"So long as Wales shall stand by
the writings of the chroniclers and by the songs of the bards shall
his noble deed be praised throughout all time." The prophecy has
not yet been verified.
Welsh chroniclers have made but scanty
references to Gerald; no bard has ever yet sung an Awdl or a
Pryddest in honour of him who fought for the "honour of Wales." His
countrymen have forgotten Gerald the Welshman. It has been left to
Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Foster, Professor Brewer, Dimmock, and
Professor Freeman to edit his works. Only two of his countrymen
have attempted to rescue one of the greatest of Welshmen from an
undeserved oblivion. In 1585, when the Renaissance of Letters had
begun to rouse the dormant powers of the Cymry, Dr. David Powel
edited in Latin a garbled version of the "Itinerary" and
"Description of Wales," and gave a short and inaccurate account of
Gerald's life. In 1889 Dr. Henry Owen published, "at his own proper
charges," the first adequate account by a Welshman of the life and
labours of Giraldus Cambrensis. When his monument is erected in the
cathedral which was built by his hated rival, the epitaph which he
composed for himself may well be inscribed upon it -
Cambria Giraldus genuit, sic Cambria mentem
Erudiit, cineres cui lapis iste tegit.
And by that time perhaps some competent scholar will have translated
some at least of Gerald's works into the language best understood by
the people of Wales.
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