174 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB igii 



Legion before the first century had come to a close. All these strongholds 

 date from the great castle-building period which began with William I. 

 and went on into the reign of Stephen. Their existence seems to indicate 

 that in this limited section of the Welsh marches, the natives of the Princi- 

 pality were very troublesome until the first Edward had brought them into 

 subjection to the English throne. Yet it was not patriotism alone that 

 moved them to fight. Originally intended for self-protection, these Norman 

 fortresses speedily became means of oppression. " I am monarch of all 

 I survey " was the attitude of their owners in the days of feudal strength ; 

 and as Matthew Paris, the monkish liistorian of the early half of the thirteenth 

 century, styles castles "nests of devils and dens of thieves," we may safely 

 infer that it was not with favouring eye that Welshmen looked on the strong 

 walls of Monmouth and Raglan, Goodrich, St. Briavels and Chepstow. In 

 later times these buildings became the stately homes of the rich and the 

 powerful, and of Raglan there is still preserved an account of the mode of 

 living at the time of the Cromwellian civil war. Royalty again and again 

 honoured the lords of these castles with their company. In connection with 

 one of several visits paid to St. Briavel's castle by King John, it is on record 

 that two tuns of wine were sent there, for the use of his majesty and his 

 followers after the pleasures of the chase in the forest. King Charles went 

 to the magnificent establishment at Raglan three times in the year before 

 the battle at the Cotswold town of Stow-on-the-Wold brought the civil war 

 to a close. From this time the ruin of nearly all the castles may be dated, 

 for it was a creed of Cromwell to destroy buildings which could shelter his foes. 

 St. Briavels is an exception, for to-day a portion of it is habitable, and is now 

 the residence of the Hon. Mrs Campbell, by, whose kindness it was now 

 visited. Probably its preservation is due to the fact that in early days it 

 came into use as a court-room for the administration of miners' laws, and also 

 as a manor court. 



For a long period St. Briavels castle was used as a prison, and as such 

 was visited by John Howard, who records that he found in it three prisoners 

 who for trifling debts but heavy costs had been confined there for long periods. 

 On the splay of one of the windows are some rudely scratched inscriptions 

 by prisoneers in the seventeenth century, one of which runs ; 



MY GLAS IS ROON : TIS TIME 'XVVAS GONE 

 FOR I HAVE LIVED A GRET SPACE 

 AND I AM WEARY OF THE PLACE. 



In its chequered history, however, there is no story more pathetic than that 

 of Anne, Countess of Warwick, daughter of the 14th Earl, who by inheritance 

 became possessor of the castle. After the death of her husband on the field 

 of Barnet, his estates were confiscated, and for the purpose of securing the 

 property to the brothers of the royal victor on Tewkesbury's battlefield, an 

 Act of Parliament solemnly ordained that the Countess should be treated as 

 naturally dead. Sixteen years later, when Henry \TI. was on the throne, 

 this Act was annulled by another, as " against all reason, conscience, and the 

 course of nature, and as being contrary to the laws of God and man." But 

 no sooner was the unfortunate Countess in the possession of her vast estates 

 than she was called upon by the King to show by what right she held them, 

 and, probably to secure peace, she granted the whole to the King and his 

 heirs male for ever. 



The Mine Court attached to the castle dates from the year 1 300 at the 

 latest, for it is mentioned in the Miners' Laws of that period. Cases tried 

 in it were not determined by any written law of the realm, but according to 

 the custom of the court itself and the miners' laws. Three witnesses were 

 required to prove a case, a custom which is hoary with age, and probably 

 dates from the times of the Druids. The Oath was taken by touching the 



