and its inhabitants that of Brittones. In the genuine Epistola Gildae,[1] the Historia Brittonum, Asser's Alfred, the Vitae of the Saints, and the Book of Llandav, this use of the term Britannia is amply attested ; and the earliest text extant of the Laws of Howel Dda, viz. the Latin Peniarth MS. 28, which Aneurin Owen entitles Leges Wallice, is entitled in the text itself Leges Brittanie.[2] The song ' Vnbeinyaeth Prydein ' therefore means Monarchia Brittaniae, i.e. the monarchy of Wales, and must be taken as reflecting that aspiration after Welsh political unity which was increasing throughout the centuries amid the numerous patrias of the Welsh kin.
wynebwerth [wyneb, face; werth, worth] face-worth, a fine payable to a woman when insulted by her husband, as when he had connexion with another woman.
- ↑ The Epistola Gildae is to be carefully distinguished from the Excidium Britanniae of the pseudo-Gildas, i.e. the first twenty-six chapters which were originally written towards the end of the seventh century. Celtic Review (Edinburgh) for 1905.
- ↑ Anc. Laws II. 749, where Brittannie is for Brittanie.
