"What are our choices?"
The Count's question weighed heavily on his entire court. Although the Duke of Gywnedd made peace with King William only a few short days before without giving up any territory, all present were well aware that the reprieve was only a temporary one. Furthermore, Gwynedd still warred with France.
"Our offers of alliance continue to be rejected by everyone" replied Margaret, lines in her face from the many hours of dealing with her stressed husband and the courts she'd traveled to in order to find a friend for Glamgoran, "We must find someone who is also friendless and willing to help us."
"We might also consider just giving into William. That'd solve the problem very easily" Iestyn the hated Spymaster suggested.
All of them glared at the unfavoured son, none more so than his father Gwrgant who had just reached his sixtieth year.
"Never! We will never bow to that bastard Norman swine!" swore the marshal as he gripped his sword, "And if you consider such a thing again, I'll slay you myself!"
"Peace, Gwrgant" murmured Cadwgan, "We must not fall to quarreling amongst ourselves, no matter how unworthy the people we are forced to get along with."
Iestyn said nothing, for he knew well enough that no matter how much Gwrgant hated him, his father's inheritance belonged to him and him alone as the only son. The thought made him smile.
After a long pause, the Count stood and looked outside at the lush summer countryside, rubbing his beard and frowning.
"We will take your advice, Margaret, and seek out someone who is also without friend in the world. No doubt they shall be difficult to find, but if we are to establish a new country, we must find a way. Continue to look for a husband for Eva and see about getting a new bride for Iestyn as well. Maybe she will be able to keep him from his fool's talk."
For two months, all diplomatic efforts on each front failed miserably until October 7th, 1070, a single day after the Kingdom of Aragon fell to the Kingdom of Navarra.
The Duke of Brittany, now needing an ally, sent a messenger to Count Cadwgan, expressing a desire to form an alliance. The pact was speedily accepted and at long last, the counties of Glamgoran and Gwent had a friend, and a fairly powerful one at that.
This new friend was still at war with Castile and Navarra however, and so the court decided it was in the best interests of the two counties to wait for the conflict to be concluded before pressing their claims on a territory away from Britian.
By mid-November, hostilities with both kingdoms ceased, Brittany awarded 239 goldoons by the Kingdom of Navarra.
Seeing an opportunity with his ally's armies already in place, Cadwgan Meriadoc made the bold move of claiming title to the County of Asturias de Oviedo in the neighbouring Kingdom of Leon. King Alfonso immediately declared war on Glamgoran in support of his vassal, Duke Hoel following suit by declaring war on Leon.
This in fact was a dangerous undertaking for the Kingdom of Leon, already at war with the Sheiks of Valencia and Castellon, along with the powerful Emir of Toledo. No doubt this information was known to the cunning Cadwgan, who sent Marshal Gwrgant with the Gwent regiment down to Iberia. The Glamgoran troops were still too minimal to bother with, for the county hadn't yet recovered from the earlier pagan invasion.
The campaign was an unmitigated disaster. Despite early gains made by Brittany, the defenses in Asturias de Oviedo consisted of the first actual castle that many of the Welshmen had ever seen and Leon roared back after swiftly making peace with the Muslims, quickly smashing Gwrgant's troops and scattering both armies.
Coupled with this crushing defeat, Iestyn died in December of 1071 and so it was an unhappy beginning to 1072, with the treasury now almost 400 goldoons in the red and things going nowhere.
Heartbroken and depressed, never recovering from his illness from Finland, Cadwgan Meriadoc passed away on March 26, 1072.
A minor clerk in Gwent recorded the Count's life in this way.
Cadwgan Meriadoc the Beatified (r. 1066-1072 Count of Glamgoran and Gwent)
He dreamt of a new Welsh homeland from the moment he assumed power, but never succeeded. A campaign against pagans in Finland nearly succeeded but was taken from him in the last hour by the traitorous Governor of Iceland. An alliance with the Duchy of Brittany gave some small ray of hope, but in the midst of a disasterous effort in Iberia, Cadwgan Meriadoc passed away with no new lands gained.
While he married Margaret Aethling, descendant of the old line of Saxon kings, the couple failed to produce an heir before his death, causing the Counties to be passed to his marshal and cousin, the legendary 62 year old Gwrgant Meriadoc.
His exploits against the pagans and his faithfulness to his noble cause led to his being beatified by the Church, thus earning him a spiritual reward even in spite of his temporal failures.
The ally, no longer such with Cadwgan's death
On the bright side, he's the first guy I've ever had beatified in all my years of CK
Can you say short reign? Oh yeah. I'll try and get him married off anyway, so he can hopefully have a son and not have one of his lackluster grandkids inherit.
And thank you! 
