Welsh Journals

52 BYE-GONES. May, 1872. position amongst the gentry of the county. Yet it is stated that when the Baron was a child, the family had so de¬ clined that his mother led him about the streets of Dolgelley begging. But notwithstanding this, he raised himself to the occupation of the above important offices. It must not be concealed, however, that this account of the great de¬ pression of the Owen family is upon the authority of the Nanneys of Nanney (now Nannau), between whom and the Owens there was a bitter feud ; but in favour of the state¬ ment it should be mentioned that we do not find any of the Baron's family mentioned in the county records from the time of Henry VI. to his own time.—W. WAS OWEN BROGYNTYN LORD OF EDEIRNION ?-(0. A., Feb. 7, 21, Mar. 13,20, Apr. 3,17, 1872.)—Much has been written in your recent numbers as to whether Owen Brogyntyn was or was not Lord of Edeirnion. I think it can hardly be doubted that he was bo. It can be proved by contemporary records, shortly subsequent to his death, that nearly the whole of Edeirnion, if not the whole, was in the possession of his descendants. This, added to the very general statement in our Welsh pedigrees, in which he is styled Lord of Edeirnion, is pretty strong evidence in favour of his being the feudal lord of that comote.—W. MYFANWY (0. A. Feb. 21, Mar. 27, 1872.)— Makrocheir will find the information he requires in Pennant's Tours in Wales, vol. 1, p. 382 ; Williams's Eminent We'sJnnen (under ' Myvanwy Vechan)' and ' Hywel ab Einion Llygliw.' Ceiriog Hughes's master¬ piece is a poem founded on the courtship of the unfortunate Hywel.—Bemah. The translation of 'Myfamvy' given by Cymro in Notes and Queries is simply absurd. It is not " fine," " rare," " exquisite;" but " my wave of the sea."— ' My,' my ; ' man,' an eminence ; ' wy,' water. ' My'being as Cymro states, the possessive pronoun in its oldest form. ' Manwy ' would be, literally, a hill of water.—Ioan ap Hu Feddyg. The following replies to the question put by Makrocheir, relative to 'Myfanwy ' appeared in Notes and Queries, for April 6,1872 :— " The famous ancient Welsh beauty " to whom I alluded, was Myfanwy Vechan (or Vaughan), a descendant of Tudor Trevor (the founder of the sixteenth nob'e tribe, or Tribe of the Marches). She lived at Castell Dinas Bran, near Llangollen. Her grace, beauty, charry, &c, &c, are celebrated in a ch inn¬ ing ode by the bard Howel ap Einion, written at the close of the fourteenth century.—Cyheo, Birmingham. This ancient Welsh beauty would probably have been born to blush unseen, only, like Beatrice, she Avas loved by a poet cue Hywel ab Einion Llygliw, who (says Owen's Cambrian Bio¬ graphy) "composed a fine ode to her, which is printed in the Wel^h Archaiology." This Hywell flourished between a.d. 1350 and 1390. To the present day pedantic Welshmen occasionally call their daughters by this ni me, generally with another before it for everyday use !—-A. ft., Croeswylan, Oswestry. BORDER DEATH TOKENS (O.A. Feb. 7, 28, 1872).—Implicit faith is still placed in the following fore- warnings, or omens, on the Borders of Wales. The Death Watch; ' Hansel Lleidr,' or the burglar's first entrance oa a premises; ' A Solitary Crow' perched on the uppermost branches of a tree; Dogs howling,—'Yn udo,' near a dwelling. The Unsown Butt is another death token, but it is a mistake to call it ' The G-rwn,' which simply means ' a butt.' The superstition is not confined to a wheat field, for a row in the potatoes or turnips left unsown is considered as infallible a token. (A striking instance in proof of this is given at Llandysilio.) The Hen Crowing is also much dreaded, and the hen is immediately sacrificed. Thirteen sitting at Table gives terror to those who by accident or otherwise contribute to make up the unlucky number, because it is believed that the first of these who leaves the table will in less than twelve months be carried to the graveyard. Many startling instances are related in corroboration of this as having taken place iu Montgomery¬ shire : one where a bride was the doomed victim, she having risen from the wedding breakfast first, leaving her dozen friends shuddering at her temerity. The Screech¬ ing of the Owl; ' Deryn y Corph,' the Death Bird near the house, and the Sudden Stopping of the Old Family Clock are also deemed foretellers of death : and in some Border families any of these tokens would make the inmates un¬ comfortable. —C YFFIN. Oswestry Advertizer, May 1, 1872. NOTES. VESSELS AT POOL QUAY.—The author of The Cambrian Tourist and Post Chaise Companion through Wales (the fifth edition of which was published in 1821) says, he saw, at "Welshpool Quay, three miles from that place, several vessels lying, which carry on a constant traffic with Worcester, and the towns situate on the banks of this noble river."—N.W.S. QUERIES. TOM PEARCE, THE SHROPSHIRE GIANT.— Where was this man born, and when ? And what was his weight ?—Tell. --------- REPLIES. BISHOP BURIED IN SHREWSBURY (OA. Mar. 6, 1872).—The following is an extract from Browne Willis's BaDgor (pp. 62-3):—" Robert of Shrewsbury, consecrated 16 cal. April (March 17) 1196-7. In the year 1210 he was, as Godwin tells us, taken prisoner in his cathedral church by King John, and ransomed for 200 hawks. The Annates Menavtnses make it 1211, and give the following account of the fact:—Episcopum autem Bangornensem quod ad Altare in Episcopalibus indutum capi percepit, qui data pecunia vitam et membra pont melius potuit redemit. He dy'd, as Baith the Annals of Worcester, Anno 1212, but according to Matthew of Westminster 1213, and was bury'd in the market place of Shrewsbury by his own appointment. After his death the See became vacant two years."—Remah. In answer to Chatterton I send the following extractfromPhiltyis's History of Shrewsbury:—"In the reign of King John, Anno 1197, that king being engaged in a war with Llewellin, Prince of Wales, imprisoned this bishop in his own cathedral, and for his ransom obliged him to pay 300 hawks, a bird we may suppose then plentiful in this nation. This bishop wrote the life of St. Wenefride, in which he relates many miracles wrought by her, at the request of the men of Ruthin, in Wles. It is remarkable of this bishop that by his will he ordered his body should not be buried in his own cathedral, but in the middle of the market place in Shrewsbury, where he was born. Dr Fuller, when he mentions this circumstance, desires' it might not be imputed to his profaneness, but either to his humility, as not worthy to lie in holy ground, or to his fear lest in those times of civil commotion and disturbances his body would be disturbed sooner, if laid in a church, than in a market place.' He died Anno 1215." Chatterton will also find a notice of him, in Owen and Blukeway's His- tmy of Shrewsbury, at p. 98 of vol. 2.—Webkin. [Meurig Idris sends us similar information, taken from the Bangor Diocesan Directory, p. 104.]