03/27/13

Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales

Dafydd ap Gruffydd was the younger brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales who ruled portions of Wales, to a greater or lesser degree, since the death of his uncle (also named Dafydd) in 1246. The younger Dafydd was born in 1238, thirteen years after Llywelyn. This Dafydd spent the majority of his life in England, to which his family was forced to come when his father was imprisoned at the Tower of London by King Henry. Llywelyn, 16 at the time and a man, had refused to leave Wales with the rest of his family, and thus was on the spot, so to speak, when his uncle Dafydd died.

At that point, Dafydd ap Gruffydd was only 8 years old, and in no sense prepared to put forth a claim to his patrimony. That occurred for the first time in 1255, when he conspired with his brother, Owain Goch, to force Llywelyn to relinquish some of his lands to Dafydd. They were defeated in the Battle of Bryn Derwin. Llywelyn accepted Dafydd back into his favor a year later, only to have Dafydd betray him again in 1263, and again in 1274 when he attempted to assassinate Llywelyn.

To say that Dafydd had a problematic relationship with Llywelyn is an understatement. Llywelyn kept Owain Goch imprisoned for the rest of his life, but he released Dafydd after Bryn Derwin and gave him lands, ultimately bowing to his younger brother’s rightful claim. At the time, Llywelyn perceived Owain, the elder brother, as the greater threat.

From Brynne Haug: “Dafydd’s choice to turn to Edward in 1263 and again in 1274 was self-serving in that he believed his chances better with the king than with Llywelyn. Llywelyn had little choice but to accept Dafydd back when he changed his mind: in 1267 Edward I stipulated it in the Treaty of Mongomery, and it was again a condition in 1277.” What must have been most aggravating to Llywelyn was that Dafydd was one of the impetuses for ALL of the wars against England that peppered his reign: in 1267, in 1277, both times when he fought against Llywelyn on the side of the English, and in 1282, when he forced Llywelyn to throw his weight behind Dafydd himself after he launched an attack on Edward’s castles in Wales.

Whatever his motives, Dafydd did stay true to Wales after Llywelyn’s death. In June 1283, English soldiers captured Dafydd, took him to Shrewsbury, and, in October, executed him.He was hung, drawn, and quartered, and his head displayed in the tower of London alongside Llywelyn’s.

Sources:

J. Beverly Smith, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd: The Prince of Wales.

Brynne Haug, Captive Cymru: Llywelyn and Gwynedd in the Wars of King Edward.

Peniarth MS 20, The Chronicle of the Princes

03/23/13

The Irish in Wales

The Irish, Welsh, and Scots all have a Celtic ancestry, but they settled their respective regions before the Roman conquest of Britain. There is an amazing amount of debate as to the origin of the Celts: were they Phoenician? stocky and dark? tall and blonde? as culturally cohesive as the label suggests? The standard theory is that the Celts were an Indo-European group that gradually migrated across Europe and Asia, with an identifiable, distinct culture by 750 BC. As a group, they were well-known to the Greeks and Romans.

http://archaeology.suite101.com/article.cfm/archaeology_and_the_celts

The Celts had arrived in Britain and Ireland by 400 BC, super-imposing upon whatever native peoples were already there. The Celts in these regions, then, were on the fringes of Celtic culture, not their heart, which was centered in Northern Europe, particularly in what is now Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

http://www.knowth.com/the-celts.htm

The links between Wales and Ireland continued to hold through the Roman conquest and the years after. There is strong evidence of a continued Irish presence in Wales, particularly on the west coast of Wales. The rulers of Dyfed were of Irish descent into the 7th century–and there is also evidence of repeated raids from Ireland to Wales.

According to Thomas:

“… both Irish and Welsh sources portrayed it as a tribal migration of the Irish Dessi or Deisi headed by their own king and, from the Irish viewpoint, a suitable ‘expulsion’ saga was adduced. The direct line of Irish rulers of Welsh Dyfed went on into the 7th and 8th centuries. An interesting mix arose; by 400 Irish and British were fully differing languages, and additionally Christians from both nations used different scripts (Latin and Ogham) for their memorials. Irish never replaced British in Wales the way it did in Scotland, but relative numerical strengths do not necessarily explain why; less obvious factors could be involved.”

http://www.islandguide.co.uk/history/ogham.htm

Within Welsh mythology, the Irish play a significant role as well. Taliesin sings of himself: I have been with Bran in Ireland. This is in reference to the tale of Bran the Blessed who obtains a magical cauldron from Cerridwen (in disguise as a giantess). She had been expelled from a lake in Ireland. The cauldron can resurrect the corpse of dead warriors placed inside it (this scene is believed to be depicted on the Gundestrup cauldron):

http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/Gundestrup/kauldron.html.

Bran gives his sister Branwen and her new husband Matholwch — the King of Ireland, and not to be confused with Math ap Mathonwy, the King of Gwynedd – the cauldron as a wedding gift, but when war breaks out Bran sets out to take the valuable gift back. He is accompanied by a band of a loyal knights with him, but only seven return home. A similar tale is told in Taliesin’s poem, the Spoils of Annwn about King Arthur’s descent to the Underworld.

In the Middle Ages, there was much back and forth between the rulers of Wales and the rulers of Ireland. Not only did they share ancestry and blood, but retreated one to the other at various times when they were driven out of their own kingdom (in the case of Gwynedd, due to usurpers or the Normans). In one specific case, Owain Gwynedd’s father, Gruffydd ap Cynan, claimed ancestry to both the Norse kingdom of Dublin and to the Celtic High Kings of Ireland:

“According to the Life of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Gruffudd was born in Dublin and reared near Swords, County Dublin in Ireland. He was the son of a Welsh Prince, Cynan ap Iago, who was a claimant to the Kingship of Gwynedd but was probably never king of Gwynedd, though his father, Gruffudd’s grandfather, Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig had ruled Gwynedd from 1023 to 1039. When Gruffudd first appeared on the scene in Wales the Welsh annals several times refer to him as “grandson of Iago” rather than the more usual “son of Cynan”, indicating that his father was little known in Wales. Cynan ap Iago seems to have died while Gruffudd was still young, since the History describes his mother telling him who his father was.

Gruffudd’s mother Ragnhild was the daughter of Olaf of Dublin, son of King Sigtrygg Silkbeard and a member of the Hiberno-Norse Uí Ímhair dynasty.[1] Through his mother, who appears in the list of the fair women of Ireland in the Book of Leinster, Gruffudd claimed relationships with many of the leading septs in Ireland. His great-great grandparents on his mother’s side include the High King of Ireland, Brian Bóruma, and the King of Dublin and King of Northumbria, Olaf Cuarán, and Gormflaith.[1]

During his many struggles to gain the kingship of Gwynedd, Gruffudd received considerable aid from Ireland, both from the Hiberno-Norse at Dublin, but also those at Wexford, and also from Muircheartach Ua Briain.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruffudd_ap_Cynan

03/14/13

The Dream of Welsh Independence

On December 11th, 1282, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was killed amidst the conflict with Edward I. Less than a year later, his brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, was hung, drawn, and quartered and dragged throught he streets of Shrewsbury–as final payment for what Edward perceived as the ultimate betrayal. The two men had been as close as brothers, once, and ended in epic hatred. In further retribution, Edward took all the signs of office–the true cross, the scepter, the crown–of the throne of Wales for himself. And he made sure his son, Edward II, was born at Caernarfon Castle (in 1284), so that Edward could name him the Prince of Wales. The heir to throne of England has been called the Prince of Wales ever since.

It has been 731 years since 1282. Is that too long a time to remember this? Has too much time passed for Welsh people to think independence is a reasonable thing to ask?

A 2007 BBC poll reported that 20% of the people of Wales backed independence, while 70% did not; this is in comparison to Scotland, where 32% of the population supported independence from England. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6263807.stm

The ’Acts of Union’ were passed in 1707, by Scotland’s and England’s parliaments (Wales, of course, had no say in the matter). When James VI of Scotland inherited the English crown after the death of Elizabeth I (1603) the two countries had been effectively joined, albeit with some resistance on the part of the Scots. That resistance continued through the final defeat at Culloden in 1745, at which point the English did to the highland Scots what they’d done to the Welsh 500 years before. http://www.britishbattles.com/battle_of_culloden.htm

The leader of the independence movement in Wales is Plaid Cymru, a political party. They say their aims are:

1) To promote the constitutional advancement of Wales with a view to attaining Full National Status for Wales within the European Union. 2) To ensure economic prosperity, social justice and the health of the natural environment, based on decentralist socialism. 3) To build a national community based on equal citizenship, respect for different traditions and cultures and the equal worth of all individuals, whatever their race, nationality, gender, colour, creed, sexuality, age, ability or social background. 4) To create a bilingual society by promoting the revival of the Welsh language. 5) To promote Wales’s contribution to the global community and to attain membership of the United Nations. http://www.plaidcymru.org/content.php?nID=1221;lID=1

Of the sixty members of the Welsh National Assembly, the purpose of which (from their own web site) “is a democratically elected body that represents the interests of Wales and its people, makes laws for Wales and holds the Welsh government to account.” There are 26 members of the Labour Party, 14 members for Plaid Cymru, 13 Welsh Conservative, and 6 Liberal Democrats. Wales is led by a ‘first minister’ who is appointed by the crown (Queen Elizabeth), putting the Welsh Assembly on equal footing with Scotland within the three states that make up Great Britain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Minister_for_Wales

The question for the Welsh boils down to two: 1) what are the consequences of becoming independent? and 2) what are the consequences of not?

03/12/13

Leprosy

Leprosy was one of the scourges of the Middle Ages–not so much because of scale, but because when a person caught it, their community cast them out. The lazar house in the Brother Cadfael books, St. Giles, plays a significant role in the series. In the movie, Kingdom of Heaven, Baldwin IV of Jerusalem is portrayed as a leper, which is historically accurate. He ruled from 1174 to 1185. The man who recognized he had the disease (instead of the Baron played by Liam Neeson) was William of Tyre, later Archbishop and Chancellor. As you can see from the following article, the rest of the movie is entirely fictive as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_IV_of_Jerusalem

Leprosy, also known as ‘Hansen’s Disease’, is a contagious disease caused by a bacteria, Mycobacterium leprae, which is why it is curable post-antibiotics. Left untreated, leprosy is often progressive, causing permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Body parts fall off as a result of disease symptoms, rather than the disease itself. ”

M. leprae multiplies very slowly and the incubation period of the disease is about five years. Symptoms can take as long as 20 years to appear.
Leprosy is not highly infectious. It is transmitted via droplets, from the nose and mouth, during close and frequent contacts with untreated cases.
Untreated, leprosy can cause progressive and permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Early diagnosis and treatment with multidrug therapy (MDT) remain the key elements in eliminating the disease as a public health concern. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs101/en/

The issue with leprosy in the Middle Ages was partly that is was so disfiguring (although not very contagious), and partly that the Bible ascribes it as a product of divine punishment. People thus inflicted were driven out of their communities and condemned to wander the countryside, often from one leper house to another.

In today’s world millions of people stills suffer from leprosy. It is curable, but ignorance and poverty are pervasive and prevent its eradication. This article: http://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/eng/news/20091026GlobalAppealReport.html, is well-meaning, but indicates that the prejudice against people with leprosy and their families continues all over the world.

03/7/13

Eryri (Snowdonia)

Eryri, Snowdonia in English, was the place in Gwynedd to which the Princes of Wales retreated, and their final stronghold when the English pressed on them from every side. Mt. Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) has always been at its center, but it traditionally included the Carneddau range and essentially all the land west of the Conwy River. It is the land the Edward allowed Llywelyn ap Gruffydd to keep in the 1277 treaty. Today, as a national park, it includes 838 square miles.

From John T Koch, Celtic Culture: An Historical Encyclopedia:
“The first literary mention of Eryri occurs in the 9th century Historia Brittonum, where an account is given of the downfall of the semi-legendary 5th century king Vortigern. Pursued by his revolted Anglo-Saxon mercenaries and hated by his Brythonic countrymen, the king’s magi direct him to build a stronghold in a secure place on the far side of his kingdom. Such a place is found in Eryri . . .

“The place-name Eryri has had two Celtic roots proposed to explain it: 1) that it describes a high place [from the Latin eryr] or 2) that it denotes the abode of eagles [Welsh eryr 'eagle']. Of course, even if Eryri had not originally meant ‘eyrie’, this idea would automatically occur to any Welsh speaker, writer, or poet . . . In a transferred sense, eryr is often used as a kenning for ‘hero’ in Welsh poetry, which adds further significance to the place-name as the traditional mountain stronghold of the strongest and most militaristic independent Welsh kingdom, Gwynedd.”

1262 marks the year that Llywelyn ap Gruffydd styled himself for the first time as “Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdon (Eryri)”. Llywelyn Fawr had referred to himself as ‘prince of Aberffraw’, which his grandson no longer mentions, although others continue to refer to him as its lord (J. Beverly Smith Llywelyn ap Gruffydd p. 145). Because the latter was never recognized by the kings of England, the second Llywelyn chose to focus on Wales instead of Aberffraw Both, however, were ‘lord of Snowdon’ and believed that this land encompassed not only Eryri as present historians have come to know it, but to all the lands in Gwynedd from the Dee to the Dyfi Rivers (Smith, p. 188).

The primary castles in Eryri are: Dolwyddelan, Dolbadarn, Garth Celyn, and Castell y Bere. The fort to which Koch refers is Dinas Emrys, on the western slopes of the Snowdonian mountains.

03/1/13

Happy St. David’s Day!

St. David is the patron saint of Wales and his feast day (and possibly the date of his death) is March 1. The Welsh spelling of his name is ‘Dafydd’.

St. David “died in the year 589. His mother was called Non, and his father, Sant, was the son of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion. After being educated in Cardiganshire, he went on pilgrimage through south Wales and the west of England, where it is said that he founded religious centres such as Glastonbury and Croyland. He even went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he was made archbishop.

He eventually settled at Glyn Rhosyn (St David’s), in south-west Wales, where he established a very strict ascetic religious community. Many miracles have been attributed to him, the most incredible of which was performed when he was preaching at the Synod of Llanddewibrefi – he caused the ground to rise underneath him so that he could be seen and heard by all. How much truth is in this account of his life by Rhigyfarch is hard to tell. It must be considered that Rhigyfarch was the son of the Bishop of St David’s, and that the Life was written as propaganda to establish Dewi’s superiority and defend the bishopric from being taken over by Canterbury and the Normans.” http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/275/

“By the 9th century he had gained the name Aquaticus because he and the monks of his establishments were supposed to have drunk only water. His earliest Life* appeared around 1090 and was composed by a son of Sulien, bishop of St. David’s. The aim of this work was to promote the independence of the Welsh church. The Life tells us that St. David founded ten monasteries (including Glastonbury) and that the monks were vegetarian. Their regime included manual labour, study and worship.” http://www.data-wales.co.uk/st_david.htm

“March 1, the date given by Rhygyfarch for the death of Dewi Sant (St. David), was celebrated as a religious festival up until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the 18th century it became a national festival among the Welsh, and continues as such to this day. The celebration usually entails singing and eating, which may mean a meal followed by singing, or much singing followed by a Te Bach, tea with teisen bach and bara brith. Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon, is flown as a flag or worn as a pin or pendant, and leeks are worn, and sometimes eaten. In schools in Wales the boys take leeks to school, status being given to those who bring the biggest leeks, and eat them earliest in the day.” http://www.davidmorgan.com/stdavid.html

One year, the Google search engine acquired a castle, a flag, and a dragon. Let’s see what they have in store for us this year

02/2/13

Maps from the Books!

A reader suggested I post the maps from the books on my web page, which is a really good idea. Over the next few days I hope to link each map to the ‘Sarah’s Books’ pages, but for now …

This is the main map for the After Cilmeri Series:

For Cold My Heart. It is much the same, except I use the old name for Aber, which is Garth Celyn:

The Last Pendragon Saga:

The Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mysteries. Carreg Cennen from The Bard’s Daughter is not shown, but it forms a triangle with Dinefwr and Dryslyn:

02/1/13

The Triumph of Medieval Propaganda

This earlier post details some of what Geoffrey of Monmouth was doing when he wrote his History of the Kings of Britain back in the 12th century. It was at the behest of Robert of Gloucester, his patron, that he claims to have transcribed/copied/invented his history, placing King Arthur at the center of a national–and by that I mean English–origin myth. The idea was to justify the conquest of Britain by the Normans as a mirror to what King Arthur had done in the 5th century, including crossing the English Channel from Normandy to Britain.

Children’s author Phillip Womack (author of The Other Book and The Liberators) said in the Times Online: “As inhabitants of these islands, we don’t have many myths that bring us together, but King Arthur is one. I think that we will always seek him as a saviour, whatever situation we’re in, because that’s human nature. The reason the Arthur myths are currently so popular is that they reflect our age brilliantly.”

This is a nice quote, and not at all inaccurate, but none-the-less astonishing because this is EXACTLY WHAT GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH INTENDED! He wrote his book in 1139 AD. It was meant to be a mythology for the nation of England.

Geoffrey’s book was an immediate hit, and for the most part taken by the populace to be ‘true’, even if the scholars at the time dismissed it. One site states: “There is nothing in the matter or the style of the Historia to preclude us from supposing that Geoffrey drew partly upon confused traditions, partly on his own powers of invention, and to a very slight degree upon the accepted authorities for early British history. His chronology is fantastic and incredible; William of Newburgh justly remarks that, if we accepted the events which Geoffrey relates, we should have to suppose that they had happened in another world.”

Furthermore: “William of Newburgh . . . belongs to the northern school of historians, who carried on the admirable traditions of the Venerable Bede. This was a spirit very unlike that which inspired Geoffrey of Monmouth’s mythical “History of the British Kings” with its tales of King Arthur, and William attacks Geoffrey and his legends with great indignation, calling the latter “impudent and shameless lies“. This striking illustration of his historic integrity won for him from Freeman the title of ‘the father of historical criticism’, and the compliment is not altogether undeserved.” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15634c.htm

But it doesn’t matter. Geoffrey had launched the legend of King Arthur upon the world and there was no turning back.

01/18/13

What is Mead?

Although the nobility of Wales imported wine from the Roman period, and perhaps before, mead was the primary drink served throughout the country for thousands of years. Because of the climate, grapes, many fruits, and even grains do not grow well in Wales, though wine production did exist: “Wine has been made in England and Wales since Roman times. By the time of the Norman Conquest vines were grown in a number of vineyards, many of which were attached to monasteries. In fact the Domesday Book (1085-1086) records vineyards in 42 places. The main areas of production at this time were the coastal areas of the southeast, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. From the Middle Ages to the 20th century there was a decline in vineyards and the reasons cited for this have varied. They range from the Black Death that caused the depletion of labour and lead to many landowners renting out land rather than working it themselves, the breaking up of the monasteries in 1536, change in climate and increased volume and quality of wine imports from France.” http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/industry/sectors/alcohol/wine/industry.htm

Mead, however, was a local product, made in Wales as well as in native cultures throughout the world. “The first meads were most likely made simply by taking honey and water and letting them ferment with the naturally occurring yeasts found in the honey. Evidence of early meads has been found in Egypt and on the island of Crete, and it was drunk in Greece throughout the Golden Age. In many early cultures, bee goddesses held central roles in the pantheon, and many have postulated that this was because of the intoxicating effects of mead harvested from local bee hives.” http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mead.htm

“Despite what most people think, mead is not a kind of beer, as the definition of a beer is an alcoholic beverage made from grains. In Europe beers were made from barley and wheat. In Japan beer is made from rice (this beer is called Sake) and for the ancients of Mesoamerica beer was made from Maize (Corn). Mead is made from water, honey and yeast; as such it is not a beer. Neither is it a ‘wine’ as the sugars involved in fermentation are not derived from fruit.

Mead is mead, an ancient drink much beloved of the Celts and the peoples of Europe during the Middle Ages. For mead brewing, the initial mixture of water, honey and yeast is termed a must and the yeast converts the sugars in honey into alcohol at which point the must becomes mead. It is possible to create different flavors by adding ingredients such as fruit or spices into the Must, or by putting them into the Mead when Fermentation has stopped.” http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/brewing/mead-recipes.php

Indications that mead was drunk in Wales, along with wine, is found in the Y Goddodin, a 6th century poem by the Welsh poet, Aneiron. The poem tells of the ill-fated soldiers who were selected by Mynyddog Mwynfawr, the ruler of the Gododdin, for the battle. While they prepare, Mynyddog housed and feasted the men with food and mead. In addition, there are also other references in early historic poetry to ‘talu medd’ – payment of mead, in which soldiers became obliged to fight for the leader of the battle in order to repay his hospitality. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/early-welsh-literature/pages/aneirin.shtml

Although I don’t drink myself and don’t want to encourage it, for educational purposes, a recipe for mead can be found here: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/brewing/fetch-recipe.php?rid=basic-mead-brewing

01/1/13

Celebrating the New Year in medieval Wales

Celebrating the New Year dates back to Babylon, 4000 years ago. The date was celebrated on March 23, which coincides with the Persian, Muslim, and Baha’i New Year at the Spring Solstice.

“The Romans continued to observe the new year on March 25, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what was come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

Although in the first centuries AD the Romans continued celebrating the new year, the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as Christianity became more widespread, the early church began having its own religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations, and New Year’s Day was no different. New Years is still observed as the Feast of Christ’s Circumcision by some denominations.

During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years.” http://adoptionworld.org/kid/newyear.html

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t celebrated, however, particularly in Wales, where the Roman/pagan history was less overridden than in Saxon England. In Wales, there is a tradition of Mari Lwyd, the Grey Mare. It is possibly derived from the worship of the Goddess, Rhiannon, “It is a form of visiting wassail, a luck-bringing ritual in which a the participants accompany a person disguised as a horse from house to house (including pubs) and sing at each door in the hope of gaining admittance and being rewarded with food and drink.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Lwyd

“The Mari Lwyd was a horse’s skull covered with a white sheet and ribbons. It had false ears and eyes and was carried on a long pole. Gangs of men and young boys would carry the Mari Lwyd from door to door. They had usually consumed copious amounts of alcohol and the procession would be accompanied by a growling cacophony of noise.

When a door was opened the householder would be assailed by poems and insults and to this they were expected to reply in like form. When the verbal battle had been won or lost the Mari Lwyd and her followers were invited inside for yet another drink …

Calennig is another Welsh custom that died out at the end of the 19th century. From dawn until dusk on 1 January small parties of boys would pass from house to house in the village or town, carrying twigs of evergreen plants and cups or jugs of water. They would use the twigs to splash water at people and, in return, would receive the calennig – small copper coins.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2010/12/welsh_christmas_new_year_traditions.html

“The giving of gifts on New Year’s Day is an ancient custom. In Wales it took the form of collecting calennig (New Year’s Gift). Children would form groups and go from house to house, bearing good wishes for the health and prosperity of the family during the year to come. This was symbolised by the skewered apples, stuck with corn and sprigs of evergreen, which they carried in their hands. Verses were sung at the door of the house, and they would receive small gifts of food or money for their troubles.” http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/faq/calennig/

Sarah Woodbury

Writing Historical Fiction and Fantasy

Tag Archives: Wales