On The Day He
Intended To Pass Over Nant Pentcarn, The Old Britons Of The
Neighbourhood Watched His Approach Towards
The ford with the utmost
solicitude; knowing, since he was both mighty and freckled, that if
the passage of the
Destined ford was accomplished, the prophecy
concerning him would undoubtedly be fulfilled. When the king had
followed the road leading to a more modern ford of the river (the
old one spoken of in the prophecy having been for a long time in
disuse), and was preparing to pass over, the pipers and trumpeters,
called Cornhiriet, from HIR, long, and CORNU, a horn, began to sound
their instruments on the opposite bank, in honour of the king. 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.
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