Thence, after taking council, Gruffydd went by sail and oar to the land of Spain and to the court of his lord's allies at Leon. His French wife rejoiced in the adventure, having become convinced of the need to unroot heresy and paganism from all the earth during her husband's captivity, yet here at their court he found much Spanish diplomacy had hidden that they should have made plain.
There was then no king in Spain old enough even to have begun their schooling, their fathers having before their time and to a man fallen in battle, ill-considered duels, or wide-mouthed latrines. The Hungarian mother of the lord of Castille had raised her son in her native way, speaking her godless tongue and living much of the year amid her horses like a pagan, and the disgust of the Spaniards was such that they had all shifted their allegiance to his elder cousin in Leon, leaving him a mere duke. He too then pledged to King Gonzallo, son of Alfonzie, whose mother and regent was Mamadama of Braganza who was the sister to the regent queen of Navarre. Both these were the daughters of Lord Ordonho, whose own duke having died the year before, was now regent in his own right over the land of the western Spanish, which they call Portogul. And yet while his girls administered their charges much to his benefit, he himself was confined to his own castle by many and diverse illnesses, not the least of which were the many worms which lived usually beneath his skin. And in this it was as with the Philistines that those raised to power above their station by the Enemy will nonetheless be brought lo through the merciful power of God and His many ministering angels. And King Gruffydd saw these things and knew that while Spain was lost to these intrigues that Irish, Welsh and French would often come to their aid but never receive any in return and he groaned and despaired that he would ever see his own country again.
As Spain is towards the right [ie, south - Ed.], it is thus raised by the incline of the earth nearer to the sun which is both warmer and brighter in those lands. This heat boiling away both their water and their calmer humors, the Iberians have been made naturally unpleasant and quarrelsome, and from the time of the Creation there has been an end to their unceasing revolts and their feuding only during the forty-day hiatus which was occasioned by the Great Flood. Wherefore this conflict arose after Inigo O'Haro, revenging himself upon the six-fingered Moor who had long since slain his father, had taken the sheikhdom at Almeria unto himself, which lands the Emir of the Islands coveted for himself.
Wherefore came Gruffydd to those strange and barren lands, which God has so blessed that there is a noble to rule and guide every three villains, which blessing the nobility in turn repays by granting the better part of their own land back to God and His Church. Now in his bounty God blessed them with this declaration of war, bringing King Gruffydd to their lands, where he vanquished them utterly. So quickly did he move from land to land that the Spanish themselves moved scarcely north of their keep in Almeria before Gruffydd, the son of Cynan, had driven the pagans from all their lands and left them bereft, wandering through countries of their enemies or taking sail for Africa. Emulating the Spanish practice, all of these lands were passed on to the bishop of Osraige, Enna, who was King Donnchad's uncle, and Gruffydd administered them wisely and justly until suffregens bishops could be dispatched. Then he came once more across the sea back to his relatives in Ireland.
When his wife Gundred went to sleep with the Lord on account of her difficulties in childbirth, her father King William sent her sister Agathe as a replacement and helpmate to Gruffydd. The next year Gruffydd's own daughter [Brigit ferch Gruffydd, who was at the time a year younger than his new wife - Ed.] was married to Meirchion, the son of Rhys, in Gwent, allying him with the only lands in Wales not controlled by Maredudd the son of Bleddyn.
There was then no king in Spain old enough even to have begun their schooling, their fathers having before their time and to a man fallen in battle, ill-considered duels, or wide-mouthed latrines. The Hungarian mother of the lord of Castille had raised her son in her native way, speaking her godless tongue and living much of the year amid her horses like a pagan, and the disgust of the Spaniards was such that they had all shifted their allegiance to his elder cousin in Leon, leaving him a mere duke. He too then pledged to King Gonzallo, son of Alfonzie, whose mother and regent was Mamadama of Braganza who was the sister to the regent queen of Navarre. Both these were the daughters of Lord Ordonho, whose own duke having died the year before, was now regent in his own right over the land of the western Spanish, which they call Portogul. And yet while his girls administered their charges much to his benefit, he himself was confined to his own castle by many and diverse illnesses, not the least of which were the many worms which lived usually beneath his skin. And in this it was as with the Philistines that those raised to power above their station by the Enemy will nonetheless be brought lo through the merciful power of God and His many ministering angels. And King Gruffydd saw these things and knew that while Spain was lost to these intrigues that Irish, Welsh and French would often come to their aid but never receive any in return and he groaned and despaired that he would ever see his own country again.
As Spain is towards the right [ie, south - Ed.], it is thus raised by the incline of the earth nearer to the sun which is both warmer and brighter in those lands. This heat boiling away both their water and their calmer humors, the Iberians have been made naturally unpleasant and quarrelsome, and from the time of the Creation there has been an end to their unceasing revolts and their feuding only during the forty-day hiatus which was occasioned by the Great Flood. Wherefore this conflict arose after Inigo O'Haro, revenging himself upon the six-fingered Moor who had long since slain his father, had taken the sheikhdom at Almeria unto himself, which lands the Emir of the Islands coveted for himself.
Wherefore came Gruffydd to those strange and barren lands, which God has so blessed that there is a noble to rule and guide every three villains, which blessing the nobility in turn repays by granting the better part of their own land back to God and His Church. Now in his bounty God blessed them with this declaration of war, bringing King Gruffydd to their lands, where he vanquished them utterly. So quickly did he move from land to land that the Spanish themselves moved scarcely north of their keep in Almeria before Gruffydd, the son of Cynan, had driven the pagans from all their lands and left them bereft, wandering through countries of their enemies or taking sail for Africa. Emulating the Spanish practice, all of these lands were passed on to the bishop of Osraige, Enna, who was King Donnchad's uncle, and Gruffydd administered them wisely and justly until suffregens bishops could be dispatched. Then he came once more across the sea back to his relatives in Ireland.
When his wife Gundred went to sleep with the Lord on account of her difficulties in childbirth, her father King William sent her sister Agathe as a replacement and helpmate to Gruffydd. The next year Gruffydd's own daughter [Brigit ferch Gruffydd, who was at the time a year younger than his new wife - Ed.] was married to Meirchion, the son of Rhys, in Gwent, allying him with the only lands in Wales not controlled by Maredudd the son of Bleddyn.
