In the autumn of 1284 Edward went on an extended progress in Wales.  He passed through the four cantreds into Gwynedd, and thence worked his way southwards through Cardigan and Carmarthen, ending his tour by visits to the marcher lords of the south.  He crossed over from Glamorgan, where he had been entertained by Gilbert of Clare, to Bristol, where he held his Christmas court.  Wales was to see no more of its new ruler for seven years.  During that time the principality gave Edward little trouble, though the marchers, as will be seen, were a constant anxiety to him.  In 1287, while Edward was in Gascony, the regent, Edmund of Cornwall, was called upon to deal with a revolt of Rhys, son of Meredith, the loyalist lord of the vale of Towy, who resented the authority of the justice of Carmarthen over his patrimony.  His grievances were those of a marcher rather than those of a Welshman.  Yet his rising in 1287 was formidable enough to require the raising of a great army for its suppression.  The Welsh chieftain could not long hold out against the odds brought against him, and the confiscation of his lands swelled the district directly depending on the sheriff of Carmarthen.  The support of the countryside enabled Rhys to evade his pursuers for nearly three years.  At last he was captured, and with the execution of the last of the lords of Dynevor, the triumph of Edward became complete.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SICILIAN AND THE SCOTTISH ARBITRATIONS.

Edward I. had now attained the height of his fame.  He had conquered Llewelyn; he had reformed the administration; he had put himself as a lawmaker in the same rank as St. Louis or Frederick II.; and he had restored England to a leading position in the councils of Europe.  Moreover, he had won a character for justice and fairness which did him even greater service, since the several deaths of prominent sovereigns during 1285 left him almost alone of his generation among princes of a lesser stature.  Of the chief rulers of Europe in the early years of Edward’s reign, Rudolf of Hapsburg alone survived; and the King of the Romans had little weight outside Germany many.  Edward had outlived his brother-in-law Alfonso of Castile, his cousin Philip the Bold, his uncle Charles of Anjou, and Peter of Aragon.  But the conflicts, in which these kings had been engaged, were continued by their successors.  Above all, the contest for Sicily still raged.  The successors of Martin IV., though deprived of the active support of France, would not abandon the claims of the captive Charles of Salerno; and James of Aragon, Peter’s second son, maintained himself in Sicily, despite papal censures and despite the virtual desertion of his cause by his elder brother, Alfonso III., the new king of Aragon.  Each side was at a standstill, though each side struggled on.  The personal hatreds, which made it impossible to reconcile the older generation, were dying out, and the chief obstacle in the way of a settlement was the stubbornness of the papacy.  If any one could reconcile the quarrel, it was the King of England; and to him Charles’ sons and the nobles of his dominions appealed to procure his release.