successively promoted to a canonry in the cathedral of Hereford, and to the archdeaconry of Brecon. In the thirtieth year of his age he was elected, by the Chapter of St. David's, bishop of that see; but the King's approbation being withheld, he resolved to make another journey into France, and resume his studies in the University of Paris. On his return home, a few years afterwards, he found the whole country in a state of violent excitement, the canons and archdeacon of Menevia having joined with the inhabitants in driving out the bishop of that see, the administration of which was committed to Barri by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Under this authority he governed the see of St. Dabid's for three or four years, and made many reformations in it. The next event in his life was the King's command, in 1185, to attend the young Prince John into Ireland. Two years afterwards he returned to Wales, and employed most of his time in writing and revising his Topographia, to which, after putting the last hand, he proceeded to Oxford, and read it in a public audience of the University.* But the incident in his life which more particularly entitles him to a notice in this place, is the fact of his having accompanied Archbishop Baldwin in his progress through Wales, and with him, also, visited and described the principal features of the country. The object of this progress—as above noticed-was to preach a crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land, for which the lion-hearted Richard, accompanied by the flower of his nobility, had already set out. Giraldus, smit with the same enthusiasm which he endeavoured to kindle in others, took up the Cross. On his departure for the Holy Land, the King left the chief government of the realm in the hands of William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and appointed Giraldus to act with him in the commission; but this could not be valid until he obtained a dispensation from the Pope's legate for discontinuing the voyage. In 1190, the Bishop of Ely and the Pope's legate offered him the see of Bangor; and again, the following year, Prince John offered him the bishopric of Llandaff; both of which he declined, in hopes that the see of St. David's, on which he had set his heart, might one day fall to his lot. The following year Girald retired from court; and, removing to Lincoln, wrote several works which bear his name. Here he continued until the death of Peter, Bishop of St. David's, in 1198, when he was nominated to the vacant see, but rejected by Herbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent a mandate to the Canons to elect and admit Geoffrey, Prior of Llanthony, for their bishop. Girald "The first day he read the first book to a great concourse of people, and afterwards entertained all the poor of the town; on the second day he read the second book, and entertained all the doctors and chief scholars; and on the third day he read the third book, and entertained all the young scholars, soldiers, and burgesses." CASTLE.] GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS DESCRIPTION. 327 appealed to the Pope and the Canons by letter, entreating his Holiness to consecrate him. He took a journey to Rome, and there presented the letter in person. The Prior of Llanthony, furnished with letters from the Archbishop, did the same; and the Pope, seeing no likelihood of the cause being speedily determined, appointed Giraldus administrator, both in spiritualities and temporalities of the bishopric of St. David's, and sent him home. But in November, 1202, Giraldus was induced to make a third visit to Rome, where he continued until the 15th of April following; on which day the Pope gave a definitive sentence in the cause, and vacated the claims of both candidates. In the month of August, Giraldus returned home to solicit a new election; but in spite of the opposition, Geoffrey of Llanthony was elected by the Canons. Giraldus finding it useless to oppose the Archbishop, resigned all further pretensions to the see of St. David's; and shortly after resigned the archdeaconry of Brecon to his nephew. The remainder of his life seems to have been spent in retirement, where he composed many works. But there is no evidence of his having taken an active part in any public affairs, political or ecclesiastical; and as he was subsequently offered the bishopric of St. David's [in 1215], it was on conditions which compelled him to reject the very see to which he had so ardently aspired. The year of his death is not mentioned; but in 1220, as we ascertain from contemporary documents, he was still living. With a very excusable partiality for his native place, he has transmitted to posterity the following description of its beauties, natural and artificial :— Macnorpprr is distant about three miles from Penbroch. The Castle is excellently well defended by turrets and bulwarks. On the right hand a rivulet* of never-failing water flows through a valley, rendered sandy by the violence of the winds." "The country is well supplied with corn, seafish, and imported wines, and is tempered by a salubrious air. Demetía—or territory of St. David's, with its seven cantreds-is the most beautiful as well as the most powerful district of Wales: Penbroch is the finest province of Demetia, and the place I have now described is the most delightful part of Penbroch. It is evident, therefore, that Maenorpyrr is the Paradise of all Wales." The rivulet here mentioned is that which supplied the ancient ponds, and is shown on the right of the engraved picture. On the left is seen the church with its tall embattled tower-much resembling an Italian campanile-of Norman workmanship, and a style peculiar to this county. On the foreground is the dilapidated framework of an ancient cottage, with a chimney common to the country. This relic is supposed to belong to an era not less remote than that of the castle. To the right of the engraving, the promontory of St. Gowan's Head is seen closing the distant horizon; and directly in front, the sea view presents an unlimited expanse of waters. NEATII ABBEY, Glamorganshir2. "So fares it with the things of earth Which seem most constant: there will come the cloud WE learn from Bishop Tanner, that Richard de Grambille, and Constance, his wife, gave their chapel,* in the Castle at Nethe, the tithes belonging to it, a large tract of waste land, and other possessions, in the time of Henry I., to the abbot and convent of Savigny, near Lyons, that they might build an abbey here in Wales. And a very fair abbey, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built accordingly on the west side of the river, a little below the town of Neath, for monks of the order of Savigny, or Fratres Grisei, who soon afterwards became Cistercians. Notwithstanding the original gift to Savigny, as we learn from the same authority, he did not find any proof that this house was ever subject to that foreign abbey, or accounted as an alien priory. Being an abbey, it could not be a cell; and appears rather to have been a daughter-house to Savigny, in the same way as already described in our account of the two Llanthonys-mother and daughter. In the Appendix to the Monasticon may be seen the founder's charter, with two subsequent charters of confirmation from King John.† From a manuscript notice in Benet's College, Cambridge, we learn that, at the time of the dissolution, there were only eight monks in Neath Abbey. In the twentysixth of Henry VIII., the gross revenue of the house amounted to £150. 4s. 9d., the clear income to £132. 7s. 74d. The site was granted to Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell,‡ in exchange. * Capellam nostri Castelli de Nethe, cum omni decima procurationis nostræ damus, in annona, et cateris rebus, et cum omni decima hominum mestrorum. illius provincia, viz.: Francorum et Anglorum, etc., etc. † Dat. per manum H. de Hell, Arch. de Well, apud Burbeche, vj Januarii, anno regni nostri ix. See note regarding this name, ante p. 305. ABBEY.] ABBEY SEAL-RETREAT OF KING EDWARD. 329 The Seal of the abbey represented the Blessed Virgin, crowned and standing, holding in her right hand a lily, in her left the infant Jesus; in a base, a shield with the arms of Grainbille the founder-namely, three clarions: the legend-" Sigillvm. Comvne. Monaster. Beate. Marie. de Neth." A very imperfect impression of this seal is to be seen in the Augmentation Office. In Moore's Monastic Remains, it has been observed, in a passage quoted from Leland, that Neath Abbey was 'once the fairest in all Wales;' and, from the ruins still remaining, much credit may be given to this description. The west end, excepting the great arch, was tolerably perfect in 1788; but previously to that time the east end and principal part of the nave had been demolished, while the lateral aisles remained covered with ivy. In addition to these, several apartments of the abbey were still standing on the south side of the church. This monastery is said to have been so extensive, that seven preachers might hold forth at the same time in different parts of the building, without being mutually heard; but in the present day the crypt is the only characteristic feature that is left. The ruins, however-spread over an extensive area— still afford accommodation for numerous workmen employed in the famous ironworks of the place. It was in the Abbey-house of Neath, where he had taken refuge, that the unfortunate King Edward the Second was arrested : "Whither," says the Chronicle, in a passage at once pathetic and picturesque," whither, in the meane space, doth woeful Edward flye? What force, what course, what way takes he, poore Prince? Oh! fearful condition of so great a monarche's state, when a wife, a son, a kingdome are not trusted; and those only are trusted, who had nothing strong but a will to live and die with him!".. "The Queen, passing from Oxford to Gloucester, onward to the siege of Bristol Castle, grew all the whyle in her strength like a rouled snowball, or as a river, which spreads still broader from the fountaine to the ocean—' vires acquirit eundo.' For thither repayred to her, for the love of the young Prince, the Lord Percy, the Lord Wake, and others, as well out of the North, as the Marches of Wales. But Edward, having left the Earle of Winchester, and the elder Lord Spenser, in the Castle of Bristol, for the keeping thereof, meditates flight with a few into the isle of Lundie, in the Severne sea, or into Ireland; and while he wandereth about, not finding where to rest safe, his royall credite, name, and power-like a cliffe which, falling from the top of some huge rocke, breakes into the more pieces the further it rolles-are daily more and more diminisht as they scatter, till now at last they are come to a very nothing. "After a week, therefore, spent upon the sea, Sir Thomas Blount forsaking him, and comming to the Queene, he came on shore in Glamorganshire, where, with his few friends, he entrusted himself to God, and the faith of the VOL. II. 2 U Welsh, who indeed still loved him, lying hidden among them in the Abbey of Neath. The King not appearing, proclamations were every day made in the Queene's army, declaring that it was the common consent of the realme that he should returne and receive the government thereof, so as he would conform himself to his people. This--whether stratagem or truth-not prevailing, Henry, Earle of Lancaster, the late Earle's brother, Sir William de la Zouch, and Rhese-ap-Howell, a Welshman--who all of them had lands in that quarter where the Kinge concealed himselfe--were sent with coyne and forces to discover and take him. "What will not money, diligence, and faire words doe, with corrupt dispositions--everting of all bonds of either religious or civil duties? By such means, therefore, the desolate, sad, and unfortunate Kinge fell into his cousen of Lancaster's hands, in the Abbey-house of Neath;" [or, according to others, in the Castle of Llantrissant, a place of great strength; but as the gates were thrown open by treachery, neither the strength of the Castle nor the courage of those around him could avail the royal victim,* doomed to expiate, it was supposed, the ruthless cruelty of his father in massacring the bards. "Weave the warp, and weave the woof, The winding-sheet of Edward's race; The characters of Hell to trace. Mark the year, and mark the night, When Severn shall re-echo with affright, The shrieks of death, through Berkeley's roof that ring- Richard de Greenbile,† the reputed founder of Neath Abbey, and lord of the adjoining Castle, is thus noticed in the 'Baronage of England :'-" In the fourth of William Rufus, Jestin, the son of Gurgunt, being lord of Glamorgan, Reesap-Theodore, prince of South Wales, made war upon him; and that Jestin, discerning himself to be unable to make defence, sent one Enyon, his servant, to Robert Fitz-Hamon,‡ then a knight of the privy chamber to the King, for his aid, with large promises of reward for his help. And that hereupon Robert, having retained twelve knights, marched with what power they could all make into Wales; and so joining with Jestin, slew Rees, and Conan, his son. Edward H. is also said to have found a temporary asylum in the parish of Llangynwyd-fawr, in the county of Glamorgan. He had interested himself much in the concerns of his Welsh subjects, arbitrating the feuds, and determining the disputes among the chieftains. In the day of adversity, these condescensions were repaid with loyal devotion to his person; and when harassed by his barons, and deserted by his English subjects, he found a brief sanctuary in Wales, at Neath Abbey, and also, as other writers conjecture, at Tinterne. Or Grenville, Grainvil, Greenfeld-various spellings for the same name. See Tewkesbury, vol. i. of this work, p. 172. |