Having Made All The Shepherds And Chief
People In Her House Accomplices And Favourers Of Her Design, And
Taking Advantage Of The Simple Courtesy Of Her Husband, She Thus
Addressed Him:
"It is wonderful that being lord over beasts, you
have ceased to exercise dominion over them; and by not
Making use of
your deer, do not now rule over them, but are subservient to them;
and behold how great an abuse arises from too much patience; for
they attack our sheep with such an unheard-of rage, and unusual
voracity, that from many they are become few; from being
innumerable, only numerous." To make her story more probable, she
caused some wool to be inserted between the intestines of two stags
which had been embowelled; and her husband, thus artfully deceived,
sacrificed his deer to the rapacity of his dogs.
CHAPTER X
Tywy river - Caermardyn - monastery of Albelande
Having crossed the river Tywy in a boat, we proceeded towards
Caermardyn, leaving Lanstephan and Talachar {97} on the sea-coast to
our left. After the death of king Henry II., Rhys, the son of
Gruffydd, took these two castles by assault; then, having laid
waste, by fire and sword, the provinces of Penbroch and Ros, he
besieged Caermardyn, but failed in his attempt. Caermardyn {98}
signifies the city of Merlin, because, according to the British
History, he was there said to have been begotten of an incubus.
This ancient city is situated on the banks of the noble river Tywy,
surrounded by woods and pastures, and was strongly inclosed with
walls of brick, part of which are still standing; having Cantref
Mawr, the great cantred, or hundred, on the eastern side, a safe
refuge, in times of danger, to the inhabitants of South Wales, on
account of its thick woods; where is also the castle of Dinevor,
{99} built on a lofty summit above the Tywy, the royal seat of the
princes of South Wales. In ancient times, there were three regal
palaces in Wales: Dinevor in South Wales, Aberfrau in North Wales,
situated in Anglesea, and Pengwern in Powys, now called Shrewsbury
(Slopesburia); Pengwern signifies the head of a grove of alders.
Recalling to mind those poetical passages:
"Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?"
and
"Et si non recte possis quocunque modo rem,"
my pen shrinks with abhorrence from the relation of the enormous
vengeance exercised by the court against its vassals, within the
comot of Caeo, in the Cantref Mawr. Near Dinevor, on the other side
of the river Tywy, in the Cantref Bychan, or the little cantred,
there is a spring which, like the tide, ebbs and flows twice in
twenty-four hours. {100} Not far to the north of Caermardyn, namely
at Pencadair, {101} that is, the head of the chair, when Rhys, the
son of Gruffydd, was more by stratagem than force compelled to
surrender, and was carried away into England, king Henry II.
despatched a knight, born in Britany, on whose wisdom and fidelity
he could rely, under the conduct of Guaidanus, dean of Cantref Mawr,
to explore the situation of Dinevor castle, and the strength of the
country.
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