[234] Sir Rhys ap Thomas, the hero of Carew (Caerau) in Henry the Seventh’s time, is chiefly of local fame. But his name has made its way into general history. See Hall’s Chronicle, p. 410, and several other places.
[235] It. Camb. i. 12 (vol. vi. p. 89). “Provincia Pembrochiensis principale municipium, totiusque provinciæ Demeticæ caput, in saxosa quadam et oblonga rupis eminentia situm, lingua marina de Milverdico portu prosiliens in capite bifurco complectitur. Unde et Pembrochia caput maritimæ sonat. Primus hoc castrum Arnulfus de Mungumeri, sub Anglorum rege Henrico primo, ex virgis et cespite, tenue satis et exile construxit.” The date is of course wrong, as the castle of Pembroke appears both in the Annales Cambriæ and in the Brut in 1094, and as Giraldus himself describes the castle as in being soon after the death of Rhys ap Tewdwr. He perhaps confounds Arnulf’s first rude work with the stronger castle built by Gerald on the same site in 1105. This, according to the Brut, was fortified with a ditch and wall and a gateway with a lock on it.
[236] Giraldus describes his namesake, the husband of his grandmother, as “vir probus prudensque, Giraldus de Windesora, constabularius suus [Arnulfi] et primipilus.”
[237] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 482.
[238] I have discussed this matter at length in [Appendix BB]. (p. 851) of the fifth volume of the Norman Conquest. Miss Williams (History of Wales, p. 209), like Sir Francis Palgrave, knows more about Nest than I can find in any book. But the tale in the Brut of her being carried off by Owen in 1106 (see N. C. vol. v. p. 210) is very graphic.
[239] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 501.
[240] So says the Brut, 1094 (1096). Is this William the son of that Baldwin from whom Montgomery took its Welsh name?
[241] See vol. i. p. 464.
[242] Chron. Petrib. 1094. “Eac on þisum ylcan geare þa Wylisce men hi gegaderodon, and wið þa Frencisce þe on Walon oððe on þære neawiste wæron and hi ǽr belandedon, gewinn úp ahofon, and manige festena and castelas abræcon, and men ofslogon, and syððan heora gefylce weox, hí hí on ma todældon. Wið sum þæra dæle gefeaht Hugo eorl of Scrobscire, and hi aflymde. Ac þeah hweðer þa oðre ealles þæs geares nanes yfeles ne geswicon þe hi dón mihton.”
[243] Brut y Tywysogion, 1092 (1094). The translation runs; “Whilst William remained in Normandy, the Britons resisted the domination of the French, not being able to bear their cruelty, and demolished their castles in Gwynedd, and iterated their depredations and slaughters among them.” The Latin annalist says only; “Britanni jugum Francorum respuerunt. Wenedociam, Cereticam et Demetiam ab iis et eorum castellis emundaverunt.” Both these writers have oddly mistaken the state of things in Normandy. One manuscript of the Annales says that William went into Normandy, and that the revolt happened, “ibi morante et fratrem suum expugnante,” while the Brut says more wildly that “King William Rufus [Gwilim Goch], who first by a most glorious war prevailed over the Saxons, went to Normandy to keep and defend the kingdom [teyrnas] of Robert his brother, who had gone to Jerusalem [Kærcesalem] to fight against the Saracens and other barbarous nations and to protect the Christians, and to acquire greater fame.”