The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Book II
Chapter VII
The island of Mona
From hence, we crossed over a small arm of the sea to the
island of Mona,161
distant from thence about two miles, where Roderic, the
younger son of Owen, attended by nearly all the inhabitants
of the island, and many others from the adjacent countries,
came in a devout manner to meet us. Confession having been
made in a place near the shore, where the surrounding rocks
seemed to form a natural theatre,162
many persons were induced to take the cross, by the
persuasive discourses of the archbishop, and Alexander, our
interpreter, archdeacon of that place, and of Sisillus,
abbot of Stratflur. Many chosen youths of the family of
Roderic were seated on an opposite rock, and not one of them
could be prevailed upon to take the cross, although the
archbishop and others most earnestly exhorted them, but in
vain, by an address particularly directed to them. It came
to pass within three days, as if by divine vengeance, that
these young men, with many others, pursued some robbers of
that country. Being discomfited and put to flight, some were
slain, others mortally wounded, and the survivors
voluntarily assumed that cross they had before despised.
Roderic, also, who a short time before had incestuously
married the daughter of Rhys, related to him by blood in the
third degree, in order, by the assistance of that prince, to
be better able to defend himself against the sons of his
brothers, whom he had disinherited, not paying attention to
the wholesome admonitions of the archbishop on this subject,
was a little while afterwards dispossessed of all his lands
by their means; thus deservedly meeting with disappointment
from the very source from which he expected support. The
island of Mona contains three hundred and forty-three vills,
considered equal to three cantreds. Cantred, a compound word
from the British and Irish languages, is a portion of land
equal to one hundred vills. There are three islands
contiguous to Britain, on its different sides, which are
said to be nearly of an equal size - the Isle of Wight on
the south, Mona on the west, and Mania (Man) on the
north-west side. The two first are separated from Britain by
narrow channels; the third is much further removed, lying
almost midway between the countries of Ulster in Ireland and
Galloway in Scotland. The island of Mona is an arid and
stony land, rough and unpleasant in its appearance, similar
in its exterior qualities to the land of Pebidion,163
near St. David's, but very different as to its interior
value. For this island is incomparably more fertile in corn
than any other part of Wales, from whence arose the British
proverb, "Mon mam Cymbry, Mona mother of Wales;" and when
the crops have been defective in all other parts of the
country, this island, from the richness of its soil and
abundant produce, has been able to supply all Wales.
As many things within this island are
worthy of remark, I shall not think it superfluous to make
mention of some of them. There is a stone here resembling a
human thigh,164
which possesses this innate virtue, that whatever distance
it may be carried, it returns, of its own accord, the
following night, as has often been experienced by the
inhabitants. Hugh, earl of Chester,165
in the reign of king Henry I., having by force occupied this
island and the adjacent country, heard of the miraculous
power of this stone, and, for the purpose of trial, ordered
it to be fastened, with strong iron chains, to one of a
larger size, and to be thrown into the sea. On the following
morning, however, according to custom, it was found in its
original position, on which account the earl issued a public
edict, that no one, from that time, should presume to move
the stone from its place. A countryman, also, to try the
powers of this stone, fastened it to his thigh, which
immediately became putrid, and the stone returned to its
original situation.
There is in the same island a stony
hill, not very large or high, from one side of which, if you
cry aloud, you will not be heard on the other; and it is
called (by anti-phrasis) the rock of hearers. In the
northern part of Great Britain (Northumberland) so named by
the English, from its situation beyond the river Humber,
there is a hill of a similar nature, where if a loud horn or
trumpet is sounded on one side, it cannot be heard on the
opposite one. There is also in this island the church of St.
Tefredaucus,166
into which Hugh, earl of Shrewsbury, (who, together with the
earl of Chester, had forcibly entered Anglesey), on a
certain night put some dogs, which on the following morning
were found mad, and he himself died within a month; for some
pirates, from the Orcades, having entered the port of the
island in their long vessels, the earl, apprised of their
approach, boldly met them, rushing into the sea upon a
spirited horse. The commander of the expedition, Magnus,
standing on the prow of the foremost ship, aimed an arrow at
him; and, although the earl was completely equipped in a
coat of mail, and guarded in every part of his body except
his eyes, the unlucky weapon struck his right eye, and,
entering his brain, he fell a lifeless corpse into the sea.
The victor, seeing him in this state, proudly and exultingly
exclaimed, in the Danish tongue, "Leit loup," let him leap;
and from this time the power of the English ceased in
Anglesey. In our times, also, when Henry II. was leading an
army into North Wales, where he had experienced the ill
fortune of war in a narrow, woody pass near Coleshulle, he
sent a fleet into Anglesey, and began to plunder the
aforesaid church, and other sacred places. But the divine
vengeance pursued him, for the inhabitants rushed upon the
invaders, few against many, unarmed against armed; and
having slain great numbers, and taken many prisoners, gained
a most complete and bloody victory. For, as our Topography
of Ireland testifies, that the Welsh and Irish are more
prone to anger and revenge than any other nations, the
saints, likewise, of those countries appear to be of a more
vindictive nature.
Two noble persons, and uncles of the author of this book,
were sent thither by the king; namely, Henry, son of king
Henry I., and uncle to king Henry II., by Nest, daughter of
Rhys, prince of South Wales; and Robert Fitz-Stephen,
brother to Henry, a man who in our days, shewing the way to
others, first attacked Ireland, and whose fame is recorded
in our Vaticinal History. Henry, actuated by too much
valour, and ill supported, was pierced by a lance, and fell
amongst the foremost, to the great concern of his
attendants; and Robert, despairing of being able to defend
himself, was badly wounded, and escaped with difficulty to
the ships.
There is a small island, almost
adjoining to Anglesey, which is inhabited by hermits, living
by manual labour, and serving God. It is remarkable that
when, by the influence of human passions, any discord arises
among them, all their provisions are devoured and infected
by a species of small mice, with which the island abounds;
but when the discord ceases, they are no longer molested.
Nor is it to be wondered at, if the servants of God
sometimes disagree, since Jacob and Esau contended in the
womb of Rebecca, and Paul and Barnabas differed; the
disciples also of Jesus disputed which of them should be the
greatest, for these are the temptations of human infirmity;
yet virtue is often made perfect by infirmity, and faith is
increased by tribulations. This island is called in Welsh,
Ynys Lenach,167
or the ecclesiastical island, because many bodies of saints
are deposited there, and no woman is suffered to enter
it.
We saw in Anglesey a dog, who
accidentally had lost his tail, and whose whole progeny bore
the same defect. It is wonderful that nature should, as it
were, conform itself in this particular to the accident of
the father. We saw also a knight, named Earthbald, born in
Devonshire, whose father, denying the child with which his
mother was pregnant, and from motives of jealousy accusing
her of inconstancy, nature alone decided the controversy by
the birth of the child, who, by a miracle, exhibited on his
upper lip a scar, similar to one his father bore in
consequence of a wound he had received from a lance in one
of his military expeditions. Stephen, the son of Earthbald,
had a similar mark, the accident being in a manner converted
into nature. A like miracle of nature occurred in earl
Alberic, son of Alberic earl of Veer,168
whose father, during the pregnancy of his mother, the
daughter of Henry of Essex, having laboured to procure a
divorce, on account of the ignominy of her father, the
child, when born, had the same blemish in its eye, as the
father had got from a casual hurt. These defects may be
entailed on the offspring, perhaps, by the impression made
on the memory by frequent and steady observation; as it is
reported that a queen, accustomed to see the picture of a
negro in her chamber, unexpectedly brought forth a black
child, and is exculpated by Quintilian, on account of the
picture. In like manner it happened to the spotted sheep,
given by Laban out of his flock to his nephew Jacob, and
which conceived by means of variegated rods.169
Nor is the child always affected by the mother's imagination
alone, but sometimes by that of the father; for it is well
known that a man, seeing a passenger near him, who was
convulsed both behind and before, on going home and telling
his wife that he could not get the impression of this sight
off his mind, begat a child who was affected in a similar
manner.
The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Chapter VI
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