NOTES TO GERAINT THE SON OF ERBIN.
Easter—Christmas—Whitsuntide.—Page 141.
Ritson, in a note to his "Metrical Romancëes," mentions, that our early historians, as Roger Hoveden, Matthew Paris, &c., often advert to the custom of the ancient monarchs of France and England, of holding a cour plénière, or plenary court, at the three principal easts of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. On those occasions "they were attended by the earls and barons of the kingdom, their ladys and children; who dine'd at the royal table with great pomp and eclat; minstrels flocking thither from all parts; justs and tournaments being performed, and various other kinds of divertisements, which lasted several days."—III. 235.
These three principal festivals, or prif wyl, "Pasc, Nadolic, a Sul-gwyn," are commemorated as such in one of the Triads, lvii.
Churches were set apart for Mass.—Page 141.
