Grandfather Griffith whom he intimated was murdered in the Tower of London and not kill'd by accident yet he sent a message to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York That if the King pleased to appoint Commissioners to receive his Oath and Homage he was very ready to give it or if he would name some indifferent place and give Prince Edward the Earl of Glocester and the Lord Chancellor as Hostages for his safe return he would wait upon him in Person The King dissembled his anger at these arrogant demands but a while after coming to the Castle of Chester on the Border of Wales he again sent for him and Leoline again denied to come At which the King resolved for preventing all future disturbances on that side to make an absolute Conquest of the Countrey And on the contrary the Welsh having always a custom at every change of Princes in England to try conclusions expecting one time or other to change their Yoke of Bondage into Liberty were in great hopes of doing it at this time having now a valiant Prince to command them But an accident happened which somewhat took off their edge for the Lady Eleanor Daughter of Simon Earl of Montfort whom Prince Leoline extreamly loved Sailing out of France into Wales was by the way taken by some English Ships and brought to King Edward and for the Love of her Prince Leoline was willing to submit to any conditions so that besides his Promise of submission to the Government he agreed to pay down Fifty thousand pounds Sterling and a thousand pound a year during life Upon these Terms he Married his beloved Lady and the Wedding was solemniz'd in England the King and Queen being present thereat Three years Leoline continued faithful and obedient in which time David one of his Brothers staying in England and being found by the King to be of a stirring Spirit was much honoured by him Knighted and Match to a Rich Widow Daughter of the Earl of Derby to which the King added the gift of the Castle of Denbigh with a thousand pound a year though it was at length discovered that he lived here only as a Spy For Prince Leoline's Lady dying soon after and he contrary to his engagements taking up Arms his Brother David notwithstanding these favours from the King went and joined with him and they together enter into England seizing the Castles of Flint and Ruthland with the Person of the Lord Chief Justice Clifford who was sent thither as a Judge and in a great Battel the Welsh overthrew the Earls of Northumberland and Surrey with the Slaughter of many English King Edward was at the Vizes in Wiltshire when news coming of this revolt and overthrow he raises an Army to revenge it In his way he goes to visit his Mother Queen Eleanor who lay at the Nunnery of Almesbury with whom while he was discoursing a Person was brought into the Chamber who pretended that being formerly blind he had received his Sight at the Tomb of King Henry III. When the King saw him he knew him and that he was a most notorious lying Villain and intreated his Mother not to give the least credit to him but the Queen who was glad to hear of this Miracle for the glory of her Husband finding her Son unwilling that his Father should be a Saint fell suddenly into such a rage that she commanded him out of her sight which the King obeys and going forth meets with a Clergyman to whom he tells the story of this Impostor adding merrily That he knew the Justice of his Father to be such that he would rather pluck out the Eyes being whole of such a wicked wretch than restore him to his sight In the mean time the Archbishop of Canterbury went of himself to Prince Leoline and his Brother David endeavouring to persuade them to submission but in vain for Leoline was so animated with an old British Prophecy of Merlin's That he should shortly be Crowned with the Diadem of Brute that he had no Ear for Peace and shortly after no head for the Earl of Pembroke first took Bere Castle which was his usual residence from him he then gave him Battel and his Party being defeated his Head was cut off by a Common Souldier and sent to King Edward who caused it to be Crowned with Ivy thereby in some part unluckily fulfilling his Welsh Prediction And this was the end of Leoline the last of the Welsh Princes betrayed as some write by the men of Buelth Soon after his Brother David flying into Wales and being destitute of help or relief he was at length taken with two of his Sons and seven Daughters as some Authors write all which were brought before the King David was committed to Chester Castle and afterward in a Parliament at Shrewsbury was convicted of Treason and sentenced to an ignominious death namely to be first drawn at a Horse Tail about the City of Shrewsbury then to be beheaded and quartered his Heart and Bowels burnt His Head to accompany his Brothers was put upon the Tower of London and his four Quarters were set up in four Cities Bristol Northampton York and Winchester A manifold Execution and the first shewed in this kind in this Kingdom in the Person of the Son of a Prince or any other Nobleman that we read of in our History Some have observed that upon King Edward's thus totally subjecting Wales he lost his Eldest Son Alphonsus a Prince of great hopes about twelve years of Age and had only left to succeed him his Son Edward lately born at Carnarvan and the first of the English Royal Families that was Intituled Prince of Wales but no Prince worthy either of Wales or England After this the rest of the Welshmen as well Nobles as others submitted themselves to King Edward and all the Countrey and Castles therein were surrendred to him who then annexed that Country to the Crown of England and built two strong Castles at Aberconway and Carnarvan to secure their obedience He also gave several Lands and Castels to Englishmen as the Lordship of Denhigh to Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln Of Ruthen to Reginald Lord Grey and divided Wales into Counties and Hundreds establishing the Government thereof agreeable to the Laws of England This happened in the twelfth year of his Reign 1284. Remarks upon the Lives of the Princes of Wales of the Royal Families of England PART II. THough King Edward I. had subjected the Principality of Wales and afterward annexed it to the Crown of England yet he could never induce that People freely to own him as their King but upon condition that he would come and reside among them or at least appoint them a Prince of their own Nation to Govern them for the Welchmen having experienced the rigorous and severe Treatment of the English Governours and being sensible that the King would rule them by an English Deputy they could not with patience bear the thoughts of it so that
Britains was therein betrayed and slain Brecknock still retains some beauty in its Building it had formerly three Gates for entrance and ten Towers for defence with a very since Castle The Town is seated on two Rivers and is governed by two Bayliffs fifteen Aldermen two Chamberlains two Constables a Town Clerk and two Sergeants This County boasts of Canock and Cadock Sons and Keyne Daughter to King Brechanius aforementioned who were all three Saints though he had twenty four Daughters and all Saints also who all died young so that Keyne only survived who flourished about 492. of whom St. Cadock is said to be a Martyr and his name highly venerated by the People of South-Wales St. Cliâ—tank was King of Brecknock it happened that a Noble Virgin declared That she would never Marry any Man but him who was a zealous Christian whereupon a Pagan Souldier resolving to disappoint her killed this King who left behind him the reputation of a Saint Giles de Bruse Bishop of Hereford was born in this County and in the Barons Wars sided with the Nobility against King John upon which he was banished but after restored to the King's Favour He was also Lord of Brecknock which honour with his paternal Inheritance he left to his Brother Reginald who Married the Daughter of Leoline Prince of Wases His Effigies on his Tomb in Hereford Church holdeth a Steeple in his hand whence it is judged that he built the Belfree of that Cathedral He died 1215. Nesta Daughter to Griffin Prince of Wales and Wife to Bernard of New-march a Noble Norman and Lord by Conquest of this County was debauched by a young Gentleman Mahel her Son having got this Gallant into his hands used him very severely at which Nesta being inraged came into open Court and on her Oath before King Henry II. publickly deposed that Mahel was none of the Lord New-marches Son but begotten on her in Adultery This if true declared her dishonesty if false her perjury but whether true or false her matchless impudence Hereby she disinherited Mahel and setled a vast Estate on Sybyl her only Daughter Married afterward to Milo Earl of Hereford The Welsh are reproached by the English with the By-word of Croggen Croggen the original whereof was in the Reign of King Henry II. the Welsh then obtaining a memorable advantage at Croggen-Castle under the Conduct of their Valiant Prince Owen in defence of North-Wales and their Countreys Liberty with extream danger to King Henry's own Person his Standard Royal being Cowardly abandonded and the King reported to be slain The Standard Bearer Henry de Essex for this ignominious action was afterward challenged by Robert Monford his near Kinsman to a combate and In single Battle within Lists at Reading was vanquished by him whereupon Essex was shorn a Monk and put into a Monastery according to the custom of those times where he ended his days The English afterward used this word Groggen as a Provocative to revenge when they had the Welsh at an advantage and it is still without cause uttered in disgrace of the Welsh though originally it was expressive of their honour The County of Brecknock was formerly fortified with nine Castles It is divided into six Hundreds hath three Market Towns Brecknock Bealt and Hay and fifty two Parish Churches And gives the Title of Earl to James Lord Butler who is also Duke of Ormond in Ireland CARDIGAN-SHIRE is parted on the North from Merioneth-shire by the River Dovi from Brecknock-shire by the River Tory on the South from Carmarthen and Pembroke-shire by the River Tiry from Montgomery-shire East by the Plinillimon Hills and on the West is wholly washt by the Irish Sea The antient Inhabitats were the Dinietae who likewise possest Carmarthen and Pembroke-shire and in their struglings much depended on the Valour of their Warlike Prince Cataractus beforementioned from whose name some will have this County called Cardigan but was after subdued and the Prince being taken and carried to Rome after he had throughly viewed the magnificence of that City I cannot but wonder said he that you Romans having such stately buildings of your own should covet our poor Cottages After the Norman Invasion William Rufus assailed this Country as well to gain so fair a Possession as to secure those Seas from any Invasion against him and therefore though it was the most remote from England yet being nearer to the Sea which afforded the English a more convenient passage who were potent in Shipping it was soonest reduced to the English Dominion Henry I. bestowed the whole County entirely upon William de Clareâ— The Air is open and sharp for besides the great and high Mountain of Plinillimon it hath a continued range of lesser Hills The Vallies are rich in Pasture and Corn and well Watered with Pools and Springs In the River Tivy Beavers were formerly found a Creature living both by Land and Water having the two fore feet like a Dog wherewith he runs on the Land and the two hinder like a Goose with which he Swims his broad Tail ferving for a Rudder but now none are found the Salmon seeming to succeed who coming out of the Sea into fresh Waters and meeting with some downright Water-falls in this River he bends himself backward and putting his Tail in his Mouth gives a Spring up those alcents which are called the Salmons leap many of which are caught in this River Cardigan is the Shire Town and was Fortified by Gilbert de Clare with a Wall and a strong Castle the ruins of which remain to this day Land Badern the Great was formerly an Episcopal Seat till the Citizens cruelly flew their Bishop after which both City and Bishoprick dwindled to nothing from whence rose that Welsh Proverb Ni difanco y Beriglaver that is Vilifie not thy Parish Priest Llandevibrevi was also famous being built by David Bishop of Mereria where in a Synod holden by him he resuted the Pelagian Heresie then sprung up in Britain both by the Holy Scriptures and by Miracle for it is reported that while he was Preaching the Earth suddenly rose up a great height under his Feet that the People might the more conveniently hear his Doctrine The Welsh use a word Talaeth Talaeth that is Fine Fine which was thus occasioned when Roderick divided Wales betwixt his three Sons he ordered that each of them should wear upon his Bonnet or Helmet a Coronet of Gold set with Jewels called in British Talaeth and they from thence were named Ytritrwysoc Talaelteioc The three Crowned Princes It is now applied to the uppermost part of the head attire in Children Yea the English call the top of she Cap or Hat the Crown They have a Proverb Bu Arthur ond tra fu that is Arthur was not but whilst he was It is honourable for old men if they can say we have been brave Fellows They have another Proverb Ne Thorres Arthur Nawd gwraig that is King Arthur did never violate the
Lands belonging to them being alienated from the Church for ever Another Monastery of great account was at Basing-wark in this County near the famous Ditch made by Offa K. of the Mercians which begun in this place running through North-Wales nigh the mouth of the River Dee and from thence along the Mountains in the South and ended near Bristow at the fall of the Wye The Tract whereof is yet to be seen and called to this Day Clawd Offa or Offa's Ditch Congellus or Comgallus is challenged by the Welsh for their Countryman as being first Abbot of Banchor though Archbishop Vsher makes him the first Abbot of Bangor in the North of Ireland He was of a pious life wrote Learned Epistles and Died in 600. Elizabeth the seventh Daughter of King Edward I. and Queen Eleanor was born at Ruthland Castle where antiently a Parliament was kept This Princess at 14 years of age was Married to John Earl of Holland Zealand c. and after his death to Humfrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex High Constable of England by whom he had a numerous Issue she died 1316. and was buried in the Abbey Church of Saffron Walden in Essex Owen Glendour Esquire was born in his antient Patrimony of Glendour Wye in this County was bred in London a Student of the Common Law till he became a Courtier and Servant to King Richard II. after whose death being on the wrong side of preferment he retired into Wales where there arose a difference between him and the Lord Grey of Ruthen about a Common upon which many spur'd on his posting ambition by telling him he was the true Heir of all North-Wales and he was likewise incouraged therein by those who pretended to interpret some Propheâ—s of the famous Merlin in his favour persuading him the time was come wherein he should recover the Welsh Principality All these allurements meeting with an aspiring mind and the English being at variance among themselves He in 1402. and the third year of K. Henry IV. endeavoured to draw the Welshmen to a general defection assuring them they had now a fair opportunity to shake off the English Yoke and to resume their own antient Laws and Customs To whose persuasions the Welshmen hearkning they constituted him their Prince and Captain General Having got some Forces together he falls first upon his old Adversary Reynold Lord Grey and takes him Prisoner yet with promise of releasment if this Lord would Marry his Daughter which offer though the Lord Grey at first not only refused but scorned yet was at last obliged to accept thereof though his treacherous Father in Law delayed his inlargement till he died The Welsh much animated with this first success break furiously into the Borders of Herefordshire plundring and destroying all before them being opposed only by the Lord Edmund Mortimer who had formerly withdrawn himself to the Castle of Wigmore He having assembled what Forces he was able gave them Battel and was taken Prisoner and then fettered cast into a deep and filthy Dungeon It was thought that if Glendour had as well known how to use his Victory as to get it he might at this time have much endangered the English Dominion over the Welsh But having killed 1000 English he thought he had done enough for that time and so giving over the pursuit retired The inhumanity of the Welsh Women was here memorable who stript the dead Carcasses of the English and then cut off their Privy Parts and Noses whereof the one they thrust into their Mouths the other they pressed between their Buttocks King Henry was compell'd to suffer these affronts at this time from the Welsh being ingaged in a dangerous War with Scotland that K. having Invaded England with a great Army but with very ill success his Forces being first defeated by the Earl of Northumberland And afterward by Henry Piercy his Kinsman called Hot-spur and George Earl of March who at a place called Hamilton kill'd 10000 Scots and took 500 Prisoners In the mean time Glendour had solicited the French King for aid who sent him 1200 men of quality but the Winds were so contrary that they lost 12 of their Ships and the rest returned home The English deriding this ill success of the French so exasperated the French K. that presently after he sent 12000 more who landed safely and joined with the Welsh but when they heard of the approach of the English Army whether mistrusting their own strength or suspecting the Welshmens faithfulness they ran to their Ships disgracefully went home Although King Henry IV. was advanced to the Crown by the Parliament of England who Deposed King Richard II. for his misgovernment yet many of those who were instrumental therein grew in a short time discontented upon one account or another as is usual in such cases insomuch that several Conspiracies were made against him Among others the Peircies Earls of Northumberland and Worcester with Henry Hot-spur began about this time to fall off from him one reason whereof was because the King at their request as well as of several other Noblemen refused to redeem their Kinsman Mortimer from Glendour's slavery for Henry was deaf of that Ear and could rather have wished both him and his two Sisters in Heaven for then he should be free from concealed Competitors And another cause was his denying them the benefit of such Prisoners as they had taken of the Scots whereupon they went of themselves and procured Mortimer's Delivery and then entred into a League Offensive and Defensive with Glendour and by their Proxies in the House of the Arch-Deacon of Bangor they agreed upon a Tripartite Indenture under their Hands and Seals to divide the Kingdom into three parts whereby all England from Severn and Trent South and Eastward was to be given to Edmund Mortimer Earl of March All Wales and the Land beyond the Severn West were assigned to Owen Glendour and all the remaining Land from Trent to the North to be the Partition of the Lord Piercy Wherein Glendour persuaded them they should accomplish an old Welsh Prophecy against the Mole or Mouldwarp of England That K. Henry was this Mouldwarp cursed of God's own Mouth and they were the Lion the Dragon and the Wolf which should divide the Land among them At this time King Henry utterly unacquainted with this Conspiracy published a Proclamation intimating that the Earl of March had voluntarily caused himself to be taken Prisoner to the end that the Welsh Rebels having him in their custody might have some pretence for their Insurrection and therefore he had little reason to be concerned for his Redemption Upon this the Piercy's assisted with some Scots and drawing to their Party the E. of Stafford Rich. Scroop Archbishop of York and many others they drew up certain Articles against King Henry and sent them to him in writing namely That he had falsified his Oath given at his landing That he came but only to recover his
and upon the Shoar as upon all the Sea coasts in this Country abundance of Herrings are caught and are therefore much frequented at the season of the year by People of several Nations St. Thelian educated by Dubritius Bishop of Landaff aforementioned was born in this Shire He was much envied for his Holy Life by one of the Pictish Princes who harassed this Country This Captain sent two lewd Strumpets to him supposing that by their Tempting Tricks this Devout man might have been inticed to folly These VVomen counterfeited madness that they might take the more liberty to themselves of filthy discourse but returned Distracted indeed not having sense nor understanding enough to relate the cause of their sad misfortune which had such effect on this Commander that he received the Christian Faith saith my Author and was Baptized retaining ever after a great veneration for this our Saint who asterward accompanied St. David Bishop of Menerin to Jerusalem and returning into his own Countrey by his fervent Prayers freed Scotland from the Plague wherewith it was then much infested He died about 563. Mr. Camden takes special notice of the beauty and comelinesâ— of the Inhabitants of this Shire During the differences betwixâ— the Houses of York and Lancaster David ap Jenkig ap Enion stout Gentleman on the Lancastrian side resolutely defended the Castle of Harlech against King Edward IV. until Sir William Herbert afterward Earl of Pembroke so furiously stormed it that he was obliged to surrender This County is divided into six Hundreds wherein are 37 Parish Churches MONMOVTH-SHIRE hath Hereford-shire on the North Glamorgan on the VVest Glocester-shire on the East and the Sovern Sea on the South It is 24 Miles in length 19 in bredth and 77 in compass The Air is temperate clear and healthful the Soil hilly woody and fruitful of Cattel Corn and all other accommodations of Life It was antiently inhabited by the Silures whose chief City is called by the Emperor Antoninus Venta Silurum by the Welsh Caerwent and now Caerleon and was by Tathai the British Saint made an Academy and a place of Divine VVorship where the second Roman Legion called Augusta resided as appears by their Coins Altars Tables and Inscriptions sound there daily in digging up old Foundations Giraldus saith That King Arthur kept his Court in this City whither the Roman Ambassadors resorted to him and that there was a School or Academy of 200 Philosophers skilful in Astronomy and other Sciences erected therein St. Aaron a wealthy Citizen of Caerleon was Martyred under Dioclesian the Roman Tyrant in 3031 Note that the three first British Martyrs namely Alban Amphibalus and Aaron have the first a Latin the second a Greek and the third an Hebrew name St. Julius of Caerleon suffered with Aaron aforesaid St. Amphilalus the Instructor of St. Alban in the Christian Faith was also a Citizen of Caerleon This Town though now but small was once a great City reaching a Mile in length and comprehending St. Julian's a house of late Sir William Herbert's now a Mile distant from the Town But as all humane Glory hath its period so this City formerly renowned for beauty circuit and magnificence is now deplorably decayed Monmouth is a Market Town in this County and had antiently a very strong Castle with many lofty Towers as the ruins do still demonstrate The Town is pleasantly situated between the Rivers Monnow and Wye and hath an handsome Church with three Isles And at the East end of the Town is another decayed one called the Monks Church Monmouth is in good repair and well frequented governed by a Mayor two Bayliffs 19 Common-Council men a Town-Clerk and two Sergeants Several Monasteries were erected and suppressed in this County the most memorable being at Caerleon Chepstow God-cliff Monmouth and Llantony which last stood so solitary among the high Hill that the Sun did shine upon it not above two or three hours in a day As for Manufactures the best Caps were formerly made at Monmouth where the Cappers Chapel doth still remain In Q. Blizabeth's Reign an Act of Parliament was made enacting that all Persons should wear Monmouth Caps but about twenty five years after it was repealed Geffery of Monmouth the Welsh Historian was born in this County and in the Monks Church aforenamed is said to have written his History of Britain having translated compiled and collected the various British Authors into one Volume He had many things from the British Bards or Poets which though improhable may not be untrue His Book was prohibited by the Pope whilst the lying Legend of Romish Saints is permitted to be read without controll If Geffery be guilty of mistakes they are such as make not for the Pope's advantage and therefore it seems a great mistake in those who avouch that the Pope made him a Cardinal He flourished 1160 under King Henry II. Walter Cantilupe Son to William Lord Cantilupe whose chief Residence was at Abergavenie in this County was made Bishop of Worcester by King Henry III. He would not yield to the Pope's Legate who complained of many Clergymen keeping their Livings against the Canons intending to make room for the Pope's Favourites or force such irregular Incumbents to a composition He was of a keen temper whose two edged Spirit did cut on both sides against the King and Pope Against the former he fided with the Barons to whom he promised Heaven for the reward of their Rebellion against their Prince though it cost him an Excommunication from the Pope who was the more forward in denouncing that fatal sentence against him because the Bishop had told Rusland his Legate That he would prefer him to be hanged on the Gallows rather than ever consent to such expilation of the Church as aforesaid He died in 1267. Thomas of Monmouth wrote an History of St. VVilliam the Child that was Crucified by the Jews at Norwich in hatred of our Saviour He flourished 1160 in the Reign of King Henry II. Richard de Clare alias Strongbow born probably at Stringule Castle was Earl of Stringule and Pembroke It happened that Maâ— Murrugh in 1167. being expelled his Territories for several Tyrannies by the Lords of Meath and Connaught repaired to King Henry II. and invited him into Ireland That politick King sent over this Rich. Strongbow with 1200 men who soon possest himself of the Ports of Leinster and Munster with large Lands thereunto belonging insomuch that the King growing jealous of his greatness recalled him home commanding him to surrender his Acquisitions into his hands which done he received them back by a Grant from the King who only reserved the City of Dublin for himself He was commonly called Domitor Hibernia The Tamer of Ireland Yet some of the Great Lords there did still retain the Power and Title of King Witness the Preface to the Commission whereby King Henry II. made William Fitz. Adelme his Lieutenant of Ireland which was directed To al Archbishops Bishops
Kings c. Health This Earl died at Dublin 1177. Henry Plantaginet Duke of Lancaster was born in Monmouth Castle the chief Seat of his Barony He is commonly Sirnamed The Wryneck and by others more rightfully The good Duke of Lancaster He founded Corpus Christi College in Cambridg and was buried at Leicester 1361. Henry V. the victorious Conqueror of France was likewise born in this Castle of whom I have already given an account Sir Roger VVilliams born of an antient Family at Penress was first a Souldier of Fortune in the Netherlands ander the Duke of Alvâ—â— and afterward served Queen Elizabeth He was a man extreamly forward to fight VVhen a Spanish Captain challenged Sir John Norris to fight a single combate which he could not accept as being below him who was a General this Sir Roger undertook the â—on And after they had fought for some time in the view of both Armies without any hurt they pledged each other a deep draught of VVine and so friendly departed Another time at midnight he assaulted the Camp of the Prince of Parma nigh Venloe slew some of the Enemies Souldiers and pierced to the very Tent of the General Byron Marshal of France once saying That he did not like the March of the English Drum because it was so slow Sir Reger hearing him sharply replied As slow as it is yet it hath gone through all France He bravely defended the Town and Fort of Sluce in Flanders whilst there was any hope of relief but as length being forced to surrender it he returned to the Court whom some of Queen Elizabeth's Ladies of Honour reproached and pointed at crying That 's the Valiant man that delivered up Sluce Ay Ladies said he and if you had been so hard put to it as I was you would have delivered up your Sluces too William Herbert Earl of Pembroke with Sir Richard his Brother were both vassant men and as fast friends to King Edward IV. as professed Foes to Richard Nevil the Great Earl of Warwick Leading the Army of the Welsh in the Battel of Banbury these two Brothers with their Pole-axes twice made way through the Battel of the Northern men which sided with King Henry VI. without any mortal wound There passeth a Tradition in the Noble Family of the Herbert's of Cherbury that this Sir Richard their Ancestor slew that day 140 men with his own hands in passing and repassing through the Army Guns not being then in fashion the Poll axe was the next mortal Weapon especially in such a dead doing hard as this Knight had He is likewise reported to be of a Giant 's Stature the Peg or Pin being yet to be seen in Montgomery Castle whereon he used to hang his Hat at Dinner which no man of an ordinary height can reach with his hand at this day It is recorded that by the courage of these two Brothers the Battel of Banbury had certainly been won had not John Clapham Esquire and Servant to the Earl of Warwick 〈◊〉 played his Lord's Colours and from an high Hill cryed out a Warwick a Warwick whereat the Welshmen were so terrified supposing VVarwick with the whole Army to be there that they turned their backs and fled knowing how unable they were to withstand VVarwick's Forces since upon a quarrel the Night before between the Earl of Pembroke and the Lord Stafford the last had withdrawn his Party from them so that the General and his Brother were left alone in the Field who valiantly fighting were incompassed and taken with the Neath of 5000 of their Men. The Earl with his Brother Sir Richard Herbert were brought to Banbury where with ten other Gentlemen they lost their Heads the Earl was buried at Tinterne and Sir Richard at Abergavenny in this County VVilliam Jones born at Monmouth was forced to fly his Country for not being able to pay ten Groats Coming to London he became first a Porter and then a Factor and going over to Hamburg had such a vent for VVelsh Cottons that he gained a very considerable Estate in a short time He founded a fair School in Monmouth allowing 50 pound yearly to the Master and 100 pound Salary to a Lecturer besides a stately Alms house for 20 poor People each of them having two Rooms and a Garden and half a Crown a week All which he left to the oversight of the Company of Haberdashers in London who discharge their trust therein to this day VVilliam Evan's of this Shire was two yards and an half in height being Porter to King Charles I. He was somewhat lame knocking his knees together and going out squalling with his seet yet he made a shift to Dance in an Antimask at Court where he drew little Jeffery the Dwarf out of his Pocket The Moor or Marish near Chepstow suffered great loss in 1606. by the River Severn overflowing its banks drowning many Cattel some People and overthrowing divers Houses Monmouthshire may be called an English VVelsh County For whereas formerly all VVelsh Counties sent but one Knight to Parliament this has the privilege of two and is not subject to the VVelsh Jurisdiction but to the governance of the Itenerant Judges who ride Oxford Circuit It was subdued by King Henry II. who passed the Nant Pen-carne a small Brook and of no danger yet held fatal by the VVelsh who were over credulous of a Prophecy of Merlin's that predicted That when a stout King with a freckled face should pass over a Ford called Ryd-pencarn in a River called Nant pen-carn the VVelsh should be conquered and therefore when King Henry who was freckle faced passed over it the Welshmen remembring this Prophecy submitted themselves and became an easie Conquest to the English and it may be the King being sensible of their credulity thinking their Hearts might fail them chose to go over this Ford to facilitate his Conquests Monmouth was made a Shire in the reign of King Henry VIII It hath six Market Towns 127 Parish Churches is divided into six Hundreds and had formerly 14 Castle It gives the Title of Earl to Charles Lord Mordant MONTGOMERY-SHIRE hath Denbigh-shire on the North Radnor and Cardigan on the South Merioneth on the West and Shrop-shire on the East In this County are many high Hills and divers Vales Springs and Rivers of which the Soverne is the Chief being the second River in the Kingdom whose head rising from the vast high Mountain Plymlimon and being joined with other smaller streams runs through the East part of this Shire It is said to have taken its name from Abren the beautiful natural Daughter of King Loerinus begotten out of VVedlock upon Estrildis the Daughter of Humber the Seythian King who invaded this Land both of them being drowned by Gwendolena the surviving VVidow of Locrinus the Daughter in this River and the Father in the other bearing his name Of this Jeffery of Monmouth writes Fair Abren headlong thrown into this stream As a Memorial left to them
the Title of Baron to Henry Lord Herbert PEMBROKE-SHIRE is bounded by Carnarthen on the East and Cardigan shire on the North-East On all sides else it is surrounded by the Sea In length 26. in breadth 20. and in circumference 93 Miles It was antiently Peopled by the Dimetree as well as Cardigan and Carmarthen-shires part of this County was after inhabited by the Flemmings sent thither by King Henry I. who lost their Country by the breaking in of the Sea whereby a great part of Flanders was drowned and whose Posterity continue there to this day and speak so good English that their Division is called Little England beyond Wales The Commodities of this shire are Corn Cattel Sea-fish and Fowl and in the days of Giraldus Cambrensis they had Wines for sale the Havens being so commodious for Traffick particularly Tenby and Milford the last of which is so large a Port that sixteen Creeks five Bays and thirteen Roads distinguisht by particular names are all contained within it Pembroke is the Shire Town which appears more antient than it is it was formerly Walled and had three Gates with a large Castle and a Causey leading over to the decayed Priory of Monton The Town consists principally of one long street on a long narrow Point of a Rock and hath within the Walls thereof two Churches St. David's is a Barren old City having neither Trees to defend it nor is it pleasant with Fields or Meadows but lyes exposed to Winds and Storms It is now the seat of a Bishop but was once an Archbishoprick in the British Church At the first planting of the Gospel in the reign of King Lucius there were three Archbishops Seats appointed London York and Caerleon The last in the Reign of Arthur King of the Britains was translated from thence to St David's as being farther off from the Saxon's fury Twenty seven of them retained the Title of Archbishops the last whereof was Samson who removed the Archi-episcopal Dignity to Dâ—le in Bretaign a Province in France Yet his Suceessors though they lost the name retained the power of the Archbishop the Welsh Bishops being consecrated by him till the Reign of King Henry I. when Bernard the 47th Bishop of this See was forced to submit himself to the Church of Canterbury The Cathedral here hath been often ruined by the Danes Norwegians and other Pirates as standing near the Sea in an extream Corner of this County that which we now see was built by Bishop Peter and by him dedicated to St. David In the middle of whose Quire Edmund Earl of Richmond Father to King Henry VII lies buried whose Monument secured the Church from being defaced in the Reign of King Henry VIII The roof of this Church is higher than any in England Calphurnius a British Priest who Married Concha Sister to St Martin and had St. Patrick the Apostle of Ireland to their Son was born at St. David's Likewise Justinian a Noble Britain with his own Inheritance built a Monastery in the Island of of Ramsey in this County where many Monks dwelt happily under his Jurisdiction until three of them Murdered him out of envy and emulation for his Plous Life His Body was brought to 〈◊〉 or St. David's and there interred and his Tomb afterward much famed for many supposed Miracles Giraldus Cambrensis whose Sirname was Barry some write Fitz Girald the Welsh Historian was born at Tenby in this County being Son to William Barry an Englishman by his Wife Angareth daughter of Nesta Daughter of Rhese or Rice Prince of South-Wales He was Nephew to David the second Bishop of St David's by whom he was made Arch-Deacon of Brecknock He was wont to complain That the English did not love him because his Mother was a Welshwoman and the Welsh hated him because his Father was an Englishman Though by his excellent Writings he deserved of England well of Wales better and of Ireland best of all making an exact description of all three and acting in the last as Secrety to King John with great industry and expence Having Travelled to Jerusalem he writ a Book of the Wonders of the Holy Land He had no great success at Court and therefore attained to no considerable Dignity till at length he was offered a very mean Bishoprick in Ireland and his highest Preferment was to this of St. David's of which he gives the true reason That he was looked upon with a Jealous Eye because being a Welshman by the Mother the furer side he was thought to have a natural antipathy against the English since it was believed no good Subject could come out of Walee Being now Bishop of St. David's he went to Rome and there was very importunate for an exemption of that Diocess from the Authority of Canterbury whereby he highly offended Hubert the Archbishop thereof Whereupon being rather overborn with bribes than overcome in his Cause he returned without effecting it and dying was buried in his own Cathedral about 1215. When King Henry II. was at St. David's in this County and from thence in a clear day discovered the Coast of Ireland in an huffing bravado he said I with my Ships am able to make a Bridge thither if it be no farther Which Speach of his being related to Murchard King of Lemster in Ireland he asked whether he did not say He would do it with the help of God and being told no he chearfully answered Then I fear him the less since he trusted more to himself than to the help of God The same King Henry coming back from Ireland arrived at St. David's where being told that there is an old Prophecy of Merlin's That the Conqueror of Ireland returning that way should dye upon a stone called Lechlaver near the Church-yard He thereupon before a multitude of People passed over it unhurt and reproving the Welshmen said Now who will hereafter credit that Lyar Merlin The County of Pembroke hath been fortified with sixteen Castles besides two Block-houses or Forts Commanding the Mouth of Milford Haven and hath five Market Towns is divided into seven Hundreds wherein are forty five Parish 〈◊〉 It gives the Title of Earl to Thomas Lord Herbert who is also Earl of Montgomery RADNOR-SHIRE hath Monmouth on the North Hereford and Shropshire on the East Brecknock on the South and Cardiganshire on the West In length twenty four in breadth twenty two and in circuit ninety miles The Air is sharp and cold as generally it is through all Wales whereby the Snow lies long unmelted under those vast Mountains Hills and Rocks that overshadow the Valleys yet the East and South parts are somewhat fruitful indifferently stored with Woods and watered with Rivers and Mears The riches of the North and West consist chiefly in the Cattel which they produce The antient Inhabitants were the Silures who by their own courage and the assistance of their inaccessible Mountains preserved their freedom very long against all the attempts of the Romans These Rocks
said was one of the Nails which fastned Christ to the Cross He likewise sent the Spear of Charles the Great reported to be the same wherewith our Saviour's side was pierced also a part of the Cross a piece of the Crown of Thorns and the Banner of St. Maurice It is related That this King Ethelstane or Athelstane in the third year of his Reign was so harassed by the Danes that he was forced to shut himself up in Winchester City who propounded to him either to submit and hold the Realm of them or to determine the Quarrel between two Champions of each side The King was much perplexed at these Propositions because his three valiant Knights Guy Earl of Warwick who lived in his Reign or not at all one Herand another couragious Knight and Earl Rohand Guy's Father-in-Law were gone to the Holy Land In this strait after he had prayed for Deliverance it is said he had a Vision wherein he was directed to rise early the next morning and taking two Bishops with him to get up to the top of the North Gate of that City where he should see a likely Man clothed as a Pilgrim bare-foot and on his bare Head a Chaplet of White Roses and that this should be the man that should conquer Colebrand the Danish Gaint for so was his Name and free the English from the Danish Bondage The next day the King thus attended at the Gate sees Earl Guy so habited being newly arrived from Jerusalem whereupon Athelstane addressing himself to him desires him to accept the Combat as being ordained by Heaven to acquit this Realm from Tyranny Guy replied My Lord you may easily perceive that I am not in a Condition to take upon me this Fight being harassed and weakened by daily Travel lay this task therefore upon your stout and hardy Soldiers whom you were wont very much to esteem Ah said the King such indeed I had but they are gone some to the Holy Land as one valiant Knight called Guy who was Earl of Warwick I had also a couragious Servant named Sir Herand de Ardene Would to God they were now here for then would this Duel be soon undertaken and the War quickly finished In speaking which Words the Tears trickled down his Cheeks which made such impression upon the Pilgrim that he engaged to undertake the Combate Upon the day appointed Guy putting on the King's best Armour the Sword of Constantine the Great St. Maurice his Lance and one of the King 's best Coursers he rode through Winchester appearing like a most accomplish'd Knight and went to the place appointed which was in a Valley called Chiltecumb where Colebrand soon after came so loaded with Armour that his Horse could scarce bear him and a Cart driven before him filled with Danish Axes great Clubs with knobs of Iron squared Bars of Steel and Iron Hooks to pluck his Adversary to him Thus marching disdainfully along and seeing Sir Guy in the height of Pride he commanded him to come off his Horse and throw himself with submission at his Feet But the gallant Pilgrim disregarding his Words commending himself to Heaven put Spurs to his Horse and at the first Encounter pierced the Giant 's Shield with such force that his Lance broke into Shivers which so enraged the Giant that coming up furiously he killed Guy's Horse who being dismounted dangerously wounded Colebrand The Combat having lasted for some time the Giant fainted and fell with loss of Blood and Guy immediately cut off his Head threeby freeing England at present from the insulting Dane After all which he offered his Sword in the Cathedral of Winchester which was long after kept in the Vestry and called Colebrand's Axe The other Reliques of Guy Mr. Drayton thus describes Thy Statue Guy Cliff keeps the Gazers Eyes to please Warwick thy mighty Arms thou mighty Hercules Thy strong and massy Sword that never was controll'd Which as her antient Right her Castle still doth hold Thus much for Earl Guy who lived in the Year of Christ 929. This King Ethelstane by the insinuation of his Cup-bearer became incensed against his Brother as if he had contrived Treason against him who therefore ordered him to be put into a small Vessel without Tackle or Oars and so be exposed to the mercy of the Sea wherewith the young Prince was so overwhelm'd with sorrow that he threw himself headlong into the Sea whose Ghost the King endeavoured to appease by a voluntary Penance of seven years and building two Monasteries Neither did the treacherous Cup-bearer escape Vengeance for on a Festival day as he was busie in waiting one of his Feet slipping he recovered himself by the help of the other and thereupon pleasantly said You may see now how one Brother can help another This Speech suddenly recalled to the King's Mind the Death of his Innocent Brother whereupon he caused the Cup-bearer who was the Procurer thereof to be immediately executed Edmund the fifth Son of King Edward succeeded and after him Edred his sixth Son Then Edwy or Edwin the eldest Son of Edmund was Crowned at Kingston upon Thames who was of a lascivious temper for it is related That on the very Day of his Coronation he suddenly left his Nobility and went into a private Room to debauch a great Lady his near Kinswoman whose Husband he soon after slew St. Dunstan who was present and then Abbot of Glastenbury followed the King into his Chamber and leading him out by the Hand accused him before Odo Archbishop of Canterbury by whom he was severely reproved and forbid him the Company of that woman The King was hereat enraged against Dunstan and banished him out of the Land and became so great an Enemy to the Order of Monks that he expelled many of them out of their Monasteries and put married Priests in their Places The People having a great Opinion of the Holiness of Dunstan and being offended at the King's severity toward him and other Irregularities they turned their Affections to Edgar his Brother and removing Edwin from his Princely Dignity Edgar was made King in his stead for very grief whereof he soon wasted away and died in 959. Edgar was called the Peaceable He maintained the Kingdom in great Glory and Prosperity His Navy Royal is said to consist of three thousand six hundred Ships with which he every Summer sailed round his Land to secure the Sea from Pyrates He caused Ludwal Prince of Wales to pay him three hundred Wolves yearly instead of a former Tribute in Money whereby England and Wales which were formerly very much over-run were now so freed that there was scarce a Wolf to be found alive he was very severe upon his Judges if he found them guilty of Bribery and Partiality riding the Circuit himself every Year for that purpose Yet among all these Vertues he is said to be very Voluptuous especially toward Women not sparing the very Nuns which sounded so ill that Dunstan took the boldness to
oftentimes when the King charged them with affronting his Lord Lieutenants they unanimously answered That they were very willing to be subject to any Prince he should nominate provided he were a Welshman born The King perceiving their inflexible temper resolved to gratifie them by a Politick Stratagem He thereupon sends secretly to the Queen who was then big with Child that she should come to him with all speed to Carnarvan and when she was nigh her time of Delivery He ordered all the Welsh Nobility and Gentry to appear before him at Ruthland Castle to consult about the Publick welfare of their Country When they were come he detained them till he had notice that the Queen was delivered of a Son at Carnarvan and then calling them together he told them That they having often Petitioned him to have a Prince to rule them he being now going out of their Countrey would nominate one to them provided they would promise to accept and obey him The Welshmen answered they would be willingly obedient to him provided he were their own Countryman Ay says the King I will assure you that he was born in Wales That he can speak never a word of English and that he never did any wrong to man Woman or Child The Welshmen were very joyful of their good fortune promising true subjection to him Whereupon he named his own new born Son Edward firnamed Carnarvan from the place of his Birth and from that time the Eldest Sons of the Kings of England have been Intituled Princes of Wales This Prince succeeded his Father by the name of King Edward II. He was a comely Person and of great strength but much given to Drink which made him often disclose his Secrets For his other conditions his greatest fault was his inordinate love to Garestone and the Spencers who being Persons of lewd Lives endeavoured to debauch him with Wine and Women and occasioned many mischiefs and grievances in the Kingdom of which the Nobility and People were so sensible that when they found him irreclaimable they resolved to depose him and set his young Son Edward on the Throne his Queen likewise joining with the Lords therein who going over to France she there Contracted a Marriage between her Son Edward and Philippa Daughter to the Earl of Heynault by whom being aided with Forces she landed at Orwell near Harwich in Suffolk The Lords immediately resorted to her and the Londoners inclining to take her part the King found his evil Counsellors the Spencers and others could do him little service Therefore Shiping themselves for the Isle of Lundy they were by Tempest cast upon the Coast of Wales and the King secured himself in a Monastery in Glamorganshire But soon after both he and his Favourites were taken from thence They were Hanged and Quartered and he himself was deposed by Parliament having been first persuaded to make a formal resignation of the Crown And at length he was committed a Prisoner to Berkley Castle near Bristol where he was miserably murdered by having a red hot Iron or Spit thrust up into his Body II. Edward of Windsor so called from the place of his Birth the Son of this unfortunate King was the second Prince of Wales of the English Royal Blood Upon the Deposing of his Father by the Parliament it was resolved that he should be advanced to the Throne which this young Prince refused unless his Father resigned the Government which he was obliged to do and so his Son was Proclaimed King by the name of Edward III. who afterward proved a Glorious and Renowned Prince His Minority being but four years old when he was Crowned though it may Palliate cannot so take off the scandal of not preventing his Death who gave him Life but that there remains a great blemish upon his memory For being a Master of so much reason as to pause upon it as he did upon the first motion of putting his Father to Death it may be thought he had power enough to have prevented the execution it being a violation of the Law of Nature and likewise of ill example since the People might use him in the same manner if he outlived their affections or his own discretion But his revenge upon Mortimer seems to declare him really innocent or that he abhor'd the World should think otherwise Whereby he so far reconciled himself to the opinion of the Vulgar that he seldom wanted Friends during his long Reign as he never wanted an occasion to make use of them He was a Prince of that admirable composure of Body and Mind that Fortune seemed to have fallen in love with him elevating him so far above the reach of Envy or Treachery that all the Neighbour Princes dazled with the splendor of his Glory gave place to him who from the very first Ascent to the Throne had a prospect of two Crowns more than he was born to The one placed within his reach which was Scotland The other that of France which was more remote To the attaining the first there was a fair opportunity offered by the irreconcileable contest of two Rival Kings David Bruce and Edward Baliol whose Right and Interest were so evenly poized that King Edward's power could easily turn the Scale To the recovery of France there was yet a fairer opportunity given him by the revolt of Philip of Artois a Prince of the Blood Royal and Brother in Law to Philip of Valois the present French King who upon discontent came over and discovered all the Secrets of the French Counsels to King Edward assuring him of the Affections of several of the French Nobility And now the two Kings set up their Titles to the Kingdom of France Edward was nearest by Blood but drew his Pedigree from a Female Philip was farther off but descended of all Males and because the Law Salique which excludes Women from Reigning in France was conceived as well to exclude all Descendants from Females therefore was Philip's Title accepted the French obstinately declaring That they would never tye the Succession of that Crown to a Distaff To which King Edward replied That he would then tye it to his Sword With the English took part the Emperor and the chief Princes of Germany With the French the King of Bohemia the two Dukes of Austria the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Savoy and divers Princes of Italy together with his inraged Neighbour David Bruce King of Scots a weak but restless Enemy against whom King Edward had set up Edward Baliol as Competitor and to whose assistance he sends an Army toward Scotland and at Hallydown Hill near Berwick the Scots are utterly defeated about Thirty Two Thousand Souldiers being slain with a great number of Nobility and Gentry After this King Edward gained a Glorious Victory over the French at the Battel of Cressy and another at Poictiers wherein John King of France was taken Prisoner And David King of Scots with an Army of Threescore Thousand men a second time
them without any stop till they came within view of the English Colours King Edward having implored the aid of the Almighty full of hopes of obtaining Victory without the least disturbance of mind divided his Army into three Bodies The Front was commanded by the young Lion of Wales our brave Prince Edward assisted with several of the most experienced Generals consisting of Eight Hundred Men at Arms Two Thousand Archers and a Thousand Welshmen The second Battalian was commanded by the Earls of Northampton and Arundel with other Lords being Eight Hundred Men at Arms and One Thousand Two Hundred Archers The third and last being about Seven Hundred men at Arms and Three Thousand Archers with the rest of the Nobility the King led himself and being mounted upon a white Hobby he Rid through the several Ranks reviving and incouraging his Souldiers with cheerful words to fight like Men for his Right and their Honour He then ordered the Rear of the Army to be Barricado'd with Trees and Carriages and likewise commanded the Troopers to dismount and leave their Horses behind them so that all means of flight being taken away they must now resolve either to Conquer or Die. In King Philip's Army were the King of Bohemia the King of Majorca the Duke of Lorrain the Duke of Savoy the Earls of Flanders Nevers Sancerre with many other Dukes Earls Barons and Gentlemen Volunteers both French Dutch and Germans and just the Night before the Battel Ann of Savoy joined him with a Thousand Men at Arms So that all things seemed to conspire to elate the French Pride and assure them of Victory They divided their Army likewise into three Battalia's The Van was led by the Duke of Alonson the King's Brother and the King of Bohemia The Reer by the Duke of Savoy And the main Battel the King Commanded himself He was so impatient of delays that He would scarce stay to call a Council of War to consider how to manage the Fight He likewise caused the Banner of Auriflamb to be erected which was of red Silk and Hallowed by the Pope of which the French had as high an opinion as if it had fallen from Heaven The King of Bohemia hearing of the posture of the English Army contrary to the proud conceit of the French said Here will the English end their Days or Conquer A little before the Fight happened a very terrible Tempest of Thunder and Rain and a bright Rain-bow appeared in the Heavens And soon after the Sun broke forth shining full in the Faces of the French and on the Back of the English and at the same time great numbers of Ravens and other Birds of Prey flew over the French Army All which accidents were judged ominous and presaging mischief to the Enemy The signal of Battel being given by King Philip it was entertained by a shout from his Army the Drums beat the Trumpets sounded Banners flew in the Air Glittering Swords were seen threatning Death and Destruction and all the horrors of War appeared in their most dismal Colours The ruine of the French began at the Genoeses who being all Cross-Bow Men were ordered to open a way for the French Horse but it happened that their Bow-strings being Wet by the late great Shower and their Bodies weary with a long March after the English had received the first Volley of their Arrows with their Targets their Ranks were opened in many places by the fall of their slain Fellows who were kill'd by the English Bowmen and at length most outragiously scattered and trampled under foot by the Duke of Alanson by Command of the King himself who bringing up the Horse in a full Career cried out On on let us make our way upon the Bellies of these Genoeses who do but hinder us And instantly Rides through the midst of them followed by the Dukes of Lorrain and Savoy never staying till they came to that Body of the English commanded by the Gallant Prince of Wales These French Gallants half out of breath with their Post haste and terribly disordered by the perpetual Storms of our Whistling Arrows came now to handy strokes with the Princes Squadron with Battle Axes Swords and Lances The Fight was very bloody while each earnestly contended for Victory The old King of Bohemia resolving to dye honourably thrust himself into the first Ranks of his own Horsemen and furiously charging the English he was slain with Sword in hand the Troop of his faithful Followers with their slaughtered Bodies covering him even in Death and his fate was soon perceived by the fall of the Bohemian Standard King Philip in Person with a strong Party hastened to the relief of his Brother and Friends who were also much distrest by the English Valour and great numbers slain though the Prince of Wales was in danger in the encounter had not his Souldiers rusht in couragiously among their Enemies for the preservation of their worthy Prince King Edward stood all this while upon Windmill-Hill with his Helmet on which he never pull'd off till the Fight was ended judiciously surveying the whole Field of Battel to observe the success being ready to bring down his Party which lay hovering like a Black Cloud where necessity should require In the mean time the brave Prince of Wales was contending with the whole power of France whereupon some of his Generals seeing the great inequality and doubting the worst they sent to the King requesting his assistance The King asked the Messenger whether his Son were slain or hurt who replied No he was safe but like to be over powered by the multitude of his Enemies Well then said the King go back to them that sent you and tell them that so long as my Son is alive they send no more to me whatever happen for I design that the honour of this day shall be his if God permit him to survive and am resolved that he shall either win the Spurs or lose his life This resolution of the King 's though it brought no assistance yet seemed to inspire new Life and Spirits into the English so that they fought like Lions On the otherside King Philip whose Kingdom lay at Stake performed the Duty of a good General and a gallant Souldier fighting so long in his own Person till his Horse was killed under him himself twice dismounted and wounded both in the Neck and Thigh and in danger of being trodden to death had not the Earl of Beaumont rescued and remounted him and the French out of their Loyalty to save him almost against his Will conveyed him out of the Field who seemed rather desirous to end his days in such noble Company His departure was quickly known to both Armies and as suddenly put an end to this bloody Carnage wherein hitherto none had quarter but were all put to the Sword The French King himself with a small Company fled to Bray in the Night and approaching the Walls the Guard demanded who was there
He replied The Fortune of France By his Voice he was Known and thereupon received into the Town with the Tears and lamentations of his People The rest of his Army strove to save themselves by flight whom the English did not pursue but stood still upon their Guard according to the true Rules of Martial Discipline being unwilling to hazard so glorious a Victory by following them in the Night knowing there were so many of the Enemy escaped as might yet overwhelm their tired Army with multitude King Edward seeing the Field clear of the French came down from the Hill with his Troops entire toward his Victorious Son whom most affectionately imbracing and kissing he said Fair Son God send you good perseverance to such prosperous beginnings you have acquitted your self right Nobly and are well worthy to have a Kingdom intrusted to your Government for your Valour To which the most Noble and Magnanimous Prince replied with silence humbly falling on his Knees at the Feet of his Triumphant Father After this Victory King Edward marched with his Army through France and Besieged Calice In 1355. King Edward was informed that Philip of France being dead King John his Son and Successor had given the Dutchy of Aquitain to Charles the Dauphin his Eldest Son whereupon the King being much incensed conferr'd the same upon his own Son the Prince of Wales commanding him to defend his Right therein with his Sword against his Adversaries He was likewise appointed by Parliament to go into Gascoin with a thousand men at Arms Two Thousand Archers and a great number of Welshmen who accompanied their Prince and soon after with Three Hundred Sail of Ships attended by many of the English Nobility he landed in France and with his Victorious Arms Marched into Aquitain recovering a great number of Cities and Towns and releasing a multitude of Prisoners He then entred Guienne passing over Languedock to Tholouse Narbone and Bruges without opposition and loaden with Plunder return'd to Bourdeux Afterward he made a second Course through Perigort and Limosin into the Bowels of France even to the very Gates of Bruges in Berry the terror of his name preparing his way and then wheeled about designing to return by Remorantine in Blasois which Town he took and so through the Countrey of Tourain Poictou and Xantoign to his Chief City of Bourdeux But King John having raised a very Potent Army followed him in the Rear and about the City of Poictiers he overtook our Invincible Prince where the Armies approached each other the French exceeding the English six to one Two Cardinals sent from Pope Clement as before the former Battel mediated to take up the Quarrel but the French King supposing he had his Enemy now at his mercy would hear of no conditions but that the Prince should deliver him four Hostages and as Vanquished render up himself and his Army to his discretion The Prince was content to restore to him all the places he had taken but without prejudice to his Honour wherein he said he stood accountable to his Father and his Country But King John would not abate any thing of his first demands as judging himself secure of Victory and thereupon was ready to attack the Prince who in this exigency politickly got the advantage of the ground by obtaining the benefit of certain Vines Shrubs and Bushes upon that part where he was like to be assaulted whereby to imbarass and disturb the French Horse whom he saw ready to fall furiously upon him The success answered his expectation for the Enemies Cavalry in their full Career were so intangled and incumbered among their Vines that the Prince's Archers galled and annoyed them at pleasure For the French King to give the Honour of the day to his Horse made use of them only without the aid of his Infantry And they being thus disordered the whole Army was thereby utterly defeated Here if ever the Prince of Wales and his Englishmen gave full proof of their undaunted Courage and Valour never giving over till they had wholly routed all the three French Battalions the least of which exceeded the number of the Prince's Forces King John himself Fighting valiantly and Philip his youngest Son who by his undaunted Prowess so defended his distressed Father that he gained the Sirname of Hardy were both taken Prisoners The most remarkable of the Prince's Commanders for Courage and Conduct were the Earls of Warwick Suffolk Salisbury Oxford and Stafford The Lords Chandois Cobham Spencer Berkley Basset c. and particularly James Lord Audley signaliz'd himself receiving many wounds and was rewarded by the Noble Prince of Wales with the gift of Five Hundred Marks Land a year in England which he instantly divided among his four Esquires who had stood by him in all the fury and brunt of this bloody Battel Whereupon the Prince asked him if he did not accept of his gift He answered That these men had deserved it as well as himself and needed it more With which reply the Prince was so well pleased that he gave him Five Hundred Marks a Year more A rare example where desert in the Subject and reward in the Prince strove to exceed each other He vowed to be foremost in the Fight and made good his word It was the misfortune or rather glory of the French Nobility in these disastrous times that the loss commonly fell very heavy upon them for in this fatal overthrow the French confess that Fifty Two Lords and about One Thousand Seven Hundred Knights Esquires and Gentlemen were slain The chief were the Duke of Athens the High Constable Great Marshal and High Chamberlain of France the Bishop of Chalons thâ— Lords of Landas Pons and Chambly Sir Reginald Charney who that day carried the Consecrated Standard Auriflamb was slain also and of the Common Souldiers about Six Thousand So wonderfully did the great God of Battels fight for the English in those days There escaped from this bloody fight Three of the French King's Sons for he brought them all into the Field Charles the Dauphin Lewis Duke of Anjou and John Duke of Barry The French Prisoners taken were John King of France and Philip his Son the Archbishop of Sens the Earls of Ponthieu Eu Longuevil Vendosme Tankervile Salbruch Nassaw Dampmartin La Roch Vaudemont Estampes c. With many other Lords and Two Thousand Knights Esquires and Gentlemen that bore Coats of Arms. After the Battel a Contention arose who was the Man that took King John Prisoner At length the King himself decided the Controversie by declaring that one Sir Dennis Morbeck of St. Omers had made him Prisoner For which service the Prince of Wales rewarded him with a Thousand Marks This great Battel was fought Sept. 19. 1357. and is thus described by Mr. Thomas May in his Poem on the Life of King Edward III. The first hot charge The valiant Lord renowned Audley gave Who to perform a noble Vow in Deeds Almost the Prowess of a Man
other half being in the possession of Edward Baliol but at length he was ransomed for ten thousand Marks and restored to his Kingdom IV. The forth Prince of Wales of the English Royal Line was Richard of Bourdeaux so called from the place of his Birth The Black Prince his renowned Father whose Wisdom doubtless was no way short of his Courage knowing how apt they who stand near the Throne are to step into it was so intent to prevent any disorder of that kind that might be feared from the well known ambition of his aspiring Brothers the Eldest of whom Henry Duke of Lancaster afterward King Henry IV. having the Title of King of Castile in the Right of his Wife but without any Kingdom might reasonably be suspected to affect one so much the more his own Right and to take advantage of his Nephew Richard's weakness He therefore made it his dying request to his declining Father to inaugurate his Son whilst he was yet alive that by being committed to the Parliaments care he might have publick security against all private supplantations and without further dispute enjoy all those Prerogatives which either his own Right or his Father's Merit intituled him to Whereupon he was set upon the Throne at Eleven years of Age and in the life time of his Grandfather Edward III. began to Reign by the name of Richard II. with this happiness that at the same time he took upon him to Govern them the Parliament entred into Consultation about the Persons fittest to Govern him And because the safety of the King as well as of the Kingdom consisted in the multitude of Counsellors they designed to add to his Uncle the Duke of Lancaster who was ambitious of being Protector the two other Brothers Edmund Earl of Cambridge and Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester with whom they conjoined several Spiritual and Temporal Lords of known Wisdom and Integrity This so offended the Duke as seeming a reflection on his Ambition not to be trusted solely that he refused the charge and retiring into the Country so play'd the King at his own House that a poor well meaning Fryar thought himself obliged in point of Allegiance to accuse him of an Intention to Usurp the Crown and consequently to destroy the King Neither wanted he matter enough 't is thought to make out that charge but his Innocence being overmatcht by Power and having none to second his accusation the Crime wâ—â— cast upon the Accuser who being friendless wa◠〈◊〉 into Prison and inhumanely murdered by his Keepers who tying one end of a Cord about his Neck and the other to his Privy Members hung him up on a Pin and with the weight of a Stone laid upon his Belly burst his back and so all further proof deceased with him This being known among the People and no punishment inflicted upon the Murtherers derogated very much from the young King's Justice and Honour among his Subjects who not being able to distinguish betwixt the want of Skill and want of Power to punish began thenceforth to Worship the Duke of Lancaster as the Indians do the Devil for fear And as the King's Father Prince Edward never recovered the health which he lost in the last expedition into Spain so his Son never recovered this and other disadvantages put upon him by his ambitious Uncle and particularly that the very first day he took his Grandfather's Seat in Parliament as Heir Apparent to the Crown he taught him to demand a Subsidy purposely to alienate the Peoples Affections from him who were before sufficiently disgusted with the heavy Taxes they had already paid And likewise his ommitting no occasion of propagating Tumults and Factions whereby he at length deprived his Nephew first of his Crown and then of his Life Richard II. was the comeliest Person of all the Kings since the Conquest being Tall well Limb'd and Strong and of so amiable a Countenance that he might well be the Son of such a beautiful Mother As to his Temper of Mind it proceeded more from his Education than his natural Humour for he seemed to have many good Inclinations which might have grown into Habits had they not been perverted by corrupted Flatterers in his Youth He was of a credulous disposition apt to believe and therefore easie to be abused and it was his great weakness that he could not distinguish between a Parasite and and a Friend He seemed to partake both of a French and English Nature being violent at the first apprehension of a thing and calm upon deliberation He never shewed himself so worthy of the Government as when he was Deposed as unworthy to Govern For it appeared that the Royal Dignity was not so pleasing to him as a quiet retired Life which if he might have enjoyed he would never have complained that Fortune had done him wrong He lived thirty three years and reigned twenty and two months and was Murdered at Pomfreh Castle in the place of his Birth V. Henry of Monmouth the Son and Successor of King Henry IV. was the Fifth Prince of Wales of the Royal Blood of England He was bred a Student in Queens College in Oxford and from thence being called to Court the Lord Piercy Earl of Worcester was made his Governour But coming afterward to be at his own disposing whether being by nature valorous and yet not well staid by time and experience or whether incited by ill Companions and imboldened by the opinion of his own Greatness he ran into many Courses so unworthy of a Prince that it was much doubted what he might prove if he should come to be King For it is recorded that he with some other young Lords and Gentlemen lay in wait in disguise for the Receivers of his Father's Revenue whom they robbed of their Money to maintain their riotous Living though sometimes they missed their Prize and were soundly beaten in prosecuting such attempts and when upon his return to Court he had heard the Receivers complain of their great losses he would give them Money to make them part of amends but rewarded those best that had made the stoutest defence and from whom he had received the most blows It happened that one of his Companions was arraigned at the King's Bench Bar in Westminster Hall for Felony of which the Prince being informed he by the advice of the rest came in a great rage to the Bar and attempted to take away the Prisoner by force commanding that his Fetters should be taken off and he set at Liberty All present were much amazed but Sir William Gascoign then Lord Chief Justice mildly desired him to forbear and suffer the Felon to be Tryed by the Laws of the Land and that he might afterward get his Pardon of his Father if there were occasion The Prince grew more inflamed at these words and endeavoured to take him away himself But the Judge charging him upon his Allegiance to withdraw out of the Court the Prince furiously stept up
eight and lived fifty nine years and was murthered in the Tower of London in 1472. VII Edward the only Son of King Henry VI. by Queen Margaret Daughter to the King of Sicily was the seventh Prince of Wales of the Royal Blood of England He Married Anne the Daughter of Richard Nevil called the Great Earl of Warwick After his Father's Army was defeated by King Edward IV. at Tauton Field in Yorkshire he with his Mother were sent into France to pray aid from that King This Battel was the bloodiest that ever England saw King Henry's Army consisting in threescore thousand and King Edward's in about forty thousand men of which there fell that day thirty seven thousand seven hundred seventy six Persons no Prisoners being taken but the Earl of Devonshire Afterward the Queen returns from France with some Forces but before her coming King Edward had defeated the Earl of Warwick who with some other Lords had raised a Party for her assistance at Barnet wherein near ten thousand were slain So that when it was too late she landed at Weymouth and from thence went to Bewly Abbey in Hampshire where the Duke of Somerset the Earl of Devonshire and divers other Lords came to her resolving once more to try their Fortune in the Field The Queen was very desirous that her Son Edward Prince of Wales should have returned to France there to have been secure till the success of the next Battel had been tried but the Lords especially the Duke of Somerset would not consent to it so that she was obliged to comply with them though she quickly repented it From Bewly she with the Prince and the Duke of Somerset goes to Bristol designing to mise what men they could in Glocestershire and to march into Wales and join Jasper Earl of Pembroke who was there assembling more Forces K. Edward having intelligence of their Proceedings resolves to prevent their conjunction and follows Queen Margaret so diligently with a great Army that near Tewksbury in Glocestershire he overtakes her Forces who resolutely turn to ingage him The Duke of Somerset led the Van and performed the part of a Valiant Commander but finding his Soldiers through weariness begin to faint and that the Lord Wenlock who commanded the main Battel moved not he rode up to him and upbraiding his treachery with his Pole-ax instantly knockt out his Brains but before he could bring this Party to relieve the Van they were wholly defeated the Earl of Devonshire with above three thousand of the Queens Men being slain the Queen her self John Beufort the Duke of Somerset's Brother the Prior of St. John's Sir Jervas Clifton and divers others were taken Prisoners All whom except the Queen were the next day Beheaded At which time Sir Rich. Crofts presented to King Edward King Henry's Son Edward Prince of Wales To whom King Edward at first seemed indifferent kind but demanding of him how he durst so presumptuously enter into his Realm with Arms The Prince replied though truly yet unseasonably To recover my Father's Kingdom and my Inheritance Thereupon King Edward with his hand thrust him from him or as some say struck him on the Face with his Gauntlet and then presently George Duke of Clarence Thomas Grey Marquess Dorset and the Lord Hastings standing by fell upon him in the place and murthered him Others write that Crook-back'd Richard ran him into the Heart with his Dagger His Body was Buried with other ordinary Corps that were slain in the Church of the Monastery of the Black Friars in Tewksberry VIII Edward eldest Son of King Edward IV. was the eighth Prince of Wales of the English Royal Blood Of whose short Reign and miserable Death there is an account in a Book called England's Monarchs IX Richard only Son of King Richard III. was the ninth Prince of Wales His Mother was Ann the second Daughter of Richard Nevil the Great Earl of Warwick and Widow of Prince Edward Son of King Henry VI. aforementioned who was Married to King Richard though she could not but be sensible that he had been the Author both of her Husband's and Father's Death but womens Affections are Diametrically opposite to common apprehensions and generally governed by Passion and Inconstancy This Prince was born of her at Midleham near Richmond in the County of York At four years old he was created Earl of Salisbury by his Uncle King Edward IV. At ten years old he was created Prince of Wales by his Father King Richard III. but died soon after X. Arthur eldest Son to King Henry VII was the tenth Prince of Wales of the Royal English Families He was born at Winchester in the second year of his Father's Reign When he was about fifteen years old his Father proposed a Marriage for him with the Princess Katherine Daughter to Ferdinando King of Spain which being concluded the Lady was sent by her Father with a gallant Fleet of Ships to England and arrived at Plymouth Soon after the Princess was openly espoused to Prince Arthur they were both clad in white he being fifteen and she eighteen years of age At night they were put together in one Bed where they lay as Man and Wife all that Night When morning appeared the Prince as his Servants about him reported called for Drink which was not usual with him Whereof one of his Bed-Chamber asking him the cause he merrily replied I have been this Night in the midst of Spain which is a hot Country and that makes me so dry Though some write that a grave Matron was laid in Bed between them to hinder actual Consummation The Ladie 's Dowry was two hundred thousand Duckets and her Jointure the third part of the Principality of Wales Cornwal and Chester At this Marriage was great Solemnity and Roval Justings Prince Arthur after his Marriage was sent into Wales to keep his Country in good Order having several prudent and able Counsellors to advise with but within five Months after he died at his Castle at Ludlow and with great solemnity was Buried in the Cathedral of Worcester He was a very ingenious and learned Prince for though he lived not to be sixteen years old yet he was said to have read over all or most of the Latin Fathers besides many others Some attribute the shortness of his Life to his Nativity being born in the eighth month after Conception XI Henry the second Son to King Henry VII was the eleventh Prince of Wales of the Royal English Line He was born at Greenwich in Kent After the Death of his eldest Brother Prince Arthur the Title of Prince of Wales was by his Father's Order not given to him but his own only of Duke of York till the Women could certainly discover whether the Lady Katherine were with Child or not But after six months when nothing appeared he had his Title bestowed upon him and King Henry being loth to part with her great Portion prevailed with his Son Henry though not without some
As to his birth Humfry Lloyd a Welsh Writer affirms that his Mother before Marriage was a Noble Virgin and that his Father for his great knowledge in the Mathematicks and other abstruse Learning was in those ignorant times reputed by the Common People to be a Conjurer and his Son Merlin to be begotten by an Evil Spirit or Male Devil who in the likeness of Men are said to have the Carnal use of Women Many wonderful things are attributed to Merlin as that by his assistance Aurelius Ambrosius erected that stupendous Monument near Salisbury called Stonehenge those vast Stones being brought by Magick Art from Africk into Ireland and from thence to this Plain through the Air. That Vter Pendragon the Brother and Successor of Ambrosius falling in love with the Duke of Cornwall's Wife Merlin by his Necromantick skill made Vter appear to her in the exact form and shape of her Husband Duke Gorlois by which means he enjoyed this fair Lady on whom he begot the renowned King Arthur At the birth of this Vter it is reported a Comet appeared somewhat like the Head of a Dragon whereupon Merlin declared that it presignified the Birth of Vter then new born and from thence he was called Vter Pendragon Others to his honour relate that many of his Predictions were fulfilled as that which runs thus Since Virgin gifts to Maids he gave ' Mongst blessed Saints God will him save This is interpreted to be meant of King John who built several Monasteries for Nuns in divers parts of the Kingdom Another says The sixth shall overthrow the Walls of Ireland and reduce their Countrys into a Kingdom This was thought to be accomplished under King James VI. of Scotland and I. of England who dismantled their Fortresses and Castles which were the Irish Walls and Courts of Justice were set up through all the Land Though the Welsh Proverb contradicts this foreknowledge which says Namyn Dduw nid oes Dewin that is Besides God there is no Diviner Robert Ferrar Bishop of St. David's was made a Martyr in this County He was prefer'd by the Duke of Somerset Lord Protector in the Reign of King Edward VI. a man not unlearned but somewhat indiscreet or rather uncomplying so that he may be said with St. Lawrence to be broyled on both sides being persecuted both by Protestants and Papists Some conceived that his Patron 's fall was his greatest guilt and incouraged his Enemies against him In the Reign of Q. Mary he was sent for and examined about his Faith by Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who told him that the Queen and Parliament had altered Religion and therefore required him to imbrace the same To which he answered That he had taken an Oath never to consent or agree that the Bishop of Rome should have any Jurisdiction in this Realm At which the Bishop of Winchester called him Knave and Forward Fellow and so returned him to Prison again He was afterward examined before Henry Morgan pretended Bishop of St. David's who requiring him to subscribe to several Articles he absolutely refused it or to recent any thing whereupon the sentence of degradation was read against him and he was delivered to the Secular Power by whom he was carried to Carmarthen to be burnt A while before his Execution there came one to visit him who much lamented the painfulness of his death to whom Bishop Ferrar answered If you see me once stir or move in the pains of my burning then never give any credit to the truth of the doctrine which I have formerly taught And he was as good as his word standing so patiently in the midst of the Flames that he never moved holding up the stumps of his Arms till one with a Halbert dasht him on the head whereby he fell down and quietly resigned up his Spirit to God Sir Rice ap Thomas little less than a Prince and called the Flower of the Britains was born in this Shire When the Earl of Richmond afterward King Henry VII landed at Milford Haven with contemptible Forces this Sir Rice with a considerable accession of choice Souldiers joined and marched with him to Bosworth Field where he behaved himself with much Courage and in reward of his good service was made Knight of the Garter He rebuilt Emeline in this County and called it New-castle being one of his Principal Seats and one of the latest Castles in Wales In the fourth of King Henry VIII he conducted 500 Horse to the Siege of Theroene in France Walter Devereux created Earl of Essex by Q. Elizabeth was born in the Town of Carmarthen Being a Martial Man he Articled with the Q. to maintain such a number of Souldiers at his own cost in Ireland and to have the fair Territory of Clandebuy in the Province of Vlster for the Conquering thereof To maintain this Army he sold his fine Inheritance in Essex Over he goes into Ireland with a noble Company of Kindred Friends and Supernumerary Volunteers above the proportion of Souldiers agreed on Sir William Fitz William's Lord Deputy of Ireland doubting he should be Eclipsed by this great Earl solicites the Q. to maintain him in the full power of his Place Hereupon it was ordered that the Earl should have his Commission from this Lord Deputy which with much importunity and long attendance he hardly obtained and that with no higher Title than Governour of Vlster After many attempts not very successfully made in Vlster he was ordered to march to the South of Ireland where he spent much time to little purpose From Munster he was sent back to Vlster where he was forbidden to make use of the Victory he had gotten and soon after his Commission was Vacated and he reduced to be Governour of 300 men He received all these affronts with undaunted constancy Pay days in Ireland came very quick Money out of England very slow his noble Associates began to withdraw common men to mutiny and himself was soon after recalled home He was afterward sent back with the Title of Earl Marshal of Ireland where he fell into a strange Flux not without suspicion of Poyson and died 1576. of his Age 36. His Estate much impaired descended to his Son Robert his body was brought over and buried in Carmarthen His Father and Grandfather died about the same age to which his Son Robert never attained being beheaded by Q. Elizabeth on the Tower Green on Ashwednesday Feb. 25. 1600. Carmarthen-shire hath 28 Rivers and Rivulets is divided into six Hundreds hath six Market Towns 87 Parish Churches and had formerly nine Castles and gives the Title of Marquess to the Lord Osborn eldest Son to the D. of Leeds CARNARVAN-SHIRE hath Merioneth on the South Anglesey divided by the River Menai on the North Denbigh-shire on the East and the Irish Sea on the West from North to South 40 from East to West 20 and in compass 110 miles The Air is sharp and piercing by reason of the high Mountains which may be properly
termed the British Alpes for steepness and cragginess not much unlike those that divide France from Italy all tow ring into the Air and some far higher than the rest called Snowdon Hills or Snowy Mountains being all the year round crusted over with Snow though liable to the Sun and Wind. This made them a secure refuge to the Britains against their Enemies no Army though never so potent nor any Traveller never so lightly clothed being able to find a passage among so many rough and hard Rocks so many Pools Vales and Sloughs as are to be encountred with in the middle of this County Yet it is sufficiently fruitful for the Mountains are so rank with Grass that it is become a Proverb among them Craig Eriry or Snowdon will yield sufficient Pasture for all the Cattel of Wales put together And it is certain that there are Ponds and Standing Waters upon the tops of them though generally covered with Snow and if a man sets his foot any where upon the top of them he shall perceive the Earth to move at a considerable distance from him Penmen-maur or the great stony head is an exceeding high and steep Rock or Hill in this County which hanging over the Sea when it is Flood affordeth a very narrow Way for Passengers huge Stones hanging over head as if ready to fall upon them and the Tempestuous Ocean lying under of a very great depth But after the passing this and Penmen-bidam the less stony head there is a great open Plain reaching as far as Aber-Conway in which River are found a sort of shell fish conceived as they say by the Heavenly Dew which are thought to bring forth Pearl formerly much valued The antient Inhabitants of this County were the Ordovices who had a City which the Emperor Antovinus calls Segontium the ruins whereof are still visible hard by a River called to this day Sevont and near a little Church Consecrated to the Memory of St. Publicius Some Authors name it Caer Custenith or the City of Constantine saying that in 1283. the body of Constantius was found here which K. Edw. I. caused to be sumptuously buried in the Church of the new City that he raised out of the ruins of the old and called Carnarvan which now gives a name to the whole Shire This Town hath a fine Prospect toward the Sea and was incompassed with the Walls of the Castle The Government was formerly administred by the Covernour of the Castle who was always Mayor by Patent assisted by one Alderman two Bayliffs two Sergeants at Mace and a Town-Clerk The Townsmen much glory that K. Edw. II. was born in a Tower of their Castle called Eagle Tower and Sirnamed Carnarvan being the first Prince of Wales of the English Race The Welsh report that the Corps of 20000 Saints are interred in a small Island called Berdsey lying within a Mile of the South Promontory of this County It is I confess more easie to find Graves there for so many Saints than Saints for so many Graves Bangor is a Bishops See of antient standing but by whom founded is not yet known the Cathedral is dedicated to the Memory of St. Daniel who was Bishop here about the year 516. It is now but a small Town yet was formerly so large that the Welsh called it Banchor Vaur or great Bangor which Hugh Earl of Chester fortified with a Castle long since so throughly demolished that the very ruins are now invisible upon the severest search This Diocess containeth in it the whole County of Carnarvan and Anglesey and part of Denbigh Merioneth and Montgomery-shires and in them 107 Parish Churches and three Arch-Deaconries The antient Cathedral was defaced and set on fire by Owen Glendour and his Associates who had a design to have destroyed all the Churches in Wales whose People submitted to the King of England but was afterward repaired by one Henry Dean Bishop thereof in the Reign of King Henry VII yet hath scarce recovered the resemblance of its pristine dignity There was formerly a Town called by the Roman's Canonium near the River Conway from whence it took its name which is now utterly extinct only there is a poor remembrance of it in the new name of a mean Village standing in the rubbish thereof called Caer-hean that is The antient City Out of the ruins thereof King Edward I. built a new Town at the River's Mouth called Aber-Conwey that is the Mouth of Conwey it was formerly fortified by Hugh E. of Chester with strong Walls and a Castle and seems rather a City than a Town were it but more populous Newin a small Market Town is famous for a great Triumph made there by the Nobility of England in 1284. in memory of the renowned K. Arthur after the subduing of Wales by K. Edward I. Over against Conwey where it runs into the Sea sometimes stood an antient City named Diganway which many years since was consumed and utterly destroyed by Lightning It is reported there is a Fish in the Pool Linperis called Torcoch with a red Belly no where else to be found And that on the High Mountains there are two Mears or Ponds in one of which are store of Fish that have only one Eye and in the other a floating Island which when trod on moveth a great way off whereby the Welsh are said to have often escaped their Enemies John William's was born at Aber-Conwey bred Fellow of St. John's College in Cambridge was prefer'd to be Dean of Worcester Bishop of Lincoln Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and at last Archbishop of York He died March 25. 1649. Richard Vaughan was born at Nuffrin bred at St. John's College in Oxford became successively Bishop of Bangor Chester and London a very corpulent man but spiritually minded an excellent Preacher and Pious Liver a pleasant man in Discourse especially at his Table using frequently this expression At Meals be glad fâ—â— sin be sad And indeed he was a very mortified man and zealous in Religion He died March 30. 1607. Henry Rowlands bred in Oxford was Consecrated Bishop of Bangor Nov. 12. 1598. he bought four new Bells for the Tower of St. Asaph whereof the biggest cost an 100 pound He also gave to Jesus College in Oxford a revenue for maintenance of two Fellows He died 1615. The County of Carnarvan hath five Market Towns Aber-conwey Bangor Carnarvan Newin and Pullhely and 68 Parish Churches It gives the Title of Earl to Charles Lord Dormer DENBIGH-SHIRE bath Carnarvan and Merioneth-shire on the West part of Flint-shire and the Sea on the North Cheshire and Shropshire on the East and Montgomery-shire on the South It is generally Mountainous Cold and Barren Yet not without some fruitful Valleys by the industry of the Husbandmen who may be said to fetch their Bread out of the Fire by cutting up Turfs which being burnt in great heaps the ashes spread on these hungry grounds cause them to bring forth a kind of Rye in
her name From whence at length the name of Severn came The antient Inhabitants were the Ordovices who also peopled the Counties of Merioneth Carnarvan Denhigh and Flint whose Hearts and Hills kept them free a long time both from the Roman and English Yoke opposing themselves against the first till the reign of Domitian and the other till their total Conquest by King Edward I. They are a generous and affable People comely and fair of body courteous to strangers and very Loyal to the English Crown Montgomery is the chief Town and is one of the new Shires taken out of the Marches of Wales and made a County of King Henry VIII so called from Roger de Montgomery a Noble Nâ—rman Earl of Shrewsbury who gaining much Land hereabout from the Welsh first built it to secure his Conquests as likewise a very fine Castle standing not far from the banks of the River Severn upon the rising of a Rock from whence it hath a very pleasant prospect into a curious Plain that lyeth beneath it There is a Proveb in this County Y Tair Chiwiorydd in English The three Sisters whereby was meant the three Rivers of Wye Severn and Rhiddial arising all three in this County The Tradition is That these three Sisters were to run a Race which should be first Married to the Ocean Severn and Wye having a great Journey to go chose their way through soft Meadows and kept on a Travellers pace whilst Rhiddial presuming on her short journey staid before she went out and then to recover her lost time runs furiously in a distracted manner with her mad stream over all opposition It is applicaple to Chidren of the same Parents but of different dispositions and courses of life so that their Cradles were not so near but their Coffins are as far asunder There is another Proverb Pywys Paradwys Cymri that is Powis is the Paradice of Wales This Proverb referreth to Teliesten the Author thereof that Powis contained all that pleasant Land lying betwixt Wye and Severn A third Proverb is Gwan di Brwlin Hafren Plafren fydd hifel cynt that is Fix thy Pale in Severn with intent to fence out his Water Severn will be as before that is run its course applied to those who undertake projects above their power to perform Hawis Gadarn a Lady of remark sole Daughter and Heir to Owen ap Griffith Prince of Powis-land was justly Sirnamed Gadarn that is The Hardy Her four Uncles Leoline Griffith Vaughan and David detained her inheritance from her Give said they A Girl a little Gold and Marry her God and Nature made Land for men to manage Hereupon Hawis complained to King Edward II. who commiseraring her condition consigned his Servant John Charlton born at Apple in Shrepshire a vigorous Knight to Marry her creating him in her right Baron of Powis Being assisted with the King's Forces he took three of her Uncles Prisoners and brought the fourth to composition And finally recovered all his Wives Estate procuring also the Lands of her Uncles in default of their Issue Male to be setled on her George Herbert born at Montgomery-Castle was bred Fellow of Trinity-College in Cambridge and Orator of the University where he made a Speech of the return of Prince Charles out of Spain Waving Wotldly Preferment he served at God's Altar Of so Pious a Life that as he was a Copy of Primitive Christianity so he might be a Pattern of Sanctity to Posterity He never mentioned the name of Jesus but with this addition My Master Next God the Word he loved the Word of God being heard often to protest That he would not part with one leaf thereof for the whole World By his good example he gained much to the Church He was Preacher at Bemmerton nigh Salisbury where he built a fair House for his Successor and Prebendary at Leighton in the Diocess of Lincoln where he built a fair Church with the assistance of some Friends free Offerings When a tfriend of his went about to comfort him with the remembrance hereof as a good work he returned It is a good work if sprinkled with the Blood of Christ Edward Herbert his Brother was Knighted by King James I. who sent him over Ambassador to France King Charles I. created him Baron of Castle-Island in Ireland and after Baron of Cherbury in this County He was a most excellent Artist and a rare Linguist Studied both in Books and Men. He wrote a Treatise of the Truth in French extant with great honour in the Vatican Library at Rome He Married the Daughter of Sir William Herbert of St. Julian's in Monmouthshire with whom he had a large Inheritance both in England and Ireland He died in 1648. and was buried in St. Giles's in the Fields London A fair Monument of his own Invention was begun and almost sinisht in the Church of Montgomery In the Year 1661. Dec. 20. about Sunsetting the Inhabitants of Weston in Montgomeryshire discovered a great number of Horsemen about 400 paces from them marching two a breast in Military order upon the Common and were half an hour before the Reer came up seeming to be about 500 in all the spectators were amazed thinking them to be an Army of Roundheads going to release the Prisoners at Montgomery there being at that time several Ministers and Gentlemen in Prison and therefere several of them went to the top of the next Hill where they had another full view of them and could distinguish their Horses to be of several Colours as white grey black c. and that they marched in three Companies and betwixt every Division they had two Horse colours flying but as they drew toward them they still marched from them so that they could not come nearer than 100 Yards they asked a man who was thatching a House all that day which they judged the Horsemen went by whether he saw all those Souldiers which marched by who said that he saw none neither was there any Tract of the Horses to be seen that night nor the next morning so that they concluded it to be a wonderful Apparition and deposed the Truth of these particulars before the Lord Herbert and several other Justices of the Peace of this County at the same time a Women coming from Bishops Castle over the same Common fell off her Horse being much terrified with the sight of a blazing Star which she and six men with her saw sometimes white and sometimes red with a Tail like an Arrow which seemed to hang just over their heads from Bishops Mount to this Common being three Miles and the People of the house where the VVoman fell when they came out saw the Star also This County is very plentiful of Cattle especially Horses which for their shape and swiftness are much valued It is divided into seven Hundreds wherein are six Market Towns and forty seven Parish Churches and gives the Title of Earl to Thomas Lord Herbert who is likewise Earl of Pombroke Cherbury
are so dreadful saith Mr. Speed that I feared to look down from them into those deep and dark Vallies through which I passed which seemed to be the entrance into the Kingdom of Darkness Among these dismal Vales Historians say that unhappy Prince Vertigern who invited in the Saxons to the ruin of his Country was with his incestuous Wife consumed with Fire from Heaven in his Castle called Guartiger Maur. Though others write it was near Beshkelleth in North Wales Fatal was this place also to Leoline the last Prince of the British Race who being betrayed by the men of Buelth fled into these vast Mountains of Radnor where by Adam Franston he was slain and his Head Crowned with Ivy set upon the Tower of London Radnor is the Chief Town in this County from whence it receives its name called antiently Magi where the Pacensian Legion of the Romans lay and thought to be Magnes mentioned by me Emperor Marcus Antoninus It had formerly a VVall with a large and strong Castle Prestayn is the best Town in this Shire for handsome Buildings and good Trading Knighton is also a Market Town under which is to be seen the Tract of Offa's Ditch along the Edge of the Mountain The fourth place remarkable is Raihader Gewy from which word Raihader the English It is thought named the County Radnor It is also called Meliueth from the yellowish Mountains thereof which stretch from Offa's Dyke to the River Wye which River cutteth overthwart the West corner of this Shire where meeting with some Rocks that impede its passage for want of ground to glide on it hath a violent downfall with a continual noise and is called The Fall of Wye At this Town the Market day was formerly kept on a Sunday but is since altered This Shire is divided into six Hundreds wherein are three Forests four Market Towns and fifty two Parish Churches and formerly six Castles It gives the Title of Earl to Charies Lord Roberts There are several other Proverbs in Wales besides those already mentioned as 1. Her Wash Blood is up and 't is no wonder that a very antient Gentleman being deprived of his Country should digest his losses with great difficulty 2. As long as a Welsh Pedigree and as high too seeing commonly a Welsh Gentleman can clime up to a Princely Extraction 3. Give your Horse a Welsh Bait. That is stop on the top of the Mountains where the poor Palfrey is forced to make shift with Cameleons Commons the clear Air. 4. Calen y Sais wrah Gimro That is the Heart of an Englishman toward a Welshman This was invented while England and Wales were at deadly feud and applied to such as are possessed with prejudice and only carry an outward compliance without cordial affection 5. Ni Cheâ—w Cymbro oni Golle That is The Welshman keeps nothing until he hath lost it When the Brittish recovered their loft Castles from the English they doubled their Diligence and Valour keeping them more tenaciously than before 6. A fo Pen bid Bout That is He that will be a Head let him be a Bridge This is of a ficticious Original for Benigridan a Welsh General is said to have carried his Army one by one we must imagine upon his Back over a River in Ireland where there was neither Bridge nor Ferry and therefore deservedly was made their Prince 7. There was an antient Play in Wales wherein the stronger put the weaker into a Sack from whence came the Proverb He is able to put him up in a bag The Princes of Wales are very ancient and numerous yet they never had any Coin of their own as Mr. Camden observes In the reign of King William the Conqueror upon the Sea shore in Wales was found the body of Gawen Sisters Son to Arthur the Great K. of Britain reported to be fourteen foot in Length In 1662. July 2. were seen above an hondred Porpusses together near Newport which seemed very strange and prodigious to the Inhabitants Walter Brute was born in Wales A Siuner Layman Husbandman and a Christian They are his own words in a certain Protestation which he made He was bred in Oxford and being accused to the Bishop of Hereford he by a solemn subscription submitted himself principally to the Evangely or Gospel of Jesus Christ to the determination of the General Councils of Holy Kirk to Austin Ambrose Jerem and Gregory And lastly to his Bishop as a Subject ought to his Bishop It seems this Walter was the first that was vext about the Doctrines of Wickliff To conclude the Principallity of Wales was modelled into Shires in the reigh of King Henry VIII In the thirteen Counties whereof aforementioned are reckoned one Chase thirteen Forests thirty three Parks two hundred thirty Rivers an hundred Bridges four Cities fifty five Market Townt forty one Castles of old erection four Bishopricks and a thousand and sixteen Parish Churches and elects thirty Parliamont Men. FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside History 1. ENgland's Monarchs Or A Compendious Relation of the most remarkable Transactions from Julius Caesar to this present adorned with Poems and the Picture of every Monarch from K. Will. the Conqueror to the Sixth year of the Reign of K. Will. and Q. M. With a List of the Nobility and the number of the Lords and Commons who have Votes in both Houses of Parliament and many other useful particulars Price one shilling 2. THE History of the House of Orange Or a Brief Relation of the Glorious and Magnanimous Archievements of his Majestie 's Renowned Predecessors and likewise of His own Heroick Actions till the Late Wonderful Revolution Together with the History of K William and Q. Mary c. Being an Impartial Account of the most Remarkable Passages from their Majesties Happy Accession to the Throne to this time By R. B. Price one shilling 3. 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