A great rising of the whole people in the days of the second William won back some of this Norman spoil.

The new castle of Montgomery was burned, Brecknock and Cardigan were cleared of the invaders, and the Welsh poured ravaging over the English border.

Twice the Red King carried his arms fruitlessly among the mountains against enemies who took refuge in their fastnesses till famine and hardship drove his broken host into retreat.

The wiser policy of Henry the First fell back on his father's system of gradual conquest.

A new tide of invasion flowed along the southern coast, where the land was level and open and accessible from the sea.