XIV
THE WELSHERY AND THE NORMANS
Though their land has been many times invaded, the Welsh have never
been conquered. Powerful tribes, like the Romans, Saxons and Normans,
have tried to overwhelm them. Even when English and German kings
attempted to crush their spirit and blot out their language and
literature, the Welsh resisted and won victory.
Among the bullies that tried force, instead of justice, and played the
slave-driver, rather than the Good Samaritan's way, were the Normans.
These brutal fellows, when they thought that they had overrun Wales
with their armies, began to build strong castles all over the country.
They kept armed men by the thousands ready, night and day, to rush out
and put to death anybody and everybody who had a weapon in his hand.
Often they burned whole villages. They killed so many Welsh people
that it seemed at times as if they expected to empty the land of its
inhabitants. Thus, they hoped to possess all the acres for themselves.
They talked as if there were no people so refined and so cultured as
they were, while the natives, good and bad, were lumped together as
"the Welshery.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122