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The Itinerary of Archibishop Baldwin through Wales

G >> Giraldus Cambrensis >> The Itinerary of Archibishop Baldwin through Wales




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.



CHAPTER VIII



Passage of the river Conwy in a boat, and of Dinas Emrys


On our return to Banchor from Mona, we were shown the tombs of
prince Owen and his younger brother Cadwalader, {170} who were
buried in a double vault before the high altar, although Owen, on
account of his public incest with his cousin-german, had died
excommunicated by the blessed martyr St. Thomas, the bishop of that
see having been enjoined to seize a proper opportunity of removing
his body from the church. We continued our journey on the sea
coast, confined on one side by steep rocks, and by the sea on the
other, towards the river Conwy, which preserves its waters
unadulterated by the sea. Not far from the source of the river
Conwy, at the head of the Eryri mountain, which on this side extends
itself towards the north, stands Dinas Emrys, that is, the
promontory of Ambrosius, where Merlin {171} uttered his prophecies,
whilst Vortigern was seated upon the bank. There were two Merlins;
the one called Ambrosius who prophesied in the time of king
Vortigern, was begotten by a demon incubus, and found at Caermardin,
from which circumstance that city derived its name of Caermardin, or
the city of Merlin; the other Merlin, born in Scotland, was named
Celidonius, from the Celidonian wood in which he prophesied; and
Sylvester, because when engaged in martial conflict, he discovered
in the air a terrible monster, and from that time grew mad, and
taking shelter in a wood, passed the remainder of his days in a
savage state. This Merlin lived in the time of king Arthur, and is
said to have prophesied more fully and explicitly than the other. I
shall pass over in silence what was done by the sons of Owen in our
days, after his death, or while he was dying, who, from the wicked
desire of reigning, totally disregarded the ties of fraternity; but
I shall not omit mentioning another event which occurred likewise in
our days. Owen, {172} son of Gruffyth, prince of North Wales, had
many sons, but only one legitimate, namely, Iorwerth Drwyndwn, which
in Welsh means flat-nosed, who had a son named Llewelyn. This young
man, being only twelve years of age, began, during the period of our
journey, to molest his uncles David and Roderic, the sons of Owen by
Christiana, his cousin-german; and although they had divided amongst
themselves all North Wales, except the land of Conan, and although
David, having married the sister of king Henry II., by whom he had
one son, was powerfully supported by the English, yet within a few
years the legitimate son, destitute of lands or money (by the aid of
divine vengeance), bravely expelled from North Wales those who were
born in public incest, though supported by their own wealth and by
that of others, leaving them nothing but what the liberality of his
own mind and the counsel of good men from pity suggested: a proof
that adulterous and incestuous persons are displeasing to God.



CHAPTER IX



Of the mountains of Eryri


I must not pass over in silence the mountains called by the Welsh
Eryri, but by the English Snowdon, or Mountains of Snow, which
gradually increasing from the land of the sons of Conan, and
extending themselves northwards near Deganwy, seem to rear their
lofty summits even to the clouds, when viewed from the opposite
coast of Anglesey. They are said to be of so great an extent, that
according to an ancient proverb, "As Mona could supply corn for all
the inhabitants of Wales, so could the Eryri mountains afford
sufficient pasture for all the herds, if collected together." Hence
these lines of Virgil may be applied to them:-


"Et quantum longis carpent armenta diebus,
Exigua tautum gelidus ros nocte reponet."

"And what is cropt by day the night renews,
Shedding refreshful stores of cooling dews."


On the highest parts of these mountains are two lakes worthy of
admiration. The one has a floating island in it, which is often
driven from one side to the other by the force of the winds; and the
shepherds behold with astonishment their cattle, whilst feeding,
carried to the distant parts of the lake. A part of the bank
naturally bound together by the roots of willows and other shrubs
may have been broken off, and increased by the alluvion of the earth
from the shore; and being continually agitated by the winds, which
in so elevated a situation blow with great violence, it cannot
reunite itself firmly with the banks. The other lake is noted for a
wonderful and singular miracle. It contains three sorts of fish -
eels, trout, and perch, all of which have only one eye, the left
being wanting; but if the curious reader should demand of me the
explanation of so extraordinary a circumstance, I cannot presume to
satisfy him. It is remarkable also, that in two places in Scotland,
one near the eastern, the other near the western sea, the fish
called mullets possess the same defect, having no left eye.
According to vulgar tradition, these mountains are frequented by an
eagle who, perching on a fatal stone every fifth holiday, in order
to satiate her hunger with the carcases of the slain, is said to
expect war on that same day, and to have almost perforated the stone
by cleaning and sharpening her beak.



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 Conwy {174} 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 Owen {175} 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.



CHAPTER XI



Of the passage of the River Dee, and of Chester


Having crossed the river Dee below Chester, (which the Welsh call
Doverdwy), on the third day before Easter, or the day of absolution
(holy Thursday), we reached Chester. As the river Wye towards the
south separates Wales from England, so the Dee near Chester forms
the northern boundary. The inhabitants of these parts assert, that
the waters of this river change their fords every month, and, as it
inclines more towards England or Wales, they can, with certainty,
prognosticate which nation will be successful or unfortunate during
the year. This river derives its origin from the lake Penmelesmere,
{182} and, although it abounds with salmon, yet none are found in
the lake. It is also remarkable, that this river is never swollen
by rains, but often rises by the violence of the winds.

Chester boasts of being the burial-place of Henry, {183} a Roman
emperor, who, after having imprisoned his carnal and spiritual
father, pope Paschal, gave himself up to penitence; and, becoming a
voluntary exile in this country, ended his days in solitary
retirement. It is also asserted, that the remains of Harold are
here deposited. He was the last of the Saxon kings in England, and
as a punishment for his perjury, was defeated in the battle of
Hastings, fought against the Normans. Having received many wounds,
and lost his left eye by an arrow in that engagement, he is said to
have escaped to these parts, where, in holy conversation, leading
the life of an anchorite, and being a constant attendant at one of
the churches of this city, he is believed to have terminated his
days happily. {184} The truth of these two circumstances was
declared (and not before known) by the dying confession of each
party. We saw here, what appeared novel to us, cheese made of
deer's milk; for the countess and her mother keeping tame deer,
presented to the archbishop three small cheeses made from their
milk.

In this same country was produced, in our time, a cow partaking of
the nature of a stag, resembling its mother in the fore parts and
the stag in its hips, legs, and feet, and having the skin and colour
of the stag; but, partaking more of the nature of the domestic than
of the wild animal, it remained with the herd of cattle. A bitch
also was pregnant by a monkey, and produced a litter of whelps
resembling a monkey before, and the dog behind; which the rustic
keeper of the military hall seeing with astonishment and abhorrence,
immediately killed with the stick he carried in his hand; thereby
incurring the severe resentment and anger of his lord, when the
latter became acquainted with the circumstance.

In our time, also, a woman was born in Chester without hands, to
whom nature had supplied a remedy for that defect by the flexibility
and delicacy of the joints of her feet, with which she could sew, or
perform any work with thread or scissors, as well as other women.



CHAPTER XII



Of the journey by the White Monastery, Oswaldestree, Powys, and
Shrewsbury


The feast of Easter having been observed with due solemnity, and
many persons, by the exhortations of the archbishop, signed with the
cross, we directed our way from Chester to the White Monastery,
{185} and from thence towards Oswaldestree; where, on the very
borders of Powys, we were met by Gruffydd son of Madoc, and Elissa,
princes of that country, and many others; some few of whom having
been persuaded to take the cross (for several of the multitude had
been previously signed by Reiner, {186} the bishop of that place),
Gruffydd, prince of the district, publicly adjured, in the presence
of the archbishop, his cousin-german, Angharad, daughter of prince
Owen, whom, according to the vicious custom of the country, he had
long considered as his wife. We slept at Oswaldestree, or the tree
of St. Oswald, and were most sumptuously entertained after the
English manner, by William Fitz-Alan, {187} a noble and liberal
young man. A short time before, whilst Reiner was preaching, a
robust youth being earnestly exhorted to follow the example of his
companions in taking the cross, answered, "I will not follow your
advice until, with this lance which I bear in my hand, I shall have
avenged the death of my lord," alluding to Owen, son of Madoc, a
distinguished warrior, who had been maliciously and treacherously
slain by Owen Cyfeilioc, his cousin-german; and while he was thus
venting his anger and revenge, and violently brandishing his lance,
it suddenly snapped asunder, and fell disjointed in several pieces
to the ground, the handle only remaining in his hand. Alarmed and
astonished at this omen, which he considered as a certain signal for
his taking the cross, he voluntarily offered his services.

In this third district of Wales, called Powys, there are most
excellent studs put apart for breeding, and deriving their origin
from some fine Spanish horses, which Robert de Belesme, {188} earl
of Shrewsbury, brought into this country: on which account the
horses sent from hence are remarkable for their majestic proportion
and astonishing fleetness.

Here king Henry II. entered Powys, in our days, upon an expensive,
though fruitless, expedition. {189} Having dismembered the hostages
whom he had previously received, he was compelled, by a sudden and
violent fall of rain, to retreat with his army. On the preceding
day, the chiefs of the English army had burned some of the Welsh
churches, with the villages and churchyards; upon which the sons of
Owen the Great, with their light-armed troops, stirred up the
resentment of their father and the other princes of the country,
declaring that they would never in future spare any churches of the
English. When nearly the whole army was on the point of assenting
to this determination, Owen, a man of distinguished wisdom and
moderation - the tumult being in some degree subsided - thus spake:
"My opinion, indeed, by no means agrees with yours, for we ought to
rejoice at this conduct of our adversary; for, unless supported by
divine assistance, we are far inferior to the English; and they, by
their behaviour, have made God their enemy, who is able most
powerfully to avenge both himself and us. We therefore most
devoutly promise God that we will henceforth pay greater reverence
than ever to churches and holy places." After which, the English
army, on the following night, experienced (as has before been
related) the divine vengeance.

From Oswaldestree, we directed our course towards Shrewsbury
(Salopesburia), which is nearly surrounded by the river Severn,
where we remained a few days to rest and refresh ourselves; and
where many people were induced to take the cross, through the
elegant sermons of the archbishop and archdeacon. We also
excommunicated Owen de Cevelioc, because he alone, amongst the Welsh
princes, did not come to meet the archbishop with his people. Owen
was a man of more fluent speech than his contemporary princes, and
was conspicuous for the good management of his territory. Having
generally favoured the royal cause, and opposed the measures of his
own chieftains, he had contracted a great familiarity with king
Henry II. Being with the king at table at Shrewsbury, Henry, as a
mark of peculiar honour and regard, sent him one of his own loaves;
he immediately brake it into small pieces, like alms-bread, and
having, like an almoner, placed them at a distance from him, he took
them up one by one and ate them. The king requiring an explanation
of this proceeding, Owen, with a smile, replied, "I thus follow the
example of my lord;" keenly alluding to the avaricious disposition
of the king, who was accustomed to retain for a long time in his own
hands the vacant ecclesiastical benefices.

It is to be remarked that three princes, {190} distinguished for
their justice, wisdom, and princely moderation, ruled, in our time,
over the three provinces of Wales: Owen, son of Gruffydd, in
Venedotia, or North Wales; Meredyth, his grandson, son of Gruffydd,
who died early in life, in South Wales; and Owen de Cevelioc, in
Powys. But two other princes were highly celebrated for their
generosity; Cadwalader, son of Gruffydd, in North Wales, and
Gruffydd of Maelor, son of Madoc, in Powys; and Rhys, son of
Gruffydd, in South Wales, deserved commendation for his enterprising
and independent spirit. In North Wales, David, son of Owen, and on
the borders of Morgannoc, in South Wales, Howel, son of Iorwerth of
Caerleon, maintained their good faith and credit, by observing a
strict neutrality between the Welsh and English.



CHAPTER XIII



Of the journey by Wenloch, Brumfeld, the castle of Ludlow, and
Leominster, to Hereford


From Shrewsbury, we continued our journey towards Wenloch, by a
narrow and rugged way, called Evil-street, where, in our time, a
Jew, travelling with the archdeacon of the place, whose name was Sin
(Peccatum), and the dean, whose name was Devil, towards Shrewsbury,
hearing the archdeacon say, that his archdeaconry began at a place
called Evil-street, and extended as far as Mal-pas, towards Chester,
pleasantly told them, "It would be a miracle, if his fate brought
him safe out of a country, whose archdeacon was Sin, whose dean the
devil; the entrance to the archdeaconry Evil-street, and its exit
Bad-pass." {191}

From Wenloch, we passed by the little cell of Brumfeld, {192} the
noble castle of Ludlow, through Leominster to Hereford leaving on
our right hand the districts of Melenyth and Elvel; thus (describing
as it were a circle) we came to the same point from which we had
commenced this laborious journey through Wales.

During this long and laudable legation, about three thousand men
were signed with the cross; well skilled in the use of arrows and
lances, and versed in military matters; impatient to attack the
enemies of the faith; profitably and happily engaged for the service
of Christ, if the expedition of the Holy Cross had been forwarded
with an alacrity equal to the diligence and devotion with which the
forces were collected. But by the secret, though never unjust,
judgment of God, the journey of the Roman emperor was delayed, and
dissensions arose amongst our kings. The premature and fatal hand
of death arrested the king of Sicily, who had been the foremost
sovereign in supplying the holy land with corn and provisions during
the period of their distress. In consequence of his death, violent
contentions arose amongst our princes respecting their several
rights to the kingdom; and the faithful beyond sea suffered severely
by want and famine, surrounded on all sides by enemies, and most
anxiously waiting for supplies. But as affliction may strengthen
the understanding, as gold is tried by fire, and virtue may be
confirmed in weakness, these things are suffered to happen; since
adversity (as Gregory testifies) opposed to good prayers is the
probation of virtue, not the judgment of reproof. For who does not
know how fortunate a circumstance it was that Paul went to Italy,
and suffered so dreadful a shipwreck? But the ship of his heart
remained unbroken amidst the waves of the sea.



CHAPTER XIV



A description of Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury {193}


Let it not be thought superfluous to describe the exterior and
inward qualities of that person, the particulars of whose embassy,
and as it were holy peregrination, we have briefly and succinctly
related. He was a man of a dark complexion, of an open and
venerable countenance, of a moderate stature, a good person, and
rather inclined to be thin than corpulent. He was a modest and
grave man, of so great abstinence and continence, that ill report
scarcely ever presumed to say any thing against him; a man of few
words; slow to anger, temperate and moderate in all his passions and
affections; swift to hear, slow to speak; he was from an early age
well instructed in literature, and bearing the yoke of the Lord from
his youth, by the purity of his morals became a distinguished
luminary to the people; wherefore voluntarily resigning the honour
of the archlevite, {194} which he had canonically obtained, and
despising the pomps and vanities of the world, he assumed with holy
devotion the habit of the Cistercian order; and as he had been
formerly more than a monk in his manners, within the space of a year
he was appointed abbot, and in a few years afterwards preferred
first to a bishopric, and then to an archbishopric; and having been
found faithful in a little, had authority given him over much. But,
as Cicero says, "Nature had made nothing entirely perfect;" when he
came into power, not laying aside that sweet innate benignity which
he had always shewn when a private man, sustaining his people with
his staff rather than chastising them with rods, feeding them as it
were with the milk of a mother, and not making use of the scourges
of the father, he incurred public scandal for his remissness. So
great was his lenity that he put an end to all pastoral rigour; and
was a better monk than abbot, a better bishop than archbishop.
Hence pope Urban addressed him; "Urban, servant of the servants of
God, to the most fervent monk, to the warm abbot, to the luke-warm
bishop, to the remiss archbishop, health, etc."

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