On the invasion of William, as we have seen, it was in the
possession of Edwin, sovereign of Deira. "We find it afterwards," says
another account, "in the possession of Roger Fitzvalarine, a son of one
of the adventurers who came over with the Conqueror. Then it was held,
subordinately, by the Monthault, or Montalt, family, the stewards of the
palatinate of Chester. It is remarkable, as we noticed in our story of
Hughenden Manor, that as the traditions of that ancient place touched
the memory of Simon de Montfort, the great Earl of Leicester, so do they
also in the story of the old Castle of Hawarden. Here Llewelyn, the last
native prince of Wales, held a memorable conference with the Earl. With
in the walls of Hawarden was signed the treaty of peace between Wales
and Cheshire, not long to last; here Llewelyn saw the beautiful daughter
of De Montfort, whose memory haunted him so tenderly and so long. Again
we find the Castle in the possession of the Montalt family, from whom it
descended to the Stanleys, the Earl of Derby.... Here the last native
princes of Wales, Llewelyn and David, attempted to grasp their crumbling
sceptre, Here no doubt halted Edward I, 'girt with many a baron bold;'
here the Tudor prince, Henry VII, of Welsh birth, visited in the later
years of the fifteenth century; and this was the occasion upon which it
passed into the family whose representatives had proclaimed him monarch
on Bosworth field.
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