ABERCONWY. 15 



In the following- year, king John having inhu- 

 manly murdered the Welsh hostages in his power, 

 who were the sons of our nobility, twenty -eight in 

 number, Llywelyn laid siege to the king's castles 

 between the Dee and Conwy, all of which he took, 

 and among the number was the castle of Dyganwy; 

 thereby freeing North Wales from the insupport- 

 able tyranny, and oppression of the English gar- 

 risons. 



In 1245, when John de Grey of Wilton was 

 constable, Dyganwy was again visited by a royal 

 army. Henry III. having summoned princeDavid, 

 and all the barons of Wales, to do homage at 

 Westminster, and to answer for the depredations 

 laid to their charge, determined, on their refusal to 

 appear, to carry into effect his intentions of the 

 entire subjugation of Wales: the English parlia- 

 ment accordingly granted him the necessary sup- 

 plies, and on this occasion there was an extraordi- 

 nary assessment of forty shillings for every knight's 

 fee, called the scutage of Gannock. All his ba- 

 rons, and others who held of the king by knight's 

 service and serjeantry, were summoned to attend 

 him to Wales. Having completed all his formi- 

 dable preparations, the king advanced as far as 



