ABSTRACT
The first glimpse we have of Harold after his return from Normandy is the notice in the chronicle under 1065 that he had invaded south Wales. 1 The twelfth-century life of St Gwynllyw may throw some light on this. 2 It tells how some English merchants trading to the mouth of the Usk [Newport] refused to pay the customary toll, whereupon Rhiryd, son of Ifor and grandson of King Gruffydd, cut their anchor away and offered it at the shrine of the saint at Newport. The merchants complained to Harold, who assembled an army and invaded and ravaged Glamorgan as far as the Usk. Some of his troops violated the saint's church, but failed to find the anchor. When they began to cut up the cheeses they found there, these started to bleed, which so terrified the soldiers that they ceased to loot and Harold made an offering at the altar.
