Notes to Geraint the Son of Erbin
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The Mabinogion, tr. by Lady Charlotte Guest, [1877], at sacred-texts.com
p. 185
NOTES TO GERAINT THE SON OF ERBIN.
141a EASTER--CHRISTMAS--WHITSUNTIDE.--Page 141.
RITSON, in a note to his "Metrical Romancëes," mentions, that our early historians, as Roger Hoveden, Matthew Paris, &c., often advert to the custom of the ancient monarchs of France and England, of holding a cour plénière, or plenary court, at the three principal feasts of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. On those occasions "they were attended by the earls and barons of the kingdom, their ladys and children; who dine'd at the royal table with great pomp and eclat; minstrels flocking thither from all parts; justs and tournaments being perform'd, and various other kinds of divertisements, which lasted several days."--III. 235.
These three principal festivals, or prif wyl, "Pasc, Nadolic, a Sulgwyn," are commemorated as such in one of the Triads, lvii.
141b CHURCHES WERE SET APART FOR MASS.--Page 141.
IN another part of this work, the word Offeren is rendered offering; but here it has been thought advisable to use the more general term
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[paragraph continues] Mass, although the former seems to correspond best with the language of the day.
Thus Chaucer, in his description of the Wif of Bathe, tells us, that
In all the parish wif ne was ther non,
That to the offring before hire shulde gon,
And if ther did, certain so wroth was She,
That she was out of alle charitee."
Pro. v. 451-4.
141c STEWARD OF THE HOUSEHOLD.--Page 141.
HE was the chief of all the officers of the Court, who had each to pay him a fee of twenty-four pence upon their installation. On him devolved the important care of providing food for the kitchen, and liquor for the mead-cellar; and he had the charge of the king's share of booty, until the king desired to dispose of it, when he was allowed to choose from it a steer, as his own share. It was his particular duty, "to swear for the king." Besides his clothes, and four horse-shoes, and various perquisites of the skins of beasts, he was entitled to a "male hawk, from the master of the hawks, every feast of St. Michael."--Welsh Laws.
141d MASTER OF THE HOUSEHOLD.--Page 141.
THE post of Master of the Household was one of much honour and distinction; and in the Laws of Howel Dda it is ordained that it should be filled by the king's son or nephew, or one of dignity sufficient for so high a situation. Gwalchmai was therefore peculiarly eligible to it from the relation in which he stood to King Arthur.
The privileges attached to this office were important, while its duties do not appear to have been of a very arduous nature; one of them consisted in giving the harp into the hands of the domestic bard at the three great festivals.
The Master of the Household had the largest and most central house in the town for his lodging. He was entitled to the second most honourable dish in the Court, and to be served first after the king; and his allowance was three dishes and three hornfuls of the best liquor in the Court. Besides other perquisites, some of which were in money, he claimed his clothes at the three great festivals, and also his horses, his dogs, his hawks, and his arms, from the king; and from the smith of the Court he had four horse-shoes once a year, with their complement of nails.
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142a GRYNN, AND PEN PIGEON, &c.--Page 142.
THESE personages appear to have received their names altogether from the office which they held; and we cannot expect to find any very authentic records concerning "Sight the son of Seer," and "Ear the son of Hearer," which is the interpretation of Drem vab Dremhitid, and Clust vab Clustveinyd.
To these two worthies, however, the following allusion is made in a composition attributed to Iolo Goch, 1400.
"When will that be?
"When Bleuddyn Rabi Rhol is as quick-sighted as Tremydd ap Tremhidydd, the man who could discern a mote in the sunbeam, in the four corners of the world.
"When the ears of deaf Deicin Fongam of Machynlleth are as good as those of Clustfain ap Clustfeinydd, the man who could hear the sound of the dewdrop, in June falling from the grass stalk, in the four corners of the world."
It may be well to remark in this place, that several of the characters which are incidentally introduced in Geraint ab Erbin, appear again in others of the Mabinogion, where they will be more particularly noticed.
142b DIAPERED SATIN.--Page 142.
HAVE ventured thus to translate the words Pali caerawg," though the strict meaning of "caerawg" is "mural"; and Dr. Owen Pughe, in his Dictionary, gives it the signification of "kersey-woven," as applied to a particular kind of cloth, and says that the epithet is derived "from the similitude of its texture to the work in stone walls." In speaking of satin, it seemed, however, more appropriate to use the term diapered, which Wharton, who has a long note upon the subject (Eng. Poe. II. 9, 1824), believes, properly, to signify "embroidering on a rich ground, as tissue, cloth of gold, &c." Thus, in the Squire of Low Degree, the King of Hungary promises his daughter "clothes of fyne golds" for her head.
With damaske Whyte and asure blewe,
Well dyaperd with lyllyes newe."
And Chaucer talks of
* * "a stede bay, trapped in stele,
Covered with cloth of gold diapred wele."
Cant. T. v. 2159.
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142c FOREST OF DEAN.--Page 142.
THE history of the Forest of Dean is much too interesting and important to be compressed within the limits of a note; the very derivation of its name having alone afforded materials for very lengthened discussion. Many suppose that it was so called in consequence of the Danes having taken up their residence there; and Giraldus Cambrensis appears to have inclined to this opinion, at least if we may judge from the name by which he designates it, Danubiæ Sylva, which is similar to that used by Asser Menevensis, in speaking of Denmark. 1 It argues, however, greatly against this etymology, that Dean was a common name in forests among the Celts, both of Britain and Gaul. Besides Ardennes in France, and Arden in Warwickshire, many forest towns still bear the appellation, as Dean in Rockingham Forest, Dean in the New Forest, &c. From this circumstance, it has occurred to me that the name was very probably derived from the Welsh or Celtic word DIN, which signifies "a fortified mount, or fort." For Sharon Turner informs us, on the authority of Cæsar, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus, that the Britons "cleared a space in the wood, on which they built their huts and folded their cattle; and they fenced the avenues by ditches and barriers of trees. Such a collection of houses formed one of their towns."--Ang.-Sax. B. I. c. v. Din is the root of Dinas, the Welsh word in actual use for a city.
The Rev. T. Price, in his History of Wales, gives it as his opinion, that the Forest of Dean was the original Feryllwg, or land betwixt the Wye and the Severn, which at one time formed a part of one of the five divisions of Wales. The name of Feryllwg, corrupted into Ferleg and Ferreg, he supposes to have been given to this district from the iron-works with which it abounded, the word Feryll signifying "a worker in metal." It appears also to have been considered as one of the three Gwents, and to have borne the appellation of "Gwent Coch yn y Dena," or the Red Gwent in the Deans, for which epithet it is most likely indebted to the colour of its ferruginous soil.
In the time of Giraldus Cambrensis, this district "amply supplied Gloucester with iron and venison." The renowned Spanish Armada was strictly charged to destroy its noble oaks, which were then considered of the highest importance to our naval pre-eminence.
I will not here enter into detail upon the mining history of the Forest of Dean, as I shall probably have occasion again to allude to
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it. it is said that the peculiar and extensive mining privileges of its inhabitants were confirmed to them by the grant of one of our sovereigns, in acknowledgment for the good service done him by its archers against the Scots; for, like most foresters, they were skilful bowmen. The yew-tree, sacred to archers, which is still seen to mark the site of almost every ancient mine in the forest, might seem to have a fanciful allusion to the nature of the grant, and a lingering desire to perpetuate the recollection of its origin.
142d CHIEF HUNTSMAN.--Page 142.
IN the Laws of Howel Dda, this important personage ranks as the tenth officer of the Court, and his duties and immunities are very clearly defined. From Christmas to February he was to be with the king when required, and took the seat appointed for him in the palace, which was "about the recess with the domestic chaplain." After the 8th of February he was to go with his dogs, his horns, and his greyhounds to hunt the young stags until the feast of St. John, which is in the middle of summer; and during that time he was not bound to make compensation (that is, in a Court of Law) to any one who had a claim upon him, except it were one of his fellow-officers. He was to hunt deer from the feast of St. John till the ninth day of winter; and unless he could be taken before he had risen from his bed, and put on his boots, he was not obliged to render compensation to any who had a claim upon him during all that period. From the ninth day of winter to the 1st of December he went to hunt badgers, and was not accountable for his conduct to any except his fellow-officers; and after that he was employed in sharing the skins of the beasts that had been slain, to a portion of which he had himself a right. His lodging was in the kilnhouse, and his allowance was three hornfuls of liquor and a dish of meat. The value of his horn was one pound, and it was to be of buffalo-horn (buelin).
THE Chief Page, or Penn Mackwy, appears to have been the officer designated in the Welsh Laws as the Gwas Ystavell, and, as that name implies, he was required to attend to the arrangements of the king's chamber. It was his business to seek the burden of straw for the king to lie on, to make his bed, and to spread the clothes upon it; and in his keeping were the king's treasures, "his cups, his
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horns, and his rings," for the losing of which he was punished. He lodged in the royal chamber, and, except during the three great festivals, acted as cupbearer to the king.
142f GWENHWYVAR SAID TO ARTHUR, "WILT THOU PERMIT ME, LORD TO GO TO-MORROW TO SEE AND HEAR THE HUNT OF THE STAG?"--Page 142.
IT was formerly very customary for ladies to join in the pleasures of the chase; and Strutt informs us that when they did so it was usual to draw the game into a small compass by means of inclosures; and temporary stands were erected for them, from which, when not contented with being merely spectators of the sport, they shot at the game with arrows as it passed by. This appears to be the manner in which the hunting party was to be conducted, which was promised by the king of Hungary to his daughter in the old romance of the Squire of Low Degree, where he tells her,
"A lese of grehound with you to stryke,
And hert and hynde and other lyke,
Ye shal be set at such a tryst,
That herte and hynde shall come to your fyst."---765-8.
Strutt is of opinion that the ladies had even separate hunting parties of their own.--Sports and Pastimes, p. 12.
143a GIVE IT TO WHOM HE PLEASES.--Page 143.
GAWAIN (Gwalchmai) gives a different counsel in the French Romance of Eric and Enide, and endeavours to dissuade the King from the hunting of the White Stag.
"Monsignor Gauvain ne plot mie
Quant il ot la parole oïe.
Sire, fet-il, de ceste cace
N'aurois vous ja ne gré, ne grâce,
Nous savons bien trestot pieça
Quel costume le blanc cerf a;
Qui le blanc cerf ocire puet,
Par raison baisier li estuet
Le plus bele à quanqu'il cort,
Des puceles de vostre cort;
Mais en porroit venir molt grant
Error, A il çaians cinq cens p. 191
Damoiselles de halt paraiges
Filles à Roi gentis et saiges
Ne n'i a nul qui n'ait ami
Chevalier vaillant et hardi
Qui tost desrainer la voldroit
Ou fust à tort, ou fust à droit
Que cele qui li atalente
Ert la plus bele et la plus gente.
Li Rois respont ce sai ge bien
Mais porce nel lairrai jo rien;
Mais ne puest estre contredite
Parole, puisque Rois l'a dite."
This recalls the words which Chaucer puts into the mouth of "Pluto, that is the King of Faerie," when urged by his Queen to deviate from a resolution once declared:
"I am a king, it sit me not to lie."
Cant. Tales, 1. 10189.
143b CADYRNERTH THE SON OF PORTHAWR GANDWY.--Page 143.
CADYRNERTH the son of Porthawr Gandwy appears to have been a very courtly personage, and a man of most polished manners; as in one Triad we find him ranked with the courteous Gwalchmai for his urbanity towards guests and strangers; 1 and in another he is said to have preferred residing with King Arthur to exercising the sovereignty over his own dominions, which was, doubtless, in some measure because the refined habits of the Court were more congenial to a person of his cultivation and taste.
"The three sovereigns of the Court of Arthur, Goronwy the son of Echel Vorddwytwll, and Cadreith the son of Porthfawr Gadw, and Ffleidwr Fflam the son of Godo; 2 because they were princes possessing territory and dominion, and in preference to which they remained as knights in the Court of Arthur, as that was considered the chief of honour and gentility in the opinion of the Three Just Knights." 3
Nor is this characteristic lost sight of in the present Tale, for, a little further on, while every one else is engrossed by the pleasures of the chase, we find all Cadyrnerth's ideas of propriety violated by Gwenhwyvar's riding up with no other retinue than a single handmaiden;
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and he hastens to Arthur, to make him acquainted with so flagrant a breach of etiquette, who instantly rectifies it by commanding Gildas and the scholars of the Court to attend her.
143c GOREU THE SON OF CUSTENNIN.--Page 143.
HE is recorded as the deliverer of Arthur from the three imprisonments assigned to him in the Triads.
"The three supreme prisoners of the Island of Britain, Llyr Liediaith, in the prison of Euroswydd Wledig, 1 and Madoc, or Mabon, 2 son of Modron, and Geyr the son of Geyrybed, or Geiryoed; 2 and one more exalted than the three, and that was Arthur, who was for three nights in the Castle of Oeth and Anoeth, and three nights in the prison of Wen Pendragon, and three nights in the dark prison under the stone ------ And one youth released him from these three prisons; that youth was Goreu the son of Custennin, his cousin."--Tr. L.
The Castle of Oeth and Anoeth is spoken of in the Mabinogion and in another series of the Triads it is named as the prison of the above-mentioned Geyr. In this version, Arthur is not alluded to, but all the members of the families of the other prisoners are said to have shared their captivity, which is designated as the most complete ever known to have taken place.--Tr. 61.
144a HEAVEN PROSPER THEE, GERAINT.--Page 144.
THE name of Geraint ab Erbin is familiar to all lovers of ancient Welsh literature, through the beautiful Elegy composed on him by his fellow warrior, the venerable bard Llywarch Hên. He was a Prince of Dyvnaint (Devon), and fell fighting valiantly against the Saxons, under Arthur's banner, in the battle of Llongborth.
Before Geraint, the terror of the foe,
I saw steeds fatigued with the toil of battle,
And after the shout was given, bow dreadful was the onset.
________
At Llongborth I saw the tumult,
And the slain drenched in gore,
And red-stained warriors from the assault of the foe. p. 193
Before Geraint, the scourge of the enemy,
I saw steeds white with foam,
And after the shout of battle, a fearful torrent.
At Llongborth I saw the raging of slaughter,
And an excessive carnage,
And warriors blood-stained from the assault of Geraint.
________
At Llongborth was Geraint slain,
A valiant warrior from the woodlands of Devon,
Slaughtering his foes as he fell." 1
Llongborth, where this fatal conflict took place, is by some believed to have been Portsmouth, and the name literally signifies the Haven of Ships. But the Rev. T. Price supposes it to be Langport, in Somersetshire. This opinion he founds on the similarity of the names, and the locality; Langport being situated on the river Parret, the Peryddon of the Welsh bards, and the Pedridan of the Saxon Chronicle.
From the Triads we learn that Geraint was also a naval commander. Gwenwynwyn the son of Nav, and March the son of Meirchion, are ranked with him as such; and we are told that with each of them were six score ships, having six score men in each.--Tr. 68.
In the Gododin of Aneurin he is Spoken of in terms of high eulogium.--Myv. Arch. I. 13.
Geraint ab Erbin has had the honour of being canonized. It is said that a church was dedicated to him at Caerffawydd, or Hereford. Four of his sons, Selyf, Cyngan, Iestin, and Cado, or Cataw, are also included in the list of Saints, and were members of the college of St. Garmon. Garwy, another of his sons, appears in a very different character from his brothers, in the Triads, where he is celebrated as one of the three amorous and courteous knights of the Court of Arthur.--Tr. 119.
We can hardly identify Geraint ab Erbin with the Geraint Carnwys or Garwys of Gruffydd ab Arthur, who, in the Brut, is called Gerin de Chartres; and in Robert of Gloucester, "Gerẏn erl of Carcoẏs." This hero figures in Arthur's very latest battles, whereas Geraint ab Erbin, as we have already seen, fell at Llongborth, in
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an encounter with the Saxons, which must have taken place at an earlier period of that monarch's reign;--according to Dr. O. Pughe, about the year 530. 1
In the Life of Saint Teiliaw, the second bishop of Llandaff, mention occurs of a person named Gerennius, and an account is given of his death, which is described as having taken place very differently from that of the subject of Llywarch Hên's Elegy. It is probable, however, that the same person is alluded to; but the whole narrative is of too legendary a character to be received as history, especially in opposition to the testimony of an eye-witness. In this composition, it is stated that Saint Teiliaw, when retiring to Armorica with a number of his countrymen, in order to escape from a pestilence, called Pestis Flava, 2 which was then desolating Britain, was, on his way, hospitably entertained by Gerennius, or Geraint, King of Cornwall, to whom, on his departure, the Saint confidently promised that he should not die until he had received the Holy Communion at his hands. Accordingly when the King approached his death, Teiliaw was miraculously informed of his situation, and immediately made preparations to fulfil his promise, and at the same time to return to his own country, the pestilence having then subsided. As they were going to embark, Teiliaw desired his followers to take with them a huge sarcophagus, which he had destined for the reception of Gerennius's body; and on their declaring their inability to comply, on account of its great magnitude, inasmuch as ten yoke of oxen could scarcely move it from its place, the Saint instructed them that it should, by Divine assistance, he conveyed across the sea before the prow of the ship; which was accordingly done, and the sarcophagus reached the shore without the intervention of human aid. Having landed at the port called Dingerein, 3 Teiliaw proceeded forthwith to visit the King, whom be found still alive, but who, after the ministration of the Holy Ordinance, immediately expired; and his remains were placed by the Saint in the above-mentioned sarcophagus. 4
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A SIMILAR prize was contended for at the nuptials of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy, when there were great jousts and rejoicing. In the very interesting Chronicle of the events of the reign of these two illustrious persons, translated from the Flemish by M. Octave Delepierre, and published at Brussels, it is recorded that upon that joyful occasion, "Le Margrave de Brandebourg remporta un des prix, qui consistait en un faucon d'or."
151a THAT THOU WILT GO TO GWENHWYVAR.--Page 151.
THIS custom of sending a conquered foe as a present to the victorious knight's lady-love forms a frequent incident in chivalric Romances. It is admirably ridiculed by Don Quixote, when he desires the released criminals to go and offer themselves to his Dulcinea.
In the old French poem, entitled the Combat des Trente, which celebrates the encounter which took place in Brittany between thirty English and thirty French knights, during the reign of Edward III, Pembroke calls to Beaumanoir to surrender, telling him that he will not kill him, but will send him as a present to the lady of his affections.
"Rent toi tost Biaumanoir je ne tochiray mie,
Mais je feray de toy un present a ma mie."
151b EDEYRN THE SON OF NUDD.--Page 151.
OF Edeyrn ap Nudd but little is known, except that he was one of the most valiant knights of Arthur's Court, and that in the celebrated expedition against the Emperor of Rome he was sent by his royal master, with five thousand men under his command, to the aid of Gawain and the other ambassadors to the Roman camp, who were treacherously assailed in returning from their mission. Gruffydd ab Arthur. Myv. Arch. II. 339. In Wace's Brut, l. 12,336 (as in the romance of Eric and Enide), he is called Yder le fils Nut, or Nu.
In the account of the antiquities of Glastonbury, attributed to William of Malmesbury, the author says, "It is written in the Acts of the illustrious King Arthur, that at a certain festival of the Nativity, at Caerleon, that monarch having conferred military distinction upon a valiant youth of the name of Ider the son of King Nuth, in order to prove him, conducted him to the hill of Brentenol, for the purpose
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of fighting three most atrocious giants. And Ider going before the rest of the company, attacked the giants valorously, and slew them. And when Arthur came up he found him apparently dead, having fainted with the immense toil he had undergone, whereupon he reproached himself with having been the cause of his death, through his tardiness in coming to his aid; and arriving at Glastonbury, he appointed there four-and-twenty monks to say mass for his soul, and endowed them most amply with lands, and with gold and silver, chalices, and other ecclesiastical ornaments."
The name of Edeyrn ab Nudd occurs in the Catalogue of Welsh Saints, where he is noticed as a bard, who embraced a life of sanctity, and to whom the Chapel of Bodedeyrn, under Holyhead, is dedicated. 1
152a SAT ACCORDING TO THEIR PRECEDENCE IN HONOUR.--Page 152.
PRECEDENCE at table was formerly considered a point of great importance, and was even a subject of legislation with the Welsh. In the Laws of Howel Dda, all the officers of the palace have their places in the hall very particularly allotted to them; some having their seats above, and some below the partition. 2 This partition may be supposed to answer to the raised platform called the dais, still seen at the upper end of all ancient baronial halls, and where the table was placed, at which the lord and his guests, and the most distinguished of his retainers, sat at meat. The honour of being admitted to it was greatly esteemed, of which innumerable instances might be adduced from passages in the older writers. Chaucer, to give a favourable idea of the consideration in which some of the characters in his Prologue were held, says,
"Wel semed eche of hem a fayre burgeis,
To sitten in a gild halle, on the deis."--v. 372.
153a THIS IS HOW ARTHUR HUNTED THE STAG.--Page 153.
STRUTT gives a description of the various preparations formerly made or a royal hunting party, from a treatise, entitled, "The Maister of the Game," written for the use of Prince Henry, by the Master of the Game to Henry IV. It exists in the Harleian MSS., and is an enlargement of one previously composed in French, by William Twici, or Twety, grand huntsman to Edward II. The name of John Gyfford
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is coupled with that of Twety in an English version, of nearly the same date. It was from these two that the treatise upon hunting, contained in the Book of St. Alban's, was compiled.
As the passage is very curious, I shall make no apology for giving it at length.
"When the king shall think proper to hunt the hart in the parks or forests, either with bows or greyhounds, the master of the game, and the park-keeper, or the forester, being made acquainted with his pleasure, shall see that everything be provided necessary for the purpose. It is the duty of the sheriff of the county, wherein the hunting was to be performed, to furnish fit stabling for the king's horses, and carts to take away the dead game. The hunters and officers under the forester, with their assistants, were commanded to erect a sufficient number of temporary buildings for the reception of the royal family and their train; and, if I understand my author clearly, these buildings are directed to be covered with green boughs, to answer the double purpose of shading the company and the hounds from the heat of the sun, and to protect them from any inconveniency in case of foul weather. Early in the morning, upon the day appointed for the sport, the master of the game, with the officers deputed by him, ought to see that the greyhounds were properly placed, and the persons nominated to blow the horn, whose office was to watch what kind of game was turned out, and, by the manner of winding his horn, signify the same to the company, that they might, be prepared for its reception upon its quitting the cover. Proper persons were then to be appointed, at different parts of the inclosure, to keep the populace at due distance. The yeomen of the king's bow, and the grooms of his tutored greyhounds, had in charge to secure the king's standing, and prevent any noise being made to disturb the game before the arrival of his majesty. When the royal family and the nobility were conducted to the places appointed for their reception, the master of the game, or his lieutenant, sounded three long mootes, for the uncoupling of the hart hounds. The game was then driven from the cover, and tamed by the huntsmen and the hounds so as to pass by the stands belonging to the king and queen, and such of the nobility as were permitted to have a share in the pastime; who might either shoot at them with their bows, or pursue them with the greyhounds, at their pleasure. We are then informed that the game which the king, the queen, or the princes or princesses, slew with their own bows, or particularly commanded to be let run, was not liable to any claim by the huntsmen or their attendants; but of all the rest that was killed they had certain parts assigned to them by the master of
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the game, according to the ancient custom."--Sports and Pastimes, 18, 19.
153b CAVALL WAS HIS NAME.--Page 153.
THE dog Cavall is mentioned in another of the Mabinogion--that of Kilhwch and Olwen.
153c HORN FOR SLAYING.--Page 153.
THE several incidents of the chase were wont to be announced by the different ways in which the horn was sounded. A list of these various modes of winding the horn is given in the Book of Sir Tristram, where we find,--
"14. The death of the bucke eyther with bowe hounds or grehoundes,--One longe note.
15. Knowledge of the same,--Two short and one longe.
16. The death of the bucke with houndes,--Two longe notes and the rechace." 1
153d GILDAS THE SON OF CAW.--Page 153.
GILDAS was one of the numerous Sons of Caw, who sought refuge with Arthur, and were hospitably received by him, when their father, who was a prince of Strath Clyde, was expelled from his possessions by the inroads of the Saxons. It is said that Gildas was a member of the congregation of Cattwg, and also that he established a school, or college, at Caer Badon, or Bath. He is well known as the author of an "Epistle" on the vices and miseries of his country, and of the Lamentations over the Destruction of Britain, which procured for him the title of the British Jeremiah. Some identify him with the poet Aneurin, but his history has been a subject of much controversy.
WHETHER regarded as the scene of Roman 2 and Norman enterprise, or of British patriotism and valour, 3 Cardiff is a spot to which
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much historical interest must ever attach. Its annals, however, do not always refer to deeds of open and honourable warfare; and some of the events which have taken place within its precincts are of a nature to excite feelings of pity and regret.
Among the early recollections that its name revives, is that of the unfortunate Robert, Duke of Normandy, who suffered there his six-and-twenty years of hopeless captivity. The tower which tradition has assigned as the dungeon he occupied, is pointed out at the Castle to this day, and is a most venerable ruin; 1 and there is still extant a spirited poem in the Welsh language, which he is said to have composed to beguile the tedious hours of his imprisonment. It is addressed to a solitary oak on the summit of Pennarth Point, which was visible from the scene of his sufferings, and is as follows, together with the explanatory heading.
"When Robert, Prince of Normandy, was imprisoned in Cardiff Castle, by Robert, son of Amon, he acquired the Welsh language, and seeing the Welsh bards there at the festivals, he admired them, and became a bard; and these are verses which he composed,--
'Oak that grew on battle mound,
Where crimson torrents drench'd the ground;------
Woe waits the maddening broils where sparkling wine goes round!
Oak that grew on verdant plain,
Where gush'd the blood of warriors slain;------
The wretch in hatred's grasp may well of woes complain!
Oak that grew in verdure strong,
After bloodshed's direful wrong;------
Woe waits the wretch who sits the sons of strife among!
Oak that grew on greensward bourn,
Its once fair branches tempest-torn;------
Whom envy's hate pursues shall long in anguish mourn p. 200
Oak that grew on woodcliff high,
Where Severn's waves to winds reply;------
Woe waits the wretch whose years tell not that death is nigh!
Oak that grew through year of woes,
Mid battle broil's unequall'd throes;-------
Forlorn is he who prays that death his life may close!'" 1
About the year 1091, the Normans were called into Glamorganshire by the native princes, who were in a state of enmity and warfare, and unwisely sought for foreign aid against each other. The Normans took advantage of their weakness and dissensions, and remained to conquer the province for themselves. Their leader, Robert Fitz-Hammon, while he divided the principal lordships among the twelve knights who had accompanied him in the expedition, retained that of Cardiff, as the most important, for his own portion of the spoil. His family did not, however, enjoy his newly-acquired possessions in uninterrupted tranquillity; for his descendant, William, Earl of Gloucester, having endeavoured to wrest a large tract of mountainous and woody country from a native chieftain, named Ivor Bach, or Ivor the little; "a man," as Giraldus describes him, "of small stature, but of immense courage," 2 provoked the resolute Welshman to hostilities. One of Ivor's strongholds is said to have been the fortress of Castell Coch, whose beautiful ruin is one of the most picturesque ornaments of the lovely valley of the Taff; another was the rugged mountain-keep of Morlais, whose mound still forms a striking feature in the outline of the rising ground behind Merthyr and Dowlais, and in the vicinity of which is a spot 3 which local tradition yet points out as the scene of one of his battles.
The Castle of Cardiff was at that time surrounded with high walls, guarded by one hundred and twenty soldiers, a numerous body of archers, and a strong watch; the city also contained many stipendiary troops. Notwithstanding all these precautions, however, the daring chief, descending from his fastnesses, scaled the castle walls in the dead of night, and carried off the Earl and Countess, together with their only son, into the woods; nor did he set them free until he not only recovered all of which he had been unjustly
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deprived, but also had ceded to him a large additional extent of territory.
In a curious old composition, printed in 1825, by Sir Thomas Phillipps, and entitled, "A Book of Glamorganshire Antiquities, by Rice Merrick, Esq., 1578," it is mentioned that "the Earle gave him of his owne Landes a Meadow near Romney, of whose name it is at this day called Morva Yvor. And unto Griffith, Sonne to Yvor Petit, another Medowe of his name, called Morva Ryffidd, which at this day retayne those names."--29, 30. The same authority goes on to state that Sir Gilbert de Clare, successor to the Earl of Gloucester, gave his daughter in marriage to Griffith the son of Ivor, "by whome hee had diverse Sonnes, whose Grandchildren were starved in Cardiff Castle, having their eyes put out (Griffith ab Rys ab Gre_ ab Ifor Petit being the heire) by Sir Richard de Clare their ffather's Cousen-German, saving Ho: Velḡ. then being with his Nurse; of whom God multiplied a great people."--59.
There is a curious story in Giraldus Cambrensis, of a mysterious warning which King Henry II. received at Cardiff, where he passed the night on his return from Ireland, the first Sunday after Easter. It was accompanied by a prophecy, the due fulfilment of which the worthy historian has not neglected to note.
The great name of Owain Glendower is also connected with the history of Cardiff. Leland tells us, that "In the year 1404, and in the fourth year of the reign of King Henry, Owen Glendwr burnt the southern parts of Wales, and besieged the town and castle of Caerdyf. The besieged sent to the king for succour; but he neither came in person or sent them any assistance. Owen, therefore, took the town, and burnt it all except one street, in which the friars minors dwelled; which, together with their convent, he left standing for the love he bore them. He afterwards made himself master of the castle, and destroyed it, carrying away a rich booty which he found deposited there. But when the friars petitioned to him for their books and chalices, which they had lodged in the castle, he replied, why did you put your goods in the castle? If you had kept them in your convent, they would have been secure."--Collect. I. 313.
155b SURETY FOR EDEYRN.--Page 155.
THE knights of old were very good-natured in coming forward as surety for one another; and of this we have an instance in the interesting Lai de Lanval, ("Poemes de Marie de France," I. 232). Ellis, in a note upon Mr. Way's English version of this tale, gives a
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curious anecdote on the subject of pledges or securities, out of the Life of St. Louis.
"On his return from Egypt to France, being in danger of shipwreck, his queen vowed to St. Nicholas a vessel of silver, and, as a further security to the saint, insisted that Joinville should become her pledge for the execution of the promise."--Fab. II. 225.
The Welsh legislator of the 10th century seems to have given the subject of bail or surety his particular attention, and his celebrated code contains a long series of enactments relating to it. The following is a specimen of their character:
"If a surety and debtor meet upon a bridge formed of a single tree, the debtor must not refuse to do one of these three things: either to pay, to give a pledge, or to go to law; and he must not move the toe of one foot towards the heel of the other," (that is to say, he must not stir from the spot,) "until he does one of these three things."
155c GWALLAWG THE SON OF LLENAWG.--Page 155.
IN the Triads, we find him celebrated with Dunawd Fur and Cynvelyn Drwsgl, as one of the pillars of battle of the Island of Britain, which is explained to mean that these chieftains were skilled in the disposition of the order of battle, and were battle leaders, superior to all others that ever existed. 1--Tr. 71. Myv. Arch. II. 69.
And in a subsequent Triad, he is called one of the "Grave-slaughtering ones," from his having avenged his wrongs from his grave.--Tr. 76. Myv. Arch. II. 69.
Amongst the compositions of the early bards in the Myvyrian Archæology, there are several pieces expressly in honour of Gwallawg. In some of these the scenes of his battles are named, and one of then, signifies that his fame extended from Caer Clud to Caer Caradawc, that is, from Dumbarton to Salisbury.
His name occurs in Llywarch Hên's Elegy upon Urien Rheged; and he has been already spoken of (p. 34) as one of the three northern kings, who united themselves with that prince for the purpose of opposing the progress of Ida's successors.--See also Turner's "Anglo-Saxons," B. III. c. iv.
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In Gruffydd ab Arthur, 1 he is mentioned as one of the knights who were present at Arthur's coronation; and his death is recorded to have taken place in the last conflict between that Sovereign and the Romans. The "Englynion y Beddau" place his tomb in Carrawc.
THIS sapient personage is very probably the same as that Morgan the Wise who prepared the ointment which restored Owain to a state of health and sanity, in the romance of Ywaine and Gawin, and whom Ritson, 2 on what grounds, I know not, considered to be the same as the celebrated schismatic Pelagius. His reputation appears to have extended to Brittany, where the inhabitants still call by the name of Morgan Tut an herb, to which they ascribe the most universal healing properties. Morgant was the name of the Bishop of Caer Vudei, (Silchester,) in Arthur's reign. 3 But the appellation is a very common one in Wales.
155e CHIEF PHYSICIAN.--Page 155.
THE chief physician, from the nature of his office, was necessarily in very constant attendance upon the royal person; and this was carried so far, that not only was he unable to leave the palace without the king's permission, but it was ordained by the law of the land, that his seat in the hall should be near to that occupied by the monarch. His lodging was appointed him with the Pennteulu, or the master of the household, and he received his linen clothes from the queen, and his woollen clothes from the king. He was obliged to supply medicine gratis to all the four-and-twenty officers of the Court, except in the case of one of the three dangerous wounds, which are explained to be a blow on the head penetrating the brain, a thrust in the body penetrating the intestines, and the breaking of one of the limbs. And for every one of these three dangerous wounds he was entitled to one hundred and eighty pence and his meat. He was to take security of the family of the wounded man
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[paragraph continues] (that he should not be prosecuted), in case he should die of the medicines administered to him; and if he neglected this precaution, he had to answer for the consequence. The price of some of his medicaments was established by law. For a plaster of red ointment, he was allowed to charge twelve pence, and eight pence for one of medicinal herbs.
157a ENID THE DAUGHTER OF YNYWL.--Page 157.
THROUGHOUT the broad and varied region of romance, it would be difficult to find a character of greater simplicity and truth than that of Enid the daughter of Earl Ynywl. Conspicuous for her beauty and noble bearing, we are at a loss whether most to admire the untiring patience with which she bore all the hardships she was destined to undergo, or the unshaken constancy and devoted affection which finally achieved the triumph she so richly deserved.
The character of Enid is admirably sustained throughout the whole tale; and as it is more natural, because less overstrained, so, perhaps, it is even more touching than that of Griselda, over which, however, Chaucer has thrown a charm that leads us to forget the improbability of her story.
There is a Triad, in which Enid's name is preserved as one of the fairest and most illustrious ladies of the Court of Arthur.--Tr. 108.
The bards of the Middle Ages have frequent allusions to her in their poems; and Davydd ap Gwilym could pay no higher compliment to his lady-love than to call her a second Enid.
Mr. Tennyson has turned the tale of Geraint and Enid into noble blank verse, heightening the picture with some additional touches of his own.
159a GWEIR GWRHYD VAWR.--Page 159.
WE find him noticed in the Triads as one of the three stubborn ones of the island of Britain, whom no one could turn from their purpose. Tr. 78.
159b GWREI GWALSTAWD IEITHOEDD.--Page 159.
THIS singular personage acts a somewhat conspicuous part in another of the Mabinogion, Kilhwch and Olwen, in which he is described knowing all languages, and being able to interpret even those of the birds and the beasts. In an old Welsh composition, attributed to Iolo Goch, and printed in the "Cydymaith Diddan," before quoted, he is alluded to under the corrupted appellation of Uriel Wastadiaith,
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and is spoken of as having had so wonderful an aptitude for acquiring languages, that he never heard one with his ears, that he would not utter it with his tongue as fast as he heard it.
159c BEDWYR THE SON OF BEDRAWD.--Page 159.
BEDWYR was one of the most valiant of Arthur's knights, and rendered him valuable service in the different wars in which be was engaged. In the king's household too he filled a very important office, that of chief butler, and there is no doubt, from the estimation in which he was ever held by his sovereign, that he acquitted himself equally well of the duties which devolved upon him in that capacity.
His name is often coupled with that of the seneschal, Sir Kai, and their fortunes in many respects appear to have been very similar. They were the two knights whom Arthur selected as his sole companions in his expedition to St. Michael's Mount, to avenge the death of Helen, the niece of Howel ab, Emyr Llydaw (already adverted to, p. 134). And he took the same means of recompensing the valour and fidelity of both, by bestowing upon each of them the sovereignty of a valuable French province, which Robert of Gloucester quaintly records in these words,--
"He ʒef þat lond of Normandẏe Bedwer ẏs boteler,
And þat lond of Aungeo Kaxe ẏs panter."--I. 187.
Finally, they both shared the same fate, being slain side by side, while fighting against the Romans in the last engagement of that war, in which they had so greatly distinguished themselves. Arthur, whose supremacy was established by the event of that glorious encounter, was careful to pay every tribute to the memory of the faithful knights who had fallen in his service. He caused Bedwyr to be interred at Bayeux, which he had founded himself, as the capital of his Norman dominions, and Kai to be buried at Chinon, which town, as Wace 1 informs us, derived its name from that circumstance. 2 The etymology, it must be confessed, is not very apparent.
The names of these two heroes occur together in the Triads, where Kai is styled one of the Three Diademed Chiefs of battle, superior
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to both of whom was the subject of this note, Bedwyr the son of Pedrawc. T. 69.
The place of Bedwyr's sepulture is thus recorded in the "Graves of the Warriors," together with that of another chieftain, whose name is not given.
The grave of the son of Ossvran is in Camlan,
After many a conflict.
The grave of Bedwyr is in the woody steep of Tryvan.
There is a lofty mountain bearing the name of Trivaen, at the head of the valley of Nant-ffrancon, in Snowdon. Dunraven Castle, in Glamorganshire, is also, in ancient writings, called Dindryvan, but whether either of these is the place mentioned in the above stanza, it is not easy to determine.
THE derivation of the name of this majestic river involves a very pretty though tragical story.
King; Locryn, the son of the Trojan Brutus, and sovereign of these realms, fell in love with Astrild, the King of Germany's beautiful daughter, who came over to this island in the retinue of Homber, 1 King of Hungary, when that monarch undertook his disastrous expedition to endeavour to dispossess Albanak, Locryn's brother, of his dominions in the North. Locryn, as soon as he beheld the damsel, determined to wed her, but unfortunately he had before become betrothed to Gwendolen, the daughter of Corineus, Duke of Cornwall, the conqueror of Gog and Magog; and this stern slayer of giants, on hearing of the change in his intention, declared that he would not brook so great an insult to his family. This declaration of Corineus was not to be disregarded, particularly as he made it more impressive by taking his great axe in his hand, which, in the king's presence,
"So grisliche he schok & faste,
þat þe kyng quakede & ys men, so sore heo were a gaste."
[paragraph continues] So Locryn deemed it expedient to marry Gwendolen, but he could not wean his affections from the beautiful Astrild, and he had a secret subterraneous habitation contrived, where he concealed her
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during Corineus's lifetime, giving out, when he visited her, that he went to sacrifice to his gods. On the death of Corineus he did not consider it necessary to keep up this deception any longer, but dismissed Gwendolen, and elevated Astrild to the rank of Queen. Gwendolen, however, was far from submitting tamely to this indignity; and summoning her father's Cornish vassals to her aid she brought them into the field against her faithless husband, who was slain in the first encounter. Astrild and her daughter Averne then fell into the power of Gwendolen, who, according to old Robert of Gloucester, was a "sturne wommon," and caused them both to be drowned in the Severn.
"And for yt was hire lorde's doʒter þat mayde Auerne,
And for honour of hire lord, and for heo was of hys kynde,
Heo wolde þat hire name euer more in mynde,
And lette clepe 1 þat watur after Auerne,
And seþþe þorȂ diuerse tonge me clepede hit Seuerne,
And deþ a letre per to, and no more y wys,
In þis manner þike water Seuerne y cleped is".--I. 27.
Havren, the Welsh name for this river, bears a very near affinity to that of Gwelldolen's innocent and unfortunate victim, Averne.
IN Wales, the penalties for disturbing boundaries were severe. Howel Dda enacted, that whoever should destroy a boundary between two villages, by ploughing it up, should forfeit to the king the oxen with which he ploughed, together with the wood and iron of the plough, and the value of the ploughman's right foot, 2 and the driver's left hand; and that he should pay fourpence to the owner of the land, and also restore the boundary to its original state.
Parochial perambulations were formerly performed with much solemnity in the principality, the procession being headed by the clergyman and the ceremony begun and ended with a form of prayer, the surplice and Prayer Book being carried by an attendant, to be used when required. Remains of this custom are still observable in some districts. Upon an appointed day, the inhabitants of the adjoining parishes meet at a certain spot, and proceed along the boundary line, which in the cultivated land is generally
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a brook or a hedge-row, until they come to some particular object, which, where no natural line of demarcation exists, serves as a mark of division. This is frequently a stone or mound of earth, or perhaps an ancient carn or tumulus, especially in the mountainous part of the country. Here the procession halts, and the clergyman asks if they are all agreed upon the boundary, and being answered in the affirmative, the parties then range themselves around, each on his proper side of the earn, at the same time baring their heads, while the clergyman ascends to the top with the book in his hand, and with a loud voice pronounces the words "Cursed is he that removeth his neighbour's landmark," upon which all the people answer "Amen." He then descends, and they proceed to some similar object, where the same proceedings are repeated.
A person who has witnessed this ceremony assures me that its effect is exceedingly striking, especially when occurring upon some lonely part of the mountain. The sudden halt round the carn, the clergyman ascending with the book in his hand,--the baring of the head,--the imprecation,--and the simultaneous response, altogether form a rite so extremely impressive, that it cannot fail to contribute greatly towards preserving a recollection of the spot, and affording to landmarks in lonely situations a protection against removal, to which by design or accident, they might otherwise be liable.
160c VARIETY OF MINSTRELSY AND OF GAMES.--Page 160.
CHAUCER has a pretty passage illustrative of what were the diversions admitted in a baronial hall on similar occasions of state, and one which is highly descriptive of the manners of the age in which it was written.
"This Theseus, this duk, this worthy knight,
When he had brought hem into his citee,
And inned hem, everich at his degree,
He festeth hem, and doth so gret labour
To esen hem, and don hem all honour,
That yet men wenen that no mannes wit
Of non estat ne coud amenden it.
The minstralcie, the service at the feste,
The grete yeftes to the most and leste,
The riche array of Theseus paleis,
Ne who sate first ne last upon the deis, p. 209
What ladies fayrest ben or best dancing
Or which of hem can carole best or sing,
Ne who most felingly speketh of love;
What haukes sitten on the perche above,
What houndes liggen on the floor adoun
Of all this now make I no mentioun."
Knightes Tale, v. 2192-2208.
CONFUSED as the geography of Romance is known to be, yet we can hardly suppose that this is Diganwy on the Conway, in North Wales. May it not have been an error of the scribe's for Trefynwy, the Welsh name for Monmouth?
162a WINDOWS OF GLASS.--Page 162.
THE terms of admiration in which the older writers invariably speak of glass windows would be sufficient proof, if other evidence were wanting, how rare an article of luxury they were in the houses of our ancestors. They were first introduced in ecclesiastical architecture, 1 to which they were for a long time confined. Mr. Hallam remarks that French artificers were brought to England to furnish the windows in some new churches in the seventh century. 2 "It is said," he continues, "that in the reign of Henry III. a few ecclesiastical buildings had glazed windows. 3 Suger, however, a century before, had adorned his great work, the Abbey of St. Denis, with windows not only glazed, but painted; 4 and I presume that other churches of the same class, both in France and England, especially after the lancet-shaped window had yielded to one of ampler dimensions, were generally decorated in a similar manner. Yet glass is said not to have been employed in the domestic architecture of France before the fourteenth century; 5 and its introduction into
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[paragraph continues] England was, very likely, by no means earlier. Nor, indeed, did it come into general use during the period of the Middle Ages. Glazed windows were considered as movable furniture, and probably bore a high price. When the earls of Northumberland, as late as the reign of Elizabeth, left Alnwick Castle, the windows were taken out of their frames, and carefully laid by." 1--Middle Ages. 1834. III. 425-6 2
A monastery having a hall
"With wyndowes of glass, wrought as a chirche,"
is spoken of in Pierce Plowman's Crede as an instance of the extreme luxury of the monks; 3 and they occur in some of the descriptions of very great regal splendour given by the old romancers. In Candace's Chamber, described in the Geste of Alexander,
"Theo wyndowes weoren of riche glas:
Theo pinnes weore of ivorye." 4
[paragraph continues] And they were sometimes even painted. The King of Hungary's daughter, in the "Squyer of Lowe Degre," is represented
"In her oryall there she was,
Closyd well with royall glas,
Fulfylled yt was with ymagery.
Every windowe by and by,
On eche syde had ther a gynne,
Sperde with manie a dyvers pynne.
Anone that ladie fayre and fre,
Undyd a pynne of yvere." 5
From both these quotations, their very fastenings appear to have been of the most costly materials.
LLOEGYR is the term used by the Welsh to designate England. The writers of the Middle Ages derive the name from the son of the
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[paragraph continues] Trojan Brutus, Locryn (already alluded to, p. 206), and whose brother, Camber, bequeathed his name to the Principality.
But, from another authority, that of the Triads, we collect that the name was given to the country by an ancient British tribe, called the Lloegrwys.
174a THEIR SHIELDS LOST ALL THEIR COLOUR.--Page 174.
THE custom of painting and decorating shields is one which might be illustrated by innumerable instances. Sharon Turner says that they were ornamented with gold and brilliant colours, and that some knights placed on them the portrait of their favourite lady. Among these he particularizes the Count of Poitou; and he quotes a German poet, who describes a knight "with a shield fulgens auro, and a helmet vermiculated with amber."--Middle Ages, c. xiv.
Notices of arms ornamented with gold are frequently met with in the works of the Welsh Bards. Gwalchmai the son of Meilir, who flourished in the twelfth century, speaking of himself, says,--
"Bright is my sword, gleaming in battle,
Glittering and bright is the gold on my buckler."
[paragraph continues] And that he does not allude to the temporary decorations of the tournament is evident, from his immediately mentioning several of the battles of Owain Gwynedd, in which he was himself engaged.
178a WOMAN'S SADDLE.--Page 178.
THE saddles used by the ladies of former days were often very richly decorated, and frequent descriptions of their costliness occur in the old Romances. The Lady Triamour, in that of Sir Launfal is represented to have ridden on a saddle of the most magnificent kind when she visited Arthur's Court.
"Here sadelle was semyly sett,
The sambus 1 were grene felvet,
Ipaynted with ymagerye,
The bordure was of belles, 2
Of ryche gold and nothyng elles,
That any man myte aspye. p. 212
In the arsouns, before and behynde,
Were twey stones of Ynde,
Gay for the maystrye;
The paytrelle 1 of her palfraye
Was worth an erldome, stoute and gay,
The best yn Lumbardye."--v. 949-60.
Strutt accuses the ladies of former times of not having adopted a very feminine mode of riding on horseback, particularly when they joined in hunting expeditions; and he quotes the authority of certain illuminations in ancient MSS. 2 which is, I fear, rather conclusive evidence. But the mention of the Lady's saddle and riding-dress 3 in Geraint ab Erbin, will, I trust, rescue the ladies of the present Tale from the imputation of so unbecoming a practice, and show that they wore a peculiar and appropriate costume whenever they rode out. Catherine de Medicis is said to have been the first who rode like the ladies of the present age, with a high crutch to her saddle.--Mém. de Chev. II. 336.
181a ENCHANTED GAMES.--Page 181.
THE extent to which the belief in magic was carried, even by the most enlightened, during the Middle Ages, is really wonderful, and we cannot be surprised at its being frequently employed in the machinery of Romance, when an historian like Froissart gravely tells us of castles that were lost and won by means of optical deceptions. In the case he cites they were produced by an enchanter, "a conning man in nigromancy," who was with the army of the Duke of Anjou and the Earl of Savoy, then lying before the city of Naples. This magician proposed, by his art, to put into the power of these
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two princes the castle which they were besieging, and which he boasted having already delivered to Sir Charles de la Paye, who was then in possession of it. Shocked, however, at his treachery towards his former employer, they assured him that he should "never do more enchauntments to deceyve hym, nor yet any other," and repaid his offers of service by causing him to be beheaded on the spot.
The Welsh have preserved some curious Triads on the subject of magic, stating the names of their principal enchanters (who are styled, "Men of Illusion and Phantasy") to have been "Math ab Mathonwy, who declared his illusion to Gwdion the son of Don; Menyw the son of Teirgwaedd, who taught his illusion to Uthyr Pendragon; and Rhuddlwm the Giant, who learnt his illusion from Eiddilig the Dwarf, and Coll the son of Collfrewi."--T. 90.
The same names occur in other Triads relating to this subject, with the addition of that of Drych ail Cibddar.
May it not be fairly presumed, that it is to the Coll mab Collfrewi above mentioned, whose fame had descended to his times, that Chaucer alludes in the following lines?--
"There saw I Coll Tragetour, 1
Upon a table of sicamour,
Play an uncouth thing to tell,
I saw him carry a wind-mell,
Under a walnote shale."
House of Fame, B. III.
The Welsh Chronicle, entitled Brut y Tywysogion, states, that in the year 1135, Gruffudd ab Rhys, Prince of South Wales, after recovering his dominions, made a great feast in Ystrad Towi, to which he invited all that chose to come from the neighbouring provinces, and entertained them with minstrelsy and manly games, and with exhibitions of magic and illusions (hud a lledrith).--Myv. Arch. II. 558.
Footnotes
188:1 Asser Menevensis speaks of a great fleet of Pagans Corning to Britain, "de Danubio."--Annales de rebus gestis Ælfredi.
191:1 T. xc. The other was Gadwy the son of Geraint.
192:1 Probably Ostorius, the Roman commander.
192:2 In the Triads contained in the Llyfr Coch, these names are written Mabon, and Geiryoed (Myv. Arch. II. 6); and in the Mabinogion it is Mabon vab Modron.
193:1 See the remainder of the Elegy in Llywarch Hên's Poems, edited by Dr. Owen Pughe.
194:1 Poems of Llywarch Hên. p. 3.
194:2 Called in Welsh "Y Fâd Felen."
194:3 Perhaps Gerrans, near Falmouth, which, as Hale suggests, was probably named after Geraint.--(Davies Gilbert's Hist. of Cornwall, II. 50.) The Welsh Chronicle mentions the Castle of Dingeraint (Cilgerran), on the river Teivy, in Pembrokeshire, as fortified in the 12th century; but it is more likely that the former is the place referred to here.
194:4 The Life of Saint Teiliaw forms part of the Liber Landavensis, published by the Welsh Manuscript Society.
196:1 Rees's Welsh Saints, p. 298.
198:1 Reprint of the Book of St. Alban's, p. 83, the original edition of which by Wynkn de Worde, bl. let. 1486, was the first treatise upon hunting that ever issued from the press.
198:2 It is asserted by some that Cardiff was known to the Romans by the name of Tibia Amnis.
198:3 Besides the contests upon record, the situation of Cardiff makes it probable p. 199 that it was the scene of many others of which no notice remains. From the expression,
"And an armed band
Around Cogawn Penardd,"
it is possible that it is the neighbourhood of Cardiff that is alluded to in the poem called Armes Brydain (Myv. Arch. I. 49), and attributed to Taliesin, as there is a place called Cogan Penarth in the vicinity of this town.
199:1 A representation of this tower is introduced in the first vignette to the tale of Geraint ab Erbin, while the last vignette presents a view of the Keep as it appeared in 1840 and 1841. Unhappily the hand of restoration has since defaced the beauty of those interesting ruins.
200:1 The original poem is printed in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1794. The translation given in the text is due to Mr. Taliesin Williams (ab Iolo), and first appeared in the notes to his poem of "Cardiff Castle."
200:2 Giraldus Cambrensis, from whom this account is taken.
200:3 Pant Cad Ivor, which is, according to the tradition of the place, the Valley of the Battle of Ivor.
202:1 In another series of the Triads, Urien ap Cynvarch's name is substituted for that of Gwallawg, as one of the pillars of battle.--(Tr xxxi Myv Arch. II. 14.)
203:1 Myv. Arch. II. 320, 347. He is there mentioned in the different versions of the Brut under the designation of Gwallawc of Amwythic (Shrewsbury), and also under that of the Earl of Salisbury. Robert of Gloucester also calls him "Galluc, erl of Salesbury," from the Gallucus Salesberiensis of Geoffrey of Monmouth. In the Cambrian Biography, Dr. Pughe says that he was a chieftain of the Vale of Shrewsbury; and Camden confounds him with the celebrated Galgacus, though he lived some centuries later.
203:3 Gruff. ab Ar. Myv. Arch. II. 325.
205:2 The Welsh Brut names Diarnum as the place of Kai's sepulture (Myv. Arch. II. 352), and in the Latin of Geoffrey of Monmouth it is said he was buried at Caen.
206:1 He ended his days in the Humber, which took its name from that circumstance.
207:2 The value of a foot was fixed by law, to be six cows and one hundred and twenty pence.
209:1 Paulus Silentiarius, a poet and historian of the 6th century, (about A.D. 534), speaks of the brightness of the sun's rays passing through the eastern windows of the Church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, which windows were covered with glass. St. Jerome, about the beginning of the fifth century, also mentions glass windows. I suppose the question as to whether the ancients were acquainted with this mode of applying glass, is set at rest by the discoveries made of late years at Pompeii.
209:2 "Du Cauge, v. Vitreæ. Bentham's History of Ely, p. 22."
209:3 "Matt. Paris, Vitæ Abbatum St. Alb. 122."
209:4 "Recueil des Hist. t. xii. p. 101."
209:5 "Paulmy, t, iii. p. 132. Villaret, t. xi. p. 141. Macpherson, p. 679."
210:1 Northumberland Household Book, preface, p. 16. Bishop Percy says, on the authority of Harrison, that glass was not commonly used in the reign of Henry VIII."
210:2 Æneas Silvius, afterwards Pope Pius II., in his Treatise, De Moribus Germanorum, written in the 15th century, records that there were then glass windows in all the houses of Vienna.
210:3 Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, II. 140.
211:1 The sambus or sambuca, was a kind of saddle-cloth, and its ornaments were usually very splendid. To such an excess were they at one time carried, that Frederick, King of Sicily, in a sumptuary law, Const. c. 92 (quoted by Warton, Hist. Poet. I. ccxiii.), forbad women, even of the highest rank, to use sambuca, or saddle-cloth, on which were gold, silver, or pearls.
211:2 Of the well-known custom of decking the harness and trappings of horses p. 212 with bells, many instances might be mentioned. Chaucer says of the monk,--
"And when he rode, men mighte his bridel here
Gingeling in a whistling wind as clere,
And eke as loude, as doth the chapell belle."--Pro. v. 169-71.
[paragraph continues] Which our "hoste of the Tabard" humorously alludes to at a subsequent stage of the Pilgrimage, v. 14,800.
A traditional recollection of this custom is still preserved amongst the Welsh, who say that the Fairies may sometimes be seen riding over the mountains, on horses decorated with small silver bells, of a very shrill and musical sound.
212:2 MS. in Royal Lib. marked 2 B. vii. Sports and Pastimes, p. 12.
212:3 See p. 178.
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