- Joined
- Mar 30, 2011
- Messages
- 36,919
- Reaction score
- 17,115
- Location
- Glanaman,Carmarthenshire,Wales
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- Too many - but not nearly enough
Hywel Dda (circa AD 880 - 950)
Hywel Dda (one of my ancestors) whose descendants also founded the Tudor dynasty was the greatest lawmaker Wales has ever seen - his laws were not only the first to give women recognition and rights but also showed the importance of bees, mead and therefore honey, and the reverence in which they were held in Wales.
Here is an extract from his laws dealing with the mead maker, bees and wax:
HOWEL the Good, son of Cadell, king of Cymru, enacted by the grace of God and fasting and prayer when Cymru was in his possession in its bounds, to wit, three score and four cantrevs of Deheubarth, and eighteen cantrevs of Gwynedd, and three score trevs beyond the Cyrchell, and three score trevs of Buallt; and within that limit, the word of no one [is] before their word, and their word is a word over all. There were bad customs and bad laws before his time. He therefore takes six men from every cymwd in Cymru and brings them to the White House on the Tav [Whitland]
; and there were present those who held croziers in Cymru including archbishops and bishops and abbots and good teachers; and of that number, twelve of the wisest laics were chosen, and the one wisest scholar who was called Blegywryd, to make the good laws and to abolish the bad ones which were before his time; and to place good ones in their stead and to confirm them in his own name. When they had finished making those laws, they placed the curse of God, and the one of that assembly, and the one of Cymru in general upon any one who should break those laws. And first they began with the Laws of a Court as they were the most important and as they pertained to the King and the Queen and the Twenty-four Officers who accompany them, namely, Chief of the Household. Priest of the Household, Steward. Judge of the Court, falconer, Chief Huntsman, Chief groom. Page of the Chamber. Steward of the Queen. Priest of the Queen. Bard of the Household. Silentiary. Doorkeeper of the Hall. Doorkeeper of the Chamber, Chambermaid. Groom of the Rein, Candlebearer. Butler. Mead brewer, Server of the Court, Cook, physician. Footholder. Groom of the Rein to the Queen.
A right of all the officers is to have woollen clothing from the king and linen clothing from the queen three times every year; at Christmas and Easter and Whitsuntide
A mead brewer has his land free, and his horse regularly from the king. One man’s share does he obtain of the gwestva silver, and a third of the wax taken from the mead vat; for the two parts are divided into three shares, the two shares for the hall and the third for the chamber.
The protection of the mead brewer is from the time he shall begin to prepare the mead vat until he shall cover it. The protection of the butler is from the time he shall begin to empty the mead vat until he shall finish.
The origin of bees is from paradise and because of the sin of man they came thence; and God conferred his grace on them, and therefore the mass cannot be sung without the wax. A mother-hive of bees is twenty-four pence in value. A first swarm is sixteen pence in value. A second swarm is twelve pence in value. A third swarm is eight pence in value. A mother-hive, after the first swarm has gone out of it, is twenty pence in value. After the second swarm has gone out of it, it is sixteen pence in value. After the third swarm has gone out of it, it is twelve pence in value. No swarm is of more value than four pence until it shall be three days on wing and continually [so]; a day to find a place to move to, and the second to move, and the third to rest. Whoever shall find a swarm on another person’s land upon a bough, receives four pence from the owner of the land if he wills to have the swarm, Whoever shall find a hive on another person’s land, receives a legal penny or the wax at the option of the owner of the land. The ninth day before August every swarm assumes the status of a mother-hive, and then it is twenty-four pence in value, excepting a wing-swarm, for such does not assume the status of a mother-hive until the calends of the following May; and then it is twenty-four pence in value like the rest
Hywel Dda (one of my ancestors) whose descendants also founded the Tudor dynasty was the greatest lawmaker Wales has ever seen - his laws were not only the first to give women recognition and rights but also showed the importance of bees, mead and therefore honey, and the reverence in which they were held in Wales.
Here is an extract from his laws dealing with the mead maker, bees and wax:
HOWEL the Good, son of Cadell, king of Cymru, enacted by the grace of God and fasting and prayer when Cymru was in his possession in its bounds, to wit, three score and four cantrevs of Deheubarth, and eighteen cantrevs of Gwynedd, and three score trevs beyond the Cyrchell, and three score trevs of Buallt; and within that limit, the word of no one [is] before their word, and their word is a word over all. There were bad customs and bad laws before his time. He therefore takes six men from every cymwd in Cymru and brings them to the White House on the Tav [Whitland]
; and there were present those who held croziers in Cymru including archbishops and bishops and abbots and good teachers; and of that number, twelve of the wisest laics were chosen, and the one wisest scholar who was called Blegywryd, to make the good laws and to abolish the bad ones which were before his time; and to place good ones in their stead and to confirm them in his own name. When they had finished making those laws, they placed the curse of God, and the one of that assembly, and the one of Cymru in general upon any one who should break those laws. And first they began with the Laws of a Court as they were the most important and as they pertained to the King and the Queen and the Twenty-four Officers who accompany them, namely, Chief of the Household. Priest of the Household, Steward. Judge of the Court, falconer, Chief Huntsman, Chief groom. Page of the Chamber. Steward of the Queen. Priest of the Queen. Bard of the Household. Silentiary. Doorkeeper of the Hall. Doorkeeper of the Chamber, Chambermaid. Groom of the Rein, Candlebearer. Butler. Mead brewer, Server of the Court, Cook, physician. Footholder. Groom of the Rein to the Queen.
A right of all the officers is to have woollen clothing from the king and linen clothing from the queen three times every year; at Christmas and Easter and Whitsuntide
A mead brewer has his land free, and his horse regularly from the king. One man’s share does he obtain of the gwestva silver, and a third of the wax taken from the mead vat; for the two parts are divided into three shares, the two shares for the hall and the third for the chamber.
The protection of the mead brewer is from the time he shall begin to prepare the mead vat until he shall cover it. The protection of the butler is from the time he shall begin to empty the mead vat until he shall finish.
The origin of bees is from paradise and because of the sin of man they came thence; and God conferred his grace on them, and therefore the mass cannot be sung without the wax. A mother-hive of bees is twenty-four pence in value. A first swarm is sixteen pence in value. A second swarm is twelve pence in value. A third swarm is eight pence in value. A mother-hive, after the first swarm has gone out of it, is twenty pence in value. After the second swarm has gone out of it, it is sixteen pence in value. After the third swarm has gone out of it, it is twelve pence in value. No swarm is of more value than four pence until it shall be three days on wing and continually [so]; a day to find a place to move to, and the second to move, and the third to rest. Whoever shall find a swarm on another person’s land upon a bough, receives four pence from the owner of the land if he wills to have the swarm, Whoever shall find a hive on another person’s land, receives a legal penny or the wax at the option of the owner of the land. The ninth day before August every swarm assumes the status of a mother-hive, and then it is twenty-four pence in value, excepting a wing-swarm, for such does not assume the status of a mother-hive until the calends of the following May; and then it is twenty-four pence in value like the rest