of an attempt to persuade him to hold an interview with the king at Worcester, where on 19 Sept. Joan went to meet her brother, summonses were issued to the feudal levies to meet for a Welsh expedition at Gloucester (Fœdera, i. 170). Llywelyn at the time was again besieging Builth, and had recently destroyed two border castles in North Wales belonging to Fulk Fitzwarine (Dunstaple Annals, p. 82). He was excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury (ib. p. 83), and in October his lands were, by command of Pope Honorius III, put under interdict (Royal Letters, i. 212). As usual he gave way before the king's advance. By the mediation of the Earl of Chester a peace was patched up, on the conditions that Montgomery was to go to the king, the marshal to retain his original territories, and Llywelyn to repair and restore Fitzwarine's castles (Dunstaple Annals, p. 83). Llywelyn and William Marshal both appeared before the king's council at Ludlow, but could not be reconciled (Brut y Tywysogion, p. 315). Yet for the next few years there was comparative tranquillity. There was constant talk about a fresh interview between Llywelyn and Henry, but it was postponed from time to time (Fœdera, i. 172, 178). It was not until the summer of 1226 that Henry saw his sister, her fierce husband, and their son Davydd at Shrewsbury (ib. i. 182). In the meantime constant diplomatic disputes had gone on. When reproached for having received the outlawed Falkes de Breauté, Llywelyn proudly answered: 'We do not possess less franchises than the king of Scots, who freely receives English outlaws' (Royal Letters, i. 229). Short truces were from time to time arranged (ib. i. 233-4). William Marshal continued his feuds. When in 1225 he received Eleanor, the king's sister, in marriage, one of the reasons given was the need of rewarding his success in capturing Llywelyn's castles (ib. i. 241). It was not until 1226 that Llywelyn and William made a final peace.
In 1228 Llywelyn again went to war against the English, and besieged Montgomery Castle, then belonging to the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh [q. v.] The king and justiciar marched to relieve the siege, whereupon Llywelyn withdrew. The English marched as far as Kerry, in the modern Montgomeryshire, where they burnt the abbey, on the ground that the Cistercian monks who lived in it were too friendly to the Welsh. In its place Henry and Hubert began to build a castle. Llywelyn, however, assembled his troops afresh on the other side of a forest, and vigorously assaulted the castle builders. William de Braose, son and heir of Reginald, was captured in the fight. At last the English suflered so much from lack of food, and so many of the English lords were secretly in relation with the prince, that the king and justiciar were forced to accept a peace. Llywelyn gave Henry three thousand marks (Matt. Paris, iii. 158; the Dunstaple Annals as printed by Dr. Luard read 'mille vaccas,' p. 110) for his expenses, and allowed Kerry to go to its lawful heir. The unfinished castle, called 'Hubert's Folly,' was a strong witness of the virtual triumph of the Welsh prince, despite the barren renewal of the homage of his chieftains to Henry (Brut y Tywysogion, p. 317). Davydd now went to London with his sister and performed homage.
William de Braose remained a captive in Llywelyn's hands. In 1229 he purchased his freedom with three thousand marks, the promise of his daughter Isabella in marriage to Davydd ab Llywelyn, with Builth as her wedding portion, and an engagement not to fight against Llywelyn for the future (Dunstaple Annals, p. 117). But during his captivity William had won the love of Llywelyn's wife Joan. Partly to be avenged on the adulterer, partly to wreak revenge for old wrongs, Llywelyn's men seized William in his own house at Easter in 1230 (Annals of Margam, p. 38). They brought him to Llywelyn, who on 2 May hanged him openly and in the presence of many witnesses at Crokeen (Matt. Paris, iii. 194; Brut y Tywysogion, p. 319; Royal Letters, i. 366). The details of the story vary considerably, but there seems no substantial reason for setting aside the plain testimony of independent Welsh and English chroniclers (cf., however, Joan, d. 1237; Royal Letters, i. 366-8, is plainly misdated). Builth remained in Llywelyn's hands, and became a source of new disputes (ib. ii. 37), as Henry now granted it to his brother Richard of Cornwall (Tewkesbury Annals, p. 88). In 1231 Llywelyn renewed his ravages on a greater scale. He marched south through Montgomery and Brecon, burning the towns and razing the castles in his path. From Brecon he proceeded southwards into Gwent, the modern Monmouthshire, a region too remote to have hitherto suffered from his ravages. He reduced Caerleon to ashes, but failed to take the castle, and many of his men were drowned in the Usk (Margam Annals, p. 39). He thence marched westwards over the mountains, thus nearly avoiding the Earl of Gloucester's lordship of Glamorgan. He destroyed the castles of Neath and Kidwelly, exacted sixty marks of silver from the monks of Margam, and assaulted in vain the little borough of
