a roaring fire, and cast the robe into it. "By the light of God," said William the Conqueror, for that was his wicked oath, "heshall never leave his prison."
But another Norman, Bernard of Neufmarché, came to take his place.He built his castle at Brecon, and defeated and killed Rees, the King of Deheubarth; and, with great energy, he took possession of the upper valleys of the Wye and the Usk.
Further south William the Conqueror himself came to Cardiff, and possibly built a castle. The Norman conquest of the south coast of Wales was exceedingly rapid, and castle after castle rose to mark the new victorious advances—Coety, Cenfig, Neath, Kidwelly, Pembroke,Newport, Cilgeran.
So far, the Norman advance has been a most quick one. In less than twenty-five years from the appearance of the Conqueror at Chester,the whole country had been overrun except the mountains of Gwynedd and the forests of the Deheubarth. This success is easily explained.
For one thing, the Normans had trained, professional soldiers, who were well horsed and well armed. In a pitched battle the
