British antiquities revived, or, A friendly contest touching the soveraignty of the three princes of VVales in ancient times managed with certain arguments whereunto answers are applyed by Robert Vaughan, Esq. ; to which is added the pedigree of the Right Honourable the Earl of Carbery, Lord President of Wales ; with a short account of the five royall tribes of Cambria, by the same author.

The Answer to the first Argument.

THE later Prince of Powys held that by inheritance from the third son of Rod••ric the great, as Mr. Camden in these words declareth▪ Powissiae principes à tertio filio Roderici magni prognati hunc agrum (viz Mountgomerieshire) cum aliis perpetuâ serie ad Ed: 2. temporat••nuerunt Therefore Cadelh prince of Southwales (out of whose loines the later princes of Powys were descended) must of necessity be the third son o•• Roderic the great, which degree of Birth the white book of Hergest, Tho•• Maylor, Jo: Leland, Hum: Llwyd, Myles, and many more both modern and ancient Authors do attribute to Cadell by name. And if to avoid that, you will say that Camden by tertio filio did not mean Cadelh, the•• must Mervyn be the man, and consequently he must have issue, else the later princes of Powys could not derive themselves from Roderic, and i•• he had issue, then Cadell could not have Powys by inheritance, as be¦ing

the Eldest of the 3 Brethren; what was got otherwise, is not the thing in question. And truly to deny Mervyn's issue were injury in the highest degree offered to diverse Gentlemen of Wales descending from him, and in particular to the reverend and learned Judge, Sr. William Jones of Carnarvan shire Kt. and lately one of the Justices of the Kings bench, who derives his pedegree lineally from Triffin the son of Mervyn: and if you doubt whether Mervyn had such a son, a very ancient parchment MS. written above 400 yeares agoe will resolve you, O Driffin mab Mervyn mab Rodri mawr ydd benyw gwehelyeith Riw o Leyn: that is, the inheritors of Rhiw in Llyn are descended of Trif∣fin the son of Mervyn, the son of Roderic the great. Likewise in a Ge∣nealogy of the princes of Northwales, Southwales, and Powys descending from Roderic the great, annexed to a Latine copy of the Lawes of Howel Dha, we find that Idwal voel son to Anarawd King of Northwales did marry Avandreg the daughter of Mervyn King of Powis, upon whom he begat Meuric the Ancestor of Lhewelin the great, prince of North∣wales. But the ancient and learned Giraldus Cambrensis in the relation of the Genealogy of the said Llewelyn the great, hath not only himself fallen into an error, but hath drawn many learned and grave Antiqua∣ries that followed his tract into the same snare, for speaking of this Avandreg, he saith she was the Son and not the Daughter of Mervyn, (the which Mervyn against all Antiquity and truth he calleth prince of Northwales,) and so ascendeth to Roderic the great by the feminine line, making no mention at all of Idwal voel the son of Anarawd prince of Northwales indeed, whom ancient writers term and stile by the name of Ludwallus rex omnium Wall••nsium, who also, as is said before, upon this Avandreg the daughter (and not the son) of Mervyn king of Powis, begat the forenamed Meurig, the Ancestor of Leoline the great. But for your better satisfaction of the ground whence Giraldus did conceive this error, behold these Rundlets following.

• Rod∣ric the great.
  • Anar∣awd K. of North. wales.
    • Idwal Voel K. of N.W.
  • Mer∣vin K. of Powis.
  • Avan∣drec daughter.
    • Meiric.

Farther more, Caradoc Lancarvanensis a Southwales man, who lived a∣bout 500 yeares agoe, saith, that a son of Mervyn, named Haeardur, was drowned An: 953. My last witnesse for Mervyn's issue will be George Owen Harry, another Southwales man, who saith, that Angha∣rad daughter and heir of Llewelin the son of Mervyn king of Powis was married to▪ Owen ap Howel dha (not to Mredyth the said Owen's son, as you say,) his testimony, seeing he was an Antiquary of Southwales, and a strong maintainer of Cadelh's Supremacy, ought to move you to believe this point, especially seeing that this marriage is the only title that the said Author ascribeth to the posterity of Cadelh over Powis, which whether it were lawfull, as he is of opinion, or unlawfull, as may be inferred out of the words of the English History of the princes of Cambria, I leave others to judge: it shall suffice me to prove that the Prince of Northwales, not of Southwales had the Soveraignty of Powis, as doth appear, when Owen surnamed the great, prince of North∣wales, having in his company Cadwalader ap Gr: ap Conan his brother, and the Lord Rees prince of Southwales entred Powis, and chasing Owen Cyveiliog Prince thereof out of the Country, seized upon all his inheri∣tance, and gave Caerenion to Owen Vachan to hold of the prince of Northwales; the rest he reserved to himselfe, saving Dywalwern a little

piece of Cyueiliog, which he gave the Lord Rees, because (according to the book of Conwey) the report went, that it stood within the confines of the said Rees his dominions. Hereby it is manifest that the sove∣raignty of Powis did not belong to the prince of Southwales; for if it had, questionlesse the Lord Rees then present would have chalenged the same as his right by inheritance: and that it did of right appertain to the prince of Northwales may farther appear by an ancient Inquisi∣tion taken at Bala before Humphrey Duke of Gl••cester, An: 6. Hen. 6. Totum dominium de Powis tenetur de domino Rege Angliae, ut principe Walliae per servitium Baronum, viz. de serto de Aberfro: & est in dominio de Powis qued dam alind s••rtum vocatum Mathraval, quod simul cum omnibus terris & tenementis eidem certo de Mathraval junctis & annex∣atis tenet de domino rege ut principe Walliae per servitium praedictum in ca∣pite & de jure teneri debet ut de certo de Aberffro praedicto. An other Inquisition found likewise at Ba••a in the 48th year of Ed. 3. saith that, Dominium de Powis iutegrè ten••batur de principibus Walliae in capite, viz. de certo de Aberffraw. Et est in dominio de Powis quoddam alind certum vocatum Mathraval, quod simul cum omnibus terris & tenementis eidem certo junctis & annexatis tenebatur, & adhuc de jure teneri deb••ntur de certo de Aberffraw. And last of all, I must put you in mind, that Cadell king of Powis, Father of Nest, Grandmother to Roderic the great, was the son of Elisseu, and not of Brochwel Ysgithroc; for Brochwel, as you say, was King of Powis An. 617. and this Cadell whom you will have to be his Son, died An: 808. as Caradoc of Lancarvan affirmeth; so then, that one, or yet both of them should raigne very neer 200 yeeres is almost impossible, and altogether untrue: for according to the ancient histories of Wales, Cadelh was the son of Elisseu, the son of Cynllaw, the son of Beli, the son of Maelmynan, the son of Selyf or Salomon, the son of Cynan, the son of Brochwel Ysgythroc: King of Powis, and Earle of Che∣ster. Thus you see your first Argument and reason for Cadell's senio∣rity and soveraignty quite overthrown, First, by the testimony of Cam∣den, declaring that the latter princes of Powis (the issue of Cadell) were descended from the third son of Roderic the great, which degree of birth the Authors above mentioned ascribe unto Cadell by name: Second∣ly by an undoubted proof of Meruyn's issue: and lastly, by the sove∣raignty over Powis proved to be in the princes of Northwales; all which

infallibly conclude them to be descended from the eldest son of Roderic the great.