Note 1117 — Chapter VII · (continued 3)

The action of the Welsh appears in all our accounts, but most fully in Orderic and the Brut. The Annales Cambriæ say only “Seditio [magna] orta est inter Robertum Belleem et Henricum regem.” William of Malmesbury says spitefully, “Wallensibus pro motu fortunæ ad malum pronis.” But he seems somehow to connect them specially with Shrewsbury. Florence is emphatic, and brings out the feudal relation between them and Earl Robert (see above, p. 424); “Walanos etiam, suos homines, ut promptiores sibique fideliores ac paratiores essent ad id perficiendum quod volebat, honoribus, terris, equis, armis incitavit, variisque donis largiter ditavit.” From the Brut we get the names of all three, Cadwgan, Jorwerth, and Meredydd. Orderic leaves out Meredydd, and calls them sons of Rhys instead of Bleddyn. He adds, “Quos cum suis copiis exercitum regis exturbare frequenter dirigebat.”