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THE

LAND OF MORGAN:

CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE HISTORY

LOEDSHIP OF GLAMORGAN

GEO. T. CLAEK.

Reprinted, with Additions and Alterations, from the Journal of the
Archaeological Institute.

LONDON :
WHITING & CO., LIM., 30 & 32 SARDINIA ST., LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.
1883.

FEINTED BY
WHITING AND CO., LIMITED, 30 AND 32, SABDINIA STBEET, W.C.

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2>0w

CONTENTS.

Introduction . . 1
The Land of Morgan : its Conquest and its Conquerors 7
The Chief Lords : Earls Robert and William of Gloucester 42
The Co-heirs of the Honour and Lordship, and the coming
in of the House of Clare . 64
The Earls of Gloucester and Hertford . 93

INTRODUCTION.

In the following pages an attempt is made to relate
the history of the Lords of- Glamorgan from its Con
quest and settlement by Eobert Fitz Hamon down to
the extinction, in the male line, of the House of Clare,
his descendants and successors. The history of the
Lords, for that period, is in fact the history of the
Lordship, inasmuch as the system of feudal tenures
prevailed there in all its strictness, and the relation
between the Chief Lord, his tenants, and their tenants,
being of a military character, in the presence of a brave
and implacable foe, was one of unusual closeness. The
Lordship itself was a fief of the Crown, and every manor
within it was held, mediately or immediately, of the
Chief Lord, as of his Castle of Cardiff.
The Lord held per integram baroniam, but the limi
tations attending the tenure, undefined by grant or
charter, were not only widely different from those of
an ordinary barony or honour, but appear to have been
different also from those of the other Marcher Lordships.
Glamorgan was a county, and its ambulatory parlia
ment is styled a Comitatus, and was composed of the
greater tenants, probably from ten to twenty in number,
each of whom, though differing in the amount of their
holdings of the Lord, had to provide a lodging at his
own expense within the Castle yard at Cardiff, con
nected with their double capacity of defenders of the
Castle in war, and advisers of its Lord in times of
peace. Each, moreover, had his own castle, and some of
them were also Lords of mesne manors and castles, whose
tenants paid to them services similar to their own.
The Comitatus was a Court of Chancery or Record,

INTRODUCTION.

composed of the Lord's principal tenants or barones
comitatus, presided over by the Lord's Vice- Comes,
or Sheriff, from the decisions of which there lay no
appeal to the Crown, and which levied fines, and regu
lated wardships, escheats, scutages, inquisitions, for
feitures, and other usual incidents of the feudal system.
One of latest fines levied before this Court, in the time
of Jasper, Duke of Bedford, describes Sir Richard Croft,
Knight, Sheriff, as presiding, and Richard Turberville,
David Mathew, John Butler, John ap Jenkyn ap
Riderch, and John Carne as the Barons. No doubt
the Marcher Lords generally levied fines and stepped
into escheated lands, but the machinery of government
in the lordship of Glamorgan seems to have been of a
far more extensive and perfect character than elsewhere.
It certainly was far more so than in the contiguous
lordships of Gower, Brecknock, and Upper Gwent, and
probably than in any other Welsh Marcher lordship,
save only Chester. How it came about that Fitz
Hamon obtained and transmitted such exceptional
privileges is not known. The nearly contemporary
conquerors of Gwent, Brecknock, Gower, Caermarthen,
Cardigan, and Pembroke, were to the full as great
men as Fitz Hamon, and the Lord of Montgomery was
certainly greater and more powerful, but so far as has
been ascertained, in none of these districts was the
jurisdiction of the complete character of that estab
lished in Glamorgan. Something, probably, was due
to the position of Glamorgan under its Welsh princes,
some of whom bore the title of King, holding Cardiff
as their principal seat of government, and the district
about it as the Royal cantred or hundred. The laws
and customs of Glamorgan were also of a peculiar cha
racter, and the Norman Lords, powerful as they were,
found it convenient to respect them, at least as regards
the more mountainous and more purely Welsh part of
their territory.
There could not be a more complete imperium in
imperio than was the sway of the Norman Lord of

INTRODUCTION.

Glamorgan, within the lordship. It was described
as "sicut regale". Cardiff and the Taff were his Bungay
and Waveney ; and once there seated, no King of
Cockney could reach him. Coyty, and at least one hill
lordship, comprising the two commotes of Senghenydd,
were held of him per baroniam; Avan, the only im
portant lowland lordship in the hands of a Welsh
family of rank, was held by serjeantry. Most of the
manors were held directly of Cardiff by the tenure
of Castle-guard ; a few were held immediately of the
larger manors. All the greater tenants, with the
exception of the Lords of Avan and Senghenydd, and
perhaps one or two more, were of Norman blood, and
also held estates in England, chiefly within the Honour
of Gloucester, within the counties of Gloucester, Somer
set, Devon, and Dorset. The Liber Niger gives a list
of the knights who held of the Honour, and in it occur
the names of twenty who also held lands in Glamorgan.
These are Berkerolles, de Cardiff, Cogan, Constantine,
Croc, Grenville, de Londres, Maisi, de la Mare, Ner-
bert, Norris, Pennard, Reigny, St. Quintin, Le Sore,
Somery, Umfranville, Villers, Walsh, and de Winton.
This list, moreover, for some unknown reason omits
a number of other knightly tenants who held lands in
Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, also within the Honour,
and many of whom not only held lands but have given
their names to parishes and manors in Glamorgan.
Such are Bawdrip, Hawey, de la More, St. John, and
Turberville, and in the latter class, Barry, Bonville,
Cantelupe, Fleming, and Sully.
As the Lords of Glamorgan also held the Honour of
Gloucester, cases of divided allegiance were rare. Only
one such is on record, where the Beauchamps of Hache
claimed the wardship of Hawey, who held the manor
of Combe- Hawey in Somerset of the Beauchamps, and
that of St. Donats in Glamorgan of the Earls of Glou
cester. The case came before the Comitatus, but the
finding is not on record. The only other case in which
the proceedings before the Comitatus are preserved re-
b 2

4 INTRODUCTION.
lated to the right of appeal to the King's Court.
During the troubled reign of Henry III. Richard
Siward, a Glamorgan baron, Lord of Talavan and Llan-
blethian, having rebelled against the Lord, the Curia
Comitatus declared his estates forfeited, and himself
"waiviatum de comitatu" or " Wolveshed" according to
the usage of the county. Siward, on this, appealed to
the Curia Regis, on the ground that the Earl was a
party concerned, and could not therefore be a fair
judge. The Lord refused to acknowledge or plead
to such an appeal, and called on the King to respect
his privileges. Naturally the King was anxious to
break down the Marcher powers, which in truth were
inconsistent with the uniform government of the State,
and Henry happened at that conjuncture to have the
upper hand. The result was a compromise, but it was
evident that the local court had always been independent
of the Curia Regis.
Even as late as the reign of Henry IV, the general
laws of the kingdom had but little force in Glamorgan ;
for, in the 12th of that King, the Escheator is ex
onerated for failing in a levy, on the ground that
he could not be expected to execute his office where
the King's writ did not run, "propter nimiam et magnam
potentiam et resistenciam"; and a century or so later a
messenger of the Court of Chancery, who tried to serve
an order of Court at Radyr, was pelted with stones
from the roof of the Manor House, and had to quit the
Principality re infectd. But the currency denied to the
laws of the realm was permitted to the old native
customs, to which the people were much attached.
These, however, were confined almost entirely to the
hill lordships and commotes. In the vale, where
nearly all the larger landholders were of foreign origin,
the iaws were practically those of England. Land
descended to the male heir, and failing him, in co
parceny to females. Copyhold tenure, unknown in
the Hills, was common, and heriots were very general.
Ordinary justice was administered by Courts-leet and

INTRODUCTION. 5
Courts-baron, and the burgesses and freeholders, in
many cases all Welshmen, elected their own officers,
subject to a well-defined and moderate veto from the
Lord. In a few manors gavelkind prevailed, and in
one or two borough-English.
The Lord's power originally extended over the pos
sessions and dignities of the Church. He was patron
of the Abbeys of Neath and Margam, and exercised
the right of baculum pastorale, of appointing or con
firming the election of the Abbot. Also he had the same
power, or dignitas erodes, with regard to the Bishopric
of Llandaff. The Crown, indeed, challenged this, and
in the reign of Edward I it was compromised ; but the
Lord continued to collate to the Archdeaconry and
other Cathedral preferments, sede vacante, and, during
such intervals, to hold the temporalities of the See.
The Act of the 27 Henry VIII, cap. 26, gives, among
other reasons for the new settlement of Wales, that its
"rights, usages, laws, and customs be far discrepant
from the laws and customs of the realm", but neither
here nor in any other of the Acts relating to Wales do
we find any description or distinct allusion to, still less
any recognition of, the Marcher Courts and customs.
The Act above cited, in constituting the King's Courts
in Glamorgan, enumerates as parts of the new shire
the Lordships of Gower, Kilvae, Bishopston, Llandaff,
Senghenydd supra and subtus, Miskin, Ogmore, Glyn-
Rothney, Talygarn, Ruthyn, Talavan, Llanblethian,
Llantwid, Tir-y-Iarl, Avan, Neath, Llantweie, and
the Clays, all of which seem originally to have had
distinct jurisdictions. One of the exceptions to the
new system is in favour of Henry, Earl of Worcester,
who remained "Justice of the shire of Glamorgan".
The mysterious and total disappearance of the re
cords of the Comitatus, is fatal to anything like a com
plete history of Glamorgan. Fortunately, however, the
lordship being held in capite, the King had a right to
an iiiquisitio post mortem on the death of each Lord,
and to the custody of the lordship and the heir, if

6 INTRODUCTION.
a minor. These inquisitions have been preserved with
the records of the realm, and throw great light upon
the descent of the landed property, as do the Pipe rolls
for the corresponding periods upon the sources of income
and the details of expenditure. Moreover, as most
of the Lords of Manors were of English descent, and
either the heads or cadets of existing English families,
these names appear in English records, especially in
those connected with the western counties. Also,
although the cartulary and most of the charters of
Neath Abbey are lost, and the cartulary of Margam is
inaccessible, there is preserved in the British Museum
a large collection of the charters of the latter Abbey,
and at Gloucester many of the grants relating to the
property in Glamorgan of the Abbey of St. Peter,
Several of the boroughs also have preserved their
charters, and a few exist at St. Donats and Fonmon,
and in the collection of the late most industrious
antiquary Mr. Francis. From these sources has been
drawn what is known of the history of the county
before the reign of Henry VIII, and what is recorded
in the following pages. The public records relating to
South Wales, and more especially to Glamorgan, have
been searched with equal industry and acuteness by
Mr. Floyd, to whom the writer has to acknowledge
obligations too extensive to be more particularly
specified. Talygarn, 1883.

THE LAND OF MORGAN : ITS CONQUEST
AND ITS CONQUERORS.

Of the forty shires of England there are certainly not
a score of which good histories have been written,
and not above five or six and twenty of which there
are any tolerable histories at all. Even Yorkshire,
so rich in antiquities of every kind, ethnological, ethno
graphical, architectural, and genealogical ; in pre
historic tumuli ; in proper names given by the Briton,
the Roman, and the Northman ; in march dykes ;
Roman and other encampments ; military roads and
moated mounds ; in the ruins of glorious abbeys and
mighty castles ; in its noble cathedral and grand parish
churches, upon two of which the brevet rank of cathe
dral has been imposed ; in its venerable and splendid
country seats, and in its ancient and often historic
families — even Yorkshire, so rich in all these varied
and tempting subjects, and rich too in material wealth,
has yet met with no historian. Divisions of the county,
as Richmondshire and Hallamshire, Doncaster, and
Sheffield, are the subjects of works quite of the first
class, but neither the local history of the great
Shire, nor even that of one of its Ridings, has been
placed upon record. If such be the case in wealthy
and cultivated England, it is no great shame in
Wales to be, as regards county histories, in a still
more unprovided condition, as indeed the Princi
pality must be admitted to be. There is but one his
tory, Jones's Brecknock, of any Welsh county, at all
worthy of the name, for assuredly neither Fenton's
Pembrokeshire nor Meyrick's Cardigan merit that title.
And yet, as is abundantly shown in the volumes of the

8 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
ArchcBologia Cambrensis, and in the copious though
incidental notices of Wales in Eyton's excellent History
of Early Shropshire, it is not the material that is want
ing. Cambria, though not the cradle, the latest home
of the Cymric people, has no reason to complain of her
share of the gifts of nature or of their adaptation to
produce material prosperity. The incurvated coast,
whence the country is thought to derive its name,
abounds in bays and headlands of extreme beauty and
grandeur. In the North, its scenery is bold and strik
ing ; in the South it is of a softer character, and cele
brated rather for its valleys than its mountains, its
meandering rivers rather than its dashing torrents.
In mineral wealth the North is not deficient, but the
South has the lion's share, nor does any part of it
approach in value the division of Glamorgan. Here,
in the centre of the Welsh coal field, that mineral is
not only abundant in quantity, easy of access and con
venient for transport by sea, but it is of a character
equally removed from the bituminous varieties of the
east and the anthracite of the west, so that it produces
unusual steam power in proportion to its weight and
bulk, and does so without raising the usual accompani
ment of smoke — qualities which render it valuable in
commerce and still more in request in naval warfare.
Wales, moreover, and especially Glamorgan, was
for centuries the scene of romantic and spirit-stirring
events, and has had a large measure of ecclesiastical
and military renown. To Pelagius, though their names
have the " merit of congruity", the land of Morgan
cannot indeed lay claim ; and too many of her early
sons, like the Greeks before Agamemnon, slumber un
recorded beneath her cairns and barrows. But of
others, notices have survived, and their sweet savour
is found in the churches which they have founded, in
the records of Llandaff, the earliest of British bishoprics,
and in the fragmentary, but ancient literature of the
people. Bede relates how "Lever Mawr", the "great
light", better known in translation as King Lucius,

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 9
moved Eleutherius, a.d. 160, to send over from Rome
Fagan and Dyvan to preach the gospel to his people.
They settled at Avalon, but seem to have laboured
much across the Severn, where their names are yet
preserved in the Churches of St. Fagan and Merthyr
Dovan, the latter indicating the manner in which its
founder bore testimony to his faith.
Gildas, an author of the sixth century, whose name
is prefixed to the treatise De excidio Britannice, written
certainly before the time of Bede, is associated with
Glamorgan, from having paid a visit to St. Cadoc at
Llancarvan, where, before either Saxon or Norman
had profaned the banks of the Carvan, the Siloa of
Glamorgan, many of those holy men who gained the ap
pellation of terra sanctorum for the land in which they
laboured, were educated and sent forth to their work.
The monastic school, or Chorea Sanctorum of Llancarvan,
is said to have been founded by the saints Germanus and
Lupus to counteract the Pelagianism of the district,
strong in the name and heresy of Morgan ; but the
claim of Germanus in this respect is challenged for
Dubricius, a saint of the close of the sixth century,
and for Cadoc, or Cattwg, a saint and prince, whose
name survives in the adjacent Cadoxton, whose triad
has gained for him the appellation of "the wise", and
who, with St. David and Nennius, claims to have
shared in the instruction of St. Finnian, one of the
apostles of Christian Ireland. A charter by Merchiaun,
witnessed by Bishop Gwrgan (Gucawnus), who died
A.D. 982, mentions the Abbot "totius dignitatis ecclesige
sancti Cattoci Lancarvanie"; and it was at Llancarvan,
towards the middle of the twelfth century, that
Caradoc, named from thence, penned that account of
the Principality known as the Brut-y-Tyivysogion,
which, expanded and continued by the successive
labours of Price and Lloyd, Powell and Wynne, still
holds the chief place in Welsh historical literature. In
Llancarvan also, upon his patrimony of Trev- Walter,
or Walterston, was probably born Walter Calenius, or

1 0 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
de Map, a son of Blondel de Map, chaplain to Fitz-
Hamon, and who acquired the property by marriage
with Flwr, its Welsh heiress. Walter became chaplain
to Henry I, and Archdeacon of Oxford, and was one of
those who, during the reigns of the two Henrys, and
under the protection of Robert Earl of Gloucester, Lord
of Glamorgan, promoted the growth of English litera
ture, and was besides celebrated for his lively and
pungent satires upon Becket and the clergy of his day.
He also seems to have added largely to the stocks of
Arthurian romance, and to have made popular those
legends upon which his friend and contemporary Geof
frey of Monmouth founded his well-known volume.
These well-springs of Cymric history are, indeed, scanty
and turbid, and must be drawn from with great discri
mination ; but it is from them, from the Lifr Coch, or
Red Book, otherwise known as the Book of Llandaff,
and from the lives of St. Cadoc, St. Iltyd, and
other of the Welsh saints, that is derived all that
is known of the history of Glamorgan before the Nor
man invasion. Nor is the testimony of the Book of
Llandaff confined to Llancarvan. Both Llan- Iltyd or
Llantwit, under the presidency of St. Iltutus, and
Docunni or Llandoch, now Llandough upon the Ely,
were celebrated as monastic colleges early in the fifth
century ; and even now, in the churchyard of each
place, are seen those singular obelisks or upright stones,
rudely, but effectively, adorned with knot-work in
stone, and of very ancient, though uncertain, date.
Glamorgan extends about fifty-three miles along the
northern shore of the Bristol Channel, here broadening
into an estuary. From the seaboard as a base it passes
inland twenty-nine miles in the figure of a triangle, the
northern point abutting upon the range of the Beacons
of Brecknock. Its principal towns, Cardiff and Swan
sea, are placed near the southern angles of the triangle :
Merthyr, of far later growth, stands at the northern
angle, and near the head, as Cardiff is near the opening,
of the Taff, and Swansea of the Tawe. Aberdare upon

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 11
the Cynon, and Tre-Herbert upon the Rhondda, tribu
taries of the Taff, are the centres of immense nebulae
of population, at this time condensing with more than
American rapidity into considerable towns. The actual
boundaries of the county, east and west, are the Afon-
Eleirch or Swan river, now the Rhymny, from Mon
mouthshire, and the Llwchwr or Burry from Caermar-
thenshire. The episcopal village and Cathedral of
Llandaff stand upon the Llan or mead of the Taff, a
little above Cardiff.
The great natural division of the county is into up
land and lowland, called by the old Welsh the Blaenau
and the Bro; the latter extending, like the Concan of
Bombay, as a broad margin along the seaboard, and
covering about a third of the area ; the former, rising
abruptly like the Syhadree Ghauts, and lying to the
north. The Bro, though containing sea cliffs of a hun
dred feet, is rather undulating than hilly ; the Blaenau
is throughout mountainous, and contains elevations
which rise to 1,200, 1,600, and, at Cam Moysin, to
2,000 feet. From this high ground spring the rivers
of the county. Besides the four already mentioned,
are the Nedd, on which are the town of Neath and
the dock of Briton-Ferry, the Ely with the dock of
Penarth, the Ogwr flowing through Bridgend, and the
Cowbridge Thawe, whose waters roll into the sea over
a field of water- worn lias pebbles, in repute as an
hydraulic limestone, in great request among engineers,
and as celebrated as that of Barrow on the Soar.
Besides these are a multitude of small streams bearing
Welsh names, some of which, as the Sarth or Javelin,
and the Twrch or Boar, are highly significant.
The Llwchwr is the only Glamorgan river admitting,
in any degree, of navigation, and that to a very small
extent. The other streams are rapid and uncertain,
sometimes foaming torrents, sometimes dry beds of
shingle, but more commonly with a moderate flow.
They descend through those wild and rocky but always
verdant valleys, for which Glamorgan is justly famed.

12 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Both the Taff and the Nedd are celebrated for their
scenery, but the Taff has the advantage not only in
the conflux of valleys, which form so pleasing a feature
at Pont-y-Prydd, but in the grand cleft by which that
river, guarded by the ancient castle of the De Clares,
and the far more ancient camp of British origin, bursts
from its constraint amidst the mountains, and rolls in
easy and graceful curves across the plain of Cardiff.
Cardiff, the principal port of the county, is formed
by the union of the Taff and the Ely, and its roadstead
is protected by the headland of Penarth. Swansea,
its western rival, opens upon its celebrated bay : Briton-
Ferry, Port Talbot, and Porth Cawl are intermediate
and smaller ports. A curious feature upon several
points of the sea-coast are the large deposits of blown
sand, probably an accumulation of the twelfth century,
but first mentioned in a charter of Richard II, 1384,
in which he grants to the Abbot and Convent of
Margam the forfeited advowson of Avene propter
suam terram per sabulum maritimum destructam in
nimiam depauperacionem abbatice. This sand, the
movement of the surface of which has hitherto defied
all attempts at planting, has advanced upon Merthyr
Mawr and Kenfig and some parts of Gower, and, like
the dragon of Wantley, has swallowed up much pas
ture, at least three churches, a castle, a village or two,
and not a few detached houses.
The superficial features of the county are largely
affected by its mineral composition. The mountain
districts contain the coal-field, of late years so exten
sively worked : the lowlands are mainly old red sand
stone and mountain limestone, more or less eroded by
water, and covered up by the unconformable, and
nearly horizontal, beds of the magnesian conglomerate,
the new red, and the lias. The county contains no
igneous rocks, nothing known older than the old red,
and no regular formation later than the lias. The
gravels, however, are on a large scale, and their sections
throw much light upon the origin and dip of the

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 13
pebbles, and therefore upon the measure and direction
of their depositing forces.
The charms of Glamorgan have not wanted keen
appreciation. An early triad asserts of it : —
" The Bard loves this beautiful country,
Its wines, its wives, and its white houses."
Its wines are, alas ! no more ; not even the patriotic
efforts of Lord Bute, in his vineyard at Castell Coch,
have as yet been able to raise a murmur from the local
temperance societies ; but the white cottages still
glisten, nestled in the recesses of the hills ; and if its
wives no longer enjoy a special pre-eminence in Wales
it is only because the fair sex of other counties, emulous
of the distinction, have attained to the same merits.
The verses, by Dean Conybeare, in which the senti
ments of this triad are embodied, seem worthy of
preservation here : —
" Morganwg ! thy vales are fair,
Proud thy mountains rise in air ;
And frequent, through the varied scene
Thy white-walled mansions glare between :
May the radiant lamp of day
Ever shed its choicest ray
On those walls of glittering white ;
Morganwg ! the Bards' delight.
" Morganwg ! those white walls hold
A matchless race in warfare bold ;
In peace the pink of courtesy,
In love are none so fond and free.
May, etc.
" Morganwg ! those white walls know
All of bliss is given below,
For there in honour dwells the bride,
Her lover's joy, her husband's pride.
. May, etc."
The glowing description of Speed has been often
quoted, and is well known ; a modern and more prosaic
writer, following in the same school of geography that
has compared Italy to a boot, and Oxfordshire to a
seated old woman, has employed a sort of memoria

1 4 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
technica for the general form of Glamorgan, which he
likens to a porpoise in the act of diving : "Roath re
presents its mouth, Ruperra its prominent snout,
Blaen-Rhymny and Waun-cae-Gerwin its dorsal fins,
the peninsula of Gower its outstretched tail, and the
Hundred of Dinas Powis its protuberant belly." Hig-
den, writing in the fourteenth century, extends his
panegyric to the whole Principality.
" Sic propero ad Walliam
Ad Priami prosapiam,
Ad Magni Jovis sanguinem
Ad Dardani progeniem.
# * * *
" Terra foecunda fructibus
Et carnibus et piscibus ;
Domesticis, silvestribus,
Bobus, equis, et ovibus ;
Apta cunctis seminibus,
Culmis, spicis, graminibus;
Arvis, pratis, nemoribus,
Herbis gaudet, et fioribus ;
Eluminibus et fontibus,
Convallibus et montibus.
Convalles pastum proferunt,
Montes metalla conferunt ;
Carbo sub terrse cortice,
Cresoit viror in vertice ;
Calcem per artis regulas
Prtebet ad tecti, tegulas.
Epularum materia
Mel, lac, et lacticinia,
Mulsum, medo, cervisia,
Abundant in hac patria,
Et quicquid vitas congruit
Ubertim terra tribuit.
* * * #
" Convictus hujus patriae
Differt a ritu Angliee,
In vestibus in victibus,
In cseteris quam pluribus,
His vestium insignia
Sunt clamis et caroisia,
Et crispa femoralia.
Sub ventis et sub pluvia,
Plura non ferunt tegmina
Quam vis brumescat Borea.
* * * *

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 15
" Itidem in South-Wallia
Apud Keerdiff est insula,
Juxta Sabrinum pelagus,
Barri dicta antiquitus,
In cujus parte proxima,
Apparet rima modica,
Ad quam si aurem commodes
Sonum mirandum audies,
Nunc quasi flatus follium
Nunc metallorum sonitum
Cotis ferri fricamina
Fornaois nunc incendia.
Sed hoc non est difficile
Ex fluctibus contingere
Marinis subintrantibus
Hunc sonum procreantibus.''
Glamorgan received a western addition and became
a regular county in the reign of Henry VIII, but the
ancient limit still divides the sees of Llandaff and St.
David's. Both districts, by some accounts, were in
cluded in the ancient Morganwg. " Glamorgan", says
Rees Meyric, " differs from Morganwg, as the parti
culars from the general," Morganwg being the older
name and far more comprehensive territory. "Mor
ganwg", says the same authority, " extended from
Gloucester Bridge to the Crumlyn Brook near Neath,
if not to the Towy River, and included parts of the
later shires of Gloucester, Monmouth, Hereford, Breck
nock, and Glamorgan, and it may be of Caermarthen."
Glamorgan, on the other hand, seems to have been
confined to that part of the present county that lies
along the seaboard, south of the portway, or road,
probably Roman, from Cardiff to Cowbridge and
Neath, and this it is which is said to have been ruled
by Morgan H6n, or the aged, in the middle of the
tenth century. To this Prince has been attributed the
name of his territory, Gwlad-Morgan or Morgan's
country, and there is no evidence for its earlier use.
The rule of his descendants, however, under the same
name, seems to have included the northern or hill
country ; and, finally, Fitz-Hamon and his successors,
although of the ancient Morganwg they held only that

16 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
small part between the Rhymny and the Usk, always
styled themselves" Domini Morganise et Glamorganiae" in
their charters, nor was the style altered even when the
Monmouthshire lands passed away for a time by a
co-heir to the Audleys.
The Britons, both of East and West Britain, seem,
when fairly conquered, to have accepted the Roman
yoke with equanimity ; and it is evident, from the
remains of Roman villas all over Wales, that the in
truders lived there in peace. This was never the case
with the English. The Welsh never accepted their
rule, and their language contains many expressions in
dicating their deadly and continued hate. Even in the
Herefordshire Irchenfield, where many parishes bear
English names, and which probably from the time of
Alfred was part of an English county, and along the
Shropshire border, within and about Offa's Dyke, all
the English dwellings were fortified. The points of
contact between the Welsh and the various tribes of
Northmen were numerous ; sometimes on the English
border, where a large infusion of the names are English,
sometimes along the sea-coast, where such names as
Skokholm, Holm, Sealm, Gresholm, Gatholm, Strumble
Head, Nangle, and Swansea, savour strongly of the
Baltic ; and it seems probable that in some degree to
those early Vikings, as well as to the later settlements
of Flemings or English, is due the Teutonic element
which prevails in the topography of Lower Pembroke
and Gower. In Glamorgan, however, the Welsh in the
eleventh century seem pretty well to have recovered
their territory, and to have disposed of their invaders
as they disposed of Harold himself when he attempted
to erect a hunting lodge for the Confessor at Port-
skewit. Gwrgan, the penultimate Welsh prince who ruled
over Glamorgan, is usually called by the Welsh Lord
of Morganwg ; which , however, he certainly never held
in its extended sense, his rule having been confined to
the tract from the Usk to the Crumlyn, and from the

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 17
Brecknock border to the sea. His name is said to be
preserved in Gwrganstown, near Cowbridge, but he
lives chiefly in the memory of the Welsh as having
laid open the Common of Hirwaun, thence known
as " Hirwaun-Wrgan", or " Gwrgan's long meadow",
near Aberdare.
Jestyn ap Gwrgan, his son and successor, had a
powerful and ambitious neighbour in Rhys ap Twdwr,
Lord of Deheubarth, or the shires of Caermarthen,
Cardigan, and Pembroke, with whom, as was natural
to his race, he was at war ; and getting, or fearing to
get, the worst in the struggle, he dispatched Einion ap
Collwyn, a refugee from Dyfed, who had lived much
with the Normans, to Robert Fitz-Hamon for aid.
Fitz-Hamon was a friend and follower of Rufus, and
Lord of the Honour of Gloucester, the magnificent
heritage of Brictric, who is said to have refused the
hand of Matilda, who afterwards married William the
Conqueror, but never forgave the spretce injuria formce.
The Roman de Brut says : —
" Meis Brictrich Maude refusa
Dunt ele mult se coruca."
Fitz-Hamon, not insensible to the attractions of a
Marcher Lordship, crossed the Severn with his troops,
and landed, it is said, at Porthkerry in or about 1093.
Joining his forces to those of Jestyn, they met, attacked,
and conquered Rhys at Bryn-y-beddau near Hirwaun,
within or close upon the border of Brecknock, and slew
him on the brow of an adjacent hill in Glyn Rhondda,
thence called Penrhys. Goronwy, a son of Rhys, also
was slain, and Cynan, another son, was drowned in a
large marsh between Neath and Swansea, thence called
Pwll- Cynan.
The Normans are said to have received their subsidy
at the " Mill-tir-awr", or Golden Mile, near Bridgend,
and to have departed by land. Einion, however, was
refused his guerdon, the hand of Jestyn's daughter; on
which he recalled the Normans, who had a fray at
c

18 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Mynydd Bychan, near Cardiff, at which Jestyn was
slain. Ein ion's reward was the hill-lordship of Seng
henydd, but in the Welsh tradition he is always stig
matised as Einion-fradwr, " the traitor". Jestyn was
also supported by Cedrych ap Gwaethfoed, Lord of
Cardigan, but closely connected with Glamorgan, and
ancestor of Lewis of Van and other of the older
families in the east of the county.
The proceedings of Fitz-Hamon during and upon his
conquest have been woven into a legendary tale, very
neat and round, very circumstantial, but as deficient in
evidence as though it had proceeded from the pen of
Geoffrey himself. The story, which in South Wales is
an article of faith, explains the jealousy between Rhys
and Jestyn, resting, of course, upon a woman ; the
cause of the special selection of Einion to bring in the
Normans ; the battle of Hirwaun-Wrgan ; the death
of Bhys and his sons ; the payment of the Normans in
gold ; the refusal to Einion of his guerdon ; the retire
ment and return of the Normans ; the death of Jestyn
and the occupation of his territory ; and, finally, its
partition between the conqueror and his twelve prin
cipal followers, and four or five Welshmen.
By whom, or when this story was concocted is not
known. It was certainly accepted without challenge
in the reign of Elizabeth, and could scarcely have been
circulated before the extinction of the Le Despencers,
early in the fifteenth century. Probably its author
was some follower of the Stradlings of St. Donats, a
family somewhat given to literature, whose fictitious
pedigree it sets forth as true. What is certain is,
that whatever may have been the cause alleged, the
invasion was not really due to any local quarrel, but
was part of a settled policy for completing the English
conquest ; a policy which, if not undertaken by Fitz-
Hamon, would have been carried out by Rufus in
person, or by some of the adventurers who about the
same time were taking possession of Monmouth and
Brecknock and the whole of South-west Wales. In-

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 19
dee<L Rufus awaited the result of Fitz-Hamon's ex
pedition at Alveston, between Bristol and Gloucester,
and is supposed to have been only prevented by ill
ness from bearing a share in it. A few months after
the main success there seems to have been a rising of
the Welsh in Wentloog, Glamorgan, and Gower, the
result of which, according to the Brut, was so far
successful that it secured for them somewhat better
terms, of which, however, there is but little evidence
in what is known of the disposition of the lands.
It is singular that of so notable a man as Fitz-Hamon
so little should be known. His father, " Hamo Den-
tatus", seems to have received favours from Duke
William, who specially noticed his defection, with that
of Neel de St. Sauveur, Grimont de Plessy, and Ranulph
of Bayeux at Val-e-Dunes, as recorded in the Cronique
des Dues de Normandie : —
" Par eel Bannol de Beiesin
E par Neel de Costentin
E par Hamun uns Antecriz
E par Grimont des Plaiseiz.
Felon, parjor e traitor
E vers Deu e vers lor Seignor
Neel, Hamun, Banol, Grimont."
In the battle, among the leaders, was " Haimonem
agnomine Dentatum", who led the first line of six
thousand men and much distinguished himself, fighting
hand to hand with the King of France, by whose
attendants he was slain. He is there called Sieur de
Thorigny, de Bersy, et de Creully, and his war-cry
(according to the Roman de Rou), was " St. Amant";
" Et Han-a-dens va reclamant,
'St. Amant', sire 'Saint Amant'."1
Malmesbury speaks of Haimon as "Avum Roberti qui
nostro tempore in Anglia multarum possessionum incu
bator extitit", but he was more probably the father.
1 St. Armand was the patron saint of Thorigny, sometimes called
" St. Amand de Thorigny". C 2

20 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Hamo-a-Dens seems to have had two sons, for Hamo
Dapifer is stated by Wm. of Jumieges to be brother of
Robert Fitz-Hamon. " Dedit etiam illi [Roberto Comiti
Glouc :] rex terram Haimonis dapiferi, patrui videlicet
uxoris suee." Hamo Dapifer, though omitted in the
index to the folio Domesday, appears as a tenant in
chief in the record, holding in Essex fourteen parishes,
and as " Haimo Vicecomes" possessing others in Kent
and Surrey. Hasted says he was also called " Creve-
quer". He was one of the Judges in the great cause
between Archbishop Lanfranc and Odo, and died child
less in the reign of Henry I. The land thus granted
by Henry I to Earl Robert's wife descended to her
children and their successors, and thus it was that
Dunmow came to the De Clares.1
In the list of fees held under the Church of Bayeux,
" Robertus films Hamonis" is entered as holding ten
fees of the Honour of Evreux under Bayeux, and he
was hereditary standard-bearer to the Blessed Mary of
Bayeux, as Earl Robert of Gloucester was after him.
Meyrick calls him Earl of Corboile, but the Haymo
who was Lord of the Castle of Corboile, died on his
way to Rome, during the reign of Hugh Capet, and
his son was Theobald, as is related in the life of Earl
Burchard, who married his widow.
Though not mentioned in Domesday, Fitz-Hamon
was probably then in England, for Mr. Ellis has found
his name connected with Gloucester, in what he re
gards as the notes whence that part of the survey was
compiled. He was in the confidence of Rufus, and on
the eve of the Welsh expedition received from him the
Honour of Gloucester, whence, indeed, he drew, as was
of course intended, men and means. On the death of
Rufus, when Duke Robert landed at Dorchester and
advanced in arms from Winchester to meet his brother,
he was accompanied by Fitz-Hamon, who succeeded in
1 The office of Dapifer seems to have been held by the elder Hamo;
for, in 1088, Robert, son of Hamo Dapifer, aided Rufus in the siege of
Rochester Castle.

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 21
negotiating a peace between the brothers. As Seig
neur of Thorigny and Creully he was homager of
Robert, "Homme de Due", as it was called, but he seems
thenceforward to have adhered to Henry, whom he
supported in 1101 against the "Optimates", who sup
ported Robert. In that year the letter written by
Henry on his accession, to Anselm, is witnessed by
Robert Fitz-Hamon and Hamo Dapifer. In 1105 he
was captured during the siege, of Bayeux, taking refuge
in the Tour de Moustrier de Secqueville, which was
burned. Henry, however, obtained his liberation im
mediately, for " moult il se fioit en Robert Fitz de
Hamon". Very soon afterwards, in the same year,
he was wounded in the temple at the siege of Caen, of
which wound he lingered till 1107, when he died.1
The policy pursued towards the Welsh seems to
have been severe, since only one Welsh lord occurs in
the low country, which was parted between the in
vaders ; the few Welsh, with that one exception, who
were allowed to hold considerable estates, being con
fined to the hills. In settling the lordship, the old
Welsh divisions of cantreds and commotes were pre
served, and usually the parishes, but by a modification
of these divisions the lordship was divided into body
and members. The body, the Welsh " Bro", became the
shire fee, and was placed under a sheriff; and the
members, though extending at points into the low
lands, corresponded for the most part to the "Blaenau".
Besides these were the lord's private or demesne lands,
the borough towns, and the possessions of the church
of Llandaff.
The shire fee or body was settled in accordance with
the feudal system in use in Normandy. The private
estates became manors, and in many cases also pro
bably new parishes. There were 36 and 3-5ths knights'
fees, divided into about twenty-six lordships, held by
castle-guard tenure of the Castle of Cardiff, to which
1 Chron. de JVormandie in Ber. Gall. Script., xii, 628 ; xiii, 206,
248, 250, 251 ; xv, 64.

22 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
the tenants were bound to repair when needed.
Besides these there were mesne manors, subinfeuda
tions from the original tenants, holden of them and
their castles, also by military service, the whole being
held by the chief lord under the sovereign.
The boroughs were six, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Kenfig,
Llantrissant, Avan, and Neath. The four first held
direct from the lord, and enjoyed the usual liberties
and privileges, guaranteed by charter. Neath held
originally from de Granville, but came by exchange to
the lord. Avan, or Avene, stood out much longer, but,
on the extinction of the elder line of Jestyn, that also
fell in. Probably these boroughs were wholly of Nor
man introduction. Caerphilly has been classed with
the boroughs, but it does not seem ever to have re
ceived a charter, or to have had a governing body. It
sprung up at a later period with the castle, and no
doubt fell with it into speedy and complete decay.
The members were ten, of which two were sub
divided. They were Avan Wallia, Coyty , Glyn Rhondda,
Llanblethian, Miscin, Neath citra and ultra, Ruthyn,
Senghenydd supra and subter, Talavan, and Tir-y-jarl
or the earl's land. Tenure by gavelkind, called in
Welsh " Rhan-tir", or partible land, is found about
Bridgend and in a part of Monmouthshire. The prac
tice of dividing land equally between sons, and failing
sons, between daughters, once common to all English
socage tenants, is thought also to have prevailed in
Celtic Britain, so that it is just possible that what is
found in South Wales may be the remnant of a general
usage, though the name of gavelkind is of English
importation. The Welsh members of the shire had
also their local courts, and their lords the right of
"bren-o-ffwl", or pit and gallows, no great concession,
as seven of the twelve were in the hands of the chief
lord. Each member had its steward or seneschal, who
presided at its courts, from which an appeal lay to the
shire court at Cardiff.
Although Llandaff was a very ancient ecclesiastical

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 23
title, there seems to have been an attempt for a time
to make Glamorgan the designation of the see. At
Bishop Urban's consecration by Anselm he is called
Bishop of Glamorgan, and the same appears in Eadmer.
The Bishop, as head of the Church of Llandaff, and
lord of that manor, had the prerogatives of a Lord
Marcher, but his temporalities were confirmed to him
by the chief lord, who claimed to hold possession of
the see when vacant, though this right was afterwards
challenged by the crown and surrendered. The Bishop
held the lordship of Llandaff and the manor of St.
Lythan, or Worlton, in the shire.
The lands given by the Welsh princes to the colleges
of Llantwit and Llancarvan seem to have been trans
ferred to other foundations ; for it is stated in the
cartulary of St. Peter's at Gloucester that Fitz-Hamon
gave to that House the church of St. Cadoc at Llan
carvan, and Penhon, with fifteen hides of land, pro
bably about 1102. Llancarvan is mentioned in a bull
of Calixtus in 1119, and of Honorius in 1 128 ; and King
Stephen, in confirming lands to Gloucester in 1136,
mentions St. Cadoc of Llancarvan and Tregoff, among
the gifts of Fitz-Hamon. On the whole, the church
in the lordship had no reason to complain of the new
lords. The Benedictine Abbeys of Neath and Margam
were founded in 1130 and 1147, and then endowments
rapidly augmented. Ewenny, as a cell of Gloucester,
was founded about the same time, and therefore it
is not probable that Fitz-Hamon or his successor con
fiscated any church lands ; and no doubt the local pro
perty held by the Abbey of Gloucester, and afterwards
by their successors, the Dean and Chapter, represents
the old Welsh endowments.
The part played by the Crown in the conquest of
Glamorgan has never been clearly defined. Fitz-Hamon
certainly received the Honour of Gloucester to enable
him to undertake it. It is certain that he did so with
the consent of Rufus, and upon the condition that he
held the land, as such conquests were elsewhere held,

24 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
of the Crown as a Marcher Lordship. What was the
precise position of Lords Marchers has not been settled
by legal antiquaries. They received no charter defining,
establishing, or limiting their ample privileges. No
sovereign would have been willing to grant in per
petuity privileges permitted to be assumed under tem
porary pressure, and the Marchers much preferred that
their privileges, if not formally acknowledged to the
full, should remain undefined. The privileges were
necessary, under the circumstances, but naturally be
came circumscribed as Wales became settled; and the
Crown, which retained the usual feudal rights over
these lordships, had, from time to time, during a
minority, or upon an escheat, an opportunity of check
ing encroachments.
Glamorgan was by much the oldest shire in Wales,
and one of the very few not included in the Statutum
Walliae of 1280. The statute of Henry VIII also
treats it as an old county. In truth, the Lord of
Glamorgan was little short of a crowned king.
The king's writ did not run in his territory ; he
had his sheriff, his chancery, his great seal, his
courts civil and criminal, rights of admiralty and
of wreck, of life and death, an ambulatory council
or parliament, jura regalia, fines, oblations, escheats,
wardships, marriages, and other feudal incidents.
Some of his greater tenants held per baroniam,
others by grand and petit sergeanty, socage, and villen-
age. He held, sede vacante, the temporalities of the
bishopric, he was patron of the principal abbeys and of
the municipal boroughs, and he himself held in capite
de corona. In common with other Marcher Lordships
Glamorgan had also this in common with an Honour,
that, when it was, by an escheat or during a minority,
vested in the crown, it did not become merged, or lose
its individuality. The personal service due from the
military tenants to the lord was not transferred to the
crown, but, if they so pleased, could be compounded
for in money. Nor were the Marcher privileges mere

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 25
assertions. They were regularly exercised, and occa
sionally pleaded in the king's courts. A plea is preserved
in the records of the Curia Regis, 8th July 1199, and
noted by Palgrave, in which the sheriff of Hereford,
when ordered by the king's court to take possession of
Bredwardine castle, protests that he cannot do so, it
being out of his bailliewick, and Wm. de Braose, the
Marcher Lord, declares that neither king, sheriff, nor
justice has any right to enter upon his liberty. Also,
in 1302, another William de Braose claimed in parlia
ment that in his liberty of Gower he had his chancellor
and chancery and seal, the judgment of life and death,
and cognizance of all pleas, whether of crown or others,
arising in the lordship, between all persons whomso
ever. Similar statements are pleaded by the de Clares,
Earls of Gloucester, in bar of appeal from their courts
to Westminster. Also in a cause reported in the Cotton
MS. (Vitell; C. x, f. 172b), where Richard Syward, 1248,
appeals to the Crown against a judgment in the Earl
of Gloucester's court in Glamorgan, the Earl demurs to
the appeal on the ground that Syward is his vassal,
and that the transaction, the cause of the proceedings,
was in Glamorgan. He suggests, however, a sort of
compromise, a royal commission to report upon the case
to the king in person, which was accepted.
No wonder that the great English lords coveted the
Welsh lordships. Unproductive in money or pastoral
wealth, they were inaccessible, contained excellent
soldiers, and by a temporary arrangement with the
Welsh leaders a Marcher could at any time securely
defy a weak Sovereign.
There is direct evidence for but few of Fitz-Hamon's
grants, or even for the names or numbers of his prin
cipal followers. There is known but one extant charter
by him relating to Wales, and by that he grants the
fishery of an arm of the Taff at Cardiff to Tewkesbury
Abbey. Other of his charters, relating to other counties,
are however extant, and from the witnesses and similar
sources the names have been established of a few of his

26 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
principal followers, and of several others who it is
highly probable were of the number. What makes it
probable that the greater number of tenants whose
names appear in the twelfth or early in the thirteenth
century were derived from original settlers, is that
most held directly of the lord. Of mesne or subordi
nate manors there were comparatively few, and those
of course may have been created at any time up to the
passing of the celebrated statute "Quia evptores",
which seems to have been acted up to in Glamorgan,
whether recognized or not as binding.
The records of Glamorgan for the first century and a
half from the Conquest are very scanty indeed, chiefly
charters from the lords to their dependants and to the
Church, though usually with many local witnesses.
Some of Fitz-Hamon's followers seem to have staid
but a short time, and, if they received grants of land,
to have disposed of it, and in consequence they have
escaped notice altogether ; but even of the greater
lords, who founded local families, the origin and early
descent has hitherto been involved in much obscurity.
Under the feudal system the relations between the
crown and its tenants in chief, and between these and
their subtenants, were very intimate ; the crown per
petually claiming services or their redemption in money,
the tenants resisting, and all parties appealing to grants
and charters, extents or surveys, remissions or excep
tions for and against the claims of wardship, livery, re
lief, scutage, escheat and the like, all which were set
down with an accuracy well befitting transactions
relating to property.
Relations similar to these in substance, but modified
by the delegated powers of the Marcher Lords, sub
sisted also in Wales. Each Marcher, while holding in
chief from the Crown, was himself in many respects a
sovereign in his relations to his own tenants and their
sub-tenants. Every manor in the March was held
mediately or immediately of a Lord Marcher, and its
mesne lord paid his reliefs, wardships, scutage, and

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 27
wardsilver ; and each had its customs, exemptions,
payments and quittances recorded in the chancery,
which it was the prerogative of every Marcher to hold,
attached to the court of his Caput Baronice, which took
cognisance, in the first instance or by appeal, of every
cause, civil or criminal, arising within its bounds.
There must, therefore, have been accumulated in the
several chanceries a mass of records similar to those
which, from the other parts of the kingdom, were pre
served in the royal courts and the exchequer.
What then has become of these records, which were,
in fact, the early title deeds of the Welsh estates ? It
is scarcely surprising that the records even of the most
powerful private families in Wales should have been
destroyed, so frequent were the incursions and retalia
tions of the two parties, who, of course, burned and
destroyed everything within their reach ; but this does
not apply in the same degree to the records of the
Marchers, whose castles were strong and well garrisoned,
and in many cases, as at Chepstow, Ludlow, and
Shrewsbury, scarcely at all exposed to be taken and
sacked. Cardiff indeed was once or twice in the hands
of the Welsh ; and Glendowr, who was its last invader
during its existence as a Marcher Lordship, is supposed
to have destroyed all he found, which may perhaps
account for the disappearance of the earlier records ;
but even then there must have been many of a later
date, accumulated under the Beauchamps and Nevilles,
and Jasper Tudor ; and these also are lost. The lord
ship then reverted to the Crown, and as Edward VI
and Elizabeth, while selling the lands, retained the
seigniorial powers, it might be expected that their
officers would take charge of the records of the chan
cery. Certainly there are very few in private hands,
and it is understood that neither at Badminton, nor
Wilton, nor at Cardiff, are there any documents re
lating to the seigniory of Glamorgan, or any relating
to Glamorgan, of earlier date than the entrance of the
Herberts into that seigniory.

28 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Some have suggested that when the Marcherships
were abolished or vested in the Crown, and the govern
ment of Wales was administered by the Council at
Ludlow, the records were all transferred thither, and
perished in the subsequent civil wars ; others suppose
them to have been removed to the repositories in
London, and still to slumber unknown in that vast and
long neglected though valuable collection, a theory
which recent research renders scarcely tenable. The
subject of the disappearance of the South- Welsh re
cords is one of considerable interest, and it is to be
hoped that it will be investigated by one of the able
antiquaries on the staff of the Record Office, since none
other could direct the necessary researches.
Fortunately for posterity, although the records of
the transactions of the Marcher Lords with their
tenants, of the Mareschals and De Clares, the Mor
timers, Montgomery s, Newmarchs, Bellomonts, Braoses,
Bohuns and Hastings' ; with their knights and military
dependents, are lost, a better lot has attended the re
cords of their transactions with the Crown ; and the
inquisitions taken upon their deaths or escheats, and
the detail of their feudal services, are in great measure
preserved. Also, it has fortunately happened that the Marcher
Lords, from their detached position and great military
power, were frequently tempted into rebellion, and
their estates suffered forfeiture or escheat ; then, or
during a minority, the Crown stepped in and seized
upon or administered the lordship, and when this oc
curred the dues were usually paid to the officers of the
Crown, and the transactions were recorded in the re
cords of the realm, and are preserved: Thus the
Honours of Gloucester and Brecknock were in the
hands of Henry I and Stephen. Richard and John
both held the Honour of Gloucester, and the compo-
tus roll returned by their officer gives much informa
tion as to the internal state of Glamorgan at that re
mote period, which would otherwise have been lost.

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 29
There is also another source, both copious and accu
rate, of which little heed has hitherto been taken, but
which throws considerable light upon the names and
origin of the followers of Fitz-Hamon into Glamorgan.
It appears that almost all who joined in the conquest,
or settled in the conquered territory, came from the
Honour of Gloucester, and were therefore connected
with one or other of the shires of Gloucester, Somer
set, Devon, Dorset, or Wilts ; and as they were either
landowners, or the cadets of landowners, in those
counties, their names occur in the local records, which
not unfrequently explain various particulars as to their
descent and connections.
Of the leading settlers, whose names occur in such
records as exist in Glamorgan, some certainly con
temporary with Fitz-Hamon, others who, or whose
fathers, may, many of them, be really of that date, de
Granville held lands at Bideford, Turberville at Bere-
Turberville, St. Quintin at Frome-St. -Quintin, Umfra-
ville at Down-Umfraville, Halwey at Combe-Halwey or
Hawey, Reigny at Esse and Culm-Reigny, Bawdrip at
Bawdrip, Cogan at Huntspill, Bonvile at Bonvileston in
Devon ; while Barry, Bawcen, Butler, Corbet, Dennis,
Fleming, Joel, Le Sore, Luvel, Maisy, Norris, Payn,
Sandford, Scurlage, Sturmy, St. John, Valognes,
Walsh, and scores of others, occur in various parts of
the Honour, and are found in either the eleventh,
twelfth, or thirteenth century in Glamorgan.
Many of the settlers reversed the usual practice in
England, and, as in Ireland, gave to their lands their
own names ; sometimes, it may be, because they found
the Welsh name hard to pronounce ; more frequently
because their castles and the limits of their estates
were altogether new. Thus Barry, Bonvileston,
Flemingston, Colwinston, Constantineston or Coston,
Gileston, Laleston, Nicholaston, Marcross, Sully, all
names of parishes, were evidently taken from their
lords, and possibly were carved out of earlier Welsh
parishes, which were usually very large indeed. St.

30 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
George's, and several other parishes taking name
from English saints, are no doubt of the same class.
There are also many private estates, sometimes manors,
but not parishes, bearing the names of the intruding
owners. Such are Cantelupeston, Maes-Syward, Odins-
fee, Sigginston, Samonston, Picketston, Lloyn-y-
Grant, Beganston, Sturmy-Down, Walterston, and the
like. Fitz-Hamon, though certainly a severe conqueror,
probably, like the greater conqueror under whom he
had served, did not disturb the Welsh more than was
necessary for his own security, though that, no doubt,
is admitting a good deal. Einion and other Welsh
lords were permitted to retain large tracts on the hills ;
and of four of the sons of Jestyn, the eldest was
allowed to hold a member-lordship in the low country
on at least equal terms with the greatest of the Nor
mans. The position held by the descendants of Cara-
doc ap Jestyn is unlike any retained in England by
men' of pure Saxon descent. They built a castle on
the Avan, established under its protection a chartered
borough town, were large benefactors to Neath and
Margam, two Norman Abbeys, burying at the latter,
and, as their seals show, used armorial bearings and
armour like the Normans. With all this they con
tinued for four generations to bear Welsh names, and
to sympathise with the Welsh people ; for which they
were sometimes summoned to do personal homage to
the king, and sometimes called upon to give hostages
for their conduct. It was Morgan ap Caradoc who, in
1188, convoyed Archbishop Baldwin across the treach
erous sands of Avan and Neath, on his way to Swansea.
Morgan Gam, his successor, was shut up in an English
prison by the Earl of Gloucester, and in reprisal he
burned the Earl's grange at Kenfig. Their original
tenure, like that of the other Welsh lords, was without
any definite service, but they acquired a commote held
by sergeanty, adopted Avene as a sirname, intermarried
with the Norman families, added the great lordship of

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 31
Cilvae and the manors of Sully and Eglwys-Brewis to
their possessions, and finally, in the eighth descent,
ended in an heiress, who married Sir William Blount,
and exchanged her lands for others in England. To
another son of Jestyn was allotted the lordship of
Ruthyn; to another, Rees, the lands of Solven, called
thence " Rees-Solven".
Fitz-Hamon's personal share in the conquered land is
said to have included the towns of Cardiff, Cowbridge,
and Kenfig, the Castles of Cardiff and Kenfig, the
shire fee or body of the lordship, and as demesne lands
Miscin, Glyn Rhondda, Tir-y-Iarl, and Boverton or
Llantwit. Of the Norman settlers there were six, unquestion
ably contemporary with Fitz-Hamon, whose power was
far more considerable than that of the others. These
were de Granville, de Turberville, de Londres, Syward,
St. Quentin, Umfravile and Sully. Richard de Gran
ville is reported to have been Fitz-Hamoh's brother,
and there certainly occurs a Ricardus filius Hamonis in
1096 as a baron, etc., with possessions in Normandy
(Rerum Gall., scrip, xiv, 146). He, or his son, founded
Neath Abbey, in 1129, attaching it to the House of
Savigny in Normandy, and retired to Bideford, where
they became the progenitors of one of the great families
of the West, achieving high military and naval fame,
and not unknown in literature.
Pagan de Turberville had Coyty, much celebrated in
bardic story as the seat of a royal lineage. He, or his
son, strengthened their position by marrying the dis
possessed Welsh heiress. The family always showed
Welsh sympathies, and continued to hold a very high
rank in the county until the fifteenth century, when
the main line failed, as the cadet lines have since also
failed, so that there remains now but the echo of this
very considerable name.
St. Quintin settled at Llanblethian, but they have
left no special tradition or mark in the county, from
which before 1249 the family was gone, and Syward

32 THE LAND OF MORGAN .
held their fees. Probably they resided mainly else
where. Their heiress, no doubt, though the actual
pedigree is not preserved, was the lady whose blood,
mingled with that of Fitz-Hugh and of Marmion,
centred in Parr of Kendal, and now flows in the veins
of the Herberts of Wilton.
Syward had the lordship and castle of Talavan, and
the sub-manor of Merthyr Mawr, and, before his fall,
in 1249, the castle of Llanblethian. He was one of a
turbulent race, alternately useful and injurious to their
lords, and remembered as having carried on a plea
against Gilbert Earl of Gloucester, into which largely
entered the very curious legal question, how far an
appeal lay from the Earl Marcher's court to that of the
King at Westminster.
Of these lords, de Granville, de Turberville, St.
Quintin and Syward, held member-lordships, with
powers of life and death and other Marcher privileges.
De Londres, probably more powerful than any of the
others, held the lordship of Ogmore with the sub-manor
of Dunraven. The family territory was, however,
mostly in Caermarthenshire, where they held the great
lordship of Carnwilthion, of which Kidwelly was the
chief seat. They built Ogmore castle, but mostly re
sided at Kidwelly. William de Londres and Maurice,
his son, were the founders of Ewenny Priory. The
heiress of de Londres married de Cadurcis or Chaworth,
and their heiress, Henry Earl of Lancaster. The lord
ship of Ogmore has never had a resident lord, but on
the other hand it has been held together, and is now
a part of the Duchy of Lancaster.
The other considerable settlers were Umfravile and
Sully. Umfravile is stated by genealogists to have
been the head of that family, cadets of which settled
at Prudhoe, and became Earls of Angus. The connec
tion seems probable, for the Glamorgan Umfraviles
sealed with a hexapetalous flower, which also forms a
part of the Angus coat. They built Penmark castle,
and there is some reason to suppose that the St. Johns,

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS.

33

who married their heiress, held Fonmon manor under
them. Somery, of Dinas Powis, ought perhaps to be
added to the above "Barones majores", since they were
Barons of Dudley castle, and held their Glamorgan fees
for some centuries ; but they do not seem to have taken
a very active part in local affairs.
The earliest inquisition extant of the Lordship of
Glamorgan was probably taken in 1262, on the acces
sion of Earl Gilbert de Clare, and therefore one hundred
and seventy years or so after the conquest. This gives
a list of all the holders of lay fees, who held in capite
of the lord, and the service due from each. The table
is most interesting, and has only lately been dis
covered. The names and holdings are :

G. Turberville inNewcastle Jg-fee.
Nerberd in Lancovian ^ „
Sandford in Leckwith ^ „
Scurlag in Llanharry J „
H. Sully in Pentyrch J „
Pireton in Nova-Villa J „
Butler in Marcross
Constantine in Coston
Hawey in St. Donats
Norris in Penllyne
Syward in Merthyr-Mawr
Cogan in Cogan 2 fees.
Somery in Dinas Powis 2J „
Corbet in St. Nicholas 3 „
De Londres in Ogmore 4 „

Constantine in Lanmaes ^ fee.
de Gloucestria in Wrenchester \ „
de Kaerdiff in Lanirid | „
Clifford in Kenfeis \ „
Basset in St. Hilary \ „
Sully in Lanmaes § „

1 fee.

Le Sore in St. Fagans

lfee.

1 „

Walsh in Landoch

1 „

1 „

de Wincestria in Landan

1 „

1 „

Mayloc in Capella

1 „

1 ,,

Nerberd in Abron Thawe 4 fees.
Sully in Sully and Wenvoe 4 „
Umfrevile in Penmark 4 ,,

The abbot of Margam held Langewy, probably a lay
fee, but no service is named. Turberville held Coyty
per baroniam, also described as grand sergeanty. Of
the Welsh lords, Morgan Vachan (of Avan) held in
Baglan half a commote by Welshery ; no service, but
a horse and arms at the death of the tenant, the old
form of heriot. Two sons of Morgan ap Cadewalthan
held half a commote in Glyn Rhondda; no service.
Griffith ap Rees held two commotes, an immense hold-
D

34 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
ing, in Senghenydd : he was the ancestor of Lewis of
Van ; no service. Morediht ap Griffith held one com
mote in Machheir, probably Miscin ; no service. De
Granville's lordship is not mentioned, it having lapsed
to the chief lord, as probably had those of Syward and
St. Quintin. Marcross had been succeeded by de Pin-
cerna or Butler. Berkerolles had not yet given place to
Nerberd, nor Stradling to Hawey. Fleming probably
had not arrived, and Bawdrip was then only a burgess
of Cardiff. St. John of Fonmon and Butler of Dun-
raven are not named. The latter certainly was a
subtenant, and possibly this was so with St. John.
Probably for the same reason, as not holding in capite,
are omitted Joel, Odin, Barry, and Bonvile, though
they appear as inquisitors. It is to be observed also
that in these inquisitions the jurors at Cardiff are all
English. At Llantrissent and at Llangonydd all are
Welsh. At Neath only three of the twelve are English.
This shows how largely the Welsh element prevailed,
and how completely the Welsh were trusted with the
ordinary duties of free-tenants. The next extant sur
vey of the shire was taken in 1320, about sixty years
later, and in that time considerable changes had taken
place. The knights' fees are still numbered at 36 and
a fraction ; but of the former tenants there remain the
names but of ten — the Abbot, Basset, Corbet, Mayloc,
Nerber, Norris, Turberville, Umfravile, Walsh, and de
Winton ; and of these there remained, in the reign of
Elizabeth, but two — Basset, and a cadet of Turberville.
The proximity of Strongbow's estates and castle of
Chepstow, and the passage of the road thence to Mil-
ford across Glamorgan, seem to have led many of the
settlers to a further adventure in Ireland, where we
find such names as Barry, Cogan, Basset, Cadoc, Bonville,
Fleming, Kenfig, Lamays, Landochan, Norris, London,
Penrice, Swaynsey, Siward, Sandford, Newton, Scur-
lock, Walsh, and a great number of Welshmen desig
nated by a christian name, and as of Cardiff.
The position of the English in Wales during the two

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 35
centuries following the conquest, in fact until the re
duction of the Principality by Edward I, was such as
to make a castle a necessity ; so much so, that there
is no trace of a licentia crenellare having been thought
necessary under the Marcher rule, though the Marcher
Lord of Whittington in Salop had such a licence from
Henry III. Every landowner's house was literally
his castle. In parts of Glamorgan they stood so close
that it is difficult to understand whence their owners
derived their revenues. For example, within a radius
of six miles from Barry, half the circle being occupied
by the sea, were twelve castles ; and in the county,
and mainly in its southern part, were from thirty to
forty, of which but one, Aberavan, belonged to a Welsh
Lord. Most of these castles were the residences of
private persons, and were built for the defence of the
estate and its tenants ; others, the property of the chief
Lord, were constructed for the defence of the country,
and were so placed as to command the passes by which
the Welsh were accustomed to descend upon the plain.
The sites of most of the Glamorgan castles are known,
and of many of them the ruins remain, though they
rarely contain masonry of an earlier date than the reign
of Henry III. Cardiff, however, boasts a shell keep of
Norman date, as is probably its immense outer wall,
attributed to Robert Earl of Gloucester. The annals
of Margam attribute the building of the town of Cardiff
to the previous reign, but Cardiff is certainly a much
older place, and probably was founded when the Roman
road was laid out, to guard the passage of the River
Taff. The earthworks of the Castle were originally
rectangular, and probably the work of the Romanised
Britons, on the withdrawal of the Legions. The mound,
like that of Caerleon, is certainly the work of later
invaders from England. Ogmore has a square keep
of undoubted Norman pattern, doubtless the work of
the first or second de Londres ; and at Penllyne are
fragments of a similar keep, contaming some curious,
and it may be, early, herring-bone work, and possibly
D 2

36 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
Earl Robert's work, and so a little earlier than even
Robert Norris, who seems to have been the first, or
a very early, grantee. At Newcastle by Bridgend are
the gateway and the original wall of a castle, certainly
early, because it gives name to the parish, and the
masonry of which is evidently of Norman date and
very peculiar in the pattern of its mouldings. Here, as
generally in the Norman buildings in Glamorgan,
Sutton stone is employed. It is uncertain by whom
Newcastle was built. The name of Oldcastle is pre
served in the adjacent town of Bridgend, though
where it precisely was, or what it was, is not known.
Of Early English castles the rectangular keep at
Fonmon, still inhabited, is the best, and indeed the
only tolerably perfect example. The base of the tower
of Whitchurch is in that style, as is part of Coyty;
and in the foundations of Sully Castle, opened some
years ago, were Early English fragments. Also, in
the centre of the later house of Dunraven, some
masonry of Early English aspect is walled in, and is
probably part of the castle of Arnold Butler.
During the troubled reign of Henry III, a great age
for castle building in Wales, many strong places in
Glamorgan seem to have been renewed. Castell Coch
and Caerphilly were then built ; and to that reign or
that of Edward I are due the fine gateways at Neath
and Llanblethian, a smaller one at Barry, parts of
Cardiff and Morlais, the ancient wall of St. Fagans,
and probably the fragment at Llantrissant. The gate
house of the old episcopal palace at Llandaff is excellent
Decorated. Those of Pencoed and Castleton are appa
rently later. The central building at Cardiff and the
polygonal tower, now, alas ! dwarfed and buried under
modern additions, were the work of Richard Beau
champ, Earl of Warwick, the builder of a similar but
far grander tower at that castle. St. Donats, the most
complete castle in South Wales, is very late, as is much
of Coyty. Besides these, of doubtful date are Dinas
Powis, the fragments of St. George's and Peterston,

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 37
parts of Kenfig, Penmark, and Castleton, the ditches
and a few fragments of Talavan and Bonvileston, and
the foundations of Llanquian. Avan, Wenvoe, and
Wrinston are utterly gone. At Van, Beaupre, Cogan-
Pill, Cardiff, Cadoxton, West Orchard, Aberthin,
Llanveithin, Llanvihangel, Llantrithyd, Pencoed, Caer-
wiggau, Sutton, and Llancayach are ancient houses,
some very perfect. Carnllwyd is excellent Decorated,
as is Cantleston and part of Flimston, where the court
has an embattled wall. At Castell-y-Mynach are re
mains of the Hall, and in the walls of the Manorial
House of Talygarn, lately recast, were found windows
of the time of Henry V.
Many of the churches, and notably the cathedral,
contain Norman work; and in others, where the church
has been rebuilt, the font and the holy water stoop, on
a stunted column, are of that date. Throughout the
lordship most churchyards retain the polygonal stepped
base of a cross, and of some such crosses the shaft is
preserved, and of one or two the actual carved stone
which formed the apex, and represented the crucifixion.
In the churchyard of St. Donats is one of these crosses
of remarkable elegance. It has been copied at Llandaff,
but in dimensions, and placed in a position, entirely fatal
to its effect. There also remain a few of the upright
shafts of crosses of an earlier date, carved in bold basket
work patterns, and usually set upright in the ground
without base or pedestal. Time, neglect, and the
labours, not uncalled for, of the diocesan architect are
annually bringing about the destruction of these re
mains and, what is, archaeologically, much the same
thing, the restoration of the ancient edifices-
The gentry and yeomanry of the lordship, that is,
those who have any real claim to antiquity of descent,
are still divided into the pure Welsh and the descend
ants of the Norman settlers. The genealogies of these
settlers, "Advenes" as they are styled in the local
pedigree books, are scarcely so well preserved as those
of the corresponding class in England, but their estates

38 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
have usually been known, and their possession of a
surname gives a facility for tracing their descent which
does not extend to the natives. The Welsh genealogies
pretend to far higher antiquity, and are recorded with
much greater fulness of detail. Unfortunately their
compilers — it were discourteous, perhaps unjust, to say
their authors — seldom condescend to mention the place
of residence of the families, or to introduce a date.
These omissions — the absence of surnames — and the
very limited number of Christian names in use, and
their frequent repetition in the same family, not to
mention the frequent introduction of a train of natural
children, and the names and pedigrees of their mothers,
reduce an English genealogist to despair. " Oh!" said
a late Garter, indicating the genealogical MSS. left to
the College of Arms by Sir Isaac Heard, " Oh ! those
are Welsh pedigrees ; we have nothing to say to them."
In truth the Welsh counties were seldom, if ever, in
cluded in the Visitations of the English Heralds.
And yet these Welsh genealogies are really extremely
curious, and for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
probably fairly true. To what extent the Welsh bards
preserved private pedigrees is unknown, but, no doubt,
Welsh genealogy received a great impulse on the acces
sion of the House of Tudor, and in consequence of the
inquiries set on foot by Henry VII, and by the Her
berts. Still the extant manuscripts, of which there
are many, are rarely, if ever, older than the reign of
Elizabeth, and more generally, date from those of the
1st James and Charles. Looking to the genealogies
of Glamorgan, what is most remarkable is the small
number of stocks whence the native families are said
to be derived. These are mainly five only ; Jestyn
ap Gwrgan, Einion ap Collwyn, Bleddyn ap Maen-
arch, Gwilim ap Jenkyn, Llewelyn ap Ivor, and
Gwaethvoed. From these are deduced from three to
four hundred distinct families. Roughly, it may be
stated, from Caradoc ap Jestyn, 26; from Rhys, 12;
from Madoc, 30 ; and from Griffith ap Jestyn, 3.
Einion ap Collwyn, notwithstanding the stigma at-

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 39
tached to his name, is recorded as the ancestor of
99 families ; Bleddyn ap Maenarch of 46, besides
those pertaining to Brecknock ; Gwilim ap Jenkyn,
74 ; Llewelyn ap Ivor, 23 ; and Cydrich and Aidan
ap Gwaethvoed, 21 and 50. Besides these were a
few others, families of no great note, whose remote
ancestor is not recorded, and who chiefly inhabited the
hill country north of Bridgend and Margam.
Of the descendants of the above patriarchs, among
the best known were, from Caradoc, Avan of Avan,
Evans of Gnoll and Eagle's Bush, Pryce of Briton
Ferry, Williams of Blaen-Baglan, Thomas of Bettws,
and Loughor of Tyfchegston. From Rhys ap Jestyn
came Williams of Duffryn-Clydach, Penry of Reeding,
and Llewelyn of Ynis-y-Gerwn. From Madoc ap
Jestyn, Llewelyn of Caerwiggau, and the numerous
descendants of Ievan Mady. From Einion sprang
Gibbon of Trecastle, Prichard of Collenna, Price of
Glyn Nedd, Prichard of Ynis Arwed, Powell of Loy-
darth, Energlyn, Maesteg, and Baydon, Cradock of
Swansea and of Cheriton, and Powell of Llandow.
Bleddyn ap Maenarch was the forefather of Jenkins of
Hensol, Griffith Gwyr, Penry of Lanedi, Williams of
Bettws, Llewelyn of Ynis Simoon, Evans of Cilvae,
Jones of Fonmon, Price of Penllergaer, Gethyn of
Glyn Tawe, Bowen of Court House and Kittle, Powell
of Swansea and Seys of Boverton. Of all these the
only known descendants in the legitimate male line are
Evans of Eagle's Bush, Prichard of CoUenna, and Jones
of Fonmon.From Gwilim ap Jenkyn sprang the very copious
race of Herbert, of whom about seventy-four distinct
branches may be traced, very many settled in Glamor
gan under various names, of whom were Raglan of
Carnllwydd, Gwyn of Llansannor, Thomas of Llanvi-
hangel and Pwllyvrach, Herbert of Cardiff, of Cogan,
and of Cilybebill.
Llewelyn ap Ivor was of Tredegar, whence came a
number of families, almost all bearing the name of

40 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
Morgan, of whom were those of Coed-y-Gores, Pen-
Uwynsarth, Rubina, Ruperra, and Cilfynydd.
Gwaethvoed was the fruitful stock of Mathew of
Llandaff, with about twenty-three cadet branches, of
which the most conspicuous were those of Radir,
Aberaman, Castell-y-Mynach, St-y-Nill, Maes Mawr,
and Miros. These came from Aidan. From Gweristan
ap Gwaethfoed came Thomas of Blaenbradach, a house
unusually bare of cadet branches ; and from Cydrich ap
Gwaethvoed the immensely numerous family of Lewis
of Van, of whom may be mentioned Williams otherwise
Cromwell, Prichard of Llancayach, and the Lewises of
Cilvach-Vargoed, Penmark, Lystalybont, Glyn Taff,
Llanishen, Newhouse, and Greenmeadow or Pant-
wynlas, besides a flourishing branch in the United
States represented by Mr. W. F. Lewis of Phila
delphia. The elder branch, but in the female line
only, is represented by Lord Windsor, the owner of
Van. Of the strangers from England there remains
extant in unbroken male descent, one only, Basset of
Bonvileston, whose ancestor came in about the time
of Richard I. Of the original Welsh families in male
descent there remain two only, Lewis of Pantwynlas,
and Thomas of Blaenbradach.
It is to be regretted that these Welsh genealogies
have not received a critical examination. It is true
that they are without dates, and present but few of the
points by which an English pedigree can be checked
and proved ; but allowance must be made for the
habits of the people, who had little idea of the accu
racy derived from records. Here and there, where a
name occurs in the county records, as in the Fine and
Docket book of the great Sessions, or where a will has
been preserved in the Llandaff registry, they can be
proved to be correct. For the rest it may be said that
they seem probable enough ; the number of descents
given through the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
centuries is not, on the face of it, fabulous ; and in the
various manuscripts there is neither enough coincidence

ITS CONQUEST AND ITS CONQUERORS. 41
to indicate collusion, nor sufficient difference to destroy
all belief. Unfortunately, neither Sir T. Phillipps nor
Sir S. Meyrick, though they printed collections of
genealogies, knew or cared enough about the matter
to edit them ; that is, to collate and compare the
several versions, and to seek and import such collateral
evidence as might be found.
There is no other part of the kingdom in which so
marked a line still remains drawn between the residents
of pure British descent and the settlers from England,
even after centuries of residence, much intermarriage,
and no difference of religion. What is at this time
in progress, the opening up of the coal field, and the
construction of docks and railways, is doing much to
break up the peculiarities of the county. The limits of
manors are no . longer preserved. Manor courts are
rarely held ; copyholds are becoming enfranchised ; chief
rents abolished by mutual consent and composition.
On the other hand, though the "Jura regalia" and
Marcher prerogatives were withheld from the an
cestors of the present owner of Cardiff Castle, his
rights of common and to minerals have been preserved,
and constitute a very valuable property.

42

THE CHIEF LORDS.
EARLS ROBERT AND WILLIAM OF GLOUCESTER.

Robert Fitz-Hamon, of whom and his conquest some
thing has already been said, married Sybil, a daughter
of Roger de Montgomery, and sister to Robert de
Belesme, and by her had four daughters. At the
instance of his wife he endowed the old Mercian
foundation of Tewkesbury, founded in 715, and of
which Brichtric had been the patron ; and this so
liberally that he was ever regarded as the real founder.
He found it subject to Cranbourn in Dorset, but re
versed their relative position by the removal of the
Cranbourn Priory to the new establishment, of which
it was continued as a ceU only. The new Tewkesbury
was founded in 1102, and was confirmed by William
Rufus in a charter of which Fitz-Hamon was one of
the witnesses, as he was also of that king's charters
to St. Peter's, Bath, and to the church of Lincoln, both
preserved among the public records. Robert's charter
was again confirmed by Henry I, Robert and his
brother Hamon being witnesses ; and the same king
granted a second charter after Robert's death, in which
he inserted a donation for the weal of his friend's soul.
This is the charter in which is mentioned the parish
church of St. Mary at Cardiff, and the chapel of the
castle there. Sybil occurs in the foundation charter of
Neath Abbey, on the Calends of October 1159, and, with
her husband, in his charter to Abingdon. In 1101
Fitz-Hamon witnessed the charter known as the " In-
stitutiones Henrici regis" ; at least his name occurs in
the Worcestershire version. In what is supposed to
be the only extant charter by Fitz-Hamon relating to

THE CHIEF LORDS. 43
Cardiff, he gives to the monks of Tewkesbury an arm of
the Taff at Cardiff for a fishery, and the donation is wit
nessed by his wife. As early as 1064 his name appears in
Normandy, in the Bayeux Charters, and again in 1074.
Robert built the tower and much of the existing
church of Tewkesbury, dedicating it to St. Mary, by
the hands of the Bishop of Worcester, 23 October
1123. Gerald d'Avranches was the first abbot. Among
the endowments were St. Mary's church, the castle
chapel, and lands and tithes in Cardiff; a fishery,
meadow, and village on the Taff; and the tithes held
by Fitz-Hamon's barons in Wales. To St. Peter's at
Gloucester he gave the church of St. Cadoc in Llan
carvan, with Treyguff ; gifts confirmed by Stephen in
1158. He gave also fifteen hides of land in Penhon
or Penon. Among Fitz-Hamon's wide possessions
occurs the manor of Kyme, near Boston, now con
spicuous for its ancient brick tower, which manor
was held by Ralph de Kyme, and afterwards under the
Earls of Gloucester by Philip, and, 11th of John, by
Simon de Kyme. — (Abb. Flac, 65.)
Fitz-Hamon was faithful to Henry as he had been to
Rufus. His last public appearance was at the battle
of Tinchbrai, 28 September 1106, where a spear wound
in his temple reduced him to imbecility, in which con
dition he died in the following year, March 1107. Mal
mesbury says, " Hebetatusque ingenio non pauco tem
pore quasi captus mente supervixit." He had been
taken prisoner in 1105, and Henry, to release him, had
burned the town of Bayeux and its principal church.
Heavy offences, " Sed utrique, ut speramus, purgabile
fuit." His body was laid in the chapter house at
Tewkesbury, whence it was translated to the presby
tery of the church by Abbot Robert in 1240-1, and
over it, in 1397, a chapel or oratory was constructed
by Parker, the eighteenth abbot. His descendants,
Lords of Glamorgan, were always recognised as patrons
of the abbey, and exercised the usual rights on the
election of each new abbot. It was also the burial
place of the de Clares and le Despensers.

44 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
The inheritance was not at that time thought to be
so large as to be dangerous to the peace of the kingdom,
and to require to be divided. Henry, moreover, had his
own views concerning it. Of the daughters, Cicely and
Hawise became Abbesses of Shaftesbury and Wilton.
Amice is said to have married the Earl of Bretagne,
but seems to have died early and childless. Mabel,
called Sybil by William of Jumieges, was regarded as
the sole heiress and treated accordingly. She was the
great match of her day, inheriting the Honour of Glou
cester and the Lordship of Glamorgan, her father's
other lands, and those of her uncle, Hamo Dapifer,1 in
England and Normandy. The latter possessions in
cluded Thorigny, on the borders of Bayeux and Cout-
ances, two miles from the boundary stream of La Vire.
Here, at a later period, her husband built a large and
strong castle.
It has been stated that Henry revived his mother's
claim to Brichtric's ancient Honour, and it has been
supposed, but on weak authority, that most of the
lands were male fiefs, and as such would revert to the
Crown. Probably, however, Henry was content with
the wardship of the lands and the "maritagium" of the
heiress, and allowed them to vest in her. Certain it is
that Mabel exercised rights of ownership, both during
her married life and her widowhood.
The husband selected for Mabel was the eldest of
Henry's natural sons, by name Robert, and distin
guished, probably from his birth-place, as Robert of
Caen. The general belief has long been that his
mother was Nest, a daughter of Rhys of Twdwr, who
certainly lived with the king for some time, and who
had from her father the Lordship of Caerau or Carew
1 This statement, which there seems no reason to doubt, assumes
that Hamo died, at the latest, soon after his niece's marriage, but a
" Hamo dapifer" witnessed a precept by Henry I concerning Savigny
Abbey in 1112, and a charter by Hugh Wade in 1168, and other
documents in Normandy. He is called " Dapifer " or " Pincerna",
indifferently. Who was he 1

THE CHIEF LORDS. 45
in Pembrokeshire, and by her husband, Gerald de
Windsor, was ancestress of that family, who derived
their surname from their office of Castellan of Windsor
Castle. Lappenberg, who accepts Nest as Robert's
mother, thus accounts for the number of Welsh who
followed him to the battle of Lincoln, and Palgrave
rests upon it a circumstantial narrative, but there is no
evidence for the fact, which moreover was not accepted
by Dugdale.
The dates of Robert's birth and marriage are unre
corded, and can only be inferred. He was certainly
born before his father's accession in 1100, and he seems
to have been the eldest of Henry's many natural chil
dren. Henry himself was born in 1068. Robert's
daughter was married to the Earl of Chester shortly
before the battle of Lincoln in 1141, but as women
were then married early, this proves little. In 1140,
according to the Gesta Stephani, after the capture of
the Devizes, Robert's son was sent to share the custody
of the castle. About 1142, Philip, another son, is spoken
of as taking an active part on his father's side, and he
was married to a niece or granddaughter of Roger de
Berkeley. Supposing Philip born about 1120, and not
the eldest son, it seems possible that Robert may have
married as early as 1116-17, or even a few years earlier.1
Such is the conclusion of Mr. Floyd, who has worked
out the point with his usual sagacity. This would give
the administration of the estates to the Crown for about
ten years. If the marriage took place in 1117, the lady,
Fitz-Hamon's eldest daughter, could not have been less
than fourteen, and was probably nearer twenty. Henry
was no doubt well aware of the great abilities of his son,
and thought him a safe man to wield so great and
peculiar a power.
The wooing was conducted by the King in person,
and, if faithfully related by Robert of Gloucester, gives
a high notion of the lady's good sense : —
1 In 1148 he witnessed a Charter by Henry I to Savigny, as
" Robertus filius regis." — Gall. Christ., xi, 112.

46 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
" The kynge of soghte hyre sayth ynon, so that atten end
Mabyle hym answerde . . ."
She told him his wooing was more for what she had
than for herself, and that with such an heritage she
ought not to marry a lover unless he had two names,
that is, a Christian name and a surname, and that as
Fitz-Hamon's daughter she could ask no less.
" So vayr erytage, as ych abbe, yt were me gret ssame,
Vor to abbe an loverd, bote he adde an tuo name."
Henry admits this, and says his son shall be called
" Robert le Fitz le Roy," a surname which, however,
he does not seem ever to have borne. Then, with an
eye to the future, Mabel asks what their son is to be
called. " Robert Erie of Gloucestre hys name ssal be, and ys,
Vor he ssal be Erie of Gloucestre, and hys eyrs ywys."
She answers — " well lyketh me thys
In this forme ycholle, that all my thyng be hys.
This was erleue hondred yer, and in the yer eyght.
And of the kynges crounement in the (ninthe) yere
That the vorst Erie of Gloucestre thus was ymad there
Robert, that spoused the ryght eyr, King Henry's sone,
That vor hys gode dede worth, ych wene evere in mone."
Malmesbury says of the Countess — " She was a noble
and excellent woman, a lady devoted to her husband,
and blest with a numerous and beautiful progeny."
The actual conferring of the title seems to have
followed the marriage, and Robert certainly bore it
1119, 20th Henry I. In the chronicles of that period
the northern title of Earl is often rendered by the
Latin " Consul", and Earl Robert is often called Consul
of Gloucester, or " Robert Consul".
During the sixteen or more years that passed between
this creation and Henry's death, Robert's chief attention
seems to have been given to his Welsh lordship, and
whatever Fitz-Hamon may have achieved in subduing

THE CHIEF LORDS. 47
the natives, the real work of organizing and administer
ing the conquest, and providing defences for the con
quered territory, seems to have been in a great measure
the work of Earl Robert. Fitz-Hamon must necessarily
have provoked much personal enmity, and his close at
tendance upon Rufus, and his large estates in Normandy,
probably occupied most of his time during the seven
teen years in which he survived his conquest ; nor is
there any tradition or material trace of any, even mili
tary, work in Glamorgan which can be ascribed to him.
Earl Robert, on the other hand, was not associated
with any of the acts of violence connected with the
conquest, and his royal connection, vast power, and
the great moderation of his character, were all calcu
lated to lead the Welsh to submit to his rule. He
allowed the men in the hills to retain unmolested their
" Moes-y-Devod", or local customs, to which they were
attached. The sons of Jestyn were confirmed in their
possessions, as was Cynfrig, whose two descendants,
Ievan David ap Llewelyn Vachan, and Morgan
Llewelyn ap Ievan Mady, were the patriarchs of
the numerous families who dwelt in Miscin. The
Welsh Lord of Senghenydd was allowed to retain his
patrimony, and with it a power, which in the next
generation became troublesome. On the whole, the
Welsh of Morganwg seem to have accepted the inevit
able, and to have respected the lord's demesne lands
and those of his dependents ; and that they were, on
the whole, peaceable subjects, and that there was a
disposition to give them fair play, may be perhaps
inferred from the constitution of the local inquests in
the succeeding century, when, even in the districts
bordering on the hills, the jurors were almost all
Welshmen. The conquest was, however, far too re
cent, and the Welsh spirit far too jealous of control, to
allow the lord's authority to rest alone upon an equit
able system of government. Earl Robert, who is known
to have built Bristol Castle, is reported also to have
built that of Cardiff, and the material evidence of the

48 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
polygonal keep and of the outer wall is in harmony
with this tradition. The castle was certainly a place
of great strength, when, in 1126, Duke Robert was
removed from the Devizes and placed in charge of the
Earl, who lodged him first at Bristol, and very soon
afterwards at Cardiff, where he died in 1134, having,
it is said, lost his eyesight, —
" In Cardiff he a captive lay,
Whose windows were but niggard of their light."
That he was imprisoned in the castle may be assumed,
but the keep is the only extant partof itwhich could then
have been standing. The tower which goes by his name,
and in which he is said to have died, is certainly later.
Earl Robert seems also to have built a castle at Llan-
trissant, and the accounts of the Lordship in 1184
show that the castles of Newport, Kenfig, and Neath
were at that time regularly established fortresses.
Penllyne keep, with its herring-bone masonry, is pro
bably a work of Earl Robert's time, although the
Norrises do not appear to have held the fief until
Robert Norris received it from William, the Earl's
successor, whose vicecomes he was. The older remains '
of the castles of Sully, Fonmon, Castleton, Dunraven,
and Ogmore, the seats of the families of Sully, St.
John, Nerberd, Butler, and De Londres, point to the
same period, as do the walls and gate of the castle
of Newcastle, and the oldest part of the Turberville
castle of Coyty.
Earl Robert's rule also produced works of a more
pacific character. In 1147 he founded the Abbey of
Margam and endowed it with lands between Kenfig
and the Avan. To de Granville's foundation of Neath
Abbey, to which he succeeded as patron, he gave
Ponte and Blackscarr. These two foundations, though
occasionally attacked by the Welsh, were, on the
whole, popular with them, and received from the
native lords very large additions to their possessions.
Also, in 1126, he healed a long open sore between

THE CHIEF LORDS. 49
the lords of Glamorgan and their bishops. Besides
other concessions, the Earl gave a fishery on the Ely,
one hundred acres of cultivable land in the marsh
between Taff and Ely, the right to take timber from
certain forests for the repairs of the church, and the
chapel of Stuntaff or Whitchurch, the parishioners of
which he allowed to attend Llandaff at Christmas,
Easter, and Pentecost, and to be buried in Llandaff,
with other concessions. The Bishop, on his part,
agreed to set aside divers complaints he had to make,
and so to adjust his sluice that the passage of the
river should not be impeded, save in times of flood,
from above or below. The jurisdiction of the Bishop's
manor court was settled, and it was agreed that
ordeals by fire, judicia ferri, should be tried at Llan
daff, and by water, fossa judicialis aqua, on the
Bishop's land near Cardiff Castle. Judicial duels be
tween mixed parties were to be fought out in the
castle, but those between the Bishop's people only
were to be fought at Llandaff. The concord was
drawn up before the King with great formality, and
among the witnesses are found, besides many Bishops
and great nobles, Archdeacon Uchtred, Isaac the
Bishop's chaplain, Richard Vicecomes de Kardi, Pagan
de Turberville, Rodbert Fitz-Roger, Richard de St.
Quintin, Maurice de Londres, Odo Sor, and Gauff : de
Maisi. Earl Robert's attention to his Welsh lordship did
not lead him to neglect the interests of his father.
He served with Henry at the battle of Brennevile
in 1119, and was at the taking of By ton Castle
in 1122, and in 1127 was among those who swore
in Henry's presence an oath of allegiance to his
daughter, a pledge which he amply redeemed, though
supposed by some writers to have had an eye himself
to the succession.
Neath Abbey was founded about 1129 by Richard
de Granville, Fitz-Hamon's chief baron, and probably
his near relative. The foundation charter is not dated,

50 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
but it runs in the names of Richard de Granville and
Constantia his wife, and provides for the weal of Robert,
Earl of Gloucester, Mabel his wife, and William their
son. Amongst the witnesses were Richard de St.
Quintin, Robert de Umfraville, Pagan de Turberville,
William Pincerna, and Robert de Granville, all Gla
morgan Barons ; and the Earl undertook to guard and
defend the gifts.
Flenry died Dec. 1st, 1135, and, it is stated by
Orderic, placed, on his death bed, in the hands of
Robert £60,000 for the payment of his household and
immediate followers. His death was followed, April 15,
1136, by a rising in South Wales, in which Richard
Fitz-Gilbert, son of the conqueror of Cardigan, was
slain. The Welsh inburst was severe. Whether they
actually recovered Gower from Henry de Bellomont is
uncertain, but they destroyed many castles, churches,
and houses, and slaughtered both rich and poor. This
is the rising that seems to have caused de Granville to
retire from Neath to his Devon lordship, leaving his
fief in the hands of his chief lord. Giraldus says,
after crossing the Nedd " we proceeded towards the
River Lochor, through the plain in which Howel ap
Meredith of Brecknock, after the death of Henry I,
gained a signal victory over the English," and Florence
of Worcester mentions a severe battle fought in Gower
Jan. 1, 1136, between the Normans and the Welsh,
after which the main inroad occurred and Richard
Fitz-Gilbert fell. The Welsh occupation of Gower
must have rendered De Granville's position on the
Nedd one of great danger, and it was probably under
this pressure that he retired.
Earl Robert returned to England with Henry's
corpse, and probably at that time regarded Matilda's
cause as hopeless, for he made terms wTith Stephen,
and gave in his allegiance, though upon conditions
which gave to his adhesion a great air of equality.
In 1136 his name, as Robert, Earl of Gloucester,
appears as a witness to Stephen's Charter de liberta-

THE CHIEF LORDS. 51
tibus, etc. In 1138 he received from Stephen a confir
mation of Fitz-Hamon's gifts to St. Peter's, Gloucester,
and those of St. Michael's, Ogmore, and St. Bride's,
which a letter of Henry, Bishop of Winchester, Papal
Legate in 1139-1148, mentions as proceeding from
Maurice de Londres. The Legate's letter relates to
a chapel built in Llancarvan parish contrary to the
wish of the Abbot of St. Peter's, and in which the
Bishop is directed not to allow service to be performed.
This letter is enforced by one of a similar character
from Archbishop Theobald. According to the Glou
cester cartulary, the donations of Maurice, son of
William de Londres, were made in 1141, but if the
date of Stephen's charter be correct, this must have
been a confirmation only. The donations were St.
Michael of Ewenny, St. Bride's with the chapel of
Ogmore of Lanfey, and the churches of St. Michael's
of Colveston (Colwinston), of Oystermouth in Gower,
and of Penbrae.
In 1138 Earl Robert built Bristol Castle, a very
strong fortress, at the junction of the Frome with the
Avon, in a very low marshy district. This castle has
long been destroyed, save a crypt. It is said to have
had a rectangular keep, which, in such a position, is
probable, and of which the well has been recently dis
covered. The keep was faced with Caen stone. In
the following year, late in the summer, the Earl
brought over his sister to England, landing at Ports
mouth, whence he lodged her at Arundel, the polygonal
keep and gatehouse of which had recently been con
structed by William d'Albini, who had married Adeliza,
the second wife and widow of Henry I. On hearing of
the Empress's arrival, Stephen at once broke up the
siege of Marlborough and appeared before Arundel.
By some accounts, his courtesy was such that he
allowed her to retire with her brother to Walling-
ford, to Brian Fitz-Count, whence she went to Milo,
the Constable of England, at Gloucester, and thence,
as a very strong retreat, to Bristol. Early in October
Earl Robert's preparations were completed, and in
E 2

52 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
December, while Stephen was attacking Wallingford
by means of a great wooden tower or malvoisin,1 he
took Worcester, and, in the following April, Notting
ham. Stephen in the meantime had attacked and
failed before Bristol, and had ravaged a part of the
Honour of Gloucester, in Somerset. In 1141 Robert
lodged some of his English hostages with the Count of
Anjou, Matilda's husband; and in the same year he
fought the battle of Lincoln, having led into the field
a large body of Welshmen, this being probably the
first time that the Norman Lord of Glamorgan had
been so supported. Stephen, there taken captive, was
sent to Bristol Castle, and soon afterwards, at Oxford,
Matilda created Milo of Gloucester Earl of Hereford,
Earl Robert attesting the creation. In this year
Maurice de Londres granted St. Michael's Church at
Ewenny to Gloucester, with St. Bride's Lanfey, Oyster-
mouth, and the chapels of Ogmore and St. Michael of
Colveston. These successes led to conduct injurious to the
character and cause of the Empress, who disgusted
her supporters, and in consequence had to flee to
Winchester, where she held the royal castle at one
end of the city, and laid siege to the bishop in his
castle of Wolvesey at the other. Here, before long,
she was blockaded by Stephen's friends, and between
them and the bishop was so pressed, that she escaped,
it is said, in a coffin, and reached Gloucester, while
Earl Robert, covering her flight, was taken and com
mitted to the castle at Rochester, whence he was
speedily exchanged for Stephen. The war was con
tinued; the Earl frustrated Stephen's attempts upon
Wallingford, then one of the strongest places in the
south of England, as indeed its extant earthworks
still testify, and he also hovered over Stephen's march
to Winchester, and much impeded his movements.
The Earl next revisited the continent and brought
1 Sometimes, however, as at the siege of Bamborough, the malvoi
sin seems to have been an earthwork.

THE CHIEF LORDS. 53
over Geoffrey Plantagenet, landing at Wareham, where
with some difficulty and delay he took the castle. In
1143, July 1, he attacked Stephen at Wilton and
drove him out, and Count Geoffrey returned to Anjou,
taking with him Henry, the future king.
In 1145, died Richard the first Abbot of Neath. In
1146, Bishop Uchtred of Llandaff relates in a charter
how in this year, by the mediation and concession of
Earl Robert, peace was established between the Bishop
and the Abbot and Monks of Tewkesbury, the Bishop
giving consent to their holding all the tithes and
benefices given, or to be given, lawfully to them in
his diocese, and they yielding to the Bishop their tithe
of the cultivated demesne in the moor between Taff
and Ely, and two parts of the tithe of Merthyr-Mawr
and that attached to St. John's Chapel. Further,
saving to Llandaff its own claim, they consent to allow
to the Bishops of Llandaff a right of burial at Tewkes
bury, of which privilege however they did not avail
themselves. Twenty years before this the Earl had
settled his own differences with Urban, the Bishop's
predecessor, in an amicable manner, and some time
afterwards Bishop Uchtred's concord was in like
manner confirmed by Bishop Nicholas, who succeeded
him. Also in 1146 the Abbot and Convent of Gloucester
farmed out for five years, for a fine of £80 in silver,
Penon, with the Church of Llancarvan, to Robert
Harding, with power to determine the agreement on
a rateable repayment. ' This agreement was witnessed
by the Earl with the whole comitatus of Cardiff.
Afterwards, during the episcopate of Bishop Nicholas,
1153-1183, the Abbot let Treygoff and the Church
of Llancarvan, saving the tithe, to Archdeacon Urban,
at 60s. per annum. Soon afterwards, however, the
archdeacon, probably feeling a scruple of conscience
about the matter, with the Bishop's consent renounced
his lease.
Earl Robert, after having borne the brunt of the

54 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
civil war, was denied the satisfaction of witnessing the
close of it, and his nephew's accession. He died at
Bristol in October 1147, seven years before the pacifi
cation of Wallingford and the death of Stephen, and
was buried in the Priory of St. James, his own founda
tion. Earl Robert also founded Margam in 1147, the
last year of his life. In 1148 Bishop Uchtred died,
and was succeeded at Llandaff by Nicholas, son of
Bishop Gwrgan. Uchtred seems to have been married ;
at least his daughter Angharad was the wife of Jor-
worth ap Owain of Caerleon.
Earl Robert was one of the greatest soldiers and
most prudent, or perhaps astute, statesmen of his day.
Whatever, under other circumstances, he may possibly
have intended, he was a loyal promoter of his sister's
interests, and did much to correct or rather to check
her weak but imperious character. Like his father
Beauclerc, he was a great patron of literature and
himself a man of letters. He was the friend of Caradoc
of Llancarvan, and probably the cause of the Norman
bias of that historian. To him Geoffrey of Monmouth
dedicated his version of the Bi'iit, and William of
Malmesbury his history, attributing to him the mag
nanimity of his grandsire the Conqueror, the munifi
cence of his uncle William Rufus, and the circumspec
tion of his father. It was unfortunate for the good
government of Glamorgan that English affairs occupied
so much of the latter part of his life.
Besides his Welsh endowments, Earl Ptobert was
a liberal benefactor to the church upon his English
estates. He founded the Priory of St. James at
Bristol, in the choir of which he was buried, and
where his effigy carved in wood, though probably not
quite of contemporary date, is still preserved. To
St. Peter's at Gloucester he gave, 1130-39, Treygoff,
and in a later charter, 1139-47, he confirmed Treygoff
with Penon and the church of Llancarvan, and to
Ewenny the gifts of Maurice de Londres, all for the
weal of his soul and that of Mabel his countess, who

THE CHIEF LORDS. 55
witnessed the charter. In it Robert styles himself
" Robertus regis films Gloucestriae Consul". In another
longer charter, probably of the same date, he confirms
the gifts of Maurice de Londres and Gilbert de Turber
ville to Ewenny, and adds twenty-one acres of arable
land outside the gates of Kenfig. He also confirms
his quittance of toll to Ewenny. All this he does
" amore beati Michaelis archiangeli". Earl Robert
is said to have built a castle at Faringdon in Berk
shire, but this was probably a slight and temporary
work, it may be of timber.
Countess Mabel survived her husband ten years,
during which time she seems to have acted with
authority in Glamorgan. Her earliest charter as a
widow, given probably in 1147, is a confirmation to
St. Peter's of Gloucester, and commences " M : Comi-
tissa Gloucestriae, et Willelmus comes, filius ejus,
Willelmo filio Stephani constabulario suo, etc." Fitz-
Stephen was constable of Cardiff Castle. The lands
confirmed are Treygoff, Llancarvan, and Penon. Mabel
also gave to St. Augustin's, Bristol, sixty acres of land
in the marsh of Rhymny ; and in Earl William's charter
to Neath, he adds the assent and consent of Mabel his
mother. She died in 1157.
Her children were: — 1, William; 2, Roger, Bishop
of Worcester in 1164; he was Henry's messenger to
Rome after Becket's murder in 1167, and died at Tours
Aug. 9, 1179; 3, Hamo, who witnessed his brother's
foundation of Ardennes in 1139 as "Hamo filius comitis
Gloucestriae", and who died at the siege of Thoulouse
in 1159 ; 4, Philip, who married a daughter of Roger
Lord Berkeley, and latterly took part with Stephen ;
5, A son mentioned by William of Jumieges, and who
probably was the "Richard, son of Robert, Earl of
Gloucester", who, says Orderic, received in 1135 the
Bishopric of Bayeux. As bishop, in 1 138, he witnessed
a deed of commutation, between Roger, Abbot of
Fecamp, and Earl Robert, concerning the priory of
Gilves (?), and in the same year founded Ardennes, an

56 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
abbey near Caen, in the charter for which he is styled
" Richard, Bishop of Bayeux, son of Robert, Earl of
Gloucester, son of the King of England". Of an
additional donation it is stated, " Dedit autem et
Robertus regis filius Gloucestriae consul". Bishop
Richard died April 3, 1142.— (Gall. Cli., xi, 78, Inst.)
6, Maud, who married Ralph Gernons, Earl of Chester.
William, the second Earl of Gloucester, succeeded
his father in 1147, and his mother in 1157, and held
the lordship from the former period thirty-six years.
He is first mentioned in the foundation charter of
Neath in 1129, and next as governor of Wareham
Castle, during his father's absence in Normandy, in
1142, where he was attacked by Stephen and the
castle taken. He commenced his rule, probably with
an understanding with his mother, by a charter dated
January 1148, addressed in regal style to his dapifer,
barons, vicecomes, and to his lieges generally, French,
English, or Welsh. It is specially addressed to Hamo
de Valoygnes, one of a family then considerable in the
county, and it alludes to the foundation of the churches
of St. Mary and St. Thomas at Cardiff. By another
charter he confirmed certain gifts to Tewkesbury.
In 1153 his name, as "William Earl of Gloucester", is
attached to the convention between Stephen and Maud.
Also in 1153 died William, the first Abbot of Margam,
who was succeeded by Abbot Andrew, who died De
cember 31, 1155. In 1154, October 25, Stephen died,
and Henry II succeeded to the throne. In 1156,
Geoffrey, Bishop of Llandaff, died whilst engaged at
mass. A great event in Earl William's reign, according to
the Welsh Chronicles, was his war with Ivor ap Meyric
or Ivor bach, Lord of Senghenydd, of which the Earl
threatened to deprive him, and whose stronghold seems
to have been on the high ground above the later fort
ress of Castell coch, overlooking the plain of Cardiff,
and placed most conveniently for a dash at that castle.
No doubt the hopes of the Welsh were at that time

THE CHIEF LORDS. 57
much excited by the ill success of Henry's expedition
in North Wales in 1157, but Ivor's enterprise, as
recorded by Giraldus, who however places it in 1153,
was not the less a marvel of audacity. Cardiff Castle,
as may yet in part be seen, was defended by a wall
40 feet high and 1 1 feet thick, and was at that time
garrisoned by 120 men at arms and a large body of
archers and a strong watch. In the contiguous town
was also a stipendiary force. Ivor, however, with his
Welshmen scaled the wall at night, surprised the
garrison, carried off the Earl, his countess, and their
son to the hills, and dictated his own terms. The
Welsh pedigrees, by way of rounding off the story,
make him marry the Earl's daughter, but the more
reliable English records give no support to this part
of it. Ivor's descendants long continued to be the
mesne Lords of Senghenydd, and still, both in the
male and female line, retain considerable property
within that lordship, both above the Caiach about
Merthyr and Morlais, and below the Caiach about
Van, Eglwysilan and Llanishen ; but this raid pro
bably gave occasion, a century later, to the construc
tion of the tower of Whitchurch and the castellets of
Castell coch and Morlais. The grand border fortress
of Caerphilly was due to a more national attack, but
all were built by the de Clare's upon the private
domain of Ivor's descendants.
5th Henry II, 1158-9, Thomas, nephew to the Earl
of Gloucester, owed fifty marcs to the Exchequer for
his land at Chichester, Devon ; and in the sixth year
this is entered de placitis of William Fitz John, who is
remitted the fifty marcs by the King. Who Thomas
was is not known; probably the same who in 1176, as
the nephew to the Earl of Gloucester, with Richard
his son, owed forty marcs to the Exchequer. In 1160,
during the King's prolonged stay in Normandy, Earl
William took part in an expedition against Rhys ap
Griffith, who retaliated in the year following by burn
ing the grange of Margam. In 1165-6, upon the aid

58 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
for marrying the King's daughter to Henry the Lion,
Duke of Saxony, the Earl was rated upon 36| fees in
Kent, and elsewhere on 274 fees, in all 309^ fees,
of which 261^ were in the Honour of Gloucester. This
was exclusive of his Welsh lordship, which seems re
cently to have been augmented by the acquisition of
Caerleon from Meredyth ap Howel. In 1166 Robert (?),
Earl William's brother, died. In 1 169 the Earl founded
Keynsham Abbey. The invasion of Ireland by Earl
Richard of Striguil, in 1169, was strongly supported in
Glamorgan ; and among the knights who won and settled
upon estates in that country are very many whose
names show them to have emigrated from the lord
ship, such are Barry, Cogan, Kenefek, Penrice, Scur-
lock, and about a hundred others.
In the autumn of 1171, and in March 1172, Henry
passed through Cardiff on his way to and from Ireland.
On the latter occasion occurred the incident related by
Giraldus, and which is thought to mark the commence
ment of the movement for keeping holy the Lord's
day, which became popular in the reign of King John.
Henry being at Cardiff on Low Sunday (April 23)
heard mass in St. Perian's Chapel, in Shoemaker
Street, and as he came forth and was about to mount
his horse, a man addressed him in English, saying —
" God keep thee, O king ; Christ and his Holy Mother,
John the Baptist, and Peter the Apostle greet thee,
and by me order thee to forbid all fairs and markets on
the Lord's day, and all not necessary labours, and take
thou heed that the sacred offices be devoutly adminis
tered ; so shalt thou prosper." "Ask the master", said
the King in Norman French, turning to Sir Philip
Marcross, "whether he directed this"; on which the
man repeated his admonition, saying, " Unless thou
dost obey me, and at once amend thy life, before a
year shall pass away, harder things will happen to thee,
which, so long as thou livest, thou shall not shake off" ;
and having so spoken he disappeared, while the King,
having mounted, rode away over Bhymny bridge into

THE CHIEF LORDS. 59
England. It was during this Irish journey that Flenry
summoned Yorworth of Caerleon and his sons to meet
him at Newport on Usk, addressing to them a safe
conduct. While on the road, one of the Earl of Glou
cester's men met them, and killed Owen the son of
Yorworth, on which Yorworth, distrustful, returned,
and laid waste the country towards Gloucester. Henry
finally took possession of Caerleon ; in revenge for
which, in July 1174, when Henry was beyond the sea,
Yorworth and Morgan ap Sissylt ap Dynval destroyed
Caerleon town and castle, and wasted the neighbour
hood, then in English occupation. In 1171-2 the
Bishop of Llandaff, the see being much impoverished
by these repeated harryings, received 66s. 8d., the
King's gift, and a corrody of 13s. from Hyde Abbey.
In 1173 the Pipe Roll enters from Gilbert de Um-
fraville, £44 10s. 2d., pro rehabenda terra sua, of
which the Earl of Gloucester had deforced him. There
was in the treasury £9 6s. 8d., and he owed £35 3s. 6d.,
and in the next year's account he had paid 101s. 8d.
This looks as though the Earl's lands were in the King's
hands; which is strange, unless indeed the King had
taken them in hand on account of the Earl's adherence
to the party of the young Henry, to which for a time
he either gave his aid, or at least did not support the
King, affecting neutrality. That the King was dis
satisfied with him is also shown by his having actually
imprisoned him with the Earl of Lincoln, and by his
including him among those whom he dispossessed of
their castles, when he attached that of Bristol to
the Crown. This was in 1175-6, in which year Henry
received at Gloucester the Welsh magnate Rhys ap
Griffith, and with him Morgan ap Oaradoc ap Jestyn
of Avan, whose mother Gwladys was Prince Rhys's
sister, and Griffith ap Ivor bach ap Meyric of Senghe
nydd, together with another nephew of Rhys, also
a son of his sister ; with them came Yorworth ap
Owen of Caerleon. It should be observed that both
Morgan and Griffith were vassal barons of the Earl

60 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
of Gloucester, and had he been in a position to enforce
his rights they would not have been admitted to the
sovereign. In Lent 1177, at the assembly in London
in which Henry arbitrated between the Kings of Cas
tile and Navarre, Earl William appears as one of the
witnesses of the confirming document.
In 1181 Henry proclaimed an assize of arms, cer
tainly much needed, on the Welsh borders, but which
was an assumption by the Crown of the right to tax
rents and, in some degree, personal chattels. Every
holder of a knight's fee was to be provided with a
cuirass, a helmet, a shield, and a lance ; and so many
fees as he may hold, so many of each wras he to provide.
Every free layman, having chattels or a rental equal to
sixteen marcs, was to provide a hauberk, an iron head
piece, and a lance. No man is to sell, to pledge, or to
lend these arms ; no lord is to seize them. They are
to descend to the heir, and if he be an infant the
guardian is to use them until the owner be able to bear
arms. No man is to possess more arms than the above.
In 1182 the Welsh slew Ranulph Poer, the King's
sheriff for Gloucestershire. Nicholas, Bishop of Llan
daff, died 6 Sep. 1183.
Earl William died on the night of St. Clement's,
23 Nov. 1183, the anniversary of his birth, and probably
about the sixtieth of his age. Among his works was
the building of the town of Kenfig, and the foundation
of Keynsham Abbey at the request of his dying son.
To the monks of Neath he confirmed his father's gift
of Blackscarr, to which he added the right of wreck
upon their sea shore. To Margam he gave by charter,
before 1166, tested by his countess and addressed to
his sheriff and barons, " Siwardum palmiferum," with
his house and curtilage, by the hand of Robert his son.
By another charter he gave to the monks of St. Peter's,
Gloucester, freedom from toll in Bristol, Cardiff, and
Newport, for the soul's weal of himself, his countess,
and their son. To St. Augustine's, Bristol, he gave
the tithes of his mills at Newport, and a tenth of his

THE CHIEF LORDS. 61
forest rent for Candelan, with lands on the river
Rhymny near Cardiff; and to the church of St. Guth-
lac, Hereford, freedom from toll throughout his Welsh
possessions, and the same freedom to the monks of
Goldcliff, in Bristol, Cardiff, Newport, Caerleon, and
Chepstow. By another charter, preserved in the
Bradenstoke Cartulary, he gave to a certain "Stemor"
his burgage in Cardiff at I2d. per annum rent instead
of 2s. Another charter, tested by his countess, relates
to what Mr. Floyd supposes to be the parish church of
St. Mary at Cardiff, which he seems to have rebuilt and
dedicated to St. Mary and St. Thomas, then recently
martyred. There are also other charters by Earl
William, relating to donations in Gloucester and Dor
set.1 He was buried at Keynsham.
Earl William married Hawise, daughter of Robert
Bossu, Earl of Leicester. She died 24th April 1197,
having had to stand up for her vidual rights. 1st
Richard I she had £50 allowed her for her maritagium
for the half year, in the accounts of the Honour of
Gloucester ; and 7th Richard I, just before her death,
she accounted for 200 marcs, or £66 13s. id., in the
Pipe Roll of Devon and Somerset, as her payment on
her dower and maritagium.
Their children were — 1, Robert, mentioned in the
Pipe Roll 1155 as "Robertum filium Comitis Glouces
triae"; he was born and died at Cardiff, and was buried
at Keynsham ; 2, Mabel ; 3, Amice ; 4, Isabel. As
Robert died young and childless, the three sisters be
came coheirs.
It was Earl William who presented King Henry
with the spotted greyhound so celebrated for his
fidelity to Owen ap Caradoc ap Jestyn, having received
seven wounds in defence of his master, who was slain
by Cadwalader ap Caradoc, his brother, who also came
to an untimely end.
Upon the Earl's death the lordship fell into the cus-
1 He also granted certain lands to the House of Boley, near
Torigny. — Gall. Christ., xi, 456.

62 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
tody of the crown, and its accounts appear in the Pipe
Rolls of the 30th Henry II, 1183-4. These accounts
are very curious, and though too long to be given at
length, show the value of the Pipe Rolls, and what has
been lost by the destruction of the records of the local
Chancery. The several officers who account to the
King for the receipts and expenditure, half year by half
year, are Maurice de Berkeley, Hamo de Valoygnes, and
Hugh Bardolf. Under them are William de Cogan,
Walter Luvel, Reginald Fitz-Simon, and one or two
others who were in charge of the castles of Neath,
Kenfig, Newcastle, Rhymny and Newport. There are
also charges for military stores and fittings, warnisture
for these castles, and for their repairs, especially for
gates and palisades, probably barriers in advance of the
gates. There were also horsemen and footmen serving
for a term at livery at the lord's expense, whose leaders
were Wm le Sor, Waltr de Lageles, Walter Luvel, Payn
de Turberville, Reginald Fitz Simon and Hoel of Caer
leon, and allowances for the hire of shipping for stores
and provisions, and for the transport of de Valoygnes
and his knights. Tithes are paid to Tewkesbury ; com
pensation for horses lost or killed by the Welsh ; Ptoath
and Rhymny bridges are repaired ; and two millstones
put into Leckwith Mill. Kenfig town had been burned,
and had to be enclosed, "praecludenda" and the rents
remitted for a year. The Dean and the Archdeacon
came in for compensation for injuries done by the Welsh.
Philip de Marcross, the Under- Sheriff, has a handsome
present for the charge of the lordship ; as the Sheriff is
not mentioned it may be supposed that the two officers
stood, as to loss and gain, as they do now. There are
charges for the keeping of Welsh prisoners, and one
very grim-looking item for " chains for Welsh prisoners
and doing justice on them." The income is derived
from a variety of sources — rents, or farms of manors
and mills, pleas of courts and perquisites, wards, fairs,
and earnest money ; lands seized because their lords
did not discharge the service due, and chattels forfeited

THE CHIEF LORDS. 63
for disobedience of orders. Wardships formed a regular
portion of the Lord's revenue. One occurs in the per
son of the daughter of Guy de Trotington, whose land
is in the Lord's hands. A relief also is paid by Robert
de Cardiff on obtaining seizin of his land, and a fine
is levied upon Alan de St. George, probably on a similar
occasion. In 1184 Henry was at Worcester on South Wales'
affairs. Rhys ap Griffith had a safe conduct and came
to the King, and promised his sons and nephews as
hostages. They, however, refused to redeem the pro
mise. It is rather strange, after what had passed, that
Howel of Caerleon should be in the King's service
against his countrymen.
In 1 1 8 5 the Welsh, unrestrained by any giving of hos
tages, took advantage of the interregnum, and invaded
and laid waste Glamorgan. An eclipse, which presented
the sun of the colour of blood, no doubt was construed
in their favour. They burned Kenfig for the second
time — •" it had not been burned a year or more" — and
the town of Cardiff. Neath was attacked, but relieved
by the Normans, who beat off the swarm of Welshmen,
and burned their machines of war. It was then that, at
Llanridian in Gower, St. Iltyd's spring flowed with
milk, and that of so excellent a quality that butter rose
upon its surface. In this year William, Prior of St.
Augustine's, became Bishop of Llandaff, and in 1187
consecrated the altar of the Holy Trinity in the Abbey
of Margam.
On the 6th July 1189, King Henry died, the lord
ship being still in the hands of the Crown.

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE HONOUR AND
LORDSHIP, AND THE COMING IN OF
THE HOUSE OF CLARE.

The ages of Earl William's daughters at the time of
his death are not on record, but they certainly were
very young. Dugdale, following Walsingham, says
that the Earl, to prevent the division of the heritage,
adopted as his heir, at Windsor in 1176, the King's
second son, John ; but this must have been with the
understanding that he was to marry one of the coheirs.
Madox (Bar. Angl., p. 201) says that on the Earl's
death the Honour of Gloucester, in which he evidentlyin-
cludes the Welsh lordship, was escheated to the Crown;
and Hugh Bardolph, in accounting to Richard I for the
issues " de tribus partibus anni", says this was " ante-
quam rex daret eundem Honorem Johanni fratri suo"
(Pipe Roll, 1st Richard I). Nevertheless, the subse
quent descents of both Honour and Lordship show that
they were j*not held as male fiefs ; but, like all other
property, where the law had its course, descended to
the heiresses, subject to a purparty or division, and
subject, of course, during a minority, to the usual rights
of wardship. When, some years later, the male line of
the de Clares failed, but very few of their manors re
verted to the Crown ; the great bulk of the estate was
held by the King as in wardship, and so soon as it was
certain that there was no male heir of the body of the
last Earl, on the petition of the sisters, was divided.
It is, therefore, probable that the vesting of the estate
in John was by an arrangement with Earl William ; and
that this was so, is supported by the fact that after
John divorced the heiress he gave up the estate, though

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 65
with a very bad grace, and after considerable delay.
The title of Earl of Gloucester was certainly a personal
grant by Henry I to his son Robert on his marriage.
It could not have been a part of Mabel's heritage, for
Fitz-Hamon was not an earl. With the title Henry
evidently made the usual grant of the third penny of
the county. The learned authors of the Peerage Re
ports deny this, but in the Pipe Roll of 1st Richard I,
after the passage above cited, follows, " et de xxxii
libris de tercio denario comitatus de dimidio anno ;"
and in the Roll of 3rd John, Almaric d'Evreux had
xxli. of the third penny of the same county. The usual
appanage of an earl in those days was the third penny
of the pleas of his county.
The limitation under which the earldom descended
is obscure. It does not appear why John's marriage
should have made him Earl of Gloucester, as his wife
was not sole heiress of her father, although in Bristol
Castle she possessed what was probably then regarded
as the " caput Honoris Gloucestriae". Gloucester,
which she did not possess, might probably be the
"caput Comitatus," but it was never held by the earls.
On Earl William's death Henry stepped in, as
guardian of the infant co-heiresses and custos of the
lands. The latter he held about six years, when the
issues were returned as a branch of the royal revenue.
Thus, 33rd Henry II, 1186-7, Hugh Bardolph ac
counted for the scutages, " quia Honor est in manu
regis," and in the same year is an account of £43 17s. Id.
for works at Kenefit Castle, probably Kenfig, in Gla
morgan, though possibly a Herefordshire fortress.
On Henry's death the wardship passed with the
crown to Richard, and the accounts, besides the third
penny mentioned above, show "et comitissae Gloucestriae
£50 pro dote et maritagio suo de dimidio anno per
Ran' de GlanvilTprecepto regis." This was the Countess
Dowager. Other entries show that Bardolf accounted
for the Castle of Caermarthen and for works at Bristol
Castle, as well as for certain issues from the Abbot of

66 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
Keynsham. Among the tenants Henry de Umfranvill
owed £4 for his relief, and Roger de Maisi£45 for nine
knight's fees held of the Honour, but probably, in strict
ness, of the Lordship of Glamorgan. Fitz-Stephen seems
to have accounted for the issues of the County, Bar-
dolf for those of the Honour. Richard held the ward
ship two-thirds of a year, and then, in 1189, deter
mined it in favour of Isabel, the third sister, whom he
married to his brother John, to whom she had been
contracted in 1176. The accounts for 1189-90, 1st
Richard I, show for saddles, etc., for the daughter of
the Earl of Gloucester and her maidens, £17 2s. 7d.,
and for various furs for her and the daughter of the
Earl of Chester, as well as for the Queen and the sister
of the King of France, 73s. Ad. She had also three
roserells. John held the Honour by baronial homage
and service. He lost it for a time when disseized of
his English lands by the sentence of the royal court,
but regained it on his reconciliation with his brother.
It seems to have been in the Crown in the 9th
Richard I, 1197-8, when William de Warene was
custos of the Honour, and was collecting for Richard's
ransom. The names of some of the knights in his ac
counts, as de Cardiff, de Granville, and de Sanford,
belong both to the Honour and to the Lordship of
Glamorgan. On John's accession he became both chief and mesne
lord. Madox is careful to point out that while John's
own services thus became extinguished, the tenants
continued to pay theirs as holding " in capite ut de
Honore." Also, as an Honour was a Barony, it did
not merge in the Crown, as was the case with a
knight's fee or a demesne manor, but was held in
abeyance and distinct, and was described technically
as holden " in dominio". John's marriage was opposed
by Archbishop Baldwin as within the forbidden de
grees, both parties descending from Henry I. While
Earl of Moretaine it suited John to disregard this
objection, but when he succeeded as king, and had no
children, he revived it and obtained a divorce.

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 67
According to the Annals of Tewkesbury, John's mar
riage, though contracted for in 1176, with the proviso
that the Pope's license was to be obtained, did not
actually take place until Richard's accession in 1189.
It must have been just before the marriage, during the
episcopate of William de Saltmarsh, that Archbishop
Baldwin, accompanied by Giraldus Cambrensis, visited
Glamorgan, preached the crusade at Llandaff, was the
guest of Abbot Conan at Ewenny, and was guided
across the treacherous marshes and sands between the
Avan and the Nedd by Morgan ap Caradoc, Jestyn's
eldest grandson, and the Lord of Avan. Richard's
letter from Messina, written about the 25 th January
1191, is addressed to John, Earl of Gloucester, and
John so styles himself in forwarding the letter to the
Archbishop, although he seldom used the title after
wards. In 1199, 30th October, he confirmed to Wil
liam de Berkeley a donation made by Robert Earl of
Gloucester, and soon after his marriage he, as " Comes
de Moreton", or " Moritonie", granted charters of con
firmation to Neath and Margam. The Neath charter
has been printed ; that to Margam, dated Cardiff on
the Tuesday before St. Hilary 1193, is in excellent
preservation, and bears John's seal as Lord of Glamor
gan, with two passant lions on his shield. It is one of
a mass of similar documents in the possession of Mr.
Talbot of Margam, which, if examined, would no
doubt throw much light on the early history of that
abbey, and on the descent of property in the county in
the twelfth century. There is also another charter by
John, without date, but granted before his accession,
preserved in the Cottonian MSS. (Cleopatra, A vii,
73 b), printed in the New Monasticon (ii, 69). 7 Aug.
1197, " Elizabetha Comitissa Gloucestriae et Moreton"
confirmed a charter "a domino meo Johanne Moreton"
to John, Bishop of Worcester, concerning Malvern
forest (Nash Wore, ii, 137). It is dated from Bee.
The divorce seems to have occurred in May 1200,
and John's marriage to Isabel of Angouleme followed at
F 2

68 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
once, so that they were crowned at Christmas. That
John retained the Lordship and Honour in his hands
is evident from his grants after his accession. 22nd
October 1199, he confirmed a grant by Robert, Earl of
Gloucester, of Eldresfield, to William son of William
de Berkeley, and 18th April 1200, a grant of Bed-
minster manor by the same to the same. This indeed
he might have done as sovereign, but in his first year
William de Falaise and Master Swern account for the
issues of the Honour, and probably of the lordship,
which for this month are £223 12s. 3d. Also, 1201-2,
Guy de CanceUis accounted to the Crown for the
scutages of the Honour of Gloucester, levied fupon
327-g- fees, and the King retained also the castle and
barton of Bristol. The Pipe Roll for the following
year, 3rd John, 1202, has been printed. In it William
de Falaise accounts for the Plonour for the past year.
Among the tenants who belonged also to Glamorgan
are Henry de Umfranvill, who paid 12 marks on 5
fees ; Roger de Meisi, 24 marks on 4 fees ; John le Sor,
36 marks on 14 fees ; Roger Corbet, 8 marks on 1 fee ;
Herbert de St. Quintin, 3 marks for 10 fees ; and Milo
de Sumeri, 5 marks for 3^ fees. William de Montacute
and Ralph de Cirecest' were allowed £50 for the ex
penses of the Countess [of Gloucester] at Bristol, by a
letter from Geoffry Fitz-Peter. Keynsham Abbey paid
40c?. for scutage.
In the next roll, 4th John, the fees in the Honour of
Gloucester are 304^, of which 47^ are in Glamorgan.
The Earl of Evreux held 20 fees, and the Earl of Clare
15 fees. Also Henry de Umphravill accounts for 20
marks on 5 fees ; John le Sor, 60 marks on 14 fees ;
and H. de St. Quintin, 50 marks on 10 fees. Also,
13th April, 1204, John confirmed certain gifts in
Petersfield, Hants, by William Earl of Gloucester and
Hawise his wife; and 23rd June 1205, granted a
"masagium" or habitation, in Lincoln, to be held of
the Earl of Gloucester and his heirs. As king he also
confirmed the charters to Margam and Neath. To

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 69
Margam, his confirmations, four in number, are dated
15th May 1205 ; a second probably in the same year;
and the others 22nd July and 11th August 1207,
are printed in the Rotulus Chartarum, as are those to
Neath, 6th January, 5th August, and 11th August
1207. Also in the New Monasticon (vi, 366), is a
charter confirming to St. Augustin's, Bristol, the
grant of Earl William between Cardiff and the
Rhymny, and others by Countess Mabel, William's
mother. Certain allowances, apparently not very
liberal ones, were made to the lawful heiress, who re
tained her titular rank. At Tewkesbury, John built
the long bridge and granted the town tolls for its
repair. 6th November 1201, the justiciary was directed to
allow the Countess of Gloucester to hold her lands in
peace, " sicut antecessores" ; and 30th July 1205,
"Our beloved Countess" is to have "qualibet septi-
mana unam damam". 6th February 1206, she has
£12 for her expenses from the Exchequer; and 26th
May, the King allows the reasonable expenses of the
Earl (Countess) of Gloucester at Winchester. 20th
March 1207, a ton (tonellum) of wine, also charged to
the Exchequer, is allowed, and certain necessary ex
penses for her at Sherborne, to be certified by her ser
vant Hamo. The Pipe Roll of 8th John contains an
entry of 40 marks for disseizin for Amicia, formerly
Countess of Clare.
19th September 1207, Falkes, the King's bailiff in
Glamorgan, has an allowance for the repairs of the
castles there ; his patent as Custos is dated February
1207. 3rd December, the Castle of Sherborne in
Dorset is mentioned as belonging to the Countess, and
no doubt her residence.
27th December, Falkes is informed that Gilbert de
Turberville has appeased the King by the payment of
a horse for his fine on relief for his land. 23rd March
1208, Keynsham Abbey is vacant and Gilbert de Aties
is to provide the canons with food and clothing, and

70 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
Falkes is to give him seizin of their land in Glamorgan.
9th April, Falkes is directed to let William de Londres
have the Priory of Ewenny, which is of his fee. Falkes
was the notorious Falcasius de Breaute.
By an entry on the Patent Rolls of 5 March 1208,
John calls on the Barons and Knights of the Honour
of Glamorgan and of the Honour of Cardiff, to put in
repair his houses in the Ballium of Cardiff Castle as
they were wont to do, so that they may discharge
their Castle guards, as they value then fees. This
shows that the greater tenants occupied houses in the
Castle court, which were kept in repair by them,
though belonging to the lord.
10th John, 1208-9, a charter roll contains the ac
counts of Falkes for £100 for the Honour of Glouces
ter ; for works at Cardiff and Neath Castles, £22 10s.,
and 100 marks for the custody of Swansea Castle.
From Gilbert de Turberville 25 marks; from the monks
of Neath 50 marks and a palfrey. From the Abbot of
Margam £17 16s. 6d., and from the same abbot, among
the " oblata", 100 marks for having in free alms the
Manors of Lalvereth and Haved Halown with appur
tenances, and similarly the Manor of Pettun and ap
purtenances, as in the King's charter. Agnes, widow
of Hamelin de Torinton, a family related to the Umfra-
villes and Sullys, pays 20 marks. Philip de Nerberd
accounts for £20 for having his land. Galfrid Whyt-
ney (?) accounts for 200 marks and a palfrey for cus
tody of the lands and heir of Henry de Umphraville.
10th John, William son of Caswallon was allowed
1 mark for the loss of his horse. In 1210 John was in
Glamorgan; 28th May and 28th August, at Margam,
then spelt Margan or Morgan ; 21st May, at Neath ;
and 29th May, at Swansea. At that time Gower
seems to have been in his hands, and, 11th November
1208, he freed the English and Welsh of that lordship
from certain burthens connected with the Castle of
Swansea. In 1210, Rhys and Owen, sons of Griffith ap
Rhys, were sent as messengers to Falkes to try to

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 71
bring about a peace ; but, notwithstanding this, 12th
John, 1210-11, 50 marks were expended in strengthen
ing Swansea Castle ; a not unnecessary outlay, for in
1211 the Welsh, under Cadwalon ap Ivor bach, burnt
and plundered Glamorgan, as, in 1212, Rees Vachan
treated the town of Swansea. 14th John, Falkes de
Breaute is quitted £200 for the farm of Glamorgan for
the preceding and current years. 31st April 1213,
the King issued a brief of inquisition into the losses
sustained by the Church in the late discords between
the King and the Clergy of England, and that for the
See of Llandaff was addressed to Richard Flandrensis
of Glamorgan and Walter de Sulye. As the see was
not vacant, they were probably selected as upright and
independent assessors. In that year Gilbert, Abbot of
Margam, was displaced, and was succeeded, 18th May,
by John de Goldcliffe, one of the monks. Gilbert be
came a monk at Kirkstall, and died 12th May 1214.
A little before this, 12th March 1213, the King
allowed to Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, " rationabile
testamentum quod fecit de rebus suis mobilibus", pro
bably with a view to her marriage. And, 16th
January 1214, Peter de Cancellis is to bring safely to
the King the Countess of Gloucester, now in his charge,
apparently at Bristol Castle. Guion de Cancellis was at
this time Custos of the Honour of Gloucester.
After about thirteen years of widowhood, which, in
a time when a widow with a large jointure as an in
heritance seldom remained single, may, without much
fear of injustice to John, be attributed to his wish to
retain the earldom in his own hands, Countess Isabel
married Geoffrey Fitz-Peter or de Mandeville, the
justiciary, who, on the death of his father, 2nd Octo
ber 1213, became Earl of Essex, and had livery of his
paternal estates. No doubt the marriage took place
very soon afterwards, for, 24th January 1214, the Ex
chequer was to allow £13 15s. 8d., to be spent in robes
for the Countess of Gloucester and her maidens, and by
the 28th they were married, and Geoffrey had certainly

72 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
been admitted to her lands, seeing that in February he
was ordered to be disseized, because he had not paid
the fees due. The precept for his admission " Honori
de Glanmorgan" is addressed to Falke de Breaute, and
dated 26 January 1214.
The fine for the marriage was 20,000 marks, and Geof
frey's relief on taking up the earldom of Essex was a
similar sum, to be paid in four equal parts. Probably he
contrived to pay the first instalment at once, for, 9th and
10th of August 1214, the King informs the sheriffs of
thirty-two counties that he has given Isabel to Geoffrey
de Mandeville to wife, and that he is to have the whole
Honour of Gloucester, and to be installed in all Earl
William's rights, except the castle, vill, and forest of
Bristol, and the vill of Campden. The seizin of
Geoffrey's own lands in Bucks was not given till the
23rd of June. 21st November in the same year, 1214,
he witnessed John's charter concerning the freedom of
episcopal elections, as "Gaufrido de Mandevillae, Comite
Gloucestrie et Essexie", and, as " Comes Gloucestrie",
he was one of the twenty -five barons chosen under the
Great Charter, 15th June 1215. In January in that
year, he had witnessed a royal proclamation as Earl of
Gloucester and Essex, and a late convention as Earl of
Essex and Gloucester. Nicholas, however, dates his
assumption of the earldom of Gloucester from 1215.
In the Pipe Roll, 3rd John, 1202, £50 is allowed for
the expenses of the Countess of Gloucester at Bristol,
by two briefs of Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, and another £20
for the same expenses, "predictae comitissae", also "per
breve G : f : Peter". At this time the Honour con
tained three hundred and twenty seven and three-tenths
fees, besides twenty fees which could not be identified.
Geoffrey's usual style was Earl of Essex and Glouces
ter, and that of his wife Countess of Gloucester and
Essex. Her charter to Basalleg, printed by Hearn (A.
de Domerham, ii, 609), combines the two, and com
mences "Ego, Isabella, Comitissa Gloucestrie et Essexie,
consensu et assensu domini mei Galfridi de Mandevilla

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 73
Comitis Essexie et Gloucestrie". The divorce alienated
the whole Gloucester interest from John, who also so
mismanaged the marriage as to throw the new Earl also
into opposition, which continued during the few months
that intervened before his death, childless, before June
1216, in London, in consequence of an accident at a
tournament. John at once, 19th June, granted to
Savary de Mauldon all the lands which had belonged to
Geoffrey de Mandeville and his brother William, then
probably in arms against the King. John himself died
19th October, 1216. The accounts show that of the
20,000 marks, Earl Geoffrey had paid half only, and the
remainder, being a charge upon his estate, was de
manded at the hands of Earl William, his brother and
successor, as late as 12th May 1226 ; and long after
wards, 18th June 1242, Letters patent were issued,
allowing the remainder of the fine of 20,000 marks
made by Geoffrey de Mandeville with King John, for
the marriage of Isabel, Countess of Gloucester, to be
paid by annual instalments of £40 10s., out of the third
penny of the County of Essex. While a widow, Isabel
granted a charter to Margam, preserved at Penrice, as
"Ego Ysabell Comitissa Gloucester 'et Essex' in libera
viduitate mea", and another while still a widow, to
Caerleon, but she speedily became the third wife of
Hubert de Burgh, then justiciary. The date of this
marriage is not recorded, but it must have been imme
diate, for, 13th August 1217, all the lands of the
Countess of Gloucester were committed to Hubert de
Burgh (Pat. Roll, 1st Henry III, m. 4), and in the
same year Hubert had livery of Walden, a part of
Isabel's dower, and, 17th September, the King in
formed the sheriffs of nine counties that the Countess
had come in to his fealty and service, and was to be
placed as she stood before the war between the King
and the Barons of England. This was under Henry III,
and just after the battle of Lincoln. She died almost
immediately, for, 15th October, was an order as to the
custody of her land, she being dead (P. Roll, 1st

74 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
Henry III, m. 1) ; and, 30th October, she, which must
mean her estate, was called upon to pay scutage. 5th
Henry III, Hubert married Margaret of Scotland. He
does not appear as Earl of Gloucester; probably he had
not time to fulfil the necessary formalities. He was
created Earl of Kent 11th February 1227, with re
mainder to his heirs by Margaret.
Isabel having died childless, the inheritance passed,
de jure, to the son of her eldest sister, Mabel, who had
married Almeric or Aymar de Montfort, Comte d'Ev-
reux, who, as " Aumericus Comes Ebroicarum", tested a
charter by Henry I to Conches in 1130, and is named
in a Bull of Pope Eugenius in 1152. He died 1196,
while the Earldom of Gloucester was in the hands of
the Crown, leaving a son, also Almeric, whose position
with regard to his mother's right is obscure. Mabel is
probably the daughter of the Earl of Gloucester, to
whom and her maidens was allowed, in the Pipe Roll
of 7th Richard I, 1196, "£17 2s. Id., and for vair furs
about 37s., and for a RosereU £6". Sandford says,
Henry II gave her £100 portion, because her father
had passed her over and bestowed the earldom upon
John. And the Pipe Roll, 4th John, already quoted,
shows that her two sisters were allowed a share, though
a small one, of the inheritance, the Earl of Evreux
having 20, and the Earl of Clare 25 knight's fees.
The date of the elder Earl Almeric's marriage is not
recorded, but the younger Earl, in May 1200, at the
instance of King John, ceded his right in Evreux to
Philip Augustus, for which he had an equivalent. The
cession is the subject of a document given in the Gcdlia
Christiana (xi, p. Inst.), which begins "Ego Almericus
Comes Gloucestrie", and states that he is acting "de
mandato domini mei Johannis illustris regis Angliae",
who " in sufficiens excambium inde donavit". William
Mareschal is one of the witnesses. This was in May
1200, the very month of John's divorce from Almeric's
aunt, and shows that, having himself no longer an
interest in the title, he was disposed to allow the son

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 75
of the elder sister to assume it, as he continued to do,
and was allowed some fragments of the property. Thus,
in the Pipe Roll, 3rd John, 1202, William de Falaise
accounts for 112s. 7d., issues from the barton outside
Bristol, "before it was given to Earl Almaric"; and by
the same accounts "Almaric Comes Ebroic'": was allowed
£20 out of the third penny of the county. Also, 26th
January 1205, Falaise, as custos of the Honour, was
directed to give to Earl Almaric, Bradested ; and 31st
April, Petersfield and Mapledurham ; and 30th Decem
ber, Burford ; and 16th August 1206, certain other
manors, all which had probably been his mother's join
ture. Also, he occasionally witnesses royal charters,
sometimes as "A: comite Gloucestrie", and sometimes
as "A : comite Ebroic'", as in 1204-5, or simply as
"Comes Gloucestrie", as a pledge in 1205 for Henry,
son of the Earl of Cornwall for 4 marks ; nor is there
anything in the subject of the documents to account
for this variety. No document has been discovered in
which he uses the titles together, nor does he ever ap
pear as Lord of Glamorgan or of the Honour of Glou
cester. He seems to have died 1212-13, and was
buried at Keynsham. Some further obscurities arise
out of the disposition of the manors above mentioned.
20th November 1213, Gilbert de Clare is to have seizin
of two parts of the land which Aumeric, Earl of Evreux,
had in Merlaw and Hameldon, co. Bucks, and Melisent,
his widow, the third part. Also, 15th December, the
Countess of Gloucester is to have her chattels in these
manors; and, 4th January 1214, the executors of the
will of "A: comitis de Ebroic'" are to have his chattels
in Thornbury, Petersfield, and Mapledurham. Also,
15th March 1217, William de Cantelupe, junior, and
Melisant, who was the wife of Aumaric, Earl of Evreux,
are to have her dower in Mapledurham and Petersfield,
which she had from the Earl, her husband. Also, 2nd
October, Gilbert de Clare was to give to William de
Cantelupe and Melisant his wife possession of Merlaw,
as part of her dower, and he is to answer to the King

76 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
for having disseised her of it. Finally, in 1215, about
the 2nd of July, "Melisanta comitissa de Ebroill", ap
points as her attorney Henry de Neford, in a plea con
cerning land, between the Countess, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Prior of Dunstable, Geoffrey de Man
deville, and Gilbert de Clare. The churchmen are pro
bably trustees, and Geoffrey and Gilbert represented
the other sisters.
It appears from Pere Anselm's account (Hist. Geneal. ,
etc., vii, 74), which, however, is full of errors, that
Almeric, evidently the son, married, secondly, Mele-
sinda, daughter of Hugh de Gournay, who is doubtless
the Melisant mentioned above. It is not improbable
that the manors were originally settled on Mabel, that
on her death they came to her son Almeric, and that
in 1205 he was getting them resettled, on his marriage.
The ordinary accounts make Mabel die before 1199,
and her son childless in 1226, but the above entries
show that he was dead in 1213, which may account for
Isabel's marriage, and her husband's assumption of the
earldom in 1214. Thus, the succession of the Earls of
Gloucester from the death of Earl William was John,
Earl of Moretain, Almeric Comte d'Evreux, and Geof
frey, Earl of Essex.
The death of Earl Geoffrey in 1216 and of Countess
Isabel, probably in 1217, cleared the way for the suc
cession, and makes it probable that the Annals of
Margam are correct in stating that Gilbert de Clare
assumed the earldom in 1217, although Nicholas places
that event in 1126. He was certainly the Earl of
Gloucester to whom the King sent a messenger at a
cost of 6d., 9th March 1220, and another, who being
sent to Clare, was paid Is., 17th April 1222, and who,
19 th February 1221, was rated for the scutage of
Biham. He also appears in the great charter of Henry
III as Earl of Gloucester. One of his early acts was to
confirm to Tewkesbury the grants of his ancestors.
However, or by whom, the lordship may have been
held during the forty-three years that elapsed from the

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 77
death of Earl William in 1173 to that of the Earl
of Essex in 1216, after the latter event, it certainly
vested de jure in the son of Amice, the second sister,
who alone left issue, and it must be allowed that the
new dynasty was one very capable of upholding and
extending the title and inheritance of which it thus
became the heir. The House of Clare ruled in Gla
morgan for four generations, during a period of eighty-
eight years, from 1226 to 1314, including the reigns of
Henry III, Edward I, and a third part of that of
Edward II, his son. The long reign of Henry III, the
weakness and vacillation of his character and conduct,
and the general dissatisfaction with his foreign rela
tives and favourites, gave great cause and great en
couragement to the nobles to rebel, and at various
times, and in the foremost rank of the disaffected, were
the Earls of Gloucester and Pembroke, the former in
the male line and the latter in the female, the repre
sentatives of the House of Clare, and the chief lords of
the South and West Wales Marches. Their territory ex
tended almost from Pembroke to Chepstow, including
much of Cardigan and a large slice of Nether Gwent.
Their only rivals, the Barons Braose of Gower, Lords
of Brecknock and Abergavenny, were far too violent to
have any permanent weight, or to interfere seriously
with the ambition of the House of Clare. Under
William Mareschal the elder, Lord of Chepstow and
Pembroke, and the heir of Strongbow in Ireland, the
Lords of the March were kept in tolerable order, but
his death left the King without restraint, and the suc
ceeding Earls Mareschal and of Gloucester with ample
excuse, if not sufficient reason, for taking refuge in open
rebellion. The history of the House of Clare belongs quite as
much to that of England as of their Welsh lordships,
and although their near relationship to the Mareschals,
and their differences with the Sovereign, caused them
to rely much upon their position as marchers, they do
not seem to have resided much at Cardiff, or to have

78 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
pursued any steady policy, either of peace or war, with
regard to the Welsh.
Gislebert Crispin, the real founder of the Clare
family, was the son of Godfrid or Goisfred, Comte d'Eu
and de Brionne, a natural son of Richard the elder,
Duke of Normandy. In the foundation charter of Bee
Abbey, about 1034, he describes himself as "Gislebertus
Brionensis Comes, primi Ricardi Normannorum ducis
nepos, ex filio Consule Godefrido". These Norman
earldoms are involved in much obscurity. Gislebert
could scarcely have been Earl of the territory of
Brionne, for his son continued to use the title of Comes
after Brionne had been alienated. Probably it was
personal. The sobriquet of Crispin was borne by
another, also distinguished, Norman family, of whose
founder the Monk of Bee records that he had "capillos
crispos et rigidos, atque sursum erectos, et ut ita dicam,
rebursos ad modum pini ramorum, qui saepe tendunt
sursum". Hence the name of " Crispinus, quasi crispus
pinus", and such we may suppose to have been the
character of the "chevelure" of Godfrid's immediate
descendants. The county of Eu was taken from Gisle
bert by his kinsman Duke Richard II, and given to
Gislebert's uncle, William. Brionne he retained, and
Sap, said to be so called from a "sapin", or fir tree,
planted in front of the church there. He was one of
the young William's governors, but was assassinated in
1035. His sons were Richard and Baldwin, who, with
his brother "Ricardus filius Comitis Gisleberti", wit
nessed the conveyance charter to Bury Abbey in 1081.
(N. Mon., iii, 141.) Baldwin was Seigneur de Maule,
and called also"de Sap", or"le Viscomte",or"d'Exeter".
From him the Earls of Devon inherited Okehampton.
His second son Robert had Brionne.
Richard Fitz-Gislebert was also called de Bienfaite,
not, as often said, from Benefield in Northamptonshire, a
manor held, as Baker has shown, by Richard Engaine,
but from a Norman benefice; and de Clare, and de
Tunbridge, from his two principal English fiefs. On his

the co-heirs of the lordship. 79
father's murder he and his brother fled to Flanders,
and returned thence to Normandy, when Matilda mar
ried Duke William, who gave him Bienfaite and Orbec.
He also held Brionne. He accompanied William to
England, was present at Hastings, and was richly re
compensed in English lands. His possessions lay in
the counties of Beds, Cambridge, Devon, Essex, Kent,
Middlesex, Suffolk, Surrey, and Wilts. In the Survey
he is styled indiscriminately "Ricardus filius Gisleberti",
"Ricardus filius Comitis Gisleberti", "Ricardus de Ton-
bridge", and "Ricardus de Clara". His Kentish land
seems to have been mainly confined to the Leuca or
Lowy of Tonbridge, but it is remarkable that neither
Tonbridge nor the also important Barony of Hastings
are named in Domesday. Dugdale says he obtained
Tonbridge by exchange for Brionne with Archbishop
Stigand, but this is exceedingly improbable. That the
Leuca was in some way connected with Canterbury is
certain, from the claim set up for it by Becket, on the
ground that church lands were inalienable. The con
troversy, however, seems rather to have related to the
castle than to the lands, which the de Clares seem always
to have accepted as held by grand sergeanty of the See.
Tonbridge and Clare contained ancient English for
tresses of the first class.
Fitz-Gilbert's restless spirit was not content with
176 manors in England : he burned for further acquisi
tions, and invaded South Wales, where he conquered
Cardigan, but met with his death, being slain at Llan-
thony by Yorworth, brother of Howel of Caerleon,
about 1091. He was buried at St. Neots, and it is
recorded of him, " Qui in re militari tempore Conques-
toris omnes sui temporis magnates preecipit" (Cott. MS.,
VitelL, F 4, f 7).
Earl Richard married Rohaise, a daughter, and even
tually one of the two co-heirs of Walter Giffard, Earl of
Buckingham, by Ermengarde Flaitel. This lady appears
in Domesday, where mention is made of the "Terra
Rothais uxoris Ricardi filii Gisleberti", in St. Neots,

80 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
and she afterwards, in 1113, gave the Manor of St.
Neots to the Abbey there, of which she was reputed
the second foundress. She and her husband trans
planted a colony of French monks from Bee, exchanging
them for the rebellious Englishmen, whom they im
prisoned in Normandy. Her charter (New Monasticon,
iii, 472) mentions her husband, sons, and daughters.
These were : — 1, Gislebert. 2, Robert of Dunmow,
who married Maud de St. Liz, and died 31st Henry I.
He was ancestor of the family of Fitz- Walter. 3,
Roger de Bienfaite, Lord of Orbec and du Hommet,
who supported Duke Robert in 1080, but was after
wards attached to Rufus and Henry, whose life he
saved at the battle of Brenneville, near Andelys, 1119.
He died childless. 4, Walter of Nether Gwent, the
founder of Tintern Abbey in 1131. He also died child
less. In their mother's charter their order is Roger,
Walter, and Robert. 5, Richard, Abbot of Ely, died
1107. There were also two daughters, who married
Raoul de Tillieres, and Baudry le Teuton of Bal-
genzio. Rohaise married, secondly, Eudo Dapifer, the re
puted builder of Colchester Castle, and founder of St.
John's Abbey there, where she is buried.
Gislebert, mostly styled " de Tonbridge", but
"Comes de Clara" in his son's charter to Bury Abbey.
He also held his father's conquest in Cardigan, and had
Aberystwith. His English predecessor JElfric, son of
Withgar, had founded a chapel dedicated to St. John
Baptist, with seven secular canons, in the Castle of
Clare, whom this Earl replaced by monks from Bee.
He married Alix, daughter of Rainald, Comte de Cler
mont in Beauvoisis, a benefactor to Thorney Abbey.
They had : — 1, Richard. 2, Gilbert, called Strongbow,
who reconquered Cardigan, and inherited Chepstow
and broad lands in Monmouthshire from his uncles
Roger and Walter. He was created Earl of Pembroke
in 1138. He died 1148, and was buried at Tintern.
By Elizabeth, sister of Waleran, Comte de Meulan,

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 81
who, says Anselm, had been mistress to Henry I, he
had Richard Strongbow, the celebrated invader of
Ireland, and ancestor, in the female line, of the
Mareschals, Earls of Pembroke. 3, Walter de Sap.
4, Herve\ 5, Baldwin, who adhered to Stephen's cause,
and with his brother Richard witnessed the Con
queror's charter to Bury Abbey (1), and gave to the
monks of Bee, Palletune juxta Sap (N. Mon., vi, — ).
6, Louise, married Raoul, Seigneur de Coldon, living
1113. Richard Fitz-Gilbert, Earl of Clare, created Earl of
Hertford. Clare seems to have been one of these per
sonal earldoms like Warrene, Ferrars, and Giffard,
which did not represent a county, and was not even
annexed to land, for although Clare was a manor and
afterwards an honour, it does not seem ever to have
been regarded as a territorial earldom. In the return
in the Black Book of the Exchequer, the Earl of Clare
prefixes his return " Carta de Honore Clar", without
mention of himself. When it became the custom to
adopt a surname, Gislebert or Richard Fitz-Gislebert,
Comes, became gradually known by that of the chief
seat of his power, and it is probable that his correct
designation would have been, not " Comes de Clara",
but "Gislebert de Clara, Comes".
The title of Hertford was altogether different. This
was a regular earldom, representing a county, and
endowed with the third penny from the issues of
the county. Why that title was selected is un
known, for Hertford town and castle did not belong
to the family, nor were they specially interested in the
shire. Indeed, they seem to have held at that time
but one manor in it, that of St. Wandon; nor were
they even sheriffs, for that office was held by the De
Magnavilles. The third penny, however, had nothing
to do with land. It was a grant by patent from
the Crown, and not entered upon by seizin. It
was the official fee of the English earls before the
Conquest. The date of the creation of the earldom of
G

82 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Hertford is uncertain, but the reservation of the third
penny in the fee-farm rents paid by the sheriff of the
county shows it to have been either late in the reign of
Henry I, or very early in that of Stephen. As to the
limitation, the patent for the earldom is not extant,
but possibly it would be held now that, like that of
Oxford, it was confined to the heirs male of the body,
because, on the death of Gilbert de Clare in 1314, his
sisters did not take it. Gloucester, however — almost a
contemporary title — descended, as has been seen, on
three occasions to heirs female, and by the courtesy of
England, was assumed by their husbands, Earls Al
maric, De Magnaville, and De Clare. King John, who
assumed the title with the junior co-heiress, is said to
have been created Earl of Gloucester, but that this was
unnecessary is clear, for D'Evreux and De Clare, whose
mothers were the other sisters, successively bore, and
the latter transmitted, the title. Nevertheless, on the
death of Gilbert de Clare, Gloucester, like Hertford,
was held to be extinct. The Despensers, husband and
son of the elder co-heir, did not claim it, and Audley,
the husband of the next co-heir, obtained it only by a
new creation, as did a more remote Despenser. It
seems, therefore, that the practice had changed, and
that earldoms which had formerly passed with heirs
female did so no longer. It must be remembered, with
respect to the earldom of Hertford, that there had been
no early opportunity of proving its limitation, as the
male line had never failed.
Earl Richard seems to have paid much attention to
his South Wales possessions, and he, like his grandsire,
met with his death from the natives, it is said from
Morgan ap Owen, in the disturbances that broke out
after the death of Henry I, in 1135. His death is sup
posed to have occurred in 1139; so that his enjoyment
of the title of Hertford must have been brief. He was
buried at St. Neot's. He married Christiana, sister of
Ranulph, Earl of Chester, whose name, unknown to
Dugdale, occurs in her husband's charter to Bury

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 83
Abbey. They had — 1, Gilbert ; 2, Roger, successively
Earls; 3, Walter; 4, Alice, who married Cadwaladr,
second son of Griffith ap Conan, Prince of North Wales,
one of those ill-assorted matches by which the marcher
lords sought to consolidate their incohesive power. It
must be this Alice of whom Fitz-Stephen says, writing
of Earl Roger, " Qui et pulcherrimam totius regni
sororem habebat, quam rex aliquando concupierat."
Earl Richard, in 1134, removed the monks of Bee
from his castle of Clare to the adjacent hill of Stoke.
It appears from an Inspeximus (Pat., 1 Hen. LV, P.S.
m. 25) of the confirmation charter of Henry II, that
Earl Richard, son of Earl Gilbert, gave for his services,
to Walter Bloet, the vill of Raglan and its appurten
ances, to him and his heirs, to be held by the service of
one knight's fee.
Gilbert, 4th Earl of Clare and 2nd of Hertford. In
1146 he was a hostage at Stephen's court for his uncle,
the Earl of Chester, to whom, however, he fled. He
died childless, in 1152, nearly two years before Stephen,
and was succeeded by his brother,
Roger, 5th Earl of Clare and 3rd of Hertford. The
title of Clare seems gradually to have been dropped, as
the family name came into use, and, finally, the Earls
are invariably described as of Hertford, and, after the
acquisition of the Gloucester lands, as of Gloucester and
Hertford, the former title dating from Henry I, the
latter from Stephen.
He witnessed a Bury charter, printed in the Coll.
Topog. et Gen. (i, 589), and there dated 1154, no doubt
in error for 1134. Earl Roger married Maud, daughter
and heiress of James de Hilary, and by her had Richard,
his successor, and Isabel, who married William Mares
chal, Earl of Pembroke, and thus strengthened the tie
of blood between two powerful families, whose territorial
interests were already also closely connected. Earl
Roger seems to have had a son, James, who suffered
from some congenital disease, expected to be fatal. The
Earl offered 40 marcs to whoever should cure him, but
G 2

84 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
would not allow an operation. When he was two years
old, his mother took him to Becket's shrine, and im
plored the aid of the martyr; who cured him in three
days. This was succeeded by another complaint, of
which he was supposed to die, and was laid out. His
mother, however, undeterred by the rebukes of the
Countess of Warwick, again implored the aid of the
martyr, and again with success. (Bened. Mirac, St.
Thomae, p. 255.) Earl Roger married a second wife,
whose name is not recorded. He died 1173.
In Earl Roger's time, Becket claimed the Estate and
Lewy or Honour of Tunbridge, " pridem a Cantuariensi
alienatum ecclesia"; a claim which gave great offence
to both king and baronage, and which was resisted, as
regarded the castle, by the Earl. The holding of the
Lewy seems to have been admitted, but did not satisfy
the Archbishop, who, indeed, also claimed Rochester
Castle. The question was not finally settled till 1264,
when a survey of the Lewy was executed, and the terms
of the homage agreed to between Archbishop Boniface
and Earl Richard. The Earls held as butlers and
sewers, and as stewards, and in the one capacity had the
manors of Bradstreet, Vielston, Horsmandene, Melton,
and Petter, and in the other, Tunbridge and Handlo.
The fees of office allowed by the Archbishops were
splendid. The homage seems to have been regularly
paid, and often in person, at the enthronization of each
Archbishop, and as such is specially noted at those of
Archbishops Kilwardby, Peckham and Winchester. It
was carried on by the De Clare heiresses, and Hugh
d' Audley paid homage to Archbishop Stratford, in 1333,
and the Earl of Stafford to Sudbury, in 1375. The
last act of homage seems to have been paid to Arch
bishop Warham, when he entertained Henry VIII and
Charles V, at Canterbury, in 1520. On that occasion
Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, one of the De Clare
heirs, discharged the duties of sewer in person.
Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Clare and 4th of
Hertford, witnessed, as Richard Fitz-Gislebert— used

THE CO-HEIRS OF the lordship. 85
apparently, as a family name, — Henry IPs confirmation
of the Earldom of Oxford to Aubrey de Vere. He also,
as Richard Earl of Clare, witnessed letters by Richard I
20th March 1190, and 17th April 1194, and another
document, 7th June 1199. 1st John he married
Amice, daughter and co-heir of William, Earl of
Gloucester, whose inheritance neither he nor his wife
lived to possess. To her, as to her sister Mabel,
Henry II gave £100 wedding portion. The marriage
took place before the 1st of John, in which year she
pleaded that by a precept of the Pope she had been
separated from her husband Richard, Earl of Clare, on
the ground of consanguinity, and she claimed Sudbury,
which had been hers at her marriage (Abb. Plac,
p. 25). In the 4th of John she repeated the claim,
and 7th and 8th of John claimed the advowson of St.
Gregories, Sudbury, which the Prioress of Eton said
had been granted to Eton by Earl William, Amice's
father (lb., pp. 51, 92). 15th John, Amice, Countess of
Clare, again claimed Sudbury, where she founded a hos
pital. No doubt the marriage difficulty had been got
over by a dispensation from Rome. Earl Richard's
seal is extant, and bears the three chevrons, afterwards
so widely known in South Wales, and adopted by the
Lords of Avan, the Earl's principal Welsh Barons. In
his time King Richard divided the Giffard heritage,
giving to Earl Richard the caput and estates in Eng
land, and to William Mareschal those in Normandy.
It is to be remarked that neither heir made any claim
to the earldom of Buckingham.
Earl Richard seems to have died in 1217, when,
28th November, Walter Fitz-Henry was to have seizin
of his lands in Kent, " salvo rationabili testamento
ejusdem Comitis" . . " teste ipso Comite"; probably
the young Earl. Similar instructions were sent into
other counties. The Earl was buried at Clare. Countess
Amice seems to have died before 1226, the date of the
death of her nephew Aymaric d'Evreux. Their chil
dren were : — 1, Gilbert; 2, Richard, killed in London,,

86 the land of morgan:
24th May 1221, and who probably is the Roger de
Clare, Earl Gilbert's brother, who was allowed £12
on the 11th February 1226, for his expenses in the
King's service with the Earl of Cornwall in Poitou ; 3,
Rose, married Roger de Mowbray. The Chronicles
state that the daughter of the Earl of Clare in 1217
married Rhys Bahan (Vachan). She may have been a
natural daughter.
Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Gloucester and 5th
of Hertford, is stated in the Annals of Margam to have
taken up the earldom, and to have confirmed the abbey
charters in 1227, a statement corroborated by Gilbert's
witnessing, as Earl of Gloucester, in 1128, the declara
tion that the signature of Henry III to public docu
ments should not be valid until he came of age. Also,
25th January 1218, Hugh de Vivonne was ordered to
give up the forest of Keynsham to the Earl of Glou
cester, and, probably in consideration for his " regni
novitas", the Barons of the Exchequer were "ponere
in respectu" the Earl's scutage then due, until after
Easter. With his paternal possessions and those of his
mother Amice, Earl Gilbert inherited those of his
grandmother Maud de St. Hilary, and a moiety of the
Honour of Giffard. The inheritance, as shown by his
scutages, 7th Henry, extended into nineteen counties.
As early as 12th John he fortified Builth Castle, and
took an active part against the King. He was one of
the twenty-five barons excommunicated by Pope Inno
cent in 1215, but at this time he was a party to the
negotiations for peace, and 9th November had a safe
conduct from the King, which was repeated 27th
March 1216, after the fall of Colchester. He sided
with the barons at Lincoln 20th May 12177 and was
taken prisoner by his kinsman the Earl Mareschal, who
afterwards married him to his daughter and eventual
co-heir Isabel, a lady whose personal attractions pro
bably made the young captive a willing suitor. The
Annals of Tewkesbury give 1214 as the date of the

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 87
marriage, but this is almost certainly an error. In
1216 (?) he was assessed for a relief at £100 for each
of his Honours of Gloucester and Clare, and at £50 for
his half Honour probably of Giffard, the reliefs being
levied on each Honour as on a Barony, without reference
to its actual value, since Clare contained 140 fees and
Gloucester over 327. He was also assessed upon his
lordship of Glamorgan, which then contained 27 \ fees,
of which William de Kardiff held one ; John le Sor, 14 ;
Thomas de la Mare, 10 ; and Thomas Blund half a fee.
Probably, however, some of these holdings were in Eng
land, for most of the Glamorgan barons held also of the
Honour of Gloucester.
In 1218, died Clement, Abbot of Neath, to whom
succeeded Gervais ; and 1 2th November, died Henry,
Bishop of Llandaff, who was succeeded, October 1219,
by William, Prior of Goldcliff. The Earl much desired
to recover the family possession of Bristol Castle, and
Hugh de Vivonne was directed to restore to him the
berton of Bristol, the wood of Furcas, and the chase of
Keynsham. This however, though the King's officer,
he refused to do until he was provided with the means
of maintaining the castle, for which the council had pro
mised him £100 in rent and 100 marcs in silver,
nothing of which he had as yet received. The order
was repeated over and over again, "multitoties", in
the course of 1219-20, but without effect. The Earls
of Gloucester never recovered Bristol Castle.
25th November 1218. Earl William de Magna ville
and Earl Gilbert were allowed to settle, by a concord,
a question relating to lands which they held together
in wardship, and which evidently arose out of the
affairs of Magnaville's brother Geoffrey. 6th Henry
III, 1221-2, Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, is ordered not
to go to Wales to take the castle of Dinas Powis, as
the King had sent Robert de Vallibus to receive and
deliver it to the Earl. This was on the death of
Somery, Baron of Dudley, who was Lord of Dinas
Powis, and was evidently an attempt by the King to

88 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
obtain "primer seisin" in Glamorgan. In the next
year, 14th March 1223, the Earl Mareschal's bailiffs
had a safe conduct from Henry de Chetham to go to
Dinas Powis. The Earl paid scutage about this time
for a Welsh expedition, and in 1224 the Welsh invaded
Glamorgan, killing certain farm servants and a shep
herd's boy. Morgan ap Owen burned a house, belong
ing to Neath Abbey, with above 400 sheep, and killed
several farm servants, and dangerously wounded a
monk and some lay brethren. In 1223-4, 8th Henry
III, the Earl had a safe conduct to attend the King.
15th July 1224, he was to have four dolia of the
King's best wine, at cost price ; an order repeated the
same day, in the Close Rolls ; and 23rd September, he
was to have five dolia more from the wine retained at
Bristol. 1st January 1225, the Earl is to have from the Sheriff
of Gloucester £20, as his ancestors had, "nomine comi
tatus", evidently a part of the third penny, as the Sheriff
of Herts received a similar precept.
13th February, he is to have from the Constable of
Kenilworth one hundred "bresnas" [wether sheep ?]
for his vi varies at Tewkesbury, "et de Shepton
instaurand". A messenger despatched to him by the
King, cost 12d. 28 th August, the Bailiffs of Caer-
marthen are to allow the Earl to hold the lands, late
of Thomas de Londres, of wmich he has the wardship,
with his daughter. This was probably as chief Lord
of Ogmore. Eva de Tracy had her dower out of the De
Londres lands, in Wilts. Wardships and their sale
were a great source of the royal power and income,
and Earl Gilbert, 3rd October, has that of the heirs of
Walter de Tailly, with the maritagium ; and Waleran
Teutonicus, and Sybil his wife, are to give up the
daughter. In 1226 the Welsh burned St. Nicholas, Newcastle,
and Laleston, and killed certain men. 29th October,
the Earl paid 2,000 marcs for licence to marry his
daughter Amice, then six years old, to Baldwin de

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 89
Redvers, and £200 in land was allowed out of the
estates of William, Earl of Devon, Baldwin's grand
father, presumably for her sustenance, until she came
of age. In this year, 2nd November, the Earl's
daughter Isabel was born. A joint messenger, sent by
the King to the Earl and the Earl of Chester, cost 1 bd.
In this year the Earl joined the Earl of Cornwall against
the King.
In 1227, 16th February, William, Earl of Devon, was
dead, and the Earl had licence to hold his lands. In
this year the Welsh burned the Margam grange of
Pennuth, with many animals, and killed many men ;
also the grange of Rossaulin, with many sheep, and
drove away eleven cows, and killed a farm servant.
Also they cleared the grange of Theodore of animals,
and burned several horses and great flocks of sheep,
the property of Margam. 4th May, Richard, the Earl's
brother, was killed in London. His violent death led to
reprisals upon several of the King's servants. On the
18th, the Earl's son, William, was born. Kenfig was
burned by lightning, and a horse killed. In this year
also the Earl captured Morgan Gam of Avan, and sent
him, fettered by the feet, into England for security.
This was mild treatment compared with what Morgan
ap Cadwaladr met with, in the same year, from his
nephew, Howel ap Meredith, who put out his eyes, and
otherwise mutilated him. Notwithstanding the line
taken by the Earl, he seems to have kept on some sort
of terms with the Court, for, 4th September, he is one
of the Lords accredited to the princes of the Empire,
at Antwerp. Howel ap Meredith, in 1229, burned St.
Nicholas and St. Hilary. In that year Morgan Gam
was set free, giving hostages for his conduct, which,
however, did not prevent him from burning Neath in
1231. In this year the Earl is said to have discovered
mines of silver, lead, and iron, in Wales. The two
former have never proved profitable ; the latter were
well known to, and, to some extent, worked by, the
Romans. 1 5th Henry III, the Abbot of Margam paid
100s. for having his charter confirmed.

90 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
In 1230 Henry made a disastrous expedition into
Brittany, and of the magnates who attended him,
many, says Wikes, died before his return, and some
after it. Among the latter was Earl Gilbert, wdio died
at Penros in Brittany, 25th October 1230. His funeral
was conducted with great state. The corpse was landed
at Plymouth and brought across Devon and Somerset
to Cranbourn, and thence to Tewkesbury, large doles
being given to the poor on the road as it passed, and
silken cloths,"panni cerici", to the religious houses. The
procession reached Tewkesbury on the Saturday before
St. Martin's Day, and on Sunday the corpse was laid,
temporarily, in its sepulchre before the high altar.
The final burial was witnessed by the Abbots of
Tewkesbury, Tintern, Flaxley, Keynsham, and Ture-
ford (?) and an immense assemblage of persons of both
sexes, lay and clerical. The Earl seems to have left
two wills, one dated Suwick-super-Mare, 30th April,
and the other in Brittany, 23rd October ; both in the
year of his death. To Tewkesbury he bequeathed
a silver-gilt cross ; and, during the minority of his son,
the wood of Muth, by Severn side, which was con
firmed by Henry III in 1232, and reverted to the
earldom in 1243. The monks laid a stone over his
grave. In the Monasticon (N. M., vi, 453) is a confirmation
by Earl Gilbert to Keynsham of a burgage in Cardiff,
"which was Goye's", and another which had belonged
to John Fitz-Baldwin, and of the whole park, fishing,
and fishery of Rumeya (Rhymny), and both the vivaries
of Raz (Roath), with the mill and great vivary under
Kibwr, and all the land of Raz, and all the forest of
Kibwr, to be held as under Earl William, the grantor's
grandsire. The children of Gilbert and Isabel were : — 1,
Richard; 2, William, born 18th May 1228, knighted
in London at Christmas, 1250 ; 3, Gilbert, born 12th
September 1229, a Clerk in Orders ; 4, Amice, married
Baldwin de Redvers ; 5, Agnes ; 6, Isabel, born 2nd

THE CO-HEIRS OF THE LORDSHIP. 91
November 1226, married, May 1240, Robert de Bruce
of Annandale, who died 1295.
Countess Isabel married, secondly, 30th March 1231,
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, much against the will of the
King, his brother. She was, says Wikes, a woman of
marvellous beauty. She was known as Isabel, Countess
of Gloucester and Hertford, Cornwall and Poitou, and
she died in childbirth at Berkhampstead, 17th January
1239 or 1240, and her mortal spoils were divided
between three communities ; her bowels went to Mis-
senden ; her heart, in a gilded urn, to Tewkesbury ;
" Pars melior toto fuit  pro corpore missa"
was the Tewkesbury view of the partition. The body
went to Beaulieu. She founded a chantry for Earl
Gilbert and herself at Market Street, and Earl Richard
founded one for her at Wallingford. Her will disposed
of a curious collection of relics. Her epitaph at Tewkes
bury, where she herself had always wished to be buried,
was as follows : —
Postrema voto legavit cor Comitissa :
Pars melior toto fuit hue pro corpore missa.
Hasc se divisit, Dominum recolendo Priorem
Hue cor quod misit, verum testatur amorem —
Hiis simul Ecclesiaa sanctae suffragia prosint,
Ut simul in requie ccelesti cum Domino sint.
The ancestors of Earl Gilbert had, for eight genera
tions, been very considerable persons, both in Nor
mandy and England ; and their next of kin, of the
line of Strongbow, now represented through a female
by the Earls Mareschal, were scarcely their inferiors
in power. Their other cousins, who continued in the
male line as Barons Fitz- Walter, also held large es
tates, and had at that time reached the climax of
their power in the person of Robert Fitz- Walter,
styled by King John's barons " Marshal of the army
of God and the holy Church." The De Clares
were also allied by marriage to the Earls of
Chester and other leading nobles. Besides all these

92 THE LAND OF MORGAN.
sources of power, Earl Gilbert had received a great
accession in the large inheritance derived from his
mother, making him, by the bend sinister, which was
then scarcely regarded as a discredit, of near kin to
the sovereign, and endowing him not only with the
valuable Honour of Gloucester, but with the Lordship
of Glamorgan ; the privileges of which were of a regal
character, and the position of which, securing to him
an almost impregnable retreat, gave him great weight
in the perpetual struggles between the Baronage and
the Crown. From this time the house of Clare became
the acknowledged head of the Baronage. Great per
sonal qualities, such as those possessed by the elder
William Mareschal or by Simon de Montfort, brought
them at times to the front ; but for steady hereditary
influence, supported, on the whole, by moderation of
conduct, and always by great personal valour in the
field, no family at all approached to that of the Earls
of Gloucester and Hertford.

THE
EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD.

Richard de Clare, 6 th Earl of Gloucester and 6th
of Hertford, was born 4th August 1222, and was there
fore a little over eight years old at his father's death,
25thOctober 1230. His wardship was granted to Hubert
de Burgh, then Justiciary, who had married the young
Earl's great-aunt, then, however, some years deceased.
In addition to the wardship, De Burgh, 26th Novem
ber 1230, had a grant of the homage and service of
John de Braose for his Honour of Gower, described as
held of the Honour of Caermarthen and Cardigan;
which tenure however was never admitted by the
Lords of Gower (P. Roll, 15th Henry III, m. 7)." Wil
liam de Goldcliff, Bishop of Llandaff, died before the
Earl, 12th January 1229, when the custody of the
bishopric was given to Maurice, archdeacon, and Ivor,
a canon of Llandaff, and 23rd February, seisin of the
lands was given to the Earl, the Earl Mareschal, and
John de Braose, under whom the bishops held manors
in different parts of the diocese. Elias, Treasurer of
Hereford, was confirmed, 30th August 1230, in the
vacant See.
At Michaelmas, Abbot Peter of Tewkesbury took
seizin of their moiety of the Church of Llandir, pro
bably Llantwit-major, which William, parson there,
formerly held. After much dispute between the Abbot
and the Welsh parishioners, some of whom wished
that William's brother should succeed, the Abbot gave
way, but took a charge of eleven marcs yearly, the
Abbey retaining a chapel attached to the church, to
indicate possession. It was provided that if the farm

94 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
rent was not paid to the day, the tenant should lose
his tenement for ever.
In 1231, 2nd June, Ralph Mailoc, a local celebrity
in Glamorgan, died. A little after this, in 1266, the
Abbot of Neath acknowledges from Sir William May-
loc, the land of Bluntesmore in the fee of Ogmore,
to be let in farm to Sir William on the same terms
that he held it from Peter Blundus. Thomas, Dean of
Hereford, Peter, Abbot of Tewkesbury, Maurice, Arch
deacon of Llandaff, Master B., Rector of Thornbury,
and others, met at Striguil to arrange respecting the
Church of Llanblethian which Mailoc had held of
Tewkesbury, and which by the Court of Rome and the
confirmation of the Bishop had been granted to be
held impropriate. It had been given away by the
Bishop, although shortly before he had already granted
it to a chaplain, who, however, renounced, and accepted
a vicarage from the Abbot.
About Michaelmas, the monks sent Brother Eustace
to receive seizin of Llanblethian Church, which Mailoc
had held. He found the church locked and the key
carried off to the mountains ; so he took seizin in the
porch, and protested against this invasion of the pri
vileges of the Abbey. The Welsh replied to this by
taking him prisoner on the highway, and keeping him
three days in the mountains. In rejoinder, the Bishop
excommunicated the wrong-doers generally, and laid
the matter before Hubert de Burgh, the custos. The
Abbot, also, in presence of his monks, excommunicated
a certain J. Grant, probably of Sigginston, who had
laid hands on Eustace. No doubt the resistance to the
Abbot's claim was encouraged by the concurrent inva
sion by Llewelyn, who attacked Brecknock, descended
upon Caerleon, and thence retired across the hills to
Neath, where he laid siege to the castle, which was
surrendered about 29th June. Aided by Morgan Gam,
of Avan, he burned the town, levelled the castle, and
extorted 60 marcs from Margam. All this seems to
have been provoked by the violation of an existing

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 95
truce ; for 20th February 1232, the King writes to
assure Llewelyn that he has, by his brother Earl
Richard, ordered that the infraction of the truce by
Richard Siward be made good.
De Burgh fell in July 1232, and was displaced as
custos 1 5th August ; and 1 0th September Peter de
Rivaux has a patent of custody of the castles of Cardiff
and Newport, and of those generally of Glamorgan,
Cardigan, and Caermarthen. 17th October Henry de
Turberville is custos of the lordship of Glamorgan,
and 19th December Ra. de Hurle is to receive the
issues of the lands, etc., of Glamorgan and Wentlloog,
and the custody of Cardiff, Newport, and Newcastle.
Peter remained in power till 1235, giving great dis
satisfaction. Just before De Burgh retired, 1 3th April
1232, the King allowed the young Earl's claim "de
collatione baculi," as to Tewkesbury ; and De Burgh, in
consequence, gave the monks leave to elect an Abbot,
who was confirmed by the King. This was the Abbot
who leased the "Gurges" or pool of Cardiff for five
years to Henry the Chaplain. Fishing seems then as
now to have been a sport allowed to the clergy. The
same claim was allowed for Keynsham. It seems to have
been usual to allow to the representatives of the founder
the privilege of collating to an abbey, but a license for
its exercise was necessary. Thus. 16th April 1200,
John granted to Wm. Earl Mareschal the privilege of
bestowing the pastoral staff of Nutley, in Bucks, an
abbey founded by Walter Giffard, but within the
Earl's fee.
In 1232 Llewelyn again invaded Glamorgan, and
attacked Kenfig. The cattle had been removed, and
to clear the way for the defence, the people burned a
part of the town within, that is to say close to, the
gates. The Welsh, on their part, led by Morgan
Gam, burned what was outside the walls, and attacked
the castle keep, then only defended by a hedge and
a ditch. They were then driven off, and fled to the
hills. It was observed that on this occasion, they
spared the lands of the Church.

96 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Events were now ripe for the breaking out of the
war between the King and the Earl of Pembroke.
Earl Richard Mareschal, a scholar and a soldier, a
moderate and an honest man, "murus inter dominum
regem et magnates", had just succeeded his brother
William ; and, forbearing as he was, found himself
driven to oppose in arms the King's violence and im
prudence. The dissatisfaction was very general, and
broke out in Monmouth and Glamorgan in a civil war,
which, continued by De Montford and the Earl of
Gloucester, led to the battles of Lewes and Evesham,
and the siege and ban of Kenilworth. The services
of De Burgh were forgotten, and Henry was inflamed
with jealousy against that great statesman, who, always
loyal to the Crown, and succeeding Pandulph as mi
nister, had composed the Irish war, quelled the dis
content in Gascony, kept Llewelyn and the Welsh
within moderate bounds, razed Bedford Castle, exiled
De Breaute, and procured the Bull declaring Henry
of full age, upon which the royal castles had been
surrendered to him by the Lords who had held them
during the minority. De Burgh was ill exchanged for
Peter des Roches, an ecclesiastic of violent and dan
gerous counsels, a foreigner, and intensely unpopular.
In 1232 the Abbot of Tewkesbury had a royal writ to
receive his accustomed payment from the Honour of
Cardiff; and another writ, 24th May 1233, for Peter de
Rivaux, was addressed to Ranulph de Hurle, bailiff of
Glamorgan. Both, therefore, were still in office.
Among the disaffected in Glamorgan were Philip
Basset, whom the King had deprived of a manor given
him by King John ; and Richard Siward, a bold and
distinguished soldier, and one of the Earl of Glouces
ter's most turbulent barons. Siward, who owned the
castle of Talavan, had married Basset's sister, Philippa,
widow of the Earl of Warwick, according to some ac
counts without the King's license. The Earl, Henry
de Newburgh, also Lord of Gower, had died in 1229,
and Philippa then paid 100 marcs not to be distrained

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 97
to marry, and if she did marry, to have leave to marry
any faithful subject. She did marry, before 1st March
1231, Richard Siward, and that this was not then dis
approved by the King appears from a writ to the
Sheriff respecting certain payments due at the Exche
quer. Siwrard's real offence seems to have been his
attachment to the Earl Mareschal, and his opposition
to Bishop des Roches.
Henry summoned the Barons to a meeting at Oxford
24th June 1233, which the Earl Mareschal and his
friends decided to decline to obey, as they did a further
summons for the 11th July. They further informed
the King that unless he dismissed his foreign advisers
they would renounce their allegiance. Henry had laid
hands on and had destroyed the castles of some of the
Earl Mareschal's followers and had given their lands to
his alien relations. On the 1st July, the barons met
the King in London, but as the Earl Mareschal, warned
by his sister, feared treachery, he turned back at
Woodstock and rode to Wales. Nothing was decided
at the meeting. Henry then summoned his military
tenants to Gloucester for the 15th August. As Earl
Richard was again absent, he and his adherents were
proscribed as traitors, the Earl's lands were seized and
laid waste, especially, 2nd November, his house and
gardens in Worcestershire, and a day was named for
his trial. Henry, evidently looked for support among
the mixed English and Welsh in the rear of the Earl
Mareschal's head-quarters, for 6th August is issued a
writ to the bailiffs of Bristol stating that, "Although
the King has directed them not to let any victuals be
taken from their town, yet they are to allow the men
of Cardiff, Swansea, and Carmarthen to do so, they
giving security not to take them elsewhere." The
King's proscription caused the Earl Mareschal to close
an alliance with Llewellyn, offensive and defensive,
each party swearing not to make peace without the
consent of the other. The Earl of Cornwall took part
with the insurgents. Henry having received an acces-
H

98 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
sion of force at Gloucester, crossed the Severn, and
marched on Hereford. His object seems to have been
to attack from the west the Earl Mareschal's chief
castle of Chepstow, and his plan to descend the valley
of the Usk, taking advantage of the support of John of
Monmouth, to whom belonged that town and castle,
and of Morgan of Caerleon, who held the lowlands of
Gwent, and thus to interpose between the Earl, who
lay westwards near Cardiff, and his sister Margaret de
Braose and Walter de Clifford, who held Abergavenny
and Builth, and the country and strong places of
Irchenfield, west of Hereford. In executing this plan
he descended the right bank of the Usk, and at Usk
laid siege to the castle, which was found to be so strong
that the King offered terms. What actually took
place is doubtful ; the general, though not very pro
bable, account is that the King asked for the surrender
of the castle to save the royal credit, and pledged him
self to restore it uninjured in fifteen days ; to which
the Earl agreed, and gave up the place, which, how
ever, the King retained, breaking faith. Henry entered
Usk about the 1st September, and this success, how
ever obtained, was the first important feature in the
campaign. In the castle he placed Henry de Turber
ville, an eminent captain, who had been seneschal
of Gascony, and who was ordered to give up the stores
therein contained, an order certainly given, and which
seems scarcely consistent with this alleged breach of
faith. Moreover, the surrender of Usk was followed,
8th September, by the establishment of a truce, settled
at Abergavenny, the terms of which were, however,
construed very differently by the King and by the
Earl. 1 2th September, Henry was at Hereford, whence
he directed the Vicecomes of Cardiff to restore all the
booty taken on the Earl Mareschal's lands, and called
on the Earl and Morgan of Caerleon to do the same, a
summons which does not seem to have been obeyed.
The King retired to England, promising concessions,
and summoned a meeting for the 2nd October. Here

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 99
Earl Richard's friends demanded his trial by his peers,
a right denied by Bishop Peter, who thus placed him
self in opposition to the whole baronage.
Meantime, the Earl was under arms, and by the aid
of Philip Basset and Siward, De Burgh was rescued, it
would seem against his will, from the Devizes, and
brought in safety by way of Aust to Chepstow. The
Oseney Chronicle says Siward put arms into his hands
and brought him away "nobili vehiculo". Wykes
gives a more circumstantial detail, and says he escaped
from the castle by night, being let down from the
window-grate by napkins and towels, when he took
sanctuary in a church on the outer edge of the castle
ditch, whence he was rescued by Siward and Bassett.
20th September, the King wrote to Richard Mareschal
no longer to harbour Siward and his fellows, but Siward
was far too useful to be disavowed.
Henry bid high for the support of the young Earl of
Gloucester's tenants, writing from Ledbury, 2nd De
cember, to Reymund de Sully, a principal Glamorgan
Lord, as the Close Roll, 15th December 1233, states :
"Rex significat Rey : de Sully quod bene placet regi
quod ipse et alii probi homines de partibus suis veniat
ad fidem et servitium regis dum tunc securitatem faciat
de bono et fideli servitio, etc."
2nd December, Henry laid hands on Siward's lands
at Chedworth and Brailes. Also, 3rd November, the
lands at South Moulton and Marshfield, of Gilbert de Tur
berville of Coyty, had been seized, and given to Herbert
Fitz-Matthew ; those of Roger Berkerolles in Somerset
were given to Ralph de Hurle, who died before 22nd
Henry III, and was succeeded as Bailiff of Glamorgan
by Toran de Hurle. The lands of John le Sor at
Alwrington went, 7th November, to William Bloet ; of
William de Somery in Somerset to William de Boils ;
those of Simon and Richard de Pincerna in Devon to
Simon de Sleland ; those of Gilbert de Umfreville at
Court-Labeford to Roger la Suche ; those of David
Basset in Wernford to Philip Choatte. Those of Wil-
H 2

100 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
liam de Barry in Devon, of Thomas de Sanfbrd in
Berks, of John de St. John, William and John de Regny,
Peter le Butiler, Thomas de Hawey, and William le
Fleming, were also taken ; and even Reymund de Sully
did not escape, his lands at Alsiston being given to
de Boils. All this shows the close connection in pro
perty between the holders of fees in Glamorgan, and of
those in the counties of Somerset and Devon.
Cardiff Castle seems to have been held for the King,
as Warene Basset, one of the Earl's partisans, was
killed in an assault upon it, 15th October 1233, and
was buried at Llandaff, 21st October. The Earl was
then at Cardiff, having burned Monmouth. 17th
November, he defeated the King at Grosmont, where
Hugh de Sanford was killed, and forced the barons
and knights of Glamorgan, and the burgesses of
Cardiff, to give hostages for their good behaviour.
Henry again offered terms, which the Earl, then at
Margam, refused, and his adherents kept up a hairass-
ing war from Newport and Cardiff against the shipping
of Bristol. Towards Christmas, Siward harried the
lands of the Earl of Cornwall, an offence never for
given. Nevertheless, 7th January 1234, the Countess
of Warwick was allowed to go to the Marches of Wales,
to her husband, R. Siward.
The Earl Mareschal's position, west of Chepstow, was
not without its dangers. The actual Lord of Glamorgan
was a minor, and in the King's hands, and the war was
by no means popular with the people, who had every
thing to lose, and nothing to gain by it. The knights
and barons who, with their tenants, formed the mili
tary strength of the lordship could not afford to give a
steady support to the Earl, as almost all held fees of
considerable value in Devon, Somerset, or Gloucester,
all in the King's power. That many of them were
disposed to listen to the King is made probable by his
letter above quoted, and all the English settlers in
Wales must have been alarmed at the Earl Mareschal's
intimacy with the Welsh ; and, indeed, it appears from

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 101
one of Henry's letters to Llewelyn, 22nd August 1234,
that there was a report that the Earl had gone so far
as to grant to Morgan Gam and other Welshmen lands
which belonged to the Earl of Gloucester.
Towards the end of 1233, Bishop Peter seems to have
created a diversion in Ireland, where the Earl Mareschal
had a great interest, acquired by his ancestor Strongbow,
and whither he went, in consequence, leaving the con
duct of the Welsh war to De Burgh, Siward, and Philip
Basset. In Ireland the Earl was mortally wounded, and
died a prisoner at Kildare, 15th April 1234. Meantime,
and probably before the news reached England, the
Earl's partisans were active. Siward scoured Berk
shire, and under cover of Windsor Forest made the
country unsafe, and threatened the Exchequer mes
sengers who carried money, 29th April. A little later,
2nd May, the King informs the Sheriff of Gloucester
that in the way from Wallingford to Reading, Siward
had seized the baggage of Stephen de Segrave, De
Burgh's enemy and successor. The Sheriffs, however,
were foiled, and Siward reached Wales in safety. Thos.
Siward, his nephew, was taken at Hereford, as was St.
Philibert, another nephew, 10th May.
The Earl Mareschal's death left the party without a
leader, and the war ceased, although the position of the
insurgents enabled them to secure excellent terms,
which included Llewelyn, De Burgh, Siward, and their
followers. Bishop des Roches was dismissed from power.
17th May 1234, the men of Glamorgan were referred
to Henry de Turberville for the terms on which they
might be admitted to the King's peace; and 26th May,
the King, by documents entered on the Close Rolls
formally laid aside his indignation against Gilbert
Mareschal, Hubert de Burgh, Richard Siward, Gilbert
and Philip Basset, William Crass, H. de Barry, William
of Christchurch, and Richard de St. John, and by an
entry on the Patent Roll, 25th May, they were par
doned. Thos. Siward was released, and on the 18th
May and 3rd June, Richard Siward was actually placed

102 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
in charge of Glamorgan, to which, 17th July, Swansea
was added; and that this carried the lordship of Gower
with it, appears from a precept on the Close Roll in
forming Siward that because the King understands
that the " maritagium" of Agnes, daughter and heir
of William Mara, pertains to Margaret de Braose as
part of her dower, the £100 fine which Robert de
Penris made for her with Peter de Rivaux is to be
paid over to Margaret. Rivaux had evidently usurped
the "maritagium" from Margaret, and Siward as custos
is to redress the wrong.
With the rest, the King extended his favour to the
Barons of the Honour of Gloucester, Roger Berkerolles,
Roger de Hide, Gilbert de Turberville, Richard Pin-
cerna, William Flandrensis, Wydo Wak, and Hoel son
of Archid, the two bailiffs of Swansea, Reymund de
Sully, John de St. John, and Gilbert de Umfreville.
17th July, Richard Lelande was ordered to inspect the
lands held by H. de Burgh as guardian of the Earl of
Clare, and to report how they had been held by Peter
de Rivaux and Richard Passelewe. This seems to have
been preparatory to the handing them over to a new
guardian. Siward's appointment was in fact tempo
rary, and 23rd January 1235, he had a safe conduct to
surrender the lordship to Gilbert, Earl, of Pembroke,
who was admitted 28th February, and having been
allowed the title and estates of his late brother,
Richard Mareschal, was, 11th June, girded with the
sword of the earldom. For the wardship of his ne
phew, and the lordship of Glamorgan, during the re
mainder of the minority, he fined 500 marcs. This
acquisition placed the whole seaboard from Chepstow
to Pembroke and Aberystwith, Gower alone excepted,
in the hands of Earl Gilbert. Among those now re
stored were John de St. Quintin, who was to have his
castle of Llanblethian and other lands in Glamorgan,
Peter le Botiller, Thomas de Hawey, Thomas de Saund-
ford, John de Reyny, Robert Fitz-Payn, Richard le
Butiller, Jordan de Aunteston, Maurice de Cantilupe,

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 103
William de Barry, and William de Reyny. Also, as
part of the general amnesty, the men of Bristol were
to let those of Swansea have the wine that had been
seized ; and the Abbot of Margam's ship was to be given
up to John, the cellarer of that house. Neither were
the burgesses of Bristol to vex those of Swansea by
requiring of them customs' dues contrary to King
John's charter and its confirmations. 9th June 1235,
the Abbot of Neath had a license to send ships to
England to trade. The amnesty extended to Ireland,
and 7th November 1235, Milo de Rochford, taken in
the war with Richard Earl Mareschal in Ireland, was
to be released.
Soon after, 12th March 1236, Ralph of Newcastle,
having scruples of conscience about the source whence
he received his church, renounced it before the chapter
of Llandaff, and again accepted it as a free gift from
the Abbot of Tewkesbury. 22nd April, the same Abbot
and convent gave to Elias, Bishop of Llandaff, the
church of Lanederne, retaining the tithes of Lambor-
dan for the use of the priors of Cardiff, to whose sus
tenance they belonged. About the same time the Bishop
and chapter confirmed to the same Abbot all the eccle
siastical benefices he held in the diocese. 4th July,
Richard Siward seems again to have given offence, for
he was taken at Gloucester, though soon afterwards
set free.
According to Matthew Paris, one of Henry's griev
ances against De Burgh was that he had married his
daughter Margaret to Earl Richard, the King's ward,
and a minor, without the leave of the King, who seems
to have intended to marry him to his own niece, a Pro-
vengal. Hubert denied this, and said he had no know
ledge of the matter. A curious account of the whole
affair is recorded in the Close Roll of the 22nd Henry
III, and extracted by Sir Duffus Hardy, whence it
appears that, the day after Michaelmas 1238, the King
had Hubert before him at Eccles, and called on him to
resign all claim to the marriage of Richard de Clare,

104 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
that being one of the conditions of his pardon. Hubert
took time to answer, and, finally, met the King at Ken-
nington, where he stated that after the reconciliation
at Gloucester, Henry led him to the altar and asked
him to swear never again to mention the subject of
the marriage, which he did, and took no further steps
in the matter. On this, however, some of his friends
said things had gone so far that the parties ought to
be affianced, and the Countess said her daughter was
committed, and that a marriage had actually taken.
place at St. Edmund's, while De Burgh was besieged
at Merton. The matter was never quite cleared up,
but Hubert does not appear to have been to blame,
whatever may have been the case with his countess.
He nevertheless had to make his peace by promising a
sum of money to the King.
Margaret seems to have died soon afterwards, in
November 1237. The matter is obscure, and De Burgh's
statement is supported by the fact that the King sold
the Earl's "maritagium", 26th October 1237, to John
de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, for 3000 marks, and the re
mission of a debt of 2000 more, but this was subject to
a power of cancelling the agreement, if by transferring
the "maritagium" there should be any chance of bring
ing the Comte de la Marche to the King's party. This
was not acted upon. The bride was the Earl of Lin
coln's eldest daughter, Maud de Lacy, and the mar
riage .took place 2nd February 1238, when the Earl
was about sixteen years old, and seems, from an entry
on the Patent Rolls, to have had opinions of his own,
not at that time specially favourable to the royal cause.
26th August 1237, died John de Goldcliff, Abbot of
Margam, and was succeeded by John la Ware. 8th
March 1238, was a suit between Richard Fitz-Richard
and Thomas de Marini, and the Abbot of Neath, for
common of pasture in Horblauton. 30th August,
Ralph de Somery, the farmer of the chapel of Cogan,
died, and Wm. le Fleming of Glamorgan, led by
evil counsels, declared himself attorney for the Lord

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 105
Richard de Cogan, presented the son of Wm. de
Keymin (Reigny) to the chapel, and summoned by
writ of last presentation Robert, Abbot of Tewkesbury,
before the comitatus at Cardiff. After much dispute,
William was adjudged not to be the attorney.
The year opened with the secret marriage, 7th
January 1238, of Simon de Montfort with the King's
sister Eleanor, the widow of William Earl Mareschal.
This, which soon was known, gave great offence, Simon
being then considered in England only as an obnoxious
foreigner, while Eleanor had taken vows of chastity.
Henry's own conduct, and his readmission of foreigners
to power, promoted the general disaffection, and the
King's brother, Richard Earl of Cornwall, and Richard
Earl Mareschal, the leaders of the opposition, were
expelled from court. In November the Bishop dedicated
altars at Llandaff to the Saints James and Nicholas, and
endowed these altars with certain spiritual advantages.
On St. Oswald's day, probably 5th August 1240,
being a clay over his eighteenth birthday, the young
Earl was admitted to be of age for certain purposes,
and he redeemed his Glamorgan lands and repaid to
his guardian the 500 marcs, the price of his wardship.
Dugdale, however, places this transaction in the 19 th
Henry III, 1234-5. In May 1240, the Earl's daughter
Isabel was born, and 13th May died Elias Bishop of
Llandaff, and Waleran Teutonicus was put in to admi
nister the temporalities of the see. He also collated to
two stalls and the archdeaconry. The chapter then
elected Maurice, also archdeacon, to the see, but he was
set aside by the King. Next they elected William of
Christchurch, who held the seat, but without installa
tion, till 1244, when he resigned, no doubt because
disapproved by the King. Finally, another conge
d'elire was issued, and, 30th July 1246, William de
Burgh, a king's chaplain, became Bishop. 23rd May,
the Earl of Cornwall and Simon de Montfort left Eng
land for Palestine. They were escorted to Marseilles
by the French king. During their absence Gilbert

106 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Earl Mareschal died from the effects of an accident.
Henry notified his death officially, 29th June 1241, to
John de Monmouth, whom he orders to take posses
sion of the Earl's castles of Strigoyl, Usk, and Karelion;
and should their keepers make resistance the King is
to be informed at once. The Earl was succeeded by
Walter the third brother. Henry at first refused him
livery of the lands, but at last gave way, and on the
Sunday before All Saints he was recognized as Earl
Mareschal and of Pembroke. The King, however,
resumed the custody of the castles of Cardiff (Caermar-
then?) and Cardigan, which Hubert de Burgh and
Earl Richard had held. The Welsh had been trouble
some, but by August 1241 they were quieted, and
28th August 1242, Henry remitted his displeasure
against the Abbot of Margam, who had harboured
William de Marisco. In this year died Morgan Gam
of Avan, and was buried at Margam. In this year
also, 26th Henry III, the Sheriff of Norfolk is ordered
to assign a dower to Alice, who had been wife of Roger de
Clare, out of the lands which he had held of the heir
of Earl Gilbert, now in the King's custody ; Alice paid
200 marcs to have the custody of Roger's lands in Mid-
dleton and the marriage of the heir. (Abb. Rot. Or.,
26th Henry III.) In 1241, Fitz-Hamon's body was
translated into the choir at Tewkesbury, and placed
on the left of the high altar. 7th August 1242, Gilbert
de Sully, vicar of K., died, and 4th September the
Abbot of Tewkesbury put in Walter Alured.
25th July 1242, a dispute arose between Howel ap
Meredith, Rhys ap Griffith, and Gilbert de Turberville,
touching an infraction of the truce in Miscin and
Senghenydd. Robert, Abbot of Tewkesbury, William
de Cardiff, James de Clare, and others the Earl's friends
were sent down to make inquiries. They summoned a
" comitatus" at Cardiff, 28th July, took hostages from
the Welshmen, and lodged them in Cardiff Castle, and
so restored quiet. The Abbot took the opportunity to
visit Llanblethian to accept the transfer of the church,

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 107
in pursuance of the decree of the prior of Winchcombe,
Papal subdelegate. This related to the incumbency
and farm of the benefice of which Roger Mailoc, pro
bably a nephew of Ralph, had been deprived for
arrears of rent. The see being then vacant, the arch
deacon, as ordinary, presented Thomas de Pennarth.
The Abbot refused to allow this ; upon which Thomas
resigned, and accepted the benefice at the hands of the
Abbot, with the obventions and profits of the church,
excepting the tithe sheaves. On this Roger sued the
Abbot before the comitatus. Roger had an uncle Rhys,
and was otherwise well supported, so the Abbot offered
him a pension of five marcs, which at the Earl's re
quest was raised to six, but still was refused as insuf
ficient. The Abbot, as a safeguard, took letters of
protection from the Earl, addressed to the vicecomes.
The Earls returned from the Holy Land early in
1242, but the Earl of Gloucester was probably too
young to take part in the fierce discussion that then
arose in Parliament, as to assisting the King to recover
his foreign possessions. No doubt his sympathies were
with his stepfather, the Earl of Cornwall, but nothing
is heard of him before the 4th August 1243, when he
was of full age. A message was sent to Henry, then
on the continent, pressing him to give seizin of the
estates by letter. This he declined to do, and the
Earl actually had seizin at Winchester 29th August,
and, finally, 23rd September, the King accepted his
homage. (Plac. Cor on., 27th Hen. III.) With his
other lands he received those which his mother, the
Countess of Cornwall, had held in dower. In this
transaction the convent of Tewkesbury became his
" fidei jussores" in 300 marcs to the Earl of Cornwall,
and in return took a bond of indemnity from the
young Earl. A little earlier, the 25th of March, the
Abbot of Tewkesbury gave to Rely Morgan a yearly
pension of two marcs until he should provide him with
a better benefice, and Rely gave up his pension from
Llandough, into which he had been inducted by Arch
deacon Maurice, his uncle.

108 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
2nd September 1243, the Earl's eldest son, Gilbert,
was born at Christchurch in Hampshire. It was in
this year that Hawise de Londres, heiress of the great
Lordships of Kidwelly and Ogmore, married Patric de
Chaworth, and laid the foundation of a valuable part
of the after Duchy of Lancaster. He fell in battle
against the Welsh, at Caermarthen, 7th September
1258. Also in this year J  , Vicar of Dinas Powis,
won his cause against Tewkesbury, and 1 5 marcs costs,
and obtained the small tithes. Howel ap Meredith
was again in rebellion, and Kenfig was again burned.
On the death, in 1240, of Bishop Elias, the custos
claimed for the Earl the right, as chief lord, to take
possession of such lands as were held of him by the
Bishop. Also, on the death of Archdeacon Maurice, 14th
December 1242, the Custos claimed to appoint and put
in Ralph of Newcastle, some Canons dissenting, some
approving. Ralph held office until the King's proctor
objected and nominated, and as the Earl had not as
yet had seizin of his lands, it was thought better to
submit. 29th March 1244, Thomas, the King's Arch
deacon, had a protection, and in July a royal licence
allowed the Chapter to elect a Bishop. Meantime,
Ralph, when Archdeacon, had appointed a Vicar to
the chapel of St. John at Cardiff, against which Prior
Ralph de Derby had appealed. The transactions con
nected with the recent appointment to the see of
Llandaff led to a dispute between the King and the
Earl ; and it appears from the Placita Coronas, that
the Earl gave up his claim. R. de Clare came before
the King and acknowledged that the " Baculum pas
torale" and patronage of the bishopric belonged of
right to the King, but a day wTas named for him to
show what it was he claimed. What he did claim
was the custody of the lands held of him, and the
collation to the prebends and the archdeaconry.
The new Bishop, probably soon after taking his seat,
appeared before the King, and admitted, very untruly,
that he held nothing from any other in his bishopric

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 109
save from the King. In 1245, Roger de Somery (of
Dinas Powis) has a protection in Wales from the King.
On Whit Sunday, 1244 (?), the Earl seems to have
been knighted by the King ; and in March 1245, upon
the aid for marrying the King's eldest daughter, he
was assessed at £261 10s. upon 261-^ fees, besides 12^
fees in Kent, and £43 for 43 fees, his moiety of the
Honour of Giffard. In 1245, the Earl was among
those who made a bold attempt before the Council of
Lyons to moderate Papal tyranny in England. In
this year Henry summoned certain Welsh lords to do
homage to him at Westminster, 30th April, and among
them the son of Morgan Gam and Howel ap Meredith.
The latter had been disseized of his lands by the Earl.
5th February 1245, the Lord Herbert Fitz-Mathew
met his death in a certain combe near Avan Castle,
crushed by a mass of rock, which broke his neck. A
writ of "diem clausit" was issued 7th February, but
M. Paris lays the scene in North Wales. Probably it
took place in the gorge of the Avan, a mile or so above
the castle, which stood on the right bank of the river,
close to the church of Aberavan. 1245-6, the bailiffs
of Bristol were ordered to seize all the wool purchased
by the Ghent merchants from the Abbot of Margam,
and to hold it till further orders.
About this time the great House of Mareschal came
to an end. Earl Walter died at Goderich Castle, 24th
November 1245, and his writ of "diem clausit" was
issued 3rd December ; and 5th December his brother
and successor Anselm, the youngest and the last, also
died, and childless. He was buried at Tewkesbury.
This death broke up the estate, and left the De Clares
without a rival in South Wales. About the same time
the Earl proposed to meet Guy de Lusignan, one of the
new batch of the King's foreign relations, at a tourna
ment at Dunstable. The King, however, seems to
have feared for his half-brother, and forbade the meet
ing, as he did a later one proposed at Northampton.
The Earl granted Petersfield, Mapledurham, and some

110 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
other manors to his brother William, and it would
seem introduced the Augustine Friars into England.
The Welsh also occupied much of his attention. In
1246, he allowed the Tewkesbury Monks a free water-
flow, " liberam aqueductam", across his lands. 17th
July 1247, Stephen Bawcen, an active soldier con
nected with Glamorgan, had an allowance of £25 yearly
to sustain him in the King's service.
In 1248, more of the King's half-brothers had ar
rived, and in the midst of the rising discontent the
Earl chose to take the part of the foreigners, at a
tournament at Brackley, where he aided William de
Valence to overthrow William de Odingselles, a Knight
of Warwickshire. At Newbury he repeated this con
duct, and thereby much offended the Baronage. 21st
July, the Earl had a son born, who was named Bevis.
In this year he sued the Abbot of Tewkesbury for the
advowsons of three churches. The Bishop of Llandaff
absolved the Prior of Cardiff from a certain sentence
by which he was bound for the Vicarage of Cardiff.
The Vicar there had all the money coming into the
Chapel of St. John, but had to pay out of it 20s. a year
to the Prior for the liquor of a Priest at the Prior's
table. At Llantwit, the Vicarage had all the " altala-
gium", or altar dues, with the great and small tithes,
except the tithe sheaf of hay, and the tithes of the
Chapel of Lysworney. Also the Lord William de
Cardiff impleaded the Abbot of Tewkesbury for the
land of Lapull, and, in 1250, quit-claimed all his right
therein to the Earl and the Abbot. Richard, Prior of
Cardiff, died, and Alan de Cornubia succeeded, who
also died soon after, when Philip le Leche became
Prior. Philip was probably a member of a family at
one time holding land in Glamorgan, which probably
gave name to the manor and fortified house of
Leche Castle in Wenvoe. He died 15th December
1261. The Abbot seems to have indulged in a cross
action, for he impleaded De Cardiff concerning a
chantry chapel at Walton -Cardiff and a right of way

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. Ill
across his meadow. In 33rd Henry III, Henry de
Umfreville accounted for £45 for 9 fees held of the
Honour of Gloucester, and Richard de Kerdiff was
quitted for 36s. 8d.
In 1249, the Earl, with the Earl of Cornwall, went
beyond sea, and visited the Pope at Lyons and St.
Edmund's of Pontigny. Their absence was brief, but
included the Easter Parliament. At this time, 33rd
Henry III, the Abbot of Margam accounted for five
marcs in the Pipe Roll for having an assize, and 12th
June 1249, the chapter of Llandaff, under licence,
elected John la War, Abbot of Margam, to the see
of Llandaff. Nicholas, however, places this election
26th July 1253, in which year he fixes the death
of Bishop de Burgh.
In 1250 the Earl officiated as hereditary seneschal
and butler at the enthronisation of Boniface of Savoy
as Archbishop, according to his tenure of Tonbridge,
and in this year also he was invested with the military
belt. He, again, had a dispute with Tewkesbury, on
this occasion concerning rights of "fossa et furca", pit
and gallows, claimed by the Abbot, who was allowed
these powers in Wimborne and Cranborne, with a
gallows at Cranborne, where he seems very conveniently
to have found a subject for his newly admitted justice.
This year the Earl visited Compostella, returning 1 5th
July, and bestowed knighthood upon William de Wilton
and Peter le Botiler at Harley. In 1250, 29th June,
Abbot John resigned Margam, and was succeeded, 22nd
September, by Thomas de Perthwaite. In 1251 the
Cranborne dispute was revived, the Earl denying the
right claimed for the priory as well as the manor of
Beveridge. In the claim, power of life and death seem
oddly mixed up with common of pasture. It was said that
the Abbot had usurped his power during the minority.
The Earl asked an aid from his tenants to marry his
daughter, but it appeared that no such aid had before
been asked for, nor was he prepared to name the bride
groom. It appeared also that he had had a survey

112 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
made of his villenages, and had raised the dues. Roger
Luvel, the Tewkesbury proctor at Rome, was appointed
to act also for the Earl. In 1251-2 the Pipe Roll
shows a grant of £40 from the King to Stephen Baw-
cen. 34th Henry III the King issued a mandate, in
the Close Rolls, to the Bailiffs of Kerdiff to permit one
whom they had arrested for theft " in the King's
Court" to go forth without stopping any of the things
stolen. In 1252, the Earl held his Easter at Tewkesbury,
and confirmed to the Chapter of Llandaff half the tithe
of the Chapel of Lanternen (Llantarnam) 17th April.
The King wished to marry the Earl's son Gilbert, a
youth of great promise, to Alice, daughter of Guy
Comte d'Angoulesme, his half-brother, offering with
her a portion of 5,000 marcs. The Earl at first ac
cepted, and gave a bond for 10,000 marcs in case
he broke off the match. He then changed his mind,
and sent the Abbot of Tewkesbury and the Prior of
Stokes to the King. Meantime he and his son went
abroad, it being intended that the youth should win
distinction in arms. It was about this time that the
Earl interfered to save the credit of his brother
William, who had lost horse and arms in a joust. The
Earl took his place, recovered the spoils, and brought
his brother home with honour towards mid-Lent. He
seems also to have visited Gascony, where Simon de
Montfort's conduct was the subject of an inquiry. It
is said to have been during this visit to the continent
that the young Gilbert and William de Valence pro
voked contempt by their effeminacy, and got worsted
at a tournament, a great contrast with the Earl's
action on behalf of his brother. At Christmas,
1252, a daughter was born to the Earl at Llantrissant,
probably within the castle. In this year also he caused
Milo, his chamberlain, to be imprisoned at Usk.
In 1253 the Earl, who was very expert in the use of
arms, took part in a tournament abroad. About the
11th July he returned to find that Henry, after a

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 113
stormy discussion, had confirmed the public charters
with unusual solemnity, under promise of an aid. To
this aid the Earl strongly objected, and, as was the
custom with the nobles of that day, he spoke his mind
to the King very freely, and retired from the presence
in great anger. He then paid a short visit to Ireland.
In this year, the young Gilbert, born 2nd September
1243, then therefore about ten years old, was con
tracted, while abroad, to Alice of Angoulesme, the
King's niece. Anselm (Hist. Geneal., etc., iii, 78) de
scribes her as Alasi or Alise de Lezignan, daughter of
Hugh le Brun, Comte de la Marche et d' Angoulesme, by
Isabel, widow of King John of England, and daughter
and heir of Aymar, Comte d' Angoulesme. The actual
marriage seems to have taken place in 1257. Anselm
says she was divorced in 1258, but this, it will be seen,
is an error. Also in 1253 Robert Musgrose held the
Honour of Gloucester, probably as Sheriff or receiver.
After renewed disputes with the barons concerning
foreign service, the King, 7th September 1254, took
the Earl with him to Bordeaux, where he was present
when Henry conferred Gascony upon Prince Edward,
and at the Prince's marriage with Eleanor of Castile.
Thence the Earl visited Paris, where were the Kings
of France, England, and Navarre. He returned with
the King and Queen, by New- Year's Day 1255, to
England, where public affairs had become critical.
Henry was hopelessly indebted ; no money was to be
had from his Parliament : even his brother and his son
were obliged to protest against his proceedings, and de
Montfort, now in England, was in litigation with the
Crown about his wife's jointure.
25th May 1255, a proposed tournament at Blythe
was forbidden. 10th August, the Earl, fortified with
credentials, went to Scotland with John Mansel, the
celebrated pluralist, to relieve and, if possible, rescue
Henry's sister, the Scottish Queen, then a prisoner in
Edinburgh Castle. This he managed successfully, by
a mixture of force and address, to the satisfaction of

114 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
both her husband and brother. It seems to have been
in November of this year that Robert, Abbot of
Tewkesbury, died, and the Earl confirmed the choice of
Thomas as the new Abbot. The Earl had a dispute
with the monks, whom he compelled to follow him to
Fairford for a settlement of their claims upon the tithe
of Rendcombe. In this or the preceding year, the Earl
was paying to the King 640 marcs, being two years'
amount of a charge of £80 per annum on the Earl Mare
schal's lands in Ireland for the dower of Eleanor the
King's sister, and de Montfort's wife. Her share was
one-fifth of the income, which therefore must have been
£400 per annum. Here the marc is taken at 5s. in
stead of 6s. 8d. as usual. It was also probably about
this time that was drawn up the agreement mentioned
by Nash ( Wore. , ii, 135) between Earl Richard and
the Bishop of Worcester concerning Malvern Chase, in
which the Abbot of Tewkesbury and Lord William de
la Mare acted for the Earl, and among the witnesses
to which appear Philip Basset and Stephen Bawcen.
It seems that John, Earl of Moreton, in 1196, while
Lord of Glamorgan, granted to the Bishop of Worcester
licence to assart land in Malvern Forest, and Coun
tess Isabel confirmed the grant. The dispute, however,
was by no means settled, and reappears in the reign of
Edward I.
12th June 1256, letters of credence were given to the
Earl and Robert Walerand, with their suite, addressed
to the Princes of Germany. They seem by the Patent
Rolls to have left England 22nd June. Their mission
was to watch at Frankfort the election of the King of
the Romans, in the interest of the Earl of Cornwall,
and to adminster bribes to and receive the fealty of
the electors, preparatory to the crowning of Richard in
the following December. Among the Earl's attendants
were John and Robert Turberville and Adam Waleys,
all connected with Glamorgan. 29th June 1256, John
de la Ware, Bishop of Llandaff, died ; and on 30th
July William de Radnor was elected Bishop. The

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 115
29th June was a remarkable day in Bishop de la Ware's
life. On that day he resigned Margam, on that day
was elected Bishop, and on that day he died. In the
same year the Earl founded the house of the Black
Friars, outside the west gate of Cardiff. 7th November,
Richard Siward of Talavan was dead, and his twice
widowed wife, Ela, Countess of Warwick, had married
Philip Basset. In this year Prince Edward received
from John de Monmouth the Castle and Honour of
Monmouth in fee. Henry also invested him with regal
powers in Ireland, and the Earl of Gloucester did him
homage for his land there.
In 1257, Henry seems also to have transferred the
conduct of Welsh affairs to the Prince, who laid on a
tax which excited Llewelyn ap David to take up arms.
Griffith ap Rhys had died 11th June 1256. The Earl,
whom M. Paris calls a dear friend to the King, was in
command of the royal forces in Glamorgan and Pem
broke, and generally in South Wales. It was in this
somewhat unsuccessful campaign that Stephen Bawcen
was slain. 24th July, Roger de Somery, summoned by
the King to Chester, was afterwards directed to pro
ceed with all his forces to protect Glamorgan, where
he held lands. The Close Roll, 42nd Henry III, men
tions the claim of Alex, de St. Severino for the price of
45 dolia of wine, which the thieves of Glamorgan, West
Wales, and Gower, had taken and conveyed to Devon
shire, to the damage of Earl Richard, whose merchant
he was. The Sheriffs of Devon and Somerset are to
seize the goods, unless the Earl or the Sheriff of
Glamorgan admits them to have been come by law-
23rd July, either in this or the following year, the
Earl was taken ill at Sonning, near Reading, and
William Scotney, his seneschal and chief adviser, was
charged with administering poison to him and his
brother William, at a breakfast given by Prince
Edward at Winchester. William died 23rd July at
Retheresford, and was buried at Dareford (probably
I 2

116 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Dertford) Abbey, privately, instead of at Tewkesbury
as he had wished, lest the news should reach and prove
fatal to his brother. The Earl recovered, but lost his
hair and his complexion ; his teeth and nails threatened
to fall off, and he was much disfigured. Scotney was
dragged asunder by horses at Winchester, or, by some
accounts, hanged, 26th May 1259, and his quarters
suspended from a gallows. The Earl, however, managed
to be present at Tewkesbury, 20th April 1258, when
he obtained a procession, and gave the kiss of peace
to all present. In this year, 6th September, the
Welsh attacked Neath with 800 mail-clad horsemen,
and 7,000 footmen. They failed to take the castle,
but burned the town up to the gates, "et sic ad dae-
mones redierunt".
During these years the Earl seerns to have been
acting, though perhaps not very cordially, with the
King's party, but Henry's conduct had gradually
alienated from him all men, even those of moderate
opinions. In 1258, matters drew to a head, but the
Earl was still with the King, who, 22nd January,
having heard that Llewelyn proposed to marry his
sister Margaret, directed the Earl to take her in charge
and guard her safely. 8th March, he was at Court and
witnessed a royal charter relating to St. Alban's. The
opening Parliament of the year met in London, 9th
April, and sat till the 5th May. Howel ap Meredith
and the Welsh leaders had made an alliance with
Scotland. The discussions were unsatisfactory, and
the assembly was adjourned to the 11th June at
Oxford. In August, the Earl was directed by the
King to inquire as to the large sums of money said to
have been taken beyond sea by his half-brothers.
The Parliament thus adjourned was the "Mad Parlia
ment". The Barons who had attended in London
armed, came to Oxford under summons for a Welsh
campaign, in full array for war. As in the time of
John, a committee was appointed, and in the list the
Earl of Gloucester appears with de Montfort on the

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 117
Barons' side, and in the subsequent very complex
arrangements he took an active part, and was one of
those by whom, 18th October 1258, the King's adhe
sion to the Acts of the Council was accepted, and who
shared in the provisional government of the following
year, and until the outbreak of the civil war. He also
signed the letter to the Pope against the admission of
the Poitevins. The Earl had charge this year of the
manors of Aymer, Bishop of Winchester, then banished,
and it was not until the 7th or 8th of Edward I that
Earl Gilbert, his son, was called upon by a writ of
"praecipe" to surrender them. In 1258 the Abbot and
Convent of Tewkesbury paid to Master Henry de
Stratford 1 0 marcs upon a suit between him and Roger
Boyfield, one of then monks, on an agreement concern
ing grain, entered into at Cardiff when Roger was Prior
there. In 1259 Parliament met early in the year, and the
jealousy between the personal influence of de Montfort,
and the hereditary influence of Earl Richard, led to a
personal altercation between them. Earl Simon was
impatient of the Earl of Gloucester's moderate and
somewhat temporising policy, which was the more
irritating that he was far too powerful to be set aide.
"For you, my Lord Earl of Gloucester," said he, "the
higher your position above us all, the more are you
bound to carry these statutes into effect." Indeed,
Gloucester's whole conduct up to that time shows that
he was not inclined to press too strongly on the King,
with whom he kept up some sort of personal terms.
1 Oth May he was named to arrange for the marriage of
Henry's daughter Beatrice with John, eldest son of the
Duke of Britany; and 18th May the King had lent
him certain artificers. 25th May, in this year or 1260,
died James de Clare, probably a near kinsman. After
the personal altercation with de Montfort, the Earl
seems to have gone abroad, as special Ambassador to
the King of France. Earl Simon, however, is joined
with him in the patent, and a reconciliation was

118 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
patched up between them by the Earl of Hereford and
others, no doubt in consequence of the King's procla
mation of the 28th of March. Gloucester sent Herwin,
his seneschal, through his domains, to see that the
statutes were obeyed, and it probably arose out of this
that, 20th July, John de Cokefield was assigned to
hear the "Querela transgressionis et injurise" by Earl
Richard and his bailiffs in Gloucester, Suffolk, Essex,
Cambridge, and Herts. In this and the preceding years
the Patent Rolls show that the Earl had a licence to
crenellate and fortify the Isle of Portland, and the
towns and ports of Weymouth and Wyke. The cre-
nellation probably related to "Bow and Arrow Castle",
a curious fortress of Norman date, still standing on the
east cliff of Portland. He had also a licence to build
castles at Walden in Essex, and at Southwood in
Suffolk. The summer of this year seems to have been occu
pied in a trial of strength between the two parties in
the ruling council ; de Montfort, and with him Prince
Edward, seeing the necessity for speedy action, and
Gloucester being indisposed to move. In October, a
remonstrance by the military tenants of the knightly
class throughout England affirmed that the King had
done his part, and it was for the council no longer
to neglect to do theirs. The results were the Pro
visions of Westminster, drawn up in this month. The
part taken by the Earl of Gloucester is indicated by
the inclusion of his name among the twelve Barons
chosen to reform the State, as well as in the later
council of fifteen. He was not one of the twelve
parliamentary commissioners, but appears among the
twenty-four of "the aid". 7th November, by an agree
ment with the Abbot of St. Edmund's, he concluded a
law plea which had lasted nine years and five days,
and in the same month he either preceded or accom
panied the King to France, to take part in the formal
resignation of Normandy, and to settle some other
differences between the Crowns; and during the short

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 119
remainder of his life his influence was, on the whole,
exerted in the King's favour. He led the moderate
party. In 1260 the state of affairs compelled Henry's return
to England, and Earl Richard accompanied him. 30th
April he met the Barons at St. Paul's, and was re
conciled to Prince Edward, who had urged on the
obnoxious reforms. At the meeting, Gloucester and de
Montfort again came to words, and besides their public
difference, de Montfort refused to give up his wife's
lands in Normandy, and so endangered the recent
understanding with France. The Earl, however, to
some extent, still acted with de Montfort, and by so
doing probably hampered his proceedings far more than
had he openly taken the King's part. 30th May, the
Welsh attacked Builth Castle, while Roger Mortimer,
its keeper, was attending the King in London. He
was officially acquitted of all blame. The castle, though
small, was strong, as its earthworks still show. In the
summer Gloucester had a violent quarrel with Prince
Edward, which caused great general anxiety, but, 22nd
June, harmony was re-established by the mediation of
Henry and his brother, the King of the Romans. An
agreement then drawn up is referred to in the Calendar
of the Patent Rolls for the year, but the document
itself is not given. In this year Ralph Basset, pre
viously mentioned, died. About the same time, while
the Earl was at Tewkesbury, a certain Jew fell into a
jakes and refused to be taken out because the day was
the Sabbath. On this the Earl, with a curious miscon
ception of his Christian duties, refused to have him
taken out on the following, being the Christian Sabbath,
and left him to perish. The story was made the sub
ject of a quatrain : —
" ' Tende manus, Salomon, ut te de stercore tollam.'
' Sabbata nostra colo, de stercore surgere nolo.
En ruit altra dies, nunc me de stercore tolles.'
' Sabbata nostra colo, de stercore tollere nolo.' "
In this year he attended with the King, under a safe-

120 THE LAND OF MORGAN :
conduct, the funeral of the French king's eldest son.
In a letter from the Earl to the King, 1 5th June, pro
bably 1261, he states that his health prevents his
attendance on the King in London. He acknowledges
a letter from the King about Prince Edward's affairs,
about which the Earl has ordered J. Breton to meet
him at Tewkesbury. 15th December, Philip de Leche,
Prior of Cardiff, died, and 27th June following was suc
ceeded by William of Deerhurst.
In 1262, 7th May, it appears from the rolls of Parlia
ment that the Earl granted to Chancellor Walter de
Merton the manors of Farley and Chessendon in aid of
his new foundation, and by another document he in
formed Roger de Horn, his seneschal at Tonbridge,
that he confirmed gifts to the same Walter by Roger
at Maiden, and by Philip Basset and Ela, Countess of
Warwick, his wife; 8th July, the Earl recommends to
the Chancellor's favour Geoffrey de Aspall, his clerk,
and John, the brother of the latter.
In June the Earl was taken ill at the table of Peter
of Savoy, the Queen's uncle, and was thought to have
been poisoned. He died 15th (or 22nd) July 1262,
"ante statutum", at Eschemerfield in Kent, and was
buried 28th July in the choir at Tewkesbury, on the
right of his father, in a tomb which his widow encrusted
with gold and precious stones, and which bore this
somewhat superlative epitaph : —
" Hie pudor Hippoliti, Paridis gena, sensus Ulissis,
JEuesa pietas, fleet oris ira jacet."
The Bishops of Llandaff and Worcester, eight to
twelve Abbots, and many Barons, Knights, and other
considerable persons attended at the burying. His
actual sword and spurs were suspended over his tomb,
and to all praying for his soul's weal Archbishop Boni
face gave forty days' indulgence, and the Bishops of
Chester, Llandaff, and Worcester twenty days' each, to
which Worcester and Llandaff added ten more to
all repeating ten Paternosters and three Ave Marys

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 121
within the year. In the Annals of Tewkesbury he is
recorded as " Vir nobilis et omni laude dignus."
1st Edward I. In the Memoranda Roll Master John
de Sethwille and John de Bruis (Braose) are named as
executors of the Earl's will, but those given in the
Rolls of Parliament are Hugh Bigod and others. The
debts were considerable, both to the King and to pri
vate persons. One debt to the merchants was 480
marcs; and another to Hugh de Gundeville, 300 marcs.
7th Edward I, Sethwille received £80. 12th Edward I,
the account was still unsettled, both with the Ex
chequer and the general debtors and creditors.
£127 8s. Ad. was allowed for the farm of the Barton
of Bristol for eight to ten years. This possession,
therefore, severed from the castle, was still a part of
the estate.
47th Henry III, Countess Maud had an assignation
of dower which included Bedwin and Winchcombe,
and the castles and manors of Usk, Trillech, and Clare.
52nd Henry III, she purchased the manor of Long
Stratton in Norfolk. Their children were — 1, Gilbert;
2, Thomas, a man of some mark in his day. He was
governor of St. Briavel's Castle in April, 49th
Henry III, and custos of the royal forest in Essex, and
for his conduct at Lewes made governor of Colchester
Castle. 51st Henry III, he went with Prince Edward
to Palestine, and brought home four Saracen prisoners.
55th Henry III, or 1st Edward I, he was governor of
London, arid soon afterwards, went to Ireland with a
grant of Thomond and a roving commission to conquer
all he could. Soon after his landing he was himself
conquered by the charms of Julian, third daughter of
Maurice, son of Maurice Fitz-Gerald, by Emmeline,
daughter and heir of Sir Stephen Longesp^e, a natural
son of Henry II and Rosamond Clifford. With her
he had Youghal, where the provost and borough
adopted his arms, the one sealing with de Clare im
paling Fitz-Gerald with a label, both dimidiated; the
other with de Clare and Fitz-Gerald, each with a label

122 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
and each upon a heater-shaped shield. He built Bun-
ratty Castle. For the rest, his career was unfortunate ;
he was thrice defeated, and, finally, killed by the Irish in
1285. His wife was alive in 1 3 2 1 . They left issue John,
Gilbert, Richard, and Thomas. Richard, the third son
was probably the Richard de Clare who was summoned
to Parliament 26th October 1309. He left issue
Thomas de Clare, who died childless, 14th Edward II,
1320-21, leaving his father's sisters his heirs. He was
probably the male heir of the House of Clare, though
he does not seem to have claimed the Honours. Pro
bably the settlement made by the penultimate Earl
on his marriage with Princess Joan precluded him
from the estate. He is not mentioned by Dugdale.
3. Bevis, Benedict, or Bogo, born 11th or 21st July
1248, was a canon of York. 4. Isabel, born May
1240, said by Anselm to have been a nun at Barking,
but who married at Lyons, 13th June 1257, the Mar
quis di Ponte Ferrato, and was escorted thither by a
Tewkesbury monk. 5. Margaret, born at Llantrissant,
Christmas 1250. She married Edmund, a younger
son of Richard Earl of Cornwall, but his eldest by
Saunchia of Provence. He was regent during Edward's
absence in Palestine. She was divorced, childless, 22nd
Edward I, and compelled by the Bishop of Winchester
" vitam vivere caelibem." 6. Roesia, born 17th October
1252, married Roger Mowbray. 54th Henry III,
Roger Estraneus and Matilda his wife, and Matilda
de Mowbray, are bound to Matilda Countess of Glou
cester in a fine if Roger, son and heir of Roger de Mow
bray, does not marry Roesia, daughter of the Countess.
The witnesses are Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester
and Hertford, Thomas de Clare, Henry de Sully, Pau-
linus de Kerdiff, Thomas de Bellocampo, Walter de
la  , Hy. de Umfravile, knights, John, Abbot of
Tintern. The marriage took place in 1270. 7. Eglan
tine, born 1257, died an infant, fifteen weeks old, and
was buried at Tewkesbury. Another Bogo, well
known in the reign of Edward I, seems to have been
a cousin.

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 123
On the Earl's death, Nicholas Berkeley, and after
ward Petronel de la Mare, took charge of the Honour.
The jurors on his inquisition were directed to make
return " de maneriis quae idem comes nomine custodiae
et firmae tenuit die obitus suae." In Glamorgan he so
held only Marcross, 46th Henry III.
Earl Richard died at a very critical period in his
own career and in the history of his country. His
rank and alliances, his immense property, and his
power in the Welsh Marches made him a most impor
tant person, second only to King Henry and his
brother the King of the Romans. The moderation
of his character in a reign continually verging upon
civil war placed him in opposition, sometimes to one
party, sometimes to the other, and probably neither
Henry nor Prince Edward, nor Simon de Montfort
thought him to be relied upon. He died just when
it would have been absolutely necessary to take a
decided part, and had he lived, that part would pro
bably have been with the King. He was personally
brave, and experienced in the use of arms and in
warfare. The lordship of Glamorgan fell into the King's
hands, the young Earl being a minor. Humphrey de
Bohun at once took charge, and reported to the King,
who acknowledged his letter, and committed to him,
18th July, the castles of Usk, Tregrue (?), Newburg,
Kaerdiff, Lantrissan, Langenyth, Neth, and all other
fortalices and their appurtenances in Wales. Philip
Basset the Justiciar is to move John de Breos
to deliver up Lantrissant Castle to de Bohun. 1st
February 1263, 100 marcs are allowed to store the
castles; Walter de Sully, sheriff, is, we are told,
" bonus homo et potens in provincia". De Bohun
reported to the Chancellor that all was then quiet,
and that he had equipped the castles. 4th August
1263, the King directed Roger de Clifford to assist
Humphrey. Inquiry is to be made into the late Earl's
tenure of the manor of Buckingham, which William

124 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
de Breos alleged that his brother John had leased
fraudulently. Bohun is to employ Robert de Meisy,
Trahilo ap Hoel, and Ralph de Auste to make an
extent or survey of the lordship, and Walter and
Henry de Sully are to have quittance concerning a
summons in Devon ; and whereas John de Sully had
been enfeoffed by the Earl of a carucate of land in
 and one in Orchiston, he is to receive them from
the escheator, 7th December. The extent was also
directed, of the lands in Gloucester, Essex, and Suffolk.
The King announced the Earl's death to Philip Basset
the justiciary and to Walter de Merton the Chancellor,
and approved then doings at Amiens.
It appeared that William le Sor held of the "Honour
of Tewkesbury" 13 fees. Also, 18th February, Griffin
de Bedwas, who was detained in the King's prison at
Cardiff, was to be delivered by the Sheriff to M. Bezile,
constable of Gloucester Castle.
. De Bohun did not long act as custos. On account of
debility he is to deliver up his charge to Walter de
Sully; 1 February 1266, he was superseded in the
command of the army in Wales by John de Grey,
and Henry wrote to Llewelyn to inform him of the ap
pointment. 15th February 1263, the King informed
the barons, knights, and loyal men of Glamorgan that
Walter de Sully had charge of the lands and castles
of the late Earl of Gloucester, which had been held
by Humphrey de Bohun ; and, 1 5th June, a royal letter
to Sully informs him that he was to be in charge for
three weeks or a month, in fact until the Earl had
seizin. It appeared that William de Powyk had been
constituted to take depositions in a dispute between
the prior of Ewenny and the Abbot of Margam, con
cerning tenements in Llanmeuthin. Also the Sheriff
of Cardiff was directed to act as to certain crops be
longing to the Abbot of St. Peter's, Gloucester, at
Tregof and Lancarvan, seized on account of a vacancy
in that office. The Archbishop of Canterbury had
placed his seneschal in charge of Tonbridge Castle,

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 125
whence he is ordered to transmit six Welsh prisoners
to the constable of Rochester Castle. They were
Thurk (?), Howel ap Meulyn, Meuth ap Leulyn, Tudor
Howel, Howel ap Ivor (?) and Meureth.
Gilbert de Clare, surnamed " the Red", "quia rufus
erat et pulcher aspectu", 7th Earl of Gloucester and
7th of Hertford, and 9th Earl of Clare, succeeded in
July 1262, 46th Henry III, being then nineteen years
of age, not as yet girded with the sword of knighthood,
and married to Alice de la Marche or d' Angoulesme,
by whom he had one child, Isabel, born 10th < March
1262. 27th June, the Abbot of Tewkesbury appointed
William de Deerhurst Prior of Cardiff. The minority
was a short one, for, 3rd August, the young Earl did
homage, and had livery of the castles of Cardiff, New-
burgh (Newport), and Llantrissant, and of the Welsh
lordship, of which Hereford was to give seizin ; which
cost the Earl £1000. The Hundreds of Wathelston
and Littelfeld, held by the Earl, under the See of
Canterbury, but appendant to Tonbridge, were restored
to him, on his coining of age, by the Archbishop. At -
the same time he entered upon his lands in England
and Ireland, and also succeeded to the wardship of
the lands of Peter of Savoy, and of Pembroke Castle,
and of the lands of William de Valence in Pembroke :
wardships, unlike other personal property, being herita
ble. Just before this, 8th February 1263, the Bishop
of Llandaff was informed that when he came to Lon
don he might lodge in the close of the King's Hermi
tage at Charing Cross, without impediment from the
royal officers.
. The young Earl, it is recorded by Wykes, was im
petuous and much influenced by his mother, who led
him to join the opposition party. "Blanditiis allectum,
qui prius Regi devotus extiterat, resilire coegit, et de
fideli reddidit infidelem." He was, however, probably
influenced also by the example of his father, who,
though a moderate, was never a blind, supporter of the

126 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
King. It is moreover said that the Earl had a special
grievance against Prince Edward, whose attentions to
his wife were unpleasant to him. From whatever
cause, he at once, as early as February 1263, threw
himself into the party of de Montfort, at that time
engaged in giving effect to the provisions of Oxford-,
by which aliens were excluded from the government
of the royal castles, and the central administration of
justice, and an equitable collection of the revenue were
provided for. In March he refused to include Prince
Edward in his oath of allegiance, and, with de Mont
fort, took up arms. The King fled to the Tower, and
the Prince took post at Windsor, and towards the
close of the year it was decided, against the Earl's
wish, to refer the matters in dispute to the French
King. Henry seized the Earl's castles of Kingston and
Tonbridge, but allowed the Countess, who was in the
latter, to go free.
The French award was unfavourable to the barons,
who, at the Oxford Parliament in March 1264, refused
to accept it. 12th May, Henry addressed a defiance
to de Montfort and the Earl of Gloucester, as chiefs
of the Barons' party, and in the military summonses
to Worcester their adherents were omitted. On the
14th, the rival forces met at Lewes, and the appeal
to arms, long threatened, actually occurred. The Earl
accepted knighthood on the battle field from de Mont
fort, and, young and unskilled as he was, was never
theless recognized as, equally with de Montfort, a
leader of the party, and to him was allotted the com
mand of the second line. In the battle he distin
guished himself by personal valour, and seems to have
received the King's sword. He used his power to
take a grant, 20th June, of the confiscated estates of
Earl Warenne, excepting Rygate and Lewes Castles ;
and one of the articles of the " Mise of Lewes" pro
vides especially for his indemnity and that of de Mont
fort. The Earl, Earl Simon, and the Bishop of Chi
chester were the three electors who were to nominate

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 127
the new council of nine persons of those who were
" most faithful, prudent, and most studious for the
public weal", and who were to be the real governors
of the kingdom. Gloucester was also one of the five
Earls summoned to the " Great Parliament" at West
minster, 20th January 1265.
Victory speedily generated discontent between the
victors, and especially between the two Earls. Glou
cester seems to have claimed from Earl Simon the
custody of his own prisoners, and especially of the Earl of
Cornwall, and to have been refused. He also demanded
unsuccessfully the Castle of Bristol, to which he had
hereditary claims, and which was occupied by Earl Simon ;
and further, a tournament at which he proposed to
take part against de Montfort's sons, was forbidden
by their father. These causes , or some of them , may have
precipitated the rupture, but it was improbable that
the two Earls could long have continued in accord.
De Montfort was a foreigner by birth and education, a
much older man than Gloucester, and as far above
him in personal weight as he was below him in here
ditary position and territorial wealth. Each naturally
looked upon the other with a jealous eye. Earl Gilbert,
though without experience, stood at the head of the
English baronage, and it was evident that however
much circumstances might force him to oppose Henry,
he did not wish permanently to overthrow the royal
power. A few years later Wikes describes him as
" Summae et singularis inter regni Magnates nobili-
tatis, et praeeminentiae, et incomparabilis post Regem
potentiae". De Montfort, whose views were broader
and probably far more patriotic than those of the Earl,
nevertheless desired personal aggrandisement. From
the King he had long sought an augmentation of his
wife's jointure, which included a third of the Mareschal
estates, and he wished to obtain from the Prince the
Earldom of Chester in exchange for that of Leicester,
Chester being not only- a richer, but, from its position
on the Marches, a far more powerful earldom; and to

128 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
bring about this change he took advantage of his pos
session of the Prince's person. He was also bent upon
strengthening his own power in the west, at the ex
pense of that of Gloucester, holding Bristol, and giving
encouragement to the South Welsh Princes, hereditary
foes to the Lords of Glamorgan. Moreover, his son,
the younger Simon, was pretender to the hand of
Isabel, heiress of the great Earldom of Devon, and
holding in dower a third of that of Albemarle. After
Lewes, he had actually pursued her with an armed force,
and forced her to take refuge under, the covert protec
tion of the Earl of Gloucester, her kinsman. These
sources of distrust led Gloucester at once to take up
the interests of the King, who would thus become
indebted to him for his kingdom.
His change of action was rapid and complete. In
April 1265, he opened a communication, through his
brother Thomas, with Roger Mortimer, and came to a
personal altercation with de Montfort, casting up
against him his foreign birth, "manifeste ridiculum est
quod hie alienigena totius regni dominium sibi praesumit
subjugare". De Montfort, with the King and Prince
in his train, went to Hereford, while de Clare, in con
junction with John Giffard, a great soldier and a man
of much personal influence in South Wales, collected a
considerable force in the Forest of Dene. In May, an
arbitration was agreed to, probably to gain time, for in
that month, by Thomas de Clare's agency, the Prince
effected his escape from the meads of Hereford, and
rode to Wigmore, and thence to Ludlow, where he was
joined by Gloucester, on the condition that he should
swear to observe "the ancient and approved laws of
the realm". De Montfort's rejoinder was the destruc
tion of the Castle of Monmouth, whence he marched
upon Newport, holding both banks of the Usk. He
was followed by Prince Edward from the East, on
which he broke down Newport Bridge, and retired
upon Glamorgan, which he laid waste in combination
with Llewelyn. Meantime de Clare regained Bristol,

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 129
and the Prince fell back upon the Severn at Gloucester.
While there, he learned that the younger de Montfort
was on his way from Pevensey towards Kenilworth.
With a decision that indicated the future leader, the
Prince by a rapid march intercepted de Montfort near
Kenilworth, routed him, 16th July, and thence turning
back upon Worcester, held that city and broke down
the bridge, 1st August, and on the 4th, encountered
and overthrew Earl Simon at Evesham.
In the battle, de^ Clare, as at Lewes, led the second
line, but now on the King's behalf. His reward was a
pardon, 49th Hen. Ill, for his brother Thomas, himself,
and his adherents, and the custos-ship of Abergavenny
during the nonage of Maud, the child wife of the Earl
of Hereford. He again did homage for his lands ; and
the King remitted £900 of fine as yet unpaid upon
his livery, on the ground of his expenses in the royal
cause. De Montfort's death left Gloucester without a rival,
and much tempted him to take the lead on the popular
side. He does not seem to have aided at the siege of
Kenilworth; and though one of those elected to sit as
an arbitrator upon the terms of the Ban, in October
1266, he disapproved of, and opposed them. Early in
that year William de Braose, Canon of Llandaff, was
elected Bishop ; and Griffith ap Rhys, taken prisoner,
was committed to Cardiff Castle, and thence, in 1267,
sent to Kilkenny for greater security. Towards the
close of 1266 Gloucester, himself discontented, seems
to have met the "disinherited" party in the Isle of
Ely, and thence, 8th April 1267, to have led them to
London, where they occupied the city, and summoned
the Legate to surrender the Tower. They met publicly
at St. Paul's, but, meantime, Henry had advanced from
Windsor, and encamped at Stratford, whence, 5th May,
he also entered London. On this, Gloucester, through
his brother Thomas, again made terms, and in June
he and his followers were admitted to the benefits of
the Ban, and a safe-conduct issued in favour of Gilbert
K

130 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
de Clare, his household, and all who call themselves
"exheredatos". This was to enable them to meet Henry
at Stratford.
The Parliament at Marlborough, in November, con
ceded almost all the points in dispute; and although
the Earl remained at variance with Mortimer and the
royal party, and declined an invitation to the King's
great banquet, he gave no further trouble, and the
King waived the conditions proposed by the Legate,
that the Earl should give either his daughter or his
Castle of Tonbridge, for three years, as a hostage for
his conduct. Finally, at Midsummer 1268, the Earl
assumed the cross, with Prince Edward, at Northampton,
though this promise was not fulfilled by himself. His
brother Thomas, however, accompanied the Prince.
The Earl's amity was no doubt largely influenced by
the King's action in South Wales. As early as 26th
April 1266, the King had questioned the correctness of
the Earl's scutages, and had directed William de
Powyk and the Abbot of Tintern to make a new
survey; and 30th April, Humphrey, Earl of Hereford,
was ordered to take charge, but the issues were to be
paid over to Matilda, Countess of Gloucester, and Gilbert
de Clare ; and the Countess was to surrender Usk Castle.
5th May, Earl Humphrey was informed that the King
will accommodate his niece, the wife of Gilbert de
Clare, wfith the use of Usk Castle, which had belonged
to Richard de Cardiff ; Lawrence de Hameldon appears
as Earl Gilbert's clerk. 1st August, the Earl had a
grant of the manor of Lydgate, and the seneschalship
of Bury Abbey, taken from Henry de Hastings, the
King's enemy. 20th August, he was also to have the
lands of all the rebel Welsh that he could conquer.
In 1267, Henry laboured hard to give peace to South
Wales; 14th March, Roger de Somery and Hugh de
Turberville, Glamorgan Barons, were commissioned to
inquire into the causes of quarrel between Llewelyn ap
Griffith and the Earl of Gloucester. Llewelyn's com
plaint was that the Earl refused to restore the lands of

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 131
his subjects, according to the terms agreed upon. The
result was a compromise, agreed to at Michaelmas
1268. The violence complained of had chiefly lain in
the districts of Senghenydd, Glyn-Rhondda, and Miscin,
tracts of country too strong and too near Cardiff to be
left in native hands. The compromise lasted but a
short time, and the final result was the building of the
great Castle of Caerphilly. The Earl was still bent <
upon the recovery of Bristol; and, 31st October 1268,
he addressed the King, stating that he proposed,
with Prince Edward's consent, to have his right to
the castle and borough tried in course of law, and
should he recover it, he promises to give due ex
change. The suit seems to have been deferred till
1276, when, in the presence of the Archbishop of
Canterbury and others, the castle and borough were
adjudged to the King.
A year later, 15th October 1269, the Earl had a safe-
conduct to come to meet the King, Prince Edward, and
Llewelyn, of which he does not seem to have availed
himself; nor did he attend the Parliament then held.
He found it very inconvenient to accompany the Prince
to the Holy Land, and he probably feared compulsion.
The reason he assigned, whether true or false, was cer
tainly sufficient. "At Comes causatus est terris suis, ,
quae Walliae continguntur, et quae tunc temporis a
Wallensibus fortiter fuerunt impugnatae, depopulatis
provinciis, et castris solo terrarum complanatis, peri-
culum imminere, si, vacuatis regni limitibus, ipsas . . .
expositas relinqueret indefensas." The King of the
Romans seems to have mediated, and at Pentecost
1270, Henry allowed the repayment of the Earl's
expenses at Evesham, and again gave him livery of his
lands and castles. In return, he undertook to follow
the Prince, who had left England in July, unless pre
vented by illness, war, or other sufficient causes. This
he did not do, but as he gave no other cause of offence,
he and Henry lived on good terms for the rest of the
reign.
k 2

132 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
The King of the Romans died 2nd April 1272, and
that year, about six weeks before Henry's death, Earl
Gilbert married his sister Margaret to Edmund,
Richard's eldest surviving son, on which occasion, on
St. Edmund's Day, 20th November, Edmund was
knighted and recognised as Earl of Cornwall ; and on
St. Nicholas' Day following, 6th December, he gave a
wedding feast of great splendour at Wallingford. Upon
Henry's death Earl Gilbert was one of those whose
names, 23rd November 1272, are appended to the
letter informing Prince Edward of that event, and the
proclamation of the new King was signed by the Arch
bishop of York, Earl Gilbert, and Edmund (Earl of
Cornwall). He was also present at the proclamation at
the New Temple, and on the new King's arrival in
England he entertained him' with great magnificence at
Tonbridge Castle.
The state of Glamorgan during the reign of Henry
III was such as to cause great anxiety to its lord, its
ecclesiastical magnates, its barons and knights, and its
inhabitants generally, whether Welsh or English. The
land was wasted, the houses burned, the cattle driven
off, the borough towns and religious houses sorely
bested. The clergy were in arrears with their tithes,
the bishops and monastic bodies with their dues, and
the landlords of all ranks with their rents and the pro
duce of their demesnes. Treaties and truces between
the English and the Welsh were of no avail. Each
party broke them at pleasure. The King's writ did not
run in the Marches, and would have been but little re
spected even if it had had legal sanction; and the chief
lords, though strong enough to be a thorn in the King's
side, were often unable to preserve peace. It is true that
the lower or seaboard division of the lordship, including
the vale of Glamorgan, was studded with castles.
Cardiff, Neath, and Swansea, and perhaps the Tower
of Lwchwr,, were strong enough to defend the lower
parts of the Taff, the Nedd, the Tawe, and the Lwchwr
rivers, but the other castles and strong houses, Kenfig,

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 133
Llantrissant, Ogmore, Coyty, Dunraven, Talavan, Llan
blethian, Bonvilleston, Fonmon, Penmark, Sully, Barry,
Wenvoe, Flimston, and Dinas Powis, and a score of
others, were intended to guard private domains, and
did not command the main passes of the district.
Cardiff and Neath were regularly walled, and Kenfig
fenced in, probably with a palisade. Cowbridge also
was walled. The south gate and wall still remain, and
a charter of the 3rd Henry VII refers to a turret or
tower and to the north wall, as then standing. These
defences, however, were for the security of the town
only. What was wanted was some central stronghold
of the first class, large enough to contain a numerous
garrison, strong enough to resist a siege, and so placed
as to stand in the way of any advance of the Welsh in
force into England, and, should they so advance, to cut
off their retreat. Earl Gilbert determined to supply
this want in a manner worthy of his rank and wealth
as chief of the Marcher Lords, and suitable to the im-
portanceof the territory which it was his duty to pro
tect. The place fixed upon for his fortress was the
centre of a vast and, in part, marshy basin upon the
Welsh bank of the Rhymny, and therefore between
the lordships of Gwent and Morgannwg, within the
hill district, and not above six miles from Cardiff. This
lay in the route by which the Welsh invaders usually
advanced upon and retired from Gwent, and to close it
would close the whole line of the Rhymny, from the
Brecon mountains to the sea, Cardiff blocking the sea
ward plain, and Brecknock and Builth, the valley of
the Usk, north of the mountains. The proposed castle
was wholly new. A knoll of ground rising out of the
morass was scarped and revetted and crowned with a
double belt of walls and towers, while, as at Kenilworth
and Leeds, an insignificant brook was barred by a
strong and well-defended dam, and the depression about
the castle converted into a deep and broad lake. Such
was the origin and such the general disposition of the
Castle of Caerphilly, the most complete example in

134 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Britain of the concentric style of fortress, and in area
and accommodation second only to Windsor. Unfor
tunately for its historic celebrity, the precautions which
led to its construction were, within a very few years,
rendered useless by the complete conquest of the Prin
cipality, though in that respect it only shared the
fate of Conway, Caernarvon, Beaumaris, Harlech, and
Bere. Earl Gilbert certainly did not take up the defence of
his territory by halves. Besides Caerphilly, the small
but strong fortress of Castell Coch was constructed to
guard the lowest pass of the Taff ; and upon the high
ground near one head of the same river, near the old
Roman way from Newport to Brecon, was constructed,
a few years later, Morlais, a castle small in area but
strong, and guarded by a ditch quarried with immense
labour out of the limestone rock. The chain was com
pleted by the construction of a circular tower, now de
stroyed, at Whitchurch, in the plain between Castell
Coch and Cardiff. The age of Castell Coch can be de
termined only by reference to its architectural pecu
liarities, which, however, are sufficiently marked.
Enough remained of Whitchurch a score of years ago
to declare its date ; but it is also mentioned in the
reign of Edward II, when Llewelyn ap Griffith, repre
sentative of the celebrated Ivor Bach, and ancestor of
the Lewises of the Van and Llanishen, indigenous in
those parts, claimed and was allowed the "forcelettum"
which stood upon his ground. Morlais, the site of
which had been wrested from the same Llewelyn, was
the subject of quarrel between the Lords of Brecknock
and Glamorgan in the reign of Edward I, the full par
ticulars of which are recorded upon the Rolls of Parlia
ment. Caerphilly was certainly built in the closing
years of the reign of Henry III, though largely altered
and improved half a century later. Much of it bears
evidence of having been built in haste, though the
interior and more ornate parts are in good taste and of
excellent workmanship. In a military point of view it
is a very remarkable work.

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 135
Caerphilly had been commenced, and was defensible
as early as 1270, for it was then attacked by Llewelyn,
and in it were the King's Commissioners, the Bishops
of Lichfield and Worcester. A truce was agreed
to, the Castle to be held by the Bishops till the
quindene (15th day after) of Midsummer, and there
was to be a final settlement of the matter at the
Fords of Montgomery, at the quindene of the fol
lowing Easter. The King no doubt saw the im
portance of the castle to the realm at large, for, in
Council, 2nd February 1271, in London, de Clare had
leave to enditch it.
Llewelyn's attack is the subject of a letter from the
Archbishop of York in London, dated 3rd November
1271, to Magr R. de Nedham, his proctor at Rome. It
appeared that Prince Edward, on leaving England, had
constituted the Archbishop, the King of the Romans,
Philip Basset, R. de Mortimer, and R. Burnel, his
deputies, and their attention was engaged upon affairs
in South Wales. "Llewelyn," the Primate says, "had
come down upon Caerphilly, and laid siege to it with a
considerable force. The Earl of Gloucester is calling
for aid which ought not to be withheld. But the King
is ill, and the scarcity of the past year has left them
without funds." He relates this that the Cardinals may
be content with less valuable presents than might have
been expected. The favour of the new Pope was, how
ever, to be obtained by a handsome sum.
Beneath the strong rule of Edward I, the part played
by the Earl of Gloucester became politically insignifi
cant, and on the subjugation of Wales in 1282, one
source both of his power and of his weakness was ex
tinguished. Henceforward, the most important events
in his life were connected with his own estates. In
1276, Earl Gilbert joined in the decree declaring
Llewelyn guilty of contumacy ; and, at the close of the
year, he was summoned to the Welsh expedition. In
this year also, Morgan of Avan, the son of Morgan
Gam, and the principal Welshman holding of the Earl,

136 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
married the daughter and heiress of Walter de Sully, a
knight of Norman descent, and united his estate to
Avan. He died 6th August 1288.
Soon afterwards, the dispute respecting Malvern
Chase, settled about 1255, was reopened, the Earl
claiming right of chase on Malvern Hill, in Colwall
and Estun, against the Bishop of Worcester, who
gained the cause, which, however, reappeared a few
years later. The Bishop of Hereford, who had also
certain claims, came to an agreement with the Earl.
In 1276, the Earl made a final effort to recover the
Castle and Borough of Bristol, as the heir of William,
Earl of Gloucester. The cause seems to have been
fairly tried by the magnates of the realm, and judg
ment went against him, on the ground that the Crown
had held them during the last four reigns. Also, in
1276, the Earl's Bailiff of Caerleon, and his Sheriff of
Glamorgan, are ordered by the King not to allow the
tenants to supply provisions to the Welsh rebels.
In December 1277, the Earl was impleaded by cer
tain merchants for debts incurred in aid of the Welsh
war, in consideration of which a delay was allowed
him. About the same time arose a dispute with the
Bishop of Winchester about the Church of Portland,
and John Pickard and Maurice de Lambeth represented
the Earl. In March 1278, he seems to have escorted
Alexander, King of Scots, to London, under a safe-
conduct from Edward, and at Michaelmas he was pre
sent at the homage rendered by the Scottish King.
10th January 1279, Bishop Braose of Llandaff was
summoned before the Exchequer for sums due on the
wardship of a certain youth which he had obtained in
satisfaction for 100 marcs paid by him on behalf of
Ralph Cross, the youth's father ; a kind of security
then common. About this time Matilda, Countess of
Gloucester, and Earl Gilbert, her son, were called to
deliver to Roger Mortimer and Matilda his wife, cer
tain lands and rents in Usk, which had been assigned
to the latter lady. They were cousins. Gilbert, 5th

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 137
Earl of Gloucester, married Isabel Mareschal, and Eva,
her sister and co-heir, married Wm. de Braose. Isabel's
son married Matilda de Lacy, and Usk was settled on
her son Gilbert, 7th Earl. Eva de Braose also had a
daughter, Matilda, who married Roger Mortimer. The
dispute was arranged by the transfer of Aure Manor to
Mortimer. 9th June 1279, Earl Gilbert did homage to
Archbishop Peckham, for Tonbridge. This took place
at Lymynge in the presence of Sir John, son of Arnulph
de Bosco, Richard de Teyden, Master Thos. de Pulesdon,
and Richard de Londres, of the Earl's household. It
appears from an entry in the Pipe Roll of 9th Edward I,
that when the Earl undertook to accompany Prince
Edward to Palestine he received 1,000 marcs, which
sum he was then repaying. In 1280, the Earl founded
the Grey Friary in Crockherbton, of which a fragment,
though of later date, still remains.
About this time, also, the Earl's marcher rights were
questioned by one of the de Braose family who had
been stopped with violence by Robert de Veal, the
Earl's Bailiff, on the public highway. He proceeded
against de Clare, who was summoned before the King's
Court at Michaelmas 1281. The Earl challenged the
jurisdiction, and when his rights were made the subject
of a "quo warranto" he declined to reply until he had
consulted with his brother peers and marchers. 24th /
May 1282, he was summoned for the Welsh war, and
took part in Edward's great and final effort, which
ended in the death of Llewelyn.
The Earl seems to have been considerably burdened
by his father's debts, incurred, as Edward was dis
posed, very liberally, to admit, in the royal service.
He obtained more than one respite from the Exchequer,
and 12th Edward I, that department undertook to aid
him in the recovery of monies due to his father's estate,
and he was allowed £127 18s. 4cZ. for the farm of the
barton of Bristol for the 8th, 9th, and 10th years of
the reign. After the North Wales campaign the King
visited South Wales, and presented Abbot Adam, at

138 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Neath, with a very beautiful baudekin. In 1285 the
Sheriff of Glamorgan, Robert le Neil (Veal), was again
guilty of violence, seizing for the Earl, unjustly, the
lands of New Grange and of Terry, the property of
Margam. In 1287 one of the final struggles of the Welsh, now
without any recognised leader, took place under Rhys
ap Meredith, on which occasion the Bailiff of St.
Briavels was ordered to raise a force and place it under
the Earl of Gloucester, wdio was to be supported by
Mortimer and other marchers. 11th June, Rhys had
taken divers castles in the west, and was advancing
upon Swansea, which, 27th June, he plundered and
burnt ; and then burnt Oystermouth Castle in Gower.
The Welsh prisoners seem to have been fairly treated.
Griffith ap Meredith was committed to Richard Tybetot
at Nottingham Castle, where he stayed six years and
thirty-two weeks. There appears a charge of 16s. per
annum for robes for him, and £25 2s. "pro vadiis".
Rees ap Maelgon and Conan ap Meredith were first,
1286, sent to Bridgenorth, and thence, 1289, moved to
Bamburgh. Ptees had a grant of 10 marcs per annum
rent, in Dalton juxta Drayenton, in 1307.
When we read that one cause of the Earl's personal
dislike to Prince Edward was his jealousy of his atten
tion to his wife, it seems strange to find a marriage
proposed between the Earl and the daughter of the
Prince, become King ; such, however, was the fact.
There is much doubt as to why or when he was
divorced from Alice of Angoulesme ; one account stating
positively that the divorce was pronounced at Norwich
18th July 1271, while other and more probable ac
counts place it as 1282, and Pere Anselm fixes it in
1283, and says the cause was "parcequelle etoit devenue
hypocondre". What is recorded of Edward's intimacy
with the lady, even if exaggerated, is scarcely consis
tent with a great affection between the husband and
wife ; and no doubt the desire for male heirs had great
weight. But there does not appear to have been any

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 139
scandal in the rupture. Alice was the appellant in the
petition for divorce; and the Earl, 25th May 1282,
settled upon her, as the Lady Alicia de Marchia, cer
tain lands as a provision for her sustenance ; their
daughter Isabel was also provided for. The pro
ceedings, however, seem, according to a deed in
Rymer,not to have been completed until 16th May 1285.
The object for which the divorce was brought about
could have been no secret, for in May 1283, is dated
the " Praelocutio" between the King and the Earl,
touching a contract of marriage between the latter and
the King's daughter. The King and his council are
satisfied that the Earl will obtain from the Church the
dissolution of his marriage with Alice, who was his
wife, and are aware that he has purchased a dispensa
tion to marry the King's daughter, his kinswoman.
The Earl is to surrender all his lands in England, Ire
land, and Wales, so that he and his wife may be
enfeoffed therein to them and the heirs of their
bodies. If there be no such heirs, the lands go to
the Countess for life, with the remainder to the Earl's
right heirs, excepting "deus mile marchees de terre", to
be selected to the satisfaction of the King and Queen,
and which the Countess is to have in fee as her in
heritance, together with any land that the Earl may
purchase after marriage. This seems a perfectly rea
sonable settlement, having regard to the rank of the
lady ; and the King's oath to observe it was given by
Otto de Grandison, as proxy, the Earl's in person.
Princess Joan was born at Acre in 1272, Edward's
second daughter, and was then therefore, in 1283, but
eleven years old. The consummation of the marriage
was on this account postponed, and took place at West
minster, 2nd May 1290, she being then eighteen years
old. Edward gave her no portion. The dispensation
referred to in 1283, and given by Rymer, seems not to
have been signed till 16th November 1289; and it
covered not only the relationship between Earl Gilbert
and Joan, but that between Joan and Alice, the former

140 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
wife. The King married his two daughters on suc
cessive days. On the second of July 1290, Beatrice
married the son and heir of the Duke of Brabant, and
their feast was held at Westminster. Next day, "in
crastino vero ipsius Dominicae Comes Gloucestriae,
abducta uxore sua, quam nuper ante desponsaverat, loco
nuptiarum celeberrimum fecit convivium apud Clerken-
well celebritati superioris convivii non dissimile nee
minus sumptuosum." Matilda, the Earl of Gloucester's
mother, seems to have died about this time, for, 10th
March 1289, her dower lands came into his possession.
About the same time, probably between the contract
and Earl Gilbert's marriage, occurred the celebrated
quarrel between the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford,
which led to serious consequences to both, and enabled
Edward to carry into effect a stroke of policy very im
portant for the welfare of his kingdom. Hereford, 26th
June 1289, complained that Gloucester had built a castle
on his territory, and had collected an armed force and
broken the peace. It appeared upon inquiry that the
Earl of Gloucester had built Morlais Castle, as he said,
within his border ; as the Earl of Hereford alleged,
beyond it. Their dependents had met in arms with
banners displayed, and had committed, as the King
declared, a breach of his peace, or as Gloucester con
sidered it, of their own peace as marchers. Also the
border had been harried, flocks and herds driven off,
and a church despoiled, in which Gloucester's senes
chal had been the main offender. The King ordered
both parties to pause, and await his decision. This
command they disobeyed, and continued their local
warfare. 18th Edward I, January 1290, the matter
came before Parliament, and the King took it up in
earnest. A commission was appointed and reported, and
both Earls were imprisoned. There exists a very curious
record of a suit in the King's Court arising out of this
dispute, in which de Bohun was querent and de Clare
defendant, in which de Bohun asserts that de Clare
had neglected to fulfil the custom of the March, or of

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 141
Wales, which had long obtained, by which, when conten
tions arose between such magnates as held of the King
"in capite", before any suit was lodged in the King's
Court, there should be taken "dies amoris sive Parlia-
menti", also called a "dies Marchias", when the causes of
the quarrel were to be laid before the neighbours and
common friends, acting as judges, so that the custom of
the March thus might be cleared up.
The proceedings upon the main inquiry are recorded
at great length on the Rolls of Parliament, and were
one of the " causes celebres" of the reign. Before sen
tence was given the Earl of Gloucester had married the
King's daughter, but the Earl of Hereford was also
connected with the royal family. In truth, the occasion
was a good one to break down the power of the Marcher
Lords, and the King availed himself of it to the full.
The lands of both parties were forfeited, and, 20th
Edward I, 1291-2, Roger de Burghull had custody of
the "royal liberty", then in the hands of the Earl of
Gloucester, in Glamorgan, and of the Earl of Hereford
in Brecknock, which liberties were taken into the King's
hands by reason of the contempt and disobedience of
the said Earls. The King thus asserted his right as
over-lord to "totum regale in terris suis de Morgannon",
and "totum regale libertatis sue de Brekenok." Glou
cester's lands were to remain in the King's hands "tota
vita ipsius comitis", and for the other earl, "forisfacta
de ipso Comite et heredibus suis in perpetuum." Here
ford, however, was really least in fault, and this was
admitted, "Transgressio de qua convictus est non ita
carcans, nee tantam penam requirit quantum, etc., de
qua predictus Comes Glouc. convincitur"; and so, as
Hereford had married the King's cousin, and his child
ren were of kin to the King's children, his forfeiture
also was limited to his life. Both were imprisoned,
and Gloucester, besides paying £100 to Hereford for
his losses, was fined 10,000 marcs to the King, and
Hereford 1,000 marcs. Even the Earl's officers, who
only obeyed orders, were fined. The offence was, in
fact, treated just as though it had been committed in

142 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
any other part of the kingdom, and Edward was the
first sovereign who could have ventured so to treat it.
In Gloucester's case, the reason given for the limitation
of the forfeiture to his life was that he had a son Gilbert,
born 1291 at Winchcombe, begotten of the King's
daughter, who was jointly enfeoffed of the estates with
her husband. There is a good deal of obscurity as to
the different steps, both of the marriage and the forfeit
ure. The Earl's deed of surrender is dated 20th April
1290, three weeks before his marriage, upon which was
a re-settlement, much less favourable to him than that
set forth in the Prcelocutio of 1283, being to the husband
and wife jointly for life, remainder to the heirs of their
bodies, remainder over to her heirs, instead of, as before,
to his heirs. The lands so re-settled lay in the counties
of Berks, Bucks, Cambridge, Derby, Devon, Dorset,
Essex, Gloucester, Hants, Herts, Hunts, Kent, Lincoln,
Norfolk, Northampton, Notts, Oxford, Somerset, Suffolk,
Surrey, Sussex, Wilts, Worcester, and in Wales, a pro
digious estate. The Irish lands were included, but with
remainder to his heirs.
In 1290 occurred a revival of the old dispute as to
the custody of the temporalities of Llandaff, "sede
vacante." It appeared that in 1240, when Bishop Elias
died, King Henry put in Waleran Teutonicus to ad
minister, and he collated to one prebend Master William
de Burgh, treasurer, and to another Alfred de Fescamp,
sub-treasurer of the Wardrobe, and to the archdeaconry
Thomas, the queen-mother's chaplain ; and at the term
of his custos-ship he accounted for the proceeds to the
Exchequer. At that time the Chapter elected Arch
deacon Maurice to the See, but the election was set
aside by the King. William of Christchurch was then
chosen, and appears on the roll of bishops from 1240 to
1244, when he resigned, no doubt because disapproved
by the King; and William de Burgh, above mentioned,
and then chaplain to the King, became bishop, and so
remained till his death in 1253. The earl was at that
time under age, and though a protest was entered
against the King's interference, it was not pressed.

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 143
Bishop William de Braose died, it appears, 19th
March 1286-7, when the Archbishop of Canterbury
revoked the commission of Master Thomas de St.
Audomard as official of Llandaff, and appointed Master
Aniamo Calus (?) then a canon of St. Asaph. On the
Bishop's death, or soon afterwards, the Marcher Lords,
under whom the lands of the See were holden, took
possession of them. The Earl of Gloucester took
Llandaff and Llancader- Warden manors, Lord William
de Braose took Bishopston in Gower, and the Earls of
Hereford and Norfolk, and Edmund the King's brother,
took others. November 3rd, 1290, the King's escheator,
Malcolm de Harley, raised objection to this, and, the
See being still vacant, claimed the custody of the manors
for the Crown. De Braose and the others gave way,
but Gloucester stood up for his rights. He asserted
the whole "patria" of Glamorgan to be "dominio suo",
and all wardships, that of the See included, to belong
to him, as they had always belonged to his ancestors,
save when under age, and the lord had, on that account,
been a ward to the King. He stated that his father
Richard, had, at his death, actually been in possession
of the manors in question, the See being then vacant.
The Earl was, no doubt, in his right, but the King had
him at a disadvantage, and his object was certainly for
the good of the realm, so the Earl had to give way, and
did so in October 1290 ; but to make the cession more
palatable a special grant, 2nd November 1292 (Ryley
says October 1290), of the privileges for their joint
and several lives was made to the Earl and Countess
Joan, with remainder to the King and his heirs for ever.
This case was cited in 1293 against John de Warenne,
Earl of Surrey, who claimed the custody of the tem
poralities of St. Asaph. Of de Clare and the other
lords, it was said, "Nichil clamare poterunt, propter
privilegium regium, et corone dignitatem, ad quam
specialiter pertinet Episcopatuum vacantium custodia."
Warrenne was non-suited. The whole transaction well
exemplifies the mixture of firmness and moderation with

144 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
which the great King carried out measures that affected
the unity of his kingdom.
5th July 1291, Richard de Tonsmere, chaplain, was
instituted to the Church of High An voile (Highlight),
on the presentation of David de Someri, its lord, by the
archbishop, the See being vacant. 3rd September 1294,
John Gordon was custos of the temporalities of Llandaff,
and the Abbot of Margam collector of the current
subsidy. The dispute between the King and the Earl
will account for the uncertainty as to the occupancy of
the See between 1287 and 1296, when John de Mon
mouth was appointed, but the King had to interfere to
force the Earl to give him seizin. On another occasion,
1291-2, the Earl seems to have taken the law into his
own hands, in the case of a trespass committed by the
Earl of Norfolk upon his tenants of Usk and Trilleck.
Arbitrators were named who were to inspect the inqui
sitions as to the possessions of William Earl Mareschal,
from whom the manors were derived. About the same
time the Malvern dispute was reopened. The Earl and
Countess threw up an earthen bank along the crest of
¦ the ridge, to which Giffard Bishop of Worcester objected
as an encroachment. This was settled by an agree
ment signed at Tewkesbury, October 1291, by which
the Bishop, or in his absence the Prior and Chapter of
Worcester, were to have annually from the Earl two
fat bucks and two fat does.
The King's determination to put an end to the privi
leges of the Marcher Lords, no doubt led others to
contest them. Thus, the Prior of Goldcliff summoned
the Earl to appear at his court at Newport to answer
for trespass. The Earl neglected to appear, and stated
that the King knew how he was engaged at the date
of the first summons, and that as to the second, he
knew not whether he had received it or not ; but, when
pressed, he claimed time, on the plea that his wardrobe,
no doubt containing, or supposed to contain, records
of his chancery, was in the parts of Wales.
In 1294, notwithstanding the general subjugation of

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 145
the Principality, the local troubles were considerable,
especially in South Wales, where they were fomented
by Conan ap Meredith and Maelgon ap Rhys. In the
spring of 1295 was a general rising, when a certain
Madoc, from the recesses of Snowdon, descended upon
and burned Caernarvon, while another Madoc overran
Pembroke and Caermarthen, and Morgan of Avan
seems at one time to have gained complete mastery
in Glamorgan. De Clare, never quite equal to a great
emergency, Avas probably disabled by disease. In any
case, Edward would probably have himself taken the
lead ; as it was, he acted with his usual vigour. In
November 1294, he was at Aberconway, where he
seems to have stayed till 1st April 1295, when he had
140 war ships in the Menai Straits. He was next in
Anglesea and, 7th May, at Bangor. On the 11th and
12th he was at Cymmer Abbey, by Dolgellau, and, on
the 14th and 15th, on the moated mound of Talybont,
just above Towyn. On the 17th he was at Llanpadarn
Vawr; between the 20th and 23rd, at Aberystwith ;
and on the 29th, at Llandewi-brevi, — moving, there
fore, with immense rapidity, and with a considerable
force, "amazement in his van, with flight combined",
though unaccompanied by any of the severities of war,
for the terror of his name seemed to have reduced the
rebels to order. On the 2nd and 3rd of June he was
at Cardigan ; on the 6th at Drysllwyn Castle, whence
he marched to Merthyr in Morganwg (Merthyr Tydvil),
between the 12th and 15th, and whence, no doubt, he
visited Morlais. Thence, having quieted the Princi
pality, he returned northwards to Brecknock, 16th of
June, and was at Builth 17th, dun 19th, Welshpool
22nd, Whitchurch 24th, and on the 1st of July he was
again at Aberconway, whence, soon after, he moved to
London. His transit across the Principality, rapid as
it was, had the best effect, "Rex", says the continuator
of Florence, "Rex penetravit totam Walliam juxta cas-
trum de Morlais. Omnes Wallenses de dominio comitis
Gloucestriae rex suscepit ad pacem suam, contra volunta- L

146 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
tern dicti Comitis. Et rex dedit eis custodem, videlicet,
Dominum Walterum Hacklut." In the Eulogium His-
toriarum the King's movement is more briefly noticed.
"Rex de Snowdoun per Walliam progrediens, occiden-
talem intravit Glanmorgan." The Earl must indeed have
seen that his Marcher kingdom was at an end, and
that, too, just when he had attained the highest object
of a subject's ambition — a marriage with a daughter
of the sovereign. At the close of this memorable year,
7th December 1295, 24th Edward I, he died, in the
Castle of Monmouth, aged fifty-two years, and having
held the earldom thirty-three years. On the 22nd of
the month he was laid at Tewkesbury, on the left hand
of his father. Richard de Talbot was appointed Go
vernor of the Castle and town of Cardiff. (Abb. pi. v, 1,
100, 25 Ed. 1.)
By Alice de la March he had a daughter, Isabel,
born 10th March 1261. She married Maurice Lord
Berkeley, 1304-5. She seems to have been granted
the custody of certain lands held by the King by reason
of the nonage of Gilbert, son and heir of Gilbert Earl
of Gloucester, etc. In 1314, Roger Mortimer of Wig-
more admitted a debt due to her of 300 marcs. She
also held lands contingent on her stepmother's death ;
for in 1315 Ralph de Monthermer, Countess Joan's
husband, did service for certain lands which after
wards devolved on Isabella. Also in 1327-8, being
Berkeley's widow, she petitioned, stating that her
brother, Earl Gilbert, had granted her the manors of
Shipton and Bar-ford, for the restitution of which she
prayed. She was to show her charters. Berkeley had
been justiciary in South Wales, and custos of the castles
there. Isabel seems to have died childless, 1338.
By his second wife, Joan of Acre, the Earl had a
son, Gilbert, born 1291, and three daughters, Eleanor,
or Alianor, Elizabeth and Margaret, afterwards co
heiresses of the estate, to the exclusion of their half-
sister Isabel, who was, no doubt, ousted by the sur
render and settlement of the estates, and by the rule
against the inheriting by the half blood.

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 147
The Earl's executors were Thomas, Abbot of Tewkes
bury, Robert le Veal of co. Somerset, Simon de Hey-
ham, Adam de Blechingley, and William de Hamel-
don ; and to them, on the Earl's death, at Countess
Joan's request, the King pardoned 10,000 marcs due
to the Exchequer. It appears that the whole debt
was £7284 5s. 7\d., against which was a set-off of
£2262 12s. 3d. Joan did homage on her accession,
18th January 1296. Her keeper of the wardrobe was
John de Bruges, parson of Heghtred.
Among the allowances for the year is £79 6s. for
the transport of fifty South Welsh hostages from
Bristol to Salisbury Castle. Thirteen others were sent
to Newcastle, and sixty to Bamburgh. Three prisoners
taken by Roger de Knovil were pardoned for £40.
Joan married secretly and speedily in 1296 Ralph de
Monthermer, a simple esquire, upon whom she seems
previously to have induced the King to confer knight
hood. The precise date of the marriage is not pre
served ; but 16th March 1297, it was unknown, for
Edward assented to a proposal for marrying Joan to
Amadaeus, Earl of Savoy. When the marriage was
discovered, Edward was furious. He imprisoned Mon
thermer, and seized all his daughter's lands. 15th
March 1297, Marc de Harley had her in custody, and
was to provide her with reasonable sustenance. Ed
ward's paternal love must have been strong, for before
long, at the intercession of Bishop Bee, he gave way.
Her answer to her father's remonstrances is said to
have pleased him. " It is not," said she, " considered
an ignominy for a powerful Earl to marry 'pauperculam
mulierem et tenuem' ; neither therefore is it repre
hensible in a Countess ' Juvenem strenuum promo-
vere.' ' Joan was allowed to reside quietly at Marl
borough, and after a short time the marriage was
recognized; and 26th Edward I, 1297-8, Monthermer
had livery of the estates, and was summoned as Earl
of Gloucester and Hertford by the tenure of fifty
knight's fees. He proved a gallant soldier, rose high
L 2

148 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
in the King's favour, and after some delay seems to
have been allowed to administer the lordship of Gla
morgan till the majority of the young Earl.
Meantime the King, administering as guardian, had
issued writs to Morgan the son of Meredith, and David
le Grant, to levy and send forward Welsh troops to
Gascony; and another writ with Morgan couples Henry
de Penbruge. 9th May 1297, the custos was to hear the
plaints, according to the local custom, of Simon de
Ralege and Joanna his wife, and James de Bonneville
and Amabilia his wife. These probably related to
Wrenchester, the Ralegh estate in Glamorgan. 3rd
July 1297, writs were issued to postpone a payment
of 100 marcs, which the men of Tyriarth (Tir-y jarll) had
been fined, with Countess Joan, to be secured in their
ancient customs, and of a similar payment of 500
marcs from the men of Miscin and Glynrothny, and
100 marcs from the commonalty of Senghennith ; and
15th July, Walter de Hacklut, Custos, was ordered
to complete the gate of the Castle of Llantrissant,
which he had begun. 18th July, at the prayer of
the Archbishop, the King restored to the Bishop of
Llandaff his lands which had been held by the Barons
of the Exchequer ; also the Countess Joan, in the ex
ercise of her rights, sold the wardship of John le Sor
for ten years to Lovetot, who sold it to a Sienna mer
chant for 260^ marcs. Le Sor was a Glamorgan land
holder. In 1301, Tonbridge Castle was restored to the Earl
and Countess, with estates in Kent, Surrey, Sussex,
and the Isle of Portland. In Marc de Harley's ac
counts for the Honour of Tonbridge is a charge for
" vadia" for a Welsh hostage there kept. The royal
accounts extend from 2nd May 1298, to 16th Novem
ber 1301, when the restoration took place. In 1301,
Monthermer signed the barons' letter to Pope Boni
face the VIII, as " R. de Monthermer Com. Glouces
triae et Hertfordiae." The Archbishop wrote to him
about restoring the goods of Earl Gilbert to his ex-

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 149
ecutors, and cites Robert de St. Fagan, treasurer of
the church of Llandaff, to reply concerning them. This
was Robert le Veal who was Lord of St. Fagan's. In
1304-5, a subsidy was levied upon Wales for the war.
North Wales paid £1,333 6s. 8d. ; West Wales,
£833 6s. 8d. ; Flint, £333 6s. 8d. ; Powys, £216
13s. id.; Builth, £50; Montgomery, £40; total,
£2,806 13s. 4d
26th July 1306, Prince Edward writes to Joan from
Lambeth, thanking her for her goods and her seal,
which latter he returns by his clerk. He assures her
that the King is not so harsh to him as she has been
told. 1304-5, Earl Ralph appointed Richard de Ro-
chelle to be his sheriff for Glamorgan. In 1306,
the year of Bruce's coronation at Scone, he received
from Edward the lands of Athol, Strathbolgi, and
Strathern. He was then styled Earl of Gloucester
and Huntingdon. 26th February 1307, in the year of
Edward's death, the Earl was one of the four Lords
sworn to enforce the order for the banishment of Ga-
veston. Countess Joan died in March in that year,
when her father was engaged in his last campaign.
The news reached him at Carlisle. He issued two
mandates : one, 1st April, commending her to God, and
directing prayer to be made for her soul, and another,
9th May, announcing her death " non sine cordis ama-
ritudine", and directing Mass to be said. He himself
followed her on the 7th July. Soon afterwards, on the
coming of age of his step-son, Ralph laid aside the
title of Gloucester and Hertford, and afterwards took
rank as a Baron only. Between Joan's death and his
own, Edward, by writ of Privy Seal, 14th June, for
mally acquitted Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Glou
cester, all debts which he and his late wife Joan owed
to him, and, from Carlisle, 14th November 1307,
ordered letters of release under the great seal.
Monthermer lived on into the reign of Edward II,
and survived the young earl. He was taken at Ban-
nockburn, but released, and married to his second wife,

150 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
Isabel, sister of Aymer of Valence and widow of John
Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, also a great heiress and
allied to royalty. Both his wives were great heiresses,
but both had sons by previous husbands, so that neither
he nor his children inherited from them. By Joan he
had two sons, but his eventual heiress was a daughter
who married John de Montacute, since which all suc
ceeding Montacutes and, on questionable authority,
the Montagues, have quartered the arms of Monthermer.
Countess Joan gave lands at Caversham for her soul's
weal and that of Earl Gilbert, and was buried in the
church of the Augustins at Clare. Her brother, Edward
II, and many magnates, attended her funeral. Neither
Monthermer nor his countess seem to have taken much
interest in Glamorgan matters; in 1316, however, he
held the wardship of Peter le Veele, a Glamorgan land
owner, at that time a minor.
Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, and 8th of
Hereford, and 10th Earl of Clare, was born in 1291,
and was thus about four years old at his father's death
in 1295, and seventeen at that of his mother in 1307.
He seems to have been on good terms with his cousin,
Edward II, in their youth, for in a letter to his father
in 1305, the prince asked to be allowed to have Gilbert
de Clare and Perot de Gaveston as companions. In
1306, while under age and a ward to the King his grand
father, the Earl appeared before the Court at Westmin
ster, and claimed to be allowed certain tenements,
liberties, advowsons of churches, etc., which his father
had possessed in the city of London, holden by socage
tenure, and which did not pass into the King's ward
ship, but by the custom of the city could be claimed
when the heir was of an age to manage them and
himself; until when they were to be in the charge of
his next friend. The claim was admitted and livery
was granted, he being then eighteen years old, " et
habet sensum, racionem, et intellectum ad regendum se
et sua." This was extended, 26th November 1307, to
all his possessions throughout England held in socage

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 151
or fee farm, and indeed the entry on the Close Roll
looks as though the King admitted him at once to all
his possessions. His mother's death and the accession
of Edward nearly coincide with his assumption of his
titles and the enjoyment of his estates.
One of Edward's first acts was to recal Gaveston, and
to give him the earldom of Cornwall, and Margaret,
one of Gloucester's sisters, for a wife. They were
betrothed 29th October 1307, and the bridegroom had
large gifts in money and jewels from the late King's
treasury. The offence Gaveston gave to the nobles
speedily led to his second banishment, decreed by
letters patent, 8th of May, and which was actually
enforced 25th of March 1308. The King, however,
diverted the blow by sending him to Ireland as regent.
On this occasion Gloucester seems to have remained
neuter. In this year a writ was issued to the custos of
Dene Forest to augment the bishopric of Llandaff,
which "nimis exilis esse dinoscitur", by the gift of the
Church of All Saints, Newland, promised by the late
King. Also inquiry is to be made as to the claim of
the neighbouring parsons to assarts in the forest. In
July 1309, Gaveston returned, and on this occasion
Earl Gilbert stood his friend and made his peace with
the barons, though for a short time only. At this time
the Abbot of Margam was about to attend a Cistercian
chapter. At the council of Westminster in March 1310, Glou
cester was one of the four earls appointed to keep the
peace. He also was one of the "ordainers" appointed
by the King at that council, at the close of which
Edward went to Scotland, leaving the Earl of Lincoln
as regent, who, dying in February 1311, was succeeded,
4th March, by the Earl of Gloucester. Some of his
acts in that capacity are cited in a petition to Parlia
ment, 8th Edward II. In August the King again met
his Parliament in London, and the ordainers gave in
their report, four articles of which provided for the
banishment of Gaveston, to which the King was forced

152 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
to yield. In February 1312, the King, violating his
assent, recalled Gaveston ; on which the barons rose,
captured him at Scarborough castle — an event followed
by his illegal but well deserved death, 19th June 1311.
The Earl's position from the first had been one of
great difficulty. As nephew to, and an early friend of,
the King he was naturally one of his chief supporters ;
but his tendencies, like those of his father and grand
father, were to oppose the abuse of the royal power,
and, as far as possible, to moderate its excesses. He evi
dently, all along, disapproved of Gaveston's proceedings,
and although on one occasion he took his part, and was
relied upon by the offender, he showed no disposition
to avenge his death, but joined his efforts to those of
the Bishops to bring about a better understanding. It
was at his request that the jewels taken with Gaveston
were given up to the King. By some accounts, when
pressed by the Earl of Leicester to interfere to save
Gaveston, he declined, save only to change the manner
of his death. Edward seems to have regarded him
with distrust, and he is ordered not to attend Parlia
ment " cum equis et armis, more debito", but to come
as in the time of the late King. His exertions certainly
contributed largely to stave off the civil war. 20th
April 1312, he had a safe-conduct, with his horses and
arms, to pass through London to Eltham.
23rd May 1313, Edward attended the coronation of
the King of Navarre, leaving Gloucester to open Parlia
ment as regent. He seems, at this time, to have had
heavy unsettled accounts with the exchequer. In
1309-11, he had £1,000 for his expenses in Scotland,
and 3,500 marcs were to be paid him from the first
money received from wardships. He had also a grant
of 5,000 marcs on the same account. In 1313-14, he
went to France on a mission; and in June 1314,
attended the King in Scotland, bringing 5,000 retainers
at his own charge, and thus supported, he appeared
with the king at Bannockburn, 24-30th June 1314.
The rivalry with his Welsh neighbour, de Bohun,

-•THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 153
displayed itself on the battle-field. De Clare claimed the
vanguard, the place of his ancestors, against de Bohun,
who claimed it as High Constable. While the chiefs
disputed, the Scots advanced, and de Clare, in his
undisciplined valour, rode hard in advance of his men
to draw the first blood. He became entangled in the
ranks, was overthrown, and fighting valiantly, was
slain. "There", says Walsingham, " charged that noble
soldier, Gilbert Earl of Clare, avenging with his own
hands upon the Scots the cruel death that awaited
him." With him fell Giles de Argentine, who had
advanced to his rescue. Gloucester is said to have
owed his death to having charged without waiting for
his surcoat of armorial bearings, so that the Scots were
ignorant of his name ; otherwise, the immense ransom
that would have been paid for him would have saved
his life. His body was given up without ransom and
sent to the King at Berwick. It rested finally at
Tewkesbury, on the left hand of that of his father.
Earl Gilbert was but twenty-three years old at his
death in June 1314, and had survived his father nine
teen years. By his wife Maud, who appears to have
been a daughter of John, son of Richard de Burgh,
Earl of Ulster, he had one son, John, who died just
before his father, and was buried at Tewkesbury in the
Lady chapel. With the Earl, therefore, ended the
main fine of the great house of Clare, Earls of Glou
cester and Hereford. The Countess declared herself
not only pregnant but quick with child, a statement
which gave rise to some very curious legal proceedings
between her and the husbands of the sisters and pre
sumptive co-heirs; nor was it until 1317 that the
dispute was settled and all hope of issue given up. The
case was raised by Hugh le Despenser, husband of the
the elder co-heir, who prayed for a division of the
estates and tendered homage. On this the Countess
pleaded pregnancy, and offered herself to a jury of
matrons under a writ "de ventre inspiciendo", for which,
however, Despenser did not move. The question of

154 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
law as to how long it would be proper to wait was one
of extreme nicety ," novum et difficile", some holding
that no child born eleven months after the reputed
father's death could be really his. The King referred
the matter, by a writ of privy seal, to the chancellor
and two justices, who advised a reference to Parliament.
It was, however, referred to certain doctors of the
canon law, and finally came before Parliament in the
quindene of Easter, 1317, when the statement of preg
nancy was abandoned, and it was admitted that by the
course of nature the Countess "non posset dici a predicto
comite impregnata." The King then accepted the
homage of the husbands, all the sisters being married.
Under the Close Roll of 8th Edward II, 1314-15,
an assignation of dower was made to the Countess.
Upon the Welsh lands she had £440 3s. l^d., and to
make up one third of the issues of Great Marlow,
Bucks, £64 12s. 0±d. ; total, £504 15s. 2d. She had
the castle, manor, and vill of Caerleon, the manors of
Lyswini and Llevenyth, and lands in Edlegarn and
Little Tintern, besides lands in Berks, Gloucester,
Norfolk, Oxford, Suffolk, Surrey, and Wilts.
The returns of the King's escheator show who were
reputed the heirs of the Earl, and what lands he held
" in capite." The returns, being from many counties,
were very numerous, but most stated that, saving the
pregnancy of the widow, the heirs were the three
sisters, then of full age. Some, however, include Isabel,
the earl's half-sister, on which point it was decided,
"et quia in aliquibus inquisitionibus continebatur, quod
Isabella, prout soror et haeres praefati comitis simul cum
praedictis Alianora et Margareta, consideratum fuit, etc.
.... at inquirendum, etc." .... and the return further
stated, "quod non fuit aliqua Isabella soror praedicti
comitis que debuit succedere in aliqua parte dictae
hereditatis, sed quod .praefata Alianora, Margareta, et
Elizabetha fuerunt sorores, etc." . . . Isabel was no
doubt doubly excluded, by the surrender of the estate
and its re-settlement, on the Earl's second marriage,

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 155
and"as being related by the half blood only. The re
turns from Oxford, Berks, and Suffolk, give Eleanor,
Margaret, and Isabel. Here, however, Isabel seems to
be put for Elizabeth.
The Earl's executors, Richard de Rodney, Ithel de
Caerwent, and Richard de Byflet, had a writ to give
seizin to the heirs 15th June 1317. They had already,
5th July 1314, got possession of the personalty. On
the Earl's death, the "sigillum deputatum" for the land
of Glamorgan was placed in the King's hands, who
gave it, 23rd July, 7th Edward II, to Ingelram de
Berenger, custos of the land, who, 28th October 1314,
came to the Exchequer and gave it up to the barons.
The actual partition was a tedious business, and
"pendente lite" the estates remained in the King's
hands, and certain "custodes" managed them. John
Giffard of Brimmesfield, called "Le Rych", an active
soldier much concerned in Welsh affairs, had charge of
the castles of Glamorgan, and Morgan. His father,
also, John Giffard, had held St. Briavels, 47th Henry
III, and Dynevor, 18th Edward I, and seems to have
held Brunlais in right of his first wife, Maud Clifford.
The younger John was custos of Drysllwyn, 2nd Ed
ward II, and was taken at Borough Bridge, and ex
ecuted 1322. Various details of administration were
settled by the King. 7th August 1314, he granted to
Geoffrey de Aylsham, the late Earl's confessor, the
issues of the vacant See of Durham. 14th September
1314, Bartholomew de Badlesmere was in charge of
Glamorgan, and all the officers of the lordship were to
have the same fees as in the time of the Earl. Also he
is to store the castles. The fees, it appears, were : — To
the Sheriff 100 marcs yearly, two robes, and £6 for an
additional horse; to the comptroller, £6 13s. id., and
40s. for robes ; to the constable of Cardiff Castle,
£4 6s. 8d., and £12 for robes; to the constable of
Llantrissant Castle, £13 6s. 8d.; of Caerphilly, £40,
and for robes, £5. The constable of the Tower of
London is to receive and hold Morgan de Avene, who

156 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
will be delivered to him by William de Braose. Mor
gan was still in the Tower 13th July 1316, when there
was some mention of his bails. 14th March 1315,
Badlesmere was to appoint Llewelyn ap Griffith -(an
cestor of Lewis of Van and Green Meadow), to a baillie-
wick, such as he held in the time of the late Earl, if he
be fit for it. 1 5th March, the Welsh of Morganwg have
petitioned the King that the hostages in custody with
Badlesmere should be allowed such sustenance from
the lands as they were accustomed to have from Earl
Gilbert and his ancestors. The King asks how this
was; and if the petition be well founded the practice
is to be continued. At the same time, 14th March,
Llewelyn ap Griffith states that the "Forcelettum de
Blank Mouster", our tower of Whitchurch, is "in nullo
(novo) edificatum", and that there is a mill there with
profits attached to it. The King directs that Llewelyn
is to have the "forcelettum", but that Badlesmere is to
do with the mill as seems best. The "forcelettum"
seems eventually to have reverted to the chief lord,
but the land near it still is held by Llewelyn's de
scendant, Mr. Lewis. Llewelyn further pleads a pro
mise from Earl Gilbert of 10 marcs rent, of which
he has received two by gift in Egloswladus (Capel
Gwladys). He also complains of having been unjustly
harassed. In 1317, 15th May, Edward orders this to
be set right, and the 8 marcs to be paid out of the
issues of Glamorgan. John, Bishop of Llandaff, also
puts in a claim for the tithe of grants of the "new
land" in all the extra-parochial parts of Dene Forest,
granted by the late King on account of the poverty of
the See ; and, because there is a question about the
boundaries, Ralph de Monthermer, as custos of the
Forest, is to see to the matter. In this 8th Edward II,
eleven men of Tiriarth were remitted 50 marcs of their
fine for rebellion, and those of Neath 200 marcs. They
seem to have paid 50 marcs, 3rd Edward II, out of a
fine of 200 marcs, and the men of Neath 200 marcs
out of 500 marcs, through Badlesmere. To William de

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 157
Berkerolles is remitted 10 marcs, to John le Noreis
£10, and to Robert de Greyndon £10. Also to Leysan
de Avene was allowed 40 marcs if he could show that,
as he said, he had expended so much of his own money
when directed to defend Kenfig; also a similar pay
ment of 50 marcs to Payn de Turberville. The Abbot
of Caerleon stated that Earl Gilbert had taken great
part of his land under an exchange, but had not
fulfilled the agreement. He had £10 on this account
from the issues of Glamorgan. The Bishop was John
of Monmouth, a member apparently of the baronial
house of that name and place. He was an active person
in Welsh affairs, and ever on the side of order. In
1310 he was one of the fifteen Lords Ordainers ; and,
in 1311-14, he and his chapter advanced 100 marcs to
the King ; and, in 1320, he was the agent for enforcing
a loan from the knights Hospitallers in his diocese. In
the following year he appears as pronouncing eccle
siastical censures against those who spoke evil of the
King. In 1322 he was called upon to give an opinion
upon the exile of the Despensers, having been absent
from the council in which the judgment was declared
illegal. Soon afterwards he employs the spiritual arm
and offered up prayers for the King's success, which,
however, he enforced by the temporal arm, by furnish
ing men-at-arms. He is, however, getting old, and on
this plea excuses himself from attending the Parliament
at York ; and in 1323 he died.
A mild and just policy marks all the King's deci
sions in these local matters. The men of Senghenydd
complained that the housebote and heybote they had
under the Earl were taken away by Badlesmere, who
had sold the "bosc". In this, also, they were to have
satisfaction. 1st December 1315, Turberville is to be
custos of Glamorgan, with charge of the castles, and to
take fealty from all who held of the lordship, whether
in Glamorgan or Pembroke. Robert de Greyndon,
however, was made sheriff in the lands held by Gilbert
de Clare of the King "in capite". He held office from the

158 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
death of Earl Gilbert to the Assumption of the Virgin,
10th Edward II, and had £10 for his expenses against
the Welsh. The remissions had reference to the past
rebellion, but there was still much local discontent,
which in this year broke out in East Glamorgan under
the leadership of Llewelyn Bren, a landowner on the
left bank of the Taff, within the hill country. 9th
February 1316, the sheriffs of Gloucester and Somerset,
and John de Wysham, constable of St. Briavels, were
to provide men and victuals for a force to put down the
rising, and Stephen le Blund is to provide the money.
13th February, Humphrey de Bohun was to take the
command. Peace was at once restored. 23rd March,
Bohun was ordered to send- Llewelyn Bren, his wife,
and sons, Griffith and Gevan, to the Tower, where they
still remained, 17th June 1317. Also, 26th March,
Wm. de Montacute, Hy. de Pembrugge, and Robert de
Grendon were to sit and take fines in Glamorgan for
the breach of the laws. Bail was taken for Llewelina,
wife of Llewelyn, for David, Meuric and Ruyn ap
Llewelyn, Howel ap Ivor, Ywaun ap Ivor, Llewelyn ap
Madoc, Madoc Vachan, Grono ap Res, and Res Miskyn,
all, probably, relations or neighbours of Llewelyn Bren.
John Giffard is to pay Greyndon 's fees as sheriff. For
services during the rising, the King gave to Rimus Bol
of Sheghere, the land of Sheghere which Rimus
Vaughan had held under the Earl. To Wm. Fleming
was committed the custody of Llantrissant Castle, and
the Forest of Miskyn as bailiff. Afterwards he fell
under the King's displeasure, and was executed at
Cardiff for treason. Also, Maurice de Berkeley was to
be a justice of South Wales, with the custody of all the
King's castles not given to others.
The King's lenient conduct was not appreciated; and
ascribed, not unjustly, to his weakness. 20th Sep
tember 1316, he informs the Bishop of Llandaff that he
hears that many outlaws and other malefactors frequent
the Church of Llandaff, and are there received and kept,
going to and fro at their pleasure, and committing rob-

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 159
beries, etc., in those parts. The bishop is called upon
to apply a remedy.
5th November. Letters patent inform the men of
Glamorgan that John Walwayn and John Giffard were
assigned to receive arrears of fines in those parts for
the redemption of life and limb, upon their goods and
chattels, under the awards of Wm. de Montacute and
his fellows in the year preceding. Of the same date
was a writ for the delivery of all the Welsh concerned
in Llewelyn Bren's rising who had paid the fines
awarded by Montacute, but the effect of the disturbance
was long felt, and, as late as 1224-5, the Prior of Gold-
cliff was in arrear with his tithe on account of Llewelyn
Bren's excesses. The Close Roll of 5th February 1316
states that Ralph de Monthermer and Joan, his wife,
the King's sister, by charter, at the request of Edward
I, granted to Morgan ap Meredith all his land of
Edlegarn for life, for £15 yearly, and he was to pay for
the remaining lands above that value; but Morgan now
states that when Earl Gilbert took seizin he removed
him from Edlegarn, and in its place gave him Cogan-
more hamlet for life, worth not above £10, as the
recent inquisition shows, on which Morgan prays that
in consideration for his services, past and future, he
may be allowed 100s. in land. To this the King con
sented, and ordered Turberville to see to it.
The three sisters, in behalf of whom "divisus est
comitatus nobilissimus in tres baronias", were all mar
ried, and their husbands continued to press for the
division of the spoil. They were : — 1, Alianor, aged
twenty -two in 1314; married in 1312 Hugh le De
spenser, and on his death, William Lord Zouch of
Mortimer. 2, Margaret, aged twenty-one in 1314 ;
married, first, Piers Gaveston, and afterwards Hugh
D' Audley, the younger. 3, Elizabeth, married, first,
John, son and heir of John de Burgh, Earl of Ulster ;
next, Theobald Verdon, and, finally, Roger d'Amory.
As, in the partition, the lordship of Glamorgan, the
Castles of Cardiff and Caerphilly, and the patronage

160 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
of Tewkesbury, fell to the elder sister, her descendants
by Despenser were regarded as continuing the line of
de Clare, so far as regarded Glamorgan, and their
history alone belongs to the history of that county.
Gaveston, the husband of Margaret de Clare, was a
Gascon knight, brought up with young Edward, until
the King, seeing his excessive and mischievous in
fluence over the Prince, removed him, February 1307,
just before his death, and banished him from England.
Edward, become King, at once recalled him, and, 29th
October 1307, betrothed him to Margaret de Clare, to
whom, immediately afterwards, he was married, at
Berkhamstead, an appanage of the Earldom of Corn
wall just granted, 6th August, to Gaveston. The new
Earl's follies and arrogance, and his alternate prosperity
and adversity, belong to the history of the reign. He
was beheaded 19th June 1312, and the long list of his
possessions occupies five pages in the Fcedera. Edward
buried him with great ceremony at Langley, and him
self placed two paUs of cloth of gold upon his tomb.
By Margaret he left a daughter, Joan, whom he had
proposed to betroth to Thomas, son and heir of John,
Lord Wake. Wake, however, married elsewhere with
out the King's licence, for which he was fined heavily.
Joan was then betrothed by the King to John, son of
Thomas de Multon, Lord of Egremont, both then very
young. Edward promised her £1,000 portion, and she
was to have a jointure of 400 marcs per annum. The
£1,000 was paid as a fine by Wake to Multon, 11th
Edward II. Joan probably died early, for she is not
again mentioned, and Multon married another lady,
14th Edward II.
Hugh de Audley, whom Margaret next married, was
son of Hugh, a cadet of the Barons Audley, of Heleigh
Castle. She was then styled widow of Piers Gaveston,
and having become a coheiress, she had by partition,
11th Edward II, the castle and tower of Newport, the
manors of Stowe, Rempney, Dyneley, and Maghay,
the hamlet of Frenebothe (Ebbw), and the commote

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 161
of Wentloog. Thornbury also came to her, and Ton-
bridge Castle, and much English property. Thus the
Monmouthshire portion of the lordship was cut off
from the Glamorgan part. 15th Edward II, Audley
was in arms for Thomas of Lancaster, and was taken
at Boroughbridge, but pardoned owing to his wife's
interest. 20th Edward II. Maria, widow of William de
Brewose held in dower one-third of the manor of Buck
ingham and of the hamlet of Burton (?), parcel of it, of
the heritage of John de Brewose, all which, together
with two parts of the said manor and hamlet are held
of Hugh de Audley and Margaret his wife, of the heri
tage, etc., and John is of full age. This was no doubt
a part of the old Giffard estate, inherited by the de
Clares. 7th Edward III. Audley was fighting against Wil
liam la Zouch of Mortimer. He served in Scotland, and,
23rd April 1337, was created Earl of Gloucester by
patent to him and his heirs. He was allowed a grant
out of the issues of the earldom instead of the usual
third penny. As Earl of Gloucester he was much em
ployed by Edward III in war, and held a command at
Vironfosse. 14th Edward III, he was in the sea fight
at Sluys. 16th Edward III, he went into Brittany
with a retinue of 100 men-at-arms, a banneret, 20
knights, 78 esquires, and 100 mounted archers ; a
princely retinue. 17th Edward III, he was in Scot
land. Audley died 1347, leaving by Margaret one daughter,
Margaret, aged thirty years. She married Ralph,
Lord Stafford, and carried to that family Thornbury
and large estates in Monmouthshire and elsewhere,
which descended to the Dukes of Buckingham of the
name of Stafford.
Notwithstanding the terms of the patent, the earl
dom was dropped on Audley's death, nor was it again
revived in his descendants.
Elizabeth de Clare, the third sister, was much the
M

162 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
greatest lady of the three. To her was adjudged the
Honour of Clare, with lands in Dorset and Monmouth.
She married, 1, John de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, who
died 1313; and by him was mother of John de Burgh,
born at Cardiff, on the morrow after Easter-day 1313,
and baptised, 14 days later, by the Bishop of Llandaff, in
the presence of the King. He died young. The
Countess also had William, Earl of Ulster, whose
daughter and heir, Elizabeth, living 1355, married
Lionel, 3rd son of Edward III, in whose person were
revived his wife's honours, he being created Earl of
Ulster and Duke of Clare or Clarence. Their daughter
Philippa married Edmund, Earl of March, and through
her the House of York derived its claim to the
throne. Elizabeth married secondly, at Bristol, 3rd February
1315, Theobald de Verdon, otherwise Butler, as his
second wife. The marriage seems to have been clan
destine, and the lady by no means coy. De Verdon
was charged before Parliament with having on the
Wednesday after the 2nd February 1315, 18th Ed
ward II, forcibly abducted Elizabeth, widow of John
de Burgh, and the King's niece, from the castle of
Bristol, where she was lodged in wrard to the King,
having been summoned thither from Ireland. His de
fence was that he never entered the castle, but that
Elizabeth came forth a league from it to meet him,
when they were married. He gave bail to meet the
charge. De Verdon was of Newbold- Verdon and a
baron, and had probably made the lady's acquaintance
in Ireland, where he was justiciary. He did not long
survive, dying 27th July 1316. He was buried at
Crokesden, co. Stafford, leaving Elizabeth pregnant
with a daughter, Isabel, born on St. Benedict's day fol
lowing her father's death, and co-heir with her two
half-sisters of the Verdon estates. She married
Henry, Lord Ferrers of Groby, who did homage for her
lands 5th Edward III, and died 15th September, 17th
Edward III, by whom she had William, Lord Ferrers.

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 163
It appears that in her grants, Elizabeth the elder did
not use the name of Verdon, but styled herself Eliza
beth de Burgh, Lady of Clare.
On the death of Theobald de Verdon, Elizabeth
married a third husband, Sir Roger d'Amory, baron of
Amory in Ireland, to whom about that time, 10th
Edward II, Edward granted Sandal in Yorkshire, and
manors in Oxford and Surrey, and soon afterwards,
in 1319, Nicholas de Verdon prayed to be admitted
to the lands of his late brother Theobald. In d'Amory
Elizabeth gained a husband who was able to protect
her through most of the troubles of the latter part
of the reign of Edward II. He had summons to
Parliament in the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th, of Ed
ward II.
14th and 15th Edward II, he was Governor of the
castles of Ewias-Lacy, Gloucester, and Bristol, and
warden of Dene Forest. He also had Knaresborough
Castle. He was, on the whole, opposed to the Earl
of Lancaster, and acted with Badlesmere and Pem
broke, binding himself in 1317 by a bond for £10,000
to do his best to lead the King to be governed by
those Lords. In 1320, however, he joined the general
body of the discontented, probably from dislike to the
Despensers, and 8th December, 15th Edward II, 1321,
a writ was issued for his arrest, which preceded his
death but a few months, he dying at Tutbury 1322,
when his body was given up to his widow, who buried
him at Ware Priory.
Edward at first seized his lands for rebellion, but
speedily relented, and the Close Roll, 2nd November
1322, directs that Elizabeth de Burgo is to have her
lands in divers counties. Soon afterwards, however,
7th January 1323, it is declared that, whereas Eliza
beth de Burgo, the widow of Roger d'Amory, knight,
the King's niece, has receded from his presence without
licence, her lands are to be seized.
By Roger d'Amory Elizabeth had one daughter,
Isabel, who married John, Lord Bardolf, aged 17,

164 THE LAND OF MORGAN:
3rd Edward III, who made proof of age and had livery
of his lands, 9th Edward III. The marriage took
place, 10th Edward III. Bardolf was an active soldier
and saw much service. He died 3rd August 1371.
Besides two daughters, Isabel and Agnes, mentioned
in then grandmother's will, they had William, father
of Thomas, Lord Bardolf, who was returned, 1 H. IV, as
cousin and heir of Sir Roger d'Amory. He also
inherited lands from Elizabeth de Clare.
Elizabeth de Clare was the foundress of Clare Hall,
Cambridge. She died 4th November 1360, leaving a
will, dated 25th September 1355, of great length, and
disposing of large personal property. It has been
printed by Nichols in his Roycd Wills. She therein
styles herself, as before, Elizabeth de Burgh, Dame of
Clare, and directs her body to be buried with the Nuns
Minorites in Aldgate. She founded Masses for the
weal of de Burgh, Verdon, and d'Amory, "Mes seig-
nours" ; and left legacies, among a host of persons, to
Nichol. d'Amory her executor, and to John de Clare.
" A ma sale apelle" Clare Hall she left £40 and some
plate, the endowment being already completed. To
the two Orders of Brothers at Cardiff she left £6, and
she mentions her heritage in Clare, Dorset, and Mon
mouth. Her seals are well known to those curious in
such matters, and have often been engraved. One,
given in Montague's Guide to the Study of Heraldry,
has a central roundel charged on an escutcheon with 3
cinquefoils for Bardolph, and round it, 8 roundels
charged, 1 and 5 with a plain cross for de Burgh ; 2
and 6, a castle for Castile ; 3, barry undy a bendlet
for d'Amory ; 8, a lion rampart for Leon ; and 7, three
chevrons for Clare. Another seal has in the centre
d'Amory, and on roundels placed about it, England,
Clare, de Burgh, with a file of 3 points, and a fret
for Verdon, while four intervening roundels carry
Castile and Leon for her grandmother Eleanor of
Castile. And thus came to an end the great house of de
Clare, and was closed the second great chapter in the

THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER AND HERTFORD. 165
History of the Land of Morgan; the first being its
condition under its native rulers, brought to an end
by the conquest by Fitz-Hamon. Descending from
Alianor de Clare, the elder co-heir, the Despensers con
tinued the female line in Glamorgan through various
vicissitudes, transmitting it finally to the Beauchamps,
whence it merged in the Nevilles, whose heiress mar
rying Richard Plantagenet gave occasion to his becom
ing Duke of Gloucester; on whose death as Richard III
at Bosworth, the lordship escheated to the Crown,
and the independent Marchership came practically to
an end.
During a part of the reign of John, and the whole
of those most eventful periods in Welsh history, the
reigns of Henry III and Edward I, and for much of
that of Edward II, the de Clares were Lords of Gla
morgan, and upon Glamorgan they mainly relied for
their immense political power. Their wealth, indeed,
they drew from their English estates, and especially
from those comprising the Honours of Clare and of
Gloucester; but it was the possession of the land of
Morgan that enabled them to take a position often
opposed to and always independent of their sovereign.
The position, no doubt, had its sources of weakness as
well as of strength ; the sons of Morgan, brave in arms
and unbridled in then zeal for liberty, were always
ready to take advantage of a change of masters, of a
minority, or of any weakness of purpose in the reign
ing Earl; but at other times, when the Lord was firm
and moderately just, they were not indocile subjects,
and followed him and served him faithfully in war. In
another respect the history of Glamorgan, under the
house of Clare, bears upon a very interesting section
of the history of England. Under the early Norman
sovereigns, the Lords of the Welsh Marches acquired
powers utterly inconsistent with the good government
of the whole kingdom ; powers such as the great feu
datories on the continent so long exercised to the
serious detriment of the kingdoms of France and Ger
many. The Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, the

166 THE LAND OF MORGAN.
Lords de Braose, of Mortimer, Warren, and the Earls
of Chester, under a weak and imprudent Prince, such
as Henry III, threw the whole kingdom into disorder,
and gave a refuge to those barons whose estates lay
more at the mercy of the Crown. These powers the
great Edward set himself to work to resume. His
conquests were not merely nor mainly over the Welsh ;
but in reducing the Welsh to submission, he destroyed
the main source of the power of the marcher Lords;
and long before the close of his reign, he had so con
solidated the Principality with England, that even
the weakness and folly of his son were unable altogether
to break it up.

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