Part 32

With regard to these camps and intrenchments, Mr. King, in his “Monumenta Antiqua,” supposes that most of the strong intrenchments on the summits of natural hills must be attributed to Britons, although subsequent conquerors might have occupied them. They are designated, indiscriminately, Roman camps, Danish forts, or Saxon intrenchments, but often erroneously. The _Roman_ camps were quadrangular, divided into a pavilion for the general and chief officers, and another portion for the tents of the common soldiers. It was fortified with a ditch and parapet, termed _fossa_ and _vallum_. The Danes did not undergo the labour of erecting them on the high hills where they are often found, nor run the risk of being cooped up and starved in them during their invasions; nor can we suppose them to be their work after they settled here as conquerors. The great castle of Norwich, built by Canute, and the great tower at Bury, prove their civilization and skill in architecture. Neither could these hill-camps be Saxon. During the Heptarchy, they erected fortresses of stones. Besides, their earth-works were encampments on plain ground with double ditches, and with either the whole or part of the area raised above the level of the adjacent country, and sometimes with a very small mount for a watchguard. The magnificence of the Norman castles, still splendid in their ruins, will not allow them to have had any share in throwing up these rude intrenchments. They must, therefore, have been the strongholds of the ancient Britons, where their families were lodged, and their cattle housed, on any emergency or invasion.[363]

The Church , dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure of Anglo-Norman origin, but apparently curtailed in its dimensions to suit the diminished population of modern Uske. The square embattled tower which now stands at the east, formerly occupied the centre, and communicated with a transept and choir. Four pointed arches now separate the nave from the north aisle. The windows are ornamented Gothic, or rather Norman; and the porches, though not elegant, are in the same style. This was the Priory Church; and of the conventual building, the remains are seen on the south-east side of the tower. From the churchyard, a circular arched portal leads through the court to the ancient edifice now converted into a farm-house. It was founded by one of the Clare family as a priory for five Benedictine nuns, about the middle of the thirteenth century. In an apartment on the first floor, the frieze of the ceiling is ornamented with thirty devices, and emblazoned coats of arms. At the Dissolution, this priory was valued at £69. 9s. 8d. per annum; and the site granted to Roger Williams of Langibby. Rowland Williams of Langibby was distinguished by Queen Elizabeth and James the First, and received the honour of knighthood. His grandson, Sir Trevor Williams, was created a baronet in consideration of his services and loyal attachment to Charles the First.

Founder. --Tanner, quoting from a MS. in the office of First Fruits, says they accounted Sir Richard de Clare and Sir Gilbert his son, Earls of the Marches, for their Founders, and prayed for them as such; for which, at the time of the Dissolution, an allowance appears to have been made amongst the reprises.

The temporalities of this priory are thus valued in Pope Nicholas’s Taxation, A.D. 1291:--Priorissa de Uska habet viginti quatuor acras terræ quæ valent per annum viii.s.: De annuo redditu, vi.s. viii.d., de Molendino. ibidem x.s., de perquisitis cur. v.s. _Item_, habet apud Shirencnewt [Shire Newton?] de reddit, assis. iii.s. = Summa £1. 12s. 8d.

Among the spiritualities of the diocese of Llandaff, we find the following churches, of which the priory and convent of Uske appear to have been patrons, namely, Raglan, Mykenny, Uske, Langrerion, Lampadock, and Lamyhangel.

In another place, it is said:--Capitulam Landav. percipit de tenentibus de Landconyan unam marcam, et illam reddunt luminar. prioratus de Uske. In the diocese of Worcester, we find, “Porcio priorissæ in capell. de Hatherlo j.l. The gross value of this priory [26th Hen. VIII.] was rated at £69. 9s. 8d., the clear income at £55. 4s. 5d. The site and other lands were granted 28th Hen. VIII. to Roger Williams, grandfather of Sir Trevor Williams [of whom Cromwell speaks in his letter from Pembroke.] At the Dissolution, Elen Williams was the lady prioress. In the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer’s office is the following:--“Uske: De Elizea John ap Jevan vidua, occasionat. ad ostendendum quo titulo tenet domum et situm Prioratus de Uske, et alias terras in comitatu Monmouth. That the said widow be called upon to show by what title she holds the house and site of the Priory of Uske, and other lands in the county of Monmouth.” Leland describes it briefly as “a priory of Nunnes at Cair Uske, a flite shot from the castel.”

An impression from the conventual seal of this priory is extant in the Chapter-house at Westminster, attached to the acknowledgment of Supremacy. [25 Hen. VIII.] It represents the Virgin Mary seated on an ornamented chair between two pilasters, the infant Jesus in her lap. Above are a crescent and star, the legend--S. SĈE MARIE ET CONVENTUS DE USKE.

* * * * *

The emblematical devices and emblazoned arms already mentioned, as covering the frieze of the ceiling in the chief apartment, are supposed to represent the armorial bearings of the various benefactors of the priory.

Prioresses. --The last Prioress, or Superieure, was the above-named “Elen Williams.” Among the Gilbertine Nuns there were three prioresses, one of whom presided in turn, and had then the first stall--one of her coadjutors standing on the right hand, the other on the left. The presiding Prioress held the Chapter, enjoined the penances, granted all the licences or allowances, visited the sick, or caused them to be visited by one of her companions. She had obedience and respect paid to her by all. The food was delivered by the Cellaress, but the vestments of the Nuns were cut, sewed, and divided by the Prioress. She could not sit near any _man_ in their house, unless some discreet sister sat between them. The Prioress was to endeavour to visit the Nuns, unless when she was in the kitchen, or confined to her dortoire by sickness. If any sister wished to confess, she signified her desire to the Prioress, if she was in the cloister or church; or she confessed to her, or to any person authorised to act for her. On holidays she sent some “learned nun” with a book to her sisters, to teach them somewhat that might operate to the profit of their souls, or confirm the rigour of the Order. She presided over the Chapter of the Sisters, and one of her coadjutors often took their _veniæ_ in the evening Chapter. On festival days she visited them “if she had time,” and diligently inquired of their strict observance of the rules of the Order. If she left the dormitory after dinner, or after complin, she did not go out unless with attendant nuns. She was obliged to indicate the cause of her departure to the Prior of all. If she left the church through sickness, she confessed in the Chapter, and no one stood in her stall except at Mass, and when necessity required it.--[Brit. Monach.]

She was bound to shun conferring with the _Scrutatrices_, or sister-visitors, from other houses, that were deputed to her; or to make search for anything except in the common Chapter. If she was in the Infirmary, she was required to conduct herself more reservedly; and not to speak with more than two together, and that only in a “bounded place,” unless, perhaps, necessity compelled her to talk with more for the sake of consultation; or when she happened to hold the Chapter of the Sick. She had authority, upon emergencies, to hold the Chapter of the Convent, and receive confessions, and if she was confined by severe illness, she could, like the rest, talk and give her directions in bed.[364]

Uske enjoys the hereditary distinction of having been the “residence of Richard, Duke of York, and the birth-place of his two sons, Edward the Fourth, and Richard the Third;” names which have furnished many stirring incidents, many sparkling and many disastrous achievements to the British annals. The town of Uske is disposed in the form of an oblong square, the principal street forming the public road to Abergavenny. The corporation consists of a mayor or bailiff, a community, and burgesses;[365] and in the town-house are held the petty sessions for the upper division of the hundred of Uske. The only native manufacture is that of japan ware.

The river is famous for trout, particularly salmon trout--

“So fresh, so sweete, so red, so crimpe withal,”[366]

which, in conventual times, afforded an ample supply to the numerous religious communities on its banks, to whom a carneous diet was only permitted as an occasional indulgence. Epicures confirm the ancient reputation of the river in this respect; and during the season, the disciples of Isaak Walton, and the readers of Sir Humphrey Davy’s “Salmonia,” are constant visitors to the banks of the Uske, which, by way of climax, is said to produce better sport for the angler than any other river in Wales--or even the Severn--a quality which has become proverbial.

“Though bright the waters of the Towy, The Wye, the Severn, and the Tivy; Yet, well I wot, they cannot shew ye Such _salmon_ as the Uske can give ye!

It was--(we choose not to go farther)-- The favoured dish of bold King Arthur ; Who, when he chose like king to dine, Went down to Uske with rod and line, And there drew slily to the bank Such trout as best became his rank; Sometimes by twains, at others singly, But always with a twitch so kingly, The salmon seemed as much delighted, As if they really had been ‘knighted!’ No wonder, for they quickly found An _entrée_ at the Table Round , Where, seated with his gallant knights, Those heroes of a hundred fights;-- ‘Leave,’ quoth he, ‘acorns in the husk, Here’s glorious salmon from the Uske!’” &c.

PEMBROKE CASTLE,

Pembrokeshire .

“Hic exarmatum terris cingentibus æquor, Clauditur, et placidam descit servare quietem.”

“In agro totius Walliæ amœnissimo, principale provinciæ municipium Demetiæq. caput, in Saxosa quadam et oblonga rupis in capite bifurco complectitur. Unde Britannis Pembro dicitur, quod caput marinum sonat, et nobis Penbroke.”--_Gyrald._

Earldom. --“There have been divers Earls of Pembroke,” says Camden, “out of sundry houses. As for Arnulph of Montgomery, who first wonne it, and was afterwards outlawed, and his castellan Girald , whom King Henry the First made afterwards president over the whole country, I dare scarcely affirm that they were Earles . The first that was styled Earle of Pembroke was Gilbert, surnamed ‘Strongbow,’[367] son of Gilbert de Clare, in the time of King Stephen . This Gilbert, or Gislebert, de Clare, let it unto his sonne, the said Richard Strongbow, the renowned conqueror of Ireland, and descended, as Gyraldus informs us, “ex clara Clarenium familia”--the noble family of Clare, or Clarence. His only daughter, Isabel ,[368] brought the same honour to her husband, William, surnamed the Mareschal , for that his ancestours had beene by inheritance mareschals of the King’s palace, a man most glorious in war and peace,[369] and protector of the kingdome in the minority of K. Henry the Third,[370] concerning whom this pithie epitaph is extant in Rodburne’s Annales: ‘Sum quem Saturnus,’[371] &c., which is thus done into English--

‘Whom Ireland once a Saturn found, England a sunne to be; Whom Normandie, a Mercury, and France, Mars,--I am he.’”

“After him,” continues our authority, “his five sons were successively, one after another, Earles of Pembroke; namely, William, called the younger; Richard, who, after he had rebelled against King Henry the Third, went into Ireland, where he was slain in battle; Gilbert, who, in a tournament at Ware ,[372] was unhorsed, and so killed; Walter and Anselm, who severally enjoyed the honor but a few daies; and all dying without issue, the King invested in the honor of this earldome William de Valentia , his brother by the mother’s side, who had to wife Joan, daughter of Gwarin de Montchensi , by the daughter of the foresaid William the Mareschal.”

Of this Earl Valence we read, shortly after this, that the King, solemnizing the festival of St. Edward’s translation, in the church at Westminster, with great state, sitting on his royal throne in “a rich robe of Baudekyn,” and the crown on his head, caused this William de Valence, with divers other young noblemen, to be brought before him, and so girt him with the sword of knighthood.

In a tournament held at Bruckley, it is said that he much abused Sir William Adingsells , a valiant knight, through the countenance of Richard, Earl of Gloucester. The following year he was signed with the cross , together with the King himself, and divers other noble persons, in order to an expedition to the Holy Land; and at the same time he obtained the King’s precept to Robert Walrane, to distrain all such persons as did possess any of the property belonging to Joan his wife, one of the cousins and heirs to Walter Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, to perform their suit to the county of Pembroke, as they had wont to do in the time of that earl.[373]

This Earl Valence was present at the battle of Lewes, some particulars of which have been detailed in the first volume of this work. “When he had lost the day, and with the Prince was made prisoner, William de Valence, then called Earl of Pembroke, though not before, as it is thought, being a principal commander in the van of the King’s army, seeing the day lost, with the Earl of Warren and some others, escaped by flight, first to the castle of Pevensey, and thence to France. After which, all being in the power of the Barons, his lands were seized, and those in Surrey and Sussex committed to the custody of John de Aburnum and John de Wanton. And whereas Joan his lady was then great with child, and with her family and children in Windsor Castle, she was commanded to depart thence, and betake herself to some religious house or other place near at hand, until after her delivery. In which distress, the King, still their prisoner, being forced to comply with them in whatsoever they required, submitted to their ordinances of Oxford; the chief of his friends also giving oath for the due observance of them; amongst whom this William de Valence, then come back into England, was one.”

“ But long it was not ere the two principal ringleaders in this tragic action, namely, Montfort , Earl of Leicester, and Clare , Earl of Gloucester, fell at odds--Clare stomaching Leicester for assuming to himself the whole sway in the government; betaking him, therefore, to those true-hearted Royalists who had stood firm to the King in his greatest miseries, a means was contrived for the Prince to escape from Hereford Castle, where, with the King his father, he was kept prisoner.” “Whereupon this

William , Earl of Pembroke, with John, Earl Warren , who had been banished the realm by a public edict of Montfort, landing at Pembroke , about the beginning of May, with about a hundred and twenty men, horse and foot, joined with them; and within a short time after, giving battle to Montfort and his party at Evesham , totally vanquished all their whole army; whereby the King, being set at liberty, was again restored to the exercise of his regal power.”[374]

This Earl William had issue three sons: to wit, John, who died young; William, and Aymer. “William was lord of Montygnac and Belluc; and in the 7th Edw. I. did oblige himself, on the behalf of John, Lord Visci , who had married Mary, the sister of Hugh de Lezinian (Lusignan), Earl of March , for the repayment of two thousand five hundred pounds _Tournois_, in case she should die without issue. After which, being with Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, in a skirmish which he had with the Welsh , near Llantipowhir, was there slain in his father’s lifetime.” So that

Aymer de Valence, the third son--a name of great celebrity--succeeded to the earldom of Pembroke. He attended the King in the expedition made into Flanders; and the same year was assigned one of the commissioners to ratify the agreement betwixt the King and Florence, Earl of Holland, touching those auxiliaries which he was to have from that Earl in his present wars; as also one of the ambassadors sent to treat of truce betwixt King Edward and the King of France . He next attended the King two years in his wars in Scotland; and was then sent ambassador to treat with those from the King of France, touching a peace with the Scots. Two years after this he was again in Scotland; and the same year (33d Edw. I.) he had license to go beyond sea on his own occasions.

On his return he obtained a grant from the King, of the castles of Selkirk and Troquair in Scotland; also of the borough of Peebles, to hold by the service of one knight’s fees; likewise of the whole forest of Selkirk in fee-farm, paying a hundred and thirty pounds per annum; and to be sheriff there [as Sir Walter Scott was in our own times, though with very different powers]; with authority to build towns, churches, castles, and other fortifications; as also for free warren, and power to _deafforest_ and make parks therein at his own pleasure. Shortly after which he made a “pile”[375] at Selkirk, and placed a garrison therein. Next year he was sent, as Warden of the Marches of Scotland, toward Berwick-upon-Tweed; and being thereupon made the King’s Lieutenant, and Captain-General of the soldiery--horse and foot--for the defence of those parts against Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and his complices, he had an assignation of two hundred pounds in part of his wages, to be paid to him by John de Sandale, Chamberlain of Scotland.--[Chronicle.]

Shortly after this, Bruce, compassing that realm, and receiving the homage of many, came near to St. Johnstone [or Perth], to the defence whereof this Earl being arrived but a little before, Bruce sent to him, by way of challenge to battle, whereunto returning answer that he would meet him the next day, Bruce retired; which being discovered by this Earl, he sallied out and slew divers of the Scots, unarmed, as it is said. Bruce therefore being advertised hereof, fled to the Isle of Kintyre, whereupon he followed him, supposing to find him in the castle there. But upon his taking possession thereof, and discovering none but his wife, and Nigel de Bruce, his brother, he hanged up Nigel and all the rest who were with him, excepting only her. Bruce, therefore, growing exceedingly exasperated at this his great cruelty, raised all the power he could, and giving battle to him, forced him to flee to the castle of Ayr. Soon after this, being with King Edward, on his death-bed, at Burgh-upon-the-Sands, not far from Carlisle, he was one of those whom the King desired to be good to his son, and not to suffer Piers de Gaveston to come into England again, to set him in riot; for which he was much hated by Piers, as divers others of the nobility were, being called by him Joseph the Jew , in regard that he was tall, and pale of countenance.--[Chronicle.]

But as it would far exceed our present limits to notice all that the chronicles have recorded of him, we conclude with a few brief particulars:--In the second of Edward II. he was sent with Otto de Grandison and others to the Pope upon special business; he next joined the Earl of Lancaster and others in the design of putting down Gaveston--agreeably to the promise he had made to the dying King; so likewise with John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, in the siege of Scarborough Castle, in which Gaveston had taken refuge; and having there seized upon him, intended to have carried him to Wallingford, but lodging him at Deddington in Oxfordshire, he was taken thence in the night by the Earl of Warwick, and by him beheaded on Blacklow Hill, near Warwick, where a monument has been erected to perpetuate the deed.

Three years after this, the Earl was sent again to Rome, and obtained a grant in general tail from the King, of the house and place called the “New Temple” in London, as also of certain lands called _Fleet-crofts_, with all other the lands in the city and suburbs of London, which belonged to the Knights-Templars , with remainder to the King and his heirs.

In the tenth of Edward II. he was engaged in the Scottish wars; but before the end of that year, being taken prisoner by Sieur Moilly, a Burgundian, and being sent to the Emperor, he was constrained to give twenty thousand pounds of silver for his ransom, by reason, as Moilly alleged, that himself having served the King of England, had not been paid his wages. Upon this occasion King Edward wrote letters to divers foreign princes, soliciting his deliverance, which was effected; for we find him immediately thereafter appointed governor of Rockingham Castle, and heading the King’s army in Scotland. But at last, after many important and honourable services to the State, performed with great ability, he was constituted Warden of all the Forests south of Trent; and being still Warden of Scotland, had license to travel beyond sea.

Upon the taking of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, at Boro’bridge, he was one of those who passed sentence of death upon him at Pontefract. “After which it was not long that he lived; for, attending Queen Isabella into France in 1323, he was there murdered in the month of June, by reason,” as the chronicle supposes, “of his having had a hand in the death of the Earl of Lancaster.” He left vast demesnes in England, in nine or ten counties, but no issue by any of his three wives.--[Chronicles.]

His eldest sister, Elizabeth, one of his heirs, “wedded unto John, Lord Hastings , brought this dignity into a new family; for Laurence Hastings, his grandson, Lord of Weishford and Abergavenny, was made Earle of ‘ Penbrock ,’[376] by virtue of King Edward the Third, his brieffe , the copy whereof I thinke good to set doune here, that we may see what was the right by heires generall in these honorary titles. It runs thus:-- Rex omnibus ad quos ... Salutem, etc. The which being interpreted, is--