Page:Ashorthistoryofwales.djvu/69

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LLYWELYN THE GREAT
47

of King John,and he gave his own daughters in marriage to a Braose and a Mortimer.It is through the dark-haired Gladys, who married Ralph Mortimer,that the kings of England can trace their descent from the House of Cunedda.

Llywelyn's last great task was to make relations between England and Wales relations of peace and amity. During his long reign, he saw three kings on the throne of England—the crusader Richard, the able John, and the worthless and mean Henry III. It was with John that he had most to do, the king whose originality and vices have puzzled and shocked so many historians. John helped him to crush Gwenwynwyn,then helped the jealous Welsh princes to check the growth of his power. Llywelyn saw that it was his policy, as long as John was alive, to join the English barons. They were then trying to force Magna Carta upon the King, that great document which prevented John from interfering with the privileges of his barons. In that document John promises, in three clauses, that he will observe the rights of Welshmen and the law of Wales.

When John died in 1216, and his young son Henry succeeded him, the policy of