USKE CASTLE,Monmouthshire.

We now close the subject of Llanthony with the late Mr. Southey’sINSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT IN THE VALE OF EWIAS.Here was it, Stranger, that thePatron SaintOf Cambria passed his age of penitence,A solitary man; and here he madeHisHermitage; the roots his food, his drinkOf Honddy’s mountain stream.Perchance thy youthHas read with eager wonder, how theKnightOf Wales, in Ormandine’s enchanted bower,Slept the long sleep; and if that in thy veinsFlows the pure blood of Britain, sure that bloodHas flowed with quicker impulse at the taleOfDafydd’sdeeds, when through the press of warHis gallant comrades followed his green crestTo conquests!Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights,And this fair vale ofEwias, and the streamOf Honddy, to thine after-thoughts will riseMore grateful—thus associate with the nameOfDafydd, and the deeds of other days.

We now close the subject of Llanthony with the late Mr. Southey’s

INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT IN THE VALE OF EWIAS.

Here was it, Stranger, that thePatron SaintOf Cambria passed his age of penitence,A solitary man; and here he madeHisHermitage; the roots his food, his drinkOf Honddy’s mountain stream.Perchance thy youthHas read with eager wonder, how theKnightOf Wales, in Ormandine’s enchanted bower,Slept the long sleep; and if that in thy veinsFlows the pure blood of Britain, sure that bloodHas flowed with quicker impulse at the taleOfDafydd’sdeeds, when through the press of warHis gallant comrades followed his green crestTo conquests!Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights,And this fair vale ofEwias, and the streamOf Honddy, to thine after-thoughts will riseMore grateful—thus associate with the nameOfDafydd, and the deeds of other days.

Here was it, Stranger, that thePatron SaintOf Cambria passed his age of penitence,A solitary man; and here he madeHisHermitage; the roots his food, his drinkOf Honddy’s mountain stream.

Perchance thy youthHas read with eager wonder, how theKnightOf Wales, in Ormandine’s enchanted bower,Slept the long sleep; and if that in thy veinsFlows the pure blood of Britain, sure that bloodHas flowed with quicker impulse at the taleOfDafydd’sdeeds, when through the press of warHis gallant comrades followed his green crestTo conquests!

Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights,And this fair vale ofEwias, and the streamOf Honddy, to thine after-thoughts will riseMore grateful—thus associate with the nameOfDafydd, and the deeds of other days.

Authoritiesquoted or referred to in the preceding article on Llanthony Abbey:—Dugdale’s Monasticon and Baronage, and their Commentaries—Tanner’s Notitia Monastica—Spelman’s Glossar. Archæologicum—Hist. of the Reformation—Histories of Monmouth, by Hoare, Coxe, and others—Giraldus Cambrensis—Howel’s Hystorie—Hallam’s Middle Ages—Camden’s Britannia—Speed—Hollinshed—Robert of Glo’ster—Roberts’ History of Llanthony Abbey—Thomas’ History of Owen Glendower—Collins—Notes by Correspondents, etc.

Usk Castle & Town.

Herestill the feudal bulwark frowns,With many a tale of siege and sally;And there the mouldering Abbey crownsThe silent and secluded valley.And still, when Twilight spreads her wings,By Abbey wall or Castle hoary,The pilgrim hears harmonious stringsStruck to the theme ofCambria’sglory.Again—from yonder halls of state,Where now the hermit-owl is dwelling—In song, assembled Bards relateThe daring deeds of boldLlewellyn.Again from yonder Abbey choir—Its dim religious lights revealing—The lofty strains ofDavid’slyreFrom arch and pillared aisles are pealing.But no! the morning’s ruddy beam—The breath of day—is on the river;And all that peopled Fancy’s dreamIs scattered in its light for ever.

Herestill the feudal bulwark frowns,With many a tale of siege and sally;And there the mouldering Abbey crownsThe silent and secluded valley.

And still, when Twilight spreads her wings,By Abbey wall or Castle hoary,The pilgrim hears harmonious stringsStruck to the theme ofCambria’sglory.

Again—from yonder halls of state,Where now the hermit-owl is dwelling—In song, assembled Bards relateThe daring deeds of boldLlewellyn.

Again from yonder Abbey choir—Its dim religious lights revealing—The lofty strains ofDavid’slyreFrom arch and pillared aisles are pealing.

But no! the morning’s ruddy beam—The breath of day—is on the river;And all that peopled Fancy’s dreamIs scattered in its light for ever.

THE CASTLEof Uske occupies a commanding position—an abrupt rocky eminence which overlooks the town, river, and valley, which were once the property of its feudal lords. It is a domestic fortress of great antiquity, and with the advantages of its natural site, strengthened and improved by all the appliances of military art—art as it was practised in the days of chivalry—these mouldering walls, though now stripped of all their massive proportions, must have presented a bold and almost impregnable aspect. The lapse of centuries, however, has materially changed its appearance; and the Castle that once entertained the redoubtableStrongbowand his companions, is now little more than a mass of ruins—the chief recommendation of which is its picturesque character as a prominent feature in the landscape.

The ruins consist merely of a shell, enclosing an area or court, and some outworks on the west, formed by two straight walls converging one to the other, and strengthened at their union by a round tower, as represented in the accompanying woodcut. At the extremity of the south wall is a grand pointed gateway, with grooves for a portcullis, which was the principal entrance. The upper part has been converted into a farm-house with considerable additions.

Tower in Uske Castle.

Like other castles of its style and period, it consists of straight walls, fortified with round and square towers, and no apertures externally but loopholes or œillets, except where these have been enlarged for modern use and convenience. Several of the apartments have chimneys—a comparatively modern refinement. The baronial hall measures forty-eight by twenty-four feet; far inferior in dimensions to some of the halls already described, but still a noble apartment, and dignified from its association with Strongbow and his knights, whose occasional rendezvous was within these walls.

At the time of the Roman occupation, this county formed part of the Silurian territory, which included also the counties of Glamorgan, Brecknock, Radnor, and Hereford; and in order to secure the conquest of this part of the country, the new masters were compelled to form a range of strongly fortified posts. No less than five stations were erected in that part of Siluria included inGwentland, as at Caerwent, Caerleon, Abergavenny, Monmouth, and Uske. In the attempts of the Saxon monarchs to subjugate Wales, the Gwentians, or inhabitants of Monmouthshire, opposed the most formidable resistance; nor does it appear that they were ever vanquished during the Saxon period. The Conqueror, however, adopted a new and more effective mode of curbing their resistance. He directed his barons to make incursions at their own expense, and gave them leave to hold the lands they conqueredin capiteof the crown. These feudal tenures became petty royalties; the barons became despots, and, intrenched in their fortified castles, assumed independent sovereignty, until these baronial governments were abolished by Henry VIII., who divided Wales into counties.

The riverUske takes its rise from a lake on the northern side of the Bannau-Sir-Gaer, in Carmarthenshire, and after running first north and then east as far as Brecknock, is joined by the Honddi, which, as already described, waters the monastic vale of Ewias. It then flows south-east as far as Abergavenny, and in this part of its course is joined by the Grwyneu-fawr, and about three miles below this it enters Monmouth. The extent of its course is about sixty miles, every portion of which is distinguished more or less by scenes of pastoral and picturesque beauty—enhanced by vestiges of ancient encampments, religious edifices, and feudal strongholds. The river is spanned at Uske by a stately bridge of five arches.

The annexed woodcut, with which we close this brief notice, represents a chamber in the Castle, with an arched window and a fireplace, comparatively modern. Chimneys do not seem to have been introduced much before the time of Henry the Eighth, as appears from the following extract from Leland’s Itinerary:—“One thynge I much notyed in the haule of Bolton,” built temp. Rich. II., “how chimneys were conveyed by tunnels made in the syds of the wauls, betwyxt the lights in the haule; and by this means, and by no others, is the smoke of the harthe in the haule wonder strangely carrayed.”[355]Previously to this period, the smoke was suffered to escape from the louvre, or lantern-turret in the roof, in large halls and kitchens, the fire being made of logs of wood laid on iron or brass dogs, in the centre of the room. But in the smaller rooms, like that in the woodcut, fireplaces were built, the arches or chimney-pieces of which often remain; but the chimney itself was carried up only a few feet, where an aperture was left in the wall for the smoke to escape,[356]and there was frequently a window over the fireplace, as in the hall at Raglan.[357]

Uskeis supposed to occupy the site of the RomanBurrium—theBullæumof Ptolemy; it stands on a point of land formed by the confluence of the two rivers, Uske and Olway, and the situation is considered to be one of the most beautiful in South Wales. The successive ranges of woods and hills on each side of the river are richly varied and picturesque; while every year adds something to the natural embellishment of the scene, by the distribution of fruit and forest trees—for which the soil is naturally adapted—and that growing taste for agriculture and rural improvement which is everywhere conspicuous in the county of Monmouth. The boundaries and outlines of the valley—which is everywhere pleasing—perpetually vary as the points of view are changed; so that every change in his position opens to the spectator a new combination of features which pass before him like a moving panorama—

“Ever changing, ever new.”

A Chamber in the Castle.

Uskehas a melancholy pre-eminence among the strongholds of this county, as a point at which the fury of intestine war was often lighted into flames. During the long and disastrous warfare with Owen Glendower, it was subjected to every species of hardship and oppression. From the battle of Uske, when the Cambrian chief was defeated and driven into the mountains, it remained in possession of the royal troops; but while it suffered the fate of a vanquished post, it derived little support from the victors; for whatever standard floated from its walls, it was only the signal of systematic oppression. From the military chronicle of those unhappy times, we take the following particulars of the

Battle of Uske.This was the last effort on the part of Owen Glendower to drive the English from the frontier. Having assembled an army of eightthousand men enthusiastically attached to him, he prosecuted his march through scenes of fire and bloodshed—desolating the country, ravaging the Marches, and practising every cruelty which the spirit of revenge could suggest. Grosmont[358]—or more probably Uske—was given to the flames. This marauding division was opposed by a handful of men commanded by Sir Gilbert Talbot—joined by Sir William Newport and Sir John Geindre—on the 11th of March, and cut to pieces, no quarter being given except to one person, whom young Henry, in his despatch to his father, styles ‘un grand chieftyn entre eulx;’ and humanely adds, that “he would have sent him this prisoner, but that he could not ride with ease.” Prince Henry at the time of this action was at Hereford—at the head of the army, with which he was to open the campaign—when the news of the victory reached him. The ancient Britons, who lost a thousand men in this battle, appear to have fought with less than their accustomed valour. They were probably raw recruits, without good officers or strict discipline; and without Glendower’s presence to direct and animate them in the charge, they appear to have fallen an easy prey to the enemy. The interception of young March, and this defeat, hastened the fall of Glendower; but, resolved to make a strong effort to retrieve his lost credit in the field, he sent one of his sons with another army, which, on being joined by many fugitives from the late disaster, was found sufficiently strong to risk another engagement. This took place on the 15th of the same month; but the results were still more disastrous than on the previous battle; for of the Welsh army fifteen hundred were slain or taken prisoners. Tudor, the brother of Owen, was left dead on the field; while his son, who had the chief command, was made prisoner, and retained as a hostage in the English camp. The historian relates that so great was the personal resemblance between Owen and his brother Tudor, that when the dead body of the latter was discovered in the field, it was immediately reported that Glendower himself had fallen, and that, with the death of their leader, the Welsh must necessarily abandon the contest. On closer examination, however, it was found that the exultation thus spread through the English camp was premature; for although the resemblance was very striking, it was observed that a wart over the eye—a mark which distinguished the “great Owen”—was not to be traced in the present individual, and it was at once admitted that Tudor, and not Owen, had fallen in the conflict.

Prince Henry, according to Carte,[359]commanded at this battle, supposed to have taken place near Uske. Wynne also mentions an action fought on thesame day on which the son of Owen was made prisoner; and the number of those slain and made prisoners, coincides with the above account of Mr. Pennant, but the scene of action is removed to Uske, where he says “the Welsh received a sad blow from the Prince of Wales’ men.” In the history of this period there is a confusion which Mr. Pennant thus clears up:—Hollinshed mentions another defeat sustained by the Welsh in the month of May, in which Griffith Yonge, Owen’s chancellor, was made prisoner. But in this, according to Pennant, the chronicler confounds this battle with the action near Grosmont. If Yonge was the “grand chieftyn” there made prisoner, which is questionable, he must have soon escaped from the power of the English, or have been released, as he is a witness the following year to a pardon granted by Owen to one Ieuan Goch. Here Mr. Thomas[360]suggests that the two accounts by Hollinshed and Wynne might be reconciled, by allowing that a battle was actually fought at Uske, subsequent to that on the 15th of March. Dates among earlier writers are often uncertain, always perplexing. But Uske in many parts bears evident marks of Owen’s desolating system of warfare; a ruinous aspect bespeaks its having been stormed by an enemy at no remote date; and all these circumstances deriving weight from local tradition—which corroborates the surmise, and attributes the havoc to Glendower—Uske may be fairly set down as the scene of devastation referred to in the text.[361]

Craig-y-Gaeryd, near Uske, is supposed to have been a Roman camp. It covers the brow of a precipice overhanging the eastern bank of the river, and is now overgrown with copsewood; but in many places the intrenchments are thirty feet deep. Within the area are several tumuli from fifteen to twenty feet high. From the small torrent ofBerden, near this point, some authors have derived the name of Burrium, as being placed at its confluence with the river Uske.[362]

With regard to these camps and intrenchments, Mr. King, in his “Monumenta Antiqua,” supposes that most of the strong intrenchments on the summits of natural hills must be attributed to Britons, although subsequent conquerors might have occupied them. They are designated, indiscriminately, Roman camps, Danish forts, or Saxon intrenchments, but often erroneously. TheRomancamps were quadrangular, divided into a pavilion for the general and chief officers, and another portion for the tents of the common soldiers. It was fortified with a ditch and parapet, termedfossaandvallum. The Danes did notundergo the labour of erecting them on the high hills where they are often found, nor run the risk of being cooped up and starved in them during their invasions; nor can we suppose them to be their work after they settled here as conquerors. The great castle of Norwich, built by Canute, and the great tower at Bury, prove their civilization and skill in architecture. Neither could these hill-camps be Saxon. During the Heptarchy, they erected fortresses of stones. Besides, their earth-works were encampments on plain ground with double ditches, and with either the whole or part of the area raised above the level of the adjacent country, and sometimes with a very small mount for a watchguard. The magnificence of the Norman castles, still splendid in their ruins, will not allow them to have had any share in throwing up these rude intrenchments. They must, therefore, have been the strongholds of the ancient Britons, where their families were lodged, and their cattle housed, on any emergency or invasion.[363]

The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure of Anglo-Norman origin, but apparently curtailed in its dimensions to suit the diminished population of modern Uske. The square embattled tower which now stands at the east, formerly occupied the centre, and communicated with a transept and choir. Four pointed arches now separate the nave from the north aisle. The windows are ornamented Gothic, or rather Norman; and the porches, though not elegant, are in the same style. This was the Priory Church; and of the conventual building, the remains are seen on the south-east side of the tower. From the churchyard, a circular arched portal leads through the court to the ancient edifice now converted into a farm-house. It was founded by one of the Clare family as a priory for five Benedictine nuns, about the middle of the thirteenth century. In an apartment on the first floor, the frieze of the ceiling is ornamented with thirty devices, and emblazoned coats of arms. At the Dissolution, this priory was valued at £69. 9s. 8d. per annum; and the site granted to Roger Williams of Langibby. Rowland Williams of Langibby was distinguished by Queen Elizabeth and James the First, and received the honour of knighthood. His grandson, Sir Trevor Williams, was created a baronet in consideration of his services and loyal attachment toCharlesthe First.

Founder.—Tanner, quoting from a MS. in the office of First Fruits, says they accounted Sir Richard de Clare and Sir Gilbert his son, Earls of the Marches, for their Founders, and prayed for them as such; for which, at the time of the Dissolution, an allowance appears to have been made amongst the reprises.

The temporalities of this priory are thus valued in Pope Nicholas’s Taxation,A.D.1291:—Priorissa de Uska habet viginti quatuor acras terræ quæ valentper annum viii.s.: De annuo redditu, vi.s. viii.d., de Molendino. ibidem x.s., de perquisitis cur. v.s.Item, habet apud Shirencnewt [Shire Newton?] de reddit, assis. iii.s. = Summa £1. 12s. 8d.

Among the spiritualities of the diocese of Llandaff, we find the following churches, of which the priory and convent of Uske appear to have been patrons, namely, Raglan, Mykenny, Uske, Langrerion, Lampadock, and Lamyhangel.

In another place, it is said:—Capitulam Landav. percipit de tenentibus de Landconyan unam marcam, et illam reddunt luminar. prioratus de Uske. In the diocese of Worcester, we find, “Porcio priorissæ in capell. de Hatherlo j.l. The gross value of this priory [26th Hen. VIII.] was rated at £69. 9s. 8d., the clear income at £55. 4s. 5d. The site and other lands were granted 28th Hen. VIII. to Roger Williams, grandfather of Sir Trevor Williams [of whom Cromwell speaks in his letter from Pembroke.] At the Dissolution, Elen Williams was the lady prioress. In the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer’s office is the following:—“Uske: De Elizea John ap Jevan vidua, occasionat. ad ostendendum quo titulo tenet domum et situm Prioratus de Uske, et alias terras in comitatu Monmouth. That the said widow be called upon to show by what title she holds the house and site of the Priory of Uske, and other lands in the county of Monmouth.” Leland describes it briefly as “a priory of Nunnes at Cair Uske, a flite shot from the castel.”

An impression from the conventual seal of this priory is extant in the Chapter-house at Westminster, attached to the acknowledgment of Supremacy. [25 Hen. VIII.] It represents the Virgin Mary seated on an ornamented chair between two pilasters, the infant Jesus in her lap. Above are a crescent and star, the legend—S. sĉe Marie et Conventus de Uske.

The emblematical devices and emblazoned arms already mentioned, as covering the frieze of the ceiling in the chief apartment, are supposed to represent the armorial bearings of the various benefactors of the priory.

Prioresses.—The last Prioress, or Superieure, was the above-named “Elen Williams.” Among the Gilbertine Nuns there were three prioresses, one of whom presided in turn, and had then the first stall—one of her coadjutors standing on the right hand, the other on the left. The presiding Prioress held the Chapter, enjoined the penances, granted all the licences or allowances, visited the sick, or caused them to be visited by one of her companions. She had obedience and respect paid to her by all. The food was delivered by the Cellaress, but the vestments of the Nuns were cut, sewed, and divided by the Prioress. She could not sit near anymanin their house, unless some discreet sister sat between them. The Prioress was to endeavour to visit the Nuns, unless whenshe was in the kitchen, or confined to her dortoire by sickness. If any sister wished to confess, she signified her desire to the Prioress, if she was in the cloister or church; or she confessed to her, or to any person authorised to act for her. On holidays she sent some “learned nun” with a book to her sisters, to teach them somewhat that might operate to the profit of their souls, or confirm the rigour of the Order. She presided over the Chapter of the Sisters, and one of her coadjutors often took theirveniæin the evening Chapter. On festival days she visited them “if she had time,” and diligently inquired of their strict observance of the rules of the Order. If she left the dormitory after dinner, or after complin, she did not go out unless with attendant nuns. She was obliged to indicate the cause of her departure to the Prior of all. If she left the church through sickness, she confessed in the Chapter, and no one stood in her stall except at Mass, and when necessity required it.—[Brit. Monach.]

She was bound to shun conferring with theScrutatrices, or sister-visitors, from other houses, that were deputed to her; or to make search for anything except in the common Chapter. If she was in the Infirmary, she was required to conduct herself more reservedly; and not to speak with more than two together, and that only in a “bounded place,” unless, perhaps, necessity compelled her to talk with more for the sake of consultation; or when she happened to hold the Chapter of the Sick. She had authority, upon emergencies, to hold the Chapter of the Convent, and receive confessions, and if she was confined by severe illness, she could, like the rest, talk and give her directions in bed.[364]

Uskeenjoys the hereditary distinction of having been the “residence of Richard, Duke of York, and the birth-place of his two sons, Edward the Fourth, and Richard the Third;” names which have furnished many stirring incidents, many sparkling and many disastrous achievements to the British annals. The town of Uske is disposed in the form of an oblong square, the principal street forming the public road to Abergavenny. The corporation consists of a mayor or bailiff, a community, and burgesses;[365]and in the town-house are held thepetty sessions for the upper division of the hundred of Uske. The only native manufacture is that of japan ware.

The river is famous for trout, particularly salmon trout—

“So fresh, so sweete, so red, so crimpe withal,”[366]

which, in conventual times, afforded an ample supply to the numerous religious communities on its banks, to whom a carneous diet was only permitted as an occasional indulgence. Epicures confirm the ancient reputation of the river in this respect; and during the season, the disciples of Isaak Walton, and the readers of Sir Humphrey Davy’s “Salmonia,” are constant visitors to the banks of the Uske, which, by way of climax, is said to produce better sport for the angler than any other river in Wales—or even the Severn—a quality which has become proverbial.

“Though bright the waters of the Towy,The Wye, the Severn, and the Tivy;Yet, well I wot, they cannot shew yeSuchsalmonas the Uske can give ye!It was—(we choose not to go farther)—The favoured dish of bold KingArthur;Who, when he chose like king to dine,Went down to Uske with rod and line,And there drew slily to the bankSuch trout as best became his rank;Sometimes by twains, at others singly,But always with a twitch so kingly,The salmon seemed as much delighted,As if they really had been ‘knighted!’No wonder, for they quickly foundAnentréeat theTable Round,Where, seated with his gallant knights,Those heroes of a hundred fights;—‘Leave,’ quoth he, ‘acorns in the husk,Here’s glorious salmon from the Uske!’”&c.

“Though bright the waters of the Towy,The Wye, the Severn, and the Tivy;Yet, well I wot, they cannot shew yeSuchsalmonas the Uske can give ye!

It was—(we choose not to go farther)—The favoured dish of bold KingArthur;Who, when he chose like king to dine,Went down to Uske with rod and line,And there drew slily to the bankSuch trout as best became his rank;Sometimes by twains, at others singly,But always with a twitch so kingly,The salmon seemed as much delighted,As if they really had been ‘knighted!’No wonder, for they quickly foundAnentréeat theTable Round,Where, seated with his gallant knights,Those heroes of a hundred fights;—‘Leave,’ quoth he, ‘acorns in the husk,Here’s glorious salmon from the Uske!’”&c.

Pembroke Castle

“Hic exarmatum terris cingentibus æquor,Clauditur, et placidam descit servare quietem.”

“In agro totius Walliæ amœnissimo, principale provinciæ municipium Demetiæq. caput, in Saxosa quadam et oblonga rupis in capite bifurco complectitur. Unde BritannisPembrodicitur, quod caput marinum sonat, et nobis Penbroke.”—Gyrald.

Earldom.—“There have been divers Earls of Pembroke,” says Camden, “out of sundry houses. As forArnulphof Montgomery, who first wonne it, and was afterwards outlawed, and his castellanGirald, whom King Henry the First made afterwards president over the whole country, I dare scarcely affirm that they wereEarles. The first that was styled Earle of Pembroke was Gilbert, surnamed ‘Strongbow,’[367]son of Gilbert de Clare, in the time of KingStephen. This Gilbert, or Gislebert, de Clare, let it unto his sonne, the said Richard Strongbow, the renowned conqueror of Ireland, and descended, as Gyraldus informs us, “ex clara Clarenium familia”—the noble family of Clare, or Clarence. His only daughter,Isabel,[368]brought the same honour to her husband, William, surnamed theMareschal, for that his ancestours had beene by inheritance mareschals of the King’s palace, a man most glorious in war and peace,[369]and protector of the kingdome in the minority ofK. Henrythe Third,[370]concerning whom this pithie epitaph is extant in Rodburne’s Annales: ‘Sum quem Saturnus,’[371]&c., which is thus done into English—

‘Whom Ireland once a Saturn found, England a sunne to be;Whom Normandie, a Mercury, and France, Mars,—I am he.’”

“After him,” continues our authority, “his five sons were successively, one after another, Earles of Pembroke; namely, William, called the younger; Richard, who, after he had rebelled against King Henry the Third, went into Ireland, where he was slain in battle; Gilbert, who, in a tournament atWare,[372]was unhorsed, and so killed; Walter and Anselm, who severally enjoyed the honor but a few daies; and all dying without issue, the King invested in the honor of this earldome William deValentia, his brother by the mother’s side, who had to wife Joan, daughter of Gwarin deMontchensi, by the daughter of the foresaid William the Mareschal.”

Of this Earl Valence we read, shortly after this, that the King, solemnizing the festival of St.Edward’stranslation, in the church at Westminster, with great state, sitting on his royal throne in “a rich robe of Baudekyn,” and the crown on his head, caused this William de Valence, with divers other young noblemen, to be brought before him, and so girt him with the sword of knighthood.

In a tournament held at Bruckley, it is said that he much abused Sir WilliamAdingsells, a valiant knight, through the countenance of Richard, Earl of Gloucester. The following year he was signed with thecross, together with the King himself, and divers other noble persons, in order to an expedition to the Holy Land; and at the same time he obtained the King’s precept to Robert Walrane, to distrain all such persons as did possess any of the property belonging to Joan his wife, one of the cousins and heirs to Walter Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, to perform their suit to the county of Pembroke, as they had wont to do in the time of that earl.[373]

This EarlValencewas present at the battle of Lewes, some particulars of which have been detailed in the first volume of this work. “When he had lost the day, and with the Prince was made prisoner, William de Valence, then called Earl of Pembroke, though not before, as it is thought, being a principal commander in the van of the King’s army, seeing the day lost, with the Earl of Warren and some others, escaped by flight, first to the castle of Pevensey,and thence to France. After which, all being in the power of the Barons, his lands were seized, and those in Surrey and Sussex committed to the custody of John de Aburnum and John de Wanton. And whereasJoanhis lady was then great with child, and with her family and children in Windsor Castle, she was commanded to depart thence, and betake herself to some religious house or other place near at hand, until after her delivery. In which distress, the King, still their prisoner, being forced to comply with them in whatsoever they required, submitted to their ordinances of Oxford; the chief of his friends also giving oath for the due observance of them; amongst whom this William de Valence, then come back into England, was one.”

“Butlong it was not ere the two principal ringleaders in this tragic action, namely,Montfort, Earl of Leicester, andClare, Earl of Gloucester, fell at odds—Clare stomaching Leicester for assuming to himself the whole sway in the government; betaking him, therefore, to those true-hearted Royalists who had stood firm to the King in his greatest miseries, a means was contrived for the Prince to escape from Hereford Castle, where, with the King his father, he was kept prisoner.” “Whereupon this

William, Earl of Pembroke, with John, EarlWarren, who had been banished the realm by a public edict of Montfort, landing atPembroke, about the beginning of May, with about a hundred and twenty men, horse and foot, joined with them; and within a short time after, giving battle to Montfort and his party atEvesham, totally vanquished all their whole army; whereby the King, being set at liberty, was again restored to the exercise of his regal power.”[374]

This Earl William had issue three sons: to wit, John, who died young; William, and Aymer. “William was lord of Montygnac and Belluc; and in the 7th Edw. I. did oblige himself, on the behalf of John, LordVisci, who had married Mary, the sister of Hugh de Lezinian (Lusignan), Earl ofMarch, for the repayment of two thousand five hundred poundsTournois, in case she should die without issue. After which, being with Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, in a skirmish which he had with theWelsh, near Llantipowhir, was there slain in his father’s lifetime.” So that

Aymerde Valence, the third son—a name of great celebrity—succeeded to the earldom of Pembroke. He attended the King in the expedition made into Flanders; and the same year was assigned one of the commissioners to ratify the agreement betwixt the King and Florence, Earl of Holland, touching those auxiliaries which he was to have from that Earl in his present wars; as also one of the ambassadors sent to treat of truce betwixt King Edward and theKing ofFrance. He next attended the King two years in his wars in Scotland; and was then sent ambassador to treat with those from the King of France, touching a peace with the Scots. Two years after this he was again in Scotland; and the same year (33d Edw. I.) he had license to go beyond sea on his own occasions.

On his return he obtained a grant from the King, of the castles of Selkirk and Troquair in Scotland; also of the borough of Peebles, to hold by the service of one knight’s fees; likewise of the whole forest of Selkirk in fee-farm, paying a hundred and thirty pounds per annum; and to be sheriff there [as Sir Walter Scott was in our own times, though with very different powers]; with authority to build towns, churches, castles, and other fortifications; as also for free warren, and power todeafforestand make parks therein at his own pleasure. Shortly after which he made a “pile”[375]at Selkirk, and placed a garrison therein.Nextyear he was sent, as Warden of the Marches of Scotland, toward Berwick-upon-Tweed; and being thereupon made the King’s Lieutenant, and Captain-General of the soldiery—horse and foot—for the defence of those parts against Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and his complices, he had an assignation of two hundred pounds in part of his wages, to be paid to him by John de Sandale, Chamberlain of Scotland.—[Chronicle.]

Shortly after this, Bruce, compassing that realm, and receiving the homage of many, came near to St. Johnstone [or Perth], to the defence whereof this Earl being arrived but a little before, Bruce sent to him, by way of challenge to battle, whereunto returning answer that he would meet him the next day, Bruce retired; which being discovered by this Earl, he sallied out and slew divers of the Scots, unarmed, as it is said. Bruce therefore being advertised hereof, fled to the Isle of Kintyre, whereupon he followed him, supposing to find him in the castle there. But upon his taking possession thereof, and discovering none but his wife, and Nigel de Bruce, his brother, he hanged up Nigel and all the rest who were with him, excepting only her. Bruce, therefore, growing exceedingly exasperated at this his great cruelty, raised all the power he could, and giving battle to him, forced him to flee to the castle of Ayr. Soon after this, being with King Edward, on his death-bed, at Burgh-upon-the-Sands, not far from Carlisle, he was one of those whom the King desired to be good to his son, and not to suffer Piers de Gaveston to come into England again, to set him in riot; for which he was much hated by Piers, as divers others of the nobility were, being called by himJoseph the Jew, in regard that he was tall, and pale of countenance.—[Chronicle.]

But as it would far exceed our present limits to notice all that the chronicleshave recorded of him, we conclude with a few brief particulars:—In the second of Edward II. he was sent with Otto de Grandison and others to the Pope upon special business; he next joined the Earl of Lancaster and others in the design of putting down Gaveston—agreeably to the promise he had made to the dying King; so likewise with John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, in the siege of Scarborough Castle, in which Gaveston had taken refuge; and having there seized upon him, intended to have carried him to Wallingford, but lodging him at Deddington in Oxfordshire, he was taken thence in the night by the Earl of Warwick, and by him beheaded on Blacklow Hill, near Warwick, where a monument has been erected to perpetuate the deed.

Three years after this, the Earl was sent again to Rome, and obtained a grant in general tail from the King, of the house and place called the “New Temple” in London, as also of certain lands calledFleet-crofts, with all other the lands in the city and suburbs of London, which belonged to theKnights-Templars, with remainder to the King and his heirs.

In the tenth of Edward II. he was engaged in the Scottish wars; but before the end of that year, being taken prisoner by Sieur Moilly, a Burgundian, and being sent to the Emperor, he was constrained to give twenty thousand pounds of silver for his ransom, by reason, as Moilly alleged, that himself having served the King of England, had not been paid his wages. Upon this occasion King Edward wrote letters to divers foreign princes, soliciting his deliverance, which was effected; for we find him immediately thereafter appointed governor of Rockingham Castle, and heading the King’s army in Scotland. But at last, after many important and honourable services to the State, performed with great ability, he was constituted Warden of all the Forests south of Trent; and being still Warden of Scotland, had license to travel beyond sea.

Upon the taking of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, at Boro’bridge, he was one of those who passed sentence of death upon him at Pontefract. “After which it was not long that he lived; for, attending Queen Isabella into France in 1323, he was there murdered in the month of June, by reason,” as the chronicle supposes, “of his having had a hand in the death of the Earl of Lancaster.” He left vast demesnes in England, in nine or ten counties, but no issue by any of his three wives.—[Chronicles.]

His eldest sister, Elizabeth, one of his heirs, “wedded unto John, LordHastings, brought this dignity into a new family; for Laurence Hastings, his grandson, Lord of Weishford and Abergavenny, was made Earle of ‘Penbrock,’[376]by virtue of King Edward the Third, hisbrieffe, the copy whereof I thinke goodto set doune here, that we may see what was the right by heires generall in these honorary titles. It runs thus:—Rexomnibus ad quos ... Salutem, etc. The which being interpreted, is—

“Know yethat the good praesage of circumspection and vertue which we have conceived by the towardly youth and happy beginnings of our most welbeloved cousinLaurence Hastings, induce us worthily to countenance him with our especiall grace and favour, in those things which concerne the due preservation and maintenance of his honor:Whereas, therefore, the inheritance of Aimar de Valence, some time Earle of Penbrok (as he was stiled), deceased long since, without heire begotten of his body, hath beene devolved unto his sisters, proportionably to be divided among them and their heires: because we know for certain that the foresaidLaurence, who succeeded the saidAimarin part of the inheritance, is descended from the elder sister ofAimaraforesaid; and so, by the avouching of the learned with whom we consulted about this matter, the prerogative both of name and honor is due unto him:Weedeem it just and due that the same Laurence, claiming his title from the elder sister, assume and have the name ofEarl of Penbroke, which the said Aimar had whiles he lived: which verilyWee, as much as lieth in Us, confirme, ratifie, and also approve unto him: willing and granting that the saidLaurencehave and hold the prerogative of Earle Palatine in those lands which he holdeth of the said Aimar’s inheritance, so fully and after the same manner as the said Aimar had and held them at the time of his death. Inwitnesse, the King at Mont-Martin, the thirteenth day of October, and in the thirteenth of oure reign.”

And now to continue:—

AfterLaurence, succeeded his sonneJohn, who, being taken prisoner by the Spaniards in a battle at sea, and in the end ransomed, died in France in the yeere 1375. The circumstances are these: “Having undergone four years’ imprisonment in Spaine, with most inhumane usage, he sent to Bertrand Clekyn, Constable of France, desiring that he would use some means for his enlargement; who thereupon interceding for him to theBastardof Spaine, then calling himself King, obtained his liberty, in consideration of part of that money due to himself: which being agreed upon, he was brought to Paris. But after his coming thither, it was not long ere he fell mortally sick of poysin, as some thought, given him by the Spaniards, who were reputed to have such a special faculty in thatart, as that the potion should kill at what distance of time they pleased. The French, therefore, seeing his death approaching, being eager to get his ransom before he died, made haste to remove him toCalais; but on his journey thitherward he departed this life, upon the xvi. day of April, leaving his sonne and heire only two and a half years old.”

Agreeably to the superstition of the time, all his misfortunes and death werelooked upon as judgments, for various alleged offences committed against the Church revenues: recommending that the clergy should be taxed more than the laity—for living an ungodly life—for “everything that could render him hateful in the eyes of monks, whom he insulted and exposed.”

After him followed his sonneJohn, second Earle of his line, who, in running a tilt[377]at Woodstock, was slaine by Syr JohnSaint John, casually, in the yeare 1397. And hereupon, for default of his issue, there fell very many possessions and fair revenewes into the King’s hands, as our lawiers use to speake: and theCastleof Penbrock was granted unto FrancisAt-Court, a courtier in especiell great favour, who commonly thereupon was called Lord Penbrock. Not long after, Humfrey, sonne to King Henry the Fourth, before he was Duke of Gloucester, received this title of his brother, King Henry the Fifth: and before his death Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion—a thing not before heard of—to WilliamDe la Pole, Earle of Suffolk, after whose downfall the said King, when he had enabled Edmund ofWadham, and Jasper ofHatfield, the sonnes of Queen Katherine, his mother, to be his lawfull half brethren, createdJasperEarle of Penbroke, andEdmundEarl of Richmond, with pre-eminence to take place above all Earles—for Kings have absolute authority in dispensing honours. But King Edward the Fourth, depriving Jasper of all his honours by attainder and forfeiture, gave the title ofPenbrokto Syr WilliamHerbert, for his good service against Jasper in Wales;[378]but he shortly afterwards lost his life at the battle of Banbury. Then succeeded his son, bearing the same name, whome King Edward the Fourth, when he had recovered the kingdom, invested in the Earldom of Huntingdon, and bestowed the title ofPenbrok, being surrendered, upon his eldest sonne and heire,EdwardPrince of Wales.—[Chronicle.]

Long after this period, “Henrythe Eighth investedAnneBollen, to whom he was affianced, Marchioness of Penbroke, with a mantle and coronet, in regard both of her nobility and also her virtues—for so runne the wordes of the patent. At length KingEdwardthe Sixth adorned Sir William Herbert, lord ofCaerdiff, with the title of Earl of Penbroke, after whom succeeded his sonne Henry, who was Lord President ofWalesunder Queen Elizabeth. And now”—says our oldKing-at-arms, speaking courteously of his contemporaries—“his sonne, richly accomplished with all laudable endowments of body and minde, enjoyeth the same title. And this family of Herberts, he concludes, is honourable, and of great antiquity in these parts of Wales, as lineally propagated from Henry Fitz-Herbert, Chamberlayne to King Henry the First, who married the said King’sParamour, the mother of Reginald, Earle of Cornwall, as I was first informed by RobertGlover, a man passing skilfull in the study of genealogies, by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a great losse.”

So much for the Genealogy of the old lords of Pembroke. In this department of history—the tracing of genealogies—in which the Cambrian families are proverbially expert, but which others affect to ridicule, we must not omit the defence of a learned Welshman: “That there have been,” says he, “parasites in the art, must be acknowledged; and family pride may sometimes have been flattered. However, upon the whole, much credit is due to our ancient genealogists, who were appointed and patronized by Royalty, and professed that art prior to their initiation into the higher mysteries ofBardism. Their records are still extant, and bear every mark of authenticity. A bard and agenealogistwere synonymous; and though a bard can pleadlicentia poetica, yet fiction was not allowed in recording the actions of their heroes,[379]nor in registering the descent of families. The Welsh bards continued their genealogical pursuits down to the reign of Elizabeth; therefore, as Humphrey Lwyd, a learned antiquary and historian, observes: “Let such disdainful heads as cant know their own grandfathers, leave their scoffing and taunting of Welshmen for that thing that all other nations in the world do glory in.” Yet, in justice to the ancient Saxons on this point, it must be allowed that they themselves were not altogether indifferent to the study of genealogy, since their deducing of their King Ethelwulph fromAdamis an instance of theiraccuracyin the art—

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