Aberffraw; in Anglesea: the residence of the royal line of Gywnedd from the time of Rhodri Mawr onwards.
Eryri; the Eagle’s rock is a name for Snowdon. The bird has been seen in the neighbourhood within late years.
Is it she; Eleanor, daughter to Simon de Montfort. After some years of betrothal and impediment arising from the jealousy of Edward I, she and Llywelyn were married in 1278. But after only two years of happiness, Eleanor died, leaving one child, Catharine or Gwenllian.
Maesmynan; by Caerwys in Flintshire; where Llywelyn lived retiredly in youth.
The thousand-years’ kingdom; The descent of the royal house of North Wales is legendarily traced from Caradoc-Caractacus. But the accepted genealogy of the Princes of Gwynedd begins with Cunedda Wledig (Paramount) cir. 400: ending in 1282 with Llywelyn son of Gruffydd.
The scorn-diadem’d head; On finding whom he had slain, Frankton carried Llywelyn’s head to Edward at Rhuddlan, who, with a barbarity unworthy of himself, set it over the Tower of London, wreathed in mockery of a prediction (ascribed to Merlin) upon the coronation of a Welsh Prince in London.
Rhodri and Owain; Rhodri Mawr, (843), who united under his supremacy the other Welsh principalities, Powys and Dinefawr; Owain Gwynedd, (1137),—are among the most conspicuous of Llywelyn’s royal predecessors.
THE REJOICING OF THE LAND
1295
So the land had rest! and the cloud of that heart-sore
struggle and pain
Rose from her ancient hills, and peace shone o’er
her again,
Sunlike chasing the plagues wherewith the land was
defiled;
And the leprosy fled, and her flesh came again, as
the flesh of a child.
—They were stern and stark, the three children
of Rolf, the first from
Anjou:
For their own sake loving the land, mayhap, but loving
her true;
France the wife, and England the handmaid; yet over
the realm
Their eyes were in every place, their hands gripp’d
firm on the helm.
Villein and earl, the cowl and the plume, they were
bridled alike;
One law for all, but arm’d law,—not
swifter to aid than to strike.
Lo, in the twilight transept, the holy places of God,
Not with sunset the steps of the altar are dyed, but
with scarlet of
blood!
Clang of iron-shod feet, and sheep for their shepherd
who cry;
Curses and swords that flash, and the victim proffer’d
to die!
—Bare thy own back to the smiter, O king,
at the shrine of the dead:
Thy friend thou hast slain in thy folly; the blood
of the Saint on thy
head:
Proud and priestly, thou say’st;—yet
tender and faithful and pure;
True man, and so, true saint;—the crown
of his martyrdom sure:—
As friend with his friend, he could brave thee and
warn; thou hast
silenced the voice,
Ne’er to be heard again:—nor again