Who sent the sword? . . Llewelyn, his brave boy, And scattering of his house!.. that princely race! Madoc made no reply, . . he closed his eyes, Groaning. But Urien, for his heart was full, Loving to linger on the woe, pursued: I did not think to live to such an hour Of joy as this! and often, when my sight Turn'd dizzy from the ocean, overcome With heavy anguish, Madoc, I have prayed That God would please to take me to his rest. So as he ceased his speech, a sudden shout To welcome their new Queen; unheeding they What!.. in loud reply Quoth Urien, He so doats, as she had dropt Shame! foul shame! that they should hear There is no face but wears a courtly smile, Urien replied: Aberfraw's ancient towers Beheld no pride of festival like this, No like solemnities, when Owen came In conquest, and Gowalchmai struck the harp. Only Goervyl, careless of the pomp, Sits in her solitude, lamenting thee. Saw ye not then my banner? quoth the Lord Of Ocean; on the topmast-head it stood "It was the manner of those days, that the murtherer only, and he that gave the death's wound, should fly, which was called in Welsh Llawrudd, which is a red hand, because he had blouded his hands. The accessories and abettors to the murtherers were never hearkened after." Gwydir History. This marriage was in fact one of the means whereby Henry succeeded for a time in breaking the independent spirit of the Welsh. David immediately sent a thousand men To tell the tale of triumph; . . or did night Now had they almost attain'd Oh you are welcome, Urien! cried the maid There was a ship came sailing hitherward... I could not see his banner, for the night Closed in so fast around her; but my heart Indulged a foolish hope! The old man replied, With difficult effort keeping his heart down, God in his goodness may reserve for us That blessing yet! I have yet life enow To trust that I shall live to see the day, Albeit the number of my years well nigh Be full. Ill-judging kindness! said the maid. Have I not nursed for two long wretched years That miserable hope, which every day Grew weaker like a baby sick to death, Yet dearer for its weakness day by day! No, never shall we see his daring bark! I knew and felt it in the evil hour She had received the shock of happiness: Recovering first, the aged Urien said, Enough of this, . . . there will be time for this, My children! better it behoves ye now To seek the King. And, Madoc, I beseech thee, Bear with thy brother! gently bear with him, My gentle Prince! he is the headstrong slave Of passions unsubdued 3; he feels no tie Of kindly love, or blood; . . provoke him not, Madoc!... It is his nature's malady. Thou good old man! replied the Prince, be sure I shall remember what to him is due, to serve under his brother-in-law and liege lord in Normandy, and shortly after attended the parliament at Oxford upon his summons. 3" Caradoc represents Davydd as a prince greatly disliked on account of his cruelty and untractable spirit, killing and putting out the eyes of those who were not subservient to his will, after the manner of the English!"— Cambrian Biography. Haste, haste! exclaim'd Goervyl; . . for her heart Friend greets with friend, and all are friends; one joy Smote her in sudden terror at the thought Of Yorwerth, and of Owen's broken house; .. I dread his dark suspicions ! Not for me Suffer that fear, my sister! quoth the Prince. Safe is the straight and open way I tread; Nor hath God made the human heart so bad That thou or I should have a danger there. So saying, they toward the palace gate Went on, ere yet Aberfraw had received The tidings of her wanderer's glad return. II. THE MARRIAGE FEAST. THE guests were seated at the festal board; 1 With that what pels 1 The order of the royal hall was established by law. "The men to whom the right of a seat in the hall belongs are fourteen, of whom four shall sit in the lower, and ten in the upper part of the hall. The king is the first, he shall sit at the pillar, and next him the chancellor; and after him the guest, and then the heir apparent, and then the master of the hawks. The foot-bearer shall sit by the dish opposite the king, and the mead-maker at the pillar behind him. The priest of the household shall be at another pillar, who shall bless the meat, and chaunt the pater noster. The crier shall strike the pillar above the king's head. Next him shall be the judge of the palace, and next to him the musician, to whom the right of the seat belongs. The smith of the palace shall be at the bottom before the knees of the priest. The master of the palace shall sit in the lower hall with his left hand towards the door, with the serving-men whom he shall chuse, and the rest shall be at the other side of the door, and at his other hand the musician of the household. The master of the horse shall sit at the pillar opposite the king, and the master of the hounds at the pillar opposite the priest of the household."-Laws of Hoel Dha'. 2" 1165. The king gathered another armie of chosen men, through all his dominions, as England, Normandy, Anjow, Gascoine, and Gwyen, sending for succours from Flanders and Brytain, and then returned towards North Wales, minding utterlie to destroy all that had life in the land and coming to Croes Oswalt, called Oswald's Tree, incamped there. On the contrarie side, Prince Owen and his brother Cadwallader, with all the power of North Wales; and the Lord Rees, with the power of South Wales; and Owen Cyveilioc and the sonnes of Madoc ap Meredyth, with the power of Powyss, and the two sonnes of Madoc ap Ednerth, with the people betwixt Wye and Seavern, gathered themselves togither and came to Corwen in Edeyrneon, proposing to defend their country. But the king understanding Fills with one common feeling every heart, Now to the ready feast! the seneschal The King himself led his brave brother;.. then, Here, Madoc, see thy sister! thou hast been Long and happy years Ay,.. many a day, David replied, together have we led The onset... Dost thou not remember, brother, How in that hot and unexpected charge On Keiriog's bank, we gave the enemy Their welcoming? And Berwyn's after-strife! 2 that they were nigh, being wonderfull desirous of battell, came to the river Ceireoc, and caused the woods to be hewn down. Whereupon a number of the Welshmen understanding the passage, unknown to their captains, met with the king's ward, where were placed the picked men of all the armie, and there began a hote skirmish, where diverse worthie men were slaine on either side; but in the end the king wanne the passage, and came to the mountain of Berwyn, where he laid in campe certaine days, and so both the armies stood in awe of each other; for the king kept the open plains, and was afraid to be intrapped in straits; but the Welshmen watched for the advantage of the place, and kept the king so straitlie, that neither forage nor victuall might come to his camp, neither durst anie soldiour stir abroad. And to augment their miseries there fell such raine, that the king's men could scant stand upon their feete upon those slipperie hilles. In the end, the king was compelled to return home without his purpose, and that with great loss of men and munition, besides his charges. Therefore in a great choler he caused the pledges eies, whom he had received long before that, to be put out; which were Rees and Cawdwalhon the sonnes of Owen, and Cynwric and Meredith the sonnes of Rees, and other." - Powell. During the military expedition which King Henry II. made in our days against South Wales, an old Welshman at Pencaduir, who had faithfully adhered to him, being desired to give an opinion about the royal army, and whether he thought that of the rebels would make resistance, and what would be the final event of this war, replied: "This Nation, O king, may now, as in former time, be harassed, and in a great measure weakened and destroyed by you and other powers, and it will often prevail by its laudable exertions; but it can never be totally subdued through wrath of man, unless the wrath of God shall concur. Nor do I think, that any other nation than this of Wales, or any other Quoth Madoc, as the memory kindled him: I hate the Saxon!3 Madoc cried; not yet The while, That, exclaimed the king, Impatience struggled in the heaving breast That was a day indeed, which I may still That Saxon combat seem'd like woman's war. Put to the proof; no vantage-ground was there, When stiff with toil and faint with wounds, he raised Then Madoc's grief Found utterance; Wherefore, David, dost thou rouse The memory now of that unhappy day, Shook with ungovernable wrath; the page, His eyeballs flash'd, strong anger choked his voice, My Sister-Queen! nay, you will learn to love Grateful the Queen That thou should'st wish to hide from earth and heaven? Ensued; Goervyl then with timely speech Tell it the Saxon!.. he will join thy triumph, . . David's cheek Grew pale and dark; he bent his broad black brow language whatever, may hereafter come to pass, shall in the day of severe examination before the Supreme Judge answer for this corner of the earth."- Hoare's Giraldus. 1 Brienstone in Dorsetshire was held in grand sergeantry by a pretty odd jocular tenure; viz. by finding a man to go before the king's army for forty days, when he should make war in Scotland (some records say in Wales), bareheaded and barefooted, in his shirt and linen drawers, holding in one hand a bow without a string, in another an arrow without feathers."— Gibson's Camden. 2 There is a good testimony to Hoel's military talents in the old history of Cambria, by Powell. "At this time Cadel, Meredyth, and Rees, the sons of Gruffyth ap Rees, ap Theodor, did lead their powers against the castle of Gwys; which, after they saw they could not win, they sent for Howel the sonne of Owen, prince of North Wales, to their succour, who for his prowesse in the field, and his discretion in consultation, was counted the flowre of chivalrie; whose presence also was thought only sufficient to overthrow anie hold." 3 of this name Saxon, which the Welsh still use, Higden gives an odd etymology. "Men of that cowntree ben more yghter and stronger on the see than other scommers or theeves of the see, and pursue theyr enemyes full harde, both by water and by londe, and ben called Saxones, of Saxum, that is, a stone, for they ben as hard as stones, and uneasy to fare with."-Polycronycon, i. 26. Thus to the wanderer of the waters spake : A lovely land it needs must be, my brother, The tale you ask 4 Henry in his attempt upon Wales, 1165, "did justice on the sons of Rhys, and also on the sons and daughters of other noblemen that were his accomplices, very rigorously; causing the eyes of the young striplings to be pecked out of their heads, and their noses to be cut off or slit; and the eares of the young gentlewomen to be stuffed. But yet I find in other authors that in this journey King Henry did not greatly prevail against his enemies, but rather lost many of his men of war, both horsemen and footmen; for by his severe proceeding against them, he rather made them more eager to seek revenge, than quieted them in any tumult." Holinshed. Among these unhappy hostages were some sons of Owen Gwynedh. 5 "The foot-bearer shall hold the feet of the king in his lap from the time when he reclines at the board till he goes to rest, and he shall chafe them with a towel; and during all that time he shall watch that no hurt happen to the king. He shall cat of the same dish from which the king takes his meat, having his back turned toward the fire. He shall light the first candle before the king at his meal." — Laws of Hoel Dha'. Accubuerit is the word in Wotton's version. It is evident that the king must have lain at his meal, after the Roman fashion, or this pedifer could not have chafed his feet. Have wax'd and waned, since from that distant world, And greet Cadwallon there.... But this shall be Smiling he spake, O Father! Thee, whose wisdom, Thee, whose power, He left this lofty theme; he struck the harp To Owen's praise 6, swift in the course of wrath, Father of Heroes. That proud day he sung, When from green Erin came the insulting host, Lochlin's long burthens of the flood, and they Who left their distant homes in evil hour, The death-doom'd Normen. There was heaviest toil, There deeper tumult, where the dragon race Of Mona trampled down the humbled head Of haughty power; the sword of slaughter carved Thee, Lord! he sung, Food for the yellow-footed fowl of heaven, Then, strong of voice, The officer proclaim'd the sovereign will, 1 Bidding the hall be silent; loud he spake, And smote the sounding pillar with his wand, And hush'd the banqueters. The chief of Bards Then raised the ancient lay. 2 1 The crier to command silence was one of the royal household; first he performed this service by his voice, then by striking with the rod of his office the pillars above the king's head. A fine was due to him for every disturbance in the court. 2 The lines which follow represent the Bardic system, as laid down in the following Triads of Bardism : — 12. There are three Circles of Existence; the Circle of Infinity, where there is nothing but God, of living or dead, and none but God can traverse it; the Circle of Inchoation, where all things are by Nature derived from Death,.. this Circle hath been traversed by man; and the Circle of Happiness, where all things spring from Life,.. this man shall traverse in Heaven. "13. Animated Beings have three States of Existence : that of Inchoation in the Great Deep, or Lowest point of Existence; that of Liberty in the State of Humanity; and that of Love, which is Happiness in Heaven. "14. All animated Beings are subject to three Necessities; beginning in the Great Deep; Progression in the Circle of Inchoation; and Plenitude in the Circle of Happiness. Without these things nothing can possibly exist but God. "15. Three things are necessary in the Circle of Inchoation; the least of all animation, and thence Beginning; the materials of all things, and thence Increase, which cannot take place in any other state; the formation of all things out of the dead mass, and thence Discriminate Individuality. "16. Three things cannot but exist towards all animated Beings from the nature of Divine Justice: Co-sufferance in the Circle of Inchoation, because without that none could attain to the perfect knowledge of any thing; Co-participation in the Divine love; and Co-ultimity from the nature of God's Power, and its attributes of Justice and Mercy. "17. There are three necessary occasions of Inchoation: to collect the materials and properties of every nature; to collect the knowledge of every thing; and to collect power towards subduing the Adverse and the Devastative, and for the divestation of Evil. Without this traversing every mode of animated existence, no state of animation, or of any thing in nature, can attain to Plenitude." 3"By the knowledge of three things will all Evil and Death be diminished and subdued; their nature, their cause, and their operation. This knowledge will be obtained in the Circle of Happiness."-Triads of Bardism, Tr. 35. 4 Angau, the Welsh word for Death, signifies Enlarge ment. 5 Nefoedd, the Welsh word for Heaven, signifies Renovation. "The three Excellencies of changing the mode of Existence in the Circle of Happiness:-Acquisition of Knowledge; beautiful Variety; and Repose, from not being able to endure uniform Infinity and uninterrupted Eternity. "Three things none but God can do: endure the Eternities of the Circle of Infinity; participate of every state of Existence without changing; and reform and renovate every thing without the loss of it. "The three Plenitudes of Happiness:- Participation of every nature, with a plenitude of One predominant; conformity to every cast of genius and character, possessing superior excellence in One; the Love of all Beings and Existences, but chiefly concentred in one object, which is God: and in the predominant One of each of these will the Plenitude of Happiness consist."-Triads of Bardism, 40. 38. 45. 6 "I will extol the generous Hero, descended from the race of Roderic, the bulwark of his country, a Prince eminent for his good qualities, the glory of Britain: Owen, the brave and expert in arms, that neither hoardeth nor coveteth riches. "Three fleets arrived, vessels of the main, three powerful fleets of the first rate, furiously to attack him on the sudden : one from Iwerddon, the other full of well-armed Lochlynians, making a grand appearance on the floods, the third from the transmarine Normans, which was attended with an immense though successless toil. "The dragons of Mona's sons were so brave in action, that there was a great tumult on their furious attack; and before the prince himself there was vast confusion, havoc, conflict, honourable death, bloody battle, horrible consternation, and upon Tal Mavra, a thousand banners: there was an outrageous carnage, and the rage of spears and hasty signs of violent indignation. Blood raised the tide of the Menai, and the crimson of human gore stained the brine. There were glittering cuirasses, and the agony of gashing wounds, and the mangled warriors prostrate before the chief, distinguished by his crimson lance. Loegria was put into confusion; the contest and confusion was great, and the glory of our Prince's wide-wasting sword shall be celebrated in an hundred languages to give him his merited praise.”— Panegyric upon Owen Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, by Gwalchmai the son of Melir, in the year 1157. — Evans's Specimens of Weish Poetry. * Ireland. And Menai's waters, burst with plunge on plunge, Curling above their banks with tempest-swell Their bloody billows heaved. The long-past days Came on the mind of Madoc, as he heard That song of triumph; on his sun-burnt brow Sate exultation: . . other thoughts arose, As on the fate of all his gallant house Mournful he mused; oppressive memory swell'd His bosom, over his fix'd eye-balls swam The tear's dim lustre, and the loud-toned harp Rung on his ear in vain; .. its silence first Roused him from dreams of days that were no more. III. CADWALLON. THEN on the morrow, at the festal board, The Lord of Ocean thus began his tale. My heart beat high when with the favouring wind We sail'd away; Aberfraw! when thy towers, And the huge headland of my mother isle, Shrunk and were gone. One human sound; . . only the raven's wing, Which rose before my coming, and the neigh Of wounded horses, wandering o'er the plain. Night now was coming on; a man approach'd And bade me to his dwelling nigh at hand. Thither I turn'd, too weak to travel more; For I was overspent with weariness, And having now no hope to bear me up, Trouble and bodily labour master'd me. I ask'd him of the battle: . . who had fallen He knew not, nor to whom the lot of war Had given my father's sceptre. Here, said he, I came to seek if haply I might find Some wounded wretch, abandon'd else to death. My search was vain, the sword of civil war Had bit too deeply. Soon we reach'd his home, A lone and lowly dwelling in the hills, By a grey mountain stream. Beside the hearth But, Madoc, I would learn, And then he brought me water from the brook, Quoth David, how this enterprize arose, I did not hear from vague and common fame The Prince replied, I was the guest of Rhys at Dinevawr,1 And there the tidings found me, that our sire Was gather'd to his fathers: . . not alone The sorrow came; the same ill messenger Told of the strife that shook our royal house, When Hoel, proud of prowess, seized the throne? Which you, for elder claim and lawful birth, Challenged in arms. With all a brother's love, I on the instant hurried to prevent The impious battle: . . all the day I sped; Night did not stay me on my eager way... Where'er I pass'd, new rumour raised new fear... Midnight, and morn, and noon, I hurried on, And the late eve was darkening when I reach'd Arvon, the fatal field... The sight, the sounds, Live in my memory now, for all was done! For horse and horseman side by side in death, Lay on the bloody plain; . . a host of men, And not one living soul,.. and not one sound, 1 Dinas Vawr, the Great Palace, the residence of the Princes of Deheubarth, or South Wales. This also was erected by Rhodri Mawr. And homely fare, and I was satisfied: That done, he piled the hearth, and spread around So on the morrow languidly I rose, And faint with fever: but a restless wish Was working in me, and I said, My host, Wilt thou go with me to the battle-field, That I may search the slain? for in the fray My brethren fought; and though with all my speed I strove to reach them ere the strife began, Alas, I sped too slow! Grievest thou for that? He answer'd, grievest thou that thou art spared Their brother's voice? said he, Thou wilt find one whom his own fears henceforth Must make to all his kin a perilous foe. daughter of an Irish chieftain; in the mean time David seized the government. Hoel raised all the force he could to recover the crown, but after a severe conflict was wounded 2 I have taken some liberties here with the history. Hoel and defeated. He returned to Ireland with the remains of his kept possession of the throne nearly two years; he then went army, which probably consisted chiefly of Irishmen, and to Ireland to claim the property of his mother Pyvog, the there died of his wounds.-Cambrian Biography. |