Page:The statutes of Wales (1908).djvu/42

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xxxviii
THE STATUTES OF WALES

political and legal reforms, being specially legislated for, separately administered, and except upon two occasions as is pointed out hereafter, unrepresented in the English Parliament.

In September, 1284, EDWARD commenced a royal progress through Wales to complete the administrative changes which he had instituted. Starting from Flint, with his principal officials, he passed through several districts, settling disputes, and establishing peace throughout the Principality. Finally he arrived in the lordship of Glamorgan, belonging to the Earl of Gloucester, who received the King as if he were a brother potentate. Edward did not again visit Wales until 1291, when he came to put an end to the overreaching pretensions of the Lords Marchers.

At the end of the thirteenth century Wales comprised a territory which was divided as follows:—

(1) Into Lordship Marchers, numbering about 140, held of the English Crown according to feudal right, by Welsh chiefs or Norman Lords. These Lordship Marchers existed not only on the borderland between Wales and England, but also in the interior parts of what is now the country of Wales.

(2) The "Principality," which consisted of the territories held by Llywelyn ab Gruffydd when conquered by Edward. The legal term for this land was Parcella Principalitatis Walliæ. It included the commotes organized under the Statute of Wales into the counties of Anglesea, Carnarvon, Merioneth, parts of Flintshire, Caermarthenshire, and Cardiganshire. Edward in 1280 had established a County Court at Caermarthen, and entered into possession of the counties of Cardigan and Caermarthen.

(3) The lordship of Glamorgan and the County palatine of Pembroke. The lowland portions of Glamorganshire constituted the Lordship of Glamorgan, the uplands being retained by Welsh chieftains, but the Lordship did not extend to the modern limits of the County. Pembrokeshire