fore differs in its range from the great majority of folkmelodies in this mode. It is a majestic tune and has a fine sweep of melody. Dr. Lloyd Williams heard a variant of it sung in Llangefni Fair by an old balladsinger in 1904, and observed how he frequently changed the rhythm of the tune to suit the changing accents of the verse, a fact which testifies to the delightful freedom of these old folk melodies, and adds greatly to the intelligent pleasure of singing and hearing them. There is evidence that this tune was passed on orally from generation to generation; and if it does not go back to Tudor times, it is at any rate pregnant with the tradition of Welsh melodies. We might with advantage have many more folk tunes adopted for Welsh hymns. Unfortunately most of those that we have are largely spoilt by too much interference on the part of nineteenth century musicians who were apparently anxious to bring them up to date. They have been altered to resemble foreign constructions, or deprived of their natural simplicity to suit the exigencies of harmony. I wish a little group of competent Welshmen would give us a collection of hymns and tunes that will bring back to our sanctuaries a stronger conception of religion, clothed in music that is dignified and devotional. We want more tunes like Diniweidrwydd in the Dwyran MS., Caerlleon which resembles an old air known as Ffelena in the Jenkins Keri MS., Trefdraeth, and Braint. Nothing would be more natural or becoming than for a Welsh congregation to sing their traditional native melodies, especially the modal ones, at public worship. After all, the best tribute we can pay to the treasures of the past is to incorporate them in the music that is used to-day. Thus, too, shall we ensure that the artistic wealth of the Tudor period shall make a permanent contribution to the music of the future.

SOME NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF WALES IN THE TIME OF THE BLACK PRINCE (1343-1376).1

By D. L. EVANS,

Of the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane.

It is proposed to give in this paper a very brief sketch of the Principality of Wales during the long principate of Edward the Black Prince, and, in more detail, an estimate of the contribution made by Wales to the wars of the Prince and his father.

The story of Wales in the fourteenth century was neglected by the contemporary chronicler, and, mainly for this reason, it has not received due attention from the historian. This is greatly to be regretted, for at the end of the century Owen Glyndwr appears and finds the country ripe for revolt and waiting for a deliverer. It is submitted that the available information about the history of the government of Wales during the preceding century must be examined before a true estimate can be formed of the significance of Glyndwr's rising and of the condition of Wales in 1400. A study of the period entails, first, an examination of the available sources of information, published and manuscript. Of the many problems and questions which confront the student of this interesting period, the following are some of the more obvious that occur :-Why did Edward III grant

1 Read (in part) before the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, at King's College, in the Strand, on Friday, the 12th of March, 1926. Chairman: Mr. R. Arthur Roberts, F.R.Hist.S.

to his eldest son the title of Prince of Wales and the government of the Principality? What were the nature of the grant and the extent of the Principality? What changes followed the transfer of government from King to Prince? To what extent did the Prince of Wales assume the rights and privileges of the old native Princes of Gwynedd and South Wales? What were his relations with the Lords of the March of Wales? And, to leave constitutional matters, What political incidents are there to record? Any attempts to revolt? To what extent did Welshmen suffer from the scourges of pestilence and war? What were the occupations and industries of the people?

This by no means exhaustive questionnaire, the writer hastens to state, is not answered in the following pages. Some of these problems have already been investigated. The full story of the castles and boroughs of Snowdonia has been told, together with an account of the economic life of North Wales.1 We have also a detailed economic study of South Wales and the adjacent March,2 and the effects of the heavy mortality caused by the pestilence of 1349 and later years have been examined.3 The reader will realise from the considerable lacunae in our sources of information, how tentative the answers to many of the questions must be.

Sources. The chronicle and the record are the chief sources of medieval history. The chronicler is often prejudiced and misinformed, but he does give a narrative of events, ascribes motives and describes personal characteristics. It is a sad fact that Wales conquered and in the humdrum process of pacification ceased to interest the contemporary chronicler. The lack of con1E. A. Lewis, The Medieval Boroughs of Snowdonia.

2 W. Rees, South Wales and the March.

3

Rees, Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., 1919; Lewis, Trans. Cymm., 1902-3.

temporary narrative accounts of Welshmen and their doings in the period under review is not filled by the Welsh poet of the time, and we have to rely on records for our information. Records supply the external facts. They illustrate the working of the government of the Principality, for they were made by officials for the information of other officials. But the activities of the governed are described from the point of view of the governors, and a study based almost entirely on records. must of necessity have an administrative bias.

The natural result of the delegation of government by the King to the Prince is that the records relating to the government of the Principality must be sought mainly, not among those of the King's Chancery, Exchequer and Courts of Law, but among those of the Prince's administration. His chancery and exchequer differed in matters of procedure from those of the King, and the value of the records of the former department can better be estimated when the Prince's central government is discussed. The surviving financial records, the accounts of the chamberlains, sheriffs and other accounting ministers of the Prince, are our main source of information for the period.1 Especially are they numerous from 1351. Of legal records, there remain, alas, practically none. The records of the courts. held before the sheriffs, and those held before the Justices of North and South Wales, as ordained by the Statute of Rhuddlan, together with the rolls of the special sessions held at intervals by the itinerant members of the Prince's Council to relieve the local Justices of some of their many duties nearly all have disappeared. The most faithful mirror of the social and political life of the Principality during the period is thus denied to us. There are extant,

1 See P.R.O., Lists and Indexes, V, Ministers' Accounts, under

Wales.

however, fifteenth century transcripts of proceedings in North Wales on writs of Quo warranto, and of an extent of the counties of Carnarvon and Anglesey made before the deputy of the Justice of North Wales. They constitute a large portion of the Record of Carnarvon. A pale reflection of the judicial activities of the Prince's agents is found in the Accounts of the ministers, who have to collect the fines inflicted, or instalments of them.

For relations between the Prince and his father we have recourse to the letters issued from the royal chancery and Parliament and Council Proceedings.1

The Principality.-Edward III's eldest son, Edward, was born in 1330. In 1333 he was made Earl of Chester, from which time he was lord of the county of Flint, annexed to the earldom of Chester by the Statute of Rhuddlan. In 1337 a new rank was added to the English peerage when the young Earl was made Duke of Cornwall. In 1343, in his thirteenth year, he was created Prince of Wales. He died as Prince of Wales in June, 1376, his father surviving him by a year. The title of Prince of Wales had been assumed. by Llewelyn ap Griffith, lord of Gwynedd, in 1257. “In those days," said Matthew Paris, "the Welsh saw that their lives were at stake so that those of the North joined together in alliance with those of the South. Such a union had never before been, since North and South had always been opposed". By the treaty of Shrewsbury in 1267 the title was recognised by Henry III. After Llewelyn's death in 1282, David his brother strove to maintain himself as Prince of Wales. After his death in the following year and the final subjugation and annexation of the Principality to the Crown of England, the title lapsed. It was revived in 1301 when Edward I made his

1 Chancery, Parl. and Council Proc., Roll 9.