Part 33

“ Know ye that the good praesage of circumspection and vertue which we have conceived by the towardly youth and happy beginnings of our most welbeloved cousin Laurence Hastings , induce us worthily to countenance him with our especiall grace and favour, in those things which concerne the due preservation and maintenance of his honor: Whereas , therefore, the inheritance of Aimar de Valence, some time Earle of Penbrok (as he was stiled), deceased long since, without heire begotten of his body, hath beene devolved unto his sisters, proportionably to be divided among them and their heires: because we know for certain that the foresaid Laurence , who succeeded the said Aimar in part of the inheritance, is descended from the elder sister of Aimar aforesaid; and so, by the avouching of the learned with whom we consulted about this matter, the prerogative both of name and honor is due unto him: Wee deem it just and due that the same Laurence, claiming his title from the elder sister, assume and have the name of Earl of Penbroke , which the said Aimar had whiles he lived: which verily Wee , as much as lieth in Us, confirme, ratifie, and also approve unto him: willing and granting that the said Laurence have and hold the prerogative of Earle Palatine in those lands which he holdeth of the said Aimar’s inheritance, so fully and after the same manner as the said Aimar had and held them at the time of his death. In witnesse , the King at Mont-Martin, the thirteenth day of October, and in the thirteenth of oure reign.”

And now to continue:--

After Laurence, succeeded his sonne John , who, being taken prisoner by the Spaniards in a battle at sea, and in the end ransomed, died in France in the yeere 1375. The circumstances are these: “Having undergone four years’ imprisonment in Spaine, with most inhumane usage, he sent to Bertrand Clekyn, Constable of France, desiring that he would use some means for his enlargement; who thereupon interceding for him to the Bastard of Spaine, then calling himself King, obtained his liberty, in consideration of part of that money due to himself: which being agreed upon, he was brought to Paris. But after his coming thither, it was not long ere he fell mortally sick of poysin, as some thought, given him by the Spaniards, who were reputed to have such a special faculty in that art , as that the potion should kill at what distance of time they pleased. The French, therefore, seeing his death approaching, being eager to get his ransom before he died, made haste to remove him to Calais ; but on his journey thitherward he departed this life, upon the xvi. day of April, leaving his sonne and heire only two and a half years old.”

Agreeably to the superstition of the time, all his misfortunes and death were looked upon as judgments, for various alleged offences committed against the Church revenues: recommending that the clergy should be taxed more than the laity--for living an ungodly life--for “everything that could render him hateful in the eyes of monks, whom he insulted and exposed.”

After him followed his sonne John , second Earle of his line, who, in running a tilt[377] at Woodstock, was slaine by Syr John Saint John , casually, in the yeare 1397. And hereupon, for default of his issue, there fell very many possessions and fair revenewes into the King’s hands, as our lawiers use to speake: and the Castle of Penbrock was granted unto Francis At-Court , a courtier in especiell great favour, who commonly thereupon was called Lord Penbrock. Not long after, Humfrey, sonne to King Henry the Fourth, before he was Duke of Gloucester, received this title of his brother, King Henry the Fifth: and before his death Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion--a thing not before heard of--to William De la Pole , Earle of Suffolk, after whose downfall the said King, when he had enabled Edmund of Wadham , and Jasper of Hatfield , the sonnes of Queen Katherine, his mother, to be his lawfull half brethren, created Jasper Earle of Penbroke, and Edmund Earl of Richmond, with pre-eminence to take place above all Earles--for Kings have absolute authority in dispensing honours. But King Edward the Fourth, depriving Jasper of all his honours by attainder and forfeiture, gave the title of Penbrok to Syr William Herbert , for his good service against Jasper in Wales;[378] but he shortly afterwards lost his life at the battle of Banbury. Then succeeded his son, bearing the same name, whome King Edward the Fourth, when he had recovered the kingdom, invested in the Earldom of Huntingdon, and bestowed the title of Penbrok , being surrendered, upon his eldest sonne and heire, Edward Prince of Wales.--[Chronicle.]

Long after this period, “ Henry the Eighth invested Anne Bollen, to whom he was affianced, Marchioness of Penbroke, with a mantle and coronet, in regard both of her nobility and also her virtues--for so runne the wordes of the patent. At length King Edward the Sixth adorned Sir William Herbert, lord of Caerdiff , with the title of Earl of Penbroke, after whom succeeded his sonne Henry, who was Lord President of Wales under Queen Elizabeth. And now”--says our old King-at-arms , speaking courteously of his contemporaries--“his sonne, richly accomplished with all laudable endowments of body and minde, enjoyeth the same title. And this family of Herberts, he concludes, is honourable, and of great antiquity in these parts of Wales, as lineally propagated from Henry Fitz-Herbert, Chamberlayne to King Henry the First, who married the said King’s Paramour , the mother of Reginald, Earle of Cornwall, as I was first informed by Robert Glover , a man passing skilfull in the study of genealogies, by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a great losse.”

So much for the Genealogy of the old lords of Pembroke. In this department of history--the tracing of genealogies--in which the Cambrian families are proverbially expert, but which others affect to ridicule, we must not omit the defence of a learned Welshman: “That there have been,” says he, “parasites in the art, must be acknowledged; and family pride may sometimes have been flattered. However, upon the whole, much credit is due to our ancient genealogists, who were appointed and patronized by Royalty, and professed that art prior to their initiation into the higher mysteries of Bardism . Their records are still extant, and bear every mark of authenticity. A bard and a _genealogist_ were synonymous; and though a bard can plead _licentia poetica_, yet fiction was not allowed in recording the actions of their heroes,[379] nor in registering the descent of families. The Welsh bards continued their genealogical pursuits down to the reign of Elizabeth; therefore, as Humphrey Lwyd, a learned antiquary and historian, observes: “Let such disdainful heads as cant know their own grandfathers, leave their scoffing and taunting of Welshmen for that thing that all other nations in the world do glory in.” Yet, in justice to the ancient Saxons on this point, it must be allowed that they themselves were not altogether indifferent to the study of genealogy, since their deducing of their King Ethelwulph from Adam is an instance of their _accuracy_ in the art--

“Can Bourbon or Nassau go higher?”[380]

On the “Herbert genealogy,” Mr. Willatt relates the following characteristic Anecdote. --About two miles from Abergavenny, says he, is Handel--once a mansion of no less magnificence than antiquity; but in the present day it is only interesting from its having been the cradle of the ancient and numerous family of Herbert . Of the vast possessions of this family, the inheritance of the last lineal descendant, who died twenty years ago, had dwindled down to less than two hundred a year. But however reduced in fortune, his pride of ancestry had lost nothing of its strength or spirit by the change. Meeting a stranger one day near his mansion, who took an interest in the local history and natural beauties of the scenery, they entered into conversation.

“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “whose is that antique-looking mansion before us?”

“That, Sir,” replied the last of the Herberts, “is Handel--a very ancient house, for _out_ of it came the Earls of Pembroke of the first line; and the Earls of Pembroke of the second line; the Lords Herbert of Cherburg; the Herberts of Coldbrook, Rumney, Cardiff, and York; the Morgans of Acton came _out_ of it; so also did the Earl of Hunsdon ; the Joneses of Treowen and Llanarth, and all the Powells . Out of this house also, by the female line, came the Dukes of Beaufort !”

“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “who lives in it now?”

“I, Sir--I live in it,” was the answer.

“Then pardon me, Sir, if I presume to give you a little advice. Do not lose sight of so many prudent examples, but come _out_ of it yourself, or it will assuredly fall _in_ upon you, and crush you in its ruins!”

With this digression, suggested by the subject, we return to Pembroke.

The Castle. --In the words of Giraldus, already quoted in our motto, the situation of the Castle of Pembroke is thus correctly described:--A tongue of the sea, shooting forth of Milford-Haven, encloseth in the forked end thereof the principal town of the whole country, and chief place of Dimetia, seated on the ridge of a certain craggy and long-shaped rock, from which circumstance the Britons gave it the name of Penbro , which signifies a head of the sea. Arnulph Montgomery, so often mentioned in the early portion of this work, was the first who built a temporary fortress on this promontory--a very weak and slender thing, God wot, says Giraldus--consisting of merely walls, held together by stake and turf; and which, after returning into England, he delivered unto Girald of Windesor , his constable and captain, to be kept with a garrison of a few soldiers. The absence of Arnulph, however, was the signal for immediate revolt; and the warlike inhabitants of South Wales hastening to the spot, laid siege to the brittle fortress. But here they met with such a hot reception and stubborn resistance from Girald and his small garrison, that they were speedily disheartened and raised the siege. This attack served as a warning for Girald to strengthen his position; and he lost no time in fortifying the town and castle with walls and towers, sufficient to maintain him in quiet possession of the new territory. When this was accomplished, he began to retaliate; and acting upon the aggressive, invaded the surrounding country far and near. At length, finding himself at the head of a powerful garrison, yet willing to conciliate the natives--and thereby preserve his own estates and those of his followers free from the vexation of hostile irruptions--he ingratiated himself with Gruffin , the prince of the country, who gave him his sister, the beautiful Nesta ,[381] in marriage; and thus cemented a friendly alliance between the native Welsh and the Anglo-Normans. Great prosperity followed this event, and the Anglo-Normans--as Giraldus Cambrensis, who was a scion of the family, informs us--not only maintained peace along the sea-coasts of South Wales, but won also the “waulls of Ireland.”

The Giraldus de Windesor above mentioned was the first of that name; and is considered as the great progenitor of the Fitzgeralds of the present day--of whom the chief families are of Irish extraction, and familiar in the pages of modern history.

It is also written in the same documents, in regard to the tenure of this castle and town, likewise of the “castle and town of Tenbigh, of the Grange of Kingswood, of the Convent of Croytargath, and of the manors of Castle-Martin and Tregoire, that Reginald Grey, at the coronation of King Henry the Fourth, made suit to carry the second sword, but in vain; for answer was made him, that those castles and possessions were in the King’s hands, in the same manner as the town and castle of Pembroke now are”--[that is, at the date of the present extract.]

The Siege. --We now proceed to give a few details of Pembroke Castle, as it figures in the chronicles of Richard the Third and Charles the First.

* * * * *

The more rational and less bigoted part of the nation regarded Henry, Earl of Richmond, as the future deliverer of the kingdom, from the thraldom it endured from the tyranny of the sanguinary King Richard; for in Henry were to be united the pretensions of both the “Houses” of York and Lancaster. The Earl was, meanwhile, resident in Brittany, and living on good terms with the duke of that Province, who appeared to favour his claims, and treated him with marked respect and hospitality. But the circumstance that more immediately favoured his accession to the throne of England was the following:--Morton, Bishop of Ely, was confined in the Castle of Brecon, in custody of Henry, Duke of Buckingham, who had been a minion of Richard, and a powerful instrument of his advancement to the throne; but finding that his services in a bad cause were forgotten, and that Richard refused to ratify his claims to the Bohun estates and titles--to which he was heir--Buckingham entered warmly into the plans concerted by Morton and others for the recall of Richmond, and by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward the Fourth, to establish a double right to the throne. Dugdale assigns another reason for Buckingham’s secession from the usurper: after asserting that he was reinstated in those possessions which he claimed as a descendant of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and giving him an abstract of the instrument that put him in possession, he adds his opinion on the alteration which took place in his political sentiments, and ascribes it either to a remorse of conscience for raising Richard to the throne, after the murder of his nephews, or finding himself neglected by him: but with this question we have nothing to do.[382] Having concerted the plan of elevating Richmond to the throne, the secret was intrusted to Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, and Richard Kyffin, Dean of Bangor--both strenuous friends of the House of Lancaster--who transmitted, by means of fishing-boats, the necessary intelligence to the Earl of Richmond, with assurance of all possible aid on his arrival in Wales. This was an occasion too alluring for the Welsh Bards to continue silent; one of whom, Dafydd ap Llwyd ap Llywelyn ap Dryffyd, lord of Mathafarn, an illustrious poet and herald, rendered himself very serviceable in the cause. His dark, mysterious, Pythonic prophecies, that a chieftain of Wales would liberate the nation from Saxon bondage, so wrought upon the valour of his countrymen, that many thousands enlisted under the banner of Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, who afterwards joined Richmond on his arrival at Milford.

Apprized of the state and feeling of the country, and of the facilities which were now presented to him of recovering his position and station, Henry embraced the invitation as a message from Heaven; and, in the month of August, 1485, set sail for England. For this enterprise the Duke of Brétagne furnished him with a military force of two thousand men; and, with these distributed in a small fleet, he landed at Milford-Haven, where he was received with joy and acclamation by a vast concourse of friends, who now openly espoused his cause and predicted his triumph.

From Milford, Richmond proceeded to Dale and Haverfordwest, where he was joined by the above-named Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, Arnold Butler, Richard Gryffydd, John Morgan, Sir George Talbot, with the young Earl of Shrewsbury, his ward, Sir William Stanley, lord of Bromfield Yale and Chirkland, Sir Thomas Burchier, and Sir Walter Hungerford.[383]

After a most hospitable reception at Carew Castle, it was agreed, in order to prevent disputes between the armies, that in the march to Shrewsbury, the Earl should shape his course to Cardigan, and Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas by Carmarthen. In this march, Dafydd-ap-Ievan had the honour of entertaining the illustrious Prince and his army at Llwyn-Dafydd, Cardiganshire, for one night; and the following night he was received with loyal enthusiasm at Wern-Newyd, by Einon-ap-Dafyd Llwyd. To Dafydd-ap-Ievan the Earl presented a superb hirlas, or drinking-horn, richly mounted on a silver stand, which was afterwards presented to Richard, Earl of Carbery, and may still be seen[384] at Golden Grove, the seat of Lord Cawdor, Carmarthen.

“Pride of feasts, profound and blue, Of the ninth wave’s azure hue; The drink of heroes formed to hold, With art enriched and lid of gold.”--_Hoare’s Gir._

From his hospitable quarters in Cardiganshire, Richmond sallied forth to meet the usurper; and marching through Shrewsbury, Newport, Stafford, and Lichfield, encountered him at Bosworth--

“What, ho! young Richmond, ho! ’tis Richard calls thee! I hate thee, Harry, for thy blood of Lancaster! Now, if thou dost not hide thee from my sword, Now, while the angry trumpet sounds alarms And dying groans transpierce the wounded air; Richmond, I say, come forth and singly face me! Richard is hoarse with daring thee to arms!”

The fate of that day is so familiar in the page of Shakspeare, that we close this part of our subject, and proceed to other particulars:--

Anecdote. --Of one of Richmond’s adherents, the following is told by Turner in his “History of Remarkable Providences:”--Mr. Henry Wyatt, a gentleman of Kent, was a confederate in the plan, and intrusted with the correspondence between the friends of the Earl, which he conducted with great personal risk, but the greatest fidelity, being the bearer of several dispatches to and from the parties at home and abroad. But at last his conduct being suspected, he was arrested, examined, and discharged for want of conclusive evidence. But on a second charge being brought against him, he was committed to the Tower, and there put to the torture; but such were his fortitude and resolution, that nothing could be drawn from him either to prove his own participation in the designs laid to his charge, or to incriminate others. Finding threats, tortures, and fair promises alike unavailing, he was cast into a dungeon, fed upon bread and water, and thus continued until the question of supremacy was decided by the battle of Bosworth Field. The pittance, it is said, to which he was condemned, would have been quite inadequate to support nature, _had not a cat brought him food daily_. He lived to be made a baronet, in compliment to his unflinching loyalty, and served in the Privy Council of Henry VII.-VIII.

A picture is said to be still preserved in the family, in which a cat is represented creeping in at a grate--having a pigeon in its mouth--with these lines:--

Hunc. macrum. rigidum. mæstum. fame. frigore. cura Pavi. fovi. acui. carne. calore. joco.

Cromwell , before marching against the Scottish army, thought it advisable to suppress the returning loyalty of South Wales, which had recently defeated the Parliamentary forces. The town and castle of Pembroke had been consigned by Parliament to the government and defence of Colonel Poyer; but on his declaring for the King, the “gallant conduct of himself and the garrison afforded a brilliant example of devotion to the Royal cause.” The defence was continued with so much obstinacy and resolution, that the presence of Cromwell himself was necessary for the reduction of the castle: while the garrison, having suffered for some time from great deficiency of provisions, was at last--owing, as we shall see, to Lord Jermyn’s total neglect of his engagements--reduced to the verge of absolute famine.

Cromwell, in the meantime, was quite unaware of the real position of affairs within the walls; and thinking, from the resistance already offered, that the place might hold out much longer than would be consistent with his other plans, was on the point of raising the siege. But while this question was agitating his mind, a deserter from the Royalist camp brought him intelligence that, owing to the pressure of famine, it was impossible that Poyer and his companions could maintain their post beyond twenty-four hours. This unexpected news determined him to continue the siege; but however much he prized his timely information, he determined to express his abhorrence of the “informer;” and--as a salutary warning to all traitors--he ordered him to be hanged.

It has been doubted, however, whether, in his “military capacity,” Cromwell was ever in this part of Wales--though Mr. Yorke allows that he might have made a friendly visit there; for in an old house at Kinmael, that once belonged to the Llwyds, of the tribe of Maredudd--but at that period to Colonel Carter, an officer in his favour--there is a room called Cromwell’s parlour ; and, with other circumstances taken into consideration, little doubt, he thinks, can be entertained of Cromwell’s having in person conducted the siege of Pembroke.[385]

But the following documents, written by Oliver Cromwell himself, are conclusive:--

“To Major Thomas Saunders, at Brecknock, these:

“Before PEMBROKE, 17th June, 1648.

“SIR,--I send you this enclosed by itself, because it’s of greater moment. The other you may communicate to Mr. Ramsey, as far as you think fit, and I have written. I would not have him and other honest men be discouraged that I think it not fit, at present, to enter into contests. It will be good to yield a little for public advantage; and truly that is my end: wherein I desire you to satisfy them. I have sent, as my letter mentions, to have you remove out of Brecknockshire; indeed, into that part of Glamorganshire which lieth next Monmouthshire. For this end: We have plain discoveries that Sir Trevor Williams of Llangibby,” &c., [is suspected, and must be _secured_. See “Raglan,” page 178.]

Again--