II
Throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries what may be called Welsh Wales, as distinct from Norman Wales,[1] was divided into the three main divisions of Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth. As the result of the important battle of Mynydd Carn in 1079,[2] Gwynedd and Deheubarth henceforth remained under the rule of the House of Gruffydd ap Cynan and that of Rhys ap Tewdwr, respectively. Powys continued as before to be governed by the House of Bleddyn. These three families were all sprung from Rhodri the Great and were consequently of the true Cymric lineage of Cunedda Wledig. Norman Wales throughout the same period comprised the patrias of Morgannwg with Gwent, Brycheiniog, and Dyved, being roughly equivalent to the modern counties of Glamorgan with Monmouth, Brecon, and Pembroke respectively. The districts now known as Cardiganshire, Radnorshire, and Flintshire fluctuated, being sometimes held by the Welsh and sometimes by the Normans. Seeing, then, that our earliest codex dates from well within this period, and that its successors clearly show that the codification was subject to continual re-arrangement and other modifications, it must be allowed, as we have said above, that in reading them the political situation as it was in these two centuries is
- ↑ Outlines of the History of Wales by Prof. J. E. Lloyd, 164. See also the valuable article by the same writer in the Transactions of the Cymmrodorion Society for 1899-1900, entitled 'Wales and the Coming of the Normans '.
- ↑ This as well as the majority of other dates in early Welsh history must be regarded as tentative only, until the whole subject of Welsh chronology has been thoroughly examined.
