The Wind From Hastings by Morgan Llywelyn Page A

practice here,” he instructed the Bishop from nearby Saint Asaph’s. Bishop Iorworth was a well-educated man, as all Christmen need be, and Saxon was but one of the languages he spoke right well.
    â€œBy our law you will remain under the government of your father and male relatives until the marriage is effected, my lady, but you are now in the Prince’s protection. He is responsible to your father for your safekeeping until he possesses you totally. The essence of our marriage rite is the formal bestowal of the bride by her kindred. Naught can be consummated until this is completed.”
    But I knew from Madog that the Earl Aelfgar had returned hotfoot to East Anglia, to consolidate his victory and take control once more of his properties. Bewildered, I turned to the Prince.
    â€œCannot a marriage be completed without my father?”
    â€œOf course not, Aldith; it is not our way. A joining of two tribes is more important to the tribes than to the Church. We wish the blessings of the Church, of course, but by Welsh law it is not necessary. You will not be wife to me until your father says, in my presence, ‘Maiden I have given thee to a husband, and I have paid him a fee in recognition of the rights of all his kindred who have lost you from their tribe.’”
    â€œYou will spend the time wisely until the Earl Aelfgar concludes his affairs and comes here, my lady,” Iorworth told me, “in learning the ways of our people. The Cymry can never completely accept one who does not speak their language or know their customs; it is well for you to learn these things before the wedding.”
    Griffith leaned forward and put his beautiful hand
on mine, actually touching me for the first time, and all of my body seemed magically rooted to the spot where our two skins met! “Likewise, Aldith,” he said, “we will have a chance to learn each other, and see if we are pleased.”
    What a great weight went from my heart then! The Welsh law must be very different from the Saxon custom if my happiness was to be a consideration!
    â€œYou will find that our laws are most fair to you,” the Bishop assured me. “Your husband will not have the power of life and death over you; he may not even beat you save for those serious offenses specified in the Codes. You will have limited control over your joint property and certain personal possessions which are entirely yours and cannot be taken from you under any circumstances. Most important, Welsh law gives considerable protection against arbitrary divorce.”
    Divorce! I shrank on my stool and felt a trembling in my limbs. Never had I known of a wife who was put away by her husband, but I had heard of such things, and it seemed to me a very great calamity, a disgrace like outlawry, to be declared unfit by the man to whom you were given!
    Griffith saw my distress. In a gentle voice he said, “The ancient rule that a man may put away his wife, if so minded, is still valid. If a king’s wife should bear him no heir, for example, it is a matter of much consequence. But our law takes care that it should not be frivolously put into operation by providing for a substantial payment to the divorced woman.”
    â€œOnly for the first seven years of the marriage!” Bishop Iorworth interrupted. “After that, a man must give his wife half of all his possessions if he divorces her. We would not have our women made poor or shamed before the community.”
    And my lady mother had called these people barbarians! My weariness overcame me at last; I felt my spine go soft within me and wished for nothing so
much as to lay my head down on the table and go to sleep.
    Again Griffith foresaw me. With the raising of his eyebrow he brought a servingwoman to my side and sent someone to fetch Emma. I walked in a daze from the Great Hall to the private chambers, where I was put in a fine room with its own window and fresh grasses laid upon the