The Election Of Gerald To The
Greatest See In Wales Would Upset The Balance Of Power.
David Fitz-
Gerald, good easy man (vir sua sorte contentus is Gerald's
description of him), the king could tolerate,
But he could not
contemplate without uneasiness the combination of spiritual and
political power in South Wales in the hands of two able, ambitious,
and energetic kinsmen, such as he knew Gerald and the Lord Rhys to
be. Gerald had made no secret of his admiration for the martyred
St. Thomas e Becket. He fashioned himself upon him as Becket did on
Anselm. The part which Becket played in England he would like to
play in Wales. But the sovereign who had destroyed Becket was not
to be frightened by the canons of St. David's and the Archdeacon of
Brecon. He summoned the chapter to Westminster, and compelled them
in his presence to elect Peter de Leia, the Prior of Wenlock, who
erected for himself an imperishable monument in the noble cathedral
which looks as if it had sprung up from the rocks which guard the
city of Dewi Sant from the inrush of the western sea.
It is needless to recount the many activities in which Gerald
engaged during the next twenty-two years. They have been recounted
with humorous and affectionate appreciation by Dr. Henry Owen in his
monograph on "Gerald the Welshman," a little masterpiece of
biography which deserves to be better known. {4} In 1183 Gerald was
employed by the astute king to settle terms between him and the
rebellious Lord Rhys.
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