"OwenMEdwards-AShortHistoryOfWales" - читать интересную книгу автора (Edwards Owen M)

The two ideas which ruled Wales were--the love of order and the love
of independence. The danger of the first is oppression; the dangers
of the other are anarchy and weakness. Wales was sometimes united,
under a Maelgwn or a Rhodri, and the princes obeyed them; oftener,
perhaps, the princes of the various parts ruled in their own way.

The internal life of Wales is best seen in the laws of Howel the
Good. Howel was the grandson of Rhodri; and, about 950, he called
four men from each district to Hendy Gwyn (Whitland) to state the
laws of the country. Twelve of the wisest put the law together; and
the most learned scribe in Wales wrote it.

It was thought that there should be one king over the whole people,
but it was very rarely that every part of Wales obeyed one king. The
country was divided into smaller kingdoms. In many ways Gwynedd was
the most powerful. It was very easy to defend; for it was made up of
the island of Mon (Anglesey), the promontory of Lleyn, and the
mountain mass of Snowdon. Its steep side was thus towards England,
and its cornlands and pastures on the further side. It was also the
home of the family of Cunedda, from Maelgwn to the last Llywelyn.

Powys was the Berwyn country. Ceredigion was the western slope of
the Plinlimmon range; the eastern slopes had many smaller, but very
warlike, districts. Deheubarth contained the pleasant glades and
great forests of the Towy country. Dyved was the peninsula to the
west; the southern slopes of the Beacons were Morgannwg and Gwent.

Howel the Good found that the laws of the various parts differed in
details, and he gave different versions to the north, the south-west,
and the south-east. But the law and life of the whole people, if we
only look at important features, are one. Several commotes made a
cantrev, many cantrevs made a kingdom, many kingdoms made Wales.

In each commote there were two kinds of people--the free or high-
born, and the low-born or serfs. These may have been the conquering
Celt and the conquered Iberian. It was very difficult for those in
the lower class to rise to the higher; but, after passing through the
storms of a thousand years, the old dark line of separation was quite
lost sight of.

The free family lived in a great house--in the hendre ("old
homestead") in winter, and in the mountain havoty ("summer house") in
summer. The sides of the house were made of giant forest trees,
their boughs meeting at the top and supporting the roof tree. The
fire burnt in the middle of the hall. Round the walls the family
beds were arranged. The family was governed by the head of the
household (penteulu), whose word was law.

The highest family in the land was that of the king. In his hall all
took their own places, his chief of the household, his priest, his