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(3) "Caswallon Law Hir, or Caswallon with the Long Hand, succeeded to the sovereignty of North Wales in 443, and died in 517." When King Arthur made a royal feast at Caerllion on the Usk, in Monmouthshire, Caswallon was one of four who had the honour of bearing a drawn sword before him when going to Church. His residence was near Llan Elian in Anglesea. The few records we have concerning him, delineate the great man and the hero. He slew Serigi, king of the Irish Picts, at Cerrig y Gwyddyl, near Holyhead Church, when he invaded Anglesea. (4) Einawn Urth, who was sovereign of North Wales, from

389 to 443.

(5) Cynedda, whose name is enrolled among the Welsh saints, was nephew to Helen, daughter of Coel Godebog. The triads record him as the first who granted land and privileges to the church in this island. His patrimonial territory was in Cumberland, and began to reign A.D. 320, and he died in 389. His wife was Tegwedd, daughter of Teged: there is a church dedicated to her in Gwent, where she was killed by the Pagan Saxons. Meirion, Arwystli, Caredigion, Edeyrnion, Caer Einiawn, Rhuvoniawg, &c. are places named after the sons of Cynedda who obtained inheritance in Wales.

(6) Edeyrn, married Guawl, the daughter of Coel Godebog. He lived about the beginning of the 4th century.

(7) Beli, son of Manogan, the sixty-fourth king of Britain. (8) Asav, son of Sawyl Benuchel, a celebrated saint and teacher of Christianity, from the middle to the end of the 6th century. He was a disciple to Cyndeyrn, who came into Wales, and had permission to found a college at Llan Elwy, in 543, over which Asav presided, and which was raised to a bishopric, and called after the name of Asav, or Asaph. In the time of Asa, the number of monks were nine hundred and sixty-five; of these, three hundred were labourers in the fields, three hundred servants about the monastery, and the rest were religious. died about the year 596, and was interred in the cathedral.

Asa

(9) Rhun, upon the death of his father, Maelgwn, succeeded to the government of North Wales. He was distinguished under the appellation of one of the three golden-banded sovereigns of Britain. It is said that he was an illegitimate, begotten upon Gwalltwn, the daughter of Avalwch, Maelgwn's paramour; and on that account, in no great estimation with the princes of Britain. "Mam Run ab Maelgwn, Wallwen v. Avallach." His residence was at Caer Rhun, in Caernarvonshire; he died about the year 586. This prince had a long and bloody war with the Saxons of Northumberland, who appear to have at

• Harl. Mss. 1970.

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tacked the possessions of his brother-in-law, Elidir Mwynvawr, and to have driven him to Wales, where he died. On the return of Rhun into Wales, he granted fourteen privileges to the men of Arvon, as a compensation for detaining them so long from their families on that expedition. But it appears among our records that chastity was not the favorite virtue of their wives in their absence.

(10) Dyvnwal reigned about the beginning of the fifth century, and was son of Ednyved ab Maxen Wledig.

(11) Taliesin, the most celebrated of the ancient Welsh bards, received a finished education in the school of the celebrated Catwg, at Llanveithin, in Glamorgan. It is clear, from his writings, that if he was not a Druid himself, he was well versed in the mysteries of that system. He flourished from about A.D. 520 to 573.

(12) Clydno Eiddyn, a northern chief, often mentioned in the Triads; he lived about the close of the fifth century.

(13) Nudd, the liberal, a chieftain who lived in the beginning of the sixth century; his herds, 20,000 in number, were kept by Llawrodedd, who assassinated Avaon, the son of Taliesin.

(14) Senyllt, the son of Cedig ab Dyvnwal Hen, a chieftain who lived in the close of the fifth century. He was the father of Nudd the Generous.

(15) Mordav the Generous, a chieftain who lived about the close of the fifth century.

(16) Rhydderch the Liberal, a king of the Stratclyde Britons, who signalized himself in the beginning of the sixth century, in the wars with Gwenddolau, and with Aeddan, the son of Gavran.

(17) Flint castle, it would appear, was built by Edward I. son of Henry III., for in a memorial sent by the men of Tegeing!, addressed to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, it is said, article 6, "The noble and best of the country be injured, for that the king builded the castle of Flynt upon their ground; and the king commanded the justices to give the men as much and as good ground, or the price. But they are spoiled of their lands, and have neither other lands nor money.' In 2099 of the Harl. Mss. is a Latin copy of the charter to make Flint a borough.

(18) Doomsday Book is the most venerable record in Great Britain; it consists of two volumes; the first, a large folio, written in 382 double pages of vellum, in a small but plain character, each page having a double column. Some of the capital etters and principal passages are touched with red ink, and some have strokes of red ink run across, as if scratched out.

This

volume contains the description of thirty-one counties; towards the beginning of each, there is a catalogue of the capital lords or great landholders, beginning with the king, and then naming the great lords, according to their rank and dignity. The other volume is a quarto, written upon 450 double pages of vellum, but in a single column, and on a large and in a fair character. It contains the counties of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, part of the county of Rutland, included in that of Northampton, and part of Lincolnshire, in the counties of York and Chester.

Besides the above, there are a third and a fourth volumes, kept in the Exchequer, but they are only abridgments of the two former. Until lately, all four have been kept under three different locks and keys; one is in the custody of the treasurer, and the others in the custody of the two chamberlains of the Exchequer. They are now deposited in the Chapter house, Westminster, where they may be consulted, on paying a fee of six shillings and eight pence for a search, and four pence a line for a transcript. Only extracts from these ancient monuments have been published; they contain many curious particulars of the ancient state of this country. But, after all, the survey, though carried on with great rigour for six years, was very incomplete. The monks of Croyland, in Lincolnshire, evaded giving any accurate account; many towns and cities then in existence were altogether omitted, and there was a general reluctance on the part of the people to give information, considering the inquiry only preparatory to some new impost. Its name, Doomsday book, is said to have been derived from its definitive authority, from which there could be no repeal. This work, according to the Red book in the Exchequer, was begun by order of William the Conqueror, in 1080, and completed in 1087. For the execution of this survey, commissions were appointed for every county, and juries summoned in each hundred, out of all orders of freemen, from barons down to the lowest farmers; who were, upon oath, to inform the commissioners, the name of each manor, and that of its owner; also of whom it was held in the time of Edward the Confessor; the number of hides,* the quantity of wood, pasture, and meadow land; how many ploughs were in the demesnes, how many mills, fish ponds, or fisheries, belonging to it; with the value of the whole together, in the time of King Edward. They were directed to return the tenants of every degree, the quantity of lands now and formerly, by each of them; and what was the number of villains or slaves, and also the number of kinds of cattle. At the time the survey was made, it alarmed the people, who were apprehensive that it was intended for the foundation of new impositions.

* A hide of land, according to Gervaise, is one hundred acres.

(19) Bleddyn ab Cynvin ab Caradawg ab Lles Llawdiawg ab Ednyved ab Gwinawg varv sych ab Ceido ab Corv ab Cynawg ab Tegonwy ab Teon ab Gwineu Deuvreuddwyd. He had a title to Powis, in female succession, from his great grandmother, Angharad, the granddaughter and heiress of Mervyn, to whom his third portion had been gavelled by his father, Rodri the Great. Edward the Confessor granted the Principality of North Wales to Bleddyn and Rhiwallon, his brother, for which they did homage. After a reign of thirteen years, he fell by the hands of Rhys ab Owain ab Edwin, and the chieftains of Ystrad Tywi, in 1073, according to the archaiology of Wales. Bleddyn was liberal and merciful, and loved justice and equity in all his reign. "Ilis children were, first, Meredydd, by Haer, daughter to Gylhyn; Llywarch and Cadwgan, by another woman, Madoc and Rhiryd, by a third, and Jorwerth, by a fourth."

(20) Grufydd ab Cynan was married to Angharad, the daughter of Owen ap Edwin, of Llys, in this parish. He was of the stock of one of the five royal tribes, and a distinguished patron of the poets and the musicians of Wales. He was born and educated in Ireland, where his father had sought refuge during the storm of civil commotions which then raged in his own country. On attaining the age of manhood, he raised an auxiliary army of the Irish, and landed in Wales A.D. 1075, with a view of joining his partisans, but was defeated by Trahaiarn ab Caradog, and obliged to return. In 1082, he lands a second time in Wales; and in the bloody battle of Carno Trahaiarn is slain, after which, Grufydd obtains possession of the throne. In 1096, he and Cadwgan, prince of Powis, seek refuge in Ireland, to avoid the power of Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester; but they return again in 1098, after various vicissitudes, which discovered a great energy of character. Grufydd died in 1136, aged eighty-two, universally lamented by his countrymen; his elegy is pathetically sung by Meilyr, which piece is preserved in the Welsh Archaiology.

(21) Owain Glandwr was the son of Grufydd Vychan ab Grufydd o Ruddallt ab Madog Vychan ab Madog Glof ab Grufydd Varwn Gwyn ab Grufydd Arglwydd Dinas Bran ab Madog ab Grufydd Maelor ab Madog ab Meredydd ab Bleddyn ab Cynvin, prince of Powis. Owain was born on May 28, 1348: he was brought up a barrister; then he became esquire of the body to King Richard II., and therefore no friend of Henry IV. In 1400, through the treachery and false representation of Lord Grey, of Ruthyn, to Henry, that monarch confiscated the lands of Owain, and gave them to Lord Grey, which was the source of much trouble between England and Wales. For, on the night of the 20th of September folowing, Owain burnt the town of Rhuthyn, and slew all the

men he found there; and in the year following, he took the lord Grey prisoner, in a hard-fought battle, on the banks of the Evyrnwy; and after confining him for a long time, agreed to ransom him for 10,000 marks. The next act of Owain's was to destroy the power of Henry's friends among his own countrymen, particularly Hywel Sele, of Nannau, and Grifri ab Gwyn, of Ardudwy. After this, in 1402, he defeated Edmund Mortimer, in Radnorshire, and took him prisoner. From thence the victor marched into Glamorgan, where the people generally submitted to him as their prince. In August the same year, Henry marched a large army towards Wales, but returned unsuccessful. At the close of the year, Owain summoned a parliament at Machynllaith, wherein he was formally inaugurated sovereign of Wales. On July 12, 1403, the memorable battle of Shrewsbury took place, when Percy was defeated and slain, before the forces of Owain and Mortimer had time to join him. After this time, the fortune of Owain began to be unpropitious, and after many unsuccessful skirmishes with his enemies, on the 21st September, 1415, he closed his eventful course.

(22) Owain ab Hywel, a prince who succeeded to the government of Ceredigion, in 948; he died in 980, when a great dearth and famine occurred.

(23) Hywel Dda, the celebrated legislator of Wales, became prince of Deheubarth, on the death of his father, in 907; on the death of Anarod, prince of Gwynedd, in 913, he became lord paramount of Wales; and in 940, on the death of Idwal Voel, he became king of all Wales, until his death, in 948. We are informed by Caradog that, "in the year of Christ 926, Hywel the Good, son of Cadell, king of all Wales, went to Rome, and with him three bishops: Martin, bishop of Mynyw, Mordav, bishop of Bangor, and Marchlwys, bishop of Teilo; the latter took with him Blegrwyd ab Owain, chancellor of Llandav, the brother of Morgan, king of Morganwg. The object of their going there was to advise with wise men, as to the means of improving the laws of the realm of Wales; and to obtain a knowledge of the laws of other kingdoms and cities; and the laws that the Roman emperors put in force in the island of Britain during their sovereignty. After they had obtained information respecting those things, and the advice of wise men, they returned to Wales. Thereupon Hywel summoned to him all the heads of tribes of the country, with their family representatives, and all the wise and learned men of the clergy and laity, at a conventional high court at the White house on Tav, in Dyved. After a careful research, respecting every country and city, the laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud were found superior to the whole; therefore, through the learning and instructive exertion of Blegwryd, those were systemised, and were presented for the

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