{8} Green, "Hist. Eng. People," i. 172.
{9} "England under the Angevin Kings," vol. ii. 457.
{10} Project Gutenberg has released "The Description of Wales" as a
separate eText - David Price.
{11} Giraldus has committed an error in placing Urban III. at the
head of the apostolic see; for he died at Ferrara in the month of
October, A.D. 1187, and was succeeded by Gregory VIII., whose short
reign expired in the month of December following. Clement III. was
elected pontiff in the year 1188. Frederick I., surnamed
Barbarossa, succeeded Conrad III. in the empire of Germany, in
March, 1152, and was drowned in a river of Cilicia whilst bathing,
in 1190. Isaac Angelus succeeded Andronicus I. as emperor of
Constantinople, in 1185, and was dethroned in 1195. Philip II.,
surnamed Augustus, from his having been born in the month of August,
was crowned at Rheims, in 1179, and died at Mantes, in 1223. William
II., king of Sicily, surnamed the Good, succeeded in 1166 to his
father, William the Bad, and died in 1189. Bela III., king of
Hungary, succeeded to the throne in 1174, and died in 1196. Guy de
Lusignan was crowned king of Jerusalem in 1186, and in the following
year his city was taken by the victorious Saladin.
{12} New Radnor.
{13} Rhys ap Gruffydd was grandson to Rhys ap Tewdwr, prince of
South Wales, who, in 1090, was slain in an engagement with the
Normans. He was a prince of great talent, but great versatility of
character, and made a conspicuous figure in Welsh history. He died
in 1196, and was buried in the cathedral of St. David's; where his
effigy, as well as that of his son Rhys Gryg, still remain in a good
state of preservation.
{14} Peter de Leia, prior of the Benedictine monastery of Wenlock,
in Shropshire, was the successful rival of Giraldus for the
bishopric of Saint David's, vacant by the death of David Fitzgerald,
the uncle of our author; but he did not obtain his promotion without
considerable opposition from the canons, who submitted to the
absolute sequestration of their property before they consented to
his election, being desirous that the nephew should have succeeded
his uncle. He was consecrated in 1176, and died in 1199.
{15} In the Latin of Giraldus, the name of Eineon is represented by
AEneas, and Eineon Clyd by AEneas Claudius.
{16} Cruker Castle. The corresponding distance between Old and New
Radnor evidently places this castle at Old Radnor, which was
anciently called Pen-y-craig, Pencraig, or Pen-crug, from its
situation on a rocky eminence. Cruker is a corruption, probably,
from Crug-caerau, the mount, or height, of the fortifications.
{17} Buelth or Builth, a large market town on the north-west edge
of the county of Brecon, on the southern banks of the Wye, over
which there is a long and handsome bridge of stone. It had formerly
a strong castle, the site and earthworks of which still remain, but
the building is destroyed.
{18} Llan-Avan, a small church at the foot of barren mountains
about five or six miles north-west of Buelth. The saint from whom
it takes its name, was one of the sons of Cedig ab Cunedda; whose
ancestor, Cunedda, king of the Britons, was the head of one of the
three holy families of Britain. He is said to have lived in the
beginning of the sixth century.
{19} Melenia, Warthrenion, Elevein, Elvenia, Melenyth, and Elvein,
places mentioned in this first chapter, and varying in their
orthography, were three different districts in Radnorshire:
Melenyth is a hundred in the northern part of the county, extending
into Montgomeryshire, in which is the church of Keri: Elvein
retains in modern days the name of Elvel, and is a hundred in the
southern part of the county, separated from Brecknockshire by the
Wye; and Warthrenion, in which was the castle built by prince Rhys
at Rhaiadyr-gwy, seems to have been situated between the other two.
Warthrenion may more properly be called Gwyrthrynion, it was
anciently one of the three comots of Arwystli, a cantref of
Merioneth. In the year 1174, Melyenith was in the possession of
Cadwallon ap Madawc, cousin german to prince Rhys; Elvel was held by
Eineon Clyd and Gwyrthrynion by Eineon ap Rhys, both sons-in-law to
that illustrious prince.
{20} The church of Saint Germanus is now known by the name of Saint
Harmans, and is situated three or four miles from Rhaiadyr, in
Radnorshire, on the right-hand of the road from thence to
Llanidloes; it is a small and simple structure, placed on a little
eminence, in a dreary plain surrounded by mountains.
{21} Several churches in Wales have been dedicated to Saint Curig,
who came into Wales in the seventh century.
{22} Glascum is a small village in a mountainous and retired
situation between Builth and Kington, in Herefordshire.
{23} Bangu. - This was a hand bell kept in all the Welsh churches,
which the clerk or sexton took to the house of the deceased on the
day of the funeral: when the procession began, a psalm was sung;
the bellman then sounded his bell in a solemn manner for some time,
till another psalm was concluded; and he again sounded it at
intervals, till the funeral arrived at the church.
{24} Rhaiadyr, called also Rhaiader-gwy, is a small village and
market-town in Radnorshire. The site only of the castle, built by
prince Rhys, A.D. 1178, now remains at a short distance from the
village; it was strongly situated on a natural rock above the river
Wye, which, below the bridge, forms a cataract.
{25} Llywel, a small village about a mile from Trecastle, on the
great road leading from thence to Llandovery; it was anciently a
township, and by charter of Philip and Mary was attached to the
borough of Brecknock, by the name of Trecastle ward.
