{185}Some difficulty occurs in fixing the situation of the Album Monasterium,mentioned in the text,as three churches in the county of Shropshire bore that appellation;the first at Whitchurch,the second at Oswestry,the third at Alberbury.The narrative of our author is so ******,and corresponds so well with the topography of the country through which they passed,that I think no doubt ought to be entertained about the course of their route.From Chester they directed their way to the White Monastery,or Whitchurch,and from thence towards Oswestry,where they slept,and were entertained by William Fitz-Alan,after the English mode of hospitality.
{186}By the Latin context it would appear that Reiner was bishop of Oswestree:"Ab episcopo namque loci illius Reinerio multitudo fuerat ante signata."Reiner succeeded Adam in the bishopric of St.
Asaph in the year 1186,and died in 1220.He had a residence near Oswestry,at which place,previous to the arrival of Baldwin,he had signed many of the people with the cross.
{187}In the time of William the Conqueror,Alan,the son of Flathald,or Flaald,obtained,by the gift of that king,the castle of Oswaldestre,with the territory adjoining,which belonged to Meredith ap Blethyn,a Briton.This Alan,having married the daughter and heir to Warine,sheriff of Shropshire,had in her right the barony of the same Warine.To him succeeded William,his son and heir.He married Isabel de Say,daughter and heir to Helias de Say,niece to Robert earl of Gloucester,lady of Clun,and left issue by her,William,his son and successor,who,in the 19th Henry II.or before,departed this life,leaving William Fitz-Alan his son and heir,who is mentioned in the text.
{188}Robert de Belesme,earl of Shrewsbury,was son of Roger de Montgomery,who led the centre division of the army in that memorable battle which secured to William the conquest of England,and for his services was advanced to the earldoms of Arundel and Shrewsbury.
{189}This expedition into Wales took place A.D.1165,and has been already spoken of.
{190}The princes mentioned by Giraldus as most distinguished in North and South Wales,and most celebrated in his time,were,1.Owen,son of Gruffydd,in North Wales;2.Meredyth,son of Gruffydd,in South Wales;3.Owen de Cyfeilioc,in Powys;4.Cadwalader,son of Gruffydd,in North Wales;5.Gruffydd of Maelor in Powys;6.Rhys,son of Gruffydd,in South Wales;7.David,son of Owen,in North Wales;8.Howel,son of Iorwerth,in South Wales.
1.Owen Gwynedd,son of Gruffydd ap Conan,died in 1169,having governed his country well and worthily for the space of thirty-two years.He was fortunate and victorious in all his affairs,and never took any enterprise in hand but he achieved it.2.Meredyth ap Gruffydd ap Rhys,lord of Caerdigan and Stratywy,died in 1153,at the early age of twenty-five;a worthy knight,fortunate in battle,just and liberal to all men.3.Owen Cyfeilioc was the son of Gruffydd Meredyth ap Meredyth ap Blethyn,who was created lord of Powys by Henry I.and died about the year 1197,leaving his principality to his son Gwenwynwyn,from whom that part of Powys was called Powys Gwenwynwyn,to distinguish it from Powys Vadoc,the possession of the lords of Bromfield.The poems ascribed to him possess great spirit,and prove that he was,as Giraldus terms him,"linguae dicacis,"in its best sense.4.Cadwalader,son of Gruffydd ap Conan,prince of North Wales,died in 1175.Gruffydd of Maelor was son of Madoc ap Meredyth ap Blethyn,prince of Powys,who died at Winchester in 1160."This man was ever the king of England's friend,and was one that feared God,and relieved the poor:his body was conveyed honourably to Powys,and buried at Myvod."His son Gruffydd succeeded him in the lordship of Bromfield,and died about the year 1190.6.Rhys ap Gruffydd,or the lord Rhys,was son of Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Tewdwr,who died in 1137.The ancient writers have been very profuse in their praises of this celebrated Prince.7.David,son of Owen Gwynedd,who,on the death if his father,forcibly seized the principality of North Wales,slaying his brother Howel in battle,and setting aside the claims of the lawful inheritor of the throne,Iorwerth Trwyndwn,whose son,Llewelyn ap Iorwerth,in 1194,recovered his inheritance.8.Howel,son of Iorwerth of Caerleon,appears to have been distinguished chiefly by his ferocity.
{191}Malpas in Cheshire.
{192}It appears that a small college of prebendaries,or secular canons,resided at Bromfield in the reign of king Henry I.Osbert,the prior,being recorded as a witness to a deed made before the year 1148.In 1155,they became Benedictines,and surrendered church and lands to the abbey of St.Peter's at Gloucester,whereupon a prior and monks were placed there,and continued till the dissolution.An ancient gateway and some remains of the priory still testify the existence of this religious house,the local situation of which,near the confluence of the rivers Oney and Teme,has been accurately described by Leland.
{193}Baldwin was born at Exeter,in Devonshire,of a low family,but being endowed by nature with good abilities,applied them to an early cultivation of sacred and profane literature.His good conduct procured him the friendship of Bartholomew bishop of Exeter,who promoted him to the archdeaconry of that see;resigning this preferment,he assumed the cowl,and in a few years became abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Ford.In the year 1180,he was advanced to the bishopric of Worcester,and in 1184,translated to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury.In the year 1188,he made his progress through Wales,preaching with fervour the service of the Cross;to which holy cause he fell a sacrifice in the year 1190,having religiously,honourably,and charitably ended his days in the Holy Land.
{194}Giraldus here alludes to the dignity of archdeacon,which Baldwin had obtained in the church of Exeter.
End