The records of these years of conquest are interesting and sometimes thrilling, but neither edifying nor instructive. They are replete with martial exploits and deeds of daring. Battles are fought, and castles are stormed and burned with wearisome monotony. On both sides there was cruelty and treachery in abundance. A few names stand out as deserving of remembrance. The men who did most to stem the on-coming tide of Norman invasion were Griffith ap Conan, and Griffith ap Rees, both of whom died in the year 1137. The former ruled in Gwynedd, and the latter in Deheubarth; and to a far greater degree than any other Welsh princes of the period they perceived how absolutely essential unity was if Wales was to be saved from becoming a Norman fief. By this time the Welsh had learnt much of the Normans' military art. They fought clad, like their foes, in complete armour; and they knew how to build, how to defend, and how to attack stone castles. Thus the disparity in equipment, which had at first made Welsh armies an easy prey to {69} much smaller bodies of Normans, was disappearing. In 1136, the year after the death of Henry I, a great pitched battle was fought at Cardigan between Griffith ap Rees and a league of Norman barons formed in order to crush him; and in this battle the Welsh were victorious. The Normans retreated, and were obliged to abandon much of the land and several of the castles which they had previously held. This is the high-water mark of the power of the Norman barons as distinct from that of the Norman kings. An even greater ruler then ascended the throne of Gwynedd, the famous Owen Gwynedd, fine soldier, far-sighted statesman, friend of poets, and patron of monks. He perceived, dimly at least, the utter hopelessness of the struggle, which had now begun in earnest, against incorporation in the English kingdom, unless complete national unity could at once be achieved. Henry II now sat on the throne of England; for the times of Stephen and Matilda, so helpful to the enemies of England, were over. Owen persuaded most of the Welsh chieftains to acknowledge his supremacy; and he made an alliance with the princely house of Dinevor, the rulers of South Wales. But for the utter selfishness and the {70} treachery of his brother there is no knowing but that something like a united Wales might have emerged before the close of Owen's reign. Never was unity so sorely needed; for one of the first enterprises upon which Henry II embarked, when he had made his throne secure, was the subjugation of Wales. But Henry's first venture was unsuccessful. Starting from Chester, he penetrated as far as Rhuddlan; but was there confronted with the great mountain mass of Snowdonia, stretching right into the sea at the Penmaenmawr. He occupied Anglesey, however; but so fierce was the opposition with which he was met that he deemed it wise to come to terms with Owen, and to withdraw.