§ 1. Rhys ab Tewdwr being dead, Iestyn ab Gwrgant paid the Norman mercenaries their stipulated hire, made them liberal presents, and courteously dismissed them to their ships; but when Eineon immediately afterwards claimed the promised reward of his services, that haughty ruler repulsed him with scorn, and avowed that he destined his daughter for another man's bride. The mercenary troops had embarked, but had not set sail, when a signal recalled them to the shore; and Eineon, reckless of national duty, avenged himself upon Iestyn by entering into a compact with them, and demonstrating to Fitzhamon the ease with which he and his knights might possess themselves of the fair and fertile region of the deceiver, while the other district sovereigns of Deheubarth stood aloof regarding with horror and aversion the destroyer of the venerated King Rhys. Won by his words, the rapacious Normans bent their whole power against the astonished Iestyn, seized upon his richest territories, and left him to dispute with Eineon the possession of the rest.

Then, for the first time in the history of Cymru, the hereditary succession of the native landowners was wrenched away and broken up.