of recognizing the superior fitness for 
 command in any stranger, however eminent his qualifi- 
 cations. In proof of this species of jealousy, we find when 
 the Welsh chieftains became commandants to defend the 
 castles which they had captured, or when in the same 
 position as English vassals, instead of those fortresses 
 having one perpetual governor, each claimed his turn to com- 
 mand; and they were consequently changed, sometimes as 
 frequently as every ten days — to prevent the heart-burnings, 
 insubordination, and withdrawal with their forces in disgust, 
 which would otherwise have been the certain consequence. 
 
 Although these untrained men from various parts of the 
 principality which constituted the new-formed army, rigidly 
 adhered to their system of obeying no power beneath the 
 sovereign except their own respective chieftains, still they 
 vied with each other in their courteous deferential carriage 
 towards Gwenllian and her sons, and were not only as 
 respectful towards her as if prince Griffith were present, but, 
 
GWENLLIAN. 359 
 
 in consideration of her sex and peculiar position, even more 
 yielding and affectionate in their approaches. Indeed her 
 dignified demeanour was so commingled with the simplicity 
 of non-assumption, and her kindly and equal bearing 
 towards all, wisely eschewing personal preference to any, 
 that she could not fail with such a people, to win their 
 respect and reverence. We can imagine her during their 
 casual disputes on their return from their foraging and 
 hunting expeditions, propitiating the most resentful and 
 turbulent spirits, by exciting their self-esteem, reminding 
 them how far it was beneath men of their eminence, engaged 
 in the noblest of human undertakings, that of clearing their 
 native soil from the odious sway of foreigners, to waste 
 their energies on private broils and circumstances of trivial 
 import : while with others, the conciliating tone of per- 
 suasive friendliness would work their wealding natures into 
 the gentlest mood of compliance — even eager to give up the 
 most galling points which caused dissension, to win her 
 smile of approbation. But notwithstanding the influence 
 which her talents created among these rugged but warm- 
 hearted mountaineers, her situation was very trying and soon 
 became fraught with difficulties utterly unforeseen. 
 
 The numerous forays and skirmishes in which Griffith ab 
 Rees and his followers had been engaged for the last eight 
 years had been very destructive to the Normans of the 
 neighbouring castles, whose foragers, purveyors, and men 
 at arms they had cut off in vast numbers, with but little loss 
 to themselves. Those belonging to the castle of Kidwelly 
 had been the principal objects of his hostility, in conse- 
 quence of the base manner in which that district had been 
 reft from its original proprietors, and the castle erected lo 
 protect the unjust appropriation. The number of the gar- 
 rison thus destroyed was so considerable that Maurice de 
 Londres found it indispensable to recruit the thinned ranka 
 of his people ; and for this purpose had sent to England for 
 a reinforcement, which had been for some time expected. 
 Although prince Griffith was aware of this circumstance, 
 he calculated on his return from ? North Wales before these 
 forces could arrive, and therefore gave no orders, nor made 
 2g 
 
360 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 any provison for cutting off this seasonable supply to the 
 enemy, in case of their landing before his return. It is 
 probable that about a week after his departure, some 
 of the scouts employed to watch the coast came hastily 
 to Gwenllian, and informed her of the actual landing 
 ot the expected English forces on the coast of Glamorgan. 
 
 It will now be seen that Gwenllian was a proper partner 
 for a hero like prince Griffith. Embarrassing as this momen- 
 tous circumstance was, it immediately occurred to her that 
 if her lord was present and received such intelligence, that 
 he would immediately summon his men, and with them 
 hasten forth and waylay and cut off these approaching ene- 
 mies, so as to prevent them from ever reaching the place of 
 their destination. Therefore she saw the necessity of pur- 
 suing a similar course ; and as no time was to be lost, the 
 present was the season of instantaneous action. For the 
 reasons already assigned she knew it would be too dangerous 
 an experiment to give the command of the whole forces to 
 any one of the chieftains ; but saw no other alternative than 
 offering to become herself their supreme leader in the expe- 
 dition. To apprize them of her views, she summoned 
 together all the chieftains, and informed them of this Norman 
 movement, and the immediate necessity for opposing it, 
 with the probable consequence to themselves if their ene- 
 mies were permitted to acquire such immense additional 
 strength. In conclusion she modestly offered her own 
 person to lead them to the attack, provided they could put 
 faith in the courage and conduct of a woman on so impor- 
 tant an occasion. Recognizing in this gallant offer the 
 heroic sister of Owen Gwyneth, and the undegenerate 
 daughter of an illustrious house whose far-famed progenitors 
 gave an additional claim to t^eir ever trusting faith, the 
 proposal was received with enthusiastic approbation. When 
 the army were informed of the circumstance, their accla- 
 mations of applause were astounding ; all professing their 
 admiration of her heroic determination, and vowing to obey 
 and protect her to the last moment of their existence. 
 
 Alive to the exigencies of the times, with thorough mili- 
 tary alacrity, Gwenllian was the first in readiness for an 
 
GWENLLlAN. 361 
 
 instantaneous departure. Mounted on one of the sturdy 
 sure-footed galUways, of which Griffith kept many ready 
 at all times for such sudden emergencies, although not the 
 most stately of war-steeds, yet the best species of cavalry 
 which the country afforded, the gallant lady rode forth. 
 On either side of her rode her brave excited boys Maelgwn 
 and Morgan, proud of their novel position and resolved to 
 win renown on the coming occasion, Vieing with each 
 other in their devotedness to her service, her chieftains sur- 
 rounded her person, while the different divisions of the foot 
 soldiery under their various officers, occupied the van and 
 rear ; and thus they moved on, as preconcerted, in thorough 
 silence, and the utmost order conceivable. 
 
 The route from the forest of Ystrad Towey to Kidwelly 
 In a direct course might be about twenty miles ; but in their 
 deviation from the side of the river Towey, and circuitous 
 windings through unfrequented ways, in older to elude obser- 
 vance, and to come suddenly into the neighbourhood of the 
 hostile fortress, the march was extended to double that 
 distance. After resting a night on their way, the next day- 
 brought them in sight of the towers of Kidwelly castle. 
 Keeping further off, they passed quietly on, for obvious rea- 
 sons avoiding to make any demonstration till they were 
 two miles below the castle; where Gwenllian posted her 
 army at the foot of the mountain called Mynydd y Garreg, 
 with the river Gwendraeth in her front ; being on the oppo- 
 site bank to that on which the castle of Kidwelly stood. 
 Gratified to learn through the information of her scouts that 
 the expected reinforcements had not reached the castle, but, 
 were undoubtedly now on the march, following the counsel 
 of her chiefs, she now divided her army, dispatching tl\e 
 larger portion in the direction of Glamorgan to intercept the 
 expected convoys, while the rest remained on the spot, under 
 her command. 
 
 As we are now approaching the sad catastrophe that so tra- 
 gically terminated the existence of the lady of this memoir, it is 
 necessary to submit the following considerations to the atten- 
 tion of the reader. History having recorded only the ultimate 
 result of this expedition, without the intermediate chain of 
 
362 gwenlliAn. 
 
 details necessary for our perception and general comprehen- 
 sion, we are therefore thrown entirely on our conjectures as to 
 the manner in which the grand denouement was brought to its 
 close. From our knowledge of the scene of these occurrences 
 and acquaintance with the traditions of the country, that sug- 
 gest a train of analogous reasonings, the insertion of which, 
 however, would greatly encumber this narrative, we conceive 
 the following to bear the most veritable aspect of probability. 
 
 On the second day of Gwenllian's occupation of this post, 
 the Welsh forces occupying the height of Mynydd y Garreg 
 were suddenly driven in with terrible slaughter by an over- 
 whelming force. This was no other than the reinforcements 
 so long expected at the castle, that under the conduct of a 
 Welsh renegade named Griffith ab Llewellyn, sent to meet 
 and conduct them, had eluded the vigilance of Gwenllian's 
 detachment dispatched to oppose them ; and forming a 
 circuitous line of march along the most wild and least 
 suspectable routes imaginable, had thus, like a thunderclap, 
 burst over the brow of Mynydd y Garreg, and commenced 
 their furious assault on the army of the Welsh princess, 
 whose situation had doubtlessly been previously made known 
 to them by their spies. The approach of their long expected 
 forces being certified to the castle, simultaneously with 
 their descent from the mountain, the Baron Maurice de 
 Londres headed a mighty sortie from the fortress, and 
 having crossed the upper part of the river, rushed forward 
 and made an equally violent attack on the Welsh, taking 
 them in flank on the side opposite to that engaged by the 
 other assailants. Thus this doomed remnant of the Cam- 
 brian army was hemmed in between the two parties of 
 assailants, composed probably of the entire strength of the 
 castle, consisting of Normans, English, and their own sub- 
 servient allies, the Flemings. Although the Welsh, with 
 their usual bravery in the hour of desperate conflict, en- 
 couraged by the voice and gestures of their dauntless princess, 
 who led the attack, fought with the most determined reso- 
 lution, their resistance was in vain ; and the result, ever to 
 be expected when a small force is opposed to a greater, 
 under the disadvantages of position, number, and discipline^ 
 
GWENLLIAN. 363 
 
 became their unhappy lot. The larger portion of this 
 gallant band was cut to pieces, and the rest surrounded 
 and taken prisoners. Among the latter was the heroic 
 Gvrenllian and her son Morgan : the wretched mother 
 suffering from a wound she had received, but more intensely 
 fr,om having seen her other son, Maelgwn, killed at her side, 
 while warding off the blows aimed at his parent, to the last 
 moment of his existence, presented a mournful picture for 
 contemplation — dignified to the last, but pallid with ex- 
 haustion and suppressed agony, calmly resigned to what- 
 ever further ills the fortune of war might assign her. 
 
 During the ascendancy of their prince, the Norman name 
 was extolled by its parasites, almost to a parallel with 
 ancient Roman greatness, than which in reality the world 
 could scarcely present a greater contrast, to the disparage- 
 ment of the modern descendants of freebooters. That 
 name was associated with generous heroism, and the 
 courtesies of chivalry — that hollow heartless fiction, which 
 imposed on the world a semblance for reality, of what was 
 supposed to be a movement towards human civilization. If 
 it be imagined that these barons, so proud of their knightly 
 honours, carried the much vaunted attributes of chivalry 
 into the field of battle, and extended any degree of mercy or 
 generosity towards a fallen foe, let tne dupes of the infatu- 
 ation disabuse their minds at once from the influence of 
 such ill-founded errors, and note well what History declares 
 was their conduct in their dealings with the Welsh patriots 
 who fell into their power : and most especially in the 
 flagrant case under present consideration. 
 
 Their illustrious captive was a woman — overwhelmed 
 with heart-crushing calamities ; claims sufficient to engage 
 every feeling of commiseration in the bosoms of manly 
 warriors. She was wounded in the conflict, and besides her 
 corporeal suffering, she endured the severest mental agony 
 for the death of her valiant son just slain in her defence. 
 She was of supreme high rank, daughter of the illustrious 
 reigning sovereign of North Wales, wife of the rightful 
 claimant of the throne of South Wales and had distinguished 
 herself so gallantly in this fatal action as indisputably to 
 2 g 2 
 
364 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 have earned the title of a heroine, that might have won the 
 admiration of a liberal foe. Surely these were touching 
 claims on the magnanimity of a humane conqueror, setting 
 aside the boasted " gentle Norman blood/' and chivalrous 
 pride of knighthood, arrogated to themselves by this race, 
 and still assigned to them by the writers of romance, as con- 
 tradistinguished from the supposed rude and ferocious attri- 
 butes of the native Britons. Yet with all these forcible appeals 
 to the best feelings of humanity, and to those artificial distinc- 
 tions of which men who had felt the ennobling sword of 
 royalty on their shoulders, their knighthood, forsooth! then 
 felt proud, the moment Gwenllian became the prisoner of 
 the Normans her fate was sealed. In a furiou3 spirit of 
 hasty vindictiveness, difficult to be understood except as a 
 revolting occurrence incidental to barbarian warfare, where 
 the rampant savage victor exults and riots amidst the gore 
 and groans of his expiring victims, Maurice de Londres 
 ordered her immediate execution, as if she had been a public 
 criminal of his own nation, over whom he held legitimate 
 command. And thus, amidst reviling enemies, and within 
 the observance of her agonised son and captive countrymen, 
 under the personal superintendence of the baron himself, 
 and his second in command, the renegade Griffith ab Llew- 
 ellyn, the head of the unhappy princess was struck off 
 instanter. 
 
 So lived, and thus inhumanly murdered, died the excellent 
 Gwenllian ; exemplary alike in the respective characters of 
 daughter, sister, wife, and mother. Ill as we are inclined to 
 exhibit for admiration a departure on the part of woman 
 from the prescribed walks or usages of her sex, we have 
 proved that Gwenllian was free from the slightest imputa- 
 tion of vanity or self-sufficiency in assuming the functions 
 of a military commander. As before shown, the imperious 
 pressure of events literally forced her into a position from 
 which the previous modest tenor of her life evinces she 
 would gladly have escaped, could any other plan for averting 
 the impending danger have been available. Therefore, in 
 spired by the signs of the alarming crisis foreshadowed in 
 her mind, to spring forward at such a contingency, and in 
 
GWENLLIAN. 
 
 365 
 
 the right spirit of the hour to occupy such a post of peril 
 and responsibility, became in her a virtue of the highest 
 or( j er — when breaking the bonds of custom, and daringly 
 original in her views, to become the representative of her 
 absent husband, and the leader of his troops, at a time when 
 very scanty prospects of glory shone on her destined path to 
 allure her onwards. Who can contemplate the constancy of 
 conjugal affection which distinguished her entire life without 
 the most unqualified admiration ? She did not, like some of 
 our modern " fine ladies," affect to have her sensibility wounded 
 and overwhelmed by her husband's troubles, and quitting 
 him when the presence of a kind woman was most needed, 
 hurry to the comforts and security of the paternal roof, and 
 *tay there till the disarrangement of his affairs were 
 smoothed again for her return : — but in the virtuous spirit 
 of true womanhood, kept at her post amidst the buffets of 
 the wildest storm that beset him and his fortunes — ever at 
 ^lis side through weal and woe ! And when had woman to 
 share harsher or more long-enduring vicissitudes ? It was 
 not a matter of suffering for days, weeks, or months, but 
 years — slowly dragging, or wildly tumultuous and danger- 
 teeming years. Yet through all chances and changes, 
 whether lodged in security within the castle tower, the 
 peril surrounded mountain glen, or the savage seclusion of 
 Ystrad Towey forest, or the still more dangerous shelter 
 (accepted in haste and shunned as suddenly on the pre- 
 sentiment of evil), rendered by native traitors in the guise 
 of friends. Still Gwenllian was there, with her three boys 
 and gallant husband, whom she nurtured and taught, soothed 
 and solaced, in suffering and sorrow — sheltered at her bosom 
 or by her side amidst the pangs of exhausted nature, from 
 hunger, fatigue, and well-founded terror, occurring in nu- 
 merous unrecorded instances, during the wild life fate had 
 awarded this doomed family of royal fugitives, Who can 
 follow up the varied stages of her endurances, to the last 
 moment of her invaluable existence, and not be ready to 
 exclaim, with heart-full conviction of her priceless worth, 
 "this was, indeed, a true, a wonderful, and a glorious 
 woman !" 
 
366 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 That once awe-inspiring dreary pile, the Norman fortress, 
 whence issued the dire doomster* and his ferocious train 
 who compassed her destruction — what is it now ? It stands 
 only in fragmentary desolation, a fitting monument of its 
 own downfall ; and emblematic of the iron race that have 
 passed away, whose corroded memory is foully associated 
 with their deeds of blood and rapine. While the ever living 
 earth on which Gwenllian stood — the self-same spot where 
 she rallied her gallant people, that drank her blood as she 
 fell a murdered prisoner, and that became her gory grave — 
 is still as verdant in the pathetic memory of her fate, as with 
 the green of each succeeding spring that clothes it with per- 
 petual renovation. And while Mynydd y Garreg rears its 
 head aloft, and the gentle Gwendraeth rolls its current 
 towards the ocean, that memorable field of sad associations 
 will ever bear her name; will ever bear historic interest 
 enough to draw the Cambrian patriot to the scene of her 
 exploits, sufferings, and sepulture ; and call from him the # 
 touching utterance of its designation, in his native mother 
 tongue — Maes Gwenllian. 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance in the history of this 
 greatly injured princess, that the influence of Gwenllian did 
 not cease with her existence ; but strange as veritable, 
 seemed to acquire tenfold vigour when the once honoured 
 bearer of it ',* slept the sleep that dreams not.'* Thib is no 
 flourish of rhetoric to garnish a figure of speech, but a literal 
 statement of reality, which we shall proceed to explain. It 
 will ultimately be seen that the name, associated with the 
 wrongs of an heroic princess, was the fertile cause of more 
 prodigies of valour in the cause of national redemption and 
 independence than could even be effected by her continued 
 and uninjured existence. That the sense of national insult 
 in her violated person quickened the lethargic spirit with 
 which many who were called to engage in the general revolt 
 against England appeared at first to be affected, while cal- 
 culating on the chances of. war, in which they had so often 
 been sufferers. Her tale once borne upon the wings of 
 rumour, till heard and known to all, served to fire the heart, 
 * Doomsier is the i cotch term for ihe execudouei or han^inau. 
 
. GWENLLIAN. 367 
 
 insinew the arm, and give weight and edge to the steel 
 of the newly roused patriot, as " Gwenllian's wrongs" be- 
 came the incitement to arms, and the battle-cry when the 
 struggle at length commenced. 
 
 Prince Griffith ab Rees succeeded to the utmost of his 
 most sanguine expectation, in the noble reception which was 
 accorded to him and his son at the court of North Wales ; 
 and the affectionate interest taken in his fortunes, by the 
 patriarchal old king, Griffith ab Kunnan, and his venerable 
 queen Angharad, was truly gratifying, and surpassed his most 
 favourable anticipations. With Owen Gwyneth and Cad- 
 walader, their two noble sons, he had ever been as a brother, 
 and the cordiality with which they received him and met his 
 aspiring views, may be conceived, from the frank and ardent 
 character which ever distinguished these martial and accom- 
 plished princes, and their known hostility to that power 
 which had aimed to crush him, and still opposed his rightful 
 claim to the crown of South Wales. The intercourse which 
 fortune had thus afforded them with the illustrious husband 
 of their beloved sister, the particulars of whose fate had been 
 so long unknown to the family, may be conceived to be as 
 delightful to them as to himself. His affecting narrative of 
 the events connected with the dark cloud of adverse fate 
 which had so long supplanted the sunshine of his early pros- 
 perity, could not but engage their deepest sympathy. The 
 impassioned outpouring of his warm-hearted praise which 
 he rendered their sister, as he described the faithfulness 
 with which she adhered to his broken fortunes, in all his re- 
 verses and perils, and the noble manner in which she fulfilled 
 the duties of a wife and mother, under circumstances the 
 most distressing and discouraging, served to rivet in closer 
 hold the manly brotherhood already existing between them ; 
 while their desire to embrace again their long-lost sister, 
 and lead her to the arms of her ancient parents, and restate 
 in her hearing the eulogies of her husband, became a desire 
 of unquenchable anxiety. What he had narrated to the bro- 
 thers he had to repeat to the parents, till the good old people 
 were overwhelmed with their emotions, and the vehement 
 desire to see her face once more before they died ; and a 
 
S68 GWENLLIAN* 
 
 promise that she should visit them, with her other sons, as 
 soon as she could travel with safety through the country at 
 present too much disturbed, was readily given by their son- 
 in-law — unhappy man, little thinking how far beyond his 
 power it was to fulfil his engagement. 
 
 The forces required by Prince Griffith, whose anxiety to 
 return to the South was daily urged by him, were carefully 
 selected from the army of the Northen prince by the two 
 brothers of Gwenllian, and were soon equipt and supplied 
 with all necessaries, so that at length they were ready, fully 
 prepared for the march. Thus Griffith was elated to the 
 highest pitch of satisfaction as he reviewed them, and was 
 about to take an affectionate farewell of the royal family, 
 when the awful tidings of the tragic catastrophe in the South 
 came, like a hurricane over a fair landscape, and dashed him 
 and his hopes prostrate to the earth. 
 
 The ancient sovereigns, lately so animated with the hope 
 of once more beholding their child, received the fatal intelli- 
 gence of her violent and cruel death, with that profundity of 
 excessive grief, peculiar to advanced age, where more is felt 
 than can be expressed; and in the deep silence of their 
 stifled agony the escape at times of nature's heavy sob, and 
 convulsion of the entire frame, indicated the vain attempt to 
 yield at once the resignation which philosophy dic- 
 tates and religion inculcates for woes so incurable. The 
 two brothers, like Griffith himself, though struck with un- 
 utterable dismay at what they heard, at first found it difficult 
 to conceive the possibility of such an unprecedented outrage 
 at the hands of men who arrogated to themselves a claim to 
 superior civilization and refined humanity, beyond the pre- 
 tensions of the British race, whom they affected to despise, 
 for imputed barbarism: and it was only after putting re- 
 peated and very searching questions to, and receiving mi- 
 nutely circumstantial answers from the messengers, who 
 were a portion of the fugitives that had escaped from the 
 carnage of Kidwelley, that they were at length fully con- 
 vinced of the dire fact. After yielding nature her enforced 
 tribute of tearful tribulation and mental prostration, the two 
 brothers were the first to rouse themselves from the stupor 
 
GWENLLIAN. 369 
 
 of grief; when the natural transition from sorrow to rage 
 took its course, and they spoke out their resolution of aiding 
 her husband to avenge the cause of their murdered sister, 
 by the most ample retribution on the entire race of Normans 
 who occupied castles and domains in South Wales. 
 
 Gwenllian had many sisters, who had always loved her 
 with that intense affection for which the Celtic race had 
 ever been distinguished in the ardour of their kindred love. 
 These were all married to some of the principal chieftains, 
 who formed the nobility of the country, and at this time 
 middle aged mothers of grown up families. To make these 
 acquainted with the family calamity was the first step deter- 
 mined upon by Owen Gwynethand Cadwalader, who imme- 
 diately sent forth their mounted messengers on the most 
 rapid steeds, in all directions ; and in many instances became 
 themselves the bearers of the deplorable tidings, accom- 
 panied by the chief sufferer, their brother-in-law, the un- 
 happy Prince Griffith. The result, as may be anticipated, 
 was a general confederacy among these kindred to unite 
 their forces with those of Owen Gwyneth and Prince 
 Griffith, for the double purpose of extirpating the Norn ans 
 from the soil of Wales, and dealing to them the most ample 
 measures of retaliating vengeance. 
 
 Having thus set fire to the far-extending train of com- 
 bust io us materials of which the heads and hearts of their 
 countrymen were so notoriously composed, the common 
 feeling appeared less impelled by the spirit of a general 
 revolt for the enfranchisement of their country from the 
 dominion of oppressive foreigners than a national crusade of 
 vengeance for the wrongs of Gwenllian. We can conceive 
 her tale, the newest and most astounding wonder of the day, 
 extending to the humblest hearths throughout the land, and 
 becoming an all-absorbing theme of discussion ; and the 
 most obscure members of her sex, the humble housewives 
 of the mountain huts and cottages of the glens and dingles, 
 making her cause, in a manner, their own, by encouraging 
 with inflamed vehemence, their husbands, sons, and brothers, 
 to take up arms in this great feud, and rush to join the 
 national confederacy. Thus entire communities throughout 
 
370 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 the length and breadth of the principalities of North and 
 South Wales and Powjs, became agitated with the popular 
 fervour ; and instead of hanging back, reluctant to engage 
 in the cause and rendering personal service, as might be the 
 case where the motives of a war appeared obscure, or in- 
 teresting only to particular districts, all, all, were fired with 
 enthusiastic fury against the atrocious perpetrators of their 
 deeply-felt calamitous wrong, and national insult. 
 
 As soon as Griffith ab Rees and his two brothers-in-law 
 arrived in South Wales, several chieftains who sympathised 
 in their family calamity and concurred in the revolt, joined 
 them with their powers, and thus additionally reinforced, 
 they at once commenced hostilities. To avoid the imputa- 
 tion of exaggerating the wonderful amount of success which 
 attended the arms of these avengers of Gweullian we shall 
 transcribe the historian Warrington's account of these tran- 
 sactions. Treating of the decapitation of the princess, he 
 says : — ** an action so savage, without precedent, even in these 
 times, called loudly for vengeance on the spirit of the injured 
 princes."* — Meaning the two brothers of Gwenllian, Owen 
 Gwyneth and Cadwalader. 
 
 " In this state of things the province of Cardigan was 
 furiously attacked by the two sons of the king of North 
 Wales. Among a people whose manners seem to have been 
 little refined by ideas of chivalry, we are surprised at the 
 appearance of two men, whose personal qualities, and whose 
 courteous and gentle demeanour, might have entitled them 
 to dispute the palm with the accomplished knights of the 
 feudal ages. These distinguished persons were the above- 
 named sons of Griffith ab Kunnan. As soon as the princes 
 arrived in South Wales, several of the chieftains joined the 
 army : being thus reinforced, they took and destroyed the 
 castles of Aberystwith, Dinerth, and Caerwedross, and two 
 
 * Warrington derives his authority from what he has stated respecting the 
 death of Gwenllian, and the retaliating vengeance which followed from Giral- 
 dus Cambrensis's Itinerary— Lib I., Cap. IX., and also Dr. Powell's Notes on 
 the said chapter. This circumstance clearly contradicts the assertion of 
 Florentius, Monk of Westminster,- that Gwenllian, wife to Griffith ab Rees, 
 by deceitful practices had been the cause of his death.— See Welsh Chron. 
 p. 190. 
 
GWENLLIAN. 371 
 
 other fortresses belonging to "Walter Aspec and Richard de 
 la Mere ; making altogether five well garrisoned castles of 
 immense strength and complete military appointments. 
 Having finished the campaign so much to their glory, they 
 returned into North Wales." 
 
 The excessive spirit of resentment by which the Welsh 
 were animated at this time maybe conceived from the follow- 
 ing continuation of Warrington's remarks. "During the 
 late expedition two English barons were slain. A little 
 time after, in revenge, it is probable, of the late devastations, 
 Ranulph, earl of Chester made an inroad into Wales, but 
 being on a sudden intercepted by the Welsh, it was with 
 difficulty that he himself, with Jive only of his soldiers were 
 able to escape; the rest of his forces having been put to the 
 sword. 
 
 On the close of the year 1136, the young princes, Owen 
 Gwyneth and Cadwalader came a second time into South 
 "Wales, at the head of a formidable force, consisting of six 
 thousand infantry, and two thousand horse, all of which were 
 clad in armour and completely armed. The prosperous 
 events of the late campaign, with the desire of revenge (for 
 the murder of Gwenllian) having excited Griffith ab Rees, 
 and several chieftains in South "Wales to join them, with 
 considerable supplies, they subdued the whole country, as 
 far as Cardigan,' expelling the foreigners, and replacing the 
 native inhabitants. To repel this formidable insurrection, 
 Ranulph, earl of Chester, again entered Wales, accom- 
 panied with the united forces of the Normans, Flem- 
 ings, and the English remaining in Wales, or in the 
 marshes, under the conduct of several powerful barons, 
 all of whom were determined by one great effort to 
 recover the territories lately torn from them, or at least to 
 preserve those parts which still remained. The courage of 
 the Welsh had in various situations, been terrible to their 
 enemies : on this occasion it seems to have been rained above 
 the usual standard ; fired with resentment at the late out- 
 rage (the decapitation of Gwenllian) and animated by the 
 example of leaders whose talents rendered them so fit for 
 command. The English, after a severe and bloody conflict, 
 2 a 
 
372 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 were defeated with the loss of three thousand men; and 
 flying to their castles for safety, were so closely pursued, 
 that many prisoners were taken, and great numbers drowned 
 in the Teivy ; a bridge across that river immediately under 
 the castle having been broken down over which they were 
 obliged to pass. Never before had the English^ in the 
 various attempts upon Wales received so terrible a blow ;* 
 their army having been completely annihilated. Having 
 finished another prosperous campaign, the two young princes 
 returned into North Wales ; carrying with them, to grace 
 their triumph, the horses and armour, and the rich spoils 
 they had taken. 
 
 These were the last battles in which the heroic Griffith 
 ab Rees was engaged. In the year 1137> although a younger 
 man than either of his brothers-in-law, Owen Gwyneth or 
 Cadvvalader, he paid the debt of nature ; broken down by his 
 immense labours in the numerous battles in which he had 
 been engaged, while his health was undermined with grief 
 for the death of his excellent wife and the faithful partner 
 of his troubled life, as well as of his unhappy son. The 
 death of this gallant prince became one of the most calami- 
 tious visitations of these times. Warrington states, "the 
 power of the confederacy (for the recovery of Cambrian 
 independence) was much weakend by the death of Griffith 
 the son of Rees ab Tudor ; who closing with his life a series 
 of brilliant actions, reflected back the honours of a long line 
 of illustrious ancestry." 
 
 In the same year this valiant and lamented prince was 
 followed to the grave by his aged and illustrious father-in- 
 law, the venerable Griffith ab Kunnan, sovereign of North 
 Wales. 
 
 We shall conclude this memoir with another reference to 
 the misrepresentation of a Monkish writer respecting the 
 illustrious lady we have here commemorated. Florence of 
 
 * Halle and other authors have stated that so thoroughly crushed and en- 
 feebled by defeat after their long and hard fighting, were the English survivors 
 of this battle that even the Welsh women took an immense number of them 
 prisoners, and guarded them effectively as such, in the rear of their own fighting 
 squadrons. 
 
GWENLLIAN. 373 
 
 Worcester mentions that Griffith ab Rees died" in conse- 
 quence of ** the deceitful practices of his wife." In that 
 case Gwenllian must have been a very wonderful woman 
 indeed : as her death took place two years before her lord's 
 decease, her headless trunk must have risen from its resting 
 place, to indulge itself in the unnamed " deceitful practices," 
 which, according to this statement brought a husband whom 
 she loved, honoured, obeyed, aided, and died for, to a pre- 
 mature grave. But to reconcile contradictions and impos- 
 sibilities like these form no portion of the functions of a 
 monastic chronicler ; and rationality may yield what enter- 
 tainment it pleases to such statements, except the inexcu- 
 sable one of giving them the least credence or weight in 
 forming its final conclusions.* 
 
 * The principal incidents in the memoirs of Gwenllian which were not 
 gleaned from the Welsh Chronicles, the Saxon Chronicles, Warrington's and 
 Powell's Histories of Wales, and other authorities therein named, were derived 
 from the " Manuscript Notes'' to Caradoc of Llancarvon's black letter history 
 of Wales, referred to in the preface to this volume. 
 
J ! / 
 
 GENEHAL NOTES TO GWENLLIAN, WIFE OF GEIFFITH AB BEES. 
 
 In the coarse of this memoir we have treated of the restoration, by Griffith 
 ab Eees, of the ancient Bardic Congress called the Eisteddvod ; an institution 
 peculiarly national, and truly dear to the Cymry of olden times. Those who, 
 like ourselves, desire the revival and perpetuation of these interesting literary 
 and musical meetings, would do well to notice that this Eisteddvod, which took 
 place in the year 1135, deviated much in the nature of its transactions from 
 those of more ancient times — and also from those which subsequently occurred, 
 during the sway of our later native princes. We would infer that in these 
 deviations from each other consisted their usefulness and beauty. Although 
 varying from each other from the difference in the business transacted, they 
 were the more perfectly consistent with propriety, inasmuch that they severally 
 reflected the peculiar tastes, feelings, and peculiarities of their respective epochs. 
 Therefore I would argue that our modern Eisteddvodd, to emulate the ex- 
 amples set by the patrons, members, and conductors of the ancient institutions, 
 instead of servilely copying any particular Eisteddvod, in the mode of its cele- 
 bration, or the subjects embraced, should imitate them only in doing all things 
 in accordance with the spirit of the age in which they are introduced :— namely 
 the enlightened period in which we now enjoy our existence. 
 i Those persons who peer no deeper than the surface of these matters may 
 S discover an anomaly in allowing any portion of the Eisteddvod compositions 
 /' to be in the English language : but since English is the tongue which is spoken 
 / and understood by a large majority of the population of Wales, and those who 
 speak, and understand, and prefer Welsh exclusively, are numerically but a 
 very insignificant minority, common sense, common justice, and the spirit of 
 the age demand that a considerable portion of the Eisteddvod entertainments 
 >, should be in the English language. As the English-speaking people are those 
 V who contribute the greater amount towards the expenses of these celebrations, 
 k Mt constitutes a further claim ; and surely those who pay so handsomely, in the 
 form of rewards to the various successful competitors, have a right to dictate 
 the subjects of the compositions, whether essays, songs, or poems; and also to 
 decide on the language in which they should be respectively composed. 
 £ Those unreasonable, exclusive, and intemperate persons who manifest such 
 / repugnance to the dominant language of Great Britain, and insist on the pro- 
 / priety of every literary production competed for being only in the antiquated 
 f language of the principality of Wales, deserve to be stigmatized as the bigots 
 \ and fanatics of Welsh nationality ; who, like others of those narrow-minded 
 i classes, if their whims, fads, and fancies are permitted to carry undue sway, 
 \ are the very instruments who carry within themselves the destructive princi- 
 ple that sooner or later will destroy (Eisteddvodically speaking) their faith, 
 creed, and ultimately the Eisteddvod itself. 
 
 " But why'' exclaim these pragmatic worthies (one of whom in a late letter 
 published in the Star of Gwent Newspaper, signed John Jones, embracing 
 these denounced views?) "why call it an Eistedvodd at all, if the English lan- 
 guage is to form one of its features ? Eisteddvod is a Welsh word signifying a 
 congress or meeting of bards and minstrels; and therefore the tongue of the 
 Saxon should be entirely excluded from our ancient British bardic associations 
 bearing this national designation." 
 
GENERAL NOTES TO GWENLLIAN. 375 
 
 Our good, hot-headed friend, we have too great a sympathy with your malady 
 to quarrel with you, but we will venture to answer your question as to the pro- 
 priety of the Welsh term, Eisteddvod, being used to designate a meeting where 
 English-speaking people take a share in its transactions. We admit, as you 
 say, that such an assemblage signifies a meeting or congress of Welsh bards and 
 minstrels ; but as before observed, as the greater number of the inhabitants of 
 Wales have found it their interest to cultivate the dominant language of this 
 island to the exclusion of that spoken by their forefathers in less civilized times, 
 being now the only vocal intermedium in transacting their business with the 
 world— and deeming perhaps that it is better to speak good English than bad 
 Welsh (for sadly degenerated the Welsh of South Wales is admitted to be) ; we 
 cannot admit that by their change of tongue they have forfeited one iota of 
 their rights of citizenship, but, moreover, that as those who speak and compose 
 their productions in English, write entirely on subjects connected with Welsh 
 nationality — the bards and minstrels of the latter description being as true Cam- 
 brian patriots as the former— have thoroughly as just a claim to be heard, 
 encouraged, and rewarded, when successful, as any competitor who may be 
 conversant only with the Welsh language, in the business anl under the cog- 
 nomen of the Eisteddvodd. 
 
 Happily the English writers of Wales, however opposed by the sticklers for 
 the supremacy of the Welsh language, have met with due encouragement these 
 many years past, and goodly fruit have they borne in the respective forms of 
 learned and interesting essays, in which the long neglected antiquities of Wales 
 have undergone the most profound researches and critical examinations ; while 
 in the metrical department the poems and songs of the late Mrs. Ilemans, 
 John Humphry Parry, and others, whose productions are entirely founded on 
 the traditions and historic remains of Cambria, yield the fairest answers to all 
 inquiries under those headings. And be it further observed, there is decidedly 
 more Welsh nationality in an English production, when vigorously embracing 
 a subject, historic or traditional, that is purely Cambrian, than in a composition 
 in the Welsh language on affairs that are in no respect connected with Wales 
 or Welshmen. Thus in> reality, such English writers, after all cavilling, are 
 by far the best supporters of Welsh literature. 
 
 Having referred to the elegant and spirited poems and songs of the renowned 
 Felicia Hemans, on Cambrian subjects, as masterpieces of their kind, we take 
 leave to observe, that among the best writings of Welshmen, in their own ver- 
 nacular tongue, it is our firm belief that there exists not a single composition 
 that, can bear comparison with that gifted lady's most descriptive poem entitled 
 "the meeting op the bards." It was written expressly for the opening of 
 an Eisteddvod; and appropriately affords an explanatory apology for the 
 modern mode of holding such meetings within roofed edifices, as contra-distin- 
 guished from the ancient manner of celebrating them in the open air, amidst 
 the sublimities of nature. With various views we insert that poem for the ex- 
 amination of our readers. 
 
 THE MEETING OF THE BARDS. 
 By Felicia Hemans. 
 Where met the bards of old ? the glorious throng, 
 They of the mountain and the battle song ? 
 They met— Oh not in kingly hall or tower, 
 But where wild nature girt herself with power ! 
 
 2 h 2 
 
37& GENERAL NOTES TO GWENLLIAN. 
 
 They met where streams flash'd bright from rocky caves; 
 
 They met where woods- male moan o'er warrior's graves,. 
 
 And where the torrent's rainbow-spray was cast, 
 
 And where dark lakes were heaving to the blast, 
 
 And midst th' eternal cliffs, whose strength defied 
 
 The crested Roman in his hour of pride : 
 
 And where the Carnedd, on its lonely hill, 
 
 Bore silent record of the mighty still, 
 
 And where the Druid's ancient Cromlech frown'd, 
 
 And the Oaks breathed mysterious murmurs round, 
 
 They throng'd, th' inspired of Yore ! on plain or heights,, 
 
 " In the sun's face, beneath the eye of light I" 
 
 And baring unto heaven each noble head 
 
 Stood, in the circle where none else might tread. 
 
 Well might their lays be lofty !— soaring thought, 
 
 From Nature's presence tenfold grandeur caught ! 
 
 "Well might bold Freedom's soul pervade their strains r 
 
 Which startled eagles from their lone domains ! 
 
 Whence came the echoes to those numbers high ? 
 
 'Twas from the battle-fields of days gone by I 
 
 And from the tombs of heroes gone to rest, 
 
 With their good swords beneath the mountain's breast ;. 
 
 And from the watch-towers on the heights of snow, 
 
 Sever'd by cloud and storm from all below ; 
 
 And the turf mounds, once girt with ruddy spears, 
 
 And the rock altars of departed years ! 
 
 Thence deeply mingled with the torrent's roar, 
 
 The winds a thousand wild responses bore, 
 
 And the green land, whose every vale and glen. 
 
 Doth shrine the memory of heroic men, 
 
 On all her hills, awakening to rejoice, 
 
 Sent forth proud answers to her children's voice. 
 
 For us— not ours the festival to hold, 
 
 Midst the stone altars hallow'd thus of old; 
 
 Not when great Nature's majesty and might 
 
 First broke, all glorious, on our wondering sight, 
 
 Not near the tombs where sleep our free and brave t 
 
 Not by the mountain llyn, the ocean wave, 
 
 In these late days we meet : — dark Mona's shore, 
 
 Eryri's cliifs, resound with harps no more. 
 
 But, as the stream — (though time or art may tura 
 
 The current bursting from its cavern'd urn, 
 
 To bathe soft vales of pastures and of flowers, 
 
 From alpine glens and awful forest bowers,) 
 
 Alike in rushing strength, or sunny sleep, 
 
 Holds on its course to mingle with the deep : 
 
 Thus, though our paths be chang'd, still warm and free, 
 
 Land of the Bard ! our spirit flies to thee ; 
 
 To thee our thoughts, our hopes, our hearts, belong. 
 
 Our dreams are haunted by the voice of song I 
 
GENERAL NOTES TO GWENLLlAN. 377 
 
 Nor yield oar souls one patriot feeling less 
 
 To the green memory of thy loveliness, 
 
 Than theirs, whose harp-notes peal'd on every height, 
 
 In the sun's face, beneath the eye of light. 
 
 It is with great pleasure we have noticed among the young Cambrians of our 
 time a growing taste for oratorical declamation. It would be wise to encourag* 
 this ; as nothing can more effectually tend to a graceful change from the awk- 
 ward rustic demeanour and style in which many, young and old, of our Eistedd- 
 vodd prize winners recite their performances or address their audience. Witfa 
 6uch laudable views it would be well of the patrons of Eisteddvodau to offer 
 cccasionally a fair prize for the best delivery from the platform, of Mrs Heman's 
 foen* the " meeting of the babds," in the absence of an original compositioa- 
 
Hot) 
 
 l "6 
 
 iari 
 ted. 
 
 GWENLLIAN, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF OWEN GLENDOWER. 
 
 Gwenllian, natural daughter of Owen Glendower, as 
 noticed elsewhere in this work became the wife of Philip ab 
 Rhys, of Cenarth. The poet Lewis of Glyncothi wrote an 
 affecting elegy on her death, in which after dwelling 
 minutely on her personal charms he styles her " Gwenlliai 
 of the golden lock," and " Gwenllian of the hue of drifted 
 snow ;" and bears high testimony to her benevolent atten- 
 tion to the wants of the poor. He feelingly refers to the 
 past fortunes of her illustrious father ; — that he was 
 once a powerful prince, with forty dukes for his allies, and 
 the whole of Wales under his command. And that in his 
 old age his benevolence was exemplified by the liberal sup- 
 port he gave to sixty-two female pensioners. The bard 
 next mentions Gwenllian's two sons, and again eulogises 
 her liberality, and that of her generous husband. Recalling 
 to mind the many kind friends he had lost — the departure 
 of "the old familiar faces" — he thus emphatically closes. 
 
 " Had I a tongue of steel, and lungs of brass, and were I 
 able to lament them unceasingly, my eulogies would be too 
 weak, too insufficient, for their great merits." 
 
;y 
 
 GWENLLIAN, OF LLWYN TEEN. 
 
 This excellent young lady was the daughter of a chieftaiaa 
 named Rhys ab David ab Thomas, of the two mansions of 
 Vlaen Tren, and Llwyn Tren, on the river Tren in Carmar- 
 thenshire. Of the latter, and its hospitality the poet Lew is 
 of Glyjicgm speaks in the most animated terms ; "an a in 
 his poem addressed to its owner, the bard asks what land 
 was there in Christendom which could boast of richer wine 
 than what is drank at Llwyn Tren ? what country could 
 boast of superior timber to that which grows on Rees ab 
 David's land ? His extensive grounds, he says, abound like 
 Windsor forest, in *oaks of the most luxuriant growth, as 
 well as in other trees of every kind and magnitude. And 
 to animate the scene, wild bees are found in swarms on his 
 estate and are seen sipping many a flower. There also is 
 seen the stately stag, in company with his comrades, — 
 whilst the melodious blackbird is heard to commingle his 
 notes with those of other songsters of the forest. The 
 heron nestles there, and there it summers. And the timid 
 squirrel, the beauty of the wood, gambols in safety there, 
 and there it winters." 
 
 The fairy of the scene, the beautiful enchantress of this 
 earthly paradise was Gwenllian, who, it appears, was as 
 good as she was beautiful, for she is greatly celebrated by 
 this poet for the benevolence of her character. In another 
 poem addressed to her father, he says, " as the oak stands 
 foremost among the trees of the forest, so does Rhys among 
 his neighbours. He is the generous one of the line of Mere- 
 dith Vras.f May the blessed Mary protect both him and 
 his family ; for when I was seized and laid up with a violent 
 fever, and when shooting pains ran throughout all my bones, 
 
 * The translation of the Eev. John Jones, vicar of Nevin, Pembrokeshire. 
 
 + The translation of this name gives it a comic tendency in English, which 
 it does not bear in the original ; Meredydd Vras, signifies Meredith the fat, or 
 the portly. 
 
380 GWENLLIAN. 
 
 the kiadhearted Gwenllian, the daughter of Rhys, she who 
 ever contributes to the relief of the hundred poor, supplied 
 me with medicines, whose healing virtue restored me to my 
 wonted health. There were no delicacies of the table with 
 which I was not furnished, and I was moreover supplied 
 with the very best mead * May my blessing ever attend 
 her, and may my prayers in her behalf be heard ! I was on 
 the brink of the graven but I am now restored to health and 
 vigour." 
 
 The generous Gwenllian, however, was not destined to 
 continue her career of benevolence ; she was cut off like a 
 frost-nipped flower, in early life ; and, as we are informed 
 ky t ne same , p o et, on the eve of her marriage. He wrote a 
 pathetic elegy on her death, with the following slight sketch 
 of which, from Mr. Jones's translation, we shall conclude 
 this brief memoir. 
 
 " A star hath set— the beautiful Enidf of Blaen-Tren, the 
 virgin daughter of Rees is no more ! her spirit hath flown 
 to the happy regions above ; and at Llan, y Buthair J her 
 corse hath been consigned to the grave. JJIow brittle is the 
 thread of life — less lasting than the spray of the sea. Alas! 
 that Gwenllian should have been cut off with the month of 
 May. Like that month, pleasant and sweet was the life of 
 Gwenllian. Would that her life had been prolonged ! but I 
 am far advanced in the vale of years, and my muse gives 
 utterance to nothing but woe, for the setting sun of Gilvach- 
 Wen. Yesterday Gwenllian's voice was heard, but to day 
 it is hushejp> She was amiable in her life, and accomplished 
 withal ; and her hand was ever open to relieve the distressed. 
 A branch of an ancient and noble stock hath been cut off. 
 Ah ! how uncertain is life ! she was espoused, and on the 
 eve of marriage ; but before the bridal day her spirit fled, 
 and her body rested in the silent tomb." 
 
 * Mead, or Metheglyn, was the wine of the ancient Welsh. It was made of 
 malt, water, herbs, and spices, and fermented with barm. 
 
 t Enid, to whom Gwenllian is compared, was one of the three exalted ladiei 
 e( the court of King Arthur, according to the Welsh Triads. 
 
 X In Welsh Llan y Byddair 
 
fifthui** 
 
 \p 
 
 THE LADY GWENLLIAN, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF CUNNAN AB MEREDITH, AND WIFE OF SIB 
 GRIFFITH LLWYD. 
 
 Although Sir Griffith Llwyd, who in after years became 
 the husband of tins lady, was a very noted character, for 
 the parts which he enacted in the political drama of his 
 time, we know but little of Gwenllian herself, except what 
 we learn from a curious Welsh poem addressed to her by 
 a rejected lover, previous to her union with that celebrated 
 chieftain. The poem, the poet, and the lady, are thus re- 
 ferred to by the late Dr. Owen Pughe, in a letter to 
 Mr. Coxe, author of the Historical Tour in Monmouth- 
 shire, and, with the original Welsh, inserted in that work. 
 
 "There was a celebrated poet of Gwent, named Cas- 
 nodyn, who flourished in the commencement of the four- 
 teenth century, and whose works may be deemed the J§st 
 of the ancient classics of Sujuria.* I have selected the 
 following ode, chiefly for its brevity, and accompanied it 
 with a literal translation ; it is addressed to a lady called 
 Gwenllian, the meaning of which name is, one that is white \ 
 ; as the torrent's foam.\ \ 
 
 " Transcendant in virtue, whose soft skin of gossamer 
 I delicacy is of the hue of the purely white spraying foam of 
 the waves ! Thy fame has been the subject of my lay, 
 Gwenllian, sprightly and fair; a thousand more will sing 
 in thy praise. 
 
 * Casnodyn flourished from about 1290 to 1340. There are Ave pieces of his 
 ipreserved in the Myvyrian Archaeology, which contain abundant proofs of 
 ihis poetic genius. 1— The poem to Gwenllian, herein citsd. 2— Awdl i Ievan 
 Abad Aberconwy. 3— Awdl i Ievan ab Gruffuth. 4— Awdl Marwnad Madawg. 
 5— Awdl i'r Drindod." — Williams's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent 
 Welshmen. 
 
 t Most Welshmen will dissent from the doctor'3, opinion respecting the 
 meaning of this name; "while as the ocean's foam" is merely a simile for a 
 beautiful fair girl. For a brief dissertation on the meaning of " Gwenllian,'* 
 see the memoir of Gwenllian, heiress of the vale of Clewyd, in this work. 
 
382 
 
 THE LADY GWENLLIAN. 
 
 *' Though I anxiously seek the object of my wish, not a 
 glance of the angel-presence, high-towering in renown, shall 
 I have in a day, nor in twelve ; my craving hope, like the 
 gairish thistle-down, privileged with wings floats in an 
 airy course of wide extended light. 
 
 " Passion has been a sting wounding to punish weakness : 
 a token without fulfilment, lightly passes away on the sleep- 
 obstructing form, so sprightly, seeming as a white stream 
 of the rock, when the impending surge throws a mantle 
 over the stone. 
 
 "Discreet of word and faultless! Oh! banish the wa- 
 vering sentiment; I am ever without an assignation for the 
 longed intercourse ; fine gold (alone) has been my recom- 
 pence, for the pain, the torment of delay, which my hands 
 received with diffident wistfulness, from a second Indeg.* 
 
 " Beauteous daughter of Kunnan ! (Cynan) dispense the 
 hundred gifts of the Eagle of the land of men — of heroes 
 free from Saxon speech ! A prospering lord, like a liberal 
 Grecian sage, eloquent and energetic — release from chains 
 a comely chief! 
 
 " I am master of the lucid words of the modest Gwyn- 
 eddian language ;f I am competent to celebrate the pro- 
 geny of a prince of bounteous gift ; far distant will fame be 
 wafted by the power of words ; so unrestrained my muse 
 [n Gwentian song. 
 
 " The slender and elegant damsel, from whose lips the 
 Welsh so purely flows ;\the kind sleep -depriving maid, 
 causing health-depriving anaaish, a myriad will praise her 
 without ceasing, in undebasea* words, soft and pure, which 
 in recital shall greatly bless the course of life. 
 
 il May then the panegyric lay make impression on her, 
 who is of the hue of the hoarsely-clamouring wave of 
 
 Lanaw, azure mantled and of sullen din, which often to 
 
 * Indeg, the daughter of Avarwy, a celebrated beauty in the court of King 
 Arthur, recorded in the Triads as one of the three chaste damsels of the Isle of 
 Britain. 
 
 f Gwyneddian, i. e. the language of North Wales ; this poet, being a native 
 of Gwent, Monmouthshire, boasts an equal facility in composition in both 
 
THE LADY GWENLLIAN. 383 
 
 where the bright green smiles, wafts me on a mighty course, \ 
 gloomy and severe. Oi 
 
 " Hastening to view Jtaw glorious the path of the lumi- V 
 naryofArvon, causing anxieties to the mind ; the queen of 
 the stone-built castle, the faivtfaped ample place of resort to / 
 a splendid throne; theslgn^rNand gentle maid of Di- / 
 norweg."* / 
 
 However beautiful these strains of Casnodyn may have 
 been to others, it appears they utterly failed to move the 
 heart of Gwenllian. As before observed she was afterwards 
 united in marriage to Griffith Llwyd, grandson of the re- 
 nowned Ednyved Vychan, the counsellor and general of 
 Prince Llewellyn ab Iorwerth, who, as the representative 
 of that great family resided at the mansion of Tregarnedd, 
 to which he brought home his bride, the beautiful Gwenllian, 
 who was thenceforward to become its mistress. 
 
 Of the lady we have no further notice in history ; but 
 the career of her husband was singularly eventful. Living 
 at the period of the subjugation of Wales hy Edward I., 
 although the most ardent of patriots, he had the sagacity to 
 perceive the futility of the unequal contest between the 
 vast armies of the invader and the reduced number of his 
 countrymen ; therefore, conceiving that the best mode of 
 settling the peace of the country, and to restore security to 
 the disturbed homes of all, would be to submit quietly to 
 English dominion, he strenuously advised the Welsh to 
 refrain for the future from unavailing opposition. As a 
 proof of the integrity of his political views, he kept aloof and 
 refrained from taking any part in the insurrection raised by 
 his immediate neighbours, the men of North Wales, who 
 
 * Such is the mere sense of this curious Welsh poem ; but the charm of the / 
 composition is principally to be found in the felicitous turns of a very intricate ./I— 
 measure, adorned both with rhyme and alliteration. The translator remarks 
 on it: — " This ode is so extremely complicated and artful in its construction, 
 that it would be a fruitless attempt, I believe, to imitate it in any other lan- 
 guage. Every line ends in eg, but they are all unaccented syllables except four, « 
 and consequlnTIyhave not the jingle of full rhyme ; they are also overpowered 
 by the accented concatenation of other sounds (alliteration), in different parts 
 of the verses, in such a manner that an incorrect ear might almost miss theh- 
 existence in the composition. 
 
 2 i 
 
384 THE LADY GWENLLIANa 
 
 having set up Madoc, a natural son of the late Llewellyn ab 
 Griffith, for their prince, made a daring attempt to recover 
 their lost liberties. Their final battle was fought in 1294, 
 on Mynydd Digoll,* in which, after a well-fought and long- 
 contested engagement with the collected powers of the 
 Lords Marchers, as foreseen by Griffith Llwyd, they were 
 utterly overthrown and routed. 
 
 As a further proof of his pacific disposition towards the 
 English government, and the new order of things in Wales, 
 he voluntarily undertook to be the bearer to King Edward 
 of the intelligence that his queen had given birth to a son, 
 in the castle of Carnarvon. For this service he received the 
 honour of knighthood at the hand of the English sovereign ; 
 the lordship of Powys was also bestowed on him, for which 
 he did homage at Chester, in 1355, to Edward, prince of 
 "Wales, by the title of lord of Poole; according to Pennant 
 his title was also Frenchified into De la Pole. 
 
 But Sir Griffith Llwyd, notwithstanding these rewards 
 for his adherence to English politics, lived to repent his 
 complaisance. The galling oppression endured by his 
 countrymen, and the unbearable insolence of the English 
 nobility and others in authority towards the most excellent 
 and high-born of the land, at length drove the Welsh to 
 desperation and resistance. Griffith Llwyd partaking of 
 their indignant feelings and determination, to make amends 
 for his former advice, now took measures for a revolt for the 
 recovery of their ancient freedom. 
 
 " Between the years 1316 and 1318 he attempted to form 
 an alliance with Edward Bruce (brother of Robert Bruce of 
 Scotland), the short-lived king of Ireland. Letters passed 
 between them but without effect. At length, from the 
 greatness of his spirit, he determined alone to endeavour to 
 free his country from the slavery to which he himself had 
 probably contributed."! 
 
 * " The name of this place," says Pennant, " is taken from an immense 
 Carnadd (in English Cam), or heap of stones, surrounded with great upright 
 6tones, in an adjacent field. 
 
 t Pennant. The following is that author's account of the fortification of the 
 house of Sir Griffith Llwyd. " I find that he had fortified Tregarnedd with a 
 
THE LADY GWENLLIAN. 385 
 
 In the year 1322 he took up arms, and headed the in- 
 surrectionary powers of Wales. To mark the spirit of des- 
 peration to which they were driven, he caused his banners 
 to be inscribed with those burning words, which strikingly^ 
 express the exasperated feelings of the times, Give U marw \ 
 vel dyn na biw vel y ci, signifying, c< Better die like a man 
 than live like a dog." 
 
 For awhile success attended his arms wherever he moved ; 
 but at length superior powers came against him, and ulti- 
 mately he and his army were subdued and taken prisoners. 
 Pennant suggests he "doubtlessly underwent the fate of 
 our gallant insurgents ;" in which case he was either shot 
 or beheaded. But other writers imagine that he was kept 
 in captivity till his death, in the Tower of London. What 
 became of the Lady Gwenllian and his family, is unknown, 
 having found no record in history, except what is thus 
 stated by Pennant from the Sebright MSS. " His daughter 
 Morvydd, one of his co-heiresses, conveyed by marriage 
 tbis estate (Tregarnedd)» being her portion, to Madoc 
 Gloddaeth, which followed the succession of that House till 
 1750, when it was alienated by the late Sir Thomas Mostyn 
 to Mr. Owen Williams." 
 
 very strong foss and rampart, and made another stronghold about three quarters 
 of a mile distant, in the morass of Malltraeth called Ynis Cevenni, which he 
 insulated with the waters of the river Cevni •. both are still remaining. The 
 foss is nearly perfect, and near four yards deep and eight wide. 
 
nio 
 
 GWERVIL HAEL OP ABERTANED. 
 
 Gwervil Hael (Gwervil the Generous), was a lady of rank 
 in the fourteenth century. In the olden times of good house- 
 keeping she became the model of a great patroness to the 
 fame-bestowing minstrels of her day, and obtained from the 
 gratitude and general suffrage of the bards the above flat- 
 tering title. She was the daughter of Madoc of Abertaned ; 
 and the wife of Rhys ab David ab Howel, by whom she be- 
 came the mother of several children, who ultimately »were 
 allied to some of the most respectable Houses in the prin- 
 cipality, and the founders of great families. Among those 
 alliances may be named the Salusburys of Reeg (Rug) and 
 Llewenny ; Pugh of Mathavarn, in Montgomeryshire ; Pryse 
 Pryse, of Gogerddan, in the county of Cardigan ; and ulti- 
 mately of Sir Watkin William Wynne, of Wynnstay.* 
 Reeg (Rug) and its dependencies was devised by will to 
 Colonel Salusbury of the Guards; and he dying unmarried 
 in Sicily, during the late continental war, bequeathed the 
 whole to his younger brother, Griffith Howel Vaughan, Esq., 
 the present highly respectable and hospitable proprietor, f 
 Gwervil Hael's descendants by her second husband were 
 equally illustrious, and are traceable to our present time. 
 They were the Tanats of Abertanat.J The Godolphins 
 came into possession by marriage ; and a Lord Godolphin 
 devised the whole estate to Lord Osborne, in which family 
 it still continues. To this branch of the descendants of 
 Gwervil Hael may be added Mrs. Ormsby Gore, of Por- 
 kington, near Oswestry. 
 
 * The residence of Gwervil Hael was Llanyblodwell Hall, Montgomeryshire, 
 North Wales, near the mansion of Sir Watkin William Wynne. 
 
 + Vide notes to the poems of Lewis Glyncothi, edited by the Rev. John 
 Jones, vicar of Nevyn. 
 
 t The Tanats of Abertanad took their name from the river Tan ad, which 
 runs through their original estate, and falls into the Vyrnyw, near their seat of 
 Abertaned. 
 
GWERVIL HAEL OF ABERTANED. 387 
 
 Having said thus much of her descendants, we now return 
 again to the fountain of their honours, the liberal Gwervil 
 Hael. Brief, however, are our remaining records. She 
 became the enviable subject of the poetic eulogies of the 
 bard Lewis of Glyncothi. At her decease he wrote on her 
 a fine elegy, in which he describes the general lamentation, 
 that followed the mournful event, not only among the 
 minstrels, but also throughout the country generally. In 
 the fervour of his admiration he declares, that such was 
 the excellence of her high character that she was deserving 
 of being canonized, and of pious pilgrimages being made 
 to the hallowed spot that enshrined her remains. 
 
 In the song entitled •• The Ladies of Cymru," this 
 "fair daughter of Madoc of Abertaned, the light and 
 glory of the festal hall," is thus apostrophized : — 
 " To Gwervil the gen'rous what bard can refrain 
 From channting dear Gratitude's warm-hearted strain ? 
 Blest bountiful beauty, the foundress of feasts, 
 The darling of chieftains, bards, minstrels, and priests," 
 
 2 i 2 
 
GWERTIL, 
 
 WIFE OF DAVID LLOYD AB LLEWELLYN LORD OF MATHAVARN. 
 
 The husband of this lady, David Lloyd ab Llewelyn, was a 
 man of no inconsiderable note in his time, both for the gifts 
 of fortune, and the supposed possession of an enlightened 
 mind. He is reputed to have been a poet, herald, antiquary, 
 and Brudiwr, or prophet, of no mean attainments. His resi- 
 dence was on his own property, a good house at Mathavarn, 
 in the parish of Llanwrin, Cyveiliog, Montgomeryshire ; and 
 his fair estate extending along both sides of the river Dyvi, 
 or Dovey ; consisting of hill and vale, pasture and cornfields, 
 wood and turbary, as well as a certain quantum of mountain- 
 sheep-walks, where he could breed and feed both his wool 
 and his mutton. 
 
 Davydd seems to have caught the fire, or rather the smoke 
 of his genius, from some of the fatidical seers, who emu- 
 lated in a small way and at a great distance, the pyihonic 
 darkness which sublimate the inexplicable prophesies of 
 Merddyn Wyllt ; one of our Cambrian ancients who has 
 thriven on his obscurities, and had the rare fortune to be 
 admired most when least understood. Consequently, he 
 became the oracle of that part of the country, where he 
 dwelt ; and if his enigmatical promulgations failed to en- 
 lighten his occasional auditors, they offended none, for the 
 very convincing reason that few ever pretended to under- 
 stand them. His own interpretations therefore became 
 doubly acceptable; as no person could be found infidel 
 enough to dispute with a prophet the meaning of his own 
 prophesies. 
 
 But among David Lloyd ab Llewelyn's felicitous posses- 
 sions, we have purposely omitted the chief — with the view 
 of producing it effectively, in all its unique superiority, and 
 unalloyed with baser matter — he had a wife; — a shrewd, 
 clever, little wide-awake, sensible wife, of the pretty name 
 
gwervil. 389 
 
 of Gwervil. Alas for the paucity of detail with the chroni- 
 clers of old ! They very carefully"announce in their annals 
 some incidents which tend to make us blush for the barbari- 
 ties of our forefathers ; but rarely enliven their pages with 
 the sayings and doings of the clever women of their day, 
 or doubtless our volumes of female biography would be 
 more extensive. We grieve to say, there is but one little 
 record of the imputed brilliance of Gwervil, the wife of 
 David Lloyd ab Llewelyn, but on the strength of that 
 solitary passage in her life, history has given a niche for her 
 statue : — on the evidence of that lonely instance of her wit 
 and waggery, the readiness of which suggests such habitual 
 occurrences, we must give her credit for many unpro- 
 duceable good sayings and doings. 
 
 When the aspiring '.' Harry of Richmond," the gallant 
 grandson of Owen Tudor, was on his way from Milford 
 towards Shrewsbury and onwards, to fight the battle of Bos- 
 worth Field, and stake his life to win the royal crown of these 
 realms, he felt an inclination to call at the goodly mansion 
 of Mathavarn, and become for a night the guest of one whom 
 he was well assured was not only a faithful, but a most 
 active and industrious partizan. The industry of David 
 Lloyd ab Llewelyn consisted in the fecundity and fervour 
 of his prophesies, which latterly had been less oracular, or 
 mystic than usual, and foretold that a grand crisis was at 
 hami, when the result of a battle between a dragon and a 
 wild boar, would place the crown of this island once more 
 upon the head of a Briton. If some were simple enough to 
 understand this literally, and to expect merely the ex- 
 citing entertainment produceable by a bona fide battle 
 between two strange animals, like the legendary fight of the 
 lion and the unicorn, of later coinage, others were not 
 wanting in the necessary sagacity to the internal meaning 
 of that oracular announcement. It has been said although 
 the pretended prophesies of David Lloyd ab Llewelyn were 
 subjected to the ridicule of the shrewder portion of his 
 countrymen, yet that his dark, mysterious, but bold pro- 
 phesies that a chieftain of Wales, of the British blood royal, 
 should liberate the nation from Saxon bondage, so wrought 
 
390 GWERVIL. 
 
 upon the valour and excited imagination of his countrymen, 
 that thousands of Welshmen enlisted under the banners of 
 Rhys ab Thomas, who received the Earl of Richmond at 
 Milford. Therefore, to countenance so useful an instru- 
 ment of his ambition, was no contemptible piece of policy 
 in the " Briton Richmond ;" living as he did, in an age 
 when witchcraft was a burnable offence, and when lords and 
 ladies of the highest rank were not too wise to avoid con- 
 sulting " cunQing men" and " prophetic women ;" who in 
 reality were not beyond the par of our modern fortune 
 tellers. 
 
 After some hours spent in rest and refreshment at the 
 house of David Lloyd, whom the Earl is said to have 
 known familiarly in his childhood, previous to his retirement 
 for the night, he asked his host, either in real anxiety for 
 the issue of his enterprize, or in a spirit of jocular gaiety, 
 his real opinion, whether success or failure would attend his 
 banners. Taken by surprise the seer cautiously replied, 
 that a question of such importance required due con- 
 sideration, and that he should give his answer in the mor- 
 ning. When asked by his wife the cause of his apparent 
 perplexity, he informed her of Richmond's demand, and his 
 own hesitation in making an immediate reply. " How can 
 you possibly find a difficulty about your answer said Gwer- 
 vil ; " tell him, without hesitation, that his daring enterprize 
 will be most successful and glorious ; if your prediction is 
 verified, you will receive honors and rewards ; but if it fails, 
 and Richmond falls, depend upon it he will never come here 
 to reproach you. 
 
 This saying gave rise to the saying Cynghor Gwraig heh 
 ei ofyn ; implying a wife's unasked advice is always for- 
 tunate. 
 
 Among the diarhebion or Proverbs of Catwg there is one 
 especially applicable to our witty, heroine, which runs 
 thus — 
 
 " Were a woman as quick on her feet as she is with her 
 tongue, doubtless she would catch the lightning." 
 
w 
 
 MISTRESS ELEANOR GWYNN, 
 
 GENERALLY KNOWN AS " NELL GWYNN," MISTRESS OF KING 
 CHARLES THE SECOND, AND MOTHER OF CHARLES BEAU= 
 CLERC, THE FIRST DUKE OF ST. ALBANS, 
 
 ABBIDGED FROM MRS. JAMESON'S "BEAUTIES OF THE COURT OF' KING 
 CHARLES THE SECOND." 
 
 As the authoress of the splendid and costly work from 
 which we derive the memoirs of Nell Gwynn has not been 
 so absurdly fastidious as either to exclude her from, or to 
 make ridiculous apologies for, her introduction into M The 
 Beauties of the Court of Charles the Second," we are 
 happy to follow so fair an example. Trusting that the 
 charm of contrast which she yields to our other " Heroines," 
 will make this added feature of variety acceptable to our 
 fair readers, we purpose that Mrs. Jameson shall tell her 
 part alone, and the tale of this lowly Welsh beauty at the 
 voluptuous court of the * c merrie monarch." 
 
 " It is at least, in one sense, rather a delicate point to 
 touch on the life of Nell Gwynn : one would fain be pro- 
 perly shocked, decorously grave, and becomingly moral; 
 but as the lady says in Comus, " but to what end '?" It 
 were rather_ superflu ous to jset_ about proving that Nell 
 Gwynn was, in her day, a good-for-nothing sort of person ; 
 in short, as wild a piece of frailty as ever wore a petticoat. 
 In spite of such demonstrations, and Bishop Burnet's 
 objurgations to boot, she will not the less continue to be 
 the idol of popular tradition ; her very name indicative of 
 a smile, and of power to disarm the austerity of virtue, and 
 discountenance the gravity of wisdom. It is worth while 
 to enquire in what consists that strange fascination, which, 
 after the lapse of a century and a^ili^stilFhangs round 
 the memory of this singular woman. Why is her name 
 still familiar and dea r in the mouths of the people ? Why 
 hath no man condemned her ? Why has satire spared her f 
 
*- 
 
 392 MISTRESS ELEANOR GWYNN. 
 
 Why is there in her remembrance a charm so far beyond, 
 and so different from, mere celebrity ? Other women have 
 become famous and interesting in spite of their lapses from 
 virtue, and some from that very cause. Rosamond Clifford 
 is the heroine of romance ; Agnes Sorrel, of history and 
 chivalry ; Jane Shore, of tragedy ; La Valliere, of senti- 
 ment and poetry; and Gabrielle d" Estrees has been im- 
 mortalized by the love of a hero, to whom she was most 
 faithless, and of whom she was not worthy. But Nell 
 Gwynn — heaven knows had little to do with romance, or 
 tragedy, or chivalry, or sentiment: and her connexion 
 with the king, with all the scandal it gave rise to, would 
 have made her, in other cases, a mark for popular hatred 
 and scurrility, but for those redeeming qualities which 
 " turned dispraise to praise," and made 
 
 " Beth faults and graces loved of more or less." 
 
 A sprinkling of hypocrisy, or a few cooling drops of dis- 
 cretion, had rendered Nell Gwynn either far better or far 
 worse, and placed her on a par with the women around her ; 
 as it was, she resembled nothing but herself. She may, 
 perhaps, be compared in some few points with her fair and 
 famed c ontemp orary, Ninon de 1' Enclos. Both had talents, 
 wit, vivacity, and much goodness of heart ; both were dis- 
 tinguished for the sincerity and permanency of their friend- 
 ships, their extensive charity, and rnjiriificjejicje Jto literary 
 men ; what Ninon was to Racine and Moliere, Nell was to 
 Dryden and Lee. But there is this difference, that Ninon, 
 with all her advantages of birth, talents, independent 
 fortune, and education, not only soigne^ but learned, became 
 from choice or perverted principle, what Nell, noorijunf 
 educated, and unprotected, became from necessity or 
 accident. 
 
 The family of Nell Gwynn was of Wel^je^tra^tionxas 
 may be inferred from the name ; her parents were natives 
 of Hereford, of which city one of her noble descendants 
 was afterwards bishop ,* and where, according to a Tocat 
 
 * This " descendant" was her grandson, Lord James Beauclerc, who died 
 bishop of Hereford in 1782 r 
 
MISTRESS ELEANOR GWYnN. 303 
 
 tradition, she was herself born.* While yet a mere child, 
 she was an attendant in a tavern, where the sweetness of 
 her voice analieinspTigKtly address recommended her to 
 notice. She was aifceimrds, still in extreme youth, servant 
 to a fruiterer, and in this capacity employed to sell oranges 
 at the theatres. Here herijeauty and vivacity aFtracted the 
 notice of Lacy the comedian, her first lover, who was soon 
 rivalled in her good graces by Hart, the handsomest man 
 and the most accomplished actor of his day. Under the 
 successive tuition of these two admirers, both of whom 
 were masters of their art, Nell Gwynn was prepared for 
 the stage, for which she had a natural penchant ; and, in 
 1667, we find her enrolled in the king's company of 
 comedians, who were then acting, under Killigrew's patent, 
 at the new theatre in Drury-lane. Before the Restoration 
 no woman had appeared upon the English stage, the female 
 parts being all acted by men. The novelty and attraction 
 of seeing beautiful women in such characters as Desdemona, 
 Ophelia, Aspasia, &c, was, undoubtedly, one cause of that 
 mania for theatrical amusements which was one of the 
 characteristics of the time. Nell Gwynn at once became 
 popular in her new vocation. She was so great a favourite, 
 that the public endured and even applauded her, in charac- 
 ters for which her talents were altogether unfitted. She 
 excelled in comedy, and in all parts in which singing and 
 dancing were requisite. The character of Florimal, in the 
 *' Maiden Queen," appears to have been her chefcPcsuvre 
 in this style.f Her easy gracefulness of address, arch 
 expression, and musical voice, rendered her unrivalled as a 
 speaker of prologues and epilogues ; several of Dryden's 
 
 * According to Brailley and Britton's history of Hereford, Nell Gwynn was 
 born in a humble dwelling in Pipe-lane, in the city of Hereford. Those county 
 historians " state that her grandson, the bishop, became the proprietor of that 
 very episcopal palace which almost adjoined the humble cot where hia maternal 
 ancestor~drew~her first breath. XJT J'"" 
 
 t Nell Gwynn appears to have excelled in precisely the same line of charac- 
 ters which, in our day, marked the peculiar forte of that fascinating actress 
 Madame Vestris, in the early part of her theatrical career ; while in the 
 symmetry of form, petite foot and figure attributed to Nell, the resemblance 
 appears also to hold good. 
 
394 MISTRESS ELEANOR GWYNN. 
 
 best, and it is well known he excelled in these productions, 
 were written expressly for her. The same year that Nell 
 Gwynn first appeared on the stage, she attracted the 
 notice of the witty Lord Buckhurst (afterwards the Earl 
 of Dorset), who took her from the theatre and allowed her 
 1001 a year. The absence, however, was not long : she 
 returned to the stage in 1668, and appeared in her great 
 character of Almahide, in Dryden* s Conquest of Granada. 
 In spite of what Pepys says of her acting serious parts 
 vilely (which was true in general), she produced a great 
 effect in this character, as is evident from the extraordinary 
 success of the play, and the allusion to her, long afterwards, 
 by Lord Lansdown. in his " Progress of Beauty :" — 
 " And Almahide, once by kings adored." 
 
 The prologue to this tragedy was written for her by 
 Dryden. It seems that Nokes, the favourite buffoon of the 
 rival theatre (the Duke's House), had lately drawn crowds 
 by appearing in a huge broad brimmed hat, though where 
 the jest lay it is impossible to guess. Dryden ridiculed 
 this extravagance, by causing Nell to appear in a hat 
 double the size, with brims as wide as a cart wheel ; her 
 slight short figure, just visible under this vast overhanging 
 circumference, and the archness with which she delivered 
 the satirical address, were irresistibly droll, and produced 
 all the effect expected ; and much more, if the tradition be 
 true, that it was in this grotesque costume Nell first cap- 
 tivated her royal lover: but there is reason to doubt it. 
 All that can be ascertained is, that from this time the 
 king more openly distinguished her, and after the first 
 performance, went behind the scenes and took her away 
 in his carriage to sup with him. Soon after Lord Buck- 
 hurst resigned her, for the consideration of an earldom and 
 a pension. 
 
 After this elevation (as the contemporary writers express 
 it, and no doubt very sincerely thought it), we find Nelly 
 dignified in the playbills with the title of " Madame Ellen," 
 by which name she was popularly known. She appeared 
 on the stage once or twice after the birth of her eldest son, 
 
NELL GWYNN. 395 
 
 but retired from it altogether in 1671. About this time she 
 was created one of the ladies of the queen's privy chamber, 
 under which title she was lodged in "Whitehall.* Madame 
 Ellen lost none of her popularity by her " elevation." She 
 carried with her into the court the careless assurance of her 
 stage manners : and, as Burnet says, "continued to hang on 
 her clothes with the same slovenly negligence;" but she 
 likewise carried there qualities even more rare in a court 
 than coarse manners and negligent attire : the same frolic 
 gaiety, the same ingenuous nature, and the same kind and 
 cordial benevolence, which had rendered her adored among 
 her comrades. Her wit was as natural and as peculiar to 
 herself as the perfume to the flower. She seems to have 
 been, as the Duchess de Chaulnes expressed it, "femme d? 
 esprit, par la grace de Dieu :" her bon mots fell from her 
 lips with such an unpremeditated felicity of expression, and 
 her turn of humour was so perfectly original, that though 
 it occasionally verged upon extravagance and vulgarity, 
 even her maddest flights became her; "as if," says one of 
 her contemporaries, " she alone had the pateatfrom Heaven 
 to engross all hearts." Burnet calls he^^the wildest andPl 
 indiscreetest creature that ever was in a court ;V-aTrt|-* / 
 speaking of the king's constant attachment to her, he adds, 
 M but, after all, he never treated her with the decencies of a 
 mistress." This last observation of the good bishop is 
 certainly "twisted into a phrase of some obscurity :" the 
 truth is, that Nell had a natural turn for goodness, which 
 survived all her excesses : she was wild and extravagant, 
 but not rapacious or selfish — frail, not vicious ; she never 
 meddled with politics, nor made herself the tool of ambitious 
 courtiers. At the time that the king's mistresses were 
 everywhere execrated for their avarice/'and arrogance, it 
 was remarked that Nell Gwynn never asked anything for 
 herself, never gave herself unbecoming airs^if'she deemed 
 her unhappy situation a subject of pride ; there is not a 
 
 * Mrs. Jameson remarks, " This was too disgraceful, but the disgrace rests 
 with Charles who offered, and the queen who endured the outrage, rather than 
 upon poor Nell, who certainly never sought the dignity." 
 2 K 
 
396 NELL GWYNN. 
 
 single instance of her using her influence over Charles for* 
 any unworthy purpose ; but, on the contrary, the presents 
 which the king's love or bounty lavished upon her, she gave 
 and spent freely ; and misfortune, deserved or undeserved^ 
 never approached her in vain. Once as she was driving up 
 Ludgate-hill, she saw a poor clergyman in the hands of the 
 sheriffs officers, and struck with compassion, she alighted 
 from her carriage, inquired into the circumstances of his 
 arrest, and paid his debt on the spot ; and finding on ap- 
 plication to the vouchers he had named, that his character 
 was as unexceptionable as his misfortunes were real, she 
 generously befriended him and his family. The plan of 
 that fine institution, Chelsea Hospital, would probably never 
 have been completed, at least in the reign of Charles, but 
 for the persevering and benevolent enthusiasm of this woman, 
 who never let the king rest till it was carried into execution. 
 
 These, and many other instances of her kind nature en- 
 deared her to the populace. On one occasion, a superb 
 service of plate, which had been ordered for the duchess of 
 Portsmouth, was exhibited in a shop of a certain goldsmith, 
 and the common people crowded round the window to gaze. 
 On learning for whom it was intended, they broke out into 
 execrations and abuse, wishing the silver melted and poured 
 down her throat, and loudly exclaiming, that " it had been 
 much better bestowed on madam Ellen." 
 
 Strange as it may seem, Nell piqued herself upon her 
 orthodox principles and her reverence for the clergy,* partly 
 from a sincere religious feeling which had been early and 
 unaccountably impressed on her mind, and never left her ; 
 and partly perhaps, out of opposition to the papist favourite, 
 the duchess of Portsmouth. Madame de Sevigne gives in 
 one of her letters so piquant a description of Nell Gwynn 
 and her merry impertinence to her rival, that instead of 
 referring to the volume, I give the passage at length. 
 
 "Keronalle, !, (the duchess of Portsmouth) "n'aete trompee 
 
 * When Charles II. lodged at the house of Bishop Kenn at Winchester, the 
 prelate refused to admit Nell Gwynn. The king put himself into a passion, 
 i>ut Nell defended the bishop and observed that he only did his duty, and re- 
 tired voluntarily to another lodging. 
 
NELL GWYNN. 397 
 
 Sur rien. Elle avoit en vie d'etre la maitresse duroi; elle 
 
 Test Elle a un fils qui vient d'etre reconnu, et a. qui on 
 
 a donne deux duches. Elle amasse des tresors et se fait 
 aimer et respecter de qui elle pent ; mais elle n'avoit pai 
 preVu trouver en chemin, une jeune comedienne, dont le roi 
 est ensercele. Elle n'a pas le pouvoir de Ten detacher un 
 moment. La comedienne est anssi fiere que la Duchesse de 
 Portsmouth : elle la morgue, lui derobe souvent le roi, et se 
 vante de ses preferences. Elle est jeune, folle, hardie, 
 debauchee, et plaisante : elle chante, elle danse, et fait son 
 metier de bonne foi : elle a-un fils ; elle vent qu'il soit reconnu. 
 Voici son raisonnement ; Cette demoiselle', dit- elle 'fait la 
 personne dequalite. Elle dit, que tout est son parent en 
 France. Des qu'il meurt quelque grand, elle prend le 
 deuil. He bien ! puisqu' elle est de si grande qualite, pour- 
 
 quoi s'est elle fait e ? Elle devroit mourir de honte. 
 
 Pour moi, c'est mon metier; je ne me pique pas d'autre 
 chose. Le roi m'entretiente je ne suis qu'a lui presentment. 
 J' en ai un fils, je pretends qu'il doit etre reconnu; et il le 
 reconnoitra, car il m'aime autant que sa Portsmouth. " Cette 
 creature," continues Madame de Sevigne, " tiente le haut du 
 pave, et decontenance et embarrasse extraordinairement la 
 Duchesse." 
 
 Besides her apartment in Whitehall, in quality of lady 
 of the queen's privy chamber, Nell Gwynn had lodgings in 
 Pall Mall,* where she frequently entertained the king and 
 a few of his chosen companions with petits soupers and select 
 concerts. On one of these occasions, she had collected 
 together some new and excellent performers, and the king 
 was so much enchanted, that he expressed his approbation 
 in strong terms. "Then sir," said Nell, holding out her 
 hand, " to show that you do not speak merely as a courtier, 
 let me have the pleasure of presenting these poor people 
 with a gratuity from your majesty!" The king, feeling in 
 his pocket, declared he had no money, and turning to the 
 duke of York, asked him if he had any money ? The duke 
 
 • At the left hand corner of St. James's Square : the walls of the back room 
 on the ground floor were (within memory) entirely of looking glass, as was 
 &sML to have been the ceiling.— Pennant 's London, p. 90, 
 
398 NELL GWYNN. 
 
 replied, " no sir, I believe, not above a guinea or two.'* Nell, 
 shaking her head with her petit air malin, and drolly mimick- 
 ing the king's tone and habitual expression exclaimed "odds 
 fish, what company have I got into here !" 
 
 Cibber who relates the anecdote, and lived about the same 
 time, tells us that Nell was never known to be unfaithful to 
 the king, from the moment he first noticed her, and that 
 she was " as much distinguished for her personal attachment 
 to him, as her rivals were by, their titles and grandeur.'' 
 Her disinterested affection, her sprightly humour, her inex- 
 haustible powers of entertainment, and constant desire to 
 please, must have formed an agreeable contrast to the rapa- 
 city, ill temper, affectation, and arrogant caprices of the 
 other court ladies. Charles in spite of every attempt made 
 to detach him from her, loved her to the last, and his last 
 thought was for her : — " Let not poor Nelly starve !" was 
 his appeal to his brother and successor James. Burnet, 
 who records this dying speech, is piously scandalized that 
 the king should have thought " of such a creature/' in such 
 a moment ; but some will consider it with more mercy, as 
 one among the few traits which redeem the sensual and 
 worthless Charles from utter contempt. 
 
 After the king's death Nell Gwynn continued to reside 
 in Pall Mall, where she lived on a .small pension and some 
 presents the king had made her. She survived him above 
 seven years, conducting herself with the strictest decorum, 
 and spending her time in devotion, and her small allowance 
 in acts of beneficence: — she died in 1691. Dr. Tennison P 
 then vicar of St. Martin's, and afterwards archbishop of 
 Canterbury, preached her funeral sermon, in which he en- 
 larged upon her benevolent qualities, her sincere repentance, 
 and exemplary end. When this was afterwards mentioned 
 to Queen Mary, in the hope that it would injure him in her 
 estimation, and be a bar to his preferment, " and what then ?'' 
 answered she hastily ; " I have heard as much : it is a sign 
 that the poor unfortunate woman died penitent ; for if I 
 can read a man's heart through his looks, had she not made 
 a pious and christian end, the doctor could never have been 
 induced to speak well of her." 
 
NELL GWYNN. 399 
 
 Nell Xjrwynn was possessed of little at her death, and that 
 little was by her will distributed in charity. She left, among 
 other bequests, a small sum yearly, to the ringers of the 
 church of St. Martin, where she was buried, which donation 
 they still enjoy. 
 
 She bore the king two sons, Charles and James Beauclerk. 
 Charles, her eldest son, was born in Lincoln's Inn Fields,* 
 in 1670, a short time before his mother quitted the stage. 
 Her youngest son, James, died in his childhood at Paris. 
 The occasion of the eldest brother being titled and acknow- 
 ledged, is too characteristic to be omitted. When the 
 children of the duchesses of Cleveland and Portsmouth had 
 been dignified with titles, orders, and offices, Nell Gwynn 
 naturally felt piqued that her sons, whose filial claims upon 
 his majesty, as the fountain of honour, were at leasts as well 
 founded, should be passed over, and she took her own whim- 
 sical method of hinting her wishes to the king. One day 
 when his majesty was present, and her eldest son was play- 
 ing in the room, she called to him aloud, in a petulant tone, 
 " come here you little bastard !" The king, much shocked, 
 reproved her ; she replied meekly, and with the most demure 
 simplicity, that tf indeed she was sorry, but had no better 
 name to give him, poor boy !" A few days afterwards, this 
 nameless young gentleman was created baron of Hedding- 
 ton and earl of Burford, and in 1683, duke of St. Albany 
 registrar of the high court of chancery, and grand falconer 
 of England. He inherited his mother's personal beauty, 
 and served with great bravery under King William Ill.f 
 
 * In our memoir of the Lady Nest, daughter of Prince Rhys ab Tewdwr and 
 mistress of Henry I., we have noticed some coincidences of character between 
 that libertine monarch and Charles II. Since writing that article and on 
 transcribing the present one, it has become evident to us that Charles doubtless 
 made Henry Beauclerc his model, his beau ideal of a kingly profligate, a royal 
 man of pleasure. Hence, it would seem, his choice of the name of Beauclerc 
 for hia children by Nell Gwynn. 
 
 + This first duke of St. Albans married Lady Diana Vere, sole daughter of 
 Aubrey de Vere, twentieth and last earl of Oxford, and the greatest heiress in 
 rank and descent in the three kingdoms. She was very young at the period of 
 her marriage, and as amiable and innocent as lovely. She became the mother 
 of eight sons, of whom Lord Vere Beauclerc (ancestor of the present duke), waa 
 2 k 2 
 
400 NELL GWVNN. 
 
 The secret of Nell Gwynn's popularity seemed to have 
 consisted in what is usually called heart, in a kindness and 
 candour of disposition, which the errors and abject miseries 
 of her youth could not harden, nor her acquaintance with a 
 corrupt court entirely vitiate. A woman when she has once 
 stepped astray seldom pauses in her downward career, till 
 " guilt grows fate, that was but choice before," and far more 
 seldom rises out of that debasement of person and mind, 
 except by some violent transition of feeling, some revulsion 
 of passion leading to the opposite extreme. In the case of 
 Nell Gwynn, the contrary was remarkable. As years 
 passed on, as habit grew, and temptation and opportunity 
 increased, her conduct became more circumspect, and her 
 character more elevated. The course of her life which had 
 begun in the puddle and sink of obscurity and profligacy, 
 as it flowed, refined. For the humorous and scandalous 
 stories of which she is the subject, some excuse may be 
 found in her plebeian education, and the coarseness of the 
 age in which she lived : when ladies of quality gambled and 
 swore, what could be expected from the orange girl ? But 
 though her language and manners bore to the last the taint 
 of the tavern and the stage, hers was one of those fine 
 natures which could not be corrupted ; the contaminating 
 influence of the atmosphere around her had stained the sur- 
 face but never reached the core. 
 
 On comparing and combining the scattered traits and 
 personal allusions found in contemporary writers, it appears 
 that she was inperso n considerably below Jhe middle size, 
 but formed with perfect elegance ; the contour of her face 
 wassTOuod, her features delicate, her e^yes bright and intel- 
 ligent, but so small as to be almost concealed when she 
 laughed. Her cheek was usually dimpled with smiles, and 
 her countenance radiant with hilarity; but when at rest it 
 was soft, and even pensive in its expression ; her voice was 
 sweet and well modulated ; her hair glossy, abundant, and 
 
 distinguished as a naval commander ; and Lord Sidney Beauclerc was the 
 father of that Topparn Beauclei-c, who was the friend of Dr. Johnson, and one 
 of the worthies of Boswell. The present duke of St. Albans is the fifth from 
 Nell Gwynn. 
 
NELL GWYNN. 401 
 
 of a light auburn ; her hands were singularly small and 
 beautiful, and her pretty foot so very diminutive, as to 
 afford occasion for mirth as well as admiration. 
 
 Such is Mrs. Jameson's excellent biography of Nell 
 Gwynn, from which we also gather the following account of 
 her picture. The engraved portrait in the beauties of the 
 court of King Charles II., is after a picture by Sir Peter 
 Lely, in the possession of General Grosvenor ; it agrees per- 
 fectly with the foregoing description, and there can exist no 
 doubt of its authenticity. The dress is certainly in the ex- 
 treme of that negligence for which the lady was remarkable : 
 
 " Kobes loosely flowing — hair as free." 
 Her left hand rests upon a lamb, which she crowns with 
 flowers. The turn of the neck and the hair of the head are 
 full of grace and character ; and the whole picture, although 
 a little injured by time, is exquisitely painted. 
 
 From the preface to Mrs. Jameson's work we learn the 
 following curious particulars respecting the picture of Nell 
 Gwynn. When Mr. Murphy (father of Mrs. Jameson), 
 had the honour of submitting the first eight portraits to the 
 late Queen Charlotte, he took the liberty of asking her 
 majesty whether she recollected a famous picture of Nell 
 Gwynn, known to have once existed in the Windsor gallery. 
 (It should be observed that her majesty was suspected of 
 having, from peculiar notions of propriety, removed this 
 picture.) The queen replied at once, " that most assuredly, 
 since she resided at Windsor, there had been no Nell Gwynn 
 there." Those who best knew our late most gracious and 
 correct Queen Charlotte, will readily believe that no jest 
 was enveloped in this rather equivocal reply. However, 
 although " there was much difficulty in procuring an authen- 
 ticated portrait of Nell Gwynn," Mr. Murphy, under the 
 patronage and by the command of the late Princess Charlotte 
 of Wales at length succeeded ; and the portrait given in Mrs. 
 Jameson's work is declared to be from an undoubted original, 
 once in the possession of the St. Albans' family, but now 
 belonging to General Grosvenor. 
 
Hbi- 
 
 THE PRINCESS GWLADYS, 
 
 ELDEST DAUGHTER OF BBYCHAN BRECHEINIOG. 
 
 The memoirs of the daughters of Brychan Brecheiniog, 
 to prevent the necessity of repetition, should be read in 
 connection with the life of Marcheli, or Marcella, the 
 mother of that ancient prince. In their matrimonial alliances 
 these pious females were more remarkable for their union 
 with good men, who favoured the propagation of Christianity, 
 than those who were merely the mighty of the earth. 
 
 "Gwladys,* the eldest daughter of Brychan married 
 Gwnlliw ad Glewissus, regulus of that part of ancient Gwent 
 (Monmouthshire), which lies between the rivers Usk 
 and Rhymni,f then called Glewissig. Capgrave tells us, 
 •' that Gunleus growing weary of the world, abdicated his 
 government, and retired to a cell, where, living with singular 
 austerity, he supported the remainder of his life by the labour 
 of his hands." But John of Tinmouth, who calls him a 
 king of the Southern Britons, says, " that after the death of 
 his father, he being the eldest son, divided his kingdom into 
 seven parts, six of which he gave his brethren, reserving to 
 himself the other part, as well as the seigniory of the whole.'' 
 He was attended in his last moments by Dubricius, bishop 
 of Llandaff, and died in the arms of his son Cadoc, or Cattwg, 
 on the 29th of March, A.D. 500. The churches of Llan- 
 gynllo in Radnorshire, Nantgynllo in Cardiganshire, and St. 
 
 * This name is pronounced Gladdis ; as none but very pedantic Welshmen 
 would think of calling it Goo-la-dis. An English commercial traveller in 
 North Wales noticing a cheerful looking child of that name, observed, " aye, a 
 very proper name for you my dear, is Glad-eyes ; for you have as pleasant a 
 pair of peepers as ever were cased in a pretty face ;— here's a penny for you 
 Glad-ej r es — good bye Glad-eyes 1 — well if ever I have a little girl of my own 
 I should like to have her christened Glad-eyes— good bye Glad-eyes!'' And 
 off he strutted, leaving the poor child amazed, who, however, understood his 
 present better than his compliments. We may add, this name, latinized, is 
 Claudia. 
 
 t Vulgarized to Rumney and Rummy, in modern times. 
 
tHE PKINCESS GWLADYS. 403 
 
 Woolos, near Newport, in Monmouthshire, are consecrated 
 to his memory ; and Ystradgynlais (vale of Gunlais) in Bre- 
 conshire, on the borders of Glamorganshire, is also sup- 
 posed to have derived its name from him. He left issue by 
 his wife Gwladys, Cadoc or Cattwg ; Cynider ; and Cam- 
 march. 
 
 As Gwladys and her husband were especially honoured 
 in their three sons, the following brief notices of them, from 
 Jones's Breconshire, is as essential to their parents' celebrity 
 as their own. 
 
 " Cammarch has his name perpetuated by the church of 
 Llangammarch, which was dedicated to him in the Eastern, 
 or upper part of the Hundred of Builth, or Buallt, in the 
 county of Brecon." 
 
 u Cynider, lived a solitary life, as a hermit in Glamorgan- 
 shire. He is said to have been buried at Glazebury, in 
 Radnorshire. The churches dedicated to him are Llan- 
 gydider and Abereskir, in Breconshire. For the history of 
 the miracles attributed to him in Roman Catholic times, 
 the whimsical and pious legends of Capgrave must be con- 
 sulted." 
 
 " Qp-doc or Cattw g, the elder brother whom we purposely 
 name last^ was the most renowned of his brethren. He was 
 educated under an Irjsh saint called Tathai, who had opened 
 a celebrated school in Gwent, or Caerwent, the Venta Silu- 
 rium of the Romans, and a portion of Monmouthshire in 
 modern times. Having, agreeably to the law of Gavelkind, 
 inherited part of his father's lands, he founded on his own 
 portion the abbey of Llancarvan in Glamorganshire ; which 
 he governed, and in which he exercised an unreserved system „ ... 
 of hospitality. Capgrave tells us, he daily sustained one ~~-^ 
 hundred ecclesiastical persons, as many widows^ ancTas many 
 other poor people, besides those who visited him : for though 
 he was an abbot and had many monks under his government 
 he very properly and very prudently, reserved a part of his 
 father's principality, to be charitably distributed to such as 
 were in need. He is said to have died in North Wales, 
 about the year 570. All the churches bearing the name of 
 Llangattock were dedicated to his memory. Not the least 
 
404 THE PRINCESS GWLADYS. 
 
 among the honours of Cattwg, was that of having been the 
 tutor of Taliesin, celebrated in ancient British lore as the 
 " Penbeirdd," or chief of the bards. But what has tended 
 most to perpetuate the celebrity of Cattwg is the collection 
 of proverbs and maxims of the Britons bearing his name. 
 He is supposed to be the author of some of these "Diar- 
 hebion Catwg," as they are called in Welsh ; and the care- 
 ful editor or collector of the rest. The English reader will 
 find the best collection of them in the pages of that excellent, 
 but now scarce periodical, the Cambro Briton. 
 
w 
 
 THE LADY GWLADYS DDU, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF PRINCE LLEWELYN AB IOEWERTH, WIDOW OF 
 REGINALD DE BEEOS, AND WIFE OF SIR RALPH MORTIMER, 
 ANCESTOR OF KING EDWARD IV. 
 
 Gwladys Ddu,* was the eldest daughter of Llewelyn ab 
 Iorwerth, sovereign prince of North Wales, by his first wife 
 Tangwystle ; consequently she was the sister by the same 
 mother also of the disinherited Prince Griffith ab Llewelyn, 
 and sister-in-law to his amiable wife Sina, as related in the 
 memoir of that lady. 
 
 As she lived in times when the most vigorous and incessant 
 wars were carried on by England for the entire subjugation 
 of her country, it is difficult to surmise, and impossible to 
 account, at this distance of time, for her matrimonial 
 position. At first sight it would appear, that with more 
 prudence than patriotism, she quitted the losing, to unite 
 herself to the winning side, in a political sense of the 
 question ; and evidently with the concurrence of her father. 
 
 She was married successively to two powerful Normap 
 barons of great possessions in Wales, whose political alii- 
 ance with her father, in his opposition to England, was 
 perhaps stipulated for, in these marriage settlements, 
 however ill attended to in after time. However, one sug- 
 gestion is clear, in favour of the personal character of this 
 lady — had she not shone in her sphere as the wife of the 
 first, it is not probable she would be sought by a second 
 husband of that nation. 
 
 Her first husband was Reginald de Breos, son of the un- 
 popular William de Breos and his wife Maud de Haia.f 
 
 * Ddu, pronounced thee, literally meaning Black Gwladys, otherwise dark 
 complexioned Gwladys ; there being no Welsh word for " Brunette," which 
 would be the proper designation, although Wh ales abounds with that species of 
 female beauty; which is more p revalent there than, the "Blondes," or the 
 radiantly fair. 
 
 t See her memoir in this work. 
 
406 THE LAEfY GWLADYS DDU. 
 
 Reginald was at this time a widower, and considerably 
 older than Gwladys, having been previously the husband 
 of Groacia, daughter of William Bruere, lord of Bridge- 
 water, by whom he had a daughter and two sons, 
 named Mary, William,* and John, all living at the time 
 of his second marriage. As the wife of an elder ly 
 husband and stepmother to his children, there appears 
 "to have been little attraction for a young wife, of 
 princely connections, like Gwladys ; added to this, she 
 must have felt a natural reluctance to unite her destiny to 
 the representative of this unpopular family, abhorred as his 
 father was in Wales, for his tyranny and cruelty while lord 
 of Brecon and Abergavenny. The probability is, that 
 Gwladys was of that gentle and docile turn of mind, that, 
 submitting to the suggestions of her friends, and the com- 
 mands of her father, she yielded to imperious necessity, and 
 became a political victim for what was considered the good 
 of her country. 
 
 Reginald de Breos had at this time succeeded to the rank 
 and possessions of his father, as lord of Brecknock and 
 Abergavenny ; and his brother Giles, who was bishop of 
 Hereford, dying soon after, as his heir at law, he became 
 possessed of all his wealth and territories. Thus our Welsh 
 lady had at least a rich husband, whatever else might have 
 been his demerits. 
 
 As might have been expected, he inherited all his father's 
 animosity against king John, who caused his mother and 
 brother to be put to a lingering and horrid death ; and how- 
 ever deservedly drove his father a homeless vagabond over 
 the face of the earth to die a beggar's death in a foreign 
 land. The removal of his parents from this bustling scene 
 of life, to make room for his own entrance on it the sooner, 
 were crimes perhaps easily forgiven by our ambitious Nor- 
 man; but there was another reason for his hostility to his sov- 
 ereign, not so easily subdued. As the heir of William de 
 Breos, we have shewn in our life of Maud de Haia, how he 
 
 * This is the William de Breos whom Llewelyn ab Iorwerth caused to be 
 hanged, in after years, for seduciug the Princess Joan his queen. 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 407 
 
 was deeply in the monarch's debt, with ample power but 
 without the least inclination, to liquidate any portion of it; 
 and as he doubtless found it more convenient to fight the 
 king than pay him, he took his measures accordingly. By 
 the influence acquired through his union with the princess 
 Gwladys, and strengthened by his alliance with her father, 
 he long combated the forces and resisted the attacks of 
 John and his successor with various success, but ultimately 
 preserving his property though often defeated by his adver- 
 saries. Faithless as his father, though neither as reckless 
 nor cruel, soon after his marriage Gwladys had the morti- 
 fication and sorrow to find her husband had deserted the 
 alliance with her father, and having reconciled himself to the 
 king of England, he turned his arms against his late friends. 
 But it was soon found by all parties that Reginald de Breos 
 was one who could " turn, and turn, and turn again ;'' for 
 upon some disgust or new views of policy, he again with- 
 drew his alliance and engaged in a confederacy with 
 Llewelyn and the English barons in resisting the power of 
 his sovereign. John, however, in the last year of his reign, 
 revenged himself by marching into "Wales and burning his 
 castles of Hay and Radnor. Upon the accession of Henry 
 III., overtures were made, to detach him from the interest 
 of Llewelyn and his adherents ; and among other articles 
 it was proposed that as a reward for his obedience his 
 English estates should be restored to him, to be held on 
 the same terms as those which bound his late brother bishop 
 Giles. The English monarch knew his man well ; a true 
 De v Breos in his enormous greediness for gain, he was caught 
 by the bait, and thus allured, his poor wife Gwladys had 
 the unhappiness to find that he had again deserted her 
 father, regardless of the solemn engagements he had made 
 with him, returned to England, when the castles of Totness, 
 Barnstaple, and other escheated property were delivered 
 up to him by the commands of the English sovereign. 
 
 We may naturally suppose that at this juncture Gwladys 
 
 returned to her father,* but how the children of De Breos 
 
 • Among the scenic charms of the river Neath and its tributary streams are 
 
 some cataracts of great beauty; and among them on the river l'yiddin is a 
 
 2 L 
 
408 THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 
 
 were disposed of is unknown. Llewelyn justly incensed at 
 such a breach of faith, laid siege to the town of Brecknock, 
 which in the first transport of his rage, he determined to 
 demolish. But afterwards, upon the humble petition of the 
 burgesses, and the earnest intercession of his nephew Rhys, 
 he was prevailed upon to spare it ; and having taken five 
 hostages for their future good behaviour, and one hundred 
 marks as a compensation to his troops for their march, he 
 crossed the mountains towards Gower. Regina ld, now 
 ashamed of his conduct, or alarmed for the safety of his 
 Welsh, possessions, and regretting perhaps his absence from 
 ajaelojredwife who seems never to have interfered in poli- 
 tics, founoTnimself in a perilous dilemma. Attended by 
 six knights he came to Llanquik, a parish in Glamor- 
 ganshire, where his father-in-law was then encamped, and 
 tendered him his submission, earnestly entreating pardon 
 for his past conduct, and promising never to offend him 
 again. Llewelyn, with characteristic generosity and 
 clemency, not only instantly forgave his former perfidy, 
 but received him with all the mildness of paternal affection; 
 and in the plenitude of confidence pu tjiim in possession o f 
 the strong fortress of C aerphilly, doubtless the~~largest 
 castle in "^Yales, situate in the highlands of Glamorganshire. 
 He then proceeded with his troops to Dyved, and concluded 
 the campaign with equal honour to himself and advantage to 
 his country. 
 
 The reconciliation between Reginald and Llewelyn was 
 highly resented by the court of London, and in consequence 
 of it, the lordships of Blaenllyvai and Talgarth, which since 
 the death of his brother bishop Giles, had been enjoyed by 
 Reginald, were by a royal mandate transferred to Peter 
 Fitzherbert. 
 
 In all probability Reginald employed the years that fol- 
 lowed his reconciliation with Llewelyn, in a crusade or pil- 
 grimage to Jerusalem. For Dugdale says, " one of the charters 
 
 cascade that bears the name of Yscwd Gwladys. It is probable it was so 
 called from this lady, who during her first husband's defection may have 
 accompanied her father in bis Glamorganshire warfare campaign, and maKing 
 the vicinity of the cascade the scene of her meditations, her name was given 
 to it by some of her admiring contemporaries. 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS DDTJ. 409 
 
 to the monks of Brecon was granted after his return from the 
 Holy Land ; which also accounts for his effigy being placed 
 cross-legged on his tomb." Nothing further is known of 
 the life or exploits of this first husband of Gwladys ; but, 
 according to Theophilus Jones, he died in 1228 ; and was 
 buried in the Priory Church of Brecon.* 
 
 Gwladys r emained a widow twelve years, and in the 
 year 1240 was married to Ralph Mortimer,f lord of Me- 
 linydd, in Radnorshire, another of the powerful Norman 
 barons who possessed several castles, and a considerable 
 extent of territory in Wales. On her union with him, her 
 father gave the territories of Kerry and Kedowyn, as her 
 marriage portion ; and as this property was contiguous to 
 the other possessions of his son-in-law, he must have found 
 this a very desirable arrangement. 
 
 In the Year 1242, we find her husband extending his 
 possessions southward, by building the castles of Knucklas, 
 and Keven-llys, all in the neighbourhood of his other 
 dominions. One curious circumstance attended this union, 
 which aids to mark the character of a man, who in after 
 years became so signally infamous. William de Breos the 
 younger, her late husband's eldest son by his first marriage, 
 " was so little pleased with this second marriage of his father's 
 widow, that he contested her right to the jointure assigned 
 her by her late husband ;" but, according to Theophilus 
 
 • The poet Thomas Churchyard mentions, in his rude versification, 
 that ^Reginald's efiigy lies cross-legged, on his monument, which position 
 always designated those who had visited the holy sepulchre ; and that 
 the material of which this efiigy was carved was 
 
 " Of most hard wood, which wood as divers say 
 No worm can eat, nor Tyme can weare away. 
 
 But like many other things "which divers say," it is now completely 
 falsified ; for not a pinch of dust remains of this famous wood either 
 in the form of Reginald or the crouching hound at.his feet. 
 
 + The Mortimers are descended from the niece of Gonora, wife of 
 Richard I. Duke of Normandy. Among the Norman adventurers in 
 Wales they obtained by conqnest a considerable portion of Radnorshire, 
 after defeating Edric the Wild (Edric Sylvaticus), a Saxon who had seised 
 these districts from the Welsh. 
 
410 THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 
 
 Jones, it " does not appear that he was successful in his 
 opposition." 
 
 But however blest by affluence, and protected by power, 
 Gwladys was far from enjoying unalloyed happiness. She 
 observed, with natural regret, that her new husband, con- 
 trary to the calculations of her father, was unchangeably 
 firm in his attachment to English interests, and in every 
 instance of hostility between the two nations, always in 
 opposition to the independence tf Wales. Under these 
 circumstances, she became estranged to her father's court, 
 as she could have no intercourse where her husband's views 
 were beheld with a jealous eye, if not with the more decided 
 glance of hostility. Another cause existed, that made her 
 visits to her father still less desirable. Llewelyn ab 
 Iorwerth had contracted a second marriage with the Lady 
 Joan, daughter of John, the reigning king of England. 
 This princess is supposed to have alienated the affection 
 and fomented the quarrels and heart-burnings between her 
 husband and his eldest son. When she gave birth to her 
 son David, her motive for such proceedings became more 
 apparent ; and when, by her machinations she succeeded 
 in after-time in inducingLlewelyn to disinherit the unhappy 
 Prince Griffith, and to name David as his successor, the 
 dislike of Gwladys, to her English stepmother as might 
 be expected, became a confirmed hatred. On her father's 
 death in 1240, and the succession of David to the throne 
 of North Wales, Gwladys induced her husband to unite 
 his interests with her sister-in-law Sina, the bishop of 
 Bangor, and certain confederated noblemen of Wales, to 
 solicit David, for the liberation of Prince Griffith from his 
 confinement in Criccieth castle. Although many of the 
 principal chieftains of the country took an earnest part in 
 this generous undertaking, all their exertions proved una- 
 vailing. Even the influence of the king of England, which 
 the confederates had secured in favour of that measure, 
 ultimately took a contrary turn, and ended in his perpetual 
 confinement in the tower of London. 
 
 As the law now stood, the children of Prince Griffith 
 were excluded from the succession ; and Prince David being 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 411 
 
 childless, Gwladjs became heiress presumptive to the throne 
 of North Wales; hut with a singular and audacious disregard 
 of national right Henry III., named his own son Edward, as 
 the future inheritor of the principality of Wales. 
 
 In the year 1241, when David revolted from his shameful 
 vassalage to the English king, provoked to frenzy by the 
 last-stated insult, his first act of hostility was to revenge 
 himself on his half-sister Gwladys and her husband, for 
 their interference in favour of the unfortunate Prince 
 Griffith. He laid their territories waste, with fire and 
 sword; and then proceeded to inflict the same severities on 
 other feudatories of the king of England. 
 
 Having long given up all hopes of being enabled to relieve 
 her uuhappy brother Griffith from the miseries of imprison- 
 ment in a gloomy fortress, in the year 1244 she had to 
 endure the heaviest stroke of affliction, from the death of that 
 beloved and much wronged brother, who perished, as related 
 in our life of Sina, in his attempt to escape from the tower 
 of London. 
 
 In the year 1346, when the death of David took place, 
 it is probable there would have been a strong party in 
 favour of placing Gwladys on the vacant throna of North 
 Wales ; as the chieftains of the country had solemnly 
 renounced their allegiance to the line and posterity of 
 Griffith, but for one insurmountable bar — her marriage with 
 an Englishman. In Sir Ralph Mortimer, the husband of 
 Gwladys, they not only beheld an Englishman, but one 
 who, notwithstanding his union with their princess, and 
 his large possessions in Wales and its borders, always advo- 
 cated English interests, in opposition to the weal of Wales. 
 Under these circumstances the people most wisely tran- 
 ferred their allegiance to Llewelyn, the gallant son of their 
 lost Prince Griffith. 
 
 Neither the period of the death of Gwladys nor her 
 place of interment is upon record ; but it is certain she 
 died before the fall of her nephew Llewelyn ab Griffith, 
 "whom her husband and her son successively opposed in 
 arms, till the entire subjugation of the country by the 
 English. That memorable crisis, which became the gradual 
 2l2 
 
412 THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 
 
 work of centuries to accomplish, was at length brought 
 about by an army commanded by her grandson Sir Edmund 
 Mortimer, in the year 1282; emphatically proving the evil 
 tendency, at that time, to Wales, of English alliances by 
 marriages. For the better part of a centurjr__previous to 
 the destruction of Welsh independence, the prevalence 
 among the Welsh princes and chieftains, of marrying with 
 English ladies ; and of English_nobles with the princesses 
 and noble ladies of Wales, grew frequent. Unfortunately, 
 in all cases these unions became fatal in their consequences, 
 and like subterranean fires, worked insidiously towards the 
 final explosion, — the grand catastrophe of Cambrian anni- 
 hilation and English triumph. We find David ab Owen 
 Gwyneth, to support him in his usurpation of the crown of 
 North Wales, married the princess Emma, sister of Henry 
 II. of England; Henry is said to be the inventor of this 
 species of " seduction," as Warrington calls it. In this, as 
 in later instances, it had the evil effect of bringing foreign 
 troops to oppose legitimate succession, and to uphold usur- 
 pation and its hideous train of evils ; while the unlawful 
 monarch of the day, shorn of the splendour of independence, 
 became the contemptible satrap of the king of England. 
 Griffith ab Madoc, lord of Dinas Bran, is stigmatized in 
 Welsh history as a jraito r Jto his c ountry, in consequence of 
 of his marriage with the lady Emma, daughter of Lord James 
 Audley, Llewelyn ab Iorwerth's union with the lady Joan, 
 daughter of King John, caused him to disinherit his eldest 
 son, and change the order of succession ; one of the most 
 disastrous of measures, which led that gallant prince to sink 
 from the patriot hero of his early life to the voluntary vas- 
 sal of the English king, in the dotage of his old age. 
 Lastly, the heroine of this memoir, by her two English mar- 
 riages wrought far more evil than good to her country, 
 although her father and the Welsh politicians of his day 
 may have urged each match and anticipated from it contrary 
 consequences. Another result of these marriages was, that 
 it brought the English tongue, or the wretched anglo- Saxon 
 jargon so called, into repute and fashion, at the" different 
 courts and castles in Wales, to the prejudice of the native 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 413 
 
 language, which at this period had attained great per- 
 fection. We have the authority of the celebrated poet, 
 Lewis, of Glyn cothi, for stating that Gwladys Ddu, the 
 lady of our memoir, although married successively to iwo 
 English noblemen, was not among those anti-patriotic ladies 
 who encouraged this new-fangled folly ; but she is favour- 
 ably noted for supporting the vernacular strains of the 
 ba^ds and harpers of Wale3, to the latest period of her 
 existence. 
 
 In closing our memoir of the Princess Gwladys Ddu, we 
 naturally turn, with that interest which historical occurrences 
 ever command, to theorem ark ablejrace which sprang from her 
 union with Sir Ralph Mortimer. As the most memorable 
 events in English history, are not only connected with, but 
 take their origin from the personal character of these Morti- 
 mers, which brought some to the block, and elevated others to 
 the throne, a slight notice of the progeny of Ralph Mortimer 
 and his Welsh wife Gwladys Ddu, will not be out of place here. 
 
 Roger Mortimer, son oT Ralph and Gwladys, was 
 remarkable only for his active but unavailing hostility 
 towards Prince Llewelyn ab Griffith, his maternal uncle ; 
 and for supporting English interests in Wales, — succeeded 
 by his son. 
 
 Edmund Mortimer, like his grandfather and father, 
 warred against the independence of Wales, and succeeded 
 in the grand object wherein they both failed. The army 
 under his command had the honour of defeating Llewelyn 
 ab Griffith, who gallantly fell in the field of battle on the 
 banks of the river Irvon, near Builth or Ruallt, Breconshire, 
 in the eighth year of the reign of King Edward I. He was 
 succeeded by his son, Roger Mortimer — made earl of 
 March, in the reign of King Edward II. At first we find 
 him honourably engaged, with the barons of England, to 
 put down the pernicious influence of the favourites of King 
 Edward II. After their destruction, and the cruel murder 
 of that unfortunate monarch, he became an equally pestilent 
 character to the nation, as the unworthy paramour of 
 Edward's infamous queen. He was the "gentle Mor- 
 timer'* of this criminal French woman, whom Gray the 
 
414 THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 
 
 J Art poet has eternally stigmatised as the "she wolf of France," 
 for the part she took in causing her husband's death. He 
 was deservedly beheaded, in the year 1330, by the command 
 of King Edward III. Succeeded by his grandson, Edmund 
 Mortimer, earl of March. He appears to have been an 
 amiable contrast to his criminal grandfather. He married 
 Philippa, only daughter of Lionel, duke of Clarence, the 
 third son of King Edward III., and was by that monarch 
 appointed lord-deputy of Ireland, and died in his govern- 
 ment there, in the year 1382. Succeeded by his son, Roger 
 Mortimer, earl of March, bprnatUsk, in Monmouthshire; 
 he was appointed, by Richard IL, lord-deputy of Ireland ; 
 and by virtue of his descent by his mother from Edward III. 
 he was nominated by parliament as heir apparent, to suc- 
 ceed to the throne after King Richard II. He did not live 
 to enjoy that honour, having been murdered in the Irish 
 insurrection of 1415. To avenge his death and punish the 
 rebels, Richard II. personally led an army into Ireland. 
 Succeeded by his son,* Edmund Mortimer. 
 
 Edmund Mortimer the rightful heir to the crown of 
 England, was only six years of age at his father's 
 death, when he and his younger brother were imprisoned 
 in Windsor Castle by the usurper, Henry IV., to deter 
 his friends from raising Edmund to the throne. His 
 uncle, Sir Edmund Mortimer, was at this time a willing 
 prisoner with Owen Glendower in Wales, having married 
 that chieftain's daughter. These children were at length 
 delivered from their captivity by the contrivance of Lady 
 Constance Spencer, who caused false keys to be made. 
 Having effected their deliverance, she was hurrying with 
 them towards Wales when she was overtaken, and with 
 the children imprisoned in Windsor Castle.f From this 
 
 * Sir Edmund Mortimeffthe brother of this Roger, earl of March, after being 
 taken prisoner by Owen Glendower, in 1424, married that chieftain's daughter, 
 and united with him and Harry Percy, earl of Northumberland, to dethrone 
 Henry IV. and raise his nephew, Edmund, to the crown ; in which aim they 
 were baffled by the disastrous result of the battle of Shrewsbury. 
 
 i The poor Bmith who made the false keys, after haying both his hands cut 
 off, was beheaded. 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS DDU. 415 
 
 state Edmund was delivered by the magnanimity of 
 Henry V., who, though well aware of his prior right to the 
 throne, not only released him from confinement, hut treated 
 him with great kindness and made him the most powerful 
 subject in the realm. The earl of March was not ungrate- 
 ful ; he allowed his claims to slumber, and served Henry 
 faithfully. Died r without issue r in the third year of the 
 reign of Henry VI. Succeeded by his sister, Anne Mor- 
 timer, married to Richard Conesburgh, earl of Cambridge, 
 second son of Edward, duke of York. This union became 
 the fertile source of troubles that long agitated the kingdom. 
 Her husband, conspiring against Henry V. to recover the 
 crown for his brother-in-law, Roger Mortimer, earl of 
 March, was tried and executed in 1415, previous to Henry's 
 departure for France to fight the battle of Agincourt. The 
 elder brother of Anne's husband was Richard, duke of York, 
 who fell in that battle ; and having no issue he was suc- 
 ceeded by his nephew 
 
 Richard PlAntagenet, duke of York, son of the earl 
 of Cambridge, who was beheaded at Southampton in 1415; 
 following in the footsteps of his father, he commenced the 
 civil wars of England, called the wars of the Roses, by 
 claiming the crown for himself. Defeated by Queen Mar- 
 garet, and slain at the battle of Wakefield, in 1460, and his 
 head, crowned with paper, placed over the city gates of 
 York. Succeeded by his son, Edward, earl of March, who 
 afterwards became. 
 
 King Edward IV. Whence Edward V. and young 
 Richard, duke of York, the children murdered in the tower 
 of London by order of their uncle, the duke of Gloucester, 
 who then became 
 
 King Richard III. ; slain in the battle of Bosworth field, 
 in 1485, which ended the royal race of the Plantagenets and 
 the civil wars of York and Lancaster, by the succession of 
 the Lancasterian earl of Richmond, who became 
 
 King Henry VII. ; and marrying the daughter of 
 Edward IV., united the two houses of York and Lan- 
 caster. 
 
Hlfo 
 
 THE LAM GWYLADYS. 
 
 DAUGHTER OF SIR DAVID GAM, WIDOW OF SIR ROGER VAUGHAN 
 OF BREDWARDINE ; WIFE OF SIR WILLIAM AB THOMAS, OF 
 RHAGLAN CASTLE ; AND MOTHER OF LORD WILLIAM HER- 
 BERT, EARL OF PEMBROKE, AND SIR RICHARD HERBERT, 
 OF COLDBROOK,* MONMOUTHSHIRE. 
 
 " Seben Venni."— Lewis Glyncothi. 
 Abergavenny's bbilliant stab.— Translation- 
 
 Gwladys was the daughter of a gentleman of considerable 
 wealth and landed property, who, in after years, became 
 very celebrated as a military character. His proper name 
 was David ab Llewelyn ab Howel Vychan. But he is 
 better known to posterity as David Gam ; so called from 
 a cast in his eye : Gam, or Cam, being a Welsh word 
 literally signifying crooked ; but applied to an obliquity 
 of vision, means squinting. And that appellation, originally 
 a descriptive nickname, in the course of time became 
 generally accepted, and more honoured than his legitimate 
 designation. 
 
 The mother of Gwladys was a lady of the name of 
 Gwenllian, daughter of Gwilym ab Howel, an affluent 
 country gentleman, residing at his seat called Grach, in 
 Elval, on the banks of the Wye, Radnorshire. The family 
 residence of the parents of Gwladys was principally on an 
 estate near the town of Brecon, called Petyn Gwyn, in the 
 parish of Garthbrengy.f Another residence of theirs was 
 
 * Although her two ennobled sons only are here mentioned, Gwladys, by her 
 first marriage, was the mother of five children, hereafter to be noticed ; and 
 among others, of Thomas Vaughan of Hergest, married to Ellen Gethin, who 
 was killed at the battle of Danesmore, where his two above named half brothers 
 were beheaded ; and of eight children, including the above (the Herberts), by 
 her second marriage. 
 
 t Theophllus Jones, in his history of the town and county of Brecknock, says, 
 " the whole of Garthbrengy, at one time or other, and, indeed, the whole of the 
 county, has been in the possession of the family of the Gams ; bat the mansion 
 and principal residence of the valorous ancestor, from whom they derive their 
 name, was Petyn Gwyn." 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS. 417 
 
 Old Court, in the county of Monmouth, " the site of which 
 is in a field adjoining Llandeilo Cressanwy House, on the 
 Lanvapley road, midway between Abergavenny and Mon- 
 mouth."* She had two brothers older than herself, of the 
 respective names of Morgan and Thomas ; and it is probable 
 they were all born at Petyn Gwyn, previous to the year 
 1402, a period very disastrous to the father of this family; 
 fatal to his wife, and most perilous and distressing to the 
 hildren. 
 
 Nothing can be more true than that point so tardily con- 
 ceded by the world, though still opposed by bad novelists 
 and dreary dramatists who deal in beatific heroes and dia- 
 bolical villains, that no men are wholly good or wholly bad. 
 Thus it was with Sir David Gam ; in Welsh history his 
 name is a blot that stains the fair page which records his 
 deeds ; while in English or Anglo-Cambrian annals he shines 
 forth as a star of some magnitude. 
 
 The murder of Richard II., and the usurpation of 
 Henry IV., in England, and the insurrection of Owen 
 Glendower, in Wales, were the stirring political events of 
 these times. In our account of "Glendower's Female 
 Family,'' in this work, we have stated the particulars of 
 that great outbreak, which agitated England and Wales 
 for fifteen years. This rebellion originating in a private 
 wrong endured by that chieftain, after bis success in righting 
 himself, became the pretence for a public regeneration of 
 the country, which in the opinion of the Welsh who fa- 
 voured Glendower, could only be effected by casting off the 
 yoke of England, and expelling the English entirely from 
 its soil. During the two hundred years which had nearly 
 passed away since the death of Llewelyn, its last native 
 prince, and the conquest of the country, as might be ex- 
 pected, many of the principal families in Wales not only 
 became reconciled to English rule, but preferred their_^ 
 
 * Coxe, in Ms Monmouthshire Tour, remarks, " Mr. Lewis (Llantilio Cres-~ 
 sanwy), pointed out to me in the midst of an adjoining field, which is part of a 
 farm belonging to the duke of Beaufort, called the park, the site of Old Court, 
 formerly the residence of Sir David Gam. It was formerly the red deer park 
 pertaining to Rhaglan Castle. 
 
418 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 government to that of their native princes, of which they 
 knew little beyond what they received through the uncertain 
 channels of tradition. Those Welshmen who enjoyed posts 
 of honour or emolument under the English sovereigns thus 
 had their motives for loyalty greatly strengthened, and their 
 services insured to the reigning monarch. Of the latter 
 kind was the family of Sir David Gam of Breconshire. 
 With his violent temperament and strong political bias, 
 although evidently stimulated only by expediency, for 
 principle could have no share in his devotion to the house 
 of Lancaster, David Gam could view his aspiring country- 
 man in no other light than that of a disturber of the public 
 peace, and the traitorous enemy of the sovereign whom he 
 served ; wilfully forgetting that Owen Glendower had all 
 his life been the consistent and faithful adherent of King 
 Richard, even beyond the grave,* while he himself espoused 
 the cause of an usurper. Well would it have been for the 
 honour and reputation of David Gam, had he acted on the 
 views which he professed, and openly opposed in arms the 
 man whom he had, as he conceived, doomed to destruction. 
 But as he descended to the baseness of calling the dark 
 spirit of treachery to his aid, in ridding his king of a 
 powerful foe, it is the business of history to deal with him 
 according to the enormity of his guilt. 
 
 The subsequent conduct of Bolingbroke leaves him open 
 to the suspicion of havinof' secretly employed David Gam 
 to assassinate the enemy whom his forces had failed to 
 crush in the field. Gain voluntarily entered the service 
 of Glendower, and appeared, like the rest of his partizans, 
 an enthusiastic supporter dftiis cause. 
 
 It was in the year 1402, that bright period in the ex- 
 istence of Glendower, when that wonderful man had suc- 
 cessively triumphed over Lord Reginald Grey of Ruthin 
 and the various powers sent against him by the king of 
 England, that the father of the lady of this memoir cast 
 
 C* It is worthy of remark that the father ofJD avid Gam filled the same office 
 at the court of Henry IV. which Owen Glendower occupied under Richard II. ; 
 that of scutiger or squire to the king. 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS. 419 
 
 off his disguise of Welsh patriotism, and exhihited himself 
 in his true character. It was on the day fixed for the 
 coronation of the triumphant hero of the day, now to be 
 transformed into a sovereign prince, and clad in the trap- 
 pings of royalty, when every chieftain came forward to 
 render his willing homage, that David Gam was discovered 
 — like the demon of malignity — lowering on the imposing 
 scene. He grasped a dagger in his hand, and stood pre- 
 pared to rush forward and plunge it in the bosom of the 
 man hailed by his countrymen as the liberator of the nation 
 from English bondage, when he was seized, and stood con- 
 demned, by his own vaunting confession of his intent. 
 That the detected and baffled traitor was not instantly 
 put to death, may be attributed to the clemency or super- 
 stition of Glendower, who might consider such an act of 
 severity, however well merited, as an ill omen on the day 
 dedicated to the celebratiou of his prosperous fortunes. 
 However, David Gam had to endure many years of close 
 captivity in a prison at Machynlleth, in Montgomeryshire.* 
 Had Owen Glendower limited his resentment to the 
 incarceration of his treacherous countryman, it would have 
 been well for his fame, which stands deeply tarnished by 
 his appalling proceedings in visiting his vengeance on the 
 unoffending family of his victim. He is recorded to have 
 entered Breconshire with a strong party of his followers, 
 and arriving atPetyn Gwyn, seized on the Lady Gwenllian, 
 wife of Gam, and after dishonouring her in the most atrocious 
 manner, shut her up in the house, and burnt the mansion to 
 the ground. After these dire doings, at which humanity 
 shudders? and while the house was still in flames, Owen is 
 represented as fiercely triumphing in his diabolical revenge, 
 as commemorated by himself in a "Welsh Euglyn, or 
 epigram, spontaneously produced on the occasion. Perhaps 
 in the entire history of the metrical art or poetic inspiration, 
 never was the devilish voice of a Fury muse awakened by 
 a more infernal transaction, or to a more heartless and 
 
 * This place at Machynlleth, in Montgomeryshire, still bears the name ef 
 Carchardy Owain Glyndwr," or Owen Glen dower's prison. 
 2 M 
 
420 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 demoniac incantation. The chieftain, in this select little 
 composition, appears near the scene of his recent enormities, 
 calling to a shepherd, one of David Gam's tenants, in the 
 following magnanimous strain : — 
 
 Gweli di wr cech Cam 
 Yn ymovyn y girnigwen, 
 Dywed ei bod hi tan y Ian 
 A nod y glo ar ei phen. 
 
 The following is a translation :— 
 
 Seest thou a red-hair'd squinting urchin 
 For his lost white-horn' d one* searching, 
 Tell him beneath the bank she's laid, 
 Black coal for ochre marks her head. 
 
 Thus it was that Gwladys, the lady of our memoir, and 
 her two brothers, though both her seniors, still but young 
 children, so awfully lost their unhappy mother, how these 
 children were preserved from the murderous violence here 
 described, has never been recorded ; but it may be sur- 
 mised that they w ere at this time, either in the care of foster 
 parents, in the immediate neighbourhood : or that in the 
 confusion of the assault they were safely borne away by 
 some attached servants, and brought to their father's other 
 mansion, Old Court, in the county of Monmouth. 
 
 After this horrible catastrophe, David Gam remained a 
 prisoner at Machynlleth full ten years, and was liberated at 
 length by the intervention of the king of England. This 
 circumstance makes it probable that there was a private 
 understanding between them, previous to Gam's entrance 
 into the service of Glendower ; wbich, if true, will account 
 for the peculiar conduct which we have detailed of the 
 former. "In the year 1412," observes Theophilus Jones, 
 ei David Gam was still in durance, and Henry negociating 
 for his release. He was under the necessity of permitting 
 by writ, his esquire, Llewelyn ab Howel, father of David 
 Gam, to make use of Sir John Tiptofte and William Botiller, 
 to treat with Glendower for his enlargement ; but the result 
 is not recorded." The probability is, that through the 
 successful intervention of his English friends, David Gam 
 
 * Meaning the violated and murdered vrife of David Gam. 
 
THE LADY GWLADTS. 421 
 
 obtained his release about the latter end of the year 1412. 
 One thing, however, is certain, that no sooner did he gain 
 his liberty than he took every opportunity to harass and 
 annoy Glendower and his partizans. He attacked them 
 with his own tenantry and the forces left at his disposal by- 
 England, and betrayed the designs of Owen to the king, 
 whenever he could discover them. This conduct drew on 
 him the vengeance of his adversary once more, who entered 
 Monmouthshire with the most hostile determination, and 
 destroyed Gam's mansion of Old Court, as he had formerly 
 done that of Petyn Gwyn in 1402. Fortunately, in the 
 latter affair, there appears to have been no sacrifice of 
 human life. David Gam, probably expecting such a day 
 of retribution, from the known character of his enemy, made 
 a timely escape with his three children to England, and 
 found refuge with his father, at the court of Henry IV. 
 
 To dismiss with the J?est"§peed <he bad portion of Gam's 
 character, and hasten towards the, brilliant part of his 
 career, we may here state, that besides his treachery to 
 Glendower, there is another heavy/stain on his memory. 
 Previous to the transactions recorded above, in a bitter 
 family feud, he assaulted a near relative, his uncle, and slew 
 him in the street at Brecon. Ami now, having given his 
 worst of deea%$he worst of words, divested of all local par- 
 tiality, it will be^ajajjt-to record his future proceedings, 
 which were as honourable to his name as the former stood 
 heinously disgraceful. 
 
 Thus driven from their last home in Wales, Gwladys, 
 with her father, grandfather, and her two brothers, found 
 her new home in the metropolis of England, and at the 
 court of its monarch, however strange at first, in the course 
 of time not only endurable, but happy. Here she spent 
 some of the most important years of her girlhood, a cir- 
 cumstance that was doubtless favourable to her education, 
 in the acquirement of the accomplishments of her time, 
 which so eminently fitted her to grace that station in 
 society, to which she was called in after time. What 
 other advantages she gained from this change of nation, 
 language, and manners, we are not informed, nor, whatever 
 
422 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 they might be, whether they permanently added to her 
 stock of happiness. It would appear that about the seven- 
 teenth year of her age Gwyladys returned to Wales 
 as she was married at a very early age to Rosser Vychan, 
 Anglicised into Roger Vaughan, Esq., of Bredwardine 
 Castle, in Herefordshire,* a gentleman of wealth, rank, and 
 high respectability ; an especial friend of her father's, and in 
 after years his companion in arms in the hard fought battle 
 field of Agincourt. From the period of her marriage she 
 never again left Wales, but spent a great portion of her 
 long life in entire happiness at the castle of Bredwardine. 
 In the famous elegy written on her by the poet Lewis 
 Glyncothi, she is especially praised for her patronage of 
 the Welsh language ; so that it appears her long residence 
 in England did not cool her affection either for her mother 
 tongue or her fatherland. It is not improbable but that 
 those Welsh partizans of the English court, her father's 
 select friends, among whom she spent her days, might have 
 evinced their partiality for the English language, which 
 Ihey introduced into and encouraged in Wales ; and doubt- 
 less it was to counteract this unpatriotic influence that 
 Gwladys personally encouraged the vernacular Welsh* 
 She was not only a supporter of her native language but a 
 liberal encourager of everything laudable in Cambrian 
 nationality ; especially of the ^rflfi HAf! ""UfitrP 1 ^ of her 
 time, to whose occasional or regular periodic visits the 
 munificent halls of Bredwardine were ever open, the 
 plenteous board and hirlas horn prepared, and the final 
 " largess," in gold and silver, with other gifts, liberally 
 distributed. When it is considered that there were neither 
 ne ws^ ap ers^^ niLagazInes, nor, re views, circulating in those 
 days, the appreciation of this order of men, who travelled 
 through every district of the principality, and visited 
 
 * Bredwardine Castle was situated on the banks of the Wye, two miles 
 above Moccas, or Moccas Court, the seat of Sir George Aniyand Cornewall. 
 Bart., M.P. It has long been destroyed: the ruins are said to have furnished 
 great part of the materials used in the erection of the ancient residence of the 
 Cornewalls at Moccas. From the imperfect traces that remain, it appears to 
 have been a strong and massive fortress. 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS. 423 
 
 every mansion of note, was held in very high regard by 
 the wealthy, who alone could afford to entertain and reward 
 them, that they were literally indispensible ; and, indeed, 
 it was no slight degree of affluence that proved equal to 
 such an extensive expenditure. In Lewis Glyncothi's 
 elegy, among other honourable designations, Gwladys is 
 called "the strength and support of Gwentland and the 
 land of Brychan" (the counties of Monmo uth and Brecon) :* 
 the poor of which countries she supported on a very ex- 
 tensive scale. 
 
 Previous to the year 1415, she had become the mother 
 of five children, some of whom in after time performed 
 conspicuous parts in the great drama of life. Her three 
 sons were Watkin, Thomas, and Rosser; and her two 
 daughters, Elizabeth and Blanch. They were all united 
 in marriage with persons of the first consideration in their 
 day. Watkin married a daughter of Sir Henry Wogan ; 
 Thomas espoused the daring and eccentric Ellen Gethin, 
 as narrated in her memoir ; and Rosser (afterwards known 
 as the second Sir Roger Vaughan of Tretower), became 
 the husband of the beautiful Cicely, daughter of Thomas 
 ab Philip Vychan, of Talgarth, celebrated as "Dam 
 SisiP' in one of the poems of Lewis Glyncothi. Her 
 daughters were equally well married ; Elizabeth became 
 the wife of a gentleman named Griffith ab Eineon ; and 
 Blanch was united to an Englishman of fortune of the 
 name of John Milwater. 
 
 The tranquility and happiness which had thus far fa- 
 voured the married days of Gwladys were now about to 
 take their departure, and to be succeeded by fatal wars, 
 and their usual consequences of premature death and un- 
 availing sorrow. Great changes had taken place in the 
 political hemisphere of England; Henry IV. had been 
 struck off the list of living monarchs, and his throne filled 
 by his heroic son, Henry V., more honoured in Wales by 
 
 * As Bredwardine Castle where she resided is in Herefordshire, it is rather 
 curious that county is not mentioned as partaking of her munificence, unless 
 Owentland, according to the ancient division of the country, included a portion 
 of Herefordshire. 
 
 2 m 2 
 
,,,,, 
 
 424 THB LADY GWLADTS. 
 
 his popular designation of Harry of Monmouth. The year 
 1415 saw that daring prince embark for the continent for 
 the invasion of France, the crown of which kingdom he 
 claimed in right of its conquest by his ancestor, Edward III. 
 Among the many thousands who formed his army were 
 David Gam, the father of Gwladys, Rosser Vychan, or 
 Roger Vaughan, her husband, and her third son of the 
 same name, then a very young man and recently married. 
 Of the three, the latter alone was destined to see his home 
 and kindred again. 
 
 As the lady of our memoir derived her principal claim to 
 distinction from her birth and marriages, that is to say, 
 from her near relationship to no less' than f o ur oflh e fo e^QftS 
 \tjL>^ of Agincourt (her father, son, and two husbands), a summary 
 > oft!fe'per11s, sufferings, and exploits of the army of which 
 they formed a part, that embarked for France on this 
 memorable occasion becomes essential here ; which we 
 shall abridge to a needful compass of brevity, from different 
 versions of national historians. 
 
 King Henry embarked with his army at Southampton, 
 on the 19th of August, 1415. His fleet consisted of 1500 
 transport ships, in which were embarked 6000 men at arms, 
 and 20,000 archers,* making in all 50,000 men. He landed 
 his .troops at Havre de Grace, in Normandy, on the 21st of 
 August, and without loss of time marched on to Harfleur, 
 a fortified town nine miles distant, and invested it. After 
 a siege of five weeks, the garrison, which had made a 
 vigorous defence, surrendered. Henry took possession of 
 the town, expelled the inhabitants, and repeopled it with 
 a colony of Englishmen.! With great prudence the king 
 caused Harfleur to be entirely repaired, and placed in a 
 good state of defence, as a place of retreat in case of adverse 
 fortune. In the mean time he sent a written challenge to 
 the dauphin, then the representative of royalty in France 
 
 * So says Bapin, but Monstrelet states 24,000 archers. 
 
 + He put forth a proclamation that all persons who would come over from 
 EDgland and settle at Harfleur should have houses secured to them and their 
 heirs ; upon which great numbers transplanted themselves and families thither. 
 
THE LADY GWLADTS. 425 
 
 during the insanity of his father, Charles VI.* Henry now 
 formed the resolution of marching by land through France, 
 towards the English town of Calais. His army at this 
 time was dreadfully afflicted with the flux, which had 
 carried off some of the nobility, and many of the common 
 soldiers ; while in fact an entire fourth of his army was 
 suffering in the complaint. 
 
 The French having heard of the intention of the English 
 king prepared their forces and threw every possible im- 
 pediment in the way of his march, broke down all the 
 bridges and causeways in his route, and intrenched them- 
 selves in fortified places, while every ford or passable place 
 on the rivers were strongly guarded by troops. Added to 
 these disheartening obstacles, the horrors of famine beset 
 them wherever they moved, as all the cattle were driven off 
 on their approach, and all the provisions which could not 
 be timely removed, destroyed. Never perhaps, on the most 
 trying of occasions, had the peculiarities of English nation- 
 ality under the gloom of disastrous fortune, been displayed 
 more advantageously, and placed on a par with Roman 
 daring and endurance, in the best days of her virtuous 
 republic. Hannibal's decisive measure of burning his ships 
 to prevent the possibility of retreat, was not more demon- 
 strative of indomitable resolution, than the determination 
 of the English king to march forward ; although safety 
 within the walls of Harfleur was in the rear, and a proba- 
 bility of annihilation in the van. But Henry had one 
 advantage over the heroes of antiquity ; his devoted follow- 
 ers required no impulsive measures to drive them forward, 
 or to scare from them despondent thoughts of retreat. His 
 small army, to a man, although suffering intensely by 
 disease, starvation, and fatigue, that daily thinned their 
 numbers, were as eager as himself to continue their onward 
 course to Calais. Rapin says he continued his march along 
 
 * This challenge was dated September, 1415 ; it does not appear that the 
 dauphin sent any answer. The subject of it was an offer on the part of the 
 English king to decide all their differences i» a single combat between their two 
 persons, these differences being no less, accordin^ltfMSTIoaoii, than the whole 
 kingdom of France, 
 
426 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 the Somme with a resolution to face whatever danger awaited 
 them on the other side. As the passages, however, were 
 no longer defended, he found one between St. Quintin and 
 Peronne, where, on the 19th October he caused his army 
 to pass. But when this obstacle, which had hitherto 
 seemed the greatest, was removed, the English army found 
 themselves in no better condition.* They soon learnt that 
 the French were immensely their superiors in numerical 
 strength, healthy and unharrassed, issuing in all directions 
 from their comfortable quarters, buoyant in spirits and full 
 of insolent swagger, prepared to waylay and give them 
 battle, as soon as they came in contact with them. 
 
 " While the English monarch and his army were on their 
 route in this deplorable condition, the constable of France, 
 who was the commander in chief, and the princes who were 
 in the French army, sent three heralds to offer him battle, 
 leaving him to choose the time and place. Henry replied, 
 as he had been long upon his march to Calais, they might 
 have fought him when they pleased ; and if they intended 
 it, there was no occasion to appoint a time or place ; for he 
 was resolved to pursue his march, and they should always 
 find him ready to received them."f Thus the French army 
 being posted on his route, it was not possible to pass without 
 fighting ; he resolved therefore to prepare for battle. On 
 the 22nd October the French generals sent him word by a 
 herald, that on the Friday following, October 25th they 
 would give him battle. Henry who had already taken his 
 resolution, accepted the challenge, and in token of the cor- 
 diality with which he received his welcome tidings, with 
 that royal munificence which so signally graced his cha- 
 racter, he presented the herald with a rich robe and two 
 hundred crowns." During the three days before the battle, 
 Henry never ceased to inspire his troops with courage, by 
 
 * The French historians affirm that Henry seeing himself in this sad 
 condition, offered to restore Harfleur, and repair all damages he had caused in 
 France since his landing, if he might be suffered to proceed unmolested ; but 
 that his offer was rejected.— Rapin. 
 
 t Kapin. 
 
THE LADY GWLADTS. 427 
 
 the promise of rewards and honours, and by all other means 
 conducive to that end. He represented to them the glory 
 of their ancestors, who obtained the victories of Cressy and 
 Poictiers, and demonstrated to them the necessity of con- 
 quering their enemies in order to free themselves from their 
 present and avoid still greater miseries. " His exhortations 
 wrought so wonderful an effect, that the officers and soldiers, 
 far from dreading the number of their foes, were extremely 
 eager to engage." It was at this period that the father of 
 the lady of our memoir again comes under public notice. 
 On the day previous to the battle of Agincourt, news being 
 brought to the king that the French army were on the 
 march towards him, and that they were exceedingly nume- 
 rous, he detached CaptainGam to observe their motion and 
 their review number. The valiant David having narrowly 
 eyed the advancing French, found them to exceed the En- 
 glish in an immense degree. The Welshman however, was 
 too good a soldier to render a rash and literal account, 
 which might possibly have the effect of daunting the eager 
 courage of his fellow soldiers, therefore put forth his 
 Cambrian wit, and gave a guarded and evasive answer^ 
 gallantly reporting, that there were "enough tobekilled,enougk *L 
 to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away? This pithy, / 
 well-conceived, and well-timed answer, even memorable for 
 its spirit and originality, had its due effect ; the king was 
 delighted with it ; and the army excited by it to the wildest 
 degree of enthusiasm, waited anxiously for the hour of the 
 onset. 
 
 Meanwhile the French, presuming on their numbers, and 
 confident of victory, were making rejoicings in their camp. 
 If we may believe English historians, says Rapin, so con- 
 fident of success were the French leaders that they sent to 
 the king to know what he would give for his ransom. Henry 
 despising the bravado, replied, " that a few hours would 
 shew whose care it would be to provide ransom.*' The 
 French might well presume on their strength, as in number 
 they were six times greater than the English,* fresh, healthy, 
 
 • Menzerai owns that the French were four times superior to the English ; 
 Monstrelet says six times; P. Daniel states three times ; while the English 
 
428 THE LADY GWLADTS. 
 
 abounding with provisions, and labouring under no incon- 
 venience. The English, on the contrary were for the most 
 part, sick of the flux ever since they left Harfleur, grievously 
 fatigued with a month's march through a hostile country, 
 in very severe winter weather, during which they were half 
 starved, and would have perished for hunger, but for-the 
 prudence of the king. 
 
 " On the 25th October, the day appointed for the battle ; 
 the two armies were drawn up as soon as it was light. 
 The constable D'Albret, committed on this occasion an 
 unpardonable fault in choosing for the field of battle a narrow 
 ground, flanked on one side by a rivulet, and on the other 
 by a large wood. He thereby lost all the advantage which 
 the superiority of number and especially in horse, could give 
 him. It is most certain this general ought to have posted 
 himself in a large and open place, where he might have had 
 it in his power to surround the English, who were but a 
 handful of men in comparison with his army. But by 
 drawing up on so narrow a ground, he was forced to make 
 a front no larger than that of the enemies, and thereby 
 depriving himself of a very manifest advantage. Neither 
 can it be said that the choice of the field of battle was not 
 entirely in his own breast. As the English were marching 
 for Calais, it was his business to expect them on a spacious 
 plain, capable of containing his whole army, and where they 
 might have fought at once. His blindness therefore was 
 astonishing, and can be ascribed only to his presumption and 
 incapacity as a general. He seems to have intended to 
 stop up that narrow passage, that the English might not 
 proceed, without considering such a precaution can only be 
 advantageous to the weakest.* 
 
 While the French were drawing up Henry detached a 
 
 authors assert that their own army amounted only to jjp h"~*rirt- nnri jifty * t 
 thousand strong. Rapin concluded his observation, " Be this as it will, it is ^ ( 
 certain that the superiority of the French was very great." 
 
 * The constable of France divided his anny into three bodies, and drc 
 tli em up on the narrow ground, but so close that It was easy to foresee con 
 fusion would ensue during the battle.— Rapin. 
 
 € 
 
THE LADY GWLADVS 429 
 
 body of 400 lancers, to go and post themselves out of 
 sight of tn*e enemy, behind the wood, on the left of the 
 field of battle. He lodged moreover gO^archejs^ in a low 
 meadow fenced with bushes on the right. Such was his 
 army of reserve. In drawing up his forces, he could make 
 but t w jo jines , by reason of the small number of his troops. 
 Edward duke of York commanded the first, and the king 
 put himself at the head of the second, with a gold crown on 
 hisdb^lmet for a crest, and near him was the standard of 
 England. In this posture he expected the French would 
 advance to attack him. Perceiving, however, that they did 
 not move, he sent for some of his principal officers, and 
 said to them with a cheerful countenance, •• since our ene- 
 mies have intercepted our way, let us proceed, and break 
 through them, in the name of the Holy Trinity." Upon 
 these words he directed Sir Thomas Erpingham to give 
 the signa l to commence the battle which he did by throwin g 
 up hi s trunch eon into the air. Immediately the soldiers 
 of the foremost ranks, removing the stakes which had been 
 set in the front, to resist the fury of the cavalry, the whole 
 army with a mighty shout moved forward. After advancing 
 a little they made a halt, expecting their enemies, but 
 finding they did not stir continued their march in good 
 order. When they came within bowshot, the foremost 
 ranks fixed the stakes ;* interweaving and bending them a 
 little towards their enemy. At the same time a body of 
 chosen archers advancing some paces, began to let fly upon 
 the enemy a shower of arrows, a yard long, which being 
 shot by men of dexterity and strength, did the greater 
 execution, among the French, as they stood extremely 
 close, and had scarce room to move. The French cavalry 
 
 * The king considering the enemy was more powerful in horse, and that his 
 
 foot, the strength of his army, would be exposed to the danger of being broken 
 
 j by the fury of the first charge, ordered the archers (a battalion of whom was 
 
 [ placed in the van commanded by the duke £of York,) to fix into the ground 
 
 . piles or stakes, pointed at both ends, and six or seven feet long; with these 
 
 set in the front, and on the flanks, there being intervals left between the horse 
 
 and foot, these last were secured by them, ;as within a little fortification. A 
 
 company of pionee rs was appointed for ^j!R<*Wij}fL** <> piles, as the soldiers 
 
 . ' advanced or retreated.— Rapin, Le Fevre, ElmhamTHattf 1 *^ 
 
 ^ 
 
430 THE LADY GWLADY8. 
 
 advancing at length to repulse the archers, these last nimbly 
 retreated behind the stakes, with a wonderful discipline in 
 which the king had exercised them himself for some days, 
 Meanwhile the 200 bowmen concealed in the meadow, 
 rising up on a sudden, plied the horse with their arrows, 
 who were put in the greatest disorder, as the horses sun k 
 !IPn tn ^^jJLL npp ? LiP*"****" S KQMJlf ^T softened by the rains. 
 The English seeing this confusion, threw away their hgws, 
 and feJLju^ojjtliejr^e^ The English, 
 
 it is said, were for the most part, forced to fight naked from 
 the waist, downwards, by reason of their distemper. How- 
 ever, as the first line of the French consisted of all the best 
 troops in their army, this charge though very vigorous 
 was repulsed with some loss on the side of the English. 
 But that was not capable of disheartening men, determined 
 to conquer or die. After breathing awhile, they charged 
 again, with such resolution that it was not possible for their 
 enemies to stand the shock. This second attack was the 
 more difficult to be repulsed, as at the same time the French 
 felt themselves set upon in the flank by the English horse 
 ambushed behind the wood. Then it was that the utmost 
 disorder ensued among the troops, so vigorously pressed by 
 their enemies, who slew w ithout mercy whatever came in 
 their way. The first line of the French at length taking to 
 flight, (after seeing the constable killed, with a great num- 
 ber of other officers, and most of the princes and generals 
 made prisoners,) the English found themselves stopped by 
 the second line which came to repair the disorder. 
 
 Meanwhile Henry advancing with his second line, as the 
 first gained ground, stood ready to support his men, 
 who would have been in danger of being routed, if he had 
 been farther off. Whilst the first body, after so gallant a 
 fight, were retiring to the right and left, to make way for 
 the king and to rally in his rear, Henry alighting from his 
 horse, presented himself to an enemy with an undaunted 
 countenance. The duke of Alencon, prince of the blood- 
 royal of France, advanced at the head of his body, with 
 great intrepidity, hoping by his conduct and valour to repair 
 the disgrace received by his countrymen. Henry, for his 
 
THE LADY CWLADTS. 431 
 
 part, marching with a fierceness heightened by the success 
 of his first troops, charged the second line with a valour 
 equal to that of the most renowned heroes of antiquity. 
 He fought on foot at the h^ead.,oiJus^men, rushing among 
 the tBIckest of the enemies, as forgetting that upon his life 
 depended the fate of the army. 
 
 The result of this battle will ever serve to prove the 
 poverty of military genius in France at this period ; and 
 the following anecdote illustrates how slightly some of their 
 high born were actuated by chivalrous feeling, and how 
 strongly, by dastardly bravo-like enterprizes for cutting off 
 or assassinating the most illustrious of their foes, who 
 otherwise, by the chance of war might escape in a fair- 
 fought field. During the preparation for the battle, it 
 appears the duke of Alencon, the most active of the French 
 commanders, had conceived a very singular scheme for the 
 certain destruction of the English king, as unknightly and 
 murderous as ever was planned by the barbarity of a savage 
 — and this too in an age when noblemen generally plumed 
 themselves on their chivalrous bearing towards an open foe. 
 He engaged sixteen French knights by a solemn sacramental 
 oath, taken in the church where they watched, fasted, and 
 prayed, during the entire night previous to the day of battlp, 
 that they should forsake every object in the field to ensure 
 the death of Henry, whom they were to surround, and not 
 quit till they laid him dead on the earth. Agreeably to 
 their engagement they now took measures for attaining 
 their end, and had succeeded in unhorsing the king, when 
 David Gam discovered his peril, and saw the " Royal 
 Harry" with the regal crown which encircled his helmet 
 partly beaten off his brow, fighting on foot, scarcely able to 
 wield his battle-axe, while slightly supported by a few 
 exhausted followers. In all the wild impetuosity of his 
 character, David Gam called aloud, in righ^good racy 
 Welsh, for the men of Brecon to come forward and savetHe 
 king. - " He was soon answered by his son-in-law 
 and grandson, the two Roger Vaughans, Walter Lloyd, 
 and William ab Thomas, who, with other Welshmen 
 rushing forward made a desperate charge, and succeeded 
 2 N 
 
432 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 in cutting down every one of these unknightly knights of 
 France. 
 
 But the personal perils of King Henry were not yet over ; 
 " the heat of the battle increasing, Henry, still more 
 animated by his past danger, gave signal proofs of his 
 valour, and drew upon him the bravest of his enemies. The 
 Duke of Gloucester his brother, (the good Duke Hum- 
 phrey,) who fought by his side, being knocked down, he 
 long covered him with his own body, to prevent his being 
 killed. By this bold action he was so exposed that at 
 length he received so great a blow on the head that he fell 
 on his knees. But his guard immediately advancing, re- 
 pulsed the enemy and gave him time to rise. The king's 
 danger and the wonders he performed, inspired his troops 
 with a sort of fury. On a sudden, as it were by general 
 consent, the Eng-lish soldiers encouraging one another, 
 rushed upon their enemies, and by their violent and un- 
 expected attack, put them in such disorder that their 
 leaders could never repair it. Henry improving this ad- 
 vantage, pressed them vigorously, to hinder them from 
 recovering out of their surprise ; knowing this was the 
 moment in which the victory was to be decided. Their 
 disorder increasing by reason of their great numbers and 
 want of room, they began at length only to fight in retreat, 
 in such manner as showed they would quickly take to 
 flight. 
 
 The duke of Alencon, enraged to see the battle lost by the 
 defeat of the second line, and despairing that the third 
 would be able to restore the fight, generously resolved to 
 die honorably, rather than turn his back, and survive his 
 country's disgrace. So, regardless of a life he was deter- 
 mined to lose, with a small number of brave and resolute 
 persons, he furiously mads way with his sword through the 
 English troops, and everywhere sought the king of England, 
 in expectation of revenging, by one blow, the loss France 
 had that day sustained. It was not difficult to find Henry, 
 who thought of nothing less than concealing himself. The 
 moment the duke saw him, he ran at him, and crying out 
 he was the Duke of Alencon, discharged so violent a blow on 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS; 433 
 
 his head, that it cleared off one half of the gold crown on his 
 helmet. Henry not being- able to parry this blow, was not 
 slow to revenge. In return he struck the duke to the 
 ground, and with repeated blows slew two of his brave 
 attendants. In an instant the duke was surrounded by a 
 crowd of enemies, who put an end to his life, notwithstand- 
 ing the king's endeavours to save him. The death of the 
 duke of Alencon entirely discouraging his troops, they 
 openly took to flight. 
 
 The third line of the French being still fresh and in good 
 order, might have renewed the battle, but their hearts failing 
 at the sight of the present and past slaughter,* it w 7 as not 
 in the power of their leaders to make them advance. So 
 finding themselves reduced to a necessity of retreating with- 
 out fighting, they left the flying troops of the second line 
 exposed to the fury of their enemies, who closely pursued 
 them. Then it was that the English, having nothing else 
 to do but to kill state prisoners, exercised pity or cruelty 
 according as every one was naturally inclined. The^ing 
 was no sooner relieved by the Welsh from jars' imminent 
 peril than three of the foremost of his rescuers paid tl 
 penalty of their loyalty' and daring ; these wer^ David Gau 
 his son-in-law the elder Vaughan, and VValterHLloyd — \vh< 
 dropped down on the field, exhausted with their s\perhurnar 
 exertions and loss of blood : they were in fact dyang^oXjJieir 
 mortal wounds. When Henry heard of their condition, how 
 that they were past all hope of recovery, he hastened to the 
 spot, and deeply affected with the agonies of these brave 
 men, kni^hj.ed-thaj.h^reeon the field, where they soon after- 
 wards expired. "****~ ws ^*»«,- 
 
 One event connected with this battle will ever remain a 
 subject of regret, a massacre of a portion of the French 
 prisoners, related at large in Rapin, who thus remarks on 
 the untoward circumstance. *' It is a pity so glorious a 
 victory was sullied by this rash massacre. It may however 
 be excused, by the impossibility of the English being able 
 
 * Or rather when they observed the English horse, by King Henry's order 
 wheeled off to charge them in the rear. — Polydore Virgil. 
 
434 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 to guard their prisoners,* and by the king's just fears, that 
 these same prisoners would turn against him, during the 
 fight, which he saw himself on the point of renewing." 
 
 After the battle the king's first care was to return thanks 
 to God for so signal and unexpected a victory. The fight 
 began at ten o'clock in the morning, and lasted till almost 
 five in the afternoon. Henry not thinking proper to con- 
 tinue his march, for fear of fatiguing his army too much re- 
 turned to Masconcelles, where he had encamped the fore- 
 going night.f 
 
 However glorious and flattering this unparalleled victory 
 might be to national pride, it was a mournful day to the 
 kindred of the slain, to view the vacant places at the family 
 hearths, where fathers, sons, and brothers were wont to be 
 assembled at the social meal or evening meeting ; and to 
 none more than to the unhappy Gwladys, when she learnt 
 from the lips of her weeping son that both her husband and 
 her father had fallen on the field of Agincourt, and never 
 could greet her sight again, nor their voices fill her ear ! 
 The bearer of these dismal tidings, her third and youngest 
 son, now bore the title of Sir Roger Vaughan, having like 
 his renowned grandfather and father been created Knight 
 Banneret on the field of battle ; thus, both his mother and 
 his wife respectively became entitled to the honour of being 
 styled Lady Vaughan ; the first of Bredwardine, and the 
 latter of Tretower. 
 
 Both these ladies were destined soon after to lose their 
 designations ; the younger lady Vaughan, soon after the 
 
 * According to J. des Ursins, they amounted to fo urteen thousand ; and 
 consequently equalled, or rather exceeded in number aft*fne English forces. H^ 
 
 f In a note to Rapin's records of this battle it is stated, " the curious reader 
 may see an account of all the remarkable persons slain or taken prisoners in 
 this battle, in Jean Le Fevre, who says he was in the English army. He states 
 that in all there were ten tho usand French killed, of whom seven or eight 
 thousand were noble, and'above a hundred of them princes, who had banners 
 carried before them in the field. On the side of the English there were slain 
 only the duke of York, the young earl of Suffolk, and if we may believe certain 
 English historians, not above four knights, one esquire, and twenty- eight 
 common soldiers. Some however, with more probability affirm, the English 
 lost four hundred men." 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 435 
 
 return of her husband, was marked for an early grave; while 
 the elder lady who bore that name, the subject of our memoir, 
 lost this honourable title in a manner by no means to be 
 regretted, the particulars of which remain to be related. 
 
 Among the vi sitors of condojfiflfifi to the Lady Gwladys, 
 was a young man of rank and wealth of a neighbouring house, 
 in Monmouthshire, who had_jilso shared the_ perils and 
 gained his title and laurels in the battle field jof_Agincourt, 
 at the same time with her late husband and father; this^was 
 Sir William ab Thomas, lord of Rhaglan Castle. That 
 gentleman was the son of the famous Thomas ab Gwilym, 
 renowned in his day for his literary taste, extensive property, 
 and princely encouragement of the bards and minstrels. 
 The mother of Sir William was a lady of great amiability 
 and considerable property, named Maud, the daughter of 
 Sir John Morley, from whom he inherited the noble castle 
 and lordship of Rhaglan. As an intimacy had existed be- 
 tween the families of Bredwardine and Rhaglan Castle pre- 
 vious to her husband's death, the merits of this gentleman 
 were not unknown to the Lady Gwladys ; nor did he come 
 less recommended in being one of the heroes of Agincourt. 
 Therefore it could be no matter of surprise to her contem- 
 poraries that soon after the expiration of the year of mourn- 
 ing, Sir William ab Thomas became the accepted suitor of 
 the lady of our memoir ; or in due course of time, that she 
 was led by him, once more to the hymeneal altar. 
 
 A more appropriate union than this, could scarcely be 
 conceived, even in the estimation of a censure-prone world — 
 so apt, by the agency of its female members, to constitute 
 itself a judge and dictator of what is right and wrong on 
 such occasions, with a wonderful degree of indifference to 
 tastes and feelings of the parties principally concerned ! 
 What greater mark of profound esteem for the memory of 
 the departed could the lady have shown, than to have espoused 
 the friend of her late husbanfl — a surviving brother in arms 
 of the fatal fight that widowed her ! Perhaps it may be 
 answered — to have continued a widow to the end of her 
 days. But be it remembeied, that her first marriage was at 
 an unusually early age; and that although the mother of 
 2 n 2 
 
436 THfi LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 five children, Gwladjs was a young widow at the period of 
 the battle of Agincourt ; society therefore would be exact- 
 ing too much, under those circumstances, to require the sa- 
 crifice of so much youth, beauty, and capacity to an osten- 
 tatious deedless widowhood, when active usefulness in the 
 sphere of married life carried more commendation than good 
 sense could possibly assign to the most devoted existence of 
 unavailing mourning. On the part of the gentleman, the 
 selection of the young widowed daughter of the renowned 
 Sir David Gam, must have met the warm approbation of his 
 friends, and the universal admiration of the public, among 
 whom the newly married pair formed the centre of no small 
 circle. 
 
 If the appropriateness of the match gave general satisfac- 
 tion in the first instance, the superior manner in which the 
 Lady Gwladys fulfilled the duties to which she was now 
 called, as the elevated mistress of the celebrated Castle of 
 Rhaglan, must have called forth a tribute of applause from 
 all parties. A house so renowned for its princely hospitality 
 under the auspices of its former representatives required no 
 small degree of energy, taste, and talent, to transcend those 
 earlier impressions of munificence, according to the more 
 advanced state of civilization, and the increased opulence of 
 this peculiar family. The noble gracefulness with which 
 the Lady Gwladys fulfilled her stately and benevolent offices 
 of entertaining her guests and assisting the needy and 
 afflicted, met an apt illustrator in the person of her contem- 
 porary, the great poet of the day, Lewis Glyncothi. The 
 productions of this bard, as noticed elsewhere, have thrown 
 considerable light on the history of the age in which he 
 flourished. It is somewhat remarkable that in two instances 
 Jte compares this lady to her namesake Gwladys Ddu, the 
 / daughter of Prince Llewelyn ab lorwerth, who, as the term 
 / "JU4li' imports, was a _ r brunette ; in contradistinction to 
 which style of beauty he describes the lady of Rhaglan Cas- 
 ! tie as a brilliant being, " like the sun — the pavilion of light," 
 \ implying a fair and radiant complexion, or as we should say 
 in modern phraseology, a blonde. Elsewhere, in this poem 
 »he is compared to the same lady for her aim and influence 
 
THE LADY OWLADYS. 437 
 
 in protecting and encouraging the Welsh language, which 
 doubtless in her time was undermined by the affectation of 
 speaking " the language of the Saxons," patronized by the 
 Welsh Agincourt worthies, who frequently entertained their 
 English companions in arms, who gained their honours in 
 the same field — a martial brotherhood which seems to have 
 been stronger in affection than even their respective ties of 
 nationality. A3 a matter of some historical import we sug- 
 gest the probability that the first strong stand which the 
 ^nglishJon£ue made in Monmoum^re was from the intro- 
 duction and patronage of it by thej)arty to which we have 
 referred. Their partiality to English politics, their loyalty 
 to the English king, their union to English brides, as well 
 as the marriages of their Welsh heiresses to Englishmen, go 
 far to prove our conjecture; and we may especially add, 
 their strong opposition to Welsh nationality, as illustrated 
 in the early career of Sir David Gam. 
 
 The second marriage of Gwladys was soon followed by 
 that of her son Sir Roger Vaughan, who wooed and won 
 for his second wife, the Lady Margaret, daughter of Lord^ 
 James Audley, another of the heroes of Agincourt, and we 
 may add, the descendant of a family long rem arkable for its 
 
 hostility fn Wf^h J 11flp pRnd'l >n ^ A * 
 
 In the elegy on the lady of our memoir, by Lewis Glyn- 
 cothi, her state of worldly felicity is particularly emphasised, 
 where she is designated "the star of Abergavenny — Gwladys • 
 the happy and the faultless." Thus it appears she was fully 
 as comfortable, to use a homely but expressive phrase, as the 
 lady of Rhaglan Castle as she was formerly, when mistress 
 of Bredvvardine ; while both her affluence and her sphere of 
 active usefulness were exhibited on a more enlarged scale, 
 and wider arena. 
 
 By her second union Gwladys became the mother of 
 three sons and five daughters. The two elder sons were 
 the celebrated William Herbert, who in after time became 
 earl of Pembroke, and Richard, afterwards known as the 
 
 * This nobleman was slain in the battle of Bloreheath, In the year 1458. 
 For a further account of this family 6ee our memoir of the " Lady Emma," 
 wife of Griffith ab Madoc 
 
' 
 
 438 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 illustrious Sir Richard Herbert, of Coldbrook, Dear Aber- 
 gavenny ; both of whom, with their half brother, Thomas ab 
 Rosser, the husband of Ellen GethiD, greatly distinguished 
 themselves, and perished for the House of York, on the field 
 of Danesmoor. The third son always kept up his Welsh 
 designation, and was known only as John ab Gwilym, of 
 Y Hon ; he appears to have lived and died as a country 
 gentleman in happy obscurity. The daughters were Eliza- 
 beth, Margaret, Maud, Olivia, and Elizabeth; it is remark- 
 able in this enumeration of games, as illustrative of the 
 English taste of this family, that none_ of them are Wels h ; 
 and that Gwjjjdvjjiad no less than three daughters bearing 
 the name of Elizabeth — one by the first, and two by her 
 second marriage. Elizabeth (the first of the second union), 
 became the lady of SirJH^rj^tradling; and her sister Mar- 
 garet, the lady of Sir Henry Wogan. Maud, Olivia, and 
 the second Elizabeth, were married to Welsh country gen - 
 tlemen. 
 
 There is a circumstance peculiarly noticeable in this second 
 part of the life of Gwladys, not easily accounted for. Al- 
 though her father and her first husband fought and died for 
 the house of Lancaster, and her third son Sir Roger 
 Vaughan received his knighthood also at the hand of Henry 
 V., the second king of that dynasty, yet we find three of 
 her sons, (the two Herberts and their elder half brother 
 Thomas ab Rosser,) equally distinguishing themselves as 
 the deadliest enemies of the Lancasterians, and the most 
 devoted partizans of the house of York ; in whose cause, as 
 before observed, they ultimately perished. 
 
 It is true that during the splendid reign of Henry V., 
 the dazzling magnificence of his heroic deeds at Agincourt 
 and his subsequent espousal of the daughter of vanquished 
 France and consequent exaltation of the English name, 
 blinded the judgment of men as to the legality of his pos- 
 session of the crown; the criminal usurpation of his father 
 was not only winked at, but conveniently forgotten for the 
 time, in the affectionate regard of his admiring and devoted 
 subjects. But when the life and glories of that truly royal 
 sovereign were closed in death, and beiDgs of an inferior 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS. 439 
 
 capacity made poor and imbecile efforts to fill his vacated^ 
 place, the national judgment, no longer fascinated by the 
 brilliant enchanter who held men's hearts in thrall, began 
 to exercise its sober functions. And when the usurpation 
 of Bolingbroke came to be examined and duly discussed, 
 the right of the house of York to the crown, as lineally 
 descending from Richard II., became manifest and incon- 
 testible. To such convictions we must principally attri- 
 bute the change in politics embraced both by the husband 
 and sons of the Lady Gwladys. Added to these public 
 grounds, perhaps were certain private ones, which always 
 have their natural force in influencing the conduct of men. 
 Richard, duke of York, and his son Edward Earl of March, 
 the first and second representatives of that house, and 
 claimants of the crown from the brows of the youthful 
 Henry of Lancaster, were very courteous in their manners, 
 the most affable and chivalrous noblemen of their time ; 
 as their early friendship and patronage of the family of 
 Rhaglan, added to their own position of a wronged race, 
 doubtless formed the ground of that family's decision to 
 abandon the cause of Lancaster, and enlisted all their sym- 
 pathies and swords as the most determined supporters of 
 the rival House. When Margaret of Anjou became the 
 queen of Henry, her unpopular and cruel persecution of the 
 "good Duke Humphrey," as the people delighted to call 
 the duke of Gloucester, the late king's brother, and her 
 patronage of the worthless Suffolk,* made both her and that 
 minister so excessively odious to that portion of the nation 
 which was favourable to the Yorkists still more devoted to 
 that party, and alienated their hearts so thoroughly from 
 the reigning family, that what was originally a simple pre- 
 ference of one cousin before the other for their king, on the 
 score of the stronger claim of the elder branch, became an 
 enthusiastic devotion to the one, and rancorous hatred to 
 the ether. 
 
 • The Marquis, afterwards Duke of Suffolk, was generally considered as the 
 person who by " wicked arts and vile practices" had procured the death of the 
 Innocent Duke of Gloucester ; and what added greatly to his unpopularity, it 
 was he who restored to the French a portion of the English conquests made by 
 Henry V., consisting of Le Mans and the county of Maine. 
 
440 THE LADY GWLADYS. 
 
 After a long season of domestic felicity the happiness of 
 the Lady Gwladys was at length disturbed by a most 
 untoward event — that severe calamity the death of her 
 indulgent anl beloved husband Sir William ab Thomas. 
 He died in the year 1446, deeply regretted by his family 
 and a large circle of friends ; and was buried in the Priory 
 church, Abergavenny. 
 
 Happily for the lady of this memoir, it was not her lot to 
 experience further any of those severe visitations that make 
 human existence a s'ate of endurance ; she survived her 
 husband eight years, and died in 1454, a year memorable in 
 English annals for the commencement of active hostilities 
 between the factions who had so long menaced each other 
 with destruction — those disastrous civil contentions the 
 wars of the Roses.* Well was it for her that her existence 
 was not further prolonged, to have experienced the sad 
 reverses which brought mourning and desolation over the 
 joyous circle of her domestic hearth. Well was it for her 
 that the shadows of death had fallen on her eyes, rather 
 than they should have encountered the bloody and petri- 
 fying spectacle of the headless trunks of her sons William 
 and Richard, and the mangled gory remains of her elder son 
 Thomas, the victims of that battle, so fatal to Wales and 
 Welsh men. f 
 
 Gwladys was buried in the Priory church of Abergavenny, 
 within the same tomb where the remains of her late hus- 
 band were deposited eioht years before. 
 
 Never perhaps was a funeral in Wales more numerously 
 or more respectably attended than that of the lady Gwladys. 
 The spontaneous assemblage of three thousand persons, 
 inhabitants of the counties of Monmouth and Brecon, 
 issuing at once from every nook of their respective districts, 
 all attired in mourning habits, meeting at the bereft dwelling 
 of their late friend or patroness — must have presented a 
 
 * It was in 1454 that Richard duke of York took the field, having previously 
 stirred up tlje insurrection of the Kentish men, under Jack Cade, aud thus 
 commenced the civil war. 
 
 t For these particulars see memoirs of Ellen Gethin, 
 
THE LADY GWLADYS. 441 
 
 striking spectacle of real mourners, and grateful followers 
 to her last home of the lamented personage who had left 
 a void in society, impossible to be filled up by a successor 
 equally worthy. 
 
 The elegy to her memory, by Lewis Glyncothi, so fre- 
 quently adverted to, is supposed to have been produced 
 within the year and soon after her decease. As a compo- 
 sition, it is- less remarkable for tender touches of pathos 
 than for the descriptive powers of the poet. In this pro- 
 duction he laments the death of Gwladys, whom he 
 poetically styles the star of Abergavenny, the daughter of 
 Sir David Gam, the strength of Gwent and the land of 
 Brychan. Her piety and ancient descent, (twin virtues 
 in Cambrian estimation,) are particularly dwelt upon. 
 She is compared to Marsia, queen of Cyhelyn,* remarkable 
 it seems for her discretion and extensive influence as well 
 as the great age at which she died ; and to Gwladys Ddu, 
 the daughter of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, and ancestress to 
 the head of the house of York, who in her children's time 
 became king Edward IV., for the imputation of similar 
 virtues. The bard concludes with a minute description of 
 her very elaborately decorated tomb, which must have 
 tasked the ingenuity and inventive powers of the artist even 
 more than the descriptive capabilities of the poet. But 
 time has mocked both them and the lady whom these tro- 
 phies were intended to honour, affording a triumph to 
 poetry at the expense of sculpture: and were it not for the 
 explanatory verses of Lewis Glyncothi we should be utterly 
 at a loss to comprehend the meaning of the mass of wreck, 
 so intricate and confused, as is displayed in the mutilated 
 alabaster figures, which formed the component portions of 
 an interesting allegory, on the white monument of the 
 benevolent Lady Gwladys of Rhaglan castle.f 
 
 * Marsia queen of Cuhelyn the 24th king of Britain according to Jeffrey of 
 Monmouth. 
 
 t The reader who may wish to read these Memoirs in chronological order 
 is informed that the next successive biography to this is Ellon Gethin ; to be 
 followed by the life of Gwenhwyvar and " the old woman of Anglesea." 
 
'11^ 
 
 MAUD DE HAIA, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF THE BARON REGINALD DE WALEBI, AND WIFE 
 OF THE BARON WILLIAM DE BREOS THE ELDER, LORD OF 
 BRECON AND ABERGAVENNY. 
 
 York:e, in his Royal Tribes of Wales, eloquently remarks 
 "When Rhys ab Tewdwr fell in battle, the sun of South 
 Wales set for ever." As a specimen of the lurid and spectral 
 lights which succeeded, and " made darkness visible" in 
 the land, on the conquest of a portion of Wales by the 
 Norman myrmidons of William the Conqueror, we here 
 present the reader with a memoir of that singular Norman 
 lady, Maud de Haia (from whom the castle and afterwards 
 the town of Hay derived their designation), in conjunction 
 with her atrocious husband, William de Breos. Were 
 there any truth in the deductions of certain old astrological 
 writers, that there are stars which ray forth darkness instead 
 of light, we might well imagine, in a figurative sense, that 
 this precious pair came to verify and illustrate this theory, 
 in the troubled hemisphere of which they were the ruling 
 planets. Their career will also yield a curious view of the 
 civil squabbles of that day, as they may be termed, in con- 
 tradistinction to the position of open war, between King 
 John and his dishonest and turbulent barons. Were it not 
 for the public hatred and contempt which has ever invested 
 the character of the despicable John, the popular sympathy 
 in this, as in many olher cases, would be entirely on his 
 side, as the injured party, and the deepest indignation 
 attached to the conduct of his infamous vassals, De Breos 
 and his worthless wife. 
 
 This wonderful lady was the daughter of the Baron 
 Reginald de Waleri : and when she became the wife of 
 William de Breos, she brought him, as part of her dowry, 
 the manor of Tetbury, in Gloucestershire. Theophilus 
 Jones in his History of the Town and County of Breck- 
 
MAUD ȣ HAIA. 443 
 
 nock, to which work we are principally indebted for these 
 materials of her memoirs, states thus of her : — 
 
 u This lady is the^emiramis of Breconshire ; she is 
 called in the pedigrees, as well as in King John's letter or 
 manifest, Maud de Haia, either from her having rebuilt the 
 castle (Hay Castle), or from its being principally the place 
 of her residence ; most likely for the former reason, for 
 within the limits of the county of Brecon she is an ubi- 
 quarian. Under the corrupted name of Mol Walbce (in 
 certain extravagant tales), we have her c^sTT^fone very- 
 eminence, and her feats are traditionally narrated in every 
 parish. She built, say the gossips, the castje oX»|i$£ i* 1 
 one night, the stones for which she carried in her apron. 
 
 tile she was thus employed, a small pebble of about nine 
 feet long, and one foot thick, dropped into her shoe ; Tins 
 trifling inconvenience she did not at first regaroVout in a 
 short time finding it troublesome, she indignantly threw it 
 over the river Wye into Llowes churchyard, in Radnorshire, 
 about three miles off, where it remains to this day, precisely 
 in the position it fell, a stubborn memorial of the historical 
 fact, to the utter confusion of all sceptics and unbelievers.* 
 Peter Roberts, in his " Cambrian Popular Antiquities," thus 
 suggests the probable origin of the corrupted term of Moll 
 Walbee. " As Maud was dej^sjtejl.J^^Jie Welsh,- they 
 may have given her the title of a fury; but the part of the 
 tradition relative to the pf-bble, and building castles, mu3t 
 be of much higher antiquity ; as in many places of North 
 Wales, where there are heaps of rude stones^ajwi tch is said t o. 
 have carried them in her apron. As those stones generally 
 formed parts of enclosures, the original name was, perhaps, 
 Malaen y Walva, or the Fury of the Enclosure, as the 
 ignorant frequently attribute structures which have anything 
 formidable and astonishing in their appearance to the work 
 of evil spirits." Theophilus Jones suggests that the fable 
 of her carrying the stones and completing the castle of 
 
 * Not far from Dolgelly, upon the road to Machynlleth, there are three 
 large stones called the three pebbles. The tradition concerning these is, that 
 the giant Idris, whose residence was on the Cadair Idris mountains, finding 
 them troublesome in his shoe, as he was walking, threw them down there. 
 
aiU/4 
 
 444 MAUD DE HAIA. 
 
 Hay in one night, means that she collected or rather ex- 
 torted from her tenants a sum sufficient for the purpose in 
 a very short time ; and adds, " it is ve/^xtraordinary what 
 could have procured Maud this more ihcm mortal celebrity." 
 She was no doubt a woman of masculine understanding 
 and spirit, yet her explmts_ifl J3xfeeoRshire, where she is so 
 famous, are not detailed either by history or tradition, 
 excepJLi n the ^ pJuToTja le Jj us t related. King John in his 
 declaration against William aVBreos, seem^ia^st pretty 
 clearly that the grey mare was the better horse ; and it is 
 evident whatever nermenTs "or ""fteTrrerHs may have been, 
 2 that she had considerable interest and influence in this 
 county, as her name, though corrupted, is familiar to every 
 peasant, while her husband's is unknown, or known only 
 to be detested. 
 
 The rest of Maud de Haia's life is entirely free from the 
 alloy of fable, and may be said to be purely historical. 
 But as the records of her are so interwoven with the life of 
 her atrocious husband, that as the latter is very eventful 
 it is necessary to give both together. On the death of his 
 brother Philip, without issue, his immense property in 
 Ireland fell to the already wealthy William de Breos. 
 " While he dwelt at the castle of Abergavenny," Theophilus 
 Jones says, " he and his murdering ministers involved 
 themselves in such a scene of butchery, as, fortunately for 
 mankind, has seldom been paralleled. 
 
 Pity, like a new born babe, 
 
 Striding tbe blast, or heaven's cberubim horsed 
 
 Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 
 
 Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye." 
 
 And while it is with pain the historian records this tale 
 of blood, he may, perhaps, be pardoned if he expresses a 
 satisfaction in consigning the memory of this hypocritical 
 villain to perpetual infamy. 
 
 About five years previous to this time the castle of 
 Abergavenny had been delivered by the treachery of the 
 officers of the king of England into the hands of Sitsyllt 
 ab Dy venwald and Ienan ab Ririd, two noblemen of Gwent, 
 
MAUD DE HAIA. 445 
 
 after which a warfare ensued between them and Henry IL, 
 was terminated in the year 1176, the castle restored to 
 William de Breos, and Sitsyllt, as the associate of Ririd, 
 received the king's pardon, through the intercession of 
 Rhys ab Griffith, lord of Dinas-vawr. It was to con- 
 gratulate Rhys upon this reconciliation, according to 
 Powell and the Welsh chronicles, though Lord Lyttleton 
 says it was to notify to Sitsyllt and his adherents an act 
 of the English parliament prohibiting from wearing arms, 
 or offensive weapons, that they became the guests of 
 William de Breos, at his castle of Abergavenny. At first 
 they were treated with the hospitality they expected^ but 
 in the midst of their conviviality their host, either frorn^ a 
 design to provoke a quarrel, or in obedience to the in- 
 structions of his master, the king of England, made them 
 the degrading proposal of surrendering their weapons, and 
 submitting, without the power of defence, to his will. To 
 this the Britons with indignation refused to accede ; where- 
 upon the assassin gave the signal to his myrmidons, who 
 rushing into the room like incarnate demons, butchered the 
 unsuspecting and unarmed Welshmen to a man. Not 
 satisfied with this, they accompanied their employer to 
 Sitsyllt's house in the neighbourhood of Abergavenny,* 
 where taking his wife prisoner, they murdered her son 
 Cadwalader before her face, and set fire to the mansion. 
 Lord Lyttleton mentions this horrid transaction with great 
 coolness of temper, without even expressing his indignation 
 at the dreadful scene, though he seems to be rather surprised 
 that Henry II. did not notice it ; while Giraldus Cambrensis 
 hints that it was perpetrated by the orders of the English 
 monarch. But the measure of this monster's iniquity was 
 not yet full, though he never afterwards had an opportunity 
 of converting his castle into a slaughter house and mur- 
 dering en masse. About the year 1198 we find him using 
 the same artful and nefarious Stratagem to entrap a chieftain 
 of Breconshire, against whom he entertained a secret 
 
 * This house is on the grounds of Sir Benjamin Hall, near his noble mansion of 
 Hanover; an interesting relic of ancient times, and a stern memorial of the 
 deeds of blood here transacted and above recorded. 
 
445 MAUD DE HArA» 
 
 grudge. Trabaexri Vychan, lord of Llangorse, was invited 
 to meet him, to eoaJer ill a friendly manner on business. 
 Unsuspicious of treachery, and, of course, unprepared for 
 defence, tbe descendant of Caradoc of the brajyjpjr arm 
 instantly determined to attend to the request, or obey the 
 command of bis powerful neighbour and superior. While 
 on tbe journey he was met on the road by William de Breos, 
 not far from Brecon, who ordered his bloodhounds to seize 
 him. By his commands they tied him to a horse's tail, 
 and in that situation ignoininiously and cruelly dragged 
 him through the streets of Brecon ; after which he had 
 him beheaded, and suspended upon a gallows for three days. 
 Repeated acts of cruelty, tyranny, and oppression, will 
 make even cowards brave. How wild and implacable then 
 must have been the resentment of the Welsh, a people 
 brave and irascible, bred upon their mountains, the indi- 
 genous children of Freedom? The castle of Abergavenny 
 was unable to withstand the fury of the men of Gwent, 
 who levelled it with the ground ; and the whole garrison 
 left there by De Breos were either killed or taken prisoners. 
 They next assailed the fortress of Dingatston, near Mon- 
 mouth, belonging to one of his partizans, and reduced it to 
 a heap of ashes. Upon the assassination of Trahaern, 
 Gwenwynwyn, prince of Powys, who was connected with 
 his family by marriage, determined to avenge that chief- 
 tain's death. Accordingly, with a strong army he entered 
 into Elvel, in Radnorshire, and laid siege to Painscastle 
 in that district, then the property of William de Breos. 
 Gwenwynwyn vowed that he would reduce to ashes the 
 whole country from thence to the Severn ; a sacrifice, as 
 he conceived, too small to the manes of his butchered 
 kinsman. Gwenwynwyn, however, was not successful; 
 the want of miners, and the insufficiency of his implements 
 of attack, delayed his operations till the besieged were 
 reinforced by troops from England; added to which 
 Griffith ab Rhys, lord of South Wales, joined the English 
 against him. A most bloody engagement took place, in 
 which the prince of Powys was defeated. Matbew Paris 
 says, this battle was fought before Maud's Castle, called 
 
MAUD DE HAlA. 447 
 
 by Camden the castle of Matilda in Colwen ; and he tells 
 us that three thousand seven hundred Welshmen fell in 
 that combat. Thus escaped, for a while, th e cruel and 
 oppressive lord of Brecknock ; but short-lived was hi* 
 triumph. 
 
 We next find him a prisoner to King John, in the 
 year 1202; while, strange to say, supporting the righteous 
 cause of young Arthur, the lawful heir to the crown. 
 From this imprisonment the usurper John soon released 
 him ; but ever after continued suspicious of him, though he 
 loaded him with favours during the first four or five years of 
 his reign. Upon the breaking out of the war between John 
 and his barons, the king demanded the children of De Breos 
 as hostages for his fidelity. Upon this occasion his wife, 
 Maud de Haia, whom some of our chroniclers call a 
 malapert woman, desired the king's messengers who made 
 the application, to inform their master that she would not 
 trust her children to one who had murdered his own 
 nephew. This answer, which was more spirited than 
 prudent, so enraged the king that her husband was in- 
 stantly banished the realm, an,d his property declared 
 confiscated for the use of the crown. 
 
 Theophilus Jones has here presented us with a valuable 
 document containing the complaints of John against William 
 de Breos, which, he observes, as they were never contra- 
 dicted, there is no reason to disbelieve. This is the more 
 interesting as it places that unpopular king in the light of 
 an injured party, and truly merciful amidst the most 
 galling provocations to severity ; such, indeed, as no land- 
 lord in ordinary life would endure from a shuffling dishonest 
 tenant ; nor under such circumstances, extend to him half 
 the indulgences accorded by King John. Jones says, "as 
 the memorial is in fact a history of the latter years of this 
 baron's life, I trust no apology is necessary for its insertion 
 here nearly at length, or, at least, preserving the whole of 
 its material points. The first grievance recited by the king 
 is, that William owed him on his (John's) departure for 
 Normandy five thousand marks for the province of Munster, 
 demised to him by the crown, for which he paid no rent for 
 2o2 
 
448 MAUD DE HAIA. 
 
 five years. He also owed five years' rent for the city of 
 Limerick; of this sum he only paid or accommodated the king 
 with a hundred pounds at Rouen on account. As to the 
 debt due for Minister, several terms were assigned on 
 which he was required to pay it, yet he neglected to attend 
 to them. Wherefore, after five years' neglect of payment, 
 according to the custom of England and the law of the 
 exchequer, it was resolved that his goods should be dis- 
 trained, until he made satisfaction for his debt to the crown. 
 But the delinquent having by some means obtained infor- 
 mation of what was intended, caused all his property to be 
 removed out of the way, so that no effects could be found 
 upon which the distress could be made. Orders were, there- 
 fore, sent to Gerard de Athiis, the king's bailiff in Wales, 
 that William's goods and chattels in that country should 
 be distrained till the debt was paid. Alarmed at this de- 
 termination, his wife, Matilda de Haia, his nephew, William 
 Earl Ferrars, Adam de Porter, who married his sister, and 
 many of his friends met the king at Gloucester, and re- 
 quested that William might be permitted to have an inter- 
 view with his majesty; who coming to Herfeord in the 
 me n time, received possession from De Breos of his castles 
 of Hay, Brecknock, and Radnor ; to be held by the crown, 
 unless the debt was paid on a day appointed by himself. 
 And besides, as hostages for his punctuality, he delivered up 
 to the king two sons of William de Breos the younger, a 
 son of Reginald de Breos, and four sons of his tenants. 
 Yet, notwithstanding this, he paid no more attention to the 
 present than to his former engagements ; for in a little 
 while afterwards, when Gerard de Athiis commanded the 
 constables of the castles surrendered by De Breos to the 
 king, to collect the customary payment for the use of the 
 crown, finding that the officers to whom the care and custody 
 of those forts had been committed were then absent, he 
 came with William de Breos the younger, Reginald and 
 their sons, and a vast multitude of people, and laid siege to 
 those three fortresses in one day. And though he did not 
 meet with the success he expected, yet he burnt one half of 
 the town of Leominster, a cell belonging to the abbey of 
 
MAUD DE HAIA. 449 
 
 Reading, held under the crown in free alms, and wounded 
 and slew most of the king's ministers there. When Gerard 
 de Athiis heard this, having collected together as many of 
 the king's subjects as the time would permit, he marched to 
 the relief of the besieged places ; whereupon William de 
 Breos instantly retreated, and fled into Ireland with his 
 wife and family. There they were hospitably received by 
 William Marshal and Walter de Laci, although both of them 
 had been commanded, on their allegiance, not to entertain 
 or maintain the enemies of the king of England, who might 
 fly thither to avoid payment of the debts due to their sove- 
 reign. Afterwards they sent to the king, and undertook 
 that William should appear before him on a certain day, 
 to answer for his debt and the outrages he had committed ; 
 and in case of his neglecting so to do, they engaged to send 
 him out of Ireland, and never to receive him again ; yet 
 neither he nor they kept their word. It was now deter- 
 mined no longer to suffer these excesses with impunity ; 
 and the king having collected his army, resolved to embark 
 for Ireland to punish his rebellious su jects. But before 
 his majesty could reach the place of his destination, William 
 de Breos went to the king's bailiff in Ireland and petitioned 
 for letters of safe conduct to enable him to make his peace 
 with his lawful sovereign. These were granted, on his 
 being sworn to proceed without loss of time to meet the 
 king, without any circuity in his route, or turning out of 
 his road either to the right or left. Yet, when he arrived 
 in England, as his family were then in Ireland, he im- 
 mediately proceeded to Herefordshire, and collected as 
 many of the king's enemies as he could prevail upon to 
 join his standard, and to espouse his quarrel. When the 
 king heard this, in the course of his voyage, being then 
 upon the Irish sea, he determined to come on shore at 
 Pembroke. Here he was again solicited by De Breos's 
 nephew, William, Earl Ferrars, that he might be permitted 
 to speak to his uncle, to know his intentions. This was 
 likewise granted, and one Robert de Burgate, a knight of 
 the household, directed to accompany him, who returning, 
 begged leave that William de Breos might once more be 
 
450 MAUD DE HAIA. 
 
 suffered to approach the royal presence, which wa3 allowed 
 him. He then came as far as the water of Pembroke 
 (Milford Haven), and offered by his messengers forty 
 thousand marks to be restored unto peace and favour. 
 "Yet we," says John, "knew full well that it is not in 
 hit power, but his wife's, who was in Ireland, to satisfy 
 the debt due to us ; and, therefore, we sent to inform him 
 that we were about to sail for Ireland, and that if he was 
 in earnest, we would accompany and supply him with a 
 safe conduct or passport for that kingdom, to enable him 
 to talk to his wife and friends about the amount of the fine 
 he was to pay, and the ratification of the terms to be agreed 
 upon. And we further undertook, that if we could not 
 agree upon those terms, we would send him to the same 
 spot in Wales on which he then stood, and in the same 
 condition." These reasonable proposals were rejected by 
 De Breos, who remained in the principality doing all the mis- 
 chief he could to the king and his subjects : gratifying his ma- 
 lignity by burning a mill and setting fire to three cottages. 
 
 In the meantime, Maud de Haia hearing of the king's 
 expedition to Ireland, fled to jScjotfand, where she was taken 
 priso ner by Duncan de Carv e, whom the king called his 
 cousin and frie iid, and who immediately sent him informa- 
 tion of this occurrence, which he received on the day the 
 castle of Carrickfergus was surrendered tohim. Maud's eldest 
 ion, William, his wife and two sons, and her daughter 
 Maud, were also made prisoners at the same time ; but 
 Hugh de Laci and Reginald de Breos, her third son, made 
 their escape. To conduct them into his presence John sent 
 two of his knights, John de Courci and Godfrey de Cra- 
 combe, with a company of bowmen, and when they were 
 brought before him, " this very Maud" says John, " began 
 to talk about making us satisfaction, and offered us forty 
 thousand marks for the safety and preservation of the lives 
 and limbs of her husband and his adherents, and that his 
 castles might be restored to him. To this we agreed, yet 
 in three days she repented of her engagement, alleging that 
 she Mas unable to perform them. Afterwards when we 
 returned into England, we brought her and her family with 
 
MAUD »E HAIA. 451 
 
 us in our custody ; and now she again offered us forty thou- 
 sand marks, upon the same conditions as formerly, and ten 
 thousand marks as a fine for her departure from her first 
 proposal. This we likewise consented to accept, but to 
 convince her that she was to adhere more steadily to her 
 undertakings in future, we told her that as often as she 
 receded from the present compact, she should pay a # n addi- 
 tional sum of ten thousand marks. To this she agreed, and 
 the whole transaction was reduced into writing, and con- 
 firmed and ratified by her oath and seal, and the oaths and 
 seals of her party, as well as of our earls and barons who 
 were present at the treaty ; and days were at the same time 
 assigned for the payment thereof- For the punctual per- 
 formance of which, she and hers were to remain in custody 
 until the whole debt was paid by instalments." 
 
 The king then proceeds to state, that after William de 
 Breos's breach of his engagements he entered Herefordshire, 
 and burnt and laid waste the country ; he was proclaimed 
 a traitor and an outlaw by the sheriff of Herefordshire, ac- 
 cording to the law and custom of England ; but that upon 
 the faith of this compact with his wife, he (the king) wrote 
 to that officer to postpone further proceedings against him 
 till the sovereign's return from Ireland. That upon his 
 arrival in England, Maud and her family were prisoners in 
 Bristol, where she petitioned that her husband might have 
 leave to speak with her in private ; that he obtained this 
 permission, that he approved of the terms his wife had made, 
 and that in order to enable him to raise the money promised 
 to be paid, Geoffrey Fitzpeter , the king's justice, was sent 
 to accompany him (a favour with which De Breos would 
 have readily dispensed ; for upon the first instalment be- 
 coming due, he quitted the kingdom and left his majesty's 
 justice in the lurch). The rescript then concludes by 
 saying that upon being informed of this unexpected piece of 
 intelligence, the king sent Geoffrey Fitzpeter, the king's 
 brother, the earl of Salisbury, the earl of Winchester, and 
 other noblemen, to Maud de Haia to know from her what 
 was to be done in this dilemma, and what she and her 
 husband proposed to do iu the business. 
 
4Si2 MAtm de saia* 
 
 Maud now completely driven into a corner from which 
 there was no further chance of escape by shuffling or prevari- 
 cation, turned a bold virago face upon the matter, and put 
 his majesty and his claims to defiance. She answered ex- 
 plicitly enough that she would not pay one farthing ; that 
 she had no more money or money's worth in her possession 
 than twenty-four marks in silver, twenty-four besants,* and 
 eleven ounces of gold. Thus neither Maud de Haia nor 
 her husband, nor any person for them, ever paid the debt to 
 the king, or any part of it. This writing is attested by 
 William, Earl Ferrars, Henry, earl of Hereford, and several 
 other noblemen, so that there can be no doubt of the 
 correctness of the whole statement; so that John was fully 
 justified in his proceedings against William de Breos, in- 
 dependently of the malapert speech of his wife, which at the 
 same time he neither forgot nor forgave ; but nothing could 
 justify the horridj^venge of King John when he sealed the 
 doom of this worthless woman . He had her and her eldest 
 son William, the latter a father of a family, enclosed in a 
 tower (built round them!) at Windsor, where they where 
 inhumanly starved^ to death. 
 
 William de Breos was compelled to seek a refuge in 
 France, and to submit to the loss of the whole of his pro- 
 perty and possessions : in this country he survived some 
 time in the humiliating habit of a beggar ; tormented by 
 a wounded conscience and the galling Trnspr ips of povert y. 
 He died at Corboyl, in ISormandy, on the 9th of August, in 
 the year 1212, from whence his body was conveyed to Paris ; 
 and, according to Stowe and Matthew Paris, honourably 
 interred there, in the abbey of St. Victor. Theophilus 
 Jones thus concludes his history. " It is not necessary to 
 paint the character of this monster, his own actious have 
 unequivocally pourtrayed it; but is it not extraordinary 
 that such a man as Giraldus Cambrensis should from any 
 motives have been induced to become his panegyrist, or to 
 
 * Besants, or rather Byzants, from their having been coined at Byzantium, 
 during th« time of the christian emperors, were a gold coin of uncertain value. 
 Besants are now only known in heraldry, and are represented hy little round 
 yellow balls or surfaces.— History of Brecon, yq\A., p. 121. 
 
MAUD DE HAIA. 453 
 
 prostitute his pen in his defence ? Yet so it is, for he tells 
 us that, though as a man he sometimes erred, for he who 
 sins not has more of the divine than of human nature in 
 him ; jet he always prefaced his discourse with the name of—^ 
 the Lord ; * in God's name be this done* — in God's name be ) 
 that performed — if it please God — if it is the will of God — ^ 
 or by the grace of God it shall be so.' And if he was upon N 
 a journey, whenever he came into a church, or saw a< 
 cross, he immediately betook himself to prayers, even though 
 he was engaged at the time in conversation with any person,- 
 whether rich or poor. And when he met children he always" 
 saluted them, hoping to be repaid by the prayers of th%£> 
 innocents." Giraldus is equally unscrupulous in praising 
 his wife Maud. He tells us, she was not only chaste but 
 prudent, and remarkable for her economy and domestic 
 good qualities. But though the archdeacon was a man of 
 learning and knowledge of the world, he was a high church- 
 man, and the most meritorious service that could be rendered 
 religion, or could buy the good word of a priest, was a liberal 
 contribution towards the support of the clergy. William 
 de Breos's liberal donations towards churches, abbeys, monks, 
 and friars, detailed at large by Theophilus Jones, may well 
 account for Giraldus's respect for such a villain. 
 
 In her dire extremity, with death in her eye and horror at 
 her heart, Maud was doubtless prodigal of great promises to 
 the king to save her life, while preparations for her eternal 
 incarceration were going on ; but too fully convinced of her 
 duplicity, and with hatred rankling in his bosom, he would 
 not forego his revenge, which he satiated to the utmost. 
 Speed says, Maud endeavoured to pacify the king ; and to 
 induce him to forgive her offence she made a present to his 
 queen of four hundred kine and one bull, all milk white, 
 with re d ears. Bingley, in his animal biography, describes 
 wild cattle to be invariably white, the muzzle black, and the 
 whole inside of the ear, and one third part of the outward, 
 from the tip downwards, red. 
 
 * Theophilus Jones says, " It is to be presumed that this grace preceded tie 
 slaughter at Abergavenny ; « in God's name let as «ut the throats of these 
 fellows peaceably and quietly.' " 
 
454 MAUD DE EAIA. 
 
 After this select specimen of a Norman Baron and Baroness 
 it will not be oat of place here to notice the origin of this 
 highly vaunjtedrace, these ruthless disturbers of the world, 
 the "Normans, from whom mankind have derived loTittle 
 good and so much evil. 
 
 The NonmuWwere originally Norwegian pirates and free- 
 booters. They made their first irruptions on the French 
 coasts about the year 700, when they so ransacked and 
 plagued the maritime towns that, considering them in the 
 light of the direct evils of humanity, it was inserted in the 
 Litany " From plague, pestilence, and the fury of the Nor- 
 mans, good Lord deliver us !" To avert their malignity 
 and give them a chance of becoming civilized, Charles the 
 Bold king of France gave them a portion of the province of 
 Neustria, where they settled, and named their new country 
 
 %ma nd y> signifying the land^oXJh^Jiarth^e n - Their 
 first sovereign Duke was Rollo, A.D. 900, from whom in a 
 direct line came the sixth 1^ then^Tfukes, William the 
 Bastard, c onquero r of ,^,^^1 an H 1 A.D. 1067. 
 
 With the exception of thosejaa&ks of Fngland who derive 
 their origin from Wels^_py Sayiip pmg-pnitrtrs, the haughtiest 
 of the English aristocracy are not only content, b jit proud to 
 date their ancestry from the coming of the Norman con- 
 queror, and their descent from his various followers, as if the 
 boast of Norman blood in their veins gave them claims to a 
 superiority over the rest of their fellow subjects. As so 
 many have proudly plumed themselves with this blood-red 
 feather in their caps of vanity, and as certain writers have 
 lauded the Normans as the noblest specimen of the human 
 race, it may not be amiss to examine how far they have 
 fairly won such pre-eminent distinction. 
 
 In noticing the expulsion of the Normans from their cas- 
 tles in Wales, Theophilus Jones remarks : — M At a place 
 called Aberllech in Monmouthshire, the Welsh again tri- 
 umphed, and satiated their revenge in the blood of their 
 late masters ; so that for some time no safety remained for 
 those Normans who continued in the country, but such as 
 their stone walls and castles afforded them. Within these 
 strongholds they lived alternately in a state of gloomy 
 
StAtJD DE HAIA. 455 
 
 grandeur and sulky silence, orjacuial jggbg jfoyj and from 
 thence they occasionally sallied forth in large bodies, to de- 
 solate the country, and plunder the inhabitants : depending, 
 like other beasts of prey, chiefly upon the success of these 
 kinds of expeditions, for provisions." 
 
 In a respecable periodical of the day we have the follow- 
 ing just estimate of the merits of the Normans : — " Perhaps 
 there is not agog any greater nonsense among clever people 
 than there is about ra ce. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton is all 
 for th eNormans, as splendid fellows. "With far more reason 
 Mr. Disraeli is wild for the J ews, as the race who have done 
 the greatest things in the History of man. In reference to 
 the Normans, we have read all Sir Edward has ever said in 
 their favour and nothing remains except that they have made 
 themselves the Feudal Aristocracy of Europe. But as we 
 regard Feuda lism as a barbarous insjtitujion, without a single 
 particle of crvTfization or beneTicence in it, there is nothing 
 noble, to our eyes, in such an achievement. From first to 
 last, Feudalism has been the e nemy of aU go odn ess, and of all 
 truth ; and all the best servants of mankind have been at 
 war with it. Feudal aristocracy, from the days of the con- 
 quest to the repeal of the corn-laws, has in England been 
 an organization of rapacity and a source of crime in society. 
 The Norman castles are mouldering everywhere, and are not 
 in a more dilapidated condition than the institution of which 
 they are a portion and a symbo l. There is nothing but strength 
 defending rgpd-sity m t ne meaning of these castles ; they were 
 not sources of light to guide, nor of love to sweeten the dark 
 and bitter lot of man. They were a magnificent organiza- 
 tion of the Dick Turpins and the Claudes du Val of the 
 midoUeagej^and nothing more — these proud Norman lords, 
 on whose genealogies Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton is so elo- 
 quent. The greatest things of English civilization have all 
 been done by men of Saxon names. Agaxton introduced 
 printing. A Wvcliffe and jj&was* did the best part of the 
 work of r^rmation. 4J|acon expounded the method of 
 experimental philosophy. In the poetic art, a Milt on and a 
 Shakspere have made all the Normans that ever rhymed 
 poetasters in comparison. A Cromjsell established religious 
 2p 
 
456 MAUD DE HAIA. 
 
 liberty ; and a Watt built tbe steam engine ; and when in 
 the last generation the French had subdued the most of 
 Europe, they were beaten on the behalf of England by a Wel- 
 lesley on the land, and a Nelson on the Sea. Statesmanship 
 would seem to be a field in which the No rmans had peculia r 
 advantag es, yet the superiority of the men of Saxon names 
 has been manifest, in almost every generation, from Thomas 
 a Becket to Robert Peel." 
 
HS'7 
 
 MISTRESS* TKEVOB HANMEB. 
 
 DAUGHTER OF SIR THOS. HANMER, BART., OF HANMER HALL, 
 FLINTSHIRE; AFTERWARDS LADY WARNER, WIFE OF SIR 
 JOHN WARNER, B4RT. ; AND LATTERLY SISTER TERESA 
 CLARE, NUN OF THE ORDER OF THE POOR CLARES OF 
 GRAVELING, IN DUNKIRK. 
 
 Pennant, in his notice of the paintings at Bettisfield, gives 
 the following very amusing account of this lady, while refer- 
 ring to her mother's and her own characteristic portrait in 
 that interesting collection. " In one room is an elegant 
 figure of Lady Hanmer, with a forehead cloth, in an elegant 
 white undress, studying Gerard's Herbal ; and a small por- 
 trait of a Lady Warner, 'a la Magdalene,' with long dishevel' 
 led hair, arid a skull in her hand. She was a daughter of the 
 House (of Hanmer), and wife to Sir John Warner; who not 
 content with abjuring the religion of their parents, deter- 
 mined to quit the kingdom, and embrace the monastic life. 
 Their friends applied to the king (Charles II.) to divert 
 them from their resolution. His Majesty, with his usual 
 wicked wit told them that if Sir John had a mind to make 
 himself one of God Almighty s fools, they must have patience. 
 " Sir John became a Jesuit, and assumed the name of 
 Brother Clare. His wife (the lady of the picture), became 
 a poor Sister Clare, of which order she performed the novi- 
 ciateship with marvellous and very literal obedience ! 4 1 am 
 black but comely,' was the text of the preacher, one day, 
 whilst exhorting her, in what is called a cloathing sermon, 
 to humility ; expressing that she must, make" herself black 
 (alluding to the Nunnery habit of that order,) in the eyes of 
 
 * " Mistress," was the style of address of spinsters of rank, and single ladies 
 generally, previous to the reign of King Charles II., at whose court " Miss" is 
 supposed to have originated, as a substitute for Mistress. The latter term, 
 however, was kept up long after, until modish people, in the times of the 
 Spectator, came to consider it antiquated, when it gradually fell into disuse, 
 and " Miss," in the course of time, became general. - 
 
 ^%<J^ 
 
458 MISTRESS TREVOR HANtfEg. 
 
 the world, to become fair in the eyes of the Lord. The 
 Abbess, on this, said to the poor Novice, ' you also, Sister 
 Clare, must black yourself;' on which she went instantly 
 into the kitchen, where she blacked her face and hands with 
 the soot of the chimney ; and thus became an instructive 
 example to the admiring sisters 1" 
 
 This brief account of Pennant's, concluding with what 
 appeared too good a jest to be really true (although it 
 ultimately proved so), excited the curiosity of the Editor of 
 this Work : and the temptation of adding such a rarity as 
 the life of a Welsh Nun to these Female Worthies of multi- 
 farious rank and conditions of women, was powerful with 
 him. In London he sought out the "Life of Lady Warner," 
 referred to in a note to Pennant's Tour in Wales, said to be 
 in our glorious national collection in the British Museum. 
 Owing to the erroneous manner in which this old but scarce 
 volume was originally placed in the catalogue, the officers of 
 the Museum found some difficulty in discovering it; and it 
 was only after repeated applications, daily made, that he 
 induced an earnest search to be made for it till found.* 
 From that work we learn the following particulars of this 
 lady's life, reduced to plain common sense, from the very 
 wordy and over-wrought eulogistic style of her Roman 
 Catholic biographer^ 
 
 Trevor Hanmer was born on the 20th of April, 1636, at 
 Hanmer Hall, in Flintshire, North Wales, the seat of the 
 ancient family whose name she bears. She received the 
 Christian name of Trevor in baptism from my lord Baron 
 Trevor who became her godfather. Her father was Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer, Baronet; the long-proved fidelity and 
 loyalty of his family procured for him in early life the 
 honourable office of cup-bearer to King Charles I. Her 
 mother was Mistress Elizabeth Baker, of the ancient family 
 
 • This volume contains the ''Life of Thomas Walsh." the "Life of Lady 
 Warner," the "Life of Lady Elizabeth Warner," and the "Life of Georga 
 Webb, Bishop of Limerick." It is lettered on the back, " Biography W., Part 
 I." As Lady Warner's is the only important " Life " in the book, and with th^ 
 memoir of her sister-in-law occupies about half of the volume, we would suggest 
 that It should be re-bound, and lettered. " Lady Warner, &c.» &e." 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 459 
 
 of the Bakers, of Whittingham Hall, in the county of Suffolk; 
 previous to her union with Sir Thomas Hanmer she was 
 maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria. 
 
 When the fortunes of the king declined, and all hopes of 
 retrieving them became exceedingly doubtful, with a fortune 
 greatly reduced by his active support of the royal cause, Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer and his lady, with their little daughter 
 Trevor, the subject of this memoir, then ten years of age, 
 left the kingdom, and went to France. Accustomed as they 
 both were to the gaieties of the court, they naturally enough 
 fixed on Paris for their residence, then crowded with the 
 adherents of the king, and lodged at the house of a Catholic 
 family. Although Sir Thomas and his family appear to 
 have been decided Protestants, the Baronet had a near 
 relative in the Catholic Church in France, Father Hanmer, 
 a Jesuit, by whom they were occasionally visited. Thus 
 Trevor Hanmer had before her, an example of one of the 
 family wno had abjured the faith of his fathers and turned 
 Papist. The Catholic family with whom they lived had a 
 sou and daughter nearly of her own age, who became her 
 daily playfellows, and, as might be expected, the almost 
 unconscious instruments of their proselytizing priesthood in 
 converting to their faith the daughter of the English refugees. 
 Highly imaginative as she appears to have been, she listened 
 most intently to the attractive descriptions given by her 
 playmates, verified in his visits by the cunning priest who 
 attended their family, of the happy life of purity and blessed- 
 ness led by the female religious of their community. How, 
 by forsaking all worldly ties, they abjured all the deceits 
 and vanities of the earth, with which the enemy of mankind 
 dazzled and won souls to their destruction; and became the 
 chosen virgins whose ministry in Heaven was round the 
 throne of their Saviour, and in the immediate presence of 
 the Holy of Holies. Then this beatific picture was con- 
 trasted with another of the most fearful and awe-inspiring 
 description — the place of torments, where Heretics and all 
 other evil-doers had to suffer eternally for their sins on 
 earth. Heretics, of course, were described to her as the 
 whole body of the English nation, and all others who had 
 2 p 2 
 
450 MISTRESS TREVOR HANMEK. 
 
 rejected Romanism and embraced the reformed Protestant 
 religion. On the sensitive mind of a child these represen- 
 tations had their natural effect of causing- the most pensive 
 longings to be in the way of eternal happiness on one side? 
 and on the other, the most unspeakable terrors of future 
 torments. As it does not appear that the mind of this 
 child had been by any means properly trained in Protestant 
 principles, and armed by sound instruction to resist the 
 insidious delusions of the proselytizing priests and their active 
 agents, there is nothing to excite our surprise at the readi- 
 ness with which, at her early age, she became a convert to a 
 faith so artfully recommended. Her parents had been 
 courtiers from early life, and it is probable, though nominally 
 Protestants, were as far from being zealous votaries of the 
 reformed religion as of entertaining a vindictive hatred to 
 the ancient religion of their country. This tolerant dis- 
 position on their part, however, was not the result of generous 
 principles, but literally from indifference to any religious 
 impressions. This carelessness seems to have been the 
 more characteristic of Sir Thomas than of his lady; although 
 they both appear exceedingly culpable in suffering the mind 
 of their child to be thus exposed to the artful workings of 
 the deadliest enemies of their national faith — the notorious 
 Jesuits. The principles on which monastic institutions 
 have their being, are decidedly hostile to natura affection, 
 as is proved in the following instance. So powerfully had 
 the tender mind of Trevor Hanmer been worked upon, that 
 at length she formed what her Catholic biographer calls 
 '* the romantic resolution of running away from her parents 
 — and these Catholic children promised to accompany her 
 — to enter the monastery of Mont-martyr, situate a little 
 out of Paris ; where her want of experience persuaded her 
 (says the above quoted authority) she would be received as 
 soon as she presented herself. But accidentally dropping 
 her bundle as she passed through the house, her childish 
 plot was discovered, and her design frustrated ; and all the 
 reward she received for her intended devotion was a severe 
 correction from her lady mother, though then detained in 
 bed by her last sickness** 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMEK. 461 
 
 But although her design was prevented for the present, 
 she still nursed the resolution of carrying it into effect at 
 some future opportunity. To show how strongly the passion 
 for becoming a Nun had already taken root in her mind, we 
 are informed that the very play or pastimes of her childhood 
 savoured of it. Thus, while other children amused them- 
 selves in more active or lively diversions, Trevor Hanmer 
 found her choice entertainment in making little oratories, 
 or places of prayer, and in imitating the religious ceremonies 
 which she had seen practised in the Catholic Church which 
 she visited with her young friends at Paris. 
 
 The death of her mother, Lady Hanmer, happened soon 
 after, and Sir Thomas made up his mind to visit England, 
 as well to see how affairs stood with his royal master, as the 
 management of his own private concerns. Alarmed at 
 length at his daughter's predilection for Roman Catholicism, 
 previous to quitting Paris he removed her to the house of an 
 ancient burgher and his wife who were Huguenots, and 
 without children. Thus there were none to aid her in such 
 a scheme as she formerly entertained ; but how she amused 
 herself, or what her views and feelings were, while dwelling 
 with her new protectors, we are not informed. 
 
 While in England, Sir Thomas Hanmer, to avoid as much 
 as possible the notice of the Parliamentarians, lived in great 
 privacy at the house of his friend Sir Thomas Harvey, called 
 Hengrave Hall near Bury in Sussex. While here, we are 
 told that " moved by the beauty and excellent endowments 
 of Mistress Susan Harvey, with the consent of her parents 
 he wooed and won, and made her his second wife ; and thus, 
 though yet unknown to her, Trevor Hanmer had now a 
 stepmother. 
 
 " Sir Thomas Hanmer's thoughts were either so taken 
 up with his new mistress, or so distracted with the danger 
 of those troublesome times, that he seemed almost to have 
 forgotten his daughter, who had now been above a year in 
 Paris without hearing from him or of him, insomuch that 
 the people with whom she was believed him dead." Her 
 conduct while thus circumstanced, an apparent orphan 
 among strangers and in a strange land, must have been very 
 
462 MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 
 
 engaging. She won so much on the affection of her kind 
 protectors, who, as before observed, were childless, that they 
 were actually, pleased at her apparently destitute condition, 
 that they might enjoy the generous satisfaction of adopting 
 her as their heiress ; as they already " esteemed and loved 
 her as their own child, and resolved, as far as in their 
 power, to make her so.'' These generous sentiments in her 
 favour are less to be wondered at, when we are assured that 
 such was her admirably sweet disposition that it won the 
 hearts and affections of all who conversed with her. 
 
 But whilst her protectors enjoyed these views, all their 
 fond hopes were suddenly destroyed by the arrival of her 
 father at Paris. Sir Thomas Hanmer came over expressly 
 to take her with him to England. Thus, a most affectionate 
 parting took place between her and her new friends. 
 
 On her return to England her father allowed her the 
 choice either to accompany him and be presented to her 
 step-mother, or to take up her residence with her grand- 
 mother, the Lady Hanmer, at Haughton, in Flintshire; and 
 she gave preference to the latter. 
 
 However great her affection for her Huguenot friends, 
 it would appear that she did not participate in their 
 religious opinions ; for, after her return to England she 
 still nursed her darling infatuation — the one great passion 
 of her soul — the lively hope and ardent desire of ultimately- 
 becoming a nun. Being discovered by her grandmother 
 in the practices of certain formalities of Roman Catholicism, 
 she made no secret of her religious bias, or of her desire to 
 take the veil. The old lady, as we may suppose, greatly 
 averse to her views, and alarmed at her sense of responsi- 
 bility to her father, informed him by letter of all the cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Upon this information Sir Thomas Hanmer sent for her 
 to Hengrave Hall, where she was received with all imagin- 
 able kindness by her step-mother, wjiich she returned with 
 what dutiful respect she was able. 
 
 With all the amiability ascribed to her, and she really 
 appears to have deserved much of the praise so liberally- 
 bestowed by her Catholic biographer, a meek submission to 
 
MtSfRESS TREVOR HANMeR. 463 
 
 maternal authority does not find a place in the catalogue of 
 her imputed virtues. In fact, her passion for the veil was 
 at variance both with obedience to her natural protectors 
 and to paternal affection. As before related, her mother, 
 on her death-bed, found it necessary to inflict on her "a 
 severe correction ;" and her reluctance to meet the lady 
 who had become her step-mother, and who, as subsequently 
 proved, was as exemplary in that unpopular relationship as 
 possible, appears in her perverse refusal to be introduced to 
 her father's "second choice," and preferring to live with 
 her grandmother. The above expression that she returned 
 the " all possible kindness 1 ' of the second Lady Hanmer 
 with what dutiful respect and affection she was able, certainly 
 implies that her prejudices gave those feelings a very limited 
 circulation. However, this lady, with her super-sublimated 
 reputation for almost every possible Christian virtue, can 
 well afford this slight drawbac ? on her claims to absolute 
 perfection; and the demands of truth really call for these 
 comments. But the principles on which monastic institu- 
 tions have their existence are altogether at variance with 
 those of natural affection and filial obedience, as is amply 
 proved in this instance. Here we have a young lady, 
 yielding in early youth to the artful persuasions of designing 
 priests and their agents, who is so far ready, willing, nay, 
 vehemently anxious, to forsake the home of her childhood, 
 with the tender associations of paternal affection, -without a 
 sigh or the slightest accompaniment of regret. 
 
 With very commendahle consideration for her father's 
 reduced circumstances, from the sequestration of his plentiful 
 estate by the Parliamentarians, she told him she would 
 dispense with the charges of keeping a servant. She had 
 other, and as she considered, higher views in this arrange- 
 ment than mere economy. By undergoing the fatigue of 
 such domestic labours she practised a lesson of humility, 
 and at the sime time inured herself to such hardships as 
 might prepare her for her future monastic capacity; which 
 she had long determined should be her ultimate destination. 
 Accordingly, some time after, when her father came in 
 suddenly, he found her on her knees, assiduously scrubbing 
 
464 MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 
 
 the floor of her chamber, and perspiring with her laborious 
 exertions. Without being aware of her secret object, 
 Sir Thomas was greatly affected at what he considered 
 such a touching instance of conforming herself to his 
 reduced circumstances ; " and taking her in his arms with 
 tears in his eyes, he protested his belief that God would 
 one day give her an especial blessing for conducting herself 
 after so particular a manner, and so meekly yielding to 
 those unhappy events which His providence and her kind- 
 ness to himself had reduced her." 
 
 The national troubles as well as his own private incon- 
 veniences increasing, that his family might not be too 
 troublesome to his father-in-law, Sir Thomas Hanmer 
 determined on living altogether with his mother, wife, 
 and daughter, at Haughton, where before he had only 
 been an occasional visitor ; but their residence there was 
 of short duration, for Sir Thomas Harvey soon urged their 
 return to his mansion of Hengrave Hall, which kind and 
 seasonable invitation they immediately accepted. 
 
 Her father and step-mother having now left them, Trevor 
 Hanmer was once more left with her grandmother, and now, 
 in comparative solitude, she eagerly nursed her passion for 
 the life of a nun. It was at this time that she commenced 
 the practice of those mortifications which form so dis- 
 tinguishing a feature in the character of a Catholic devotee, 
 as a prelude to any future austerities she might be called 
 upon to exercise. She began to fast once a week, abstaining 
 from meat and drink till nigh . She rose constantly at 
 midnight to her prayers, and in the day-time, notwith- 
 standing the expostulations of her woudering grandmother, 
 exercised such labours and humble offices as are usually 
 performed hy a servant ; and to evade the observations and 
 discussions which such peculiarities might induce, she de- 
 clared that she found them beneficial to her health. 
 
 Remarking on her general habits, her Catholic biographer 
 says : — " She had her time hourly regulated, from morning 
 till night, a method she began to practice before she left 
 France, and never after omitted. She was so exceedingly 
 industrious, that whatever she undertook she never failed to 
 
MI3TRESS TREVOR HANMER. 465 
 
 accomplish.'' As a proof of her perseverance she learnt the 
 French language without the aid of a master, and acquired 
 a sufficient knowledge of the Italian and Spanish as " to 
 understand any book." 
 
 After a prolonged visit at Hengrave Hall, we find Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer and his lady at Lensham, where they had 
 retired on account of its short distance from London ; from 
 thence they wrote to Trevor, to require her to join them. 
 Agreeable to her usual promptitude, she immediately took 
 her departure from Wales, and found her father alone at 
 Lensham, Lady Hanmer not having arrived yet from 
 Suffolk. The execution of King Charles, and the banish- 
 ment of the Cavaliers, having now cast the deepest gloom on 
 all the royalists, Sir Thomas was in a state of deep grief and 
 despondency. 
 
 It was at this juncture, and while he was in this softened 
 mood, that she resolved on using her endeavours to bring 
 the subject of her long-nursed desires to a close, and gain 
 her father's consent to allow her to go to France and take 
 the veil ; " where," as her Catholic biographer expresses 
 it, " she might live securely and die happy." With all the 
 energy and pertinacity of her character she urged her suit, 
 and emphatically pointed out the difficulties of his own 
 situation and his inability to provide for her; all which 
 solicitude on her account would cease by yielding to her 
 well-weighed desires on this point. Sir Thomas, who seems 
 to have been an easy-going compound of country gentleman 
 and cavalier, and "a Protestant according to act of parlia- 
 ment" only, therefore anything but a bigot ; entertaining 
 neither a violent antipathy to Catholicism nor great zeal for 
 the Protestant cause, considering her reasons, as much as he 
 understood of them, very solid and convincing, found little 
 difficulty in giving his consent, which Trevor received with 
 heartfelt thaukfulness. 
 
 The Jesuit Father Hanmer being consulted, advised her 
 to go to Paris and enter into a monastery of the order of 
 St. Bennet, to which he gave her the necessary recommend- 
 ations. The good father took care to ifnorm her what 
 dower was essential for becoming a bride of the church, 
 
466 MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 
 
 which her parent readily agreed to provide. Thus every- 
 thing now appeared settled to the satisfaction of all parties, 
 and even a day was fixed upon for their departure from 
 England. 
 
 However, as the homely proverb goes, "there is many a 
 slip between the cup and the lip ;" when Lady Hanmer 
 arrived, and heard of these arrangements, she protested 
 against them with earnest warmth ; and certainly adduced 
 powerful reasons why Sir Thomas ought never to have 
 given his consent; but having inconsiderately yielded it, 
 why he ought to recal it. 
 
 She pleaded that in allowing his only daughter to become 
 a member of the Church of Rome, and a nun, he would take 
 an irretrievable step towards the disgrace and utter ruin of 
 his family ; that to herself personally, it would be bitterly 
 injurious. The world would readily infer that it was her 
 unkindness which drove his daughter into the inclosure of a 
 nunnery, to seek that peace which she could not find at 
 home. That the governing party in England would con- 
 sider such a decision a proof that he was himself a Papist at 
 heart, and thus expose them all to greater difficulties and 
 sorrows than they now endured ; and they were at present 
 persecuted no less for their religion than their loyalty. 
 
 Poor Sir Thomas, who had previously acknowledged the 
 powerful reasons put forth by his daughter, now saw more 
 cogent arguments adduced by his lady; especially those 
 points which represented his danger of person and property 
 from the resentment of the government. He, therefore, 
 recalled the consent which he had given his daughter, and 
 declared that under his present view of things, it was im- 
 possible for him to furnish her with the pecuniary means for 
 putting her desires into execution. 
 
 Trevor Hanmer at first felt this disappointment as all 
 ardent minds endure the thwarting of a darling scheme ; 
 but so far from yielding it up in despair, from the difficulties 
 which entrenched her ob ect, she seemed to consider it only 
 as postponed for a time, to be resumed at a more favourable 
 season. Besides, her cast of mind was formed on the prin- 
 ciples of intense perseverance, long-suffering, and self-denial 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 467 
 
 embracing the beau-ideal of mental and corporeal martyr- 
 dom as the noblest objects of human aspiration. Thus, the 
 temporary opposition which partially turned aside the direct 
 points of her onward course, served only to dart the roots of 
 her resolution into a deeper soil, to be nursed and invigor- 
 ated by the very delay which at first she was inclined to 
 deprecate. She submitted in silence to the force of these 
 adverse circumstances, living quietly with her father and 
 his lady at Lensham, for the period of a year ; where she 
 led much the same sort of life and practised similar austeri- 
 ties as at Haughton. At the close of their year at Len- 
 sham, the family once more removed, probably on another 
 visit to Sir Thomas Harvey, in Suffolk; and Trevor, to 
 whom the gaieties of the affluent were far from pleasing, 
 went to live with Mrs. Illis, a relation of the family, at 
 Halrhey, in Wales ; there she brought with her, as a com- 
 panion, her cousin, Mistress Catherine Kinnaston. 
 
 At this period of her life, her former editor remarks ;— 
 " A fire which is smothered for a time seldom fails of break- 
 ing out afresh, yea, rather seems by imprisonment to gain 
 force and strength ; and so it happened with this young 
 lady, who being more mature than formerly, she thought 
 upon the most probable means of enabling her to effect 
 her desires.'' It would somewhat puzzle the reader were 
 he put to guess her next step towards their achievement, as 
 her plan was as singular as ever entered the head of a baffled 
 devotee, or rather of an obstructed woman, fully resolved by 
 any means on the ultimate attainment of her end. It was 
 neither more nor less than entering into trade, and on a 
 limited scale becoming a maltster. It seems her father's 
 embarrasments at this time were so great, that he found him- 
 self unable to give her a sufficient annual allowance to uphold 
 her respectability in society, according to which she was 
 born and educated. " She took this pretence to beg leave 
 that she might buy barley, and get it made into malt, to sell 
 it to his own tenants ; by the profits of which she hoped to 
 augment her allowance to a competency for her maintenance 
 after such a manner as became his daughter." This plau- 
 sible pretence, however, involved a certain degree of dupli- 
 2 Q 
 
468 MISTRESS TrETOB HAffMESS, 
 
 city, which in a lady of such reputed sanctity, appears difn*- 
 cult to reconcile with the purity of truth* But as she was 
 now working her way towards a party proverbially famous 
 for overlooking the means, so that the end redounded to the 
 glory of their church, her Papistical biographer by no means 
 reprehends, although he witnesses and even applauded the 
 fact. He thus adds to the^last quoted passage :— " shewing 
 thereby her humility, to submit herself to so base and sordid 
 a means to compass so glorious an end as she aimed at ; 
 pleasing her imagination with the hopes that by her good 
 housewifery, (and success in the malt trade !) to make up 
 the sum which Father Hanmer informed her would be 
 necessary for obtaining admission into a nunnery. 
 
 As his lady was not at hand to interfere, or alarm him 
 with her probable veto, Sir Thomas found it more convenient 
 to allow his daughter to become an amateur maltster, to 
 traffic in barley and malt, however repugnant to his aristo- 
 cratic pride, than to add to her income. However, in giving 
 his consent he circumscribed her dealings, and stipulated, 
 that she was to sell her malt only to his own tenants. This 
 singular malting scheme for raising the wind, and bringing 
 grist to the mill of monkery utterly failed ; partly, it is said, 
 from the poverty of the people to whom she gave credit, and 
 partly from their dishonesty; but principally, we should 
 surmise, from the ignorance of the lady maltstress, of the 
 reputable trade in which she was not adapted to shine 
 which doubtless required a peculiar talent to succeed in, as 
 well as the visionary calling she was so madly anxious to 
 assume. "Even with this failure," says her admiring' first 
 biographer, " she hoped against hope," and formed the 
 resolution that come what might, she would never marry, 
 that she might not thereby incapacitate herself for the 
 happiness so earnestly desired. Even in this resolution she 
 was destined to a failure, and to endure the felicities of con- 
 imbial bliss, previous to the attainment of her grand 
 desideratum — doubtless another thorn in her probationary 
 crown — but which to mortals walking by the light of mere 
 common sense, it would appear like marching through the 
 delectable regions of Paradise into the Popish glooms of 
 
MISPRESS TREVOR HANMER. 469 
 
 Purgatory ; or frantically departing from the honoured and 
 reputable paths of usefulness and peace, into the questionable 
 and briary labyrinths of fanaticism and self-inflicting tor- 
 ments. But we are anticipating, and reflecting on events 
 yet to be recorded. 
 
 At this time Cromwell's power appeared to be fixed on a 
 firm basis, therefore as his uneasiness respecting the plots, 
 cabals, and intrigues of the ever-restless royalists abated, 
 his severities against the cavaliers considerably relaxed; 
 consequently the nation fell into its usual course of tran- 
 quillity and fearlessness. The graver sort of people met 
 with but little to annoy them from the officials and partizans 
 ©f the government, beyond the occasional infliction of 
 unfathomable and almost interminable Calvinistic sermons, 
 which at length became the objects of their patronage and 
 the style of their adoption. And the gayer portion of the 
 aation learnt at length how to endure life uncheered by the 
 moralizing influence of dramatic entertainments, which, 
 although the most instructive and rational of all amuse- 
 ments ever invented by high talent and masterly genius, and 
 patronized best by the most civilized of communities, were 
 sternly interdicted by the harsh zealots of the day ; or as 
 Sir Walter Scott calls them u the bigots of the iron time." 
 The aristocrats, and indeed the wealthy classes generally, 
 quietly watched the turn of Fortune's wheel, and whichever 
 name, Oliver or Charles, appeared to them to promise a 
 permanent ascendancy, to that they tendered " their lives 
 and fortunes " to defend. And when afterwards detected in 
 the committal of political mistakes, usually called high- 
 treason, did their best to explain away facts, and marvel- 
 lously illustrated the art of blowing hot and cold at the same 
 time; thus furnishing the world with edifying lessons in 
 the school of national duplicity. 
 
 As the revolutionary terrors and party-rage died away, 
 the little stranger Love, walked forth from his hiding-place, 
 where he had so long trembled for his future existence, and 
 forgetful of the past, performed his usual gambols with the 
 sons and daughters of men ; and among his multitudinous 
 pairings of them for the hymeneal altar, made numerous and 
 
470 MISTRESS TREYOR HANMER. 
 
 bold attempts on the heart of the lady of our memoir, ihf, 
 sad and world- abjuriog Trevor Hanmer. Her Catholic 
 biographer has drawn her picture with his pen, and certainly, 
 in a worldly sense, she was not an unloveable object. ■* She 
 was above the middle stature of women, excellently well- 
 shaped, her complexion not extraordinarily fair, but comely 
 and lasting (that is, a brunette) ; her features were charming, 
 and her eyes brown, as well as her hair (probably he means 
 hazel eyes and chesnut hair). Her countenance was fraught 
 with such singular sweetness, as several painters who drew 
 her pictures admired, but owned their skill insufficient to 
 express. This beautiful symmetry of her body was accom- 
 panied with no less lovely qualities of her mind. Her humour 
 was grave and serious, yet sweetened by such an affability 
 as rendered her conversation no ways disagreeable or uneasy 
 (meaning, imposed no restraint) ; but sought after by all. 
 
 Recommended by such alluring personal attractions, 
 added to the high respectability of her family, her mother, 
 the first Lady Hanmer having been a maid of honour to 
 Queen Henrietta Maria, and her father a courtier from his 
 boyhood, it is no matter of surprise that she was much 
 sought by lovers. Several men of rank> and who were of 
 high standing at the court of the late unhappy king made 
 advances for her favour; and not a few matches, very honour- 
 able and advantageous in a pecuniary point of view, were 
 decidedly refused by her. As she had resolutely closed her 
 heart against the admission of the tender passion, it naturally 
 followed that her doors should also be shut against its 
 votaries ; but as some of the heiress hunters persevered in 
 their troublesome attentions, she found it essential to her 
 peace to think of some plan of removing herself beyond the 
 reach of their importunities. At length, having obtained 
 her father's consent, she quitted Alrhey, and took her cousin 
 Mrs. Catherine Kinnaston with her to Brainford, near 
 London, where they both resided with an elderly gentleman, 
 a friend of her father's, of the name of Hawley. But here 
 she found she had only quitted one scene of annoyance for 
 another, as she was pestered with suitors as much as ever : 
 and an urgent letter from her father to back the pretensions 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 471 
 
 of Sir John Warner, a young baronet of a fine person and 
 extensive estate, added to her other sources of discomfort. 
 Ultimately, after some wavering between her sense of duty 
 to her father, and her objections to marriage, she appealed 
 to the generosity of this gentleman, urging that if he really 
 loved her, he could not prove his regard more decidedly than 
 by abandoning his present pursuit, and never troubling her 
 more. Whether his pride was wounded by this repulse, or 
 that his good sense suggested the uselessness of seeking the 
 love of a woman who so firmly avoided his attentions, certain 
 it is, that he immediately gave up the pursuit. However, 
 notwithstanding what appeared his inevitable rejection at 
 present, one of those accidents of life that can never be fore- 
 seen, brought about events that human probability never 
 could have calculated upon. 
 
 While Trevor Hanmer resided at Brainford, the demise 
 of a great political character occurred — the death of the 
 Protector Oliver Cromwell. One of the great events of her 
 life was destined to come to pass on the day of his interment, 
 among the illustrious of England in Westminster Abbey. 
 Although the lady of our memoir would have been among 
 the last in the world that could have been drawn from her 
 retirement to glean satisfaction among the crowds of sight- 
 seekers, who rejoice in the grandeur of the weddings and 
 coronations of the potentates of the earth, the sombre glories 
 of a national funeral of the greatest actor in the political 
 drama of the age, was too congenial to her taste to have ab- 
 sented herself from witnessing it. Her former biographer 
 says, " his splendid and magnificent funeral invited all 
 people to a sight of it, and her, amongst the rest. And 
 Providence so ordered it that she should be spectatress, 
 with some of her friends, in the same balcony which Sir John 
 Warner and some of his relations had taken, to behold the 
 same solemnity, it being only separated in the middle, to 
 divide the two companies." 
 
 It appears this accidental meeting produced all the effect 
 desired by those friends who were most desirous of pro- 
 moting a match between this lady and the young Baronet. 
 It is also evident that she was as much taken with the 
 2q2 
 
472 MISTRESS TREVOR HAnMER. 
 
 person, manners, and address of Sir John, as he could 
 possibly be with her own winning graces and stately figure. 
 And although she had formerly repulsed his advances and 
 rejected his addresses, she now either saw him in a more 
 favourable light, or abandoned her prejudices against the 
 marriage state. Certain it is, however, that he became her 
 accepted lover ; and after a very brief courtship, the long- 
 resisting Trevor Hanmer appeared before the world in the 
 new character of Lady Warner. 
 
 Of this passage in her life her Catholic biographer says: — 
 M Providence, that oftentimes makes use of contrary means 
 to bring about its own designs appeared wonderfully in this, 
 and gave her no less inclination to receive, than it had given 
 Sir John to make his addresses. This was extremely 
 wondered at by those who knew her disposition; nay, even 
 by herself when she found such an inclination to what before 
 she had entertained so great an antipathy. In fine, she who 
 had stood out several years courtship from others was gained 
 in three weeks by Sir John, They were married in London 
 by the bridegroom's relative Dr. Warner, Bishop of Roches- 
 ter, on the 7th of June, 1659." 
 
 That she made a most excellent wife and maintained her 
 station in society with due dignity, many evidences in her 
 life are adduced to prove. Her biographer gives a touching 
 instance of her meek spirit of deferential obedience to her 
 husband that may astonish, but cannot prove otherwise than 
 edifying to the wives of our days ; as it would suffer in any 
 other, we give it in the quaint language of the narrator. 
 " Not long after her marriage she had a singular trial given 
 her, as well of humility as of patience ; which was the more 
 sensible, because given by one she so passionately loved. 
 Having taken a little ramble with his brother-in-law about 
 the country which lasted some days without acquainting his 
 lady whither he went, on his return she expressed her joy at 
 seeing him safe returned home, and made a tender expostu- 
 lation with him why he would be so unkind as to leave her 
 so long in that solicitude, by going and staying such a while 
 abroad without apprizing her of his intention." He, like 
 other young men, often too jealous of losiog their authority 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 473 
 
 hy too kind a condescension to their wives, made an ill 
 interpretation of her kind demand ; looking upon it as a sort 
 of controulment. He told her " it belonged not to her to 
 require an account of his actions ; that he would have his 
 liberty to go and come when he pleased, without informing 
 any one why or whither he went." This unexpected answer 
 might well have affected a less meek and submissive spirit 
 than her's ; but she, good soul, conceiving herself to blame, 
 fell upon her knees, and begging pardon for so just an offence, 
 promised never more to offend in the like manner ; and this 
 promise she kept all her life after. This was the only 
 misunderstanding that ever happened between them during 
 their lives. 
 
 It was about two years after their marriage, when they 
 had become the happy parents of two daughters, and were 
 living at the height of prosperity, encircled with all the 
 felicities of which human life is capable, that Lady Warner's 
 old passion for the nun's veil revived, in all its former 
 intensity and ardour. Instead of considering this wonderful 
 accumulation of comforts in the light of especial blessings of 
 the Creator, that in a pious humble mind would naturally 
 call forth a grateful and adoring spirit of thankfulness and 
 profound gratitude to the source of bliss, the giver of all 
 goodness ; by some perversity of reasoning, such as could 
 find place only in the bosom of the monomaniac of fanaticism, 
 she chose to view them with an evil eye, and to deem them 
 curses. It seems a misgiving came over her mind, that all 
 this earthly happiness which surrounded her was a flowery 
 snare, contrived by the enemy of the human race, to decoy 
 her from the paths of eternal salvation. Powerfully im- 
 pressed with these alarming sentiments, a veil of gloom and 
 despondency overshadowed her daily existence. After 
 numerous consultations with both Protestant and Catholic 
 divines, she came at length to a fixed resolution of changing 
 her religion. To this end she opened her mind to her 
 husband, and begged his leave to sane her soul; which 
 request she explained by assuring him she was impressed 
 with strong convictions that she could never be saved but 
 by being reconciled to the Church of Rome. To satisfy 
 
474 mistress tremor hanmer. 
 
 himself of the propriety of the steps which she contemplate^ 
 Sir John Warner, we are told, followed the example of his 
 lady (to whom he seems to have played second fiddle, at a 
 remote distance, in all things), and had numerous consulta- 
 tions with the divines of both churches. 
 
 We are also informed that although the Protestant clergy 
 who appeared as the champions of their faith, were among 
 the most learned of their times, and held the highest rank 
 in the church of England, they failed to produce on the 
 mind either of Sir John or his lady those convictions which 
 could establish and confirm them in the Protestant faith. 
 Such a result is by no means to be wondered at, when we 
 consider the nature of the reading with which Lady Warner 
 solaced her leisure, or rather to which she devoted her entire 
 time. It formed exactly the sort of food that such a diseased 
 mind would habitually crave for, calculated as it was, to 
 increase the fever of her mental distemper, and become as 
 oil on the lurid fires of monastic fanaticism ; with which, 
 more or less, she had been infected from her childhood, till 
 at length it became the master passion of her soul. The 
 unwholesome literature from which she imbibed such mental 
 poison consisted principally of the Traditions of the Fathers 
 and the Lives and Legends of the apocryphal Saints of the 
 Roman Catholic Church. These, it is well-known, abound 
 \nith such daring violations of truth, such incredible fictions, 
 respecting the monkish miracles attributed to their cowled 
 and veiled heroes and heroines, that it is difficult to conceive 
 a mind, in other respects sane and rational, of sufficient 
 gullibity to give them implicit credence. Thus the 
 Protestant divines, whose faith and ministry were limited 
 to the contents of the Old and New Testaments, and the 
 Apostles' Creed, could win no credit with the fore-biassed 
 votaries of monkish superstition. Armed only in their 
 simple honesty and plain straightforwardness, referring 
 alone to the Scriptures, and the Redeemer's sacrifice, as 
 the source of salvation, they were ill-matched on this 
 occasion against the subtleties of the Jesuits who were 
 opposed to them. These crafty worthies possessed in per- 
 fection the art of making the worse appear the better cause 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 475 
 
 «=— of explaining away everything objected to by Protestants, 
 in their doctrines and practices; and of placing the weeded 
 garden of Protestantism in the most odious light and 
 unfavourable position. In the end, Sir John Warner, 
 evidently a weak-minded man, and like his father-in-law, 
 guided in all things by his wife, not only consented that she 
 should abandon the reformed religion and embrace Roman 
 Catholicism, but became himself a convert to that faith. 
 
 Lady Warner having gained this important point, which 
 brought her into the immediate vicinity of the grand object 
 of her untiring aspirations, her next move, she resolved 
 should be decisive, and lead direct to her ultimatum — the 
 veil. With all the persuasive eloquence of which she had 
 become the mistress, she represented to her husband, the 
 perillous state in which she conceived they both stood, in 
 respect of their destiny hereafter, powerfully urging the 
 impediments to a life of holiness formed by their affluent 
 position ; dwelling strongly on the liteial interpretation of 
 the passage, " It is easier for a camel to pass through the 
 eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of 
 Heaven." Finally, she suggested the desperate remedy of 
 making away with their fortune and estate, of abandoning 
 all their early felicities, aid retiring from the snares of the 
 world, to practise the austerities of penitents amidst the 
 cloistered seclusions of monastic life. 
 
 It appears Sir John coincided with her in all these views ; 
 they determined to seize the first opportunity of abandoning 
 the shores of England for ever, to go abroad and respectively 
 take the monastic vows. Previous to putting these designs 
 into execution, and preparatory to their departure, they 
 commenced the practice of sleeping apart from each other, 
 and living like brother and sister; "although," says Lady 
 Warner's biographer, " to avoid suspicion they appeared as 
 usual.*' They lived thus from the date of their resolution, 
 the sixth of July, till the twenty-seventh of October, the last 
 day of their sojourn at home, when Sir John made over his 
 estate to his brother, after having arranged a limited fortune 
 for each of his two daughters. 
 
 By this time Lady Warner had become absolutely fana- 
 
476 MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 
 
 tical in her zeal for her new faith. We are told " her fervor 
 had so transported her that she had even worn off the skin 
 of her knees by praying," and might have done herself 
 much bodily harm but for the interference of her husband. 
 A frantic passion for converting to the Roman Catholic faith 
 all her servants and neighbours next seized her, in which 
 undertaking she was so far successful that when on the 27th 
 of October she took her departure from the family mansion, 
 besides her two children, she had the following converts 
 which she personally made, to accompany her: — Her sister- 
 in-law, Lady Elizabeth Warner ; her kinswoman, Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Skelton ; and several others. Immediately on her 
 arrival at Dover, October 29th, they embarked in the 
 packet-boat, leaving Sir John behind to come after them. 
 
 Anticipating the opposition of their friends to such ex- 
 patriation, it will be observed, Sir John Warner and his 
 lady conducted their arrangements with great precaution 
 and secrecy. However, when their determination became 
 known, it created a considerable sensation among their re- 
 lations, friends, and the courtly circle of the restored 
 monarch, Charles II. It was at this period that applica- 
 tion was made to the king to prevent their departure from 
 the country, when his profligate majesty gave the witty 
 answer referred to in the early part of this memoir.* But 
 although Charles, at first, declined to interfere, it appears 
 the interest at court, and importunity of the Warner family, 
 at length prevailed, and he gave the order to prevent their 
 embarkation just one day too late, when that event had 
 already taken place, and, therefore, obedience to it was out 
 of the question; the interdiction arriving on the 30th of 
 October, while they had sailed from Dover on the 29th.f 
 
 Lady Warner, her two daughters, and her party of de- 
 
 * See page 457. 
 
 f This order was obtained by Dr. Warner, uncle to Sir John, and physician 
 to Charles II. This modest member of the medical faculty manifested a par- 
 ticular affection for his nephew'' s estate; and was very urgent with the king to 
 make him a grant of it, and so invalidate Sir John's will in favour of his 
 brother. Unworthy as were generally the dispensations of court favour by 
 this worthless monarch, it seems the atrocious request of the venerable doctor 
 was not complied with. 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 477 
 
 voteeSj landed at Dunkirk the very day on which the king's 
 command to suspend their departure arrived at Dover. 
 Immediately on her arrival, she went to the nunnery of the 
 English Poor Clares, and was greatly pleased with their 
 rude fare, rigorous discipline, and hard manner of living. 
 She then commenced a tour, that might well be designated 
 Travels and Tribulations in search of Monastic Misery, in 
 which she visited many different nunneries ; meeting and 
 conversing with numerous English Catholic ladies, from 
 whom she derived all the information she required about 
 their respective establishments. Lady Warner ultimately, 
 took the noviciate's habit at Liege, amongst the English 
 nuns called St. Sepulchrine's, of the order of St Austin. 
 
 At the ceremony of the " Cloathing," as it is called 
 which signifies the formal adoption of the noviciate's cos- 
 tume, she evinced something of a romantic taste in the 
 choice of an euphonious and pretty name. She desired to 
 be known for the future only as Sister Teresa Clare ; in 
 consequence of the high regard in which she held that saint, 
 from having read her life in England. It was after hearing 
 the "cloathing sermon," preached from the text "although 
 I am black I am comely," that she gave such a whimsical 
 and truly ludicrous instance of her blind obedience to the 
 lady abbess's intimation " that she should black herself," as 
 quoted from Pennant at the commencement of this memoir. 
 
 Austerity and self-inflction now became the rules and 
 habits of her life ; as an instance of the spirit in which she 
 conducted herself, we are told that the cordial reception 
 and bland manners of the abbess and the holy sisterhood 
 offended her — " so displeasing was it to her to receive any 
 worldly satisfaction, after she had made a solemn sacrifice 
 of all her earthly felicities." 
 
 It appears she made a most exemplary nun, and acquired 
 the highest fame obtainable for cloistered sanctity, for the 
 rest of her life consists of highly coloured records of her 
 superlative piety, her abhorrence of every personal gratifica- 
 tion, and her enthusiastic delight in the severest mortifica- 
 tions that human nature could endure. One of her written 
 resolutions runs thus — "For the love of God I will ever 
 
478 MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 
 
 deny myself whatever is pleasing to me, though lawful ; and 
 endeavour, as far as holy obedience will permit, to do all 
 such things for his sake, as shall he most contrary to my 
 nature. Let all creatures love, praise, and honour Jesus, 
 Mary, •end Joseph, but let me be confounded." 
 
 From the words above, which we have placed in italics, 
 we are led to infer that the monastic authorities occasionally 
 interposed, to prevent or moderate the severities of her self- 
 inflicting penances ; and that " holy obedience'' alone could 
 operate as a restraint. That these ameliorating influences 
 were displeasing to her would appear from the circumstance 
 recorded, that she meditated leaving this nunnery, captivated 
 by the more rigorous discipline of an order of nuns called 
 Carthusianasses. But finding that none but virgins were 
 received there, she at length became a sister of the Poor 
 Clares of Graveling, in Dunkirk. 
 
 Among her triumphs over human feelings, it is stated 
 that she cast her picture, said to be a fine painting and an 
 excellent likeness, into the fire, and rejoiced in its destruc- 
 tion. When her two daughters, Catherine and Susan, were 
 admitted to visit their mother, after a long absence, she 
 denied herself the heart- touching gratification of seeing, 
 much less embracing them. These poor girls were educated 
 in the convent of the Ursulines, but ultimately took the 
 veil and became nuns in the Benedictine convent at Dun- 
 kirk ; and Sir John Warner became a Jesuit, by the name 
 of Brother Clare. 
 
 Among the instances of " blind obedience'' attributed to 
 Sister Clare, one is mentioned, that with people of the world 
 guided by mere common sense, would be regarded simply as 
 a piece of silliness, -equally absurd with the one before 
 stated, of blacking herself with the soot of the chimney. 
 Her eulogistic biographer has evinced some degree of sim- 
 plicity in recording such absurdities as so many addendas to 
 her imputed virtues, which are more likely to provoke risi- 
 bility than to excite admiration. One night, when the re- 
 verend mother abbess went to tuck in the bedclothes of the 
 holy sisterhood, it was found that Sister Clare's bed lacked 
 an additional blanket, as the season of severe weather 
 
MISTRESS TREVOR HANMER. 479 
 
 had set in. The good lady said she would go down stairs 
 and fetch it, desiring her in the meantime not to lie down 
 till she returned. Some unexpected duty, however, di- 
 verted her attention from that purpose, which she entirely 
 forgot ; and the obedient Sister Clare was found in the 
 morning in the sitting posture which she had left her in, 
 and probably almost frozen to death. She departed this 
 life on the 26th of January, 1670. After indulging in 
 somewhat extravagant rhapsodies on her superhuman ex- 
 cellencies, and even citing miraculous evidences in favour 
 of her sanctity, her Catholic biographer says '* she lived 
 a saint and so she died.'* 
 
 A splendid monument* was erected to her memory in 
 the burial ground of the convent of the Poor Clares of 
 Graveling, at Dunkirk, where she died. It bears a long 
 Latin inscription, of which the following is a translation : — 
 
 Stop, Read, Admire, 
 
 Stay passenger, and pay a due tribute of tears 
 
 To this funeral. 
 
 Here lies buried 
 
 Clare op Jesus. 
 
 Her name speaks her no ordinary person, 
 
 The noble and illustrious house of the Hanmers 
 
 Boasts of her as their progeny. 
 
 This star lay hid a little while, 
 
 Clouded with the darkness of errors, 
 
 That afterwards it might adorn the world 
 
 With a more resplendent orb. 
 
 She married the Honourable 
 
 Sir John Warner, Baronet, 
 
 But breathing after nothing but Heaven, 
 
 She aspired to celestial nuptials ; 
 
 And her desires being approved and consented to 
 
 By her excellent husband, 
 
 Forsaking bis embraces and those also 
 
 Of her dearest father and children, 
 
 She ceased to be of the world to be of Jesus. 
 
 She chose this monastery 
 
 For the theatre of her virtue, 
 
 Where she carried the sweet yoke 
 
 Of Christ to her very last breath, 
 
 By the practice of all perfection, 
 
 Verifying her name Glorious. 
 
 She lived. ; 
 
 And died 
 
 In the year of our Lord, 
 
 MDCLXX, the 26th day of January. 
 
 * The reverend mother abbess desired that as long as the monastery should 
 stand, that her monument there might be adduced as a proof that so eminent 
 a character had once been an inmate of its walls. 
 2 R 
 
480 MISTRESS TREVOR HANMEE. 
 
 In conclusion of this memoir we shall here present for 
 the reflection of our fair readers, some of whom, perhaps, 
 may be infected with the romantic absurdity of changing 
 their religion and becoming nuns, the following remarks on 
 the conventual order, by two of the most renowned mo- 
 ralists and advocates of rational piety, that ever enlightened 
 and adorned our literature — Mrs. Hannah More and Doctor 
 Johnson. The former observes, "Women of the higher 
 class were not sent into the world to shun society, but to 
 improve it. They were not designed for the cold and 
 visionary virtues of solitudes and monasteries, but for the 
 amiable and endearing offices of social life : they are of a 
 religion which does not impose idle austerities, but enjoins 
 active duties — a religion of which the most benevolent 
 actions require to be sanctified by the purest motives — 
 a religion which does not condemn its followers to the com- 
 paratively easy task of seclusion from the world, but assigns 
 them the more difficult province of living uncorrupted in it ; 
 which while it forbids them to follow a multitude to do evil, 
 includes in that prohibition the sin of doing nothing ; and 
 which, moreover, enjoins them to be followers of Him who 
 went about doing good." 
 
 Doctor Johnson, with pithy brevity, remarked to the 
 abbess of a convent which he visited in France, "Madam, 
 you are here, not for the love of virtue, but the fear of vice ;" 
 one of the best comments ever passed on monastic insti- 
 tutions. 
 
H\ 
 
 THE EMPBESS HELENA, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF KING COEL GODEBOG, WIFE OF CONSTANTITJS 
 CHLOEUS, AND MOTHER OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, EM- 
 PERORS OF ROME. 
 
 Helena, or as she is called in Welsh annals, Elen,* was the 
 eldest of the three c hildren of Coe l, surnamed Godebog, 
 king of that part of Britain called Caer-collen, or Hazletown, 
 which in after time became Anglified under the name of 
 Coelchester. He was the son of a prince called Tegvan-glof, 
 stands in his pedigree the sixteenth generation in descent 
 from Beli-maw r, king of all Britai n, and commenced his 
 regal functions A.D.262. Her mother's name was Stradwan, 
 sole daughter and heiress of Cadwan, King of North Wales. 
 Helena had a sister named Gwawl ? or Julia , and a brother 
 called Cenau.f Her mother is supposed to have died soon 
 after the birth of her brother, who was the youngest of 
 the family ; so that in early life Helena became the mistress 
 and manager of her father's domestic establishment. 
 
 Britain was at this time a Roman colony, and all its 
 princes tributary to Rome, the mistress of theworld, and the 
 entire island under the dominion of a Roman Governor.. The 
 reigning Emperors of this period werel/foclesian and Maxi- 
 
 minian awfully memorable as the auth"ors~ot IWe' most dire 
 
 p ersecution of th e Christians that ever aided to desolate the 
 world, and impede the progress of civilization, of the effect 
 of which in Britain we have to treat hereafter. 
 
 It occasionally happened that the imperial authorities at 
 Rome appointed one of the English kings to hold also the 
 dignity of Roman governor, or lieutenant of the emperors, 
 and not unfrequently some of the turbulent princes of 
 Britain usurped that rank and authority, conquering and 
 killing their foreign master, and assuming his office of col- 
 
 * Elen, pronounced Ellen', her surname was Llwyddavsg, signifying the 
 prosperous. 
 
 t Pronounced Kenay. 
 
482 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 lecting tribute money from ^thercontemgorary sovereigns, 
 which it woulaappear they were not always very scrupul ous 
 in transferring to the coffers of the imperial trea sury. From 
 the latter imputation, nlj, frjng HppT 1 the father of Helena, 
 can be by no means exonerated. The chronicled fate of the 
 different Roman governors and British princes who occa- 
 sionally filled both offices, previous to the reign of this prince, 
 seems almost like a parody on the first chapter of Matthew — 
 merely by substituting the word slew for begot. Beginning 
 with the year 208, in the reign of the Emperor Severus, 
 the gory record runs, " Fulgenius slew Severus ; Bassanius 
 slew Geta; Carassius slew Bassanius; Alectus slew Caras- 
 sius; Asclepiodotus slew Alectus, and Livius Gallus; and 
 Coel, the father of Helena, slew Asclepiodotus ; and 
 was fortunate enough not to be slain himself: for we are told 
 he reigned over the Britons twenty-seven y ears after, during 
 a considerable portion of which period ne exercised the 
 double functions of a British king and Roman governor. 
 In the latter office however, he failed to fulfil one important 
 point of duty, perhaps the chief, in tne' estimation of his im- 
 perial masters — that of forwarding to Rome the tribute 
 money whfcfr he.^cc^ected. 
 
 The Roman governor Asclepiodotus, slain in jbattje by 
 king Coel, it seems was a strenuous advocate for the pagan 
 worship of the R gman gods ; and as the latter is said tonave 
 been a Christian, and to have zealously encouraged the faith, 
 as brought from Rome by Bran ab Llyr* (and which had 
 long been working its way in BritainT^among his household 
 and subjects, it may account for the origin of the hostility 
 between them, which ended, as before observed, in the de- 
 struction of Coers predecessor. This unique and connected 
 chain of regal and vice-regal butcheries in Britain, which 
 seems to have been the most approved model of modern 
 Turkish g overnors, in th&xjiisposal of their predecessors in 
 office, appears to nave grown outfoT tne Roman neglect oFtheir 
 British colonies ; in consequence of their own intestine di- 
 visions at home. Those troubles being at length settled the 
 
 * See the memoir in tnis work of Gwladys Euffina. 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 483 
 
 arrears of tribute, long unpaid by the Britons, became a sub- 
 jccT^ftJolmaeration with the emperors and the senate ; for 
 ancient Roman authorities would no more forego their claims ' -^p 
 of tribute money, than the Roman Popes their Jeter's pence 
 in after ages. Consequently, within a month^offthe death ,S| 
 ofkjfigjCoel, there arrived from Rome, duly accredited by 
 the two reigning emperors, " a noble and prudent prince 
 called Constantius Chlorus* with a puissant army ;" whose 
 declared business it was, in the first place to demand the 
 tribute money claimed by Rome, and afterwards to remain 
 stationary, as the governor of the Roman colonies in Britain. 
 The prudence of Constantius must certainly remain un- 
 questionable, from that most persuasive of arguments, the 
 " puissant army," which he brought into the controversy ; 
 otherwise instead of gaining either of his two points, it is 
 probable that the fate of the predecessors of king Coel 
 would have awaited him. King Coel, how ever, seemed by 
 no means flattered in having ^stew ardship questioned, and 
 to be brought to book so unceremoniously. His temptation 
 to resist the demand of his superior potentate was somewhat 
 weighty ;— that is to say the t ribute pu rse — containing the 
 additions of the successive Roman-British governors who 
 had preceded him in that usurped office ; and to part with it 
 thus summarily, was not to be thought of without a struggle. 
 We really could wish, agreeable to the sober tone of this 
 work, to treat the father of the renowned Helena, with the 
 decorous gravity of an historical character, as others have 
 done before us ; but truly his position and conduct appear so 
 minutely paralleled by the proceedings of a Turkish pasha, 
 suddenly relieved from thetoilsof governing by an unexpected 
 successor armed with the firman of the Sultan, that it is 
 difficult to recollect the worthy we treat of, is not one of the 
 turbanned votaries of the tomb of Mecca — that he is not 
 aiming at the Oriental wit of bo^trju^nja^ 
 instead of obeying Elm. vVeTare informed HylhTold Welsh 
 chronicle that " when Constantius, in his character of Roman 
 commandant, landed his ' puissant army,' that king Coel 
 
 * Constantius was by birth a Roman ; his father was named Eutropius, his 
 mother Claudia, niece to the Emperor Claudius Gothicus. 
 2 r 2 
 
484 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 assembled his Britons to oppose him;— but greatly dreading 
 the powers of this Roman functionary, he sent to him to 
 commune and treat of peace, with the acknowledgement of 
 the tribute due unto the Roman senate ; on which assurance 
 being given and taken on both sides, Coel died about a 
 month after, having governed the Britons from A.D. 262 to 
 J89, a period of twenty-seven years." 
 
 As the Britons had been taught a few stern lessons in 
 the school of Roman severity, when the supremacy of that 
 great people was questioned, it may be conceived, when the 
 object of the new governor is considered, that the presence 
 of Constantius Chlorus was at first dreaded by the Britons ; 
 especially as King Coe^haq- slain the last Roman lieutenant, 
 usurped his functions, a»d seized upon the imperial trea- 
 sure ; but when he presented himself amongst them, the 
 public fears and unfavourable opinion were immediately 
 changed by his gracious demeanour and affability. Manly, 
 frank, and generous, he was formed no less to win the ad- 
 miration of the gallant Roman legions, than to find favour 
 in a lady's eye. It fortunately happens that the pen of 
 history has recorded a few descriptive traits of his person, 
 /it appears, he was tall in statup^T^tad graceful in his move- 
 / ments and address, with a /resh ruddy complexion, the 
 1 floridity of which was somewhat reduced by his usual cos- 
 \ tume, consisting of certain fan^iful^green vestments.* 
 
 With such recommendations, in person, taste, and man- 
 ners, it was no matter of wonder that when he was first in- 
 troduced to Helena by her father, that he was well received 
 by her, and that an intimacy grew between them, which 
 soon after produced the most desirable results. The Bri- 
 tish princess, on her own part, is said to have been very 
 attractive, and accounted " the fairest and most accom- , 
 
 /"* * An old author cites the following authorities in contradiction to those who 
 { have asserted that Constantius obtained his surname of Chlorus from the pale- 
 ness of his countenance. •* Tristan thinketh that Constantius was not called 
 Chlorus from his paleness, since Eumenius altributeth to him a very sanguine 
 complexion ; but from some green garments which he wore when he was 
 young; and he mentioneth others who had the same surname." — Edward 
 Leigh's Analecta Ccesarum Romanorum, or Select Observations of all the Roman 
 Emperors; published in 1664. 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 485 
 
 ^^.plished beauty in the land," of which the "young Roman 
 governor appears to have been very sensible from their 
 earliest interviews. As history informs us that King Coel 
 died about a month after the landing of Constantius in this 
 island, it is probable that he did not live to witness the event 
 most desirable to him for different reasons, the union of his 
 daughter with the Roman governor, in whose power he 
 stood in regard to his offences against the empire, but that 
 the British nobles and chiefs observing the degree of fervour 
 with which Constantius regarded the young princess, and 
 anxious to close every breach and conciliate the good will 
 of the Romans, gave him the good and acceptable counsel 
 to espouse her. To this happy arrangement, we may 
 surmise, Helena made no very cogent objections, as their 
 nuptials took place accordingly. 
 
 By this auspicious union, Constantius, as the husband of 
 Helena, became the successor of her father, King Coel, 
 which dignity he held in addition to his supreme governor- 
 ship of this island, under the emperors Dioclesian and Maxi- 
 minian. 
 
 It may be noticed here, that however expedient and for- 
 tunate this union may have been deemed at the time, that 
 the order of succession, according to the law of primogeni- 
 ture, was thereby violated, as Cenau, the son of Coel, pos- 
 sessed the right of succeeding to his father's crown and 
 dominions, instead of his sister Helena. But it does not 
 appear that any evil consequences resulted from this irregu- 
 larity. It is supposed that when Cenau attained his ma- 
 jority that adequate compensation was made, having do- 
 minions assigned him in the north of England, as his de- 
 scendants appear in history as princes of Cumberland, then 
 called Gwylad y Cymru, or land of the Cambrians, whence 
 the derivation of its modern signification. This, among 
 many other such instances, tends to shew that the ancient 
 British sovereignty was neither strictly hereditary nor 
 elective, but partook of both those elements, and expediency, 
 too frequently, seems to have guided the chieftains of the 
 country in their choice of the sovereign whom they raised 
 to the throne. If a sovereign prince at the time of his de- 
 
486 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 cease had a son of mature age, he usually succeeded his 
 father, as a matter of right. If, on the contrary, that son 
 was a minor, the late king's brother, or some other aspiring 
 chieftain, was elected to the sovereignty, either for his su- 
 perior capacity or the strength of the party which supported 
 him, without any stipulation that he should at a future 
 time lay down the ensigns of authority. When the minor 
 prince arrived at his majority, the reigning sovereign was 
 never known to resign his crown voluntarily, but to uphold 
 it by force of arms, and even to prefer his son to succeed 
 him at his death. Thus the land became a scene of dire 
 contention between the progeny of deprived princes and the 
 descendants of usurpers, if they could be so called, who 
 stood on the right of election, and who claimed an equal 
 title to the sovereignty with those of legitimate descent. 
 From this vicious and uncertain mode of succession, in 
 addition to the evils arising from the custom of gavel-kind, 
 resulted those calamities which ultimately annihilated the 
 sovereignty of the ancient Britons. 
 
 Constantius and Helena .soon after theiru.ni.on quitted 
 Coel-chester, and established ^themselves in the city of 
 York, as the metropolitan seat of their sovereignty. '* It 
 was in this fine northern city that the Emperor Severus* 
 
 * As there were several Roman emperors -who assumed the surname of 
 Severus, it is necessary to state that this sovereign was Septimus Severus. 
 who caused the fifth persecution of the Christians. In his first British war, 
 according to Dio, he lost 50,000 men. Upon a second defection in Britain he 
 commanded a universal slaughter of the natives, in a Greek verse, thus trans- 
 lated, in the true Sternhold and Hopkins style, and our own version : — 
 
 Let none escape your bloody rage, 
 
 With terror let all die, 
 Spare not the mother, nor the babe 
 
 Which in her womb doth he. 
 
 That none escape your bloody wrath, 
 Let death and horror mark your path, 
 To sure extermination doom'd 
 Both dame and child within her womb. 
 
 Septimus Severus gained his surname Britannicus by partially building, and 
 wholly '"repairing, the British j jyall, as it was called, beween England and 
 Scotland, 132 miles in length, which served both as a boundary fine and 
 rampart of defence against the northern barbarians. This^reat Roman 
 
*\ 
 
 THE EMPKESS HELENA. 487 
 
 had previously t aken up his residence, during his long sojourn 
 in our island, and there his empress, Julia Dorana, and her 
 sister, Julia Mesa, joined him." A well written article in a 
 periodical of the day, by a distinguished authoress lately 
 deceased, tempts us to transcribe into our pages the follow- 
 ing notice of the times under present consideration. " These 
 princesses (the two Julias), were curious to cultivate the 
 acquaintance of the native ladies in a familiar way ; and 
 drawing around them a large circle from the highest rank, ^ 
 whom their graces attracted and their amiable manners 
 charmed, they saw with gratified pleasure that such daily 
 intercourse added a new polish to the already shining quali- 
 ties of the fair barbarians. Taste brought its elegancies, 
 also, to adorn their persons, by promoting a feminine in- 
 dustry even amongst themselves, to produce the beautiful 
 materials. Splendid dresses were wrought, of finer loom 
 than what the fleece of the flock could present, or the yarn 
 from the spindle provide. Silks were imported from Italy, 
 gold embroidery engaged the new-turned ambition of these 
 youngTJoadiceas of the second century."* 
 
 If Britain could boast such improvements among the higher 
 classes of our native ladies in the time of the Emperor 
 Severus, we may calculate on considerable advancements 
 
 
 
 wall in our country merits notice. " At the end of each mile in the wall 
 was a tower, and pipes of brass (in the wall betwixt every tower), conveyed 
 the least noise from garrison to garrison, without interruption, so that news of 
 an approaching enemy was quickly spread over the borders and occasional 
 provision made for resistance. There were also resting places for the Areans,^ 
 who were appointed by the ancients (saith Amon. Marcellinus), to serve for 
 footposts, to run as occurrences fall, between the officers, and earry them word 
 of the least stirring. Since the wall is ruined, and that way of dispatch taken 
 away many inhabitants thereabout hold land by a tenure in cornage (as lawyers 
 speak), being bound by blowing a horn to discover the irruption of the enemy." 
 — Camden's Britannica. 
 
 * The Roman Ladie s in Britain ; an article in the Boudoir, a ladies' periodi- 
 cal, editecTby the lateTM i's!"BarTt)w Wilson. This authoress has not been for- 
 tunate in attributing to " Julia Domna" qualities capable of improving our 
 ancient British females. The Emperor Severus first espoused Martia, a lady of 
 exemplary qualities. Soon after her death he married Julia Domna, " because 
 he found by her nativity she should be matched with a king ; though he foresaw 
 not by his art, saith Salinasius, that he was destined to wed a woman who was 
 notoriously no Lucretia." 
 
 7 
 
488 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 still in the days of Helena ; when the fair relatives and 
 followers of Constantius, doubtless brought their share of 
 elegancies and industry to add to the former stock. But 
 before we proceed in the regular course of this memoir, 
 we are tempted to transplant into our pages the elegant 
 episode on the ladies' worktable, attached to the same article 
 from which we have quoted the above. 
 
 " It is with fond and venerating recollections that the 
 writer stops here to pay her heartfelt tribute to the work- 
 table of her sex ; to that modest shrine of all the domestic 
 virtues ! There, unpretending industry and diligent bene- 
 volence, without ostentation, provide for family comfort at 
 home, and dispense the same to them whose lot would be 
 shelterless, but for the care of Him ' who tempers the wind 
 to the shorn lamb.' Such mothers and such daughters, I 
 have seen seated round their happy work-table ; and when 
 those sacred duties of the needle were over, then the graces 
 of the art embellished the board ; the smile and blissful talk 
 went round, and every gentle spirit mingled into blessed 
 enjoyment. Books , indeed, add their varying charms to the 
 social circle of our privileged days ; the discovery of print- 
 ing having rendered those sources of improvement and 
 innocent pleasure, common to both sexes, and for all classes 
 too ; which, in_ even the most accomplished p eriod s of the 
 Roman empire, and for ages afte r, were only to be found in 
 the abodes of the statesman and the s age, locked up in costly 
 volumes of a difficult and laborious penmanship. The lacfies 
 of the era of Rome's first influence in this island, were 
 therefore generally confined to learn in conversation, from 
 their fathers or husbands, s omet nTng of the subjects of 
 interest which men only knew now*to rea d in those rare 
 books : and in this way many of the secrets of nature in 
 'flood and field,' as well as of the heart-inspiring annals of 
 their country, were passed from these fair foreigners lips, to 
 the not less intelligent, though less cultivated minds of their 
 British female auditors.'' 
 
 About this time the culture of the vine was introduced 
 into Britain; and though It migh't not produce wine, it 
 afforded a delicious addition to the delicacies of the table — 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 489 
 
 a very different dessert to that which must have been pre- 
 sented to the grandsires of the now gentle race ; when their 
 mothers stood in arms, around a board heaped with acorn s 
 an_d_ crab-appl es — the best fruit then indigenou s to the" 
 country. 
 
 After the death of Severus, whose ashes were buried at 
 York, other successive emperors, with their families, followed 
 his example in visiting this extremity of their empire, and 
 making their residence som etimes at Yor k, and sometimes 
 in Lond on ; for both cities were embellished with every 
 architectural order of building, which could administer to 
 its convenience, or increase its splendour. The island was 
 then regarded as a favourite provi nce, an integral part of 
 the empire ; and in all respects it seemed to share the 
 advantages peculiar to its august head — of Rome itself. 
 
 Notwithstanding the distracted state of Britain under 
 former governors, Constantius soon succeeded in bringing 
 it once more under Roman subjection. By his mild and 
 excellent regulations he soon gained the esteem of the 
 inhabitants, and became so attached as to make it his 
 residence. Attaching him still more ardently to his island 
 home and British bride, Helena gave birt h to the wonderful 
 boy , who in aftertime was to change the aspect of the world 
 from the hideousness of a ferocious blood , 4Keddmg' l 'c ,l o , m- 
 munity, to that of gentleness and peace — the future emperor 
 Co nstantine the Gr ejat. 
 
 i5ut a terrible era had now commenced ; no less destruc- 
 tive to their most blessed days of conjugal felicity, than the 
 advent of the general misery of mankind — the peraeciifloq 
 of the christian church es throughout the world. Constantius 
 was called awa y for awhile, to command the legions of 
 Rome, on the continent and peninsula of Europe. Although 
 in compliance with the injunctions of the two emperors, he 
 persecuted the christians of Spain and Gaul, his forbearance 
 towards those of Britain was remarkable ; and only to be 
 accounted for, from the natural influence -over.. him of his 
 royal consort Helena. Doubtless her power over the heart 
 of Constantius preserved the British christians from the 
 destruction which attended the professors of the faith in 
 
490 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 less favoured countries. To estimate the extent of her 
 providential interposition, be it remembered this was the 
 fearful epoch of the tenth general persecution of the christians, 
 which in violence and duration e xceeded any former explo- 
 sion of p agan rag e and atrocity. The most severe edicts 
 had been issued by Dioclesian and his associate in the 
 empire for the entire extirpation of the christian religion, by 
 destroying their places of worship, burning the sacred 
 scriptures, and putting its professors to death. The tragical 
 /description of this persecution, as given by our countryman 
 / Gildas is astounding indeed ! He states, " the christian 
 / churches throughout the world were overthrown ; all the 
 I copies of the Holy Scriptures that could be laid hold of, 
 were burnt in the streets; and the Pastors, along with their 
 flocks were put to death. In some places it would appear 
 that every vestige of Christianity was about to be abolished ; 
 for it seemed, to use his language, as if the whole churc h 
 was hastening at once t Q-Ieave the_S Eprld, and seek repose in 
 the celestial regions, the proper habitation of the just.'' 
 Unsanctioned and even unknown to Helena and Constantius, 
 many of the worthiest c hristians of Britain afco fflflferp^ 
 even to the death, from the savage zeal of some of the jj ulb- 
 ordinate a gents of paganism. Of the British christians 
 Gildas saysp^-Many suffered death; others betook them- 
 selves into woods and desert places, to remain secure there 
 until the storm abated ; but only the names of ,|hree 
 martyrs are recorded, and these were ^oman citiz ens, aftcl 
 who appear to have been persons of note on account" of their 
 situation and rank as well as their zeal for Christianity. 
 The one was Alban , a citizen of Verulam, which town in 
 after ages had its name changed to St. Albans, in honor of 
 the martyr. The other two were Julius a nd A aron of Isca 
 Silurium, or Caerlgoji, where we learn ^?rom~ Geraldus 
 Cambreusis, there was a church dedicated to each of them. 
 The village of St. Julian, Monmouthshire, owes its name to 
 the former of these martyrs. 
 
 This awful persecution lyfo.d jen years ; and it has been 
 recorded that in a single month no less than 17,000 
 christians of both sexes were destroyed. 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 491 
 
 Although the "tenth persecution" did not entirely cease 
 till the resignation of Dioclesian and Maximinian, yet in all 
 places under the influence of Constantius, its fury had so 
 far abated as to promise a speedy extinction. He then 
 returned to Britain, and Helena had the satisfaction of once 
 more embracing her long absent husband ; a happiness, 
 however, somewhat tinctured with regret, for her so n Con- 
 s tan tin e came not home with his father. The reigning 
 emperors, ever jealous of their generals, especially those 
 who were popular with the army, at this time under the 
 presumed patronage of young Constantino, while his educa- 
 tion was forwarding, stipulated that Constantius should 
 leave him behind at Rome. It was however well understood 
 by both parties, that the view of the Imperial Sovereigns was 
 to keep the youth under their eyes as a kind of honourable 
 pledge, or hostage for his father's fidelity. The. readers of 
 Roman History will be aware, that this sort of precaution 
 on the part of the emperors was by no means unnecessary ; 
 as the records of the past too frequently proved that the 
 leaders of their armies in distant colonies were too apt to 
 play the parts of demagogues, and under pretence of mis- 
 government at home, incited their legions to become 
 rebellious towards the reigning powers; to proclaim their 
 general emperor, and to march upon "the capital of the 
 world," to receive from the intimidated and often venal 
 senate, a confirmation of the honors bestowed by the 
 licentious soldiery: the deprived sovereigns being in the 
 meantime doomed to destruction.* 
 
 Thus, with Constantius, her sister Gwawl or Julia, with 
 her chosen friends for courtiers or associates, Helena passed 
 her days for a time, in such a deep and pious sense of 
 happiness as usually succeeds the transition from outrageous 
 
 * Besides this sort of precaution on the part of Dioclesian, we are told that 
 " by the profound wisdom with which he was endued, he found out a more 
 assured way to secure himself against rebellions than others had discoTered ; 
 for having taken Maximinian for his companion and ally, and afterwards 
 created Galerius and Constantius Cassars, he rendered himself formidable to 
 those who desired to make themselves Emperors. For in what part soever 
 the rebels rose, one of these four was upon their backs, and stifled them in their 
 birth."— Leigh's Analecta Ccesarum Romanorum. 
 2 s 
 
492 THE EMPRESS HELENA* 
 
 grief and daily terror to restored tranquility ; — healing the 
 sorrows of the land, to the utmost of her power, by consoling 
 those who were sufferers by the persecution, either from 
 imprisonment or the violent deaths 'of their friends ; and by 
 her counsel, strengthening their minds in the firm faith of 
 the Redeemers mission. The absence of her son Con- 
 stantine was doubtless a deep source of regret and dis- 
 quietude ; and although assured that his martial education 
 was better forwarded at Rome than it could be in Britain, 
 with the anxious feelings of a fond mother, she naturally 
 endured misgivings, that the principles of Christianity with 
 which she had imbued his youthful mind might be subverted 
 by his association with the gay and profligate heathens of 
 pagan Rome. We are told that during the government of 
 this island by Constantius, " he ruled it with wisdom and 
 prudence, for we find the Britons great and prosperous.'* 
 Prudence, in fact, appears to have been the peculiar charac- 
 teristic of this worthy Roman; and agreeably to its dictates, 
 he avoided an ostentatious display of lenity or favour towards 
 the christians, who were at this time the grand objects of 
 imperial vengeance, but he protected them in secret. "We 
 have the authority of ancient authors for stating, that in 
 consequence of the moderation of Constantius, the persecu- 
 tion did not last above a year in Britain, and but little more 
 in Gaul. 
 
 But this comparatively serene season in the existence of 
 Helena too soon passed away, and was succeeded by a period 
 of gloom, and the most intense infelicity. While Constan- 
 tius, happily married, and the father of a fine youth, young 
 Constantine, now at Rome, continued in his government of 
 Britain, the demon of ambition instilled his peculiar poison 
 into his breast, and peace of mind vanished. Considering 
 that the two emperors Dioclesian and Maximinian were far 
 advanced in years, and apparently tired of the cares of 
 governing the empire, were contemplating a resignation of 
 their dignities and retirement into the peaceful shades of 
 private life. He therefore set his friends at Rome to intrigue 
 for being nominated Caesar, or one of the two heirs apparent 
 to the future succession. His feats in war, his excellent 
 
 
THE EMPRESS SELENA. 493 
 
 government of Britain, in Dalmatia, and in Gaul, were 
 urged as the most powerful points in his favour, and the 
 fairness of his claims was fully admitted by both the 
 emperors. But Dioclesian objected to his nomination on 
 the score that he was poor ; on which his friends sent to 
 exhort him to heap up treasures. This, of course, could 
 only be done from the spoil taken at the sack of cities in the 
 time of war ; and in peace, by a rigorous taxation of the 
 people under his government. The generous mind of Con- 
 stantius was adverse to both these modes of enriching him- 
 self; so that his poverty became proverbial, from his liberal 
 habits of rewarding his soldiers, whence he became the idol 
 of the army ; and to grind the people with rigorous imposts 
 was his abhorrence. But the pleadings of ambition, how- 
 ever, were too powerful to be resisted ; he therefore formed 
 the resolution of addressing the people, to inform them that 
 the impediment to his promotion was his lack of riches; 
 and that to succeed in being appointed Caesar, it was neces- 
 sary for him in the first place, to become wealthy. 
 
 The soldiers of Constantius, and the citizens who were 
 enriched by his benevolent system of government, could not 
 but remember his generous maxim "that the love of the 
 people is the richest and safest treasury of the Prince;" and 
 that he had been often heard to declare, " that it was fitter 
 that the wealth of the land should be dispersed into the 
 hands of the Commons, than locked up in the coffers of 
 Princes." Therefore, when they heard of his necessities, 
 they are said to have vehemently contended among them- 
 selves who should contribute most effectually towards the 
 filling of his exchequer ; rejoicing greatly that the oppor- 
 tunity had now occurred of testifying their love to him, by 
 verifying the correctness of his favourite maxims. So great 
 was the success of this appeal to the soldiers and citizens, 
 that he was enabled to produce before Dioclesian's ambas- 
 sadors the great sums which he had received in a few hours; 
 and they were no less amazed at the immensity of the 
 amount than the liberality of the system by which he so 
 miraculously replenished an exhausted treasury. To prove 
 how sincere was his confidence in such a source of wealth, 
 
494 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 and that his appeal to public liberality was no charlatan 
 trick to work on their minds for the attainment of ungene- 
 rous and illiberal ends, no sooner had the imperial func- 
 tionaries departed, than he returned the subsidy which had 
 been so handsomely presented to him. Aia author whom we 
 have frequently quoted remarks, ** by such customs as these 
 it was, that he obtained the epithet of 'poor,' rather than 
 that he was so^in reality; beingfby his voluntary poverty 
 richer than I>ioclesian himself; yea, than all the other 
 princes together, who were partners with him.'* 
 
 The objection of one of the Emperors being thus removed, 
 and the suffrage of Dioclesian fully obtained, a more serious 
 impediment was raised by the other Emperor. The author 
 last quoted remarks, " Maximinian, tyrannizing over the 
 affections as well as the freedom of mankind, protested that 
 Constantius Chlorus should be declared Caesar only on the 
 stipulation that he would divorce] his wife Helena, and 
 marry his own daughter-in-law Theodora." 
 
 These were doubtless, hard terms,, and very difficult to be 
 complied with by Constantius, who had lived so long and 
 happily with his British Princess. Such a union, it is true, 
 contracted with the fair native of a dermS savage country, 
 would be regarded by the haughty Romans of that"" period 
 with about as much respect as our present ^English arlsto- 
 crats would deign to accord an enthusiastic Inkle, who had 
 espoused a Yarico, when a more eligible match was attain- 
 able, by nullifying his previous union with the bright and 
 beautiful .^Barbarian bride. But Constantius was no Inkle 
 in principle^ "lbT "Tie dearly loved the gentle mother of his 
 boy, and the wife of his early days ; and would gladly have 
 spent his entire life with her. But alas, it is added, "be 
 was won by ambition, and th^ easiness/of his nature, which 
 bowed to those who seemed to wislyliim well, and by the 
 lustre of the'purple presented to him?' 
 
 In an old work, Dr. Crakanthrop's Defence of Constan- 
 tine, we find the subject of Constantius*s marriage with 
 Helena, thus discussed. "Eutropius calleth the marriage 
 of Constantius with Helena ohscurius matrimonium ) a mere 
 obscure marriage; his meaning is plain. For he neither 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 495 
 
 meant nor said that it was simply ignoble, but speaking 
 comparatively, and comparing it to his second marriage with 
 Theodora, the daughter-in-law of the Emperor; by which 
 he obtained first to be Csesar, and then Emperor. In respect 
 of the splendour or this second marriage, and the imperial 
 dignity obtained thereby, he did, and might well say, that 
 the former was more obscure, /or not so illustrious, though 
 in itself it was both very honourable, and in no sort a dis- 
 paragement to Constantius." 
 
 It appears there was no formal ceremony used in the 
 divorce which took place between Constantius and Helena; 
 he merely left the island, and forsook his first betrothed 
 and best beloved, for a season, and married Theodora. 
 
 However, humiliating and sad the implied disgrace of 
 repudiation, Helena bore the melancholy and undeserved 
 infliction of fortune with a constancy of fortitude that 
 ennobled her christian profession. She declared that she 
 accounted it a great honour that no other cause was found 
 for her divorce than the good fortune of her lord and 
 husband. It is worthy of observation, as forming a noble 
 contrast to the conduct of many modern princes under 
 similar circumstances, that the good heart of Constantius 
 would not allow him to excuse this iniquitous proceeding, 
 by preten d ed crimes or fau lts attributed to the faithful 
 wife whom he had so unjustifiably forsaken. Accordant 
 with the generosity of his character, however otherwise 
 blameable on this point, he bore all the odium of public 
 opinion on his own head. But such an affair in haughty 
 imperial Rome perhaps, was considered as an affair of light 
 r egard, that a Koinan patrician advanced to UTS' "QatiSrsmp, 
 should forsake his island bride, the young barbarian wife of 
 his first romantic attachment, to unite himself more fitly, 
 according to his bettered fortunes, to the highly-connected 
 patrician, Theodora. Be that as it may, the latter marriage, 
 like many such magnificent delusions, brought Constantius 
 no happiness, although thereby he ha4-two sons, Constantius 
 and Annibalinus. It was well said; " he lived in body with 
 Theodora and in heart with Helena;" Ithe latter, well 
 aware of the constraint which httevep his inclinations 
 2s2 
 
496 THE EMPRESS HEI*EWA. 
 
 in this forced political marriage, entertained the tendere^t 
 regard for her some time husband, the father of her boy, 
 
 whom she pined to embrace once n i o reV but Teare'c 
 was never to behold again. The torrent of ambition 
 and the distracting affairs of the world, which had so 
 unhappily parted them, had no power over their affec- 
 tions which ever yearned towards each other during the 
 dreary years of their separation. 
 
 Constantius remained Caesar sixteen year s ; when Diocle- 
 sian and Maximinian laying down the purple and all ensigns 
 of authority, retired into the shades of private life ; and he, 
 conjointly with Galerius Armentarius became Empe ror. 
 His portion of the Roman Empire was the western provinces 
 of France, Spain, and Britain ; while Galerius had Egypt 
 and the provinces in Asia. Some time after, Constantius, 
 who we are told, preferred governing well to monopolizing 
 to himself a great extent of country, gave up both Africa 
 and Italy to Galerius, as too remote from his residence and 
 *' the eye of his direction ; " as, true to his earliest affection 
 and predilections, now that he was truly his own master, he 
 resolved on making his favourite island of Britain the seat 
 of his so v ereig nty and his future home. 
 
 It was in the evening of his days, about the fifty-fifth 
 £ear^of his life, and one year after his accession to the 
 imperial rank, he returned to Britain, and re-un ited himself 
 to the long-forsaken Helena, with whom he cleierminea" lo 
 spend the resTcTue of his life. This intensely happy meeting, 
 however, was incomplete in its superlative degree, from the 
 absence of Constantine, who was employed in business of 
 state by his fatEerJ^but who immediately sent for him, to 
 meet his mother and himself at York. His return, it is 
 supposed, was delayed by the occurrence of unexpected 
 events; and when he came at last, it was to receive the 
 embraces of his mother, and to obtain the last sight in life, 
 of his imperial father. 
 
 Worn with his exertions in the wars, and the cares 
 inseparable from the station he had so long sustained as 
 Caesar and general of the empire, scarcely a year had elapsed 
 since Constantius' s return to Britain, when he was overtaken 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 497 
 
 by the fatal illne ss that was so soon to close his career on 
 earth. While his sick bed was surrounded by his wife and 
 friends, with the Roman officials of his court, the latter 
 appear to have formed a party in favour of his son Constan- 
 tius, by the empress Theodora, and importuned him to name 
 his successor in the imperial dignity. "We are told " the 
 dying monarch forgetting his second wife and her offspring, 
 exclaimed aloud Constantinum pium ; he would have no other 
 successor than the piousUonstantine. It appears Constan- 
 tine arrived in Britain barely in time to receive his father's 
 dying- blessing. Raising himself up in his bed, in the 
 presence of his family, his counsellors, and the chiefs of the 
 army, Constantius set the imperial diadem on his head, saw 
 him invested with the purple - robes, and declared him 
 Emperor. " Now,'' exclaimed the dying monarch, "is my 
 death more welcome, and my departure hence more pleasant. 
 I have here a noble monument in my son ; one who will, by 
 the blessing of God, dry up the tears of the christians, who 
 have been so cruelly'persecuted, and revenge the cruelties 
 exercised by their tyrants." He then turned to his courtiers, 
 officers, and bystanders, and exhorted them to continue 
 faithful to their religion and their prince. In order however, 
 the better to secure the peaceable accession of his son to the 
 throne, after dismissing those who had been present at this 
 scene, he summoned all his principal officers and counsel- 
 lors who had hitherto been absent around him, and having 
 been himself, in early life, a persecutor of the christians, 
 under the authority of Dioclesian and Maximinian, he 
 executed w r ith greater facility a stratagem which he had 
 invented, to ascertain the stability of their affection and 
 religious faith. He pretended that he had repented his con- 
 version to Christianity, and requested them to concur with 
 him again, in sacrificing to the ancient pagan deities. By 
 this device he acquired a perfect knowledge of their genuine 
 sentiments ; for some readily acquiesced in the proposal, 
 while others stood firm in their faith, pe then immediately 
 dismissed the apostates from their posts, so that when he 
 expired, as he did soon after, to the inexpressible grief 
 of his family and friends, he; left Constamine in the hands 
 
498 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 of honest counsellors; by whom his succession to the 
 empire was wisely and judiciously secured. This event 
 gave great satisfaction to the Britons, who rejoiced to see 
 one born among them, and descended in the maternal line 
 from their native princes, elevated to the imperial dignity.* 
 Soon after the magnificent funeral of the Emperor Con- 
 stantius Chlorus, who was buried with great pomp at York, 
 Constantine and his mother Helena, prepared for quitting 
 our island, and commencing their journey towards Rome. 
 The empress-mother, it seems, had formed a resolution of 
 accompanying her imperial son to the continent, and of 
 making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as soon as circum- 
 stances could be brought about to favour that long-desired 
 object. Helena had an additional motive for being as much 
 as possible in company with her son, and notwithstanding 
 the perils attending a marching legion, continually liable to 
 be opposed and brought to battle by other powers, she would 
 not be disusaded from a purpose which she held so deeply at 
 heart, by any consideration for her personal safety, but 
 resolved to accompany them at all hazards. By his long 
 absence from Britain, and from that parent who had 
 instructed his childhood in the piety of the Nazarite, and by 
 his prolonged association with the gay youths of Rome, as 
 might have been expected, and a s his, mother feared and 
 found, Constantine had relaxed much from his early "fervour 
 for Christianity, although by no means tainted with the 
 splendid paganism of the imperial heathen city. To restore 
 and invigorate his faith, by her presence and conversation, 
 was the ^rrflt ^"fi she promised herself. She was also 
 intensely anxious to be further instructed herself, in the 
 purest principles and practice of the church, which she 
 feared she had so imperfectly acquired in Britain, by an 
 intercourse with the descendants of the earliest christians, 
 
 * According to Eusebius, Constantius lived flfty-six years; was Caesar 
 sixteen years, and Emperor two. Camden states that at the demolition of the 
 monasteries, there was found in the supposed monument of Constantius in 
 Yorkshire, a lighted lamp, said to have been burning there ever siucehis burial 
 a period of three hundred years! — adding out of Lazinius, that the ancient, 
 Eomans used in that manner to preserve lights in sepulchres an immense 
 length of time, "by the oiliness of gold, resolved into liquid substance." 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 499 
 
 the disciples of the apostles themselves, then residents in 
 the East. 
 
 Previous to his embarkation, Constantine appointed 
 Octavius, a British prince of great capacity, as his deputy 
 and Roman governor of the island;* and then with his 
 mother, his friends, counsellors, and a considerable army, 
 bade farewell to Britain. On the continent he soon com- 
 menced the arduous task common to all Roman Emperors, 
 of fighting his way for the sovereignty of that city and 
 nation universally acknowledged the mistress of t he world. 
 We transcribe from Roman History the following account 
 of the after proceedings of Constanline. 
 
 "He had some competitors at first for the throne. Among 
 the rest was Maxentius, who w as at that time (A.D. 311) 
 in possession of Rome, and a steadfast asserter of paganism. 
 It was in Constantine's march against the usurper, we are 
 told, that he was converted to Christianity, by a very extra- 
 ordinary appearance. One evening, the army being upon its 
 march towards Rome, Constantine was intent on various 
 considerations upon the fate of sublunary things, and the 
 dangers of his approaching expedition. Sensible of his own 
 incapacity to succeed without Divine assistance, he employed 
 his meditations upon the opinions that were then agitated 
 among mankind, sent up his ejaculations to Heaven, to 
 inspire him with wisdom to choose the path he should 
 pursue. As the sun was declining there suddenly appeared 
 a pillar of light in the heavens, in the fashion of a cross, 
 with this inscription " In this overcome." f So extra- 
 ordinary an appearance did not fail to create astonishment 
 both in the emperor and the whole army, who reflected on 
 it as their various dispositions led them to believe. Those 
 who were attached to paganism pronounced it to be a most 
 inauspicious omen, portending the most unfortunate events, 
 but it made a different impression on the emperor's mind, 
 who, as the account goes, was farther encouraged by visions 
 
 * For the after transactions in Britain under Octavius, see the Memoir of 
 " Ellen of the Mighty Host " in this Work. 
 
 + The original in Latin runs " Constantine in hoc signo vinces ; " Constan- 
 tine, under this sign thou saalt have victory. 
 
500 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 the same night. He, therefore, the day following, caused a 
 royal standard to be made, like that he had seen in the 
 heavens, and commanded it to be carried before him in the 
 wars, as an ensign of victory and celestial protection.* After 
 this he consulted with the principal teachers of Christianity, 
 and made a public avowal of that sacred persuasion." He 
 even caused the cross which he was said to have seen in the 
 heavens, to be placed on the right of all his statues, with this 
 inscription, " Under the influence of that victorious cross, 
 Constantine had delivered the city from the yoke of tyran- 
 nical power, and restored the senate and people of Rome to 
 their ancient authority." Constantine caused himself to be 
 baptized by Sylvester, the first of that name, Bishop of 
 Home, a modest and pious ecclesiastic, who little thought of 
 adopting the title of Pope, or king of kings and lord of lords, 
 or any such blasphemous assumptions, like his successors. 
 He was the thirty-first Bishop of the See from the com- 
 mencement of Christianity, and the first after the tenth or 
 last persecution. This holy man is said to have put the 
 finishing hand to the conversion of the Emperor, and to 
 have persuaded him to make Christianity the religion of the 
 Empire. Among the recorded achievements of Constantine, 
 much has been stated of his liberation of incarcerated and 
 condemned christians, his opening of their closed and for- 
 bidden places of worship ; his destruction of idols and the 
 temples of false gods ; and ultimately, his universal estab- 
 lishment of Christianity, as the religion of the Roman empire. 
 To relate these things at large is the province of Church 
 History ; our immediate business is with Helena, the empress 
 mother, and the subject of this memoir. 
 
 When Constantine resolved on building a new city, to be 
 called after his own name, Constantinople, and of removing 
 the seat of empire to the east, it is said he left the govern- 
 ment of Rome, so long the emporium of the world, in the 
 hands of Sylvester the Bishop, and then with his m other and 
 
 * la subsequent times Constantine the Great, on his conversion to Christi- 
 anity, placed a cross upon the ball; thus,' as it were, laying the world he 
 governed at the feet of Him who redeemed i| ; and ever since that " consecrated 
 globe" has been retained as the most expressive symbol of the royal character. 
 
the empress Helena. 501 
 
 fqiiowers, sailed for the Bosphorus and commenced the 
 erectionoY his new metropolis. 
 
 It would seem that the emperor left ample funds, and 
 attendants for state and protection,fat the disposal of his 
 mother; and while he superintended the huilding of the new 
 city, H elena and her train went to the Holy Lan d, and 
 recorded her piety in the manner hereinafter to be stated. 
 
 In some accounts of Helena it has been most strangely 
 and ignorantly asserted that among her pious achievements 
 in the Holy Land, she rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem. 
 The astounding error of such a statement will become 
 strikingly manifest when the reader takes into consideration 
 the peculiar nature of each of the three successive temples 
 which were erected on the same site, previous to the time of 
 this British Princess and Roman Empress. 
 
 The first temple of Jerusalem was the ancient and glorious 
 fabric built by Solomon, no less stupendous than magnificent, 
 the wonder and admiration of the world ; a description of 
 which may be seen in the First Book of Kings, chapters vi. 
 and vii. It was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, at the taking 
 of Jerusalem, A.M. 1350.* The second temple was com- 
 menced after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian 
 captivity, and the work carried on under the most unfavour- 
 able auspices, from the opposition of the Samaritans, so that 
 the workmen were obliged to wield a sword in one hand and 
 their tools in the other, to repulse the violence of the enemy. 
 When finished it proved far inferior both in its magnificence 
 and appointments, to the first temple ; and well might the 
 prophet Haggai remark, "Who is there left among you that 
 saw this house in her first glory ? Is not this in your eyes as 
 nothing ? , 'f This temple, when it became ruinous, was 
 
 * Some idea of the stupendousness and grandeur of the first temple may be 
 formed by the following statement. In providing the materials for the building 
 there were 30,000 workmen, who wrought by 10,000 a month in Lebanon. 
 70,000 labourers that bare burthens; 80,000 quarrymen that hewed in the 
 mountains ; and officers and overseers of the work no less than 3300 men. 
 
 + In the appointments of the second temple, it was deficient of the following five 
 articles which belonged to the first. First, the pot of manna, which the Lord 
 commanded Moses to lay up before the testimony, for a memorial, Exod. vi. 32. 
 Second, the rod of Aaron, which only, among all the rods of the princes of 
 
502 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 pulled down by Herod the Ascalonite, partly on account of 
 the mean consideration in which it was held, in comparison 
 with the first edifice. On the removal of the second 
 temple, in order to obtain popularity with the Jews, 
 Herod built the third temple. This structure, although 
 far inferior to the first temple, was considerably superior to 
 the second. This third temple became ever memorable for 
 the earliest ministry of the Saviour of the world, and the 
 scene where he preached salvation to the Jew and Gentile. 
 It was finally destroyed byTitus, son of the Roman emperor 
 Vespasian, surnamed " the delight and solace of mankind," 
 an appellation singularly in contrast with his destructive 
 doings at Jerusalem. After this overthrow, the temple lay 
 unbuilt and in rubbish till the reign of Julian the Apostate, 
 who to diminish the number of christians by the increase of 
 the Jews, began to build a fourth temple. But, we are told, 
 no sooner were the foundations laid, than an earthquake cast 
 them up again, and fire from heaven consumed the stones, 
 timber, and the rest of the materials. As for the city of 
 Jerusalem itself, it was re-edified by iElius Adrianus, who 
 named it JElia ; drove from thence the Jews and gave it to 
 the christians. 
 
 Having now shewn what Helena did not perform, in 
 regard to rebuilding the Temple of Solomon, an achievement 
 absurdly ascribed to her by some writers, but by none of 
 any credit ; it remains to be stated what in reality was the 
 nature of her doings, while on this long-desired visit to the 
 scanty remains of time-honoured ancient Jerusalem. 
 
 After having intently paused over every memorable spot, 
 and devoutly meditated over every sacred vestige which re- 
 minded her of the presence, death, and passion of the divine 
 founder of our faith, Helena resolved to evince her piety by 
 leaving here a memorial of her pilgrimage to the Holy City. 
 Accordingly, having fixed upon a spot on the Mount of 
 
 Israel budded. Third, the ark of the covenant; the making of which ia de- 
 scribed in Exod. xxv. 10; and the placing of it In the oracle, or sanctum 
 sanctorum, is mentioned in 1 Kings vi. 19, Fourth, the two tables of the law, 
 written by God's own finger, and placed by Moses in the ark of the covenant. 
 Fifth, the fire of sacrifice, which came down from heaven ; which fire was by 
 the priests kept continually burning. 
 
THS EMPRESS HELENA. 503 
 
 Olives where the Temple formerly stood, she there caused a 
 christian edifice to be erected, which she called the Church 
 of the Holy Sepulchre. Around this church she also built 
 many houses, which became inhabited by the christians who 
 congregated there. These buildings perpetually increasing 
 till the place became a fair town, when it received the name, 
 from the temple or church which crowned its summit, of the 
 City of the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 Having been informed by Curiacus, then Bishop of 
 Jerusalem, where was hidden the cross on which the Saviour 
 suffered, Helena with passionate eagtrness went to work in 
 search of it. An old author states, "much ado had the good 
 lady to find the place where our Lord's bodie had beene laid: 
 for the Jews and heathens had raised great hillocks on the 
 place, and built there a temple of Venus. This temple 
 being plucked down, and the earth digged away, she found 
 the three crosses whereon our blessed Saviour and the two 
 thieves had suffered. Helena being perplexed to know 
 which of these was the right crosse, they were all carried to 
 a woman who had been long visited with sicknesse, and now 
 lay at the point of death. The crosses of the two thieves 
 did the weak woman no good ; but as soon as they laid on 
 her the crosse on which the Lord died, she leapt up and was 
 restored to her former health." 
 
 The same author remarks on the church built by Helena, 
 "this Temple of the Sepulchre, even at the first building 
 was highly reverenced and esteemed by the christians of 
 these parts ; and even untill our dayes, it is much resorted 
 to, both by pilgrims from all parts of the Romish church, 
 who fondly and superstitiously hope to merit by their 
 journey; and also by divers gentlemen of the Reformed 
 churches, who travel hitherward partly for curiosity, and 
 partly because their generous spirits imitate the heavens 
 and delight in motion." * 
 
 Further to celebrate the temple which she had erected, 
 Helena caused an order of knighthood to be instituted, the 
 
 * This author adds " whosoever is admitted to the sight of this sepulchre 
 payeth nine crowns to the Turkish officers ; so that this tribute only, is worth 
 to the Grande Signeur eighty thousand ducats yearly." 
 2 T 
 
 
504 THE EMPKESS HELEICA, 
 
 members of which were called " Knights of the Sepulchre.** 
 They were bound to defend the "Blessed Sepulchre," to 
 war against infidels, and to defend pilgrims. This was the 
 first of the three knighthoods which were originated to 
 celebrate the winning of the Holy Land, and the expulsion 
 of the Mahometans, by the princes of Christendom. The 
 second-order was the "Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, 5 " 
 instituted in 1 124, by Pope Gelasius II.; and the third were 
 the "Knights Templars,*' instituted in 1113, by Hugh 
 Payennes, and confirmed by Pope Eugenius.* 
 
 The historians of this period truly remark, this was an 
 age in which false opinions and false miracles made up the 
 bulk of an instructive history ; and many things are related 
 in early Roman church history, and as fully believed by the 
 credulous votaries of that faith as any statement in holy writ, 
 which among the more enlightened portion of mankind not 
 merely excites the smile of risibility, but provokes indigna- 
 tion, to see matters of profJxmlTo^sacred interest vulgarized 
 by superstitious and false statement^ Among the adherents 
 of reformed Christianity but little credibility has been ac- 
 corded to the account tof Helena's discfovery of the real cross; 
 and even less to the following morceau, so devoutly valued 
 by the believers in monkish miracles, and that mass of 
 trumpery called holy relicsT"~We are told that when Helena 
 discovered the cross on which the Saviour died, that she 
 also found the three nails, by which his body was pierced 
 and attached to it ; and that she disposed of them in the 
 following manner. Of one she made a bit for the bridle of 
 the horse of her son Constantine, which endowedlthe animal 
 with miraculous powers of docility, speed, and sagacity ; of 
 another she made a crest for his helmet, which rendered his 
 head-piece invulnerable s to the edge of any assailing weapon; 
 and the third nail she used as a charm, to calm theiurbulence 
 of the Adriatic Sea. Weirmajr such spurious/miracles be 
 likened to necromancy, or the pretended-mysteries of the 
 
 * The above quoted remarks, " TJrese three orders M. Seldon putteth not in 
 his ; Titles of Honour,' but deservedly excludeth them therefrom, inasmuch that 
 they were prohibited to Jcisse a woman\ honoutiary knighthood, and the love ot 
 ladies, going together like vertue and'rewara." 
 
THE EMPRESS HELENA. 505 
 
 black art. These records state that while Helena and her 
 train of devotees from the Holy Land were returning to 
 Britain, when approaching the city of Venice, the severe 
 tempestuous weather which always made the gulf of Venice 
 so dangerous till that period, was unusually stormy ; on 
 which Helena cast the last remaining nail of the cross into 
 the perilous vortex of the heaving ocean; we are told that it 
 acted like oil in calming the turbulence of the raging billows ; 
 and ever since that time the lagoons of Venice have been 
 proverbially mild and free from tempestuous visitations." 
 
 It is said in the " Genealogy of the Saints " and other 
 ancient records, that Helena not only discovered " the real 
 cross," but brought it with her to Britain. Ross, in his 
 *' Antiquities of Warwickshire," states that it was brought 
 to Britain by St. Neot; but among other authorities an 
 ancient Welsh bard says — 
 
 " Dioben Elen Godebog 
 I gred a gavas y grog." 
 
 Implying that without difficulty Elen Godebog found the 
 cross for Christendom. In the times of our Roman Ca- 
 tholic ancestors, when relics and effigies of saints were 
 held in pious esteem and sacred veneration, this Croes 
 Naid (Cross of Refuge), as it came to be called in Welsh, 
 was set in and ornamented with gold and silver, and adorned 
 with precious stones, so that on pompous state occasions it 
 formed one of the principal features in a procession.* 
 
 Although a zealous votary of Christianity from her child- 
 hood, and habitually practising its merciful dictates, it seems 
 that neither Helena nor her celebrated son were thoroughly 
 imbued with its doctrines till the miraculous conversion of 
 Constantine, and her travels to the Holy Land. But when 
 at length she returned to her native country, she came in a 
 state of enlightenment never previously enjoyed by any 
 native of our island ; and was therefore looked up to by the 
 christians of Britain with great veneration and affection. 
 
 * For further information respecting the Croes Naid, we refer the reader to 
 an interesting artiele in the first volume of the Arcbasologia Cambrensis, a new 
 quarterly Welsh periodical of great merit, under the head of Regalia of Wales, 
 to which we have been partly under obligation for this information. 
 
506 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 At this period Octavius still reigned as king of Britain 
 and Roman governor. Although he held both those great 
 offices at first in defiance of Constantine, yet as he discharged 
 the royal functions so ably, and performed his duties as the 
 lieutenant of the empire with unquestioned faithfulness, he 
 was not molested by the imperial authorities. Helena was 
 doubtless received by him with all the honours due to her 
 exalted rank and advanced age. But she had other views 
 than concerning herself with the affairs of politics and 
 government. Admiring as we do, the views of the authoress 
 of the " Roman Ladies in Britain,'' on the close of Helena's 
 career, we shall conclude our notice of this celebrated 
 woman by one more quotation from that article to which we 
 have been under so much obligation in another part of this 
 memoir, 
 
 "While this monarch (Constantine the Great) reigned, 
 Britain enjoyed perfect peace. To partake so blessed a 
 dispensation, his mother now returned to her native land : 
 herself full of the mild lessons of the Gospel. For in those 
 early times, the principles of worship learnt in the east from 
 the primitive disciples of the Apostles themselves, were not 
 then adulterated with any of those vain rites or visionary- 
 errors, which have since broke the peace of the church, and 
 betrayed her misled members again into the cloisters of a 
 disguised idolatry ; or to the dark labyrinths of a not less 
 fanatic enthusiasm. This truly pious lady, who had visited 
 the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem, and stood under the shrine 
 in Rome, where St. Peter suffered martyrdom, revered both; 
 but she believed that the temples yet to be raised in many a 
 pagan breast, was a work of still more sacred structure. She 
 accordingly introduced the pure faith she brought into every 
 British female circle, where her rank commanded respect, 
 aud her virtues influence. Her success was beyond even her 
 hopes. Indeed the female heart seems a soil particularly pre- 
 pared for this seed of tender planting, yet ordained for the 
 "healing of nations!" Even on its natural softness, which 
 one of our own authors beautifully styles the soft green of 
 the soul, the world-scared eye of man loves to turn his 
 wearied sight, and be refreshed. This refreshment has its 
 

 THE EMPEESS HELENA. 507 
 
 well-springs in meekness and endearing soothing ; a reflected 
 light of heaven — warmth without beat — bright, but in- 
 noxious. 
 
 On this principle Helena gently taught the daughters 
 of her native land. Where she found the old Roman phi- 
 losophy had ingrafted the sweetness of urbanity, on the 
 proud virtues of either paganism, whether of the Druid 
 grove or classic temple, she transmuted all into the dignified 
 humility of christian holiness. 
 
 During Helena's two abodes here, first as empress-consort, 
 and then as empress-mother, she erected many noble works 
 in London, and amongst those of the most after utility, 
 completely rebuilt the old walls of that city, which had 
 suffered much from dilapidation since the time of their first 
 erection, in the earliest age of the Roman colony. His- 
 torians inform us, that it was by this truly imperial woman 
 that the great stone pillar, known in our time by the name 
 of the London Stone, was placed in a secure niche of the 
 new wall. It had originally been planted on that spot by 
 the first Roman colony, and called the Milliarium — the 
 grand point of station, whence these bold settlers measured 
 the relative distances to all their other posts throughout the 
 country. This venerable relic still remains ; and, where the 
 eite of the ancient bulwarks may still be traceable, it appears 
 prominent in a yet more modern wall.* 
 
 After the munificent dedications of her time and wealth, 
 which the Empress Helena bestowed on the embellishments 
 of London, the inhabitants changed its name to that of 
 Augusta — a compliment applicable to the respected empress, 
 or to the city itself, as the most important one in the island. 
 But it was not the edification of " houses built with hands " 
 that could satisfy her parental spirit; and from the period in 
 
 * " The legend concerning this stone, which supposes that whoever possesses 
 it must be lord of the place where it stands, seems to imply something more 
 than what is conveyed in the idea of its mile-measuring date. Therefore it 
 probably may have had some such still more remote history ; as that connected 
 with the Scone Stone, now in the seat of the royal chair at Westminster Abbey 
 which was considered a kind of palladium wherever it stood; and for that 
 reason was transferred from Scotland into England by Edward I."— Roman 
 Ladies in Britain. 
 
 2t2 
 
508 THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 which her diligent labours, by precept and example, stored 
 the minds of the female inmates of her cities, with the true 
 principles of the feminine character, the women of Britain 
 lived meekly and piously in their homes, cheerfully fulfilling 
 their relative duties of wives, mothers, daughters, and mis- 
 tresses of families. 
 
 Helena died ; and the mourning was as if every person in 
 the island had lost a parent. In process of time other 
 emperors came, with other empresses, to this famed little 
 northern "gem*' in the imperial crown. Some brought 
 good examples, others bad ; but all united in making those 
 public dispositions which gradually restored the country 
 from its long-accustomed condition of a favoured province 
 only, into the prouder position of its former entire inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 GENERAL NOTE TO THE EMPRESS HELENA. 
 
 J. L. Stephens, whose " Incidents of Travel in the East," bear as late a date 
 as 1849, writes thus familiarly of what he had noticed of certain connections 
 with the subject of this memoir, " The Empress Helena came as a crusader to 
 the Holy Land, to search for and determine the then unknown localities. And 
 the traveller is often astonished that, with so little to guide her, she was so success- 
 ful ; for she found, not only -found all the holy places mentioned in the Bible, 
 but many more. The worthy empress seemed to think that a little marble 
 could not hurt a holy place, and a good deal might help to make holy what was 
 not so without it ; and so think most of the Christian pilgrims, for I observed 
 that they always kiss with more devotion the polished marble than the rude 
 stone. 
 
£ \ 
 
 THE PRINCESS JOAN, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF KING JOHN OF ENGLAND, SECOND QUEEN OF 
 LLEWELYN AB IORWBBTH, SOVEREIGN PRINCE OF NORTH 
 WALES, AND MOTHER OF PRINCE DAVID, HIS SUCCESSOR. 
 
 The name of this princess, for many reasons yet to be 
 stated, will ever be found among the unpopular female 
 sovereigns of Wales ; her faults of character being neither 
 redeemed by high talents, private virtues, nor imputed 
 amiability of disposition. Yet her elevated position, and 
 the peculiarity of her history, rendered her an important 
 feature in the annals of her time. 
 
 Before his marriage with Joan, Llewelyn ab Iorwerth 
 had been a widower, having previously been united to 
 the Princess Tanglwystil, by whom he had a son named 
 Griffith, who at this time was heir-apparent to the throne 
 of North Wales ; a favourite with his father till this second 
 marriage, and in after years very popular with the nation 
 for his gallant bearing and gracious demeanour, qualities 
 that endeared to the people a youth in whom they beheld 
 the brightest promise of a good and capable future sovereign. 
 
 It was in the year 1202 that the union took place between 
 the Lady Joan and Llewelyn, on the settlement of a peace 
 between her father and the prince of Wales, at which time 
 the contracting sovereigns considered such a family alliance 
 as a bond which insured their mutual sincerity, as rival po- 
 tentates, in regard to their future pacific intentions. It 
 appears that Joan was very beautiful in person, and capti- 
 vating in her manners, and that she completely enslaved 
 the Cambrian prince by the fascination of her charms ; and 
 held him in thrall as absolutely after as before marriage. 
 Were it not that the infatuation of Llewelyn yields us a 
 fair clue towards the probable cause, we could scarcely form 
 a conjecture how a people of such violent prejudices and 
 high national pride as the Welsh — who especially branded 
 illegitimacy of birth as a personal disgrace — could permit 
 
510 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 their prince to compromise his dignity by a union with a 
 princess of tainted blood, as was notoriously the case in the 
 present instance. Joan was an illegitimate daughter of the 
 reigning English king. Her mother was the Lady Agatha, 
 daughter of Robert Ferrars, earl of Derby; one of the 
 many degraded noble dames of England who disgraced their 
 families by an illicit connexion with the most unworthy of 
 the sovereigns of England. The dowry which her royal 
 father gave with her was as contemptible as her pretensions 
 to lineal honours ; merely the lordship of Elsmere, in the 
 marches of "Wales ; a territory originally torn from the 
 ancestors of Llewelyn.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the private fe licity enjoyed by the 
 Welsh prince with his new queen, their union signally 
 failed in producing those pacific results anticipated between 
 the two nations. A furious war soon ensued, which was 
 carried on with mutual animosity. Llewelyn and his pa- 
 triotic followers had not only to sustain an opposition to 
 the entire military strength of England, but the treachery 
 of many of his own subjects caused the terrors of a partial 
 civil war combined with those of foreign invasion. The 
 natural result of such disastrous evils wa3 the success of 
 his enemies, and the failure of the Cambrian prince to 
 defend his dominions against such superior forces. When 
 the army of King John had carried their devastations to 
 an unprecedented extreme, while Bangor was blazing and 
 Aberconway in the power of the English, Llewelyn led his 
 retreating powers into security amidst the fastnesses of 
 Snowdon. From thence he despatched his queen attended 
 by the usual retinue of a truce, to Aberconway, the head 
 quarters of her father the king, to intercede with him for 
 a treaty of peace. Although Joan failed to obtain all the 
 points desired by her lord, she succeeded in procuring a 
 
 * It is with the utmost disgust that a Welshman will read the following 
 statement by Warrington of the occurrences of the year 1203. " The English 
 ting having lost a great part of his territories in France returned to England. 
 On his arrival he gave Joan, a daughter which he had by a lady of the house of 
 Ferrars, in marriage to Llewelyn ; as a reward of the due observance of the late 
 treaty ; or as a means of securing those advantages which he might think would 
 naturally result from such an alliance." 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 511 
 
 cessation of hostilities, which was the grand desideratum 
 of the perilous hour : for in fact each party, at all times, 
 seemed to subscribe to hard terms with a mental reser- 
 vation to break them, as soon as the evil hour had passed 
 away, and a change of fortune enabled them once more to 
 re-fight their battles under better auspices. 
 
 Joan soon became the mother of a prince who was named 
 David. It is not known how early after his birth that she 
 began to play the part of the harsh stepmother towards 
 Griffith, Llewelyn's eldest son, but in course of a few 
 years afterwards it is certain that she had succeeded in 
 her grand aim of alienating the affections of his father 
 from him, and of transferring them to his second son, the 
 young prince of whom we are treating, her own child. 
 
 This is, perhaps, the right place to relate a romantic inci- 
 dent, said to have taken place during the infancy of Prince 
 David, that has long been the subject of a popnlar ballad 
 called Bedd Gelart. The tradition goes that on one occa- 
 sion Llewelyn and his courtiers were enjoying the pleasures of 
 the chase, a damp was thrown upon their enjoyment in conse- 
 quence of the unaccountable absence of one of the best dogs in 
 all the pack, a buck-bound that was a great favourite with his 
 master, presented to him by his royal father-in-law, called 
 Kill'hart, which soon after his arrival in Wales was Welshi- 
 fied into Gelart. The party soon separated, disappointed 
 of their sport, and returned homeward. When Llewelyn 
 entered his dwelling, it appears that the whole of his house- 
 hold were absent ; but he was greeted by the leaping gam- 
 bols of Gelart the moment he appeared. Observing the 
 cradle of his child turned upside down, the dog's mouth and 
 the floor stained with blood, a horrible suspicion seized him 
 that the hound had killed his infant. As the animal leapt 
 on him to invite his usual caresses, maddened with the 
 thought of his supposed bereavement and furious at the 
 sight of the apparent cause, he immediately spurned the 
 fondling creature, and thrust him through with his hunting 
 spear ; when the poor animal gave a piteous whine and fell 
 dead at his master's feet. On turning up the inverted 
 cradle, however, how great was Llewelyn's astonishment 
 
512 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 and joy when he found his infant alive and well, and by the 
 movement of his covering then awakened from his "rosy 
 slumbers." Near the cradle was found a large gaunt 
 wolf, recently destroyed, with many a mark of deadly con- 
 tention gashed upon his fearful carcase. Thus it became 
 manifest that poor Gelart had preserved the royal child, 
 and after a furious encounter killed the wild beast that had 
 stolen into the house to prowl for prey, and according to 
 the voracity of its nature, would have speedily devoured it. 
 The regret of the prince, whose hasty hand had destroyed 
 the most faithful of animals, may be imagined ; and in the 
 well-written ballad before referred to, is very touchiogly 
 described.* 
 
 The hollow peace which followed, in consequence of the 
 intercession of Queen Joan with her father, was soon broken. 
 As it was constructed on terms too galling for the impatient 
 and resentful Cambrians to endure longer than the period 
 when they could once more take the field with advantage, 
 they became the wilful aggressors, and both countries were 
 again involved in all the horrors of a vindictive and un- 
 sparing war. But as the lady of this memoir is not per- 
 sonally concerned in the conflicts of these times (which 
 indeed have been partially narrated in our memoirs of 
 Gwladys and Sina, the daughter-in-law and daughter of 
 Llewelyn ab Iorwerth) any further reference to them is here 
 unnecessary. 
 
 As young Griffith advanced towards manhood it is pro- 
 bable that he grew impatient of the restraints wantonly 
 imposed upon his ardent disposition, and the consequent 
 discomfort of his paternal home, from the marked favouritism 
 evinced by his English stepmother towards his half-brother 
 David, could not but produce their natural effect. The 
 artifices of Joan, aided by the unequivocal symptoms of 
 discontent and turbulence which her usage had first im- 
 planted in the breast of Griffith, in the course of time had 
 
 * This incident gave rise to the proverbial saying among the Welsh in cases 
 of intense regret for untoward occurrences, " I am sorry as the man who killed 
 his greyhound." 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAW. 518 
 
 their long-sought effect of embroiling him with his father. 
 As we find that the rental of certain districts was appro- 
 priated for the maintenance of this unhappy prince, we may 
 conclude that he had then quitted the paternal roof, and 
 commenced an establishment of his own. In early life, 
 probably soon after he had entered upon his new home, he 
 married his cousin, the beautiful and virtuous Sina, as 
 related in her memoir. As a young family followed this 
 union Griffith soon found that the revenues derived from the 
 cantrevs or townships assigned him by his father, inadequate 
 to his enlarged expenses. It is probable that after many 
 ineffectual remonstrances with his father, in a fatal hour he 
 seized on the possession of other lands, in defiance of his 
 parent and sovereign's refusal to grant them at his repeated 
 solicitation. This daring and inexcusable conduct on the 
 part of Griffith created a breach between the father and son 
 which time could never.close. 
 
 The disastrous events which followed, justify us in attri- 
 buting to Joan the entire foundation and progress of the 
 present unhappy order of things. As she had succeeded so 
 well in alienating the affections of her lord from his elder 
 son, and transferring them undividedly to the younger, she 
 soon conceived the bolder project of gaining the succession 
 to the crown for David ; which could only be done by work- 
 ing out her schemes for the disinheriting of Griffith. 
 
 Stimulated doubtless, by the artifices of this designing 
 and unprincipled princess, Llewelyn ultimately beheld in his 
 once beloved elder son, a dangerous rival, whose popularity 
 with the nobles, and audacity towards him, tended to the 
 forcible seizure of the crown and his own dethronement* 
 Yielding to such insidious suggestions he was at length 
 induced to violate the law of primogeniture and declare is 
 younger son the future inheritor of the sovereignty, while 
 the gallant Griffith became a captive, immured for life in a 
 gloomy fortress. Thus the wily Joan attained the summit 
 of her desires, the object of all her criminal machinations, in 
 the exaltation of her own son by the ruin of his elder brother; 
 but as Griffith was the idol of the array and the favourite of 
 the people, she shared the odium of his imprisonment with 
 
514 THE PRINCESS JO AH. 
 
 his misguided father. This act of weakness and injustice on 
 the part of the great and heroic Llewelyn ah Iorwerth, was 
 the most censurable and unpopular proceeding of his long 
 and distinguished reign, and became a prolific source of 
 national disasters long after his decease. 
 
 It is possible that the world in its lenient allowances for 
 the frailties of humanity, and the temptations to injustice to 
 which maternal affection had incited her, might in some 
 degree pardon or find excuses for her conduct, had her 
 bearing in other respects proved worthy of her exalted 
 station in society ; but unfortunately for the fame of Joan 
 we have next to present her in an unfavourable phase, the 
 least to be expected, from the absence of all incitement to 
 her peculiar misdeed ; and for which nothing can be put 
 forth in extenuation of the criminalty. 
 
 Every detail in the private life of Llewely n ab Iorwerth 
 tends to prove that he was no less a hero in the field, than 
 the most tender and indulgent of husbands in the domestic 
 circle. His boundless affection for his second queen misled 
 him to the perpetration of the principal error of his eventful 
 life ; but there is more to be related of him in that character 
 than has yet fallen under general observation. This prince 
 had a favourite country residence called Trevriew, situate 
 by the village and port still bearing that name, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Llanrhwst. It was here he spent the happiest 
 hours of his life, and was probably the place where David 
 was born and nursed, and where the affair of the dog 
 Gelart, as before related, is supposed to have occurred. In 
 this happy spot, so prolific of felicitous reminiscences, there 
 appears to have been but one drawback on domestic comfort 
 and convenience ; the church was so preposterously ill situ- 
 ated, and so far from the house, as not to be approachable 
 by either horse or carriage — it stood on a mountain. Ac- 
 cording to the custom rather than the piety of those days, 
 Queen Joan and the ladies of her court went to church 
 daily, and frequently twice a day, on .foot, having to walk 
 or rather to climb, over the precipitous sides of an Alpine 
 height to reacnthe church of Llanrhychwyn, and afterwards 
 to descend the same way, when their devotions were over. 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 515 
 
 To obviate such discomfort, Llewelyn developed a feature 
 in his character for which no historian has hitherto given 
 him credit — that of a prince of great gallantry, in the ladies 
 sense of the term, though probably that was one of the least 
 points of appreciation that a truly great man should ever 
 covet. He caused a church to be built at Trevriew ; so 
 that in future neither the queen nor her ladies would be 
 further subjected to the miseries of a rough ramble during 
 the inclemencies of winter or the sultriness of summer. 
 
 As this lady ultimately attained the utmost height of the 
 vile st s pecies of notoriety that can distinguish a bad wo- 
 man, that of the faithless wife and paramour of the profli- 
 gate, we hold ourselves justified in pausing at this period of 
 her history, to scrutinize the motives which could actuate 
 her in the assumption of a characteristic in reality so foreign 
 to her as piety : especially as certain authors, more Quixotic 
 than judicious, have embraced the honour of becoming her 
 vindicators, her knight-errants forsooth ! to do battle for 
 her with the perverted pen of pseud o history, by aspersing 
 the character of her heroic and too indulgent husband and 
 sovereign. Although a semblance of extreme devotion by 
 constant attendance at church has often gained a saintly 
 reputation, we may be permitted to doubt the saintliness of 
 the daughter of King John, and the motives which urged 
 her so often up and down the mountain's side, to and from 
 the place of prayer and devotion to the service of the benign 
 Father of the universe, when we reflect how frequently, in all 
 countries, the sacred fane has been the scene of the most un- 
 hallowed intrigues and licentious assignations ;— more espe- 
 cially when we couple these general suggestions with the 
 particular fact, about to be related; proving her predilection 
 for her own countrymen, by the circumstance that she 
 sacrificed her honest fame and virtue to the first English- 
 man that came in her way, while she was the reigning 
 consort of a British prince and mother of the heir-apparent 
 to his throne. May we not believe then, notwithstanding 
 the paucity of written record, that Joan found among the 
 priesthood of Lanrhchwyn church some of her own 
 countrymen, whose nationality and subservient aid were 
 2 v 
 
516 the Princess joan. 
 
 ready at her beck to forward her secret messages to Eng- 
 land, with whose sovereign and subjects it is certain she 
 communed on other matters than those of the communion 
 of saints in the confessional of sinners ? In Wynn's history 
 of Wales, Joan is emphatically styled «' a sljcwwnan ;" and 
 doubtless she is open to more than suspicion, a3 an intrig- 
 uante, both in political and amatory matters : and it is not 
 to be imagined that a woman of her character was without 
 her devoted and favoured admirers before she left her fa- 
 ther's court, or that she afterwards failed to divulge those 
 political occurrences of her time, to favour the land of her 
 birth at the expense of the country which had adopted her 
 as its daughter when she became its queen.* It has been 
 seen, at that part of his career immediately following his 
 union with Joan, that it was the custom of Llewelyn to 
 take his wife with him to his camp ; doubtless his motives 
 may be construed into other views and feelings than those 
 assignable to an uxorious husband ; and while many a 
 jealous Cambrian perhaps too readily would view her in the 
 light of a spy of England in the disguise of a Welsh queen, 
 even Llewelyn himself, immoderately attached to her as he 
 was, does not appear at this time to have yielded her his 
 entire confidence, as by taking her wherever he went, it 
 may be inferred that he seemed to distrust her from under 
 his own eye and observance. The instance we have related 
 of her interference with her father to procure a peace at so 
 perilous a period, doubtless gained her a degree of popu- 
 larity with the Welsh which they had previously denied 
 her ; for, to the youth and beauty of this " sly woman'* 
 were now added the claims of address in successful negocia- 
 tion, and supposed patriotism towards the country of her 
 transplantation. Whatever favour and consideration she 
 may have thus won with the warriors of Wales, the bound- 
 less affection of Llewelyn was soon manifest, and to such an 
 
 * In the year 1212, memorable for the most atrocious conduct on the part 
 of King John, in causing twenty-eight Welsh hostages, which had been deli- 
 vered up to him at the late peace, to be hanged ; Queen Joan in two instances, 
 caused intelligence to be conveyed to her father apprizing him of the peril in 
 which he stood from the confederacy formed between Llewelyn and the mal- 
 content barons of England. V ^yS 
 
the princess Joan. 517 
 
 inordinate degree that all future caution and distrust on his 
 part were lost for ever. It would appear that nothing short 
 of the severe blow which he was destined to endure in his 
 connubial attachment, seemed capable of rousing him from 
 his delusive and unfortunate attachment. 
 
 As the most memorable event in the life of the lady of 
 this memoir now comes under notice, a brief transcript of 
 the history of these times becomes necessary, to show the 
 connection it bears with the private conduct of the characters 
 under consideration. At this period King John, the father 
 of Joan, was dead ; and his son Henry III. wore the crown 
 of England. We transcribe from Theophilus Jones's 
 History of Breconshire the following account of the conclu- 
 sion of the war then pending between the two nations, 
 previous to the introduction on the stage of this memoir, of 
 a character who has to play a very conspicuous part in the 
 drama of our heroine's life; the English baron William de 
 Breos the younger, who was taken prisoner by Llewelyn, at 
 the siege of Montgomery Castle. 
 
 "War still raged in the marches; the king of England 
 heading his own troops, made vigorous effects to conquer the 
 principality; while on the other hand Llewelyn strained 
 every nerve to maintain his independence. The English 
 monarch soon after his irruption into the Borders led his 
 army into Ceru (Kerry), in Montgomeryshire, to a place 
 called Creigiau (the rocks), after having in his march 
 thither compelled the Welsh to raise the siege of Mont- 
 gomery. At Ceru much time was spent in cutting down a 
 wood of vast extent, which had frequently protected the 
 Welsh from the incursions of the English, and in the centre 
 of which was a castellated mansion, or as others say, a 
 religious house, serving as a place of security to the in- 
 habitants in case of a sudden irruption or unexpected attack 
 from an enemy.* This building was reduced to ashes ; and 
 
 * Warrington, on the authority of Matthew Paris, states thus (after raising 
 the siege of Montgomery), " Having received a reinforcement, Henry ventured 
 to penetrate the recesses of the forest. With infinite difficulty he opened a 
 passage for his army by setting fire to the woods, and at length arrived at a 
 solitary place called Cridia, of the Carmelite order, an abbey belonging to the 
 
518 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 as its site was thought almost inaccessible, Henry by the 
 advice of his officers, laid the foundation of a castle on the 
 spot where it stood. But Llewelyn, though hitherto re- 
 pulsed, was very far from being subdued; nor was it his 
 disposition to remain idle, while the enemy was working 
 into the interior of his dominions. With an eagle eye he 
 watched the movements and intercepted the convoys of the 
 king of England ; and sometimes cut in pieces his foraging 
 parties. It was in one of these excursions that the notorious 
 William de Breos was taken prisoner by the Welsh ; and 
 although the whole territory of Buallt (Builth) was offered 
 for his ransom, it was refused b} r Llewelyn. 
 
 Henry awakened by these losses, and having some reason 
 to suspect treachery among his officers, who, as it was said, 
 corresponded with the enemy, and made him acquainted 
 with his plans, at length thought proper to abandon the en- 
 terprise, and to leave the intended fortress unfinished* 
 After three months fruitless waste of time and labour, and 
 the loss of many men, during which period he had expe- 
 rienced nothing but mortification, he yielded to the sugges- 
 tions of his barons, and consented to make a peace with 
 Llewelyn ; even upon the disgraceful terms of levelling with 
 the ground all the works which he had constructed, and 
 nearly completed, at an immense expense. The Welsh 
 prince on his part, engaging to pay him three thousand 
 marks, as a compensation for the materials left on the spot ; 
 and consenting that in future the lord of Ceru should hold 
 his territory as a fief of the crown of England. As a proof 
 of the low estimate set upon his merits by his sovereign, 
 Henry made no stipulation in favour of William de Breos, 
 but suffered him to remain a prisoner with Llewelyn. The 
 Welsh prince treated him less like a captive than as an 
 honored guest. He ate at his table in company with the 
 sovereign and his queen, and passed his hours pleasantly, 
 in social intercourse, without the least appearance of re- 
 
 White Friars. Having been informed that this religious house had been used by 
 the Welsh as a place of retreat, he laid itin ashes ; and its situation being deemed 
 impregnable, Hubert de Burgh, with the kings's consent, commenced tb.e 
 foundation of a castle on the ruins of the monastery." 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 519 
 
 straint; nor was his detention subjected to the formality of 
 captivity, further than was necessary for his secure keeping. 
 But the baseness of this man soon became hideously ap- 
 parent by the unworthy returns which he made for this 
 generous confidence and princely treatment. However his 
 ingratitude was not of a darker dye than might have been 
 expected, had the character of the perfidious prisoner been 
 sooner known. 
 
 This William de Breos has been confounded by some 
 writers, with the elder Baron of that name, whose memoirs 
 have been given in this work, in connection with those of 
 his wife Maud de Haia. But the younger William de 
 Breos, the captive of Llewelyn, of whom we are now treat- 
 ing, was the elder son of Reginald de Breos, by his first 
 wife ; (be it remembered, not by his second wife, who was 
 Gwladys Ddu, the daughter of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth) : 
 Reginald being the son of William de Breos, senior, it 
 follows that this captive was the grandson of the infamous 
 man-slaughterer of Abergavenny castle and the vile Maud 
 above-mentioned ; and quite worthy of the line from which 
 he descended. According to Theophilus Jones, from whose 
 history we now quote, this Baron, though less celebrated 
 for blood-shedding propensities, was, like his grandsire, 
 one of the most unprincipled of men ; as is proved by the 
 following recorded facts. " William de Breos, the then 
 lord of Gower, was a dissolute and expensive man of ruined 
 fortune, who had carried on a swindling transaction, in 
 selling certain estates of his, to three different persons, 
 taking the payment for them from each, unknown to the 
 other, but delivering up the possession of the property to 
 neither. In the first place he had agreed to sell them to 
 the earl of Hereford ; then, to the two Mortimers, who 
 Were ignorant of any former sale ; and lastly to Hugh de 
 Spencer. There was even another claimant defrauded in 
 these transactions, John de Breos, who had married the 
 daughter of the elder William de Breos, insisted upon her 
 right to the inheritance. Soon after he had swindled, 
 baffled, and embroiled them all, it was his lot to be taken 
 prisoner by Llewelyn ab Iorwerth. 
 
 2 v 2 
 
520 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 It appears that during the light and pleasant captivity of 
 William de Breos, according to the heartless profligacy of 
 his character, forgetting all ties of honour, gratitude or 
 friendship towards his confiding host, as Llewelyn may 
 truly be considered, rather than the rigid master of his fate, 
 he insinuated himself into the good graces of the queen ; 
 and ultimately was admitted into criminal familiarities with 
 her. Utterly ignorant of the atrocious conduct of De Breos, 
 or the faithlessness of his traitress wife, and finding the 
 king of Engl*id seemed indifferent about his fate, Llewelyn 
 compassionating his long -continued detention, accepted the 
 terms of ransom which he had previously refused. The 
 castle of Buallt (Builth), and the territories included in 
 that district being surrendered into the hands of Llewelyn, 
 and a considerable sum of money also paid to him, De 
 Breos was liberated, and he returned to his lordship of 
 Gower, in Glamorganshire. 
 
 Soon after his departure, the generous and ill requited 
 prince of Wales had the bitter mortification to become ac- 
 quainted with the intrigue which had been carried on 
 between De Breos and queen Joan, and all the particulars 
 of his dishonour. It is probable that Llewelyn gained that 
 information, in the first instance, from an English baron 
 named Hubert de Burgh, whose correspondence with the 
 Welsh prince afterwards became the subject of a charge 
 against him, affecting even his life.* Llewelyn might have 
 but slight cause for doubting the truth of De Burgh's state- 
 ment, as that baron seems to have been so greatly attached 
 to him as to have become a traitor to his own imbecile 
 sovereign, in his intense admiration of the heroic prince of 
 Wales ; yet as he knew that a very rancorous spirit of hatred 
 existed among the English barons towards each other, 
 doubtless he was anxious to the last to hug the consolatory 
 idea that the heinous charge against his queen possibly 
 originated in such a pique. The character of De Breos 
 
 * As a commentary on the superstition prevalent among the English, even 
 of the highest class, at this period, it may be mentioned, that one of the 
 charges against Hubert de Burgh was that of " stealing a precious stone from 
 the king's treasury, which had the virtue of rendering the wearer of it invul- 
 nerable in battle ; and sending the same to Llewelyn, the king's enemy." 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 521 
 
 warrants the probability that Hubert de Burgh gained the 
 knowledga on which he founded his report from the very 
 mouth of the former, whose vanity would prompt him to 
 boast of the happy issue of his proceedings during his cap- 
 tivity ; like all such wretches, little scrupulous of compro- 
 mising his victim, or partner in guilt, and involving her in 
 the ruin which would follow the discovery of her criminality. 
 Fatally for the peace of the prince, when he investigated 
 the matter among his courtiers and domestics, contrary to 
 what we must conceive to have been his most ardent 
 desire, the result proved confirmatory of his previous 
 information. The tradition goes, that in a deep glen ad- 
 joining the grounds, belonging to the palace of Aber, the 
 amorous pair had been overlooked by an officer of the 
 palace under circumstances too decisive to admit of the 
 least incertitude respecting their guilt. Until called upon 
 by his prince for his testimony, it is but the natural result 
 of cautious prudence that this witness should conceal a 
 matter that so deeply involved the character of the queen ; 
 and that when rumour pointed him out as the original 
 master of the secret, to have related all he knew when au- 
 thoritatively so required. That Llewelyn should have been 
 incredulous on the subject in the first instance, was natural 
 enough, as Joan was at this time several years the senior of 
 De Breos, although younger than himself; she had arrived 
 at least at the mature age of forty-three, while the English 
 baron could not have been above four or five and thirty. 
 But when the attractive persons and winning powers of 
 some English women at that period of life is considered, 
 there is nothing in the difference of their respective ages 
 to cast the slightest shade on the probability of the 
 occurrence.* 
 
 Exasperated to frenzy on fully ascertaining the infidelity 
 of his wife, whom he had so fondly loved aud tenderly in- 
 dulged, for the twenty-seven years that she had been his 
 
 * It will be remembered that " fat, fair, and forty," was the beau-ideal of 
 female attraction with George TV., supposed in his day to have been the best 
 judge in England of such matters ; William de Breos appears to have enter- 
 tained a similar taste, in reference to the two last requisitions, but queen Joan, 
 it appears, from the sculptured likeness on her coffin, was by no means fat. 
 
522 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 queen, to the very summit of her expressed desires, he 
 determined to be most signally revenged on her atrocious 
 gallant. Thus resolved, the prince of Wales, apparently 
 in the same cordial spirit of friendship which had marked 
 their late intercourse and parting, sent De Breos a formal 
 invitation to visit him at his palace of Aber, to enjoy with 
 him the hospitalities of his castle during the festivities of 
 Easter ; which season, immediately following the austeri- 
 ties of lent, was usually felt and enjoyed as the gayest and 
 most exhiierating of the festivals sanctioned and patronized 
 by the church of Rome. The voluptuous English baron, 
 delighted with the prospect of duping again his former gen- 
 erous host, was nothing slow in accepting the welcome 
 invitation, doubtless anticipating with sanguine eagerness, 
 a repetition of his former intercourse with the frail queen 
 of Llewelyn. 
 
 On the arrival of William de Breos a sumptuous banquet 
 was served, worthy the board of a sovereign prince ; but 
 the Lord of Gower was doubtless surprised at the absence 
 of the fair hostess from, the table she had been accustomed 
 to grace ; and the unwonted gloom that pervaded the once 
 gay hall of Aber. We may conceive from the feelings 
 which may be supposed to agitate the host, and participated 
 in by his adherents, that this ominous meal was partaken of 
 in the dark silence befitting a feast of vengeance, the pro- 
 longed continuance of which was calculated both to astonish 
 and alarm the guilty guest. The mystery however, was at 
 length solved; giving him to understand the secret of his 
 inveiglement, Llewelyn first reproached the profligate with 
 his crime, and then commanded him to be ignominiously 
 dragged out of his presence, and hanged upon a tree of con- 
 spicuous appearance, situate on a rising ground within the 
 immediate precincts of the palace.* 
 
 * Warrington relates this matter thus. "Llewelyn had yet another blow 
 to sustain, which was an injury of all others the mosi, poignant. William de 
 Breos taken prisoner at the affair of Montgomery, on paying a ransom of three 
 thousand marks had been released from his captivity the following year. He 
 soon after, by surprise, fell again into the same situation ; and, as it is said, 
 having been discovered in carrying on an amour with the Welsh princess, tha 
 sister of Henry, and the wife of Llewelyn, he suffered an ignominious death by 
 the command of the injured husband." A few lines further on this very partial 
 author calls this offender's execution a murder. 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 523 
 
 The enraged prince was but too readily obeyed ; for there 
 was no friend at hand to intercede fur a mitigation of his 
 punishment : and vengeance on the villanous foreigner who 
 had dishonoured their prince and nation, and abused the 
 sacred attributes of friendship and hospitality, was the gen- 
 eral feeling of that assemblage of Welshmen. Foredoomed 
 as he was, the business of his execution was brief enough 
 and soon over: when a wild savage shout, from the sur- 
 rounding guests, vassals, and inmates of Aber, rent the air, 
 nd announced that the enemy of their sovereign, the high 
 and haughty William de Breos was no more to be numbered 
 among existing mortals. 
 
 On the establishment of the queen's guilt we are not 
 informed how she was disposed of, but may conceive that 
 imprisonment in one of the tower chambers of the castle 
 became her immediate doom. Tradision however, has given 
 us a clue by which to judge of the temper wherewith she 
 met her disgrace. Most assuredly it was any thing but 
 what might be expected of a penitent ; for of any emotion 
 of humbled contrition her haughty soul seemed utterly 
 incapable. Pride and insolent defiance of any fate that 
 might befal her, in consequence of her discovered treachery 
 towards her ever indulgent lord, and her vaunted avowal of 
 her guilty preference for her gallant — the vulgar semblance 
 of the heroism of the hardenened death- defying criminal — 
 appear to have been the most prominent characteristics of 
 Joan Plantaganet, in the wild hour of her detection and 
 punishment. The common tradition of the country reports, 
 that the bard of the palace, partaking in the highest degree 
 of the popular resentment against the queen and her gallant* 
 presented himself before her at the moment of his death- 
 struggles, and addressed her in the following couplet :— 
 
 " Hark'ee, wife of prince Llewelyn,* 
 What wilt thou give to see thy GwiLym ? 
 
 * The bard addressed th e queen of course in Welsh ; and as she had been 
 twenty-seven years in Wales, her capability of answering in the same language 
 cannot be doubted. The bard's vernacular strain ran thus : 
 
 Diccin doccin wraig Llewelyn 
 Beth a roedd am gweled Gvvilyrn ? 
 
524 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 To which she immediately answered, in a strain of similar 
 brevity, 
 
 " England, Wales, and aye Llewelyn,* 
 All all I'd give to see my Gwilym." 
 
 When the bard, emphatically pointing through the eye- 
 let or loop-hole that overlooked the scene of the execution, 
 exclaimed triumphantly, 
 
 " Then behold him there 1" 
 
 when her eyes fell upon the suspended form of De Breos, 
 gibbetted on the branch of that great oak, beneath whose 
 shade they had often sat together. 
 
 It is probable that Joan in the first instance imagined her 
 divorce from Llewelyn would be the only consequence of the 
 discovery and exposure of her crime ; scarcely aware it seems, 
 as she had witnessed principally the mildest aspect of his 
 character, that ber lord was as terrible in his wrath as tender 
 in his connubial affections. But when the dreadful fact of 
 her favorite's destruction was presented to her view, we 
 should conclude that after her excitement was succeeded by 
 a natural transition to the state of exhaustion and lassitude 
 that ever follows the ebullisions of high passion, that dread 
 for her own fate would mingle with the horrors of the hour ; 
 and wholesomely aid to subdue the insolent defiance of her 
 demeanour. 
 
 The body of William de Breos was buried in a field near 
 the place of his execution, thence called Cae Gwilym Ddu, 
 Black William's field ; a designation which it still retains.^ 
 
 * And the queen's reply, 
 
 Cymru, Lloegr a Llewelyn, 
 
 A rhown y gyd am weled Gwilym. 
 
 t This enclosure is in the parish of Llandegai, Carnarvonshire. Pennant 
 states that at the entrance of a deep glen near Aber, there is a very large 
 artificial mount nearly adjoining the village of Mwd, flat at the top, and near 
 sixty feet in diameter, widening towards the base, on which once stood the 
 castle of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth. Some of the foundations he says, are yet to 
 be discovered near the summit ; find in digging there the vestiges of buildings, 
 the moat and its feeder may be found. From this height it is said the detec- 
 tion of the intrigue which led to this tragic catastrophe took phice. 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 525 
 
 Gwilym Ddu was the usual term applied to him by the 
 Welsh, either from the colour of his hair and dark com- 
 plexion, or from the sense they entertained of the blackness 
 of his treachery : perhaps both. 
 
 Respecting the execution of this unpopular man War- 
 rington remarks, " whether the crime for which he suffered 
 was real, or only imputed to him, as a pretext for vengeance, 
 his fate however was justly due to the tenor of a life deeply 
 tinged by perfidy, and marked by the bloody traces of a spirit 
 the most cruel and ferocious " 
 
 Bad as was the character of William de Breos the younger, 
 he is here charged with vices by no means attributable to 
 him ; and the latter part of the above sentence, as well as 
 the entire references to him in Warrington's History of 
 Wales, prove that author to have committed the glaring 
 error, inexcusable in a national historian, of confounding 
 the two relatives of the same name together, and making 
 the grandfather and grandson to be one and the same 
 person. 
 
 The insinuation contained in the former part of the pas- 
 sage ; which tends to cast a doubt on the reality of the 
 crime for which the younger De Breos suffered, is one in 
 which many writers have delighted to indulge ; and which 
 appears to have been founded, originally, on an assertion of 
 Matthew of Westminster, that he was put to death without 
 reason. Other authors have repeated the assumption, but 
 not one has given any thing like a sufficient ground for the 
 establishment of such a doubt. One of the charges made 
 in England against Hubert de Burgh, was, that in conse- 
 quence of the information given by him to prince Llewelyn, 
 that William de Breos was hanged like a common thief; 
 but in that charge it is by no means asserted, assumed, or 
 even insinuated that such information was false : and that 
 the prince of Wales discovered corroborative circumstances 
 at home, that warranted the truth of the tidings which he 
 had received, is supported both by probability and the gen- 
 eral tradition of the country. 
 
 It appears that queen Joan survived her disgrace six 
 years, and died in the year 1236 ; and that with the ce3- 
 
526 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 sation of her life, if not sooner, died also the resentment of 
 her injured lord. It is probable that she lived the latter 
 portion other life separated from her husband, in a secluded 
 part of the castle, under the influence and surveilance of 
 the priesthood, practising all the austerities of penance en- 
 joined by the catholic church, or suggested by her own 
 intense sense of contrition. That she ultimately died a 
 sincere penitent, there is every reason to believe. What 
 would appear to be a keen feeling of self-condemning 
 humiliation and repentance, urged her to request that her 
 remains should be buried in unconsecrated ground, thus in 
 the truest sentiments of elevated piety and contrition, stig- 
 matizing herself in a religious sense as one of the vilest of 
 offenders. The spot which she selected as her final resting 
 place was on the open shore, near Beaumaris in the Island 
 of Anglesea, in aftertime kDown by the name of Llanvaes, 
 where she was interred accordingly. On the lid of her 
 stone coffin, that coffin like its occupant of memorable his- 
 tory ! there was carved a female bust with a fine face, sup- 
 posed to have been a likeness of the princess Joan, with the 
 head envelloped in the drapery of a nun, with upraised 
 hands, as in the act of prayer, and pleading for mercy. 
 This attitude, v> ith the adoption of the monastic garb, which 
 probably was her only costume since the catastrophe which 
 consigned her to seclusion, we should regard as another 
 indication of her penitential spirit which marked the closing 
 period of her life. 
 
 Remembering the many happy years which he had en- 
 joyed in the society of his late queen, before a shadow of 
 guilt could be cast on her fair fame, and perhaps affected 
 with the striking evidences of her repentance, Llewelyn's 
 resentment appears to have been appeased. Agreeably to 
 the generosity of his character he gave an affecting proof of 
 his tender reminiscenses of their happier days, and ultimate 
 forgiveness of his queen's offences, by the manner in which 
 he caused the obscure spot of her interment to be honoured, 
 and as it were enshrined, on the wild sea shore. With his 
 usual bias for underrating the virtues of this prince War- 
 rington finds less liberal motives for his conduct on th»s 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 527 
 
 occasion ; he says, "to do honour to her brother the king of 
 England, or as a tender memorial of regard, Llewelyn 
 erected over the grave of this princess a monastery of bare- 
 footed friars ; a testimony of respect to her memory which 
 renders it at least doubtful the criminal part of her conduct; 
 and may in some degree take away the stain which history 
 has cast upon her fame,' 1 
 
 When we consider the superstition of these times, and 
 the general belief that the souls of the deceased could be 
 liberated from purgatory at the intercession of the priest- 
 hood ; and the belief entertained by Llewelyn himself, that 
 the perpetual masses performed on the very grave of the 
 penitent were efficacious in promoting her eternal felicity, 
 the originality of the conception and the piety of his deed 
 in causing this erection and the establishment of continual 
 devotion, will appear more eminently striking ; and doubt- 
 less in those days gained for him the highest opinion for 
 magnanimous generosity almost allied to a holiness of cha- 
 racter. But paradoxical as it may seem, Warrington in the 
 above quoted passage, has converted one of the most com- 
 mendable traits in the character of Llewelyn into one of the 
 most censurable that could disgrace a barbarian. The 
 inference is, that since he could give such a signal evidence 
 of his tenderness for the memory of this frail princess that 
 consequently she must, or may have been, innocent of the 
 intrigue attributed to her. If the princess Joan was innocent, 
 it follows that her paramour was also untainted with the 
 crime for which he suffered an ignominious death; and 
 that Llewelyn ab Iorwerth was a monstrous combination of 
 falsehood, cruelty, and cold-blooded villany. It also goes 
 to prove that prince to have been an egregious fool, 
 a capricious idiot, that could at one moment by liberal 
 treatment convert a national enemy and captive of war into 
 a supposed friend ; ultimately parting with him with the 
 utmost cordiality, and then in the course of a few weeks, 
 could treacherously lure the same individual back into his 
 castle : and instead of acting the hospitable host as formerly, 
 could now become his hangman. In this freak of inconsistent 
 ferocity it also infers that he could malign the spotless cha- 
 2 w 
 
528 THE PRINCESS JOAK. 
 
 racter of a dearly beloved wife with whom he had lived 
 happily twenty-seven years, cast her from him as a polluted 
 wretch, and branding the memory of her who was the 
 mother of his heir apparent to the throne with one of the 
 foulest stigmas in the catalogue of human infamies. 
 
 Until a more probable reason than mere savage capri- 
 ciousness and a motiveless love of cruelty, here imputed to 
 Llewelyn, can be advanced to account for his severity in 
 the one case, and his tenderness in the other — (we refer to 
 the execution of William de Breos, and the erection of a 
 monastery on the grave of his departed queen), the most 
 rigid examination of the question calls for the ultimate con- 
 clusion which we have recorded in our previous pages. 
 Far be it from the author of this work to be biassed by 
 nationality so far as to violate the integrity of history by 
 putting forth any undue claims in favour of this prince ; or 
 to assert anything commendable of him, that cannot b& sup- 
 ported by well attested written record. It is not pretended, 
 nor would such an assumption be at all admissible, that this 
 gallant sovereign of an insolated small nation was imbued 
 with the finely balanced qualities that would grace a Roman 
 patriot and legislative statesman. Llewelyn ab lorwerth 
 was too compassionately generous, to possess at the same 
 time the inexorable severity of Roman justice, as exem- 
 plified in a Brutus or Alexander Severus. Amidst the 
 the faults of character attributable to him he undeniably 
 possessed one redeeming grace ; that same which in a Caesar 
 and Napoleon have been approvingly commented on, and 
 declared by the universal suffrage of mankind to have been 
 the fairest feather in their cap of eminence ; the finest jewel 
 in their tiara of dominion — we mean his magnanimous 
 clemency. Who that has studied his history will be dis- 
 posed to deny that the sovereign and husband of the princess 
 of our memoir was remarkable for a most gracious and for- 
 giving disposition towards those offenders whom both per- 
 sonal resentment and the severity of justice would have 
 doomed to the most fatal of catastrophes? the wilful 
 blindess of historians to this ruling feature in his character 
 seems unaccountable, when the most prominent details of 
 
•!?HE PRINCESS JOAN. 529 
 
 his life very forcibly attest that clemency — the generous 
 forgiveness of the most irritating vexatious and galling 
 injuries, marked the entire course of his dealings with 
 mankind. 
 
 In proof of the truth of what may yet appear mere 
 assertion, we shall refer to history ; even Warrington's own 
 history of this heroic, generous, and greatly calumniated 
 prince of Wales ; the last but two, of our native Cambrian 
 sovereigns. 
 
 We commence with the period when his father Iorwerth 
 ab Owen Gwyneth was deprived of his legitimate succession 
 to the throne of North Wales, by the usurpation of his 
 brother David. By an appeal to the nobility of the country, 
 Llewelyn ab Iorwerth was adjudged to be rightful ruler of 
 the land*, and accordingly his uncle was dethroned, and the 
 former quietly ascended the throne of his ancestors. Thus, 
 at the bright period when the star of young Llewelyn was 
 for the first time in the ascendant, and the power to avenge 
 the injuries of years became his own, he contented himself 
 by merely discrowning this malignant relative. He did not, 
 according to the fierce examples of the age, visit him with 
 the deadly vengeance of an infuriated son in his hour of 
 triumph, for the cruelty of years, who had imprisoned his 
 father for life. He did not even subject him to the restraint 
 of temporary captivity for a single day, but left him in 
 possession of certain districts and fortresses for his future 
 revenue. When the ingratitude and ambition of the 
 dethroned David induced him in the year 1197 to take the 
 field, with the aid of an English army, with the view of recover- 
 ing the crown, Llewelyn was fortunate enough to defeat his 
 ■combined forces, and again made this uncle his prisoner. 
 Although his personal security required that his enemy- 
 should now be doomed to perpetual confinement, such was 
 the compassionate spirit of this young prince, that after a 
 very brief detention, he once more set his uncle at liberty. 
 But David ab Owen Gwyneth, mad for recovering the 
 royalty he had lost, was so entirely wrapped up in his own 
 selfishness, void of all generosity himself, proved utterly 
 incapable of appreciating these noble instances of forbearance 
 
530 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 and leniency in his nephew, again rebelled against him, and 
 made a third attempt to dethrone him. It was only after 
 defeating and making him his prisoner the third time that 
 Llewelyn saw the folly of a further extension of mercy to 
 a being so unworthy of it, and perceived the necessity for 
 the preservation of the country's peace, of preventing the 
 recurrence of any further abuse of his clemency ; therefore 
 he no longer stood between his ferocious relative and the 
 approaching destruction which ultimately overwhelmed 
 him.* 
 
 This generosity of character which so eminently distin- 
 guished his early life did not decline either at the period of 
 his middle life, or even of his advanced age, when the 
 treachery and selfishness which he experienced might well 
 have warranted a striking change in his conduct while 
 dealing with such flagrant offenders as opposed him in his 
 private and public character. 
 
 When Reginald de Breos was united in marriage with 
 Gwladys Ddu, the well-dowered daughter of Llewelyn, the 
 prince loaded him with his favors ; so that he might naturally 
 reckon on bis future faithfulness and friendship, independent 
 of the ties of relationship. The reverse of these expectations, 
 however soon followed. Reginald became the partizan of the 
 English king, and turned his arms against his father-in-law. 
 When this vacillating baron again shifted in disgust from 
 his native banners, and the service of the despicable John, 
 and sought the forgiveness of Llewelyn, he was received by 
 him, like the prodigal in the Gospel, with open arms, and his 
 former treacheries were overlooked and pardoned. On the 
 death of John, when Henry III. ascended the throne, seem- 
 ingly aware of the mercenary nature of the man, he sought 
 to detach Reginald de Breos again from the interests of his 
 father-in-law, by an offer of restoring to him his forfeited 
 English estates. The worthy Reginald, with his usual 
 inconstancy, once more swerved from the cause of Llewelyn, 
 and once more when his Welsh estates were about to be lost 
 
 * According to the Welsh chronicles, some time after this defeat and confine- 
 ment, he once more unsuccessfully made head against his nephew, and with his 
 son Owen was slain in his retreat to Conway. 
 
THE PRINCESS JOAN. 531 
 
 to him, shamelessly sought his pardoD and favor. la our 
 memoir of Gwladys Ddu, the wife of this noble weathercock 
 we have stated in what manner the last reconciliation was 
 effected, to which we refer the reader. The heartiness with 
 which Llewelyn then accorded his forgiveness, and by his 
 frank and open bearing put it again in Reginald's power to 
 be ungrateful, indicates on the part of this generous prince 
 a heart abounding with the charities of humanity; and a 
 conduct, under very trying circumstances, that entitled him, 
 even more than his gallant feats in arms, to the style of 
 •' great;" so deservedly bestowed on him by his admiring 
 countrymen. 
 
 These instances perhaps would be sufficient to establish 
 for Llewelyn the illustrious character we claim for him; but 
 we might cite also three other memorable cases, wherein the 
 exercise of his most prominent virtue had been manifested. 
 He pardoned Joan repeatedly for the treasonable offences of 
 conveying political intelligence to his great enemy her father, 
 inimical to the interests of Wales, and concealed her 
 delinquency from the nobles of the country. He pardoned 
 a chieftain named Elys or Ellis, and restored his lands to 
 him after they had been forfeited for sedition and rebellion : 
 and under very irritating circumstances he pardoned 
 Gwenwynwyn prince of Powys. After defeating him in 
 battle, and seizing on his dominions, he restored the whole 
 to him, when that crushed rebel made his submission and 
 craved forgiveness and the restitution of his forfeited 
 territories.* After sach signal proofs of his magnanimity, 
 who can possibly be at a loss to account for the impulses 
 which actuated the Prince of Wales to honor the mausoleum 
 of his penitent departed queen? Partial or short-sighted 
 historians, however, rather than concede this ennobling trait 
 of character which eminently distinguished him, have sought 
 every motive but the real one to account for the erection of 
 the monastery over Joan's grave. 
 
 While the smallest portion of the ruined fane marks the 
 spot of this queen's interment, the intellectual traveller will 
 
 * See Warrington's History of Wales, 2nd vol. — Reign of Llewelyn ab 
 Iorwerth. 
 
 2 w 2 
 
532 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 look on it as the venerable fragment of an interesting tale, 
 that has touched the hearts and drawn the sighs of thousands ; 
 the crumbling monument of a strange event, in which the 
 human charities of the olden day triumphed over the demons 
 of vengeance, that had been too long in the ascendant 
 While a taste prevails for the enjoyment of curious historie 
 mementos, so long will the fragment of the ruin of Llanvaes 
 monastery, scanty, rude, and unimposing as it is, remain an 
 object of contemplation and melancholy association with a 
 story of sad import, amidst the stormy period of the Welsh 
 wars of patriotism and independence. 
 
 To descend again to homely detail ; it is certain that what 
 remains of the ruin of Llanvaes monastery, which once 
 "enshrined" the grave of Llewelyn's lady, is only a small 
 portion of the original structure and is said to have been 
 the chapel Edward Pugh in his Cambria Depicta remarks, 
 "whatever might have been its appearance in its original 
 state, it is certain that at present it holds forth no temptation 
 to the artist; it has been converted into a barn, and is 
 precisely of that same common appearance." The history 
 of this fane is as fragmentary as the ruin itself, and 
 correspondingly brief. On its erection, it was consecrated 
 by Bishop Howel of Bangor, and dedicated to Saint 
 Francis.* At the subjugation of Wales the better part of 
 it was burnt during the insurrection of Madoc the natural 
 son of Llewelyn ab Griffith, who could not be supposed to 
 regard with much reverence the monument of a princess 
 whose influence in life had been so injurious to his race. 
 Soon after, when Edward II. visited the spot, and personally 
 witnessed the sufferings of the impoverished brotherhood of 
 friars, who were sheltered beneath the poor remains of the 
 monastery which still stands, he feelingly remitted the taxes 
 claimable from them and due to himself; a proof that this 
 unpopular English king was not without a redeeming share 
 of the gentler charities of humanity; a favorable trait 
 * Pennant states, "I am informed that on the farm of Cremlyn Monach, 
 once the property of the Friars, is cut on a great stone the effigies of its patron 
 St. Francis ; and that his head is also cut on the stone of a wall in the street 
 of Beaumaris, to which al! passengers were required to pay their respects, under 
 pain of a forfeit. 
 
THE PRINCESS JO AN. 533 
 
 scarcely acknowledged by the national historians, addiug'to 
 the affecting interest connected with the fate of the most 
 unfortunate of sovereigns. When the grievances of Owain 
 Glyndwr induced him to oppose Henry IV. the friars of 
 this monastery, like the Franciscans generally throughout 
 the principality, sided with the Welsh chieftain. To avenge 
 himself for their notorious partiality, when that king passed 
 in hostile array through this country, he put to the sword 
 several of the friars who were represented as the most 
 zealous in the cause of Owen, took the rest prisoners, and 
 partially burnt the monastery. Henry V. with the mag- 
 nanimity which graced his princely character, somewhat 
 repaired the injuries done to the buildings by his father, and 
 restored the poor friars to the home from which they had 
 been banished. At the dissolution of religious houses 
 Henry VIII. sold it, together with the farm of Cremlyn 
 Monach, tythes, &c, to one of his favorite courtiers. The 
 son of a Danish king, lord Clifford, and other eminent 
 barons and knights who fell in the wars with the Welsh 
 were buried here. Among these men of blood was interred 
 one of pacific celebrity whose memory is dearer to his 
 countrymen than a host of mere warriors. The renowned 
 bard Griffith Grygg was buried here. He was the con- 
 temporary and friend of the still more celebrated bard 
 Davydd ab Gwilym ; and died about the year 1370. The 
 stone coffin of the princess Joan is in itself the subject of a 
 curious piece of history. 
 
 When the monastery passed into the possession of the 
 bluff Harry Tudor's courtier, that worthy and his myrmidons 
 not satisfied with turning out the poor friars, and ransacking 
 every nook of the building in search of the precious metals 
 or more precious gems of jewellery, in every conceivable 
 place above ground, proceeding next to glut the cravings of 
 avarice by treasure-hunting in the bowels of the earth among 
 the wrecks and horrors of decaying human bodies. Accord- 
 ingly the honored and probably costly, shrine of the lady of 
 this memoir was invaded and stripped. Among other 
 instances of sacrilegious and wanton barbarity, her coffin 
 was disinterred ; and the mouldered remains of its occupant 
 
534 THE PRINCESS JOAN. 
 
 which had rested there two hundred and ninety three years, 
 was turned out, and scattered amidst the common earth of 
 the grave yard. In after time this sculptured stone chest 
 or coffer was removed into the bed of a neighbouring brook, 
 where for two hundred and fifty years it ministered to the 
 service of horses and cattle, in the character of a watering 
 trough. Probably our modern political sect, the utilitarians, 
 might insist on the appropriateness of its station, as a fixture 
 there, to the end of time, and quarrel with the state assigned 
 to it on its next removal. However, the venerating eye of 
 taste and feeling glanced upon this vestige of buried ages, 
 and suggested a discontinuance of the "vile uses" for which 
 it had so long served an ignoble vassalage. It w r as of late 
 years discovered by lord Bulksly, and removed by him to his 
 seat of Baron Hill. There, on a select spot of the beautiful 
 lawn this British sarcophagus of eventful history has been 
 treated as an interesting historical relic, connecting our own 
 times with those of the past. Once more, though empty 
 now, it has been in a manner again enshrined ; for its present 
 noble guardian has caused an elegant gothic building to be 
 erected over it ; a fane of beauty that might be denominated 
 a petile temple worthy of its encyclopedian claim to 
 memorable distinction. The lid of this monumental coffer 
 has also been discovered, and is attached to it in its present 
 situation. The whole was evidently formed as much for 
 durability as ornament ; and in every sense well has it 
 answered the intentions of the original projector. The 
 sides, ends, and bottom, are about four inches thick. From 
 the cavity within, the princess appears to have been about 
 five feet six or seven inches high, sixteen inches over the 
 shoulders, and nine inches deep in the chest. The coffin 
 lid (of which there is a drawing in Pugh's Cambria Depicta,) 
 is boldly carved, with tasteful branching ornaments; and the 
 upper end is especially so, being adorned with a female bust, 
 with upraised hands and a fine face, supposed to be a likeness 
 of the princess Joan, envelloped in the head drapery of 
 a nun. 
 

 THE LADY MATILDA DE LONGSPEE, 
 
 COUNTESS OF SALISBURY, GRAND-DAUGHTER OF PRINCE LLEW- 
 ELYN AB IORWERTH, WIDOW OF WILLIAM DE LONGSPEE, 
 EARL OF SALISBURY, WIFE JOHN GIFFARD OF BRIMSFIELD, 
 AND COUSIN OF PRINCE LLEWELYN,, AB GRIFFITH, THE 
 LAST NATIVE PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The name of this generous woman is endeared to posterity 
 on account of the part she took on the death of her kinsman, 
 the prince Llewelyn ab Griffith, and her strenuous endea- 
 vours to save the hero's body from the barbarous mangle- 
 ment of the English soldiery, and to obtain for him chris- 
 tian burial. Matilda was the only daughter and heiress of 
 Walter de Clifford, govenor of the castles of Carmarthen 
 and Cardigan by his second wife Margaret, daughter of 
 Llewelyn ab Iorwertb, and cousin to the deceased prince. 
 She was first married to William de Longspee, the second 
 earl of Salisbury of that name. She sometimes lived in 
 Clifford castle in Herefordshire, and at other times at Bron- 
 lly's castle in Brecknockshire. On the death of her first 
 husband, she married John Giffard of Brimsfield in Glou- 
 cestershire; who in her right became seized of these pos- 
 sessions. At this critical period of the war between Edward 
 L and Llewelyn, he was so unhappily situated that notwith- 
 standing this family connexion of his wife's, he was com- 
 pelled by his allegiance to his sovereign to become one of 
 the leaders of the English troops by whom Llewelyn was 
 defeated and slain. 
 
 Incidental to our brief notice of this lady, we embrace 
 what has long been vainly sought for by the public — a 
 
 correct; ,, acc ount °f ^ e P2^H£^lH s anc * * ne El£S e ^ wnere tne 
 
 last native sovereign of Wales died in battle ; in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the town of Builth, Breconshire. It has singu- 
 larly happened, that every writer, whether historian, poet, 
 or tourist, who has hitherto undertaken to inform the public 
 of the closing scene of prince Llewelyn ab Griffith's heroic 
 
636 THE LADY MATILDA DE LONGSPEE* 
 
 exertions to liberate his country from the intrusion and 
 tyranny of foreigners — every man of them, with one solitary 
 exception — was signally incompetent to the task — simply, 
 from their personal ignorance of the locality which they 
 attempted to describe. That exception was Theophilus 
 Jones, author of the " history of the town and county of 
 Brecknock."* As that bulky and expensive work in three 
 quarto volumes, is not very accessible to the public, we shall 
 avail ourselves of his statements, coupled with our own, 
 from a thorough knowledge of _eY.eEjLj.nch of the ground in 
 question. To impress the public with a full reliance on the 
 accuracy of the account here presented, be it observed, 
 Theophilus Jones was a native, of the neighbourhood of 
 Llangammarch village, six miles above the scene to be 
 described ; and the^editor of the present work, of the town 
 o f Builth which is situated three miles below Cwm Llew- 
 elynT^The clear and minute manner with which the former 
 has traced his description, is founded, not only on his fa- 
 miliarity with the country, but with every tradition and 
 historic record extant, bearing on the subject; and there- 
 fore, the following may be depended upon, as a faithful 
 transcript of long misrepresented facts." 
 
 In the year 128 I, a war commenced between Edward I. 
 and Llewelyn, which the humanity of John Peckham arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury endeavoured to prevent; he even 
 undertook a journey into Wales for that purpose, heard with 
 patience and apparently without prejudice, the complaints 
 of Llewelyn, dictated in language which would not disgrace 
 the orators of any age or country, and almost admitted the 
 truth of his assertions and the force of his arguments, seemed 
 to feel for the injuries of the prince and principality, and re- 
 turned to England in expectation that they would be 
 re- dressed ; but the die was now thrown, and the reso- 
 lution of Edward irrevocably fixed. A wise and sound 
 
 * On recollection two other exceptions may b? made ; one in favour of the 
 latest History of Wales, written in Welsh, by the Rev. Thomas Price, (Carnu- 
 hanoc.) vicar of Cwm-du, and the other, an unpublished History of the County 
 of Radnor, by the Rev. William Jenkins Rees, rector of Cascob. However, 
 both these authors derive their information respecting this event partly from 
 Theophilus Jones. 
 
THE LADY MATILDA DE LONGSPEE. 537 
 
 policy, productive at the time, it is true, of calamities that 
 may be deplored, and outrages which must be condemned, 
 yet ultimately tending to promote the peace and happiness 
 of both countries, suggested to this enterprizing monarch 
 the necessity of uniting Wales with England, and the hatred 
 of a rival in arms, as well as in talents, though inferior in 
 force and extent of dominions, confirmed him in his deter- 
 mination. Llewelyn ab Griffith had frequently, and indeed 
 recently, foiled him in his attempts to subjugate the rough 
 native of the barren mountains, and had formerly sent him 
 bootless back to the fat pastures of England, if not with 
 disgrace at least with mortification and disappointment; 
 but that persevering potentate, skilled as he was in every 
 branch of military tactics then known in Europe or in Asia, 
 returned to the charge, and deaf to the representatives of 
 the illfated Llewelyn, sent the primate back with proposals 
 so humiliating, that they were (as he of course concluded 
 they would be,) rejected with indignation* One of these 
 proposals was, that the prince of Wales should desert his 
 subjects, and submit to receive a pension of one thousand 
 pounds a year in England. Llewelyn answered with great 
 spirit, that if he were base enough to accept of it such was 
 the honest pride of his people, that they would not suffer 
 him to enjoy it, or permit him to descend so far below his 
 rank. Here the archbishop, whose conduct hitherto was 
 so amiable, lost at once the high character he had acquired. 
 Intimidated by the power, or compelled by what perhaps 
 he thought his duty to his sovereign, he not only conde- 
 scended to convey terms which he knew to be unreasonable, 
 and only calculated to wound the feelings of an injured 
 prince, but he absolutely, when they were not approved of, 
 thought it necessary to employ the censures of the church, 
 and to send Llewelyn and all his adherents to the devil, for 
 what he called their invincible obstinacy. 
 
 Both sides were prepared for war ; the first efforts of the 
 "Welsh prince were successful : a considerable body of the 
 English having crossed the strait,* or narrow channel be- 
 tween Anglesea and Carnarvonshire were cut to pieces ; 
 * That arm of the sea called the Strait of MenaL 
 
538 THE LADY MATILDA DE L0NGSPEE. 
 
 and Llewelyn over-ran Cardiganshire, and great part of 
 Carmarthenshire ; but the fortitude, the perseverance, the 
 talents and the forces of Edward, where he commanded in 
 person, were irresistible ; his banners were " fanned by the 
 crimson wing of conquest, wherever they waved ;" a retreat 
 therefore to the almost inaccessible heights and fastnesses of 
 Snowdon was the only expedient left to the Britons for 
 avoiding present death or future slavery. This was adopted, 
 and Llewelyn might have remained some time secure from 
 attack, unless his supply of provisions was intercepted ; of 
 this disaster he seems to have been apprehensive, and in 
 order therefore, if possible, to prevent it, and to distract the 
 attention of Edward, who was at Conway, he marched with 
 a small body of men to Montgomery, and from thence into 
 Radnorshire, where, as well as in Brecknockshire, he had a 
 considerable number of friends ; for he was the idol of his 
 countrymen, or as an old chronicle describes him " he was 
 the captayne, the prayse, the law, and the light of nations." 
 The correspondence he held in this part of the country, 
 was by some means or other, made known to the English 
 court, and it was to discover his intrigues and to counteract 
 his designs, as well as to fasten upon his lordship of Breck- 
 nock, that Humphrey de Bohun was now sent down into 
 this country. Unfortunately for the prince of Wales, he 
 was too successful in both the objects of his mission. 
 Llewelyn's friends were either intimidated or persuaded to 
 desert him, his enemies were encouraged, and a conside- 
 rable force raised to oppose him. Since the death of the 
 last William de Breos, his widow and son-in-law possessed 
 little more than a nominal dominion over this country : the 
 descendants of the Norman knights preserved an attachment 
 to the family of their seignior, or lord paramount, but we 
 have just seen, the Welsh inhabitants of the town of Breck- 
 nock itself, the seat of his government lately submit volun- 
 tarily to their favorite hero and native chief, while Hum- 
 phrey de Bohun, the father of the present Humphrey, in- 
 volved as he was during the whole course of his life in 
 continual troubles, and perpetual skirmishes and warfare, 
 had neither power nor leisure to enforce the obedience of 
 
539 THE LADY MATILDA DE LONGSPEE. 
 
 his tenants in the principality ; but the case was now widely- 
 different ^ aided by the name and authority of the king of 
 England, the arms or the arguments of Humphrey the son, 
 prevailed with his dependants, and made even an appearance 
 or attempt at resistance, folly. This complete change in 
 the government and politics of the country, effected with 
 much secresy, as well as expedition, was perhaps not per- 
 fectly known to Llewelyn ; led by the promises, and flat- 
 tered with the hopes of assistance held out to him by some 
 men of power in the Hundred of Builth and the neighbour- 
 hood, he ventured to march with his little army to Aber- 
 edwy,* four milesf below Builth, where it is said he expected 
 to have held a conference with some of his friends. Here, 
 however he found himself fatally disappointed, for instead of 
 allies and partizans, whom he was encouraged to look 
 for, he perceived he was almost surrounded in the toils and 
 trammels of his adversary. A superior force from Here- 
 fordshire, having notice of his route, from some of the 
 inhabitants of this countr, ^oproached under the command 
 of Edmund Mortimer and John Giffard."]: 
 
 [Here we must step in between the reader and the author 
 whom we have thus far quoted, to explain some points too 
 slightly indicated. Llewelyn, although the sovereign of 
 North Wales only seems to have been the possessor of 
 Aberedwy castle; to which he had now repaired. This 
 fortress was situated on an angle of ground formed by the 
 river Wye running from the west, and the little river Edwy 
 from the north, which falls into the former, a field's breadth 
 below the castle. The Wye, on the northern or Radnorshire 
 bank of which the castle stood, divides the two counties. 
 
 * This place is usually called Aberedw, but doubtless incorrectly, as Aber- 
 edwy, or the confluence of the Swift-water, bears a meaning, while tl^re ia 
 none to the other. 
 
 t Theophiius Jones says three miles, but what puts the question at rest is, 
 that the four mile stone of the turnpike road on the Breconshire side of the 
 Wye is opposite to the ruins of Aberedwy castle. On the Radnorshire side the 
 distance from Builth may be about five miles, from the curvings of U\e path, 
 according to the twining of the river. 
 
 $ The second husband of the lady of this memoii. 
 
 2 x 
 
540 THE LADY MATILDA DE LONGS PEE. 
 
 Fronting this fortress, on the Breconshire side, stands the 
 high and precipitous hill called Alltmawr,* where perhaps 
 some of the scouts of Llewelyn might have been stationed, 
 as it overlooks the entire country, to give notice of an 
 enemy's approach, if time permitted such a military precau- 
 tion. The highly flooded river however, would have made 
 it perilous, if not impossible to cross for such an essential 
 purpose. The approaching English were at this time between 
 four and six miles off, down the Wye, on the Breconshire side, 
 between Llys-wan and the village of Erwood. Here we 
 return again to the account of Theophilus Jones.] 
 
 *' Llewelyn, finding from their numbers that resistance 
 would be in vain, fled with his men towards Builth."f 
 
 [Strangers to the country require to be informed that his 
 route was up the river, on the northern, or Radnorshire side 
 of the Wye.] " And in order to deceive the enemy, as 
 there was then snow upon the ground, he is said to have 
 caused his horse's shoes to be reversed; but even this 
 stratagem was discovered to them by a smith at Aberedwy, 
 whose name as tradition says, was Madoc Goch min mawr, 
 or Red Madoc with the wide mouth. Llewelyn arrived at 
 the bridge over the Wye time enough to pass and break it 
 down before his pursuers could come up with him ; here 
 therefore they were completely thrown out, as there was no 
 other bridge over the Wye at that time nearer than Bred- 
 wardine, thirty miles below." 
 
 [From the heights of Alltmawr, before referred to, the 
 scouts of the English army might have witnessed the flight 
 of the prince, as he took a westerly course, along the low- 
 lands of Radnorshire, till the curves of the river, the woods, 
 or high banks intervened between them, when, being lost to 
 their view, they might have conceived his intention to be an 
 
 * Allt-mawr signifies the great wooded precipice. 
 
 + Written in Welsh Buallt; from bu, ox en, and_aUt, a wooded precipice. 
 This name refers to the syTvan'period wfieifthe wild cattle abounded and grazed 
 amidst the original woods on the banks of the Wye. The nearest assimilation 
 to the Welsh pronounciation would be Bee-alt, the Welsh 11 being unpronounce- 
 able by an English tongue. In after time a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary- 
 having been erected there, caused it to be called in Welsh Llanvair-ym-muallt, 
 Mary Church of Oxenholt. 
 
THE LADY MATILDA DE LONGSPEE. 541 
 
 escape into Montgomeryshire, and thence through North 
 Wales into the fastnesses of Snowdon, which he had so lately 
 left. It is evident they never thought that Builth Castle 
 was his destination, for the most direct way thither would 
 have been over the level top of Alltmawr ; instead of which 
 they crossed the Wye into Radnorshire, at Caban Twm bach, 
 with the intention of pursuing him from Aberedwy, in the 
 route just mentioned ; but we shall here return to the Bre- 
 conshire historian's account.] 
 
 "Thus foiled and disappointed of their prize for the 
 present, the English immediately returned downwards to a 
 ford known to some of the party [eight miles below Builth 
 and four below Aberedwy,] called Caban Twm Bach, or 
 Little Tom's ferry-boat.* In the interim, it should seem, 
 Llewelyn must have gained sufficient time to have distanced 
 his followers, if he had made the best use of it, but he had 
 not yet abandoned the expectation of meeting with assistance, 
 and some hours may have been employed with the garrison 
 of the castle of Builth, who awed by the approach of Morti- 
 mer, refused to treat with, or support him, Stowe says "he 
 was taken at Builth castle, where using reproachful words 
 towards the Englishmen, Sir Roger le Strange ran upon him 
 and cut off his head, leaving his dead body upon the ground." 
 It is by no means improbable that he should have accused 
 the garrison of Builth and the inhabitants of that country 
 of perfidy, and (as Stowe says,) used reproachful words 
 towards the English, he may also have bestowed upon the 
 men of Aberedwy, as well as of Builth, the epithet which 
 has stuck by them ever since,f but he certainly was not 
 slain at Builth castle, or by Sir Roger le Strange, for being 
 here repulsed by those from whom he expected support, and 
 baffled in his attempts to reduce them to obedience, he pro- 
 ceeded westward, up the vale cf Irvon on the southern side 
 for about three miles. He then crossed the river a little 
 
 * At present known as Tavern Twm Bach, from the public-house situated on 
 the ^Radnorshire side of the ferry, near the mansion called the Screen, the 
 residence of John Williams, Esq., and nearly opposite to the village of Erwood. 
 
 t Bradwyr Aberedwy— Bradwyr Buallt— traitors of Aberedwy, traiton 
 «f Builth. 
 
642 THE LADY MATILDA DE L0NGSPEE. 
 
 below Llanynis church, over a bridge called Pont-y-coed, 
 (bridge of the wood,) either with an intention of returning 
 into North Wales through Llanganten, Llanavon vawr, and 
 Llanwrthwl, and from thence into Montgomeryshire; or 
 perhaps of joining his friends in Carmarthenshire and 
 Pembrokeshire ; to oppose whom Oliver de Dyneham had 
 been sent by king Edward. This passage once secured, he 
 stationed the few troops who accompanied him on the 
 northern side of the river, where, from the ground being 
 more precipitous, and much higher than the opposite bank, 
 and at the same time covered with wood, a handful of men 
 were able to defend the bridge against a more numerous 
 enemy. In this situation he preserved a communication 
 with the whole of Breconshire; and as he supposed the 
 river was at this season of the year impassable, he waited 
 with confidence and security, while he commanded the pass, 
 in hopes to hear farther from his correspondents, or in 
 expectation of being reinforced from the westward. By 
 these means the English forces gained sufficient time to 
 come up with him, and appearing on the southern side of 
 the Irvon, made a fruitless attempt to gain the bridge. Here 
 they probably would have been compelled to abandon the 
 pursuit, or at least Llewelyn might have escaped in safety 
 to the mountains of Snow don, but for an accidental discovery 
 made by the foe. A knight of the name of Sir Elias 
 "Walwyn discovered a ford at some little distance, where a 
 detachment of the English crossed the river, and coming 
 unexpectedly upon the backs of the "Welsh at the bridge, 
 they were immediately routed. Either in the pursuit, or 
 while he was watching the motions of the main body of the 
 enemy, who were still on the southern side of the river, the 
 Welsh prince was attacked in a small dell, thence from him 
 called Cwm Llewelyn, or Llewelyn's dingle, and slain by 
 one Adam de Francton, who plunged a spear into his body, 
 and immediately joined his countrymen in pursuit of the 
 flying enemy. Polydore Virgil says, this battle was fought 
 on the tenth of December, and Carte in his history of 
 England, quoting the chronicle of Dunstable, asserts that 
 the Welsh lost two thousand men in this engagement* 
 
THE L DY MATILDA DE LONGSPEE. 5 43 
 
 When De Francton returned after the engagement, in hopes 
 of plunder, he perceived that the person whom he had 
 wounded, for he was still alive, was the prince of Wales; and 
 on stripping him, a letter in cypher, an J his privy seal were 
 found on him. The Englishman, delighted with the dis- 
 covery, immediately jguX pff his he ad, and sent it to king 
 Edward at Rhyddlan castle. 
 
 It was at this juncture that Matilda de Longspee's gener- 
 ous interference, seconded by that of Edward Mortimer took 
 place. It is probable that she was a visitor at^BuiJth^castle, 
 and present when assistance was personally asked, and 
 denied to the royal fugitive. Hearing the result of the 
 battle, with all the affection of a near relative, and the noble 
 sentiments of a British woman, she entreated that the corse 
 of the fallen prince might be no further dishonored ; but 
 that it might obtain the rites of sepulture in consecrated 
 ground. But no attention was paid to her request; the 
 body of the unfortunate prince was dragged by the soldiers 
 about half a mile from the spot on which he had fallen in 
 Cwm Llewelyn, towards Builth, and buried him in a place 
 where the two roads now divide ; one leading from Builth 
 to Llangammarch, and the other to Llanavon. This place 
 has ever since been called Cefn-y«bedd, (pronounced Keven 
 a bathe,) signifying the back of the grave ; and in after years 
 the spot was more particularly marked by a farm house 
 being built upon it, which bears the same name. 
 
 But the exertions of the noble minded Matilda de Long- 
 spee to obtain christian burial for Llewelyn did not end 
 here. The letter in cypher which was found upon the per- 
 son of the slain prince was soon afterwards sent by Edward 
 Mortimer to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was then 
 at Pembridge in Herefordshire, to be forwarded to the king. 
 The primate, in the course of conveying it to his Majesty, 
 adds as much further intelligence as had reached him, from 
 which it appears that dame Martha Longspee had interfered 
 upon Llewelyn's death ; and had intreated that he might be 
 absolved from the sentence of excommunication, and his 
 body buried in a consecrated place. This request Mortimer, 
 with the gallantry of a soldier, and the affection of a relation 
 2x2 
 

 544 THE LADY MATILDA DE L0NGSPEE. 
 
 (though that kinsman was an enemy) warmly seconded, by- 
 stating an assurance he had received from those who were 
 present when Llewelyn expired, that before his death he 
 called for a priest, and that a white monk who happened to 
 be near, chaunted mass to him, previous to his dissolution. 
 But the request of Matilda, and representations of Mortimer 
 were utterly disregarded (says Theophilus Jones) and the 
 remains of Llewelyn instead of being bones of contention* 
 among the loyal inhabitants of York and Winchester (as his 
 brother David's afterwards became,) were permitted to rot 
 at Cefn-y-bedd. 
 
 Theophilus Jones thus concludes his record of Llewelyn's 
 death and burial, and it is hoped there are but few, if any, 
 but will respond to his sentiments. 
 
 " Those who have attentively read the history of Llewelyn, 
 of whatever country they may be, will I trust lament the 
 fate, and sigh while they contemplate the fall of the last and 
 greatest of the Welsh princes. His grandfather Llewelyn 
 ab Iorwerth had courage and considerable talents, but he 
 was savage in manners and variable in politics, fickle in his 
 attachments, and brutal in his revenge.f During the greater 
 part of his life he- had a mere driveller to oppose; but the 
 last Llewelyn had to contend with an Alexander, supported 
 by superior numbers and revenues. In short he had all the 
 virtues of his ancestor, with scarcely any of his vices. He 
 had infinitely more difficulty to encounter; and when he was 
 favored with the smiles of fortune, he owed them entirely to 
 is own merit and exertions." 
 
 Warrington informs us, upon the authority of the annals of Waverley, 
 that when David ab Griffith's quarters were condemned by the sentence of the 
 courtiers of Edward I. at Shrewsbury, to be placed in different parts of 
 the kingdom, tbe cities of York and Winchester contended with a savage 
 eagerness for the right shoulder of this unfortunate prince; and that the honor 
 was decided in favor of Winchester ! Well might the indignant historian of 
 Breconshire exclaim, " can this be true ?" 
 
 t We utterly dissent from tbis, as an historial view of the character of 
 Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, which it is trusted the present writer has throughly 
 disproved in his vindication of that prince in the memoir of Joan, queen of 
 Llewelyn ab Iorwerth. 
 
w 
 
 SAINT MONAGELLA. 
 
 Although this Saint and Princess was of Irish birth, as 
 Wales afforded her a place of refuge, and became the cho- 
 sen scene of her ministry, and miracles, as well as her place 
 of final rest, we may legitimately claim her as an adopted 
 daughter of our land. 
 
 (Pennant, in his tour through Montgomeryshire relates, 
 " at about two miles distant from Llangnnog,*.! turned up 
 a small valley to the right, to pay my devotions to the shrine 
 of St. Monacella, or, as the Welsh style her, Melangell. 
 Her legend relates that she was the daughter of an Irish 
 monarch, who had determined to marry her to a nobleman 
 of his court. The princess had vowed celibacy. She fled 
 from her father's dominions, and took refuge in this place, 
 where she lived fifteen years without seeing the face of man > 
 Brochwel Yscythrog, prince of Powys, being one day a 
 hare-hunting, pursued his game till he came to a great 
 thicket ; when he was amazed to find a virgin of surprising 
 beauty , engaged in deep devotion, with the hare he had 
 been pursuing uj3j&er_her robe, boldly facing the dogs, who 
 retired to a distance, l^wling, notwithstanding all the efforts 
 of the sportsmen to make them seize their prey. Even 
 when the huntsman blew his horn, it stuck to his lips. 
 Brochwell heard her story; and gave to God andh^r a 
 parcel of lands to be a sanctuary to all who fled there. He 
 desired her to found an abbey on the spot. She did so, 
 and died abbess of it, in a good old age ; she was buried in 
 the neighbouring church called Pennant, (Brook-head,) and 
 from her distinguished by the addition of Melangell. Her 
 hard bed is shown in the cleft of a neighbouring rock. Her 
 tomb was in a little chapel, or oratory, adjoining to the 
 church, and now used as a vestry room. This room is still 
 called cell y bedd t (cell of the grave) ; but her reliques, as 
 
 * In Welsh written Llangynog. The parish was so named from the churcto 
 dedicated to Cynog the martyr, son of Brychan Brecheiniog. 
 
546 SAINT MONACELLA. 
 
 well as her image, have been long since removed: but I 
 think the last is still to be seen in the churchyard. The 
 legend is perpetuated by some rude wooden carvings of the 
 Saint, with numbers of hares scuttling to her for protection. 
 She properly became their patroness. They were called 
 Wyn Melangell; — (Monacella's lambs.) Till the last cen- 
 tury, so strong a superstition prevailed, that no person 
 would kill a hare in the parish ; and even later, when a 
 hare was pursued by dogs, it was firmly believed, that if any 
 one cried "God and St. Monacella be with thee," it was 
 sure to escape. ] 
 
 " This valley," continues Pennant, is very picturesque, 
 inclosed by hills on all sides except its en ranee ; watered 
 by the Tanat which springs not far oft. The upper end is 
 bounded by two vast precipices, down which at times fall 
 two great cataracts; between them juts out the great and 
 rude promontory of Mo el du Mawr, (Great Black Hill,) 
 which almost divides the precipices into equal parts : and 
 altogether formed a fine and solemn retreat for devotees." 
 
 In an age of advanced intellect, like the present, many 
 will smile at the simple superstition which could induce a 
 sisterhood of gentle minded females to become the followers 
 of such a mild enthusiast as this Monacella. But assu- 
 redly, if we venture to look through the surface into the 
 heart of this matter, we shall find nothing to exc te the 
 smile of ridicule. Monacella's mission was one of mercy — 
 and sweetly in concord with the actuating spirit of the 
 meek founder of our faith. She appeared in a rude era of 
 violent contention and bloodshed; at a period when the 
 savage triumphs of might over right, of strength over weak- 
 ness, and of ferocity and selfishness over every better 
 feeling, made this earth the horrid arena of inconceivable 
 devilishness. In such a state of vitiated humanity, super- 
 stition alone could gain a subduing hold of man's nature ; 
 and such a legend as this, of Monacella's protection of hares 
 engendered a passion for gentleness, hitherto unknown to 
 the times. — What a sentiment, what a lesson of pity and 
 protection to the weak and persecuted, was here inculcated ! 
 for it would be worse than childish to suppose that this 
 
SAINT MONACELLA. 547 
 
 devout woman had nothing more in view than bettering the 
 condition of hares. The sentiment of compassion once 
 kindled in the rude bosoms of the hunters and destroyers, 
 whether of animal or of their own kind, she may have fore- 
 seen, would become an all-pervading principle, when hal- 
 lowed by the auspices of religion. 
 
 Brochwell Yscythrog, the prince of Powys who gave the 
 church lands to Monacella, stands recorded in history as a 
 sovereign far more pious than potent; and his failure in 
 protecting his country against the invasion of Ethelfridd, 
 king of Northumbria, has subjected his memory to the cen- 
 sures of posterity. Pennant, in his remarks on the history 
 of Chester, says : — " the fate of this city was at length de- 
 cided in the year 607, when Ethelfrid king of Northumbria 
 resolved to add this rich tract to his dominions. He was 
 opposed by Brochwel Yscythrog, king of Powys ; who col- 
 lected hastily a body of men, probably depending on the 
 intervention of heaven ; for that end he called to his aid one 
 thousand two hundred religious, from the great convent of 
 Bangor, and posted them on a hill, in order that be might 
 benefit by their prayers. Ethelfrid fell in with this pious 
 corps, and, finding what their business was, put them to the 
 sword without mercy* He made an easy conquest of Broch- 
 wel, who, as the Saxon chronicle informs us, escaped with 
 about fifty men." 
 
 It was on this terrible massacre that Sir Walter Scott 
 wrote the following beautiful Welsh melody, entitled, *' the 
 march of the monks of Bangor." It will be observed that 
 the poet describes the awful event to have taken place while 
 the grand procession of monks and nuns were on their ill- 
 omened march. On the contrary, history narrates it to 
 have occurred while the whole assemblage were on their 
 knees in act of most fervent prayer. 
 
 " When the heathen trumpets clang 
 Round beleaguer'd Chester rang, 
 Veiled nun and friar grey 
 March'd from Bangor's fair abbeye : 
 High their holy anthem sounds, 
 Cestria's vale the hymn rebounds, 
 Floating down the sylvan Dee, 
 
 misere Domini J 
 
548 BAINT MONACELLA. 
 
 On the long procession goes, 
 Glory round their crosses glows, 
 And the virgin-mother mild 
 In their peaceful banner smiled ; 
 "Who could think such saintly band 
 Doom'd to feel unhallow'd hand? 
 Such was the divine decree, 
 
 O misere Domini ! 
 
 Bands that masses only sung, 
 Hands that censers only swung, 
 Mel the northern bow and bill, 
 Heard the war-cry loud and shrill : 
 Woe to Brochmael's feeble hand, 
 Woe to 01frid's+ bloody brand, 
 Woe to Saxon cruelty, 
 
 misere Domini ! 
 
 "Weltering amid wariors slain 
 Spurn'd by steeds with bloody mane, 
 Slaughter'd down by heathen blade 
 Bangor's peaceful monks are laid: 
 Word of parting rest unspoke, 
 Mass unsung and bread unbroke, 
 For their souls for charity, 
 
 Sing misere Domini 1 
 
 Bangor ! o'er the murder wail, 
 Long the ruins told the tale ; 
 Shatter'c towers and broken arch 
 Long recall'd the woeful march ; 
 On thy shrine no tapers burn, 
 Never shall thy priests return ; 
 The pilgrim sighs and sings for thee, 
 misere Domini ! 
 
 William of Malmsbury says, that in his time the extent 
 of the ruins of the monastery bore ample witness to the 
 desolation occasioned by the massacre, " tot semiruti parietes 
 ecclesiarum, tot aufractus porticum, tanta turba ruderum 
 quantum vix alibi cernas." 
 
yi 
 
 1 
 
 MOEVYTH OF MONA, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF MADOC LAWGAM, THE CELEBRATED MISTRESS 
 OF DAVID AB GWILYM, AND WIFE OF BWA BACH. 
 
 " Morvyth of Mona, unfading thy wreath." 
 
 The Island of Anglesea, famous as it has ever been for the 
 reputed charms of its females, never gave birth to a beauty 
 of equal celebiity with the heroine of our Memoir. From 
 her name being mentioned in one of Davyth ab Gwilym's 
 poems addressed to" Angharad," (the daughter of his patron, 
 and relative Ivor Hael,) it is probable that he made her 
 acquaintance very soon after he followed the former lady 
 into Anglesea. Nay, it is even certain that he paid his 
 addresses to her, as far as writing love poems went, at the 
 same time that he professed himself to be the devoted ad- 
 mirer both of Angharad and Deethgee. Failing in his suit 
 with both those ladies, it is supposed that he then (for a 
 while!) gave his entire services to the fair Morvyth. 
 
 " Morvyth was the daughter of Madoc Lawgam, a gen- 
 tleman of Anglesea, and proved, in every point of view the 
 veryJLaura of our Cambrian Petrarch. His first interview 
 with this lady was at Rhosyr, in Anglesea, where by some 
 means he attracted her notice. He says in a poem on the oc- 
 casion that he sent a present of wine to her, and she slighted 
 the offer so much as to throw it over the servant who 
 brought it. As this curious incident may suggest a very 
 erroneous idea of the manners of that age, and of the light 
 in which such gifts were viewed in the time of the poet, the 
 following observations extracted chiefly from Mr. Godwin's 
 life of Chaucer, will serve to give a more correct impression 
 of the spirit of the bard's first present to the lady of his 
 love. There is reason to believe that wine was often 
 given as a token of honor and esteem, and as being a more 
 delicate offering than a sum of money. It is not therefore, 
 to be supposed, that it was always intended for the con- 
 sumption of the person to whom it was sent. "I find," 
 
550 MORVYTK OF MONA. 
 
 says Mr. Godwin, " a grant, or rather the confirmation of 
 a grant of Edward III., in the first year of his reign, to 
 Mary his aunt, daughter of Edward I. of ten tuns of wine 
 per annum towards her sustenance. But the princess Mary 
 was a votaress, and cannot be supposed to have wanted ten 
 tuns of wine annually for her own consumption; and the 
 phraseology of the grant (in subventum sustentationis suae,) 
 seems to imply rather that it was a commodity to be given 
 in exchange for other commodities, than to be consumed by 
 the grantee. 
 
 Chaucer, who was a contemporary of our bard, had a 
 grant conferred upon him of a pitcher of wine per diem, to 
 be delivered daily in the port of the city of London, by the 
 king's chief butler, during the term of his natural life. This 
 pension — for such in reality it was, is calculated by Mr. 
 Godwin to be equivalent to an annuity of £180 in the 
 present day. 
 
 It is necessary to observe, that the wines then common 
 in England and Wales were of a very different quality from 
 those now in use amongst the higher classes in this coun- 
 try ; and unless we keep this fact in view, we shall be apt 
 to imagine that our ancestors were guilty of excesses that 
 are not imputable to them. So far back as the year 1 154 
 (on the accession of the Plantaganet race,) the English 
 government gained possession of Bordeaux and some other 
 important districts in the South West of France, which 
 they retained, nearly without interruption for three cen- 
 turies. Hence this kingdom was amply supplied with the 
 light wines of France.* 
 
 On the failure of Davyth ab Gwilym in his suit with 
 Deethgee, it has been said that he devoted the entire service 
 of his muse to the fair Morvyth. His last quoted biog- 
 rapher says "Morvyth, our poet's other favorite received 
 his addresses more graciously; and had it not been for 
 untoward circumstances, over which she had no controul, 
 the event of this attachment might have equalled his most 
 sanguine expectations. He was ultimately united to her in 
 a manner not uncommon in those days : they repaired to 
 * Arthur James Johnes's life of Davyth ab Gwilym. 
 
MORVTTH OF MONA. 551 
 
 the grove with their friend Madoc Benvras,* an eminent 
 bard, who exercised the sacred functions on this occasion, 
 in the presence only of the winged choristers of the woods ; 
 one of which, the thrush, the bridegroom says, was the 
 clerk. They now considered themselves as one, and their 
 subsequent conduct confirmed it in every respect." They 
 appear to have lived together most happily, till in an evil 
 hour she was snatched from him, not by the hands of death, 
 but those of her avaricious parents. "The relations of 
 Morvyth disliking the union, encouraged a wealthy -decrepid 
 old man Cunvrig Cynin, to become a rival of the bard ; and 
 they concerted their plan so well as to take Morvyth away 
 from the latter, and to get her formally married to Cynvrig 
 Cynin agreeably to the rules of the church.f The new 
 bridegroom with the assistance of her parents, bore her off 
 to his dwelling called Brynllyn, situated on a hill so named, 
 above the lake of Bala in Merionethshire. The disgust and 
 mortification o? Morvyth at this most unhappy transition 
 from the abode and embraces of a greatly beloved husband 
 — for so, in fact she considered him, for the loathed com- 
 pany of a most hideous and hateful tyrant, must have been 
 immense. To render an idea of the contrast between the 
 two, we give the picture of the poet as described by his 
 biographer. 
 
 "When Davyth ab Gwilym grew up to manhood, his 
 handsome person and accomplishments rendered him a 
 great favorite with the fair, in every part of the country. 
 According to traditionary accounts, recorded in the age 
 of Elizabeth, he was tall and of a slender make, with yellow 
 liairJiowing about his shoulders in beautiful ringlets, "and 
 he says himself that the girls instead of attending to their 
 devotion, used to whisper at church that he had his sister's 
 hair on his head. His dress was agreeable to the manner of 
 the age, long trowsers,| close jacket, tied sound with a sash, 
 
 * Benvras, or Fathead — what a name for an inspired poet ! 
 
 t The original poems from No. 10 to 75, treat of this event. 
 
 £ When the hody of Llewelyn ab Griffith, the last native prince of Wales 
 
 was discovered in a dingle beside"*fne river Irvon, we are informed that it 
 
 was identified by the official seal of the principality being found in his trowsers 
 
 2 y 
 
552 MORVYTH OP MONA. 
 
 suspending a sword of no inconsiderable length, and over the 
 whole a loose' flowing gown trimmed with fur, with a round 
 cap or bonnet on Ms head; these he took pains to make 
 showy, for he was inclined to vie in that respect with the 
 beaux of his time. Thus accomplished, he thought himself 
 happier than the old Welsh princes, though they enjoyed 
 the possession of a mansion in every district in Wales, as 
 he fancied he might secure the affection of every beauteous 
 
 maid." 
 
 - 
 
 The bard's mortification and grief for this most untoward 
 event, and his inextinguishable love for Morvyth appear 
 from several of his passionate poems, addressed to her at this 
 period. These contain also numerous strokes of caustic 
 ridicule against her decrepid spouse, upon whom he invaria- 
 bly bestows the appellation of 13 wa* Bach, or Little Hunch- 
 back. Notwithstanding the success of old Cynvrig Cynin 
 in his abduction and marriage with Morvyth, the remainder 
 of his life was spent in watchings and jealousy, which 
 furnished a favorite subject for the muse of his rival; though 
 it proved to him also a source of endless troubles, as, con- 
 sidering Morvyth still his own, he missed no opportunity of 
 procuring an interview, till at length he found means to_run 
 away with her.* But after strict search the fugitives were 
 found, and once more separated; and our bard being rigo- 
 rously prosecuted by Hunchback, was fined in a very heavy 
 penalty, which being unable to pay, he was imprisoned. 
 
 In such esteem, however, was the poet held by his coun- 
 trymen that the county of Glamorgan released him from 
 confinement by discharging the fine. It is said that he had 
 nearly taken Morvyth away a second time ; and a friend 
 asking him if he would again run the hazard which such a step 
 must expose him to, and which had once cost him so dearly, 
 he answered — " yes I will, in the name of God and the men 
 
 pocket. Thus nearly two hundred years later, we find Davyth ah Gwilym 
 wearing a similar article of dress, at a... time when the English wore the trunk 
 hose, or short breeches ; proving the difference of costume in the two nations 
 iii those garments— a piece of historical information not unworthy record. 
 
 * English readers are informed that Bwa is pronounced Boo-a. 
 
 t See the original poems, Bo. 80, 81, 82. 
 

 MORVYTH OF MONA. 553 
 
 of Glamorgan !"* which became a proverb for a long time 
 after. 
 
 After the second loss of his lady love, the bard seldom 
 failed to introduce Bwa Bach into all his poems to Mor- 
 vyth, particularly from No. 76 to 90, wherein he is placed 
 in many ludicrous situations, and several humorous adven- 
 tures are related, which would be out of place in this 
 memoir. Indeed the bard seems to have been so delighted 
 with ridiculing his rival, as partly to forget his own loss, 
 and to amuse himself by laughing even at his own lost 
 . gpouse. 
 
 "We must now leave Morvyth as the lawful wife of Bwa 
 Bach, only observing that her faithful bard continued his 
 attachment, and his muse was ever constant in her praise. 
 Hence he has been compared to Petrarch ; and it must be 
 allowed that in the fervor of his homage to the lady of his 
 heart, the Italian poet did not surpass the Demetian Night- 
 ingale,f who composed one hundred and forty-seven poems 
 to his beloved Morvyth. In another account of his pro- 
 ductions addressed to this lady, we are informed that one 
 hundred and nine of his poems, and those generally of 
 greater length than what Petrarch dedicated to Laura, are 
 preserved ; and we know from his own authority, that he 
 wrote thirty- eight more on this favorite and inexhaustible 
 theme. It is generally considered, because the poet him- 
 self calls one of his poems the one hundred and forty- 
 seventh that he wrote no more ; but this is by no means 
 a necessary conclusion. The poem indeed, which imme- 
 diately follows in his works the one called the hundred and 
 forty-seventh is entitled the last poem to Morvyth, and may 
 therefore be presumed to have been written subsequently. 
 It is probable then, that the whole number dedicated to 
 his beloved Morvyth considerably exceeded one hundred 
 and forty -seven. 
 
 * In Welsh the question and answer run : — A ae ef a hi a druted f uasai 
 Iddo ? Af, (eb ef,) yn enw Duw a gwyr Morganwg. — David Jones of Llanvair's 
 Collection of British Poetry. 
 
 + Davy ab Gwilym's native district is ealled Dyved in Welsh, and latinized, 
 Demetia ; whence his poetical appellation of Eos Dyved, or the Demetian 
 Nightingale. 
 
r- 
 
 554 MOEVYTH OF MONA. 
 
 The profligacy and recklessness which seem to have dis- 
 tinguished a portion of this poet's life, may be dated from, 
 and attributed to his disappointment in love. " Every one," 
 says our bard has his favorite toy ;" and on a whimsical 
 occasion he tells us, he was the toy of the fair ;* and bis 
 temper, full of ardour and levity as it was, naturally disposed 
 him to make an extravagant use of the high esteem in which 
 he stood with his countrywomen. Tradition has preserved 
 a ludicrous instance of his frolics in this respect, which, 
 whether authentic or not, is perfectly consistent with the 
 powerful but reckless vein of humour that pervades his 
 poems. If the following detail is really true, in addition to 
 his other honorary appellations, he deserves to be designated 
 the Welsh Don Juan. 
 
 "Davyth ab Gwilym — so runs the tale — paid his ad- 
 dresses to no fewer than twenty-four damsels at the same 
 time. Having an inclination, on a particular occasion, to 
 divert himself at their expense, he made an appointment 
 with each, unknown to the rest, to meet him under a certain 
 tree, at a specified hour, fixing the same time for all. Our 
 poet himself took care to be on the spot before the period 
 of meeting, and, having ascended the tree, he had the satis- 
 faction of finding that not one of his faithful inamoratos 
 failed in her engagement. When they were all assembled, 
 feelings of inquisitive wonder took the place of the gentler 
 emotions, to which it is probable they had before yielded ; and 
 when at length the stratagem, of which they had been the 
 dupes became known, the only sentiment that inspired the 
 group was that of indignant vengeance against the unfortunate 
 bard, which they failed not to vent in reproaches loud and 
 long. The author of the plot who from his ambuscade above, 
 had perceived the gathering storm, had recourse to his muse 
 for an expedient to allay it, or at least to divert its fury 
 from the object to which it was at first directed. Emer- 
 
 * See the original poem, No. 88. 
 
 No phair ddyn deg, waneg wedfi, 
 Grogi .uillyn gwragedd I 
 
 See also No. 103 and 158. 
 
Let her who most frequent I've kiss'd here alone, 
 (She'll find me resign'd !; then cast forth the first stone. 
 
 
 MORVYTH OF MONA. 555 
 
 ging partially from the foliage in which he had been 
 enveloped, he replied to the menaces of the disappointed 
 fair ones, — which even extended to his life, in the following 
 couplet : — * 
 
 0. ) 
 
 The effect was such as our poet had, perhaps anticipated. 
 Taunts and recriminations were bandied about by the exas- 
 perated assembly, who forgot their common resentment 
 against the bard in this new cause for contention. The 
 tradition adds, that the contriver of the stratagem had the 
 good fortune to escape unmolested, in the confusion of the 
 conflict, being thus indebted to his muse for his protection^ 
 from a catastrophe of no very agreeable nature. 
 
 Of the lady of our memoir nothing more remains to be 
 added except that she is supposed to have died many years 
 before her admirer ; but Morvyth, the ill-fated and never 
 to be forgotten Morvyth, while she lived, called forth with 
 the greatest frequency the most fervant adorations of his 
 muse, and in his very last production, long after her decease, 
 she is mentioned with affectionate tenderness, as his prin- 
 cipal loss of life's felicities. 
 
 Our closing notices of Davy th ab Gwilym and his poeti- 
 cal works, naturally follow the decease of the fair object 
 which inspired his choicest productions, and shall conclude 
 this memoir. 
 
 Again we^ recur to his last biographer's recorded 
 researches. He says : — "we may take it for granted 
 that Davyth ab Gwilym must have lived in habits of inti- 
 macy with the poets of his time, amongst whom many, 
 perhaps, were to be found not insensible to the charms of 
 the mead horn ; but he does not seem to have been much 
 devoted to it himself, for among those who were, we find it 
 
 * Arthur J. Johnes's translation is more elegant, but is further from the 
 brevity of the original. 
 
 " Oh let the fair and gentle one ! 
 Who oftest by the summer sun, 
 To meet me in these shades was won — 
 Let her strike first, aud she will find 
 The poet to his fate resign'd ?" 
 
 2 y 2 
 
556 MORVYTH OF MONA. 
 
 was a custom to impose upon him, when they got him into 
 their company." 
 
 Davyth was equally attached to friendship and the muse 
 — two contemporary poets were his intimate companions. 
 One was Madoc Benvras, who officiated as priest at his 
 merry marriage with Morvyth in the grove, who had a soul 
 congenial with that of our bard, and like him was a favorite 
 with his fair countrywomen. The other was Griffith Greeg* 
 of Anglesea, a bard of considerable genius and learning. 
 Between Davyth ab Gwilym and the latter there appears 
 to have been a rival ship for fame, which gave rise to a 
 poetical contention, that began in consequence of a poem 
 written by Griffith Greeg, ridiculing our bard for being so 
 great a slave to the charms of Morvyth. This dispute pro- 
 duced several masterly compositions, but unfortunately not 
 without a considerable degree of acrimony between the 
 rival bards, whfcm"" threatened to end in a total estrange- 
 ment of one from the company of the other. When the 
 affair had taken this unpleasant turn for some time, each 
 party too stiff to give way to the other, one Bola Bayolj - 
 laid a wager with a mutual companion that he would 
 effect an accommodation between them. To bring about 
 his purpose this person wenth into North "Wales, and indus- 
 triously spread a report that Davyth ab Gwiiym, the De- 
 metian bard was dead. On hearing this news, Griffith 
 Greeg was so affected, that forgetting every other feeling in 
 the poignancy of his grief, he composed an elegy, bewailing 
 the supposed loss of his rival in the most affectionate terms. 
 Bola Bayol having previously contrived to get a similar 
 account of the death of Griffith Greeg circulated in South 
 Wales, returned thither, and was pleased to find it had the 
 same effect on Davyth ab Gwilym, who had also produced 
 a very touching elegy on his rival's decease. Bola Bayol 
 succeeded according to his expectation ; for the contending 
 parties, on each discovering the real sentiments of his oppo- 
 nent, and being brought to a delicate dilemma, though they 
 laughed at the stratagem which had created it, from that 
 time became warm friends. 
 
 * In Welsh written Gruffydd Grug. 
 + In Welsh written JJoia Bauol; but both names are pronounced as above. 
 
MORVTTH OP MONA. 557 
 
 Though Davyth ab Gwilym lived in an age deeply 
 immersed in ignorance, yet it is obvious from his works 
 that he was but little affected with the superstition of the 
 times. He had very little veneration for the monks ; nor 
 would he bend in the least to the authority of the priest- 
 hood in general — in those points that were derogatory to 
 an enlightened mind. On the contrary he took every 
 opportunity to show that he held them in contempt and 
 ridicule. In his poems addressed to the monks and friars 
 he indulges in a spirit of unlimited vituperation. He begins 
 one poem addressed to a grey brother who had tried to 
 persuade Morvyth to become a nun, with the following 
 ironical allusions to the suppose merit of gifts bestowed 
 on the religious orders : — 
 
 ** Long life — fair journeys — offerings rare, 
 Fall to the chatt'ring raven's share ! 
 The figure like a shadow — those 
 Deserve not peace who are his foes ! 
 From Eome he comes with naked feet, 
 And tresses like a thorny nest ! 
 In petticoat of net- work drest, 
 He walks the world — oh pastor meet, 
 A parish with wise words to greet 1" 
 
 The poem No. 79 addressed to St. Dwynwen is an admi- 
 rable satire on the invocation of Saints. In it the bard 
 prays that this female Saint would be his Llatai, to procure 
 him a meeting with Morvyth. In the poem page 432 of 
 the original work, the object of his satire must have been a 
 Dominican friar, for he calls him " Ffriw Sain Dominig." 
 He terms him an old crow, always flying with his face 
 towards heaven, a brazen bell that incessantly pesters you 
 with its noise, &c. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Johnes continues, "yet, notwithstanding 
 the freedom with which the bard ridicules the immoraj_ 
 lives of the clergy, and the irreverence with which he occa- 
 sionally treats even the rites of the church, I do not conceive 
 that we are warranted in ascribing to him views of Chris- 
 tianity more enlightened than were generally entertained 
 by the more intelligent part of his contemporaries. The 
 fourteenth century, though signalized by the birth of 
 
' 558 MORVYTH OF MONA. 
 
 Wicliffe — whose doctrines were looked upon with no unfa- 
 vorable eye by the bulk of the English nation, — was not 
 an age in which many instances are recorded of a positive 
 rejection of the doctrines, and a formal departure from the 
 communion of the church of Rome. This period is remark- 
 able rather as the era of the first awakening of the human 
 mind, which exhibited itself in a certain vague hostility to 
 the pretensions of the Romish See, rather than in any clear 
 and consistent objections to its authority. The great ma- 
 jority even of the learned, though they had become in some 
 measure sensible of the thraldom in which they had been 
 so long held, had not yet acquired courage to throw off the 
 yoke. Hence it is, that we often perceive in the literary 
 remains of those days, that strange mixture of satire and 
 superstition which is so prominent a feature of the eccle- 
 siastical allusions of Davyth ab Gwilym. In this respect 
 also, he bears a close resemblance to Chaucer. In their 
 religious sentiments both these poets are in fact, to be re- 
 garded rather as representatives of the views of the more 
 enlightened men of their age, than in the light of original 
 and independent thinkers. I may here remark that the 
 similarity that so frequently occurs between the ideas and 
 imagery of the Cambrian bard and the great father of 
 English poetry, constitutes one of the chief curiosities of 
 the remains of Davyth ab Gwilym. 
 
 The influence of the external splendors of the Roman 
 Catholic Church is not more apparent in the pages of Chau- 
 cer than in the remains of the Cambrian bard. Her doc- 
 trines, it is true, retained but a faint and wavering hold on 
 his understanding, but her gorgeous and varied ceremonies 
 supplied a fund of imagery that was highly acceptable to 
 his imagination. Illustrations and similes drawn from the 
 accompaniments of the worship of the Roman Catholic 
 Church, are profusely scattered through his writings, and 
 allusions to her rites pervade his poetry. But those orna- 
 ments are sometimes introduced with a tone of levity that 
 sufficiently evinces how powerfully the fancy may be affected 
 by showy pageants, which leave the conscience and the 
 heart untouched. The fondness displayed by Davyth ab 
 
MORVTTH OF MONA. 559 
 
 Gwilym for the embellishments of the church, forms a sin- 
 gular contrast with the acrimony with which he so often 
 assails her priesthood. In the one instance we see the 
 taste of the poet, in the other we recognise the feelings of 
 the man. It is highly interesting to observe that the bard's 
 fiercest invectives are directed against the eleemosynary 
 clergy — the Franciscan and Dominican friars — who are 
 also the objects of Chaucer's bitterest satire ; and in one 
 poem it is observable that he appears to insinuate against 
 these orders the same charges that are advanced by his 
 contemporary — an abject devotion to the Romish See — and 
 hypocritical profession of religion, combined with the servile 
 arts and low frauds of the common mendicant. 
 
 Of the latter years of our bard we have only a general 
 account, which states that they were consumed in his native 
 parish of Llanbadarn, where also bad been his paternal 
 home. He appears to have survived his relations, his 
 patrons, and his fair Morvyth. His uncle and kind pro- 
 tector, Llewelyn ab Gwilym, he had lost in early life, by 
 the hand of an assassin, and the bard bewails this event in 
 a pathetic elegy on the occasion. Still, so long as his gene- 
 rous friend Ivor survived his house was a retreat to him 
 from all oppression ; there he was entertained like the Lhree 
 free guests in the court of Arthur. Indeed the poet seems 
 to have felt the warmest affection for every member of the 
 family of that good and hospitable chieftain. His melan- 
 choly feelings at the loss of the friends of his youth, his 
 patron, and the lady of his love — are pathetically described 
 in a poem in which he invokes the summer to visit Glamor- 
 ganshire with its choicest blessings.* After beautifully 
 describing that fertile region under the influence of the 
 serene messenger, his soul becomes suddenly overclouded— 
 the grave of his friend is brought to his remembrance, and 
 he concludes with an abrupt transition — (addressing the 
 summer,) — truly characteristic of his 'peculiar style, and 
 appropriate to the occasion. — 
 
 * The Bard often expressed his gratitude for the generous contribution 
 raised for him, to liberate Mm from prison by the men of Glamorgan ; and the 
 poems No. 93 and 111 of the original, were composed particularly on the 
 
560 MORVYTH OF MONA. 
 
 And thus mid all thy radiant flowers 
 Thy thick'ning leaves and glossy bowers, 
 The poet's task shall be to glean 
 Roses and flow'rs that softly bloom, 
 And trefoils wove in pavement green, 
 With sad humility to grace 
 His golden Ivor's resting place. 
 
 When Davyth ab Gwilym became oppressed with age 
 and a pilgrim, as it were, in the world, bereft of his dearest 
 friends, he laid aside every thing unbecoming his years and 
 situation. In the poem entitled the Bard's Last Song, he 
 describes the altered state of his feelings : — 
 
 Ivor is gone— my friend and guide 
 • And Nest — my patroness, his bride ! 
 
 Morvyth, my soul's delight, is fled — 
 . All moulder in the clay-cold bed ! 
 
 And I, oppress' d with woe remain, 
 
 Victim to age and ling'ring pain. 
 
 " Davyth ab Gwilym continued true to his muse even in 
 his last moments. One of his poems — perhaps the only one, 
 written on this impressive occasion,'' says his last biog- 
 rapher, remains. It is entitled the 'death-bed of the bard,' 
 and may perhaps be regarded more justly as his Last Song 
 than the poem of that designation last quoted ; — it is full of 
 remorse and penitence for his past life, &c. To differ with 
 so judicious an editor as Mr. Arthur Johnes maybe deemed 
 presumption ; but it is the recorded opinion of several 
 literary Welshmen that the so called Last Poem, was in 
 reality his last ; and that the poem of penitence above 
 referred "to, whatever its general merits, is sadly deficient 
 in one point of excellence — that of authenticity. In fact it 
 is considered as nothing more or less than a fabrication by 
 one of the Holy Brotherhood — who failing to convert him 
 before death, evinced his cleverness by making him write 
 his recantation in purgatory ; — at least, after his decease. 
 
 We have now arrived at the close our bard's carreer ; and 
 we may say of him, as of the Swan, that he terminated his 
 life with a song. But, unlike that of the Swan, his tuneful 
 talent was not forgotten at the hour of dissolution. On the 
 contrary 
 
 servatur ad imum, 
 
 Qualis ab inccepto processerat et sibi constat. 
 
MORVYTH OF MONA. 561 
 
 His death, as before stated, is said to have occurred about 
 the year 1400, at his home, Bro Gynin, in the parish of 
 Llanbadarn, Cardiganshire. His remains repose at Ustrad 
 Fleer,* or Strata Florida, in his native county, the burial 
 place of the princes of South Wales ; and his tomb has not 
 wanted the congenial tribute of the muse. Some kindred 
 spirit has recorded on it his friendship for the poet, and his 
 regret for his loss, in an epitaph, of which the following 
 translation will give some idea.f 
 
 Gwilym, bless'd with song divine, 
 Spleepest thou then, beneath this tree; 
 ' Neath this yew, whose foliage fine 
 Shades alike thy song and thee ? 
 Mantling yew-tree, he lies near 
 Gwilym, Teivy's nightingale, 
 And his song too slumbers here, 
 Tuneless ever through the vale ! 
 
 But the commemoration of his fame has not been con- 
 fined to an anonymous herald. Three of our poet's most 
 illustrious bardic contemporaries have left elegies on his 
 death which bespeak at once the high estimation in which the 
 writers regarded his talents, and the respect they enter- 
 tained for his private worth. J The spirit of rivalry which 
 may naturally be imagined to have existed during the life of 
 the bard, was at once extinguished by his death, or mani- 
 fested itself only in the generous trophies heaped upon his 
 tomb." 
 
 * In Welsh written Tstrad Flur, but pronounced as above. 
 
 t The following is the original Welsh epitaph : — 
 Davydd, gwiw awenydd gwrdd 
 Ai yma'th roed dan goed gwyrdd ? 
 Dan laspan hoyw ywen hardd) 
 Lle'i claddwyd, y cuddiwyd cerdd. 
 Glas dew ywen, glan eos — Deivi, 
 
 Mae Davydd yn agos ! 
 Yn y pridd mae'r gerdd ddiddos ; 
 Diddawn in bob dydd a nos ! 
 
 t The poets here alluded to where Iolo Goeh, the famous bard of Owaio 
 Gljadwr, Madoc Benvras, and Griffith Grug. 
 
]•/ "\ 
 
 NEST, " 
 
 DAUGHTER OF GRIFFITH AB LLEWELYN", KING OF ALL WALES, 
 AND QUEEN OF TRAHAERN AB CARADOC, KING OF NORTH 
 WALES. 
 
 It is frequently less the merit, than the atrocity or misfor- 
 tune of individuals, which mark them out as subjects for his- 
 torical animadversion. In the latter cases, however painful 
 to describe, where the details are degrading to national 
 pride, the integrity of history, and the deductions of phi- 
 losophy alike demand a faithful record. 
 
 Nest, the lady of this memoir, was the daughter of Griffith 
 ab Llewelyn, sovereign prince of Wales, and grand-daughter 
 of that most excellent prince Llewelyn ab Seisyllt, who 
 with his wife the princess Angharad was so renowned for 
 the peace and prosperity of the country during his brilliant 
 reign. The contemporaries of her father's reign were Mac- 
 beth king of Scotland ; and Edward the Confessor, and 
 afterwards Harold, kings of England. She was the elder 
 of two brothers of the names of Meredith and Ithel ; born 
 about the year 1032, at her father's royal residence of 
 Rhyddlan castle, North Wales; which celebrated edifice 
 was built by her renowned grandfather prince Llewelyn ab 
 Seisyllt. 
 
 Losing her mother during her early girlhood, brought up 
 and educated under the care of her warlike father, who, how- 
 ever affectionate, was by no means an example of moral cor- 
 rectness to his young family; she appears to have been too 
 slightly grounded in those principles fitted to ward her against 
 the perils incidental to her sex in their wordly intercourse. 
 Her father's court was a general scene of hilarious festivity, 
 contrasted at times with the darkest gloom of sorrow, for 
 the loss of near and most dear relatives, who perished during 
 warfare with the English. The refugees from Scotland, 
 Ireland, and England, who sought the protection and hos- 
 pitality of her father's castle, never sued in vain, and the 
 dawning beauties of the youthful princess Nest could not 
 
NEST, QUEEN OF 563 
 
 fail to inspire the flattering encomiums of these princely 
 *> visitors. 
 
 In the year 1038, when the subject of our memoir was, 
 but six years of age, in opposing the pretensions of Howei 
 ab Edwyn, who aimed to recover his right, the sovereignty 
 of South Wales, her father routed his forces, and took his 
 wife prisoner. To mark the laxity of morals, perhaps 
 peculiar to the times, but particularly proving her father a 
 wretched guide for the conduct of his daughter, it will be 
 sufficient to say, that instead of restoring her to her husband 
 according to the ennobling dictates humanity and heroic 
 generosity, Griffith ab Llewelyn was guilty of the selfish 
 meanness and demoralizing atrocity of retaining the helpless 
 beauty as his concubine. In her husband's second attempt 
 to recover his captive wife, and usurped dominions, he was 
 slain in battle ; and Griffith still continued the unhappy 
 lady in the degrading position of his mistress, probably 
 till her death. With such an example before her in the 
 conduct of a parent, we cannot wonder if the purity of her 
 mind received its earliest tinge of discolourment from such 
 reckless enormities. 
 
 Although, personally considered, a memoir of the princess 
 Nest may have but little in it either of interest or instruc- 
 tion for posterity, yet an incident that happened in her 
 early life, probably about the year^050^)the ei ghteenth of 
 herage, which although of little import to the world at large, 
 strange to say, became an affair of history to after ages. 
 This dark part of her story is soon told ; and we shall 
 transcribe it as related in the pages of history. 
 
 "Macbeth, the tyrant of Scotland, having caused Banquo, 
 Thane ofHLochaber of whose integrity and influence he was, 
 jealous to be murdered ; his son Fleance, to avoid the tyr- 
 anny of that usurper, fled intoJ^ orth Wales ; where he was 
 kindly received by prince Griffith ab Llewelyn ; in whose 
 court he was long entertained, with the warmest affection. 
 During his residence in the Welsh court, he became ena- 
 moured of Nest, the daughter of that prince ; and violating 
 the laws of hospitality and honor, by an illicit connection 
 with her, she was delivered of a son who was named Wal- 
 — — 2 z 
 
564 TRAHAERN AB CARADOC. 
 
 ter. In resentment of so foul an offence, Griffith com- 
 manded Fleance to be put tojdeath ; and reduced his daugh- 
 ter to the lowest servile situation, for suffering herself to be 
 dishonored by a foreigner. As the youth who was the fruit 
 of thi3 illicit connection, advanced in years, he became dis- 
 tinguished for his valour and an elevated mind. A dispute 
 having arisen between him and one of his companions, the 
 nature of his birth was retorted upon him by his angry 
 antagonist in terms of reproach ; which so irritated the 
 fiery spirit of Walter, that he instantly killed him; and 
 afraid of abiding the consequences of the murder, he fled 
 into Scotland. On his arrival in that kingdom, he insin- 
 uated himself among the English, who were in the train of 
 queen Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling. He soon 
 acquired, by his wisdom and conduct in this country, the 
 general esteem ; and his abilities unfolding as they were 
 employed in the public service, he was appointed lord 
 steward of Scotland, and receiver of the revenues of the 
 kingdom. From tjiis office he and his descendants have 
 taken the name of Jstuart ;* and from this root have sprung 
 the royal house of that name, and many other branches of 
 illustrious families in Scotland.*'! 
 
 The royal houses of Tudor and Stuart being partly 
 of Welsh origin, it has become our province to show in 
 what manner they were ultimately united. The details of 
 the first will be found in this work in the Life of Catherine 
 of France ; and the latter in the present memoir. De- 
 laying awhile our concluding notices of the subject of this 
 
 * We are not informed when the ensiling: of that name was changed from 
 Steward into Stuart ; hut the only motive conjecturablefor it, must have been 
 to conceal the origin of the first, by no means flattering to royay>ride. 
 
 t It is really pitiable— more than pitiable— it is truly laughable, to witness 
 
 the pride of Scotch nationality, wincing under the infliction of this historic 
 f ac t ;— the origin of their royal race of Stuart traced to a criminal amour, 
 based on illegitimacy ! We should have expected better of Sir Walter Scott 
 than to find him inxolved in their prejudices, where he attempts to cast a slu v 
 on this affair, by the remark " but this seems a very doubtful tradition"-^.- 
 which occurs in his Tales of a Grandfather. The Scotch historian Buchanan, 
 as well as the Welsh chronicles, and the History of Wales by Caradoc of 
 Llancarvon, avouch this occurrence, as well authenticated history, and by 
 mear.s icsting on the uncertainty of tradition. 
 
tfEST, QUEEN Ofl 565 
 
 biographical sketch, we shall follow up the links in the 
 chain of their destinies, which scccessively brought the pos- 
 terity of Fleance the son of Banquo and the Welsh princess 
 Nestj to the thrones of Scotland and of EnglandL This 
 subject derives additional interest from the fact, that the 
 female line, proceeding from the united royal houses of 
 Tudor and Stuart, ultimately conjoined to the German 
 House of Brunswick, who have possession of the English 
 crown at the present hour, in the person of our excellent 
 queen Vj^oria. 
 
 During the national battles between the great conqueror 
 Edward I. of England and the heroic Robert Bruce, the 
 greatest of the kings of Scotland, Walter Stuart, t jie sixth 
 representative of that family from the son of Fleauce and 
 princess Nest — still bearing the hereditary office of lord 
 s teward of Scotlan d, whence the name was derived, — was 
 in being. From the liberal rewards so unsparingly showered 
 on his favored head, it is evident lie was a highly meri- 
 torious character, and deeply in the confidence of his 
 sovereign. His gallant bearing in general, and especially 
 his heroic bravery in the decisive battle of Bannockburn, 
 won the admiration and regards of his victorious king to 
 such a degree, that nothing less than the hand of his daugh- 
 ter in marriage was deemed a sufficient reward. Accord- 
 ingly Walter was married to Marjory the only daughter 
 of king Robert Bruce. Walter* however died young and 
 much regretted throughout Scotland ; and by his early 
 death probably missed the honors of royalty, and becoming 
 a king himself, previous to the succession of Robert his 
 only son. On the death of the great Robert Brucjft, his son 
 succeeded to the Scottish throne by the title of David II. ; 
 but as he died childless, the malejjjas of that revered dyn- 
 nasty became extinct . But the attachment of the Scottish 
 nation naturally turned to the family of that popular prince ; 
 and they resolved to confer the crown on a grandson of his, 
 the issue of Walter Stuart and his daughter Marjory, before- 
 mentioned. Accordingly he was raised to the throne by 
 
 * Prom Walter Steward to James I. of England and VI. of Scotland, there 
 were nine soverings of that race, 
 
■■■--■•■ 
 
 566 TRAHAERN Afe CARABOC. 
 
 the name of king Robert II. ; the first golden link in the 
 royal chain of ancestry of the Stuarts, wnosolong ruled 
 Scotland, and afterwards became kings of England. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth of England, the last of the Tudors, 
 dying childless, that dynasty became extinct ; but Mar^ 
 garet the daughter of her grandfather Henry VII., having 
 married into the royal family of the Stuarts of Scotland,* 
 gave claim to James VI., of that country to succeed Eliza- 
 abeth, as king of England and Scotland, thence called Great 
 Britain, by the title of James I. When queen Anne, the 
 last of the Stuart race died childless, the succession reverted 
 to The Hanoverian family of the House of Brunswick, in the 
 person of George I., who was in the f emale li p e descended 
 from a daughter of king James I. Thus the succession 
 regularly follows to our present queen Victoria. 
 
 Returning again to the princess Nest the subject of thfs 
 memoir ; it is not upon record whether her father ever 
 took her again into favor. It is certain that the latter days 
 of Griffith ab Llewelyn were deeply embittered by the- 
 success of the English arms over his forces, the decline of 
 his popularity, and the general disaffection of his subjects; 
 for which there appears to have been no just reason. Their 
 treasonable disloyalty to that heroic prince was amply 
 punished by the tribute imposed on them by Harold, son 
 of earl Godwin, general of Edward the Confessor, afterwards 
 king of England; and the last of the Saxon sovereigns. 
 " As the first fruits of their vassalage, this improvident and 
 ungrateful people, sent the head of their murdered sovereign 
 to the English general, together with the prow of the ship 
 in which he had recently returned from Ireland. His foul 
 murder is said to have been perpetrated at the instigation 
 
 * Margaret Tudor eldest daughter of Henry VII., was married to James IV. 
 of Scotland, and was the grandmother of Marj- Queen of Scots, and great 
 grandmother of James 1. of England and Sixth of Scotland. The following 
 remark appears appears in a geographical work of the time of James I. 
 " litre can I not omit the prudent foresight of Henry VII., who having two 
 daughters to marry, bestowed the elder on the king of Scotland, and the 
 younger on the king of France : that if his owne issue made should faile and a 
 prince of another nation must inherite England ; then Scotland, as the lesser 
 kingdome, should follow and depend upon England ; and not England watte 
 on France, as on the greater." 
 
NEST, QUEEN OF 567 
 
 of Harold ; who is supposed to have found his ready tools in 
 Bleddyn and Rhiwallon the sons of Cynvyn by the princess 
 Angharad, mother of Griffith ab Llewelyn — his half bro- 
 thers ! doubtless the patriotic portion of the Welsh, saw in 
 the death of Harold which took place a few years after, in 
 his encounter with William the Conqueror at the decisive 
 battle of Hastings, a just retribution for his unsoldierly 
 disengeniousness towards his heroic foe, the gallant Griffith 
 ab Llewelyn. 
 
 On the murder of this prince, the thrones of North 
 Wales and Powys were seized by Bleddyn and PJriwallon 
 his murderers ; with the aid and patronage of the English 
 king, as a reward for their late infamous exploit. Thus, 
 dispossessed of their home, the fair castle of Rhuddlan, the 
 princess Nest and her three brothers, Meredith, Llywarch, 
 and Ithel, had to fly for their lives; in the year 1066. 
 Two years after we find the brothers in arms for the re- 
 covery of their lost dominions. " The three young princes, 
 in support of their indubitable rights raised an army and 
 fought a severe battle with the reigning princes at Mechain, 
 in the county of Montgomery. In this action one of the 
 rival princes on each side, Rhiwallon and Tthel, was slain ; 
 and Meredith, after seeing his army defeated, was forced to 
 fly for safety, amidst the inmost recesses of the mountains, 
 his brother Llywarch having escaped. The openings into 
 these mountains being strictly guarded by Bleddyn, rendered 
 his escape impossible, and the young prince miserably per- 
 ished by cold and hunger."* 
 
 After the melancholy deaths of her two brothers, Nest 
 found herself nearly alone in the world; her entire family 
 having perished with the exception of her brother Llywarch, 
 in the ceaseless struggles of these terrific times. But for- 
 tune, that had shunned her so long, seemed to have reserved 
 a few smiles to gild the edges of those dark clouds by which 
 she had so long been enveloped. At the death of her 
 Mothers iai^Biii^^^^^yi^x^eje^ years of age ; 
 and still, probably, very attractive in person. She was 
 also, by that melancholy event, now the heir presumptive to 
 
 * Warrington. 
 2 z 2 
 
568 TBAHAERN AB CARADOC. 
 
 thethrone of North Wales, if not to the entire principality. 
 Consequently the heiress-hunters of the day doubtless 
 thought her a very desirable match ; and ultimately she 
 gave her hand in marriage to that eminent chieftain Tra- 
 haern ab Caradoc. By the right derived from this union, 
 seconded by his own daring valour and the consent of the 
 people, on the murder of his cousin Cleddyn ab Cynvyn in 
 the year 1073, Trahaern ab Caradoc mounted the throne of 
 North Wales. Thus Nest became the royal mistress of 
 the halls of Rhuddlan, the beloved scenes of her early youth 
 and witnesses of her after sorrows. But her happiness, 
 alas ! was not of long duration. In the year 1079, after 
 ruling the country with wisdom and valour for six years, 
 Trahaern was opposed by the joint armies of Griffith ab 
 Cynan, who claimed the crown of North Wales in right of 
 his late father, and of his ally Rhys ab Tewdwr, prince of 
 South Wales. " To oppose a union so dangerous to his 
 safety, Trahaern ab Caradoc assembled his forces, and met 
 the two princes upon the mountain of Carno* in Mon- 
 mouthshire. Here an engagement ensued, disputed with 
 the valour and obstinacy natural to rivals who had every 
 thing to hope and fear. In this action Trahaern ab Caradoc 
 was slain and his army defeated. 
 
 At the period of this disastrous event Nest was in the 
 forty- seventh year of her age. What became of her after 
 second expulsion from the royal palace of Rhyddlau, in con- 
 sequence of the violent deaths of her father and husband, is 
 not known ; nor does there appear to be any tradition by 
 which her after-life or death have been handed down to 
 posterity. 
 
 * In Welsh called Mynydd Cam, (Mountain of the Cam), on account cf a 
 large Carnedd on it, raised to the memory of an ancient warrior. The erection 
 of this memorial must have been in very remote times, as the mountain bore 
 the same name when a battle was fought on it in the year 728 between a 
 Welsh army under prince Roderic Moelwynoc, and a Saxon army under Ethel- 
 bald king cf Mercia, when neither party could claim a victory. The scene of 
 these battles is supposed to be between Tredegar and Dowlais, about the spot 
 where the Rhymney and Bute Iron Works are erected. My late friend the 
 Rev. John Jones vicar, Nevern, (loan Tegid) disputed this, and vehemently 
 insisted that the battle was fought on a mouutain of the same name in North 
 Wales. As he was a native of that country it is feared that local partiality 
 biassed the worthy and learned bard and antiquary in this decision. 
 
NEST, QUEEN OF TRAHAERN AB CARADOC. 569 
 
 By his marriage with Nest, Trahacrn ab Caradoc had two 
 children; a daughter named Nest who was afterwards married 
 to Bernard de New-march ; and a son named Llywarch, 
 who became much distinguished as lord of Pembroke. On 
 the death of Henry I. and the accession of Stephen in 1 138, 
 he had the merit of giving the first impulse to the revolt, in 
 which the whole country soon united, and drove the English 
 from nearly all their conquests in Wales, as related in the 
 memoirs of Aogharad and Gwenllian. Llywarch ab Tra- 
 haern had also the honor of becoming the father in law of 
 the great prince Owen Gwyneth, by the marriage of his 
 daughter Gwladys with that sovereign. 
 
 But after naming these favorable circumstances in the 
 life of Llywarch ab Trahaern, the brother of Nest, Historie 
 fidelity demands that his vices also should meet their due 
 comment, as they are too flagrant to be omitted, or lightly 
 passed over. When Henry I. failed to put down by the 
 force of arms the just pretensions of Griffith ab Rhys to the 
 sovereignty of South Wales, he employed certain degenerate 
 Welsh chief tains who engaged to destroy the hero by assassi- 
 nation. These were Owen ab Cadwgan, Madoc ab Ririd, 
 and this Llywarch ab Trahaern — who form a triad of the 
 most atrocious scoundrels that ever darkened the pages of 
 Welsh History. Llywarch also, in conjunction with his 
 mother, took an active part in separating his sister Nest 
 from her first husband, whom he sought to murder,- and 
 compelled to become a fugitive and an exile, in order to 
 bring about her union with Bernard de Newmarch, the 
 conqueror of the district of Brecknock ; to whom he pre- 
 sented her as a virgin, as fully related in the next memoir. 
 
THE PRINCESS NEST, 
 
 DAUGHTER OF TRAHAERN AB CARADOG, KING OF NORTH 
 WALES, AND OF NEST, DAUGHTER OF GRIFFITH AB LLEW- 
 ELYN AB SEISTLLT; AND WIFE OF BERNARD DE NEW- 
 MARCH LORD OF BRECON. 
 
 Previous to our attempt at clearing this lady from a por- 
 tion at least, of the iniquities with which her memory is 
 loaded, we mast state the charges with which history, and 
 pseudo-history, have overwhelmed her. 
 
 Remarking on the conquest of Brecknockshire by Ber- 
 nard de Newmarch, Theophilus Jones says — " to strengthen 
 and add stability to his interest among the Welsh, Bernard 
 married Nest, grandaughter of Griffith ab Llewelyn, prince 
 of North Wales, a lady who does no credit to our country 
 or his choice, further than it contributed to give perma- 
 nency to his title, and reconciled his issue to his new 
 subjects." In a note to the same he adds, " this princess 
 was a woman of very loose principles, and notoriously mere- 
 tricious before her marriage; for by Fleance the son of 
 Banquo, king of Scotland, who fled to Wales to avoid pun- 
 ishment for a murder, she had Walter Stuart, or Walter the 
 steward, ancestor of the Stuarts, kings of Scotland, and 
 afterwards of England. The honor of having killed his man 
 was perhaps a recommendation to the lady at that time, as 
 it is said to be since, in nations supposed to be more civi- 
 lized." 
 
 The only correct point in the above passage is, that 
 Bernard de Newmarch actually did marry the lady in 
 question, otherwise the entire statement forms a singular 
 tissue of errors. This is the more surprising, as its author 
 is generally patient and laborious in his investigations; 
 and has detected and set right many of the historical mis- 
 takes of others. In the first place, the reader who has 
 perused our last memoir, that of Nest the daughter of 
 Griffith ab Llewelyn, and wife of Trahaern ab Caradoc, 
 has by this time discovered that Theophilus Jones has 
 
NEST, WIFE OF 571 
 
 visited upon the daughter, our present princess Nest, the 
 sins of her mother, a proceeding the more merciless, as she 
 unfortunately had more of her own to answer for, than can 
 readily be excused or pardoned. Secondly, Banquo was 
 never a king of Scotland ; but at the time of his death held 
 only the rank of Thane of Lochaber. Thirdly, Fleance the 
 son of Banquo did not fly to Wales " to avoid punishment 
 for a murder which he had committed ;" but for security 
 from the tyranny of the usurper Macbeth, who had caused 
 his father to be assassinated, and who sought to destroy the 
 son, in consequence of the prediction of the Weird sisters, 
 " that the race of Banquo should become kings, although 
 he should be none himself." Lastly, the lady of our memoir 
 stands cleared of the bad taste imputed to her, of having 
 admired the Scotch Refugee for having " killed his man ;" 
 as, in fact, he killed no one, but was himself put to death 
 for his seduction of the unhappy daughter of his hospitable 
 host and benefactor. But as the entire narrative of these 
 transactions has been given in the preceding memoir, the 
 repetition here is unnecessary.* 
 
 * The innumerable mistakes chargeable against Theophilus Jones in his 
 " History of the Town and County of Brecknock," are thus commented upon 
 by Edward Williams, better known by his bardic cognomen of Iolo Morganwg , 
 He is writing of the sources of information from which Mr. T. Rees, might 
 collect his materials for a work on South Wales:" Mr. Eees had for Brecon- 
 Bhire the whole collected mass of Theophilus Jones, such as it is — I say such 
 as it is, for such a crude jumble of ignorance and negligence never heretofore 
 appeared in the literary world. Take an instance or two from amongst a 
 number not less than two thousand — I reconsider what I have said and con- 
 fidently repeat two thousand." The bitter bard then states the two errors, 
 both certainly very startling and inexcuseable on th e part of the public. In 
 defence of the unfortunate historian of Breconshire the Rev. Thomas Price 
 (Carnuhanawe) who when a young man ass'sted him in his ponderous under- 
 taking by drawing, painting, and engraving the armorial bearings, assured me 
 «' that Theophilus Jones, while preparing the work for the press was so griev- 
 vously afflicted with the gout that his left hand had to support the wrist of bis 
 flannel bound right, as he guided the pen, with the tips only of his fingers at 
 liberty, while severe twinges of pain every now and then arrested his progress; 
 and under those circumstances, he said, he could not wonder had the mistakes 
 been still more numerous." Candour, however, calls for the admission, that 
 notwithstanding the errors both in taste and mis-statements abounding in that 
 work, that the history of Breconshire contains much yaliffl l fle information . 
 brought together from -innumerable and far-spreading sources, too difficult of 
 access for the researches of the modern antiquary or historian, 
 
 
572 BERNARD DE NEWMARCtf. 
 
 It is evident that this historian's principal mistake pro- 
 ceeded from the mother and daughter being of the same 
 name ; but it is somewhat remarkable, that in the table of 
 pedigrees in the history of Brecknockshire, that error is not 
 traceable, but the mother and daughter are distinctly placed 
 in their proper order* 
 
 Although a pretty load of imputed iniquities have already 
 been removed from this lady's shoulders, we fear not but 
 our versions of the story will not only clear her fame from all 
 reproach, but additionally prove that Nest alone is the in- 
 jured party. Wynne ; in his history of Wales states the 
 matter as follows. 
 
 " Bernard de Newmarch gave the people of Wales some 
 small satisfaction and content by marrying Nest, the 
 daughter also of Nest, daughter of Llewelyn ab Griffith,* 
 prince of Wales, by whom he had issue, a son named Ma- 
 hael. This worthy gentleman being legally to succeed his 
 father in the lordship of Brecknock, was afterwards disin- 
 herited by the malice and baseness of his own unnatural 
 mother. The occasion was thus ; — Nest happening to fall 
 in admiration of a certain knight, with whom she had more 
 than ordinary familiarity, even beyond what she expressed 
 to her own husband ; Mahael perceiving her dissolute and 
 loose behaviour, counselled her to take care of her fame and 
 reputation, and to leave off that scandalous liberty which 
 she took ; and afterwards casually meeting her gallant 
 coming from her, fought, and grievously wounded him. 
 Upon this, Nest to be revenged upon her son, went to 
 Henry I. of England, and in his presence took her cor- 
 poral oath that her son Mahael was illegitimate, and not 
 begot by Bernard de Newmarch her husband, but by ano- 
 ther person. By virtue of this oath, or rather perjury, 
 Mahael was disinherited, and his sister, whom her mother 
 attested to be legitimate, was bestowed upon Milo, the son 
 of Walter Constable, afterwards earl of Hereford, who in 
 right of his wife enjoyed the whole estate of Bernard de 
 Newmarch lord of Brecon." 
 
 * Instead of Llewelyn ab Griffith, he should have written Griffith ab 
 Llewelyn. 
 
NEST, WIFE OF 573 
 
 The reader should bear in mind that the fore-written 
 version of the story has been considered in past times as 
 only the fabrication of a party, consisting of the enemies of 
 Nest, and the biassed partizans of the Norman conqueror who 
 had contracted with her a political marriage under most 
 unwarrantable circumstances. There is a traditional story 
 opposed to it, in the Cambrian interest, which if true, (and 
 it is as likely to be so as tEe*otHer, which has the advantage 
 merely of being a written instead of an oral tradition) that 
 will place the entire affair in a very different light ; and the 
 guilt ascribed to the princess transferred to those who 
 deserved it. 
 
 In the latter version of the story, it is said that at the 
 time when Bernard de Newmarch invaded Breconshire, and 
 demanded the royal daughter of the late Trahaern ab Cara- 
 doc for his bride, with the political view of ingratiating 
 himself with the people beneath his sway as lord of Breck- 
 nock, that the princess Nest was already a married woman — 
 that she had been for some time the espoused wife of a 
 private individual, a man of her own choice, whom her 
 ambitious family thought proper to stigmatize as obscure ; 
 and being unsanctioned by them, therefore they considered 
 her union with him, although hallowed by the rites of the 
 church, as an illicit connection, that might be dissolved in 
 any manner which their pride or interest might suggest. 
 When the father of Nest, the gallant Trahaern ab Caradoc 
 (who had reigned with credit as sovereign of North Wales) 
 was killed at the battle of Carno, by which Griffith ab Cy- 
 nan was restored to the vacated throne, the family of Tra- 
 haern naturally sought obscurity, as the best defence from 
 the vengeance to be dreaded at the hands of the reigning 
 royal family. But now that his daughter was sought in 
 marriage by a fpotent Norman baron who had made a 
 conquest of an important portion of South Wales, their 
 dormant pride rekindled as their prospects brightened, and 
 ambition once more became paramount. As they beheld 
 nothing more than the unknown husband of Nest as an 
 obstacle to their views, they resolved on sacrificing the 
 unhappy man, and concealing the connection which had 
 
 rvHH 
 
574 BERNARD DE NEWMARCH. 
 
 existed between him and the princess, although it is inferred 
 that she was herself strenuously opposed to these criminal 
 arrangements. Her mother and her brother Llywarch, who 
 possessed estates in the district of Pembroke, appear to 
 have been the principal, if not the only parties in this dark 
 affair ; and the spirit which in after time marked the cha- 
 racter of Nest was utterly unknown to this early period of 
 her mild existence : as it appears when harrassed almost 
 to death by their vehement importunities, she suffered her- 
 self, alternately oppressed by their reproaches, threats, and 
 cajoling, to become a passive instrument in their hands, 
 although determined, if possible, to preserve the life of her 
 innocent doomed husband. Having arrived at this stage of 
 their atrocities, the brief and unceremonious destruction of 
 the unhappy man alone remained to be perpetrated ; and it 
 was decided that the application of the assassin's dagger alone 
 suited the secrecy of their pu rpose, as the most expedient 
 termination of their foul enterprize. The projector of this 
 horrible plan was Llywarch the brother of Nest, with the 
 concurrence of their mother. The unscrupulous character 
 of this monster places his capability of heinous deeds beyond 
 a doubt, as perfectly equal to the task which he had under- 
 taken, and one not to a be turned aside from his deadly 
 purpose by any misgivings of humanity, whether of pity or 
 remorse, or any other compunctious visitings of man's com- 
 mon nature. In proof of this view of his character, he had 
 already distinguished himself as the votary of assassination 
 by engaging himself as the murderous agent of Henry I., 
 associated with the equally detestable Owen ab Cadwagan,* 
 to destroy the gallant prince Griffith ab Rhys, at this period 
 his reigning sovereign, though possessed of only a scanty 
 
 * These criminals, namely Llywarch ab Trahaern and Owen ab Cadwagan, 
 with their occasional associate, Madoc ab Ririd, form an appropriate triad of 
 the basest villains which infested these times, or blotted the page of history 
 with their detestable names. Henry Beauclerc, the scholar king, the merry 
 monarch of the twelfth century, and the model of Charles II. in after ages, ever 
 found in these degenerate Welshmen, the readiest agents in his murderous 
 schemes for the destruction of the most illustrious patriots of the Cambrian 
 territory. But in summing up the character of this Anglo-Norman king, not 
 one of the historians of England have dwelt upon this foul phase; but passed 
 it over as unworthy of particular comment. 
 
NEST, WIFE OP 575 
 
 remnant of the ancient domains of South Wales. It ap- 
 pears however, that Llywarch ab Trahaern, for some unex- 
 plained reason delegated the intended deed of blood to the 
 hand of an agent, by which the scheme failed, through the 
 tenderness of Nest, who managed to give her husband notice 
 of his peril ; and he was thereby enabled to fly for his life, 
 in company with his intended murderer, who stood in equal 
 danger from the impending vengeance of Llewarch. How- 
 ever the princess was presented to Bernard de Newmarch, 
 who married her as a virgin at the period of her early 
 pregnancy. The child she bore in after time was named 
 Mahael, who appeared in the eyes of the world as the law- 
 fully begotten son of Bernard de Newmarch. It was 
 inferred by the few who were in the secret, that although 
 discreetly yielding to the force of circumstances that the 
 proud Norman himself was neither ignorant of the supprest 
 marriage of his wife nor of her previous pregnancy, but that 
 policy had sealed his lips whatever his feelings may have 
 been. It appears evident from succeeding events that 
 Bernard fully discharged the duties of an affectionate father 
 towards the youth Mahael, whom he not only inspired with 
 the dearest regard for himself, but fatally left him also to 
 inherit his questionable feelings for the lady Nest, his 
 mother ; towards whom he had not demonstrated any par- 
 ticular marks of either affection or respect. Had another 
 son been born to him, unquestionably his own, his bearing 
 towards Mahael might have been otherwise, but leaving 
 no other offspring than a daughter named Mabil, he left 
 Mahael to be regarded as his son, heir and successor. 
 
 The tradition goes, that on the death of this politic con- 
 queror of Breconshire, the said Mahael was always on ill terms 
 with his mother, who had frequent occasions for remonstra- 
 ting with him for his proud and insolent assumption of autho- 
 rity, arrogating to himself, though some years under twenty, 
 the full right and competence of exercising all the authority 
 and official functions of his late father, as lord of Brecknock, 
 independently of any deferential reference to the opinions of 
 his widowed mother, over whom, in the course of time he 
 discovered an inclination to domineer. Nest had by this 
 
 3 A 
 
576 BERNARD DE NEWMARCH. 
 
 time lost all the milder attributes of her early life. The 
 severe trials which she had experienced in hr ecommerce 
 with a world that had used her harshly, now banished the 
 pliancy and yielding gentleness which nature had impressed 
 upon her heart, and in their place had left the somewhat 
 hardened but half-cicatrized scars of olden wounds, so irri- 
 table that the slightest touch of provocation failed not to 
 inflame her to frequent demonstrations of fiery resentment. 
 Now in the vigor of middle life, after congratulating herself 
 on her emancipation from the constraints imposed upon her 
 condition by an arbitrary harsh lord ; after perhaps indul- 
 ging herself in anticipations of governing — in ruling her son 
 and the district beneath his sway with the full power which 
 her maternal character gave her over his youth, we may 
 conceive she was ill prepared to have her views thwarted 
 and her will opposed : that she could ill brook those 
 haughty indications in her son, which gave her to suspect 
 that she had only changed one tyrant for another, and the 
 latter, however much despised, more intolerable than the 
 first, for the want of due warranty for his assumptions; 
 Among other points of personal disrespect towards her, she 
 noticed, with corresponding feelings of indignation that the 
 insolent boy made invidious distinctions between the Anglo- 
 Normans and the Welsh, favoring the former and discoun- 
 tenacing the latter, as his mother's country people. This 
 of course called for expostulation on her part, accompanied 
 with emphatic remarks on the impolicy as well as the 
 injustice of such proceedings, which she asserted that his 
 father, in the height of his power, dared not have ventured 
 upon. It is even stated that she was in several cases of 
 foolish outrage on his part, obliged to protect many who had 
 suffered from his active tyranny and oppression. These 
 offences and interferences often led to unseemly alterations, 
 very discreditable to the inmates of the castle. It was said 
 that Mahael, in his assumption of independence and oppo- 
 sition to his mother, so far forgot his position and the 
 habits of common politeness as either to deny his presence 
 to her guests, or to conduct himself with ungraciousness 
 and even moroseness towards them ; thus every thing within 
 
NEST, WIFE OF 577 
 
 the castle of Brecknock bore the inauspicious aspect of a 
 divided house; and the presence of the principal of the 
 neighbouring priory was often called to interfere and re- 
 store peace between the enraged parties. As his insolence 
 and impatience of matronly controul increased with his years, 
 a spirit of resentful sternness became habitual to his mother, 
 and their best friends despaired of establishing concord be- 
 tween them. At length a deplorable outbreak occurred 
 which brought the dreadful catastrophe about to be related. 
 
 Among the most frequent visitors of the lady Nest was a 
 gentleman of a noble and martial bearing, and at the same 
 time of very amiable and unobtrusive manners, whom she 
 appeared to distinguish by an especial degree of favor, and 
 in whose company she spent many hours daily, in her favo- 
 rite southern tower that faced the sublime heights of the 
 Beacon mountain, the loftiest elevation in Southern Cambria. 
 
 Towards Mahael this gentleman always conducted him- 
 self with especial courtesy, and appeared to entertain a 
 benevolent desire of cultivating a friendly intercourse with 
 him. But the very circumstance of his social footing with 
 his mother became a motive to the perverse mind of the 
 young man for repelling his advances, and treating the con- 
 ciliating stranger with the most repulsive reserve and 
 hauteur. It appeared to be a settled maxim with him that 
 his mother's friends must necessarily be his foes ; and that 
 whatever appearance of kindness they bore, that it was but an 
 insidious mask to conceal their real hostility. He even went 
 further than presenting an ungracious demeanour; his active 
 malice in annoying his mother became conspicuous in the 
 following manner. On one occasion when his mother desired 
 his presence among her friends, he sneeringly observed 
 that his appearance would scarcely be desirable when she was 
 already blest with the company of her favorite, the " un- 
 known knight.'' This taunt carried the insinuation that 
 her intercourse with this person was somewhat questionable, 
 and beyond the strict rules of propriety established by the 
 etiquette of the times. The resentment of the lady Nest 
 on the reception of such stinging inuendoes was fiery and 
 overwhelming, and the expressions of her anger awfully 
 
 ^ 
 
578 BERNARD DE NEWMABCH. 
 
 thrilling. It was said that in the paroxisms of her rage she 
 threw out certain threats both of alarming and mysterious 
 import, that for the time, had the effect of subduing the au- 
 dacity of Mahael. In the fervor of her indignation she 
 asserted that she had the power of dashing down forever all 
 his knightly aspirations; that a word of hers could render 
 him the most contemptible of mankind ; and that assuredly 
 the annihilating word should be thundered forth, if he 
 dared to proceed in his present course of insult to herself, 
 and more especially to her long lost and newly recovered 
 friend — whom he, of all men, if he knew all, was bound 
 most to honor and respect. Suddenly recollecting herself, 
 on witnessing tne awe and terror which her passion had 
 created, she would quietly add, that the gentleman in 
 question was no less the friend and guest of the venerable 
 Prior than her own; which would indubitably serve to 
 establish the respectability of his character ; but that the 
 particulars of his history, blended as they were with the 
 incidents of her early life, were not for present revelation. 
 
 The personage here referred to was " the certain knight" 
 whom Nest is said to have "fallen in admiration of" in the 
 former version of this narrative. The tradition runs that 
 this mysterious character was no other than the lady Nest's 
 first husband, from whom she had been so infamously sepa- 
 rated, through the political machinations of her mother, 
 and her brother Lly warch ab Trahaern, to become the wife 
 of Bernard de Newmarch, That having escaped the daggers 
 of the assassins employed to despatch him, he passed an hono- 
 rable and adventurous life abroad, where he had acquired 
 military rank and fortune. Hearing of the decease of Ber- 
 nard de Newmarch, he visited his native land in disguise, 
 had the satisfaction to find the bride of his youth not only 
 alive but favorably disposed towards him. In short it was 
 settled between this long-sundered and ill-used pair, that 
 as Mahael was on the point of attaining his majority, when 
 his marriage and knighthood, at the hand of the king would 
 follow ; at which season they would embrace the opportunity 
 of being privately re-united, by a repetition of their mar- 
 riage ceremony. After which they would quit this country 
 
NEST, WIFE OF 579 
 
 forever and settle among his friends and new connections 
 abroad. This innocent and honorable arrangement became 
 utterly destroyed, just as it was about to be carried into 
 effect through the misconstructions and outrageous con- 
 duct of Mahael. """""^N 
 
 Having watched the steps of him whom in his ignorance J 
 and malignity he had scornfully called the unknown knight, ^*\ 
 he one day intercepted him as he was coming from his 
 mother ; after much insolent abuse to provoke him to violence 
 he drew his sword on him, and in his own defence induced ^\ 
 him to do the same. But while Mahael made the most 
 deadly thrusts at him he merely Sfcood on his own protec- iL 
 ion without the least attempt of profiting by his inexpe- 
 rience to injure him, well knowing the perverse youth to 
 be the child of his own loins, though thus mysteriously 
 placed before him as his deadliest enemy. Notwithstanding 
 his forbearance Mahael took advantage of a chance heed- 
 lessly given him, and not merely "grievously wounded 
 him," as mis-stated in the former version of this trans- 
 action, but in a furious pass inflicting on him the fatal 
 wound of which he immediately died ; thus literally killing ,- 
 his real father, though unknown to him, and becoming that 
 most wretched of criminals ajpjjadcide*. 
 
 This unpardonable provocation explains the after conduct 
 of his mother, and clears her asperseaTlame, where*' loose 
 behaviour" and the crime of "perjury" has been imputed to 
 her; it also reconciles to our understanding the double 
 version of her sad story. Rendered desperate, and inspired 
 with hatred against her unworthy son, who had latterly 
 embittered her days, and now crowned his infamy by the 
 murder of the beloved husband of her youth, whom as she 
 thought, she had just recovered, and fondly anticipated a 
 happy closing of her days with him in a foreign land — thus 
 deprived of every solace to render her existence endurable, 
 we are the less astonished at the nature of her revenge. 
 
 When king Henry appeared amidst his court at Wor- 
 cester, which had attended him there, where among other 
 matters of state he was to receive the homage of his vassals 
 of the principality of Wales, the lady Nest, in her widow's 
 
 3 A 3 *vW 
 

 5S0 BERNARD DE NEWMARCH. 
 
 * 
 
 weeds came before him ; and to the astonishment of the 
 sovereign and the courtly circle, asseverated upon oath, as 
 before stated, that her son Mahael was not entitled to the 
 honor of knighthood ; that he was illegitimate and not begot 
 by Bernard de Newmarch, her husband, but by another. 
 The reason of her apparent forbearance in not stigma- 
 tizing him also as a* murderer and parricide, which might 
 • go far towards perilling his life, is less attributable to her 
 y mercy than to the intention of preserving for her daughter 
 the forfeited inheritance of her son. As the matter stood 
 she appeared there a self- convicted adultress : but had she 
 revealed the secret of ner first marriage although it would 
 have cleared her personal fame, it would have invalidated 
 the last union and thereby have bastardized her daughter 
 also. Rather than involve her affectionate child in the 
 general family ruin, with the self-abandonment of a devoted 
 martyr she submitted to the foul construction which the 
 world would put upon her conduct, and additionally swore 
 that her daughter Mabil was the lawfully begotten child of 
 the said Bernard. Her oaths, in all their integrity, were 
 accepted and recorded ; in consequence of which Mahael 
 was disinherited, and his alienated rights transferred to his 
 sister, who was soon after united in marriage with the young 
 baron, Milo Fitzwalter; an espousal that enriched the 
 latter with the landed possessions of his deprived brother- 
 in-law ; in addition to which earthly glories, in brief space 
 later, the king created him earl of Hereford. The period 
 of Nest's death is not upon record nor is any thing known 
 of the after life or death of her son Mahael. 
 
 \ 
 
" 
 
 ANNE THOMAS, 
 
 OP CKEYTHIF,* WIFE OF SHON+ HUMPHKIES, OF LLANVAIE 
 
 VECHAN4 
 
 Although a modest member of the rustic train , in the 
 humbler class of farming j ife, a very romantic and perilous 
 a c cj fl ent which happened to Anne Thomas, in her maiden- 
 hood, about the year 1680, caused toth her and the person' 
 who afterwards becamener husband, to be considered as 
 subjects of very general curiosity. The even tenor of many 
 a long life is frequently void of a single incident to entitle 
 its subject to public notice ; but in the present instance, the 
 events to be recorded of a pair of the unobstrusive children 
 of obscurity, may justly be considered wonderful, even had 
 they occurred in the adventurous career of enterprising 
 wanderers over land and sea. 
 
 Anne Thomas was a native of Creythin, a village on the 
 opposite side of the river Conway to Pen-maenmawr. She 
 had made an appointment to meet her young man t Shon 
 Humphries, at that g eneral scene of r ural Rspignafions, a 
 fair, in the town of Conway. In crossing the ferryoiri^at 
 river, the boat being excessively crowded, was upset, and the-* 
 whole party, consisting of above four score persons, was" 
 precipitated into the stream ; and awful to relate, every one 4 
 perished — except the subject of our memoir.§ 
 
 On the same { j[ay^ her lover Shon Humphries, who was 
 hastening to join her, had to pass a piece of rugged land, 
 fully as perilous as the wild waters on which the dreadful 
 catastrophe before-mentioned had occurred — namely the 
 
 * In Welsh spelt Creyddyn. 
 ^ t In Welsh Shon is 'Spelt Sion. 
 
 t Llanvair Vechan signifies Mary's Church the lesser. 
 I Observing on this pair of accidents, Pennant says, I would not venture to 
 mention it, had I not the strongest traditional authority, to this day in the 
 mouths of every one in the parish of ijUavlUr Yechan, in which the promon- 
 tory stands. 
 
582 ANNE THOMAS. 
 
 tremendous road over the promontory of Penmaenmawr. It 
 may be imagined his mind was far from tranquil, notwith- 
 standing the tender nature of his anticipations ; for, al- 
 though his anxiety to reach Conway in time, urged him 
 briskly forward, his terrors in treading the crumbling sides 
 of this fearful precipice, where, he reflected, so many 
 travellers had perished, suggested the most prudential care 
 in his movements. His danger increased every space he 
 advanced, as the road stretched higher and higher, while 
 with the most thrilling sensations, he could look down upon 
 the raging sea furiously foaming beneath the intervening 
 sharp pointed rocks. •Aware that a single false step might 
 be his death, he moved forward with as much care as the 
 urgency of his haste would permit. However, notwith- 
 standing his circumspection, he ultimately lost his footing, and 
 fell headlong down the terrific precipice. But honest Shon 
 Humphries was no more destined to perish by such an acci- 
 dent than his beloved by a watery grave ; his escape seemed 
 miraculous ; but escape he did, and without broken bones, 
 although with some severe contusions. He not only reached 
 Conway at the time expected, but soon after married the 
 maiden, who on the same day had been so miraculously 
 preserved. 
 
 This wonderful pair are further noticeable for the great 
 age which each attained. Anne was buried April 11th, 
 1744, aged one hundred and sixteen ; her husband survived 
 her five years, and was buried December 10th, 1749, close 
 by her side in the parish churchyard of Llanvair Vechan ; 
 where their graves are familiarly shown to this day. 
 
 To give the reader a just view of the road to Penmaen- 
 mawr, we must be further indebted to the picturesque pages 
 of Pennant, whence we gained the best part of our previous 
 information. 
 
 "I continued my journey from Aber, along the rich recess, 
 enjoying a fine view of the entrance into the Monar, with its 
 wooded shores of Anglesea and Priestholm Isle, and the 
 great expanse of water between them and Llandudno, or 
 Ormshead ; the vast cape rising, like the rock of Gibralter, 
 high out of the waves. Before me soared the great promon- 
 
ANNE THOMAS. 583 
 
 tory of Penmaen-mawr * protruding itself into the sea, and 
 exhibiting a fine contrast to the fertility which it interrupts, 
 by a rude view of grey weather-beaten stone and precipice. 
 I passed by Bryn y Neuodd, and a little further is the small 
 Tillage and church of Llanvair Vechan, from whence is a 
 very short ride to the once tremendous road over this cele- 
 brated rock. In past times it was justly the terror of the 
 traveller; extremely narrow, bad, and stony; and what 
 added to his fears, for a considerable way the danger in- 
 creased with his progress, by reason of the precipice gaining 
 additional height. Generally it was without the protection 
 of a wall to secure him in case of a false step ; which might 
 in the loftiest place precipitate him some scores of yards, 
 either onjharp rocks, or into the sea, according to the^sjtate. 
 of the tide. A vein of crumbling stratum in one part, so 
 contracted the road as to excite new horrors. The descent 
 towards Penmaen Bach,f which before was hardly practica- 
 ble, is now destroyed ; and the road is brought on a level 
 for two or three miles, at a vast height above a return of 
 rich slopes, and the deep bottom of Dwygyvylchan, till we 
 arrive at the rude back of the lesser promontory ; when we 
 labour up the steep ascent of Sychnaut,^ with an horrible 
 and almost precipitous mountain on one side and hills with 
 tops broken into almost singular crags, on the other. From 
 the top of Sychnant the road is continued about two miles 
 on a perpetual descent to the town of Conway. The breach 
 occasioned by the crumbling stratum is now effectually 
 repaired by a series of arches ; a work the just admiration 
 of travellers, and a high credit to the ingenious contriver.§ 
 
 Two or three accidents, which have happened on this road, 
 will remain as miracles. An exciseman fell down the highest 
 part, and escaped unhurt, as did more than one attorney 
 
 * Signifying Head of the great promontory. 
 
 t Signifying Head of the lesser promontory. 
 
 t Parliament employed an engineer, John Sylvester, Esq., about the year 
 1772, who effectually removed these dangers, by forming a safe and commodious 
 road. It is now widened to a proper breadth, and near the verge of the 'precipice 
 secured by a strong wall. 
 
 § Dry brook. 
 
584 ANNE THOMAS. 
 
 belonging to Conway ; on which we present the following 
 epigram :— 
 
 ^ I'll crush man's friends, the Devil said, 
 Since Penmean-mawr's my throne, 
 "While mine's the pow'r that roasts and fries men, 
 And save my friends — those precious wisemen ! — 
 Lawyers, liars, thieves, excisemen, 
 Sweet crew, they're all my own." 
 The Rev. Mr. Jones, Rector of Llanelian in 1762 fell with 
 his horse, and a midwife behind him, down the steepest 
 part. The sage femme perished, as did the nag. The divine, 
 with great philosophy, unsaddled the steed, and marched 
 off with the trappings, exulting at his preservation. 
 
s^v 
 
 MEVANWY VECHAN, 
 
 OF DINAS BEAN CASTLE. 
 
 " Mevanwy, the maid of Llangollen of old.' 
 
 Very slight are our materials for working out a biographi- 
 cal article for this lady; and were it not that she was 
 fortunate enough to have had a poet for her lover, it is 
 probable that neither tradition nor history would have borne 
 witness of her existence. Her residence was at Dinas Bran 
 castle, situate on the summit of a lofty and steep mountain, 
 frowning over the fair vale of Llangollen ; one of the oldest 
 fortresses in the kingdom, and long the residence of the 
 lords of Ial , (yale) as it had once been of another Beauty, 
 a notice of whom appears elsewhere in this work, the lady 
 Emma, wife of the unpopular chieftain, Griffith ab Madocj 
 Her father, descended from the house of Tudyr Trevor, was 
 governor of this castle, it is supposed under the earl of 
 Arundel, in the year 1390. Her poetic lover was a renowned 
 bard, named Howel ab Eineon Llygliw. It is said of Mev- 
 anwy Vechan, in the brief notice of her in Evan's specimens 
 of the ancient Welsh bards, that "her charms inspired more 
 than one child of song," although nj other than fiowel has 
 been named. 
 
 The original manuscript of the very passionate and pa- 
 thetic love elegy, erroneous called an ode, addressed to her 
 by her poet lover, was discovered amid the ruins of Dinas 
 Bran castle ; and has been published in the archaeology of 
 Wales. In this production are set forth, as usual in such 
 cases, the intense sufferings of the bard, and the cruelty of 
 his mistress, however, very beautifully illustrated with ap- 
 propriate similies. We learn also from the poem that 
 Mevanwy Vechan was very beautiful, very graceful, very 
 good, and very accomplished ; and to crown all, that she 
 
586 MEVANWT VECHAN. 
 
 dressed with elegance and good taste, and appeared occasion- 
 ally in a robe of scarlet. Deficient as we are of materials 
 for an extended biography of this celebrated beauty, we 
 submit to the reader the concluding lines of the elegy of 
 Howel, translated by the Rev. R. William, of Vron, near 
 Mold, Flintshire. 
 
 When first I saw thee, princely maid! 
 In scarlet robes of state array 'd 
 Thy beauties set my soul on fire, 
 And every motion fann'd desire ; 
 The more on thy sweet form I gazed 
 The more my frantic passion blazed. 
 
 Not half so fine the spider's thread 
 That gutters in the dewy mead, 
 As the bright ringlets of thy hair, 
 Thou beauteous object of my care. 
 But ah, my sighs, my tears are vain, 
 The cruel maid insults my pain. 
 
 And can'st thou, without pity, see 
 The victim of thy cruelty, 
 Pale with despair and robb'd of sleep, 
 Whose only business is to weep?— 
 Behold thy bard, thy lover languish, 
 Oh ease thy bard'a, thy lover's anguish ! 
 
 Ah fairer than the flowers adorning 
 The hawthorn in a summer's morning ! 
 While life remains I still will sing 
 Thy praise, and make the mountains ring 
 With fair Mevanwy's tuneful name ! 
 And from misfortune purchase fame : 
 Not e'en to die shall I repine, 
 So Howell's name may live with thine. 
 
 END OP THIS VOLUME. 
 
HEROINES OF WELSH HISTORY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 Btera nf % (feMrruttr Wmm nf Wnlw. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Boadicea's Memoirs — Concluded . » .95 
 
 Bronwen, Daughter of King Llyr . . 96 
 
 Her brother Bran ab Llyr becomes hostage to the Romans 
 
 on the liberation of his son Caractacus . . ib. 
 
 Introduction of Christianity into Britain by him and his 
 
 family . . . . . ib. 
 
 Her marriage with Matholwch, king of Ireland . . 97 
 
 Her affecting story . . . .98 
 
 Discovery of her earn or sepulchre on the bank of the 
 
 Alaw, in Anglesea . . . . ib. 
 
 The urn containing her bones presented to the British 
 
 Museum . . . . .99 
 
 Reasons why the urn ought to be replaced, and her cam 
 
 restored . . . . .100 
 
 Brychan Brecheiniog's Female Family . . 101 
 
 His mother's story — a singular legend . . 102 
 
 Her marriage with an Irish prince, and birth of Brychan . 103 
 
 Brought to Britain at two years of age. A prophesy of 
 
 his future prosperity .... ib. 
 
 Succeeds his father, A.D. 400, as king of Garthmadrin ; 
 
 which name he changes to Brecheiniog . .104 
 
 Brychan's illegitimate son Cynog . . . 105 
 
 His early profligacy, ultimate reformation, and conversion 
 
 to Christianity . . . . .107 
 
 Cynog's magic bracelet, a curious legend . . 108 
 
 Brychan's three wives and fifty children . .109 
 
 Britain Christianized before Ireland . . .110 
 
 The piety of his children and their support of early British 
 Christianity . « . . .111 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 His twenty-six daughters, their names and destinies . 112 
 
 His times agitated by the incursion of Barbarians and the 
 
 Palagian heresy 
 Account of Morgan, or Falagius 
 The valour and mental capacities of the Britons of these 
 
 times .... 
 
 The Halleluiah Victory, or Battle of St. German's Field 
 Catherine of Ceselgyvarch 
 
 Her merits not to be measured by the standard of modern 
 
 appreciation 
 Terrific family feuds of these times 
 Characteristic scene between Catherine and her ferocious 
 
 brother * . 
 
 Failure of the scheme for murdering levan ab Robert 
 Murder of the parson of Llanvrothen . 
 The Llawrudds, or red-hands ; murderers so called 
 The prevalence of brigandism in Wales 
 The perilous and successful expedition of levan ab Robert 
 The most notable of the feats of Catherine, the battle of the 
 
 bowls of boiling mead- wart 
 Catherine of Henblas, Denbighshire 
 
 Her residence uninjured by either the Yorkists or Lancas ■ 
 
 tarians .... 
 
 Visited by her cousin levan ab Robert, her political 
 
 opponent .... 
 
 His gentleness contrasted with the cruelty of the Herberts 
 
 of the Yorkist faction 
 England's duplicate set of nobles during the wars of the 
 
 Roses . . . ; 
 
 Catherine of France 
 
 Her sister Isabella's marriage with king Richard II. 
 
 Her father's insanity and its cause 
 
 The court of France refuse to sanction a union between 
 
 Isabella and Prince Henry 
 Henry IV. refuses to return Isabella's dowry and jewels 
 Henry V. falls in love with Catherine . 
 A royal manceuvering mother baffled . 
 Catherine married to the English king, becomes queen of 
 
 England and queen-regent of France 
 Death of Henry V. Catherine a widow and queen dowager 
 
 at the age of twenty- one . 
 Death of Catherine's father, Charles VI., king of France 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Her infant son, Henry VI., and her brother Charles VII., 
 
 at the same time proclaimed kings of France . . 144 
 
 Owen Tudor appears at court and dances before the queen ib. 
 Catherine becomes deeply enamoured with him . .145 
 
 Contracts a private marriage with him to the great dis- 
 pleasure of the court and country . . . 146 
 Whimsical prejudices against the Welsh in England . ib. 
 The death of queen Catherine at Bermondsey Abbey . 148 
 The children of Catherine and Owen Tudor . .149 
 Owen Tudor imprisoned (after her death) for having mar- 
 ried the king's mother without the consent of government 150 
 Escapes from Newgate, retaken, and escapes again . 151 
 The two sons of Owen Tudor knighted by their half-brother 
 
 Henry VI. . . . . .152 
 
 Owen Tudor enters the army and engages in the cause of 
 
 the house of Lancaster .... ib. 
 Taken prisoner by the Yorkists, and confined in Newport 
 
 Castle . . . . . ib. 
 
 A hundred gentlemen of North Wales march to rescue him 153 
 Their success and masterly achievement in cutting their 
 
 way through the Yorkist army . . . ib. 
 
 Owen Tudor knighted, honours and possessions bestowed 
 
 on him . . . . .154 
 
 Taken prisoner at the battle of Mortimer's Cross and 
 
 beheaded ..... 155 
 
 General remarks on his life and character . .156 
 
 The secret of dark import in his family . .158 
 
 Catherine's illustrious female contemporaries — (notes). . 161 
 Catherine of Berain .... 162 
 
 Her portrait in Llewenni Hall, and print from it in 
 
 "Yorke's Royal Tribes of Wales" . . . ib. 
 
 Married successively to four men of rank . . 163 
 
 Her son implicated in the Babington conspiracy and 
 
 executed . . . . . . ib. 
 
 Her second and third marriage promise given at the funeral 
 
 of her first husband . . . . ib. 
 
 Her death in the lifetime of her fourth husband . .164 
 
 Her last husband, Edward Thelwal, the Welshman who 
 
 could command his temper . + , . . ib. 
 
 Cenai the Virgin .... 166 
 
 »Vows perpetual celibacy, and dedicates her life to religion . ib. 
 Her prayers supposed to have transformed serpents into 
 stones . . . . . ib. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Camden and Theophilus Jones " on Nature's sporting a 
 
 miracle' ' ; . . . .167 
 
 Cressy's and Capgrave's records of her piety and devotion ib. 
 Her miraculous well . . . .168 
 
 Her death and prophesies .... 169 
 Cordeilla, Daughter of King Leir . . 170 
 
 The legend on which Shakspeare founded his tragedy . ib, 
 
 Leir's questions, and the respective answers of his three 
 
 daughters . . . . .171 
 
 Cordeilla disgraced and her sisters honoured . . 172 
 
 Married to Aganippus, a king of Gaul. . . 173 
 
 Leir, in peril of his life, flies to Gaul, and is protected by 
 
 Cordeilla . . . . . ib. 
 
 His wrongs avenged. His death . . . 174 
 
 Oppressed by her nephews Cordeilla kills herself . ib. 
 
 Claudia, or Gwladys Ruffina . . . 175 
 
 Supposed to have been a convert of St. Paul's, and the 
 
 first British Christian . . . .177 
 
 Martial's epigram on her beauty . . . ib. 
 
 Translations by Roberts and Thackeray . . ib. 
 
 Married to Pudens, a Roman. Martial's epigram on that 
 
 event . . . . .178 
 
 Claudia and Pudens the same persons mentioned by St. 
 
 Paul in his epistle to Timothy. The question discussed, ib. 
 Archbishop Usher's opinion that Claudia was the daughter 
 
 of Caractacus . . . . . ib. 
 
 Her three female contemporaries and converts to Chris- 
 tianity . . . . . ib. 
 
THE 
 
 HEROINES OF WELSH HISTORY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Deethgee ( Dyddgu), mistress of the bard Davyth ab Gwilym 1 79 
 Her graces, bodily and mental . . . ib. 
 
 Extracts from her extraordinary lover's poems . 180 
 
 Her virtues, and exemplary prudence . . .182 
 
 Dolben (Emma), wife of the Rev. Dr. Hugh Williams . 183" 
 Ancestress of numerous great families in North Wales . tb.*~~. 
 
 Anecdote of her celebrated son Sir William Williams — (note) 184 * 
 Dolly of Pentreath, supposed the last of the Cornish 
 
 Britons who spoke that language . . . 185 
 
 Affecting remarks on the extinction of a language . ib. 
 
 Dolly's death, in 1778, at the great age of 102 years . 186 
 
 Her epitaph in the old Cornish, with a translation . ib. 
 
 Elyn Done, or Ellen Dwn . . . 187 
 
 Sir Walter Scott's * Young Lochinvar" founded on the grand 
 
 incident in her annals . . • ib. 
 
 Ellen's two lovers . . . . ib. 
 
 Her parents emigrate and take her with them to Cheshire . 188 
 Their opposition to her union with David Myddelton . t&. 
 
 Her rash promise to marry Richard Croton, and attempt to 
 
 evade it . . . .189 
 
 David Myddelton arrives at her residence on her wedding 
 
 day too late to prevent the marriage . .191 
 
 Murders the bridegroom and rides off with the bride . 192 
 
 Crosses the Dee, brings her to the vale of Clewyd and marries 
 
 her . . . . . ib. 
 
 Ellen a maid, a bride, a widow, and a wife again, in one and 
 
 the same day ..... 193 
 Pennant's account of thes« events . , . ib. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 The Irish howl, or Scotch coranich, one of the habits of the 
 
 Welsh in ancient times — fncte) . . . 193 
 
 Drwynwen, fifth daughter of Brychan Brecheiniog . 194 
 
 Dwynwen, twenty-sixth daughter of Brychan Brecheiniog . 195 
 
 Eleanor de Montford, queen of Llewelyn ab Griffith . 196 
 
 Llewelyn's alliance with her father Simon de Montford . 197 
 
 A matrimonial union projected between Llewelyn and 
 Eleanor . . . . . ib. 
 
 Eleanor betrothed to Llewelyn . . .199 
 
 On the death of her father Eleanor taken to Frauce to be 
 educated in a nunnery .... ib. 
 
 Llewelyn demands of the king of France the return of Elea- 
 nor in order to be espoused — his request granted . 201 
 
 Eleanor on her voyage to Wales taken prisoner by four En- 
 glish ships from the port of Bristol . . . 202 
 
 Llewelyn demands of Edward I. the release of Eleanor, and 
 offers a large ransom for her liberation . , 203 
 
 Edward, determined on the entire subjugation of Wales, 
 refuses Llewelyn's demand, except on inadmissible terms ib. 
 
 Edward renews the war against Llewelyn on an immense 
 scale hitherto unknown . . . 204 
 
 In pity to his army, females and children, oppressed by 
 famine in the fastnesses of Snowdon, Llewelyn makes his 
 submission to Edward .... ib. 
 
 A peace on galling terms follows. Llewelyn enters London 
 with Edward, then returns to Wales . . 205 
 
 Edward demands the presence of Llewelyn to witness the 
 opening of king Arthur's tomb at Glastonbury, which that 
 prince refuses .... 206 
 
 Edward, holding his court at Worcester, demands the pre- 
 sence of Llewelyn to account for his late conduct, softening 
 the mandate by an invitation to a feast, and a promise that 
 his union with Eleanor should be the reward of his 
 obedience . . - . . ib. 
 
 Llewelyn's union with Eleanor celebrated at Worcester at 
 Edward's expense. Galling terms^exacted . . 207 
 
 The death of Eleanor in the year 1280 . . 208 
 
 The history of Eleanor connected with the arms of the city 
 of Bristol— (notes) . . . .210 
 
 Ellen of the Mighty Host, a celebrated woman of the 
 
 fourth century . . . .212 
 
 The public events of her time — the Romans in Britain . 213 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 The connection of Maximus the tyrant with Britain . 215 
 
 The marriage of Maximus with Ellen . . 216 
 
 The feud between Maximus and Conan Meriadoc . 217 
 
 Maximus hailedemperor by the licentious soldiery . 2 18 
 
 A host of sixty thousand Britons raised by Ellen and her 
 
 cousin to attend Maximus to Gaul . .219 
 
 The partial success, ultimate failure, and death of Maximus . 221 
 Conan Meriadoc conquers and becomes the first king of 
 
 Armorica ..... 223 
 
 Ellen said to have induced eleven thousand British virgins to 
 embark for Armorica to become the wives of Conan 
 Meriadoc's soldiery . . ... 226 
 
 Failure of the expedition, shipwreck, and death of the virgins 227 
 Anecdote favourable to the character of Maximus . 228 
 
 Elfleda, Daughter or Alfred the Great . . 229 
 
 Her love adventure and union with Edelred earl of Mercia. ib. 
 Deaths of her illustrious father and her husband . . 231 
 
 Apology for her assumption of male attire and the warrior's 
 
 gear . . . . .233 
 
 Engages and defeats Hwgan lord of Brecon . . ib. 
 
 Takes his wife and thirty-three of her people prisoners . 234 
 Her war-like deeds, building and repairing of cities, &c. . 235 
 Her death at Tamworth in the year 920 . . ib. 
 
 Additional account of her by Pennant . . . 236 
 
 Emma (The Lady,) wife of Griffith ab Madoc, lord of Dinas 
 
 Bran and Lower Powys . . . 238 
 
 Her influence as an Englishwoman said to have biassed her 
 husband in his anti-patriotism towards his native land 
 disproved ..... 239 
 
 Her exemplary character as a wife and mother . . 241 
 
 Held in affectionate regard by her husband and sons . ib. 
 
 The English guardians of her grandchildren abuse their trust 
 
 and murder them to obtain their estates . . 243 
 
 Her wrongs from her own countrymen, and death . 245 
 
 Emma the great great great grandmother of Owen Glen- 
 dower, or Owain Glyndwr . . . 246 
 Essyllt, Queen of Mervyn Vyrch, king of all Wales and 
 
 the Isle of Man . . . .247 
 
 Hostilities between her father and his brother Howel . ib. 
 
 Howel, in his reverses, generously entertained by Mervyn Vyrch 248 
 
 Howel's gratitude brings about the union of his niece Essyllt 
 
 with the king of the Isle of Man, A. D. 820 . . ib. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 The public events of her time . . . 249 
 
 The island of Mona taken by Egbert, and its name changed 
 
 to Anglesea ..... 250 
 The city of Chester also taken by him, and the brazen statues 
 
 of Cadwallon pulled down and defaced . . 251 
 
 The malignity of Redburga (Egbert's queen) towards the , 
 
 Welsh . . . . . ib. 
 
 Death of queen Essyllt. Her pedigree traced . . 252 
 
 Evan (Megan Verch,) or Margaret Evans, a very extra- 
 ordinary woman of the eighteenth century . . 253 
 Her numerous acquisitions, tastes, and talents . . ib. 
 Compared with Catherine I. of Russia . . 255 
 A glance at the spurious " Lives" of Catherine . . ib. 
 Fleer, Wife or Cassivelauncjs . . . 256 
 Her abduction by Murchan, king of Gascony . . 258 
 The great expedition for her rescue, and its entire success . 259 
 The distinctions of Cassivelaunus according to the Welsh 
 Triads . . . . .261 
 Fraid ( Saint) patroness of the churches designated Llan- 
 
 santfraid, St, Bride, and St. Bridget . . .262 
 
 The favourate saints of the Welsh . . . ib. 
 
THE 
 
 HEROINES OF WELSH HISTORY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 fflmmz nf % feklrrntrti Wmm nf Wnlw. 
 
 PARTS THE FOURTH AND FIFTH. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Fraid (Saint), her Life continued. . . 263 
 
 Born in Ireland, A. D. 453; of illegitimate birth . ib. 
 
 Her vow of perpetual virginity received by St. Meb, 
 
 a disciple of St. Patrick .... ib. 
 As foundress of a community of nuns becomes very 
 
 popular . . . ^ . ib. 
 
 Her legend in verse and miracles attributed to her . ib. 
 
 Sails from Ireland on a green turf and arrives at Holyhead. 264 
 
 The gullibility of the childish public of her time . ib. 
 
 The eighteen churches dedicated to her in Wales named . ib. 
 
 General notes to her life .... 265 
 
 Roman and British systems of saint-making compared . ib. 
 Gadarn (The Lady Hawys). — Of the royal race of 
 
 Powys ..... 267 
 
 The law of gavel-kind — its ill effects illustrated . . ib. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Her father's forethought for her protection — his death . 268 
 Placed under the guardianship of five uncles . . ib. 
 
 Four of them combine to seclude her in a nunnery . 269 
 
 Noble conduct of her uncle William . . . ib. 
 
 Welsh and English laws on the rights of women. . ib. 
 
 Proves quick-witted, prudent, and beautiful . . 270 
 
 Her daring resolution to seek the English king's protection 271 
 
 Her flight, perilous journey, and arrival in England . 273 
 
 Her petition granted, on the terms of marrying an 
 
 Englishman . . . . . ib. 
 
 Creates a sensation among "the curious in heiresses'' . ib. 
 
 Admired and courted by Sir John Charlton . . ib. 
 
 Married to him — when he is created Lord Powys . ib. 
 
 Her triumphant return to Wales contrasted with her flight 274 
 
 Hostile measures against her fraudulent uncles . . ib. 
 
 Three of them captured, and the fourth pursued , 275 
 
 English confederates of the refractory uncles accounted 
 
 for . . . . . . ib. 
 
 English speculation in Welsh heiresses . . ib. 
 
 The jarrings of law and lances ultimately settled . 277 
 
 Her uncle William's favourable terms in the adjustment . ib. 
 
 Her husband's death, A.D. 1353, and her own soon after . 278 
 Gethin (Ellen), or Ellen the Terrible. — In the 
 
 time of Henry VI. . • . . . 279 
 
 Her brother and self representatives of the Vaughans of 
 
 Hergest . . . . ib. 
 
 Shon Heer of Talgarth their cousin — rival families . 280 
 
 Disputes on points of family precedence — their folly . ib. 
 
 The fatal fight between the cousins — David Vaughan 
 
 killed . . . .281 
 
 Her grief, rage, and resolution to destroy the slayer of 
 
 her brother . . . . . ib. 
 
 Goes disguised in male attire to seek Shon Heer . 282 
 
 Shoots him through the heart while pretending to aim at 
 a target . . . . .283 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Married to Thomas ab Rosser, grandson of Sir David 
 Gam . . . . . 284 
 
 Defended against the modern charge of being " a devilish 
 
 woman" . . . . . ib. 
 
 Celebrated by the bard Lewis Glyncothi . . 285 
 
 Renewal of the " Wars of the Roses" which led to the 
 
 battle of Danesmoor .... 286 
 
 The battle lost, her husband and 5000 Welshmen killed . 290 
 Her brothers-in-law, Earl Herbert and Sir Richard Her- 
 bert, taken prisoners and beheaded. . .291 
 
 The bard Lewis Glyncothi celebrates their prowess . 292 
 
 The bard an officer of the Yorkists while a spy of the 
 
 Lancasterians . .... ib. 
 Her patronage of the bards and minstrels . .. 293 
 Her death, and family monument at Kington, Hereford- 
 shire . . . . . ib. 
 Glendower's (Owen) Female Family . . 294 
 A sketeh of his eventful life . . . 295 
 Successes against England. . . . 297 
 Proclaimed and crowned sovereign prince of Wales . 298 
 His pretensions to royal descent examined . • 299 
 His wife the Lady Margaret's celebrity . . ib. 
 His daughters Alicia, Janet, and Jane — their marriages . 300 
 His daughters Mevanwy and Gwenllian noticed . 301 
 His princely residence and boundless hospitality described 
 by Iolo Goch . . . . .302 
 Grjecina (Pomponia). — Wife of the first Roman governor 
 
 of Britain . . . . .303 
 
 Embraces a strange foreign superstition (Christianity) . ib. 
 
 Her trial on the charge and acquittal . . . ib. 
 
 Her secret interdicted faith, and perpetual sadness . ib. 
 
 Forms a " Triban" with Gwladys, Ruffina, and Tecla, the 
 
 three Roman-British earliest Christians . . 304 
 
 Gwawr. — The sixth daughter of Brychan Brecheiniog . 303 
 
 Her connexions and marriage , . . ib. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Becomes the mother of the illustrious Llywarch Hen . 306 
 The heroic elegies of Llywarch Hen noticed ; . ib. 
 
 Gwenhwyvar and the Old woman of Anglesea . . 308 
 
 Her husband, a prisoner to the Yorkists, condemned to 
 
 death . . . . .309 
 
 Earl Herbert, the general of the Yorkists, cruel and 
 
 merciless . , . . . ib. 
 
 Discussion on the names Herbert and Hirbert . .310 
 
 Her solemn prediction on the beheading of her husband . 312 
 The Old Woman of Anglesea, her formal curse on 
 
 Herbert . . . . .313 
 
 The ferocity of the Wars of the Roses , . ib. 
 
 Retribution on the cruelty of the Herberts . . 316 
 
 The heroism of Sir Richard Herbert. . . ib 
 
 The gallantry of Davydd ab Ievan ab Eineon . . ib. 
 
 The burial places of the two Herberts . .317 
 
 Gwenllian. — The sixteenth daughter of Brychan Bre- 
 
 cheiniog ..... 318 
 
 Becomes the mother of Caradoc Vraich Vras . . ib. 
 
 Caradoc of the Brawny Arm — the noblest of Arthur's 
 
 knights . . . . .319 
 
 Gwenllian. — Heiress of the Vale ot Clewyd . . 321 
 
 The origin and meaning of the word " Gwenllian" . ib. 
 
 Her parentage and great possessions. . . 323 
 
 Illustration of the phrase " a devilish desirable woman" . ib. 
 Gwenllian. — Daughter of Prince Griffith ab Kunnan . 324 
 
 Beloved by Griffith, son of Prince Rees ab Tudor . ib. 
 
 Sketch of his early life . . . . 325 
 
 Finds refuge in Ireland till twenty-five years of age . ib. 
 
 Aims to recover the sovereignty of South Wales. . 327 
 
 Suspicious conduct of Griffith ab Kunnan . . 328 
 
 Her father invited to visit Henry I. . . . 329 
 
 Howel, the younger brother of Griffith ab Rees, escapes 
 
 from custody. . . • • 330 
 
 Degeneracy of the Welshmen of this period . . 330 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 £age. 
 The Lady Nest, sister of Griffith and Howel . .331 
 
 The wily Henry contrasted with the simplicity of Griffith 
 
 ab Kunnan . . . . . 332 
 
 Henry's murderous scheme thwarted . . . 333 
 
 The young princes in peril of their lives protected by the 
 
 church . . . . . ib. 
 
 Her father's attempt to violate the sanctuary resisted by the 
 
 priesthood . . . . . ib. 
 
 The princes escape to South Wales . . . ib. 
 
 The union of Gwenllian and Prince Griffith . . 335 
 
 Owen Gwyneth and Cadwalader, the brothers of Gwenllian 336 
 
 Ystrad Towey forest the refuge of Griffith and Gwenllian . 337 
 Commencement of hostilities against the Normans and 
 
 Flemings ..... 338 
 
 Griffith takes several castles . . . ib. 
 
 His name becomes a terror to his foes , . 339 
 
 Wins the confidence of his countrymen . . 340 
 
 Takes the castle of Kidwelly for his residence . . 312 
 
 His heroic reputation at its height . . . 343 
 
 His reverses commence . , . . ib. 
 
 His failure and discomfiture at Aberystwith . . 34?4 
 
 Returns to Ystrad Towey defeated and broken in 
 
 spirit . . . . .348 
 Assassins to murder Griffith employed by Henry I. . 348 
 Owen, ab Cadwgan, and Llywarch ab Trahaern, their hor- 
 rible devastations .... 349 
 Gwenllian and her young family escape from the fired forest 3o0 
 Evil fortunes ofihe family, deserted by all the:r followers, 
 
 become fugitives in the land of their sovereignty . ib. 
 
 Rebellion of the Welsh vassals of the English crown . 351 
 
 Griffith, in his destitution, accepts certain scanty domains 
 
 from the English king .... 352 
 Deprived of them, under false charges — a fugitive once 
 
 more ..... 353 
 
 Shelters again in Ystrad Towey forest . . ib. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 His friends return — Molests the English as before . 354 
 
 Death of Henry I Political reaction . . 355 
 
 Brightening prospects of the royal fugitives . . ib. 
 
 - Determined attempts of Griffith to recover his crown . ib. 
 
 A memorable Eisteddvod held in Ystrad Towey forest, . 356 
 Griffith and his son Rees depart to raise forces in North 
 
 Wales . . . . .357 
 
 Gwenllian presides over the army in the south . . 358 
 
 Leads them to Kidwelly. — Posted on Mynydd y Garreg 361 
 A sortie from the castle. — Her forces driven in with terrible 
 
 slaughter . .... 362 
 
 Her gallantry in the most trying hour — Her son Maelgwn 
 
 killed at her side. — Destruction of the Welsh forces . 363 
 Taken prisoner with her son Morgan . . . ib. 
 
 Beheaded by order of her captor, Maurice de, Londres . 364 
 
 Her character Maes Gwenllian . . . 365 
 
 Consternation of Griffith and royal family of North Wales 367 
 Measures of vengeance taken by them . . 368 
 
 The people rise en masse for revenge and national enfran- 
 chisement ..... 370 
 The annihilation of the English army under Ranulph, earl 
 
 of Chester . . . . .371 
 
 The triumph of the Welsh and expulsion of the English . ib. 
 Death of Griffith ab Rees and his royal father-in-law . 372 
 General notes to the life of Gwenllian . . 374 
 
 Suggestions for the improvement of modern Eisteddvods . 375 
 " The meeting of the bards," by Mrs. Hemans . . ib. 
 
 Gwenllian, daughter of Owen Glendower . 378 
 
 Gwenllian, of Llwyn Tren . . . 379 
 
 Gwenllian (the lady), wife of Sir Griffith Llwyd . 381 
 The bard Casnodyn's famous poem in her praise . ib. 
 
 Sketch of her husband's memorable career . . 383 
 
 Gwervil Hael, of Abertaned . . . 386 
 
 Gwervil, wife of David Lloyd ab Llewelyn . . 388 
 
 Gwynn (Mistress Eleanor), or Nell Gwynn . 291 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Compared with other royal mistresses . . t'6. 
 
 The idol of popular tradition . . . 392 
 
 As an orar. ge girl, a comedian's mistress, and an actress . 393 
 
 An unrivalled speaker of Prologues and Epilogues . 394 
 
 The Mistress of Lord Buckhurst . . . ib.. 
 
 Admired by the king, who bribes her protector to resign 
 
 her, with an earldom and a pension. . . ib. 
 
 Retires from the stage in 1671 as " Madame Ellen" . 395 
 
 Her liberal and disinterested character . . 396 
 
 Liberates a clergyman by paying his debt . . t'6. 
 
 Chelsea college suggested and finished by her influence . t'6. 
 
 Her generous defence of Bishop Ken n . . t'6. 
 
 Her appointment as Lady of the Privy Chamber to the 
 
 Queen censured ... . . 357 
 
 Her son created duke of St. Albans . . . 399 
 
 Historical parallels— Charles II. and Henry I. note . t'6. 
 
 Queen Charlotte and Nell Gwynn's picture . . 401 
 
 gwladys (the princess) eldest daughter of brychan 
 
 Brecheiniog .... 402 
 
 Becomes the mother of Cammarch, Cynider, and Catwg . 403 
 
 The eminence of Catwg, abbot of Llancarvon . . t'6. 
 
 gwladys ddu (the lady) daughter of llewelyn ab 
 
 Iorwerth ..... 405 
 Her first husband Reginald de Breos, one of King John's 
 
 burly barons . . . . t'6. 
 
 His political faithlessness. — Clemency of Llewelyn ab 
 
 Iorwenh ..... 408 
 
 Her twelve years' widowhood. — Marries the baron, Ralph 
 
 Mortimer ..... 409 
 Mortimer's attachment to English interests, and hostility 
 
 to the Welsh . , . . .410 
 
 Her interference for liberating her disinherited brother . t'6. 
 Becomes presumptive heiress to the crown of North 
 
 Wales . . . . . ib. 
 
 Fatality to Wales of English royal marriages . . 412 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Her connecting historical links up to Edward IV. and on- 
 ward to Queen Victoria . . .413 
 
 GWLADYS (THE LADY) DAUGHTER OF SIR DAVID GAM . 416 
 
 Her father's history. — His perfidy to Owen Glendower . 417 
 His attempt to assassinate Owen baffled — His ten years' 
 
 imprisonment . . * .418 
 
 Her mother murdered and home burnt to the ground by 
 
 Owen Glendower . . . .419 
 
 Her first marriage to Robert Vychan, of Bredwardine . 422 
 Her son Thomas married to Ellen Gethin . . 423 
 
 Her father, son, and two husbands, four of the heroes of 
 
 Agincourt • . . ib. 
 
 Details of the battle of Agincourt . . . 424 
 
 Her father's famous reply respecting the strength of the 
 
 French . . . . .427 
 
 The English afflicted with the bloody flux fight breechless 430 
 
HEROINES OF WELSH HISTORY; 
 
 or, 
 PARTS SIXTH AND SEVENTH. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Gwladys (The Lady) — Continued . . . 431 
 
 Her father David Gam and his Brecknock compatriots at the 
 
 battle of Agincourt .... ib. 
 
 King Henry's life saved by the Welshmen . . 443 
 
 Gwlady's father and husband killed in the battle. . ib. 
 
 Her second husband Sir William ab Thomas,lord of Rhaglan 
 
 Castle . . . . .445 
 
 Her son, Sir Roger Vaughan's marriage . . 447 
 
 The Welsh heroes of Agincourt introduce and patronize the 
 
 English language in Monmouthshire . . ib. 
 
 Her sons, the renowned brothers, William Herbert, earl of 
 
 Pembroke, and Sir Richard Herbert, of Coldbrook . ib. 
 
 Her second husband's death in 1446 . -. . 440 
 
 The death of Gwladys in 1454, and commencement of the 
 
 York and Lancaster civil wars . . . ib. 
 
 Her great funeral and burial in the Priory Church, Aber- 
 gavenny . . . . . ib. 
 Maud de Haia, wife of the detestable William de Breos, lord 
 
 of Brecknock . . . .412 
 
 Called " the Semiramis of Brecknock," and " e Moll Walbee" 443 
 Extravagant Tales respecting her . . . ib. 
 
 Her atrocious husband's murderous exploits . .444 
 
 He causes his guests, the Welsh chieftains, to be massacred 
 in Abergavenny castle . . . 445 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page.- 
 His savage murder of Trahaern Vychan, lord of Langorse 
 
 avenged ; when 3700 Welshmen were slain . . 446 
 
 Maud designated " a malapert woman" . . 447 
 
 Her spirited answer to King John, and its consequence . ib. 
 King John's grievances from the dishonesty of Maud and 
 
 her husband, a singular piece of history . . ib. 
 
 Maud's audacity " when driven into a corner" . . 452 
 
 Her singular and tragic death to satiate King John's revenge ib. 
 Her husband dies a beggar's death, in France . . ib. 
 
 Assumption of piety by this murderous miscreant. . 453 
 
 .^^Origin of the Norman race — Contrasted with the Saxons . 454 
 Trevor Hanmer, of a high Flintshire family, a Welsh Nun 457 
 Whimsical anecdote of her "blind obedience" . . ib. 
 
 Her father cup-bearer to King Charles I. and her mother 
 
 maid of honour to his Queen . . . 457 
 
 Taken by her parents to France when ten years old . 459 
 
 Falls into the hands of the proselyting Jesuits. at Paris . 459 
 
 Their insidious modes of imposing on her childish imagination ib. 
 Becomes romantically attached to the notion of becoming 
 
 a Nun. . . . . .460 
 
 Her mother dies and her father enters into a second marriage 461 
 Alarmed at her Papistic predilictions, her father places her 
 
 with a Huguenot family, and returns alone to England . ib, 
 Her protectors contemplate adopting her as their heiress . 462 
 These views destroyed by the arrival of her father, who 
 
 returns with her to England . . . ib. 
 
 Her desire to become a Nun becomes a ruling passion . ib. 
 Monastic institutions at variance with natural affection and 
 
 filial obedience .... 463 
 
 Her practical austeries and fanatical passion for the veil 
 
 increased ..... 464 
 
 Her father inconsiderately consents to her taking the veil . 465 
 Father Hanmer, the Jesuit, suggests the necessity of her 
 
 dower, as "a bride of the church" . . . ib. 
 
 Lady Hanmer objects, and her father recalls his consent . 466 
 Her whimsical expedient of becoming an amateur maltster, 
 
 to raise funds for her Nun's dower . . . 467 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Determines on a life of celebacy, as a step towards the attain- 
 ment of the veil .... 468 
 Her beauty and mental qualifications. — A general dismissal 
 
 of all her suitors .... 470 
 
 Meets Sir John Warner at Oliver Cromwell's funeral . 471 
 Becomes Lady Warner .... 472 
 Revival of her passion for the Nun's veil, when the mother 
 
 of two daughters .... 473 
 
 Persuades her husband to becomes a Papist . . 474 
 
 Sir John consents to her taking the veil and resolves on 
 
 becoming a monk . . . . 475 
 
 Her overwhelming fanaticism and success in making Papistic 
 
 converts . . . . . ib. 
 
 Lady Warner and family embark for France . . 476 
 
 Her travels and tribulatious in search of monastic misery . 477 
 Takes the Noviciate habit among the nuns of St. Sepul- 
 
 chrine, at Liege .... ib. 
 
 Assumes the name and style of Sister Teresa Clare . ib. 
 
 Captivated by their rigorous discipline, becomes a sister of 
 
 the " Poor Clares of Graveling," at Dunkirk . . 478 
 
 Absurd instances of her " Blind Obedience" . . ib. 
 
 Dies ; with the character of a highly exemplary Nun . 479 
 
 Her monument and eulogistic inscription . . ib. 
 
 Hannah Moore and Dr. Johnson's sentiments on Con- 
 ventual Life . . . . .480 
 The Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the 
 Great . . . . .481 
 The strange vagaries of her father " Old King Coel of Coel- 
 
 chester" . . . . .482 
 
 Married to the Roman Governor Constantius Chlorus . 485 
 Julia Domna, and other Roman ladies, notieed . . 487 
 
 The Ladies' Work-table eulogized . . .488 
 
 Tenth Persecution of the Christians under Dioclecian . 489 
 Wisdom, liberality, and good government of Constantius . 493 
 Constantius repudiates Helena and marries Theodora, in 
 
 order to be nominated Caesar . . , 495 
 
 On becoming emperor is re-united to Helena , . 497 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Death of Constantius and elevation of Constantine . ib. 
 
 The Sepulchral lamp burning 300 years. Note . . 498 
 
 Constantine's memorable conversion to Christianity . 499 
 
 Helena's pious works in the Holy Land . . 501 
 
 Three successive Temples at Jerusalem . . ib. 
 
 Helena's discovery of the true cross . . . 503 
 
 The false opinions, miracles, and Church History of the 
 
 Papists . . . . .504 
 
 Helena venerated by the Christians of Britain . . 505 
 
 Her noble works in Britain, while Empress Consort and 
 
 Empress Mother . . . . 507 
 
 The Legend of the London stone . . . ib. 
 
 The Death of Helena . . . .508 
 
 Joan, second queen of Prince Llewelyn ab lorwerth . 509 
 
 Her beauty and captivating manners. . . ib. 
 
 Birth of her son, Prince David . . .511 
 
 Tradition of Bedd Gelart .... ib. 
 Joan stimulates the bad feeling between Prince Griffith and 
 
 his father ..... 513 
 
 Dark passages in her life .... 514 
 Proves a faithless wife and a harsh stepmother . .515 
 
 A traitress to Wales and an English spy . .516 
 
 Her amour with the Baron Y^illiam de Breos — His character 518 
 Anecdote, English superstition in King John's days . 520 
 
 William de Breos hanged by order of Llewelyn . . 523 
 
 Joan disgraced. Dies in 1236 . . . 525 
 
 Llewelyn ab lorwerth's clemency and generosity . . 529 
 
 Fragmentary history of Llanvaes monastery . . 532 
 
 Curious account of queen Joan's stone coffin ; a relic of 
 
 centuries ..... 533 
 
 The Lady Matilda de Longspee, cousin of Prince 
 
 Llewelyn ab Griffith . . . 535 
 
 Correct account of the last days, death, and burial of the last 
 
 native Welsh sovereign. .... 536 
 Llewelyn's flight from Aberedwy castle towards Builth . 539 
 Refused admittance into Builth castle, flies along the banks 
 
 of the Irvon . . . . 541 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Pursued by the English, and slain by Adam de Francton, at 
 
 " Cwm Llewelyn" . . . .542 
 
 The generous interference of Lady Matilda to obtain Christian 
 
 burial for the prince unavailing . . ib. 
 
 The barbarous mutilation of the prince's remains . 544 
 Saint Monacella, daughter of an Irish monarch, a Religious 
 
 Recluse ..... 545 
 Secluded at Llangunnog, Montgomeryshire, for fifteen 
 
 years, without seeing a human face . . . ib. 
 Discovered and favored by Brochwel Yscythrog, prince of 
 
 Powys . . . . , ib. 
 
 A superstition of amiable tendency . . . 546 
 
 Monacella' s mission of mercy expatiated on . . ib. 
 
 Prince Brochwell and the Monks of Bangor . . 547 
 
 Sir Walter Scotts's ballad on the massacre of the Monks . ib. 
 Morvyth of Mona, the renowned mistress of the bard Da- 
 
 vydd ab Gwylim .... 549 
 Chaucer and Davydd ab Gwylim contemporaries . 550 
 Presents of wine to Ladies explained historically . ib. 
 Morvyth's extraordinary matrimonial union with the Bard . 551 
 Forcibly separated from him and united to " Bwa Bach" . 552 
 Flies from her tyrant and rejoins the Bard . . ib. 
 " Bwa Bach" recovers her, and imprisons the Bard . ib. 
 The Bard liberated and his fine paid by the men of Gla- 
 morgan ..... 552 
 Morvyth becomes the subject of 147 Love Poems . 553 
 Her Lover, a Welsh Bon Juan . . . ib. 
 His adventure with twenty-four sweethearts . . ib. 
 His poetical contemporaries — a glance at his times . 557 
 His contempt for the friars and respect for the Church . 558 
 Some account of his poems and latter days . . 559 
 Nest, Queen op Trahaern ab Caradoc . . 562 
 Her husband contemporary with Edward the Confessor and 
 
 Macbeth . . . . . ib' 
 
 Her father's misconduct on a memorable occasion . 553 
 Fleance, the son of Banquo, received and protected at her 
 
 father's court . . . . . ib. 
 
&*5 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Her illicit connection with that ungrateful fugitive, who 
 
 suffers death in consequence . . . 564 
 
 Birth of her son Walter, who becomes the founder of the 
 Royal race of Stuart. . . . . ib. 
 
 The posterity of Walter and Nest on the thrones of Scotland 
 and England . . . . . ib. 
 
 The murder of Nest's father and his throne seized by the 
 murderous usurpers .... 566 
 
 Nest and her three brothers fly for their lives . . 567 
 
 Two of her brothers perish in the wars . . ib. 
 
 Nest married to Trahaern ab Caradoc, elected to the sove- 
 reignty of North Wales . . . 568 
 
 Her royal husband defeated and killed at the battle of Carno ib. 
 
 Her two children Llywarch and Nest . . . 569 
 
 Nest (daughter of the last named), wife of Bernard de New- 
 march ..... 570 
 
 Numerous errors of Theophilus Jones in recounting her 
 history . . . . . ib. 
 
 Her marriage with a private individual disowned . . 573 
 
 The three notorious Welsh assassins in English pay . ib. 
 
 Nest married to the conqueror of Brecknock . . 575 
 
 Her son Mahael of doubtful paternity . . . ib. 
 
 Mahael's impatience of maternal controul and personal 
 ambition • 576 
 
 Nest's mysterious visitor, "the unknown knight" . . 577 
 
 Mahael, ignorant of his paternity, kills his father . 572 
 
 Nest declares him illegitimate — the consequence . 580 
 
 Anne Thomas, of Creyddyn . . . 581 
 
 Her wonderful adventure and escape from drowning . ib. 
 
 Her Lover's equally miraculous escape from life peril on the 
 same day . . . . . ib. 
 
 The perils of Penmaenmawr's tremendous passage . 582 
 
 Mevanwv Vechan, of Dinas Bran . . . 585 
 
 Beloved and celebrated by a renowned Bard . . ib. 
 
 Described as beautiful, graceful, and amiable . . 586 
 
 The Manuscript of her Story partially translated, as discovered 
 in the ruins of Dinas Bran castle . . . ib. 
 
021 389 427 4