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diff --git a/42457.txt b/42457.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5039bf8..0000000 --- a/42457.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11567 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Owen Glyndwr and the Last Struggle for -Welsh Independence, by Arthur Granville Bradley - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Owen Glyndwr and the Last Struggle for Welsh Independence - With a Brief Sketch of Welsh History - -Author: Arthur Granville Bradley - -Release Date: April 1, 2013 [EBook #42457] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OWEN GLYNDWR *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, Sam W. and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note - -Superscripted letters are preceded with a carat character, e.g. Hen^r. -A double-o with macron (horizontal line) above is indicated with {=oo}. - - - - - OWEN GLYNDWR - AND THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR - WELSH INDEPENDENCE - - WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF WELSH HISTORY - - - BY - ARTHUR GRANVILLE BRADLEY - - AUTHOR OF "HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS IN - NORTH WALES," "SKETCHES FROM OLD - VIRGINIA," "THE FIGHT WITH FRANCE - FOR NORTH AMERICA," ETC. - - - G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - NEW YORK - 27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET - LONDON - 24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND - The Knickerbocker Press - 1901 - - - COPYRIGHT, 1901 - BY - G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - - The Knickerbocker Press, New York - - - - - Heroes of the Nations - - EDITED BY - Evelyn Abbott, M.A. - FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD - - - FACTA DUCIS VIVENT, OPEROSAQUE - GLORIA RERUM.--OVID, IN LIVIAM 265. - - THE HERO'S DEEDS AND HARD-WON - FAME SHALL LIVE. - - -OWEN GLYNDWR - - - - -Heroes of the Nations - - -A Series of Biographical Studies presenting the lives and work of -certain representative historical characters, about whom have gathered -the traditions of the nations to which they belong, and who have, in -the majority of instances, been accepted as types of the several -national ideals. - - 12^o, Illustrated, cloth, each, $1.50 - Half Leather, gilt top, each, $1.75 - -FOR FULL LIST SEE END OF THIS VOLUME - - - - - [Illustration: GLYNDWR'S MOUNT, GLYNDYFRDWY. - Copyright - Miss Walker. - _Frontispiece._] - - - - -[Decoration] - -PREFACE - - -If this little book purported to be a biography in the ordinary sense -of the word, the scantiness of purely personal detail relating to its -hero might be a fair subject of criticism. But men of the Glyndwr type -live in history rather by their deeds, and the deeds of those they -lead and inspire. This is peculiarly the case with the last and the -most celebrated among the soldier patriots of Wales. Though so little -remains to tell us of the actual man himself, this very fact has -thrown a certain glamour and mystery about his name even in the -Principality. While numbers of well-informed Englishmen are inclined -to regard him, so far as they regard him at all, as a semi-mythical -hero under obligations to Shakespeare for such measure of renown and -immortality as he enjoys, if the shade of Henry the Fourth could be -called up as a witness it would tell a very different story. It is at -any rate quite certain that for the first few years of the fifteenth -century, both to England and to Wales, to friends and to foes, Owen -was in very truth a sufficiently real personality. What we do know of -him, apart from his work, might well suggest infinite possibilities to -the novelist and the poet. It is my business, however, to deal only -with facts or to record legends and traditions for what they are -worth, as illustrating the men and the time. - -Glyndwr is without doubt the national hero of the majority of -Welshmen. Precisely why he takes precedence of warrior princes who -before his day struggled so bravely with the Anglo-Norman power and -often with more permanent success, is not now to the point. My readers -will be able to form some opinion of their own as to the soundness of -the Welsh verdict. But these are matters, after all, outside logic and -argument. It is a question of sentiment which has its roots perhaps in -sound reasons now forgotten. There are in existence several brief and -more or less accurate accounts of Glyndwr's rising. Those of Thomas, -written early in this century, and of Pennant, embodied in his well -known _Tours in Wales_, are the most noteworthy,--while one or two -interesting papers represent all the recent contributions to the -subject. There has not hitherto, however, been any attempt to collect -in book form all that is known of this celebrated Welshman and the -movement he headed. I have, therefore, good reason to believe that the -mere collection and arrangement of this in one accessible and handy -volume will not be unwelcome, to Welsh readers especially. Thus much -at least I think I have achieved, and the thought will be some -consolation, at any rate, if I have failed in the not very easy task -of presenting the narrative in sufficiently popular and readable -guise. But I hope also to engage the interest of readers other than -Welshmen in the story of Glyndwr and his times. If one were to say -that the attitude of nearly all Englishmen towards Wales in an -historical sense is represented by a total blank, I feel quite sure -that the statement would neither be denied nor resented. - -Under this assumption it was thought well to attempt a somewhat fuller -picture of Wales than that presented by the Glyndwr period alone, and -to lead up to this by an outline sketch of Welsh history. The earlier -part, particularly, of this contains much contentious matter. But in -such a rapid, superficial survey as will fully answer our purpose -here, there has scarcely been occasion to go below those salient -features that are pretty generally agreed upon by historians. The kind -manner in which my _Highways and Byways of North Wales_ was received, -not only by English readers but by Welsh friends and the Welsh press, -makes me venture to hope that my presumption as a Saxon in making this -more serious excursion into the domain of Welsh history will be -overlooked in consideration of the subject dealt with. - -A continuous intimacy of many years with the Glyndyfrdwy region begat -a natural interest in the notable personage who had once owned it, and -this gradually ripened into a desire to fill, however inadequately, -what seemed to me an obvious want. Before venturing on the task I took -some pains to ascertain whether any Welsh writer had the matter in -contemplation, and so far as information gathered in the most -authoritative quarters could be effective it was in the negative. As -this was at a time when the Welsh people were considering some form -of National memorial to Glyndwr, the absence both in fact and in -prospect of any accessible memoir of him overcame what diffidence on -racial grounds I had naturally felt and encouraged me in my desire to -supply the want. - -A full list of the authorities I have consulted in the preparation of -this work would, I have reason to understand, be too ponderous a -supplement to a volume of this kind. Before noting any of them, -however, I must first acknowledge the very great obligations I am -under to Professor Wylie for his invaluable and exhaustive history of -Henry IV.; not merely for the information contained in the text of his -book, but for his copious notes which have been most helpful in -indicating many sources of information connected with the persons and -events of the time. The following are some of the chief works -consulted: Dr. Powell's translation of Humphrey Lloyd's _History of -Wales_ from the chronicle of Caradoc of Llancarvan, Ellis' original -letters, _Annales Cambriae_, Rymer's _Foedera_, Williams' _History of -Wales_, Warrington's _History of Wales_, Tyler's _Henry V._, Adam of -Usk, Matthew of Paris, Hardyng's and other chronicles, Giraldus -Cambrensis, the historians Carte, Walsingham, and Holinshed, -Bridgeman's _Princes of South Wales_, Lloyd's _History of the Princes -of Powys Fadog_, the Iolo MSS., Owen's _Ancient Laws and Institutions -of Wales_, _Archaeologia Cambrensis_, the Brut, and, of course, the -Rolls series. Among living writers who have been helpful in various -ways and have my best thanks are Mr. Robert Owen, of Welshpool, the -author of _Powysland_, the Revd. W. G. Dymock Fletcher, of Shrewsbury, -who has made a special study of the neighbouring battle-field; -Professor Tout, who has published an interesting lecture on Glyndwr -and some instructive maps connected with the period; and Mr. Henry -Owen, the well known authority on Pembrokeshire and author of _Gerald -the Welshman_; nor must I omit a word of thanks to Mr. Owen Edwards, -whose kind encouragement materially influenced my decision to -undertake this book. - -I am under most particular obligations to that well known Welsh -scholar, Mr. T. Marchant Williams, for suggestions and criticisms when -the book was still in manuscript, and also to my lamented friend, the -late Mr. St. John Boddington, of Huntington Court, Herefordshire, for -assistance of a somewhat similar nature. - -I am also greatly indebted to Miss Walker, of Corwen, for several -photographic scenes in Glyndyfrdwy, which she most kindly took with an -especial view to reproduction in these pages, and to Messrs. H. H. -Hughes and W. D. Haydon, both of Shrewsbury, who rendered a like -service in the matter of Glyndwr's other residence at Sycherth. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - CHAPTER I - - INTRODUCTION 1 - - The Romans in Wales--Cunedda--Christianity--Arrival of - Saxons--Their Conquest of Severn Valley--The Latin and - Welsh Churches--The Three Divisions of Wales--Arrival of - Danes--Strathclyde Britons Occupy Vale of Clwyd--Howel - Dda and His Laws--Growing Intercourse between Welsh and - Saxons--Llewelyn I.--Griffith ap Llewelyn--Harold's - Invasions of Wales--Arrival of Normans--William I. and - William Rufus in Wales--Norman Conquest of Glamorgan-- - The Flemings Settle in Pembroke--Wars between Owen Gwynedd - and Henry II.--Howel ap Owen Gwynedd--Dafydd ap Owen - Gwynedd--Giraldus Cambrensis on the Welsh--Religious - Awakening in the Twelfth Century--Powys and the English - Power--Llewelyn the Great, 1195--King John's Invasion of - Wales--Llewelyn recognised as Ruler of All Wales--Dafydd - ap Llewelyn Succeeds--He Persecutes his Brother Griffith - and Makes War on the English--Henry III. in Wales-- - Llewelyn ap Griffith, Last Prince in Wales--Long Struggle - against Henry III. and Edward I.--Death of Llewelyn and - his Brother Dafydd--Final Conquest of Wales--Edward I. - Enacts Statutes of Rhuddlan, Builds Castles, and Provides - for the Future Government of the Country--Wales between - the Conquest and Glyndwr's Rising. - - - CHAPTER II - - BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE, 1359-1399 82 - - Owen's Birth and Descent--His Youth--His Connection with - Henry IV. and Richard II.--Sycherth--Glyndyfrdwy-- - Marriage--Family. - - - CHAPTER III - - GLYNDWR AND LORD GREY OF RUTHIN, 1400-1401 110 - - Lord Grey of Ruthin--Anglo-Welsh Towns--Owen's Unsuccessful - Lawsuit--Contemptuous Treatment by the English Court-- - Bad Faith of Grey towards Owen--Griffith ap David--Grey - Appeals for Aid against Welsh Insurgents--Grey's Attempt - to Capture Owen--Owen Assumes the Leadership--Iolo - Goch--Owen Raids Ruthin--The King Invades Wales but to - no Purpose--The Prince of Wales Left in Command at - Chester--Owen Winters at Glyndyfrdwy. - - - CHAPTER IV - - OWEN AND THE PERCYS, 1401 135 - - Hotspur in North Wales--Prince Henry--Conway Taken by - the Welsh--Retaken by the English--Percy Acts against - the Welsh--Owen Goes to Plinlimmon--War Carried to the - South--Flemings of Pembroke Defeated by Glyndwr--Owen - Triumphs in South Wales--King Henry again Invades - Wales--The King in Cardigan--Invasion without Result-- - The English Army Retires to Shrewsbury--Owen and the - Percys--Welsh Social Divisions--Owen Captures Grey at - Ruthin--Grey Held to Ransom. - - - CHAPTER V - - THE KING AND HOTSPUR, 1402 163 - - Portents--Bishop Trevor--Howel Sele--Mortimer Defeated - at Pilleth, and Taken Prisoner--The King Refuses to - Ransom Mortimer--Glyndwr in Carnarvonshire--Great - Invasion of Wales by King Henry--Magic and Tempests - Overwhelm the English Advance--Defeat of the Scots at - Homildon--Hotspur and the King Dispute about Scottish - Prisoners--Mortimer Invites His Radnor Tenants to Join - Glyndwr. - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY, 1403 185 - - The King in Need of Money--Prince Henry at Shrewsbury-- - He Destroys Owen's Property--Letter from the Prince - Concerning this--Glyndwr in the Vale of Towy--Victory of - Anglo-Flemings near Carmarthen--Urgent Appeal for Royal - Assistance from Brecon--Petitions for the Same from - Herefordshire--The Welsh Overrun Western Herefordshire-- - Glyndwr at Carmarthen--He Consults a Soothsayer--The - Plot of the Percys--Battle of Shrewsbury--Glyndwr's - Connection with the Movement--He Appears in Flint--The - King Prepares for the Invasion of Wales. - - - CHAPTER VII - - OWEN AND THE FRENCH, 1403-1404 212 - - Beleaguered Castles--The King Invades Wales--He Reaches - Carmarthen and Hurries Home Again--Glyndwr Takes more - Castles and harries Herefordshire--The French Land at - Carmarthen--Anglesey--Carnarvon--Glyndwr Captures - Harlech--He Calls a Parliament at Machynlleth--Davy - Gam--Glyndwr Sends Ambassadors to Paris--Bishop Trevor - Joins the Welsh--Herefordshire and the English Borders - Ravaged--Urgent Appeals for Succour to the King--The - Earl of Warwick Defeats Glyndwr--Glyndwr Gains a - Victory--He Forces Shropshire to Make Terms--Owen's - Court at Harlech--Iolo Goch. - - - CHAPTER VIII - - WELSH REVERSES, 1405 237 - - Desolation of Wales--Owen's Methods of Warfare--Country - Houses of the Period--Welsh Rural Life and Population-- - Glyndwr Not a Rebel--Lady Despencer and the Young Princes-- - Prince Henry's Letter on the Battle--Welsh Defeated at - Mynydd-y-Pwll-Melyn--Owen's Brother Killed, and his Son - Captured--The Percys Rise in the North--Depression among - Owen's Followers--Landing of the French at Milford--The - Allies March to Worcester--Battle of Woodbury Hill-- - Retreat of Franco-Welsh Army to Wales--King Henry - Unsuccessfully Invades Wales--Cadogan of the - Battle-axe--Departure of the French--Pembroke Makes - Terms with Owen. - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE TRIPARTITE INDENTURE, 1406 263 - - The Tripartite Indenture--Defeat and Execution of Lord - Percy and Bardolph--Owen's Letter from Pennal to the - King of France--The Papal Schism--Owen's Star Waning-- - Anglesey--Dejection in the Vale of Towy--Glyndwr's - Lonely Wanderings--The Valle Crucis Story--The - Berkrolles' Story--Iolo Goch's Lament. - - - CHAPTER X - - ABERYSTWITH. OWEN'S POWER DECLINES, 1407-1409 284 - - Owen's Movements Vague--The King Failing in Health but - Anxious to Enter Wales--Preparations for Siege of - Aberystwith--The King Shrinks from Going to Wales--A - General Pestilence--Prince Henry Leads a Large Force to - Aberystwith--Terms of Surrender Arranged--Agreement - Upset by Owen's Sudden Appearance--Fall of Aberystwith - and Harlech--Death of Mortimer--Owen Sinks into a - Guerilla Leader--Pardons and Punishments--Death in Paris - of Bishop Trevor. - - - CHAPTER XI - - LAST YEARS OF OWEN'S LIFE, 1410-1416 300 - - Harsh Laws Enacted against the Welsh--Davy Gam--A General - Pardon Offered by Henry V.--Owen an Outlaw in the - Mountains--Owen, Left Alone, Disappears from History-- - Henry V. Sends him a Special Pardon--Kentchurch or - Monnington the Scene of Owen's Death--Some Remarks on - his Policy. - - - CHAPTER XII - - CONCLUSION 310 - - Wales after Glyndwr. - - - APPENDIX - - THE BARDS 333 - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - GLYNDWR'S MOUNT, GLYNDYFRDWY _Frontispiece_ - Copyright, Miss Walker. - - CAREW CASTLE 40 - [From old print.] - - CORWEN AND PEN-Y-PIGIN, FROM THE DEE 44 - Copyright, W. Davis. - - VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY 54 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - CONWAY CASTLE 78 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - DOLGELLY AND CADER IDRIS 82 - Copyright, C. H. Young. - - HOLT CASTLE 86 - [From old print.] - - POWYS CASTLE 92 - [From an old engraving from painting by W. Daniells.] - - LLANGOLLEN AND DINAS BRAN 96 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - SYCHERTH, FROM THE SOUTH 100 - Copyright, W. D. Haydon. - - RUTHIN CASTLE 110 - [From old print.] - - AN OLD STREET, SHREWSBURY 120 - Copyright, J. Bartlett. - - CARCHARDY OWAIN, GLYNDWR'S PRISON HOUSE AT LLANSANTFFRAID 130 - Copyright, Miss Walker. - - INTERIOR CONWAY CASTLE 140 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - OLD BRIDGE AT LLANSANTFFRAID, GLYNDYFRDWY 154 - Copyright, Miss Walker. - - LOOKING UP THE MAWDDACH FROM NANNAU 166 - Copyright, C. H. Young. - - OLD LODGE AT NANNAU, NEAR THE SITE OF THE "OAK OF DEMONS" 168 - Copyright, C. H. Young. - - PILLETH HILL, RADNORSHIRE 176 - Copyright, R. St. John Boddington. - - SYCHERTH, FROM THE NORTH 186 - Copyright, H. H. Hughes. - - HAY 190 - Copyright, Marion & Co. - - BATTLE-FIELD CHURCH, NEAR SHREWSBURY 200 - Copyright, J. Bartlett. - - CARNARVON CASTLE 218 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - MACHYNLLETH 220 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - OWEN'S COUNCIL HOUSE, DOLGELLY 224 - Copyright, C. H. Young. - - HARLECH 232 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - CAERPHILLY CASTLE 244 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - MANORBIER CASTLE 262 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - ABERYSTWITH CASTLE 290 - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - MONNINGTON COURT AND CHURCH 300 - Copyright, W. H. Bustin. - - PORCH OF MONNINGTON CHURCH AND GLYNDWR'S REPUTED GRAVE 308 - Copyright, Mrs. Leather. - - PEMBROKE CASTLE 312 - [From a photograph.] - Copyright, F. Frith & Co. - - KENTCHURCH COURT, WITH GLYNDWR'S TOWER 314 - Copyright, W. H. Bustin. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -OWEN GLYNDWR - - - - -CHAPTER I - -INTRODUCTORY SKETCH OF WELSH HISTORY FROM THE SAXON CONQUEST OF -ENGLAND TO THE RISING OF GLYNDWR - -400-1400 - - -The main subject of this book is the man whose memory, above that of -all other men, the Welsh as a people delight to honour, and that -period of Welsh history which he made so stormy and so memorable. But -having what there is some reason to regard as a well founded opinion -that (to the vast majority of English readers) the story of Wales is -practically a blank, it seems to me desirable to prepare the way in -some sort for the advent of my hero upon this, the closing scene of -Cambrian glory. I shall therefore begin with a rapid sketch of those -nine centuries which, ending with Glyndwr's rising, constitute roughly -in a political and military sense the era of Welsh nationality. It is -an audacious venture, I am very well aware, and more especially so -when brought within the compass of a single chapter. - -Among the many difficulties that present themselves in contemplating -an outline sketch of Welsh history, a doubt as to the best period for -beginning it can hardly be included. Unless one is prepared to take -excursions into the realms of pure conjecture and speculation, which -in these pages would be altogether out of place, the only possible -epoch at which to open such a chapter is the Saxon conquest of -England. And I lay some stress on the word England, because the fact -of Wales resisting both Saxon conquest and even Saxon influence to any -appreciable extent, at this early period, is the keynote to its -history. - - * * * * * - -What the British tribes were like, who, prior to this fifth century, -lived under Roman rule in the country we now call Wales, no man may -know. We do know, however, that the Romans were as firmly seated there -as in most parts of Britain. From their strong garrisons at Chester, -Uriconium, Caerleon, and elsewhere they kept the country to the -westward quiet by means of numerous smaller posts. That their legions -moved freely about the country we have evidence enough in the metalled -causeways that can still be traced in almost every locality beneath -the mountain sod. The traces, too, of their mining industry are still -obvious enough in the bowels of the mountains and even beneath the -sea, to say nothing of surface evidence yet more elaborate. That their -soldiers fell here freely in the cause of order or of conquest is -written plainly enough in the names and epitaphs on mortuary stones -that in districts even now remote have been exposed by the spade or -plough. But how much of Christianity, how much of Roman civilisation, -these primitive Britons of the West had absorbed in the four centuries -of Roman occupation is a matter quite outside the scope of these -elementary remarks. Of civilisation beyond the influence of the -garrisons there was probably little or none. As regards Christianity, -its echoes from the more civilised parts of the island had probably -found their way there, and affected the indigenous paganism of the -mountains to an extent that is even yet a fruitful source of -disagreement among experts. Lastly, as it seems probable that the -population of what is now called Wales was then much more sparse in -proportion to the rest of the island than in subsequent periods, its -condition becomes a matter of less interest, which is fortunate, -seeing we know so little about it. - -With the opening of the fifth century the Romans evacuated Britain. By -the middle of it the Saxon influx, encouraged, as every schoolboy -knows, by the Britons themselves in their weakness, had commenced. -Before its close the object of the new-comers had developed and the -"Making of England" was in full operation. - -For these same conquered Britons many of us, I think, started life -with some tinge of contempt, mingled with the pity that beyond all -doubt they fully merit. Mr. Green has protested in strong terms -against so unjustifiable an attitude. He asks us to consider the -condition of a people, who in a fiercely warlike age, had been for -many generations forbidden to bear arms; who were protected by an -alien army from all fear of molestation, and encouraged, moreover, to -apply themselves zealously to the arts of peace. That men thus -enervated made a resistance so prolonged is the wonder, not that they -eventually gave way. If this nation, which resisted for a hundred -years, is a fit subject for criticism, what can be said of their -conquerors who, five centuries later, in the full enjoyment of warlike -habits and civil liberty, were completely crushed in seven by a no -more formidable foe? - -While the pagan Saxons were slowly fighting their way across England -towards the Severn and the Dee, the country about and behind these -rivers had been galvanised by various influences into an altogether -new importance. - -After the departure of the Romans, the Welsh tribes, less enervated -probably than their more Romanised fellow-countrymen to the east, -found in the Scots of Ireland rather than the Picts of the North their -deadliest foes. It was against these western rovers that the -indigenous natives of what for brevity's sake we are calling Wales, -relearnt in the fifth century the art of war, and the traces of their -conflicts are strewn thick along the regions that face the Irish Sea. -But while these contests were still in progress, three powerful tides -of influence of a sort wholly different poured into Wales and -contributed towards its solidity, its importance, its defensive power, -and its moral elevation. - -[Sidenote: 400-500, Cunedda.] - -(1) Out of the north, from Cumbria and Strathclyde, came the great -prince and warrior Cunedda, whose family seem to have taken -possession, with or without resistance, of large tracts of Wales, -Merioneth, Cardigan, and many other districts deriving their names in -fact from his sons. His progeny and their belongings became in some -sort a ruling caste; a faint reflection of what the Normans were in -later days to England. - -Cunedda is said to have held his Court at Carlisle, and to have -wielded immense power in the north and north-west of Britain. If he -did not go to Wales in person he undoubtedly planted in it his -numerous and warlike offspring, who, with their following, are usually -regarded as the founders of the later tribal fabric of Wales, the -remote ancestors, in theory at any rate, of the Welsh landed gentry of -to-day; but this is a perilous and complex subject. - -[Sidenote: Christianity.] - -(2) In this century, too, came the first wave of a real and effective -Christianity, with its troops of missionaries from Brittany and -Ireland, in the front rank of which stand the names of St. David and -Germanus or Garmon, Bishop of Auxerre. The latter is generally -credited with the organisation of the Welsh Church, hitherto so vague -and undefined. It was, at any rate, during this period, that the -Church assumed definite territorial form, and that the Welsh diocese -and the Welsh parish, their boundaries roughly approximating to the -present ones, came into existence. Through the fifth, sixth, and well -into the seventh century, church building and religious activity of -all kinds flourished marvellously in Wales; while Christianity was -being steadily and ruthlessly stamped out over the rest of Britain by -the advancing pagans, native chieftains vied with foreign -ecclesiastics in building churches, cathedrals, and cells; and great -monastic houses arose, of which Bangor Iscoed, on the Dee, with its -two or three thousand inmates, was the most notable. The mountainous -region that in former days had been among those least influenced by it -was now the hope of the island, the seat of religious fervour, the -goal of the foreign missionary and the wandering saint. - -[Sidenote: Arrival of the Saxons, 577.] - -[Sidenote: British refugees in sixth century.] - -(3) The third, and perhaps not the least powerful, factor in the -making of Wales was the advance of the Saxons. After their great -victory of Deorham they destroyed the British strongholds of Bath, -Gloucester, and Cirencester, and about the year 577, or 130 years -after their first landing in Britain, they appeared on the Severn. The -exact fate or disposal of the natives, whom with ceaseless fighting -they thus drove before them, is a matter of perennial controversy. The -ferocity of the conquerors, aggravated, no doubt, by the stubborn -resistance of the conquered, is a fact beyond all question and should -be emphasised, since its direful memories had much to do with the -inextinguishable hatred that was felt for so many centuries, and to a -certain degree is still felt, by many Welshmen towards their Saxon -foes. It may fairly be assumed that the extirpation (though the term -is much too strong) of the native stock was most marked in the eastern -parts of Britain, and that as the tide of conquest swept westward its -results in this particular were much modified. But however great the -slaughter or however considerable the native element that was retained -upon the soil by its conquerors, it is quite certain that the influx -of British refugees into Wales throughout the sixth century must have -been very large. Among them, too, no doubt, went numbers of men and -women of learning, of piety, and sometimes perhaps even of wealth, for -one need not suppose that every Briton waited to be driven from his -home at the spear's point. - -[Sidenote: Cynddylan at Uriconium and Shrewsbury.] - -A fierce onslaught in great force brought the invaders to the walls of -the Roman-British city of Uriconium, where Cynddylan, Prince of Powys, -with all the power of Central Wales, made a vain but gallant effort to -arrest the ruin: - - Cynddylan with heart like the ice of winter. - Cynddylan with heart like the fire of spring. - -He and his brothers were at length all slain, and his armies routed. -Uriconium or Tren was sacked, and higher up the valley the royal -palace at Pengwern, as Shrewsbury was then called, was destroyed. - -These terrible scenes are described for us by Llywarch Hen, one of the -earliest British bards, himself an actor in them, who thus laments -over the wreck of Pengwern: - - "The Hall of Cynddylan is dark - To-night, without fire, without bed; - I'll weep awhile, afterwards I shall be silent. - - "The Hall of Cynddylan is gloomy - To-night, without fire, without songs; - Tears are running down my cheeks. - - "The Hall of Cynddylan, it pierces my heart - To see it roofless, fireless; - Dead is my chief, yet I am living." - -or again, on the destruction of Tren: - - "The eagle of Pengwern screamed aloud to-night - For the blood of men he watched; - Tren may indeed be called a ruined town. - - "Slain were my comrades all at once - Cynan, Cynddylan, Cyncraith, - Defending Tren the wasted city." - -In a few years the Saxons were beaten back, and Pengwern, with the -surrounding country, once more became British, and remained so till -the days of Offa, King of Mercia. - -[Sidenote: Augustine and the Welsh bishops, 601.] - -By the close of the sixth century Christianity had been introduced by -Augustine into the south-eastern corner of England, and there is no -more suggestive scene in Welsh history than the famous meeting of the -great missionary with the Welsh bishops on the banks of the Severn. It -accentuates in a striking manner the cleavage between the Eastern or -the Latin Church, and that of the West and of the Welsh. Augustine, -about the year 601, fresh from his victories over paganism among the -Kentish Saxons, and having journeyed far through still heathen -regions, approaches these Western Christians with a kindly but -somewhat supercilious and superior air. The seven Welsh bishops--or -so-called bishops, for the full development of the office as -understood later was not yet completed--were ready waiting for him on -the banks of the lower Severn. They were a deputation of the Welsh -Church, and, seeming already to scent patronage in the air, were fully -prepared to resent any sign of it in the Roman missionary. The latter, -it appears, knew very little about the Western Church, with its roots -in Ireland, Armorica, and Gaul, and what he did know he did not like. - -The arrogance of Augustine fully justified the Welshmen's suspicions, -and he still further roused their indignation by hinting that they -should take their instructions and receive their consecration from -Canterbury, as representing Rome. Coming from a man who appeared to -them but the missionary bishop of a handful of recently converted -barbarians, this was a little too much for ecclesiastics who had -behind them three or four centuries of Christianity, and knew nothing -whatever of the Latin Church. Augustine, too, spoke disparagingly of -their customs, and with particular severity of the absence of celibacy -in their Church. This must have touched them to the quick, seeing that -numbers of the offices and benefices in the Western Church were more -or less hereditary, and that even saintship was frequently a matter of -family, the tribal sentiment being predominant. All these things, -together with their difference in Easter observance and in shaving the -head, horrified Augustine, and he spoke so freely as to put all hope -of combination out of the question. Indeed, the Welsh divines were so -offended that they refused even to break bread beneath the same roof -as the Roman saint. At a second conference Augustine, seeing he had -gone too far, proposed that, even if they could not conform to each -other's customs, they should at least combine in efforts to convert -the rest of England. Such endeavours did not commend themselves in the -least to the Welshmen. Whatever missionary zeal may have existed among -Welsh churchmen it did not include the slightest anxiety about the -souls of the accursed conquerors of Britain, the ruthless ravagers and -destroyers of their once civilised and Christian country. It is -probable that Augustine did not realise the fierce hate of the -despoiled Celt towards the Saxon. At any rate his patience at length -gave way, and as a parting shot he in effect told the Welshmen that -since they shewed themselves so criminally careless about Saxons' -souls, they should of a surety feel the prick of Saxon spears. This -random threat, for it could have been nothing more, was strangely -fulfilled within a few years' time, when the victory of the pagan -Ethelfred at Chester, which sundered the Britons of Wales from those -of North-Western England, culminated in the sacking of Bangor Iscoed -and the slaughter of twelve hundred monks. - -[Sidenote: 601.] - -This futile conference of 601 marks the beginning of the long struggle -of the Welsh or Ancient British Church to keep clear of the authority -of Canterbury, and it lasted for some five hundred years. Till the -close of the eleventh century the bishops of the four Welsh dioceses -were, as a rule, consecrated by their own brethren. St. David's -perhaps took rank as "primus inter pares" for choice, but not of -necessity, for there was no recognised Welsh metropolitan. Ages -afterwards, when Canterbury had insidiously encroached upon these -privileges, the Welsh clergy were wont to soothe their wounded pride -by the assurance that this transfer of consecration had come about as -a matter of convenience rather than of right. Long, indeed, before the -final conquest of Welshmen by Edward the First, their Church had been -completely conquered, anomalous though such an inverted process seems, -by Norman bishops. A Welshman, though his sword might still win him -political recognition and respect, had little more chance of Church -preferment in the thirteenth century than he had in the eighteenth or -the first half of the nineteenth. As early indeed as 1180 that -clerical aristocrat of royal Welsh and noble Norman blood, Giraldus -Cambrensis, pertinently asks the same question which from generation -to generation and from reign to reign through the Hanoverian period -must have been on every native churchman's tongue in the Principality, -"Is it a crime to be a Welshman?" - -[Sidenote: The Latin and British Churches.] - -There is no occasion to enlarge upon the subtle methods by which the -Norman Church anticipated the Norman sword in Wales. Sleepless -industry no doubt was one. Another was the agency of the newer -monasteries, filled with Norman, English, and foreign monks and for -the most part devoted to the Latin Church. Persistent denial of the -validity of St. David's in the matter of consecration may in time, -too, like the continuous drip of water on a stone, have had its effect -upon the Welsh, even against their better judgment. On one occasion we -know that some of their princes and nobles, stung by what they -regarded as excessive exactions on the part of the Church, stooped so -far as to throw in the faces of their prelates the taunt that their -consecration was invalid. Such an attitude did not tend to lighten the -immense pressure which was exercised in favour of the supremacy of -Canterbury; and long before Welsh princes had begun to take orders -from Norman kings, Welsh bishops were seeking consecration from -Canterbury, unless indeed their thrones were already filled by Norman -priests. - -[Sidenote: Divisions of Wales.] - -It is not only the ecclesiastical but also the secular divisions of -Wales, that in a great measure date from these fifth and sixth -centuries. The three chief Kingdoms, or Principalities, into which the -country was apportioned, stand out from these days with consistent -clearness till they are gradually broken into fragments by the Norman -power: On the north was Gwynedd; in the centre, Powys; on the south, -Deheubarth or South Wales. As St. David's was the premier see of the -four Welsh dioceses, so Gwynedd was even more markedly the first among -the three Welsh Kingdoms. Its ruler, when a sufficiently strong man to -enforce it, had a recognised right to the title of "Pendragon" and the -lip homage of his brother princes. When a weak one, however, filled -the precarious throne, any attempt to exact even such an empty -tribute would have been a signal for a general outbreak. - -Gwynedd included the present counties[1] of Flint, Anglesey, -Carnarvon, and most of Merioneth, together with the northern part of -Denbighshire. - - [1] The present counties of Wales were not in existence as such - till after the final conquest by Edward I. Even then, as we shall - see, only six were created; the larger part of the Principality - retaining its feudal lordships until the reign of Henry VIII. - There were ancient subdivisions of the three Welsh Kingdoms ruled - over by petty Princes owing allegiance to their immediate - overlord; and their names still survive in those of modern - counties or districts. Ceredigion, for instance, remains as - Cardigan, Morganwg as Glamorgan, while the vale of Edeyrnion and - the county of Merioneth still preserve the memory of two sons of - the conquering Cunedda. But the units of old Welsh delimitation - were the "Cantrefs" and the "Commotes," which even to this day are - often used for purposes of description, as well as occasionally - for ecclesiastical and political divisions. Of Cantrefs there - would be something like three to the modern county, while each - "Cantref" again consisted of two "Commotes." - -[Sidenote: Powys.] - -Powys cannot be so readily defined in a line or two, but, roughly -speaking, it was a triangle or wedge driven through Central Wales to a -point on the sea, with a wide base resting on the English border, the -present county of Montgomery representing its chief bulk. Its capital -was Pengwern or Shrewsbury, till the eighth century, when Offa, King -of Mercia, enraged at the inroads of the Welsh, gathered together his -whole strength and thrust them permanently back from the plains of -Shropshire to the rampart of hills along whose crests he made the -famous Dyke that bears his name. Thenceforward Mathraval, and -subsequently Welshpool, became the abode of the Princes of Powys. - -[Sidenote: Deheubarth.] - -The Southern Kingdom, or Deheubarth, was also something of a triangle, -but reversely placed to that of Powys, its point lying on the English -border, and its broad base stretching along the Irish Sea from the -mouth of the Dovey to the capes of Pembroke. - -Of these three divisions, Powys, as will be obvious even from the -brief and crude description of its boundaries here given, had the -greatest difficulty in holding its own against both Saxon and Norman. -South Wales, on the other hand, was the thorniest crown, for it -included to a greater degree than the others semi-independent -chieftains, such as those of Morganwg and Cardigan, who were inclined -to pay their tributes and their homage only when their overlord, who -held his Court at Dynevor on the Towy, was strong enough to enforce -them. - -[Sidenote: Warfare in Wales.] - -Thus for nearly seven centuries there were separate sources of strife -in Wales, and three distinct classes of warfare. First there came the -meritorious defence of the country against Saxon, Dane, and Norman, in -which, upon the whole, there was much creditable unanimity. Secondly, -during the lulls from foreign invasion, there was almost constant -strife between North and South, Powys holding as it were the balance -of power between them. Lastly there were the purely provincial -quarrels, when heady chieftains fell out with their superiors, as a -form of entertainment to which South Wales, as I have already -remarked, was peculiarly prone. - -[Sidenote: Roderic divides Wales, 877.] - -But, after all, it is not quite accurate to give such emphasis to the -existence and definition of the three Kingdoms till the death of -Roderic the Great in 877. Several kings had essayed with varying -success to rule all Wales, but it was Roderic who with scanty -foresight finally divided the country between his three sons, laying -particular stress on the suzerainty of Gwynedd. The prevalent custom -of gavelkind worked admirably, no doubt, in private life among the -primitive Welsh, but when applied to principalities and to ambitious -and bloodthirsty princelings the effect was usually disastrous. To -mitigate the dangers of his unwise partition, Roderic ordained a -scheme which would have proved of undoubted excellence if the practice -had only been equal to the theory. This was to the effect that if any -two of the Princes of Wales quarrelled, all three were to meet in -conclave in the wild pass of Bwlch-y-Pawl, through which the present -rough road from Bala to Lake Vyrnwy painfully toils. Here they were to -settle their difficulties peacefully; and as it was presumed that only -two would be parties to the quarrel, the third was to act as arbiter. -For some centuries after this we know very well that the successive -rulers of the three Kingdoms drenched Wales in blood with their -quarrels, but no tradition remains of a single conference at this wild -spot among the hills, where the infant Vyrnwy plunges down through -heathery glens and woods of birch and oak to the most beautiful -artificial lake perhaps in Christendom. - -[Sidenote: Cadvan.] - -The sins of omission must of necessity be infinite in dealing with so -vast a subject in so compressed a space, and sins of omission, if not -confessed in detail, sometimes affect the accuracy of the whole. -Something, for instance, ought to be said of the pastoral character, -even in these early days, of all Wales, except perhaps Anglesey and -West Carnarvon; of the tribal organisation and the laws of gavelkind; -of the domestic and family nature of the Church, whose minor benefices -at any rate were largely hereditary, and whose traditions were -intensely averse to centralisation. Among other things to be noted, -too, is that Cadvan, who flourished in the seventh century, is -generally regarded as the first genuine King of Wales, just as -Roderic, nearly three hundred years later, was the great -decentraliser. - -[Sidenote: 815. Saxons conquer Cornwall.] - -Another important date is that of 815, when a Saxon victory in -Cornwall destroyed the last vestige of British independence in -England. For hitherto the Britons of Wales had by no means regarded -themselves as the mere defenders of the soil they occupied. Steeped in -the prophecies of Merlin and his contemporaries, which assured them of -the ultimate reconquest of the whole island of Britain, they still -cherished dreams which may seem to us by the light of history vain -enough, but in the opening of the ninth century they still fired the -fancy of a proud, romantic, and warlike race. - -[Sidenote: Saxons made little way.] - -Amid the conflicting evidence of rival chroniclers, Saxon and Welsh, -it is not often easy to select the victors in the long series of -bloody combats that continued throughout the centuries preceding the -Norman Conquest. Whatever victories the Saxons gained, they were not -much less barren than their defeats. Nominal conquests were sometimes -made of the more vulnerable districts, but they were not long -maintained. At the next upheaval such loose allegiance as had been -wrung from the provincial ruler was repudiated without a moment's -thought, and often indeed the Saxons beyond the border found -themselves in their turn fighting for hearth and home. - -[Sidenote: The Danes, 890.] - -In the ninth century the Danes appeared upon the scene. Though they -harried Wales from time to time, both in the interior and on the -coast, their doings in England were so incomparably more serious that -their Welsh exploits almost escape our notice. About the year 890, -Danish outposts were established beneath the Breiddon hills, that -noble gateway of mid-Wales, through which the Severn comes surging out -into the Shropshire plains. Hither four years later came that -formidable Danish leader, Hastings, with the Anglo-Danish forces of -East Anglia and the north behind him. King Alfred, who was in the -west, hastened to the scene and contributed to this strange spectacle -of Saxons and Cymry fighting side by side. A decisive victory at -Buttington, near Welshpool, rewarded their efforts, and though the -struggle between Dane and Saxon was of great service to Wales by -bringing a long immunity from the attacks of her hereditary foe, the -Danish name calls for little more notice in Welsh annals. - -Seeing that vague dreams of reconquest still lingered among the Welsh, -England's difficulty, to apply a familiar modern aphorism, should -have been Cambria's opportunity. But readily as the three Welsh -Princes, when their common country was in danger, were accustomed to -combine, and efficiently as they raided in independent fashion across -the English border, cohesion for a serious aggressive movement was -almost hopeless. The moment that they were safe, they turned their -arms against each other. The whole history of Wales, from the days of -Roderic to those of Edward, with a few brief intervals, is one long -tale of bloody strife. - -[Sidenote: No Saxon settlement.] - -Nor were the Princes of Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth always content -to fight their quarrels out alone. As time went on they grew more -accustomed to their Saxon neighbours, even if they did not love them -more. Occasional amenities became possible. Intermarriages between the -two aristocracies were not unknown, and when they had progressed thus -far a Prince of Powys would scarcely have been human if he had not -occasionally been tempted to call in Saxon aid against his powerful -rivals of Gwynedd or Deheubarth. But in spite of this dangerous game, -played often enough and in later Norman days so fatal, the soil of -Wales, so far as any serious occupation or dominion is implied, -remained inviolate throughout the whole Saxon period. - -[Sidenote: Strathclyde Britons occupy the Vale of Clwyd.] - -[Sidenote: Saxon settlement prevented by Strathclyde Britons.] - -[Sidenote: Victory of Anarawd, 878.] - -One very narrow escape from a permanent lodgment of Saxons, of which -the Welsh chronicle tells us, should not perhaps be passed over. It -occurred in the days when Anarawd, one of the sons of Roderic, was -ruling over North Wales, at the close of the ninth century. More than -a hundred years before, the Mercians, under Offa, had driven the Welsh -finally from Shropshire and pressed them back behind the famous Dyke, -whose clearly marked course still preserves the name of their warlike -monarch. The great Saxon victory on Rhuddlan March, at the mouth of -the Clwyd, had occurred soon afterwards, and the wail of the defeated -is still sounded in one of the most notable of Welsh airs. But Offa's -Dyke had been since then considerably overleaped, and the slaughter of -Rhuddlan had been long avenged. When the descendants of these same -Mercians poured once more into the pleasant country that lies upon the -north shore between Chester and the Conway, the invaders of the -"Perfeddwlad," as this region was then called (a term I shall use for -convenience throughout this chapter), proved too powerful for Anarawd. -He was driven back into Snowdonia and Anglesey, and the Saxons settled -down in the Vale of Clwyd and upon either side of it, with a -deliberation that, but for an opportune accident, would have probably -converted a large slice of North Wales into a piece of England for all -time. But just as the Strathclyde Britons in the days of Cunedda had -brought to Wales in the time of her need after the Roman departure a -valuable and warlike element, so their descendants, four centuries -later, came just in time to save what are now the Celtic districts of -Flint and northern Denbigh from becoming Saxon. These people, hard -pressed in north Lancashire, Cumberland, and even beyond, by Danes -and Saxons, decided to seek a new home, and their thoughts naturally -turned to Wales. They made overtures to Anarawd, begging that he would -grant them of his abundance sufficient territory for their needs. But -Anarawd's kingdom had, as we have seen, been sadly circumscribed, and -his homeless subjects from the east of the Conway were already on his -hands. A bright thought struck him, and he informed his Strathclyde -kinsmen that if they could reconquer the Perfeddwlad they were welcome -to it. Necessity, perhaps, nerved the arms of the wanderers, and the -Saxons, who, as Dr. Powell quaintly puts it, "were not yet warm in -their seats," were driven headlong out of Wales. The Mercians, -however, were not the kind of men to sit quietly down after such an -ignominious expulsion; they made vigorous preparations for taking -their revenge, and retrieving their fortunes and their honour. The -Strathclyde Britons sorely doubted their powers of resistance to the -great force which now threatened them, so, carrying all their cattle -and effects back again across the Conway, they begged Anarawd in his -own interest as well as in theirs to support them. The Prince of -Gwynedd rose nobly to the occasion and, joining all his forces to -those of his immigrant kinsmen, they met the returning Saxon invaders -near Conway, and in a pitched battle drove them back to the Dee with -prodigious slaughter, never to return. So the country between the two -rivers was preserved to the Cymric race and saved from becoming, as -for the moment looked extremely probable, another Cheshire or -Shropshire. - -Anarawd, however, could not rest content with his triumph over the -Saxons. As an illustration of the thirst for war that seems to have -been chronic with most of the Welsh Princes, it may be noted that, -with the Saxons vowing vengeance on his borders, he did not hesitate -to march into South Wales and make an unprovoked attack upon its -Prince, his own brother. - -[Sidenote: Howel Dda, 940.] - -But with the death of Anarawd and his brothers, various contingencies, -which need not detain us here, made Howel Dda, or Howel the Good, both -the heir and the acceptable ruler of all three provinces. His reign -was unique in Welsh annals, for it was not only long, but almost -peaceful. This excellent Prince turned his brilliant talents and force -of character almost entirely to the civil and moral elevation of his -people. He drew up his famous code of laws, which, as is sometimes -asserted, unconsciously influence the legal instincts of remoter Wales -even to this day. In the preparation of this great work he summoned -his bishops and nobility and wise men to meet him at Ty Gwyn on the -Towy, for it should be noted that this ruler of a temporarily united -Wales was in the first instance Prince of Deheubarth. - -[Sidenote: The laws of Howel Dda enacted.] - -Here this select assembly spent the whole of Lent, fasting and praying -for the Divine aid in their approaching task. Howel then picked out -from among them the twelve most capable persons, with the Chancellor -of Llandaff at their head, and proceeded to examine in exhaustive -fashion all the laws of the Cymry. Of these they eliminated the bad, -retained the good, and amended others to suit present requirements. -This new code was then ratified by the entire assembly before it -dispersed. Three copies were made, and it is significant of the change -already creeping over the Welsh Church, that Howel and his four -bishops are said to have journeyed to Rome and submitted one of them -to the Pope for his approval. The Laws of Howel Dda may be read to-day -by anyone with access to a reference library. The rights of every -class of person are herein clearly set forth, and the precise value of -each man's life according to his rank, and of every animal's hide and -carcase accurately defined. The tribal sanctity of land, too, is well -illustrated by a law forbidding the owner of an estate to mortgage it -to anyone but a kinsman. Books, harps, swords, and implements of -livelihood were exempted from distraint, while among livestock horses -were placed in the same category, as being necessary for defence. -Suits in connection with land could not be heard between February and -May, or between May and August, since these were the periods of -seed-time and harvest, while all cases touching inheritance were to be -heard by the King himself. The latter is pictured to us as sitting in -his judicial chair above the rest of the Court, with an Elder upon -either hand and the freeholders ranged upon his right and left. -Immediately below the King sat the Chief Justice of the Province, with -a priest upon one side of him and the Judge of the Commote upon the -other. - -[Sidenote: Value of articles fixed by Howel Dda.] - -After hearing witnesses and taking depositions, the two judges and the -priest retired to consider the verdict. This done, the King took -counsel with them, and, if he agreed, delivered judgment himself. If -the case was too involved, however, for a satisfactory decision, the -matter was settled by the simple expedient of single combat. A fixed -price, as I have remarked, was set upon almost everything, both living -and inanimate. One is surprised, for instance, to find an apple tree -worth 60_d._, and a tree planted for shelter worth 24_d._, while a -coracle is only worth 8_d._ A salmon net is appraised at just double -the last amount, while a spade, again, is rated at a penny only. -Though the skin of an ox or hart is fixed at 8_d._ the near extinction -of the beaver is significantly shewn by its value of 120_d._ Dogs, -too, vary most curiously on the list. A common cur is held at 4_d._, a -shepherd dog at 60_d._, and the best sporting dogs at four times the -latter sum. There is special mention, too, of chargers, hunters, -roadsters, pack-horses, and draught-horses for carts and harrows. -Horses are not to be broken till their third year; while three rides -through a crowd is the legal test of "warranted broken." Cows and -mares, too, are prohibited from ploughing. We learn also in this -singular price-list the current value, among other things, of a -battle-axe, a bow with twelve arrows, a white-hilted sword, a shield -enamelled with blue and gold; of plaids, too, striped and chequered -stuffs, mantles trimmed with fur, robes, coats, hose, buskins, shoes, -gloves, caps, bonnets, girdles, and buckles. - -There are stringent laws against cruelty to animals and in favour of -hospitality. Game laws existed of the strictest kind, classifying -every animal of the chase and dealing with the management of hounds, -and the etiquette of hunting. For their ardour in these pursuits, the -Welsh were distinguished among nations, not being surpassed even by -the Normans themselves. - -The customs obtaining in the royal household are tabulated in Howel -Dda's code with extraordinary minuteness, and the duties of every -official, from highest to lowest, strictly defined; from the Chaplain, -Steward, Judge, and Master of the Horse down to the porter and -birdkeeper. The perquisites, it may be noted, of the Master of the -Horse are all colts under two years old, taken in war, and all gold -and silver spurs thus acquired; those of the porter, every billet of -wood he could snatch from a passing load, with one hand, as he held -the gate with the other, and any swine out of a herd that he could -lift breast high by its bristles only! - -Of the bards there is so much to be said elsewhere that we need only -remark here that the duties of the Bardd Teulu, or Poet Laureate, were -to follow the army and sing the "Unbennaeth Prydain" or "Monarchy of -Britain" before, and if triumphant after, the battle; to perform at -all times before the Court, and also privately to the Queen, only in -so low a tone as not to disturb the King and his courtiers. This -illustrious functionary was valued at 126 cows. - -A remarkable official was the "Crier of Silence," who beat a -particular pillar in the great hall with a rod when the noise became -excessive, and had for his perquisites the fines that were exacted for -any such undue boisterousness. Strangest by far of all was the King's -"footholder," whose duty it was to sit under the table at meals and -nurse his Majesty's foot, and to "scratch it when required." - -Nor can we forget the "Pencerdd," the Chief of Song, who was of -popular election and presided at the Bardic Gorsedd held every third -year, and held only at Aberffraw in Anglesey, the royal residence of -Gwynedd; for the Eisteddfodau were held by all the Welsh Princes -apparently at will. The Pencerdd was expected to know by heart the -prophetic song of Taliesin. He lodged in the quarters of the heir -apparent, and was presented by the King with a harp and key. - -[Sidenote: Renewed conflicts, 950.] - -Howel the Good died about 950. With the divisions and disputes of his -sons and nephews Wales quickly lost its unanimity, and once more the -flame of war was lit from one end of the country to the other by these -foolish broilers, in attempts to despoil each other of their -respective portions. The question was at length settled for a while by -a great battle at Llanrwst, where the men of North Wales utterly -discomfited those of the South, pursuing them with fire and sword far -beyond the northern boundaries of Deheubarth. - -[Sidenote: Growing intercourse between Welsh and Saxon.] - -[Sidenote: Eadgar rowed by Welsh Princes on the Dee.] - -Towards the close of the tenth century we begin to get glimpses of -those amenities between Cymry and Saxon, which a now common religion, -a common foe in the Danes, and considerable private intercourse, had -rendered inevitable. We find King Eadgar himself, for instance, at -Bangor, helping Iago ap Idwal, Prince of Gwynedd, against his nephew -Howel ap Ievan. Everything, however, being amicably arranged, the -Saxon King actually remains in friendly fashion at Bangor, and bestows -gifts and endowments upon its see. Finally the two recent disputants -return with Eadgar to Chester, and take an oar in that celebrated crew -of kinglets which rowed the Saxon monarch upon the Dee. Gwaithvoed, -Prince of Powys, who was invited to assist in this somewhat inglorious -procession, seems to have been the only one of the Welsh _Reguli_ who -refused the honour. "Tell the King," said Gwaithvoed, "I cannot row a -barge, and if I could, I would not do so, except to save a life, -whether king's or vassal's." On being pressed by a second messenger -from Eadgar, his brief answer was: "Say to the King, 'Fear him who -fears not death.'" - -It is not easy to define the precise attitude of the Welsh Princes -towards the King of England as the Saxon period drew towards its -close. Though the ancient Britons had become crystallised into -Welshmen, the old tradition of the island as a whole with an "Emperor" -in London, and a general scheme of defence against foreign foes, was -not yet dead. The Saxons, though little loved, had become an accepted -fact, and there seems to have been no particular reluctance among the -Welsh princes to pay lip homage, when relationships were not too -strained, to the "King in London," and tribute, too, as representing -the ancient contribution to "the defence of the island." - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn I., 1000.] - -For the last hundred years prior to the Norman conquest, one follows -the bloody path of Welsh history in vain efforts to find some -breathing space, wherein rulers turned their attention to something -besides the lust of power and the thirst for glory. It was about the -year 1000 when the first of the three Llewelyns succeeded to the -throne of North Wales. Under a King whose title was absolutely -indisputable, and who possessed some force of character, it seemed as -if the sword was now for a season, at any rate, to remain undrawn. But -it was not to be; for in no long time the throne of South Wales fell -vacant, and there was, unhappily, no direct heir. So the nobles of the -Province, fearing, and with some reason, that Llewelyn would seize the -opportunity to attach the Southern Kingdom to his other dominions, -brought forward a creature of their own, a low-born adventurer, who -claimed to be of the royal lineage. This precipitated the catastrophe -which it was designed to prevent, and Llewelyn fell upon Deheubarth -with the whole force of Gwynedd. The fight lasted through a whole day, -and the slaughter was immense, but the Northerners again prevailed. - -[Sidenote: Griffith ap Llewelyn.] - -But there were also years of peace under Llewelyn ap Seisyllt, and of -conspicuous prosperity, so the chronicler tells us, in which "the -earth brought forth double, the people prospered in all their affairs, -and multiplied wonderfully. The cattle increased in great numbers, so -that there was not a poor man in Wales from the south to the north -sea, but every man had plenty, every house a dweller, every town -inhabited." Llewelyn fell ultimately before Carmarthen, and his throne -was seized by Iago ap Idwal, a collateral relative. He in turn was -quickly overthrown and slain by Llewelyn's warlike son Griffith, who -enjoyed what from a purely military point of view might be called a -successful reign. - -The Danes at this time began again to make attacks on Wales, but were -defeated in Anglesey, and again in the Severn valley. - -[Sidenote: Griffith ap Llewelyn attacks South Wales.] - -Flushed with victory, and without a particle of excuse, Griffith now -turned upon South Wales, ravaged it with fire and sword, and drove out -its new Prince, Howel ap Edwy. Howel, however, came back with an army -of Danes and Saxons, so had times changed in Wales, but only to meet -with disaster and defeat at the hands of the vigorous Griffith. Yet -again the indomitable Howel returned with a fresh army to try his -luck, and so certain was he this time of victory that he brought his -wife to witness it. But again disaster overtook him, and his wife, -instead of sharing his triumph, was carried off to share his -conqueror's bed. - -Thus rolls on the tumult and the turmoil of the old Welsh story. The -wonder is when and how the laws of the wise and peaceful Howel Dda -found scope for application, and we can only suppose that the partial -nature of these fierce struggles atoned in some measure for their -continuity. Yet through all this devastation Church property, of -which there was now a considerable amount and of a tangible kind, -seems to have been well respected. The Danes alone were regardless of -shrines and monasteries; and we hear of them at St. David's and -Llanbadarn and other sacred spots along the seacoast doing wild work. - -[Sidenote: 1040.] - -[Sidenote: Harold and Griffith.] - -The twenty years preceding the battle of Hastings were busy years in -Wales, and the foremost name of that epoch in England came to be -perhaps more dreaded among the native Welsh than that of any other -Saxon since the days of Offa. But Harold, Earl of the West Saxons and -commander of the English armies, got much deeper into Wales than Offa -had ever succeeded in doing, and indeed came much nearer than any of -his predecessors to a conquest of the country. Griffith ap Llewelyn, -Prince of Gwynedd by right, and of all Wales by force, was, as we have -seen, no mean soldier. He was Harold's adversary, and the last Welsh -Prince to face the Saxon power. This, the final quarrel of five -centuries of strife, was, for a wonder, not of Griffith's seeking. - -We have seen how greatly modified the cleavage between the two peoples -had by now become. Intermarriages had taken place in the higher ranks, -alliances had been formed, and Saxon influences in matters such as -land tenure and Church government had been sensibly felt beyond the -Severn and the Dee. So now, while the shadow of the Norman invasion -was hanging over unconscious England, Algar, Earl of Chester, falling -out with King Edward, did nothing particularly unusual when he fled -to the warlike son of the first Llewelyn, and tried to embroil him in -his quarrel. Griffith was peacefully hunting at his second residence -at Aber near Bangor, and had indeed made good use of a few years of -peace, but he was not the man to turn a deaf ear to any prospect of a -fight. The upshot was a very serious war, in which Griffith and his -ally were for a long time singularly successful. They defeated Edwin -of Mercia in a great battle near Welshpool; they afterwards took -Hereford, won a victory at Leominster, and penetrated as far as -Wiltshire. - -[Sidenote: Harold in Wales.] - -[Sidenote: Death of Griffith, 1061.] - -A brief truce ensued with Harold, who had been opposing them, and then -the struggle began afresh. The tables were now completely turned. -Harold's memorable invasion of Wales took place, in which he was -assisted to success by the many enemies Griffith had made in his -high-handed annexation of Deheubarth. The Welsh Prince, after a -stirring reign of thirty-four years, perished during this campaign of -1061 at the hand of a hired assassin. His head, like that of many -another Welsh leader, was sent across the border in a basket, and -received at Gloucester by Harold with much demonstrative satisfaction. -The latter, in the meantime, had marched to the Conway, and afterwards -through South Wales. He had been victorious everywhere; and now -nominated fresh rulers to the vacant thrones of Gwynedd and -Deheubarth, under promise of vassalage to the English Crown. - -The tenure of the three Welsh Princes was always complicated and, -indeed, liable to fluctuation with the balance of power, both in Wales -and across the border. In theory, Powys and South Wales owed lip -homage and a nominal tribute to the Prince of Gwynedd as "Pendragon." -The latter, on behalf of Wales, owed a similar service to the King of -England and, as I have mentioned before, was not inclined to dispute -it so long as his independence was respected. Harold's so-called -conquest only altered matters to the extent of making the three Welsh -provinces theoretically equal and individually vassals of the English -Crown. This paper arrangement would have probably remained a dead -letter or would have been maintained just so long as there was an arm -strong enough to maintain it. But a people were coming to eliminate -the Saxon as an aggressive power, and to take his place,--a people who -would not be satisfied with lip homage and occasional tribute. - -[Sidenote: 1066. Welsh and Normans.] - -The great struggle in England between Norman and Saxon seemed by the -mere force of contagion to set the Welsh Princes once more by the -ears. Some of them, however, in accordance with their generous -tradition of loyalty to the soil of the Britain they had lost, joined -the West Saxons in their resistance to this new and formidable foe. -Others essayed to make use in their domestic quarrels of the crafty -Norman, who was only too glad to get a finger so cheaply into the -Welsh pie. - -The followers of William of Normandy, indeed, lost no time in turning -their attention to Wales. Within ten years of the battle of -Hastings,--almost immediately, that is to say, after the completion of -the conquest of England,--they began their marauding expeditions -across the border, and were not unnaturally surprised at finding -themselves confronted by a people so entirely different from those -they had just subdued. But these initial successes taught the Welsh -nothing, and they still continued their fatal internecine strife. - -[Sidenote: The Normans in Wales.] - -The first serious lodgments of the Normans were made at Montgomery, -where a baron of that name built the castle, whose fragments still -look down from their rocky throne upon the windings of the upper -Severn. Rhuddlan, at the mouth of the Clwyd, the site of an even then -ancient fortress, was next occupied and strengthened. Flushed with -their easy conquest of England, the Normans had already begun to -regard Wales as if it also belonged to them; and still the quarrelsome -Welsh chieftains continued to engage these formidable new-comers in -their disputes. At Chester, Hugh Lupus, its Earl of famous memory, and -the nephew of the Conqueror, held in secure confinement the person of -the Prince of Gwynedd whom he had seized by treachery. He then -proceeded to farm out the realm of the captive prince, but as he only -received L40 as rental the sum is more eloquent than any words would -be to express the nature of the hold he had won over it. It is more -than likely the contractors had a bad bargain even at that figure. - -[Sidenote: Lupus, Earl of Chester, invades North Wales, 1075.] - -In the conspiracy of 1075, when William was on the continent, many of -the Welsh nobles joined, and had consequently their share of the -hanging and mutilating that followed its discovery. Lupus, however, -marched an army through the North and built or rebuilt castles at -Bangor, Carnarvon, and Anglesey. He was closely followed by the -Conqueror himself, who with a large force proceeded with little -apparent opposition through the turbulent South, received the homage -of its king, Rhys ap Tudor, and its petty Princes, and then repaired -with great pomp to the cathedral of St. David's, at whose altar he -offered costly gifts. This kind of triumphal progress, as the Saxons -well knew, though the Normans had yet to learn the fact, did not mean -the conquest of Wales. King William in this single campaign seems to -have imbibed some respect for Welshmen, for he spoke of them on his -death-bed as a people with whom he had "held perilous conflicts." - -Infinitely more dangerous to Welsh liberty was the experiment next -tried by a native Prince of acquiring Norman aid at the expense of -territory. The story of the conquest and settlement of Glamorgan is -such a luminous and significant incident in Welsh history, and was of -such great future importance, that it must be briefly related. - -[Sidenote: Norman settlement in Glamorgan.] - -[Sidenote: 1091.] - -The present county of Glamorgan was represented, roughly speaking, in -ancient Wales by the subkingdom, or, to use a more appropriate term, -the lordship of Morganwg. It had acquired its name in the ninth -century through the martial deeds of its then proprietor, "Morgan -Fawr," or "Morgan the Great." Morganwg, though part of Deheubarth, -was at times strong enough to claim something like independence, and -indeed the uncertain relationships of the smaller chieftains of South -Wales to their overlord at Dynevor may well be the despair of any one -attempting to combine tolerable accuracy with unavoidable brevity. But -these remarks are only relevant for the purpose of emphasising the -comparative importance at all times in Wales of the country we call -Glamorgan; and this was due not only to its size and to its seacoast, -but to its comparative smoothness and fertility. In the year 1091, in -the reign of William Rufus, one Iestyn, a descendant of Morgan the -Great, was ruling over Glamorgan, and as he was upon anything but -friendly terms with his feudal superior, Rhys ap Tudor, Prince of -South Wales, he bethought him of calling in alien aid, a habit then -growing lamentably common among Welsh chieftains. - -[Sidenote: Iestyn and Einion.] - -[Sidenote: Fitzhamon.] - -[Sidenote: William Rufus and Wales.] - -[Sidenote: Marriages with Normans.] - -[Sidenote: Turberville at Coity.] - -The Saxons had ceased to exist as a military power, and the Normans -stood in their shoes. Iestyn knew nothing of Normans, but he had a -friend named Einion who was reputed to have had much experience with -them. To Einion, then, he repaired and promised him his daughter's -hand, which presumably carried with it something substantial, if he -would bring a band of Normans to his assistance in his dispute with -Rhys. Einion consented to be his intermediary and without much -difficulty secured the services of Robert Fitzhamon and twelve -knightly adventurers who served under him. The Normans in due course -arrived and rendered Iestyn invaluable assistance in resisting his -lawful sovereign. They then, so runs the chronicle, having received -their pay, quite contrary to Norman custom peacefully re-embarked at -Cardiff and weighed anchor for home. But Iestyn, before they had well -cleared the harbour, was injudicious enough to repudiate the promise -of his daughter to Einion, whereupon the exasperated princeling put to -sea, interviewed Fitzhamon, and persuaded him to return with his -friends and his forces and eject the faithless Iestyn from his rich -territory. One may well believe it did not take much to win over the -Normans to so attractive and congenial an undertaking. At any rate -they reversed their course with much alacrity, returned to Cardiff, -ejected Iestyn, and after some fighting, assisted by Einion's people, -divided the province among themselves, each building one or more great -castles, whose ruins are notable features in Glamorganshire scenery -to-day. The blood of Fitzhamon's knightly followers courses in the -veins of many an ancient family of South Wales, and one of them at -least is still directly represented in name as well as lineage. This -conquest must be placed among the earliest in Wales, and it became the -type of many future Norman settlements, though it was the outcome of -an incident, while the others were for the most part deliberately -planned. The reign of Rufus was memorable for these filibustering -expeditions. They were executed under the sanction of the King, who -found in them a cheap method of granting favours to his barons, -particularly those who had perhaps not come out so well as they could -have wished in the partition of England. They might, in short, take of -Wales as much as they could keep, subject only to holding what they -acquired as feudatories of the King. There will be more to say about -these Marcher barons later on. In the meantime, Brecheiniog, or -Brecon, had been also conquered by another Norman, Bernard de -Newmarch, with a similar band of followers, and secured by a similar -system of castle building. Montgomery and other points in North and -South Wales had been occupied, but they were for the most part purely -military outposts. The occupation of Brecon and Glamorgan by a Norman -aristocracy is a salient and permanent factor in Welsh history. This -does not, however, imply that such filibustering barons were allowed -to settle quietly down in their seats. Before the end of the reign, -indeed, they were driven out, and William Rufus himself, who marched -through Wales more or less upon their behalf, had, after all, to -retire discomfited: but they were soon back again. It was not wholly -by brute force that they held their own. Life would hardly have been -worth living upon such terms, and as a matter of fact, so far as one -can read between the lines of these old chronicles, there does not -seem to have been at first the same antipathy between Norman and -Welshman as had formerly existed between Saxon and Welshman. Marriages -carrying Welsh property with them seem to have been readily arranged. -A singular and romantic instance of this was in the matter of Coity -Castle, whose ruined walls still hold together near Bridgend, and of -the Turbervilles who even yet, after all these centuries, retain their -name and position in Glamorganshire. For Paine Turberville, one of -Fitzhamon's twelve knights, having been by some mischance forgotten in -the distribution of land, inquired of his chief where he was to look -for his reward. "Here are arms and here are men," replied Fitzhamon; -"go get it where you can." So Turberville went to Coity, which was -still unconquered, and summoned Morgan, the Welsh lord, to surrender -it into his hands. Whereupon Morgan came out leading his daughter, and -passing through the army, with his sword in his right hand, came to -Paine Turberville, and told him that if he would marry his daughter, -and so come like an honest man into his castle, he would yield it to -him; but if not, said he, "let not the blood of any of our men be -lost, but let this sword and arm of mine and those of yours decide who -shall call this castle his own." Upon that Paine Turberville drew his -sword, took it by the blade in his left hand and gave it to Morgan, -and with his right hand embraced his daughter. After settling matters -to the satisfaction of all parties he went to church and married her, -and so came to the lordship by true right of possession; and by the -advice of his father-in-law kept under his command two thousand of the -best of his Welsh soldiers. - -Turberville, having now achieved so secure a position without the aid -of Fitzhamon, very naturally refused to pay him tribute or own him as -his overlord, but voluntarily recognised Caradoc, the son of the -dispossessed Iestyn, as his chief. This caused unpleasantness, but -Turberville, with his two thousand Welshmen and his father-in-law's -help, was too strong for Fitzhamon, and he had his way. It must not, -however, be supposed that these martial settlers as a class by any -means followed the example of the later Norman adventurers in Ireland, -and became "more Welsh than the Welsh themselves." They were too near -their King, at whose will they held their lands, and not far enough -removed from the centre of Anglo-Norman life, to throw off its -interests and lose touch with their connections. Nevertheless the -confusion of authority in South and Mid-Wales increased considerably -as time went on; for not only did Norman barons marry Welsh heiresses, -but occasionally a Welsh chieftain would win back a Norman-Welsh -lordship by marriage, and present the anomalous spectacle of a -Welshman holding Welsh land as a direct vassal of the King of England -in entire independence of his district Prince. But these occasional -amenities among the higher aristocracy but little affected the mass of -the Welsh people, who stood aloof with lowering and uncompromising -sullenness. - -[Sidenote: Welsh and Norman.] - -It was this intolerance of foreigners, bred in the bone and blood of -Welshmen, or this excessive patriotism, call it what you will, that -made possible their long and heroic resistance to the Norman yoke, and -for so long upheld the tottering thrones of their not always honest, -and always quarrelsome, Princes. They hugged their pedigrees and -cherished their bards, who in turn played with tireless energy upon -the chords of national sentiment and martial memories. No transfer of -land to Normans, whether due to the sword or to more peaceful methods, -was regarded as otherwise than temporary. As in parts of Ireland at -the present day, generations of occupation by an alien stock commanded -no respect beyond what belonged to the force of ownership. The -original owners might be long extinct in fact, but in the mind they -were the owners still. The Anglo-Saxon has a short memory; and is -practical even in matters of sentiment. Four or five generations are -sufficient to eliminate the memory of the humble or alien origin of -the _parvenu_, and are quite enough to fill his cup of social -reverence to the brim; perhaps fortunately so. The Celt, and -particularly the Welsh Celt, is fashioned differently. With him the -interloper remained an interloper far beyond his children's children, -and this mental attitude had much to do with the facility with which a -popular leader could at all times stir up strife in Wales, whatever -might be the odds against success. - -We have seen, then, the first wedge of alien occupation driven into -this hitherto virgin refuge of the ancient British stock. For we must -remember that, in spite of continual warfare, the Saxons had made no -impression calling for notice in a brief survey like this. We must -remember, also, that the Norman settlements were wholly military. The -followers that came with these adventurers were just sufficient to -garrison their castles. They were but handfuls, and lived within or -under the protection of the Norman fortress: their influence upon the -blood of the country may, I think, be put aside with certain -reservations, as scarcely worth considering. - -[Sidenote: 1105. Pembroke and the Flemings.] - -The severance of half the present county of Pembroke from Wales in the -reign of Henry the First must by no means be passed over if one is to -get a proper idea of what was meant by Wales at the time when this -story opens. It was in this King's reign that a large body of Flemings -were flooded out in the Low Countries by a great inundation, and -despairing of finding a fresh home in their own crowded fatherland, -they applied to the King of England to allot them territory out of his -presumed abundance.[2] In their appeal the King saw another means of -putting a bridle on the Welsh, at no expense to himself, to say -nothing of the advantage of posing as a philanthropist. He granted -therefore to the Flemings just so much of the south-western promontory -of Wales as they could hold and conquer, together with the peninsula -of Gower, which juts out from the coast of modern Glamorgan. Pembroke -was the more important and populous colony of the two. The native -inhabitants, it may be presumed, were few in the twelfth century; at -any rate the Flemings had no difficulty in driving them inland and -forming a permanent settlement. There was no assimilation with the -natives; they were completely pushed back, and in a short time Normans -came to the assistance of the Flemings. The great castles of -Pembroke, Manorbier, Haverford-west, and Tenby were built, and -speaking broadly the south-western half of the modern county of -Pembroke became as Teutonic, and in time as English, as Wiltshire or -Suffolk. Continual fighting went on between the native Welsh and the -intruders, keeping alive the animosity between the two races and -laying the seeds of that remarkable cleavage which makes the county of -Pembroke present to-day an ethnological curiosity without a parallel -in the United Kingdom. - - [2] Some accounts say that Henry first received them in England, - but got uneasy at the number which accumulated there and ordered - them all into south-west Wales. Small lodgments of Normans and - other aliens would seem to have preceded the Flemings. - - [Illustration: CAREW CASTLE. - FROM OLD PRINT.] - -The Flemings, as English subjects and constantly reinforced by English -arrivals, lost in time their nationality and their language, and -became as thoroughly Anglo-Saxon as the most fervent Salopian or the -most stolid Wiltshireman. They remain so, in a great measure, to this -very day. Intermixture with the Celtic and Welsh-speaking part of the -county has been rare. The isolated position of further Pembrokeshire -makes this anomaly still more peculiar, cut off as it is from England -by nearly a hundred miles of Welsh territory, and more particularly -when the fact is remembered that for centuries there has been no -religious or political friction to keep these two communities of a -remote countryside apart. Somewhat parallel conditions in Derry or -Donegal, though of much more recent origin, are far more explicable -owing to the civil strife and religious hatred which are or have been -rife there. Even so the mixture of Scotch-Irish Protestants with -Celtic Catholics has, I fancy, been much greater in Ireland than that -of the Anglo-Fleming Protestants of further Pembroke and of Gower -with their Welsh neighbours of the same faith "beyond the Rubicon" in -the same counties. - -These conquests may, however, be regarded as constituting for some -time the extent of solid Norman occupation. The story of Wales is one -long tale of continuous attempts by Norman barons on the territory of -the Welsh Princes, varied by the serious invasions of English Kings, -which were undertaken either directly or indirectly on behalf of their -Norman-Welsh vassals. Upon the whole but slow headway was made. -Anglo-Norman successes and acquisitions were frequently wiped out, for -the time at any rate, by the unconquerable tenacity of the Welsh -people, while every now and again some great warrior arose who rolled -the whole tide of alien conquest, save always further Pembroke, back -again pell-mell across the border, and restored Wales, panting, -harried, and bloody, to the limits within which William the Norman -found it. - -[Sidenote: 1156.] - -[Sidenote: Henry II. and Owen Gwynedd.] - -One of these heroic leaders was Owen ap Griffith, Prince of Gwynedd, -who arose in the time of Henry II. of England. Not only did he clear -North Wales of Normans, but he so ruthlessly harried Cheshire and the -Marches, and so frightened the Prince of Powys that the latter joined -the Norman-Welsh nobles in a petition to the King of England begging -him to come up in all haste with a strong force to their aid. Henry, -under whom England was rapidly recovering strength and cohesion, now -essayed that profitless and thorny path of Welsh invasion, which his -predecessors, Norman and Saxon, had so often trodden, and his -successors were so often and so vainly to tread. - -[Sidenote: Henry II. defeated by Owen Gwynedd.] - -[Sidenote: Rhys ap Griffith.] - -[Sidenote: Henry II. again in Wales, 1166.] - -[Sidenote: Battle of Crogen.] - -[Sidenote: Henry returns to England.] - -He marched with a large army to Chester and, being there joined by the -Prince of Powys and the Norman-Welsh barons, encamped on Saltney -Marsh. Owen with the forces of North Wales had come out to meet him as -far as Basingwerk, and as the vanguard of the royal army advanced -against the Welsh through the wooded defile of Coed Eulo the sons of -Owen fell suddenly upon it, and with great slaughter rolled it back -upon the main force. The King, then taking the seashore route, made -head for Rhuddlan at the mouth of the Clwyd. But near Flint, in -another narrow pass, he met with even a worse disaster. For here his -vanguard was again attacked, many of his knights and nobles slain, his -standard overthrown, and he himself in danger of his life. Eventually -he reached Rhuddlan, garrisoned it, came to terms with Owen, and went -home again. But there were two fierce and uncontrollable Princes now -in Wales: Owen himself, "Eryr Eryrod Eryri"--the "Eagle of the Eagles -of Snowdon"--and Rhys ap Griffith, the scarcely less warlike ruler of -South Wales. The period was one of continuous conflict in Wales and on -the border, and it ended in something like a national movement against -all the centres of Norman power, both royal and baronial, that were -sprinkled over the country. This was in 1165, and Henry, vowing -vengeance, advanced once more to the Welsh border. He had learnt -wisdom, however, in his former campaign, and moved cautiously to -Rhuddlan in order to make a preliminary investigation of the state of -affairs. It was evident that nothing but a great effort would be of -any avail; so returning to England he gathered a large army and sat -down at Chester. In the meantime Owen Gwynedd as suzerain or Pendragon -of Wales, with Rhys, Prince of Deheubarth, and even the two Princes of -vacillating Powysland, which had recently been split in half, and in -fact with the whole strength of the Cymry, raised the dragon standard -at Corwen on the Dee. The two armies met eventually upon the banks of -the Ceiriog, just beneath the hill where the Castle of Chirk, then -called Crogen,[3] now lifts its storied towers. The slopes of the -Welsh mountains, even to Snowdon itself, were in those days sprinkled -freely, if not thickly clad, with timber, and a feature of this -expedition was some two thousand woodcutters employed to open the -country for Henry's army and secure it against those ambuscades in -which the Welsh were so terribly proficient. But Owen Gwynedd came -down from the Berwyns this time to meet his foe and, as I have said, a -long and fierce battle was waged in the deep valley of the Ceiriog. -The Welsh were in the end forced to retreat, and recrossing the Berwyn -they took post again at Corwen, and, as tradition has it, on the lofty -British camp at Caer Drewyn on the north bank of the Dee. Henry -followed and sat down with his army on the high ridge of the -Berwyn, above Pen-y-pigin, the river flowing through what was then no -doubt a swampy valley between the two positions. It was the old story, -a wearisome enough one in the long strife between England and Wales. -Henry dared not advance in the face of the difficult country before -him and the Welshmen's superiority in hill and woodland fighting. -Moreover his provisions had run out, and to make matters worse the -weather broke up, so there was nothing to be done but to march his -great army home again. The Welsh Princes now attacked and destroyed -many of the King's castles in the North, and on the border recovered -Flint or Tegengle, which Henry had nominally annexed, and in the South -sorely pressed the Norman barons in Glamorgan, Brecon, and Gwent. But -the old madness of greed and jealousy which in Welsh Princes seemed -inseparable from success, now took possession of Rhys and Owen; they -turned on their late allies of Powys, fickle ones, no doubt, and -divided their inheritance between them. - - [3] This was a Welsh fortress on or near the site of the present - castle, whose origin will be spoken of in another chapter. - - [Illustration: CORWEN AND PEN-Y-PIGIN, FROM THE DEE. - Copyright - W. Davis.] - -[Sidenote: Howel ap Owen Gwynedd.] - -As for Owen Gwynedd, we must leave him and his deeds to the fame -which, wherever Welshmen congregate, endures for ever, and pass on to -a brief mention of his son Howel, who has earned immortality in a -curiously different field. Amid the passions and storms of that fierce -age in Wales, it is strange enough, not to find a poet-Prince, but to -find one singing in such strains as did Howel ap Owen Gwynedd. Warlike -ballads are readily conceivable in such an atmosphere as that in -which Howel lived, and of war and hunting he wrote. But he also wrote -sonnets, many of which are extant, to the yellow bloom of the furze, -the blossoms of the apple tree, the laugh of his bright-eyed sister, -to fields of tender trefoil, and to nightingales singing in privet -groves. He shared the fate of so many Welsh Princes and fell by the -dagger, the assassins being his half-brothers. Both he and his famous -father were buried in Bangor Cathedral. - -It may be well to point out that one of the causes of this chronic -strife between the Welsh Princes, besides the prevalent custom of -gavelkind, was that of fostering out the children of the royal houses; -for when the inevitable struggle for the succession ensued, each -claimant was backed up and vigorously assisted by the whole interest -of the family in which he had been reared. - -[Sidenote: Madoc ap Owen Gwynedd.] - -[Sidenote: Madoc's colony in Mexico, 1169.] - -To another son of Owen Gwynedd belongs a tale, notable in Welsh -tradition at any rate, if not in serious history. Madoc, who had for -his portion the country lying round the western base of Snowdon, found -the struggle for the possession of it perhaps too wearisome, for he -manned a small fleet and sailed out over the western seas for many -months till he discovered a strange country, good in all things for -the habitation of man. From this venture, so the legend runs, Madoc -returned, and, collecting a following of three hundred men in North -Wales, again safely crossed the Atlantic and there founded, in what is -supposed to have been Mexico,[4] a colony of Welshmen, from whom -sprang the royal dynasty of Montezuma. - - [4] If this were merely a fairy tale it would certainly be out of - place here; but as regards the Welsh colony it has been considered - not wholly unworthy of the attention of some serious ethnologists. - It may further be remarked, without comment, that a comparatively - modern and (in the vulgar sense) popular short history of Wales - treats the whole story as authentic fact without even a suggestion - of any legendary attributes! There we will leave it. - -[Sidenote: Dafydd ap Owen Gwynedd, 1170.] - -Dafydd, the usurping half-brother and murderer of the poet-Prince -Howel, had better luck than he deserved. King Henry, now bent on -making friends with the Welsh, particularly the North Welsh as being -the most formidable and homogeneous, gave him in marriage his sister -Emma and with her the rich barony of Ellesmere. Troops from South -Wales were already helping Henry in Ireland, and now Dafydd with a -large force of his own people crossed to Normandy to fight the battles -of his royal brother-in-law in that country. It is characteristic of -Welsh politics that while Dafydd was in France, the only one of his -brothers whom he had not killed or imprisoned took occasion to seize -Anglesey and the four Cantrefs that now make Carnarvonshire. - -[Sidenote: Giraldus Cambrensis.] - -Norman manners and customs seem about this time to have considerably -infected the Welsh aristocracy. That celebrated ecclesiastic and -author, Giraldus Cambrensis, comes upon the scene at this close of the -twelfth century, and has much to tell us out of the fulness of his -knowledge of Wales. He was of illustrious birth, half Welsh, half -Norman, and Archdeacon of Hereford, though his mere office by no means -suggests his importance, much less the importance he attributed to -himself. It is his entertaining descriptions of the Welsh life he knew -so well that have immortalised him, and his mixed blood would seem to -have endowed him with the impartiality which he professes. He was -violently opposed among other things to the encroachments of the -Norman Church in Wales; for the Pope, as I have stated, had now become -recognised as omnipotent, and Canterbury as the source of all -authority. Giraldus strove hard to get St. David's created an -Archbishopric, and to persuade the Pope to send thither his pallium, -the symbol of consecration. Though it is true he was himself burning -to be installed at St. David's, Giraldus probably reflected the -popular opinion of contemporary Welshmen in favour of recovering the -old independence of the Welsh Church. The Crusades were now at their -zenith, and Archbishop Baldwin undertook at this time his famous -progress through Wales on behalf of the holy cause. Giraldus -accompanied him as chaplain, interpreter, and friend on this -protracted tour, and, happily for us, as special reporter too. The -Archbishop's exhortations caused some passing enthusiasm throughout -the country, though the practical results do not seem to have been -considerable. Some say that Baldwin's main object was to hold high -mass in St. David's Cathedral, and so put the coping-stone, as it -were, on the annexation of the Welsh Church. - -As regards the Crusades the Welsh in the Middle Ages do not seem to -have been great rovers or much given to doing business on great -waters; always, of course, excepting Madoc ap Owen Gwynedd, the -discoverer of America! - -[Sidenote: Giraldus on the Welsh people.] - - "These people," says Giraldus, alluding to the Welsh, "are - light and active, hardy rather than strong, and entirely bred - up to the use of arms; for not only the nobles, but all the - people are trained to war, and when the trumpet sounds the - husbandman rushes as eagerly from his plough as the courtier - from his Court. They live more on flesh, milk and cheese than - bread, pay little attention to commerce, shipping, or - manufacture, and devote their leisure to the chase and martial - exercises. They earnestly study the defence of their country, - and their liberty. For these they fight, for these they - undergo hardships, and for these willingly sacrifice their - lives. They esteem it a disgrace to die in bed, an honour to - die on the field of battle." - - "Their arms and their coats of mail," he goes on to tell us, - "are light, so also are their helmets, and shields, and - greaves plated with iron. The higher class go to war on swift - and well-bred steeds, but are ready at a moment's notice, - should the nature of the ground require it, to fight on foot - as do the mass of their people. In times of peace the young - men by wandering in the dense forests and scaling the summits - of the highest mountains inure themselves to the hardships of - war when the necessity arrives." - -They were addicted neither to gluttony nor drunkenness, and could -readily go for two days without food, eating in any case but twice a -day. They could lie out, moreover, all night in rain and storm, if an -enemy had to be watched, or an ambush to be laid. There were whole -bands of the better-born young men whose sole profession was arms, and -to whom free quarters were given upon all occasions. The Welsh among -other things were a clean-shaven race, reserving only their -moustaches, and keeping the hair of their head short. The teeth of -both sexes too were a special matter of pride. On this account they -even abstained from hot meats, and rubbed their teeth constantly with -green hazel till they shone like ivory. "They have powerful -understandings, being much quicker at their studies than other Western -nations, ready in speech and confident in expressing themselves, even -to the lowest class." Their love of high birth and long pedigrees was -then as now conspicuous, and the tribal system though rapidly -modifying under Saxon and Norman influences encouraged them to think -much of their ancestors, and to be quick in avenging insults to their -blood. This custom, indeed, was carried to such lengths, that the -Welshman's tendency to family quarrels, coupled with his sensitiveness -for the family honour, was neatly satirised by an old proverb which -affirmed that he "loved his brother better dead than alive." - -[Sidenote: Giraldus on Welsh warfare.] - -Giraldus, who may be regarded as a well-informed neutral in the -matter, criticises the injudicious manner in which war had hitherto -been prosecuted against his countrymen. He deprecates, for instance, -the use of heavy-armed soldiers and a profusion of cavalry, which the -active Welshmen in their mountain country are easily able to elude and -often to defeat. He declares that the only way to conquer Wales would -be by winter campaigns, when the leaves are off the trees and the -pastures withered. "Then," he writes, "English troops must be pushed -forward at all hazards, for even if the first are slaughtered any -number of fresh ones can be purchased for money; whereas the Welsh are -restricted in the number of their men." The question of commissariat, -the crux of all Welsh campaigns in those days, seems to have escaped -the notice of the clerical critic. - -Having thus descanted on their virtues, Giraldus now assumes the -Anglo-Norman on the strength of his half blood, and enumerates their -weak points. - - "The Welsh are flighty," he tells us, "and readily undertake - things which they have not the perseverance to carry out. They - have little respect for oaths, and not much for the truth, and - when a good opportunity occurs for attacking an enemy they - regard neither truces nor treaties. In war they are very - severe in their first attack, terrible by their clamour and - looks, filling the air with horrid shouts and the deep-toned - clangour of very long trumpets. Bold in the first onset they - cannot bear a repulse, being easily thrown into confusion, as - soon as they turn their backs. Yet though defeated and put to - flight one day, they are ready to resume the combat on the - next, neither dejected by their loss nor by their dishonour; - easier in short to overcome in a single battle, than in a - protracted war. Their great weakness after all," concludes - Gerald, "lies in their internal jealousies. If they were - inseparable, they would be insuperable, and above all, if - instead of having three Princes they had but one, and that a - good one!" - -For their music this invaluable chronicler has nothing but -enthusiasm, dwelling upon the sweetness of their instruments, the harp -and the "crwth" (a primitive violin) in particular, and, above all, on -their habit of singing in parts, and not, as most other nations do, in -unison. - -[Sidenote: Religious fervour in the twelfth century.] - -[Sidenote: Abbeys.] - -However distasteful the aggression of the Roman Church may have been -to the mass of the Welsh people in the twelfth century, this period -brought a great revival of religious fervour, even if it came largely -from alien sources. The rude churches of wood or wickerwork that five -and six centuries before had marked the dawn, not of Christianity, but -of organised Christianity, now gave place to solid and sometimes -beautiful specimens of early English or Norman art. Many of them, not -greatly altered by the restorer's touch, still stand amid the grandeur -of majestic mountains or the loneliness of surf-beaten shores, and -seem in consequence to speak more eloquently of these far-off, -mysterious times than their more imposing contemporaries, which are -set amid tame and commonplace surroundings. In the twelfth and -thirteenth centuries, too, the great Welsh abbeys were in their prime. -Valle Crucis, whose graceful ruins still defy the ages amid the -matchless beauties of the Vale of Llangollen, was the pride of Powys; -Ystradfflur (_Strata Florida_) in Cardigan shared with the Cistercian -House of Aber Conway the honour of recording and safeguarding the -chronicles of the Principality and of giving burial to her most -illustrious dead. In a wild Radnor valley stood the great Franciscan -abbey of Cwm Hir, while in the green meadows where the silver streams -of the Mawddach and the Wnion meet in the shadow of Cader Idris, you -may yet see the ivy clustering on the ruins of the once powerful -foundation of St. Illtyd. Some centuries older than any of these, the -most ancient of Welsh abbeys was still intact upon Ynys Enlli, the -remote island of Bardsey, and served the churches that were so thickly -sprinkled along the rugged coasts of Lleyn. It had been the "Rome of -the Cymry." Thousands of pilgrims had annually turned thither their -weary steps. It was accounted a good thing to go there, and still -better to die there; and though divided from the mainland by three -miles of water, whose tides rage with notorious violence, the dust of -"twenty thousand saints" lies, as all good Welshmen know, beneath the -sod of this narrow and stormy isle. These are but a few haphazard -examples of the centres of religion, which, amid the fierce passions -of the Celt and the restless greed of the Norman, struck at least one -peaceful note in nearly every Cambrian valley. - -[Sidenote: Powys and the English power.] - -[Sidenote: Norman encroachments.] - -We are now within less than a century of the final overthrow of Welsh -independence. Enough has been said to show how gradually and with what -hard fighting the disintegration of Wales was brought about, and still -fiercer struggles were yet to come. The Princes of Powys, though -liable to fitful attempts at independence, had now virtually submitted -to the English King, and even ranged themselves at times against their -countrymen. North Wales was still intact, always excepting that -debatable land between the Dee and Conway, the Perfeddwlad, which was -lost and retaken more times than it would be possible to take account -of here. The great region of South Wales, however, from the edge of -Hereford to Cardigan Bay, presented a rare confusion of authority. One -scarcely ventures to touch the subject within such narrow limits as -ours must needs be. Hardly as they were sometimes beset, even to the -length of being driven from their lands and castles, the Norman -adventurers steadily ate up bit by bit the old Kingdom of Deheubarth. -Each man had just so much territory as he could win by the sword, and, -what was more important, only so much as he could keep by it. They all -held their lands, whose limits were but vaguely defined by charter or -title-deed, since they were undefinable, direct from the King of -England, and had by virtue of their office the right to sit in -Parliament, and to support the royal canopy at coronations with silver -spears. - -[Sidenote: Wales in the thirteenth century.] - -In their own domains they possessed absolute authority, so far as they -could exercise it, even over the lives of their tenants. Small towns -began to grow under the protection of their castle walls, and were -occupied by their retainers. Courts were established in each lordship, -and justice was administered to the Anglo-Norman minority after -English custom and to the Welsh majority after the custom of old Welsh -law, and in the native tongue. Let me repeat, I am but generalising. -The condition of Wales at the opening of the thirteenth century was -far too complex to admit of analytical treatment within such a brief -space as this. The exceptions to every rule were numerous. The King of -England himself, for example, owned many lordships and was represented -in them by a Justiciar or Bailiff, and sometimes this functionary was -actually a Welshman. Here and there again a Welsh noble held property -as a Norman Baron from the King while occasionally a Norman did -allegiance for his barony to a Welsh Prince, and posed as a Welshman. - - [Illustration: VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -[Sidenote: Landed system.] - -The landed system of Wales in the Middle Ages is still more hopeless -for purposes of brief description. The indigenous tribal system, when -land was held in families, or "gwelis," by the descendants of a -privileged though perhaps a large class, had been steadily undergoing -modification since the later Saxon period,[5] and in all directions it -was honeycombed not only by encroaching Normans, with their feudal and -manorial land laws, and by the monastic houses, but long before the -twelfth century many Welsh princes and chieftains had felt the Saxon -influence, and had drifted into the manorial system, so far at least -as their own private possessions were concerned. - - [5] See Seebohm's _Tribal Wales_. - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn the Great, 1195.] - -With the close of the twelfth century the most illustrious of all -Welsh Princes, the only possible rival of Glyndwr, Llewelyn ap -Iorwerth, comes upon the scene as a beardless boy; and in connection -with this famous person it may fairly be said that though there was -plenty of fight left in the still unconquered moiety of South Wales, -and a little even in Powys, it is with Gwynedd that the interest of -the last century of Welsh resistance mainly rests. Son of Iorwerth the -broken-nosed, who, though the rightful heir of Owen Gwynedd, was -rejected on account of this disfigurement, Llewelyn the Great is -supposed with good reason to have been born in the castle of -Dolwyddelan, whose ruinous walls, perched high upon the wild -foot-hills of Moel Siabod, still look down upon the infant Llugwy as -it urges its buoyant streams through one of the most beautiful of -North Welsh valleys. - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn marries King John's daughter.] - -Nurtured amid the clash of arms, the boy was only twelve years old -when he asserted his right to the throne, and won it against his -Norman-loving uncle, Dafydd, whom we left, it will be remembered, -fighting in France. The young Prince, backed by a strong following in -North Wales, and by the arms of Powys, deposed his uncle and commenced -the long career which earned him that pre-eminent fame in warlike -deeds which attaches to his name. By the time he was of age he was -fully recognised as "Brenin holl Cymru," or Pendragon, by all that was -left of Wales. John, who now occupied the English throne, so fully -recognised the dawn of a new and formidable personal influence in his -tributary realm that he bestowed upon Llewelyn in marriage his -illegitimate daughter Joan, together with a handsome dower. - -The first few years of the thirteenth century were fully occupied with -ceaseless strife between the Welsh Princes, their relatives, and the -Norman nobles settled in their midst. It will be sufficient to say -that Llewelyn, high-handed and autocratic, lost nothing of his -importance in such congenial work, and by 1209 had left his mark upon -the English borders so rudely that King John and his vigorous -son-in-law at length came to blows. The former, collecting a large -army, penetrated to the Conway River, behind which, in the mountains -of Snowdonia, Llewelyn with all his people and all his movables defied -attack. - -[Sidenote: John invades Wales, 1209.] - -[Sidenote: 1212.] - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn sides with the barons against John.] - -John, with whom went many of the nobles of Powys, sat down at Deganwy -Castle, one of the great strategic points of ancient Wales, and one -whose scanty ruins are familiar to visitors at Llandudno and Conway. -But the Welsh slipped behind them and cut off their supplies. Nor -could the King move forward, for across the river rose the grim masses -of the Snowdon mountains. His people were reduced to eating their -horses, disease was ravaging their ranks, and there was nothing for it -but to go back; so John returned to England with rage at his heart. -Nothing daunted he returned again to the attack, marching this time by -way of Oswestry and Corwen. He was now both more daring and more -fortunate, seeing that he succeeded in throwing a portion of his -forces into Bangor. This checkmated Llewelyn, and he sent his wife to -see what terms could be exacted from her father. His reply indicated -that the cession of the unfortunate Perfeddwlad, and a fine of twenty -thousand head of cattle was the least he could accept, and with these -terms the Welsh Prince complied. The latter condition was probably -inconvenient; the former was merely a question of might for the time -being. Any territorial arrangement with John was likely to be of only -temporary consequence, for that undesirable King was perpetually under -the ban of the Church, and had none too many friends. So in 1212, when -Pope Innocent absolved all John's feudatories from their allegiance, -it furnished an admirable excuse for Llewelyn to reoccupy the whole of -his ancient dominion of Gwynedd. When, two years later, John's own -barons rose against him, they formed an alliance with the powerful -Prince of Gwynedd, who captured Shrewsbury, and thereby contributed no -little to the pressure which caused the signing of Magna Charta. - -Llewelyn subsequently swept through both Mid- and South Wales, sacking -and gutting many of the hated Norman castles, till he came to be -regarded in the South with as much devotion as in his own province. -Every dispute concerning territory or boundaries was submitted to his -judgment. Even the Flemings of Pembroke for the first time since their -occupation tendered their homage to a Welsh Prince. - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn recognised by John as ruler of Wales.] - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn's son rebels against him.] - -But between the death of John and the accession of Henry III., the -nobles of England forgot their obligations to Llewelyn, while the -Marcher barons whose castles he had sacked were eager enough to turn -this indifference into hostility. The result of all this was that -Llewelyn found himself threatened by the whole power of England and -of Anglo-Norman Wales in the event of his refusal to abandon his -recent conquests. Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, wise in his generation, sought -a personal interview with the young King, his brother-in-law, at which -he undertook to do him homage; a formality which, I have more than -once observed, Welsh Princes had no reluctance upon principle in -conceding. On this occasion, moreover, Llewelyn's pride was fully -gratified. He was officially recognised as Prince of all Gwynedd, with -the second title of Lord of Snowdon, and his suzerainty over the other -divisions of Wales was formally acknowledged. We find him emphasising -this diplomatic triumph by granting that bone of contention, the -Perfeddwlad, to his son Griffith, and the latter with the fatuity so -common to his race returning this piece of parental affection by -laying violent hands on Merioneth, another district within his -father's Principality. This was a wholly outrageous proceeding and -Llewelyn, finding remonstrance unavailing, hastened eastward with a -strong force to chastise his incorrigible offspring. The latter was -quite prepared to fight, and we have the edifying picture of father -and son facing each other in arms in a cause wholly wanton, and as if -there were no such thing as Normans and Saxons, to say nothing of -South Welshmen, ever and always threatening their existence. A -reconciliation was happily effected, but when Llewelyn found himself -with most of the soldiery of his province around him in arms, the -temptation was too great, and throwing treaties to the winds, he fell -upon the English border and harried it from Chester to Hereford. Drawn -thence south-westwards by signs of restlessness on the part of that -ever-rankling sore, the Anglo-Flemish colony of Pembroke, he swept -through South Wales and fought a great battle on the confines of their -territory, which the fall of night found still undecided. - -[Sidenote: Continuous war, 1234.] - -From now onwards till 1234 there was little peace in Wales, and above -the ceaseless din of arms the star of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth shone with -ever increasing glory. Then came a confederation of Norman barons -against King Henry, who, turning for support to Llewelyn, entered into -a solemn league and covenant both with him and with his tributary -princes. It was so strong a combination that Henry shrank from coping -with it. It was the first occasion on which Anglo-Norman Barons and -Welsh Princes on an important scale had formed a treaty of alliance -with each other and, still more, had honourably observed it. Even more -singular perhaps was the outcome, when, Henry being forced to a -compromise, a Welsh Prince found himself in the unprecedented position -of being able to exact conditions for the great Norman feudatories of -Wales from a Norman King. - -[Sidenote: Death of Llewelyn II., 1240.] - -Llewelyn, having buried his wife Joan in the abbey of Llanfaes near -Beaumaris, himself died at Aber in the year 1240, after a stormy but, -judged by the ethics of the time, a brilliant reign of over half a -century. His triumphs were of course for the most part military ones. -But no Welsh Princes having regard to the decline of Cymric power had -ever accomplished quite so much. He had forced his authority upon all -Wales except the lordship Marches, but he had also been a sleepless -patriot, driving the English arms back and greatly weakening the -English influence throughout the whole Principality. With this scant -notice of a long and eventful reign we must take leave of the warlike -son of Iorwerth. He was buried at Aber Conway in the abbey he had -founded; but his stone coffin was removed in later days to the -beautiful church at Llanrwst, where amid the historic treasures of the -Gwydir Chapel it still recalls to the memory of innumerable pilgrims -"the eagle of men, who loved not to lie nor sleep, who towered above -the rest of men with his long red lance and his red helmet of battle -crested with a savage wolf, Llewelyn the Great." - -[Sidenote: Griffith sent to the Tower by Henry III.] - -Wales, though rapidly approaching the era of her political extinction, -was now so unusually strong and even aggressive that the English King -was compelled to watch the course of events there with a vigilant eye. -From the Welsh point of view it was of vital importance that -Llewelyn's successor in Gwynedd should be both acceptable to his -people and strong in himself. Unhappily he was neither, unless indeed -obstinacy may count for strength. Of Llewelyn's family two sons alone -concern us here. Griffith, the elder of these by a Welsh mother, has -been already alluded to as going to war in such wild fashion with his -father. Rightly or wrongly he was regarded as illegitimate, though -that circumstance, it may be remarked parenthetically, was not such a -vital matter in Old Wales. But his father's marriage with an English -King's daughter suggests the possibility of making too light of a -former and less distinguished alliance. Be that as it may, the younger -of the two, the son of the Princess Joan and nephew of Henry III., -succeeded in seating himself on his father's throne, though not -without protest from the Welsh nobility who did not by any means -relish his English blood. Dafydd had all the English influence behind -him, while his close connection with the King seemed to make for -peace. But Griffith, the elder, in spite of his presumed illegitimacy, -was the popular candidate, and Dafydd did not improve his own position -by proceeding to strip his half-brother of his private property, and -immuring his person in Criccieth Castle. All Wales protested. The -Bishop of Bangor went so far as to excommunicate his temporal ruler, -and King Henry himself on his distant throne expressed unmistakable -disapproval of the whole business. But Dafydd cared neither for King -nor Bishop. To the former he replied that if Griffith were at liberty -there would be no peace in Wales, a possibility that seems by no means -remote when one considers the performances of this young man in his -father's lifetime. Henry was not to be thus put off, and approached -the Marches with a strong army. This unmistakable procedure and the -almost unanimous support it met with from the Welsh nobility -frightened Dafydd into a promise of submission. But the upshot of all -this was not precisely what Griffith's Welsh friends had expected. He -was released from Criccieth, it is true, but only to be transferred to -the Tower of London pending Henry's decision as to his ultimate fate. - -[Sidenote: Death of Griffith.] - -Much more important than this disposal of Griffith's person was the -extraction from Dafydd by his uncle of one of the most humiliating -treaties ever wrung from a Welsh Prince, a treaty which might well -cause his father, the great Llewelyn, to turn in his grave beside the -Conway. Every advantage that Llewelyn's strong arm had gained was -tamely abandoned by his unworthy son. The Princes of Powys and South -Wales were absolved from their oath of homage to the ruler of Gwynedd, -which Principality shrank once more to the banks of the Conway. In the -meantime Griffith with his young son Owen was left by Henry to -languish in the Tower, till, filled with despair, he made a bold bid -for freedom. Weaving ropes out of his bed-clothing he let himself down -by night from his prison window; but, being a corpulent man, his -weight was too much for such slender supports, and he fell from a -great height to the ground, breaking his neck upon the spot. - -[Sidenote: Dafydd makes war on the English.] - -[Sidenote: 1244.] - -[Sidenote: Henry III. in Wales.] - -The Welsh were greatly exasperated at the news, laying the death of -their favourite most naturally at Henry's door, and as the Marcher -barons had been encouraged of late in their aggressions and tyrannies -by the decline of Welsh strength, the time seemed ripe for another -general rising. Dafydd now came out as a warrior and a patriot leader, -and Wales rallied to his standard. He was, however, so appalled by -the memory of the awful oaths of allegiance he had sworn to his royal -uncle and the vengeance of Heaven he had invited in case of their -non-observance, that he sent secretly a sum of money to the Pope,--all -in fact he could scrape together,--begging for absolution. His -Holiness granted this readily enough and professed to recognise his -right to independence. But Henry, hearing of it, and disturbed by -these manoeuvres of the Vicar of God, secretly forwarded twice the -amount of money sent by Dafydd to the Pope, who thereupon reversed all -his previous decisions. We do not hear whether the Welsh Prince got -his money back. He certainly got no value for it. So now in these -years of 1244-45 war raged once more throughout Wales and the Marches, -and Dafydd, though unendowed with his father's warlike talents, -nevertheless by his patriotic action regained the affection of his -people. Henry was busy in Scotland and it was nearly a year before he -could get to Wales in person; when he did, he pushed his way, with -only one brisk fight, to that time-honoured barrier, the Conway -estuary, and sat down with a large army of English and Gascons on the -green pastures around Deganwy Castle, where he gazed with inevitable -helplessness at the Welsh forces crowding on the marsh across the -river, or lining the outer ramparts of Snowdonia that frown behind it. -The troubles of King John, and even worse, befell his son. Matthew of -Paris has preserved for us a "letter from the front" written by a -knight, who gives a graphic description of the sufferings of the -army, not forgetting himself in the narration of them. Cold, sickness, -and hunger were their lot, varied by fierce skirmishes with the Welsh -and desperate fights over the English provision boats, which made -their way from Chester round the Orme's Head into the Conway. Aber -Conway Abbey was ruthlessly sacked by the English soldiery, much to -the regret, it should be said, of our "special correspondent" and -greatly to the rage of the Welsh, who in revenge slaughtered every -wounded Englishman they could lay hands on. - -No definite result accrued from this war. Dafydd died a few months -after this amid the regrets of his people, whose affection had been -secured by his later deeds. He had atoned for his former pusillanimity -by the stubborn resistance which marked the close of his life. His -death made way for the last and, to Englishmen, the most illustrious -of all the long line of Welsh Princes. - -[Sidenote: Sons of Griffith appointed to joint rulership of N. Wales.] - -[Sidenote: Henry III. again in Wales.] - -Dafydd left no heir. Strictly speaking, his legal successor was a -Norman, Sir Ralph Mortimer, who had married Gwladys, a legitimate -daughter of Llewelyn. Such a successor was of course out of the -question, and, as Henry abstained from all interference, the nobles of -North Wales naturally fell back on the illegitimate branch, that of -Griffith, who perished in the moat of the Tower of London. This -unfortunate Prince, whose body was about this time removed to Conway -and buried with great pomp, had three sons, Llewelyn, Owen, and -Dafydd. It would seem as if all past experiences were lost upon the -nobles of Gwynedd, since they were fatuous enough to appoint the two -elder of these Princes to the joint rulership of their province. The -partnership survived an English invasion which Henry made on hearing -that the chieftains of South Wales were calling on the new Princes of -Gwynedd to aid them, in the belief that a diversion would be -opportune. Once more the English appeared on the Conway. As usual, the -Welsh with their stock and movables had slipped over the river into -the impregnable wilds of Snowdonia, and the King returned as he went, -burning St. Asaph's Cathedral on his march. There was now peace in -Wales for some years; a lull, as it were, before the great conflict -that was to be the end of all things. But peace and plenty, in the -words of the chronicler, "begat war." For want of enemies the two -brothers turned their arms against each other. Owen, the younger, was -the aggressor in this instance, and he justly suffered for it, being -overcome by Llewelyn and immured for the rest of his life in the -lonely castle of Dolbadarn, whose ivy-mantled shell still stands by -the Llanberis lakes. - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn III. (or ap Griffith).] - -[Sidenote: 1257-58.] - -Dafydd, the third brother, had supported Owen, and he, too, was seized -and securely confined. Llewelyn, now supreme in North Wales, becomes -the outstanding figure around which the closing scene of the long and -heroic resistance of the Welsh henceforth gathers. South Wales was in -a distracted state. The Lord Marchers and the King's Bailiffs, backed -by English support, had taken fresh heart from Welsh dissensions and -were pressing hardly on those native chieftains who did not side with -them. Every chieftain and noble in Wales whose patriotism had not been -tampered with now took up arms. Llewelyn was universally recognised as -the national leader, and the years 1257-58 were one long turmoil of -war and battle in every part of Wales. Llewelyn had cleared off all -recent aggression, fallen with heavy hand on the old settled barons, -and smitten the traitors among his fellow-countrymen hip and thigh. A -battle was fought on the Towy, which some chroniclers say was the -bloodiest ever engaged in between Welsh and English, to the worsting -of the latter and the loss of two thousand men. - -[Sidenote: King Henry attacks Llewelyn.] - -The Perfeddwlad had been granted to Prince Edward, then Earl of -Chester. His agents there had distinguished themselves, even in those -cruel times, for intolerable oppression. Llewelyn in his vengeance -swept Edward's new property bare from the Conway to the Dee. The -future conqueror and organiser of Wales was at this moment hardly -pressed. His Welsh friends, like the then Prince of Powys, were -heavily punished by Llewelyn and their lands laid waste. Edward sent -to Ireland for succour, but the Irish ships were met at sea by those -of Llewelyn and driven back. Henry now returned to his son's -assistance, and, drawing together "the whole strength of England from -St. Michael's Mount to the river Tweed," executed the familiar -promenade across the wasted Perfeddwlad, and experienced the familiar -sense of impotence upon the Conway with its well defended forts and -frowning mountains alive with agile spearmen. - -Once again the tide of battle rolled back to the English border, and -the first serious punishment we hear of the Welsh receiving curiously -enough was at the hands of some German cavalry imported and led by -Lord Audley, whose large horses seem to have struck some terror into -the mountaineers. But this is a detail. Llewelyn may almost be said to -have repeated the exploits of his grandfather and reconquered Wales. -Even Flemish Pembroke had been forced to its knees. His followers to -the number of ten thousand had bound themselves by oath to die rather -than submit, and these, being picked men and inured to war, were a -formidable nucleus for the fighting strength of Wales to rally round. -The revolt, too, of Simon de Montfort against Henry was all in favour -of Llewelyn, who took the former's part and was able to render him -considerable personal service in the decline of his success. - -[Sidenote: 1267. Llewelyn makes peace and is recognised by Henry as -Prince of all Wales.] - -Through many years of intermittent strife and varying fortunes the -balance of power remained with Llewelyn, till in 1267 a peace was made -at Shrewsbury very greatly in his favour. By this agreement Henry in -consideration of a sum of money undertook to recognise Llewelyn as -Prince of all Wales and entitled to receive homage and fealty from -every prince and noble in the country save the sadly shorn -representatives of the old line of Deheubarth. But after two years' -enjoyment of this contract the King's death and the succession of the -strenuous Prince Edward threw everything once more into confusion. - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn and Edward I., 1275.] - -It is true that Edward, who was in the Holy Land fighting Turks, took -two years in finding his way home. But when he did so, in 1274, and -was crowned King he threw his father's treaty with Llewelyn to the -winds; an action for which, it is true, the latter gave him some -excuse by refusing to attend at his coronation, not from recusancy, -but from a well-grounded fear that his life would not be safe from -certain Anglo-Norman nobles whose territory he would have to pass -through. - - * * * * * - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn's betrothed wife seized by the English.] - -Now comes a passage in Llewelyn's stormy life that his admirers would -fain forget, since it records how for love of a woman he reversed the -indomitable front he had hitherto shown to the invading English, and -submitted almost without a blow to the dictation of the returned -Crusader, whom he had so often beaten of old in the Welsh Marches. It -was perhaps the memory of these former rebuffs that made the proud and -warlike Edward so vindictive towards Llewelyn. A weapon, too, was at -this moment placed in his hands which was to assist him in a manner he -had not dreamed of. The young daughter of the late Simon de Montfort, -to whom the Welsh Prince was betrothed and whom he is said to have -deeply loved, was sailing from France to become his bride. In anxiety -to escape the English, the ship that bore her unluckily ran among some -Bristol vessels off the Scilly Islands. The captains seized the -prospective bride and carried her at once to Edward, who was on the -point of invading Wales with two armies. Four years of peace had -doubtless weakened the strong Welsh league that had worked such -wonders against Henry III. Numbers of his old friends at any rate -failed to respond to Llewelyn's call. The Prince had now before him -the alternatives of immediate union with his betrothed, or of war and -chaos with a lukewarm or hostile South Wales and certainly a hostile -Powys added to the power of England. - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn makes peace with Edward I.] - -After being cooped up for some weeks in the Snowdon mountains by the -royal army, Llewelyn signed at length a treaty with Edward, the -conditions of which were as humiliating as if he had been crushed to -the earth by a series of disastrous battles, whereas he was in truth -the still recognised suzerain of all Wales. To put the case, or the -gist of it, briefly: all Wales except the Snowdon lordships (the -present Carnarvonshire) was to revert absolutely to the King of -England, Welsh and alien lords alike becoming his tenants. Even -Anglesey was to revert to the Crown in the event of Llewelyn's dying -without issue. Nothing was to be left of Welsh independence but the -"cantrefs," or lordships, constituting Snowdonia; and over this -remnant Llewelyn's heirs were to be graciously permitted to reign in -peace. The Prince's passion had proved greater than his patriotism; -the treaty was signed at Conway, and King Edward, who had advanced -unopposed to Cardiganshire, withdrew his troops. - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn's marriage.] - -"The force of love," says the chronicler, groaning over this -depressing episode, "does indeed work wonders." Llewelyn, not long -afterwards, was married in great pomp at Worcester in presence of the -whole Court of England, the King himself giving the bride away, and -the late ruler of all Wales and now lord merely of Snowdonia, with a -life interest in Anglesey, retired to the obscurity of his contracted -honours. Here, amid the Carnarvon mountains, he began ere long to feel -the prickings of conscience, and remorse for the weak part he had -played. - -Edward, too, kept open the wound by frequently summoning him to this -place or that on various pleas, and the Welsh Prince, dreading -treachery and remembering his father, Griffith's, fate, as constantly -refused to go without a guaranty of safety. The greater part of the -present counties of Carmarthen and Cardigan were already King's -ground. As forming part of the old Principality of South Wales, and -therefore not Marcher property, they had come to Edward. A county -court had before this been established at Carmarthen, and efforts to -make this territory shire ground had been feebly made, but they were -now vigorously renewed, and the Perfeddwlad was treated in savage -fashion. Ferocity was the distinguishing mark of all the servants of -Edward I. - -[Sidenote: Cruelty of Edward's government, 1281.] - -[Sidenote: Dafydd turns patriot.] - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn and Dafydd unite for resistance.] - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn rejects all terms.] - -[Sidenote: Outside sympathy for Wales.] - -From every part of Wales came the cry of despairing Welshmen ground to -powder by the insensate tyrannies of the King's Bailiffs and the Lord -Marchers, now left entirely to their own wild wills. Llewelyn's third -brother, Dafydd, who had played the part of King's friend and traitor -to his own people for most of his life, was rewarded by the Barony of -Denbigh. It was the year 1281 and the time was now ripe for the last -scene of the last act in this long, sanguinary struggle. Many of the -chieftains of Wales, thinking, as they had often thought before, that -death was preferable to the intolerable oppression from which the -country now suffered, approached Dafydd at Denbigh and assured him -that if he would even thus tardily be reconciled to his brother -Llewelyn and lead them, they would strike yet one more blow for -freedom. Dafydd, probably with their knowledge, was smarting under -some real or fancied slight from his patron, King Edward, though maybe -his heart was really touched at the extreme sufferings of his -countrymen. At any rate he played the man to an extent that more than -atoned for his unworthy past. Dafydd and his brother Llewelyn now met -at the former's castle upon the high rock of Denbigh, and there the -Welsh chieftains who had declared for death or freedom rallied to the -standard raised by the grandsons of Llewelyn the Great, and held upon -"the craggy hill in Rhos" the last formal council of either peace or -war that was to be recorded in the pages of Welsh history. The news of -the proposed rising had reached England before Llewelyn had left his -palace at Aber, and had caused some consternation. Edward and his -barons had regarded the Welsh question as settled, and thought that on -the death of the now pacified and uxorious Llewelyn the last vestige -of independence would quietly lapse. The Archbishop of Canterbury was -greatly distressed. He sent word to Llewelyn that he was coming to see -him for the love he bore to Wales, and without the King's knowledge; -and he then, in actual fact, travelled all the way to Aber and used -every argument, persuasive and coercive, he could think of to turn the -Welsh Prince from what seemed a mad and hopeless enterprise. He -threatened him with the whole physical power of England, the whole -spiritual power of Rome. Never did the last Llewelyn, or indeed any -Llewelyn, show a nobler front than on this occasion. For himself, he -was materially well provided for and beyond the reach of the -persecution that pressed upon most of his fellow-countrymen. But they -had called to him in their despair, and desperate as the risk might be -he had resolved to stand or fall with them. A schedule of conditions -was sent him from the English King and his council, under which -everything was to be overlooked, if only he and his people would -return to their allegiance. Among other things an English county, with -a pension of L1000 a year, was offered him in lieu of Snowdon. -Llewelyn replied with scorn that he wanted no English county, that his -patrimony was lawfully his own by virtue of a long line of ancestors; -that even if he himself were base enough to yield up the Snowdon -lordships, his subjects there would never submit to a rule that was -hateful to them and had brought such misery on their neighbours of the -Perfeddwlad. It was better, he declared, to die with honour than to -live in slavery; and it may perhaps be repeated to his advantage that -Llewelyn himself was only a sufferer so far as his proper pride was -concerned, though it is possible he felt some pricks of conscience -about the concessions made two years previously. At any rate he nobly -atoned for them. There is evidence that admiration for the gallant -stand made by this remnant of the Welsh was being kindled not only -across the seas but even among Englishmen themselves. "Even Englishmen -and foreigners," says Matthew of Paris, who was assuredly no Welshman, -"were touched with pity and admiration." - -[Sidenote: Dafydd rejects Edward's terms.] - -Prince Dafydd, who was offered his pardon on condition of immediately -repairing to the Holy Land, was equally stubborn, though perhaps the -temptation to be otherwise was not so great. He replied to the effect -that he had no intention of undertaking a Crusade at the dictates of -others. However admirable was this tardy patriotism, his past record -from that point of view was wholly dishonourable, for he had been -consistently a King's man. On the other hand, if, as was possibly the -case with many Welsh nobles, he had sincerely believed that submission -to English rule was the wisest thing for Welshmen, his abrupt -repudiation of the man whose favours he had sought and received is not -readily excusable. In this direction it is urged that the Anglo-Norman -garrisons in these first years of Edward's reign had made life so -intolerable that Dafydd was sufficiently touched by his countrymen's -sufferings to risk everything and join his gallant brother in so -forlorn a hope. "It was better for the kingdom at large that Wales -should be governed," wrote the brothers to Edward, "by her own -Princes, paying that homage to the King of England which they had -never refused, than by greedy strangers whose only thought was to -oppress her people, despoil her churches, and advance their own -private interests." - -[Sidenote: Fighting on the Menai Straits.] - -The fall of the curtain upon this remnant of Welsh independence was -now but a matter of a few months. Edward's answer to the Princes was -the despatch of a fleet to Anglesey, and of an army along the north -coast route, containing large numbers of Gascons, and even some -Spaniards. Edward himself went as far as Conway, meeting on the way -with a heavy repulse and considerable loss in what was soon to be -Flintshire. Dafydd, who was commanding in the north, was pushed into -Snowdonia. The English army in Anglesey bridged the Menai with boats, -and a strong detachment, crossing before the connection was complete, -encountered the Welsh near Bangor. The invaders, however, were all cut -off and slain in a fierce battle fought upon the shore, among them -being many barons, knights, and squires. - -These successes could only delay the end and exasperate the inevitable -conquerors. Llewelyn, not wishing to be starved into surrender among -the Snowdon mountains, had gone south to rouse the new shire land of -Cardigan and Carmarthen, and the warlike Radnor tenants of the -Mortimers. The Earl of Gloucester with another English army had -meanwhile penetrated into South Wales and defeated a large force of -Welsh patriots at Llandilo in the valley of the Towy. - -[Sidenote: Death of the last Llewelyn.] - -[Sidenote: Llewelyn's head carried through London in triumph.] - -Llewelyn came up, fighting his way through Cardiganshire, and had -reached Builth on the Wye, when, on December 11th, he met his fate. -The story of his death is too much confused, and there is no space -here for repeating the slightly varying versions of the tragedy, but -it seems quite clear that he was tempted away from the main body of -his army by treachery, and slain when he was without arms in his -hands. His head was struck off and despatched at once to King Edward -at Conway, who, receiving it with great joy, sent it immediately by -sea to his army in Anglesey. Thence the gruesome trophy was forwarded -to London, where crowds of people met it outside the city and placed -upon the gory brows a wreath of ivy in mockery of the old Welsh -prophecy that a Prince of Welsh blood should once more be crowned in -London. It was then fixed upon the point of a lance and carried in -triumph through the streets to the pillory, and from the pillory to -its final resting-place above the gate of the Tower. - -[Sidenote: Capture and execution of Dafydd.] - -Thus perished the last representative of the long line of Welsh -Princes that may be said to have had its rise with the sons of Cunedda -eight centuries before. The last dim spark of Welsh independence -flickered feebly for a few weeks, till the very recesses of Snowdonia, -for almost the first time in history, gave back their echoes to the -blast of English bugles, and the wild passes of Nant Francon and -Llanberis felt the tramp of alien feet. Dafydd found himself alone, a -hunted outlaw in the forests of the Vale of Clwyd. He was soon -captured and taken to Shrewsbury, where a Parliament was then sitting. -Llewelyn's remains had been treated with doubtful logic and poor -chivalry as a traitor. What treatment he would have met with at -Edward's hands as a prisoner we cannot know. But Dafydd could expect -nothing but the worst and he received it. He was tried as an English -baron at Shrewsbury and sentenced to be quartered, disembowelled, and -beheaded. His quarters were distributed among four English cities, -Winchester and York, it is said, quarrelling for the honour of his -right shoulder, while his head was sent to moulder by his brother's -over the gateway of the Tower of London. A story runs that while his -entrails were being burned his heart leaped from the flames and struck -the executioner who was feeding them. - -[Sidenote: 1282. Edward settles the new government of Wales.] - -[Sidenote: The Statutes of Rhuddlan.] - -All resistance worthy of mention was now over in Wales. The six -centuries or thereabouts of its history as a separate nation in whole -or in part had closed. A new epoch was to open, and Edward was the man -to mark the division between the past and the future in emphatic -fashion. Hitherto, though statesmanlike in his views, he had been in -actual deed both cruel and unjust to Wales, and allowed his agents to -be still more so; but now that resistance was crushed he dropped the -warrior and tyrant and showed himself the statesman that he was. Most -of the Welshmen that had remained in arms received their pardons, -though a few took service abroad. The King exacted no sanguinary -vengeance, but followed, rather, the more merciful and practical -course of providing against the chance of his Welsh subjects requiring -it in future. He went to Wales with his Court and remained there for -nearly three years. He made Rhuddlan his principal headquarters, -rebuilding its ancient castle; and at Conway, Harlech, and Carnarvon, -besides some less formidable fortresses, he left those masterpieces of -defensive construction that have been the admiration of all subsequent -ages. From Rhuddlan in due course he issued the famous statutes called -by its name, which proclaimed at once the death-knell of Old Wales and -the fact of its territorial fusion with the realm of England. The -details of the settlement were laborious, and the spectacle of an -English Court spending in all nearly three busy years in Wales is -evidence of the thoroughness with which Edward did his work. - -It is enough here to say that with the exception of modern -Denbighshire, which was left in lordships, Edward carved North Wales -into the present counties of Flint, Anglesey, Carnarvon, and -Merioneth. Powys and South Wales being honeycombed with Anglo-Norman -lordships and reconciled Welsh chieftains, he shrank probably from -disentangling a confusion that brought no particular danger to -himself, and from a course that would have embroiled him with the -whole feudal interest of the Marches. - - [Illustration: CONWAY CASTLE. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -The still mainly Welsh districts, however, of Cardigan and -Carmarthen, he had already, as we have seen, formed into counties. -They were now, like those of the North, to be governed by lieutenants, -sheriffs, and justices, and in all things to resemble English -counties, except in the privilege of sending representatives to -Parliament. Wales was kept separate from England, however, in so far -as its immediate feudal lord was not the King of England, but the -King's eldest son; and the Principality of Wales at this time, it must -be remembered, meant only the royal counties. - -[Sidenote: Edward's intentions just.] - -Edward's laws for the conquered country were just and his intention -not ungenerous. He reduced the rentals hitherto due to the Welsh -Princes and listened patiently to the grievances of the people. He -enacted that both in counties and lordships the old Welsh laws should -be those of the Welsh so far as possible, and that justice should be -administered in both languages, and he sent the Archbishop of -Canterbury on a long visitation to take note of the destruction to -churches perpetrated during the recent wars, and to arrange for their -repair. - -He was severe on the bards, it is true, but he did not slaughter them, -as an old fiction asserts. Their wandering avocations were sternly -repressed, and with the business that he had in hand it is not easy to -see what other course he could have taken with men whose trade then -chiefly consisted in recalling the wrongs of Wales and urging revenge. -The whole business was concluded by a great tournament at Nevin, on -the Carnarvon coast, which was attended by the flower of Welsh, -English, and Gascon chivalry. - -[Sidenote: The King's return to London.] - -When the King returned to London after his long absence, he went with -splendid ceremonial and a vast procession to the Tower and to -Westminster Abbey, causing the regalia of the exterminated Welsh -Princes and the skull of St. David to be borne before him. Nor must -one omit mention of the immortal but grim joke which tradition says -that he played upon the Welsh nobility before leaving the country. For -does not every schoolboy know how, having promised them a Prince who -was born in Wales and could speak no English, he sent Queen Eleanor to -Carnarvon for the birth of Edward the Second? - -[Sidenote: 1295.] - -A good deal can be said of the century that was to elapse before our -story opens, but not much that is of vital import. In 1295, thirteen -years after the conquest, Madoc ap Meredith, a connection of -Llewelyn's, made a last attempt to rouse the Welsh. It proved -abortive, but was serious enough to stop Edward from going to France, -and to take him down to Conway, where it is said that on a certain -occasion a high tide cut him off from his men, and nearly delivered -him into the hands of the insurgents. - -[Sidenote: Wales through the fourteenth century.] - -It would be too much to say that the next hundred years in Wales were -those of peace and prosperity. But by comparison with the past they -might not untruly be called so. No serious friction occurred between -the two races; while the long wars with France and constant broils -with Scotland engrossed the attention of the Welsh aristocracy, both -Norman and native. Nor, again, was it only the nobles and gentry that -found respite from their domestic quarrels in a combined activity upon -the unfortunate soil of France. Welsh soldiers as well as Welsh -gentlemen served by thousands in the armies of England, and few people -remember that about a third of the victorious army at Cressy were -Welshmen. This long companionship in arms and partnership in almost -unparallelled glories must have done something to lessen the -instinctive antipathy with which the two peoples had from time -immemorial regarded each other. Yet how much of the ancient enmity -survived, only requiring some spark to kindle it, will be evident -enough as I proceed to the main part of my story, and the doings of -the indomitable Welshman who is its hero. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER II - -BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE - -1359-1399 - - - "... At my birth - The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes; - The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds - Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields. - These signs have marked me extraordinary, - And all the courses of my life do show, - I am not in the roll of common men." - -In these famous lines the Glyndwr of Shakespeare, though not, perhaps, -a very faithful portrait of the true Glyndwr, tells us of those dread -portents which heralded his birth. Thus far, however, tradition rings -true enough in the lines of the great poet, and is even shorn of some -of the most fearsome details it has sent down to us through various -channels. Shakespeare's Glyndwr might, for instance, have told us, -what all Welshmen of his day were well assured of, that on that -memorable night the horses of Griffith Vychan, his father, were found -standing in their stables up to their fetlocks in blood; and how he -himself, while still an infant in his nurse's arms, was accustomed to -greet with demonstrations of delight the sight of a sword or spear and -allow those around him no peace till the deadly weapon was placed -in his baby hand. - - [Illustration: DOLGELLY AND CADER IDRIS. - Copyright - C. H. Young.] - -There is great uncertainty as to the day, and some disagreement as to -the exact year, wherein old earth thus shook in labour with so heroic -a soul. This divergency of opinion extends over the period of ten -years, from 1349 to 1359. The evidence that seems to give the latter -date unquestionable preference will be alluded to shortly. In any case -the point to be noted is that the hero of this story, judged by the -standard of his time, was quite advanced in life when he began the -long and arduous undertaking that has made his name immortal, and -cherished by his countrymen as the most famous of all names in their -history. For there is no shadow of a doubt that if the Welsh people -were polled upon the subject, Owen Glyndwr would stand, by an -overwhelming majority, at the head of the list of national heroes. -Whether rightly or wrongly he holds the first place among Welsh -warrior patriots in the affections of his countrymen. - -It was the fortune, as I have endeavoured to make plain in the -introductory chapter, of a long succession of Welsh chieftains, to -find themselves at the head of a people struggling desperately against -conquest and absorption. It is no wonder that with such opportunities -ever present, century after century, the list of those who seized them -and won distinction and some measure of success, and thereby preserved -their names to posterity, is no short one. It is not to the point that -the field of their exploits was a small one, and the people who -cherish their memory a small people,--so much more, rather, the -honour, seeing the odds against which they contended with such rare -tenacity; nor, again, is it to their discredit that English historians -have done as a rule scant justice to the vigour of the old Welsh -warriors. "Good wine needs no bush." The surface and the tongue of -Wales to-day are sufficient evidence to the vitality of its people and -their martial prowess in the days of old. Their heroes have happily -too long been dust to suffer in reputation at the hands of the modern -destroyer of historic ideals. But above them all, this last and most -recent of patriots, Owen ap Griffith Vychan of Glyndyfrdwy, distinctly -towers. Precisely why this should be is not readily explicable, and to -very many educated Welshmen the fact is not acceptable. But it is -unnecessary to advance here any reasons or theories for the particular -preference accorded to Glyndwr. Whether worthy or not, the fame is -his, and though, curiously enough, uncommemorated in marble, stone, or -brass, and recorded by the poet and historian in a fragmentary and -disconnected fashion, it is fame that seems to grow no dimmer with the -lapse of time. Genealogy has charms for few people, and Welsh -genealogy, to the Saxon who has not served some kind of apprenticeship -to it, is notoriously formidable. But there will be Welsh readers of -an assuredly more sympathetic turn of mind who, not having at their -fingers' ends, perhaps, the details of the national hero's origin, -will be not ungrateful for them. - -Owen of Glyndyfrdwy, commonly called Owen Glyndwr, came of the -princely house of Powys, and was a direct descendant in the male line -of the celebrated Bleddyn ap Cynvyn, Prince of Powys, and for a short -time of Gwynedd also, whose reign almost exactly covered the period of -the Norman conquest of England. The second in descent from Bleddyn was -the last Prince of United Powys, and this was Madoc ap Meredith, who -died in 1159. Readers of the introductory chapter will remember that -Powys, between the upper millstone of Norman power and the nether one -of North Welsh patriotism, began to temporise and give way long before -the Edwardian conquest. Its Princes would have been more than mortal -if their politics had not been of an unsteady kind. They frankly -accepted the Norman as "Emperor in London" somewhat early, thus -accepting the inevitable, but could not resist the temptation when -Welsh affairs were prospering to break away to the national side. -While gaining at this cost some immunity from Norman greed and a -measure of semi-independence, the Powys Princes were not wholly -trusted by either party, and sometimes felt the vengeance of both. In -1159 Powysland fell in half; Powys Uchaf, or, roughly speaking, -Montgomeryshire, being given to Madoc's famous nephew, Owen Cyfeiliog, -warrior, poet, founder of Strata Marcella Abbey, and author of _The -Hirlas Horn_; Lower Powys, or Powys Fadog, the country of the Dee and -Ceiriog, fell to Madoc's son, Griffith ap Madoc. This last was -followed by another Madoc, who in 1200 founded the splendid Abbey of -Valle Crucis, whose ruins, standing as they do in the loveliest nook -of the Vale of Llangollen, are justly celebrated as presenting one of -the most exquisite pictures of the kind in Britain. Beneath its -grass-grown aisles lies the dust of the chieftain of this line of -Powys. To a height of eight hundred feet above its crumbled walls and -gables, still graceful in their decay, springs an isolated cone-shaped -hill, on whose sharp crown stands a pile of ragged, splintered ruins -placed in weird, suggestive fashion against a background of sky. This -is Dinas Bran, the most proudly perched mediaeval fortress in Wales, -perhaps in all Britain. Here in this eagle's nest, swung betwixt earth -and heaven, lived the Princes of Powys Fadog; and no more fitting -refuge could be imagined for men who, like them, had sometimes to look -eastward for their foes and sometimes to the west. It was in 1270, -close to the final conquest, that Madoc's son Griffith died, after -dividing his life between friendship with the English King and -repentant alliances with his own race. He had married Emma, daughter -of James, Lord Audley, who had done great service for Henry III. -against the Welsh with a body of German cavalry. The death of this -Griffith ap Madoc is the last event recorded in the Welsh Chronicle. -It is supposed that the monks of Conway and Ystradfflur, who -conjointly compiled it, could not bring themselves to put on record -the sad events of the next twelve years, the last years of Welsh -independence. Griffith's son, another Madoc, followed, and died in -seven years, leaving two young sons, and dividing his inheritance -between them. The elder, Llewelyn, had Dinas Bran with Yale and -Bromfield, while Griffith had Chirk and the territory attached to -it. The orphan boys, their father having been tenant _in capite_ of -Edward the First, became that monarch's wards. Edward, as was -customary, handed them over to the guardianship of two of his nobles, -selecting in this case the great Marcher barons, Warren and Roger -Mortimer. Trusteeships were not in those days, even under favourable -conditions, the thankless and unprofitable affairs they are now. -Warren had Llewelyn and Dinas Bran; Roger Mortimer, Griffith and -Chirk. A Welsh ward in the hands of a Norman Lord Marcher must have -been a lamb among wolves indeed; and as every one, no doubt, expected, -under conditions so painfully tempting, the two boys in due course -disappeared and were no more seen, while two magnificent castles arose -at Chirk and Holt respectively, with a view to securing to these -unjust stewards their ill-gotten territory. A black tale, which -posterity has accepted, crept steadily about, to the effect that a -deep pool in the Dee beneath Holt Castle could tell of a midnight -tragedy therein enacted. The two boys at any rate disappeared, and the -Earls, according to custom, succeeded to their estates. Nor is it very -likely that the King, who himself had a slice of them in that outlying -fragment of Flint still conspicuous on the map of England, asked many -questions. - - [Illustration: HOLT CASTLE. - FROM OLD PRINT.] - -It seems that such conscience as Earl Warren possessed was smitten -with compunction as years went on, and these twinges he thought to -allay by restoring a fragment of the property to the family he had so -outraged. When the King was sitting at Rhuddlan in 1282 the -remorseful Earl petitioned that the manors of Glyndyfrdwy on the Dee -beyond Llangollen and of Cynllaeth a few miles to the south of it, -should be restored to Griffith, an uncle of the two boys whose fate -weighed, let us hope, upon his soul. - -In this manner Griffith succeeded to these estates and was known as Y -Baron Gwyn, or "the White Baron," Lord of Glyndyfrdwy in Yale, dying -about 1300. Fourth in direct descent from him and occupying the same -position was Owen Glyndwr's father, Griffith Vychan (_i. e._, "the -little" or "the younger"), the preceding owner having been a Griffith -too. To him succeeded Owen, as eldest son, holding his two manors, -like his fathers before him, direct from the King. On his mother's -side Owen's descent was quite as distinguished,--even more so if one -is to believe that his mother, Elen, was a great-granddaughter of -Catherine, the daughter of the last Llewelyn. Putting this aside, -however, as mere tradition, it will be enough to say that Griffith -Vychan's wife came from South Wales and was a daughter of Thomas ap -Llewelyn ap Rhys, a descendant of the Princes of Deheubarth, Lord of -Iscoede Vchirwen in Cardigan and of Trefgarn in the parish of Brawdy, -Pembrokeshire. He had two daughters, co-heiresses, the elder of whom, -Elen, married Owen's father, while the younger became the wife of -Tudor ap Gronow of Penmynydd, the grandfather of the famous Owen -Tudor. It will be seen, therefore, that Thomas ap Llewelyn was the -ancestor both of Glyndwr and of our present King. - -Owen was actually born in the South Welsh home of his mother's family -and inherited property from her which no doubt added to his wealth and -consequence. Trefgarn Owen, Trefgarn West (or "_castel_"), still -exists as a farmhouse, and the tradition that Owen was born in it is -likely long to outlast the edifice itself. This event occurred -probably in the year 1359, in the heyday of the successful wars in -France, so that it is quite possible that Griffith Vychan may have -been among the crowd of Welsh gentlemen who followed the banners of -Edward the Black Prince across the Channel. This would quite account -for the presence of Owen's mother at such a time in the home of her -fathers; and as we know nothing of his childhood, it is perhaps -permissible to indulge in conjectures that have about them some -reasonable probability. - -Of Owen's early manhood and domestic life, however, quite enough is -known to dissipate the notion engendered by Shakespeare, and but -faintly discouraged by English historians, that he was a wild Welsh -chieftain, a sort of picturesque mountaineer. On the contrary, he was -a man accustomed to courts and camps, and, judged by the standard of -his time, an educated and polished gentleman. The first actual record -we have of him is on September 3, 1386, when he gave evidence at -Chester as a witness in the greatest and most prolonged lawsuit that -had ever, in England, filled the public eye. This was the celebrated -case of Scrope and Grosvenor, the point in dispute relating solely to -a coat of arms. It lasted four years and nearly every prominent person -in the country at one time or another gave evidence. Among these -appears the name of "_Oweyn Sire de Glendore de age XXVII ans et -pluis_," also that of "_Tudor de Glindore_," his brother, who was some -three years younger than Owen, and fell ultimately in his service. Of -the nature of his evidence we know nothing. The entry is only valuable -as giving weight to the year 1359 as the most likely date of his -birth. - -In the social economy of Wales, Owen's forbears, since they lost at -the Edwardian conquest, in the manner related, the chieftainship of -Powys Fadog, had been simply minor barons or private gentlemen of fair -estate. They had nothing like the official position, the wealth, or -the power of the Lord Marchers. Still they owed no allegiance, as did -many of the lesser nobility, to any great Marcher baron, but held -their estates in North Wales direct from the King himself. And we may -well suppose that with the long memories of the Welsh no Marcher -baron, no Mortimer, nor Gray, nor Talbot, whether in peace or war, was -in their eyes so great a man as simple Owen of Glyndyfrdwy, on whose -modest patrimony the vast estates of these interlopers encroached. As, -in the ancient tribal laws of Wales, it took nine generations for an -alien or servile family to qualify for admission to full rights, so it -was equally difficult to make a medieval Welshman realise that the -ejected landowners and princes of their own race were other than -temporary sufferers. They could not believe that Providence intended -to perpetuate so great an outrage. They recognised in their hearts no -other owner but the old stock, whatever the exigencies of the times -might compel them to do with their lips, and even their spears and -bows, while every vagrant bard and minstrel helped to fix the -sentiment more firmly in their breasts. - -Owen himself, as a man of the world, had, of course, no such -delusions. No one, however, when the time was ripe, knew better than -he how to work upon the feelings of those who had. A family grievance -of his own, as we have shown, he might justifiably have nursed, but -there is no reason to suppose that he was on bad terms with the houses -either of Warren or Mortimer. Indeed, he is said to have been esquire -at one time to the Earl of Arundel. His local quarrels lay, as we -shall see, to the north and rested wholly on personal grounds, having -no relation whatever to the wrongs of his great-great-grandfather. - -In the only signature extant of Owen previous to his assumption of -princely honours, we find him describing himself as "Oweyn ap -Griffith, Dominus de Glyn D'wfrdwy." To dwell upon the innumerable -ways in which his name and title were spelt by Norman and Celtic -writers, contemporary and otherwise, in times when writers' pens -vaguely followed their ears, would be, of course, absurd. The somewhat -formidable sounding name of Glyndyfrdwy simply means the Glen of the -Dwfrdwy or Dyfrdwy, which in turn is the original and still the Welsh -name for the river Dee. About the first syllable of this word -philologists have no scope for disagreement, "Dwr" or "Dwfr" -signifying water; but concerning the terminal syllable there is room -for some difference of opinion. It will be sufficient for us here to -say that the derivations which seem to the eye most obvious are not -so much in favour as that from "Diw," sacred or divine. This attribute -at any rate has been bestowed on the chief and most beautiful of North -Welsh rivers by English and Welsh poets from Spenser to Tennyson and, -according to the former, "by Britons long ygone." - -In regard, however, to the pronunciation of the name of Owen's -patrimony, when I have said that the very natives of the historic -hamlet slur the name into something like Glyndowdy,--a rare luxury -among the Welsh,--it is not surprising that Anglo-Norman chroniclers -and others have made havoc of it with their phonetic spelling. Even -Welsh writers have been unsteady upon the point. And Owen of -Glyndyfrdwy probably figures under more designations than any hero who -ever lived: Glendour, Glindor, Glindore, Glendurdy, Glyndurdu, and -Glendowerdy, are but a few selected specimens. - -English historians, with characteristic contempt of Welsh detail, have -selected the last and the most unlikely of them all. In his own -country Owen was generally known during his later life and ever since -his death as Glyndwr, the spelling to which I have adhered in these -pages. It may perhaps not be out of place to note that the Welsh "w" -is equivalent to a "{=oo}," and by a Welsh tongue the terminal "r" is, -of course, strongly marked. - - [Illustration: POWYS CASTLE. - FROM AN OLD ENGRAVING FROM PAINTING BY W. DANIELLS.] - -Of the early youth of Glyndwr history tells us nothing, nor, again, is -it known what age he had reached when his father died and the estate -came into his possession. It is supposed that like so many Welshmen -of his time he went to Oxford; but this, after all, must be mere -surmise, though, judging by the bent of his life at that period, we -seem to have good grounds for it. In such case it is likely enough -that he took a leading part in the ferocious faction fights with which -the jealousies of English, Welsh, and Irish students so often -enlivened the cramped streets of medieval Oxford. It is quite certain, -however, that Owen went to London and became a student of the Inns of -Court, a course virtually confined in those times to the sons of the -wealthy and well-born. There is something very natural in the desire -of a large Welsh landowner of that time to familiarise himself with -English law, for the two codes, Welsh and English, to say nothing of -compromises between them, existed side by side over nearly all Wales, -and one can well understand the importance of some knowledge of -Anglo-Norman jurisprudence to a leading Welshman like Glyndwr, who -must have had much to do, both directly and indirectly, with both -kinds of courts. That he was no wild Welsh squire has been already -shown, and it was not unnatural that a youth of handsome person, high -lineage, and good estate should drift, when his law studies were -completed, into the profession of arms and to the English Court. Here -he soon found considerable favour and in course of time became squire -of the body, or "scutiger," not, as most Welsh authorities have -persisted, and still persist, to King Richard the Second, but to his -cousin of Bolingbroke, the future Henry the Fourth. This latter view -is certainly supported by the only documentary evidence extant, as -Mr. Wylie in his able and exhaustive history of that monarch points -out. "Regi moderno ante susceptum regnum," is the sentence in the -_Annales_ describing Glyndwr's position in this matter, and it surely -removes any doubt that Bolingbroke is the King alluded to. In such -case Owen must have shared those perils and adventures by land and sea -in which the restless Henry engaged. It is strange enough, too, that -men linked together in a relationship so intimate should have spent -the last fifteen years of their lives in a struggle so persistent and -so memorable as did these two. Bolingbroke began this series of -adventures soon after the loss of his wife, about the year 1390, and -we may therefore, with a fair probability of truth, picture Glyndwr at -that grand tournament at Calais where Henry so distinguished himself, -and poor Richard by comparison showed to such small advantage. He may -also have been present at the capture of Tunis, where English and -French to the wonder of all men fought side by side without friction -or jealousy; or again with Bolingbroke on his long journey in 1393 to -Jerusalem, or rather towards it, for he never got there. There were -adventures, too, which Owen may have shared, with German knights upon -the Baltic, and last, though by no means least, with Sigismund, King -of Hungary, at that memorable scene upon the Danube when he was forced -into his ships by the victorious Turks. - -Yet the tradition is so strong that Glyndwr was in the personal -service of Richard during the close of that unfortunate monarch's -reign, that one hesitates to brush it aside from mere lack of written -evidence. Nor indeed does the fact of his having been Henry's esquire -constitute any valid reason for doing so. It is not very likely that, -when the latter in 1398 was so unjustly banished by Richard to an -uneventful sojourn in France, Glyndwr, with the cares of a family and -estate growing upon him, would have been eager to share his exile. On -the other hand, he must have been by that time well known to Richard, -and with his Pembrokeshire property and connections may well, like so -many Welshmen, have been tempted later on to embark in that ill-fated -Irish expedition which promised plunder and glory, but turned out to -be incidentally the cause of Richard's undoing. That this feckless -monarch possessed some peculiar charm and a capacity for endearing -individuals to his person seems tolerably evident, however strange. -That the Welsh were devoted to him we know, so that perhaps the -loyalty to Richard with which most Welsh writers credit Glyndwr arose -from such personal service rendered after the departure of Bolingbroke -for France. And it is quite possible that he went, as they assert, -with the King on that last ill-timed campaign which cost him his -crown. - -Some declare that he was among the small knot of faithful followers -who, when his army abandoned the slothful Richard on his return to -Pembrokeshire from Ireland, rode across country with him to Conway, -where Salisbury in despair had just been compelled to disband his -freshly mustered Welshmen for lack of food and pay. If this is true, -Glyndwr, who most certainly never lost battles from sloth or timidity -when he became in one sense a king, must have witnessed with much -sympathy the lamentations of the faithful Salisbury: - - "O, call back yesterday, bid time return, - And thou shalt have ten thousand fighting men; - To-day, to-day, unhappy day too late, - O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state." - -All this occurred in September of the year 1399. Henry, taking -advantage of Richard's absence, had landed, it will be remembered, at -Ravenspur in Yorkshire some two months earlier. He found discontent -with the existing state of affairs everywhere prevalent and the -recognised heir to the throne but lately dead. The situation was -tempting to a degree. Bolingbroke's first intention had almost -certainly aimed at nothing more than the recovery of his own immense -estates of which he had been most unjustly and unscrupulously deprived -by his royal cousin. But unexpected temptations confronted him. He was -met on landing by the Percys and soon afterwards by other great -nobles, who, from what motives it matters little, encouraged him to -seize the throne. To make a short story of a famous episode in English -history, Bolingbroke found himself by September, when Richard was -returning with fatal tardiness from Ireland, not indeed actually -crowned, but in full possession of London and other districts and -virtually acknowledged as King. In the same month he was heading a -triumphant march by way of Bristol at the head of a great and -gathering army towards North Wales, where Richard lay, as we have -seen, at Conway, helplessly wringing his hands and cursing the fate he -had brought upon himself. - - [Illustration: LLANGOLLEN AND DINAS BRAN. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -According to the Welsh version, Glyndwr must have been present when -Percy, Earl of Northumberland, who in years to come was to be so -vitally bound up with his fortunes, entered the great hall of Conway -Castle, to all appearances a friendly and unarmed envoy of Henry of -Bolingbroke. We all remember his soft speech and how with the utmost -deference and humility he told King Richard that all his dear cousin -required of him was to ride back by his side to London and there -summon a Parliament, and bring to justice certain persons, who, for -the past few years, had been his evil counsellors. If Glyndwr was in -truth there, he must almost certainly have seen these two illustrious -personages commit that astounding piece of perjury and sacrilege in -Conway church, when they knelt side by side and swore before the altar -and upon the sacred elements that their intentions towards each other -were wholly friendly and without guile. He must then, too, have heard -King Richard, when scarcely off his knees, swear that if only he could -get his dear cousin of Bolingbroke into his hands he would put him to -such a cruel death it should be long spoken of even in Turkey. Perhaps -it was the memory of the spectacle that decided Glyndwr on certain -occasions in his after life to show a curious reluctance to "put his -trust in princes," however loyal in the abstract he might be to their -memory. If we follow the Welsh tradition, he saw this game of -duplicity to the bitter end and made one of the small band of -horsemen who crossed the estuary of the Conway in the dawn of an -autumn morning with the puling king on their way to Rhuddlan Castle, -whose ivy-mantled ruins still make such a charming picture amid the -meadows where the Clwyd winds its tidal course towards the sea. Long -before Richard got there, and while still surmounting the steep -headland of Rhos above Old Colwyn, he caught sight of the troops which -the crafty Northumberland had left there in concealment. It was too -late to retreat. The waves roared far beneath him and rocky crags -towered high above his head. He saw that he was undone and read in the -situation the black treachery he would have himself dealt out with -scant scruple to anyone lingering in the path of self-indulgence, -which he had so long trodden. - - "O that I were as great - As is my grief, or greater than my name, - Or that I could forget what I have been, - Or not remember what I must be now." - -Amid faces from which the friendly mask had already half fallen and -spears that may well have had an ominous glitter in his eyes, the -disheartened King passed on to Rhuddlan and from Rhuddlan to the -strong castle of Flint. Here in the morning came to him his cousin of -Bolingbroke, inquiring, among other things, whether he had broken his -fast, for he had a long ride before him. Whereat Richard demanded what -great army was that which darkened the sands of Dee below the castle -walls. Henry replied curtly that they were Londoners for the most -part, and that they had come to take him prisoner to the Tower, and -nothing else would satisfy them. If Glyndwr were indeed present it -must have been a strange enough sight for him, this meeting of his -former patron and his present master, under such sinister -circumstances, in the gloomy chambers of Flint Castle. If he were -still here it may be safely assumed that, like the rest of Richard's -escort, he went no farther. Even if he were absent, quietly hawking -and hunting at Glyndyfrdwy, there would be nothing irrelevant in -calling to the reader's recollection a famous episode, the chief -actors in which had so far-reaching an influence on the Welsh hero's -life; how all semblance of respect for the King's person was dropped; -how, mounted of design upon a sorry nag, he was led with many -indignities along the weary road to London and there made to read his -own abdication in favour of his captor and cousin; and how he was -hurried from fortress to fortress, till at Pontefract he ended his -misspent life in a manner that to this day remains a mystery--all this -is a matter of historic notoriety. Whether the unfortunate Richard -died of grief, failing health, and lack of attention, or whether he -was the victim of deliberate foul play, only concerns us here from the -fact of his name occurring so frequently in our story as a -rallying-cry for Henry's enemies, and from the mystery attaching to -the manner of his death being for years a genuine grievance among the -rank and file of the disaffected, and a handy weapon for their more -designing leaders. - -How much of his life Glyndwr had so far spent in his native valleys -of the Dee or Cynllaeth it is impossible to guess. Perhaps at odd -times a good deal of it; seeing that he was now over forty, had found -time to marry a wife, a lady of the neighbourhood, by whom he had -become the father of a numerous family, and to win for himself great -popularity and a name for hospitality. The famous Welsh poet, Gryffydd -Llwyd, much better known by his bardic name of "Iolo Goch," or the Red -Iolo, was his constant friend and companion at this time, and became, -later on, the Laureate of his Court and of his cause. In the thick -volume which the extant works of Iolo fill he has left us a graphic -though somewhat fantastic picture of Glyndwr's domestic life. I have -already shown how the Welsh chieftain owned the two estates of -Glyndyfrdwy and Sycherth or Cynllaeth in his native district, while -from his mother he inherited property in Pembroke. The two former -places were near together. If the mountain fringes of Glyndyfrdwy, -which ran east and west, did not actually touch the Sycherth estate, -which ran north and south with the waters of the Cynllaeth brook, -there could have been little but the deep Vale of the Ceiriog to -divide them. There were mansions upon both estates, and, though -Glyndyfrdwy was the more important property, it was in the less -striking but still charming valley down which the Cynllaeth babbles to -meet the Tanat beneath the woodlands of Llangedwyn, that Sycherth or -Sychnant, the more imposing of Glyndwr's two houses, was situated. -This valley lies snugly tucked away behind the first ridge of hills -which rises abruptly behind Oswestry and so conspicuously marks the -Welsh frontier. It practically skirts the English border, and Offa's -Dyke trails its still obvious course along the lofty summit of its -eastern boundary. Scarcely anywhere, indeed, does the Principality -begin in a social sense with such striking abruptness. Once over the -hill from Shropshire, and within a short hour's drive from Oswestry, -and you are for every practical purpose in the heart of Celtic Wales. -Few travellers come this way, for it is on the road to nowhere that -the outside world takes count of, and few strangers but an occasional -antiquary ever see the well-defined and flat-topped tumulus on which -the manor house of the most famous of all Welshmen stood. It lies in a -meadow between a wooded hill and the Cynllaeth brook, not far from -Llansilin, and is very conspicuous from the road leading up the valley -to the little hamlet, whose churchyard holds the dust of another -famous Welshman, the seventeenth-century poet, Huw Morris. The inner -and the outer moat of Sycherth are still more or less perfect, and -there are even yet, or were not long ago, plain traces of stonework -beneath the turf. It will be well, however, to let Iolo, who was there -so much and knew it so well, tell us what it looked like in his time, -five hundred years ago. - - [Illustration: SYCHERTH, FROM THE SOUTH. - Copyright - W. D. Haydon.] - -There was a gate-house, he says, a strong tower, and a moat. The house -contained nine halls, each furnished with a wardrobe filled with the -raiment of Owen's retainers. Near the house on a verdant bank was a -wooden building supported upon posts and roofed with tiles. Here were -eight apartments in which the guests slept. There was a church, too, -in the form of a cross, and several chapels. The mansion was -surrounded with every convenience and every essential for maintaining -a profuse hospitality: a park, warren and pigeon-house, mill, -orchards, and vineyard; a fish-pond well stocked with "gwyniads" from -Bala Lake, a heronry, and plenty of game of all sorts. The cook, Iolo -declares with much enthusiasm, was one of the very best; and the -hospitality of the establishment so unstinted that the office of gate -porter was a sinecure. Our bard indeed makes his poetic lips literally -smack over the good things beneath which Glyndwr's table groaned. Nor -does he forget his hostess: - - "The best of wives, - Happy am I in her wine and metheglyn; - Eminent woman of a knightly family, - Honourable, beneficent, noble, - Her children come forward two by two, - A beautiful nest of chieftains." - -Charming, however, as is the site of Sycherth, nestling beneath its -wooded hill and looking out towards the great masses of the Berwyn -Mountains, it would ill compare with that almost matchless gem of -Welsh scenery, where the vales of Edeyrnion and Llangollen meet among -the mantling woodlands and sounding gorges of Glyndyfrdwy. It is a -curiously apt coincidence that one of the most romantic spots in Wales -should have been the cradle of the man who is without doubt the most -romantic personage in Welsh history. Scarcely anyone, as I have said, -ever finds his way to Sycherth; but thousands of travellers every -summer follow by road or rail that delightful route which, hugging the -Dee from Ruabon almost to its source beyond Bala Lake, reveals new -beauties at every turn. Such being the case I would venture to ask any -intending traveller from Ruabon to Bala and Dolgelly to take special -note of a spot just five minutes to the westward of Glyndyfrdwy -station, where the wide torrent of the Dee, after clinging to the -railroad for some distance, takes a sudden bend to the north. -Precisely here, but perched high upon the other side of the railroad -and so nearly overhanging it as not to be readily visible, is a green -tumulus crowned by a group of windswept fir trees. This is locally -known as "Glyndwr's Mount," not because, as was probably the case at -Sycherth, it was erected as a foundation for the chieftain's -house,--since this one here is evidently prehistoric,--but merely from -the fact that the house stood at its foot. Vague traces of the house -are still visible beneath the turf of the narrow meadow that lies -squeezed in between the Holyhead Road on the upper side and the river -and railroad on the lower side.[6] Whether Sycherth was Owen's -favourite home in peace or not, Glyndyfrdwy was most certainly his -more natural headquarters in war, while in his own district. Both, -however, were burnt down by Prince Henry, as we shall see later on, in -one of his expeditions against the Welsh. As for the mound, it is a -notable landmark, being one of a series which are sprinkled along the -Dee valley in such fashion as to indicate beyond a doubt that if they -were indeed the tombs of dead warriors, they were also most admirable -signal-stations for living ones. But whatever the origin of this one -it had at any rate no connection with times so recent as those of -Glyndwr. The only surviving relic of that hero's residence is a long, -narrow oaken table of prodigious thickness, which is yet treasured in -a neighbouring farmhouse. A meadow below is still called "Parliament -field," while the massive old stone homestead of Pen-y-bont, half a -mile up the valley, contains a portion of the walls which formed, it -is believed, Glyndwr's stables, or, more probably, his farm buildings. -But as many of these local points will come up in the course of my -story, it is time to say something of the lady who, so entirely blest -in her earlier years, was to spend her later ones amid such stress and -storm, and to share so precarious a crown. - - [6] A friend of the writer, who lived to an advanced age, was told - in his youth by old men in the neighbourhood that they could - remember when there was a good deal of stonework to be seen lying - about. Now, however, there is little to mark the spot but the - suggestive undulations of the turf. - -This lady bountiful of Sycherth and Glyndyfrdwy, so extolled by Iolo, -came of a notable Flintshire house. She was the daughter of Sir David -Hanmer of Hanmer, a family long settled in that detached fragment of -Flint known then as Maelor Seisnig, or "English Maelor." Sir David had -been appointed by Richard the Second one of the Justices of the King's -Bench and at the same time knighted. There are Hanmers even yet in -those parts; till comparatively lately there were still Hanmers of -Hanmer. More enduring than a human stock, there are monuments in stone -and brass that tell the story, common enough in England, of a family -that for centuries were great in their own district without ever -making their name a familiar one to the average British ear. The -Hanmers, too, were a fair specimen of many families in the Welsh -Marches who had both English and Welsh blood in their veins, and whose -sympathies were divided when social animosities took a warlike turn. -It was very much so indeed with the Hanmers when Glyndwr's war by -degrees forced everyone to take a side in self-defence. Of Glyndwr's -sons only two are directly mentioned, Griffith and Meredith, both of -whom we shall find fighting by his side, but at such an advanced stage -of the struggle that it seems probable they were but boys when -hostilities broke out. We hear dimly of three more, Madoc, Thomas, and -John. Of the daughters somewhat more is known; and they must for the -most part have been older, since it seems that three were married -before the troubles began. The eldest, Isabel, became the wife of a -Welshman, Adda ab Iorwerth Ddu. The second, Elizabeth, married Sir -John Scudamore of Kent Church and Holme Lacy in Herefordshire, whose -descendants still retain the name and the first of these historic -manors. Another, Janet, was given to John Crofts of Croft Castle in -the same county, and the youngest, Margaret, called after her mother, -took another Herefordshire gentleman, Roger Monnington of Monnington. -The most celebrated was the fourth daughter, Jane, whom we shall find -being united under romantic circumstances to her father's illustrious -captive and subsequent ally, Sir Edmund Mortimer. She it is, of -course, whom Shakespeare brings upon his stage and, in her song to -Hotspur and Mortimer, - - "Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penned, - Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower." - -The Commote of Glyndyfrdwy, which formed Owen's Dee property, lay in -the then newly formed county of Merioneth, though it was wedged in by -the Marcher lordships of Chirk, Bromfield, and Yale on the east; while -to the north, Denbighshire as yet having no existence, it touched the -Norman lordships of Ruthin and Denbigh in the Vale of Clwyd. But -Glyndwr held his estates direct from the King, having manor courts of -his own, and resorting in more important matters to the assize towns -of Dolgelly and Harlech. Corwen must have been actually on his -property but, though a notable gathering-spot in war time, it had no -corporate existence, and was probably even more insignificant in size -than the other Merioneth towns. The Welsh did not herd together in -towns or villages. Each individual or group of individuals dwelt on -their small homesteads scattered about the hillsides or cut out of the -forests which then covered so much of the country and had contributed -so greatly to its defence. - - * * * * * - -Owen in his home life must have been something of an unique -personality. He was the equal in breeding and in knowledge of the -world of the great barons around him,--the Greys, Talbots, and -Charltons,--and of sufficient estate to be himself a grand seigneur. -Yet his hospitable house must have offered a remarkable contrast in -the eyes of the natives to the grim fortresses of Chirk, or Dinas -Bran, or Ruthin, whose owners' mission in life, so far as the Welsh -were concerned, was to make themselves unpleasant. Their claws, it is -true, had been considerably cut down by Edward the First, but the same -blood was there; and the habit of former years, which looked upon the -killing of a Welshman as a meritorious action, only wanted an -opportunity to reassert itself. - -Owen's rent-roll was about two hundred pounds a year, and some slight -mental effort is required to realise that this was a very large one, -both actually when judged by the contemporary value of money, and -relatively as regards the financial standing of private landowners, -particularly in Wales, where this was low. Owen was probably one of -the richest native Welshmen of his day. Few if any in the north had -such an opportunity of showing the contrast between the simple and -profuse hospitality of a native aristocrat, and the stiff, -contemptuous solemnity of the lord of a Norman fortress. It was easy -enough for the descendant of Madoc ap Griffith to make himself popular -upon the banks of the upper Dee, and Owen seems to have added a desire -to do so to the personal magnetism that the whole story of his life -shows him to have possessed in a very high degree. All the bards of -his own time and that immediately following unite in this praise of -his hospitality. Amid much fanciful exaggeration, such for instance -as that which compares Sycherth to "Westminster Abbey and Cheapside," -there is no doubt about the esteem and admiration in which Owen was -held by the Welsh and particularly by the bards who lived at free -quarters in his roomy halls. But all this began before he had any idea -of utilising his position and popularity in the manner that has made -him immortal. There is really no authority at all for making him a -follower of Richard. All Wales and Cheshire were indignant at the -King's deposition and treatment, and Glyndwr, even supposing his Irish -expedition to have been mythical, may well have shared this -indignation. But in such a case his antecedents were, from private -attachments, wholly Lancastrian. Not only had he been Bolingbroke's -squire, but his former master, the Earl of Arundel, had been a -pronounced foe of the late King. Discontent and turbulence were -brooding everywhere, but we have no reason to suppose that Glyndwr at -this date, the last year of the century, had any excuse whatever for -entering into dynastic quarrels. On the contrary, unless the story of -his recent connection with Richard be true, he had much reason to be -contented with Bolingbroke's accession. At this moment he was in all -probability living quietly at Sycherth, hunting deer amid the birchen -woods and bracken glades of the Berwyn and hawking in the meadows of -Llansilin. Amid all the pleasures, however, which filled his rural -life there rankled one deep and bitter grievance, and this concerned -the upland tract of Croesau that lay upon the north-western fringe of -his Glyndyfrdwy manor, over which he and his powerful neighbour, -Reginald Grey, Lord of Ruthin, had been falling out this many a long -day. The details of this quarrel, the primary cause of that decade of -strife which desolated Wales and profoundly influenced the reign and -embittered the life of Henry of Bolingbroke, must be reserved for -another chapter. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER III - -GLYNDWR AND LORD GREY OF RUTHIN - -1400-1401 - - -Reginald, Lord Grey, of Ruthin, the prime cause of all the wars that -devastated Wales and the English Marches throughout the first ten -years of the fifteenth century, was a typical Lord Marcher, and was -perhaps the worst of a fierce, unscrupulous, and pitiless class. His -ancestors had been in the Vale of Clwyd for over a hundred years. At -Edward's conquest the first Earl had been planted by the King at -Ruthin to overawe the Welsh of what is now northern Denbighshire and -of the two recently created counties of Flint and Carnarvon which lay -upon either side. There were other Lord Marchers and other English -garrisons between Chester and Carnarvon, but at the time this story -opens the Greys were beyond a doubt the most ardent and conspicuous -props of the English Crown. The great Red Castle at Ruthin, the -"Castell y Gwern Loch," had risen in Edward's time beside the upper -waters of the Clwyd, and its ample ruins still cluster round the -modern towers where the successors of the fierce Lord Marchers -exercise a more peaceful sway. - - [Illustration: RUTHIN CASTLE. - FROM OLD PRINT.] - -Around Ruthin Castle, as at Denbigh, Conway, and Carnarvon, a group of -English adventurers--soldiers, tradesmen, clerks, and gentlemen--had -gathered together and built for themselves habitations, aided by -favourable charters from the King, and still greater favours from -their lord, who leant upon their services in times of danger. They led -profitable, if sometimes anxious lives. Welsh and English alike -pleaded before the lordship courts, whose records may still be read by -the curious in such matters. Both Welsh and English laws, -theoretically at any rate, were administered within the lordship, but -as the Lord Marcher was, within his own domain, a law unto himself, -the state of affairs that existed at Ruthin and similar places was -complicated and is not immediately pertinent to this story. It will be -quite accurate enough for present purposes to describe Grey as -surrounded and supported by armed burghers and other dependents, -mainly but not wholly of English blood, while the mass of the Welsh -within his lordship, gentle and simple, remained obedient to his rule -from fear and not from love. I need not trouble the reader with the -limitations of his territory, but merely remark that it bordered upon -that of Owen. - -Now, upon the wild upland between the Dee valley and the watershed of -the Clwyd, lay the common of Croesau, whose disputed ownership -eventually set Wales and England by the ears. This strip of land had -originally belonged to Owen's estate of Glyndyfrdwy. Lord Grey, -however, in Richard the Second's time, had, in high-handed fashion, -appropriated it to himself on the sole and poor excuse that it marched -with his own domain. Glyndwr, being at that time probably no match for -Grey at the game of physical force, possessed his fiery soul in -patience, and carried the dispute in a peaceful and orderly manner to -the King's court in London. Here the justice of his claim was -recognised; he won his suit and Lord Grey was compelled to withdraw -his people from the disputed territory, cherishing, we may well -believe, an undying grudge against the Welshman who, before the eyes -of all the world and in an English court of justice, had got the -better of him. - -Now, however, a new King was upon the throne, and Owen apparently out -of favour. The opportunity was too good an one to be missed by the -grasping Norman, who, driving Owen's people off the disputed -territory, annexed it once more to his own estate. Glyndwr -nevertheless, whatever the cause may have been, proved himself even -under this further provocation a law-abiding person, and, refraining -from all retaliation, carried his suit once more to London and laid it -before the Parliament which Henry summoned in the spring of 1400, six -months after he had seized the throne. But Owen, though he had been -esquire to the King, was now wholly out of favour, so much so as -greatly to support the tradition that he had served the unfortunate -Richard in a like capacity. His suit was not even accorded the -compliment of a hearing, but was dismissed with contemptuous brevity. -Trevor, Bishop of St. Asaph, who was then about the King's person and -deeply in his confidence, protested in vain against the unjust and -ill-advised course. As a Welshman, familiar with the condition of his -own country, he solemnly warned the authorities against provoking a -man who, though of only moderate estate, was so powerful and so -popular among his own people. - -The Bishop's pleadings were of no avail. "What care we for the -barefooted rascals?" was the scornful reply. The Welsh were in fact -already in an electrical condition. In spite of their general -discontent with English rule, they had been attached to Richard, and -with that strength of personal loyalty which in a Celtic race so often -outweighs reason, they resented with heartfelt indignation the -usurpation of Bolingbroke. They were very far from sure that Richard -was even dead. If he were, then Henry had killed him, which made -matters worse. But if in truth he actually still lived, they were -inclined to murmur as loudly and with as much show of reason at his -dethronement. Richard, it will be remembered, after having been -compelled publicly and formally to abdicate the throne, had been -imprisoned for a time in the Tower, and then secretly conveyed from -castle to castle till he reached Pontefract, where he ended his -wretched life. The manner of his death remains to this day a mystery, -as has been intimated already. Whether he was murdered by Henry's -orders or whether his weakened constitution succumbed to sorrow and -confinement or bad treatment, no one will ever know. But his body, at -any rate, was brought to London and there exposed in St. Paul's -Cathedral for the space of three days, that all the world might see -that he was in truth dead. The men of Wales and the North and West of -England had to take all this on hearsay, and were readily persuaded -that some trickery had been played on the Londoners and that some -substitute for Richard had been exposed to their credulous gaze. For -years it was the policy of Henry's enemies to circulate reports that -Richard was still alive, and, as we shall see in due course, his ghost -was not actually laid till the battle of Shrewsbury had been fought -and won by Henry. Indeed, so late as 1406 the old Earl of -Northumberland alleged, in a letter, the possibility of his being -alive, while even seven years after this Sir John Oldcastle declared -he would never acknowledge Parliament so long as his master, King -Richard, still lived. - -Glyndwr, after the insults that he had received in London, returned -home, as may well be conceived, not in the best of tempers; Grey, -however, was to perpetrate even a worse outrage upon him than that of -which he had already been guilty and of a still more treacherous -nature. It so happened that at this time the King was preparing for -that expedition against the Scots which started in July, 1400. Among -the nobility and gentry whom he summoned to his standard was Glyndwr, -and there is no reason to assume that the Welshman would have failed -to answer the call. The summons, however, was sent through Lord Grey, -in his capacity of chief Marcher in North Wales; and Grey, with -incredibly poor spite, kept Owen in ignorance of it till it was too -late for him either to join the King's army or to forward an -explanation. Glyndwr was on this account credited at Court with being -a malcontent and a rebel; and as there had been some brawling and -turbulence upon the Welsh border the future chieftain's name was -included among those whom it was Grey's duty, as it was his delight, -to punish. There is no evidence that Owen had stirred. It is possible -he might have made himself disagreeable to Grey upon the marches of -their respective properties. It would be strange if he had not. There -is no mention, however, of his name in the trifling racial -disturbances that were natural to so feverish a time. - -It seems pretty evident that if the malicious Lord Marcher had rested -content with his plunder and let sleeping dogs lie, Owen, and -consequently Wales, would never have risen. This ill-advised baron, -however, was by no means content. He applied for further powers in a -letter which is now extant, and got leave to proceed in force against -Owen, among others, as a rebel, and to proclaim his estates, having an -eye, no doubt, to their convenient propinquity in the event of -confiscation. - -But before Owen comes upon the scene, and during this same summer, a -most characteristic and entertaining correspondence was being carried -on between the irascible Lord Grey and a defiant gentleman of North -Wales, Griffith ap Dafydd ap Griffith, the "strengest thief in Wales," -Grey calls him, which is to say that he accuses him of carrying off -some horses from his park at Ruthin. The letters, which are in Sir -Thomas Ellis's collection, are much too long to reproduce, but they -show unmistakably and not without humour, the relations which existed -between Lord Grey and some of his Welsh neighbours, who, already -turbulent, were later on to follow Glyndwr into the field of battle. -The King, before starting for Scotland and before getting Grey's -letters, had commanded his Lord Marchers to use conciliation to all -dissatisfied Welshmen and to offer free pardons to any who were openly -defying his authority. - -Griffith ap Dafydd, it seems, had been prominent among these restive -souls, but under a promise, he declares in his letter, of being made -the Master Forester and "Keyshat" of Chirkeland under the King's -charter, he had presented himself at Oswestry and claimed both the -pardon and the office. In the last matter his claim was scouted, -according to his own account, with scandalous breach of faith, and -even his bodily safety did not seem wholly secure from the King's -friends. He narrates at some length the story of his wrongs, and tells -Grey that he has heard of his intention to burn and slay in whatever -country he [Griffith] is in. "Without doubt," he continues "as many -men as ye slay and as many houses as ye burn for my sake, as many will -I burn and slay for your sake," and "doute not that I will have bredde -and ale of the best that is in your Lordschip." There is something -delightfully inconsequent in Griffith's method of ending this -fire-breathing epistle: "Wretten in grete haste at the Park of -Brunkiffe the XIth day of June. I can no more, but God kepe your -Worschipful estate in prosperity." - -Grey of Ruthin was filled with wrath at this impudence and replied to -the "strengest thief in Wales" at great length, reserving his true -sentiments, however, for the conclusion, where he bursts into rhyme: -"But we hoope we shall do thee a pryve thyng: A roope, a ladder and a -ring, heigh in a gallowes for to heng. And thus shall be your endyng. -And he that made the be ther to helpyng. And we on our behalf shall be -well willing for thy letter is knowlechyng." - -It is quite evident that the Greys had not lived, aliens though they -were, in the land of bards for five generations for nothing. Full of -wrath, and by no means free from panic, Grey writes off in all haste -to the young Prince Henry, who is acting as regent during his father's -absence in the north. He encloses a duplicate of his answer to the -"strengest thief in Wales" and advises the Prince of the -"Misgovernance and riote which is beginning heer in the Marches of -North Wales." He begs for a fuller commission to act against the -rebels, one that will enable him to pursue and take them in the -"Kyng's ground"; in the counties, that is to say, where the King's -writ runs, and not merely in the lordships which covered what are now -the counties of Denbigh and Montgomery. "But worshipful and gracious -Lorde, ye most comaunden the Kynge's officers in every Cuntree to do -the same." Grey goes on to declare that there are many officers, some -in the King's shires, others in the lordships of Mortimer at Denbigh -and of Arundel at Dinas Bran and in Powysland, that are "kin unto -these men that be risen, and tyll ye putte these officers in better -governance this Countrie of North Wales shall nevere have peese." He -enclosed also the letter of the "strengest thief," and begs the Prince -to read it and judge for himself what sort of people he has to face. -He urges him to listen carefully to the full tidings that his poor -messenger and esquire Richard Donne will give him, and to take counsel -with the King for providing some more sufficient means of curbing the -turbulent Welshmen than he now has at his disposal. "Else trewly hitt -will be an unruly Cuntree within short time." - -About the same time similar despatches to the Prince sitting in -Council were flying across Wales penned by one of the King's own -officers, the Chamberlain of Carnarvon. These informed the -authorities, among other things, that the Constable of Harlech had -trustworthy evidence of a certain Meredith ap Owen, under whose -protection it may be mentioned Griffith ap Dafydd, Grey's -correspondent, lived, being in secret negotiation with the men of the -outer isles ("owt yles") of Scotland, "through letters in and owt," -that these Scottish Celts were to land suddenly at Abermaw (Barmouth), -and that Meredith had warned his friends to be in readiness with -horses and harness against the appointed time. It was also rumoured -from this same source upon the Merioneth coast that men were buying -and even stealing horses, and providing themselves with saddles, -bows, arrows, and armour. "Recheles men of divers Countries," too, -were assembling in desolate and wild places and meeting privily, -though their councils were still kept secret, and by these means the -young men of Wales were being greatly demoralised. - -No special notice seems to have been taken of these urgent warnings by -those whom the King during his absence in the north had left to guard -his interests. Tumults and disturbances continued both in Wales and on -the Marches throughout the summer, but nothing in the shape of a -general rising took place till the luckless Grey, armed perhaps with -the fresh powers he had sought for, singled out Glyndwr again as the -object of his vengeance. Glyndwr had shown no signs as yet of giving -trouble. His name is not mentioned in the correspondence of this -summer, although he was the leading and most influential Welshman upon -the northern Marches. He or his people may have given Grey some -annoyance, or been individually troublesome along the boundaries of -the property of which he had robbed them. But the Lord Marcher in all -likelihood was merely following up his old grudge in singling out Owen -for his first operations, though it is possible that, having regard to -the latter's great influence and the seething state of Wales, he -thought it politic to remove a man who, smarting under a sense of -injustice, might recommend himself for every reason as a capable -leader to his countrymen. One would have supposed that the "strengest -thief in Wales" would have claimed Grey's first attention, but -Griffith ap Dafydd, who dates his letter from "Brunkiffe,"[7] a name -that baffles identification, was very likely out of ordinary reach. -However that may be, the Lord of Ruthin, collecting his forces and -joining them to those of his brother Marcher, Earl Talbot of Chirk, -moved so swiftly and unexpectedly upon Owen that he had only just time -to escape from his house and seek safety in the neighbouring woodlands -before it was surrounded by his enemies. Whether this notable -incident, so fraught with weighty consequences, took place upon the -Dee or the Cynllaeth--at Glyndyfrdwy, that is to say, or at -Sycherth--is uncertain; conjecture certainly favours the latter -supposition, since Sycherth was beyond a doubt the most important of -Owen's mansions, as well as his favourite residence. Nearly all -historians have hopelessly confounded these two places, which are -seven or eight miles apart as the crow flies and cut off from each -other by the intervening masses of the Berwyn Mountains. Seeing, -however, that Pennant, the Welshman of topographical and archeological -renown, falls into this curious mistake and never penetrated to the -real Sycherth or seemed aware of its existence, it is not surprising -that most English and even Welsh writers have followed suit. - - [7] Possibly Brynkir near Criccieth. - -It is of no importance to our story which of the two manors was the -scene of Owen's escape and his enemy's disappointment, but the attack -upon him filled the Welshman's cup of bitterness to the brim. It was -the last straw upon a load of foolish and wanton insult; and of a -truth it was an evil day for Grey of Ruthin, and for his master, -Henry, that saw this lion hunted from his lair; and an evil day -perhaps for Wales, for, though it gave her the hero she most -cherishes, it gave her at the same time a decade of utter misery and -clouded the whole of the fifteenth century with its disastrous -effects. - - [Illustration: AN OLD STREET, SHREWSBURY. - Copyright - J. Bartlett.] - -Henry was very anxious to conciliate the Welsh. Sore and angry as they -were at the deposition of their favourite, Richard, the desultory -lawlessness which smouldered on throughout the summer would to a -certainty have died out, or remained utterly impotent for serious -mischief, before the conciliatory mood of the King, had no leader for -the Welsh been found during his absence in the north. Henry had beyond -question abetted his council in their contemptuous treatment of his -old esquire's suit against Grey. But he may not unnaturally have had -some personal grievance himself against Owen as a sympathiser with -Richard; a soreness, moreover, which must have been still further -aggravated if the tradition of his taking service under the late King -be a true one. Of the attachment of the Welsh to Richard, and their -resentment at Henry's usurpation, we get an interesting glimpse from -an independent source in the manuscript of M. Creton, a French knight -who fought with Richard in Ireland and remained for some time after -his deposition at the English Court. He was present at the coronation -of young Prince Henry as Prince of Wales, which took place early in -this year. "Then arose Duke Henry," he says, "the King's eldest son, -who humbly knelt before him, and he made him Prince of Wales and gave -him the land. But I think he must conquer it if he will have it, for -in my opinion the Welsh would on no account allow him to be their -lord, for the sorrow, evil, and disgrace which the English together -with his father had brought on King Richard." - -The Welsh had now found a leader indeed and a chief after their own -heart. Owen was forty-one, handsome, brave, and, as events were soon -to prove, as able as he was courageous. Above all, the blood of Powys -and of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth flowed in his veins. He was just the man, -not only to lead them but to arouse the enthusiasm and stir up the -long-crushed patriotism of an emotional and martial race. He seems to -have stept at once to the front, and to have been hailed with -acclamation by all the restless spirits that had been making the lives -of the Lord Marchers a burden to them throughout the summer, and a -host of others who had hitherto had no thought of a serious appeal to -arms. His standard, the ancient red dragon of Wales upon a white -ground, was raised either at, or in the neighbourhood of, his second -estate of Glyndyfrdwy, possibly at Corwen, where many valleys that -were populous even then draw together, and where the ancient British -camp of Caer Drewyn, lifted many hundred feet above the Dee, suggests -a rare post both for outlook, rendezvous, and defence. Hither flocked -the hardy mountaineers with their bows and spears, not "ragged -barefoots," as English historians, on the strength of a single word, -_nudepedibus_, used by an Englishman in London, have called them in -careless and offhand fashion, but men in great part well armed, as -became a people accustomed to war both at home and abroad, and well -clad, as became a peasantry who were as yet prosperous and had never -known domestic slavery. From the vales of Edeyrnion and Llangollen; -from the wild uplands, too, of Yale and Bryn Eglwys; from the fertile -banks of the Ceiriog and the sources of the Clwyd; and from the -farther shores of Bala Lake, where beneath the shadow of the Arans and -Arenig Fawr population clustered thick even in those distant days, -came pouring forth the tough and warlike sons of Wales. In the van of -all came the bards, carrying not only their harps but the bent bow, -symbol of war. It was to them, indeed, that Glyndwr owed in great -measure the swift and universal recognition that made him at once the -man of the hour. Of all classes of Welshmen the bardic orders were the -most passionately patriotic. For an hundred years their calling had -been a proscribed one. Prior to Edward the First's conquest a regular -tax, the "Cwmwrth," had been laid upon the people for their support. -Since then they had slunk about, if not, as is sometimes said, in -terror of their lives, yet dependent always for their support on -private charity and doles. - -But no laws could have repressed song in Wales, and indeed this period -seems a singularly prolific one both in poets and minstrels. They -persuaded themselves that their deliverance from the Saxon grip was at -hand, and saw in the valiant figure of Owain of Glyndyfrdwy the -fulfilment of the ancient prophecies that a Welsh prince should once -again wear the crown of Britain. Glyndwr well knew that the sympathy -of the bards would prove to him a tower of strength, and he met them -more than half way. If he was not superstitious himself he understood -how to play upon the superstition and romantic nature of his -countrymen. The old prophecies were ransacked, portents were rife in -sea and sky. The most ordinary occurrences of nature were full of -significant meaning for Owen's followers and for all Welshmen at that -moment, whether they followed him or not; and in the month of August -Owen declared himself, and by an already formidable body of followers -was declared, "Prince of Wales." His friend and laureate, Iolo Goch, -was by his side and ready for the great occasion. - - "Cambria's princely Eagle, hail, - Of Gryffydd Vychan's noble blood; - Thy high renown shall never fail, - Owain Glyndwr great and good, - Lord of Dwrdwy's fertile Vale, - Warlike high born Owain, hail!" - -Glyndwr would hardly have been human if he had not made his first move -upon his relentless enemy, Lord Grey of Ruthin. There is no evidence -whether the latter was himself at home or not, but Owen fell upon the -little town on a Fair day and made a clean sweep of the stock and -valuables therein collected. Thence he passed eastwards, harrying and -burning the property of English settlers or English sympathisers. -Crossing the English border and spreading panic everywhere, he invaded -western Shropshire, capturing castles and burning houses and -threatening even Shrewsbury. - -The King, who had effected nothing in the North, was pulled up sharply -by the grave news from Wales and prepared to hasten southwards. By -September 3rd he had retraced his steps as far as Durham, and passing -through Pontefract, Doncaster, and Leicester arrived at Northampton -about the 14th of the same month. Here fuller details reached him, and -he deemed it necessary to postpone the Parliament which he had -proposed to hold at Westminster in September, till the beginning of -the following year, 1401. From Northampton Henry issued summons to the -sheriffs of the midland and border counties that they were to join him -instantly with their levies, and that he was proceeding without delay -to quell the insurrection that had broken out in North Wales. He wrote -also to the people of Shrewsbury, warning them to be prepared against -all attacks, and to provide against the treachery of any Welshmen that -might be residing within the town. Then, moving rapidly forward and -taking his son, the young Prince Henry, with him, he reached -Shrewsbury about the 24th of the month. - -Henry's crown had hitherto been a thorny one and he had derived but -little satisfaction from it. The previous winter had witnessed the -desperate plot from which he only saved himself by his rapid ride to -London from Windsor, and the subsequent capture and execution of the -Earls of Salisbury, Kent, and Huntington, who had been the -ringleaders. From his unsteady throne he saw both France and Scotland -awaiting only an opportune moment to strike him. The whole spring had -been passed in diplomatic endeavours to keep them quiet till he was -sure of his own subjects. Isabella, the daughter of the King of France -and child-widow of the late King Richard, had brought with her a -considerable dower, and the hope of getting a part of this back, -together with the young Queen herself, had kept the French quiet. But -Scotland, that ill-governed and turbulent country, had been chafing -under ten years of peace; and its people, or rather the restless -barons who governed them, were getting hungry for the plunder of their -richer neighbours in the South, and, refusing all terms, were already -crossing the border. Under ordinary circumstances an English king -might have left such matters in the hands of his northern nobles. But -it seemed desirable to Henry that he should, on the first occasion, -show both to the Scotch and his own people of what mettle he was made. -He was also angered at the lack of decent excuse for their -aggressions. So he hurried northward, as we have seen, and having -hurled the invaders back over the border as far as Edinburgh, he had -for lack of food just returned to Newcastle when the bad news from -Wales arrived. He was now at Shrewsbury, within striking distance, as -it seemed, of the Welsh rebels and their arch-leader, his old esquire, -Glyndwr. Neither Henry nor his soldiers knew anything of Welsh -campaigning or of Welsh tactics, for five generations had passed away -since Englishmen had marched and fought in that formidable country and -against their ancient and agile foes. Henry the Fourth, so far as we -can judge, regarded the task before him with a light heart. At any -rate he wasted some little time at Shrewsbury, making an example of -the first Welshman of importance and mischievous tendencies that fell -into his hands. This was one Grenowe ap Tudor, whose quarters, after -he had been executed with much ceremony, were sent to ornament the -gates of Bristol, Hereford, Ludlow, and Chester, respectively. The -King then moved into Wales with all his forces, thinking, no doubt, to -crush Glyndwr and his irregular levies in a short time and without -much difficulty. This was the first of his many luckless campaigns in -pursuit of his indomitable and wily foe, and perhaps it was the least -disastrous. For though he effected nothing against the Welsh troops -and did not even get a sight of them, he at least got out of the -country without feeling the prick of their spears, which is more than -can be said of almost any of his later ventures. His invasion of -Wales, in fact, upon this occasion was a promenade and is described as -such in contemporary records. He reached Anglesey without incident, -and there for the sake of example drove out the Minorite friars from -the Abbey of Llanfaes near Beaumaris, on the plea that they were -friends of Owen. The plea seems to have been a sound one, for the -Franciscans were without doubt the one order of the clergy that -favoured Welsh independence. But Henry, not content with this, -plundered their abbey, an inexcusable act, and one for which in after -years some restitution appears to have been made. Bad weather and lack -of supplies, as on all after occasions, proved the King's worst -enemies. Glyndwr and his people lay snug within the Snowdon mountains, -and by October 17th, Henry, having set free at Shrewsbury a few -prisoners he brought with him, was back at Worcester. Here he declared -the estates of Owen to be confiscated and bestowed them on his own -half-brother, Beaufort, Earl of Somerset. He little thought at that -time how many years would elapse before an English nobleman could -venture to take actual possession of Sycherth or Glyndyfrdwy. - -Upon November 20th a general pardon was offered to all Welsh rebels -who would come in and report themselves at Shrewsbury or Chester, the -now notorious Owen always excepted, and on this occasion Griffith -Hanmer, his brother-in-law, and one of the famous Norman-Welsh family -of Pulestone had the honour of being fellow-outlaws with their chief. -Their lands also were confiscated and bestowed on two of the King's -friends. It is significant, however, of the anxiety regarding the -future which Glyndwr's movement had inspired, that the grantee of the -Hanmer estates, which all lay in Flint, was very glad to come to terms -with a member of the family and take a trifling annuity instead of the -doubtful privilege of residence and rent collecting. The castle of -Carnarvon was strongly garrisoned. Henry, Prince of Wales, then only -in his fourteenth year, was left at Chester with a suitable council -and full powers of exercising clemency toward all Welshmen lately in -arms, other than the three notable exceptions already mentioned, who -should petition for it. Few, however, if any, seem to have taken the -trouble to do even thus much. And in the meantime the King, still -holding the Welsh rebellion as of no great moment, spent the winter in -London entertaining the Greek Emperor and haggling with the King of -France about the return of the money paid to Richard as the dower of -his child-queen, Isabella, who was still detained in London as in some -sort a hostage. - -Parliament sat early in 1401 and was by no means as confident as Henry -seemed to be regarding the state of Wales, a subject which formed the -chief burden of their debate. Even here, perhaps, the gravity of the -Welsh movement was not entirely realised; the authorities were angry -but scarcely alarmed; no one remembered the old Welsh wars or the -traditional defensive tactics of the Welsh, and the fact of Henry -having swept through the Principality unopposed gave rise to -misconceptions. There was no question, however, about their hostility -towards Wales, and in the early spring of this year the following -ordinances for the future government of the Principality were -published. - -(1) All lords of castles in Wales were to have them properly secured -against assault on pain of forfeiture. - -(2) No Welshman in future was to be a Justice, Chamberlain, -Chancellor, Seneschal, Receiver, Chief Forester, Sheriff, Escheator, -Constable of a castle, or Keeper of rolls or records. All these -offices were to be held by Englishmen, who were to reside at their -posts. - -(3) The people of a district were to be held responsible for all -breaches of the peace in their neighbourhood and were to be answerable -in their own persons for all felons, robbers, and trespassers found -therein. - -(4) All felons and evildoers were to be immediately handed over to -justice and might not be sheltered on any pretext by any lord in any -castle. - -(5) The Welsh people were to be taxed and charged with the expense of -repairing and maintaining walls, gates, and castles in North Wales -when wilfully destroyed, and for refurnishing them and keeping them in -order, at the discretion of the owner, for a term not exceeding three -years, except under special orders from the King. - -(6) No meetings of Welsh were to be held without the permission of the -chief officers of the lordship, who were to be held responsible for -any damage or riot that ensued. - -The gifts called "Cwmwrth," too, exacted by collection for the -maintenance of the bards or minstrels, were strictly interdicted. Adam -of Usk, one of the few lay chroniclers of this period, was himself -present at the Parliament of 1401 and heard "many harsh things" to be -put in force against the Welsh: among others, "that they should not -marry with English, nor get them wealth, nor dwell in England." Also -that the men of the Marches "might use reprisals against Welshmen who -were their debtors or who had injured them," a truce for a week being -first granted to give them the opportunity of making amends. - - [Illustration: CARCHARDY OWAIN, GLYNDWR'S PRISON HOUSE AT - LLANSANTFFRAID. - Copyright - Miss Walker.] - -It was much easier, however, to issue commands and instructions -than to carry them out. The King seems to have felt this, and leant -strongly towards a greater show of clemency. But there was sufficient -panic in parts of England to override the royal scruples or common -sense, and so far as intentions went the Welsh were to be shown little -mercy. - -Owen all this time had been lying quietly in the valley of the upper -Dee, preparing for still further endeavours. The short days and the -long nights of winter saw the constant passing to and fro of -innumerable sympathisers through the valleys and over the hills of -both North and South Wales, and a hundred harps, that had long been -faint or silent, were sounding high to the glories of the unforgotten -heroes of Old Wales. Mere hatred of Henry and tenderness for Richard's -memory were giving place to ancient dreams of Cambrian independence -and a fresh burst of hatred for the Saxon yoke. Owen, too strong now -to fear anything from isolated efforts of Lord Marchers, seems to have -held high festival at Glyndyfrdwy during the winter, and with the -assumption of princely rank to have kept up something of the nature of -princely state. With the exception of Grey to the north and the lords -of Chirk upon the east, it is probable that nearly everyone around him -was by now either his friend or in wholesome dread of his displeasure. - -Shropshire was panic-stricken for the time. Hotspur was busy at -Denbigh, and Glyndwr, among his native hills, had it, no doubt, very -much his own way during the winter months, and made full use of them -to push forward his interests. His property, it will be remembered, -had been confiscated. But so far from anyone venturing to take -possession of Glyndyfrdwy, its halls, we are told, at this time rang -with revelry and song, while Owen, in the intervals of laying his -plans and organising his campaign for the ensuing summer, received the -homage of the bards who flocked from every part of the principality to -throw their potent influence into the scale. However much Glyndwr's -vanity and ambition may have been stirred by the enthusiasm which -surged around him, and the somewhat premature exultation that with -wild rhapsody hailed him as the restorer of Welsh independence, he -never for a moment lost sight of the stern issues he had to face, or -allowed himself to be flattered into overconfidence. Courage and -coolness, perseverance and sagacity, were his leading attributes. He -well knew that the enthusiasm of the bards was of vital consequence to -the first success of his undertaking. It is of little moment whether -he shared the superstitions of those who sang of the glorious destiny -for which fate had marked him or of those who listened to the singing. -It is not likely that a man who showed himself so able and so cool a -leader would fail to take full advantage of forces which at this early -stage were so supremely valuable. - -He knew his countrymen and he knew the world, and when Wales was -quivering with excitement beneath the interpretation of ancient -prophecies bruited hither and thither and enlarged upon by poetic and -patriotic fancy, Glyndwr was certainly not the man to damp their -ardour by any display of criticism. - -Already the great news from Wales had thrilled the heart of many a -Welshman poring over his books at the university, or following the -plough-tail over English fallows. They heard of friends and relatives -selling their stock to buy arms and harness, and in numbers that yet -more increased as the year advanced, began to steal home again, all -filled with a rekindled glow of patriotism that a hundred years of -union and, in their cases, long mingling with the Saxon had not -quenched. Oxford, particularly, sent many recruits to Owen, and this -is not surprising, seeing how combative was the Oxford student of that -time and how clannish his proclivities. Adam of Usk, who has told us a -good deal about Glyndwr's insurrection, was himself an undergraduate -some dozen years before it broke out, and has given us a brief and -vivid picture of the ferocious fights upon more or less racial lines, -in which the Welsh chronicler not only figured prominently himself, -but was an actual leader of his countrymen; "was indicted," he tells -us, "for felonious riot and narrowly escaped conviction, being tried -by a jury empanelled before a King's Judge. After this I feared the -King hitherto unknown to me and put hooks in my jaws." These -particular riots were so formidable that the scholars for the most -part, after several had been slain, departed to their respective -countries. - -In the very next year, however, "Thomas Speke, Chaplain, with a -multitude of other malefactors, appointing captains among them, rose -up against the peace of the King and sought after all the Welshmen -abiding and studying in Oxford, shooting arrows after them in divers -streets and lanes as they went, crying out, 'War! war! war! Sle Sle -Sle the Welsh doggys and her whelpys; ho so looketh out of his house -he shall in good sooth be dead,' and certain persons they slew and -others they grievously wounded, and some of the Welshmen, who bowed -their knees to abjure the town," they led to the gates with certain -indignities not to be repeated to ears polite. We may also read the -names of the different halls which were broken into, and of Welsh -scholars who were robbed of their books and chattels, including in -some instances their harps. - -It is not altogether surprising, therefore, that Welsh Oxonians should -have hailed the opportunity of Owen's rising to pay off old scores. We -have the names of some of those who joined him in an original paper, -in the Rolls of Parliament, which fully corroborates the notice of -this event; Howel Kethin (Gethin) "bachelor of law, duelling in -Myghell Hall, Oxenford," was one of them; "Maister Morres Stove, of -the College of Excestre," was another, while David Brith, John Lloid, -and several others are mentioned by name. One David Leget seems to -have been regarded as such an addition that Owen himself sent a -special summons that he "schuld com till hym and be his man." So -things in Wales went from bad to worse; Glyndwr's forces gaining -rapidly in strength and numbers, and actively preparing in various -quarters for the operations that marked the open season of 1401. - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER IV - -OWEN AND THE PERCYS - -1401 - - -North Wales, as already mentioned, was being now administered by the -young Prince Henry, with the help of a council whose headquarters were -at Chester. Under their orders, and their most active agent at this -time, was Henry Percy, the famous Hotspur, eldest son of the Earl of -Northumberland. He was Justice of North Wales and Constable of the -castles of Chester, Flint, Conway, Denbigh, and Carnarvon, and had -recently been granted the whole island of Anglesey. Hotspur, for -obvious reasons, made his headquarters at the high-perched and -conveniently situated fortress of Denbigh, which Lacy, Earl of -Lincoln, had built at the Edwardian conquest. Its purpose was to -overawe the lower portion of the Vale of Clwyd, which had fallen to -Lacy's share at the great division of plunder that signalised the -downfall of the last of the Welsh native Princes. The lordship of -Denbigh, it may be remarked parenthetically, since the fact becomes -one of some significance later on, belonged at this time to the -Mortimers, into which famous family Henry Percy had married. The -latter, to whose house the King was under such great obligations, was -the leading exponent of his master's policy in Wales, both in matters -of peace and war, and had been sufficiently loaded with favours to at -least equalise the balance of mutual indebtedness between the houses -of Northumberland and Lancaster. - -Shakespeare's fancy and dramatic instinct has played sad havoc in most -people's minds with the mutual attitude of some of the leading figures -of this stormy period. It has been sufficiently disproved by his -biographers, if not, indeed, by the facts of general history, that -Henry of Monmouth was no more the dissipated, light-headed trifler and -heartless brawler than was Glyndwr the half-barbarous and wholly -boastful personage that Shakespeare has placed upon his stage. The -King, it will be remembered, is depicted, in the play that bears his -name, as bewailing with embittered eloquence the contrast between the -characters of Hotspur and his own son, and making vain laments that -the infants had not been changed while they lay side by side in their -cradles. It is something of a shock to recall the fact that Henry -Percy was a little older than the distraught father himself, and a -contemporary, not of the Prince, but of the King, who was now about -thirty-five, and many years younger than Glyndwr. - -Prince Henry, even now, though not yet fourteen, seems to have had a -mind of his own. He had, in truth, to face early the stern facts and -hard realities of a life such as would have sobered and matured a less -naturally precocious and intelligent nature than his. His youth was -not spent in frivolity and debauchery in London, but upon the Welsh -border, for the most part, amid the clash of arms or the more trying -strain of political responsibility, aggravated by constant want of -funds. One might almost say that Henry of Monmouth's whole early -manhood was devoted to a fierce and ceaseless struggle with Glyndwr -for that allegiance of the Welsh people to which both laid claim. In -later years, as we shall see, it was the tenacity and soldier-like -qualities of the Prince that succeeded where veteran warriors had -failed, and that ultimately broke the back of Glyndwr's long and -fierce resistance. The King, far from deploring the conduct or -character of his valiant son, always treated him with the utmost -confidence, and invariably speaks of him in his correspondence with -unreserved affection and pride. He was of "spare make," say the -chroniclers who knew him, "tall and well proportioned, exceeding the -stature of men, beautiful of visage, and small of bone." He was of -"marvellous strength, pliant and passing swift of limb; and so trained -to feats of agility by discipline and exercise, that with one or two -of his lords he could on foot readily give chase to a deer without -hounds, bow, or sling, and catch the fleetest of the herd." - -Either from a feeling that Hotspur was too strong, or that popular -fervour had perhaps been sufficiently aroused to the north of the -Dovey, Glyndwr now turned his attention to the southern and midland -districts of the country. But before following him there I must say -something of the incident which was of chief importance at the opening -of this year's operations. - -Conway will probably be more familiar to the general reader than any -other scene of conflict we shall visit in this volume, from the fact -of its being so notable a landmark on the highway between England and -Ireland. The massive towers and walls of the great castle which Edward -the First's architect, Henry de Elfreton, raised here at the conquest -of Wales, still throw their shadows on the broad tidal river that laps -their feet. The little town which lies beneath its ramparts and -against the shore is still bound fast within a girdle of high, -embattled walls, strengthened at measured intervals by nearly thirty -towers, and presenting a complete picture of medieval times such as in -all Britain is unapproached, while immediately above it, if anything -were needed to give further distinction to a scene in itself so -eloquent of a storied past, rise to heaven the northern bulwarks of -the Snowdon range. Here, in the early spring of this year, within the -castle, lay a royal garrison closely beset by the two brothers, -William and Rhys ap Tudor, of the ever famous stock of Penmynydd in -Anglesey. They had both been excluded from the King's pardon, together -with Glyndwr, among whose lieutenants they were to prove themselves at -this period the most formidable to the English power. - -Conway Castle, as may readily be believed by those familiar with it, -was practically impregnable, so long as a score or two of armed men -with sufficient to sustain life and strength remained inside it. The -Tudors, however, achieved by stealth what the force at their command -could not at that time have accomplished by other means. For while the -garrison were at church, a partisan of the Glyndwr faction was -introduced into the castle in the disguise of a carpenter, and after -killing the warders he admitted William ap Tudor and some forty men. -They found a fair stock of provisions within the castle, though, as -will be seen, it proved in the end insufficient. The main body of the -besiegers retired under Rhys ap Tudor to the hills overlooking the -town to await developments. They were not long left in suspense, for -the news of the seizure of the castle roused Hotspur to activity, and -he hastened to the spot with all the men that he could collect. Conway -being one of Edward's fortified and chartered English towns, the -inhabitants were presumably loyal to the King. But Hotspur brought -five hundred archers and men-at-arms and great engines, including -almost certainly some of the primitive cannon of the period, to bear -on the castle. William ap Tudor and his forty men laughed at their -efforts till Hotspur, despairing of success by arms, went on to -Carnarvon, leaving his whole force behind, to try the effect of -starvation on the garrison. - -At Carnarvon Henry Percy held his sessions as Justice of North Wales, -openly proclaiming a pardon in the name of his master the Prince to -all who would come in and give up their arms. From here, too, he sent -word in a letter, still extant, that the commons of Carnarvon and -Merioneth had come before him, thanking the King and Prince for their -clemency and offering to pay the same dues as they had paid King -Richard. He also declared that the northern districts, with the -exception of the forces at Conway, were rapidly coming back to their -allegiance. How sanguine and premature Hotspur was in this declaration -will soon be clear enough. - -In the meantime much damage had been done to Conway town by both -besiegers and besieged. The latter seem to have overestimated the -resources they found within the castle, for by the end of April they -were making overtures for terms. William ap Tudor offered on behalf of -his followers to surrender the place if a full and unconditional -pardon should be granted to all inside. Hotspur was inclined to accept -this proposal, but the council at Chester and the King himself, -getting word of his intention, objected, and with justice, to such -leniency. So the negotiations drag on. The King in a letter to his son -remarks that, as the castle fell by the carelessness of Henry Percy's -people, that same "dear and faithful cousin" ought to see that it was -retaken without concessions to those holding it, and, moreover, pay -all the expenses out of his own pocket. In any case he urges that, if -he himself is to pay the wages and maintenance of the besieging force, -and supply their imposing siege train, he would like to see something -more substantial for the outlay than a full and free pardon to the -rebels who had caused it. It was the beginning of July before an -agreement was finally arrived at, to the effect that if nine of the -garrison, not specified, were handed over to justice, the rest -should be granted both their lives and a free pardon. The selection of -the nine inside the castle was made on a strange method, if method it -can be called. For the leaders, having made an arbitrary and privy -choice of the victims, had them seized and bound suddenly in the -night. They were then handed over to Percy's troops, who slaughtered -them after the usual brutal fashion of the time. - - [Illustration: INTERIOR CONWAY CASTLE. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -A second letter of Henry Percy's to the council demonstrates -conclusively how seriously he had been at fault in his previous -estimate. This time he writes from Denbigh under date of May 17th, -pressing for the payment of arrears in view of the desperate state of -North Wales, and further declaring that if he did not receive some -money shortly he must resign his position to others and leave the -country by the end of the month. But Hotspur rose superior to his -threats; for at the end of May, at his own risk and expense, he made -an expedition against a force of Glyndwr's people that were in arms -around Dolgelly. He was accompanied by the Earl of Arundel and Sir -Hugh Browe, a gentleman of Cheshire. An action was fought of an -indecisive nature at the foot of Cader Idris, after which Percy -returned to Denbigh. Finding here no answer to his urgent appeal for -support, he threw up all his Welsh appointments in disgust and left -the country for the more congenial and familiar neighbourhood of the -Scottish border. For he held office here also, being joined with his -father in the wardenship of the Eastern Marches of Scotland. - -Hotspur was even now, at this early stage and with some apparent -cause, in no very good humour with the King. It is certain, too, that -Glyndwr at this time had some special liking for the Percys, though -they were his open enemies, and it is almost beyond question that they -had a personal interview at some place and date unknown during the -summer. - -Leaving North Wales in a seething and turbulent state, with local -partisans heading bands of insurgents (if men who resist an usurper -can be called insurgents) in various parts of the country, we must -turn to Owen and the South. Crossing the Dovey, Glyndwr had sought the -mountain range that divides Cardigan from what is now Radnorshire -(then known as the district of Melenydd), and raised his standard upon -the rounded summit of Plinlimmon. It was a fine position, lying midway -between North and South Wales, within sight of the sea and at the same -time within striking distance of the fertile districts of the Centre -and the South. Behind him lay the populous seaboard strip of -Ceredigion created at Edward's conquest into the county of Cardigan. -Before him lay Radnor, and Carmarthen, and the fat lordships of -Brycheiniog, to be welded later into the modern county of Brecon. -Along the Cardiganshire coast in Owen's rear a string of castles -frowned out upon the Irish Sea, held, since it was a royal county, by -the constables of the King, who were sometimes of English, sometimes -of Welsh, nationality. Inland, as far as the Herefordshire border, was -a confused network of lordships, held for the most part direct from -the King on feudal tenure by English or Anglo-Welsh nobles, and each -dominated by one or more grim castles of prodigious strength, against -which the feeble engines and guns of those days hurled their missiles -with small effect. Some of these were royal or quasi-royal property -and looked to the Crown for their defence. The majority, however, had -to be maintained and held by owners against the King's enemies, -subject to confiscation in case of any deficiency in zeal or -precaution. Ordinarily impregnable though the walls were, the -garrisons, as we shall see, were mostly small, and they were incapable -of making much impression upon the surrounding country when once it -became openly hostile and armed. - -South Wales had as yet shown no great disposition to move. Some riots -and bloodshed at Abergavenny had been almost the sum total of its -patriotic activity. Now, however, that the Dragon Standard was -actually floating on Plinlimmon and the already renowned Owen, with a -band of chosen followers, was calling the South to arms, there was no -lack of response. The bards had been busy preparing the way on the -south as well as on the north of the Dovey. In the words of Pennant: - - "They animated the nation by recalling to mind the great - exploits of their ancestors, their struggles for liberty, - their successful contests with the Saxon and Norman race for - upwards of eight centuries. They rehearsed the cruelty of - their antagonists, and did not forget the savage policy of the - first Edward to their proscribed brethren. They brought before - their countrymen the remembrance of ancient prophecies. They - showed the hero Glyndwr to be descended from the ancient race - of our Princes, and pronounced that in him was to be expected - the completion of our oracular Merlin. The band of minstrels - now struck up. The harp, the 'crwth,' and the pipe filled up - the measure of enthusiasm which the other had begun to - inspire. They rushed to battle, fearless of the event, like - their great ancestry, moved by the Druids' songs, and scorned - death which conferred immortality in reward of their valour." - -Glyndwr now fell with heavy hand upon this southern country, crossing -the headwaters of the Severn and the Wye, and pressing hard upon the -Marches of Carmarthen. The common people rose on every side and joined -the forces that acted either under his leadership or in his name. -Those who did not join him, as was certainly the case with a majority -of the upper class at this early period, had to find refuge in the -castles or to fly to safer regions, leaving their property at the -mercy of the insurgents. But a battle was fought at the opening of -this campaign on the summit of Mynydd Hyddgant, a hill in the -Plinlimmon group, that did more, perhaps, to rouse enthusiasm for -Glyndwr than even the strains of the bards or his own desolating -marches. - -The Flemings in Wales at that time were not confined to Western -Pembroke, but had still strong colonies below Carmarthen, in the -Glamorgan promontory of Gower, and some footing in South -Cardiganshire. Whether they had actually felt the hand of Glyndwr upon -their borders, or whether they deemed it better to take the -initiative, they at any rate collected a force of some fifteen hundred -men, and marching northward to the Cardigan mountains, surprised the -Welsh leader as he was encamped on the summit of Mynydd Hyddgant, with -a body of less than five hundred men around him. The Flemish strategy -was creditable, seeing that it was carried out by slow-witted and -slow-footed lowlanders against nimble mountaineers and so astute a -chieftain. Owen found himself surrounded by a force thrice the number -of his own, and either death or capture seemed inevitable. As the -latter meant the former, he was not long in choosing his course, and -putting himself at the head of his warriors he attacked the Flemings -with such fury that he and most of his band escaped, leaving two -hundred of their enemies dead upon the mountain slope. This personal -feat of arms was worth five thousand men to Owen. It was all that was -wanted to fill the measure of his prestige and decide every wavering -Welshman in his favour. - -For this whole summer Glyndwr was fighting and ravaging throughout -South and Mid-Wales. The lands of the English as well as of those -Welshmen who would not join him were ruthlessly harried. Stock was -carried off, homesteads were burned, even castles here and there were -taken, when ill-provisioned and undermanned. New Radnor under Sir John -Grendor was stormed and the sixty defenders hung upon the ramparts by -way of encouragement to others to yield. The noble abbey of Cwmhir -too, whose ruins still slowly crumble in a remote Radnorshire valley, -felt Glyndwr's pitiless hand, being utterly destroyed. His animosity -to the Church was intelligible, though for his method of showing it -nothing indeed can be said. The Welsh Church, though its personnel was -largely native, was, with the exception of the Franciscan order, -mostly hostile to Glyndwr and upon the side of the English Government. -Bards and priests, moreover, were irreconcilable enemies. The latter -had in some sort usurped the position the former had once held, and -now the patron and the hero of the bards, who were once more lifting -up their heads, was not likely to be acceptable to the clergy. This, -however, would be a poor excuse for an iconoclasm that would set a -Welsh torch to noble foundations built and endowed for the most part -with Welsh money. - -Glyndwr in the meantime swept down the Severn valley, burning on his -way the small town of Montgomery, and coming only to a halt where the -border borough of Welshpool lay nestling between the high hills -through which the Severn rushes out into the fat plains of Shropshire. - -The great Red Castle of Powys, then called "Pole," overlooked in those -days, as it does in these, the town it sheltered. The famous -Shropshire family of Charlton were then, and for generations -afterwards, its lords and owners. From its walls Glyndwr and his -forces were now driven back by Edward Charlton with his garrison and -the levies of the neighbourhood, which remained throughout the war -staunch to its lord and the King. The repulse of Owen, however, was -not accomplished without much hard fighting and the destruction of all -the suburbs of the town. - -But these sallies from castles and walled towns could do little more -than protect their inmates. Mid- and South Wales literally bristled -with feudal castles containing garrisons of, for the most part, less -than a hundred men. These scattered handfuls were unable to leave -their posts and act in unison, and when the abandonment of North Wales -by Hotspur gave further confidence to those who had risen, or would -like to rise, for Glyndwr, the greater part of South Wales fell into -line with the Centre and the North. From the border to the sea Owen -was now, so far as the open country was concerned, irresistible. Nor -was it only within the bounds of Wales that men who were unfriendly to -Glyndwr had cause to tremble. The rapid progress of his arms had -already spread terror along the border, and created something like a -panic even in England. The idea of a Welsh invasion spread to -comparatively remote parts, and urgent letters carried by hard-riding -messengers went hurrying to the King from beleaguered Marchers and -scared abbots, beseeching him to come in person to their rescue. - -All this happened in August. As early as the preceding June, when -Conway was in Welsh hands, the King had meditated a second invasion in -person, and had issued summonses to the sheriffs of fourteen counties -to meet him at Worcester, but the approaching surrender of Conway and -the optimistic reports from Wales that met him as he came west turned -him from his purpose. There was no optimism now; all was panic and the -King was really coming. The Prince of Wales in the meantime was -ordered forward with the levies of the four border counties, while the -forces of twenty-two of the western, southern, and midland shires were -hurriedly collected by a proclamation sent out upon the 18th of -September. - -One reads with constant and unabated surprise of the celerity with -which these great levies gathered from all parts of the country to the -appointed tryst, fully equipped and ready for a campaign. One's -amazement, however, is sensibly modified as the narrative proceeds and -discovers them after a week or two of marching in an enemy's country -reduced to their last crust, upon the verge of disaster and -starvation, and leaving in their retiring tracks as many victims as -might have fallen in quite a sharp engagement. - -By the opening of October the King and Prince Henry had entered Wales -with a large army. The proclamation of September the 18th, calling out -the forces of England, had stated that the greater part of the -able-bodied men of Wales had gone over to Owen. Now, however, as this -great host pushed its way to Bangor, as had happened before, and would -happen again, not a Welshman was to be seen. On every side were the -sparse grain-fields long stripped of their produce, the barns empty, -the abundant pastures bare of the small black cattle and mountain -sheep with which in times of peace and safety they were so liberally -sprinkled. On the 8th of October the army was at Bangor, on the 9th at -Carnarvon, whose tremendous and impregnable fortress John Bolde -defended for the King with about a hundred men. Still seeing no sign -of an enemy, they swept in aimless fashion round the western edges of -the Snowdon mountains (for the route through them, which was even then -a recognised one, would have been too dangerous), arriving in an -incredibly short space of time in Cardiganshire, where the King called -a halt at the great and historic abbey of Ystradfflur or Strata -Florida. - -The weather for a wonder favoured the English, and we might be excused -for giving our imagination play for a moment and painting in fancy the -gorgeous sight that the chivalry of half England, unsoiled by time or -tempests or war, with its glinting steel, its gay colours, its -flaunting pennons, shining in the October sun, must have displayed as -it wound in a long, thin train through those familiar and matchless -scenes. The great Cistercian house of Ystradfflur had shared with -Conway in olden days the honour of both making and preserving the -records of the Principality. Around the building was a cemetery shaded -by forty wide-spreading and venerable yew trees. Beneath their shade -lay the bones of eleven Welsh Princes of the twelfth and thirteenth -centuries and perhaps those of the greatest Welsh poet of the age, -Dafydd ab Gwilim. Henry cared for none of these things. He allowed the -abbey to be gutted and plundered, not sparing even the sacred vessels. -He turned the monks out on to the highway, under the plea that two or -three of them had favoured Owen, and filled up the measure of -desecration by stabling his horses at the high altar. - -Meanwhile, Owen and his nimble troops began to show themselves in -Cardiganshire, harrying the flanks and rear and outposts of the royal -army, cutting off supplies, and causing much discomfort and -considerable loss, including the whole camp equipage of the Prince of -Wales. - -Henry did his best to bring Owen to action, but the Welsh chieftain -was much too wary to waste his strength on a doubtful achievement -which hunger would of a certainty accomplish for him within a few -days. An eminent gentleman of the country, one Llewelyn ab Griffith -Vychan of Cayo, comes upon the scene at this point and at the expense -of his head relieves the tedium of this brief and ineffectual campaign -with a dramatic incident. His position, we are told, was so -considerable that he consumed in his house no less than sixteen casks -of wine a year; but his patriotism rose superior to his rank and -comforts. He offered to guide the royal troops to a spot where they -might hope to capture Owen, but instead of doing this he deliberately -misled them, to their great cost, and openly declared that he had two -sons serving with Glyndwr, and that his own sympathies were with them -and their heroic leader. He then bared his neck to the inevitable axe -of the executioner, and proved himself thereby to be a hero, whose -name, one is glad to think, has been rescued from oblivion. - -The King, having attended to the mangling and quartering of this -gallant old patriot, crossed the Montgomery hills with his army and -hurried down the Severn valley, carrying with him, according to Adam -of Usk, a thousand Welsh children as captives. Beyond this capture, -he had achieved nothing save some further harrying of a land already -sufficiently harried, and the pillaging of an historic and loyal -monastery. - -Arriving at Shrewsbury before the end of October he disbanded his -army, leaving behind him a Wales rather encouraged in its rebellious -ways than otherwise, Glyndwr's reputation in no whit diminished, and -his own and his Marchers' castles as hardly pressed and in as sore a -plight as when he set out, with so much pomp and circumstance, less -than a month before. It must have been merely to save appearances that -he issued a pardon to the "Commons of Cardigan," with leave to buy -back the lands that had been nominally confiscated. He was also good -enough to say that on consideration he would allow them to retain -their own language, which it seems he had tabooed; this, too, at a -time when the life of no Englishman in Cardigan was safe a bowshot -away from the Norman castles, when the Welsh of the country were -practically masters of the situation and Glyndwr virtually their -Prince. - -Still Henry meant well. Since he was their King, his manifest duty was -to reconquer their country for the Crown, and this was practically the -task that lay before him. But then again this is precisely what he did -not seem for a long time yet to realise. He was a good soldier, while -for his energy and bodily activity one loses oneself in admiration. -But he persistently underrated the Welsh position and gave his mind -and his energies to other dangers and other interests which were far -less pressing. And when he did bend his whole mind to the subjection -of Glyndwr, his efforts were ill-directed, and the conditions seemed -to be of a kind with which he not only could not grapple but which his -very soul abhorred. It remained, as will be seen, for the gallant son, -whose frivolity is popularly supposed to have been the bane of his -father's life, by diligence as well as valour, to succeed where the -other had ignominiously failed. - -Lord Rutland was now appointed to the thorny office of Governor of -North Wales, while the Earl of Worcester, a Percy and uncle to -Hotspur, was left to face Glyndwr in the southern portion of the -Principality. The winter of 1401-2 was at hand, a season when Owen and -his Welshmen could fight, but English armies most certainly could not -campaign. The castles in the Southern Marches were put in fighting -trim, revictualled and reinforced. The chief of those in the interior -that Glyndwr had now to face were Lampeter, Cardigan and Builth, -Llandovery and Carmarthen, while upon the border the massive and -high-perched towers of Montgomery and Powys looked down over the still -smoking villages by the Severn's bank, and girded themselves to stem -if need be any repetition of such disaster. Owen seemed to think that -his presence in the North after so long an absence would be salutary; -so, passing into Carnarvonshire, he appeared before its stubborn -capital. - -But John Bolde had been reinforced with men and money, and, joined by -the burghers of the town, he beat off Glyndwr's attack and slew three -hundred of his men. This was early in November. All North Wales but -the castles and the walled towns around them, where such existed, was -still friendly to Owen. The chief castles away from the English -border, Criccieth, Harlech, Carnarvon, Conway, Snowdon (Dolbadarn), -Rhuddlan, and Beaumaris, complete the list of those in royal keeping -and may be readily reckoned up, unlike those of South Wales, whose -name was legion; while Denbigh and Ruthin were the only Marcher -strongholds, apart from those which were in immediate touch with Salop -and Cheshire. Now it so happened that, before most of the events -narrated in this chapter had taken place, before, indeed, Hotspur had -retired in such seeming petulance from North Wales during the -preceding summer, he had contrived a meeting with Glyndwr. The scene -of the interview is not known; that it occurred, however, is not -merely noted by the chroniclers, but Glyndwr's attitude in connection -with it is referred to in the State papers. A council called in -November, while Owen was making his attempt on Carnarvon, has upon its -minutes, "To know the king's will about treaty with Glyndwr to return -to his allegiance seeing his good intentions relating thereto." In the -interview with Percy, Owen is said to have declared that he was -willing to submit, provided that his life should be spared and his -property guaranteed to him. Later in the year, as a well-known -original letter of the period affirms, "Jankyn Tyby of the North -Countre bringeth letteres owt of the North Countre to Owen as thei -demed from Hen^r. son Percy." - -In answer Owen expressed his affection for the Earl of Northumberland -and the confidence he felt in him. The King was then informed of the -proceedings, and with his consent a messenger was sent from Earl Percy -to Mortimer, whose sister, as Hotspur's wife, was his daughter-in-law. -Through the medium of Mortimer, soon to become so closely allied to -Glyndwr, the latter is reported to have declared his willingness for -peace, protesting that he was not to blame for the havoc wrought in -Wales, and that he had been deprived of his patrimony, meaning no -doubt the northern slice of Glyndyfrdwy which Grey, after being -defeated at law, had annexed by force, with connivance of the King's -council. He added that he would readily meet the Earl of -Northumberland on the English border, as was required of him, but that -he feared outside treachery to his person, as a man who had made such -a host of enemies may well have done. He also declared that, if he -came to Shropshire, the Commons would raise a clamour and say that he -came to destroy all those who spoke English. That Hotspur had seen -Glyndwr earlier in the summer is distinctly stated by Hardyng, who was -Hotspur's own page. The fact that Percy did not take the opportunity -to treacherously seize the Welsh chieftain was afterwards made one of -the grievances urged by the King when he had other really serious ones -against his old comrade. It may well, however, be suspected that some -of these mysterious overtures in which the Percys and Mortimer figured -so prominently contained the germs of the alliance that followed -later between Glyndwr and the two great English houses. - - [Illustration: OLD BRIDGE AT LLANSANTFFRAID, GLYNDYFRDWY. - Copyright - Miss Walker.] - -No such suspicions, however, were as yet in the air, and Glyndwr -retired, with his captains and his bards, into winter quarters at -Glyndyfrdwy. Here, through the short days and long nights, the sounds -of song and revelry sounded in the ancient Welsh fashion above the -tumbling breakers of the Dee. The very accessibility of the spot to -the strong border castles showed the reality at this time of Owen's -power. The great pile of Chirk was not a dozen miles off, Dinas Bran -was within easy sight, and the Arundels, who held them both, were no -less mighty than the Greys who lay amid the ashes of Ruthin across the -ridges to the north. But the whole country towards England, to Wrexham -upon the one hand and to Oswestry on the other, and even to Ellesmere -and that detached fragment of Flint known then as "Maelor Saesnag," -was in open or secret sympathy with what had now become a national -movement. More men of note, too, and property were with Owen this -winter. The rising in its origin had been markedly democratic. The -labour agitations that during the century just completed had stirred -England, had not left Wales untouched. There, too, the times had -changed for the lower orders. The Norman heel pressed more heavily -upon them than it did upon their native masters, who were often on -friendly terms and connected by marriage with the conquerors' -families, while the very fact that Norman feudal customs had grown so -general made it harder for the poor. The Welsh gentry as a class had -hitherto fought somewhat shy of the Dragon Standard. Many, especially -from South Wales, had fled to England. Now, however, everyone outside -the immediate shelter of the castles had to declare himself for Owen -or the King. And at this moment there was not much choice,--for those, -at any rate, who set any store by their safety. - -To make matters worse for Henry, the Scots had again declared war in -November, and in December Glyndwr made a dash for the great stronghold -of Harlech. This was only saved to the King, for the time being, by -the timely despatch of four hundred archers and one hundred -men-at-arms from the Prince of Wales's headquarters at Chester. Owen, -however, achieved this winter what must have been, to himself at any -rate, a more satisfactory success than even the taking of Harlech, and -this was the capture of his old enemy, Reginald, Lord Grey of Ruthin. - -It was on the last day of January, according to Adam of Usk, that -Glyndwr crossed the wild hills dividing his own territory from that of -Grey, and, dropping down into the Vale of Clwyd, appeared before -Ruthin. There are several versions of this notable encounter. All -point to the fact that Owen exercised some strategy in drawing his -enemy, with the comparatively small force at his command, out of his -stronghold, and then fell on him with overpowering numbers. - -An old tale recounts that the Welsh leader drove a number of stakes -into the ground in a wooded place and caused his men to hang their -helmets on them to represent a small force, while the men themselves -lurked in ambush upon either side; and that he caused the shoes of his -horses to be reversed to make Grey think that he had retreated. The -fight took place, according to one tradition, close to Ruthin; another -declares that Brynsaithmarchog ("the hill of the seven knights"), half -way to Corwen, was the scene of it. But this is of little moment to -other than local antiquaries. Grey's force was surrounded and cut to -pieces; that haughty baron himself was taken prisoner, and carried off -at once, with a view to making so notable a captive secure against all -attempt at rescue, to the Snowdon mountains. The tables were indeed -turned on the greedy and tyrannical Lord Marcher who had been the -primary cause of all this trouble that had fallen upon Wales and -England. Glyndwr would not have been human had he not then drained to -the last drop the cup of a revenge so sweet, and Grey was immured in -the castle of Dolbadarn, whose lonely tower, still standing between -the Llanberis lakes and at the foot of Snowdon, is so familiar to the -modern tourist. His treatment as a prisoner, amid the snows of those -cold mountains, was not indulgent, if his friends in England are to be -believed. But such a captive was too valuable to make experiments upon -in the matter of torture or starvation. Owen regarded him as worth -something more than his weight in gold, and gold was of infinite value -to his cause. So he proceeded to assess Grey's ransom at the -formidable sum of ten thousand marks, no easy amount for even the -greater barons of that time to realise. - -The King was greatly distressed when he heard of his favourite's fate -and pictured him as chained to the wall in some noisome dungeon in the -heart of those dreary mountains, at the thought of which he shuddered. -Rescue was impossible, for the very frontiers of Wales defied him, -while the heart of Snowdonia, the natural fortress of the Welsh -nation, was at that time almost as far beyond the reach of his arm as -Greenland; moreover he had the Scots just now upon his hands. - -Grey's captivity lasted nearly a year. Greatly concerned in the matter -though the King was, it was not till the following October that he -appointed a commission to treat with Glyndwr for his favourite's -ransom. This commission consisted of Sir William de Roos, Sir Richard -de Grey, Sir William de Willoughby, Sir William de Zouche, Sir Hugh -Hals, and six other less distinguished people. Glyndwr agreed to -release his prisoner in consideration of ten thousand marks, six -thousand to be paid within a month, and hostages, in the person of his -eldest son and others, to be delivered to him as guaranty for the -remaining four thousand. The Bishop of London and others were then -ordered to sell the manor of Hertleigh in Kent, and Grey was to be -excused for six years from the burdensome tax then laid on absentee -Irish landowners amounting to one-third of their rentals. These -payments left him, we are told, a poor man for life. His Ruthin -property had been destroyed by Glyndwr himself, and the latter's -triumph was complete when the Lord Marcher had to make a humiliating -agreement not to bear arms against him for the rest of his life. -Hardyng, the rhyming chronicler, does not omit this notable incident: - - "Soone after was the same Lord Grey in feelde - Fightyng taken and holden prisoner, - By Owayne, so that him in prison helde, - Tyll his ransome was made and finance - Ten thousand marke, and fully payed were dear - For whiche he was _so poor than all his lyfe - That no power he had to werr ne strife_." - -An unfounded, as well as quite improbable, tradition has found its way -into many accounts, which represents Owen as compelling Grey to marry -one of his daughters. - -While these stirring events were taking place, Glyndwr's thoughts and -his correspondence were busy travelling oversea. He was sending -letters both to the King of Scotland and the native chieftains of -Ireland, soliciting their aid. At this time, too, a certain knight of -Cardiganshire named David ap Tevan Goy, who for twenty years had been -fighting against the Saracens, with various Eastern Christians, was -sent on Owen's behalf by the King of France to the King of Scotland. -He was captured, however, by English sailors and imprisoned in the -Tower of London. - -Glyndwr's own messengers were equally unfortunate, for letters he sent -to Robert of Scotland and the Irish chieftains were seized in Ireland -and their bearers beheaded. Adam of Usk has fortunately left us a copy -of them. Glyndwr had as yet no chancellor or secretary at his side -that we know of. And, indeed, being a man of the world and a -well-educated one, it may safely be assumed that he wrote these -letters himself. We have so little from his own hand; his personality -is in some respects so vague and shadowy; his deeds and their results -comprise such a vast deal more of the material from which the man -himself has to be judged than is usually the case, that one feels -disinclined to omit the smallest detail which brings him, as an -individual, more distinctly to the mind. I shall therefore insert the -whole text of the captured letters. The first is to the King of -Scotland, the second to the lords of Ireland. - - "Most high and Mighty and redoubted Lord and Cousin, I commend - me to your most High and Royal Majesty, humbly as it beseemeth - me with all honour and reverence. Most redoubted Lord and - Sovereign Cousin, please it you and your most high Majesty to - know that Brutus, your most noble ancestor and mine, which was - the first crowned King who dwelt in this realm of England, - which of old times was called Great Britain. The which Brutus - begat three sons; to wit, Albanact, Locrine, and Camber, from - which same Albanact you are descended in direct line. And the - issue of the same Camber reigned loyally down to Cadwalladar, - who was the last crowned King of the people, and from whom I, - your simple Cousin am descended in direct line; and after - whose decease, I and my ancestors and all my said people have - been and still are, under the tyranny and bondage of mine and - your mortal enemies, the Saxons; whereof you most redoubted - Lord and very Sovereign Cousin, have good knowledge. And from - this tyranny and bondage the prophecy saith that I shall be - delivered by the help and succour of your Royal Majesty. But - most redoubted Lord and Sovereign Cousin, I make a grievous - plaint to your Royal Majesty, and most Sovereign Cousinship, - that it faileth me much in soldiers, therefore most redoubted - Lord and very Sovereign Cousin, I humbly beseech you kneeling - upon my knees, that it may please your Royal Majesty to send - me a certain number of soldiers, who may aid me and withstand, - with God's help, mine and your enemies, having regard most - redoubted Lord and very Sovereign Cousin to the chastisement - of this mischief and of all the many past mischiefs which I - and my ancestors of Wales have suffered at the hands of mine - and your mortal enemies. And be it understood, most redoubted - Lord and very Sovereign Cousin that I shall not fail all the - days of my life to be bounden to do your service and to repay - you. And in that I cannot send unto you all my business in - writing, I send these present bearers fully informed in all - things, to whom be pleased to give faith and belief in what - they shall say to you by word of mouth. From my Court, most - redoubted Lord and very Sovereign Cousin, may the Almighty - Lord have you in his keeping." - -The letter to the Irish lords runs thus: - - "Health and fulness of love most dread Lord and most trusty - Cousin. Be it known unto you that a great discord or war hath - arisen between us and our and your deadly enemies, the Saxons; - which war we have manfully waged now for nearly two years - past, and henceforth mean and hope to wage and carry out to a - good and effectual end, by the grace of God our Saviour, and - by your help and countenance. But seeing that it is commonly - reported by the prophecy, that before we can have the upper - hand in this behalf, you and yours, our well beloved Cousins - in Ireland must stretch forth thereto a helping hand, - therefore most dread Lord and trusty Cousin, with heart and - soul we pray you that of your horse and foot soldiers, for the - succour of us and our people who now this long while are - oppressed by our enemies and yours, as well as to oppose the - treacherous and deceitful will of those same enemies, you - despatch to us as many as you shall be able with convenience - and honour, saving in all things your honourable State, as - quickly as may seem good to you. Delay not to do this by the - love we bear you and as we put our trust in you, although we - be unknown to you, seeing that, most dread Lord and Cousin, so - long as we shall be able to manfully wage this war in our - borders, as doubtless is dear to you, you and all the other - Chiefs of your land of Ireland will in the meantime have - welcome peace and calm repose. And because, my Lord Cousin, - the bearers of these presents shall make things known to you - more fully by word of mouth, if it please you, you shall give - credence to them in all things which they shall say to you on - our behalf, and you may trustfully confide to them whatsoever - you will, dread Lord and Cousin, that we your poor cousin - shall do. Dread Lord and Cousin, may the Almighty preserve - your reverence and Lordship in long life and good fortune. - - "Written in North Wales on the twenty-ninth day of November - [1401]." - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER V - -THE KING AND HOTSPUR - -1402 - - -As if the world of Britain were not already sufficiently excited, the -spring of 1402 opened with tremendous portents. In the month of -February a comet with its fiery streaming tail, "a terror to the -world," broke across the heavens and set all Europe trembling. The -bards of Wales rose with one voice to the occasion, headed by Iolo -Goch, who recalled the fiery star that heralded the birth of Arthur, -and even that other one which guided the Magi to our Saviour's cradle. - -The fiery shapes, too, that "lit the front of heaven" at Owen's birth -were recalled again with a fresh outburst of enthusiasm, and the tail -of this particular comet, which Adam of Usk saw by day as well as by -night, while travelling towards Rome, curled up at times, in the eyes -of credulous Welsh patriots, into a dragon's shape, the badge of Welsh -nationality. Englishmen beheld it pointing at one time towards Wales, -at another towards Scotland, and read in these mysterious changes -portents for the coming year. Thunder-storms of terrific violence -swept over the country. At Danbury, says Holinshed, while the people -were in church, lightning struck the roof and destroyed the chancel, -and while the storm was at its height the devil entered the sacred -building, dressed as a Franciscan friar (one of Owen's well-wishers, -it will be remembered), and leaped three times over the altar from -right to left; then, turning black in the face, he rushed down the -aisle, actually passing between a man's legs, and leaving an -overpowering smell of sulphur in his track. The man's legs were black -ever after, so that there was no doubt about the nature of the -visitant! Other weird things happened in various parts of the country, -which do not concern our story, except to show how strained were men's -imaginations in a year which after all proved fruitful enough of -events. - -Whatever faith Owen may have had in his own magical art, he at any -rate did not waste time just now in incantations or in interpreting -the prophecy, but swept down the Vale of Clwyd, making on his way a -final clearance of Grey's desolated property. With much significance, -read by the light of his future relations with the Mortimers and -Percys, he spared the lordship of Denbigh, though its owners were -still his open enemies. Descending the Vale, however, he fell upon -Saint Asaph with merciless hand, destroying the cathedral, the -bishop's palace, and the canon's house. Trevor was at this time the -bishop,--the same, it will be remembered, who warned Henry and his -council against exasperating Owen and the Welsh; he had from the first -gone over to the new King, had prominently assisted at the deposition -of Richard, and had since held many conspicuous offices. He was now a -ruined man, an enforced exile from his diocese, and he must have -derived but poor consolation from reminding his English friends of the -accuracy of his prophecy. He came of the great border House of Trevor, -and, among other things, built the first stone bridge in Wales, which -may yet be seen stemming with five massive arches the turbulent -torrents of the Dee at Llangollen. In the meantime he was a pensioner -on the King, but he will appear later in a character of quite another -sort. An entry of L66, paid to him at this time in lieu of his losses, -appears on the Pell Rolls. - -No danger just now threatened from the English border nor, on the -other hand, did any help come to Glyndwr from Ireland or the North. -There was indeed something of a lull in Wales throughout this spring, -unless perhaps for those unfortunate Welshmen who held back from -Glyndwr's cause and yet ventured to remain in the country. They, at -any rate, had not much peace. - -To this date is assigned the well-known story of Glyndwr and his -cousin Howel Sele, that gruesome tragedy which has invested the -romantic heights of Nannau with a ceaseless interest to generations of -tourists, and many more generations of Welshmen, and has seized the -fancy of the romancist and the poet. Now Nannau, where Vaughans have -lived for many centuries, enjoys the distinction of being the most -elevated country-seat in Wales, being some eight hundred feet above -Dolgelly, which lies at the base of the beautiful grounds that cover -the isolated hill on whose summit the present mansion stands. It is -famous also, even in a region pre-eminent for its physical charms, for -the surpassing beauty of its outlook, which people from every part of -Britain come annually in thousands to enjoy. To the south the great -mass of Cader Idris rises immediately above, with infinite grandeur. -To the west the Barmouth estuary gleams seaward through a vista of -wood and mountain. To the north the valley of the rushing Mawddach -opens deep into the hills, while to the eastward, where the twin peaks -of the Arans fill the sky, spread those miles of foliage through which -the crystal streams of the Wnion come burrowing and tumbling seawards. -Nature showed even a wilder aspect to Glyndwr and the then lord of -Nannau as they took their memorable walk together upon these same -heights five centuries ago. - -At that time there stood in the meadows beneath, near the confluence -of the Wnion and the Mawddach, the noble abbey of Cymmer, whose -remains are still a conspicuous object in the landscape. Howel Sele -was by no means an admirer or follower of his cousin Owen, and if -latterly he had not dared openly to oppose him, he had at least held -back; his relationship to the chief alone saving him, no doubt, from -the punishment meted out to others who were less prudent, or less -faint-hearted. The worthy abbot of Cymmer, however, for some motive of -his own, or perhaps in a genuine spirit of Christianity, endeavoured -to promote a better understanding between the relatives, and so far -succeeded that Owen consented to come and visit Howel in peaceful -fashion, bringing with him only a few attendants. - - [Illustration: LOOKING UP THE MAWDDACH FROM NANNAU. - Copyright - C. H. Young.] - -The meeting took place and an amicable understanding seemed assured. -During the course of the day the two men, so runs the tale, went for a -stroll in the park, Howel, at any rate, carrying his bow. He was -celebrated for his prowess as a marksman, and Owen, catching sight of -a buck through the trees, suggested that his cousin should give him an -exhibition of his skill. Howel, falling in apparently with the -proposal, bent his bow, and having feigned for a moment to take aim at -the deer swung suddenly round and discharged the arrow full at Owen's -breast. The latter, either from singular forethought or by great good -luck, happened to have a shirt of mail beneath his tunic, and the -shaft fell harmlessly to the ground. The fate of Howel was swift and -terrible. Accounts differ somewhat, but they all agree in the -essential fact that neither his wife and family nor his friends ever -set eyes upon the lord of Nannau again. It is supposed that the two -men and their attendants forthwith engaged in deadly combat, Glyndwr -proving the victor, and consigning his cousin to some terrible fate -that was only guessed at long afterwards. In any case, he at once -burnt the old house at Nannau to the ground, and its remains, Pennant -tells us, were yet there in his day,--a hundred years ago. For more -than a generation no man knew what had become of the ill-fated Howel, -but forty years afterwards, near the spot where he was last seen, a -skeleton corresponding to the proportions of the missing man was -found inside a hollow oak tree, and it is said that there were those -still living who could and did explain how the vanquished Howel had -been immured there dead or alive by Glyndwr. The old oak lived on till -the year 1813, and collapsed beneath its weight of years on a still -July night, a few hours after it had been sketched by the celebrated -antiquary, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who tells us it then measured -twenty-seven feet in girth. It had been an object of pious horror for -all time to the natives of the district, and was known as the "hollow -oak of demons," and dread sounds were heard issuing from its vast -trunk by all who were hardy enough to venture near it after nightfall. -Sir Walter Scott, who once visited Nannau, remembered the weird story -and the haunted oak when he was writing _Marmion_: - - "All nations have their omens drear, - Their legends wild of love or fear; - To Cambria look--the peasant see - Bethink him of Glyndowerdy, - And shun the spirit's Blasted Tree." - - [Illustration: OLD LODGE AT NANNAU, NEAR THE SITE OF THE "OAK OF - DEMONS." - Copyright - C. H. Young.] - -But while Glyndwr was having things pretty much his own way in Wales -throughout the spring of 1402, King Henry was in truth in great -anxiety. To add to his cares and trouble he was much concerned with -endeavours to secure a husband for his daughter Blanche, and a wife -for himself in the person of Joanna of Brittany. For the lavish -expenditure inseparable from these royal alliances he had to squeeze -his people, and they were in no condition to be squeezed, to say -nothing of the fact that his captains and soldiers and garrisons in -Wales were in a state of pecuniary starvation, and here and there in -actual want of food. All this awakened much discontent and there were -serious riots in many places. A plot of which the friars, chiefly -represented by Glyndwr's friends the Franciscans, were the leaders, -was discovered and crushed with much hanging and quartering. Even -Henry's loyal subjects of London turned mutinous and their juries -refused to convict the priests. The aid, however, of a packed jury in -Islington was invoked, who excused themselves for some manifestly -outrageous decisions with the naive but unanswerable plea that if they -did not hang the prisoners they would be hanged themselves. The report -was still sedulously bruited abroad that Richard was alive, and, if -anything, the idea gained ground; while, to complete the distress of -the King, the Scots were waging open war upon him in the North, and -proving perhaps better allies to Glyndwr than if they had responded to -that warrior's appeals and landed in scattered bands upon the coast of -Wales. The Percys, however, the King's "faithful cousins," confronted -the Scots and were a host in themselves. He despatched his daughter -Blanche and her hardly extracted dower to Germany, and a terrible -example was made of the friars. Glyndwr and the condition of Wales one -can hardly suppose he underestimated, but he permitted himself, at any -rate, to shut his eyes to it. - -Henry's dream, since mounting the throne, had been an Eastern crusade. -So far, however, his own unruly subjects and neighbours had allowed -him but little breathing time, and he had been splashed with the mud -of almost every county in England and Wales; but now he had gone to -Berkhampstead, his favourite palace, to rest and dream of that -long-cherished scheme of Eastern adventure. - - "So shaken as we are, so wan with care, - Find we a time for frighted peace to pant, - And breathe short-winded accents of new broils - To be commenced in strands afar remote. - No more the thirsty entrance of this soil - Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood; - No more shall trenching war channel her fields, - Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs - Of hostile paces." - -But the month of June was not yet out, when all at once there came -upon the King at Berkhampstead "a post from Wales laden with heavy -news," which shattered all dreams of Palestine and turned his -unwilling thoughts once more to the stormy hills whence came this -urgent message. - -Late in May, Glyndwr had again left North Wales and with a large force -made his way through the present counties of Montgomery and Radnor, -and fallen on the as yet unravaged border of Hereford. Now it so -happened that among the districts which here suffered the most were -those belonging to the young Earl of March, the rightful heir to the -throne, and on that account kept secure under lock and key by Henry. -This child, for he was nothing more, was descended from Lionel, Duke -of Clarence, third son of Edward the Third. His title to the throne -stood next to that of Richard, who had himself officially named him as -his heir. Henry, sensible of his dangerous claim, kept the boy and his -brother under his own charge, leaving their estates in Denbigh and the -South Wales Marches to be administered by their uncle, Edmund -Mortimer, who was still a young man and not without renown as a -soldier. Mortimer and other Lord Marchers had been notified in good -time to raise the forces of the border counties and march out to meet -the Welsh. - -They met upon the border in a narrow valley at Pilleth near Knighton, -and the result was wholly disastrous to the English. The Welsh on this -occasion were led by Rhys ap Gethin, one of Owen's most formidable -captains, and they utterly overthrew Mortimer's army, driving it down -the narrow valley of the Lugg below Pilleth hill where escape was -difficult, and slaying eleven hundred men, among whom were great -numbers of knights and gentlemen. Mortimer himself was captured, and -it was said, with how much truth does not appear evident, that many of -Mortimer's troops, who were his tenants, and Welshmen, turned their -arms against their own side and made a bloody day still bloodier. The -story of the outrages of the Welsh women upon the bodies of the slain -is a familiar topic of dispute and not a very savoury one.[8] In -regard to Owen's new captive, Mortimer, as the uncle and -representative of the rightful heir to the throne, he was of much more -actual importance than Grey of Ruthin. But the Welsh chieftain had no -personal grudge against the handsome and gallant young soldier who had -fallen into his hands by the ordinary fortune of war. Indeed, as we -know, he had a kindly feeling for the Percys and the Mortimers; so -much so that some of the King's most ardent friends, as well as Henry -himself, strongly hinted that Sir Edmund was no unwilling prisoner, -and that it was not wholly the chances of war which had placed him in -Owen's hands. Mortimer's relations with Glyndwr later on might lend -plausibility to such suggestions; but it is difficult to suppose that -had the former wished earlier for an alliance with Owen, he would have -chosen such an unnecessarily bloody and risky manner of effecting it. -Moreover Henry had reason to misrepresent Mortimer's sentiments, for -the question of the hour was his ransom. There can, I think, be little -doubt that Mortimer was at first as unwilling a prisoner as Grey. He -and Owen may have soon developed a personal liking for each other, but -that is of little importance. Mortimer at any rate seems to have been -sent to Snowdon, or possibly to Owen's small prison at Llansantffraid -in Glyndyfrdwy, which totters even now in extreme decay upon the banks -of the Dee; and ransom no doubt was regarded as the ordinary outcome -of the affair by all parties, except the King. For it soon became -evident that Henry, not unwilling to see a possible rival in durance -vile and safe out of the way, was going to oppose all overtures for -his ransom. - - [8] Some thirty years ago the farmers of the district drove their - ploughs into the old sod which from time immemorial had covered - the long, steep slope of Pilleth hill, or Bryn Glas. In turning it - up they came upon masses of human bones all collected in one spot, - which indicated without a doubt the burying-place of the battle of - 1402. The space was withdrawn from cultivation and a grove of - trees was planted on it, which have now grown to a large size and - form a prominent object in the valley. - -Hotspur, Mortimer's brother-in-law, waxed hot and angry, as of late he -had been apt to do with the King, but he was far away in the North -looking after the Scottish invaders. He now wrote to Henry that it was -a strange thing, seeing the great concern he had showed for Grey of -Ruthin, that he should act thus towards a subject who was of even -greater consequence, and moreover his (Percy's) brother-in-law. -Getting no satisfaction, according to Leland, who quotes from an old -chronicle, the fiery Hotspur went southward himself to Henry and -demanded in no gentle terms the right to ransom his wife's brother. To -this demand the King replied that he would not strengthen those who -were his enemies by paying money to them. Hotspur retorted warmly -"that the King owed it to those who had risked their lives upon his -account, to come to their aid when in peril." The King rejoined -angrily, "You are a traitor; you would succour the enemies of myself -and my kingdom." "I am no traitor," said Percy, "but faithful and -speak in good faith." The King then drew his sword; whereupon Hotspur, -exclaiming, "Not here, but on the field of battle," left the royal -presence, as it happened, for ever. - -This famous interview is practically endorsed by the rhymer Hardyng, -Hotspur's personal attendant: - - "Sir Henry sawe no grace for Mortimer, - His wife's brother; he went away unkende - To Berwyk so, and after came no nere, - Afore thei met at Shrowesbury in fere - Wher then thei fought for cause of his extent, - He purposed had Mortimer his coronement." - -Hardyng in the preceding verse gives two other reasons for the -defection of the Percys, and though our story has not yet reached that -notable crisis, the lines may perhaps be quoted here: - - "The King hym blamed for he toke not Owen, - When he came to him on his assurance, - And he answered then to the King again, - He might not so kepe his affiaunce, - To shame himself, with such a variaunce - The King blamed him for his prisoner, - Th' Erle Douglas, for cause he was not there." - -This distinct statement from such an authority that Hotspur had met -Glyndwr, referring of course to the previous year in Wales, should be -conclusive, though it is not creditable to Henry's honour that he -should throw in Hotspur's face the fact of his having failed to act -treacherously towards the Welshman. The reference to the Earl of -Douglas will become plain shortly. - -The victory of Pilleth had caused great enthusiasm among the Welsh, -and made a particularly marked impression upon the southern and -south-eastern districts, where the Norman baronial houses were strong, -and where even the Welsh "gentiles" had by no means as yet given an -eager welcome to Owen's dragon standard with its accompaniment of -flaming torches and pitiless spears. Hundreds of hitherto half-hearted -Welshmen now joined Glyndwr, who, flushed with victory and strong in -its prestige, turned fiercely upon Glamorgan and went plundering, -burning, and ravaging his way through that fair county, taking little -reck of the score or two of Norman castles so strong in defence but at -this time so powerless for offence. He fell on Cardiff and destroyed -the whole town, saving only the street where stood a religious house -of his friends, or at any rate Henry's enemies, the Franciscans. -Turning eastward he then sacked and burnt the bishop's palace at -Llandaff, stormed Abergavenny Castle, and destroyed the town. - -Leaving his friends to hold the country he had so effectually roused, -we next find him in the North, investing the three castles of -Carnarvon, Harlech, and Criccieth, and reminding those who in his -absence may have faltered in their allegiance that such an attitude -was a costly one. Rhys and William ap Tudor from the small stone -manor-house in Anglesey that gave a dynasty to Britain are with him -again, though the latter, it will be remembered, had sought and gained -at Conway the pardon of the King. Robert ap Meredydd of Cefn-y-fan and -Gesail-Gyferch near Criccieth, was another trusty henchman of Glyndwr. -But Robert's brother Ievan ap Meredydd stood for the King, and was one -of the few men in West Carnarvonshire who did so. He was now in -Carnarvon Castle, joint governor with John Bolde, and his brother was -outside with Owen,--a little bit of family detail for which, though -of no great importance, one is thankful amid the bloody and fiery -chaos in which such a vast amount of personality lies forgotten and -ingulfed. - -It was not long after this that Ievan died in Carnarvon, but so -completely occupied was the surrounding country by Owen's forces and -sympathisers, that they had to bring his body round by sea to his old -home and bury it secretly in his own parish church of Penmorfa, where -his dust still lies. His brother Robert, though he held by Glyndwr -throughout most of his long struggle, eventually received the royal -pardon, and succeeded to the estates. But even his attachment to the -Welsh chieftain had not in any way atoned for his brother's -opposition, or averted the inevitable fate which overtook the property -of all Glyndwr's opponents. Both Cefn-y-fan and Gesail-Gyferch were -burnt this year to ashes. At the former the conflagration was so -prodigious, says an old local legend, that the ruins smoked and the -coals glowed for two whole years afterwards. Gesail-Gyferch was -rebuilt by Robert and may be seen to-day, much as he made it, between -the villages of Penmorfa and Dolbenmaen. Its owner, when the war was -over, married, and had a host of children, from whom innumerable Welsh -families are proud to trace their descent. If this gossip about the -sons of Meredydd and about Howel Sele may seem too parenthetical, it -serves in some sort to illustrate the severance of families and the -relentless vengeance which Glyndwr himself executed upon all who -opposed him. - - [Illustration: PILLETH HILL, RADNORSHIRE. - Copyright - R. St. John Boddington.] - -In the meantime, while Glyndwr was besieging the castles upon the -Carnarvon and Merioneth coast, his great opponent Henry was being -sorely pressed. The battle of Pilleth and Mortimer's captivity had -raised a storm among those who had been the King's friends, and worse -things seemed in the air. Prince Thomas, his second son, who was -acting as viceroy in Ireland, was reduced by want of money to sore -straits, while forty thousand Scotsmen, with numerous French allies in -their train, were far outnumbering any forces the Percys unaided could -bring against them. But with all this the King was burning to crush -Owen and chastise the Welsh, and it was from no want of will or vigour -that he had for so many weeks to nurse his wrath. Richard, Earl de -Grey, had been left in charge of the South Wales Marches, while the -Earl of Arundel was doing his best to keep order north of the Severn. -On July 23rd the King was at Lilleshall, in Shropshire. Provisions, -arms, and men were pouring into Welshpool, Ludlow, and Montgomery, -Hereford, Shrewsbury, and Chester. Money was scarcer than ever, and -had to be borrowed in every direction from private individuals. Henry -himself was riding restlessly from Shropshire to Lincoln, from Lincoln -to Nottingham, and again from Nottingham to his favourite post of -observation at Lichfield. - -At last all was ready; the reduction of Wales was for once the -paramount object of the King's intentions. Three great armies were to -assemble on August the 27th at Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford under -the commands of the Prince of Wales, the King himself, and the Earl -of Warwick respectively. After much delay this mighty host, numbering -in all by a general consensus of authorities one hundred thousand men, -prepared to set itself in motion. - -It was the first week of September when it crossed the border. The -troops carried with them fifteen days' provisions, a precaution much -exceeding the ordinary commissariat limitations of those times, but -prompted by the bitter memories of three futile and painful campaigns, -and more than ever necessary owing to the devastated condition of -Wales. With such an army, led by the King himself, England might well -think that the Welsh troubles were at an end. - -Owen's character as a magician had been firmly established this long -time in Wales. His power of eluding the King's armies, to say nothing -of his occasional victories, and still more of the way in which the -elements had seemed to fight for him, had given him even throughout -England something of a reputation for necromancy. The practical mind -of Henry himself had been disturbed by the strange rumours that had -reached him, coupled with his own experiences of that implacable and -irrepressible foe who claimed the power of "calling spirits from the -vasty deep," and of being outside "the roll of common men." - -If the English had hitherto only half believed that Owen was a wizard, -they were in less than a week convinced that he was the very devil -himself, against whom twice their hundred thousand men would be of -slight avail. Never within man's memory had there been such a -September in the Welsh mountains. The very heavens themselves seemed -to descend in sheets of water upon the heads of these magnificent and -well-equipped arrays. Dee, Usk, and Wye, with their boisterous -tributaries that crossed the English line of march, roared bank-high, -and buried all trace of the fords beneath volumes of brown tumbling -water, while bridges, homesteads, and such flocks as the Welsh had not -driven westward for safety were carried downwards to the sea. In these -days of rapid travel it seems incredible that so overwhelming and, for -the times, well-found a host, could be beaten in less than a fortnight -without striking a blow. It is an object-lesson in medieval warfare -worth taking to heart and remembering. Night after night the soldiers -lay in the open, drenched to the skin, and half starved on account of -the havoc wrought upon their provisions by the weather. The thunder -roared, we are told, with fearful voice and the lightning flashed -against inky skies, above the heads of that shivering, superstitious -host, at the will, it seemed to them, of the magic wand of the -accursed Glyndwr. Numbers died from exposure. The royal tent was blown -flat, and Henry himself only escaped severe injury by being at the -moment in full armour. - -The King, Hardyng tells us, - - "Had never but tempest foule and raine - As long as he was ay in Wales grounde; - Rockes and mystes, winds and stormes, certaine - All men trowed witches it made that stounde." - -How far the English armies penetrated on this memorable occasion we -do not know; but we do know that by the 22nd of September, just a -fortnight after they had first crossed the border, there was not an -Englishman in Wales outside the castles, while the King himself, a day -or two later, was actually back at Berkhampstead, striving, in the -domestic seclusion of his own palace, to forget the unspeakable -miseries of his humiliating failure. Where Owen distributed his forces -through this tempestuous September, there is no evidence; except that, -following the inevitable tactics of his race before great invasions, -he certainly retired with his forces into the mountains. It was not -even necessary on this occasion to fall upon the retreating enemy. But -when one reads of the Welsh retiring to the mountains, the natural -tendency to think of them huddling among rocks and caves must be -resisted. The Welsh mountains, even the loftiest, in those days were -very thickly sprinkled with oak forests, and in the innumerable -valleys and foot-hills there was splendid pasture for large herds of -stock. There must have been plenty of dwellings, too, among these -uplands, and the Welsh were adepts at raising temporary shelters of -stone thatched with heather. - -Owen now might well be excused if he really began to think himself -chosen of the gods. At any rate he was justified in the proud boast -that Shakespeare at this time puts into his mouth: - - "Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head - Against my power. Thrice from the banks of Wye - And sandy-bottomed Severn have I sent - Him bootless home, and weather-beaten back." - -Shakespeare is accurate enough so far, but he is sadly astray when he -makes the news of Mortimer's capture and the defeat of Pilleth reach -Henry upon the same day as the victory of Percy over the Scots at -Homildon. The former was fought in the previous June, whereas the -latter took place while Henry was in the very throes of his struggle -with the Welsh elements and Owen's art magic. In fact the news of the -crushing defeat of the Scots reached him at the moment of his arrival -at home, after his disastrous campaign, and might well have afforded -him much consolation, unless perchance the contrast between his own -luckless campaign and that of Hotspur tempered his joy and galled his -pride. - -This same battle of Homildon, or Humbledon, near Wooler, exercised -considerable influence upon the affairs of Owen. I have already -remarked that forty thousand Scots, having with them many French -knights and gentlemen, were across the border. They were commanded by -Earl Douglas, who had most of the chivalry and nobility of Scotland at -his back. There was no particular excuse for the invasion; it was a -marauding expedition, pure and simple, on an immense scale, and it -swept through Northumberland and Durham almost unopposed, for the -forces of Percy were too inadequate for even his venturous spirit to -offer battle. - -Laden with the spoils of two counties the Scots turned their faces -homeward entirely satisfied with their luck. Unfortunately for them, -they elected to divide their forces, ten thousand men, including the -commander and all the choice spirits of the army, taking a separate -route. As these latter approached the Scottish border they found their -path barred by Hotspur, who had slipped round them, with a slightly -superior force. They would have been glad enough to get home with -their booty, but Percy gave them no option; they had nothing for it -but to fight. - -The result of the battle was disastrous to the Scots. The English -archers broke every effort they made to get to close quarters, and -finally routed them with scarcely any assistance from the men-at-arms. -An immense number were slain; five hundred were drowned in the Tweed; -eighty noblemen and knights, the flower of their chivalry, including -the Earl of Douglas himself, were captured. A goodly haul for Percy in -the shape of ransom! But it was these very prisoners and this very -question of ransom that filled Hotspur's cup of bitterness against the -King and brought about his league with Glyndwr. The congratulations -which went speeding northward from Henry to his "dear cousin" were -somewhat damped by instructions that the Scottish prisoners were on no -account to be set at liberty or ransomed, but were in fact to be -handed over to himself--contrary to all custom and privilege. Large -sums were already owing to Percy for his outlay in North Wales on the -King's behalf, and he was sullen, as we know, at the King's neglect of -his brother-in-law Mortimer, still lying unransomed in Owen's hands. -He was now enraged, and his rage bore fruit a few months later on the -bloody field of Shrewsbury. Nor did Henry see the face of one of his -prisoners till they appeared in arms against him, as the price of -their liberty, upon that fateful day. - -The close of this year was marked by no events of note; marriage bells -were in the air, for the King was espousing Joanna of Brittany, and -Mortimer, now embittered against Henry, allied himself with Glyndwr's -fortunes and married his fourth daughter, Jane. - -Mortimer's alliance was indeed of immense value to Glyndwr. He was not -only the guardian and natural protector of the rightful heir to the -throne, his nephew, but he was a possibly acceptable candidate -himself, in the event of a fresh shuffling of the cards. He had -moreover large possessions and castles in the South Wales Marches, and -in the Vale of Clwyd, whose occupants would now be irrevocably -committed to the Welsh cause. - -The monk of Evesham tells us that the marriage was celebrated with the -greatest solemnity about the end of November, though where the -ceremony took place we do not know. A fortnight afterwards Mortimer -wrote to his Radnor tenants this letter in French, which has been -fortunately preserved and is now in the British Museum: - - "Very dear and well-beloved, I greet you much and make known - to you that Oweyn Glyndwr has raised a quarrel of which the - object is, if King Richard be alive, to restore him to his - crown; and if not that, my honoured nephew, who is the right - heir to the said crown, shall be King of England, and that the - said Oweyn will assert his right in Wales. And I, seeing and - considering that the said quarrel is good and reasonable, - have consented to join in it, and to aid and maintain it, and - by the grace of God to a good end, Amen. I ardently hope, and - from my heart, that you will support and enable me to bring - this struggle of mine to a successful issue. I have moreover - to inform you that the lordships of Melenyth, Werthresson, - Rayadr, the Commote of Udor, Arwystly, Keveilloc, and Kereynon - are lately come into our possession. Wherefore I moreover - entreat you that you will forbear making inroad into my said - lands, or doing any damage to my said tenantry, and that you - furnish them with provisions at a certain reasonable price, as - you would wish that I should treat you; and upon this very - point be pleased to send me an answer. Very dear and - well-beloved, God give you grace to prosper in your - beginnings, and to arrive at a happy time. Written at Melenyth - the 13th day of December. - - "Edmund Mortimer. - - "To my very dear and well-beloved John Greyndor, Howell - Vaughan, and all the gentles and commons of Radnor, and - Prestremde."[9] - - [9] Presteign. - -This note was no doubt chiefly aimed at Sir John Greyndor, or Grindor, -who guarded the King's interests and commanded several castles at -various times. It was the last incident of moment in the year 1402. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER VI - -THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY - -1403 - - -The opening of the year 1403 was a time full of promise for Owen's -cause. The western castles by whose capture he set such store were -hard pressed. Llandovery in the Vale of Towy had been reduced; -Llandeilo Fawr, close by, burnt. The noble castle of Dynevor, which -had been the royal seat of the Princes of South Wales, was in -difficulties, and a descent on the southern shores of England by the -French was once more looked for. The Scots, too, had again plucked up -their courage, and threatened to give trouble. King Henry was begging -or demanding loans from all sorts and conditions of men, that he might -be enabled to hold his own against the Welsh, the Scots, and the -French. His affairs in truth were anything but prosperous. The Prince -of Wales, however, was at his post at Shrewsbury, though pressing for -men and money. He informs his father that Glyndwr is preparing to -invade England, and Henry communicates the disquieting news to his -council, though this is somewhat later, since in May the Prince is -writing urgent letters for relief. In these he declares that his -soldiers will remain no longer with him unless they are paid, and that -Glyndwr is levying all the power of North and South Wales to destroy -the Marches and the adjoining counties of England. The Prince goes on -to say: "If our men are withdrawn from us we must retire to England -and be disgraced forever. At present we have very great expenses, and -we have raised the largest sum in our power to meet them from our -little stock of jewels." This, it may perhaps be again remarked, is -the London roue and trifler of popular fancy! - - "Our two castles of Harlech and Lampadarn are besieged and we - must relieve and victual them within ten days, and besides - that protect the March around us with one-third of our forces. - And now since we have fully shown the state of these - districts, please to take such measures as shall seem best to - you for the safety of these same parts. And be well assured we - have fully shown to you the peril of whatever may happen here - if remedy be not sent in time." - -Reinforcements of some kind must have reached the ardent young soldier -very soon. For within a week or two he exercised a most signal piece -of vengeance against Glyndwr and apparently without opposition. This -was no less than the complete destruction of Sycherth and Glyndyfrdwy, -while Owen was busy upon the Merioneth coast. As all we know of this -interesting affair is from the Prince's own pen, I cannot do better -than quote in full the letter by which he communicated the news to -his father and his council. The original is preserved in the -British Museum, and is in the French language. It is dated May 15th, -no year unfortunately being affixed. Some difference of opinion as to -the latter detail exists, but this year (1403), the latest of those in -dispute, seems to me the likeliest. - - [Illustration: SYCHERTH, FROM THE NORTH. - Copyright - H. H. Hughes.] - - "Very dear and entirely well beloved, we greet you much from - our whole heart, thanking you, very dearly for the attention - you have paid to everything needful that concerned us during - our absence, and we pray of you very earnestly the continuance - of your good and kind disposition; as our trust is in you. By - way of news that have here occurred, if you wish to hear of - them, we have among other matters been lately informed that - Owen de Glyndowrdy has assembled his forces, and those of - other rebels adhering to him in great number; purposing to - commit inroads, and in case of any resistance being made to - him by the English, to come to battle with them, for so he - vaunted to his people. Wherefore we took our forces and - marched to a place of the said Oweyn well built, which was his - principal mansion, called Saghern [Sycherth], where we thought - we should have found him, if he had an inclination to fight in - the manner he had said, but on our arrival there, we found - nobody; and therefore caused the whole place to be burnt, and - several other houses near it belonging to his tenants. We - thence marched straight to his other place of Glyndowerdy to - seek for him there and we caused a fine lodge in his park to - be destroyed by fire, and laid waste all the country around. - We there halted for the night and certain of our people - sallied forth into the country, and took a gentleman of the - neighbourhood who was one of the said Oweyn's chief captains. - This person offered five hundred pounds for his ransom to - preserve his life, and to be allowed two weeks for the purpose - of raising that sum of money; but the offer was not accepted - and he received death, as did several of his companions, who - were taken the same day. We then proceeded to the Commote of - Edeyrnion in Merionethshire, and there laid waste a fine and - populous country; thence we went to Powys, and there being a - want of provender in Wales for horses, we made our people - carry oats with them and pursued our march; and in order to - give you full intelligence of this march of ours and of - everything that has occurred here, we send to you our well - beloved esquire, John de Waterton, to whom you will be pleased - to give entire faith, and credence in what he shall report to - you touching the events above mentioned. And may our Lord have - you always in his holy keeping. Given under our Seal at - Shrewsbury the 15th day of May." - -If, as I think, 1403 is the right year to which we should assign this -letter, it may seem strange that Glyndwr should have left his estates -to their fate. On the other hand, Sycherth, or Saghern as the Prince -calls it, actually touched Offa's Dyke and the English border, while -Glyndyfrdwy, as I have before noted, was within sight of Dinas Bran, -the grim outpost of English power. Glyndwr's attention had been -largely devoted to South Wales and was now bent on securing those -great castles on the Merioneth and Carnarvon coast, which with their -sea connections threatened him perpetually in his rear. Above all, his -aspirations had now soared to such a height and the stake he was -playing for was so great it is not likely that the loss of a couple -of manor-houses and a few other buildings was of much import to him. -If he won his cause, they were of no moment at all. If, on the other -hand, he lost it, all was over; they would certainly be no longer his. -A want of local knowledge has led many historians astray in the matter -of these manors of Glyndwr's, and they have repeated each other's -mistakes, ignoring the Cynllaeth property, and only transferring the -name of its much larger house to the banks of the Dee. Even Pennant -falls into the error, and is probably responsible for that of many of -his successors. - -This is the more curious in view of Prince Henry's letter, distinctly -stating that he first destroyed Owen's principal mansion at that point -and naturally so, as it would be the first in his path on the direct -route from Shrewsbury, following the valleys of the Vyrnwy and the -Tanat, and then up the Cynllaeth brook, where Sycherth lies. Prince -Henry's failure to spell the name of Owen's residence intelligibly is -of no moment whatever, and is almost lucid compared to some of the -Norman attempts to render Welsh names into English. - -Sir Henry Ellis and others who, though realising that Owen had two -separate properties, are not familiar with the district, fall back on -Leland, who alludes to Rhaggat, the present seat of the Lloyds, as -having been "a place of Glyndwr's," and explain Prince Henry's -"Saghern" in that manner. Rhaggat, beyond a doubt, whatever dwelling -may then have stood there, was the property of Glyndwr, seeing that it -was on his Glyndyfrdwy estate and less than two miles up the Dee from -his Glyndyfrdwy house. But the Prince would have had to pass by the -latter to reach Rhaggat, reversing the stated order of his operations, -whereas his short campaign as described by himself took the objects of -his attack, Sycherth, Glyndyfrdwy, and the Vale of Edeyrnion in due -order. These are matters, it is true, rather of local than of general -interest. Still as the locality is one which great numbers of -strangers visit for its beauty, I may perhaps be pardoned for entering -somewhat minutely into these details. - -While the Prince was thus doing his best upon a small scale near the -border, and sore distressed for money to pay his men, the castles of -Harlech, Criccieth, Conway, Carnarvon, and Rhuddlan were hard pressed. -Being in the royal counties, they were held and manned at the royal -charge and were feeling to the full the pinch of poverty. Owen, -entirely satisfied with the prospect of their speedy reduction, moved -south about the time that the Prince was wasting his property on the -Cynllaeth and the Dee. We hear of him in piteous letters for aid, sent -by Jankyn Hanard, the Constable of Dynevor Castle, on the Towy, to his -brother--Constable of Brecon, who was in but little better plight. In -this correspondence the writer declares that Glyndwr dominates the -whole neighbouring country with 8240 spears at his back; that Rhys -Gethin, the victor of Pilleth, is with him, also Henry Don, Rhys Ddu, -and Rhys ap Griffith ap Llewelyn, the son of that gallant gentleman of -Cardiganshire who made such a cheerful sacrifice of his head, it will -be remembered, two years before, when King Henry was at Strata -Florida, trying in vain to come to blows with Owen. - - [Illustration: HAY. - Copyright - Marion & Co.] - -"There is great peril for me," continues the panic-stricken Constable, -"for they [Glyndwr's soldiers] have made a vow that they will all have -us ded therein; wherefor I pray thee that thou wilt not boggle us, but -send to us warning within a short time whether we schule have any help -or no." The garrison, he reports, are fainting, in victuals and men, -and they would all be glad enough to steal away to Brecon, where the -castle is in a better state for holding out. "Jenkin ap Llewelyn, -William Gwyn, Thomas ap David, and moni other gentils be in person with -Owen." He tells also of the capture of Carmarthen just effected by -Glyndwr,--both town and castles,--with a loss of fifty men to the -defenders. A second letter, written early in July, a few days only -after the first one and from the same frightened commandant, describes -Glyndwr as still halting in his mind as to whether or no he should burn -Carmarthen. It goes on to relate how Owen and most of his army moved -forward to the great castle of Kidwelly, which stood upon the seacoast -near the mouth of the Towy, some ten miles distant. - -But in the meantime the Anglo-Flemings from Western Pembroke and Gower, -of all districts in Wales the most hostile to a Cymric revival, were -coming up again in strong force, under their lord and governor, Thomas -Earl Carew. Glyndwr halted on July 9th at St. Clear's and opened -negotiations with Carew, influenced probably by the view that Western -Pembroke with its sturdy Teutonic stock, and line of impregnable -castles, would prove more difficult to conquer and to hold than the -effort was worth. While pourparlers were proceeding, he sent forward -seven hundred men, to discover if it were possible to get to the rear -of the Anglo-Flemish force, but they were cut off to a man and killed. -This was the most serious loss the Welsh had yet sustained. Carew, -however, did not follow up his advantage, and Glyndwr, who, we are -told, had much booty stored in what was left of Carmarthen, made his -headquarters there for several days. - -It is impossible to follow Owen step by step through the hurly-burly of -ruin, fire, and slaughter which he created during this summer in South -Wales. It would be wearisome work, even if we could track his steps -from castle to castle, and from town to town with accuracy. But there -is ample enough evidence of his handiwork and of the terror he spread, -in the panic-stricken correspondence that came out of the Marches from -all sorts of people during these months, and which anyone may read -to-day. We hear from time to time of his lieutenants, of Rhys Gethin, -the Tudors, and many others, but no name in the minds of men ever seems -to approach that of the dread chief, who was the life and organiser of -every movement. Whether Owen is present in person at a siege or a -battle or not, it is always with his enemies, "Owen's men," and "Owen's -intentions," "Owen's magic, ambition, and wickedness"; and at the -terror of his name nervous people and monks were trembling far into the -midland counties. An invasion of England was thoroughly expected at -various times during 1403, and such a visit from a warrior who could -call at will the lightning and the tempest to his aid, and whose track -was marked by a desolation, so it was rumoured, more pitiless than even -medieval ethics approved of, was a terrible eventuality. In the eastern -counties men were informed for certain that he was soon to be at -Northampton, while the monks of St. Albans hung a supplication upon the -chancel wall to the Almighty God to spare them from Glyndwr. - -John Faireford, Receiver of Brecon, writes urgently to the authorities -of the county of Hereford, telling them how all the gentry of -Carmarthen had now risen treasonably against the King, and how his -friend, the Constable of Dynevor, was in vain appealing to him for -help; how Owain Glyndwr with his false troops was at Llandover, the men -of that castle being assured to him, and the Welsh soldiers all lying -around the castle at their ease; and again how Glyndwr was on his march -to that very town of Brecon for the destruction of the same, "which God -avert." Faireford begs them to rally all the counties round and to -prepare them at once for resisting these same rebels with all haste -possible for the avoiding of greater peril. "And you will know," writes -he, "that all the Welsh nation, being taken a little by surprise, is -adhering to this evil purpose of rebellion, and if any expedition of -cavalry can be made be pleased to do that first in these Lordships of -Brecon and Cantref Sellys." - -Within a few days a letter from the same hand is forwarded to the King -himself. - - "My most noble and dread Lord, I have received at Brecon - certain letters addressed to me by John Skidmore, the which - enclosed within this letter, I present unto your high person - by the bearer of these, that it may please your gracious - lordship to consider the mischief and perils comprised in - them, and to ordain thereupon speedy remedy for the - destruction and resistance of the rebels in those parts of - South Wales, who are treacherously raised against you and your - Majesty, so that your castles and towns and the faithful men - in them be not thus ruined and destroyed for lack of aid and - succour. And besides, may it please your lordship to know that - the rebels of this your lordship of Brecon, together with - their adherents, are lying near the town of Brecon doing all - the mischief they can to its town and neighbourhood, and they - purpose, all of them together, to burn all pertaining to the - English in these same parts if they be not resisted in haste. - The whole of the Welsh nation are by all these said parties - conformed in this rebellion, and with good will consent - together as only appears from day to day. May it please your - royal Majesty to ordain a final destruction of all the false - nation aforesaid, or otherwise all your faithful ones in these - parts are in great peril." - -The sheriff of Hereford had been warned by the King to proceed against -Brecon with the forces of his county, and relieve the siege. This he -reports later, that he has done with some success; slaying 240 of the -Welsh, though with what loss to himself he refrains from mentioning. -This diversion seems in no way to have relieved the general situation; -for after describing the fight at Brecon he goes on to state that - - "these same rebels purpose again to come in haste with a - great multitude to take the town (which God avert) and to - approach to the Marches and counties adjoining to the - destruction of them, which force we have no power to resist - without your most earnest aid and succour, and this greatly - displeases us by reason of the grievous costs and labours - which it will be needful for us to sustain. In reference to - which matters, our most dread and sovereign Lord, may it - please you to ordain speedy remedy, which cannot be as we deem - without your gracious arrival in these parts for no other hope - remains." - -This appeal is signed "your humble lieges the Sheriffs, Knights, -Esquires, and Commons of your County of Hereford." Hugh de Waterton -follows in the same alarmist strain: - - "For the honour of God and the preservation of your estate and - honour may it please your Highness to have this in your - remembrance and soon to cause to commit to such an array of - sufficient persons, knights, and esquires, as shall be willing - to give their whole diligence and trouble for the protection - of your honour in the preservation of your faithful lieges and - the punishment of your rebels, or otherwise the only thing - that can be said, is, it is likely you will find all in - confusion which God avert." - -Then follows William de Beauchamp writing to the same purpose in a -long, rambling letter to the King. Lastly Richard Kingeston, Archdeacon -of Hereford and Dean of Windsor and general administrator for the King -on the Southern Marches, within the same period of panic, appeals -direct to his Majesty. - -In one of these missives he says: - - "From day to day letters are arriving from Wales by which you - may learn that the whole country is lost unless you go there - as quick as possible. Be pleased to set forth with all your - power and march by night as well as by day, for the salvation - of those parts. It will be a great disgrace as well as damage - to lose in the beginning of your reign a country which your - ancestors gained and retained so long; for people speak very - unfavourably; ..." - -This is signed "Your lowly creature, Richard Kingeston," with a -postscript added, "And for God's love, my liege Lord, think on -yourself." - -The second letter, written somewhat later, contains the following: - - "There are come into our country more than four hundred of the - rebels of Owen and they have captured and robbed within your - county of Hereford many men and beasts in great number as - Miles Walter the bearer of these presents will more fully tell - you by mouth than I can write to you at present, to whom may - it please you to give your faith and credence in that on which - he shall inform you for the preservation of your said county - and of all the country around." - -The said Miles Walter, moreover, is - - "the most valiant man at arms in Herefordshire or the Marches - as he has served his Majesty well and lost all that he hath. - He begs for a hundred lances and six hundred archers at once - until your most gracious arrival for the salvation of us all; - for, my most dread Lord, you will find for certain that if - you do not come in your own person to await your rebels in - Wales you will not find a single gentleman that will stop in - your said county [Hereford], and leave naught that you do not - come, for no man that may counsel you to the contrary. This - day the Welshmen suppose that and trust that you will not come - there and therefore for God's love make them false men.... For - salvation of your shire and Marches trust you naught to any - lieutenant. - - "Written at Hereford in very great haste. - - "Your humble creature and continual orator." - -I have somewhat tried the reader's patience, perhaps, with such a -multiplication of extracts all sounding the same note; but in dealing -with scenes so scanty of all record save the bare detail of siege and -slaughter, it seems to me that human voices, full of the fears and -alarms of the moment, coming to us out of this almost forgotten -period, have more than ordinary value. Glyndwr, too, at this moment -steps out of his armour and gives us one of those brief glimpses of -the man within, which one so eagerly grasps at. To what extent he was -himself imbued with the superstition that surged around him and so -conspicuously centred upon his own name, must always be a matter of -curiosity. That he was very far from a sceptic, however, he gives us -conclusive proof; for while lying at Carmarthen after settling matters -with Carew, he was seized with a desire to consult a soothsayer; and -acting upon this he sent for a certain Welshman out of Gower, whose -reputation for forecasting future events, and "skill in interpreting -the Brut," was great. Hopkyn ap Thomas was the name of this prophet of -Gower, and when Owen demanded what the future had in store for himself -and his cause, the local wise man showed himself at any rate no -sycophant, though a false prophet, as it so turned out. For he boldly -informed the Welsh leader that within a short time he would be taken -prisoner under a black banner between Carmarthen and Gower. - -But all this earlier period of the summer, while Glyndwr was marching -this way and that throughout South Wales, now repelling the Flemings -on the west, now ravaging the English border on the east, matters in -England closely connected with his own fortunes were quickly ripening -for one of the most critical events of this period of English history. -The Prince of Wales, after his brief raid on Sycherth and Glyndyfrdwy, -had remained inactive at Shrewsbury, unable from lack of means to move -the levies of the four border counties, who remained in whole or part, -and somewhat discontented, beneath his banner. The Pell Rolls show a -note for July 17th, of the sum of L8108 for the wages of four barons, -20 knights, 476 esquires, and 2500 archers. The King, who had been by -no means deaf to the frantic appeals which had come pouring in upon -him from Wales, had fully intended to act upon them in person. He was -always as ready, however, to answer a summons from the North as he was -reluctant to face the truth in the West. Wales had been virtually -wrested from him by Glyndwr, and he had ample warning that the latter -was even preparing for an invasion of England, where there existed a -growing faction, wearied by his ceaseless demands for money, which -produced so little glory and so much disgrace. - -But once again he turned from scenes that for a long time had been a -standing reproach, both to himself and England, and started for the -North. Even if he had been only bent on assisting the Percys in -stemming a threatened invasion of the Scots, one might well suppose -that the virtual loss of what was a considerable portion of his -dominions near home, together with an equally imminent invasion from -that quarter, would demand his first attention. But there is not even -this much to be said. The King cherished aspirations to be another -Edward the First; he had already achieved a precarious footing in -Scotland and made grants of conquered territory across the border to -English subjects, always providing, of course, they could maintain -themselves there. One has the strange picture of an otherwise sensible -and long-headed monarch accepting perennial defeat and defiance in -Wales, while straining after the annexation of distant territories -that were as warlike as they were poor. The Percys had in fact for the -past few months been playing at war with the Scots, and deceiving -Henry, while laying plans for a deep game in quite another part of -Britain. The King, stern and at times even cruel towards the world in -general, was astonishingly complacent and trustful towards that -arch-plotter, the Earl of Northumberland, who in defiance of his -master, though in strict accord with equity, had kept his hold upon -the Scottish prisoners of Homildon; answering the King's letters of -remonstrance in light and even bantering vein. But now all trace of -ill-feeling would seem to have vanished, as Henry and his forces, on -July 10th, rest for a day or two at Higham Ferrers, on their way to -the assistance of the Percys; not to stem an invasion of the Scots, -but to further the King's preposterous and ill-timed designs upon -their territory. But this mad project was nipped in the bud at the -Northamptonshire town in a manner that may well have taken Henry's -breath away and brought him to his senses. - -He has just informed his council that he has received news from Wales -telling him of the gallant bearing of his beloved son, and orders -L1000 to be paid to his war chest. He then proceeds to tell them that -he is on his way to succour his dear and loyal cousins, the Earl of -Northumberland and his son Henry, in the conflict which they have -honourably undertaken for him, and as soon as that campaign shall have -ended, with the aid of God he will hasten to Wales. The next day he -heard that his "beloved and loyal cousins" were in open revolt against -him, and, instead of fighting the Scots, were hastening southwards -with all their Homildon prisoners as allies and an ever gathering -force to join Glyndwr. - -What was the exact nature of this alliance, whose proclamation fell -upon the King like a thunderclap, can only be a matter of conjecture. -There are whispers, as we know, of messages and messengers passing -between Glyndwr and Mortimer on the one hand and the Percys on the -other, this long time. That they intended to act in unison there is, -of course, no doubt. Shakespeare has anticipated by some years and -used with notable effect the famous "Tripartite Alliance," which was -signed by Glyndwr, Mortimer, and the Earl of Northumberland at the -Dean of Bangor's house at Aberdaron on a later occasion. One regrets -that in this particular he is not accurate, for the dramatic effect, -which as a poet he had no reason to resist, is much more telling -before the field of Shrewsbury than it can be at any subsequent time. - - [Illustration: BATTLE-FIELD CHURCH, NEAR SHREWSBURY. - Copyright - J. Bartlett.] - -The well-known scene, where Glyndwr, Mortimer, and Hotspur stand -before an outspread map of England, and divide its territory between -them, is probably to thousands of Englishmen their only distinct -vision of the Welsh chieftain as an historical character. But though -this formal indenture, as we shall see, was entered into much later, -there is no doubt that some very similar intention existed even now in -the minds of the allies. Glyndwr's reward was obvious. As to the -throne of England, Richard's ghost was to be resuscitated for the -purpose of creating enthusiasm in certain credulous quarters and among -the mob; but the young Earl of March was the real and natural -candidate for the throne. Edmund Mortimer, however, stood very near to -his young nephew. He was Hotspur's brother-in-law, and who could tell -what might happen? He had the sympathy of the Welsh, not only because -his property lay in their country, but because he could boast the -blood of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, to say nothing of his intimate -connection with the Welsh hero himself. The Earl of Northumberland -may have had some understanding with regard to northern territory, -such as he bargained for in later years, but of this we know nothing. -It was an ill-managed affair in any case, and it is probable that the -conditions in case of victory were loosely defined. - -The King had reached Lichfield when the astounding news burst upon him -that he was betrayed, and that he had not only to fight Glyndwr and -the Scotch, but to wrestle with the most powerful of his subjects for -his crown. Glyndwr was, of course, in the secret, but plans had -miscarried, or messengers had gone astray. Without wearying the reader -with proofs and dates, it will be sufficient to recall the fact that -on July 12th Owen was negotiating with Carew, and for the next few -days his hands and head were busily at work before the castle of -Dynevor. He had at that time no thought of leaving South Wales, and -this was within four or five days of the great fight at Shrewsbury, -nearly a hundred miles off, which poets and romancists have painted -him, of all people, as cynically regarding from the safe vantage-point -of a distant oak tree! - -Henry, prompt in an emergency and every inch a soldier when outside -Wales, lost not a moment. He had with him but a moderate force, mostly -his loyal Londoners. The Prince of Wales was near Shrewsbury with his -recent reinforcements, and quickly summoned. Urgent orders were sent -out to the sheriffs of the home counties, and on Friday, July 20th, in -the incredibly short space of five days, the King and Prince entered -Shrewsbury with an army of nearer thirty than twenty thousand men. -They were just in time, for that same evening Hotspur (for his father -had been detained in Northumberland by illness) with a force usually -estimated at about 15,000, arrived at the city gates, only to find to -his surprise the royal standard floating from the castle tower, and -the King already in possession. It was then late in the afternoon and -Hotspur led his army to Berwick, a hamlet three miles to the -north-west of Shrewsbury. Though his father was not present, his -uncle, Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, had lately joined him, having -stolen away from the side of Prince Henry, whose chief adviser he had -lately been. The Scottish Earl Douglas, who had been his prisoner at -Homildon, was now his ally, having, together with his comrades in -misfortune, purchased liberty in this doubtless congenial fashion. -Percy had left Northumberland with 160 followers. His force had now -grown, as I have already remarked, to something like 15,000 men. - -The County Palatine of Chester, always turbulent and still faithful to -Richard's memory, was most strongly represented in his ranks, and its -archers were among the best in England.[10] Numbers, too, of Glyndwr's -supporters from Flint and the Powys lordships joined his standard, and -Richard's badge of the White Hart was prominent on their shields and -tunics. But Hotspur had assuredly reckoned on meeting Glyndwr, and now -where was he? He had certainly never counted on being stopped by the -King with a superior force upon the borders of Wales. He had now no -choice but to fight, and even Hotspur's fiery spirit must have drooped -for a moment when he counted the odds. - - [10] It had been made a military Palatinate by William the - Conqueror, with the special object of coercing North Wales. Having - lapsed to the Crown in Richard's time, that King had leaned - greatly in his difficulties on its warlike and independent - population. The latter with its military efficiency had developed - a corresponding arrogance and local pride, and Richard had been - the last object of its provincial devotion. - -The morning of the 21st broke and there was still no Glyndwr and no -alternative but battle; so, marching his troops to Heytely or Bull -field, a short three miles to the north of Shrewsbury on the Wem road, -he drew them up in order of battle, near the place where the church -that was raised above their graves now stands. - -Hotspur for the moment was depressed. He had just discovered that the -hamlet where he had spent the night was called Berwick, and a -soothsayer in the North had foretold that he should "fall at Berwick," -meaning, of course, the famous town upon the Tweed. The coincidence -affected Percy and showed that if Glyndwr was superstitious so also -was he; for, turning pale, he said: "I perceive my plough is now -drawing to its last furrow." But the most lion-hearted soldier in -England soon shook off such craven fears and proceeded to address his -men in a speech which Holinshed has preserved for us: a spirited and -manly appeal which we must not linger over here. The King was -curiously slow in moving out against his foes, and even when, after -noontide, he had drawn up his formidable army in their front, he gave -his faithless friends yet one more chance, sending the Abbot of -Shrewsbury to offer them good terms even at this eleventh hour, and it -was certainly not fear that prompted the overture. Hotspur was touched -and inclined to listen, but his hot-headed or mistrustful uncle of -Worcester overruled him, even going himself to the King's army and -using language that made conciliation impossible. It must have been -well into the afternoon when the King threw his mace into the air as a -signal for the bloodiest battle to open that since the Norman conquest -had dyed the soil of England. - -With such a wealth of description from various authors, more or less -contemporary, it is not easy to pick out in brief the most salient -features of this sanguinary fight. It will be sufficient to say that -the shooting of Percy's Cheshire archers was so terrific at the -opening of the battle that the royal army was thrown into confusion -and only saved from rout by the valour and presence of mind of the -King, who rallied his shaken troops and bore upon the smaller forces -of his enemy with irresistible pressure; that the desperate charges of -Hotspur and Lord Douglas, cleaving lanes through their enemy as they -sought the King's person, were the leading personal features of a -fight where all were brave. The valour of the young Prince Henry, too, -seeing how prominent a figure he is in our story, must be recorded, -and how, though badly wounded by an arrow in the face, he resisted -every effort to drag him from the field and still sought the spot -where the fight was fiercest and the dead thickest. The courage and -coolness of the King, too, whose crown and kingdom were at stake, -shone brightly in the deadly melee, where his standard was overthrown, -its bearer slain, and the Constable of England, Lord Stafford, killed -at his feet. Hotspur, who had fought like a lion with a score of -knightly opponents, fell at length, pierced by a missile from some -unknown hand; and before sunset his army was in full flight. The -slaughter was tremendous, and lasted far into the dark hours; for it -is curiously significant that as an early moon rose over that bloody -field, its face was quickly hidden by an eclipse that may well have -excited the already strained imaginations of so superstitious an age. -About four thousand men lay dead upon the field, among them two -hundred knights and gentlemen of Cheshire alone, who had followed -Percy. The Earl of Worcester and Lord Douglas were both captured, the -former receiving a traitor's death. The corpse of the gallant Hotspur, -after being buried by a kinsman, was dug up again and placed standing -upright between two millstones in Shrewsbury market-place, that all -men might know that the fierce Northumberland whelp, the friend of -Glyndwr, was dead. His quarters were then sent, after the manner of -the time, to decorate the walls of the chief English cities, the -honour of exhibiting his head over the gates being reserved for York. - -[Sidenote: Under Henry's patronage.] - -The more illustrious dead were buried in the graveyards of Shrewsbury. -The rest were, for the most part, huddled into great pits adjoining -the spot where the old church, that was raised under Henry's patronage -as a shrine wherein masses might be said for their souls, still lifts -its grey tower amid the quiet Shropshire fields.[11] - - [11] Battle-field Church, which now serves a small parish, is - probably the only instance in England of a church erected over the - burial-pits of a battle for the purpose of saying masses for the - victims of a great slaughter, and that now does duty as a parish - church. The fabric has had periods of dilapidation and been much - restored, but a good part of the walls is original. There was a - college originally attached to it, but all trace of this has - disappeared. My first visit to the battle-field was in company - with the Rev. Dymock Fletcher, well known as a Shropshire - antiquary, who has published an interesting pamphlet on this - subject. - -And all this time Glyndwr, in far Carmarthen, was in total ignorance -of what a chance he had missed, and what a calamity had occurred. If -Hotspur had been better served in his communications, or fate in this -respect had been kinder, and Glyndwr with 10,000 men had stood by the -Percys' side, how differently might the course of English history have -run! It is fortunate for England, beyond a doubt, that Hotspur fell at -Shrewsbury and that Glyndwr was not there, but from the point of view -of his after reputation, one cannot resist the feeling that a great -triumph upon the open plains of Shropshire, in an historic fight, -would have set that seal upon Glyndwr's renown which some perhaps may -think is wanting. Reckless deeds of daring and aggression are more -picturesque attributes for a popular hero. But Glyndwr's fame lies -chiefly in the patience of his strategy, his self-command, his -influence over his people, his tireless energy, his strength of will, -and dogged persistence. He had to do a vast deal with small means: to -unite a country honeycombed with alien interests, to fight enemies at -home and beyond the mountain borders of his small fatherland, and to -struggle with a nation that within man's memory had laid France -prostrate at its feet. Private adventures and risky experiments he -could not afford. A great deal of statecraft fell to his share. His -efforts for Welsh independence could not ultimately succeed without -allies, and while he was stimulating the irregular military resources -of the Principality, and making things safe there with no gentle hand, -his mind was of necessity much occupied with the men and events that -might aid him in the three kingdoms and across the seas. His -individual prowess would depend almost wholly on tradition and the -odes of his laureate, Iolo Goch, if it were not for his feat against -the Flemings when surrounded by them on the Plinlimmon Mountains: - - "Surrounded by the numerous foe, - Well didst thou deal the unequal blow, - How terrible thy ashen spear, - Which shook the bravest heart with fear. - More horrid than the lightning's glance, - Flashed the red meteors from thy lance, - The harbinger of death." - -But Glyndwr's renown, with all its blemishes, rests on something more -than sword-cuts and lance-thrusts. He had been three years in the -field, and for two of them paramount in Wales. Now, however, with the -rout and slaughter of Shrewsbury, and the immense increase of strength -it gave to Henry, a crushing blow had surely been struck at the Welsh -chieftain and his cause. Numbers of Owen's people in Flint and the -adjoining lordships, cowed by the slaughter of half the gentry of -sympathetic Cheshire, and their own losses, came in for the pardon -that was freely offered. The King had a large army, too, on the Welsh -border, and the moment would seem a singularly propitious one for -bringing all Wales to his feet, while the effect of his tremendous -victory was yet simmering in men's minds. But Henry was too furious -with the Percys for cool deliberation. The old Earl had not been -absent from the field of Shrewsbury from disinclination, but from -illness; and he was now in the North stirring up revolt upon all -sides. But the ever active King, speeding northward, checkmated him at -York in such a way that there was no option for the recusant nobleman -but to throw himself at his injured prince's feet and crave -forgiveness. It is to Henry's credit that he pardoned his ancient -friend. Perhaps he thought the blood of two Percys was sufficient for -one occasion; so the old Earl rode out of York by the King's side, -under the festering head of his gallant son, on whom he had been mean -enough to throw the onus of his own faithlessness, and was placed for -a time out of mischief at Coventry. - -By the time, however, that Henry came south again the battle of -Shrewsbury, so far as Wales was concerned, might never have been -fought. Glyndwr's confidence in the South was so great that he had -himself gone north to steady the men of Flint and the borders in their -temporary panic. His mission seems to have been so effective that by -the time the King was back it was the town of Chester and the -neighbouring castles that were the victims of a panic. An edict issued -by Prince Henry, who lay recovering from his wound at Shrewsbury, -ordered the expulsion of every Welshman from the border towns, the -penalty for return being death. Strenuous efforts were again made to -stop all trade between England and Wales, but it was useless; a -continuous traffic in arms and provisions went steadily on, the goods -being exchanged for cattle and booty of all kinds in which Owen's -mountain strongholds now abounded. On the Welsh side of Chester, -hedges and ditches were hastily formed as a protection against -invasion, and watchers were kept stationed night and day along the -shores of the Dee estuary. - -It was the 8th of September when Henry arrived from the north and -prepared at Worcester for his long-deferred expedition against -Glyndwr. He first issued formal orders to the Marcher barons to keep -their castles in readiness against assault and in good repair!--a -superfluous warning one would have thought, and not devoid of irony, -when addressed to men who for a year or two had just managed to -maintain a precarious existence against the waters of rebellion that -surged all round them. Henry was at his very wits' end for money, and -all those in his interest were feeling the pinch of poverty. It so -happened that at this juncture the Archbishop of Canterbury was -attending the Court at Worcester, and the sight of his magnificent -retinue aroused dangerous thoughts in the minds of the barons around -the King, who had spent so much blood and treasure in his service and -were now sorely pinched for want of means. The same ideas occurred to -Henry, if indeed they were not suggested to him, and in no uncertain -voice he called upon the Church for pecuniary aid against Glyndwr. The -Archbishop took in the situation and sniffed spoliation in the air. At -the bare idea of such intentions he grew desperate, and with amazing -courage bearded the King himself, swearing that the first man who laid -a finger on church property should find his life no longer worth -living and his soul for ever damned. The King was forced to soothe the -excited cleric, who in later and calmer moments came to the conclusion -that it would be perhaps prudent for the Church to offer some -pecuniary assistance to the Crown. This was ultimately done, and the -sum contributed was about enough to pay the expenses of one of the -forty or fifty castles that were gradually falling into Owen's hands. - -In the meantime, Glyndwr had invaded Herefordshire, penetrating as far -as Leominster, and had compelled that county to make special terms -with him and pay heavily for them too. The King, however, had now -everything in train for a general advance through South Wales. What he -did there and what he left undone must be reserved for another -chapter. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER VII - -OWEN AND THE FRENCH - -1403-1404 - - -King Henry's fourth expedition against Glyndwr, in spite of all the -talk, the preparations, the hard-wrung money grants, the prayers and -supplications for aid, will make but scant demands upon our space. He -spent some days at Hereford, issuing orders for stores to be forwarded -to the hard-pressed castles of South Wales from the port of Bristol, -though it is obvious that only some of them could be relieved by sea. -The names of a few of these may interest Welshmen. They were -Llandovery, Crickhoell, Tretower, Abergavenny, Caerleon, Goodrich, -Ewyas Harold, Usk, Caerphilly, Ewyas Lacy, Paines, Brampton Bryan, -Lyonshall, Dorston, Manorbier, Stapleton, Kidwelly, Lampeter, Brecon, -Cardiff, Newport, Milford, Haverford-west, Pembroke, and Tenby. - -The King left Hereford about the 15th of September and he was seated a -few days later among the ruins of Carmarthen, the very centre of the -recent wars and devastations. Glyndwr and his people were, of course, -nowhere to be seen, nor did the King show any disposition to hunt for -them. He remained about two days at Carmarthen, and contented himself -with issuing all kinds of orders, proclamations, pardons, and -confiscations, which were for the most so much waste paper. Leaving -behind him the Earl of Somerset with an inefficient garrison and no -money to pay them, he then faced about, and made the best of his way -back again, arriving at Hereford within four days. When one recalls -Edward the First, who considered nearly three years of personal -residence none too short a time in which to establish order in Wales, -which was at that time by no means so wholly hostile as now, the -feebleness of Henry's Welsh policy strikes one with singular force. -Had he been his cousin Richard or an Edward the Second, a man sluggish -in war and a slave to luxury, the explanation would be simple enough; -but though his Court was extravagant, almost culpably so, the King -himself was an energetic, serious-minded soldier, and a man of affairs -rather than of pleasure. One might well have supposed, after the -decisive victory at Shrewsbury, and the firm grip on the throne which -the destruction of his domestic enemies gave to the King, that -Glyndwr's hour had at last come. - -It is almost wearisome to tell the same old tale of "scuttle," the -same trumpeting forth of orders to captains and governors of castles -and Marcher barons to do, with scant men and means, what their master -had so conspicuously flinched from with the power of England, such as -he had made it, at his command. It is needless to say that the King's -homeward tracks through Wales were obliterated, when his back was -turned, like those upon sand, before the returning tide of Owen and -his Welshmen, who had swept through Glamorgan and were pressing -Cardiff, even while Henry was still travelling homewards. He had -hardly reached London before he received piteous letters from the -chiefs of the garrison that had been left at Carmarthen, begging him -to send the Duke of York there with strong reinforcements or they were -lost men, and protesting that in no case could they stay there a day -longer than the stipulated month, for their men would not stand by -them. - -Glyndwr had received some sort of consolation from the French for the -blow struck at his English allies on the plains of Shrewsbury. Their -corsairs had been harrying the shores of England throughout the -summer. Plymouth, Salcombe, and other places had been raided, while -flotillas were even now hovering round the coast of Wales, in the -interests of Owen. Herefordshire, which had received the -long-looked-for King with such unbounded joy in September, and hailed -him as its deliverer, was, in October, in as bad a plight as ever, for -Glyndwr's men had again poured over the borders. And though the King -with his thousands had come and gone like a dream, the people of -Hereford and Gloucester were now glad enough to welcome the Duke of -York with nine hundred spearmen and archers. The Courtenays with a -force of Devonshire men had been ordered across the Severn sea to -relieve Cardiff, but this they failed in doing, as now not only that -fortress, but Caerphilly, Newport, Caerleon, and Usk fell into Owen's -hands. - -The number of men that Glyndwr had with him at various times is -difficult to estimate. Now and then contemporary writers quote the -figures. In South Wales lately it will be remembered he had nearly ten -thousand. In Carmarthen at another time the number from an equally -credible source is estimated at thirty thousand. His spearmen were -better than his archers. The Welsh archers, till the Union and the -wars with France, had used short bows made generally of twisted twigs -and formidable only at a close range. Archery, however, in its highly -developed state must have become familiar by this time, through the -co-operation of the Welsh in the French wars. The Welsh spears were -exceptionally long, and the men of Merioneth had a special reputation -for making efficient use of them. They were all, however, eminently -light troops, though equipped with steel caps, breastplates, and often -with greaves. "In the first attack," says Giraldus Cambrensis, "the -Welsh are more than men, in the second less than women," and he knew -them well. But their want of staunchness under repulse, he takes care -to tell us, was temporary. They were a people well-nigh impossible to -conquer, he declares, from the rapidity with which they recovered from -defeat and the tenacity with which they returned, not always -immediately, but sooner or later, to the attack, refusing to -acknowledge ultimate defeat, and desperately attached to liberty. -Glyndwr had practically no cavalry. Horses were very widely in use, -perhaps ponies still more so, amid the mediaeval Welsh, and their -gentry and nobility went mounted to war from the earliest times. But -it is likely that in Wales itself, at any rate, all ranks did their -actual fighting on foot. - -Of the disposition of Glyndwr's forces and their personnel beyond a -few of his captains we know little. It seems almost certain that the -men of the South for the most part fought in the south, and those of -the North in the north. If he had a nucleus of soldiers that followed -him in his rapid movements from one end of the Principality to the -other it was a comparatively small one. In every district he had -trusted leaders who looked after his interests, and on his appearance, -or at his summons, rallied their followers to battle, and upon their -own account made the lives of the beleaguered Saxons in their midst -intolerable. By this time, however, and indeed before it, every man -who was not a professed subject of the descendant of Llewelyn and of -Madoc ap Griffith, had fled Wales, except those who were swelling the -population of the ill-victualled and closely beleaguered castles. -Glyndwr had before him many a doughty Anglo-Norman warrior, under -walls well-nigh impervious to anything but starvation, whose crumbling -shells on many a Welsh headland and hilltop still wake memories of the -past and stir our fancy. - -Lord Audley was at Llandovery, Sir Henry Scrope at Langhame, John -Pauncefote held Crickhowl, and James Berkeley, Tretower. At -Abergavenny was a Beauchamp, at Goodrich a Neville. The splendid pile -of Caerphilly, whose ruins are the largest in Britain, was in the -charge of a Chatelaine, Lady Despencer. The noble castle of Manorbier, -where Giraldus was born, in that of Sir John Cornwall, while the Earl -of Warwick was at Paines, and a Charlton, of course, at Welshpool. - -About the same time, some French companies were landing in Carmarthen -to add further to the woes of Henry in Wales; and for the comfort of -Glyndwr. The King himself was entering London, and to show how little -the people of one end of the country sometimes realised what was -actually happening at the other, the citizens, who were always his -particular friends, gave him quite an enthusiastic reception. It -should, however, be remembered that the Londoners had been in great -force at Shrewsbury, and the triumphs of that bloody fight were still -ringing in men's ears. - -It was not till two years after this that the great French effort was -made on Owen's behalf, of which we shall hear in due course, but even -now a few hundred Bretons, as already related, had found their way to -Wales. They flinched from the great Pembroke castles and, adventuring -upon their own account, crept round the coast of Lleyn and made an -attempt upon Carnarvon. A very short stay before that matchless pile -of Norman defensive art sufficed upon this occasion for the invaders, -though soon afterwards they landed and joined Glyndwr in its -investment. The island of Anglesey in the meantime, cut off from the -rest of Wales by the castles and "English towns" of Conway and -Carnarvon, and its own almost equally formidable stronghold of -Beaumaris, had for the moment given in to English reinforcements from -Chester, and accepted the freely offered pardon of the Prince of -Wales. It is a singular fact that, while so many of Glyndwr's -soldiers, headed by the Tudors, came from Anglesey and near the close -of his wars 2000 of its inhabitants were actually in arms, no battle -or even skirmish took place there, so far as we know, during the whole -period of these operations. - -But Carnarvon, now at this date, January, 1404, was as a matter of -fact in a lamentable condition as regards defenders. The garrison had -declined to less than thirty men, and there are letters in Sir Henry -Ellis's collection showing the desperate state to which this and other -castles were reduced. It seems at the first sight incredible that such -a handful of men could hold so great a fortress against serious -attacks. The walls and defences of Carnarvon Castle are to-day much -what they were in the times of Glyndwr. It is perhaps almost necessary -to walk upon its giddy parapets, to climb its lofty towers, in order -to grasp the hopelessly defiant front such a fortress must have shown -to those below it before the time of effective artillery: the deep -moat upon the town side, the waters of the harbour a hundred feet -below the frowning battlements upon the other, the huge gateway from -which the portcullis grinned and the upraised drawbridge swung. -Twenty-eight men only were inside when Owen with a force of his own -people and the French threw themselves against it. The besiegers -had engines, "scowes," and scaling ladders, but the handful of -defenders were sufficient, for the time being at any rate, to hurry -from point to point, and frustrate all attempts to surmount the lofty -walls, though these attempts, no doubt, were made at many points -simultaneously. The Constable John Bolde was away, but one Parry, his -deputy, was in command. It was urgent that a message should be sent to -Chester, acquainting Venables, the governor, of their desperate -situation. Not a man, as may well be believed, could be spared, so a -woman was despatched to take the news by word of mouth, for few dared -in those days to carry letters. - - [Illustration: CARNARVON CASTLE. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -Harlech was in an equally bad plight, its defenders being reduced to -twenty-six, but it was as impregnable as Carnarvon, and much smaller. -The garrison had been so mistrustful of their governor's fidelity that -they had locked him up. During January their numbers were reduced to -sixteen, but they still held manfully out against the Welsh under -Howel Vychan. They eventually succeeded in sending word across the bay -to Criccieth, and to Conway also, of their condition. Conway had been -urgently petitioning the King and assuring him that 400 more men would -suffice to hold the castles till the spring, but that then "when the -rebels can lie out which they cannot now do" a far greater number -would be required; but the King either could not or would not -understand. Harlech, grim and grey on its incomparable rocky perch, -required fewer defenders even than the rest. The sea then swept over -the half-mile strip of land, the "Morfa Harlech," that now lies dry -beneath it, and lapped the base of the lofty rock on whose summit the -great Edward's remotest castle still stands defiant of the ages.[12] - - [12] That ships could reach the gate at the foot of the rock of - Harlech is undoubted. What course the water took or how much of - the Morfa was actually under water is a matter of uncertainty. - -Henry had issued orders that these sea-girt castles should be looked -to by his navy. But Henry's admirals seem to have had as little liking -for Welsh seas as the King himself had for Welsh mountains, though -happily some Bristol sailors appear to have done their best to supply -the deficiency. Glyndwr, however, was determined to have Harlech -without loss of further time. Coming there from Carnarvon he parleyed -with the garrison, and offered terms which all but seven accepted. -What became of this uncompromising minority it would be hard to say, -but at any rate Owen entered into possession and there is good reason -to suppose that he planted his family here and made his headquarters -upon the historic rock where Bran the Blessed and a long line of less -shadowy Welsh chieftains had dwelt, ages before the rearing of these -Norman towers. - - [Illustration: MACHYNLLETH. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -Later on we hear of his summoning a parliament to Harlech, but during -this year the first of these legislative assemblies that he called -together met at Machynlleth, as being unquestionably a more convenient -rendezvous for Welshmen in general. Hither came "four persons of -sufficient consequence" out of each "Cantref" (the old unit of -division in Wales), to take counsel for future action and to gather -around the throne, upon which they had now seated a crowned Prince -of their own race. One of the Welsh gentlemen, however, who attended -this historic parliament, came with very different intentions, and -this was David ap Llewelyn ap Howel, otherwise known as Davy Gam, or -"squint-eyed Davy," a landowner near Brecon and the scion of a family -distinguished both then and for long afterwards, his great-grandfather -having fought at Crecy and Poitiers. He himself was a short, -long-armed man with red hair and a cast in his eye. In youth he had -been compelled to fly from Brecon for killing a neighbour, and indeed -he seemed to have enjoyed all his life a somewhat sinister reputation -for recklessness and daring. Flying to England he was received into -the household of John of Gaunt, where he grew up side by side with -Henry of Bolingbroke and was entirely devoted to his service. Henry, -when he came into power, had restored Gam to his property and position -in Brecon, and moreover bestowed upon him Crown appointments in South -Wales. Glyndwr had a brother-in-law named Gam, which has given rise to -some confusion, but Davy was at any rate no relation to the Welsh -chieftain, though, both having been in Henry's household, it is -probable they knew each other well. - -Gam had hitherto and naturally been a staunch King's man; he now, -however, feigned conversion and attended the parliament at Machynlleth, -not to do homage to Owen, but to kill him. The almost certain death to -which he exposed himself in case of success prompts one to something -like admiration for so single-minded and fearless an avenger. But his -intentions were by some means discovered and his rash project nipped in -the bud. He was seized and doomed to the cruel fate which the nature of -his crime made inevitable. Old friends and relatives, however, were in -strength at Machynlleth and successfully interceded for his life. -Perhaps Glyndwr was induced to this act of clemency by the reflection -that imprisonment for an indefinite period, as practised by himself and -others at that time, was a worse punishment than torture and death to a -man of spirit. Whether the captive lay in the dungeons of Dolbadarn -under Snowdon, at Harlech, or in the still surviving prison house -(Cachardy Owen) at Llansantffraid-Glyndyfrdwy, we do not hear. He -probably tasted the sweets of all of them and must indeed have spent a -miserable time in those later years when Owen was himself at bay in the -mountains and more or less of a fugitive. - -But Davy was freed eventually, though only just before the final -disappearance of Glyndwr, and lived to fight at the King's side at -Agincourt together with his son-in-law Roger Vychan, where both fell -gloriously on that memorable day. He is said to have been knighted on -the field while dying and to be moreover the original of Shakespeare's -Fluellin, and to have made the memorable reply to Henry V. when -returning from a survey of the vast French hosts just before the -battle: "There are enough to kill, enough to take prisoners, and -enough to run away." - -When next Glyndwr went campaigning through Brecon he took the -opportunity of burning his would-be murderer's mansion of Cyrnwigen. A -well-known tradition relates how, while the flames were leaping high -around the devoted homestead, Owen addressed David Gam's bailiff who -was gazing disconsolately at the scene, in an _englyn_, which by some -means has found its way down to posterity and is well known in Wales. -Seeing that it is the only instance we have of so great a patron of -bards breaking out himself into verse, I venture to print it here. -There have been various translations; this is one of them: - - "Canst thou a little red man descry, - Looking around for his dwelling fair? - Tell him it under the bank doth lie, - And its brow the mark of a coal doth bear." - -No special effort was made this spring from England to break Glyndwr's -power or to relieve the castles. While some of Owen's captains were -hovering on the Marches, the chief himself, having dismissed his -parliament, moved with his principal councillors to Dolgelly. -Tradition still points out the house at Machynlleth where gathered the -first and almost the only approach to a parliament that ever met in -Wales. It stands nearly opposite the gates of Plas Machynlleth, an -unnoticeable portion of the street in fact, a long low building now in -part adapted to the needs of a private residence, and having nothing -suggestive about it but the thickness of its walls. The chief outcome -of this conference at Dolgelly of "sufficient persons" from all over -Wales, was a much more formal and serious overture to the French King -than the letters of 1402. Glyndwr had now fully donned the mantle of -royalty and wrote to the King of France as a brother and an equal, -proposing to make an offensive and defensive alliance with him. - -The ambassadors chosen for the conduct of this important business were -Griffith Yonge, doctor of laws, Owen's Chancellor, and his own -brother-in-law, John Hanmer. The instrument is in Latin, "Dated at -Dolgelly on the 10th day of May 1404 and in the fourth year of our -principality," and begins: "Owen by the grace of God, Prince of -Wales," etc. The two Welsh plenipotentiaries crossed the sea without -misadventure and were received in a most friendly manner at Paris by -the French King. His representative, the Count de la Marche, signed -the treaty upon July 14th, together with Hanmer and Yonge, at the -house of Ferdinand de Corby, Chancellor of France, several bishops and -other notabilities being present. By this instrument Glyndwr and the -French King entered into a solemn league and covenant to assist each -other against all the attacks of Henry of Lancaster (Charles had never -yet recognised him as King) and his allies. The Welshmen signed the -document on behalf of "our illustrious and most dread Lord, Owen, -Prince of Wales." The treaty was ratified on the 12th of January -following at Llanbadarn near Aberystwith. The seal which Glyndwr now -used in all his transactions represents the hero himself, with a -biforked beard, seated on a chair, holding a sceptre in his right hand -and a globe in his left, and has recently been adopted as the -corporate arms of Machynlleth. Nor should it be overlooked that Owen -sent a list of all the chief harbours and roads of Wales to Charles, -while the latter in return loaded the Welsh ambassadors with presents -for their master, including a gilded helmet, a cuirass, and sword, as -an earnest of his promised help. - - [Illustration: OWEN'S COUNCIL HOUSE, DOLGELLY. - Copyright - C. H. Young.] - -About the same time as the departure of Owen's mission to France, he -wrote another letter, which is extant. It is not of much importance, -except as an illustration of the confidence he felt at this time in -his ultimate success. It is addressed to "our dear and entirely well -beloved Henry Don," urging his co-operation, and concluding with the -remark: "Their sway is ending and victory coming to us, as from the -first, none could doubt God had so ordered." - -Among other signs of Glyndwr's increased importance this year, was the -coming over to his cause of that Tudor Trevor, Bishop of St. Asaph, -who it will be remembered had warned the King and his council against -despising Owen's peaceful appeal for justice against Grey of Ruthin, -and urgently protested against those ill-fated and misplaced sneers at -the "barfoots." - -It was Trevor's cathedral at St. Asaph, of course, and its precincts, -which Glyndwr had so ruthlessly burned in 1402. The Bishop had since -then been not only supported by grants from the English exchequer, but -had well earned them by much serious official work in the King's -service. Whether his Welsh blood warmed at the prospects of a revived -Cambrian independence or whether ambition was the keynote of his -actions, no one may know. At any rate it was not want or neglect at -the hands of the King that drove him back into the arms of Owen. The -latter gave him a cordial welcome, and it must be said for Trevor that -through good and ill he proved faithful to his new master's cause. -Militant clerics were common enough in those times. Trevor, with the -martial instincts of the great border race from which he sprang, and -whose history is written deep for centuries beside the Ceiriog and the -Dee, had been in the thick of the fight at Shrewsbury beneath the -King's banner. He now followed Glyndwr both in the council and in the -field, dying eventually in Paris, a fugitive and an exile, in the year -1410. - -All through this spring Owen's followers on the borders were making -life upon the English side intolerable. Bonfires were laid ready for -the match on every hill. The thirty towers and castles that guarded -Shropshire were helpless to stem the tide. The county was again laid -waste to the very walls of Shrewsbury and many of the population fled -to other parts of England for a livelihood. Archdeacon Kingeston at -Hereford once again takes up his pen and paints a lamentable picture: - - "The Welsh rebels in great numbers have entered Archenfield [a - division of the county] and there they have burnt houses, - killed the inhabitants, taken prisoners and ravaged the - country to the great dishonour of our King and the - unsupportable damage of the country. We have often advertised - the King that such mischief would befall us, we have also now - certain information that within the next eight days the rebels - are resolved to make an attack in the March of Wales to its - utter ruin, if speedy succour be not sent. True it is indeed - that we have no power to shelter us except that of Lord - Richard of York and his men, which is far too little to defend - us; we implore you to consider this very perilous and pitiable - case and to pray our Sovereign Lord that he will come in his - Royal person or send some person with sufficient power to - rescue us from the invasion of the said rebels. Otherwise we - shall be utterly destroyed, which God forbid; whoever comes - will as we are led to believe have to engage in battle, or - will have a very severe struggle with the rebels. And for - God's sake remember that honourable and valiant man, the Lord - Abergavenny [William Beauchamp], who is on the very point of - destruction if he be not rescued. Written in haste at - Hereford, June 10th." - -A fortnight later the dread of Owen's advance was emphasised by Prince -Henry himself, who was still, in conjunction with the Duke of York, in -charge of the Welsh wars. - -"Most dread and sovereign Lord and Father, at your high command in -your other gracious letters, I have removed with my small household to -the city of Worcester, and may it please your Royal Highness to know -that the Welsh have made a descent on Herefordshire, burning and -destroying the county with very great force, and with a supply of -provisions for fifteen days." The Prince goes on to say that the Welsh -are assembled with all their power, and to save the county of -Hereford he has sent for all sorts of considerable persons (mentioned -by name) to meet him at Worcester. In conjunction with these he tells -the King he will "do to the utmost of his little power," and then -comes the inevitable want of money and the impossibility of -maintaining troops in the field or meeting the expenses of the -garrisons. Another letter from the same hand a few days afterwards -warned the King still more urgently of the pressing danger and -declared how impossible it was to keep his troops upon the frontier -without pay or provisions. - -There is no evidence that these strong representations brought any -satisfaction to the anxious writers. The sieges of those castles not -yet taken Owen continued to prosecute with vigour, while his captains -continued to desolate the border counties. Glyndwr was much too -skilful a strategist to undertake a serious expedition into England. -The cause of Richard and Mortimer, which would have been his only -war-cry, had been shattered, so far as England was concerned, at -Shrewsbury. All Glyndwr wanted was Wales, and at present he virtually -possessed it. He felt confident now, moreover, of substantial -assistance from the French King, and when that arrived he might -perhaps take the initiative seriously against Henry on behalf of his -son-in-law's family. Nor is there any doubt but that he was greatly -indebted for the extraordinary position he had achieved to the chronic -impecuniosity of his enemy, and perhaps indeed to his own reputation -for magic art. Who can say? - -One brief and spirited campaign, however, distinguished this summer, -or more probably the late spring of 1404, for the actual date is -uncertain. It was undertaken by a strong force which Beauchamp, Earl -of Warwick, led right through the present county of Montgomery. -Glyndwr threw himself across the Earl's path at Mynydd-cwm-du ("the -black mountain hollow"): a fierce battle ensued, in which the Welsh -were defeated and were so closely pressed that Owen's banner was -captured and he himself very nearly taken. Warwick does not seem to -have followed up his advantage; on the contrary, Glyndwr, rallying his -men, followed the Earl back to the Herefordshire border whither the -usual lack of provender had sent him, and there turned the tables on -his enemy, beating him badly in a pitched battle at Craig-y-dorth. The -scene of this second encounter is on the road between Chepstow and -Monmouth, near Trelog common. - -Early in August, 1404, the Shropshire Marches were so sorely pressed, -and the English defences so worn out, that the council were compelled -to listen to the urgent appeals of the Salopians and grant the people -of that county leave to make terms with Owen on their own account and -pay him exemption money. The same privilege had also to be extended to -Edward de Charleton, Lord of Powys, who from his "Castle de la Pole" -(Welshpool) made a truce with the Welsh. It is worthy of note that the -people of Welshpool, though practically all of Welsh blood, stood by -their lord and resisted Owen throughout the whole of the struggle. For -this reason Charleton gave them a fresh charter immensely enlarging -the boundaries of the borough, which to this day occupies the unique -position of extending over something like twenty thousand acres. - -Towards the end of August, King Henry was forced once more to turn his -attention to Wales. The scandal and the danger were growing grievous. -So he held a council at Tutbury, the minutes of which are significant. -Eight bishops, eighteen abbots and priors, nineteen great lords and -barons, and ninety-six representatives of counties, we are told, -attended it. The news was here confirmed that the French had equipped -sixty vessels in the port of Harfleur and were about to fill them with -soldiers and proceed to Owen's assistance. It was decided, however, -that since the King was not at present able to raise an army -sufficiently imposing for his high estate, he should remain at Tutbury -till the meeting of Parliament in October. As campaigning against Owen -even in the summer season had sufficient horrors for the King, the -logic of deferring the expedition till November can only be explained -by sheer lack of money. At least one would have supposed so if Henry -had not burked the whole question, turned his back once more on his -lost and desolated province, and hastened to the North. - -Prince John, the King's second son, was now joined with Prince Henry -in the titular Governorship of the South Wales Marches, and the royal -brothers were voted two thousand five hundred archers and men-at-arms. -How many of these they got is another story, of which we have no -certain knowledge. For a fortnight it was all they could do to hold -their own as they pushed slowly through to the relief of Coity Castle -(now Oldcastle Bridgend), which was being bravely defended by Sir -Alexander Berkrolles. - -With the exception of the chronic pressure on the still resisting -castles, this autumn and winter was comparatively quiet in Wales, for -the excellent reason that Owen had it all his own way. Aberystwith had -fallen soon after Harlech; and those of my readers who are familiar -with the wave-washed situation of the ruins of the later Norman castle -which still mark the site of the ancient palace of Cadwallader, may -well wonder why a spot so accessible from a score of English seaports -should have been abandoned to its fate. The tower and monastery of -Llanbadarn, too, hard by, became a favourite resting-place of Owen's -at this time, and it was here he ratified this winter his treaty with -the King of France. But as his family and that of Mortimer would -appear to have made Harlech their headquarters, and as later on he -summoned his second parliament to that historic spot, it is more than -likely that the late autumn and winter months saw the old castle the -gathering-point of the bards, and the rallying-place of Owen's -faithful captains--a court, in fact, and one more adequately housed by -far than that other one at the mansion on the Dee, since reduced to a -heap of ashes. As one wanders to-day amid the grim walls of Harlech -and presses the soft turf that centuries of sun and showers and sea -mists have spread over what was once the floor of its great -banqueting hall, the scenes that it must have witnessed in this winter -of 1404 are well calculated to stir the fancy and captivate the -imagination. Death and battle have been in ancient times busy enough -around the rock of Harlech and upon the green slopes of the Ardudwy -Mountains that from high above its grey towers look out upon the sea. -From the days of Bran the Blessed, the first Christian Prince, whose -fortress, Twr Bronwen, men say, stood upon this matchless site, till -those of the fighting Maelgwyn, King of Gwynedd, when the coasts of -Wales were strewn with the victims of plague and battle, it was a -notable spot. From Colwyn ap Tangno, the fountainhead of half the -pedigrees in North-west Wales, till forty years after Glyndwr's time, -when, in the Wars of the Roses, David ap Sinion made that celebrated -defence against Lord Herbert which inspired the writing of the -stirring and immortal march, Harlech was a focus of strife, the -delight of the bard, the glory of the minstrel. Of all Welsh castles, -save the fragment of Dinas Bran,--and that is indeed saying much,--it -is the most proudly placed; and the great medieval fortress, still in -its exterior so perfect, is well worthy of its site. Amid a pile of -mountains to the north Snowdon lifts its shapely peak; far westward -into the shining sea stretches the long arm of West Carnarvon, -throwing up here and there its shadowy outstanding peaks till it fades -into the dim horizon behind which Ireland lies. As the eye travels -southward, the lofty headlands of Merioneth give way to the fainter -capes of Cardigan, and upon the verge of sight in clear weather the -wild coast of Pembroke, its rugged outline softened by distance, lies -low between sea and sky. - - [Illustration: HARLECH. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -Those to whom such things appeal will see much that is appropriate in -the gathering of Glyndwr, his bards, his warriors, his priests, his -counsellors, at Harlech during this winter which perhaps marked the -high-tide of his renown. His wife, "the best of wives," with the fair -Katherine, wife of Mortimer, was here, and a crowd of dames, we may be -well assured, whose manors were not at that time, with their husbands -in the field, the safest of abodes for lonely females. Owen's three -married daughters were not here, for the Scudamores, Monningtons, and -Crofts, whose names they bore, being Herefordshire men, were all upon -the other side. Edmund Mortimer, of course, was present, and it is -strange how a soldier of such repute and of so vigorous a stock should -have sunk his individuality so absolutely in that of his masterful -father-in-law. Glyndwr's two elder sons, now grown to man's estate, -Griffith and Meredith, and his own younger brother, Tudor, who was -soon to fall, with his brother-in-law, John Hanmer, just returned from -his French mission, complete the family group that we may be fairly -justified in picturing at Harlech, assembled round the person of their -now crowned Prince. Rhys Gethin, the victor of Pilleth and the terror -of the South Wales Marches, was probably there, and the two Tudors of -Penmynydd, whom from first to last several thousand men had followed -across the Menai from the still unmolested fields of Anglesey. Yonge -the Chancellor, too, fresh from France, Llewelyn Bifort, whom, with -the consent of the Avignon Pope, Owen had nominated to the wasted -estate and the burnt cathedral of Bangor, and Bishop Trevor of St. -Asaph, most eminent of them all, were at Harlech beyond a doubt. -Robert ap Jevan of Ystymtegid in Eivioneth was most probably there, -with Rhys Dwy, "a great master among them," who was executed in London -eight years later, and last, but by no means least, Owen's faithful -laureate, Griffith Llwyd, or "Iolo Goch," who, among all the bards -that had tuned their voices and their harps to Owen's praise and been -stirred to ecstasy by his successes, stood first and chief. - -Glyndwr had in truth no cause to complain of his chief bard, who was a -veteran in song when war came to stimulate him to patriotic frenzy, -and the stirring tones in which he sang of his Prince's deeds were -echoed by every native harp in Wales. - - "Immortal fame shall be thy meed, - Due to every glorious deed, - Which latest annals shall record, - Beloved and victorious Lord, - Grace, wisdom, valour, all are thine, - Owain Glyndowerdy divine, - Meet emblem of a two-edged sword, - Dreaded in war, in peace adored. - - "Loud fame has told thy gallant deeds, - In every word a Saxon bleeds, - Terror and flight together came, - Obedient to thy mighty name; - Death in the van with ample stride - Hew'd thee a passage deep and wide, - Stubborn as steel thy nervous chest - With more than mortal strength possessed." - -Though a metrical translation may be unsatisfactory enough to the -Celtic scholar, this rendering will not be without interest to English -readers as giving the sense, at any rate, of words addressed to -Glyndwr by the man nearest to his person. The fourteenth century was -the halcyon period of Welsh song; Dafydd ap Gwylim, the greatest of -all Welsh love-poets, was still alive in Glyndwr's youth, while Gutyn -Owen was almost a contemporary. Welsh poetry had attuned itself, since -the Edwardian conquest had brought comparative peace in Wales, to -gentler and more literary themes. The joys of agriculture and country -life, the happiness of the peasant, the song of birds, the murmur of -streams, and, above all, the gentler passions of human nature had -supplanted to a great extent the fiercer notes of martial eulogies, -the paeans of victory, and the plaintive wails over long-past but -unforgotten defeats. It is strange, too, that this flow of song should -have signalised a century when the profession of a wandering minstrel -was in Wales for the first time ostracised by law. - -But the old martial minstrelsy was not dead. The yearning of the -soldier and the man of ancient race to emulate the deeds or the -supposed deeds of his predecessors, and to be the subject after death -of bardic eulogy in hall or castle, was still strong. It helped many a -warrior to meet with cheerfulness a bloody death, or with the memory -of heroic deeds performed to sink with resignation at the hands of -disease or old age into the cold grave. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER VIII - -WELSH REVERSES - -1405 - - -Glyndwr was now, by the lowest estimate, in his forty-sixth year. For -that period, when manhood began early, and old age, if it came at all, -came quickly, he certainly carried his years with remarkable -lightness. Who can say, however, with what feelings he surveyed his -handiwork? From end to end, with almost the sole exception of Anglesey -and Carnarvonshire and western Pembroke, Wales lay desolate and -bleeding. Owen's hands were red, not only with the blood of Saxons, -but with that of old friends and even kinsmen. Red ravage had marked -his steps, and there were few parts of the country that he had not at -some time or other crossed and recrossed in his desolating marches. -Carnarvonshire and western Merioneth and the Plinlimmon Mountains were -full of booty, stock, and valuables brought from Norman-Welsh -lordships and from beyond the English border. The admirers of Glyndwr -would fain believe, and there is something to be said for the theory, -that passion and revenge had no part in the havoc which the Welsh hero -spread throughout his native land, but that it was due to a deliberate -scheme of campaign by which the country was to be made not only too -hot, but too bare, to hold the Saxon. - -It would be waste of words to speculate on motives that can never be -divulged and schemes that have left no witnesses. We have at any rate -to face tradition, which counts for much. And this places Glyndwr in -the eyes of most Welshmen, with all his ravagings and burnings, on a -pedestal above the greatest and most patriotic of their older -Princes--above Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, above the last Llewelyn, the son -of Gryffydd, above Owen Gwynedd. The cool-headed student may be much -less enthusiastic. But he will also call to mind the ethics of war in -those days, and then perhaps remember that even in modern conflicts, -whose memories stand out with conspicuous glory, there has been no -very great improvement on the methods of Glyndwr. The Carolinian who -preferred King George to Washington and Congress--and King George -after all was at least no usurper--suffered neither more nor less than -the Welshmen of Glamorgan or Carmarthen or Merioneth who from prudence -or inclination preferred Bolingbroke to Glyndwr. Wars of this type -have ever been ferocious. The Anglo-Americans of the eighteenth -century were a civilised and peaceful people; Glyndwr lived at a time -when war was a trade, ravage its handmaid, and human life of but small -account. - -It is quite possible to overestimate the effect upon a country in -those days of even the most merciless treatment. The torch was not the -instrument of irreparable loss that it would have been if applied with -equal freedom only a hundred and fifty years later. Outside the feudal -castles and the great ecclesiastical foundations, there were few -permanent structures of much value either in England or Wales. It was -late in the century with which we are dealing before the manor-house -and grange of the yeoman or country gentleman became buildings of the -style with which careless fancy is apt to associate their names. It is -salutary sometimes to leave the ordinary paths of history and refresh -one's mind with the domestic realities of olden days as they are shown -to us by writers who have given their attention to such humble but -helpful details. The ordinary English manor-house of Glyndwr's time -was a plain wooden building,[13] with an escape-hole in the thatched -roof for the smoke, a floor covered with rushes, and filthy from lack -of change, with bare boards laid on rude supports doing duty as -tables. A little tapestry sometimes relieved the crudeness of the bare -interior where such a crowd of human beings often gathered together. -Here and there an important person built for himself a compromise -between a manor and a castle, Glyndwr himself being an instance to the -point. The average manor-houses of Wales, the abodes of the native -gentry, were certainly no more, probably less, luxurious, and not -often--though some were even then--built of stone. As for the -peasantry, their dwellings in either the England or Wales of that time -were mere huts of mud, wood, or wattle, and were often, no doubt, not -worth the trouble of destroying. - - [13] Mr. Denton, in his _England of the Fifteenth Century_, allows - no more than four, and usually only three rooms, to an average - manor-house: one for eating in, with a second, and perhaps a - third, for sleeping; a fire in the centre of the first. - -The Welsh of those days, unlike the English, did not group themselves -in villages. Each man not an actual servant, whether he were gentleman -or small yeoman, lived apart upon his property or holding. If we -eliminate the present towns, the country must have been in most parts -almost as thickly populated as it is now. A valuable survival, known -as the _Record of Carnarvon_, a sort of local doomsday book, dating -from the thirteenth century, may be seen to-day, and it gives very -detailed information as to the persons, manors, and freeholds of that -country, and some idea of how well peopled for the times was even the -wildest part of wild Wales. Prince Henry, it will be remembered, -speaks of the Vale of Edeyrnion as a fine and populous country. -Giraldus Cambrensis, in his graphic account of his tour with -Archbishop Baldwin in the twelfth century, gives the same impression. -Still the destruction of such buildings as the mass of its people -lived in, even if they were destroyed, was of no vital consequence. -The loss of a year's crop was not irreparable, particularly in a -country where sheep and cattle, which could often be driven away, were -the chief assets of rural life. Glyndwr, to be sure, did what few -other makers of war, even in Wales, had done, for he destroyed some -of the chief ecclesiastical buildings. He burnt, moreover, several of -the small towns and dismantled many castles. "Deflower'd by Glindor" -is a remark frequently in the mouth of old Leland as he went on his -immortal survey not much more than a hundred years later. - -The term "rebel," as applied to Glyndwr and those Welshmen who -followed him, is more convenient than logical. However bad a king -Richard may have been, the Welsh had never wavered in their allegiance -to him. However excellent a monarch Henry might have made if he had -been given the chance, he was at least an usurper, and a breaker of -his word. London and parts of England had welcomed him to the throne. -The Percys and innumerable other Englishmen who then and at various -other times conspired against him were rebels beyond a doubt. But the -Welsh had never even been consulted in the _coup d'etat_ by which he -seized the crown. They had never recognised him as king nor sworn -allegiance. To them he was simply an usurper and the almost certain -assassin of their late King. If Richard were alive, then Henry could -not be their lawful sovereign. If, on the other hand, he had been done -to death, which either directly or indirectly he surely had been, then -the boy Earl of March, as all the world knew, should be on the throne. -Henry of Monmouth, too, being the son of an usurper, could not -possibly be Prince of Wales. The place was vacant, and the opportunity -for electing one of their own race and blood was too good to be -missed. Whatever historians may choose to call Glyndwr, he was -logically no rebel in a period when allegiance was almost wholly a -personal matter. His enemies, whom he hunted out of Wales or pent up -in their castles, were, on the other hand, from his point of view, -rebels and traitors in recognising the authority and protection of an -usurper. The Welsh people owed no allegiance to the English, but to -the King of England and Wales, to whom for the protection of the isle -of Britain, as the old tradition still ran, they paid a sum of L60,000 -a year. In their eyes, as in those of many persons in England and of -most in Europe, Henry was Henry of Lancaster, not King of England. The -Welsh tribute, it is hardly necessary to say, had dwindled, since the -rising of Glyndwr, to insignificant proportions, while the war -expenses it entailed, together with this loss of income, was one of -the chief causes of that impecuniosity which prevented Henry from ever -really showing of what stuff as a ruler he was made. - -The chief incident of the early part of the year 1405 was a nearly -successful plot to carry off from the King's keeping the young Earl of -March, the rightful heir to the crown, and his brother. Being nephews -of Sir Edmund Mortimer, the attempt to bring them to Glyndwr's -headquarters in Wales and to the protection of their uncle was a -natural one. The King, who was spending Christmas at Eltham, had left -the boys behind him at Windsor, under the charge of Hugh de Waterton, -Constable of the Castle. Their domestic guardian was the widow of the -Lord Despencer and sister of the Duke of York, who at this time, it -will be remembered, was in joint charge with Prince Henry of Welsh -affairs. The Despencers had been Norman-Welsh barons for some -generations, their interests at this time lying for the most part in -what is now Monmouthshire, and though ostensibly hostile, they had old -ties of blood and propinquity with the house of Mortimer. This -Christmas witnessed one of the many plots against the King's life, but -with these we have nothing to do, except in so far that the moment was -regarded as being a favourable one for making an effort to get hold of -the two royal boys. How unstable were Henry's friends for the most -part may be gathered from the fact that the Duke of York, his trusted -representative in Wales, was himself privy to the scheme. - -To Lady Despencer was entrusted the chief part in this dangerous work. -As sister to the Duke of York, she was in the King's eyes above all -suspicion. When the latter had left Windsor for Eltham she caused a -locksmith secretly to make false keys, and by means of these, with the -connivance of some servants, she contrived to get her two wards safely -out of the castle precincts, taking with her at the same time her own -son. Horses and attendants were ready in waiting, and the whole party -pushed for the West with all the expedition of which they were -capable. They had passed through Berkshire before the King heard the -news of their escape. When it reached him, however, no time was lost. -Sending out swift messengers upon the track of the fugitives he -himself at once hastened to Windsor. The pursuers were just in time -and overtook the illustrious fugitives in Gloucestershire within a -day's ride of the security which Mortimer and Glyndwr's people were -waiting to afford them in Wales. A lively brush, not without slaughter -on both sides, signalised the meeting, but the lady and the boys were -captured and conveyed back to London. Lady Despencer then revealed the -plot to murder the King, denouncing her brother, the Duke of York, as -a leading conspirator. This was not a sisterly action, and the Duke -loudly denied all knowledge of such dastardly intentions. At this the -lady, whose private reputation was not all that it should have been, -waxed indignant and clamorously demanded a champion to maintain her -declaration with lance and sword. Whereupon a gentleman named William -Maidstone flung down his glove to the Duke in the very presence of the -King. The challenge was accepted, but, the Duke being apparently of -corpulent build and the challenger both at a physical advantage and of -no distinction, the romantic combat never took place. Perhaps the King -wished to get the Duke into his hands without loss of time, for he -seized him and sent him to the Tower instead of into the lists. He was -soon, however, as an illustration of how forgiving Henry could at -times be, pardoned and reinstated to the full in all his honours. His -sister, however, whose tenants were nearly all supporters of Glyndwr, -was stripped of her property. But they, too, were eventually restored, -and their feudal superior, who made no little stir in her time, lies -buried amid the ruins of the old abbey at Reading. The unfortunate -locksmith who had made the keys had both his hands chopped off. - - [Illustration: CAERPHILLY CASTLE. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -The castles of Caerleon, Caerphilly, Newport, and Usk had fallen, -and in the manuscripts collected by Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams), -who flourished in the last century, an apparently contemporaneous -though anonymous writer, has somewhat to say about Glyndwr in Morganwg -or Glamorgan. He tells how Owen came to Cardiff, "destroyed it and won -the castle," demolishing at the same time the castles of Penllan, -Llandochau, Flemington, Dunraven of the Butlers, Tal-y-fan, -Llanblethian, Llangeinor, Malefant, and Penmark, and burning many -villages the men of which would not join him. "The country people -collected round him with one accord and demolished houses and castles -innumerable, laid waste and quite fenceless the lands, and gave them -in common to all." The manuscript goes on to say how Glyndwr "took -away from the rich and powerful and distributed the plunder among the -weak and poor." Many of the higher orders of chieftains had to fly to -England under the protection and support of the King. A bloody battle -took place at Bryn Owen (Stallingdown) near Cowbridge, between Glyndwr -and the King's men. The latter were put to flight after eighteen -hours' hard fighting, "during which the blood was up to the horses' -fetlocks at Pant-y-wenol, that separates both ends of the mountain." -Here beyond a doubt was a fulfilment of one of the dread portents that -attended Owen's birth, when the horses, it will be remembered, in his -father's stable were found standing with the blood running over their -feet. There is no date to this anonymous but evidently sincere and -suggestive narrative, or rather the date assigned to the event is -evidently an error. The matters here spoken of belong to 1403, or -1404, in all probability, though they can only be inserted -parenthetically as one of those scraps of local Welsh testimony from -the period itself that have an interest of their own. - -The year 1405 opened with reports that the renowned Rhys Gethin was to -cross the English border with a large force. Prince Henry, now -eighteen years of age, with an experience of war under difficulties -and of carking cares of state such as has fallen to the lot of few men -so young, prepared to make ready for him. Short of men and money, the -young soldier had long begun to show of what mettle he was made and to -give evidence of the ability that was eventually to do more to arrest -the resistance of Glyndwr than all the combined efforts of Lord -Marchers and their royal master. - -Rumour on this occasion proved true, for Rhys, passing through -Glamorgan with eight thousand men and skirting Abergavenny, attacked -the border town of Grosmont, in the valley of the Monnow, and burnt it -to the ground. Grosmont had hitherto been a flourishing place, but it -never recovered from the blow then dealt it. In Camden's time the -remains of streets and causeways could be traced beneath the turf of -the surrounding fields in evidence of its vanished glories. To-day it -is a picturesque and peaceful village crowning a high ridge, from -which a glorious prospect can be enjoyed of the vale of the Monnow -with the sparkling river hurrying downwards between lofty hills to -meet the Wye. A simple street, and that a short one, is all that -remains, while an old town hall speaks eloquently of its departed -importance. A cruciform church of great age with an octagonal tower -and spire springing from the centre lends force to the tradition of -Grosmont's former glories. Above all, the walls of the Norman castle, -whence issued Prince Henry's gallant band, still stand hard by the -village, their reddish stonework half hidden amid a mass of ivy and -the foliage of embowering trees; the moat half full of the leaves of -many autumns, the ramparts green with the turf of ages; a quiet enough -spot now but for the song of birds and the tumble of the river upon -its rocks three hundred feet below. It was here that Glyndwr's forces -met with their first serious disaster upon the border, for the Prince, -together with Gilbert Talbot and Sir Edward Newport, sallying out of -the castle, attacked Rhys Gethin and inflicted upon the Welsh a severe -and bloody defeat, completely routing them with a loss of eight -hundred men left dead upon the field. It is especially stated in some -accounts that no quarter was given, and only one prisoner taken alive -and spared for ransom, of whom Prince Henry, in a letter to his father -which is worth transcribing, speaks as "a great chieftain." - - "My most redoubted and most Sovereign Lord and father, I - sincerely pray that God will graciously show His miraculous - aid towards you in all places, praised be He in all His works, - for on Wednesday the eleventh of this present month of March, - your rebels of the parts of Glamorgan, Morgannok, Usk, - Netherwent, and Overwent, assembled to the number of eight - thousand men, according to their own account, and they went - on the same Wednesday, in the morning, and burnt a part of - your town of Grossmont within your Lordship of Monmouth and - Jennoia [_sic_]. Presently went out my well beloved cousin the - Lord Talbot and the small body of my household, and with them - joined your faithful and valiant knights William Newport and - John Greindor, the which formed but a small power in the - whole; but true it is indeed that victory is not in the - multitude of people, and this was well proved there, but in - the power of God, and there by the aid of the blessed Trinity, - your people gained the field, and vanquished all the said - rebels, and slew of them by fair account in field, by the time - of their return from the pursuit, some say eight hundred, - others a thousand, being questioned upon pain of death; - nevertheless whether it were one or the other I will not - contend, and to inform you fully of all that has been done, I - send you a person worthy of credit therein, my faithful - servant the bearer of this letter, who was at the engagement - and performed his duty well, as he has always done. And such - amends has God ordained you for the burning of your houses in - your aforesaid town, and of prisoners were none taken except - one, a great chief among them, whom I would have sent to you - but he cannot yet ride at ease. - - "Written at Hereford the said Wednesday at night. - - "Your most humble and obedient son, - - "Henry." - -Glyndwr, as soon as he heard of the disaster on the Monnow, pushed up -fresh forces under his brother Tudor to meet the fugitives from -Grosmont, with a view to wipe out, if possible, that crushing defeat. -What strength they got, if any, from Rhys Gethin's scattered army -there is no evidence, but in less than a week they encountered the -Prince himself advancing into Wales with a considerable force, and at -Mynydd-y-Pwll-Melyn, in Brecon, received a defeat more calamitous than -even that of Grosmont. Fifteen hundred of the Welsh were killed or -taken prisoners. Among the slain was Owen's brother Tudor himself; and -so like the chief was he in face and form that for some time there was -much rejoicing, and the news was bruited about that the dreaded -Glyndwr was in truth dead. The spirits of the English were sadly -damped when the absence of a wart under the left eye, a distinguishing -mark of Glyndwr, proclaimed that their joy was premature, and that it -was the dead face of his younger brother on which they were gazing. -Among the prisoners, however, was his son Gryffydd, who was sent by -the Prince to London and confined in the Tower, statements of money -allowed for his maintenance there appearing from time to time on the -Rolls. Gryffydd's (Griffin he is there called) fellow-prisoner is Owen -ap Gryffydd, the son probably of the valiant Cardiganshire gentleman -whom Henry quartered in 1402. A year later the young King of Scotland, -whose life was safer there, no doubt, than in his own country, was the -companion of Glyndwr's son. The Iolo manuscript before mentioned tells -us: - - "In 1405 a bloody battle attended with great slaughter that in - severity was scarcely ever exceeded in Wales took place on - Pwll Melin; Gryffyth ap Owen and his men were taken and many - of them imprisoned, but many were put to death when captured, - whereupon all Glamorgan turned Saxon except a small number who - followed their lord to North Wales." - -These two severe defeats were a great blow to Owen's prestige. They -caused numbers of his adherents in South Wales to fall away and to -seek that pardon which the King, to do him justice, was at all times -very free in extending to Welshmen. Indeed, it would almost seem as if -he himself secretly recognised the fact that they had much justice on -their side and were rebels rather in name than in actual fact. - -About the time of the second of these two victories over the Welsh, -the King, encouraged no doubt by such successes, began making great -preparations for a personal expedition against Glyndwr. His activity -in other parts, for the North was always simmering, had been -prodigious. He now arrived at Hereford early in May, full of -determination to support in person the zeal so lately aroused in his -hard-worked constables and lieutenants, and once and for all to -suppress the accursed magician who for five years had so entirely got -the better of him. - -But Glyndwr previous to these defeats had sent emissaries to the -North. Three of his immediate councillors were in Northumberland in -secret conclave with its crafty and ill-advised Earl. The King, it -will be remembered, had not only forgiven Percy but had restored to -him all his confiscated estates. That he was prepared again to risk -the substance for the shadow (to say nothing of committing an act of -ingratitude that even for those days was indecent) is conclusive -evidence that his dead son, Hotspur, was not the evil genius his -father had with poor spirit represented him to be when craving mercy -from the King. Glyndwr, however, had nothing to do with the old Earl's -conscience when for the second time he seemed anxious for an alliance. -Bishop Trevor, with Bifort, Glyndwr's Bishop of Bangor, and David -Daron, Dean of Bangor, were now all in the North intriguing with -Northumberland. In the early days of the Welsh rising Glyndwr seemed -to have some personal and even sentimental leaning towards the Percys. -There was nothing of that, however, in his present attitude, which was -purely a business one, seeing that the French, as he thought, and -rightly so, were on the point of coming to his assistance, and the -North about to rise in arms against Henry. Even the loss of men and of -his own prestige, entailed by the defeats of Grosmont and Pwll-Melyn -and the falling away of Glamorgan, might be much more than -counterbalanced. The first mutterings of the outbreak came from York, -but they were loud enough to pull the King up at Hereford and start -him at full speed for Yorkshire. Once more his sorely tried servants -in Wales had to do as best they could without him, though some -compensation in the way of men and supplies was sent to their relief. -It is not within my province to follow Henry's operations this summer -in the North, but it is necessary to our narrative to state that Percy -escaped from York only just in time, having refused the really -magnanimous conditions of pardon that the King sent on to him. He -fled to Scotland, taking with him his fellow-conspirator, Earl -Bardolph, and Glyndwr's three emissaries, Trevor, Bifort, and David -Daron. Another Welshman of Owen's party, however, who has not been -hitherto mentioned, Sir John Griffith, was caught at York and -executed. Many persons besides Percy were implicated in the plot, -Archbishop Scrope for one, whose execution, with many accompanying -indignities, sent a thrill of horror throughout Britain and Europe; -Judge Gascoine's courageous refusal to sentence the prelate being, of -course, one of the familiar incidents of the reign. For the second -time the Percy estates were confiscated, while the suppression of the -revolt and the punishment of the rebels kept the King lingering for a -long time in the North. At the end of July he received the serious -news that the French had landed in South Wales, and, hurrying -southward, reached Worcester about the 10th of August, to find Glyndwr -with some ten thousand Welshmen and nearly half as many French within -nine miles of that city. - -We must now return to Wales and to the earlier part of the summer, -that we may learn how this transformation came about within so short a -time. After Glyndwr's two defeats in March, and the subsequent panic -among the men of Glamorgan and no doubt also among those of Gwent and -parts of Brycheiniog, the chieftain himself with a following of tried -and still trusty men went to North Wales. Welsh historians, following -one another, paint most dismal pictures of Owen this summer, -representing him as a solitary wanderer, travelling incognito about -the country, sometimes alone, sometimes with a handful of faithful -followers, now lurking in friends' houses, now hiding in mountain -caverns, but always dogged by relentless foes. All these things he did -in after years with sufficient tenacity to satisfy the most -enthusiastic lover of romance. That his condition can have come to -such a pass in the summer of 1405 is too manifestly absurd to be worth -discussion. He had received, it is true, a blow severe enough to -discourage the localities near which it happened, and probably to -frighten a good many of his friends in other parts. It is possible, -too, some may have sued secretly for pardon. But when we consider that -in March all Wales except certain castles was faithful, and that his -troops were attacking the English border when repulsed; that in May -the King and his lieutenants were only preparing to invade Wales; that -no operations of moment were so far as we know executed during the -early summer against the Welsh; and finally that in July Glyndwr met -the French at Tenby with ten thousand men behind him, it is quite -incredible that 1405 can have been the season in which he spent months -as an outcast and a wanderer. We may, I think, take it as certain that -Glyndwr's star had not yet sensibly declined, and that what he had -recently lost might well be considered as more than cancelled by the -appearance in Milford Bay of 140 French ships full of soldiers. - -While the coming of the French was still an uncertainty, it is -probable that there was considerable depression even among Owen's -immediate followers. But neither he nor they were cherishing it in -caves and solitudes. On the contrary, another parliament, similarly -constituted to the former one at Machynlleth, was summoned to Harlech. -Of the result of its deliberations we know nothing, but a letter of -the period suggests that Glyndwr was not wholly without thought of -making terms in case of the non-arrival of the French. At the same -time this is not quite in keeping with the stubborn resistance that in -after years, when all hope had fled, he maintained with such heroic -fortitude. Two of the county representatives, at any rate, who came to -Harlech on this occasion were trimmers or worse. David Whitmore and -Ievan ap Meredydd were supposed to represent his interests in Flint, -but we are told that, before departing for the West, they held private -communication with Sir John Stanley, who was in charge of the -important castle of Hope for the King. To be brief, they went as spies -rather than as supporters, and with the intention of keeping the -English informed of what took place. But it was now already summer and -while this season was still at its height, the event which Glyndwr was -hoping and looking for took place. - -The French had made many attempts in the preceding year to reach -Wales; a few, as we know, touched the coast, and lent some slight -assistance at Carnarvon and elsewhere. Now, however, a more successful -effort and upon an infinitely larger scale was made, and 140 ships -found their way from Brest to Milford without any mishap save the loss -of their horses from lack of fresh water. The number of troops -carried by this fleet is variously estimated at from about 3000 to -12,000 men. Madame De Lussan, the French historian of the period, is -very definite so far as she goes, for without mentioning the grand -total she states that there were among them 800 men-at-arms, 600 -crossbows, and 1200 foot-soldiers, all picked troops. But then, again, -the French "man-at-arms" of the period included a squire, a page, and -three archers, so that the entire French force probably numbered from -4000 to 5000 men. The command was nominally in the hands of Jean de -Rieux, Marshal of France, but the Sire de Hugueville was the leading -spirit, not only in the inception but also in the conduct of the -enterprise. He had actually sold to the Church his large estate of -Agencourt near Montdidier, and devoted the proceeds to the adventure -which he had so much at heart. There seems at any rate to have been no -stint of money in the undertaking, for it is particularly noted what -bravery of apparel and fine trappings distinguished this French army -when it landed at Milford Haven. The fleet left Brest on July 22nd and -arrived early in August in excellent condition, with the exception, as -I have said, of the horses, which had all been thrown overboard. -Glyndwr in the meantime had heard that the French were on the sea, -and, moving down into Pembrokeshire with 10,000 men, he joined forces -with them almost immediately upon their landing. - -There was no time to be lost and the united armies turned first to -Haverford-west, an Anglo-Flemish centre of some importance. The town -was soon taken and burnt, but the great Norman castle proved -altogether too hard a task even for so large a force. So, falling -back, Glyndwr and his French allies marched to Tenby, laying waste the -Flemish settlements, though they had to look helplessly on while an -English fleet attacked the French ships and destroyed fifteen of them. -Thence under Glyndwr's guidance the army moved on to Carmarthen, which -surrendered without much resistance. Glamorgan, it will be remembered, -had fallen away from its allegiance to the Welsh cause, so Glyndwr -took it on his route towards England and gave the backsliders of that -unfortunate county some experience of his relentless methods. Passing -on thence through Herefordshire in a fashion of which we know nothing -but may readily guess, the allied forces entered Worcestershire and -arrived within nine miles of the capital of that county just as King -Henry reached it. - -As early as the beginning of July, when the King first heard of the -intended French invasion, he had issued proclamation to the sheriffs -of several counties to be in readiness with their forces, and it was -these that must now have been his chief support at Worcester. On his -way south he had issued another summons to the forces of Herefordshire -and the lower counties to muster at the city of Hereford. It was now -about the middle of August, and without more delay he marched his army -out from Worcester to meet the formidable combination that had -penetrated so far into his kingdom. - -The spot where Glyndwr and Hugueville encamped their forces was an -old British fort on the summit of Woodbury hill and is still known as -Owen's camp. Pennant visited it and made careful notes and -observations. It covers, he says, about twenty-seven acres and is -surrounded by a single foss. The hill itself is lofty and of an oblong -form. One end is connected with the Abberly hills, which, with this -one of Woodbury, form a crescent, the hollow between constituting an -ideal arena for a battle-ground. - -When the King arrived he proceeded to take up his position on the -northern ridge, and the two armies lay for eight days, both so -admirably placed that each feared to give advantage to the other by -moving out and risking so great a stake in the gage of battle. -Skirmishing, however, went on daily in the valley below. The brave -spirits of either army descended into the arena and performed -individual deeds of arms between and in sight of both camps. "They had -a fine slope," says Pennant, "to run down, the Welsh having a hollowed -way as if formed especially for the purpose." - -Some four or five hundred men in all fell during this week of -desultory skirmishing, including some French knights of note. One -might well have looked, at this crisis, for some decisive and fierce -fight like that of Shrewsbury, which should live in history. Never had -Glyndwr penetrated so far into Saxon territory; never before had ten -thousand Welshmen threatened Worcester as invaders; never since -England had become a united country had a hostile French army sat -down in its very heart as this one was now doing. - -But the King at any rate showed his wisdom in not venturing on a -battle. He had ample provisions behind him and was gathering strength. -Glyndwr and Hugueville, on the other hand, had wasted the country on -their route, and they were running short of food. Yet even if Glyndwr -had struck at once and gained a victory, it is quite certain that with -his friends in the North already crushed he would not have been able -with what was left of his fifteen thousand or so Welsh and French, to -affect in any way the fortunes of England by merely capturing -Worcester, and would have himself been in imminent danger. Moreover, -as the King clung to the top of the hill and had perhaps nearly as -many men with him as the enemy, the risk attending an attack would -have been still greater. The Franco-Welsh army, too, had a good deal -of booty among them, which to most of the individuals composing it was -probably a leading item for consideration. - -When his enemies struck their camp and commenced their backward march -to Wales, the King essayed to follow them, and found it no easy task -in a region already twice traversed by a hungry and hostile army. He -took some provisions with him, but after eighteen waggon-loads of -these had been captured by Glyndwr's hungry soldiers he gave up his -barren attempts to harass their rapid march. Hall's account of this -campaign does not tally with the account of the invaders, as is -perhaps natural, and he probably drew to some extent on his -imagination when he described Henry's pursuit in such curiously -quaint language: - - "From hills to dales," he writes, "from dales to woodes, from - woodes to marshes, and yet he could never have them at an - advantage. A worlde it was to see his quotidian removings, his - busy and painful wanderings, his troublesome and uncertayne - abiding, his continual mocian, his daily peregrenacion in the - desert fells and craggy mountains of that barrenne infertile - and depopulate country." - -But the Franco-Welsh army was soon deep in the heart of Wales, and -Henry, having given up the pursuit in much more summary fashion than -Hall would have us believe in the face of dates, was concentrating his -forces at Hereford. Prince Henry had already done something to harass -the march of the Welsh through Monmouth. Sir John Grendor was -negotiating with Owen's supporters in the valley of the Usk. Sir John -Berkrolles still held the great castle of Coity with the utmost -difficulty, and the Bristol captains who had enabled Harlech to hold -out so long were now ordered down the Bristol channel with supplies -for the still beleaguered garrisons of South Wales. - -On September 10th Henry with a large force commenced his fifth -invasion of Wales. The reader, wearied no doubt by the chronicle of -these futile endeavours, might now well look for some tangible result, -some crushing blow. There is nothing, however, but the old, old story -to tell. The King entered Glamorgan and succeeded in relieving the -single castle of Coity; he then turned tail, and the Welsh at once, as -in every case but one, when there was no need for it, sprang upon his -back. Besides his spears and arrows Glyndwr once more worked with his -magic wand. The heavens descended and the floods came and soaked and -buffeted the hapless monarch and his still more wretched and -ill-provisioned troops. Every river ran bank-high and every brook was -in flood; and the clumsy carts that carried the commissariat were -captured by Glyndwr's men or whirled away in the rapids. The old story -of 1402 was repeated in the autumn of 1405. The royal army on their -return had to cross the valley of the Rhondda, where the national -cause, though more than once suppressed, was always vigorous and -responded to its famous war-cry, "Cadwgan, whet thy battle-axe." This -valley runs from the westward into the Taff at Pontypridd and is now -astir with the hum of grimy industry and bright with the flare of -forges. It was then a hive of fighting stock-farmers fired with a -great enthusiasm for Glyndwr. - - "There was a certain Cadwgan," says the old Iolo manuscript - already quoted, "who was a leader among the men of the valley - and a doughty henchman of Glyndwr, and when it became - necessary for him to call the people to battle he used to - march up and down the valley whetting his axe. So when Owen - came to Glyn Rhondda he would say, 'Cadwgan, whet thy - battle-axe,' and the moment he was heard to do so all living - persons collected about him in military array and from that - day to this the battle shout of Glyn Rhondda has been - 'Cadwgan, whet thy battle-axe.'" - -By October 1st the King was back at Worcester. It would be of little -profit to relate the various orders he gave for resisting and -pacifying the Welsh, nor yet to give the names of the various Lord -Marchers whom he ordered to proceed upon expeditions with small -forces, where he himself had failed with large ones. One is not -surprised to find that Owen and his French allies had Wales for the -most part to themselves and were unmolested during the winter. The -greater part of the French, however, returned home again before -Christmas, some seventeen hundred remaining, for whom Glyndwr found -comfortable quarters. He seems to have been greatly disappointed at -the departure of the others, as well as at the conduct of those who -remained. The alliance, indeed, proved unsatisfactory to both parties. -The French individually counted on booty as their reward, whereas they -found for the most part a plundered and ravaged country. It is -possible, too, there may have been some racial friction between the -Welsh and their French allies. At any rate the latter, as one of their -old chroniclers remarks, did not do much bragging when they got home -to Brittany, nor did those who remained in Wales conduct themselves by -any means to the satisfaction of Glyndwr, but were altogether too much -given up to thoughts of plundering their friends. Upon the whole their -motives were too obvious and the prospect of further assistance from -them not very cheering. - -Western Pembroke in the meantime (Little England beyond Wales), -finding itself cut off from all assistance, in spite of the girdle of -splendid castles by which it was protected, began to find Glyndwr at -last too much for it. The earldom was in abeyance and Sir Francis -A'Court was governor of the county and known as Lord of Pembroke. He -called together the representatives of the district, who solemnly -agreed to pay Glyndwr the sum of L200 for a truce to last until the -following May. So Pembroke, having humbled itself and in so doing -having humbled England, which had thus failed it in its hour of need, -had peace. And Glyndwr, still supreme, but not without some cause for -depression, returned to Harlech to take counsel with his friends and -prepare for a year that promised to be exceptionally fruitful of good -or ill. - -[Decoration] - - [Illustration: MANORBIER CASTLE. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER IX - -THE TRIPARTITE INDENTURE - -1406 - - -During the lull of this winter of 1405-6 messengers were going -backwards and forwards between Harlech and Scotland. - -The chief event of the early part of the new year was the signing of -that Tripartite Indenture which I have already spoken of as being so -often attributed to the period before the battle of Shrewsbury. Pity, -for the sake of dramatic effect, that it was not, and as Shakespeare -painted it! Hotspur was then alive and the power of the Percys at its -height, while Mortimer had not tarnished the splendour of his house -and dimmed such measure of reputation as he himself enjoyed, by -sinking his individuality in that of his wife's strenuous father. -Glyndwr alone was greater than he had then been, though the zenith of -his fortunes had been reached and he was soon to commence that long, -hopeless struggle against fate and overwhelming odds that has caused -men to forget the ravager in the fortitude of the hero. - -Northumberland had outworn, as we have seen, the King's marvellous -forbearance, and was now a fugitive in Scotland with Bardolph, whose -estates, like his own, had been confiscated, and whose person, like -Northumberland's, was urgently wanted by Henry. The old Earl had lost -his nerve and had taken alarm at certain indications on the part of -the Scots that they would not object to hand him over to Henry in -exchange for the doughty Lord Douglas who had been held in honourable -captivity since the battle of Shrewsbury. Fearing this he and Bardolph -took ship from the western coast for France. But either by prior -agreement with Glyndwr or on their own initiative they rounded the -stormy capes of Lleyn and, turning their ships' prows shorewards, -landed in the sandy and sequestered cove of Aberdaron. - -Aberdaron is to this day the Ultima Thule of Wales. It was then a -remote spot indeed, though in times long gone by, when pilgrims crept -in thousands from shrine to shrine along the coasts of Lleyn to the -great abbey, "The Rome of the Welsh," on Bardsey Island, it had been -famous enough. It was not alone its remoteness that recommended this -lonely outpost, flung out so far into the Irish Sea, to the two -fugitives and irrepressible conspirators. David Daron, Dean of Bangor, -a friend of Glyndwr, had been with them in the North as one of his -commissioners and seems to have remained longer than his colleagues -with Percy. At any rate he was Lord of the Manor of Aberdaron and had -a house there to which he welcomed his two English friends. The object -of the latter was not merely to fly to France but to stir up its King -to renewed efforts against Henry. Glyndwr, too, as we shall see, had -been sending messengers to France, and the impending meeting at -Aberdaron might be fruitful of great results. - -It is an easy run by sea of twenty miles or so from Harlech to the -farther capes of Lleyn where the romantic island of Bardsey, -sanctified by the bones of its twenty thousand saints, lifts its head -to an imposing height above the waves. To Aberdaron, just short of the -farthest point of the mainland, then came Glyndwr, bringing with him -Mortimer and no doubt others of his court. It was on February 28, -1406, that the meeting took place when the somewhat notable _Indenture -of Agreement_ was signed by the three contracting parties. The date of -this proceeding has been by no means undisputed, but of all moments -this particular one seems the most likely and has the sanction of the -most recent and exhaustive historians of the period. - -The bards had been prolific and reminiscent during this quiet winter, -and there seemed special call as well as scope for their songs and -forecasts. The ancient prophecies of Merlin that were never allowed to -slumber, regarding the future of Britain and the Welsh race, were now -heard as loudly as they had been before the battle of Shrewsbury, -interpreted in various ways in uncouth and strange metaphor. Henry was -the "mouldwharp cursed of God's own mouth." A dragon would come from -the north and with him a wolf from the west, whose tails would be tied -together. Fearful things would happen upon the banks of the Thames and -its channel would be choked with corpses. The rivers of England would -run with blood. The "mouldwharp" would then be hunted out of the -country by the dragon, the lion, and the wolf, or, in other words, by -Glyndwr, Percy, and Mortimer. He would then be drowned and his kingdom -divided between his three triumphant foes. - -Who framed the Indenture is not known; perhaps Glyndwr himself, since -he had been a barrister in his youth and was certainly a ready penman. -The chronicler tells us that the contracting parties swore fidelity to -each other upon the gospels before putting their names to the -articles, and then proceeds to give what purports to be the full text -of the latter in Latin, of which the following is a translation. - - "This year the Earl of Northumberland made a league and - covenant and friendship with Owyn Glyndwr and Edmund Mortimer, - son of the late Earl of March, in certain articles of the form - and tenor following: In the first place that these Lords, - Owyn, the Earl, and Edmund shall henceforth be mutually - joined, confederate, united and bound by the bond of a true - league and true friendship and sure and good union. Again that - every one of these Lords shall will and pursue, and also - procure, the honour and welfare of one another; and shall in - good faith, hinder any losses and distresses which shall come - to his knowledge, by anyone whatsoever intended to be - inflicted on either of them. Every one also of them shall act - and do with another all and every of those things, which ought - to be done by good true and faithful friends to good, true and - faithful friends, laying aside all deceit and fraud. Also, if - ever any of the said Lords shall know and learn of any loss or - damage intended against another by any persons whatsoever, he - shall signify it to the others as speedily as possible, and - assist them in that particular, that each may take such - measures as may seem good against such malicious purposes; and - they shall be anxious to prevent such injuries in good faith; - also they shall assist each other to the utmost of their power - in the time of necessity. Also if by God's appointment it - should appear to the said Lords in process of time that they - are the same persons of whom the Prophet speaks, between whom - the Government of the Greater Britain ought to be divided and - parted, then they and every one of them shall labour to their - utmost to bring this effectually to be accomplished. Each of - them, also, shall be content with that portion of the kingdom - aforesaid, limited as below, without further exaction or - superiority; yea, each of them in such proportion assigned to - him shall enjoy liberty. Also between the same Lords it is - unanimously covenanted and agreed that the said Owyn and his - heirs shall have the whole of Cambria or Wales, by the - borders, limits and boundaries underwritten divided from - Loegira, which is commonly called England; namely from the - Severn Sea as the river Severn leads from the sea, going down - to the north gate of the city of Worcester; and from that gate - straight to the Ash tree, commonly called in the Cambrian or - Welsh language Owen Margion, which grows on the highway from - Bridgenorth to Kynvar; thence by the highway direct, which is - usually called the old or ancient way, to the head or source - of the river Trent: thence to the head or source of the river - Mense; thence as that river leads to the sea, going down - within the borders, limits and boundaries above written. And - the aforesaid Earl of Northumberland shall have for himself - and his heirs the counties below written, namely, - Northumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, York, Lincoln, - Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, Leicester, Northampton, Warwick, - and Norfolk. And the Lord Edmund shall have all the rest of - the whole of England, entirely to him and his heirs. Also - should any battle, riot or discord fall out between two of the - said Lords (may it never be) then the third of the said Lords, - calling to himself good and faithful counsel, shall duly - rectify such discord, riot and battle; whose approval or - sentence the discordant parties shall be held bound to obey. - They shall also be faithful to defend the kingdom against all - men; saving the oak on the part of the said Owyn given to the - most illustrious Prince Charles by the Grace of God King of - the French, in the league and covenant between them made. And - that the same be, all and singular, well and faithfully - observed, the said Lords Owyn, the Earl, and Edmund, by the - holy body of the Lord which they now steadfastly look upon and - by the holy gospels of God by them now bodily touched, have - sworn to observe the premises all and singular to their - utmost, inviolably; and have caused their seals to be mutually - affixed thereto." - -Little, however, was to come of all this. Earl Percy and Bardolph, -after spending some two years partly under Glyndwr's protection and -partly in France, found their way back to Scotland and in the spring -of 1408 played their last stake. Their fatuous attempt with a small -and ill-disciplined force of countrymen to overturn Henry's throne was -easily defeated at Bramham Moor in Yorkshire by the sheriff of that -county, and their heads and limbs were suspended from the gateways of -various English cities as a testimony to the dismal failure which the -great house of Percy had made of its persistent efforts to depose the -King it had created. - -Glyndwr for his part was neither now, nor yet to be at any future -time, in a position to help his friends outside Wales. His power had -passed its zenith, though its decline is not marked by any special -incidents in this year 1406. Much the most interesting event to be -noted by the student of his career and period, at this turning-point -of his fortunes, is a letter he wrote to the King of France, almost -immediately after his return from the rendezvous with Northumberland -and Bardolph. His headquarters in the early spring of this year seem -to have been at Machynlleth, for the letter in question was written -from Pennal, a village about four miles from this ancient outpost of -Powys. Before touching, however, on the main object of this memorable -communication, it will be well to recall the fact that the remnants of -the French invaders of the previous year were just leaving Wales, to -the great relief of Owen. But his disappointment at the nature of the -help the French King had sent on this occasion by no means discouraged -him from looking in the same direction for more effectual support. - -It was now the period of the Papal Schism. For nearly thirty years -there had been two rival popes, the one at Rome, the other at Avignon, -and Catholic Europe was divided into two camps, the countries who -adhered to the one spiritual chief professing to regard the followers -of the other as heretics unfit to breathe the air of this world and -without hope of pardon in the next. The Christian Church was shaken -to its foundations and degenerated into an arena of venomous strife. -Nor was this only a war of words, beliefs, interdicts, and sacerdotal -fulminations, for 200,000 lives are said to have been lost over this -squabble for the vicarship of Christ. Pious men deplored the -lamentable state to which those who should have been the upholders of -religion had reduced it. France, of course, in common with Spain, -maintained the cause of her own Pope. England held to the Roman -Pontiff, but even apart from the Lollard element, which was now -considerable, regarded the wearisome dispute with a large measure of -contemptuous indifference. Scotland as a matter of course took the -opposite side to England. There was no sentiment about "the island" -among the Anglo-Normans who lived north of the Tweed and who had -resisted successfully every attempt of their kinsmen on the south of -it to include them in their scheme of government. They were all aliens -alike so far as those who had power were concerned, and would not have -understood, probably, that strange sort of lingering loyalty to the -soil that in spite of everything still survived among the remnant of -the Britons. Glyndwr, of course, had acted directly against this -ancient theory, but mercenary soldiers were now such a feature of -military life that the importation of these Frenchmen was perhaps of -less significance, more particularly as foreign troops were -continually serving in England in the pay of various kings. Now, -however, as a bait to the French King and to quicken his interest in -his cause, Glyndwr offered to take Wales over to the allegiance of -the Avignon Pope. In this Pennal letter Owen dwells at some length -upon the details of the elections of the rival popes which the French -King himself had sent over to him, and he excuses himself for -following the English lead in the past and adhering to the Roman -Pontiff on the score of not having hitherto been properly informed -regarding the rights and wrongs of this same election. He -recapitulates the promises made to him by the King if he would -acknowledge Benedict XIII. and not his rival, Gregory XII. - -After holding a council of the "princes of his race," prelates, and -other clergy he had decided to acknowledge the Avignon Pope. He begs -the King of France, as interested in the well-being of the Church of -Wales, to exert his influence with the Pope and prevail upon him to -grant certain favours which he proceeds to enumerate: - -In the first place, that all ecclesiastical censures pronounced either -by the late Clement or Benedict against Wales or himself or his -subjects should be cancelled. Furthermore that they should be released -from the obligation of all oaths taken to the so-called Urban and -Boniface lately deceased and to their supporters. That Benedict should -ratify ordinations and appointments to benefices and titles (_ordines -collatos titulos_) held or given by prelates, dispensations, and -official acts of notaries, "involving jeopardy of souls or hurt to us -and our subjects from the time of Gregory XI." Owen urges that Menevia -(St. Davids) should be restored to its original condition as a -Metropolitan church, which it held from the time of that saint -himself, its archbishop and confessor, and under twenty-four -archbishops after him, whose names, beginning with Clind and ending -with the significantly Anglo-Saxon patronymic of Thompson, are herein -set forth. Formerly, the writer goes on to say, St. Davids had under -it the suffragan sees of Exeter, Bath, Hereford, Worcester, Leicester -(now transferred to Coventry), Lichfield, St. Asaph, Bangor, Llandaff, -and should rightly have them still, but the Saxon barbarians -subordinated them to Canterbury. In language that in later centuries -was to be so often and so vainly repeated, he represents that none but -Welsh-speaking clergy should be appointed, from the metropolitan down -to the curate. He requests also that all grants of Welsh parish -churches to English monasteries or colleges should be annulled and -that the rightful patrons should be compelled to present fit and -proper persons to ordinaries, that freedom should be granted to -himself and his heirs for their chapel, and all the privileges, -immunities, and exemptions which it enjoyed under their predecessors. -Curiously significant, too, and suggestive, is the point he makes of -liberty to found two universities, one for North and one for South -Wales. Indeed this is justly regarded as one of many bits of evidence -that Owen was not merely a battle-field hero, an avenging patriot, an -enemy of tyrants, but that he possessed the art of constructive -statesmanship had he been given the opportunity to prove it. The -educational zeal that does so much honour to modern Wales is fond of -pointing to Glyndwr as the original mover in that matter of a Welsh -national university which has so recently been brought to a -successful issue. King Henry in this letter is naturally an object of -special invective, and Owen prays that Benedict will sanction a -crusade in the customary form against the usurper Henry of Lancaster -for burning down churches and cathedrals, and for beheading, hanging, -and quartering Welsh clergy, including mendicant friars, and for being -a schismatic. The writer would appear by this to have unladen his -conscience of the burden of the smoking ruins of Bangor and St. Asaph -and of many, it is to be feared, less noteworthy edifices. Indeed, we -find him earlier in his career excusing himself for these sacrilegious -deeds and putting the onus of them on the uncontrollable fury of his -followers. But the verdict of posterity has in no way been shaken by -these lame apologies. Finally he asks the French King to make interest -with Benedict for plenary forgiveness for his sins and those of his -heirs, his subjects, and his men of whatsoever nation, provided they -are orthodox, for the whole duration of the war with Henry of -Lancaster.[14] - - [14] This letter, which covers many folio pages, has never been - printed. It is in indifferent Latin with the usual abbreviations. - In the matter of making and elucidating copies of it at the Record - Office, Mr. Hubert Hall gave me some valuable assistance, as also - did Mr. C. M. Bull. - -This document, a transcript of which is in the Record Office, is -preserved at Paris among the French government archives and has -attached to it by a double string an imperfect yellow seal, bearing -the inscription, "Owenus Dei Gratia princeps Walliae." It is dated the -last day of March in the year of our Lord 1406 and "the sixth of our -reign." The original is endorsed with a note in Latin to the effect -that the above is the letter in which Owen, Prince of Wales, -acknowledged obedience to "our Pope." - -This year was not a stirring one in Wales. France, to whom Owen was -appealing, was in no condition, or at any rate in no mood, to try a -serious fall with England. The policy of pin-pricks, to adapt a modern -term to the more strenuous form of annoyance in practice in those -times, had been pursued with tolerable consistency since the first -year of Henry's reign, and the most Christian King had never yet -recognised his rival of England as a brother monarch. Richard the -Second's child-Queen and widow, Isabel, had, after much haggling, been -restored by Henry to France, but that portion of her dower which, -according to her marriage settlement, should have been returned with -her, was unobtainable. She was married to the Duke of Orleans's eldest -son, aged eleven, the greater portion of her dower being a lien on -Henry of England for the unpaid balance of the sum above alluded to, -an indifferent security. International combats had been going merrily -on in the Channel and piratical descents upon either coast were -frequent. But this, of course, was not formal war, though a French -invasion of England had been one of the chief nightmares of Henry's -stormy reign. Internal troubles in France, however, now began somewhat -to relax the strained nature of the relationship with England, and -Owen's chances of Gallic help grew fainter. His son Griffith, or -Griffin, was a prisoner in Henry's hands; he had been committed to -the Tower, and by an irony of fate was under the special charge of one -of that powerful family to whom his father's old captive, Reginald -Grey of Ruthin, belonged. This gentleman, Lord de Grey of Cedmore, so -the Issue Rolls of the reign inform us, was paid the sum of three and -fourpence a day for Griffin, son of Owen de Glendowdy, and Owen ap -Griffith ap Richard, committed to his custody. Another companion in -captivity for part of the time, of this "cub of the wolfe from the -west," strange to say, was the boy-king of Scotland, who, like most -monarchs of that factious and ill-governed country, was probably -happier even under such depressing circumstances than if he were at -large in his own country, and his life most certainly was much safer. - -The Rolls during all these years show a constant drain on the -exchequer for provisions and money and sinews of war for the -beleaguered Welsh castles. Here is a contract made with certain -Bristol merchants, mentioned by name, for sixty-six pipes of honey, -twelve casks of wine, four casks of sour wine, fifty casks of wheat -flour, and eighty quarters of salt to be carried in diverse ships by -sea for victualling and providing "the King's Kastles of Karnarvon, -Hardelagh, Lampadarn, and Cardigarn." Here again are payments to -certain "Lords, archers and men-at-arms to go to the rescue of Coity -castle in Wales." The rate of pay allowed to the soldiers of that day -for Welsh service is all entered in these old records and may be -studied by the curious in such matters. - - "To Henry, Prince of Wales, wages for 120 men-at-arms and 350 - archers at 12d. and 6d. per day for one quarter of a year - remaining at the abbey of Stratflur and keeping and defending - the same from malice of those rebels who had not submitted - themselves to the obedience of the Lord the King and to ride - after and give battle to the rebels as well in South as in - North Wales L666.13.4." Again, in the same year: "To Henry - Prince of Wales, for wages of 300 men-at-arms and 600 archers - and canoniers and other artificers for the war who lately - besieged the castle of Hardelagh [Harlech]." - -From the latter of these extracts, which are quoted merely as types of -innumerable entries of a like kind, it will be seen that cannons were -used, at any rate in some of these sieges, and it is fairly safe to -assume that those used against Glyndwr were the first that had been -seen in Wales. - -As the year 1406 advanced, the star of Owen began most sensibly to -wane. He was still, however, keeping up the forms of regal state along -the shores of Cardigan Bay, and we find him formally granting pardon -to one of his subjects, John ap Howel, at Llanfair near Harlech. The -instrument is signed "per ipsum Princepem," and upon its seal is a -portrait of Owen bareheaded and bearded, seated on a throne-like -chair, holding a globe in his left hand and a sceptre in his right. -Among the witnesses to the instrument are Griffith Yonge, Owen's -Chancellor, Meredith, his younger son, Rhys ap Tudor, and one or two -others. There is much that is hazy and mysterious about the events of -this year, but in most parts of Wales one hears little or nothing of -any shifting of the situation or any loosening of the grip that -Glyndwr's party had upon the country. An armed neutrality of a kind -probably existed between the Royalists in those towns and castles that -had not fallen and the purely Celtic population in the open country, -which had long before 1406 been purged of the hostile and the -half-hearted of the native race, and purged as we know by means of a -most trenchant and merciless kind. - - "While quarrels' rage did nourish ruinous rack - And Owen Glendore set bloodie broils abroach, - Full many a town was spoyled and put to sack - And clear consumed to countries foul reproach, - Great castles razed, fair buildings burnt to dust, - Such revel reigned that men did live by lust." - -Old Churchyard, who wrote these lines, lived at any rate much nearer -to Glyndwr's time than he did to ours, and reflects, no doubt, the -feeling of the border counties and of no small number of Welshmen -themselves who were involved in that ruin from which Wales did not -recover for a hundred years. In this year 1406, say the Iolo -manuscripts, "Wales had been so impoverished that even the means of -barely sustaining life could not be obtained but by rewards of the -King," referring, doubtless, to the Norman garrisons. "Glamorgan," -says the same authority, "turned Saxon again at this time though two -years later in 1408 they were excited to commotions by the extreme -oppressions of the King's men," and when Owen returned once more to -aid them, their chiefs who had forsaken his cause burnt their barns -and stack-yards, rather than that their former leader and his people -should find comfort from them. They themselves then fled, the -chronicler continues, to England or the extremities of Wales, where in -the King's sea-washed castles they found refuge from Owen's vengeance -and were "supported by the rewards of treason and strategem." - -More serious, however, than Glamorgan, bristling as it was with Norman -interests and Norman castles and always hard to hold against them, the -powerful and populous island of Anglesey in the north and the Vale of -the Towy in the south fell away from Glyndwr. Sheer weariness of the -strife, coupled perhaps with want of provisions, seems to have been -the cause. It was due certainly to no active operations from the -English border. Pardons upon good terms were continually held out in -the name of Prince Henry and the King throughout the whole struggle to -any who would sue for them, always excepting Owen and his chief -lieutenants, though even his son, as we have seen, was well treated in -London. Anglesey was threatened all the time by the great castles of -Conway, Carnarvon, and Beaumaris, which held out steadily for the -King. Though there was no fighting in the island it is not unnatural -that Glyndwr's supporters from thence, being cut off from their homes, -which were liable to attacks by sea even when the castles were -impotent, were among the first to give in. The strength of the -following which he gathered from beyond the Menai is significant of -the ardour of national enthusiasm in this old centre of the Princes of -Gwynedd, no less than 2112 names of Anglesey men being submitted at -one time in this year for pardon. It is possible that these -backsliders did not all go home empty-handed, but that a fair amount -of plunder from the sack of Marcher castles and the ravage of Marcher -lands found its way back with them. However that may be, a royal -commission was opened at Beaumaris on November 10th of this year 1406 -for the granting of pardons and the assessment of fines to be paid -therefor. There is a list still extant in manuscript of the whole two -thousand-and-odd names. It will be sufficient to notice, as a point -not without interest, that the six commotes of Anglesey paid L537.7.0. -in fines upon this account. The goods of those slain in battle were -forfeited to the King, to be redeemed at prices ranging from 2s. for a -horse to 4d. for a sheep. A few were outlawed, among whom was David -Daron, Dean of Bangor, at whose house the Tripartite Convention was -signed early in the year, while Bifort, Bishop of Bangor, Owen's agent -as he might almost be called, together with the Earl of -Northumberland, was naturally excluded from purchasing his pardon. -Henceforward we hear little of Anglesey in connection with Owen, -though the remaining years of his resistance are so misty in their -record of him that it would be futile to attempt a guess at the part -its people may or may not have played in the long period of his -decline. - -The defection of Ystrad Towy, the heart and life of the old South -Welsh monarchy and always a great source of strength to Owen, must -have been still more disheartening, but it seems likely that the -submission of his allies between Carmarthen, Dynevor, and Llandovery -was of a temporary nature. Mysterious but undoubtedly well-founded -traditions, too, have come down concerning the movements of Glyndwr -himself during the latter part of this year. He is pictured to us as -wandering about the country, sometimes with a few trusty followers, -sometimes alone and in disguise. This brief and temporary withdrawal -from publicity does not admit of any confusion with the somewhat -similar circumstances in which he passed the closing years of his -life. All old writers are agreed as to this hiatus in the midst of -Glyndwr's career, even when they differ in the precise date and in the -extent of his depression. One speaks of him as a hunted outlaw, which -for either the year 1405 or 1406 is of course ridiculous. Another, -with much more probability, represents him as going about the country -in disguise with a view to discovering the inner sentiments of the -people. A cave is shown near the mouth of the Dysanni between Towyn -and Llwyngwril, where during this period he is supposed to have been -concealed for a time from pursuing enemies by a friendly native. Upon -the mighty breast of Moel Hebog, over against Snowdon, another -hiding-place is connected with his name and with the same crisis in -his fortunes. A quite recently published manuscript[15] from the -Mostyn collection contains a story to the effect that when the abbot -of Valle Crucis, near Llangollen, was walking on the Berwyns early one -morning he came across Glyndwr wandering alone and in desultory -fashion. The abbot, as head of a Cistercian foundation, was -presumably unfriendly to the chieftain whose iconoclasms must have -horrified even his friends the Franciscans. There is nothing of -interest in the actual details of this chance interview. The fact of -Glyndwr being alone in such a place is suggestive and welcome merely -as a little bit of evidence recently contributed to the strong -tradition of his long wanderings. The abbot appears from the narrative -to have been anything but glad to see him and told him that he had -arisen a hundred years too soon, to which the Welsh leader and Prince -made no reply but "turned on his heel and departed in silence." - - [15] _A Soldier of Calais._ - -A much fuller and better-known story, however, of this mysterious -period of Glyndwr's career survives in the Iolo manuscripts. Sir -Laurence Berkrolles of St. Athan was a famous scion of that -Anglo-Norman stock who had carved up Glamorganshire in Henry the -First's time. He had inherited the great castle and lordship of Coity -from his mother's family, the Turbervilles, whose male line had only -just failed after three centuries of such occupation as must have made -men of them indeed. Sir Laurence, it need hardly be remarked, had -experienced a stormy time for the past few years, battling for his -patrimony with Glyndwr's sleepless legions. There was now a lull, -presumably in this year 1406, and Sir Laurence was resting in his -castle and rejoicing doubtless in the new sense of security to which -Glamorgan had just settled down. Hither one day came a strange -gentleman, unarmed and accompanied by a servant, and requested in -French a night's lodging of Sir Laurence. The hospitable Marcher -readily assented and placed the best that the castle afforded before -his guest, to whom he took so great a fancy that he ended in begging -him to prolong his stay for a few days. As an inducement he informed -the traveller that it was quite possible he might in such case be -fortunate enough to see the great Owen Glyndwr, for it was rumoured -that he was in that neighbourhood, and he (Sir Laurence) had -despatched his tenants and servants and other men in his confidence to -hunt for Owen and bring him in, alive or dead, under promise of great -reward. - -"It would be very well," replied the guest, "to secure that man were -any persons able to do so." - -Having remained at Sir Laurence's castle four days and three nights -the stranger announced his intention of departing. On doing so he held -out his hand to his host and thus addressed him: - -"Owen Glyndwr, as a sincere friend, having neither hatred, treachery, -or deception in his heart, gives his hand to Sir Laurence Berkrolles -and thanks him for his kindness and generous reception which he and -his friend (in the guise of a servant) have experienced from him at -his castle, and desires to assure him on oath, hand in hand, and hand -on heart, that it will never enter his mind to avenge the intentions -of Sir Laurence towards him, and that he will not, so far as he may, -allow such desire to exist in his own knowledge and memory, nor in the -minds of any of his relations or adherents." Having spoken thus and -with such astonishing coolness disclosed his identity, Glyndwr and -his pseudo-servant went their way. Sir Laurence was struck dumb with -amazement, and that not merely in a metaphorical but in a literal -sense, for the story goes on to say that he lost the power of speech -from that moment! Glyndwr's faithful laureate, Iolo Goch, strengthens -the tradition of his master's mysterious disappearance at this time by -impassioned verses deploring his absence and calling on him to return -to his heartbroken poet: - - "I saw with aching heart - The golden dream depart; - His glorious image in my mind, - Was all that Owain left behind. - Wild with despair and woebegone - Thy faithful bard is left alone, - To sigh, to weep, to groan. - - "Thy sweet remembrance ever dear, - Thy name still ushered by a tear, - My inward anguish speak; - How could'st thou, cruel Owain, go - And leave the bitter tears to flow - Down Gryffydd's furrowed cheek?" - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER X - -ABERYSTWITH. OWEN'S POWER DECLINES - -1407-1408 - - -Little is known of Owen's movements during the first half of the year -1407. Entries here and there upon the Rolls indicate that no -improvement so far as the general peace of Wales was concerned had -taken place, whatever there may have been in Henry's prospects of -ultimately recovering his authority there, prospects which now wore a -much brighter look. For though Glyndwr and his captains were still -active in the field, there nevertheless runs through all the scant -scraps of news we now get of him an unmistakable note of depression on -the part of his friends, with proportionate confidence on that of his -enemies. Prince Henry was still Lieutenant of the Marches of South -Wales, in addition to his hereditary jurisdiction, such as it now was, -over the royal counties. A great effort was in contemplation, in view -of Owen's failing strength, to put a complete end to the war. Pardons -were freely offered to his supporters, and even urged, upon the most -lenient terms, and the Marcher Barons, who were inclined at times, -when not personally in danger, to forget the conditions on which they -held their lands, were sternly forbidden to leave their castles. -Things had not been going well in France; Calais had been hard pressed -and the great English possessions in the South had been lamentably -reduced in extent. Edward the Third is computed to have reigned over -six million subjects to the north of the Pyrenees, a population much -greater than that of England and Wales combined. Henry had but a -fraction left of this kingdom, and that fraction most unsteady in its -devotion. He had been several times on the very point of making a -personal attempt to repair his failing fortunes beyond the Channel. -But his health was beginning even thus early to fail, and his nerves -were completely unstrung. He had made up his mind, however, to lead -one more expedition against Owen, now that the chances seemed so much -more favourable than on former occasions. From even this, however, it -will be seen that he ultimately flinched, and it was perhaps well that -he did so. His son and the captains round him understood Welsh warfare -much better than Henry. The rush of great armies through Wales had -failed hopelessly as a means of coercing it, and would fail again. The -steady pressure of armed bands upon Owen's front and flanks, and -liberal terms to all who deserted him, were the only methods of -wearing out the resources of this stubborn patriot, and they were -already succeeding. That he was himself pressing hard upon -Pembrokeshire, however, just at this time is evident from the orders -which were issued for forwarding arms and provisions for the defence -of the royal castles in that county, the recipient being Sir Francis -A'Court, the King's constable there. Aberystwith castle, however, was -to be the chief point of the Prince's attack this autumn, and his -father, as I have said, was expected to take part in an expedition -that came to be associated with much eclat. - -An impression not altogether easy to account for, that the fall of -this great castle would prove the final blow to Owen's resistance, got -abroad, and there was a great rush of knights and nobles to take part -in the ceremony. A picked force of 2400 archers and men-at-arms was -told off for the service, and an entry in the Issue Rolls notes the -sum of L6825 as being set aside for their pay over the period of six -months beginning in June. This was a strong nucleus for an expedition -that could be supplemented by the levies of the border counties and -the spare strength of the local Marcher barons. Aberystwith Castle -occupies a site of much distinction, placed upon a bold promontory -projecting into the sea. Its ruins still survive as one of the -innumerable witnesses to Cromwell's superfluous vandalism, and afford -a favourite lounge to summer visitors at the popular Welsh -watering-place. But the first castle built on Norman lines was erected -in the twelfth century by Gilbert de Strongbow, the earliest Norman -adventurer in this district. A centre for generations of Norman-Welsh -strife, dismantled and restored again and again by contentious -chieftains, it was finally rebuilt by Edward I.; and what Cromwell -and time's destroying hand have left of it dates chiefly from that -luminous epoch in Welsh history. Not many of those, perhaps, who -loiter amidst its lifeless fragments are aware that in the season of -1407 it was the object of quite a fashionable crusade on the part of -the chivalry of England, well supplied with every requisite of siege -warfare that the primitive science of the period could provide. - -Harlech was at this time the headquarters of Glyndwr's family, -including Edmund Mortimer, but to localise Glyndwr himself becomes now -more difficult than ever. Since Carmarthen and most of South Wales had -forsaken their allegiance, his energies must have been still more -severely taxed in keeping up the spirit and directing the movements of -his widely scattered bands. We heard of him lately raiding through -Pembroke and threatening the Flemish settlements. Merioneth and -Carnarvon in the North were still faithful, and we can well believe -that the great castles of Aberystwith and Harlech, lying midway -between the remnant of his southern followers and those of the North, -were in some sort the keys to the situation. Aberystwith, in which -Glyndwr had placed a strong garrison under a trusty captain, seemed -so, at any rate, to the English. Great guns were sent all the way from -Yorkshire to Bristol, to be forwarded thence by sea to the coast of -Cardigan, while ample stores of bows and arrows, bowstrings, arblasts, -stone-shot, sulphur, and saltpetre were ordered to be held in -readiness at Hereford. Woods upon the banks of the Severn were to be -cut down and the forest of Dean to be picked over for trees, out of -which was to be contrived the siege machinery for the subjugation of -hapless Aberystwith. A troop of carpenters were to sail from Bristol -for the devoted spot and erect scaffolds and wooden towers upon a -scale such as had not been before witnessed at any of the innumerable -sieges of this Welsh war. Proclamations calling out the great nobility -of western England and the Marches to meet the King and Prince at -Hereford were sent out. Owen, as well as Aberystwith and Harlech, was -to be crushed, and the King himself, with the flower of his chivalry, -was to be there to witness the closing scene. How far off even yet was -the final extinction of Owen, no one then could have well imagined. - -But a temporary check came to these great preparations. The King, as -he had shrunk from crossing the Channel, now shrank from crossing the -Welsh border. A pestilence, somewhat more severe than those which were -almost chronic in the country in those days, swept over the island and -was more virulent in the West than elsewhere. It may have been this -that for a time suspended operations. Strange to say, too, the Richard -myth was not quite extinct, for during this summer bills were found -posted up about London proclaiming that he was "yet alive and in -health, and would come again shortly with great magnificence and power -to recover his kingdom." But neither pestilence nor the vagaries of -the King nor false rumours of the dead Richard were allowed to -permanently unsettle the Aberystwith enterprise. Fighting in Wales had -by no means been a popular or fashionable pastime, when there was no -territory to be won or to be defended. It was poor sport for the -heavy-armed sons of Mars of that period, all athirst for glory, this -tilting over rough ground at active spearmen who melted away before -their cumbrous onslaught only to return and deal out death and wounds -at some unexpected moment or in some awkward spot. But now whole -clouds of gay cavaliers, besides men scarred and weather-beaten with -Welsh warfare, gathered to the crusade against Aberystwith. French -wars just now were at a discount, not because the spirit was -unwilling, but because the exchequer was weak, so, the supply of -fighting knights and squires being for the moment greater than the -demand, Prince Henry reaped the benefit of the situation in his march -through South Wales. - -But the bluest blood and the most brilliant equipment were futile in -attack against castles that nature and Edward the First had combined -to make invulnerable. The guns and scaffolds and wooden towers were -all there but they were powerless against Aberystwith and the brave -Welshmen who, under Owen's lieutenant, Rhys ap Griffith ap Llewelyn, -defended it. The King's particular cannon, weighing four and one half -tons, was there, which, with another called the Messenger, shook the -rock-bound coasts, striking terror, we may well fancy, into the -peasants of that remote country and proving more destructive to those -behind it than those before, for we are told that it burst during the -siege, a common thing with cannons of that day, dealing death to all -around. Once an hour, it is usually estimated, was the greatest -rapidity with which these cumbrous pieces could be fired with safety, -and we may well believe that the moment of explosion must have been a -much more anxious one, seeing how often they burst, to their friends -beside them than to their foes hidden behind the massive walls of a -Norman castle. The Duke of York was there, and the Earl of Warwick, -who, two years previously, had defeated Glyndwr in a pitched battle -and was eager, no doubt, to meet him again. Sir John Grendor, too, was -present, no courtier, but a hero of the Welsh wars, and Sir John -Oldcastle, a typical border soldier, who became Lord Cobham and was -ultimately hunted down as a Lollard at Welshpool and burned by Henry -V.; while Lord Berkeley commanded the fleet and managed the siege -train. It was not known at Aberystwith, either by the Welsh or the -besiegers, where Owen was. He could not readily trust himself in -castles, besieged both by land and sea, and run the risk of being -caught like a fox in a trap. He bided his time, on this occasion, as -will be seen, and arrived precisely at the right moment. Prince Henry -found the castle impregnable to assault, and there was nothing for it -but to sit down and reduce it by starvation. The only hope of the -garrison lay in Owen's relieving them, and with such an army before -them the possibility of this seemed more than doubtful. Provisions -soon began to fail, and in the middle of September Rhys ap Griffith -made overtures and invited seventeen of the English leaders within the -castle to arrange a compromise. One of these was Richard Courtney -of the Powderham family, a scholar of Exeter College, Oxford, and -Chancellor of the University. Mass was said by this accomplished -person to the assembled Welsh and English leaders, after which they -received the sacrament and then proceeded to draw up an agreement -which seems a strange one. By it the Welsh undertook to deliver up the -castle on November 1st if Glyndwr had not in the meantime appeared and -driven off the besiegers. Till that date an armistice was to continue. -Those of the garrison who would not accept these terms were to be -turned out to take their chance; the rest were to receive a full -pardon at the capitulation. The abbot of Ystradfflur, who, though a -Cistercian, had taken Owen's side, and three Welsh gentlemen, were -given up as hostages. - - [Illustration: ABERYSTWITH CASTLE. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -The Prince and his nobles were doubtless glad enough to get away from -so monotonous a task in so remote a spot, though their return to -England was hardly a glorious one. No one seems to have expected Owen, -and only five hundred soldiers were left in camp at the abbey of -Ystradfflur, some fifteen miles off, to insure the proper fulfilment -of the agreement when November should come round. Parliament was to -meet and did meet at Gloucester in October, and the King himself, so -much importance did he attach to Aberystwith, still talked of -returning with his son to receive its surrender at the appointed time. -But neither the royal progress nor the surrender became matters of -fact, for during October Owen slipped unexpectedly into the castle -with a fresh force, repudiated, as indeed he had a right to -repudiate, the agreement, and branded as traitors to his cause those -who had made it, which was hard. The five hundred royal soldiers at -Ystradfflur had shrunk in numbers and relaxed in discipline, and had -at any rate no mind to encounter Owen, who remained in possession of -the west coast and its castles throughout a winter which so far as any -further news of him is concerned was an uneventful one. In the -meantime the Parliament which sat at Gloucester for six weeks in the -autumn was greatly exercised about Welsh affairs. Wales had returned -no revenue since Glyndwr first raised his standard, and the sums of -money that had been spent in vain endeavours to crush his power had -been immense. The feeling was now stronger than ever that taxation for -this purpose, one that brought no returns either in glory or plunder, -had reached its limit, and that it was high time the nobles whose -interests lay in Wales should take upon themselves for the future the -heavy burden of Welsh affairs. - -One incident occurred at this Parliament which had some significance -and was not without humour. The Prince of Wales was publicly thanked -for his services before Aberystwith almost upon the very day when, -unknown, of course, to him and to those at distant Gloucester, Owen -had slipped into the castle about which so much stir was being made, -upset the whole arrangement, and turned the costly campaign into an -ignominious failure. It is significant, too, that the Prince, after -acknowledging the praises of his father and the Parliament, kneeled -before the former and "spake some generous words" concerning the Duke -of York, whose advice and assistance "had rescued the whole expedition -from peril and desolation." This looks as if Owen's people had not -allowed the return journey of the Prince and his friends and his even -still large force to be the promenade that was expected. It may well -indeed have been the ubiquitous Glyndwr himself from whom the sagacity -of the Duke delivered them in the wilds of Radnor or Carmarthen. -Though Aberystwith and Harlech were safe for this winter, the Prince, -with a deliberation perhaps emphasised by chagrin at his failure, made -arrangements for a second attempt to be undertaken in the following -summer. - -The winter of 1407-1408 was the most terrible within living memory. It -is small wonder that no echo of siege or battle or feat of arms breaks -the silence of the snow-clad and war-torn country. Birds and animals -perished by thousands, for a sheet of frozen snow lay upon the land -from before Christmas till near the end of March. Yet outside Wales -even so cruel a winter could not still all action. For Glyndwr's old -ally, Northumberland, selected this, of all times and seasons, for -that last reckless bid for power which has been before alluded to, and -with Bardolph and Bifort, Owen's Bishop of Bangor, went out across the -bitter cold of the Yorkshire moors, the first two of them, at any -rate, to death and ruin. Bifort, however, seems to have got away and -carried the nominal honours of his bishopric for many years. - -The opening of summer in 1408 found Owen still active and dangerous. -No longer so as of old to the peace of England and to Henry's -throne,--that crisis had passed away,--but he was still an -unsurmountable obstacle to the good government of Wales. We know this -rather from the anxiety to subdue him manifested this year by the -King's council to the exclusion of all other business, than from any -detailed knowledge of his actions. Of these one can guess the general -tenor, and the necessary sameness of a guerilla warfare somewhat -mitigates the disappointment natural at the lack of actual detail. One -gathers from the brief but, from one point of view, significant -entries in the public records how entirely demoralised most of the -country still remained. Here is an order to prevent supplies being -sent to the rebels; there a caution to keep the bonfires in Cheshire -or Shropshire ready for the match; there again are notes of persons -becoming surety for the good behaviour of repentant Welshmen, or Lord -Marchers trying to come again to terms with their rebellious Cymric -tenants. Panic-stricken letters, however, came no more from -beleaguered castles, nor do the people of Northampton any longer quake -in their beds at the name of Glyndwr, though the border counties, and -with good cause, feel as yet by no means wholly comfortable. - - "In 1408," says the Iolo manuscript, "the men of Glamorgan - were excited to commotion by the extra oppression of the - King's men; many of the chieftains who had obtained royal - favour burnt their stacks and barns lest Owen's men should - take them. But these chieftains fled to the extremity of - England and Wales, where they were defended in the castles - and camps of the King's forces and supported by the rewards of - treason and stratagem. Owen could not recover his lands and - authority because of the treachery prevalent in Anglesey and - Arvon, which the men of Glamorgan called the treason of the - men of Arvon." - -All this is sadly involved, but one treasures anything that has a -genuine ring about it in connection with this shadowy year. Arvon, it -may be remarked, is the "cantref" facing the submissive Anglesey, and -no doubt the royal castle of Carnarvon was able by this time to -exercise an intimidating influence on that portion of the country. - -Prince Henry's commission as Lieutenant of both North and South Wales -was again renewed; and, gathering his forces at Hereford in June, he -again moved on towards the stubborn castle of Aberystwith, making -Carmarthen, the old capital of South Wales, his base of operations. -Aberystwith this time held out till winter, when it at last fell, the -garrison meeting with no harsher treatment than that of ejection -without arms or food. Harlech, which Gilbert and John Talbot had by -the throat, with a thousand well-armed men and a big siege train, -resisted even longer. The Welsh this time were able to utilise the -sea, which in those days beat against the foot of the high rock upon -which the castle stands, a rock now removed from the shore by half a -mile or more of sandy common. Glyndwr, too, was now able to move -freely from one beleaguered fortress to another. Both of them held out -with singular valour and tenacity, attacking the provision boats -which came from Bristol for the besieging armies, and disputing every -point that offered an opportunity with sleepless vigilance and -tireless energy. Edmund Mortimer died either during the siege or -immediately after the surrender, of starvation some writers say, -though privation would perhaps be a more appropriate and likely term. -Mortimer's wife and three girls, with a son Lionel, together with that -"eminent woman of a knightly family," Glyndwr's own consort, fell into -the King's hands with the capture of Harlech, and seem to have been -taken to London in a body. - -There is something pathetic about this wholesale termination of Owen's -domestic life, in what for that period would be called his old age. -One longs, too, to know something about it. How Margaret Hanmer -deported herself under the reflected glories of her lord. Whether -indeed she saw much of him, and if so, where; whether she was a -stout-hearted patriot and bore the trials and the uncertainties of her -dangerous pre-eminence with proud fortitude, or whether she wept over -the placid memories of Sycherth and Glyndyfrdwy, and deplored the -fortune that had made her a hero's wife and a wanderer. She had three -married daughters to give her shelter in Herefordshire. Let us hope -that she found her way to one of them, as her husband did years later -when the storms of his life were over. As for the Mortimers, that -branch of the family was entirely wiped out. The children died, and -the gentle Katherine, who had married so near the throne of England, -soon followed them and lies somewhere beneath the roar of London -traffic in a city churchyard. One account places the capture and -removal to London of Glyndwr's family at a later period, but as the -interest in this is chiefly a matter of sentiment, the precise date is -of no special moment. - -The lines were now rapidly tightening round Owen. The English -government, by this time fairly free from foreign complications, -showed a vigilance in Wales which it would have been well for it to -have shown in former years, when the danger was much greater. Owen, on -his part, relapsed gradually into a mere guerilla leader, though the -hardy bands that still rallied round him and scorned to ask for pardon -were still so numerous and formidable that it was with difficulty the -King could prevent some of the Marcher barons even now from purchasing -security against his attacks. Talbot with bodies of royal troops still -remained as a garrison in Wales. It is curiously significant, too, and -not readily explicable, that in this year 1409 the town of Shrewsbury -closed her gates against an English army marching into Wales and -refused them provisions. It looks as if even the honest Salopians, -tired of keeping guard against the ubiquitous Glyndwr, had thus late, -and for the second time in the war, made some sort of terms with him. -We find also Charleton, Lord of Powys, about this time granting -pardons to those of his tenants who had been "out with Glyndwr," while -he was rewarding his more faithful lieges in the borough of Welshpool -by an extension of their corporation limits to an area of twenty -thousand acres, an unique distinction which that interesting border -town enjoys to this day. - -Meanwhile it must not be supposed that the royal party treated all -Welsh captives with the leniency we have seen at Aberystwith, Harlech, -and elsewhere. Rhys Ddu, a noted captain of Glyndwr's, and Philip -Scudamore, a scion of that famous Herefordshire family into which the -Welsh leader's daughter had married, were taken prisoners while -raiding in Shropshire and sent to London and placed in the Tower, -where several Welsh nobles had been this long time languishing. Rhys -was taken to the Surrey side of the river by the Earl of Arundel, -tried, and handed over to the sheriff, who had him dragged upon a -hurdle to Tyburn and there executed. His quarters, like those of many -Welsh patriots before him, were sent to hang over the gates of four -English cities, and his head was affixed to London Bridge. Ten Welsh -gentlemen were under lock and key at Windsor Castle. They were now -handed over to the Marshal and kept in the Tower till heavy ransoms -were forthcoming. But Henry's treatment of his Welsh enemies was upon -the whole the reverse of vengeful, and he was wise in his generation. -His wholesale pardons to men wearied with years of war in a cause now -so utterly hopeless were infinitely more efficacious against that -implacable foe who would not himself dream of asking terms. Owen, too, -on his part had many prisoners, hidden away in mountain fastnesses, -chief of whom was the hapless David Gam, whom my readers will almost -have forgotten. Nine of these, we are told by one writer, his -followers hung, greatly to their leader's chagrin, since he wanted -them for hostages or for exchange. - -The Avignon Pope had done Owen little good. A certain religious -flavour was introduced into the martial songs of the bards, and Owen's -native claims to the leadership of Wales were now supplemented by -papal and ecclesiastical blessings from this new and very modern fount -of inspiration. But everything ecclesiastical at Bangor was in ashes, -the torch, it will be remembered, having been applied by Glyndwr -himself. The royal bishop, Young, had years before fled to England and -was now enjoying the peaceful retirement of Rochester. Owen's bishop, -Bifort, as we have seen, was a wandering soldier. The more vigorous -Trevor, who came back to Owen in 1404, was at this time in France, -making a last effort, it is supposed, to interest the French King in -Glyndwr's waning cause. But death overtook him while still in Paris, -and he lies buried in the chapel of the infirmary of the Abbey de St. -Victor beneath the following epitaph: - - "Hic jacet Reverendus in Christo Pater Johannes Episcopus - asaphensis in Wallia qui obiit A.D. 1410 die secundo mensis - aprilis cujus anima feliciter requiescat in pace. Amen." - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER XI - -LAST YEARS OF OWEN'S LIFE - -1410-1416 - - -Of the last six years of Owen's life, those from 1410 to 1416, there -is little to be said. His cause was hopelessly lost and he had quite -ceased to be dangerous. Wales was reconquered and lay sick, bleeding, -and wasted beneath the calm of returning peace. Thousands, it is to be -feared, cursed Glyndwr as they looked upon the havoc which the last -decade had wrought. The unsuccessful rebel or patriot, call him what -you will, has far more friends among those yet unborn than among his -own contemporaries, above all in the actual hour of his failure. Of -this failure, too, the Welsh were reminded daily, not only by their -wasted country and ruined homesteads but by fierce laws enacted -against their race and a renewal on both sides of that hatred which -the previous hundred years of peace had greatly softened. - - [Illustration: MONNINGTON COURT AND CHURCH. - Copyright - W. H. Bustin.] - -Men born of Welsh parents on both sides were now forbidden to purchase -land near any of the Marcher towns. They were not permitted to be -citizens of any borough, nor yet to hold any office, nor carry armour -nor any weapon. No Welshman could bind his child to a trade, nor bring -him up to letters, while English men who married Welsh women were -disfranchised of their liberties. In all suits between Englishmen and -Welshmen the judge and jury were to be of the former race, while all -"Cymmorthau," or gatherings for mutual assistance in harvest or -domestic operations, were strictly forbidden. - -These laws were kept on the statute books till the real union of Wales -and England in Henry the Eighth's time, but gradually became a dead -letter as the memory of the first ten bloody years of the century grew -fainter. Glyndwr, however, believed in the justice of his cause, and -if he expressed remorse for the methods which he had used to uphold -it, we hear nothing of such apologies. That he showed the courage of -his convictions in heroic fashion no one can gainsay. That men could -be found to stand even yet in such numbers by his side is the most -eloquent tribute that could be paid to his personal magnetism. He had -lost all his castles, unless indeed, as seems likely, those grim -towers of Dolbadarn and Dolwyddelan in the Snowdon mountains were left -to him. He became henceforward a mere outlaw, confined entirely to the -mountains of Carnarvon and Merioneth, between those fierce and rapid -raids which we dimly hear of him still making upon the Northern -Marches. His old companions, Rhys and William ap Tudor, who had been -with him from the beginning, were in the King's hands, and were about -this time executed at Chester with the usual barbarities of the -period. The elder was the grandfather of Owen Tudor, and consequently -the ancestor of our present King. David Gam was still a prisoner in -Owen's hands till 1412, when the King entered into negotiations for -his release through the agency of Llewelyn ap Howel, Sir John Tiptoft, -and William Boteler. What terms were made we know not; an exchange was -in all likelihood effected, seeing how many of Owen's friends were in -captivity. David's liberation, however, was by some means successfully -accomplished, and he lived to fight and fall by the King's side at -Agincourt, being knighted, some say, as he lay dying upon that -memorable field. - -When, in 1413, Prince Henry came to the throne, he issued a pardon to -all Welsh rebels indiscriminately, not excepting Glyndwr. But, -obstinate to the last, the old hero held to his mountains, refusing to -ask or to receive a favour, striking with his now feeble arm, whenever -chance offered, the English power or those who supported it. When -Henry IV. succumbed to those fleshly ills which constant trouble had -brought upon his once powerful frame, Glyndwr was still in the field -and royal troops still stationed in the Welsh mountains to check his -raids. Tradition has it that he was at last left absolutely alone, -when he is supposed to have wandered about the country in disguise and -in a fashion so mysterious that a wealth of legend has gathered around -these wanderings. - - "In 1415," says one old chronicler, "Owen disappeared so that - neither sight nor tidings of him could be obtained in the - country. It was rumoured that he escaped in the guise of a - reaper bearing a sickle, according to the tidings of the last - who saw and knew him, after which little or no information - transpired respecting him nor of the place or name of his - concealment. The prevalent opinion was that he died in a wood - in Glamorgan; but occult chroniclers assert that he and his - men still live and are asleep on their arms in a cave called - Ogof Dinas in the Vale of Gwent, where they will continue - until England is self-abased, when they will sally forth, and, - recognising their country's privileges, will fight for the - Welsh, who shall be dispossessed of them no more until the Day - of Judgment, when the earth shall be consumed with fire and so - reconstructed that neither oppression nor devastation shall - take place any more, and blessed will he be who will see that - time." - -Carte says that Owen wandered down to Herefordshire in the disguise of -a shepherd and found refuge in his daughter's house at Monnington. - -It is quite certain that in 1415, Henry V., full of his French schemes -and ambitions, and with no longer any cause to trouble himself about -Wales, sent a special message of pardon to Glyndwr. Perhaps the young -King felt a touch of generous admiration for the brave old warrior who -had been the means of teaching him so much of the art of war and the -management of men, and who, though alone and friendless, was too proud -to ask a favour or to bend his knee. Sir Gilbert Talbot of Grafton, in -Worcestershire, was the man picked out by Henry to accomplish this -gracious act. Nothing, however, came of it immediately. Perhaps the -great campaign of Poitiers interfered with a matter so comparatively -trifling. But on the King's return he renewed it in February, 1416, -commissioning this time not only Talbot but Glyndwr's own son, -Meredith, as envoys. Whether or no it would have even now and by such -a channel been acceptable is of no consequence, as the old hero was -either dead or in concealment. Common sense inclines to the most -logical and most generally accepted of the traditions which surround -his last years, namely, the one which pictures him resting quietly -after his stormy life at the home of one or other of his married -daughters in Herefordshire. Monnington and Kentchurch both claim the -honour of having thus sheltered him. Probably they both did, seeing -how near they lie together, though the people of the former place -stoutly maintain that it is in their churchyard his actual dust -reposes. - -At Kentchurch Court, where his daughter Alice Scudamore lived with her -husband, and which still belongs to the family, a tower of the -building is even yet cherished as the lodging of the fallen chieftain -during part at any rate of these last years of obscurity. The romantic -beauty of the spot, the survival of the mansion and of the stock that -own it, would make us wish to give Kentchurch everything it claims, -and more, in connection with Glyndwr's last days. Above the Court, -which stands in a hollow embowered in woods, a park or chase climbs -for many hundred feet up the steep sides of Garaway Hill, which in its -unconventional wildness and entire freedom from any modernising touch -is singularly in keeping with the ancient memories of the place. The -deer brush beneath oaks and yews of such prodigious age and size that -some of them must almost certainly have been of good size when Thomas -Scudamore brought Alice, the daughter of Owen of Glyndyfrdwy, home as -a bride; while just across the narrow valley, through which the waters -of the Monnow rush swift and bright between their ruddy banks, the -village and ruined castle of Grosmont stand conspicuous upon their -lofty ridge. It must in fairness to the claims of Monnington be -remembered that Grosmont was not precisely the object upon which -Glyndwr, if he were still susceptible to such emotions, would have -wished his fading eyesight to dwell long, since of all the spots in -Wales (and it is just in Wales, the Monnow being the boundary) -Grosmont had been the one most pregnant, perhaps, with evil to his -cause. For it was the defeat of Glyndwr's forces there that may be -said to have broken the back of his rebellion. And as we stand upon -the bridge over the Monnow midway between England and Wales, the still -stately ruins of the Norman castle that must often have echoed to -Prince Henry's cheery voice crown the hill beyond us; while behind it -the quaint village that rose upon the ashes of the town Glyndwr burnt, -with all its civic dignities, looks down upon us, the very essence of -rural peace. - -Glyndwr's estates had long ago been forfeited to the Crown and granted -to John, Earl of Somerset. Soon after his death Glyndyfrdwy was sold -to the Salusburys of Bachymbyd and of Rug near Corwen, one of the -very few alien families that in a peaceful manner had become -landowners in North Wales before the Edwardian conquest. It is only -recently indeed that there has ceased to be a Salusbury of Rug. Owen's -descendants, through his daughters, at any rate, are numerous. A few -years after his death, Parliament, softening towards his memory, -passed a special law for the benefit of his heirs, allowing them to -retain or recover a portion of the proscribed estates. In consequence -of this, Alice Scudamore made an effort to recover Glyndyfrdwy and -Sycherth from the Earl of Somerset apparently without success, so far -as the former went, in view of the early ownership of the Salusburys. - -Of Griffith, the son who was so long a prisoner in the Tower in -company with the young King of Scotland, we hear nothing more. But of -Meredith this entry occurs in the Rolls of Henry V., 1421: "Pardon of -Meredith son of Owynus de Glendordy according to the sacred precept -that the son shall not bear the iniquities of the father." To another -daughter of Glyndwr, probably an illegitimate one, Gwenllian, wife of -Phillip ap Rhys of Cenarth, the famous bard, Lewis Glyncothi, wrote -various poems, in one of which he says: "Your father was a potent -prince, all Wales was in his council." - -No intelligent person of our day could regret the failure of Glyndwr's -heroic effort. That Welshmen of the times we have been treating of -should have longed to shake off the yoke of the Anglo-Norman was but -human, for he was not only a bad master, but a foreigner and wholly -antipathetic to the Celtic nature. At the same time, the geographical -absurdity, if the word may be permitted, of complete independence was -frankly recognised by almost every Welsh patriot from earliest times. -The notion of a suzerain or chief king in London, as I have remarked -elsewhere, was quite in harmony with the most passionate of Welsh -demands. Glyndwr perhaps had other views; but then the kingdom that he -would fain have ruled, if the Tripartite Convention is to be relied -on, stretched far beyond the narrow bounds of Wales proper and quite -matched in strength either of the other two divisions which, under -this fantastic scheme, Mortimer and Percy were respectively to govern. -What was undoubtedly galling to the Welsh was the spectacle of a -province to the north of the island, consisting, so far as the bulk of -its power and civilisation was concerned, of these same hated -Anglo-Normans, not only claiming and maintaining an entire -independence on no basis that a Celt could recognise, but trafficking -continuously with foreign enemies in a fashion that showed them to be -destitute of any feeling for the soil of Britain beyond that part -which they themselves had seized. To the long-memoried Welshman it -seemed hard, and no doubt illogical, that these interlopers, one -practically in blood and speech and feeling with their own oppressors, -should thus be permitted to set up a rival independence within the -borders of the island, while they on their part were forced to fuse -themselves with a people who could not even understand their tongue -and with whom they had scarcely a sentiment in common. It is difficult -not to sympathise with the mediaeval Welshman in this attitude or to -refrain from wondering at the strange turn of fortune that allowed the -turbulent ambition of some Norman barons to draw an artificial line -and create a northern province, which their descendants, if they -showed much vigour in its defence, showed very little aptitude for -governing with reasonable equity. - - [Illustration: PORCH OF MONNINGTON CHURCH AND GLYNDWR'S REPUTED GRAVE. - Copyright - Mrs. Leather.] - -Glyndwr, it is true, had thrown off the old British tradition and had -called in foreigners from across the sea, as Vortigern to his cost had -done nearly a thousand years before. He had also adopted a French -Pope. Neither had done him much good, and Welshmen were soon as ready -as ever to fight their late brief allies for the honour of the island -of Britain. But Glyndwr from an early period in his insurrection had -kept the one aim, that of the independence of his country, dream -though it might be, consistently in view. No means were to be -neglected, even to the ruining of its fields and the destruction of -its buildings, to obtain this end. How thoroughly he carried out his -views has been sufficiently emphasised; so thoroughly, indeed, as to -cause many good Welshmen to refrain from wholly sharing in the -veneration shown for his memory by the bulk of his countrymen. There -can be but one opinion, however, as to the marvellous courage with -which he clung to the tree of liberty that he had planted and watered -with such torrents of human blood, till in literal truth he found -himself the last leaf upon its shrunken limbs, and that a withered -one. In the heyday of his glory his household bard and laureate -wrote much extravagant verse in his honour, as was only natural and in -keeping with the fancy of the period and of his class. But the Red -Iolo himself, in all likelihood, little realised the prophetic ring in -the lines he addressed to his master on the closing of his earthly -course, though we, at least, have ample evidence of their prescience: - - "And when thy evening sun is set, - May grateful Cambria ne'er forget - Its morning rays, but on thy tomb - May never-fading laurels bloom." - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -CHAPTER XII - -CONCLUSION - - -As I have led up to the advent of Glyndwr with a rough outline of -Welsh history prior to his day, I will now cast a brief glance at the -period which followed. English people have a tendency to -underestimate, or rather to take into small consideration, the wide -gulf which, not only in former days, but to some extent even yet, -divides the two countries. They are apt to think that after the -abortive rising of Glyndwr, provided even this stands out clearly in -their minds, everything went smoothly and Wales became merely a -geographical expression with an eccentric passion for maintaining its -own language. As, in the introduction to this book, I had to solicit -the patience of the general reader and crave the forbearance of the -expert for an effort to cover centuries in a few pages, so I must -again put in a plea for another venture of the same kind--briefer, but -none the less difficult. - -The ruin left by Glyndwr's war was awful. It was not only the loss of -property, the destruction of buildings, the sterilisation of lands, -but the quarrels and the blood-feuds which the soreness of these -years of strife handed down for generations to the descendants of -those who had taken opposing sides. And then before prosperity had -fairly lifted its head, before bloody quarrels and memories had been -forgotten, the devastating Wars of the Roses were upon the country, -and it was plunged once more into a chaos not much less distracting -than that in which the preceding generation had weltered. - -Though, by a curious turn of events, she ultimately gave to England a -Lancastrian king, Wales most naturally favoured the House of York. -Edmund Mortimer, uncle to the young Earl of March, had shared the -triumphs and the perils of Glyndwr's rising. The blood of Llewelyn ap -Iorwerth flowed in the veins of the Mortimers, and their great estates -lay chiefly in Wales and on the border. The old antagonism to -Bolingbroke's usurpation, and the sympathy with Richard and his -designated heir that half a century before accompanied it, were still -remembered. The Yorkists, however, had no monopoly of Wales,--Welsh -knights had fought victoriously in France under Henry V., and Marcher -barons of Lancastrian sympathies could command a considerable -following of Welshmen. The old confusion of lordship government still -retained half Wales as a collection of small palatinates. Once more -the castles that Glyndwr had left standing echoed to the bustle of -preparation and the stir of arms, and felt the blows of an artillery -that they could no longer face with quite the composure with which -they had faced the guns of Henry the Fourth. It was not so much the -actual damage that was done, for this war was not so comprehensive, -but rather the passions and faction it aroused among the Welsh gentry -of both races, though this new faction no longer ran strictly upon -racial lines. Nor, again, was it the amount of blood that was shed, -for this compared to Glyndwr's war was inconsiderable, but the legacy, -rather, of lawlessness that it left behind. Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, -in the invaluable chronicle which he wrote at his home in the Vale of -Conway during the reign of Elizabeth, draws a graphic picture of North -Wales as Henry the Seventh found it. Sir John's immediate forbears had -taken a brisk hand in the doings of those distracted times, and there -were still men living when he wrote who had seen the close of the -chaos with their own eyes, and whose minds were stored with the -evidence of their fathers and grandfathers. Harlech in these wars -stood once more a noted siege. It was held for the Lancastrians by a -valiant Welshman against the Herberts, who made a somewhat celebrated -march through the mountains to besiege it. The stout defence it -offered inspired the music and the words of the Welsh national march, -"Men of Harlech,"--as spirited an air of its kind, perhaps, as has -ever been written. The Vale of Clwyd, the garden of North Wales, was -burnt, says Sir John, "to cold coals." Landowners who had mortgaged -their estates, he goes on to tell us, scarcely thought them worth -redeeming, while the deer grazed in the very streets of Llanrwst. For -two or three generations the country was infested by bands of robbers -who found refuge in the mountains of Merioneth or the wild uplands -of the Berwyn Range, and fought for the privilege of systematically -plundering and levying blackmail on the Vale of Conway and the richer -meadows of Edeyrnion. Sir John's grandfather found it necessary to go -to church attended by a bodyguard of twenty men armed to the teeth. -"The red-haired banditti of Mawddy" kept the country between the Dovey -and Mawddach estuaries and inland nearly to Shropshire in a state of -chronic terror. The Carnarvon squires cherished blood-feuds that -almost resembled a vendetta, laid siege to one another's houses, and -engaged in mimic battles of a truly bloodthirsty description. The -first Wynne of Gwydir left West Carnarvonshire and preferred to live -among the brigands of the Vale of Conway rather than among his own -relatives, since he would "either have to kill or be killed by them." -To try and combat these organised bands of robbers, Edward IV. -instituted, in 1478, the Court of the President and Council of the -Marches of Wales, with summary jurisdiction over all breakers of the -peace--provided always that they could catch them! The legal machinery -of the lordships was wholly ineffectual, for though each petty monarch -had the power of life and death, the harbouring of thieves and outlaws -became a matter purely of personal rivalry and jealousy. - - [Illustration: PEMBROKE CASTLE. - FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. - Copyright - F. Frith & Co.] - -But this epoch of Welsh history ended with the advent of the Tudors, -which is in truth an even more notable landmark than the so-called -conquest of Edward I. Wales since that time had been governed as a -conquered country, or a Crown province--she had been annexed but not -united, nor had she been represented in Parliament, while outside the -Edwardian counties justice was administered, or more often not -administered, by two or three score of petty potentates. One must not, -however, make too much of what we now call union and patriotism. -Cheshire had been till quite recently an independent earldom, with -similar relations to the Crown as the lordship, say, of Ruthin or of -Hay. As regards national feeling, it is very doubtful if the -sentiments that had animated the heptarchy had been eradicated from -that turbulent palatinate who boasted the best archers in England and -were extremely jealous of their licentious independence. - - [Illustration: KENTCHURCH COURT, WITH GLYNDWR'S TOWER. - Copyright - W. H. Bustin.] - -But it was a pure accident that in the end really reconciled the Welsh -to a close union with the hated Saxon. Steeped as they were in -sentiment, and credulous to a degree of mysticism and prophecy, and -filled with national pride, the rise of the grandson of Owen Tudor of -Penmynydd to the throne of Britain was for the Cymry full of -significance. The fact, too, that Henry was not merely a Welshman but -that he landed in Wales and was accompanied thence by a large force of -his fellow-countrymen to the victorious field of Bosworth was a -further source of pride and consolation to this long-harassed people. -It would be hard indeed to exaggerate the effect upon Wales and its -future relationship with England, when a curious chain of events -elevated this once obscure princeling to the throne of England. It was -strange, too, that it should be a Lancastrian after all whose -accession caused such joy and triumph throughout a province which had -shed its blood so largely upon the opposing side. The bards were of -course in ecstasies; the prophecy that a British prince should once -again reign in London--which had faded away into a feeble echo, -without heart or meaning, since the downfall of Glyndwr--now -astonished with its sudden fulfilment the expounders of Merlin and the -Brut as completely as it did the audience to whom they had so long -foretold this unlikely consummation. Not for a moment, however, we may -well believe, was such a surprise admitted nor the difference in the -manner of its fulfilment. But who indeed would carp at that when the -result was so wholly admirable? It is not our business to trace the -tortuous ways by which fate removed the more natural heirs to the -throne and seated upon it for the great good of England as well as of -Wales the grandson of an Anglesey squire of ancient race and trifling -estate. - -That the first Tudor disappointed his fellow-countrymen in some of -their just expectations, and behaved in fact somewhat meanly to them, -is of no great consequence since his burly son made such ample amends -for the shortcomings of his father. The matrimonial barbarities of -Henry the Eighth and his drastic measures in matters ecclesiastical -have made him so marked a personage that men forget and indeed are not -very clearly made to understand what he did for Wales, and -consequently for England too. - -By an Act of Parliament in 1535 the whole of the Lordship Marcher -system was swept away, and the modern counties of Denbigh, -Montgomery, Monmouth, Glamorgan, Brecon, and Radnor were formed out of -the fragments. It is only possible to generalise within such compass -as this. The precise details belong rather to antiquarian lore and -would be out of place here. It will be sufficient to say that the -Welsh people of all degrees, after waiting with laudable patience for -their first King to do something practical on their behalf, petitioned -Henry the Eighth to abolish the disorders under which half their -country groaned and to grant that representation in Parliament as yet -enjoyed by no part of the Principality, and without which true -equality could not exist. The King appointed a commission to carry out -their wishes. The sources from which the new counties took their -names, though following no rule, are obvious enough. Glamorgan, the -old Morganwg, had been practically a County Palatine since Fitzhamon -and his twelve knights seized it in Henry the First's time, that is to -say, the inferior lordships were held in fealty, not each to the King -as elsewhere, but to the heirs of Fitzhamon, who for many generations -were the Clares, Earls of Gloucester, having their capital at Cardiff, -where higher justice was administered. Pembroke was something of the -same sort, though the Flemish element made it differ socially from -Glamorgan. Nor must it be forgotten that that promontory of Gower in -the latter palatinate was a Flemish lordship. But Pembroke was the -actual property of the Crown and its earls or lords were practically -constables. The rest of the Marches (for this term signified all Wales -outside the Edwardian counties) had no such definitions. That they -followed no common rule was obvious enough. Brecon took its name from -the old lordship of Brecheiniog that Bernard de Newmarch had founded -in Henry the First's time. The old Melynydd, more or less, became -Radnor, after its chief fortress and lordship. Montgomery derived its -shire name from the high-perched castle above the Severn, Monmouth -from the town at the Monnow's mouth. Large fragments of the Marches, -too, were tacked on to the counties of Hereford and Shropshire, the -Welsh border as we know it to-day being in many places considerably -westward of the old line. All the old lordship divisions with the -privileges and responsibilities of their owners were abolished, and -the castles, which had only existed for coercive and defensive -purposes, began gradually from this time to subside into those hoary -ruins which from a hundred hilltops give the beautiful landscape of -South Wales a distinction that is probably unmatched in this -particular in northern Europe. County government was uniformly -introduced all over Wales and the harsh laws of Glyndwr's day, for -some time a dead letter, were erased from the statutes. Parliamentary -representation was allotted, though only one knight instead of two sat -for a shire and one burgess only for all the boroughs of a shire; and -the two countries became one in heart as well as in fact. Till 1535 -the eldest son of English Kings, as Prince of Wales, had been all that -the name implies. Henceforth it became a courtesy title; and one may -perhaps be allowed a regret, having regard to the temperament of a -Celtic race in this particular, that our English monarchs have allowed -it to remain so wholly divorced from all Welsh connection. The last -actual Prince of Wales was Henry the Eighth's elder brother Arthur, -who died at the then official residence of Ludlow Castle a few weeks -after his marriage with Catherine of Aragon. - -This reminds me too that one peculiarity remained to distinguish the -administration of Wales from that of England, namely that famous and -long-lived institution, the "Court of the Marches." This has already -been mentioned as introduced by Edward the Fourth, who was friendly to -Wales, for the suppression of outlaws and brigands. It was confirmed -and its powers enlarged by Henry the Eighth's Act, and with -headquarters at Ludlow, though sitting sometimes at Shrewsbury and -Chester, it was the appeal for all important Welsh litigation. Nor was -it in any sense regarded as a survival of arbitrary treatment. On the -contrary, it was a convenience to Welshmen, who could take cases there -that people in North Yorkshire, for instance, would have to carry all -the way to Westminster. For a long time, curiously enough, its -jurisdiction extended into the counties of Worcester, Gloucester, -Hereford, and Salop. It consisted of a president and council with a -permanent staff of subordinate officials. The presidency was an office -of great honour, held usually by a bishop or baron of weight in the -country, associated with the two justices of Wales and that of -Chester. The arrangement seems to have caused general satisfaction -till the reign of William the Third, when the growth of industry and -population made it advisable to divide Wales into circuits. - -The petitions addressed from the Welsh people to Henry praying for -complete fusion with England are instructive reading. Marcher rule at -the worst had been infamously cruel, at the best inconvenient and -inequitable. It was a disgrace to the civilisation of the fifteenth -century, which is saying a great deal. To bring criminals to justice -was almost impossible when they had only to cross into the next -lordship, whose ruler, being unfriendly perhaps to his neighbour, made -it a point of honour to harbour those who defied him. The still -martial spirit of the Welsh found vent when wars had ceased in petty -quarrels, and with such a turbulent past it did them credit that they -recognised how sorely even-handed justice was wanted among them. - -Lordship Marchers themselves were too often represented by deputies, -and something like the abuses that were familiar in Ireland in more -recent times owing to middlemen added to the confusion. According to -local custom the humbler people of one lordship might not move eight -paces from the road as they passed through a neighbouring territory. -The penalty for transgression was all the money they had about them -and the joint of one finger. If cattle strayed across the lordship -boundary they could be kept and branded by the neighbouring lord or -his representatives. - -In the aforesaid petitions sent up to Henry VIII. the petitioners -dwell upon their loyalty to the throne and the unhappy causes that -had alienated them from it in the past. They remind him of how they -fought in France for Edward III., and of their loyalty to Richard II., -which was the sole cause, they declare, of their advocacy of Glyndwr. -They indignantly declare that they are not "runaway Britons as some -call us," but natives of a country which besides defending itself -received all those who came to it for succour at the period alluded -to. Resenting the imputation of barrenness sometimes cast on their -country, they declare that "even its highest mountains afford beef and -mutton, not only to ourselves, but supply England in great quantity." -They recall the fact that they were Christians while the Saxons were -still heathen. They combat those critics who describe their language -as uncouth and strange and dwell on its antiquity and purity. If it is -spoken from the throat, say these petitioners, "the Spanish and -Florentines affect that pronunciation as believing words so uttered -come from the heart." Finally, with presumably unconscious satire, -they allude to the speech of the northern part of the island as "a -kind of English." - -Henry accomplished these great reforms in the teeth of the baronial -influence of the whole Marches, and if the slaughter of the Wars of -the Roses had made his task somewhat easier, he should have full -credit for achieving a piece of legislation whose importance as an -epoch-marking event could hardly be exaggerated, not only as affecting -Wales but the four powerful counties that adjoined it. - -To create and organise six new counties out of chaos, to enfranchise -and give representation to twelve, to permanently attach one of the -three tributary kingdoms to the British Crown, is a performance that -should be sufficient to lift the reign of a monarch out of the common -run. Every schoolboy is familiar with the figure of Henry VIII. -prancing in somewhat purposeless splendour on the Field of the Cloth -of Gold. But who remembers the assimilation of Wales to England which -was his doing? - -Wales, though small in population, was numerically much greater in -proportion to England than is now the case. To-day she is a twentieth, -then perhaps she was nearly a seventh, of the whole. It was of vital -importance that her people should be satisfied and well governed. The -accession of the Tudors and the common sense of their second monarch -achieved without difficulty what might have been a long and arduous -business. - -The palmy days of Elizabeth saw Wales, like England, advance by leaps -and bounds. The native gentry, the tribesmen, the "Boneddigion," -always pressing on the Norman aristocracy, now came again in wholesale -fashion to the front. The grim castle and the fortified manor -developed into the country house. Polite learning increased and the -upper classes abandoned, in a manner almost too complete, the native -tongue. The higher aristocracy, taking full and free part in English -life, became by degrees wholly Anglicised, and the habit, though very -gradually, spread downwards throughout the whole gentry class. The -Reformation had been accepted with great reluctance in Wales. The -people were conservative by instinct and loyal to all such constituted -authorities as they held in affection. They would take anything, -however, for that very reason, from the Tudors, and swallowed, or -partly swallowed, a pill that was by no means to their liking. In -Elizabeth's time the Bible and Prayer-Book were translated into Welsh, -which marked another epoch in the history of Wales much greater than -it at first sounds. It was not done without opposition: the desire in -official circles to stamp out the native language, which became -afterward so strong, had already germinated, and it was thought that -retaining the Scriptures and the Service in English would encourage -its acquisition among the people. The prospects, however, in the -actual practice did not seem encouraging, and in the meantime the -souls of the Welsh people were starving for want of nourishment. The -Welsh Bible and Prayer-Book proved an infinite boon to the masses of -the nation, but it did more than anything else to fix the native -tongue. - -Wales readily transformed its affection for the Tudors into loyalty -for the Stuarts. The Church, too, was strong--the bent of the people -being averse to Puritanism, and indeed nowhere in Britain did the -survivals of popery linger so long as among the Welsh mountains. Even -to-day, amid the uncongenial atmosphere that a century of stern -Calvinism has created, some unconscious usages and expressions of the -peasantry in remoter districts preserve its traces. The Civil War -found Wales staunch almost to a man for the King. There were some -Roundheads in the English part of Pembroke, as was natural, and a few -leading families elsewhere were found upon the Parliamentary side. -Such of the castles as had not too far decayed were furbished up and -renewed the memories of their stormy prime under circumstances far -more injurious to their masonry. Harlech, Chirk, Denbigh, Conway, and -many others made notable defences. The violent loyalty of Wales -brought down upon it the heavy hand of Cromwell, though himself a -Welshman by descent. The landed gentry were ruined or crippled, and -the prosperity of the country greatly thrown back. It is said that the -native language took some hold again of the upper classes from the -fact of their poverty keeping them at home, whereas they had been -accustomed to flock to the English universities and the border grammar -schools, such as Shrewsbury, Chester, or Ludlow. Welsh poetry and -literature expended itself in abuse of that Puritanism which in a -slightly different form was later on to find in Wales its chosen home. -But in all this there was of course little trace of the old -international struggles. The Civil War was upon altogether different -lines. The attitude of Wales was, in fact, merely that of most of the -west of England somewhat emphasised. - -Smitten in prosperity, the Principality moved slowly along to better -times in the wake of England, under the benevolent neutrality of the -later Stuarts and of William and Anne. It still remained a great -stronghold in outward things, at any rate, of the Church, and kept -alive what Defoe, travelling there in Anne's reign, calls "many -popish customs," such as playing foot-ball between the services on -Sunday, and retiring to drink at the public house, which was -sometimes, he noted, kept by the parson, while even into the -eighteenth century funeral processions halted at the crossroads and -prayed for the soul of the dead. The Welsh landowning families were -numerous and poor, proud of their pedigrees, which unlike the -Anglo-Norman had a full thousand years for genealogical facts or -fancies to play over. At the beginning of the eighteenth century there -were very few wealthy landowners in Wales who stood out above the -general level, which was perhaps a rude and rollicking one. There was -no middle class, for there were neither trade nor manufactures worth -mentioning, and little shifting from one class to another. Hence the -genealogy was simple, and consequently, perhaps, more accurate than in -wealthier societies. The mixture of English blood over most of the -country was almost nil among the lower class, and not great even among -the gentry. - -The peasantry still submitted themselves without question to their own -social leaders, and the latter, though they had mostly abandoned their -own language, still took a pride in old customs and traditions, were -generous, hospitable, quarrelsome, and even more addicted to convivial -pleasures than their English contemporaries of that class. Defoe was -at a cocking match in Anglesey and sat down to dinner with forty -squires of the island. "They talked in English," he says, "but swore -in Welsh." That the Welsh gentleman of the present day, unlike his -prototype of Scotland or Ireland, shows no trace worth mentioning of -his nationality is curious when one thinks how much farther removed he -usually is in blood from the Englishman than either. It should be -remembered, however, that there were no seats of learning in Wales -such as Ireland and Scotland possessed. The well-to-do young Welshman -went naturally to England for his education, even in days when -difficulties of travelling were in favour of even indifferent local -institutions. - -Surnames became customary in Wales about the time of the Tudor -settlement; previously only a few men of literary distinction had -adopted them, such as Owen Cyfylliog, Prince of Upper Powys, Dafydd -Hiraethog, etc. The inconvenience of being distinguished only by the -names of his more recent ancestors connected by "ab" or "ap" was found -intolerable by the Welshman and his English friends as life got more -complex. It is said that Henry VIII. was anxious for the Welsh -landowners to assume the name of their estates in the old Anglo-Norman -fashion, and it is a pity his suggestion was not followed, in part at -any rate. But the current Christian name of the individual was adopted -instead and saddled for ever on each man's descendants. So a language -full of euphonious place-names and sonorous sounds shows the paradox -of the most inconveniently limited and perhaps the poorest family -nomenclature in Europe. - -In 1735, just two hundred years after its complete union with England, -began the movement that was in time to change all Wales, I had almost -said the very Welsh character itself. This was the Methodist revival. -All Welshmen were then Church people. The landed families for the most -part supplied the parishes with incumbents, grouping them no doubt as -much as possible so as to create incomes sufficient for a younger son -to keep a humble curate and ruffle it with his lay relatives over the -bottle and in the field. The peasantry may have been cheery and happy, -but they were sunk in ignorance. They seem, however, to have been good -churchgoers--the old instinct of discipline perhaps surviving--but the -spiritual consolation they received there was lamentably deficient, -and the Hanoverian regime was making matters steadily worse. Its -political bishops rarely came near their Welsh dioceses. All the -higher patronage was given to English absentees, for the poor Welsh -squires could be of little political service and had no equivalent -wherewith to pay for a deanery or a canon's stall. To be a Welshman, -in fact, was then, and for more than a century later when the landed -class had nearly ceased to enter the Church, of itself a bar to -advancement. The mental alertness and religious fervour, however, of -the Welsh people had only lain dormant under circumstances so -discouraging, and were far from dead. They presented a rare field for -the efforts of the religious reformer, though it seems more than -likely that the beauty and ritual of an awakened Anglican Church would -have appealed to their natures more readily even than the eloquence of -the Calvinistic school that eventually led them captive. The Welsh -people were imaginative, reverential, musical. Their devotion to the -old faith in both its forms was sufficiently shown by the pathetic -fidelity with which they clung to their mother churches till, both -physically and mentally, they tumbled about their ears. - -The Methodist revivalists of the eighteenth century were, as everyone -knows, for the most part Churchmen. Many of them were in orders, -valiant and devoted men, who not only preached in the highways and -hedges, but founded schools all over Wales, whose peasantry at that -time were almost without education. They suffered every kind of -persecution and annoyance from the Church, while the country clergy -headed mobs who treated them with physical violence. No effort was -made to meet this new rival upon its own grounds,--those of -ministerial energy and spiritual devotion,--but its exponents were met -only with rotten eggs. The bishops were not merely absentees for the -most part, but from 1700 to 1870 they were consistently Englishmen, -ignorant of the Welsh tongue, and regarded in some sort as agents for -the Anglicising of Wales. Men who with some exceptions were destitute -of qualifications for their office found themselves in positions that -would have taxed abilities of the highest order and all the energies -of a modern prelate. The holders of Welsh sees laid neither such -slender stocks of ability nor energy as they might possess under the -slightest contribution on behalf of Welsh religion. With the funds of -the Church, however, they observed no such abstention, but saddled the -needy Welsh Establishment with a host of relatives and friends. As for -themselves, with a few notable exceptions they cultivated a dignified -leisure, sometimes at their palaces, more often in London or Bath. One -prelate never saw his diocese at all, while another lived entirely in -Cumberland. With the Methodist revival one could not expect them to -sympathise, nor is it surprising that their good wishes were with the -militant pot-house parsons who were in favour of physical force. One -must remember after all, however, that this was the Hogarthian period; -that in all these features of life England was at its worst; and that -the faults of the time were only aggravated in Wales by its aloofness -and its lingual complications. The Welsh Methodist, it is true, did -not formally leave the Church till 1811, but by that time Calvinism -had thoroughly taken hold of the country, and the Establishment had -not only made no spiritual efforts to stem the tide, but was rapidly -losing even its social influence, as the upper classes were ceasing to -take service in its ranks. The Welsh parson of indifferent morals and -lay habits had hitherto generally been of the landowning class. Now he -was more often than not of a humbler grade without any compensating -improvement in morals or professional assiduity. The immense -development of dissent in Wales during the last century is a matter of -common knowledge. The purifying of the Welsh Church and clergy in the -latter half of it and the revival of Anglican energy within the last -quarter are marked features of modern Welsh life. We have nothing to -do here with the probabilities of a success so tardily courted. But it -is of pertinent interest to consider the immense changes that have -come over Wales since, let us say, the middle of the Georgian period; -and by this I do not merely mean those caused by a material progress -common to the whole of Great Britain. For there is much reason to -think that the character of the Welsh peasantry has been steadily -altering, particularly in the more thoroughly Welsh districts, since -they fell under the influence of Calvinistic doctrines. There is much -evidence that the old Welshman was a merry, light-hearted person, of -free conversation and addicted to such amusements as came in his way; -that he still had strong military instincts,[16] and cherished feudal -attachments to the ancient families of Wales even beyond the habit of -the time among the English. This latter instinct has died hard, -considering the cleavage that various circumstances have created -between the landed gentry and the peasantry. Indeed it is by no means -yet dead. - - [16] Recent events have demonstrated that this spirit is still far - from extinct. - -The drift of the native tongue, too, since Tudor times has been -curious. Its gradual abandonment by the landed gentry from that period -onwards, with the tenacity with which their tenants for the most part -clung to it, is a subject in itself. The resistance it still offers in -spots that may be fairly described as in the very centre of the -world's civilisation is probably the most striking lingual anomaly in -Europe. Its disappearance, on the other hand, in regions intensely -Welsh is worthy of note. Radnorshire, for instance, penetrating the -very heart of the Principality, populated almost wholly by Cymry, -forgot its Welsh before anyone now living can remember. Bits of -Monmouth, on the other hand, long reckoned an English county, still -use it regularly. It is the household tongue of villagers in Flint, -who can see Liverpool from their windows, while there are large -communities of pure Celts in Brecon and Carmarthen who cannot even -understand it. - -The great coal developments in South Wales have wholly transformed -large regions and brought great wealth into the country, and replaced -the abundant rural life of Glamorgan and its ancient families, Welsh -and Norman, with a black country that has developed a new social life -of its own. Slate quarrying has proved a vast and profitable industry -among the northern mountains, while thousands of tourists carry no -inconsiderable stream of wealth across the Marches with every -recurring summer. But neither coal-pits, nor quarries, nor tourists -make much impression on the Welsh character such as it has become in -the North, more particularly under the influence of Calvinism, and -very little upon the language which fifty years ago men were -accustomed to regard as doomed. - -The history of Welsh land since the time of the Tudor settlement is -but that of many parts of England. Wales till this century was -distinguished for small properties and small tenancies. There were but -few large proprietors and few large farmers. In the matter of the -former particularly, things have greatly altered. The small squires -who lived somewhat rudely in diminutive manor-houses have been -swallowed up wholesale by their thriftier or bigger neighbours, but -the general and now regretted tendency to consolidate farms scarcely -touched Wales, fortunately for that country. Save in a few exceptional -districts it is a land of small working farmers, and in most parts the -resident agricultural labourer as a detached class scarcely exists. - -Few countries in the world contain within the same area more elements -of prosperity and happiness than modern Wales, and fewer still are so -fortunately situated for making the most of them. Coal, iron, slate, -and other minerals in great abundance are vigorously exported and give -work and good wages to a large portion of the population. In the rural -districts a thrifty peasantry are more widely distributed over the -soil, to which they are peculiarly attached, than in almost any part -of Britain, and occupied for the most part in the more hopeful and -less toilsome of the two branches of agriculture, namely, that of -stock-breeding. Surrounded on three sides by the sea, there are ready -facilities for the trader, the sailor, or the fisherman. The romantic -scenery of the country is another valuable asset to its people and -brings an annual and certain income that only one small corner of -England can show any parallel to. Education is in an advanced state, -while the humbler classes of society have resources due to their taste -for music and their sentiment for their native language, which have no -equivalent in English village life. - -Even those strangely constituted minds that like to dig up racial -grievances from the turmoil of the Middle Ages, when right and might -were synonymous words the world over, and profess to judge the -fourteenth century by the ethics of the nineteenth, must confess that -the forced partnership with England has had its compensations. The -reasonable Welshman will look back rather with much complaisance on -the heroic and prolonged struggle of his ancestors against manifest -destiny, remembering always that the policy of the Norman kings was an -obvious duty to themselves and to their realm. - -Had the Ireland of that day, with its larger fighting strength and -sea-girt territory, possessed the national spirit and tenacious -courage of Wales, who knows but that she might have vindicated her -right to a separate nationality by the only test admissible in -mediaeval ethics, that of arms? Geography at any rate in her case was -no barrier to an independent existence, and there would have been -nothing illogical or unnatural in the situation. But geography -irrevocably settled the destiny of Wales, as it eventually did that of -Scotland. If the conditions under which Wales came into partnership -were different and the date earlier, that, again, was partly due to -its propinquity to the heart of England. Yet with all these centuries -of close affinity to England, the Welsh in many respects--I had almost -said in most--have preserved their nationality more successfully than -the Celts of either Ireland or the North, and in so doing have lost -nothing of such benefits as modern civilisation brings. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -APPENDIX - -THE BARDS - - -The Bards as a class were so deeply interwoven with the whole life of -ancient Wales and, though long shorn of most of their official glory, -played so prominent a part in the rising of Glyndwr, that it seems -desirable that a chapter touching on the subject should be included in -this book. Within such limits the subject can only be treated in the -most general and elementary manner. Yet such treatment is excusable -from the fact that the slenderest and most inefficient description of -Welsh song and Welsh singers must contain matter unknown to most -English readers. I imagine that few of these would resent being asked -to divest their minds of the time-honoured notion that the teaching of -the Druids was nothing but a bloodthirsty and barbarous superstition. -At any rate, Bardism and Druidism being practically the same thing, -one is obliged to remind those readers who may never have given the -matter any attention at all, that among the ancient Britons of the -Goidel stock who inhabited most of Wales and the West previous to the -Cymric immigration, Druidism was the fountain of law, authority, -religion, and, above all, of education. The Druids, with their three -orders, were a caste apart for which those who were qualified by good -character and noble birth to do so, laboriously trained themselves. -They decided all controversies whether public or private, judged all -causes, from murder to boundary disputes, and administered both -rewards and punishments. Those who ventured to defy them were -excommunicated, which was equivalent to becoming moral and social -lepers. - -The three orders were known as Druids, Bards, and Ovates. The first -were priests and judges, the second poets; the third were the least -aristocratic, practised the arts and sciences, and were, moreover, a -probationary or qualifying order through which candidates for the -other two, who were on the same level of dignity, had to pass. As -everyone knows, there was an Arch-Druid of the Isle of Britain who had -his sanctuary in Anglesey. But it is a matter of much less common -knowledge how close was the connection between the Druids and -Christianity in the Roman period and even afterwards. The Romans, with -conquest foremost in their minds, most naturally aimed at the native -rulers of the people and made these bardic orders the objects of their -special attack. Their slaughter on the banks of the Menai as described -by Tacitus, and the destruction of the Sacred Groves of Mona, are -among our familiar traditions. - -The Druid orders fled to Ireland, Brittany, and elsewhere. But in -time, when the Romans, strong in their seats, grew tolerant, the -exiles returned and quietly resumed, in West Britain at any rate, -something like their old positions. - -When Christianity pushed its way from the West into the island, the -bardic orders, unable to resist it, seem by degrees to have accepted -the situation and to have become the priests of the new faith, as they -had been the custodians and expounders of the old. This transition was -the less difficult seeing that the Druids preached all the ordinary -tenets of morality, and the immortality of the soul. To what extent -the early Christianity of western Britain was tainted with the -superstition of the Druids is a question upon which experts have -written volumes, and it need not detain us here. A notable effort was -made in the fourth century to merge Christianity, so to speak, in the -old British faith, and Morgan or Pelagius, "seaborn," of Bangor Iscoed -was the apostle of this attempted reaction. He left the island about -A.D. 400, and his converts in what we now call Wales were numerous and -active. The movement is historically known as the "Pelagian heresy" -and has some additional importance from the number of ecclesiastics -that came from over the sea for the purpose of denouncing it. - -But all this is rather the religious than the secular side of Bardism, -the leading feature of whose teaching in pre-Roman days had been the -committal to memory of its literature, both prose and verse. Writing -was discountenanced, as the possession of these stores of learning -thus laboriously acquired were a valuable asset of the initiated. -Three was the mystic number in the recitation of all axioms and -precepts, for many of these were committed to writing later on in the -seventh and tenth centuries, and are now familiar as the Welsh -"Triads." - -The bards, as a lay order, remained of great importance. In the laws -of Howel Dda (tenth century) the royal bard stands eighth among the -officers of the State. The fine for insulting him was six cows and -twenty silver pennies. His value was 126 cows, his land was free, and -he had the use of a house. His noblest duty was to sing "The Monarchy -of Britain" at the head of his chieftain's army when victorious. The -number of songs he had to sing to the King and Queen respectively -during the social hours was clearly defined, as were his claims upon -each. Among the latter was a specified portion of the spoils of war, a -chessboard made from the horn of a sea-fish from the King, and a ring -from the Queen. It was the business of the bards, moreover, to -preserve genealogies, and they were practically tutors to the rising -generation of the aristocracy. Every family of position in Wales had -its domestic bard, while below these there were a great number of -strolling minstrels who visited the dwellings of the inferior people, -from whom they exacted gifts of money ("cymmorthau") as well as free -quarters. - -In treating of individual and well-known bards one naturally turns for -a beginning to the sixth century, when that famous quartet, Taliesin, -Merddyn, Aneurin, and Llywarch Hen, flourished. Several poems either -actually their work or purporting to be so are extant. To linger over -a period so dim, however great the names that adorn it, would be out -of place here. That all four were great kings of song in their time is -beyond doubt. The legends that distinguish them are comparatively -familiar: how Taliesin was found floating in a leather bottle in -Prince Elphin's salmon weir near Aberdovey, how Merddyn as a boy -astonished the advisers of Vortigern and became his good angel, and -how Llywarch Hen, at a hundred and fifty years of age, witnessed the -slaughter of the last of his four-and-twenty sons in battle against -the Saxons. His poem on the death of Cynddylan, Prince of Powys, -seizes the imagination, not so much from the description the -poet-warrior gives of the death of his friend and his own sons in a -decisive combat which he himself took part in, but from the almost -certain fact that from the top of the Wrekin he saw the Saxons destroy -and sack Uriconium ("the white town"), whose ruins are such a striking -feature among the sights of Shropshire. - -From these four giants until 1080 there is little left whereby to -judge of the merits of the bards, and no great record of their names. -That they sang and played and gave counsel and kept genealogies is -beyond question, but it was not till after the Norman conquest of -England that they began to leave much behind them in the way of -written documents. - -When Prince Griffith ap Kynan returned from Ireland to Wales and the -poet Meilir arose to sing his triumphs and good qualities, a new era -in bardic history may be said to have commenced. The intellectual and -religious revival that distinguished the twelfth century in Western -Europe was conspicuous in Wales. The bards were no longer singing -merely of battles, but of nature and kindred subjects, with a delicacy -that showed them to be men of taste and culture. In the twelfth, -thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, in spite of war and conquest, -the age was a golden one in Welsh song. Between eighty and ninety -bards of this period have left poems behind them as a witness of their -various styles and merits, while there are no literary remains -whatever of very many who are known to have been quite famous in their -day. Thousands, too, of popular songs must have existed that the -jealousy of the composers or, more probably, the price of parchment -consigned to oblivion. - - "When the literary revival of this period reached Wales, its - people," says Mr. Stephens in the _Literature of the Kymri_, - "were better prepared than their neighbours for intellectual - effort." "An order of bards existed, numerous and well - disciplined; a language in all its fullness and richness was - in use among all classes of people, and as a necessary - consequence their literature was superior, more copious, and - richer than that of any contemporaneous nation. The fabulous - literature so prized by others was in no great repute, but - gave way to the public preference for the more laboured and - artistic productions of the bards." - -Several Welsh Princes of commanding character and unusual ability came -to the front in the long struggle with the Norman power, and were no -unworthy sources of bardic inspiration. Many of them aspired -themselves to literary as well as martial fame, of whom Owain -Cyfeiliog, Prince of Upper Powys, was the most notable. Poetry was in -high repute. Eisteddfodau were held periodically with much ceremony -and splendour, and were sometimes advertised a year in advance, not -only throughout Wales but in Ireland and other portions of the British -Islands. Not poetry alone but literature generally and music, of -course, both vocal and instrumental, were subjects of competition, -while Rhys ap Tudor, a long-lived and distinguished Prince of South -Wales, revived, after a sojourn in Brittany, the system of the Round -Table. To Englishmen the long list of bards who adorned the period -between the Norman arrival and Glyndwr's rising would be mere names, -but even to those who may only read the works of the most notable in -translations, they are of great interest if only as a reflection of -life and thought at a time when England and English were still almost -silent. - -Gwalchmai, the son of a distinguished father, Meilir, already -mentioned, was among the first of the revived school, whose work is -regarded by Celtic scholars as of the first quality. His love of -nature is prominent in many of the poems he has left: - - "At the break of day, and at evening's close, - I love the sweet musicians who so fondly dwell - In dear, plaintive murmurs, and the accents of woe; - I love the birds and their sweet voices - In the soothing lays of the wood." - -Owain Gwynedd was the hero-king of Gwalchmai's day. His repulse of an -attack made by Henry the Second's fleet under the command of an -unpatriotic Prince of Powys in Anglesey is the subject of the bard's -chief heroic poem: - - "Now thickens still the frantic war, - The flashing death-strokes gleam afar, - Spear rings on spear, flight urges flight, - And drowning victims plunge to-night - Till Menai's over-burthened tide, - Wide-blushing with the streaming gore, - And choked with carnage, ebbs no more; - While mail-clad warriors on her side - In anguish drag their deep-gash'd wounds along, - And 'fore the King's Red chiefs are heap'd the mangled throng." - -Owain Cyfeiliog, a Prince of Powys in the end of the twelfth century, -though a noted warrior, is a leading instance of a royal bard. His -chief poem, _The Hirlas Horn_ (drinking-cup), is famous wherever Welsh -is spoken: - - "This horn we dedicate to joy; - Then fill the Hirlas horn, my boy, - That shineth like the sea, - Whose azure handles tipped with gold - Invite the grasp of Britons bold, - The sons of liberty." - -This is one of the longest poems of the twelfth century. The scene is -the night after a battle, and the Prince with his warriors gathered -round him in the banqueting-hall sends the brimming cup to each of his -chieftains successively and enumerates their respective deeds. A -leading incident in the poem is when Owen, having eulogised the -prowess of two favourite warriors in glowing terms, turns to their -accustomed seats, and, finding them vacant, suddenly recalls the fact -that they had fallen in the battle of the morning: - - "Ha! the cry of death--And do I miss them! - O Christ! how I mourn their catastrophe! - O lost Moreiddig--How greatly shall I need thee!" - -A most suggestive poem by another Prince is a kind of summary of his -progress through his dominions from the Ardudwy mountains, - - "Fast by the margin of the deep - Where storms eternal uproar keep," - -to the hills above Llangollen where he proposes "to taste the social -joys of Yale." This is Howel, the illegitimate son of Owain Gwynedd, -who seized and held for two years his father's kingdom. Though so -strenuous a warrior, his poems are rather of love and social life. He -sings with much feeling of the joys of Wales; her fair landscape, her -bright waters and green vales, her beauteous women and skimming -seagulls, her fields clothed with tender trefoil, her far-reaching -wilds, and plenteousness of game. Himself a successful stormer of -castles, there is something richly suggestive in the action of a man -laying down the torch and bloody sword and taking up the pen to -describe his havoc: - - "The ravens croaked and human blood - In ruddy streams poured o'er the land; - There burning houses war proclaimed; - Churches in flames and palace halls; - While sheets of fire scale the sky, - And warriors 'On to battle!' cry." - -Then the author wholly changes his mood: - - "Give me the fair, the gentle maid, - Of slender form, in mantle green; - Whose woman's wit is ever staid, - Subdued by virtue's graceful mien. - Give me the maid, whose heart with mine - Shall blend each thought, each hope combine; - Then, maiden fair as ocean's spray, - Gifted with Kymric wit's bright ray, - Say, am I thine? - Art thou then mine? - What! silent now? - Thy silence makes this bosom glow. - I choose thee, maiden, for thy gifts divine; - 'Tis right to choose--then, fairest, choose me thine." - -There is much misunderstanding as to the fashion in which the bards -were treated by Edward the First. During war the leading minstrels -were naturally identified with the patrons whose banners they followed -and whose praises they sang; but the statement that they were put to -death as bards rests on wholly secondary authority and seems doubtful. -Stringent laws were certainly made against the lower order of -minstrels who wandered homeless through the country, but they seem to -have been devised as much for the protection of the common people, who -were called on to support them, as against the men themselves, who -were regarded by the authorities as mendicants and idlers. The -superior bards, who kept strictly to the houses of the great, were -probably not often interfered with. These, though they had regular -patrons and fixed places of abode, made extended tours from time to -time in which there seems to have been no special distinction between -North and South Wales. The hatred of the bards towards England was a -marked feature of their time, and was so consistent that though many -Welsh princes, in their jealousy, lent their swords, as we have seen, -to the invader, no bards, so far as one knows, turned against their -countrymen. For generations they prided themselves in being -intellectually superior to the Saxon. They also saw, after the Norman -conquest, the English race despised and held down by their conquerors, -and a species of serfdom in use among the Saxons which had no -prototype in their own country. The ordinary bards, however, had -beyond all doubt sacrificed much of their old independence and become -the creatures of their patrons and ready to sell their praises for -patronage. Even the respectable Meilir confesses: - - "I had heaps of gold and velvet - From frail princes for loving them." - -Llewelyn the Great, the second, that is to say, of the three -Llewelyns, aroused the enthusiasm of Bardic literature and was the -subject of much stirring eulogy: - - "None his valour could withstand, - None could stem his furious hand. - Like a whirlwind on the deep, - See him through their squadrons sweep. - Then was seen the crimson flood, - Then was Offa bathed in blood, - Then the Saxons fled with fright, - Then they felt his royal might." - -Dafydd Benvras, the author of this stanza, left many poems, and later -on Griffith ap Yr Ynad Goch wrote what is regarded as among the finest -of Welsh odes, on the death of the last Llewelyn, laying the blame of -that catastrophe on the wickedness of his countrymen: - - "Hark how the howling wind and rain - In loudest symphony complain; - Hark how the consecrated oaks, - Unconscious of the woodman's strokes, - With thundering crash proclaim he's gone, - Fall in each other's arms and groan. - Hark! how the sullen trumpets roar. - See! how the white waves lash the shore. - See how eclipsed the sun appears, - See! how the stars fall from their spheres, - Each awful Heaven-sent prodigy, - Ye sons of infidelity! - Believe and tremble, guilty land. - Lo! thy destruction is at hand." - -After the Edwardian conquest in 1284 the note of the bards sensibly -softened and attuned itself much more generally to love and nature. -The song-birds particularly were in great request as recipients of -poetic addresses and confidences. - - "And thou, lark, - Bard of the morning dawn, - Show to this maid - My broken heart." - -While the same singer, Rhys Goch, describes thus the light tread of -his ladylove: - - "As peahens stride in sun-ray heat, - See her the earth elastic tread; - And where she walks, neath snow-white feet - Not e'en a trefoil bends its head." - -The latter part of the 14th century was extremely prolific in poetry -which, with some notable exceptions, is regarded rather as showing a -good general level than as producing any masterpieces. Dafydd ap -Gwilym, the Welsh Ovid, is of course a striking exception. Over 250 of -his poems are preserved, while Lewis Glyncothi, Gutyn Owain, Iolo -Goch, Glyndwr's bard, and two or three more have left behind them -something like 300 others. Dafydd ap Gwilym, who was buried at Strata -Florida, holds one of the highest places in Cymric literature. It is -as a love poet that he is chiefly distinguished, but his love of -nature and his own beautiful country finds sole expression in many of -his productions. His ode to Fair Glamorgan, written from "the heart of -wild, wild Gwynedd," asking the summer to be his messenger, is -regarded as one of his best. In translation it is interesting as a -contemporary picture, though a poetic one, of the richest Welsh -province. - - "Radiant with corn and vineyards sweet, - And lakes of fish and mansions neat, - With halls of stone where kindness dwells, - And where each hospitable lord - Heaps for the stranger guest his board, - And where the generous wine-cup swells, - With trees that bear the luscious pear, - So thickly clustering everywhere. - Her lofty woods with warblers teem, - Her fields with flowers that love the stream, - Her valleys varied crops display, - Eight kinds of corn and three of hay; - Bright parlour with her trefoiled floor! - Sweet garden, spread on ocean shore." - -Quotations have already been made in the body of this book from Iolo -Goch's ode to Glyndwr, and throughout the Wars of the Roses Lewis -Glyncothi, Gutyn Owain, and Tudor Aled continued to sing of -contemporary events. - -The leading charge against Cymric poetry is that it is too prone to -elaborate the mere art of versification at the expense of fire and -animation. Alliteration was of course the chief method of ornament, -though the rhyming of the terminal syllable was by no means always -ignored. But, speaking generally, skill in the arrangement of words -according to certain time-honoured conventions occupied more than an -equitable share in the making of Welsh verse. A tendency to put mere -sound above feeling and emotion did much to cramp it, and often forced -it into mannerisms and affectations that would rather destroy than -enhance the intrinsic merits of a composition. - - "Beyond all rhetorical ornaments," says Giraldus Cambrensis, - "they preferred the use of alliteration and that kind more - especially which repeats the first letters or syllables of - words. They made so much use of this ornament in every - finished discourse that they thought nothing elegantly spoken - without it." - -Mr. Stephens, by way of illustration, points out poems by the greater -bards which from the first line to the last commence with the same -letter. He also attributes the extraordinary elaboration in structure -with which fashion was prone to cumber Welsh poetry to a desire for -increasing the difficulties of composition and in consequence the -exclusiveness of the bardic order. It is not surprising that in a -country where war was the chief business of life it should be by far -the favourite subject of the minstrel, particularly when one remembers -that the celebration of his employer's exploits or intended exploits -was the chief source of the domestic poet's livelihood. The wars of -Glyndwr stirred again the old fighting note which after the Edwardian -conquest had given way in a great measure to gentler themes. The old -laws against the bards, enunciated by Edward I., now for long a dead -letter, were renewed, but after this final submission of Wales it is -doubtful if they continued to have much meaning, particularly amid the -chaos of the ensuing Wars of the Roses, when the bards most certainly -did their full share of singing. - -I have said nothing of the music which both in early and mediaeval -Wales played such a prominent part in the national life. The harp was -always the true national instrument, though the pipe or bagpipe was -well known and in frequent use; but it was never really popular, as -in Ireland and Scotland, and this was surely a valuable testimony to -the superior culture of the Welsh musicians. Griffith ap Kynan, King -of North Wales about 1100, already mentioned, introduced it into the -Eisteddfod as the result of his Irish education. The pipes had -hitherto been forbidden, and the result at the celebrated Eisteddfod -at Caerwys was that Griffith's prize of a silver pipe went to a -Scotsman. The Welsh, in short, despised the instrument. Lewis -Glyncothi has left an amusing satire on a piper. He finds himself in -Flint at an English marriage, where the guests would have none of him -or his harp, but "bawled for Will the Piper, low born wretch" who -comes forward as best he may, "unlike a free enobled man." - - "The churl did blow a grating shriek, - The bag did swell, and harshly squeak, - As does a goose from nightmare crying, - Or dog crushed by a chest when dying, - This whistling box's changeless note - Is forced from turgid veins and throat; - Its sound is like a crane's harsh moan, - Or like a gosling's latest groan." - -Giraldus, half Welshman himself, writing after his extended tour -through Wales, about 1200, with Archbishop Baldwin, says: - - "The strangers who arrived in the morning were entertained - until evening with the conversation of young women and with - the music of the harp, for in this country almost every house - is provided with both. Such an influence had the habit of - music on the mind and its fascinating powers, that in every - family or in every tribe, they esteemed skill in playing on - the harp beyond any kind of learning. Again, by the sweetness - of their musical instruments they soothe and delight the ear. - They are rapid yet delicate in their modulation, and by the - astonishing execution of their fingers and their swift - transitions from discord to concord, produce the most pleasing - harmony." - -The part-singing of the Welsh seems also to have greatly struck -Giraldus in contrast to the unison in which he heard the musicians of -other nations perform. - -To draw the line between the bard and musician would be of course -impossible. Many writers of verse could only declaim; some could sing -to their own accompaniment. The mass of musicians, how ever, we may -take it, belonged to the lower grade of wandering bards, who played -first, as we have seen, upon the national instrument, the harp, as -well as upon the pipe and "crwth" (a kind of rude violin). - -The tone of morality was certainly not high among the mediaeval Welsh -bards. They had long lost all touch with the order of the priesthood, -and indeed monks and poets had become almost as a matter of course -inimical to one another. The latter, too, maintained a steady hatred -of the Saxon that was almost creditable, seeing how often their -masters, for the sake of interest or revenge, took up arms against -their fellow-countrymen. - -It is sufficiently difficult merely to touch, and that in the -slightest manner, so vast a subject as this. In recognising the -insufficiency of such an attempt, I am almost thankful that the -period of Glyndwr and the succeeding turmoil of the Wars of the Roses -puts a reasonable limit to my remarks. For it goes without saying that -when Wales settled down under the Tudors to its happy and humdrum -existence, the martial attitude of the bards as feudal appanages and -national firebrands altogether ceased. Welsh poets hereafter were -private individuals, their song ceased for the most part to be of war; -nor was the Saxon or the Lloegrian any longer an object of invective. -The glory of this new United Britain to which they belonged was not -without its inspiration, but it has been by no means a leading note in -Welsh verse, which, speaking generally, has since in this particular -sung upon a minor key. - -[Decoration] - - - - -[Decoration] - -INDEX - - - A - - Aber, 60, 72 - - Aberdaron, 201, 264-269 - - Aberffraw, 25 - - Abergavenny, 143 - - Abergavenny, Lord of, 227 - - Aberystwith, 231, 284-293 - - A'Court, Sir Francis, 262, 286 - - Adam of Usk, 130, 133, 150, 156, 159, 163 - - Albans, St., 193 - - Anarawd, 20 - - Anglesey, 70, 71, 75, 127, 135, 217, 218, 279 - - Anne, Queen, 323 - - Arundel, Earl of, 99, 177, 298 - - Arvon, cantref of, 295 - - Asaph, St., 66 - - Audley, Lord, 68, 86, 216 - - Augustine, St., 8, 9, 10 - - Avignon Pope, the, 234, 269-271, 299 - - - B - - Baldwin, Archbishop, 48 - - Bangor, 57, 75, 148, 299 - - Bangor Iscoed, 6 - - Bardolph, Earl, 252, 264, 268 - - Bards, the, 123, 134, 143, 163 - - Bardsey, Isle of, 53 - - Barmouth, 118 - - Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, 195, 229, 290 - - Beaufort, Earl, 128 - - Beaumaris, 279 - - Berkeley, James, Lord, 290 - - Berkhampstead, 170, 180 - - Berkrolles, Sir A., 231 - - Berkrolles, Sir Laurence, 281-283 - - Berwick, 203, 204 - - Bifort, Llewelyn, 234, 251, 252, 279, 299 - - Blanche, Princess, 168, 169 - - Bleddyn ap Cynvyn, 85 - - Bolde, John, 148-152, 219 - - Bramham Moor, battle of, 268 - - Bran the Blessed, 232 - - Brecon, 36, 142, 193, 194, 221, 317 - - Breiddon Hills, 17 - - Bristol, 212; - sailors of, 220, 287, 288 - - Brith, David, 134 - - Bromfield, Lordship of, 106 - - Browe, Sir Hugh, 141 - - Bryn Owen, battle of, 245 - - Brynsaithmarchog, 157 - - Builth, 152 - - - C - - Cader Idris, 141 - - Cadvan, King, 16 - - Cadwallader, 231 - - Cadwgan of the battle-axe, 260 - - Caer Drewyn, 122, 144 - - Caerleon, 2, 215, 245 - - Caerphilly, 215-217, 245 - - Canterbury, Archbishop of, 73, 79 - - Cardiff, 214, 215, 316 - - Cardigan, 5, 71, 79, 142, 149, 152 - - Carew, Thos., Earl, 191, 192, 202 - - Carmarthen, 28, 71, 79, 142, 152, 191, 192, 197, 198, 212-217, 256, 287 - - Carnarvon, 78, 86, 128, 139, 148, 190, 247 - - _Carnarvon, Record of_, 240, 287, 301 - - Carte, 303 - - Charles, King of France, 224, 225 - - Charltons, the, 146, 217, 229, 230, 297 - - Cheshire, 315 - - Chester, 1, 28, 32, 43, 44, 135, 140, 143, 144, 177, 203, 210, 302, 318 - - Chirk, 44, 87, 106, 155, 323 - - Clares, the, 316 - - Clear's, St., 191 - - Clwyd, Vale of, 18-20, 77, 135, 312 - - Coed Eulo, 43 - - Coity Castle, 37, 231, 259, 260, 275 - - Colwyn, 98 - - Colwyn ap Tangno, 232 - - Conway, 52, 61, 64-66, 75-78, 97, 98, 138-140, 218, 219, 323 - - Cornwall, conquest of, 16 - - Cornwall, Sir John, 217 - - Corwen, 44, 106, 122 - - Courtenay, Richard, 291 - - Courtenays, the, 214 - - Craig-y-dorth, battle of, 229 - - Creton, M., 121 - - Criccieth Castle, 62, 190, 219 - - Croesau Common, 111 - - Crofts, 104 - - Cunedda, 5 - - Cwm Hir Abbey, 53, 145 - - Cymmer Abbey, 166 - - Cynddylan, 7 - - Cynllaeth, 88 - - Cyrnwigen, 223 - - - D - - Dafydd ap Griffith, 71, 72, 74, 76 - - Dafydd ap Gwilim, 149, 235 - - Dafydd ap Llewelyn, 61-65 - - Dafydd ap Owen Gwynedd, 47 - - Dafydd ap Sinion, 232 - - Danbury church, 164 - - Danes, the, 17, 28 - - Daron, David, Dean of Bangor, 251, 252, 264, 279 - - David, St., 5 - - David's, St., 12, 28, 33, 48, 80 - - Dean, Forest of, 287 - - Dee River, 88, 91, 122 - - Defoe, 323, 324 - - Deganwy Castle, 57, 64 - - Deheubarth, description of, 14 - - Denbigh, 72, 118, 135, 141, 323 - - Denbigh County, 78 - - Deorham, 6 - - Despencer, Lady, 217, 242-244 - - Dinas Bran, 86, 87, 107, 118 - - Dolbadarn Castle, 66, 157, 301 - - Dolgelly, 141, 223 - - Dolwyddelan, 56, 301 - - Don, Henry, 190, 225 - - Doncaster, 125 - - Douglas, Lord, 181, 182, 203-206, 264 - - Dovey, the, 142, 143 - - Durham, 125 - - Dynevor Castle, 185, 190, 202 - - Dysanni River, 280 - - - E - - Eadgar, King, 26 - - Edeyrnion, Vale of, 102, 123, 240 - - Edinburgh, 126 - - Edward I., 67, 69-71, 75, 78, 79, 213 - - Edward II., 80 - - Edward III., 285 - - Edward IV., 313 - - Einion, 34, 35 - - Eleanor, Queen, 80 - - Elen, Glyndwr's mother, 88 - - Elfreton, Henry de, 138 - - Elizabeth, Queen, 321 - - Elizabeth Scudamore, 105 - - Ellis, Sir Henry, 189 - - Eltham, palace of, 242 - - Emma, wife of Dafydd ap Owen Gwynedd, 47 - - Emma, wife of Lord Audley, 86 - - Ethelfred, King, 10 - - - F - - Faireford, John, 193 - - Fitzhamon, 35-37, 316 - - Flemings, the, 40, 41, 144, 145 - - Flint, 43, 45, 78, 98, 99, 330 - - France, Charles, King of, 224, 225, 299 - - Franciscans, their plot, 169 - - - G - - Gam, Davy, 221-223, 298, 302 - - Gascoine, Judge, 252 - - Giraldus Cambrensis, 11, 47-52, 215 - - Glamorgan, 33-35, 175, 214, 245, 246, 251, 252, 259, 277, 278, - 303, 316-330 - - Gloucester, Earl of, 75, 291, 318 - - Glyncothi, Lewis, 306 - - Glyndwr, his birth, and legends connected with it, 82, 83; - as a popular hero, 84; - descent, 87, 88; - place of birth, 89; - first recorded appearance, 90; - his designation, 91; - his youth, 92, 93; - esquire to Bolingbroke, 94; - supposed adherence to Richard II., 95, 99; - home life, 100-103; - wife and family, 104, 105; - estate and hospitality, 106, 107; - quarrel with Grey of Ruthin, 112; - refused a hearing, 113; - further persecution by Grey, 114, 115; - attacked by Earls Grey and Talbot and escapes, 120; - heads the Welsh forces, 122; - supported by the bards, 123; - declared Prince of Wales, 124; - eludes King Henry's forces, 127; - excluded from pardon, 128; - winters at Glyndyfrdwy, 131, 132; - attitude towards Hotspur and Prince Henry, 135, 136; - turns his army southwards, 138; - occupies Plinlimmon, 142, 143; - gains a victory at Mynydd Hyddgant, 144; - ravages South and Mid-Wales, 145, 146; - creates panic in England, 147; - frustrates Henry's second invasion, 149, 150; - all-powerful in Wales, 151; - goes to Carnarvon, 152; - meeting with Hotspur, 153, 154; - winters again at Glyndyfrdwy, 155; - attempts the capture of Harlech, 156; - captures Grey and ransoms him, 156-158; - sends letters to Scotland and Ireland, 159, 160; - destroys St. Asaph, 164; - adventure with Howel Sele, 165-168; - leaves North Wales, 170; - battle of Pilleth and capture of Edmund Mortimer, 171, 172; - devastates Glamorgan, 175; - his doings in Carnarvonshire, 176; - attacks west coast castles, 177; - established reputation as a magician, 178; - baffles Henry's third attempt to crush him, 180; - marries his daughter to Mortimer, 183; - his affairs prospering, 185; - invests west coast castles, 188; - his houses at Sycherth and Glyndyfrdwy destroyed by Prince - Henry, 186-188; - activity in South Wales, 190; - captures Carmarthen, 191; - checked by Carew, 192; - creates alarm in England, 193; - consults a soothsayer, 197; - meditates invasion of England, 198; - collision with the Percys, 201; - causes of his absence from battle of Shrewsbury, 202; - visits North Wales, 209; - invades Herefordshire, 211; - baffles Henry again, 211-214; - takes border castles, 215; - receives aid from the French, 217; - his Anglesey troops, 218; - attacks Carnarvon, 218; - captures Harlech, 220; - holds a parliament at Machynlleth, 221; - arrests Davy Gam, 222; - holds a council at Dolgelly, 223; - sends envoys to the King of France, 224; - letter to Henry Don, 225; - active on the Marches, 226; - defeat at Mynydd-cwm-du and victory at Craig-y-dorth, 229; - holds court at Llanbadarn and Harlech, 231-234; - situation in 1405, 237-242; - attempt to carry off the young Earl of March, 242; - victory at Pant-y-wenol, 245; - defeat at Grosmont, 247; - defeat at Pwll-Melyn and death of his brother, 249; - sends envoys to the North, 250; - his supposed wanderings, 252, 253; - summons a parliament to Harlech, 254; - meets his French allies at Tenby, 255; - marches to Worcester, 256-258; - retreats to Wales, 259; - his magic art again, 260; - dissatisfied with the French, 261; - secures exemption money from Pembroke, 262; - signs the tripartite indenture at Aberdaron, 264-268; - his famous letter to the King of France, 269-273; - his fortunes sensibly waning, 276; - traditions of his wanderings, 280-283; - movements uncertain, 284; - relieves Aberystwith, 291; - still active but no longer the same terror to England, 294; - loses Harlech and Aberystwith, 295; - his family captured, 296; - his fortunes sink, 300; - relapses gradually into a mere outlaw, 302; - legends concerning his wanderings, 303; - offered pardon by Henry V., 303; - claims of Monnington and Kentchurch as scene of his death, 307; - estimate by Welshmen of his position, 308 - - Glyndwr's Mount, 103 - - Glyndyfrdwy, 88, 91, 100, 104, 106, 120, 122, 128, 131, 186-190, 198 - - Gower, 197 - - Grendor, Sir John, 145, 184, 259, 290 - - Grenowe ap Tudor, 127 - - Grey, Reginald, Earl of Ruthin, 109-124, 154-159, 172, 173 - - Grey, Richard, Earl de, 177 - - Griffith ap Dafydd, 115-118 - - Griffith ap Llewelyn I., 28, 30, 31 - - Griffith ap Llewelyn II., 53, 68 - - Griffith ap Madoc, 85-87 - - Griffith, Sir John, 252 - - Griffith, son of Glyndwr, 165, 233, 249, 275, 306 - - Griffith y Baron Gwyn, 88 - - Grosmont, 246, 247, 304 - - Gutyn, Owen, 235 - - Gwenllian, illegitimate daughter of Glyndwr, 306 - - Gwent, 303 - - Gwynedd, description of, 13 - - - H - - Hall, 258, 259 - - Hanard, Jankyn, 190 - - Hanmer, family of, 104, 105 - - Hanmer, Griffith, 128 - - Hanmer, John, 224 - - Hardyng, Chronicle of, 154-159, 173, 174, 179 - - Harlech, 78, 156, 186, 190, 219, 220, 231-233, 262, 275, 287, - 288, 293, 295, 296, 323 - - Harold, 29 - - Haverford-west, 41, 255 - - Hebog, Moel, 280 - - Henry I., King, 40 - - Henry II., King, 42-45 - - Henry III., 59-66 - - Henry IV., 93, 94, 121, 125-131, 136-140, 147-151, 154, 157, 158, - 168-170, 177-181, 185, 200-207, 210-214, 230, 241-244, 256-261, - 278, 284-292, 298, 302 - - Henry VII., 314 - - Henry VIII., 315, 319, 325 - - Henry, Prince, 117, 121, 125, 128, 135-137, 148, 185-190, 198, - 202, 205, 210, 227, 240-247, 259, 276, 278, 284-295, 302, - 303 - - Herbert, Lord, 232 - - Hereford, 193-195, 212-214, 226, 250, 251, 256, 257, 287, 288, 295, 317 - - Heytely field, 204 - - Higham Ferrers, 200 - - Hoare, Sir R. C., 168 - - Holinshed, 164, 204 - - Holt Castle, 87 - - Homildon, battle of, 181, 182 - - Hopkyn ap Thomas, 198 - - Hotspur, 131, 135-137, 139-142, 153, 154, 181, 182, 203-207 - - Howel ap Edwy, 28 - - Howel ap Owen Gwynedd, 45, 46 - - Howel Dda, 21-24 - - Howel Sele, 165-168 - - Howel Vychan, 219 - - Hugueville, Sire de, 255-258 - - - I - - Iago ap Idwal, 28 - - Iestyn, 38 - - Innocent, Pope, 58 - - Iolo Goch, 100-102, 124, 163, 208, 234, 283, 309 - - Iolo Morganwg MSS., 245, 281, 294 - - Isabel, daughter of Glyndwr, 105, 129 - - Isabella of France, 126 - - - J - - Janet Crofts, Glyndwr's daughter, 105 - - Jevan ap Meredith, 254 - - Joan, wife of Llewelyn II., 56, 60, 62 - - Joanna of Brittany, 168, 183 - - John, King, 56, 57 - - John ap Howel, 276 - - - K - - Katherine, wife of Edmund Mortimer, 233, 296 - - Kentchurch, 304 - - Kidwelly, 191 - - Kingeston, Archdeacon, 195, 196, 226, 227 - - - L - - Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, 135 - - Lampadarn, 186, 275 - - Lampeter, 152 - - Leget, David, 134 - - Leicester, 125 - - Leland, 189 - - Leominster, 211 - - Lichfield, 177, 202 - - Lilleshall, 177 - - Lincoln, 177 - - Lionel, son of Edmund Mortimer, 296 - - Llanbadarn, 28, 224, 231 - - Llandilo, 76, 185 - - Llandovery, 152, 185 - - Llanfaes Abbey, 60 - - Llangollen, 102, 123, 280 - - Llanrwst, 25, 61, 312 - - Llansantffraid, 172 - - Llansilin, 101, 127 - - Llewelyn ap Griffith, last Prince of North Wales, 65-72 - - Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales, 55-60 - - Llewelyn ap Madoc, 86, 87 - - Llewelyn ap Seisyllt, Prince of North Wales, 27, 28 - - Llewelyn of Cayo, 150 - - Lleyn, promontory of, 53, 217 - - Lloid, John, 134 - - Llywarch, Hen, 7 - - London, 80 - - Ludlow, 177, 318 - - Lupus, Hugh, Earl of Chester, 32, 33 - - Lussan, Mme. de, 255 - - - M - - Machynlleth, 220-225, 269 - - Madoc ap Griffith, 85 - - Madoc ap Meredith, 80 - - Madoc ap Owen Gwynedd, 46 - - Maelgwyn, Prince of Gwynedd, 232 - - Maidstone, 244 - - Manorbier Castle, 41, 47 - - March, Earl of, 170, 242 - - Margaret Monnington, Glyndwr's daughter, 105 - - Matthew of Paris, 74 - - Melynydd, 317 - - Meredith, son of Glyndwr, 105, 233, 276, 304, 306 - - Meredith ap Owen, 118 - - Merioneth, 78, 215, 287, 301, 313 - - Milford, 254, 255 - - Monmouth, 259, 317, 330 - - Monnington, 104, 303-305 - - Monnow River, 246 - - Montgomery, 32, 146, 177, 317 - - Morgan of Coity, 37 - - Mortimer, Earl of, 87 - - Mortimer, Sir Edmund, 106, 170-172, 183, 184, 200, 201, 232, 242, - 287, 296 - - Mortimer, Sir Ralph, 65 - - Mynydd-cwm-du, battle of, 229 - - Mynydd-Hyddgant, battle of, 144 - - - N - - Nannau, 165-168 - - Nevin tournament, 80 - - Newcastle, 126 - - Newmarch, Bernard de, 36 - - Newport, 215, 245 - - Newport, Sir Edward, 247 - - Northampton, 125, 193, 294 - - Northumberland, Earl of, 199, 200, 201, 209, 251, 252, 264-269, 279 - - Nottingham, 177 - - - O - - Offa, King of Mercia, 8, 13, 19 - - Ogof Dinas, 303 - - Oldcastle, Sir John, 290 - - Oswestry, 101, 116 - - Owen ap Griffith, 65, 66 - - Owen Cyfeiliog, 85 - - Owen Gwynedd, 42-45 - - Oxford, 133, 134 - - - P - - Pant-y-wenol, 245 - - Pauncefote, John, 216 - - Pembroke, 40, 41, 262, 316 - - Pengwern, 7 - - Penmynydd, 138, 314 - - Pennal, 269 - - Pennant, 143, 257 - - Perfeddwlad, the, 54, 57, 67, 71 - - Pilleth, battle of, 171, 181 - - Plinlimmon, 142, 143 - - Pontefract, 99, 125 - - Powys, description of, 14 - - Powys Castle, 146 - - Pulestone, 128 - - - R - - Radnor, 142, 317, 329 - - Radnor, New, 145 - - Rhondda valley, 260 - - Rhuddlan, 19, 32, 43, 78, 190 - - Rhys ap Gethin, 171, 190, 233, 246, 247 - - Rhys ap Griffith, 289 - - Rhys ap Jevan, 234 - - Rhys ap Tudor, 33 - - Rhys Ddu, 298 - - Rhys Dwy, 234 - - Richard II., 93-99, 121, 203 - - Rieux, Jean de, 255 - - Robert ap Jevan, 234 - - Roderic the Great, 15, 16 - - Rug, 306 - - Ruthin, 106, 107, 110, 111, 156 - - Rutland, Lord, 152 - - - S - - Salisbury, Earl of, 95, 96 - - Salusburys of Rug, 305 - - Scott, Sir Walter, 168 - - Scrope, Archbishop, 252 - - Scrope, Sir Henry, 216 - - Scrope and Grosvenor trial, 89 - - Scudamore, Alice, 104, 304 - - Scudamore, Philip, 298 - - Shakespeare, 181 - - Shrewsbury, 7, 58, 68, 77, 125-128, 177, 198-202, 297, 318 - - Shrewsbury, Abbot of, 205 - - Shrewsbury, battle of, 203-209 - - Shropshire, 226, 229, 317 - - Simon de Montfort, 68 - - Skidmore, 194 - - Snowdon, 70, 76, 128, 158, 172, 222 - - Somerset, Earl of, 306 - - Stafford, Lord, 206 - - Stanley, Sir John, 254 - - Stove, Morres, 134 - - Strata Florida Abbey, 149, 152, 291 - - Strathclyde, 19, 20 - - Strongbow, Gilbert de, 286 - - Sycherth, 100-103, 120, 128, 188, 190, 198, 306 - - - T - - Talbot, Earl of, 120 - - Talbot, Gilbert, 247, 295, 303 - - Tenby, 41, 256 - - Thomas, Prince, 177 - - Thomas ap Llewelyn, 80 - - Towy, Vale of, 278, 279 - - Towyn, 280 - - Trefgarn, 89 - - Tren, 8 - - Trevor, Bishop of St. Asaph, 113, 164, 165, 225, 226, 234, 249, 299 - - Tripartite Indenture, 201 - - Tudor, Glyndwr's brother, 90, 218, 233, 249 - - Tudor, Owen, 314 - - Tudor, William and Rhys, 138-140, 233, 252 - - Turberville, 38 - - Tutbury, 230 - - - U - - Uriconium, 2, 7 - - Usk, 215, 245 - - - V - - Valle Crucis Abbey, 52, 85, 280 - - Vychan, Griffith, Glyndwr's father, 82, 88, 89 - - Vychan, Roger, 222 - - - W - - Warren, Earl, 87 - - Warwick, Earl of, 178 - - Waterton, Hugh de, 195, 242 - - Welshpool, 146, 177, 217, 229, 290, 297 - - Whitmore, David, 254 - - William III., 323 - - William Rufus, 34 - - William the Conqueror, 33 - - Winchester, 77 - - Windsor Castle, 298 - - Woodbury hill, 257 - - Worcester, 210, 227, 228, 252, 256, 278 - - Worcester, Percy, Earl of, 152, 205, 206 - - Wynne, Sir John, of Gwydir, 312, 313 - - - Y - - Yale, Lordship of, 106 - - Yonge, Griffith, 224, 234 - - York, 77, 206, 251 - - York, Duke of, 214, 227, 242, 244, 290, 293 - - - - -[Decoration] - -Heroes of the Nations. - -EDITED BY - -EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., - -Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. - - -A Series of biographical studies of the lives and work of a number of -representative historical characters about whom have gathered the -great traditions of the Nations to which they belonged, and who have -been accepted, in many instances, as types of the several National -ideals. With the life of each typical character will be presented a -picture of the National conditions surrounding him during his career. - -The narratives are the work of writers who are recognized authorities -on their several subjects, and, while thoroughly trustworthy as -history, will present picturesque and dramatic "stories" of the Men -and of the events connected with them. - -To the Life of each "Hero" will be given one duodecimo volume, -handsomely printed in large type, provided with maps and adequately -illustrated according to the special requirements of the several -subjects. The volumes will be sold separately as follows: - - Large 12^o, cloth extra $1.50 - Half morocco, uncut edges, gilt top 1.75 - - -HEROES OF THE NATIONS. - -A series of biographical studies of the lives and work of certain -representative historical characters, about whom have gathered the -great traditions of the Nations to which they belonged, and who have -been accepted, in many instances, as types of the several National -ideals. - -The volumes will be sold separately as follows: cloth extra, $1.50; -half leather, uncut edges, gilt top, $1.75. - -The following are now ready: - - NELSON. By W. Clark Russell. - - GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. By C. R. L. Fletcher. - - PERICLES. By Evelyn Abbott. - - THEODORIC THE GOTH. By Thomas Hodgkin. - - SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By H. R. Fox-Bourne. - - JULIUS CAESAR. By W. Warde Fowler. - - WYCLIF. By Lewis Sergeant. - - NAPOLEON. By W. O'Connor Morris. - - HENRY OF NAVARRE. By P. F. Willert. - - CICERO. By J. L. Strachan-Davidson. - - ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 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Fisher Unwin, of -London, a series of historical studies, intended to present in a -graphic manner the stories of the different nations that have attained -prominence in history. - -In the story form the current of each national life is distinctly -indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy periods and episodes are -presented for the reader in their philosophical relation to each other -as well as to universal history. - -It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes to enter into -the real life of the peoples, and to bring them before the reader as -they actually lived, labored, and struggled--as they studied and -wrote, and as they amused themselves. 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Prof. A. Vambery. - - CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church. - - THE SARACENS. Arthur Gilman. - - THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley Lane-Poole. - - THE NORMANS. Sarah Orne Jewett. - - PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. - - ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. Geo. Rawlinson. - - ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. J. P. Mahaffy. - - ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. - - THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. - - IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless. - - TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole. - - MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA. Z. A. Ragozin. - - MEDIAEVAL FRANCE. Prof. Gustave Masson. - - HOLLAND. Prof. J. Thorold Rogers. - - MEXICO. Susan Hale. - - PHOENICIA. Geo. Rawlinson. - - THE HANSA TOWNS. Helen Zimmern. - - EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred J. Church. - - THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. Stanley Lane-Poole. - - RUSSIA. W. R. Morfill. - - THE JEWS UNDER ROME. W. D. Morrison. - - SCOTLAND. John Mackintosh. - - SWITZERLAND. R. Stead and Mrs. A. Hug. - - PORTUGAL. H. Morse-Stephens. - - THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. C. W. C. Oman. - - SICILY. E. A. Freeman. - - THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS. Bella Duffy. - - POLAND. W. R. Morfill. - - PARTHIA. Geo. Rawlinson. - - JAPAN. David Murray. - - THE CHRISTIAN RECOVERY OF SPAIN. H. E. Watts. - - AUSTRALASIA. Greville Tregarthen. - - SOUTHERN AFRICA. Geo. M. Theal. - - VENICE. Alethea Wiel. - - THE CRUSADES. T. S. Archer and C. L. Kingsford. - - VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozin. - - BOHEMIA. C. E. Maurice. - - CANADA. J. G. Bourinot. - - THE BALKAN STATES. William Miller. - - BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. R. W. Frazer. - - MODERN FRANCE. Andre Le Bon. - - THE BUILDING OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Alfred T. Story. Two vols. - - THE FRANKS. Lewis Sargeant. - - THE WEST INDIES. Amos K. Fiske. - - THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND IN THE 19TH CENTURY. Justin McCarthy, - M.P. Two vols. - - AUSTRIA, THE HOME OF THE HAPSBURG DYNASTY, FROM 1282 TO THE - PRESENT DAY. Sidney Whitman. - - CHINA. Robt. K. Douglass. - - MODERN SPAIN. Major Martin A. S. Hume. - - MODERN ITALY. Pietro Orsi. - - THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. Helen A. Smith. Two vols. - -Other volumes in preparation are: - - THE UNITED STATES, 1775-1897. Prof. A. C. McLaughlin. Two - vols. - - BUDDHIST INDIA. Prof. T. W. Rhys-Davids. - - MOHAMMEDAN INDIA. Stanley Lane-Poole. - - WALES AND CORNWALL. Owen M. Edwards. - - - - -Transcriber's Note - -The author uses some extensive variations in the spelling of proper -nouns. This is sometimes variation between Welsh and English, or -sometimes within either the Welsh or the English. Except where there -was a definite error or clear prevalence of one form over another, -these variations are preserved as printed. Those which have been -amended are as follows: - - Page ix--Geraldus amended to Giraldus--... Giraldus Cambrensis - on the Welsh ... - - Page x--Plimlimmon amended to Plinlimmon--... Owen Goes to - Plinlimmon ... - - Page xv--VALLEY amended to VALLE--VALLE CRUCIS ABBEY - - Illustration facing page 54--VALLEY amended to VALLE--VALLE - CRUCIS ABBEY - - Page 189--Sagherne amended to Saghern--... and explain Prince - Henry's "Saghern" in that manner. - - Page 217--Despenser amended to Despencer--... was in the - charge of a Chatelaine, Lady Despencer. - - Page 226--Kingston amended to Kingeston--Archdeacon Kingeston - at Hereford once again takes up his pen ... - - Page 293--Bardolf amended to Bardolph--... and with Bardolph - and Bifort, Owen's Bishop of Bangor, ... - - Page 317--Brecheniog amended to Brecheiniog--Brecon took its - name from the old lordship of Brecheiniog ... - -The author explicitly thanks a W. D. Haydon for photographs used in -the book, however the List of Illustrations references this person as -W. D. Hayson. The List of Illustrations and the credit under the -photograph have both been amended, as the transcriber found other -photographs attributed to Haydon, but none to Hayson. - -Page 267 mentions Loegira. This is probably an error for Loegria, but -as it is part of an extended quotation, is preserved as printed. - -Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation usage has -been made consistent. - -The following amendments have been made: - - Page xvi--MANORBRIER amended to MANORBIER--MANORBIER CASTLE - 262 - - Page xvi--ABERYSWITH amended to ABERYSTWITH--ABERYSTWITH - CASTLE 290 - - Page 52--Florada amended to Florida--... Ystradfflur (_Strata - Florida_) in Cardigan ... - - Page 91--Dwrfdwy amended to Dwfrdwy--... simply means the Glen - of the Dwfrdwy or Dyfrdwy, ... - - Page 107--repeated 'the' deleted--... to make himself popular - upon the banks ... - - Page 121--depositition amended to deposition--... for some - time after his deposition at the English Court. - - Page 222--Glynwdr amended to Glyndwr--When next Glyndwr went - campaigning ... - - Page 224--intrument amended to instrument--By this instrument - Glyndwr and the French King ... - - Page 297--viligance amended to vigilance--... showed a - vigilance in Wales ... - - Page 298--Aberyswith amended to Aberystwith--... we have seen - at Aberystwith, Harlech, and elsewhere. - - Page 308--decendants amended to descendants--... which their - descendants, if they showed much vigour ... - - Page 353--Glyncothe amended to Glyncothi--Glyncothi, Lewis, - 306 - - Page 355--Holinshead amended to Holinshed--Holinshed, 164, 204 - - Page 355--Llandovey amended to Llandovery--Llandovery, 152, - 185 - -The index entries for Sir John Cornwall, Doncaster, and Lichfield, -were out of order. They have been moved to the correct place. Note also -that Elizabeth Scudamore is listed in the index under E, while Alice -Scudamore and Philip Scudamore are listed under S. These have been -preserved as printed. - -The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page. -Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are -not in the middle of a paragraph. - -Credits in the List of Illustrations were originally set as footnotes. -The transcriber has instead put the appropriate credit below each item. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Owen Glyndwr and the Last Struggle for -Welsh Independence, by Arthur Granville Bradley - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OWEN GLYNDWR *** - -***** This file should be named 42457.txt or 42457.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/4/5/42457/ - -Produced by sp1nd, Sam W. and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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