Other authors say, that this reputed prophet and magician
was the son of a Welsh nun, daughter of a king of Demetia, and born
at Caermarthen, and that he was made king of West Wales by
Vortigern, who then reigned in Britain.
{172} Owen Gwynedd "left behind him manie children gotten by
diverse women, which were not esteemed by their mothers and birth,
but by their prowes and valiantnesse." By his first wife, Gladus,
the daughter of Llywarch ap Trahaern ap Caradoc, he had Orwerth
Drwyndwn, that is, Edward with the broken nose; for which defect he
was deemed unfit to preside over the principality of North Wales and
was deprived of his rightful inheritance, which was seized by his
brother David, who occupied it for the space of twenty-four years.
{173} The travellers pursuing their journey along the sea coast,
crossed the aestuary of the river Conway under Deganwy, a fortress
of very remote antiquity.
{174} At this period the Cistercian monastery of Conway was in its
infancy, for its foundation has been attributed to Llewelyn ap
Iorwerth, in the year 1185, (only three years previous to Baldwin's
visitation,) who endowed it with very extensive possessions and
singular privileges. Like Stratflur, this abbey was the repository
of the national records, and the mausoleum of many of its princes.
