The
King's Horse, Startling At The Wild, Unusual Noise, Refused To Obey
The Spur, And Enter The Water; Upon Which,
The king, gathering up
the reins, hastened, in violent wrath, to the ancient ford, which he
rapidly passed; and the
Britons returned to their homes, alarmed and
dismayed at the destruction which seemed to await them. An
extraordinary circumstance occurred likewise at the castle of
Caerdyf. William earl of Gloucester, son of earl Robert, {80} who,
besides that castle, possessed by hereditary right all the province
of Gwladvorgan, {81} that is, the land of Morgan, had a dispute with
one of his dependants, whose name was Ivor the Little, being a man
of short stature, but of great courage. This man was, after the
manner of the Welsh, owner of a tract of mountainous and woody
country, of the whole, or a part of which, the earl endeavoured to
deprive him. At that time the castle of Caerdyf was surrounded with
high walls, guarded by one hundred and twenty men-at-arms, a
numerous body of archers, and a strong watch. The city also
contained many stipendiary soldiers; yet, in defiance of all these
precautions of security, Ivor, in the dead of night, secretly scaled
the walls, and, seizing the count and countess, with their only son,
carried them off into the woods, and did not release them until he
had recovered everything that had been unjustly taken from him, and
received a compensation of additional property; for, as the poet
observes,
"Spectandum est semper ne magna injuria fiat
Fortibus et miseris; tollas licet omne quod usquam est
Argenti atque auri, spoliatis arma supersunt."
In this same town of Caerdyf, king Henry II., on his return from
Ireland, the first Sunday after Easter, passed the night. In the
morning, having heard mass, he remained at his devotions till every
one had quitted the chapel of St. Piranus. {82} As he mounted his
horse at the door, a man of a fair complexion, with a round tonsure
and meagre countenance, tall, and about forty years of age, habited
in a white robe falling down to his naked feet, thus addressed him
in the Teutonic tongue: "God hold the, cuing," which signifies,
"May God protect you, king;" and proceeded, in the same language,
"Christ and his Holy Mother, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Peter
salute thee, and command thee strictly to prohibit throughout thy
whole dominions every kind of buying or selling on Sundays, and not
to suffer any work to be done on those days, except such as relates
to the preparation of daily food; that due attention may be paid to
the performance of the divine offices. If thou dost this, all thy
undertakings shall be successful, and thou shalt lead a happy life."
The king, in French, desired Philip de Mercros, {83} who held the
reins of his horse, to ask the rustic if he had dreamt this? and
when the soldier explained to him the king's question in English, he
replied in the same language he had before used, "Whether I have
dreamt it or not, observe what day this is (addressing himself to
the king, not to the interpreter), and unless thou shalt do so, and
quickly amend thy life, before the expiration of one year, thou
shalt hear such things concerning what thou lovest best in this
world, and shalt thereby be so much troubled, that thy disquietude
shall continue to thy life's end." The king, spurring his horse,
proceeded a little way towards the gate, when, stopping suddenly, he
ordered his attendants to call the good man back. The soldier, and
a young man named William, the only persons who remained with the
king, accordingly called him, and sought him in vain in the chapel,
and in all the inns of the city. The king, vexed that he had not
spoken more to him, waited alone a long time, while other persons
went in search of him; and when he could not be found, pursued his
journey over the bridge of Remni to Newport. The fatal prediction
came to pass within the year, as the man had threatened; for the
king's three sons, Henry, the eldest, and his brothers, Richard of
Poitou, and Geoffrey, count of Britany, in the following Lent,
deserted to Louis king of France, which caused the king greater
uneasiness than he had ever before experienced; and which, by the
conduct of some one of his sons, was continued till the time of his
decease. This monarch, through divine mercy (for God is more
desirous of the conversion than the destruction of a sinner),
received many other admonitions and reproofs about this time, and
shortly before his death; all of which, being utterly incorrigible,
he obstinately and obdurately despised, as will be more fully set
forth (by the favour of God) in my book, "de Principis
Instructione."
Not far from Caerdyf is a small island situated near the shore of
the Severn, called Barri, from St. Baroc {84} who formerly lived
there, and whose remains are deposited in a chapel overgrown with
ivy, having been transferred to a coffin. From hence a noble
family, of the maritime parts of South Wales, who owned this island
and the adjoining estates, received the name of de Barri. It is
remarkable that, in a rock near the entrance of the island, there is
a small cavity, to which, if the ear is applied, a noise is heard
like that of smiths at work, the blowing of bellows, strokes of
hammers, grinding of tools, and roaring of furnaces; and it might
easily be imagined that such noises, which are continued at the ebb
and flow of the tides, were occasioned by the influx of the sea
under the cavities of the rocks.
CHAPTER VII
The see of Landaf and monastery of Margan, and the remarkable things
in those parts
On the following morning, the business of the cross being publicly
proclaimed at Landaf, the English standing on one side, and the
Welsh on the other, many persons of each nation took the cross, and
we remained there that night with William bishop of that place, {85}
a discreet and good man.
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