 Section 101 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. This is a LibraVox recording. All LibraVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibraVox.org. The World's Story Volume 10, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, edited by Eva March-Tappen. Section 101, The Winning Back of the Land, 1808-1903 by Charles Johnston and Carita Spencer. Great as was the need for emancipation, it was as nothing compared to the distress and suffering caused by the deplorable social and economic condition of the country. The relations between landlord and tenant were worse than at any past time, and every year brought new and heavier taxes instead of lessening the burdens which the people already bore. Each man and the long series of middlemen, as well as the tenant and the landlord at the two ends of the series, had to gain a profit from the same acre of land and no one was willing to spend money on improving the quality of the land. If it be asked why, the answer is simple, the tenant held his land from year to year at the will of the landlord, and if he made improvements, and so increased the value of the land, he would be called on to pay a greater rent or leave his holding. The middlemen would not make improvements because whoever stood next above them in the scale of extortion would immediately have demanded a greater payment. The landlord made no improvements because he was accustomed to think of himself as a man with rights and privileges and never as a man with duties and obligations. The result was that a piece of land was allowed to go from bad to worse and was finally rented for an excessive sum to a peasant so poor that he could not improve it in any way and could barely make a starvation wage for himself and his family. In England, the landlord was the agricultural partner of his tenant, investing large sums of money in improvements such as drains, fences, outhouses and so forth, so that the value of the land steadily rose. But nothing of the kind existed in Ireland, frequently whole towns were owned by one man, who thus had it in his power to exact what Renzi pleased. At the time of the Union, the population of Ireland amounted to about four and a half millions. It now began to increase rapidly, the landlords permitted, and even encouraged extreme subdivision of land so that they might collect rents from as many tenants as possible. The peasants came to grow potatoes more and more exclusively since this was the cheapest crop and that which most easily sustained life without further outlay. It is recorded that often during this time the poor peasant would plant his potatoes at the proper season and then go off to England to work for some English farmer and so try to make a little money. Meanwhile, his family was left almost penniless to beg or borrow. He would come back in time to dig his potato crop in the autumn and in this way he could earn more than by growing corn and a variety of crops. Then we must not forget the innumerable taxes he had to pay and the repeated injustice he suffered at the hands of the middlemen and tax gatherers. It was nothing unusual for a peasant to be forced to pay rent twice over to different middlemen both claiming the same piece of ground and to have his cattle sold before his eyes if he resisted these demands. All this was known to Parliament or at least ought to have been known since it had all been graphically described by Irish members, but no notice was taken of it. The question of the land was now the gravest which remained to be solved. It involved the right to work the right to earn food for one's family the right to possess a home. A ferment of agitation gradually spread through the country which culminated in the formation of the land league in 1879. The inspirer of this movement was Michael David, but it owed much of its success to the commanding genius of Charles Stuart Parnell. The land league meant the organizing of a nation in defense of its rights and was far more effective than any armed rebellion. Its three immediate objects were fair rent, fixed hold and free sale. By fair rent it was meant that the rent to be paid by a tenant should not be fixed arbitrarily by a grasping landlord but should be justly decided by a court after examining the land and judging of its extent and fertility. Fixed hold meant that the tenant should be entitled to hold his farm in security without fear of eviction or extortion so long as he paid the fair rent decided on by the court. Free sale meant that the tenant was entitled to sell his interest in his farm to a new tenant that interest representing the capital he had invested in improving the farm, infencing, draining, clearing and building. The land league represented the organized demand for these things and every detail of the question was made thoroughly clear to the peasants of every part of Ireland at great public meetings addressed by Parnell and his lieutenants. At first Parnell had greatly doubted whether the Irish people would take up the land question in a serious way. Do you think he asked one of the older patriots that the Irish people will take part in an agitation for land reform? I think replied the patriot that to settle the land question the Irish people will go to the gates of hell. From Ireland the agitation spread to the United States an extensive organization was there formed which set itself the task of providing the sinews of war. A parliamentary fund was collected and Parnell was soon in a position to provide for his army of parliamentary followers who were thus able to leave their other occupations and devote themselves wholly to the work of reform. Parnell commanded a parliamentary party of 86 members and never was a party so well led and so finally disciplined. Following the example set by Joseph Bigger of making long speeches and raising technical obstacles Parnell perfected the system of parliamentary obstruction. He made it impossible for the English parliament to carry on its work before it had done justice to Ireland. Meanwhile the political situation was rapidly changing in England. The conservative government fell and Gladstone was returned to power in 1880 as the head of a strong liberal government. The land league agitation had penetrated to every part of Ireland and had aroused such strong feelings against extortion and injustice that acts of violence and outrage were frequent. Gladstone proclaimed the land league and unlawful body and its leaders including Parnell were arrested and thrown into prison. Gladstone determined however to settle the question of the land as he had settled the question of the church in 1869. He therefore drew up the famous land bill of 1881 which secured to the Irish people the three objects that had been agitated for 30 years. Fair rent fixed hold and free sale. A land court was established with power to hold sessions in every part of Ireland to fix fair rents which were then forth called judicial rents and to decide on the value of improvements made by a tenant on his farm in order to secure him in the enjoyment of these improvements. This was a splendid measure and the good it has done is incalculable. The many evils had survived from the past and were destined long to survive. A series of crops almost as bad as in the famine years have reduced the tenants to direct poverty and often to starvation yet the landlords insisted on exacting the full arrears of rent which they had arbitrarily imposed before the days of the land court. The consequence was that acts of violence increased carried on chiefly by secret societies such as the Moonlighters and the Invincibles. Gladstone grew disgusted with the attempt to rule Ireland by force and coercion and came to an agreement with Parnell then in Kilmaineham jail under which he was to receive Parnell support in Parliament in return for measures beneficial to Ireland. Gladstone's ministry fell from power in 1885 and Lord Salisbury and the Conservatives returned to office. Their policy was marked by two principles first steady opposition to the agitation of the land league and the lawlessness which followed in its wake and second and organized methodical and enlightened attempt to remove the causes of Irish poverty and misery one by one. They passed the first land purchase act in 1885, a measure to enable the tenants to buy their farms from the landlords and so to be rid of the exactions and the extortions of rent once and forever. The English government placed a sum of $25 million in cash at the disposal of the Irish farmers who could borrow as much as they required to buy their farms at once. They were to repay the government by installment spread out over 49 years at the end of which time they would be absolute owners of the soil. Several thousand more tenants became owners and reduced the amount they had to pay yearly by about one third. This measure has worked admirably and the sense of security gained by the farmers has already begun to call forth the qualities of thrift industry and Providence which the former conditions of land tenure in Ireland had done everything to destroy. Arthur James Balfour became chief secretary for Ireland in 1887 in this post he played two widely different roles first as the opponent of the Irish party in the House of Commons. He was cool, polite, satirical and very determined. Second in Ireland itself he sincerely and effectively studied the wants of the Irish people and set himself to devise remedies to meet them. The second land purchase bill was passed in 1888 by which a second sum of $25 million was put at the disposal of Irish tenants who wish to purchase their farms. Mr Balfour also turned his attention to what are called the congested districts in the west of Ireland. The condition of these districts has been well described by T. W. Russell, one of the most gifted of the liberal unionists. A great part of the crowded population of the western seaboard live subject to the most shocking conditions. The land is in many places hardly worth cultivating. The riches of the sea are not for these poor people. They have no boats, no capital. The scale of a fisherman has ceased to be developed and even where the fish caught the market does not exist. That is, there are no means of transit there too. Struggling for a wretched existence upon these arid patches of soil, growing potatoes and little else, feeding a pig and rearing a scarecrow of a calf. This is the method by which thousands of human beings drag out a miserable existence. Balfour said himself to remedy this by extending a system of railways through the congested districts, obtaining a grant of $7 million from parliament for that purpose. In 1891, Balfour went very much further. He had been convinced by this time and had convinced his party that inland purchase laid the solution of the Irish question. He obtained a new advance from parliament this time for $170 million to be applied for the purchase of farms by the farmers. He also formed the congested districts board, which was charged with the duty of purchasing land under the purchase acts for the purpose of enlarging and consolidating farms of improving the breed of horses, cattle and poultry, aiding the fishing industry by erecting piers and boats, lips by the supply of boats and fish curing stations, and of developing agriculture and other industry. That's a constructive period, gradually replaced the work of confiscation, which England had carried on in Ireland during centuries. The cultivators of Ireland for over a generation had an opportunity of buying back their lands by installments. More than 6,000 tenants purchased their farms under the Irish Church Act of 1869, the Land Acts of 1870 and 1881, each turned nearly 1,000 tenants into proprietors. The Land Purchase Act of 1885 extended the same privilege to 2,000 more. The Land Purchase Acts of 1891 and 1896 turned into owners of the soil of no less than 37,000 former tenants. Arthur James Balfour became Prime Minister in 1902 with George Wyndham, a descendant of Lord Edward Fitzgerald as Chief Secretary for Ireland. He decided to settle the Irish land question once for all and as far as possible to sweep the Irish landlords out of existence. Barnel had said, when the Irish landlords are as anxious to go as we are to get rid of them, the land question will be practically solved. Wyndham saw that the time was rapidly approaching when this would be true. Through the operation of Gladstone's land courts, the rents had been twice lowered all over Ireland. A third settlement of these rents was approaching. It has long been the custom in Ireland to make the selling value of the land depend upon the rent. In general, land is sold for a sum of money equal to the rent for 20 years. Thus, if the rent of a farm were $100 a year, its selling value would be $2,000. In Ireland, this is expressed by saying that the land is sold at 20 years' purchase. If the land court reduced the rent to $75 a year, the selling value of the farm would fall to $1,500, so much sheer loss to the landlord. The Irish landlords had now seen the value of their property shrink twice under the operation of the land courts. A third shrinkage was rapidly approaching. This gave Wyndham his opportunity. His new land purchase bill included two propositions. First, to put at the disposal of the Irish tenants, a sum of English money so large that practically every tenant in Ireland could take advantage of it. And second, to induce the landlords to part with their farms by offering them a bonus equal to about one-eighth of the selling price of the land. Thus, the tenant was able to buy cheap while the landlords sold dear, both parties being in an extremely satisfactory position. Wyndham made it possible for the whole nation to buy back the land. For the first time in history, a whole people undertook the work of national redemption on the installment plan. Wyndham's bill became law and came into operation on November 1, 1903. A government report recently printed Shads of Flood of Light on the working of land purchase during the 34 years preceding Wyndham's Act. It is found that though the land has always been the first care of the purchasing tenants, the houses, both dwelling and farm buildings have been very materially improved since they became owners of the soil. In all the four provinces, this is the general testimony. New buildings have sprung up, old ones have been repaired on some of the states where the condition of purchased and non-purchased holdings can be contrasted. It is found that while the houses on the former have been much improved on the latter, they are in a very neglected state. The middleman has been done away with subletting and subdivision are practically extinct. Tenants will no longer sell part of their farms. I could well perceive, says one of the English land inspectors, the love that these people have for their little homes and how desperate must be their position before parting with them and purchase seems to make them cling to them even more than before. Not less favorable is the verdict as to the credit and solvency of the new purchasers. It has increased all around as is testified to by local bankers and shopkeepers who are in a position to know best. A very good symptom is the fact that these new landowners are cherry or getting into debt and think twice before they borrow money even when their credit is good. We can well see that a great moral change must accompany this steady material regeneration. A feeling of safety is everywhere springing up in place of the paralyzing insecurity and doubt that prevail for generations. A group of tenant purchasers in Ross Common declared that since they have got a hold of the land they have not spared themselves in making improvements which will be their own for all time. A parish priest in Kevin says that purchase has bought peace. The people are more industrious, more sober and more hopeful as to their future prospects. The police say that before purchase they found the people troublesome and unruly but now all this change and quietness and order rain instead. The tenant purchasers are full of supreme contentment at their altered situation. A priest in Fermanach says the people in his parish are more industrious now while the consumption of whiskey has diminished by a third. The evidence of these two ecclesiastics vividly recalls the words put in the mouth of the Irish by Sir R. King in 1844. We were reckless, ignorant, improbable and idle. We were idle for we had nothing to do. We were reckless for we had no hope. We were ignorant for learning was denied us. We were improbable for we had no future. We were drunken for we sought to forget our misery. In section 101, this recording is in the public domain. Section 102 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, read for LibriVox.org by Sarah Hale, an Irish cottage, photograph page 544. This beehive cottage with roped roof is in County Donegal and is apparently one of the better sort. William Leroy Kurtz thus describes one even humbler than this in what are known as the congested districts, that is the barren regions in which the Irish were forced to settle when their fertile lands were confiscated by the English. He says, the walls were of rude stones piled one on another without mortar and the roof was made of straw. There was no floor but the earth, no furniture but the hard wooden bench, a table and a three-legged stool. There was no window and the only light that there was came through the door which opened into a loosened barnyard where the filth was ankle deep and the stench almost insufferable. The government has for years been striving to induce families to leave these congested districts and remove to more fertile and less crowded parts of Ireland. In many cases the tenants are given farming implements, seeds and aid in restocking their farms. Often comfortable houses are also provided at no higher rent than had been paid for wretched hovels. End of Section 102. This recording is in the public domain. Section 103 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. The World's Story, Volume 10, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, edited by Eva March Tappan. Section 103, The Irish People, 20th Century by Catherine Tynan. I must warn you before proceeding to write about the Irish people that I have tried to explain them according to my capacity, a thousand times to my English friends and neighbors, and I've been pulled up short as many times by the reflection that all I've been saying was contradicted by some other aspect of my country people. For we are an eternally contradictory people, and none of us can prognosticate exactly what we shall feel, what do, under given circumstances. Once the Englishman is simple, he has no mysteries. Once you know him, you can pretty well tell what he will say, what feel and do under given circumstances. You have a formula for him. You have no formula for the Irish. The Englishman is simple, the Irish complex. The Anglo-Irish, who stand the most English people for the Irish, have been grafted onto them the complexity of the Irish without their pliability. It makes perhaps the most puzzling of all mixtures, and it may be the chief difficulty and a proper estimate of the Irish character. They will tell you in Ireland that you have to go some 40 or 50 miles from Dublin before you get into Irish Ireland. There are many good Irish and Anglo-Irland, usually in the humbler walks of life. Once you shall find in Dublin servants, car drivers, policemen, newspaper boys, and so on, the raciness, the vivacity, the charm which in Irish Ireland is a perpetual delight. Dublin drawing rooms are not vivacious, nor are the manners gracious, although the four courts still produce a galaxy of wit, and Dublin citizens buttonhole each other with good stories all along the streets, roaring with laughter in a way that would be regarded as bedlam and fleet street. Get into Irish Ireland, and the manners have a graciousness which is like a blessing. I asked the way and ballet shan in town once, the woman who directed me came out into the street and a little way with me, and when she left me calling to me sweetly, come back soon to Donegal, which left a sense of blessing with me all that day. There was a certain curly-haired wooly who drove the long car from Donegal to killy bags. I can see wooly yet helping the women on and off the car with their myriad packages. I can see the delightful grief with which he parted from us, his shiny face of welcome when he met us again a fortnight later. To set against wooly were the car drivers, who certainly are unpleasant if the whip-money does not come up to their expectations. We say of such that they are spoiled by the tourists, yet I remember some who were not spoiled by the tourists, although they were perpetually in touch with them. Boatmen and pony boys at Calarney, and a certain delightful guy whose winning gaiety was not at all merely professional. Thinking over my country people I say they are so-and-so, and then I have a misgiving, and I say but after all they are not so-and-so. They are the most generous people in the world. They enjoy to the fullest the delight of giving, and what a good delight that is. I pity the ungiving people. You will receive more gifts in Ireland in a twelve month than in a lifetime out of it. The first instinct of Irish liking or loving is to give you something. The giving instinct runs through all classes. You sit down in the cabin and see an old piece of lusterware or something else of the sort. Do not admire it unless you mean to accept it, for it will be offered to you, not in the Spanish way, which does not expect acceptance, but in the Irish way, which does. I have many little bits of china given so, usually the one thing of any consideration or value the donor possessed. I once sought to buy an old china dish, much flawed and cracked by hot ovens in a Dublin hotel, as much to save it from following its fellows to destruction as for any other reason. The owner would not sell the dish, but he offered it for my acceptance in such a way that I could not refuse. When I go back to my old home the cottageers bring a few new laid eggs or a griddle cake for my acceptance. I have a friend in an Irish village whose income from an official source is ten pounds a year. She has a cottage, a few hens, and enough grass for a cow when she can get one. Her gifts come at Christmas, at Easter, on St. Patrick's Day, and on some special private feast of my own. Eggs, sweets, flowers, a bit of lace or a fine embroidered handkerchief, and in times of illness a pair of chickens. That is royal giving out of so little, and I assure you that it blesses the giver as well as the recipient. On the other hand the farmers grow thriftier and thriftier. Sir Horace Plunkett and men like him, truly patriotic Irishmen, are showing them the way. Successive land acts lift them more and more into a position of security from one of precariousness. They have more money now to put in the savings banks. Their prosperity does not mean a higher standard of living, although that is badly needed. It means more money in the banks. That is all. The Irish are very like the French. If the day should come when they should learn like the French to be thrifty and usurious, I hope I shall not be there to see it. Better, a thousand times better, that they should remain royal wastrels to the end. And yet we need not fear it. Still, if you ask a drink of water at a mountain cabin in the poorest parts of Ireland, you are given milk and do not offer to pay for it, lest you sink to the lowest place in the estimation of these splendid givers. The hospitality is truly splendid. There is a saying in Ireland that they always put an extra bit in the pot for the man coming over the hill. It is an unheard of thing that you should call at an Irish house and not be asked if you have a mouth on you. If your visit be within anything like measurable distance of mealtime, you will be obliged to stay for the meal. In England, when people are poor or comparatively so, or feel the need of retrenchment, they do not entertain. It is almost the first form of retrenchment which suggests itself to the Englishman, whereas to curtail his hospitality would be the last form of retrenchment to an Irishman, and you will be entertained generously and lavishly by people you know to be poor. The Englishman's different way of looking at the matter is no doubt partly due to the fact that he is a much more domestic person than the Irishman, and depends mainly on his family life for his happiness and pleasure. Now the French do not give hospitality at all outside the large family circle, so that in that regard, at least, the Irish will have a long way to travel before they touch with the French. I've said that the Irish are not domestic. They are gregarious but not domestic. The Irishman depends a great deal on neighbors. He is no such way of enclosing himself in a little fortified place of home against all the ills of the world as has the Englishman. Irish mothers like Irish nurses are often tenderly, exquisitely soft and warm, but the young ones will fly out of the nest for all that. Perhaps the art of making the home pleasant is not an Irish art. Perhaps it is the gregariousness, general and not particular, least general in the sense of embracing the parish and not the family. To the young Irish and a good many of their elders the home is dull. They go off to America leaving the old people to loneliness because there is no amusement. They do not make their own interests as the slower, less vivacious nations do. The rainy Irish climate seems made for people who would find their pleasures indoors. But the Irish will be out and about telling good stories and hearing them. They are an artistic people with great traditions. Yet books or music or conversation will not keep them at home. If they cannot have the neighbors in, they will go out to the neighbors. They are very religious and accept the invisible world with a thoroughness and simplicity of belief which they would say themselves is their most precious inheritance. The kelp is no materialist. He does not love success or riches. Most of those whom he holds in esteem have been neither successful nor rich. Money is not the passport to his affections. He ought never to go away and alas he goes away in thousands. Contact with the selfish, money-getting materialism that has power to destroy the spiritual qualities of the kelp once he is outside Ireland. When he comes back, a prosperous Irish American, he is no longer the kelp we loved. And he does come back. That is one of his contradictions. The home he had left behind because of its dullness, the arid patch of mountain land, the graves of his people, call him back again at the moment when one would have said every bond with them was loosened. Section 104 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales Read for LibriVox.org by Sonya Wales Part 1 Legends of Wales Historical Note When the Saxons invaded Britain in the 5th century the inhabitants were driven to the westward and mingled with their kinsmen in Wales. The conquest of these kinsmen was slow, for they made the most determined resistance. The King Arthur of Tennyson's idols is thought to have been one of their leaders, as was also Cadwellan. In the 11th century an English army overran Wales, but not until the days of William the Conqueror did any English ruler succeed in obliging the Welsh to recognise him as sovereign. This recognition was given most grudgingly and in order to prevent these unwilling subjects from making raids upon the English territories the land along the borders, or marches, was granted to Norman nobles, Lord's marches, as they were called, and there they built their strongholds. They were an independent folk, these marches, but they held back the Welsh, and therefore they had to be endured. End of Section 104 This recording is in the public domain. Section 105 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales Read for LibriVox.org by Alan Mapstone King Arthur by Bessie Rainer Parks When good King Arthur ruled this land, he dwelt at Carlyon Bonuske. He held it with an armed right hand and drank red wine from dawn till dusk. How stalwart were the warriors then? In our time no such maidens are. King Arthur was the first of men. The fairest aim, Queen Gwynnevar. When Merlin waved his silver wand, none dared dispute its awful spells. On summer nights the moonlit strand was musical with fairy bells. And all the nights in Arthur's court made glorious that enchanted spot. And who was first in every sport? Ah, who was loved but lance a lot. How bright the armour which they wore when setting out at morning tide, the silken banners which they bore by gentle hands were wrought and dyed. And who shall rise and who shall fall when they the robber bands assail and whose pure hands shall duty call to seek and find the holy grail? Fair company of noble knights that ride in that mysterious land and celebrate your mystic rites with stainless sword in stainless hand. Ah, where is Carlyon, upon uske, though somewhere in the south of Wales the wanderer there at gathering dusk when dreaming o'er these ancient tales will hardly see such lovely dames will hardly meet such noble men till bards and prophets prove their claims and good King Arthur comes again. End of section 105 This recording is in the public domain. Section 106 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jason in Canada. The World's Story, Volume 10. England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Edited by Eva March-Tapan. Section 106. The Dream of Maxon Wledig from the Mabinogen. Mabinogen is a general term used for the old Welsh tales and romances. In the following tale, Maxon is that Maximus whom, in 383, his soldiers proclaimed Emperor of Rome. The editor. Maxon Wledig was Emperor of Rome and he was a comelier man and a better and wiser than any Emperor that had been before him. And one day he held a council of kings and he said to his friends, I desire to go tomorrow to hunt. And the next day in the morning he sat forth with his retinue and came to the valley of the river that flowed towards Rome. And he hunted through the valley until midday. And with him also were two and thirty crowned kings that were his vassals. Not for the delight of hunting went the Emperor with them, but to put himself on equal terms with those kings. And the sun was high in the sky over their heads and the heat was great. And sleep came upon Maxon Wledig and his attendants stood and set up their shields around him upon the shafts of their spears to protect him from the sun and they placed a gold enameled shield under his head. And so Maxon slept. And he saw a dream. And this is the dream that he saw. He was journeying along the valley of the river towards its source and he came to the highest mountain in the world. And he thought that the mountain was as high as the sky. And when he came over the mountain it seemed to him that he went through the fairest and most level regions that man ever yet beheld on the other side of the mountain. And he saw large and mighty rivers descending from the mountain to the sea and towards the mouths of the rivers he proceeded. And as he journeyed thus he came to the mouth of the largest river ever seen and he beheld a great city at the entrance of the river and a vast castle in the city and he saw many high towers of various colors in the castle. And he saw a fleet at the mouth of the river, the largest ever seen. And he saw one ship among the fleet, larger was it by far and fairer than all the others. Of such part of the ship as he could see above the water one plank was gilded and the other silvered over. He saw a bridge of the bone of the whale from the ship to the land and he thought that he went along the bridge and came into the ship. And a sail was hoisted on the ship and along the sea and the ocean it was born. Then it seemed that he came to the fairest island in the whole world and he traversed the island from sea to sea even to the farthest shore of the island. Valleys he saw and steeps and rocks of wondrous height and rugged precipices. Never yet saw he the like. And thence he beheld an island in the sea facing this rugged land and between him and the island was a country of which the plain was as large as the sea, the mountain as vast as the wood and from the mountain he saw a river that flowed through the land and fell into the sea. And at the mouth of the river he beheld a castle, the fairest that man ever saw and the gate of the castle was open and he went into the castle. And in the castle he saw a fair hall of which the roof seemed to be all gold, the walls of the hall seemed to be entirely of glittering precious gems, the doors all seemed to be of gold, golden seats he saw in the hall and silver tables and on a seat opposite to him he beheld two auburn-haired youths playing at chess. He saw a silver board for the chess and golden pieces thereon. The garments of the youths were of jet-black satin and chaplets of ruddy gold bound their hair whereon were sparkling jewels of great price, rubies and gems alternately with imperial stones. Buskins of new cordovan leather were on their feet, fastened by slides of red gold. And beside a pillar in the hall he saw a hoary-headed man in a chair of ivory with the figures of two eagles of ruddy gold thereon. Bracelets of gold were upon his arms and many rings upon his hands and a golden torquus about his neck and his hair was bound with a golden diadem. He was of powerful aspect. The chessboard of gold was before him and a rod of gold and a steel file in his hand. And he was carving out chessmen. And he saw a maiden sitting before him in a chair of ruddy gold. Not more easy than to gaze upon the sun when brightest was it to look upon her by reason of her beauty. A vest of white silk was upon the maiden with clasps of red gold at the breast and a surcoat of gold tissue was upon her and a frontlet of red gold upon her head and rubies and gems were in the frontlet alternating with pearls and imperial stones. And a girdle of ruddy gold was around her. She was the fairest sight that man ever beheld. The maiden arose from her chair before him and he threw his arms about the neck of the maiden and they too sat down together in the chair of gold and the chair was not less roomy for them both than for the maiden alone. And as he had his arms about the maiden's neck and his cheek by her cheek behold through the chafing of the dogs at their leashing and the clashing of the shields as they struck against each other and the beating together of the shafts of the spears and the neighing of the horses and their prancing the emperor awoke. And when he awoke nor spirit nor existence was left him because of the maiden whom he had seen in his sleep for the love of the maiden pervaded his whole frame. Then his household spake upon him. Lord, said they, is it not past the time for thee to take thy food? Whereupon the emperor mounted his palfrey the saddest man that mortal ever saw and went forth towards Rome. And thus he was during the space of a week when they of the household went to drink wine and mead out of golden vessels he went not with any of them. When they went to listen to songs and tales he went not with them there. Neither could he be persuaded to do anything but sleep. And as often as he slept he beheld in his dreams the maiden he loved best but except when he slept he saw nothing of her for he knew not where in the world she was. One day the page of the chamber spake unto him. Now although he was page of the chamber he was king of the Romans. Lord, said he, all thy people revile thee. Wherefore do they revile me? asked the emperor. Because they can get neither message nor answer from thee as men should have from their Lord. This is the cause why thou art spoken evil of. Youth, said the emperor, do thou bring unto me the wise men of Rome and I will tell them why I am so sorrowful. Then the wise men of Rome were brought to the emperor and he spake to them. Sages of Rome, said he, I have seen a dream and in the dream I beheld a maiden and because of the maiden is there neither life nor spirit nor existence within me. Lord, they answered, since thou judgest us worthy to counsel thee we will give thee counsel and this is our counsel that thou send messengers for three years to the three parts of the world to seek for thy dream and as thou knowest not what day or what night good news may come to thee the hope thereof will support thee. So the messengers journeyed for the space of a year wandering about the world and seeking tidings concerning his dream. But when they came back at the end of the year they knew not one word more than they did the day they set forth. And then was the emperor exceedingly sorrowful for he thought that he should never have tidings of her whom best he loved. Then spoke the king of the Romans unto the emperor. Lord, said he, go forth to hunt by the way that thou didst seem to go whether it were to the east or to the west. So the emperor went forth to hunt and he came to the bank of the river. Behold, said he, this is where I was when I saw the dream and I went towards the source of the river westward. And there upon thirteen messengers of the emperors set forth and before them they saw a high mountain which seemed to them to touch the sky. Now this was the guise in which the messengers journeyed. One sleeve was on the cap of each of them in front as a sign that they were messengers in order that through what hostile land so ever they might pass no harm might be done them. And when they were come over this mountain they beheld vast plains and large rivers flowing there through. Behold, said they, the land which our master saw. And they went along the mouths of the rivers until they came to the mighty river which they saw flowing to the sea and the vast city and the many colored high towers of the castle. They saw the largest fleet in the world in the harbor of the river and one ship that was larger than any of the others. Behold again, said they, the dream that our master saw. And in the great ship they crossed the sea and came to the island of Britain. And they traversed the island until they came to Snowden. Behold, said they, the rugged land that our master saw. And they went forward until they saw Anglesley before them and until they saw Arvon likewise. Behold, said they, the land our master saw in his sleep. And they saw Ebersane and a castle at the mouth of the river. The portal of the castle saw they open and into the castle they went and they saw a hall in the castle. Then said they, Behold, the hall which he saw in his sleep. They went into the hall and they beheld two youths playing at chess on the golden bench. And they beheld the hoary-headed man beside the pillar in the ivory chair carving chessmen. And they beheld the maidens sitting on a chair of ruddy gold. The messengers bent down upon their knees. Empress of Rome, all hail! Ha, Gentiles, said the maiden, ye bear the seeming of honorable men and the badge of envoys. What mockery is this ye do to me? We mock thee not, lady, but the Emperor of Rome hath seen thee in his sleep and he has neither life nor spirit left because of thee. Thou shalt have of us therefore the choice, lady, whether thou wilt go with us and be made Empress of Rome or that the Emperor come hither and take thee for his wife. Ha, lords, said the maiden, I will not deny what ye say. Neither will I believe it too well. If the Emperor love me, let him come here to seek me. And by day and night the messengers hide them back. And when their horses failed, they bought other fresh ones. And when they came to Rome, they saluted the Emperor and asked their boon, which was given to them according as they named it. We will be thy guides, Lord, said they, over sea and over land to the place where is the woman whom best thou lovest, for we know her name and her kindred and her race. And immediately the Emperor sat forth with his army and these men were his guides. Toward the island of Britain they went over the sea and the deep, and he conquered the island from Belly, the son of Managan, and his sons and drove them to the sea, and went forward even unto Arvan, and the Emperor knew the land when he saw it, and when he beheld the castle of Ebersaen, look yonder, said he, there is the castle wherein I saw the damsel whom I best love. And he went forward into the castle and into the hall, and there he saw Kainan, the son of Yudav, and Aedion, the son of Yudav playing at Chess, and he saw Yudav, the son of Keradok, sitting on a chair of ivory carving chessmen, and the maiden whom he had beheld in his sleep, he saw sitting on a chair of gold. Empress of Rome, said he, all hail, and the Emperor threw his arms about her neck, and that night she became his bride. End of Section 106 This recording is in the public domain. Section 107 of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The World's Story, Volume 10, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, edited by Eva March Tappan. Section 107 The Grave of the Grey Hound, about 1220, by William Robert Spencer. The Llewellyn, whose hasty temper was the death of his faithful dog, was Llewellyn up your word, or Llewellyn the Great. He brought both Norman Barons and Welsh chieftains under his rule, and gave valiant assistance to the Barons in their struggle to force King John to sign Magna Carta. Unluckily, for the probability of the story of Gillert, tales greatly similar to this have been found in Russian, Sanskrit, Arabian, and many other languages. The Welsh version has been handed down by tradition for 700 years and is generally received throughout Wales. Of the so-called tomb of Gillert, George Burrow says, the tomb, or what is said to be the tomb of Gillert, stands in a beautiful meadow just below the precipitous side of Carrick Lawn. It consists of a large slab lying on its side and two upright stones. It is shaded by a weeping willow and is surrounded by a hexagonal palan who is there acquainted with the legend, whether he believes that the dog lies beneath those stones or not, can visit them without exclaiming with a sigh. Poor Gillert, the editor, the spearman heard the bugle sound and cheerfully smiled the morn, and many a brock and many a hound obeyed Llewellyn's horn, and still he blew a louder blast and gave a luster cheer. Come, Gillert, come, word never last Llewellyn's horn to hear, O where death faithful Gillert roam, the flower of all his race, so true, so brave, a lamb at home, a lion in the chase. It was only at Llewellyn's board that faithful Gillert fed, he watched, he served, he cheered his lord and sent an alt his bed. In sooth he was a peerless hound, the gift of royal John, but now no Gillert could be found and all the chase rode on, and now as o'er the rocks and dells, the gallant shightings rise, all Snowden's craggy chaos yells, the many mingled cries. That day Llewellyn little loved the chase of hardened hair, and scant and small the booty proved for Gillert was not there. Unpleased Llewellyn, homeward hide, when near the portal see, is true in Gillert, he aspired, bounding his lord to greet, but when he gained his castle door, aghast the chieftain stood, the hound, all o'er, was near the door, his lips, his fangs, ran blood, Llewellyn gazed with fierce surprise, unused, such looks to meet, his favorite, checked his joyful guise, and crouched and looked his feet, onward in haste, Llewellyn passed, and on went Gillert too, and still were ere his eyes he cast, fresh blood gouts shocked his view, o'er turned his infant's bed he found, with blood stained, covered, and all around the walls and ground, with recent blood the sprint, he called his child, no voice replied, he searched with terror wild, blood, blood he found on every side, but nowhere found his child, hell hound, my child's by thee devoured, the frantic father cried, and to the hilt his vengeful sword, he plunged in Gillert's side, his supplement looks as prone he fell, no pity could impart, but still is Gillert's dying yell, passed heavy o'er his heart, aroused by Gillert's dying yell, some slumber wakened nigh, what words the parent's joy could tell, to hear his infant's cry, concealed beneath the tumbled heap, his hurried search had missed, all glowing from his rosy sleep, the cherub boy he kissed, nor scape heavy, nor harm nor dread, but the same couch beneath lay a gaunt walk, all torn and dead, tremendous still and dead, ah, what was then Llewellyn's pain, for now the truth was clear, his gallant hound the wolf had slain, to save Llewellyn's hair, vain, vain was all Llewellyn's woe, best of thy kind adieu, the frantic blow which laid below, this heart shall ever rue, and now a gallant tune they raise, with costly sculptured deck, and marbles storied with his praise, poor Gillert's bones protect, there never could the spearmen pass, or forester unmoved, there off the tear besprinkle grass, Llewellyn's sorrow prude, and there he hung his horn and spear, and there as evening fell, in fancy's ear, he oft would hear, poor Gillert's dying yell, and till great Snowden's rocks grow old, and cease the storm to brave, the consecrated spot shall hold, the name of Gillert's grave. End of section 107. This recording is in the public domain. Section 108 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Read for LibriVox.org by Alan Mapstone. The Wearing of the Leak, an old song translated from the Welsh by Henry Davis. Cad Wollon, the hero of the following song, was King of Wales in the 7th century. For many years he resisted the advance of the Saxons, but was finally defeated and slain at Haventhealth. In his memory the leak is worn on the 1st of March. The Editor When King Cad Wollon famed of old, amidst tumult and alarms, with dauntless heart and courage bold, led on the British arms, he bade his men ne'er fret and grieve, nor doubt the coming fray. For well he knew it was the eve of great St David's Day. The Saxons in their wild distress, of this their hour of need, disguised them in the British dress, the hero to mislead. But soon the Welshman's eager ken perceived the craven play, and gave a leak to all his men upon St David's Day. Behold the gallant monarch cried a trophy bright and green, and let it for our battle guide in every helm be seen, that when we meet as meet we must the Saxons' proud array. We all may know in whom to trust on good St David's Day. And on the rose the battle shout the crash of spear and bow, but I the green leak pointed out the Welshman from his foe. The Saxons made a stout defence, but fled at length away, and conquest crowned the British Prince on great St David's Day. We'll cherish still that field of fame, what there may be our lot, which long as Wally a half a name shall never be forgot, and braver badge we ne'er will seek whatever others may. But still be proud to wear the leak on good St David's Day. End of section 108. This recording is in the public domain. Section 109 of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, read for LibriVox.org. Wales Part 2 Stories of the Welsh Rebellions Historical Note Wales was forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of William the Conqueror, but the freedom-loving people never fully yielded to Norman authority. When Edward I came to the throne of England, he determined to subjugate this troublesome little country. First he bade, Suellen ap Griffiths, come to him and pay him homage of a vassal, but the wary Prince refused to trust himself in the hands of Edward. An English invasion resulted. Suellen was overcome and forced not only to pay homage annually, but also to give up a goodly share of his lands. In 1284 Wales was put under English rule and English laws were introduced. According to legend, Edward planned to appease the pride of the Welsh by promising them a prince who had been born in Wales and had never spoken a word of English. This prince proved to be his baby son who was born at Carnarvon in Wales. The Welsh, however, were not long satisfied with this sop de Cerberus and in 1402 a formidable revolt broke out under the leadership of Owen Glendauer. This was the last national uprising. In 1536 Wales was incorporated with England and all the rights and privileges of English subjects were accorded to the Welsh. The history of the country since that date is therefore blended with that of England. And of section 109. This recording is in the public domain. Section 110 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. This is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adrian Stevens. The world's story, volume 10. England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Edited by Eva March Tappan. Section 110. How the Welsh kept the Christmas of 1115 by Sabine Bering Gould. In the story from which the following selection is taken Rogier has been sent as governor to the district between the Tau'i and Taifi rivers and his brother as bishop. The sufferings of the Welsh from the two tyrants have reached the point where they can no longer be born. The result is the uprising described. The editor. Like an explosion of fire damp in the coal mine sudden, far-reaching, deadly so was the convulsion in south Wales. All was quiet today. On the morrow the whole land from the Bay of Cardigan to Morganoog was in flames. The rising had been prepared for with the utmost caution. The last to anticipate it were the soldiery under Rogier who was quartered in Cairo. Notwithstanding imperative orders from the bishop at Ha'u Hadden to return to him they had remained where they were and had continued to conduct themselves in the same lawless man as before. They scoffed at the tameness with which their insolence was endured. They are cunnall conies, de la pa, they said. Footnote, rabbits, and a footnote. Say, twist, and nothing more is seen of them than their white tails as they scuttled their burrows. For centuries this had been an oasis of peace unlapped by the waves of war. The very faculty of resistance was taken out of these men who could handle a plough or brandish a shepherd's crook but were frightened at the chime of a bowstring and the flesh of a pike. Yet, secretly, arms were being brought into the valley and were distributed from farm to farm and from cot to cot. And the men whose wives and daughters had been dishonoured, whose savings had been carried off, who had themselves been beaten and insulted, whose relatives had been hung as felons were gripping the swords and handling the lances, eager for the signal that should set them free to fall on their tormentors and that signal came at last. On Christmas Eve, from the top of Pen-e-Thinus shot up a tongue of flame. At once from every mountainside answered flashes of fire. There was light before every house, however small. The great basin of Kayo was like a reverse dome of heaven studied with stars. What is the meaning of this? Ask Roger, issuing from the habitation he had appropriated to himself and looking round in amazements. It is the Poulgain, replied his man, Pont d'Arche, who knew something of Welsh. Poulgain, what is that? The coming-in of Christmas, they salute it with lights and carols and prayers and dances. Me thinks I can hear sounds. I, they are coming to church. With torches, there are many, they all come. Then a man came rushing up the hill. He was breathless. On reaching where stood Roger, he gasped. They come, a thousand men and all armed. It is a river of fire. Along the road could be seen a waving line of light and from all sides down the mountains ran cascades of light as well. There is not a man, is not armed, but men, each bears a torch. They come with them to see revenge done on us. Then up came Caddell. He was trembling. Roger, he said, this is no Poulgain for us. The whole country is stirring. The whole people is under arms and swearing to have our blood. We will show these conies of cunnwil that we are not afraid of them. There are no conies now but lines. Can you stand against a thousand men? And this is not all, I warrant. The whole of the Towie Valley and that of Typhie, all Dovid. Maybe your Wales is up to-night. Can you make your way through? Roger uttered a curse. I relish not running before these conies. Then tarry, and they will hang you beside cunnwil's bell where you slung their kinsmen. Roger's face had become mottled with mingled rage and fear. Meanwhile his men had rallied around him running from the several houses of the town. A panic had seized them. Some, without awaiting orders, were saddling their horses. Hark! shouted Roger. What is that? The river of light had become a river of song. The thunder of the voices of men and the clear tones of the women combined, and from every rill of light that descended from the heights to swell the advancing current came the strain as well. They have come caroling, said Roger, disdainfully. Carol, call you this, exclaimed Caddell. It is the war song of the sons of David. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate him flee before him. Like as the smoke vanishes, so shout thou drive them away, and like as wax melteth at the fire, so let the ungodly perish. I will hear no more, said Roger. Mount. And heaven grant us a day when we may revenge this. I will go too, said Caddell. Here I dare not remain. Before the advancing river of men arrived at the crossing of the annel, the entire band of the Normans had fled. Not one was left. Then up the ascent came the procession. First went the staff of Kunoil, not now in its gold and gem-encrusted shrine, but removed from it, a plain rough ashen stick borne aloft by Morgan App Seiselt. It's hereditary guardian, and behind him came Meredith, with his two attendant bards, all with their harps, striking them as the multitude intoned the battle-song that, for five hundred years, had not sounded within the sanctuary of David. The women bore torches aloft. The men marched for a breast, all armed and with stern faces, and Pabo was there and led them. The arch-priest, on reaching the church, mounted a block of stone and dismissed the women, let them return to their homes. A panic had fallen on those who had molested them, and they had fled. The work was but begun, and the men alone could carry it on to the end. Roger and his men did not draw rain till they had reached the Istrid Taui, the broad valley through which flowed the drainage of the Breknock mountains, and there they saw that on all sides beacons were kindled, in every hamlet resounded the noise of arms. At Land Aelo they drew themselves into the denivore, which had but a slender garrison, but there they would not stay and avoiding such places as were centres of gathering to the roused natives, they made for Comarthen. The castle there was deemed impregnable. It was held mainly by Welsh mercenaries in the service of Gerald of Windsor. Roger mistrusted them. He would not remain there, for he had heard that Griffith Aparis, at the head of the bodies of insurgents, was marching up Comarthen. Next day the brother of the bishop was again on the move with his men by daybreak and passed into the Kledau valley, making for Ha'u Hadan. In the meantime the men of Kayo were on the march. None were left behind save the very old and the very young and the women. They marched fore abreast with the staff of Kunoil Now the vanguard thundered the battle-song of David. Kefodeddu Gwaskara I Elinion Afoed I Gasion Oeflion F They sang then ceased and the rearguard took up the chant. When there wentest forth before the people when there wentest through the wilderness the earth shook and the heavens dropped. They sang on and ceased. On again the vanguard took up the strain. Kings with all their armies did flee and were discomforted and they of the household divided the spoil. Thus chanting alternately they marched through the passage among the mountains threaded by the San Helen and before the people went Pabo wearing the bracelet of Maximus the Roman emperor who took to wife that Helen who had made the road and who was of the royal British race of the country. So they marched on following the same course as that by which the Norman cavalcade preceded them. And this was the Pulgane in David in the year 1115. The host came out between the portals of the hills at Hlanurda and turned about and descended the Istradtawi by the right bank of the river and the daybreak of Christmas saw them opposite Hlan-Gadok and the night spread from behind the mighty ridge of Tichrug and revealed the great fortified lonely camp of Khan Gok towering up with its mighty walls of stone and the huge cairn that occupied the highest point within the enclosure. They halted for a while but for a while only and then thrust along in the same order and with the same resolution intoning the same chant on their way to Hlandelo. It was midnight and every house was open to them and on every hearth there was a girdle-cake for them. In the morrow the whole body was again on the march. Meanwhile the garrison had fled from Dinovo to Karag Kanan and the men of Istradtawi were camped against that fortress from which on the news of the revolt Gerald had escaped to Kamarthen. By the time the men of Kayo had made their claims and tidings came from Cardigan the people there had with one acclaim declared that they would have gritheth as their prince and were besieging Strongbow's castle of Blind Porth. But the men of Kayo did not tarry at Kamarthen to assist in the taking of the castle only there did Pabo surrender the bracelet of Maxen to the prince wither where they bound slowly, steadily resolvably on the track of those men who had outraced them to their place of retreat and defence the bishop's castle of Haorhadan. Now when Bernard heard that all Kayo was on the march and came on unswervingly towards where he was behind Strongbow's and defended by mighty towers then his heart failed him. He bade Rudger hold out but for himself he mounted his mule rode to Tenby Castle nor rested there but took ship and crossed the mouth of the seven estuary to Bristol where he hasted to London to lay tidings before the king and with him went Caddell the chaplain. It was evening when the host of Kayo reached Haorhadan and Rudger from the walls heard the chant of the war-sarm God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as Goethon still in his wickedness that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies and that the tongue of thy dogs may be read through the same. He shuddered a premonition of evil. Pabo would have dissuaded his men from an immediate assault but they were not weary they were eager for the fray they had cut down and were bearing faggots of wood and carried huge bundles of fern some faggots went into the moat others were heaped against the gates the episcopal barns were broken into and all the straw brought forth then flames were applied and the draught carried the fire with a roar within by break of day Haorhadan castle was in the hands of the men of Kayo they chased its garrison from every wall of defence they were asked for and gave no quarter those who had so long tyrannised over them lay in the galleries slain with a sword or thrust through with spears only Roger, hung by the neck dangled from a beam thrust through an upper window end of section 110 this recording is in the public domain section 111 of Kingland, Scotland Ireland and Wales this is a Librebox recording all Librebox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librebox.org recording by Patrick Seaman the world's story volume 10 England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales edited by Ava March Tappan section 111 section 111 when the 18 fell 1282 by Owen Rochecombe on Thursday December 10th 1282 Thlewyn Apgrufid received a message from the plotters blurring him to Aberdew some miles down the Y below Booth and on the other side of the stream the snow was lying white on the world and the pictures, deeper then than now blurring black and full but the forward across the Y at Thecrid was still passable choosing 18 of his household men his bodyguard Thlewyn rode to Thecrid and crossed there he left his 18 to hold the forward till he should come back and then attended only by one squire Thlewyn the son of his minister he pushed on down the valley to Aberdew at Aberdew he was to meet a young gentleman who was to conduct him to a stealthy meeting with some chiefs of that district if it be asked why he rode bus almost alone and almost unarmored the answer is that he was on a secret errand in which he must not attract attention until he had seen the local chiefs and arranged all the details of a rising of their part the more secret and sudden that rising was the more likely it was to succeed he was taking one of the risks that a fearless captain takes in such a war it was like him to do it for he was a steadfast soul at Aberdew however the gentleman was not there to meet him truth the whole message was part of the plot of Gifford and the mortemers though he did not know it yet yet as he waited he thought of how the snow would betray which way he went either in going to the secret meeting with the chiefs or in stealing away for safety from any sudden enemies therefore he went to the smith of the place redomatic of the wide mouth and bade him take the thin shoes off the horses and take them on again backwards anyone finding his tracks after that would think he had been coming not going then as dark fell we found the mortemers with their horsemen were closing in round the place danger was upon him indeed swiftly he stole away with his squire and hid himself in a cave which may still be seen at Aberdew all the night he lay hidden then as soon as the earliest grey of dawn got over the snowy earth he stole away with his squire again and rode back to Fechred he could only go slowly so he had to go stealthily for his horse could not gallop because of its shoes being backwards at fechred he found his faithful 18 but by this time the river was too high for crossing there they must find some bridge and now the nearest bridge was the one at Bülth under the walls of the great castle Felwyn believed that by the trick of the horseshoes he had thrown the mortemers off his track also he remembered that Bülth castle was to be delivered to him according to promise he took his 18 men and rode back to the bridge at Bülth in great distance down the valley he reached the bridge in time the mortemers at Abadu had terrified Redmatic the smith into confessing the trick of the horseshoes like hounds they were following his trail and now they caught sight of him crossing the bridge with his little troop the bridge was of wood like the rest of the bridges of that district Felwyn turned and broke it down behind him the black flood of the full why mocking the mortemers as they drew rain on their planting steeds before the broken timbers their hoped for victim had escaped for the moment in their fury they turned and dashed down the valley to cross Eirid now called Eirwood 8 miles below Felwyn expected the castle of Bülth to be given up to him but the garrison refused doubtless making some excuse of waiting to the country had risen could not waste time the bridge on the road to Seny bed was gone he took his 18 and led the way along the southern bank the Yirvan to another bridge just above the little church a faniness there he crossed and posted the 18 to hold that bridge doubtless feeling himself safely returned from great peril and thankfulness for that escape he caused a white friar to hold a service for him perhaps at the end of the bridge perhaps in mortal church of faniness beside the dark Yirvan it does not matter much where the service was held the whole of that ground was to be made sacred that day this done Felwyn went up to the garage of Fanvere a farmstead belonging to the parish church of Bülth he was freed in an hour's sleep after the cold watching of that winter's night Nikkei after a frosty night of scout work one's eyes get very heavy when one gets warm next day and a great drowsiness stills the blood even of the stubbornest man meanwhile the mortemers had crossed the Y at Erwood and with Gifford were riding fast for the bridge of Barrowanum 18 held their post and had long haste their leading squadron charged the bridge but the 18 had not been chosen in vain they kept the bridge while the clamour was at its height Grono Vajcan roused Felwyn and told him of it are not my men at the bridge demanded the prince they are answered Grono then I care not if all of England were on the other side returned Felwyn proudly they knew that manner of men he had left to hold that bridge but down in further bridge were the enemy were shouting in their baffled rage as they tried in vain to heal away across one of Gifford's captains spoke out it was Helius at Phillip Walwyn from lower down the Y we shall do no good here he shouted but I know of Ford a little distance off that they do not know of but some of the bravest and strongest come with me and we can cross and take the bridge in the rear at once the bravest crowded after Helius to the Ford where the water seems as dark and deep in winter as the rest of the long black pool on either hand they crossed the 18 were charged in rear as well as in front but they kept faith where Felwyn had posted them there they died as men should end so they ended to the 18 fell says the bard it was well with Felwyn upgroofed then over their bodies cored all the massive water mismen with Giffords to seek Felwyn's little force in the high ground beyond fast the horsemen spurred and as they hastened they came suddenly upon an unarmoured man with one companion hurrying on foot towards where the bridge was roaring under the trampoline host one of the horsemen Steven or Adam or Frankton and Felwyn's older lordship of Ellesmere dashed forward with his men and one ran as a lance than the younger of the two the other one was running up through the little dingo to get back to the army above in time to lead it the coming battle on the bank above the little spring at the head of the dingo grew a great spread of broom Bannadel in the brush of broom Frankton overtook the man and ran his spear out through him in a mortal wound that man was Felwyn the accident had happened go to the spot when the people will tell you that no broom has ever grown again in thangent and perish from that dark day to this so died Felwyn upgroofed a gallant or soul ever passed to God End of section 111 This recording is in the public domain Section 112 of England Scotland Ireland and Wales This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer LibriVox.org The World's Story Volume 10 England Scotland Ireland and Wales edited by Eva March Tapper Section 112 The Rebellion of Owen Glindore 1402 to 1415 by Owen Roscomel Many a victory was won in the field He defeated and ruined Grey but he was a statesman in War 2 He made an alliance with the King of France He sent to make alliances with the Scots and the Irish Once indeed he formed such an alliance with part of the English against the usurping Henry that it seemed for a moment as if he must win all that he dreamt of His generals, Wreath Gesin had defeated Edmund Mortimer in a great battle at Peleth in what is now Radnishere capturing Mortimer himself Now Mortimer's nephew the boy Earl of March had a better right to the crown of England than Henry had so far as the law went Henry therefore kept the boy a prisoner at Windsor and was glad enough to hear that Mortimer was the prisoner of the terrible Glindur While he remained a prisoner Mortimer could not try to get the crown of England for his nephew But Mortimer had a brother-in-law in the famous Hotspur son of Earl Percy of Northumberland and Hotspur was not pleased that his wife's brother should remain a prisoner He demanded that King Henry should arrange for the ransom of Mortimer as he had arranged for the ransom when Glindur had captured him Henry however refused Now Henry owed his throne to the help which the purses had given him Glindur had from the first kept in touch with Percy and spared the Mortimer possessions Plain proof that from the first he had been planning to use the right of the young Earl of March against Henry Henry's refusal to amounts of Mortimer was the one thing he wanted He entered into negotiations in earnest with Hotspur and Mortimer to drive out Henry He succeeded with both Mortimer not only agreed but married Glindur's daughter Joan The plan was that the purses should come down from the north and join with Mortimer and Glindur for a march on London Before they started however Glindur would have to take the last moment for a fierce campaign against the Lord's marchers and the Flemings of the south so as to leave Qumru secure while he should be gone Had the purses stuck to the plan it must have succeeded in all human probability But it was Hotspur who led the men of the north to join Owen and Hotspur was ever a hothead When he reached Cheshire from first to last because it was an enemy to Henry and found him joined by all that county as well as by the Qumru of the nearest cantrebs he thought he was strong enough to pull down Henry's single handed He turned east instead of keeping to the plan and marched to join Owen It was the old mistake of Luke de Tanne over again over confidence and it had a like result For Henry was too strong and too ready Too late Hotspur turned back and took up the original plan again Henry was too swift for him Hotspur reached Shrewsbury only to find that Henry with an army twice as large as his own was there in the town before him All that bravery could do to retrieve a fatal mistake was done next day in battle But it was done in vain and Glendur finishing his work in the south and turning at last to come and meet his ally was met by the news that Hotspur had been slain and his army destroyed in one of the bloodiest battles of British history the battle of Shrewsbury 1403 Yet though so much was lost in that mistake of Hotspur's Glendur never lost heart to the true hero's soul that like a star burns only the brighter the deeper the darkness spreads around it He still fought on still made his power felt still ruled Cummru He terrified Parliament as no Cummrick Prince had ever terrified it before In 1404 Parliament granted leave to the people of Shropshire to pay him tribute to save themselves In 1408 Shrewsbury refused to open its gates to the King's army for fear of him The Flemings of Divid paid their price to him after he had defeated them and brought fire and sword to their doors Countless castles were destroyed to the bitter end he refused to yield It is not known where he died though it is inferred that he died in 1416 In Gwent they say that he did not die they say that he and his men sit sleeping in Ogolff-e-Dinnis buckled in their armour their spears leaning against their shoulders their swords across their knees they are waiting till the day comes for them to sally forth and fight for the land again End of section 112 This recording is in the public domain Recording by Alan Mapstone in Oxford, England Section 113 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales Read for LibriVox.org by Alan Mapstone The March of the Men of Harlech 1468 National Cambrian War Song translated by John Oxenford While Edward IV was reigning in England he sent the Earl of Pembroke against the mighty castle of Harlech and demanded that it be given up to him Its defender, David Ennion replied I held a tower in France till all the old women in Wales heard of it and now all the old women in France shall hear how I defend this castle He made a stacked resistance but was finally obliged to yield to famine The National War Song of which the following is a translation is said to have been composed during this siege The Editor Men of Harlech march to glory victory is hovering o'er ye Bright-eyed freedom stands before ye hear ye not her call At your sloth she seems to wonder when the sluggish bonds asunder let the war cries deafening thunder every faux-apole echoes loudly waking hill and valley shaking till the sound spreads wide around the Saxons' courage breaking your foes on air recite a sailing forward press with heart unfailing till invaders learn with quailing Cambria ne'er can yield Thou who know Cambria wrongest know that freedom's cause is strongest freedom's courage lost the longest ending but with death freedom countless hosts can scatter freedom stout his mail can shatter freedom thick his walls can batter fate is in her breath see they now are flying dead are heaped and dying over might have triumphed right our land to foes denying upon their soil we never sought them love of conquest hither broke them but this lesson we have taught them Cambria ne'er can yield end of section 113 this recording is in the public domain section 114 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit www.vox.org recording by Phil Shrimp the world's story, volume 10 England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales edited by Eva March Tabin section 114 Howell Welshman became King of England, 1485 by Owen Roscomel toward the end of the 15th century Richard III succeeded in usurping the throne of England his tyranny and crimes by which he had accomplished his object so aroused the English people that they invited Henry Tudor a descendant of John of Gaunt and also of Owen Tudor a Welsh gentleman who had married the widow of Henry V to become their sovereign he landed at Milford in 1485 and was soon engaged in the fierce battle with Richard at Bosworth Henry was successful and was crowned on the battlefield as Henry VII the editor cloudily down the morning of that Monday, August 22nd 1485 when Henry Tudor drew out the host of his gallant countrymen for the battle that was to close a thousand years of struggle it was to close more it was to close the medieval period of British history and to open the modern day the day of our own empire that King that morning drew out his host from its tents at Sutton and saw two miles to his left front the host of Henry King that night to his right front on hanging hill at Nethercote he saw the host of Sir William Stanley the men of northeast Camry on his immediate right lay Lord Stanley's men he sent to order Lord Stanley to join him but Lord Stanley would not come then Richard measured what he had to do his army was nearly equal in numbers to all the other three combined it was far better equipped and armored moreover it was composed for the most part of veteran troops there were no sweepings of jails and hospitals with him like the men that Henry had brought from France the ground too was all in Richard's favor in front of him ran out the long tongue of Andean hill rounded on the north and west lay a long winding marsh between him and the other armies that marsh could only be crossed at Santaford where the ancient trackway which he had followed from Stapleton ran on down from Andean hill to Shendon and Henry's camp therefore he would take up a position at the end of the ridge of Andean hill overlooking Santaford crossing and there wait Henry's coming Richard was one of the best generals of his day but if he were to march straight off to do it then Lord Stanley yonder on his right might swing round the head of the marsh and attack him from behind just when the others attacked him in the front that would mean certain defeat therefore he commanded the Earl of Northumberland whose men were as many as Lord Stanley's to stand fast where he was and keep Lord Stanley off then with his 8000 and more of veterans he set forward to the ridge of Andean hill Henry Tudor as he drew out his men from the camp at Whitmore could look across the marsh and see the plain of Redmore beyond it swelling up into the crest of Andean hill on that crest he could see the front of Richard's army one wide wave of glittering steel ranging into position he saw what Richard intended he knew that he himself must cross the marsh and attack Andean hill every disadvantage was with Henry his own men including the worthless foreigners were not nearly so many as Richard's he had sent for Lord Stanley and Lord Stanley had refused to come to him but he still trusted Sir William Stanley for Sir William's men worked Henry he knew that the marsh could only be crossed at Sandiford the ancient trackway from his camp led to that crossing and onward to Richard's position the track would lead him the right way then the marsh would protect his right flank while he marched to Sandiford and there when he turned the head of the column to the right to cross the little stream the troops of Sir William Stanley would be but a mile or so away behind him on hanging hill then Sir William could follow him on over the crossing and join him in the attack it was the only plan now and he marched to carry it out when he came to Sandiford he crossed the marsh to array his men on Redmore beyond still no Stanley came but it was ten o'clock and the battle must be fought Stanley or no Stanley above him rose the steel crowned crest of Ambien and the harvest sun shown dazzlingly into the eyes of his archers as they faced the slope behind them was the wide marsh to cut them off from retreat or flight if they were beaten they were few and the foes were many they were on the low ground and the foe with his cannon was on the high ground to attack now would be boldness indeed but they were bold hearts they attacked when the order was given to prepare Lord says the old chronicler how hastily the soldiers buckled on their helms how quickly the archers bent their bows and flushed the feathers of their arrows oh readily the billman shook their bills and proved their staves ready to approach and join when the terrible trumpet should sound the blast to victory or death the chronicler used the right word there it was a case of victory or death to the leaders for Henry was striking for the crown that meant life and safety to him the exiles were striking for the home that was the only place in the world for them the Kimmary were striking in the fire of a pride that nothing could kill well might Richard feel haunted he looked at all the Kimmary banners arranged against him and he called for a bowl of burgundy and turned to his squire reached by him here I can he cried I drink to thee the truest Welshman that ever I found in Wales and with the words he drank the wine through the bowl behind him and gave the word for the onset his van was stretched from the marsh on the right to the marsh on the left a very terrible company to them that should see them afar off says the chronicler in the center were the archers and on either hand of them two wings of men at arms covered with steel from top to toe behind them on the hill were Richard and his main body with the cannon Henry's van was thin because his men were fewer but they were enough the trumpet blew the soldiers shouted the King's archers let fly their arrows but Henry's bowmen stood not still they paid them back again then the terrible shot once over the armies came to hand strokes and the matter was dealt with blades Henry's tactics were all boldness he still felt that Sir William Stanley's men must come in for they were Kimbury too unlike Lord Stanley's therefore he pressed the fight on Richard's left till his van had outflanked it by this movement he could face the slope now with the sun at his back while it's shown in the faces of Richard's men dazzling their eyes in turn by this movement too he got Richard's army between him and Sir William Stanley so that it would be taken in front and rear when Stanley charged a thing that would mean complete disaster for Richard Richard saw that and with his cavalry swung round to come on Henry's right flank but there was another green spread of marsh where now wave and be in woods and it was too soft his good white horse stuck fast shouting for another horse he mounted again and led the thundering charge straight at Henry's flank but Earl Jasper was watching he had the main body of Henry's men under him the men of Old Dehebeth and with the gallant Earl of Oxford it continued the fight in the van against the Duke of Norfolk Jasper faced his men to meet the desperate Richard and beat back his furious onset thus in a rayed triangle the fight raged on keenly Henry watched the fight now or never was the moment where was Will Stanley with his Kimmary in his anxiety he rode back attended only by his bodyguard and standard bearer towards Sandofford to where he could see if Will Stanley was coming and as he drew rain to look one of Richard's men saw him and sped away with the news to his master Richard was pausing for a drink from the spring which is to this day called King Richard's Well when the word was brought to him he saw it once that he still had one last desperate chance if he could reach and kill Henry then the victory would be his seeing that there would be no one left for Henry's men to fight for he seized the chance let all true knights follow me he shouted and spurred away over the hill to where he should find Henry fast poured the flower of Richard's knights after him while Henry's bodyguard saw the onset coming and closed its ranks to defend him Richard marked the great standard that Sir William Brandon bore and he charged upon it like a demon he unhorsed huge Sir John Chaney who tried to bar his way he slew the standard bearer and laid a hand upon the standard itself but Jai's Reese of Moretti of Nant Conwy seized it from him and drove him back a breath while Henry himself met him with a fury that astonished friend and foe Richard raged like a madman but it was all too late now Sir William's men were here at last Richard Apoog of Moston with the rest and the best King Richard was born back fighting like a demon Richard was born back fighting like ten men yet still born back his horse fell his lords and knights were dead or dying fast around him still he raged on then came Dark Reese Apthomas seeking the king who had once threatened him and tradition tells how the blade of Dark Reese ended the life of the last Norman King Richard III the fall of Richard was the end and he fled at that Northumberland laid down his arms there was no more to fight for Lord Stanley whose troops had never struck a blow hurried over to Henry whose men were following the flight of the vanquished but all was not done yet the long fierce dream of the stubborn Timmery were to be fulfilled to the very letter they had come into England to win the crown of Britain very deed for when the chase was ended the crown of dead King Richard was found in a Hawthorne bush and Lord Stanley lifted it and placed it on the head of Henry thus was the long dream fulfilled the crown of Britain was come back to the descendant of its founder at last and the wild shout of triumph with which the victors hailed their countryman King is remembered to this day in the name of the field in which they stood and watched him crown its name means the field of the shout you may still see the stone where on that crowning took place it is in stoke golden and the spot is still called crown hill in memory of the only time that ever a king of England was crowned on the field of battle lost in battle that crown had come back in battle did the bones of all the slain generations of the Timmery who had struggled for this day stir in their red graves that shout surely their spirits knew when the work was done at last surely a sound like the moving of a mighty wind it must have swept over Timmery for the ghost of all the heroes slain in the battles of the thousand years of struggle could leave their graves at last and go to God the long work done the victory won the nuk de midis chanted or the mountains as they passed End of section 114 this recording is in the public domain section 115 of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales read fullybrewox.org by Sonya Wales part 3 scenes of Welsh life historical note the devotion of the Welsh to their country and its customs and to literature and music brought about the establishment of the Ace Deadwood which is attended by many thousand persons the word Ace Deadwood means a session or sitting and originated perhaps long before the Christian era in the Gorsedd which was in great degree a political assembly although the Gorsedd lost its political power it retained a strong hold upon the people of Wales as a means of encouraging the love of music and poetry and of preserving the national customs chairs were established or conventions where musicians were trained four of these now exist in Wales it was probably at some time during the 6th century that Ace Deadwood I began to be held and for many years they took place triennially every means was employed to improve the music and encourage the musicians rewards were given a silver harp to the chief musician and a silver chair to the chief bard during the last 50 years many local Ace Deadwood I have been held by the provincial one almost every year the letter must be proclaimed by a bard who is a graduate of one of the chairs a year and a day before the time set when the day arrives there is first of all a Gorsedd meeting announced by the blast of trumpets here deserving candidates received a degree of bard at the close of the celebration comes chair day or the time of rewarding the prize winners end of section 115 this recording is in the public domain