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Chapter XVII - No Love Lost (868-877)
Following the end of the Oathbreaker Crisis, Neithon's rule of the kingdom was for the most part, a peaceful one.
The same could not be said for his personal life.
Although the royal family was blessed with a second son in December, named Meriadog, Neithon's affair with Hawys Builth put a damper on the positive relations between the king and his wife. Even the birth of a third son, Grygor, in October of 870 did little to cool hostilities. Hawys giving birth to her own son with Neithon, acknowledged as Godwyn, a year after Meriadog's birth was doubtlessly a factor in such.
Less than a month after Grygor's birth, scandal erupted when news arrived that Count Grygor Owaining had ordered his wife's execution by burning. Morganna was the niece of Neithon, eldest daughter of Little Owain. And to say that the prince was furious would be an understatement as Count Cairell Burke recounted to an acquaintance:
"Prince Owain stormed into court this morning, demanding that justice be served upon Count Grygor. Having lost his daughter to Ternyllwg, one could understand his grief. The King did not seem to however, stating that arresting Count Grygor would amount to tyranny and that the realm could ill afford to be divided so soon after the Crisis.
Owain furiously denounced his brother before the whole court, claiming that their father would have much preferred his firstborn on the throne than the 'fop obsessed with his looks' (Referring to the Prince Caradog) or the 'conniving weasel who resembles our departed father through cuckoldry alone'.
Caradog for his part stayed silent, in spite of the furrowed brow. The King merely laughed, pointing out to Prince Owain that he was not the firstborn. The illegitimate "Big" Owain, the father of none other than Count Grygor, was his firstborn. The Prince balked at such, retreating from the court in humiliation.
I did not happen to see Prince Caradog when I glanced his way a moment later."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Count Grygor for his part, had vanished into seclusion. And with Dowager Queen Eiliwedd's agents unable to locate him and Neithon being unwilling to be seen as a tyrant for attacking his own vassal, the steady peace held firm.
Neithon plotted and planned his next conquest, Yns Manaw, long in Pictish hands. Indeed the King became restless, as if finally casting off his laid-back attitude.
His stress levels had remained static however, with many descriptions of Neithon II as "A tired man, only thirty winters yet seeming to near fifty with his world weary eyes and receded hairline."
And yet, for all the schemes atop Cluith Rock, peace was a welcome change. Little significant is recorded for four years after the death of Morganna, save for the betrothal of Prince Custennin to Mor-Muman of Ulaidh in the summer of 873 and a few off-hand references of a daughter born to Neithon and Hawys in June of the following year.
That is until one September morning, the year after Custennin's betrothal, when Court Chaplain Iago arrives in court with Prince Owain, chained and ragged, in tow.
The heretical practices of Little Owain have long been debated, such is the uncertainty behind the entire scandal. But suffice to say, the Prince did little to deny it. While many of Neithon's advisors advocated immediate execution, the king was unwilling to be branded as kinslayer no matter Owain's crime.
Owain was judged guilty of apostasy, to be imprisoned in a cell below the keep for the rest of his life. Although his children were able to convince the King that Owain be allowed visits from family, they did so sporadically, his wife Morien saw him only once before his death in 889.
In the months that followed, an uneasy calm returned to Neithon's domain. While the apostasy scandal slowly faded from memory, the disappearance of Prince Caradog from court became markedly more prominent, having not been in court for over two months before Owain's apostasy trial.
Sightings of the Prince at courts across the Isles, from a gathering of Pictish clans to the court of the king of Gwynedd. Little was known of his motive, but when reports of adventurers and mercenaries joining a growing private army began to trickle through Eiliwedd's contacts, it became clear.
Little could be done to curb the wayward Prince's ambitions, with Caradog ignoring any and all summons from court. For two years, new levies were trained and commanders were heavily vetted as unease grew. Until on September 21st, as the court celebrated the birth of a daughter to Neithon and Viviana (named after her grandmother), Caradog's army began marching for Rheged.
Levies were quickly mustered, with Neithon leading the interception of his brother's forces just beyond the Mercian border at the town of Furness. Caradog's army was described as a mixed bag, Viking Axemen stood alongside Irish mercenaries, Welsh archers and a band of Frankish proto-knights. Skilled as they may have been, they were still outnumbered by two to one.
In the aftermath, a negotiating party was sent from the mercenary army. When met with the King, they promptly handed over a bound and gagged Caradog and departed. Caradog's ambitions were over, not due to his brother's martial might but due to the fact that he refused to pay his own men.
For several months, the king let Caradog languish in a cell. By April 877 however, a quick trial was all that was needed to judge him guilty of high treason against the crown. In spite of the numerous calls of execution, Neithon banished his brother, confiscating the funds that he had gathered and exiling him from the kingdom under pain of death.
The Prince is recorded to have left for Anglian lands, being supported by numerous kings and lords for ten years. Goodwill appears to have dried up after then, as Caradog was found in the beds of more and more noblewomen. He was last seen drinking in a Winchester inn that mysteriously burned down in March 885, whether or not he was a casualty of the fire is unknown.
Following the end of the Oathbreaker Crisis, Neithon's rule of the kingdom was for the most part, a peaceful one.
The same could not be said for his personal life.
Although the royal family was blessed with a second son in December, named Meriadog, Neithon's affair with Hawys Builth put a damper on the positive relations between the king and his wife. Even the birth of a third son, Grygor, in October of 870 did little to cool hostilities. Hawys giving birth to her own son with Neithon, acknowledged as Godwyn, a year after Meriadog's birth was doubtlessly a factor in such.
Less than a month after Grygor's birth, scandal erupted when news arrived that Count Grygor Owaining had ordered his wife's execution by burning. Morganna was the niece of Neithon, eldest daughter of Little Owain. And to say that the prince was furious would be an understatement as Count Cairell Burke recounted to an acquaintance:
"Prince Owain stormed into court this morning, demanding that justice be served upon Count Grygor. Having lost his daughter to Ternyllwg, one could understand his grief. The King did not seem to however, stating that arresting Count Grygor would amount to tyranny and that the realm could ill afford to be divided so soon after the Crisis.
Owain furiously denounced his brother before the whole court, claiming that their father would have much preferred his firstborn on the throne than the 'fop obsessed with his looks' (Referring to the Prince Caradog) or the 'conniving weasel who resembles our departed father through cuckoldry alone'.
Caradog for his part stayed silent, in spite of the furrowed brow. The King merely laughed, pointing out to Prince Owain that he was not the firstborn. The illegitimate "Big" Owain, the father of none other than Count Grygor, was his firstborn. The Prince balked at such, retreating from the court in humiliation.
I did not happen to see Prince Caradog when I glanced his way a moment later."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Count Grygor for his part, had vanished into seclusion. And with Dowager Queen Eiliwedd's agents unable to locate him and Neithon being unwilling to be seen as a tyrant for attacking his own vassal, the steady peace held firm.
Neithon plotted and planned his next conquest, Yns Manaw, long in Pictish hands. Indeed the King became restless, as if finally casting off his laid-back attitude.
His stress levels had remained static however, with many descriptions of Neithon II as "A tired man, only thirty winters yet seeming to near fifty with his world weary eyes and receded hairline."
And yet, for all the schemes atop Cluith Rock, peace was a welcome change. Little significant is recorded for four years after the death of Morganna, save for the betrothal of Prince Custennin to Mor-Muman of Ulaidh in the summer of 873 and a few off-hand references of a daughter born to Neithon and Hawys in June of the following year.
That is until one September morning, the year after Custennin's betrothal, when Court Chaplain Iago arrives in court with Prince Owain, chained and ragged, in tow.
The heretical practices of Little Owain have long been debated, such is the uncertainty behind the entire scandal. But suffice to say, the Prince did little to deny it. While many of Neithon's advisors advocated immediate execution, the king was unwilling to be branded as kinslayer no matter Owain's crime.
Owain was judged guilty of apostasy, to be imprisoned in a cell below the keep for the rest of his life. Although his children were able to convince the King that Owain be allowed visits from family, they did so sporadically, his wife Morien saw him only once before his death in 889.
In the months that followed, an uneasy calm returned to Neithon's domain. While the apostasy scandal slowly faded from memory, the disappearance of Prince Caradog from court became markedly more prominent, having not been in court for over two months before Owain's apostasy trial.
Sightings of the Prince at courts across the Isles, from a gathering of Pictish clans to the court of the king of Gwynedd. Little was known of his motive, but when reports of adventurers and mercenaries joining a growing private army began to trickle through Eiliwedd's contacts, it became clear.
Little could be done to curb the wayward Prince's ambitions, with Caradog ignoring any and all summons from court. For two years, new levies were trained and commanders were heavily vetted as unease grew. Until on September 21st, as the court celebrated the birth of a daughter to Neithon and Viviana (named after her grandmother), Caradog's army began marching for Rheged.
Levies were quickly mustered, with Neithon leading the interception of his brother's forces just beyond the Mercian border at the town of Furness. Caradog's army was described as a mixed bag, Viking Axemen stood alongside Irish mercenaries, Welsh archers and a band of Frankish proto-knights. Skilled as they may have been, they were still outnumbered by two to one.
In the aftermath, a negotiating party was sent from the mercenary army. When met with the King, they promptly handed over a bound and gagged Caradog and departed. Caradog's ambitions were over, not due to his brother's martial might but due to the fact that he refused to pay his own men.
For several months, the king let Caradog languish in a cell. By April 877 however, a quick trial was all that was needed to judge him guilty of high treason against the crown. In spite of the numerous calls of execution, Neithon banished his brother, confiscating the funds that he had gathered and exiling him from the kingdom under pain of death.
The Prince is recorded to have left for Anglian lands, being supported by numerous kings and lords for ten years. Goodwill appears to have dried up after then, as Caradog was found in the beds of more and more noblewomen. He was last seen drinking in a Winchester inn that mysteriously burned down in March 885, whether or not he was a casualty of the fire is unknown.
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