Wales -- Description and travel; Wales -- Social life and customs
THE following is the generation of princes of South Wales: Rhys, son of
Gruffydd; Gruffydd, son of Rhys; Rhys, son of Tewdwr; Tewdwr, son of
Eineon; Eineon, son of Owen; Owen, son of Howel Dda, or Howel the Good;
Howel, son of Cadell, son of Roderic the Great. Thus the princes of
South Wales derived their origin from Cadell, son of Roderic the Great.
The princes of North Wales descended from Mervin in this manner:
Llewelyn, son of Iorwerth; Iorwerth, son of Owen; Owen, son of Gruffydd;
Gruffydd, son of Conan; Conan, son of Iago; Iago, son of Edoual; Edoual,
son of Meyric; Meyric, son of Anarawt (Anandhrec); Anarawt, son of
Mervin, son of Roderic the Great. Anarawt leaving no issue, the princes
of Powys have their own particular descent.
It is worthy of remark, that the Welsh bards and singers, or reciters,
have the genealogies of the aforesaid princes, written in the Welsh
language, in their ancient and authentic books; and also retain them in
their memory from Roderic the Great to B.M.; {158a} and from thence to
Sylvius, Ascanius, and Æneas; and from the latter produce the
genealogical series in a lineal descent, even to Adam.
But as an account of such long and remote genealogies may appear to many
persons trifling rather than historical, we have purposely omitted them
in our compendium.
CHAPTER IV
HOW MANY CANTREDS, ROYAL PALACES, AND CATHEDRALS THERE ARE IN WALES
SOUTH WALES contains twenty-nine cantreds; North Wales, twelve; Powys,
six: many of which are at this time in the possession of the English and
Franks. For the country now called Shropshire formerly belonged to
Powys, and the place where the castle of Shrewsbury stands bore the name
of Pengwern, or the head of the Alder Grove. There were three royal
seats in South Wales: Dinevor, in South Wales, removed from Caerleon;
Aberfraw, {158b} in North Wales; and Pengwern, in Powys.
Wales contains in all fifty-four cantreds. The word _Cantref_ is derived
from _Cant_, a hundred, and _Tref_, a village; and means in the British
and Irish languages such a portion of land as contains a hundred vills.
There are four cathedral churches in Wales: St. David’s, upon the Irish
sea, David the archbishop being its patron: it was in ancient times the
metropolitan church, and the district only contained twenty-four
cantreds, though at this time only twenty-three; for Ergengl, in English
called Urchenfeld, {159a} is said to have been formerly within the
diocese of St. David’s, and sometimes was placed within that of Landaff.
The see of St. David’s had twenty-five successive archbishops; and from
the time of the removal of the pall into France, to this day, twenty-two
bishops; whose names and series, as well as the cause of the removal of
the archiepiscopal pall, may be seen in our Itinerary. {159b}
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account