WALES. 



863 



datory incursions of the Saxons. The ancient in- 

 habitants, however, as if cemented by misfortunes 

 into a closer and more indissoluble phalanx, resisted 

 and repelled the spoliator. The Saxons imposed 

 upon the Cambrians the appellation of Welshmen 

 (strangers) and called their country Wales, but an 

 ancient Briton calls himself Cymry, denoting his 

 ancient origin, either from his ancestor Gomer, or 

 from the race of the Cimbri. Between the years 

 843 and 876, Wales was divided into three dy- 

 nasties, called North, South, and Powysland, by 

 Roderic the Great, king of all Wales, and his three 

 sons set over these respective possessions. Gwy- 

 nedd, or North Wales, comprehended the counties 

 of Anglesea, Carnarvon, with parts of Denbigh, 

 Merioneth, and Flintshires. Deheubarth, or South 

 Wales, included the counties of Cardigan, Pem- 

 broke, Carmarthen, Glamorgan, with portions of 

 Brecon, Radnor, Gloucester, Hereford, and the 

 county of Monmouth. And in Powysland were 

 comprised the county of Montgomery, portions of 

 Merioneth, Denbigh, Flint, and Radnor, the hun- 

 dred of Bualt, in the shire of Brecon, and parts of 

 the counties of Chester and Salop. In the year 

 940 this tripartite arrangement was exchanged for 

 one great government, and continuing for some 

 period in this form, was subjected to a division into 

 North and South once more, previously to its fall- 

 ing into the power of the Normans and the Eng- 

 lish. 



When Wales was partitioned into shires is not 

 very certain. Flint is mentioned as a county in 

 the Domesday-book, which is probably the earliest 

 record of such divisions, although it is supposed 

 that Alfred the Great was the inventor of the system 

 of territorial subdivisions. The twelve counties 

 now included within the principality are Anglesea, 

 Brecon, Cardigan, Carmarthen, Carnarvon, Den- 

 bigh, Flint, Glamorgan, Merioneth, Montgomery, 

 Pembroke, and Radnor. Each county is subdivided 

 into cantrefs, or hundreds, and these again into 

 ewmwds (comots) or communities. The parochial 

 division does not correspond with the civil. They 

 were arranged into circuits distinct from those of 

 England, having their own judges and law officers ; 

 but in the year 1831, the Welsh judicature was 

 totally abolished, and the counties attached to the 

 Oxford and western circuits, according to the con- 

 venience of position, and included henceforth in the 

 great sessions of England and Wales. 



No traces at present exist of the early tenements 

 of the primitive Briton, but Caerneddau mark con- 

 spicuous places, or indicate the transaction of some 

 remarkable event at very early periods : next, the 

 Pillarstone records, perhaps, the mark or conquest 

 of some numerous legion under their ruling prince ; 

 then the Cromlech, Sacrificing-stone, and Druid- 

 circle, testify the thraldom in which the minds of 

 those were held who fought so bravely for what 

 they still called freedom. The ruins of Segontium, 

 the several Sarns, or paved roads, and numerous 

 architectural remains, establish the superiority of 

 the Roman over the simple but courageous Briton. 

 A few Welsh castles, such as those Dollvvyd- 

 dellan, Diganwy, Nantfrankon, Cedom, Dolbadarn, 

 Criccaeth, Castell-Gyfarch, and Dolbenmaen, &c. 

 do not evince a rapid progress in arts, or an age of 

 wealth or greatness, though some, perhaps, being of 

 later date, were in some degree formed after foreijrn 

 models. It was reserved for the Normans to in- 

 troduce arts and arms into Wales at nearly the same 

 dates. They were the founders of all the beauti- 



ful castles, the ruins of which confer such a melan- 

 choly grandeur upon the solemn scenery of Wales. 

 The castles of Chepstow, Caerphilly, Dinefawr. and 

 very many others, give an instructive lesson to the 

 inquiring antiquary, and an ample testimony of the 

 historic fact. The great castles of Gwynedd were 

 all erected by Edwaid I. either from the founda- 

 tion, or upon the well-chosen sites of former cita- 

 dels. Harlech illustrates very happily an instance 

 of the latter ; Carnarvon, Conway, and Beaumaris, 

 exemplify the former. Christianity was, doubtless, 

 fully and completely established here in the middle 

 of the sixth century, and many cells of Eremites 

 were then founded, but still the splendid monastic 

 institutions which characterize England and Ireland, 

 point out each date in architectural history, and 

 adorn so many of the fairest and choicest retreats 

 in these islands, do not appear to have been founded 

 in this mountainous country in any numbers ; Strata- 

 florida, Vale Crucis, Lanthony, and some others, 

 are amongst the few, and Tintern also, with its 

 scenes of enchantment, was formerly within the 

 principality. Feudal castles raise their towers over 

 the rich vales of Cambria, and remind the ancient 

 Briton of the brave struggles of his forefathers for 

 liberty and life, but they are now but phantoms of 

 departed power: their banquet-halls are silent, their 

 towers and dungeons fallen to decay, and they re- 

 main themselves powerless objects in a land of free- 

 dom. 



About the year 843, Roderic the Great united 

 the different petty states of Wales into one princi- 

 pality, and ruled over his new kingdom, though for 

 no very long period, with conspicuous wisdom and 

 justice. He bequeathed the sovereignty of Gwy- 

 nedd to his eldest son, Anarawd ; the principality ot 

 South Wales to Cadell, his second son, and to the 

 youngest son, Merfyn, he left Powysland. In the 

 year 877, Merfyn being deposed by his brother Ca- 

 dell, the dynasties of Powys and South Wales were 

 again united under one prince, at whose death, A. D. 

 907, his son Howol succeeded to the sovereignty. 

 Prince Anarawd survived his brother Cadell only 

 six years, and was succeeded in his government by 

 his son Edward the Bald ; hut this prince being 

 slain in an engagement between the English and 

 the Danes, his crown was usurped by his kinsman 

 Howol, to the prejudice of the legitimate offspring. 

 By this last act of violence the three subdivisions 

 of Cambria became reunited under the sceptre of 

 one monarch, who, however unjustly he might have 

 obtained the regal purple, has shed a lustre over 

 this part of the Cambrian annals by the prudence ot 

 his conduct and the wisdom of his laws. He died 

 full of years, A. D. 948, having obtained the envi- 

 able distinctive cognomen of Dda, the Good, which 

 he is generally styled by chroniclers and historians. 

 The death of this benevolent prince and wise legis- 

 lator was the signal for the return of anarchy and 

 bloodshed. The sons of Edwal seized upon the 

 throne, and held the reins with unsteady hand and 

 want of determination. The Danes took advantage 

 of the unsettled state of affairs, and ravaged great 

 part of South Wales, and the Saxons also became 

 acquainted with such parts of Cambria as would be 

 likely to remunerate the sword of the invaders. 

 During the continuance of these domestic feuds, 

 and the absence of an acknowledged form of govern- 

 ment, in the year 1091, the subjugation of Wales 

 was boldly determined on by the enterprising spirit 

 of Robert Fitzhamon, a Norman baron. He suc- 

 ceeded first in the complete reduction of Glamor- 



