An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition, Concerning the - Discovery of America, by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd, about the Year, 1170 by John Williams
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page 10 of 74 (13%)
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the World; for it does not appear that he ever was in North Wales,
until he accompained Arch-Bishop Baldwin thither in the year 1188, when he went to convert the Britons to the Romish Faith, and to persuade them to engage in a Crusade.--Besides, being a Fleming by descent, and so nearly connected with the English Court, he could have very little correspondence with the Britons, who were far from being easy under the Dominion of the usurping Saxons, Normans, and especially the Flemings, who had lately invaded and possessed a part of their Country. The first account that I can find of the discovery of America by the Britons is in an History of Wales written by Caradoc of Llancarvan, Glamorganshire, in the British Language, translated into English by Humphry Llwyd, and published by Dr. David Powel, in the year 1584. It was re-printed in 1697, under the inspection of W. Wynne, A. M. Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. There was another edition lately published. This narrative bears the strongest Semblance of Truth, for it is plain, natural, and simple. It says, that on the death of Owen Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, about the year 1169, several of his Children contended for his Dominions; that Madog, one of his Sons, preceiving his Native Country engaged, or on the eve of being engaged, in a Civil War, thought it best to try his Fortune in some foreign Climes. Leaving North Wales in a very unsettled state, he sailed with a few Ships which he had fitted up and mann'd for that purpose to the westward, leaving Ireland to the north. He came at length to an unknown Country where most things appeared to him new and uncustomary, and the manners of the Natives far different from what he had seen in Europe. Madog having viewed the |
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