On the following day Sir Edmund rode, with two of his knights, to hold
council with Lord Grey, at Ruthyn. The distance was considerable, and
he was absent six days from his castle. Before he returned, an event
happened that showed Glendower was in earnest, and intended to maintain
his pretensions by the sword.
At daybreak, on the third day after Mortimer had left, a messenger
arrived at the castle; with news that a large body of Welsh had, the
evening before, entered Radnor by the road across the hills from
Llanidloes, and were marching towards Knighton, burning the villages as
they went, and slaying all who fell into their hands.
The horn was at once sounded, and Sir John Wyncliffe and the other
knights hastily assembled in the courtyard. Here, after a short
consultation, it was determined that a mounted party should be, at
once, despatched to endeavour to harass the advance of the Welsh; the
troop consisting of Alwyn's men-at-arms, twenty men of the garrison,
and fifty mounted men who formed part of the new levy. Four hundred
footmen were to follow, at once.
Sir John Wyncliffe at first thought of taking the command himself, but
it was pointed out to him that his presence would be required, in
Ludlow, to marshal the forces that would speedily arrive from all the
country round.
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