The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-07
Welsh PRINCE HYWEL DDA
He Rcigned in the Ninth Century
and His Laws are Still in Force.
ROBERT NORRIS EISTEDDPOD
A Great Musical aud Literary Eisteddfod
of Interesting and Spirited Con.
tests by Native and Foreign
Competitors.

Hywel Dda was the most famous or
| all the Princes of Wales, and began to
reign in the year $40. The excellent
code of laws which he enacted To pe
kept throughout the Principaity OF
Wales We're observed until the time OF
Henry VII, King of England. The
welsh Chronicles" says that when
good Hywel saw how the customs OF
his country were abused he sent to the
| Archbishop of st. DaVid's. and to all
the bishops I'm Wales. and the principai
ministers of the church, amounting III
| all to Il hundred and forty, as we'll as
to- the lords. baronetS and gentlemen OF
| the country. He then directed SIX OF
| the wisest of each WapentaketCw tCwmwd)
| to come before him at his palace on the
river Taft, and with these bishops,
| ministers, and others of his subjects he
! spent the whole Lent in fasting and
prayers for the assistance of the Holy
| Ghost to restore the laws and customs
of his country. that God might be glor1-
| fed and the people governed in peace
and Righteousness. AT the end Oh Lent
he selectd twelve of the most learned.
with Blegwyryd, a renowned doctor OF
| the law. and a man of great literary ac-
! quirements at their head. and COM
manded them to examine carefully all
| the laws and customs of Wales and Sc
lect those which were unnecessary.
| When these laws had been read and
approved. he caused them to be written
| in three books--One to be kept and used
| continually at his court. the second 10
! be placed at his palace at Abcrffraw. in
| North Wales, and the third at his pa
lace at Dinefwr. that these laws might
| be observed in the three provinces when
| necessary.
The following are a few of the Welsh
| laws:
"A judge ought to hear fully, to learn
carefully. to set forth plainly, and to
Judge mercifully.
"A man should be % years of age be-
fore he is made or appointed Judge.
"A man will be neither properly nor
fully sensible until his beard grows.
nor will he be a husband until he has a
| beard.
"The necessitous man who walks
three towns. with nine houses In each
town. without either receiving aims or
| entertainment, and is taken with
food in his possession, shall not be
| hanged.
Twin brothers ought only to have
| the share of one heir.
Three offenders shall be adjudged
worthy of death, viz: he who betrays
his lord. he who outra geOusly and de-
signedly kills another, and the thief
who confesses for the value Of more
| than fourpence.
"If "a husband and wife separate and
! divorce before seven years elapse from
the time of their marriage. the husband
| shall refund the wife her portion or
! dover, her household furniture, and her
! wearing apparel.
when two persons are walking. In
| company. If the foremost find anything
valuable he shall divide the value with
the hindmost, but If the hindmost is
| the finder he does not divide with the
! foremost.
IF a man find any hogs running on
his fields, any time between the 18th of
/ nd he nf NOyamhar.
he may kill one out of every ten for MS
own use.
Hywl Dda is mentioned in the Triads,
with Dyfnwal and Prydaii,, as one of
the three good princes of Britain. There
are several copies in manuscript and
elsewhere The first printed copy. with
a translation in Latin. with notes by
Dr. Wotton, was published in 1880. DIR.
| WOtton was greatly assisted in prepar-
ing this code of laws for publication by
| the learned and accomplished Welsh
scholar, the Rev. Moses Williams. They
are also printed in the third volume of
the Myfyrian Archaeology, and a third
edition was published by the Record
Commission under the direction of Mr..
Aneurin owen, in 1871.
An English translation without the
text was published by Mr.. Probert. and
this curious and interesting record of
ancient Welsh customs and manners
has been brought before the notice of
continental scholars by Gabriel Pteg-
not i'm his edition of the"Lois de Howell
le-bou," s vo. Paris. 1882.
go
ROBERT MORRIS EIST1:DDFOD.
The managing committee of the Rob-
ert Morris Lodge EiSteddfod Is very
jubilant over the splendid prospects Of
the Robert Morris Lodge Eisteddfod.
which is to be held on St Patrick's day
at the rockingham i'm this city. Scran
ton holds the proud distinction with one
excepton-Chicago was an in
ternational AFFAIR." of having held the
grandest and only true eisteddfodau i'm
the United States, and the one To be
held in this city on St Patrick'S day
promises to eclipse, both i'm magnificence
of competitions and superior merits.
those held here in the seventies and
eighties. Literarily. the many subjects
presented for adjudication will, we are
reliably informed even excel those pre-
, scented at he Worlds Fair Eisteddfod.
and the competitions in choral singing
Will be of the very highest order.
Judge Edwards Is the adiudicator of
the poetcal compositions. and he in
hoe . I,a