Part 38

Sir Rhys -ap-Thomas, lord of this and many other castles, was descended from Rhys-ap-Twdor, of the royal house of South Wales; and had been appointed governor of these counties by Richard III. One of his residences was Abermarles, in the county of Carmarthen--a princely mansion in its time, and called by Leland, “a faire house of old Sir Rees’s.” Newcastle-in-Emlyn, in the same county--once belonging to the princes of Dynevwr, and celebrated in Cambro-British history--was also his property, and often honoured with his presence.

By Sir Edward Carew the castle was mortgaged to Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, who made it his favourite residence, and there spent the latter part of his life. The Bishop of St. David’s, then a constant resident at Lamphey, induced Sir Rhys to prefer Carew to his other demesnes; for they were devoted friends, and spent much time in the society of each other. In the following reign his vast possessions and castellated mansions were forfeited by the attainder of his grandson, Rice Griffith. Abermarles was granted by the crown to Sir Thomas Jones, Knt.; thence by marriage it passed to Sir Francis Cornwallis, whose son leaving issue four daughters, and the three youngest married, the estate was divided in 1793 among their descendants. Abermarles came to Lord Viscount Hawarden, who disposed of the mansion, demesne, park, and manor, to the gallant Admiral Foley , who led the fleet into action at the battle of the Nile; commanded the Britannia in Lord St. Vincent’s action, and on board whose ship Nelson shifted his flag at the battle of Copenhagen. He built a magnificent mansion near the site of the old house. Emlyn and its extensive demesnes became the property of the Vaughans of Golden Grove--whose ancestors were successively Lords of Mollingar, Earls of Carbery, and Lords of Emlyn--and are now the property of Lord Cawdor, as devisee of the late “J. Vaughan, of Golden Grove, Esquire.”

Carew , with its castle and barony, was granted by leases, for specified terms, to Sir J. Perrot and others, the remainder of which terms was purchased by Sir John Carew, kinsman of Sir Edmund above-mentioned, to whom Charles the First restored the fee simple and inheritance, from whom it descended to the present owner.[409]

MARGAM ABBEY,

Glamorganshire .

“How many hearts have here grown cold, That sleep these mouldering stones among! How many beads have here been told-- How many Matins here been sung!”

Of this renowned Abbey the existing remains convey but a very inadequate idea. The parish church is formed out of part of the original abbey-church; of the chapter-house the walls only remain; and of the ruins scattered around, the original use, size, and distribution have not yet been ascertained. That it was an extensive edifice, and exhibited in its style and proportions all the higher characteristics of Cistercian monasteries, may be taken on the credit of what remains. The foundation is fixed in the year 1147, and the process of erection must have been contemporaneous with that of Tinterne--a temple of the same Order, whose taste and affluence, during that and the following century, have left so many gorgeous monuments in England and Wales.

Dugdale fixes the date of Margam Abbey in the year 1147. It was founded by Robert, Earl of Gloucester--so often named in this work--and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In this, also, the annals of Margam--written by a monk of the Abbey--agree, and mention the date of its foundation as that of the year in which the founder departed this life. The chronicle, printed in the second volume of Gale’s Scriptores, called “Annales de Margam,” is a history of general scope, extending from the year of the Conquest to that of 1232, and throws but little light upon the particular affairs of the Monastery in which it was written. It is a history of the _times_, not of the Abbey. It gives the names, however, of four abbots, mentions three or four incursions of the Welsh, and remarks that Margam and Beaulieu in Hampshire were the only monasteries among the Cistercians that were released from King John’s extortions in 1210, to which reference has been already made in our notice of Tinterne. The plea upon which Margam escaped these severe taxations was, that, both in his progress to and from Ireland, the King and his suite had been liberally entertained by the abbot and monks of Margam.

With respect to the inroads noticed in these “Annals,” we are told that--“This year, M.C.LXI, in the month of October, the Welsh burnt down our granary or barn; an act which was quickly followed by divine vengeance.” Again, “In M.CC.XXIII, (he says,) in the course of one week, wicked men have destroyed upwards of a thousand of our sheep, with two houses. In the following year they wantonly slew two of our servants in one day, while engaged in the performance of their duty; and also, immediately thereafter, a youth who had charge of the flock.” But the fourth irruption was still more serious; for “they burnt to the very ground our grange at Penwith, with many cattle, including the steers; they next depopulated the grange of Rossaulin, burnt many sheep, drove off the cows, and put one of our servants wantonly to death; they then took the cattle of the grange of Theodore Twdor, killed many on the road, took the rest with them. Lastly, they set fire to the Abbey houses in different places, and great were the flocks that perished in the flames.”--_Annal. de Marg. Scriptores a T. Gale_, tom. ii. pp. 7, 16, 17.

Leland ascribes to this Abbey the privilege of sanctuary: “Habet privilegium sanctuarii, sed quo rarissime aut nunquam utuntur Cambri--” but of which the natives very rarely or never made any use. According to the same authority, Margam Abbey had four daughter-houses in Ireland, namely--Kyrideyson, S. Crux, Maio, and Chorus Benedictus.

Abbots. --William, the first Abbot, died in M.C.LIII; Andrew, the second, two years later; and it was probably in the short time of the latter, or that of his successor, that the altar of the Holy Trinity in the abbey church was consecrated by William, Bishop of Llandaff. Gilbert, the third Abbot, resigned in July, M.CC.XIII, died the following year at Kirksted, and was succeeded by Abbot John, of whom nothing is recorded by the annalist.

A large collection of original charters belonging to this Abbey is still preserved with the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum. The common seal of the Abbey, appendant to a deed, dated 1518, has been elegantly lithographed, as we read in the Monasticon, by the care of the Rev. W. Traherne. At the Dissolution, the sum total of the revenues of Margam Abbey amounted to one hundred and eighty-eight pounds, fourteen shillings sterling; the clear income to seven pounds less. The site was granted by the King to Sir Rees Maxwell, Knt. The Abbey was afterwards the seat of Thomas, Lord Mansell; and passed afterwards into the Talbot family. In early times the buildings of this Abbey are described as affording specimens of the richest style of conventual architecture. But these characteristics are no longer applicable to the, ruins before us; for time and the quarry-man, probably, have done much to deface the beauty and even form of the original structure.

Osborne , p. 6.--Walter, a Norman knight, and a great favourite of William the Conqueror, was one summer evening playing at chess with the King, and after a time won all he played for. The King then threw down the board, and with his usual oath exclaimed he had nothing more to lose. Walter, however, being of a different opinion, replied--“Sir, here is land.” “True,” said the King; “and if thou beatest me this time, thine be all the land on this side the bourne or river which thou canst see where thou now standest.” This said, to it they went once more, and knight Walter again won the game, whereupon the King, starting up and slapping him on the shoulder, said, “Henceforth thou shalt be called Ousebourne.” And hence, it is supposed, came the name afterwards so famous.--[Life of Corinni, Pegge’s Curialia Miscellanea, p. 319. Lower, 156.]

Tinterne , p. 53.--The drinking after Complins of the prioress of Rumsey has crept into all our familiar books. Among the injunctions to the convent of Appleton, anno. 1489, is the following:--“_Item_, That none of your sisters use the _ale-house_, nor the water syde, where course of strangers dayly resorte.” In another it was inquired: “Whether any of the susters doe cherish theme moste that have any monye, and causeth them to spende the same, when they be within, at good ale, or otherwise?” _Item._--“Whether any of the susters be commonlye drunke?” There were, however, many honourable exceptions. Pensions were granted at the Dissolution according to the character of the monastic brothers and sisters, which it was the business of the King’s visitors to investigate; and recommend when approved. Rahdal Wylmyston, monk of Norton, they pronounced to be “a good, religious man, discreet, and well-grounded in learning--having many good qualities.” The nunnery of Legborne petitioned to be preserved, saying--“We trust in God, ye shall here no complaints against us, nether in our living nor hospitalitie-keeping.”--[_See Fosb., quoting M.S. Cott., Cleop._ E. iv., 370, B.]

TINTERNE, p. 57.--That the learning of those times was rather scanty, even among the higher ecclesiastics, we have the testimony of Pitscottie:--Forman, who succeeded to the archbishopric of St. Andrew’s--on the death of his predecessor at the battle of Flodden--owed his sudden rise to the partiality of Pope Leo X. Being then at Rome, the new archbishop thought it decorous to give a banquet to his Holiness and the dignitaries of his court, before setting out on his journey homeward. “When the dinner came up,” says the historian, “the Pope and cardinals placed, and sat down according to their estate; then the use and custom was, that, at the beginning of the meat, he that aught [owned] the house, and made the banquet, should say grace and bless the meat. And so they required the holy bishop to say the grace, who was not a good scholar, and had not good Latin, but began rudely in the Scottish fashion in this manner, saying--‘_Benedicite_,’ believing that they should have answered, _Dominus_. But they answered _Dans_, in the Italian fashion, which put this noble bishop bye his intendiment, that he wist not how to proceed forward; but happened out, in good Scottish, in this manner, the which they understood not, saying--‘To the devil I give ye all, fause carles, in nomini Patriæ, Filii, and Spiritus Sancti!’ Amen, quoth they! Then the bishop and his men leugh. And the bishop shewed the Pope the manner that he was not a good clerk, and his cardinals had put him bye his intendiment, and therefore he gave them all to the devil in good Scottish; and then the Pope leugh among the rest.”--[_Pitscottie, Hist. Scotl._ p. 166, 299], quoted by Morton.

TINTERNE, p. 76.--Wyat, who was attached to the Reformers, before their tenets were openly proclaimed in this country, is said to have accelerated the downfall of monastic institutions by the following jest:--During a conversation with the King on the projected suppression of monasteries, Henry observed to the poet that he foresaw great alarm would be caused throughout the country if the Crown were to resume the immense property then accumulated by the church. Wyat, who saw that this scruple might produce hesitation, and perhaps obstruction in the measures then in progress, replied with a suggestion--“True, your highness; but what if the rooks’ nests were buttered?” Henry, it is said, took the hint, and, by distributing valuable church lands among the nobility, diminished the danger and odium of an enterprise at once so daring and unpopular.

Raglan , p. 132.--David Gam, the Fluellin of Shakspeare, and whose name has been already noticed in the article on Raglan, was the son of Llewelyn ap Howel Vychan, of Brecknock, by Maud, daughter of Lefan ap Rhys ap Ivor ap Elvel. The residence of this celebrated warrior was Old Court, the site of which is in a field adjoining Llandeilo-Cresseny House, midway between Abergavenny and Monmouth. David Gam, being the officer sent to reconnoitre the French army before the battle of Agincourt, said to the King on his return--“An’t please you, my liege, they are enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to ran away.” In this battle, David, with his son-in-law, Roger Vychan [Vaughan], and his relative, Walter Lloyd, rescued the King when surrounded by his foes--saved his life at the expense of their own--and out of the eighteen French cavaliers slew fourteen.

The King, after this signal victory, approached the spot where they lay in the agonies of death, and bestowed on them the only reward that could then be paid to their valour--to wit, the honour of knighthood. Shakspeare, as we have observed, designated this fiery soldier by the name of Fluellin. He resided often at Peytyn-Gwyn, near Brecon, and many of his descendants at Tregaer; others of the family were buried in Christ’s Church, Brecon. There are almshouses in the parish of St. David’s, Brecon, with a portion of garden-ground attached to each, given by one of the Games or Gams of Newton, for thirteen female inmates--decayed housekeepers in the town of Brecon.--[_Owen Glendower, by Thomas._]

In our notice of the Founders of Raglan, from other historical sources, this David is named Sir Richard Gam, whose daughter, after the loss of her husband, Sir Roger Vaughan, at Agincourt, espoused Sir William ap Thomas, the knight of Raglan.

RAGLAN, p. 174.--_Inter Carolinum_--the King’s route after Naseby fight.

June 14. Battle of Naseby, 1645. 15. Lichfield--at the governor’s in the close. Mond. 16. Mrs. (Widow) Barnford’s, Wolverhampton. 17. The “Angel” at Bewdley (two nights), 17th and 18th. 19. Dined at Bramyard, supped at Hereford (and remained). July 1. (Tuesday) To Campson, dinner, Mr. Pritchard’s--to Abergavenny, supper, at Mr. Guncer’s (staid second). 3. To Raglan , supper, Marquis of Worcester, remained till Wed. 16. To Tridegur, to dinner--Cardiff, supper, Sir T. Timel’s--defrayed at the country’s charge. 18. Back to Raglan to dinner, remained till 22. To Mr. Moore’s of the Creek, near Black Rock, and came back to supper at Raglan.

“The Scots approach, and our own causeless apprehension of fear made us demur and doubt; on the first, what to resolve; and in the latter, how to steer our resolutions, which involved us in a most disastrous condition.

Thurs. 24. From Raglan to Mr. Moore’s of the Creek, to pass over at the Black Rock for Bristol; but his Majesty, sitting in council, and advising to the contrary, marched only with his own servants and troops that night to Newport-on-Usk; lay at Mrs. Pritty’s. 25. To Ruppera, Sir Philip Morgan’s (rested). Tues. 29. To Cardiff, dinner at the governor’s, at our own charge. Aug. 5. (Tuesday) To Glancayah, Mr. Pritchard’s, dinner. Wed. 6. To Gumevit, Sir Henry Williams’, dinner. “ To Old Radnor, supper, a yeoman’s house. “ The Court dispersed.

Thurs. 7. Ludlow Castle, to dinner, Colonel Woodhouse’s. Sept. 7. (Sunday) Raglan Castle, supper. 8th, Abergavenny. Sund. 14. ib. supper.

Mond. 15. Marched halfway to Bramyard, but there was _leo in intinere_, and so back to Hereford again.”--[Extract from the “_Itinerarium_.”]

RAGLAN LIBRARY, p. 195.--The havoc and devestation of the ancient British MSS. is a subject of continual regret to the historian, antiquary, and general scholar. Bangor-is-Coed, according to Laugharne and Humphrey Llwyd, was furnished with a valuable library, which was burnt to ashes by Edelfrid, when he massacred its inmates, and destroyed the college--not much less, as Bishop Lloyd asserts, than one of our present universities. A chest of records, appertaining to the see of St. David’s, was destroyed by a flood; and great part of the MSS. of British authors were burnt during the civil wars.

In those calamitous times, when monuments of taste and literature were destroyed or defaced by miscreants more ignorant and rapacious than Goths and Vandals, the superb library at Raglan Castle met with the same fate as other splendid establishments, when objects of military spoil or fanatical rage. In an age comparatively learned, the monks termed all ancient MSS. _vetusta et inutilia_; and little attention, we have reason to believe, was paid by the visitors at the Dissolution--mostly ill qualified for the task--to discriminate between true history and Romish legends, to select and preserve works of merit, and to reject the trash hoarded up by superstition.--[_Fenton’s Pemb.; Mem. Owen Glendower, Rev. T. Thomas_, 29.]

RAGLAN, p. 221.-- Oldcastle was the dissolute companion of Henry V. when Prince of Wales, and afterwards a Wickliffite and reformer. He was sacrificed by his youthful companion to an ecclesiastical bribe, condemned and executed for heresy and rebellion. Lord Orford observes, that Cobham was the first author, as well as the first martyr among our nobility: a man whose virtues made him a reformer; whose valour, a martyr; whose martyrdom, an enthusiast. He was suspended by a chain fastened round his waist, over a slow fire. The bringing him to the stake was considered a meritorious affair in those times of gross superstition. The lordship of Broniarth was granted to the family of Tanad, the fifth of Henry V.; and other gentlemen enjoyed several privileges from Edward Charleton, Lord Powys, for the assistance they gave in the apprehension of Oldcastle, whose son-in-law, Sir John Gray, brought him a prisoner to London; and for this service, Lord Powys received the thanks of Parliament. Oldcastle, the residence of Lord Cobham, is situated on the slope of the Black Mountains, near the road to Longtown, and about four miles from Llanfihangel. The old castle was demolished, and a farm-house constructed from the materials.

--[_Owen Glendower_, p. 122.]

Pembroke Castle , p. 300.--Welsh bards are thus apostrophized by Drayton:--

“Oh, memorable Bards! of unmix’d blood, which still Posterity shall praise for your so wondrous skill; That in your noble songs the long descents have kept Of your great heroes, else in Lethé that had slept With theirs, whose ignorant pride your labours have disdained, How much from time and them, how bravely you have gained. ‘Musician,’ ‘herald,’ ‘bard,’ thrice mayest thou be renowned! And with three several wreaths immortally be crowned! Who, when to Pembroke called, before the English king, And to thy powerful harp commanded there to sing, Of famous Arthur told’st, and where he was interred, In which those ‘retchless’ times had long and blindly erred. And ignorance had brought the world to such a pass, As now, which scarce believed that Arthur ever was! But when King Henry sent the reported place to view, He found that man of men, and what thou said’st was true. Here, then, I cannot choose but bitterly exclaim Against those fools that all _Antiquity_ defame; Because they have found out some credulous ages laid Slight fictions with the truth, whilst truth on rumour staid. And that our forward times (perceiving the former neglect A former of her had), to purchase her respect, With toys then trimmed her up, the drowsy world to allure, And lent her what it thought might appetite procure. To man, whose mind doth still variety pursue,” &c., 217 .

So did Mars reverence the Muses, that, if a Welsh bard struck his harp at the moment of encounter, the hostile spirit pervading both armies was suddenly subdued; their swords were returned bloodless to the scabbards; and they who had come forth to mutual slaughter, united in the song of peace and goodwill to men.

PEMBROKE, p. 301.--“The castel,” says Leland, “standith hard by the waull on a hard rocke, and is verie large and strong, being doble warded. In the utter warde I saw the chambre where Kinge Henri VII. was borne, in knowledge whereof a chyromancy is now made with the armes and badges of this kinge. In the botome of the great stronge rownd tower in the inner ward, is a marvellus vault called the Hogan . The top of this rownd tower is gathered with a rofe of stone, almost in _conum_; the topp whereoff is keverid with a flat mille stone.”

The outer ward, here mentioned, was entered from the tower by a grand gateway, yet standing, of prodigious strength, and defended by two round towers, one on each side.

PEMBROKE, p. 302.--The small remains of the Ely Tower, in Brecknock Castle, still exist. The fate of Morton and Buckingham, though their views were similar, were very unlike. Morton was meritoriously elevated to the dignities of a Cardinal, and Archbishop of Canterbury, for his services: while Buckingham was intercepted, and lost his head at Salisbury.[410] He discovered, too late, that tyrants pull down those scaffolds which elevated them to power. His son Edward was restored by Henry VII., but through the machinations of Wolsey fell into disgrace, and was beheaded by Henry VIII. for the whimsical alleged crime of consulting a _wizard_ about the succession. When the Emperor Charles V. heard of his death, he observed--“A butcher’s dog has torn down the finest buck in England.”[411]

PEMBROKE, p. 303.--On the 7th of December, 1780, the following letter from the Lord Bishop of St. David’s, and the Justices of the County of Pembroke, to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, was read at the Society of Antiquaries of London, being copied from the “Scrinia Burleighiana,” Vol. 79, No. 3, then in the library of James West, Esq., at Alscot.

By this letter is seen the great importance attached to Pembroke, both as a fortress, a seaport, a safe bay, and a productive soil, but at that time quite unprotected against foreign invasion. It runs thus:--

“Right Honorable our singular good Lorde.--The bounden dutie we owe to her Maᵗⁱᵉ, the consience we have for safegarde of the whole Realme, and the care that in nature and reason wee carry of this our countrie, have emboldened us to offer this Discourse unto yʳ Honʳ. concerninge the safetie of them and us all. It becometh us not to feare, neither do we doubte of the wise and grave consideracon that yʳ Lp. and the rest of the LLˢ. moste honourable privie counsaill, have had, and still have, for yᵉ preservacon of her Maᵗⁱᵉ and the realme; but yett, fearing yʳ want of due informacon touching the estate of Mylforde Haven, and the p’tes adjoining, It may please you to understande that yᵉ Haven itself, being neyther barred to hynder entrie, nor to be embayed by anye wyndes to lett yssuinge forthe, is a sufficient harborough for an infynite number of Ships; wᶜʰ haven beying once gotten by the enemye, maie drawe on such fortificacon of Pembrock Towne and Castle, and the Towne and Castle of Tynby, with other places nere unto yᵐ, as infynite nombers of men, and greate expense of treasure, will hardely in a long tyme remove the enemye, during which tyme her Maᵗⁱᵉ shall loose a fertyle countrey, wᶜʰ yeldes her Maᵗⁱᵉ xii. lib. by yeere, and more in revenue paide to her Maᵗⁱᵉ’ˢ Receaver, besides all other Receipts, both temporal and ecclesiasticall, as tenthes, subsidies, &c.