Page:Kalendars of Gwynedd.pdf/27

 county was formed into Shire-ground, forty years previously. The Commote of Mowddwy did not become part of Merionethshire till it was incorporated with it by the second Statute of Wales, (13) as will hereafter appear. The Commotes of Ardudwy and Edeyrnion became portion of the county at the Conquest of Wales. The Statute of Wales, 12 Edw. I., enacts as follows:- Volumus ctiam ct Statuimus quod Vicccomites, Coronatorcs & Ballivi Commotorum sint in Snandon, & terris nostris partium earundem. Vicecomes de Meyronnith, sub quo Cantreda de Meironnith, Commotum de Ardudo, & Commotum de Penthlin, & Commotum de Dercynon, cum Metis & Bundis suis. At the time of the passing of this Act, and thenceforward till the 27th year of Ilen. VIII., Gwynedd, or North Wales, consisted only of the three counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth, with some outlying Cantrevydd of Flintshire, and of the subsequently formed county of Denbigh. Mowddwy continued to be part of that uncertain country known as the Marches of Wales, which was allotted and divided by the 2nd Statute of Wales. Before the passing of that Statute, but in the same year of Henry's reign, an Act(14) was passed, entitled-"For the Abuses in the Forests of Wales," which recited that divers and many forests being in Wales "and the Marches of the same as well of the inheritance and possessions of our sovereign Lord the King, as of divers others being Lords Marchers; within which Forests certain unreasonable customs and exactions have been of long time unlawfully exacted and used," &c. It enumerates some of such exactions, and amongst others" 3. And if. any Person or Persons, not having a Token or Tokens, and not being a yearly Tributor or a Cheuser, as is aforesaid, should happen to be taken, found, or espied by any of the said Foresters, Rulers, Walkers, or Farmers, or their assigns, by the space of xxiv Foot out of the Highway, then he or they so being taken, found, or espied out of the Highway within any of the said Forests as is aforesaid, to forfeit and lose unto the said Foresters, &c., all such money or gold as should be then found upon him or them," &c. "II. And also the same Person or Persons so being taken, &c., to forfeit and lose a joint of one of his or their Hands, or else to make Fine therefore with the said Foresters, &c., at the Will and Pleasure of the said Foresters," &c. The Abuses mentioned in this Statute arose in a great measure from the absence of any properly constituted legal authority with power to repress them. In the Counties, there were Sheriffs, Coroners, and Bailiffs, who held Courts and administered the law. But the Marches and lands not then assigned to any Shires were governed by officers known as Lords Marchers, who in theory were the King's Lieutenants, but in practice were semi-independent Feudatories; and who, in consideration of levying certain subsidies for the King's Exchequer, and keeping in check the rebellious Welsh- men, were allowed to do much as they pleased. There were only four counties in the North and four in the South of Wales, and the rest of the country-the greater por- (1) 27 Hen. VIII., c. 26. (¹) 27 Hen. VIII., c. 7. II 2-2

2–2