ABERCONWY. 71 



free from all tolls, themselves and servants, and 

 whatever was bought or sold ; and a free passage 

 for themselves and their effects provided them 

 over the ferries of Menai, Conwy, Abermaw, and 

 Dyvi ; they were not tried for any offence what- 

 ever in his courts, but according to their own 

 rules : they were not to be molested for receiving 

 any person into their monastery; and if any monk 

 borrowed money without the consent of the ab- 

 bot, the monastery was not answerable for it. 

 These, with several other valuable privileges were 

 secured to them by the charter, dated from Aber- 

 conwy, and witnessed by Yorwerth Gam, Gwyn 

 ab Ednewein-ydon, his chaplain ; and Madoc ab 

 Cadur, in 1198. The original is inserted in the 

 Appendix. 



Enjoying such great advantages, we may infer 

 that it must have contained men eminent for their 

 learning; its library was famous, and it was also 

 one of the depositories of the public acts. All 

 things of importance which happened in Wales, 

 were regularly recorded in the abbeys of Abercon- 

 wy, and Ystradflur in South Wales; and every 

 third year the chief occurrences, as registered in 

 the two abbeys, were generally compared together 



