He Was Much Esteemed And Beloved By Him,
Till Having Unfortunately Lost Two Favourite Greyhounds, Which Had
Been Committed To
His care, that prince, in a fury, threatened his
life; upon which Caradoc determined to change masters, and made a
Vow on the spot to consecrate the remainder of his days to God, by a
single and religious life. He went to Llandaff, received from its
bishop the clerical tonsure and habit, and retired to the deserted
church of St. Kined, and afterwards to a still more solitary abode
in the Isle of Ary, from whence he was taken prisoner by some
Norwegian pirates, but soon released. His last place of residence
was at St. Ismael, in the province of Rhos, where he died in 1124,
and was buried with great honour in the cathedral of St. David's.
We must not confound this retreat of Caradoc with the village of St.
Ismael on the borders of Milford Haven. His hermitage was situated
in the parish of Haroldstone, near the town of Haverfordwest, whose
church has St. Ismael for its patron, and probably near a place
called Poorfield, the common on which Haverfordwest races are held,
as there is a well there called Caradoc's Well, round which, till
within these few years, there was a sort of vanity fair, where cakes
were sold, and country games celebrated. [Caradoc was canonised by
Pope Innocent III. at the instance of Giraldus.]
{109} This curious superstition is still preserved, in a debased
form, among the descendants of the Flemish population of this
district, where the young women practise a sort of divination with
the bladebone of a shoulder of mutton to discover who will be their
sweetheart. It is still more curious that William de Rubruquis, in
the thirteenth century, found the same superstition existing among
the Tartars.
{110} Arnulph, younger son of Roger de Montgomery, did his homage
for Dyved, and is said, by our author, to have erected a slender
fortress with stakes and turf at Pembroke, in the reign of king
Henry I., which, however, appears to have been so strong as to have
resisted the hostile attack of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn in 1092, and of
several lords of North Wales, in 1094.
{111} Walter Fitz-Other, at the time of the general survey of
England by William the Conqueror, was castellan of Windsor, warden
of the forests in Berkshire, and possessed several lordships in the
counties of Middlesex, Hampshire, and Buckinghamshire, which dominus
Otherus is said to have held in the time of Edward the Confessor.
William, the eldest son of Walter, took the surname of Windsor from
his father's office, and was ancestor to the lords Windsor, who have
since been created earls of Plymouth: and from Gerald, brother of
William, the Geralds, Fitz-geralds, and many other families are
lineally descended. The Gerald here mentioned by Giraldus is
sometimes surnamed De Windsor, and also Fitz-Walter, i.e. the son of
Walter; having slain Owen, son of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, chief lord of
Cardiganshire, he was made president of the county of Pembroke.
{112} Wilfred is mentioned by Browne Willis in his list of bishops
of St. David's, as the forty-seventh, under the title of Wilfride,
or Griffin: he died about the year 1116.
{113} Maenor Pyrr, now known by the name of Manorbeer, is a small
village on the sea coast, between Tenby and Pembroke, with the
remaining shell of a large castle. Our author has given a
farfetched etymology to this castle and the adjoining island, in
calling them the mansion and island of Pyrrhus: a much more natural
and congenial conjecture may be made in supposing Maenor Pyrr to be
derived from Maenor, a Manor, and Pyrr the plural of Por, a lord;
i.e. the Manor of the lords, and, consequently, Inys Pyrr, the
Island of the lords. As no mention whatever is made of the castle
in the Welsh Chronicle, I am inclined to think it was only a
castellated mansion, and therefore considered of no military
importance in those days of continued warfare throughout Wales. It
is one of the most interesting spots in our author's Itinerary, for
it was the property of the Barri family, and the birth-place of
Giraldus; in the parish church, the sepulchral effigy of a near
relation, perhaps a brother, is still extant, in good preservation.
Our author has evidently made a digression in order to describe this
place.
{114} The house of Stephen Wiriet was, I presume, Orielton. There
is a monument in the church of St. Nicholas, at Pembroke, to the
memory of John, son and heir of Sir Hugh Owen, of Bodeon in
Anglesea, knight, and Elizabeth, daughter and heir of George Wiriet,
of Orielton, A.D. 1612.
{115} The family name of Not, or Nott, still exists in
Pembrokeshire. [The descendants of Sir Hugh continued to live at
Orielton, and the title is still in existence.]
{116} There are two churches in Pembrokeshire called Stackpoole,
one of which, called Stackpoole Elidor, derived its name probably
from the Elidore de Stakepole mentioned in this chapter by Giraldus.
It contains several ancient monuments, and amongst them the effigies
of a cross-legged knight, which has been for many years attributed
to the aforesaid Elidore.
{117} Ramsey Island, near St. David's, was always famous for its
breed of falcons.
{118} Camros, a small village, containing nothing worthy of remark,
excepting a large tumulus. It appears, by this route of the
Crusaders, that the ancient road to Menevia, or St. David's, led
through Camros, whereas the present turnpike road lies a mile and a
half to the left of it. It then descends to Niwegal Sands, and
passes near the picturesque little harbour of Solvach, situated in a
deep and narrow cove, surrounded by high rocks.
{119} The remains of vast submerged forests are commonly found on
many parts of the coast of Wales, especially in the north. Giraldus
has elsewhere spoken of this event in the Vaticinal History, book i.
chap.
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