Fitz Odo, the
King's goldsmith, who was commanded to make it "in the manner of a
standard or ensign, of red samit, to be embroidered with gold, and his
tongue to appear as though continually moving, and his eyes of
sapphire or other stones agreeable to him." This was in 1257; the king
was still less able to attack Llywelyn in 1258 and the following
years, and had to agree to an ignominious truce.

Almost the whole English baronage under the leadership of Simon de
Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester,
combined against the king, who was only supported by the royal family
and those of his foreign relations to whom he had given earldoms and
baronies and bishoprics in England or Wales. If Llywelyn had contented
himself with occupying the royal lands in Wales--the territories
granted to Edward--and with seizing Powys, which held to the English
king, he would have had nothing to fear at this time from the English
baronage, and the Crown was powerless to resist. It is clear from the
English chroniclers that there was a genuine admiration for the Welsh
resistance on the part of the English people. "Their cause," says
Matthew Paris, "seemed a just one even to their enemies." But Llywelyn
attacked the great Marcher Lords; it was difficult for a champion of
Welsh patriotism to avoid doing so--it may be also that Llywelyn
failed to grasp thoroughly the political situation in England, as he
certainly failed to grasp it after the accession of Edward I. The
first to suffer severely from him was Roger Mortimer, lord of the
Middle March; thus Llywelyn drove him out of Gwerthrynion and
Maelienydd, and added these territories to his own. Successes like
these roused great enthusiasm among the Welsh gentry, though they
excited the alarm and jealousy of some of the princes (such as
Meredydd, and Llywelyn's brother David, who "by the instigation of the
devil" deserted the cause and went over to the English). But the good
men of Brecon revolted from their lord, the Earl of Hereford, and
adhered to Llywelyn, who came down and received their homage in 1262.

The general situation was altered by these events. It became clear to
the Lords Marchers that their power was endangered by Llywelyn's
success, and that they must make common cause with Prince Edward. The
Lords Marchers began to form the royalist party. Thus Mortimer, who in
1258 was among the leaders of the baronial opposition to the Crown,
was in 1260 acti