maer [Lat. maior], a royal officer, appointed over a district called his maership, with special jurisdiction over the king's taeogs. Deriving his authority wholly from the king, he is probably for this reason never to be pencenedl or chief of kindred, whose authority comes from the kindred, being based primarily on blood origin. He is to demand all the king's dues within his maership, and is also with the canghellor to keep the king's waste. In Peniarth MS. 28 he is described in one place as ' propositus regis, id est, mayr castell '.[1]
maertrev. This term only occurs once in our present text in connexion with the maer biswail or land maer, so that it appears to be the trev with which this officer was specially connected. The passage, however, appears as follows in Peniarth MS. 28 : ' Debet quoque mercedem de filiabus uillanorum de uillis curie adiacentibus,'[2] where our gwyr y vaertref are equated with the villani de villis curiae adiacenttbus. In MS. U they are called tayogeu y llys, the taeogs of the court ;[3] and in the Book of Blegywryd they are described as 'y bilaeineit afwynt y mywn maer trefi y llys ' (the villeins who are within the maertrevs of the court).[4] The maertrev, therefore, appears to have been a trev of a king's taeogs, situated near his court.
maer-ty or maerhouse. This word is mentioned four times in the present text, always in connexion with cattle gwartheg y maerdy, the cattle of the maerhouse. In one case the maer-ty is not that of a king but of a breyr. The maer referred to is the maer biswail [lit. cow-dung maer] or land maer.
maer biswail or land maer. The literal meaning of the Welsh term is 'cow-dung maer', a term used to distinguish him from the maer proper, who was of higher status. The galanas of the latter was 189 kine, with three augmentations; that of the land maer was only 126 kine with three augmentations. He appears to have superintended the maertrev with special regard to the king's cattle.
marwdy, the house with its appurtenances of a person who dies intestate, which on this account escheats to the lord.
nod-men. See gwyr nod.
pennaeth, chief, king. This word is represented by rex in the corresponding passages in the Latin Peniarth MS. 28.[5]
prid, price, value, equivalent, payable in certain circumstances for land.
