第56章 Footnotes(12)

{159}Bangor.-This cathedral church must not be confounded with the celebrated college of the same name,in Flintshire,founded by Dunod Vawr,son of Pabo,a chieftain who lived about the beginning of the sixth century,and from him called Bangor Dunod.The Bangor,i.e.the college,in Caernarvonshire,is properly called Bangor Deiniol,Bangor Vawr yn Arllechwedd,and Bangor Vawr uwch Conwy.It owes its origin to Deiniol,son of Dunod ap Pabo,a saint who lived in the early part of the sixth century,and in the year 525founded this college at Bangor,in Caernarvonshire,over which he presided as abbot.Guy Rufus,called by our author Guianus,was at this time bishop of this see,and died in 1190.

{160}Guianus,or Guy Rufus,dean of Waltham,in Essex,and consecrated to this see,at Ambresbury,Wilts,in May 1177.

{161}Mona,or Anglesey.

{162}The spot selected by Baldwin for addressing the multitude,has in some degree been elucidated by the anonymous author of the Supplement to Rowland's Mona Antiqua.He says,that "From tradition and memorials still retained,we have reasons to suppose that they met in an open place in the parish of Landisilio,called Cerrig y Borth.The inhabitants,by the grateful remembrance,to perpetuate the honour of that day,called the place where the archbishop stood,Carreg yr Archjagon,i.e.the Archbishop's Rock;and where prince Roderic stood,Maen Roderic,or the Stone of Roderic."This account is in part corroborated by the following communication from Mr.Richard Llwyd of Beaumaris,who made personal inquiries on the spot.

"Cerrig y Borth,being a rough,undulating district,could not,for that reason,have been chosen for addressing a multitude;but adjoining it there are two eminences which command a convenient surface for that purpose;one called Maen Rodi (the Stone or Rock of Roderic),the property of Owen Williams,Esq.and the other Carreg Iago,belonging to Lord Uxbridge.This last,as now pronounced,means the Rock of St.James;but I have no difficulty in admitting,that Carreg yr Arch Iagon may (by the compression of common,undiscriminating language,and the obliteration of the event from ignorant minds by the lapse of so many centuries)be contracted into Carreg Iago.Cadair yr archesgob is now also contracted into Cadair (chair,a seat naturally formed in the rock,with a rude arch over it,on the road side,which is a rough terrace over the breast of a rocky and commanding cliff,and the nearest way from the above eminences to the insulated church of Landisilio.This word Cadair,though in general language a chair,yet when applied to exalted situations,means an observatory,as Cadair Idris,etc.but there can,in my opinion,be no doubt that this seat in the rock is that described by the words Cadair yr Archesgob."[Still more probable,and certainly more flattering to Giraldus,is that it was called "Cadair yr Arch Ddiacon"(the Archdeacon's chair).]

{163}This hundred contained the comots of Mynyw,or St.David's,and Pencaer.

{164}I am indebted to Mr.Richard Llwyd for the following curious extract from a Manu of the late intelligent Mr.Rowlands,respecting this miraculous stone,called Maen Morddwyd,or the stone of the thigh,which once existed in Llanidan parish."Hic etiam lapis lumbi,vulgo Maen Morddwyd,in hujus caemiterii vallo locum sibi e longo a retro tempore obtinuit,exindeque his nuperis annis,quo nescio papicola vel qua inscia manu nulla ut olim retinente virtute,quae tunc penitus elanguit aut vetustate evaporavit,nullo sane loci dispendio,nec illi qui eripuit emolumento,ereptus et deportatus fuit."{165}Hugh,earl of Chester.The first earl of Chester after the Norman conquest,was Gherbod,a Fleming,who,having obtained leave from king William to go into Flanders for the purpose of arranging some family concerns,was taken and detained a prisoner by his enemies;upon which the conqueror bestowed the earldom of Chester on Hugh de Abrincis or of Avranches,"to hold as freely by the sword,as the king himself did England by the crown."{166}This church is at Llandyfrydog,a small village in Twrkelin hundred,not far distant from Llanelian,and about three miles from the Bay of Dulas.St.Tyvrydog,to whom it was dedicated,was one of the sons of Arwystyl Glof,a saint who lived in the latter part of the sixth century.

{167}Ynys Lenach,now known by the name of Priestholme Island,bore also the title of Ynys Seiriol,from a saint who resided upon it in the sixth century.It is also mentioned by Dugdale and Pennant under the appellation of Insula Glannauch.

{168}Alberic de Veer,or Vere,came into England with William the Conqueror,and as a reward for his military services,received very extensive possessions and lands,particularly in the county of Essex.Alberic,his eldest son,was great chamberlain of England in the reign of king Henry I.and was killed A.D.1140,in a popular tumult at London.Henry de Essex married one of his daughters named Adeliza.He enjoyed,by inheritance,the office of standard-bearer,and behaved himself so unworthily in the military expedition which king Henry undertook against Owen Gwynedd,prince of North Wales,in the year 1157,by throwing down his ensign,and betaking himself to flight,that he was challenged for this misdemeanor by Robert de Mountford,and by him vanquished in single combat;whereby,according to the laws of his country,his life was justly forfeited.

But the king interposing his royal mercy,spared it,but confiscated his estates,ordering him to be shorn a monk,and placed in the abbey of Reading.There appears to be some biographical error in the words of Giraldus -"Filia scilicet Henrici de Essexia,"for by the genealogical accounts of the Vere and Essex families,we find that Henry de Essex married the daughter of the second Alberic de Vere;whereas our author seems to imply,that the mother of Alberic the second was daughter to Henry de Essex.