Cylchgronau Cymru

^nhuoltyw i&mbrtnm. THIRD SERIES, No. XXXIL—OCTOBER, 1862. SOME ACCOUNT OF CARDIFF CASTLE. The castle of Cardiff, though not unknown to border fame, has been the theatre of no great historical events, nor does it present any very striking peculiarities of position, scenery, or structure. Its claim to more than local interest rests upon the character and fortunes of the great barons whose inheritance and occasional resi¬ dence it was from the eleventh to the fifteenth century, from the reign of Rufus to that of Henry VI. Probably a Roman castrum, and certainly a hold of the local British princes, it was won, in 1090, by the sword of Robert Fitzhamon, lord of the Honour of Gloucester, and by him constituted the head and capital of his newly acquired seignory of Morgan and Glamorgan. Mabel, the heiress of Fitzhamon, conveyed his pos¬ sessions, with her hand, to Robert Consul, Earl of Gloucester, bastard son of Henry I, the gaoler of Robert Curthose, and the reputed builder of the Norman parts of the castle. They were succeeded by their son William, Earl of Gloucester (died 1173), after whom the inheritance was for a time held by King John, then Earl of More- ton, by marriage with Isabel or Elizabeth, the youngest coheir; and on her divorce, soon after 1199, by Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, who died 1216, rather before which time, 1210, the seneschal is mentioned as 3bd ser., vol. viii. 17