Part 31

D. The Habit of the Order was to be sober, not conspicuous. When they went abroad, they were to walk two together, and so remain at the journey’s end. In gait, look, habit, or gesture, everything that could be termed indecent or offensive, was to be regarded as criminal. They were not to fix their eyes upon women; and when two were in church in the presence of women, they were mutually to support each other, in observing a serious and modest decorum--“invicem vestram pudicitiam custodite. Deus enim qui habitat in vobis, etiam isto modo custodiet vos a vobis....” All such offences or misdemeanours were to be punished by the Superior. The clandestine receipt of letters or presents was a punishable offence. Their clothes were to be taken from one common Vestiary , and their food from one Larder. All vestments presented by relatives were to be stored in the common Vestiary. All labour was to be considered as done for the common good. He who stole, and he who concealed his knowledge of a theft, were to be punished with equal severity.

E. Their clothes, and the linen of the house, according to the order of the Superior, were to be washed either by themselves or by fullers. In cases of illness, ablutions were to be used according to the physician’s advice; or, on refusal, by order of the Superior. They were to go to the baths only by two or three, and were then to be accompanied by a person duly appointed by the Superior. The sick were to have an Infirmarer ; and cellarers, chamberlains, or librarians, were to serve the brethren with cheerfulness and good-will. Books could not be obtained for perusal but at the stated hours. Clothes and shoes were to be given out when needed. No litigations or quarrels were permitted. If a difference arose, it was to be instantly adjusted or put to silence by the authorities. For all offences, satisfaction--for all wrongs, retribution--was to be given; and the offended were commanded to practise, in all cases, the sacred duty of forgiveness towards the offender.

F. Harsh or uncharitable expressions were to be carefully avoided; and if hastily uttered, they were to be followed by an immediate apology. Obedience to the Superior was strictly enjoined; but if, in the exercise of his duty, he spoke harshly to any one, he was not to be called upon for any apology. They were to yield cheerful obedience to the head over them; but chiefly to the Priest , or Presbyter, on whom devolved the care of the whole house. If, in any emergency, the Superior found his authority unequal to the occasion, he was to have recourse to that of the Priest, or Elder . The Superior was bound to exercise his authority in the spirit of Christian charity and meekness, yet with firmness and impartiality. To be practically strict in discipline; but so to demean himself towards the brethren, as rather to win their love by kindness than excite their fear by severity; to set before their eyes an example of godly life; to excite imitation, and conciliate affection.[353]

The Rule of St. Augustin , it has been observed, is more courteous than that of St. Benedict ; for among the Canons-Regular, every brother is well shod, well clothed, and well fed; they go out when they like, mix with the world, and converse at table. The Rule of St. Augustin was followed by the Dominicans; but with severe additions in food, fasts, bedding, garments, and utter dereliction of property.--See and compare the Cistercian Rule , as given in the foregoing article on Tinterne Abbey.

* * * * *

Descent. --At the period of the dissolution of monasteries, Llanthony Abbey was given to Richard, or Nicholas Arnold; then sold to Auditor Harley, and remained in the Oxford family, until sold again to Colonel (afterwards Sir Mark) Wood, of Persefield, near Chepstow; from whom it passed to the present owner, WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR, Esq.

Arms of Llanthony Abbey: “Party per pale azure and purpure on chevron argent, between three oak-branches argent, three marigolds proper.”--_Dugdale._

* * * * *

We now close the subject of Llanthony with the late Mr. Southey’s

INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT IN THE VALE OF EWIAS.

Here was it, Stranger, that the Patron Saint Of Cambria passed his age of penitence, A solitary man; and here he made His Hermitage ; the roots his food, his drink Of Honddy’s mountain stream.

Perchance thy youth Has read with eager wonder, how the Knight Of Wales, in Ormandine’s enchanted bower, Slept the long sleep; and if that in thy veins Flows the pure blood of Britain, sure that blood Has flowed with quicker impulse at the tale Of Dafydd’s deeds, when through the press of war His gallant comrades followed his green crest To conquests!

Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights, And this fair vale of Ewias , and the stream Of Honddy, to thine after-thoughts will rise More grateful--thus associate with the name Of Dafydd , and the deeds of other days.

AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article on Llanthony Abbey:--Dugdale’s Monasticon and Baronage, and their Commentaries--Tanner’s Notitia Monastica--Spelman’s Glossar. Archæologicum--Hist. of the Reformation--Histories of Monmouth, by Hoare, Coxe, and others--Giraldus Cambrensis--Howel’s Hystorie--Hallam’s Middle Ages--Camden’s Britannia--Speed--Hollinshed--Robert of Glo’ster--Roberts’ History of Llanthony Abbey--Thomas’ History of Owen Glendower--Collins--Notes by Correspondents, etc.

USKE CASTLE,

Monmouthshire .

HERE still the feudal bulwark frowns, With many a tale of siege and sally; And there the mouldering Abbey crowns The silent and secluded valley.

And still, when Twilight spreads her wings, By Abbey wall or Castle hoary, The pilgrim hears harmonious strings Struck to the theme of Cambria’s glory.

Again--from yonder halls of state, Where now the hermit-owl is dwelling-- In song, assembled Bards relate The daring deeds of bold Llewellyn .

Again from yonder Abbey choir-- Its dim religious lights revealing-- The lofty strains of David’s lyre From arch and pillared aisles are pealing.

But no! the morning’s ruddy beam-- The breath of day--is on the river; And all that peopled Fancy’s dream Is scattered in its light for ever.

Like other castles of its style and period, it consists of straight walls, fortified with round and square towers, and no apertures externally but loopholes or œillets, except where these have been enlarged for modern use and convenience. Several of the apartments have chimneys--a comparatively modern refinement. The baronial hall measures forty-eight by twenty-four feet; far inferior in dimensions to some of the halls already described, but still a noble apartment, and dignified from its association with Strongbow and his knights, whose occasional rendezvous was within these walls.

At the time of the Roman occupation, this county formed part of the Silurian territory, which included also the counties of Glamorgan, Brecknock, Radnor, and Hereford; and in order to secure the conquest of this part of the country, the new masters were compelled to form a range of strongly fortified posts. No less than five stations were erected in that part of Siluria included in Gwentland, as at Caerwent, Caerleon, Abergavenny, Monmouth, and Uske. In the attempts of the Saxon monarchs to subjugate Wales, the Gwentians, or inhabitants of Monmouthshire, opposed the most formidable resistance; nor does it appear that they were ever vanquished during the Saxon period. The Conqueror, however, adopted a new and more effective mode of curbing their resistance. He directed his barons to make incursions at their own expense, and gave them leave to hold the lands they conquered _in capite_ of the crown. These feudal tenures became petty royalties; the barons became despots, and, intrenched in their fortified castles, assumed independent sovereignty, until these baronial governments were abolished by Henry VIII., who divided Wales into counties.

The river Uske takes its rise from a lake on the northern side of the Bannau-Sir-Gaer, in Carmarthenshire, and after running first north and then east as far as Brecknock, is joined by the Honddi, which, as already described, waters the monastic vale of Ewias. It then flows south-east as far as Abergavenny, and in this part of its course is joined by the Grwyneu-fawr, and about three miles below this it enters Monmouth. The extent of its course is about sixty miles, every portion of which is distinguished more or less by scenes of pastoral and picturesque beauty--enhanced by vestiges of ancient encampments, religious edifices, and feudal strongholds. The river is spanned at Uske by a stately bridge of five arches.

The annexed woodcut, with which we close this brief notice, represents a chamber in the Castle, with an arched window and a fireplace, comparatively modern. Chimneys do not seem to have been introduced much before the time of Henry the Eighth, as appears from the following extract from Leland’s Itinerary:--“One thynge I much notyed in the haule of Bolton,” built temp. Rich. II., “how chimneys were conveyed by tunnels made in the syds of the wauls, betwyxt the lights in the haule; and by this means, and by no others, is the smoke of the harthe in the haule wonder strangely carrayed.”[355] Previously to this period, the smoke was suffered to escape from the louvre, or lantern-turret in the roof, in large halls and kitchens, the fire being made of logs of wood laid on iron or brass dogs, in the centre of the room. But in the smaller rooms, like that in the woodcut, fireplaces were built, the arches or chimney-pieces of which often remain; but the chimney itself was carried up only a few feet, where an aperture was left in the wall for the smoke to escape,[356] and there was frequently a window over the fireplace, as in the hall at Raglan.[357]

Uske is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman _Burrium_--the _Bullæum_ of Ptolemy; it stands on a point of land formed by the confluence of the two rivers, Uske and Olway, and the situation is considered to be one of the most beautiful in South Wales. The successive ranges of woods and hills on each side of the river are richly varied and picturesque; while every year adds something to the natural embellishment of the scene, by the distribution of fruit and forest trees--for which the soil is naturally adapted--and that growing taste for agriculture and rural improvement which is everywhere conspicuous in the county of Monmouth. The boundaries and outlines of the valley--which is everywhere pleasing--perpetually vary as the points of view are changed; so that every change in his position opens to the spectator a new combination of features which pass before him like a moving panorama--

“Ever changing, ever new.”

Uske has a melancholy pre-eminence among the strongholds of this county, as a point at which the fury of intestine war was often lighted into flames. During the long and disastrous warfare with Owen Glendower, it was subjected to every species of hardship and oppression. From the battle of Uske, when the Cambrian chief was defeated and driven into the mountains, it remained in possession of the royal troops; but while it suffered the fate of a vanquished post, it derived little support from the victors; for whatever standard floated from its walls, it was only the signal of systematic oppression. From the military chronicle of those unhappy times, we take the following particulars of the

Battle of Uske. This was the last effort on the part of Owen Glendower to drive the English from the frontier. Having assembled an army of eight thousand men enthusiastically attached to him, he prosecuted his march through scenes of fire and bloodshed--desolating the country, ravaging the Marches, and practising every cruelty which the spirit of revenge could suggest. Grosmont[358]--or more probably Uske--was given to the flames. This marauding division was opposed by a handful of men commanded by Sir Gilbert Talbot--joined by Sir William Newport and Sir John Geindre--on the 11th of March, and cut to pieces, no quarter being given except to one person, whom young Henry, in his despatch to his father, styles ‘un grand chieftyn entre eulx;’ and humanely adds, that “he would have sent him this prisoner, but that he could not ride with ease.” Prince Henry at the time of this action was at Hereford--at the head of the army, with which he was to open the campaign--when the news of the victory reached him. The ancient Britons, who lost a thousand men in this battle, appear to have fought with less than their accustomed valour. They were probably raw recruits, without good officers or strict discipline; and without Glendower’s presence to direct and animate them in the charge, they appear to have fallen an easy prey to the enemy. The interception of young March, and this defeat, hastened the fall of Glendower; but, resolved to make a strong effort to retrieve his lost credit in the field, he sent one of his sons with another army, which, on being joined by many fugitives from the late disaster, was found sufficiently strong to risk another engagement. This took place on the 15th of the same month; but the results were still more disastrous than on the previous battle; for of the Welsh army fifteen hundred were slain or taken prisoners. Tudor, the brother of Owen, was left dead on the field; while his son, who had the chief command, was made prisoner, and retained as a hostage in the English camp. The historian relates that so great was the personal resemblance between Owen and his brother Tudor, that when the dead body of the latter was discovered in the field, it was immediately reported that Glendower himself had fallen, and that, with the death of their leader, the Welsh must necessarily abandon the contest. On closer examination, however, it was found that the exultation thus spread through the English camp was premature; for although the resemblance was very striking, it was observed that a wart over the eye--a mark which distinguished the “great Owen”--was not to be traced in the present individual, and it was at once admitted that Tudor, and not Owen, had fallen in the conflict.

Prince Henry, according to Carte,[359] commanded at this battle, supposed to have taken place near Uske. Wynne also mentions an action fought on the same day on which the son of Owen was made prisoner; and the number of those slain and made prisoners, coincides with the above account of Mr. Pennant, but the scene of action is removed to Uske, where he says “the Welsh received a sad blow from the Prince of Wales’ men.” In the history of this period there is a confusion which Mr. Pennant thus clears up:--Hollinshed mentions another defeat sustained by the Welsh in the month of May, in which Griffith Yonge, Owen’s chancellor, was made prisoner. But in this, according to Pennant, the chronicler confounds this battle with the action near Grosmont. If Yonge was the “grand chieftyn” there made prisoner, which is questionable, he must have soon escaped from the power of the English, or have been released, as he is a witness the following year to a pardon granted by Owen to one Ieuan Goch. Here Mr. Thomas[360] suggests that the two accounts by Hollinshed and Wynne might be reconciled, by allowing that a battle was actually fought at Uske, subsequent to that on the 15th of March. Dates among earlier writers are often uncertain, always perplexing. But Uske in many parts bears evident marks of Owen’s desolating system of warfare; a ruinous aspect bespeaks its having been stormed by an enemy at no remote date; and all these circumstances deriving weight from local tradition--which corroborates the surmise, and attributes the havoc to Glendower--Uske may be fairly set down as the scene of devastation referred to in the text.[361]

Craig-y-Gaeryd , near Uske, is supposed to have been a Roman camp. It covers the brow of a precipice overhanging the eastern bank of the river, and is now overgrown with copsewood; but in many places the intrenchments are thirty feet deep. Within the area are several tumuli from fifteen to twenty feet high. From the small torrent of Berden , near this point, some authors have derived the name of Burrium, as being placed at its confluence with the river Uske.[362]