laughter of the Normans
at Cardigan. The present castle of Kidweli dates from the later
thirteenth century, before the war of 1277, after the lordship had
passed to the Chaworths.

In the extreme west, in Dyfed, the land of fiords, Arnulf of
Montgomery had early founded the Norman power, but he was involved in
the fall of his brother, Robert of Bellesme, and Henry I. tried to
form the land into an English shire, and planted a colony of Flemings
in "Little England beyond Wales." But it was too far off for the royal
power to be effectively exercised there, and the Earldom of Pembroke
was granted to a branch of the De Clares, who had already conquered
Ceredigion, and built castles at Cardigan and Aberystwyth. The De
Clares also held Chepstow and lands in Lower Gwent. The Earldom itself
was smaller than the present shire of Pembroke, and William Marshall,
who succeeded the De Clares through his marriage with the daughter of
Richard Strongbow (1189), owed his commanding position in English
history of the thirteenth century far more to his personal qualities,
his courage and wisdom and patriotism, than to his territorial
possessions.

It was by driving the De Clares out of Ceredigion in Stephen's reign
that Rhys ap Gruffydd laid the foundation of his power, and raised
Deheubarth to be the foremost of the native principalities. The Lord
Rhys was clever and farseeing enough to win the confidence of Henry
II., and received from him the title of Justiciar--or King's
Deputy--in South Wales. As long as Owain Gwynedd lived the unusual
spectacle was seen of a prince of South Wales and a prince of North
Wales working harmoniously together. But after Owain's death (1170)
Rhys fought with his successors over the possession of Merioneth,
while Owain Cyfeiliog, the poet-prince of Powys, did all he could to
thwart him. In 1197 the death of Rhys, "the head and the shield and
the strength of the South and of all Wales," and the civil wars among
his sons, opened his principality again to the encroachment of foes on
all sides, and removed one danger from Powys. Powys, however, was
being steadily squeezed by the pressure of Gwynedd on one side, and
the growing power of Mortimer on the other, and its princes resorted
to a shifty diplomacy and a general adherence--open or secret as
circumstances dictated--to the English Crown, till they sank at length
into the position of petty feudatories of the English king.

The Prince of Gwynedd alone uph