Two of these gentlemen, General R. Owen Jones, who has resigned owing to his temporary absence from England, and Mr. Milo Griffith, who has settled in the United States, do not again come forward for re-election; the remaining eight are eligible for nomination.

A Financial Statement for the past year is appended to this Report.

REPORT ON

"OWEN'S PEMBROKESHIRE":

BY HENRY OWEN, F.S.A.

Ar the request of the Secretary I have much pleasure in reporting to the Society the progress which has been made in the second volume of the first number of the Record Series. So far as relates to the portion already completed, the progress has been slow, owing to the large number of Records which have been consulted in order to obtain the fullest information as to the various records, persons, and places mentioned by the author.

The book begins with George Owen's "Collections for Pembrokeshire", which (with a trifling exception) have not before been published. The first three numbers are ecclesiastical. They include a complete list of the Pembrokeshire parishes arranged under the hundreds, and of the impropriations within the county arranged under deaneries, and particulars of the patronage of every church (also arranged under deaneries), stating whether it was a rectory, vicarage, or curacy,-who the patron was, and whence he derived his title.

Then follow a valuable historical paper on the "Tallage for the redemption of the Great Sessions"; an account of the knights' fees of Sir John Carew (lord deputy of Ireland, who died in

1362), who also held lands in Devon; instances of the tenants in chief of the Lords Marcher; a list of the lands in Wales given to the Preceptory of Slebech; two papers on the Pembrokeshire ploughland and North Pembrokeshire land measures, and two on the old county Palatine of Pembroke. George Owen's account of his searches among the Records in London will be read with interest. Even his perseverance was tried, for he found some things "strange and hard for any man to rede", and it was costly withal, for "the serche is vis. viiid. whether you finde or not”. The only other item to be noticed is a List of the lordships and places which made up the shires of Pembroke and Carmarthen, which the unique knowledge on the subject of Mr. Phillimore (whose valuable assistance I have again to acknowledge) has made of especial value to the future historian of Wales.

man.

Other works mentioned in my preface are already in type. To them I propose to make some additions, (among others) the Treatise on Marl and a Dialogue on the Government of Wales in 1594, between a Doctor of the Civil Law and a Pembrokeshire This latter is in MS. at the British Museum, and gives full descriptions of the Court of the Marches, the Courts of Westminster, the Great Sessions, and the county hundred and baronial Courts, and contains much valuable incidental information about the manners and customs of the people. This dialogue seems to have been written after the treatise on the "Government of Wales" published in Clive's History of Ludlow, and summarized in Pennant's Tour in Wales. That treatise was also published in an early (1828) number of the Transactions of this Society and in Lloyd's History of Powys Fadog, but none of the editors seem to have been aware that it was due to the indefatigable diligence of the old Pembrokeshire historian.

Having regard to the labour which is involved in making an index to a work of this class, I shall probably issue a third volume before the completion of the whole book. I have spared no outlay of time or money in endeavouring to make it worthy of this Society, of George Owen, and of the County of Pembroke.

"THE BLACK BOOK OF ST. DAVID'S:"

REPORT BY J. W. WILLIS-BUND, F.S.A.

The Black Book of St. David's is an extent or detailed survey of the possessions of the Bishop of St. David in 1326. Its title is: "An extent of the Lands and Rents of the Lord Bishop of St. David's made by Master David Fraunceys, Chancellor of St. David's in the time of the Venerable Father, the Lord David Martyn, by the Grace of God, Bishop of the See in the year of our Lord 1326."

The extent was taken in the regular Norman way; in each place a jury was sworn, who stated on their oaths what were the possessions of the Bishop, who were the tenants, what was the yearly value of each holding, and also what services the tenants had to render to the Lord. So that the record gives the following important information.

1. The place-names of the 14th century.

2. Some idea of the size and population of the different places. 3. The names of the different tenants, thus showing how far the Norman had supplanted the Welsh inhabitants.

4. The tenure on which the properties were held, thus showing how far Norman tenures had supplanted the old Welsh.

5. The services which give some traces of the old Welsh tenures and tribal customs.

6. In addition to this the number of place and personal names is important to Welsh students.

The most interesting part are the services, as they show (1) how far the Norman Bishops had succeeded in introducing Norman ideas among the tenants; (2) how far the Welsh customs remained; (3) and a number of customs that may be Norman or Welsh. For instance, (1) in certain places a relief was payable to

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the Lord; this would be a Norman custom, and the fact that it was only payable in certain places would point to this, that the Norman had not been able to introduce it universally. (2) In some places leyrwyt, that is, a payment by the locality for the unchastity of its females, was payable. The Black Book defines it as "emenda pro corruptione native". The curious part of this is that the payments varied in different localities, the usual sum is 2s. in the case of a maid, 1s. in other cases, but in some places it is less. (3) The service of working in the Lord's field, making his hay, reaping his corn, may or may not be Welsh. Another incident is curious from the phraseology; the tenants of certain places were bound to follow the Shrine of St. David wherever it was taken, some only so far that they could return the same night, others without restriction. The most noticeable point is that David is never called Saint, Sanctus", the term used by Latin ecclesiastics for a person regularly canonized, but always "Beatus", Blessed, the term used for a reputed, not a canonized, Saint.

The Shrine and Relics are constantly spoken of, so that the usually received idea that the Shrine and Relics were part of the plunder of the Danes does not seem to have been received as a fact in the 14th century.

The record shows that a great deal of land was held by tenants in common, obviously a trace of the old tribal ownership. The entries that some one, usually a Welshman, with his co-owner "compocionaris", holds certain land, are very numerous, thus showing that the Normans treated the old tribal joint ownership as what the Norman lawyer called a tenancy in

common.

Food rents seem to have been very common, another instance of tribal survivorship.

The record contains numerous points of interest, especially as throwing light on Welsh customs and the way the Norman tenures were introduced, not so much by direct change, as by applying Norman law to the existing state of things; and reading the customs in the light of Norman rules thus, joint owners

would be joint tenants, contributions for the support of the tribe would be rents payable to the Lord.

It would be occupying too much space to quote other matters, but it seems to me that the record will be a very important contribution to Welsh history, for the reasons above stated. There had just been time enough for Edward the First's legislation to make itself felt, and this record shows the results of such laws as the Statute of Wales.

Another curious point is worth notice; so far as I have gone there is no mention of tithes as part of the property of the Bishop; it is, perhaps, not right to draw any inference until the whole MS. is before me, but so far it forms a very remarkable feature. A comparison of the MS. with the Valor of Pope Nicholas also brings out some interesting results as to the property of Welsh ecclesiastical bodies.

About a quarter of the book is now translated, the whole is transcribed, and I hope to get it all translated shortly; there will then be the collation with the different MSS. and various other matters to be done. The work is much heavier than I was led to expect at the beginning, and it seems to me it would be a pity not to have it done as well as possible. I do not, therefore, think it will be possible, at the earliest, to get it published before the end of next year, if then. But I am sure of this, that when it is published the Society will find it is a most important contribution to Welsh historical literature.

December 13th, 1894.