The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Book I
Chapter VI
Newport and Caerdyf
At Newport, where the river Usk, descending from its
original source in Cantref Bachan, falls into the sea, many
persons were induced to take the cross. Having passed the
river Remni, we approached the noble castle of
Caerdyf,77
situated on the banks of the river Taf. In the neighbourhood
of Newport, which is in the district of Gwentluc,78
there is a small stream called Nant Pencarn,79
passable only at certain fords, not so much owing to the
depth of its waters, as from the hollowness of its channel
and muddy bottom. The public road led formerly to a ford,
called Ryd Pencarn, that is, the ford under the head of a
rock, from Rhyd, which in the British language signifies a
ford, Pen, the head, and Cam, a rock; of which place Merlin
Sylvester had thus prophesied: "Whenever you shall see a
mighty prince with a freckled face make an hostile irruption
into the southern part of Britain, should he cross the ford
of Pencarn, then know ye, that the force of Cambria shall be
brought low." Now it came to pass in our times, that king
Henry II. took up arms against Rhys, the son of Gruffydd,
and directed his march through the southern part of Wales
towards Caermardyn. On the day he intended to pass over Nant
Pentcarn, the old Britons of the neighbourhood watched his
approach towards the ford with the utmost solicitude;
knowing, since he was both mighty and freckled, that if the
passage of the destined ford was accomplished, the prophecy
concerning him would undoubtedly be fulfilled. When the king
had followed the road leading to a more
modern ford of the river (the old one spoken of in the
prophecy having been for a long time in disuse), and was
preparing to pass over, the pipers and trumpeters, called
Cornhiriet, from HIR, long, and CORNU, a horn, began to
sound their instruments on the opposite bank, in honour of
the king. The king's horse, startling at the wild, unusual
noise, refused to obey the spur, and enter the water; upon
which, the king, gathering up the reins, hastened, in
violent wrath, to the ancient ford, which he rapidly passed;
and the Britons returned to their homes, alarmed and
dismayed at the destruction which seemed to await them. An
extraordinary circumstance occurred likewise at the castle
of Caerdyf. William earl of Gloucester, son of earl
Robert,80
who, besides that castle, possessed by hereditary right all
the province of Gwladvorgan,81
that is, the land of Morgan, had a dispute with one of his
dependants, whose name was Ivor the Little, being a man of
short stature, but of great courage. This man was, after the
manner of the Welsh, owner of a tract of mountainous and
woody country, of the whole, or a part of which, the earl
endeavoured to deprive him. At that time the castle of
Caerdyf was surrounded with high walls, guarded by one
hundred and twenty men-at-arms, a numerous body of archers,
and a strong watch. The city also contained many stipendiary
soldiers; yet, in defiance of all these precautions of
security, Ivor, in the dead of night, secretly scaled the
walls, and, seizing the count and countess, with their only
son, carried them off into the woods, and did not release
them until he had recovered everything that had been
unjustly taken from him, and received a compensation of
additional property; for, as the poet observes,
"Spectandum est semper ne magna injuria fiat
Fortibus et miseris; tollas licet omne quod usquam est
Argenti atque auri, spoliatis arma supersunt."
In this same town of Caerdyf, king
Henry II., on his return from Ireland, the first Sunday
after Easter, passed the night. In the morning, having heard
mass, he remained at his devotions till every one had
quitted the chapel of St. Piranus.82
As he mounted his horse at the door, a man of a fair
complexion, with a round tonsure and meagre countenance,
tall, and about forty years of age, habited in a white robe
falling down to his naked feet, thus addressed him in the
Teutonic tongue: "God hold the, cuing," which signifies,
"May God protect you, king;" and proceeded, in the same
language, "Christ and his Holy Mother, John the Baptist, and
the Apostle Peter salute thee, and command thee strictly to
prohibit throughout thy whole dominions every kind of buying
or selling on Sundays, and not to suffer any work to be done
on those days, except such as relates to the preparation of
daily food; that due attention may be paid to the
performance of the divine offices. If thou dost this, all
thy undertakings shall be successful, and thou shalt lead a
happy life." The king, in French, desired Philip de
Mercros,83
who held the reins of his horse, to ask the rustic if he had
dreamt this? and when the soldier explained to him the
king's question in English, he replied in the same language
he had before used, "Whether I have dreamt it or not,
observe what day this is (addressing himself to the king,
not to the interpreter), and unless thou shalt do so, and
quickly amend thy life, before the expiration of one year,
thou shalt hear such things concerning what thou lovest best
in this world, and shalt thereby be so much troubled, that
thy disquietude shall continue to thy life's end." The king,
spurring his horse, proceeded a little way towards the gate,
when, stopping suddenly, he ordered his attendants to call
the good man back. The soldier, and a young man named
William, the only persons who remained with the king,
accordingly called him, and sought him in vain in the
chapel, and in all the inns of the city. The king, vexed
that he had not spoken more to him, waited alone a long
time, while other persons went in search of him; and when he
could not be found, pursued his journey over the bridge of
Remni to Newport. The fatal prediction came to pass within
the year, as the man had threatened; for the king's three
sons, Henry, the eldest, and his brothers, Richard of
Poitou, and Geoffrey, count of Britany, in the following
Lent, deserted to Louis king of France, which caused the
king greater uneasiness than he had ever before experienced;
and which, by the conduct of some one of his sons, was
continued till the time of his decease. This monarch,
through divine mercy (for God is more desirous of the
conversion than the destruction of a sinner), received many
other admonitions and reproofs about this time, and shortly
before his death; all of which, being utterly incorrigible,
he obstinately and obdurately despised, as will be more
fully set forth (by the favour of God) in my book, "de
Principis Instructione."
Not far from Caerdyf is a small island
situated near the shore of the Severn, called Barri, from
St. Baroc84
who formerly lived there, and whose remains are deposited in
a chapel overgrown with ivy, having been transferred to a
coffin. From hence a noble family, of the maritime parts of
South Wales, who owned this island and the adjoining
estates, received the name of de Barri. It is remarkable
that, in a rock near the entrance of the island, there is a
small cavity, to which, if the ear is applied, a noise is
heard like that of smiths at work, the blowing of bellows,
strokes of hammers, grinding of tools, and roaring of
furnaces; and it might easily be imagined that such noises,
which are continued at the ebb and flow of the tides, were
occasioned by the influx of the sea under the cavities of
the rocks.
The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Chapter V
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