Milisandra ferch Idwal

Chronicle Entry

Recorded by Brother Wyn of Caermynach, Anno Domini 912

Known As: Mili
Date of Death: c. 605 BC
Location: High country east of Abergwesyn
Status: Killed by wolves in defense of her daughter

Milisandra was the wife of Ifor, a trapper who worked the high country east of present Abergwesyn. She died during a wolf attack approximately 605 BC while protecting her daughter Nest.

The Record

Milisandra was married to Ifor, who maintained trap lines in the borderlands between Powys and Brycheiniog territories. She possessed knowledge of medicinal plants, as evidenced by her gathering of yarrow and woundwort on the day of her death. Her work involved the collection and preparation of healing herbs, a common practice among women of that region during the Early Iron Age.

She carried a bronze knife of typical design for that period. The blade was described as polished and suitable for both practical work and defense. She was mother to one recorded child, a daughter named Nest, who was approximately four years of age at the time of Milisandra's death.

Physical descriptions of Milisandra remain limited. Contemporary accounts mention features common to women of that territory and time, with no distinguishing characteristics recorded beyond those typical of persons engaged in outdoor work during that period.

History

The circumstances of Milisandra's death were documented through accounts preserved by those who lived in nearby settlements. In approximately 605 BC, she encountered three wolves while gathering plants near a stream in the high country. Her daughter accompanied her at the time.

The wolves employed tactics consistent with pack hunting behavior, encircling their quarry and driving them toward terrain that offered no escape. Milisandra concealed her daughter in a hollow within a gorse thicket. The thorns which guarded this hiding place marked the child's face during her placement there, leaving a permanent scar from eye to jaw.

After securing her daughter's concealment, Milisandra drew the wolves away from the thicket by throwing a stone that struck one animal in the shoulder. She then ran along the stream bank, leading the pack away from her child's location. The wolves overtook her within thirty paces. She did not survive the encounter.

Ifor discovered her body upon his return from Garth, where he had traveled to purchase bronze needles and sinew thread. She was found lying on her side with one arm extended toward the gorse thicket where her daughter remained hidden. The wolves had not departed, requiring Ifor to dispatch two of them with an iron spearhead before retrieving his child from the thorns.

Last Record

Milisandra died near a stream in the high country east of Abergwesyn in approximately 605 BC. Her actions preserved her daughter's life at the cost of her own. The location of her burial remains unrecorded in sources available to this chronicler. Her daughter Nest later became a healer who worked in the borderlands between Powys and Brycheiniog, carrying knowledge which may have originated with her mother's teaching.