Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales; containing a record of all ranks of the gentry ..with many ancient pedigrees and memorials of old and extinct families . h a small but brave and hardy nation offered toit. That people had been schooled in adversity. They had almost an affection foradversity; for if no foreign foe offered it as a gift, they forthwith created it by quarrelsamongst themselves. But for nearly 800 years they had sustained an almost uninterruptedconflict with aggressors of Saxon, Danish, and Norman nationality, interpolating manybloody conflicts of
Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales; containing a record of all ranks of the gentry ..with many ancient pedigrees and memorials of old and extinct families . h a small but brave and hardy nation offered toit. That people had been schooled in adversity. They had almost an affection foradversity; for if no foreign foe offered it as a gift, they forthwith created it by quarrelsamongst themselves. But for nearly 800 years they had sustained an almost uninterruptedconflict with aggressors of Saxon, Danish, and Norman nationality, interpolating manybloody conflicts of a more domestic nature ; and yet they are now found by Edward I., afterthe greatest armies that England could raise from all quarters had invaded Snowdonia itSv^lf 332 CARNARVONSHIRE. more than seven times, and after the last of their princely race had fallen, stubborn,sullen, contemptuous, dangerous. The fierce sallies from the mountains were real conquest of Wales threatened to be a long achievement; but to Edwards mind anachievement it was to be ; and he built his castles, made his roads, issued his edicts, like aman who had counted the cost and made up his Conway Castle (J)-om a photo, by Bedford). Proud pile ! thy tempest-beaten towers still rearTheir heads sublime, and to the angry stormBid bold defiance; though their aged browsBear visibly the marks of strong decay. Conway Castle was planted on a projecting rock of no great height hanging over theestuary of the river Co/mj, a spot selected by the far-seeing mind of Edward as superior to thesite of the great castle of Diganwy, the other side of the estuary, which Llewelyn hadsome time ago demolished. On this Conway site there used to stand the monastery orabbey of Aber Conwy, the inmates and priests of which had experienced a hard fortuneduring the recent wars, being frequently robbed and ill-treated, sometimes murdered byNormans or Welsh, as accident ordained. From Matthew Paris we learn that in a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidannalsantiqu, bookyear1872
