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THE  LIVES 

OF 
THE  BRITISH  SAINTS 


They  are  all  gone  into  the  World  of  Light ! 

And  I  alone  sit  lingering  here  ! 
Their  very  memory  is  fair  and  bright 

And  my  sad  thoughts  doth  clear. 

It  glows  and  glitters  in  my  cloudy  breast, 

Like  stars  upon  some  gloomy  grove, 
Or  those  faint  beams  in  which  this  hill  is  drest 

After  the  sun's  remove. 

I  see  them  walking  in  an  air  of  glory 

Whose  light  doth  trample  on  my  days ; 
My  days,  which  are  at  best  but  dull  and  hoary, 

Mere  glimmering  and  decays. 

HENRY  VAUGHAN  :    Silex  Scintillans,  1655. 


THE  LIVES 

OF 

THE  BRITISH  SAINTS 

THE  SAINTS  OF  WALES  AND  CORNWALL  AND 

SUCH    IRISH   SAINTS  AS  HAVE   DEDICATIONS 

IN  BRITAIN 


By 

S.  BARING-GOULD,  M.A., 


AND 


JOHN   FISHER,  B.D. 


IN  FOUR  VOLUMES. 
VOL.   I. 


t-Z  Q 


LONDON  : 

Published  for  the  Honourable  Society  of  Cymmrodorion 
By  CHARLES  J.  CLARK,  65,  CHANCERY  LANE,  W.C. 
1907 


H>efcicatefc  to  tbc  fl&emors  of  jfour  [pioneers 
in  Celtic  1bacjiolocj£. 

To 

The  Rev.  RICE  REES,  B.D.,  FELLOW  OF  JESUS  COLLEGE,  OXFORD,  AND  PRO- 
FESSOR OF  WELSH  AT  S.  DAVID'S  COLLEGE,  LAMPETER. 

NICOLAS  ROSCARROCKop  ROSCARROCK  IN  S.  ENDELION'S,  CORNWALL,  GENT. 

ALBERT  LE   GRAND,  PRIEST  OF  THE  ORDER  OF   PREACHERS,  PROVOST  OF 
THE  DOMINICAN  CONVENT  AT  RENNES. 

JOHN  COLGAN,  O.F.M.,  OF  THE  CONVENT  OF  S.  ANTONY,  LOUVAIN. 
Q.  A.  P.  D. 

Aeterna  fac,  cum  Sanctis  Tuis,  in  gloria  munerari. 


Publishers'   Note 

THIS  work,  which  is  new,  and  entirely  distinct  from 
The  Lives  of  the  Saints,  by  Mr.  Baring-Gould,  issued 
in  1872-77,  is  published  on  the  initiative,  and  under 
the  auspices  of  THE  HONOURABLE  SOCIETY  OF 
CYMMRODORION.  The  funds  of  the  Society,  not 
being  available  for  the  purpose  of  producing  a  work 
of  this  magnitude,  the  COUNCIL  took  the  course  of 
instituting  a  Special  Subscription  Fund,  to  meet  the 
necessary  heavy  expense  of  printing  and  publication. 
In  response  to  their  appeal  a  sufficient  number  of 
subscribers  were  obtained  to  warrant  a  commence- 
ment of  the  undertaking,  and  it  is  hoped  that 
further  support  will  be  forthcoming  in  order  to 
ensure  the  publication  of  the  remaining  volumes  at 
intervals  of  not  more  than  six  months. — On  behalf 
of  the  Society,  E.  VINCENT  EVANS,  Secretary. 


vi 


Preface 

IN  treating  of  the  Welsh,  Cornish,  and  such  Irish  Saints  as  have  left 
their  traces  in  Britain  and  Brittany,  one  is  met  with  the  difficulty 
that  there  is  no  contemporary  record  of  their  lives  and  labours,  and 
that  many  of  them  had  no  such  records  left,  or  if  left,  they  have 
disappeared.  Such  Lives  as  do  remain  were  composed  late,  at  a  time 
when  the  facts  had  become  involved  in  a  mass  of  fable,  and  those 
who  wrote  these  Lives  were  more  concerned  to  set  down  marvels 
that  never  occurred  than  historic  facts.  In  most  cases,  where  this 
is  the  case,  all  that  can  be  done  is  to  sift  the  narratives,  and  eliminate 
what  is  distinctly  fabulous,  and  establish  such  points  as  are  genuinely 
historical,  as  far  as  these  may  be  determined,  or  determined  approxi- 
mately. It  is  a  matter  of  profound  regret  that  so  many  of  these  Saints 
are  nuda  nomina,  and,  to  us,  little  more.  And  yet  what  is  known 
of  them  deserves  to  be  set  down,  for  the  fact  of  their  names  remaining 
is  evidence  that  they  did  exist,  and  did  good  work  in  their  generation. 
In  1330,  Bishop  Grandisson  of  Exeter  had  to  lament  that  the 
Lives  or  Legends  of  so  many  of  the  Saints  to  whom  Churches  in  Devon, 
and  especially  in  Cornwall,  had  been  dedicated  were  lost  through 
the  neglect  of  the  clergy,  and  he  ordered  that  duplicates  at  I  ^.st  of 
such  as  remained  should  be  made,  under  penalty  of  a  mark  as  fine 
for  neglect.  Unhappily  the  collection  then  made  has  since  disappeared. 
Grandisson  himself  drew  up  a  Legendarium  for  the  Church  of  Exeter, 
but  into  that  he  introduced  hardly  any  local  Saints,  contenting 
himself  with  such  Lives  as  were  inserted  in  the  Roman  Breviary. 
In  the  Introduction  will  be  found  enumerated  the  principal  sources 


viii  Preface 

we  have  drawn  upon  for  materials  in  the  compilation  of  the  Lives 
here  presented.  That  we  have  been  correct  in  our  judgment  as  to 
dates,  and  other  particulars,  we  cannot  be  confident.  Conjecture 
must  come  in,  where  certain  evidence  is  lacking. 

The  last  volume  will  contain  an  Appendix  of  unpublished  Pedigrees 
and  original  texts  of  Lives,  in  prose  and  verse,  hitherto  unpublished. 

We  have  to  thank  many  kind  helpers  in  this  difficult  and  arduous 
work.  We  can  name  only  a  few  : — Principal  Sir  John  Rhys,  Pro- 
fessor Anwyl,  Mr.  Egerton  Phillimore,  Dr.  J.  Gwenogvryn  Evans,  and 
the  Abbe  Duine,  of  Rennes  ;  also  Sir  John  Williams,  Bart.,  and  Mr. 
W.  R.  M.  Wynne,  of  Peniarth,  for  permission  to  make  transcripts  of 
unpublished  materials,  and  the  Cambrian  Archaeological  Association 
for  allowing  the  reproduction  of  some  illustrations  from  its  Journal. 
The  authors  of  this  work  cannot  allow  their  first  volume  to  appear 
without  an  expression  of  lively  gratitude  to  the  Honourable  Society 
of  Cymmrodorion  for  so  generously  undertaking  the  publication  of  a 
book  that  appeals  to  a  limited  circle  of  students  only.  Without  the 
Society  having  done  this,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  work  would 
have  ever  seen  the  light. 


Contents  of  Volume  I 

I     INTRODUCTION —  PAGE 

i.  The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints I 

ii.  Lesser  Britain             ........  39 

iii.  On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars 65 

iv.  The  Genealogies  of  the  Welsh  Saints 86 

II     THE  LIVES — 

S.  Aaron— S.  Byrnach 101 


List    of    Illustrations 

PAGE 

Map  of  Monastic  Foundations  in  Wales 35 

Map  of  Irish  Settlements  in  Brittany 45 

Map  of  Cornish  Dedications between  80-8 1 

S.  Aaron.     From  Statue  at  S.  Aaron,  Cdtes  du  Nord         .          .  facing  riO4 

Map  showing  Churches  of  the  Companions  of  S.  Achebran       .          .     „         106 
S.  Aelhaiarn.     From  Fifteenth-Century  Stained  Glass  at  Plogonnec, 

Finistete       .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .  no 

S.  Alban.     From  the  Altar  Screen  at  S.  Albans  Cathedral  .          .     „         140 

S.  Allen.     From  Statue  at  Scaer    .          .          .          .          .          .          .  147 

S.  Amwn.     Bust  of,  at  Plescop     .          .          .          .          .          .  156 

S.  Anne.     At  Porte  S.  Malo,  Dinan „         160 

Bona  Dea.     At  Museum,  Rennes „         160 

S.  Anne's  Well,  Whitstone „         164 

ix 


List  of  Illustrations 


PAGE 

S.  Arthmael.     From  Stained  Glass  at  S.  Sauveur,  Dinan.          .          .  facing  172 
From  Stained  Glass  at  Ploermel  .          .          .          .     ,,        172 

S.  Asaph.     From  Fifteenth-Century  Glass  in  Chancel  Window  Llan- 

dyrnog  Church,  Denbighshire          .          .          .          .          .  184 

S.  Aude.     From  Statue  at  Guizeny  .          .          .          .          .          .,,188 

S.  Austell.     Statue  on  West  Front  of  Tower,  S.  Austell        .          .          .  ,,        190 

S.  Beuno's  Head.     From  Window  at  Penmorfa,  Carnarvon         .          -  ,,       216 

Well,  Clynnog ,,       216 

S.  Beuno's  Chest  at  Clynnog           .          .          .          .          .          .          .  ,,       218 

S.  Beuno.     From  the  Open-air  Pulpit  of  the  Abbey,  Shrewsbury            .  ,,       220 

S.  Brendan.     Statue  at  Tregrom 246 

S.  Brendan,  or  Branwaladar.     From  Statue  at  Loc-Brevelaire     .          .  250 

S.  Brendan's  Chapel  and  Statue.     Inisgloria,  Co.  Mayo    .          .          .  ,,       258 

Cloghan.     N.  Blasket  Island,  Co.  Kerry        .          .  258 

S.  Brigid.     Statue  at  Lagonna,  Guimerch            ....  286 

,,            Statue  at  S.  Gerans        ....  286 

Statue  at  SS.  Dredeneaux       .....  286 

S.  Brychan.     From  Stained  Glass  Window,  S.  Neot,  Cornwall    .          .  320 

S.  Azenor  and  S.  Budoc.     Front  Carving  at  Plourin           .          .  . 


Finnau,  yn  llesgedd  f  henaint, 
Hoffwn,  cyfrifwn  yn  fraint, 
Gael  treulio  yno  [Enllt]  mewn  hedd 
O  dawel  ymneillduedd 
Eiddilion  flwyddi  olaf 
Fy  ngyrfa,  yn  noddfa  Naf. 
Byw  arno,  byw  iddo  Ef 
Mwy'n  ddiddig  mewn  bedd-haddef ; 
A  dot  cymundeb  a  V  don, 
Byd  ail,  o  tuydd  bydolion. 
Heb  dyrfau  byd,  heb  derfyn 
Ond  y  gwyrddfor,  gefnfor  gwyn. 
O'n  boll  fyd,  Enlli  a  jo 
lack  wlad  fm  haul  facbludo. 

ISLWYN,  Saint  Enlli. 


XI 


Introduction 


I.     THE  WELSH    AND    CORNISH    SAINTS 

SINCE  1836,  when  appeared  An  Essay  on  the  Welsh  Saints,  by  the 
Rev.  Rice  Rees,  nothing  has  been  done  in  the  same  field,  although 
material  has  accumulated  enormously.  That  work  was  an  attempt 
made,  and  successfully  made,  to  throw  light  on  a  subject  hitherto 
unstudied  and  dark.  Archbishop  Ussher  had,  indeed,  in  his 
Britannicarum  Ecclesiarum  Antiquitates,  Dublin,  1639,  dealt  with 
the  early  history  of  the  Church  in  the  British  Isles  in  a  masterly 
manner.  But  he  was  unacquainted  with  the  Welsh  language,  and  the 
Welsh  MSS.  were  not  accessible  to  him.  Nevertheless,  with  really 
wonderful  perspicuity  he  arrived  at  results  that  were,  in  the  main, 
correct.  He  dealt  with  only  such  of  the  Welsh  Saints  as  had  had  the 
good  fortune  to  have  their  Lives  written  in  Latin,  and  of  such  there 
are  few,  and  of  these  few  all  were  not  accessible  to  him.  Moreover, 
these  Vita  do  not  always  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and  no- 
thing but  the  truth. 

The  importance  of  the  saintly  pedigrees  is  not  to  be  ignored. 
Ecclesiastical  preferments  were  made  according  to  tribal  law.  The 
family  to  which  a  saint  belonged  had  to  be  fixed,  and  this  was  done 
by  the  pedigrees.  Then  a  claimant  to  a  foundation  or  benefice  of  the 
saint  had  to  establish  his  descent  from  the  family  of  the  saint,  without 
which  he  was  deemed  ineligible  to  enter  upon  it. 

This  condition  of  affairs  existed  at  the  time  of  Giraldus,  at  the  end 
of  the  twelfth  century,  for  he  bitterly  inveighs  against  the  hereditary 
tenure  of  ecclesiastical  benefices.1  And  he  says  that  the  same  con- 
dition of  affairs  existed  in  Armorica.  S.  Malachi  (d.  1148)  complained 
of  the  same  abuse  in  Ireland. 

It  was  with  ecclesiastical  property  as  with  that  which  was  secular. 

1  Description  of  Wales,  Bk.  II,  ch.  vi.  All  members  of  the  family,  lay  as 
well  as  cleric,  had  a  right  to  support  out  of  the  benefice.  Willis  Bund,  The 
Celtic  Church  of  Wales,  1897,  pp.  284  et  seq. 

VOL.    I.  *  B 


2  Introduction 

Right  to  inherit  one  as  the  other  had  to  be  established  by  proof  of 
descent.  The  pedigree  was  the  title-deed  appealed  to  in  both  cases. 
Before  the  fifth  century,  indeed,  the  genealogies  are  mostly  fictitious. 
But  it  was  precisely  these  fictitious  pedigrees  which  possessed  no  legal 
value  from  the  fifth  century  upwards  ;  however,  when  the  great  rush 
was  made  into  Wales  by  those  who  had  been  dispossessed  of  their 
lands  by  the  Picts  in  the  first  place,  and  secondly  by  the  Saxons, 
these  records  became  of  supreme  importance.  The  new  comers 
settled  down  on  newly  acquired  territories,  and  from  thenceforth  the 
pedigrees  had  to  be  determined  and  carried  on  from  generation  to 
generation  with  the  strictest  regard  to  accuracy,  for  tribal  rights, 
both  secular  and  ecclesiastical,  depended  on  them. 

"  Inheritance  in  land  and  all  tribal  rights  could  only  be  asserted  by 
proof  produced  of  legal  descent.  And  it  is  clear  that  such  proof  con- 
tained in  the  production  of  a  genealogy  could  not  be  left  to  irrespon- 
sible persons.  Consequently,  in  every  Celtic  race  each  branch  of  a 
family  maintained  a  professional  genealogist,  who  kept  a  record  of 
the  family  descent  from  the  original  tree.  But  further,  for  the  check- 
ing and  controlling  of  these  records,  the  chief  or  king  had  his  special 
recorder,  who  also  made  entries  in  the  book  kept  for  the  use  of  the 
chief.  In  Ireland,  the  High  King  always  had  such  an  officer,  to 
register,  not  only  the  descent  of  the  royal  family,  but  also  of  all  the 
provincial  kings  and  principal  territorial  chiefs  in  every  province  ; 
in  order  that,  in  case  of  dispute,  a  final  appeal  could  be  made  to  this 
impartial  public  record.  This  officer  was  an  olambh,  and  it  was  his 
function  periodically  to  visit  the  principal  courts  and  residences  of 
the  chieftains  throughout  the  land,  and  to  inspect  the  books  of  family 
history  and  genealogies  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Tara,  or  wherever  the 
High  King  might  reside,  to  enter  into  the  monarch's  book  the  acces- 
sions to  these  families  and  their  expansion. 

"  So  also,  every  provincial  chief  and  king  had  his  olambh,  and  in 
obedience  to  an  ancient  law,  established  before  the  introduction  of 
Christianity  into  the  land,  all  the  provincial  records  were  returnable 
every  third  year  to  the  Convocation  at  Tara,  where  they  were  com- 
pared with  each  other,  and  with  the  monarch's  book,  the  Saltair  of 
Tara."  2 

Our  Heralds'  Visitations,  undertaken  every  few  years  through  the 
land  to  record  pedigrees,  were  analogous,  though  the  heralds  con- 
cerned themselves,  not  with  rights  to  land,  but  to  the  bearing  of 
arms. 

1  O'Curry,  Lect.  on  the  MS.  Materials  of  Anc.  Irish  Hist.,  Dublin,  1861,  pp. 
203-4. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  3 

What  Rice  Rees  did  in  his  Essay  was  to  show  the  value  of  the 
pedigrees,  and  the  care  with  which  they  had  been  kept,  and  how 
trustworthy  they  were  in  determining  the  stocks  and  the  generations 
to  which  the  saints  belonged.  Here  and  there,  owing  to  identity  or 
similarity  of  names,  errors  arose,  but  this  was  exceptional.  Rees  laid 
great  stress  on  the  undoubted  fact  that  in  Wales  as  in  Ireland  a 
foundation  took  its  title  from  its  founder.  A  saint  fasted  for  forty 
days  on  a  site,  and  thenceforth  it  was  consecrated  to  God,  and  be- 
came his  own  in  perpetuity.  Dedication  during  the  Age  of  the  Saints 
meant  ownership,  and  implied  therefore  much  more  than  is  now 
ordinarily  understood  by  the  term.  It  was  "  proprietary  "  dedication. 
In  a  poem  by  the  Welsh  bard,  Gwynfardd  Brycheiniog  (flor.  c.  1160- 
1220),  written  in  honour  of  S.  David,  in  which  a  number  of  churches 
"  dedicated  "  to  him  are  named,  it  is  repeatedly  stated  that  "  Dewi 
owneth  "  (Dewi  bien)  such  and  such  church,  some  of  which  churches, 
among  them,  Llangyfelach  and  Llangadog,  had  evidently  been  "  re- 
dedicated  "  to  him. 

But  although  this  is  certainly  true,  yet  it  does  not  apply  to  all  the 
churches  named  after  a  saint.  For  a  piece  of  land  granted  to  a  saint's 
church  when  he  was  dead  also  acquired  his  name.  A  saint  was  a 
proprietor  for  all  ages,  whether  on  earth  or  in  heaven.  Thus,  all  the 
Teilo,  Dewi  and  Cadoc  churches  were  not  personally  founded  by 
these  three  saints,  but  were,  in  most  cases,  acquisitions  made  by 
the  churches  of  Llandaff,  Menevia  and  Llancarfan  in  later  times. 
Nevertheless,  in  general,  the  presumption  is  that  a  church  called  after 
a  Celtic  saint  was  of  his  own  individual  dedication.  It  is  hardly 
possible  for  us  to  realise  the  activity  and  acquisitiveness  of  the  early 
<  Vltic  saints.  They  never  remained  long  stationary,  but  hurried 
from  place  to  place,  dotting  their  churches  or  their  cells  wherever 
they  could  obtain  foothold.  No  sooner  did  an  abbot  obtain  a 
grant  of  land,  than,  dropping  a  few  monks  there  to  hold  it  for  him, 
he  hurried  away  to  solicit  another  concession,  and  to  found  a  new 
church. 

The  Lives  of  SS.  Cadoc,  David,  Senan,  and  Cieran  show  them  to  have 
In-i-n  incessantly  on  the  move.  S.  Columba  is  reported  to  have  estab- 
lished a  hundred  churches.  S.  Abban  Mac  Cormaic  erected  three 
monasteries  in  Connaught,  then  went  into  Munster,  where  he  founded 
another  ;  then  migrated  to  Muskerry,  where  he  built  a  fifth.  Next 
he  made  a  settlement  at  Oill  Caoine  ;  then  went  to  Fermoy  and  reared 
a  seventh.  Again  he  passed  into  Muskerry  and  established  an  eighth. 
Soon  after  he  planted  a  ninth  at  Clon  Finglass  ;  thereupon,  away  he 
went  and  constructed  a  tenth,  Clon  Conbruin.  No  sooner  was  this 


^  Introduction 

done  than  he  went  to  Emly  again  to  found  monasteries,  how  many 
we  are  not  told.  Thereafter  he  departed  for  Leinster,  and  laid  the 
foundations  of  another,  Cill  Abbain.  Then  to  Wexford,  where  he 
planted  "  multa  monasteria  et  cellse."  Not  yet  satisfied,  he  found 
his  way  into  Meath,  and  established  there  two  monasteries.  After 
that  the  King  of  the  Hy  Cinnselach  gave  up  to  him  his  cathair,  or 
dun,  to  be  converted  into  a  home  for  religion.  This  abbot  must 
have  been  the  founder  of  some  twenty  monasteries  and  cells.  And 
he  is  not  unique.  All  the  saints  did  the  same  as  far  as  they  were  able. 
They  did  not  content  themselves  with  this  in  their  own  lands  ;  they 
crossed  the  seas  to  Cornwall  and  to  Brittany,  and  made  foundations 
there  as  well. 

When  we  come  to  the  extant  Lives  of  the  Celtic  Saints,  we  have  to 
regret  that  so  few  of  those  which  are  Welsh  have  come  down  to  us. 
The  majority  of  these  are  contained  in  the  MS.  volume  in  the 
Cottonian  Collection  in  the  British  Museum,  Vespasian  A.  xiv,  of  the 
early  thirteenth  century. 

This  was  laid  under  contribution  by  John  of  Tynemouth,  who,  in 
the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  made  a  tour  through  England 
and  Wales  in  quest  of  material  for  the  composition  of  a  Martyrologium 
and  a  Sanctilogium.  Of  his  collection  only  one  MS.  is  known  to  exist, 
now  in  the  British  Museum,  Cotton  MS.,  Tiberius  E.  i,  and  this  was 
partly  destroyed,  and  where  not  destroyed  injured  by  fire  in  1731 ; 
but  of  this  more  hereafter. 

The  MS.  Vespas.  A.  xiv  contains  the  following  Latin  Lives  : — 
S.  Gundleus,  S.  Cadoc,  S.  Iltut,  S.  Teilo,  S.  Dubricius  (two  lives), 
S.  David,  S.  Bernach,  S.  Paternus,  S.  Clitauc,  S.  Kebi  (two  lives), 
S.  Tatheus,  S.  Carantocus,  and  S.  Aidus. 

The  twelfth  century  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  adds  the  following  :— 
S.  Oudoceus,  S.  Samson,  and  S.  ^Elgar  the  Hermit. 

Capgrave  gives  a  few  more  Lives  : — S.  Caradoc,  S.  Cungar,  S. 
Decuman,  S.  Gildas,  S.  Jutwara,  S.  Justinian,  S.  Keyne,  S.  Kentigern, 
S.  Kened,  S.  Machutus,  S.  Maglorius,  and  S.  Petroc,  but  of  these  only 
Caradoc  belongs  exclusively  to  Wales.  There  are  besides  Latin  Lives 
of  S.  Winefred  (two),  S.  Monacella,  and  S.  Deiniol. 

Of  prose  Lives  written  in  Welsh  there  are  only  a  few,  namely, 
those  of  S.  David,  S.  Beuno,  S.  Winefred,  S.  Llawddog  or  Lleuddad, 
S.  Collen,  S.  Curig,  and  S.  leuan  Gwas  Padrig  ;  but  there  is  a  fair 
number  of  poems  written  in  honour  of  saints,  which  are  of  the 
nature  of  metrical  Lives  or  panegyrics.  They  are  mostly  by  authors 
of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  but  the  information  they 
supply  of  the  saints  themselves  is  of  a  varying  quality.  The  Cywy. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  5 

ddau  extant  are  to  the  following  : — S.  Cawrdaf,  S.  Cynog,  S.  Doged, 
S.  Dwynwen,  S.  Dyfnog,  S.  Einion  Frenhin,  S.  Llonio,  S.  Llwchaiarn, 
S.  Mechell,  S.  Mordeyrn,  S.  Mwrog,  S.  Peblig,  and  S.  Tydecho,  not 
to  mention  others  to  whom  there  are  Latin  and  Welsh  prose 
Lives. 

John  of  Tynemouth,  in  his  peregrination,  cannot  have  visited 
North  Wales,  as  he  does  not  take  into  his  collection  S.  Asaph  and 
S,  Deiniol,  and  he  certainly  omitted  Devon  and  Cornwall. 

In  1330  Bishop  Grandisson,  of  Exeter,  wrote  to  the  Archdeacon  of 
Cornwall,  complaining  of  the  neglect  and  accident  which  had  caused 
the  destruction  or  loss  of  the  records  of  the  local  Cornish  Saints,  and 
he  directed  that  those  which  remained  should  be  transcribed,  two  or 
three  copies  made,  and  should  be  transmitted  to  Exeter,  to  ensure 
their  preservation  ;  and  he  further  enjoined  that  the  parish  priests 
who  failed  to  do  this  should  be  fined.3  Yet  when  Grandisson  in 
1366  drew  up  his  Lcgcmlnriwn  for  the  use  of  the  Church  of  Exeter,  he 
passed  over  all  these  local  saints  without  notice  with  the  exception  of 
S.  Mt-lor  and  S.  Samson.  Had  John  of  Tynemouth  visited  Exeter,  he 
would  have  used  the  material  collected  by  Grandisson,  now  unhappily 
lost. 

From  Brittany  we  obtain  some  important  Lives  of  Saints  who 
crossed  from  Wales  and  settled  there,  as  Gildas,  Paul  of  Leon,  Sam- 
son, Mal<>,  Maglorius,  Tudwal,  Leonore,  Brioc,  and  Meven.  Ireland 
furnishes  a  good  many  Lives,  and  these  of  value,  as  the  revival  of 
Christianity,  after  a  relapse  on  the  death  of  S.  Patrick,  was  due  to  an 
influx  of  missionaries  sent  into  the  island  from  Llancarfan  and  Men- 
cvia  ;  as  also  because  of  the  close  intercommunication  between  Ireland 
and  Wales.  Very  few  Welsh  Saints  found  their  way  to  Scotland,  at 
least  permanently,  and  the  only  saint  who  may  be  said  to  belong  to 
Walis  as  \\vll  as  to  Scotland,  whose  life  has  been  preserved,  is  Cyn- 
deyrn  (Kentigern). 

When  we  come  to  estimate  the  historical  value  of  these  Lives,  we 
must  remember  that  none  of  them  are  contemporary.  The  nearest  to 
approach  is  that  of  S.  Samson,  composed  by  a  writer  who  took  his 
information  from  a  monk  aged  eighty,  who  had  heard  stories  of 
Samson  from  his  uncle,  a  cousin  of  Samson,  and  who  had  conversed 
with  the  mother  of  the  saint.  All  the  rest  are  much  posterior, 
composed,  mostly  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  and  later 
by  writers  who  piled  up  miracles,  and  altered  or  eliminated  such 
particulars  as  they  considered  did  not  comport  with  the  perfection 

3  Register  of  Bp.  Grandisson,  ed.  H.  Randolph,  Pt.  I,  p.  585.' 


6  Introduction 

of  the  hero,  or  did  not   accord  with   their  notions   of  ecclesiastical 
order.      Joscelyn,  in  his  Life  of  S.    Kentigern,   admits   having   done 

this. 

One  flagrant  instance  of  bad  faith  is  found  in  the  Life  of  S.  Gundleus. 
The  facts  relative  to  the  history  of  the  father  of  S.  Cadoc  are  given  in 
the  Vita  S.  Cadoci,  but  as  they  displeased  the  panegyrist  of  Gundleus, 
he  entirely  altered  them,  and  represented  the  early  life  of  the  saint 
in  a  totally  different  light  from  that  in  which  it  is  revealed  to  us  in  the 
other  document.  Other  writers,  again,  deliberately  forged  Lives  to 
support  certain  pretentions  of  the  see  or  monastery  to  which  they 
belonged. 

In  the  ninth  century  the  diocese  of  Dol  had  been  made  metropo- 
litan, with  jurisdiction  over  all  the  sees  of  Brittany,  removing  them 
from  being  under  the  archiepiscopal  authority  of  Tours.  But  several 
endeavoured  to  slip  away  and  revert  to  Tours.  Among  these  was  that 
of  Curiosopitum,  or  Quimper.  To  justify  this,  a  Life  of  S.  Corentinus, 
the  founder,  was  fabricated,  which  represented  him  as  receiving  con- 
secration and  jurisdiction  from  S.  Martin  of  Tours,  who  had  died  half 
a  century  before  his  time. 

Some  Lives  were  composed  out  of  scanty  materials,  mere  oral  tra- 
dition. Rhygyfarch  wrote  his  Life  of  S.  David  apparently  between 
1078  and  1088.  The  cathedral  and  monastery  had  been  repeatedly 
ravaged  and  burnt  by  the  Northmen,  and  the  records  destroyed  ; 
nevertheless,  some  records  did  remain  "  written  in  the  old  style  of 
the  ancients."  To  what  extent  he  amplified  by  grafting  in 
legendary  matter  picked  up  orally  we  are  unable  to  say. 

With  regard  to  the  miraculous  element  in  the  Lives,  that  occupies 
so  large  a  part,  we  are  not  disposed  to  reject  it  altogether.  The 
miracles  are  embellishments  added,  in  many  instances,  by  the  redactor, 
as  a  flourish  to  give  piquancy  to  his  narrative.  He  often  could  not 
appreciate  a  plain  incident  recorded  in  the  early  text  that  he  had 
under  his  eyes,  and  he  finished  it  off  with  a  marvel  to  accommodate 
it  to  the  taste  of  the  times  in  which  he  wrote.  He  dealt  with  a  com- 
monplace event  much  as  a  professional  story-teller  treats  an  inci- 
dent that  has  happened  to  himself  or  an  acquaintance.  He  fur- 
bishes it  up  and  adds  point  and  converts  it  into  a  respectable  anecdote. 
To  the  mediaeval  hagiographer  an  incident  in  a  saintly  life  was  not 
worth  recording  unless  it  led  up  to  a  miraculous  display  of  power. 
Very  often  the  miracle  is  invented,  either  to  account  for  the  possession 
of  a  certain  estate  by  a  monastery,  or  as  a  deterrent  to  the  sacrilegious 
against  violation  of  sanctuary,  and  these  stand  on  the  same  ground 
as  the  terrible  "  judgments  "  in  Puritan  story-books  on  profaners  of 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints 


the  Sabbath.  A  little  criticism  can  generally  detect  where  fact  ends 
and  fiction  begins. 

In  Joscelyn's  Life  of  S.  Patrick  we  are  told  that  the  natives  of  one 
place  made  a  pitfall  in  his  way,  covered  it  with  rushes  and  strewed 
earth  over  them,  hoping  to  see  Patrick  fall  into  the  hole  over  which 
he  would  ride.  But  a  girl  forewarned  the  saint,  and  he  escaped  the 
pitfall.  Joscelyngoes  on  to  say  that  in  spite  of  the  caution  given  to 
him,  Patrick  rode  over  it,  and  the  rushes  were  miraculously  stiffened 
to  sustain  him.  Here  is  an  obvious  addition. 

Some  lepers  clamoured  to  Brigid  for  beer,  as  she  was  a  notable 
brewer.  She  jestingly  replied  that  she  had  no  liquor  to  dispose  of 
but  her  bath-water.  The  writer  of  her  Life  could  not  leave  the  anec- 
dote alone,  and  he  tacked  on  the  statement  that  the  water  in  which 
she  had  bathed  was  miraculously  converted  into  ale.  Where  the  hand 
of  the  editor  has  been  so  obviously  at  work,  we  have  deemed  it  suffi- 
cient to  tell  the  tale,  omitting  his  addition,  but  calling  attention  to  it 
in  a  footnote.  Where,  however,  the  miraculous  is  so  involved  with 
the  historic  record  as  to  be  inseparable  from  it,  we  give  the  tale  as 
presented  in  the  original. 

Certain  miracles  seem  to  be  commonplaces  grafted  into  the  Lives 
promiscuously.  Such  is  that  of  the  boy  carrying  fire  in  the  lap  of  his 
gabardine  from  a  distance  to  the  monastery,  when  that  at  the  latter 
had  become  extinguished.  There  may  well  be  a  basis  for  this  story. 
Fire  was  scarce,  and  most  difficult  to  kindle  from  dry  sticks.  If  that 
on  a  hearth  went  out,  live  coals  would  be  borrowed  from  the  nearest 
village,  and  a  lad  from  the  abbey  would  be  sent  for  it.  The  so-called 
incense  pots  found  in  tumuli  of  the  bronze  age  were  probably  nothing 
else  but  vessels  for  the  conveyance  of  live  coals,  and  with  such  every 
household  would  be  provided.  A  boy  might  well  convey  fire  in  such 
a  vessel  in  the  lap  of  his  habit.  It  would  be  too  hot  for  him  to  carry 
in  his  hand. 

Nor  are  we  disposed  entirely  to  relegate  to  the  region  of  fiction  the 
tales  of  dragons  that  recur  with  wearisome  iteration  in  the  Lives  of 
the  Saints.  In  some  cases  the  dragon  is  a  symbol.  When  Meven 
and  Samson  overcome  dragons,  this  is  a  figurative  way  of  saying  that 
they  obtained  the  overthrow  and  destruction  of  Conmore,  Regent  of 
Domnonia.  In  other  cases  it  may  have  had  a  different  origin.  It 
may  possibly  refer  to  the  saint  having  abolished  a  pagan  human  sac- 
rifice by  burning  victims  in  wicker-work  figures  representing  mon- 
sters. In  the  legend  of  SS.  Derien  and  Neventer,  we  read  that  the 
saints  found  a  man  drowning  himself  because  the  lot  had  fallen  on  his 
only  son  to  be  offered  to  a  dragon.  He  was  pulled  out  of  the  water, 
the  boy  was  rescued,  and  the  dragon  abolished. 


#  Introduction 

Such  sacrifices,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  were  annually  offered  by 
the  non-Aryan  natives  for  the  sake  of  securing  a  harvest,  the  ashes 
being  carried  off  and  sprinkled  over  their  fields.  Caesar  speaks  of 
human  victims  enclosed  in  wicker-work  figures  and  consumed  by 
fire,  and  there  are  indications,  as  Mr.  Eraser  has  shown  in  The  Golden 
Bough,  that  this  was  practised  throughout  Europe  and  the  East.  It 
has  left  its  traces  to  this  day  in  Brittany.  Wicker-work  figures  are 
represented  on  a  cross-shaft  at  Checkley,  Staffordshire.  That  the  form 
assumed  by  these  cages  of  woven  osiers  were  that  of  a  mythical  mon- 
ster is  not  improbable.  Caesar  indeed  says  that  in  Gaul  the  shape 
given  to  them  was  that  of  a  man,  but  this  need  not  have  been  so 
invariably. 

Or  take  the  story  that  recurs  in  so  many  of  the  legends  of  the  saints, 
of  the  Saint  Corentine,  or  Neot,  or  Indract,  that  he  had  for  his  supply 
a  fish  out  of  a  well,  that  was  miraculously  restored  to  life  daily,  to 
serve  him  as  an  inexhaustible  provision.  There  were  two  sources 
whence  this  fable  sprang,  we  may  suppose.  Possibly  enough,  on  the 
tombstone  of  the  saint  was  cut  the  early  symbol  of  the  fish.  Pos- 
sibly, also,  there  may  have  been  cut  on  it  an  inscription  like  that  of 
Abercius  of  Hierapolis  :  "  Faith  led  me  everywhere,  and  everywhere 
she  furnished  me  as  nourishment  with  a  fish  of  the  spring,  very  large, 
very  pure,  fished  by  a  holy  virgin.  She  gave  it  without  cessation  to 
be  eaten  by  the  friends  (i.e.  the  Brethren).  She  possesses  a  deli- 
cious wine  which  she  gives  along  with  the  bread."  This  is  alle- 
gorical. The  Fish  is  the  'I^i)?,  the  symbol  of  Christ.  The 
Virgin  is  the  Catholic  Church,  though  some  have  supposed  the 
reference  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mother. 

The  epitaph  of  Pectorius  of  Autun  is  even  more  obscure,  but  it 
turns  on  the  same  theme.  "  Celestial  race  of  the  Divine  Fish,  fortify 
thy  heart,  since  thou  hast  received,  amidst  mortals,  the  immortal 
source  of  Divine  Water.  Friend,  rejoice  thy  soul  with  the  everflowing 
water  of  wisdom,  which  gives  treasures.  Receive  this  food,  sweet  as 
honey,  of  the  Saviour  of  saints,  eat  with  delight,  holding  in  thy  hand 
the  Fish."  4  The  reference  is  to  the  Eucharist,  through  which  Christ, 
the  Divine  Fish,  communicates  Himself  to  His  faithful,  born  of  water 
to  Him.  In  the  case  of  Abercius  we  possess  his  legend,  drawn  up 
probably  in  the  sixth  century,  and  it  is  significant  that  it  is  based  on 
the  inscription  which  it  misinterprets  and  has  converted  into  an 
extravagant  and  fabulous  narrative. 

Numerous  treatises  have  appeared  on  the  monument  of  Abercius,  of  which 
Mr.  Ramsay  discovered  two  fragments.  The  whole  matter  is  summed  up  in 
an  article  in  Cabrol  (F.),  Diet.  d'Archtologie  Chretienne,  Paris,  1903,  i,  pp.  16-87. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  9 

In  a  very  similar  manner  may  an  inscription,  or  merely  the  symbol 
of  the  Fish,  have  furnished  material  for  the  myth  of  the  fish  in  the 
well  that  recurs  in  so  many  saintly  legends. 

But  there  was  another  source.  In  Irish  mythology,  ancl  it  was 
doubtless  the  same  in  the  myths  of  other  Celtic  races,  the  Eo  Feasa,  or 
"  Salmon  of  Knowledge,"  that  lived  in  the  "  Fountain  of  Connla," 
played  a  part.  Over  this  well  grew  some  hazel  trees  which  dropped 
their  nuts  into  the  well,  where  they  were  consumed  by  the  salmon, 
and  the  fish  became  endowed  with  all  the  wisdom  and  knowledge 
contained  in  the  nuts.  In  a  poem  by  Tadhig  O' Kelly  we  have  this 
passage  :— 

"  I  am  not  able  to  describe  their  shields — 
Unless  I  had  eaten  the  Salmon  of  Knowledge 
I  never  could  have  accomplished  it." 

Aengus  Finn,  as  late  as  1400,  employs  the  same  expression  and  applies 
it  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  "  She  is  the  Salmon  of  Knowledge,  through 
whom  God  became  Man."  5  Consequently,  in  Celtic  myth,  the  eat- 
ing of  the  mystic  fish  signified  the  acquisition  of  superhuman  know- 
ledge. 

It  is  also  possible  that  in  some  poetical  story  of  the  life  of  the  saint 
the  fact  of  his  daily  communicating  was  put  figuratively  as  of  his 
daily  partaking  of  the  Fish  from  the  Living  Well,  the  Fish  that  never 
died,  but  was  ever  present  to  be  partaken  of  by  the  faithful.  This  in 
process  of  time  would  be  misunderstood,  and  give  rise  to  the  fable, 
which  agreed  singularly  with  the  Celtic  symbol. 

It  may  be  thought  that  we  have  dealt  too  liberally  with  the  fables 
that  are  found  in  the  Lives.  But  we  hold  that  in  a  good  many  cases 
the  fabulous  matter  is  a  parasitic  growth  disfiguring  a  genuine  historic 
fact,  and  therefore  we  have  been  unwilling  to  reject  them. 

Probably,  in  Roman  Britain,  there  were  bishops  in  the  principal 
towns,  as  London,  Lincoln,  York  and  Caerleon,  and  the  Church  was 
organized  in  the  same  manner  as  in  Gaul,  each  bishop  having  his  see, 
loosely  delimited.  The  Christianity  that  entered  Britain  was  almost 
certainly  through  the  soldiery  and  the  Romano-Gallic  merchants  and 
settlers  in  the  towns.  But  it  spread  into  the  country,  and  the  native 
British  accepted  the  Gospel  to  some  extent. 

But  when  the  Wall  was  abandoned,  and  there  was  a  rush  made 
south  by  the  refugees  to  Wales,  and  when  others  came  flying  before 
the  swords  of  the  Saxons  and  Angles,  the  whole  ecclesiastical  frame- 

5  O'Curry,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish,  1873,  ii,  pp.  143-4; 
Rhys,  Hibbcrt  Lectures,  1888,  pp.  553-4. 


j  Q  Introduction 

work  went  to  pieces.  There  were  no  more  sees.  Bishops  were  among 
those  who  escaped  into  Wales  or  crossed  the  seas  to  Armorica  and 
Spanish  Gallicia,  but  they  had  no  longer  any  territorial  jurisdiction. 
In  the  desolation  and  confusion  of  the  times,  this  was  inevitable. 

As  the  Church  in  Wales  began  to  recover  from  the  shock,  it  gravi- 
tated about  new  centres,  monastic  institutions,  of  which  the  heads 
might  or  might  not  be  bishops.  It  was  so  in  Ireland  after  Patrick's 
time,  where  no  such  a  thing  as  a  territorial  organization  was  attempted 
till  centuries  later ;  there  monasteries  were  attached  to  tribes  and 
ministered  to  their  religious  requirements.  Bishops  were  retained  by 
the  abbots,  but  they  had  no  jurisdiction,  they  were  subject  to  abbot 
or  abbess,  and  were  retained  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  orders,  and 
for  that  alone.  It  began  in  this  way  in  Brittany,  but  there  the  proxi- 
mity to  and  influence  of  the  Gallo-French  Church,  and  the  insistence 
of  the  Frank  kings,  rapidly  brought  the  Celtic  Church  there  into  the 
approved  shape.  Such  a  tribal  organization  was  in  conformity  with 
Celtic  ideas,  and  followed  on  that  which  existed  in  Pagan  times. 
Then  there  had  been  the  Secular  Tribe  with  its  chief  at  its  head, 
and  alongside  of  it  what  may  be  called  the  Ecclesiastical  Tribe, 
composed  of  the  Bards  and  Druids. 

With  the  acceptance  of  Christianity,  the  saints  simply  occupied  the 
shells  left  vacant  by  the  Druids  who  had  disappeared.  Among  the 
Celts  ah1  authority  was  gathered  into  the  hands  of  hereditary  chiefs. 
Of  these  there  were  two  kinds,  the  military  and  the  ecclesiastical 
chief,  each  occupying  separate  lands  ;  but  the  members  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical tribe  were  bound  to  render  military  service  to  the  secular 
chief ;  and  the  ecclesiastical  chief  on  his  side  was  required  to  provide 
for  the  needs  of  the  secular  tribe  by  educating  the  young  of  both 
sexes,  and  by  performing  religious  ceremonies.  Every  tenth  child, 
tenth  pig,  calf,  foal,  went  to  the  saint,  and  his  tribe  was  thus  recruited. 
Of  S.  Patrick  we  are  told  :— 

Fecit  ergo  totam  insulam  in  funiculo  distributionis  divisam  cum 
omnibus  incolis  utriusque  sexus  decimari  omneque  decimum  caput  tarn 
in  hominibus,  quam  in  pecoribus  in  partem  Domini  jussit  sequestrari. 
Omnes  ergo  mares  monachos,  faeminas  sanctimoniales  efficiens  ;  numerosa 
monasteria  aedificavit,  decimamque  portionem  terrarum,  ac  pecudum, 
eorum  sustentationi  assignavit.  Infra  brevi  igitur  temporis  spatium  nulla 
eremus,  nullus  pene  terrae  angulus  aut  locus  in  insula  fuit  tarn  remotus, 
qui  perfectis  monachis  aut  monialibus  non  repleretur.6 

In  certain  cases  an  even  more  liberal  grant  was  made  to  the  Church, 
as  in  Leinster,  where,  as  the  Colloquy  of  the  Ancients  informs  us, 

•  Vita  S.  Patricii,  A  eta  SS.  Boll.  Mart.,  ii,  c.  17. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  1 1 


"  the  province  dedicated  to  the  saint  a  third  of  their  children,  and  a 
third  of  their  wealth."  7 

There  was  an  economic  reason  which  compelled  the  Celts  to  estab- 
lish great  congregations  of  celibates.  Neither  in  Ireland  nor  in  Wales 
was  the  land  sufficiently  fertile,  and  the  cultivatable  land  sufficiently 
extensive  to  maintain  the  growing  population. 

When  no  new  lands  were  available  for  colonization,  when  the  three 
field  system  was  the  sole  method  of  agriculture  known,  then  the  land 
which  would  support  at  least  three  families  now  would  then  main- 
tain but  one.  To  keep  the  equipoise  there  were  but  migration,  war, 
and  compulsory  celibacy  as  alternatives.  And  we  must  remember 
that  multitudes  of  refugees  were  pressing  into  Wales  from  North  and 
East,  far  more  than  that  mountainous  land  could  sustain. 

A  story  is  told  in  the  preface  to  the  Hymn  of  S.  Colman  that  shows 
how  serious  the  problem  was  even  with  the  aid  of  the  compulsory 
celibacy  of  the  monasteries.  In  657  the  population  in  Ireland  had 
so  increased,  that  the  arable  land  proved  insufficient  for  the  needs  of 
the  country ;  accordingly  an  assembly  of  clergy  and  laity  was  sum- 
moned by  Diarmidh  and  Blaithmac,  Kings  of  Ireland,  to  take  counsel. 
It  was  decided  that  the  amount  of  land  held  by  any  one  person  should 
be  restricted  from  the  usual  allowance  of  nine  ridges  of  plough  land, 
nine  of  bog,  nine  of  pasture,  and  nine  of  forest ;  and  further  the 
elders  of  the  assembly  directed  that  prayers  should  be  offered  to  the 
Almighty  to  send  a  pestilence  "  to  reduce  the  number  of  the  lower 
class,  that  the  rest  might  live  in  comfort."  S.  Fechin  of  Fore,  on  being 
consulted,  approved  of  this  extraordinary  petition,  and  the  prayer 
was  answered  by  the  sending  of  the  Yellow  Plague  ;  but  the  ven- 
geance of  God  caused  the  force  of  the  pestilence  to  fall  on  the  nobles 
and  clergy,  of  whom  multitudes,  including  the  kings  and  Fechin  of 
Fore  himself,  were  carried  off.8 

On  the  Steppes  of  Tartary,  where  also  the  amount  of  land  that  can 
be  placed  under  cultivation  is  limited,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
down  the  population,  great  Buddhist  monasteries  have  been  estab- 
lished, and  the  children  are  set  apart  from  infancy,  by  their  parents, 
to  become  Lamas. 

The  duties  of  the  saint  were  to  instruct  the  young  of  the 
tribe,  to  provide  for  the  religious  services  required,  and  to  curse  the 
enemies  of  the  head  of  the  Secular  Tribe.  The  institution  of 
schools  for  the  young  was  certainly  much  older  than  Christianity 
in  Britain  and  Ireland.  We  know  from  classic  authorities,  as 

7  Silva  Gadelica,  Loncl.  1892,  ii,  p.  218. 

8  O'Donovan,  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  1851,  i,  p.  131. 


12 


Introduction 


well  as  from  the  Irish  writers  of  the  heroic  legends,  that  the 
Druids  formed  communities,  that  these  were  presided  over  by  an 
Arch-Druid,  that  in  them  were  educated  the  sons  of  the  kings  and 
nobles,  and  that  the  heads  of  these  schools  had  lands  for  their 
support.  By  no  other  way  can  we  explain  the  marvellous  expansion 
of  the  educational  establishments  which  took  place  after  Ireland 
became  Christian,  than  on  the  supposition  that  the  saints  entered 
in  upon  an  institution  already  existing,  and  brought  into  it  a  new  life. 

S.  Cyndeyrn  at  Llanelwy  had  in  it  965  monks.  At  Bangor  Iscoed, 
according  to  Bede,  there  were  seven  choirs,  numbering  300  in 
each.  S.  Lasrian  is  said  to  have  ruled  over  1,500  disciples,  S.  Cuana 
had  1,746  scholars  under  him.  At  a  later  period,  S.  Gerald  of 
Mayo  had  in  his  establishment  3,300. 

Some  of  these  great  schools  or  monasteries  contained  females  as 
well  as  males,  and  the  double  monasteries  so  prevalent  among  the 
Angles  were  formed  on  the  Celtic  model.  S.  Brigid  at  Kildare  ruled 
such  a  double  house  of  monks  as  well  as  nuns.  As  many  of  the  pupils 
tarried  on  to  prepare  for  the  clerical  life,  and  some  of  the  damsels 
resolved  on  embracing  the  ecclesiastical  profession  also,  these  young 
people  were  thrown  together  a  good  deal,  and  the  results  were  not 
always  satisfactory.  Accordingly,  one  or  other  of  the  saints  induced  a 
sister,  or  a  mother,  or  some  other  approved  matron,  to  establish  a 
girls'  school,  subject  to  his  supervision,  yet  at  a  distance  from  his 
college  for  youths,  sufficient  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  scandal. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  these  schools  consisted  in  the  quad- 
rivium,  arithmetic,  music,  geometry  and  astronomy.  Of  S.  Catwg 
it  is  said  that  his  master  Meuthi  during  twelve  years  instructed  him 
in  Donatus  and  Priscian,  i.e.,  in  grammatical  learning.9  The  psalter 
had  to  be  acquired  by  heart.  The  Book  of  Ballymote  contains  a 
schedule  of  the  studies  in  these  great  colleges  during  the  twelve  years 
that  a  pupil  was  supposed  to  spend  in  them.10 

That  the  saint  was  expected  to  minister  in  sacred  things  to  those 
of  the  tribe  stands  to  reason.  If  his  first  duty  was  to  be  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young,  his  second  was  to  conduct  worship,  and  to  bury 
the  dead.  To  the  monastery  the  people  went,  especially  at  Easter, 
to  receive  Communion  and  to  bring  their  oblations.  The  churches 
were  small,  usually  of  wattle  and  dab,11  and  could  not  contain  large 

•  Ducange,  Glossarium  ad  scriptores  medics  et  infinite  Latinitatis,  s.v.   Quad- 

rivium.     The  tradition  of  "  the  seven  liberal  arts  "  of  the  trivium  and  quadri- 

vium  was  current  in  Wales  in  at  least  the  fifteenth  century.  lolo  MSS.,  p.  327. 

1  O'Curry,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish,  Lond.   1873,  ii,  pp. 

I7I~3- 

"  More  Britonum  ecclesiam,  et  cateras  officinas,  de  lignis  levigatas  .  .  . 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  \  3 

jgations.  But  crosses  were  erected  as  stations  in  different 
localities  occupied  by  the  tribe,  from  whence  the  saint  preached, 
and  where  probably  he  also  ministered  the  sacrament.12  There 
would  seem  to  have  been  only  one  cemetery  in  each  tribe  that  was 
consecrated,  and  to  which  the  bodies  of  the  members  of  the  tribe  were 
conveyed.  This,  however,  is  not  so  certain. 

Something  more  will  have  to  be  said  about  the  third  obligation  of 
the  saint,  that  of  cursing  the  enemies  of  his  tribal  chieftain. 

We  shall  have  to  quote  Irish  sources  to  illustrate  what  was 
customary  in  Wales,  as  the  religious  systems  were  identical  in  both, 
and  as  authorities  are  more  copious  in  Ireland  than  in  Wales. 

The  Hy  Many  in  the  fifth  century  were  becoming  too  populous  for 
their  district.  Now,  at  that  time  the  Firbolgs  occupied  Connaught. 
Maine  Mor  and  his  people  coveted  their  land  ;  accordingly,  they  called 
on  S.  Grellan  to  curse  the  Firbolgs.  He  did  so,  and  then  the  Hy 
Many  defeated  them  and  took  possession  of  Connaught.  Attributing 
their  success  to  his  imprecations,  they  bade  him  impose  on  them 
dues  for  ever  ;  and  this  he  did.  "  A  scruple  out  of  every  townland, 
the  tirst-born  of  every  family,  every  firstling  pig  or  firstling  lamb, 
and  the  firstling  foal.  Let  the  Hy  Many  protect  my  Church  and 
frequent  it,  refuse  not  their  tribute,  and  my  blessing  shall  be  on  the 
race.  It  shall  never  be  subdued  carrying  my  crozier — that  shall  be 
the  battle-standard  of  the  race."  13 

We  may  take  a  remarkable  illustration  from  the  Life  of  S.  Findchua, 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  saints  were  called  in,  as  Balaam  was  by 
Balak,  to  curse  the  enemies  of  the  tribe  to  which  they  were  attached. 

Findchua  had  been  baptized  by  S.  Ailbe  of  Emly.     He  made  a 

•nt  to  the  son  of  the  King  of  the  Deisi  of  his  place  in  heaven.     So 

hr  hud.  he  supposed,  to  earn  for  himself  another  place.     To  do  this  he 

had  made  for  him  seven  iron  sickles,  on  which  he  hung  for  seven  years. 

The  men  of  Meath  were  attacked  by  pirates  from  the  sea,  coming 
iv  and  committing  great  depredations,  so  Findchua  was  sent  for 
to  curse  them.  When  the  saint  heard  that  ambassadors  for  this 
pin  pose  \\viv  coming  to  him,  he  ordered  for  their  entertainment  "  a 
1  of  ale  sufficient  to  intoxicate  fifty  men,"  and  meat  in  propor- 
tion. Then  he  came  down  from  his  sickles  and  went  with  the  dele- 


,1-diticare  jam  incohabant."   Vit.  S.  Kentigerni,  Pinkerton,  Lives  of  Scottish  55., 
ed.  Metcalfe,  Paisley,  1889,  ii,  p.  51. 

12  Venerabilis  pater  Kentegernus  antistes  habebat    in  consuetudinem  ut 
in  locis  quibus  pnrdicando  populum  adquisitionis  nomini  Christi  subdiderat 
triumphale  vexillum  sanct;i>  crucis  erigeret."  Ibid.  p.  86. 

13  O'Donovan,  Tribes  and  Customs  of  the  Hy  Many,  Dublin,  1843. 


!  ^  Introduction 

gates  to  Tara.  He  found  the  men  of  Meath  in  great  distress  because 
tin-  pirates  had  landed  and  were  spreading  over  thecountry.  "  Then," 
we  read,  "  the  cleric's  nature  rose  against  them,  so  that  sparks  of 
blazing  fire  burst  forth  from  his  teeth."  Led  by  the  saint  roaring 
his  incantations,  the  men  of  Meath  rushed  against  their  assailants 
and  exterminated  them,  "  slaying  their  gillies,  burning  their  ships, 
and  making  a  cairn  of  their  heads."  In  return  for  this  service  Find- 
chua  was  granted  a  dun,  with  the  privileges  that  went  with  the  pos- 
session of  such  a  fortress,  also  the  King's  drinking  horn,  to  be 
delivered  to  him  every  seventh  year. 

When  war  broke  out  against  Leinster,  the  aid  of  Findchua  was 
again  invoked  ;  and  we  are  expressly  told  that  he  was  sent  for  only 
because  the  Druid,  whose  proper  function  it  was  to  curse  the  enemy, 
was  too  old  to  do  the  job.  The  King  of  Leinster  was  in  his  dun  at 
Barrow  ;  Findchua  advised  him  to  march  against  the  enemy,  and  he 
himself  would  lead  the  van.  Then  a  prophetic  fury  seized  on  him, 
"  a  wave  of  Godhead  "  it  is  termed,  and  he  thundered  forth  a  metrical 
incantation  that  began — 

"Follow  me,  ye  men  of  Leinster." 

Then  "  wrath  and  fierceness  "  came  on  the  saint.  The  result  was 
that  victory  declared  for  the  arms  of  the  men  of  Leinster.  The 
leader  of  the  enemy,  Cennselach,  threw  himself  on  the  protection  of 
Findchua,  and  surrendered  to  him  "  his  clan,  his  race,  and  his  pos- 
terity." In  return  for  his  services,  the  King  of  Leinster  granted  the 
saint  a  hundred  of  every  kind  of  cattle  every  seventh  year. 

We  have,  in  the  case  of  Findchua,  not  only  an  instance  of  getting 
possession  of  a  dun,  but  also  of  becoming  the  tutelary  saint  over  an 
entire  tribe — that  occupying  Wexford. 

Again  war  broke  out,  this  time  between  Ulster  and  Munster,  and 
the  King  of  the  latter  sent  to  Findchua  for  assistance.  "  Then  Find- 
chua drove  in  his  chariot  with  his  staff  in  his  hand,  without  waiting 
for  any  of  the  clerics,  until  he  got  to  the  dun,"  where  the  King  was. 
Again  he  marched  at  the  head  of  the  army,  brandishing  his  crozier, 
and  again  victory  was  with  those  who  trusted  in  him.  For  his  aid 
he  was  granted  a  cow  from  every  farm,  and  a  milch-cow  to  the  clerk 
who  should  carry  the  crozier  in  battle,  thenceforth,  whenever  it  led 
to  battle.  The  King  of  Munster,  moreover,  agreed  to  rise  up  before 
Findchua's  comarb.14 

We  need  follow  the  story  no  further.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  in 
later  life  the  saint  got  a  glimmer  of  thought  that  being  mixed  up 

14  "  Book  of  Lismore,"  Anecdota  Oxoniensia,  Oxf.  1890,  p.  241.  The  title 
given  to  S.  Findchua  was  "  The  slaughterous  hero,"  p.  240. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  i  5 

with  so  much  bloodshed  was  not  quite  in  keeping  with  the  new  reli- 
gion so  imperfectly  assimilated,  "  and  he  repented  of  the  battles 
which  he  had  fought,  and  the  deeds  which  he  had  done  for  friendship 
and  for  love  of  kindred,"  and,  we  may  add,  for  very  liberal  payment. 

When  Diarmid  Mac  Cearboil  went  to  war  against  the  Clan  Niall  of 
the  north,  whom  S.  Columba  (Columcille)  had  stirred  up  against 
him — although  he  was  a  Christian,  he  took  with  him  in  his  cam- 
paign a  Druid  to  perform  enchantments  and  pronounce  curses  on  the 
enemy  ;  and  the  Hy  Niall  had  the  saint  with  them  to  work  his  counter 
charms  and  deliver  his  counter  curses.15 

The  office  of  cursing  originally  formed  part  of  the  duties  of  the 
Druid.  He  was  a  functionary  called  in  likewise  at  the  conclusion  of 
contracts.  When  two  individuals  entered  into  a  compact,  the  Druid 
was  present  to  utter  imprecations  on  him  who  should  break  the  agree- 
nu-nt.  Beside  the  Druid,  the  file  or  poet  was  cailed  in,  and  he  gave 
a  guarantee  that  he  would  compose  a  lampoon  against  the  trans- 
gressor. This  was  part  and  parcel  of  a  process  that  was  legal.  When 
S.  Patrick,  S.  Carantoc,  and  the  rest  of  the  Commission  revised  the 
laws  of  Ireland,  the  least  possible  interference  was  made  with  existing 
.-Mirial  and  legal  systems. 

As  the  Druid  ceased  to  be  esteemed,  insensibly  the  Saint  stepped 
into  his  functions.  He  had  thrust  on  him  the  duties  formerly  dis- 
charged by  the  Druid.  From  being  professional  curser  of  the  tribal 
foes,  it  was  but  natural  that  the  saint  should  take  on  him  to  curse 
who  interfered  with  the  privileges  of  his  monastery,  broke 
sanctuary,  or  even  gave  him  personal  offence. 

It  was  held  that  a  curse  once  launched  could  not  be  recalled,  it 
must  full  and  blight  ;  if  it  did  not  strike  him  at  whom  it  was  directed, 
it  recoiled  and  smote  the  saint  or  bard  who  had  pronounced  it.  For 
instance,  S.  Cieran  of  Clonmacnois  encountered  King  Diarmid  Mac 
Cearboil,  who  had  offended  him,  and  he  cried  out  against  him,  "  I 
will  not  deprive  thee  of  heaven  and  earth,  but  a  violent  death  I  wish 
thee,  by  wound,  by  water,  and  by  fire."  The  king  at  once  offered  to 
pay  any  price  desired  by  the  saint  to  escape  such  a  fate.  "  Nay," 
said  S.  Cieran,  "  the  missile  that  I  have  delivered,  by  that  same  I 
myself  would  be  hurt  to  my  death,  if  it  fell  not  on  thee."  16 

Columba  visited  S.  Loman  with  the  White  Legs,  who  hid  his  books 

t  his  visitor  should  ask  to  have  them  as  a  loan.     Thereupon  Columba 

sed  the  books  that  they  should  no  more  profit  the  owner,  and 
hen  Loman  went  for  them  he  found  that  the  wet  had  so  stained 

16  O'Donovan,  Tribes  and  CMS/,  of  the  Hy  Many. 
16  Silva  Gadelica,  ii,  p.  78. 


1 6  Introduction 

them  that  they  were  well  nigh  illegible.  S.  Patrick  cursed  Brenainn 
that  he  should  have  neither  son  nor  successor.  A  saint's  curse  by 
no  means  struck  only  the  living  ;  it  affected  after  generations.  Thus 
S.  Patrick  cursed  the  sons  of  Efc  for  stealing  his  horses,  that  their 
descendants  should  fall  into  servitude.17  S.  Malo  cursed  a  man  to 
nine  generations  who  had  spoken  abusively  of  him.18 

Some  jugglers  performed  their  tricks  before  Patrick.  He  had  no 
food  to  give  them,  so  he  sent  to  King  Loman  hard  by  for  some  meat. 
At  the  time  Patrick's  deacon,  Mantan,  was  cooking  the  King's  dinner. 
Loman  and  Mantan  declared  that  they  would  not  spare  any  of  the 
meat  for  those  mountebanks.  Thereupon  Patrick  cursed  them,  that 
Loman's  race  should  never  after  produce  a  king  or  a  bishop,  and  that 
Mantan  should  never  become  noted  as  a  saint,  but  that  sheep  and 
swine  should  run  over  his  grave.19 

In  the  same  way  David  cursed  Joab  :  "  Let  there  not  fail  from  the 
house  of  Joab  one  that  hath  an  issue,  or  that  is  a  leper,  or  that  leaneth 
on  a  staff,  or  that  falleth  on  the  sword,  or  that  lacketh  bread."  20 

When  we  consider  that  at  least  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  non-Semitic 
inhabitants  of  Canaan  belonged  to  the  same  stock  as  that  which 
formed  the  substratum  of  the  population  in  Ireland  and  Great  Britain, 
we  need  not.be  surprised  to  find  the  same  ideas  relative  to  the  force 
of  a  curse  prevalent  in  Palestine  as  in  Ireland.  A  curse,  once  launched, 
as  already  said,  could  not  be  recalled.  If  wrongfully  pronounced, 
then  it  reverted  and  fell  on  the  -head  of  him  who  had  pronounced  it  ; 
but  no  amount  of  repentance,  no  amends  made,  could  render  it  inno- 
cuous. S.  Patrick  cursed  the  Hy  Ailell  because  his  horses  were 
stolen.  The  bishop  he  had  set  over  them  implored  his  pardon.  He 
wiped  the  hoofs  of  Patrick's  horses  in  token  of  submission,  but  all  in 
vain.  The  curse  must  fall. 

It  is  worth  while  to  show  how  the  conviction  of  the  efficacy  of  a 
curse  remains  unshaken  to  the  present  day. 

George  Borrow,  in  his  Wild  Wales,  mentions  his  encounter  with  an 
Irish  woman.  "  When  about  ten  yards  from  me,  she  pitched  for- 
ward, gave  three  or  four  grotesque  tumbles,  heels  over  head,  then 
standing  bolt  upright,  about  a  yard  before  me,  she  raised  her  right 
arm,  and  shouted  in  a  most  discordant  voice — '  Give  me  an  alms,  for 
the  glory  of  God  !  '  '  On  entering  into  conversation  with  this  woman, 
he  learned  that  she  had  been  a  well-to-do  respectable  widow  with  a 
farm  and  two  sons.  One  day  she  refused  charity  to  a  beggar  woman, 

17  Tripartite  Life,  p.  109. 

"  Vita  I1"*  "  in  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  Arch,  d'llle  et  Vilaine,  t.  xvi,  p.  304. 
19  Tripartite  Life,  p.   203.  20  2  Sam.  iii,   29. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  1 7 

who  thereupon  cursed  her.  In  vain  did  she  send  after  the  mendicant 
to  entreat  her  to  remove  the  curse,  and  promised  to  reward  her  if  she 
would  ;  this  was  refused.  "  All  the  rest  of  the  day  I  remained  sitting 
on  the  stool  speechless,  thinking  of  the  prayer  which  the  woman  had 
said,  and  wishing  I  had  given  her  everything  I  had  in  the  world,  rather 
than  she  should  have  said  it."  Thenceforth  all  went  ill  with  her, 
the  family,  the  farm.  She  became  as  one  possessed,  and  in  chapel 
"  I  would  shout  and  hoorah,  and  go  tumbling  and  toppling  along  the 
floor  before  the  Holy  Body."  Her  sons  took  to  drink,  one  was  con- 
victed and  sent  to  prison,  she  lost  everything  and  became  a  homeless 
pauper.21 

In  Wales,  till  not  so  long  ago  the  Holy  Well  of  S.  Elian  was  em- 
ployed for  invoking  a  curse  on  offenders.  In  Brittany,  those  who 
have  been  wronged  appeal  to  S.  Yves  to  this  day  to  punish  the  wrong- 
doer. 

\\ V  must  not  be  too  shocked  at  this  cursing  as  practised  by  the 
Celtic  saints.  It  was  a  legal  right  accorded  to  them,  hedged  about 
with  certain  restrictions.  It  was  a  means  provided  by  law  and  custom 
to  enable  the  weak,  who  could  not  redress  their  wrongs  by  force  of 
arms,  to  protect  themselves  against  the  mighty,  and  to  recover  valu- 
ables takfn  from  them  by  violence.  A  man  who  considered  himself 
aggrieved,  and  could  not  forcibly  recover  the  fine,  went  to  a  Druid 
in  Pagan  times,  to  a  saint  in  Christian  days,  and  asked  him  to  "  ill- 
\\ish  "  tin-  \irong-doer,  just  as  now  he  goes  to  a  lawyer  and  solicits  a 
gammons. 

We  will  now  pass  to  a  feature  in  the  lives  of  several  of  the  Celtic 
saints  that  needs  explanation.  This  is  the  practice  of  "  fasting 
against  "  an  offender.  There  was  a  legal  process  whereby  a  creditor 
might  recover  from  the  debtor,  or  the  wronged  might  exact  an  eric  or 
fine  from  the  wrong-doer  ;  and  this  was  by  levying  a  distress. 

In  Wales,  as  in  Ireland,  there  was  no  executive.  The  law  could  be 
rtained,  and  the  amount  of  the  fine  decreed,  but  the  creditor  or 
aggrieved  was  left  to  his  own  devices  to  obtain  the  redress  adjudi- 
cated. The  court  did  nothing  to  enforce  its  judgments.  Conse- 
quently, a  man  who  could  not  enforce  the  penalty  vi  et  armis  was  left 
to  choose  between  two  courses  :  either  he  might  get  a  saint  to  curse 
the  debtor  or  wrong-doer,  or  else  he  might  take  the  matter  into  his 
own  hands  by  "  fasting  against  "  the  offender. 

The  process  was  this.  He  made  formal  demand  for  what  was  due 
to  him.  If  this  were  refused,  and  he  were  unable  otherwise  to  enforce 

21  Borrow,  Wild  Wales,  Lond.  1901,  pp.  691-702. 
VOL.    1.  C 


!  8  Introduction 

payment  or  restitution,  he  seated  himself  at  the  door  of  the  debtor 
and  abstained  from  food  and  drink. 

In  India  the  British  Government  has  been  compelled  to  interfere, 
and  put  down  this  process  of  dharna.  The  fact  of  the  levy  of  a  fast 
against  a  man  at  once  doubled  the  eric  or  fine  due  for  the  offence. 
In  India  it  was  the  etiquette  for  the  debtor  to  fast  also  ;  but  in  Ire- 
land the  only  means  that  one  man  had  of  meeting  a  fast  against  him 
without  yielding  was  to  fast  also.  The  fast  seemed  to  have  extended  to 
the  whole  family  ;  for  when  S.  Patrick  fasted  against  King  Laoghaire, 
the  king's  son  ate  some  mutton,  to  ttie  great  scandal  of  his  mother. 
"  It  is  not  proper  for  you  to  eat  food,"  said  the  Queen.  "  Do  you  not 
know  that  Patrick  is  fasting  against  us  ?  "  "  It  is  not  against  me 
he  is  fasting,"  replied  the  boy,  "  but  against  my  father."  22  Hardly 
ever  did  any  chief  or  noble  dare  to  allow  the  fasting  to  proceed  to  the 
last  extremities,  because  of  the  serious  blood  feud  it  would  entail,  as 
also  because  of  the  loss  of  prestige  in  the  clan  that  would  be  his. 

S.  Patrick  boldly  had  recourse  to  the  same  method  to  obtain  his 
demands  from  King  Laoghaire.  Again,  he  found  that  Trian,  an 
Ulster  chief,  maltreated  his  serfs.  Trian  had  set  them  to  cut  down 
timber  with  blunt  axes,  and  without  providing  them  with  whet- 
stones. The  poor  fellows  had  their  palms  raw  and  bleeding.  Pat- 
rick remonstrated  with  their  master,  but  when  he  would  not  listen, 
he  brought  him  to  a  proper  sense  of  humanity  by  fasting  against 
him.23 

We  find  the  same  thing  in  Wales.  S.  Cadoc  was  offended  with 
Maelgwn  Gwynedd.  Some  of  the  king's  men  had  carried  off  a  very  beau- 
tiful girl  from  his  land,  the  daughter  of  the  steward  of  the  establish- 
ment. The  men  of  Cadoc's  ecclesiastical  tribe  went  in  pursuit,  and 
in  revenge  massacred  three  hundred  of  Maelgwn's  attendants.  The 
king,  "  in  raging  and  furious  anger,"  marched  against  Cadoc's  tribe 
to  wreak  vengeance.  Cadoc  could  not  resist  by  force  of  arms,  so  he 
and  all  his  men  instituted  a  fast  against  the  king,  who  at  once  gave 
way.24 

An  odd  story  is  that  of  the  men  of  Leinster,  who  sent  a  deputation 
to  the  great  S.  Columba  to  obtain  of  him  the  promise  that  they  should 
never  be  defeated  by  any  foreign  king.  Columba  demurred  to 
giving  them  this  assurance,  whereupon  they  undertook  a  fast  against 
him,  and  he  gave  way.25 

S.  Caimin  of  Iniskeltra,  being  engaged  by  the  King  of  Ulster  to 

22  Tripartite  Life,  p.   557.  23  Ibid  t  p    21Q 

24  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  94. 

25  Book  of  Leinster,  quoted  in  Anecdota  Oxon,     The  Book  of  Lismore,  p.  308. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  ig 

obtain  the  destruction  of  the  army  of  the  King  of  Connaught,  fasted 
against  Connaught  for  three  whole  days  and  nights. 

King  Diarmid  and  Tara  were  cursed  by  S.  Ruadhan,  assisted  by 
eleven  saints  of  Ireland.  In  the  narrative  there  is  a  point  of  interest 
connected  with  this  practice  of  fasting.  The  twelve  saints  instituted 
tluir  fast  against  the  King,  fasting  alternate  days.  Thereupon  he, 
in  retaliation,  fasted  against  them,  and  so  long  as  one  kept  even  with 
the  other,  neither  could  get  the  mastery,  so  the  saints  bribed  the 
king's  steward,  with  a  promise  of  heaven,  to  tell  his  master  a  lie,  and 
to  assure  him  that  he  had  seen  the  twelve  eating  on  their  fast  day. 
\Yhrn  Diarmid  heard  this,  he  broke  his  fast,  whereupon  the  saints 
got  ahead  of  him  and  triumphed.26 

Another  remarkable  story  is  that  of  Adamnan,  the  biographer  of 
S.  Columba.  Irghalach  son  of  Conaing  had  killed  Adamnan's  kins- 
man Niall.  The  saint  thereupon  fasted  upon  Irghalach  to  obtain  a 
violent  death  for  him.  The  chief,  aware  of  this,  fasted  against  Adam- 
nan.  The  saint  not  only  fasted,  but  stood  all  night  in  a  river  up  to 
Ins  neck.  The  chief  did  the  same.  At  last  the  saint  outwitted  the 
chief  by  dressing  his  servant  in  his  clothes  and  letting  Irghalach  see 
him  eat  and  drink.  The  chief  thereupon  intermitted  his  fasting,  and 
so  Adamnan  got  the  better  of  him,  and  obtained  his  death.  When 
the  Queen  heard  how  he  had  been  over-reached,  she  was  in  terror  lest 
the  saint  should  curse  her  unborn  child.  So  she  "grovelled  at  his 
Urt."  imploring  mercy  for  the  child.  Adamnan  consented  only  so 
far  to  curse  it,  that  it  should  be  born  with  one  eye.27 

\\V  have  spoken  particularly  of  this  levy  of  a  distress  by  fasting, 
tor  it  gives  us  the  clue  to  the  extravagant  asceticism,  not  of  the  early 
(Yltic  saints  only,  but  of  the  yogis  and  fakirs  of  India. 

The  Celtic  saints  were  perfectly  familiar  with  the  law  just  described  ; 
tlu  v  put  its  process  into  operation  against  the  chiefs  with  excellent 
effect.  By  no  great  effort  of  mind  they  carried  their  legal  concep- 
tions into  their  ideas  of  their  relation  with  the  Almighty.  When  they 
desired  to  obtain  something  from  a  chief ,  they  fasted  against  him,  and 
God  was  to  them  the  greatest  of  all  chieftains,  so  they  supposed  that 
to  obtain  a  favour  from  God  they  must  proceed  against  Him  by  levy- 
ing a  distress. 

This  lies  at  the  root  of  all  fakir  self-torture  in  India.  The  ascetic 
dares  the  Almighty  to  let  him  die  of  starvation.  He  is  perfectly 
assured  that  He  will  not  do  it,  lest  He  should  fall  into  disrepute  among 


2*  Silva  Gadelica,  ii,  p.  82. 

27  "  Fragmentary  Annals,"  ibid.,  pp.  442-3. 


20 


Introduction 


the  people,  assured  also  that  He  will  be  brought  to  submit,  however 
reluctant  He  may  be,  in  the  end,  just  as  would  a  human  chieftain. 

This,  indeed,  is  frankly  admitted  in  the  Tripartite  Life  of  S.  Pat- 
rick. Patrick  was  ambitious  of  obtaining  peculiar  privileges  from 
God,  notably  that  of  sitting  in  judgment  over  the  Irish  people  at  the 
Day  of  Doom.  To  obtain  this  he  instituted  a  fast.  When  in  a  con- 
dition of  nervous  exaltation  he  fancied  that  an  angel  appeared  to 
him  and  intimated  that  such  a  petition  was  offensive  to  God,  and  he 
offered  him  some  other  favour  in  place  of  it.  Patrick  stubbornly 
rejected  all  compromise,  and  continued  his  fast,  as  the  writer  says, 
"  in  a  very  bad  temper,  without  drink,  without  food."  After  some 
time  he  fancied  that  the  angel  approached  him  again,  offering  fur- 
ther concessions.  "  I  will  not  go  from  this  place  till  I  am  dead," 
replied  Patrick,  "  unless  all  the  things  I  have  asked  for  are  granted 
to  me."  In  the  end  he  fell  into  such  a  condition  of  exhaustion  of 
body,  that  he  became  a  prey  to  hallucinations,  thought  the  sky  was 
full  of  black  birds,  and  deluded  himself  into  the  belief  that  the  Al- 
mighty had  given  way  at  all  points.28 

A  like  story  is  told  of  S.  Maidoc  of  Ferns,  who  desired  to  obtain 
some  outrageous  privileges — that  no  successor  of  his  should  go  to  hell, 
that  no  member  of  his  community  or  tribe  should  be  lost  eternally, 
and  that  till  the  Day  of  Judgment  he  might  be  able  daily  to  deliver 
a  soul  from  hell.  He  fasted  against  God,  to  wring  from  Him  these 
privileges,  and  continued  his  fast  for  fifty  days,  and  deluded  himself 
into  the  belief  that  he  had  forced  the  Almighty  to  grant  everything. 29> 
There  is  a  story  of  three  scholars  in  the  Book  of  Lismore  that  also 
illustrates  how  completely  this  legal  notion  of  transacting  business 
with  the  Almighty  affected  the  minds  of  the  early  Celtic  Christians. 
Three  scholars  resolved  on  reciting  daily  the  Psalter,  each  taking  a 
third  ;  and  they  agreed  among  themselves  that  in  the  event  of  one 
dying,  the  others  should  take  his  Psalms  on  them  in  addition  to 
their  own.  First  one  died,  then  the  other  two  readily  divided  his 
fifty  Psalms  between  them.  But  presently  a  second  died,  and  the 
third  found  himself  saddled  with  the  daily  recitation  of  the  entire 
Psalter.  He  was  highly  incensed  against  heaven  for  letting  the  other 
two  off  so  easily,  and  overloading  him  with  obligations.  Then,  in  his 
resentment,  regarding  God  as  having  treated  him  unjustly,  we  are 
informed  that  he  fasted  against  Him. 

In  India  the  fakirs  possess  power  over  the  people  who  flock  to  them 

28  Tripartite  Life,  p.   115.     Tirechan.  the  most  trustworthy  of  the  biogra- 
phers of  S.  Patrick,  speaks  of  this  fast. 

29  Cambro -British  Saints,  p.  243. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints          2  i 

M treat  the  gods  to  obtain  for  them  abundant  harvests,  or  the 
burning  of  an  enemy's  house,  the  recovery  of  a  sick  child,  or  the 
wholesale  destruction  of  an  enemy's  family.     A  man  who  sits  on 
spikes,  has  voluntarily  distorted  himself,  or  who  lives  half  buried  in 
tlu-  earth,  is  supposed  to  be  all  powerful  with  the  gods.     Why  so  ? 
iiise  through  his  self-tortures  he  has  wrung  a  legal  power  over  the 
.j"«ls  to  grant  what  he  shall  ask.     The  very  same  race  which  underlies 
the  Hindu  population  of  India  underlay  the  Goidel  in  Ireland  and  the 
Brython  in  Britain.     That  race  which  to  this  day  sets  up  menhirs 
UK!  dolmens  there,  strewed  Ireland  and  Cornwall  with  them  at  a 
remotely  early  period.    That  same  race  has  scattered  these  remains 
Moab.     \Ve  nnd  the  same  legal  and  religious  ideas  in  India  and 
in  Ireland  ;   as  also  in  Moab,  which  is  likewise  strewn  with  dolmens. 
Balaam  reimports  himself  just  as  would  a  Christian  saint  many  cen- 
niries  later  in  Erin,  because  these  ideas  belong  to  the  non- Aryan 
I vernian  race  everywhere.     Monachism  among  the  Celts,  doubtless, 
;ved  an  impulse  from  such  books  as  the  Historia  Lausiaca  of 
Palladius,  and  the  Life  of  S.  Martin  by  Sulpicius  Severus  ;    but    it 
•;ot  originate  from  the  perusal  of  these  books.     It  had  existed  as 
Jtcm,  from  a  remote  antiquity,  among  the  pagan  forefathers  of 
saints. 

I.\<r\  tiling  conduced   to  engage   the  Christian  missionaries  in  a 

contest   <>f  ascetic  emulation  with  the  medicine  men  of  Paganism. 

They  strove  to  outstrip  them,  for  if  they  fell  short  of  the  self-torture 

practised  by  the  latter,  they  could  not  hope  to  gain  the  ear  of  the 

princes  and  impress  the  imaginations  of  the  vulgar.     In  the  instance 

S    Findchua  we  have  a  man  emerging  from  Paganism,  practising 

! rightful  austerities,  and  eagerly  invoked  to  occupy  the  place  hitherto 

aed  to  the  Druid.     Surely  he  simply  trod  the  same  path  as  that 

:nn  sued  by  the  necromancers  before  him.     Of  S.  Kevin  it  is  said  that 

'named  for  seven  years  without  sleep,  and  that  he  held  up  one 

arm  till  it  became  rigid,  and  a  blackbird  laid  and  hatched  her  eggs 

in  his  palm.30    S.  Ere  is  said  to  have  spent  the  day  immersed  in  a 

S.  Ita  to  have  had  only  earth  for  her  bed. 

This  immoderate  and  astounding  self-torture  enabled  the  saints  in 
(  eltic  lands,  with  all  confidence,  to  appropriate  to  themselves  the 
keys  of  heaven  and  hell,  and  to  give  assurance  of  celestial  felicity  to 
whom  they  would,  and  denounce  to  endless  woe  whoever  offended 
them.  S.  Patrick  is  said  to  have  promised  heaven  to  a  story-teller, 
who  had  amused  him  with  old  bardic  tales,  and  to  a  harper  for  having 

10  Irish  Liber  Hymtiomm,  ii,    192  ;  Giraldus  Camb.,   Top.  Hibern.,  ii,  48  ; 
Book  of  Lismore,  p.  334. 


22 


Introduction 


performed  well  on  his  instrument.31  As  we  have  already  seen,  the 
twelve  saints  of  Ireland  promised  heaven  to  the  unfaithful  steward 
on  condition  that  he  should  tell  his  master  a  lie,  and  so  deceive  him 
to  his  destruction.  S.  Carannog  threatened  to  shut  heaven  against 
S.  Finnian  unless  he  would  get  into  the  tub  he  had  prepared  for  him 
as  a  bath.32  Senan  of  Iniscathy  threatened  King  Lugaidh  to  deprive 
him  of  heaven  if  he  thwarted  him,  and  he  left  assurance  with  his 
community  that  no  man  buried  in  his  churchyard  should  go  to  hell.33 
S.  Finnian  of  Clonard  made  the  same  promise  relative  to  his  own 
burial  ground.34 

So  much,  then,  for  the  ferocious  self-torture  exercised  by  the  early 
Celtic  saints.  But  in  many  cases  there  was  a  nobler  motive  in  the 
hearts  of  these  venerable  fathers  than  one  of  mere  following  in  the 
traces  of  their  pagan  predecessors,  and  outrivalling  them.  A  clue 
to  their  conduct  may  be  found  in  an  incident  related  of  S.  Columba. 

One  day  he  saw  a  poor  widow  gathering  sting-nettles.  He  asked 
her  the  reason.  She  replied  that  she  had  no  other  food.  The  old 
man  trembled  with  emotion,  went  back  to  his  cell,  and  bade  his 
attendant  give  him  thenceforth  nettles  only  to  eat.  He  had  come 
among  the  Picts  to  be  an  apostle,  to  poor  as  well  as  to  rich,  mean  as 
well  as  noble,  and  he  would  not  fare  better  than  the  lowliest  among 
those  to  whom  he  ministered.  The  story  goes  on  to  say  that  the 
disciple,  seeing  the  aged  master  become  thin  and  pinched  on  this 
meagre  diet,  employed  a  hollow  elder  stick  with  which  to  stir  the 
nettles,  over  the  fire,  and  he  surreptitiously  introduced  a  little  butter 
into  the  hollow  of  the  stick,  that  ran  down  and  enriched  the  por- 
ridge.35 

There  are,  moreover,  remarkable  instances  among  the  Irish  ascetics 
of  their  standing  high  above  a  narrow  formalism.  Some  travellers 
came  to  Ruadhan  of  Lothra  during  Lent,  and  he  at  once  produced  a 
meat  supper,  and,  to  exhibit  true  hospitality,  not  only  sat  down  at  it 
himself,  but  bade  his  monks  do  the  same.  Some  travellers  came  to 
S.  Cronan,  and  he  at  once  produced  all  he  had  for  their  refreshment, 
and  sat  down  with  them.  "  Humph  !  "  said  a  stickler  for  rule,  "  At 
this  rate,  I  do  not  see  much  chance  of  Mattins  being  said."  "  My 
friend,"  said  Cronan,  "  in  showing  hospitality  to  strangers  we  minister 
to  Christ.  Do  not  trouble  about  the  Mattins,  the  angels  will  sing 
them  for  us."  36 

11  Silva  Gadelica,  ii,  pp.  137,  191. 

12  Breviary  of  Uon,  1516.  ™  ^ook  of  Lismore,  pp.  210,  214. 


14  Ibid.,  p.  219.  35  ifad     p 

34  Vit.T  SS.  Hibern.  in  Cod.  Salamavtc.,  p.  548. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints          23 

At  the  same  time  that  the  saints  were  vastly  hospitable  they  re- 
fused to  regale  kings  and  their  retinue  when  this  was  demanded  as  a 
right.  It  was  one  of  the  conditions  of  subjection  to  a  secular  prince 
to  have  to  find  him  in  food  when  he  called,  and  to  furnish  his  beasts 
with  provender.  Compliance  with  the  demand  established  a  dan- 
gerous precedent,  for  vassalage  brought  with  it  liability  to  military 
service.  It  was  accordingly  stubbornly  resisted. 

When  Maelgwn  Gwynedd  was  hunting  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
S.  Brynach,  he  sent  to  the  saint  a  command  to  prepare  supper  for 
him  and  his  attendants.  "  But  the  holy  man  being  desirous  that  he 
and  his  brethren  and  also  his  territory  should  be  free  from  all  tribute, 
asserted  that  he  did  not  owe  the  king  any  supper,  nor  would  he  obey 
in  any  manner  to  his  unjust  command."  Naturally  this  produced 
an  explosion  of  anger,  but  it  ended  in  the  saint  furnishing  the 
meal,  which  the  king  formally  acknowledged  as  being  accorded 
him  out  of  charity,  and  not  as  a  due.37 

S.  Senan  absolutely  declined  to  pay  tax  to  Lugaidh,  the  petty  local 
king.  Then  the  king  sent  his  race-horse  to  be  turned  out  on  Senan's 
pasture,  saying  he  would  take  his  dues  in  this  manner.  Accidentally 
the  horse  was  drowned,  and  this  led  to  violent  threats  on  the  king's 
part  and  demand  for  compensation. 

The  three  obligations  required  of  a  monk  were  obedience,  chastity, 
ami  ix>verty.  Obedience,  according  to  the  Life  of  S.  David,  must 
be  implicit.38  According  to  the  Penitential  statutes  of  Gildas,  a  monk 
who  neglected  executing  at  once  the  orders  of  his  superior,  was  de- 
prived of  his  dinner.  If  he  forgot  an  order,  he  was  let  off  with  half  a 
meal.  If  he  should  communicate  with  one  whom  the  abbot  had  ex- 
communicated, he  was  put  to  penance  for  forty  days.39  According 
to  the  rule  of  S.  David,  if  a  brother  should  even  say  of  a  book  that  it 
was  his  own,  he  was  subjected  to  penance.40  This,  however,  may 
be  a  later  addition,  for  certainly,  as  we  see  by  instances  in  the  Lives 
of  the  Saints,  it  was  not  an  universal  rule.  With  regard  to  trans- 
gressions of  the  rule  of  chastity,  great  severity  was  shown,  as  the 
Penitential  Canons  show.  A  nun,  who  had  transgressed,  when  she 
died,  was  sunk  as  an  accursed  thing  in  a  bog.41 

It  is  difficult  to  say  with  any  amount  of  confidence  how  many  were 
the  offices  of  devotion  performed  by  the  monks  during  the  day  and 
night,  because  so  many  of  the  Lives  are  late,  and  writers  described 

J7  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.   10-12.  >•  Ibid.,  p.   128. 

19  Preefatio  Gildee  de  Panitentia,  caps,  ix,  xi,  xii ;   in   Haddan  and  Stubbs. 
Councils,  i,  pp.   113-114. 

40  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  128.  4i  Book  of  Lismore,  p.  x. 


2  4  Introduction 

the  routine  in  the  early  monasteries  very  much  as  it  was  known  to 
them  in  Benedictine  abbeys  of  a  far  later  date.  They  would  seem  to 
have  had  the  Mass  said,  not  daily,  but  on  Sundays,  and  daily  to  have 
recited  the  entire  Psalter  ;  not,  however,  invariably  in  choir,  but 
privately  in  most  cases.  They  had,  however,  common  offices  :  one 
only  of  these  has  been  preserved,  and  is  found  in  the  Book  of  Mulling. 
It  is  that  of  Vespers,  and  is  in  part  illegible.  It  began  with  an  invi- 
tatory,  then  came  the  Magnificat,  then  something  that  cannot  be 
deciphered,  followed  by  three  verses  from  a  hymn  of  S.  Columba. 
Then  ensued  a  lesson  from  S.  Matthew,  followed  by  three  stanzas 
from  a  hymn  by  S.  Secundinus,  and  three  from  a  hymn  by  Cum- 
mian  Fota.  Then  the  three  final  verses  of  the  hymn  of  S.  Hilary 
of  Poitiers,  the  Apostles'  Creed,  Lord's  Prayer,  and  a  Collect.42 

Whether  the  Laus  perennis  formed  an  institution  in  the  great 
monasteries  generally  cannot  now  be  determined.  We  learn  from 
Joscelyn's  Life  of  S.  Kentigern  that  it  was  the  order  at  Llanelwy. 
It  is  spoken  of  as  customary  in  Llantwit,  Bangor  Iscoed,  Salisbury, 
and  Glastonbury.  But  the  authorities  are  late.  The  institution 
(dyfal  gyfangan)  is  mentioned  in  the  Triads  and  the  lolo  MSS.,43 
but  neither  can  be  trusted.  If  it  were  established,  then  it  would 
show  how  close  a  relation  was  maintained  between  Britain  and  the 
East,  and  how  that  a  movement  there  communicated  itself  rapidly 
to  our  isle. 

The  archimandrite  Alexander,  an  Asiatic  by  birth,  renounced  the 
world  about  the  year  380  and  became  a  member  of  the  convent  of 
the  archimandrite  Elias.  He  remained  in  it  four  years,  then  be- 
came a  solitary  in  the  desert  for  seven,  and  then  suddenly  was  trans- 
formed into  a  missionary  who  traversed  Mesopotamia  in  all  directions. 
He  gathered  about  him  a  congregation  of  400  monks  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Euphrates.  Later  he  established  another  in  Constanti- 
nople near  the  Church  of  S.  Menas,  then  one  at  Gomon,  and  died 
about  430.  Alexander  was  a  man  of  intense  energy  and  of  narrow 
views.  The  Bible,  and  the  Bible  only,  literally  interpreted,  was  to 
be  the  rule  of  his  order.  Because  he  found  therein,  "  Go  ye  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  it  was  to  be  a 
missionary  confraternity.  Because  our  Lord  said,  "  Sell  all  that  thou 
hast,  and  distribute  unto  the  poor,"  therefore  the  monks  were  to  be 
entirely  penniless.  Because  He  said,  "  Men  ought  always  to  pray  and 
not  to  faint,"  on  that  account  worship  should  be  perpetual.  But 
human  nature  did  not  allow  each  man  to  remain  day  and  night  in 

12  Liber  Hymnorum,  1898,  p.  xxii. 

43  Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  393,  408  ;    lolo  MSS.,  p.  150. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints          2  5 

yer,  consequently  the  work  of  incessant  prayer  and  psalmody 
should  be  the  function  of  the  community.  This  was  the  capital  point 
of  his  rule,  and  this  constitutes  an  important  feature  in  the  history  of 
Monachism.  It  created  so  much  astonishment  in  men's  minds,  that 
the  name  given  to  the  Order  was  aKoi^rjroi,  the  Unsleeping  Ones. 
It  would  be  indeed  remarkable  if  the  Laus  perennis  could  have 
reached  Britain  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century. 

The  instruction  given  in  the  Celtic  institutions  was  altogether 
oral.  "  There  were  no  books  except  a  few  manuscripts,  and  they 
were  highly  prized.  The  instruction  was  generally  given  in  the  open 
air.  It  the  preceptor  took  his  stand  on  the  summit  (of  the  rath  en- 
closure), or  seated  his  pupils  around  its  slopes,  he  could  be  conveniently 
heard,  not  only  by  hundreds  but  even  by  thousands.  The  pupils  were 
rasily  accommodated,  too,  with  food  and  lodging.  They  built  their 
own  little  huts  throughout  the  meadows,  where  several  of  them  some- 
times lived  together  like  soldiers  in  a  tent.  They  sowed  their  own 
grain  ;  they  ground  their  own  corn  with  the  quern  or  hand-mill ; 
they  iishcd  in  the  neighbouring  rivers,  and  had  room  within  the  com- 
mon lands  to  graze  cattle  to  give  them  milk  in  abundance.  When 
MipplU-s  ran  short,  they  put  wallets  on  their  backs,  and  went  out  in 
thtir  turn  to  seek  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  were  never  by  the 
pro  pie  refused  abundant  supplies.  They  wore  little  clothing,  had  no 
l.»»<.ks  to  buy,  and  generally,  but  not  always,  received  their  education 
gratuitously.44 

Tlu-  routim-  in  Clonard  can  be  gathered  from  the  Life  of  S.  Finnian. 
\Ve  are  told  that  on  one  occasion  he  sent  his  disciple  Senach  to  see 
what  all  his  pupils  were  doing.  Senach's  report  was  :  "  Some  are 
engaged  in  manual  labour,  some  are  studying  the  Scriptures,  and 
others,  notably  Columba  of  Tir-da-Glas,  are  engaged  in  prayer."  45 

(  Kvinjj  to  the  scandals  which  had  arisen  through  women  being  in 
the  same  monastery  or  college  with  men,  the  abbots  often  swung  to 
the  opposite  extreme.  S.  Senan  would  not  suffer  a  female,  however 
aged,  to  enter  the  isle  in  which  he  lived  with  his  monks.  In  some 
monasteries  the  interior  within  the  rath,  with  its  churches  and  dining- 
hall,  was  interdicted  to  women,  and  this  interdiction  had  subsisted  at 
Lamlevenec  from  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  for  four  hundred 
years.44  At  the  close  of  the  sixth  century  the  rule  was  in  full  rigour 

the  monastery  of  S.  Maglorius  at  Sark.     Some  went  even  further, 

4  Healy,  Insula  Sanctorum  et  Doctontm,  1896,  p.  202. 
1    Vita  SS.  Hib.,  Cod.  Salamanc.,  p.  200. 
De  la  Borclerie,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  i,Np.  517. 


2  6  Introduction 

like-  S.  Malo,  who  would  not  allow  even  a  layman  to  come  within  the 
embankment.47 

That  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  raise  artificial  barriers,  a  very  pure 
morality  did  not  always  reign  among  the  monks  and  pupils,  appears 
from  the  Penitential  of  Gildas  ;  indeed,  that  reveals  a  very  horrible 
condition  of  affairs.48 

The  diet  of  the  monks  consisted  of  bread,  milk,  eggs,  fish.  On 
Sundays  a  dish  of  beef  or  mutton  was  usually  added.49  Beer  and 
mead  were  drunk,  and  sometimes  so  freely  that  in  the  Penitential  of 
Gildas  provision  had  to  be  made  for  the  punishment  of  drunkenness. 
At  Ynys  Byr,  or  Caldey  Isle,  where  the  abbot  tumbled  into  a  well 
when  drunk,  we  are  assured  that  S.  Samson  by  his  abstinence  gave 
great  offence  to  the  monks.  "  In  fact,"  says  his  biographer,  "  in  the 
midst  of  the  abundant  meats  and  the  torrents  of  drink  that  filled  the 
monastery,  he  was  always  fasting,  both  as  to  his  food  and  his  drink."  50 
The  liquor  drunk  was  not  only  ale,  but  also  "  water  mixed  with  the 
juice  of  trees,  or  that  of  wild  apples,"  that  is  to  say,  a  poor  cider ; 
and  we  are  assured  that  at  Landevenec  nothing  else  was  employed.51 
At  Llantwit  Major  "  it  was  usual  to  express  the  juice  of  certain  herbs 
good  for  health,  that  were  cultivated  in  the  monastery  garden,  and 
mix  this  extract  with  the  drink  of  the  monks,  by  pressing  it,  by  means 
of  a  little  tube,  into  the  cup  of  each ;  so  that  when  they  returned 
from  the  office  of  Tierce,  they  found  this  tipple  ready  for  them,  pre- 
pared by  the  pistor."  52  This  was  clearly  a  sort  of  Chartreuse. 

Few  features  are  more  amazing  in  Irish  or  Welsh  ecclesiastical 
history  than  the  way  in  which  whole  families  embraced  the  religious 
life.  In  a  good  many  cases  they  could  not  help  themselves  ;  the  for- 
tunes of  war,  a  family  revolution,  obliged  members  of  a  royal  family 
to  disappear  as  claimants  to  a  secular  chieftainship,  and  to  content 
themselves  with  headships  of  ecclesiastical  institutions.  But  reli- 
gious enthusiasm  was  also  a  potent  power  determining  them  in  their 
choice.  We  see  this  among  the  Northumbrians.  Bede  says  that 
the  same  phenomenon  manifested  itself  there  ;  for  chieftains  who  were 
entirely  undisciplined  in  religion  all  at  once  posed  as  saints,  founded 
monasteries,  and  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  these  institutions.53 
Into  these  monasteries  they  invited  their  friends  and  dependents, 

7   Vita  ima  5.  Maclovii,  i,  c.  40. 

18  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Councils,  i,  p.  113. 

w  Reeves,  Life  of  S.  Columba,  1874,  p.  cxvii. 

10  Vita  i™  S.  Samsonis,  in  Acta  SS.  O.  S.  B.,  sac.  i   p    17; 
1    Vita  S.  Winwaloei,  ii,  c.  12. 
61  Vita  i««»  S.  Samsonis,  i,    c.  16 
53  Hist.  Eccl.  v,  23. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints          2  7 

who  brought  in  their  wives  and  families.  Bede  was  so  concerned  at 
this  condition  of  affairs  that  he  wrote  to  Archbishop  Ecgbert,  of 
York,  to  entreat  him  to  put  a  stop  to  such  irregularities,  as  he  with 
his  Latin  ideas  considered  them.  He  says  that  in  Northumbria 
there  were  many  nunneries  over  which  the  chiefs  set  their  wives. 

In  the  Irish  monasteries,  as  at  Ionar  the  brethren  constituted  a 
monastic  family,  divided  into  three  classes  :  (i)  The  Elders,  seniores, 
dedicated  to  prayer  and  the  instruction  of  the  young,  and  to  preach- 
ing ;  (2)  The  lay  brothers,  operarii,  who  were  principally  engaged  in 
manual  labour  ;  and  (3)  The  students  and  servitors,  juniores  alumni, 
or  pnenili  familiares.6*  When  S.  Samson  constituted  his  monastery 
at  Dol,  he  had,  as  his  biographer  says,  the  same  three  classes  :  mon- 
aclii.  i//.sTi/>///i.  ftimuli.  When  he  went  to  Paris  to  visit  Childebert 
554),  he  was  attended  by  seven  monks,  seven  pupils,  and  seven 
servitors.55 

The  head  of  the  monastic  family  was  called  abbot,  abba  pater,  pater 
spirititiilis,  or  simply  pater,  very  often  senex.  He  lived  apart  from 
tin-  rest  of  the  monks,  probably  on  higher  ground  than  the  others,  so 
that  he  might  command  the  entire  community  with  his  eye.  Under 
him  \vas  the  ceconomtis  or  steward,  often  mentioned  in  the  Lives  of 
the  Saints,  notably  in  those  of  S.  David,  S.  Cadoc,  and  S.  Samson. 
:uty  was  to  look  after  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  monastery, 
and  in  the  abbot's  absence  he  took  his  place.  Below  the  ceconomus 
'  he  pistor  or  baker,  who  was  not  limited  to  making  the  bread  of 
the  community,  but  had  oversight  over  all  the  food  required.  S. 
Samson  was  invested  with  this  office  in  Ynys  Byr,  and  was  accused 
of  having  been  extravagant,  and  wasting  the  money  belonging  to  the 
convent.56  The  only  other  office  of  significance  was  that  of  the  cook, 
coqnus.*7  Among  the  pupils,  the  students  were  not  limited  to  study  : 
they  divided  among  them  the  looking  after  the  sheep  and  oxen,  and 
the  grinding  of  the  corn  in  the  mill.58  They  were  set  an  A  B  C  to 
acquire,  but  this  probably  means,  not  only  the  letters,  but  the  rudi- 
ments of  Christian  belief.  They  had  also  to  acquire  the  Psalms  of 
David  by  heart,  as  already  stated. 

The  monks  were  habited  in  a  tunic  and  cowl  ;  the  tunic  was  white, 
and  the  cowl  the  natural  colour  of  the  wool.  In  addition,  in  cold 
and  bad  weather,  a  mantle  (amphibalits)  was  worn,  sometimes  called 


54  Reeves,  Life  of  S.  Columba,  1874,  p.  cvii. 
53    Vita  II'1*,  eel.  Plaine,  ii,  c.  20,  p.  66. 
:>8    Vita  I™,  i,  c.  35. 

Book  of  Lismore,  p.  207.  &8  Ibid.,  pp.  206,  207,  269. 


2  8  Introduction 

a  casula,  or  chasuble.59  A  good  many  of  the  abbots,  and  even  monks, 
seem  to  have  delighted  in  clothing  themselves  in  goat  or  fawn  skins.69 

The  Greek  tonsure,  which  is  called  that  of  S.  Paul,  consisted  in 
shaving  the  entire  head  ;  the  Roman  tonsure,  as  that  of  S.  Peter, 
was  restricted  to  the  top  of  the  head,  leaving  a  band  of  hair  round  it. 
The  tonsure  of  the  Britons  and  Scots  consisted  in  shaving  all  the 
front  of  the  head  from  ear  to  ear.  As  we  see  by  the  Bayeux  tapestry, 
a  non-ecclesiastical  tonsure  was  practised  by  the  Normans  in  the 
eleventh  century,  which  was  that  of  shaving  the  back  of  the  head. 
The  meaning  of  a  tonsure  was  the  putting  a  mark  on  a  man  to  desig- 
nate that  he  belonged  to  a  certain  class  or  tribe,  just  as  colts  or  sheep 
are  marked  to  indicate  to  whom  they  belong.  The  knocking  out  of 
certain  teeth,  the  deforming  of  the  skull,  and  tattooing  among  Indian 
and  other  savage  races,  has  the  same  significance.  All  men  are  born 
alike,  and  to  discriminate  among  them,  artificial  means  must  be 
had  recourse  to.  Circumcision  among  the  Jews,  Egyptians  and 
Kaffirs,  has  the  same  meaning. 

The  tonsure  was  known  in  pagan  Ireland,  and  was  probably — 
almost  certainly — general  among  all  Celtic  races,  the  Druids  being 
tonsured  to  mark  the  order  to  which  they  belonged  ;  and  each  tribe, 
if  it  did  not  wear  its  tartan,  was  distinguished  by  some  sort  of  trim- 
ming of  the  hair. 

The  Celtic  tonsure  for  ecclesiastics  was  possibly  purposely  adopted 
from  that  of  the  Druids  ;  but  this  is  not  certain,  as  "  adze-head  " 
was  a  term  applied  to  the  Christian  clergy  as  derisive,  because  their 
long  faces  and  curved  bald  crowns  bore  a  sort  of  resemblance  to  a 
tool,  the  so-called  celt.  Probably  it  was  the  Druidic  tonsure  with  a 
difference.61  It  was  this  tonsure,  so  unlike  that  adopted  by  the 
monks  of  the  Rule  of  S.  Benedict,  which  caused  such  indignation 
among  the  Latin  missionaries.  They  could  not  away  with  it.  It 
was  the  tonsure  of  Simon  Magus. 

Another  point  of  antagonism  between  the  Latin  ecclesiastics  and 
those  of  the  Celtic  Church  was  the  observance  of  Easter.  The  Celtic 
rule  has  been  repeatedly  explained,  and  here  we  will  only  give  it  in 
brief  from  the  lucid  account  of  Mr.  Hodgkin,  in  his  account  of 
S.  Columbanus  in  Gaul.  "  In  this  matter  the  Irish  ecclesiastics,  with 
true  Celtic  conservatism,adhered  to  the  usage  which  had  been  universaj 
in  the  West  for  more  than  two  centuries,  whilst  the  Prankish  bishops 

19  Reeves,  Life  of  S.  Columba,  p.  cxviii ;   Book  of  Lismore,  pp.  218,  219,  273. 

80  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.   128. 

1  Three  kinds  of  tonsure  are  mentioned  by  the  early  Irish  writers  :  the 
monastic  (berrad  manaig),  the  servile  (berrad  mogad),  and  the  Druidical  forms 
(airbacc  giunnae).  Tripartite  Life,  i,  p.  clxxxv. 


The  Jfelsb  and  Cornish  Saints  29 

lutitully  following  the  see  of  Rome,  reckoned  their  Easter  day  accord- 
ing to  the  table  which  was  published  by  Victorinus  in  the  year  457, 
and  which  brought  the  Roman  usage  into  correspondence  with  the 
usage  of  Alexandria.  The  difference,  much  and  earnestly  insisted 
upon  in  the  letters  of  Columbanus.  turned  chiefly  on  two  points  : 
(i)  The  Irish  churchmen  insisted  that  in  no  case  could  it  be  right  to 
celebrate  Easter  before  the  vernal  equinox,  which  determined  the 
first  month  of  the  Jewish  calendar  ;  (2)  they  maintained  that  since 
tin-  I'ussmvr  had  been  ordained  to  fall  on  the  night  of  the  full  moon, 
in  no  case  could  it  be  right  to  celebrate  Easter  on  any  day  when  the 
moon  was  more  than  three  weeks  old.  In  other  words,  they  allowed 
the  great  festival  to  range  only  between  the  I4th  and  the  2oth  day  of 
tin-  lunar  month,  while  the  Latin  Church,  for  the  sake  of  harmony 
with  the  Alexandrian,  allowed  it  to  range  from  the  I5th  to  the  22nd. 
In  theory  it  would  probably  be  admitted  that  the  Irishmen  were 
nearer  to  the  primitive  idea  of  a  Christian  festival  based  on  the  Jewish 
Passover;  but  in  practice — to  say  nothing  of  the  unreasonableness  of 
i  nating  discord  on  a  point  of  such  infinitely  small  importance — by 
harping  as  they  did  continally  on  the  words  '  the  I4th  day',  they 
their  opponents  the  opportunity  of  fastening  upon  them  the 
nanir  ol  Oimrto-decimnn,  and  thereby  bringing  them  under  the  ana- 
thema pronounced  by  the  Xi(Tene  Council  on  an  entirely  different 
form  oi  dissent."  %- 

As  has  been  frequently  pointed  out,  in  the  earliest  monasteries  the 
abbot  had  under  him  one  or  more  bishops,  subject  to  his  jurisdiction. 
This  condition  of  affairs  did  not  last  very  long.  The  kings  and  chiefs 
had  been  accustomed  to  have  their  Druids  at  their  sides,  to  furnish 
them  with  charms  against  sudden  death  and  against  sickness,  and 
to  bless  their  undertakings  and  curse  their  enemies.  The  abbot 
could  not  be  with  the  chief  or  king  ;  as  head  of  a  tribe  he  had  to 
rule  a  territory,  and  attend  to  the  thousand  obligations  that  belonged 
to  his  position.  Accordingly,  a  bishop  was  sent  to  the  chieftain  to 
do  the  work  of  medicine-man  for  him  ;  this  was  the  beginning  of  a 
change  in  the  system,  approximating  it  to  that  of  the  Church  in  the 
Empire.  The  bishop  about  the  person  of  the  chief  eclipsed  the  abbot, 
and  became  the  chief  man  in  ecclesiastical  matters  belonging  to  the 
tribe.  The  Lebar  Brecc  describes  the  duties  of  a  bishop  :  "  A  bishop 
for  every  chief  tribe — for  ordaining  ecclesiastics  and  for  consecrating 
lurches,  for  spiritual  direction  to  princes  and  superiors  and  ordained 
arsons,  for  hallowing  and  blessing  their  children  after  baptism  (i.e. 

**  Italy  and  her  InOadcrs   Oxford.  1895.  vi,  pp.   115-6. 


20  Introduction 

confirming),  for  directing  the  labours  of  every  church,  and  for  leading 
boys  and  girls  to  cultivate  reading  and  piety."  And  the  same  author- 
ity gives  as  the  duties  of  every  priest  in  a  small  church  :  "Of  him 
is  required  baptism  and  communion,  that  is  the  Sacrifice,  and  sung 
intercession  for  the  living  and  the  dead,  the  offering  to  be  made  every 
Sunday,  and  every  chief  solemnity,  and  every  chief  festival.  Every 
canonical  hour  is  to  be  observed,  and  the  singing  of  the  whole  Psalter 
daily,  unless  teaching  and  spiritual  direction  hinder  him."  63 

We  will  now  pass  to  a  consideration  of  what  is  of  importance  re- 
lative to  the  saints  of  Cornwall.  Here  a  very  remarkable  condition 
of  affairs  is  found  to  exist.  The  whole  of  Penwith,  or  the  Land's  End 
District,  and  the  Lizard  promontory  as  well,  seem  to  have  been  laid 
hold  of,  and  its  churches  founded  by  Irish  saints. 

Then  again,  in  all  the  north-east  and  east  of  Cornwall,  even  down 
to  the  sea  at  Looe,  are  found  saints  of  the  Brychan  family  of  Breck- 
nock. Unhappily,  we  have  no  early  history  of  Cornwall  that  can 
account  for  this.  Only  a  glimmer  of  light  comes  to  us  through  such 
few  Lives,  or  notices  of  Lives,  as  remain. 

But  if  the  historians  hold  their  peace,  the  stones  cry  out,  and  testify 
to  a  very  extensive  colonisation  by  Irish. 

We  have  scanty  notices  that  Caradog  Freichfras,  who  was  prince 
of  Gelliwig,  the  territory  about  Callington,  about  480  conquered 
Brecknockshire.  He  was  himself  related  to  the  royal  family  of 
Brychan  through  his  mother.  Whether  he  entered  into  any  compact 
with  the  ecclesiastics  of  that  family  and  bade  them  occupy  East  and 
North-east  Cornwall,  on  condition  that  they  vacated  all  their  holdings 
in  Brecknock,  or  whether  he  drove  them  out,  and  they  fled  to  Cornwall 
to  the  Irish  colonists  there,  we  do  not  know  ;  but  certain  it  is  that 
the  Brychan  family  is  represented  very  fully  there.  The  Brychan 
family  was  Irish,  and  that  there  were  Irish  inhabiting  the  region  to 
which  they  moved  we  shall  proceed  to  show.  We  know  from  an 
entry  in  Cormac's  Irish  Glossary  that  in  the  time  of  Crimthan  the 
Great  the  Irish  held/Map  Lethain  in  the  lands  of  the  Cornish  Britons,64 
*>.,  366-378. 

The  lapidary  inscriptions  give  us  Irish  names,  and  bear  also  the 
Ogam  script.  The  Maccodechet  stone  at  Tavistock  shows  that  a 
portion  of  the  Deceti  sept  from  Kerry  was  settled  there.  We  find 
their  names  on  monuments  both  in  the  west  of  Ireland  and  in  Angle- 
sey. Another  stone  is  that  of  Dobunnus,  son  of  Enobar.  Dobunnus 

3  Tripartite  Life,  i,  p.  clxxxiii. 

4  Three  Irish  Glossaries,  by  W.  Stokes,  Lond.,  1862,  p.  xlviii. 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  3  I 

meets  us  again  several  times  in  Kerry.  The  Cumregnus  stone  at 
Southill  has  the  Goidelic  Manci  on  it,  and  one  of  the  Lewannic  stones 
the  no  less  Irish  ingen  ;  the  other  bears  the  name  of  Ulcagnus,  the 
Irish  Olcan,  that  we  find  in  Kerry  as  Olacon.65  The  Endellion  stone 
to  Breocan  also  has  its  relatives  in  Kerry  and  also  in  Pembrokeshire. 
It  can  hardly  be  by  accident  that  Cormac  represents  Map  or  Mac 
Lethain  as  a  fortress  of  the  Irish  in  Cornwall.  This  shows  that  it  had 
been  erected  by  the  Hy  Liathain,  who  occupied  a  tract  of  country  in 
Minister  close  to  Kerry.  And  if  we  suppose  that  the  Brychan  family 

<  It-rived  from  the  Hy  Brachain  in  Thomond,  then  their  original  seat 
was  separated  from  Kerry  by  the  estuary  of  the  Shannon  only.     But 
it  is  not  only  the  family  of  Brychan  that  is  represented  in  North-east 

<  '< -rim-all  ;    the  closely  related  family  of  Gwent  was  also  there.    To 
this  belonged  Petroc  of    Padstow.     Cadoc    has  also  left  his  mark 
tlu-rr,   so   has   Glywys,   and   possibly  Gwynllyw   at   Poughill.    The 
Stowford  stone  inscribed  to  Gungleus  looks  as  though  it  marked  the 

ig- place  of  one  of  the  same  family.  On  account  of  the  way  in 
which  the  Saxons  and  Normans  supplanted  the  Celtic  saints  with 
fresh  dedications  from  the  Roman  Martyrology  in  Devon,  we  are  not 
able  to  determine  to  what  an  extent  North  Devon  was  settled  with 
-lastical  foundations  from  Brycheiniog  and  Gwent.  But  Bry- 
nach,  son-in-law  of  Brychan,  is  found  at  Braunton,  Nectan,  a  reputed 
son,  at  Hartland  and  Wellcombe.  In  Cornwall  it  is  otherwise.  We 
find  them  extending  from  Padstow  Harbour  to  the  Tamar,  and  south 

ir  as  to  the  river  Fal. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  west  of  Cornwall,  to  Penwith,  or  the  Land's 
End  district,  and  to  Meneage,  that  of  the  Lizard.  Here  the  whole 
district  is  ecclesiastically  Irish.  But,  indeed,  the  invasion  extends 
further  east,  as  far  as  to  Newquay,  for  we  have  near  that  S.  Piran 
and  S.  Carannog,  which  latter,  though  not  actually  Irish  by  birth, 
laboured  long  in  the  Emerald  Isle,  and  in  the  south  it  seems  to  have 
^tivtohed  with  breaks  to  Grampound. 

Happily  we  have  some  account  of  the  invasion  that  took  place 
there.  This  is  in  the  Life  of  S.  Fingar,  written  by  a  monk  named 
Anselm,  probably  of  S.  Michael's  Mount.  There  were  in  existence 
other  records,  to  which  Leland  refers,  and  which  he  had  seen,  and  from 
which  he  made  all  too  scanty  extracts,  but  these  are  lost  for  ever. 

From  such  sources  we  learn  that  in  the  reign  of  Tewdtjg,  King  of 
Cornwall,  who  had  palaces  or  duns  at  Reyvier  on  the  Hayle  river, 
and  at  Goodern  near  Truro,  and,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  place-name, 

5  Studies  in  Irish  Epigraphy,  by  R.  A.  S.  Macalister,  London,  1897. 


0 

*  2  Introduction 

* 

a  court  at  Listewder  in  S.  Kevern,  a  fleet  of  Irish  arrived  in  Hayle 
Harbour,  and  that  he  fell  upon  them  when  they  landed  and  killed 
a  number  of  them.  Some  took  refuge  on  Tregonning  Hill,  and  en- 
trenched and  maintained  themselves  there.  In  the  end  the  Irish 
must  have  got  the  upper  hand,  for  they  meted  out  the  whole  of  the 
present  deaneries  of  Penwith,  Kerrier  and  Carnmarth  between  them, 
and  extended  their  foundations  into  Powder  as  well.  Whereupon 
they  elevated  those  of  their  party  who  had  been  killed  by  Tewdrig  to 
the  position  of  martyrs.  Had  the  Irish  been  expelled,  Fingar  would 
not  have  received  a  cult,  but  have  been  regarded  as  a  free-booter 
who  had  met  with  his  deserts. 

The  occasion  of  this  migration  is  matter  of  conjecture,  but  this 
seems  to  best  explain  it. 

The  Hy  Bairrche,  descendants  of  Daire  Bairrche,  second  son  of 
Cathair  Mor,  King  of  Leinster  and  of  all  Ireland,  had  occupied  the 
country  between  the  Slaney  and  the  Barrow,  whilst  the  Hy  Cinn- 
selach, who  held  what  is  now  the  county  of  Wexford,  had  been 
growing  in  numbers  and  power,  and  had  become  straitened  between 
the  Slaney  and  the  sea. 

Some  time  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  Crimthan,  King 
of  the  Hy  Cinnselach,  invaded  the  Hy  Bairrche  territory  and  ex- 
pelled the  Hy  Bairrche,  although  Mac  Daire.  the  King,  was  his  own 
son-in-law.  There  was  no  alternative  ;  as  chieftain,  he  must  allot 
habitations  and  land  to  the  men  of  his  tribe,  and  that  could  only  be 
done  by  dispossessing  a  neighbour.  It  was  an  obligation  not  to  be 
evaded.  The  expelled  family  sought  and  obtained  assistance,  and 
many  and  furious  battles  were  waged  between  them.  In  480  the 
Hy  Bairrche  defeated  the  Hy  Cinnselach  at  Kilosnadh,  and  in  485, 
in  another  battle,  Eochaidh  of  the  Hy  Bairrche  slew  Crimthan,  his 
own  grandfather.  Again  ensued  battles  at  Graine  in  485,  489,  and 
492,  in  which  latter  Finchadh,  King  of  the  Hy  Cinnselach,  was  slain 
The  Kings  of  Munster  had  become  involved  in  the  contest.  In 
489  in  a  desperate  fight  at  Kelliston  in  Carlow,  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraich, 
King  of  Munster,  fell  fighting  against  the  Hy  Bairrche.  On  the 
death  of  Eochaidh,  his  son  Diarmidh  succeeded,  but  the  strife  with 
the  Cinnselach  was  chronic. 

Now  it  is  precisely  about  this  period  of  internecine  war  and  of 
mutual  expulsion  of  defeated  rivals,  490-510,  that  the  great  influx 
of  colonists  from  Leinster  to  West  Cornwall  took  place,  and  it  was 
from  the  district  of  the  Hy  Bairrche  and  of  the  Hy  Cinnselach.  With 
the  limited  means  at  our  disposal,  we  are  unable  to  fix  the  date  closely, 
but  we  know  that  colonists  arrived  when  Tewdjfit  was  King  in  Corn- 


I 


2 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  3  3 

\\aii.  and  his  date  can  be  approximately  determined  from  the  Life 
of  S.  Petroc.  We  have  further  a  certain  number  of  Irish  Lives  of 
the  Saints  of  Leinster  that  help  to  fix  the  period.  When  looked  into, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  saints  who  settled  in  West  Cornwall  came 
almost  rmii-dy  from  Wexford  and  Waterford  and  Ossory.  The 
reason  of  their  coming  from  Ossory  we  will  now  consider.  This 
emigration  was  also  apparently  due  to  political  causes. 

Tin-  kinus  of  Minister  had  claimed  from  Ossory  what  was  called 
tlu-  "  Eric  of  Edersceol  "  since  the  first  century.  This  consisted  in 
an  annual  payment  of  three  hundred  cows,  as  many  horses,  the  same 
number  of  swords  with  gold-inlaid  hilts,  and  purple  cloaks,  all  to  be 
delivered  up  at  Samhain,  the  pagan  Winter  Feast,  i.e.,  November  I, 
at  Cashel.  And  the  south  of  Ossory  was  especially  charged  with  this 
intolerable  burden.  It  was  resisted  repeatedly. 

sory  is  divided  by  mountain  ridges  into  three  great  plains  :  to 
the  north  is  the  Magh  Arget-Ros,  the  middle  is  occupied  by  the  Magh 
Krishna,  and  southernmost  of  all  is  the  Magh  Feimhin.  Ossory 
is  the  Land  between  the  Waters — the  Suir  and  the  Barrow.  It 
was  the  s«.-at  of  the  great  tribe  of  the  Hy  Connla,  divided  into  three 
septs. 

During  the  first  part  of  the  second  century,  a  distinguished  chief 
ot  the  race  of  Connla  arose,  named  Aengus.  He  disputed  the  right 
of  Mun>ti T  to  either  jurisdiction  or  tribute  in  any  part  of  Ossory.  A 
battle  was  fought  and  the  Munster  men  were  completely  defeated. 
The  eihrt  of  this  victory  was  the  entire  emancipation  of  the  middle 
ami  south  plains,  on  which  the  Eric  of  Edersceol  had  been  levied. 

In  or  about  170,  when  Eochaid  Lamdoit  was  king  of  Ossory,  the 
Munstrr  men  burst  into  the  plains,  with  resolve  to  exterminate  the 
Hy  Connla.  The  Ossorians,  in  their  distress,  appealed  to  Cucorb, 
kim,r  ot  Leinster,  and  he  sent  Lughaidh  Laoghis,  at,  the  head  of  a 

ge  force,  to  assist  the  Ossorians.  The  Munster  men  were  defeated 
ith  grt-at  slaughter,  but  the  kingdom  of  Ossory  had  to  pay  for  this 
tance  by  the  cession  of  a  large  portion  in  the  north-east,  which 
theiKvtmth  constituted  the  kingdom  of  Leix,  under  the  overlordship 
of  Leinster. 

Another  cession  of  territory  took  place  later  to  the  Hy  Bairrche, 
who  occupied  the  barony  of  Slieve  Marghie  in  Queen's  County.  Ossory 
was  consequently  becoming  contracted,  and  thrust  more  and  more  to 
the  south,  where  most  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  Munster.  Then 
Core,  king  of  Munster,  about  370  encroached  on  Magh  Feimhin, 
and  established  his  fortress  therein  at  Cashel.  At  the  same  time  he 
revived  the  claim  for  the  Eric  of  Edersceol,  and  to  enforce  it  occupied 

VOL.  i. 


34 


Introduction 


the  whole  of  the  southern  plain.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  terrible 
time  for  the  Ossorian  royal  family,  and  indeed  for  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  central  and  southern  plains.  Lughaid,  the  prince  of  the  Hy 
Duach,  one  of  the  septs  of  the  Hy  Connla,  was,  somewhat  later, 
removed  from  Magh  Reighna,  and  sent  in  banishment  among  the 
Corca  Laighde,  in  the  south-west  of  the  county  of  Cork,  or  West 
Carberry. 

Presently  the  Ossorians  rose  in  a  body,  and,  headed  by  such  of 
their  princes  as  were  not  detained  in  Munster,  made  a  desperate 
struggle  to  recover  their  independence.  They  apparently  met  at  first 
with  some  success,  but  very  speedily  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraich,  grand- 
son of  Core  of  Cashel,  entered  Magh  Feimhin  and  swept  through  it 
to  drive  the  Hy  Duach  out  of  the  middle  plain.  At  the  same  time  a 
kinsman,  Cucraidh,  great-great-grandson  of  Core,  burst  into  Magh 
Reighna  and  Magh  Airghet  Ros  from  the  north-west. 

Aengus  annexed  the  whole  of  Magh  Feimhin,  from  which  he  ex- 
pelled the  Ossorians,  and  he  peopled  it  with  the  Deisi,  who  were  then 
settled  in  what  we  now  call  Waterford.  As  to  Cucraidh,  he  was 
given  all  the  remainder  of  Ossory,  the  two  upper  plains,  as  a  kingdom 
under  the  overlordship  of  Munster.  For  seven  generations  this 
intrusive  dynasty  occupied  upper  Ossory. 

Aengus  had  been  baptized  by  S.  Patrick  in  470,  and  he  fell  in  battle 
489.  We  may  set  down  this  invasion  and  partition  of  Ossory  as 
taking  place  about  460-480.  We  know  that  some  of  the  Ossorian 
princes  fled  north,  but  what  became  of  the  people  generally  ?  May 
we  not  suppose  that  it  was  at  this  time,  when  life  was  impossible  in 
the  Land  between  the  Waters,  that  they  took  ship  and  crossed  into 
Cornwall  ?  But  it  is  not  there  only  that  we  find  them  but  in  Brittany 
as  well.  It  is  certainly  significant  that  among  the  saints  of  Western 
Cornwall  and  of  Western  Brittany  we  find  so  many  Ossorian  names. 
That  the  same  sort  of  thing  went  on  in  Alba  from  Dal-Riada  we  know 
for  certain.  The  Irish  colonists  and  conquerors  of  the  Picts  gave 
their  name  to  Scotland. 

The  Saints  of  Wales  belong  to  eight  great  families. 

i.  That  of  Maxen  Wledig,  or  Maximus  the  Usurper,  383-388.  He 
is  held  to  have  married  Elen,  daughter  of  Eudaf,  a  petty  prince  in 
Arfon,  and  Aurelius  Ambrosius  probably  claimed  descent  from 
Maximus.  From  the  same  stock  came  Rhydderch  Hael,  the  prince 
who  established  himself  supreme  over  the  Cumbrian  Britons  ;  also 
Ynyr  Gwent,  prince  of  Gwent,  who  resided  at  Caerwent.  This  family 
would  seem  to  have  represented  the  Romano-British  civilisation. 
The  pedigree  has  been  disturbed  by  confounding  Elen,  the  wife  of 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  3  5 


Our 


MONASTIC  FOUNDATIONS  IN  WALES 

Maxell,  with  S.  Helena,  the  wife  of  Constantius  and  mother  of  Con- 
stantine  the  Great. 

2.  That  of  Cunedda,  which  came  from  the  North,  from  the  defence 
of  the  Wall,  and  which  had  been  seated  in  the  ancient  Roman  Valentia. 
This  family  is  said  to  have  expelled  the  Gwyddyl  from  Gwynedd, 
Ceredigion  and  Mon,  and  to  have  also  occupied  Merioneth,  Osweilion 
and  Denbigh.     From  it  proceeded  the  royal  line  of  Gwynedd,  which 
only  came  to  an  end  with  the  last  Llewelyn.     From  this  family  pro- 
ceeded those  important  saints,  Dewi  and  Teilo. 

3.  That  of  Cadell  Deyrnllwg  in  Powys,  which  sent  out  a  branch 
into  Glywyssing.  Cadell  became  prince  of  Powys  with  his  seat  at  Wrox- 


Introduction 

eter  or  Shrewsbury,  in  the  fifth  century,  in  consequence  of  a  revolt  of 
the  Romano-British  and  Christian  subjects  of  Benlli  against  their 
prince,  who  favoured  paganism.  Cadell  was  grandfather  of  Brochwel 
Ysgythrog.  This  family  died  out  in  the  male  line  in  Cyngen, 
murdered  at  Rome  in  854.  It  produced  several  saints,  notably 
S.  Tyssilio  of  Meifod ;  and  its  branch  in  Glywyssing  afforded  the 
still  more  illustrious  S.  Pedrog  and  S.  Catwg. 

4.  That   of   Brychan,    king   of   Brycheiniog.      This  was   an    Irish 
family.     Anlach,  father  of  Brychan,  made  himself  master  of  Breck- 
nock.    The  family  produced  an  incredible  number  of  saints,  who  are 
found  not  only  in  their  native  district,  but   also   in  North-east  and 
East  Cornwall. 

5.  That  of  Caw  of  Cwm  Cawlwyd  in  North  Britain.     Caw,  however, 
was  son  of  Geraint  ab  Erbin,  Prince  of  Devon.     Owing  to  the  inroads 
of  the  Picts,  the  family  of   Caw   was    forced  to    abandon    Arecluda 
and  fly  to  Gwynedd,  where  they  were   well  received  by  Cadwallon 
La  whir  (v.  Life   of  Gildas),  and  Maelgwn,  his  son,  who  gave  them 
lands,  mainly  in  Mon,   but  apparently  with  the  proviso  that  they 
should    enter  religion,  so  as  not  to  form  any    small    principalities 
which  might   be    politically  disadvantageous  to  the  interests   of  the 
crown   of  Gwynedd.      To  this  family,  which  never  after  its  expul- 
sion from    the    North    obtained   any  secular  importance,   belonged 
Gildas,  the  famous  abbot  of  Ruys. 

6.  That  of  Coel  Godebog.     According  to  Skene,  he  was  king  in 
North  Britain,  and  from  him  Kyle  now  takes  its  name.     He  was 
ancestor  of  a  large  and  important  family,  of  Llyr  Merini,  prince  in 
Devon   and  Cornwall,   of  Urien  Rheged,  and  of   the  poet  Llywarch 
Hen.     From  him  descended  a  great  many  saints,  but  none  of  any 
great  importance.     Pabo  Post  Prydynn,  and  Dunawd,  and  Deiniol  of 
Bangor,  are  the  most  conspicuous. 

7.  That  of  Cystennin  Gorneu,  a  stock  that,  like  the  family  of  Maxen 
Wledig,  derived  from  an  usurper  of  the  purple,  Constantine  the  Tyrant, 
408-411.     It  was  from  this  stock  that  issued  the  family  of  Caw,  given 
above  (5).      It  would  seem  to  have  supplied   Domnonia  (Devon  and 
Cornwall)  with  princes,  who  were  called  either  Constantine  or  Geraint. 
The  saint  of  this  family  that  proved  most  remarkable  was  S.  Cybi, 
unless  we  prefer  the  notorious  Constantine  whom  Gildas  denounced 
for  his  crimes  and  immoralities,  but  who  was  afterwards  converted. 

8.  That  of  Emyr  Llydaw  from  Armorica.     The  Welsh  pedigrees 
derive  Emyr  from  Cynan,  son  of  Eudaf  and  brother  of  Elen,  wife 
of  Maximus.      But  this  is  certainly  imaginary.      All  that  we  really 
know  about  Emyr  is    that  probably,  on  account   of   an   usurpation 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Saints  3  7 

by  one  of  his  sons,  the  others  had  to  fly  from  Armorica  and 
take  iviuge  in  South  Wales,  where  they  were  well  received  by  Meurig, 
king  of  Morganwg,  who  gave  to  several  of  them  his  daughters  in 
marriage.  The  Bretons  pretend  that  this  eldest  son,  who  sent  his 
brothers  living,  was  Llywel,  or  Hoel,  "  the  Great  ".  From  Emyr  pro- 
ceeded some  men  of  great  mark,  as  S.  Samson,  S.  Padarn,  and,  by  a 
•  laughter,  S.  Cadfan  and  S.  \Vimvaloe. 

To  tin-  number  may  perhaps  be  added  that  of  Gwrtheyrn  Gwrtheneu, 
but  it  did  not  proceed  beyond  the  second  generation,  and  then  only 
through  daughters. 

For  centuries,  due  partly  to  the  sneer  of  Bede,  and  partly  to  the 

1  contempt  with  which  the  Latin  Church  regarded  all  missionary 

work  that  did  not  proceed  from  its  own  initiative,  the  English  Church 

looked  to  Augustine  of  Canterbury  as  the  one  main  source  from 

whom  Christianity  in  our  island  sprang,  and  Rome  as  the  mother 

who  sent  him  to  bring  our  ancestors  to  Christ.     That  he  did  a  good 

and  grrut  work  is  not  to  be  denied;  he  was  the  Apostle  of  Kent, 

where  the  Britons  had  all  been  massacred  or  whence  they  had  been 

driven.     Hut   Kent  is  only  a  corner  of  the  island.     And  it  was  for- 

ii  how  much  was  wrought  by  the  Celtic  Church,  even  for  the 

Teutonic  invaders,  tar  more  than  was  achieved  by  Augustine. 

It  was  the  Church  in  Wales  which  sent  a  stream  of  missionaries  to 
Ireland  to  complete  its  conversion,  begun  by  Patrick,  a  child  per- 
:he  Celtic  Church  of  Strathclyde,  though  Professor  Bury 
thinks  ot  Smith  Britain.  It  was  from  Ireland  that  Columcille 
went  to  lona  to  become  the  evangelist  of  the  Picts.  From  Llanelwy 
went  forth  Ki-ntigi-rn  with  665  monks  and  clerics  to  restore  Chris- 
tianity in  Cumbria,  which  extended  from  the  Clyde  to  the  Dee.  It 
Mom  lona  that  the  missioners  proceeded  who  converted  all 
Noithumnria.  Mercia.  and  the  East  Saxons  and  Angles.  Honour  to 
whom  honour  is  due,  and  the  debt  of  obligation  to  the  Celtic  saints 
in  the  British  Isles  has  been  ignored  or  set  aside  hitherto. 

But  they  did  more.  To  them  was  due  the  conversion  of  Armorica. 
Kvidenee  >hows  that  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  was  done  for  the 
original  inhabitants  of  that  peninsula  by  the  stately  prelates  of  the 
Gallo- Roman  Church.  They  ministered  to  the  city  populations  of 
Nantes  and  kennes  and  Vannes,  and  did  almost  nothing  for  the 
scattered  natives  of  the  province.  They  were  left  to  live  in  their 
heathenism  and  die  without  the  light,  till  the  influx  of  British  colonists 
changed  the  whole  aspect,  and  brought  the  people  of  the  land  into 
the  told  of  Christ. 
In  Waits,  whenever  the  Norman  prelates  could,  they  displaced  the 


Introduction 

Celtic  patrons  from  their  churches,  and  rededicated  them  to  saints 
whose  names  were  to  be  found  in  the  Roman  Calendar.  The  native 
saints  were  supplanted  principally  by  the  Blessed  Virgin,  but  in  a 
number  of  instances  by  S.  Peter.  To  take  a  few  instances  from  one 
diocese  only,  that  of  S.  Asaph.  Llanfwrog  (S.  Mwrog),  Llannefydd 
(S.  Nefydd),  and  Whitford  (S.  Beuno),  have  been  transferred  to  S. 
Mary.  Northop  (S.  Eurgain),  and  Llandrinio  (S.  Trinio)  to  S.  Peter  ; 
Guilsfield  (S.  Aelhaiarn),  and  Llangynyw  (S.  Cynyw)  to  All  Saints. 
The  two  southern  cathedrals  have  received  rededications,  S.  David's 
to  S.  Andrew,  and  Llandaff  to  S.  Peter.  Bangor  was  rededicated  to 
S.  Mary,  but  S.  Asaph  has  escaped. 

In  Cornwall,  Altarnon  has  been  taken  from  S.  Kon  and  given  to 
S.  Mary,  S.  Neot's  at  Menhenniot  to  S.  Anthony,  S.  Finnbar  at  Fowey 
has  been  supplanted  by  S.  Nicholas,  S.  Merryn  by  S.  Thomas  a  Becket. 
At  Mawnan,  S.  Stephen  was  coupled  with  the  patron  when  the  church 
was  rededicated.  S.  Dunstan,  on  a  like  occasion,  was  linked  with 
S.  Manaccus  at  Lanlivery  and  Lanreath.  S.  Elwyn  had  to  make  way 
for  S.  Catherine,  and  S.  Ruan  for  the  apocryphal  S.  Christopher. 

The  same  process  has  been  going  on  in  Brittany,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  sequel. 

The  Celtic  Saints  may  have  employed  methods  which  to  us  seem 
strange  and  uncouth,  but  they  were  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
their  times  ;  they  were  not  free  from  the  legal  conceptions  prevalent 
in  their  race,  and  these  coloured  their  procedure,  and  carried  them 
to  commit  acts  hardly  in  accordance  with  the  Gospel,  but  they  were 
whole-hearted  in  their  devotion  to  Christ,  and  with  a  fervour  of  zeal 
in  their  hearts  which  was  a  consuming  fire.  They  accommodated 
themselves  to  superstitions,  only  that  they  might  divest  these  usages 
of  their  evil  accidents  and  direct  them  into  harmless  currents.  They 
sacrificed  themselves,  their  comforts,  their  everything  that  makes 
life  sweet  and  joyous,  for  the  sake  of  their  Divine  Master,  and  to  win 
a  barbarous  people  to  the  precepts  of  Christ.  They  were  but  human, 
fallible  and  sometimes  faulty,  but  what  they  undertook  to  do,  that 
they  succeeded  in  doing.  The  Spirit  of  God,  ever  present  in  the 
Church,  calls  to  action  in  different  ways  according  to  the  needs  of 
the  time,  and  the  habits  of  those  among  whom  work  has  to  be  done. 
"  There  are  differences  of  administrations,  but  the  same  Lord.  There 
are  diversities  of  operations,  but  it  is  the  same  God  which  worketh 
all  in  all."  '  Spiritus  ubi  vult  spirat ;  et  vocem  ejus  audis,  sed  nescis 
unde  veniat,  ant  quo  vadat  :  sic  est  omnis,  qui  natus  est  ex  Spiritu.*' 

«4  i  Cor.  xii.  5.  67  s.  j0hn  iii,  8. 


Lesser  Britain  39 


II.  LESSER  BRITAIN 


A  KNOWLEDGE  of  the  migrations  to  Armorica,  and  the  colonisation 
of  that  portion  of  what  is  now  called  Brittany,  is  essential  for  the 
appreciation  of  the  history  of  Wales  and  all  south-western  Britain 
in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 

The  Armorican  peninsula  had  been  occupied  from  prehistoric 
times  by  a  non-Aryan  race,  probably  speaking  an  agglutinative 
tongue,  a  people  that  erected  the  rude  stone  monuments  strewn 
broadcast  over  the  land,  a  people  whose  dominating  religious  senti- 
ment was  the  cult  of  the  Dead.  These  were  subjugated  by  the  Gauls, 
moving  into  and  occupying  the  Armorican  peninsula  in  five  invading 
dans,  the  Veneti,  the  Nanneti,  the  Redones,  the  Curiosoliti,  and  the 
mi.  These  invaders  did  not  exterminate  the  natives,  they 
reduced  them  to  servitude,  and  refused  them  the  right  to  bear  arms. 

That  the  religion  and  religious  practices  of  the  conquered  race  in- 
fluenced the  dominant  Gaul  is  what  we  might  expect.  The  influence 
of  a  conquered  race  never  does  die  out  so  soon  as  the  conquerors  are 
established.  It  affects,  moulds  and  modifies  the  religion  and  ritual 
(it  the  conquerors.  And  the  testimony  of  the  sepulchres  in  Armorica 
pn>\vs  that  such  was  the  case  there.  \ 

Caesar  conquered  Armorica,  and  well  nigh  exterminated  the  free- 
born  Gaulish  Veneti.  Thousands  were  massacred,  and  their  wives 
and  children  were  sold  into  foreign  bondage.1 

In  KC.  52.  when  Vercingetorix,  besieged  by  Julius  Caesar  in  Alesia, 

appealed  to  all  Gallic  patriots  to  rise  against   the  Romans,  each  of 

the  Aimoric  tribes  furnished  a  contingent  of  three  thousand  men, 

pf  the  Veneti,  too  exhausted  and  broken,  who  were    incapable 

of  sending  any.2 

The  Gauls  settled  in  Armorica  as  a  dominant  race  rapidly  assimi- 
luted  the  customs,  religion,  and  adopted  the  language  of  their  Roman 
conquerors.  They  seem  even  to  have  abandoned  Celtic  names  for 
those  of  Rome,  as  among  the  inscriptions  of  the  period  recovered, 
hardly  more  than  two  preserved  personal  names  of  Celtic  origin. 

Under  the  later  emperors,  the  fiscal  exactions  in  the  provinces 
became  so  intolerable  that  commerce  and  agriculture  languished. 
Lactantius  says  :— "  The  number  of  those  who  received  pay  had 
become  so  greatly  in  excess  of  those  who  had  to  pay,  that  the  colonials, 

"  Itaque  omni  senatu  necato,  reliquos   sub   corona  vendidit."     De  Bella 
Gallico,  iii,  16  ;    Dion  Cass..  xxxix,  43. 
a  De  Bella  Gallico,  vii,  75. 


Introduction 

crushed  by  the  enormity  of  the  imposts,  abandoned  the  cultivation 
of  their  lands,  and  tillage  reverted  to  forest."  3  He  adds  details. 
"The  fields  were  measured  to  the  last  clod;  the  vine  stocks  and 
tree  boles  were  all  counted ;  every  beast,  of  whatever  kind,  was  in- 
scribed, each  man's  head  was  reckoned.  The  poor  people  of  town  and 
country  were  swept  together  into  the  towns,  the  market-places  were 
crowded  with  families.  Every  proprietor,  together  with  the  free-men 
of  his  household  and  his  serfs,  was  registered  ;  torture  and  the  lash 
were  applied  on  all  sides.  Sons  were  forced  to  give  evidence  against 
their  fathers,  and  they  were  placed  on  the  rack  to  extort  this  from 
them.  The  most  faithful  slaves  were  constrained  by  torture  to 
testify  against  their  masters,  and  wives  in  like  manner  against  their 
husbands.  In  default  of  other  evidence,  men  were  themselves 
tormented  to  give  evidence  against  themselves,  and  when  at 
last  they  were  overcome  by  pain,  they  were  inscribed  for  goods  they 
did  not  possess.  No  exception  was  allowed  for  age  and  infirmity. 
Sick  and  weakly  men  were  all  enrolled  on  the  register  as  taxable.  .  .  . 
And  yet  full  confidence  was  not  reposed  in  the  tax-collectors.  Others 
were  sent  in  their  traces  to  find  out  fresh  occasion  for  imposts.  More- 
over, every  time  the  tax  was  raised,  not  as  if  something  had  been 
discovered  which  had  hitherto  escaped  the  charge,  but  these  new 
agents  piled  up  the  dues  so  as  to  give  proof  of  their  own  activity. 
The  result  was  that  the  cattle  dwindled,  men  died,  and  yet  payment 
was  extorted  for  the  dead  as  from  the  living,  so  that  finally  one  could 
neither  live  nor  die  without  being  taxed."  4 

These  exactions  became  more  oppressive  as  the  Empire  became 
feebler.  The  Gallo-Roman  landed  proprietors,  the  free-men,  were 
constrained  to  abandon  their  villas,  which  they  were  no  longer  in  a 
position  to  maintain,  and  to  retire  within  the  walls  of  Nantes.  Rennes 
and  Vannes. 

The  great  towns  of  Aleth,  Corseul,  Carhaix,  Vindana  (Audierne),  Vor- 
ganium,  etc.,  fell  into  ruins.  The  bishops  of  the  three  cities  absorbed 
the  magisterial  office,  and  became  civic  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  rulers. 
But  their  authority  hardly  extended  beyond  the  walls  of  the  towns  ; 
and  if  they  attempted  anything  towards  the  conversion  of  the  abori- 
ginal inhabitants,  it  was  in  a  half-hearted,  desultory  fashion  that 
produced  no  lasting  results.  To  add  to  the  general  misery,  bands  of 
sea  rovers,  described  as  Frisians,  probably  Saxons,  descended  on 
the  coast,  plundering,  butchering  and  burning. 
At  length  the  tyranny  of  the  Empire  could  be  endured  no  longer, 

3  De  Mortibus  Persecutorum,  vii.  *  Ibid.,  xxiii. 


Lesser  Britain  41 

and  just  as  the  wave  of  German  invasion  began- to  wash  over  Eastern 
Gaul,  the  Armoricans  rose  in  the  West,  and  expelled  the  Roman 
magistrates,  inspired,  as  Zozimus  informs  us,  by  the  example  of  the 
insular  Britons.5  Rutilius,  in  his  Itinerary,  informs  us  that  Exu- 
IK Tuntius,  prefect  of  the  Gauls,  succeeded  in  reducing  the  Armoricans 
in  415-20,  but  this  success  was  temporary.  Sidonius  Apollinaris 
attributes  the  same  success  to  Litorius,  praefectorial  lieutenant  in  435 

;(>,6  and  to  Majorian,  lieutenant  of  Aetius  in  446.' 
The  efforts  of  Aetius  were  by  no  means  as  successful  as  they  are 
i »  presented  by  Sidonius,  for  in  the  very  next  year,  447,  the  same  Ma- 
jorian, despairing  of  being  able  to  reduce  the  Armoricans,  invited  the 
Barbarous  Alans  to  invade  the  country  and  to  exterminate  a  people 
he  was  himself  unable  to  subdue.8  This  proposal  would  have  been 
rarru-d  into  effect  but  for  the  intervention  of  S.  Germanus  of  Auxerre. 

I"  453>"  says  Jornandes,  "  the  Armoricans  supplied  a  contingent 
to  the  confederation  that  defeated  Attila  on  the  plains  of  Chalons."  9 
A  little  later,  after  468,  we  hear  of  Britons  in  Armorica  near  the  mouth 
ot  the  Loire.  In  that  year  a  certain  Arvandus,  prefect  of  Gaul, 

vhelmed  with  debt  and  ripe  for  any  expedient  for  recovering 
himselt.  intrigued  with  Euric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  and  was  arrested 
and  tried  tor  high  treason  in  the  ensuing  year.  At  the  trial  a  letter 
nt  Ins  was  produced,  in  which  he  exhorted  Euric  not  to  make  peace 
with  the  Emperor  Anthemius,  but  "  as  the  Britons  established  upon 
the  Loire  "  were  the  most  able  auxiliaries  that  the  Empire  possessed, 

Ivised  Kuric  to  fall  on  them,  and  rid  himself  of  them,  before  pro- 
ceeding overtly  to  attack  the  imperial  power."  10 

Antheniins  thm  called  on  these  Britons  (solatia  Britonum  postu- 
lavit)  to  make  common  cause  with  him  against  the  Visigoths,  and 

lesponded  by  sending  twelve  thousand  men,  under  their  King, 

minx  up  the  Loire  to  Bourges,  to  the  assistance  of  the  Count 
Paul,  who  was  assembling  an  army  against  Euric.  But  the  Roman 

d  was  leisurely  in  his  proceedings,  and  Riothimus  remained  for 
nearly  a  twelvemonth  at  Bourges,  during  which  time  Sidonius  Apolli- 
naris entered  into  correspondence  with  him  about  some  captives  the 

»ns  had  taken." 
Riothimus,  at  last,  impatient  at  his  enforced  inactivity,  marched 

5  T'ndcr  the  date  of  408. 

«  Carmen   VIII.  v.   ^45  et  seq,  ;    Avitus,  Pancgyr.,  ii. 

7  Carmen   I',  v.  211-2. 

•  Prosp.  Aquit.,  Chron.,  A.D.  44^.  9  De  rebus  Gothicis,  xxxiii. 

"  Britannos  supra  Ligerim  sitos  impugnare  oportere  demonstrans." 
Sidon.  Apollin.,  Epist.,  \,  j. 

11    Hid.,    iii,    y. 


.2  Introduction 

against   the   Visigoths,   whom   he   encountered   at   Deols.     He   was 
defeated  and  compelled,  along  with  the  survivors  of  his  host,  t< 
refuge  among  the  Burgundians.12 

That  these  Britons  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loire  were  Christians 
appears  most  probable,  for  at  a  provincial  council  held  at  Tours  in 
461,  only  a  few  years  previous  to  this,  appeared  Mansuetus,  bishop 
of  the  Britons  (episcopus  Britannorum),  who  sat  with  Eusebius  of 
Nantes  and  Athenius  of  Rennes.  This  is  the  first  intimation  we  have 
of  British  settlers  in  Armorica,  and  in  sufficient  numbers  to  send  a 
contingent  of  twelve  thousand  men  against  the  Visigoths. 

We  are  not  told  that  Britons  were  involved  in  the  risings  in  408,  415, 
435,  446,  but  we  are  afforded  the  significant  hint  that  they  revolted, 
"  following  the  example  of  the  insular  Britons."  That  British  colon- 
ists were  settled  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loire  early  in  the  fifth  century 
is  accordingly  established. 

But  had  they,  at  this  time,  begun  to  settle  in  other  parts  of  Ar- 
morica ?  We  have  no  contemporary  records  to  show  that  they  had, 
but  there  are  many  indications  that  they  had  done  so. 

According  to  the  Gloss  on  Fiacc's  Hymn  on  S.  Patrick,  "  Patrick 
and  his  father,  Calpurn,  Concess  his  mother  .  .  .  and  his  five  sisters 
...  his  brother,  the  deacon  Sannan,  all  went  from  Ail  Cluade  over 
the  Ictian  Sea  (the  English  Channel)  southward  to  the  Britons  of 
Armorica,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  Letavian  Britons,  for  there  were 
relations  of  theirs  there  at  that  time."  13 

The  statement  is  late,  but  it  embodies  an  early  tradition.  It  is 
not  said  to  what  part  of  Armorica  these  emigrants  went,  but  as  we 
hope  to  show,  when  dealing  with  S.  Germanus  the  Armorican,  there 
is  some  ground  for  supposing  it  was  to  Cornugallia. 

According  to  the  Life  of  S.  Illtyd,  he  was  son  of  Bicanys,  an  Ar- 
morican of  British  blood,  driven  from  Armorica  apparently  by  some 
family  quarrel  which  deprived  him  of  his  land.14  Illtyd  cannot 
have  been  born  later  than  460.  So  also  Cadfan,  with  a  large  party 
of  refugees,  came  to  Wales  early  in  the  sixth  century,  and  we  can 
hardly  suppose  them  to  have  been  flying  from  a  country  recently 
occupied.  Cadfan  has  left  his  traces  in  Cornouaille  and  in  Leon. 

Again,  we  have  Budic,  a  king  of  Cornugallia,  living  as  a  refugee  in 
South  Wales,  and  that  in  the  sixth  century,  but  at  the  very  beginning 
of  it.15 

12  Greg.  Turon.,  Hist.,  ii,  18  ;    Fernandes,  De  rebus  Gothicis,  xlv. 

13  Tripartite   Life   of  S.  Patrick,  Rolls   Series,    ii,  473-5.     Liber  Hymn.,    ii, 
p.  177.     See  also  preface  to  Hymn  of  S.  Sechnall,  Liber  Hymn.,  ii,  3. 

14  Cambro-British  Saints,   p.    158.  15  Book   of  Llan  Ddv,   p.    130. 


Lesser  Britain  43' 

Some  little  weight  may  be  allowed  to  the  catalogue  of  the  princes 
of  Cornubia  or  Cornugallia  in  the  Cartulary  of  Landevennec.16  The 
Cartularies  of  Quimperand  of  Quimperle  give  the  same  list,  but  obvi- 
ously derived  from  the  same  source.  They  reckon  three  kings  of 
the  Britons  in  Cornubia  as  reigning  before  Grallo,  who  ruled  from 
about  470  to  about  505.  Allow  fifteen  years  for  each  reign,  and  this 
tfiv»->  u>  435  for  the  first. 

What  is  more  convincing  is  that  when  the  colonists  arrived  at  a 
later  period,  they  found  the  land  already  parcelled  out  into  pious 
and  tret's.  There  was  occasion  for  a  great  migration  taking  place  in 
tin-  tilth  century,  but  immigration  had  probably  begun  earlier. 

I'li'lrr  the  date  364  Ammianus  Marcellinus  says  : — "  At  this  time 
tlic  trumpet,  as  it  were,  gave  signal  for  war  throughout  the  Roman 
w«>rM  :  and  the  Barbarian  tribes  on  the  frontier  were  moved  to  make 
incursions  on  those  territories  which  lay  nearest  to  them.  The 
Picts,  Scots,  Saxons  and  Attacotti  harassed  the  Britons  with  in- 
int  mva>ions." 

(  hving  to  the  weakness  of  Britain,  that  had  been  partly  Romanised, 
and  which  was  ill  defended  by  a  few  legions,  the  island  became  a  prey 
to  Invaders,  It  was  fallen  upon  from  all  sides.  The  Irish,  or  Scots 
as  tin  \  were  then  called,  poured  over  the  western  coast  and  occupied 
nearly  tin-  wlu.K-  ot  Wales.  The  Picts  broke  over  the  Wall  from  the 
north,  and  the  Germans  invaded  and  planted  themselves  on  the  east 
and  south-east.  Large  bands  of  Irish  swept  over  Devon  and  Corn- 
wall. Their  inscribed  stones  with  ogams,  as  has  been  already  shown, 
can  be  traced  into  South  Devon. 

From  Irish  records  we  find  that  after  366  Crimthan  the  Great  was 
warring  in  Alba,  Britain,  and  exacting  tribute  from  it.17 

In  308,  according  to  Ammianus,  matters  had  reached  a  critical 
:n  Britain.  Theodosius  was  sent  into  the  island,  and  he  drove 
tin-  Picts  out  of  London.  The  relief  was  temporary.  No  sooner  was 
he  gone  than  they  returned.  It  is  of  this  period  of  protracted  misery 
that  (iildas  writes:  "Britain  groaned  in  amazement  under  the 

city  of  two  foreign  nations,  the  Scots  from  the  north-west,  and 
Picts  from  the  north."  According  to  him  the  Britons  appealed 
o  Rome,  and  a  legion  was  sent  into  the  island,  which  inflicted  severe 
on  the  invaders.  It  was,  however,  almost  immediately  with- 


5 


'•  Cart.  Land.,  i-d.  De  la  Borclerie,  Rennes,  1888,  pp.  172-3. 

"  Capessivit  postea  imperium  Crimthanus  Fidlogi  filius  .  .  .  qui  septern- 

em  annos  regnavit,  et  Albania,  Britannia  et  Gallia  victorias  retulisse  illa- 
rumque  regionum  incolas  vetusta  docuraenta  produnt."  (Keating,  from 
Minister  documents.) 


A  A  Introduction 

drawn,  and  then,  "  their  former  foes,  like  ravening  wolves  rushing 
upon  the  field  left  without  a  shepherd,  wafted  across  by  the  force  of 
the  oarsmen,  and  the  blast  of  the  wind,  broke  through  the  boun- 
daries, spread  slaughter  on  every  side,  and  overran  the  whole  country." 
Again  a  legion  was  sent,  but  was  withdrawn  with  a  notice  that  no 
further  assistance  would  be  accorded  to  the  island.  "  No  sooner 
were  they  gone,"  continues  Gildas,  "  than  the  Picts  and  Scots  landetf 
from  their  boats,  in  which  they  had  been  borne  across  the  Cichian 
Valley  (the  Irish  Channel)."  The  Britons  "  left  their  cities,  aban- 
doned the  protection  of  the  Wall,  and  dispersed  in  flight ;  and  the 
enemy  pursued  them  with  more  unrelenting  cruelty  than  before,  and 
butchered  our  countrymen  like  sheep." 

"The  power  of  the  Cruithnians  (Picts)  and  of  the  Gaels  (Scots) 
advanced  into  the  heart  of  Britain,"  says  Nennius,  "  and  drove  them 
to  the  Tin  (Tyne).  .  .  .  Their  power  continually  increased  over 
Britain,  so  that  it  became  heavier  than  the  Roman  tribute  ;  because 
the  object  aimed  at  by  the  Northern  Cruithnians  and  Gaels  was  the 
total  expulsion  of  the  Britons  from  their  lands."  18 

"  Great  was  the  power  of  the  Gael  over  Britain,"  says  an  early 
Irish  writer,  Cormac,  b.  831,  d.  903.  "  They  divided  Alba  (i.e., 
Albion  =  Britain)  amongst  them  in  districts  .  .  .  and  their  residences 
and  royal  forts  were  built  there."  He  mentions  Glastonbury  as  in 
their  hands,  and  the  fort  of  Mac  Lethain  in  the  hands  of  the  Cornish 
Britons.19 

In  the  meantime  the  Saxon  pirates  had  ravaged  and  depopulated 
Armorica.  Sidonius  Apollinaris  shows  us  what  devastation  they 
wrought,  and  how  they  extended  their  attacks  as  far  south  as  the 
Saintonge.20  To  more  completely  sweep  the  country  they  planted 
stations  along  the  coast  from  which  they  penetrated  inland,  burning 
and  slaughtering.21  The  results  of  these  raids  are  revealed  by  the 
spade  at  this  day.  All  the  old  sites  of  Roman-Gaulish  towns  in 
Brittany  lie  buried  under  beds  of  ashes.22 

Finally,  as  Procopius  says,  the  region  of  Armorica  was  the  most 
desert  in  all  Gaul.23  This  peninsula  accordingly  offered  a  field  for 
settlement  by  Britons  flying  from  the  swords  of  the  Picts  and  Scots. 
The  exodus  began  in  the  fifth  century,  but  it  was  renewed,  and  the 

18  Irish  Nennius,  ed.  Todd  &  Herbert,  1848,  p.  73. 

19  Glossary  of  Cormac,  ed.  W.  Stokes,  1862,  pp.  xlviii,  xlix. 

20  Sidon.  Apoll.,  Paneg.  Aviti,  vv.  370-2,  348-50. 

21  Greg.  Turon.,  Hist.  Franc.,  ii,  18,  19  ;   v,  27  ;   x,  9. 
!2  De  la  Borderie,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  t.  i,  221-225. 
23  De  Bello  Gothico,  iv,  20. 


Introduction 

Britons  came  over  in  great  masses  when  the  Angle,  -Jute  and  Saxon 
obtained  a  foothold  in  Britain  and  rolled  back  the  natives  to  the 
Severn. 

Three  main  principalities  had  been  founded  in  Armorica  before 
the  new  rush  of  colonists,  flying  from  the  Saxons.  These  were  the 
principalities  of  Dumnonia,  Cornubia  and  Venetia,  afterwards  called 
Bro-weroc.  There  was  another  very  soon  absorbed  into  Dumnonia, 
that  of  Leon,  and  Po-her  was  a  county  in  the  folds  of  the  Monts 
d'Arree  and  the  Montaignes  Noires  which  eventually  fell  to  Cornubia, 
but  which  was  for  a  while  closely  connected  with  Dumnonia.  It  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  natives  of  insular  Dumnonia,  or  Devon, 
flying  before  the  inrush  of  the  Irish,  had  settled  Armorican  Dumnonia 
and  given  to  it  the  name  it  bore.  So,  also,  we  may  suppose  that 
Cornubia  received  its  settlers  from  Cornwall,  whence  also  the  natives 
were  driven  by  the  Irish,  who  seized  on  the  Land's  End  and  Lizard 
districts,  as  also  by  a  great  body  of  emigrants  from  Gwent.  Caerleon 
may  have  furnished  the  settlers  who  gave  the  name  to  Leon. 

Vannes,  Nantes  and  Rennes  remained  Gallo-Roman  cities,  as 
hostile  in  feeling  to  the  new  colonists  as  they  were  to  the  new  Frank 
kingdom. 

At  first,  probably,  the  settlers  maintained  a  political  connexion 
with  the  mother  country.  This  is  implied  by  a  passage  in  the  Life 
of  S.  Leonore,  "  Fuit  vir  unus  in  Britanicia  ultra  mare,  nomine  Rigal- 
dus,  qui  in  nostra  primus  venit  citra  mare  habitare  provincia,  qui 
dux  fuit  Britonum  ultra  et  citra  mare  usque  ad  mortem"  24 

What  makes  this  probable  is  that  we  meet  with  the  names  of  the 
Dumnonian  princes  Geraint  and  Selyf  or  Solomon,  in  Armorica,  as 
though  certain  lands  had  been  reserved  to  them  as  royal  domain  in 
the  newly  settled  lands.  But  if  this  recognition  of  the  British  princes 
was  at  first  allowed  it  cannot  have  endured  for  long. 

How  completely  Armorica  became  settled  from  Britain  appears 
from  many  allusions.  Thus  in  the  Life  of  S.  Illtyd  we  read  :— "  Let- 
avia.  .  .  sumpsit  originem  a  matre  Britannia.  Erudita  fuit  a  matre, 
filia."  25 

The  biographer  of  S.  Padarn,  a  late  writer,  gives  us  the  traditions  : 
"  Corus  ecclesiasticus  Monachorum  Letaviam  deserens  Brittanit 
meditabantur  oras  appetere.  .  .  .  Caterva  sanctorum  ad  originem 
unde  exierunt,  transmittit  sub  ducibus."  26 

The  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  with  reference  to  Guidnerth,  of  Gwent,  wl 

24  De  Smedt,  Catalogus  Codicum  Hagiograph.  in  Bibl.  Nat.  Parisiens.  ii,  153, 
16  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  158.  2«  Ibid.,  p.  189. 


Lesser  Britain  47 

the  murder  of  his  brother  was  sent  on  pilgrimage,  says  that  he 
departed  for  Armorica,  as  "  Guidnerth  himself  and  the  Britons  and 
the  archbishop  of  that  land  were  of  one  tongue  and  of  one  nation, 
although  divided  by  a  tract  of  land."  27 

\\Y  are  obliged  to  repose  largely  on  inference  with  regard  to 
the  earliest  settlement  of  Britons  in  Armorica  prior  to  the  migration 
of  the  first  half  of  the  6th  century.  But  when  we  come  to  the 
tinit-  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion,  it  is  otherwise,  we  have  document- 

•  •vidence  concerning  that. 

(iiMas.   alter  describing  in  his  inflated  style  the  miseries  of  his 

e  Britain,  goes  on  to  say: — "Some  of  the  wretched  remnant 

consequently  captured  on  the  mountains  and  killed  in  heaps. 

<  Uht-rs,  overcome  by  hunger,  came  and  yielded  themselves  to  the 

•  luinies,  to  be  their  slaves  for  ever,  if  they  were  not  instantly  slain, 
which  was  equivalent  to  the  highest  service.     Others  repaired  to 
parts  beyond  the  sea,  with  strong  lamentation,  as  if,  instead  of  the 
oarsman's  call,  singing  thus  beneath  the  swelling  sails,  'Thou  hast 
^'ivi-n  us  like-  sheep  appointed  for  eating,  and  among  the  Gentiles  hast 
Thou  scattered  us.'  "        Gildas  does  not  say  whither  the  British 

.rees  betook  themselves,  that  we  learn  from  other  sources. 
Eginhanl.  writing  under  the  date  786,  says  :   "  At  the  period  when 
tt  Britain  was  invaded  by  the  Angles  and  Saxons,  a  large  por- 
»i  its  inhabitants  traversed  the  sea  and   came    to    occupy  the 

•  •"imtry  of  the  Veneti  and  the  Curiosoliti,  at  the  extremity  of  Gaul."  29 

Procopius  says  :   "  The  isle  of  Britain  is  inhabited  by  three  nations 

that  are  very  numerous,  each  having  its  own  king,  the  Angles,  the 

Saxons)  and  the  Britons.    These  nations  possess  such 

.in  abundance  of  men,  that  annually  a  number  of  them  quit  the  isle 

•  iloni;  with  wives  and  children,  and  emigrate  to  the  Franks,  who 

i  to  them  as  dwelling  the  most  distant  portion  of  their  empire."  *° 
Procopius.   living  at  Byzantium,  was  ill-informed.      There  is  no 
nee  of  Saxons  and  Angles  settling  in  the  extremities  of  Gaul,  4 
;h  there  is  of "  Frisians  "  ravaging  the  north  coast  of  Brittany. 
Krnold  Nigellus,  in  834,  also  speaks  of  the  migration  to  Armorica, 
.;nd  says  that  it  was  conducted  peaceably. 

The  author  of  the  Life  of  S.  Winwaloe  says  :— "  The  sons  of  the 
Britons,  leaving  the  British  sea,  landed  on  these  shores,  at  a  period 

*'  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.   181. 

18  De  excidio  Brit.,  »•<!.  Williams,  p.  57. 

"  Cum  ab  Anglis  et  Saxonibus  Britannia  fuisset  invasa,  magna  pars 
incolarum  ejus  mare  trajicentes,  in  ultimis  Galliae  finibus,  Venetorum  et  Curio- 
solitarum  regiones  occupavit."  Annul.,  ann.  786. 

30  De  Bella  Gothico,  iv,  20. 


CS'^l/W/y 


7 


Introduction 

when  the  barbarian  Saxon  conquered  the  Isle.  These  children  of  a 
beloved  race  established  themselves  in  this  country,  glad  to  find 
repose  after  so  many  griefs.  In  the  meantime,  the  unfortunate  Britons 
who  had  not  quitted  their  country,  were  decimated  by  plague.  Their 
corpses  lay  without  sepulture.  The  major  portion  of  the  isle  was 
depopulated.  Then  a  small  number  of  men  who  had  escaped  the 
sword  of  the  invaders  abandoned  their  native  land,  to  seek  refuge, 
some  among  the  Scots,  the  rest  in  Belgic  Gaul."  31  Wrdistan  wrote 
this  in  the  ninth  century,  but  he  rested  his  statements  on  early 
authorities,  though  for  this  particular  fact  he  quotes  only  popular 
tradition,  "  ut  vulgo  refertur." 

To  about  the  years  460  or  470,  in  documents  relating  to  Armorica, 
that  name  prevails,  and  the  inhabitants  are  spoken  of  as  Veneti,  Ossismi, 
Curiosoliti,  Redones,  or  Naneti.  But  from  that  date  all  is  altered. 
The  name  of  Armorica  disappears,  the  ancient  peoples  are  no  more 
spoken  of,  but  the  land  is  entitled  Lesser  Britain,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants are  Britons.32 

The  linguistic  evidence  is  conclusive  as  to  the  extent  and  com- 
pleteness of  the  colonisation.  "  The  Armorican  Breton  tongue  was 
not  only  closely  akin  to  that  of  the  insular  British  or  Welsh,  it  was 
identical  with  it."  33  Now,  if  there  had  been  a  mere  infiltration  of 
colonists,  the  result  would  have  been  a  fusion  of  the  British  with  the 
base  Gallo-Latin  of  the  inhabitants.  But  this  did  not  take  place. 
The  Gallo-Roman  population  had  disappeared  out  of  the  country 
places,  and  remained  only  in  the  towns.  Those  natives  who  clung 
to  the  fields  and  woods  were  of  the  original  non-Aryan  stock,  and 
probably  still  retained  their  agglutinative  tongue. 

M.  de  Courson  34  first  promulgated  the  theory  that  the  settlers  in 
Breton  Cornubia  were  refugees  from  the  North  of  Britain,  and  he 
was  followed  by  M.  de  la  Borderie.  According  to  him  the  Otadini 
of  the  Wall  fled  before  the  Picts  and  found  a  home  in  Armorica, 
and  founded  the  settlement  of  Cornubia  there.  He  relied  on  no 


31  Britannia  insula,  de  qua  stirpis  nostra  origo  olim,  ut  vulgo  refertur, 
processit  .  .  .  Longe  ab  hujus  moribus  parvam  distasse  sobolem  suam  non 
opinor,  quae  quondam  ratibus  ad  istam  devecta  est,  citra  mare  Britannicum, 
terram  tempore  non  alio  quo  gens — barbara  dudum,  aspera  jam  armis,  moribus 
indiscreta — Saxonum  maternum  possedit  cespitem.  Hinc  se  cara  soboles  in 
istum  conclusit  sinum,  quo  se  tuta  loco,  magnis  laboribus  fessa,  ad  oram  con- 
cessit  sine  bello  quieta."  Vita  S.  Winwaloei,  i,  i. 

33  De  la  Borderie,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  i,  p.  248. 

"  J.  Loth,  L' Emigration  bretonne  en  Armorique,  p.  92. 

34  De  Courson,  La  Bretagne,  Paris,  1863,  p.   163  ;  De  la  Borderie,  Hist,  de 
Bretagne,  i,  pp.  301-2.     J.  Loth,  in  Revue  Celtique,  t.  xxv,  p.  91  et  seq. 


Lesser  Britain  49 


better  foundation  than  this  : — that  there  was  a  Corstopitum  on 
the  Wall  near  Newcastle,  and  that  the  name  of  Quimper  was  Curio- 
sopitum.  Also  : — that  a  troop  raised  among  the  Cornovii  of  the 
Severn  Valley  had  been  sent  to  guard  the  Wall,  as  noticed  in  the 
Notitia  Dignitatum,  "  Sub  dispositione  ducis  spectabilis  Britanni- 
arum,  per  lineam  valli,  Tribunus  cohortis  Cornoviorum."  The 
Notitia  gives  us  information  relative  to  the  disposition  of  troops 
dating  the  period  between  the  reign  of  Constantine  and  the  retreat 
of  the  Roman  armies. 

Now  if  Cornovii  from  the  Severn  basin  had  been  stationed  on  the 
Wull,  when  the  troops  were  recalled,  they  would  go  whither  summoned. 
If  they  dispersed,  they  would  return  to  their  own  homes.  Moreover 
Corstopitum  is  not  the  same  name  as  Curiosopitum,  of  the  Coriosoliti. 
What  we  do  know  is  that  Cunedda  and  a  large  body  of  men,  who 
did  hold  the  Wall,  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Roman  legions,  when 
unable  to  keep  out  the  barbarians  any  longer,  took  refuge,  not  in 
Armorica.  but  in  Gwynedd,  where  they  drove  the  Irish  out  of  all  the 
north  and  west  of  Wales,  and  established  themselves  in  Gwynedd 
and  Ceredigion.  and  portions  of  Powys.  It  is  more  probable  that 
the  native  Britons  of  Cornwall  founded  the  Armorican  Cornubia, 
when  forced  to  migrate  by  the  occupation  of  the  entire  west  of  the 
peninsula  by  the  Irish  from  Ossory,  and  the  whole  north-east  and 
the  Tamar  down  to  the  mouth  by  the  settlers  from  Brecknock,  who 
were  also  of  Irish  extraction.  It  is  significant  that  something  like 
fifty  saintly  Celtic  patrons  in  Cornwall  should  also  be  culted  in  Finis- 
tere,  whereas  there  is  not  a  trace  of  any  saint  from  the  district  of  the 
Otadini  having  ever  effected  a  colonisation  there.  But  no  argument 
can  be  based  on  identity  of  names,  for  the  name  Cornubia  for 
Cornwall  does  not  occur  earlier  than  the  end  of  the  7th  century. 
Previously  the  whole  peninsula  is  spoken  of  as  peopled  by  the 
Dumnonii. 

( >n  settling  in  Armorica,  the  colonists  from  the  beginning  organized 
themselves  into  tribes.  But  the  tribal  system  had  to  be  modified  to 
meet  the  new  conditions. 

The  ancient  tribe  consisted  of  those  who  were  united  by  blood. 
In  all  the  Celtic  tribes  the  tie  of  kinship,  of  blood  relationship,  was 
that  which  bound  them  together.  But  in  process  of  time  this  went 
through  considerable  modification,  and  upon  blood-relationships  other 
links  were  forged,  those  of  mutual  rights  and  mutual  protection. 
"  This  new  idea  of  mutual  protection  very  soon  entered  most  forcibly 
into  tribal  development,  and  almost  eclipsed  the  original  idea  of  the 
tie  of  blood-relationship  being  the  basis  of  tribal  society.  The  tribe 

VOL.    I.  -R 


Introduction 

was  to  a  great  extent  reorganised  upon  these  new  ideas,  which  played 
the  most  important  part  in  the  later  tribal  development."  ™  This 
alteration  was  forced  on  the  colonists,  as  annually  fresh  arrivals 
came  to  the  coast,  and  solicited  adoption  into  the  already  constituted 
plebes,  if  they  were  not  numerous  enough  themselves  to  form  an 
independent  plebs. 

Thus  the  tribe  was  reorganised  on  a  broader  basis.  It  formed  a 
plou,  the  Welsh  plwyf,  consisting  of  the  original  band  that  had  come 
over,  made  up  of  tribesmen,  under  their  hereditary  chief,  who  dis- 
posed of  his  clansmen  in  their  trefs,  and  the  settling  of  controversies 
among  them  took  place  in  the  chieftain's  Us.  That  the  regular  can- 
tref  was  formed  is  improbable,  the  trefs  were  fewer,  and  were  multi- 
plied as  fresh  settlers  arrived  and  placed  themselves  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  chief  and  were  received  into  his  tribe  by  adoption. 

The  artificial  character  of  the  organisation  apparently  may  be  traced 
in  the  settlement  of  Fragan,  the  father  of  S.  Winwaloe.  He  was 
married  to  Gwen  Teirbron,  she  being  an  Armorican  Briton  by  birth. 
So  as  to  have  as  many  pious,  nuclei  for  tribal  formations,  he  not 
only  established  one  near  S.  Brieuc,  and  a  second  in  the  county  of 
Leon,  but  also  constituted  a  plou  for  his  wife,  Gwen,  near  S.  Brieuc, 
and  another  near  his  own  place  in  Leon. 

The  consolidation  of  the  pious  under  sovereign  princes  came  some- 
what later.  The  first  to  exercise  sovereign  jurisdiction  in  Dumnonia 
was  Rhiwal,  about  the  year  5I5,36  but  he  did  not  venture  to  do  so 
without  the  permission  of  the  king  of  the  Franks.37 

Rhiwal,  who  died  about  520,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Deroc,  who 
ruled  till  about  535,  and  to  him  succeeded  his  son  Jonas,  who  died 
about  540,  leaving  a  son  Judual.  Conmore,  Count  of  Poher,  married 
the  widow  of  Jonas,  and  usurped  the  rule  over  Domnonia.  Judual, 
fearing  for  his  life,  fled  to  S.  Leonore,  who  facilitated  his  escape  to 
the  court  of  Childebert.  This  Frank  king  confirmed  Conmore  in  his 

35  Willis  Bund,  The  Celtic  Church  of  Wales,  p.  59. 

se  .<  Riwalus  Britanniae  dux  filius  fuit  Derochi  .  .  .  Hie  Riwalus,  a  transma- 
rinis  veniens  Britanniis  cum  multitudine  navium,  possedit  totam  minorem 
Britanniam  tempore  Chlotarii  regis  Francorum  .  .  .  Hie  autem  rexit  Britan- 
niam  tempore  Dagoberti  filii  Clotharii."  Ex  Cod.  MS.  S.  Vedasti  Dom  Morice, 
Preuves,  i,  211  ;  Mabillon,  Acta  SS.  O.S.B.,  saec.  ii.  The  statement  that 
Rhiwal  possessed  all  Little  Britain  is  an  exaggeration.  This  is  the  Rhiwal  who 
received  and  welcomed  S.  Brioc.  De  la  Borderie  supposed  they  were  distinct 
personages  because  he  placed  the  period  of  S.  Brioc  earlier  than  need  be,  misled 
by  the  assumption  that  Brioc  had  been  a  disciple  of  Germanus  of  Auxerre. 

37  Le  Baud,  Hist.  Bretagne,  1638,  p.  65.  The  passage  is  quoted  under  S.  Brioc 
further  on.  Also  the  late  Chvon.  Briocense,  quoted  by  De  la  Borderie,  Hist. 
Bret.,  \,  353. 


Lesser  Britain 


51 


usurpation,  made  him  his  lieutenant  in  Brittany,  and  retained  Judual 
in  honorary  restraint  at  Paris,  till  S.  Samson  obtained  leave  in  554 
to  organise  an  insurrection  for  the  overthrow  of  Conmore,  who  was 
killed  in  555,  and  then  Judual  was  elevated  to  the  throne  of  Dom- 
nonia.  The  pedigree  of  the  princes  of  Domnonia,  as  well  as  can  be 
made  out,  is  as  follows  : — 

Khiwal    arrived    in    Domnonia 
c.  455,  established  himself  chief 
;  15,  d.  c.  520. 

Deroc,   prince  in   Domnonia, 

c-  520-535- 

Conmore,  Count  = =  Jonas, 


of  Pohcr,  then,  540,     da.  of  Budic  I, 
regent     of      Dom-     of  Cornubia. 

killed  555. 


-  535-540. 


Judual,  b.  c.  534,       Aurilla  m.  Miliau, 
pl.urd    on    the  Prince  of  Cornubia. 

throne  555,  d.  580. 

Juthael  =  Pritella,  da.  of  the 
580-60:;  I    Count  of  Leon. 


S.   JudiL-.irl,  monk,  kinj;  in 
:•  throned  same  year 
tfl    l>n>tlur    Haeloc. 
d      610,      married 
Moron^    abdicated    640, 

Haeloc. 
usurper   605, 
resigned  610, 
d.  c.  615. 

S.    Judoc,    abb.       .     . 
in   Ponthieu,   d. 
c.  668. 
S.  W 
abbot  in  Fla 
d.  717. 

nnoc, 
nders, 

L£on  was  probably,  as  already  said,  colonised  from  Gwent,  or  at 
all  events  the  chief  who  consolidated  the  settlement  there  under  his 
rule,  and  gave  the  name  to  the  land,  probably  came  from  Gwent.  His 
name  was  Withur.  In  the  Life  of  5.  Paul  of  Leon  he  is  mentioned  as 
the  chief ;  he  died  probably  about  525.  According  to  the  Life  of  5. 
.[/,  Deroc,  son  of  Rhiwal,  exercised  rule  in  Leon,  perhaps  by 
usurpation  in  the  old  age  of  Withur.  It  is  singular  that  no  mention 
is  made  of  him  in  the  Life  of  S.  Paid.  About  the  year  520  Deroc 
U  i  aim  Prince  of  Domnonia. 

Perhaps  the  next  chief  was  Ewen,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Life  of 
S.  Goulvcn  as  having  his  Us  or  court  at  Lesneven,  and  who  was  engaged 
in  repelling  an  invasion  of  Saxon  or  Frisian  pirates  on  the  coast. 
But  if  so,  he  has  been  confounded  by  the  writer  of  the  Life  with 
another  Ewen  of  Leon  who  lived  much  later.  Soon  after,  Conmore, 
Count  of  Poher,  began  his  encroachments  by  annexing  Leon,  and 
thenceforth  it  formed  a  portion  of  Domnonia. 

Cornubia,  or  Cornugallia,  was  formed  into  a  principality    earlier 


5  2  Introduction 

than  Domnonia.  The  Cartularies  of  Landevennec,  Quimperle  and 
Quimper  give  the  following  list  of  the  princes  :— (i)  Rivelen  Mor 
Marthou;  (2)  Rivelen  Marthou ;  (3)  Cungar ;  (4)  Gradlon  Mur ; 
(5)  Daniel  Dremrud  ;  (6)  Budic  et  Maxenri  duo  fratres.  [Horurn 
primus  rediens  ab  Alamannia  interfecit  Marchell 38  et  paternum 
consulatum  recuperavit.]39  (7)  Jan  Reith,  Hue  rediens  Marchel 
interfecit  ;  (8)  Daniel  Unva ;  (9)  Gradlon  Flam ;  (10)  Cungare 
Cherovnoc  ;  (u)  Budic  Mur,  and  six  others  to  Alan  Caniart,  who 
died  1040,  and  to  Hoel  V,  who  died  1084. 

The  list  is  mainly  fabulous.  The  contest  of  one  king  with 
Marchell,  attributed  in  the  Cartulary  of  Quimperle  to  Budic,  is  attri- 
buted in  that  of  Quimper  to  Jan  Reith.  According  to  the  Life  of  S. 
Melor,  Jan  Reith  did  not  succeed  Budic,  but  preceded  him,  and  was 
the  father  of  Daniel.  We  must  admit  the  existence  of  Grallo  the 
Great,  who  ruled  from  about  470  to  about  505.  After  him  confusion 
reigns  in  the  Catalogue.  Budic  certainly  did  not  take  refuge  in 
Alamania.  We  have  no  means  of  determining  who  Grallo  was,  and 
whether  Budic  was  of  his  family. 

Budic  had  two  sons,  Miliau  and  Rivold.  Miliau  reigned  for  seven 
years,  which  were  years  of  prosperity  in  the  land.  He  was  assassi- 
nated by  his  brother  Rivold  in  or  about  the  year  537,  and  Rivold 
then  married  his  brother's  widow,  and  obtained  the  assassination  of 
his  nephew  Melor  in  544.  Rivold  himself  died  in  the  same  year  ; 
and  then  it  was  that  Budic  II,  who  had  been  a  refugee  in  Demetia, 
returned  to  Cornubia  and  became  king.  We  are  now  on  safer  ground. 
He  seems  to  have  lived  till  570,  when  he  left  a  son,  Tewdrig,  who 
was  driven  "from  his  principality  by  Macliau,  bishop  of  Vannes  and 
count  of  Bro-weroc.  Tewdrig,  however,  raised  a  body  of  men, 
attacked  Macliau  and  killed  him  in  577,  and  recovered  his  principality. 
Of  this  there  is  nothing  in  the  catalogue  of  princes,  and  we  may  well 
question  whether  any  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  names  that  occur 
earlier. 

Daniel  Dremrud  may  perhaps  be  recognised  as  the  founder  of 
Plou  Daniel  in  Leon.  Jan  Reith  is  probably  purely  mythical. 

After  the  death  of  Tewdrig  the  history  of  Cornubia  remains  a 
blank  for  a  tract  of  time.  If  there  were  princes,  they  left  no  trace  in 
history. 

38  Gregory  of  Tours,  in  his  Libri  Octo  Miraculantm,  Lib.  i,  mentions  a  bar- 
barian chief  of  the  name  of  Marchil  Chillor,  who  besieged  Xantes  in  497.  Is  it 
possible  that  this  can  be  the  same  man  ? 

89  This  passage  is  in  the  list  in  the  QuimperU  Cartulary.  That  of  Quimper 
agrees  with  that  of  Quimperle. 


Lesser  Britain 


53 


The  pedigree  of  the  princes  of  Cornubia,  for  what  it  is  worth,  as  made 
out  from  the  Lives  of  S.  Melor  and  S.  Oudocui,  is  as  follows  :— 


Jan    Keith,    first 

^•ttler  in  ("ormibia. 

| 

Daniel 

Dremrud. 

Grallo  th 

I 

c.   . 

Budk 
I 

I 

Cyb 

plan 

.     A  u  r  i  1  1  a  = 
i  Jonas, 
I'rince  of 

Miliau,  mur- 
dered  by  his 
brother. 

Rivold,            da.  and  =  Conmore, 
usurper,           widow  of     regent  of 
537-544.          Jonas.          Domnonia, 

1  )omnonia. 

530-537- 

d.  555. 

Bin 

1C      II 

S. 

M 

elor 

0. 

d. 

544- 

1 

expelled 

1  via. 

m. 

S.  Ismael,             S.  Oudocui, 
Bishop.                  B.  Llandaff  . 

577< 

;lvna>tks  of  Brittany  have  been  thrown  into  the  utmost  con- 
fusion by  historians  attempting  to  construct  pedigrees  on  the  prin- 
rij.lt-  that  all  Brittany  was  subject  to  a  single  king  from  the  latter 
part  of  thr  tilth  ri-ntury,  and  by  acceptance  of  the  fable  of  Cynan 
i .lot:1"  as  a  basis  for  their  reckonings.  Taking  Geoffrey  of 
Monmnutlfs  preposterous  nonsense  as  if  it  were  genuine  history, 
tlu'v  have  proceeded  to  extravagances  in  no  whit  less  absurd. 

In  thr  eighteenth  century  Gallet,  a  priest  of  Lamballe,  drew  up  a 
:l(^\  <>f  the  house  of  Rohan,  and  with  the  object  of  flattering  the 
family  drrivol  its  descent  from  Cynan  Meiriadog  and  from  the  family 
of  S.  Patrick. 

dalkt  \va<  (juitr  unaware  that  Brittany  in  the   early  period  of   its 
:  v  was  not  an  undivided  kingdom,  and  that  it  comprised  inde- 
pendent   principalities   and   equally   independent   counties.     In   the 
manufacture  of   the  genealogy  he  collected  all  the  material  he  could, 
all  the  names  of  counts  and  princes  he  was  able  to  find  in  the  records 

40  The  table  o»  ('yuan  Meiriadog  had  its  origin  in  this.  Xennius  says  that 
Maxnmis  had  takrn  soldiers  from  Britain  to  assist  him  against  Gratian,  he 
did  not  send  them  back  to  Britain,  but  he  planted  them  from  the  pond  on  the 
Mon-;  Jrvis  (the  Gt.  S.  Bernard)  to  the  city  of  Cantquic  and  to  the  western  hill 
of  (.'rue  Oehidient.  The  next  to  speak  of  this  is' Eudo,  Bishop  of  Leon  in  1019, 
and  lie  names  Conan  Meriadoc.  Then  came  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  and  de- 
veloped the  whole  story.  See  De  la  Borderie,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  ii,  441-63. 
But  he  ijoes  too  far  in  saying  "  le  glorieux  Conan  Meriadec  doit  prendre  place 
dans  la  brumeuse  phalange  des  monarquesimaginaires."  He  makes  no  allowance 
for  genuine  \\Vlsli  traditions. 


5  4  Introduction 


of  the  duchy,  and  he  set  to  work  to  link  them  together  by  imaginary 
ties. 

Whatever  document  came  to  hand  and  would  serve  his  purpose, 
Gallet  accepted  it  with  impartial  disregard  of  its  historic  value.  He 
took  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  in  grave  earnest.  He  looked  at  Colgan's 
Trias  Thaumaterga,  and  picked  out  from  his  notes  what  he  had  to  say 
about  the  sisters  of  the  Apostle  Patrick,  and  about  his  residence  in 
Letavia.  He  got  hold  of  Capgrave's  Nova  Legenda  Anglice.  He  read, 
besides,  the  Life  of  Gildas  by  the  monk  of  Ruys,  and  that  also  fur- 
nished him  with  some  names. 

Unhappily  Dom  Morice,  in  most  matters  sensible,  was  led  away 
by  Gallet,  and  in  his  Histoire  Ecclesiastique  et  Civile  de  Bretagne,  Paris, 
1750,  he  inserts  a  pedigree  that  identifies  Cynan  Meiriadog  with 
Caw  of  Cwm  Cawlwyd,  and  further  marries  him  to  Darerca,  sister 
of  S.  Patrick. 

The  pedigree,  as  he  gives  it,  will  be  found  on  the  opposite  page. 

The  assumptions  and  absurdities  of  this  pedigree  are  marvellous. 
Cynan  Meiriadog,  who  accompanies  Maximus  into  Gaul  in  383,  has 
to  wife  a  sister  of  S.  Patrick,  and  his  grandson  Grallo  marries  another 
sister.  By  her  Cynan  is  father  of  Gildas,  who  died  in  570. 

Having  ascertained  from  the  Life  of  S.  Cybi  that  Erbin  was  son  of 
Geraint  and  father  of  Solomon,  which  is  a  mistake  according  to  the 
Welsh  genealogies,  for  by  them  Geraint  was  son,  not  father,  of  Erbin 
— he  intercalates  Conan  Meriadoc,  whom  he  identifies  with  Caw, 
between  Geraint  (Gerenton)  and  Erbin  (Urbien).  Next,  he  identifies 
Weroc  I,  who  died  in  550,  but  whom  he  throws  back  to  472,  with 
Riothim,  who  assisted  the  Emperor  Anthimius  against  the  Visigoths 
in  468,  and  was  defeated  and  killed.  Moreover,  he  gives  forty-one 
years  for  three  generations.  But  the  pedigree  is  so  preposterous, 
that  it  does  not  deserve  serious  notice  being  taken  of  it.  Yet  it  was 
accepted  by  Deric  and  printed  with  amplifications  in  his  Ecclesi- 
astical History  of  Brittany. 

Moreover,  this  fictitious  pedigree  has  infected  the  hagiologists  of 
Brittany.  For  instance,  Garaby,  in  his  Vies  des  Saints  de  Bretagne, 
1839,  under  Dec.  30,  has  Sainte  Tigride,  Reine  de  Bretagne,  and 
relates  how  she  was  daughter  of  Calpurnius  and  Conchessa,  sister  of 
S.  Martin  of  Tours,  and  continues,  "  Ses  belles  qualites  la  firent  de- 
mander,  en  382,  pour  epouse,  par  Grallon,  compagnon  d'armes  de 
Conan,  puis  due  de  Domnonia,  comte  de  Cornouaille,  et  enfin,  en 
434,  troisieme  roi  de  Bretagne." 

It  is  astounding  how  the  imagination  of  modern  as  well  as  ancient 
martyrologists  runs  riot.  Grallo  never  had  anything  to  do  with 


Lesser  Britain 


55 


(icn-nton  Prince  <!' Albanie. 
Miivant  Inyomar,  pere  do 
Conan. 


Conan  autrement  Conis,  Cono,  Coun, 
Conomagle,  Cathon,  etc.,  suivit,  le  tyran 
Maxime  dans  les  Gaules  1'an  383,  et  fut 
gratifie  par  cet  usurpateur  d'une  portion  de 
rAnnoriqno.  II  epousa  Darerca,  soeur  de  S. 
Patrice,  et  mourn  vers  421. 
I 


1 

I 

I 

| 

I 

1 

Cuile,  Comte 

Rivelon, 

Urbien, 

Gildas, 

plusieurs  enfants 

cinq 

de  Cornou- 

Comte  de 

alias 

ne  421. 

qui  prirent  la 

filles. 

aille. 

Cornouaille, 

Congar. 

part  de  1'exlisr. 

aprds  son 

tore, 

Salomon,  roi  des  Bretons 
armoriquains.     rpousa    la 
tille  de  Flavins  Patricius, 
Remain,  mort  c.  434. 
I 


Grallo,  usurpatenr  apres 
Salomon,  epousa  Tigriilin, 
soenr  de  S.  Patrice  et  mort 
c.  445. 


Audrien  on  Aldor, 
Denims  on  Daniel 
in.  c.  4'<4- 

1 

Constantin  roi  des      S.  Kebius.       Rengilide=Bican  Cheva- 
Bretons  insulaires                                                  Her    de    1'isle 
«-t   pftrede  Anrelins                                                  (pere  et  mere 
Ambrosins.                                                                   de  S.  Iltut). 

K  reel  i    ou    Guerch       Eus^be.mort     Budoc  al.  Cybidan 
<>u    Kiothime  det.         c.  490,                 Dubric,  epousa 
par  les  Goths  47-'.         epousa               Anaumed   fille  de 
A>pasia.             Ensic,  m.  c.  509. 
| 

Maxena.        Guitcael. 

ou   Hoeloc 
IvMtli.  on    Riwal, 
t"-pon>a      Alma 

Pom] 

Ismael           Tyfei              S.   Oucloc 
ivecpjede      moine    et      evequede 
Menevia,       Martyr.          Llandaff. 
C.  544- 

Conmore          Dinot, 
ou  Urbion.     p£re  de  S. 
Kinede. 

Hoel    ou     Rigual 
Haeloc,     epousa 
Rima     tille     de 
Mael.uwn.  tne  par 
Canao  547. 

S.   Leonore.     Canao,          Macliau, 
S.  Tudgual.    tue  560.        Comte    et 
eveque,  tue 
par    son 
neveu 
Theodoric 
577- 

Budic             S.  Seve. 
tue  par  son 
frdre  Canao 

547- 

1 
Weroc 
Canao 

1 
tue  par          Theodoric. 
547- 

Introduction 

Domnonia,  and  he  never  was  sole  king  over  Armorica.  That  Grallo, 
who  actually  died  about  505,  should  have  been  companion  in  arms 
in  383  with  his  grandfather,  who  was  also  his  brother-in-law,  is  absurd, 
but  the  amazing  thing  is  that  sensible  men  writing  ecclesiastical 
history  and  hagiography  should  not  have  seen  these  anachronisms 
and  avoided  them.41 

The  genealogy  of  the  Counts  of  Bro-weroc,  as  well  as  can  be  made 

out,  is  as  follows  : — 

Weroc  I  (parentage  unknown), 
d.  c.  550. 


Canao, 
550-560. 

Macliau  B. 
Vannes,  Count 

560-577. 

1    1    1 

Three  sons 
murdered  by 
Canao  550. 

Trinna  = 

S.  Ti 
Gild 

=  Con  more, 
Regent  at_ 
Domnonia, 

d-  555- 

em  or  or 
is  Junior. 

Weroc  II, 

577-594- 

James,  killed  with 
his  father  577. 

Vannes,  or  Bro-weroc,  was  colonised  from  Britain  at  a  very  early 
period,  but  the  first  chief  of  whom  we  hear  was  Weroc  I,  who  ruled 
from  about  500  to  550.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Canao,  who 
murdered  three  of  his  brothers  and  would  have  killed  another,  Mac- 
liau, if  the  latter  had  not  fled  for  his  life  and  taken  refuge  with  Con- 
more,  regent  of  Domnonia.  Canao  fell  in  560,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  brother  Macliau,  who  was  killed  in  577,  and  was  in  turn  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Weroc  II. 

Such  is  the  epitome  of  the  early  history  of  Domnonia,  Leon,  Cor- 
nubia  and  Vannes.  This  latter  was  not  esteemed  more  than  a  county, 
as  the  British  settlers  did  not  obtain  possession  of  the  city  itself  till 
Macliau,  who  had  got  himself  chosen  bishop,  united  Bro-weroc  under 
his  rule  along  with  the  city  itself  on  the  death  of  his  brother. 
But  it  relapsed  after  his  death,  for  in  590  the  Bishop  Regalis  com- 
plained that  he  was  as  it  were  imprisoned  by  the  Britons  within  the 
walls  of  the  city. 

Venantius  Fortunatus  praises  Felix,  bishop  of  Nantes  (550-582), 
for  having  "  defeated  the  British  claims,  and  maintained  the  covenant 
sworn  to,"  and  he  speaks  of  the  Britons  as  "  ravishing  wolves,"  and 
congratulates  him  at  being  able  to  hold  them  off.42  There  was 
no  love  lost  between  the  bishops  and  denizens  of  the  old  Gallo-Roman 

41  The  pedigree  in  my  Lives  of  the  Saints  of  the  Princes  of  Cornouaille  and 
Domnonia  is  very  inaccurate.  At  the  time  it  was  drawn  up  I  lacked  sufficient 
original  material.  (S.  B.  G.) 

43  "  Pro  salute  gregis,  pastor  per  compita  curris.  Exclusoque  lupo  tuta  tcne- 
tur  ovis,  insidiatores  removes,  vigil  arte  Britannos."  Yen..  Fort.,  Misccll.,  iii, 
c.  8. 


Lesser  Britain  57 

cities  and  the  independent  Britons  who  occupied  the  whole  country 
round. 

These  latter  were  careful  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the  Frank 
kings.  We  have  seen  how  Rivold  of  Domnonia  would  not  assume 
rule  till  he  had  received  permission  to  do  so  from  Clothair.  The 
usurper  Conmore  obtained  commission  to  rule  in  Armorica  as  lieu- 
tenant for  that  king.  The  bishops  and  abbots  did  not  venture  to  accept 
.grants  of  land  till  these  were  ratified  by  the  King  in  Paris.  Thus 
Withur  sent  S.  Paul  thither  to  have  his  concession  of  lands  confirmed. 
Brioc  in  like  manner  had  his  ratified,  so  also  had  S.  Samson.  It  was 
not  till  the  battle  of  Vouille  in  507  that  Clovis  and  his  Franks  became 
masters  of  Nantes  and  of  the  greater  part  of  Aquitania,  but  he  did  not 
gain  dominion  over  the  Britons  of  Armorica.  Procopius  says,  "  The 
Franks,  after  their  victory  over  the  last  representatives  of  Roman 
authority  in  Gaul,  finding  themselves  incapable  of  contending  against 
Alaric  and  the  Visigoths,  sought  the  friendship  of  the  Armoricans 
and  entered  into  alliance  with  them."  43 

Not  till  558,  when  Canao  of  Bro-weroc  gave  asylum  to  Chramm, 
son  of  Clothair,  king  of  Soissons,  did  the  Britons  embroil  themselves 
with  the  Franks.  Hitherto  they  had  been  practically  independent, 
and,  at  least  till  the  death  of  Clovis  in  511,  under  their  own  kings  ;  44 
after  that  they  rendered  acknowledgment  of  being  feudatories  to 
the  Frank  kings. 

After  the  secular  organisation  came  that  which  was  ecclesiastical. 
Kinsmen  of  the  settlers  who  were  in  the  ecclesiastical  profession  came 
i»\vr,  and  were  accorded  patches  of  land  on  which  to  plant  their  lanns, 
and  monastic  institutions  sprang  up,  that  supplied  missionaries  to 
the  natives  who  had  hitherto  been  left  in  paganism,  and  ministered 
as  well  to  the  colonists,  and  served  as  schools  for  the  education  of 
thr  young.  Every  monastery  had  its  minihi,  or  sanctuary,  about  it, 
to  which  runaway  slaves,  those  pursued  in  blood-feud,  and  refugees  in 
war,  might  fly  and  enter  thereby  the  ecclesiastical  tribe.  Something 
like  fifty-three  of  these  minihis  still  bear  the  name  in  Brittany.45 

The  Latin  was  the  mother  church,  corresponding  to  the  arnoit 
•church  of  the  Irish.  Subject  to  these  were  the  trefs,  each  with  its 
•chapel,  and  served  from  the  mother  church.  Thus  the  vast  parish 
<>!  Xoyala,  in  Morbihan,  till  1790  comprised  the  treves  of  Gueltas, 

1:1  n,    Itdh  <;,>thico,  i,    12. 

44  "  Chanao  regnum  integrum  accepit.       Nam  semper  Britanni  post  mortem 
•Chlodovechi  regis  sub  potestate  Francorum  fuerunt,  et  duces    eorum  comites, 
non  reges  appellati  sunt."     Greg.  Turon.,  Hist.  Func.,  iv,  4. 

45  P.  De  la  Vignc-Villencuve,  in  Mttn.  de  la  Soc.  Arch,  d'llle  et  Vilainc,  1861. 


5« 


Introduction 


Kerfourn,  Croixanvec,  S.  Thuriau  and  S.  Geran.  That  of  Pluvigner 
consisted  of  a  conglomeration  about  the  mother  church  of  nine 
treves,  Camors,  Baud,  Languidic,  Landevant,  Landaul,  Brech, 
Plumergat,  Brandivy  and  La  Chapelle-Neuve.  But  here,  owing  to 
later  colonisation  of  British  on  a  plou  that  had  been  settled  by  the 
Irish,  several  of  these  treves  became  independent  lanns. 

In  many  districts  in  Brittany  the  term  lann  has  fallen  away. 
This  was  due  to  the  devastation  caused  by  the  Northmen  in  the  ninth 
century,  when  the  country  was  laid  waste,  and  the  inhabitants  fled, 
some  far  inland  into  France,  some  to  England,  where  they  were 
afforded  protection  by  Athelstan.  When  they  returned  the  old 
order  had  changed.  The  lanns  were  no  longer  monastic  churches 
with  their  treves  dependent  on  them,  and  the  parish  was  organised 
on  the  Latin  system,  and  was  called  after  the  founder  simply,  without 
the  prefix  lann. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Not  every  Armorican  mother  church  bore 
the  title  of  Lann,  for  the  founders  came  with  colonies  and  at  once 
established  tribes,  and  the  place  where  each  secular  chief  settled  was 
not  called  a  lann,  for  there  was  in  the  new  lands  no  such  a  demand 
for  "  sanctuary  "  as  in  the  old,  at  least  not  at  first,  and  the  settle- 
ment took  its  name  as  a  tribal  centre,  plou.  Thus  we  have  Ploermel, 
the  plou  of  Arthmael.  He  was  an  ecclesiastic  and  a  monk,  and  we 
might  have  supposed  that  his  headquarters  would  have  been  desig- 
nated a  lann.  But  it  was  not  so.  In  Wales,  where  the  princes  were 
tyrannous,  and  internecine  feuds  were  habitual,  there  the  llan,  the 
sanctuary  of  refuge,  was  a  most  important  feature  of  the  ecclesiastical 
order,  and  it  afforded  a  means  to  the  saint  for  recruiting  his  tribe. 
But  in  Armorica,  where  the  British  colonists  bore  down  the  natives, 
and  there  was  no  resistance,  and  there  was  room  at  first  for  expansion 
without  fratricidal  war,  there  the  plou  became  of  more  importance 
than  the  lann. 

The  monastic  founders  had  each  his  loc,  corresponding  perhaps 
to  the  Irish  till.  It  was  the  place  of  retreat  for  Lent,  and  when 
the  Saint  desired  to  escape  from  the  daily  worry  of  management 
of  a  monastery  and  a  colony.  These  Iocs  were  originally  in 
very  solitary  places,  in  islands,  or  in  the  depths  of  the  forest. 
But  about  a  good  many  of  them  villages  and  even  towns  have 
grown  up. 

As  was  the  case  in  Wales,  so  in  Brittany,  in  addition  to  the  trevial 
churches,  there  are  numerous  chapels  in  a  parish.  In  that  of  Noyala, 
already  mentioned,  there  are  nine.  In  that  of  Ploemeur  there  were 
something  like  thirty-six. 


• 

Lesser   Britain  59 

The  chapel  was  erected  either  to  commemorate  some  event  that 
had  taken  place  on  the  spot,  either  in  the  life  of  a  saint,  or  on  the 
scene  of  a  battle  ;  or  else  it  was  erected  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow  made 
in  a  moment  of  danger;  or,  again,  was  due  to  a  dream  connected  with 
the  place  ;  or  to  the  finding  there  of  an  image  ;  or,  lastly,  a  chapel  was 
erected  for  the  accommodation  of  a  noble  family  which  had  its  chateau 
there.  The  chapel  was  not  a  part  of  the  organism  of  the  tribe  or 
aiterwards  of  the  parish.  It  was  an  outcrop. 

These  chapels  are  extremely  numerous  in  Brittany.  They  are  for 
the  most  part  opened  only  once  or  perhaps  twice  in  the  year,  when 
Mass  is  said  in  them,  on  the  occasion  of  the  "  Pardon  "  =  Patronal 
Feast.  Yet  some  of  them  are  magnificent  monuments  of  architec- 
ture, far  surpassing  the  parish  churches  of  the  district  in  which  they 
aiv  situated. 

It  was  due,  probably,  to  the  close  and  friendly  relations  maintained 
with  the  Franks,  and  association  with  them,  that  we  hear  of  no  strife 
engendered  in  Brittany  over  Celtic  peculiarities  in  ecclesiastical 
matters.  In  the  monasteries,  indeed,  the  Celtic  tonsure  was  em- 
ployed till  the  year  890,  and  clergy,  even  bishops,  were  often  married  ; 
l>ut  the  difference  in  the  time  of  the  celebration  of  Easter  does  not 
appear  to  have  existed.  Apparently,  the  British  Church  in  Armorica 
quietly  accepted  the  Roman  computation.  Had  it  been  otherwise, 

tiould  certainly  have  heard  of  the  fact.46 

( hie  curious  document  has  come  to  light  that  shows  how  strained 
were  the  relations  between  the  Gallo-Roman  bishops  of  the  old  cities 
in  early  period  and  the  clergy  of  the  new  colonies  from  Britain. 
515  and  520  Licinius,  Metropolitan  of  Tours,  Eustochius, 
bishop  of  Angers,  and  Melanius,  bishop  of  Rennes,  issued  a  monitory 
lett.-r  addressed  to  a  couple  of  British  priests  named  Lovocat  and 
(  atliiei  u.  requiring  them  to  desist  from  certain  practices  that  offended 
their  ideas  of  what  was  seemly.  "  We  have  learned,  by  the  report  of 
the  venerable  priest  Sparatus,  that  you  do  not  desist  from  taking 
about  certain  tables  into  the  cabins  of  your  compatriots,  upon  which 
you  celebrate  the  divine  Sacrifice,  in  the  presence  of  women  called 
ConhospiUf,  and  who,  whilst  you  are  administering  the  Eucharist, 
administer  to  the  people  the  Blood  of  Christ.  .  .  .  And  we  have 
deemed  it  our  duty  to  warn  you,  and  supplicate  you  by  the  love  of 
Christ,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Unity  of  the  Church,  and  of  our  common 
laith.  to  renounce  this  abuse  of  tables,  which,  we  doubt  not  on  your 
word,  to  have  received  priestly  consecration  ;  and  these  women, 

46  See  further,  under  S.  Gwenael. 


60  Introduction 

whom  you  call  conhospitce,  a  name  which  one  cannot  hear  or  pro- 
nounce without  shuddering."  47 

There  was  probably  a  good  deal  of  exaggeration  in  this  charge. 
The  three  prelates  had  only  the  word  of  Sparatus  to  go  upon,  and 
he  bore  these  British  priests  a  grudge.  They  had,  as  yet,  no  churches, 
or  the  churches  were  few  and  far  between,  and  they  went  their  rounds, 
ministering  to  their  fellow  immigrants  the  Bread  of  Life,  as  they 
were  in  duty  bound.  They  carried  with  them  portable  altars.  This 
was  customary  among  the  Celts,  and  was  adopted  throughout  the 
Latin  Church  in  the  eighth  century.  S.  Leonore,  on  his  voyage  to 
Armorica,  carried  his  altar-stone  with  him.  S.  Carannog  cast  his 
into  the  Severn  sea,  and  it  was  washed  up  on  the  Cornish  coast.  The 
custom  of  having  portable  altars  was  introduced  from  lona  into  the 
Northumbrian  Church,  and  the  earliest  known  example  is  that  of 
about  687,  in  Durham  Cathedral.48 

But  early  in  the  sixth  century  these  portable  altars  were  novelties, 
and  were  accordingly  condemned  by  the  three  bishops  above  named. 

As  to  the  conhospita,  they  were  doubtless  the  wives  of  Lovocat 
and  Cathiern,  for  the  Celtic  clergy  were  usually  married.  Indeed, 
married  bishops  and  priests  appear  in  Brittany  many  centuries  later. 
The  first  order  of  saints  in  Ireland,  according  to  the  of  ten- quoted 
Catalogue  of  the  Orders,  "  muliarum  administrationem  et  consortia 
non  respuebant  "  ;  49  it  was  later,  when  the  Irish  Church  became 
monastic,  that  the  women  were  excluded.  The  three  bishops  mis- 
understood the  position  of  these  women.  They  supposed  them  to 
be  the  mulieres  subintroductte  who  had  given  so  much  trouble  from 
the  Apostolic  period.50  That  these  British  priests  allowed  the  women 
to  administer  the  chalice  to  communicants  is  perhaps  a  libel,  a  bit 
of  spiteful  gossip  retailed  by  Sparatus. 

Owing  to  the  troubles  in  the  South  of  Ireland  at  the  close  of  the 
fifth  century,  when  the  Ossorians  were  expelled  their  land  by  Aengus 
MacNadfraich  and  Cucraidh,  who  gave  it  over  to  be  peopled  by  the 

47  Cognovimus   quod  vos   gestantes  quasdam  tabulas   per  diversorum  civium 
vestrorum  capanas  circumferre  non  desinatis,  et  missas,  ibidem  adhibitis  muli- 
eribus  in  sacrificio  divino  quas  conhospitas  nominatis,  facere  praesumatis,  sic  ut 
erogantibus  vobis  Eucharistiam,  illae  vobis  positis  calices  teneant,  et  sanguinem 
Christi  populo  administrare  praesumant."     Lovocat  et  Cathiern,  par  Duchesne, 
Revue  dc  Bretagne  et  de  Vendee,  1885,  p.  6. 

48  Smith,  Diet.  Christian  Antiquities,  i,  69  ;    Darcel,   "  Les  Autels  portatifs," 
in  Didron,  Annalcs  Archeologiques,  xvi,  77-89. 

49  Vita  SS.  Hib.  Cod.  Sal.,  col.   161. 

50  Gildas  refers  to  the  custom,    "  Religiosam  forte  matrem  seu   sorores  domo 
pellentes  et  externas    veluti    secretiori    ministerio    familiares  indecenter  levi- 
gantes  vel   potius  .  .  .  humiliantes."  De  Excid.,   ed.   Williams,  p.   164. 


Lesser  Britain  6  1 


i- 


Southern  Deisi,  there  would  seem  to  have  been  an  exodus  of 

dispossessed  Ossorians.  and  they  appear  to    have  settled,  some  in 

Cornwall  and  others  in  the  west  of  Brittany.     But  it  was  not 

from  Ossory  alone  that  a  migration  took  place.      The   Hy  Bairrche 

were  driven    out    of  their    territory    between    the    Slaney  and    the 

w  by  the  Hy  (  innselach  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century, 

and  internecine  war  was  chronic  in    Leinster  to  the  close  of    that 

iry. 

\\Y  find  settlements  of  Irish  saints,  all  from  Leinster  and  Munster, 

the  coasts  of  Finistere  and  L6on,  with  churches  under  the 

invocation  of  Conlaeth  of  Kildare,  Senan  of  Iniscathy,  Setna,  Fiacc 

ttv.  Ronan,  Ciaran  of  Saighir,  Ciannan,  Brendan    of   Clonfert  :. 

and  the  cult  of  S.  Brigid  was  widely  diffused  there. 

Hut  there  is  another  curious  phenomenon  connected  with  the  Irish 

A  cluster  of  these  is  found  in  the  department  of  Ille- 

et  -Yilaine.     The  mouth  of  the  Ranee  and  the  Bay  of  Mont  S.  Michel 

tless  favourite  places  for  landing.     Up  the  Ranee  seven 

Iri-h  bishops,  with  pious  women  accompanying  them,  plodded  at  the 

i-t  -inning  of  the  sixth  century,  planting  churches  all  the  way, 

and  finally  readied  Rheims  in  509,  where  they  were  received  by  S. 

KVmigius.-'1    Tlu-si-  came  from  the  South  of  Ireland,  and  were  quite 

"  -ndi'iit  of  another  srttlrment,  unique  in  its  way,  made  from 

Ulster. 

in  was  founded  by  Seit.  the  Irish  master  of  S.  Kentigern 
\  ;    S,  Maccaldus.  bishop  of  Man,  is  venerated  as  founder 
Mankind,  near  Montfort.     In  the  twelfth  century  the  church 
t'-u-d  as  that  of  S.  Ma^aldus.52 

cald  or  Maughold  had  been  a  robber  chief  ;    he  was  converted 
S    I  'at  rick,  and  in  punishment  for  his  crimes  sent  adrift  in  a  coracle 
without  oars,  and  with  his  feet  chained.53     He  drifted  to  the  Isle  of 


Older  S.    Uhebran  and  S.  Cn-nnanus  MacGoll. 
»iM>n.  I'onilli'  </(•  Routes,  t.  vi,  s.  nom.  S.  Maugand. 

1  1  lu-  punishment  of  sending  adrift  on  the  sea  was  not  uncommonly  exer- 
Tli'-  criminal  was  clothed  in  a  vile  garment,  his  feet  bound  with  an  iron 
tetter,  and  the  fetter-key  was  cast  into  the  water.  He  was  placed  in  a  navis 
pellis,  a  coracle  whose  wicker  framework  was  covered  with  hide  only  one- 
fold deep,  and  without  food,  oar  or  rudder,  committed  to  the  winds  and  waves. 
Muirchu  Maccu-Mactheni,  in  Tripartite  Life,  p.  288.  In  the  case  of  aggravated 
manslaughter,  according  to  the  Senchus  Mor,  this  was  the  punishment.  When 
I  uiclia.  son  of  Domnall,  was  killed  by  the  men  of  Ross,  his  brother  Dormchadh 
a>krd  advice  of  S.  Columcille  as  to  what  punishment  he  should  deal  out  to  the- 
people  oi  Ros-,.  S.  Columcille  sent  two  of  his  clerics  to  the  spot,  and  they  or- 
dered that  sixty  couples  of  the  men  and  women  of  Ross  should  in  this  manner 
be  sent  adrift  on  the  sea.  O'Curry,  MS.  Materials  of  Ancient  Irish  History, 
iblin.  1861,  p.  333. 


6  2  Introduction 

Man,  and  we  may  suspect  that  the  Patrician  bishops  there,  Coindrus 
and  Romulus,  recommended  him  to  go  abroad  and  practise  penance 
and  learn  the  monastic  rule  in  Armorica,  where  his  past  history  was 
unknown.  Hard  by  the  settlement  of  Maughold  is  that  of  another 
Irishman,  S.  Uniac,  as  now  called,  but  the  patron  is  S.  Toinnau.54 
It  is  not  possible  to  identify  him  ;  he  can  hardly  be  Toimen,  bishop 
of  Armagh,  who  belongs  to  a  later  period.  He  became  bishop  in 
622  or  623.  S.  Brendan  also  had  a  monastery  on  Cesambre, 
and  a  foundation  at  S.  Broladre,  and  at  S.  Brelade  in  Jersey. 

Professor  Zimmer  has  pointed  out  some  evidences  of  Irish  influence 
in  Brittany.  "  In  884  the  Breton  monk  Wrmonoc,  in  his  monastery 
of  Landevenec  in  Brittany,  wrote  a  Life  of  S.  Paul  of  Leon,  who  lived 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century.  This  Life  is  based  on  written 
sources,  and  the  associates  of  S.  Paul  who  had  come  with  him  from  the 
south-west  of  Britain  are  quoted,  with  their  full  names.  On  one  of  them, 
Quonocus,  there  is  the  additional  remark  :  '  Whom  some,  adding  to 
his  name  after  the  fashion  of  the  people  over-sea,  called  Toquonocus  ' ; 
and  further  on  we  read  that  the  name  Woednovius  in  the  same  way  had 
a  second  form,  Towoedocus.  We  meet  with  several  other  instances. 
.  .  .  During  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  the  custom  prevailed  in 
Ireland,  and  especially  in  the  monasteries,  of  forming  familiar  names 
from  the  full  name  form,  which  always  consisted  of  two  components, 
such  as  Beo-gne,  Lug-beo,  Find-barr,  Aed-gen,  and  Aed-gal.  It  was 
done  by  taking  one  component  of  the  full  name  and  adding  the 
diminutive  ending  -an,  -idn  (e.g.  Beoan,  Findan,  Finnian,  Aedan),  or 
by  prefixing  mo-,  to-,  and  often  adding  oc  as  well,  like  Maedoc  (  =  Mo- 
Aed-oc),  Molua,  Tolua,  Mernoc,  Ternoc.  Thus  a  person  of  the  name 
of  Beogne  was  familiarly  called  Beoan  ('  little  Beo  '),  Mobeoc  ('  my 
little  Beo  '),  or  Dobeoc  ('  you  little  Beo  ') ;  in  the  same  way,  Lugbeo, 
Luan,  Molua,  Moluan,  Tolua,  Moluoc  all  denote  the  same  person  ; 
similarly,  Becan,  Mobecoc,  Tobecoc,  Ernan,  Mernoc,  Ternoc,  etc. 
How  strong  must  the  influence  of  the  Irish  element  at  the  beginning 
•of  the  sixth  century  have  been  in  the  monasteries  of  Brittany  and 
•of  the  south-west  of  Britain,  if  British  monks  imitated  this  truly 
Irish  way  of  forming  familiar  names  !  It  is,  then,  not  surprising  that 
among  the  Breton  saints  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  we  find 
a  dozen  or  more  who  by  tradition  and  name  are  Irish."  55 

Again  :     in  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  the  bards  of  Ireland, 

54  De  Corson,  op.  cit.  s.v.  S.  Uniac.  In  the  tenth  century  (913)  the  name  is 
given  as  S.  Toinanus  ;  in  the  fourteenth  century,  S.  Thonnanus.  He  has  his 
Holy  Well  in  the  parish. 

56  The  Celtic  Church  in  Britain  and  Ireland,  Lond.,  1902,  pp.  68-9. 


Lesser   Britain  6  3 

their  consternation,  discovered  that  one  of  their  famous  traditional 
tales,  concerning  a  cattle  raid  of  some  historic  importance,  was  lost. 
Fragments  were  to  be  found,  but  not  the  tale  entire.  After  Ireland 
had  been  ransacked  for  it  in  vain,  they  met  in  council,  in  580,  and 
appointed  a  commission  to  proceed  to  Brittany  and  visit  the  Irish 
settlers  there,  and  inquire  whether  any  of  them  had  carried  off  a 
complete  copy  of  the  great  tale.  The  commission  went  to  Armorica 
and  returned,  having  succeeded  in  recovering  the  desired  work.56 
Now,  this  surely  shows  that  the  Irish  settlers  had  remained  to  stay, 
for  unless  they  had  done  so  they  would  hardly  have  carried  off  their 
HHiiantic  and  historic  literature  with  them. 

Much  difficulty  exists  in  the  identification  of  the  saints  in  Brittany, 
owing  to  the  various  forms  their  names  assume.  Some,  we  are 
•  •xpressly  told,  had  double  names  ;  Brioc  was  also  Briomaglus,  Kenan 
was  known  as  well  as  Colledoc,  and  Meven  had  a  second  name,  Conaid. 

But  it  is  in  the  mouths  of  the  people  that  great  transformation 
has  taken  place.  Gorlois  becomes  Ourlou,  Conlaeth  is  now  Coulitz, 
Judoc  is  Josse,  and  Brigid  is  rendered  S.  Berch'et.  Guethenoc  is 
transformed  to  Goueznou,  and  Gwen  is  translated  into  Candida  in 
Lower  and  Blanche  in  Upper  Brittany.  Beudoc  is  softened  to  Bieuzy, 
and  Fingar  into  S.  Venner. 

It  is  certainly  a  fact    deserving  of    consideration  that,  whereas 

Armorica  may  have  been,  and  probably  was,  colonised  by  refugees 

from   ail   tin-  south  coast  of  Britain,  nevertheless  its  ecclesiastical 

usation  should  be  due  solely  to  the  Welsh.     There  is  no  trace 

whatever  of  British  saintly  founders  from  other  portions  of  Britain. 

The  Str.ithrlyde  family  of  Caw  may  be  accounted  Welsh,  for  it 
settled  in  Anglesey  or  Mon  by  the  generous  hospitality  of 


O'Cmry,  .VS.  Matcnals  <>/  .Indent  Irish  History,  Dublin,  1861,  p.  8.  The 
passage  is  in  tlu-  Book  of  Leinstcr,  and  runs  thus  :— "  The  Files  (poets)  of  Erinn 

MOW  callt-d  together  by  Senchan  Torpeist  (chief  poet  of  Erinn  and  of  S. 

:i  of  Unnmacnoise)  to  know  if  they  remembered  the  Tain  bo  Chuailgne 
in  full  ;  and  they  said  that  they  knew  of  it  but  fragments  only.  Senchan  then 
spoke  to  his  pupils  to  know  which  of  them  would  go  into  the  countries  of  Letha 
to  harn  the  Tain,  which  the  Sai  had  taken  eastwards  after  the  Cuilmenn.  Emine, 

andson  of  Ninine  o  Muirgen,  Sanchan's  own  son,  set  out  to  go  to  the  East." 
^  The  date  would  be  about  580.  Letha  is  the  Letavia  of  the  Lives  of  the  Welsh 
Saints,  or  Llydaw,  i.e.  Armorica,  though  sometimes  it  is  used  for  or  confounded 
with  Latium.  Here  it  is  certainly  Armorica.  The  going  East  means  that  the 
traveller  crossed  either  to  Alba,  or  from  Wexford  or  Waterford  to  Forth  Mawr 
>.  David's  and  thence  travelled  to  the  next  crossing  to  Brittany.  The 
Cuilmenn.  the  great  collection  of  history,  is  unhappily  now  lost.  It  is 
n  •frrrcd  to  in  the  Brehon  Laws,  and  in  an  ancient  Irish  Law  Glossary.  Ibid. 
p.  9, 


64 


Introduction 


Mat-lgwn.      But   this   family   is   only  represented   in   Morbihan   and 
Cotes  du  Nord  by  Gildas  and  his  sons. 

The  principal  Welsh  saints  who  have  made  their  mark  in  Brittany 
are  Brioc,  of  Irish  origin,  but  born  in  Ceredigion,  Cadoc,  Curig, 
Carannog,  David,  Paulus  Aurelianus,  Arthmael,  Edeyrn,  Teilo, 
Tyssilio,  Gudwal,  and  Non.  There  were  others,  of  Armorican  extraction 
on  one  side  or  the  other,  who  had  their  education  in  Wales,  as  Illtyd, 
Samson,  Malo,  Maglorius,  Meven,  Tudwal,  and  Leonore. 

Other  founders  were  natives  of  Armorica,  but  of  British  origin,  as 
James  (Jacut),  Gwethenocand  Winwaloe,  Gwenael  and  Goulven.  Of 
the  chieftains  who  held  rule  we  know  but  little,  and  almost  nothing  of 
whence  they  came.  But  we  do  know  that  Rhiwal  of  Domnonia  was 
from  South  Wales,  for  he  was  a  kinsman  of  Brioc  of  Ceredigion  and 
of  Hywel.  Withur  of  Leon  was  cousin  of  Paul,  who  came  from 
Penychen  in  Glamorganshire.  Btidic  of  Cornubia  was  for  some 
years  a  refugee  in  South  Wales,  where  he  married.  Possibly 
enough,  he  went  to  the  land  whence  his  forefathers  had  come. 

As  in  Wales  and  in  Cornwall,  so  has  it  been  for  long  an  accepted 
procedure  in  Brittany  that  the  national  saints  should  be  displaced 
from  their  niches  to  make  way  for  others  who  are  foreign,  Italian  for 
the  most  part,  but  who  have  received  the  imprimatur  of  Rome  ;  so 
also  have  the  diocesan  calendars  been  weeded  of  the  Celtic  saints. 
S.  Avee,  though  she  gives  her  name  to  a  parish,  has  had  her  church 
transferred  to  SS.  Gervasius  and  Protessus.  S.  Cynan  (Kenan)  has 
been  rejected  where  lie  his  bones,  for  Caius,  the  pope.  S.  Derrien 
has  retired  to  make  room  for  Pope  S.  Adrian  ;  S.  Budoc  or  Bieuzy, 
the  friend  and  disciple  of  Gildas,  has  been  supplanted  by  S.  Eusebius. 
At  Laurenan,  the  titular  saint  Renan  has  been  set  aside  for  S.  Renatus, 
and  at  Audierne,  S.  Rumon  is  replaced  by  S.  Raymond  Nonnatus. 
At  S.  Brieuc,  the  founder  fades  before  the  more  modern  S.  Guil- 
laume  Pichon. 

In  the  united  dioceses  of  Treguier  and  S.  Brieuc  not  a  Celtic  saint 
is  admitted  into  the  calendar  during  the  months  of  January,  February, 
June,  July,  August,  September  and  December.  In  March  only  one, 
Paul  of  Leon.  On  the  other  hand,  the  calendar  is  invaded  by  foreigners. 
Of  Italians  there  are  fourteen  in  January  and  February,  whereas  of 
early  Breton  saints  but  five  are  admitted  in  the  entire  year. 

In  that  striking  story  of  Ferdinand  Fabre,  L'Abbe  Tigrane,  the 
Bishop  of  Lormieres  is  represented  in  his  Grand  Seminary  turning 
out  the  Professors  as  not  sufficiently  ultramontane  to  please  him,  and 
when  the  teachers  murmur,  he  blandly  asks  with  what  do  they  re- 
proach him.  "  With  what  ?  "  asks  the  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 


On  JJ^elsk  and  Cornish  Calendars        65 

History.  "  In  your  passion  for  reform  you  have,  so  to  speak, 
abolished  the  Proper  of  the  Diocese,  one  of  the  most  ancient  and 
nio^t  glorious  of  the  Martyrologies  of  France." 

At  Treguier,  the  founder,  S.  Tudwal,  is  eclipsed  by  the  Advocate 
S.  Yves  "  advocatussed  non  latro  "  ;  yet  everywhere,  to  the  Breton 
pr<>  pie,  each  saintly  founder  might  appeal  in  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
inscribed  under  the  statue  of  Tudwal  at  Treguier:  "  Et  si  aliis  non 
sum  apostolus,  sed  tamen  vobis  sum  ;  scitis  quae  praecepta  dedi- 
(U-riiu  vobis  per  Dominum  Jesum."  57 


III.    ON  WELSH  AND  CORNISH  CALENDARS 

IN  drawing  up  calendars  of  the  Celtic  saints  of  Wales  and  Cornwall 
considerable  difficulties  have  to  be  encountered.  A  good  many  of 
tin-  saints  who  founded  churches,  or  to  whom  churches  have  been 
dedicated,  do  not  find  their  places  in  any  extant  ancient  calendars; 
and  it  is  not  possible  to  rely  on  many  of  the  modern  calendars  that 
do  insert  the  names  of  the  early  Celtic  saints,  as  trustworthy.  Too 
often  these  names  have  been  inserted  arbitrarily  and  without  authority. 
\\  <  will  .ni\v  a  list  of  such  calendars  as  exist,  and  which  have  served 
m«»iv  or  less  for  the  composition  of  the  calendar  that  we  have  drawn 
up  :  and  for  attribution  of  day  to  each  Saint. 

I.     THE  WELSH  CALENDAR 

The  Patronal  Festival  or  Wake  of  a  parish  was  ordinarily  called 
in  Welsh  r,u'\7  Mtthsttnt,  "The  Feast  of  the  Patron,"  and  in  more 
t  t inu-s  it  began  on  the  Sunday  following  the  festival  proper,  and 
l.»st«-d  the  whole  of  the  week,  though  in  the  early  part  of  last  century 
it  seldom  exceeded  the  third  or  fourth  day.  There  were  but  few,  if 
any.  parishes  wherein  its  observance  survived  the  sixth  decade  of 
l.i-t  century.  It  lost  its  distinctively  religious  character  with  the 
1\»  tormation.  and  thenceforth  became  merely  an  occasion  for  a  fair, 
rustic  t;ame>  and  sports,  and  every  kind  of  merry-making.  Where 
there  are  to-day  several  fairs  held  in  a  parish,  that  on  the  Feast  of 
Patron  is  frequently  spoken  of  as  the  Fair  of  such-and-such  a 
Saint's  Festival,  e.g.  Ffair  Wyl  Deilo  at  Llandeilo  Fawr.  The  fair  was 
held.  Old  Style,  on  the  Saint's  Festival,  as  entered  in  the  calendar  ; 
New  Style,  it  is  eleven  days  later.  To  take  S.  Teilo's  Fair  at  Llandeilo. 
It  was  formerly  held  on  his  day,  the  Qth  of  February  ;  now  it  is  on 

tile  Jotll. 

57  i  Cor.  ix.  2  ;    i  Thess.  iv,  2. 

VOL.    I.  T? 


66  Introduction 

There  are,  however,  instances  of  the  fairs  being  held,  or,  more 
correctly,  begun,  on  the  eve  of  the  Saint's  Festival ;  e.g.  at  Llanrwst 
(S.  Grwst,  December  i),  a  fair  was  held  November  30,  O.S.,  now  it  is 
December  n  ;  at  Tregaron  (S.  Caron,  March  5),  fairs  are  now,  or 
were,  held  on  March  15,  16  and  17  ;  and  at  Llanrhaiadr  ym  Mochnant 
<S.  Dogfan,  July  13),  fairs  are  held  on  July  23  and  24.  Similarly, 
fairs  were  held  at  Nevin  (S.  Mary)  on  eves  of  the  Festivals  of  the 
B.V.M.,  and  at  Abergele  (S.  Michael)  on  Michaelmas  Eve.  Sometimes 
the  fair  date  was  not  altered,  N.S.,  as  at  Llanwnen  (S.  Gwynen,  Decem- 
ber 13)  and  Llandaff  (S.  Teilo,  February  9) ;  and  in  like  manner,  old 
fairs  on  Festivals  of  the  B.V.M.  were  still  kept,  N.S.,  on  those  days 
at  Rhuddlan  and  Swansea. 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  one  cannot  always  rely  upon  the  fair 
day  in  fixing  the  Saint's  Day  when  the  calendars  are  at  variance,  as 
they  not  infrequently  are. 

The  following  Welsh  calendars  have  been  made  use  of  in  the 
present  work  : — 

A.  British   Museum   Cotton  MS.   Vespasian  A.   xiv,  of   the  early 
thirteenth  century.     The  calendar,  which  is  at  the  beginning  of  the 
MS.,  is  a  very  legible  one.      The  festivals  entered  are  not  many,  but 
they  are  those  of  the  principal  Welsh  Saints. 

B.  British    Museum    Additional  MS.   14,912,   of  the  fourteenth 
century,  prefixed  to  a  copy  of  Meddygon  Myddfai.     Imperfect ;  begii 
with  March,  which  is  indistinct,  and  the  months  of  November  aiu 
December  have  been  transposed.     It  contains  the  festivals  of  bu1 
few  Welsh  saints. 

C.  British  Museum  Additional  MS.  22,720,  of  about  the  fifteenth 
century.    The  festivals  of  Welsh  Saints  are  but  few,  and  are  in  a 
somewhat  later  hand.    The  Welsh  entries  are  in  the  earlier  part  of  it. 

D.  Peniarth  MS.  40,  written  circa  1469.     It  is  printed  in  Dr.  J. 
Gwenogfryn  Evans'    Catalogue    of    Welsh  MSS.,  i,   pp.   374-5.     It 
contains  but  few  festivals  of  Welsh  Saints. 

E.  Peniarth  MS.  191,  of  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
It  is  printed  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  i,  p.  1019.     December 
is  wanting.     Sometimes  the  festivals  are  a  day  late. 

F.  A  calendar  in  the  Grammar  of    John    Edwards,    Junior,  of 
Chirkeslande,  now  in  the  Plas  Llanstephan  Library.     It  is  dated  1481, 
and  occurs  at  fo.  83  of  the  MS. 

G.  Peniarth  MS.  27,  part  i,  of  the  late  fifteenth  century,  by  Gutyn 
Owain.     It  is  in  part  stained  ;    January  very  illegible  ;    a  somewhat 
full  calendar. 

H.     Peniarth  MS.  186,  of  the  late  fifteenth  century,  also  by  Gutyn 


On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars        67 

( Kvuin.     Printed  in  part  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  i,  p.  1013. 
It  is  considerably  fuller  than  G. 

I.  Mostyn  MS.  88,  written  1488-9,  also  by  Gutyn  Owain.  It  is 
printed  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  i,  pp.  16-17.  These  three 
calendars  are  not  mere  copies  of  each  other. 

J.  Jesus  College  (Oxford)  MS.  cxli  =  6,  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
printed  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  ii,  p.  36.  Imperfect,  only 
May — October.  It  is  apparently  one  of  Gutyn  Owain's  calendars. 

K.  Jesus  College  MS.  xxii=y,  of  the  late  fifteenth  century,  printed 
in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  ii,  p.  38. 

L.  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  152-3,  taken  from  "  a  MS.  written  circa  1500, 
in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Thomas  Davies,  of  Dolgelley."  December  is 
imperfect.  This  is  one  of  the  fullest  of  the  Welsh  calendars. 

M.     Sir  John  Prys,    Yny  Ihyvyr  hwnn,   London,   1546,   reprinted 
^or,  1902,  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Davies,  M.A.,  for 
the  Guild  of  Graduates  of  the  University  of  Wales,  from  the  unique 
in  the  Plas  Llanstephan  Library.     The  work  is  to  all  intents 
and  pmjxDses  a  Prymer,  and  was  probably  the  first  book  ever  printed 
in  the  Welsh  language.    The  calendar  is  often  inaccurate,  but  con- 
tains a  few  rare  entries. 

X.  Pcniarth  MS.  60,  of  the  sixteenth  century.  This  does  not 
i-ontain  many  entries. 

O.  Pcninrth  MS.  172,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  printed  in  Dr.  J. 
<'•  \\vii<>t;li-yn  Evans,  ibid.,  i,  pp.  967-8. 

P.  Pcninrth  MS.  192,  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  begins  with 
December  17,  and  is  followed  by  January  to  September  15.  The 
innaindrr  is  lost.  The  entries  are  not  many. 

Q.  Plds  Lltinstt'pluin  MS.  117,  of  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury.  printrd  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  ii,  pp.  571-2. 

R.  7Y<is  I.liinstcfyhtni  MS.  181,  written  circa  1556,  and  printed  in 
Dr.  J.  ( iurnc^tryn  Evans,  ibid.,  ii,  pp.  770-1.  It  is  a  complete  calen- 
dar, but  lupins  with  May  and  ends  with  April.  It  belongs  to  North 
Wai 

A  Demetian  calendar,  of  which  there  are  three  MS.  copies  : 
(<0  (\-rlnhiu-r  MS.  44,  of  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  (b  and  c)  Panton  MSS.  10  and  66,  of  the  eighteenth  century  ; 
and  four  printed  copies  :  (a)  Y  Greal,  1806,  pp.  287-8,  (b)  Cambrian 
Register,  1818,  iii,  pp.  219-21,  (c)  Y  Gwyliedydd,  1825,  PP-  343~4,  and 
Irclurologia  Cambrensis,  1854,  pp.  30-2.  This  is  a  list,  not  a 
calendar  proper,  and  the  entries  are  not  arranged  in  any  order,  except 
in  the  Cwrtmawr  MS.  as  printed  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid., 
ii,  p.  936.  November,  with  its  fifteen  entries,  is  by  much  the  fullest 


6  8  Introduction 

month.  July  and  September  have  no  entries.  Some  of  the  entries 
are  peculiar  to  this  calendar  ;  others  supply  details  of  the  saints  that 
are  not  found  elsewhere.  The  following,  among  others,  are  note- 
worthy festivals  :  Rhystyd,  Padarn  and  Teilo  (movable),  "  Fidalis 
and  Bidofydd  "  (April  26),  Pumpsaint,  Cynddilig,  Gwryd  Frawd  (the 
three  on  All  Saints'  Day),  "  the  Festival  of  the  man  who  died  on 
Trinity  Sunday,  preceded  by  a  great  vigil  on  the  Saturday  night, 
when  it  is  customary  to  bathe  for  the  cure  of  the  tertian  ague."  The 
words  "  Gwyl  y  gwr  a  fu  farw  "  (probably  the  correct  reading)  of  the 
last  quoted  entry  are  converted  in  some  of  the  copies  into  "  S.  Gwry- 
farn  "  and  "  Y  Gwyryfon  "  (the  Virgins).  The  list  may  be  described 
as  a  Demetian  calendar,  as  most  of  the  saints  commemorated  belong 
to  Dyfed,  but  more  especially  Cardiganshire.  The  first  entry  is 
"  Gwyl  Geitho,"  which  probably  gives  a  clue  to  its  origin. 

T.  British  Museum  Additional  MS.  14,882,  written  in  1591  by 
"  William  ap  Wm."  This  is  a  perfect  calendar. 

U.  Peniarth  MS.  187,  written  in  1596,  and  printed,  but  only  in 
part,  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  i,  p.  1014.  This  is  a  full 
calendar.  Some  of  the  entries  are  curious,  e.g.  for  January,  "  The 
first  day  of  this  month  the  tops  of  the  mountains  appeared  to  Noah  "  ; 
7th,  "  Christ  turned  the  water  into  wine  "  ;  loth,  "  Nebuchadnezzar's 
war  against  Jerusalem." 

V.  Hafod  MS.  8,  of  the  late  sixteenth  century,  printed  in  Dr.  J. 
Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  ii,  p.  311.  It  is  a  meagre  calendar. 

W.  MS.  marginal  entries  in  the  calendar  to  a  copy  of  the  Preces 
Privates,  published  in  1573,  in  the  Library  of  S.  Beuno's  Jesuit  College, 
near  S.  Asaph.  The  entries  are  in  at  least  three  different  hands,  of 
the  late  sixteenth  and  early  seventeenth  centuries,  and  are  by  persons 
who  lived  in  north,  or  rather  north-east,  Wales,  for  the  majority  of 
the  festivals,  as  well  as  fairs,  entered  belong  to  that  part. 

X.  Peniarth  MS.  219,  circa  1615,  in  the  handwriting  of  John  Jones 
of  Gelli  Lyfdy.  It  is  printed  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  ibid.,  i, 
pp.  1043-5,  where  its  festivals  are  entered  with  those  of  Peniarth 
MSS.  27,  186  and  187. 

Y.  The  calendar  prefixed  to  the  Llyfr  Ply  gain,  or  Prymer,  of  1618 
(fifth  edition).  This  is  a  full  calendar,  but  a  leaf  was  missing  for 
April  and  May  in  the  copy  seen.  It  frequently  corroborates  L  in  some 
of  its  isolated  entries. 

Z.  The  calendar  prefixed  to  the  Llyfr  Ply  gain,  or  Prymer,  of  1633, 
edited  by  Dr.  John  Davies. 

ZA.  The  calendar  prefixed  to  Allwydd  neu  Agoriad  Paradwys  i'r 
Cymrv,  a  Roman  manual  published  at  Liege  in  1670.  The  Welsh 


On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars        69 

saints  are  marked  with  an  asterisk  to  distinguish  them  from  saints  of 
the  Roman  calendar. 

ZB.  Welsh  almanacks  of  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  the  eighteenth  century  give  the  festivals  of  Welsh  and  other 
saints  more  or  less  fully.  The  first  Welsh  almanack  was  that  pub- 
lished for  1680,  at  Shrewsbury.  We  have  consulted  a  great  many 
from  that  for  1692  down.  From  about  1780  these  festival  entries 
became  fewer  and  fewer,  and  have  gradually  disappeared  almost 
entirely  from  the  ordinary  Welsh  almanack. 

Zc.  Wm.  Roberts  (Nefydd),  in  his  Crefydd  yr  Oesoedd  Tywyll, 
Carmarthen,  1852,  gives  the  festivals  of  such  Welsh  saints  as  occur 
in  the  Welsh  almanacks  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

ZD.  The  calendar  in  Williams  ab  Ithel,  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities 
of  the  Cymry,  London,  1844,  pp.  301-3.  It  is  based  upon  the  festivals 
given  in  Rees,  Essay  on  the  Welsh  Saints,  1836,  and  is  not  always  correct. 

To  these  may  be  added  the  following,  which,  however,  contain  but 
few  Celtic  or  Wrelsh  entries  :— 

A  Welsh  Martyrology  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  Library  (MS.  50), 

of  which  Mr.  H.  Bradshaw  speaks  with  enthusiasm  in  his  Collected 

>S  pp.  477-8.     "It  turns  out  to  be  one  of  the  most  precious 

monuments  of  the  Welsh  Church  yet  discovered."     It  was  written 

thael,  and  the  initial  letters  were  painted  by  Johannes,  brother 

of  Rhygyfarch  (died  1097).     It  is  actually  the  Martyrologium  Hierony- 

mitimnn,  with  entries  of  Celtic  saints,  Irish  and  British.     The  MS. 

was  once  in  the  possession  of  Bishop  Bedell,  who  lent  it  to  Archbishop 

•  T,  and  it  was  owing  to  this  happy  accident  that  it  was  saved 

from  the  destruction  which  befell  almost  the  whole  of  Bishop  Bedell's 

library  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  in  1641. 

\Ve  are  indebted  to  Mr.  R.  Twigge  for  kindly  examining  this  Martyro- 
logy for  us.  It  unfortunately  contains  no  other  entries  of  Celtic 
saints  than  these  :  March  17,  S.  Patrick  ;  July  28,  S.  Samson  ;  Sep- 
tember 17,  "  In  Britannis  Socris  et  Stephani  "  ;  December  17, 
"  Depos.  Judichaili  Confess." 

A  Martyrology  of  British  Saints,  "  very  peculiar,"  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  of  the  fourteenth  century  (MSS.  Gough  Coll.,  1833),  imper- 
fect ;  from  March  17  to  May  23  is  all  that  exists. 

A  Llanthony  Abbey  Calendar,  in  the  Library  of  Corpus  Chris ti 
College,  Oxford. 

We  give  below  a  calendar  of  the  Welsh  saints  carefully  compiled 
from  the  foregoing,  noting  in  each  case  the  particular  calendars  whicli 
contain  the  commemoration.  They  often  vary,  but  the  oldest  calen- 
dars may  be  presumed  to  be  the  most  reliable. 


Introduction 


The  ordinary  festivals   of   the    Western    Church   have   not   been 

included. 

JANUARY. 


7- 
8. 
9- 

10. 

ii. 

12. 
13- 


S.  Gwynhoedl,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Machraith,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Medwy,  B.C.  (zd). 

S.  Maelrys,  or  Maelerw,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Tyfrydog,  C.  (vza). 

S.  Bodfan,  C.  (Y).  17- 

S.    Gwenog,    V.     (s,    Addit.    MS.       18. 

14,  886). 
S.  Tewdrig,  K.M.  (za). 


14. 


S.  Edeyrn,  C.  (zd). 
S.  Merin,  C.  (zd). 
S.  Ylched  (zd). 
S.  Gwrddelw,  C.  (x). 


S.  Llwchaiarn,  C.  (LS). 

S.  Llwchaiarn,  C.  (ILMUWXYZ). 

S.  Cyndeyrn,   or  Kentigern,   B.C. 

(uwYza). 

S.  Elian,  or  Elien,  C.  (HILMRTUWY). 
S.  Erbin,  K.C.  (HIMQRTUWXY). 
S.  liar,  B.C.  (DENVZ). 
S.  Saeran,  C.  (IKPRUMY). 
S.  Tygwy,  C.  (z). 
S.  liar,  B.C.  (Y). 


15.  S.  liar,  B.C.  (s). 

S.  Llawddog,  or  Lleuddad,  Ab.C. 

(z). 
S.  Sawyl,  C.  (Addit.  MS.,  14,  886). 

1 6.  S.  Carannog,  C.  (A). 


19- 

20 

21. 

22. 

23- 
24. 

25- 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 


S.  Elli,  Ab.C.  (Lvxvzza). 

S.  Catwg,  or  Cadoc,  Ab.C.  (ALNV 

XYZza). 
S.  Dwynwen,  V.  (HiRXYza). 

S.  Silin,  B.C.  (s). 


S.  Tybie,  V.M.  (zd). 

S.    Aeddan    Foeddog,    or    Aidan, 

B.C.   (zd). 

S.  Ewryd,  C.  (FMX). 
S.    Melangell,    or    Monacella,    V., 

Abss.  (HILTUX). 
S.  Tyssul,  B.C.  (zd). 
SS.  Y  Trisaint,  or  The  Three   SS. 

CC.  (v). 


FEBRUARY. 


5- 
6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 

10. 

1 1. 

12. 


S.  Ffraid,  or  Bridget,  V.  Abss.  (in 

most  of  the  Calendars). 
S   Ina,  Knt.  C.  (s). 
S.  Seiriol,  Ab.C.  (HYZ). 

S.  Dilwar,  V.  (Q). 

S.  Tyssul,  B.C.  (s). 

S.  Dilwar,  V.  (GHiouxYZza). 

S.  Meirian,  or  Meirion,  C,  (F). 

S.  Ciwa,  V.  (MX). 

S.  Teilo,  B.C.  (MX). 

S.  Cigwa,  or  Ciwa,  V.  (AY). 

S.  Einion,  K.C.  (HQUwxvza). 

S.  Teilo,  B.C.  (ACDELNVYza). 

S.  Einion,  K.C.  (o). 


14. 

15- 
16. 

17- 
18. 
19. 

20. 
21. 

22. 

23- 
24. 

25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 


S.  Dyfnog,  C.  (GIKMOPQRUWXYZ). 
S.  Meugan,  C.  (i). 
S.  Dochow,  P.C.  (A). 

S.  Ffinan,  B.C.  (za). 


S.  Cowrda,  C.  (xx). 


S.  Tyfaelog,  C,  (Mxvzza). 

S.  Llibio,  C.  (FHOQTUVYZza). 
S.  Maidoc,  B.C.  (A). 


On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars        7  i 


MARCH. 


9> 
[O. 

i  i. 
i  .'. 

i  5. 


S.  Dewi.  or  David,  B.C.   (all   the 

Calendars). 
S.  Gistlian,  B.C.  (A). 
S.  C.wrthwl.  or  Mwthwl,  C.  (SYZ). 
S.   Non,  or  Nonita,  Wid.  (ACELQS 

UVXYZ). 

S.  Gistilian,  B.C.  (c.). 
S.  Caron,  B.C.  (ELSYZ). 
S.  Cieran,  B.C.  (AC). 

S.  Sannan,  C.  (LYZ). 
S.  Deifer,  or  Dier,  C.  (za). 
S.  Rhian.  B.C.  (c). 
S.  Sannan,  C.  (v). 


:ur.  C.  (YZ). 


14. 

'5- 
1 6. 

17- 
18. 
19. 
20. 

21. 
22. 

23- 
24. 

25- 
26. 
27. 
28. 

29. 
30. 


S.  Cynog  (za). 


S.  Padrig,  B.C. 

S.  Cynbryd,  M.  (GILMQVWXYZ). 
S.  Cynbryd,  M.  (HR). 

S.  Elwad,  C.  (x). 


Gwynllyw  Filwr,  or  Gundleus, 

K.C.  (v). 
S.  Gwynllyw  Filwr,  K.C.  (ALXza). 


APRIL. 


S.  Tyrnog.  C.  (o). 

rnog,  C.  (GHiPRUwxYZza). 
S.  iK-rfel  Gadarn,  C.  (BGHILMOPQ- 
RfvwxYzza). 

S.     Hrynach,    or    Byrnach,   Ab.C. 

(ALSVZa). 

SS.  Llywelyn  and  Gwrnerth,  CC. 

(GHILMOyRL'XYZZa). 


y- 

= 


t4.  S.  Caradog,  Mk.C.  (A). 
13-  S.  Padarn,  B.C.  (Aza). 


16. 

17- 
18. 

19- 
20. 

21. 
22. 

23- 
24. 

25- 
26. 

27- 
28. 
29. 
30. 


S.  Padarn,  B.C.  (BLSWZ). 
S.  Padarn,  B.C.  (E). 


S.  Beuno,  Ab.C.  (FGHIKLOQSUV- 

wxza). 

S.  Beuno,  Ab.C.  (ERZ). 
S.  Dyfnan,  C.  (zza). 

S.  Dyfnan,  C.  (xx). 
S.  Meugan,  C.  (Q). 

SS.  Fidalis   (Vitalis  on  28th)   and 
Bidofydd,  CC.  (s). 


S.  Sannan,  C.  (za). 
S.  Cynwyl,  C.  (zd). 


Introduction 


MAY. 


I. 

S. 

Asaph,  B.C.  (Lzza). 

S. 

Tyfriog,  Ab.C.  (s). 

2. 

3- 

4- 

S. 

Melangell,  V.  (Luzza). 

5- 

6. 

7- 

8. 

9- 

S. 

Gofor,  C.  (L). 

S. 

Melyd,  or  Melydyn,  C. 

(Q.W). 

S. 

Ylched  (F). 

IO. 

12.  SS.  Mael  and  Sullen,  CC.  (M). 

13.  SS.  Mael  and  Sulien,  CC.   (EHIJLQ- 

Rsuwxzza). 
14. 

15.  S.  Carannog,  Ab.C.  (sza). 

16.  S.  Carannog,  Ab.C.  (LZ). 


18. 
19. 
20. 

21. 

22. 

23- 
24. 

25- 
26. 
27. 


28. 


30. 
31- 


S.  Carannog,  Ab.C.  (u). 

S.  Cathan,  or  Cathen,  C.  (zd). 


S.  Anno  (LUXYZ). 

S.  Collen,  C.  (GHIJLOQRTUWXYZ). 

S.  Collen,  C.  (M). 

SS.  Dyfan  and  Ffagan,  CC.  (zd). 


S.  Garmon,  B.C.  (LUYZ). 

S.   Melangell,  V.   (EGHIJLMOPQRT- 

UXYZ). 

S.  Garmon,  B.C.  (NX). 
Translation  of  S.  Dyfrig,  or  Dub- 

ricius,  Ab.C.  (za). 
S.  Erbin,  C.  (GHIJLMOPQTUXYZ). 
S.  Tudglud,  C.  (GHLOQTUWXYZ). 


JUNE. 


1.  S.  Tegla,  V.  (GHIJLMOPQRUXYZ). 

2.  S.  Cwyfen,  C.  (z). 

3.  S.   Cwyfen,    C.    (FGHIJLMOQRUWX- 

Yza). 
S.  Tegla,  V.  (K). 

4.  S.  Cwyfen,  C.  (K). 

S.     Pedrog,      or      Petroc,     Ab.C. 

(LUYZZa). 

5.  S.  Tudno,  C.  (xwx). 

6.  SS.  Y  Trisaint, 'CC.  (FX). 

7- 

8. 


9- 
10. 
n. 

12. 

13- 
14. 

IS- 


16.. 


S.  Rhychwyn,  C.  (xwx). 

S.  Sannan,  B.C.  (GHIJLOUWXYZ). 

S.  Dogfael,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Ceneu,  C.  (KL). 

SS.  Curig  and  Julitta,  MM.  (DS). 

S.  Trillo,  C.   (GHIJKLPQRTUWXYZZa) 

SS.  Curig  and  Julitta  (or  Hid,  Eli- 
dan),  MM.  (in  most  of  the  Cal- 
endars). 


S.  Ismael,  B.C.  (A). 
17.  S.  Mylling,  B.C.  (LRUXYZza). 
18. 


19. 

20. 
21. 
22. 


23- 
24. 

25- 
26. 


27. 
28. 
29. 

30. 


Decollation   of   S.    Gwenfrewi,    or 
Winefred,    V.M.     (GHIJKMOPQR- 

TUWXYZZa). 


Translation  of  S.  Brynach,  or  Byr- 

nach,  B.C.  (A). 
S.  Twrog,  C.  (XYZ). 
S.  Tyrnog,  C.  (LTIYZ). 


S.  Eurgain,  Matron  (HJTUXYZ). 
S.  Trunio,  C.  (H). 


On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars        73 


JULY. 


3. 
4- 
5. 

6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 

ia 

ii. 


14. 


S.  Ccwydd  y  Gwlaw,  C.  (L). 

S.  Cewydd,  C.  (B).    Gwyl  y  Gwlaw 

(K). 

S.  Oudoceus,  B.C.  (za). 
S.  Peblig,  C.  (u). 

S.   Peblig,  C.    (GHIJLMQTXYZZa). 


S.  Erfyl,  or  Urfyl.  V.  (HILQXYZ). 
S.  Dochelin,  C.  (A). 


an.  ('. 
S.  Doewan,  C.  (M). 
S.  Dogfan,  or  Doewan,  C.  (GHIJL- 

QRL'XYZZa). 
S.  Dwyiuvm,   V.   (Q). 
inon,  B.C.  (M). 
nllo.  K.C.  (M). 
S.  Elyw  (M). 


S.  Garmon,  B.C.  (JQYZ). 
Cewydd,  C.  (D). 

1 6. 

17.  S.  Cynllo,  K.C.  (jLUXYZza). 
S    Eliw  (L). 

1 8. 
19- 

21. 


-M- 

25.  S.  Cyndeyrn,  C.  (zd). 

S.  .Mordeyrn,  C.  (zd). 

5.  Peris,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Samson,  B.C.  (F). 

29.  S.  Bleiddian,  or  Lupus,  B.C.  (zd). 

30.  S.  Garmon,  B.C.  (p). 

31.  S.  Garmon  in  Yale,  or  Germanus, 

B.C.  (FGHIJLMOQRTUWXYZ). 


AUGUST. 

Kihurdd  or  Alniolhu,  V.M.  (zd).        l6 

18. 


4.   S.  Hui.n,  C.  (zd). 
it  ho.  Ab.C.  (s). 

-nil...  K.C.  (V). 
S.  Ffagan,  C.  (zd). 
S.  Hvchan,  C.  (zd). 
S.  Iliog  in  Hirnant,  C. 

I   XYZ). 

(HJLOQRT- 

II.    S. 


Lhvni  (s). 
(Vl)i,  Ab.C.  (Q). 


19-  S.     Clintacus,     or    Clydog,     K.M. 
(zazd). 

20. 
21. 

22.  S.  Gwyddelan,  C.  (LUWXYZ). 

23.  S.  Tydfil,  V.M.  (zd). 
24. 

*S- 

26. 

27.  S.  Decumanus,  M.  (zazd). 

S.  Meddwid,  or  Moddwid  (LUXYZ) 
28. 
29. 
30.  S.   Decumanus,   or   Degyman,    M. 

(A). 

31. 


74 


Introduction 


SEPTEMBER. 


S.  Silin  (  =  Giles),  Ab.C.  (GHIJKLO- 

QRTUXYZZa). 

S.  Sullen,  C.  (GHIJLMOPQTUXYZ). 
S.  Rhuddlad,  V.  (Loxvzza). 

S.  Idloes,  C.  (Lwvzza). 

S.  Dunawd,  Ab.C.  (zd). 

S.  Cynfarch,  C.  (LYZ). 

S.  Aelrhiw  (zd). 

Gwyl  y  Ddelw  Fyw,  "  The  Festi- 
val of  the  Living  Image  "  (H, 
later  hand,  LRXYZ). 

S.  Eigion,  B.C.  (L). 

S.  Deiniol  or  Daniel,  B.C.  (GHIJK- 

LOPQRTU  WXYZZa) . 


S.  Tegwyn,  C.  (zd). 


17- 

18. 
19. 

20. 
21. 
22. 

23- 

24. 

25- 


26. 

27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 


S.  Gwenfrewi,  V.M.  (YZ). 
S.  Gwenfrewi,  V.M.  (L). 


Ordination  of  S.  Padarn,  B.C.  (A). 

S.  Tegla,  V.  (JQW). 

S.  Mwrog,  C.  (GHIJKLMOQRUX). 

S.  Tegla,  V.  (LYZ). 

S.  Caian,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Meugan,  C.  (GHiLMORUXYZza). 

S.  Mwrog,  C.  (T). 

S.  Tyrnog,  C.  (Q). 

S.  Elfan,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Meugan,  C.  (JT). 

S.  Barruc,  C.  (A). 


S.  Nidan,  C.  (HLTUXYZ). 


OCTOBER. 


9- 

10. 

1 1. 

12. 
13- 
14- 


S.    Garmon,    B.C.    (HIJKLMOQRTU- 

XYZ) 
S.     Silin,      AbvC.     (GHIJLMOQRTU- 

XYZ). 


S.   Cynhafal,  C.  (GHIJKLMOQRTUW- 

XYZ). 

S.  Keina,  V.  (za). 

S.  Cain,  or  Ceinwen,  V.  (LMV). 

S.  Cammarch,  C.  (LZ). 

S.  Cynog,  M.  (YZ). 

S.  Cynog,  M.  (L) 

S.  Tanwg,  C.  (YZ). 

S.  Tanwg,  C.  (LQUX). 


S.  Brothen,  C.  (Q). 
S.  Tudur,  C.  (YZ). 
S.  Brothen,  C.  (zd). 
S.  Tudur,  C.  (L). 


16. 

17- 

18. 
19. 

20. 
21. 


22. 
23- 

24. 

25- 
26. 
27. 


S.  Llyr,  V.  (s). 

S.  Urw,  or  Wrw,  V.  (s). 

SS.     Y     Gweryddon,     or     Eleven 

Thousand  VV.  (GHIJLMQRTUXY). 
SS.  Gwynog  and  Noethon  (or  Nwy- 

thon),  CC.  (GHIJMQTUX). 
SS.    Gwynog    and    Noethan,    CC. 

(LYZ). 

SS.  Y  Gweryddon,  VV.  (o). 

S.  Cadfarch,  C.  (vzza). 

SS.  Gwynog  and  Noethon,  CC.  (o). 


29.  S.  Teuderius,  C.  (A). 

30.  S.  Issui,  M.  (zd). 

31.  S.  Dogfael,  C.  (HLMOQUYZza), 


On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars        7  5 


NOVEMBER. 


1.  S.  Cadfan,  Ab.C.  (zcl).  10. 
S.  Callwen.  V.  (s). 

S.  Cedol,  C.  (zd).  n. 

S.  Clydai,  V.  (s). 

S.  Clydwyn,  or  Cledwyn,  K.C.  (zd). 

S.  Cynddilig,  C.  (s). 

S.  Dingad,  C.  (zd).  12. 

S.  Dona,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Gwenfyl,  V.  (s). 

S.  Gwenrhiw,  V.  (UXY). 

S.  Gwryd,  Friar  (s). 

S.  Gwynlleu,  B.C.  (s.).  13. 

S.  Morhaiarn,  C.  (zd).  14. 

S.  Peulan.  C.  (z). 

S.  Uhwydrys.  C.  (zd). 

SS.  Y  Pumpsaint,  CC.  (s). 

2.  S.  Aelhaiarn.  C.  (AZ). 

S.  Peulan,  C.  (Y).  15. 

3     Cly.loiJ.    K.M.    (ALMYZ). 

S.  Clydyn,  or  Clydau.  C.  (s). 

S.  Cristiolus,  C.  (FGHILMQUWXYZ). 

S.  Gwenfaen.  V.  (L). 

Translation   of   S.    Gwenfrewi,    or       16. 

\Vinofred,   Y.M.   (ORTUXYZZa).  17. 

vyddfarch,  H.C.  (Q).  18. 

4.   S.  Gwi-nta.-n.  V.  (H).  19. 

S.  Gwi-nfivwi.  V.M.  (Q).  20. 

(  yi»i.   Ab.C.   (GIKI.MOQRSUWXY-      21. 

zza).  22. 

S.  Guvnturn.  V.  (F) 

jfbi,  Ai.r.  (HS). 

S.  Kdweii.  V.  (LS).  23. 

S.  Illtyil.  Ah.C.  (Aza).  24. 

7    S.  Cybi.  Ab.C.  (A).  25. 

S.   Cynnar.     Ab.C.     (GHILMOQTUW-  26. 

xvz).  27. 

8.  S.  Cynfanvy,  C.  (LYZ).  28. 
S.  Tyssilio,    Ab.C.    (GHILMOQTUW-  29. 

xvzza). 

9.  S.  Pabo  Post  Prydain,  C.  (tvzza).         30. 
S.  Tyssilio.  Ab.C.  (s). 


S.  Cynfanvy,  C.  (u). 

S.  Elaeth,  K.C.  (FTU). 

S.  Cynfarwy,  C.  (x). 

S.  Edern,  or  Edeyrn,  C.  (FLUYZ). 

S.  Elaeth,  K.C.  (x). 

S.  Rhediw,  C.  (zd). 

S.   Cadwaladr,   K.C.    (FGHIKLMOQ- 

RUXYZ). 

S.  Meilig,  C.  (s). 
S.  Meilir,  C.  (M). 
S.  Padarn,  B.C.  (LUXYZ). 
S.  Gredifael,  C.  (HLUXvza). 
S.    Dubricius,    or    Dyfrig,    Ab.C. 

(AX). 

S.  Gredifael,  C.  (TZ). 

S.  Mechyll,  C.  (K). 

S.  Meilig,  C.  (LYZ). 

S.  Cynfab,  C.  (zd). 

S.    Machudd,    i,e.    Machutus,    or 

Malo,  B.C.  (LYZza). 
S.  Mechell,  or  Mechyll,  C.  (FLOYZ) 
S.  Meugan,  C.  (s). 
S.  Afan,  B.C.  (szd). 
S.  Afan,  B.C.  (LYZ). 
S.  Meugan,  C.  (R). 
S  Llwydian,  C.  (zd). 
S.  Celynin,  C.  (zd). 
S.  Digain,  C.  (GiLOQUWYZza). 
S.  Deiniolen,  C.  (LTUXYZza). 
S.  Gredifael,  C.  (Q). 
S.  Polin,  B.C.  (szd). 
S.  Deiniolen,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Tauanauc,  or  Tyfanog,  C.  (A). 
S.  Teilo,  B.C.  (zd). 

S.  GallgO,  C.  (FGHILMOQRTUXYZZa). 

S.  Baruc,  H.C.  (za). 

S.  Sadwrn,  C.  (HLQSUYZza). 


76 


Introduction 


DECEMBER. 


i.  S.  Grwst,  C.  (KLQRUXvzza). 
S.  Llechid,  V.  (FLYZ). 

2. 
3- 

4- 

5.  S.     Cowrda,     or     Cawrdaf,     K.C. 
(HLOQUYZ). 

S.  Gwrda  (za). 

S.  Justinian,  or  Stinan,  H.M.  (A). 
6. 

7- 

8.  S.  Cynidr,  B.C.   (AMYZ). 

9- 

10.  S.  Deiniol,  B.C.  (zd). 

11.  S.  Cian,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Ffinan,  B.C.  (v). 
S.  Peris,  C.  (FHTUwxYzza). 
Dydd  lias  Llywelyn,  "  The  day  on 
which  Llywelyn  was  slain  "   (K). 

12.  S.  Fflewyn,  C.  (FYZE). 
Llywelyn  (z). 

13.  S.  Ffinan,  B.C.  (BYZ). 

SS.    Gwynan    (-en)  and  Gwynws, 
CC.  (szd). 


14- 


1  6. 

17.  S.  Tydecho,  C.  (HiMOPQRUWxYZza). 

1  8.  S.  Tegfedd,  V.  (x). 

19. 

20. 
21. 

22. 

23- 
24. 

25- 

26.  S.  Maethlu,  C.  (zd). 

S.    Tathan,     or     Tatheus,     Ab.C. 

(Aza). 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31.  S.  Gwynin,  C.  (zd). 

S.  Maelog,  C.  (FS). 


II.     THE  CORNISH  CALENDAR 

No  Celtic  Calendars  for  the  West  of  England  have  been  pre- 
served, and  the  Exeter  Calendars  almost  wholly  ignore  the  local 
saints  whose  names  are  not  found  in  the  Roman  Martyrology. 

1.  In  1478,  however,  William  of  Worcester  made  a  journey  through 
Devon  and  Cornwall,   and  examined   the  Calendars   of  Tavistock, 
Launceston,  Bodmin,  and  S.  Michael's  Mount.     From  these  he  made 
extracts.     His  Itinerary  has  been  preserved  in  Corpus  Chris ti  College 
Library,  Cambridge.      William  wrote  an  execrable  hand,  and  scribbled 
rather  than  wrote  in  his  notebook,  which    he    never  transcribed. 
Nasmith  published  the  Itinerary  in  1778,  having  deciphered  the  scrawl 
with  great  patience,   and,   on  the  whole,   correctly.     But  he  made 
many  mistakes,  and  he  made  occasional  slips.     Thus,  in  transcribing 
the  Calendar  of  Bodmin,  he  omitted  from  May  28  to  July  31.     He 
saw  under  May  28  the  entry   "  S.  Germanus  Episc.  Conf.,"  and  the 
same  entry  under  July  31,  the  first  being  the  entry  of  Germanus  of 
Paris,  and  the  latter  that  of  Germanus  of  Auxerre.     By  an  oversight 
he  did  not  transcribe  all  that  intervened.    Through  the  courtesy  of 
the  Librarian  we  have  been  able  to  collate  Nasmith's  edition  with  the 
original  text. 

2.  A  Calendar  of  Exeter  Cathedral  of  the  twelfth  century  (MS. 


On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars        77 

Hurl.  tS(>3).  In  this  there  arc  ;i  few  Celtic  saints,  as  S.  David,  S. 
Cieran.  S.  Petrock,  S.  Nectan.  S.  Sidwell,  S.  Rumon  ;  but  some  are 
later  additions.  It  i-  printed  by  Hampson.  i.  p.  449. 

3.  The  Calendar  of  the  Leofrir   Mis>al.     This  belonged  originally 
to  <  dastonbnry,  but  to  Glastonbury  after  it  had  ceased  to  be  the 
Rome  of  the  British  and  Irish  Churches,  and  had  been  refounded  by 
the  West  Saxon  King  Ina,  in  708,  and  given  a  Romano-Saxon  com- 
plexion.    The  Leofric  Missal  was  in  use  in  the  Church  of  Exeter  from 

to  1072,     The  MS.  is  in  the  Cathedral  Library  ;   but  it  has  been 

ally  and  accurately  published,  under  the  editorship  of  the  Rev. 

F.  E.  Warren,  Oxford,  1883.     The  Calendar  is  sadly  disappointing,  as 

into  it  few  local  and  Celtic  saints  were  admitted.     Gildas,  Patrick, 

<>n,  Aedan — these  are  about  all. 

4.  A  Calendar  in   the  Grandisson   Psalter,   circ.   1337   (Add.  MS. 
.()).    This  is  the  same  as  the  Calendar  to  the  Ordinale  of  Bishop 

•  n.  and  was  in  use  in  the  Church  of  Exeter  till  1505,  when 
hi->  Ordinale  was  superseded  by  that  of  Sarum.  This  Calendar  has 
!>eeii  edited  and  published  by  the  Rev.  H.  E.  Reynolds,  with  the 
Ordinale.  Kxeter,  1882. 

5.  In  the  Cathedral  Library,  Exeter,  is  a  thirteenth-century  Calendar, 
bur  on  examination  it  proves  to  have  belonged  to  the    Church  of 

ester.     It  gives  S.  Petrock  and  S.  Gudwal,  but  very  few  other 
saints  of  the  Celtic  Church. 

o.  A  Martyrology  for  the  Church  of  Exeter,  drawn  up  by  Bishop 
n  in  1337  ;   it  is  now  in  the  Corpus  Christi  College  Library, 
Cambridge.       It     includes     some     more     Celtic     names,     but    not 
many. 

~.  \  Legeiularium  for  the  Church  of  Exeter  was  compiled  also  b}~ 
tiandisson  in  1366.     This  is  preserved  in  the  Library  of  the  Dean 
iiul  Chapter.  Kxeter.     It  is  a  bitterly  disappointing  book.     Grandis- 
>n  wrote  in  1330  requiring  all  the  clergy  of  parishes  in  Cornwall  to 
nd  three  transcripts  of  the  legends  of  the  patron  saints  of  their 
chinches  to  Exeter  for  preservation,  as  many  of  these  legends  had 
been  lost  by  accident  or  carelessness.     One  might  have  expected  that 
he  would  have  made  use  of  the  material  forwarded  to  him.     On  the 
irv.  he  has  employed  none,  with  the  exception  of  that  concerning 
mson  and  S.  Melor.     Grandisson  was  a  thoroughly  Roman-minded 
prelate,  the  friend  of  John  XXII  at  Avignon,  who  had  appointed  him 
to  the  see  of  Exeter  in  contravention  of  canonical  rule,  without  con- 
sulting the  chapter.     The  Bishop  drew  the  material  for  his  Legen- 
darinm,  and  the  names  of  the  saints  he  was  pleased  to  commemorate, 
almost     exclusively    from     the     Roman     Martyrology,     and     from 


78 


Introduction 


approved  Latin  lectionaries.     A  copy  of  this  Martyrology  is  in  Arch- 
bishop Parker's  Collection,  Corpus  Christ!  College,  Cambridge. 

8.  A  Calendar  in  the  Book  of  Hours,  of  Pilton,  near  Barnstaple, 
drawn  up  in  1521  by  Thomas  Oldeston,  who  was  prior  from  1472. 
It  is  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Rawlinson  Liturg.  MSS.  (g.  12). 

9.  The  Rev.  R.  Stanton,  in  his  Menology  of  England  and  Wales, 
Supplement,  1892,  refers  to  a  Martyrology  written  between  1220  and 
1224,  in  the  British  Museum,  MSS.  Reg.  2  A.  xiii,  as  "  probably  for 
the  South  West  of  England."     However,  it  proves  when  examined 
to  have  been  compiled  for  the  church  of  Canterbury. 

10.  Nicolas  Roscarrock  of  Roscarrock,  in  the  parish  of  Endelion, 
in  Cornwall,  a  friend  of  Camden,  the  antiquary,  composed  a  MS. 
Lives  of  the  Saints  of  Britain  and  Ireland,  according  to  Mr.  Horstman's 
opinion,   between   the  years   1 608-1617. x     He   enters   a   number   of 
Cornish  saints,  and  gives  the  days  on  which   they  were  locally  com- 
memorated, as  well  as  some  legends  concerning  them.    The  volume  is 
unhappily  defective  ;  the  MS.  from  folio  402  to  the  end  has  had  some- 
thing like  eighty  leaves  torn  out.    To  the  "  Lives  "  is  prefixed  a 
Calendar.     Roscarrock  relied  mainly  on  Whytford  and  Demster  for 
his  entries,  but  he  was  further  assisted  by  a  Welsh  priest,  Edward 
Powell,  for  his  Welsh  entries.     The  Calendar  is  complete.     So  are 
the  Lives  as  far  as  Simon  Sudbury,  which  is  begun,  but  the  rest  torn 
away.     For  matter  Roscarrock  had  recourse  to    Capgrave    and  to 
Surius,  and  easily  accessible  works,  and  the  bulk  of  his  MS.  is  there- 
fore of  little  value.     But  its  worth  comes  in  when  he  deals  with  the 
Cornish  and  the  Welsh  saints.     He  gives  the  days  of  these  in  the 
body  of  his  work,  though  not  always  in  the  Calendar.     The  MS.  was 
in  the  Brent- Eley  Collection,  having  been  in  the  hands  of  Lord  William 
Howard,  in  whose  house  Roscarrock  died.     It  has  been  acquired  by 
the  University  Library,  Cambridge,  and  is  numbered  Addit.  MS.  3,041. 

We  have  available  for  consultation  a  large  number  of  English 
Calendars  ;  those  in  MS.  are  too  numerous  to  be  here  recorded,  and 
for  the  most  part  serve  our  purpose  but  rarely.  The  principal  MSS. 
and  such  as  are  published  and  accessible  are  these  : — 

1.  The  Sarum  Missal.     Missale  in  usum  .  .  .  ecclesice  Sarum.     Ed. 
F.  H.  Dickenson,  Burntisland,  1861-83.     An  English  translation,  The 
Sarum  Missal,  published  by  the  English  Church  Printing  Co.,  London, 
1868. 

2.  The   Hereford  Missal,   printed  in   1502  ;    reprinted  by  W.   G. 
Henderson,  Leeds,  1874. 

3.  The  York  Missal,  published  by  the  Surtees  Society,  Durham,  1875. 

1  Capgrave,  Nova  Legenda,  ed.  C.  Horstman,  Oxford,  1901,  i,  p.  x. 


On  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars        79 

4.  The  Missal  of  Robert  de  Jumieges,  Bishop  of  London,  1044-50, 
and  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  1051.     Edited  for  the  Henry  Brad- 
shaw  Society  by  H.  A.  Wilson,  London,  1896. 

5.  The  Peterborough  Calendar,  1361-90,  in  the  Archaologia,  vol. 
li  (1888). 

6.  The  Lincoln  Calendar,  before  1500,  in  the  Archaologia,  vol.  li 
(1888). 

7.  Missale  ad  usum  ecclesia  West  Monasteriensis.     Edited  for  the 
Henry  Bradshaw  Society  by  Dr.  J.  Wickham  Legg,  Lond.  1891-7. 

8.  Liber  Vitce  of  Newminster  and  Hyde  Abbey,  Winchester.     Edited 
by  W.  de  Gray  Birch,  for  the  Hampshire  Record  Society,  1892.     A 
Hyde  Calendar  of  the  thirteenth  century,  very  full,  is  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  MSS.  Gough. 

9.  Hampson,  Medii  JEvi  Kalendarinm,  Lond.  1841.     This  contains  : 
(a)  a  Metrical  Calendar,  of  which  three  copies  exist  in  the  British 
Museum  ;    (b)  The  Exeter  Calendar  noted  above  (MSS.  Harl.  863), 
with  additions  in  italics  from  another  copy  (MSS.   Harl.  1,804)  ; 
(c)  A  Calendar  of  1031  (MSS.  Cotton,  Vitellius,  A.  xviii) ;     (d)  A 

ndar  (MSS.  Cotton,  Titus,  D.  xxvii) ;    (e)  An  English  Calendar  in 
Norman-French,  that  belonged  to  Ludlow  Church  (MSS.  Harl.  273). 

10.  A  Sherborne  Calendar,  published  for  the  S.  Paul's  Ecclesiologi- 
cal  Society,  1896,  by  Dr.  J.  Wickham  Legg.    The  original  MS.  is  in 
the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland.      It    was    written 
between  1396  and  1407. 

11.  The  Oxford  Calendar  has  been  published  by  W.  Anstey,  in  the 
Rolls  Series.     Munimenta  Academica,  1868. 

12.  The  Canterbury  Cathedral  Calendar,  circ.  1050  (MSS.  Arundell, 
155) ;  another  1220-46  (MSS.  Cotton,  Tiberius,  B.  iii) ;    another  early 
in  the  fourteenth  century  (MSS.  Add.  6,160). 

13.  A  Martyrology,  Roman  with  addition  of  English  saints,  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  in  the  Bodleian  (MSS.  Gough,  liturg.  4). 

14.  A  Gloucester  Calendar,  fifteenth  century  (MSS.  Add.  30,506)  ; 
another,  thirteenth  century,  in  the  Bodleian  (MSS.  Rawlinson,  Litt. 
f.  i) ;   another  in  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  also  of  the  thirteenth  century 
(MS.  ex). 

15.  The  Bath  Abbey  Calendar,   fourteenth  century   (MSS.   Add. 
10,628). 

16.  A  Worcester  Calendar,  fifteenth  century  (MSS.  Harl.  7,398). 

17.  Bishop  Grandisson's  Psalter  (MSS.  Add.  21,926),  drawn  up  for 
use  in  the  Province  of  York.     Grandisson  was  Canon  of  York  1309-27. 
It  differs  from  the  Calendar  in  the  Exeter  Ordinale. 

18.  The  Martyrology  of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  of  which  two 


8  o  Introduction 

copies  exist.  The  earlier,  of  the  thirteenth  century,  is  in  the  British 
Museum  (MSS.  Arundell,  68)  ;  the  other,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  is 
in  the  library  of  Lambeth  Palace  (MSS.  Lambeth,  20). 

19.  A  Martyrology  that  belonged  to  the  Bridgetine  Monastery  of 
Syon,  in  Middlesex  (MSS.  Addit.  22,285). 

20.  A  Norwich  Martyrology  of  the  fifteenth  century  (MSS.  Cotton, 
Julius,  B.  vii). 

21.  Martyrologium  Anglicanum  in  Martene,   Ampl.   Coll.   vi,   pp. 
652-8. 

22.  A  Martyrology  contained  in  a  Sarum  Breviary  of  the  fourteenth 
century  (MSS.  Harl.  2,785)  is  imperfect.     It  runs  from  November  28 
to  June  17. 

23.  Bedce  Venerabilis  Libellus  Annalis  sive  Kalendarium  Anglicanum, 
is  really  a  Martyrology  of  the    Abbey  of    S.    Maximin  at   Treves. 
Martene,  Ampl.  Coll.  vi,  pp.  637-49. 

24.  A  Calendar  of  English,  Scottish  and  Irish  saints.     A  MS.  of  the 
twelfth  century  in  the  Bodleian  Library  (Douce  Coll.  50).     It  is  im- 
perfect.    It  begins  with  March  and  ends  with  October. 

The  list  might  be  extended  to  a  great  length,  but  only  by  including 
Calendars  of  no  particular  value.  The  English  Calendars  contain 
hardly  any  Celtic  names,  except  of  some  few  favourites  as  Patrick, 
David,  Samson  and  Brigid. 

In  addition  to  the  Calendars  and  Martyrologies  above  given,  the 
following  works  have  been  consulted  : — 

1.  John  of  Tynemouth,  Sanctilogium,  1350,  in  MS.  Cotton,  Tiberius, 
E.  i.     This  has  been  partly  destroyed  and  all  grievously  injured  by 
fire,  but  the  lives  were  used  by  Capgrave,  and  have  been  printed  by 
the  Bollandists  from  a  transcript,  which  was  supplied  to  them  by 
the  Monastery  of  Roseavallis.     John  of  Tynemouth  had  seen  the 
MS.  of  Lives  of  Welsh  Saints,  now  in    the    British    Museum,  MS. 
Cotton,  Vesp.  A.  xiv,  and  he  condensed  the  lives  therein. 

2.  Capgrave,  Nova  Legenda,  London,  1516  ;  his  MS.  is  in  the  British 
Museum  (MS.  Cotton,  Otho,  D.  ix).      It  has  suffered  from  fire,  and 
is  not  completely  legible.     Capgrave  merely  printed  from  John  of 
Tynemouth,  with  some    additions.     A  new  and  excellent  edition  by 
Horstman,  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1901. 

3.  Whytford's   Martyrologe,   1526 ;    an   English  rendering  of   the 
Bridgetine  Martyrology  of  Sion  House,  but  with  additions.     Printed 
for  the  Henry  Bradshaw  Society,  1893. 

4.  Wilson's  Martyrology,  ist  ed.  1608  ;  2nd  ed.  1640. 
Wilson  says  : — 


The  JVelsh  and  Cornish  Calendars       8  r 

I  have  thought  it  most  convenient  for  the  more  full  accomplishment  and 
perfecting  of  a  Martyrologie,  that  where  any  day  falleth  out  to  be  altogether 
there  to  place  one  or  more  of  the  foresaid  ancient  saintes,  whose 
publifke  celebrity  hath  not  byn  hitherto  kept;  and  thereof  to  make  a 
commemoration  only,  noting  the  same  with  the  syne  of  an  Asteriske  or 
Starre  in  the  Marvjent. 

5.  Bishop  Challoner  published  his  Memorial  of  British  Piety  in 
17(11.  Challoner  took  on  himself  to  find  fault  with  Wilson's  book, 
hut  Wilson  had  the  decency  to  note  arbitrary  attribution  of  saints  to 
days,  whereas  Challoner  made  no  such  distinction,  so  that  his  book 
is  misleading  and  worse  than  useless,  for  he  has  led  others  astray. 
His  book  is  simply  crowded  with  blunders.  He  says  : — 

A^  to  the  appointing  our  British  Saints  their  respective  Days  throughout 
the  year,  where  our  Calendars  or  other  Monuments  gave  us  Light,  we  have 
geuerallv  endeavoured  to  follow  it :  but  where  we  could  not  find  the  Days 
on  which  they  were  formerly  honoured,  we  have  commemorated  them  on 
such  other  Day-.  a<  otherwise  might  have  been  vacant:  thus  we  have  not 
ne  /><n  /';/  the  vear  pass  without  commemorating  one  or  more- 

into. 

The  consequence  is  that  we  are  unable  to  trust  any  single  entry, 
and  on  looking  closely  into  this  wretched  compilation,  we  find  that 
ChalloiuT  has  dealt  most  arbitrarily  with  the  saints,  dotting  them 
about  just  where  he  willed,  and  dissociating  them  from  their  well- 
established  festivals.  His  sole  principle  was  that  of  filling  gaps. 

..  Wint't'red's  Day  is  June  22,  but  as  he  required  that  day  for  S, 

Alban.  he  shitted  her  to  June  24.      S.  Almedha's  Day  is  August  I, 

but  Clialloner  transferred  her  to  August  2.     On  October  23  he  enters  r 

lavi-tork.   in  Devonshire,  the  Commemoration  of  S.   Rumon, 

Bishop." 

Now,  wt-  know  from  William  of  Worcester  that  in  the  Tavistock 

idar  the  days  observed  for  S.  Rumon  were  January  5,  August  28, 

and  August  30.     This  latter  day  is  also  given  in  the  Exeter  Martyro- 

Init  October  23  never  was  held  as  a  day  of  commemoration  of 

S.  Rumon.  at  Tavistock  or  anywhere  else. 

His  attribution  of  S.  Jutwara  to  December  23  is  wanton  in  its 
recklessness,  for  S.  Jutwara  was  commemorated  at  Sherborne  and 
elsewhere  on  July  13.  He  had  but  to  look  in  Whytford  to  learn  that, 
and  lie  misled  Williams  ab  Ithel,  who  in  his  Welsh  Calendar,  relying 
on  Challoner.  noted  Jutwara  on  December  23.  Challoner  in  this, 
however,  follows  Wilson. 

His  Irish  entries  are  almost  invariably  wrong.  S.  Nessan  is  in- 
serted on  June  24,  whereas  he  should  have  stood  on  July  24.  S.  Ere 

VOL.    I. 


8  2  Introduction 

I 

of  Slane  he  sets  down  on  April  16,  whereas  every  Irish  Martyrology 
has  him  on  November  2. 

On  October  16  he  notes  S.  Cyra,  Virgin  of  Muskerry,  whereas  Ciara 
or  Cera  of  that  day  was  the  mother  of  a  family  by  her  good  husband 
Dubh. 

Nor  are  his  Welsh  entries  any  better.  S.  Cyngar,  or  Docwin,  he 
inserts  on  November  5,  in  place  of  November  7.  S.  Paulinus  of  Ty 
Gwyn  he  gives  as  "  a  man  of  God  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,"  converting 
the  Candida  Casa  into  the  chalk  island  !  and  he  makes  him  there 
educate  S.  David.  He  gives  as  his  day  December  31,  in  place  of 
December  23.  Deiniol  of  Bangor  he  puts  down  on  November  23, 
whereas  the  Welsh  Calendars  give  September  n.  Justinian  the 
Hermit-martyr,  near  S.  David's,  he  plants  on  August  23,  in  place  of 
his  proper  day,  December  5. 

The  consequence  is  that  we  can  never  trust  Challoner.  It  is  better 
to  leave  a  saint  without  a  day  of  commemoration  rather  than  follow 
this  reckless  martyrologist,  of  whom  one  can  only  predicate  this,  that 
he  is  generally  wrong. 

6.  A  Roman  and  Church  Calendar,  drawn  up  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lingard, 
but  without  bearing  his  name.  It  was  printed  by  C.  P.  Cooper  in  his 
Account  of  the  Most  Important  Records,  London,  1832,  vol.  ii,  p.  483, 
and  was  also  used  by  Sir  Harris  Nicolas,  first  of  all  in  his  Notitia 
Historica,  London,  1824,  and  again  in  his  Chronology  of  History, 
London,  1838  ;  again  by  Simms  (R.)  in  his  Genealogist's  Manual, 
London,  1861.  In  all  these,  misprints,  such  as  on  February  9,  Telcan 
for  Teleau,  i.e.  S.  Teilo,  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  are  servilely  repeated. 

The  original  work  was  executed  by  Dr.  Lingard  as  well  as  he  was 
able  from  the  scanty  materials  then  available.  These  were,  as  he 
says,  the  printed  York  and  Salisbury  Missals,  that  of  S.  Paul's,  London 
(MSS.  Harl.  2,787),  the  above-mentioned  English  Martyrologies  of 
Wilson  and  Capgrave. 

7.  Sir  Harris  Nicolas  not  only  reprinted  Dr.  Lingard's  Roman  and 
Church  Calendar,  but  he  added  a  valuable  "Alphabetical  List  of 
Saints  "  in  his  Chronology  of  History,  one  of  Dr.  Lardner's  series,  1838. 
He  added  many  names  of  Welsh  and  English  saints,  having  employed 
for  the  purpose  eleven  MS.  Calendars  in  the  Harleian  Collection,  two 
in  the  Cottonian,  and  two  in  the  Arundell  Collection  of  MSS. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  specify  from  which  MSS. 
he  drew  his  information  for  each  entry.  Although  he  doubtless  took 
great  pains  to  be  correct,  yet  in  some  instances  he  allowed  himself 
to  be  misled  by  Lingard,  who  in  turn  was  misled  by  Wilson. 

An  instance  of  the  manner  in  which  a  false  attribution  perpetuates 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars       8  3 

tself  is  that  of  S.  Indract.  The  Salisbury,  Norwich,  and  Aletemps 
Calendars  give  as  his  day  May  8.  Now  Wilson  inserted  him  on 
February  5,  but  put  an  asterisk  to  the  name  to  indicate  that  he  had 
no  authority  for  so  doing.  Challoner  followed  suit.  So  did  the 
Bollandist  Fathers  in  1648.  Lingard  followed  again,  and  so  Indract 
has  got  fairly  established  on  February  5,  a  day  on  which  he  was  com- 
memorated in  no  church  in  England  in  ancient  times. 

Wilson  gives  S.  Guier  on  April  4,  but  honestly  intimates  that  this 
insertion  was  purely  arbitrary.  Challoner  accepted  this,  and  so  did 
the  Bollandists  in  1665.  Lingard  could  do  no  other,  and  of  course 
has  been  followed.  Even  the  Truro  Church  Calendar,  1900,  gives 
Guier  on  April  4. 

Wilson,  with  an  asterisk,  enters  S.  Merwyna,  Virgin,  on  May  13. 
This  did  not  suit  Challoner,  who  wanted  the  day  for  S.  Cadoc  or 
Cathmail,  who  had  not  the  smallest  claim  to  it,  so  he  shifted  S. 
Mri  WVIKI  to  March  30.  Lingard  followed  Wilson  as  the  more  trusty 
<>t  the  two,  and  Sir  Harris  Nicolas  gives  May  13  as  S.  Merwyna's 
Day.  But  it  must  be  clearly  understood  that  at  Rumsey  Abbey, 
where  her  body  reposed,  neither  on  May  13  nor  on  March  30  was  any 
commemoration  of  her  made. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Martyrologies 
and  Calendars  since  Wilson  compiled  his  need  a  complete  overhaul- 
ing. 

8.  The  Ada  Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandists  were  begun  in  1643,  and 
the  work  is  not  yet  complete.     The  month  of  January  was  composed 
of  2  vols.  at  first — Antwerp,  1643  ;   February,  3  vols.,  1648  ;    March, 
3  vols.,  1668 ;   April,   3  vols.,   1675  ;   May,   8  vols.,   1680-8  ;   June, 
7  vols.,  1695-1717  ;  July,  7  vols.,  1719-31  ;  August,  6  vols.,  1733-43  ; 
September,  8  vols.,  1746-62  ;    October,  13  vols.,  1765-70,   1780-6, 
1794,  1845,  1853,  1858,  1861,  1864,  1867,  1883;     November,  t.  i, 
1887,  t.  2,  pt.  i,  1894. 

There  has  been  a  new  edition,  ed.  by  Carnandet,  Paris,  16  vols. 
and  incomplete.  This  edition  is  not  a  faithful  reproduction  ;  there 
are  additions  and  excisions. 

The  great  merit  of  this  collection  is  that  the  Bollandist  Fathers  give 
their  authorities  for  the  attribution  of  the  several  saints  to  their  par- 
ticular days.  But  they  have  trusted  too  far  to  Wilson,  who  had  not 
the  means  at  his  disposal  to  give  to  his  Martyrology  that  exactness 
which  he  doubtless  would  have  desired,  and  who  was  too  free  in 
putting  down  by  guesswork  obscure  local  saints  on  days  upon  which 
they  never  had  received  a  cult. 

9.  Analecta  Bollandiana.     A  supplement  to  the  Ada  Sanctorum, 


Introduction 


and  edited  by  the  Bollandist  Fathers.     Some  thirteen  volumes  have 
appeared,  and  the  issue  is  still  in  progress. 

It  contains  :  (i)  hitherto  unedited  documents  on  the  lives  of  the 
saints  ;  (2)  ancient  Martyrologies  reprinted  ;  (3)  lives  of  saints  pre- 
termitted  in  the  earlier  volumes  of  the  Ada  Sanctorum;  (4)  newly 
discovered  texts,  better  than  those  already  printed  ;  (5)  variants  to 
those  published ;  (6)  critical'  notes  ;  (7)  descriptive  catalogues  of 
MS.  collections  of  hagiographa  ;  (8)  liturgical  memorials  ;  (9)  review 
of  hagiographical  works  annually  issuing  from  the  press. 

10.  Butler  (Alban).  The  Lives  of  Fathers,  Martyrs,  and  other 
Principal  Saints,  1745  and  1789  ;  repeatedly  reprinted. 

This  collection  was  written  for  edification,  and  the  author  was 
devoid  of  the  critical  faculty.  He  touched  up  and  altered  the  lives 
as  suited  his  purpose,  which  was  to  furnish  wholesome  reading.  He 
accordingly  cut  out  everything  of  which  he  disapproved  ;  and  being 
entirely  destitute  of  any  sense  of  poetry,  he  eliminated  precisely 
those  incidents  in  the  lives  of  the  heroes  of  Christianity  that  give 
them  beauty  and  arrest  the  attention.  He  took  no  trouble  to  make 
sure  that  he  had  set  down  his  biographical  notices  on  the  days  upon 
which  local  saints  received  veneration. 

11.  "  Britannia  Sacra,  or  the  Lives  of  the  Most  Celebrated  British, 
English,    Scottish,  and    Irish  Saints,  who  have  flourished  in  these 
Islands  ;    Faithfully  collected  from  their  Acts  and  other  Records  of 
British  History,"  London,  1745. 

When  it  is  known  that  this  work  is  by  Challoner,  we  know  also 
how  to  estimate  it. 

12.  The  Menology  of  England  and  Wales,  by  Richard  Stanton,  of 
the  Oratory,  London,  Burns  and  Gates,   1887,  with  a  Supplement, 
1892.     This  is  a  valuable  compilation,  if  not  very  critical. 

It  contains  an  incomplete  list  of  MS.  Calendars  in  the  British  Museum 
and  elsewhere. 

Father  Stanton  says  :  "  No  fewer  than  108  Calendars  have  been 
examined  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining,  as  nearly  as  possible,  the 
names  of  those  servants  of  God  who  received  from  our  ancestors  the 
public  honours  of  Sanctity." 

We  do  not  print  a  Calendar  of  Cornish  Saints,  but  refer  to  the 
Transactions  of  the  Devonshire  Association  for  1900,  pp.  341-389, 
where  there  is  one  fairly  complete. 

The  principal  Irish  Calendars  and  Martyrologies  are  these  :— 

i.  The  Felire  of  Oengus.  This  is  a  Metrical  Calendar,  attributed 
to  Oengus  the  Culdee,  a  contemporary  of  Aed  Ordnaithe,  king  of 
Ireland,  793-817  ;  but  it  is  certainly  considerably  later,  as  it  includes 


tl 

'» 


The  Welsh  and  Cornish  Calendars       85 

a  commemoration  of  the  supposed  author.  It  includes  also  S.  Sin- 
clu-11.  who  died  in  982.  It  has  a  gloss  by  the  O'Clerys,  and  has  been 
piil>li>lied  by  tin-  Royal  Irish  Academy,  Dublin,  1871,  edited  by 
Dr.  \Yhitley  Stokes. 

1  IK-  Martyrology  of  Tallagh,  attributed  to  S.  Maelruan,  who  died 
in  788.  He  may  have  made  the  original  calendar,  but  it  has  received 
addition-;,  inr  it  contains  the  name  of  Coirpre,  abbot  of  Clonmacnoise, 
who  died  about  899.  It  is  imperfect,  lacking  November,  and  the  first 
M  'lays  of  December.  It  has  been  published,  not  very  correctly, 
and  uncritically,  by  Dr.  Kelly,  the  editor;  Dublin,  1857. 

I'he  .Martyrology  of  Donegal,  so  called  because  drawn  up  by  the 

i   Irish  scholar  and  antiquary,  Michael  O'Clery,  one  of  the 

1620.     He  laid  under  contribution  the  Cashel  Calendar, 

which  was  compiled  in  1030,  but  which  is  now  lost.      It  has  been  edited 

by  Dr.  James  Todd  :    Dublin,  1864. 

4.  I  IK-  Drummoiid  Calendar  of  the  twelfth  century.  This  is  an 
ln-h  <', dnii lar  rather  than  Scottish.  It  has  been  published  by  Bishop 
Forbes,  of  Brechin,  in  his  Kalcndars  of  Scottish  Saints,  Edinburgh, 

This  calendar  is  of  the  twelfth  century. 

[he  Book  of  Obits,  of  Dublin  Cathedral,  edited  by  Crosthwaite 
and  To.Kl  :   Dublin,  1843. 

1'he  Martyrology  of  Gorman,  abbot  of  Cnocnan-Apostol ;  drawn 
i  i  !<><)  ami  1174.     It  has  been  edited  by  Dr.  Whitley  Stokes, 
tor  the  Hmry  Bradshaw  Society;  London,  1895. 

7.  Sanctorum  (/itontmitcim  Vita  et  Passiones,  una  cum  eorum  Diebus 

MS.  of  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century  (vi,  B.  i,  16),  in 
y  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.     Some  folios  are  missing. 

8.  Officia  Donrinicalia    totius  anni,   cnm    Kalcndario ;    Psalterium 
atinnni.   cum   Lcctimulnis    c    ritis    Sanctorum    quorundam    precipue 

»!.     MS.   written    in   1489  (xii,    B.    3,    10),    in    the   same 
library, 

9.  Calendar  of  Down,  of  the  fifteenth  century.      Bodleian  Library, 
Oxford  (MSS.  dinonici.  Liturg.,  215). 

^  10.  (\il(l/,^ns  pnf.  Quorum  Sanctorum  Ibernia,  by  Henry  FitzSimon, 
S.J.,  in  tlie  sixteenth  century,  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin 
(MSS.  xii,  B.  3,  10). 

ii.  John  Colgan,  Adu  Sanctorum  Veteris  et  Majoris  Scotia  seu 
Hihcrniu-  Sanctorum  Insults,  Louvain,  1645.  This  is  carried  to  the 
end  of  March  only. 

In  i "47  he  issued  his  Triadis  Thaumaturga,  sive  Divorum  Patricii, 
t  Br^ida  Ada.     Unhappily  he  never  completed  his 

Acta   Sanctorum  of  Ireland,  as  he  died  at  Louvain  in  1648. 


8  6  Introduction 

Most  of  his  MSS.,  materials  laboriously  collected,  were  dispersed  when 
the  French  revolutionary  soldiers  swept  over  the  Netherlands. 

12.  Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints,  by  John  Canon  O'Hanlon,  n.d,, 
volume  for  September  was  issued  1900.  The  failure  of  the  health  of 
the  aged  author  has  caused  the  work  to  remain  incomplete  and  to 
break  off  at  October  21.  A  laborious  compilation,  and  the  author  is 
careful  to  give  references,  but  it  is  woefully  uncritical. 

Scottish  Calendars  may  be  consulted,  but  they  render  assistance 
only  to  a  limited  degree. 

Bishop  Forbes,  of  Brechin,  has  published  the  most  important 
Kalendars  of  Scottish  Saints  ;  Edinburgh,  1872.  This  contains  eleven, 
among  these  the  Drummond  Calendar,  which  is  Irish. 

Since  then  the  Foulis  Breviary  of  the  fifteenth  century  has  been 
published  ;  Longmans,  London,  1902. 

Brittany  Calendars  are  of  far  greater  importance.  We  refer 
for  these  to  the  monograph  on  the  subject  :  Breviaires  et  Missels 
des  jEglises  et  Abbayes  Bretonnes  de  France  anterieurs  au  xviie  siecle, 
par  1'Abbe  F.  Duine.  Rennes :  Plihon  et  Hommay,  1906. 


IV.     THE  GENEALOGIES  OF  THE 
WELSH   SAINTS 

THE  principal  sources  and  authorities,  in  MS.  and  in  print,  for  the 
genealogies  of  the  Welsh  saints  are  the  following : — 

1.  The  Bonedd  in  Peniarth  MS.  16,  of  the  early  thirteenth  century  ; 
imperfect  at  the  end. 

2.  The  Bonedd  in  Peniarth  MS.  45,  of  the  late  thirteenth  century. 
These  two  early  Bonedds  have  never  been  published. 

3.  The  Bonedd  in  Peniarth  MS.  12,  in  the  fragment  of  Llyfr  Gwyn 
Rhydderch,  of  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth   century ;    printed   in 
Y  Cymmrodor,  vii,  pp.  133-4. 

4.  The  Bonedd  in  Hafod  MS.  16,  circa  1400,  now  in  the  Cardiff 
Free  Library ;    a  little  imperfect  towards  the  end.     It  is  printed, 
with  but  few  inaccuracies,  in  the  Myvyrian  Archaiology,  pp.  415-6, 
and  the  missing  entries  supplied  from  a  Mawddwy  MS.     It  is  also 
printed,  but  very  inaccurately,  in  the  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  265-8, 
from  the  copy  in  Harleian  MS.  4181,  of  the  early  eighteenth  century. 


The  Genealogies  of  the  Welsh  Saints      87 

5.  The  Bonedd  in  Cardiff  Free  Library  MS.  25,  a  transcript  made 
by  John  Jones  of  Gelli  Lyfdy  in  1640  from  a  MS.  (now  lost)  supposed 
by  him  to  have  been  of  about  the  eleventh  century.  A  copy,  with  few 
variations,  of  No.  I ;   also  imperfect  at  the  end. 

6.  The  Bonedd  in  Plas  Llanstephan  MS.  28,  written  in  1455-6. 

7.  The  Bonedd  in  Peniarth  MS.  27,  part  ii,  of   the  late  fifteenth 
century. 

The  Achau  printed  in  the  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  100-146,  from  three 
Glamorgan  MSS.  : — 

(a)  pp.  100-14,  from  a  Coychurch  MS.  transcribed  or  compiled 
about  1670. 

(b)  pp.  115-34,  from  a  Llansannor  MS.  (previously  Coychurch), 
of  about  the  same  date  apparently. 

(c)  pp.  135-46,  from  a  Cardiff  MS.,  of  which  the  date  is  not 
given,  but  probably  the  seventeenth  century. 

A  good  deal  of  interesting  information,  of  later  date  it  would  appear 
than  the  originals,  has  been  worked  into  these  Achau.  Mistakes  of 
fact  and  spelling  are  frequent. 

There  is  a  transcript  of  pp.  100-134  by  Sir  S.  R.  Meyrick,  made  in 
in  the  Aberystwyth  University  College  Library. 

9.  The    so-called    Bonedd  y  Saint  in  Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  417-31,  in 
reality  an  alphabetical  compilation  made  by  Lewis  Morris  in   1760 
in nn   a  number  of  MS.  Bonedds.     A  copy  of  it,  with  additions  in 
<i\v;illttT  Mi-chain's  hand,  at  Aberystwyth. 

10.  The  Achau,  atrociously  printed,   in  Cambro-British  SS.,  pp. 
71,  from  Harleian  MS.  4181  (early  eighteenth  century). 

Mxuvnth  century  MS.  copies  of  Saintly  Pedigrees  are  very  numerous. 
As  supplementing  the  foregoing  must  be  mentioned  the  following  : — 

1.  The  Old-Welsh  Pedigrees  in  Harleian  MS.   3859,   circa   noo, 
printed  in  Y  Cymmrodor,  ix,  pp.  169-83. 

These,  as  well  as  some  of  the  other  genealogies  enumerated  here, 
have  been  very  carefully  indexed  by  Mr.  Anscombe  in  the  Archiv  fur 
CMscke  Lexikographie  for  1898,  1900  and  1903. 

2.  The  Cognatio  de  Brychan  in 

(a)  Cott.  Vesp.  A.  xiv,  of  the  early  thirteenth  century ;  and 

(b)  Cott.  Dom.  i,  circa  1650. 

3.  Progenies  Keredic  Regis  de  Keredigan  in  Cott.  Vesp.  A.  xiv. 

2  (a),  (b)  and  3  have  been  very  carefully  reproduced  by  the 
Rev.  A.  W.  Wade-Evans  in  y  Cymmrodor,  xix  (1906). 

4.  The  Brychan  catalogue  and  pedigrees  in  Jesus  College  (Oxford) 
MS.  xx  =  3,  of  the  early  fifteenth  century  ;    printed  in  y  Cymmrodor, 
viii,  pp.  83-90. 


8  8  Introduction 

5.  Bonedd  Gwyr  y  Gogledd  (the  Descent  of  the  Men  of  the  North) 
in  Peniarth  MS.  45  ;   printed  in  Skene's  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales, 

ii,  P-  454- 

6.  The  Pedigrees  in  Mostyn  MS.  117,  of  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  appended  to  the  copy  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  Historia  ; 
printed  in  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans'  Report  on  Welsh  MSS.,  i,  p.  63. 

To  these  authorities  may  be  added  Nicolas  Roscarrock,  fifth  son  of 
Richard  Roscarrock  in  S.  Endellion  in  Cornwall,  who  compiled  a 
Lives  of  English  Saints  (including  Welsh)  between  1610  and  1625, 
and  in  the  Welsh  Saints  his  authority  was  a  Welsh  priest,  Edward 
Powell,  who  placed  his  MS.  collection  at  his  disposal,  and  in  these 
MSS.  were  pedigrees  of  Welsh  Saints.  Roscarrock's  MS.  is  unhappily 
mutilated  at  the  end,  many  pages  having  been  torn  out  to  cover 
jam-pots.  The  volume  was  in  the  Brent  Eley  Library,  but  on  the 
dispersion  of  that  collection,  it  was  acquired  for  the  University  Library, 
Cambridge.  Roscarrock  studied  at  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  and  took 
his  B.A.  degree  in  1568.  Carew,  in  his  Survey  of  Cornwall,  p.  229, 
tells  us  of  "  his  industrious  delight  in  matters  of  History  and 
Antiquity."  He  died  in  1633  or  1634,  at  an  advanced  age. 


The  Genealogies  of  the  Welsh  Saints      89 


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LIVES  OF  THE   BRITISH   SAINTS 


S.  AARON,  Martyr 

THE  earliest  authority  for  S.  Aaron  is  Gildas,  De  excidio  Britannia, 
§  10  (ed.  Hugh  Williams).  He  says,  "  God,  therefore,  as  willing 
that  all  men  should  be  saved,  magnified  His  mercy  unto  us,  and  called 
siniuTs.  no  less  than  those  who  regard  themselves  righteous.  He  of 
Hi--  own  free  gift,  in  the  above  mentioned  time  of  persecution,  as  we 
conclude,1  lest  Britain  should  be  completely  enveloped  in  the  thick 
darkness  of  black  night,  kindled  for  us  bright  lamps  of  holy  martyrs. 
The  graves  where  their  bodies  lie,  and  the  places  of  their  suffering, 
had  thrv  not,  very  many  of  them,  been  taken  from  us  the  citizens 
on  account  of  our  numerous  crimes,  through  the  disastrous  division 
caused  by  the  barbarians,  would  at  the  present  time  inspire  the  minds 
of  those  who  gazed  at  them  with  a  far  from  feeble  glow  of  divine  love, 
ak  of  Saint  Alban  of  Verulam,  Aaron  and  Julius,  citizens  of 
eon,  and  the  rest  of  both  sexes  in  different  places,  who  stood 
in  in  with  lofty  nobleness  of  mind  in  Christ's  battle."  Some  writers 
have  been  pleased  to  discredit  the  words  of  Gildas  in  reference  to 
Aaron  and  Julius,  but  surely  without  reason  ;  as  Professor  Williams 
wdl  says  :  "  One  finds  it  difficult  to  understand  why  this  story  must 
be  doubted.  There  must  have  been  a  tradition  to  this  effect  at 
Caerleon  in  the  sixth  century,  and  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  we  find 
evidence  of  the  very  local  tradition  that  has  been  said  to  be  wanting. 
The  Index  of  that  book  mentions  about  eighteen  place-names  begin- 
ning with  Merthir  (modern  Welsh,  Merthyr),  one  of  which  is  '  Merthir 
lun  (lulii)  et  Aaron.'  A  merthyr  means,  as  its  Latin  original  mar- 
tyrium  denotes,  '  place  of  martyr  or  martyrs,'  that  is,  a  church  built 
in  memory  of  a  martyr,  and  generally  over  his  grave."  Again, — "  We 
can  hardly  doubt  that  such  a  name  as  Merthyr,  from  martyrium,  is 
as  old  as  llan,  or  cil,  or  disert,  if  not  indeed  older. 

"  Ut  conicimus."     The  words  imply  that  Gildas  was  not  certain  as  to  the 
exact  period  when  the  Martyrdom  took  place. 

101 


IO2  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

"  This  at  once  carries  it  beyond  the  sixth  century.  Now  the  boun- 
dary of  this  particular  merthir  1  is  :  '  The  head  of  the  dyke  on  the 
Usk,  along  the  dyke  to  the  breast  of  the  hill,  along  the  dyke  to  the 
source  of  Nant  Merthyr,  that  is  Amir  '  (pp.  225,  226,  377).  Here 
we  have  a  merthyr  of  Julius  and  Aaron  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Caerleon."  2  The  date  of  the  martyrdom  may  be  placed  during  the 
Persecution  of  Diocletian,  304. 

The  passage  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  alluded  to  by  Professor  Williams 
is  important.  In  the  reign  of  Meurig,  King  of  Glywyssing  and 
Morganwg,  the  contemporary  of  Fern  vail,  who  died  in  775  according 
to  the  Annales  Cambria,  Nud  was  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  and  a  grant 
was  made  to  him  of  all  the  territory  of  the  martyrs  Julius  and  Aaron 
"  which  formerly  had  belonged  to  Saint  Dubricius."  (Immolamus 
.  .  .  totum  territorium  sanctorum  martirum  iulii  et  aaron  quod  prius 
fuerat  sancti  dubricii  in  priori  tempore.)3  This  certainly  shows  that 
in  the  sixth  century  there  was  a  Merthir  Julii  et  Aaron  at  Caerleon, 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  Dubricius.  It  was  in  fact  solely  on  the 
strength  of  his  possession  of  this  church  that  the  fable  grew  up 
in  later  times 'that  Dubricius  had  been  "  Archbishop  "  of  Caerleon. 

Giraldus  Cambrensis  mentions  two  churches,  with  their  convent 
and  society  of  canons,  at  Caerleon,  dedicated  to  Aaron  and  Julius.4 
Bede  paraphrases  the  words  of  Gildas,  but,  not  understanding  that 
his  "  urbs  Legionum  "  was  Caerleon  on  Usk,  transferred  the  mar- 
tyrdom to  Chester.5  But  Bede  was  very  ill  informed  conce 
British  matters. 

According  to  Bishop  Godwin  (1595-1601)  there  existed  in 
recollection  of  the  generation  preceding  that  in  which  he  wrote,  two 
chapels  called  after  Aaron  and  Julius,  on  the  east  and  west  sides  of 
the  town  of  Caerleon,  about  two  miles  distant  from  each  other.  Pro- 
bably S.  Julian's,  now  a  farm  house,  but  once  a  mansion — the  resi- 
dence of  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury —occupies  the  site  of  S.  Julius's 
Church. 

The  reputed  site  of  S.  Aaron's  chapel  is  near  the  Roman  camp  of 
Penrhos,  between  the  Afon  Lwyd  and  the  Sor  Brook  that  flows  into 
the  Usk  above  Caerleon,  and  here  stone  coffins  have  been  found, 
showing  that  it  was  a  place  of  Christian  interment. 

Soon  after  the  Norman  Conquest  there  was  a  church  in  Caerleon 

1  In  the  text  "  Territorium." 
z  Gildas,  ed.  Hugh  Williams,  note  p.  27. 
8  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.  225. 

4  I  tin.,  ch.  v.  They  are  also  mentioned  by  Walter  Mapes,  and  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth.  s  Hist.  EccL,  i,  7. 


rning 
i   the 


S.  Aaron  103 


itself  dedicated  to  Julius  and  Aaron,  which  was  granted  by  Robert 
de  Chandos  to  the  Priory  of  Goldcliff,  founded  by  him  in  IH3-1 

Llanharan,  moreover,  a  chapelry  in  Llanilid  parish,  in  Glamor- 
ganshire, is  dedicated  to  S.  Aaron,  according  to  the  lolo  MSS. ;  2 
and  according  to  the  same  authority  the  Corau  of  SS.  Julius  and 
Aaron  at  Caerleon  belonged  to  the  Cor  of  S.  Dyfrig.3 

There  is  a  Cae  Aron  (his  field)  near  Caerleon,  and  a  Cwm  Aron 
(liis  dingle)  in  the  parish  of  Llanfrechfa,  in  the  neighbourhood. 

The  two  saints  are  commemorated  together  on  July  I,  according  to 
\\1iytford,  who  says,  "  In  englond  the  feest  of  saynt  Aaron  andsaynt 
lulr  martyrs,  yt  in  the  passyon  of  saynt  Albane  were  couerted,  and 
tliis  day  with  many  other  Chrystyans  put  to  dethe."  Wilson  also 
in  both  editions  of  his  English  Martyrologie,  1608  and  1640,  on  the 
same  day ;  also  Nicolas  Roscarrock. 


S.  AARON,  Hermit,  Confessor 

A  SAINT,  presumedly  from  Wales,  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  century 
in  Armorican  Domnonia,  where  he  is  venerated.  He  is  locally 
known  as  Aihran  ;  the  Latin  form  of  the  name  is  Aaron.  He  made 
a  settlement  a  few  miles  north-east  of  Lamballe,  where  he  is  still 
!  Meliorated  as  titular  saint  of  the  parish.  To  the  west,  in  Cotes 
tlu  Xonl,  is  a  chapel  dedicated  to  him,  that  may  indicate  his  presence 
tlu-iv  i<>r  a  while,  at  Pleumeur-Gautier,  on  the  tongue  of  land  between 
tin-  KiviT  Trieux  and  that  of  Tre"guier.  But  he  would  seem  to  have 
retired  in  old  age  to  an  islet  near  the  ancient  city  of  Aleth,  at  the 
ni« 'ut li  of  the  Ranee.  Off  this  coast  are  several  islands,  the  largest 
brini;  (Y-sambre,  on  which  a  colony  of  Irish  monks  was  settled  under 
an  abbot  named  Festivus.4 

The  islet,  now  occupied  by  the  town  of  S.  Malo,  was  then  much 
more  considerable  in  extent  than  at  present.  It  has  been  reduced  by 

>  Dugdale,  Monasticon,  v,  pp.  727-8  ;    Tanner,  Notitia  Monas.,  1787.     Jan- 
Originum  Cisterciensium,  torn.  i.  Vindobon,  1877,  p.  190. 
VSS.,  p.  222.     According  to  other  accounts  to  Julius  and  Aaron  con- 
jointlv. 

i.,  p.  1 5 1 .   This  is  in  agreement  with  the  statement  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv. 
encrunt   ad   insulam   quae   vocatur  September,   ubi  sacerdos    fidelis 
icrviens,  Festivus  nomine,  cum  schola  plurima  habitabat."      Vita  S.  Ma- 
chnti,  auct.  Bili,  ed.  Plaine,  cap    ^ 


104  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

the  action  of  the  sea.     At  the  time  when  Aaron  was  there,  a  vill  or 
two  was  situated  on  it ;    they  have  been  submerged.1 

The  town  of  Aleth  was  either  abandoned  by  its  ancient  inhabitants 
or  was  occupied  only  by  pagans.  Bili,  author  of  a  Life  of  S.  Malo, 
asserts  the  former,  but  this  is  inconsistent  with  the  rest  of  the  narra- 
tive, and  is  in  contradiction  with  the  statement  in  another  Life 
which  says,  "  Ci vitas  ilia  eo  tempore  populis  et  navalibus  commerciis 
frequenta."  2 

According  to  the  most  trustworthy  Lives  of  S.  Malo,  this  latter  saint, 
on  leaving  Britain  with  his  companions,  came  to  that  isle  where  w; 
Aihran  or  Aaron,  and  there  remained  for  a  considerable  time  ti 
elected  Bishop  of  Aleth  ;  but  Bili  says  that  it  was  not  till  later  that 
he  paid  Aaron  a  visit.  The  former  authority  is  best ;  according  to 
it,  "  ingressus  insulam  vocabulo  Aaronis,  ab  ipso  monacho  nuncu- 
patam,  exceptus  est  ab  ipso  officiosisime."  3 

Here  Aaron  lived,  as  says  Bili,  "  desiring  to  avoid  the  sight  am 
conversation  of  bad  men."  Possibly  his  mission  had  not  been  ven 
successful,  and  he  himself  may  have  been  broken  with  age.  He 
gladly  welcomed  Malo  as  coming  from  Wales,  and  as  having  the  ener^ 
of  youth,  to  enable  him  to  overcome  the  obstacles  that  had  beei 
perhaps  too  great  for  himself.  Aihran  died  in  the  middle  of  the  sixtl 
century. 

The  chapel  of  S.  Aaron  at  S.  Malo  stands  on  the  highest  point  oi 
what  was  once  the  island  that  bore  his  name.  It  is  surrounded 
lofty  houses,  and  has  been  threatened  with  destruction.  Mass  is  sak 
in  it  every  year  on  June  22. 

There  was  formerly  a  chapel  of  S.  Aaron  at  Ploemeur  in  Morbihan, 
in  the  hamlet  now  called  Saint  Deron.  At  S.  Aaron  (Cotes  du  Nord) 
is  a  statue  of  him.  He  is  represented  habited  in  a  long  monastic 
garment,  girded  with  a  cord,  his  head  bare.  His  right  hand  holds  a 
book,  in  the  left  is  a  pastoral  crook.  Although  titular  saint  of  the 
parish,  he  has  been  displaced  to  make  way  for  S.  Sebastian,  and  his 
pardon  suppressed.  There  is  a  fine  painting  in  the  Cathedral  of  S. 
Malo  representing  the  reception  of  Machu  by  S.  Aaron.  According 
to  the  Breviary  of  S.  Malo,  printed  in  1537,  a  Missal  of  S.  Malo,  fifteenth 
century,  and  the  Missals  of  1609  and  1627,  his  day  is  June  22. 

1  "  Asinam  habebat,  et  quocunque  mittebatur  exiebat,  maximeque  ad  villam 
Laioc,  quam  nunc  mari  deglutiente  derelictam  esse  videmus,  et  ad  illam  villam 
quae  vocatur  Guoroc."  Ibid. 

*  Vita  S.  Maclovii,  cap.  10,  in  Acta  SS.  O.S.B.  saec.  i,  p.  219  (ed.  1733). 

*  Vita  S.  Maclovii,  cap.  15,  ed.  De  la  Borderie. 


S.  AARON. 

From  Statue  at  S.  Aaron,  Cotes  du  Nord. 


S.  Achebran  105 

S.  ACHEBRAN,  Confessor 

IN  Domesday,  Lanachebran  is  the  name  of  the  manor  of  S.  Kevern 
in  the  Lizard  district  of  Cornwall.  "  Canonici  Sancti  Achebranni 
tenent  Lan- Achebran  et  tenebant  tempore  regis  Eduardi." 

Achebran  is  presumedly  the  Irish  Aed  Cobhran,  one  of  the  sons  of 
Bochra  ;  and  his  brothers  were  Laidcenn  and  Cainrech.1  Bochra 
was  the  name  of  the  mother.  Their  father's  name  is  unknown.  The 
three  brothers  were  commemorated  as  Saints  of  Achad  Raithin  in 
Ily  MacGaille,  in  Waterford.  But  Aed  Cobhran  had  a  special  com- 
memoration on  January  28,  as  having  a  cell  under  Inis  Cathy.  He 
was  consequently  associated  with  S.  Senan,  if  he  belonged  to  the 
period.  His  cell  was  not  in  the  island  of  Inis  Cathy,  but  at 
Kiliush.  on  the  mainland,  in  Clare.  He  is  there  forgotten  ;  there 
an  two  old  churches  in  the  place,  but  both  are  named  after  S.  Senan. 
This  is  due  to  Aed  Cobhran  not  having  founded  his  church,  but  to 
his  having  occupied  one  belonging  to  S.  Senan. 

It  is  probable  that  Achebran  came  to  Cornwall  along  with  S.  Senan 
and  the  party  that  attended  S.  Breaca,  and  that  he  made  his  settle- 
ment in  the  Lizard  district.  Cobhran  became  Kevern,  for  the  Irish 
bh  is  sounded  like  v.  In  later  times  he  seems  to  have  been  forgotten 
or  mistaken  for  S.  Cieran,  from  whom  he  is  wholly  distinct.  If  we 
are  not  mistaken,  he  settled  permanently  in  France,  where  his  name 
was  still  further  corrupted  into  Abran. 

Flodoard  (d.  966),  in  his  History  of  the  Church  of  Rheims,  says  : 
"  Delata  sunt  etiam  tune  temporibus  ad  ecclesiam  beati  Remigii 
memoria  Sancti  Gibriani  a  pago  Catalaunensi,  ubi  peregrinatus  fuisse 
tur  et  humatus.  Advenerunt  siquidem  in  hanc  provinciam 
tun  fratres  ab  Hibernia  peregrinationis  ob  amor  em  Christi  gratia  : 
i  scilicet,  Gibrianus,  Helanus,  Tressanus,  Germanus,  Veranus, 
Abranus,  Petranus,  cum  tribus  sororibus  suis  Fracla,  Promptia, 
Possenna,  eligentes  sibi  super  fluvium  nomine  Maternam,  opportuna 
degencli  loca."  - 

This  arrival  took  place  whilst  S.  Remigius  presided  over  the  Church 
of  Rheims  (459-530),  and  Sigebert  of  Gemblours  fixes  the  date  at 
The  Rheims  Breviary  merely  says  that  it  was  during  the  reign 

Clovis  I  (481-511),  so  that  the  date  given  by  Sigebert  is  approxi- 
mately right. 

Leland,  quoting  from  the  lost  life  of  S.  Breaca  (I tin.,  iii,  p.  15),  says  : 
Breaca  venit  in  Cornubiam  comitata  multis  Sanctis,  inter  quos 

1  Martyrology  of  Oengus,  ed.  Whitley  Stokes,   1871,    p.  clxxiii.     Caenrich  = 
<'uimk'ch  (?) 

2  Flodoard,  Hist.  Ecclesiast.  Rem.,  lib.  iv,  c.  9   (ed.  de  Douai,    1617,   p.  638). 


nosci 
septe 
hi  s( 


a 


106  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 


fuerunt  Sinninus  abbas,  qui  Romae  cum  Patrick)  fuit,  Maruanus 
monachus,  Germochus  rex,  Elwen,  Crewenna,  Helena."  In  one 
MS.  Thecla  is  added.  It  is  possible  to  recognise  some  of  these  among 
those  who  went  to  Rheims.  Sinninus  is  Sennen,  or  Senan  of  Inis 
Cathy,  who  probably  brought  Aed  Cobhran  with  him.  Germochus 
may  be  the  Germanus  of  Flodoard.  Helena  is  probably  his  Helanus. 
Promptia  we  suspect  is  Crewenna,  the  Goidelic  hard  c  becoming  p,  and 


+S.  Vr&n 


S.  Germ&in  clu  Pmel 


CHURCHES    OF    THE    COMPANIONS    OF    S.    ACHEBRAN. 

Flodoard's  Fracla  is  Leland's  Thecla.  The  party  may  be  traced  on 
or  near  the  Ranee,  rendering  it  probable  that  they  landed  at  Aleth. 
S.  Helan  is  recognised  at  S.  Helan  and  the  adjoining  parish  of 
Lanhelin  near  Dinan.  Tressan  is  seen  at  Tressaint,  further  up  the 
river,  and  S.  Veranus  is  discoverable  at  Trevron  and  Evran  ;  also  at 
S.  Vran,  near  Merdrignac.  S.  Abran  has  a  chapel  at  Perret ;  Petran 
is  commemorated  at  S.  Pern  ;  and  there  is  a  chain  of  Germanus 
foundations  in  Ille-et-Vilaine.  We  are  somewhat  disposed  to  identify 
Aed  Cobhran  with  the  Abran  who  has  a  chapel  at  N.  Dame  de  Guer- 
mene  in  Perret,  near  Gouarzec  (Cotes  du  Nord),  where  he  is  com- 


S.  Adwen  107 

lemorated  on  December  3.  He  is  there  represented  in  monastic 
ibit,  girded  about  the  waist  by  a  cord ;  his  head  is  bare,  his  hood 
thrown  back  over  his  shoulders.  His  feet  are  covered  by  his  habit, 
his  right  hand  he  carries  a  curved  stick  or  pen-bras  ;  in  his  left 
id  is  a  closed  book.  The  statue  is  of  the  fifteenth  century.  There 
a  parish  of  S.  Abran  or  Abraham  in  Morbihan,  but  in  the  ancient 
liocese  of  S.  Malo  ;  it  was  annexed  to  the  diocese  of  Vannes  in  1801. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  accept  Flodoard's  statement  that  the  party 
msisted  of  actual  brothers  and  sisters  after  the  flesh  ;  they  probably 
rere  spiritual  brethren. 

In  the  Life  of  S.  Ailbe  we  are  informed  that  this  illustrious  saint, 
i  his  way  home  from  Rome,  founded  a  monastic  establishment, 
which  he  placed  the  sons  of  Guil,  previous  to  his  reaching  Dol.1 
Germanus,  one  of  the  seven  who  visited  Remigius,  is  inserted  in  the 
Irish  Martyrologies  as  MacGoll,  and  it  is  possible  enough  that  Ailbe 
did  for  a  while  associate  with  this  party  of  seven  on  the  river  Ranee- 
The  time  would  suit,  as  Ailbe  was  in  Gaul  at  the  very  beginning  of 
the  sixth  century.  Moreover  Aed  Cobhran  and  his  brothers  were  of 
the  MacGaille  territory. 

The  day  of  Aed  Cobhran,  as  already  said,  in  the  Irish  Martyrologies, 
is  January  28,  but  he  is  also  commemorated  along  with  his  brothers 
on  November  28.  In  that  of  Donegal  he  is  mentioned  as  of  Cill-Ruis 
or  Kilrush,  in  the  county  of  Clare,  but  he  is  no  longer  there  remem- 
bered.2 Cill-Ruis  was  in  the  diocese  of  Iniscathy,  which  seems  to 
indicate,  as  already  mentioned,  that  he  was  a  disciple  of  S.  Senan, 
who  is  the  Cornish  Sennen.  He  is  commemorated  in  the  Felire  of 
is,  and  in  the  Martyrology  of  Tallagh  as  well. 


S.  ADWEN,  Virgin 

tf  the  Inqnisitio  Nonarum  she  is  entered  as  S.  Athewenna.  The 
parish  of  Advent  in  Cornwall  is  locally  called  S.  Anne  or  S.  Tane. 
In  1340  it  is  entered  as  Capella  Sanctae  Athewenna^.3  Leland  (Co//., 
*v»  I53)  gives  Adwen  as  one  of  Brychan's  children  who  settled  in 

1  Vita  S.  Albei,  A  eta  SS.  Hibern.  ex  Codice  Salmanticensi,  Edinb.  1888.  col.  244. 
Letters  containing  information  relative  to  the  Antiquities  of  Clare,  in  Pro 
gress  of  the  Ordnance  Survey  in  1839,  ii,  p.  2. 
3  Maclean,  Deanery  of  Trigg  Minor,  ii,  p.  297. 

1  0    - 


io8  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

North  Cornwall.  He  derives  this  from  a  legend  of  S.  Nectan  pre- 
served at  Hartland.  So  does  William  of  Worcester  (ed.  Nasmith, 
1778),  from  a  notice  of  Brychan  he  found  at  S.  Michael's  Mount. 

Among  the  daughters  of  Brychan  known  to  the  Welsh  there  is  only 
one  that  might  with  any  degree  of  probability  be  identified  with  her, 
and  that  is  Dwynwen,  and  Mr.  W.  Copeland  Borlase  conjectured  that 
the  chapel  of  Advent  was  originally  Llanddwynwen.1  But  this  is 
mere  conjecture.  The  church  is  annexed  to  Lanteglos,  and  owing 
to  this  circumstance  meets  with  no  notice  in  the  Exeter  Episcopal 
Registers. 

Dr.  Borlase  states  that  Advent  parish  church  was  originally  dedi- 
cated to  S.  Tathan,  as  this  name  occurs,  says  he,  in  old  deeds.  Sii 
John  Maclean  quotes  deeds  in  which  the  name  is  spelt  S.  Tawthai 
(1559),  S.  Adwen  (1572),  "  Tathen  alias  Adventte  "  (1601),  etc.*  Bui 
the  Inquisitio  Nonarum  is  the  better  authority  for  the  dedication. 
See  further  under  S.  DWYNWEN. 


S.  AEDDAN,  see  S.  AIDAN 


S.  AELGYFARCH,  or  ELGYFARCH,  Confessor 

NOTHING  is  known  of  this  saint  further  than  that  he  was  one  of  the 
twelve  sons  of  Helig  ab  Glannog,3  whose  territory,  called  Tyno  Helig, 
was  overflowed  by  the  sea  in  the  sixth  century.  The  La  van  Sands, 
between  Anglesey  and  Carnarvonshire,  formed  a  portion  of  the  terri- 
tory, which  extended  to  the  Great  Orme's  Head.  After  the  loss  of 
his  land,  Helig  and  his  sons  devoted  themselves  to  religion.  Most  of 
them  founded  churches  in  various  parts  of  Wales.  They  are  said  to 
have  been  members  of  the  monastery  of  Bangor  Iscoed  in  the  first 
instance,  but  afterwards  some  of  them  went  to  Bardsey.  No  churches 
are  dedicated  to  S.  Aelgyfarch,  nor  is  his  name  to  be  found  in  any 
Calendar. 

1  The  Age  of  the  Saints,  pp.  153-4,  159.    Truro,  1893.     ^r-  Borlase  supposes 
that  Adwen  is  a  corruption  of  Llan-dwyn,  becoming  Ladwyn  and  then  Adwen. 
Carew  calls  her  Athawyn,  Survey,  p.  92. 

2  Deanery  of  Trigg  Minor,  sub  nom.  Advent,  ii,  p.  318. 

3  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  418  ;    lolo  MSS.,  p.   124. 


(S.  Aelhaiam  109 

S.  AELHAIARN,  or  ELHAIARN,  Abbot,  Confessor 
THE  parentage  of  this  Aelhaiarn  is  unknown.  He  was  a  disciple  of 
Dyfrig  at  Matle.1  He  appears  as  witness  to  several  grants  made 
to  this  saint,  as  that  of  Lann  lunabui,2  and  that  of  Cum  Barruc,3 
and  that  of  Cil  Hal.4  He  also  witnessed  the  grant  of  Penally  to 
Dyfrig.5  When,  later,  Cinuin,  the  king,  regranted  Cum  Barruc  to  Bishop 
Elgistil,  the  same  witnesses,  both  clerical  and  lay,  are  quoted,  and 
the  grant  is  apparently  only  a  reaffirmation  of  the  original  transfer.6 
When  a  grant  was  made  to  Bishop  Comeregius,  Aelhaiarn  signed  as 
Abbot  of  Lann  Guruoe,  i.e.  Lann  Guorboe.7  As  such  he  also  wit- 
nrssed  the  grant  of  Lann  Loudeu  to  Bishop  lunapeius.8 

Lann  Guorboe  has  been  supposed  to  be  Garway,  but  incorrectly  ; 
it  was  in  campo  Malochu.  Mais  mail  Lochou,  now  represented  by 
the  name  Mawfield  for  an  older  Malefield  in  Testa  de  Nevill  and  the 
Malvern  Charters,  was  the  name  of  Inis  Ebrdil,  and  denoted  the 
country  between  the  Dore  valley  and  the  Wye  from  Moccas  down  to 
about  Hereford,  and  the  Worm.  Guorboe  =  Gwrfwy  in  modern  Welsh. 
For  this  note  on  the  locality  of  Lann  Guorboe  we  are  indebted  ta 
Mr.  Egerton  Phillimore.  Whether  he  migrated  to  Brittany  with  S. 
Teilo  and  so  many  bishops,  abbots,  and  clerics  on  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Yellow  Plague  in  547  we  do  not  know.  Teilo,  we  do  know, 
;ved  grants  from  King  Budic  of  Cornouaille,  and  it  is  significant 
that  adjoining  Plogonnec,  near  Quimper,  where  S.  Teilo  receives  a 
cult,  is  S.  Alouarn,  who  has  given  his  name  to  a  castle  and  to  a  canonry. 
Alouarn,  apparently,  is  the  hermit  with  staff,  bearing  a  Celtic  bell, 
represented  in  the  same  window  with  Teilo  at  Plogonnec,  in  glass  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  On  his  way  through  Cornwall  along  with 
?eilo,  Aelhaiarn  may  have  founded  Lanherne,  but  the  parish  church 

dedicated  to  the  more  important  S.  Maughan  or  Mawgan. 


S.  AELHAIARN,  Confessor 

AELHAIARN  ("  the  Iron  Eyebrow  ")  lived  in  the  seventh  century,  and 
was  a  brother  to  SS.  Llwchaiarn  and  Cynhaiarn. 
The  pedigrees  of  the  Welsh  saints   show  great    variations  on   the 

1  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.  80. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  73.  3  Ibid.,  p.  74.  4  Ibid.,  p.  75. 

5  Ibid.,  p.  77.  •  Ibid.,  p.   163.  7  Ibid.,  p.  166. 

8  Ibid.,  p.   164. 


i  io  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

part  of  the  copyists  in  the  genealogy  of  these  brothers.1  The  saint's 
own  name  is  written  Ael-,  E1-,  and  Al-haiarn,  and  out  of  the  number 
of  forms  his  father's  name  assumes,  Hygarfael  appears  to  be  the 
best  attested.  This  Hygarfael  was  a  son  of  Cyndrwyn,  a  prince  of 
that  part  of  ancient  Powys  which  included  the  Vale  of  the  Severn 
about  Shrewsbury,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  "  of  Llystin  Wynnan 
(or  Wennan)  in  Caereinion  in  Powys,"  probably  to  be  identified  with 
Llysin,  a  township  in  the  parish  of  Llanerfyl,  Montgomeryshire. 
The  church  of  S.  Aelhaiarn  is  by  the  same  authorities  said  to  be  in 
"  Cegidfa,"  i.e.  "  the  hemlock-field,"  in  Powys.  The  parish  is  called 
to-day  in  English,  Guilsfield.  It  is  near  Welshpool. 

Three  other  dedications  have  been  given  to  this  church  —  S.  Giles 
(wrested  from  the  parish  name),  All  Saints  (Browne  Willis),  and  S. 
Tyssilio,  the  last  from  its  having  been  from  very  early  times  a  capella 
under  the  mother  church  of  Meifod,  as  also  from  the  fact  that  its 
festival,  November  8,  agreed  with  that  of  S.  Tyssilio. 

After  Aelhaiarn  was  also  named  the  ancient  parish  of  Llanaelhaiarn 
in  Merionethshire,  which  has  for  more  than  350  years  been  annexed 
to  the  parish  of  Gwyddelwern.  Its  church  or  chapel  is  now  extinct, 
but  one  of  the  townships  still  bears  the  name  Aelhaiarn.  It  is  given 
as  "  Eccl'ia  de  Lanhehaearn  "  in  the  Taxatio  of  1291,2  and  the  instru- 
ment, "  Unio  capellse  de  Llanalhaern  ad  vie.  de  Gwithelwern,"  dated 
1550,  is  preserved  in  the  Red  Book  of  S.  Asaph.3 

The  dedication  here  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  Aelhaiarn  having 
been  a  pupil  of  S.  Beuno,  and  Beuno  was  for  a  while  settled  at  Gwyddel- 
wern ;  so  also  his  foundation  at  Guilsfield  is  explained,  as  Beuno  was 
near  the  Severn  before  he  moved  to  Gwyddelwern.  When  the  master 
quitted  Powys  altogether,  Aelhaiarn  left  as  well,  and  accompanied 
him  into  Lleyn. 

To  Aelhaiarn  is  also  dedicated  the  important  church  of  Llanaelhaiarn, 
under  the  dominating  height  of  Tre'r  Ceiri  in  Carnarvonshire,  and 
near  Beuno's  monastery  at  Clynnog.  Here,  and  at  his  Well,  a  little 
-distance  to  the  north,  the  pilgrims  rested  on  their  way  to  Bardsey, 
and  paid  their  devotions.  Locally  the  church  is  called  Llanhaiarn, 
and  is  said  to  be  dedicated  to  S.  Elern,  both  corruptions.  There  is 
in  the  parish  a  large  farm  called  Elernion  (a  name  formed  like  Cere- 
digion  and  Edeyrnion),  which  is  believed  to  be  so  named  after  him. 
Pennant,  in  his  Tours,  says  the  church  is  "  dedicated  to  S.  Aelhaiarn, 
or  the  Saint  with  an  iron  eyebrow,  from  a  legend  too  absurd  to  relate. 
it  is  a  fine  well,  once  much  frequented  for  its  reputed  sanctity."  4 


1  Peniavth  MSS.,  16  and  45  ;   Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  418,  421-2,  424-5  ;   lolo  MSS., 
104  ;    Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  267. 
*  P.  286.  3  Fol.  2.  collations  section.  *  Ed.   1883,  ii,  p.  384. 


S.  AELHAIARN. 

From  Fifteenth-Century  Stained  Glass  at  Plogonnec, 
Finistere. 


1$.  Aelhaiarn  1 1 1 

he  legend  is  given  by  John  Ray  in  his  Itineraries.  "  We  were 
1  a  legend  of  one  St.  Byno,  who  lived  at  Clenogvaur,  and  was  wont 
to  foot  it  four  Miles  in  the  Night  to  Llaynhayrne,  and  there,  on  a  stone 
in  the  midst  of  the  River,  to  say  his  Prayers  ;  whereon  they  show 
you  still  the  Prints  of  his  Knees.  His  Man,  out  of  Curiosity,  followed 
him  once  to  the  Place,  to  see  and  observe  what  he  did.  The  Saint 
corning  from  his  Prayers,  and  espying  a  Man,  not  knowing  who  it 
was,  prayed,  that  if  he  came  with  a  good  Intent,  he  might  receive  the 
Good  he  came  for,  and  might  suffer  no  Damage  ;  but  if  he  had  any 
ill  Design,  that  some  Example  might  be  shown  upon  him  ;  whereupon 
presently  there  came  forth  wild  Beasts,  and  tore  him  in  pieces.  After- 
wards, the  Saint  perceiving  it  was  his  own  Servant,  was  very  sorry, 
gathering  up  his  Bones,  and  praying,  he  set  Bone  to  Bone,  and  Limb 
to  Limb,  and  the  Man  became  whole  again,  only  the  part  of  the  Bone 
under  the  Eyebrow  was  wanting  ;  the  Saint,  to  supply  that  Defect, 
applied  the  Iron  of  his  Pike-staff  to  the  Place,  and  thence,  that  Village 
was  called  Llanvilhayrne.  But  for  a  punishment  to  his  Man  (after 
he  had  given  him  Llanvilhayrne}  he  prayed  (and  obtained  his  Prayer) 
that  Clenogvaur  Bell  might  be  heard  as  far  as  Llanvilhayrne  Church- 
yard, but  upon  stepping  into  the  Church  it  was  to  be  heard  no  longer  ; 
this  the  People  hereabout  assert  with  much  Confidence,  upon  their 
own  experience,  to  be  true.  The  Saint  was  a  South  Wales  Man,  and 
when  he  died,  the  South  Wales  Men  contended  with  the  Clenogvaur 
Mm  for  his  Body,  and  continued  the  Contention  till  Night ;  next 
ling  there  were  two  Biers  and  two  Coffins  there,  and  so  the 
South  Wales  Men  carried  one  away,  and  the  Clenogvaur  Men 
the  other."  l 

The  story  of  the  restoration  of  Aelhaiarn  out  of  his  bones,  one  small 
bone  being  missing,  is  an  adaptation  of  a  very  ancient  myth.  It 
occurs  in  the  Prose  Edda  of  Thor  on  his  journey  to  Jotunhein.2  It 
is  found  elsewhere.  The  duplication  of  the  body  of  Beuno  has  its 
counterpart  in  the  triplication  of  that  of  Teilo. 

Browne  Willis  says,  under  Llanaelhaiarn,  "  Fanum  Sancti  Elhayarn 
Acolyti  ut  fertur  Sancti  Beunonis."  3  This  will  account,  as  already 
pointed  out,  for  the  juxtaposition  of  S.  Aelhaiarn 's  foundations  to 
those  of  S.  Beuno — Llanaelhaiarn  to  Clynnog,  Carngiwch,  and 

1  Itineraries  of  John  Ray,  Lond.,  1760,  pp.  228-30.  In  Peniarth  MS.  75 
(sixteenth  century)  it  is  said  that  Aelhaiarn  was  one  of  seven  persons  whom 
Beuno  raised  to  life  again. 

3  Thorpe,  Northern  Mythology,  "Lond.,  1851,  i,  p.  57.  Mallet,  Northern  Anti- 
quities, ed.  Bohn,  1847,  P-  436. 

3  Survey  of  Bangor  (1721),  p.  273. 


112  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Pistyll ;  the  now  extinct  Llanaelhaiarn  to  Gwyddelwern  ;  and  Guils- 
field  to  Berriew  and  Bettws  Cedewain.1 

S.  Aelhaiarn's  Well  is  an  oblong  trough  of  good  pure  water,  by  the 
road  side,  in  which  the  sick  were  wont  to  bathe,  and  there  are  seats 
of  stone  ranged  along  the  sides  for  the  accommodation  of  the  patients 
awaiting  the  "  troubling  of  the  waters,"  when  they  might  step  in,  full 
of  confidence,  in  expectation  of  a  cure. 

This  "  troubling  of  the  waters  "  is  a  singular  phenomenon.  At 
irregular  intervals,  and  at  various  points  in  the  basin,  the  crystal 
water  suddenly  wells  up,  full  of  sparkling  bubbles.  Then  ensues  a 
lull,  and  again  a  swell  of  water  occurs  in  another  part  of  the  tank.2 
The  Well  now  supplies  the  village  with  water.  It  was  walled  round 
and  roofed  by  the  Parish  Council  in  1900,  after  an  outbreak  of 
diphtheria  in  the  village.  The  entrance  is  now  kept  locked.  S. 
Beuno's  Well  at  Clynnog  is  similar  to  it  in  many  respects  ;  this  latter 
is  in  a  ruinous  condition. 

Rees  gives  November  i  as  the  day  of  S.  Aelhaiarn,  his  authority 
apparently  being  Browne  Willis.3  The  Calendar  in  Cotton  Vesp.  A. 
xiv,  however,  gives  the  festival  of  "  Aelhaiarn  of  Cegidfa  in  Powys  " 
as  November  2,  but  the  entry  is  in  a  later  hand  than  the  original 
MS.  So  also  the  Welsh  Prymer  of  1633. 

At  Guilsfield,  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  Church,  is  a  Holy  Well, 
a  lovely  secluded  dell,  where  still  a  concourse  gathers  to  drink  tl 
water  on  Trinity  Sunday. 


S.  AELRHIW 

THIS  is  a  name  given  by  Rees  4  in  his  list  of  saints  of  uncertain  date, 
and  to  whom  Rhiw  church  in  Carnarvonshire  is  said  to  be  dedicated, 
with  September  9  as  festival.  No  such  saint,  however,  occurs  among 
the  genealogies  of  the  Welsh  saints.  Browne  Willis,  in  his  Survey  of 
Bangor,5  gives  against  the  church  "  S.  Eelrhyw,  or  Delwfyw.  Sept.  9. 

1  In  Cardiff  Library  MS.  51  is  mentioned  a   ''  Llech  Alhayarn,"    apparently 
situated  somewhere  in  Denbighshire  (Gwenogfryn  Evans,  Report  on  Welsh  MSS., 
ii,  pp.  253-4). 

2  This  is  locally  called  "  the  laughing  of  the  water,"  and  it  is  said  in  the  place 
that  the  water  laughs  when  any  one  looks  at  it. 

3  Essay  on  the  Welsh  Saints,  p.  275  ;    Survey  of  Bangor,  p.  273. 

4  Welsh  Saints,  p.  306. 

5  P.   274;   Cambrian  Register,  iii,  p.  224  (1818). 


Aelrhiw  113 


Fanum  in  clivo  situm."     In  the  latter  part  of  the  entry  we  have  an 
explanation  of  the  name  of  Rhiw  Church. 

Cathrall,  again,  in  his  History  of  North  Wales,1  gives  the  church  as 
dedicated  to  S.  Aelrhyw,  and  adds  that  there  is  a  well  there  called 
Ffynnon  Aeliw,  the  waters  of  which  were  supposed  to  be  efficacious  in 
the  cure  of  cutaneous  disorders,  particularly  one  of  that  description 
denominated  Man  Aeliw  (the  mark  or  spot  of  Aeliw).  In  the  alter- 
native dedication  given  by  Willis  we  have  Y  Ddelw  Fyw,  or  the 
Living  Image,  which  occurs  in  several  Welsh  Calendars  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  with  festival  on  September  9, 
and  to  which  there  is  a  number  of  allusions  in  mediaeval  Welsh  litera- 
ture. The  Living  Image  was  a  rood  or  crucifix,  which,  it  was  alleged, 
miraculously  bled  when  certain  Jews  nailed  the  Image  to  the 
cross.2  The  church  of  Rhiw  is  evidently  dedicated  to  Y  Ddelw 
Fyw,  in  other  words,  to  the  Holy  Rood ;  and  Aelrhyw  and  Aeliw 
have  the  appearance  of  corruptions  of  the  name.  But  the 
Living  Image  more  particularly  had  in  mind  by  the  Welsh  was  a 
rood  or  crucifix  in  Mold  Church  (S.  Mary).  It  is  mentioned  in  two 
odes,  of  the  late  fifteenth  century,  to  Rheinallt  ab  Gruffydd,  of  Tower, 
in  the  parish  of  Mold.  The  one,  by  Hywel  Cilan,  in  praising  Rheinallt's 
valour  in  fighting  the  English,  says  : — 

I  roi  sawd  lorus  ydyw 

Urddal  i  Fair  a'r  Ddelw  Fyw. 

(To  give  battle  he  is  a  S.  George, 

Of  the  Order  of  Mary  and  the  Living  Image.) 

The  other,  by  Tudur  Penllyn,  contains  these  lines  : — 

Gwiw  ddelw'r  wirgrog  a  addolaf  ; 

Y  Ddelw  Fyw  o'r  Wyddgrug  a  fu  ddialwr, 

Ag  ynte  i  hunan  a  wnaeth  gyfran  gwr. 

(The  worthy  image  of  the  true  cross  will  I  worship ; 

The  Living  Image  of  Mold  was  the  avenger, 

And  he  himself  did  a  man's  part.) 

rhyming  Welsh  Calendar  in  Cardiff  MS.  13,  circa  1609,  comme- 
>rates  the  Festival  of  the  Image  thus  : — 

Gwyl  y  Ddelw  Fyw  a  phawb  a'i  clyw, 

Yn  enwedig  pawb  a  i'r  Wyrgrig. 

(The  Feast  of  the  Living  Image,  and  everybody  hears  of  it, 

Especially  everybody  who  goes  to  Mold.) 

Vol.  ii,  p.  120  (Manchester,   1828). 

Robert  Owen,  A"y;«;-y,  p.  no  (Carmarthen,  1891),  thought  the  Image  "  must 
e  been  a  clumsy  replica  of  some  Italian  Madonna." 
VOL.  I.  I 


114  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Dafydd  ab  Gwilym,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  in  one  of  his  poems, 
exclaims,  "  Myn  y  Ddelw  Fyw  !  "  "  By  the  Living  Image  !  "  A 


S.  AFAN,  Bishop,  Confessor 

S.  AFAN  BUELLT,  as  he  is  generally  called,  was  the  son  of  Cedig  ab 
Ceredig  ab  Cunedda  Wledig,  by  S.  Tegfedd  or  Tegwedd,  the  daughter 
of  Tegid  Foel  (the  Bald),  lord  of  Penllyn,  in  Merionethshire.2 
Sometimes  he  is  said,  but  wrongly,  to  have  been  the  son  of  Ceredig. 
He  lived  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixth  century.  The  epithet  Buellt 
or  Buallt  (hodie  Builth)  indicates  his  connection  with  the  cantref  or 
hundred  of  that  name  in  Brecknockshire.  According  to  a  sixteenth 
century  manuscript,3  the  hundred  then  comprised  fifteen  parishes, 
covering  practically  the  whole  expanse  of  the  county  north  of  the 
Eppynt.  The  Rural  Deanery  of  Builth  appears  to  be  conterminous 
with  it.  Two  of  the  churches  within  this  Deanery  are  dedicated  to 
Afan,  viz.  Llanafan  Fawr  and  Llanafan  Fechan  (or  Fach).  The  latter, 
which  is  otherwise  called  Llanfechan,  is  now  subject  to  the  former, 
One  other  church  is  dedicated  to  him,  that  of  Llanafan-y-Traw 
in  the  Deanery  of  Llanbadarn  Fawr,  Cardiganshire.  It  has 
supposed  that  there  once  existed  a  See  of  Llanafan  Fawr  ;  but  it  i 
very  improbable.  At  any  rate,  if  it  ever  existed,  it  must  have  been 
for  a  very  short  period.  The  supposition  is  due  to  an  inscription, 
in  a  very  good  state  of  preservation,  at  Llanafan  Fawr,  which  reads 
thus  :  HIC  IACET  SANCTUS  AVANUS  EPiscoPUS.  It  is  deeply  cut  in 
capital  letters  of  the  Lombardic  type,  slightly  ornamented,  on  the 
very  hard  top-stone  of  a  plain  oblong  altar  tomb  in  the  churchyard ; 
but  its  date  is  not  older  than  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  or  the 
fourteenth  century.4 

There  is  here  nothing  to  show  when  or  where  Afan  was  Bishop.     He 


1  Works,  ed.   1789,  p.  437.     We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  J.  Hobson  Matthews, 
Monmouth,  for  most  of  these  extracts.    To  "Yr  Wydd  Gryc"  in  the  parish  list 
in  Peniarth  MS.  147,  circa  1566,  is  added,  "  y  Ddelw  fyw." 

2  Peniarth  MSS.   1 6,  27  and  45  (last  leaves  Cedig  out)  ;    lolo  MSS.,  pp.  102, 
no,  125  ;   Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  415,  418.     Afan  as  a  man's  name  is  probably  a  loan 
from  the  Latin  Amandus.     It  occurs  also  as  a  river  name. 

*  Peniarth  MS.  147;  see  Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans'  Report  on  Welsh  MSS.,  i, 
p.  918. 

4  Westwood,  Lapidarium  Wallice,  p.  72. 


SS.  Afarwy  and  Afrogwy  115 

is  traditionally  said  to  have  been  murdered  by  Irish  pirates — by 
Danes,  according  to  another  account — on  the  banks  of  the  Chwefri, 
and  that  the  tomb  here  marks  the  site  of  his  martyrdom.  In  the 
neighbourhood  are  a  brook  called  Xant  yr  Esgob,  a  dingle  called 
("win  Esgob,  and  a  small  holding  called  Derwen  Afan  (his  Oak).  The 
rectory  is  called  Perth  y  Sant  (the  Saint's  Bush). 

Rees  says  that  "  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  was  the  third  Bishop  of 
Llanbadarn  ;  and  his  churches  are  situated  in  the  district  which  may 
be  assigned  to  that  Diocese."  l 

Haddan  and  Stubbs  were  disposed  to  accept  the  existence,  for  a 
short  time,  of  a  See  of  Llanafan,  "  either  coincident  with  Llanbadam 
(tin-  seat  of  the  Episcopate  being  transferred  for  the  time  from  Llan- 
badarn to  Llanafan  Fawr),  or  taken  out  of  it."  2  If  it  ever  existed 
it  was  soon  merged  in  that  of  Llanbadarn,  and  then  both  in  that  of 
S.  David's,  probably  not  long  after  720.  It  is,  however,  far  more 
probable  that  Afan  was  a  bishop  without  other  diocese  than  his  own 
Llan. 

The  Demetian  Calendar  (S.)  gives  S.  Afan's  Festival  as  November  16, 
but  the  Calendars  in  the  lolo  MSS.  and  the  Welsh  Prymers  of  1618 
and  1633  giye  tne  I7th.  Nicolas  Roscarrock  gives  November  16. 
Browne  Willis  enters  S.  Afan,  with  festival  on  December  17,  as  patron, 
with  SS.  Sannan  and  levan  or  John,  of  Llantrisant,  Anglesey.3  He 
made  a  mistake  in  the  month. 


SS.  AFARWY  and  AFROGWY 


THESE  saints  are  given  as  children  of  Caw,  lord  of  Cwm  Cawlwyd,  in 
two  lists  only  of  his  children,  contained  in  two  MSS.  belonging  to 
Thomas  Trueman.4  The  names  cannot  be  identified  with  any  of 
those  mentioned  in  other  lists.  One  name  is  probably  a  corruption  of 
the  other. 


1  Essay  on  the  Welsh  Saints,  p.  209. 

a  Councils,  etc.,  i,  p.  146.     See  also  Basil  Jones  and  Freeman  in  their  History  of 
David's,   1856,  p.  266. 

3  Survey  of  Bangor,  1721,  p.  279. 

4  lolo  MSS.,  p.   142. 


I  1 6  Lives  of  the  British  Saifits 

S.  AFRAN 

REES  x  gives  Llantrisant,  Anglesey,  as  dedicated  to  "  SS.  Sannan, 
Afran,  and  leuan."  Angharad  Llwyd,  again,  in  her  History  of  Angle- 
sey,2 gives  the  church  as  dedicated  to  "  SS.  Afran,  lefan  and  Sanan." 
The  only  Welsh  saint  with  a  name  approximating  Afran  is  Gafran,  if 
we  are  to  include  him  among  the  saints.  We  have  here  clearly  a 
mistake  for  Afan.  Browne  Willis  3  enters  against  the  church  the 
following,  "  Fanum  tribus  Sanctis  dicatum,  viz.  S.  Sanan,  June  13, 
S.  Afan,  Dec.  17,  S.  levan  or  John,  Aug.  29  "  ;  and  in  Peniarth  MS. 
147,  circa  1566,  there  is  a  list  of  the  parishes  of  Wales,  in  which  is 
added  to  the  parish-name  Llantrisant,  "  Sannan  and  Afan  and  Evan."  4 


S.  AIDAN  of  Ferns,  Bishop,  Confessor 

THIS  saint,  in  the  Welsh  Genealogies  of  the  Saints,  is  called  Aidan, 
Aeddan  and  Aeddan  Foeddawg.  By  this  latter  name  he  is  mentioned 
in  the  Myvyrian  alphabetical  catalogue  of  Welsh  Saints.5  Another 
authority  gives  him  as  Aidan  y  Coed  Aur,6  and  the  same  says  further 
that  Aidan's  Bangor  had  "seven  choirs  with  2,000  members,  called 
after  the  seven  days  of  the  week."  7  The  name  Aidan  is  a  diminutive. 
Professor  Rhys  makes  the  Old  Irish  Oed,  later  Aedh,  Aodh,  Haodh, 
Anglicised  Hugh,  represent  the  Welsh  Udd  =  Dominus.8 

Aidan  occurs  also  under  the  form  Madoc,  Mo-aid-oc  ;  the  suffix 
oc  is  a  diminutive  equivalent  to  an ;  and  the  prefix  mo  is  an  Irish 
term  of  endearment,  of  very  frequent  occurrence.  This  double  form 
of  name  has  led  to  confusion.  S.  Eltain  of  Kinsale  is  also  called 
Moelteoc  ;  and  Luan  is  the  same  as  Moluoc. 

The  genealogists  have  entered  him  twice,  once  under  the  form 
Aidan  ab  Caw,  and  again  as  Madog  ab  Gildas  ab  Caw,  or  rather, 
ab  Aneurin  ab  Caw  ; 9  but  Gildas  and  Aneurin  are  identical.  Further 
confusion  has  arisen  through  his  identification  with  a  second  of  the 

Welsh  Saints,  p.   324.  z  p.  279   (Ruthin,    1833). 

Survey  of  Bangor,  p.  279. 

Dr.  J.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  Report  on  Welsh  MSS.,  i,  p.  912. 

Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  420-1.  6  lolo  MSS.,  p.   137. 

Ibid.,  p.   151.  8  Welsh  Philology,  p.  216. 

lolo  MSS.,  pp.  83,  108,  137. 


S.   Aidan  117 

same  name,  who  was  also  Bishop  of  Ferns,  but  lived  some  thirty 
years,  or  a  generation,  later.  In  the  Irish  Martyrologies  there  are 
some  twenty  Aeds  commemorated,  and  some  twenty-three  Aidans, 
and  some  of  these  were  from  the  same  part  of  Ireland  as  Aidan  of 
Ft  rns.  It  is  not  possible  to  admit  that  Aidan  was  son  of  Caw  ;  he 
must  have  been  grandson,  as  his  chronology  makes  him  live  a  genera- 
tion later  than  Gildas  ab  Caw. 

The  main  authority  for  his  life  is  a  Vita  beginning,  "  Fuit  vir 
quulain."  Colgan  published  this  from  a  parchment  copy  obtained 
horn  Kilkenny.1  It  is  also  given  by  the  Bollandists  from  two  MSS. 
in  the  Ada  Sanctorum,  Jan.,  t.  ii,  pp.  1112-1120.  The  same  exists 
among  the  Cottonian  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum,  Vesp.  A.  xiv,  and 
has  been  published  by  Rees  in  his  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  232-50. 
It  is  also  published  in  the  Vita  SS.  Hibern.  from  the  Salamanca 
t,  1888,  cols.  463-488.  A  condensation  likewise  by  John  of 
Tynemouth  in  Capgrave's  Nova  Legenda  Anglice. 

Mention  is  also  made  of  him  in  the  Life  of  S.  David,2  and  in  that  of 
loc.3  In  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  an  Aidan  is  spoken  of,  a  com- 
panion to  S.  Dyfrig,4  but  this  is  certainly  a  different  man.  There 
is  further  mention  of  him  in  the  Life  of  S.  Molaisse.of  Devennish.5 

In  the  Book  of  Leinster  he  is  given  among  the  Saints  who  had  double 
names.6  In  the  Vita  Scti.  Davidis  he  is  spoken  of  as  "  Maidoc  qui 
ianus  ab  infantia  ",7  and  in  the  Acta  Sti.  Edani  in  the  Salamanca 
as  "  Edanus  qui  et  Moedoc  dicitur."  8  Capgrave,  from  John 
nemouth,  says,  "  Sanctus  iste  in  Vita  Sti.  Davidis  '  Aidan  ' 
vocatur,  in  vita  vero  sua,  ut  superius  patet  '  Aidus  '  dicitur,  et  apud 
Meneviam  in  ecclesia  Sti.  Davidis  appellatur  '  Moedock '  quod  est 
icum."  9 

The  epithet  Foeddawg  in  the  Welsh  Genealogies  is  a  reduplication 
of  his  name. 

From  the  fusion  of  the  two  Aidans,  both  Bishops  of  Ferns,  into  one 

the  Vita,  great  anachronisms  have  ensued.     Aidan  is  represented 

a  boy  hostage  with  King  Ainmire,  568-571,  and  as  being  associated 


nenev 
hibem 

Tl,  . 


SS.  Hibern..  ii,  pp.  208  et  seq. 

Catnbro-British  Saints,  pp.  106,  108-9  »    as  "  Aidus  "  in  the  same,  pp.  232- 

3  Ibid.,  p.  48.   O\  j, 

4  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.  80. 

5  Sylva  Gadelica,  London,   1892. 

6  Book  of  Lismorc,  Anecd.  Oxon.,  p.  301.     Aed  otherwise  Maidoc  of  Ferns. 

7  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.   133. 

Acta  SS.  Hibern.,  Salamanca  Codex,  col.  463. 

Ed.  1901,  p.  22.     The  "  Life  "  in  Capgrave  is  a  condensation  of  that  be- 
ginning, "  Fuit  vir  quidam." 


i  i  8  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

with  S.  Ruadhan  in  the  cursing  of  Tara  in  554,  when  an  established  saint 
not  under  thirty  years  of  age.  He  is  further  represented  as  contem- 
porary with  Guair  Aidhne,  King  of  Connaught,  who  died  in  662.  His 
confessor  was  Molua  of  Clonfert,  who  died  in  591  according  to  the 
Annals  of  Tighernach,  or  604  according  to  those  of  the  Four  Masters. 
He  was  intimate  in  his  relations  with  Brandubh,  King  of  Leinster, 
who  died  in  601,  and  whom  he  survived. 

What  increases  the  difficulty  of  discrimination  between  the  Acts  of 
the  first  and  the  second  of  the  name,  both  Bishops  of  Ferns,  is  that 
the  second,  though  some  thirty  years  younger,  was  for  some  time 
the  contemporary  of  the  elder,  and  probably  was  associated  with  him 
at  Ferns. 

The  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  put  his  death  as  occurring  in  624. 
The  Chronicon  Scotorum  gives  two  dates,  625  and  656,  thereby  dis- 
tinguishing two  saints  of  the  same  name,  and  the  Annals  of  Tighernach 
give  also  625.  He  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Aed  Mac  Bricc  who 
was  Bishop  of  Kilaire,  and  who  died  in  588. 

We  will  now  endeavour  to  take  the  Life  of  S.  Aidan  in  order,  putting 
aside  what  obviously  refers  to  the  second  of  the  name  at  Ferns,  who 
was  the  son  of  Setna  of  the  sept  of  the  Colla  Uais,  and  whose  mother 
was  Eithne,  granddaughter  of  Amalghaid,  king  of  Connaught. 

At  an  early  age  Aed  ab  Gildas  was  committed  to  S.David, at  Cilmuine 
for  instruction.  An  anecdote  is  told  of  his  early  submission  to  orde 
One  day  he  neglected  to  bring  indoors  the  book  in  which  he  had  been 
studying,  and  rain  came  on.  David  was  very  angry  at  the  prospect  of 
the  book  being  injured,  and  ordered  Aed  as  punishment  to  prostrate 
himself  on  the  sand  of  the  shore,  probably  at  Forth  Mawr.  Then  he 
forgot  all  about  him,  till  some  time  later,  when  he  noticed  his  absence, 
and  asked  where  the  boy  was.  His  pupils  reminded  him  of  the  penance 
he  had  imposed  on  Aed,  and  David  at  once  sent  for  him,  but  only  just 
in  time  to  save  him  from  being  covered  by  the  rising  tide.1 

When  the  Irish  settlers  were  expelled  from  the  portion  of  Pembroke- 
shire and  Carmarthenshire  that  lies  between  Milford  Haven  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Towy,  S.  David  seems  to  have  been  invited  to  make 
religious  settlements  there,  and  he  took  with  him  his  disciple  Aidan, 
who  was  still  young.  According  to  the  story,  the  steward  of  S.  David 
entertained  a  lively  dislike  for  Aidan,  and  annoyed  him  in  many  ways. 
On  one  occasion,  when  David  was  building,  probably  Llanddewi  Velfrey, 
near  Narberth,  he  despatched  Aidan  with  a  waggon  and  a  pair  of  oxen 
to  bring  back  the  material  he  needed  from  beyond  the  Cleddeu.  The 
steward  furnished  him  out  of  spite  with  a  yoke  that  did  not  fit  the 

1  Cambro-British   Saints,  p.  236. 


ie, 

en 
^t 


nrs 

';: 


S.  Aidan  119 

ks  of  the  beasts  ;  nevertheless,  Aidan  succeeded  in  his  task,  and 
his  is  recorded  as  miraculous.  He  did  more,  he  discovered  a  ford  across 
the  eastern  Cleddeu,  namely  that  where  now  stands  Llawhaden  Bridge. 
Aidan  here  founded  the  church  that,  under  the  above  corrupt  form, 
still  bears  his  name.  The  steward  next  bribed  one  of  Aidan's  fellow 
students  to  murder  him  while  they  were  together  in  the  forest  felling 
trees. 

David  was  privately  informed  of  what  was  proposed,  and,  starting 
from  his  bed,  ran  with  only  one  foot  shod  in  the  direction  taken  by  the 
woodfellers,  and  caught  them  up  at  the  river,  where  he  sharply  interro- 
gated the  companion  of  Aidan  and  brought  him  to  confess  his  purpose.1 
A  cross  was  erected  on  the  spot,  and  it  is  possible  that  this  may  be  the 
cross  of  an  early  character  now  standing  in  the  east  wall  of  Llawhaden 
church. 

While  Aidan  was  in  these  parts,  and  Cadoc  was  with  him,  an  invasion 
took  place — the  biographer  says  of  Saxons — but  it  is  more  probable 
that  it  was  of  Irish,  endeavouring  to  recover  the  lands  from  which  they 
had  been  expelled,  though  it  is  possible  enough  that  Saxon  pirates  may 
lm\v  assisted  them.  Aidan  and  Cadoc  gathered  their  countrymen 
together,  and  surrounded  the  enemy,  who  were  encamped  in  a  valley, 
rolled  down  stones  upon  them,  and  exterminated  them  to  the  last  man. 
There  is  a  chapel  of  S.  Cadoc  in  the  parish  of  Llawhaden. 

A  story  is  told  in  the  Life  of  S.  Cadoc  of  a  quarrel  with  King  Arthur 
relative  to  rights  of  sanctuary,  and  into  this  story  a  Maidoc  is  intro- 
duced ; 2  but  as,  according  to  the  Annales  Cambrics,  Arthur  fell  in 
537,  we  cannot  allow  that  this  Maidoc  is  our  Aidan.  The  whole 
story  is,  however,  probably  a  fabrication. 

After  the  death  of  S.  Patrick,  the  Christianity  of  Ireland  notably 
declined.  He  and  the  band  of  ardent  missionaries  who  had  worked 
with  him  had  converted  the  chieftains,  and  the  obsequious  clansmen 
had  submitted  to  baptism.  The  apostle  had  gone  up  and  down 
through  the  land,  sowing  the  seed  of  the  Word,  and  establishing 
churches.  Christianity  had  been  accepted  but  not  assimilated  ;  it  had 
overflowed  Ireland,  but  had  not  sunk  into  and  saturated  the  soil.  The 
first  apostles,  Patrick  and  his  fellow  workers,  had  done  their  utmost, 

t  they  had  been  a  handful  only  of  earnest  men.     Patrick  had  done 

wise  thing  in  recommending  many  of  his  most  hopeful  disciples  to  go 
abroad  to  Gaul,  to  Britain,  to  Rome,  to  be  more  fully  instructed  in  the 
truths  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  for  he  had  not  been  able  to  establish 

at  nurseries  of  teachers  in  Ireland  itself.    As  he  and  his  fellow 

1  Cambfo-British  Saints,  p.  236. 

2  Vita  S.  Cadoci,  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  48. 


i  2  o  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

workers  failed  in  health  and  through  age,  and  finally  obtained  their 
reward,  the  Christianity  which  had  been  but  a  varnish,  cracked  in  all 
directions,  and  the  underlying,  unchanged  paganism  revealed  itself 
once  more,  and  a  national  apostasy  was  threatened. 

The  evidence  has  been  collected  by  Dr.  Todd,  in  his  St.  Patrick,1 
and  it  is  unnecessary  to  reproduce  it  here.  The  fact,  however,  has 
been  contested  by  Professor  Zimmer.2  The  Catalogus  Ordinum 
Sanctorum  in  Hybernia  secundum  diversa  tempora,  drawn  up,  probably, 
not  later  than  the  eighth  century,  was  first  published  by  Ussher,  and 
has  been  repeatedly  reprinted.  It  divides  the  Saints  into  three  orders  : 
to  the  first  belong  Patrick  and  his  assistants,  three  hundred  and  fifty 
in  number,  observing  but  one  Mass,  and  with  one  rule  as  to  Easter, 
and  this  order  continued  to  the  time  of  Tuathal  Maelgarbh  (533).  The 
Second  Order  was  monastic,  and  celebrated  different  Masses  derived 
from  S.  David,  S.  Cadoc  and  from  Gildas,  and  this  order  lasted  from 
the  reign  of  Diarmid  (544)  to  that  of  Aedh,  son  of  Ainmire,  who  fell  in 
599.  Ainmire  (565-71),  we  know,  was  so  concerned  at  the  decline  of 
Christianity  in  the  land  that  he  invited  over  Gildas,  and  doubtless 
others,  to  revive  it,  and  to  this  appeal  a  ready  response  was  accorded. 
From  the  great  monasteries  of  Menevia  and  Llancarfan  poured  a 
stream  of  zealous  clergy  who  set  themselves  to  recover  what  was  lost 
and  to  build  up  on  the  foundations  laid  by  Patrick  and  the  Saints 
the  First  Order.  Their  method  of  procedure  was  somewhat  differenl 
from  his.  Instead  of  being  mere  itinerant  evangelists,  they  plantec 
monasteries  throughout  the  island,  to  which  cells  were  affiliated,  am 
from  these  centres  radiated  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  them  were 
drawn  the  young  of  the  tribes  to  which  they  attached  themselves,  and 
of  which  they  became  the  recognized  ecclesiastical  heads  ;  and  to  these 
young  people  they  taught  the  law  of  God.  Many  of  those  nurtured 
in  their  schools  went  out  into  secular  life,  bearing  ever  on  them  the 
impress  of  their  early  education,  others  remained  in  the  monastery, 
and  became  fellow  workers,  and  later,  successors  to  the  great  abbots 
who  had  started  the  work. 

When  the  summons  came  to  the  Welsh  and  Breton  monasteries,  then 
Gildas  started,  and  Aidan  is  numbered  in  the  Catalogue  among  the 
Saints  of  the  Second  Order.3 

1  Todd  (J.  H.),  5.  Patrick,  Apostle  of  Ireland,  Dublin,  1864,  pp.  107-11. 

2  The  Celtic  Church  in  Britain  and  Ireland,  Lond.,  1902,  pp.  63—5. 

3  Ussher  gives  "  The  two  Finans,  two  Brendans,  Jarlath  of    Tuam,  Comgall, 
Coemgen,    Ciaran,    Columba,    Cainech,    Eoghan   Mac   Laisre,    Lugeus,    Ludeus, 
Moditeus,    Cormac,    Colman,    Nessan,    Laisrean,    Barrindeus,     Coeman.    Ceran, 
Coman  (Endeus,  Aedeus,  Byrchinus)."     Ussher  brackets    the  three  last  as  not 
being  in  one  of  the  two  copies  he  had  before  him.     In  the  Catalogue  in  the  Sala- 
manca   Codex,    the    order   is,    "  Finian,     Endeus,     Colman,     Congall,     Aedeus, 


S.  Aidan  i  2  i 

Aidan  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  son  of  Gildas,  and  the  disciple  of 

>avid,  and  was  accordingly  admirably  calculated  for  the  work.  But 
encounter  chronological  difficulties.  Gildas  crossed  to  Ireland  in 

35,  and  if  Aidan  died  in  625,  he  would  then  be  aged  sixty.  If  so,  then 
Aidan  was  begotten  by  Gildas  after  he  was  an  abbot,  as  he  retired  to 
Ruys  in  520.  But  it  is  more  probable  that  Aidan  was  grandson,  and 
not  son  of  Gildas.  Whether  Aidan  had  founded  a  monastery  in  Wales 
before  crossing,  we  are  not  told,  but  it  is  probable  that  he  had,  and 
that  it  was  at  Llawhaden,  a  sweet  spot,  under  the  bold  rocky  height 
at  that  time  crowned  by  a  Caer,  but  afterwards  by  the  imposing  castle 
of  the  Bishops  of  S.  David's. 

It  is  said  that  when  Aidan  departed  for  Ireland  he  took  with  him 
a  hive  of  bees,  as  he  had  been  informed  that  they  were  scarce  in  that 
island.  Under  this  figure  he  is  shown  to  us  passing  over,  and  carrying 
with  him  his  swarm  of  busy  honey  gatherers,  monks.  Apparently  he 
took  boat  at  Forth  Mawr,  whence  in  the  evening  light  the  mountains 
of  Wexford  are  visible.  He  arrived  off  the  Irish  coast  at  a  critical 
moment,  when  the  natives  had  seized  on  some  strangers  who  had  just 
landed,  were  plundering  them,  and  threatened  them  with  death.  The 
arrival  of  Aidan,  with  a  large  number  of  men  in  the  same  vessel,  over- 
a\\vd  the  wreckers,  who  ran  away.  Aidan,  resolved  not  to  let  the 
matter  rest  thus,  proceeded  at  once  to  lodge  a  complaint  with  the  chief, 
whose  name  was  Diuma. 

The  chief  received  him  with  overwhelming  hospitality,  and  persisted 
in  taking  him  on  his  shoulders  and  carrying  him. x  He  then  generously 
gave  Aidan  large  possessions  on  which  to  found  churches  and  monas- 
teries.2 

This  chief  seems  to  have  been  Dyma,  son  of  Fergus  or  Fintan,  who 
married  to  Cumaine,  mother  of  Guaire,  king  of  Connaught.  By 
Dyma  had  become  the  father  of  S.  Caimen  of  Iniskeltra,  who  died 

562. 

Aidan's  principal  field  of  labour  was  among  the  Hy  Cinnselach,  of 
fexford.  His  headquarters  were,  however,  at  Ferns.  He  became 

timately  attached  to  S.  Molaisse,  of  Devenish.  When  the  latter 
it  had  a  mind  to  visit  Rome,  he  passed  through  Ferns.  "  Maedoc 


in,  Columba,  Brendan  Brychinus,   Cainech,   Caemgen,   Laysrian,   Laysreus, 
;eus  and  Barideus."     (Ussher,  Britann.  Eccl.Antiquitates,  Dublin,  1639,  ii,  pp. 
13-5  :    Cod.  Sal.,  coll.   161-4.) 

"  Accipiens  eum  in  humeris  suis,  ad  terrain    de    navis  portavit."      Yitce 
.  Hib.,  Codex  Sal.,   coll.  468. 

*  He  granted  to  Aidan  the  land  of  Ardladhran.     The  site  has  not  been  satis  - 
:torily  identified. 


122  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

(Aedh)  went  to  meet  him,  and  give  him  welcome,  and  afterwards 
ministered  to  him  with  meat  and  drink,  with  bed  and  intimate  con- 
versation. Soon  these  two  high  saints  agreed  that  when  either  of  them 
in  secret  craved  a  boon  (from  Heaven)  the  prayer  of  both  should 
take  the  same  direction  ;  also  that  any  whom  Molaisse  might  bless 
should  be  blessed  of  Maedoc  also,  and  that  whomsoever  Molaisse 
should  curse  should  be  cursed  also  of  Maedoc,  and  likewise  e  contrario. 
All  behests  whatever  the  one  saint  should  ask,  both  were  to  co-operate 
to  their  fulfilment."  1 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Ireland  Aidan  is  said  to  have  re- 
marked : — "I  forgot,  before  leaving,  to  inquire  of  David  who  should 
be  my  confessor  in  this  land."  He  resolved  on  making  Molua  of 
Clonfert  his  "  soul-friend." 

Aidan  did  not  confine  his  energies  to  the  territory  of  the  Hy  Cinnse- 
lach.  He  crossed  Waterford  Harbour,  and  entered  the  country  of  the 
Nan-Desies,  and  founded  a  monastic  settlement  at  Dessert  Maimbre, 
the  site  of  which  is  not  surely  determined.  Whilst  he  was  there, 
and  was  on  one  occasion  taking  his  turn  at  grinding  at  the  quern,  a 
beggar  approached  and  asked  for  flour.  Aidan  gave  him  some.  Then 
the  man  retired,  disguised  himself,  and,  pretending  to  be  blind,  came 
and  asked  again  for  flour.  This  exasperated  Aidan,  and  he  cursed  hi 
that  a  blind  man  should  never  lack  among  his  descendants.2 

There  were  many  wolves  about  the  monastery.  One  night  they 
carried  off  a  calf.  The  cow  that  had  lost  her  calf  was  inconsolable,  and 
Aidan's  cook  came  to  him  to  say  that  the  poor  beast  lowed  and  was 
restless.  Then  Aidan  blessed  the  head  of  his  cook  and  said  to  him, 
"  There,  go  and  offer  your  head  to  the  cow."  The  man  did  so,  and 
the  cow  licked  his  head,  and  "  loved  him  like  a  calf."  3  Aidan  then 
returned  among  the  Hy  Cinnselach  and  founded  several  monasteries, 
but  made  Ferns  his  central  seat,  and  this  is  supposed  to  have  taken 
place  about  570. 

One  day  fifty  British  bishops  crossed  over  from  Wales  to  visit  the 
disciple  of  S.  David.  They  arrived  in  Lent,  and  were  taken  into  the 
guest-house,  thoroughly  exhausted  by  their  journey.  To  them  were 
brought  fifty  bannocks  with  leeks  and  whey  for  their  dinner.  But 
this  did  not  please  them,  they  demanded  pork  or  beef.  The  steward 
reported  the  matter  to  Aidan.  "  Can  this  be  permitted  in  Lent  ?  "  he 
inquired  dubiously.  "  Of  course  they  shall  have  it,"  answered  the 
bishop.  So  they  were  supplied  with  butcher's  meat. 

1  Silva  Gadelica,  ii,  p.  27.  A  prophecy  of  the  coming  of  Maidoc  is  put  into 
the  mouth  of  Finn  Mac  Cumhal.  Ibid.,  ii,  p.  168. 

2  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  239  ;    Cod.  Sal.,  col.  470. 

3  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  239. 


S.  Aidan  123 


Before  they  departed,  these  bishops  deemed  it  expedient  to  apologise 
and  explain  : — "  You  see,"  said  they,  "  that  bullock  you  killed  for  us 
had  been  suckled  on  milk,  and  ate  grass  only,  so  that  its  flesh  was 
actually  milk  and  vegetables  in  a  condensed  form.  But  we  felt  con- 
scientious scruples  about  those  biscuits,  for  they  were  full  of  weevils." 
Aidan  was  too  good  and  courteous  a  man  to  make  answer  to  this 
quibble.1 

Aidan  is  said  to  have  visited  S.  Fintan  Munu  and  found  most  of 
tin.-  brethren  there  very  ill.  S.  Fintan  invited  Aidan  to  per- 
form a  miracle  and  cure  them.  According  to  the  legend,  Aidan 
did  this,  but  on  the  next  day  they  were  all  as  bad  as  they  had  been 
before,  and  the  legend  writer  explains  this  by  saying  that  Fintan 
thought  it  more  wholesome  for  their  souls  to  be  ill,  and  so  begged  Aidan 
to  let  them  all  once  more  be  sick.  The  fact  would  seem  to  be  that 
Aidan  attempted  a  miracle  and  failed.2 

Aidan  is  said  to  have  been  associated  with  S.  Ruadhan  of  Lothra 
in  the  cursing  of  Tara  and  of  King  Diarmid,  son  of  Fergus  Cearbhall, 
in  554,  but  this  is  chronologically  impossible,  as  Aidan  was  not  then  in 
In-hind ;  the  Aidan  who  lent  his  voice  and  presence  to  that  unholy 
conjuration  must  have  been  Aedh  Mac  Bricc,  who  died  in  588.  There 
is  no  mention  of  the  conjuration  in  the  Life  of  S.  Aidan,  but  that  is 
not  the  main  objection,  as  the  scandal  of  the  iniquitous  proceeding 
would  have  deterred  a  panegyrist  from  inserting  it. 

Aidan  survived  S.  Ita,  who  died  in  570,  and  S.  Columcill,  who  died 
in  57^).  He  was  summoned  by  his  old  master,  David,  to  visit  him 
before  his  death,  and  gladly  went  when  called.  We  may  associate  him 
with  Brandubh,  of  the  Hy  Cinnselach,  who  was  king  of  Leinster,  and 
a  liberal  contributor  to  the  endowment  of  Ferns  and  other  foundations 
of  the  Saint. 

Camuscaech,3  son  of  Aedh  Mac  Ainmire,  king  of  Ireland,  made  a 
raid  into  Leinster,  with  the  object  of  carrying  off  Brandubh's  wife, 
rossed  the  River  Rye,  and  Brandubh,  taken  by  surprise,  was 
obliged  to  fly.  However,  he  secretly  surrounded  the  wooden  house  in 
which  was  Camuscaech  and  set  it  on  fire.  Camuscaech  hastily  dis- 
guised himself  as  a  bard,  and,  climbing  to  the  ridge  piece  by  the  smoke 
holf.  managed  to  escape,  but  was  pursued  and  caught,  and  his  head 
nit  off. 

1  Gloss  on  the  Felire  of  Oengus. 

1  Vitae  SS.  Hib.,  Cod.  Sal.,  coll.  474-5. 

3  The  account  of  these  events  is  given  in  the  historical  treatise,  Borumha 
Laighean.  See  O'Hanlon,  Irish  Saints,  i,  pp.  547-8  ;  and  Heating's  History  of 
Ireland,  ed.  O'Connor,  1841,  ii,  p.  68  ;  O'Donovan,  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters 


124  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

King  Aedh,  to  avenge  the  death  of  his  son,  but  under  the  pretext  ot 
coming  to  exact  the  Boromha  tribute  from  the  Leinster  men,  crossed 
the  Rye,  and  marched  at  the  head  of  a  large  force  against  Brandubh. 
The  King  of  Leinster  called  S.  Aidan  to  his  assistance,  to  curse  his 
enemy,  and  the  Battle  of  Dunbolg  was  fought  in  598.  In  it  the  Irish 
head  king  was  slain,  and  his  army  completely  routed.  Soon  after  this 
victory,  the  men  of  Leinster  revolted  against  Brandubh,  and  fought 
the  king  in  a  battle  at  Camcluain,  and  Saran  Soebhdhearc,  who  had 
headed  the  rebels,  slew  Brandubh  in  601.  After  that,  Saran  endeav- 
oured to  make  his  peace  with  S.  Aidan,  who  cursed  him  that  his  right 
hand  might  rot  off  to  the  stump.  Saran  was  frightened,  and  begged 
Aidan  to  impose  on  him  a  penance.  Aidan  bade  him  go  to  the  tomb  of 
Brandubh,  whose  body  had  been  removed  to  Ferns,  and  pray  there 
for  forgiveness.  According  to  the  legend,  a  voice  issued  from  the 
tomb,  "  You  brute,  Saran,  you  are  forgiven."  But  he  lost  his  hand  all 
the  same.  Probably  he  had  received  a  wound  in  the  wrist  in  the 
battle,  and  this  gangrened.1 

A  pretty  story  of  S.  Aidan  is  told.  He  was  riding  one  day  in  his 
chariot,  and  the  clerical  charioteer,  looking  over  his  shoulder,  said  to 
him  :  —  "  I  wonder  who  will  be  bishop  after  you  ?  "  Now  some  boys 
were  about,  playing  at  being  soldiers,  and  the  chariot  was  on  a  wa 
barred  by  a  gate.  "  Who  will  succeed  me  ?  "  said  the  prelate,  "  wh 
the  boy  who  has  the  courtesy  to  leave  his  play,  and  open  for  us."  Th 
a  lad,  seeing  that  the  aged  bishop  was  going  along  the  road  that 
barred,  ran  forward  and  flung  the  gate  open  for  him.  Aidan  asked 
name,  and  the  boy  said  that  he  was  called  Cronan,  and  then  begged 
that  he  might  be  taken  into  the  school  at  Ferns.  To  which  Aidan 
replied,  "  Follow  me."  2  The  boy  was  afterwards  known  as  Mochua 
Luachra,  who  is  identified  with  Dachua,  bishop  of  Ferns,  after  the 
second  Aidan,  and  died  652.  The  story  was  clearly  made  ex  post 
facto.  It  was  remembered  that  this  Dachua  had  opened  the  gate  to 
Aidan,  and  at  the  same  time  had  asked  to  be  taken  as  his  disciple,  and 
then  it  was  fabled  that  Aidan  had  foretold  his  elevation. 

On  another  occasion  Aidan  noticed  how  clever  with  his  fingers  a  lad 
named  Cobban  was,  and  he  took  the  child's  hand  in  his  and  blessed  it. 
Cobban  became  a  famous  architect.  He  afterwards  built  churches  for 
S.  Moiling  and  S.  Abban.3 


1  Cod,  Sal.,  col.  482.    "  O  Sarane,  brute,  ignoscitur  tibiquod  fecisti." 
British  Saints,  pp.  246-7. 

2  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  477.     Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  245-6. 

3  See  on  him  O'Curry,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish,  London, 
873,  iii,  pp.  34-6,  39-42,  44-5- 


S.  Aidan  125 

Once  S.  Aidan  was  stooping  by  the  riverside  washing  his  hands. 
>me  men  looking  on  discussed  the  question  whether  the  Saint  ever 
lost  his  temper.  "  We  will  soon  put  that  to  the  proof,"  said  one  of 
thfin,  and,  giving  the  old  man  a  thrust,  sent  him  headlong  into  the 
water.  Aidan  quietly  got  out  and  made  no  reprimand,  whereupon 
th»  man  who  had  thus  behaved,  ashamed  of  himself,  apologised  for 
his  practical  joke.1 

S.  Aidan  died  on  January  31,  on  which  day  he  is  commemorated  in 

all  the  Irish  Martyrologies,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  had  any 

plate-    in    the    Welsh    Calendars.2      John    of   Tynemouth,    however, 

ts  that  in  his  time  the  feast  of  S.  Aidan  was  observed  at  S.  David's. 

The  Annals  of  Boyle  state  that  he  died  in  600,  but  Colgan  regarded 

is  the  right  date.     This  is  the  date  given,  as  already  observed,  by 

thi-  Four  Masters,  and  in  the  Annals  of  Tigheniach.     In  those  of  Ulster 

tin-  two  dates  are  given,  625  and  656,  the  latter  date  belonging  to  his 

>or  and  namesake. 

When  we  come  to  examine  into  the  chronology  of  the  Life  of  S. 
Ai«  Ian,  we  have  to  lay  aside  the  story  of  his  having  been  a  boy  hostage 
to  Ainmire  (568-71).  This  belongs  to  the  second  Aidan.  So  also  his 
association  with  Guaire  Aidhne  (662)  is  impossible. 

It  is  not  possible  to  reconcile  his  chronology  with  the  dates  of  Gildas  = 
Aneurin,  his  reputed  father.  Gildas  retired  from  the  world  in  520 
according  to  our  computation,  and  although  Celtic  bishops  and  abbots 
did  sometimes  possess  wives,  it  is  not  probable  that  Gildas  had  one 
after  520.  But  Aidan  died  in  or  about  625.  We  are  therefore 
inclined  to  correct  the  Welsh  genealogies  into  making  Aidan  grandson 
in  the  place  of  son  of  Aneurin-Gildas. 

idan  crossed  into  Ireland,  if  summoned  by  Gildas,  in  565,  but 
mst  then  have  been  very  young,  and  we  should  propose  the  date 
He  does  not  come  into  contact  with  Irish  princes  till  associated 
Aedh,  son  of  Ainmire,  between  572  and  599.  He  was  on  familiar 
is  with  Brandubh,  king  of  Leinster,  till  the  death  of  that  king  in 
He  wras  intimate  with  S.  Fintan  Munu,  who  died  in  634,  and  his 
mi-friend,"  Molua  of  Clonfert,  died  in  591.  The  year  625  is  there- 
some  where  about  the  date  of  Aidan 's  death, 
one  point  in  the  history  of  Aidan  it  is  well  to  pause,  before  leaving 
In  his  Life  it  is  asserted  that  King  Brandubh,  in  a  Synod  of 
clergy  and  laity,  decreed  that  the  Archbishopric  of  all  Leinster  should 
be  for  ever  in  the  See  and  Chair  of  S.  Aidan,  that  is  to  say  at  Ferns,  and 
that  the  Saint  should  be  at  once  consecrated  Archbishop. 

1  Acta  SS.  Hibern.,  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  ;S4. 

2  Nicolas  Roscarrock  gives  him  on  this  day  under  the  name  of  Modoack. 


126  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

But  such  a  thing  as  a  division  of  Ireland  into  metropolitan  Sees  did 
not  exist  at  that  time,  and  as  Dr.  Todd  has  pointed  out,  the  author,  if 
he  wrote  in  Latin,  or  the  translator,  if  the  original  were  in  Irish,  ren- 
dered the  word  ard-epscop  by  the  seemingly  equivalent  archiepiscopus. 
But  the  Irish  word  implies  no  more  than  that  he  was  made  a 
chief  bishop  in  honour,  and  not  that  jurisdiction  was  conveyed 
with  it.  An  ard-file  is  an  eminent  poet,  an  ard-anchoire  an  exalted 
anchorite.1 

In  Ireland  Moedoc  is  contracted  into  Mogue,  and  in  English  Aedh 
is  always  rendered  Hugh.  The  shrine  of  S.  Mogue  is  in  the 
Museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  and  is  called  the  Breac  Moedoc. 
S.  Aidan's  Well  is  in  the  townland  and  parish  of  Clongeen,  in  Wexford 
County. 

In  Pembrokeshire  he  is  the  patron,  not  only  of  Llawhaden  (Llan- 
aedan)  but  also,  as  Madog,  of  the  churches  of  Nolton,  Haroldston  West, 
and  Solva  S.  Aidan  under  Whitchurch.  For  churches  dedicated 
elsewhere  to  him  under  the  name  Madog  see  under  S.  Madog  ab 
Gildas. 

Ffynnon  Fadog,  S.  Madog's  Well,  is  on  the  way  from  S. 
David's  to  Porth  Mawr  and  Ty  Gwyn.  It  is  an  unfailing  gush  of 
cold  water.  The  farm  of  Trefeithan,  near  S.  David's,  perhaps  be 
his  name  and  is  Tref-Aedan.  He  is  sometimes  given  2  as  patron 
Llanidan  in  Anglesey,  with  wake  on  September  30,  but  this  is  a  mista 
In  Cornwall  the  only  church  that  perhaps  commemorates  him,  alte 
into  Hugh,  is  Quethiock,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  there  the  feast  is 
observed  on  November  2,  which  in  the  Irish  Calendars  is  the  day  of 
another  Aidan  who  is  thought  to  have  had  a  church  in  Monaghan,  but 
of  whom  nothing  is  known.  At  Quethiock  was  formerly  a  holy  well 
in  the  wall  of  the  church  ;  at  the  "  restoration  "  of  the  building  it  was 
filled  up  and  built  over,  but  it  is  hoped  will  shortly  be  reopened. 
Under  the  name  of  Maidoc,  he  had  a  chapel  at  S.  Issey,  and  Smithick, 
the  old  name  for  Falmouth,  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  a  chapel  to 
S.  Mithic  or  Maidoc. 

In  art,  the  Saint  should  be  represented  as  a  bishop  carrying  a  hive 
of  bees. 

J.  W.  Wolf  has  dealt  with  the  mythological  elements  in  the  legendary 
life  of  S.  Aidan  in  "  Irische  u.  Schottische  Heiligenleben  ",  in  Zeitschrifl 
fur  Deutsche  Mythologie,  Gottingen,  i  (1853),  pp.  344-58. 


1  Todd,  Life  of  S.  Patrick,  pp.   14-18. 

2  E.g.,  B.  Willis,  Bangor,  1721,  p.  281. 


S.   Aidan  127 

S.  AIDAN  of  Mavurn,   Bishop,  Confessor 

AIDAN  who  was  a  disciple  of  S.  Dyfrig  or  Dubricius *  cannot  possibly 
have  been  the  Aidan  or  Maidoc,  Bishop  of  Ferns,  of  the  foregoing 
notice.  He  was  with  Dyfrig  at  Hentland,  and  afterwards  was 
consecrated  bishop.  King  Cinuin,  son  of  Pepiau,  made  a  donation 
to  him  of  Mavurn  in  the  Dore  valley.2 

When  the  Church  ol  Llandaff  obtained  possession  of  all  the  churches 
of  Dyfrig  and  his  disciples,  it  got  hold  of  Mavurn,  and  when  the  com- 
piler of  the  I4th  century  additions  to  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  drew  up  his 
conjectural  list  of  the  bishops  of  that  see,  he  assumed  that  Aidan  had 
been  one  of  them,  and  successor  to  Uvelviu.3 

This  Aidan,  with  his  name  taking  the  form  of  Maidoc,  may  have  been 
associated  with  Catwg  in  the  quarrel  and  reconciliation  with  King 
Arthur  recorded  in  the  Vita  S.  Cadoci.  Catwg  had  given  refuge  to  a 
certain  Ligessauc,  son  of  Eliman,  surnamed  Lauhir,  who  had  killed  three 
of  Arthur's  men.  Catwg  retained  him  in  Gwynllywg  for  seven  years 
before  Arthur  discovered  where  he  was  concealed.  Then  Arthur  was 
highly  incensed,  as  this  was  exceeding  the  time  limit  allowed  for  sanc- 
tuary, and  Catwg  had  to  send  a  deputation  to  Arthur  to  settle  terms 
for  the  man.  The  deputation  was  composed  oi  S.  David,  S.  Teilo, 
S.  Dochu,  Cynidr  and  Maidoc.  It  proceeded  to  the  banks  of 
the  Usk,  and  Arthur  held  communications  with  the  commissioners 
by  shouting  across  the  river.  At  last  it  was  promised  that  Catwg 
should  pay  to  the  king  a  blood  fine  of  three  of  the  best  quality  of  ox 
for  each  man  slain,  but  this  was  rejected,  and  it  was  decided  that 
Catwg  should  pay  one  hundred  cows. 

When  this  number  had  been  collected  and  driven  to  the  bank, 
Arthur  refused  to  receive  them,  unless  they  were  all  of  one  quality 
of  colour,  the  fore  part  red,  and  white  behind.  Catwg  found  it  im- 
possible to  comply.  The  story  goes  on  to  say  that  Arthur  despatched 
Cai  and  Bedwyr  into  the  mud  of  the  Usk  to  meet  the  men  of  Catwg 
in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  as  he  sulkily  consented  finally  to  receive 
the  cattle.  According  to  the  legend,  when  the  cows  were  passed  over 
into  the  possession  of  Arthur,  they  were  transformed  into  bundles  of 
fern.  This  probably  means  no  more  than  that  he  accepted  fern- 
coloured  cattle. 

Then  Arthur  granted  to  Catwg  the  right  of  sanctuary  for  seven 

irs,  seven  months  and  seven  days.4 

1  Vita  S.  Dubricii  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.  80. 

2  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.   162.  3  Ibid.,  pp.   303,   311. 
4  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  48—9. 


128  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

As,  according  to  the  Annales  Cambrice,  Arthur  died  in  537,  this 
incident,  if  it  ever  did  occur,  took  place  too  early  for  Aidan,  the  disciple 
of  David,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Ferns,  to  have  been  the  Maidoc  of  the 
story. 


S.  AILBE,   Bishop,   Confessor 

THE  materials  for  the  life  of  this  remarkable  man  are  obtained  from 
a  very  unsatisfactory  biography,  more  than  ordinarily  surcharged 
with  the  miraculous  lenient,  and  containing  anachronisms.  Of  this 
several  MS.  copies  exist,  with  slight  variations.  It  is  contained  in 
the  Codex  Kilkenniensis,  but  wanting  one  folio.  Another  copy  is  in 
the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin  (E  3,  n).  Another  in  the  Fran- 
ciscan Convent,  Dublin.  Another  again  in  the  Burgundian  Library, 
Brussels  (2324-40,  fol.  33).  It  is  on  this  that  the  Life  in  the  Ada 
Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandists  has  been  composed  (the  original  is  not 
printed),  September  12,  iv,  pp.  26-31.  But  this  is  the  Life  in  the 
Codex  Salmanticensis,  published  in  A  eta  Sanctorum  Hibern.,  Edinburgh, 
1888. 

Further  material  is  obtained  from  the  Life  of  S.  Patrick,  that  of 
S.  Cieran  of  Saighir,  and  those  of  S.  Colman  of  Dromore,  S.  Columba 
of  Tir-da-glas,  S.  Declan  and  S.  Findchua. 

Among  the  most  glaring  anachronisms  are  these.  Ailbe  is  made  a 
convert  of  S.  Palladius  before  the  coming  of  S.  Patrick,  about  439,  and 
is  reported  to  have  visited  S.  Samson  at  Dol  in  or  about  550.  He  is 
represented  as  one  of  the  prejt>atrician  prelates  of  Ireland,  and  yet  as 
receiving  a  grant  from  Scanlan  Mor,  King  of  Ossory,  574-604.  But 
the  historical  impossibilities  concern  mainly  his  early  life,  and  his 
period  can  be  pretty  accurately  determined  by  that  of  the  princes  with 
whom  he  was  brought  into  contact,  and  by  that  of  his  disciples,  who 
belong  to  a  generation  later  than  himself.  According  to  the  Welsh 
genealogies  Ailbe  or  Elfyw  was  a  son  of  Dirdan,  a  "  nobleman  of  Italy," 
probably  of  Letavia,  Armorica,  often  confounded  with  Latium.  His 
mother  was  Banhadlen,  or  Danadlwen,  daughter  of  Cynyr  of  Caer- 
gawch.  and  sister  of  S.  Non.1 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  107,  141,  144  ;  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  418.  Mab  Elfyw  is  the  name 
of  a  commote  of  Cantref  Mawr  in  Ystrad  Tywi,  Carmarthenshire,  but  it  prob- 
ably did  not  derive  name  from  him. 


S.  Ailbe  129 

This  would  make  him  belong  to  the  same  generation  as  S.  David. 

Cynyr  of  Caerga\vch=  Anna  da.  Gwrthefyr, 
I  who  fell  in  457. 

Dirdan=Banhadlen      Non  =  Sant    G\ven  =  Sclyf     S.  Gistlian      S.  Sachvrn  Hen 
I  I  I  Bishop.  I 

S.  Ailbe,  S.  David,          S.  Cybi,  S.  Sadyrnin. 

B.  of  Emly,  B.  of  Menevia,        d.  c.  554. 

d.  c.  530.  d.  c,  589. 

But  the  Irish  have  a  strange  and  improbable  account  of  his  origin. 
His  father  was  named  Olchu  or  Olchais,  who  was  in  the  service  of 
Cronan,  a  chieftain  of  Eliach,  now  Eliogarty,  in  Tipperary.  His 
mother  was  a  maidservant  in  the  household,  who  loved  Olchu,  "  not 
wisely  but  too  well."  Olchu,  on  finding  that  she  was  about  to  become 
a  mother,  and  fearing  the  wrath  of  the  chief,  ran  away.  On  the  birth 
of  the  child,  Cronan  ordered  the  little  bastard  to  be  exposed,  and  it 
was  cast  behind  a  rock,  where  a  she-wolf  took  pity  on  it  and  suckled  it. 
Many  years  after,  when  Ailbe  was  a  bishop,  he  was  present  one  day  at 
a  wolf  hunt,  when  one  old  grey  beast  fled  for  refuge  under  his  gabardine. 
"Ah,  my  friend  !  "  exclaimed  Ailbe.  "  When  I  was  feeble  and  friend- 
less thou  didst  protect  me,  and  now  I  will  do  the  same  for  thee."  x 

He  was  found  by  a  man  named  Lochan,  who  gave  him  the  name 
Ailbe  from  the  rock  (ail)  under  which  he  lay  ;  the  she-wolf,  however, 
whined  and  was  sore  troubled  to  lose  her  nursling  ;  but  "  Go  in  peace," 
said  Lochan  to  the  beast,  "  I  shall  keep  the  boy." 

A  few  years  later  Lochan  gave  the  child  to  be  fostered  by  some 
British  who  had  settled  in  Eligoarty,  perhaps  at  Ballybrit,  which  was 
a  part  of  the  territory  of  Eile  O 'Carroll  in  Munster.2  Lochan  was 
son  of  Laidhir,  one  of  the  Aradha,  a  Leinster  tribe  settled  near  Lough 
Derg,  and  his  mother  was  a  kinswoman  of  Olchu,  the  child's  father. 

Whilst  Ailbe  was  with  the  Britons,  his  opening  mind  received  ideas, 
and  he  became  thoughtful ;  he  loved  to  look  on  the  spangled  heavens 
and  to  question  the  origin  of  the  starry  host.  "  Who  can  have  formed 
these  lights  ?  "  he  inquired.  "  Who  can  have  set  them  in  their  places, 
and  ordered  the  sun  and  moon  to  run  their  courses  ?  O  !  that  I  might 
know  Him  !  " 

A  Christian  priest  overheard  him  thus  speaking,  and  took  and 
baptised  him,  after  having  given  him  suitable  instruction.3  It  is 

1  Vita  in  Cod.  Sal.,  col.   235, 

8  Shearman,  Loca  Patriciana,  Dublin,   1882,  p.  466. 

3  "  Cum  ergo  hanc  prudentem  orationem  sanctus  puer  Albeus  orasset,  Palla- 
dius  de  propinquo  audiens  eum,  salutavit  ilium,  et  secundum  sui  cordis  deside- 

VO1.  I  K 


130  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

possible  that  the  Irish  story  may  have  been  invented  to  explain  his 
name,  as  Ailbe  might  be  supposed  to  derive  from  ail,  a  rock,  and  beo, 
living.  A  very  doubtful  etymology,  but  sufficient  for  the  starting  of  a 
fable. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  Irish  story,  the  childhood  of  Ailbe  is  said 
to  have  been  passed  among  Britons.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
a  good  many  from  Wales  did  pass  over  into  South  Ireland,  and  especi- 
ally members  of  the  Brychan  family  or  clan,  indeed  if  any  reliance  can 
be  placed  on  the  Tract  on  the  Mothers  of  the  Saints  ten  of  the  reputed 
sons  of  Brychan  and  two  of  the  daughters  founded  churches  and 
received  a  cult  there.1 

Moreover,  two  of  the  sisters  of  S.  David,  daughters  of  Sant  and 
S.  Non,  were  honoured  there,  Mor  as  the  mother  of  S.  Eltin  of  Kinsale, 
and  Magna,  mother  of  Setna.2 

That  intermarriages  between  the  Irish  and  the  British  were  by  no 
means  rare  may  be  judged  by  the  story  of  S.  Lomman.  Patrick 
landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Boyne,  and  proceeded  up  the  country, 
leaving  his  nephew  Lomman  to  take  care  of  the  boat.  After  awaiting 
the  return  of  his  uncle  eighty  days,  Lomman  ascended  the  river  to 
Ath-Trim  and  was  taken  into  the  house  of  Fedlimid,  son  of  Laogaire, 
King  of  Ireland,  who  received  him  hospitably,  because  his  wife  was  a 
British  woman,  as  had  been  also  his  mother.3  It  is,  accordingly,  by 
means  necessary  to  regard  the  Irish  story  and  the  Welsh  account 
referring  to  different  persons.  The  only  thing  to  be  rejected  is  tl 
story  of  the  illegitimate  origin  of  Ailbe,  and  his  being  found  under 
rock. 

It  would  seem  that  the  British  with  whom  Ailbe  was  were  not  very 
perfect  Christians,  for  they  took  no  trouble  to  instruct  him  in  rudi- 
mentary truths,  and  it  was  but  by  chance  that  a  priest  took  him  in 
hand.  After  a  while  the  British  settlers  resolved  on  returning  to  their 
native  land,  and  intended  leaving  Ailbe  behind  ;  but,  finally,  moved 
by  his  entreaties,  they  consented  to  take  him  to  Britain  with  them. 

How  long  he  remained  in  Britain  we  are  not  told,  nor  where  he  was, 
but  he  is  known  in  Wales  as  Ailfyw  or  Elfyw,  who  founded  a  church, 
now  a  ruin,  called  S.  Elvis,  in  Welsh  Llanailfyw,  or  -elfyw,  near  S. 

rium,  docuit eum  in hiis  omnibus etbaptizavit ilium."  VitaSS.Hib.,co\.  237.  The 
copy  quoted  by  Ussher  is  not  quite  the  same  :  "  Quidam  Christianus  sacerdos 
missus  a  sede  apostolica  in  Hiberniam  insulam  multis  annis  ante  Patricium  ut 
fid  em  Christi  ibi  seminaret,"  etc.,  Ussher,  ii,  p.  781. 

1  Loca  Patriciana,  Geneal.  Tab.  vii. 

*  Mor  and  Magna  may  be  the  same,  as  Magna  is  said  to  have  been  the  mother 
of  Maelteoc,  perhaps  the  same  as  Eltin. 

8  Todd,  S.  Patrick,  pp.  257-62,  from  the  Book  of  Armagh. 


S.   Ailbe  131 


David's,  consequently  near  where  lived  his  aunt,  S.  Non.     This  founda- 

n  cannot,  however,  have  taken  place  till  much  later. 

Before  long  Ailbe  felt  a  desire  to  prosecute  his  studies  abroad,  and 
;o  visit  Rome.  His  adventures  on  the  continent  form  a  tissue  of  fable 
and  absurdity,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  historic  truth  underlies 
this  part  of  the  story,  which  was  thrust  into  his  "  Life  "  for  a  set 
purpose,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

According  to  the  legend  he  studied  the  Scriptures  under  a  Bishop 
Hilary  at  Rome.1  The  Bollandists  suppose  that  this  was  Pope 
Hilary  (461-8).  But  Bishop  Hilary  is  not  represented  in  the  story 
as  pope,  for  Clement  is  spoken  of  as  being  the  then  ruling  pontiff,  and 
there  was  no  such  Bishop  of  Rome  after  Clemens  Romanus  who  died 
circa  100  and  Clement  II  (1046-7).  According  to  the  story,  Ailbe 
sought  consecration  as  bishop  from  Clement,  but  the  Pope  refused 
to  put  his  hand  between  heaven  and  so  sacred  and  gifted  an  individual 
as  Ailbe,  who  was  accordingly  consecrated  by  angels.  All  that  can 
be  gathered  from  this  is  that  he  did  not  receive  episcopal  consecration 
from  the  Roman  Church  but  in  some  monastic  establishment.  The 
story  was,  however,  invented  for  a  purpose. 

In  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century,  the  kings  of  Munster  and  Con- 
naught  were  desirous  of  having  archbishops  in  the  south  of  Ireland, 
that  their  bishops  might  not  be  subject  to  Armagh,  the  archbishop  of 
which  was  generally  a  clansman  of  the  Northern  O 'Neils.  They  accord- 
ingly set  up  an  agitation  among  the  clergy  of  the  south,  to  claim  to 
have  archbishops  of  their  own.  In  order  to  support  this  claim,  the 
stury  was  fabricated  that  the  south  of  Ireland  had  been  evangelised  at 
least  thirty  years  before  the  arrival  of  S.  Patrick,  and  that  by  the 
instrumentality  of  bishops  consecrated  at  Rome.2  For  this  purpose 
also  the  lives  of  the  four  bishops,  who  were  supposed  to  have  preceded 
Patrick,  viz.  Ailbe,  Ciaran,  Ibar,  and  Declan  were  interpolated,  with 
result  that  havoc  was  made  of  their  chronology.  The  inter- 
ator  of  the  Acts  of  S.  Ailbe  thought  he  would  do  better  for  his 

ro  than  have  him  obtain  commission  from  the  Pope  ;  he  made  him 
receive  that  direct  from  heaven.  On  his  way  back  to  Ireland  from 
Rome,  Ailbe  founded  a  religious  colony,  where  not  stated,  and  preached 
to  the  Gentiles  and  converted  many.  He  did  more  ;  he  struck  a  rock, 
and  thence  issued  four  rivers  which  watered  the  whole  province.  In 

1  "  Albeus  Romam  perrexit  ibique  apud  Hylarium  episcopum  divinam  didiscit 
scripturam  "  ( Vita  SS.  Hib.,  col.  240).  According  to  the  legend  he  meets  with  lions 
in  the  woods  as  he  is  on  his  way  to  Rome  ;  and  Bishop  Hilary  set  Ailbe  to  be  his 
swim-herd  for  three  years. 

a  Todd,  S.  Patrick,  pp.  220-1. 


Fat 

h«  r» 
rec« 


132  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

the  monastery  there  founded  he  left  the  sons  of  Guill.  Dr.  Todd 
supposes  that  it  was  to  Gauls  that  Ailbe  preached,  and  that  he  filled 
his  religious  houses  with  their  sons.  But  the  meaning  does  not  seem 
to  be  this.  Immediately  after  making  this  foundation  he  went,  says 
the  author  of  the  Life,  to  Dol  and  visited  S.  Samson  ;  and  his  monastery 
was  near  where  was  a  great  river.  There  is  a  gross  anachronism  in 
making  Ailbe  visit  S.  Samson  at  Dol,  for  that  Saint  was  not  there  till 
about  546. x  But  the  writer  seems  to  have  had  an  idea  of  whereabouts 
his  hero  did  spend  some  time.  The  sons  of  Guill  (Meic  Guill) 2  were 
probably  German,  Gibrian,  Tressan,  Helan,  Abran,  and  others  who 
visited  S.  Remigius  at  Rheims,  about  509. 3  We  are  disposed  to  think 
that  the  visit  of  Ailbe  to  the  Continent  did  not  take  place  as  early  as 
represented  in  the  Life,  but  rather  at  this  period. 

As  these  Saints  have  left  their  traces  along  the  Ranee  and  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Vilaine,  we  may  suppose  that  Ailbe's  settlement  was  in 
these  parts.  We  have  evidence  of  a  colony  of  Irish  saints  in  these 
parts  in  the  fact  of  churches  there  with  Irish  dedications.  Next  we 
have  Ailbe  in  Menevia.  Entering  a  church,  he  found  the  priest  unable 
to  proceed  with  the  Sacrifice,  a  sudden  dumbness  had  fallen  on  him. 
Ailbe  pointed  out  the  cause.  A  woman  in  the  congregation  bore  in 
her  womb  one  who  was  to  become  a  great  bishop,  in  fact,  S.  David 
and  it  was  unbecoming  that  a  priest  should  celebrate  in  the  presem 
of  a  bishop.4 

The  same  story  is  told  in  the  Life  of  S.  David  by  Rhygyfarch,  am 
the  priest  there  is  said  to  have  been  Gildas,5  as  also  in  the  Life 
Gildas  by  Caradoc  of  Llancarfan.6  As  Patrick  is  said  to  have  pro- 
phesied the  birth  of  S.  David  thirty  years  previously,  when  on  his  way 
to  his  great  mission  in  Ireland,  we  see  at  once  an  anachronism  in 
making  Ailbe  a  pre-Patrician  Apostle  of  Ireland. 

Ailbe  remained  in  Menevia  till  David  was  born,  his  cousin  if  we 
accept  the  Welsh  genealogies,  and  it  was  he  who  baptised  and  fostered 
him.7  He  now  returned  to  Ireland,  and,  instead  of  landing  in  Water- 


1  "  Deinde  venit  Albeus    ad   civitatem   Dolomoris    (Dol-mor)    in    extremis 
finibus  Lethe  "  (Letavia=Llydaw).      Vita  SS.  Hib.,  col.  244. 

2  O'Gorman,  Martyr.  July  30. 

3  See  above  under  S.  Achebran. 

4  "  Ideo  non  potes  offere  quia  hec  mulier  habet  in  utero  episcopum  ;  hie  cst 
David  Cilli  Muni.     Sacerdos  enim  coram  episcopo  non  debet,  nisi  illo  jubente, 
celebrare."      Vita  SS.  Hib.,  col.  245. 

5  Lives  of  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.    120. 

6  Ed.  Prof.  Hugh  Williams  for  the  Cymmrodorion  Society,  p.  400. 

7  "  Pater  filium  suum  ipsum  David  obtulit  sancto  Albeo  in  eternam."     Vita 
SS.  Hib.,  col.  245.     In  the  Vita  S.  David  he  is  called  Heluus. 


S.    Ailbe  133 

d,  as  would  seem  most  convenient  ior  one  shipping  from  Menevia, 
left  his  boat  in  the  north  among  the  Dal-Riadans,  where  he  placed 

,e  of  his  disciples,  Colman,  at  Kil-roiad,  now  probably  Kil-root  in 
Antrim.  The  Dal-Riadan  King,  Fintan  Finn,  had  recently  been  engaged 
in  war  against  the  men  of  Connaught,  who  had  captured  his  castle  and 
three  sons.  On  the  arrival  of  Ailbe  in  his  land  the  King  at  once  sought 
him  and  entreated  him  to  accompany  his  host  to  battle  and  show  his 
power  by  cursing  the  enemy,  after  the  usual  Druidic  method.  Ailbe 
consented,  and  success  attended  the  King,  who  nearly  exterminated 
the  men  of  Connaught,1  and  recovered  his  wife  and  sons. 

Ailbe  now  visited  S.  Brigid  at  Kildare  (d.  525),  and  was  well  received 
by  IUT.  Thence  he  went  south  to  Minister,  where  he  sought  Aengus 
Mac  Nadfraich,  the  king,  at  Cashel.  Here  it  was  that  he  is  reported 
to  have  met  S.  Patrick,  and  that  the  altercation  took  place  between 
Patrick  on  one  side  and  SS.  Ibar,  Ailbe  and  Ciaran  on  the  other,  who 
\\riv  unwilling  to  recognise  his  supremacy  over  all  Ireland.  In  the 
end  some  agreement  was  come  to,  and  it  was  settled  that  Ailbe  should 
be  bishop  over  Munster,  with  his  seat  at  Imlach  Jubhair  or  Emly. 
Archbishop  Ussher  supposes  that  this  meeting  took  place  in  449,  but 
it  is  more  than  doubtful  if  it  ever  took  place.  The  whole  story  of  the 
controversy  and  the  settlement  seems  to  have  been  an  invention 
foisted  into  the  Life,  in  connexion  with  the  claims  made  by  the  bishops 
of  southern  Ireland  to  obtain  archiepiscopal  jurisdiction  for  Cashel,  in 
opposition  to  Armagh.2 

Ailbe  appears  to  have  enjoyed  the  favour  of  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraich 
to  such  an  extent,  that  when  Endeus  desired  to  settle  in  Aran,  he 
sought  Ailbe's  intercession  with  the  King  to  grant  the  island  to  him. 
Aengus  was,  however,  loath  to  make  the  grant  till  he  had  seen  the 
island  ;  but  when  he  had  done  so,  and  perceived  what  a  bare  inhospit- 
able rock  it  was,  he  consented,  and  made  over  Aran  to  Endeus.  As 
Aengus  fell  in  the  battle  of  Ochla  in  489,  this  must  have  occurred  some- 
about  480.  The  intercession  of  Ailbe  is  the  more  noticeable, 
use  Enda  was  brother-in-law  to  Aengus,  whose  first  wife, 
jrca,  was  Ailbe's  sister.  Enda  died  very  aged  about  540.  Another 
who  sought  a  site  for  a  monastery  from  Ailbe  was  Sincheall,  son  of 
Cennfionnan,  of  a  renowned  Leinster  family.  Ailbe  had  formed  a 
settlement  at  Cluain-Damh  on  the  banks  of  the  Liffey,  and  this  he 
abandoned  to  Sincheall,  who  however  later  moved  to  Cill-achadh- 
droma-fota,  now  Killeigh  in  King's  County.  Sincheall  died  in  548, 
according  to  Duald  Mac  Firbis,  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  and 

"  Gentes  Connactorum  delevit."     Cod.  Sal.,  col.  247. 
2  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  ii,  p.  290. 


134  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

those  of  Ulster,  so  that  here  again  we  have  a  means  of  fixing  approxi- 
mately the  period  at  which  Ailbe  lived. 

Ciannan,  bishop  of  Duleek,  is  named  as  a  disciple  of  Ailbe,  and  he, 
according  to  the  Ulster  Annals,  those  of  Inisfallen,  and  those  of  the 
Four  Masters,  died  in  489.  Colgan  however  doubts  if  his  death  can 
have  taken  place  at  so  early  a  date.1 

Other  disciples  were  S.  Gorman  of  Dromore  and  S.  Nessan  of 
Mungret.  The  date  of  Colman's  death  is  not  known,  but  from  his 
Acts  it  is  apparent  that  he  was  contemporary  with  Diarmid  Cearbhal, 
king  of  Ireland,  who  died  in  538.  Nessan  died  in  551,  according  to 
the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  but  in  561  according  to  those  of  Clon- 
macnoise. 

Ailbe  baptised  that  extraordinary  Saint,  Findchua  of  Bri-gobann, 
and  received  as  fee  for  so  doing  seven  golden  pennies,2  and  this  took 
place  while  Eochaid  was  king  of  Connaught,  and  Aengus  Mac  Nad- 
fraich  was  king  of  Munster,  an  anachronism,  as  Eochaid  was  kii 
about  550,  sixty  years  after  the  death  of  Aengus. 

On  one  occasion  Ailbe  visited  a  religious  community  of  women 
Accadh-Ceroth,   and  found  them   in  sore  trouble.     They  had 
given  a  boy  to  foster  named  Cummine,  son  of  Echelach.     But  he 
not  do  justice  to  his  bringing  up.     He  had  associated  with  himsel 
some  wild  bloods,  and  had  taken  a  vow  on  him  called  dibherc,3  whic 
would  appear  to  have  been  like  that  of  the  Thugs,  to  murder  right  ai 
left. 4     At  the  instigation  of  the  pious  virgins,  Ailbe  sought  the  youi 
man  out,  and  induced  him  to  abandon  the  life  to  which  he  had  vow( 
himself. 

Another  disciple  of  Ailbe  was  Aengus  Maccridh  of  Mochta,  who 
lived  through  the  Yellow  Plague  of  547-50. 

He  was  consulted  by  S.  Seethe  5  of  Ardskeagh,  in  the  county  of 
Cork.  The  story  was  told  that  she  was  short  of  oxen  for  ploughing, 
whereupon  Ailbe  sent  her  a  pair  of  stags,  and  these  served  her  for 
many  years.  At  last,  wearied  with  bearing  the  yoke,  they  went  of 
their  own  accord  to  Emly  to  beg  the  Saint  to  release  them.  A  more 
probable  story  is  one  that  she  begged  of  him  a  copyist  to  transcribe 
for  her  the  Four  Gospels,  and  with  this  request  he  cheerfully  com- 


1  Trias  Thaum.,  p.  217. 

2  Book  of  Lismore,  Oxford,   1890,  p.  232. 

3  Dibhirceach,  diligent,  violent. 

4  "  Votum  pessimum  vovit,  scilicet  dibherc  .  .  .  exivit  Cummine  cum  suis 
sociis,  et  jugulaverunt  homines."     Cod.  Sal.,  col.  251. 

5  In  the  Vitae  SS.  Hib.,  Cod.  Sal.,  her  name  is  given  as  Squiatha.     She  is 
commemorated  on  January  i. 


S.  Ailbe  135 

led.      He  had  also  the  visitation  of  another  house  of  pious  women ; 

le  names  of  two  of  these,  Bithe  and  Barrach,  are  given. 

Ailbe  was  dissatisfied  with  the  liturgy  in  use,  and  sent  two  disci- 
ples, one,  Lugaid,  was  probably  the  son  of  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraich,  to 
Rome  to  obtain  a  better  copy.  He  also  drew  up  a  monastic  Rule. 
He  frequently  visited  Ossory,  and  received  a  grant  of  lands  from 
Scanlan  Mor,  its  king,  who  died  in  604,  but  is  held  to  have  begun 
his  reign  in  574.  If  this  be  true,  it  throws  the  date  of  Ailbe  very  late 
in  the  sixth  century,  and  this  is  for  other  reasons  impossible  to  allow. 
We  are  informed  that,  weary  with  the  duties  of  his  office,  Ailbe  medi- 
tate 1  flight  to  the  Isle  of  Thule.  This  is  Iceland,  and  it  is  certain  that 
Irish  hermits  did  occupy  the  Westmann  Islands  off  the  south  coast 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Norse  colonists  in  870,  as  Irish  bells  and  other 
ecclesiastical  relics  were  discovered  there  by  the  new  settlers.  x  When, 
however,  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraich  heard  of  Ailbe's  intention,  he  gave 
orders  that  all  the  harbours  should  be  watched  to  prevent  the  de- 
parture of  the  bishop. 

The  seat  of  Ailbe's  bishopric  and  principal  monastery  was  Emly, 
beside  a  lake  that  at  one  time  covered  two  hundred  acres,  but  has  now 
been  drained  away,  and  the  bottom  turned  into  pasture.  The  land 
around  is  fertile,  and  the  place  is  in  the  county  Tipperary,  near  the 
River  Glason.  Till  Cashel  rose  into  importance  it  was  of  some  con- 
sideration. Now  it  has  sunk  to  a  village.  The  A  eta  Sancti  Ailbei 
end  : — "  No  one  could  well  relate  the  humility  and  the  meekness  of 
S.  Ailbe,  his  charity  and  pitifulness,  his  patience  and  long-suffering, 
his  fastings  and  abstinence,  his  assiduous  prayer  and  nightly  vigils. 
He  fulfilled  all  the  commandments  of  Christ.  On  account  of  these 
good  works  S.  Ailbe  passed  away  to  join  in  choirs  of  the  angels  singing 
their  sweet  songs,  even  to  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  to  whom  be  honour 
and  glory  through  the  ages.  Amen."  2 

The  Annals  of  Ulster  and  Inisfallen  give  526  (527)  as  the  date  of 
Ibe's  death,  but  the  former  repeats  the  entry  under  the  years  533 
541.  The  latter  is  the  date  given  by  the  Four  Masters.  The 
Chronicon  Scottorum  has  the  Rest  of  Ailbe  of  Imlech  Ibhair  at  the  date 
531.  The  date  541  is  that  of  the  death  of  another  Ailbe,  of  Sencua. 
S.  Declan,  the  Apostle  of  the  Nan-Decies,  is  represented  as  an  inti- 
ite  friend  of  SS.  Ailbe  and  Ibar.  Yet  Declan  must  have  been  junior, 
made  a  close  compact  of  friendship  with  S.  David,  who  had  been 
baptised  by  Ailbe.  Declan  was  half-brother  to  Colman  and  Eochaid, 

1  Landnama-bok  in  Islendinga-Sogur,  Copenhagen,  1842,  i,  pp.  23-4. 

2  Vitae  SS.  Hib.,  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  260. 


136  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

who  were  sons  of  his  mother  by  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraich.1  Conse- 
quently there  are  many  indications  pointing  to  the  apostolic  labours 
of  Ailbe  having  taken  place  during  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  sixth  ;  and  it  is  significant  that  there  is  in  his 
Life  no  mention  of  his  having  had  any  dealings  with  succeeding  kings 
of  Munster,  though  this  may  be  in  part  accounted  for  by  the  humili- 
ation of  Munster  after  the  battle  of  Killosnad,  or  Kellistown,  in  489. 
When  the  Irish  Annals  are  so  uncertain  as  to  the  actual  date  of  Ailbe's 
death,  it  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to  give  it  with  any  precision.  In  the 
Felire  of  Oengus,  Ailbe  is  commemorated  on  September  12.  On  th< 
same  day  in  the  Martyrology  of  Tallagh,  and  the  Martyrology  of  Dot 
gal;  and  on  that  day  O'Gorman  enters: — "To  the  starry  heavens, 
whither  we  shall  go,  (belongs)  Ailbe  of  Imlech  Ibair." 

Roscarrock  in  his  Calendar  gives  Ailbe  on  September  12. 

In  the  second  edition  of  Wilson's  English  Martyrology  on  Februai 
27  is  a  "  S.  Eloius,  confessor  and  bishop  of  Menevia,  in  Pembroke 
Wales."  Wilson,  however,  was  very  arbitrary  in  his  attribution  of  da] 
Whytford  is  more  correct ;  in  his  Martiloge  (1526)  he  has  on  Septei 
ber  12,  among  the  Additions,  "  In  yrelond  ye  feest  of  saynt  Abbey 
bysshop  and  confessor  of  synguler  prfectyon  and  many  myracles." 
Among  the  "  Sayings  of  the  Wise,"  printed  in  the  lolo  MSS.,  occurs 
the  following  : — 

Hast  thou  heard  the  saying  of  Elfyw, 
A  very  wise  man  without  his  equal  ? 
"Let  every  sort  go  to  where  it  belongs."  2 
(Eled  rhyw  ar  barth  pa  yw.) 

A  metrical  Rule  of  S.  Ailbe  instructing  Eoghain,  son  of  Saran, 
Cluain-Caolain,  is  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  Library,  Dublin,  MS.  23, 
N.  II,  p.  186.  Ailbe  is  invoked  in  the  Stowe  Missal,  published  by 
Warren.3 


S.  AILFYW,  see  S.  AILBE 


S.  ALAN,  Confessor 

ALAN  FYRGAN,  son  of  Emyr  Llydaw,  was  obliged,  with  his  father,  to 
fly  Armorica.      The  portion  of  Brittany  from  which  this  family  came 

1  Eochaid  succeeded  his  father  and  died  523.    Annals  of  the  Four  Masters. 

2  lolo  MSS.,  p.  258.     There  is  an  old  Welsh  tune  called  "Cor  Elfyw." 

3  The  Liturgy  of  the  Celtic  Church,  Oxford,  1881,  pp.  238,  240. 


S.   Alan  137 

>,  as  we  learn  from  the  Life  of  S.  Samson,  Broweroc,  or  the  County  of 
Cannes,  which  was  occupied  by  the  British  from  an  early  period.     For 
>me  reason  unknown  to   us,   but  probably  a  family  quarrel,  Emyr 
.lydaw  and  all  his  sons  fled  to  Wales.     Alan,  it  has  been  supposed, 
itered  the  College  of  S.  Illtyd.     He  had  three  sons,  Lleuddad,  Llonio 
Lawhir  and  Llyfab,  who  are  also  said  to  have  been  members  of  Illtyd's 
College.  Rees 1  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  incorporate  him  among 
the  Welsh  Saints,  as  his  name  never  occurs  so  much  as  once  in  any  of 
the  earlier  saintly  genealogies,  nor,  so  far  as  we  have  noticed,  in  any 
of  the  later  ones.     He  only  occurs  therein  in  the  pedigree   given   his 
three  sons.     His  epithet  Fyrgan  appears  under  a  variety  of  corrupt 
forms  in  the  late  copies. 

In  the  only  notice  that  occurs  of  him  in  Welsh  literature  he 
assumes  a  totally  different  role  from  that  of  a  monk.  In  the 
"  Triads  of  Arthur  and  his  Warriors  "  we  are  told  that  one  of  the 
"  Three  Disloyal  Hosts  (Aniweir  Teulu)  of  the  Isle  of  Britain  "  was 
"  the  Host  of  Alan  Fyrgan,  which  turned  back  from  its  lord  on  the  road 
at  night,  leaving  him  and  his  servants  at  Camlan,  and  there  he  was 
slain  "  2  (in  537). 

An  Alan  is  venerated  in  the  diocese  of  Quimper  as  having  been 
bishop  there,  but  he  appears  in  no  genuine  list  of  the  Bishops.  An 
Allorus  appears  as  third  bishop  of  Quimper  in  the  list  in  the  Quimper 
Cartulary  ;  Corentine  was  the  first,  then  came  Goennoc,  and  then  S. 
Allorus.3 

No  Allan  occurs  in  this  catalogue,  and  S.  Allan  of  Quimper  is  doubt- 
less this  Allor.     Corentine  signed  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Angers 
in  453,  so  that  the  date  of  Allor  would  be  about  500. 
The  legend  of  S.  Alan  is  appropriated  from  that  of  S.  Elan  de  Lavaur, 
Toulouse,  which  is  itself  a  fraudulent  composition.     The  Church 
Lavaur  possessed  the  relics  of  a  petty  local  Saint,  named  Elan,  of 
/horn  no  record  remained,  and  some  one  connected  with  the  church 
liberately  adapted  and  altered  the  genuine  Life  of  S.  Amandus  of 
;tricht  to  suit  the  Gascon  saint ;  he  did  more,  he  manipulated,  as 
i,  certain  records  of  donations  to  the  church  of  Maestricht,  to  serve 
le  purpose  of  the  clergy  of  Lavaur,  to  enable  them  to  lay  claim  to 
ic  estates  in  their  own  neighbourhood,  coveted  by  them.     This 
life  was  then  further  appropriated  by  the  Church  of  Quimper  for 
Saint,  Alain,  of  whom  nothing  was  known. 

1  Essay  on  the  Welsh  Saints,  p.  221. 

2  For  the  Triads  see  Skene,  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales,  ii,  pp.  456-64,  where 
ley  are  printed  from  Peniarth  MS.  45,  of  the  late  thirteenth  century. 

3  Bulletin  de  la  Commission  diocesain  de  Quimper,  1901,  p.  33. 


138  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Another  Alain  is  venerated  at  Corlay  (Cotes  du  Nord) ;  he  is  regarded 
as  having  been  a  priest,  but  nothing  is  known  of  him.  His  Feast  is 
there  observed  on  December  27.  (Abbe  Chastelain  quoted  by  Tresvaux 
in  his  edition  of  Lobineau,  Vie  des  Saints  de  Bretagne,  Paris,  1836,  p. 
xli.) 

At  Corlay  is  the  Holy  Well  of  the  Saint,  as  also  his  statue  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  representing  him  in  sacerdotal  vestments  on  his 
knees,  a  book  under  his  left  arm,  and  his  hands  joined  in  prayer. 
Corlay  was  formerly  in  the  diocese  of  Quimper,  but  is  now  in  that  of 
S.  Brieuc. 


S.  ALBAN,  Martyr 

THE  earliest  authority  for  the  protomartyr  of  Britain  is  Gildas,  who 
says,  "  Alban  of  Verulam  .  .  .  through  love  hid  a  confessor  when  pursued 
by  his  persecutors,  and  on  the  point  of  being  seized,  imitating  in  this 
Christ  laying  down  his  life  for  the  sheep.  He  first  concealed  him  in 
his  house,  and  afterwards  exchanged  garments  with  him,  willingly 
exposed  himself  to  the  danger  of  being  pursued  in  the  clothes  of  the 
brother  mentioned.  Being  in  this  way  well  pleasing  to  God,  during  the 
time  between  his  holy  confession  and  cruel  death,  in  the  presence  of 
the  impious  men,  who  carried  the  Roman  standard  with  hateful 
haughtiness,  he  was  wonderfully  adorned  with  miraculous  signs,  so 
that  by  fervent  prayer  he  opened  an  unknown  way  through  the  bed 
of  the  noble  river  Thames,  similar  to  that  dry  little-trodden  way  of 
the  Israelites,  when  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  stood  long  on  the  gravel 
in  the  middle  of  Jordan  ;  accompanied  by  a  thousand  men,  he  walked 
through  with  dry  foot,  the  rushing  waters  on  either  side  hanging  like 
abrupt  precipices,  and  converted  first  his  executioner,  as  he  saw  such 
wonders,  from  a  wolf  into  a  lamb,  and  caused  him  together  with  himself 
to  thirst  more  deeply  for  the  triumphant  palm  of  martyrdom,  and  more 
bravely  to  seize  it."  l 

The  next  authority  is  Bede.  Bede  says,  speaking  of  the  persecution 
under  Diocletian,  "  At  that  time  suffered  S.  Alban,  of  whom  the  priest 
Fortunatus  (ctrc.  580)  in  the  praise  of  Virgins,  where  he  makes  mention 
of  the  blessed  martyrs  that  came  to  the  Lord  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  says  : — 

'  In  fruitful  Britain's  Isle  was  holy  Alban  born.'  * 

1  Gildas,  ed.  Hugh  Williams,  cc.   10,   n. 

z  "  Egregium  Albanum  foecunda  Britannia  profert."  Venant.  Fortunat., 
Poem.  VIII,  iv,  155. 


S.  Alban  139 

"  This  Alban,  being  yet  a  pagan,  at  the  time  when  the  cruelties  of 
wicked  princes  (Diocletian  and  Maximianus)  were  raging  against  the 
Christians,  gave  shelter  in  his  house  to  a  certain  cleric,  flying  from  the 
persecutors.  He  observed  this  man  to  be  engaged  in  constant  prayer 
and  vigil  night  and  day;  when  suddenly,  the  Divine  grace  illumining 
him,  he  began  to  imitate  the  example  set  before  him  of  faith  and  piety, 
and  being  little  by  little  instructed  by  this  man's  holy  admonition,  he 
rejected  the  darkness  of  idolatry,  and  became  a  Christian  in  all 
sincerity  of  heart. 

"  The  aforesaid  cleric  had  been  for  some  days  entertained  by  him, 
when  it  came  to  the  ears  of  the  wicked  prince,  that  this  holy  confessor 
of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  time  of  martyrdom  had  not  yet  come,  was 
concealed  in  the  house  of  Alban.  Thereupon  he  sent  some  soldiers 
to  institute  a  strict  search  for  him.  When  they  arrived  at  the  martyr's 
house,  S.  Alban  immediately  presented  himself  before  them,  instead  of 
his  guest  and  master,  in  the  habit  or  mantle  which  he  wore,  and  was 
led  bound  before  the  magistrate.  It  happened  that  this  latter,  at  the 
time,  was  standing  at  the  altar  and  was  engaged  in  offering  sacrifice  to 
devils.  When  he  saw  Alban,  vastly  incensed  at  his  having  thus 
voluntarily  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  soldiers,  to  shelter  his  guest, 
he  commanded  him  to  be  dragged  up  to  the  images  of  the  demons, 
before  which  he  stood,  saying,  '  Because  you  have  chosen  to  conceal  a 
man  who  is  a  rebel  and  sacrilegious,  in  place  of  giving  him  up  to  the 
penalty  that  is  his  due,  you  shall  undergo  the  penalty  allotted  to  him, 
if  you  abandon  the  worship  of  our  religion.'  Alban,  who  had  declared 
himself  a  Christian  to  the  persecutors,  was  not  at  all  daunted  at  the 
threat,  but  putting  on  the  armour  of  the  spiritual  warfare,  he  openly 
that  he  would  not  obey  the  command.  Then  said  the  magis- 

te,  '  Of  what  family  and  race  are  you  ?  '  '  How  can  it  concern  you 
of  what  stock  I  come  ?  '  answered  Alban.  '  If  you  desire  to  hear  the 
truth  of  my  religion,  be  it  known  to  you  that  I  am  now  a  Christian 
under  Christian  obligations.  I  am  called  Alban  by  my  parents/  he 
replied  ;  '  and  I  worship  the  true  and  living  God,  who  created  all 
things.'  \ 

"  The  magistrate  hearing  these  words,  was  inflamed  with  anger  and 
said,  '  If  you  will  enjoy  the  happiness  of  eternal  life,  do  not  delay  to 
offer  sacrifice  to  the  great  gods.'  Alban  replied,  '  These  sacrifices 
which  you  offer  to  demons  can  neither  profit  those  to  whom  offered, 
nor  avail  to  obtain  the  wishes  and  desires  of  those  that  offer  them.  On 
the  contrary,  whosoever  shall  do  sacrifice  to  these  images,  will  have 
everlasting  pain  for  his  recompence.' 

"  On  hearing  this,  the  judge  ordered  the  holy  confessor  to  be  scourged 


threat,  t 
declared 
trate,  '< 


140  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

by  the  executioners,  trusting  that  he  might  thereby  break  his  con- 
stancy ;  when  words  proved  unavailing,  he  being  most  unjustly  tortured 
bore  the  same  patiently,  nay  rather  joyfully,  for  the  Lord's  sake. 
When  the  judge  perceived  that  he  was  not  to  be  overcome  by  tortures, 
or  withdrawn  from  the  exercise  of  the  Christian  religion,  he  ordered 
his  execution.  On  being  led  forth,  he  came  to  a  river  which,  with  a 
most  rapid  course,  ran  between  the  wall  of  the  town  and  the  arena 
where  he  was  to  be  executed.  There  he  beheld  a  multitude  of  people 
of  both  sexes,  and  of  many  ages  and  conditions,  doubtless  assembled 
to  attend  the  blessed  confessor  and  martyr,  and  these  had  so  occupied 
the  bridge  over  the  river,  that  he  could  hardly  pass  over  that  evening. 
In  a  word,  nearly  all  the  town  had  poured  forth,  leaving  the  magistrate 
unattended  in  the  city.  S.  Alban,  urged  by  his  desire  after  a  speedy 
martyrdom,  approached  the  stream,  and,  raising  his  eyes  to  heaven, 
the  channel  was  immediately  dried  up,  and  he  saw  that  the  water  was 
gone  and  made  way  for  him  to  pass.  Amongst  others  the  executioner 
saw  this,  and  moved  by  divine  inspiration,  hasted  to  meet  him  at  the 
place  of  execution,  and,  casting  down  his  sword,  fell  at  his  feet,  praying 
that  he  might  rather  die  with  the  martyr,  or,  if  possible,  in  his  room. 
Whilst  thus,  from  a  persecutor  he  was  changed  into  a  companion  in 
the  Faith,  and  the  other  executioners  hesitated  to  take  up  the  sword 
that  was  lying  on  the  ground,  the  reverend  confessor,  attended  by  the 
multitude,  ascended  a  hill,  about  five  hundred  paces  off,  which  was 
adorned  with  .all  sorts  of  flowers.  The  sides  of  this  hill  were  not 
perpendicular,  but  sloped  gently  into  the  beautiful  plain,  a  worthy 
place  to  be  the  scene  of  a  martyr's  sufferings.  On  the  top  of  the  hill 
S,  Alban  prayed  that  God  would  give  him  water,  and  immediately  a 
living  spring  broke  out  before  his  feet.  .  .  .  The  river  having  performed 
its  holy  function,  resumed  its  natural  course.  Here  the  head  of  our  most 
courageous  martyr  was  struck  off,  and  here  he  received  the  crown  of 
life,  which  God  hath  promised  to  them  that'  love  Him.  But  he  who 
dealt  the  wicked  stroke  was  not  permitted  to  rejoice  over  the  deceased, 
for  his  eyes  fell  on  the  ground  together  with  the  martyr's  head. 

"  At  the  same  time  the  soldier  was  also  beheaded  who  had  refused 
to  give  the  stroke  to  the  holy  confessor.  Of  whom  it  was  apparent, 
that  although  he  was  not  regenerated  by  baptism,  yet  was  he  cleansed 
by  the  baptism  of  his  own  blood,  and  rendered  worthy  to  enter  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Then  the  judge,  astonished  at  the  novelty  of  so 
many  miracles,  ordered  the  persecution  to  cease.  The  blessed  Alban 
suffered  death  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  June,  near  the  city  of 
Verulam,  which  is  now  by  the  English  nation  called  Verlamacestir,  or 
Varlingacestir,  where  afterwards,  when  peaceable  Christian  times  were 


S.  ALBAN. 
F  i  oin  the  Altar  Screen  at  S.  Allans  Catiiedral. 


S.  Alba?i  14.1 

tored,  a  church  of  wonderful  workmanship  and  suitable  to  his  martyi  - 

m,  was  erected."  * 

The  Abbey  of  S.  Alban's,  erected  on  the  scene  of  the  martyrdom,  was 
nd« -d  by  Offa  in  793. 

When  we  look  at  Bede's  narrative,  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  he  had 
e  early  document  which  he  employed  and  adorned  with  rhetorical 
ourish.  There  are  in  it  some  obscure  passages,  apparently  not  due  to 
him,  but  which  he  transcribed  without  himself  understanding  them, 
and  therefore  copied  literally. 

The  miraculous  element  is  easily  eliminated.  In  the  incident  of 
the  drying  up  of  the  stream,  all  that  is  needed  is  to  remove  the  word 
"immediately"  in  the  direct  narrative,  which  follows  Bede's  rhetorical 
amplification.  The  stooping  of  S.  Alban  to  slake  his  thirst  at  a  little 
spring  sufficed  as  basis  for  the  fable  of  his  having  miraculously  called 
it  forth  ;  and  the  absurdity  of  the  executioner's  eyes  falling  out  when 
Alban's  head  touched  the  ground  is  due  to  a  statement  in  the  original 
that  the  man  who  dealt  the  blow  was  blind  to  the  light  of  faith  which 
had  illumined  the  eyes  of  him  who  had  been  commissioned  to  execute 
Alban. 

Much  has  been  made  of  the  blunder  of  Gildas  relative  to  the  Thames 
as  the  river  that  divided  before  Alban  when  he  passed  to  his  death. 
Th'-  "river"  actually  was  the  little  stream,  the  Ver,  which  runs 
between  the  present  Abbey  Church  and  the  site  of  old  Verulam.  The 
Ver  is  nowhere  unfordable,  and  at  midsummer  is  the- merest  dribble. 
Possibly  enough,  the  summer  when  Alban  suffered  was  unusually 
rainless,  and  the  stream  may  have  been  quite  dry.  Gildas  had  never 
been  in  that  part  of  Britain,  overrun  by,  and  in  the  possession  of,  the 
ons,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  should  have  blundered  about 
name  and  character  of  the  river.  Bede  knew  more  about  the 
raphy  of  England  than  did  Gildas ;  he  therefore  does  not  give  the 
e  Thames  to  the  river,  and  excinds  the  extravagancy  about  the 

ter  standing  up  as  a  wall  whilst  the  martyr  passed  over,  if  such  a 
statement  occurred  in  the  original  Acts  from  which  he  drew  his  account. 
Gildas,  also,  had  these  Acts  under  his  eye,  and  the  addition  of  the 
standing  up  of  a  wall  of  water  is  almost  certainly  due  to  him. 

The  Acts  certainly  existed  when  Gildas  wrote  at  the  close  of  the 

Slightly  condensed  from  Bede,  H.  E.,  i,  7.     The  Bishop  of  Bristol  (Browne) 
When  you  go  to  S.  Albans,  you  see  the  local  truth  of  the  traditional 
lils.     Standing  on  the  narrow  bridge  across  the  little  stream,  you  will  realize 
blocking  of  the  bridge  by  the  crowd  of  spectators  nearly  1,600  years  ago  ; 
you  can  see  Alban  in  his  eagerness  to  win  his  martyr's  crown,  pushing  his 
ty  through  the  shallow  water,  rather  than  be  delayed  by  the  crowd  on  the 
Ige."     The  Church  in  these  Islands  before  Augustine,  S.P.C.K.,  1897,  P-  57- 


142  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

sixth  century.  But  whether  in  their  original  form,  as  drawn  up  soon 
after  the  martyrdom,  if  so  drawn  up,  we  cannot  say,  for  we  cannot  be 
quite  certain  how  many  of  the  statements  of  Gildas  are  due  to  his 
rhetorical  style.  The  Acts  used  by  Bede  were  certainly  late,  for 
they  were  already  loaded  with  fable. 

We  come  now  to  the  notice  in  the  Life  of  S.  Germanus  of  Auxerre, 
describing  the  visit  made  in  429  by  Germanus  and  Lupus  to  Britain. 
This  is  to  the  effect :  "  The  priests  sought  the  blessed  martyr  Albanus 
in  order  to  render  thanks  by  his  mediation  to  God  ;  when  Germanus, 
having  with  him  relics  of  all  the  apostles  and  of  different  martyrs, 
offered  prayer  and  commanded  the  grave  to  be  opened  in  order  to 
place  there  the  precious  gifts."  l 

Now  if  this  passage  had  stood  in  the  original  Life  of  Germanus  by 
Constantius,  it  would  have  been  an  important  testimony.  But  it  did 
not  stand  there,  it  is  an  interpolation  of  the  first  half  of  the  ninth 
century  ;  it  is  not  found  in  any  of  the  copies  of  the  unadulterated  Life, 
by  Constantius.2 

Gildas  is  the  authority  for  Alban  having  suffered  in  the  persecution 
of  Diocletian,  and  Bede  follows  him  in  this. 

It  has  been  objected  that  Eusebius  and  Lactantius  assert  that 
Constantius,  the  father  of  Constantine,  and  to  whose  share  in  the 
Empire  Britain  fell,  took  no  part  in  the  persecution.3 

But,  says  Professor  Hugh  Williams,4  "  In  his  anxiety  to  exonerate 
the  father  of  £onstantine  the  Great,  Eusebius  may  be  regarded 
having  gone  too  far  when  he  said  that  he  destroyed  none  of  the  chur< 
buildings.  Lactantius  expressly  states  that  the  churches,  as  me 
walls  which  could  be  restored,  were  pulled  down  by  him,  but  that  he 
kept  intact  and  safe  the  true  temple  of  God,  that  is,  the  human  body. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  Constantius  was  only  Caesar  in  the  '  parts 
beyond  the  Alps/  and  that  he  did  not  visit  Britain  until  A.D.  306,  the 
year  of  his  death  at  York.  The  Caesar's  power  was  limited,  which 
would  render  the  name  of  Maximian,  as  a  rabid  persecutor,  especially 
after  the  fourth  Edict  of  304,  the  more  potent  name  with  many  govern- 
ors and  magistrates.  Constantius  was  bound  to  conform  to  the 
policy  of  the  Augusti  in  carrying  out  edicts  which  bore  his  own  name 

1  Vita  Germani  Autis.,  iii,  25. 

2  Levison   (W.),  Bischof  Germanus  v.  Auxerre,  in  Neue  Archiv  d.  Gesellscha/t 
/.  dltere  deutsche  Geschichtskunde,    B.    xxix,    1903  ;    BibL  de   l'£cole  des  Charles, 
t.  xliii,    1882,  p.  556  ;  Narbey,  f.tude  critique  sur  la  vie  de  S.  Germain  d' Auxerre, 
Paris,  1884;    Baring-Gould,   "  Life  of  Germanus,"   by  Constantius,  in  Y  Cymm- 
rodor,  Lond.,   1904. 

3  Eus.,  H.  £.,viii,  13;  Vita  Const.,  i,  13  ;  ~La.ct.,De  MortePers.,  xv. 

4  Note  in  his  ed.  of  Gildas,  p.  26. 


ite 

s 

:re 


S.   Alban  143 

as  well  as  theirs.  When,  therefore,  it  is  known  that  many  martyrdoms 
did  take  place  in  Spain,  though  that  country  belonged  to  Ccnstantius, 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  Britain  had  witness  of  the  same 
sufferings,  especially  before  306,  when  he  himself  arrived  in  the  island." 
There  is  a  circumstantiality  about  Bede's  account  which  shows  that 
he  had  material  on  which  to  build  up  his  florid  narrative. 

The  A  nglo-Saxon  Chronicle  gives  286  as  the  date  of  the  year  in  which 
S.  Alban  suffered,  but  Bede  is  more  likely  to  be  right  in  placing  it  in 
the  persecution  of  Diocletian.  He  is  followed  by  Henry  of  Hunting- 
don, Matthew  of  Westminster,  the  latter  adding  flourishes  of  his  own. 
In  addition,  we  have  the  Ada  Sanctorum  Albani  et  Amphibali,  by 
William,  a  monk  of  S.  Alban's,  dedicated  to  Simon,  who  was  Abbot  of 
that  Monastery  from  1167  to  1188,  but  apparently  written  before 
Simon  was  promoted  to  the  Abbacy.  William  states  that  his  book 
was  merely  a  translation  from  an  English  Life  of  the  Saint.1 

He  says  that  the  author  concealed  his  name  through  fear  of  the 
enemy,  but  wrote  what  he  had  seen  or  heard  from  others.  However, 
on  examination,  this  Pdssio  S.  Albani  proves  to  be  entirely  founded 
on  that  of  Bede,  amplified  by  a  long  account  of  the  conversion  of  S. 
Alban  through  the  instrumentality  of  Amphibalus,  a  priest  whom  he 
had  protected  from  the  persecutors,  and  had  concealed  in  his  house. 

Then  follows  a  detailed  account  of  Alban's  conduct  before  the  judge, 
and  of  his  imprisonment  and  death,  as  well  as  of  the  escape  of  Amphi- 
balus. 

This  is  followed  by  two  chapters  on  the  conversion  and  martyrdom 
of  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Verulam,  who  had  fled  with  Amphibalus 
to  Wales,  where  he  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  Welsh  and  Picts.    Finally 
have  the  capture  and  martyrdom  of  Amphibalus,  followed  by  the 
lal  chastisement  of  his  persecutors.2    This  took  place  at  Verulam, 
which  place  Amphibalus  had  been  reconducted  from  Wales. 
The  author  concludes,  "  Ne  vero  posteri  super  meo  nomine  reddantur 
inino  soliciti,  sciant  quia  si  voluerint  verum  mihi  ponere  nomen, 
miserum,  me  peccatorem  ultimum  nominabunt.     Romam  autem 
>ficiscor  ut  illic  gentilitatis  errore  deposito,  et  lavacro  regenerationis 
jpto,  veniam  merear  assequi  delictorum.      Libellum  quoque  istum 
;ram  examini  Romanorum,  ut  si  qua  in  eo  secus  quam  debuit  forte 
)latum  fuerit,  hoc  per  eos  dignetur  in  melius  commutare." 

"  Cum  liber  Anglico  sermone  conscriptus  passionem  martyris  Albani  con- 
jns,  ad  vestram  notitiam  pcrvenisset,  ut  cum  verbis  latinis  exprimerem 
;cepitis." 

a  "  Distorquentur  labia,  varia  deformitas   vultus   apprehendidit,    obrigescunt 
ligiti,  nervi  officiis  non  funguntur  ;    ardent  linguae,"  etc. 


144  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

This  is  sufficient  to  reveal  the  whole  as  an  impudent  forgery.  William, 
the  compiler,  actually  the  fabricator  of  the  Passio,  pretends  that  he 
added  nothing  to  the  original  except  the  name  of  Amphibalus,  which 
he  took  from  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  (lib.  v,  cap.  5).  This  supposed 
original  book  which  William  used  was,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  English 
language.  But  in  Matthew  Paris'  Life  of  Abbot  Eadmer  the  story 
is  told  of  a  very  ancient  book  in  the  British  tongue  having  been  dis- 
covered in  a  recess  of  a  wall,  and  of  how  it  was  interpreted  by  ont 
Unwona,  an  aged  monk  ;  and  it  proved  to  be  a  Passion  of  S.  Alban. 

The  fact  would  seem  to  be  that  the  monks  of  S.  Alban 's  were  dis- 
satisfied with  the  brief  story  of  the  death  of  their  Saint,  as  given  b) 
Bede,  and  set  one  of  their  number  to  compose  a  fuller  story,  and,  t( 
give  credence  to  it,  pretended  to  have  found  an  ancient  book  of  the 
Martyrdom  composed  by  an  eyewitness,  whilst  still  a  pagan. 

William  had  not  the  wit  to  make  this  author  write  in  British,  but 
makes  him  a  Saxon.     Matthew  Paris  knew  better.     The  outline  of 
story  is  as  in  Bede,  all  the  rest  is  mere  invention. 

A  condensation,  of  William  of  S.  Alban's  work  is  in  Capgrave's 
Nova  Legenda  Anglia,  under  the  heads  of  "  Alban  "  and  "  Amphi- 
balus." There  is  a  Saxon  Passio  S.  Albanis  and  a  Saxon  Vita  S. 
Albani,  but  both  are  derived  from  Bede.  William  of  S.  Alban's 
Passion  is  printed  in  the  Ada  SS.  Boll.,  Jun.  iv,  pp.  149-59.  Then 
are  other  MS.  Lives  or  Passions  of  S.  Alban  ;  Radulph  of  Dunstable 
composed  a  Latin  Metrical  Life  of  SS.  Alban  and  Amphibalus.  H* 
wrote  it  at  the  request  of  the  aforesaid  William,  who,  however,  di( 
before  its  completion.1  Matthew  Paris  (1236-53)  also  wrote  a  Vita 
Sti.  Albani. 

None  of  the  Lives  are  of  any  historical  value.  The  sole  authorities 
of  any  worth  are  Gildas  and  Bede.  But  they  are  instructive  for  all 
that.  They  show  the  manner  in  which  Lives  were  amplified,  miracles 
fabricated,  and  martyrdoms  multiplied  by  late  redactors.  Thus, 
although  there  is  no  evidence  that  others  suffered  with  Alban  save  the 
executioner,2  William  of  S.  Albans  makes  those  sent  after  Amphibalus 
slaughter  a  thousand  in  Wales,  without  respect  to  age  or  sex.  "  Ira 
commoti,  sine  respectu  aetatis,  sanguinis  aut  reverentiae,  vicini  vicinos 

1  Wright,    Biographia    Britannica    Liter  aria,    Anglo-Norman    Period,    1846, 
pp.  212-5. 

2  Gildas  does  however  add  :  "  Ceteri  vero  sic  diversis  cruciatibus  torti  sunt 
et  inaudita  membrorum  discerptione  lacerati,  ut  absque  cunctamine  gloriosi  in 
egregiis    Jerusalem  veluti    portis  martyrii  sui  trophaea  defigerent.       Nam  qui 
superfuerant  silvis  ac  desertis  abditisque  speluncis  se   occultavere. "     But  this 
does  not  necessarily  apply  to  Britain  but  to  the  persecution  throughout  the 
Empire. 


S.  Alban  145 


et  amicos  neci  tradunt ;  et  atrociter  in  ore  gladii  mille  viros  pro  Christo 
occidunt." 

The  Legend  by  John  of  Tynemouth,  taken  into  Capgrave's  Nova 
Legenda,  is  derived  partly  from  Bede,  and  partly  from  the  Life  by 
William  of  S.  Albans. 

In  a  so-called  Martyrology  of  S.  Jerome,  in  a  Berne  Codex  of  about 
770,  "  S.  Albinus  Martyr  "  is  commemorated  on  June  22,  "  along  with 
others,  889  in  number."  Here  we  see  how  a  story  expands  and 
adopts  extravagant  details.  Bede  expressly  says  that  after  the  death 
of  Alban  the  persecution  ceased  in  Britain.  He  represents  the  magis- 
trate as  deterred  by  the  miracles  that  had  taken  place  ;  actually  what 
induced  him  to  stop  was  probably  that  he  saw  that  the  use  of  force 
advanced  instead  of  serving  to  hinder  the  cause  of  Christianity. 

Almost  all  English  Calendars  have  S.  Alban  on  June  22,  and  he 
occurs  in  some  of  the  Welsh  Calendars  on  the  same  day.  He  is  entered 
in  the  Vannes  Missals  of  1530  and  1535  ;  and  in  the  Vannes  Breviary 
of  1589  ;  and  in  the  S.  Malo  Breviary  of  1537. 

Whytford  in  his  Martiloge  says,  on  June  22,  "  In  brytayne  ye  feest 
of  saint  Albane  a  martyr  that  in  the  tyme  of  ye  emperour  Dioclecian 
after  many  turmets  suffred  at  verolame  deth,  heded  by  the  sworde  and 
with  hym  was  a  soudyour  put  to  deth  because  he  refused  to  do  ye 

<  cucyon  upon  hym."  And  O 'Gorman  has  inserted  him  on  the 
same  day  in  his  Irish  Martyrology.  In  the  Reformed  Anglican  Calen- 
dar on  June  17.* 

^  The  Abbey  of  S.  Alban 's,  as  already  said,  was  founded  by  Offa,  the 
king  of  the  Mercians,  in  793.    William  of  Malmesbury  says  :    "  The 
relics  of  S.  Alban,  at  the  time  obscurely  buried,  he  ordered  to  be  rever- 
ently taken  up  and  placed  in  a  shrine,  decorated  to  the  fullest  extent 
«)yal  munificence  with  gold  and  jewels.     A  Church  of  most  beau- 
workmanship  was  then  erected  and  a  company  of  monks  assem- 
."- 

In  Monmouthshire,  the  church  of  Christ  Church  on  the  height  above 
Caerleon,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Usk,  was  formerly  dedicated  to  S. 
Alban.  The  high  ground  above  the  junction  of  the  Afon  Lwyd  is 
still  called  Mount  S.  Alban. 

Devonshire,  Beaworthy  Church  is  dedicated  to  him. 
o  church  bears  his  name  in  Cornwall.     He  is  patron  of  Tattenhall 
near  Chester ;  of  a  church  also  in  Worcester ;  of  S.  Alban's,  Wood 

1  In  the  Preces  Privates,  1564,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  1564,  1573,  and 
1617  on  June  17,  but  in  the  latter  also  on  July  29.  See  Lord  Aldenham's  paper 
on  S.  Alban  in  the  Transactions  of  S.  Paul's  Ecclesiological  Soc.,  iv,  p.  32. 

1  Chron.  Reg.  Anglia,  i,  4. 

VOL.  I.  T, 


14.6  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Street,  London,  founded  in  the  tenth  century  ;  Earsdon  in  Northumber- 
land as  under  Tynemouth,  a  priory  of  S.  Alban's  Abbey  ;  Wymondham 
in  Norfolk,  as  well  a  priory  of  S.  Alban's  ;  Worksop  Priory  in  Notting- 
hamshire, and  Wickersley  in  Yorkshire ;  Withernwick  in  east  Yorkshire ; 
Frant  in  Kent,  and  perhaps  originally  Almondbury  in  Yorkshire. 
Camden  so  thinks.  In  Brittany  he  is  supposed  to  be  patron  of  several 
parishes  and  chapels.  This  is,  however,  due  to  a  mistake  :  he  has  been 
confounded  with  and  has  superseded  S.  Albinus,  who  was  a  native 
of  the  Diocese  of  Vannes,  and  became  bishop  of  Angers,  and  died 
circ.  550. 


S.  ALLECCUS,  or  GALLGO,  Confessor 

ACCORDING  to  the  Life  of  Gildas  by  the  monk  of  Ruys,  Alleccus,  or 
Allectus,    was    a   brother    of    that    saint.      He    says :     "  Mailocus, 
Alleccus  and  Egreas,  with  their  saintly  sister  (Peteova),  after  con- 
temning   all  the  wealth  and  luxuries  of    the  world,  strove  with  the 
whole  bent  of  their  soul  to  reach  the  celestial  country,  and  devoted 
their  lives  to  fastings  and  prayers.     At  last  they  were  called  to  God, 
and  received  the  reward  of  their  labours.     They  were  buried  in  the 
oratories  which  they  had  built,  and  are  preserved  there,  famous  am 
illustrious  for  their  constant  miracles,  and  destined  to  rise  again  ii 
glory."  * 

Alleccus,  or  Allectus,  there  can  be  hardly  a  doubt  is  the  Gallgo, 
Gallgof  ab  Caw,  of  the  Welsh  pedigrees,2  to  whom  Llanallgo,  a  chaj 
subject  to  his  brother's  church,  Llaneugrad,  in  Anglesey,  is  dedicated. 

Gallgo  was  for  a  while  a  saint  at  Llantwit  and  Llancarfan.3  He 
appears  to  be  the  Calcas  ab  Caw  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Tale  oi 
Culhwch  and  Olwen  as  having  been  in  the  service  of  King  Arthur. 
Probably,  owing  to  the  insults  dashed  in  the  face  of  Maelgwn  Gwynedd 
by  Gildas,  his  brother,  Alleccus  may  have  been  forced  to  leave  Anglesey, 
and  then  perhaps  retired  to  Ireland  for  a  time.  Colgan  conjectured 
that  he  is  the  saint  named  Oilleoc  in  the  Irish  Martyrologies,  but 
hesitated  between  him  and  Elloc,  one  of  the  reputed  sons  of  Brychan.5 


1  Gildas,  ed.  Hugh  Williams,  p.  327. 

2  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  101,  109,  116,  137,    142-3  ;    Myv.  Arch.,  p.  425. 

3  lolo  MSS.,  pp.   101,   1 1 6. 

4  Mabinogion,  ed.  Rhys  and  Evans,  p.   107  ;   eel.  Guest,  1877,  P-  224- 

5  Ada  SS.  Hibern.,  Jan.  29,  p.  188.     The  situation  of  Cluan  Etchen,  of  which 
Oilleoc  was  saint,  has  not  been  determined. 


S.  ALLEN. 

From  Statue  at  Scaer. 


S.   Allen  147 

It  is  possible  that  Alleccus  may  have  been  with  Gildas  at  an  early 
period  in  Ireland,  till  the  latter  was  recalled  by  the  murder  of  his 
brother  Huail. 

The  day  of  S.  Gallgo,  or  Alleccus,  is  given  as  November  27  in  most 
of  the  Welsh  Calendars  from  the  fifteenth  century  ;  also  by  Nicolas 
Roscarrock.  Oilleoc,  or  Oileac,  of  Cluan  Etchen,  is  venerated  in  the 
Irish  Calendars  on  July  24. 

The  Wake  at  Llanallgo  was,  however,  held  on  the  first  Sunday  in 
May.1  Near  the  church  is  Ffynnon  Allgo,  his  holy  well.  Its  waters, 
which  are  strongly  impregnated  with  sulphate  of  lime,  were  formerly 
held  in  high  veneration  for  the  cures  ascribed  to  them,  and  are  still,  we 
Klicve,  regarded  as  highly  beneficial  in  some  chronic  diseases.  Ad- 
joining the  west  end  of  the  church  is  Capel  y  Ffynnon,  the  Well  Chapel, 
a  small  edifice  anciently  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  votaries  of 
the  patron  of  the  spring.2 


S.  ALLEN,  Confessor 

S.ALLEN  is  the  nameof  a  parish  in  Cornwall  in  theDeaneryof  Pyder. 
The  name  is  given  in  the  Exeter  Episcopal  Registers  as  Allun  or  Alun. 
In  that  of  Bishop  Bronescombe,  1261,  the  church  is  Ecclesia  St!.  Alluni; 
in  that  of  1274  Ecclesia  de  Stl>.  Aluno  ;  so  also  in  1274, 1284  ;  in  that 
of  B.  Bytton,  1302  ;  in  the  Taxation  of  Pope  Nicolas,  1288-91  ; 
in  the  register  of  B.  Stapeldon,  1314  ;  and  in  those  of  B.  Grandisson, 
1349,  and  B.  Brantyngham,  1376,  1383,  1384,  1392. 

Leland  (I tin.,  ii,  77  ;  iii,  2)  gives  the  forms  Aleine,  Alaine  and  Alein. 
It  is  not  possible,  with  any  approach  to  confidence,  to  determine  who 
the  Saint  was  who  is  patron  of  the  parish.  He  can  hardly  be  Alan, 
son  of  Emyr  Llyclaw. 

The  Feast  at  S.Allen  is  on  February  22;  but  also  on  the  Fifth  Sunday 
after  Easter.  Whether  he  be  the  Elwyn,  one  of  the  Irish  immigrants 
came  over  with  Breaca,  may  be  doubted.  See  under  S.  ELWYX. 

S.  ALMEDHA,  see  S.  EILIWEDD 

S.  ALUD,  see  S.    EILIWEDD 

S.  AMAETHLU,  see  S.  MAETHLU 

1  Nicolas  Owen,  Hist.  Anglesey,  1775,  p.  57;  Ang.  Llwyd,  Hist.  Anglesey, 
1833,  p.  21-,. 

-   Ang.  Llwyd,  op.  cit.,  p.  215. 


148  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 


S.  AMBROSIUS,  Abbot,  Confessor 

THE  Church  of  Amesbury  claimed  to  have  been  founded  by  one  Am- 
brosius,  but  whether  this  were  an  abbot,  or  whether  he  were  Aurelius 
Ambrosius  who  headed  the  revolt  against  Gwrtheyrn ;  whether  this 
latter,  after  having  led  the  Britons  to  battle  against  the  Saxons,  in  his 
old  age  became  a  monk  and  founded  a  religious  house  over  which  he 
ruled  as  abbot  at  Amesbury,  is  all  uncertain,  and  never  will  be  cleared 
up ;  but  the  latter  supposition  is  not  improbable.  Aurelius  Ambrosius, 
or  Ambrosius  Aurelianus,  is  the  only  one  of  his  countrymen  against 
whom  the  venomous  Gildas  does  not  inveigh.  "  After  a  certain 
length  of  time  the  cruel  robbers  returned  to  their  home  " — he  is  speak- 
ing of  the  Saxons.  "  A  remnant,  to  whom  wretched  citizens  flock  from 
different  places  on  every  side,  as  eagerly  as  a  hive  of  bees  when  a  storm 
is  threatening,  praying  at  the  same  time  unto  Him  with  their  whole 
heart,  and,  as  is  said,  '  Burdening  the  air  with  unnumbered  prayers/ 
that  they  should  not  be  utterly  destroyed,  take  up  arms  and  challenge 
their  victors  to  battle  under  Ambrosius  Aurelianus.  He  was  a  man  of 
unassuming  character,  who  alone  of  the  Roman  race  chanced  to 
survive  in  the  shock  of  such  a  storm  (as  his  parents,  people  undoubtedly 
clad  in  the  purple,  had  been  killed  in  it),  whose  offspring  in  our  days 
have  greatly  degenerated  from  their  ancestral  nobleness.  To  these 
men,  by  the  Lord's  favour,  there  came  victory."  1 

In  the  Welsh  Pedigrees,  Ambrosius  is  Emrys  Wledig,  or  as  Nennius 
calls  him,  Embreis  Guletic. 

Nennius  tells  the  marvellous  tale  of  Vortigern  being  unable  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  his  castle  in  Gwynedd,  and  sending  to  find  a  boy 
whose  father  was  unknown  in  order  to  sprinkle  his  blood  on  the  found- 
ations to  make  them  firm.  Messengers  were  sent  throughout  the  Isle 
of  Britain  in  the  quest,  and  they  came  to  a  place  in  Glywyssing  where 
they  heard  boys  playing  at  ball,  and  a  dispute  having  arisen  among 
them,  one  sneered  at  the  other,  "  O  boy  without  a  father,  thou  hast 
no  good  at  all."  The  messengers  asked,  "  Whose  son  is  the  lad  to 
whom  this  is  said  ?  "  Those  who  were  playing  ball  replied  :  "  We 
know  not.  His  mother  is  here."  The  mother  of  the  boy  of  whom  this 
was  spoken  said  :  "  I  know  not  that  he  has  a  father,  nor  do  I  know  how 
he  happened  to  be  conceived  in  my  womb." 

Then  the  messengers  took  the  lad  to  the  king,  who  would  have 
sacrificed  him,  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  Druids,  but  he  escaped 
by  telling  Vortigern  that  the  reason  why  his  foundations  gave  way  was 

1  Gildas,  De  Excidio  Brit.,  ed.  H.  Williams,  p.  61. 


S.   Ambrosius  149 

that  they  were  laid  in  a  morass  wherein  were  red  and  white  dragons 
or  maggots  in  deadly  contest. 

Then  the  boy  said,  "Ambrosius  is  my  name  . . .  my  father  was  a  Roman 
consul,  and  this  shall  be  my  fortress."  Then  Vortigern  left  the  castle 
to  Ambrosius,  and  also  the  government  of  all  the  east  of  Britain,  and 
went  with  his  Druids  to  the  land  of  Gwynnwesi,  in  the  north,  and 
built  a  fortress  there,  which  city  is  named  Caer  Gwrtheyrn.1 

The  fable  is  foisted  in  clumsily,  and  is  incoherent.  The  boy's  father 
is  known.  Ambrosius  knows  it,  his  mother  does  not.  All  we  can 
make  out  of  it  is  that  Vortigern  seems  to  have  thrown  himself  on  the 
still  strong  Pagan  element  among  the  Britons,  and  to  have  sought  the 
death  of  Ambrosius,  who  headed  the  Romano-British  party,  and  that 
he  was  defeated. 

The  Caer  of  Ambrosius  is  near  Beddgelert,  and  is  called  Dinas 
Emrys,  on  a  height,  and  contains  foundations  of  a  number  of  cytiau. 

Attn  tin-  «  xpulsion  of  Gwrtheyrn  from  the  position  of  Pendragon  or 
duet.  Ambrosius  assumed  it,  and  obtained  considerable  success  against 
the  Saxons  and  Jutes. 

The  Welsh  accounts  make  Ambrosius  son  of  Cystennin,  whom  they 
derive  from  ("yuan  Meiriadog,2  brother  of  Elen,  wife  of  Maximus  ;  and 
they  make  Cystennin  Gorneu  the  brother  of  Aldor,  or  Audroen,  father 
of  Emyr  Llydaw,  the  ancestor  of  a  noble  army  of  Saints  who  drifted 
a  Unit  between  Armorica  and  South  Wales.  They  make,  moreover, 
Kinrys,  or  Ambrosius,  brother  of  Uthyr  Bendragon,  the  father  of 
IT.' 

Much  ( on  fusion  has  arisen  among  the  Constantines.  The  name 
M'ems  to  have  been  greatly  affected  by  the  Britons  or  Romanised 
Britons.  There  \vas  a  Constantine  who  was  a  common  soldier  in  the 
Roman  army  stationed  in  Britain,  who  assumed  the  purple  in  407,  and 
was  put  to  death  in  409  ;  consequently  it  is  not  possible  that  this  can 
have  been  the  Constantine,  father  of  Ambrosius  and  of  Uthyr.  If  there 
be  .my  reliance  to  be  placed  on  the  Welsh  pedigrees,  much  disturbed 
and  vitiated  by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  fabulous  narrative — then  the 
lather  <>t  Ambrosius  Aurelianus  was  Cystennin  Llydaw,  or  Bendigaid, 
a  petty  prince  of  Armorica.4 

1  Irish  Xennius,  ch.  xix  ;    Latin  Xcnnius,  cc.  xl-xlii. 

1  Geoffrey's  Brut,  ed.  Rhys  and  Evans,  p.  126;  the  thirteenth  century 
Mostvn  MS.,  117  (Evans,  Report  on  Welsh  MSS.,  i,  p.  63). 

3  (Geoffrey's  Brut,  ibid.,  p.  126;   Triads  in  Red  Book  of  Hergest  inMabinogion, 
ed.  Rhys  and  Evans,  p.  298. 

4  The  Welsh  pedigrees  attribute  to  Maximus  and  Helen  a  son  named  Con- 
stantine.    Perhaps  this  was  the  Tyrannus. 


150  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Professor  Hugh  Williams  sums  up  all  that  we  can  obtain  from  Gildas 
concerning  Ambrosius  Aurelianus.  (i)  He  was  a  Roman,  a  member 
of  one  of  the  few  old  aristocratic  families  then  remaining  in  Britain. 
(2)  His  ancestors  had  worn  the  Imperial  purple  ;  he  may  have  been  a 
descendant  of  some  tyrannus  who  had  assumed  the  title  of  Augustus 
in  Britain.  (3)  He  was  a  vir  modestus,  which  implies  kindness  of 
disposition  with  unassuming  manners  ;  the  mention  of  this  quality 
goes  far  to  prove  that  the  information  had  come  to  Gildas  from  some 
one  personally  acquainted  with  the  victorious  leader.  (4)  His 
descendants,  grandchildren  probably,  were  intimately  known  to 
Gildas.1 

Bede  2  merely  reproduces  what  was  said  by  Gildas.  There  is  no 
mention  in  the  pedigrees  of  Ambrosius  having  been  married  and  having 
a  family,  and  it  would  be  in  accordance  with  the  character  of  the  man 
as  sketched  by  Gildas,  that  in  his  old  age  he  should  become  a  monk. 
If  so,  then  he  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  the  traditional  founder  of 
Amesbury.  Camden,  in  his  Britannia,  so  regards  him,  and  as  having 
died  at  Amesbury.3 

Dr.  Guest  conjectured  that  Ambrosius  was  the  father  of  Owain 
Finddu,  who  is  usually  given  as  a  son  of  Maxen,  and  he  tries  to  identify 
him  with  the  Natan-leod  of  the  Chronicle,  who  was  killed  in  508,  but 
the  attempt  is  not  successful. 

The  monastery,  according  to  Camden,  contained  three  hundred 
monks,  and  was  destroyed  by  "  nescio  quis  barbarus  Gormundus." 
This  Gormund  was  Gorman,  son  of  Cormac  Mac  Diarmid,  king  of 
the  Hy  Bairche,  who  in  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  destroyed 
Llanbadarn  Fawr  and  other  churches,  and  did  much  havoc  in  Britain. 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  converted  him  into  a  king  of  Africa. 

Nicolas  Roscarrock  enters  him  as  "  S.  Ambrias,  Abbot,  Confessor, 
founder  of  Amesbury,  which  was  destroyed  by  Gormund  ;  there  were 
three  hundred  monks  in  the  monastery."  He  does  not  give  the 
day  on  which  the  founder  of  Amesbury  was  culted. 


1  De  Excid.  Brit.,  p.  60. 

2  Hist.  EccL,  i,  c.  16. 

3  "  Ambresbury,    i.e.    Ambrosii   vicus    .    .    .    ubi   antiques    quosdam    Reges 
sitos  esse  historia  Britannica  docet,  et  Eulogium  ibi  trecentorum   monachorum 
ccenobium  fuisse  refert,  quod  nescio  quis  barbarus  Gurmundus   diripuit    .  .  . 
Ambrosius  Aurelianus  qui  nomen  fecit,  Romano  imperio  jam  prope  confecto, 
purpuram,  ut  P.  Diaconus  testatur,  in  Britannia  induit,  patriae  labenti  suppetias 
tulit,  .  .  .  et  tandem  collatis  in  hac  planitie  signis,  animam  patrioe  reddidit." 
Britannia,   1594,  p.   186. 


S.   Amphibalus  151 


S.  AMBRUSCA,  Virgin 

IN  Crantock  village,  Cornwall,  according  to  Dr.  Oliver's  Monasticon 
(P-  438).  a  chapel  dedicated  to  S.  Ambrusca  formerly  stood  in  the 
churchyard  ;  and  an  ancient  covered  well,  dedicated  to  the  Saint, 
existed  near  the  village.  The  well  has  been  destroyed,  and  a  modern 
villa  called  S.  Ambrose  occupies  the  site  ;  the  water  still  rises,  and  is 
led  by  a  pipe  to  supply  a  drinking  fountain  beside  the  road.  Old  people 
remember  the  Holy  Well  in  its  original  position.  On  the  further  side 
of  the  road  is  a  boggy  meadow  in  the  midst  of  which  is  the  site  of  the 
chapel. 

Wh.)  was  S.  Ambrusca  ?     Whether  Dr.  Oliver  has  given  the  name 

correctly,  which  is  by  no  means  certain,  as  he  was  not  always  accurate, 

unable  to  say.     She  may  have  formed  one  of  the  company  of 

S.   Carantoc.     Her  name  does  not  occur  in  any  Welsh  or  Irish  or 

Breton  Calendars.    The  root  of  the  name  is  ambhr,  strong. 


S.  AMO,  see  S.  ANNO 


S.  AMPHIBALUS,  Confessor 

THE  authority  for  the  Life  of  S.  Amphibalus  is  the  account  of  the 
vr.lom  of  S.  Alban  (which  see).     But  Capgrave  in  his  Nova  Legenda 
a  separate  account  of  him,  extracted  from  the  Vita  S. 
i  printed  in  the  Ada  SS.  Boll.,  Jun.  v,  p.  131. 
The  story  has  been  already  given  under  the  heading  of  S.  Alban. 
is,   in  De  Excidio  Brit.   (c.  xi),1  relates  that  Alban  of  Verulam, 
having  given  hospitality  to  a  confessor  of  Christ  flying  the  pursuit  of 
-Idiery.  was  so  touched  by  the  grace  of  God,  that  he  presented 
himself  before  the  persecutors  in  the  sacerdotal  vestment  of    the 
confessor,   and  suffered   martyrdom  in  his  room. 

The  story  in  Bede  (Hist.  Eccl.,  I,  vii)  is  not  an  amplification  of 
the  words  of  Gildas,  but  taken  from  original  Ada.  The  vestment 
in  Gildas  is  vestes,  in  Bede  caracalla.  Till  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth 

1  Ed.  Hugh  Williams,  for  the  Cymmrodorion  Society. 


152  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

wrote  his  fabulous  history,  the  name  of  the  confessor  was  unknown, 
and  this  writer  conferred  on  him  the  name  of  Amphibalus.1 

William  of  S.  Albans,  in  his  Life  of  SS.  Alban  and  Amphibalus, 
written  between  1166  and  1188,  pretends  that  he  made  use  of  a  Saxon 
Life  of  the  two  saints,  but  acknowledges  that  he  was  indebted  to 
Geoffrey  for  the  name  of  Amphibalus. 

Amphibalus  is,  however,  the  name  of  a  vestment  or  chasuble,  and 
it  has  been  conjectured  that  Geoffrey  called  the  Confessor  after  the 
habit  which  he  surrendered  to  Alban.  But  M.  J.  Loth  2  has  pointed 
out  another  and  more  probable  origin.  "  It  seems  to  be  certain," 
says  he,  "  that  the  passage  which  so  lightly  led  him  into  error  is  found 
in  the  Epistle  of  Gildas.  In  that,  one  reads  almost  at  the  beginning, 
in  the  Imprecatio  against  Constantine,  king  of  Damnonia,  that,  among 
other  crimes  committed  by  him,  he  had  done  this  ; '  in  duarum  veneran- 
dis  matrum  sinibus,  ecclesiae,  carnalisque,  sub  sancti  abbatis  amphi- 
balo,  latera  regiorum  tenerrima  puerorum  vel  praecordia  crudeliter 
duum  .  .  .  inter  ipsa  sacrosancta  altaria  nefando  ense  hastaque  pro 
dentibus  laceravit.'  " 

Geoffrey  had  read  the  passage  above,  and  the  conjecture  is  changed 
to  certainty  when  one  looks  at  lib.  ix,  cap.  iv,  of  his  History.  There 
we  read :  "  Et  (Constantinus)  pnedictos  filios  Modredi  cepit :  et 
alterum  juvenem  Gwintoniae  in  ecclesiam  sancti  Amphibali  fugientem 
ante  altare  Trucidavit ;  alterum  vero  Londoniis  in  quarumdam  fratrum 
ccenobio  absconditum,  atque  tandem  juxta  altare  inventum  crudeli 
morte  afficit." 

What  Gildas  wrote  was  that  Constantine  had  killed  the  royal  youths 
under  the  garb  of  a  holy  abbot.  Then  Geoffrey,  mistaking  one  letter, 
reading  in  fact  "  sancti  abbatis  Amphibali,"  for  "  sancti  abbatis 
amphibalo,"  converted  Amphibalus  into  a  personal  name. 

Matthew  of  Westminster  (1377)  says  that  "  Amphibalus  hastened 
into  Wales,  to  become  a  martyr  there,"  but  his  testimony  is  of  no 
value,  and  Amphibalus  is  wholly  unknown  in  Wales. 

The  day  of  S.  Amphibalus  is  that  of  his  Translation,  June  25.  In 
1178,  a  certain  Robert  Mercer,  of  Redburn,  pretended  that  he  had 
seen  S.  Alban  in  a  vision,  who  pointed  out  to  him  the  spot  where  Amphi- 
balus and  his  companions  lay,  and  told  him  that  the  time  had  come 
when  they  should  be  treated  with  due  honour. 

Accordingly  a  search  was  made  at  the  spot  indicated  and  the  bodies 
of  Amphibalus  and  nine  companions  were  discovered  and  translated 
with  great  devotion  by  the  Abbot  Simon  to  the  church  of  the  monastery. 

1  Hist.  Brit.,  cap.  v,  5. 

2  J.  Loth,  Saint  Amphibalus,  in  Revue  Celtique,  vol.  xi  (1890),  p.  348. 


S.  Amwn   Ddu  153 

Tlu-re  can  be  no  doubt  entertained  that  the  whole  was  a  fraud.     Per- 
Mnver  came  on  an  old  cemetery  at  Verulam  and  invented  the 
divam  to  rx  plain  the  discovery. 

The  story  of  the  transaction  is  told  by  Matthew  of  Paris  and  Roger 
Hoveden,  and  in  the  Gesta  Abb.  S.  Albani.     It  is  an  unpleasant  revela- 
tion of  roguery.     It  followed  soon  after  the  invention  of  the  Eleven 
Thousand  Virgins  at  Cologne  and  was  stimulated  by  it.    In   1155, 
Gerlach,  abbot  of  Deutz,  was  excavating  an  old  burial  ground,  and 
for  eight  years  went  on  manufacturing  forged  tombstones  for  "Virgins  " 
e  bones  he  found,  and  to  help  out  the  fraud  an  hysterical  nun, 
heth  of  Schonau,  was  induced  to  announce  revelations  concerning 
these  remains  of  the  dead.      She  died  in  1165,  and  a  greater  rogue,  the 
Bed  H.nnann  Joseph,  continued  the  revelations. 

j\\\Z  up  of  relics  on  a  large  scale  created  much  excitement, 
and  the  Abbot  Simon  of  S.  Albans,  by  the  assistance  of  Mercer,  got 

:   "  Invention  "  of  his  own. 

-  Amphibalus  occurs  on  June  25  in  the  Additions  of  the  Canterbury 
,/c-//  .U>.  155),  and  in  the  S.  Alban's  Calendar  of  the 
nth  century    MS.  Reg.  2,  B.   vi).     He  is  in   the  Martiloge  of 
\\livtfonl,  and  in  tlu-  MS.  Calendar  of  Nicolas  Roscarrock. 


S.  AMWN  DDU,   Confessor 

AMWN  the  Black  was  a  son  of  Emyr  Llydaw,  son  of  Aldor.1     Amwn 
quitted  the  district  about  Vannes,2  which  had  for  some  time  been 
colonised  by  immigrants  from  Britain.      Already  in  461  the  Britons 
-ettled  about  the  mouth  of  the  Loire.     In  that  year  a  British 
bishop.  Mansuetus,  attended  the  Council  of  Tours.3 

His  see  is  not  mentioned,  but  he  probably  came  thence,  where  we 
find  Britons  in  considerable  numbers  not  much  later.   In  470  the  British 
)lonists  under  their  King  Riothimus  came  to  the  assistance  of  the 

1  In  the  earlier  genealogies  of  the  Welsh  Saints,  e.g.,  those  in  the  thirteenth 

•ntury,  Pcniarth  MSS.    16  and   45,   and  Hafod  MS.  16  (c.  1400),   his  name 

hvays  occurs  as  Annun  Ddu,  the  Welsh  assimilation  of  Antonius.     There  was  an 

Annun  ab  Ceredig,  uncle  to  S.  David  (Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  275).      Amwn 

probably  =  Ammonius. 

raweg,  for  Broweroc,  see  note  3,  p.  155. 
3  Labbe,  Sacrosancta  Concilia,  torn,  iv,  p.  1053. 

-  -•  -  v^^ 


154  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Emperor  Anthemius,  and  after  ascending  the  Loire  in  their  vessels, 
were  attacked  by  Euric  at  Bourg-en-Deols,  near  Chateauroux,  and 
utterly  defeated.1 

Sidonius  Apollinaris  also  represents  the  Britons  as  settled  about 
the  mouths  of  the  Loire.2 

Now  if  British  settlers  were  able  to  send  a  large  army  against  the 
Visigoths  in  or  about  470,  we  may  well  allow  them  some  fifty  years  to 
have  been  settled  in  a  portion  of  lower  Brittany.  Others  arrived  later 
in  greater  numbers,  flying  from  the  swords  of  the  Saxons,  but  the 
colonisation  of  Armorica  by  the  Britons  had  begun  earlier. 

We  know  nothing  of  the  causes  which  drove  Emyr  Llydaw  out  of 
Armorica  ;  he  fled  to  Wales,  where  his  sons  married  daughters  of  Meurig, 
king  of  Morgan wg,  or  Glamorgan.  We  may  place  the  period  when 
Emyr  fled  with  his  family  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth  century. 

Samson,  bishop  of  Dol,  died  567-70,  and  was  probably  born  about 
490-500.  He  was  son  to  Amwn  the  Black,  and  is  represented  as  the 
child  of  his  old  age. 

Amwn  married  Anna,  daughter  of  Meurig,  and  he  is  said  to  have 
enjoyed  the  friendship  of  S.  Dyfrig  as  well  as  of  S.  Illtyd.  Amwn 
was  not  disposed  at  first  to  suffer  his  son  Samson  to  become  a  re- 
ligious, but  the  inclination  of  the  lad  was  so  decided  in  this  direction 
that  he  had  to  yield,  and  being  away  from  his  own  possessions,  the 
ecclesiastical  life  was  that  which  offered  most  promise  to  a  young  man. 

Samson  became  a  member  of  the  congregation  of  S.  Illtyd  at  Llan- 
twit  Major,  and  of  S.  Dyfrig  at  Ynys  Byr.  Whilst  there  he  heard  that 
his  father  was  seriously  ill,  and  desired  his  son  to  visit  him.  Samson, 
through  a  perverted  idea  that  he  had  broken  with  all  family  ties,  at 
first  resolved  to  disregard  the  summons,  but  was  reprimanded  by  Pirus, 
or  Piro,  the  abbot,  and  reluctantly  consented  to  go. 

On  his  arrival  he  found  the  sick  man  with  his  relatives  crowded 
round  his  bed  ; 3  Samson  turned  them  all  out,  with  the  exception  of  his 
mother  Anna,  and  the  deacon  he  had  brought  with  him.  He  then 
urged  his  father  to  make  confession  of  his  misdeeds.  Whereupon 
Amwn,  in  the  presence  of  these  three,4  revealed  a  mortal  sin  he  had 
committed,  and  which  he  had  kept  secret  from  his  wife  and  from  others. 

Then  yielding  to  the  solicitations  of  Anna,  he  vowed  to  dedicate  the 
rest  of  his  days  to  God,  and  to  have  his  head  shaved.  Anna,  with  the 

1  Jornandes,  De  rebus  Geticis,  c.  45.  2  Epist.,  i,  7. 

"  Invenerunt  Ammonem,  Sancti  Samsonis  pattern,  a  suis  vicinis  circum- 
datum  in  lecto  aegrotantem."     Vita  ima,  in  Acta  SS.  Boll.,  Jul.,  t.  vi,  p.  580. 

4  "  Praesentibus  illis  tribus  supradictis  quod  in  se  celaverat  publicavit  in 
medium."  Ibid. 


S.  Amwn  Ddu  155 

impetuosity  of  a  woman,  and  without  consideration  of  consequences, 
said  :  "  Do  not  let  us  be  alone,  let  us  dedicate  at  the  same  time  all  our 
children  and  our  estate  to  God." 

Thereupon  she  presented  to  Samson  his  five  brothers  and  a  young 
sister.  Samson  accepted  them  all  except  the  girl.  "  She,"  said  he, 
"  will  hanker  after  worldly  pleasures,  and  I  reject  her.  However,  as 
she  i-  a  human  being,  rear  her  up.''1 

At  the  same  time  Samson's  uncle  and  aunt,  Umbrafel  and  Derveila, 
embraced  the  religious  life,  together  with  their  three  sons.  He  then 
took  his  uncle  and  father  with  him  to  Ynys  Byr,  that  he  might  supervise 
their  religious  training. 

When  some  Irish  monks  came  to  the  monastery  on  their  way  back 
from  Rome,  Samson  was  induced  to  go  with  them  to  Ireland,  but  he 
did  not  remain  there  long.  He,  however,  founded  a  monastery  there. 
When  he  returned  t<>  Wales  he  found  that  his  father  and  uncle  had  made 
progress,  but  Umbrafel  was  the  most  hopeful  of  the  two.  He 
accordingly  sent  him  to  Ireland  to  be  abbot  over  his  monastery,  but 
took  his  father  with  him  into  retreat  in  a  wild  district  near  the  Severn. 
( >n  leaving  this  retreat  with  the  ultimate  intention  of  settling  in 
Armorica,  Samson  crossed  the  sea,  probably  to  Padstow  Harbour,  and 
proceeding  south-east  formed  an  important  settlement  at  Southill. 
He  had  his  father  still  with  him. 

When  he  considered  the  political  conditions  in  Armorica  ripe  for 

i-ing  a  revolt  against  the  regent  Conmore,  in  547  or  thereabouts, 

Samson  crossed  over.     Amwn  must  at  this  time  have  been  still  with 

him,  for  we  are  told  that  Samson  left  him  in  charge  of  his  monastery,2 

which  we  locate  at  Southill. 

hear  nothing  further  of  Amwn,  save  that  he  was  buried  at 
Llantwit  Major,  where  he  wras,  for  a  while,  a  member  of  S.  Illtyd's 
"choir."3 

Probably  he  had  found  the  government  of  a  monastery  beyond  his 
- ,  at  an  advanced  age  ;  and  he  left  Southill  to  sink  into  a  simple 
)nk  again  ;  he  is,  however,  said  to  have  had  a  "  choir  "  of  his  own  as 
/ell.  a  cell  of  S.  Illtyd's,  but  this  may  refer  to  the  establishment  at 
Southill.4 


I-ta  pusilla  quam  vos  videtis  et  habetis  ad  mundanas  voluptates  data 
t  ;  tumen  nutrite  cam,  quia  homo  est."  Vita  i"14,  in  Ada  55.  Boll.,  Jul., 
vi.  p.  580. 

"  Monasterii  illius  perfecte  construct!  suo  patri  praesulatum  praecipit,"  etc. 
id.,  p.  585- 

3  I  oh  MSS.,  pp.  107,  132,  141.     He  is  spoken  of  as  having  been  "  King  of 
wee,"  probably  Broweroc,  the  British  settlement  about  Vannes. 

4  I  oh  MSS.,  P".    151. 


156  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

In  Brittany,  near  Vannes,  precisely  in  the  district  of  Broweroc 
whence  Amwn  possibly  came,  at  Plescop  (Plou-escop),  a  certain  Amon, 
receives  a  cult.  The  story  there  told  is  that  Amon  arrived  at  Plescop 
from  foreign  parts  and  solicited  shelter  and  food.  As  he  was  refused 
even  milk,  he  cursed  the  place,  that  thenceforth  the  cows  should  yield 
none.  Next  morning  he  was  found  dead  in  some  bushes.  A  chapel 
was  erected  over  his  grave,  and  his  relics  were  translated  in  1456. l 

According  to  Garaby,2  his  day  is  April  30,  but  at  Plescop,  the 
Pardon  de  S.  Amon  is  on  the  last  Sunday  in  October.  In  the  chapel, 
which  is  only  just  outside  the  village,  is  a  statue  of  the  Saint,  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  he  is  represented  as  a  warrior.  An  oak 
carved  bust  of  him  is  also  preserved  there,  that  contains  the  upper 
portion  of  his  skull,  which  is  dolichocephalous,  and  perfectly  black. 
This  was  formerly  carried  in  procession  on  the  day  of  the  Pardon,  on  a 
bier,  but  at  the  Revolution  the  papers  authenticating  the  relic  were 
lost  or  destroyed  ;  consequently  it  is  no  more  carried  nor  exposed  to 
the  veneration  of  the  people,  although  there  can  be  no  moral  doubt  as 
to  it  being  the  genuine  relic  translated  in  1456.  The  bust  is  much  in 
character  like  the  statue,  and  both  were  probably  carved  by  the  same 
man. 

As  no  authentic  life  or  legend  of  S.  Amon  exists,  the  period  at  which 
he  lived  and  died  is  open  to  conjecture.  Garaby  supposes  he  was  a 
returned  Crusader.  But  this  was  the  merest  guess.  The  peasants  of 
Plescop  know  nothing  relative  to  the  period  when  Amon  came  among 
them.  Ogee  says:  "  In  1456,  the  inhabitants  of  this  parish  found  the 
body  of  Saint  Humon,  a  Breton  knight,  hidden  among  the  bushes. 
It  was  elevated  with  great  solemnity  and  a  chapel  was  built  on  the 
spot  in  his  honour."  3  But  there  is  nothing  known  of  such  a  knight, 
and  Ogee  seems  to  have  mistaken  the  translation  of  the  body  and  the 
erection  of  the  chapel  for  the  date  of  the  death  of  Amon.  It  is  just  pos- 
sible that  Amwn  Ddu  may  have  left  his  charge  of  Samson's  monastery  in 
Cornwall  to  return  to  his  native  land.  And  this  conjecture  receives 
some  confirmation  from  the  fact  that  he  has  received  no  cult  in  Corn- 
wall. He  came  apparently  from  Broweroc,  the  neighbourhood  of 
Vannes,  and  it  is  probable,  if  he  returned  to  Brittany,  that  he  would 
seek  that  part  whence  he  had  been  driven  when  young.  If  so,  then 
it  is  conceivable  also  that  the  people,  having  known  him  only  as  a 
warrior,  and  not  as  a  monk,  when  he  died  among  them,  represented 
him  as  a  man  of  war. 


1  Le  Mene,  Hist,  des  Paroisses  de  Vannes,  1894,  torn,  ii,  p.  101. 

2  Vies  des  Bienheuveux  et  des  Saints  de  Bretagne,  S.  Brieuc,  1839,  p.  106. 

*  Ogee,  Diet,  historique  et  geographique  de  Bretagne,  ed.  Rennes,  1843,  ii,  p.  292. 


BUST  OF  S.  AMWN. 
Plescop. 


S.  Anef  157 


As  to  the  story  of  the  stranger  having  been  refused  milk,  and  cursing 
^escop,  that  is  a  mere  piece  of  popular  invention  to  account  for  the 
fact  that  the  pasturage  of  the  parish  is  unsuitable  for  milch  kine. 
From  the  popular  tradition  nothing  further  can  be  concluded  than  that 
a  certain  man  named  Amon  came  from  foreign  parts  and  died  there 
almost  immediately  after  his  arrival,  and  that  at  an  uncertain  date. 


S.  ANDRAS,  Confessor 

HE  lived  in  the  fifth  century,  and  was  the  son  of  S.  Rhain  Dremrudd 
ab  Brychan  Brycheiniog.1 

Llanandras,  in  the  Diocese  of  Llandaff,  is  said  to  be  dedicated  to 
him.  This,  to-day,  is  the  parish  church  of  S.  Andrew  Major,  in  the 
Deanery  of  Penarth.  Llanandras  is  also  the  Welsh  name  for  Presteigne, 
in  the  County  of  Radnor  and  Diocese  of  Hereford,  the  parish  church 
<»f  which  is  now  regarded  as  dedicated  to  the  Apostle.  Prob- 
ably both  are  dedicated  to  the  Apostle,  whose  name  in  Welsh  takes 
the  form  Andreas. 


S.  ANEF,  or  ANE,  Hermit 

HE  was  one  of  the  sons  of  Caw,  lord  of  Cwm  Cawlwyd,  in  the  North, 
who,  not  being  able  to  withstand  the  constant  incursions  of  theGwyddyl 
Ffichti,  was  obliged  to  leave  his  territory,  and  come  with  his  numerous 
family,  most  of  whom  embraced  the  religious  life,  to  Anglesey,  where 
settled  on  lands  given  them  by  Cadwallon  Lawhir  and  Maelgwn 
wynedd.     This  was  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century.     He  is 
said  to  have  been  a  hermit  in  Anglesey,  and  to  him  is  dedicated  the 
apel  of  Coedana  (Coed-aneu,  or  -ane)  in  that  county,  now  subject  to- 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  121,  140. 


mini 
they 
Gwv 


158  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Llangwyllog.1  Sometimes  it  is  said  to  be  dedicated  to  S.  Blenwyd, 
or  Blenwydd,  another  son  of  Caw.2 

If  he  be  the  same  as  Angawd,  son  of  Caw,  he  was  at  one  time  in  the 
service  of  Arthur,  according  to  the  tale  of  Culhwch  and  Olwen.3 

The  Angar  of  the  "  Sayings  of  the  Wise  "  may  also  possibly  mean 
the  same  person  : 

Hast  thou  heard  the  saying  of  Angar, 
Son  of  Caw,  the  celebrated  warrior  ? 
"  The  heart  will  break  with  grief."  4 
(Bid  tonn  calon  gan  alar.) 

Another  brother,  S.  Ceidio,  is  patron  of  Rhodygeidio  (Rhodwydd 
Geidio),  under  Llanerchymedd,  in  the  same  neighbourhood. 

S.  Ane's  Festival  does  not  occur  in  any  of  the  Welsh  Calendars,  but 
Miss  Angharad  Llwyd,  in  her  History  of  Anglesey,  gives  it  as  January 


S.  ANEURIN,  Abbot,  Confessor 

ANEURIN,  the  son  of  Caw,  was  one  of  a  large  family.  The  numbers 
vary  in  the  several  genealogies,  the  lowest  being  ten  and  the  highest 
twenty-one.  There  are  in  the  lolo  MSS.6  eight  lists  of  the  sons  of 
Caw.  Aneurin's  name  does  not  occur  in  all  of  them,  but  there  are 
reasons  for  identifying  it  with  another  name  included,  that  of  Gildas. 
In  these  lists,  when  Aneurin  occurs  Gildas  does  not,  except  in  one 
instance,7  where  we  have  both  names.  The  epithet  "  y  Coed  Aur  " 
(of  the  Golden  Wood)  is  sometimes  added  after  both  Aneurin  and 
Gildas.  We  are  expressly  told  8  that  Euryn  y  Coed  Aur  was  another 
name  for  Gildas,  who  was  also  called  Gildas  the  Saint  and  Gildas  the 
Prophet ;  and  we  also  find  Euryn  and  Aneurin  identified.9  So  the 

Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  417,  420-1.     lolo  MSS.,  pp.  107,  137. 

Browne  Willis,  Bangor,  p.  282.     Lewis  Morris,  Celtic  Remains,  p.  39.     Lewis, 
Topographical  Dictionary  of  Wales,  s.v.  Coedanna. 

Mabinogion,  ed.  Rhys  and  Evans,  p.  107.         4  lolo  MSS.,  p.  256. 

P.   194  (1833). 

Pp.  109,  116,  136,  142-3.  7  P.   143. 

8  Ibid.,  pp.   117,  137.     There  was  also  an  Euryn  y  Coed  Helig,  one  of   the 
twelve  sons  of  Helig  ab  Glannog,  ibid.,  p.  124. 

9  Ibid.,  p.   1 1 8. 


ao 

: 


S.  Aneuriti  159 

ity  of  Aneurin  with  Gildas  may  be  taken  as  established.1  Prob- 
ably, as  has  been  suggested,  Gildas  was  his  "ecclesiastical  appellation  " 
hen  he  became  a  "  saint,"  that  is,  a  monk,  the  name  being  regarded 
an  English  rendering  of  his  earlier  name  Euryn  or  Aneurin.2  Gildas 
has  certainly  not  the  appearance  of  a  Welsh  name.  Neither  Gildas 
nor  Aneurin  is  included  in  the  Genealogies  of  the  Saints  printed  in  the 
.!/ vryr/tf ;/  A  rchaiology. 

Some  Welsh  writers  have  identified  Aneurin-Gildas  with  Aneurin 
"  the  Chief  of  Bards  "  (Mechdeyrn  Beirdd)  and  author  of  those  very 
obscure  poems  the  Gododin  and  the  three  Gorchans  (also  Gododinian), 
which  bear  his  name,  and  are  to  be  found  in  the  thirteenth  century  MS., 
iheBook  of  Aneurin,  now  in  the  Cardiff  Free  Library.  Stephens,  in 
his  posthumous  edition  of  the  Gododin,  while  rejecting  the  identification 
<if  the  two  Aneurins,  tries  to  make  out,3  but  unsuccessfully  we  believe, 
that  the  bard  was  the  son  of  Gildas.  This  he  thought  would  "  remove 
all  the  chronological  difficulties  which  beset  the  authorship  of  the 
Gododhi." 

There  is  nothing  really  known  about    Aneurin  the  Bard  beyond 
what  may  be  gleaned  from  his  own  writings,  which  is  very  little.     We 
arc  not  given  the  slightest  clue  there  as  to  his  parentage  ;  and  the 
is  do  not  appear  to  contain  any  reference  whatever  to  either  Caw 
<>r  his  sons.     Caw  was  lord  of  Cwm  Cawlwyd,   which  seems  to  have 
modern  Renfrewshire.     He  was  driven  out  of  his  territory  by  the 
\wdclyl  Ffichti,  or  Pictish  Goidels,  and  he  and  his  family  found  an 
asylum  in  Wales.     Some  of  them  remained  with  their  father  in  North 
Wales,  where  they  were  given  lands  at  Twr  Celyn  in  Anglesey  by  Mael- 
izwn  Gwynedd,  whilst  the  rest  made  for  South  Wales,  where  we  are 
told  they  were  granted  lands  by  King  Arthur,  and  became  saints  in 
various   Bangors   there.      Aneurin   became   a  saint   of   Catwg's 
ngor  at  Llancarfan,  with  which,  as  we  learn  from  his  Lives,  Gildas 
as  connected. 

We  know  that  Gildas  died  in  570,  having  been  born  probably  in 
76,  or,  as  some  suppose  it,  493.  Maelgwn  Gwynedd,  who  is  generally 
ipposed  to  have  died  in  547,  was  venomously  attacked  by  him  circa 
The  chronological  position  of  Aneurin-Gildas  in  the  Genealogies 
xes  him  as  belonging  to  this  same  period,  which  is  too  early  for 


»< 

here 


1  lolo  Morgan wg,  in  a  note  in  the  lolo  A/55.,  p.  270,  identified  them.     On 
83,  118,  254,  S.  Cenydd,  the  son  of  Gildas,  is  said  to  be  the  son  of  Aneurin. 

*  En  fin  (from  aur,  gold),  meaning  "  golden  "  ;   and  the  An-  of  Aneurin  would 

be  an  intensive  (equivalent  to  en-},  and  not,  as  more  commonly,  a  negative 
prefix.     Gildas    is  to  be  referred  to  gild,  derived  from  gold. 

*  P.  9.     Edited  for  the  Hon.  Society  of  Cymmrodorion  by  Prof.  Powel,  1888. 


160  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

identification  with  Aneurin  the  Bard.  The  Gododin  describes  the 
Battle  of  Catraeth,  which  Stephens  takes  to  have  been  that  of  Aege- 
sanstane  or  Daegstan,  which  took  place  in  600  or  603. 1  Skene,  how- 
ever, would  divide  the  poem  into  two,  the  first  part  alone  relating  to 
the  battle  of  Catraeth,  which  he  identifies  with  the  "  bellum  Mia- 
thorum  "  of  Adamnan,  and  gives  586-603  as  its  date.  The  second 
part  contains  an  allusion  to  the  death  of  Dyfnwal  Frych  or  Domnall 
Brecc,  king  of  the  Dalriadic  Scots,  who  was  slain  at  the  Battle  of 
Strathcarron  in  642,  and  which  the  bard  witnessed.  He  regards  this 
second  part  as  a  continuation  of  the  original  Gododin  by  a  pseudo- 
Aneurin.2  Out  of  the  363  "  golden-torqued  warriors  "  that  fought 
at  Catraeth  only  three  escaped  with  their  lives,  says  the  author,  besides 
himself. 

The  Welsh  Triads  state  that  Aneurin  the  Bard  was  treacherously 
killed  by  Eiddyn  ab  Einygan,  who  dealt  him  on  the  head  one  of  "  the 
three  atrocious  axe-strokes  of  the  Isle  of  Britain  "  ;  3  whereas  Aneurin- 
Gildas  died  in  his  bed  at  Ruys  in  Brittany. 

We  therefore  conclude  that  Aneurin  ab  Caw  and  Gildas  ab  Caw  are 
one  and  the  same  person  ;  but  that  Aneurin  the  Bard,  of  whose  pedi- 
gree the  Welsh  know  nothing,  lived  considerably  later. 

There  are  no  churches  dedicated  to  him  under  the  name  Aneurin. 

See  further  under  S.  GILDAS. 


S.  ANNA,  or  ANNE,  Widow,  Abbess 

THERE  are  four  Annas  mentioned  in  the  Welsh  pedigrees: — (i)  Anna, 
daughter  of  Uthyr  Bendragon.  (2)  Anna,  daughter  of  Meurig  ab 
Tewdrig.  (3)  Anna,  daughter  of  Vortimer  the  Blessed.  (4)  Anna, 
daughter  of  Brychan  Brycheiniog.4 

Some  authorities  make  Anna,  daughter  of  Uthyr  Bendragon,  to  have 
been  the  mother  of  Cynyr  of  Caer  Gawch,  and  afterwards  wife  of  Amwn 
Ddu,  and  mother  of  S.  Samson.  Another  makes  her  wife  first  to  Amwn 
and  then  to  Cynyr.5 

Gododin,  p.  42. 

Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales,  ii,  pp.  359-70. 
Ibid.,  ii,  p.  463  ;    Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  390,  405. 
lolo  MSS.,  p.   140.     This  Anna  must  be  a  scribe's  blunder. 
Myv.  Arch.,  p.  423  ;  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  107,  141.     She  is  also,  on  the  same  page, 
said  to  have  been  the  mother  of  S.  David. 


w 


S.  Anna  161 


Another,  again,1  makes  Anna,  daughter  of  Meurig  ab  Tewdrig,  the 
wife  of  Aimvn,  and  the  same  says  that  the  wife  of  Cynyr  was  Anna, 
daughter  of  Gwrthefyr  Fendigaid,  or  Vortimer.2 

The  Life  of  S.  Samson  says  only  that  Anna,  the  wife  of  Amwn,  was 
"  of  the  province  of  Dementia  (a/.  Deventia)  which  adjoins  that  of 
Demetia."  The  Vita  2da  (of  S.  Samson)  says  "  de  Vcenetia  provincia," 
and  the  Vita  3'fl  gives  this  name  as  "  Methiana." 

It  is  clear  that  there  has  been  confusion  between  three  Annas,  and 
that  Cynyr's  father  married  Anna,  daughter  of  Uthyr,  and  that  Cynyr 
married    another    Anna,    daughter    of    Vortimer.     Whereas    Amwn 
married  a  different  Anna,  the  daughter  of  Meurig,  and  some  of  her 
Bisters  were  the  wives  of  the  brothers  of  Amwn. 
\Yhat  we  know  of  the  second  Anne  is  derived  from  the  lives  of  S. 
and  our  best  authority  is  the  First  Life,  written  in  the  seventh 
century,  published  by  Mabillon   (Ada  55.  Ord.  5.  Benedicti.,  Scec.,  i, 
nd  by  the  Bollandists  (July  6).     Afrellawasa  younger  sister, 
and  was  married  to  Umbrafel,  brother  of  Amwn  the  Black.     She  was 
the  mother  of  three  sons,  born  before  Anne  had  any  child.     Amwn  and 
his  wife  were  in  sore  trouble  at  being  without  offspring.     But  one  day, 
when  in  church,  they  heard  a  discourse  upon  the  merits  and  powers  of  a 
in  scholar  (librarius)  in  the  North,  to  whom  great  numbers  re- 
d.    So  Amwn  and  his  wife  started  to  consult  him,  with  presents 
in  their  hands,  just  as  now  Hindoos  might  journey  to  some  famous 
fakir.     After  a  toilsome  bit  of  travel  they  reached  the  place  where  the 
\  ned  man  was,  and  found  him  in  the  midst  of  a  throng  of  sup- 
pliants, some  deriving  healing,  some  requiring  discovery  of  objects 
that  had  been  lost,  some  benedictions  on  a  new  undertaking,  some  a 
rcible  curse  pronounced  against  an  enemy.     They  told  the  great  man 
hat  they  desired  to  have  a  son,  whereupon  the  "  Librarius  "  advised 
Amwn  to  make  a  rod  of  silver  as  tall  as  his  wife,  and  give  it  as  alms  for 
is  soul  and  for  that  of  Anna.     Amwn  promptly  declared  that  he  would 
ive  three  such  rods.     The  medicine  man  then  bade  them  retire  into 
hospitium."     These  rods  of  metal  of  a  man's  height  meet  us 
,urain  in  the  legend  of  S.  Brioc  ;  and  should  apparently  be  brought  into 
connection  with  the  stones,  each  set  up  pro  anima  sua,  which  are 
found  in  Celtic  countries. 

In  course  of  time  Anne  bore  a  son,  and  he  was  named  Samson, 
rom  his  birth,  Anne  urged  her  husband  to  dedicate  him  to  the  Lord 
— at  least  so  says  the  "  Life  " — but  this  seems  to  be  an  adaptation  of 
the  story  of  Hannah  and  the  child  Samuel.     Amwn  was  unwilling  to 

1  lolo  MSS.,  p.   132.  a  Ibid.,  p.   129. 

VOL.  I.  M 


1 6  2  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

consent.     Having  got  a  son,  he  resolved  on  keeping  him,   but  his 
reluctance  was  overcome  when  other  children  followed. 

That  Samson  was  a  child  of  their  old  age  is  improbable ;  the  statement 
is  an  importation  from  the  history  of  the  birth  of  the  Biblical  Samson. 
For  his  education,  Samson  was  entrusted  to  S.  Illtyd,  and  he  remained 
at  college  till  Amwn  was  very  ill,  and  sent  for  his  son. 

Amwn  recovered,  and  at  the  instigation  of  Samson  both  he  and  his 
brother  Umbrafel  were  tonsured  ;  and  their  respective  wives,  Anna 
and  Afrella,  received  consecration  as  widows.  Samson  then  dismissed 
the  two  latter  into  different  parts  to  found  monasteries  and  to  build 
churches. 

His  mother  was  especially  fervent  in  accepting  his  commission.  She 
is  reported  to  have  answered:  "Not. only  do  I  desire,  and  lovingly 
embrace  the  charge  laid  on  me,  but  I  require  of  Almighty  God,  to  Whom 
you  have  dedicated  me,  that  you  shall  consecrate  the  monasteries  and 
churches  you  bid  me  construct." 

To  this  Samson  cheerfully  consented.  As  to  his  father  and  uncle, 
he  found  them  a  little  rough  and  intractable,  therefore  he  took  them 
away  with  him,  so  as  to  superintend  their  training. 

Samson  next  determined  on  seeking  "  a  vast  desert  "  near  the 
Severn.  There  he  remained  awhile,  till  he  was  consecrated  bishop, 
when  he  resolved  on  quitting  Wales.  He  took  his  course  round  the 
Bristol  Channel,1  visiting  his  mother  and  aunt  on  the  way  and  dedi- 
cating their  churches.  That  of  S.  Anne  was  probably  Oxenhall,  on  a 
confluent  of  the  Severn.  It  is  now  in  Gloucestershire.  We  know 
nothing  further  about  Anne,  whether  she  ended  her  days  in  her  native 
land,  or  followed  her  son  into  Cornwall,  and  further  into  Brittany. 
Nor  have  we  any  means  of  determining  the  day  of  commemoration  of 
S.  Anne. 

The  cult  of  Anne,  reputed  mother  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  came 
into  fashion  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  was  almost 
unknown  till  the  fifteenth  century,  when  she  was  brought  into  pro- 
minence by  the  mooting  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 
The  name  Anne  is  taken  from  an  Apocryphal  Gospel,  the  Protevan- 
gelium  of  S.  James,  of  no  authority  whatever.  The  earliest  known 
representation  of  S.  Anne,  mother  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  Northern 
Europe,  is  on  a  seal  of  1351  belonging  to  a  convent  in  Westphalia.2 

1  "  Citra   Sabrinum  mare,"    Vita  \*M ;    "circa  Habrinum  mare,"  Vita  2<to. 

2  Vincens  (Ch.),  De  I' icono graphic  de  S.  Anne,  Paris,  Chaix,  1892.     Schmitz, 
"  Die  Anna-Bilder,"  in  der  Katholik,  tome  vii  (1893).     Schaumkell    (E.),    Der 
Cult  der  H.  Anna,  Freiburg-im-Baden,  Mohr,   1893  ;    Acta  SS.,  Jul.,  tome  vii, 
PP.  233-9. 


S.   Anna  163 


The  cult  of  this  S.  Anne  was  at  first  confined  to  the  east.  The  first 
mention  of  her  outside  of  Syria  and  Jerusalem  is  at  Constantinople, 
where,  according  to  Procopius,1  in  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century, 
Justinian  erected  a  church  in  her  honour.  This  was  restored  by 
Justinian  II  a  century  and  a  half  later.2 

The  earliest  trace  of  her  cult  in  Rome  is  in  a  fresco  in  the  Capella 
Palatina,  supposed  by  Mr.  G.  J.  Turner  to  have  been  placed  there  by 
l'<.pe  Cun-tuntine,  a  Syrian  by  birth,  after  a  visit  made  to  Constanti- 
n  .pit-  in  ; 

V    tin-  close  of  the  ninth  century  appeared  an  Encomium  on  SS. 
Joachim  and  Anna,  from  the  pen  of  Cosmas  Vestitor.     George    of 

:nedia  spoke  her  praises,  so  did  Peter  of  Argos. 

The  first  occurrence  of  S.  Anne  in  a  liturgical  document  is  in  a  tenth 

MY   Sacramentary,  "  undoubtedly   of   Roman   origin,    and   was 

al>ly  written  for  some  Greek  monks  in  Rome ;  in  its  Holy  Saturday 

litany  the  first  two  names  after  the  confessors  are  S.  Anne  and  S.  Eliza- 

! ,  \vho  have  precedence  even  before  all  the  Roman  virgin  martyrs."  4 

Hut  tlu-  veneration  of  S.  Anne,  thus  introduced,  was  confined  to 

Koine.     In  or  about  800,  however,  her  body  was  supposed  to  have 

:  discovered  in  a  cave  at  Apt,  and  the  elevation  took  place  in  the 

presence  of  Charlemagne. 

trace  of  any  cult  can  be  found  in  England  till  the  marriage  of  our 

Rirhard  II  with   Anne  of  Bohemia,  when  the  name  spread,  and  by  a 

:  ipt  of  Pope  Urban  VI,  dated  June  21,  1381,  the  veneration  of  the 

Moth«T  of  Our  Lady  was  ordered  to  be  introduced;  the  command 

forwarded  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  the  bishops  under 

metropolitan  jurisdiction.5      S.  Anne  is,  however,  found  inserted 

in  the  Exeter  Martvrology  of  1337,  drawn  up  by  Bishop  Grandisson, 

the  friend  of  John  XXII.     Whilst  staying  with  the  Pope  at  Avignon, 

lie  had  doubtless  heard  of  the  devotion  to  her  relics  at  Apt,  near  by. 

<r  i;,Si    S.  Anne  became  a  popular  saint,  and  churches  having 

':<T  dedications  were  rededicated  to  her  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

And  thenceforth  her  name  appears  in  Calendars,  previously  it  was 

-piouously  absent  from  them. 
Among  hymns  in  honour  of  S.  Anne  none  date  from  an  earlier  period 

1  DC  (Fdificiis  Justiniani,  i,  3;    iii.  185  ;    in  the   Corpus  Scriptontm   Histonce 

.iiitiiKr.  Bonn,  1838. 

»  Bamlurius.   Impcrinm  Occidental,  ii,  656-7;    Du  Cange,  ' Constant! nopolis 
••istiana,  lib.  IV.   vii,  4,  p.   143. 

"  Ha-  Introduction  of  the  Cultus  of  S.  Anne  into  the  West,"  in  The  English 
•'  Review,  xviii  (1903),  pp.   109-11. 

4  Ibid.,  p.    in. 

5  B.  Brantyngham's  Register,  ed.  Hingi-ston-Randolph,  1901,  p. 


164  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

than  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century.     In  France  there  was  a 
Brotherhood  of  S.  Anne  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

Nevertheless  there  was  no  great  extension  of  the  cult  till  the  period 
just  before  the  Reformation.  Trithemius  in  his  work,  De  Laudibus 
S.  Anna,  which  appeared  in  1494,  speaks  of  her  memory  as  diu 
neglecta.  Valerius  Anselm,  in  his  Chronicle,  under  the  year  1508  says 
that  till  about  that  date  Anne  was  little  thought  about ;  and  Tri- 
themius speaks  of  the  cult  as  quasi  novum.  Luther  in  his  violent 
fashion  exclaimed,  "  How  old  is  this  idol,  S.  Anne  ?  Where  was  she 
till  some  ten,  twelve,  forty  years  ago  ?  "  and  again,  "  We  Germans 
have  been  always  inventing  new  saints  and  helpers  in  need,  as  is  the 
case  of  SS.  Anne  and  Joachim,  novelties  not  over  thirty  years  old."  * 

The  day  of  S.  Anne,  mother  of  the  B.V.M.,  is  July  26. 

At  Whitstone  in  Cornwall,  where  there  is  not  only  a  church,  but  also 
a  Holy  Well  of  S.  Anne,  the  parish  feast  is  on  Easter  Day.     The  way  ii 
which  S.  Anne  in  Brittany  has  stepped  into  the  place  of  one  of  the 
Bonse  Deae,  tutelary  earth  goddesses,  and  themselves  representing  the 
Celtic  or  pre-Celtic  Ane,  mother  of  the  gods,2  may  be  judged  from  the 
illustrations  we  give.     The  first  represents  a  statue  of  a  Bona  Dea  of 
the  Gallo-Romano  period  found  at  Rennes  ;  the  second  is  an  im; 
above  the  Porte  S.  Malo  at  Dinan,  representing  S.  Anne,  bearing  or 
one  arm  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  on  the  other  Christ. 

The  genealogies  of  Coel  Godebog,3  of  Rhodri  the  Great,4  king  oi 
all  Wales,  consequently  of  all  the  royal  families  of  Gwynedd,  Po^ 
and  Dyfed,  also  of  S.  Beuno,5  S.  David,6  and  S.  Catwg,7  are  trace( 

1  Schaumkell,  Der  Cult  d.  H.  Anna,  1893. 

2  Cormac   (b.  831,  d.  903),    "Ana    is  mater  deorum  hibernensium,  well  she 
used  to  nourish  the  gods,  from  whose  name  is   said   anae,  i.e.  abundance,  and 
from  whose  name  are  called  the  Two  Paps  of  Ana,  west  of  Luchair  (County  Kerry) , 
also  Bu-anann,  nurse  of  the  heroes  ...  as  Ann  was  mother  of  the  gods,  so  Bu- 
anann  was  mother  of  the  Fiann."      W.  Stokes,  Three  Irish  Glossaries,  London, 
1862,  pp.  xxxiii,  2,  5. 

3  Harl.MS.  3859.     A  genealogy  drawn  up  in  the  tenth  century,  but  the  MS. 
of  late  eleventh  or  early  twelfth  century. 

4  Ibid.     The  genealogy  is  traced  up  to  Aballac,  the  son  of  Amalech,  "qi 
fuit  Beli  Magni  filius  et  Anna  mater  ejus  quam  dicunt  esse  consobrina  Mariae 
Virginis  Matris  D'ni  n'ri  Ih'u  Xp'i."      Y  Cymmrodor,  ix,  p.  170. 

6  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  21.  Traced  to  "  Belinus  the  son  of  Anna,  who 
was  cousin  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  mother  of  Christ." 

6  Ibid.,  pp.  102,  144.     Traced  to  a  "  son  of  the  sister  of  Mary." 

7  Jesus  Coll.,  Oxford,  MS.  20,  early  fifteenth  century.     S.  Catwg's  pedigree 
is  traced  back  to  Caswallon  "  the  son  of  Beli  the  Great,  the  son  of  Anna.     This 
Anna  was  a  daughter  of  a  Roman  Emperor,  and  said  by  the  men  of  Egypt  to 
have  been  first  cousin  to  the  Virgin  Mary."     In  the  Cognatio  of  Brychan  Bry- 
cheiniog,  his  mother's  ancestry  is  traced  up  to  a    certain   "Annhun  rex  Gre- 
corum  "  (Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  273).     In  the  above  noted  Jesus  Coll.  MS.  20, 
he  appears  as  "Annwn  du  vrenhin  groec."  (Y  Cymmrodor,  viii,  p.  83.) 


S.  ANNE'S  WELL,  WHITSTONE. 


S.   Anno  165 


back  to  Anna,  sister  or  cousin  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This  is  none 
other  than  the  Great  Earth  Mother  ;  in  the  same  way  the  Anglo-Saxon 
kings  derived  their  ancestry  from  Wuotan,  and  the  Norse  kings  from 
Odin,  and  the  kings  of  Rome  from  Mars. 

The  great  expansion  given  to  the  cult  of  S.  Anne  in  Brittany  is  due 
to  a  misconception  and  to  a  religious  speculation.  In  1625,  whilst 
ploughing  a  field  at  Keranna,  in  the  parish  of  Plunevet,  in  Morbihan, 
a  farmer  named  Yves  Nicolayic  turned  up  out  of  the  ground  a  statue, 
probably  a  Bona  Dea  of  the  pagan  Armoricans,  numbers  of  which 
have  been  found  of  late  years,  and,  knowing  nothing  of  the  pre-Christian 
religion  of  the  early  Armoricans,  he  rushed  to  the  conclusion  that  it 
represented  S.  Anne. 

The  Carmelites,  who  had  been  zealous  advocates  of  the  cult  of  the 

ier  of  Our  Lady,  saw  their  opportunity  and  promptly  seized  on  the 

occasion.   In  1637  they  had  constructed  a  chapel  for  the  image,  and  had 

organised  pilgrimages  to  it,  which  met  with  great  success.     The  image 

dr>troyed  at  the  Revolution,  but  the  pilgrimages  continue,  and 

;inc  is  esteemed  the  patroness  of  the  Bretons. 

The  name  of  S.  Anne  occurs,  as  already  said,  in  no  early  calendars. 
It  obtained  admission  in  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century,  the  day 
being  July  26  ;  this  was  ordered  to  be  observed  by  Gregory  XIII  in 
1584.  As  already  mentioned,  Oxenhall,  on  a  stream  flowing  into  the 
Severn,  in  Gloucestershire,  is  dedicated  to  S.  Anne,  and  is  the  only 
rlnnvli  hearing  that  dedication  that  can  by  any  probability  be  supposed 
n  foundation  of  the  mother  of  S.  Samson. 

Siston,  near  Bristol,  is  also  dedicated  to  S.  Anne. 


S.  ANNO,  or  AMO 

THIS  Saint's  name  occurs  only  in  the  alphabetical  catalogue  of  the 
Welsh  Saints  in  the  Myvyrian  Arcluriology.1  It  is  there  given  as 
Amo,  but  whether  a  male  or  female  Saint  we  are  not  told.  Two 
ches  are  mentioned  as  being  dedicated  to  the  Saint.  One  is  Llan- 
amo  in  Radnorshire,  which  is  to-day  usually  called  Llananno.  It  is 
subject  to  Llanbadarn  Fynydd,  and  is  sometimes  said  to  be  dedicated 
to  an  imaginary  S.  Wonno.  The  other  church  mentioned  is  "  Rhosyr 

Mon,"  that  is,  Newborough,  in  Anglesey,  called  Llanamo  in  a  MS. 

1  P.  418. 


Amo 
chur, 


1 66  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

belonging  to  Robert  Vaughan  of  Hengwrt  ;  but  it  is  added  "  Llannano 
is  the  name  in  the  neighbourhood."  The  Saint  is  classed  by  Re~ 
among  those  of  uncertain  date.1  The  Festival  of  S.  Anno,  May  20, 
entered  in  the  calendars  in  the  lolo  MSS.  and  Peniarth  MS.  187, 
and  in  some  calendars  of  the  eighteenth  century. 


S.  ANNUN,  or  ANHUN,  Virgin 

ANXUN,  or  Anhun,  lived  in  the  fifth  century,  and  was  the  handmaid 
(llawforwyn)  of  S.  Madrun,  daughter  of  Gwrthefyr  Fendigaid,  or 
Vortimer,  and  wife  of  Ynyr  Gwent.2  In  the  lolo  MSS.  her  name  is 
misspelt  Annan.3 

In  con  junction  with  her  mistress  she  is  said  4  to  have  founded  the 
church  of  Trawsfynydd,  in  Merionethshire.  The  following  is  the  legend 
told  about  its  foundation.  Madrun,  accompanied  by  her  maid  Anhun, 
was  making  a  pilgrimage  to  Bardsey,  and  reaching  the  place  now  called 
Trawsfynydd  at  dusk,  very  tired,  rested  themselves  for  the  night 
under  shelter  of  a  thicket.  In  their  sleep  they  both  dreamt  that  they 
heard  a  voice  calling  to  them,  "  Adeiledwch  Eglwys  yma  "  (Build 
here  a  church).  In  the  morning  when  they  awoke,  the  one  told  her 
dream  to  the  other,  and  they  were  greatly  astonished  to  find  that  they 
had  both  dreamt  the  same  dream.  They,  thereupon,  in  obedience  to 
the  supernatural  command,  built  the  church,  which  was  afterwards 
dedicated  in  their  honour.5 

Browne  Willis,6  however,  gives  the  church  of  Trawsfynydd  as  dedi- 
cated to  S.  Madrun  alone,  with  festival  on  June  9. 

Annun,  or  Anhun,  was  also  a  man's  name.  The  name  is  derived  from 
Antonius  or  Antonia. 

1  Welsh  Saints,  p.  306. 

2  Hafod  MS.  16,  Peniarth  MS.  76  (sixteenth  century),    Myv.  Arch.,  pp.   418, 
428.  3  p.   I45- 

4  Rees,   Welsh  Saints,  p.   164. 

•'  Enwogion  Cymru,  p.  25  (Liverpool,  1870). 

e  Survey  of  Bangor,   1721,  p.  277. 


S.    Arddun   Benasgell  167 

S.    ANNUN    DDU,    see    S.    AMWN    DDU 

S.  ARANWEN,  Matron 

\KAXWKN  was  one  of  the  numerous  daughters  of  Brychan  Brych- 
t -in log.1     Rees  2  thinks  that  she  was  probably  a  granddaughter  of  his. 
Shf  \va>  tl it- wife  of  lorwerth  Hirflawdd,  son  of  Tegonwy  abTeon,  of  the 
lint-  <it  IUli  Muwr,  Kingof  Britain.3  lorwerth  is,  in  the  Vespasian  Cogna- 
tion, said  to  have  been  "King  of  Powys,  thence  called  lorwerthion." 
5,  Aranwcn  is  said  to  have  been  mother  of  Caenog  Mawr,4  from  whom 
••ipposed  to  be  derived  the  parish  name  Clocaenog,  and  Caenog  and 
Esgyn  Gaenog  in  Gwyddelwern,  in  the  county  of  Denbigh  ;  but  this 
.-it   correct.     Caenog   was   her   brother-in-law.5    There    are   no 
(Indicated  to  her.  nor  does  her  name  appear  in  the  Calendars. 


S.  ARDDUN  BENASGELL,  Matron 

».  ARDDUN,  who  usually  bears  the  epithet  Penasgell,  that  is,  "  Wing- 
led."  lived  in  the  sixth  century,  and  was  a  daughter  of  S.  Pabo 
Iain  (or  rather,  Prydyn,  "  Pictland"),  a  king  in  the  North, 
on  losing  his  territory  in  wars  with  the  Gwyddyl  Ffichti,  or 
<  "  *ddic  Picts,  retired  to  Wales,  where  he  was  well  received  by  Cyngen 
idfll  Deyrnllwg,  Prince  of  Powys,  from  whom,  as  well  as  from  his 
son  Hrodiwfl  Ysgythrog.he  received  grants  of  land.     Arddun  had  as 
!>mtlu'rs  SS.  Dunawd  and  Sawyl  Benisel.     She  married  Brochwel 
•lnog,  Prince  of  Powys,  to  whom  she  bore,  among  other  children, 
^ilio.    She  is  included  in  late  catalogues  only  of  the  Welsh  Saints,6 

1  Cognatio  in  Cott.  Vesp.  A.  xiv,  and  Cott.  Dom.  i ;    Jesus  Coll.  MS.  20  ;    lolo 
in,  121,   140;    Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  417,  419.     in  the  Domitian  Cogn. 
tered  as  "  Arganwen  apud  Powis,"  and  in  the  Jesus  MS.  as  "  Wrgrgen 
gwreic  loroerth  hirblant." 
*  Welsh  Saints,  p.   146. 
3  Pedigrees  in  Mostyn  MS.   117  (thirteenth  century) 

yv    Arch.,  p.  417.  *  Mostyn  MS.,  already  referred  to. 

lolo  MSS.,  pp.   109.  126;    Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  417,  43I. 


i  6  8  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

but  no  churches  are  attached  to  her  name,  though  the  Cambrian  Bio- 
graphy1 says  "  some  Welsh  churches  are  dedicated  to  her."  Dolard- 
dun,  an  old  manor  house  in  the  parish  of  Castle  Caereinion,  Mont- 
gomeryshire, is  believed  to  be  called  after  her.2  There  was  another 
Arddun,  the  wife  of  Cadgor  ab  Gors(lwyn,  and  also  a  Ceindrych 
"  Benasgell."  But,  indeed,  other  women  in  all  ages  have  a  claim 
to  be  called  wingheaded  or  flighty. 


S.  ARIANELL,  Virgin 

ARIANELL,  or  Arganhell,  was  a  daughter  of  Guidgentivai,  a  man  of 
royal  family,  probably  in  Gwent ;  she  was  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit, 
in  other  words,  was  deranged.  She  had  to  be  kept  in  bonds  to  be 
preserved  from  throwing  herself  into  the  river  or  into  the  fire,  and  from 
biting  and  tearing  her  clothes  and  all  about  her. 

The  father  appealed  to  S.  Dubricius,  who  cast  forth  the  evil  spirit 
and  restored  the  girl  to  soundness  in  the  presence  of  her  father  and 
relatives.  When  thus  recovered,  she  devoted  herself  to  religion  under 
the  supervision  of  the  saint,  and  remained  a  virgin  consecrated  to  God 
until  her  death.3 

There  was  a  stream  of  the  name  that  had  its  rise  in  S.  Maughan's 
parish,  Monmouthshire,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  as 
forming  the  bounds  on  one  side  of  the  territory  of  Lann  Tipallai,  which 
the  editors  of  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  suppose  to  be  the  Parsonage  Farm, 
west  of  S.  Maughan. 4  But  the  grant  made  was  to  Dubricius  by  Britcon 
Hail,5  and  no  mention  is  made  in  it  of  the  damsel  Arganhell,  so 
that  we  cannot  be  sure  that  this  was  the  site  of  the  place  of  monastic 
retreat  of  the  saintly  maiden.  The  stream  Arganhell  is  apparently 
that  which  rises  near  Newcastle  (Castell  Meirch)  and  runs  nearly 
due  west  to -east,  keeping  north  of  S.  Maughan's  Church,  and  empties 
into  the  Monnow.  It  has  lost  its  ancient  name.  The  other  brook 
that  flows  into  the  Trothy  passing  through  HendrePark  retains  its 
name,  Bawddwr. 

1  P.   II    (1803).  2  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  417. 

3  "  Quae  in  tantum  vexabatur  quod  vix  funibus  cum  ligatis  manibus  poterat 
retineri  quin  mergeretur  flumine  quin  comburetur  igne,  quin  consumeret  omnia 
sibi  adherentia  dentibus."  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  pp.  82-3. 

4  Ibid.,  pp.  75,   372;   cf.  p.   173.  6  Ibid.,  p.    171. 


S.   Arthen 


169 


S.  ARIANWEN,  see  S.  ARANWEN 

S.  ARILDA,  Virgin,  Martyr 

THIS  Saint  is  noticed  in  a  Martyrology  in  the  British  Museum,  A.D. 
4    MS.    Reg.  A.  xiii,  as   honoured   at  Gloucester   Abbey.      In 
tm  old  i>:>em  on  this  Abbey,  printed  at  the  end  of  Hearne's  edition  of 
:  t  of  Gloucester's  Chronicle,  are  these  lines  : — 

Thes  wonderfull  workes  wrought  by  power  divine, 
Be  not  hid,  nor  palliat,  but  flourish  daylie 
\Yitness  hereof  is  Arilde  that  blessed  Virgin 
Which  martyrized  at  Kinton  nigh  Thornebury, 
Hither  was  translated,  and  in  this  monastery 
Comprised,  and  did  miracles  many  one, 
As  whosoe  list  to  looke  may  find  in  hir  Legion. 

Unhappily  her  "  Legion  "  is  lost. 

Tin.-  place  of  her  martyrdom  was  Kington  by  Thornbury  in  Glouces- 
ire.      Both  the  period  to  which  she  belonged   and  the  stock, 
\\hcther  English  or  British,  are  unknown. 

\Yhvttorcl  gives  as  her  day,  July  20.      "  In  englonde  at  glocester 
feest  of  saynt  Aryld  a  virgyn  and  martyr." 


S.  ARTHEN,  Confessor 

S.  AKTHEN,  or  Arthan,  was  one  of  the  sons  of  Brychan  Brycheiniog, 
cl  his  name  in  the  Cognatio  and  most  lists  occurs  as  the  fourth  son.1 
the  Domitian  Cognalio  he  is  entered,  "  Arthen  qui  erat  pater  Kynon 
n  Manan."    There  was  a  church  once  dedicated  to  him  in 
\vynlly\vg,    but  "  was   destroyed  by   the  Pagan   English,"  and  he 
as  buried  in  "  Manaw."  2    This  church  was  no  doubt  the  extinct 
lamirtlu'n,   near   Marshfield,    Monmouthshire.     Rhiw   Arthen,   near 
bi-rystwyth,   is  supposed  to  have  been   called  after  him,  but  with 
•eater  probability  after  Arthen  (or  Arthgen),   "  King  of  Ceredigion," 
who  died  in  80 7. 3 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  108,  in,  119,  140  ;   Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  417,  419. 
*  See  the  same  references.     Nicolas  Roscarrock  says  that  he  was  a  saint  in 
of  Man  ;   this  was  due  to  his  supposing  that  Manaw  stood  for  that  island, 
but  there  was  a  Manaw  Gododin  in  North  Britain. 
1  Annalcs  Cambria,  p.   n. 


170  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Possibly  his  name  is  perpetuated  in  the  Brecknockshire  hill-name 
Cefn  Arthen,  within  his  father's  territory.  As  to  his  name,  the  vocable 
arthcm  (common  gender)  means  a  bear's  whelp,  arthen  being  the 
feminine  form  of  the  same.  His  name  under  the  form  Arthan  occurs 
in  one  list  only. 


S.  ARTHFODDW,  Confessor 

ARTHBODU,  hodie  Arthfoddw,  was  one  of  the  disciples  of  S.  Dyfrig  at 
Hentland,  and  may  be  also  at  Mochros,  orMoccas,  in  Herefordshire.1 
He  was  the  founder  of  Lann  Arthbodu,  in  Gower,  possibly  the  Pen- 
nard  (S.  Mary)  of  to-day.2  It  was  merely  a  cell.  There  was  an 
Artbodgu,  the  son  of  Bodgu,  who  in  the  old  Welsh  genealogies 
of  Harleian  MS.  3859  is  given  as  fifth  in  descent  from  Cunedda 
Wledig.3  <~  U+  C^ 


S.  ARTHMAEL,  or  ARTHFAEL,  Abbot,  Confessor 

ON  the  Cross  at  Llantwit  is  the  inscription  testifying  that  Samson  the 
Abbot  made  the  cross  for  his  own  soul  and  for  those  of  luthael 
the  king  and  Artmail  or  Arthmael.  It  has  been  supposed  that 
the  cross  is  of  later  date  than  the  sixth  century,  and  that  it  was  not 
erected  by  S.  Samson  to  the  memory  of  King  luthael  and  his 
companion  Arthmael,  but  at  a  time  posterior,  and  that  the  luthael  and 
Arthmael  thereon  named  belonged  to  this  later  date,  and  to  the 
house  of  Morganwg  ;  moreover  the  style  of  decoration  supports  this 
view.  The  coincidence  of  names  at  two  periods  is  remarkable,  for 
S.  Samson's  great  work  was  the  restoration  of  the  princely  line  in 
Domnonia,  the  placing  of  luthael  on  the  throne  in  555,  and  Arthmael 
was  his  great  helper  in  the  work. 

The  authorities  for  the  Life  of  S.  Arthmael  are  these  : — The  Lections  in 
the  Breviary  of  Rennes,  fifteenth  cent.,  that  of  Leon,  1516,  the  Breviary 
of  S.  Malo,  1537,  and  that  of  Vannes,  1589.  The  original  in  the 

1  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.  80. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  144  ;   Col.  Morgan,  Antiquarian  Survey  of  East  Gower,  1899,  p.  202. 

3  Y  Cymmrodor,  ix,  p.   181. 


S.  Arthmael  171 

Breviary  of  Leon,  1516,  exists  in  a  copy  made  by  Benedictines  of  the 
seventeenth  or  eighteenth  cent.,  printed  by  Roparz,  Notice  sur  Ploermel, 
P.  163.     That  from  the  Breviary  of  S.  Malo,  printed  at  Paris,  1489, 
is  in  the  Ada  Sanctorum,   Aug.,  t.   iii,  pp.   298-9.      Albert  le  Grand 
s  the  Life  from  the  Breviaries  of  Leon  and  Folgoet — the  latter  no 
longer  exists — also  from  the  Legendarium  of  Plouarzel,  which  has  also 
;>peared.     Albert  le  Grand  is  usually  very  reliable  in  what  he 
.icts  from  documents  no  longer  accessible,   though  reckless  in 
attribution  of  dates.  The  earliest  text  we  have  is  that  of  the  Rennes 
.  lary,  and  this  is  later  than  the  twelfth  century,  but  is  probably 
I  on  an  earlier  life. 

Arthmael  was  born  in  Morganwg,  in  the  cantref  of  Penychen.     We 

not  told  the  names  of  his  parents,  but  this  we  obtain  from  the 

~h  genealogies.     From  one  in  the  lolo  MSS.,  p.  133,  we  learn  that 

,iel,  Dwyfael,  and  Arthfael  were  sons  of    Hywel,  son  of  Emyr 

I.lyilaw.  cousins  of  S.  Cadfan  ;  they  were  members  of  S.  Illtyd's  "  choir," 

afterwards  were  with   S.   Cadfan  in  Bardsey.     Arthmael  was 

Mingly  first  cousin  of  S.  Samson,  S.  Padarn,  S.  Maglorius,  S.  Malo, 

and  brother  probably  of  S.  Tudwal  of  Treguier,  and  perhaps  also  of 

Leonore. 

According  to  the  Life  in  the  Breviaries,  he  was  educated  in  a  monas- 
under  a  certain  abbot  Caroncinalis,  more  properly  Carentmael,  but 
dnl  not  become  a  monk.    He  lived  as  a  secular  priest,  till  one  day  enter- 
tlu'  church  he  heard  the  deacon  read  the  gospel : — "  Whosoever  he 
vou  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath  cannot  be  My  disciple." 
'his  seemed  to  him  to  be  spoken  to  himself.     He  therefore  resolved  on 
I'mndoning  his  own  land,  his  parents,  and  his  property.     He  went  to 
irontmael  and  told  him  his  purpose.    The  abbot  agreed  to  depart  also, 
id  a  large  body  of  colonists  left  South  Wales  together  with  Caroncinalis 
id  Arthmael.    They  landed  in  the  mouth  of  the  Aber  Benoit  in  Finis- 
'.  the  principality  of  Leon,  and  went  inland  till  they  formed  a 
•tt  lenient  where  is  now  Plouarzel. 

<  arentmael  is  said  to  have  been  a  near  kinsman  of  Paul  of  Leon, 
it  he  has  left  no  impression  in  the  district  where  he  settled,  and 
he  is  not  numbered  among  the  Breton  Saints. 

Arthmael  remained  at  Plouarzel  some  years  till  the  death  of  Jonas, 
king  of  Domnonia,  in  or  about  540,  when  Conmore  married  the  widow, 
and  obliged  Judual,  or  luthael,  the  prince,  to  fly  for  his  life  to  the  court 
of  Childebert.  ArthmaeJ,  like  Leonore  and  other  Saints  of  Armorica, 
got  on  bad  terms  with  the  regent  Conmore,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
l«-a\v  and  go  to  Paris,  where  he  did  his  utmost  to  induce  Childebert  to 
lisplace  Conmore  and  restore  Judual.  His  efforts  were  unavailing, 


172  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

till  the  arrival  of  Samson,  whose  energy  and  persistence  in  the  same 
cause  broke  down  finally  the  King's  opposition,  and  they  were  suffered 
to  return  to  Brittany,  and  organise  an  insurrection  on  behalf  of  Judual. 

This  succeeded,  and  Conmore  was  killed  in  battle  in  555.  Judual 
rewarded  Arthmael  for  his  services  by  giving  him  land  on  the  Seiche, 
now  in  Hie  et  Vilaine,  where  is  the  village  of  S.  Armel.  Here  he 
established  a  monastery.  A  dragon  infested  the  neighbourhood  ;  he 
went  to  it,  put  his  stole  about  its  neck,  and  conducted  it  to  the  river. 
He  bade  the  monster  precipitate  itself  into  the  stream,  and  was  at  once 
obeyed.  This  is  a  symbolic  way  of  saying  that  he  subdued  Conmore, 
the  old  dragon  of  Domnonia. 

Passing  one  day  by  the  valley  of  Loutehel,  the  people  complained 
to  him  that  they  lacked  good  water,  and  with  his  staff  he  miraculously 
produced  a  spring.  He  would  seem  to  have  established  another 
monastery  at  Ploermel,  near  the  pretty  lake  called  1'Etang  du  Due,  in 
a  well-wooded  rolling  country.  Whether  he  died  and  was  buried  there 
or  in  his  territory  near  the  Seiche,  and  where  is  his  tomb  in  the  church, 
is  uncertain.  How  long  this  was  after  the  restoration  of  Judual  we  do 
not  know,  but  it  was  somewhere  about  570. 

He  was  formerly  patron  of  Ergue- Armel,  near  Quimper,  but  has 
been  supplanted  by  S.  Allorius.  There  is  a  fountain  of  the  Saint  at 
Loutehel,  and  another  prettily  situated  near  the  road  to  Vannes  at 
Ploermel.  At  this  latter  place  is  a  window  of  stained  glass  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  representing  the  story  of  the  Saint  in  eight  compart- 
ments :  i.  S.  Arthmael  bidding  farewell  to  his  parents.  2.  S.  Arth- 
mael healing  a  leper.  3.  The  messenger  of  Childebert  summons 
Arthmael  to  court.  4.  Arthmael  performing  a  miraculous  cure.  5 
Arthmael  and  his  companions  bid  farewell  to  King  Childebert.  6.  S. 
Arthmael  with  his  stole  round  the  dragon.  7.  S.  Arthmael  precipita- 
ting the  dragon  into  the  river.  8.  The  death  of  the  Saint.1  Arthmael 
became  one  of  the  most  popular  Saints  of  Brittany. 

In  addition  to  the  parish  churches  of  Plouarzel,  Ploermel  and  S.  Armel 
Loutehel,  and  Ergue- Armel,  those  of  Languedias  and  Langoet  were 
dedicated  to  him,  and  he  had  chapels  at  Bruz,  at  Fougeray,  Lantic, 
Radenac,  S.  Jouan  de  ITsle,  S.  Glen,  Sarzeau,  and  Dinan.  His  day  is 
most  generally  regarded  as  August  16,  Missal  of  Vannes,  1530  ;  Breviary 
of  Vannes,  1589  ;  MS.  Calendar  of  S.  Meen,  fifteenth  century  ;  Breviary 
of  Dol,  1519  ;  Proper  of  Vannes,  1660  ;  and  the  MS.  Breviary  of 
S.  Melanius,  Rennes,  1526,  Albert  le  Grand,  and  Dom  Lobineau. 

On  the  other  hand  August  14  is  his  day  in  the  Breviary  of  S.  Malo, 

1  Roparz  (S.),  La  Legende  de  S.  Armel,  S.  Brieuc.  The  window  is  engraved  in 
La  Legend?  de  S.  Armel,  S.  Brieuc,  18155,  c-  xii>  P-  133- 


S.    Arthneu  173 

1537'  ancl  m  tnat  °f  Leon,  1516 ;  August  15,  a  Missal  of  S.  Malo, 
fifteenth  century;  August  17,  the  Quimper  Breviary  of  1835;  July 
27,  the  Vannes  Breviary  of  1757. 

The  name  Arthmael  has  become  in  Breton  Arzel  and  Armel  and 
Ermel.     He  does  not  seem  to  have  received  any  cult  m  Wales,  but  in 
Cornwall  Arthmael  had  a  chapel,  and  was  represented  on  the  screen 
(I531)-  had  an  altar,  and  was  commemorated  annually  at  Stratton.1 
S.  Arthmael  is  represented  in  stained  glass  of  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
ginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  the  church  of  S.  Sauveur, 
Dinan,  habited  as  an  ecclesiastic  with  an  amice  over  his  shoulder  and 
a  cap  on  his  head,  and  with  a  green  dragon  at  his  feet,  bound  by  his 
At  Ploermel,  in  like  manner  in  brown  habit ;  but  at  Languedias 
statue  of  the  seventeenth  century  that  represents  him  as   an 
abbot,  trampling  on  a  dragon,  which  he  holds  bound  with  his  stole. 
Arthmael  is  invoked  for  the  healing  of  rheumatism  and  gout. 
\ "II  would  seem  to  have  brought  with  him  from  Brittany  a 
ition  for  this  saint.     There  is  a  fine  statuette  of  him  in  Henry 
VII '-   Chapel,  Westminster,  where  he  is  represented  as  trampling  on 
ragon.  and  mailed,  with  gauntlets  on  his  hands.      This  is  a 
;ice  to  his  designation  as    "  Miles  fortissimus  "  in  the  legend  as 
in  the  Breviary  of  Leon,  1516,  and  in  the  Rennes  Prose  of  1492, 
in  which  he  is  invoked  as  "  armigere  "  against  the  enemies  of  our 
salvation.     On  Cardinal  More  ton's  monument  in  the  crypt  of  Canter- 
burv  Cathedral  he  is  also  represented,  but  the  figure  there  has  been 
•usly  mutilated,  head  and  hands  have  gone. 
Ermyn's  Hotel,  Westminster,  stands  on  S.  Ermyn's  Hill.     This 
t  mentioned  in  1496  as   S.  Armille's,  and  later  on  the  name  is 
ioun.l  as  Armell,  Armen,  Ermyne  and  Armet.    There  was  a  chapel 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  which  is  now  represented  by  the 
modern  parish  church  of  Christchurch,  Westminster. 
For  the  Bibliography  of  S.  Arthmael,  see  F.  Duine,  Saints  de  la 
,  iii,  S.  Armel,  Paris,  Le  Dault,  1905. 


S.  ARTHNEU,  or  ARTHNE,  Confessor 

'HIS  Saint's  name  is  inserted  in  the  alphabetical  catalogue  of  tl  o 
Welsh  Saints  in  the  Myvyrian  Archaiology  only,2  but  without  any 
genealogical  particulars.  Llanarthney,  in  the  Vale  of  Towy,  Carmar- 

1  ("roukling,  The  Blanchminster  Charity,  Lond.,  1898.     In  this  it  is  said  that 
:?neday,  or  Feast  of  the  Saint,  was  observed  at  Stratton,  but  the  day  is  not 


P.  418. 


174  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

thenshire,  was  probably  dedicated  to  him  originally.1  Rees  and 
others  give  it  as  dedicated  now  to  S.  David.  There  once  existed  a 
Capel  Dewi  in  the  parish.  In  the  twelfth  century  Book  of  Llan  Lav 
the  parish  name  is  written  Lann  hardneu.2 


S.  ARYAN,  Confessor 

THERE  is  a  church  in  Monmouthshire  bearing  this  title.  In  the  four- 
teenth century  procurations  added  to  the  Book  of  Llan  Davit  is  called 
Ecclesia  de  Sancto  Aruyno.3  But  in  955,  this  church  seems  to  be  that 
spoken  of  as  Ecclesia  Sanctorum  Jarmen  et  Febric,4  to  which  fled  a 
deacon  for  sanctuary  when  he  had  basely  murdered  a  man  who  was 
binding  up  his  wounded  thumb.  The  circumstances  were  these.  The 
deacon  accosted  a  reaper  in  a  field,  and  they  came  to  words,  when  the 
reaper  struck  at  the  deacon  with  his  hook  and  sliced  off  one  of  his 
fingers.  The  deacon  begged  the  man  to  bind  up  the  wound,  and  whilst 
the  latter  was  so  engaged,  he  stabbed  him  to  the  heart  with  a  knife,  and 
then  ran  to  the  church  for  refuge.  The  relatives  of  the  murdered  man 
broke  into  the  church  and  killed  the  deacon  before  the  altar.  Bishop 
Pater  was  furious.  He  summoned  a  Council,  and  threatened  the  King 
with  excommunication,  unless  the  culprits  were  delivered  up.  King 
Nogui  surrendered  the  six  men,  and  the  bishop  confined  them  in  prison 
at  Llandaff,  fast  chained  for  six  months,  and  then  only  released  them 
on  condition  that  they  paid  a  heavy  fine  in  money,  and  surrendered  all 
their  possessions  to  the  church.5  As  these  lay  near  S.  Arvan's,  there 
can  exist  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  church  called  that  of  SS.  Jarmen 
jand  Febric.  Surely  this  was  one  of  the  most  iniquitous  judgments 
.ever  delivered. 


S.  ARWYSTL,  Confessor 

THE  various  late  genealogies  of  the  Welsh  Saints  mention  three 
Saints  of  the  name  of  Arwystl,  or  Arwystli. 

i.  Arwystl,  or  Arwystli  Hen  ("the  Aged").  He  is  said  to  have  been  a 
man  from  Italy,  who  came  with  Bran  ab  Llyr  Llediaith  as  his  confessor 

1  Welsh  Saints,  p.  329.  2  P.  279,  ed.  Evans  and  Rhys. 

3  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.   322.  4  Ibid.,  219. 

Sinodo  judicante  diffinitum  est  ut  unusquisque  eorumsuum  agrum,  suam- 
que  substantiam  insuper  et  pretium  animae  suae  hoc  septem  libras  ar^cnti 
redderet  ecclesiae  quam  maculaverat."  Ibid.,  p.  220. 


S.  Arwystl  175 


(pcriglawr]  to  the  Isle  of  Britain,  to  teach  the  Faith  in  Christ.1  Two 
others  are  said  to  have  accompanied  him,  Hid  and  Cyndaf.2  Arwystl, 
«>r  Arwystli,  is,  by  many  writers  now  out  of  date,  identified  with  Aristo- 
bulus,  mentioned  by  S.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  xvi,  10,  who, 
in  the  Greek  Menologies,  is  said  to  have  been  ordained  bishop  by  S.  Paul 
and  sent  by  him  to  Britain.3  But  the  story  has  no  foundation  what- 
,  \vr,  and  the  name  Arwystl,  or  Arwystli,  cannot  possibly  be  squared 
with  Aristobulus.  In  Mediaeval  Welsh  it  appears  as  Arguistil,  and 
occurs  frequently  in  that  form  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv*  Arwystl, 
which  occurs  also  as  a  common  Welsh  vocable,  means  a  pledge  or 
urity. 

Arwystl,  a  son  of  Cunedda  Wledig,  who  in  the  filth  cen- 
tury came  from  the  North  with  his  sons  and  settled  in  Wales. 
He  is  included  among  the  Welsh  Saints  only  once,  in  a  passage 
in  the  lolo  MSS.,5  where  it  is  stated  that  he  "  won  a  district, 
whicli  was  given  him,  and  he  called  it  after  his  own  name,  Arwystli ; 
and  he  himself  is  there  called  Arwystl  of  Arwystli."  The  district- 
name  is  preserved  in  that  of  a  Rural  Deanery  in  Montgomeryshire.  No 
(  IHIK  lu-s  are  mentioned  as  having  been  dedicated  to  him  ;  in  fact, 
there  is  no  authority  for  including  him  among  the  Welsh  Saints. 

Cunedda  list  in  the  document  referred  to  is  an  unwarranted 
insertion. 

3.  Arwystl,  or  Arwystli  Gloff  ("  the  Lame  "),  whose  name  is  given  as 
that  of  one  of  the  ten  sons  of  Seithenin  ab  Seithin,  "  King  of  Gwyddno's 
Plain,  whose  land  was  submerged  by  the  sea  ;  and  they  became  Saints 
in  Bangor  Fawr  in  Maelor,  on  the  banks  of  the  Dee."  6  Arwystl  after- 
wards became  an  inmate  of  Bardsey  Bangor.  He  married  Tywanwedd, 
or  Tywynwedd,  daughter  of  Amlawdd  Wledig,  and  by  her  had  seven 
•  liildren,  who  were  at  first  saints  in  Bangor  on  Dee,  and,  after  its 
ruction,  in  the  Bardsey  Bangor. 

Kie  country  called  Gwyddno's  Plain  is  better  known  as  Cantre'r 
elod,  or  the  Bottom  Hundred,  and  is  said  to  form  the  Cardigan 
of  to-day.  The  story  of  its  submersion  is  told  in  its  oldest  form 
le  Black  Book  of  Carmarthen.7 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.   108,   135.  2  Ibid.,  pp.   100,   115,   135. 

Hadclan  and  Stubbs,  Councils,  etc.,  i,  p.  24. 

Seethe  ;idexto  the  edition  by  Evans  and  Rhys  ;  cf.  VitaS.  Cadoci,  Cambro- 

ish  Sain's,  p.  83. 

lolo  MSS.,  p.  122.  Nicolas  Roscarrock,  from  a  MS.  of  E.  Powell,  priest, 
CUTS.  "  s.  Arwistle,  lord  of  Arwistly,  second  son  of  Cunedag,  who  had  eleven  or 
t  \\.-l\r  brothers  and  one  sister,  most  whereof  were  patrons  in  Wales." 

*  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  108,  141-2,  145.     On  p.  124  he  is  wrongly  said  to  have  been 
son  of  Owain  Danwyn. 

Skcne,  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales,  ii,  p.  59. 


i  7  6  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

In  the  older  genealogies,  however,  Arwystl  is  never  included  as  a 
saint,  but  merely  as  the  father  of  saints,  such  as  Deifer  of  Bodfari, 
Teyrnog  of  Llandyrnog,  etc.  ;  and  his  name  is  in  them  spelt  Hawystyl 
and  Awystyl  Gloff .  So  his  title  to  saintship  cannot  stand. 

4.  There  is  one  Arwystl,  however,  who  is  entitled  to  saintship — 
Arguistil  or  Arwystl,  the  disciple  of  S.  Dubricius  at  Hentland  and 
Moccas,  and  who  was  consecrated  by  him  bishop. 

He  obtained  a  grant  of  LannCoitfrom  I  don,  son  of  Ynyr  Gwent,1 
and  there  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  this  is  Lancaut  on  the  Glouces- 
tershire side  of  the  Wye,  occupying  a  peninsula  almost  completely 
surrounded  by  the  river.  In  the  time  of  Idon  it  was  doubtless  included 
in  the  kingdom  of  Gwent  Iscoed.  No  details  are  given  in  the  Book  of 
Llan  Ddv  as  to  its  locality.  It  must  have  been  devastated  by  the 
Saxons,  and  then,  perhaps,  the  Church  of  Llandaff  laid  claim  to  another 
Llangoed  on  the  strength  of  the  name. 

Arwystl  became  associated  with  S.  Teilo  ;  perhaps,  when  the  Yellow 
Plague  broke  out,  he  was  one  of  those  who  accompanied  him  to 
Brittany,  for  we  find  there  a  S.  Argoestle,  in  the  Diocese  of  Vannes, 
named  in  a  deed  of  1280,  patron  of  a  church  ;  the  name  has  now  been 
softened  to  S.  Allouestre.2  The  foundation  is  not  far  from  the  Gildasian 
monastery  of  the  name. 

As  nothing  was  known  of  the  Argoestle  from  which  the  parish  took 
its  name,  S.  Arnulf,  bishop  of  Metz,  has  been  substituted  for  him  as 
patron.  The  foundation  was  made  near  the  old  Roman  road  from 
Corseul  to  Vannes. 

Probably  in  556  Arwystl  returned  to  Wales  with  S.  Teilo,  and  as 
his  church  was  deserted,  the  territory  depopulated  by  the  plague,  he 
seems  to  have  attached  himself  to  Llandaff,  for  he  witnessed  several  of 
the  grants  made  to  S.  Teilo.  In  later  times,  when  the  fable  had  been 
given  currency  that  Dubricius  had  been  the  first  bishop  of  Llandaff, 
and  when  Llandaff  laid  claims  to  all  the  possessions  of  Dubricius  and 
his  disciples,  then  Arwystl  was  worked  into  the  series  of  bishops  of 
Llandaff.3  He  does  not  seem  to  have  survived  S.  Teilo,  as  his  name 
does  not  occur  as  a  witness  during  the  rule  of  S.  Oudoceus. 

The  whole  matter  of  the  interpolation  of  the  list  of  bishops,  and  of 
the  absorption  of  the  Dubricius  churches  by  Llandaff,  shall  be  dealt 
with  fully  when  we  come  to  the  Life  of  Dubricius. 

1  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.   166. 

2  Le  Mene,  Paroisses  de  Vannes,  Vannes,  1894,  ^>  P-  344- 

3  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  pp.  303,  311. 


S.  Asaph 


177 


S.  ASAPH,   Bishop,  Confessor 

>.  ASAPH  lived  during  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  and  the  beginning 
seventh  century.  Like  SS.  David,  Deiniol,  Samson,  and  a  few 
others  of  the  Welsh  Saints,  he  bore  a  Biblical  name,  which  assumed 
in  Welsh  the  forms  Assaf  or  Asaf  and  Assa  or  Asa.1  The  genealogies 
of  the  Welsh  Saints  invariably  give  his  father's  name  as  Sawyl  (occa- 
sionally, Sawel)  Benuchel,  the  son  of  Pabo  Post  Prydyn,2  but  in  the 
\vry  early  genealogies  in  Harleian  MS.  3859  (compiled  apparently  in 
tlu-  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century)  he  appears  as  "  Samuil  pennissel 
map  Pappo  post  priten,"3  with  the  epithet  "  Penisel  "  (of  the  low  head) 
for  "  Penuchel  "  (of  the  high  head).  The  later  genealogists  confounded 
him  with  the  Glamorganshire  chieftain  (dux),  Sawyl  Benuchel,  described 
in  a  Triad  as  one  of  "  the  three  overbearing  ones  of  the  Isle  of  Brit- 
tany," 4  and  who  with  his  men  took  upon  him  to  annoy  S.  Cadoc  and 
his  clerics.5  They  were  punished  by  being  all  swallowed  up  by  the 
earth,  and  he  could  not  therefore  have  been  the  Sawyl  who  became 
a  saint  or  monk  of  Bangor  on  Dee. 

The  following  brief  genealogical  table  will  be  of  service  : — 


S.  Pabo  Post 
1 

Prydyn. 

=  Gwenasedd 
da.  Rhiain 
Rhieinwg. 

r~ 

dun 

we! 
throg. 

S.  Dunawd 

Dwywai  da. 
Gwallog  ab 
Lleenog. 

S.  Cerwydd. 

Sawyl  BeniseU 

niol,    S.  Cynwyl. 
B. 


.  G 


S.  Gwarthan. 


Guitcun.  S.  Asaph. 

Catguallaun  Liu. 


S.  Asaph's  grandfather,  Pabo,  "  the  Pillar  of  Prydyn  "  (Pictland), 
hailed  from  the  North.  Having  been  worsted  by  the  Gwyddyl  Ffichti, 
or  Pictish  Goidels,  he  retired  into  Wales,  where  he  was  welcomed  by 
Cyngen,  king  of  Powys,  who  gave  him  land.  He  was  the  father  of 
Dunawd,  Cerwydd,  Sawyl,  and  Arddun,  and  from  being  a  king 

1  It  was  locally  pronounced  Hassa  in  the  eighteenth  century.     Willis,  Survey 

f^h,  1720,  p.  127.     Aseph  occurs  in  Welsh  pedigrees. 
-  Peniarth  MSS.  12,   16  and  45  ;    Hafod  MS.  16  ;    Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  417-8; 
i/o  MSS.,  pp.  1 02,  125,  128  ;    Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  266. 
:1    V  c  \  mmrodor,  ix,  p.   179.     In  Peniarth  MS.  74  (sixteenth  century)  he  is 
lk-d  "  Sawl  Ben  Isel." 
1   M :    .   Arch.,  p.   389. 
5  Vita  S.  Cadoci  in  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  42-3,  where  his  name  occurs 

"  Sauuil  pennuchel."     Another  Sawyl  Benuchel  is  mentioned  in  Geoffrey's 

it.  rd.  Rhys  and  Evans,  p.  82. 

VOL.  I.  N 


I  7  8  Lives  of  the    British  Saints 

became  a  religious  at  his  son's  (Dunawd)  Bangor  on  the  Dee,  of  which 
Sawyl  was  also  a  member. 

S.  Asaph's  mother  was  Gwenassedd,  or  Gwenaseth.1  The  older  and 
later  pedigrees  differ  entirely  as  regards  the  name  of  her  father.  From 
the  older  genealogies,  e.g.,  in  Peniarth  MSS.  16  and  45  (thirteenth 
century)  and  Hafod  MS.  16  (c.  1400),  we  learn  that  she  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Rhiein  (Rhiein  Ha  el  or  Rhein)  of  Rhieinwc  ;  that  is,  Rhiain 
{Rhain)  or  Rhiain  Hael  of  Rhieinwg.  The  district  name  means  "  the 
land  of  Rhiain  "  (cf.  Morganwg),  which  shows  that  he  was  a  person  of 
sufficient  importance  to  bestow  his  name  upon  a  district.  Rhieinwg 
or  Rheinwg  was  an  ancient  name  of  Dyfed,  but  it  took  the  name  from 
a  person  who,  we  know,  lived  at  an  earlier  period  than  Gwenassedd's 
lather  ;  so  that  here  we  are  confronted  with  a  distinct  district,  wherever 
it  may  have  been  situated. 

This  puzzled  the  later  genealogists,  and  they  not  only  converted 
Rhiain  or  Rhain  into  Rhun,  but  went  a  step  further  by  identifying  this 
Rhun  with  Rhufawn,  son  of  Cunedda  Wledig,  who  has  given  name  to 
the  cantref  of  Rhufoniog,  in  Denbighshire,  situated  on  the  western  side 
of  the  Elwy  of  the  (ancient)  parish  of  S.  Asaph.  He  is  thus  noticed 
in  the  lolo  MSS.2:— 

"  Rhufawn,  the  son  of  Cunedda  Wledig,  received  the  cantref  which 
was  called  after  him  Rhufoniog ;  and  he  is  called  Rhufawn  of  Rhu- 
foniog, and  also  Rhun  Hael  of  Rhufoniog,  because  he  was  the  most 
generous  man  in  Wales  in  his  times." 

S.  Asaph's  nephew,  Cadwallon  Llyw  (or  Lliw),  may  possibly  be 
identical  with  the  Cathwallanus  of  Jocelin's  Life  of  S.  Kentigern, 
c.  23,  who  granted  that  saint  land  to  found  his  monastery  at 
Llanelwy. 

Jocelin  says  S.  Asaph  was  "  distinguished  by  birth,"  and  it  may  be 
observed  that  he  was  a  nephew  of  S.  Dunawd,  founder  of  Bangor  on  Dee, 
and  a  cousin  of  S.  Deiniol,  founder  and  first  Bishop  of  Bangor.  He  was 
very  probably  a  native  of  the  cantref  of  Tegeingl  in  Northern  Flintshire 
{represented  by  the  old  Deanery  of  the  name,  now  divided  into  those 
of  S.  Asaph  and  Holywell,  with  part  in  that  of  Mold),  for  there  his 
memory  chiefly  lingers  in  the  topography.  When  quite  a  boy  he  was 
placed  as  a  disciple  under  S.  Kentigern  or  Cyndeyrn,  the  exiled  bishop 
of  the  Britons  ol  Strathclyde,  at  his  college  on  the  Elwy,  founded 
about  560,  which  had  become  so  famous  that  "  the  number  of 
those  who  enlisted  in  the  army  of  God  amounted  to  965,  who  professed 
in  act  and  manner  the  monastic  rule  according  to  the  institution  of  the 
holy  man."  "  Nobles  and  men  of  the  middle  class  brought  their  chil- 

1  In  one  notice  (lolo  MSS.,  p.  125)  she  is  made  to  be  his  grandmother,  wife 
of  Pabo.  *  P.  122. 


S.    Asaph  179 

dren  to  the  Saint  to  be  brought  up  in  the  nurture  of  the  Lord."  l  Here 
he  soon  became  distinguished  as  the  ablest  and  most  popular  member. 
There  was  a  Vita  Sancti  Asaph  in  the  Red  Book  of  5.  Asaph,  the 
original  of  which  has  long  been  lost.  There  is  an  imperfect  transcript  of 
the  MS.,  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  in  the  Episcopal 
Library  at  S.  Asaph,  but  unfortunately  the  so-called  Life  is  merely  a 
fragment,  and  what  now  remains  is  practically  a  Life  of  S.  Cyndeyrn.2 
\Vh;it  is  told  us  therein  about  S.  Asaph  is  very  little,  and  is  to  be  found 
in  the  involved  prologue.  The  author  says  : — "  I  have  sought,  with 
diligent  love,  the  Life  of  the  most  glorious  Confessor  and  Pontiff,  Asaph, 
our  Patron,  in  various  places,  in  monasteries,  cathedrals,  and  Baptismal 
Churches."  He  then  proceeds  to  summarise  what  had  been  told  at 
length  in  the  Life  of  the  Blessed  Kentigern  about  the  foundation  of 
the  See,  and  supplements  it  with  a  little  about  S.  Asaph's  election  and 
consecration,  "  the  sweetness  of  his  conversation,  the  symmetry, 

:r,  and  elegance  of  his  body,  the  virtues  and  sanctity  of  his  heart, 
and  the  manifestation  of  his  miracles." 

There  is  no  clue  as  to  who  the  hagiographer  was,  but  he  was  very 
probably  one  of  the  cathedral  clergy,  who  lived  between  the  beginning 
<>t  tiio  twelfth  and  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  com- 
pilnl  the  Life  ("  hoc  opusculum,"  as  he  describes  it),  in  popular  form, 
from  various  written  sources,  to  demonstrate  the  sanctity  of  the  two 
Saints,  and  edify  the  faithful.  It  would  thus  supply  the  Legenda  for 

lint's  Day.  Possibly  it  was  also  intended  to  support  the  change 
from  Llanelwy  or  Elvensis  to  S.  Asaph.  According  to  the  prologue 
it  wa^  compiled,  in  addition  to  the  various  documents  in  Welsh,  out 
of  an  extant  Life  in  Latin  (ex  uno  libro  Latino),  which  was  in  all 
probability  the  "little  book  of  his  Life  "  referred  to  and  quoted  from 

•celin.  The  latter,  now  lost,  may  have  been  based  upon  a  Life 
written  probably  by  a  disciple  of  S.  Asaph  himself. 

Most  of  what  is  known  about  S.  Asaph  is  to  be  gleaned  from  the 

of  S.  Kentigern,  especially  that  by  Jocelin,  a  monk  of  Furness, 
written  about  1180.  We  are  there  told  that  among  the  brotherhood 

.  Ancient  Lives  of  Scottish  Saints,  translated,  p.  232  (Paisley,  1895). 
-  Mil-  l.ihcr  Rubcr  Assavcnsis,  generally  called  in  Welsh  "  Coch  Asaph,"  is 
said  to  have  been  originally  compiled  during  the  episcopate  of  Dafycld  ab  Bleddyn, 
as  consecrated  in  1314  (Willis,  S.  Asaph,  p.  51).     See  Archceologia  Cam- 
cnsis  for  1868  for  its  contents.     The  Vita  covers  pp.  42-6.     Soon  following 
ie  prologue  "  two  great  leaves  "  are  said  to  be  wanting  in  the  original,  and  it 
as  also  imperfect  at  the  end.     There  is  another  transcript  of  the  MS.  made  in 
1602.  in  the  Peniarth  Collection  (MS.  231),  of  which  considerable  use  was  made 
by  Hacldan  and  Stubbs  in  their  Councils,  etc.,  vol.  i.     Gwallter  Mechain  (d.  1849) 
saw  the  original  MS.   (imperfect,   beginning  at  p.  53)    in  the  possession  of  a 
Merionethshire  person. 


i  8  o  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

at  Llaneiwy  was  "one  Asaph  by  name,  distinguished  by  birth  and 
presence,  shining  in  virtues  and  miracles  from  the  flower  of  his  earliest 
youth.     He  sought  to  follow  the  life  and  teaching  of  his  master,  as  may 
be  learnt  more  fully  by  reading  a  little  .book  of  his  Life,  from  which 
I  have  thought  fit  to  insert  in  this  work  one  miracle,  because    the 
perfection  of  the  disciple  is  the  glory  of  the  master.     For  on  one  occa- 
sion, in  the  time  of  winter,  when  the  frost  had  contracted  .and  con- 
gealed everything,  S.  Kentigern,  having  according  to  his  custom  recited 
the  Psalter  naked  in  the  coldest  water,  and  having  after  putting  on  his 
clothes  gone  out  in  public,  he  began  to  be  greatly  oppressed  by  the 
intensity  of  the  cold,  and  in  a  measure  to  become  entirely  rigid.  .  .  . 
The  holy  father  therefore  ordered  the  boy  Asaph  to  bring  fire  to  him, 
at  which  he  might  warm  himself.     The  Lord's  child  ran  to  the  oven 
and  begged  that  coals  might  be  given  him.     And  when  he  had  nothing 
in  which  to  carry  the  burning  coals,  the  servant  said  to  him  either  in 
joke  or  seriously  : — '  If  thou  wish  to  take  the  coals,  spread  out  thy 
dress,  for  1  have  nothing  at  hand  in  which  thou  mayest  carry  them.' 
The  holy  boy,  fervent  in  faith,  and  trusting  in   the  sanctity  of  the 
master,  without  hesitating,  having  gathered  up  his  dress,  held  it  out, 
and  received  into  his  lap  the  live  coals,  and  carrying  them  to  the  old 
man  cast  them  forth  in  his  sight  from  his  bosom,  without  any  sign  of 
burning  or  corruption  being  apparent  on  his  dress.1     The  greatest 
astonishment,  therefore,  took  hold  upon  all  who  were  present  because 
the  fire  carried  in  the  dress  had  not  in  the  least  burnt  combustible 
material.     A  friendly  dispute  arose  between  the  father  and  his  holy 
disciple  concerning  this  sign,  for  the  one  seemed  to  maintain  his  ground 
by  assertions  to  which  the  other  as  justly  objected.     The  bishop 
ascribed  the  working  of  the  sign  to  the  innocence  and  obedience  of  the 
holy  boy ;  the  boy  asserted  that  it  was  done  on  account  of  the  merits  and 
sanctity  of  the  bishop,  obeying  whose  command  and  trusting  in  whose 
holiness  he  had  ventured  to  attempt  it.  ...     S.  Kentigern,  therefore, 
who  up  to  this  time  had  held  the  venerable  boy  Asaph  dear  and  beloved, 
from  that  day  henceforward  regarded  him  as  the  dearest  and  best  loved 
of  all,  and  as  soon  as  he  conveniently  could,  raised  him  to  holy  orders." 2 
When,  as  the  result  of  the  great  Battle  of  Arderydd  in  573,  Rhydderch 
Hael  established  himself  as  the  first  monarch  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Cumbria,  he  recalled  S.  Cyndeyrn  to  resume  his  ecclesiastical  primacy 

1  This  was  not  an  uncommon  miracle  among  the  Welsh  Saints  ;    cf.  the  case 
of  S.  Caffo  in  the  Vita  S.  Kebii,  and   that  of  S.  Cadoc   in   the  Vita   S.  Tathei, 
Catnbro-British  Saints,  pp.  186,  261. 

2  Metcalfe,  ut  supra,  pp.   234-5.      The  little  known  to  the  Bollandists    o! 
S.  Asaph  is  to  be  found  in  Acta  Sanctorum,  Maii,  i,  p.  82. 


S.  Asaph  181 

over  that  region  as  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  which  he  held  until  his  death 
iji  (.12.    Before  leaving  Llanelwy  he  solemnly  addressed  the  brother- 
hood, and,  "with  the  unanimous  consent  of  all,  appointed  S.  Asaph 
,    tfovcniment  of  tlu-  monastery,  and  by  petition  of  the  people, 
and  by  the  canonical  election  of  the  clergy,  successor  of  his  bishopric. 
When  the  sermon  was  ended  he   enthroned   S.  Asaph   in   the 

<  athrdral  seat,  and  again  blessing  and  bidding  them  all  farewell,  he 
unit   forth  by  the  North  door  of  the  church,  because  he  was  going 
forth  to  combat  the  northern  enemy.     When  he  had  gone  out  that 

was  closed,  and  all  who  saw  or  heard  of  his  going  out  or  departure 

iled  his  absence  with  great  lamentations.     Hence    the    custom 

UP  in  that  church  that  that  door  should  not  be  opened  except 

,i  year,  on  the  festival  of  S.  Asaph,  that  is,  on  the  Kalends  of  May, 

\vo  reasons.     First,  in  deference  to  the  sanctity  of  him  who  had 

forth  ;  secondly,  because  thereby  was  indicated  the  great  grief 

of  those  who  had  bewailed  his  departure.     Therefore,  on  the  day  of 
,ij.h  that  door  is  opened,  because  when  he  succeeded  the  blessed 

Kent  ii;nn  in  the  government  their  mourning  was  turned  into  joy. 

I;n>m  that  monastery  a  great  part  of  the  brethren,  to  the  number  of 
:  «  niK  in  no  wise  able  or  willing,  so  long  as  he  lived,  to  live  without 

him.  went  with  him.     Only  300  remained  with  S.  Asaph."  : 
S.  ("vndeyrn  mu>t  be  regarded  as  the  first  Bishop  of  Llanelwy,  as 

well  as  the  founder  of  the  religious  establishment  there.     Jocelin  says 

that    "  in  the  church  of  the  monastery  he  established  the  Cathedral 

<  hair  of  his  bishopric,  the  diocese  of  which  was  the  greater  part  of  the 

•  in  country,  which  by  his  preaching  he  won  for  the  Lord."  2     A 

document,  some  centuries  later,  printed  in  the  lolo  MSS.,  differs  in 

that   it  makes  S.  Asaph  "the  first  Bishop  in  Bangor  Assaf."  3     S. 

< "vndeyrn's  name  has  never  been  associated  with  the  nomenclature  of 

either  cathedral  or  diocese,  which  were  originally  known,  and  still  are 

b\   Welsh-speaking  people,  as  Llanelwy,  "  the  Church  on  the  Elwy  " 

mdaff).4    The  English  name  S.  Asaph  (never  S.  Asaph's)  is  not 

i   to  have  occurred  earlier  than  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 

century,  since  which  time  both  names  have  coexisted.      In  mediaeval 

documents  the  bishops  of  the  Diocese  are  variously  styled  Episcopi 

lie,    id  sitf»n,   pp.    246-7. 

:     cf.  also  the  Red  Book  Vita,  p.  45.    "  Monasterium   Sedem 
Cathedralem  constituit." 

:l  P.  u.s.     Another,  p.  102,  says  that  "  his  Church  is  Bangor  Asaf." 

In   raiK-ni   provincia  [Tegenia]  est  Cathedralis  ecclesia  a  nostratibus  Lan 
Hgnensis,  ab  Anglis  Assaphensis  dicta,  inter  Cluydam  &  Elguim  fluvios  fabri- 
-ata."     Humphrey   Lhuyd,   Commentation  Biitannicce  Descriptions  Fragmen- 
tm,  f.  55b  (Cologne,  1572). 


I  8  2  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Elguenses,  Eluenses,  Lanelvenses,  Assaphenses,  and  Assavenses.  S. 
Asaph's  fame  in  time  far  eclipsed  at  Llanelwy  that  of  his  great  master 
Cyndeyrn.  The  latter  was  a  stranger,  and  his  residence  there  was  but 
short,  circa  560-73.  The  great  veneration  in  which  S.  Asaph's 
memory  came  to  be  held  may  be  well  accounted  for  by  his  connection 
with  the  immediate  district,  his  eminent  virtues  and  piety,  and, 
possibly,  munificent  benefactions  by  his  family  to  Llanelwy  ;  but  what 
must  have  contributed  more  than  anything  else  was  the  fact  that  the 
cathedral  church  was  the  depository  of  his  ashes.  That  his  body  in  the 
thirteenth  century  lay  there  is  certain,  for  in  a  letter  of  Edward 
the  First,  dated  probably  from  Rhuddlan  in  1281,  proposing  the 
translation  of  the  Cathedral  Church  to  Rhuddlan,  where  it  would  be 
more  secure  and  better  protected,  it  is  said,  "  sed  tanquam  ilia  quae  in 
nullius  bonis  sunt,  praedonum  incursibus  et  latronum  insidiis,  una 
cum  corpore  sancti  Assaphi  gloriosissimi  confessoris,  subjacent  peri- 
culis  infmitis."  1  Whether  the  monastery  was  elevated  or  not 
to  a  Cathedral  Church,  and  the  See  founded,  in  S.  Cyndeyrn's  or  S. 
Asaph's  time,  the  latter's  name  alone  has  become  associated  with  the 
diocese,  the  limits  of  which,  at  some  unknown  date,  were  made  conter- 
minous with  the  principality  of  Powys.  S.  Asaph  is  supposed  to  have 
been  succeeded  by  S.  Tyssilio,  but  there  is  no  really  authentic  record 
of  the  See  until  1143,  when  Gilbert  was  consecrated  bishop  by  Theo- 
bald of  Canterbury. 

The  topography  of  Tegeingl,  S.  Asaph's  probable  native  canfref, 
presents  several  places  bearing  his  name.  Besides  the  city  name  there 
are  Llanasa  (his  Church)  ;  Pantasa  (his  Hollow  or  Glen),  in  the  parish 
of  Whitford  adjoining,  but  now  in  the  ecclesiastical  parish  of  Gorsedd  ; 
and  Ffynnon  Asa  (his  Holy  Well),  in  the  parish  of  Cwm.  His  name 
is  coupled  with  S.  Cyndeyrn's  in  the  dedication  of  the  parish  church  of 
S.  Asaph,  which,  like  most  of  the  Vale  of  Clwyd  churches,  consists 
of  two  equal  and  parallel  aisles,  known  as  "  Eglwys  Gyndeyrn  " 
(north)  and  "  Eglwys  Asa  "  (south),  respectively.2  Llanasa  also  has 
parallel  aisles,  which  are  said  to  be  similarly  dedicated.3  There 
appears  to  be  some  uncertainty  as  regards  the  dedication  of  the  Cathe- 
dral Church,  whether  to  the  two  Saints  conjointly,  or  to  S.  Asaph 
alone.  Browne  Willis  gives  it  as  dedicated  to  S.  Asaph  alone,  with 
Patronal  Festival  May  I.4  All  the  evidence  goes  to  show  that  S. 

1  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Councils,  etc.,  i,  p.  530  ;    Willis,  S.  Asaph,  p.  156. 

2  Willis,  5.  Asaph,  pp.  20,   126. 

3  Thomas,  History  of  the  Diocese  of  S.  Asaph,  ist  ed.,  p.  293.      Willis,  how- 
ever, in  his  Survey  of  Bangor,   1721,  p.   357,  gives  the  church  as  dedicated  to 
S.  Asaph  alone.     So  Rees,  Welsh  Saints,  p.  335.  4  Ibid.,  p.  357. 


S.   Asaph  183 

Asaph  was  regarded  as  the  Patron  of  the  Diocese— consequently  of  its 
Cathedral  Church.  In  his  fragmentary  Life  he  is  styled,  "  Glorios- 
i^imus  Confessor  et  Pontifex  Asaph  Patronus  noster."  Bishop 
I.I  vuvlvn  ab  Madog  of  S.  Asaph,  in  his  will,  dated  1373,  says,  "  Imprimis, 
confisus  nu-ritis  &  precibus  Sanctissimi  Asaph  Episcopi  &  Confessoris, 
unique  mei,  lego  animam  meam  Deo,"  etc. ;  l  and  Bishop  Bache 
in  his  will,  dated  1394,  commits  his  soul  "  Deo  &  Beato  Asapho 

.  ssori  glorioso  &  omnibus  Sanctis."  2 

There  is  a  modern  church  dedicated  to  S.  Asaph  in  Birmingham, 
tin-  parish  of  which  was  formed  in  1868. 

Thnv  is  a  cottage  near  the  village  of  Rhuallt,  in  the  parish  of  Tre- 
hion,  adjoining  that  of  S.  Asaph,  which  bears  the  name  of  Onen 
Asa  (S.  Asaph's  Ash-tree).  Within  comparatively  recent  years  there 
was  a  \\vll-known  spot  in  the  High  Street  at  S.  Asaph  where  "  the 
schoolboys  used  to  shew  a  mark  on  a  black  stone,  in  a  pavement  of  the 
about  the  middle  of  the  hill  betwixt  the  two  churches,  which 
tli.  \  said  W9S  the  print  of  S.  Asaph's  horse-shoe,  when  he  jumpt  with 
him  from  Onnan-Hassa,  which  is  about  two  miles  off."  3  A  similar 
legend  appears  to  have  been  associated  with  two  other  Welsh  Saints, 
\:  ini.m  Fivnhinand  Cynllo,  forOl  Troed  March  Engan,  at  Llanengan, 
a  ml  (>1  Traed  March  Cynllo,  at  Llangoedmore,  are  represented  to  be 
their  horses'  hoof-prints.  So  with  Carreg  Cam  March  Arthur  (the 
\\ith  the  impress  of  the  hoof  of  Arthur's  steed),  under  Moel 
I'amina.4  With  the  name  Onen  Asa  may  be  compared  that  of 
tin;  place-name,  still  in  use,  Daniel's  (or  Deiniol's)  Ash,  in  the  parish 
nt  Hawarden.  Both  may  have  been  preaching  stations. 

MIIOII  Asa  is  a  natural  spring  remarkable  for  the  great  volume 
;t  throws  up  from  the  limestone  rock,  and  for  its  extreme 
•  oldnos.  It  is  considered  the  second  largest  well  in  Wales,  next  to 
S.  \\  iiK'i'iv.l's.  and  is  said  to  yield  no  less  than  seven  tons  of  water  per 
minute.  The  stream,  some  forty  yards  from  the  spring  head,  turns  a 
large  mill-wheel,  and  forms  a  fine  waterfall  at  Dyserth,  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  the  well.  Dr.  Johnson,  when  he  paid  a  visit  to  the 
waterfall,  says  that  the  well  was  "  covered  with  a  building,"  5  which 
lias  now  disappeared  ;  and  Pennant  describes  it  as  being  in  his  day 
"  inclosed  with  stone,  in  a  polygonal  form."  6  Its  water  was  considered 

1  Willis,  S.  Asaph,  p.  241. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  212.  S.  Asaph  is  the  only  .Welsh  Cathedral  that  escaped  Norman 
iv-ilrclu\ition.  The  Cross  Keys,  now  the  arms  of  the  See,  and  suggestive  of  a 
IVtriiu'  (Indication,  are  a  modern  blunder  for  a  key  and  crozier  in  saltire. 

Ibid.,  pp.  134-5.         *  Edward  Pugh,  Cambria  Depicta,  p.  11  (London,  1816). 

5  /)!•!»  v  ,>/  a  Journey  into  Xorth  Wales  in  the  year  1774,  p.  77   (London,  1816). 

•  Touts  in  Wales,  ii,  p.  113,  ed.  1883. 


184  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

to  be  beneficial  in  rheumatic  and  nervous  complaints,  and  people 
used  to  bathe  in  it.  In  a  field  belonging  to  Llechryd,  in  the  parish  of 
Llannefydd,  is  another  well  called  Ffynnon  Asa.  It  forms  the  source 
of  the  brook  Afon  Asa,  which  runs  into  the  Meirchion,  a  tributary  of 
the  Elwy.  The  field,  as  "  Kae  ffynnon  Assaphe,"  is  mentioned  in  an 
indenture  dated  February  16,  1656.  S.  Asaph  has  another  Holy  Well, 
in  the  Vale  of  Conway.  In  a  will  dated  1648  mention  is  made  of  a 
meadow  called  "  Gweirglodd  Ffynnon  Asaph,"  in  Erethlyn,  in  the 
parish  of  Eglwys  Fach,  Denbighshire.1 

The  year  of  S.  Asaph's  death  is  generally  given  as  596, 2  but  this  is 
manifestly  too  early.  He  died  on  May  i,  which  occurs  as  his  Festival  in 
but  very  few  of  the  Welsh  Calendars — the  lolo  MSS.  one  (from  a  MS. 
written  circa  1500),  that  in  the  Welsh  Prymer  of  1633,  and  the  one  pre- 
fixed to  Allwydd  Paradwys  (1670) ;  also  by  Nicolas  Roscarrock.3  In  the 
Martyr ology  of  Aberdeen  his  Festival  is  observed  on  the  same  day  : 
"  KT  Maii.  In  Vallia  Sancti  Aseph  discipuli  Sancti  Kentigerni  de  quo 
ecclesia  cathedralis  in  eadem  prouincia  cujus  pacientia  et  vite  sanctitudo 
illius  regionis  incolis  viuendi  normam  egregiam  et  fidei  constantiam 
admonuit."  4  To  this  it  may  be  added  that  "  the  only  trace  of  his 
cultus  in  Scotland  is  in  the  parish  of  Strath,  in  the  Isle  of  Skye,  in 
which  there  is  a  chapel  called  Asheg.  .  .  .  There  is  no  doubt  that 
it  was  primarily  dedicated  to  S.  Asaph.  .  .  .  Among  the  excellent 
springs  with  which  this  parish  abounds  one  is  considered  superior  tx 
all,  and  is  called  Tobar  Asheg,  or  S.  Asaph's  Well."  5 

A  fair,  long  since  discontinued,  was  held  at  S.  Asaph  on  his  Festival. 
The  confirmation  of  the  fair — to  be  held  on  the  vigil,  day,  and  morro^ 
of  the  Festival  of  SS.  Philip  and  James — was  obtained  by  Bishop 
Dafydd  ab  Bleddyn  in  1321. 6  It  was  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  Dei 
and  Chapter,  who  received  the  tolls  of  the  same.  Willis  adds  that  the 
regard  had  to  the  day  in  his  time  "  appeared  from  appointments  oi 
payments  of  money,  and  other  orders  relating  to  usages  and  custoi 
in  this  Church  (the  Cathedral),  which  commenced  on  this  Festival."  7 

1  Arch.  Camb.,   1887,  p.   158. 

2  E.g.,  Pennant,  supra,  ii,  p.  128  ;    Willis,  5.  Asaph,  p.  35. 

3  The  ist  May  as  his  Day  is  in  Wilson's  Martyrologie,  ist  ed.  1608,  and  21 
1640.   Curiously,  not  in  WTiytford.    But  he  is  in  the  modern  Roman  Martyrology, 
and  Pope   Pius   IX,  by  a  Rescript,  ordered  the  Sunday  following  May  i  to  be 
observed  as  a  double  of  the  Second  Class. 

4  Forbes,   Kalendars  of  Scottish  Saints,   p.    130.        For  his   Proper    see  Dr, 
Stevenson,   The  Legends  and  Commemorative  Celebrations  of  S.  Kentigern,  his 
Friends  and  Disciples,  from  the  Aberdeen  Breviary  and  the  Arbuthnot  Missal, 
Edinb.,   1874,  pp.  24-5. 

5  Forbes,  op.  cit.,  p.  271. 

6  Willis,  5.  Asaph,  pp.   51,   184.  7  Survey  of  Bangor,  p.  339. 


S.  ASAPH. 

From  Fifteenth-Century  Glass  in  Chancel  Window, 
Llandyrnog  Church,  Denbighshire. 


S.  Aude  185 


I  Despite  S.  Asaph's  eminence  as  a  Welsh  Saint,  mediaeval  Welsh 
erature  has  but  little  to  say  about  him.  Not  so  much  as  one  poem 
appears  to  have  been  written  in  his  honour.  lolo  Goch,  Owen 
Glyndwr's  laureate,  mentions  him  as  "  Assa  Iwyd  "  (the  Blessed), 
and  invokes  his  protection  for  himself. L  Lewis  Glyn  Cothi,  a  fifteenth 
century  Carmarthenshire  bard,  also  invokes  his  protection  for  Caio, 
his  natale  solitm.  In  another  passage  he  exclaims,  "  Myn  bagl  Assa  !  " 
("  By  S.  Asaph's  bacillus  or  pastoral  staff !  ") ;  and  in  another  he 
uses  the  expression  "  pryd  Asa,"  by  'which  the  Saint's  traditional 
handsomeness  is  implied.2 

He  is  credited  with  having  written  "  Ordinationes  Ecdesice  suce,  and 
the  Life  of  his  master  Kentigerne."  3  He  very  probably  did  write  the 
Life  of  his  master,  but  it  has  not  come  down  to  us  in  its  original  form. 
It  may  have  formed  the  basis  of  the  Lives  by  the  anonymous  monk 
and  Jocelin  in  the  twelfth  century.  The  following  saying  is  attributed 
to  him,  and  "  would  bee  often  in  his  mouth  "- 

Quicunque  verbo  Dei  adversantur, 
Saluti  hominum  invident.4 

He  is  represented  in  fifteenth  century  glass  in  Llandyrnog  church,  in 
the  Vale  of  Clwyd. 


S.  AUDE,5  Virgin,  Martyr 

THE  identification  of  this  virgin  Saint  presents  peculiar  difficulties. 
Apparently  the  Aude  or  Haude  venerated  in  Leon  is  the  same  as  the 
twara  of   the   Sherborne  Calendar.     The   name   Jutwara   or  Aud- 
a,  is  Aed-wyry,  or  Aed  the  Virgin,  but  at  Sherborne  the  Welsh 
e  went  through  modification  to  suit  English  mouths. 
The  legend  of  S.  Aude  in  the  L6on  and  Folgoet  Breviaries  is  the 
same  with  certain  small  differences  as  that  by  John  of  Tynemouth  in 
pgrave's  Nova  Legenda  Angliae,  of  Jutwara. 

1  Gweithiau  lolo  Goch,  ed.  Ashton,  pp.  355,  533  (Oswestry,  1896). 

2  Gwaith  Lewis  Glyn  Cothi,  pp.  311,  371,  533  (Oxford,  1837).      "Bagl  Asaf " 
also  occurs  in  a  eulogy  of  Bp.  Wm.  Hughes  (1573-1601)  by  Wm.  Lleyn. 

3  Bp.  Godwin,  Catalogue  of  Bishops  of  England,  London,  1615,  p.  544. 

"  Bale  out  of  Capgraue  "  (Ibid.,  ad  loc.).     The  apothegm  is  quoted  by  Bp. 
Richard  Davies  at  the  end  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Welsh,  prefixed  to  the  Welsh  New 

(tanu-nt  of  1567.     It  has  been  put  into  Welsh  thus  by  some  one — 
Y  neb  a  ludd  ddysgu  crefydd, 
Trwy  genfigen  etyl  rybudd. 
The  name  is  from  the  Welsh  Aidd,  zeal,  warmth,   ardour,  cognate  to  the 
h  aed,  ead,  and  the  Gaelic  cud. 


I  8  6  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Porpius  Aurelianus. 


S.  Paulus  Aurelianus, 
B.  of  Leon,  d.  c.  560. 

S.  Sativola, 
V.M.  at 
Exeter. 

S.  Wulvella, 
V.  Abbess  in 
Cornwall. 

S.  Aod  or    da  — 

J  utwara 
V.M. 

S.  Joavan,  Ab.  Batz, 
B.  Leon,  d.  554. 

It  will  be  advisable  to  tell  the  story  as  given  by  the  latter,  noting 
the  differences,  and  then  to  point  out  some  curious  coincidences  which 
link  it  on  to  that  of  Paulus  Aurelianus,  or  Paul  of  Leon.  Jutwara, 
born  of  noble  parents,  lost  her  mother,  and  her  father  married  again. 
She  had  a  brother  named  Bana  and  three  sisters,  Eadwara,  Wilgitha, 
and  Sativola.  All  these  sisters  were  Saints. 

Jutwara  grew  pale  as  wax,  and  her  step-mother  asked  her  the  cause. 
She  replied  that  she  was  suffering  from  pains  in  her  chest.  The  step- 
mother advised  the  application  of  a  cream-cheese  ;  and  then  told  Bana 
a  scandalous  story  affecting  his  sister  ;  "  atque  in  argumentum  fidei 
interulam  puellae  a  pectore  ejus  extrahere  suadit :  dicens  earn  pro- 
fluente  de  mamillis  lacte  madidam  fore." 

The  young  man  rushed  to  find  his  sister,  and  meeting  her  as  she 
was  returning  from  church,  charged  her  with  incontinence.  She  was 
staggered  at  this  accusation.  "  Interulam  ejus,  ut  doctus  fuerat, 
extraxit :  quam  madidam  inveniens  " — in  a  blind  fury,  he  drew  his 
sword  and  cut  off  her  head.  Not  only  did  a  fountain  spring  up  on  the 
spot,  but  a  great  oak  grew  there  as  well.  After  many  years  the  tree 
was  overthrown  by  a  gale,  and  fell  against  a  house  that  was  near,  so 
that  the  branches  interfered  with  exit  and  entry.  The  owner  of  the 
house  and  his  boy  set  to  work  to  hack  the  boughs  away,  when  the 
stump,  relieved  of  the  burden,  righted  itself,  and  carried  up  the  lad  who 
was  clinging  to  a  branch  uncut  off. 

According  to  the  Leon  version  of  the  story,  of  which  however  we 
have  only  Albert  le  Grand's  arrangement,  the  name  of  the  father  was 
Galonus,  presumably  a  settler  from  Britain,  living  at  Tremaouezan, 
near  Landerneau,  in  Leon.  He  had  a  son  Gurguy,  and  a  daughter  Aude. 
Gurguy  went  to  the  court  of  Childebert ;  and  on  his  return  found  that 
his  father  had  married  again,  a  lady  of  good  family  whom  he  had  met 
in  Britain.  The  step-mother  poisoned  his  mind  against  his  sister,  told 
him  she  had  been  incontinent,  and  he  rushed  to  find  her,  at  a  well 
washing  clothes.  He  cut  off  her  head,  and  found  her  bosom  stuffed 
out  with  milk-curds,  which  she  had  purposed  giving  to  the  poor.  She 
took  up  her  head,  walked  to  the  hall,  put  on  her  head  again,  reproached 
her  brother,  and  forthwith  died. 


. 

m 


S.    Ancle  187 


'11  ic  story  goes  on  to  relate  that  Gurguy  repented  and  went  off  to 
.  Paul  at  Leon  and  was  bidden  by  him  retire  as  a  penance  into  a  forest 
IK  ,u  Landerneau,  and  there  fast  and  pray  for  forty  days.  The  penance 
accomplished,  Gurguy  returned  to  S.  Paul,  who  admitted  him  as  a 
monk  into  his  monastery,  and  finally  sent  him  to  be  superior  to  a  cell 
IK-  had  established  at  Gerber,  afterwards  called  Le  Relecq,  and  changed 
hfe  name  to  Tanguy. 

:i  follows  a  legend  of  the  bringing  of  the  head  of  S.  Matthew  to 

Hi  it  tuny,  and  the  founding  by  Tanguy  and  S.  Paul  of  a  monastery  on 

a  headland,  the  extreme  western  point  of  Finistere.     This  is  a  gross 

:ronism,  as  the  relics  of  S.  Matthew  were  not  brought  to  Brittany 

till  830. 1    This  episode  may  accordingly  be  dismissed. 

What  is  true  is  that  S.  Paul  founded  the  monastery  of  Gerber,  after 

tailed  Le  Relecq,  about  560  on  the  spot  where  the  final  battle 

•utfht  between  Judual  and  Conmore,  usurper  of  Domnonia,  in  555, 

in  which  Conmore  was  slain.    It  acquired  its  name  Le  Relecq,  or  abbatia 

dereliquiis,  from  the  number  of  bones  found  about  on  the  battlefield, 

N  being  the  Breton  for  bones  of  all  sorts,  not  necessarily  of  Saints.2 

ul  i^ave  Tanguy  a  dozen  monks  as  his  companions.     The  new 

name  imposed  on  him  is  derived  from  Tan,  fire,  as  that  of  Aude  is  from 

flame. 

Now  if  we  look  at  the  Life  of  S.  Paul  of  Leon,  an  early  document,  we 

find  that  he  had  as  his  father  one  Porphius,3  and  that  he  came  from 

lVmi-(  >hen,  i.e.  Cowbridge,  in  Glamorgan,  and  that  he  had  three  holy 

the  name  of  one  of  these  was  Sicofolla,  and  he  had  brothers 

Xotalius  and  Potolius.4 

"lla  is,  we  may  suspect,  the  Sativola  of  the  Exeter  Calendars, 
>j>ularly  called  Sidwell.  If  this  be  so,  then  we  obtain  the  names  of 
mi's  other  sisters.  It  is  true,  the  author  of  his  Life  says  there  were 
ily  three  that  were  saints,  whereas  in  the  Life  of  S.  Jutwara  there 
re  tour  named.  The  curious  coincidence  is  that  Tanguy  in  Leon  is 

.ted  as  in  close  relationship  with  S.  Paul. 
Ka.lwara  and  Jutwara  may  be  only  two  forms  of  the  same  name 
1-wyry.    The  sister  called,  in  the  Life  of  S.  Jutwara,  Wilgitha,  is 
>wn  in  Cornwall  and  Devon  as  Wulvella,  and  she  is  the  reputed 
mdress  of  Gulval. 


"Chronicon  Britannicum,"  in  Dom  Morice,  Preuves,  i,  p.  3. 

11   (Abbe),   Le  livre  d'or  des  Eglises  de    Bretagne,   Nos.    19-20,    Les 
1>.  9- 

3  In  Achau'r  Saint  (Cambro -British  Saints,  p.  270)  the  name  is  Pawlpolius, 
inti-d  by  Rees  Pawlpolins. 
Vita,  ed.  Dom  Plaine  in  Analecta  Boll.,  1882. 


Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

It  is  possible  that  Lanteglos  by  Camelford  may  have  been  dedicated 
originally  to  Jutwara,  as  Laneast,  hard  by,  is  to  the  sisters  Wulvella 
and  Sidwell.  The  church  is  now  supposed  to  be  dedicated  to  S. 
Julitta.  There  is  a  Holy  Well,  in  fair  preservation,  with  remains  of  a 
chapel  at  Jut  wells,  which  may  be  a  contraction  for  Jutwara's  or  Aod's 
well.  The  day  of  the  Translation  of  the  body  of  S.  Jutwara  from 
Halinstoke  to  Sherborne  Abbey  was  observed  on  July  13.  Where  was 
-)-Halinstoke  ?  Can  it  have  been  Helstone  or  Helsbury,  the  former  in 
Lanteglos,  the  latter  the  stone  camp  dominating  it  ?  Nicolas 
Roscarrock  says  that  holding  her  head  in  her  hands,  she  turned  to 
look  back  on  the  hill  where  she  had  been  martyred. 

July  13  was  given  in  the  Sherborne  Calendar  and  by  Whytford. 
What  seems  confirmatory  of  the  dedication  is  that  at  Camelford  in 
Lanteglos  parish,  a  fair  is  held  on  July  17  and  18,  i.e.  within  the  week 
or  octave  of  the  feast  of  the  Translation  of  S.  Jutwara. 

The  day  of  her  martyrdom  according  to  Nicolas  Roscarrock  was 
January  6,  but  he  also  gives  the  day  of  her  translation,  July  13. 

The  sequence  for  S.  Jutwara's  day  is  in  the  Sherborne  Missal, 
liturgical  notes  on  which  have  been  issued  by  Dr.  Wickham  Legg,  for 
the  S.  Paul's  Ecclesiological  Society,  1896.  It  recites  the  incidents 
of  her  legend.  It  concludes  with  the  invocation  : — "  Virgo  sidus 
puellaris  medicina  salutaris,  salva  reos  ab  amaris,  sub  mortis  nubecula." 
In  the  Breviary  of  Leon,  1705,  the  feast  of  S.  Aude  is  marked  on 
November  28,  as  a  semi-double.  Statues  of  SS.  Tanguy  and  Aude  are  in 
the  chapel  near  the  ruins  of  the  abbey  of  S.  Matthieu,  also  in  the  church 
of  Kernilis.  A  statue  of  S.  Aude  of  the  sixteenth  century,  perhaps 
earlier,  is  at  Guizeny.  It  is  probably  she  who  is  represented  with  a 
scimitar,  her  sister  S.  Sidwell  is  on  the  next  panel  but  one,  at  Ashton, 
Devon,  on  the  screen,  certainly  at  Hennock  beside  S.  Sidwell  with  her 
head  in  her  hands. 

In  art  she  might  well  be  represented  holding  a  cream-cheese,  or  a 
sword,  with  an  oak  tree  at  her  side,  if  the  identification  with  Jutwara 
be  admitted.  In  Allwydd  neu  Agoriad  Paradwys,  1670,  S.  Juthwar 
V.M.  is  inscribed  on  December  23,  but  this  is  borrowed  from  Wilson's 
English  Martyr ologie,  1608,  and  he  puts  an  asterisk  to  the  insertion  to 
show  that  he  had  no  authority  for  it.  The  insertion  there  was  purely 
arbitrary. 

S.  Aude,  Virgin,  is  entered  inWhytford's  Martiloge,on  NovemberiS, 
a  slip  apparently  for  November  28. 


S.  AUDE. 
From  Statue  at  Guiztny. 


S.   Austell  189 

S.  AUGULUS,   Bishop,  Martyr 

AUGULUS,  Bishop  of  London  and  Martyr,  is  in  the  Roman  Martyro- 
logy,  that  of  Usuardus,  those  also  of  Rhabanus  Maurus,  Wandelbert  of 
I'rum,  Ado  of  Vienne,  the  thirteenth  century  Martyrology  of  Christ- 
church,  Canterbury,  Arundel  MS..  No.  60,  also  a  martyrology  written 
between  1220  and  1224,  MS.  Reg.  2,  A.  xiii,  etc.1 

Nothing  whatever  is,  however,  known  of  him.  The  day  is  February 
-  \Vhytford  in  his  Martiloge  gives  on  that  day,  "  In  brytayne  at 
aii.uust  the  feest  of  saynt  Agge  a  martyr  and  abysshop"  ;  also  Nicolas 
Roscarrock. 


S.  AUSTELL,  Monk,  Confessor 

i: LI.  was  a  disciple  of  Mevan  or  Mewan,  and  accompanied  him 

and  S.  Samson  from  South  Wales.     When  Samson  made  a  foundation 

at  (iolant  near  Fowey,  previous  to  crossing  into  Armorica,  Austell 

must  have  been  there  as  well,  for  he  planted  his  llan  where  stands  now 

tin-  beautiful  church  that  bears  his  name,  and  hard  by  that  of  his 

master.     On  the  tower  he  is  represented  as  a  hermit  or  pilgrim  with 

aff  and  beads,  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Saviour,  and  on  the  left  is 

nson  habited  as  Archbishop  of  Dol,  in  pall  with  archiepiscopal 

crazier. 

Austell  followed  Mewan  and  Samson  to  Brittany.     Mewan  was  sent 
Samson  with  a  message  acrpss  the  forest  of  Bracilien  to  Vannes, 
d  on  the  way  Mewan  made  friends  with  a  settler  from  Britain,  who 
rsuaded  him  to  found  a  llan  near  his  place,  and  promised  him  all 
territory  on  his  death.     This  was  the  origin  of  the  famous  abbey  of 
If  fen. 

\Vlu-n  Mi-wan  was  dying  Austell  stood  by  with  streaming  eyes,  the 
abbot  bade  him  cease  weeping,  and  not  be  discouraged,  as  he 
uld   follow   him   in  seven   days.     Accordingly,   seven   days  after, 
ustt'll  was  found  dead  in  his  bed. 

The  brethren  knowing  the  friendship  of  long  standing  that  existed 
between  the  two,  resolved  to  lay  Austell  by  his  abbot. 
( >n  opening  the  stone  coffin,  they  found  that  the  dead  man,  whom 
had  laid  on  his  back  with  folded  hands  over  his  breast,  had  moved 
one  side  so  as  to  allow  space  for  his  faithful  companion.     S.  Austell's 

1   lladi'.an  and  Stubbs,  Councils,  etc.,  i,  Appendix  B.,  p.  27,  et  scq. 


i  go  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

day  is  June  28.  "  Septimo — die,  quod  est  quarto  kalendas  Julii — in 
pace  obdormiens  requievit"  1 

Tresveaux  in  his  additions  to  Lobineau  gives  the  fifteenth  century 
Calendar  of  S.  Meen,  and  this  has  the  commemoration  as  on  the  Vth 
calends,  or  June  27.2 

Gaultier  du  Mottay  quoting  the  same  authority  gives  June  2g.3 
Clearly  both  have  misread  the  original. 

S.  Austell  (Austolus)  does  not  seem  to  have  founded  any  churches 
in  Brittany ;  he  was  content  to  be  eclipsed  by  the  greater  luminary, 
S.  Mevan.  But  in  Cornwall  he  has  a  church  of  great  beauty. 

According  to  Sir  Harris  Nicolas,  the  Feast  of  S.  Austell  was  formerly 
kept  on  Trinity  Sunday,  but  Nicolas  Roscarrock,  a  better  authority 
because  he  wrote  in  or  about  1610,  and  was  a  Cornish  man,  says  that 
the  Feast  was  kept  on  Thursday  in  Whitsun  Week.  There  is  no 
separate  Life  of  this  Saint ;  all  we  know  of  him  is  from  the  Life  of 
S.  Mevan  or  Mewan.  This  has  been  published  by  Dom  Plaine.  It  is 
subsequent  to  the  tenth  century,  and  is  contained  in  the  Analecta 
Bollandiana,  tome  in"  (1884),  and  is  from  a  MS.  that  belonged  to 
the  Abbey  of  S.  Meen,  but  is  now  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale 
at  Paris. 

The  death  of  S.  Austell  took  place  about  627. 

Nicolas  Roscarrock  from  local  tradition  says  that  "  S.  Austell  and 
S.  Meven  were  great  friends,  whose  parishes  joyne." 


S.  AVIA,  see  S.  EWE 


S.  BACH 

BACH  AB  CARWED  or  Carwyd  was  the  founder  of  Eglwys  Fach, 
"  if  the  story  be  true,"  as  the  compiler  of  the  alphabetical  catalogue  in 
the  Myvyrian  Archaiology  adds,4  the  more  obvious  signification  of  the 
name  being  the  "  small  church."  The  parish  is  situated  partly  in 
Denbighshire  and  partly  in  Carnarvonshire,  and  the  church  is  now  given 
as  dedicated  to  S.  Martin.  Bach's  name  does  not  occur  in  any  of 
the  lolo  MSS.  lists.  Rees  5  places  him  in  the  second  half  of  the  seventh 

1  Vita  Sti.  Mevenni,  ed.  Plaine,  p.   16. 

2  Vies  des  Saints  de  Bretagne  (ed.  1836),  tome  i,  p.  xxviii. 

3  "  Essai  d'Iconographie  Bretonne,"  in  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Polym.  des  Cotes 
du  Nord,  tome  iii,  1857-6.     Calendar,  p.  353  ;    also  p.  127. 

4  P.  419.  5  Welsh  Saints,  p.  306. 


S.  AUSTELL. 
Statue  on   West  Front  of  Tower,  S.  Austcll. 


S.    Bach  i  9  i 

century.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  Northern  chieftain  and 
warrior,  who,  retiring  into  North  Wales,  fixed  upon  this  sequestered 
spot,  and  dedicated  the  close  of  his  life  to  religion.  According  to  the 
local  tradition  the  present  tower  of  the  church  formed  his  dwelling  or 
cell. 

Edward  Lhuyd  in  his  Itinerary  of  Wales  (1698-9)  says  that  Bach 
killed  a  certain  wild  beast  which  was  the  cause  of  much  annoy- 
ance to  the  inhabitants  on  the  banks  of  the  Carrog  near  the  church. 
The  beast  was  a  kind  of  wild  boar,  and  they  called  it  Carrog.  A  little 
aiti-r  the  slaughter  Bach  happened  to  kick  the  monster's  head,  but 
through  contact  with  one  of  its  tusks  bruised  his  foot,  and  died  of  the 
wound  (cf.  the  case  of  Diarmait  in  the  Irish  legend).  Another  version 
represents  this  monstrous  boar,  which  played  the  part  of  a  mediaeval 
•  >n,  as  having  been  killed  by  the  united  action  of  the  inhabitants. 
Tin  -re  is  yet  another  tradition,  which  attributes  its  slaughter  to  S.  Beuno, 
who  paid  Eglwys  Fach  a  special  visit  for  the  purpose.  According  to 
this,  Carrog  somewhat  resembled  a  flying  serpent ,  which  made  its  appear- 
in  the  daytime,  kidnapping  and  eating  children.  S.  Beuno,  from 
1  mrch  tower,  directed  an  arrow  to  the  tender  spot  on  its  throat — 
the  only  vulnerable  part  on  its  body — and  this  took  fatal  effect.  There 
is  a  tumulus,  called  Bedd  Carrog,  at  Eglwys  Fach,  which  tradition 
points  out  as  the  monster's  grave.1 

The  word  carrog  means  a  brook  or  torrent,  and  is  the  name  of 
«>me  half  a  dozen  streams  in  Wales.  A  good  number  of  the  Welsh 
river  names  bear  a  "  swine  "  signification,  or  are  in  some  way  or  another 
associated  by  legend  with  swine. 

In  the  Taxatio  of  1291  the  church  is  called  "  Eglewys  Ewach,"  and 
in  the  Valor  of  1535  the  living  occurs  as  "  Rectoria  de  Vach."  These, 
-•11  as  later  forms,  show  that  the  name  is  really  Eglwys  y  Fach, 
meaning  "  the  church  in  the  nook  or  angle,"  which  accurately  describes 
its  situation  in  the  Conway  Valley.  If  dedicated  to  a  S.  Bach,  who 
founded  it  in  the  seventh  century,  its  name  most  probably  would  have 
Uanfach.  There  is  another  Eglwys  Fach,  in  Cardiganshire,  which 
licated  to  S.  Michael  the  Archangel. 


S.  BACHLA,  see  S.  BAGLAN  AB  ITHEL  HAEL 


1  Lewis  Morris,  Celtic  Remains,  pp.  25-26  ;    Silvan  Evans,  Welsh  Dictionary.. 
(  arrog  ;    \Villiams,   Eminent  Welshmen,  s.v.  Bach  ',    Bye-Gones  for   1896  : 
Willis,  Survey  of  S.  Asaph,  ed.  Edwards,  i,  p.  284. 


192  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

S.  BAGLAN  AB  DINGAD,  Confessor 

THERE  were  two  Welsh  Saints  named  Baglan.  One  was  Baglan  the 
son  of  Dingad  ab  Nudd  Hael  by  Tenoi,  the  daughter  of  Lleuddun 
Luyddog  of  Dinas  Eiddyn,  i.e.  Edinburgh.1  He  was  a  brother  to 
SS.  Lleuddad,  Eleri,  Tegwy,  and  Tyfriog.  They  were  all  saints  at 
one  time  of  Llancarfan,  and  afterwards  went  with  S.  Dyfrig  to  Bardsey. 
Rees  places  him  in  the  second  half  of  the  sixth  century.2  He  founded 
Llanfaglan,  near  Carnarvon,  which  is  now  under  Llanwnda.  He  is 
connected  in  the  genealogies  with  Coed  Alun.  Llanfaglan  is  situated 
in  Maenor  Alun  on  the  Menai  Straits,  near  their  southern  extremity. 
The  church  has  been  wrongly  supposed  by  some,  from  its  name,  to  be 
dedicated  to  the  Magdalene.  Baglan  Church  in  Glamorganshire,  is 
sometimes  3  said  to  have  been  founded  by  him,  but  wrongly  we  think. 

There  is  a  Welsh  proverb  now  generally  quoted  in  the  following 
form,  "  Ffordd  Llanfaglan  yr  eir  i'r  nef,"  "  The  way  of  Llanfaglan  one 
goes  to  heaven."  In  the  Red  Book  of  Hergest  collection  of  proverbs 
(apparently  its  earliest  known  occurrence)  it  is  written,  "  Ffordd 
ylanfaglan  yd  eir  y  nef."  The  English  equivalent  would  seem  to 
be  "  None  go  to  heaven  on  a  feather  bed."  Llanfaglan  Church 
is  picturesquely  situated,  surrounded  by  trees,  in  the  centre  of  a 
large  field  washed  by  the  Menai  Straits,  and  there  never  appears  to 
have  been  any  public  roadway  towards  it.  It  is  now  practically 
abandoned,  a  new  church,  more  conveniently  situated,  having  been 
built  to  replace  it. 

Baglan  is  mentioned  in  the  Life  of  his  brother  S.  Llawddog  or 
Lleuddad  (Llanstephan  MS.  34),  to  whom  he  attached  himself,  and 
together  served  God.  From  it  we  gather  that  he  was  Dingad's 
eldest  son. 


S.  BAGLAN  AB  ITHEL  HAEL,  Confessor 

THIS  saint's  father  was  a  prince  of  Llydaw,  or  Armorica,  of  which 
country  he  was  also  a  native,  and  for  this  reason  was  called  Baglan 
Llydaw.  He  was  a  brother  to  SS.  Tanwg,  Twrog,  Tegai,  Trillo, 
Fflewin,  Gredifael,  and  Llechid,  and  all  or  nearly  all  of  them  accom- 
panied S.  Cadfan  to  Bardsey.4  Rees  places  him  in  the  first  half  of  the 
sixth  century.5  He  founded  Baglan  Church  in  Glamorganshire,  which 

1  Peniarth  MSS.  16  and  45  ;   Hafod  MS.  16  ;   Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  418,  427  ;   lolo 
MSS.,  pp.  103,  113,  139. 

2  Welsh  Saints,  p.  275.  3  e.g.,  lolo  MSS.,  p.  103. 

4  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  418  ;    lolo  MSS.,  pp.  112,  133,  139. 

5  Welsh  Saints,  p.  223. 


S.    Bag/an  193 

also,  but  wrongly,  been  attributed  to  S.  Baglan  ab  Dingad.  Near 
tin-  church  there  is  a  well  "  famous  for  curing  rickety  children  ; 
but,  according  to  the  vulgar  opinion,  only  on  the  three  first  Thursdays 
in  May."  l 

Edward  Lhuyd,  in  his  Reliquice,  has  the  following  note  on  Baglan 

Church  :  "  Its  name  from  St.  Baglan,  which  tradition  says  was  a  disciple 

<»t  St.  Illtud,  and  one  time  carried  fire  in  the  skirt  of  his  garment  from 

.ittwg  without  singeing  it.     Illtud  seeing,  took  it  for  a  miracle, 

and  jjavi-  him  a  staff  with  a  head  of  brass  (which  was  preserved  a 

!  relirk  till  of  late  years,  which  had  a  wonderful  effect  upon  the 

sick),  and  said  it  should  guide  him  to  a  place  where  he  should  find  a 

bearing  three  sorts  of  fruit, there  he  should  build  a  church  for 

himself.     In  a  short  time  he  came  to  the  place  where  the  church  now 

:,d  found  a  tree  with  a  litter  of  pigs  at  the  root,  a  hive  of  bees  in 

tin  body,  and  a  crow's  nest  in  the  top  ;  but  not  liking  the  situation,  it 

being  on  a  proclivity,  intended  to  build  it  at  some  distance  in  a  level 

plain,  but  what  was  built  by  day  fell  in  the  night,  and  was  at  last 

1  to  take  the  hilly  place  where  it  now  is."     The  present  church 

level  ground  a  little  below  the   spot  where   the   old   church  is 

•M  mated.     He  adds,  "  Under  the  North  part  of  Mynydd  y  Ddinas  is 

ing,  formerly  much  resorted  to  by  rickety  children,  and  especially 

«n  tlmr  Thursdays  in  May,  Ascension  Day  to  be  one  of  them  without 

:,iil." 

There  is  a  small  brook  in  the  parish  called  Nant  Baglan. 
A   place   called  Carn  Baglan,  situated   somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Tenby,  is  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv* 
In  the  Celtic  Litany  of  the  tenth  century,  now  in  the  Library  of  the 
and  Chapter  of  Salisbury,  and  published  by  Mr.  Warren,3  occurs 
the  name  of  Bachla,  who  is  invoked.     He  appears  also  in  the  Celtic 
Litany  of  the  same  period,  published  by  Mabillon  from  a  Rheims  MS.4 
M.  J.  Loth  supposes  him  to  have  been  a  disciple  of  S.  Winwaloe 
at  Landevenec,  and  that  he   is   honoured  as  Balag  at   Penflour  near 
•Chateaulin.    "  Bachla,"  says  he,  "  has  given  Bala,  as  Machlow,  Malo, 
is   Machteth,  '  a  servant  maid,'  becomes  matez,   as    Mochdreb   has 
become  Motreff,  near  Carhaix."  5 

There  is  a  Ploubalay  in  Cotes  du  Nord  near  Matignon.     Of  Balay 
thing  is  known.     But  in  the  Cartulary  of  Landevenec,  Bachla  is  not 


Carlisle,  Topographical  Dictionary  of  Wales,  1811,  s.r.  Baglan.       2  P.   126. 

Celtique,  1888.  p.  88.  *   Vetera  Analecta,  ed.  1723,  it  p.  669. 

Kente  Celtique,   1890,  p.   138. 
Vol.  ..  0 


i  94  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

the  form  of  name  given  to  the  pupil  of  S.  Winwalos  but  Biabil.1  He- 
lived  an  eremitical  life,  and  as  many  miracles  attested  his  merits,  he 
was  regarded  as  a  saint. 

Bachla  cannot  be  identified  with  Biabil,  he  is  more  probably  the 
Baglan  ab  Ithel  Hael,  who,  having  come  from  Armorica,  may  have 
returned  to  it. 


S.  BANHADLEN,  Matron 

S.  BANHADLEN  was  the  daughter  of  Cynyr  of  Caer  Gawch,2by,  accord- 
ing to  Rees,  3  Mechell,  daughter  of  Brychan,  his  first  wife.  This  state- 
ment is  made  apparently  on  the  authority  of  Owen  Pughe's  Cambrian 
Biography ;  4  but  it  is  quite  wrong.  In  the  Vespasian  Cognatio  we 
have  this  entry,  "  Marchel  filia  Brachan  uxor  Gurind  barmbtruch  de 
Merionyth."  From  this  we  learn  that  Marchell  (not  Mechell)  was  the 
wife  of  Gwrin  Farfdrwch,  of  Meirionydd,  a  descendant  of  Cunedda 
Wledig, 5  and  a  totally  different  person  from  Cynyr  of  Caer  Gawch. 

Banhadlen  became  the  wife  of  Dirdan,  "  a  nobleman  of  Italy," 
also  reckoned  among  the  Saints, 6  and  was  the  mother  of  S.  Ailbe.  Her 
name  is  sometimes  wrongly  given  as  Danadlwen.  No  churches  are 
dedicated  to  her,  nor  is  her  Festival  known.  As  a  common  noun 
banhadlen  means  the  broom. 

S.  BAR,  see  S.  FINBAR 

S.  BARRUC,  Monk,  Confessor 

CRESSY  in  his  Church  History  of  Brittany,  Rouen,  1668,  says,  "  Baruckr 
a  Hermit,  whose  memory  is  celebrated  in  the  Province  of  the  Silures  and 
Region  of  Glamorgan.  He  lyes  buried  in  the  Isle  of  Barry,  which  took 
its  name  from  him,"  and  he  adds,  "  In  our  Martyrologe  this  Holy 
Hermit  Baruck  is  said  to  have  sprung  from  the  Noble  Blood  of  the 
Brittains,  and  entering  into  a  solitary  strict  course  of  life,  he  at  this 
time  (A.D.  700)  attained  to  a  life  immortal!.' ' 

Cressy's  dates  are  set  down,  like  those  of  Albert  le  Grand,  very 

1  Cart,  de  Landevenec,  Rennes,   1888,  p.   159.     "  Fuerunt  duo    ex  discipulis 
sancti  Uningualoei  in  pago  Enfou  in  ploe  Ermeliac,  nomina  eorumsanctus  Bia- 
bilius  et  sanctus  Martinus,  jussu  abbatis  sui  degentes  vitam  heremicam,  et  in 
finein  Claris  miraculis  sancti  effecti." 

2  Tolb  MSS.,  pp.   107,   146. 

3  Welsh  Saints,  p.   162,  cf.  p.   147.  4  P.  241. 
5  See  also  the  O.  Welsh  genealogies  in  Harl.  MS.  3859. 

8  lolo  MSS.,  p.   314. 


S.  Bar  rue  i  g  5 

arbitrarily.      Bairn.   i>  tin  -monk  o!  that   name  who  was  a  disciple  of 

•t\vtf.  ami  \vlin  is  nu-iitioned  in  the  Vitu  S.  Cadoci.1 
"  It  happened  that  the  blessed  Cadoc  on  a  certain  day  sailed  with 
two  ot  In-  <li-ciple-,  namely  Harruc  and  (iiialehes,  from  the  island  ot 
;,!.  which  is  now  called  Holme,  to  another  island  named  Barry. 
When,  therefore,  he  prosperously  landed  in  the  harbour,  he  asked  his 
-aid  .li-nple-  for  his  Enchiridion,  that  is  to  say,  his  manual  book  ;  and 
they  <  onle-si  .1  that  they  had  lost  it  through  forget  fulness,  in  the  afore- 
suid   inland.     On  hearing  this,  he  at  once  commanded  them  to  go 
aboard  a  ship,  and  row  back  to  recover  the  codex,  and  blazing  with 
fury   broke   into  the  following  invective,   saying,    '  Go,   and    never 
nn  !          Then  the  disciples,  making  no  delay,  at  the  command  ol 
then   master  quickly  entered  the  boat,  and  rowed  out  to  the  afore- 
mentioned i>land.     When,  having  recovered  the  volume,  they  were  on 
ther  k  about  midnmrse.  and  were  seen  in  midsea  by  the  man 

-I  MI  tint;  on  top  ot  a  hill  in  Harry,  the  boat  unexpectedly  upset, 
and  they  were  drowned. 

body  of  Barme  bein»  cast  by  the  tide  on  the  shore  of  Barry, 

\\.i-  there  found,  and  was  buried  in  that  island,  which  bears  his  name 

t"  ti  lay.     Hut  the  body  of  the  other,  that  is  to  say,  Gualehes, 

t  by  the  sea  to  the  Isle  of  Echni  and  was  there  buried."     The 

:«>1,1  j-  not  to  the  credit  of  Catwg,  but  his  curse  is  an  after 

invention.     Naturally  he  wanted  his  book  back,  and  would  not  ill-wish 

the  men  who  were  to  recover  it  for  him  ;  but  the  writer  of  the  Life,  to 

enhance  tin-  -  n-dit  of  his  hero,  as  he  thought,  made  him  predoom  the 

.hath,  that  the  accident  might  seem  to  be  a  fulfilment 

ot  hi-  word. 

:  i.ind  is  an  islet  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  circumference, 

-itu.ited  in  a  -.m.lv  hay.  and  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  narrow 

isthmus,  which  at  low  water  is  dry.    It  is  treated  as  being  in  the  parish  of 

posite,  which  is  said  to  have  taken  its  name  from  it.     Barry, 

•  a  t  iny  village,  is  now  celebrated  for  its  extensive  docks. 

In  Norman  times  William  de  Barri  founded  the  Castle  of  Barry  on  the 

island,  and  from  him  was  descended  Giraldus  de  Barri,  better  known  as 

(iiraldus  Camhrensk     Leland,  writing  of  the  island,  says,  "Ther  is 

in  the  midle  of  it  a  fair  litle  Chapel  of  S.  Barrok,  wher  much  Pilgrimage 

usid.1        There  are  no  traces  of  it  now  to  be  seen.     The  hermit 

been  buried  in  it.     Towards  the  south  of  the  island,  at 

1  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  63-4. 

"  Hnjuscemodi  invectionem  in  cos  cum  furore  inurens,  inquit :  Itc  nunquam 
ivditurus."     Vita  S.  Cadoci,  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  63. 
3  I  tin.,  iv,  f.  62. 


1 9  6  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

a  spot  called  Nell's  Point,  is  the  saint's  holy  well,  once  much  resorted  to. 
Great  numbers  of  women  visited  it  on  Ascension  Day,  and  having 
washed  their  eyes  with  its  water,  each  would  drop  a  pin  into  it.  As 
many  as  a  pintful  were  once  found  on  cleaning  the  well  out. 

In  the  Vita  S.  Cadoci  (written  in  the  early  thirteenth  century), 
already  quoted,  the  island  is  said  to  have  been  so  called  from 
S.  Barruc.  Its  name  occurs  there  as  Barren.1 

The  lolo  MSS.  credit  S.  Barrwg  with  having  founded  Barri  and 
Penmark,2  in  Glamorganshire.  The  parish  church  of  Barry  is  now 
dedicated  to  S.  Nicholas,  and  Penmark  to  S.  Mary.  Rees  3  adds 
Bedwas,  in  Monmouthshire,  but  see  the  next  notice.  There  is  a 
Ffynnon  Farrwg  near  the  church  there. 

Cum  Barruc  =  Cenubia,  in  the  Valley  Dore,  Herefordshire,  is 
mentioned  several  times  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv.  It  was  probably 
identical  with  Lann  Cerniu. 

His  Festival  in  the  Calendar  in  Cotton  MS.  Vesp.  A.  xiv,  is  on  Sep- 
tember 27  ;  on  which  day  he  is  also  given  by  Wilson  in  both  editions 
of  his  Mariyrologie,  1608  and  1640,  also  by  Nicolas  Roscarrock,  but 
in  the  Calendar  prefixed  to  Allwydd  Paradwys,  1670,  November  29. 
Browne  Willis  gives  September  26. 

The  Irish  abbot  Barri,  mentioned  in  the  Life  of  S.  David  as  having 
ridden  S.  David's  favourite  horse  across  the  sea  from  Pembrokeshire 
to  Ireland,  is  Finbar.  They  have  been  wrongly  identified  by  some 
writers. 

S.  BEDWAS,  Confessor 

BEDWAS  was  one  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Helig  ab  Glannog,  of  Tyno 
Helig,  whose  lands  the  sea  overwhelmed.  The  Lavan  Sands  of  to-day 
form  a  portion  of  the  territory,  on  losing  which  Helig  and  his  sons 
devoted  themselves  to  religion  and  became  saints,  or  monks,  in  Bangor 
on  Dee.  Some  of  them  afterwards  went  to  Bardsey.4  Rees  5  classes 
him  with  the  saints  of  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century.  He 
may,  if  he  ever  existed,  have  been  the  original  founder  of  Bedwas, 
in  Monmouthshire.  Browne  Willis,  Coxe,  Rees  and  others  ascribe  it  to 
S.  Barrwg,  and  the  lolo  MSS.  to  S.  Tewdrig.6 

In  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  7  a  brook  called  Betguos  or  Betgues  is  men- 
tioned as  forming  the  boundary  of,  apparently,  Llangoven,  Monmouth- 
shire, on  the  further  side  of  the  county.  Betgues  would  yield  later 
Bedwes,  which  also  occurs  for  Bedwas. 

1  Pp.  45,  63-4  ;    Barren  in  MS.,  and  not  Barreu. 

»  P.  220.  3  Welsh  Saints,  p.  342. 

*  lolo  MSS.,  p.   124.         5  Welsh  Saints,  p.  302.          •  P.   148.         '  P.  jo;. 


S.   Be/ems  197 

S.   BEDWINI  or  BEDWIN,  Bishop,  Confessor 

H«.\v  this  bishop  (  aim-  to  be  reckoned  among  the  Welsh  Saints  it  is 
ult  to  say.     Hi-  name  does  not  occur  in  any  of  the  usual  genealo- 
nor  does  he  appear  to  have  been  connected  in  any  special  manner 
\\  itli  Wales.      In  the  references  t he-re  are  to  him  in  Welsh  literature  he 
i-  1  with  Kin^  Arthur,  and  generally  with  Cornwall.      "The 

U  ..f.  Aithui  -amlhis  Men  "state  that  t  here  were  Three  Throne-tribes 
eol  Britain.     Tin-  one  at  Celliwig,  now  Callington,  in  Cornwall, 
had  Arthur  as  supreme  kin.u.   Bishop  Bedwini  as  chief  bishop,  and 
hfras  as  chief  elder. »     Another  Triad  makes  Celliwig  one 
of  the  three  archbishoprics  ot  Britain.-  o\ vr  which  Bedwini  presided  as 
bishop.     Hi>  name  occurs  again  in  two  of  the  Mabinogion  tales — 
in  that  ot  (  ulhwch  and  Olwen  (as  Bedwini).  where  he  is  mentioned  as 
the  one  "  who  bK-ssed  Arthur's  meat  and  drink,"  and  in  the  Dream  Of 
Rhonabwy  (as  Bedwim.:t     In  these  tales  Arthur  figures  as  the  Cham- 
pion ot  Britain,  and  the  persons  among  whom  the  bishop  appears  are 

mythological  as  could  well  be. 
On. '..I  the  >l  Sa\m^«,t  the  Wise  "  is  attributed  to  this  Saint  thus  :— 

H.i^t    th. ni   hr.ml   tin-  saving  of  Bechvini, 
Who  \\,i>  a    bishop.   jjcHxl   and   K'ravc  ? 

i    thy   \\unl   ln-forr   uttering  it."  * 
(Khagrcithi.i  'th  ,m  cyn  noi  ddodi.) 

as  a  Badwin,  Badwini,  or  Bedwin,  first  Bishop  (673-^0)  of 
the  East  An-han  M  «•  of  Klmham,  now  included  in  that  of  Norwich,5 
hut  troin  Norwich  to  Callington  is  a  far  cry. 

flien-  are  no  churches  dedicated  to  this  saint,  nor  is  his  festival 

S.  BELERUS.  Confessor 

41   \\v    read:    "The  religious  foundation  of 

th.-  Kmpnor  Tewdws  (Theodosius)  and  ("vstennin  of  Llydaw  was 
•i  Illtv.l.  when-  Belerus.  a  man  from  Rome, was  superintendent, 
and  Padrig,  the  son  oi  Mat  won,  principal,  before  he  was  carried  away 
caj)tivc  by  the  Irish."  The  college  mentioned  is  that  of  Caerworgorn, 
which  was  also  called  Cor  Tewdws. 

•nly  Theodosius  who  was  in  Britain  was  he  who  was  sent  thither 
Valentinian.  then  at  Amiens,  against  the  Picts  and  Scots. 

Skl';  it-nt  liks.  -.]>.4V,;    M\ ,-.  Arch.,  p.  407. 

<    Rhys  ami   Hvun-v  M.ihinogion.  pp.  112,   148. 
triplet  occur-,  in  a  slightly  different  form  in  Myv. 

Jit.  Early  English  Chinch  ///</,.»v    ,;nl  «•,!..  p.  age  :     Ha.l.iau  ami  Stubbs, 
Council^,   ni.   p. 


i  g  8  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

He  was  beheaded  in  Africa  in  370.  His  son  Theodosius  the  Great 
was  Emperor  along  with  Gratian,  379,  sole  Emperor,  392,  and  died 
395.  His  grandson  Theodosius  II  was  Emperor  of  the  West,  423-425. 
The  last  of  these  is  probably  meant,  and  Cystennin  is  Constantine,  who 
was  proclaimed  in  Britain  433,  and  who  reigned  till  443.  The  found- 
ation of  Caer  Worgorn  accordingly  took  place  between  423  and  443. 

The  foundation  of  a  college  in  Britain  is  by  no  means  as  improbable 
as  appears  at  first  sight.  One  of  the  first  cares  of  Agricola  after  he  had 
pacified  Britain  was  to  establish  schools  for  the  education  of  the  young 
sons  of  the  chiefs  in  the  liberal  arts.  "  He  affected,"  says  Tacitus, 
"  to  prefer  the  national  spirit  of  the  Britons  to  the  acquired  talents  of 
the  Gauls  ;  so  that  their  people,  who  refused  at  first  to  speak  the 
language  of  the  Romans,  soon  became  eager  to  acquire  their 
eloquence."  *  There  was  an  university  at  Autun  in  Gaul  as  early 
as  the  reign  of  Tiberius ;  later  there  were  others  at  Rheims, 
Toulouse  and  Treves.  Gaul  produced  from  its  schools  the  great 
rhetoricians  Votienus  Montanus  at  Narbonne,  Domitius  Afer  at 
Nimes,  Julius  Africanus  at  Saintes. 

In  425  Theodosius  II  founded  the  university  of  Constantinople  with 
thirty  professors,  three  rhetors,  ten  Latin  grammarians,  five  Greek 
rhetors  and  ten  Greek  grammarians,  a  philosopher  and  two  legal 
professors  (Cod.  Theodos.,  xiv,  9,  3  ;  xv,  i,  53).  The  law  was  signed 
by  Valentinian  III  as  well  as  by  Theodosius.  Whether  the  same  was 
done  in  the  West  we  do  not  know.  This  was  the  final  act  in  the 
regulation  and  organization  of  public  education  in  the  Empire.2 

With  the  schools  so  extensively  developed  in  Gaul,  it  is  inconceivable 
that  they  should  not  also  have  been  established  and  encouraged 
in  Britain.  And  that  Theodosius  and  Valerian  should  have  done 
something  towards  this  is  conceivable  enough. 

A  good  deal  of  discredit  has  been  cast  on  the  lolo  MSS.,  perhaps 
undeservedly.  lolo  Morganwg  was  a  stonemason,  and  most  assuredly 
knew  nothing  of  the  imperial  system  of  education  in  the  colonies.  He 
cannot  have  imagined  the  statement  above  quoted.  The  MSS.  he 
copied  were  in  most  cases  late,  but  he  was  a  faithful  transcriber  on  the 
whole. 

We  are  disposed  to  accept  the  tradition  that  Caer  Worgorn  was  a 
school  not  founded  but  favoured  by  the  Emperors  Theodosius  and 
Valentinian,  and  encouraged  by  the  tyrant  Constantine. 

Belerus,  "  a  man  from  Rome,"  has  been  thought  to  have  been 
Palladius  ;  but  this  is  phonetically  impossible.  But  as  Palladius  was 

1  Agricola,  21. 

2  Boissier,  La  Fin  du  Paganism,  Paris,  1891,  i,  pp.  172-231. 


.S'.    Belerus  199 

•  ither  born  in  Britain,  or  brought  into  close  relation  with  it,  we  may 
here  give  an  account  of  him. 

A  Palladium  was  "  magister  officiorum  "  at  the  time  of  Julian's  entry 
into  Constantinople,  after  the  death  of  his  cousin  and  predecessor 
'  "Jisiantmv.   ;0i.     One  of  Julian's  first  measures  was  to  send  a  com- 
mission to  (  alcedon,  to  try  a  number  of  persons  implicated  in  the 
nt  civil  war.     Among  these  was  Palladius,  and  the  judges  banished 
liim  \<>  Britain.  on  the  suspicion  of  his  having  prejudiced  Constantius 
ins1  Julian's  half  brother,  Gallus,  and  thus  having  been  the  occasion 
ol  tin-  death  ot  this  young  prince.1    Julian  perished  in  363,  when  prob- 
ably Palladius  was  recalled    but  it  is  possible  that  he  may  have  married 
and  settled  in  Britain,  and  that  there  was  born  Palladius,  who  was  to  be 
tin-  t:iM  mi—  innary  sent  to  Ireland.     We  cannot,  of  course,  offer  more 
than  the  conjecture  that  this  latter  Palladius  was  the  son  of  the  Master 
<•!  the  Offices,  banished  to  Britain,  but  it  would  seem  not  improbable, 
and  would  explain  his  lively  interest  in  British  affairs.2 

At  what  tune  he  went  to  Rome  we  know  not,  but  we  find  him  urging 
-tine  to  send  Germanus  and  Lupus  to  Britain,  to  encounter 
the  Pelagians.  Thi>  was  in  429.'  But  if  he  be  the  Belerus  of  Welsh  tra- 
dition. he  mu>t  have  been  before  this  appointed  head  of  Caer  Worgorn, 
Mij)jH)xin-  Midi  a  college  to  have  existed  before  423.  His  abandonment 
"t  this  monastic  college  was  perhaps  due  to  the  Irish  marauders  who 
attacked  and  destroyed  it. 

The  next  notice  we  have  of  Palladius  is  of  his  mission  to  Ireland. 
Prosper  <>t  Aquitaine  in  his  Chronicle,  under  431,  says  :—  "  Palladius 
d  by  Pope  Celestine,  and  sent  by  him  to  the  Scots  who 
ve<l  in  (bust,  as  their  first  Bishop." 

1  hat  there  were  some  scattered  believers  in  Ireland  at  this  time  is 
than  probable.     Indeed  it  would  be  strange  if  it  had  not  been  so, 
vas  the  intercourse  between  Ireland  and  Britain  and  the 
Continent. 

lll(  \nnn!>h.  written  before  700,  says  :—  "  Verily  indeed  was 


;«•///»/,*.  lib.  ii.  cap.    ;.     /oMinus.  Hist.,  lib.  ii,  cap.  ;;. 
onnexion  is  luggested  bv  Slu-arman,  Loca  Patriciana,  p.  403.  "~Arch- 
•her  quotes  an  ancient  authority  to  the  effect  that  Palladius  was  a 

itain. 


l.<  P.-hi-Mims  Srvt-riani  episcopi  Pelagian!  filius  ecclesias  Britannia? 

manual.  one  corrumpit.     Sed   ad  actionem   Palladii  diaconi  papa 

^tmiix  (MTinanum    \uti.sidon-nsem  episcopum  vice  sua  mittit  et  deturbatis 

teanoi   a,l   catholicum  fidem  dirigit."      In  the  Book  of  Armagh, 

Una   •  converted   into  Archdeacon  of  Ccclestine.     For  this  there  is  no 

-Mu.rchu  lurthrr  saya  that   "  Palladius   was  sent   ad  hanc   insulam 

Mam,     which  a  a  garbling  of  tlu-  words  of  ProsTxr,  who  savsthat  Palla- 

Inis  wai  M-nt  tn  tbOM  in  Ir.-lan.l  "  L.-lirvm-  in  Chrwt  " 


2OO  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

Palladius  the  Archdeacon  of  Celestine  Pope,  Bishop  of  the  city  of  Rome, 
who  then  held  the  Apostolic  See,  the  forty-fifth  in  succession  from  S. 
Peter  the  Apostle.  This  Palladius  was  ordained  and  sent  to  convert 
this  island,  lying  under  wintry  cold.  But  God  hindered  him,  for  no 
one  can  receive  anything  from  earth  unless  it  were  given  him  from 
heaven  ;  for  neither  did  those  fierce  and  savage  men  receive  his  doctrine 
readily,  nor  did  he  himself  wish  to  spend  time  in  a  land  not  his  own  ; 
but  he  returned  to  him  who  sent  him.  On  his  return  hence,  however, 
after  his  first  passage  of  the  sea,  having  begun  his  land  journey,  he 
died  in  the  territories  of  the  Britons." 

The  Second  Life  of  S.  Patrick  in  Colgan's  Trias  Thaumaturga  gives 
some  additional  details. 

"  The  most  blessed  Pope  Celestine  ordained  bishop  an  archdeacon 
of  the  Roman  Church  named  Palladius,  and  sent  him  to  the  island  of 
Hibernia,  after  having  committed  to  him  the  relics  of  the  blessed 
Peter  and  Paul  and  other  Saints,  and  having  also  given  him  the  volumes 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Palladius,  entering  the  land  of  the 
Scots,  arrived  at  the  territory  of  the  men  of  Leinster,  where  Nathi  mac 
Garchon  was  the  chief,  who  opposed  him.  Others,  however,  whom 
the  Divine  mercy  had  disposed  towards  the  worship  of  God,  having 
been  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Trinity,  the  blessed  Palladius 
built  three  churches  in  the  same  district,  one  of  which  he  called  Collfine, 
in  which,  even  to  the  present  day,  he  left  his  books  which  he  had 
received  from  Celestine,  and  the  box  of  relics  of  the  blessed  Peter  and 
Paul  and  other  saints,  and  the  tablets  on  which  he  used  to  write,  which 
in  Scottish  are  called  from  his  name  Pall-ere  or  Pallao-ere,  that  is  the 
Burden  of  Palladius,  and  are  held  in  veneration. 

"Another,  to  wit,  Tech-na-Roman  (the  House  of  the  Romans)  ;  and 
the  third  Domnach  Ardech,  or  Aracha,  in  which  are  (buried)  the  holy 
men  of  the  family  of  Palladius,  Silvester  and  Salonius,  who  are 
honoured  there.  After  a  short  time  Palladius  died  in  the  plains  of 
Girgin,  in  a  place  called  Fordun,  but  others  say  that  he  was  crowned 
with  martyrdom  there." 

The  Fourth  Life,  after  giving  much  the  same  account  up  to  the  burial 
of  Silvester  and  Salonius,  adds  :  "  But  Palladius  seeing  that  he  could 
not  do  much  good  there,  wishing  to  return  to  Rome,  migrated  to  the 
Lord  in  the  region  of  the  Picts.  Others,  however,  say  that  he  was 
crowned  with  martyrdom  in  Hibernia." 

Fuller  particulars  as  to  his  departure  are  given  in  the  Scholia  to  the 
hymn  attributed  to  S.  Fiacc  of  Stetty,  but  which  is  considerably  later. 

"  He  (Palladius)  founded  some  churches,  viz.,  Teach-na-Roman, 
Killfme,  and  others.  Nevertheless  he  was  not  well  received  bv  the 


S.   Be/erus  201 

people,  but  was  forced  to  go  round  the  coast  of  Ireland  towards  the 
north,  until,  driv.-n  l.y  a  great  tempest,  he  reached  the  extreme  part  of 
Mohaidh  toward-  the  south,  where  he  founded  the  church  of  Fordun. 
I'ledi  jx  ln>  name  there." 

In  tin-  Irish  original  version  it  is  said  that  he  reached  Cen  Airthir, 
and  Dr.  Todd  SOggCSts  that  this  is  Kinnaird  Head,  on  the  north-east 

•  <>t  Aberdeen-lmv. 

The  Scottish  versions  are  entirely  untrustworthy,  they  do  not  date 
Lack  rail H  r  than  the  fourteenth  century. 

Dr.  Todd  lias  shown  pretty  conclusively  that,  in  the  later  lives  of 
S,  I '.i trick,  a  fusion  has  taken  place  between  the  acts  of  the  great 
apostle  and  a  lo>t  Lite  of  Palladius. 

In  tlu-  .uenuiiu- early  records  of  S.  Patrick,  as  in  his  own  Confession, 

there  is  no  mention  of  his  having  been  a  disciple  of  S.  Germanus,  nor 

ot  his  .ommission  by  Pope  Celestine,  all  this  belongs  to  the  earlier 

'ie  Palladia,  who.  as  we  learn  from  Tirechan,1  was  also  named 

I'atririus.  at  the  time  a  common  name.2 

Proie— .,r  Zimmer  3  has  suggested  that  Palladius  is  but  the  Latin 

ot   the   name  Sucat  attributed  to  S.   Patrick.     Muirchu  mac 

Ma<  htheni.  who  wrote  shortly  before  698,  says  : — "  Patricius,  who  was 

liet.ot  British  nationality,  was  born  in  the  British  Isles."4 

JrMi  hymn  ot  S.  Fiacc,  states  that  Patrick  when  a  child  was 

nam<  and  in  a  gloss  on  the  passage  there  is  the  note  that  the 

num.  tixh.  ;,nd  meant  dens  belli  vel  fortis  belli,  because  su  in 

rtis,  and  cut  =  helium.* 

"  Tim-      says  /immer,  "  Palladius  is  a  Roman  rendering  of  the 

.-til us.  .  .  .     Sucat  either  changed  his  name  himself  on  his 

journey  to  Italy,  or,  what  is  more  in  accord  with  his  scanty  education, 

IK    made  ti  lends  select  for  him  a  Roman  equivalent  for  the  British 

Professor  Zimmer  identifies  Palladius  with  the  Patrick  of  the 

Conit-xjMiiN  ••  and"  Letter  to  Coroticus,"  which  we  consider  a  position 

wholly  untenable/1     \\V  would  rather  suggest  that   in  Britain  Patri- 


1  "Palladius  »-pi-co|.u-  j>riino  mittitur,  qui  Patricius  alio  nomine  appella- 
batur." 

1  Gibbon  s.iys,  "  'I'll.-  in. -an.  -t  Mibjccts  of  the  Roman  Empire  "  (at  the  close 
of  the  fifth  century)  "  assumed  the  illustrious  name  of  Patricius,  which  by  the 
;Mon  of  Ireland  has  been  communicated  to  a  whole  nation."  Decline 
and  Fall,  viii,  p.  300.  c-d.  Milman  and  Smith. 

3  The  Celtic  Church  in  ttritain  and  Ireland,  tr.  A.  Meyer   London,  1902,  pp. 

4  Tripartite  Life,  <  ii.  p.  494.  &  Ibid.,  ii,  p.  412. 

8  Dr.  Zimmer's  Thesis  has  met  with  a  crushing  rejoinder  from  the  pen    of 
)fessot  Hugh  \Yilliams,  Zeitschrift  fur  Celtische  Philologie,  iv  (1903). 


2  o  2  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

cius  bore  both  names,  his  Latin  and  his  vernacular  name,  and  that 
later  in  life,  and  when  he  left  Britain,  he  ceased  to  be  known  by  the 
name  of  Sucat. 

Let  us  endeavour,  following  Dr.  Todd,  to  reconstruct  the  history  of 
S.  Palladius. 

Prosper  of  Aquitaine  in  his  Chronicle,  under  429,  says  that  "  Agricola 
son  of  Severianus,  a  Pelagian  bishop,  corrupted  the  churches  of 
Britannia  by  insinuation  of  his  doctrine  ;  but  by  the  instrumentality  of 
the  deacon  Palladius  (ad  actionem  Palladii  diaconi),  Pope  Celestinus 
sends  Germanus,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  in  his  own  stead  (vice  sua)  to 
displace  the  heretics  and  direct  the  Britons  to  the  Catholic  Faith." 
And  in  the  year  next  but  one  following,  i.e.,  431,  "  Palladius  was 
consecrated  by  Pope  Celestinus,  and  sent  to  the  Scots  believing  in 
Christ,  as  their  first  bishop." 

Commenting  on  the  first  passage,  it  deserves  remark  that  Palladius 
is  not  called  a  deacon  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  we  should  infer  that 
he  was  the  deacon  of  Germanus.  What  is  probable  is,  that  Germanus, 
having  been  chosen  by  the  bishops  of  Gaul  to  go  to  Britain,  sent  his 
deacon  to  announce  this  to  Celestine,  and  to  ask  his  blessing  on  the 
undertaking. 

The  expedition  of  Germanus  and  Lupus  to  Britain  lasted  only  one 
year,  and  they  returned  to  Gaul. 

In  the  third  year,  431,  Celestine  ordained  Palladius  bishop  to  those 
of  the  Scots,  i.e.  Irish,  who  already  believed  in  Christ.  Palladius  then 
went,  as  we  may  presume,  to  Wales  and  crossed  over  from  Porth  Mawr 
to  the  Hy  Garchon  territory  in  Wicklow,  where  he  founded  three 
churches,  but  being  much  opposed  by  Nathi  mac  Garchon,  the  chief, 
he  was  obliged  to  leave.  Nathi  was  of  the  Dalmessincorb  family. 

"  It  is  possible,"  says  Professor  Bury,  "  that  we  may  seek  the  site 
of  a  little  house  for  praying,  built  by  him  or  his  disciples,  on  a  high 
wooded  hill  that  rises  sheer  enough  on  the  left  bank  of  the  River  Avoca, 
close  to  a  long  slanting  hollow,  down  which,  over  grass  and  bushes,  the 
eye  catches  the  glimmer  of  the  stream  winding  in  the  vale  below,  and 
rises  beyond  to  the  higher  hills  which  bound  the  horizon.  Here  may 
have  been  the  '  House  of  the  Romans,'  Tech  na  Roman  ;  and  Tigrency, 
the  shape  in  which  this  name  is  concealed,  may  be  a  memorial  of  the 
first  missioners  of  Rome.  But  further  west,  beyond  the  hills,  we  can 
determine  with  less  uncertainty  another  place  which  tradition  associates 
with  the  activity  of  Palladius,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  one  of  the  royal 
seats  of  the  lords  of  Leinster.  From  the  high  rath  of  Dunlavin  those 
kings  had  a  wide  survey  of  their  realm.  .  .  .  More  than  a  league 
eastward  from  this  fortress  Palladius  is  said  to  have  founded  a  church 


S.    Belerus  203 

which  is  known  as  the  '  domnach  '  of  the  High  field,  Domnach  Airte, 
m  ;i  hilly  region  which  is  strewn  with  the  remnants  of  ancient  genera- 
tions. The  original  church  of  this  place  has  long  since  vanished,  and 
its  precise  site  cannot  be  guessed  with  certainty,  but  it  gave  a  perma- 
nent name  to  the  place.  At  Donard  we  feel  with  some  assurance  that 
:!«•  at  one  of  the  earliest  homes  of  the  Christian  faith  in  Ireland, 
not  tin  earliest  that  existed,  but  the  earliest  to  which  we  can  give  a 
name. 

"There  was  a  third  church,  seemingly  the  most  important  which 
Palladium  is  said  to  have  iminded,  Cell  Fine,  '  the  Church  of  the  Tribes/ 
in  which  hi>  tablets  and  certain  books  and  relics  which  he  had  brought 
irom  Rome  were  preserved.  Here,  and  perhaps  only  here,  in  the 
plan-,  unknown  to  us,  where  his  relics  lay,  was  preserved  the  memory 
dladius.  a  mere  name.  Whatever  his  qualities  may  have  been 
he  was  too  short  a  time  in  Ireland  to  have  produced  a  permanent 
impression."  ' 

Mrpartm-  irom  tin   south  of  Ireland  by  boat,  Palladius  proceeded 

north  with  the  intent  to  visit  I'lstei ,  but,  according   to  one  account, 

•  Irivi  n  by  a  ^torm  to  the  coasts  of  Alba  and  died  there.     But,  as 

Professor  Bury  has  pointed  out,  it  is  more  probable  that  Palladius  did 

the  Pi.-ts  iii  Palaradi.i.  and  that  it  was  there  that  he  died;  not, 

indeed,  that  tie  was  there  martyred,  but  that  he  fell  sick  and  died  a 

natural  death. 

When  the  later  compilers  ot  the  Life  of  S.  Patrick  fused — but  very 

clumsily     the  two  Patricks  into  one,  they  reproduced  the  story  of  the 

in-  into  Wicklou   and  the  ill  reception  met  with  there,  and  the 

Mibsequent   boating  north  to  Ulster;  but  Patrick  was  made  to  land 

th-re.  where  -as  they  fabled  that  Palladius  had  been  driven  east  to  Alba. 

On  the  death  of  Palladius,  his  companions,  Augustine  and  Benedict 
returned  to  their  homo,  and  brought  the  news  of  the  event  to  Ebronia 
« a-  J-.boi  ia,  where  S.  Patrick  heard  of  the  failure  of  the  mission.  There 
difficulty  in  locating  this  place,  all  that  we  can  say  with  confidence 
about  it  is  that  it  was  in  Gaul.  Palladius  is  commemorated  on  July  6 
in  the  Arbuthnot  and  Aberdeen  Calendars.  He  is  unnoticed  in 
the  Irish  Ma  it  vrologies.  It  must  be  clearly  understood  that  the 
identification  of  Palladius  and  Belerus  is  most  uncertain,  and  is  not  a 
little  tanta<ti'\ 


1    Bury,  Life  of  5.  Patrick,  I.on.!..   1.^,5,  pp.  56-7. 


204  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 


S.  BELYAU,  Virgin 

As  Mr.  Egerton  Phillimore  has  shown,1  the  Breconshire  Church 
Llanvillo,  in  Welsh  Llanfilo,  clearly  took  its  name  from  and  is  really 
dedicated  to  Belyau,  who  was,  according  to  the  Cognalio  of  Cott.  Vesp. 
A.  xiv,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Brychan  Brycheiniog.  The  church  is 
usually  given  as  dedicated  to  S.  Milburgh,  but  this  is  a  mere  guess. 
It  is  called  in  ancient  charters  Lanbilio  and  Lanbiliou.  Belyau  was 
one  of  Brychan's  unmarried  daughters. 


S.  BEON  or  BENIGNUS,  Confessor 

AT  Glastonbury  in  1091  was  elevated  and  translated  the  body  of  a 
hermit  named  Beon,  who  had  been  buried  in  the  cell  he  had  inhabited 
in  the  Isle  of  Feringmere  in  the  Marshes. 

As  the  Glastonbury  monks  desired  to  make  the  most  of  their  place 
and  of  the  relics  they  possessed,  besides  pretending  to  have  there  the 
tomb  of  King  Arthur,  they  claimed  to  have  also  the  bodies  of 
S.  Patrick,  S.  David,  and  Gildas,  and  they  converted  the  Irish  settler 
Beon  into  Benignus,  archbishop  of  Armagh  and  successor  to  S.  Patrick. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Translation  they  had  an  epitaph  inscribed 
on  his  tomb,  which  they  pretended  had  covered  him  in  Feringmere. 

William  of  Malmesbury,  who  informs  us  of  this  in  his  book  on  the 
Antiquities  of  Glastonbury,  says  : — "  In  the  year  460  Saint  Benignus 
came  to  Glastonbury.  He  was  disciple  of  S.  Patrick,  and  his  third 
successor  in  the  episcopate,  as  is  recorded  in  their  Acts.  Benignus,  by 
the  counsel  of  an  Angel,  leaving  his  country  and  pontificate  and  aban- 
doning his  dignity,  having  undertaken  a  voluntary  pilgrimage  arrived 
at  Glastonbury,  God  being  his  guide  ;  and  there  he  encountered  S. 
Patrick.  Of  how  great  favour  he  was  in  with  God  is  manifested  by 
many  tokens.  This  is  testified  at  Feringmere,  where  a  spring  rose  at 
his  prayers,  and  a  great  flourishing  tree  grew  out  of  his  dry  staff.  Here, 
finally,  after  great  anguish  he  came  to  a  blessed  end,  in  the  said  island, 
and  there  rested  till  the  days  of  William  Rufus,  when  he  was  translated 
to  Glastonbury." 

The  Life  of  S.  Beon  or  Benignus  was  written  by  William  of  Malmes- 
bury, and  this  formed  the  substance  of  a  Life  by  John  of  Tynemouth, 

1  See  his  note  in  Owen,  Pembrokeshire,  iii,  p.  325. 


S.  Beon  205 

printed  in  Capgrave's  Nova  Legenda  Anglice.  According  to  this, 
Benignus,  after  having  spent  many  years  in  Ireland  as  a  bishop,  at 
t  he  summons  of  an  angel  departed  on  pilgrimage,  and  came  to  Glaston- 
bury  where  he  found  S.  Patrick,1  who  said  to  him  :  —  "  Go,  my  brother, 
content  with  your  staff,  and  wheresoever  it  begins  to  bud,  leaf  and 
bloom,  there  abide,  it  is  ordained  for  your  resting  place." 

Thru  Brnignus,  attended  by  a  boy,  Pincius,\vent  through  the  marsh 
and  willow  tangled  waste,  till  they  came  to  an  islet  or  toft  in  the  marsh 
<  ailed  Ferramere,  and  there  his  rod  rooted  itself  and  put  forth  leaves. 
At  tli;it  time  "  the  river  which  now  flows  by  it,"  took  another  course, 
and  Benignus  had  to  send  his  boy  Pinch  some  distance  for  water. 

One  day  Pinch  was  bringing  a  pitcherful  ;  the  weather  was  hot,  and 

he  lay  down  half-way  and  fell  asleep.     Whilst  he  snored  a  mischievous 

trllnw  stole  the  pitcher.     Pinch  awoke,  and  when  he  found  the  vessel 

.  set  up  a  howl,  and  presently,  laughing,  the  practical  joker  showed 

nd  restored  it.     Pinch  took  the  pitcher  to  his  master  and  told 

him  that  the  Devil  had  played  him  a  trick,  but  had  surrendered  the 

vessel  when  he  cried  out  to  the  God  of  Benignus. 

The  hermit,  compassionating  the  labour  imposed  on  Pinch,  thrust 

^taff  into  the  soil  and  elicited  a  copious  spring.     Benignus  was 

wont  at  nielli  to  walk  along  a  causeway  he  had  constructed  to  Glaston- 

bury  to  pray  there  in  the  church  of  S.  Mary.     One  night  he  found  his 

passage  obstructed  by  a  monstrous  form.     He  addressed  it  in  these 

'  You  bloody  beast  !  2  what  are  you  doing  here  ?  "     The 

•  lemon  replied  :  "  I  have  been  awaiting  you,  you  toothless  old  man, 

hoping  to  deceive  you."     Thereupon  Benignus  went  at  him  manfully, 

ht  him  by  the  scruff  of  the  neck,  belaboured  him  with  his  staff,  and 

flung  him  into  a  well  —  probably  a  mere  hard  by,  where  he  sank  and 

never  again  seen,  and  this  well  or  mere  was  held  to  be  bottomless. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  was  a  practical  joke  played  on  the 

old  fellow     and  it  turned  out  badly  for  the  performer.     When  he  felt 

'hat  his  time  was  come,  Benignus  summoned  his  disciples  to  him  and 

announced  to  them  that  his  hour  was  at  hand  ;  then  raising  his  eyes 

to  heaven,  he  expired  in  their  arms  on  November  3. 

In  the  year  1091,  his  body  was  translated  to  Glastonbury,  where 
persons  troubled  with  intestinal  worms,  threw  them  up  in  the 
of  the  congregation.3 


"  Glastoniam  vrnu-Ms,  sanctum   Patricium  invenit,"   Vit.    apud  Capgrave  ; 
"  Glastoniam  Deo  duce  pcrvenit  ;    ubi  et  sanctum  Patricium  invenit,"  Gulielm. 


Malmesb. 

»  "  Cruenta  bestia 


"  Plurimi  etiam  colubros  et  diversa  dolorum  genera  visceribus    habentes, 
palam,  vidente  populo,  evomuerunt." 


206  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

One  of  the  brethren  at  Glastonbury,  who  was  ill  of  a  fever,  \vas 
sceptical,  and  when  advised  to  invoke  the  newly  translated  saint, 
replied  :  "  It  can  do  no  harm,  if  it  does  me  no  good."  l 

In  the  night  Benignus  visited  him,  in  a  paroxysm  of  wrath  at  his 
slighting  expression,  and  soundly  boxed  his  ears.2  At  the  same  time 
he  informed  the  sceptic  that  one  of  the  brethren  had  stolen  one  of  his 
(the  Saint's)  teeth,  and  that  he  would  serve  him  worse  unless  it  were 
restored.  This  threat  when  reported  produced  the  required  effect. 

As  the  name  given  to  the  anchorite  on  his  tomb  was  Beon,  it  is  clear 
that  the  man  was  not  Benignus,  the  Irish  form  of  which  is  Benen. 
Beoan  or  Beon  is  a  common  name  in  Irish  Calendars,  saints  so  named 
occur  on  February  i,  August  8,  October  26  and  28,  and  Beogaison 
July  27,  and  this  name  is  quite  distinct  from  Benen  or  Benignus. 

That  this  peppery  hermit  was  an  Irishman  is  probable  enough,  that 
he  was  identical  with  S.  Benignus  of  Armagh,  cannot  be  allowed. 

Benignus  is  commemorated  on  November  9,  this  testy  old  saint  on 
November  3. 

The  Syon  College  MS.  Martyrology  (Add.  MS.  22,285)  has,  on  June 
27  :  "  Apud  glasconiam  translacio  sancti  benigni  confessoris."  Whytfdrd 
misread  the  name  and  entered  in  his  Martiloge  :  .  "  At  Glassenbury 
the  translacyon  of  sayt  Bemonus  a  Confessor."  But  in  his  additions 
for  the  same  day  :  "  The  feest  also  of  Saynt  Benygne  a  confessor." 


S.  BERNACH,  see  S.  BRYNACH 


S.  BERRYS 

THIS  saint's  name  is  entered  in  the  Myvyrian  alphabetical  Bonedd,* 
compiled  by  Lewis  Morris  in  1760,  but  occurs  in  no  other  list.  He  is 
there  given  as  the  patron  of  Llanferres,  Denbighshire,  a  name  variously 
spelt,  Lanverreys  in  the  Taxatio  of  1291,  and  Llanferrys  and  Llanferreis 
in  two  late  sixteenth  century  parish  lists.4  The  patron  of  the  church 
is  generally  said  to  be  S.  Britius  or  Brice,5  the  disciple  of  S.  Martin  of 

"  Re  enim  vera  sicut  michi  prodesse  non  valet,  ita  nee  michi  nocere  potest" 

2  "  Alapam  ingentem  in  faciem  ejus  dedit." 

3  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  419. 

4  Dr.  Gwenogfryn  Evans,  Report  on  Welsh  MSS.,  i,  p.  914, 

6  E.g.,  Browne  Willis,  Bangor,  1721,  p.  364  ;  Bp.  Maddox's  Book  Z  (1736^43) 
in  the  Episcopal  Library  at  S.  Asaph  ;  Pennant,  Tours  in  Wales,  ed.  1883,  ii. 
p.  28  ;  Lewis  Morris,  Celtic  Remains,  p.  3? 


S.   Berwyn  207 

ours,  who  afterwards  became  his  successor  in  the  bishopric,  and 
whose  festival  is  November  13.  Such  is  undoubtedly  the  case.  In 
soni.-  laic  >ixteenth  century  marginal  notes  to  the  Calendar  in  a  copy 
ol  tin-  Preces  Privatae  of  1573,  the  wakes  of  Llanferres  are  entered 
-t  November  13  ;  and  in  the  early  part  of  last  century  they  \\viv 
li.-M  on  the  Sunday  next  before  November  22.1 

YYS  Hivwis,  in  Glamorganshire,  is  by  some  believed  to  be  called 
5.  Brice,  but  by   others   after   the   De   Braose   family,    which 
appears  to  be  the  more  probable.      In  the  Taxatio  of  1254  (Norwich) 
it  occurs  as  Egelespriwes.  and  in  that  of  1291  as  Eglis  prewis. 


S.   BERWYN,  Martyr 

,  otherwise  Gerwyn,  is  reckoned  by  the  Welsh  genealogist- 
unions  the  sons  of  Brychan,  and  he  is  said  to  have  settled  in  Cornwall, 
when-  a  church  is  dedicated  to  him,  and  to  have   been  slain  in  the 
I>lr  oi  <iiT\vyn  ;  but  he  is  also  spoken  of  as  son  of  Brynach  Wyddel  or 
tin.-  Irishman.  l>v  forth  one  of  the  daughters  of  Brychan,  and  therefore 
son  of  the  King  of  Brecon.2    In  the  late  Welsh  genealogies 
his  name  always  occurs  as  Gerwyn,3  the  result   of  misreading  the 
initial  letter  of  his  name.      Nicolas  Roscarrock  in  his  MS.  Lives  oi  the 
s  calls  him  Breuer  or  Berwine,  and  says  that  his  foundation  was 
is  now  called  S.  Breward   or    Simonsward,    and   that    he    was 
litionally  held  to  have  been  the  brother  of  S.   Endelienta 
•  lenefreda. 

>  far  accords  with  the  Welsh  Pedigrees  that  Mwynen,  who  is 
linver  or  Menefreda,  was  daughter  of  Brynach.     Roscarrock  further 
that  folk  at  Simonsward  reported  that  the  tradition  of  their 
>rs  was  that  he  was  slain  there,  and  he  adds,  "  There  was  a 
growing  in  our  memorie  in  the  place  of  his  martyrdom  which  was 
much  regarded  and  reverenced  and  thought  to  have  contynued 

since  his  death." 
5.  Breward  Feast  is  on  February  2  ;  Old  Style  this  would  be  January 

V  'iii-ylicdydd,  x,  p.  335  (1833).     Bp-  Maddox,  ut  supra,  gives  Nov.  13. 
As  son  of  Brychan  in  both  versions  of  the  Cognatio,  "  Berwin  in  Cornwallia  " 
i  "  Berwyn  apud  Cornubiam ' ' ;  and  as  son  of  Brynach  in  lolo  MSS. ,  pp.  121.  141. 
3  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  in,  119,  140;  Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  419,  425. 


2  o  8  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

20.  The  parish  of  S.  Breward  had  its  church  dedicated  by  Bishop 
Briwere  or  Brewere  of  Exeter  (1223-1224).  Oliver  in  his  Monasticon  l 
states  that  the  church  "  Ecclesia  Sancti  Breweredi  de  Hamathethi  " 
was  granted  to  Tywardreath  Priory  in  the  time  of  Andrew  the  Prior. 
Unfortunately  this  document  is  undated,  but  it  must  have  been  before 
1154,  when  Osbert  was  prior,  who  appears  to  have  succeeded  Andrew 
immediately.  A  charter  of  William  Peverel  of  the  twelfth  century 
also  calls  the  church  that  of  S.  Brewaredus.2 


S.  BEULAN,  Confessor 

A  CHURCH  in  Anglesey  is  called  Llanbeulan,  and  is  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  a  foundation  of  Peulan,  son  of  Paul  Hen.3 

On  the  other  hand  Mommsen,  in  his  Introduction  to  Nennius,  says 
that  it  undoubtedly  takes  its  name  from  Beulan,4  a  priest,  at  whose 
command  Nennius  compiled  his  history  for  the  use  of  his  son  Samuel. 
But  as  Nennius  made  his  compilation  about  796,  or  perhaps  800,  we 
can  hardly  suppose  that  this  Beulan  gave  his  name  to  a  church,  as  the 
age  of  the  saintly  founders  was  over. 

We  shall  therefore  refer  to  Peulan  for  the  church  of  Llanbeulan. 


S.  BEUNO,  Abbot,  Confessor 

THE  authority  for  the  history  of  S.  Beuno  is  a  short  life  in  Welsh. 
A  copy  of  it  occurs  in  Llyvyr  Agkyr  Llandewivrevi,  a  MS.  written  in 
1346  at  Llanddewi  Brefi,  in  Cardiganshire,  now  in  Jesus  College  Library, 
Oxford.  The  MS.  was  published  by  Professors  Morris  Jones  and 
Rhys  in  1894,  and  forms  one  of  the  works  included  in  the  Anecdota 
Oxoniensia  series,  issued  by  the  Clarendon  Press  ;  it  is  found  pp.  119- 
127.  The  Life  is  also  printed  in  the  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  13-21, 
but  less  accurately. 


1  Oliver,  Monasticon  Exon.,  p.  34.  2  Ibid.,  p.  42. 

3  Peulan  was  a  disciple  of  S.  Cybi,  and  came  with  him  to  Anglesey. 

4  .Von.  Germ.  Hist.  Chron.  Minora,  iii,  p.  137. 


S.  Beuno 


209 


•pies  of  the  Life  are  to  be  found  in  Llanstephan  MSS.  4  and 
2~  (circa  1400),  Peniarth  MS.  15  (fifteenth  century),  and  a  number  of 
MSS.  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  later. 

A  translation  of  the  Life  was  printed  at  the  end  of  the  Life  and 
Miracles  of  S.  Wenefrede,  edited  by  Bp.  Fleetwood,  2nd  edition,  1713. 
In  the  MS.  in  Llyvyr  Agkyr  Llandewivrevi  the  Life  is  described  as 
being  "  u  portion  of  the  Life  of  Beuno  and  his  miracles."  It  is 
-trnn^ly  national  and  anti-Saxon  in  tone.  S.  Beuno  also  figures 
in  the  Vita  S.  \\  inefredce. 

Th<  Cywydd  i   Feuno  Abad    by  Rhys    Goch  Eryri    (flor. 

fourteenth  century)  which  has  been  printed  in  Y  Brython,  1860,  pp. 

451   -'.      Another  Cywydd  to   "  S.  Beuno  of  Clynnog,"  by  Sir  John 

(flor.  fifteenth  century),  has  been  printed  in  Y  Geninen,  1900, 

p.   143.     There  is  yet  another  Cywydd  to  him  by  Sion  Ceri  (flor. 

nth  century)  in  Jesus  College  MS.  I7  =  CI.     These  poems  add 

hut    little   to  what   is  contained  in  the  Life.      In  Latin  documents 

•Mine  is  usually  given  as  Beurionus. 

Cynfarch  Gul=Xyfain  da.  Brychan. 
LleiuUlun  Luyddog  (Leudonus  of  Leudonia) 
Anna  da.  Uthyr  Bendragon . 


ab  I  'ru-ii 

S.Cyr 
B.  Gla 

d.  612 

i  Di-nw. 
drvrn, 

LSgOW, 

Medrod  = 
<!•  537- 

r 

Two  p 

niurdt 
Constz 
c-  S3« 

Cywvllog 
da.  Caw 

n 

rinces 
red  by 
inline, 

Peril  cren  = 

=  Bugi.  Tenoi  = 

=  Dingad  ab  Nudd 
Hael. 

Tyfriog.  |    Eleri 
Lleuddad.     Baglan. 

1 
Tegwy. 

Temic. 

r~      n 

S.  Beuno,  Wenlo(?)=Tevyth  or 
d.  c.  635.                      1 

S.  Winefred. 

According  to  the  pedigree  of  the  saint  given  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
Life  lie  was  son  of  Bugi,  son  of  Gwynllyw,  son  of  Tegid,  son  of  Cadell 
1  >eyrnll\vtf.  His  father's  name  also  occurs  in  the  genealogies  as  Bengi 
i  ml  Hywgi.1 

The  pedigree  i^iven  in  the  Vita  S.Cadocidoes  not  agree  with  this. 

Bengi  and  Bugi  are  found  in  the  earliest,  Hywgi  in  the  later  MSS.      Byuci 
a  name  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.  279,  which  would  appear  later  as 

VOL.  I.  p 


2  i  o  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Cadoc  or  Catwg  is  made  son  of  Gwynllyw,  son  of  Glywys,  son  of  Solor, 
son  of  Nor,  son  of  Owain,  son  of  Maximian  (Maximus);1  and  accord- 
ing to  the  Life  of  S.  Gwynllyw,  this  saint  was  son  and  successor  to 
Glywys.  The  older  genealogies  give  Gwynllyw  ab  Glywys  ab  Tegid  ab 
Cadell.2  Anyhow,  Beuno  was  closely  related  to  Catwg,  and  also  to 
Cyndeyrn. 

It  seems  clear  that  the  royal  family  of  Gwent  issued  from  that  of 
Powys,  and  this  will  explain  the  fact  stated  in  the  Life  of  Beuno 
-  that  Bugi  lived  in  Powysland  by  the  Severn.  His  wife  was  named 
Beren,  and  she  was  the  daughter  of  Llawdden.3  Their  place  of  resi- 
dence was  Banhenig,  near  the  river,  the  identity  of  which  has  not 
been  fully  established.4 

In  their  old  age  they  had  a  son,  whom  they  named  Beuno,  and  sent 
him  to  Caerwent  to  be  educated  by  Tangusius,  who  had  probably  suc- 
ceeded Tathan  as  master  of  the  college  founded  by  Ynyr  Gwent. 
Here  he  "  obtained  a  knowledge  of  all  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  after- 
wards he  learned  the  service  of  the  Church  and  its  rules,  and  took 
orders,  and  became  a  priest." 

Ynyr  Gwent  is  represented  as  resigning  his  royal  position  and 
becoming,  in  his  old  age,  a  disciple  of  Beuno,  to  whom  he  granted  lands 
in  Ewyas.  This  is  Llanfeuno,  a  chapelry  now  under  Clodock,  near 
Longtown. 

Whilst  here,  Beuno  heard  that  his  father  was  ill,  and  committing  the 
charge  of  his  foundation  in  Ewyas  to  three  of  his  disciples,  he  departed 
for  Powys.  "  And  his  father,  after  receiving  the  communion,  making 
his  confession,  and  rendering  his  end  perfect,  departed  this  life." 

Beuno  now  made  a  foundation  in  the  township  of  his  father,  and  set 
an  acorn  by  the  side  of  his  grave,  that  grew  in  time  to  be  a  mighty  oak, 
of  which  one  branch  curved  down  to  the  ground,  and  then  rose  again, 
"  and  there  was  a  part  of  this  branch  in  the  soil,  as  at  present ;  and  if 
an  Englishman  should  pass  between  this  branch  and  the  trunk  of  the 

1  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  81. 

2  Peniarth  MS.  16  (early  thirteenth  century) ;  Peniarth  MS.   12  (early  four- 
teenth century)  ;  HafodMS.  16  (circa  1400)  ;  cf.  Jesus  Coll.  MS.  20  (early  fifteenth 
century). 

3  She    was    otherwise    called    Peren    (Peniarth   MS.    12  ;     Hafod  MS.  16  ; 
Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  267)  ;    and  Perferen  (Pen.  MSS.  16  and  27  ;    Myv. 
Arch.,  p.  41 8).    Llawdden  is  Lleuddun  Luyddog  of  Dinas  Eiddyn  (Edinburgh),  the 
eponymus  of  Lothian.     Her  sister  Tenoi  is  given  as  wife  of  Dingad  ab  Nudd  Hael, 
and  a  mother  of  saints.     But  there  is  a  chronological  impossibility  involved. 

4  Trelystan,  near  Welshpool,  has  been  suggested.     Near  Trelystan  Chapel 
are  Badnage  (formerly  Badnich)  Wood  and  Cottage,  and  within  the  chapelry  a 
dingle  called  Cwm  yr  Henog.     It  was  much  more  probably  Llanymynch,  where 
there  is  a  S.  Bennion's  Well,   and,   in   the    neighbourhood,  the    township  of 
Tredderwen. 


S.  Beuno  211 

he  would  immediately  die  ;  but  should  a  Welshman  go,  he  would 
in  no  way  suffer." 

Thence  Beuno  went  to  visit  Mawn,  "  son  of  Brochwel  "l  Ysgythrog, 
king  of  Powys.  The  relationship  is  wrong.  Mawn  or  Mawan  was 
brother,  and  not  son  of  Brochwel.  Mawn  granted  him  Aberrhiw,  now 
Berriew .  in  Montgomeryshire,  near  Welshpool,  where  an  upright  stone 
remains,  called  Maen  Beuno,  marking  the  spot  where  Beuno  is  supposed 
to  haw  preached  to  and  instructed  the  people.  It  stands  in  the  level 
land  bet  WITH  the  junction  of  the  Luggy  and  the  Severn,  and  the 
khiw  and  tin-  same  river,  a  little  off  the  high  road  from  Welshpool  to 
NYwtown. 

(hie  day,  when  Beuno  was  walking  by   the   Severn,  "he  heard 

a  vokv  nn  the  other  side  of  the  river,  inciting  dogs  to   hunt  a   hare, 

and  the  voice  was  that   of  an   Englishman,  who  shouted   '  Kergia  ! 

-  which  in  that  language  incited  the  hounds.     And  when 

'»   h«-anl   the  voice  of  the    Englishman,  he  at  once  returned, 

and  coming  to  his  disciples,  said  to  them,  '  My  sons,  put  on  your  gar- 

im-nts  and  your  shoes,  and  let  us  leave  this  place,  for  the  nation  of  the 

man  with  the  strange  language,  whose  cry  I  heard  beyond  the  river 

nr.uini;  <>n  Ins  hounds,  will  invade  this  place,  and  it  will  be  theirs,  and 

they  will  hold  it  as  their  possession.'  " 

Then  h«-  commended  his  foundation  at  Berriew  to  a  disciple  named 
Khithwlint,  and  departed  to  Meifod,  where  he  remained  with  Tyssilio 
forty  days  and  as  many  nights,  and  where  he  is  said  to  have  founded 
a  church  on  land  granted  him  by  Cynan,  son  of  Brochwel.  However, 
lid  not  remain  there.  Two  such  shining  lights  as  himself  and 
Tyssilio  could  hardly  abide  together,  and  Cynan  gave  him  lands  at 
(iw  vddelwern,  near  Corwen,  in  Merionethshire.  The  name  shows 
that  at  one  time  the  Irish  were  in  occupation  here,  and,  indeed,  the 
-tron^  stone  camp  of  Caer  Drewyn,  that  commands  Corwen  and  the 
valley  in  which  is  Beuno's  church,  with  its  ruined  cytiau, looks  very 
much  as  if  it  were  of  Irish  construction. 

But  the  "  Life  "  gives  another  explanation  of  the  name.  It  says 
that  (Iwyddelwern  was  so  called  because  that  there  Beuno  raised  an 
Irishman  to  lite.  He  was  probably  Llorcan  Wyddel,  mentioned  as 

i  ^ix  persons  said  to  have  been  so  raised  by  him. 
He  did  not  long  remain  on  this  spot,  for  he  quarrelled  with  the 
1  in -i)l lews  "   of  Cynan,    who   were   hunting   in   the   neighbourhood. 

1  "  Vawn  vab  Brochwel." 

1  Probably  "  Charge  !  "     The  story  brings  the  English  west   of  Offa's  Dyks 
at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century. 


212  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Actually  they  were  grandsons  of  Cynan,  sons  of  Selyf.1  Coming  to 
Gwyddelwern,  they  imperiously  demanded  food  for  themselves  and 
their  party.  They  induced  Beuno  to  kill  a  young  ox  for  their  refection, 
but  the  meat  did  not  cook  in  the  pot  to  their  liking,  and  the  youths 
swore  that  this  was  due  to  Beuno,  who  was  sulky  at  their  quartering 
themselves  upon  him,  and  had  bewitched  the  food.  When  Beuno 
heard  this  he  was  very  wroth,  and  cursed  the  young  men.  "  What 
your  grandfather  gave  to  God  free,  do  you  demand  of  it  tribute  and 
service  ?  May  your  kin  never  possess  the  land,  and  may  you  be 
destroyed  out  of  this  kingdom  and  be  likewise  deprived  of  your  eternal 
inheritance  !  " 

Verily,  it  was  a  risky  thing  to  interfere  with  these  old  Celtic  saints, 
who  wielded  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  in  a  very  arbitrary 
fashion. 

The  real  facts  seem  to  have  been  that  the  young  men  claimed  food 
and  shelter  as  a  right,  such  as  they  could  demand  of  any  lay  house- 
holder in  the  tribe  ;  but  this  was  precisely  a  claim  from  which  the 
ecclesiastics  considered  themselves  to  be  exempt.2 

The  sons  of  Selyf  were  Mael  Myngan,  and  Dona,  and  the  latter 
became  a  saint,  but  whether  he  was  one  of  those,  who,  on  this  occasion 
incensed  Beuno,  and  was  cursed  by  him,  we  cannot  say.  Beuno's 
temper  was  so  ruffled  by  this  encounter  that  he  left  the  place  and  went 
to  the  banks  of  the  Dee,  "  to  seek  a  place  where  to  pray  to  God,  but 
did  not  obtain  one,"  no  doubt  because  the  young  princes  had  instigated 
their  father  or  grandfather  to  refuse  to  give  him  more  land. 

Then  he  went  to  Temic,3  the  son  of  Eliud  ;  and  this  Temic  gave  to 
Beuno  for  ever  and  firmly  a  township,  and  Beuno  built  a  church 
there,  and  consecrated  it  to  God.  He  had  in  fact  shaken  the  dust  of 
Powys  from  off  his  feet.  He  was  now  in  Flintshire,  in  the  kingdom 
of  Gwynedd.  There  are  but  slight  traces  of  him  in  Flint,  but  he  is 
there  associated  with  S.  Winefred  at  Holywell. 

We  will  not  dwell  on  the  story  here,  it  may  have  been  forced  into  the 
Life  of  Beuno  from  that  of  Winefred.  He  is,  however,  said  to  have 
been  her  uncle  ;  her  mother,  whose  name  is  given  as  Wenlo,  being  his 
sister.  That  such  a  person  as  Winefred  existed,  we  have  good  reason 
to  believe  ;  but  that  the  story  of  her  adventure  at  Holywell,  her  head 
cut  off  and  replaced,  and  growing  on  to  the  shoulders  as  before,  is  mere 

1  The  nyeint,  "  nephews,"  of  the  Welsh  text  is  clearly  a  mistranslation  of  the 
tiepotes  of  a  Latin  original. 

2  Seebohm,  Tribal  System  in  Wales,  pp.  174-5. 

3  In  the  Latin  Lives  of  S.  Winefred  the  chieftain  is  named  Teuyth,  and  Theuith. 
In  her  Welsh  Life,  Tybyt. 


S.    Beuno  213 

fable,  as  also  the  miraculous  origin  of  the  spring,  must  be  admitted  by 
every  rational  man. 

( >n  tin-  death  of  Cadfan,  king    of  Gwynedd,    Beuno  entered    into 
communication  with  his  son  Cadwallon. 

We  aiv  now  on  historic  ground.  Cadfan  had  been  elected  king  of 
all  Britain,  in  a  congress  at  Chester,  and  died  about  616,  being  suc- 
!cd  by  Cadwallon.  His  inscribed  tombstone  is  in  Anglesey,  at 
Uangadwaladr.  Cadwallon  and  Edwin,  king  of  Northumbria,  were 
contemporaries,  had  been  friends,  but  became  rivals,  and  Edwin  was 
killed  in  battle  in  633  fighting  against  Cadwallon.  Cadwallon  himself 
was  killed  in  634  near  Hexham.1  Beuno  visited  the  king,  and  made 
him  a  present  of  a  gold  sceptre  that  had  been  given  to  him  by  Cynan 
son  of  Brochwel,  and  in  return  Cadwallon  assigned  to  Beuno  a  patch 
<»t  land  at  (iwredog  in  Arfon.  The  saint  went  thither,  and  erected 
a  church,  and  began  to  throw  up  a  bank  to  enclose  his  sanctuary.  As 
he  was  thus  engaged,  a  woman  came  to  look  on,  carrying  a  babe  in  her 
amis,  and  a^ked  Beuno  to  bless  it.  "  Presently,"  replied  he,  "  when 
this  job  is  out  of  hand." 

Whilst  he  and  his  monks  were  engaged  on  the  bank,  the  child  cried 
lustily  and  disturbed  him.  "  Ha  !  woman,"  said  Beuno,  "  why  is  the 
babe  squealing  so  ?  "  "  He  has  good  reason  to  cry,"  replied  the 
mother,"  for  you  are  enclosing  land  and  appropriating  it  that  belonged 
to  his  tat  her,  and  is  properly  his." 

When  Beuno  heard  this,  hi-  shouted  to  his  monks,  "Take  your  hands 
from  tin-  work  ;  and  whilst  I  baptize  the  child,  make  ready  my  chariot. 
We  will  -o  to  the  kintf  with  this  woman  and  babe." 
So  they  set  out  for  Caersaint  (Carnarvon)  where  Cadwallon  then 
ami  Beuno  said  to  the  king,  "  Why  didst  thou  give  me  the  land 
when  it  wa<  not  thine  to  give,  but  belonged  to  this  child  ?     Give  me 
other  land,  or  else  return  to  me  the  gold  sceptre  worth  sixty  cows  that 
I  presented  to  the, 
"  I  will  give  you  nothing  else,"  replied  the  king  ;    "  and  as  to  the 

•'re.  I  have  alreadv  given  it  away." 

Then  Beuno,  in  great  wrath, cursed  Cadwallon,  "I  pray  to  God  that 
thou  niayest  not  long  possess  the  land." 

So  he  departed,  and  when  he  had  crossed  the  river  Saint,  he  seated 
himself  on  a  stone,  still  foaming  with  rage  and  disappointment,  when 
a  cousin  of  CadwaJlon  came  after  him,  whose  name  was  Gwyddaint, 
and  "  for  his  own  soul,  and  that  of  Cadwallon,"  offered  him  his 


Bede.  Hist.   Eccl.,  iii,  cc.  i    2. 


214  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

own  township  at  Clynnog,  "  without  tribute  or  service,  or  any  one 
having  any  claim  on  it."  l 

This  Beuno  gladly  accepted,  and  thenceforth  Clynnog  became  his 
principal  residence  ;  but  that  he  had  grants  made  him  as  well  in  Angle- 
sey would  appear  from  his  having  foundations  there,  at  Trefdraeth 
and  Aberffraw,  though  they  can  have  been  only  small. 

Clynnog  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  north  coast  of  Lleyn,  under 
the  mountains  of  Bwlch  Mawr  and  Gyrn  Ddu,  and  when  Beuno 
settled  there  it  was  probably  dense  with  rude  stone  monuments.  Two 
cromlechs  remain,  one,  the  most  important,  between  the  village  and 
the  sea. 

Now  it  happened  that  there  was  a  skilful  carpenter  who  lived  at 
Aberffraw,  a  young  and  handsome  man,  who  was  invited  to  Caerwent, 
to  build  a  palace  there. 

Whilst  he  was  engaged  on  this  work  at  Caerwent,  he  was  seen  and 
loved  by  Tigiwg,  or  Tegiwg,  daughter  of  Ynyr  the  king,  and  sister  of 
Iddon,  his  successor,  and  she  eloped  with  him,  or  "  was  given  in 
marriage  to  the  young  man,  lest  she  should  have  him  in  some  other 
way." 

But  the  carpenter  was  not  particularly  amorous,  and  was  a  little 
ashamed  of  his  having  to  bring  a  princess  to  his  native  hovel,  and  on 
the  way  back  to  Anglesey — according  to  the  legend — he  murdered 
her ;  probably  all  he  actually  did  was  to  desert  her,  when  she  was 
asleep.  She  was  found  by  Beuno's  shepherds,  who  reported  the 
matter  to  their  master,  and  the  saint  (after  having  resuscitated  her) 
induced  her  to  embrace  the  religious  life,  and  live  near  him.2 

After  a  while  rumour  of  what  had  taken  place  reached  Caerwent,  and 
Iddon,  her  brother,  came  in  quest  of  her,  and  arrived  at  Clynnog,  saw 
Beuno,  and  asked  to  have  his  sister  restored  to  him.  Tegiwg,  however, 
declined  to  return.  She  had  made  a  great  fool  of  herself,  was  sore  over 
her  desertion  by  the  young  carpenter,  and  shrank  from  the  jests  to 
which  she  would  be  subjected  among  her  own  people.  Iddon  was  prob- 
ably content  that  so  it  should  be,  and  pressed  her  no  further,  but 

1  The  donation  of  Clynnog  is  to  be  found  in  a  confirmatory  charter  of  Ed- 
ward  I  in  Harleian  MSS.  696  and  4776,  printed  in  the  Record  of  Carnarvon, 
p.  257  (Rolls  Series,  1838).     It  was  given"  sinecensu  Regali,  et  sine consule,  sine 
proprietate  alicui,  quamdiu  fuerit  lapis  in  terra."     The  stone,  over  which  the  gift 
was  ratified,  formerly  stood  at  Bryn  Seiont,  Carnarvon,  but  is  now  at  Bodwyn. 
It  bears  an  incised  cross.     For  a  cut  and  description  of  it,  see  "  Relics  of  S. 
Beuno,"   by  John  H.   Pollen,   S.J.,   in   The  Month  for  February,    1894.     Tm"s 
instance  of  immunity  from  tribal  exactions  is  cited  in  Seebohm,  Ibid.,  pp.  172-4, 
178. 

2  Ffynnon  Digiwg  at  Penarth  in  Clynnog  is  still  known,  but  the  name   is 
locally  pronounced  Digwy.     See  under  5.  Tegiwg. 


S.  Beimo  2  i  5 

a-ked  IVuno  to  accompany  him  to  Aberffraw  to  support  his  demand 
for  the  restoration  of  the  "  horses  and  gold  and  silver,"  which  the 
carpenter  had  carried  off  along  with  his  sister. 

r.'-uno  agreed  to  this,  and  they  went  together  to  the  court  of  Cad- 
wall  on  at  Aberffraw,  but  no  sooner  did  Iddon  set  eyes  on  the  gay  young 
- nter,  than  he  drew  his  sword  on  him  and  would  have  killed  him, 
Imt  for  the  interference  of  those  who  stood  by.     The  story  goes  that 
1 1  Mon  cut  off  the  carpenter's  head,  but  that  Beuno  replaced  it,  and  he 
none   the   worse.     But   this   is   an   embellishment.     Cadwallon 
d« -marred  to  the  restoration  of  the  goods,  but  Beuno  insisted,  and  the 
king,  afraid   of  incurring  another  curse,  and  perhaps  seeing  that  the 
asonable,  gave  way.     He  did  more,  he  "  gave  to  Beuno 
the  palace  in  which  is  Aelwyd  Feuno  "  (his  hearth).1      Beuno  returned 
to  ("Ivmio".  well  content,  and  remained  there  the  rest  of  his  days. 

1  And  as  the  lifetime  of  Beuno  was  ending,  and  his  last  day  drew 
muli,  on  the  seventh  day  after  Easter,  he  saw  heaven  open,  and  the 
U  dtscrndiiitf  and  ascending  again.  And  Beuno  said,  '  I  see  the 
Trinity,  and  Peter,  and  Paul,  and  David  the  innocent,2  and  Daniel, 
and  the  saint-,  and  the  prophets,  and  the  Apostles  and  the  Martyrs 
appear.  And  1  set-  seven  angels  standing  before  the  throne  of  the 
most  In-h  Father,  and  all  the  fathers  of  heaven  singing  their  songs,  and 
-avinu.  HlexM-d  is  he  whom  thou  hast  chosen,  and  taken,  and  who 
does  for  ever  dwell  \\ith  Thee.'  " 

He  was  buried  at  Clynnog,  where  his  shrine  and  fountain  were  in 
repute  lor  many  centuries. 

The  /.'/o  MSS.  state  that  Beuno,  in  his  earlier  days,  was  a  saint  or 
monk  of  the  Bangor  of  Catwg,  his  uncle,  and  that  he  afterwards  be- 
came /Y;/  rhtiit/i  (iu'VHCitii*  which  implies  that  he  exercised  some  sort  of 
1-  al  supremacy  there,  but  it  merely  means  that  he  was  Abbot 
oi  Clynnoij.  which  was  "  great  in  learning  and  science  " — indeed,  "  the 
most  celebrated  of  all  the  Bangors  of  Gwynedd  for  knowledge  and  for 
The  foundation  is  variously  called  Bangor  Clynnog  and 
or  Beuno  in  Clynnog  Fawr  in  Arfon.5      Leland  described  it  as 

1   I'.    !-•'-  of  the  Anecdota  Oxoniensia  text.     The  Cambro-British  Saints  text 

-•<>)  corrupt,  as  generally. 

The  C,i»ibro-British  Saints  text  reads  here  Diudevirion,  a  meaningless 
bungle.  The  Anec.  Oxon.  text  has  duid  wirion.  The  first  word  is  a  scribe's 
error  for  <Jauid. 

3  P-  4  Ibid.,  pp.   113,   130. 

•  beautiful  old  tradition  about  a  devout  monk  of  Bangor.  Beuno, 

who  slept  for  hundreds  of  years  without  waking  in  a  wooded  dingle  hard  by 

cafed  Lhwn  v  X,  f.  ».*.    Heaven's  Grove  (Y  Brython,  1860,  p.  no;    Cymru  Fu', 

•    variation  of  "  Yr  Hen  \Vr  o'r  Coed  "  (the  Old  Man 'from  the 


2  1 6  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

being,  in  his  day,  "  the  fayrest  Chirch  yn  al  Cairarvonshire,  as  better 
then  Bangor  .  .  .  almost  as  bigge  as  S.  Davides,  but  it  is  of  a  new 
Worke.  The  old  Chirch  wher  S.  Bennow  liyth  is  hard  by  the  new."1 
Pennant  pronounced  it  "  the  most  magnificent  structure  of  its  kind  in 
North  Wales."  * 

Capel  Beuno,  or  as  it  is  still  popularly  called,  Eglwys  y  Bedd,  the 
Church  of  the  Grave  or  Shrine,  is  built  on  the  south-west  side  of  the 
church.  It  was  here  that  S.  Beuno  was  buried.  There  is  nothing  of 
the  shrine  now  remaining,  but  a  plain  altar-tomb  stood  there,  a  little 
to  the  east  of  the  chapel,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.5 
Its  destruction  is  said  to  have  been  the  result  of  a  search  for  the  saint's 
relics.  The  chapel  is  connected  with  the  church  by  a  narrow,  dark 
cloister  or  passage  of  about  five  yards  long.  It  is  said  that  the  glass  in 
the  large  east  window  of  the  chapel  formerly  delineated  the  legends  of 
SS.  Beuno  and  Winefred.  Another  account,  however,  written  in  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  says  that  it  contained  a  figure 
of  S.  Beuno,  but  that  his  "  miracles  and  history,"  as  well  as  S.  Wine- 
fred's,  were  to  be  seen  in  some  fragments  of  glass  in  the  windows  of 
the  church.4  There  was  a  belief  that  scrapings  off  the  pillars  in  the 
chapel,  dissolved  in  water,  were  good  for  sore  eyes. 

Ffynnon  Feuno,  his  holy  well,  is  about  200  yards  from  the  church, 
on  the  roadside,  and  is  enclosed  by  high  walls.  Round  the  well  are 
seats,  and  there  are  steps  to  go  down  into  it.  In  the  well  were  formerly 
dipped  rickety  and  epileptic  children,  as  well  impotent  folk  generally, 
after  which  they  were  carried  into  the  chapel  and  put  to  lie  over  night 
on  rushes  on  the  tombstone.  If  they  slept  it  was  believed  their  cure 
would  be  certain.  Pennant  saw  on  the  stone  "  a  feather  bed,  on  which 
a  poor  paralytic  from  Merionethshire  had  lain  the  whole  night,"  after 
having  previously  undergone  ablution  in  the  well.5 

Wood)  legend,  the  Welsh  counterpart  of  the  Seven  Sleepers,  etc.  There  is 
another  legend  connected  with  this  grove.  It  is  said  that  when  the  Bangor  was 
being  built  a  certain  bird,  to  which  the  people  to-day  give  the  name  of  Y  Durtur 
(by  which  is  usually  meant  the  turtle-dove),  sang  there  with  such  sweetness  that 
the  workmen  became  spell-bound,  and  could  not  proceed  with  their  work.  In 
answer  to  Beuno's  prayer  the  bird  was  removed,  and  was  never  heard  there 
again.  "  The  men  of  Clynnog  had  a  tradition  that  S.  Beuno  caused  the 
materials  that  were  used  in  building  the  church  to  be  landed  on  the  shore  just 
below  it  "  (Browne  Willis,  Survey  of  Bangor,  1721,  p.  304). 

1  Itin.,  v,  ff.  49,  13. 

2  Tours,  ed.  1883,  ii,  p.  384. 

3  Gough  speaks    of   it    as  being  "whitened  over"   (Sepulchral  Monuments, 
ed.  1796,  ii,  pt.  i,  p.  cxcii).      For  its  destruction  see  the  Gentleman's  Magazine 
for  November,  1793. 

4  Browne  Willis,  Bangor,  p.  299. 

5  Tours,  ed.   1883,  ii,  p.  385. 


HEAD  OF  S.  BEUNO. 

From   Window  at  Penmorfa,  Carnarvon. 


S.  BEUNO'S  WELL,  CLYNNOG. 


S.  Beuno  2  i  7 

Gored  Beuno  (his  fish  weir)  is  near  the  creek  called  Forth  Clynnog. 
At  fl)b  tide  there  are  heaps  of  large  stones  still  visible. 
Li-land,  in  his  Collectanea,1  gives  an  account  from  the  pen  of  John 
rs,  Esq.,  Garter,  of  a  custom  that  still  prevailed  at  Clynnog  in 
1589. 

"  I  went  to  the  Place  where  it  was  reported  that  Bullocks  were 
offered,  that  I  might  be  an  Eyewitnesse  of  the  same.  And  upon  Mon- 
daye  in  Whitsonne  Week  there  was  a  yonge  Man  that  was  carried 
thither  the  Night  befor,  with  whome  I  had  conference  concerning 
the  Maner  of  the  Offerings  of  Bullocks  unto  Saints,  and  the  yonge  man 
touled  me  after  the  same  Sort  as  I  had  hard  of  many  before  ;  then  dyd 
I  aske  him  whether  was  ther  any  to  be  offered  that  Daye  ?  He 
ered  that  ther  was  One  which  he  had  brought  to  be  offered  :  I  de- 
manded of  him  where  it  was  ?  he  answered  that  it  was  in  a  close  hard 
And  he  called  his  Hoste  to  goe  with  him  to  see  the  Bullocke,  and 
as  they  went,  I  followed  them  into  the  Close,  and  the  yonge  Man  drove 
ilullocke  before  him  (beinge  about  a  yere  oulde).  .  .  .  And  as 
the  Bullocke  dyd  enter  throughe  a  little  Porche  into  the  Church-yarde, 
>nge  Man  spake  aloude,  The  Halfe  to  God  and  to  Beino.  Then  dyd 
I  aske  his  Hoste,  Why  he  said  the  Halfe  and  not  the  Whole  ?  His 
H«»te  answered.  He  oweth  me  the  other  Halfe.  This  was  in  the 
Ririslu- <>f  Clynnog  in  the  yere  of  our  Lord  1589.  .  .  .  Ther  be  many 
other  things  in  the  Countrye  that  are  verye  grosse  and  superstitious; 
A-  that  the  People  are  of  Opinion,  that  Beyno  his  Cattell  will  prosper 
marvellous  well  ;  which  maketh  the  People  more  desyrous  to  buye 
them.  Also,  it  is  a  common  Report  amongest  them,  that  ther  be 
some  Bullocks  which  have  had  Beyno  his  Marke  upon  their  Eares  as 
soone  as  they  are  calved." 

The  custom  fell  into  disuse  only  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Till  a 
little  over  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  usual  to  make  offerings  of  calves 
and  lambs  which  happened  to  be  born  with  a  slit  in  the  ear,  popularly 
railed  Xdcl  Beuno,  or  Beuno's  Mark.  The  "sacred  beasts"  were 
brought  to  church  on  Trinity  Sunday,  and  delivered  to  the  church- 
wardens, who  sold  them,  and  put  the  proceeds  into  Cyff  Beuno,' or 
Beuno's  chest.  Ear-marked  calves  are  still  highly  regarded  by  the 
fanners  of  Clynnog.2  We  are  told  that  "multitudes  of  persons  fre- 
quently resorted  in  procession,  especially  on  Trinity  Sunday,"  to 
make  their  oblations  to  the  Saint,  which  were  so  great  that  the  custom  of 

1  ii,  p.  648  ;    P.R.O.,  State  Papers,  Dom.  Eliz.,  vol.  ccxxiv,  n.  74. 

"  Llyiiad  Beuno,"  B.'s  Lick,  is  the  name  popularly  given  by  the  farmers 
of  the  locality  to  the  mark  seen  on  the  backs  of  cows  when  they  are  in  good 
condition. 


2  I  8  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

levying  a  church  rate  or  mize  had  never  been  introduced  here. l  Into 
the  cyff  went  also  the  offerings  of  persons  who  came  from  distant  parts 
of  the  country,  even  down  to  the  beginning  of  last  century,  to  propitiate 
the  saint  on  behalf  of  their  cattle  when  afflicted  with  some  disorder.2 
When  the  chest  was  opened  in  December,  1688,  it  contained  £15  8s.  3^., 
of  which  the  sum  of  £10  55.  was  in  groats.  The  money  was  applied  in 
relief  of  the  poor  and  the  reparation  of  the  church. 

The  old  chest,  half-rotten,  scooped  out  of  a  solid  oak  trunk,  is  still 
in  the  church,  and  has  the  usual  three  locks  and  an  aperture  to  put  in 
coins.3  "  Cystal  i  chwi  geisio  tori  Cyff  Beuno"  ("You  may  as 
well  try  to  break  into  Beuno's  chest  ")  used  to  be  a  common  saying 
formerly  at  Clynnog  when  any  one  attempted  to  do  something  very 
difficult. 

Dr.  John  Davies  says  that  there  was  formerly  a  Book  of  S.  Beuno, 
called  Tiboeth,  "  with  a  dark  stone  upon  it,  in  the  church  of  Clynnog  in 
Arfon.  This  book  Twrog  wrote  in  the  time  of  King  Cadfan,  and  it 
was  saved  when  the  church  was  burnt."  It  was  seen  in  1594.*  S. 
Twrog  was,  ut  fertur,  S.  Beuno's  amanuensis  ;  5  and  S.  Aelhaiarn,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  his  acolyte. 

The  following  churches  are  dedicated  to  S.  Beuno  : — Aberffraw  and 
Trefdraeth,  in  Anglesey ;  Clynnog,  Penmorfa,  Bottwnog  (under 
Mellteyrn  ;  land  given  by  Cadell,  son  of  Rhodri  Mawr),  Cargiwch  (land 
given  by  Merfyn  Frych),  and  Pistyll  (land  given  by  Rhodri  Mawr)— 
the  two  last  under  Edeyrn — in  Carnarvonshire  ;  6  Llanycil  (mother 
church  of  Bala)  and  Gwyddelwern,  in  Merionethshire  ;  Berne w  and 
Bettws  Cedewain  (originally,  no  doubt,  a  capella  under  Berriew),  in 
Montgomeryshire  ;  and  Llanfeuno  (under  Clodock)  in  Herefordshire. 

The  ruins  of  an  old  chapel,  called  Capel  Beuno,  were  visible  not  long 
since  near  the  house  of  Tre'r  Dryw  (now  demolished),  in  the  parish 
of  Llanidan,  Anglesey,  and  at  the  house  was  religiously  preserved  an 

1  Willis,  Bangor,  p.   303. 

2  An  instance  of  a  groat  being  offered  for  "  private  sins  "  is  given  by  Evans, 
Beatifies  of  England  and  Wales,  xvii,  pt.  i,  p.  373. 

3  It  is  well  illustrated  in  Arch.  Camb.  for  1868  and  1900. 

4  See  his  Welsh-Latin  Dictionary,  1632,  s.v.  Tiboeth  ;   cf.  Arch.  Camb.,  1848, 
p.  253.     Tiboeth,  or  rather  Diboeth  ("  not  hot,  without  heat  "),  is  explained  by 
the  Greek   &KCIVITTOS.     The    book    is    mentioned    in    the   confirmatory  charter 
already  referred  to.     We  are  given  to  understand  that  lolo  Morganwg  saw  it 
and  made  a  transcript  of  it.     It  was  probably  the  volume  mentioned  by  certain 
witnesses  at  Carnarvon  in  1537  as  "  Graphus  Sancti  Beunoi  "  (Y  Cymmrodor, 
xix,  p.  77). 

5  Willis,  Bangor,  p.  273. 

6  Willis,  Bangor,  p.  275,  gives  also  Denio  or  Deneio  (at  Pwllheli) — "  quasi 
Ty  Fenno,  Domus  Beunonis."     The  land  was  given  to  S.  Beuno  by  Rhodri  Mawr. 


ancient  portable  bell,  popularly  called  Cloch  Felen  Beuno  (his  Yellow 
Bell),  which  came  from  the  ruins  of  the  chapel.  It  was  described  as  a 
copper  bell,  of  unusual  shape,  and  was  last  seen  in  the  eighteenth 
o-ntury.  There  is  still  in  Gwredog,  in  the  parish  of  Llanwnda,  below 
Carnarvon — Cadwallon's  gift  to  S.  Beuno — a  Ffynnon  Feuno, 
vituated  on  Krw  Ystyffylau.  In  the  same  neighbourhood  is  Afon 
Beuno,  on  the  banks  of  which  there  is  a  modern  mansion  called  Glan 
Beuno.  There  is  a  Ffynnon  Feuno  at  Penmorfa,  and  another  at 
Alu-rffraw.  There  was  a  chapel  (now  extinct)  called  Capel  Beuno,  in 
the  township  of  Gwespyr,  in  the  parish  of  Llanasa,  Flintshire,  and  the 
village  of  (iwespyr  has  hence  been  sometimes  called  Trefeuno.  It 
seems  probable  that  Whitford  Church,  now  dedicated  to  S.  Mary,  was 
at  tirst  dedicated  to  S.  Beuno.  It  was  evidently  the  mother  church 
of  Holywell,  and  the  Valor  of  1535  records  the  annual  payment  by  the 

t  latter  of  two  shillings  to  S.  Beuno,  which  may  have  been  the  formal 
acknowledgment  of  such  connection.1  A  piece  of  land  at  Holywell 
>till  goes  by  the  name  of  Gerddi  Beuno  (his  gardens)  ;  and  his  stone  is 
>ho\vn  in  the  Well  there.  Ffynnon  Feuno  in  Tremeirchion  parish, 
below  the  well-known  Bone  Caves,  is  formed  of  a  strong  spring  rising 
out  of  the  limestone  formation,  and  is  enclosed  in  an  oblong  bath.  It 
once  in  great  repute  as  a  healing  well.  The  Jesuit  College  of  S. 
Bruno  is  situated  in  the  same  parish.  Near  Gwyddelwern  Church  are 
<  iwi-rn  Feuno  (a  swampy  or  alder-grown  piece  of  land)  and  Ffynnon 
Ft  nno,  whence  water  for  baptism  was  brought ;  and  in  a  Survey  of  the 
Lordship  of  Ruthin  (1737)  mention  is  made  of  "abig  stonecalled  Carreg 
Beuno,"  apparently  one  of  the  mere-stones  of  the  parish.  A  Ffynnon 
Feuno,  once  famous,  is  to  be  found  near  the  church  of  Bettws  Gwerfyl 

h.  There  are  at  Llanycil  Ffynnon  Feuno  and  Acer  Feuno. 
Beuno  is  sometimes  given  the  epithet  Casulsych,  i.e.  Casula  sicca, 
'of  the  Dry  Cloak  ";2  and  there  is  a  creek  near  Clynnog  Church 
called  Forth  y  Casul.3  The  origin  of  both  will  be  found  in  the  Life  of 
S.  Winefred.*  When  Beuno  was  leaving  Holywell,  Winefred,  out  of 
gratitude  to  him  for  having  raised  her  to  life,  promised  to  send  him 
yearly,  on  the  vigil  of  S.  John  Baptist  (elsewhere,  May  i)  a  cloak 
(casula)  of  her  own  handiwork,  which,  "wheresoever  he  might  be 
clothed  therewith,  it  would  neither  get  wet  with  rain  nor  would  its  nap 

1  Thomas,  History  of  the  Dio.  of  S.  Asaph,  ist  ed.,  pp.  466-7,  488. 

-  /;<  inio  Gasulsych  occurs  e.g.  intheBoncddy  Saint  in  Peniarth  MS.  12  (early 
iruenth  century),  the  Calendar  in  Peniarth  MS.  186  (fifteenth  century),  and 

-eland,  I  tin.,  iv,  append,  p.  109. 

3  L.  Morris,  Celtic  Remains,  p.  360  ;    Y  Gwyliedydd,  xiii,  p.  339  (1836). 

*  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.   199-202. 


2  2  o  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

be  moved  by  the  wind,"  from  which  circumstance  it  was  called  Sicctis, 
He  directed  her  to  send  it  in  the  following  manner.  "  There  is  a  stone 
in  the  middle  of  the  stream  of  the  river,  on  which  I  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  meditate  my  prayers,  place  thereon  the  cloak  at  the  appointed 
time,  and  if  it  will  come  to  me,  it  will  come."  The  stone  bore  it  "  dry 
internally  and  externally  "  all  the  way  over  the  sea,  along  the  North 
Wales  coast,  into  the  creek  at  Clynnog.1  A  similar  story  occurs  in  the 
Life  of  S.  Senan. 

All  trees  growing  on  land  belonging  to  S.  Beuno  were  deemed  sacred, 
and  no  one  dared  to  cut  any  of  them  down  lest  the  Saint  should  kill 
them  or  do  them  some  grievous  harm. 

There  is  a  curious  legend  current  in  Carnarvonshire  about  S.  Beuno 
and  the  curlew.  "  When  S.  Beuno  lived  at  Clynnog,  he  used  to  go 
regularly  to  preach  at  Llanddwyn  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  water, 
which  he  always  crossed  on  foot.  But  one  Sunday  he  accidentally 
dropped  his  book  of  sermons  into  the  water,  and  when  he  had  failed 
to  recover  it  a  gylfin-hir,  or  curlew,  came  by,  picked  it  up,  and  placed 
it  on  a  stone  out  of  the  reach  of  the  tide.  The  saint  prayed  for  the 
protection  and  favour  of  the  Creator  for  the  gylfin-hir  ;  it  was  granted, 
and  so  nobody  ever  knows  where  that  bird  makes  its  nest."2 

Yet  another  legend.  In  the  upper  end  of  Clynnog  parish,  in  the 
direction  of  Penmorfa,  there  is  a  tenement  called  Ynys  yr  Arch  (the 
tenement  of  the  coffin) ,  which  tradition  says  received  its  name  from 
the  following  circumstance.  When  the  saint's  dead  body  was  being 
conveyed  to  its  burial,  the  funeral  procession  halted  at  this  place,  and 
a  warm  discussion  arose  as  to  where  his  mortal  remains  should  be 
buried.  Three  places  coveted  the  honour — Clynnog,  Kevin,  and 
Bardsey.  In  the  midst  of  the  unseemly  altercation,  the  whole  company 
fell  asleep.  When  they  awoke  they  saw  three  coffins,  each  exactly 
similar  in  every  respect.  The  contending  parties  were  thus  satisfied  ; 
but  the  legend  assures  us  that  Clynnog  secured  the  right  coffin.3 

A  saying  of  Beuno's  is  preserved  in  the  anonymous  "  Epigrams  of 
the  Hearing  "  4  : — 

Hast  thou  heard  what  Beuno  sang  ? 
"  Sing  thy  Pater  noster  and  Credo  ; 
From  death  flight  will  not  avail." 

In  the  "Sayings  of  the  Wise  " 5  it  is  given  somewhat  differently  : — 

1  The  Life  reads  "  porta  Sachlen,"  for  which  should  probably  be  read  "  porta 
Sychlen."  2  Rhys,  Celtic  Folklore,  p.  219. 

3  Y  Gwladgarwr,  vi,  pp.  44-5   (1838)  ;    Arch.  Camb.,   1849,  p.   125.       We  are 
indebted  to  Eben  Fardd's  Cyff  Beuno  (Tremadoc,  1863)  for  much  information 
about  Clynnog,  the  Church,  and  local  traditions. 

4  Myv.  Arch.,  p.    129.  &  lolo  MSS.,  p.   256. 


S.  BEUNO. 
From  the  Open-air  Pulpit  of  the  Abbey,  Shrewsbury. 


S.  Bigail  221 


Hast  thou  heard  the  saying  of  Beuno 
To  all  who  resort  to  him  ? 
"  From  death  flight  will  not  avail." 
(Rhag  Angeu  ni  thyccia  ffo.) 

old  tradition,  which  was  intended  to  exalt  him  as  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  saints,  affirmed  that  during  his  lifetime  he  had  raised 
six  persons  to  life,  and  that  he  would  some  day  raise  a  seventh.  It  is 
referred  to  by  some  of  the  mediaeval  bards.1 

In  all  the  Welsh  Calendars  his  Festival  is  given  on  April  21.     He 
arbitrarily  inserted  by  Wilson   in   his    Martyrologie,   1608,   on 
January  14.     Roscarrock  gives  April  21. 

Pope  Pius  IX  appointed  April  21  as  the  day  for  his  commemoration 
in  favour  of  the  Jesuit  College  of  S.  Beuno  near  S.  Asaph.  Beuno  died 
on  Low  Sunday,  falling,  we  may  suppose,  that  year  on  April  21.  There  is 
no  mention  in  his  Life  of  any  transactions  with  the  successor  of  Cad- 
\\iillon,  who  fell  in  634.  Low  Sunday  fell  on  April  21  in  642,  653,  and 
659.  Probably  the  first  of  these  is  the  date  of  Beuno's  death,  to  allow 
of  his  association  with  Ynyr  Gwent,  who  was  married  to  Madrun, 
daughter  of  Vortimer,  who  fell  in  457.  Ynyr  was  an  aged  man  when 
he  placed  himself  in  the  college  of  Beuno,  but  the  latter  cannot  then 
have  been  quite  young.  He  was  in  favour  with  Cynan  Garwyn,  son 
of  Brochwel  Ysgythrog.  According  to  the  Breton  life  of  S.  Tyssilio 
there  was  a  brief  reign  of  two  years  after  the  death  of  Brochwel,  and 
after  that  apparently  Cynan  succeeded.  Tyssilio  was  about  the  age 
of  Beuno  we  may  suppose,  and  the  former  died  about  650. 

Beuno  is  represented  on  the  open-air  fourteenth  century  stone  pulpit 
of  the  Abbey  of  Shrewsbury  as  an  abbot  with  shaven  head,  but  a  ring 
of  hair  about  it,  with  an  abbatical  staff  in  one  hand,  and  a  hare's  head 
in  the  other.  In  stained  glass  at  Penmorfa  Church,  near  Tremadoc,  he 
is  mitred. 


S.  BIGAIL,  or  BIGEL,  Confessor 


E  name  is  sometimes  written  Bugail,  which  in  ordinary  Welsh 
s  a  herdsman  or  shepherd.  Nothing  is  known  of  this  saint,  and 
his  name  does  not  occur  in  any  of  the  genealogies  ;  but  he  is  gener- 
ally identified  with  S.  Vigil ius — we  presume  the  early  fifth  century 
martyr-bishop  of  Trent  (Austria),  whose  festival  is  June  26.  The 
identification,  however,  is  highly  improbable,  for  the  Latin  vigilia, 

1  Their  names   are  given  in  Peniarth  MS.  75  (Evans,  Report,  i,  p.  498),  and 
a  poem  by  Dafydd  Nanmor  (fourteenth  century)  in  Cefn  Coch  MSS.,  p.  268. 


222  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

treated  in  Welsh  as  a  doublet,  has  yielded  in  the  old  Welsh  period  the 
form  gwyl,  and  in  the  mediaeval  period  mywyl.  He  is  the  patron 
of  Llanfigel  in  Anglesey,  which  is  under  Llanfachraeth.  The  church 
is  now  in  ruins.  Maen  Bigel  is  the  name  given  to  a  rock  standing  in 
the  sea  in  Holyhead  Bay,  and  also  to  another  in  the  Sound  of  Bardsey. 
The  West  Mouse,  a  little  island  off  the  north-west  coast  of  Anglesey,  is 
called  in  Welsh,  Ynys  Bigel.1  Browne  Willis  2  gives  the  patron  of 
Llanfigel  as  S.  Vigilius,  with  festival  November  i.  There  was  formerly 
a  church,  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Merthyr  Mawr  in 
Glamorganshire,  which  is  called  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  3  Merthir 
Buceil.  The  Pembrokeshire  parish-name  Begelly  seems  to  be  a  deri- 
vative from  the  name. 


S.  BLEIDDIAN,  or  LUPUS,  Bishop,  Confessor 

STRICTLY  speaking,  the  name  Lupus  should  appear  in  Welsh  as 
Blaidd.  Bleiddian  or  Bleiddan  means  a  young  wolf,  and  is  equivalent  to 
Bleiddyn,  which  is  common  as  a  personal  name.  All  that  the  Welsh 
authorities  have  to  say  about  Bleiddian  is  to  be  found  in  the  lolo  MSS. 
He  is  mentioned  as  a  "  saint  and  bishop,  who  came  to  this  Island  with 
S.  Garmon  in  the  time  of  Cystennin  Fendigaid  (or  Llydaw)  to  renew 
Faith  and  Baptism."  4  One  entry  states  that  the  "  Cholirs "  of 
Llancarfan  and  S.  Illtyd  were  founded  by  SS.  Garmon  and  Beiddan, 
whilst  another  states  that  S.  Garmon  "  founded  a  choir  near  Caer- 
worgorn  (Llantwit  Major),  where  he  placed  Illtyd  principal  and  S. 
Bleiddan  chief  bishop."  5 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  hagiological  documents  printed 
in  the  lolo  MSS.  are  late,  being  the  compilations  of  Glamorgan 
antiquaries  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  and  they  have 
been  "  edited  "  by  lolo  Morgan wg,  but  to  what  extent  it  is  now  impos- 
sible to  say,  as  the  originals  from  which  he  made  his  transcripts  have 
practically  all  disappeared.  Statements  they  contain  must  therefore 
be  accepted  with  caution. 

It  is  more  than  doubtful  that  S.  Lupus  of  Troyes  ever  was  in 
Glamorgan,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  Bleiddian  commemorated 
was  an  entirely  different  saint,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  S.  Illtyd^ 
and  lived  considerably  later  than  did  Lupus  of  Troyes. 

1  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  419  ;   Lewis  Morris,  Celtic  Remains,  pp.  37,  435. 

2  Survey  of  Bangor,   1721,  p.  279.  3  See  the  Index. 

4  P.  132.  On  p.  107  it  is  said  that  they  came  hither  in  the  time  of  Gwrtheyrn 
Gwrtheneu  (Vortigern).  5  Pp.  130-2. 


SS.  Boda  and  Bodfan  22$ 

Two  churches  in  Glamorganshire  are  dedicated  to  him,  viz.,  Llan- 
flriddian  Fawr  (Llanblethian),  but  now  generally  to  S.  John  Baptist, 
and  Llanfleiddian  Fach  known  as  S.  Lythan's.  The  latter,  in  the 
Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  is  called  Ecclesia  Elidon,  and  Hen  Lotre  Elidon 
and  Luin  Elidon  occur  therein  also  as  place-names.1  In  the  Taxatio 
<>l  uiji  it  is  uivni  as  Eccl'ia  de  S'co  Lychano  (for  Lythano).2  These 
fonns.  however,  point  to  a  distinct  saint. 

One  of  the  Triads  in  the  third  or  latest  series  mentions  "  Hyfaidd 
Hir,  tlu-  son  of  S.  Bleiddan  in  Glamorgan";  3'  but  the  glosser's  pen 
is  \vry  visible,  for  the  reading  in  the  two  earlier  series  is  "  Bleiddig  in 

nth  Wales."  « 

One  of  "  the  Sayings  of  the  Wise  "  stanzas  runs — 

Hast  thou  heard  the  saying  of  S.  Bleiddan 
Of  the  land  of  Glamorgan  ? 
"  To  possess  reason  is  to  possess  everything."  ° 
(Meddu  P\vyll  nu-ddu'r  cyfan.) 

His  Festival  is  not  given  in  any  of  the  earlier  Welsh  Calendars. 
For  S.  Lupus  of  Troyes,  see  under  S.   LUPUS. 


S.  BLENWYD,  or  BLENWYDD 

THIS  saint's  name  occurs  in  two  lists  of  Caw's  children,  apparently 
as  that  of  a  son,  given  in  the  lolo  MSS.,  *  and  there  only.  He  is 
credited  by  some  7  with  being  the  patron  of  Coedana,  in  Anglesey,  but 
ee  under  S.  ANEF.  Nothing  seems  to  be  known  of  him. 


SS.  BODA  and  BODFAN,  Confessors 


see  ui 

IT  is  difficult  to  make  out  whether  these  names  represent  one  or  two 
,  as  the  copyists  appear  to  have  got  confused.      The  older  lists 
only  Boda  or  Bodo.8    The  two  names  occur  among  the  sons  of 
Helig  ab  Glannog.9     On  the  inundation  of  Tyno  Helig,  his  territory,  his 
ve  sons  became  saints,  in  the  first  instance,  of  the  Bangor  on  Dee, 


"""• 


See  Index  to  the  book.  *  P.  279. 

My;:  Arch.,  p.  403.  4  Ibid.,  pp.  393,   399. 

lolo  MSS.,  p.  256. 
P.    I4J. 

Browne  Willis,  Bangor,  p.  282  ;    Lewis  Morris,  Celtic  Remains,  p.  39. 
E.g.,  Peniarth  MS.  16  (early  thirteenth  century)  ;  Hafod  MS.  16  (c.  1400) ; 
bro-Briiish  Saints,  p.  268,  where  the  name  occurs  as  Bodo. 
Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  418-9,  426,  429  ;   lolo  MSS.,  pp.  106,  124  ;   Cambro -British 
nts,  p.  268. 


224  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

and  after  its  destruction,  some  of  them — Bodfan  among  them — took 
refuge  in  the  Bardsey  Bangor.  They  were  contemporaries  of  Rhun  ab 
Maelgwn  Gwynedd.1  Bodfan  is  the  patron  of  Aber  Gwyngregyn,  in 
Carnarvonshire,  now  generally  called  Aber,  which  parish  immediately 
adjoins  the  Lavan  Sands.  Leland  calls  it  "  the  paroche  of  Aber 
otherwise  Llan  Boduan."  2  In  Sir  John  Wynn  of  Gwydir's  Ancient 
Survey  of  Penmaen  Mawr,"  written  in  the  time  of  Charles  I,  we  are 
told  that  Helig  had  two  sons,  "  Beda  and  Gwynn,  who  were  both 
sainctes  in  Dwygyfylchi,  and  doe  lye  buried  att  the  end  of  the  Churche 
in  a  litle  Chappell  annexed  to  the  west  end  of  the  Churche."  3  The 
Welsh  Prymer  of  1618  and  Browne  Willis  4  give  Bodfan's  Festival  as 
January  2,  and  this  date  occurs  also  in  many  Welsh  almanacks  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Rees  5  gives  June  2,  probably  a  misprint  for 
January  2.  A  Boduan  occurs  as  a  witness  to  a  grant  to  S.  Cadoc.6 
A  Bodian  is  invoked  in  the  tenth  century  Litany  of  S.  Vougay.  He 
is  thought  to  have  given  his  name  to  S.  Bedan,  a  parish  in  the  ancient 
diocese  of  S.  Brieuc. 


S.  BOTHMAEL,  see  S.  BUDMAIL 


S.  BRAN  FENDIGAID 

BRAN  FENDIGAID  (the  Blessed),  the  son  of  LlyrLlediaith,  was  a  purely 
mythological  personage,  without  the  slightest  claim  to  be  reckoned 
a  Welsh  saint ;  but  inasmuch  as  he  has  been  so  regarded  we  must  deal 
with  him.  First  of  all  we  will  give  briefly  what  Welsh  tradition  has 
to  say  of  him. 

"  Bran  ab  Llyr  was  a  valiant  King.  After  the  death  of  his  brothers, 
childless,  he  went  to  reside  in  Cornwall,  leaving  Essyllwg  (Siluria)  to 
his  second  son,  Caradog.  He  effected  much  good  in  repelling  his 
-enemies,  and  was  victorious  over  the  Romans.  He  permitted  the 
Armoricans  to  remain  in  Cornwall  on  condition  that  they  assisted  him 
against  the  Romans,  which  they  did  most  manfully.  This  Bran 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  1 06,  124.  2  Itin.,  v,  fo.  48b. 

3  Reprint,  Llanfairfechan,  1906,  pp.  18,  19. 

4  Survey  of  Bangor,  p.  273.  5  Welsh  Saints,  p.  302. 
*  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.  91. 


S.  Bran  Fcndigan/  22$ 


became  Emperor  of  Britain."  l  He  "  was  the  biggest  man  that  ever 
>een.  He  was  the  kindest  and  most  liberal  in  his  gifts,  and  the 
most  heroic  in  war  and  distress.  He  drove  the  Goidels  out  of  his 
country,  where  they  had  remained  from  the  time  of  Gwrgan  Farfdrwch, 
and  In-  made  a  fortress  (caer)  on  the  banks  of  the  River  Loughor,  which 
.led  Dimnorfael,  after  his  most  beloved  daughter,  who  died  there. 
H,  ^ibscqm'iitly  erected  a  church  there  called  Llanmorfael,  but  now 
11  Llychwr."  2  Two  Triads  in  the  Third  Series  speak  of  him  as 
one  of  tin-  three  "  consolidating  "  and  "  blessing-conferring  "  sovereigns 
of  t he  Isle  of  Britain  ;  another  says  that  his  stock  or  clan  was  one  of  the 
tlnve  saintly  clans  of -Britain  (ousting  Caw  from  the  genuine  Triad)  ; 
and  another,  that  he  "  was  the  first  who  brought  the  Faith  in  Christ 
to  the  nation  of  the  Welsh  from  Rome,  where  he  had  been  seven  years 
as  hostage  i«  *  his  son  Caradog,  whom  the  Romans  had  taken  prisoner."  3 
He  was  "  the  first  of  the  Welsh  nation  that  was  converted  to  the  Faith 
in  riirist,"  as  well  as  the  first  to  bring  that  Faith  hither,  "  on  which 
latter  account  he  was  called  Bran  the  Blessed  "  ;  and  with  him  came 
Hid  and  ("yndaf,  "  men  of  Israel,"  and  Arwystli  Hen,  "  a  man  of  Italy." 
Llandaff  was  "  his  church,"  that  is,  he  was  its  founder  and  patron. 
Of  his  stock  or  clan  were  SS.  Eigen  (daughter  of  Caradog),  Lleurwg, 
Ffagan,  Dyfan,  Medwy,  Elfan,  Tudwal,  and  others.4 
Among  "  the  stanzas  of  the  Achievements  "  occurs  the  following — 

The  achievement  of  Bran,  the  son  of  Llyr  Llediaith, 

Against  the  evil  of  perishing  in  the  desert, 

Was  the  planting  of  the  Faith  in  Christ  by  a  holy  law.5 


And  one  of  "  the  Sayings  of  the  Wise  "  runs — 


Hast  thou  heard  the  saying  of  Brln 
The  Blessed  to  the  renowned  ? 
"  There  Is  none  good  save  God  alone."  * 
(Nid  da  ond  Duw  ei  hunan.) 


farmhouse  in  Glamorgan,  called  Tre  Fran,  is  pointed  out  as 
laving  been  the  place  where  he  resided,  not  far  from  which  is 
ilid  founded  by  "  the  man  of  Israel."  Bryn  Caradog  is  also  in 
he  neighbourhood. 

The  whole  story  is  one  of  the  "  fond  things  of  vain  imagining," 
without  the  slightest  foundation  in  fact,  and  is  a  late  forgery  committed 
by  somebody  ignorant  of  Tacitus  and  Dion  Cassius.  Neither  of  these 
writers  knew  anything  of  the  mythical  Bran,  whose  equally  mythical 

1  lolo  A/SS.,  p.  8.  *Ibid.,  p.  38. 

;l  Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  402,  404. 

4  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  loo,  115,   135,  147.  *  Ibid.,  p.  263 

6  Ibid.,  p.  256. 

VOL.  I.  o 


226  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

son,  Caradog,  has  been  assumed  to  be  the  Caractacus,  or  rather  Cara- 
tacus  (Caradog),  the  famous  leader  of  the  Silures  and  Ordo vices  against 
the  Romans,  who  was  taken  captive  to  Rome  by  Ostorius  Scapula  in 
51.  Dion  Cassius  l  tells  us  that  Caratacus  was  a  son  of  Cunobelinus 
(Cynfelyn),  who  had  died  before  the  war  with  the  Romans  had  begun, 
and  whose  two  sons,  Caratacus  and  Togodumnus,  had  succeeded  him 
on  the  throne.  Tacitus,2  whilst  particularizing  the  wife,  daughter, 
and  brothers  of  Caratacus,  makes  no  reference  whatever  to  his  father, 
whom  he  could  not  have  passed  over  had  he  been  present. 

The  Third  Series  of  the  Triads,  which  is  hardly  earlier  than  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  the  Glamorgan  hagiological  documents  (of  no 
earlier  date),  printed  in  the  lolo  MSS.,  are  responsible  for  Bran's  saint- 
ship  and  the  figment  of  the  evangelising  of  Britain  through  him  and  his 
family,  as  the  result  of  Caradog's  captivity  at  Rome.  Lewis  Morris, 
who,  in  1760,  compiled  the  alphabetical  catalogue  of  the  Welsh  Saints 
intheMyvyrianArchaiology,  from  a  large  collection  of  saintly  pedigrees, 
evidently  knew  nothing  of  him  as  a  saint,  for  he  is  not  mentioned 
therein  at  all. 

The  true  Bran,  however,  is  to  be  met  with,  figuring  largely,  in  the 
Mabinogi  of  Branwen.  He  is  there  3  called  Bendigeidfran,  "  the  Blessed 
Bran  "  ;  but  he  could  not  by  any  possibility  be  styled  "  Blessed  "  in  the 
ordinary  hagiological  sense.  He  is  clearly  one  of  the  old  gods  of  the 
Celtic  pantheon,  and  the  epithet  must  be  regarded  as  a  survival  there- 
from. He  was  so  big  that  "  no  house  could  ever  contain  "  him,  and  "  he 
was  never  known  to  be  within  a  house."  "  There  was  no  ship  that 
could  contain  him  in  it,"  and  so  he  wades  across  the  sea  from  Wales  to 
Ireland.  He  is  wounded  there  with  a  poisoned  dart,  and  he  orders  his 
followers  to  cut  off  his  head  and  bear  it  as  far  as  the  White  Mount,  i.e. 
the  Tower  Hill,  in  London,  and  bury  it  there  with  the  face  towards 
Prance,  as  a  charm  against  foreign  invasion,  but  it  was  disinterred  by 
King  Arthur. 

The  Mabinogi  gives  him  a  son,  Caradog,  and  this,  coupled  with  the 
epithet  "  Blessed,"  led  to  the  invention  of  the  story  that  he  was 
father  of  the  historical  Caradog,  and  "  the  first  that  brought  the 
Faith  in  Christ  to  the  nation  of  the  Welsh." 

Professor  Rhys  regards  him  as  one  of  the  dark  divinities,  the  counter- 
part of  the  Gaulish  Cernunnos  and  the  Roman  Janus.4  His  father, 


1  Lib.  Ix,  cc.  20,  21.  2  Annales,  lib.  xii,  cc.   35,   36. 

3  So  also  in  the  Mabinogi  of  Manawyddan  and  the  Red  Book  Triads. 

4  Arthurian  Legend,   p.    346;      Hibbert  Lectures,   pp.    93-7.      Elton,    in   his 
Origins,  pp.  291—2,  treats  him  as  a  war-god. 


S.  Branwalader  22  7 

Llyr,   ami  his  brother.    Mana\\  yddan.   and   sister,   Branwen,   are   all 
mythological  characters. 

The  Bran  story,  with  all  its  details,  has  been  described* as  forming 
"  what  is  perhaps  (next  to  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  performances)  the 
most  impudent  forgery  in  Welsh  literature."  x 


S.  BRANWALADER,  Abbot,  Confessor 

BRANWAI  ADKK  is  invoked  in  the  tenth  century  Litany  of  S.  Vougay 

in  that  from  Rlu-ims,  published  by  Mabillon,  and  in  the  Exeter  Litany 

of  the  same  period  in  the  Salisbury  Library,  published  by  Warren.2 

M.  I  ctli,  in  an  article  on  these  Celtic  Litanies  says  :—  "  Brangualatre, 

This  Saint  seems  to  be  the  same  as  S.  Brelade  in  Jersey, 

and  S.  Broladre  in  the  ancient  diocese  of  Dol.     He  has  given  his  name 

.  .r-I>ivvrhiiiv  in  Leon  ;  in  the  sixteenth  century  Loc-Brevalayz, 

which  U-ads  to  an  early  Breton  form  Brewalatre,  and  probably  Bren- 

walativ   or    Branwalatre."  3 

Loc-Brevelaire  is  stated  by  M.  Pol  de  Courcy  to  have  been  described 
in  medieval  documents  as  Monasterium  Sti.  Brendani,  but  no  refer- 
s  are  given.4 

Both  Albert  le  Grand5  and  Lobineau  identify  the  two.  The  Breviary 
of  S.  Malo  of  1768  does  so  as  well. 

Against  tin-  identification  is  the  fact  that  the  names  apparently  have 
little  in  common,  but  this  shall  be  considered  presently.  In  935 
Athelstan  translated  the  body,  or  relics,  of  S.  Branwalader,  together 
with  the  ami  and  pastoral  staff  of  S.  Samson,  to  Milton  in  Dorsetshire. 
The  day  of  commemoration  of  this  Translation  was  January  19. 

William  of  Worcester  mentions  Branwalader  under  the  name  of 

I  •'>  ran  \vakm.     He  says  that  the  body  then  reposed  "  at  Branston,  eight 

-  from  Axminster,  and  four  miles  from  the  South  Sea."     William 

of  Worcester's  writing  is  peculiarly  crabbed.     The  original  MS.  is  in 


1  Mr.  EtfLTtoii  Plnllimore  in  Y  Cymmrodor,  xi,  p.  126. 

1  Litany  of  S.  Vougay.  see  Albert  le  Grand,  Vies  des  Saints  de  Bretagne,  ne\v 
ed.  Quimper,   1901,  pp.   224-227.     Rheims  Litany,  Mabillon,    Vetera  Analecta, 
.iris.  1723.  ii,  p.  667.     Exeter  Litany,  Warren,  Revue  Celtique,  1888,  p.  88, 
et  seq. 

8  Revue  Celtique,   1890,  p.   139. 
4  Cartulaire  de  Redon,    1863,  p.  579. 
"  S.  Brandan.  que  nos  Bretons  appellant  Sant  Brevalazr,"  Le  Grand,  ed.  cit., 

r-  5i»i- 


228  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Corpus  Christi  College  Library,  Cambridge,  and  Nasmith  printed   it 
fairly  accurately  in  1778. l 

Branston  is  Branscombe,  and  it  is  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  not  four 
miles  from  the  sea. 

Leland  calls  the  Saint,  Brampalator,  and  speaks  of  a  chapel  of 
S.  Breword  near  the  shore  at  Seaton,  between  Axminster  and  Brans- 
combe.2 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Breword  is  the  same  as  Branwalader, 
and  the  chapel  may  have  marked  a  resting-place  of  the  relics,  when 
being  translated. 

The  name  Brennain,  which  has  become  Brendan,  means  a  shower. 
This  adhered  to  the  Saint  in  Ireland,  and  in  those  parts  of  Armorica 
where  there  was  a  considerable  Irish  settlement.  But  the  Britons 
would  seem  to  have  changed  the  Bren  into  Bran,  a  raven,  and  to  have 
tacked  on  to  it  the  epithet  Gwalader.  Gwaladr,  in  Welsh,  is  a  leader 
or  ruler.  It  was  by  no  means  unusual  for  saints  to  have  two  names. 
Brendan  was  not  the  Saint's  baptismal  name,  which  was  Mobi. 

S.  Cadoc's  original  name  was  Cathmail,  that  of  S.  Meven  was  Conaid  ; 
Kenan  was  known  as  Coledoc,  one  Fintan  was  also  called  Munna, 
a  second  Berach  ;  Cronan  was  also  known  as  Mochua,  Carthach  as 
Mochuda,  Darerca  is  likewise  known  as  Monenna.  Kentigern  is  one 
with  Munghu,  and  the  great  teacher  of  saints  at  Ty  Gwyn  is  known  as 
Ninnidh  or  Maucan.  Celtic  personal  names  consist  of  a  substantive 
to  which  an  adjective  or  a  qualifying  substantive  is  annexed.  Brang- 
walader  means  the  Raven  Lord.  Gwlad  in  Modern  Welsh  means 
"  country  "  ;  in  Old  Welsh  it  signified  "  power,  authority,"  from  a  root 
"  vald,"  whence  also  English  "  wrield,"  German  "  walten,"  etc.  Gwaladr 
is  "  one  possessed  of  power,"  "  a  ruler."  We  have  the  same  in  com- 
position in  Cadwaladr. 

Branwalader  appears  in  Breton  and  British  Litanies  only.     In  the  ' 
Irish  Martyrologies  such  a  name  does  not  occur,  but  Brendan  or  rather 
Brennain. 

In  Brittany  S.  Branwalader  receives  local  commemoration  on  the 
day  of  S.  Brendan,  May  16.  MS.  Missal  of  S.  Malo,  fifteenth  century  ; 
Breviary  of  S.  Malo,  1537  ;  Breviary  of  Dol,  1769,  on  July  5  ; 
Breviary  of  Leon,  1516  ;  Garaby  also  May  16,  as  Brendan  or  Broladre. 
He  is  the  S.  Brelade  of  Jersey,  and  the  S.  Broladre  of  Ille-et-Vilaine. 
Hampson's  Cal.  Jan.  19,  so  also  the  Cals.  of  Winchester  and 
Malmesbury. 

1  The  passage  is  not  distinctly  written  and  turned  in  by  the  original  binder 
after  the  letter  n. 

2  Leland,   Coll.,  iv,  82  ;    I  tin.,  iii,   58. 


S.   Breaca  229 

S.  BREACA,  Virgin,  Abbess 

LELAND  (Itin.,  iii,  p.  15),  quoting  from  a  Life  of  this  saint  in  use  in 
Breage  Church,  Cornwall,  says  that  she  was  one  of  the  company  of 
Irish  Saints  that  arrived  under  the  conduct  of  S.  Sinninus  the  abbot, 
of  S.  Senan  of  Inis  Cathy.  She  was  born  in  "  the  parts  of  Leinster 
and  Ulster,"  and  was  associated  with  S.  Brigid  in  the  foundation  of  a 
community  in  these  parts. 

The  whole  passage  runs  as  follows,  a  summary  of  what  he  found  in 
the  now  lost  Vita  Sanctac  Breacae. 

tncii,  ut  legitur  in  vita  Sti.  \Vynu-ri.     Sta.  Breaca  nata  in 

partibus   l.a^omar  rt  Ultoniac.     Campus    Brracar   in   Hibcrnia  in  quo  Brigida 
oratorimn  omstruxit.  rt  pi»t«-a  Monastcrium,  in  quo  fuit  Sta.  Breaca. 

Br< .  ;i  Cornubiam  comitata  multis  Sanctis,  inter  quos  fuerunt  Sin- 

ninus Abba>.  ijui   Komar  cum  Patrick)  fuit  ;    Maruanus  monachus,  Germochus 

senna,    Helena. 
Breaca  appulit  sub  Rivvrr  cum  suis,  quorum  partem  occidit  Tewder. 

Mit  ad   IVncair. 
Brcai  ,i   vnit    ail   Tri-ne\vith. 

Breaca  ar-lnuaN  it  t-ccl.  in  Trciu-\vith  rt  Talnu-nc-th,  ut  legitur   in   vita   Sti. 
ui. 

Now  who  was  this  Breaca  ?  Breaca  is  but  a  Latin  form  of  Brig,  or 
•jj,  as  the  name  is  pronounced  alike  in  Cornwall  and  in  Ireland. 
There  were  several  female  saints  of  this  name. 

Brit;  was  Virgin  Abbess  of  Killbrig,  and  was  a  pupil  of  S.  Brigid. 
Some  doubt  exists  as  to  her  father's  name,  wrhether  it  were  Cairpre  or 
rinluc  Tin-  glossator  on  the  Martyrology  of  Oengus  says  the  former. 

In  the  Book  of  Leinster  she  is  said  to  have  been  the  daughter  of 
Fergus.  But  Brig,  daughter  of  Fergus,  was  sister  of  Brennan,  father  of 
S.  Bot'thin.  Another  brother  was  S.  Brendan  of  Clonfert.  Although 
(  aik-d  his  sister,  she  may  have  been  a  half-sister,  and  this  would  account 
for  her  being  called  in  one  place  the  daughter  of  Fergus,  and  he  being 
:>ol  as  a  son  of  Finlug. 

S,  Brigid  founded  Kildare  in  480  and  died  in  525.  S.  Brendan  was 
niiu  t\  -six  when  he  died  in  577,  consequently  he  was  born  in  481.  If 
Brig  was  a  half-sister,  by  a  second  marriage,  she  may  have  been  younger 
by  some  years.  Brendan  paid  his  sister  a  visit  before  his  death,  and 
gave  lu -r  a  parting  kiss.  She  was  accordingly  not  at  this  time  in 
Cornwall. 

This  thn.\\s  Brig,  sister  of  Brendan,  too  late. 

According  to  her  Life,  as  summarized  by  Leland,  Breaca  came  to 
Cornwall  with  Senan.  He  died  in  554.  He  travelled  much  in  his  early 
days.  Now  Senan  was  in  close  communication  with  a  holy  virgin  of 
the  name  of  Brig  or  Brigid,  daughter  of  Cu  Cathrach,  of  the  Hy  Machtail 


230  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

sept,  who  had  her  church  at  Cluain  Infide,  on  the  banks  of  the  Shannon. 
The  story  is  told  of  her  that  she  had  a  chasuble  she  desired  to  present  to 
Senan,  but  having  no  messenger  she  made  a  little  basket  of  holly  twigs, 
put  moss  in  it,  and  then  packed  into  it  the  chasuble  as  .well  as  a  letter 
entreating  him  to  come  and  communicate  her.  Then  she  cast  the  little 
hamper  into  the  river,  and  said  to  the  stream,  "  Bear  that  with  thee 
to  Iniscathy."  Actually  the  basket  was  washed  up  on  the  bank  of  the 
islet,  and  was  taken  to  Senan,  who  at  once  took  measures  to  comply 
with  her  request.  As  she  was  short  of  salt  as  well,  he  sent  her  that 
likewise.  According  to  the  form  in  which  the  legend  reaches  us,  he 
committed  two  bars  of  salt  and  the  Blessed  Sacrament  to  the  Shannon 
to  carry  it  back,  in  the  same  basket.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  this 
is  a  miraculous  gloss  on  a  very  simple  incident.  Brig  sent  down  a 
messenger  in  a  coracle  of  plaited  holly  twigs,  to  make  the  request 
known  to  the  Abbot,  and  to  offer  him  her  present,  and  by  the  same 
vehicle  he  sent  to  her  what  she  desired. l 

Another  with  whom  Brig  came  to  Cornwall  was  Finbar,  or  Baricius 
as  he  is  also  called.  Finbar's  death  is  usually  put  far  too  late,  he  was 
a  friend  of  S.  Senan,  and  we  are  inclined  to  hold  that  he  did  not  die 
later  than  560.  Now  Finbar  is  expressly  stated  to  have  had  a  congre- 
gation of  holy  women  over  whom  presided  a  Her  and  a  Brigid.2 

Her  we  take  to  be  Hy  or  la  who  came  to  Cornwall,  and  Brigid  may  be 
the  same  Brigid  who  was  at  one  time  under  the  direction  of  S.  Senan. 
In  the  Life  of  S.  Monynna  we  read  of  one  of  the  sisters  whose  name  was 
Brig,  who  was  greatly  trusted  by  her.3 

One  evening  after  she  had  been  sent  to  the  dormitory,  she  rose  and 
approached  the  cell  of  her  superior,  when  she  saw  two  swans  flying  over 
it,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  angels  who  had  visited 
Monynna.4  In  punishment  for  inquisitiveness  she  was  struck  blind. 

The  name  Brig,  Brignat,  or  Briget,  all  forms  of  the  same  name,  was 
so  common  in  Ireland,  and  there  are  so  many  saints  so  called,  that  with 
the  limited  information  we  possess,  it  is  not  possible  to  fix,  with  anything 
approaching  to  certainty,  which  of  them  was  she  who  came  over  to 
Cornwall. 

All  the  particulars  we  learn  from  Leland  are  that  she  was  at  one 


1  Book  of  Lismore,  Anecd.  Oxon.,  pp.  218-9. 

2  O'Hanlon,  Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints,  ix,  p.  561.     We  have  been  unable  to  find 
the  authority.     The  list  of  disciples  is  not  in  the  Life  in  the  Kilkenny  Book,  of 
which  we  have  obtained  a  transcript. 

3  "  Inter  alias  Dei  famulas  quaedam  virgo,   nomine    Brignat,    cum   sancta 
virgine  cohabitasse  traditur."     Vitae  SS.  Hib.,  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  179. 

4  fbid.,  col.  179.     See  further  under  Brigid  of  Cilmuine. 


S.  Breaca  231 

turn-  in  the  community  of  S.  Brigid  at  Kildare  and  that  she  was  a 
native    of    that    district. 

Keating,  in  his  History  of  Ireland,  says,  "  The  religious  women  that 

known  by  the  name  of  Bridget  were  fourteen,  and  were  as  follows  : 

I'.i  idget,  daughter  of  Dioma  ;  Bridget,  daughter  of  Maianaig  ;  Bridget, 

Momhain  ;  Bridget,  daughter  of  Eana  ;  Bridget,  daughter 

of  Colla  ;  Bridget,  daughter  of  Eathair  Ard  ;  Bridget,  of  Inis  Bride  ; 

Bridget,  the  daughter  of  Diamair ;  Bridget,  the  daughter  of  Seann- 

botha;  Bridget,  daughter  of  Fiadnait ;  Bridget,  daughter  of  Hugh 

(Aed) ;  Bridget,  daughter  of  Luinge  ;  Bridget,  daughter  of  Fiochmaine  ; 

Bridget,  daughter  of  Flainge."  1 

But  this  by  no  means  exhausts  them.     There  was  a  Brigid,  daughter 

.m^ill,  "  mother  of  the  daughters  of  Christ  in  the  province  of 

•T        When  S.  Brigid  of  Kildare  visited  her,  the  latter  washed 

the  holy  mother's  feet,  and  a  nun  who  suffered  from  gout  was  cured  by 

tin- 

Tlu-  Book  of  Leinster  gives  these  Brigs  as  disciples  of  S.  Brigid  :— 

•  laughter  of  Fergus,  at  Cill-Brig,  and  this  was  near  Kildare. 

Anoth.  i  was  the  daughter  of  Amalgaid,  in  Achad  Eda,  this  is  Huach- 

i   in    Kildare.    Colgan  adds  others,  Brig,   daughter  of  Doma 

(February  71.  a  daughter  of  Mainach,  another  of  Manan  (June  24), 

a  nut  her  of  Enda,  another  of  Colla,  Brigid  of  Inis  Brig,  another  of 

Fithmuine  ;  the  daughter  of  Murdach,  and  of  Rathbrig  near  Curah  of 

KiMaiv  ;  and  the  daughter  of  Eochaid  and  of  Magluinge. 

Consequently  the  statement  made  by  Leland  that  Breaca  was  a 
disciple  of  S.  Brigid  does  not  help  us  much. 

H<  r  companions,  he  tells  us,  were  Senan,  Maruan  (Mo-Ruan)  Germoc 
the  Kins.  Klwen,  Crewenna,  and  Helena.  There  were  more,  and  among 
these  Achebran,  Tressan,  and  Gibrian,  and  as  we  have  already  seen 
(under  S.  ACHEBRAN)  we  can  pretty  well  fix  the  date  when  seven  of  the 

nn  arrived  at  Rheims,  i.e.  509. 

This  would  give  the  close  of  the  fifth  century,  or  the  very  beginning 
of  the  sixth,  as  the  date  of  their  arrival  in  Cornwall,  approximately 
500.  If  this  be  the  date,  it  excludes  the  half-sister  of  S.  Brendan,  who 
survived  him. 

When  the  party  came  over  to  Cornwall,  and  arrived  in  Hayle  Bay, 
Tcwdrig  resisted  their  landing.  They  however  made  their  way  to 
krwier,  where  he  had  a  castle,  to  ask  permission  to  settle.  Reyvier  is 
on  a  creek  just  west  of  Phillack  Church,  "  now  as  some  think  drowned 
with  sand,"  says  Leland.3 

1  Keating,  Hist.  Ireland,  tr.  O'Connor,  Dublin,  1841  ;   ii,  p.  66. 

2  Colgan,  Trias  Thanmat.,  p.  530.  3  Itin.,  iii,  p.   18. 


232  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Tewdrig  killed  some  of  the  party,  and  Breaca  fled  to  Pencaer,  a  forti- 
fication on  Tregonning  Hill,  that  may  still  be  seen.  Thence  she  went 
to  Trenewith  now  Chenoweth,  and  thence  toTalmeneth  (the  mountain's 
end)  where  the  site  of  her  chapel  is  still  shown.  She  founded  oratories  in 
all  these  places.  That  at  Pencaer  can  no  longer  be  traced. 

What  militates  against  identifying  Breaca  with  the  Brig  who  was 
sent  by  Monynna  to  acquire  a  rule  in  Britain,  is  that  this  latter  is  said 
to  have  lost  her  sight.1 

Breage  is  the  mother  church  of  Cury,  Germoe,  and  Gunwalloe.  Cury 
and  Gunwalloe  were  cut  out  of  this  extensive  parish  at  a  later  period, 
but  still  render  a  pecuniary  acknowledgment  to  the  mother  church. 
Penbro  was  the  ancient  name  of  Breage  Church  town.  The  castle 
occupied  by  Breaca  in  Pencaer  was  afterwards  known  as  Caer  Conan, 
according  to  Leland.  William  of  Worcester  says  :  "  Sancta  Breaca 
(Nasmith  prints  incorrectly  Branca)  Virgo,  dies  agitur  die  primo 
die  (sic)  .  .  .  jacet  in  ecclesia  predictae  sanctae,  per  III  miliaria  Montis 
Michaelis."  William  of  Worcester  began  the  name  of  the  month,  and 
then  cancelled  it. 

The  old  feast  day  of  S.  Breaca  is  said  to  have  been  June  4,  but  now 
it  is  held  on  the  third  Monday  in  June,  i.e.  the  nearest  to  the  Feast,  O.S. 
There  is  also  a  feast  at  Breage  on  December  26. 

In  the  Irish  Calendars,  Brig,  sister  of  Brendan,  and  abbess  of  Anna- 
down  is  commemorated  on  January  7.  Brig,  daughter  of  Dioma,  on 
February  7,  but  also  on  March  9,  and  May  21.  Another  of  Moin 
Miolaine  on  the  same  day.  Brigid  of  Cluain,  in  Derry,  on  August  13. 
Brigid  of  Cluainfidhe,  who  was  Senan's  disciple,  on  September  30. 
This  is  the  most  probable  Brigid  or  Brig  to  be  identified  with  Breaca, 
who  is  said  to  have  come  to  Cornwall  with  S.  Senan.  Another  Brigid 
of  Cil  Muine,  or  S.  David's,  Pembrokeshire,  was  commemorated  in 
the  Irish  Calendars  on  November  12.  This  is  probably  the  pupil  of 
S.  Monynna  sent  over  there  to  obtain  a  Rule  of  Life. 


S.  BRENDA,  Confessor 

S.  BRENDAF  or  Brenda  was  one  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Helig  ab  Glan- 
nog,  whose  territory  was  inundated  by  the  sea,  whereupon  they  became 
saints  or  monks  in  the  Bangor  in  Maelor  (on  the  Dee).  After  the  de- 

1  Vite  SS.  Hib.,  Cod.  Sal.,  col.   187. 


S.  Brendan  233 

struction  of  the  latter  some  of  them,  including  Brenda,  became  saints  in 

..n-orin  Bardsey.1 

The  couplet  in  the   Stanzas  of  the  Months  by  the  pseudo-Aneunn, 
which  runs — 

Truly  saith  S.  Brenda  (al..  Breda), 

|   i<  not  left  resorted  to  than  good,"  J 

is  more  probably  to  be  attributed  to  the  great  S.  Brendan,  abbot  of 
Clonfert. 


S.  BRENDAN,  Abbot,  Confessor 

S.  BRENDAN  of  Clonfert  was  the  son  of  Finlug  and  Cara,  and  his 

KiptiMiial   name   was   Mobi. 

Mobhi  his  name  at  first, 
(Given)  by  (his)  parents — fair  his  face  ; 
A   youth  hostful,  inquisitive,  slim, 
He  was  a  help  to  the  men.  of  Erin.3 

Owing,  however,  to  a  silvery  light,  the  Aurora  Borealis,  that  was 
seen  when  he  was  born,  he  was  commonly  called  Broen-finn,  the  White 
Rain.  Broenan,  the  diminutive,  would  mean  a  shower. 

He  was  born  in  the  Fenit,  a  township  of  Kerry,  six  miles  west  of 

Tralee,  on  the  northern  shore  of  its  harbour,  consisting  of  a  promontory 

ilk.l  Fenit  Without,  and  an  adjoining  peninsula,  called  Fenit  Within. 

It  was  formerly  a  district  of  some  renown,  and  was  the  resort  and 

•  mi;  place  of  the  Fianna,  or  Fian  Militia  of  Ireland,  who  have  left 

abundant  traces  there  of  their  hearths  and  kitchen  middens.     The 

coast  is  wild  and  rugged,  beaten  by  the  Atlantic,  and  it  was  here,  in  his 

early  youth,  that  Brendan  imbibed  that  love  of  the  ocean  which  seems 

to  have  held  him  till  too  old  for  more  voyaging  and  venturing  on  the 

perils  of  the  deep.4 

On  the  night  that  Brendan  was  born,  Bishop  Ere  was  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, probably  at  Kilvicadeaghadh,  and  looking  over  the  district 
« if  the  Fenit  and  the  waters  of  what  was  afterwards  called  S.  Brendan's 
Bay,  he  watched  the  silvery  shooting  rays  of  the  Aurora,  with  wonder 
and  admiration.  When,  afterwards,  he  was  summoned  to  baptize  the 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  106,   124;    My:-.  A>ch.,  p.  419. 

Arch.,  pp.   21,  419. 

"  Life  "  in  tlv  "  Book  of  Lismore."  Anecd>t.  O\onicn.,  p.  248. 
4  O'Donoghue  (D.),  5.  Brendan  the  Voyager,  Dublin,  1893,  p.  41.     Finlug  was 
one  of  the  race  of  Ciarr,  whose  descendants,  the  Ciarraighe,  gave  their  name  to 
Kerry.     Ogygia,  p.  276. 


234  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

child  of  Finlug  on  the  Fenit,  he  accepted  this  magnetic  display  as  a 
happy  omen  of  the  child's  future  celebrity. 

The  place  of  the  baptism  of  Brendan  was,  apparently,  Tubber-na- 
molt,  in  the  parish  of  Ardfert,  a  spring  to  which  probably  in  Pagan 
times  great  veneration  had  been  paid,  and  Ere,  following  the  example 
of  S.  Patrick,  unable  to  eradicate  the  superstitious  devotion  to  wells, 
sought  to  consecrate  them,  by  converting  them  into  baptisteries.  As 
a  fee  for  performing  the  Sacrament  of  Regeneration,  Ere  received  from 
Finlug  three  wethers,  which  have  given  their  name  to  the  well.  Ere 
begged  that  the  child,  when  a  year  old  and  weaned,  might  be  given 
to  be  fostered  to  S.  Itha,  who  at  that  time  had  a  house  at  Tubrid  Beg, 
five  miles  from  Tralee. 

Brendan  is  often  called  Mac-hua-Alta,  as  his  great  grandfather  was 
Alta,  from  whom  came  the  Altraighe,  and  as  it  was  necessary  to  dis- 
tinguish him  from  his  contemporary,  Brendan  of  Birr,  who  was  son  of 
Neman. 1 

Brendan  remained  with  Itha  for  five  years,  i.e.  till  488,  for  he  was 
born  in  483.  Throughout  his  life,  Brendan  continued  devoted  to  her, 
and  consulted  her  in  all  his  difficulties. 

Angels  in  the  shape  of  white  virgins 
Were  fostering  Brenain, 

From  one  hand  to  another  (he  was  passed) 
Without  disgrace  to  the  babe.2 

His  sister  was  Brig,  and  to  her  he  was  warmly  attached. 

When  Brendan  was  six  years  old,  Bishop  Ere  took  him  about  with 
him  on  his  missionary  rounds,  in  his  car.  Ere  had  descended  from  his 
vehicle  one  day  at  O'Brenna,  in  the  barony  of  Trughanacme,3  and 
b2gan  his  sermon  to  the  assembled  people,  leaving  the  boy  in  the 
chariot.  Now  it  chanced  that  a  little  girl,  "  gentle,  modest,  and 
flaxen-haired,  of  a  princely  family,  drew  nigh  to  the  carriage  close  to 
him,"  and  wishing  to  have  a  game,  attempted  to  scramble  up  the 
wheel,  to  reach  him.  Brendan,  however,  who  had  the  reins  in  his 
hand,  lashed  her  with  them,  and  drove  her  off. 

This  little  by-play  distracted  the  attention  of  the  audience,  and  Ere 
seeing  the  eyes  of  the  people  directed  elsewhere,  turned  sharply  round, 
and  saw  what  was  going  on  in  the  rear.  He  was  mightily  offended, 
gave  Brendan  a  scolding,  and  consigned  him  to  the  black  hole  for  the 
night.  The  boy  spent  his  time  in  shouting  psalms,  and  Ere,  mollified, 

1  He  is  so  called  in  the  Life  of  S.  Columba  by  Adamnan,  ed.  Reeves,  pp.  55, 
220  ;  by  Tighernach,  559  ;  Chron.  Scot.,  554  ;  Vita  Tripart.  S.  Pair.,  p.  208,  etc. 

Book  of  Lismore,"  A  nee.  Oxon.,  p.  249. 
3  O'Donoghue,  op.  cit.,  p.  59. 


S.  Brendan  235 

soon  let  him  out.  The  pit  or  cave,  Uaimh  Brenainn,  pointed  out  by 
tradition  as  the  place  of  his  confinement,  was  a  few  years  ago  destroyed 
l>v  quanymen.1 

Alter  some  years  spent  with  Ere  learning  "  the  Canonical  Scriptures 

e  ( >M  and  the  N.-\v  Testaments,"  Brendan  asked  leave  to  depart  so 

that  he  might  make  a  compilation  of  the  Monastic  Rules  observed  by 

•al  great  Abbots  in  Ireland.     Itha,  whom  he  consulted,  very 

prudently  re<  ommended  him  not  to  visit  the  religious  houses  of  women, 

under  the  plea  of  inquiring  into  their  regulations,  as  he  was  a  young 

ind  this  might  be  productive  of  scandal.2 

On  leaving  Ere,  Brendan  fell  in  with  one  Colman  MacLenin,  with 

whom  he  made  friends,  and  whom  he  induced  to  abandon  the  military 

1  embrace  that  of  religion.     Colman  founded  the  church 

'vne,  and  died  in  604  ; 3  the  date  of  the  death,  however,  is  either 

\\  i -i  >ng,  or  else  the  Colman  Brendan  converted  was  another  of  the  same 

name 

After  that.  Brendan  entered  Connaught  and  attached  himself  to 

i  lath,  who  at  the  time  had  a  school  at  Clonfois,  not  far  from 

Kilbannon.     "And  Brendan  learned  from  him  all  the  rules  of  the 

xunts  of  Erin."     For  some  unexplained  reason  Brendan  persuaded 

Jarlath  tosliift  his  quarters  to  where  is  now  Tuam.     It  was  the  property 

of  Eoghain  Beal  MacDuach  (502-538),  son  of  Duach   Teangumbha, 

of  Connaught,  who  was  induced  to  part  with  it,  when  Jarlath  under- 

tnok   as   "full   price  "   that  MacDuach  should  receive  in  exchange 

H<  ,iven  and  abundance  without  stint,  and  an  eternal  place  in  my 
corner  of  Heaven." 

Brendan  and  Jarlath  between  them  composed  a  hymn  on  Tuam,  in 
which  they  promised  that  no  one  buried  in  its  churchyard  should  go 
to  hell.1 

Brendan  now  left  Jarlath,  and  proceeded  to  the  plain  of  Ai,  in  the 
present  County  of  Roscommon,  to  which  part  of  his  own  clan  had 
migrated  a  little  before,  under  the  patronage  of  S.  Caoilin,  who  had 
great  influence  with  King  Aeclh  MacEochaidh,  and  who  induced  him  to 
.urant  her  this  tract  for  the  settlement  in  it  of  the  overflow  of  her 
clansmen  from  Kerry.  In  the  Latin  Life  in  the  Salamanca  Codex  5 

1  O'Donoghue,  p.  59.  *  "  Book  of  Lismore,"  Anec.  Oxon.,  p.  251. 

>ry  relative  to  the  conversion  of  S.  Colman  is  in  the  Book  of  Munster, 

but  it  contains  an  anachronism,  it  represents  S.  Ailbe  as  already  dead.     Now 

Ailbe  died  in  527  or  533,  and  either  the  conversion  is  put  down  in  the  Life  of 

S.  Brendan  too  early  by  some  ten  or  twenty  years,  or  the  story  is  fable. 

4  Given  in  Notes  on  the   "Life"  of  S.  Brendan,  in  the  Irish  Ecclesiastical 

vol.  viii  (N<  \\  Series,    iSji-j),   and  in  O'Donoghue,  pp.  21-2. 
6  Vita  2da,  Corf.  So/.,  col.  763.     There  is  a  chronological  difficulty  here.      Aedh 


236  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

we  are  told  that  the  king  offered  some  of  the  land  to  Brendan,  but  he 
declined  it. 

It  was  here  that  Brendan  completed  his  compilation  of  Monastic 
Rules.  According  to  the  legendary  account  in  the  Lives  he  received 
it  from  an  angel,  but  the  context  plainly  indicates  that  he  drew  it  up 
from  Jarlath  and  other  noted  abbots  in  Connaught. 

This  completed,  he  returned  to  Ere  and  was  ordained  priest  by  him. 
"  Thenceforth  the  love  of  God  grew  exceedingly  in  his  heart,  and  he 
desired  to  leave  his  country  and  land,  and  parents  and  family,  and  he 
earnestly  besought  the  Lord  to  grant  him  some  place,  secret,  retired, 
secure,  delightful,  and  far  apart  from  men."  l 

However,  he  first  founded  sundry  monasteries  in  his  own  district 
and  among  his  own  kinsfolk.2 

One  of  these  was  at  the  foot  of  Brandon  Hill,  on  the  west,  and  there 
for  seven  years  he  had  under  his  training  S.  Finan  Cam,  probably  a 
relative.  At  the  end  of  this  time  some  disagreement  ensued  between 
them,  which  is  disguised  by  the  biographer,  who  says  that  Brendan 
said  to  him,  "  Brother  Finan,  it  is  not  fitting  that  we  should  be  any 
longer  in  one  place,  but  that  we  should  keep  our  communities  apart. 
If  you  choose  to  remain  here,  do  so,  in  God's  name,  and  I  will  go." 
"  No,  father,"  answered  Finan,  "  I  am  the  younger  and  I  will  no  longer 
trespass  on  you.  I  will  depart."  And  he  left  for  Slieve-Bloom,  and 
founded  Kinnulty  in  King's  County.  There  was  clearly  a  hot  quarrel 
and  a  final  rupture.3 

Brandon  Hill  is  3,127  feet  high,  and  to  the  summit  Brendan  often 
retired.  "  All  the  bold  hills  from  Aran  to  Kenmare,  that  go  out  to 
meet  the  waves,  are  visible  from  its  summit.  The  rocky  islets  of  the 
Skelligs  and  the  Moherees  are  the  sentinels  that  guard  its  base.  Inland 
the  spectator  can  cast  his  gaze  over  half  the  south  of  Ireland — moun- 
tain and  valley,  lake  and  stream,  plain  and  town,  stretching  far  away 
to  the  east  and  south.  But  the  eye  ever  turns  seaward  to  the  grand 
panorama  presented  by  the  ultimate  ocean.  No  such  view  can  be  had 
elsewhere  in  the  British  Islands  ;  and  Brendan,  whilst  dwelling  on  the 
mountain  summit,  saw  it  in  all  its  varying  moods — at  early  morning 
when  the  glory  of  the  sun  was  first  diffused  over  its  wide  reaches ;  at 

Mac  Eochaidh  is  thought  to  have  reigned  544-555.  He  was  the  third  king  of 
Connaught  after  Eoghain  Beal,  mentioned  above.  The  dates  are  not  however 
sure,  other  authorities  give  551-577. 

1  Life  in  Book  of  Lismore,  p.   252. 

2  "  Deinde  cellas  et  monasteria  fundavit  in  sua  propria    region e,   sed  non 
plura."    Life  in  so-called  Book  of  Kilkenny. 

3  Vita  ex  Cod.  Inisensi  in  Franciscan  Convent,  Dublin. 


S.  Brendan  237 

midnight,  when  the  stars  swept  round  the  pole  ;  at  even,  above  all, 

at  even when  the  setting  sun  went  home  to  the  caverns  beneath  the 

sea,  and  the  line  of  light  along  the  glowing  west  seemed  a  road  of  living 
gold  to  the  Fortunate  Islands  where  the  sorrows  of  earth  never  enter, 
and  peace  and  beauty  for  ever  dwell.  .  .  To  this  day  the  existence  of 
!.  an  enchanted  land  of  joy  and  beauty,  which  is  seen  sometimes 
on  the  blue  rim  of  the  ocean,  is  very  confidently  believed  in  by  the 

:  men  on  our  western  coasts."  l 

The  monastery  of  Brendan  at  its  foot  was  Shankeel  (Sean-cill),  "  the 

Old  Church."  where  there  are  to  this  day  remains  of  cloghans,  ancient 

live  cells.     To  the  summit  of  the  mountain  ascends  Casan  na 

Ji.  tin-  "  Pathway  of  the  Saints,"  a  causeway  carried  over  bog 

and  hill  from  Kilmelchedor  Church,  a  distance  of  seven  miles.     There 

mis  of  a  church  on  the  summit. 

At  this  period  the  Saint  sought  to  found  a  monastery  near  Tralee, 
but.  according  to  popular  tradition,  a  bird  carried  off  the  line  with 
which  he  was  measuring  the  foundations,  and  conveyed  it  to  where  is 
now  Anllert.  ;md  where,  accepting  the  omen,  Brendan  established  a 
settlement. - 

The  imagination  of  Brendan  was  fired  by  the  sight  of  the  vast  ocean 
to  the  west,  and  of  the  sun  setting  beyond  it.  Probably  for  some  years 
the-  desire  to  explore  that  mysterious  waste  of  water  had  possessed 
him.  Several  causes  led  to  its  finally  resolving  itself  into  action. 

ing  to  the  Navigatio,  he  met  an  abbot  of  the  name  of  Barinth, 

a  grandson  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages.     Barinth  told  him  a  long 

story  to  this  effect.     A  pupil  of  his,  Mernoc,  had  deserted  his  monastery, 

and  had  settled  in  a  rocky  islet.     After  a  while,  Barinth,  hearing  that 

:ioc  was  gathering  disciples  about  him,  visited  him  and  found  him 

and  his  community  living  on  roots  and  nuts  and  apples  in  a  very  wild 

inhospitable  spot.     But  Mernoc  had  an  idea,  and  persuaded  his  old 

master  to  accompany  him  on  a  voyage  to  the  setting  sun  in  quest  of 

;  and  of  Promise.     Barinth  and  the  rest  started  in  a  boat,  but  were 

a  while  enveloped  in  a  sea  fog.     Finally  they  reached  a  fertile 

land,  and  travelled  through  it  for  fifteen  days  till  they  arrived  on  the 

banks  of  a  wide  river.     They  then  turned  back,  remounted  their  boat, 

and  in  course  of  time  made  the  islet  from  which  they  had  started.3 

ily  (J.  B.),  Insula  Sanctorum,  Dublin,  1896,  p.  214. 
*  O'Hanlon  (J.  Canon),  Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints,  vol.  v,  p.  443. 

jvigatio,    ed.    Moran.      In  an  article  in  the  Revue  Celtique,  xxii,  p.  339, 

\   C.  L.  Brown  attempts  to  identify  Barinth  with  the  Celtic  sea-god  Mannan 

!.vr.     Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  introduces  him  as  piloting  King  Arthur  to 

.>rtunatr    Isles.     Geoffrey  adopted   Barinth  from  the  popular  Navigatio 

Brtndani. 


2  3  H  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

If  Brendan  had  felt  hitherto  any  hesitation  about  undertaking  the 
voyage  of  exploration,  this  was  removed  by  a  singularly  untoward 
accident. 

Brendan  had  gone  to  an  islet  in  a  boat,  and  on  landing  left  a  boy  in 
charge  of  it.  Presently  when  the  tide  turned,  and  the  wind  freshened, 
the  lad's  brother,  who  accompanied  Brendan,  told  his  master  that  the 
little  fellow  was  not  man  enough  to  hold  the  boat.  Brendan  testily 
rebuked  him  and  wished  him  bad  luck  for  so  saying,  but  when  his 
disciple  persisted,  sent  him  back.  The  young  man  found  his  brother 
vainly  struggling  with  the  boat ;  and  hastening  to  his  assistance,  was 
himself  swept  away  by  a  wave  and  was  drowned.  Brendan's  conscience 
reproached  him  for  his  conduct  in  the  matter,  which  he  must  have 
frankly  acknowledged,  for  there  was  no  one  now  alive  to  give  evidence 
of  the  bad  words  he  had  used.  Moreover,  the  drowning  of  the  young 
man  was  likely  to  entail  unpleasant  consequences  on  himself,  as  the 
kindred  would  be  certain  to  take  the  matter  up,  and  demand  heavy 
compensation. 

Brendan,  in  this  difficulty,  visited  his  foster-mother  Itha ;  and  she 
counselled  him  to  quit  Ireland  and  remain  abroad  till  the  resentment 
caused  by  this  lamentable  affair  had  abated.1 

Brendan  now  took  with  him  fourteen  of  his  monks  and  crossed  to 
Aran  Mor  to  discuss  the  matter  with  S.  Enda.  After  a  brief  tarry  there 
of  three  days  only,  he  returned  to  Ardfert,  or  to  the  Abbey  under  Bran- 
don Hill,  and  set  to  work  to  construct  his  boats.  Of  these  there  were  to 
be  three,  each  to  contain  twenty  men.  The  vessels  were  very  light,  of 
osier  twigs  woven  together,  and  covered  with  tanned  hides.  Brendan 
took  with  him,  further,  provisions  for  forty  days,  and  fresh  skins  ;  also 
butter  wherewith  to  grease  them.2  Each  coracle  had  three  sails  of 
hide  and  three  banks  of  oars. 

Then  they  started  with  a  favourable  wind,  on  or  about  March  22, 
which  is  the  day  entered  in  the  Irish  Martyrologies  as  the  "  Egressio 
familiae  Sti.  Brendani."  3 

The  three  boats  made  for  the  point  where  the  summer  sun  sets.     The 

1  Vita,  ed.  Moran,  p.   12. 

2  Sanctus    Brendanus  et  qui  cum  eo  erant,  acceptis  ferramentis,   fecerunt 
naviculam  costatam  et  columnatam  ex  vimine,  sicut   mos  est  in   illis  partibus, 
et  cooperuerunt  earn  coriis  bovinis  ac  rubricates  in  cortice  roborina,  linieruntque 
foris  omnes  juncturas  navis  .   .   .  Butirium  ad  pelles  preparandas  assumpserunt 
ad  cooperimentum  navis."     Navigatio,  ed.  Moran,  p.  90.     There  is  some  differ- 
ence as  to  the  number  who  accompanied  Brendan.     In  the  Life  in  the  Book  of 
Lismore  we  are  told  there  were  twenty  in  each  boat,  i.e.,  sixty  in  all.     In  the 
Metrical  Life  the  number  is  raised  to  thirty  in  each.     Oengus  in  his  Litanies 
says,  "  Sexaginta  comitati  sunt  S.  Brendanum. 

3  Mart,  of  Oengus  ;    Mart,  of  Tallagh. 


S.  Brendan  239 

wind  lasted  for  twelve  days  ;  after  which  they  rowed,  till 
they  were  exhausted.     Presently  a  wind  again  sprang  up,  and  they 
arried  along  by  it  without  knowing  in  which  direction  they  were 

drifting.1 

Before  proceeding  further,  it  will  be  well  to  draw  attention  to  the 
,  1  ist  iiu-t  i«  >n  that  exists  between  the  Ada  Sti.  Brendani  and  the  Navigatio 
Sti.  Hrcmiani,  two  very  different  documents. 

Tlu-  best  Life  is  that  in  the  so-called  Kilkenny  Book,  in  Marsh's 
Library,  Dublin,  and  this  has  been  printed  by  the  Rev.  P.  F.  Moran, 
bishop  ot  Ossory.  and  afterwards  Cardinal.2      There  is  an  Irish  Life 
in  the  Book  of  Lisuwrc,  published  in  Anecdota  Oxoniensia  (1890).     A 
,1  Latin  .IcAr  is  in  the  Codex  Salamanticensis,  cols.  113-154,  but 
this  is  actually  a  Navigatio.     A  second  Vita  in  the  same  Codex  is  in 
cols.  758-77 J.  and  this  is  a  Life,  as  is  also  that  in  the  Book  of  Lismore. 
The  Lite  in   the  Kilkenny  Book  and  the  second  Vita  in  the  Sala- 
are  free  from  the  marvels  contained  in  the  Navigatio, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  one  story  of  Brendan  and  the  bull-seals,  about 
ii  later  on.     They  merely  say  that  he  visited  many  islands  that 
uninhabited,  and  that  after  five  years'  absence  he  returned.3 
There  is  also  a  Vita    Metrica  Sti.  Brendani  in  the  Cotton  MSS.  in  the 
British  Museum,  published  by  Moran,  but  it  relates  mainly  the  adven- 
tures of  the  voyage. 

The  Na;-.  -  first  printed  by  Jubinal  in  1836  from  a  MS.  in  the 

National  Library,  Paris  ;  but  many  others  exist,  indeed  there  is  hardly 
a  great  public  library  in  Europe  that  does  not  contain  MS.  copies  ol 
it.     In  the  National  Library  at  Paris  there  are  no  less  than  eleven. 
Tin  -  an  attempt  at  a  Christian  Imram.     Among  the 

ancient  Irish  there  existed  a  whole  class  of  tales  of  marvellous  voyages. 
The  I  mi  am. t  \\ne  such  navigations  as  were  voluntarily  undertaken, 
the  Longasa  such  as  were  made  on  compulsion.  The  Book  of  Leinster 
mentions  as  many  as  seven  of  these.  Of  these  five  still  exist.  Finding 
how  popular  this  class  of  story  was,  some  Christian  writer  composed 
an  Imram  that  might  be  edifying — the  Navigatio  Brendani. 

The  Navigatio  is  a  veritable  Sinbad-the-Sailor  romance,  but  it  is 
:1  probability  an  embroidery  of  fancy  over  some  threads  of  fact. 
What  these  threads  are,  we  will  make  an  attempt  to  discover. 

Aa  \ve  have  already  seen,  Brendan  started  in  a  X.E.  direction.     After 
having  lost  his  direction,  and  being  carried  by  the  wind,  he  knew  not 


Sti.  Brendani,  ed.  P.  Moran,  Dublin,  1872. 
-  If, id. 


"  Mu has  in  mari  nactus  est  insulas,  homines  vero  nullos.      Quinquennio 
•equora  pcrlustravit."     Acta  in  Cod.  Sal.,  coll.  764-5. 


240  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

whither,  at  the  end  of  forty  days  he  sighted  land,  lying  due  north, 
very  rocky  and  lofty.  On  nearing  it,  he  and  his  fellow  travellers  saw 
only  precipitous  cliffs  with  streams  spilling  over  them  into  the  sea.1 
Nor  was  there  any  harbour  visible.  They  coasted  along  for  three 
days,  and  on  the  third  discovered  a  port  into  which  they  thrust  their 
vessels.  Brendan  blessed  the  harbour. 

The  description  accords  remarkably  with  the  appearance  of  the 
south-west  coast  of  Iceland.  The  little  group  of  the  Westmann 
Islands  lies  off  it,  and  the  inhabitants  dare  not  venture  to  the  mainland, 
unless  a  stream  that  issues  from  a  glacier  and  shoots  over  a  bluff,  falls 
in  an  unbroken  silver  thread  to  the  sea.  Brendan  coasted  along  the 
black  cliffs  till  he  reached  the  great  Faxa  Fjord,  and  put  into  one  of 
the  little  harbours  there.  On  landing,  one  of  the  brothers  died  of 
exhaustion  and  privations,  and  was  buried. 

Although  we  are  not  told  so,  the  voyagers  probably  wintered  there, 
for  we  next  hear  of  them  taking  to  their  boats  again  and  landing  on 
another  island  to  celebrate  Easter. 

That  Irish  monks  did  inhabit  Iceland  before  it  was  colonized  by  the 
Northmen  we  know  from  independent  testimony.  The  Landnama 
Bok  informs  us  that  Irish  bells,  books,  and  other  relics  were  found 
there  ;  and  the  Islendinga  Bok  says  that  Irish  clerics  were  there  when 
the  colonists  arrived  in  870,  and  only  then  departed.2 

Before  Easter  the  voyagers  landed  on  an  island,  on  which  they  found 
sheep.3  Having  killed  one,  and  furnished  the  boats  with  meat  and 
water,  they  committed  themselves  once  more  to  the  sea,  and  next 
landed  on  an  island  so  swarming  with  seafowl  that  they  called  it  the 
Paradise  of  Birds,  Foula,  Shetland  Isles.  Here  they  celebrated 
Pentecost. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  impossible  stories  in  the  narrative 
is  that  of  their  disembarking  on  an  island  "  where  there  was  no  grass, 
very  little  wood,  and  no  sand."  On  this  the  brethren  landed,  and 
lighted  a  fire,  when  the  island  began  to  move,  and  proved  to  be  a 
monstrous  whale.  It  has  been  suggested  by  Mr.  O'Donoghue  that 
where  the  party  landed  was  the  island  of  Illaumaniel,  in  the  Magharee 

1  "  Apparuit  eis  quedam  insula  ex  parte  septentrional!,   valde    saxosa    et 
alta  .  .   .  Cum  appropinquassent  ad  litus,  viderunt  ripam  altissimam  sicut  murum, 
et  diversos  rivulos  descendentes  de  summitate  insule,  fluentes  in  mare."     Navig., 
ed.  Moran,  p.  92. 

2  Islendinga  Sdgur,  Copenh.,    1843,  i,    pp.   23-4 ;    also  p.    266.     Islendinga 
Bok,  ibid.,  p.  4. 

3  Possibly  the  Faroe  Isles,  the  name  Faereyar  means  Sheep  Isles.     Here 
also  Irish  hermits  had  settled.     See  Maurer,  Die  Bekehrung  des  Norwegischen 
Stcmmes,  Munich,   1855,  i,  pp.  44-5. 


S.  Brendan  241 

croup  of  islands,  off  the  coast  of  G'alway.  The  name  signifies  Whale 
I  si.-,  ami  it  is  peculiarly  shaped,  like  one  of  these  leviathans  of  the 
d«vp.  It  has  in  it,  moreover,  a  blow  hole,  into  which  the  Atlantic 
8  thunder  and  whence  send  forth  a  spout  of  foam  into  the  air  much 
like  the  spouting  of  a  whale. 

I  f  all  Brendan  desired  was  to  keep  clear  of  the  mainland,  and  pursuit, 

of  the  death  of  his  pupil,  it  would  quite  satisfy  his 

purpose  to  spend  Kaster  on  Whale  Isle,  and  the  fancy  of  the  romancers 

bl  over  the  name.1      He  spent  Christmas  on  an  island  with  S. 

. \ilbe,  who  is  described  as  being  at  the  time  very  aged  and  with  his  hair 

quite  white.     Ailbe  died  in  527  or  531. 

nt  a  Life  of  S.  Ailbe,  but  it  says  nothing  of  a  retreat  to 
a  dist  I,  but  that  he  should  spend  his  retreat  in  one  just  off  the 

w.uld  l>e  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  Celtic  Saints. 
And  what  is  curious  is,  that  just  about  this  time,  possibly  fired  by 
lu-  had  heard  from  Brendan  of  Iceland,  he  purposed  to  retire 
n.l  would  have  done  so  had  not  Aengus  MacNadfraich, 
king  of  Munstrr,  intervene* I.- 
Brendan remained  with  Ailbe  till  the  Octave  of  the  Epiphany,  and 
then  to..k  in,  and  allowed  the  currents  to  carry  him  where  they 

would.  "  sinriiavii^io,  sine  velo,"  till  the  beginning  of  Lent.     Then  they 
took  ;  -  supply  of  food  and  water,  and  sailed  or  rowed  again, 

but  had  to  land  on  account  of  rough  weather,  and  spend  three  months 
•n  an  island,  living  on  a  whale  that  had  been  cast  ashore.     The  second 

to  the  feast  of  the  Purification  was  spent  with  S.  Ailbe. 
It  \  re  expressly  told,  in  the  third  year  of  Brendan's  exile 

that  lir  visited  (iildas  at  Ruys.3 

()n  thr  supposition  that  there  is  a  substratum  of  fact  under  the 

intolerable  amount  of  fable  in  the  Navigatio,  we  may  place  here  the 

incident,  the  arrival  of  Brendan  and  his  party  on  an  island  where 

i  lar^e  monastic  establishment.4    The  island  was  fairly  level  and 

not  rocky.     It  was  entirely  treeless.     Here  they  found  an  abbey  and  a 

li.  in  which  three  choirs  sang  the  divine  service  alternately.     The 

•  •nler  of  recitation  of  the  psalms  is  somewhat  minutely  described. 

At  Sext,  Psalm  Ixvii.  Deus  misereatur,  Psalm  Ixx,  Deus  in 
adjutorium.  and  Psalm  cxvi,  io,  Credidi  propter,  with  its  proper 
prayer. 

1  S.  Brendan  the   Voyager,  p.  94. 

-  Vita  Sti.  AlU-i,  in  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  257.  The  island  is  there  called  Dele,  i.e. 
Thole. 

"  Post  tres  annos  in  ilia  peregrinacione  Sanctus  Brendanus  ad  ilium  locum 
:ut."      Vita,  i-d.   Moran,   p.    13. 
iyati'i,   e<l.   Moran,  p.    114. 

.  R 


Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

At  Nones,  Psalm  cxxx,  De  profundis,  Psalm  cxxxiii,  Ecce  quam 
bonum,  and  Psalm  cxlvii,  12,  Lauda  Jerusalem. 

At  Vespers,  Psalm  Ixv,  Te  decet  hymnus,  Psalm  ciii,  Benedic, 
anima  mea,  and  Psalm  cxiii,  Laudate  pueri. 

Then  seated,  they  chanted  the  Gradual  Psalms  cxx-cxxxiv.  This 
was  sung  as  darkness  closed  in. 

Then  for  Prime,  Psalm  cxlviii,  Laudate  Dominum,  and  the  two 
that  follow,  and  these  were  followed  by  the  twelve  psalms  to  succeed 
"  in  the  order  of  the  psalter  as  far  as  Dixit  insipiens,"  Psalm  xiv. 

At  dawn  for  Mattins,  Psalm  li,  Miserere  mei,  Deus,  Psalm  xc, 
Do  mine  refugium,  and  Psalm  Ixiii,  Deus,  Deus  meus. 

At  Terce,  Psalm  xlvii,  Omnes  gentes,  plaudite,  Psalm  liv,  Deus,  in 
Nomine,  and  Psalm  cxvi,  Dilexi,  quoniam,  followed  by  Alleluia.  Then 
they  offered  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Immaculate  Lamb,  and  all 
received  the  Holy  Communion  with  the  words,  "  This  Sacred  Body 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  Blood  of  our  Saviour,  receive  unto  Life  ever- 
lasting." i 

On  leaving  the  island,  the  travellers  were  given  a  basket  full  of 
purple  fruit  (scalthi),  probably  grapes  or  whortleberries  2  of  a  remark- 
able size,  which  grew  on  the  island,  where  moreover  were  white  flowers 
and  marigolds. 

The  island  may  have  been  Belle  lie,  formerly  called  Guedel,  where 
there  is  a  Bangor,  and  where  the  monastic  colony  was  swept  away  by 
the  Northmen  at  the  close  of  the  ninth  century,  when  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  island  were  massacred  or  migrated  to  the  mainland.  Bangor 
was  never  rebuilt.3 

The  Navigatio  does  not  mention  the  visit  to  Ruys.  It  was  in  winter 
when  Brendan  arrived,4  and  we  can  hardly  suppose  him  engaged  in 

1  "  Hoc  sacrum  corpus  Domini  et  Salvatoris  nostri  sanguinem  sumite  vobis 
in  vitam  eternam."     The  formula  in  the  Book  of  Deer  is,  "  Corpus  cum  sanguine 
Domini  nostri  J.  C.  sanitas  sit  tibi  in  vitam  perpetuam  et  salutem."     In  the 
Book  of  Mulling,  "  Corpus  et  sanguis  Domini  nostri  J.  C.  filii  Dei  vivi  conservat 
animam  tuam  in  vitam  perpetuam."     In  the  Irish  5.  Gall  Missal,  "  Hoc  sacrum 
corpus  Domini  et  Salvatoris  sanguinem,  alleluia,  sumite  vobis  in  vitam."     In 
the  Bangor  Antiphonary,  "  Hoc  sacrum  corpus  Domini  et  Salvatoris  sanguinem 
sumite  vobis  in  vitam  perennam.     Alleluia."     This  is  almost  word  for  word 
the  form  employed  in  the  isle  visited  by  S.  Brendan.     The  form   in   the   Stowe 
Missal  is,  "  Hoc  sacrum  corpus  Domini  Salvatoris  sanguinem,  alleluia,  sumite 
vobis   in  vitam   eternam.     Alleluia,"   which  is  nearer  still.     Warren   (F.   E.), 
Liturgy  and  Ritual  of  the  Celtic  Church,  Oxford,  1881. 

2  "  Sgeallag  "  is  used  of  kernels  and  berries. 

3  Le  Mene,  Paroisses  de  Vanrtes,  Vannes,  1891,  sub  nom.  Le  Palais,  and  Ban- 
gor.    "  Bellam  habebat  insulam,  nomine  britannico  Guedel  appellatam,  quam 
olim  Normannorum  rabies  devastaverat  et  ejus  colonos  inde  exulaverat."     Car- 
tulary of  Quimperle  (1029),  Paris,  1896,  p.  94. 

4  "  Tune  yems  erat."      Vit.,  ed.  Moran,  p.  13. 


S.  Brendan  243 

lengthy  voyage  during  the  storms  of  that  season,  or  during  the  equinoc- 
tial gales,  on  that  dangerous  coast.  He  must  have  arrived  at  Ruys 
from  some  island  near,  such  as  is  Belle  He.  Ruys  is  situated  on  the 
spit  of  land  that,  along  with  the  other  peninsula  of  Locmariaquer 
todote  tin  Morbihan.  The  side  towards  the  Atlantic  is  precipitous, 
hut  that  towards  the  inland  sea  shelves  gently  down  into  shallow  water. 
Mivndan  must  have  passed  through  the  channel  with  the  sweep  of  the 
rising  tide,  between  the  points  of  Arzon  and  that  of  Locmariaquer, 
when  he  found  himself  in  still  water  in  a  broad  inland  sea  studded  with 
s.m<ly  islets,  on  one  of  which,  Gavr  Inis,  rose  the  great  mound  that 
encloses  the  marvellous  sculptured  sepulchral  chamber  which  is  one  of 
tlu-  wonders  of  the  district.  The  sloping  shore  of  the  Sarzeau  arm  of 
lainl  was  well  timbered. 

\Vlim   the  party  landed,  the  weather  was  inclement ;  snow  was 

falling  am!  the  land  was  white  with  the  flakes  ;   moreover,  the  hour  was 

late.1       Nothing  doubting  of  a  hospitable  reception,  they  made  their 

way  up  thr  rising  ground  over  a  bleak  moor,  to  the  monastery  of  Ruys, 

:  which  presided  the  learned  but  churlish  Gildas. 

It  was  surrounded  by  a  high  bank  and  palisade,  and  they  found  the 

shut  and  barred.     Brendan  and  his  party  stood  without  and 

knocked,  hut  the  porter  refused  to  open.     Probably  it  was  against  rule 

i  in  it  strangers  after  sunset,  and  Gildas  was  not  the  man  to  set  aside 

ulation  because  bidden  to  do  so  by  the  principles  of  Christian 

charity.     If  we  may  trust  the  account  in  the  Life  in  the   Salamanca 

,  the  poor  shivering  monks  were  constrained  to  pass  the  night 

in  the  snow  outside. 

Mut  in  the  morning,  cold,  and  hungry  and  angry,  Brendan  would 
endure-  this  treatment  no  longer,  and  he  ordered  Talmach,  a  lusty 
vouiij,'  disciple,  to  burst  open  the  gate,  and  this  he  did  with  a  hearty  good 
will.  Talmach  had  been  a  pupil  of  Mancen  at  Ty  Gwyn,  where  he  had 
seduced  Drustic,  a  female  fellow  pupil.  It  was  possibly  in  conse- 
quence of  this  escapade  that  he  had  to  leave,  and  attach  himself  to 
(randan. 

Marianus  O'Gorman  styles  him  "a  humble  and  devoted  virgin 
saint, "  which  shows  that  the  martyrologist  was  either  imperfectly 
acquainted  with  Talmach's  history,  or  else  that  he  employed  his 
epithets  with  lavish  charity. 

Then  Brendan  went  on  with  his  party  to  the  church,  and  found  that 
locked  as  well,  and  here  again  he  forced  the  doors.  As  he  desired  to 

1  "  Minxit  ilia  nocte  ingruenter,"  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  768.  "  Nix  tune  pluit 
OOOpenOM  terram,"  Ada,  ed.  Moran,  p.  13. 


244  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

say  Mass,  he  called  for  a  liturgy,  and  was  given  one  used  by  Gildas 
himself,  written  in  Greek  characters  ;  however,  Brendan  had  been  well 
instructed  by  S.  Jarlath  and  he  read  from  it  with  ease.1 

Gildas  consented  to  receive  Communion  from  his  hands.  But  the 
relations  between  the  two  Saints  were  strained,  and  Brendan  would 
not  remain  with  Gildas  more  than  three  nights  and  days.  During 
that  time  the  brethren  amused  themselves  with  a  wolf-hunt. 

The  Life  of  S.  Brendan  in  the  so-called  Kilkenny  Book  says  that  the 
two  Saints  parted  on  good  terms,  and  that  Gildas  even  asked  Brendan 
to  remain  there  and  become  superior  of  the  monastery.  This  is 
very  doubtful ;  if  there  be  truth  in  it,  it  is  that  Gildas  was  desirous  of 
returning  to  Britain,  and  asked  Brendan  to  take  his  place  while  he  was 
away.  He  would  make  use  of  him  for  his  own  convenience,  but  could 
not  be  gracious  to  him. 

From  Ruys  Brendan  crossed  the  still  lake-like  sea  of  the  Morbihan, 

With  all  its  fairy  crowds 
Of  islands  that  together  lie 
As  quietly  as  spots  of  sky 
Among  the  evening  clouds. 

Perhaps  the  three  coracles  were  directed  up  the  creek  of  the  Auray 
river,  carried  forward  by  the  flush  of  the  rising  tide  that  swelled  over 
the  mud  flats,  without  a  ripple,  and  were  given  direction  by  a  few 
strokes  of  the  oars.  A  beautiful  river,  even  in  winter.  The  steep 
densely  wooded  hills  descended  to  the  glassy  flood,  russet  with  the 
oak  leaves  still  clothing  the  trees  in  every  fold  where  sheltered  from 
the  blast  of  the  ocean.  Here  the  banks  contracted,  and  then  drew 
back  allowing  the  water  to  extend  to  lake-like  stretches  ;  creeks  ran 
on  both  sides  far  inland,  making  it  difficult  for  those  drifting  inwards 
to  know  which  was  the  main  river  and  which  the  mouth  of  an  affluent. 
To  the  left,  where  the  high  ground  sank  to  heathery  low  tracts  with 
lagoon  and  marsh,  could  be  seen  long  rows  of  giant  stones  set  upright, 
stalking  over  the  waste,  like  an  army  of  marching  men  petrified,  the 
relics  of  a  vast  necropolis  of  the  primeval  inhabitants,  monuments 
even  then  in  the  sixth  century  uncomprehended  and  invested  with 
mystery.  As  the  three  coracles  glided  on,  the  mouth  was  passed  of  a 
stream  up  which  the  tide  was  rolling,  forming  between  it  and  the 
Auray  River  a  long  peninsula  on  whose  top,  perhaps  at  that  very 

1  "  Et  habebat  S.  Gylldas  missalem  librum  scriptum  Graecis  litteris,  et 
positus  est  ille  liber  super  Altare.  Et  custos  templi  ex  jussione  Sti.  Gildae 
dixit  Sto.  Brendano  :  Vir  Dei,  praecepit  tibi  sanctus  senex  noster  ut  offeras 
corpus  Xti ;  ecce  altare  hie  est  (et)  librum  Graecis  litteris  scriptum,  et  canta 
in  eo  sicut  abbas  noster  .  .  .  et  cepit  missam  cantare."  Ibid.,  pp.  13-14. 


S.  Brendan  245 

time,  was  dwelling  a  female  anchorite,  Ave  or  Eve,  who  had  come  from 
I'.ntain,  bringing  with  her,  after  the  manner  of  the  Celtic  Saints,  her 
Irrh,  the  stone  on  which  she  would  lie  for  the  death  agony,  and  on 
whirh  to  be  laid  to  her  last  rest.     Did  she  look  down  on  the  floating 
monks  from  the  sister  isle,  and  call  to  them  in  salutation,  wishing  them 
God-Speed?     \\V  cannot  tell.     And  then  rock  and  forest  intermingled 
on  both  sides  ;  the  river  contracted,  and  still  they  slid  upwards  under 
the  heights,  where  one  day  would  rise  the  town  of  Auray  about  a 
ehurrh  granted  to  the  successors  of  Gildas,  and  where  his  story — all 
but  his  insolent  treatment  of  Brendan — would  fill  the  windows  in  painted 
picture.     A  little  further  up  and  the  coracles  grounded,  and  the  tide 
t  no  further  avail.     Then  carrying  the  light  wicker-work  boats, 
inly  crew  went  uj>  the  river,  dwindled  now  to  an  insignificant 
'    and  possibly  made  a  protracted    lodgment  at    Brandivy,1 
.  from  the  name,  we  may  suspect  that  Brendan  formed  a  settle- 
ment, but  where  his  connection  with  it  was  forgotten  when  a  later  Saxon 
Saint    Ywy  planted  himself  on  the  same  site,   two  centuries  after. 
•his  was  Plouvigner,  the  Plou  of  Fingar,  an  Irishman  of  royal 
descent.     Guaire  the  White,  Brendan  would  have  called  him,  perhaps 
the  son  of  Ailill  Molt,  king  of  Connaught,  or  of  Ailill  of  the  Hy  Bairrche, 
it  is  not  possible  to  say  which.     Fingar  was  not  there  then,  he  was 
probably  by  this  time  dead,  murdered  in  Cornwall,  but  his  Irish  colony 
was  in  possession  of  the  land,  and  held  a  very  extensive  tract,  separated 
from  Brand  ivy  by  the  stream  of  the  Loc. 

lay  at  this  pleasant  spot,  where  there  was  plenty  of  firewood 
and  where  was  shelter  from  the  winter  storms,  we  may  imagine  Brendan 
and  his  party,  when  the  buds  began  to  swell,  and  the  primroses  and  the 
ood  anemones  opened  to  tell  that  spring  was  come — to  have  shoul- 
'  heir  coracles  and  to  have  made  their  way  across  the  high  ground 
1'  -t  hed  with  the  forest  of  Camors  and  past  the  fortress  of  Conmore,  who 
tonsil  regent  of  Domnonia  had  lands  in  the  Vannes  district,  to  the 
iver  Blavet,  where  again  the  boats  were  floated,  and  the  travellers 
proceeded  on  their  way.  with  intent  to  cross  the  watershed  into 
Domnonia. 

\Vhen  they  had  traversed  the  ridge  to  Mur,  they  possibly  diverged  to 
the  ri-ht  to  visit  another  Irish  settlement,  a  monastery,  now  no  longer 
ex ist in-,  but  under  the  name  of  S.  Caradoc  it  recalls  a  foundation  by 
faithagh  the  pupil  of  and  successor  to  S.  Ciaran  of  Saighir.  He 

u .  I'aroisses  de  Vannes,  i,  p.  94,  supposes  the  name  Brandivy  to  be 
tved  from  Bre-Ivy.  the  Hill  of  S.  Yivy  ;    but  it  is  not  probable  that  Bran 
rould  be  introduced  as  a  corruption.     Brevy  would  be  the  natural  form  the 
name   .vould  take  from  the  derivation  proposed. 

&s*^^^  £^  ^^  LL    o  : 


246  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

himself  may  not  have  been  there,  but  his  spiritual  sons  were,  and 
would  surely  not  have  shut  their  gates  against  their  brethren  from  the 
Emerald  Isle. 

Brendan  now  formed  a  settlement  at  the  spot  that  still  bears  his 
name  and  remembers  him  as  patron,  near  Quintin.  He  may  have  left 
a  few  of  his  monks  there,  and  then  he  pushed  on  eastward  to  the  Ranee, 
descended  it,  and  established  himself  at  Aleth. 

For  what  has  been  described  with  some  detail,  it  must  be  clearly 
understood  that  we  have  no  textual  authority.  We  know  only  that  he 
did  cross  from  Ruys  to  the  Ranee,  but  the  indications  of  his  presence 
at  Brandivy  and  at  S.  Brandan  by  Quintin,  perhaps  justify  what  has 
been  said.  Near  Aleth,  now  S.  Servan,  opposite  S.  Malo,  Brendan 
founded  an  important  monastery.1 

Brendan's  monastery  was  not  on  the  mainland,  but  in  the  island 
of  Cesambre  over  against  Aleth.  Here  to  this  day  Brendan  receives 
a  cult,  and  has  a  chapel  somewhat  resembling  a  coast-guards'  watch- 
house,  the  vault  encrusted  with  shells.  Formerly  girls  went  there  from 
the  mainland  to  invoke  S.  Brendan  to  obtain  husbands,  praying, 
"  Bienheureux  S.  Brendan,  baillez-nous  un  homme,  on  vous  donnera 
un  cierge,  tant  plus  tot,  tant  plus  gros."  As  the  isle  has  recently 
received  fresh  fortifications,  no  one  is  now  suffered  to  disembark  on 
it,  and  to  the  custom,  accordingly,  a  stop  has  been  put.  When,  some 
thirty  years  after  the  foundation  had  been  made  by  Brendan,  S.  Machu, 
or  Malo,  disembarked  on  Cesambre,  he  found  the  monastery  flourishing 
under  the  direction  of  an  abbot,  Festivus. 

Aleth  was  a  town  mainly  occupied  by  indigenous  pagans,  and  Bren- 
dan trusted  that  his  monastery  would  form  a  nucleus  for  the  evange- 
lization of  the  place  and  neighbourhood.  Aleth  had  been  a  Roman 
station,  in  which  resided  an  officer,  a  military  prefect,  with  a  detachment 
of  soldiers.  But  now  it  was  other,  it  was  open  and  undefended,  and 
about  this  period  was  sacked  and  burnt  by  marauding  Saxon  pirates.2 
Probably  partly  for  security,  and  partly  because  it  was  better  suited 
to  the  discipline  of  a  monastery,  Brendan  preferred  placing  his  monks 
on  an  island,  rather  than  on  the  mainland. 

That  he  extended  his  activities  eastward  appears  from  his  name, 
under  the  form  given  it  by  the  Britons,  Branwalader,  attaching  to  a 
parish  church  on  the  rising  ground  that  forms  the  limit  of  the  great 

1  "  In  alia  regione  in  Britannia  monasterium  nomine  Ailech,  sanctus  Bren- 
danus  fundavit,"   Vita,  ed.  Moran,  p.   15.     "  In  Britanniam    remeavit  ac  duo 
monasteria,  unum  in  insula  Ailech  .   .   .  fundavit,"  Acta  in  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  768. 
In  this  latter  life  the  author  supposes  Ailech  to  be  in  Britain. 

2  De  la  Borderie,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  1896,  tome  i,  p.  132. 


J 


^ 


S.  BRENDAN. 
at  Trtgrom. 


S.  Brendan  247 

marsh  of  Dol.  It  is  now  called  S.  Broladre.  That  one  of  the  islands 
visited  by  him,  which  figures  in  so  fantastic  a  form  in  the  Navigatio, 
was  Jersey,  is  rendered  probable  by  his  name  being  attached  there  to 
the  Bay  of  S.  Brelade. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  consider  briefly  the  supposed  relations  that 
existed  between  S.  Machu  (Malo)  and  Brendan,  but  they  shall  be 
examined  more  fully  when  we  come  to  the  life  of  the  former. 

According  to  the  Life  of  S.  Machu,  he  was  confided  in  infancy  by  his 
parents  to  S.  Brendan,  who  was  then  abbot  of  Llancarfan.1 

The  names  of  the  successors  of  S.  Cadoc,  who  was  the  founder,  are 
known,  although  their  order  is  not  quite  certain,2  and  there  is  no 
mention  of  Brendan  among  them,  nor  is  any  mention  of  Llancarfan 
to  be  found  in  the  Lives  of  S.  Brendan.  That  Machu  was  with  Brendan 
at  one  time  is  conceivable  ;  but  he  wras  too  young  at  the  time  of 
Bivndan's  voyages  to  have  been  with  him  then.  The  authors  of  the 
Lives  of  Machu  knew  of  the  connection  of  Brendan  with  Aleth,  which 
became  the  seat  of  Machu's  bishopric,  and  they  concluded  that  their 
hero  had  shared  with  the  former  his  adventures  on  the  deep. 

The  commemoration  of  Brendan  as  intimately  associated  with  Aleth 
has  never  failed  there.  He  is  entered  in  the  S.  Malo  Breviaries  and 
Missals  as  a  saint  deserving  local  cult. 

From  Aleth  Brendan  went  west,  and  founded  a  second  important 
monastery.3  The  district  about  Plouaret  is  probably  meant,  in 
Cotes  du  Xord,  but  on  the  confines  of  Finistere.  Here  are  Lanbellec 
(the  Llan  of  the  Priest)  and  Tregrom,  of  both  of  which  he  is  patron, 
as  also  of  the  chapel  of  Trogoff.  What  the  Bledua  of  the  Life  may  be, 
is  now  hard  to  discover. 

The  district  about  Plouaret  is  peculiarly  pleasant  and  fertile,  and 

is  well  watered.     Lanbellec  is  an  extensive  parish.    The  church 
unhappily  been  rebuilt,  and  every  feature  of  interest  swept  away. 

is  other  with  Tregrom,  that  lies  at  the  junction  of  a  little  stream 
with  the  Leguier  in  a  lovely  situation.  The  church  has  been  judiciously 
restored,  and  possesses  an  interesting  statue  of  S.  Brendan  of  the 

Eeenth  century,  above  the  porch  entrance. 
Vita   Sti.   Machuti.   a  net.   Bili. 
\ccording  to  the  charters  of  Llancarfan,  appended  to  the  Life  of  S. Cadoc, 
were  Cadoc,  Elli,  Paul,  Jacob,  Cyngen,  Sulien  and  Danog. 
'  In  loco  alio  in  Brittania  in  regione  Heth  ecclesiam  et  villam  circa  earn 
issignavit,  et  ibi  magnas  virtutes  pater  Brendanus  fecit,"  Vita,  ed.  Moran,  p.  16. 
The  Second  Life  in  the  Salamanca  Codex  says,   "  Alterum   (monasterium)   in 
terra  Ethica  in  loco  nomine  Bledua  fundavit,"  col.  769.     Terra  Ethica  is  Plouaret 
Plou-ar-Eth. 


24  &  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

At  the  end  of  five  years1  Brendan  returned  to  Ireland  ;  and  on  his 
way  occurred  the  curious  incident  of  the  contending  seals,  to  which  has 
been  given  an  extravagant  character  in  the  narrative  that  it  really 
does  not  deserve.  The  story  is  told  in  his  "  Life,"  and  also  twice  in  the 
Liber  Hymnorum,  in  the  preface  to  the  hymn  "  Brigid  be  bithmaith," 
and  as  a  note  to  that  of  "  Ni  car  Brigid."  There  must  be  some  founda- 
tion for  it.  The  story  in  brief  is  this.  Whilst  Brendan  and  his  part 
were  at  sea  they  saw  two  monsters  engaged  in  conflict,  when  one 
them,  being  pursued  by  the  other  to  imminent  destruction,  invoked 
first  S.  Patrick  and  then  S.  Brendan  to  defend  it,  but  in  vain,  and  at 
last  commended  itself  to  the  protection  of  S.  Brigid,  when  the  monster 
that  was  about  to  destroy  it,  at  once  desisted  from  the  pursuit,  and  its 
intended  victim  escaped  unharmed.  We  may  suppose  the  monsters 
were  bull-seals,  but  the  "  Life  "  in  the  Book  of  Lismore  says  one  was  a 
sea  cat  and  the  other  a  whale,  and  says  nothing  of  the  pursued  bea 
invoking  the  saints.  What  actually  occurred  was  apparently  t 
The  monks  from  their  boat  witnessed  a  battle  between  bull-seals, 
as  one  seemed  to  be  getting  the  worst  of  it  and  was  pursued  by  i 
antagonist,  those  in  the  first  boat  invoked  S.  Patrick  to  its  aid.  Sti 
it  got  the  worst.  Then  those  in  the  second  boat  called  on  Brendan  to 
lend  his  merits  to  help  the  pursued  beast  out  of  its  difficulties  ;  but  it 
was  only  when  Brigid  had  been  called  on  by  those  in  the  third  boat, 
that  the  victorious  seal  abandoned  the  pursuit.  It  was  an  easy  matter 
out  of  such  material  to  evolve  an  extravagant  fable. 

Directly  that  Brendan  arrived  in  Ireland  he  visited  S.  Brigid  at 
Kildare,  and  in  all  simplicity  told  her  the  story.  He  really  supposed 
that  her  merits  had  prevailed  over  those  of  Patrick  and  himself  to 
assist  the  bull-seal. 

"  As  for  me,"  said  he,  "  since  the  day  I  was  born  not  one  passes  but 
my  mind  turns  to  God,  every  seven  strides  that  I  make."  "  But  I," 
said  Brigid,  ' '  cannot  remember  that  mine  has  ever  been  diverted  from 
Him." 

Brigid  died  in  525,  on  February  I,  so  that  the  return  of  Brendan  to 
Ireland  cannot  have  taken  place  later  than  the  autumn  of  524,  when 
he  was  aged  forty-one.2 

After  leaving  Brigid,  Brendan  went  on  to  visit  his  foster-mother  Itha 
at  Killedy,  where  she  was  now  established.  She  strongly  advised  him 
to  depart  once  more.  There  were  reasons,  which  we  shall  notice 

1  Irish  Life,  Book  of  Lismore,  p.  253  :    "  Quinquennio  equora  perlustravit." 
Vita  2da,  Cod.  Sal.,  coll.  764-5. 

2  The  date  can  be  pretty  accurately  determined.     See  further  on   under  the 
heading  of  S.  Brigid. 


S.  Brendan  249 

that  made  it  inadvisable  for  him  to  remain  in  that  part  of 
Minister.  Itha  did  not  wholly  approve  of  his  construction  of  boats, 
and  advised  him  to  abandon  wicker  work,  and  make  a  vessel  out  of 
rib-  and  boards.1  It  was  not  safe  for  him  to  remain  in  Munster,  and 
he  did  not  venture  on  constructing  his  vessel  there,  but  went  for  the 
purpose  to  Connaught,  with  sixty  disciples.  According  to  the  Irish 
I.itr,  he  visited  Enda  and  stayed  a  month  with  him  in  Aran.2  In 
Connaught  Brendan  set  to  work  building  a  ship  on  the  plan  suggested 
by  Itha.  That  accomplished,  he  started  once  more,  and  we  may 
pretty  confidently  assert  that  the  two  years  he  remained  away  were 
spent  in  Brittany. 

To  this  period  belongs  apparently  the  incident  recorded  in  the 

Xiivi^tifio  of   the  visit  to  the  hermit   Paul.     Having  made   for   the 

•rican  coast,  but  with  no  intention  of  renewing  his  acquaintance 

with  and  trusting  to  the  hospitality  of  Gildas,  he  arrived  off  the  coast 

ot  Leon.     "  Brendan  made  sail  for  some  time  towards  the  south.     On 

the  third  day  a  small  island  appeared  at  a  distance,  towards  which  the 

brethren  plied    their  oars.     '  Do  not,  brothers,'  said    he,   '  exhaust 

your  strength.     Seven  years  will  have  passed  next  Easter,  since  we 

left  our  country.'  "  3     The  three  days  must  have  been  since  they  left 

the  Devon  coast ;    that  Brendan  was  there  is  shewn  by  the  fact  of 

tlu-  parish  of  Branscombe  having  him  as  its  ancient  patron  and  the 

presumed  founder  of  its  llan.     But  seven  years  is    inaccurate;    by 

the  following  Easter  it  would  be  six  and  not  seven  years. 

"  On  approaching  the  shore,  they  could  find  no  place  to  land,  so 

was  the  coast,  the  island  was  small  and  circular,  about  a  furlong 

in  circumference,  and  on  its  summit  was  no  soil,  as  the  rock  was  quite 

bar--.     When  they  sailed  round  it,  they  found  a  small  creek,  which 

ly  admitted  the  prow  of  their  vessel,  and  from  which  the  ascent 

was  difficult."4 

( )n  this  island  they  found  a  very  aged  hermit,  whose  name  was  Paul ; 
he  was  covered  from  head  to  foot  with  hair,  which  was  as  white  as 
snow. 

Allowing  for  a  considerable  amount  of  exaggeration,  we  may  deter- 
mine the  locality,  and  the  hermit  whom  he  there  found.  The  island 
was  Batz.  off  the  north  coast  of  Leon.  It  is  not  indeed  round,  but  it  is 
quite  true  that  there  is  no  landing-place  on  the  face  towards  the  ocean, 
the  harbour  is  on  that  which  faces  Roscoff,  on  the  mainland. 

1  In  "  Book  of  Lismore,"  Atiecd.  Oxon.,  p.  257. 
-  Xai'igatio,  ed.  Moran,  p.   125. 

3  Ibid.     Precisely  the  same  in  the  Acta  in  the  Codex  3al.,  col.  147. 
Ibid.,  p.  12;. 


250  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

In  Batz  resided  Paul  of  Leon,  to  which  he  retired  when  he  had 
reached  a  very  advanced  age.  "  Sanctus  Paulus  .  .  .  migravit  ad 
Battham,  propriae  habitationis  insulam,  ubi .  .  .  multa  aetatis  decre- 
pitae  tempora  impendisse  refertur,  ita  ut  prae  nimia  senectute, 
consumptis  jam  carnibus,  cutis  solummodo  atque  ossa  ejus  divini 
amoris  arefacta  remanisse  videbantur."  1 

If  this  visit  took  place  in  the  year  525  or  526  it  is  too  early  for  Pai 
to  have  been  in  this  emaciated  and  aged  condition,  for  he  was  or 
consecrated  bishop  in  or  about  529,  and  he  did  not  surrender 
charge  and  retire  to  solitude* that  he  intended  to  be  permanent  till  55- 
What  is  probable  is  that  Paul  was  at  the  time  in  the  isle  of  Batz, 
which  he  frequently  retreated,  and  that  the  writer  of  the  Navigati 
represents  him  as  being  then  in  the  condition  of  extreme  emaciation 
to  which  he  was  reduced  some  thirty  years  later.  What  confirms  the 
opinion  that  Brendan  did  make  the  acquaintance  of  Paul  of  Leon  is 
that  he  made  a  foundation  or  two  in  what  became  the  diocese  of  Paul. 
These  are  Kerlouan  and  Loc  Brevelaire  ;  and  one  can  well  understand 
that  a  friendship  having  grown  up  between  Paul  and  Brendan,  the 
abbot  asked  the  latter  to  found  a  centre  for  missionary  work  further 
west,  beyond  the  great  shallow  bay  of  the  Greve  de  Goulven.  There 
would  be  another  inducement  to  take  Brendan  to  where  is  now 
Kerlouan.  Hard  by  was  a  settlement  of  S.  Senan,  his  bosom 
friend  ;  indeed,  later  on  Brendan  made  Senan  his  amchara  or  confessor 
and  director. 

At  what  time  Senan  was  in  Brittany  we  do  not  know,  but  it  was 
probably  before  Brendan  arrived  there.  He  may  have  been  at 
Guisenny  at  the  time,  or  there  may  have  been  only  a  handful  of  his 
spiritual  sons  there.  At  any  rate  it  must  have  been  a  delight  to 
Brendan  to  meet  brother  Irishmen  in  this  distant  land,  and  talk  with 
them  in  his  own  loved  tongue. 

At  this  part  of  the  coast  there  are  not  bold  bluffs,  the  land  shelves 
into  the  sea,  and  there  are  vast  stretches  of  sand.  But  out  of  the 
low  land  at  Kerlouan  shoots  up  a  hunch  of  rock  now  surmounted  by  a 
signal  station,  once  crowned  by  the  Caer  which  has  given  its  name  to 
the  parish.  The  old  church  has  not  been  swept  away ;  a  modern 
structure,  vulgar  and  pretentious,  has  been  erected  near  by,  but  the 
old  church  is  left,  not  unmutilated,  however,  for  it  has  had  its  side 
aisles  pulled  down  and  walled  up.  A  statue  of  S.  Brendan  there 
represents  him  as  an  abbot,  with  a  crosier  in  one  hand,  mitred,  and 
with  a  book  in  the  other. 

Of  greater  interest  is  Loc  Brevelaire,  by  its  name  indicating  it  as  a 

1  Vita  Sti.  Pauli  Leonensis,  ed.  Plaine,  Analecta  Bollandiana,  1882,   cap.   xx. 


S.  BRANWALADAR. 
From  Statue  at  Loc-Brevclairc. 


S.  Brendan  251 


locus  ju'iiitentiae,  or  cell  to  which  the  Saint  retired  in  Lent,  and  when- 
lit-  desired  to  be  alone  with  God.  It  is  a  tiny  village,  composed  of 
\v  cottages  about  the  church,  in  a  dip  of  a  range  of  hills  formed  of 
a  conglomerate  of  granite  refuse,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Abervrach, 
there  but  an  insignificant  stream  trickling  through  swampy  meadows 
t lidt  flicker  with  yellow  flags.  It  stands  opposite  to  the  wooded 
height  of  Lescoet  (the  Court  in  the  Wood)  once  probably  a  Us  of  the 
chieftain  of  L£on.  The  church  contains  rude  circular  arches  resting 
on  drums  of  pillars  of  the  eleventh  century,  but  it  was  much  altered  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  again  tinkered  up  in  1771.  There  is  a 
Holy  Well  of  the  Saint  in  the  churchyard  wall,  surmounted  by  his 
statue.  He  is  also  represented  on  the  granite  Calvary,  and  there  is  an 
interesting  statue  of  him  by  the  Altar  in  the  church.  He  is  figured 
as  an  abbot  in  chasuble,  mitred,  holding  a  crosier,  and  trampling  on 
a  monster,  whilst  a  spotted  dog  is  scrambling  up  his  side  seeking 
apparently  to  lick  his  hand. 

M.  Pol  de  Courcy,  in  his  MS.  Pouille  de  Leon,  says  that  Loc  Brevelaire 
was  described  in  mediaeval  times  as  Monasterium  Sti.  Brendani,  but  he 
gives  neither  reference  nor  date.  There  is  neither  minihi,  moustier, 
nor  Ian  among  the  place  names  in  the  parish.  The  only  chapel  bearing 
the  title  of  S.  Brendan  in  the  Department  of  Morbihan  is  one  on  the  side 
of  the  Montagnes  Noires  at  Langonnet  near  Gourin.1 

The  founding  of  monastic  colonies  in  Leon  was  probably  the 
work  of  the  two  final  years  of  exile  from  Erin,  and  these  ended,  he 
returned  to  Ireland,  but  there  is  no  notice  of  his  having  gone  back  to 
Monster. 

The  second  exile  from  Ireland  had  not  been  due  solely  to  the  resent- 
ment of  the  relatives  of  the  drowned  youth.  There  is  evidence  of  an- 
other cause  rendering  his  absence  advisable.  For  some  reason  unknown 
there  had  been  much  commotion  in  Kerry,  repeated  intestine  broils, 
in  which  members  of  the  same  great  sept  had  been  fighting  each  other  ; 
this  had  resulted  in  one  portion  being  dispossessed  of  their  land.  We 
do  not  know  the  exact  date  of  the  settlement  of  these  refugees  in  Con- 
naught,  but  it  was  in  the  reign  of  Aedh,  son  of  Eochaidh  Tirmcharma, 
who  was  king  of  Connaught  (544-555),  that  it  was  completed. 

Cairbre  MacConuire  had  been  expelled  with  all  his  people  from  Kerry. 
He  took  refuge  with  Aedh,  who,  struck  with  the  beauty  of  Cairbre's 
daughter,  married  her.  Some  time  after  this  she  persuaded  her 
husband  to  grant  to  the  dispossessed  members  of  her  father's  clan  a 
portion  of  the  wide  and  beautiful  plains  of  Roscommon  and  Mayo. 
He  consented,  and  the  Ciarraidhe  came  in  such  numbers  as  to  excite 
1  Le  Mene,  Paroisses  de  Vannes,  i,  p.  404. 


2^2  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

the  resentment  of  the  men  of  Connaught,  and  to  displease  Aedh.  The 
migration  continued  for  many  years,  so  that  three  extensive  colonies 
of  the  Ciarraidhe  were  settled  in  Roscommon  and  Mayo,  and  these  all 
belonged  to  one  of  the  principal  branches  of  the  Ciarraidhe,  to  which 
the  sept  of  Altraighe,  S.  Brendan's  own  sept,  gave  chieftains.1 

It  is  probable  that  the  broils  in  Kerry  had  been  so  fierce,  and  the 
condition  to  which  the  Altraighe  had  been  reduced  was  so  depressed, 
that  Brendan  deemed  it  expedient  to  keep  out  of  the  way . 

Some  of  the  exiles  were  near  relations  of  S.  Brendan,  and  one,  Fintan, 
who  is  said  to  have  been  a  Kerry  prince,  and  nephew  of  the  Saint,  had 
fled  to  North  Connaught,  where,  however,  he  got  into  a  scrape.  Being 
a  good-looking  fellow,  he  attracted  the  notice  of  the  King's  daughter, 
and  they  eloped  together  and  placed  themselves  under  the  protection 
of  S.  Brendan,  and  whilst  with  him,  their  son,  S.  Fursey,  was  born.2 

Whether  the  whole  rush  of  the  Ciarraidhe  had  as  yet  overswept 
Roscommon  and  Mayo,  or  whether,  as  is  probable,  only  some  of  the 
refugees  had  settled  there,  Brendan  deemed  it  advisable  to  make  his 
headquarters  among  them,  and  to  abandon  troubled  Kerry.  He  was 
accompanied  by  his  brother,  Faitleach,  and  by  Bishop  Maighniu,  a 
near  relation. 

The  first  monastery  he  founded  in  Connaught  was  probably  Cluan- 
tuasceart,  in  Roscommon,  among  the  exiled  Ciarraidhe,  but  he  soon 
left  it,  placing  it  under  the  management  of  his  brother,  Faitleach,  and 
proceeding  west  reached  Lough  Carrib,  and  crossing  over  to  Inchquin 
resolved  on  settling  in  that  island.  According  to  the  legend,  this  was 
royal  property,  and  on  the  islet,  King  Aedh  kept  his  horses,  and  these 
Brendan  employed  to  draw  material  for  his  monastery.  When  Aedh 
heard  of  this  he  was  very  angry,  and  was  only  with  difficulty  pacified  ; 
then  he  made  over  the  island  to  Brendan  for  ever.  Brendan,  however, 
was  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  founded  a  monastic  settlement  also  on 
the  island  of  Inis-da-dromand,  where  the  Fergus  river  unites  with  the 
Shannon.  But  quarrels  ensued  among  the  monks  there  which  ended 
in  one  of  them  being  cut  over  the  head,  treacherously,  whilst  he  was 
asleep,  by  a  brother  monk.  The  wounded  man  fled  to  Inchquin,  told 
his  story  to  Brendan,  and  died  there  of  the  wound.  One  day  a  serf 
of  King  Aedh  fled  to  him  complaining  of  the  ill-treatment  he  received. 
Now  it  so  chanced  that  Brendan  in  digging  had  come  on  an  ancient 

1  O'Donovan,  Book  of  Rights,  Dublin,  1847,  P-  IO°.  et  secl- 

2  The  lives  of  S.  Fursey  give  very  different    accounts  of   his  parentage,    De- 
cause  two  saints  of  the  same  name  have  been  confounded  together.     According 
to  some  of  them  the  father  of  Fintan  was  Finlug,  and  he  was  therefore  brother 
of  S.  Brendan. 


S.  Brendan  253 

gold  ornament,  perhaps  a  torque,  and  he  gave  this  to  the  man,  and 
bade  him  therewith  purchase  his  freedom. 

If  we  place  the  return  of  Brendan  from  his  second  voyage  at  527,  we 
have  a  considerable  gap  of  time  to  fill  in  before  we  come  to  his  relations 
with  Aedh,  king  of  Connaught  (544-555),  and  this  is  one  objection 
to  the  placing  of  the  peregrinations  at  so  early  a  period.  The  fixing 
of  the  voyages  as  occurring  about  519-524,  and  525-527,  was  due  to 
the  mention  of  the  visit  to  S.  Brigid  after  that  which  could  only  be  the 
first,  and  that  of  his  wintering  twice  with  S.  Ailbe,  who,  according  to 
the  best  authorities,  died  in  527,  but  the  Annals  of  Ulster  and  Innisfallen 
give  it  at  526,  and  the  Chronicon  Scottorum  at  531. J  Probably  the 
migration  of  the  Ciarraidhe  began  under  Eoghain  Beal  and  continued 
under  Aedh. 

If  we  place  the  voyages  of  Brendan  at  a  later  period,  we  must  cast 
.  ivi-r  the  story  of  his  visit  to  Brigid  on  his  return  ;  that  also  of  his  having 
passed  two  Christmas  festivals  with  S.  Ailbe. 

We  are  told  in  the  Life  of  S.  Finnian  of  Clonard  that  both  Brendans 
were  his  disciples.2  Finnian  died  in  548,  and  his  school  was  founded, 
as  Dr.  Lanigan  holds,  about  the  date  of  the  death  of  S.  Ailbe,  527^ 
Xow,  if  this  was  the  year,  as  suggested,  of  Brendan's  arrival  from 
Armorica  after  his  second  voyage,  and  if  on  account  of  the  civil  war 
in  Kerry  he  did  not  care  to  return  there,  it  is  not  impossible  that  he 
may  have  spent  some  time  with  Finnian  at  Clonard,  not  as  a  pupil, 
hut  as  an  assistant.  It  was  there  that  Brendan  made  acquaintance 
with  Ruadhan,  an  acquaintanceship  that  would  draw  him  into  the 
worst  error  of  his  life. 

In  527,  Brendan  would  be  aged  forty-four.  At  Clonard  he  made 
acquaintance  as  well  with  Columcille,  whom  in  after  years  he  visited, 
when  the  latter  was  exiled  from  Ireland. 

That  he  remained  long  with  Finnian  is  improbable,  as  there  is  no 
further  notice  of  him  in  the  Life  of  the  great  "  Master  of  Saints  "  than 
that  already  mentioned. 

At  some  time  between  544  and  555,  Brendan  paid  a  visit  to  King 
Diarmid  Mac  Cearbhoil  in  Meath.  The  king  was  then  at  Tara,  and 
he  was  told  that  Brendan  was  coming  to  him.  He  was  not  over 
gratified  at  the  prospect,  fearing  lest  the  Saint  should  demand  of  him 
the  gold  torque  he  wore.  We  are  told  that  the  king  dreamt  that  this 
would  be  the  case.  Now  the  bards  had  the  privilege  of  asking  for  what 

1  The  Four  Masters  give  541,  but  this  is  another  Ailbe  of  Senchua.      Lani- 

l-ccl.  Hist.  Ireland,  Dublin,  1829,  i,  pp.  461-3. 
•  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  200. 
3  Eccl.  Hist.  Ireland,  i,  p.  464. 


254  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

they  wanted,  and  this  could  not  well  be  refused  them,  for  if  they  were 
denied  they  lampooned  the  person  who  rejected  their  demand,  so  as 
to  turn  him  into  a  general  laughing  stock.  This  had  become  an  intoler- 
able nuisance,  and  when  a  bard  actually  demanded  of  King  Cormac 
Mac  Airt  the  royal  broach,  the  badge  of  supreme  kingship,  he  banished 
the  whole  pack  out  of  the  country. 

The  Saints  had  stepped  into  the  prerogatives  of  the  bards,  and  if 
they  did  not  lampoon,  they  cursed,  and  that  soundly.  Diarmid 
feared  lest  Brendan  should  make  the  same  audacious  demand.  He 
consulted  his  druids  and  they  told  him  that  his  dream  portended  that 
the  sovereignty  of  Ireland  would  thenceforth  be  shared  between  the 
king  and  the  Saints.  When  Brendan  arrived  and  was  told  of  the 
dream  and  its  interpretation,  he  said  that  the  good  things  of  both 
worlds  would  be  given  only  to  such  as  truly  served  God,  and  contrary 
to  the  king's  expectation  he  made  no  demand  of  him.  "  And  Diarmid 
rendered  great  honour  to  S.  Brendan,  for  he  was  a  righteous  and 
Christian  king."  x 

Indeed,  Diarmid  had  been  most  generous  to  the  Saints,  and  meanly 
and  cruelly  did  they  recompense  him,  as  we  shall  see  presently.  He 
had  been  a  liberal  benefactor  to  S.  Cieran  of  Clonmacnoise,  he  gave 
large  endowments  to  Columcille,  and  he  was  liberal  as  well  to  Bishop 
Maighneu.  But  as  soon  as  he  touched  their  privilege  of  sanctuary 
they  all  turned  against  him  and  produced  his  overthrow. 

Brendan  was  walking  one  stormy  day  with  some  monks  through  a 
forest.  The  wind  roared  among  the  trees,  and  every  now  and  then 
one  fell  with  a  crash.  The  brethren  were  alarmed,  one  of  them 
exclaimed  that  they  were  in  dire  peril  from  the  falling  timber.  "  Fear 
not,"  said  the  abbot ;  "  one  night  when  I  was  at  sea,  and  all  were 
asleep  in  the  vessel  but  myself,  a  gale  was  blowing  and  we  drew  near 
to  some  breakers,  and  I  thought  our  boat  would  be  rent  on  them,  but 
a  great  billow  heaved  us  over  the  prongs  of  rock  into  still  water.  God, 
who  delivered  us  then,  can  deliver  us  now."  2 

In  555,  Brendan  founded  Clonfert.  It  was  the  year  of  the  battle  of 
Cuildreihmne,  in  which  Aedh  of  Connaught  fought  and  defeated 
Diarmid  Mac  Cearbhall.3  The  account  in  the  Second  Life  in  the 


1  Vita,  ed.  Moran,  p.  21. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  23.      In  the  text,  the  rocks  rise  up  to  let  the  boat  pass  under  them. 

3  "  Diarmid  vero  fugit,  et  in    eo    die    Cluainferta  Brennain    fundata    est," 
sub  anno  561.     But  555  is  the  date  in  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  and  those 
of  Tighernach.     The  Ulster  Annals  give  as  the  date  of  the  founding  of  Clonfert 
557  (i.e.,  558),  but  again  under  563  (i.e.  564),  "  Or  in  this  year  Brendan  founded 
the  church  of  Cluainferta." 


S.   Brendan  255 

Codex  Salmanticensis  may  be  quoted.  "  Some  time  afterwards  S. 
Brendan  said  to  his  brethren,  '  We  must  go  into  the  country  of  the  Hy 
Many,  for  that  land  hath  need  of  us,  and  there  perhaps  shall  our  bodies 
repose.  I  have  heard  its  angel  waging  battle  in  my  name,  and  we  must 
therefore  lend  him  assistance,  for  our  Redeemer's  sake.'  In  that  year 
the  kings  of  the  northern  parts  of  Ireland,  and  Aedh,  king  of  Connaught, 
with  all  their  forces,  gave  battle  to  Diarmid,  king  of  Ireland,  at  a  place 
called  Cuildreihmne,  and  won  the  victory.  Then,  the  man  of  God, 
Brendan,  went  forth  into  the  land  of  Hy-Maine,  and  there  founded  the 
famous  monastery  of  Clonfert.  '  This  shall  be  my  rest  for  ever,  here  will 
I  dwell,'  said  he.  Tn  that  place  he  became  the  father  of  many  servants 
of  God,  and  thence  he  diffused  light  and  virtue  all  round."  * 

Previous  to  this,  however,  he  had  been  mixed  up  in  a  very  discredit- 
able affair,  concerning  which  his  biographers  are  mainly  silent. 
Diarmid  was  high-king  of  Ireland  (544-58).  His  steward  had  been 
ill  for  a  year.  On  his  recovery,  he  inquired  whether  the  king's 
privileges  had  been  maintained  during  the  time  when  he  was  unable 
to  *  xercise  his  office.  The  spear-bearer  of  Diarmid  undertook  to  go 
through  the  land  and  report.  It  was  the  rule  that  every  under-king's 
Us  or  court  should  have  a  door  wide  enough  for  the  royal  spear  to  be 
carried  through  it,  borne  horizontally.  This  man,  on  arriving  in 
Connaught,  went  to  the  mansion  of  Aedh  Guaire,  who  had  a  stockade 
of  oak  about  his  rath,  with  a  new  wooden  house  in  it,  erected  with  a 
view  to  his  marriage  feast. 

When  the  spear-bearer  arrived,  he  found  that  the  entrance  to  the 
rath  was  of  the  regulation  size,  but  not  so  that  of  the  house,  and  he 
imperiously  demanded  that  it  should  be  hacked  to  the  conventional 
width.  Aedh  objected,  an  altercation  ensued,  and  ended  in  the 
spearbearer  being  killed. 

When  Diarmid  heard  of  this,  he  was  furious,  and  sent  his  men  to 
devastate  the  lands  of  Aedh  Guaire,  who,  unable  to  resist  the  superior 
force  of  the  king,  fled  for  sanctuary  to  S.  Ruadhan  of  Lothra.  Ruadhan 
sent  him  away  into  Britain,  but  Diarmid  contrived  his  arrest  there, 
and  he  was  brought  a  prisonei  to  Tara. 

Upon  this,  Ruadhan,  who  regarded  the  matter  as  a  breach  of  sanc- 
tuary, went  to  Brendan  of  Birr,  and  thence  sent  messengers  throughout 
Ireland  to  the  great  abbots  to  assemble  in  maintenance  of  their  rights. 
They  accordingly  gathered,  and  proceeded  to  Tara,  and  undertook  a 
fast  against  the  king.2 

1  2nd  Life  in  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  770. 

2  Ibid. 


256  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

But  Diarmid  retaliated,  and  instituted  a  fast  against  the  Saints. 
"  To  the  end  of  a  year  they  continued  before  Tara  under  Ruadhan's  tent 
exposed  to  weather  and  wet,  and  they  were  every  alternate  night 
without  food,  Diarmid  and  the  clergy,  fasting  against  each  other." 

At  this  time  Brendan  arrived  on  the  scene,  returned  apparently 
from  having  visited  his  monasteries  in  Armorica,  for  he  is  represented  as 
arriving  from  abroad.  He  at  once  made  common  cause  with  the  other 
abbots  against  the  king  who  had  been  his  benefactor. 

According  to  one  account,  Diarmid  was  so  frightened  when  he  heard 
of  the  arrival  of  Brendan,  that  he  consented  to  surrender  his  captive  ; 
however  that  may  be,  the  fast  continued  on  both  sides.  Then  Brendan 
devised  a  most  unworthy  stratagem  to  enable  the  Saints  to  get  the 
better  of  the  king.  Diarmid  had  his  spies  observing  the  abbots. 
Brendan  advised  them  to  pretend  to  break  their  fast,  by  pulling  their 
hoods  over  their  faces,  and  making  believe  that  they  ate,  but  actually 
slipping  their  food  into  their  laps. 

The  spies,  thinking  that  the  abbots  had  broken  their  fast,  hastened 
to  announce  it  to  the  king,  and  Diarmid,  overjoyed,  broke  his.  Thus 
the  Saints  got  ahead  of  him  by  one  night.  When  he  heard  how  he 
had  been  outwitted,  he  went  to  them  and  thus  addressed  them  :  "  Alas 
for  the  iniquitous  contest  you  are  waging  against  me  !  seeing  that 
what  I  pursue  is  the  good  of  Ireland,  her  discipline  and  the  rights  of 
the  crown.  But  it  is  discord  and  slaughter  in  Ireland  that  ye  are 
aiming  at.  God  Himself  appointed  me  to  give  right  judgment  and  rule 
and  truth.  A  prince  must  combine  stringency  with  mercy,  and  peace 
must  be  maintained  among  the  under  chiefs.  Unless  a  king  succour 
the  wretched,  overwhelm  enemies,  and  banish  falsehood,  he  has  fallen 
from  his  duty,  and  will  be  held  responsible  therefore  hereafter." 

Then  Ruadhan  and  all  the  assembled  Saints  cursed  Diarmid  that  his 
dynasty  should  come  to  an  end,  and  that  Tara  should  be  for  ever 
desolate. 

There  is  another,  but  not  necessarily  contradictory  version  of  the 
story,  that  the  king  bribed  Mobai  to  withdraw  from  the  conjuration 
of  the  Saints  against  him.1 

1  The  authorities  are  these.  The  lost  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  which  were 
translated  into  English  by  Connell  Mac  Geoghegan  in  1627,  and  printed  in  1896; 
an  Irish  MS.  in  Trinity  Coll.,  Dublin  (H.  I.  15)  ;  the  Life  of  S.  Ruadhan  in  the 
Book  of  Kilkenny  ;  a  fifteenth  century  MS.  in  the  Brit.  Mus.,  which  is  a  copy  of 
the  lost  Book  of  Sligo  ;  the  Life  in  the  Codex  Salaman.,  No.  xv ;  The  Book  of 
Rights,  ed.  O'Donovan,  1847,  pp.  53-7  ;  The  Four  Masters,  the  Chron.  Scott., 
the  A  nnals  of  Ulster  ;  Tighernach  and  Keating  are  silent  upon  the  matter. 
"  Yet  so  great  a  national  event  was  infinitely  too  important  to  have  been  passed 
over  in  silence  except  for  some  special  reason,  and  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 


S.    Brendan  257 


Diarmid  was  murdered  in  558,  and  Tara  was  never  again  inhabited 
»»r  made  the  centre  of  government.  "  The  great  palace  where,  accord 
jn«r  to  general  belief,  a  hundred  and  thirty-six  pagan  and  six  Christian 
kings  had  ruled  uninterruptedly,  the  most  august  spot  in  all  Ireland, 
where  a  '  Truce  of  God  '  had  always  reigned  during  the  great  triennial 
assemblies,  was  now  to  be  given  up  and  deserted  at  the  curse  of  a 
tonsured  monk.  The  Great  Assembly,  or  Feis,  of  Tara,  which  accus- 
tomed the  people  to  the  idea  of  a  centre  of  government  and  a  ruling 
po\\er,  could  no  more  be  convened,  and  a  thousand  associations  and 
memories  which  hallowed  the  office  of  the  High  King  were  snapped  in 
a  moment.  It  was  a  blow  from  which  the  monarchy  of  Ireland  never 
recovered,  a  blow  which,  by  putting  an  end  to  the  great  triennial  and 
septennial  conventions  of  the  whole  Irish  race,  weakened  the  prestige 
of  the  central  ruler,  increased  the  powers  of  the  provincial  chieftains, 
segregated  the  clans  of  Ireland  from  one  another,  and  opened  a  new 
road  for  faction  and  dissension  throughout  the  entire  land."  l 

The  last  Feis  of  Tara  occurred  in  554,  and  the  Cursing  of  Tara  must 
have  taken  place  that  year,  or  the  next,  when  the  battle  of  Cuild- 
reihmne  was  fought,  in  which  Diarmid  lost  most  of  his  troops,  and  was 
obliged  to  fly.  He  was  an  unfortunate  prince  in  having  offended  the 
Saints  of  Ireland.  The  conjuration  which  led  to  this  battle  was  brought 
about  by  the  efforts  of  Columcille,  against  whom  he  had  pronounced  a 
judgment  that  the  Saint  regarded  as  unjust,  and  because  Diarmid 
had  put  to  death  Curnan,  son  of  Aedh,  the  king  of  Connaught,  whom 
he  had  received  under  his  protection.2 

Clonfert,  founded  in  555  by  S.  Brendan,  is  in  Galway,  and  near  the 
Shannon,  and  it  grew  to  be  a  great  centre  of  monastic  activities,  a 
celebrated  school,  and  an  episcopal  throne.  Probably  about  the  same 
time  Brendan  established  a  religious  house  at  Enachduin,  now  Anna- 
down,  in  Galway,  on  the  banks  of  Lough  Corrib,  on  land  granted  him 
by  King  Aedh.  He  also  began  a  monastery  near  Lothra  in  Tipperary, 
but  his  friend  Ruadhan  objected,  as  the  bell  of  each  church  could  be 
heard  at  the  other,  and  Brendan  removed  his  settlement  elsewhere. 3 

According  to  the  story  in  the  Life  of  S.  Brendan  in  the  Kilkenny 
Book,  shortly  after  the  founding  of  Clonfert,  at  Christmas,  a  great 
longing  came  over  S.  Itha  to  receive  the  Holy  Communion  at  the 
of  her  foster  son,  and  she  was  conveyed  by  angels  the  three 

s  not  alluded  to  because  the  Annalists  did  not  care  to  recall  it."     Douglas 
3,  The  Literary  Hist,  of  Ireland,  London,  1899,  p.  227. 
1   Ibid.,  p.   226. 

•  For  the  Battle  see  Reeves,  Adamnan's  Life  of  Columba,  p.  247,  et  seq. 
3  Vita  Sti.  Rodani,  Cod.  Sal.,  coll.  219-20. 
VOL.  I.  S 


258  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

days'  journey  from  her  convent  in  Kerry  to  the  monastery  of  Brendan 
in  Galway.  Even  if  we  allow  that  the  angels  who  bore  her  were  her 
white-robed  nuns,  the  story  is  not  possible. 

Itha  became  foster  mother  of  Brendan  in  484,  and  cannot  have  been 
then  under  twenty.  This  would  make  her  aged  ninety-one  in  555,  and 
we  can  hardly  suppose  her  at  this  advanced  age  making  so  long  a 
journey.  It  is  more  likely  that  she  made  her  Christmas  Communion 
with  him  as  celebrant  when  he  was  on  a  visit  to  Ardfert.1 

Whilst  Brendan  was  in  Connaught,  Itha  asked  his  assistance  in  a 
delicate  matter.  One  of  her  young  nuns  had  run  away,  and  had  gone 
into  Connaught,  where  she  became  a  mother,  and  went  into  service 
to  a  Druid.  Itha  requested  Brendan  to  bring  her  back,  but  this  could 
only  be  effected  through  the  intervention  of  King  Aedh,  as  the  Druid 
refused  to  surrender  her.  Eventually  the  unfortunate  girl  with  her 
child  were  recovered  by  Itha  at  Killedy.2 

From  Clonfert  Brendan  seems  to  have  occasionally  retired  to  the 
lonely  Isle  of  Inisgloria,  off  the  coast  of  Mayo  at  the  N.W.  extremity, 
where  a  mass  of  land  is  connected  with  the  mainland  by  a  narrow 
neck,  on  which  is  planted  Bellmullet.  Here  is  to  be  found  a  very  rude 
and  venerable  oratory  that  bears  the  name  of  Brendan,  and  here  also 
is  preserved  a  wooden  statue  of  the  Saint.  On  the  island  are  the 
remains  of  four  cloghans,  or  beehive  huts.  The  fishermen  of  the  coast, 
when  passing  Inisgloria,  lower  their  sails  in  honour  of  S.  Brendan.3 

"  Once,  when  the  King  of  Munster  came  into  Connaught,  with  a  large 
army  to  lay  waste  that  country,  Brendan  was  very  old  (senex),  and  at 
the  entreaty  of  the  men  of  Connaught,  he  went  to  meet  the  Munster 
men,  and  besought  them  to  make  peace,  but  they  in  their  pride  would 
grant  neither  peace  nor  truce  to  the  Saint.  But  when  they  were 
proceeding  to  ravage  the  land,  they  were  for  a  whole  day  kept  moving 
round  in  a  circle  at  one  place,  and  could  make  no  advance.  Then  they 
supposed  that  a  miracle  had  been  wrought  against  them,  and,  seized 
with  fear,  they  decided  to  return  into  their  own  country."  4 

What  probably  occurred  was  that  a  fog  came  on,  which  the  Munster 
men  imagined  had  been  called  up  by  the  prayers  of  Brendan,  and  so 
desisted  from  their  undertaking. 

Brendan  made  a  compact  of  friendship  with  several  saintly  abbots, 
which  was  to  remain  in  force  after  their  deaths  between  the  monks 

1  Vita,  ed.  Moran,  p.  20. 

2  Colgan,  A  eta  SS.  Hib.,  Vita  S.  Itae,  cap.  xxxi. 

3  O'Donovan,  Letters  on  the  Antiquities  of  Mayo,  Ord.  Survey,  1838,  i,  pp. 
198-207. 

4  Vita,  ed.  Moran,  pp.  23-4. 


S.    BRENDAN'S    CKAPEL    AND    STATUE. 
Inisgloria,  Co.  Mayo. 


S.     BRENDAN'S    CLOGHAN. 
N.  Blasket  Island,  Co.  Kerry. 


S.  Brendan  259 

of  their  several  monasteries.  These  were  S.  Finbar  of  Cork,  Cainech, 
and  Abban  Mac  Cormic,  the  latter  of  whom  he  had  visited  on  his  return 
from  his  last  voyage.1  Also  with  Ciaran  of  Saigher,2  with  whom 
IK  had  made  acquaintance  at  Clonard,  and  also  with  his  namesake 
Brendan  of  Birr. 3  He  paid  a  visit  to  S.  Columcille,  in  company  with 
Comgal,  founder  of  Bangor,  Cainech  of  Achadbos,  and  Cormac  of  Dur- 
n>\\.  Columcille  was  then  in  the  isle  of  Hinba,  probably  Canna,  north 
of  Hy.  The  Saints  between  them  invited  Columcille  to  celebrate  the 
Holy  Sacrifice  before  them,  and  they  asserted  that  they  had  seen  a 
globe  of  light  above  the  head  of  the  officiant  which  irradiated  his  face 
as  he  sang  Mass.4  This  was  apparently  a  hanging  lamp  which  they 
\\viv  pleased  to  regard  as  illuminating  Columcille  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  Brendan  was  also  on  intimate  terms  with  S.  Scuthin.5 

Seven  years  before  his  death,  Brendan  was  in  his  monastery  at 
Clonfert  on  Easter  day.6  A  clerical  student  bearing  a  harp  entered 
the  refectory  and  played  to  the  monks,  and  then  inquired  where  the 
old  abbot  was,  as  he  desired  to  harp  to  him.  They  told  him  that 
Bivndan  was  in  his  cell,  and  would  not  listen  to  music,  he  put  wax  into 
,rs.  However,  the  student  persisted,  and  was  introduced  into 
tlu-  cell  of  the  old  man,  whom  he  found  engaged  in  reading.  Brendan 
\vas  with  difficulty  persuaded  to  listen  to  the  harping,  and  leave  his 
study ;  but  in  the  end  he  yielded.  He  hearkened  for  a  while  to  the 
sweet  music,  and  then  said,  "  A  blessing  on  thee  for  thy  melody,  and 
may  Heaven  be  thy  due."  Then  he  corked  up  his  ears  again.  The 
harper  urged  that  he  might  continue  to  play.  "  No,"  said  Brendan. 
"  Seven  years  ago  I  was  in  a  church  after  preaching,  and  when  Mass 
was  ended  and  I  was  alone  and  had  gone  to  Christ's  Body,  there  came 
on  me  an  ineffable  longing  to  be  with  my  Lord.  And  as  I  was  in  this 


260  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

ecstasy,  trembling  and  afraid,  I  saw  a  pretty  bird  on  the  window-sill, 
and  it  flew  in  and  alighted  on  the  altar  and  there  sang,  and  his  song  was 
as  the  music  of  heaven.  After  that  I  have  never  cared  more  to  hear 
the  strains  of  earth." 

Feeling  his  end  approach,  he  visited  his  sister  at  Annadown,  and 
told  her  that  he  was  about  to  die.  She  was  filled  with  grief.  He  was 
very  old,  in  his  ninety-sixth  year.  On  the  following  day  he  stood 
at  the  altar,  and  turning  to  all  present,  said  :  "I  commend  my  death 
to  your  prayers."  "  But,"  said  his  sister,  Brig,  "  what  have  you 
to  fear?"  "I  fear,"  he  replied,  "dying  alone,  I  fear  the  dreadful 
journey  in  darkness,  I  fear  the  unwonted  land,  the  face  of  the  King, 
and  the  sentence  of  the  Judge." 

Then  he  bade  the  brothers  take  his  body,  when  he  was  dead,  to  Clon- 
fert;  and  after  he  had  kissed  his  sister  and  the  rest,  he  said,  "Salute  all 
my  kinsfolk  for  me,  and  tell  them  to  restrain  their  tongues  from  profane 
talk.  For  evil  talkers  are  sons  of  perdition."  l  That  same  day  he 
died,  May  16,  577.2 

A  curious  entry  in  Leland's  Collectanea  is  that  in  1199,  at  Ludlow, 
in  Shropshire,  whilst  enlarging  the  parish  church,  a  tumulus  was 
opened  that  contained  three  cists,  in  which  were  found  bodies,  and 
with  them  an  inscription  to  the  effect  that  they  were  the  remains 
of  S.  Ferco  (Finlug),  the  father  of  S.  Brendan,  and  of  S.  Cochel,  his 
cousin.  That  the  cists  and  skeletons  were  found  is  likely  enough ;  the 
inscriptions  were  impudent  and  interested  forgeries.  The  bodies 
were  enshrined  in  the  church  for  the  reverence  of  the  credulous.3 

There  are  no  churches  in  Wales  dedicated  to  S.  Brendan.  In  the 
Life  of  S.  Machu,  or  Malo,  it  is  confidently  asserted  that  Brendan  was 
at  one  time  abbot  of  Llancarfan.  Machu  is  only  mentioned  as  a 
disciple  of  Brendan  in  the  Colbert  MS.  of  the  Navigatio,  and  this  is 
evidently  an  interpolation.  Owen,  in  his  Sanctorale  Catholicum  (p.  234), 
says  that  Brendan  "  was  a  disciple  of  S.  Finan,  and  lived  some  years 
in  the  abbey  of  Llancarvan  in  Wales,"  but  he  drew  this  from  the  Life 
of  S.  Machu,  and  the  book  is  wholly  uncritical. 

Brendan's  name  among  the  British  seems  to  have  been  Branwalader 
(which  see}. 

S.  Brendan's  day  in  the  Felire  of  Oengus  and  all  other  Irish  Martyr- 

1  Vita,  ed.  Moran,  pp.  24-5. 

2  Brendan    died    on    Sunday,   May   16.     Ussher,   Brittan.   Eccl.  Antiqnitatcs, 
Index  Chron,,  gives  577.     But  the  Annals  of  Inisf alien  give  570,  the  Dublin  copy 
however  575.     The  Annals  of  Tighernach  and  of    Ulster  give  571,  which   in  the 
latter  would  be  572.     The  Four  Masters  give  576.     But  Sunday  fell  on  May  16 
in  577. 

3  Collect.,  iii,  p.  407. 


S.    Brendan  261 

ologies  is  May  if).  The  S.  Malo  Breviary  of  1537  gives  this  day. 
His  translation  is  on  June  14,  but  a  Leon  calendar  (1516)  gives 
July  5.  On  May  16,  in  John  of  Tynemouth's  collection,  and  Cap- 
grave's  Nova  Legenda.  But  Whytford,  under  May  14,  says:  "One 
ot  the  feests  of  saynt  Brandane  that  were  born  in  Englonde,  but  an 
abbot  in  yreland  of  III.  M.  Monkes,  a  holy  fader  that  gretely  exer- 
rvsed,  that  laboured  in  pylgrymages,  after  the  which  he  was  made  a 
bysshop  in  yreland,  and  ever  of  synguler  sanctitie  " — which  is  a  tissue 
of  errors. 

The  principal  authorities  for  the  life  of  S.  Brendan  have  been  already 
s] token  of. 

There  is,  in  the  first  place,  that  in  the  so-called  Kilkenny  Book,  in 
i;i>!ioj>  Marsh's  Library,  Dublin,  which  has  been  printed  by  the  Right 
Rev.  P.  F.  Moran,  bishop  of  Ossory,  Acta  Sti.  Brendani,  Dublin,  1872. 
Another  Latin  Life  in  the  Codex  Salamanticensis,  coll.  759-772.  A 
fragment  of  another  in  the  same,  coll.  495-6.  An  Irish  Life  from 
tin-  Book  of  Lismore,  Anecd.  Oxoniensia,  Oxford,  1890,  pp.  99-116, 
Translation,  pp.  247-261.  The  Latin  Life  in  the  Salamanca  Codex,  coll. 
113-154,  is  a  Navigatio.  A  Latin  Life  from  a  thirteenth  century  MS., 
ed.  Carl  Schroder,  Erlangen,  1871.  Translations  of  the  Life  in  the 
Kilkenny  Book,  and  of  the  Irish  Life  are  in  O'Donoghue's  5.  Brendan 
the  Voyager,  Dublin,  1893. 

The  Metrical  Life  of  S.  Brendan  in  the  Brit.  Mus.  Cotton  MS. 
Vrsp.  D.  IX,  is  also  contained  in  Cardinal  Moran's  Acta  S.  Brendani. 

A  Vita  in  Rees'  Cambro-British  Saints,  from  the  Cotton  MS.  Vesp. 
V  XI^,  in  the  British  Museum,  is  a  bad  version  of  the  Navigatio. 
The  Life  in  Capgrave  is  a  compilation  from  the  "  Life  "  in  the  Kil- 
kenny Book  and  the  Navigatio. 

Churches  dedicated  to  S.  Brendan  in  Devon  are  Brendon  on  the 
northern  slope  of  Exmoor,  and  Branscombe,  now  held  to  be  under  the 
patronage  of  S.  Winefred,  but  where  the  body  of  S.  Brendan,  under 
the  Welsh  form  of  the  name,  Branwalader,  was  supposed  to  repose. 

There  \vas  also  a  chapel  at  Stokenham,  placed  under  his  patronage, 
licensed  by  Bishop  Lacey,  June  24,  1421. 

There  were  a  hermitage  and  a  chapel  to  S.  Brendan  on  Brandon  Hill 
above  Bristol.  Brancepeth  in  Durham  is  also  dedicated  to  him. 

In  art,  the  proper  symbol  of  the  Saint  would  seem  to  be  a  boat. 
Brendan  is  regarded  as  the  author  or  compiler  of  a  Monastic  Rule ; 
this  has  unhappily  been  lost.  Also  of  a  prayer,  published  by  Cardinal 
Moran.1  This  may  perhaps  originally  have  been  composed  by  him, 

1  1  rom  a  Sessorian  IMS.  at  Rome,  Acta  S.  Brendani,  pp.  27-44.  The  rubric 
to  it  is  as  follows  :  "  Beatus  Brendanus,  monachus,  quaerens  insulam  promis- 


2  6  2  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

but  it  has  been  amplified  and  extended  in  after  ages.  It  contains  an 
invocation  for  the  protection  of  various  parts  of  the  body  that  resembles 
the  Lorica  of  Gildas.  Brendan  is  also  but  very  hesitatingly  claimed 
as  author  of  a  hymn  to  S.  Brigid,  which  certainly  is  not  his.1 

There  is  in  Welsh  an  apothegm  attributed  to  him,  which  occurs 
in  what  are  called  the  "Stanzas  of  the  Month,"  supposed  to  be  by 
Aneurin,  but  are  really  several  centuries  later  :— 

Truly  saith  S.  Brenda, 

"  The  evil  is  not  less  resorted  to  than  the  good."  2 

Brendan  is  invoked  in  the  Litany  in  the  Stowe  Missal,  published  by 
Warren.3  See  also  under  S.  Branwalader. 


S.  BRIAC,  Abbot,  Confessor 

BRIAC  was  an  Irishman  by  birth,  son  of  a  chieftain  in  Ulster,  whose 
name  is  not  given.  At  an  early  age,  he  embraced  the  monastic  pro- 
fession, and  passed  into  Wales,  where  he  placed  himself  under  the  tuition 
of  S.  Tudwal,  and  in  course  of  time  was  ordained  priest. 

Two  years  after  that  event,  Tugdual  or  Tudwal  resolved  on  crossing 
into  Armorica,  along  with  Ruelin,  Loenan,  Guevroc,  and  Briac,  who 
attached  themselves  especially  to  him.  They  landed  in  the  Isle  of 
Kermorrun  in  lace  of  le  Conquest  in  the  west  of  Leon.  The  legend 
says  that  no  sooner  had  they  reached  the  mainland,  after  leaving  the 
island,  than  their  vessel  vanished  ;  this  means  no  more  than  that 
having  carelessly  attached  it,  or  not  having  drawn  it  up  sufficiently 
high  on  the  beach,  a  high  tide  carried  it  out  to  sea  and  they  were  unable 
to  recover  it. 

Tugdual  founded  the  monastery  of  Lanpabo,  in  a  sheltered  valley 
near  the  sea,  but  deemed  it  advisable  to  obtain  a  confirmation  of  his 
claims  to  land  from  Deroch,  then  prince  or  king  of  Leon  and  Domnonia. 
Deroch  was  the  son  of  Rhiwal  who  had  welcomed  S.  Brioc.  Tugdual 
took  with  him  as  his  companions  the  four  above-named  companions> 

sionis  per  septem  annos  continues  orationem  istam  de  verbo  Dei  per  Michaelum 
Archangelum  fecit  quando  transfretavit  septem  maria.  Quicunque  istam 
cantaverit  sive  dixerit  pro  se  vel  pro  amico  suo  aut  familari  vivo  sive  defuncto 
centies  flexis  genibus  aut  prostrate  corpdre  remittuntur  ei  omnia  peccata,  et  de 
poenis  inferni  salvus  erit." 

1  The  hymn  is  "  Brigit   be    bithmait,"  Liber   Hymnonim,  ed.    H.  Bradshaw 
Soc.,  i,  pp.  37-39. 

2  Myvyvlan  Archaiology,  pp.  21,  419. 

-1  Liturgy  of  the  Celtic  Church,  Oxford,  1881,  pp.  238,  240. 


S.  Briac  263 


h  received  them  well,  and  made  a  grant  to  Tugdual  of  the  old 
camp  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Treguier.  At  the  request  of  the  prince, 
\vlio  lived  at  Castel-deroch,  near  where  is  now  the  town  of  Bourbriac, 
IK-  left  his  faithful  attendant  Briac  with  him,  and  Deroch  bade  him 
form  a  monastic  colony  near  his  castle.  This  Briac  did  in  a  clearing 
of  the  forest.  The  mound  on  which  stood  the  wooden  palace  of 
Deroch  still  remains  at  a  little  distance  from  Bourbriac ;  the  town 
has  formed  itself  about  the  monastery  and  not  the  royal  habitation. 
After  some  years,  Briac  resolved  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  he 
passed  through  France  to  the  Mediterranean,  where  he  took  ship  and 
sailed  for  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  which  he  reached  after  having  been 
live  days  at  sea. 

He  returned  in  the  same  way,  and  landed  at  Marseilles,  whence  he 
departed  for  Aries,  where  he  was  well  received  by  the  bishop,  and 
remained  with  him  for  two  years.  The  bishop  would  have  retained 
him  longer,  but  Briac  was  anxious  to  return.  On  his  way  back  he 
made  a  digression  to  visit  the  abbey  of  Luxeuil.1 

II-  had  left  his  monastery  under  the  charge  of  a  brother  whom  he 
regarded  as  a  model  of  Christian  virtues.  But  on  his  return  he  found 
"  a  certain  person,"  puffed  up  with  pride,  and  domineering  in  manner. 
The  Life  does  not  say  that  this  was  his  deputy,  but  leaves  us  to  under- 
stand that  this  is  implied.  Apparently  this  man  was  by  no  means 
willing  to  surrender  the  rule  to  his  former  superior,  and  Briac  had 
much  trouble  with  him.  It  is  possible  that  it  was  now  that  the  Saint, 
along  with  the  party  of  monks  which  sided  with  him,  removed  to  the 
site  on  the  coast  now  called  S.  Briac.  We  are  not  told  this  in  so  many 
words,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  read  between  the  lines,  and  discern 
that  there  was  for  a  while  a  schism  in  the  community.  However,  the 
"  certain  person  "  fell  ill,  and  when  he  thought  himself  at  the  point  of 
death,  sent  to  Briac  and  confessed  his  pride  and  wrongful  usurpation. 

Briac  died  on  December  17,  and  was  interred  in  his  monastery  at 
Bourbriac.  A  little  difficulty  exists  as  to  the  date  of  the  founding 
of  this  establishment.  According  to  the  calculation  of  M.  de  la 
Borderie,  Deroch  succeeded  Rhiwal  in  530  and  died  in  535.  But  it  is 
possible  enough  that  Deroch  held  the  principality  of  Leon  whilst  his 
father  lived  and  exercised  rule  over  Domnonia. 

We  may  put  down  the  death  of  Briac  as  taking  place  about  570, 
perhaps  earlier. 

1  Ihis  is  chronologically  impossible.  Luxeuil  was  founded  in  590.  An  old 
name  for  Trcguier  was  Lexovia,  and  this  has  been  confounded  with  Luxovium, 
Luxeuil.  Briac  visited  Tugdual  at  Lexovia,  and  not  Columbanus  at  Luxo- 

vinni. 


264  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Briac's  tomb  at  Bourbriac  was  crushed  and  much  injured  by  the 
fall  of  the  nave  of  the  church  in  1765 ;  it  has,  however,  been  restored  or 
reconstructed.  The  Life  of  the  Saint  is  given  by  Albert  le  Grand  from 
a  legend  formerly  preserved  at  Bourbriac,  but  now  lost,  and  from  one, 
also  lost,  that  he  found  at  Treguier.  It  was  apparently  an  early  and 
trustworthy  document.  Briac  is  also  mentioned  in  the  Lives  of  S. 
Tugdual  and  of  S.  Guevroc. 

According  to  his  "  Life,"  Briac  died  on  December  17,  and  that  is  the 
day  given  for  his  commemoration  by  Albert  le  Grand  and  Lobineau, 
and  a  MS.  Missal  of  Treguier  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Briac  founded  no  churches  in  Wales  or  Cornwall. 

In  art  he  is  represented  as  an  abbot,  in  a  long  habit,  with  a  hood, 
over  the  habit  is  a  surplice,  at  his  feet  a  dog.  Such  is  the  representa- 
tion on  his  tomb  at  Bourbriac. 

Formerly  he  was  invoked  for  the  cure  of  insanity.  Lunatics  were 
confined  in  a  cell  near  his  tomb,  with  barred  windows,  and  Mass  was 
said  before  them,  with  the  hopes  of  effecting  a  cure.  All  this  is  now 
of  the  past.  He  had  a  Holy  Well  at  Bourbriac,  but  this  has  disappeared. 
The  water  is  carried  off  by  an  underground  channel  to  supply  the 
requirements  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  presbytere. 


S.  BRIGID,  Virgin,  Abbess 

THE  cult  of  S.  Brigid  in  Wales,  Cornwall,  Devon  and  Brittany  be- 
longed originally  to  those  portions  of  the  land  that  were  colonized  by 
the  Irish  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 

We  know  of  no  Welsh  founders  of  Religious  communities  who  can  at 
all  compare  with  Brigid  in  fame  and  popularity.  At  Glastonbury, 
under  the  vague  tradition  that  she  at  one  time  lived  and  even  died 
there,  is  concealed,  in  all  likelihood,  the  fact  that  there  was  there  a 
house  affiliated  to  Kildare  ;  and  Glastonbury  is  termed  in  Cormac's 
Glossary  "  Glasimpere  of  the  Gadhaels."  1 

One  reason  for  her  extraordinary  popularity  is  that  S.  Brigid  has 
replaced,  like  S.  Anne,  a  Goidelic  female  deity,  in  the  same  way  that 
S.  Vitus  has  stepped  into  the  prerogatives  of  Suativit  in  Bohemia. 

Brig  is  a  feminine  noun,  and  in  Gaelic  signifies  valour  or  might, 
and  the  Welsh  Bri,  honour  or  renown,  comes  from  the  same  root. 
Brigid  has  the  same  signification.  Brigid  was,  as  Cormac  tells  us  in 

1  Ussher,  Britann.  Ecclesice  Antiqititates,  Dublin,  1639,  ii,  p.  900.  Cormac's 
Glossary,  ed.  Whitley  Stokes,  Loncl.,  1862,  pp.  xlviii. 


S.  Brigid  265 


Irish  Glossary,  becoming  antiquated  in  the  ninth  century.  "  A 
«;<»!<  It  •->  whom  the  poets  worshipped,  for  very  great  and  noble  was 
her  JH -rk'ction.  Whose  sisters  were  Brigid,  woman  of  healing,  and 
Bri^id,  woman  of  smith's  work  (i.e.,  patroness  of  the  forge),  goddesses."1 
Altars  to  her  have  been  found  in  Britain,  as  Brigantia,  a  fire  goddess. 
At  Middleby,  an  inscription  on  one  runs  : — "  Brigantiae  s(acrum), 
Annandus  Architectus  ex  imperio,  imp.  I  "  ;  also  on  one  found  at 
Greta  Bridge,  Yorkshire,  "  Deae  numeriae  numini  Brig  et  Jan."  - 

Shr  was  a  nature  goddess,  differentiated  in  later  times  into  a  triad 
ot  >istrrs,  the  Brig  of  Fire,  of  Life,  and  of  Valour. 

Tin-  uivat  people  of  the  Brigantes  derived  their  name  from  the  same 
root,  Hrig,  signifying  valour.3 

The  historical  Brigid  stepped  into  the  affections  of  the  Irish  race 
ami  occupied  the  place  formerly  given  to  the  mythical  Brig  or  Brigid. 
\\ V  commit  a  grievous  error  if  we  suppose  that  S.  Brigid  never  existed, 
and  is  merely  the  old  goddess  introduced  into  the  Christian  Calendar 
and  receiving  Catholic  cult.  Many  a  Christian  martyr  and  saint  in 
Greece  and  Rome  had  a  name  derived  from  a  heathen  deity,  as  Apollo, 
Apollonia,  Dionysius,  Januarius,  Martialis,  and  Saturninus.  In  like 
manner  our  Celtic  forefathers  bore  names  derived  from  the  deities  that 
had  been  worshipped  of  old  in  the  land. 

A  confusion  of  ideas  concerning  Brigid  lasted  on  in  Christian  times, 
and  she  was  identified  with  the  Virgin  Mary.  Thus  in  S.  Broccan's 
hymn  : — 

Brigid,  mother  of  my  high  King 

Of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  best  was  she  born.4 

In  the  hymn  "  Brigit  be  bithmait  "  not  only  is  she  identified  with 
the  goddess  of  fire  as  "  the  sun  fiery,  radiant,"  but  she  is  also  made  the 
mother  of  Christ, 

She,  the  branch  with  blossoms, 

The  mother  of  Jesus."' 

And  S.  Broccan  further  calls  her  "  The  One-Mother  of  the  Great  King's 
Son."« 

In  the  Third  Life  in  Colgan  she  is  spoken  of :  "  Haec  est  Maria  quae 
habitat  inter  vos." 

.iac,  Gloss.,  pp.  xxxiii-iv. 

altars  see  \Yellbeloved,  Eburacum,  1842;  and  inscriptions,  Hubner,  Corp. 
/.if/.,  vii,  191,  and  Stokes'  notes  to  Cormac's  Glossary. 

1  Siv  Kliys.  Hibbert  Lectures,  1886,  pp.  75-7,  where  she  is  also  described  as  the 
MiiuTva  of  the  Celts. 

Hyinnuntm,  ed.  Henry  Bradshaw  Soc.,  Loncl.,  1897,  n',  p.  40. 
P-   39- 
.  4.}  ;    sec  also  pp.  46,  107,  190,  223. 


266  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

The  identification  of  S.  Brigid  with  the  fire  goddess  showed  itself 
in  the  maintenance  of  a  perpetual  fire  at  Kildare  near  her  church. 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  thus  describes  it :  "  As  in  the  time  of  S.  Brigid 
twenty  nuns  were  here  engaged  in  the  Lord's  warfare,  she  herself 
being  the  twentieth,  after  her  glorious  departure,  nineteen  have  always 
formed  the  society,  the  number  having  never  been  increased.  Each 
of  them  has  the  care  of  the  fire  for  a  single  night,  the  last  nun,  having 
heaped  wood  upon  the  fire,  says,  '  Brigid,  take  charge  of  your  own 
fire  ;  for  this  night  belongs  to  you.'  She  then  leaves  the  fire,  and  in 
the  morning  it  is  found  that  the  fire  has  not  gone  out,  and  that  the 
usual  amount  of  fuel  has  been  consumed.  This  fire  is  surrounded  by 
a  hedge,  made  of  stakes  and  brushwood,  and  forming  a  circle,  within 
which  no  male  can  enter ;  and  if  any  one  should  presume  to  do  so,  he 
will  not  escape  divine  vengeance.  Moreover,  it  is  only  lawful  for 
women  to  blow  the  fire,  and  they  must  use  for  the  purpose  bellows, 
and  not  their  own  breath."  *• 

This  was  an  Irish  counterpart  of  the  College  of  the  Vestal  Virgins 
at  Rome  keeping  alive  the  sacred  fire  of  Hestia  ;  and  no  reasonable 
doubt  can  exist  that  it  was  a  pagan  survival  of  the  worship  of  Brigid 
the  fire  goddess.  This  would  seem  to  have  struck  Henry  of  London, 
archbishop  of  Dublin,  for  in  1220  he  ordered  the  fire  to  be  extinguished. 
Brigid,  Bride,  or  Ffraid,  was  one  of  the  most  popular  saints  in  Wales, 
hence  all  the  Llansantffraids,  and  legend  has  it  that  she  visited  \Yales 
sailing  across  the  channel  on  a  green  turf.  This  was,  however,  a  totally 
distinct  personage,  living  at  a  later  period,  and  of  her  we  will  deal  in 
a  second  article.  This  Second  Brigid  has,  however,  inherited  the 
favour  due  to  the  first. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  material  extant  out  of  which  to  wrrite  a  life 
of  S.  Brigid,  but  it  is  of  very  various  value.  No  thoroughly  critical  life 
of  this  illustrious  saint  has  been  as  yet  written,  and  all  that  can  be  here 
attempted  is  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  her  life,  and  the  most  interesting 
and  illustrative  anecdotes  connected  with  it,  as  S.  Brigid  belongs  to 
Ireland  rather  than  to  Britain.2 

Colgan,  in  his  Trias  Thaumaturga,  has  printed  six  Lives  of  the  Saint. 
The  first  is  an  Irish  poem  in  fifty-three  stanzas  of  four  lines  each,  of 
which  he  gives  a  Latin  translation,  and  which  is  erroneously  attributed 
to  Broegan  of  Rosture  in  Ossory.  It  is  a  panegyric  rather  than  a 

1  Girald.  Camb.,  Topog.  Hib.,  cc.  xxxv-vi. 

2  John  Canon  O'Hanlon  has  given  a  Life  of  S.  Brigid  in  his  Lives  of  the  Irish 
Saints,    ii,    pp.    1-224,    a   marvellous   monument   of   industrious   compilation ; 
but  no  hand  has  yet  touched  the  mass  of  material  to  sort  it  according  to  its 
value,  and  elucidate  from  it  a  life  treated  from  an  historical  standpoint. 


I;!!, 

><>« 


S.  Brigid  267 

,ind  the  Bollandists  did  not  consider  that  it  deserved  reproduc- 
tion in  their  collection.  It  is  in  the  Liber  Hymnorum  (H.  Bradshaw 
Soc.)  i,  112-128. 

The  first  Vita  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandists  is  the  same 
as  the  Third  in  Colgan's  volume  Trias  Thaumaturga.  It  is  erroneously 
attributed  to  S.  Ultan  of  Ardbreccan,  died  656  ;  it  is  probably  later. 
It  contains  much  interesting  detail.1  It  begins:  "  Fuit  quidam 
vir  nobilis." 

The  second  Vita  is  by  Cogitosus,  and  was  written  after  800  and 
before  835,  when  Kildare  was  sacked  and  burnt  by  the  Danes,  for  he 
speaks  of  the  monastery  as  a  safe  refuge,  free  from  all  fear  of  hostile 
attack.  His  Irish  surname  was  Maccu-machtheni ;  2  the  Celtic  form 
of  the  name  Cogitosus  would  be  Cogitois,  or  Cogitis,  and  in  reference 
to  this  the  author  opens  his  narration  with  the  words,  "  Me  Cogitis 
fnitivs,"  and  he  ends  by  imploring  the  prayers  of  his  readers,  "  Orate 
pro  me  Cogitoso." 

This  Life  is  written  in  a  florid  style,  and  avoids  quoting  particulars 
of  places  and  names  of  persons  associated  with  S.  Brigid,  and  passes 
abruptly  from  a  narrative  of  her  miracles  to  a  description  of  Kildare, 
without  an  account  of  her  death.  It  is,  therefore,  probably  frag- 
mentary. The  one  great  merit  it  has  is  that  it  affords  us  a  most 
valuable  description  of  the  monastic  church  of  Kildare,  before  its 
destruction  by  the  Danes. 

The  Life  by  Cogitosus  is  the  second  in  Colgan's  Collection. 

The  third  Life  is  metrical,  in  Latin  hexameters,  and  incomplete,  by 
one  Coelan  or  Chilian,  a  monk  of  Iniskeltra,  supposed  to  have  lived  at 
the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  but  this  is  impossible,  as  he  speaks 
of  Animosus  as  his  predecessor  in  writing  the  life  of  Brigid,  and 
Animosus  is  held  to  have  lived  in  the  latter  part  of  the  tenth 
century.  "  His  calling  S.  Brigid's  mother  a  countess,"  says  Dr. 
Lanigan,  "  smells  of  a  late  period."  3 

The  passage  is  as  follows  : — 

Quadam  namque  die  genetrix  dum  forte  sedebat 
In  curru  praegnans,  nee  tune  enixa  puellam, 
****** 


1  Dr.  Lanigan  calls  it  "  a  hodge-podge  made  up  at  a  late  period,  in  which  it 
is  difficult  to  pick  out  any  truth  amidst  a  heap  of  rubbish."     Nevertheless  it 
contains  much  curious  matter,  though  perhaps  not  chronologically  arranged. 
Colgan  attributes  it  to  Ultan,  but  Ultan 's  work  may  be  engrafted  in  it  with  other 
matter.     Lanigan,  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  Dublin,   1829,  i,  p.  380.     The  Lives 
are  in  Acta  SS.  Boll,  for  February,  t.  i. 

2  Todd,  .S1.  Patrick,  p.  402.  3  Lanigan,  op.  cit.,  \,  p.  381. 


268  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Audierat  sonitum  Vates  stridere  rotarum 
Dixerat  ecce  venit,   Rex  est  qui  praesidet  axi  ; 
Sed  Comitissa  tamen  carpentum  sola  regebat. 

This  is  the  sixth  Life  in  Colgan's  Collection.  The  poem  is  of  no 
particular  value;  it  is  based  on  the  Life  attributed  to  S.  Ultan,  on  one 
by  S.  Elevan,  and  on  that  by  Animosus. 

The  fourth  Vita,  beginning  "  Fuit  gloriosus  rex  in  Hybernia,"  is 
supposed  by  Ussher  to  have  been  written  about  657.  This  is  an 
interesting  Life,  full  of  detail,  and  with  genealogical  information  in  it, 
as  well  as  numerous  valuable  historical  allusions. 

The  fifth  Vita  is  by  Laurence  of  Durham,  who  died  in  1154.  He 
dedicated  it  to  Ethelred,  one  of  the  officers  of  the  household  of  King 
Henry  I.  This  is  also  the  fifth  Life  in  Colgan's  Collection.  It  is 
that  printed  in  the  Lives  of  the  Saints  from  the  Salamanca  Codex. l 

The  Life  (Vita  iwa)  attributed  to  S.  Ultan  is  in  an  Irish  form  in  the 
Book  of  Lismore.'2  This  also  forms  the  basis  of  that  by  John  of 
Tynemouth  in  Capgrave's  Nova  Legenda  Anglice. 

There  are  other  lives,  in  Irish,  but  they  are  versions  of  those 
already  described. 

A  sixth  Life,  by  Animosus  or  Aimchad,  is  in  Colgan,  Trias  Thaum., 

PP-  546-567- 

At  the  outset  we  are  met  with  a  difficulty.  According  to  Lives  I, 
IV,  V,  Brigid's  mother  was  a  slave  girl  in  the  service  of  her  father, 
Dubtach.  Cogitosus  slides  over  the  circumstances  of  the  birth  and 
infancy.  He  says  : — "  Sancta  Brigida — de  bona  ac  prudentissima 
prosapia  in  Scotia  orta,  patre  Dubtacho  et  matre  Brotsech  genita  ;  a 
sua  pueritia  bonarum  rerum  studiis  inolevit."  And  the  rhythmical  life 
by  Chilian  is  still  more  vague. 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  birth  of  Brigid  was  as 
described  by  the  more  exact  and  precise  biographers.  It  is  not  credible 
that  these  latter  would  have  gone  out  of  their  way  to  describe  Brigid 
as  base-born  ;  whereas  it  is  comprehensible  enough  that  panegyrists 
should  slur  over  such  a  fact  and  even  reject  it. 

Brigid  was  the  daughter  of  Dubtach,  son  of  Demri,  eleventh  in 
descent  from  Fedlimidh  Rechtmar,  king  of  Ireland  in  the  second 
century  of  the  Christian  era.  Her  mother's  name  was  Brotseach,  a 
slave  in  his  house.  Dubtach  was  married,  and  when  his  wife  perceived 
the  condition  in  which  was  Brotseach,  full  of  jealousy,  she  forced  her 
husband  to  get  rid  of  the  favourite  maid-servant.3  The  man,  unable 

1  Vitae  SS.  Hib.,  in  Cod.  Sal.,  pp.  1-76. 

2  Anecd.  Oxon.,   1890,  pp.   34-53. 

3  Vita,  i,  iv,  v. 


S.    B rigid  269 

resist,  sold  Brotseach  to  a  Druid,  but  with  the  stipulation  that  he 
reserved  property  in  the  child  she  bore  in  her  womb. l 

The  Druid,  who  came  from  Meath,  took  his  newly  acquired  slave  to 
his  home  at  Tochar-maine,  now  Pochard,  and  there  Brigid  was  born, 
about  the  year  453. 2  The  Druid  and  his  wife  were  kind  people,  and 
finding  that  the  little  Brigid  was  delicate,  reserved  for  her  one  cow, 
that  she  might  drink  of  its  milk  only. 

As  Brigid  grew  up  she  was  set  various  tasks  in  the  house  and  on 
the  farm.  The  Druid  moved  into  Munster,  and  as  she  was  now  grown 
up,  he  sent  word  to  her  father  that  he  acknowledged  his  claim,  and 
that  Dubtach  might  take  her.  Throughout  the  story,  as  far  as  he 
enters  into  it,  the  Druid  shows  himself  an  honourable  and  well-disposed 
man,  and  it  is  pleasing  to  know  that  eventually  he  became  a  Christian. 

Dubtach  came  to  the  house  of  the  Druid  for  his  daughter,  and  the 
master  allowed  her,  when  she  departed,  to  take  her  Christian  nurse 
with  her.  Brigid  was  now  for  some  time  with  her  father,  who  also 
lived  in  Meath,  but  was  not  received  with  kindness  by  Dubtach's  wife 
and  sons.  Various  stories  are  told  of  her  childhood,  showing  how 
hard  was  the  life  in  her  father's  house.  The  stepmother  made  her 
drudge  in  the  kitchen,  scolded  her,  and  took  a  stick  to  her  back,  if  a 
dog  ran  away  with  some  of  the  bacon,  and  heaped  abuse  on  her  head. 
Hearing  that  her  mother,  who  still  remained  in  bondage,  was  out  of 
health,  she  begged  leave  to  go  to  her  assistance,  and  when  this  was 
granted,  Brigid  did  her  mother's  work  for  her.  Her  duty  was  to  milk 
the  cows  and  make  butter  at  the  summer-pasture  lodge,  the  hafod  as 
the  Welsh  would  call  it. 

Some  ill-natured  people  accused  Brigid  to  the  Druid  of  want  of 
thrift,  and  of  wasting  the  butter.  He  and  his  wife  went  to  the  pasture 
farm,  to  inquire  into  the  matter,  and  required  the  girl  to  produce 
all  the  butter  she  had  churned.  Then  Brigid  went  to  and  fro 
between  the  kitchen  and  the  parlour,  singing  the  following  hymn, 
whilst  fetching  the  pats  of  butter  : — 

Oh,  my  Prince 

Who  canst  do  all  things, 

Bless,  O  God, — a  prayer  unforbidden — 

With  Thy  right  hand,  my  kitchen. 

"  Venit  quidam  magus  .  .  et  emit  ancillam  Dubtachi ;  sed  tamen  ille  non 
vt-miidit  partum,  quern  habebat  ilia  in  utero."  Vita  i"*°,  cap.  i,  similarly  told 
in  iv  and  v. 

*  Ussher  reckons  that  she  was  born  in  453  ;  and  with  this  Dr.  Lanigan 
agrees.  The  Annales  Cambrics  give  454.  The  Annals  of  Inisf alien  give  456. 
Slu  died  in  525,  and  if  she  were  then  aged  eighty,  this  would  give  as  the  year 
of  her  birth  445.  But  was  she  eighty  when  she  died  ? 


270  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

My  kitchen, 

The  kitchen  of  the  White  God, 

A  kitchen  which  my  King  hath  blessed, 

A  kitchen  stocked  with  butter. 

Mary's  Son,  my  friend,  come  thou 
To  bless  my  kitchen, 
The  Prince  of  the  World  to  the  border, 
May  He  bring  abundance  with  Him.1 

As  she  was  able  to  exhibit  abundance  of  butter,  and  all  of  excellent 
quality,  the  Druid  and  his  wife  expressed  their  satisfaction.  Then 
Brigid  seized  the  opportunity  to  entreat  them  to  give  liberty  to  Brot- 
seach,  and  as  the  woman  was  in  failing  health,  the  Druid  consented. 
On  Brigid's  return  to  her  father's  house,  petty  annoyances  recurred. 
Dubtach,  for  the  sake  of  domestic  peace,  failed  to  take  up  her  cause ; 
he  sent  her,  so  as  to  be  out  of  the  way,  to  keep  swine  in  the  oakwoods. 
At  length,  to  be  relieved  of  the  annoyance,  he  resolved  on  selling  her, 
and  thought  to  dispose  of  her  to  Dunlang,  son  of  Faelan,2  king  of 
Leinster. 

Seeing  that  the  poor  girl  was  pleased  at  being  in  the  chariot  with 
him,  Dubtach  said  roughly  :  "  Do  not  suppose  it  is  out  of  regard  for 
you  that  I  am  taking  you  this  drive,  but  to  sell  you  to  grind  corn  in 
the  quern  of  Dunlang."  3 

When  Dubtach  went  into  the  fortress,  he  left  his  chariot  outside, 
with  Brigid  in  it,  and  also  a  handsome  sword  that  had  been  given  him 
by  the  King.  He  told  Dunlang  his  purpose,  and  extolled  the  good 
qualities  of  his  daughter.  Presently  the  King  said  that  he  would 
go  out  and  have  a  look  at  the  girl,  before  coming  to  terms. 

Now,  whilst  this  was  going  oil  within,  a  leper  came  to  the  side  of  the 
chariot  whining  and  asking  alms.  Brigid  at  once  handed  to  him  her 
father's  sword,  and  the  fellow  made  haste  to  disappear  with  it. 

When  Dunlang  and  Dubtach  issued  from  the  Caer,  the  latter  at  once 
missed  his  sword,  and  inquired  after  it. 

"  There  came  a  poor  wretch  here  begging,"  answered  Brigid,  "  and 
having  nothing  else  to  give  him,  I  let  him  have  that." 

"  A  wench  so  free-handed  with  other  people's  property  is  not  for 
me,"  said  Dunlang,  laughing  ;  "  I  will  not  have  her  at  any  price." 


1  Vita  in  Book  of  Lismore,  A  nee.  Oxon.,  pp.  186-7.     The  hymn  is  not  in  the 
Latin  Life  by  S.  Ultan.     In  Vita  4*  all  this  part  of  the  story  falls  out,  as  the 
MS.  here  is  fragmentary. 

2  He  is  not  named   in  Vita  i  or  iv,  but  is  so  in  the  Irish  Life  in  the  Booh  of 
Lismore,  which  however  confounds  him  with  Dunlang,  son  of  Enna  Nia,  his 

great-grandfather.     Dunlang,  son  of  Faelan,  died  before  460. 

3  Book  of  Lismore,  p.   187. 


S.  Brigid  2  7  i 

.Consequently,  in  very  bad  humour,  Dubtach  had  to  return  home, 
with  his  daughter. 

He  now  sought  to  dispose  of  her  in  marriage,  but  the  girl  showed 
great  repugnance  to  be  so  got  rid  of.  One  of  her  half-brothers  was 
violent,  and  ill-treated  her.  In  an  altercation  she  had  with  him,  he 
hit  her  and  almost  blinded  her  in  one  eye.  According  to  one  version 
of  the  story,  the  family  sought  to  dispose  of  her  to  Dubtach,  the  chief 
ban!  of  King  Laoghaire,  an  elderly  man  and  a  widower,  and  she,  at  the 
time,  could  hardly  have  been  above  sixteen.  But  she  resolutely  refused 
the  honour,  and  insisted  on  taking  the  veil.  She  was  accordingly 
allowed  to  have  her  own  way,  and  was  veiled  by  Bishop  Macchille 
about  the  year  469.  Macchille,  according  to  Tirechan,  was  then  at 
I'sny  Hill  in  West  Meath,  and  we  may  infer  that  the  residence  of 
Brigid's  father  was  in  that  part  of  Leinster.  Macchille  would  be  the 
st  bishop  to  her  father's  house.  Some  biographers  have  con- 
founded him  with  Mel  of  Ardagh,  and  even  with  Maccaldus,  bishop  of 
Man.  But  the  error  has  arisen  through  similarity  of  names.1 

Macchille  invested  her  with  a  white  cloak,  and  placed  a  white  veil 

on  her  head.     She  had  at  the  same  time  with  her  several  virgins,  usually 

•  <  >  have  been  seven,  but  said  by  others  to  have  been  three.     That 

account  which  gives  the  larger  number  relates  that  each  of  the  maidens 

chose  a  Beatitude,  as  representing  the  grace  to  which  she  specially 

di -voted  herself,  and  Brigid  selected  that  which  referred  to  the  quality 

of  Mercy.     As,  when  she  became  abbess,  she  exercised  jurisdiction 

Bishop  Conlaeth,  and  this  puzzled  late  writers,  they  feigned  that 

the  bishop  in  dedicating  her,  made  a  mistake,  and  read  over  her  the 

consecration  to  the  Episcopate. 

The  reason  why  Bishop  Mell  was  supposed  to  have  veiled  her  perhaps 
was  that  she  had  her  first  settlement  in  the  plain  of  Teffia,  at  Longford, 
in  his  diocese.  It  is,  however,  difficult  to  follow  the  exact  order  of 
her  foundations.  Moreover,  for  some  time  she  led,  as  we  may  judge, 
a  wandering  life,  much  as  did  the  bards  with  their  peripatetic  schools. 
She  was  famous  for  the  ale  she  brewed,  and  on  one  occasion  supplied 
seventeen  churches  in  Meath  with  liquor  from  Maundy  Thursday  to 
Low  Sunday.2  She  also  furnished  Mel,  her  diocesan,  with  beer 
continually.3  Lepers  and  poor  people  clamoured  for  her  ale,  and  on 

"  Sancta  Brigida  pallium  cepit  sub  manibus  filii  Cuille  in  Huisniach  Midi," 
quoted  by  Ussher,  p.  1031. 

2  Vita  i™,  Mel  et  Melchu  ;  Vita  2*»,  Machalle;  Vit->  3*  Melchon ;  Vita  4'°., 
this  portion  of  the  life  is  lost ;    Vita  5  to,  Machilenus  ;    Life  in  Book  of  Lismore, 
M- 1.     See  Lanigan,  op.  cit.,  i,  p.  386. 

3  Book  of  Lismore,  pp.   188-9. 


2"j  2  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

one  occasion  she  bluntly  told  them  that  all  she  could  give  them  was 
her  bath-water.1  The  biographer  improves  this  story  into  a  miracle, 
her  tubbing  water  was  converted  into  excellent  beer.  Indeed  such  was 
her  desire  to  supply  the  Saints  with  wholesome  home-brewed  ale,  that 
the  only  hymn  of  hers  that  has  been  preserved,  runs  as  follows  : — 

I  should  like  a  great  lake  of  ale 

For  the  King  of  Kings  ! 
I  should  like  the  whole  family  of  heaven 

To  be  drinking  it  eternally.2 

One  day  Bishop  Mel  arrived  with  a  large  party  of  clerics,  and  cla- 
moured for  breakfast.  "  This  is  well  for  you  to  be  hungry,"  replied 
Brigid,  "  but  we  also  are  hungry  and  thirsty,  and  that  for  the  Word  of 
God.  Go  into  the  church  first  and  serve  us  with  the  spiritual  banquet. 
After  that  we  will  attend  to  your  victuals." 

As  she  still  suffered  from  the  eye  that  had  been  injured  by  her 
half-brother,  Mel  advised  her  to  have  recourse  to  a  physician,  and 
offered  to  take  her  in  his  chariot  to  one.  She  consented.  But  on  the 
way,  the  driver  upset  the  vehicle,  and  Brigid  was  pitched  out  on  her 
head,  which  was  cut  by  a  stone.  After  that  she  declared  that  her  eyes 
were  better  for  the  blood-letting  she  had  involuntarily  undergone.3 
To  recruit  her  community,  she  took  in  quite  young  children.  One  day  a 
mother  came  to  see  her,  bringing  her  little  girl  along  with  her.  Brigid 
asked  the  child  whether  she  would  like  to  live  with  her  and  be  a  nun. 
The  mother  hastily  replied  that  the  little  one  was  still  an  infant,  and 
could  not  answer  for  herself.  Brigid  however  persisted,  and  when 
she  wrung  a  consent  from  the  little  girl,  she  insisted  that  the  child  had 
declared  her  vocation,  and  must  remain  in  the  community.4  This 
the  biographers  have  magnified  into  a  miracle,  by  converting  the  in  fans 
into  a  born  mute. 

Of  the  charity  of  Brigid  many  instances  are  recorded.  One  day  a 
woman  brought  her  a  basket  of  apples  as  a  present,  and  was  much 
annoyed  when  the  abbess  distributed  them  among  some  lepers,  who 
lived  on  her  charity.  "  I  brought  them  for  you,  and  not  for  these 
wretches,"  said  she.  "  What  is  mine  is  theirs,"  answered  Brigid.5 

Once  she  was  driving  in  her  chariot  over  the  plains  of  Teffia  with 
other  nuns,  when  she  saw  some  poor  people,  a  man  with  his  wife  and 
children,  toiling  under  heavy  loads.  She  immediately  alighted,  made 
her  nuns  do  the  same,  and  lent  her  vehicle  to  the  family  ;  then  sat  by 
the  roadside,  till  they  had  done  with  the  conveyance.6 

1  "  Vita,"  Cod.  Sal.,  col.  41.      Vita  5'"  ,  cap.  ix. 

2  The  entire  hymn  is  printed  in  O'Curry's  MS.  Materials  for  Irish  History, 
Dublin,   1861,  p.  616.  3  Book  of  Lismore,  p.  189.      Vita  i***,  cap.  iv. 

4  Vita  ima,  cap.  xvii.  5    Ibid.,  cap.  iv.  '  Ibid.,  cap.  iv. 


S.  Brigid  273 


(was  visiting  another  convent,  when  the  abbess  ordered  some  of 
ns  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  old  sisters.  They  made  faces,  and 
tried  to  get  out  of  the  obligation  by  offering  various  excuses.  Then 
Brigid  jumped  up,  girded  herself,  and  put  them  to  shame  by  herself 
discharging  the  unwelcome  task.1 

A  scandal  having  spread  that  Bishop  Bron  was  the  father  of  a  child, 
S.  Patrick  came  to  Tell  Town  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  Brigid 
also  was  there.  A  woman  insisted  on  the  paternity  of  her  child  resting 
with  Bron.  Brigid  suggested  an  ingenious  expedient  for  settling  the 
difficult  question.  The  child  was  asked  to  point  out  its  father,  and, 
as  it  indicated  another  man,  Bron  was  acquitted.2 

This  would  seem  to  be  the  gathering  at  Tell  Town  to  which  Patrick 
(vrtainly  went,  when  Cairbre,  brother  of  King  Laoghaire,  sought  to 
kill  him,  and  caused  his  attendants  to  be  beaten. 

Patrick  then  cursed  Cairbre — "  Thy  seed  shall  serve  the  seed  of  thy 
brethren,  and  there  shall  be  no  king  of  thy  race  for  ever,"  a  prophecy 
which,  as  Dr.  Todd  has  shown,  failed  in  its  accomplishment.3 

The  date  of  this  convention  is  not  easy  to  determine.  It  must 
have  been  early  in  Brigid's  career,  as  we  may  judge  from  what 
follows.  A  man  at  this  time  invited  Brigid  to  go  to  the  new  house 
he  had  built,  and  consecrate  it,  but  finding  that  the  man  was  a 
heathen,  and  an  opponent  of  S.  Patrick,  she  refused,  unless  he  would 
consent  to  be  baptized.  To  this  condition  he  submitted,  and  she  asked 
Bron  to  baptize  him.  S.  Patrick  then  said,  "  She  must  have  a  priest 
always  at  hand,"  and  he  ordained  one  Nadfraich  to  be  her  chaplain. 
She  had  not  yet  founded  Kildare,  nor  engaged  Bishop  Conlaeth.  But 
her  fame  was  spreading. 

She  was  invited  by  S.  Lassair  to  visit  her.  The  site  of  the  Saint's 
monastery  has  not  been  satisfactorily  determined.  Whilst  with  her, 
Lassair  asked  Brigid  to  take  over  the  establishment  and  affiliate  it  to 
her  own.  And  to  this  she  agreed. 

Whilst  she  was  with  Lassair  a  virgin  arrived  who  lived  as  a  beggar, 
wandering  over  the  country.  She  complained  to  Brigid  that  she  had 
exhausted  the  charity  of  the  people.  Then  Brigid  gave  her  the  girdle 
she  wore,  and  bade  her  trade  on  that,  as  a  charm.  The  woman  did  so. 
Sick  people  asked  the  loan  of  it,  and  paid  for  its  use,  and  some  supposed 
that  it  had  done  them  good.4 

About  this  time  she  made  the  acquaintance  of  Bishop  Ere  of  Slane, 


1  Book  of  Lismore,  pp.   130-1. 

2  Vita  imfl ,  cap.  v.     A  somewhat  similar  story  is  told  of  S.  Brice. 

3  Todd,  S.  Patrick,  pp.  439-440. 
Vita  i1*",  cap.  vi ;    Vita  4'" ,  cap.  v. 

VOL.  I.  T 


274          Lives   of  the   British   Saints 

and  she  travelled  about  with  him  in  Munster.  This  was  probably  in 
484,  a  date  we  can  fix,  because  it  was  during  this  expedition  that  S. 
Brendan  was  born,  and  it  was  not  till  some  years  later  that  Brendan 
became  the  pupil  of  Ere. 

From  Munster  B rigid  returned  east  with  Ere,  and  went  into  the  Deisi 
country.  But  it  was  probably  whilst  she  was  in  Munster  that  a 
curious  incident  occurred. 

A  certain  master,  with  his  pupils,  was  on  his  way  west  to  find  an  island 
on  which  he  might  settle.  He  and  his  party  passed  near  where  Brigid 
was  with  her  nuns,  and  the  pupils  suggested  to  their  instructor  that 
it  would  be  well  to  pay  her  a  visit,  obtain  her  hospitality,  and  taste 
her  excellent  beer.  The  master,  however,  demurred.  He  did  not 
approve  of  association  with  women,  and  so  pushed  on  his  way,  with 
the  result  that  they  had  to  camp  out  in  the  open  air.  During  the 
night,  Brigid  carried  off  all  their  baggage,  and  in  the  morning  the 
master  and  his  pupils  were  forced  to  retrace  their  steps  and  beg 
humbly  to  have  their  goods  surrendered.  "Not,"  said  Brigid,  "till 
you  have  partaken  of  my  hospitality."  She  detained  them  there  for 
three  days  and  three  nights.1 

In  the  Deisi  country  Brigid  founded  Kilbride. 

A  council  of  bishops  was  held  in  Magh  Femhin,  in  Ossory,  which  had 
been  given  to  the  Deisi  by  Aengus  MacNadfraich,  who  had  expelled 
the  Ossorians  from  it,  sometime  between  460  and 480.  The  gathering 
probably  concerned  the  religious  organization  of  the  Deisi  in  their 
new  lands.  At  it  Ere  lauded  the  virtues  of  Brigid  highly,  and  recom- 
mended the  Deisi  to  accept  her  as  the  instructress  of  their  daughter. 

Whilst  she  was  in  these  parts  she  made  the  acquaintance  of  Bishop 
Ibar.  As  there  had  been  bad  harvests,  she  ran  short  of  food,  and  went 
with  two  of  her  nuns  to  visit  the  bishop  at  Begery.  The  time  was  Lent, 
and  Ibar  brought  out  for  supper  bread  and  bacon.  Brigid  and  he  ate, 
but  presently  she  noticed  that  the  two  nuns  sat  stiff  and  with  their 
noses  in  the  air.  They  were  not  going  to  eat  meat  in  Lent,  not  they. 
Brigid  might  forget  herself — but  they  would  keep  the  fast  as  behoved 
good  Christians. 

Brigid  started  from  her  seat,  took  them  by  the  shoulders,  and  turned 
them  out  of  the  house,  after  having  read  them  a  lecture  before  the 
bishop.  Then  she  opened  her  trouble  to  Ibar.  She  wanted  food  to- 
take  back  with  her.  The  bishop  expressed  his  regret — his  barns  were 
empty.  But  Brigid  knew  better.  She  had  made  inquiries  beforehand, 
and  was  well  aware  that  he  had  twenty-four  waggon  loads  of  wheat 
stowed  away.  So  now  it  was  Ibar's  turn  to  receive  a  harangue.  He 
1  Vita  \ma,  cap.  xii. 


S.  Brigid  275 


•mittrd  shamefacedly,  and  finally  consented  to  let  her  have  twelve 
loads.1  It  was  perhaps  at  this  time  that  she  paid  a  visit  to  her  father 
in  Mi-atli,  and  found  him  unmercifully  thrashing  one  of  his  maids. 
She  interceded  for  the  poor  woman,  and  reproved  Dubtach  for  his 
inhumanity.  Next  day  a  servant  said  to  her,  "  Would  to  God  you 
were  always  here  to  protect  us  from  the  master's  violence." 

Dubtach  then  begged  his  daughter  to  do  him  a  favour.  It  seemed 
that  the  sword  that  Brigid  had  given  away  had  been  recovered  by 
Dunlang,  and  it  was  now  in  possession  of  lollan,  Dunlang's  son  and 
successor.  Dubtach  was  sore  about  it,  and  wanted  his  sword  back  ;  so 
he  urged  Brigid  to  use  her  best  efforts  to  recover  it  for  him.  She 
consented.  On  reaching  the  royal  court  one  of  lollan's  retainers 
m treated  Brigid  to  receive  him  as  her  servant.  He  had  been  harshly 
and  roughly  treated  by  the  king,  and  his  heart  was  broken. 

lollan  had  been  baptised  by  S.  Patrick  in  460,  but  his  Christianity 
\\  as  a  veneer,  nothing  more.  She  asked  the  king  to  surrender  the  man 
to  her  and  to  let  her  have  her  father's  sword  again,  which  had  been 
presented  to  him  by  Dunlang,  but  which  she  had  long  before  given 
away,  as  a  girlish  artifice  to  save  herself  from  being  sold  into  slavery. 

"  What  will  you  give  me  for  them  ?  "  asked  lollan. 

"  I  will  promise  you  eternal  life,  and  a  continuation  of  the  royal 
title  in  your  family." 

"  As  to  eternal  life,"  said  the  King  of  Leinster,  contemptuously,  "  I 
have  never  seen  a  glimpse  of  it.  As  to  the  continuation  of  the  sove- 
reignty to  my  sons,  the  boys  must  look  to  that  themselves.  But 
promise  me  a  long  life,  and  victory  over  my  enemies,  and  sword  and 
slave  are  thine." 

This  Brigid  promised,  and  he  surrendered  to  her  what  she  solicited. 
Then  as,  at  the  time,  he  was  engaged  in  war  with  the  Hy  Niall 
in  Magh  Breagh,  he  insisted  on  her  going  to  battle  with  him,  bearing 
her  staff  and  cursing  his  enemies. 

This  she  did,  and  lollan  gained  a  victory,  which  he  attributed  to  the 
force  of  her  imprecations  on  the  enemy.  After  that  he  fought  nine 
battles  with  the  Hy  Niall,  and  was  successful  in  all.  lollan  died  in 
506,  and  was  buried  in  Brigid' s  church  at  Kildare.2 

Whilst  Brigid  was  with  the  Deisi  she  was  one  day  driving  in  her 
chariot  over  the  plains  of  Magh  Femhin,  when  her  charioteer,  who  was 

1  Vita  ima,  cap.  vii ;    Vita  4'" ,  cap.  iv  ;    Vita  5to,  cap.  xiv. 

8  Vita  4to,  cap.  ii.  A  curious  story  is  connected  with  lollan.  Alter  his 
death  the  Leinstermen  were  so  convinced  of  his  efficacy  in  war,  that  in  then- 
battles  against  the  Hy  Niall,  they  put  his  dead  body  in  the  royal  chariot,  and 
made  it  precede  them  to  battle. 


276  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

also  her  priest,  Nadfraich,  observed  that  a  new  settler  had  encroached 
on  the  common  land,  and  hedged  in  a  field  across  a  portion  where  he 
supposed  there  was  right  of  way.  Brigid  advised  to  turn  aside,  but 
Nadfraich  would  not  hearken  to  this,  and  drove  straight  at  the 
hedge,  with  the  result  that  he  upset  the  car  and  threw  Brigid  out.1 
On  another  occasion  when  Nadfraich  was  driving  her,  she  asked  him 
to  give  her  a  religious  exhortation,  and  he  did  this  without  attend 
to  the  horses,  with  the  result  that  one  of  them  kicked  over  the  tra 
and  bolted  with  the  chariot,  and  all  but  brought  about  a  repetiti 
of  the  upset.2 

From  Leinster  Brigid  removed  into  Connaught.  No  reason 
given  in  the  Lives  for  this  transfer,  but  it  was  doubtless  occasio 
by  the  desolating  wars  in  Leinster,  in  which  the  Hy  Niall  and  loll 
were  engaged.  In  a  country  swept  by  invaders,  and  partially  depop 
lated,  she  could  not  carry  on  her  great  work  of  education  with  comfo: 
and  advantage. 

She  had  been  in  Connaught  as  a  little  child,  for  the  Druid  and 
wife  had  taken  her  there,  but  the  stay  had  not  been  lengthy.     S 
now  settled  in  the  plain  of  Magh-ai  in  Roscommon. 

Her  stay  in  Connaught  on  this  occasion  was  not  for  long.     She  ha 
been  with  Ere  in  Munster  in  484,  and  in  487  she  was  back  in  Leinster  ; 
but  brief  as  was  her  residence  there,  her  strong  personality  left  its 
mark,  and  we  find  that,  later  on,  the  Hy  Many  regarded  her,  along 
with  S.  Grellan,  as  a  patroness,  and  paid  a  penny  for  every  baptism  i 
the  tribe  to  the  monastic  establishment  at  Kildare.3 

She  returned  to  Leinster  on  the  urgent  entreaty  of  King  lollan,  who 
offered  her  a  central  position  for  the  foundation  of  a  large  religious 
establishment  for  men  and  women.  When  she  came  back,  she 
selected  a  site  on  the  clay  ridge  that  rises  above  the  plain  of  Magh 
Breagh.  A  huge  wide-spreading  oak  grew  on  it,  a  tree  of  vast  age,  and 
one  that  served  as  a  landmark,  and  had  possibly  received  idolatrous 
veneration.  Here  she  established  her  till,  which  took  its  name  from  the 
oak,  and  became  famous  as  a  monastery  and  an  episcopal  seat,  Kildare. 
Cogitosus,  in  his  Prologue,  tells  us  that  innumerable  people  of  both 
sexes  flocked  to  her,  "  from  all  the  provinces  of  Ireland,"  bringing 
their  free-will  offerings  ;  and  in  that  time  of  harassing  warfare,  her 
monastery  became  an  asylum  for  those  who  felt  no  vocation  for  arms. 
She  became  the  head  of  a  great  ecclesiastical  tribe  or  clan. 

As  Dr.  Todd  well  says  :— "  The  state  of  society  rendered  it  practically 


1   Vita  i"",  cap.  xii.  2  Vita  4'°,  cap.  iii. 

3  O'Donovan,  Tribes  and  Customs  of  the  Hy  Many,  Dublin,  1843. 


in, 

nil 

of 


S.  Brigid  277 

[possible  to  maintain  the  Christian  life,  except  under  some  monastic 
rule.  The  will  of  the  chieftain  was  law.  The  clansman  was  liable 
at  any  time  to  be  called  upon  to  serve  upon  some  wild  foray,  in  a 
quarrel  or  feud  with  which  he  had  personally  no  concern.  The 
domestic  ties  were  unknown,  or  little  respected.  No  man  could  call 
his  life  or  property,  his  wife  or  children,  his  own  ;  and  yet,  such  is  the 
inconsistency  of  human  nature,  the  people  clung  to  their  chieftains 
and  to  their  clan  with  a  fidelity  and  an  affection  which  continue  to 
the  present  day.  Hence  the  spirit  of  clanship  readily  transferred 
:  to  the  monastery."1 

Under  the  crosier  of  the  abbot  or  abbess  there  was  peace.  The 
ritfht  of  sanctuary  was  rigorously  maintained,  and  generally  respected. 
Kildaiv.  according  to  Cogitosus,  became  the  "  head  of  nearly  all  the 
Irish  churches,  and  the  pinnacle  towering  above  all  monasteries  of 
tin-  Scots,  whose  jurisdiction  (parochia)  spread  throughout  the  whole 
Hibernian  land,  reaching  from  sea  to  sea."  Brigid  then,  he  adds, 
reflected  that  she  ought  to  provide  "  with  prudent  care,  regularly  in 
all  things,  for  the  souls  of  her  people,"  as  well  as  for  the  churches  and 
monasteries  that  were  affiliated  to  her  main  foundation.  She  therefore 
came  to  the  conclusion  "  that  she  could  not  be  without  a  high  priest 
to  consecrate  churches,  and  to  settle  ecclesiastical  degrees  in  them." 
There  was  a  kinsman  named  Conlaeth,  living  the  life  of  a  hermit  at 
Old  Connell,  near  the  modern  town  of  Newbridge,  in  the  county  of 
Kildare.  His  chantry  lay  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  river 
LiiYcy,  on  its  right  bank.  No  traces  of  his  cell  and  oratory  remain 
above  ground,  but  the  site,  overshadowed  by  elders,  and  overgrown 
with  nettles,  has  been  for  ages  a  favourite  burial-ground,  and  the 
earth  has  risen  above  the  interments.2 

Conlaeth  was  a  notable  artificer  in  metals,  and  diversified  his  time 
between  prayer,  study,  and  hammering  out  bells.  One  day  he  took 
it  into  his  head  to  visit  his  cousin.  So  he  drove  to  Kildare,  with  a  boy 
to  attend  to  the  horses.  On  reaching  the  great  monastery,  he  was  well 
received,  given  a  hot  bath,  a  banquet,  and  plenty  of  Brigid's  famous 
home-brewed  ale. 

He  found  himself  so  comfortable  that  he  remained  there  several  days. 
On  leaving,  he  requested  Brigid  to  bless  him  and  his  chariot.  That 
done,  he  drove  off.  On  reaching  his  cell,  after  crossing  the  grassy 
undulating  Curragh,  he  found  that  the  linchpin  was  not  in  one  of  his 
axles,  and  considered  that  it  must  have  been  due  to  the  blessing  of 
that  the  wheel  had  not  come  off,  and  he  been  upset  on  the  way.3 


Todd.  S.  Patrick,  p.  505.        2  O'Hanlon,  Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints,  v,  p.  73. 
3   Vita  i'"",  cap.  vii  ;    Vita  3",  cap.  vii. 


278  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

When  Brigid  had  resolved  on  having  a  bishop  of  her  own  attached  to 
her  clan,  she  thought  on  Conlaeth,  who  was  suitable,  not  only  on 
account  of  his  worth,  but  also  as  being  a  kinsman.  She  accordingly 
sent  for  him,  and  proposed  to  have  him  consecrated  bishop.  He 
agreed  to  her  proposal,  and  she  engaged  him,  "  to  govern  the  church 
with  her  in  episcopal  dignity,  that  nothing  of  sacerdotal  order  should 
be  wanting  in  her  churches."  1 

In  this  way,  says  Cogitosus,  he  "  was  the  anointed  head  and  chief  of 
all  bishops,  and  she  the  most  blessed  chief  of  all  virgins." 

Cogitosus  gives  us  a  description  of  the  church  as  it  was  in  his  time 
but  lets  us  understand  that  it  was  practically  the  same  in  its  general 
arrangement  as  ordered  by  Brigid.  Under  one  roof  were  three  com- 
partments, and  the  body  of  the  church  had  a  wall  running  down 
the  centre  and  rising  to  a  considerable  height.  On  the  one  side  of  this 
wall  were  the  men,  on  the  other,  women,  who  attended  divine  service. 
On  the  right  hand  was  a  doorway,  through  which  the  bishops  and 
clergy  and  male  students  entered,  and  apparently  these  latter  occupied 
the  right-hand  chapel,  and  the  bishop  and  clergy  the  choir.  On  the 
left  hand  was  another  door  through  which  entered  Brigid  and  her 
nuns  and  the  female  pupils,  and  they,  as  far  as  we  can  follow  the 
description,  filled  the  left-hand  chapel.2 

Conlaeth  and  Brigid  got  on  without  much  friction,  but  they  had 
occasional  quarrels.  He  had  a  set  of  handsome  foreign  vestments,  in 
which  he  celebrated  "  on  the  festivals  of  our  Lord,  and  the  vigils  of 
the  Apostles."  These,  according  to  Cogitosus  and  the  Metrical  Life 
attributed  to  S.  Broccan,  she  gave  away  to  the  poor.  He  was  very 
angry,  and  was  only  appeased  when  she  produced  others,  richer  and 
more  elaborately  embroidered,  as  a  present  to  him.  An  interesting 
point  in  this  story  is  that  he  is  said  to  have  brought  these  vestments 
from  Leatha,  i.e.  from  Brittany.3  That  Conlaeth  was  at  one  time  in 
Brittany  we  may  suppose,  for  he  is  there  regarded  as  founder  and 
patron  of  the  church  of  Saint  Coulitz  near  Chateaulin  in  Finistere. 
But  the  final  quarrel  with  Conlaeth  took  place  much  later,  and  shall 
be  spoken  of  presently. 

Whilst  Conlaeth  was  bishop  at  Kildare  the  little  Tighernach  was 
brought  to  be  baptized.  A  Leinster  chieftain  named  Cairbre  arrived 

1  "  Convocans  eum  de  eremo  .  .  .  ut  Ecclesiam  in  Episcopal!  dignitate  cum 
ea  gubernaret,"    Vita  2*",  Prol.     "  Quern  beata  Brigida  primum    elegit  in  sua 
civitate  Kildara,"   Vita  auct.  Animoso  apud  Colgan,  ii,  cap.  xix. 

2  Vita  2da,  cap.  viii. 

3  She  blessed  the  vestments  of  Condlaed 
Which  he  had  brought  from  Leatha. 

Colgan,  Trias  Thaum.,  p.  517  ;   also  Liber  Hymn.,  ii,  p.  44- 


S.  Brigid  279 


with  his  infant  son  at  Kildare.  Brigid  received  them  courteously, 
and  taking  the  child  in  her  arms,  called  on  Conlaeth  to  baptize  him, 
and  she  herself  stood  sponsor  to  him.1  Tighernach  later  became 
Bishop  of  Clogher  and  Clones. 

Conlaeth  made  himself  very  useful  at  Kildare  ;  he  not  only  exercised 
his  office  as  bishop,  but  he  also  worked  at  the  anvil  and  made  many 
beautiful  metal  crosiers,  bells,  and  book  covers.  In  the  end,  however, 
he  proved  restive  under  petticoat  government,  and  told  Brigid  it  was 
his  intention  to  travel.  He  wanted  to  see  Rome.  Brigid  forbade 
his  leaving.  He  persisted,  and  in  a  fit  of  feminine  anger  she  cursed 
him,  and  wished  him  an  evil  death.  Conlaeth,  however,  departed,  and 
as  he  was  crossing  the  Leinster  plain,  he  was  attacked  by  wolves  and 
torn  to  pieces.2 

Some  of  the  stories  told  of  Brigid  show  that  she  was  possessed  of  a 
dry  humour ;  an  epigram  of  hers  has  been  preserved  on  one  of  the 
nuns  afflicted  with  an  infirmity,  which  is  too  broad  to  be  transcribed.3 

Some  stories  throw  curious  sidelights  on  the  customs  of  the  times. 
During  a  bitterly  cold  winter,  an  old  nun  in  the  community  was 
thought  to  be  dying,  and  the  sisters  approached  Brigid  with  a  suggestion 
that  it  would  be  advisable  to  strip  her  of  her  garments  before  she  died, 
as  there  might  be  inconvenience  in  getting  them  off  when  she  was 
dead  and  stark.  They  were  perplexed  and  astonished  when  Brigid 
objected  to  such  inhuman  treatment.4 

It  was  habitual  for  the  saints  to  maintain  a  number  of  lepers.  At 
I\iii Lire  there  were  several.  One  who  was  fairly  sound  was  ordered  by 
Brigid  to  scour  another,  who  was  very  dirty.  He  rudely  refused. 
Thereupon  she  herself  put  the  man  in  a  tub  and  washed  him. 

One  leper  became  so  pampered  and  insolent  that  he  exercised  a 
veritable  tyranny  over  Brigid.  On  a  certain  occasion  King  Icjlan  _ 
called  at  Kildare,  and  the  fellow  pestered  the  abbess  to  demand  of  the 
king  his  shield  and  spear,  because  he  wanted  them.  She  very  naturally 
refused.  Thereupon  the  leper  sulked,  and  said  he  would  starve 
himself  to  death.  Brigid  was  weak  enough  to  send  after  lollan,  to 
entreat  him  to  surrender  his  spear  and  shield,  as  the  only  means  of 
inducing  the  stubborn  leper  to  eat  his  food.5 

A  girl  came  to  Kildare  on  Easter  Eve,  and  after  seeing  the  abbess 
and  giving  her  a  present,  said  that  she  must  return  home,  as  her  parents 

Vita  Sti.  Tighernach  in  Cod.  Sal.,  coll.  211-2. 

Scholiast  on  the  Felire  of  Oengus,  under  May  6. 

Liber  Hymnorum,  ed.  Bernard  and  Atkinson,  London,  1898,  ii,  p.  59. 

Vita  i™,  cap.  xv. 

Vita  i""*,  cap.  viii. ;  Book  of  Lismore,  p.  195. 


280  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

were  coming  to  the  Paschal  Eucharist,  and  the  house  must  not  be  left 
unwatched.  Brigid  persuaded  her  to  remain,  and  next  morning 
early  the  parents  arrived.  When  they  and  their  daughter  returned 
home  in  the  afternoon,  they  found  that  their  byre  had  been  broken 
into  and  their  cows  stolen. 

Now  this  had  been  done  by  thieves  from  the  further  side  of  the 
Liffey,  and  they  drove  the  cattle  to  the  river.  There  they  divest 
themselves  of  their  clothes,  which  they  attached  to  the  horns  of  th 
beasts,  hoping  thereby  that  the  clothing  might  be  kept  dry 
crossing  the  Liffey.  Then  they  attempted  to  drive  the  cattle  across  ; 
but  the  beasts  scattered,  and  proceeded  to  gallop  back  over  the  plain  in 
the  direction  of  Kildare,  and  the  stark-naked  men  raced  after  them 
to  endeavour  at  least  to  recover  their  garments,  to  the  admiration 
of  the  whole  community.1 

Brigid  is  said  to  have  been  fond  of  calling  to  her  and  caressing 
the  wild  duck  and  wild  geese  that  abounded.     They  readily  respond 
to  her  summons.2 

She  is  reported  to  have  been  summoned  by  S.  Patrick  to  Armag 
but  this  is  more  than  doubtful. 

One  of  her  favourite  young  disciples  was  Darduglach.     Now  t 
girl  was  carrying  on  a  flirtation  with  a  youth,  and  he  had  endeavou 
to  persuade  her  to  elope  with  him. 

Brigid  knew  what  was  going  on,  and  made  Darduglach  s' 
with  her.  During  the  night,  the  girl  was  tossed  between  her  desire 
run  away,  and  her  conscience,  which  bade  her  stay.  Unable  to 
she  rose  and  went  to  the  fire,  and  sat  there  looking  into  it,  and  holding 
her  feet  to  the  glow  till  the  soles  were  scorched  and  tender  ;  then  she 
stole  silently  back  to  bed. 

Next  morning  Brigid  said  :  "  I  knew,  dearest,  the  battle  that  was 
being  waged  in  your  heart.  I  said  nothing,  but  I  prayed  for  you  all 
through  the  night."  3 

Notwithstanding  that  the  story  of  Brigid  has  been  enveloped  in 
the  frippery  of  extravagance,  and  the  freshness  taken  out  of  it  by 
absurd  amplification  with  marvels,  it  is  easy  to  see  underneath,  the 
outlines  of  a  strong  and  noble  character,  full  of  zeal,  courage,  and  withal 
marvellously  tender. 

Although  her  headquarters  were  at  Kildare,  she  still  went  about  a 
good  deal,  visiting  her  daughter  institutions.  Her  order  ramified  in 
all  directions,  and  extended  into  Wales  and  Brittany.  It  was  held  in 
Wales  that  she  had  crossed  over  there,  and  visited  her  affiliated  houses. 

1  Ibid.,  cap.  vi.  2  Ibid.,  cap.  xvii.  3   Vita  ima,  cap.  xvi. 


5 

he 
in 


S.  Brigid  281 


- )  it  \vus  held  at  Glastonbury  that  she  not  only  had  an  institution 
there,  hut  had  resorted  there  for  a  while.1 

In  Devonshire  there  is  a  cluster  of  Brigid  churches,  and  the  cult  of 
this  Saint  is  widely  spread  in  Western  Brittany.  There  is,  however,  no 
intimation  in  her  Lives  that  Brigid  ever  quitted  Ireland. 

On  one  of  her    expeditions  to  see  to  the  well-being  of    her  daltn 

cluireln-s.  she  arrived  in  the  plain  of  Cliach,  whither  she  had  turned 

to  visit  the  king  and  intercede  for  a  man  he  held  in  chains.     The 

kiiu,r  was  not  in,  but  his  foster-father  and  some  of  the  family  were 

and  they  invited  Brigid  to  wait.     She  found  that  the  time 

.red,  and  observing  some  harps  hanging  in  the  hall,  asked    the 

old    foster-father   to   sing   a  ballad.     He   professed   his   incapacity, 

his  hands  were  stiff  with  age,  and  his  voice  cracked.     However,  by 

means  of  flattery  and  much  persuading,  the  old  fellow  was  induced  to 

When  the  king  returned  in  the  evening  and  heard  the  twanging 

of  the  harp,  and  the  foster-father  twittering  his  old  songs  in  a  broken 

discordant  voice,  he  laughed  heartily,  and  was  put  in  so  good  a  humour 

that  Brigid  easily  induced  him  to  consent  to  her  request  and  release 

his  capti1 

Among  the  disciples  of  S.  Brigid  were    Brig,  Darduglach.  Cinnia, 

and  Blathmaic   (her  cook). 

Among  her  friends  were  Gildas,  who  sent  her  a  bell  from  his  settle- 
ment in  Brittany.  Brendan  visited  her  on  his  return  from  his  first 
ge,  and  told  her  a  story  of  fighting  seals,  which  amused,  her. 
Ailbe  of  Emly  frequently  visited  her.  Ibar  of  Begery  called  on  her 
and  drank  her  ale  at  Kildare.  Mel  of  Ardagh  died  in  487,  and  she  must 
liavt-  greatly  felt  his  loss.  Macchille,  who  had  veiled  her,  died  about 
489.  Bron,  whom  she  had  extricated  from  a  discreditable  scrape, 
died  in  511 ;  and  Ere,  with  whom  she  had  travelled  in  Munster,  joined 
the  Church  at  Rest  in  512  ;  Patrick  in  491  or  492,  according  to  one 
computation,  and  was  buried  in  a  winding  sheet  she  had  woven  for 
him.  A  friend  and  fellow  founder,  Monynna  or  Darerca,  was  laid  to 
rest  in  517. 

At  last  her  own  call  came.     Her  age  is  not  so  certain  as  the  date  of 
ath.     The  Martyrology  of  Donegal  says  she  died  at  the  age  of 
seventy- four.     The  author  of  her  Life,  which  we  call  the  sixth,  who  is 
•d  to  have  been  Animosus,  says  she  died  in  her  eightieth  year. 
e  Chronicon  Scotorum  hesitates  between  the  seventy-seventh  and 
eighty-seventh.     But  the  general  opinion  is  that  she  was  aged 
•ntv. 

Colgan,  Trias  Thanm.,  App.  4'"  ad  Vita  5.  Brigidce,  pp.  617-8. 
im",  cap.  xii. 


282  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 


She  received  the  last  Communion  from  the  hands  of  one  Ninnidh. 
Many  years  before,  when  he  was  a  schoolboy,  he  had  run  by  her  in  a 
thoughtless  and  uncivil  manner.  She  called  him  back,  and  asked 
whither  he  was  racing.  He  replied  impudently  :  "  To  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven."  Now  he  was  a  priest,  and  he  happened  to  arrive  as 
she  lay  on  her  death-bed,  and  from  him  she  received  the  Bread  of 
Life.  A  late  fable  said  that  he  had  had  a  prevision  that  so  it  would  be, 
and  had  kept  his  hand  enclosed  in  a  box,  that  it  might  be  clean  for  this 
last  rite.  Soap  and  water  would  have  been  more  efficacious.  But  it 
is  an  idle  legend,  nothing  more.1 

She  was  not  at  Kildare  at  the  time,  but  in  Ulster,  on  one  of  her 
visitations  to  her  foundations. 

She  died,  according  to  Nennius,  four  years  after  the  birth  of  S.  Colum- 
cille,  and  that  would  give  us  525.2  This  is  the  date  given  by  the 
Annals  of  Inisfallen,  but  Ussher  and  Colgan  adopt  523,  which  is  the 
date  in  the  Chronicon  Scotomm.  The  Life  by  Animosus  says  that 
she  died  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  S.  Patrick,  and  this  would 
give  522  or  perhaps  523,  if  we  take  the  above  date  as  that  of 
his  death.  This  date,  says  Dr.  Lanigan,  is  "  almost  chiefly  founded 
on  wrong  suppositions  of  the  year  in  which  S.  Patrick  died,  and 
on  the  admission  of  an  unproved  and  indeed  false  assumption 
that  S.  Brigid  survived  him  exactly  thirty  years."  And  "  525  is  a 
date  best  agreeing  with  what  Nennius  has  concerning  the  birth  of 
Columcille  having  been  four  years  prior  to  the  death  of  S.  Brigid.  It 
appears  to  be  better  supported  than  that  of  523,  which  is  the  only  one 
that  can  stand  any  competition  with  it."3 

And  this  is  the  date  given  by  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  and  by  the  Four 
Masters. 

The  day  of  her  death  and  Commemoration  is  February  i.  On  this 
day  she  is  entered  in  all  the  Irish  Martyrologies,  in  the  Welsh  Calendars, 
in  most  English  and  Scottish  Calendars,  and  in  the  Breton  and  many 
Latin  Martyrologies  and  Calendars. 

The  Pictish  Chronicle  says  that  "  Necton  morbit  nlius  Erip  (the 
NeGtan  of  Bede,  624-642)  xxiv  regnavit.  Tertio  anno  regni  ejus 
Darduglach  abbatissa  Cilledara  de  Hibernia  exulat  pro  Christo  ad 
Britanni^um.  Secundo  anno  adventus  sui  immolavit  Nectonius 
Aburnethig|  Deo  et  Sancte  Brigide,  presente  Dar4«glach,  que  cantavit 
alleluia  super  istam  hostiam." 

1  Vita  ima,  cap.  xii ;     Vita  4to,  cap.  xv. 

2  Reeves,  Adamnan's  Life  of  S.  Columba,  p.  Ixix  ;    and  Appendix  L.      "  A 
nativitate  Columbae  usque  ad  mortem  Stae  Brigidae  quatuor  anni  sunt." 

3  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Ireland,   i,  p.  455. 


S.  Brigid  283 


The  cause  of  this  offering  was  that  when  Nectan,  also  called  Morbreach 
or  Morbet,  was  driven  into  Ireland  he  besought  the  intercession  of  S. 
Brig  id.  For  the  churches  and  chapels  in  Scotland,  which  are  situated 
especially  in  those  parts  nearest  to  Ireland,  and  under  Irish  influence, 
see  Bishop  Forbes,  Scottish  Calendars,  pp.  290-1. 

In  \Vales  there  are  at  present  no  less  than  seventeen  churches 
<lr<iu\iU'd  to  her: — Dyserth  (called  also  formerly  Llansantffraid), 
Flintshire  ;  Llansantffraid  Glan  Conwy  (formerly  called  also  Dyserth), 
in  Denbighshire;  Llansantffraid  Glyn  Ceiriog,  in  the  same  county. 
Uansantffraid  ym  Mechain,  Montgomeryshire  ;  Llansantffraid  Glyndy- 
iiduy,  Merionethshire  ;  S.  Bride's,  Pembrokeshire,  and  the  noble  bay 
Itrais  IUT  name,  as  also  the  haven  ;  Llansantffraid  in  Cardiganshire  ; 
LlansantffraidCwmmwdDeuddwr  (or  simply  Cwmtoyddwr),  Radnor- 
shin1  ;  Llansantffraid  yn  Elfael,  also  Radnorshire  ;  Llansantffraid- 
juxta-Usk  in  Brecknockshire  ;  S.  Bride's  Major,  S.  Bride's  Minor, 
and  S.  Bride's-super-Ely,  in  Glamorganshire  ;  Llansantffraid,  Sken- 
frith  (Ynys  Gynwraidd),  S.  Bride's  Netherwent,  and  S.  Bride's 
\\Vntloog,  all  in  Monmouthshire.  Bridstow  in  Erging  (Herefordshire) 
is  called  "  Lann  Sanfreit "  in  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv.1 

To  these  churches  may  be  added  the  following  chapels,  now  either  in 
ruins  or  extinct : — Capel  Sant  Ffraid,  under  Holyhead,  Anglesey ; 
i  Sant  Ffraid,  under  Llansantffraid  Glan  Conwy,  Denbighshire  ; 
and  another  under  Nevern,  Pembrokeshire  ;  and  Capel  Ffraid,  under 
Llandyssul,  Cardiganshire.  A  conventual  foundation  of  S.  Ffraid's 
is  said  to  have  once  stood  on  the  Cardiganshire  coast,  about  a  mile 
to  the  north  of  Llanrhystyd.  Llansantffraid  is  a  little  to  the  south 
of  it.  Kinnerley  Church,  Salop,  now  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
had,  it  would  appear,  an  earlier  dedication  to  S.  Ffraid. 

In  Devon  are  Bridestowe,  with  a  sanctuary,  Virginstow,  and 
Bridgerule.2 

In  Cumberland  the  Brigid  Churches  are  Bridekirk,  Kirkbride, 
Brigham,  and  Bassenthwaite.  At  Chester  was  a  parish  church  of 
S.  Bride,  near  the  Castle,  now  demolished.  In  Herefordshire  is  Brid- 
stow. In  Somersetshire  Breane  and  Chelvey.  Near  Glastonbury 
was  an  islet  called  Brideshay,  on  which  it  was  pretended  that  the  Saint 
livi-d  and  died.  But  seeing  that  there  were  several  Brigids,  it  is  not 
sary  to  assume  that  all  these  churches  were  originally  under  the 
patronage  of  the  great  abbess  of  Kildare.  In  London,  S.  Bride's  was 

1  Ed.  Evans  and  Rhys,  p.  275. 

1  In  Cornwall,  on  the  Tamar,  she  had  a  chapel  and  holy  well  at  Landue  in 
Lezant.  The  Holy  Well,  in  good  condition,  has  been  closed,  owing  to  the  water 
having  Invn  contaminated  by  some  stables  near  at  hand. 


284  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

under  her  invocation,  and  the  name  of  the  royal  palace  of  Bridewell 
shows  that  here  she  once  had  a  holy  well.  In  Scotland,  as  Bishop 
Forbes  says,  "  the  number  of  churches  dedicated  to  her  exceeds  the 
power  of  our  enumeration." 

In  Brittany,  where  she  is  called  Berc'het  or  Perhet,  she  is  patroness 
of  Berhet  in  Cotes  du  Nord,  of  Lopherec  (Locus  penitentiae  Stae. 
Brigidae)  in  Finistere  ;  of  Ste.  Brigitte  near  Cleguerec  in  Morbihan ; 
of  Noyalo  in  the  same  department  and  on  the  inland  sea,  on  the  high 
road  from  Vannes  to  S.  Gildas  ;  of  Kermoroch  in  Cotes  du  Nord,  and 
of  numerous  chapels.  At  Pluvigner,  an  Irish  settlement,  she  has  her 
chapel.  The  parish  church  of  Buleon  in  Morbihan  is  dedicated  to  her. 
Here  is  a  little  bronze  bell,  bearing  the  inscription  s.  BREGE  MA 
NOME.  At  Locperhet  in  Crach,  she  has  been  dethroned  to  make 
place  for  S.  Anne.  In  Grand-Champ  is  a  fine  chapel  of  flamboyant 
construction  that  bears  her  name  at  another  Locperhet.  In  the  island 
of  Groix  both  she  and  Gildas  had  chapels.  At  Locoal,  in  the  peninsula 
of  Plec,  is  a  chapel  of  S.  Brigid,  and  near  it  a  lech,  or  early  British  tomb- 
stone, called  la  Quenouille  de  Ste.  Brigitte.  It  is  nine  feet  high,  and 
near  it  is  another,  not  so  lofty,  that  is  called  her  spindle.  These,  and 
there  are  many  more,  are  in  the  diocese  of  Vannes.  As  many  as  thirteen 
churches  and  chapels  are  dedicated  to  her  in  Finistere.  She  was 
patroness  of  Spezet  out  of  which  Brest  has  grown,  which  is  now  under 
the  invocation  of  S.  Louis.  She  had  a  cult  at  S.  Thegonnec.  At 
Perguet  by  Audierne  she  has  also  a  chapel,  and  here  again  in  con- 
nection with  an  Irish  Saint,  S.  Tujean.  Hard  by,  at  Esquilien  she 
has  also  a  chapel.  At  Guingat,  between  Quimper  and  Douarnenez, 
she  is  associated  with  S.  David.  At  Motreff  by  Carhaix  she  had 
a  chapel,  and  here  it  is  hard  not  to  see  a  connexion  with  Gildas. 

In  Brittany  she  is  invoked  by  women  before  their  confinement. 

With  thirteen  dedications  in  Finistere,  and  fourteen  in  Morbihan,  and 
several  in  Cotes  du  Nord,  it  is  difficult  not  to  suppose  that  she  at  one 
time  exercised  there  a  remarkable  influence,  probably  through  branch 
establishments  from  Kildare  among  the  Irish  settlers  in  Western 
Brittany. 

S.  Brigid,  under  the  form  Ffraid,  is  frequently  mentioned  in 
mediaeval  Welsh  literature.  In  an  anonymous  poem  in  the  twelfth 
century  Black  Book  of  Carmarthen  l  she  is  invoked :  "  Sanffreid 
suynade  in  imdeith  "  (S.  Ffraid,  bless  us  on  our  journey).  Lewis  Glyn 
Cothi,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  swears  by  her  shrine.2 

1  Skene,  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales,  ii,  44. 

2  "  Myn  bedd  Sain  Ffraid  !  "  (Gwaith  L.G.C.,  p.  238). 


S.  Brigid  285 


The  custom  called  "  Cwrw  Sant  Ffraid,"  or  S.  Bride's  Ale,  is  not 
infrequently  mentioned,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  Red  Book  of  S.  Asaph, 
"  quaedam  consuetude  vocata  Corw  Sanfrait."  l 

There  were  several  persons  in  the  Middle  Ages  who  bore  the  name  of 

Sant  Ffraid,  that  is,  the  (tonsured)  slave  or  servant  of  S.  Ffraid.2 

The   name,  like  several  others  of   the  kind,  is  not  a  proper  Welsh 

compound,  but  is    formed    in    imitation   of   a  well-known    Goidelic 

formula. 

The  betony  is  very  often  called  in  Welsh  "  cribau  Sant  Ffraid," 
her  combs. 

S.  Brigid  is  represented  as  an  abbess  in  white  wool,  with  a  white 
veil,  and  with  wild  geese  at  her  side,  or  with  an  altar  on  which  burns 
her  perpetual  fire  ;  sometimes  with  an  ox  at  her  side.  But  in  Brittany 
she  is  without  these  symbols.  Many  statues  of  her  remain,  but  are  not 
usually  of  much  antiquity.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  is  the  most 
ancient,  a  fine  figure  in  the  little  chapel  of  the  SS.  Dredeneau  in  the 
parish  of  S.  Geran  near  Pontivy.  This  is  of  the  end  of  the  fTffeenth  or 
•early  in  the  sixteenth  century. 


S.  BRIGID,  of  Cill-Muine,  Virgin,  Abbess 

THERE  can  be  no  question  that  the  Brigid  who  was  in  Wales  was  an 
-entirely  distinct  personage  from  the  Brigid  of  Kildare  ;  the  enormous 
popularity  attaching  to  the  latter  enveloped  the  first,  and  led  to  their 
identification. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Brigid,  which  is  the  diminutive  of 
Brig,  is  a  common  name.  S.  Brigid  had  several  disciples  of  the  same 
name  as  herself. 

In  the  Tallagh  Martyrology  there  are  as  many  as  seven  Brigid 
•commemorations  apart  from  that  of  Brigid  of  Kildare  ;  and  in  the 
Martyrology  of  Donegal  is  a  Brigid  of  Cill-Muine  or  Menevia,  com- 
memorated as  a  distinct  personage  on  November  12.  In  that  of  Gorman 

1  The  custom  is  also  mentioned  in  the  poems  of  Dafydd  ab  Gwilym,  lolo 
•Goch,  etc.  Her  Festival  is  thus  alluded  to  in  a  rhyming  calendar  in  Cardiff 
Library  -MS.  13,  written  in  1609 — 

Digwyl  San  Ffraid  ydoedd  fenaid, 
I  bydd  parod  pawb  ai  wyrod. 

*  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  164,  the  Record  of  Carnarvon,  etc.  ;  cf.  the  Malbrigid  of 
one  of  the  Rune-inscribed  crosses  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 


286  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

she  is  enrolled  as  "  the  gracious  Brig  with  a  (conventual)  rule/  and 
the  gloss  adds,  "  Brig  and  Duthracht,  from  Cill-Muine  were  they."1 
Duthracht  of  Lemchaille  is  commemorated  on  October  25. 

Now  here  we  have  a  clear  distinction  between  Brigid  of  Kildare 
and  another  Brigid  who  was  at  Cill-Muine.  And  who  this  Brigid  was 
we  ascertain  from  the  Life  of  S.  Monynna  or  Darerca.  She  was  her 
disciple,  and  spying  one  night  when  the  abbess  was  at  prayer,  she  saw 
two  swans  fly  away  from  the  cell.  When  she  told  Monynna  what  she 
had  seen  she  sent  her  away  to  have  a  religious  house  of  her  own  else- 
where, and  decreed  that  she  should  be  blind.1  Previously  Monynna 
had  sent  her  to  Rosnat,  i.e.  Cill-Muine  (S.  David's),  to  learn  there 
the  rules  of  monastic  life  ;  and  there  she  remained  some  time  "  in 
quodam  hospiciolo."  2 

This  Brigid,  there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt,  is  the  Brigid  who 
became  known  in  South  Wales. 

Now  in  the  Life  of  S.  Modwenna  by  Concubran,  we  are  informed  that 
this  Saint,  together  with  Brigid  and  the  damsels  Luge  and  Athea,  came 
over  the  sea  from  Ireland  on  a  piece  of  detached  ground,  and  that 
they  landed  "  apud  castrum  Daganno  nomine,  juxta  littus  immensi 
maris,"  i.e.  Deganwy  Castle,  nearConway.  The  piece  of  ground  after- 
wards became  fixed  to  the  coast,  and  on  it  Capel  Sant  Ffraid  was  built, 
at  a  distance  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west  from  the  present 
church  of  Llansantffraid  Glan  Conwy.  By  about  1740  "  the  sea  had 
carried  away  part  of  it  "  ;  by  to-day  the  chapel  has  been  entirely 
washed  away.  Bishop  Maddox  (1736-43)  has  the  following  note 
in  MS.  Z.  in  the  Episcopal  Library  at  S.  Asaph  on  her  Festival  as 
observed  here  : — "  On  her  day,  Feb.  I,  the  Rr.  reads  prayers.  And 
out  of  the  offerings  of  that  day  is  pd  i8d.,  the  Wardens,  I2d.,  and 
the  Clerk  6d.  ;  the  rest  to  the  poor." 

S.  Brigid  and  Luge  were  here  left  by  the  other  two,  who  moved  on  to 
Polesworth  and  the  Forest  of  Arden.  According  to  another  tradition, 
Brigid  is  said  to  have  landed  in  the  estuary  of  the  Dovey,  perhaps 
at  the  place  called  Ynys  y  Capel,  near  Talybont ;  3  whilst  another 
tradition  makes  her  to  have  landed  at  Holyhead,  and  to  have 
erected  there  Capel  Sant  Ffraid,  which  stood  on  an  artificial  tomen  or 

1  Vita  S.  Monynnae,  Cod.  Sal.,  coll.  181-2. 

2  "  Inter  alias  Dei  famulas  quadam  virgo,  nomine  Brignat,  cum  sancta  vir- 
gine  cohabitasse  traditur.     Hujus  enim  future  sanctitatis  indicia  considerans, 
earn  in  Britanniam  insulam,  de  Rosnatensi  monasterio   conversations  monas- 
tice  regulas  accepturam,  misisse  perhibetur."     Ibid.,  col.  179. 

3  Gossiping  Guide  to  Wales,  ed.  1900,  p.  213.     A  brook  called  Ffraid  runs  into- 
the  Eleri,  a  tributary  of  the  Dovey,  in  North  Cardiganshire. 


S.   Brigid  287 


mound  by  the  seaside,  on  a  sandy  beach  called  Tywyn  y  Capel, 
about  two  miles  from  Holyhead  ;  but  there  is  not  any  of  it  now  left.1 
Xmv  the  Life  of  S.  Modwenna  by  Concubran  is  a  most  unsatisfactory 
compilation.  The  author  has  combined  Monynna  or  Darerca,  who 
red  the  veil  from  S.  Patrick,  and  was  the  disciple  of  S.  Ibar  of 
Begery,  who  died  500,  with  a  second  Monynna,  who  arrived  from 
Ireland  a  century  later,  and  became  for  a  while  superior  of  Whitby,  and 
instructress  of  Elfleda,  sister  of  Alfrid,  king  of  Northumbria.  Elfleda 
became  abbess  of  Whitby,  and  died  in  715.  Not  content  with  this 
anachronism,  he  farther  identified  her  with  S.  Modwenna  of  Burton-on- 
Trent,  who  was  the  instructress  of  S.  Edith  of  Polesworth,  who  died  in 
954,  consequently  he  has  combined  in  one  terrible  jumble  three  women, 

rst  and  last  of  which  died  at  about  440  years  apart  in  time.     But 

thi-  is  not  all  ;  the  Irish  Life  of  Monynna,  alias  Darerca,  is  itself  a 

compilation  of  two  Monynnas,  so  that  the  Vita  by  Concubran  is  an 

almost  inextricable  chronological  puzzle. 

The  Brigid  who  landed  in  North  Wales  is  not  and  cannot  be  the 

1  who  studied  at  Cill-Muine,  if  the  story  is  to  be  trusted  that 
the  latter  was  blind  in  later  life,  and  lived  in  a  monastery  at  but  a  little 
(list, UN v  from  Kildare.  Nor  can  she  have  been  a  companion  of  the 
second  Monynna,  who  stayed  in  Anglesey  or  Gwynedd,  and  was  also 
forgotten  in  the  greater  glory  of  her  namesake  of  Kildare. 

\\V  are  obliged,  from  lack  of  information,  to  dismiss  this  latter 
Brigid,  of  whom  even  less  is  known  than  of  the  Brigid  sent  by 
Monynna  to  Cill-Muine.  But  we  may  safely  assert  that  two  Brigids 

•  I  Wales,  one  was  in  Mynyw,  another  in  Gwynedd,  and  both 

distinct  from  Brigid  of  Kildare. 

\\V  will  now  give  the  legend  of  S.  Brigid  as  told  in  Wales.  Brigid's 
name  usually  appears  in  its  full  form  in  Welsh  as  Sant  Ffraid  Leian,2 
that  is,  S.  Ffraid  the  Nun.  In  mediaeval  Wales  she  enjoyed  a  very 
widely  diffused  cult,  being  preceded  in  the  popular  estimation  only 

5.  Mary  the  Virgin,  Michael  the  Archangel,  and  David  the  Patron 
of  Wales.     Her  name  is  almost  invariably  given  with  the  title  of  Sant, 
as  is  the  case  with  most  non-Welsh  Saints.3 
lonverth  Fynglwyd,  a  prominent  Welsh  bard  of  the  second  half  of 


1  Angharad  Llwycl,  Hist,  of  Anglesey,  Ruthin,  1833,  p.  203. 

2  There  are  not  many  instances  in  Welsh  of  the  mutation  of  initial  br  into  ffr. 

3  In    the   composition   of  Welsh    place-names   Sant    is   dropped   as   a   rule. 

'•xceptions  are  few  —  Llansantffraid,  Llansantsior  (near  Abergele),  Llan- 
santftagan  (also  Llanffagan),  and  Lann  Sant  Guainerth  (now  S.  Weonard's,  in 
the  #00*  of  Llan  Ddv).  Llandyfeisant  (S.  Tyfai),  under  Llandeilo  Fawr,  stands 
alone. 


ui  d 
. 


288  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

the  fifteenth  century,  wrote  a  poem  in  honour  of  S.  Ffraid,  in  which  he 
gives  briefly  the  legendary  life,  and  enumerates  the  various  miracles 
attributed  to  her.1 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  it.  She  was  a  beautiful  Irish 
nun,  the  daughter  of  Dipdacws  (Dubtach),  of  ducal  lineage  ;  she 
procured  for  the  poor  honey  from  stone  ;  she  gave  her  distaff  to  a 
ploughman  to  do  duty  for  his  broken  mould-board  ;  she  converted 
butter  that  had  been  turned  to  ashes  into  butter  again  ;  she  gave  to  a 
certain  cantref  all  the  cheese  in  the  steward's  store,  but  not  so  much  as 
one  was  ever  missed  by  him.  She  knew  the  Fifteen  Prayers  ;  whenever 
it  rained  heavily  she  would  throw  her  white  winnowing  sheet  on  the 
sunbeams  ;  when  her  father  desired  her  to  marry  some  one  she  did  not 
like,  one  of  her  eyes  fell  out  of  its  socket,  which  she  afterwards  put 
back,  and  it  was  as  well  as  ever  ;  she  sailed  on  a  turf  from  Ireland, 
and  landed  in  the  Dovey  ;  she  made  of  rushes,  in  Gwynedd,  the  beauti- 
ful fish — without  a  single  bone — called  brwyniaid  (smelts),  which  she 
threw  out  of  her  hand  among  the  water-cress  ;  she  went  to  Rome  to 
S.  Peter's ;  Jesus  established  her  festival  on  Candlemas  Eve,  and  it 
was  observed  with  as  much  solemnity  as  Sunday. 

In  a  longer  metrical  version  of  the  legend  (text  not  given,  and 
doubtful  whether  by  the  same  author)  she  is  said  to  have  sailed  over 
with  her  maidens  on  green  turfs,  landing  at  Porth  y  Capel,  near 
Holyhead,  where  she  built  a  chapel  on  the  little  bank  there.  From 
thence  she  went  to  Glan  Conwy,  and  founded  Llansantffraid,  and 
turned  a  handful  of  rushes  into  smelts,  which  she  threw  into  the 
Conway.2 

The  legend  of  the  brwyniaid  is  still  current  in  the  Vale  of  Conway. 
It  is  said  that  in  the  days  of  S.  Ffraid  there  was  a  dire  famine, 
which  was  alleviated  by  her  miracle.  The  fish  taste  of  rushes ; 
hence  the  name.  The  Conway  is  famous  for  them. 


S.  BRIOC,  Bishop,  Confessor 

THE  Life  of  S.  Brioc,  written  by  an  anonymous  biographer,  before 
850,  has  been  published  from  a  tenth  or  eleventh  century  MS.  by 
Dom  Plaine,  in  the  Analecta  Bollandiana  for  1883,  but  without  the 
supplement,  which  is  printed  in  the  Analecta  for  1904,  pp.  264-5. 

1  A  copy  is  printed  in  Williams,  History  and  Antiquities  of  Aberconwy,  Denbigh, 
1835,  PP-  198-200. 

2  Lewis  Morris,  Celtic  Remains,  London,  1878,  p.  386.     Smelts  or  sparlings 
\vere  also,  if  not  so  still,  locally  called  pysgod  Sant  Ffraid  (her  fish). 


O   .     i '  •• 

S.   Brioc 


289 


A  second  Life,  of  very  inferior  value,  from  the  Lections  in  the  S. 

Hi  ieuc  Breviary,  was  published  in  the  Acta  SS.  Boll.  May  I,  pp.  92-4. 

Albert  le  Grand,  in  his  Vies  des  Saints  de  Bretagne,  made  a  very  passable 

version  of  the  Life  from  the  Breviaries  of  S.  Brieuc,  Quimper,  and 

:i,  ist  ed.  1636,  new  ed.  1901,  pp.  151-7. 

A  third,  a  metrical  life  by  a  certain  Peter,  and  in  a  fragmentary 
condition,  is  in  the  library  at  Rouen.  This  has  been  printed  by  the 
Bollandists  in  their  Analecta  for  1904,  pp.  246-251.  It  adds  nothing 
of  importance  to  what  we  know  from  the  Vita. 

According  to  the  author  of  the  First  Life,  which  we  shall  alone  quote, 
tin-  original  name  of  the  Saint  was  Briomagl,  and  this  is  a  form 
which  about  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  would  have  become 
Brioimiil,1  later,  Briafael,  which  is  preserved  in  the  Gloucestershire 
parish-name,  S.  Briavel's. 

Brioc  has  the  same  derivation  as  Brychan,  and  signifies  the  "  speck- 
led," or  "  tartan-clad."  It  would  seem  to  have  been  a  tribal  name, 
applied  to  the  Hy  Brachan,  who  occupied  what,  in  later  times,  became 
the  Barony  of  Ibrican  in  Clare.  Members  of  this  clan  may  have 
effected  a  lodgment  in  South  Wales,  and  have  given  the  appellation  to 
Brecknockshire,  though  the  probability  is  rather  that  the  Brychan 
clan  came  from  South  Leinster. 

Brioc's  father  was  named  Cerp,  and  was  a  princeling  of  Coritica.2 
Various  opinions  have  been  expressed  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  Coritica. 
Sunn'  have  suggested  Cork.  But  Core  signifies  a  marsh,  and  was 
tiled  till  S.  Finbar  erected  a  monastery  there  at  the  close  of  the 
sixth  century.  Dom  Plaine  proposed  Kerry,  that  was  the  territory 
of  the  Corca  Duibne,  and  did  not  acquire  the  name  of  Kerry  till  the 
fourteenth  century.3 

Another  opinion  is  that  of  De  la  Borderie,  who,  trusting  to  a  certain 
similarity  of  sound,  and  to  nothing  else,  proposed  Coria  Otadaenorum, 
.md  assumed  that  Brioc  was  a  native  of  Jedburgh  in  Teviotdale.4 
Dom  Plaine  and  De  la  Borderie  argued  that,  because  the  parents  of 
Brioc  were  heathens,  they  could  not  have  lived  in  what  all  Welsh 
scholars  agree  to  consider  Coritica,  namely  Ceredigion,  which  com- 

1  J.  Loth,  L 'Emigration  Bretonne,  Paris,  1883,  p.  35. 

"  Sanctus  Briomaglus,  Coriticianae  regionis  indigena  ....  pater  ejus  Cerpus 
nomine,  mater  vero  Eklrucla  vocata  est."      Vita,  ed.  Plaine,  p.  3. 

3  Camden  has — "  In  Corcagiensi  Comitatu  urbs  est  Corcagia  Giraldo,  Korke 
An^lis  .  .  .  Briocum  virum  sanctissimum,   a  quo  Sanbriochiana  in   Britannia 
\rmorica   dioecesis   vulgo   5.    Brieii   nomen   assumpsit,    hinc   oriundum   scribit 
Robertus  Coenalis.     Sed  in  hoc  a  veritate  abiit."     Britannia,  1594,  pp.  654-5. 
i  he  mistake  was  due  to  Coenalis  taking  Coritica  to  stand  for  Cork. 

4  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  tome  i,  pp.  301-2. 

VOL.  I.  U 


Ul  r   -), } 


/: 


290  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

prised  Cardiganshire  and  a  portion  of  Pembrokeshire,  because  they 
assume  that,  in  the  fifth  century,  all  Wales  was  thoroughly  Christian. 
Neither  was  aware  of  the  facts.1 

Ceredigion,  or  Ceretica,  and  the  entire  west  and  south-west  of 
Wales,  were  occupied  by  pagan  Irish  in  that  century,  till  expelled  by 
the  sons  of  Cunedda,  and  by  Urien  Rheged.  In  fact,  in  or  about 
430,  shortly  after  the  death  of  Dathi,  the  Irish  grip  on  Britain  relaxed. 
There  still  remained  on  British  soil  numerous  Irish  settlements,  and 
marauding  excursions  were  frequent ;  but  a  wave  of  British  power 
rolled  south  over  Wales  and  swept  the  Irish  away.  If  M.  de  la  Borderie 
had  looked  at  the  Lives  of  S.  David  and  S.  Teilo,  he  would  have  seen 
that  there  were  still  Irish  pagans  in  Pembrokeshire  as  late  as  the  sixth 
century.2 

Ceredigion  is  usually  Latinized  into  Ceretica,  but  as  S.  Patrick 

"•'  changed  Ceredig  into  Coroticus,  in  his  famous  letter,  so  the  writer  of 

the  Lift-  of  S.  Brioc  rendered   the   name   Coritica,  instead  of  Ceretica, 

which   latter  was  the  form  adopted  in  the  twelfth  and   thirteenth 

centuries. 

According  to  the  Vita,  the  father  of  Brioc  was  named  Cerp.  This 
is  the  Irish_Qpjrpre  or  Cairbre.  He  was  married  to  Eldruda,  and  her 
name  is  Saxon.  "  The  common  object  of  attack,  Roman  Britain,'" 
writes  O' Curry,3  "  brought  Irish  and  Saxons  in  contact  at  an  early 
period.  And  that  this  intercourse  was,  on  the  whole,  of  a  most  friendly 
character,  is  shown  by  the  frequent  inter-marriages  which  took  place 
between  them." 

Eldruda  was  warned  in  a  dream  to  make  three  staves — one  of  gold 
for  her  son  Brioc,  one  of  silver  for  herself,  and  a  third  of  the  same  metal 
for  her  husband — and  to  lay  them  aside  until  Brioc  was  old  enough  to* 
be  given  for  instruction  to  a  Christian  bishop. 

Something  of  the  same  kind  occurs  in  the  Life  of  S.  Samson.4  Brioc 
happens  to  be  a  name  found  in  Ceredigion  and  Brecknock  on  inscribed 
stones.  Professor  Rhys  reads  the  Ogam-inscribed  stone  in  Bridell 
churchyard,  North  Pembrokeshire,  thus — "  Nettasagru  Maqui  Mucoi 

1  "  Mais  il  y  a  une  objection  trds   grave  :  d'apres  la  vie  de  Saint  Brieuc,  le 
pays  ou  il  naquit  etait  enti&rement  ou  presque  entierement  pai'en.     Or,  en  417, 
non  seulement  le  pays  de  Cardigan,  mais  toute  la  province  romaine  de  1'ile  de 
Bretagne  situee  au  sud  du  mur  de  Severe  etait  chretienne."     Ibid.     The  exact 
reverse  was  the  case  in  Western  Wales. 

2  Vita  Sti.  David,  in  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  124-6. 

3  O'Curry,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish,  I,  p.  xxxv. 

4  Vita  2*",  ed.  Plaine,  lib.  i,  cap.  ii.     Redemption  by  weight  of  metal  was  a 
pagan  custom,  and  existed  in  India  and  ancient  Germany.     Y  Cymmrodor, 
1899  ;    and  Revue  Celtique,  xi  (1890),  pp.  377-8. 


V/ 


S.  Brioc 

i,"  i.e.,   (Monumentum)    Nettasagrus  filii  generis    Breci."     This 
that  Brec  or  Brioc  was  a  clan  name. l 

We  have,  further,  the  name  with  the  prefix  Ty  in  S.  Tyfriog  of 
Llandyfriog  in  Brioc's  own  country,  Cardigan. 

Tin-  Rickardston  Hall  stone,  near  Brawdy,  has  "Briac/Fil/  ..."     /      /< 
The  last  name  is  all  but  obliterated.  '  The  Llandefaeloe.  stone,  near         j^ 
Brecon,  has  "Briamail  Flou,"  that  is  to  say,  "(The Cross  of)  Brioma- 
glus  Flavus."2 

At  a  suitable  age  Briomagl  was  committed  to  S.  Germanus  to  be 
educated,  and  he  took  him  to  Paris.3  Germanus,  bishop  of  Paris,  cannot 
be  meant.  He  died  in  576.  Dom  Plaine  and  De  la  Borderie  assume 
that  the  Germanus  spoken  of  as  tutor  to  Briomagl  or  Brioc  was  S. 
(it-nii anus  of  Auxerre,  and  construct  the  chronology  of  his  Life  on 
this  assumption.  But  the  author  nowhere  says  that  he  was  the  great 
prelate  of  Auxerre.  If  he  had  been,  the  author  would  have  made 
Germanus  school  him  at  his  own  cathedral  seat  and  not  in  Paris. 

Was  the  tutor  of  Brioc  the  Germanus  who  visited  Britain  in  429,  and 
447  ?  Probably  not.  There  was  another  Saint  of  the  same  name  ;  as 
far  as  we  can  judge,  he  was  an  Armorican  by  birth,  a  disciple,  perhaps 
a  nephew,  of  S.  Patrick.  Rusticus  and  Germanilla  were  the  parents  of 
Germanus  of  Auxerre,  in  which  city  he  was  born  in  A.D.  378.  The 
father  of  the  Patrician  Germanus,  according  to  the  Irish  accounts,  in 
the  Lives  of  S.  Patrick,  is  called  Rechtitutus,  or  Restitutus,  "  the 
Lonjjobard,"  and  his  wife  was  Liemania,  or  Darerca,  the  sister  of 
rick. 

"The  Bishop  of  Auxerre's  father,  according  to  the  Cambrian  account, 
was  Rhedyw  of  Armorica  .  .  .  making  him  a  native  of  Armorica  very 
clearly  shows  that  the  name  of  the  father  of  the  Patrician  German 
was  assigned,  from  its  similarity  to  Rusticus,  in  error  to  Germanus  of 
Auxerre — a  locality  which  was  never  included  within  the  Armorican 
territory.  Aldor,  the  king  of  Armorica,  Llydaw,  or  Letha,  as  the  Irish 
called  that  country,  was  married  to  a  daughter  of  Rhedyw,  the  father  of 
German."  4 

1    \\\lsh  Philology,  2nd  ed.,  pp.  274,  394;    The  Welsh  People,  1900,  p.  53. 

1  The  Welsh  People,  p.  568.  The  earliest  known  form  of  the  name  is 
"  Brigomaglos,"  on  an  inscribed  stone  now  in  the  Clayton  Museum,  near  Chesters, 
on  the  Roman  Wall  (Revue  Celtique,  xi,  p.  344).  The  modern  literary  form 
occurs  in  the  place-name  "  Kelli  Uriauael,"  "  Briafael's  Holt,"  in  the  Verses  of 
the  Graves  (Skene,  Four  Ancient  Books,  ii,  p.  32)^ 

"  Mater  ejus  ....  suggerabat  marito  ilium  Parish's  ad  beatum  Germanum 
jam  debere  transmitti,"  p.  6.  "  Cum  igitur  ad  virum  Dei  Parisius  pervenissent," 
P-  7- 

4  Shearman,    Loca  Patriciana,  Dublin,  1882,   p.  171.     See  also  Tab.  ix. 


.nse- 

t 


2  g  2  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

This  question  of  the  confusion  that  has  been  made  between  the 
Armorican  Germanus,  who  died  in  474,  and  the  Auxerre  Germanus, 
who  died  in  448,  shall  be  entered  into  more  fully  later.  It  has  been  the 
cause  of  many  apparent  anachronisms. 

Germanus  went  to  Ireland  about  439.  He  founded  a  church,  Kil- 
gorman,  in  Wexford,  and  has  given  his  name  to  Wexford  Harbour,  over 
against  Cardigan,  which  in  Irish  is  Loch  Garmon.  Now  if  Germanus 
were,  as  we  know  he  was,  in  Wexford,  labouring  among  the  Hy  Cinnse- 
lach,  and  purposed  to  go  back  to  Armorica,  he  would  naturally 
across  to  Cardigan  Bay,  for  the  Welsh  mountains  are  visible  from 
Irish  coast.  Thence  he  would  make  his  way  to  some  port  on  the  south 
coast  of  Britain,  perhaps  Plymouth  Sound,  where  perhaps  he  has  left 
his  name  at  S.  German's. 

In  the  Life  of  S.  Brioc  we  are  informed  that  Germanus  had  as  his 
pupils  Patrick  and  Illtyd  along  with  Brioc. 

Caerworgorn  had  been  founded  by  Theodosius  and  Cystennin  Gorneu, 
and  Belerus  had  been  its  first  president,  but  it  had  been  ruined  by  the 
incursions  of  the  Irish.  Germanus  is  said  to  have  refounded  it.  But 
was  this  Germanus  of  Auxerre  ?  A  Patrick,  son  of  Maewon,  was  made 
superior  there.1  And  this  is  perhaps  the  Patrick  who  is  supposed  to 
have  died  at  Glastonbury  in  494,  and  led  to  the  supposition  by  the 
monks  of  Glastonbury  that  they  possessed  the  body  of  the  Apostle  of 
Ireland.  That  this  Patrick  did  work  for  a  while  in  Ireland  is  possible 
enough. 

There  was  again  another  Patrick,  said  to  have  been  son  of  Sannan 
the  Deacon,  a  kinsman  of  the  great  Patrick,  who  was  also  in  Ireland. 
It  is  a  moot  point  whether  the  Apostle  of  the  Irish  was  ever  with 
Germanus  of  Auxerre.2  And  it  is  conceivable  that  one  or  other  of 
those  namesakes,  having  been  with  Germanus  the  Armorican,  may 
have  led  to  the  confusion. 

Germanus  of  Auxerre  is  also  said  to  have  appointed  Illtyd  to  Caer- 
worgorn. This  is  chronologically  impossible  ;  but  ithe  difficulty  is 
lessened  if  we  suppose  the  German  to  have  been  the  Armorican  who 
had  both  Patrick  and  Illtyd  as  his  disciples  along  with  Brioc. 

"  It  appears,"  says  Mr.  Shearman,  "  that  a  good  deal  attributed  to 
S.  Germanus  of  Auxerre  in  Cambrian  hagiology  may  be  justly  trans- 
ferred to  the  second  and  later  Germanus  ;  and  the  historical  accuracy 
of  the  very  early  biographers  still  be  upheld.  It  often  happens  that 
the  fault  we  find  in  their  apparent  anachronisms  and  inconsistencies  is 

1  lolo  MSS.,  p.  134. 

2  Todd,  5.  Patrick,  Dublin,  1864,  pp.  314-21.     Dr.  Todd  supposes  that  the 
association  of  Palladius,  also  called  Patricius,  with  Germanus,  led  to  the  mistake. 


S.  Brioc  293 

be  attributed  to  our  ignorance  of  the  facts  and  persons  of  whom 
they  write."  l 

According  to  the  biographer,  Brioc  •  as  sent  to  Germanus  wrjen  he  was 
ten  years  of  age,  and  remained  with  him  till  he  was  ordained  to  the 
priesthood.  The  candidates  appeared  before  Germanus,  but,  just  as 
the  Celtic  Church  required  that  three  bishops  should  be  consecrated 
simultaneously,  so  it  would  seem  that  it  was  customary  at  an  ordination  , 
to  the  priesthood,  that  there  should  be  three  candidates  presented 
together.  To  make  up  the  requisite  number,  Germanus  chose  Brioc, 
although,  at  the  time,  unprepared  for  the  dignity.  Brioc  now  resolved 
on  returning  home.  Dom  Plaine  says  circa  450,  De  la  Borderie  gives 
448,  supposing  that  this  was  due  to  the  death  of  his  master,  the  Auxerre 
Germanus.  That  identification  rejected,  the  attribution  of  the  date 
falls  to  the  ground. 

The  cause  may  have  been  that  the  great  Patrick  had  summoned 
German  to  the  great  work  of  evangelization  going  on  in  Ireland,  and  the 
date  would  be  about  462. 

( )n  leaving  Paris,  Brioc  took  ship  for  the  River  Scene.  This,  may 
In •,  is  the  Cleddeu  that  flows  into  Milford  Haven.  Scian  is  Irish 
for  knife  or  sword.  So  soon  as  the  Irish  were  expelled  from  this 
portion  of  Wales,  the  river  changed  its  name  to  Cleddeu,  but  kept  its 
signification.  Or  it  may  mean  the  brook  Cyllell,  mentioned  by 
Leland  and  George  Owen.2 

Brioc  went  to  his  home  attended  by  one  boy  only.  He  was  then 
aged  twenty-five.  He  arrived  at  his  father's  house  when  the  family 
was  holding  the  mid-winter  feast.3  There  is  some  difficulty  in  accept- 
ing this  statement.  Certainly  at  that  period  no  vessels  would  venture 
to  make  the  perilous  voyage  from  Llydaw  to  Wales  at  a  time  of  winter 
gales.  Either  Brioc  loitered  on  his  way,  or,  what  is  more  probable, 
the  biographer  has  mistaken  the  midsummer  feast  for  that  kept  in 
midwinter. 

1  Loca  PatriciaiKi,  p.    169. 

"  Yenit  puer  ...  ad  fluvium  qui  dicitur  Gladius,"  Vita  S.  Aedui,  Cambro- 
British  Saints,  p.  236.  This  was  the  Cleddeu.  Leland,  Itin.,  v,  28,  says  : 
"  'I  her  is  a  litle  Rille  betuixt  the  2  Gleves  caullid  Kollell,  i.e.,  Cultellus." 
And,  further  on  :  "  Betwixt  the  two  Gleves  by  Harford  West  is  a  litle  Ryveret 
caullid  in  Walsch  (Cyllell),  in  Englisch  '  Knife.'  One  beyng  requirid  wher 
he  lay  al  night,  answerid  that  he  lay  having  a  swerd  on  eche  side  of  hym,  and 
life  at  his  Hart,  alluding  to  the  3  Ryvers  in  the  midle  of  whom  he  lay  al 
it."  See  also  Owen's  Pembrokeshire,  i,  p.  98. 

>rabatur  . . .  die  illo  quo  beatus  ad  domum  patris  sui  devenit  Brioc  - 
cius  memoratum  illud  magnumque  convivium,  quod  semper  ab  eo  in  Kalendis 
Januani  fieri  erat  consuetum,"  p.  11.  The  great  winter  feast  of  the  Irish  was, 
however,  Samhain,  Nov.  i. 


294  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Brioc  found  the  family  holding  high  festival  with  drinking,  games, 
and  ballad-singing.  No  sooner  did  his  mother  see  her  son  than  she 
rushed  to  him,  and  overwhelmed  him  with  kisses,1  and  led  him  to 
his  father  who  was  almost  beside  himself  with  delight.  What  with 
the  liquor  he  had  imbibed,  and  the  pleasure  he  felt  at  the  meeting,  the 
old  man  cried  "and  could  hardly  keep  his  feet."  2 

Brioc,  if  we  accept  his  biographer's  word,  was  not  a  little  priggish, 
and  he  threw  a  damp  cloth  over  the  hilarity  that  prevailed  by 
haranguing  against  intemperance  and  idolatry.  The  old  couple  bore 
this  with  good-natured  suppressed  impatience,  forgiving  much  in  their 
gladness  at  having  recovered  their  son. 

Brioc  set  to  work  to  convert  his  parents  and  tribesmen.  This  was 
not  an  arduous  matter.  The  highway  to  Britain  and  the  Continent 
ran  through  their  territory,  and  missioners  to  and  from  Ireland  were 
incessantly  passing  through.  The  Christian  Britons  from  Strathclyde, 
under  the  sons  of  Cunedda,  were  bearing  down  on  the  Irish  from  the 
north  with  irresistible  force ;  no  succour  was  to  be  expected  from 
Ireland  ;  and  the  paganism  of  the  Irish  settlers  in  Ceredigion  might 
serve  as  an  excuse  for  their  extermination.  Brioc  erected  a  chun 
called  Landa  Magna  (Llan  Fawr),  probably  that  which  to  this 
bears  his  name  in  Cardiganshire,  Llandyfriog. 3  Pupils  flocked  t( 
him,  those  who  had  been  dispossessed  by  Ceredig  doubtless  hoping 
in  religion  to  find  a  home  and  security.  His  mother,  filled  wii 
enthusiasm,  desired  to  leave  her  husband  and  be  admitted  to 
monastic  life,  but  this  proposal  aroused  so  much  opposition  in  the 
family  that  she  was  compelled  to  abandon  her  intention.  She  had 
felt  a  leaning  towards  the  Faith  of  Christ  for  many  years,  as  is  shown 
by  her  anxiety  to  have  her  son  brought  up  as  a  Christian.  And  it 
speaks  highly  in  favour  of  her  sweet  and  loving  nature,  that  the  sug- 
gestion she  made  of  retiring  into  religion  should  have  roused  such  a 

1  "  Ruit  in  oscula." 

2  Videns   filium   prae   gaudio    flere    cepit,  complectensque,  et    osculans,  vix 
sese  in  pedibus  prae  immensa  laetitia  poterat  continere,"  p.  12. 

3  The  prefix  to  or  ty,  attached  to  the  names  of  several  Welsh  names,  is  a 
particle  showing  respect  or  esteem.     We  have  it  in  Ty-suliau,  T-eliau   (Teilo). 
M.  J.  Loth  says  : — "  It  was  customary  among  the  ancient  Bretons  to  give  to 
their  Saints  and  venerated  persons  more  than  one  name ;  one,  the  true  name, 
composed  of  two  terms ;   the  other  terminates  in  oc,  and  was  preceded  by  to. 
WJrfnoc  who  wrote  the  Life  of  S.  Paul  Aurelian  in  the  ninth  century,  tells  us,  in 
connection  with  Quonoc,  the  Saint's  companion, '  Quonocus  quern  alii  sub  addita- 
mento   gentis    transmarinae   Toquonocum    vocant.'     These  holy    people  were 
venerated    in    Brittany    under    both    names. "  S.  Conoc  is  in    several    places 
called  Toconoc."     Bulletin  de    la    Soc.  Arch,  de  Finistere,  viii  (1892-3).     See 
also  Whitley  Stokes,  in  Academy,   1886,  p.   152.     There  is  a  place  called  Llan 
Fawr  in  the  parish  of  Eglwys  Wrw,  Pembrokeshire. 


S.  Brioc  295 

feeling  of    opposition  in  the  family  and  whole  clan.     Although 
"  ardentissime  volebat,"  like  a  good  woman  she  submitted.1 

Hi  it  perhaps  after  all,  when  the  old  man  died,  she  was  able  to  follow 
her  bent.  We  cannot  be  sure.  S.  Edeltruda  is  venerated  in  Brittany 
in  the  parish  of  Treflez  by  Plouescat  in  Finistere,  and  she  has  a 
chapel  in  the  parish  of  Loc  Brevelaire.  The  popular  name  of  the 
saint  is  Ste.  Ventroc,  but  that  is  not  a  personal  name.  Ventroc 
comes  from  gwentr,  the  Breton  for  colics,  which  she  is  supposed  to 
<-uic.  Her  day  is  June  23,  that  of  Etheldreda  of  Ely.2 

As  we  shall  see  presently,  Brioc,  when  first  landing  in  Brittany,  came 
ashore  in  the  estuary  of  the  Aber  Ildut  in  Finistere.  But  if  Edeltruda 
of  Treflez  be  his  mother,  she  must  have  preceded  him,  as  he  did  not 
arrive  there  till  very  aged. 

Brioc  spent  a  great  part  of  his  life  in  Britain.  Unhappily  the  writer 
of  the  Life  gives  us  no  detailed  account  of  what  he  did  there. 

A  church  in  Rothesay  bears  his  name,  and  he  was  venerated  in  the 
Isle  of  Bute.  His  presence  in  the  Western  Isles  may  be  explained,  if 
we  suppose  that  Germanus,  who  had  been  sent  by  Patrick  to  be  first 
bishop  of  Man,  summoned  his  old  pupil  to  him,  and  set  him  to  labour 
among  the  Irish  settlers  in  the  isles  and  on  the  coast  of  Alba. 

At  length,  when  advanced  in  life,  Brioc  resolved  on  migrating  into 
Armorica.  The  Irish  were  being  driven  "  bag  and  baggage "  by 
Ceredig  out  of  Wales.  The  date  of  their  expulsion  is  set  down  by 
£ees  as  having  been  between  380  and  430.  But  it  cannot  have  been 
so  early.  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages  held  down  the  British  with  a 
firm  hand,  and  died  in  405.  He  was  succeeded  by  Dathi,  who  reigned 

428,  and  both  he  and  Niall  had  made  of  Britain  a  base  for  their 

itary  operations  on  the  continent.     It  cannot  have  been  till  after 
fall  of  Dathi  that  Cunedda  and  his  sons  ventured  on  their  attack 

)n  the  Irish  in  Wales,  and  only  by  degrees  were  these  latter  expelled. 

was  in  480,  or  thereabouts,  that  Cadwallon  Lawhir  drove  them 
from  their  last  retreat  in  Anglesey. 

Almost  without  doubt,  it  was  on  this  account  that  Brioc  resolved  on 
quitting  his  native  land,  though  the  biographer  does  not  intimate  that 

was  so.3      He  collected  a  large  number  of  followers,  as  many  as  a 
id  and  sixty-eight,  and  with  them  embarked  in  one  vessel.     On 

1  Vita  S.  Brioci,  ed.  Plaine,  c.  xxviii. 
L'Hermine,  1906,  p.  81. 

3  He  does,  however,  speak  of  a  certain  Tyrannus,  from  whom,  in  hunting, 
a  stag  fled  and  took  refuge  with  the  Saint,  and  of  a  great  famine  devastating  the 
country.  Probably  the  Tyrannus  was  Ceredig,  and  the  famine  a  consequence 
of  the  invasion. 


•"K.     ux. 


296  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

the  voyage  Brioc's  huge  coracle  was  nearly  wrecked  by  fouling  a  whale. 
He  put  into  a  harbour  for  repairs.     He  was  now  an  old  man,  and  was 
conveyed  on  his  land  journeys  in  a  cart ;  and,  as  he  sat,  he  sang  psalms. 
One  evening,  as  he  was  chanting  vespers,  a  pack  of  wolves  approached; 
whereupon  the  brethren  who  had  been  dragging  Brioc  along  in  his  cart, 
took  to  their  heels,  and  left  their  abbot  in  the  vehicle,  which  was  at  once 
surrounded  by  the  pack.     He  shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  am 
presently  some  of  his  disciples  ventured  near,  to  see  the  wolves  surrounc 
ing  the  cart,  yet  none  of  them  so  far  had  attacked  the  old  man.  Happib 
at  this  moment,  the  chief  man  of  the  district,  Conan  by  name,  came 
up  and  drove  the  beasts  away.     Conan  received  Brioc  with  much 
kindness,  and  Brioc  baptized  him  after  subjecting  him  to  a  fast  of 
seven  days. 

The  harbour  into  which  Brioc  ran  his  vessel  can  de  determined  by 
his  foundation  near  Wadebridge,  at  the  head  of  Padstow  Harbour. 
There  was  no  other  port  except  S.  Ives  Bay  into  which  he  could  h 
run.  Conan,  we  may  presume,  gave  large  donations  to  Brioc,  for 
parish  of  S.  Breocke  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  rich  in  Cornwall. 

The  fact  that  Conan  and  his  people  were  pagans  would  lead  to  tl 
conclusion  that  they  were  some  of  the  Irish  who  held  north  and  we 
Cornwall,  from  which,  as  far  as  we  know,  they  were  never  expellee 
After  having  remained  some  time  in  Cornwall   to  accomplish  tl 
conversion  of  the  tribe  of  Conan,  and  to  organize  a  llan  where  no> 
stands  the  church  bearing  his  name,  Brioc  took  ship  again,  and  afte 
a  prosperous  voyage,  arrived  at  the  Port  d'Ach,  now  Le  Conquest, 
Plouguerneau  in  Finistere.     Thence,  it  is  said,  but  this  is  more  th; 
doubtful,  he  made  his  way  to  the  Jaudy,  and  founded  a  monastery. 
Not  long  after,  news  reached  him  that  a  plague  was  ravaging  his  native 
land,  and  he  resolved  on  returning  to  console  the  dying  and  minister 
to  the  panic-stricken  inhabitants.      The   only  pestilences  of   which 
we  know  about  this  period  were  the  Blefed  in  543  and  the  "  Yellow 
Death  "  in  547-50.     There  was,  however,  one  earlier,  referred  to   by 
Gildas,  the  date  of  which  it  is  not  possible  to  fix. 

Brioc  then  confided  his  monastery  to  his  nephew  Tudwal  or  Tugdual 
(Pabo  Tugualo),  and  departed  for  Ceredigion.  On  the  cessation  of  the 
plague  he  returned,  and  decided  to  leave  his  monastery  in  the  hands  of 
his  nephew,  and  go  elsewhere.  He  took  with  him  eighty-four  disciples 
and  departed  in  a  boat,  and  coasted  till  he  reached  the  estuary  of  the 
Gouet,  where  he  disembarked. 

M.  de  la  Borderie  rejects  all  this  portion  of  the  story,  on  the  ground 
that  the  biographer  blundered  in  his  geography,  in  making  Treguier 
on  the  Jaudy  near  the  port  of  Ach  ;  and  because,  in  the  Life  of 


S.  Brioc  297 


:d\val,  tlicre  is  no  mention  of  his  association   with  Brioc  and  of 
their  subsequent  separation. 

The  mistake  made  by  the  biographer  may,  however,  be  easily 
mted  for.  Near  the  Port  d'Ach  is  Lanpabu,  Tudwal's  first 
monastery,  which,  however,  he  abandoned  for  the  more  important 
plantation  of  Treguier  on  the  Jaudy.  Lanpabu  is  now  Tre'babu.  In 
the  Life  of  S.  Tudwal  by  a  certain  Loenan  we  are  told  that  this  Saint 
lirst  landed  in  the  port  of  Ach,  precisely  where,  according  to  the  bio- 
grapher of  S.  Brioc,  that  saint  disembarked.  Afterwards  Tudwal  was 
granted  land  on  the  Jaudy,  where  he  established  himself,  at  Treguier, 
and  abandoned  Lanpabu. 

The  writer  of  the  Life  of  S.  Brioc  did  not  know  about  the  earlier 
inoiKotrry,  and  confounded  Lanpabu  with  Treguier.  We  cannot  see 
that  we  are  justified  in  rejecting  a  serious  statement  because  of  this 
slip.  The  facts  were  probably  these.  During  the  absence  of  Brioc  the 
monastic  family  was  split  into  two  parties,  and  the  larger  resolved 
on  having  at  its  head  a  younger  and  more  energetic  chief  than  Brioc, 
and  when  he  returned,  there  ensued  a  revolt,  which  constrained  him  to 
his  nephew  in  possession,  and  depart  with  those  of  the  brethren 
who  remained  faithful  to  himself.  It  was  not  a  creditable  incident  in 
tin  Life  of  Tudwal.  and  his  biographer  considered  it  advisable  to  pass 
it  over  unnoticed. 

Main  ex  eis  videri  sibi  incongruum  dicebant,  si  de  ministerio 

quod  nepoti  suo  commiserat,   amplius  eum  mutare  vellet.     At  ille 

itiones  eorum  intelligens  .    .    .    recessit  ab  eis,  in  pace  cunctos 

dimittens."  l     This  surely  intimates  that  there  was  a  quarrel,  and  that 

he  was  forced  to  leave. 

ascending  the  creek  of  the  Gouet  to  the  point  reached  by  the  tide 
re  a  lateral  ravine  enters  it,  forming  a  tongue  of  land,  Brioc  en- 
camped beside  a  spring.  A  servant  of  Rhiwal,  the  chieftain  of  the 
British  settlers  in  those  parts,  saw  the  monks  and  reported  their 
arrival  to  his  master.  Rhiwal  was  at  first  displeased,  but  in  an  inter- 
view recognized  a  kinsman  in  Brioc,2  and  they  came  readily  to  terms. 
Rhiwal  gave  up  to  his  cousin  Campus  roboris,  the  Champ  de  Rouvre, 
and  himself  retired  to  Lishelion,  now  Million.  Rhiwal  was  the  son  of 
one  Deroch,  and  had  come  to  Armorica  at  the  head  of  a  large  number 
of  colonists,  and  in  process  of  time  brought  the  whole  of  Domnonia 
under  his  rule.3 

eel.   Plaint-,  c.   xliii. 

"  Hie  est,  ait  (Rigualis)  consobrinus   meus   Briocius,    optimus  transmarin- 
orum  dux."  p.  22. 

"  Riwalus,   Britanniae   dux,    filius   fuit  Deroci   .  .   .  hie  Rhiwalus  a  trans- 


^?  /^—    < 

298  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Le  Baud,  on  the  authority  of  a  Chronicle  of  Ingomar,  now  unhappily 
lost,  says  :  —  "  Riuvallus,  comte  royal,  pria  Clothaire  qu'il  lui  laissat 
posseder  et  exercer  en  paix  ladite  provence  (de  Domnonee)  avecques 
tous  ceux  qu'il  avait  amenez  deca  la  mer,  et  Clothaire  lui  donna  conge 
de  1'habiter,  cultiver,  posseder,  donner,  et  vendre  sous  sa  parole, 
domination  et  puissance,  et  de  ses  successeurs  apres  lui,  tant  que  les 
hommes  y  pourroient  habiter."  l 

From  a  summary  of  the  Life  of  S.  Malo  by  Bili,  made  by  Leland,  we 
learn  that  Brioc  as  well  deemed  it  advisable  to  go  to  Paris,  so  as  to 
'  j  obtain  confirmation  of  the  grant  from  Childebert.2 

This  is  not  mentioned  in  the  copies  we  possess  of  the  Life  of  Brioc. 
But  there  is  a  reason  for  the  omission,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  M. 
de  la  Borderie.3  After  Nominoe  had  freed  Brittany  from  Frank  rule 
(846),  it  was  eminently  distasteful  to  Breton  readers  to  find  that  the 
bishops  of  their  sees  had  gone  to  Paris  for  confirmation,  and  the  passage 
recording  the  journey  to  the  capital  of  the  Frank  kingdom  was  excised 
from  all  copies  written  later  than  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century. 
Rhiwal  died,  according  to  the  conjecture  of  De  la  Borderie,  in  530. 
On  his  death-bed  he  made  over  to  Brioc  all  his  plou  at  Lishillon,  and 
his  son  Deroc  succeeded  to  the  chieftainship  over  Domnonia.  4  Whether 
it  were  now,  or  when  the  earlier  donation  was  made,  that  Brioc  visited 
the  court  of  Childebert  we  do  not  know. 

Brioc  now  organized  his  ecclesiastical  clan  in  the  usual  Celtic  fashion. 
As  he  was  becoming  very  aged,  and  grew  anxious  about  his  spiritual 
condition,  he  was  wont  to  retire  into  a  cave  where  flowed  a  perennial 
spring,  there  to  remain  in  solitude  and  commune  with  God.  His  cave 
has  been  converted  into  a  subterranean  chapel  under  a  large  flam- 
boyant chapel,  and  the  fountain  is  covered  with  a  stone  structure  of 
the  same  period. 

Apparently  not  long  after  the  death  of  Rhiwal,  Brioc  fell  ill,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  ninety.  At  the  time  of  his  death  a  priest  named 
Marcan  saw  a  vision  of  angels  bearing  his  soul  to  heaven.  This  man 
has  left  his  name  associated  with  a  parish  church  in  the  Bay  of  S 

marinis  veniens  Britanniis  cum  multitudine  navium  possedit  Minorem  Britan- 
niam,  tempore  Clotharii  regis  Francorum,  qui  Chlodovei  regis  films  extitit." 
Ex  Cod.  MS.  Sti.  Vedasti,  Mabillon,  A  eta  SS.  O.S.B.  saec.  iii. 

1  Le  Baud,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  1638,  p.  65.     His  book  was,  however,  written 
130  years  before. 

2  "  Britonum    episcopi    videlicet    Sampson,    Machu,    Paternus,    Corentinus, 
Paulus  Aurelianus,  Pabu  Tutwallus,  Briomelius  .  .  .  una  die  petierunt  palatium 
Philiberti  regis,"  Coll.,  i,  pp.  430-2.      We  adopt  the  correction  of  two  names 
proposed  by  De  la  Borderie.     Philibert  is  Childebert. 

3  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Arch,  du  dep.  d'llle  et  Vilaine,  tome  xvi  (1884),  p.  309. 

4  Vita,  p.  25. 


i  )  j  ^   K  •  /\  <f  .AZTr  A    ' 

/^  ' 

A      ( 


S.  Brioc  299 


Mirlii'l,  near  Pontorson.  Moreover,  a  monk  named  Simaus  or  Sivanus,  V 
in  his  native  land  dreamt  that  he  saw  Brioc  ascend  by  a  ladder  into  the 
heavenly  land.  He  took  ship,  and  after  a  voyage  of  seven  days  arrived 
at  the  Breton  monastery  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  obsequies.  He 
must  have  remained  in  Domnonia,  for  he  is  regarded  as  the  patron  of 
Laneieux  near  Ploubalay. 

\\V  must  now  consider  the  statement  that  Rhiwal  recognized  Brioc 
a*  his  cousin  (consobrinus).  From  the  Life  of  S.  Tudwal  we  learn  that 
this  latter  was  the  son  of  Pompeia,  the  sister  of  Rhiwal.1  As  we  have 
already  seen,  Tudwal  was  nephew  (nepos)  of  Brioc. 

According  to  the  Life  of  S.  Leonore,  that  Saint  was  the  son  of  Eloc, 
and  his  mother  was  Alma  Pompa.  Apparently,  Pompa  is  the  same  as 
Pompeia,  and  if  so  Leonore  and  Tudwal  were  brothers.  The  name  Eloc 
is  the  short  for  Hoeloc,  or  Hoel  with  the  common  termination  of  oc 
appended.  Tradition,  the  origin  of  which  is  uncertain,  makes  Hoel 
the  father  of  S.  Tudwal.2 

If  the  husband  of  Pompeia  were  Hoel,  then  he  apparently  comes  into 
one  of  the  pedigrees  preserved  by  the  Welsh.  He  was  Hywel,  the  son 
of  Emyr  Llydaw,  or  Emyr  of  Armorica.  Emyr  had,  beside  Hoel,  who 
may  have  been  the  husband  of  Pompeia,  Gwyndaf,  who  was  father 
of  S.  Meugant,  whom  we  discover  close  to  S.  Brieuc  at  La  Meaugon 
(I. ami  Meugant),  also  of  Gwen  Teirbron,  wife  of  Fracan,  who  settled 
on  Rhiwal's  lands  hard  by.  Hoel  himself  founded  a  church  in  Pem- 
brokeshire, Llanhowell,  under  Llandeloy. 

If  we  come  now  to  the  question  of  the  chronology  of  Brioc's  life,  we 
have  to  abandon  the  calculations  built  on  the  assumption  that  he  was 
the  pupil  of  Germanus  of  Auxerre.  He  belonged  to  the  generation 
that  of  Tudwal.  Tudwal's  death  took  place  in  553  or  559,  more 
probably  at  the  latter  date.  Deducting  a  generation  from  the  mean 
\\v  have  523  as  the  approximate  date  of  Brioc's  death,  but  as  he  lived 
to  the  unusually  advanced  age  of  ninety  we  can  hardly  place  his  decease 
earlier  than  530.  This  is  precisely  the  year  in  which,  according  to 
De  la  Borderie,  Rhiwal  died,  and  from  the  text  of  the  life  it  would  seem 
that  Brioc  did  not  long  survive  him. 

Accordingly  Brioc  was  born  about  440.  He  was  sent  to  Germanus 
then  in  Paris  in  450,  and  returned  to  Ceredigion  in  463.  Germanus 
died  in  474,  so  that  if  Brioc  went  to  assist  him  in  the  Western  Isles 
among  the  Irish  colonists,  it  must  have  been  soon  after  his  return 

1  "  Mater  cjus  Pompaia  erat  nomine  soror  Riguali  comitis,  qui  primus  venit 
de  Britonnibus  citra  mare."  Vita  ima  S.  Tuduali,  M&m,  de  la  Soctttt  Arch.des 
Cdtes  du  Nord,  tome  ii  (1885-6),  p.  84. 

8  Garaby,  Saints  de  Bretagne,  S.  Brieuc,  1839,  p.  529. 


it> 

/,-  |         - 

300  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

home.  We  do  not  know  the  precise  date  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Irish 
from  Ceredigion,  but  it  was  about  480  that  they  were  driven  out  of 
Anglesey.  They  were  not,  however,  cleared  from  part  of  Pembroke- 
shire and  Carmarthen  till  somewhat  later,  when  S.  David  undertook 
the  ecclesiastical  organization  of  the  Welsh  about  the  Cleddeu.  Almost 
certainly  it  was  these  troubles  that  compelled  Brioc  to  migrate,  but 
perhaps  he  did  not  leave  till  nearer  500  than  480,  as  he  is  spoken 
of  as  old  when  he  departed.  Childebert  reigned  from  511  to  558.  We 
must  allow  a  certain  time  to  Brioc  in  Cornwall  before  he  departed  for 
Armorica.  There  is,  of  course,  no  truth  in  the  statement  quoted  by 
Leland  from  Bili  that  all  the  bishops  he  named  visited  Childebert  the 
same  day  ;  Leland  may  have  misread  the  text.  Dom  Plaine  supposes 
that  Brioc  died  in  515,  and  De  la  Borderie  in  or  near  520.  We  should 
put  it  certainly  ten  years  later.  The  approximate  date  of  the  death  of 
his  fellow  pupil  S.  Illtyd  was  537,  but  at  that  we  arrive  by  a  rough 
calculation. 

In  Wales,  the  only  foundation  of  Brioc  is  Llandyfriog  in  Cardigan- 
shire. 1  But  S.  Briavel's  (from  Briomagl)  in  Gloucestershire  shows  that 
he  had  been  there.  In  Cornwall  his  sole  church  is  S.  Breocke  near 
Wadebridge.  In  Brittany  he  is  patron  of  the  diocese  of  S.  Brieuc,  and 
of  the  churches  of  Caulnes  and  Million,  in  Cotes  du  Nord,  the  latter  of 
which  was  the  Us  made  over  to  him  on  his  deathbed  by  Rhigual ;  also 
S.  Brieuc  de  Mauron  and  S.  Brieuc  des  Ms.  The  former  is  in 
Morbihan,  the  latter  in  Ille-et-Vilaine. 

Such  representations  as  remain  do  not  give  Brioc  any  characteristic 
symbol,  but  he  might  well  be  figured  in  abbatial  habit,  or  as  a  bishop 
with  a  wolf  at  his  feet.  He  is  regarded  as  the  patron  of  pursemakers, 

S.  Brioc's  Day  is  May  I.  Brev.  Briocense,  1537,  the  thirteenth 
century  Brev.  of  S.  Yves  at  Treguier,  the  MS.  Calendar  of  S.  Meen, 
fifteenth  century,  the  MS.  Breviary  of  S.  Melanius,  Rennes,  and 
in  that  of  Quimper. 

In  that  of  Leon  for  1736  it  is  transferred  to  May  7.  In  that  of 
Quimper  for  1701  it  is  on  May  3.  In  the  Treguier  Breviary  of  1770,  on 
April  27,  in  the  S.  Malo  Breviaries  of  1537  and  1627  and  1730,  and 
the  S.  Malo  Missal  of  1609,  on  April  30.  Albert  le  Grand  gives  May  I. 
The  reason  for  the  shifting  has  been  because  of  the  coincidence  of 
the  day  with  the  Feast  of  SS.  Philip  and  James,  but  mainly  because 
it  opens  the  month  of  May. 

In  some  of  the  Welsh  Calendars  the  Festival  of  S.  Tyfriog,  Abbot,  is 
given  as  May  I.2 

1   Rees  gives  Tyfriog  ab  Dingacl. 
-  The  Demetian  Calendar  (S). 


S.  Brioc  301 


The  Life  of  S.  Brioc  is  by  an  anonymous  author,  who  cannot  have 
lived  long  after  the  time  of  Brioc,  for  he  quotes  as  an  authority  Simaus, 
the  monk  who  attended  the  funeral  of  the  Saint.  But  it  is  evident  that 
what  we  now  have  is  not  in  its  original  form,  but  has  been  padded  out 
with  marvels  at  a  later  period. 

Only  three  MS.  copies  remain.  From  these  Dom  Plaine  printed  the 
Vita  in  the  Analecta  Bollandiana,  tome  ii,  pp.  161  et  seq. 

The  approximate  dates  of  Brioc 's  life  were  probably  these. 

440.  Brioc  born  in  Ceredigion. 

450.  Germanus   the  Armorican   leaves   Ireland   to  establish   schools   for  the 

Irish  missions,  and  is  given  Brioc  to  train. 
454.  Germanus  [refounds^  Caerworgorn,  and  then]  *    departs  with  his  pupils  (J~V  S r^ 

to  Paris. 
40;.  Germanus  returns  to  Ireland,  and  is  sent  by  S.  Patrick  to  be  Bishop  of 

Man.     At  the  same  time  Brioc  receives  Priest's  Orders  and  returns 

home. 
47.  i.  Brioc  founds  churches  in  Ceredigion,  and  for  awhile  assists  his  old  master 

in  the  Western  Isles. 
474.  Germanus  dies.2 

I  roubles  in  Ceredigion  through  the  invasion  of  the  sons  of    Cunedda 

and  the  expulsion  of  the  Irish. 
Brioc  compelled  to  leave.     Goes  to  Cornwall,  and    eventually    crosses 

to  the  Pagus  Achensis  in  Brittany. 
Brioc  returns  to  Wales,  and  on  coming  back  to  his  monastery  in  Brittany 

finds  his  nephew  Tudwal  in  possession  and  unwilling  to  receive  him 

back.     He  goes  on  to  the  land  of  Rouvre. 

Visits  the  court  of  Childebert  and  has  the  grants  made  by  Rhigual  con- 
tinued.    Returns  to  Brittany  and  dies. 

Tin-  body  of  S.  Brioc  was  translated  on  July  23,  1166,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Henry  II  of  England,  and  William,  bishop  ot  Angers,  in  the 
dmrch  of  SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus,  in  Angers,  whither  it  had  been  taken 
in  the  tenth  century,  on  account  of  the  ravages  of  the  Northmen  in 
Brittany. 


S.  BROCHWEL  YSGYTHROG,   King,  Confessor 

BROCHFAEL  or  Brochwel  Ysgythrog,  the  well-known  king  of  Powys, 

-on  of   Cyngen  ab  Cadell    Deyrnllwg    by   Tudglid,  daughter  of 

Brvchan    Brycheiniog.      He   had   three   brothers,  Cadell,  leuaf,  and 

1  The  rcfounding  of  Caerworgorn  depends  on  the  questionable  authority  of 
tin-  /,./,)  .1/55. 

-  t'sslu-i.  nritaunicarnm  Eccl.  Antiq.,  Dublin,  1639,  ii,  p.  1117.  Ussher 
almost  certainly  quoted  some  Irish  Annals  now  lost,  perhaps  those  of  Tighernach  ; 
the  copy  we  now  have  is  defective  at  this  period. 


302  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Mawn,  and  one  sister,  Sannan,  the  wife  of  Maelgwn  Gwynedd.1  He 
was  styled  "Ysgythrog"  probably  because  he  had  very  prominent 
teeth.  His  name,  written  in  Old  Welsh  Brochmail,  and  Brocmailus 
in  the  oldest  MSS.  of  Bede,2  occurs  as  Brohomagli  on  the  sixth  or 
seventh  century  inscribed  stone  at  Voelas  Hall.  He  married  Arddun 
Benasgell,  daughter  of  Pabo  Post  Prydyn,  who  had  received  lands 
from  his  father  Cyngen,  and  by  her  he  became  the  father  of  Tyssilio 
and  Cynan  Garwyn. 

His  title  to  saintship  rests  on  very  doubtful  authority,  and  we  will 
therefore  only  briefly  pursue  his  history.  His  name  is  included  but 
once  as  a  saint  in  the  lolo  MSS.  genealogies,3  where  it  is  stated  that 
"  he  was  slain  at  the  Battle  of  Bangor  Orchard,  when  that  Cor  (Bangor 
on  Dee)  was  destroyed  by  the  pagan  Saxons  " ;  but  the  statement  is 
inaccurate.  The  battle,  otherwise  known  as  the  Battle  of  Chester, 
was  fought  in  607,  according  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  (and  this 
is  the  date  adopted  by  Freeman),  but  the  Annals  of  Ulster  give  613.  At 
this  battle  Brochwel  acted  as  escort  to  a  large  body  of  British  priests 
and  monks,  mostly  from  Bangor  on  Dee,  "  standing  apart  in  a  place  of 
comparative  security,"  who  had  come  to  pray  for  the  success  of  the 
Welsh  against  the  English  under  Ethelfrid,  or  rather,  according  to 
Celtic  usage,  to  curse  the  enemy.  But,  "  woe  to  Brochwel's  feeble 
hand,"  or  rather  to  his  having  fled  without  striking  a  blow,  only  50  out 
of  1,250  monks  escaped. 

But  it  should  be  remembered  that  Brochwel  was  by  no  means  an 
uncommon  Welsh  name  at  that  period,  and,  as  Mr.  Egerton  Philli- 
more  has  pointed  out,4  there  is  no  proof  whatever  that  the  Brocmailus 
of  Bede  was  Brochwel  Ysgythrog — in  fact,  the  statement  is  a  pure 
assumption  and  as  baseless  as  the  other  statement  that  the  Brochmail 
whom  the  Annales  Cambriae  state  to  have  died  in  662  was  that  same 
prince. 

Brochwel  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cynan  Garwyn,  who  is  thought 
to  have  died  in  650  ;  but  in  the  Life  of  S.  Tyssilio  there  is  another 
account.  It  says  that  Brochwel  was  followed  by  his  son  Jacobus,  who 
lived  but  two  years  after  the  death  of  his  father.  There  seems  from 
this  account  to  have  been  trouble  at  this  time,  and  the  widow  of  Jacobus 
thought  of  drawing  Tyssilio  from  his  monastery  and  marrying  him. 
To  this  Tyssilio  objected,  and  he  ran  away.  It  was  then  perhaps 
that  Cynan  Garwyn  became  king. 

1  Cognatio  de  Brychan  in  Cott.  Vesp.  A.  xiv.     Tudful  is  given  as  his  mother 
in  lolo  MSS.,  p.  121. 

2  Hist.  Eccl.,  ii,  c.  2.     The  name  seems  to  mean  "  badger-hero,"  and  is  prob- 
ably totemistic.  3  P.  129.         4  Owen's  Pembrokeshire,  iii,  pp.  281-4  • 


S.  Brychan  303 

Pengwern,  or  Shrewsbury,  was  then  the  capital  of  the  principality 
of  Powys,  and  the  palace  is  said  to  have  occupied  the  spot  whereon 
S.  Chad's  Church  now  stands.  The  copious  fountain,  a  spring  which 
long  supplied  the  town  of  Shrewsbury  with  water,  is  known  in  records 
as  Brochwel's  Spring,  and  to  the  Welsh  as  Ffynnon  Frochwel. 


S.  BROTHEN,  Confessor 

S.  BROTHEN  was  one  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Helig  ab  Glannog,  whose 

trrritory  the  sea  overflowed.     Deprived  of  their  patrimony,  he  and  his 

brothers  devoted  themselves  to  religion,  and  became  saints,  in  the  first 

instance,  in  Bangor-on-Dee.  Most  of  them,  after  its  destruction,  migrated 

to  the  Bardsey  Bangor.1     He  was  the    founder    of    Llanfrothen,  in 

Merionethshire,  where  he  "  did  searve  God,  and  lyeth  buried,"  2  but 

hurch   apparently  received  a  later  dedication  to   the  B.V.M. 

ival  of   the  Assumption).3    The   Calendar  in  Llanstephan  MS. 

117  gives  October  I4th  as  his  Festival.     Rees  4  gives  the  I5th,  and 

Browne  Willis5  the  i8th. 

There  is  a  S.  Brothan,  the  son  of  Seirioel  ab  Ussa  ab  Ceredig  ab 
Cuneddii  Wledig,  mentioned  once  in  the  lolo  MSS.,6  but  nothing 
is  known  of  him. 


S.  BRYCHAN,  King,  Confessor 

THIS  great  father  of  a  saintly  family  is  most  difficult  to  treat  of  satis- 
factorily. He  was  not  inaptly  described  by  Skene  as  "  the  mysterious 
Brychan."  7  The  short  Latin  tract  generally  known  as  the  Cognatio 
de  Brychan  is  almost  our  sole  authority  for  his  legend.  There  are 
two  versions  of  it.  The  older  one  occurs  in  the  Cottonian  Collection, 
Vespasian  A.  xiv,  entitled  "  De  situ  Brecheniauc,"  and  was  written 
at  or  near  Brecon  in  the  early  thirteenth  century,  but  evidently  copied 
from  a  MS.  a  century  or  two  earlier.  It  has  been  printed  by  Rees 
in  the  Cambro-British  Saints,8  "with  the  greatest  inaccuracy";* 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  106,  124;  Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  416,  418-9,  426,  429;  Cambro- 
liriti^h  Saints,  p.  268. 

Sir  John  Wynn,  Ancient  Survey  of  Pen  Maen  Mawr,  reprint  1906,  p.  19. 

Cambrian  Register,  iii,  p.  226  (1818). 

\Vclsh  Saints,  p.   302. 

Survey  of  Bangor,   1721,  p.  277.  6  P.   125. 

Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales,  i,  p.  43. 

Pp.  272-275. 

Mr.  Egerton  Phillimore,  in  Y  Cymmrodor,  vii,  p.  106,  further  remarks  that 
the  original  copyist  clearly  did  not  understand  Welsh. 


304  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

but  a  list  of  Corrigenda  is  given  in  Y  Cymmrodor.1  The  other 
version  also  occurs  in  the  Cottonian  Collection,  Domitian  i  (at  the 
end),  but  differs  widely  from  the  previous  one.  This  was  written 
about  1650,  but  the  copyist  had  before  him  a  MS.  of  probably  the 
thirteenth  century,  which  he  was  not  always  able  to  read.  It  has 
been  printed,  with  many  inaccuracies,  by  Theophilus  Jones  in  his 
History  of  the  County  of  Brecknock*  Both  versions  have  since  been 
very  carefully  edited  by  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Wade-Evans,  and  printed, 
with  translations,  in  Y  Cymmrodor.3 

According  to  the  legend,  there  was  a  King  Tewdrig  of  Garthmadryn, 
who  came  to  live  at  a  place  called  Bran  Coyn,  near  Llanfaes.  This 
was  supposed  by  Theophilus  Jones  to  be  a  field  called  Bryn  Gwyn,  near 
Llanfaes,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Brecon.  Tewdrig  had  a  daughter 
named  Marchell.  He  said  to  her:  "The  sharpness  of  the  cold 
weather  doth  greatly  affect  thee  ;  wherefore  it  is  well  to  procure  for  thee 
a  fur  garment.  I  will  send  thee  to  Ireland,  along  with  three  hundred 
men,  to  Anlach,  son  of  Coronac,  king  of  that  country,  who  will  marry 
thee."  Then  Marchell  departed  with  her  retinue,  and  arrived  at 
Lansemin  on  the  first  night,  and  there  a  hundred  of  the  men  died  of 
the  cold.  There  are  to-day  two  places  called  Glansefin,  on  the  brook 
Sefin,  near  Llangadog,  in  Carmarthenhire. 

On  the  second  night  she  reached  Methrum,  which  is  evidently 
Meidrim,  in  Carmarthenshire,  and  there  a  second  hundred  died. 
The  third  night  was  spent  at  Porthmawr,  a  warmer  place,  by  S. 
David's  Head. 4  Thence  she  sailed,  with  the  hundred  men  left,  to  Ireland, 
and  arrived  safely,  along  with  her  attendants,  at  the  court  of  Anlach, 
who  received  her  with  dancing  and  joy,  and  made  her  his  wife.  After- 
wards Marchell  brought  forth  a  son,  who  was  named  Brachan,  later 
Brychan.5  "And  Anlach  returned  with  Queen  Marchell  and  the 
boy  Brychan,"  and  several  chiefs,  to  Wales.  Brychan  was  born  at 
Benni,  the  ancient  Bannium,  near  Brecon,  and  was  sent  to  be  fostered 
by  one  Drichan.  "  And  in  his  seventh  year  Drichan  said  to  Brychan, 

1  Vol.  xiii,  pp.  93-95. 

2  Vol.  ,i,  pp.   342-3.     The  copyist,  however,  it  would  appear,  was  none  other 
than  Sir  John  Price,  of  Brecon  (d.  1555). 

3  Vol.  xix,  pp.  24-37. 

4  Caerfarchell,  near  Solva,  is  supposed  to  take  its  name  from  her. 

5  The  name  Brocagni  (=  Broccagni)   occurred    on  a  stone,  now  lost,  except 
fragments,  at  Capel  Mair,  Llangeler,  Carmarthenshire.     The  same  form,  Brocagni, 
occurs  on  an  inscribed  stone,  of  probably  the  seventh  century,  at  Porthqueene, 
near  Camelford,  Cornwall.     We  have  here  the  early  form  of  Brychan,  in  Irish 
Broccan  (Prof.  Rhys,  Welsh  Philology,  p.  393,  Arch.  Camb,  1907,  pp.   293-309). 
Brychan,  as   a  common  noun,  means    in   Welsh   a  coarse  kind   of  home-made 
cloth,  a  tartan  or  plaid,  and  is  a  derivative  from  the  adjective  brych  (Irish,  brec), 
variegated  or  speckled. 


S.  Brychan  305 


'  Bring  my  lance  to  me.'  And  Drichan  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
became  blind ;  and  whilst  he  lay  awake,  a  certain  boar  came 
from  the  wood  and  stood  by  the  banks  of  the  river  Yscir  ;  and  there 
was  a  stag  behind  it  in  the  river,  and  also  a  fish  under  the  belly  of 
the  stag,  which  then  portended  that  Brychan  should  be  happy  in 
abundance  of  wealth.  Likewise  there  was  a  beech-tree  standing  on 
the  side  of  the  aforesaid  river,  in  which  bees  made  honey,  and  Drichan 
said  to  his  pupil  Brychan,  '  Lo,  I  give  thee  this  tree  full  of  bees  and 
honey,  and  also  of  gold  and  silver ;  and  may  the  grace  of  God,  and 
His  love,  abide  with  thee  always,  here  and  hereafter.'  " 

After  that  Anlach  gave  Brychan  as  hostage  to  the  King  of  Powys  ; 
"  and  in  process  of  time  Brychan  violated  Banadlinet,  the  daughter  of 
Benadel  (the  king),  and  she  became  pregnant,  and  brought  forth  a 
son  named  Cynog."1 

The  Cognatio  goes  on  to  give  the  names  of  the  wives  and  sons  and 
daughters  of  Brychan,  and  adds  that  he  was  buried  in  Ynys  Brychan, 
near  Man  (Mannia),  apparently  in  Scotland  2 

The  grave  of  Anlach  his  father  "  is  before  the  door  of  the  Church  of 
Llanspyddid,"  where  there  is  also  to  be  seen  in  the  churchyard,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  church,  a  stone  with  crosses  and  circles,  popularly 
called  the  "Cross  of  Brychan  .Brycheiniog."3  Llanspyddid  is  dedi- 
cated to  S.  Cadoc,  grandson  of  Brychan.  Possibly  Anlach's  name 
occurs  in  Llanhamlach,  in  the  neighbourhood. 

The  first  difficulty  we  have  to  surmount  is  the  identification  of 
Brychan's  father. 

In  Cognatio  Vesp.  he  is  given  as  Anlac,  Anlach,  and  Anlauch,  the 
son  of  Coronac  ;  in  Cognatio  Dom.  as  Anlach,  the  son  of  Gormac ; 
and  in  Jesus  College  (Oxon.)  MS.  20  (first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century), 
as  Chormuc,  the  son  of  Eurbre  the  Goidel.  The  later  genealogists 
generally  have  fallen  into  two  mistakes  as  regards  Brychan's  father's 
name.  One  is  to  give  his  grandfather's  name  as  that  of  his  father,4 
and  the  other  to  treat  his  grandfather's  name  as  a  mere  epithet  of  his 
father,  meaning  "  crowned  "  or  "  tonsured."  5  They  describe  him 
as  "  King  of  Ireland,"  and  "  King  in  Ireland." 

1  "  Barfhadhvedd,   daughter  of  Banhadle  of    Banhadla  in  Powys,"  Peniarth 
MS.  127  (circa  1510),  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  421. 

2  In  Cognatio  Dom.  he  is  said  to  have  been  buried  "  in  Mynav  in  valle  que 
dicitur  vail  Brchan  "  (sic). 

3  Figured  in  \Yestwood,  Lapidarium  Wallice,  p.  70. 

4  Korvmawc    (Peniarth  MS.   74),    Korvniawc    (Peniarth  MS.   75),    Korinwy 
(Peniarth  MS.  137),  all  three  of  sixteenth  century;    Korinawg  (Cambro-British 
Saints,  p.  270).     Prof.  Rhys  (Celtic  Britain,  p.  248)  identifies  "  Anlach,  son  of 
Coronac,"  with  the  well-known  Dane,  Anlaf  Cuaran. 

5  Anllech    corvnawc    (Peniarth   MS.    127,    circa    1510)  ;     Anllech   Goronawc 

VOL.  I.  X 


306  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Several  theories  have  been  proposed  for  the  location  of  Anlach • 

1.  That   Anlach   stands  for  Hua  Lagh,  sons  of   Lugh,  a  Leinster 
family. 

2.  That  Anlach  is  Caelbadh,   who  had  a  son    Braccan,  and  was 
king  of  Ulster  for  one  year,  and  was  slain  in  358. 

3.  That  Anlach  stands  for  Amalgaidh  (now  pronounced  Awley). 
Amalgaidh  was  son  of  Fiachra  of  the  Flowing  Locks,  brother  of 

Dathi,  who  succeeded  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages  as  king  of  Ireland 
in  405,  whereupon  Dathi  surrendered  to  Amalgaidh  the  crown  of 
Connaught.  He  reigned  till  449,  and  had  at  the  least  three  wives, 
and  twenty-one  sons  are  attributed  to  him  besides  daughters. 

4.  That  the  "  Chormuc,  son  of  Eurbre  the  Goidel,  of  Ireland," 
whose  son  Brychan  is  said  to  have  been,  in  the  Jesus  College  MS., 
is  Cormac  Caoch,  son  of  Cairbre,  younger  son  of  Niall  of  the  Nine 
Hostages,  son  of  Eochaidh  by  Carthan  Casduff,  daughter  of  the  King 
of  Britain. 

Cormac's  wife,  Marchell,  was  sole  daughter  of  Tewdrig  by 
an  Irish-woman,  a  daughter  of  Eochaidh  Muighmedhuin.  This 
is  the  identification  proposed  by  Mr.  Henry  F.  J.  Vaughan  in 
Y  Cymmrodor.1 

Shearman,  inhisLocaPatriciana  (Geneal.  Table  VIII),  gives  a  pedigree 
of  Brychan  from  Caelbadh,  king  of  Ulster.  He  makes  Caelbadh 
father  of  Braccan,  who  is  father  of  Braccanoc,  the  husband  of  Marchell, 
daughter  of  Tewdyr  ap  Tudwall ;  and  Braccanoc  and  Marchell  are 
parents  of  Brychan,  who  marries  Dwynwas  or  Dina,  daughter  of  the 
King  of  Powys.  As  his  authority  he  refers  to  the  Naemsenchas, 
Leabhar  Breac.  The  Bollandists,  relying  on  Shearman,  have  adopted 
this  pedigree.  But  the  Naemsenchas  in  the  Leabhar  Breac  gives 
no  such  pedigree,  which  seems  to  have  been  entirely  drawn  out  of  Mr, 
Shearman's  imagination.  Nor  does  Duald  MacFirbiss,  in  his  great 
work  on  genealogies,  the  Leabhar  Genealach,  give  any  countenance 
to  this  derivation  of  Brychan.  It  must  be  dismissed  into  the  limbo 
of  fantastic  pedigrees. 

The  conjecture  of  Mr.  Vaughan  is  unsupported  by  Irish  authorities. 
The  pedigree  was  as  follows  : — 


(lolo  MSS.,  pp.  118,  140  ;  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  418)  ;  Aflech  Goronawg  (lolo  MSS., 
p.  78)  ;  Enllech  Goronawc  (ibid.,  p.  in)  ;  Afallach  ap  Corinwc  (Peniarth  MS. 
132)  ;  Enllech  ab  Hydwn  (lolo  MSS.,  p.  109)  ;  Anlach,  son  of  Urbf  (Vita  5. 
Cadoci). 

1  Vol.  x,  p.  86. 


S.  Brychan 


3°7 


Eochaidh  Muighmedhuin  =  Mongfinn  and  Carina  (a  Saxon). 

358-378  (or  356-365). 
I 


•ian  (by  .U). 


Niall  of  the  Nine 
Hostages  (by  C.), 
378-405. 


Oiliol  Fiachra 

(byM.).  (byM.). 


Duach  Teanghamba, 
Kini;  of  Connaught ; 
d.  504. 


Eochaidh 
Tirmcharna. 


Dathi,1 
405-428. 


Amalgaidh,    King    of 
Connaught,    438-449. 


laire, 

Lui;h;iiclr. 
47"   503- 


Cairbro.    Amalghaid.    Maine. 


Cormac  Caoch. 


Conall  Cremthan, 
d.  475. 

Fergus. 


Enna.    Conall  Gul- 
ban,  d.  464. 

Eochaid,  d. 
465. 


Tuathal  Maolgarbh,  533-544-  Dermot,  544-558. 


Murtogh. 


Murtogh  MacErca,  503-527. 

Duald  MacFirbiss  says,  in  his  Leabhar  Genealach,  2  "  Cairbre,  son 
of  Xiall,  left  ten  sons  : — Cormac  Caoch  (the  blind).  .  .  .  This  Cormac 
Caoch  had  two  sons,  viz.  Ainmire  and  Tuathal  Maolgarbh,  king  of 
Ere." 

The  first  of  the  proposed  identifications  is  the  most  satisfactory. 
Mardiell  crossed  from  Porthmawr  to  Leinster ;  and  it  is  precisely  in 
Leinster  that  several  of  the  children  of  Brychan  have  left  their  names 
as  founders. 

That  a  migration  should  take  place  from  Ulster  or  from  Connaught 
to  South  Wales  is  improbable.     The  set  from  Ulster  was  to  Alba,  and 
in  Connaught  the  Milesians  obtained  as  much  land  as  they  required, 
x  terminating  or  expelling  the  native  Tuatha  De  Danann. 

The  name  of  Brychan,  or  Braccan,  is  somewhat  suspicious,  signifying 
the  "  Speckled  "  or  "  Tartan-clothed" ;  and  it  looks  much  as  though 
he  to  whom  it  was  applied  was  an  eponym  for  that  clan  of  the  Irish 
Goidcls  who  certainly  did  invade  and  occupy  Carmarthen,  Pembroke, 
and  Brecknock.  We  know  that  these  invasions  and  colonisations 
were  frequent,  and  that  for  a  time  Britain  was  subject  to  the  Irish 
Goidels,  and  obliged  to  pay  tax  to  them.  It  was  after  the  reign  of 
Dathi,  who  died  in  428,  that  the  Irish  hold  upon  Britain  came  to  an 
end,  or  was  gradually  relaxed. 

Rees  conjectured  3  that  Brychan's  father  was  captain  of  one  of  these 
Irish  invading  bands,  a  supposition  that  is  supported  by  a  passage  in 
the  lolo  MSS.,*  wherein  three  invasions  (gormesiori)  of  Wales  by  the 

1  Dathi  was  father  of  Oiliol  Molt,  459-478.  *  P.   167. 

3  Welsh  Saints,  p.   112.  4  P.  78. 


m's 

'  oi 


308  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Irish  are  mentioned,  one  of  which  "  was  that  of  Aflech  Goronawg, 
who  took  possession  of  Garth  Mathrin  by  invasion  ;  but,  having 
married  Marchell,  the  daughter  of  Tewdrig,  king  of  that  country/he 
won  the  good  will  of  the  inhabitants,  afld  obtained  it  as  his  dominion 
in  virtue  of  the  marriage  ;  and  there  his  tribe  still  remains,  intermixed 
with  the  Welsh." 

Garthmadryn,  according  to  the  lolo  MSS.,1   had  at  one  time  been 
part  of  the  district  called  Morganwg,  but  was  severed  in  Brychan's 
time.     His  grandfather,  "  Tewdrig  the  Blessed,"  is  there  descri 
as  being  "  King  of  Morganwg,  Gwent,  and  Garthmadryn."2 

Old  Brycheiniog  was  commensurate  with  the  present  county 
Brecknock,  less  the  Hundred  of  Buallt  or  Builth.3  The  name  Garth- 
madryn gave  way  to  one  derived  from  its  new  regulus,  who  was  called 
Brychan  Brycheiniog,  with  which  compare  Rhufon  Rhufoniog  and 
other  similar  formations.  In  the  Book  of  Llan  Ddv  the  district  is  called 
regio  Brachani,  and  the  people  Brachanii.^ 

The  Goidel  invasion  came  probably  from  one  of  the  harbours  of 
Pembrokeshire  or  Carmarthenshire,  and  the  Irish  made  their  way  up 
the  valley  of  the  Towy.  Perhaps  to  them  may  be  attributed  the 
stone  camp  at  Garn  Goch,  on  an  isolated  rock  commanding  the  river. 
Beneath  it  lies  Llys  Brychan.  Then,  pushing  up  to  Llandovery,  where 
the  old  Roman  town  of  Loventium  lay  in  ruins,  they  struck  the  Roman 
paved  road,  the  Via  Julia,  that  led  over  the  pass  of  Mynydd 
Myddfai,  above  the  River  Gwydderig,  to  the  Roman  camp  of  the 
Pigwn  ;  and  so  tramping  on  upon  the  road  straight  as  a  bow- 
line, looked  down  on  the  broad,  richly-wooded  basin  of  the  Usk. 
Crossing  the  little  stream  Nant  Bran,  they  halted  in  the  walled  city  of 
Baimium,  with  its  stone  gateways  still  standing,  among  the  ruins  of 
Roman  villas  and  baths,  and  made  that  their  headquarters.  Here  it 
was  that  Brychan  was  born  ;  and  a  little  further  down  the  Usk, 
at  Llanspyddid,  before  the  doorway  of  the  church,  Anlach  was 
buried. 

These  Irish  invaders  had  entered  on  a  fair  land,  well  watered,  the 
rocks  of  old  red  sandstone,  crumbling  down  into  the  richest  soil  con- 
ceivable ;  and  here  they  were  well  content  to  settle,  and  to  bring  into 

1  P.   in.       2  P.  118  ;~cf .  pp.  140,  147.     These  statements  cannot  be  accepted. 

3  In  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  Buallt  and  Gwrtheyrnion    (in  modern 
Radnorshire)  formed  a  kingdom  by  themselves   (see  Owen's  Pembrokeshire,  i, 
p.  203). 

4  Pp.  219,  256.       In  a  Bonedd  y  Saint  (which  contains  a  list  of  his  children)  in 
the  late  eighteenth-century  MS.  known  as   Y  Piser  Hir,  pp.   294-296,  in  the 
Swansea  Public  Library,  Brychan,  we  are  told,  was  "  Lord  of  Brecknock,  Earl 
of  Chester,  and  Baron  of  Stafford  !  " 


S.  Brychan  309 

subjection  the  natives,  who  probably  offered  little  resistance.  To 
tlu-  South  shot  up  the  purple  Brecknock  Beacons ;  away  to  the  East 
tin-  range  of  the  Black  Mountains,  abruptly  dying  down,  and  forming 
a  mighty  portal  through  which,  many  centuries  later,  the  Normans 
would  pour  and  make  Brecon  their  own. 

To  the  North  were  only  wooded  hills,  stretching  away  to  the  Epynt 
ran^e  :  a  fair  enclosed  land,  some  twelve  miles  across,  a  happy  valley 
as  that  of  Rasselas,  to  all  appearance,  but  one  to  be  battled  for  from 
itineration  to  generation  :  so  rich,  so  lovely,  that  it  was  coveted  by  all 
who  looked  upon  it. 

That  Anlach  was  a  Christian  we  must  suppose,  but  of  a  rude  quality. 
His  wife  was  one,  certainly,  and  his  son  Brychan  was  brought  up  in  the 
Christian  faith. 

Within  the  walls  of  Bannium,  now  Y  Gaer,  on  a  hot  summer,  the 
grass  burns  up  over  the  foundations  of  a  villa,  and  reveals  the  plan, 
with  atrium  and  semi-circular  tablinum  opening  out  of  it,  and  chambers 
to  which  access  was  obtained  from  the  atrium.  It  was  the  most 
notable  building  in  Bannium — perhaps  in  the  fifth  century  not  wholly 
ruinous.  And  in  it  Anlach  may  well  have  dwelt ;  and  in  one  of  those 
chambers  now  under  the  sod,  Brychan,  who  was  to  give  his  name  to 
all  that  country,  may  well  also  have  been  born. 

Of  the  life  of  Brychan  we  know  nothing,  save  only  what  has  been 
already  related  :  how  he  was  instructed  by  the  Christian  sage  Drichan, 
and  how  he  was  sent  hostage  to  the  King  of  Powys. 

The  following  represent  the  principal  printed  Welsh  lists  of  Brychan's 
children.  There  are,  needless  to  say,  more  still  in  various  MSS. 

1.  The  Cugnatio  of  Cott.  Vesp.  A.  xiv  (early  thirteenth  century)  :  eleven  sons 

and  twenty-five  daughters. 

2.  The  Cognatio  of    Cott.  Dom.  i  (circa  1650)  :    thirteen  sons  and  twenty  - 

four  daughters. 

3.  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  MS.  20,  known  as  Llyfr  Llywelyn  Offeiriad  (first 

half  of  the  fifteenth  century)  :  eleven  sons  and  twenty-four  daughters . 

4.  The  Achaii  compiled  by  Lewis  Dwnn,  a  Welsh  herald,  temp.  Queen  Eliza- 

beth, printed  in  the  Heraldic  Visitations  of  Wales,  vol.  ii,  p.  14,  1846, 
edited  by  Sir  S.  R.  Meyrick  :  fourteen  sons  and  twenty-two  daughters. 
'/v,  vnYm    Archaiology,  p.  419,  from  an  Anglesey  MS.  written  in  1579  : 
twenty-three  sons  and  twenty-five  daughters. 

6.  lolo  MSS.,  p.  in,  from  a  Coychurch   MS.,  compiled   or   transcribed  by 

Thomas    ab    If  an,    circa    1670 :     twenty-four   sons   and    twenty-six 
daughters. 

7.  I»ln  MSS.,  pp.    119-121,  from  another  Coychurch  MS.,  by  the  same  : 

twenty-five  sons  and  twenty-six  daughters. 

*.  lolo  MSS.,  p.  140,  from  a  Cardiff  MS.  :  twenty-five  sons  and  twenty- 
eight  daughters. 

9-  Cambro-British  Saints,  pp.  270-1,  from  Harleian  MS.  4181,  early  eight- 
eenth century  :  two  sons  and  twenty  daughters. 


3  i  o  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

To  these  must  be  added  : — 

10.  The  list  given  by  Nicolas  Roscarrock,  the  friend  of  Camden,  in  his  MS. 
Lives  of  the  Saints,  now  in  the  University  Library,  Cambridge.  He 
was  assisted  by  Edward  Powell,  a  Welsh  priest,  who  had  in  his 
possession  a  number  of  Welsh  pedigrees  and  calendars.  Thirty- 
two  sons  and  thirty-one  daughters — sixty-three  in  all — the  most 
liberal  allowance  given  him,  we  believe,  in  any  list  extant. 

£  i.  The  list  in  the  tract  on  "  the  Mothers  of  the  Saints  "  in  Ireland,  attributed 
to  Oengus  the  Culdee  :  twelve  sons  in  all. 

12.  The  list  given  by  William  of  Worcester  :    twenty-four  children. 

13.  The  list  given  by  Leland  :    also  twenty-four  children. 


Giraldus  Cambrensis,  who  speaks  of  Brychan  as  "  a  powerful  and 
noble  personage,"  says  that  "  the  British  histories  testified  that  he 
had  four-and- twenty  daughters,  all  of  whom,  dedicated  from  their 
youth  to  religious  observances,  happily  ended  their  lives  in  sanctity."1 
No  doubt  Fuller  had  this  passage  before  him  when  he  wrote,  in  his 
Worthies,  of  Brychan  :— 

"  This  King  had  four-and-twenty  daughters,  a  jolly  number ;   and 
all  of  them  saints,  a  greater  happiness."2      He   had,   of   course, 
other  conception  of  saintship  than  that  of  the  Latin  Church. 

Caw,  the  founder  of  one  of  the  Three  Saintly  Tribes,  is  also  credit 
with  having  been  the  father  of  a  numerous  family — twenty-six  sons  and 
five  daughters  ;  but  some  of  his  sons  followed  a  warlike  life.  Clechre 
or  Clether,  mentioned  in  the  Life  of  S.  Brynach,  had  20  sons.  But 
Welsh  law,  even  down  to  the  I3th  century,  made  no  distinction 
between  children  born  in  and  out  of  wedlock. 

The  following  is  an  alphabetical  list  of  Brychan's  children,  as  given 
in  the  Cognatio  of  Cott.  Vesp.  A.  xiv,  by  much  our  earliest  authority, 
with  identifications  from  the  later  lists  : — 

Sons  : — 

1.  Arthen. 

2.  Berwin   (Berwyn,  Gerwyn). 

3.  Clytguin  (Cledwyn).  , 

4.  Chybliuer  (Cyflefyr  or  Cyflewyr)  ;    son  of  Dingad  in  the  Jesus  MS. 

5.  Kynauc  (Cynog). 

6.  Kynon  (Cynon)  ;    son  of  Arthen  in  Cogn.  Dom. 

7.  Dynigat  (Dingad). 

8.  Papay  (Pabiali). 

9.  Paschen  (Pasgen)  ;    son  of  Dingad  in  Cogn.  Dom.  and  the  Jesus  MS. 
10.  Rein  (Rhun  or  Rhun  Dremrudd). 

n.  Rydoch  or  ludoc  (Cadog). 

Married  Daughters  .• — 

1.  Aranwen  (Arianwen),  wife  of  lorwerth  Hirflawdd,  king  of  Powys. 

2.  Kehingayr  (Rhiengar),  mother  of  S.  Cynidr. 

1  Itin.  Kamb.,  bk.  i,  ch.  ii. 

2  Vol.  iii,  p.   514,  ed.   1840. 


S.  Brychan  311 


3.  Gladis  (Gwladus),  wife  of  Gwynllyw  Filwr,  and  mother   of   S.  Catwg  or 

Cadoc. 

4.  Guaur  (Gwawr),  wife  of  Elidr  Lydanwyn,  and  mother  of  Llywarch  Hen. 

5.  Gurycon  Godheu  (Gwrgon),  wife  of  Cadrod  Calchfynydd. 

6.  Hunyd  (Nefydd),  wife  of  Tudwal  Befr. 

7.  Luan  (Lleian),  wife  of  Gafran,  and  mother  of  Aidan  or  Aeddan  Fradog. 

8.  Marchel  (Mechell),  wife  of  Gwrin  Farfdrwch  of  Meirionydd. 

<>.  Meleri  (Eleri),  wife  of  Ceredig,  and  grandmother  of  S.  David. 
ic.  Nyuein  (Nefyn),  wife  of  Cynfarch  Gul,  and  mother  of  Urien  Rheged. 

1 1 .  Tutglid  (in  quite  the  later  lists  Tudful  and  Tangwystl  are  confounded  with 

her),  wife  of  Cyngen,  and  mother  of  Brochwel  Ysgythrog. 
Daughters  not  mentioned  as  married  : — 

12.  Belyau  (possibly  Felis  of  the  Jesus  MS.,  and  Tydieu  of  the  other  lists). 

13.  Bethan  (unidentified). 

14.  Ki-in  (Ceinwen). 

15.  Keneython  (Cynheiddon). 

1 6.  Kerdych  (Ceindrych). 

17.  Clydei  (Clydai). 

1 8.  Duyn  (Dwynwen). 

19.  Eiliueth  (Eluned). 

20.  Goleu  (Goleuddydd). 

21.  Guen  (Gwen). 

22.  Ilud  (the  Llud  of  the  Jesus  MS.). 

23.  Tibyei  (Tybie). 

24.  Tudeuel  (Tudfil). 

25.  Tudhistil  (Tangwystl,  otherwise  called  Tanglwst). 

We  now  give  them  as  they  occur  in  the  various  later  lists  :— 
Sons : — 

1.  Artlun.     Attlien  in  the  Jesus  MS. 

2.  Cadog.     He  is  the  Rydoch  or  ludoc  in   Cogn.  Vesp.  ;    Ridoc  in  Cogn. 

Dom.  ;    Reidoc  in  the  Jesus  MS.  ;    Radoc  in  the  Achau  (No.  4). 

3.  Cai. 

4.  Cledwyn  or  Clydwyn. 

5.  Clydog  or  Cledog.     The  son  of  Clydwyn  according  to  the  Cognatio. 

6.  Cyflefyr  or  Cyflewyr. 

7.  Cynbryd. 

8.  Cynfran. 

9.  Cynin.     No  doubt  Cunin  Cof,   the  son  of  Brychan's  daughter   Hunyd 

(Nefydd),  by  Tudwal  Befr. 

10.  Cynog.     By  Banadlined,  daughter  of  a  King  of  Powys. 

11.  Cynon,  in  the    Jesus  MS.     Cogn.  Vesp.  has  "  Kynon  qui  sanctus  est  in 

occidental!  parte  predicte  Mannie  "  ;  Cogn.  Dom.,  "  Run  ipse  sanc- 
tus ycallet  (sic)  in  Manan  "  ;  the  Jesus  MS.,  "  Runan  yssyd  yny 
(lie)  a  elwir  Manaw." 

12.  Dingad. 

13.  Dogfan,  Dogwan,  or  Doewan. 

14.  Dyfnan.     Probably  the  Dustnon  of  Achau. 

15.  Dyfrig.     By  Eurbrawst  (lolo  MSS.,  p.  119).     He  must  not  be  taken  for 

the  well-known  Dubricius  or  Dyfrig,  who  as  we  know  from  his  Vita 
was  the  son  of  Efrddyl,  daughter  of  Pepiau,  king  of  Erging,  but  his 
father's  name  is  not  mentioned. 

1 6.  Gerwyn  or  Berwyn. 

17.  Hychan. 

18.  Llecheu. 


312  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

19.  Mathaiarn.     Marthaerun  in  Cogn.  Dom.  ;    Marcharairjun  or  Marcharan- 

hun  in  the  Jesus  MS.  ;    and  Matheyrn  in  Achau. 

20.  Nefydd. 

21.  Neffei.     Possibly  the  Dedyu  or  Dettu  given  in  the  Cognatio    as  son  of 

Clydwyn.     In  lolo  MSS.,  p.  119,  he  is  said  to  have  been  a  son  by 
Proistri,  his  Spanish  wife. 

22.  Pabiali.     Papai  in  the  Jesus  MS.     Son  by  Proistri  (lolo   MSS.,  p.  119). 

23.  Pasgen.     Son  probably  by  Proistri  (lolo  MSS.,  p.  119). 

24.  Rhaint  or  Rhain. 

25.  Rhawin. 

26.  Rhun  or  Rhun  Dremrudd.     Drem  Dremrud  hi  the  Jesus  MS.  ;    Rlievn 

in  Achau.      Succeeded  his  father  as  king,  according  to  Cogn.  Dom. 

27.  Syredigon.     In  Achau  only. 

28.  a  Valath  (sic).     In  Achau  only. 
Daughters  : — 

1.  Anna.     lolo  MSS.,  p.   140,  only. 

2.  Arianwen.     The  Wrgrgen  of  the  Jesus  MS.  is  a  misscript  for  this  saint's 

name. 

3.  Bechan.     Cogn.  Dom.  ;    the  Bethan  of  Cogn.  Vesp.  ;   in  none  of  the  other 

lists. 

4.  Ceindrych.     Kerdech  in  Cogn.  Dom.  and  the  Jesus  MS. 

5.  Ceinwen. 

6.  Cenedlon. 

7.  Clydai. 

8.  Cymorth  or  Corth. 

9.  Cyneiddon.     Only  in  Cogn.  Dom.  as    Koneidon,  and   the    Jesus    MS.  as 

Ryneidon. 

10.  Dwynwen. 

11.  Eiliwedd,  Eluned,  or  Elyned.     As  Eliweet  in  Achau.     The   Almedha  of 

Giraldus  Cambrensis,  but  a  misreading. 

12.  Eleri   (properly  Meleri,   unrubricated) .     Meleri  in   Cogn.   Dom.   and  the 

Jesus  MS.  ;    Elen  in  Achau.     Daughter  by  Eurbrawst  (Lewis  Dwnn, 
ii,  p.  64). 

13.  Enfail.     Of  Merthyr  Enfail.     Her  name  has  probably  been  evolved  out 

of  the  Merthir  Euineil  of  Cogn.  Vesp.,  a  misscript  for  Tutuul,  i.e., 
the  Tudful  of  Merthyr  Tydfil. 

14.  Goleu.     Only  in  Cogn.  Dom.  as  Gloyv,  and  Achau  as  Gole.     The  same 

as  Goleuddydd. 

15.  Goleuddydd. 

1 6.  Gwawr. 

17.  Gwawrddydd. 

1 8.  Gwen. 

19.  Gwenan. 

20.  Gwenddydd. 

21.  Gwenfrewi.     Only  in  lolo  MSS.,  p.    140,  and  Achau. 

22.  Gwenlliw. 

23.  Gwladus. 

24.  Gwrgon.     Grucon  Guedu  in  Cogn.  Dom.,  and  Grugon  in  the  Jesus  MS. 

25.  Hawystl. 

26.  Lleian. 

27.  Lludd.     In  the  Jesus  MS.  only. 

28.  Mechell.     As  Marchell  in  Cogn.  Dom.,  the  Jesus  MS.,  and  Achan. 

29.  Mwynen. 

30.  Nefydd.     In  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  419  ;    Hunyd  in  Cogn.  Vesp.  ;    Nunidis  in 

Cogn.  Dom.  ;    Goleuddydd  in  the  Jesus  MS. 

31.  Nefyn.     The  Nyuen  of  Cogn.  Dom. 


S.  Brychan  313 


32.    Kliicii^iii    or    Khini-aii.      Keyngair  in  Cogn.   Dom.,   Kingar  in  the  Jesus 

MS.,  and  Kyngar  in  Achau. 
I'anglwst  or  Tangwystl.     Taghwystyl   in  the  Jesus  MS.  ;    probably  the 

Tutbistyl  of  Cogn.  Dom. 

J4.   Tudfyl.     The  Tuglit  of  Cogn.  Dom.,  and  Gutuyl  of  the  Jesus  MS. 
fudwen. 

yln'ru   or  Tybi'e. 
37.   'I'ydieu  or  Tydm. 

Nicholas  Roscarrock,  in  his  MS.  Lives  of  the  Saints,  on  the  authority 
<>t   MSS.  possessed  by  Edward  Powell,  priest,  gives  another  list  as 

follows  : — 

:— 

1 .  ( Vnawcus,  Martyr.     The  Cynog  of  the  Cognatio. 

2.  Clndwin,   and   (3)   Cledwin,    "  whoe  conquered  South  Wales,   and  had  a 

great  saint  to  his  son,  named  Clydocus."     He  duplicates  Cledwyn, 
the  Clytguin  of  Cogn.  Yesp. 

4.  Citliver.     The  ('hyl)liuer  or  Cyflewyr  of  the  other  lists. 

5.  Berwin.     This  is  Berwyn  or  Gerwyn,  the  son  of  Brynach  Wyddel  and 

grandson  of  Brychan. 

6.  Maethiarn.     Occurs   in   Cogn.   Dom.     A  saint  of  Cardiganshire. 

7.  Cinan.     The  Cynon  of  Cogn.  Vesp.,  and  son  of  Arthen  in  Cogn.  Dom. 
S.    Kembrit.     The  Cynbryd  of  the  later  lists.     A  martyr  at  Bwlch  Cynbryd, 

Llanddulas. 
«».  Cimfram.     In  the  later  lists  Cynfran,  founder  of  Llysfaen,  Denbighshire. 

10.  Hichan.     In  the  later  lists.     The  saint  of  Llanychan  in  the  Vale  of  Clwyd. 

11.  Dittrig.     In  the  later  lists. 

\2.  Cain,  a  Martyr.     This  is  the  Cai  of  the  lolo  MSS.  pedigrees. 

i.v  Allecheu.     The  Llecheu  of  the  later  lists.     Of  Llanllecheu  in  Ewyas. 

14.  Dingad.     Cogn.  Vesp.     He  was  father  of  Pasgen  according  to  Cogn.  Dom. 

15.  Cadocus,  the  Rydoch  of  Cogn.  Vesp. 

16.  Rawn  or  Rohun.     The  Rein  of  Cogn.  Vesp.,  otherwise  called  Rhun  Drem- 

rudd.     Succeeded  his  father  as  king.     See  also  25. 

17.  Arthen.     Cogn.  Vesp.     Father  of  Cynon. 

18.  Difnan.     In  the  later  lists.     Founder  of  Llanddyfnan  in  Anglesey. 
H).   Aiu\vi.     Possibly  Neffei. 

20.  Paball.     In  Cogn.  Vesp.  and  Dom.  Papay  ;    in  the  later  lists  Pabiali. 

21.  Ridorch,  and  (22)   Rodorch,   the  same  duplicated,  the  Rydoch  of  Cogn. 

Vesp. 

23.  Caradocus.     This  is  Caradog  Freichfras,  great-grandson  of  Brychan,  by 

his  granddaughter  Gwen  of  Talgarth. 

24.  Helim,  the  Helye  or  Helic  of  Leland  and  William  of  Worcester. 

25.  Run.     The  same  as  Rawn,  No.   16. 

26.  Japan.     Not  recorded  elsewhere. 

27.  Doguan.     The  Dogfan  of  the  later  lists.     A  martyr  at  Merthyr  Dogfan, 

in  Pembrokeshire  ;    founder  of  Llanrhaiadr  ym  Mochnant. 
Aunllach.     A   mistake   of    Roscarrock,    who   has   inserted   the   father   of 
Brychan  among  his  sons. 

29.  Lhoiau.     Possibly  the  Llecheu  of  the  later  lists. 

30.  Pashen.     Paschen  in  Cogn.  Vesp.     Son  of  Dingad,  according  to  Cogn. 

Dom. 

31.  Idia.     Not  found  elsewhere. 

3J.   Io.     The  lona  or  loannes  of  Leland  and  William  of  Worcester. 


314  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Daughters  : — 

1.  Gladus,  i.e.  Gwladys,  in  all  lists.     Wife  of  Gwynllyw  and  mother  of  Catwg. 

2.  Gwawr.     In  all  lists.     Wife  of  Elicit  Lyclanwyn  and  mother  of  Llywarch 

Hen. 

3.  Eleri.     The  Meleri  of  Cogn.,  but  Eleri  in  later  lists  ;    wife  of  Ceredig. 

4.  Arianwen.     In  all  lists. 

5.  Triduael.     The  Tudeuel  of  Cogn.  Vesp.  Martyr  at  Merthyr  Tydlil. 

6.  Winifred,  "  called  in  some  coppies  Gurgon."     The  Gwenfrewi  of  one  list  of 

Brychan's  daughters,  in  which  Gwrgon  also  occurs  (lolo  MSS.,  p.  140). 

7.  Cindreth,   "  of  some  Mechel,"   i.e.    Marchell  or  Mechell,   wife  of  Gwrin 

Farfdrwch  (Cogn..  Vesp.).     Her  name,  however,  matches  Ceindrych 
of  the  later  lists. 

8.  Newin,  i.e.  Nyuein  or  Nefyn,  wife  of  Cynfarch   Gul,  and  mother  of  Urien 

Rheged. 

9.  Neuidh,  the  Hunyd  or  Nunidis  of  Cogn.,  wife  of  Tudwal  Befr,  and  mothe 

of  Cynin. 

10.  Gleian,  i.e.  Luan  or  Lleian,  wife  of  Gafran,  and  mother  of  Aeddan  Fradog. 

11.  Macella.     See  7. 

12.  Roscarrock  omits  this  name  ;    was  probably  unable  to  read  it. 

13.  Gweadhydh,  "  in  some  coppies  Gwawardhydh,  the  mother  of  Kenedir." 

The  Gwenddydd  of  the  later  list.     The  mother  of  Cyndir  was  Cein- 
gair  (Rhiengar). 

14.  Goliudhed.     The  Goleu  or  Goleuddydd  of  the  other  lists. 

15.  MekLada,  "  mother  of  Cinfinn,"  not  identified. 

1 6.  Keingir,    "  mother   of   St.    Kenedar."     The   Ceingair    (Rhiengar)    of 

other  lists. 

17.  Gwen,  "  mother  of  Sannan,  the  wife  of  Malgo  Venedoticus."     Gwen 

Talgarth  was  granddaughter  of  Brychan,  and  wife  of  Llyr  Me 
Cogn.  Vesp.  gives  Sanan  as  daughter  of  Tudglid,  wife  of  Cyngen. 

1 8.  Cenelin.     The  Cyneiddon  or  Cenedlon  of  the  lists. 

19.  Clodfaith,    probably   Clydai.     Clotfaith   occurs   once   in   the   Welsh  list 

(Myv.  Arch.,  p.  426),  where  she  is  confused  with  Gwen  of  Talgarth. 

20.  Hawistle,  and   (30)   Hudwistle,  reduplications  of  Hawystl  or  Tangwystl 

and  Tutbistyl  (Cogn.  Dom.). 

21.  Towen.     A  blunder  for  Gwen. 

22.  Tibies,  i.e.  Tybieu.     Martyr  at  Llandebie. 

23.  Enuael.     The  Enfail  of  the  later  lists.     Probably  a  mistake  for  Tudful 

(Tydfil). 

24.  Elinedh,  "  whom  Giraldus  calleth  Almedha." 

25.  Elida,  the  Ilud  of  Cogn.  Vesp.  and  Llud  of  the  Jesus  MS.     She  is  called 

Juliana  by  Leland  and  William  of  Worcester. 

26.  Tideu.     The  Tydeu  or  Tydieu  of  the  later  lists. 

27.  Diganwen,  and  (28)  Dwinwen,  "  July  13,"  are  Dwynwen.     January  25th 

is  Festival  of  S.  Dwynwen;    July  I3th,  of  S.  Dogfan  or  Doewan. 

29.  Conoin,  no  other  than  Ceinwen,  or  Cain,  the  celebrated  S.  Keyne. 

30.  See  20. 

31.  Malken.     Probably  Mechell  or  Marchell. 

There  is  a  Life  of  S.  Ninnocha,  or  Gwengastle,  a  saint  of 
Brittany,  contained  in  the  Cartulary  of  Quimperle,  that  states  she  was 
a  daughter  of  Brychan,  and  that  her  mother's  name  was  Meneduc  : — 

Quidam  vir  nobilis  fuit  in  Combronensia  regione,  Brochan  nomine,  ex  genere 
Gurthierni,  rex  honorabilis  valde  in  totam  Britanniam  .  .  .  Ipse  Brochanus 
accepit  uxorem  ex  genere  Scottorum, ,  liliam  Constantini'regis,  ex  stirpe  Julian! 
Caesaris,  Meneduc  nomine. 


S.  Brychan  315 


The  Life  was  written  in  1130,  and  is  of  little  value.  It  teems 
with  blunders.  The  regio  Combronensia  is  probably  Cambria,  and 
not  Cumbria  or  Cumberland,  as  Mr.  Egerton  Phillimore  supposes.1 
The  Gurthiern  to  whom  Brochan  is  akin  is  described  in  the  Life 
of  that  saint,  in  the  same  Cartulary,  as  son  of  Bonus,  son  of  Glou 
(Glywys),  and  traced  back  to  Outham  (Eudaf  ?),  son  of  Maximus 
(Macsen  Wledig). 

The  wife  from  the  Scots,  or  Irish,  is  a  daughter  of  Constantine. 
The  writer  of  the  Life  lived  in  trie  twelfth  century,  when  it  was 
forgotten  that  Scot  signified  Irish  :  and,  as  he  knew  that  there  had 
been  a  Constantine  of  Scotland,  he  made  Brychan  marry  a  daughter 
of  the  King  of  Alba  of  that  name.  In  the  Life,  S.  Patrick  sends 
Germanus  to  the  court  of  Brochan,  but  he  is  also  visited  by  S.  Columcille 
from  Hy.  The  Germanus  who  did  go  to  Wales  died  Bishop  of  Man 
in  474  (not  he  of  Auxerre,  who  died  448),  and  S.  Columcille  in  598. 
Brychan  can  hardly  have  lived  later  than  500  ;  consequently,  we  have 
here  a  pretty  confusion.  Brychan's  wife  Meneduc,  and  his  daughter 
Gwengastle,  or  Xinnocha,  are  unknown  to  the  Welsh. 

These  various  lists  by  no  means  exhaust  the  number  of  children 
attributed  to  Brychan  by  the  Welsh  ;  e.g.  in  the  Demetian  Calendar  2 
four  more  are  mentioned  :  two  sons,  Gwynan  and  Gwynws  ;  and  two 
daughters,  Call  wen  and  Gwenfyl.3 

Brychan  is  said  to  have  had  three  wives.  In  Cogn.  Vesp.  their  names 
are  given  as  Prawst,4  Rhibrawst,  and  Proistri ;  and  in  Cogn.  Dom. 
as  Eurbrawst,  Rhybrawst,  and  Proestri.  The  last-named  is  elsewhere 
given  as  Peresgri  and  Prosori.5  It  is  stated  in  the  lolo  MSS.9 
that  Rhybrawst,  his  first  wife,  was  his  cousin,  being  the  daughter  of 
Meurig  ab  Tewdrig.  Eurbrawst  was  "  a  daughter  of  a  prince  of 
Cornwall  "  by  "an  emperor  of  Rome."  7  Proistri,  his  third  wife, 
was  a  Spaniard.8 

According  to  Welsh  hagiology,  Brychan's  family  forms  one  of  the 
Three  Saintly  Tribes  of  Britain,  the  other  two  being  those  of  Cunedda 

1  Y  Cymmrodor,  xi,  p.   100. 

2  Denoted  S. 

1  Among  other  names  and  forms  occurring  in  Peniarth  MSS.  74,  75,  and  178, 
the  following  :  Sons — Avallach,  Kaian,  Kain,  Heilin,  Lloyan,  Llonio,  Pabal, 
derch  ;  Daughters — Keindec,  Clodfaith,  Goleuvedd,  Gwenllian,  Tudwystl. 

the  Calendars  vn.  Peniarth  MSS.  187  and  2 19  and  Llyfr  Plygain  of  1618,  against 
ember  i,  we  have  another  daughter,  Gwenrhiw. 

1  Another  Prawst  was  wife  of  Einion  Yrth,  the  son  of  Cunedda.  Another 
pound,  Onbrawst,  occurs. 

6  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  418  ;    lolo  MSS.,  pp.  118,  119. 

•  P.  147  ;   on  p.  119  she  is  said  to  have  been  Eurbrawst. 

7  Dwnn,  Heraldic  Visitations,  ii,  p.  64. 
»  lolo  MSS.,  p.   119. 


3  1 6  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

and  Caw.  The  most  powerful  and  influential  of  the  three  was  Cu- 
nedda's,  and  Brychan's  next.  His  was  the  most  Goidelic.  One  of  the 
Triads  credits  him  with  having  "  given  his  children  and  grandchildren 
a  liberal  education,  so  that  they  might  be  able  to  show  the  Faith  in 
Christ  to  the  Nation  of  the  Welsh,  wherever  they  were  without  the 
Faith."  x  This  Triad  has  been  adduced  to  show  how  the  names  of 
some  of  the  grandchildren  have  crept  into  the  lists.  "  The  sons  of 
Brychan  were  Saints  in  the  Corau  of  Garmon  and  Illtyd  ;  and  they 
afterwards  formed  a  Cor  with  Bishop  Dyfrig  in  the  Wig  on  the  Wye,"  '' 
that  is,  Hentland,  in  Herefordshire,  the  foundation  of  which  is  ascribed 
to  Brychan. 3  Brynach  the  Goidel,  who  married  his  daughter  Cymorth, 
or  Corth,  is  said  to  have  come  over  with  him  to  this  Island,  and  to 
have  been  his  confessor  (periglawr)  .4 

Welsh  tradition  does  not  strictly  confine  Brychan's  children  to  Wales. 
We  are  told  that  Neffei,  Pabiali,  and  Pasgen,  his  sons  by  his  Spanisl 
wife,  went  to  Spain.     Cadog  was  buried  in  France,  and  Dyfnan  in 
Ireland.     Berwyn,  or  Gerwyn,  founded  a  church  in  Cornwall.     Nefydd 
was  a  bishop  in  the  North  ;  and  Cynon  went  to  Manaw. 

Mr.  Copeland  Borlase  is  too  sweeping  when  he  says  that  the  children 
of  Brychan  were  merely  natives  of  the  country  over  which  Brychan 
once  ruled,  and  that  they  might  be  regarded  in  much  the  same  way 
when  we  speak  of  the  Children  of  Israel ;  5  and  we  believe  the  Cognati 
de  Brychan  to  be  too  early  and  trustworthy  a  document  to  enabk 
us  to  quite  dismiss  the  whole  family  as    a  "  mythical    progeny." 
Dray  ton,  whilst  not  denying  the  existence  of  twenty-four  daughters  to 
Brychan,  says  that  they  all  underwent  metamorphosis  by  becoming 
so  many  rivers.     He  is  very  probably  incorporating  some  tradition, 
now  lost.     He  says  : — 

For  Brecan  was  a  Prince  once  fortunate  and  great 

(Who,  dying,   lent  his  name  to  that  his  nobler  seat) 

With  twice  twelue  daughters  blest,  by  one  and  onely  wife  : 

Who  for  their  beauties  rare,  and  sanctitie  of  life, 

To  Riuers  were  transform 'd  ;    whose  pureness  doth  declare 

How  excellent  they  were,  by  beeing  what  they  are  : 

Who  dying  virgins  all,  and  Riuers  now  by  Fate, 

To  tell  their  former  loue  to  the  vnmaried  state, 

To  Seuerne  shape  their  course,  which  now  their  forme  doth  beare  ; 

Ere  shee  was  made  a  flood,  a  virgine  as  they  were, 

And  from  the  Irish  seas  with  feare  they  still  doe  flie  : 

So  much  they  yet  delight  in  mayden  companie.7 

1  Myv.  Arch.,  p.  402.  z  lolo  MSS.,  p.   120. 

3  Ibid.,  p.   121.  4  Ibid.,  pp.   121,   140. 

5  Age  of  the  Saints,  p.   147. 

6  Prof.  Hugh  Williams,  Gildas,  p.  27. 

T   Polyolbion,  Second  Part,  p.  57,  ed.   1622. 


S.  Brychan  317 

It  cannot  be  believed  that  the  reputed  children  of  Brychan  were 
all  really  his.  Welsh  hagiology,  as  in  the  case  of  Cunedda  and  Caw, 
designates  them  his  gwelygordd,  a  term  which,  in  the  Welsh  Laws, 
means  a  tribe  derived  from  one  common  ancestor ;  and  in  the  Welsh 
Tribal  System,  the  gwely  was  the  family-group,  embracing  sons,  grand- 
sons, and  great-grandsons.  Some  of  those  reputed  to  be  sons  of 
Brychan  are  known  to  have  been  grandchildren  ;  and  allowance  must 
also  be  made  for  duplications,  of  which  there  are  clearly  some,  as  also 
for  blunders  on  the  part  of  copyists.  This  will  considerably  reduce  the 
number  of  his  progeny,  as  they  appear  in,  especially,  the  later  lists. 

In  any  enumeration,  however,  of  the  children  of  Brychan,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  there  were  several  persons  of  the  name  known  to 
Celtic  hagiology.  A  King  Brychan,  with  many  children,  who  all, 
or  nearly  all,  became  saints,  figures  in  Cornish,  Breton,  and  Irish,  as 
well  as  Welsh,  hagiology.  Mr.  Egerton  Phillimore  has  endeavoured 
to  show1  that  the  best  authenticated  children  in  the  Welsh  lists  are 
pretty  clearly  the  children  of  at  least  two  distinct  Brychans :  one 
belonging  to  Breconshire,  the  other  to  what  is  now  Southern  Scotland. 
The  Breton  Brychan  he  traces  to  Scotland,2  and  thinks  that  he  admits 
of  being  plausibly  identified  with  one  of  the  Brychans  who  together 
made  up  the  composite  Brychan  of  Welsh  hagiology.  The  names  of 
most  of  his  children  are  not  preserved  ;  but  Mr.  Phillimore  assigns 
to  him  the  children  who  are  in  the  Cognatio  said  to  be  connected 
with  Cumbria  or  its  neighbourhood.  These  are  (i)  his  sons  Cynon, 
Khun,  and  Arthen,  and  his  daughter  Bethan,  or  Bechan,  all  said 
to  be  commemorated  or  buried  in  Mannia  or  Manaw  (no  doubt  Manaw 
Gododin,  stretching  all  along  both  sides  of  the  Forth  below  Stirling)  ; 
and  (2)  his  four  daughters  who  are  said  to  have  married  Northern 
princes,  viz.  Gwrygon,  Gwawr,  Nyfain,  and  Lluan.  The  statement 
respecting  Brychan  *s  burial,  he  thinks,  must  needs  also  refer  to  a 
Northern,  not  to  a  strictly  Welsh,  Brychan.  To  this  it  might  be  added 
that  there  is  some  evidence  of  a  Brycheiniog  also  in,  apparently, 
Southern  Scotland.3 

The  tract  on  the  "  Mothers  of  the  Saints  "  in  Ireland,  attributed 
to  Oengus  the  Culdee,  but  actually  by  MacFirbiss,  says  of  Cynog, 
whom  it  calls  Canoe :  "  Dina  was  his  mother,  daughter  of  a 

1  y    Cymmrodor,    xi,    pp.     100,     101,    125.       The    Brychan    ab    Gwyngon 
mentioned  in  the  note  in   Cambro-British  Saints,   p.  606,   is  a  misreading  for 
Bricon,  son  of  Guincon  (Book  of  Llan  Ddv,  p.  203). 

2  The  only  authority  for  this  is  the  Vita  Stce.  Ninnochce  ;   but  it  does  not  state 
this,  and  is  a  most  unreliable  document.     See  what  has  already  been  said  thereon. 

3  Skene,  Four  Ancient  Books,  ii,  p.  150. 


n 

?    /  '2.          ul—^    J  *-v^~> 

318  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Saxon  king.  She  was  the  mother  of  ten  sons  by  Bracan,  king 
of  Britain,  son  of  Bracha  Meoc  :  to  wit,  S.  Mogoroc  of  Struthuir ; 
S.  Mochonoc  the  Pilgrim  of  Cill-Mucraisse  and  of  Gelinnia,  in  the 
region  of  Delbhna  Eathra  ;  Dirad  of  Edardruim  ;  Duban  of  Rinn- 
dubhain  alithir ;  Carennia  of  Cill-Chairinne  ;  Cairpre  the  Pilgrim  of 
Cill-Cairpre,  Isiol  Farannan  ;  lust  in  Slemnach  Albania? ;  Elloc  of 
Cill-Moelloc  juxta  Loch  Garman  ;  Pianus  of  Cill-Phian  in  Ossory ; 
Coeman  the  Pilgrim  in  Cill-Coemain  in  regione  Gesille  and  elsewhere. 
And  she  was  also  the  mother  of  Mobeoc  of  Gleann  Geirf ;  for  he  also 
was  the  son  of  Brachan,  son  of  Bracha  Meoc."  3 

We  will  now  give  the  list  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Brychan  who 
were  reputed  to  have  settled  in  East  Cornwall. 

William  of  Worcester,  in  1478,  visited  Cornwall,  and  extracted  th 
following  from  the  Acts  of  S.  Nectan,  in  a  MS.  he  saw  on  S. 
Michael's  Mount.  It  has  been  printed  by  Nasmith,  but  not  correctly. 
We  have  been  able  to  collate  it  with  the  original  MS.  preserved  in 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  and  we  give  the  revised  extract : — 

Brokanus  in  partibus  Walliarum  regulus,  fide  et  morum  &c.  per  Gladewysam 
uxorem  ejus  genuit  24  filios  et  filias,  et  hiis  nominibus  vocabantur  :    (i)  Nectanus, 
(2)  Johannes,  (3)  Endelient,  (4)  Menefrede,  (5)  Delyan,  (6)  Tetha,  (7)  Maben, 
Wentu,   (9)  Wensent,   (10)  Marwenna,   (n)  Wenna,   (12)  Juliana,   (13)  Yse,  (\t 
Morwenna,   (15)  Wynip,  (16)  Wenheder,   (17)  Cleder,  (18)   Kery,  (19)  Jona,  (: 
Helye,   (21)  Canauc,    (22)   Kenheuder,    (23)   Adwen,   (24)  Tanclanc.      Omnes 
filii  et  filiae  postea  fuerunt  Sancti  et  Martires  vel  Confessores,  et  in  Devonia,  v< 
Cornubia,  heremeticam  vitam  ducentes  ;    sicut  enim  inter  omnes  quorum  vit 
meritis  et  virtutum  miraculis  Cornubiensis  vel  Devoniensis  irradiatur  ecclesu 
beatus  Nectanus  primo  genitus  fuit,  ita  caeteris  omnibus  honestate  vitae  maj 
fuit,  et  prodigiorum  choruscitate  excellentior  extitit. 

Fuit  in  ultimis  Walliarum  partibis  vir  dignitate  regulus,  fide  et  morum  hones- 
tate praeclarus,  nomine  Brokannus,  a  quo  provincia  ipsa  nomen  sortita  nuncu- 
patur  Brokannok  usque  in  praesentem  diem  ;  hie  itaque  Brokannus,  antequam 
ex  uxore  sua  Gladewysa  filium  vel  filiam  genuisset,  in  Hiberniam  profectus  est, 
uxorem  suam  et  omnia  sua  relinquens  ;  timuerat  enim  ne  si  cum  uxore  sua 
remaneret,  generacionem  ex  ea  procrearet,  qua  impediretur  ne  libere  Domino- 
servire  potuisset.  Mansit  igitur  in  Hibernia  24  annis,  bonis  operibus  intendens  ; 
postea  autem  visitare  patriam  suam  volens,  rediit  in  Walliam,  ubi  uxorem 


; 


1  Colgan,  Ada  SS.  Hib.,  i,  p.  311.  Of  these  the  Martyrology  of  Donegal 
gives  "  Dubhan,  son  of  Brachan,  King  of  Britain,  by  Din,  daughter  of  the  King 
of  Saxon-land,"  and  "  Moghorog,  son  of  Brachan,  king  of  Britain,  son  of  Bra- 
chaineoc  by  Dina,  who  was  also  mother  of  nine  other  saints."  Shearman  got 
his  Brachaineoc  from  this.  But  the  martyrologist  misunderstood  the  title 
Brychan  Brycheiniog  for  Brychan,  son  of  Brycheiniog,  instead  of  Prince  of 
that  territory. 

2  William  of  Worcester  wrote  a  most  atrocious  hand,  and  scribbled  in  hi* 
note-book  as  he  saw  anything  that  struck  him.  He  probably  intended  to  have 
made  a  fair  copy,  but  never  did  this.  Nicolas  Roscarrock  had  a  transcript  sent 
him  from  the  MS.  of  such  portions  as  concerned  the  Cornish  Saints,  and  we  are 
able  to  check  off  our  reading  of  the  names  by  the  reading  sent  to  him. 


IT. 


, 

S.  Brychan  319 

suam  ad  hue  viventem  invenit.  Post  aliquantulum  autem  tcmporis  sicut  Deus 
preordinaverat,  licet  ipse  homo  non  proposuisset,  uxorem  suam  cognovit,  ex 
qua  postea  24  filios  et  filias  genuit.  Videns  Dei  virtutem  cui  nemo  resistere 
potest,  ait,  "  Jam  Deus  in  me  vindicavit  quod  contra  disposicionem  volun- 
tatis  rjus  venire  frustra  disposui ;  quia  enim  24  annis  ab  uxore  mea  ne  sobolem 
procrcarcm  illicite  effugi,  dedit  mihi  pro  quolibet  anno  illicitac  continent!* 
sobolem  imam  quia  jam  24  filios  et  filias  post  24  annos  ab  eadem  uxore  suscepi." 
Pradicti  autem  24  filii  et  filiae,  quos  praedictus  Brokanus  ex  uxore  sua  Gladewysa 
gen  u  it  his  nominibus  vocabantur,  Xectanus  et  ca?tera. 

(iwladys  was  not  the  name  of  any  wife  ascribed  to  Brychan  in  the 
Welsh  accounts,  but  she  was  his  daughter,  and  one  of  his  most  eminent. 
She  became  the  wife  of  Gwynllyw  Filwr,  and  mother  of  St.  Catwg. 
The  account  given  by  William  of  Worcester  supplies  an  omission  in 
the  Welsh  Cognatio.  It  shows  us  that  Brychan  did  visit  Ireland, 
though  probably  for  a  very  different  reason  from  that  assigned  by  the 
monkish  writer.  He  went  either  to  assert  his  rights  in  Ireland,  or  to 
collect  more  Irishmen  to  surround  him,  and  to  extend  his  kingdom  in 
Jtfales. 

Leland,  in  his  Collectanea  (iv,  p.  153),  gives  a  list  of  the  children 
of  Brychan  from  a  legend  of  S.  Nectan,  which  he  found  at  Hartland. 
His  list  is  this  :  (i)  Nectan,  (2)  Joannes,  (3)  Endelient,  (4)  Menfre, 
(5)  Dilic,  (6)  Tedda,  (7)  Maben,  (8)  Weneu,  (9)  Wensent,  (10)  Mere- 
wenna,  (n)  Wenna,  (12)  Juliana,  (13)  Yse,  (14)  Morwenna,  (15)  Wymp, 
(16)  \Venheder,  (17)  Cleder,  (18)  Keri,  (19)  Jona,  (20)  Kanauc,  (21) 
Kcrl lender  (Kenheuder),  (22)  Adwen,  (23)  Helic,  (24)  Tamlanc. 

\\V  will  now  concern  ourselves  only  with  those  children  or  grand- 
children of  Brychan  who  are  named  in  the  lists  of  William  of  Worcester 
and  Leland,  both  of  which  we  have  quoted. 

\\V  will  take  the  latter  list  as  our  basis  : — 

1.  Nectan  is  the  Saint  of  Hartland.     He  is  not  included  in  the  Welsh  lists. 

2.  Joannes  and  (19)  Jona  are  clearly  the  same.     This  is  the   Ive  of  S.  Ive  ; 

his  settlement  there  is  in  connection  with  those  of  his  cousins,  S. 
Cleer,  substituted  for  Clether,  and  S.  Keyne. 

3.  Endelient.     This  is  misprinted  or  miswritten  by  Nasmith  in  his  William 

of  Worcester  list  as  Sudbrent.  She  is  Cenedlon  in  the  Welsh  lists. 
Her  foundation  is  St.  Endelion. 

4.  Menfre  or  Menefrida,  the  foundress  of  S.  Minver,  may  be  Mwynen,   the 

daughter  of  Brynach  the  Goidel,  and  Cymorth  or  Corth,  the 
daughter  of  Brychan. 

5.  Dilic  is  given  by  William  of  Worcester  as  Delyan,  and  is  possibly  the  same 

as  (3)  Endelion. 

6.  Tedda  in  William  of   Worcester.     Tetha  is  S.  Teath,  pronounced    Teth. 

She  is  actually  S.  Itha,  but  may  be  Tydieu. 

7.  Maben  is  S.  Mabenna  of  S.  Mabyn,  also  unknown  to  the  Welsh. 

8.  Weneu  or  Wentu  is  the  same  as  (11)  Wenna.     This  is  Gwen.     Gwen  of 

Talgarth  was  a  daughter  or  granddaughter  of  Brychan,  who  married 
Llyr  Merini,  and  was  the  mother  of  Caradog  Freichfras,  who  cer- 
tainly was  in  Cornwall,  in  the  Callington  district. 

. 


3  2  o  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

9.  Wensent  cannot  now  be  traced  ;    probably  same  as  (8)  and  ( 1 1 )  ;    Wen- 
sant,  or  S.  Wenn. 

10.  Merewenna  and    (14)    Morwenna  are   doubtless   the  same,   patroness  of 

Marhamchurch  and  of  Morwenstow.     Not  known  to  the  Welsh. 

11.  (See  8  and  9.) 

12.  Juliana  is  the  Juliot  of  North  Cornwall  ;    her  name  probably  occurs  as 

Ilucl  in  the  Cognatio. 

13.  Yse,  clearly  the  patron  of  S.  Issey.     This  is  no  doubt  a  mistake   of  the 

legend  writer.  The  Episcopal  Registers  gave  S.  Itha  as  patroness 
of  S.  Issey,  and  she  was  an  Irish  saint.  Her  cult  may  have  been 
introduced  by  the  Brychan  family. 

14.  (See  10.) 

15.  Wymp  is   S.  Wenappa,  the   Gwenabwy  or  Gwenafwy  of  the  Welsh  lists 

a  daughter  of  Caw.     Patroness  of  Gwennap  (see  16). 

1 6.  Wenheder  is  the  same  as  Wenappa  (see  15). 

17.  Cleder  is  possibly  Clydog,  who  was  grandson  of  Brychan  and  son  of  C'lyil- 

wyn.     He  is  S.  Clether  in  Cornwall,  probably  also  S.  Cleer. 

1 8.  Keri  is  clearly  intended  for  Curig,  patron  of  Egloskerry.     His  ancestry 

is  unknown,  but  as  he  settled  in  the  Brecon  colony  he  was  reckoned 
as  a  son  of  Brychan. 

19.  (See  2.) 

20.  Kanauc.     By  this  Leland  means  Cynog.     He  was  Brychan's  illegitimate 

son  by  the  daughter  of  the  Prince  of  Powys.  He  was  killed 
at  Merthyr  Cynog,  in  Brecknockshire.  Probably  patron  of  S. 
Pinnock. 

21.  Kerheuder  in  William  of  Worcester  is  Nasmith's  misreading  for   Ken- 

heuder,  i.e.,  Cynidr,  S.  Enoder,  who  was  the  son  of  one  of  Brychan's 
daughters. 

22.  Adwen  or  S.  Athewenna  is  probably  Dwyn  or  Dwynwen,  a  virgin,  daugl 

of  Brychan.     Ok  ' 

23.  Helic  or  Helye.     The  patron  of  Egloshayle  is  intended. 

24.  Tamlanc  is  given  by  William  of  Worcester  as  Tanclanc.     The   pati 

of  Talland  is  S.  Elen.  This  may  be  the  Elined  or  Almedha  of  the 
Welsh  lists,  and  the  MSS.  may  have  had  "  Elena  cujus  ecclesia  in 
Tamlanc,"  and  both  transcribers  may  have  committed  the  same  care- 
less blunder  of  taking  the  name  of  the  place  for  that  of  the  patron. 
Talland  =  (Sain)t  Elined,  as  Awdry  became  Tawdry. 

We  have  accordingly  been  able  to  account  for  about  seventeen 
persons  out  of  the  twenty-four  names. 

Nicolas  Roscarrock  gives  April  6  as  the  day  of  S.  Brychan.  The 
saint  is  represented  in  fifteenth  century  glass,  with  a  lap  full  of  children, 
at  S.  Neot,  Cornwall. 

In  the  lolo  MSS  1  he  is  said  to  have  founded  the  church  of  Gwenfo 
or  Wenvoe,  now  dedicated  to  S.  Mary,  in  Glamorganshire. 

There  is  a  place  called  Llys  Brychan  (his  Court),  near  the  site  of  the 
ruined  church  of  Llangunnock,  or  Llangynog,  near  Llansoy,  Mon- 
mouthshire, and  also  another  under  Garn  Goch,  in  Carmarthenshire, 
as  already  mentioned. 

Dafydd  ab  Gwilym,  the  contemporary  of  Chaucer,  in  his  well-known 

1  P.  221. 


S.  BRYCHAN. 

From  Stained  Glass   Window,  S.  Neot,  Cornwall. 


S.  Brynach  321 

poem  addressed  to  S.  Dwymven,  implores  her  to  grant  him  his  request 
"  for  the  sake  of  the  soul  of  Brychan  Yrth  with  the  mighty  arms."1 

We  fear  that  we  have  been  able  to  throw  but  little  light  on  a  pecu- 
liarly obscure  topic,  but  it  may  be  of  some  avail  to  have  collected 
together  all  that  is  recorded  relative  to  this  most  shadowy  but  prolific 
father  of  a  saintly  family. 


S.   BRYNACH,  Abbot,  Confessor 

THE  authorities  for  the  life  of  this  Saint  are,  a  Life  in  MS.  Cotton., 
lint.  Mus.  Vespasian  A.  xiv,  a  Life  possibly  drawn  up  in  the  tenth 
or  eleventh  century,  and  an  epitome  of  the  same  in  Capgrave's  Nova 
Legenda,  which  is  really  due  to  John  of  Tynemouth  circ.  1360,  whose 
MS.  (Tiberius  E.  i)  was  partly  destroyed  by  fire  in  1731,  but  is  still  in 
most  portions  legible.  From  the  minuteness  of  the  local  details  it 
is  obvious  that  it  was  composed  by  a  Kernes  man.  Further  informa- 
tion is  obtained  from  the  Welsh  Genealogies  of  the  Saints. 

The  Life  seems  to  imply  that  Brynach  was  a  "  son  of  Israel,"  2 
but  this  may  mean  no  more  than  that  he  was  of  the  true  Israel  of  God, 
a  Christian  by  family.  The  Welsh  call  him  a  Gwyddel  or  Irishman. 
Hr  was  "soul-friend  "  (periglor,  as  it  is  in  Welsh),  i.e.,  confessor  and 
chaplain,  to  Brychan,  the  Irish  conqueror  and  colonist  of  Breck- 
nock, and  came  with  him  to  Britain.  He  married  Brychan  's  daughter, 
<  01  th  or  Cymorth,  and  by  her  had  a  son,  Berwyn,  and  three  daughters, 
Mwynen,  Gwenan,  and  Gwenlliw.3 

Leaving  his  native  land,  Brynach  went  on  pilgrimage  to  Rome  to 
>it  the  tombs  of  the  Apostles,  and  whilst  there,  according  to  the 
id,  slew  a  pestiferous  monster.     Returning  from  his  pilgrimage  he 
iited  Brittany,  where  he  remained  for  several  years,4  but  he  has  left 
;re  no  permanent  trace  of  his  presence.     Then  he  departed  ;  accord- 
to  the  legend  he  floated  over  the  sea  on  a  stone.5    This  means  no 


,  ed.  1789  ,p.  156.      The  epithet  Gyrth  seems  to  mean  "touched"  or 
-icki-n  "  ;   cf.  Einion  Yrth,  son  of  Cunedda,  whose  name  occurs  as  Enniaun  Girt 
the  very  early  pedigrees  in  Harleian  MS.  3859. 

1  "  Elegit  sibi  Dominus  virum  de  filiis  Israel  juxta  cor  suum.  Bernaci  nom- 

Vita,  Cambro-British  Saints,  p.   5.     The  Life  in  Capgrave   says  only  "  ab 

lustri  siquidem  prosapia  ortus,  divitiis  admodum  locupletatus  extitit,  et  patri- 

loniis  dilatus,"  ed.  Horstman,  Oxf.,  1901,  Part  i,  p.  114;    from  the  Vita,  "  ab 

>stri  siquidem  parentum  prosapia  ortum  ducens,"  etc. 

3  /o/<)  MSS.,  pp.  i2i,  140.     Berwyn  is  called  Gerwyn  in  the  later  genealogies. 

4  "  Minorem  Britanniam  ingressus  est,  ibi  quidem  per  multos  annos  commor- 

beneficia  potiora  magnasque  virtutes  operatus  est,"   \'ita,  p.  6. 
6  "  Sanctus  Dei  fide  plenus  ....  petram  ascendit,"  Ibid. 
VOL.    I.  Y 


322  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

more  than  that,  as  was  a  common  custom  among  the  Celtic  Saints,  he 
carried  his  lech,  or  tombstone,  about  with  him,  even  in  his  wickerwork 
boat,  wherever  he  travelled. 

He  landed  in  the  estuary  of  the  Cleddeu  at  Milford  Haven.  The 
time  was  unpropitious.  A  great  rising  had  taken  place  among  the 
Wjelsh,  aided  by  the  sons  of  Cunedda  and  by  Urien  Rheged,  against  the 
Irish  settlers  and  oppressors,  and  these  latter  were  being  expelled  from 
Wales. 

Brynach  was  an  Irishman,  and  was  looked  on  with  an  evil  eye. 
According  to  the  legend-writer's  account,  on  his  arrival  he  was  much 
harassed  by  an  impudent  woman,  who,  when  he  did  not  respond  to  her 
advances,  set  assassins  on  him  to  murder  him.  One  of  these  thrust 
a  spear  into  him,  and  grievously  wounded  him,  and  the  Saint  would 
have  been  killed  outright,  but  for  the  intervention  of  friends.  Brynach 
went  to  the  nearest  spring,  where  he  washed  his  wound,  and  the 
fountain  thenceforth  bore  the  name  of  the  Redspring,  and  was  for  long 
regarded  as  holy. 

This  story  must  be  read  in  a  different  light  from  that  in  which 
presented  by  the  biographer.  The  woman  who  pursued  the  Saint  was, 
in  all  probability,  his  wife  Cymorth.  The  Brychan  family  was  indeed 
Irish  on  the  father's  side,  but  Welsh  on  that  of  the  distaff,  and  in  the 
political  convulsion,  this  family  endeavoured  to  side  with  the  Welsh 
against  the  Irish.  They  were  unsuccessful,  and  eventually  were  also 
expelled ;  but  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  Brynach,  Cymorth 
very  probably  displeased  at  his  return,  and  desired  to  be  rid  of  him 
compromising  her  position  in  her  lands  of  Emlyn. 

With  the  account  in  the  Life,  agrees  the  still  current  legend  that 
Brynach  on  his  arrival  first  stopped  at  Llanbeudy  or  Llanboidy  (the 
Church  of  the  Cow-house)  in  Carmarthenshire,  where  he  was  denied 
other  lodging  than  a  cow-shed,  and  the  Church  bears  a  name  significant 
of  his  reception.  From  thence  he  went  to  Cilymaenllwyd  (the  nook, 
or  possibly,  cell,  of  the  grey  or  holy  stone),  also  in  Carmarthenshire, 
where  he  was  refused  shelter,  and  had  to  take  refuge  under  a  grey 
stone  (maen  llwyd).  At  Llanfyrnach  in  Pembrokeshire,  however,  he 
was  better  received,  and  there  he  built  his  oratory  and  cell  by  a  spring, 
and  called  it  after  his  own  name.1  The  foundations  of  the  chapel  re- 
mian  a  small  rectangular  structure  at  some  distance  from  the  parish 
church.  The  account  of  his  settlement  here  is  given  with  some  detail 
by  the  author  of  the  Life. 

1  Fenton,  Historical  Tour  through  Pembrokeshire,  p.  482  (London,  181 1),  quoting 
Edward  Lhuyd. 


S.  Brynach  323 

rynach,  leaving  the  place  where  he  had  been  half-murdered,  went  to 
another  on  the  banks  of  the  Gwaun,  the  river  that  flows  into  the  sea 
at  Fishguard,  and  which  gives  to  this  town  the  Welsh  name  of  Aber- 
gwaun.  Here  was  a  stone  bridge,  and  the  place  is  still  called  Pontfaen. 
But  the  opposition  he  met  with  drove  him  away.  The  legend-writer 
says  that  evil  spirits  made  life  there  insupportable.  Then  he  departed 
to  the  banks  of  the  Nyfer,  that  flows  through  the  valley  of  Nevern,1 
above  Newport  ;  but  there  he  halted  only  four  days.  He  and  his 
companions  cut  down  trees,  but  the  Welsh  inhabitants  hauled  them 
off  as  soon  as  they  were  hewn  down.  This  compelled  Brynach  again 
to  shift  his  quarters,  and  he  moved  to  the  banks  of  the  Caman,  and 
lighted  a  fire  there,  by  which  he  and  his  companions  spent  the  night. 

Now  the  lord  of  that  country  was  Clechre  or  Clether,2  his  wife's 
kinsman,  advanced  in  years,  God-fearing,  and  the  father  of  twenty  sons. 
Early  in  the  morning  Clechre  rose,  and  seeing  smoke  rising  where  he 
knew  there  was  no  tref  or  farm,  he  sent  his  sons  to  inquire  who  had 
settled  there  without  his  leave  ;  for  to  light  a  fire  on  land  without  the 
consent  of  the  chief  was  an  act  of  possession-taking.  The  sons  of 
Clechre  came  to  where  Brynach  and  his  monks  were  crowded  about  the 
tin  .  ;ind  ordered  them  to  the  presence  of  their  father.  A  recognition 
ensued,  and  the  chief  gladly  welcomed  Brynach,  and  requested  him 
to  give  instruction  to  his  sons.  Then,  moved  by  the  exhortations  of 
Brynach,  Clechre  departed  to  Cornwall,  where  he  died.  The  stream 
Caman  is  the  crooked  brook  that  runs  through  a  glen  into  the  Nevern, 
and  Clechre's  habitation  was  probably  the  castell  on  the  little  height 
above,  where  the  earthworks  remain  to  this  day. 

Brynach  settled  at  Nevern,  a  beautiful  site,  sheltered  and  command- 
ing a  noble  view  of  Carn  Ingli,  to  the  summit  of  which  he  was  wont  to 
ascend,  there  to  spend  long  hours  in  prayer,  in  the  midst  of  the  rude 
walls  of  the  prehistoric  fortress  that  crowns  the  mountain.  There  also, 
according  to  the  legend,  he  received  the  visit  of  angels,  and  thence  the 
name  this  bold  peak  has  received.3 

This  was  not  the  only  foundation  of  Brynach.  In  spite  of  his  being 
an  Irishman,  he  so  impressed  the  people  with  reverence  that  he  was 

1  The  oldest  form  of  the  name  Xevern  is  Nant  Nimer,  which  is  the  correct 
Trading  in  the  oldest  Annales  Cambriae,  s.  a.  865. 

2  In  the  Vita,  Clechre,  in  John  of  Tynemouth  and  Capgrave,  Cletherus  ;    see 
concerning  him  under  S.  Clether.     "  Senex  cognominabatur  "  (Vita).     The  name 
is  apparently  the  Welsh  clairch  (cf.  cleiriach),  a  decrepit  old  man,  from  the  Latin 
clcricus. 

3  "  Ita  Deo  placentem  gerebat  vitam,  ut  angelorum  visione,  simul  et  allocu- 
tione  crebro  perfrui  mereretur.     Unum  et  mons  ille  in  quo  conveniebat,  in 
cujus  videlicet  pede  ecclesia  fabricata   est,   Mons  Angelorum  appellatus  est," 
Vita,  p.   10. 


324  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

first  tolerated,  and  then  accepted  as  a  man  of  God.  He  established 
churches  at  Llanfyrnach,  and  Dinas,  as  well  as  Nevern,  in  what  is  now 
Pembrokeshire.  He  was  also  the  founder  of  churches  or  chapels  at 
Henry's  Mote,  and  Pontfaen,1  near  those  already  named,  thus  forming 
a  continuous  belt  of  establishments.  Llanboidy  in  Carmarthenshire 
was  also  one  of  his  settlements,  and  he  had  a  foundation  as  well  in 
Brecknockshire  called  after  him  Llanfrynach,  and  one  in  Glamorgan- 
shire, also  called  Llanfrynach. 

The  legend  relates  that  he  had  a  cow  which  gave  such  an  abundance 
of  milk  that  he  greatly  valued  her,  and  committed  her  to  the  custody 
of  a  wolf,  "  which,  after  the  manner  of  a  well -trained  shepherd,  drove 
the  cow  every  morning  to  her  pasture,  and  in  the  evening  brought  her 
safely  home."  He  had,  it  would  seem,  a  trusty  wolf-dog,  which  the 
writer  has  converted  into  a  wolf. 

On  the  occasion  of  Maelgwn  Gwynedd  coming  south,  to  exact  dues, 
he  sent  word  to  Brynach  that  he  must  prepare  supper  for  him  and  all 
his  retainers.  This  the  abbot  positively  refused  to  do,  lest  thereby  he 
should  establish  a  precedent,  and  the  kings  should  claim  as  a  right 
to  quarter  themselves  and  their  followers  on  him. 

Maelgwn  was  very  wroth,  and  his  servants  seized  the  cow.  Thereupon 
the  wolf,  or  dog  that  tended  her,  came  whining  to  his  master.  Brynach 
went  to  Maelgwn,  recovered  his  cow,  and  arrived  at  a  compromise  with 
him.  He  agreed  to  receive  the  king  and  his  company  as  guests,  if  the 
prince  would  not  claim  hospitality  as  a  right.2  Maelgwn  was  a 
drunkard,  but  in  Brynach's  monastery  was  constrained  to  drink  only 
the  water  drawn  from  the  stream,  and  his  supper  consisted  of  wheaten 
bread,  and  doubtless  meat,  but  the  wheaten  bread  was  a  luxury 
unknown  where  barley  and  oat-cake  were  the  staple  of  food  ;  a 
legend  attached  to  this  distribution  of  wheaten  loaves ;  it  was  said 
that  Brynach  had  gathered  them  off  a  tree. 

Maelgwn  slept  in  the  monastery,  and  next  morning  said  to  the  saint, 
"  In  the  Name  of  God  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  will  exempt  thee 
for  ever  from  all  royal  tribute,"  and  he  also  made  to  him  a  grant  of 
land  that  had  been  settled  on  by  a  monk  named  Telych,  and  which, 
apparently,  Maelgwn  took  from  this  monk  to  make  it  over  to  Brynach. 
The  Life  gives  no  further  particulars  of  Brynach  save  that  he  died 
on  the  seventh  day  of  April. 

1  Rees,  in  his  Essay  on  the  Welsh  Saints,  pp.  347,  349,  following  Ecton,  ascribes 
both  to  S.  Bernard.  George  Owen,  in  his  Pembrokeshire,  p.  509,  mentions  a 
"  Capell  Burnagh"  as  existing  in  the  parishes  of  Henry's  Mote  and  Morvil. 

2  "  Sanctus  volens  se  et  suos  necnon  et  loca  sua  ex  omni  actione  libcrarc, 
asseruit  se  regi  nullam  debere  cenam,  nee  injusto  ejus  precepto  in  aliquo  vcllc 
parere,"  Ibid.,  p.  10. 


\  Brynach  325 


It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  no  mention  is  made  of  his  having 
been  in  Devon,  where  was  his  notable  foundation  of  Braunton,  and 
where,  according  to  William  of  Worcester  and  Leland,1  his  body 
lay.  We  can  hardly  doubt  but  that  his  migration  was  due  to  the 
determination  of  the  Welsh  to  be  rid-of  all  the  Irish  who  had  so  long 
oppressed  them,  and  that  they  compelled  the  ecclesiastics  of  that 
nation  to  leave,  as  well  as  the  chieftains. 

Ldand,  in  his  Itinerary?  says  :  "  I  forbear  to  speak  of  S.  Branock's 
cow,  his  staff,  his  oak,  his  well,  and  his  servant  Abel,  all  of  which  are 
lively  represented  in  a  glass  window  of  that  church  (Braunton)." 
This  has  long  perished.  Of  Abel  nothing  is  known.  The  oak  was 
fabled  to  have  supplied  the  wheaten  loaves. 

Whytford.  in  his  Martiloge,  calls  the  Saint  Bernake,  and  says  of 
him  :  "  In  Englonde  ye  feast  of  Saynt  Bernake,  a  gentylman  of  grete 
•ssyon,  which  all  he  sold  and  went  on  pylgrymage  to  Rome,  where 
by  the  waye  he  dyd  many  myracles.  And  when  he  came  to  England 
agayne  he  was  of  grete  fame,  and  moche  magnifyed,  whiche  to  declayne 
and  avoyde  he  fiedde  pryvily  into  South  Wales,  where  he  was  assayled 
with  the  tentacyon  and  persecution  of  a  lady  in  lyke  maner  as  Joseph 
in  Egypt,  but  with  grace  he  vanquyshed  and  was  of  hygh  perfectyon, 
many  myracles,  and  had  revelacyons  and  also  vysyons  of  angels." 

The  son  of  Brynach,  called  Berwyn,  is  said  to  have  settled  in 
Cornwall,  where  a  church  was  dedicated  to  him,  and  to  have  been 
slain  in  Ynys  Gerwyn.3 

In  Nevern  churchyard,  to  the  south  of  the  porch,  is  a  fine  cross 
called  Croes  Fyrnach,  about  thirteen  feet  high,  with  elaborate  inter- 
laced ornamentation.  William  Gambold,  in  a  letter  dated  September 
18,  1722,  wrote  :  "  This  S.  Byrnach  was  the  Minister  of  that  parish 
(Nevern),  and  a  great  Cronie  of  S.  David.  Now  S.  David,  whenever 
he  went  from  S.  David's  to  Llandewi  brevi,  always  called  at  Nevern, 
and  generally  lodged  a  night  with  his  friend  S.  Byrnach.  But,  one 
time,  coming  that  way  Byrnach  discovered  on  David's  shoulder  a 
prodigious  large  stone  (draught  enough  for  six  yoke  of  oxen)  carved 
all  over  with  endless  knots,  and  on  one  side  (among  or  underneath  the 
knots)  five  or  six  characters  now  unintelligible,  which  stone  David 
told  his  friend  he  designed  for  Llandewi  brevi,  as  a  Memorial  of  him: 
but  was  prevailed  upon  by  Byrnach  to  give  it  him,  and  Byrnach  fixed 


1    Leland ,  Coll.,  iii,  p.  408. 

also  Westcote,  View  of  Devonshire  in  1630,  p.  308. 
MSS.,  p.  119.     Nicolas  Roscarrock  calls  him  Berwyn  or  Breuer,  and 
says  he  suffered  at  S.  Breward,  Cornwall. 


326  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

it  on  end  on  the  south  side  of  Nevern  Church  within  a  few  yards  of  the 
church  wall." 

About  this  stone  there  is  a  tradition  that  the  cuckoo  is  wont  to 
first  sound  his  note,  perched  thereon,  on  the  day  of  the  patron  saint, 
April  7.  ''I  might  well  have  omitted,"  says  George  Owen,1  "  an 
old  report  as  yet  fresh  of  this  odious  bird,  that,  in  the  old  world, 
the  Parish  Priest  of  this  church  would  not  begin  Mass  till  this  bird, 
called  the  Citizen's  Ambassador,  had  just  appeared  and  begun  his 
note  on  a  stone  called  S.  Brynach's  Stone,  standing  upright  in  the 
churchyard  of  this  parish  ;  and,  one  year,  staying  very  long,  and  the 
priest  and  the  people  expecting  the  accustomed  coming — came  at 
last,  lighting  on  the  said  stone,  his  accustomed  preaching  place, 
and  being  scarce  able  once  to  sound  his  note,  presently  fell  dead." 

There  is  a  Ffynnon  Fyrnach  in  the  parish,  and  the  adjoining  fall  of  a 
small  rivulet  into  the  sea  is  called  Pistyll  Byrnach.  There  is  another 
Holy  Well  of  his  near  Henry's  Mote,  and  close  to  it  are  an  upright 
stone,  marked  with  a  rude  cross,  and  the  ruins  of  his  chapel. 

The  principal  well  dedicated  to  the  Saint  (referred  to  by  Giraldus 
Cambrensis),2  lies  above  the  range  of  rocks  called  Carnedd  (or 
Carnau)  Meibion  Owen,  on  the  side  of  the  mountain  by  the  roadside. 
It  is  compassed  round  with  a  curtilage  of  stone  wall,  five  or  six 
feet  thick,  called  Buarth  Byrnach,  Brynach's  Fold  or  Enclosure. 
This  is  supposed  to  have  been  his  principal  resort. 

In  the  inventory  of  Church  goods  taken  by  the  Commissioners  of 
1552  is  mentioned  "  Bronach  is  chapell,"  in  the  parish  of  Llanddarog, 
Carmarthenshire,  which  has  been  in  ruins  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years. 

Whytford,  Cressy,  and  the  Welsh  Calendars  generally  give  April  7 
as  the  day  of  S.  Brynach ;  but  according  to  Bishop  Grandisson's  Legen- 
darium  for  the  Church  of  Exeter,  his  day  in  that  diocese  is  January  7, 
and  this  is  the  day  given  by  William  of  Worcester.3 

The  Translation  of  Brynach  was  kept  on  June  26.  At  Braunton 
the  Feast  or  Revel  is  now  held  on  Whitsunday,  to  which  it  has  gravi- 
tated from  the  Feast  of  the  Translation.  In  a  good  many  places 
Brynach,  also  called  Branock,  Byrnach,  and  Bernach,  has  been  con- 
founded with,  or  supplanted  by,  S.  Bernard.  Even  at  Maenclochog 
this  is  so,  where  his  well  is  now  called  S.  Bernard's  Well. 


1  Fenton,  Pembrokeshire,  1811,  p.  542. 

2  Itin.  Camb.,  Bk.  II,  cap.  ii. 

3  Carlisle,    in   his    Topographical   Dictionary    of    Wales    (London,    1811),     s.v. 
Llanfrynach  (Brecknockshire),  gives  the  parish  Wake  as  the  Sunday  next  after 
Easter. 


S.  Brynack  327 

At  S.  Stephen's  in  Brannel,  Cornwall,  is  a  holy  well,  or  ancient 
baptistery,  called  S.  Bernard's  Well.  That  it  was  dedicated  to  the 
abbot  of  Clairvaux  is  improbable.  It  is  possible  that  originally  it  was 
called  after  S.  Bernac  or  Brynach,  and  may  show  what  was  the  original 
dedication  of  the  church,  before  it  was  placed  under  the  patronage 
of  S.  Stephen. 

For  the  determination  of  the  date  of  S.  Brynach  we  have  not  much  to 
go  upon.  Maelgwn  Gwynedd  died  of  the  Yellow  Plague  in  547  ;  and 
the  death  of  the  Saint  must  have  taken  place  some  ten  or  fifteen  years 
later,  possibly  even  as  late  as  570. 

His  symbol  is  a  wild  white  sow  with  young  pigs,  as  he  is  said  to 
have  founded  the  church  at  Nevern  where  he  discovered  a  sow  with 
her  litter.  Also  stags  are  said  to  have  drawn  timber  for  him  from 
the  forest.  Both  are  represented  in  Braunton  Church  on  the  bench 
ends  and  on  the  roof. 

Mr.  Anscombe  l  identifies  Brynach  with  the  "  Eurbre  gwydel  o 
iwe[r]don  "  of  Jesus  College  MS.  20,  reading  Gur  Bre[nach]  for  Brynach, 
in  which  case  he  was  grandfather  or  great-grandfather  to  Brychan. 
But  it  would  be  simply  impossible  to  identify  this  man  with  the 
Brynach  of  Welsh  hagiology.  There  is,  however,  a  Brynach  Wyddel, 
also  under  the  forms  Eurnach  and  Ur-nach,  connected  by  legend  with 
the  Snowdon  mountains,  in  whom  we  may  detect  the  Gwrnach, 
Awarnach,  and  Diwrnach  Wyddel,  with  his  magic  cauldron,  of  the 
Tale  of  Culhwch  and  Olwen.  There  are  some  details  of  him,  hopelessly 
jumbled,  to  be  found  in  the  lolo  MSS.,  where  Brynach  Wyddel,  king 
of  Gwynedd,  is  said  to  have  been  converted  and  baptized  by  S.  Rhidian 
of  Gower  and  Rheged,  and  to  have  "  founded  the  first  churches  in 
Gwynedd."  He  was  killed  at  his  stronghold,  Dinas  Ffaraon,  now 
Dinas  Emrys,  near  Beddgelert,  in  single  combat  with  Owain  Finddu, 
son  of  Maxen  Wledig,  the  one  killing  the  other.  Eurnach  or  Urnach, 
we  are  also  told,  was  the  father  of  Serigi  Wyddel  and  Daronwy,  "  and 
headed  20,000  Irish  to  Gwynedd,  where  they  and  their  descendants 
remained  for  129  years."2  A  Brynach  Wyddel  is  also  mentioned  in 
a  mythical  Triad.3 


1  Archiv  f.  Celtische  Lexikographie,  i,  p.  524;  ii,  p.  185. 

2  lolo   MSS.,   pp.   8 1-2,    84-5. 

3  Myv.  Arch.,  pp.  390,  412. 


328  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

S.   BUAN,  Confessor 

BUAN  was  the  son  of  Ysgvvn  (Esgvvn  or  Ysgwyn),  the  son  of  Llywarch 
Hen.1  His  grandfather  was  the  celebrated  sixth  century  warrior-bard 
and  Brythonic  prince  in  the  north.  Not  being  able  to  hold  back  the 
invading  Angles,  Llywarch  lost  his  patrimony  and  fled  to  Wales,  where 
he  found,  for  a  time,  an  asylum  with  Cynddylan,  prince  of  part  of 
Powys.  There  was  no  profession  open  to  such  of  his  sons  as  escape 
the  sword  but  the  religious  life.  Buan  is  said  to  be  the  patron  of 
Bodvean,  Carnarvonshire,  which  means  the  "  Dwelling  or  Abode  of 
Buan,"  a  somewhat  uncommon  combination  for  a  church-name.  The 
old  form  was  Boduan,  i.e.  Bod  Fuan.  His  festival  used  to  be  observed 
there  on  August  4.2 


S.  BUDDWAL,  or  BUDDWALAN,  Confessor 

S.  BUDGUAL  or  Budgualan,  hodie  Buddwal  or  Buddwalan,  is  men- 
tioned   in    the   Book   of  Llan   Ddv  in   a  grant   to   that   Church   of 
Lann  Budgualan  (or  Budgual)  in  Erging.3     It  is  represented  to-daj 
by  the  church  of  Ballingham,  some  8  miles  S.E.  of  Hereford,  ai 
dedicated  to  S.  Dyfrig.     Budgual  must  have  been  one  of  those  vei 
early  Saints,  before  the  sixth  century,  of  whom  no  records  have  be 
preserved. 


S.  BUDMAIL,  Confessor. 

BUDMAILE  is  invoked  in  the  Celtic  Litany  of  S.  Vougay,4  of  the 
tenth  century. 

Budmail  is  probably,  almost  certainly,  Bothmael,  the  disciple  of 
S.  Maudetus  or  Mawes,  along  with  S.  Tudy.  These  disciples  attended 
Maudetus  when  he  retired  to  the  island  now  called  1'Isle  Modez,  off 
the  north  coast  of  Brittany  in  the  Brehat  archipelago.5  Once,  when 

1  Peniarth  MSS.   16  (early  thirteenth  century),  45   (late  thirteenth),  and  12 
(early  fourteenth)  ;    Hafod  MS.  16;    Myv.  Arch.,  p.  418  ;  lolo  MSS.,  p.   128  ; 
Cambro -British  Saints,  p.  266. 

2  Willis,    Bangor,    p.    275  ;     Rees,    Welsh    Saints,    p.    280.     In   the   Cambrian 
Register,  iii,  p.  225,  the  gth  is  given. 

3  Pp.   164,   171,  275. 

4  Alb.  le  Grand,   Vies  des  SS.  de  Bretagne,  new  edition,  1901,  pp.  226-7, 

5  "  Duos  discipulos,  scilicet    Bothmaelum  et  Tudium  secum  habuit    fideles 
consortes  in  spe  perhennis  gaudii,  labore  et  divino  officio."      Vita  ima  S.  Mau- 
deti,  ed.  De  la  Borderie,  p.  8. 


S.  Budoc  329 

their  master  was  absent,  a  demon  which  the  Britons  call  a  Tuthe 
appeared  before  them  in  the  form  of  a  marine  monster.  They  told 
Maudetus,  and  one  day  shortly  after,  seeing  the  creature  in  the  waves, 
IK-  threw  a  stone  at  it,  knocked  it  over,  and  the  Tuthe  never  again 
appeared.1 

( )n  a  certain  day  the  fire  in  the  island  went  out,  and  Maudetus  sent 
isciple  Bothmael  at  low  tide  to  the  mainland  to  bring  him  some 
live  coals.  Bothmael  crossed,  and  asked  a  woman  who  was  boiling 
milk  to  furnish  him  with  what  he  required.  She  replied  that  she  would 
do  so  on  condition  that  he  carried  back  the  glowing  charcoal  in  the  lap 
of  his  habit. 

This  condition  he  accepted,  and  he  was  on  his  way  back  when  the 
tide  turned  and  he  was  in  peril  of  his  life,  but  managed  to  reach  the 
island,  through  the  interposition  of  Providence,  at  the  prayer  of  S. 
Maudetus.2  Nothing  further  is  known  of  Bothmael.  All  we  learn 
romvrning  him  is  from  the  Vita  Sti.  Maudeti,  of  which  two  editions 
exist,  that  have  been  published  by  De  la  Borderie  in  the  Memoires  de 
la  Societe  d' Emulation  des  Cotes  du  Nord,  Rennes,  1891. 

.Maudetus  is  said  to  have  been  an  Irishman  ;  he  must  have  been  for  a 
while  in  Cornwall,  as  both  he  and  Tudy  have  left  their  impress  there, 
but  whether  Bothmael  were  an  Irish  or  British  disciple  is  not  related. 


S.  BUDOC,  Abbot,  Confessor 

THERE  were  four  or  five  of  this  name. 

1.  An  abbot  in  the  Isles  of   Brehat.     Ard-Budoc,  or  "  Budoc   the 
exalted  one,"  or  "  the  Chief  Budoc,"  was  his  title.     He  was  the  teacher 
of  S.  \Yinwaloe  from  about  467  to  about  480  ;  and  we  may   suppose 
that  he  died  about  500. 

2.  Budoc,  son  of  Azenor,  born,  according  to  the  legend,  in  Ireland, 
almost  certainly  the  Budoc  of  Devon  and  Cornwall. 

3.  Budoc,  bishop  of  Dol,  after  S.  Maglorius,  circ.  586-600. 

4.  Budoc,  bishop  of  Vannes,  circ.  6bo,  the  successor  of  Regalis,  and 
predecessor  of  Hinguetien. 

5.  Budoc,  disciple  of  Gildas,  and  martyr,  circ.  560. 

The  first  and  the  second  may  be,  and  probably  are  the  same  ;  for 

1  "  Daemon   quern   Britoncs   Tuthe  appellant  coram   eis  apparuit   in   specie 
marimr  bflhur,"    Vita  inut   S.  Maudeti,  ed.  De  la  Borderie,  p.  9. 

2  Ibid.,  p.   ii. 


33°  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Budoc,  son  of  Azenor,  is  said  to  have  been  a  son  of  the  Count  or  Chief- 
tain of  Goelo,  which  is  the  tract  between  the  river  Leff  and  the  sea, 
and  to  it  pertained  the  Brehat  archipelago,  in  one  island  of  which 
Budoc  "  the  Exalted  One  "  had  his  monastic  school.  It  is  at  Chatel- 
audren  on  the  Leff  that  Budoc  and  Azenor  are  culted,  and  the  isles 
of  Brehat  are  in  the  estuary  of  the  Leff  and  Trieux. 

In  the  Life  of  S.  Winwaloe  we  learn  that  his  father,  Fragan,  coi 
mitted  him  to  the  Abbot  Budoc,  who  lived  in  the  Island  of  Lavrea 
the  Brehat  cluster.1 

The  remains  of  Budoc's  settlement,  a  small  rectangular  church  and 
row  of  bee-hive  huts,  are  extant ;  and  one  of  these  huts  is  fairly  intact. 
The  pattern  is  precisely  that  of  the  Irish  ecclesiastical  settlements.2 

The  name  of  Budoc  still  survives  in  Pembrokeshire  and  in  Devon 
and  in  Cornwall.  In  Pembrokeshire  a  chapel,  now  destroyed,  in  Hub- 
beston,  was  called  S.  Buttock's;  the  name  has  recently  been  altered  to 
S.  Botolph's.  In  Devon  and  Cornwall  are  S.  Budeaux,  near  Plymouth  ; 
the  parish  churches  of  S.  Budock,  by  Falmouth,  and  a  ruined  chapel, 
Budock  Vean,  or  Little  S.  Budoc,  in  the  parish  of  S.  Constantine,  near 
Falmouth. 

According  to  the  Exeter  Martyrology,  his  Festival  in  the  diocese  was 
held  on  December  8.  At  S.  Budock  it  is  kept  on  the  Sunday  before 
Advent ;  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  that  penitential  season.  At  Dol 
the  feast  is  transferred  to  December  9,  because  December  8  is  the 
Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Leland,  speaking  of  S.  Budoc,  says  :  "This  Budocus  was  an  Irishman, 
that  came  into  Cornewalle  and  ther  dwellid."3 

The  legend  of  S.  Budoc  is  found  in  the  Chronicon  Briocense,  that 
dates  only  from  the  fifteenth  century,  and  has  not  been  printed.  But 
there  are  extracts,  relative  to  S.  Budoc,  in  an  article  by  A.  de  Barthelmy, 
in  the  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  d' Emulation  des  Cotes  du  Nord,  tome  iii. 
(1863),  p.  235. 

The  legend  was  further  contained  in  the  Breviaries  of  Dol  and  Leon, 
and  from  them  Albert  le  Grand  derived  the  material  for  his  wonderful 
romance.4  Albert,  however,  omitted  certain  incidents  that  occur  in 
the  narrative  in  the  Chronicon  Briocense. 

1  "  Post  septem  dies,  una  cum  infantulo — quendam  angelicum  audit   magis- 
trum  nomine  Budocum,  cognomine  Arduum,  scientia  praeditum,  justitiaaequitate 
egregium,    quern   velut   quoddam   fidei   fundamentum    columnamque   ecclesiae 
firmissimam  cuncti  pariter  tune  temporis  credebant,"   Vita  Sti.  Winwaloei,  ed. 
Plaine,  p.   13. 

2  De  la  Borderie,  Hist,  de  Bretagne,  i,  pp.  295-9.     A  plan  of  the  island  and 
its  remains  are  in  the  same  volume. 

3  Leland,  Itin.,  Oxf.,  1744,  333,  p.  14. 

4  Vies  des  Saints  de  Bretagne,  1636,  ed.  1891,  pp.  739-60. 


S.  Bu(/oc  331 


The  legend  is  as  follows : — 

There  was  a  king  of  Brest  who  had,  once  upon  a  time,  a  daughter 
named  Azenor.  She  was  filled  with  every  virtue.  One  day,  when  the 
king  was  out  hunting,  a  monstrous  serpent  struck  at  him,  and  wound 
itself  about  his  arm,  and  could  not  be  detached  thence. 

A  wise  man  of  the  Court  declared  that  nothing  would  relieve  the 
king  save  the  counter-attraction  of  a  fair  woman's  breast  washed 
with  ewe's  milk  and  olive  oil. 

Azenor  at  once  volunteered.  She  presented  her  bosom,  duly 
smeared,  to  the  monster,  which  immediately  relaxed  hold  of  her 
father's  arm  and  attached  itself  to  her  breast.  Thereupon,  with  a 
razor  she  cut  off  her  bosom  and  threw  it,  along  with  the  serpent 
adhering  to  it,  into  a  fire.  Heaven,  to  reward  her  filial  piety,  restored 
her  breast  whole.1  At  this  time  there  lived  a  Count  of  Goelo,  that 
portion  of  the  modern  department  of  Cotes  du  Nord  which  forms  the 
Cantons  of  Paimpol,  Plouha,  and  Lanvollon,  off  the  coast  of  the 
northern  portion  of  which  is  the  Brehat  archipelago. 

This  Count  married  Azenor.  About  a  year  subsequently,  Azenor's 
mother  died,  and  the  King  of  Brest  married  again.  The  new  Queen 
was  now  anxious  to  clear  her  step-daughter  out  of  the  way,  as  she  was 
heiress  of  Leon.  To  this  end  she  poisoned  the  minds  of  the  father 
and  the  husband  of  Azenor  with  suspicions  as  to  her  fidelity.  The 
Count  of  Goelo  had  his  wife  tried  by  the  Council  of  his  estates,  and 
she  was  condemned  to  be  put  into  a  barrel  and  cast  into  the  sea. 

The  sentence  was  executed,  and  Azenor  floated  in  the  cider-cask  for 
five  months,  tossed  up  and  down  by  the  waves.2  During  all  this  time 
she  was  supplied  with  victuals  by  an  angel,  who  must  have  thrust  them 
in  to  her  through  the  bung-hole,  and,  marvellous  to  relate,  the  barrel 
always  maintained  its  balance. 

Whilst  thus  drifting,  Azenor  became  a  mother,  and  was  assisted  by 
S.  Brigid,3  who  acted  as  midwife.  Budoc  was  born  in  the  barrel.4 

1  Chron.  Brioc.     Albert  le  Grand  omits  this  incident. 
2  Hoc  parato  judicio 
Mensibus  quinque  dolio 
Mari  mansit  devia. 

Brev.  of  Lion. 

3  "  Et  Angeli,  beatse  (ut  asserunt)  Virginis  Brigittae,  cui  devote  inserviebat, 
ministerio  cibata  et  consolata — 

Ubi,  cum  luce  splendida 
Ministrans  Sancta  Brigitta 
Dabat  necessaria." 

Ibid. 

4  "  Ast  ubi,  quinque  mensium  spatio  toto,  marinis  fluctibus  Britannicis  primum, 
deinde  Britannicis  et  Hiberniensibus  littoribus  agitatur  dolium,  tanquam  regia 


332  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

Eventually  the  cask  was  washed  up  at  a  place  called  Bellus-portus, 
in  Ireland.  An  Irish  peasant  seeing  the  jetsam  on  the  shore,  and 
supposing  that  it  contained  liquor,  procured  a  gimlet,  and  would 
have  tapped  it,  had  not  the  babe  from  within  shouted,  "  Do  not  hurt 
us."  "  And  who  may  you  be  inside  there  ?  "  inquired  the  Irishman. 
"  I  am  a  child  desiring  baptism,"  replied  the  infant. 

The  native  ran  off  to  the  nearest  abbey,  and  told  his  story. 

"  Surely  you  are  deceiving  me,"  said  the  abbot.  "  Is  it  likely  I 
should  tell  you  of  the  find,"  replied  the  man,  "  if  there  had  been  any- 
thing better  than  a  baby  in  the  butt  ?  " 

The  abbot  released  Azenor  and  her  child  from  their  long  confinement, 
and,  astonished  at  the  miracle,  on  the  morrow  baptized  the  young 
Budoc1  and  educated  him. 

Azenor  lived  near  the  abbey  and  earned  her  livelihood  as  a  washer- 
woman. 2  There  they  spent  many  years. 

In  the  meantime  the  wicked  step-mother  had  fallen  ill,  and  when  at 

quadam.  fulgentissima  coelestis  claritate  luminis  Azenor  illustrata — Azenor 
nlium  in  dolio  peperit. 

Tandem  peperit  nlium 
Azenor,  intra  dolium 

Quadam  ut  in  regia." 

Brev.  of  Lion. 

1  "  Nutu  divino  dolium  ad  Hyberniae  littus,  ad  locum,  qui  Bellus-Portus 
dicitur,  appulit.  Quod  cum  piscator  quidam  adverteret,  vini  dolium  arbitratus, 
accessit. 

Piscator  quidam,  dum  quaerit 
Pisces,  dolium  reperit 

Vagari  per  maria." 

Ubi  pueri  vocem  audiens  ne  dolium  solveret ;    sed  ad  Belli-Portus  abbatem 
perduceret. 

Ad  Bellum-Portum  ducitur. 
Infans  ab  intus  loquitur, 

Ne  dolium  lania. 
Piscator  mirans  auditu, 
Retulit ;    Qui  es  ibi  tu  ? 

Baptisandus  sum,  eja  ! 
Vade,  inquit,  quae  vidisti 
Die  abbati  det  ut  Christi 
Mihi  baptismalia." 

Ibid. 

"  Azenore  matre  lotricem  agente,  tenuique,  paupercularum  more,  victu  et 
habitu  contenta,  quidquid  operae  supererat  lucelli  pauperibus  fideliter  dilargiente. 
Mater  Azenor  lotricae 
Officio  stetit  curae 

Quaerens  victualia. 
Non  quaerebat  massam  verum 
Sed  mater  erat  pauperum 
Paupercate  sobria." 
Ibid. 


S.  Buaoc  333 


the  point  of  death,  confessed  that  she  had  fabricated  the  charges 
against  Azenor,  and  that  they  were  wholly  destitute  of  foundation. 

The  Count  of  Goelo  at  once  started  on  his  travels  in  quest  of  his 
wife.  His  good  luck  led  him  to  Ireland,  and  he  disembarked  at  the 
very  bay  where  lived  Azenor  as  a  washerwoman,  and  there  he  was 
reconciled  to  her,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  his  son. 

The  Count  then  had  a  ship  prepared  to  take  them  all  back  to 
Brittany,  but  the  sea-voyage  had  upset  his  constitution,  and  he  died 
before  embarking.  Azenor  resolved  on  remaining  near  the  tomb  of  her 
husband,  and  there,  after  a  few  years,  she  died. 

On  the  death  of  the  abbot,  Budoc  was  elected  in  his  place,  and  he 
might  have  remained  there  the  rest  of  his  days,  had  not  the  Irish  people 
elected  him  to  be  their  king.1 

This  was  too  much  for  his  modesty,  and  he  fled,  but  finding  no  boat, 
entered  a  stone  trough,  and  in  that  was  carried  over  the  sea  to 
Brittany.2  He  disembarked  at  Porspoder,  where  he  formed  a  her- 
mitage, in  which  he  spent  a  year.  But  unable  to  endure  the  war  of 
the  waves  on  that  wild  coast,  he  had  his  stone  trough  mounted  on  a 
cart,  and  resolved  on  settling  wherever  the  cart  should  stop.  It  broke 
down  about  four  miles  from  Porspoder,  and  there  he  remained  a  while, 
but  found  the  people  more  vexatious  than  the  sea,  and  having  got 
across  with  them,  he  excommunicated  them  and  departed.  The 
legend  then  carries  him  to  Dol,  and  confounds  him  with  the  successor 
•of  S.  Maglorius. 

\\V  must  now  inquire  whether  there  be  any  historical  basis  for  this 
marvellous  tale.  We  shall  have,  first  of  all,  to  eliminate  the  fabulous 
matter  that  has  been  imported  into  it. 

1.  The  story  of  the  serpent  attaching  itself  to  the  father's  arm,  and 
jing  drawn  off  to  Azenor's  breast,  is  that  found  in  Welsh  legend 

itive  to  Caradog  Freichfras  and  his  wife  Tegau  Eurfron  ;  or  perhaps 
should  say  in  the  Romancer's  version  of  the  Arthurian  tale.8 

2.  The  fable  of  Azenor's  being  sent  to  sea  in  a  barrel  is  an  importation 
>m  the  popular  folk-tale  of  Catskin.     We  have  this  in  its  noblest 

1  "  Ab  Hyberniae  populo  rex  et  archiepiscopus    desideratissime   nominatur, 
>tatur,  diligitur."     Brev.  of  Lion. 

"  Erat  autem  illi  velut  area  lapidea  quaedam,  concava  petra,  in  qua,  nocte 
jre  solitus  erat,  quam,  angeli  minister io,  mari  proximam  conspexit ;  cujus 
3U,  tanquam  navi  quadam  usus,  transfretavit,  inque  partes  Leonensium 
rectus,  ad  portam,  cui  nomen  est  Porz  Poder,  pervenit,  ubi,  per  annum,  vel 

:iter,  commoratus,  oratorium  construxit."   Ibid.    The  same,  but  fuller,  in  the 
Breviary. 

3  Lady  Charlotte  Guest,  Mabinogion,  1877,  pp.  328-9.     For  Welsh  and  other 

irallols  see  Rhys,  Celtic  Folklore,   Welsh  and  Manx,  pp.  689-690. 


/*- 


334  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

form  in  the  old  German  epic  of  Gudrun.     In  that,  as  in  the  Budoc  tale, 
the  lady  becomes  a  washerwoman. 

3.  The  false  accusation  made  by  the  step-mother  is  common  to  many 
folk  tales,  and  occurs  in  the  mediaeval  romance  of  Octavianus. 

Sometimes  it  takes  another  form,  a  steward  poisons  the  husband's 
ears.  So  in  the  tales  of  Hirlanda  and  Genoveva  of  Brabant. 

When  we  have  swept  aside  all  this  accretion  from  folk  romance,  the 
facts  remaining  may  possibly  be  these  : — 

Owing  to  one  of  the  many  dynastic  revolutions  that  took  place  in 
Brittany,  Azenor  was  constrained  to  fly  with  her  newborn  son.  She 
escaped  first  of  all  to  Britain,  and  then  perhaps  to  Ireland.  There 
Budoc  embraced  the  ecclesiastical  life. 

It  is  more  probable  that  Azenor  took  refuge  in  the  west  of  Cornwall, 
which  had  been  colonized  from  Ireland,  than  that  she  went  on  to 
Ireland  itself,  for  the  parish  of  Zennor  regards  her  as  patroness  under 
the  name  of  Sennara,  and  Budoc  certainly  became  a  founder  in  Corn- 
wall ;  whereas  neither  he  nor  his  mother  have  left  any  traces  in  Irish 
tradition,  or  find  a  place  in  Irish  Martyrologies. 

That  Budoc  went  on  to  Ireland,  there  to  finish  his  education,  is 
probable  enough,  and  this  may  account  for  Leland  speaking  of  him  as 
an  Irishman.  But  Budoc  is  not  a  Goidelic  name,  the  nearest  approach 
to  it  being  Buite,  who  was  a  son  of  Bronach. 

The  statement  that  Azenor  died  in  Ireland  is  contrary  to  the 
tradition  of  Cornouaille,  as  she  is  held  to  have  founded  a  religious 
house  for  women  in  the  Cap  Sizun  promontory. 

Budoc,  as  we  learn  from  the  Life  of  S.  Winwaloe,  settled  as  a  teacher, 
in  the  island  of  Lavrea. 

Where  Budoc,  and  his  mother  with  him,  landed,  was  at  Porz  Poder 
on  the  extreme  west  of  Finistere,  where  the  granite  cliffs  receive  the 
whole  weight  of  the  Atlantic  surges,  rolling  in  before  a  west  wind.  He 
is  still  regarded  as  the  patron  of  that  parish.  Thence,  however,  he 
moved  inland,  and  his  next  station  was  at  Plourin,  where  both  he  and 
his  mother  receive  a  cult  as  patrons  to  this  day.  The  church  has  been 
entirely  rebuilt,  but  the  pulpit  has  been  preserved,  on  which  in  carved 
oak  are  represented  scenes  from  the  life  of  Budoc. 

The  subjects  are  : — 

1.  S.  Azenor  holding  a  crucifix  and  leaning  on  a  cask.     In  the  rear, 
water,  and  a  castle. 

2.  An  angel  seated,  pointing  to  the  cask  that  is  floating  on  the  waves. 
In  the  distance,  out  of  the  sea,  stands  a  rock  like  a  menhir. 

3.  S.  Budoc  with  archiepiscopal  crosier  and  wearing  a  mitre.     The 
cask  is  on  one  side  of  him,  and  in  a  corner  is  a  church. 


l 


<  It, 


S.  Budoc  335 


4.  An  angel  with  the  barrel.     In  the  background,  on  the  right,  a 
tower  with  a  house  on  top  of  it.     On  the  left  a  two-masted  ship  with 
sails. 

5.  S.  Azenor  with  the  babe  swaddled  in  her  arms.      The  barrel  is  at 
her  side.     In  the  distance  a  monastery. 

Eventually,  both  Budoc  and  his  mother  must  have  gone  to  the  Sizun 
promontory  in  Cornouaille,  for  he  is  patron  of  Beuzec-cap-Sizun. 

Azenor  had  a  church  near  the  Point  du  Raz,  and  a  convent  in  the 
parish  of  Goulven,  but  it  has  been  destroyed.1 

Two  holy  wells  at  Languengar  near  Lesneven  bear  her  name ;  and 
women  drink  of  that  of  Clesmeur,  to  augment  their  milk.  A  young 
man  once  took  a  draught  from  it,  and  to  his  dismay  found  his  breasts 
swell.  His  tears,  prayers,  and  shame  softened  the  Saint,  and  she 
graciously  dried  up  the  fountains  of  his  bosom. 
Budoc  is  patron  of  Beuzec-Conq. 

The  traditional  site  of  Azenor's  husband's  castle  is  Chatelaudren  in 
Cotes  du  Nord,  where  stood  formerly  a  fortress  that  has  been  levelled, 
but  tla  mounds  show  its  position,  above  a  pretty  tarn  with  woods 
sloping  clown  to  it.  Hard  by  is  the  chapel  of  Notre  Dame  du  Tertre, 
with  a  painted  wooden  ceiling  of  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
representing  in  a  series  of  subjects  the  story  of  Azenor  and  Budoc.  One 
of  these  depicts  the  saintly  mother  in  the  cask,  whilst  above  flutters  an 
angel  bearing  a  scroll  inscribed  "  Audita  est  oratio  tua." 

S.  Budoc's  day  is  December  8  in  the  Leon  Breviary  of  1516  ;  in 
that  of  Dol,  1519,  he  is  given  on  this  day,  but  the  observance  is  trans- 
ferred ;  in  the  Exeter  Calendar  on  the  same  day. 

In  addition  to  the  churches  of  S.  Budoc  in  Cornwall  and  Devon,  and 
e  chapel  in  Pembrokeshire  already  referred  to,  there  seems  to  have 
n  a  dedication  to  him  in  Oxford.     Anthony  Wood  quotes  notices  of 
e  rebuilding  of  the  church  of  S.  Budoc  in  Oxford  in  1265,  but  he 
.s,  "  it  hath  for  several  hundreds  of  years  past  been  demolished."2 
e  strongly  suspect  that  there  is  some  mistake  about  this  dedication. 
Owing  to  the  reason  already  referred  to,  the  commemoration  of  S. 
doc  is  transferred  to  December  9  in  the  Missal  of  Vannes,  1530,  in 
Vannes  Breviary  of  1589,  and  in  that  of  Dol,  1519. 3 
Albert  le  Grand  gives  as  his  day  November  18,  but  probably  quite 
itrarily.     It  is,  of  course,  uncertain  that  the  Budoc  of  legend  should 

1  Carguet,  Cap  Sizun,  in  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  Arch,  de  Finistere,  1899. 

2  Anthony  a  Wood,  Antiquities  of  Oxford,  Oxford  Hist.  Soc.,  1889-99,  vol.  ii. 
also  the  Close  Rolls,  i,  ff.  498,  529. 

The  Commemoration  at  Vannes  is  of  Budoc,  bishop  of  Vannes,  cite.  600, 
id  that  at  Dol  is  of  the  Bishop  of  Dol,  585. 


(jl 


336  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 

be  the  Ard-Budoc  of  the  Life  of  S.  Winwaloe,  but  it  is  probable,  as 
the  Isle  of  Lavre,  where  are  the  remains  of  his  monastery,  is  in 
Goelo,  of  which  he  was  a  native.  That  the  master  of  Winwaloe  can 
have  become  the  bishop  of  Dol  of  the  same  name  is  chronologically 
impossible. 

Winwaloe  died  in  563.  As  a  child  he  was  with  Budoc,  between  467 
and  480  ;  and  Budoc  cannot  have  been  young  then.  Consequently 
he  could  not  become  bishop  of  Dol  in  585. 

In  art,  S.  Budoc  is  represented  with  his  stone  trough,  or  with  the  cask 
at  his  side,  vested,  erroneously,  as  a  bishop  or  archbishop,  because 
identified  with  the  successor  of  S.  Maglorius. 

That  such  a  childish  nurse-tale  should  have  been  adopted  into  the 
offices  of  the  churches  of  Dol  and  Leon,  with  hymns  based  on  it,  is 
indeed  astonishing.  But  more  astonishing  still  are  the  remarks  there- 
on of  a  man  in  the  nineteenth  century,  presumably  of  some  education 
and  intelligence.  This  is  M.  Miorec  de  Kerdanet,  who  brought  out  an 
edition  of  Albert  le  Grand's  Vies  des  Saints  in  1837.  He  says  :  —  "  La 
legende  de  Sainte  Azenor  et  de  Saint  Budoc  n'est  pas  un  conte.  Elle  a 
toutes  les  preuves  dans  la  tradition,  et  dans  les  actes  des  eglises  de  Dol 
et  de  Leon."  And  Garaby  has  the  effrontery  to  quote  this  assertion 
with  approval.1 

There  is  a  supplement  to  the  Life  of  S.  Budoc,  as  silly  as  the  story 
of  his  mother's  adventures. 

Before  his  death,  Budoc  bade  his  disciple  Illtyd  cut  off  his  arm,  so 
soon  as  he  was  dead,  and  take  it  to  Plourin,  where  he  had  been  so  ill 
received,  and  had  excommunicated  the  inhabitants.  Illtyd  (Hydultus) 
did  so,  and  halting  on  the  way  at  Brech,  in  Morbihan,  he  put  down  the 
box  that  contained  the  arm,  on  the  floor.  A  man  inadvertently  sitting 
on  the  box  became  paralysed.  The  people  of  the  place,  convinced  that 
the  miracle  was  performed  by  the  relic,  refused  to  permit  its  removal. 
Illtyd  begged  to  be  allowed  to  kiss  it,  and  when  this  was  permitted,  bit 
off  one  of  the  Saint's  fingers,  and  carried  it  away  in  his  mouth.  This 
finger  is  now  preserved  at  Plourin,  in  a  silver  reliquary  formed  like  an 
arm. 

On  this  story  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  name  Brech  in  Breton 
signifies  an  arm.  The  relic  there  cannot  be  of  Budoc,  son  of  Azenor, 
but  of  Budoc  or  Bieuzy,  the  disciple  of  Gildas  ;  for  Brech  is  near  Plou- 
vigner,  where  the  latter  Bieuzy  halted  on  his  way  to  Ruys,  and  where 
he  is  still  culted  ;  whereas  it  is  quite  out  of  the  way  from  Dol  to  Plourin. 

1  Vies  des  Bienheureux  et  des  Saints  de  Bretagne,  S.  Brieuc,  1839,  p.  328, 
Lobineau,  with  more  sense,  says  of  the  legend,  "  elle  est  si  romanesque  et  si 
ridicule  qu'on  ne  peut  rien  lire  de  plus  extravagant." 


S.  Budoc  337 


The  principal  settlement  of  Budoc  in  western  Brittany,  or  Cornubia, 
was  probably  Beuzec-Cap-Caval  and  Beuzec  Cap  Sizun.  The  whole  of 
this  peninsula  between  the  river  of  Quimper  and  the  bay  of  Douarnenez 
would  seem  to  have  been  the  sphere  of  his  labours.  The  population 
is  that  of  the  Bigauden,  an  extraordinary  race,  very  Tartar  like,  and 
different  in  characteristics,  and  in  costume,  from  the  true  Bretons. 

De  la  Villemarque  has  given  a  ballad  of  Azenor  and  Budoc  in 
his  Barzas-breis,  but  whether  genuine  is  doubtful,  at  any  rate  it  is 
modern. 

The  name  Budoc  becomes  in  Breton  Buzoc,  Beuzec,  and  Beuzeuc. 
That  of  Azenor  has  also  undergone  several  transformations,  as  Alienor, 
Eleonore,  Honore,  and  Honoree.  On  account  of  the  fanciful  derivation 
of  the  name  Beuzec  as  "  saved  from  the  waters,"  Budoc,  according  to 
Brizieux  became  the  patron  of  wreckers.1 


S.  BUDOC,  Bishop,  Confessor 

BUDOC,  Bishop  of  Dol,  was  the  successor  of  S.  Maglorius.  The  date 
is  not  fixed  with  certainty.  But  it  took  place  close  on  585  or  586. 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  was  akin  to  both  Samson  and 
Maglorius,  as  the  headship  of  the  great  monastic  institutions  was  re- 
tained as  much  as  possible  in  a  family.  Only  in  exceptional  cases  was 
one  raised  to  that  pre-eminence  who  did  not  belong  to  the  founder's 
family. 

Of  Budoc  of  Dol  nothing  is  known.     His  career  was  uneventful. 

Kdied  and  was  buried  at  Dol. 
Alien  the  clergy  returned  after  the  cessation  of  the  ravages  of  the 
rthmen,  they  were  possessed  by  the  infatuation  of  making  their 
cathedral  metropolitan,  and  of  magnifying  the  acts  of  the  past  abbot- 
bishops.     Then,  perhaps,  disappointed  at  having  so  meagre  a  record 
of  Budoc,  they  laid  hold  on  the  legend  of  Budoc,  son  of  Azenor,  of  L&>n, 
and  compounded  the  two  into  one,  making  of  the  Leon  Budoc  their 
Bishop,  the  successor  to  Samson  and  Maglorius.     But,  as  says  the 
Abbe  Duine,   "  Cette  merveilleuse  histoire  de  Sainte  Azenore  et  de 
int  Budoc  ne  fut  jamais  populaire  que  dans  le  pays  de  son  origine."  2 

Les  Bretons,  Chant  ix. 

Abbas  natum  baptizavit 
Et  Beu/euc  eum  vocavit 
Ob  tanta  naufragea. 

Breviary  of  Leon. 
L'Hermine,  t.  xxvi,   1902,  p.  263. 
)L.   I.  Z 


338  Lives  of  the  British   Saints 


S.  BUDOC,  Monk,  Martyr 

WHETHER  Budoc,  the  friend  and  disciple  of  Gildas,  be  the  Boda, 
with  the  suffix  oc,  met  with  in  the  Welsh  Lists  of  Saints,  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing. 

The  material  for  the  Life  of  Budoc  is  not  of  good  quality.  During 
the  War  of  the  League,  the  church  of  Beuzy  was  plundered,  and  the 
Life  supplied  to  Albert  le  Grand  is  taken  from  such  fragmentary  docu- 
ments as  remained  there,  and  in  the  possession  of  the  seigneur  of 
Rymaison.  According  to  this  Life,  Budoc  was  a  native  of  Britain, 
almost  certainly  of  Wales,  who  accompanied  Gildas  when  he  settled  at 
Ruys. 

By  the  side  of  the  Blavet  a  mass  of  granite  rock  projects,  leaving 
only  a  narrow  space  of  turf  between  it  and  the  river.  This  is  below  the 
finger  of  hill  round  which  sweeps  the  Blavet,  and  which  served  as  a 
Roman  station,  the  Gallo-Roman  city  of  Sulim. 

Gildas  and  Budoc  founded  a  monastery  at  the  neck  of  this  promon- 
tory, and  it  was  called  Castanec.  But,  that  they  might  be  alone  for 
prayer  and  meditation,  they  were  wont  to  retire  under  this  overhanging 
rock.  A  little  spring  oozes  out  at  its  base.  Here  the  two  friends  spent 
much  time  in  devotion.  When  the  half  Christianized,  half  pagan 
inhabitants  pursued  them  to  this  retreat,  one  or  other  mounted  a  node 
of  rock  between  their  cell  and  the  gliding  stream,  and  preached  to  them 
thence. 

According  to  the  legend,  on  one  occasion  they  came  in  such  crowds, 
and  were  so  impatient  to  hear  the  Word  of  God,  that  Gildas  preached 
for  long,  though  thirsty,  fevered  and  weary.  At  last,  unable  to  con- 
tinue, he  fled  to  his  cell  under  the  rock,  and  as  the  people  clamoured 
after  him,  the  rock  split,  and  through  the  cleft  he  was  able  to  scramble 
to  the  summit  and  so  escape  them.  The  crack  is  a  natural  fault,  and 
the  story  has  been  invented  to  explain  it. 

The  two  Saints  built  a  wall  to  enclose  their  retreat,  with  only  one 
opening  through  which  to  crawl,  and  which  admitted  light.  For  the 
summons  to  prayer,  in  place  of  a  bell,  they  provided  themselves  with 
two  thin  slabs  of  diorite,  which,  when  struck  with  a  pebble,  emitted 
a  bell-like  note. 

When  Gildas  was  constrained  to  leave  Castanec,  and  return  to  his 
main  foundation  at  Ruys,  he  left  the  little  monastery  under  the 
charge  of  his  friend. 

By  some  chance  Budoc  was  credited  with  a  power  of  driving  away 
madness  in  man  and  beast. 


S.  Budoc  339 


Ine  day,  when  he  was  about  to  proceed  to  celebrate  the  Holy  Mys- 
?s,  a  chief  in  the  neighbourhood  sent  to  bid  him  come  at  once  to 
,  as  his  dogs  were  ill,  he  feared  with  hydrophobia.  Budoc  told  the 
messenger  that  he  could  not  attend  to  the  dogs  till  he  had  ministered 
to  men,  and  that  he  must  first  celebrate  the  Eucharist. 

The  man  returned  to  his  master,  and  exaggerated  what  Budoc  had 
said,  and  coloured  it  after  his  own  perverse  mind,  into  an  insolent 
refusal.  The  chieftain  was  furious,  and  hastening  to  the  church,  dealt 
the  unhappy  Budoc  a  severe  blow  on  the  head. 

With  his  head  bleeding,  the  excited,  hurt,  and  indignant  monk 
rushed  off  to  lay  the  case  before  his  master,  Gildas — the  chief  had  not 
only  committed  sacrilege,  but  had  violated  sanctuary.  A  number  of 
people  attended  him.  He  hastened  down  the  river,  then  cut  across  the 
spur  of  hill  covered  with  the  forest  of  Camors,  passed  the  caer  of  Con- 
more,  regent  of  Domnonia,  and  a  power  to  be  considered  even  in 
Broweroc.  Conmore,  who  at  that  period  was  on  excellent  terms  with 
Ciildas,  was  not  there  at  the  time,  or  Budoc  would  have  made  his 
complaint  to  him.  He  passed  on,  and  night  fell  as  he  reached  the  Irish 
colony  of  Plouvigner.  There  he  halted,  and  the  people  who  had 
attended  him  lit  their  fires  and  camped  out  for  the  night. 

Next  day  the  wounded  monk  pushed  on,  and,  reaching  the  sea  at 
Baden,  there  took  boat.  Lusty  arms  sent  the  little  vessel  flying  over 
the  still  waters  of  the  Morbihan.  When  it  reached  the  peninsula  of 
Sarzeau  Budoc  had  become  so  weak  and  exhausted  that  he  could 
hardly  stagger  forward. 

Messengers  ran  ahead  and  told  Gildas  that  Budoc  was  coming,  and 
what  had  taken  place.  At  the  time  he  was  chanting  vespers.  At 
once  he  proceeded  in  procession  from  the  church,  at  the  head  of  his 

onks,  to  receive  the  wounded  man.  When  they  met  Budoc,  they  saw 
t  he  must  die.  He  was  conveyed  into  the  church,  and  there  he 
athed  his  last.  Had  he  gone  quietly  to  bed,  and  had  his  head  been 

tended  to  at  once,  instead  of  his  posting  off  on  a  long  journey,  he 

ight  have  recovered. 

Legend  has  embellished  a  very  simple  tale,  and  represents  him  as 

ving  had  an  axe  or  a  knife  cleave  his  skull,  and  as  having  gone  two 

ys'  journey  wearing  the  weapon  in  his  wound.     But  this  is  a  common 

travagance  in  hagiographic  fiction. 

Albert  le  Grand  gives  as  his  day  November  24.  But  he  has  been  the 
asion  of  a  strange  confusion.  His  name,  softened  in  Breton  to 
uzy,  has  been  Latinized  into  Bilicus.  Now  there  was  a  Bili,  Bishop 

Vannes  in  725,  probably  the  same  who  composed  the  Life  of  S.  Malo  ; 

t  he  died  quietly  in  his  bed.      However,  in  the  Missal  of  Vannes  of 


34-O  Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

1530,  and  the  Proper  of  Vannes  1660,  he  is  entered  on  June  23  as  Bill, 
Ep.  M.,  of  Vannes. 

In  the  churchyard  of  Beuzy  is  a  portion  of  Budoc's  stone  bell.  The 
church  itself  is  interesting,  late  Flamboyant,  and  possesses  some 
fine  old  stained  glass.  In  the  church  are  statues  of  S.  Gildas,  S. 
Bieuzy,  and  S.  Helen ;  also  a  modern  window  representing  the  legend 
of  the  Saint.  S.  Bieuzy  is  invoked  against  madness  and  hydrophobia. 


S.  BUGI,  or  HYWGI,  Confessor 

BUGI  or  Hywgi,  the  father  of  the  great  S.  Beuno,  is  reckoned  among 
the  Welsh  Saints.  He  was  a  son  of  Gwynllyw  ab  Glywys  ab  Tegid 
ab  Cadell  Deyrnllwg.  Devoting  himself  to  the  religious  life,  he  "  gave 
his  lands  to  God  and  Catwg  for  ever,  and  became  a  saint  with  Catwg"1 
(at  Llancarfan),  who  was  his  brother  ;  but  this  does  not  accord  with 
the  life  of  S.  Beuno.  Gwynllyw  Filwr,  who  had  married  Gwladys, 
daughter  of  Brychan  Brycheiniog,  was  lord  of  Gwynllywg  in  Monmouth- 
shire, and  the  father  also  of  Cammarch,  Glywys  Cernyw,  Cynfyw  (or 
Cyfyw),  Cyflewyr,  Gwyddlew,  Maches  and  others.  Bugi's  wife  was 
Beren  or  Perferen,  daughter  of  Lleuddun  Luyddog  of  Dinas  Eidclyn 
(Edinburgh).  Most  of  what  is  known  of  him  is  to  be  found  in  the  Welsh 
Life  of  S.  Beuno.  He  is  there  spoken  of  as  a  gwr  bonheddig,  a  man  of  noble 
birth,  who  lived  in  Powysat  a  place  called  Banhenig,  situated  somewhere 
near  the  Severn.  He  and  his  wife  were  a  very  virtuous  couple,  well 
stricken  in  years,  and  childless.  An  angel  appeared  one  evening  to 
them  and  promised  them  a  son,  "  who  should  be  honourable  according 
to  God  and  man."  This  was  Beuno,  whom,  as  a  boy,  they  instructed 
in  the  rudiments  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  afterwards  sent  to  S. 
Tangusius  at  Caerwent .  Af  ter  some  time  Bugi  was  taken  ill  of  a  hopeless 
disease,  and  he  sent  for  Beuno,  for  he  could  see  that  the  end  was  near. 
"  After  receiving  the  Communion,  making  his  confession,  and  rendering 
his  end  perfect,  he  departed  this  life  "  ;  and  Beuno  planted  an  acorn 
beside  his  grave. 
.  See  further  under  S.  BEUNO. 

S.  BURIENA,  Virgin,  Abbess 

S.  BURIENA  was  one  of  the  Irish  colony  that  came  over  to  Cornwall 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century.  Leland,  in  his  Itinerary  (iii,  18), 
says,  "  S.  Buriana,  an  Holy  Woman  of  Ireland  sum  tyme  dwellid  in  this 

1  lolo  MSS.,  pp.  108,  130. 


S.  Buriena  341 


Ice  and  there  made  an  oratory.  King  Athelstane  going  hence,  as  it 
said,  unto  Sylley,  and  returning  made  ex  voto  a  College  where  the 
oratorie  was." 

She  is  to  be  identified  with  Bruinech  the  Slender,  "  who,"  as  the 
scholiast  of  the  Martyrology  of  Donegal  says,  "  is  venerated  in  a  town 
bearing  her  name,  in  England,  on  the  2gth  of  May."  But  this  is  inaccu- 
rate, the  feast  of  S.  Buryan  being  on  the  nearest  Sunday  to  May  12. 
Leland  calls  her  Bruinet,  and  says  she  was  a  King's  daughter,  who 
came  to  Cornwall  with  S.  Piran.  The  forms  Bruinet  and  Bruinech 
are  mere  variations  of  spelling  that  occur  repeatedly,  as  Gobnat  and 
Gobnach,  Rignat  and  Rignach,  Dervet  and  Dervech.  The  ech,  or  at,  is 
a  diminutive  for  female  names,  corresponding  to  oc  for  male  names. 
So  Brig  becomes  Briget. 

Bruinech  was  of  illustrious  birth.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Crimthan, 
a  chieftain  in  Munster,  grandson  of  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraich  who  had 
been  baptized  by  S.  Patrick.  Her  father  Crimthan  was  of  Magh  Trea, 
probably  Ard  Trea,  near  Lough  Neagh  in  Deny.  She  was  a  kinswoman 
of  S.  Cieran  (Piran).  The  story  of  Buriena  is  found  in  the  life  of  S. 
Cieran  of  Saighir.  She  embraced  the  religious  life  under  Liadhain,  the 
mother  of  S.  Cieran,  one  of  the  first  abbesses  in  Ireland.  Liadhain  had 
a  religious  house  at  Killyon  in  King's  County.  The  damsel  was  slim 
in  form,  and  so  went  by  the  name  of  Caol,  the  "  Slender."  She  was 
also  very  beautiful. 

Dima,  of  the  Hy  Fiachai  tribe  in  West  Meath,  fell  in  love  with  her,  and 
carried  her  off  against  her  will,  with  the  assistance  of  his  clansmen. 
The  wrath  of  S.  Cieran  was  kindled,  and  he  sped  after  the  ravisher  to 
demand  her  back  again.  Dima  refused  to  restore  her.  "  Never,"  said 
he,  "  till  I  hear  the  cuckoo  call  at  day-dawn  and  arouse  me  from  sleep." 
It  was  winter  time,  and  a  deep  snow  lay  on  the  ground,  and  crested 
the  castle  walls.  As  the  gates  were  shut,  Cieran  and  his  companions 
had  to  spend  the  night  in  the  snow  outside.  They  passed  it  in  prayer. 
Lo  !  next  morning  a  cuckoo 1  was  perched  on  every  turret  of  the 
chieftain's  castle,  uttering  its  plaintive  call.  Surprised  and  alarmed 
this  marvel,  Dima  released  the  maiden. 

Putting  aside  what  is  fabulous  in  this  story,  we  see  the  venerable 

int's  enthusiasm  for  the  protection  of  innocence. 

What  actually  took  place  was  that  Cieran  "  fasted  against"  Dima. 

is  was  a  practice  among  the  Irish  sanctioned  by  law.  When  one  who 
s  aggrieved  was  unable  by  force  to  obtain  redress,  he  went  to  the 
r  of  the  aggressor  and  remained  there  exposed  to  the  inclemency 

The  word  is  "  cuculus."     In  the  Irish  version  it  is  that  for  a  heron  or  stork. 


Lives  of  the  British  Saints 

of  the  weather,  and  refused  all  food,  till  he  died.     As  this  would  entail 
a  blood  feud,  the  wrongdoer  generally  yielded. 

When,  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  Life  of  S.  Cieran  was  re-written,  the 
editor  could  not  understand  the  practice,  which  had  long  ago  been 
abandoned,  so  he  invented  the  story  of  the  cuckoo  to  give  point  to  the 
incident,  and  to  account  for  the  surrender  of  Dima. 

As  soon  as  Bruinech  had  been  released,  Cieran  took  her  back  to  his 
mother  at  Killyon. 

After  a  few  days  the  chieftain  repented  of  having  released  the  girl, 
his  passion  was  not  overcome,  -and  he  returned  to  the  convent  to  again 
carry  her  off,  protesting  that  she  was  his  wife;  and  that  he  had  a  right 
to  reclaim  her.  In  her  fright  Bruinech  fainted,  and  Dima  was  shown 
her  lying  unconscious.  He  stormed  at  Cieran,  declared  that  the  Saint 
had  killed  his  wife,  and  threatened  to  drive  him  out  of  the  country. 
Cieran  replied,  "  Thou  hast  no  power  over  me.  Thy  strength  is  but 
a  vain  shadow." 

According  to  the  legend,  at  this  juncture  news  arrived  that  Dima's 
dun  was  on  fire  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  wooden  and  wickerwork  structures 
within  the  fort  were  blazing.  At  the  tidings,  the  chief  hastily  left  the 
convent,  in  hopes  of  rescuing  his  child  and  some  of  his  valuables  from 
the  flames. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  read  between  the  lines  of  this  narrative.  Brui- 
nech was  well  connected.  Indeed,  her  kinsman,  Carthagh,  a  turbulent 
youth,  was  a  disciple  of  Cieran  at  Saighir.  The  family  of  Crimthan 
was  not  likely  to  brook  the  indignity  of  the  rape.  Carthagh  probably 
led  a  party  of  the  clansmen,  as  well  as  retainers  of  the  abbey,  against 
Dima's  fortress,  and  set  it  on  fire.  However  brought  about, 
Dima  was  completely  humiliated,  and  surrendered  himself  and  tribe  in 
subjection  to  Cieran  and  his  coarbs  of  Saighir. 

We  cannot  tell  when  Cieran  passed  into  Cornwall ;  when  he  did  he 
took  with  him  his  old  nurse  Cuach,  and  his  young  pupil  Bruinech. 

Nothing  is  recorded  of  the  acts  of  S.  Buriena  in  Cornwall.  Her 
settlement  must  have  been  of  considerable  importance.  It  had  a 
sanctuary,  which,  with  its  oratory,  remains  about  a  mile  south-east  of 
the  parish  church  that  bears  her  name,  beside  a  rivulet,  on  the  farm 
of  Bosliven.  Probably  popular  veneration  attached  to  this  place  long 
after  the  transfer  of  the  church,  for  it  excited  the  rage  of  Shrubsall, 
one  of  Cromwell's  officers,  and  he  almost  totally  destroyed  it.  Ros- 
carrock  says  that  in  his  day  the  old  church  was  called  Eglis-Burien. 

The  day  of  S.  Bruinech  in  the  Irish  Calendars  is  May  29,  and  this 
indeed  is  the  day  marked  as  that  of  S.  Buriena  in  Wilson's  English 
Martyrology  of  1608,  and  by  FitzSimons  in  his  sixteenth  century 


S.  Byrnach  343 


Iendar.     But  the  Exeter  Calendar  gives  as  her  day,  May  I,  and  the 
ist  at  Bury  an  is  on  0.  S.  May  Day,  i.e.   eleven  days  after  May  i. 
In  the  second  edition  of  his  Martyrologium  Anglicanum  Wilson  arbi- 
trarily inserted  her  on  June  19,  but  in  the  first  edition  correctly  on 
May  29.    Sir  Harris  Nicolas,  in  his  Chronology  of  History,  follows  Wilson's 
second  edition,   and  gives  June  19.     Dr.   Oliver,  in  his  Monasticon 
Exoniense,  gives  June  4  as  her  day,  but  in  his  Supplement  corrects  this 
to  May  i. 

Her  death  probably  took  place  about  550. 

In  art  she  would  be  represented  as  an  Irish  nun  in  white,  with  a 
cuckoo,  or,  better  still,  a  heron,  on  a  tower,  at  her  side. 

S.  BYRNACH  see  S.   BRYNACH. 


END    OF    VOLUME    I.