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Drink up
Gerald of Wales maintained that on one
occasion when Henry II arrived unexpectedly and unrecognised at a Cistercian
abbey in Wales, he was entertained to a drinking session with the abbot
and monks.
According to Gerald, who was a harsh critic of the Cistercians,
one time when King Henry was hunting in Wales, he was separated
from the rest of the royal party and thus made his way to a Cistercian
abbey
that was on the edge of the forest. The monks did not recognise
the king, but welcomed and fed him. After he had eaten, the abbot
and monks joined
their guest for a hard drinking session, with the abbot and king
pledging each other ‘after the English fashion’, that is
with Wril and Pril, rather than Wesheil and Drincheil. The party
continued in full
swing until early the next morning.
[Gerald of Wales, Giraldi Cambrensis Opera IV, pp. 213-5.]
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