N.B.—The sovereign is not one of the three estates.
Three Fatal Disclosures (The) of the island of Britain: (1) That of the buried head of Vran “the Blessed” by king Arthur, because he refused to hold the sovereignty of the land except by his own strength; (2) that of the bones of Vortimer by Vortigern, out of love for Ronwen (Rowena) daughter of Hengist the Saxon; (3) that of the dragons in Snowdon by Vortigern, in revenge of the Cymryan displeasure against him; having this done, he invited over the Saxons in his defence. (See Three Closures.)—Welsh Triads, liii.
Three-Fingered Jack, the nickname of a famous negro robber, who was the terror of Jamaica in 1780. He was at length hunted down and killed in 1781.
Three Fishers (The), a poem by Charles Kingsley, telling how three fishers went to sea, and when morning came “three corpses lay on the shining sands” (1859).
Three Golden-Tongued Knights (The) in the court of king Arthur; (1) Gwalchmai, called in French Gawain son of Gwyar; (2) Drudwas son of Tryffin; (3) Eliwlod son of Madog ab Uthur. They never made a request which was not at once granted.—Welsh Triads.
Three Great Astronomers (The) of the island of Britain: (1) Gwydion son of Don. From him the Milky Way is called “Caer Gwydion.” He called the constellation Cassiopeia “The Court of Don” or Llys Don, after his father; and the Corona Borealis he called “Caer Arianrod,” after his daughter. (2) Gwynn son of Nudd. (3) Idris.—Welsh Triads, ii. 325.
Three Holy Tribes (The) of the island of Britain: (1) That of Bran or Vran, who introduced Christianity into Wales; (2) that of Cunedda Wledig; and (3) that of Brychan Brycheiniog.—Welsh Triads, xxxv.
Three Kings. In our line of kings we never exceed three reigns without interruption or catastrophe. (See Kings of England, p. 573.)