Apology

Hi Everybody

I suppose you are all wondering what has happened to me for the past 2½ years.

Well, I have been involved in a long and expensive legal battle. Many of you will remember entries on the Discussion Board, which referred to websites that claim that a Prince Madoc accompanied his brother, King Arthur (II), to America in the 6th Century.

Following my responses, on the 30 August 2002, I received a Court summons for Contrituration, Malicious Falsehoods, Caluminations and Erroneos Obnubilations. Frivolous these charges may appear, but it has taken almost 2½ years to drag this through the courts. The action was discontinued just days before it was due in High Court.

There has also been a series of letters, purported to have been sent by me, including poorly forged signatures, floating around numerous public bodies in South Wales and London. There is an ever burgeoning file with South Wales Police Fraud Squad. Attending to all these things takes time.

I now hope to rekindle my interest in Madoc and again become more proactive in the research over the coming years.

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A group of us took a boat trip from Penarth to Lundy Island in the summer of 2002. (Steve G-D is preparing the write up on this.)

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In March 2003, I visited what was billed as the “Best Exhibition of Aztec Artefacts that has ever been assembled”. It was held in London and had exhibits from numerous collections from around the world. Many people claim that Madoc visited the Aztecs and quote as evidence the similarity between the Welsh Dragon and the Aztecs’ “Plumed Serpent”.

I saw numerous carvings and models of plumed serpents, and they bore no similarity to winged dragons. They were snakes covered in feathers with no external appendages such as legs or wings. Unfortunately, photography was banned otherwise I could have shown you pictures.

The confusion appears to be in the term plumed, it means feathered not winged. The dragon is usually portrayed with wings more akin to those of a bat; I have never seen one portrayed with feathered wings. The symbolism of the plumed serpent is supposed to be that the snake represents rebirth as it sheds its skin every year, and the feathers represent flight and hence freedom.

I don’t dismiss the claim that Madoc visited the Aztecs, but I am highly sceptical, and claims of links between the Welsh Dragon and the Aztecs Plumed Serpent only increase my scepticism.

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Many people believe that there is no reference to Owain Gwynedd having a son called Madoc prior to Elizabethan claims to the New World.

On my way back from London to South Wales, I called in the Library of Christ Church College in Oxford. There, as part of the British Library Manuscripts Collections, is a collection of Welsh Poems entitled “CAER RHUN, No. 4”, which was badly transcribed about the year 1730.

The poem I was interested in was by Maredudd ap Rhys, Vicar of Rhiwabon (c1450-1480), giving thanks to Ifan ap Tudur of Berian, Llanufladd/Llanefyd for the gift of a fishing net.

The four lines in question are:

“Madog wych, mwyedig wedd,
Iawn genau Owain Gwynedd,
Ni fynnai dir, flenaid oedd,
Na da mawr ond y moroedd.”

It is the second line which is of interest to us, particularly the second word. It is generally accepted that “Iawn” means good.

“genau” is usually translated as jaw or mouth (mouthpiece – envoy, ambassador), however, two etymologists I have shown it to independently, Huw Knight and Meurig Jones, are adamant that in the context of the poem it means “in the lineage of” so on that basis, the four lines translate as:

“Excellent Madog, huge form,
Very good offspring of Owain Gwynedd,
He didn’t obtain the land, it belonged to his soul,
Nor great good but the oceans.”

If any one else wants to put another interpretation on it, I would be interested in hearing from them.

Remember, if this was written by Meredudd ap Rhys, between 1450 & 1480, then it pre-dates Columbus’s voyage.

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North Wales Tour

In June 2003, four of us and I made our second trip to North Wales (Gareth’s first). Sorry no pictures.

Our first call was at Tally Abbey, near Llandeilo, (www.castlewalewales.com/talley) from where we proceeded to Strata Florida Abbey, near Tregaron. (www.castlewales/strata) This was one of the two places the story of Madoc was recorded, but all records were destroyed during the “Dissolution of the Monasteries” by Henry VIII in the late 1530s, after falling out with the Pope over his refusal to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Our next port of call was the picturesque Harlech Castle, (www.castlewales.com/harlech) built by Edward II of England to contain the Princes and peoples of Gwynedd.

We also returned to the quay of “Aber-Kerrik-Gwynan”, in the grounds of the house, Odstone, at Rhos-on-Sea, from whence Madoc left for America on his first voyage in 1170 AD.

On the foreshore, a few hundred yards from the old quay, is the smallest chapel in Wales. A notice says:
Parish of Llandrillo-yn-Rhos
All reference is due to this sacred spot
This Ancient Chapel
Is built over the holy well of Saint Trillo
A Celtic Saint of the sixth century
Pilgrim turn in and offer prayer
The Lord be with you.

The following day we went to Anglesey, first stop Penmon Priory (www.castlewales.com/penmon) and then to the main court of Owain Gwynedd at Aberfraw. There is nothing much to see at Aberfraw as the current village has been built over it. However, there is another Llys (secular court) a few miles away, Llys Rhosyr, where there is something to see. (www.castleswales.com/rhosyr).

If anyone wants to see a picture of what I believe to be Madoc’s birthplace at Dolwyddelan, look up: (www.castlewales.com/tomen_d) In the website text it refers to it as the alleged birthplace of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn Fawr – The Great). This was Madoc’s nephew, his brother’s son.

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