moated round, and palisades set round the edge of the moat, into which place the inhabitants every night drove their cattle for better security. If a Welshman got a cow or a horse over the bar he cried out “my own,” and any person pursuing them further would be at the risk of his life. After the death of the Earl of Macclesfield, the last lord president, the court was dissolved. Shropshire being the frontier between England and Wales, had more castles in it than any other county in England; on the west side they stood so thick, says Dr. Fuller, “that it might seem divided from Wales with a wall of continued castles.” Speed tells us, “that besides several towns strongly walled, there were two and thirty castles in this shire.” In the year 1233, Richard, Earl of Pembroke, and several other noblemen, being disgusted with the conduct of the King, broke out into open rebellion, and taking advantage of the animosities subsisting between the English and the Welsh, fled into Wales and joined Llewellyn, Prince of Wales. Having collected an army, they laid waste all the Marches between Wales and Shrewsbury, which town they plundered and put the inhabitants to the sword. The King being then at Gloucester, called a council there, when it was determined that the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of Chester and Rochester, should be sent into Wales with offers of pardon for all past injuries, and proposals of peace if they would return to their obedience, which being accepted, peace was restored; notwithstanding, soon after this the Earl was treacherously drawn away into Ireland, and there killed, being stabbed in the back with a dagger. The peace with the Welsh had but a short continuance, for in the year 1241 the King marched with his army from Gloucester to Shrewsbury, designing from thence to have proceeded into Wales against David ap Llewellyn, but during his residence here, a submission being made by David, he stopped his march. In 1267, Henry again appeared in Shrewsbury at the head of his army, designing to march against Llewellyn, whose restless temper created new disturbances; but by the mediation of the Pope’s Legate, and upon Llewellyn’s submission, a peace was concluded. In the reign of Edward I. we find the disturbances of the Welsh still continued; upon which account the courts of exchequer and king’s bench were removed to Shrewsbury, that the Welsh might be awed into submission. The situation of the inhabitants of Shropshire at this period was peculiarly distressing: they were continually subject to the depredations and incursions of the Welsh, their hostile and unmerciful neighbours; and the wolves inhabiting the desolate mountains of that country, frequently came down in herds, and ravaged whole districts. A commission was given to Peter Corbet to destroy all he could find; and by offering a sum of money to those who killed a certain number, and brought their heads to Shrewsbury, they were in a short time considerably reduced.