Prologue

This prologue is simply giving the background of the historical events that lead up to the story.

 

 

 

The year was 1066. The place; Great Britain. The Normans, after winning the Battle of Hastings, swept through England, led by the now famous William The Conqueror(having long since gotten rid of his old epitaph; William The B*****d). After renegotiating the old Anglo-Scottish border in the north, the Normans swept into Wales, quickly overcoming the ancient kingdom of Morganwg in the south, (a kingdom which had staunchly, and easily, resisted the Anglo-Saxons for almost six hundred years), and Powys in the north. To the west, the kingdoms of Gwynedd, and Deheubarth, (in the north, and south, respectively.) continued to resist the Normans. Gwynedd lasted until Gruffudd Ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd, was captured and sent off to London. Wales was shattered. Deheubarth stood strong, however, and continued to hold the Normans. In Gwynedd, various Norman Lords scrambled to stake a claim in the broken land. Many of the Welsh were sold into serfdom or slaughtered. Whole communities were either expelled or slaughtered. Great castles were built to subdue the Welsh (ironically, most of these castles were built in Morganwg, where resistance was all but dead). However, Welsh resistance continued, especially in Eryri. And thus, our story begins in a small farming community, Gellilydan, in central Gwynedd...

Author's Note

Most of the place names are Welsh, and are spelled correctly.
An overview of pronunciation;
Morganwg: Morgan, (like the name), then simply uk, (as in duck).
Powys: Poh-is, rhymes with bow is.
Gwynedd: Gwin-eth, first part rhymes with win.
Deheubarth: Dee-hee-barth, Me, he, Airth.
Gruffudd Ap Cynan: Griff-ith ap Coh-nan.
Eryri: Ee-roh-ree.
Gellilydan: This one's tough. it's kind of Geh-hlil-oh-dahn.