THE FLEMINGS 167 from the coast do we encounter names distinctly Welshat first a few, then more, and finally all. In the time from the coming to the English throne of the House of Anjou this southern portion was the "Englishry," and was sharply distinguished from the "Welsh parts"; and the English kings could always calculate on this Englishry maintaining a stubborn and implacable hostility against the Welshry. It has been supposed that the Danes and Norsemen, who frequently ravaged the coast, made a settlement here; but there is not historic evidence to show that this was the case. What is certain, however, is that in the early part of the twelfth century, when the sea overflowed a large tract of the Low Countries, and formed the "deep and the rolling Zuyder Zee," many of the refugees from the drowned lands came homeless and destitute to England, and as Caradoc of Llancarfan informs us, they besought Henry I. to "give them some void place in which to dwell, and he being very liberal with that which was not his own, gave them the land of Ros in Dyfed, or West Wales, where are built Pembroke, Tenby, and Haverford, and there they remain to this day, as may well be perceived by their speech and condition differing greatly from the rest of the country." The total number of these Flemish immigrants is not known, but apparently they arrived in two or more distinct batches, the second consisting of soldiers from the Low Countries, imported by Henry II. According to Giraldus, these settled in Pembrokeshire " as men loyal to the King. And he placed English among them to teach them the English language; and they are now English, and the plague of Dyfed and South Wales on account of their deceit and lies." It is certainly odd to find Giraldus regard the English as the liars, who should learn the quality of truth from their Cymric neighbours. The Welsh, often at variance among themselves, were yet united in a common hostility to this detested foreign colony, which had usurped the best land and cut them off from the sea. This settlement of Flemings was afterwards largely recruited from England, with Normans and English traders; and so it came to pass that an English-speaking islet existed, surrounded on all sides except on the sea-face by Welsh. Tenby became not only a great place for fishing, but also a seat of the weaving trade. Whether any Cymry remained on the land as hewers of wood and drawers of water to the colonists may well be doubted. There is a curious MS. calendar from Harold |