{41} St. Kynauc, Who Flourished About The Year 492, Was The Reputed
Son Of Brychan, Lord Of Brecknock, By Benadulved, Daughter Of
Benadyl, A Prince Of Powis, Whom He Seduced During The Time Of His
Detention As An Hostage At The Court Of Her Father.
He is said to
have been murdered upon the mountain called the Van, and buried in
the church of Merthyr Cynawg, or Cynawg the Martyr, near Brecknock,
which is dedicated to his memory.
{42} In Welsh, Illtyd, which has been latinised into Iltutus, as in
the instance of St. Iltutus, the celebrated disciple of Germanus,
and the master of the learned Gildas, who founded a college for the
instruction of youth at Llantwit, on the coast of Glamorganshire;
but I do not conceive this to be the same person. The name of Ty-
Illtyd, or St. Illtyd's house, is still known as Llanamllech, but it
is applied to one of those monuments of Druidical antiquity called a
cistvaen, erected upon an eminence named Maenest, at a short
distance from the village. A rude, upright stone stood formerly on
one side of it, and was called by the country people Maen Illtyd, or
Illtyd's stone, but was removed about a century ago. A well, the
stream of which divides this parish from the neighbouring one of
Llansaintfraid, is called Ffynnon Illtyd, or Illtyd's well. This
was evidently the site of the hermitage mentioned by Giraldus.
{43} Lhanhamelach, or Llanamllech, is a small village, three miles
from Brecknock, on the road to Abergavenny.
{44} The name of Newmarche appears in the chartulary of Battel
abbey, as a witness to one of the charters granted by William the
Conqueror to the monks of Battel in Sussex, upon his foundation of
their house. He obtained the territory of Brecknock by conquest,
from Bleddyn ap Maenarch, the Welsh regulus thereof, about the year
1092, soon after his countryman, Robert Fitzhamon, had reduced the
county of Glamorgan. He built the present town of Brecknock, where
he also founded a priory of Benedictine monks. According to Leland,
he was buried in the cloister of the cathedral church at Gloucester,
though the mutilated remains of an effigy and monument are still
ascribed to him in the priory church at Brecknock.
{45} Brecheinoc, now Brecknockshire, had three cantreds or
hundreds, and eight comots. - 1. Cantref Selef with the comots of
Selef and Trahayern. - 2. Cantref Canol, or the middle hundred, with
the comots Talgarth, Ystradwy, and Brwynlys, or Eglyws Yail. - 3.
Cantref Mawr, or the great hundred, with the comots of Tir Raulff
Llywel, and Cerrig Howel. - Powel's description of Wales, p. 20.
{46} Milo was son to Walter, constable of England in the reign of
Henry I., and Emme his wife, one of the daughters of Dru de Baladun,
sister to Hameline de Baladun, a person of great note, who came into
England with William the Conqueror, and, being the first lord of
Overwent in the county of Monmouth, built the castle of Abergavenny.
He was wounded by an arrow while hunting, on Christmas eve, in 1144,
and was buried in the chapter-house of Lanthoni, near Gloucester.
{47} Walter de Clifford. The first of this ancient family was
called Ponce; he had issue three sons, Walter, Drogo or Dru, and
Richard. The Conqueror's survey takes notice of the two former, but
from Richard the genealogical line is preserved, who, being called
Richard de Pwns, obtained, as a gift from king Henry I., the cantref
Bychan, or little hundred, and the castle of Llandovery, in Wales;
he left three sons, Simon, Walter, and Richard. The Walter de
Clifford here mentioned was father to the celebrated Fair Rosamond,
the favourite of king Henry II.; and was succeeded by his eldest
son, Walter, who married Margaret, daughter to Llewelyn, prince of
Wales, and widow of John de Braose.
{48} Brendlais, or Brynllys, is a small village on the road between
Brecknock and Hay, where a stately round tower marks the site of the
ancient castle of the Cliffords, in which the tyrant Mahel lost his
life.
{49} St. Almedha, though not included in the ordinary lists, is
said to have been a daughter of Brychan, and sister to St. Canoc,
and to have borne the name of Elevetha, Aled, or Elyned, latinised
into Almedha. The Welsh genealogists say, that she suffered
martyrdom on a hill near Brecknock, where a chapel was erected to
her memory; and William of Worcester says she was buried at Usk.
Mr. Hugh Thomas (who wrote an essay towards the history of
Brecknockshire in the year 1698) speaks of the chapel as standing,
though unroofed and useless, in his time; the people thereabouts
call it St. Tayled. It was situated on an eminence, about a mile to
the eastward of Brecknock, and about half a mile from a farm-house,
formerly the mansion and residence of the Aubreys, lords of the
manor of Slwch, which lordship was bestowed upon Sir Reginald Awbrey
by Bernard Newmarche, in the reign of William Rufus. Some small
vestiges of this building may still be traced, and an aged yew tree,
with a well at its foot, marks the site near which the chapel
formerly stood.
{50} This same habit is still (in Sir Richard Colt Hoare's time)
used by the Welsh ploughboys; they have a sort of chaunt, consisting
of half or even quarter notes, which is sung to the oxen at plough:
the countrymen vulgarly supposing that the beasts are consoled to
work more regularly and patiently by such a lullaby.
{51} The umber, or grayling, is still a plentiful and favourite
fish in the rivers on the Welsh border.
{52} About the year 1113, "there was a talke through South Wales,
of Gruffyth, the sonne of Rees ap Theodor, who, for feare of the
king, had beene of a child brought up in Ireland, and had come over
two yeares passed, which time he had spent privilie with his
freends, kinsfolks, and affines; as with Gerald, steward of
Penbrooke, his brother-in-law, and others.
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