In This Third District Of Wales, Called Powys, There Are Most
Excellent Studs Put Apart For Breeding, And Deriving Their Origin
From Some Fine Spanish Horses, Which Robert De Belesme, {188} Earl
Of Shrewsbury, Brought Into This Country:
On which account the
horses sent from hence are remarkable for their majestic proportion
and astonishing fleetness.
Here king Henry II. entered Powys, in our days, upon an expensive,
though fruitless, expedition. {189} Having dismembered the hostages
whom he had previously received, he was compelled, by a sudden and
violent fall of rain, to retreat with his army. On the preceding
day, the chiefs of the English army had burned some of the Welsh
churches, with the villages and churchyards; upon which the sons of
Owen the Great, with their light-armed troops, stirred up the
resentment of their father and the other princes of the country,
declaring that they would never in future spare any churches of the
English. When nearly the whole army was on the point of assenting
to this determination, Owen, a man of distinguished wisdom and
moderation - the tumult being in some degree subsided - thus spake:
"My opinion, indeed, by no means agrees with yours, for we ought to
rejoice at this conduct of our adversary; for, unless supported by
divine assistance, we are far inferior to the English; and they, by
their behaviour, have made God their enemy, who is able most
powerfully to avenge both himself and us. We therefore most
devoutly promise God that we will henceforth pay greater reverence
than ever to churches and holy places." After which, the English
army, on the following night, experienced (as has before been
related) the divine vengeance.
From Oswaldestree, we directed our course towards Shrewsbury
(Salopesburia), which is nearly surrounded by the river Severn,
where we remained a few days to rest and refresh ourselves; and
where many people were induced to take the cross, through the
elegant sermons of the archbishop and archdeacon. We also
excommunicated Owen de Cevelioc, because he alone, amongst the Welsh
princes, did not come to meet the archbishop with his people. Owen
was a man of more fluent speech than his contemporary princes, and
was conspicuous for the good management of his territory. Having
generally favoured the royal cause, and opposed the measures of his
own chieftains, he had contracted a great familiarity with king
Henry II. Being with the king at table at Shrewsbury, Henry, as a
mark of peculiar honour and regard, sent him one of his own loaves;
he immediately brake it into small pieces, like alms-bread, and
having, like an almoner, placed them at a distance from him, he took
them up one by one and ate them. The king requiring an explanation
of this proceeding, Owen, with a smile, replied, "I thus follow the
example of my lord;" keenly alluding to the avaricious disposition
of the king, who was accustomed to retain for a long time in his own
hands the vacant ecclesiastical benefices.
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