Hywel ap Cadell

“ Cymru is a modern spelling for the country of Wales as distinct from the people, viz. Cymry, the latter formerly representing both. The singular Cymro stands, according to Sir John Rhys, for an earlier Cumbrox or Combrox, a compatriot, as opposed to Allobrox, Welsh allfro, a foreigner. [18] As the name seems to have been unknown among the Brittones of the Devonian peninsula or of Britanny, it could never have comprised the whole of the Brittones or Britanni of that western Britannia which was severed into two fragments by the famous Battle of Deorham in 577. ”

“ In reading the earlier and more reliable texts of the laws, one must carefully avoid limiting its application to ' the superior chief of a district '. In such a phrase as bradwr arglwydd for example, the arglwydd would vary according to the status of the bradwr (traitor) . Given that the latter was one of the officers of the Court of Dinevwr, the arglwydd no doubt would be the powerful territorial chief known in later history as King of Deheubarth. Were he on the other hand a monk or the serf of a breyr, his arglwydd would be the abbot or the breyr as the case might be. ”

“ The genuine Cymry therefore seem to have been a kind of national aristocracy, who in course of time imposed their name on the country and people of Wales, known previously in the Latinity of the ' Dark Age ' by the names Britannia and Brittones respectively.
bragod, a liquor, said to be made of the wort of ale and mead fermented together ; in English, bragget.
breyr, a noble, representing a higher grade of the bonheddig or gentle class. According to Aneurin Owen's Index, this word is never used in the North Welsh books, where its equivalent uchelwr (lit. a high man) is the term employed. ”

“ Trev-names meet us frequently in Wales, as names ending in -ton or -ham do in England. Trev in modern Welsh is used for town, the modern trev being to the medieval trev what the modern town is to old -ton.
trevtad, patrimony, represented in the Latin Peniarth MS. 28 by hereditas. It is the trev which descends to the sons through the father, the word trev in this case not bearing the rigid sense of an area of four rhandirs, &c., but rather that of a definite plot of habitable ground on which the sons might continue to live. ”

“ The inhabitants of old Wales were divided into two main divisions, those of pedigree (boneddigion) and those of no pedigree. The taeogs were the most privileged in the latter division, preceding in status both the alltuds and the caethion (slaves) . The word taeog is of very rare occurrence in the books of the Black Book of Chirk type, the designation of the villein in this text being commonly what would now be spelt mab aillt, a word of still rarer occurrence in the other law books. In the Latin Peniarth MS. 28 taeog is represented by villanus. ”

“ At first it was the dominating class alone, the free men of privileged blood, who were known by this name, those of the stock of Cunedda and his companions. The portions of Wales not occupied by them, such as the south-east, Brycheiniog, Glywysing, Gwent, &c., must still have been held by Brittones or Britanni, Scotti, and even Romani, but by the twelfth century we find the general name of Cymry (Lat. Cambria) being accepted by all. ”

“ Aneurin Owen, however, explains it as meaning ' special ornaments', and translates it into Latin as 'paraphernalia', following herein apparently the late definition given in the so-called ' Triads of Dyvnwal Moelmud', which Thomas ab Ivan of Trev Bryn in Morgannwg transcribed (according to his own account) from the ' old books ' of Sir Edward Mansell of Margam in 1685. According to this late definition, argyureit, used here in connexion with a man, means his dress, arms, and the tools of a privileged art. ”

“ Deheubarth and eighteen cymwds of Gwynedd [plus Gwrtheyrnion and Buallt or parts thereof] . Now in the three old lists of the cantrevs and cymwds of Wales, [31] there are variations in those of Gwynedd, chiefly because certain of these divisions were debatable ground between Gwynedd and Powys, and partly also owing to the errors of scribes who misread some cymwds under wrong cantrevs because of the proximity of one name to another. ”

“ It is used in some parts of Wales to-day for one who is without a sense of honour. [45] In the triad in our present text, the effect intended appears to be somewhat as follows. There are three shameless ones in every patria, shameless, impudent, unabashed—and yet we cannot do without them : a lord, a priest, and law.
ebediw, a heriot. A relief payable to a superior lord for investiture of land on the occasion of a death. If the investiture fee had been paid during the lifetime of the holder of land, no ebediw was to be exacted. The sum varied according to the status of the persons concerned. ”

“ The free trev contained four rhandirs, and the taeogtrev contained three. In both cases one rhandir was to be pasturage for the rest, which last were to be inhabited. Each of the two inhabited rhandirs of a taeogtrev was to contain three taeogs. It appears that the number of houses (tei) in a trev varied, but in the passage where a thief is to escape punishment, if able to show that he has traversed three trevs in a day, with nine houses in every trev, without obtaining relief, [84] it looks as though a trev of nine houses was normal. ”

“ The song ' Vnbeinyaeth Prydein ' therefore means Monarchia Brittaniae, i.e. the monarchy of Wales, and must be taken as reflecting that aspiration after Welsh political unity which was increasing throughout the centuries amid the numerous patrias of the Welsh kin.
wynebwerth [wyneb, face; werth, worth] face-worth, a fine payable to a woman when insulted by her husband, as when he had connexion with another woman. ”

“ There remain therefore (excluding Buallt mentioned separately) the gwlads or patrias of Ceredigion, Dyved, Ystrad Tywi, Brycheiniog, and Morgannwg with Gwent. The first four comprise fifty-two cymwds, [33] and the last about twenty-five, exclusive of Cantrev Coch between the Wye and Gloucester. That there was some aggression on the part of Howel against Morgannwg with Gwent is clear from the dispute between him and King Morgan mentioned in the Book of Llandav (247-9) , a Welsh translation of which precedes the Cwta Cyfarwydd list of the cymwds and cantrevs of Wales. ”

“ Even the preface to the earliest text extant of the Book of Blegywryd, when compared with that of the early Latin Peniarth MS. 28, is seen to be by no means free from suspicion of random theorizing.
bonheddig, literally, one having a pedigree. In the early Latin texts it is represented by nobilis. The population of old Wales was broadly divided into two classes, being a division based on lineage. Those who were held to possess lineage were the bonheddigs or boneddigion, i.e. ”

“ If the person who committed sarhad was unable to pay, his kindred were legally bound to pay along with him, but only till the third degree of kinship, and not to the fifth cousin as in the case of galanas. ”

“ As this last is reminiscent of the three rhandirs of a taeogtrev, one of which is to be pasture ground for the other two, and as the whole of this passage in U appears to be slovenly done (the form maenawl disclosing the influence of North Welsh books which differ considerably as to these areas) , the evidence of this MS. may not unnaturally be regarded with suspicion. ”

“ Latin, merces.
gobr estyn, investiture fee. In Peniarth MS. 28 in the passage corresponding to that in which this expression occurs in our present text, gobr estyn is represented by kynhasset, left untranslated. [49] In the late fifteenth-century text of the Book of Blegywryd, denominated S, [50] the same passage appears as follows. 'Y neb atalho kynnassed o tir ny thai ebediw pan vo marw. Sef yw kyghassed gobyr estyn.' (Whoever shall pay kynnassed for land is not to pay ebediw when he shall die ; kyghassed is gobr estyn.) [51] ”

“ This we may dismiss at once as being the very reverse of the course of Welsh history. Every patria or gwlad must once have had its own curia principalis, and it is only after the fall of every gwlad in South Wales except Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi prior to circa iioo that Dinevwr comes into prominence. ”

“ Laws II. 11135 Seebohm's Tribal System in Wales, 82. ↑ Anc. Laws II. 758, 785, 821. Cf. also I. 534. ↑ Mommsen's Chronica Minora III. 205. Mr. Anscombe regards Cunedag in this passage as standing for Cuneda g [uletic] . Sir John Rhys, however, informs me that Cuneda certainly did not originally end in a. ↑ Preface to Peniarth MS. 28. Anc. Laws II. 749 ; Annales Cambriae in Y Cymmrodor IX. 160, 162. ↑ As for example in MS. D, viz. Peniarth MS. 32 of about A. D. 1380, where reference is made to Rieinwc ( = Dyved) , Morgannwg, and Seisyllwc ( = Ceredigion plus Ystrad Tywi) . Anc. Laws II. 50 ”