num_pages: 294
description: A Novel Based on Historical Fact (1093 to 1120)'The Princess Nesta of Deheubarth was a descendant of the near-legendary Kings of South Wales. She was also the wife of the first Castellan of Pembroke, and so formed a link between the old Celtic and the new Norman ways of life. The golden hive, symbol of her house, represented the honey dues rendered to each Welsh King as his right. When she was eleven, Nesta was captured by the English King Rufus and taken to Romsey Abbey, to be educated with other royal wards. There, three years later, Henry of Coutances, William the Conqueror's fourth son, came; and he and Nesta fell in love.But Nesta was destined to marry Gerald de Windsor and to help him govern the people of Pembrokeshire, who still paid allegiance to Rhys ap Tewdwr's child. From this marriage, and from her love affairs with King Henry III and other men, Nesta became the mother of the great Norman-Welsh family, the Geraldines, who were to conquer Ireland at the end of the century.
title: The Golden Hive
publisher: Heinmann