Page:Ashorthistoryofwales.djvu/46

24 he died in 1022, the princes said they would not obey another over-king.

But the long ships full of Danes came again; the Angles crossed the Severn: war and misery took the place of peace and plenty.Griffith, the son of Llywelyn, came to renew his father's work. In the battle of Rhyd y Groes on the Severn, in 1039, he drove the Mercians back; in the battle of Pencader, in 1041, he crushed the opponents of Welsh unity; in 1044 he defeated the sea-rovers at Aber Towy. At the same time Harold, Earl of Wessex, was making himself king of England. A war broke out between Griffith and Harold; and,during it, in 1063, the great Welsh king—"the head and the shield of the Britons"—was slain by traitors.

So far I have told you about a few, only the greatest, kings of the House of Cunedda. I know that you are wondering where Arthur comes in. I am not quite sure that Arthur ever really lived, except in the mind of many ages. He is the spirit of Roman rule, the true Dux Britanniae, and he has all the greatness and ability of all the race of Cunedda. I have been shown mountains under which he sleeps, with his knights around him, waiting for the time when his