1821 .J 
Excursion through North lVales. 
403 
by a most fearless chieftain, by name 
David ap Ivan ap Eineion. After Ed¬ 
ward the Fourth had fcaken possession 
of every strong hold in the kingdom, 
excepting this, and two or three others 
in Northumberland, he sent an officer 
to demand from David its surrender, 
probably anticipating the ready com¬ 
pliance of the Welshman, as his success 
had been already so sure and exten¬ 
sive. But he was mistaken—David was 
too sturdy a soldier to yield so quietly, 
and he determined to hazard a siege, 
although his garrison was defective in 
point both of numbers and provision. 
Edward, therefore, sent William Her¬ 
bert, Earl of Pembroke,* with an army 
to subdue him. After many toils and 
difficulties, Pembroke succeeded in 
inarching his troops into the heart of 
the principality, and again the surren¬ 
der of the castle was demanded, when 
the following bold and energetic answer 
was returned: 44 No, we will not give up 
this castle,” said David ; 44 and you may 
tell your leader that some years ago I 
held out a castle inFrance so long that all 
the old women in Wales talked of it; I 
will now keep this Welsh castle so long 
that all the old women of France shall 
talk of it.” And he did 44 keep” it till 
all the provision was consumed, and 
famine was staring him and his heroic 
band in the face. Fie was then com¬ 
pelled to capitulate, but on honourable 
* This is the terrible fellow who is said 
to have killed 140 men at the battle of Ban¬ 
bury with his single battle-axe ! Notwith¬ 
standing his prowess on that occasion, he 
was defeated some time after by the Duke 
of Clarence, and his colleague the Earl of 
Warwick, and after being beheaded, was 
buried at Tintern Abbey, in Monmouth¬ 
shire. He was a most implacable enemy 
to the Welsh; and Sir John Wynne, in his 
History of the Gwedir Family, quotes the 
following British lines on the ravages 
which he committed in the counties^ of 
Merioneth and Denbigh :—. 
o 
Harlech a Dinbech pob dor 
Yn Cunnef, 
Nanconway yn farwor; 
Mil y phedwar-cant mae for, 
A thrugain ag wyth rhagor. 
The following translation was made by a 
learned divine, well known in the literary 
world :— 
In Harlech and Denbigh every house 
Was basely set on fire ; 
But poor Nanconway suft'ered most, 
For there the flames burnt higher. 
1 was in the year of our Lord, 
Fourteen hundred sixty-eight, 
That these uuhappy towns of Wales 
Met with such wretched fate. 
terms; and his life, together with that 
of his men, was preserved, after much 
earnest persuasion ; for Edward would 
fain have deprived the adverse party of 
so able and so resolute a champion. 
Pennant, in his Tour in Wales, (vol. 2, 
page 284) has given the names of this 
gallant band, which he quotes from 
Camden, and from which it appears 
that the garrison consisted of only fif- 
teenmen , including their captain, David; 
and this small company was opposed 
to an English army of probably three 
or four thousand men ! Well, indeed, 
might Edward have been enraged at 
tiie persevering bravery of the Welsh¬ 
men.* The last scene of war and tu¬ 
mult in which Flarlech Castle was en¬ 
gaged, was in the civil wars of the 
Commonwealth, when it was besieged 
by the parliamentary forces under Ge¬ 
neral Mytton. After a very obstinate 
resistance, the general succeeded in 
taking possession of it, and the gar¬ 
rison, with its loyal commander, Capt. 
William Owen, surrendered on terms 
extremely advantageous. It is said to 
have been the last castle in the kingdom 
which held out for the unfortunate 
Charles.f Such is the brief outline of 
* It is said that this siege gave origin 
to that spirit-stirring national air “ The 
March of the Men of Harlech,” and where 
is the Welshman whose heart does not beat 
quick and joyously when he hears this ener¬ 
getic composition ? 
f The Welsh, it appears, espoused the 
cause of this unhappy monarch with ail 
their characteristic enthusiasm ; and the 
following narrative, copied from Mr. R. 
Lloyd’s Cambrian Notices , will illustrate 
the horrible effects of the Cromwellian 
civil laws in Wales “ When the second 
civil war broke out in 1648, Sir Edward 
Stradling, of St. Donat’s Castle, Sir Nicho¬ 
las Kemyss, of Keuen Mabley, and Colo¬ 
nel Powell, raised, armed, and equipped 
each of them 1000 men, within their own 
county of Glamorgan, who, under their 
command, joined Major-General Lang- 
horne, and Col. Poyer, whose men were 
chiefly raised in the counties of Brecon, 
Caermarthen , and Pembroke. Their col¬ 
lected force amounted to about 8000. Crom- 
well, healing of this, sent Col. Horton be¬ 
fore him with 3000 horse and 2000 foot to 
Wales, and followed himself, with all the 
troops he could muster. The two armies 
met at St. Fagan’s, a village on the banks 
of the river Ely, in the vale of Glamorgan, 
on Monday, May 8, 1648. Col. Horton,' 
engaged by Langhorne and -Stradling, was 
compelled to give way ; but being soon 
joined by 3000 men, with a heavy train of 
artillery, he charged the van of the Welsh 
forces. 
