The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Book II
Chapter X
Of the passage by Deganwy and Ruthlan, and the
see of Lanelwy, and of Coleshulle
Having crossed the river Conwy,173
or rather an arm of the sea, under Deganwy, leaving the
Cistercian monastery of Conwy174
on the western bank of the river to our right hand, we
arrived at Ruthlan, a noble castle on the river Cloyd,
belonging to David, the eldest son of Owen175
where, at the earnest invitation of David himself, we were
handsomely entertained that night.
There is a spring not far from
Ruthlan, in the province of Tegengel,176
which not only regularly ebbs and flows like the sea, twice
in twenty-four hours, but at other times frequently rises
and falls both by night and day. Trogus Pompeius says, "that
there is a town of the Garamantes, where there is a spring
which is hot and cold alternately by day and
night."177
Many persons in the morning having
been persuaded to dedicate themselves to the service of
Christ, we proceeded from Ruthlan to the small cathedral
church of Lanelwy;178
from whence (the archbishop having celebrated mass) we
continued our journey through a country rich in minerals of
silver, where money is sought in the bowels of the earth, to
the little cell of Basinwerk,179
where we passed the night. The following day we traversed a
long quicksand, and not without some degree of apprehension,
leaving the woody district of Coleshulle,180
or hill of coal, on our right hand, where Henry II., who in
our time, actuated by youthful and indiscreet ardour, made a
hostile irruption into Wales, and presuming to pass through
that narrow and woody defile, experienced a signal defeat,
and a very heavy loss of men.181
The aforesaid king invaded Wales three times with an army;
first, North Wales at the above-mentioned place; secondly,
South Wales, by the sea-coast of Glamorgan and Goer,
penetrating as far as Caermarddin and Pencadair, and
returning by Ellennith and Melenith; and thirdly, the
country of Powys, near Oswaldestree; but in all these
expeditions the king was unsuccessful, because he placed no
confidence in the prudent and well-informed chieftains of
the country, but was principally advised by people remote
from the marches, and ignorant of the manners and customs of
the natives. In every expedition, as the artificer is to be
trusted in his trade, so the advice of those people should
be consulted, who, by a long residence in the country, are
become conversant with the manners and customs of the
natives; and to whom it is of high importance that the power
of the hostile nation, with whom, by a long and continued
warfare, they have contracted an implacable enmity and
hatred, should be weakened or destroyed, as we have set
forth in our Vaticinal History.
In this wood of Coleshulle, a young Welshman was killed
while passing through the king's army; the greyhound who
accompanied him did not desert his master's corpse for eight
days, though without food; but faithfully defended it from
the attacks of dogs, wolves, and birds of prey, with a
wonderful attachment. What son to his father, what Nisus to
Euryalus, what Polynices to Tydeus, what Orestes to Pylades,
would have shewn such an affectionate regard? As a mark of
favour to the dog, who was almost starved to death, the
English, although bitter enemies to the Welsh, ordered the
body, now nearly putrid, to be deposited in the ground with
the accustomed offices of humanity.
The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Chapter IX
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