o encouraged the intellectual movement in
Wales--one stands out pre-eminent--Robert Earl of Gloucester and Lord
of Glamorgan, a splendid combination of statesman, soldier, patron of
letters. Robert was a natural son of Henry I.--born before 1100--there
is no evidence that his mother was the beautiful and famous Nest,
daughter of Rhys ap Tudor. He acquired the Lordship of Glamorgan
together with the Honour of Gloucester and other lands in England and
Normandy, by marriage with Mabel, daughter and heiress of Fitzhamon,
conqueror of Glamorgan. An account of the wooing is preserved in old
rhymed chronicle: the king conducts negotiations; the lady remarks
that it was not herself but her possessions he was after--and she
would prefer to marry a man who had a surname. The account is not
historical, as surnames had not come in: in the early twelfth century
the lady would have expressed her meaning differently. However, there
is evidence that she was a good wife: William of Malmesbury says, "She
was a noble and excellent woman, devoted to her husband, and blest
with a numerous and beautiful family." Robert was a great builder of
castles; Bristol and Cardiff Castles were his work, and many others in
Glamorgan; he organised Glamorgan, giving it the constitution of an
English shire--with Cardiff Castle as centre and meeting-place. After
Henry I.'s death, he was the most important man in England, and was
the only prominent man who played an honourable part in the civil wars
which are known as the reign of Stephen; he died in 1147. His
relations with the Welsh appear to have been good; large bodies of
Welsh troops fought under him at the battle of Lincoln, 1141--he was
probably the first Norman lord of Glamorgan who could thus rely on
their loyalty. And it is significant that in the earliest inquisitions
extant for Glamorgan--or inquests by sworn recognitors--Welshmen were
freely employed in the work of local government.

Robert of Gloucester was a magnificent patron of letters; to his age
Giraldus Cambrensis looked back with longing regret as to the good old
times in which learning was recognised and received its due reward. To
Robert of Gloucester, William of Malmesbury, the greatest historian of
the time, dedicated his history, attributing to him the magnanimity of
his grandfather the Conqueror, the generosity of his uncle, the wisdom
of his father, Henry I. He was the founder of Margam Abbey, whose
chronicle is one of the authori