Sir Richard was dead in 32-33 Henry VIII (1540-1); the document, therefore, may be taken to be not later than 1540-1, although it may be somewhat earlier. The suggestion of Sir Richard Herbert's indebtedness to the Crown, and of his possessing a "grete number of wilde horses and mares going upon the mountains", which might be distrained for the King's use, and put over to the grounds of Arustley and Keviliog, is a remarkable one, and seems to indicate that it was made by some rival official, who hoped to gain favour at the expense of the deceased Knight's estate. This document discloses many curious particulars as to the state of the county at that period; and it seems probable that the scheme proposed formed part of the general design of King Henry VIII to improve the breed of horses, particularly in this part of Wales. In the same volume of the State Papers (Domestic) of Henry VIII, another document has been found, which shows that some of the officers made use of their position for promoting the personal interests of themselves and their friends, and which perhaps may afford a hint who the rival of Sir Richard Herbert was that made the somewhat officious, if not malicious, suggestion of Sir Richard Herbert's horses being distrained upon on account of his indebtedness. The document is as follows: Thomas Phillips of Ludlow, among "Cromwell's" Remembrances. "The order of Th. Phillipis of Ludlow in keeping the King's studs, mares, and colts within the Marches of Wales." 991 After this manner Thomas Phillips of Ludlowe hathe ordered hymselfe in executying the King's Commission concerning his Stodds and Colts in the Marches of Wales. Ffirst, after his departyng from your mastership dyd resort to Presteinde [Presteign], and there dyd call before hym 1 State Papers (Domestic), Henry VIII, 923, xxxvii; vol. vii, p. 351; vol. vii, No. of Paper, 1673. Thomas ap Rees ap David, that had the charge of kepying of all the said stodds and th'encrease, and examined hym, howe John Alyde bocher, and Will'm Wigmore, gentleman, Dyd com by the twoo horses that they had of the same brede. And he made short answer, that they had bothe the same horses of hym, and that he would be warrant unto theym both; and so I could speke of no horse nor mare that I and John Davy that I put in trust to sherche [search] for me had found out, But that he was redie to be warrant to the parties that had them. Whereupon, considering the frowardnes of the said Thomas ap R's, and that he had six score and odd or sevene and od of mares and fellies to hym delivered, and as yet hereunto never made any accompts of the said stode of mares, nor of th'encrease of theym, to any man the space of 8 yeres, and that I take hym able to answer for th'oll [the whole] last, the sherchyng for any moe [more] of the same mares and colts, and Resortyd to Shrowsbury to the King's Commissioners, and there I opteigned the King's letters for the Apparence of the said Thomas ap R's, and one Llewelyn ap Gitto, son to Gitto here [Hir], that made delivery to the said Thomas of the said mares. And for Jenkyn penllan, drover, that the said Thomas ap R's presented unto me, that had 8 of the said mares that were stollen from hym, and all the same parties shuld have apperyd the 13th day of November last past, upon the which 13th day of November I appearde at Salop bifore the said Commissioners, and the said Thomas ap R's disobeyed the King's letters and appered not, nor any man for hym, and the said Ll'n ap Gytto appered, and upon his examinac'on Denyed that he knewe the nowmber of mares and colts that his father delyvered to Thomas ap R's, and confessed that the same Thomas ap R's, after that he had receyved the great nowmber of his father, and after the decesse of his said father, that he had 7 great mares of hym, and 2 of his brother, of the same marke and brede. The whiche was over and above the nomber that his said father confessed and accompted for. Item. I dyd send out and serche for the said Jenkyn penllan, that the said Thomas ap R's accused, as before, to have 8 of the sayd mares, and I could hear of non of that name in Kery ner Kedewen, where the sayd Thomas shewed me that he dwelt under Sir Richard Herbert, Knight, one of the said Commissioners; and so that letter here redie to be shewed was lost, and all the labor takyn thereyn. Wherupon, because Mr. Holt, the King's attorney, was not there at that tyme, nor was not sure when he wold be there, I [dis]contynued the takyng out of any further processe against the said Thomas ap R's, to th'entent to have had him up by Preve Seal or subpoena to answer before your Mastership and other the King's most honorable Commissioners, or else to have had a special Commission to the King's said attorney and some other of the same Commissioners that be skelyd [skilled] in such causes, to have taken the accompts of the said Thomas ap R's for the said stodes and encrease for the said 8 yeres, and to have taken the deposic'ons of such parties or wytnesses that I shuld have brought before theym, and purposed for lacke of sufficient accompts to have put the said Thomas ap R's and such others that they shuld fynd defectyve in the premisses under sufficient sureties t'appere before your Mastership, as before, at a day certain, with certificat what they shuld have founde and known thereyn, for further thereyn to be doon as to justice shudd appertain; and according to the same purpose I wrote divers letters to my friend David Lloyd of Lumbard Strete, Taylor, to have made relac'on thereof unto your Mastership, so to have labored out the sayd Com'ission or Prevy Seale, whether your Mastership shuld think best, and because the same processe cam not, I cam at this tyme myself for the same. Item. Sithynce my last being with yo'r Mastership, I have proved that the same Thomas ap R's, without auctoritie, within a month or thereabouts before the dethe of Mr. Rs delyvered to Raulf leche, servent to th'erle of Salop, the nowmber of xvj of the best mares and their xvi colts with theym, to the value of xlli. or better; and I have pruff also that there were viii colts of that yeres colts, left over the said xvj colts delyvred to the said leche; and further, I have a letter here to show that the said Thomas ap R's sold xx colts at one time this som'er. Moreover, to my further trouble, I rode to have had accompts of Thomas ap R's, Jamys ap R's his brother, and Owen ap Gruffith of the xxiiij mares that Morice ap Henry founde, and lefte with theym at the furst tyme, that is to wyt, with every of them viij mares, which Jurney I lost because the said Thomas ap R's, the principall, was goon to a feire beyond. bristowe, and nowther of th'other ij at home. And after I sende my said deputie to theym to vewe the mares and colts, with the felles that encreased this ij yeres of the said xxiiij mares, whereof I hed (had) answere from my said Deputie that the said Thomas ap R's wold make hym non accompts, and his brother Jamys confessd, bot ij bay mares, a buld red mare and a great gresled mare, that he sold to his said brother Thomas, and that ij colts that they had the last yere were stollen, and Owen ap Gruffithe confessed but ij of the viij or ix by his own confession that he had, and shewed that iij mares were dede and other iij stollen and namyd by as by the letter apperith, the whiche be ij theves and answerable, as I am enformyed; and so they make such craftie accompts, and thinke to have all theymselvs, as they have had the rest; and so if it shall be yo'r pleasure to send them for theym all, or to send a speciall com'ission to Mr. Croft, Sir William Thomas, and Mr. Holt, to take their accompts and the wytnesses of such prooves that shall be callyd to testifie as they knowe upon suche interrogatories that shalbe mynestered unto theym, with auctoritie to sende them upe if they shall see such cause, when there will be good remedie had, and else not. From the notes on Lewys Glyn Cothi's poems, p. 178, it would appear that on the death of Res ap David, the father of Thomas ap Res, Sir Richard Herbert supplanted the "ap Rhys" or "Pryce" family in the possession of Montgomery Castle and its dependencies. This circumstance may lead to the inference that it was Thomas ap Res, who, in retaliation, made the suggestion that Sir R. Herbert's arrears due to the Crown should be recovered by distraining on his horses. The foregoing document damages the reputation of Thomas ap Res, and shows how high officials in those days took advantage of their position and abused the confidence reposed in them. "Mr. Res", it has been suggested, might be the father of Thomas ap Res; but this could hardly be so, as "Rees", the father of Thomas ap Rees, was slain at Banbury in 1469, when his son Thomas must have been a mere child. There was no doubt a rivalry between the houses of Price and Herbert, as the foregoing documents testify. In his account of Matthew Price, son of Thomas ap Rhys (Sheriff in 1548),' the Rev. W. V. Lloyd thus alludes to this rivalry :-" As long as the star of the House of York was in the ascendant, and the lord1 Mont. Coll., vol. ii, p. 400. VOL. XXII. D ships of Kerry, Kedewain, and Montgomery owned the representative of the House of Mortimer as lord, the family of Ap Rhys', or 'Price' of Newtown, must have been powerful in Powys-land. We see that Meredyth ap Rhys of Glanmeheli, in the parish of Kerry, the brother of Thomas ap Rhys of Newtown, had continued to retain the favour and confidence of the Tudor and Lancastrian Henry VII, being an Esquire of his body, as well as Steward of the old Mortimer holdings, then confiscated Crown lands; but it was not long before the eminent services to the House of Tudor of Sir Rhys ap Thomas and his family connections, the Herberts, gave the latter family that influence with the new dynasty which enabled them eventually to wrest from the Prices' the stewardship under the Crown of the old Mortimer inheritances." 6 Notwithstanding this rivalry-or, perhaps, with a view to put an end to it-matrimonial alliances were entered into between members of the two families. For instance, William Herbert (Sheriff in 1547), the eldest son of Sir Richard Herbert, married Jane, daughter of John ap Meredith ap Rees, a first-cousin of Matthew Price of Newtown. However, the ascendancy was ultimately assured to the Herberts with respect to these lordships, for it appears that on the 7th July, 5 Elizabeth (1563), William Herbert and John Gwynne had "a grant of the Queen's demesnes, called Frith Penprise, in the forest called Frith Penprise, parcel of the lordship of Arustley and Keveylioc, for 19 years, rent 200 marks. G. S. |