The Cantref

        Land use and who owned it, was a foundational concept accepted daily by my early Welsh ancestors. The final grouping of the folks (kindred clustering) was termed the Cantref. It was defined as two commotes (see last post) and, was accepted as legal rights by all others participating socially. Dafydd Jenkins in his translation of the laws of the day writes: "This is the number of acres that it is right should be in the cantred: four legal acres in every toft: sixteen in every shareland; sixty-four in every holding; two hundred and fifty-six in the townland; one thousand and twenty-four acres in every maenol; twelve thousand two hundred and eighty-eight acres in the twelve maenolydd. It is right that there should be five hundred and twelve acres in the townlands which belong to the court; and that is, when all the acres in the commote come together, twelve thousand eight hundred; and as much as all that in the other commote: that is a total of acres in the cantred of twenty-five thousand six hundred, no more and no less." (p. 121)

       Now, the law books define the cantref as two commotes. Jenkins (p. 268) states that most of the cantred (old-established and convenient English spelling for cantref p.323) had more than two commotes. He gives Llyn(^) [over letter y] with 3, Anglesey with 6 and, Ceredigion with 10. No wonder all the justices (Maers) were needed to help provide fairness among the folks. Stolen goods (p.158) and stolen property (p. 160) seemed to have been a common problem. Appears, not much has changed from these days of old! Hywel Dda died 950 A.D.!

       Here is a copy of my cover of the translation by Dafydd Jenkins published 1986. My book is by Gomer Press, Llandysul, Dyfed, 1990. The word cantred is found on pp. 65, 121, 122, 154, 158, and 160. Wow, what a deal as they would often say around my days in Iowa.