Part IV - The British Empire
Messengers then went unto Branwen. "Lady," said they, what thinkest thou that this is?"
"The men of the Island of the Mighty, who have come hither on hearing of my ill treatment and my woes."
"What is the forest that is seen upon the sea?" asked they.
"The yards and the masts of ships," she answered.
"Alas," said they, "what is the mountain that is seen by the side of the ships?"
"Bran, my brother," she replied, "coming to shoal water; there is no ship that can contain him."
"What is the lofty ridge with the lake on each side thereof?"
"On looking towards this land he is wroth, and his two eyes, one on each side of his nose, are the two lakes beside the ridge."
The Tale of Branwen Daughter of Llyr, from the Mabinogion
Hello, back in the land of the living, is it? You dropped off for a while there. Can't say I blame you, sitting there listening to the rain and an old fart like me droning on and on. No, no, only teasing.
It was turning chilly look you, so I've lit the fire. Hope you don't mind me smoking.
Hm, my pipe is my closest friend up here. The perfect thing for a wet afternoon, eh?
Tri chysir henaint: tan, te a tybaco - a fire, tea, and tobacco; and looking out at the garden and thinking about what the flowers will look like in the spring.
You know, I remember when we first met, me and tobacco that is. I was pruning my roses - delicate job, I had just got a book from England about it. Oh yes, we had a lot more contact with the English after the wars. The aristos had always mixed, of course, but the wars had finished off those bloodsuckers for good. Wales had become a country for smaller folk, petty gentry in the farming or trading line. And they had been sharp enough to get some good out of the English occupation by building up contacts over there. You began to hear a lot more English spoken up here, became quite fashionable, it did; and some Spanish, as well. And our boys had seen more of the world; their horizons used to be their own little valley, now it was the open ocean. Commodore Llewelyn and his galley fleet had been the real heroes of the wars, you see.
Anyway, there I was, when I heard the sound of horses on the road. My enemies were long gone by now, so this didn't worry me so much. Then there was an old man's voice, "Sire! See, the crystal! We must be very close!" and a reply, "Of course we're close John. Put that blasted thing away. This'll do. Captain Williams, stay with your men on the road."
After a bit a smart middle-aged fellow dressed in fur came up the path, with a scruffy older gent trailing along behind him. He stopped in front of me and just stood there looking me up and down, stroking his beard, like a merchant inspecting a long-delayed cargo. At last he spoke: "My lord Glendower, I am Sion ap Morus ap Sion ap Maredudd ap Ieuan of Gwydir, Prince of Wales, Lord of Ireland and King of the Britons - no smart remarks about those last two titles though, eh? And this" he waved an arm at the other fellow, "is Doctor Dee."
"Pleased to meet you both I'm sure," I said, "and would you mind not treading on the parsnips." He looked down, then gave me an enourmous grin and, stepping back, began to talk to me about my roses. And he knew his stuff, he was having the gardens done up, see, at his place in Gwydir. He was a charmer, that one.
Sion II
"So, what brings you up this way?" I asked eventually.
"The angels brought us, didn't they John?" "Yes, sire," Doctor Dee struck in, looking pleased with himself. "His Majesty is engaged in writing the history of his family, and of his kingdom. He was gracious enough to accept the offer of the use of my library and of my own small skills in finding things that are hidden. Some of my... sources... mentioned that many old secrets of Wales could be found in these hills. And you, my lord -"
Sion cut him off. "Are you aware, Glendower, that you have been up here for a hundred and sixty seven years? Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Well, of course I found this hard to believe, although I had to admit that the time had begun to weigh a bit heavy. We got into quite an argument, with Dee getting excited and spouting philosophy like nobody's business. No, I don't remember what we agreed in the end. Something about exercise and lots of fresh air, I shouldn't wonder.
Anyway all this ended with an invitation to dinner. "I'm staying at the big house in the valley," Sion said, "Why don't you come down for the night, we can have a proper chat." Truth to tell, I had been thinking that morning about the days when I had a manor and servants of my own, and, well, that maybe I had spent long enough in this place. No telly back then, you see.
So, I found myself sitting at the table that evening, guzzling wine, smoking tobacco and admiring the Prince of Wales' fine clothes. "Fur from America," he said. "Just letting the locals know what's in fashion." And he gave me a wink.
I had been spinning him yarns over dinner, with his clerk sitting in the corner and writing it all down. Now it was Sion's turn to talk. "You're probably a bit behind with the news, so let's see... Welsh foreign policy has traditionally consisted of: one, toadying to the Habsburgs, and two, praying that the sky doesn't fall on our heads. But seven years ago my father Morus, God rest his soul, had the one bright idea of his life.
"You know that in England in Queen Mary's reign, Protestant rebels revived an independent Scotland in Lothian and the Grampians, with the capital in Aberdeen. The English never got around to doing anything about it. Well, the place was never exactly stable, and after some particularly vicious anti-Welsh rioting Morus saw the perfect excuse to move in and restore order. They had no friends and no army, and the English were in the same alliance with us, however reluctantly, so they were unlikely to stab us in the back. There couldn't have been a better time. We took Edinburgh off their hands, and a hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and let them know that from then on they would dance to our tune.
"But what was most interesting were the charts we found in the admiralty in Aberdeen. Those devils had copies of all the English records - accounts of voyages to the East and West Indies, notes on winds, soundings, prices, native kingdoms, the lot! This was valuable intelligence for our Iberian friends, who let us have a look at their own charts in return. The world's a big place, Glendower. There's more to it than the Irish sea!" Then he called for Doctor Dee, who turned up with an armful of books and diagrams.
John Dee's map of North America
"My father sent me to Lisbon and Madrid with the charts," Sion went on. "By God, there are fortunes being made out there, fortunes! And I'm damned if I'm not getting some of it. I've organized a trading venture to the East Indies already, brings in forty thousand a year. In fact the doctor here has been helping with the deep water navigation. But we have bigger plans, don't we?"
Dee bowed. "We certainly do, Sire. My lord, the Welsh nation has been bottled up for too long in this corner of these islands. We have let the English take our inheritance, or worse, we have forgotten it. Under Arthur, we had dominion over not only this island, but all of the Atlantic, to the uttermost north." And he banged his fist onto a book. "And was not the new world settled by subjects of the British crown under Prince Madoc, four hundred years ago? Can we abandon our cousins there to the French and the Spaniards? America is not unclaimed land, for them to take or leave on the whim of the Pope; it is already claimed by a christian prince. It is part of the British Empire!"
No, me neither. But I thought it was best not to interrupt.
"Stirring stuff, eh Glendower?" Sion said, his eyes twinkling. "The doctor has put together our claims most convincingly. Here, let's have the map of the Americas. There, north of the cape of Florida, that's where the forgotten Welsh colony is supposed to be. And we are going to get it going again. Look, here's wood for our ships, there's food for our armies, and furs and tobacco for the gentlemen of Europe. Who knows, they may even pay us a bob or two for it." And he blew a ring of smoke over the table, like this.
"The Spaniards don't like having another player over there, but we are good enough friends to get over it. They don't think this bit of land is worth much, anyway. The English and French won't like it either but, well, they can stuff it."
"And what about the locals?" I asked.
Sion snorted. "We'll watch our backs," he said. "And they are some use to us. Look, this tribe, the Lenape, control the mouth of this river, and so most of the trade with the interior. Taking it from them will be our first move in America. The expedition leaves in a few months."
"And it is certain to succeed," said Dee. "Your Majesty, the British star is in the ascendant. We will have dominion over the forests of the West and the scented islands of the East. All the wealth and power of the oceans will be ours. I have seen it; it is our destiny."
"Nice of you to say so, John." said Sion. "Now, Glendower, I have an offer for you. You would be a help in writing my history, and you can give me some perspective on the great events that the doctor assures us are about to unfold. Come to Cardiff and stay as my guest. I'll send someone from the village to make sure your cottage is looked after while you're away."
Look you now, it's amazing the effect a lavish dinner will have on a fellow. I knew he just wanted another curiousity for his collection, but I said yes right away, and didn't think twice about the old place up here. I wanted to see some action again. Oh, I was an impulsive young fellow back then, I was.
So I got a nice warm room in the palace, and a chat with Sion about the old days once a week, and as many big dinners as I could eat. And there I met the men who laid the foundations of our empire. They didn't know who I was, of course. There was Commodore Bulkeley, from an old marcher family, who had learned deep water sailing with the Spanish fleet. He completed our charts of the American coast, and was in charge of the first expedition, that smashed the Lenape. There was Captain Vaughan, who fought against the Creek, and extracted a ransom from them worth a million pounds. That put a gleam in Sion's eye, oh yes. And greatest of all, Captain Evans, the explorer. He had bloodcurdling tales to tell about his expedition into the interior, looking for the route to the South Sea and China, and for any signs of the old Welsh settlers. "There was always another mountain range, another forest, another river," he told me, "That land goes on forever. It could drive a man mad." Then he would demonstrate how he had to hide in a swamp from the Cherokee during his famous retreat. I saw Anthony Hopkins playing him on the telly last week, you know. Utter rubbish. Anyway, he returned with more wealth than had ever been seen before in Wales, and with promises of regular tribute from the tribes of the interior.
Yes, Sion liked nothing better than to weigh in to the folks over the ocean on the slightest excuse, and to make them pay dearly for the privilege. He did well to keep us out of trouble in the European wars though, so that nothing would stop the merchant fleets that sailed out of Cardiff to all corners of the earth. I would go down to the docks to watch them sometimes, or to watch the colonists, English, Flemish, Scots, Irish or Welsh, as they said goodbye to the old world forever and went off to new homes in Connecticut or Roanoke.
The money flowed in, and in general it was spent wisely, on uniting all the parts of Wales into one nation, and one of the most advanced in Europe, at that. Sion was widely admired and when he died visitors came from all over the catholic world to the great mass in St David's. Evans told me, though, that the Indians weren't so keen on him. They still say that his soul is trapped beneath the great waterfall at Niagara, where it will lie until it is washed clean of all its sins.
North America at the death of Sion II
. Glad you're enjoying it, and I hope I can keep it up. 
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