ARTHURUS IN INSULA AVALLONIA.' Below this, at the depth of sixteen feet from the surface, a coffin of hollowed oak was found, containing bones of an unusual size. The leg bone was three fingers (probably in the breadth) longer than that of the tallest man then present. The skull was large, and showed the marks of ten wounds; one had a cleft in it, and the opening still remained, apparently the mortal blow. The bones were removed into the great church at Glastonbury, and deposited in a magnificent shrine, which was afterwards placed, in obedience to the order of Edward I., before the high altar. He visited Glastonbury with his queen in 1276, and had the shrine of Arthur opened to contemplate his remains. They were both so interested by the sight, that the king folded the bones of Arthur in a rich shroud, and the queen those of his wife, which also lay there, and deposited them reverentially in the tomb."* The legendary Arthur has enough in common with the real hero to show that the materials out of which the poets constructed their fables were historic facts; but Arthur of Britain, the renowned in arms, had no familiar spirit to do his bidding, save only the lofty and patriot soul which God had given him: no magic was his, but unswerving fidelity to his country's cause and untainted truth. And if ever the day return-may it never be! that such another hand be required to repel the invading foe, sure I am that the race which has Arthur's blood in their veins will not fail at the crisis. *Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 294. CHAPTER V. THE KINGS OF WALES. Howell the Good-He designs a Reformation of Welsh Laws-Visits Rome -Convenes an Assembly of the Nation on his return-The new Laws made and confirmed-Papal Sanction-Laws relating to the great Officers of State-Miscellaneous Laws-Relative Price of AnimalsDeath and Character of Howell the Good-Llywelyn the Great-Tribute to the Crown of London- Edgar Harold-William the Conqueror -Feudal Tenures-Robert Fitz-Hammon-Death of Rhys ap Tewdwr -Normans partition Glamorganshire - Norman Barons divide South Wales-Jorwerth, father of Llywelyn-Llywelyn recovers the Throne from his uncle David-Llywelyn's Constitutional Ideas-Does Homage to King John of England-Summons a Convention of all WalesGwenwynwyn absent-No Freedom of Speech-Llywelyn in PowysLlywelyn married to Joan, daughter to King John-Llywelyn retaliates on the Earl of Chester-King John invades Wales-RetreatsReturns-Llywelyn makes his Peace-The Pope's Nuncio-Llywelyn convenes an Assembly of the Princes and Chieftains of Wales-His eloquent Appeal-The Consequences-The Pope excommunicates Llywelyn unjustly-Llywelyn King of All Wales-Accession of Henry III.-Earl Pembroke-Interview between Pope's Legates and Llywelyn at Gloucester-Llywelyn relinquishes his advantages-His value as an Auxiliary-His domestic Life-His Death and Character-Davydd Benfras's Poem-Beautiful Translation by Maurice Roberts. I REGRET much that my straitened limits compel me to pass over in silence many illustrious names; I pause at that of Hywell Dda, or Howell the Good. He was the grandson of Roderic the Great, king of All Wales; who injudiciously, as the event proved, but equitably, according to the prevailing law of gavel-kind, on his death bed divided his dominions between his three sons, Cadell, Anarawd, and Mervyn. To Anarawd he gave Aberfraw, or North Wales; to Mervyn, Powys, comprising all the country between the Wye and the Severn; and to Cadell he allotted the province of Dinevwr, in South Wales. The sons were not satisfied with the division; *Warrington's History of Wales, p. 146. they quarrelled and fought: Cadell got the better of his brother Mervyn, and made himself master of Powys, which, together with his hereditary possessions, he, dying in 907, bequeathed to his son Howell, who thirty-three years afterwards succeeded his cousin, Idwal Voel,-leaving sons of his own, who were set aside in the sovereignty of North Walesand thus reunited the kingdom which his grandfather Roderic had partitioned. The succession to the respective principalities of Wales is very difficult to understand; sometimes primogeniture determined a right, sometimes it went by election; every change found and left many claims lying dormant, till a chance offered for their revival and establishment. The title of Howell to the whole dominions he ruled was not, strictly speaking, a sound one, though custom may have legalised what, from imperfect knowledge, reads to us like an act of spoliation. Howell had the best interests of his country at heart. He saw around him a great many abuses and anomalies, and he bent his mind to correct and improve them. But he was not a precipitate reformer; he entered on his patrimonial inheritance in 907, and took no public step till 926. Still less was he narrow-minded. Rome, fallen as she was, under a succession of unfaithful pontiffs, each one worse than the last, to the simple inhabitants of the far west was still the Queen of Cities, the centre of faith and civilisation. Thither Howell set forth, attended by a train of bishops, to consult, as Caradog of Llancarvan writes,* "with wise men respecting the means of improving the laws of the realm of Cambria, to obtain a knowledge of the laws of other countries and cities, and to know the laws which the emperors of Rome put in force in the Isle of Britain during their sovereignty." After he had satisfied his thirst for information Howell returned home, and summoned a convention of the nobility, clergy, and learned men, to meet at the White House on the Tav, Carmarthenshire, a royal hunting-seat, so called because it was built of wattles of white rods. The site is near the ruins of Whitland Abbey, above Tenby. The convention consisted of a hundred and forty ecclesiastics, of various degrees, nobles and barons not specified, and six men of the best repute for * Translation by Powell, pp. 50-53. Camb. Plut. 98-110. wisdom and learning from every commote.* The convention was summoned at the beginning of Lent, but no business was transacted till the close of the sacred season. While it lasted the good Howell remained with his prelates, nobles, and counsellors, "in prayer and fasting, craving the assistance and direction of God's Holy Spirit, that he might reform the laws and customs of the country of Wales, to the honour of God, and the quiet government of the people." The convention appears to have been summoned to give the national sanction and approval to the king's designs. Twelve of their body, as ordinary commissioners, with a head commissioner, Blegwryd, chancellor of Llandaff, the greatest scholar and best lawyer of his day, were appointed by the king to examine the existing Welsh laws, and from them, with such modifications as their united wisdom might suggest, draw up an improved code. The commissioners, after a diligent search, chose the laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud as the basis of their reformed system, and having completed their task, submitted their labours to the judgment of the convention, by whom they were approved and ratified; and they afterwards received the royal assent. Howell ordered three copies to be written out in full; one for his own use, another to be deposited at the palace of Aberfraw, and a third at Dinevwr. That the amended laws should want nothing to give them weight and authority, the Archbishop of St. David's pronounced excommunication against all who should disobey them. The new institutions had received all the support which the authorities in Church and State could give them; still Howell was of so religious a spirit, and cherished so deep a reverence for the Holy See, that he was not content till in person, attended by the Archbishop of St. David's and the Bishops of Bangor and St. Asaph, he had presented himself at the Papal Court, and received the confirmation of the sovereign pontiff, as the finishing stroke to his noble and patriotic design. Howell visited Rome on two occasions, about 926 and 930; of which period a Roman Catholic historian writes, “The Roman See appears to have been in a state of disgraceful dependence on certain Roman women, who, influential as * A commote comprised twelve manors and two hamlets. they were capricious, placed therein their favorites or sons: a state in which the Papal See might have been compared to a captive in chains, to whom, being deprived of freedom, we are not to impute the disgrace which he endures." However, the vices which deformed the Papacy were little, if at all, known in remote Britain; and if Howell felt persuaded that the Pope's sanction was necessary to give validity to his reforms, and induce his subjects to respect and obey them better, he was right in seeking the approbation of the Holy See, by whatever unworthy occupant it might have been possessed. The laws of Howell the Good throw much light on the state of society in Wales in the tenth century. The Code + is divided into three books:-The first contains the laws relating to the court; the second, the laws of the country; and the third, the prices of wild and tame animals, and the things appertaining to them. I may premise that there is not a single offence known to the law which is not commutable for a fine, varying according to the rank of the party injured. The life of the king, just as the life of the peasant, has its price. The laws relating to women are numerous and minute; but if they be taken as a sample of the spirit of feudal institutions, leave us nothing to regret in their abolition. The laws which regulate the court fix the great officers of the king's household at sixteen, of whom the chaplain is the second, the domestic bard eighth in order. The queen's household is limited to eight, of whom the priest is second. "Three times in the year the twenty-four officers are entitled to receive their woollen garments from the king, and their linen garments from the queen; viz. at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide." The queen has a very liberal allowance, and the queen's servants are not badly off either. "The king must grant the queen a third of his income from landed property, and the servants of the king must also give a third of theirs to the queen's servants. The fine for insulting the King of Aberfraw (ancient capital of North Wales) shall be paid as follows: "A hundred cows from every hundred in his (the offender's) lordship, a rod of gold as long as his majesty * Döllinger, vol. iii. p. 136. † Ancient Welsh Laws, pp. 87-270. E |