BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRrW.SAGE 1891 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 924 092 447 808 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092447808 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. «r In Four Volumes. VOL. III. London : The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion New Stone Buildings, 64, Chancery Lane 1911 4-. 45^3<5'5 Contents of Volume III The Lives — S. Faustus — S. Mynno List of Illustrations Fracan, Gwen Teirbron and Winwaloe before S. Corentine. From a Painting at Lesgiten, Ploiwien, Finist^re S. Germanus. From Stained Glass, S. Neot . Germanus Foundations .... Statue of S. Germanus at Pleyben S. Germoe. From fresco in S. Breage (restored) Map of Bokerly and Grim's Dykes Roman Roads from Old Sarum and Badbury to Bath. Foundations of Gildas and his Sons and Grandsons in Armorica ......... S. Gildas. From i$th Century Statue at Loomini . Statue of Gwen Teirbron and her Sons, Winwaloe, Gwethenoc and James. In the Chapel of S. Venec .... S. Gwenfrewi. From i ^th Century Glass at Llandyrnog . S. Gwynllyw. From Statue at S. Woolo's .... S. Gwynog. From Stained Glass at Llanwnog S. Huerve, with his Wolf and Guiharan. From a Statue formerly in the Church of Kerlaz, near Douarnenez . S. lUtyd. From a Statue at Locildut, Sizun . S. Mabenna. From Stained Glass, S. Neot S. Madrun. Formerly at Madryn, Pwllheli S. Mancus. From Stained Glass, S. Neot S. Marchell. From i^th Century Glass at Llandyrnog S. Mawes. From a Statue at Ergui-Gaberic . S. Mawgan. From Stained Glass at La Meaugon . S. Mybard. From Stained Glass, S. Neot facing 42 72 75 78 80 86 94 114 128 168 194 240 246 280 316 390 398 434 438 446 452 478 HI LIVES OF THE BRITISH SAINTS Vol. iii. S. FAUSTUS, Bishop, Confessor As has been already stated, under the head of Edeyrn, it is not possible to identify Faustus of Riez with the Faustus or Edeyrn, bom of incest, son of Gwrtheyrn or Vortigern, as is apparently done by Nennius. Sidonius Apollinaris says that Faustus was the son of a noble and saintly British mother. He might possibly have so described the daughter of Vortigern, if her after life was spent in penance and devo- tion ; but the chronology of Faustus cannot be made to fit in with that of a son of the British prince. Sidonius says nothing as to who was the father of Faustus, but that may be explained by supposing that the father was dead when he came to make the acquaintance of the son.^ Faustus can hardly have been born earlier than 400. Whilst young he went to Lerins, and it was probably whilst there that he became intimate with a fellow-countryman, a Bishop Rioc, or Riocatus, as Sidonius calls him, who paid two visits to Southern Gaul and the Province. ^ In 434 Maximus, Abbot of Lerins, ascended the episcopal throne of Riez, and Faustus was elected in his room to preside over the monastic community. He must have been full young for so impor- tant a position ; but as he lived till after 484, it is not possible to set back his birth much earher than 400. His mother, at an advanced age, lived near him at Lerins. He had a brother, a priest, Memorius, under him ; and in the society was likewise a brother of his correspondent Sidonius Apolhnaris. At Lerins Faustus led a very strict hfe, was devoted to study, and strove to imitate the lives of the fathers of the Egyptian deserts. He wrote a letter to a deacon, named Gratus, who was infected with Nestorian errors. Augustine informs us that he gave harbour in his 1 S. Avitus of Vienne says that Faustus was born in Britain. * Apoll. Sidon, Mon. Germ. Hist., viii. Krusch in Proem., liv-lxxv ; and PP- 157. 255, et seq. VOL. III. ^ B 2 Lives of the British Saints isle to Julian of Eclana, and to Pelagius, when expelled from Italy for their heresy. He opposed Arianism with great ardour. He sent two of his trea- tises by Rioc to Britain in or about 450. On account of the death of Maximus in 462 there ensued a fresh election at Riez, and Faustus was chosen to succeed him. The vigor- ous opposition to Arianism offered by Faustus brought upon him the resentment of Euric, the Visigoth King, who sent him into exile in 481 ; and he did not return to his flock till 484, on the death of the king. At the dose of the century, when Gennadius wrote his work on Illustrious Men, Faustus was still hving.^ In the list of his works, given by Gennadius, the series opens with a book De Spiritu Sando. This treatise is still extant, and has been repeatedly but incorrectly attributed to the Roman deacon Pascasius.^ Evidence to show that Faustus was the real author has been produced by C. P. Caspari.2 Another work, according to Gennadius, was an Opus egregium de Gratia Dei, which was directed against the teaching of a GaUic priest, Lucidus, relative to Predestination. Lucidus held that with the Fall man had lost the power of free will, and all impulse towards God, and that God predestined men to life or to damnation as He pleased. This doctrine was condemned by the Synod of Aries in 475 ; and in that of Lyons in 476 ; and the bishops present expressed a desire for a complete exposition of the Cathohc dogma of grace, and this it was which led to the composition of the work mentioned, by Faustus. There can be no doubt but that Faustus, in common with S. Hilary of Aries and other Gallic saints, viewed with alarm the iron dogma of predestination to which Augustine was endeavouring to commit the Church ; and which finally broke forth in aU its offensiveness in the heresy of Calvin. Faustus saw that the doctrine, logically carried out and acted upon, cut at the roots of Christian morality, and fatally affected the fulness of the redemptive work of Christ. Benedictus Paulinus consulted Faustus on questions concerning repentance. The answer of the Bishop of Riez was : "I am asked whether the know- ledge of the Trinity in Unity suffices to salvation in things divine ; I answer, a rational grasp of the faith is not all that is required of us, there must also be the reason for pleasing God. Naked truth without merits is empty and vain." ' De viris illust., c. 85. 2 Under the head of Fascasius in Migne, Patr. Lat., Iviii, pp. 783-836. ' linbedruckte . . . Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymhols. Christiania, 1869, pp. 214-24. S. Febric 3 The predestinarianism of Augustine was the rust of his old Manichae- ism working its way out of his soul in dogma ; the Pelagians and semi-Pelagians went too far in the assertion of the force of the human will to resist evil, unassisted by grace. Faustus called down on his head the wrath of the thorough-paced Augustinians, and S. Fulgentius of Ruspe took up his pen against him, and the teaching of Fulgentius was rejected by Popes Gelasius and Hormisdas, and by the Council of Orange in 529. Two Uttle works mentioned by Gennadius, Adversus Arianos ei Macedonianos, and Adversus eos qui dicuni esse in creaturis aliquid incorporeum, are remarkable. In the latter he attributes to the soul a sort of corporeal though spiritual envelope. In or about 470 Claudianus Mamertus attacked his thesis in three books, De Statu Animce. Faustus was regarded as one of the most eloquent preachers of his day, and some of his sermons are extant, as are also some of his letters. A collection of fifty-six homilies was made, apparently by Eusebius of Angers, in the eleventh century, which has been erroneously attri- buted to Eusebius of Emesa. They are sermons by ancient Gallic bishops, and among these are almost certainly some by Faustus of Riez. Faustus is thought to have died about 490. He is venerated at Riez on September 28. In some martyrologies he is given on January 16, as Maurolycus, Ferrarius, and Greven, and Saussaye. A parish near Pau in the Basses-Pyrenees is called after this saint. Its church was wrecked in the disastrous days of Jeanne d'Albret. When restored, it was given a new patron, S. John the Baptist. S. Faustus has neither a statue nor a commemoration in the church that bears his name. The works of Faustus are in Migne's Patr. Lat., Iviii, pp. 775-89, and Engelbrecht, Fausti Regiensis Opera, Wien, 1891. S. FEBRIC, Confessor In the circumstances relating to the grant, in 955, of Lann Bedeui, identified with Penterry, in Monmouthshire, to the Church of Llan- daff, is mentioned " Ecclesia Sanctorum larmen et Febric." ^ The ^ Book of Llan Ddv, p. 219 ; see also 1, p. 174. _, 4 Lives of the British Saints church is supposed to be S. Aryan's, in the same county, but of the two saints nothing is known. ^ S. FEDDWID, see S. MEDDWID S. FEOCK, Bishop, Confessor The Cornish Feock is Fiacc, Bishop of Sletty, disciple of S. Patrick. His veneration extends to Brittany. It is certainly a remarkable instance of the intercommunication that existed between Ireland, Britain, and Armorica, that we find the same saint at home in all three. The authorities for the Life of Fiacc are, in the first place, the various Lives of S. Patrick, as given by Colgan, in his Trias Thaumaturga. There is no independent Life of the saint ; but there is one in Albert le Grand, from the Legendarium of S. Matthew in Leon, and from a MS. history of Brittany. The notices that we have concerning the saint m the Irish records relate only to his acts in Ireland, because nothing was known of his life out of his native isle ; and the Breton life we have deals with his acts in Armorica, and passes over his acts in Ireland, or treats them in the vaguest manner,, making, however, a gross blunder that shall be noticed in the sequel. Fiacc is introduced to our notice for the first time when S. Patrick, accompanied by pious clerics, appeared at the convention of Tara, in 455. Precisely the same story is told of him then, as of Ere. Ere had stood up on the previous day, when Patrick had been summoned before Laoghaire at Slane. So, on this occasion, when Patrick ap- peared before the king and the great assembly at Tara, he was received by all seated, with the exception of Dubhtach, the king's chief poet, and Fiacc, his nephew, then a lad of eighteen.^ Fiacc was the son of Dubhtach's sister. His father MacDaire had been expelled from his patrimony in what is now Queen's County "■ Sir J. Rhys (Arch. Camb., 1895, p. 38, in an article on " The Goidels in Wales ") is disposed to regard Febric as the GoideUc form of a name which occurs in the Book of S. Chad as Guhebric, and inthe Book of Llan Ddv (pp. 257-8) as Guebric and Huefric. With the equation compare the Welsh river name Fferws = GoideUc Fergus, the Welsh Gwrwst or Grwst. ^ Tripartite Life, pp. 45, 53. Notes by Muirchu Maccu-Machtheni, p. 283. aS*. Feock 5 by Crimthan king of the Hy Cinnselach. In exile he had become a widower, and had married a sister of Dubhtach the poet. All the Hy Bairrche, the family to which Fiacc belonged, were now living dispersed, nursing their resentment and looking for a chance of revenge and of recovery of their land between the Nora and the BaiTow. A few years after the incident at Tara, Fiacc was baptised by S. Patrick himself, during his missionary visitation of Leinster.^ Crimthan, the king of the Hy Cinnselach, who occupied Wexford, and had annexed the Hy Biarrche territory, had opposed the progress of the gospel, and had expelled from his territories such as professed Christianity. Patrick succeeded in softening the old man and inducing him to be baptised. This accelerated the conversion of his tribesmen, and necessitated the establishment among them of a native priesthood. With this view the apostle consulted Dubhtach, with whom he was on the most friendly terms, as to what was to be done, and whom he was to send to organize the Church among the Hy Cinnselach and in the old Hy Bairrche territory. " The man I require as bishop," said Patrick, " must be a free man, of good family, without blemish, not given to fawning, learned, hospitable, the husband of one wife, and the father of a single child." The object of the last consideration was that the new bishop should not be cumbered with family cares. Dubhtach recommended his nephew, Fiacc the Fair. "But how persuade him to take on him the burden of the office ? " asked Patrick. " He is now approaching," said Dubhtach. " Take a pair of shears and pretend to be shaving my head, and see what follows." Patrick did as desired. Fiacc ran up and asked breathlessly what Patrick was about. " I want a bishop for the Hy Cinnselach," replied the apostle. " My uncle is too important a man to be spared for that," said Fiacc, ■' take me rather than him," and so it was that Fiacc was consecrated bishop. Then Patrick furnished him with a bell, a reliquary, a pastoral staff, and a book satchel ; and appointed seven of his clerics to attend him. S. Patrick's conduct in this transaction was one of those happy strokes of genius and tactful arrangement which conduced so largely to his success in Ireland.^ ■ Crimthan, as already stated, had driven the Hy Bairrche out of their land, although MacDaire was his own son-in-law. By the daughter of Crimthan MacDaire had four sons, all of whom were 1 Lije by Joscelyn, c. xii. • 2 Ihid., p. 189 ; Liber Hymnorum, ii, p. 31 ; Tirechan's Collections, Tripartite Life, ii, 345. 6 Lives of the British Saints eating out their hearts with rage in banishment. By his second wife MacDaire had an only son, Fiacc. The apostle now proposed to Crimthan to surrender one-fifth of the Hy Bairrche patrimony to Fiacc, that is to say, Fiacc's legitimate share of his father's property, and to accept him as spiritual head of the mission in that part of Leinster. To this, probably after some demur, Crimthan acceded. He moreover gave to Patrick some thirty or forty sites for churches in the Hy Cinnselach district, so that at once the Church started well endowed throughout the whole district from the Nore to the sea. By this happy arrangement, some of the wrong done to the Hy Bairrche was redressed, and Fiacc started work among his own people. The first thing he did was to form a nucleus whence he could work. This he placed at Domnach Fiacc, now Moryacomb, on the borders of Carlow, between Clonmore and Aghold. It is clear that he felt little confidence in Crimthan, so he made his headquarters at some little distance from him. From this establishment he worked the district with the men given him by Patrick ; but he did more, he made of this establishment a training school for missionary priests whom he could send as required, to fill the churches among the Hy Cinnselach and the Hy Bairrche, as the gospel made way. During Lent he was wont to retire unattended to a cave on the north-east side of the doon of Clopook, where the rock rises abruptly a hundred and fifty feet from the plain. It lies directly north-west of Sletty, from which it is distant about seven miles. Here he not only spent his time in prayer and meditation, but in jotting down memorials of S. Patrick. A hymn on the Life of S. Patrick is attributed to him, but he was not the author ; it was a composition of Aedh, the anchorite, of Sletty, who died in 6go.i From Domnach Fiacc he moved to Sletty, near Carlow, for what reason we do not know, and made that his principal estabhshment. He had some able and experienced men with him, men who made their mark in the Church. One was Ninnidh or Ninnio, who has been identified with Mancen or Maucan. In Tirechan's Collections towards the Life of S. Patrick, he is called Manchan. Possibly at the wish, or by the advice of the apostle, this man crossed over to St. David's Head, in Wales, and there established the great nursery of saints, Ty Gwyn. The district ruled by Crimthan was too unsettled, and the prospects of disturbance too threatening for Fiacc and Patrick not to desire to have the missionary school removed from Leinster. Another who was with Fiacc was Paul, who succeeded Ninnidh as head of Ty Gwyn, • Lihev Hymnorum, ii, pp. 31-5. '■''■'S. Feock 7 the Paulinus whose inscribed monument is preserved at Dolau Cothi. Other helpers were men of experience, but who have left less mark. Cattoc or Cattan, Patrick's priest ; Augustine, who had come to Ireland with Palladius, and who, on the failure of that mission, had accompanied his patron to North Britain. After the death of Palla- dius, Augustine offered his services to Patrick, who placed him with Fiacc. Others of less note were Tagan or Tecce, an Ossory man ; Diarmid, a kinsman of Fiacc, and Fedlemid. Fiacc had been baptised in or about 460, but Ussher puts it many years earher, and was consecrated very shortly after and sent on his mission to Leinster. In 465 a revolution occurred. The half-brother of Fiacc, called Oengus, succeeded in enlisting allies and in stirring up the clansmen between the Nore and the Barrow. A battle was fought and Oengus killed his grandfather, Crimthan, with his own hand. He then re- covered his patrimony. Whether his brothers were restored is not known. But the Hy Cinnselach were not disposed to bear their defeat, and retaliated, so that for some years the whole of Leinster was in commotion. In 480 Finnchad, king of the Hy Cinnselach, was killed by Cairbre, son of Niall, in a battle at Graine, north of Kildare, in which the Leinster men were fighting among themselves. In 489 a desperate conflict took place at Kelliston in Carlow, in which Fiacc's half-brother Oengus was engaged. In 492 Cairbre was again fighting the men of Leinster. The latter were again defeated in 497 or 500. The condition of the south-east was so disturbed, the country so incessantly ravaged, that Fiacc must have despaired of effecting much tiU the times were quieter. This was about the period of the migration to Penwith, and although the Irish writers tell us nothing about it, we may conjecture that it was during these commotions that Fiacc went to Cornwall, there to work, and there, maybe, to gather missionaries to assist him, when peace was restored. But ■ he went further, he visited Armorica. The Breton legendary Life of S. Fiacc is late and mixed with fable. It makes him an archbishop of Armagh, who, unable to bear the burden of his office, and the manners of an intractable people, left Ireland, and crossed to Armorica, floating over on a rock that detached itself and served as a ship. He stepped ashore at Pen March ; whereupon the rock turned about and swam back to Ireland. A portion, however, of his stone boat is preserved at Treguenec, about four miles from Pen March, and it has in it a hollow in which it is supposed that the head 8 Lives of the British Satnis of the saint rested. Pilgrims visit the chapel and place their heads in this depression to be cured of fever, and carry off water in which a relic of the saint has been steeped. Albert Le Grand supposes that S. Nonna, an Irish bishop to whom the Church of Pen March is dedicated, is the same as S. Vougai, or Veoc, but gives no reason for this identification. Where the saint founded a church was at Lanveock, in the same peninsula. How long he remained there is not known. Thence he went north to Les- neven, and branching away to the east became the founder of a religi- ous house at S. Vougai. A tenth-century missal preserved there long had the credit of having belonged to the saint, and to be invested with miraculous powers. The origin of the story of his having been elected Archbishop of Armagh is this. He is spoken of in the Lives of S. Patrick as having been the chief bishop in Leinster, and nominated archbishop over all Ireland. But, as Dr. Todd has shown, this is due to a misrendering of the original Irish, which merely stated that he was exalted to be a chief in esteem over all other saints in Ireland. In the tenth-century Litany of S. Vougai he is invoked as S. Bechue. The name in Brittany is Vio, Vougai, Veho and Vec'ho. Beside the churches already mentioned of which he is patron, he is also one of those of Priziac, canton of Faouet, in Morbihan, where he is called S. Beho. At 'the beginning of the seventeenth century the clergy of Priziac wanted to change the dedication of the church to S. Avitus, but met with such opposition from the parishioners that they were obliged to give up the project.^ These foundations in Brittany, like that in Cornwall, point to his having devoted a portion of his missionary life to the establishment of centres of religion elsewhere beside Ireland. S. Feock in Cornwall belongs to the little Irish cluster, to which S. Kea and Peran-ar-Worthal belong ; and they are at no great distance from the cluster at Lizard, where among others was his fellow-worker and friend in Ireland, S. Mancen or Maucan, also called Ninnio, and it is more probable that the S. Nonna of Pen March is this Ninnio, who may have come to Armorica with S. Fiacc, than that it should be another name of Fiacc himself. To return to his labours in Ireland. He suffered at one time from an abscess in his leg (laboravit fistula in coxa), which made it difficult for him to walk. S. Patrick hearing of this sent him a chariot and horses to alleviate his sufferings ; but this excited jealousy in Secun- dinus, his comrade. Whereupon Patrick told the latter to keep the ' Le Mene, Paroisses de Vannes, ii, p. 237. S. Ffagan chariot for himself, and Secundinus did actually retain it for three days, and was then heartily ashamed of himself, and sent it to Fiacc.^ Nothing is recorded of the death of Fiacc in Ireland, but late authori- ties assume that he was buried in Sletty ; so that it is quite conceivable he may have retired in favour of his son Fiacra, and gone to Cornwall and have finished his days in Brittany. In the Irish Calendars his feast is on October 12 ; and his death may be put at any time between 510 and 520. Under the name of Vouk or Vogoue he has a church and well in S. Vogou's townland, Wexford, and his feast is there observed on Jan- uary 20. S. Feock's feast in Cornwall is on the nearest Thursday to February 2, before or after. In Brittany he is commemorated on June 15.2 In Cornwall not only is S. Feock dedicated to him, but there is also a Saviock in S. Kea's parish, where it adjoins S. Feock. [See also S.Veep.) Sheviock very probably was also dedicated to this saint, though now under the invocation of SS. Peter and Paul. In the Exeter episcopal registers the parish church of S. Feock appears as Ecclesia S"^. Feocae, Bronescombe, 1264, 1267 ; but as S". Fyoci in that of Brantynghara, 1372, and Stafford, 1398. At Priziac is an early Christian lech, about 9 ft. high, and having the form of a truncated cone, with a hole at the top for the reception of a cross. This is called by the people " le canon de Saint Beho," and there they pretend that he came over from Ireland floating upon it as a log. Probably in art he should be represented, either with a harp, as he had been trained to be a bard by his uncle, before his ordination ; or else with a chariot and horses at his side. S. FFABIALI, see S. PABAI S. FFAGAN, Bishop, Confessor Ffagan, or Fagan (occasionally Phagan), is represented in the Lucius legend as having been sent, with Dyfan, by Pope Eleutherius 1 Tripartite Life, i, p. 241 ; Life by Joscelyn, c. xii. 2 Albert le Grand, and Tresvaux in his additions to Lobineau ; Garaby and those who follow him. Not in any of the extant Breviary Calendars. lo Lives of the British Saints to Britain in the latter part of the second century. The two are first mentioned by William of Malmesbury, in his De Antiquitate Glastonien- sis EcclesicB (written between 1129 and 1139), and by Geoffrey of Monmouth.^ Sometimes they have associated with them Elfan and Medwy. According to the later embellishments of the legend in the lolo MSS., Ffagan was " a man of Italy, who came as a bishop to Wales," and was " bishop at Llansantffagan, where his church is." ^ He was penrhaith, or principal, of Cor Ffagan there,^ and one docu- ment credits him with the foundation of two churches, Llanffagan Fawr, now S. Fagans (S. Mary), near Cardiff, and Llanffagan Fach, now Llanmaes (S. Cadoc), near Llantwit Major.* Leland says,^ " The Paroch Chirch of S. Fagan is now of our Lady ; but ther is yet by the ViUage a Chapelle of S. Fagan sumtime the Paroch Chirch." To him is dedicated the parish church of S. Fagan, a parish formed (1856) out of Aberdare. He and Dyfan are reputed to have founded the ancient see of Congresbury, which lasted till 721, when it was removed to a village called Tydenton, now Wells.^ In a late lolo list he is entered among the chorepiscopi of Llandaff prior to the time of S. Dubricius.' Ffagan's festival day does not occur in any of the Welsh calendars. Browne Willis,^ however, gives it on February 10 ; Cressy * on August 8 ; and Ffagan and Dyfan together on May 24. Roscarrock gives May 26, which is also the day on which Lucius is said to have been baptised. One of the " Sayings of the Wise " stanzas runs : — ^** Hast thou heard the saying of Ffagan, After showing his declaration ? " Where God is silent it is not wise to speak." (Lie taw Duw nid doeth yngan). Ffagan and his companions were probably enough historical per- sons, whose names were introduced into the Lucius story in the twelfth century. See further under S. Dyfan and S. Lucius. 1 Hist., iv, cc. 19, 20 ; Bvuts, pp. loo-i. He says that they " purged away the paganism of well-nigh the whole island." Wm. of Malmesbury brings them to Glastonbury. Giraldus also mentions them in his Descript. of Wales, i, c. i8 (0pp., vi, p. 202). See also McClure, British Place-names, S.P.C.K., 1910, pp. 197-8 2 Pp. 115, 135. 3 xbid., p. 151. 4 Ibid., p. 220. ' Itin., iv, f. 63. 6 Stubbs, Re^. Sacr. Angl., 2nd ed., p. 215. ' Liber Landavensis, p. 623. " Pedair Erw Sant Ffagan " (his Four Acres) are mentioned (1709) as in the parish of Llandaff (Cardiff Records, v, p. 399). * Llandaff, 1719, append, p. i ; Paroch. Angl., 1733, p. 198. ' Rees, Welsh Saints, pp. 86, 316. >» lolo MSS., p. 256. S. Ffili . II S. FFILI, Confessor Ffili, in Latin Filius, was the son of Cenydd and grandson of Gildas.i He had a church near that of his father in Gower, called Rhos Ffili, now known as Rhos Sili or Rhosilly,^ and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Apparently he moved into Cornwall, where Philleigh Church is under his patronage ; ^ and perhaps Lamphil, or Lan-ffili, on the further side of the Camel to the old chapel of S. James in the parish of S. Breward, may bear his name. Probably he moved, when did his father, to Brittany, to the region of Browercc, where his grand- father Gildas exercised a vast influence. In the parish of Languidic, the Llan of his father, called Quidi in Breton, is a Kervili, which may preserve his name. But he has most probably been supplanted by S. Philibert at Loc Mariaquer, where there is a village that is called S. Philibert. Philibert of Grandchamps died in 684. There is a curious story connected with S. Gildas that apparently belongs to Ffili and not to the abbot of Grandchamps.* Four monks — actually devils in disguise — came in a boat to Ruys to inform Gildas that their master, Philibert, was dying, and required his presence to administer to him the last rites. At once he entered the boat to accompany them across the sea. But before leaving, he had a revelation that this was a demoniacal snare laid for him. Never- theless he accompanied the false monks, taking with him his Book of the Gospels and a little reliquary, hidden under his habit. The boat started, and when at sea Gildas said to his companions : " Let one manage the rudder, and the rest unite with me in singing Prime ; and that we may be more at our ease, lower the sail." The monks replied : " If we delay, we shall arrive too late." " That matters not," said Gildas ; " duty to God comes first." Then one of them flying into a rage exclaimed : " Confound your prime, we must push on." Gildas, however, knelt down and began to sing Deus in adjutorium. At once boat and monks vanished, leaving the saint alone on the waves. Wholly unconcerned, he spread 1 lolo MSS., pp. 109, 137. * The name is sometimes said to be derived from Reginald de Sully (near Cardiff) , who received the lordship on the conquest of Glamorgan by Fitzhamon, but this is a mistake. The name stands for Rhos SuUen, and occurs in the Book of Llan DAv, p. 239, as Rosulgen. ' Register of Bishop Brantyngham, Eccl. Sti. Fihi de Eglosros, 1384, 1387 ; also Bishop Stafford's, 1405. * Acta SS. Boll., Jan. ii, pp. 956, seq., and the Legendarium of the Church of S. Gildas-des-Bois. I 2 Lives of the British Saints his cloak, seated himself thereon, attached one end of the mantle to his staff to serve as sail, and continued his office. Thus wafted over the sea, he reached the isle of Noirmoutier, below the Bale de Bourgneuf, in which, as disciple of S. Philibert, he had passed his early years, and found there S. Philibert in rude health, and received a cordial welcome. Having related to his old master the adventures he had gone through, he remained with him some months, and then finding a vessel starting for Ireland went in that to the Isle of Saints. This extraordinary story occurs in the Legend- arium of S. Gildas-des-Bois, and in the rhymed office of the saint. But Philibert was not born till some time after Gildas had been dead. The legend, however, should not be dimissed as worthless. The root from which such a florid crop of fable sprang was probably this. Gildas at Rhuis heard that his grandson, FfiH, at Locmariaquer was ill, and went in a boat to see him. The boat, by the mismanage- ment of the monks was upset, and all drowned in crossing the mouth of the inland sea, where the current runs with force, except only Gildas, who managed to get ashore. He may possibly have used a strong expression relative to those who had the conduct of the boat, and this has been adopted as a literal description of them. So far from Gildas having been the disciple of Philibert, probably it was Ffili, his grandson, who was his pupil, till he set up for himself at Locmariaquer. Caerphilly, in Glamorganshire, is believed by some to derive its name from Ffili, but this is as improbable as the other statement that the old hundred name, Senghenydd, is from his father, Cen- ydd.i In Peniarth MS. ii8 (sixteenth century). The Book of Dr. John David Rhys, is given an account of the giants of Wales, with topographical particulars ; every Cawr, or giant, has his Caer or Castell. After enumerating the sons of the South Wales giant Bwch Gawr, the writer observes, " Some say that Phili was a giant, and a son of Bwch, and had his residence at Caer Phili." 2 Ffih's festival does not occur in any of the Welsh calendars. The Mahsant of Rhosilly, however, was, and probably is still to some extent, kept on Februaryi2, the merry-making, until late years, being continued for three days. The Mahsant was celebrated for what was called Bonny Clobby, a kind of plum pudding that was prepared, sold, and largely consumed on these occasions. ^ 1 See ii, p. 112. a So also Rice Merrick, A Booke of Glamorganshires Antiquities (1578), London 1887, p. 105 ; Lewis Morris, Celtic Remains, p. 179. With the name compare Kerfily in Elven, Brittany. ■■' J. D. Davies, West Cower, Swansea, 1885, "', P- 162. /S. Ffinan 13 S. FFINAN, Abbot, Confessor A CHURCH in Anglesey, Llanffinan, is dedicated to this saint, who was certainly Irish. No saint of the name occurs in the Welsh saintly pedigrees, though the late lolo MSS.^ mention a Ffinan of the Coy of Seiriol, at Penmon, Anglesey, who became bishop in the north. He can hardly be Finnian of Clonard, who was associated with South Wales. It is more likely that he is Finnian of Maghbile or Moville. This is rendered the more probable by the Life of this Finnian being included in the collection of John of Tynemouth, who says of him : " Reverendissimus pontifex Finanus, qui et Wallico nomine Winni- nus appellatur," etc. Although he relates nothing relative to his acts in Wales, he implies in these words that he was known and culted in Wales. For the Life of this saint we have, unfortunately, but scanty material. A Vita was written by John of Tynemouth, which was taken into Capgrave's collection. There is also mention of him by the scholiast on the Martyrology of Oengus, as also by that on the Hymn of Mugint in the Liber Hym- norum. Finnian was son of Cairbre and Lassara. Cairbre was of the Dal Fiatach, the royal race of Ulster, descended from Fiatach the Fair, King of Ireland, who was killed in 119 after a reign of five years. His parents seem to have been Christians, for he was baptised and sent to S. Colman of Dromore for instruction. Dromore is about eighteen miles south of Carrickfergus in the old Dalaradian territory, and was founded as a school and monastery by S. Colman, about the year 514. One day whilst with him Finnian had been naughty, and Colman took a whip to thrash the boy. But as he held the instrument of chastisement aloft his heart failed him, and he laid it aside. " It is of no use," said he ; "I can't thrash you. You must go to another master, who will be stricter and sterner than myself." ^ So the boy was sent to Ninnio at Candida Casa or Whitern, who at the time had a ship on the coast, about to return to Alba. With him he remained many years. It is most difficult to disentangle, as has already been said, the accounts we have of Whitern from those of Ty Gwyn or Rosnat in Menevia. Both were called " The White House," over both presided a certain Mancen or Ninnio, and both were famous training schools, the Northern Candida Casa for the north of Ireland, the Menevian 1 P. 144. ' In the legend an angel arrests the arm of Colman. 14- Lives of the British Saints White House for the south. But in this case there can be little doubt that Finnian was sent to Whitem. It was a double monastery, in which not young men only, but girls as well received education, and scandals occurred. Finnian was a handsome young fellow, with long fair hair, on ac- count of which he was called Finnbar, and with so sweet and angehc a countenance, that, as we have seen, Colman was disarmed when he took the whip to his back. And now his good looks won the heart of the daughter of a Scotic king, who had been sent to school at Whitem.^ There can be little doubt who this was, though not named in the Life. This was Drastic, daughter of Drast, who raled from 523 to 528. She was an inflammable young lady, and we shall have something more to relate about her presently. She became so infatuated with Finnian that she fell sick, as he would not pay regard to her advances, and fainted away in the pres- ence of her father. There was clearly a family scene, and Finnian was present. He recalled her to her senses by telling her plainly that he had other ambitions than to become son-in-law to King Drust. And so, says John of Tynemouth, " ad vitam castam et sanctam revocavit." This statement, however, must be taken with a grain of salt. Very injudiciously Drast sent his daughter back to Whitern, where she soon forgot Finnian, and fell in love with another Irish pupil, named Rioc ; and she bribed Finnian by a promise of a copy of all Mancen's MS. books to act as her go-between. Finnian behaved treacherously, for what reason we do not know ; and he contrived a secret meeting in the dark between the damsel and another Irishman, named Tal- mach, in place of Rioc. The result was a great scandal. Drastic, by Talmach, became the mother of S. Lonan. Mancen, or Ninnio, got wind of this httle affair, and was highly incensed. It brought his establishment into disrepute ; so he told a boy to take a hatchet, hide behind the oratory, and hew at Finnian as he came at early dawn to Mattins. The boy agreed, but by some mistake Mancen preceded the pupil, and the lad strack at him and felled him. Happily the blow was not mortal. He was saved by crying out, and the boy recognized his voice and did not hew again. ^ ^ " Regis Britannie filiam, ipsum carnali amore nimis diligentem . . . justo dei juditio coram patre et populo post parvum intervallum ob hoc defunctam, parentum et astantium gemitibus compassus ad vitam castam et sanctam revocavit." Vita by John of Tynemouth. 2 Finnian of Moville went to learn with Mugint and Rioc and Talmach " et ceteri alii secum. Drust rex Britanniae tunc habuit fiHam, i.e. Drusticc nomen ejus, e* dedit eam legendo cum Mugint. Et amavit ilia Rioc, et dixit Finniano : S. FJinan 1 5 The story occurs in another form in the Life of S. Frigidian of Lucca, •who was erroneously identified with Finnian of Moville, and the lost original acts of the latter were employed for the manufacture of those of Frigidian. The composer softened down the circumstances. No mention is made of Drustic or Rioc or Talmach ; but it is said that Mugint, becoming jealous of Finnian's popularity as a teacher, laid a snare for him, which ended in his receiving himself the wound intended for his pupil.^ Talmach was aftei-wards accounted a saint, and his day is March 14. His son, Lonan of Trefoit, is commemo- rated on November i. After this scandalous affair it was clearly impossible for Finnian to remain any longer at Whitern, and he departed on pilgrimage to Rome. John of Tynemouth hushes up the cause of his departure, and attributes it to his thirst for knowledge, which he desired to quaff at the fountain head. He remained seven years in Rome, and was ordained priest there. A curious incident happened whilst there. He was preaching in one of the Roman churches, when, probably his strong Irish accent and his bad Latin, so offended the audience that the orchestra was Tribuam tibi omnes libros quos habet Mugint scribendum si Rioc dedisses mihi in matrimonium. Et misit Finnen Talmach ad se ilia nocte in formam Rioc ; €t cognovit earn, et inde conceptus ac natus est Loman de Treocit. Sed Drustic estimavit quod Rioc earn cognovit, et dixit quod Rioc pater esset filii ; sed falsum est, quia Rioc virgo fuit. Iratus est Mugint tunc et misit quendam puerum in templum, et dixit ei : Si quis prius in hac nocte veniat ad te in temp- lum, percute eum securi. Ideo dixit quia prius Finnianus pergebat ad templum. Sed tamen ilia nocte domino instigante ipse Mugint prius ecclesise pervenit ; et percussit eum puer . . . et tunc dixit Mugint ' Parce ! ' quia putavit inimicos populum populari." Libey Hymn., ii, p. 11. ^ VitcB apud Colgan, Acta SS. Hib., pp. 634-42. The Life of S. Frigidian is complete from a MS. at Cologne, and the lections for his office at Lucca are ■excerpts from it. " Unde factum est quod Magister suus Mugentius nomine, qui in civitate quae dicitur Candida, liberales disciplinas eum docuerat, ubi etiam dicitur episcopali officio vir sanctus functus fuisse ; excandens iracundia, cum duobus discipulis qui secum remanserant, nam plures ad B. Fridianum audiendum convenerant, machinatus est, ut ipsum nocturno silentio dolo peri- meret : et quod palam in sancto viro, et Regis iilio, facere non poterat, occulte impleret. Pravitatis ergo consilio firmatus, cum securibus ad ostium ecclesiae, discipuli Mugentii accedunt, diligenter custodentes, ut virum sanctum ante omnes ad matutinas surgentem in atrio ecclesia3 occiderent, et occulte sepelirent, ne tantum nefas ad cujusquam notitiam perveniret. Sed angelus Domini, qui ipsum ex divino mandato ecclesiae suae servare volebat, ei unum de calceamentis abstulit, quod dum circumquaque B. Fridianus aberrando quaeveret, Mugentius ad ostium pervenit ecclesiae, ubi ab insidiatoribus B. Fridiani leva dextraque percussus interiit. Tandem ut prudens recognoscens reatum suum, continuo exclamavit, Parce Domine, parce populo tuo, et ne des haereditatem tuam in opprobrium. Parce bene Fridiane, parce laqueum paravi et incidi in eum. Tali ergo confessionis compendio in spe salutis Mugentius vitam finivit." Then Fridian, as another David, lamenting for the death of his enemy, dismisses his people and goes to Ireland and assumes the habit at Moville. 1 6 Lives of the British Saints set to bray him down with trumpets. But Finnian would not be silenced ; he raised his voice and roared out his homily, drowning all the instruments that were sounded to silence him.i Two years after his ordination as priest he returned to Ireland, carrying with him relics, a marble altar stone, and three round jewels, such as had not been seen in Ireland before. But above all he brought back with him S. Jerome's version of the Gospels and of the Penta- teuch. This is the probable explanation of the words in the Felire of Oengus, by the scholiast, to the effect that he was the first who brought the Gospel to Ireland, as weU as the Law of Moses. He now founded the monastery of Maghbile, or Moville, in County Down, about the year 540. The name signifies the Plain of the Aged Tree, and it is a curious circumstance that at present near the ruins of the abbey are very ancient yew trees of enormous size. Another of his foundations was Dromin in Louth. He attended Nathi, the priest placed by Finnian of Clonard in Connaught, when he was on his deathbed, and administered to him the last rites. Some of his pupils were not in good discipline. One stabbed him with a spear and wounded him, whereupon Finnian cursed him, " May the birds of the air devour your flesh, and may your unburied bones lie scattered on the face of the field, and to hell with your wretched soul ! " ^ Whilst Finnian was at his second monastery at Dromin, the memor- able quarrel ensued between him and S. Columba. In the course of his scholastic wanderings Columcille had borrowed a Latin psalter from Finnian, which he forthwith proceeded to copy. When Finnian learned what he had done he was incensed, and de- manded back the original and with it the copy. Columba refused the latter ; whereupon the case was referred to the decision of Diarmidh, King of Heath, who decided against Columba, according to the prin- ciple of the Brehon law, that as " to every cow belongs its calf, so to every book belongs its copy." ^ "Thereupon ensued a commotion. Columba was a thorough Celt. Christianity, indeed, had spread itself through Ireland, but it was as yet only a thin veneer over the Celtic 1 " Cum populo Romano in ecclesia quadam verbum domini predicaret, quorundam clericorum invidia, ne a populo vox iUius audiretur, organa et tubas ceteraque musice modulationis instrumenta simul sonare fecit. Hec tamen omnia altitudine mirabili, virtute divina, vox sua superans commendatur." 2 " Carnem tuam volucres cell comedent, et ossa undique dispersa terra non suscipiet, animaque mfelix ad inferna sine fine discendet." 3 The copy is still in existence, in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy see Gilbert's National MSS. of Ireland, pp. 319-21. S. Ffinan 1 7 nature, rash, hot, passionate, revengeful. It had indeed conquered some of the grosser vices, and made them disgraceful. It had ele- vated somewhat the tone of morals, but it had scarce touched the fiery, unforgiving spirit which lay deep beneath, and still exhibits itself in the fierce and prolonged faction fights of Limerick and Tip- perary. In the sixth' century the tribal organization of the Irish people intensified this spirit. The very women, and monks, and clergy yielded themselves up to its fascination. . . . Such being the spirit of the age, such being the habits and customs of the time, even in classes most naturally bound to peace, it is no wonder that Columba, a child of the great northern Hy-Neill, took his judicial defeat very badly, and summoned his tribesmen to a contest which, as he repre- sented, touched most keenly their tribal honour. The decision of the king against Columba's claim became, in fact, the occasion of a great conflict between the rival northern and southern branches of the Hy-Neill, which terminated in the battle of Cooldrevny, fought be- tween Sligo and Drumcliffe in the year 561, and won by the Ulster men, the party of S. Columba, when no less than 3,000 of the Meatb men were slain." ^ Columcille retired to Inismurray. A synod assembled and excom- municated him. Then he consulted his " soul-friend," S. Molaiss, who advised submission and prescribed as a penance that Columcille should retire to Pictland and there labour at the conversion of the natives, in expiation of the scandal he had caused and the blood that he had shed. Before all this, Finnian had quarrelled with Tuathal Maelgarbh {533-544). King of Ireland, over a small matter. He had asked the king for butter wherewith to feed the lamp by which his disciples read at night, and that the king had refused. Whereupon Finnian cursed him and doomed him to a bloody death, murdered by one of his own servants. And it fell out according to his words ; for Tuathal was killed in 544, according to the legend on the same day on which he was cursed. If so, then Finnian knew of the conspiracy against him by Diarmidh,' son of Fergus Cearbhal, who had instigated his tutor Maelmor to assassinate the king, which he did at Grellach Eilti, in the Ox mountains in Sligo. By not betraying the plot, Finnian gained the favour of Diarmidh, who ascended the throne after the murder of Tuathal. Perhaps stirred to emulation by the successes of his rival, Colum- cille, among the Picts, Finnian also crossed into Alba, according to the 1 Stokes {G. T.), Ireland and the Celtic Church, London, 1892, pp. 108-10. VOL. :II- C I 8 Lives of the British Saints Breviary of Aberdeen, and landed at Coninghame. Soon after he reached the river Garnoch, and ordered a boy to catch some fish for dinner. But as no fish were caught, Finnian cursed the river, that no man might ever after catch fish in it. On which the river left its channel, and bent its course in another direction. The story has been invented to account for the fact that the river has actually changed its course. Thence the saint betook himself to Holjwood, where he founded a branch establishment to his main foundation at Maghbile. Here Finnian set up a cross in honour of the blessed Brigid. The Scottish tradition is that Finnian died in Cunningham, at a place called Kilwinning, as in Scotland he is known as Winnin. He died after a long sickness in 579 according to the Annals of Ulster and of Tighernach, and the Chronicon Scottorum ; but the Annals of InisfaUen, in the Bodleian copy, not that in Dublin, give 572- S. Frigidian, Bishop of Lucca, has been identified with Finnian of Moville. He was known to S. Gregory the Great, ^ who tells a story of him that has some resemblance to that in the Breviary of Aberdeen, that when the river Auster, now the Serchio, flooded Lucca, he took a harrow, made a trench, and altered the course of the stream. But the Breviary of Aberdeen was drawn up long after that Frigidian of Lucca had been identified with Finnian, and this story was adapted from S. Gregory to a river in Scotland. So also the fact that Frigidian died in 579 may have induced the compUer of the Annals to put that date down as the year in which Finnian died ; and the Annals of InisfaUen, not so influenced, are probably the more correct. That Frigidian of Lucca was an Irishman is possible enough, and when the compilers of the acts of the saints of that diocese were in quest of material for the lessons in their breviary, they adapted that of Finnian of Moville. But there is nothing in the Life of S. Finnian that lends colour to such an identification. Frigidian • was made bishop in 560, and that was just about the time when Finnian was engaged in his altercation with ColumciUe relative' to the copy of his psalter, leading to the battle of Cooldrevny, fought in 561. The day on which Finnian is commemorated in the Irish martyrologies is September 10, but in Scotland on January 21. Frigidian of Lucca is commemorated on September 10, and this may have led the Irish martyrologists astray. It is generally supposed that Llanfiinan is dedicated to the disciple ^ Dialog., iii, 9. S. Ffle-Joyn 19 of Aidan, who afterwards succeeded him at Lindisfarne, ^ but the parish wake was on September 14,^ which agrees rather with the festival of Finnian of Moville. Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire is beheved to be named after the Ffinan of Llanffinan, and to testify to Welsh missionary efforts among the Transmontane Picts. ^ To him Migvie is also dedicated. Not far from Lumphanan is Midmar, dedicated to S. Nidan, a disciple of S. Kentigern.* If we inquire when Finnian can have founded his church in Anglesey, we shaU probably not be wrong in fixing it as taking place on his journey back from Rome. According to his Life he loitered on the way, doing much missionary work, and converting pagans. It is doubtful whether Finnian' was a bishop. His identification with Frigidian has conferred on him the episcopal title. S. FFLEWYN, Confessor Fflewyn, or Fflewin, was a son of Ithel Hael, the father of a large family of Saints who migrated from Armorica to Wales towards the close of the fifth century. In the pedigrees in Hanesyn Hen {Cardiff MS. 25) * he is entered as " Fflewin in Talebolion," the commote and rural deanery of the name in north-west Anglesey. He is patron there of the little church of Llanfflewyn, subject to Llanrhuddlad, which is the only church known to be dedicated to him. In the lolo MSS.^ occurs the following evolved and wholly inaccurate notice : " Fflewyn and Gredifael were saints of Cor y Ty Gwyn ar Daf, in Dyfed, where they were with S. Pawl of Cor lUtyd superintending the Bangor," the foundation of which is also attributed to these three saints. The brothers Fflewyn and Gredifael seem to have kept together, both having churches dedicated to them in Anglesey. , Fflewyn's festival is given on December 12 in the calendars in John ' E.g. Angharad Llwyd, Hist, of Anglesey, 1833, p. 261 ; Arch. Camb., 1848, p. 55. The statement is founded on the supposition that the church of Llanidan not far distant, is dedicated to Aidan, and not to Nidan, as correctly. ^ Nicolas Owen, Hist, of Anglesey, 1775, p. 58 ; so Angharad Llwyd. Browne Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 281, however, gives December 14, meaning Finnian of Clonard. The Ffinan in the Allwydd Paradwys calendar, on Feb. 17, is Fintan, Abbot of Clonenagh, Queen's County. ' ' Sir J. Rhys, Celtic Britain, ed. 1904, p. 174. * Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, 1872, p. 420; Skene, Celtic Scotland, ii (1887), p. 193. • • •5 P.- 115 ; Myv. Arch., pp. 425-6. Fflewyn is the Latin Flavinu5i. • Pp. 112, 114, 133. 2 o Lives of the British Saints Edwards of Chirkland's Grammar, 1481, the Prymer of 1618, and Allwydd Paradwys, 1670. Willis ^ gives the nth. Nicolas Owen 2 and Angharad Llwyd' say, however, that November 12 was his day at Llanfflewyn. They have evidently made a mistake in the month. S. FFRAID, see S. BRIGID S. FFWYST. In the lolo MSS.* Fiwyst is entered as a saint of Gwent, without pedigree, implying that he is the patron of Llanffwyst, now Llanfoist « near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. The church is now given as under the invocation of S. Faith, due, no doubt, to lack of any information about its original patron. Faith being the nearest approach to the name. S. FINBAR, Bishop, Confessor Patron of Fowey, Cornwall, where there is a noble church dedicated, to him. For short he is called S. Barr. His day, according to William of Worcester, as observed there, was September 26. In 1336 at the rededication of the church. Bishop Grandisson at- tempted to get rid of him, by putting the church under the invocation of S. Nicolas ; but the old Irish saint has held his ground stubbornly notwithstanding. The authorities for the Life of S. Barr or Finbar are a Vita S'\ Barri in the so-called Kilkenny Book in Bishop Marsh's Library, Dublin. Another Life in Irish that is fragmentary in the Book of Fermoy ; four pages are missing. A Life in Latin in the MSS. of Trinity College Library, Dublin. The BoUandists had a copy of the same Life that is in the Kilkenny Book, but would not publish it in its entirety as not being conducive to edification. The following account is from the Kilkenny Book, a transcript of which has been obtained. • Survey of Bangor, 1721, p. 280. ^ Hist, of Anglesey, 1775, p. 58. ^ Hist, of Anglesey, 1833, p. 262. * P. 144. » The name occurs under this modern form [Lanfoist) in the Norwich Taxatio, 1254. S. Finbar 2 i Finbar's father was a native of Connaught. His origin was some- what scandalous, but the story must be given, as it is illustrative of the severe laws that prevailed in Ireland for the preservation of female virtue. Tighernach was king of Rathluin in Muskerry. His wife had a noble lady staying with her, and at the same time the king had sum- moned to him a master-smith from Connaught, named Amergin. " The king commanded his household that none of them should form a secret alliance with the lady visitor. Amergin did not, however, hear of the warning, and he bestowed great love and affection to the lady, and her love for him was no less." The king hearing a rumour that all was not as it ought to be, sent for her, and she confessed that she expected to become a mother, and that Amergin was the father. ■" If this be so," said the king, "it is right that you should be bound together, and scorched and burnt without respite." The king, so says the story, ordered both to be burnt alive, but a providential rain extinguished the flames of the pyre. The facts -were, probably, that he was moved by the tears of his wife and the lady, and commuted the extreme penalty of the law into one of banish- ment. When the child was born, the name given to it was Loan, and he was nursed at home for seven years, at which age his father gave him Tip to some religious men to be educated for the ecclesiastical estate. They brought him to Kilmacahill in the county of Kilkenny, where he remained some years learning to read and acquire the psalms by heart. One day a monk was cutting the boy's long golden curls, when he •was forced to say, " What shining hair yours is ! " The abbot stand- ing by said, " Ah ! let Shining Hair (Finn-bar) be his name amongst us henceforth ; " and so it was, and so is he known to this day.^ A pretty story is told of his childhood, which indeed at once shows lus the kindly simplicity of these old religious men, and of the respect ■with which the little Loan was regarded by them. They were about to trace out a new site, or perhaps only new founda- tions, for their church and monastery. With one accord they agreed to let the innocent little boy with the golden locks bless the site of their habitations and church, because, said they, nothing but good and a blessing could rest on such a site as one thus dedicated. ^ " Tonsus est secundum verbum sancti senioris. Quando autem tondebatur, ^3ixit senior, Pulcra est coma quam habuit iste. Servus dei alter dixit senior. Bene dixisti quod nomen ejus mutetur et vocabitur Fyndbarr." Cod. Kilken., ifol. 1336. 2 2 Lives of the British Saints A foster brother of S. David, known in the Lives of S. Finbar as MacCorp, came to Ireland, and our saint placed himself under his' direction. Mac Corp, i.e., MacCoirpre, is not known to Irish or Welsh martjn-ologists. The name means no more than the son of Cairbre. After some years MacCorp persuaded Barr to go with him on pil- grimage to Rome. They went thither, and on their way back, Finbar founded a church in Alba. In the Life of S. David there is a notice of a visit made to him by Barr on his way back from Rome. Finbar remained with S. David some little while, and then desiring to return into Ireland, and having no boat of his own, S. David lent him one of his own called " the Horse," as it had a figure-head representing that animal. As Finbar crossed over on it, he passed S. Brendan in his vessel " The Sea Mon ster," and they saluted each other. A picture of the vessel of S. David was painted and framed in gold, and was long preserved at Ferns. 1 Finbar seems to have made acquaintance also with S. Aidan and S. Cadoc. On his return to Ireland, Finbar founded a monastic settlement on Lough Eirke, at a place that still bears his name, Gongane Barra, or the Chasm of S. Barr. The place soon became famous, and many disciples resorted to him, and he became the head of a large congre- gation, both male and female. However, the place was incommodious, and S. Finbar abandoned it for Cloyne, about fifteen miles from Cork, where he remained for seventeen years. But this site did not satisfy his requirements, and he finally migrated to Corcagh-mor, the Great Marsh, as the name signifies, near the mouth of the Lee, and there he founded twelve churches, and about his settlement in process of time grew up the city of Cork. To consecrate the place S. Finbar fasted and prayed inces- santly for three days and three nights. The other alternative method was moderate fasting and frequent prayer for forty days. Finbar chose the severer but more rapid method of appropriating and dedi- cating a site. In the Life of S. Senanof Iniscathy we are told that that saint took £en foreign monks from his monastery to S. Finbar, but it is difficult to reconcile dates. According to legend, S. Finbar went from Cork to Rome in company with S. Aedh or Madoc of Ferns, S. David and twelve monks, to receive consecration from Gregory the Great ; Gre- ' Vita S. Davidis in Cambro-Brit. SS., pp. 132-3. In the original the story- assumes a fantastic form. The above is probably the nucleus out of which a fable has been formed. S. Mni>ar ,5 ; ' 23 gory, however, refused to consecrate him, because it had been revealed to him that Finbar was to receive his episcopal orders in heaven itself. Then comes a nonsensical story of how- Finbar and MacCorp were carried up into heaven and were there elevated to the office of bishops, and how a miraculous spring of oil broke out and flowed over the ankles of those who stood looking up expecting the return of the saints. This stuff may at once be dismissed, and we must not be misled by the introduction into the story of Gregory the Great (590-604). For how long S. Finbar remained at Cork after he had founded it we do not know, but there he died and was buried. When we come to fixing the date of S. Finbar we meet with diffi- culties. He was a contemporary of S. David, S. Aidan, and S. Cadoc. S. David's death can hardly be placed later than 589. As we have shown under S. Aidan of Ferns, there were two of this name, and Aidan, the disciple of S. David, died about 625. S. Cadoc is thought to have died in 577. S. Senan, who sent monks to S. Finbar, died 510-20. He was younger than S. Brendan, who died 577. Leland, quoting from the Life of S. Wymer, i.e.,S. Fingar, mentions Barricius as " Socius Patricii," and says that he came to Cornwall, and implies that he did so along with Fingar. and Piala. If so, he must have been associated with S. Senan and S. Breaca. Now we are told in his Life that among the holy women under his direction was a Brig, «.e., Breaca. And as we have seen, he was on friendly terms with S. Senan. Leland is certainly wrong in calling him a com- panion of S. Patrick, but if S. Patrick MacCalpurn died in 493, then it is by no means impossible that he may have seen and spoken with him. But no mention of Patrick occurs in Finbar's Life. Usually Finbar's death is set down as taking place in 623 ; this we consider far too late, and should rather be disposed to place it at 560. It remains to give a few of the legendary tales that have attached themselves to Finbar. As we have seen, the story went that he had been consecrated in heaven. Christ took him by the hand and lifted him up, that like S. Paul, he might see the ineffable glories there. Ever after, that hand blazed with light, so that Finbar was obliged to keep it covered with a glove. ^ One day Finbar was sitting under a hazel-bush with S. Lasrean, talking about heavenly things, and when they were about to part, the latter besought his friend for a token that God was with him. ^ " Usque ad mortem Sancti Barri visus carnalis manumejus propter nimiam claritatem suam aspici non potuit, et ideo manica circa eam semper erat," Cod. Kilken., fol. 133. 24 Lives of the British Saints Now it was in the season of early spring ; Finbar prayed, and the hazel-catkins that were swaying about their heads fell off, nuts formed, and leaves appeared. Then Finbar, smiling, filled his lap with ripe hazel-nuts, and offered them to S. Lasrean. In the Life of Monynna he is said to have visited her monastery. Seeing the approach of the bishop, Monynna was aghast, as in the monastery was only one little barrel of beer to serve for the sisters, and the travellers approaching were many and thirsty. Hastily she had a vat filled with water, and it turned into very respectable swipes. The origin of the story is not far to seek. The good abbess not having a sufficiency of ale, watered down her supply, and S. Finbar courte- ously assured her that the liquor was so good that he would not drink too much of it. In the gloss in the Lebar Brecc on the Martyrology of Oengus is a curious story of Finbar and Scuthin meeting on the sea, probably as the former was on his way from Cornwall, and the latter on his way to Rome. Finbar was in a boat, but Scuthin was walking on the water. " How come you to be making your progress thus ? " asked Finbar. " Why not," answered Scuthin, " I am walking on a green shamrock-spread plain." Then he stooped, picked a purple flower, and threw it to Finbar, who dipped his hand in the sea, caught a salmon, and cast the fish to Scuthin.^ Scuthin and Brendan were bosom friends, and the former had been a disciple of S. David. S. Finbar's Day is September 25. He occurs in all the Irish mar- tyrologies, and in Nicolas Roscarrock's calendar. In Nasmith's edition of William of Worcester the day is given as September 26, but this is probably a misprint for the 25th. He is invoked in the Stowe Missal. ^ In art S. Finbar should be represented as a bishop holding a branch of hazel-nuts, or with his right hand emitting rays of light. S. FINGAR, Martyr There are two independent Lives of this Saint. One, by a monk of S. Michael's Mount, Cornwall, named Anselm, has been printed by the Bollandists, in the Ada Sanctorum, Mart. Ill, pp. 456-9. The other is by Albert Le Grand, in his Vies des Saints de Bretagne from the Legendaria of the Churches of Vannes and Folgoet. 1 Filire of Oengus, ed. Whitle}' Stokes, p. xxxii. ^ Warren, Liturgy of the Celtic Church, Oxford, 1881, pp. 238, 240. *S. Fingar 25 Fingar or Guaire the White was son of an Irish king, called in the Latin legend Clyto. This has been supposed to be a misrendering •of Olylt, or Ailill Molt, king of Connaught in 449, and king of Ireland in 463, who fell in the battle of Ocha in 478. But there is no other ground for this supposition than a guess that Clyto stands for Olylt, and it is more probable, admitting this, that the Olylt or Ailill, who was the father of Fingar, was the son of MacDairre of the Hy Bairrche, who, with his brothers, was expelled their patrimony by the Hy Cinn- selach from Leinster.^ When we read in a monastic account that ■one of the Celtic saints left his country for the love of God, at the Tiead of a swarm of retainers, we may be pretty certain that he was ■expelled, on account of some dynastic revolution. In the legend there is much solemn fooling over Clyto and Fingar. According to it Fingar was converted by S. Patrick, and when the apostle appeared before liis father to preach the gospel, he alone stood up. This is an appro- priation from the legends of S. Ere and his half-brother, S. Fiacc. ■Clyto was so angry that he ordered Fingar to leave the island. Several joung men who believed joined him, as did also his sister Piala (Ciara). They took ship and sailed for Brittany, where they were well received by the reigning prince, whose name is not recorded. ^ The place of landing is uncertain. S. Fingar is commemorated at both Ploudiri in Finistere and at Pluvigner in Morbihan, but the latter place named indicates that it was there that he constituted his ■flou or tribe. The chief of the land gave his consent to his settling there, and Fingar diverted himself with hunting. One day he was in pursuit ■of a stag, when he was separated from his companions. He killed and cut up the stag and placed the carcase on his horse. As he was •covered with blood, he sought a fountain where he could wash ; but finding none, he drove the point of his spear into the ground, where- upon a spring gushed forth. Here he cleansed his hands and garments. In the process he saw his own face reflected in the water, and fell into great admiration of his personal beauty. " I really," said he, " am too good-looking a fellow for this world," and he forthwith resolved to devote his beauty to religion ; and he set to work to erect a hut of branches near the spring, where he might begin his life of morti- fication and solitude.^ ^ Anselm does not name the father of Fingar. ^ " Terra marique minorem in Britanniam pervenerunt." Vita by Anselm. Acta SS., Mart. iii. p. 456. ^ " Formosi vultus sui pulchritudinem attendens (erat enim speciosus valde ■et decorus aspectu) coepit laudare Deum, et benedicere, qui tantam ei contulerat gratiam." Ibid., p. 4'57. 2 6 Lives of the British Saints Meantime his companions and attendants were sore troubled at his not appearing, and the prince of the country suspecting foul play, arrested them, and threatened them with death unless they produced Fingar. They represented to' the prince that it was antecedently im- probable that they should murder their leader on whom they all de- pended, and that they were obviously incapacitated from finding him if they were locked up in prison. The prince having a mind open to an argument, yielded and bade them scour the country and find Fingar. They searched, and at length came on him in his improvised cell by the fountain. The prince or duke was brought to the spot, and as Fingar professed his resolution not to return to the world, he was granted the whole territory round, free of impost for ever. This is almost certainly the very extensive district of Pluvigner. The name itself indicates it as the place where Fingar established his clan or •plehs. It now contains nine daughter churches. The mother church is dedicated to S. Fingar, and his sacred fountain is shown near it. After some time the desire came over him to return to his native land. He accordingly sailed for Ireland, and on arriving, found that his father was dead, and the members of the sept desired that he should be their chief. To this he would not hearken, but advised that his sister Ciara (the Brythonic form is Piala) should be married to some noble and that her husband should be elected king. But Ciara would not consent to this ; she had but one ambition, to join her brother in a religious life. Fingar then advised the sept to leave it to chance, in other words, let there be a general scrimmage to decide who should be their sovereign ; as for himself, he would abandon the country. Accordingly, at the head of seven hundred and seventy-seven men, seven bishops, and with his sister Ciara, he sailed to return to Armorica, but was carried by the winds towards Cornwall. We may be permitted here to quote the grotesque version of the story as given by Lobineau. " Etant retourne dans son pays, avec le dessin de convertir k Jesus Christ ses compatriotes, il y refusa la couronne que la mort venait 4 enlever a son pere, et que ses sujets lui presentaient avec un em- pressement qui marquait bien que ceux qui professent la veritable foi ne manquent jamais de fidelite a leurs souverain legitime." Hardly had he started, before Hia, a virgin, who had resolved on accompanying Ciara, came down to the shore, and to her dismay saw the boat already in the offing. But a leaf was floating on the waves. With a stick she drew it towards her, and trusting to God stepped on to it, when the leaf expanded, and she was wafted upon it over the aS*. Fin gar 27 sea, and arrived in Cornwall, where she landed in Hayle Bay,i and constructed for herself a cabin, where now stands S. Ives. Some time later Fingar and his party arrived in the same harbour, and disembarked. On landing, Fingar found a little dwelling in which lived a holy virgin, but unwilling to incommode her, the party passed on and went to Connerton.^ Here was a worthy woman who was ready and willing to entertain the party ; and, to make beds for them, she at once tore down all the thatch from her roof. She had but a single cow, but that she immediately offered the party. They fell on it, killed, cut it up, roasted and ate it. After that, Fingar collected the bones, and put them into the skin. The entire party, led by the seven bishops, prayed, and up stood the cow, lowed, shook herself, and suffered herself at once to be milked. After this the cow always gave three times as much milk as any other, and from her arose a special breed which continued in Cornwall to the time of Anselm who wrote the legend. The next thing to be done was to restore the roof which the woman " had torn away," and this was accor- dingly done. The company now went on their way, eastwards. S. Hia no more appears in the tale. She had apparently taken offence at their sailing without her, and she remained where she had established herself, and lucky it was for her that she did so. News had reached Tewdrig,* the prince, then at Riviere on the creek opening east out of the Hayle estuary. He did not relish this invasion of Irish, and he armed men and went in pursuit. Fingar and his party had slept at Connerton, and they moved south in a body to the point where now stands the church of Gwinear. Here Fingar and a companion left them to go forward and explore the ground. He came, we are told, to a certain valley, where he sat down. Being thirsty, he drove his staff into the ground, and elicited a copious spring of beautifully clear water, " utrius- que duplici saxo decenter inclusus, usque in hodiernam diem copiosa vena fluitare non cessat." The spring is that at Tregotha, and a very fine spring it is. It has been enclosed and conducted by a drain pipe to flow into a large tank that is walled round. Meanwhile Tewdrig, " veniens improvisus a tergo," had fallen on the party that was resting on the slope of the hill, and had put them 1 " Socii, datis velis, sequoreos fluctus secantes, prospero cursu applicueie Cornubiam.ad portum, qui vocatur Heul ; ubi jam praevenerat eos sacra virgo Hia," ibid., p. 458. 2. " Ad villain quamdam, quas vocatur Conetconia,pervenerunt,"jW(f.,p. 459. ' " Sonuerat fama in auribus Theodorici, regis Cornubiae, in terra scilicet sua Christianum multitudinem advenisse." Ihid. 2 8 Lives of the British Saints to the sword. Fingar, hearing cries in that direction, retraced his steps, and on surmounting the elevation due south of the site of the butchery, saw what had taken place. Turning to his comrades he said, " See — this is the place where our labours are to be brought to an end. Let us go forward and meet our fate." On coming up to Tewdrig, " You son of a devil," was his choice address, " do your father's work quickly." Then, kneeling down, he extended his neck, and the tyrant at a single blow smote off his head. Fingar had planted his staff at his side, and there it remained, took root and grew into a tree, but of what description Anselm was unable to state. Almost immediately, the decapitated Saint rose to his feet, picked up his head and walked with it to the top of the hill. But here he encountered a couple of wrangling women, who addressed each other in such abusive terms, that the Saint exclaimed, " I cannot endure this ! " and he cursed the spot that thenceforth it should grow no other crop than scolds. The hill is the bit of moor behind Gwinear, now covered with the refuse of the manor mine. Disgusted at the language employed by the women, S. Fingar turned aside and walked in the direction of Rewala, but coming, in the bottom, to a beautiful fountain, he pro- ceeded to wash his head there, " in quo loco gratissimus tons, jugi rivo usque hodie emanare non cessat." This well is called Tammi's or Keat's Well, and the cottagers of Relistien have recourse to it for their water. It is not easily found, being in a furze-brake, near another spring and stream. It lies deep, and has steps cut in the rock, or built descending into the water, which is of the purest quality. But Fingar's peregrinations did not end there. Having cleaned his head he returned to the site of the massa- cre, which at the time when Anselm wrote was divided from the well by a small wood. There Fingar sank on the ground and expired. A copious spring issued from the spot where his head had been struck off, and this was flowing at the time when Anselm wrote,near the tree that grew out of the saint's walking stick. This spring has been drained away by the mines, and now issues from an adit some way below the church. If we reduce all this fable to its elements, this is what we arrive at. Fingar landed at the mouth of the Hayle estuary and went to Conner- ton, where he spent the first night. Then he went south. He had outstripped his companions, and was refreshing himself at the Tre- gotha spring, when he was recalled by the cries of his companions. All the nonsense about the march down hill to wash his head was invented later to give some sanctity to the Tammi's Well ; and the S. Fingar 29 curse on the hill was a local joke greedily picked up by Anselm. The well at Tregotha is still regarded with superstitious veneration ; re- cently, a young man whose arm had been broken went daily to it, to plunge the limb in the water, under the belief that this would suffice for setting and healing it. But to return to the legend. Tewdrig having accomplished his bloody work departed, leaving the dead scattered where they had been slain. The ensuing night a countryman named Gur dreamed that Fingar appeared to him and bade him bury him decently. Gur woke up his wife, and told her his dream ; but she bade him do nothing of the kind, as Tewdrig might resent it. Next day he went out hunting and pursued a stag which fled to the spot where lay the body of Fingar, and fell down before it as if imploring protection of the dead saint. The dogs also on coming up would not touch the stag, but went down on the ground, with their tails between their legs about the sacred body. Gur now at once proceeded to bury Fingar on the spot, and he went about the scene of the butchery burying all the rest. Some time after a church was erected over the grave. Anselm finishes off the story with some tales of miracles performed later, that are not particularly delicate. Where Anselm, the writer of this wonderful legend, lived, we have no means of telling. That he knew the sites is obvious. He is particular in describing them, but he is most vague relative to sites in Brittany. His narrative is clearly based on popular tradition. There is always some truth at the bottom of such traditions, but it is not always easy to arrive at it. The truth would seem to be this, that Fingar was obliged to fly Ireland, to save his life. If, as is possible, he were one of the Hy Bairrche who were dispossessed by Crimthan and the Hy Cinnselach, then we have a reasonable explanation. Ailill's brother, later, assassi- nated Crimthan and recovered his own patrimony ; and, perhaps, a rumour to this effect reached Fingar, and he returned to Ireland to try his luck ; but the Hy Cinnselach were too powerful, and he was obliged at the head of a fresh party of exiles from the Hy Bairrche country to attempt to return to Brittany, where he had already settled and established a flou. Unfavourable winds, however, drove him on the Cornish coast, and there Tewdrig, who had suffered severely from Irish invasions, slew him and some of his foUowers. We are not, however, told that either Hia or Piala (Ciara) was put to death. There were later descents of Irish, soon after, under Breaca and Buriana, and these effectually planted themselves in Penwith and 3 o Lives of the British Saints Carnmarth, and then the cult sprang up of their fellow Irishmen who had preceded them.^ As already intimated, Fingar is honoured not only in Morbihan, but also in Finistere, at Ploudiri, where he is the patron of the daughter church of Loc-equinger. But as there is another commune of the same name with the same dedication in S. Thegonnec.in Finistere, we may conclude that, although the legend says nothing about it, Fingar brought over a second colony from Ireland which he planted in Leon, and this expedition in which he lost his life was actually the third. Lobineau and the BoUandists put the date of the martyrdom at 455, but this is possibly too early. S. Fiacc, who belonged to the same generation as Ailill, was born about 435 and died about 520. But it is, it must be understood, mere conjecture in making Fingar a son of Ailill of the Hy Bairrche. It is needless to say that no Irish historian knows anything of Clyto. S. Fiacc would, if the identifica- tion be admitted, be a half-brother of Fingar, and that may help to account for the incident of the rising out of respect to S. Patrick being transferred from Fiacc to Fingar. The Church of Gwinear is supposed to mark the site of the martyrdom. Wilson in the second edition of his Martyrology (1640) gives his day as March 23. The BoUandists follow Wilson and Colgan by mis- take on February 23. In Brittany on December 14.^ Gwinear Feast is on the Sunday after the first Thursday in May. In the diocese of Quimper, Loc-equinger is dedicated to him, ^ and another place of the same name in S.Thegonnec. AtLangon he was venerated as S. Venier, and his sanctuary was resorted to as early as 838. He became invested with the attributes of the Goddess of Love, and was in repute among the amorous. To obviate inconveniences due to this identification, the church has been rededicated to S. Agatha.* In Brittany he is regarded as a bishop. But for this there is no justification in the Life. S. FINNIAN, Abbot, Confessor This very remarkable man, " master of the Saints " of Ireland, as he was termed, and the principal agent in the restoration of religion ^ Post tempus aliquod, cum jam vinea Domini Sabaoth, id est Ecclesia Cornubise terminos occupare ccepisset ; incoata est devotione fidelium super sepulchrum Sancti Martyris basilica." Ibid., p. 459. ^ Missal of Vannes, 1530, Brev. Venet., 1589, also 1757, and Albert le Grand, Garaby, etc. ' Here the Pardons are on September 8, and the Sunday after December 13. * De Corson, PouillS, T. V. pp. 42 et seq. ' ■;;:,' S. Fiunian 31 -there when it had fallen into decay after the death of S. Patrick and his missionary band, was trained for his work in Wales, and accord- ingly may well be introduced into this collection. The authorities for his Life are : — 1. A Latin Vita in the Salamanca Codex, published in Acta SS. HilernicB, Edinburgh, 1888, pp. 189-200. 2. An Irish Life, from the Book of Lismore, Anecd. Oxon., 1890, pp. 75-83 ; transl. pp. 222-30. Finnian is further mentioned in the Lives of S. Cadoc, S. Ciaran of ■Clones, S. Lugid of Clonfert, S. Ruadhan of Lothra, S. Colman Elo, S. Columba of Tir-da-Glas, S. Columba of Hy, etc. The first Life is an important document ; it contains mention of some thirty-seven contemporary kings, chiefs, and saints, almost all ■of whom can be identified and their dates fixed, some precisely, others approximately. There are, however, certain difficulties to be met ; these we will ■consider, and then proceed to the particulars of the Life of the Saint. The first of these concerns his baptism. He is said to have been taken to be baptised by S. Fortchern, but ■on the way was met by S. Abban, who performed the ceremony. The date of Fortchern is difficult to fix ; but Abban, born in 520, died in ,590 ; consequently this would throw the birth of Finnian to the middle of the sixth century or later, but Finnian actually died about 550. Now the Life in the Salamanca Codex gives the name of the baptiser ■of Finnian twice, and on one of these occasions as Abbanus. The name is a mistake of a copyist for Albeus, or Ailbe of Emly, who also baptised S. David, and who died at an advanced age in 541. If we make this correction, the anachronism disappears. The second difficulty concerns the discipleship of S. Finnian to S. Cadoc. This cannot have been, as they were of about the same age or Finnian was somewhat the elder of the two. It is probable that Finnian was a friend of Cadoc, and not actually his pupil. With these rectifications, the difficulties disappear from the Life of Finnian. Finnian was born about 472-5 ; he was a native of Leinster, and is variously stated to have been son or grandson of Fintan of the race of Lochain.^ His mother's name was Talech. When he was born his parents, who must have been Christians, sent him to be baptised by Bishop Fortchern at Roscor, but on the way met Bishop Ailbe (in the text Abban), who proceeded to baptise him. When 1 The Lives make him the son of Fintan, as does also a Genealogy in the LebarBrecc. But a Genealogy in the Book of Leiii'iier gives Finain liiac Finloga mac Fintan. Anecd. Oxon.^—Book of Lismore, p. 342. 32 Lives of the British Saints sufficiently old, Finnian was committed to Fortchern to be educated. Dr. Lanigan supposed that this was not Fortchern, grandson of Laog- haire, who became disciple of S. Loman and succeeded him at Trim in Meath. The period suits. Fortchern held Trim for three days only after his master's death, and then migrated probably to Cill- Fortchern of the Hy Drona in the land of the Hy Cinnselach, between the Barrow and the Blackstairs and Mount Leinster. At the age of thirty Finnian departed for South Wales, paying a visit to S. Caeman of Dayr-Innis on his way. He had with him his nephew Gabhran, and a friend Buit, and they accompanied S. Cadoc, who had just then visited Ireland.-^ In Wales the friends together founded Melboc (Meibod) and Nant- Carvan.2 The circumstances are not told in this way in the Life of S. Finnian. There it is said that he went to Cill-muine. " He found there before him three sages, named David, Gildas and Cathmail. . . . Now when Cathmail beheld Finnian, he looked at him attentively. ' Why this great attention bestowed on the unknown youth that is gone into the house ? ' asked David. ' Because I perceive great grace in him,' replied Cathmail." The biographer confuses this visit to Cill-muine with one made considerably later, when Finnian was called in to decide a contention between David and Gildas, and which, if our reckoning be correct, took place in 527, whereas the first arrival of Finnian in Wales occurred in 502-5. During his stay in Wales an inroad of Saxons took place, and as they were in a valley, Finnian with his staff upset a mountain upon them, and buried them under the stones.^ This incursion is alsO' mentioned in the Life of S. Aidan.* If any Saxons troubled Wales at this period, it must have been some who had made their way in boats round Cornwall and into the Severn Sea. That Finnian was for a while with Cadoc at Llancarfan is almost certain. A chapel bearing his name existed near it ; and the Life says that he was wont to go to the island called Echni, i.e. the Flat Holmes, in the Channel, for privacy, staying with the saints of the place. ^ These saints, as we know, were Cadoc and Gildas ; the former was wont to retreat to it for Lent. Cadoc, Finnian, and Buit formed the design of visiting Rome, but Finnian was dissuaded by an angel in a dream, who said : " What 1 Vita S. Cadoci in Cambro-British Saints, p. 36. ' Vita S. Findiani in Cod. Sal., col. 194, " Garbayn alio nomine Nant.'^ * Cod. Sal., col. 193 ; Book of Lismore, pp. 223-4. ' Cambro-British Saints, p. 2.^-. * Cod. Sal., col. 193. S. Finnian 3 3 would be given to thee in Rome that thou canst not obtain here ? Go, and renew the Faith in Ireland." The angel that spoke to him was his own Common Sense.^ Accordingly, bidding adieu to Cadoc, he took ship for Ireland. He landed at Cill-Cairen, i.e. Carnin, in Wexford. He had been, says the author of the Latin life, thirty years out of Ireland. Either he was not thirty when he arrived at Cill-muine, or he was not out of his country for thirty years ; for when he arrived in Wexford he was received by Muirdach, the king who died in 525, so that Finnian cannot have wen been aged sixty at the date of Muirdach's death. It is possible, but not probable, that he Uved to the age of eighty-seven, and that his great work of mastership to the Saints was begun when he was over sixty years of age. Finnian crossed over with Buit and one named Genoc.^ Muirdach son -of Aengus, king of Leinster, met him on the shore, and taking him on his back, carried him over three acres. Some one standing by remarked : " You are a heavy burden to the prince." " He shall have his reward," replied Finnian. " For every acre across which he transported me, he shall have a successor on the throne," or, according to another version : " As Muirdach has received me with joy, even so with joy shall the angels receive him into everlasting habitations. And the yoke of the foreigner shall not weigh on his shoulders." Muirdach bade him select a site for his ecclesiastical settlement, and he chose several. Moreover he blessed the queen, and she bore a son, Eochu. At this time probably he revisited Wales, and arrived to settle a controversy between S. David and Gildas, as to which should be master in Menevia. The headstrong Gildas desired to turn David out of his patrimony. By the judgment of Finnian David remained, and Gildas had to quit.^ After having made some foundations in the Hy Cinnselach country, Finnian visited the Hy Bairrche. He was perhaps induced to do this on account of some unpleasantness having arisen between him and Bressal, the son of Muirdach, who resented the largeness of the grants. This irritation came to a head when Finnian demanded the site occupied by the royal pigstyes as one whereon to build a church. The altercation grew so hot over this matter, that Finnian lost his 1 Booli of Lismore, p. 224 ; Cod. Sal., col. 194. From this latter is omitted the significant sentence, " What would be given thee at Rome will be given thee here." ^ d,^ Sal., col. 195. 3 Book of, Lismore, pp. 223-4. This is not in the Life in the Cod. Sal. VOL. III. D 34 Lives of the British Saints temper and cursed Bressal. Shortly after, in a raid made by the Ossorians, Bressal was killed, and as Muirdach may have not unreason- ably considered that Finnian had made a sorry return for all the kindness shown him, a coolness ensued between them, and on his death Finnian deemed it expedient to leave that part of the country. Diarmidh, son of Aengus Guinech, was dead, and his sons, Cormac and Crimthan, shared the rule over the Hy Bairrche, and were jealous of one another. Crimthan was the elder, Cormac the more subtle of the two. Cormac visited his brother and spoke strongly against Finnian as a man of a grasping nature, and urged him to expel the Saint from his territories. But this he did out of low cunning. He hoped to rouse Finnian thereby into cursing his brother, and so bringing down ill-luck on his head.^ Crimthan fell into the snare ; he went to the church where Finnian was, and ordered him to leave. The Saint refused ; unless turned out by force, he would not budge. A scuffle ensued, in which Crimthan stumbled and broke his ankle on a stone ; and Finnian cursed him that his kingship should come to naught. What became of Crimthan we are not informed, but his accident and consequent lameness would make him legally incapacitated to wear the crown ; and Cormac became sole king. He abdicated, how- ever, in 535, and was succeeded by his brother Gorman. Finnian next made an incursion into the territory of the Hy Dun- laing, where he was well received by Cairbre Dubh, who was king of Leinster for eleven years, and died in 546. One day early Finnian went outside the enclosure of his monastery, and found a boy lying asleep under the bank. Some robbers had been making a raid during the night, and had taken the lad with them ; but he was too tired to proceed, and they had abandoned him. So after creeping to the bank, he fell asleep. Finnian hastily procured a pair of shears and clipped his hair. The boy started to his feet, and rubbing his eyes asked what he was about. " I saw that there was the making of a monk in you," replied Fin- nian. " Who knows ? Perhaps you may rise to be abbot after me." Then Finnian went to Cluain-Eraird, now Clonard, and on seeing the place, exclaimed : " This shall be my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein ; " and he drove a wild boar away that had its lair there, and sat down. 1 " Propter invidiam quam habebat ad fratrem suum Crimtannuni, ut Sanctus Finnianus ei malediceret, suggerebat fratri suo Crimtauuo ut sanctum de terra sua expelleret." Cod. Sal., col. 196. S. Fi: innian 35 As he sat a druid named Fracan came up, and entered into con- versation with him. Finnian asked the druid whence he derived his wisdom, from above or from below. "Test me, and find out," rephed Fracan. " Then," said Finnian, " tell me, do you see the place of my resur- rection ? " " In heaven, surely," repUed the druid. " Try again," said Finnian, and stood up. Then the druid, laughing, said: "Now indeed T see the place of your rising. It is where you sat." " You have hit it," said Finnian. " There shall I be buried and rise again." ^ On this spot Finnian founded his celebrated school and monastery, and pupils streamed to him from every quarter. It was said to have contained during his life as many as three thousand scholars. This was the largest and most important college in Ireland at the time.^ In it were educated the Twelve Apostles of the Second Order. Among his most important disciples were Ciaran, the wheelwright's son, founder of Clonmacnois, who died in 548 ; Brendan of Birr, whose death took place in 571 ; his namesake, the Navigator, who departed this life in 577 ; the great Columcille, who died in 597 ; Columba of Tir-da-Glas, d. 548 ; Mobi, the Flatfaced, d. 544 ; Lasrian, d. 570 ; Sinel, who lived on to 603; Cairnechof Aghaboe, d. 599; Ruadhan of Lothra, d. 584 ; Senach the Bishop, d. 588. Some of these were past middle age when they joined the community. Not yet satisfied, but desirous of starting feeders to his great school, Finnian visited Connaught ; and having founded churches there, committed them to Dathi or Nathi and to S. Grellan. He entered into correspondence with Gildas about 550, relative to penitential canons. The Penitential of Finnian is extant, and in comparison with those of Gildas and of David shows that these saints had been in communication, or had at least some common principle on which they based their rules. On one occasion Finnian visited Tuathal Maelgarbh, who was High King from 533 to 544, and found with him a priest named Mancus, who was in trouble. He wanted the king's horse pastures to build a ^ The biographer masses the point of the story. He makes the reply of the druid to be a prophecy, showing that the druidic science had a divine origin ; but obviously the druid was simply cutting a joke. " His mother and two sisters, Rignach and Rigenn, joined him at Clonard, and he visited other women, so that he must have had a religions house for women near by, or else Clonard was a double monastery. 36 Lives of the British Saints church in them, and he had asked the king for them ; but Tuathal had refused him. He had recourse to S. Finnian, who overcame the king's objections. 1 Many years ago, before 525, Finnian had preached before S. Brigid, and had so pleased her that she gave him a gold ring. One day a man named Crimthan came to him and asked to be received into the com- munity. But the fellow was a serf to the king of Fotharta, who asked for him an ounce of gold. So Finnian surrendered the ring Brigid had given him, and which weighed an ounce, and with it bought the man's freedom. In 547 the terrible Yellow Plague broke out in Wales and was carried to Ireland, where it caused many deaths, especially in 548. It continued to rage till 550, when it died away. Finnian, notwithstanding his age, was attacked by it, and was carried off in 548, according to the Four Masters ; but the Annals of Inisfallen protract his life to 552. His disciple, Columba of Tir-da-Glas, ministered to Finnian in his last hours, and then himself succumbed to the disorder. Finnian died on December 12, and Columba on December 13. The Irish Life says : "As Paul died in Rome for the sake of the Christian people, lest they should all perish in the pains and punishments of hell, even so Finnian died at Clonard for the sake of the people of the Gael, that they might not all perish of the Yellow Plague." ^ The passage is somewhat obscure, but it seems to imply that the death of Finnian was accepted as an atonement for the people, and the plague was stayed. It goes on to say, that as he died an angel undertook to banish every pestilence from Clonard, and from all Ire- land, on account of the fasting of his congregation. We may then place the death of Finnian in 550, at the time when the Plague began to cease. The biographers revel in a nasty account of how Finnian wore an iron girdle about his waist, that ate into his flesh so that maggots bred there. His daily refection was barley bread and cold water, but on Sundays and holydays he took broiled salmon and ale. He slept on the earth, and had a stone for a bolster. Finnian was born about 472-5. He probably left Ireland in or about 490, when his master Fortchern died. He returned to Ireland, after having been thirty years in Britain, in the reign of Muirdach, who died in 525. We may place this return in 520. ' A droll but not over-delicate miracle wab -wrought by Finnian to bring the King to submission. " Rex superbus cum ad necessitatem nature in campum pergeret, in statione sua penitus riguit." Cod. Sal., col. 206. ^ Book of Lismore, p. 229. aS*. Fracan 3 7 On the death of Muirdach he went among the Hy Bairrche, and was in their territory for seven years, till 532. Then he founded Clonard. He cannot have been older than sixty, as his mother was still alive at the time, though suffering from an infirmity that rendered the nursing of her very unpleasant.^ The visit to Tuathal Maelgarbh probably took place in 533, directly he assumed the crown. Finnian would almost certainly then go to salute the new king and beg something of him. Finnian of Clonard occurs in all the Irish Martyrologies on December 12, also in the Drummond calendar, and in the Celtic calendar (No. V) published by Bishop Forbes. In the Welsh calendars Ffinan, i.e. Finnian, is commemorated on December 11 in that in Hafod MS. 8 (sixteenth century), and on the 13th in those in Additional MS. 14,912 (fourteenth century), and the Prymers of 1618 and 1633. Both are mistakes for the 12th. Whytford has : " In Yrelonde the feest of Saynt Fynang an abbot in whose concepcyon his moder had of him a revelacyon. He cast a water lyke a mere in to the see, and where it was he buylded a monastery. And he ordeyned in an other monastery iii. m. monkes. And he reysed v persones from deth, and turned water into wyne with many other m3n:acles that he dyd as well in Englonde and Wales as in Yrelande, and had also revelacyon of his deth." Although it is said in his Life that he founded two churches in Wales, ■" Melboc " and Nantcarfan, it is certain that he was not the actual founder of either ; but at Llancarfan there did exist a chapel in his honour.^ S. FODDWID, see S. MEDDWID S. FRACAN, Confessor Fracan is probably Brychan. He was the second husband of Gwen Teirbron, and the father of Saints James, Gwethenoc, and Winwaloe, and of a daughter Creirwy. He was cousin to Cataw or Cado, Duke of Cornwall,^ but the name of his father is not known. 1 " Totum corpus ejus est ita infectum quod puellae servientes horrent tangere earn." Cod. Sal., col. 201. 2 Camhro-Bntish Saints, p. 39. " Finian Seoctus," on p. 88, is a misreading •for " Finian Scottus." 3 " Fracanus, Catouii regis Britannici, viri secundum seculum famosissimi consobrinus," Vita Sti. Winwaloei in CaH. Landevennec, c. 2 ; ed. Plaine, Analecta Boll., vii (1888), p. 176. Fragan is a late form of the name. 3 8 Lives of the British Saints The material for his Life is scanty enough, mention in the Lives of Winwaloe, and of James and Gwethenoc. The latter has not been printed, but extracts have been made from it by the Bohandist fathers in Catalogus Codicum kagiographicarum, Lat. (in the National Library, Paris), 1889, i, pp. 578-82. "There was in the western parts of Britain a certain wealthy man of great repute among his neighbours, Fracan by name, having a wife of like rank, called in their native tongue Guen, which in Latin is Candida. Divine mercy accorded them three sons, of whom two were twins, the third was born later. The twins were Gwethenoc and James, the third was named Wing- waloe." ^ " Fracan, accompanied by his two lambs, that is, by his two sons, Wethenoc and Jacut, and by their mother Alba (Guen), embarked with a not very numerous retinue, traversed the British sea, and disembarked in Armorica, a forest-clad land, where he learned that the country .was free from war ; and the north-west wind breathing softly, they were carried to the port of Brahec. In which, looking about, and arriving about the eleventh hour, Fracan found a fairly extensive tract, suitable for the establishment of a single plou, sur- rounded on all sides by woods and thorn-brakes, since called after its discoverer, and watered by a certain river called Blood (Gouet). There he began to live, along with his company, secure against sicknesses." * There can be no mistaking where Fracan landed, and where he settled. His boats entered the long narrow estuary of the Gouet, that opens into the Bay of S. Brieuc, commanded at the time by the ruins of an ancient Roman castle, now called La Tour de Cesson. The hiU slopes descended rapidly to the water, dense with fohage. The inflowing tide swept the boats up, Gwen seated, with her twin boys on her lap, looking wonderingly at the new, wild country where they had come to settle. It was evening, and the stars were twinkling in the sky overhead, and were reflected in the glassy water, the sparkles broken by the ripple as the boats advanced. The tide carried them to a point where through a lateral ravine from the east another stream entered the Gouet. Here they disembarked, lighted fires, and spent the night. Some years later Brioc would land at the same spot and ascend the steep hill, and settle himself in the prehistoric camp that occupied the fork. ^ " Fuit in occidentibus Britannici territorii partibus vir quidam opulentus et inter convicaneos suos nominatissimus, Fraganus nomine, habens conjugem coaequibilem, lingua patria Guen appellatam, quod Latine sonat Candida." Catal. Cod. hag., Paris, p. 578. ' Vita Sti. Winwaloei, ed. Plaine, p. 176. -^S*. Fracan 39 Next morning, doubtless, Fracan went inland to explore. He had brought sheep and oxen with him, and the place where he had dis- embarked was hardly suited for them. Ascending the hiU, and looking south he saw rising ground that was bare of trees, a furzy down, on which stood up great cairns that covered dolmens, in which the dead of a disappeared race were buried. "^ Collecting his party, and driving the cattle and flock before them,' the colonists made for this high ground ; and there they encamped, throwing up an earthen bank and surmounting it with a breastwork of stakes and wattles, as a protection against wolves. And here Gwen comforted her weary, sobbing twins, telling them that this was hence- forth to be their home. Would that the historian had told us the year when Fracan dis- embarked, instead of being so precise concerning the hour. According to De la Borderie the date was about 460, and this cannot be far wrong. Possibly Fracan was the earliest settler in this part, but probably not. For Righuel had come over, we do not know whether before or whether he came shortly after, and established himself in supreme authority over all the colonists and such natives as remained. And Meugant was not long in following to found a college at La Meaugon on the further side of the Gouet. Some little way to the east was the Caer or Castel of Aldor or Audren, the grandfather of Gwen, and where perhaps still lived her father, Emyr Llydaw. It was doubtless the knowledge that there were ties binding the family to British settlers in that part of Dom- nonia, which had induced Fracan to make for the harbour most con- venient for disembarkation in the district over which his wife's family had exercised a rough royalty. And Gwen speedily put in a claim for tribal land, which was acknow- ledged ; and she was granted a tract of territory, since called Ple- quien, north of Castel Audren, and where she also formed a ■plou, and where to this day her statue remains. Of which more when we come to speak of Gwen Teirbron. But now the flood of colonists increased. With the first spring weather their boats appeared off the coast, and there was a rapid, appropriation of land. These colonists were not, however, all British ;: Irish came as weU in no small numbers. Fracan deemed it expedient: to secure a fresh tract, for the overflow of his flou. By the time that he had come to think this advisable he had to go- 1 The caims have disappeared, but the dolmens remain. 40 Lives of the British Saints far afield, and he went into L6on. And he pitched on a spot where the Irish were crowding in thickest ; his plou there is now called Saint Fr6gan. Then he secured another, hard by Plouvien (Plou- guen), which was taken in the name of his wife. We are led to inquire, why Fracan should have formed colonies in Leon as well as in Domnonia. We can only conjecture that he was acting in concert with Righuel, his neighbour, who had assumed the sovereignty over Domnonia, and wished to extend his authority over Leon as well. The Kemenet lUi, between the Abervrach and the River of Quilimadec, was becoming too Irish ; and Righuel may well have urged Fracan to occupy an important district there among them, as a check upon their independence, and to prevent their setting up a prince of their own. This must be matter of conjecture ; but we are fain to find a reason for this second double colony so far from the headquarters of his tribe. A word or two may here be given relative to the organization of these settlements, and we cannot do better than give M. de la Borderie's words ; — " The territory occupied by Fracan, his family and retinue, is called to this day Plou-Fragan. What then is a plou ? " The word exists with slight variations in all the Breton dialects. In Welsh and Cornish it is a parish in the ecclesiastical sense, but rather the body of parishioners than the parish territory. With the Bretons of the continent it has a special signification. The flou is properly the little colony formed by the British immigrants, establish- ing itself on leaving its boats in a corner of the Armoric desert, under the direction of a brave warrior, a secular chief, or else of a pious monk, the spiritual chieftain over a little society formed in the land of exile, by community of misfortune. On this soil, the plou replaces the clan. In the terrible storm which broke over Britain the clan was for the most part dissolved by the disasters of invasion, and dis- persed by the chances of emigration. The plou is derived from it, an image, a modification, a reconstruction on a new basis, linked not by ties of blood, but by those, no less strong, of common suffering, of peril and exile faced and endured in common. " The civil institution of the plou still subsisted and was full of life in the ninth century, as we may see by the Cartulary of Redon. In that we must study the functions of the chieftain of the plou (in Latin princeps plehis, in Breton madiern), an hereditary dignity, special to Brittany, and of a very original character. His first and principal privilege was that of exercising judicial authority throughout the flou, over all its inhabitants. The chief possessed beside certain S. Fracan zj. i special rights, dues, subventions, and certain lands forming the domain that sustained his dignity. All the plehenses or members of the flou owed to their chief fidelity and assistance, as to a hereditary lord. He could claim their military help if attacked in his person or his goods, and in case of need, to enforce his judgments. . . . The plou must be considered as the elementary social and political unit, as the distinctive and original feature of the British community on the ■continent. It represents the little colony originally settled on the Armorican soil by the immigrants. And the word remains fixed to the present day, incorporated in the names of some two hundred Breton parishes." ^ Ploufragan was but four miles distant from the Campus Roboris ■or Champ de Rouvre, where Righuel had established himself. He had crossed over with a large fleet ,2 and he planted his court where is now Lishelion (Lis-hoel). Fracan and Righuel were on very good terms. The former with his small plou could not resist the latter at the head of a host of settlers ; he submitted, and they lived in amity. The forests began to malce way for pasture and cultivated land. Great herds of wild horses roamed in the woods, and the colonists made pitfalls and ensnared and then tamed them. And they amused themselves with horse races on the sands of the Bay of Iffignac.^ Meanwhile, Gwen had given to her husband a third son, whom they called Winwaloe, and a daughter, Chreirbia (parvula adhuc puella). And here abruptly ends all that we Icnow of Fracan, except that he sent his three boys to be educated in the island of Lavrea, in the Brehat archipelago, by a teacher named Budoc. Fracan is the patron of Ploufragan, near S. Brieuc, and of Saint Fregan, near Lesneven. Formerly he had a chapel in the parish of ' Hist, de Bretagne, Paris and Rennes, 1896, i, pp. 281-2. It is to be regretted that M. de la Borderie knew nothing of Welsh authorities for the genealogies of the Colonists, or he might have been led to see much more into the causes of their settlement in certain districts than he has. Indeed, his ignorance on this subject induced him to speak contemptuously of material with which he was unacquainted. ^ " Riwalus Britannia dux filius fuit Derochi . . . Hie Riwalus a trans- marinis veniens Britanniis cum multitudine navium possedit totam minorem Britanniam tempore Chlotharii regis Francorum, qui Chlodovei regis filium extitit," Mabill., Acta SS., O.S.B., sjec. ii. De la Borderie distinguishes this Righuel from the other spoken of as occupying the Campus Roboris, but without reason. The period (511-561) may apply, and probably does, not to the date of his coming over, but to his establishment of his rule over Domnonia. The totam in the sentence "possedit totam minorem Britanniam " is an exaggeration. He ruled only Domnonia, and perhaps also Leon. ^ Vita S. Winwaloei, ed. Plaine, p. 202. 4 2 Lives of the British Saints S. Guen in C6tes-du Nord, which seems to show that this S. Guen was originally Ste. Guen. He is represented as a theatrical king, with breastplate, crown, and mantle, with sceptre in one hand and sword in the other, in a statue of the eighteenth century at Ploufragan. But the most interesting representation of him is in a painting in the chapel of Lesguen in the parish of Plouvien, where he is figured as a knight in armour, along with his wife, Gwen Teirbron, and his- son, Winwaloe. Garaby records a tradition that barbarians having arrived off the coast of Leon in a fleet so large that the masts resembled a forest, Fracan siunmoned the British to attack them. The marauders attempted to disembark at Guisseny. The commandant of the leading body of British cried out, " Mil guern ! " (A thousand sails !) And afterwards a cross was erected on the spot, called Croas ar Mil guern. Fracan attacked the camp of the pirates, routed them, cut them to pieces, and burnt their ships. Garaby gives October 3 as the day of S. Fracan, but without stating his authority ; and he has been followed by Gautier de Mottai, Kerviller, etc. Fracan is invoked in the eleventh-century Litany, published by D'Arbois de Jubainville, in the Revue Celtique, iii, p. 449, as Flocan, probably a mistake for Frocan. S. GAFRAN The lolo MSS. include Gafran, the son of Aeddan Fradog ab Dyfn- wal Hen, among the Welsh saints, but there is no authority whatever for so doing. He was one of the " Men of the North," who have been unwarrantably foisted into two documents therein of Achau'r Saint. '^ He was a northern warrior, pure and simple. The only chiurch that has the semblance of a dedication to him is that of Llantrisant, Angle- sey, which is generally given as dedicated to the three saints, San- nan, Afran, and leuan, where Afran is undoubtedly a mistake for Afan.2 Gafran was in reality the father of Aeddan, and not his son. Aeddan was the celebrated king of Scotch Dalriada, known in the Irish annals as Aidan mac Gabran, who died in 606. Gafran died, according to the .Annates Camhriae, in 558. His wife was Lluan, daughter of 1 Pp. 106, 138. 2 See under S. Afran, i, p. 116. FRACAN, GWEN TEIRBRON, AND WINWALOE BEFORE S. CORENTINE. Painting at Lesguen, Ploitvicn, Finistere. -^S*. Garai 4 3 Brychan. The names of the father and son were first inverted, it would appear, in the thirteenth-century Bonedi Gwyr y Gogledd in Peniarth MS. 45, and the epithet Bradog, " the Treacherous," is found attached to them both in Welsh literature. Cantire or Kintyre was called by the Welsh Pentir Gafran, his Headland. Legend has woven itself around him. In the Triads ^ he is the head of a retinue designated one of the " Three Faithful Retinues (Diwair Deulu) of the Isle of Britain." The references to them in the two earliest series are rather ambiguous ; they showed their faith- fulness (i) " when the utter loss took place ; " (2) " when the utter loss took place they went to (or, into the) sea for their lord." In the third and latest series the incident is described as one of the " Three Utter Losses of the Isle of Britain." Gafran and his men " went to sea in search of Gwerddonau Llion (the Green Isles of the Ocean) , and were never afterwards heard of". They numbered 2,100. Soutbev, in his Madoc,^ asks : — Where are the sons of Gavran ? where his tribe. The faithful ? following their beloved chief, They the Green Islands of the Ocean sought ; Nor human tongue hath told, nor human ear. Since from the silver shores they went their way, Hath heard their fortunes. S. GALLGO, see S. ALLECCUS S. GARAI, Confessor Garai, or Garrai, was, according to the lolo MSS., the son of Cewydd ab Caw. He is reckoned among the saints of Morganwg and Gwent, and said to have been of " Cor Bangor." He is the reputed founder of the Glamorganshire church Llanarrai or Llanharry, now dedicated to S. Illtyd.3 It is hot improbable that he is the same as Gwrhai or Gwrai, son of Caw. ' Peniarth MS. 45 ; Myv. Arch., pp. 390, 397. 40i, 408. 2 London, 1815, i, p. m. ' Pp. 107, 146, 222. Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 258, gives his name as Garci. 44 Lives of the British Saints S. GARMON, see S. GERMANUS S. GARTHELI, see S. GWRDDELW S. GASTAYN, or GASTY, Confessor The church of Llangasty Talyllyn, on the Llangorse Lake, near the town of Brecon, is said to be dedicated to this saint. No saint of the name occurs in the Welsh saintly pedigrees, and had there been we should have expected the initial letter of his name, as patron of Llan- gasty, to be C and not G. We, however, learn from the Domitian Cognatio that Gastayn was the saint who baptised Cynog, Brychan's eldest son, and that his " church is now situated by Mara." i He is said to have been Cynog's preceptor. In a version,^ which is much overdrawn, of the legend respecting the formation of Llyn Syfaddon, or Llangorse Lake — a town, as usual, being swallowed up for the wickedness of its principal inhabitants — Gastayn is made to be the son of " Myfig, the last of the princes of Syfaddon." When every vestige of the city had disappeared a cradle was found floating near the margin of the lake, in which was a sleeping child, which was afterwards baptised with the name Gastayn. In time he embraced the ascetic life, and built his hermitage on the lake's edge, wherein he was afterwards buried. This, we are told, is the Llangasty of to-day. S. GENYS, Bishop, Martyr A CHURCH is dedicated to this saint in the deanery of Trigg Minor, in North-east Cornwall, in the midst of a crowd of Brychan settle- ments ; and it has been conjectured that Genys is a substitute for Gwynws, son of Brychan. S. Gennys stands on the cliffs above the ocean, but in a sweet spot, somewhat sheltered from the furious blasts from the north-west. Pencarrow rears its head four hundred feet sheer out of the surf, and 1 The Vespasian Cognatio merely states that Cjniog was " carried to the caef and baptised." 2 The Red Dragon, Cardiff, 1882, i, pp. 276-81. See, however, the story as told in the Brython for 1863, pp. 1 14-5, purporting to be from a MS. of Hugh Thomas, the Breconshire antiquary, wherein is no mention of Gastayn, or indeed, any names. S. Genys 45 behind it nestles the little church. A couple of springs gush forth hard by, and have worked their way down a glen, among trees and green sward, to a deep valley through which a stream cuts its way to the sea. Between this stream and the sea which folds around it is a finger of steep crumbling rock surmounted by a cliff-castle two hun- dred feet lower than Pencarrow. To the south of S. Gennys Church the hill falls steeply away to Crackington Cove, where meet two streams that have cleft their way through the hills in deep glens with steep heathery and gorse-clad sides. The loftiest cliff on this coast, starting 700 feet above the sea, is a little further down the coast at Treveague. S. Gennys is at the present day far from the beaten track, unreached by train or coach, a wild and wondrous spot, where a man may be out of the world and near to God. And if this be so now, what must it have been in the sixth century, when the colony of half Irish, half Welsh migrants from Brycheiniog came and settled here. S. Gennys or Genys was a church under Launceslon Priory, and in the calendar of that church, as given by William of Worcester, the Saint is entered as an Archbishop of Lismore in Ireland, and as one of three brothers of the same name, who all lost their heads. S. Genys was commemorated at Launceston on May 2 and 3, and the translation of his head on July 19. In the Tavistock calendar S. Genes is on August 25, but this is Genes the Martyr at Rome, or at Aries, both of whom are commemorated on this day. That the settlement at S. Gennys was important and a Lan, is shown by the fact that it has its sanctuary, of which several of the fields of the glebe constitute a part. All that we can conclude with any safety from William of Wor- cester, who gives us what information we have relative to S. Genys, is that at Launceston and S. Gennys it was supposed that the Saint was from Ireland, that he was different from the Roman or the Aries Martyr, and that he was a bishop. There was, however, considerable confusion of mind about him ; he was supposed to be brother of the other two Saints of the same name, who had their heads struck off, and it was fabled that he had shared their fate. As to his connexion with Lismore, this is also apocryphal. The diocese was never archiepiscopal, nor was there any bishop of his name there. Lismore Abbey was founded by S. Carthagh, the younger, about 630. The village feast at S. Gennys is on Whit-Sunday. There are springs near the church, but no tradition exists as to any of them having been a Holy Well. The church, picturesquely situated. 46 Lives of the British Saints has been horribly injured by " restoration." It looks like a skeleton from which the flesh has been picked by vultures. The rood screen and old bench-ends were destroyed at this "restoration." If Genys be the same as Gwynws, he is the same as the foundei of Llanwnws in Cardiganshire ; and possibly his name may be pre- served in Llangenys, a former name for Llandough, near Cardiff.^ But the identification is most uncertain. S. GERAINT, King, Martyr The name of Gereint, or Geramt, Latinized into Gerontius and Graecised into Gerascen, meets us so often, that it will be necessary to give some account of those who bore the name among the British, of whom record remains. I. A Gerontius, a Briton, was one of the two generals appointed by the usurper Constantine, to the command of his army. In 383 the legions in Britain had set up Maximus as emperor, and at their head he marched towards Rome ; but was defeated and slain in 388. A fresh legion was dispatched by Stilicho to Britain in 396. Soon the troops in Britain set up two new pretenders, Marcus and Gratian ; but as they proved incompetent, assassinated them, and elevated one Constantine, a private soldier, selected merely, as we are informed, because of his name, and he was invested with the purple. For four years, 407-411, he succeeded in holding Britain, Gaul, and Spain under his sceptre. Constantine sent his son Constans to subdue Spain, and Constans having effected this, left Gerontius to hold the passes of the Pjnrenees. But Constantine offended the touchy spirit of his general, and in 408 Gerontius revolted and attacked Con- stantine. He got possession of Constans at Vienne and put him to death, and then proceeded to besiege Constantine in Aries. But the approach of an army sent by Honorius obliged Gerontius to raise the siege, when he was abandoned by the bulk of his soldiers, and fled towards Spain. " The Spanish soldiery conceived an utter contempt for Gerontius, on account of his cowardly retreat, and took counsel to slay him. They attacked his house during the night, but he, with one Alanus, his friend, and a few slaves, ascended to the top of the house, and did such execution with their arrows that no less than three hundred 1 lolo MSS., pp. 104, 116. aS*. Geraint 4 7 •of the soldiers fell. When the stock of arrows was exhausted the slaves made their escape, and Gerontius might easily have followed -their example had it not been for his love to his wife Nuncia, that detained him at her side. At daybreak next morning the soldiers set fire to the house, thus cutting off all chance of escape. Then at the request of Alanus, Gerontius hewed off his head. His wife then be- sought him with groans and tears to perform the same office for her rather than suffer her to fall into the hands of another, and he com- pUed with this her last request. Thus died one who had exhibited a degree of courage worthy of her religion ; for she was a Christian, and her death deserves commemoration. Gerontius then struck Mmself thrice with his sword ; but failing to wound himself mortally, he drew forth the dagger that he wore at his side, and plunged it into his heart." ^ From what is said of the religion of Nuncia, it seems to be implied that Gerontius was a heathen. He died in 411, or shortly after. 2. The Welsh genealogies give Saint Geraint as son of Erbin ab ■Cystennin Gorneu, and as father of Cyngar, Selyf, lestyn, Cador, and Caw.2 Cystennin Gorneu, " the Cornishman," is supposed to have been the Constantine against whom Gerontius revolted, and who was killed in 411. If so, then the date of the death of Cystennin's grandson would be about 475. Geraint was grandfather of Gildas, who died in 570. Allowing thirty-three years for a generation, this would give 504 for the death date of Geraint ; but Geraint died in battle, without attaining to old age, consequently the two calculations fairly agree. This Geraint ab Erbin is, in the Third or latest series of the Triads,^ said to have been one of the three Llyngesog, or fleet-owners, of the Isle of Britain, each of whom formed a fleet of six score ships with 1 Sozomen, Hist. Eccl., ix, 13 ; Zosimus, vi, 1-6 ; Prosper Aquit., Chron., etc. " Myv. Arch., p. 421; lolo MSS., pp. 116, 136. Geraint married Gwyar, •daughter of Amlawdd Wledig ; Peniarth MS. 27, pt. ii ; Hanesyn Hen, p. 121 (not Owen, as on p. 109, the daughter o< Cjmyr of Gaer Gawch and wife of ■Geraint's own son, Selyf). The pedigrees in Cambro-British Saints, p. 269, and Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 120, add to his children a daughter, Silwen, or Sylwein, probably a mistake for Selyf. In the Life of S. Cybi that Saint's pedigree is ■given as the son of Salomon (Selyf), the son of Erbin, the son of Gereint, the son of Lud {Cambro-British Saints, p. 183). Chrestien de Troyes, in his Erec, the original of the Welsh romance of Gereint and Enid, makes Erec (Geraint) the son of Lac (Lud). Of the same origin, probably, as Geraint is the Irish gerat or gerait, a champion. » Myv. Arch., p. 407. In the two first series, pp. 389, 397. the number of men and ships is not given. 48 Lives of the British Saints six score men in each, to patrol the coast against Saxon pirates, who in conjunction with the Irish, infested the coast of the Severn Sea. The piratical vessels of the enemy entered the mouth of the Parret, reached Llongborth, or Langport, and were there met by King Arthur and Geraint ; a battle ensued, in which Geraint was slain. His death is thus described in a poem to his memory, attributed to Llywarch Hen, who writes as an eye-witness. In Llongborth I saw a rage of slaughter. And biers beyond all count, A.nd red-stained men from the assault of Geraint. In Llongborth I saw the edges of blades meet Men in terror, with blood on the pate. Before Geraint, the great son of his father. ***** In Llongborth Geraint was slain, A brave man from the region of Dyfnaint (Devon), And before they were overpowered, they committed slaughter.^ This is really about all we know of him. The Irish High King at the time was Oiliol Molt, and we hear that in his reign there were many contests between the Britons and the Picts and Scots. ^ We put the death of this Geraint as taking place roughly a little after 475. It is not possible to assign the Battle of Llongborth to so late a date as that usually given it, 530. : • The lolo MSS.^ mention Geraint as lord of Gereinwg, " Geraint's Land," by which evidently Erging is meant, but as a genuine district- name it is simply non-existent. The same documents further state that Geraint is patron of a church at Caer Ffawydd or Henffordd, i.e. Hereford, a statement for which there is no support. It has been surmised ^ that he founded the church of Pentraeth, in Anglesey, which is sometimes still called Llanfair Bettws Geraint ; but this is highly improbable. The church is now dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, with festival on September 8. In the Book of Llan Dav ^ is mention made of a Merthir Gerein, or ' It occurs in the Black Book of Carmarthen, a,nd,vrith some variations, in the Red Book of Hergest ; Skene, Foitr Ancient Books, ii, pp. 37-8, 274-7. One conjecture locates the Battle of Llongborth in the parish of Penbryn, Cardigan- shire, where is a farm called Perth Geraint ; Theo. Evans, Drychy Prif Oesoedd, 1740, i, c. 4 ; Arch. Camb., 1905, pp. 157-8. 2 Keating's Hist, of Ireland, trans. O'Connor, Dublin, 1841, ii, p. 25. ' Pp. 116, 136. * Rowlands, Mona Antiqiia, London, 1766, p. "155 ; Williams, Observations on the Snowdon Mountains, London, 1802, p. 145. " = Pp. 234, 323. The parish church of " Merthyr Geryn' " is entered in the Valor of 1535, iv, p. 377. S. Gaerint 49 Geryn. " This chapel stood," says the late Mr. Thomas Wakeman " near the Upper Grange Farm House, in the parish of Magor (Mon- mouthshire) ; its remains have not been removed many years." i Magor is on the Caldicot Level, near the Severn Sea, and may have been a Martyrium raised to the honour of S. Geraint who fell at Llong- borth. The " Gerein " or " Geryn " of the name stands for " Geraint," as in " Dingereint," which occurs in Brut y Tywysogion ^ as the name of the castle built by Gilbert de Clare in 1108, generally known as Cilgeran Castle, on the Teify. Among the " Sayings of the Wise " and the " Stanzas of the Hear- ing," we have the following : — ^ Hast thou heard the saying of Geraint, Son of Erbin, the just and experienced ? "Short-lived is the hater ^or hated) of the saints." (Byrhoedlog dygasog saint.) He is the Geraint of the romance, Gereint and Eiiid.* 3. A Gerennius, King of Cornwall, is mentioned in the Life of S. Teilo.5 When that Saint fled from the Yellow Plague in 547 to Armorica, he passed through Cornwall and was well received by the king there, Gerennius, and he promised the prince that he would visit and communicate him when he, Gerennius, was dying. Teilo returned from Armorica in 555 or 556. As he was about to embark, Teilo ordered his followers to convey to the ship a stone sarcophagus which he had provided as a present for the king. They declared their inability to get it down to the beach, and objected that its weight would over- burden their boat. Teilo then harnessed to the stone coffin ten yoke of oxen, which drew it to the shore, where he launched it on the tide ; and the stone cist swam before the vessel, and reached the Cornish coast before them. They landed at Dingerein, the round fort in the parish of S. Gerrans ; and Teilo at once proceeded to visit the king, whom he found alive indeed but very ill, and who, after having re- ceived the communion, straightway expired, and his remains were laid in the sarcophagus provided for him. We wiU call this prince Geraint II. He was probably grandson of Geraint I, who fell at Llong- borth. He died about 556. ^ "Supplementary Notes" to Liber Landavensis , 1853, p. 16; also Mrs. Harcourt Mitchell, Some Ancient Churches of Gwent, 1908, p. 21. WiUis, how- ever, in his Survey of Llandaff, 1719, append., p. 7, says of it, " Site unknown, otherwise than it stood near Tintern Abbey." ^ Bruts, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 289. There is a Cilgeraint also in the parish of Llandegai, Carnarvonshire. ' Jolo MSS., p. 255 ; Myv. Arch., p. 128. * Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, pp. 244-295. 5 Booh of Llan Ddv, pp. 108, 11 3-4. VOL. III. E 50 Lives of the British Saints 4. There was another Domnonian Geraint, to whom S. Aldhelm wrote a letter in 705 urging the abandonment of Celtic peculiarities of religious use in his realm, and conformity to thv. Roman rule.^ This Geraint fought against Ina, King of the West Saxons, at Taun- ton in 710.2 5. There was again a Geraint ab Carannog, of the race of CadeU Deyrnllwg, who was a prince of Erging, or Archenfield, in Hereford- shire. The Welsh pedigrees make him the father of S. Eldad or Aldate, Bishop of Gloucester, who was slain by the Saxons, probably in 577.3 In the Life of S. Meven we read that this saint was a son of Gerascenus, King of Orcheus, a district in Gwent.* We can hardly doubt that Orcheus is a misscript for Erchens for Erging, and that Gerascen is an affected form of Geraint — this same Geraint. Meven was a nephew of S. Samson of Dol, and we may suspect that the sister, who is so harshly spoken of in the Life of that Saint because she declined to embrace the religious life, was the wife of this Geraint. 6. A Geraint, " generous and resolute," is spoken of in the Gododin of Aneurin, as engaged in the Battle of Catraeth, in the Scottish Low- lands. That battle occurred between 586 and 603. This Geraint was a Strathclyde chieftain.^ He cannot be identified with any of the others who bear his name. 7. A Gerran is mentioned by Albert Le Grand in his Life of S. Sezni (Setna), but this Life is a deliberate appropriation of that of Ciaran of Saighir, and the chieftain named Gerran in that is none other than S. Ciaran of Clonmacnois. * The church of S. Gerrans is most probably dedicated to Gerennius (N0.3). The palace of Geraint, Din Gerrein, is in the parish, and the earthworks remain. This is probably the Dinurrin from which Bishop Kensteg hailed, who made his submission to Archbishop Coelnoth in or about 866.' It is hardly probable that the patron of S. Gerrans can be Geraint ab Erbin (No. 2). 1 See the letter in Migne, Pair. Lat., Ixxxix, p. 87 ; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., iii, p. 268. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub anno. ^ lolo MSS., p. 131. * " Orcheus autem pagus in Guenta provincia hunc protuUt, terris gen- eratum patre nomine Gerasceno. Ex qua eadem provincia Sancti Samsonis mater extitit nata." Vita S. Meveni, ed. Plaine, p. 3. ' Skene, Four Ancient Books, ii, p. 89. There are several other Geraints mentioned in Welsh literature as having lived at an early period — Geraint Hir and Geraint Feddw in the Triads, Geraint Fardd Glas, and the three Geraints in Geoffrey of Monmouth. Moel y Geraint, or Barber's Hill, is near Llangollen. " Vies ies Saints de Bretagne, ed. Kerdanet, 1837, p. 530. ' Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., i, p. 674. On the coast, in the parish, iis Killygerran Head. S. Geraint 5 i Geraint's tomb was shown at Carn Point, where he was tradition- ally held to lie in a golden boat, with silver oars. When the tumulus was opened in 1858 a kistvaen was discovered with bones, but no precious metal. In the registers of the Bishops of Exeter, S. Gerrans is always called Ecclesia Sti. Gerendi. In Anthony, in Roseland, is Kill-Gerran, the cell of Geraint. In Philleigh parish was a chapel, now ruined ; but the wood in which it stood still bears his name. Gerran's Bay and Gerran's Point also recall him. In Brittany S. Geran formerly received a cult, but tradition is silent concerning his parentage and history ; and we cannot be sure whether Geran is the Cornish Gerran, the Geraint of the Welsh. S. Geran near Pontivy had a minihi, or place of sanctuary, always a mark of, a considerable and head foundation. But the parish has sunk to a mere tref of S. Noyala. S. Geran had a chapel at Cleguerec. In Belle He, at Le Palais, the parish church bears his name, and there he is commemorated on March 5. In Brittany the utmost uncertainty reigns as to who and what he was. In the 1589 Breviary of Vannes he is given as a Bishop, on March 5. At S. Geran he has been supplanted by S. Guirec or Curig. Lobineau conjectures that he was a soldier, the S. Gereon of the Theban Legion at Cologne. Kerviler sets him down as a re- gionary bishop, companion of S. Patrick. But no such a person is known to the Irish, or named in the Lives of the Apostle. He pro- bably depended on the following ballad, preserved by Luzel, as sung at S. Geran. S. Geran went to Rome, not hopeless, nor proposing to tarry. But in hopes of obtaining counsel from S. Patrick. S. Patrick when he saw him, went forward to meet him. See, said he, this little bell ! See this httle bell. Go forivard with it over the land. Go, and where it soundeth, there tarry. On a height near the swelling moors, the bell sounded. The angel of God came down to clear the soil of wood and stones. Happy folk of S. Geran, who have your patron in your church.^ It is possible that when British colonists migrated to Armorica, they set apart portions of land as domains for their hereditary royal chiefs at home, and that the Island of Belle He and the district of S. Geran by Pontivy may have been so given, and that Geraint may ' Annales de Breiagne, Rennes, T. ii (1886). 52 Lives of the British Saints have transferred them, or portion of them, to become ecclesiastical settlements. It is rather remarkable that the descendants of Geraint, King and Martyr, have left their names throughout this part of Brittany. The day of S. Geraint is uncertain. The village feast at S. Gerrans is on August lo. The pardon of S. Geran in Cleguerec is on the first Sunday in August. But that at S. Geran near Pontivy is on the third Sunday in October. At Le Palais, as already said, it is on March 5. S. GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, Bishop, Confessor The main authority for the Life of this great Saint is a Vita by Constantius, priest, apparently of Lyons. To this Life are prefixed two letters dedicatory, one to S. Patiens, Bishop of Lyons (449- circa 491), ■"■ another to Censurius, third bishop in succession to Ger- manus in the see of Auxerre ; there is also a prologue. Constantius professes in the second letter to have revised and ampli- fied the earlier Life that he had written at the desire of Patiens. " The authority of the holy Bishop Patiens, your brother, has required me to retrace, in part at least, the Life and Acts of the blessed Germanus. If I did not do this as well as I ought, I did what I could. My obedience being known to your beatitude, you ordered me to plunge once more into an excess of temerity, in desiring that I should enlarge this little page, which still remained almost in obscurity, and that I should myself come forward in some sort as my own accuser and betrayer." ^ Censurius, to whom this letter dedicatory was written, was Bishop of Auxerre from 472 to 502. Constantius is by no means an unknown man. He was the friend of Sidonius Apollinaris ; his name stands at the head of a collection of eight books of letters, dedicated to him by Sidonius. His name occurs last in a letter of 480. About the year 473 he visited Clermont to allay some difficulties that had arisen there, and Sidonius speaks of him (£/>. iii, i) then as one " aetate gravem, infirmitate fragilem." The original sketch of the life of S. Germanus, dedicated to Patiens, no longer exists, but the amplified Life is found in a good number of 1 Patiens died a few years before 494 ; his second successor Rusticus is named as dying in 501. ' A letter was addressed to him by Sidonius about 475. S. Germanus of Auxerre 5 3 MSS. It was first published by Mombritius in Milan in 1480, in the first volume of his Sanctuarium. But this omits prologue and epilogue, and contains many misprints ; it contains beside the text of Con- stantius, a late addition, the legend of the ass the saint restored to life. The dedicatory epistles are omitted, but that one existed in the text used by Mombritius is shown by the superscription, " Constantius ad Patientem episcopum de vita Sancti Germani episcopi Autissio- dorensis." About a century later appeared an amplified Life given by Surius, in his " De probatis sanctorum historiis," iv. Colon. Agripp., 1573. The BoUandist Peter van der Bosche, in 1731, gave this same enlarged Life in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vii. This second Life contains a good deal that is not to be found in the other and earlier Life ; and is, in fact, an early ninth century amplification. This is the Vita most generally used and quoted ; but the other is the original text. The additions made were principal^ these : — 1. The story of S. Amator cutting down the pear tree, and the ordination of S. Germanus as priest, down to the death of Amator, and an ensuing miracle. 2. The story of the interview of Germanus with Genoveva at Nan- terre. 3. The absurd legend of the conversion of Mamertinus at the tomb of Corcodemus. 4. The seeking for, finding and translation of the relics of S. Alban. 5. The legend of the revelation as to the day of the death of the Martjn: Julian, made to Germanus on his visit to Brioude. 6. The greater portion of the account of the visit of Germanus to the grave of Bishop Cassian of Autun, and of a wonderful dialogue with the dead man. 7. The remarks on the act of the aged bishop carrying on his shoulders a lame man over a stream, when crossing the Alps. The Life of Germanus by Constantius in its expanded form was submitted to corrosive criticism by Schoele ; but he knew nothing of the unadulterated Vita, and had no acquaintance with the MSS. He regarded the whole as a forgery of the sixth century. ^ Next C. Kohler pointed out that all the passage relative to the meeting of Germanus with Genoveva was an excerpt from the Life of the latter saint thrust into that of the former.^. Two years later C. Narbey dealt with the Life, and maintained an ^ De ecclesiasticts Brittonum Scoiorumqm histonis fofitibus, 185 1. ' ^ fjude critique' sur le texte de la vie latine de Ste. Geneviive in Bibl. de l'£cole des hautes Hudes, T. xlviii, 1881. . . 54 Lives of the British Saints impossible thesis, that the original Life by Constantius was to be found in a Galilean missal of the sixth century published by Mabillon in 1685, in snippets of lessons for the Feast of S. Germanus, and in the lections for the same feast in the Breviary of S. Germain des Pres and S. Corneille de Compiegne. His thesis is quite untenable ; these lections are portions taken almost at haphazard from the unadulterated Life by Constantius.^ But the final, most complete, and exhaustive criticism, which settles the whole question, is that of Levison, in 1903. ^ It is hardly worth mentioning Heric's Metrical Life of the Saint. Heric died circa 876. It adds nothing of value. Even Heric was somewhat staggered at the stories contained in the amplified Life. He says : " This ancient Vita was written with elegance. It was drawn up whilst the memory of the Saint was recent, and whilst many who knew him were still alive. But what is reported ... is not always very positive, nor very true, on account of the interval that elapsed since his death." Heric's Metrical Life is printed in the Acta SS. Boll., Jul. vii, pp. 221-5. The Miracula Sti. Germani attributed to the same Heric are really by an unknown author. Printed in the Acta SS., Jul. vii, pp. 255- 283. It is not our purpose to give the Life of Germanus of Auxerre, but only those portions of it that concern his visits to Britain. About the time when the Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain, one Pelagius began to teach his heresy in Rome. Pelagius is usually designated Britto or Britanicus, but his bitter enemy and opponent, Jerome, in two places speaks of him as Irish. He began teaching his doctrine on Original Sin in 400, or thereabouts. He probably sent his books to Britain and to Ireland by his disciple Agricola. Indeed, his commentary on S. Paul seems to have been highly valued in the latter island to a late period, and Pelagius himself to have been regarded, not as a heretic, but as an authority on doc- trine.' The orthodox clergy in Britain, uneasy at the spread of the Pelagian heresy, sent to the Church of Gaul for help. Constantius relates that accordingly " a great synod was gathered, and by the judgment of all, two glorious lights of religion wqre beset by the peti- 1 i.tude critique sur la vie de S. Germain, Paris, 1884. " Bischof Germanus v. Auxerre, in Neuer Archiv d. Gesehchaft f. dltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, Hanover, xxix, 1903. ^ Zimmer (H.), The Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland, London, 1902, pp. 19-21. iS. Germ anus of Auxerre 5 ^ tions of the whole body ; that is to say, Germanus and Lupus, apos- tolic priests, who had shown on earth with their bodies, indeed, but in heaven by their merits. And the more urgent appeared the neces- sity, the more promptly did the devoted heroes undertake the work, hastening on the business with the goads of faith." Lupus, the companion of Germanus, was Bishop of Troyes. The date of the mission, 429, is fixed by the contemporary witness of Prosper of Aquitaine, who relates that Germanus the bishop was sent " ad actionem Palladii diaconi " by Pope Coelestine " vice sua." ^ Some difficulty has been experienced in reconciling the statement of Constantius with that of Prosper, who does not mention Lupus. Prosper, as is a well established fact, set himself to " write up " the Roman see and exalt its prerogatives. But there need be no contra- diction. Ccelestine may have heard of the decision of the Galilean Council, and have approved of it. This was not the first time that a Gallic bishop had intervened in British strife. About a generation before this, Victricius of Rouen, summoned to the island by his fellow- prelates in Britain, had gone thither, and had succeeded in establishing peace. What the circumstances were that occasioned this interference, we are not told.^ The bishops crossed the straits in winter, as we learn from the Life of S. Lupus. On account of the roughness of the sea, Germanus emptied a vessel of oil on the waters, and so smoothed them. On their arrival in Britain, their fitness for the work was speedily mani- fested by their energy and success. The Galhc vernacular was akin to the language spoken in Britain originally, and both had taken into them a large infusion of Latin, so that the addresses of the bishops were probably quite understandable by the people. " Some sixty or seventy years before, Hilary, the Bishop of Poitiers, dealing in Gaul with the great heresy which preceded this, had found it of great service to go about from place to place and collect in dif- ferent parts small assemblies of the bishops, for free discussion and mutual explanation. He found that misunderstandings were in this way, better than in any other, got rid of, and differences of opinion were reduced to a minimum. Germanus and Lupus dealt with the people of Britain as their predecessor had dealt with the Bishops of Gaul. They went all over, discussing the great question with the people whom they found. They preached in the churches, they addressed the people on the high-roads, they sought for them in the fields, and followed them up by-paths. It is clear that the visitors ' Prosper, Chron., in Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., i, p. 16. ' Victricius, De Laude Sanctorum^ c. 1 (Migne, xx, p. 443). 5 6 Lives of the British Saints from Gaul could speak to the people, both in town and in country in their own tongue, or in a tongue well understood by them. No doubt the native speech of Gaul and that of Britain were still so closely akin that no serious difficulty was felt in this respect. They met with success so great that the leaders on the other side were forced to take action. . . . They undertook to dispute with the Galileans in public. The biographer is not an impartial chronicler. The Pelagians came to the disputation with many outward signs of pomp and wealth, richly dressed, and attended by a crowd of supporters. Beside the principals, we are told that immense numbers of people came to hear the dispute, bringing with them their wives and children ; coming, in the important phrase of the biographer, to play the part of spectator and judge. The disputants were now face to face. . . . The bishops set the Pelagians to begin, and a weary business the Pelagians made of it. Then their turn came. They quoted the scriptures. The opponents had nothing to say. The people, to whose arbitration it was put, scarce could keep their hands off them. The decision was given by acclamation against the Pelagians." ^ Constantius has doubtless not told us all, and has highly coloured the triumph of Germanus. A Romano-British tribune and his wife brought their blind daughter to the two bishops, and Germanus at once restored the girl's sight by touching her eyes with his reliquary. ^ The Britons at this time suffered severely from the inroads of the Picts. Constantius says, Picts and Saxons, and Bede repeats the statement. It has been objected that this is an anachronism, as the Saxon invasion took place in 449. But it is now generally admitted that the Saxons had settled in considerable numbers in the east of Scotland before that date. If so, their alliance with the Picts to break over the Wall and devastate Britain is probable enough. Saxons were in league with the Picts in their onslaughts upon the Britons from a much earlier period. Theodosius, in 369, defeated their com- bined forces in north Britain,^ and the Count of the Saxon Shore was appointed expressly to guard the east coast against the depredations of the Teutonic marauders. Again in 396 Picts, Scots, and Saxons were in league against Britain, and were defeated by Stilicho.* News having reached the bishops that a fresh invasion of the northern barbarians was menacing the land, Germanus and Lupus accompanied 1 Browne (Bp. of Bristol), The Church in these Islands before the coming of Augustine, S.P.C.K., 1899, p. 92 et seq. ' This is in the uninterpolated Constantius. ^ Qa-adian, De Quarto Consulaiu Honorii. * Claudian, In i"""" Consulatum Stilichonis. aS*. Germanus of Auxerre 5 7 the British army that marched to arrest its progress. During the march they preached to the soldiers, and most of them, who were not Christians, moved by the exhortations of the prelates, received baptism. The army, wet with baptismal water, as Bede says,^ went against the heathen foe in the strength of the Lord. Germanus picked out the most active among the Britons, examined the country, and finding a valley encompassed by hills, drew up his inexperienced troops near it. The fire of military ardour awoke in him, and he took the com- mand of the dispirited Britons, and endeavoured to infuse into them some energy. When the Picts came on, the Britons remained in ambush till all their foes were gathered in the valley ; then Germanus, bearing the standard, started from his lurking-place. The priests thundered the Paschal cry of Hallelujah, for it was Eastertide, the Britons rose, re- peated the shout, and burst from their covert. The Picts and Saxons fled in disorder, casting away their arms ; and many were drowned in the river. The Britons, without loss of a man, almost without striking a blow, found themselves in the unwonted position of victors instead of flying, and attributed their triumph to the merits and generalship of their holy leader. To pursue the flying foe, and turn a panic into a rout, and thus strike a serious blow at the power of the invaders, was an effort beyond their capabilities. They were content to gather up the spoil, and return rejoicing to their camp. The site of this bloodless victory is supposed to have been Maes Garmon, near Mold in Flintshire ; but this can hardly have been it, if the Picts were allied with Saxons. If, however, they had been associated with Scots (Irish), then it is by no means improbable. Chester may have attracted the barbarians, and their boats may have entered the Dee. There are philological difficulties also in the way ; Germanus would not become Garmon in Welsh, if adopted direct from the Latin. As the Welsh have preserved no record of the victory, as Gildas does not allude to it, we may well ask whether the story is not the legend of some affair in the north near the Wall, greatly exaggerated by Constantius. Actually it speaks of ineptitude to take advantage of a success, and does little credit to either the Britons or to their leader. Bede knew nothing of it but what he read in the account of the priest Constantius, whose words he quotes almost verbatim. After having successfully cornbated Pelagianism, probably in the * Hiit. Eccl., i, Cv 20. 5 8 Lives of the British Sai?its autumn of the same year, Germanus and Lupus returned to Gaul. The former visited Aries, where he was warmly received by S. Hilary. It is remarkable that, at this very time, the bishops of Gaul, Hilary among them, were labouring at Rome under suspicion of dangerous sympathy with Pelagian doctrines. They — at least those of Gallia Narbonensis — ^had felt themselves obliged to call in question the teaching of Augustine on Predestination and Grace, and were charged by the fiery Prosper with semi-Pelagianism. In reality they protested against the exaggeration of the doctrines of Augustine, which left no place for human effort and the exercise of free-will. It is remarkable that Germanus, who must have been under the influence of the pre- vailing anti-Augustinian views of the Galilean Church, should have refuted Pelagianism in its British stronghold. In 447, the year before his death, Germanus went again to Britain, accompanied by S. Severus of Treves,^ the disciple of Lupus. Of this Severus nothing further is known. Prosper makes no mention of this second visit ; our sole authority for it is Constantius. This silence of Prosper is not enough to make us doubt it. The historic sources of the fifth century but rarely touch on British matters. Indeed, the Chronica Gallica at the year 452 is the sole contemporary authority for the settlement of the Saxons in Britain. In fact, after the year 440 the events in Gaul are hardly alluded to by Prosper. The only incidents he speaks of as occurring there are the invasion of Attila in 451, and the murder of the West Gothic King Thorismod in 453. On reaching Britain, Germanus was well received by one Elapius, " the most considerable person in the land," and he restored the use of his leg to the crippled son of Elapius. An assembly was sum- moned, and Germanus induced the Britons to drive into exile the teachers of Pelagianism, as he failed to convince them of their error. After they had been banished, Britain remained stedfast in the Catholic faith. After a very brief stay the two bishops returned to Gaul, and on this occasion had smooth seas and light breezes, both in coming and in returning. Germanus died at Ravenna, the last day of July, 448. We come to a question of some difficulty. Was S. Patrick a disciple of Germanus of Auxerre ? Patrick in his " Confessions " does not intimate by one word that he was so ; not by one word does Constantius 1 Bede is the authority for Severus being Bishop of Treves. His name does occur in the catalogue of Bishops of Treves, but this was not drawn up till the tenth century. Contemporary with Germanus was a Severus, Bishop of Vence, who attended sjoiods at Riez 439, and at Vaison in 442. S. Germanics of Auxerre 5 9 refer to Patrick, and had there been any tradition at Auxerre that the Apostle of Ireland had been a disciple of S. Germanus, this would certainly have been noted, either by Constantius or by the amplifier. The Irish authorities for discipleship are not good. Muirchu Maccu-Machtheni, who drew up a Hfe of S. Patrick in or about 690, asserts it. Tirechan made a collection of notes on S. Patrick, copied from a book in the writing of Bishop Ultan of Ard- braccan, who died in 656. In this there is no mention of discipleship under Germanus, but Tirechan has nothing to say of the early life of Patrick. To his collection is tacked on a number of anecdotes in Latin and in old Irish, but by whom written and when appended we have no means of judging. They are all of little historic value. In one of these we have this : " Patrick and Iserninus, that is Bishop Fith, were with Germanus in the city Olsiodra (Auxerre), and Germanus said to Iserninus that he should go and preach in Ireland. Iserninus was ready to obey and go anywhere, save to Ireland. Then Germanus said to Patrick, ' And thou, wilt thou be obedient ? ' Patrick repUed, ' Be it even as thou desirest '. Germanus said, ' This shall be between j^ou. Iserninus shall not be able to avoid going eventually to Ireland.' " 1 The hymn of S. Fiacc also alludes to discipleship to Germanus, but this h3niin was probably corrupted after the publication of Muirchu's narrative. ^ In 431 Coelestine sent PaUadius to the " Scots believing in Christ." It was at the suggestion of Palladius, a deacon, according to Prosper,, that Coelestine commissioned Germanus to proceed to Britain in 429. Now it is possible that Palladius may have been a disciple of Ger- manus ; and as the PaUadius who went to Ireland was also called Patrick, this may have originated the legend. A second question relates to the traditions preserved by the Welsh relative to Germanus as the founder of monasteries in South Wales,, and as consecrating S. Dubricius. We hold that these and other tra- ditions refer to another Germanus, Bishop of Man, and we remit the consideration of them to the ensuing article. The feast of S. Germanus is on July 31. At Auxerre his body arrived from Ravenna on September 22, was exposed for six days to the veneration of the public, and was buried on October i. The body was translated on January 6, 859, and all these days were formerly observed in his honour at Auxerre. 1 In the Tripartite Life, ed. Stokes, ii, p. 343. ^ Stokes, notes on the Hymn, in the same, i, p. cxii. 6o Lives of the British Saints For Germanus or Garmon churches in Wales and Cornwall, see the ■ensuing article. The church of Faulkbourne in Essex is dedicated to S. Germanus, and near it is a Holy Well that bears his name. Winterbourne- Farringdon, near Dorchester, is also dedicated to him. Camden says that at S. Albans, " There is still remaining near the Tuins of the city a chapel of Germanus occupying the site of the ele- "Vation whence he preached the Word of God, as is testified by old parchments of S. Albans." ^ In Lincolnshire, Thurlby, Scothorne and Ranby are dedicated to the Saint of Auxerre. So is Wiggenhall in Norfolk. The dedication to him in Selby Abbey is late, of the eleventh century, due to the possession of a finger of S. Germanus. Two other Yorkshire churches dedicated to him are Winestead and Marske-by-the-Sea, due to the influence of the monks of Selby. A fragment of a Cornish Mass of S. Germanus exists in a ninth century MS., and in it he is asserted to have preached in Cornwall. '" Lucerna et columna Cornubis et preco veritatis efulsit, qui in Lann- aledensis ^ ecclesise fuse prato sicut rosae et lilia floruit, et tenebras infidelitatis quee obcecabant corda et sensus nostros detersit." ^ But this almost certainly is a mistake, and the Germanus who was in Cornwall was probably his Armorican namesake. The church of S. Germans in Cornwall flattered itself that it pos- sessed the relics of the saint, " Ubi reliquiae Germani episcopi con- ■duntur." In the proper preface is an allusion to the Saint's opposition to Gwrtheyrn, which helps to identify him with the Armorican Saint, although it also says that he was sent to Britain by the Pope Gregory 1(590-604), a marvellous assemblage of blunders. S. GERMANUS, Bishop of Man, Confessor Almost inextricable confusion has been wrought by the confounding together of two Saints Germanus, the one of Auxerre and the other, an Armorican by birth, who died as first Bishop of the Isle of Man. That they' were distinct personages is certain. ^ Britannia, London, 1594, p. 305. ^ Lan Aleth, the ancient name of S. Germans. 3 Warren, Liturgy of the Celtic Church, Oxford, 1881, pp. 159-61 ; also Haddan ;and Stubbs, Councils, etc., i, p. 696. S. Germanus 6 r The following are the principal statements made in the documents printed in the lolo MSS., which have contributed largely to make confusion worse confounded. " Catwg was principal of the Cor which S. Garmon ab Rhedyw caused to be founded at Llancarfan, in the room of Dy frig, when he was consecrated Archbishop of Llandaff, which Cor, together with that of lUtyd, was founded by SS. Garmon and Bleiddan (Lupus) in Wales when they came to this Island to renew faith and baptism. ^ " The religious establishment of the tribe of Cadell Deyrnllwg was Pangor Garmon, called Llanfeithin, in Llancarfan, and is called Bangor Catwg. " The tribe of Emyr Llydaw was sent to the Island of Britain to restore faith and baptism, and came in two Cors. The first came with S. Garmon, and settled in lUtyd's Cor ; the second came with S. Cadfan, and fixed themselves in Bardsey. " The first of the two Cors that came to this Island was that of Garmon, a saint and bishop, son of S. Rhedyw, of the land of Gaul, and uncle, mother's brother, to Emyr Llydaw ; and in the time of Cystennin Llydaw he came here, where he remained till the time of Gwrthejrrn Gwrtheneu, after which he went to France, where he died. He founded two Cors of Saints, and placed in them bishops and divines, in order that they might instruct the nation of the Cymry in the Christian Faith, where they had erred in their faith. He founded one Cor in Llancarfan, and placed Dyfrig there as principal, and he himself was bishop. Another near Caerworgorn, where he placed lUtyd as principal, and S. Bleiddan chief bishop there. After that he placed bishops in Llandaff, and made Dyfrig archbishop there, and placed S. Catwg ab Gwynllyw in the Cor in Llancarfan in his stead, and appointed the Archbishop of Llandaff to be his bishop there. ^ " Garmon founded Llancarfan." ^ Among the " Stanzas of the Achievements " is this : — " The achievement of Garmon — a meek man he — was a skilful work, a fair residence. The establishing of the saints in a Cor — in a secure dwelling." * ^ P. 130 ; cf. p. 10, where it is stated that Illtyd brought Garmon to Wales at King Tewdrig's s.uggestion. On p. 39, however, Teilo is credited with having brought him over. ' Ibid., p. 131. On pp. 113 and 119 Dyfrig is said to have been Garmon's periglawr or confessor. He had also as confessors Gwyndaf Hen and XJstig ab Geraint, pp. 108, 131. The Booh of Llan Ddv (p. 69) also states, that Germanus and Lupus consecrated 'Dying to be archbishop " over all the Britons of the southern part." 3 lolo MSS., p. 220. * Ibid., p. 263. 6 2 Lives of the British Saints Among "Other Achievements": — The achievement of Garmon, the son of Rhedig, Was the estabhshing of order among ecclesiastics, And Faith, in the anxious day. Again : — The achievement of Garmon, the renowned Saint, Was the obtaining of privilege for saints and churches ; And the court of demand was the act of LljT Merini.^ The early genealogies briefly state : " Garmon was the son of Ridicus ; it was in the age of Gwrtheyrn Gwrtheneu that he came to this Island, from France." ^ Now Germanus of Auxerre was in Britain in 429 and in 447. For neither time did he remain long ; for the last hardly a twelvemonth, and he died in 448. It is not probable that he founded monasteries during these brief visits. He was busy contending against Pelagian- ism in gatherings of the clergy and people, and his biographer, Con- stantius, says not one word concerning his having established religious communities during his visits either in 429 or in 447. Apart from the late and untrustworthy statements just quoted, there is no evidence whatever that Germanus of Auxerre visited South Wales. Yet according to them he founded Llancarfan and Llantwit, and placed Catwg or Cadoc in the former, and Dyfrig and then Illtyd in the latter. Dyfrig attended the Synod of Brefi. We do not know the exact date, but it was before that of Victory, the date of which is given in the Annales Cambria as taking place in 569. Haddan and Stubbs suppose that it took place but shortly previous. We have given reasons ^ for holding that it was held before the outbreak of the Yellow Plague in 547. If we suppose that it was in 546,* then that was nearly one hundred years after the last visit of Germanus. If we take 560, then one hundred and thirteen years after. According to the Annales Cambrics, Dyfrig died in 612, one hundred and sixty-five years after that same visit. We do not ourselves hold that Dyfrig can have lived to so late a date, but anyhow it is absolutely impossible to admit that he can have been appointed bishop, much less archbishop, by Ger- manus in 447. ^ lolo MSS., p. 264. The Welsh text is evidently corrupt. ' Peniarth MS. 45 ; cf. Myv. Arch., pp. 416, 425, and Camhro-British Saints, p. 270. Rhedyw for Ridicus seems to occur in the lolo MSS. only. = ii, p. 25. * After the subsidence of the Yellow Plague it is probable that a synod would be held to regulate the Church thrown into disorder by the death and flight of so many ecclesiastics. S. Germanus 6 3 Cadoc was a contemporary of Gildas ; and there is reason for sup- posing that Cadoc died in 577, one hundred and thirty years after the final visit of Germanus. Illtyd was a master of SS. Samson, Gildas, and Paul of Leon. Sam- son died not many years after 557 ; Gildas died in 570 ; Paul of L^on about 573. Now taking a generation at thirty-three years, this would give the death year of Illtyd as about 537 ; and if he were then aged seventy- seven he was born about 460, thirteen years after the last visit of Germanus. The anachronism is made the greater by associating Lupus with Germanus in the founding of these monasteries and the appointment of the abbots, for Lupus was in Britain only in 429 ; and this would throw back the formation of these establishments by eighteen years. Whatever allowance may be made for a margin of error, it is impos- sible to reconcile the statements. Then, once more, Nennius and the Welsh authorities represent Germanus as a strenuous opponent of Gwrtheyrn, and as encoiuraging the revolt that broke out against that prince in consequence of his having invited over the Saxons. It was not till 457 that the battle of Crayford was gained by these latter, and the Britons were driven out of Kent ; and not till 465 that a great victoiry won over twelve British chiefs at Ebbesfleet showed how serious a menace to Britain these strangers were. It was not tin after this that the expulsion of Gwrtheyrn took place ; and Ebbes- fleet was fought seventeen years after the death of Germanus of Auxerre. We are constrained to dismiss as unhistorical all that is said of the association of Germanus of Auxerre with Llantwit and Llancarfan, and with Gwrtheyrn. But it does not follow that the statements of Nennius and of the Welsh authorities are to be rejected en hloc. It is quite possible that there has been a mistake as to the Germanus who played so active a . part in Welsh affairs, political as well as ecclesiastical. There were other Germans or Garmons. The Welsh pedigrees mention one Garmon ab Goronwy of Gwared- dog, a Saint of Beuno's Cor at Clynnog.^ He is unimportant. The Irish give us two, German mac Guill and Germanus or Mogor- man, Bishop of Man. The first is probably one of the " sons of Goll " mentioned in the 1 lolo MSS., pp. 143-4. 64 Lives of the British Saints Life of S. Ailbe, and of whom we shall deal in a separate article. He flourished about 510. Mogorman or Mogornan was a son of Restitutus " the Lombard," and of a sister of S. Patrick. Colgan, in his Trias Thaumaturga (Appendix V, c. iv, p. 227), has a dissertation on this Germanus. He says that Mogornan or Mogorman is the Germanus or Gorman commemorated on October 25 in the Irish Martyrologies ; but he confuses him with Germanus mac Guill, com- memorated on July 30. He supposes that Restitutus was a native of Armorica, and that Germanus became a disciple of S. Patrick mac Calpurn, and died as first Bishop of Man. The information we receive relative to this son of Restitutus is not of good quality, and has to be accepted with reserve. But a suffi- cient amount is available to show us that there was such a man, that he was associated with Patrick, and that he became Bishop of Man. The title of " the Lombard " given to Restitutus is also rendered " Huy Baird," and is a blunder, a mistranslation of Huy Baird. Res- titutus is also spoken of as one of the " Lombards of Letha." ^ Letha is Letavia, i.e. Armorica. There were no Lombards in western Europe at the time of Patrick. At this period they were seated north of the Danube above where is now Vienna, the old Vindobona. In 512 they overthrew the Herulii, in 566 or 567 they destroyed the kingdom of the Gepidae and made themselves masters of Pannonia. It was not till 569 that they descended into Upper Italy. In 575, indeed, they crossed the Alps and came down on the Province, where they destroyed Nice and six other cities, but were cut to pieces by Mummolus.^ The Hy Baird of which Restitutus was a clansman was some race in Armorica. " Patrick and his father Calpurn, Concess, his mother, . . . and his five sisters, namely, Lupait and Tigris and Liamain and Darerca, and the name of the fifth Cinnenum (and) 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." * > Preface to the Hymn of Secundinus, Liber Hymn., ii, pp. 3, 4. A few Welsh pedigree MSS., e.g., Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 119, and Llanstephan MS. 81, con- tain the entry, " Garmon gassarrvgv (gassarygy) gwr o wlad ryvain," i.e., of Italy. " Greg. Turon., Hist. Franc, vii, 6 ; Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, v. pp. 215-24. 3 Gloss on Place's Hymn, Tripartite Life, ii, pp. 413-5. The Book of Leinster /S. Germanus 6 5 There Liamain is supposed to have married Restitutus, and to have become the mother of Germanus. There also were born the brothers or first cousins of Germanus, Auxihus, Isserninus, Secundinus and Benignus, who worked so nobly in the mission-field with their uncle Patrick. Sannan the Deacon, brother of Patrick, was the father of another Patrick. 1 Auxilius, Isserninus and Benignus went to Ireland, according to the Chronicon Scottorum and the Annals of Inis fallen, in 438. Who the H3/ Baird were we can only guess. Possibly that peculiar race occupying a portion of western Brittany called at present the Bigauden, and having Kalmuck-like features and build. When Germanus went to S. Patrick in Ireland we do not know. He cannot have remained there long, for we hear little of his labours. He founded one church, Kilgorman, south of Arklow, in Wexford.^ We next hear of him in the Life of S. Brioc. Crossing over from Wexford harbour, which in Irish has borne his name. Lough Garman,* he landed in Ceritica or Ceredigion, then occupied by Irish, and made the acquaintance of Cuerp, a Goidel chief there, and his wife Eldruda, a Saxon by birth. Cuerp handed over his child Brioc to Germanus to be educated by him, and the Saint took the child along with him to Paris, where Brioc had as fellow pupils lUtyd and Patrick.* The Life of S. Brioc does not identify this Germanus with the Bishop of Auxerre, and we can hardly doubt that he was the son of Restitutus of the Hy Baird of Letha. The Patrick who was pupil to S. Germanus would seem to have been the son of Sannan the Deacon, and cousin of Germanus ; and lUtyd was his great-nephew, grandson of Aldor, who is said to have married a sister of the Saint, and must at the time have been verj' young. That Germanus revisited his native land of Armorica and the district of the Hy Baird is more than probable ; and the supposition receives some confirmation, from the fact of a number of memorials of him being found in Cornouaille, and in a part that leads one to suspect on the Relatives of the Irish Saints has : " Lupait, Patrick's sister, the sons of Hua-Baird, Sechnall, Nectain, Dabonna, Mogornan (Mogorman) , Darioc, Ausaille, Presbyter Lugnath." Ibid., ii, p. 549. ^ Trias Thaum., App. v, c. iv, p. 225. ^ Shearman, Loca Patriciana, p. 169. ^ Also in Welsh, Llwch Garmon, in Brut y Tywysogion and the Life of Gruff - ydd ab Cynan. * Vita S. Brioci in Anal. Boll., ii, pp. 165-6. The chronology of the Life of Brioc as worked out by Dom Plaine and De la Borderie rests on the assumption that the tutor of Brioc was Germanus of Auxerre. If that assumption be re- jected then all their schemes of chronology in the Life collapse. VOL. III. F 66 Lives of the British Sai7its that the tribe of the Hy'Baird, to which his father belonged, was that now represented by the Bigauden. Calpurn = Concess I S.Patrick Sannan, Liamain = Restitutus of the b. c. 410, the Deacon Hy Baird d- 493 I , I I Patrick, S. Germanus, da = Aldor of Pupil of Germanus B. of Man | Armorica b. c. 400, I d- 474 I Rhiain = Bicanys I S. Illtyd, disciple of Germanu?, b. c. 450, d. c. 537. At Plougastel, to the west of Quimper, and at Pleyben, east of Chateauhn, he is esteemed tlie patron saint. He is also venerated at Clohars-Carnoet and at Riec by Pontaven. But this is not all. Traces of two of his pupils, Patrick, son of Sannan, and of Brioc, son of Cuerp, are to be found near to the settle- ments of Germanus. Not, indeed, of Illtyd, who can have been at the time but a child, and who abandoned the religious life for a military career, to return to it at a later period of life. In the Bigauden peninsula are chapels of S. Brioc at Beuzic-cap- sizun and at Plobannalec ; and these cannot be accounted for by anything in the Life of Brioc after he had become an abbot. At Riec, where Germanus is patron of the parish, there is to be found a chapel of his pupil, Patrick. Brioc and probably Patrick were but youths when with Germanus ; nevertheless it was part of the discipline of monastic life, for the dis- ciples when young to retire to solitary places for meditation. Thus Paul of Leon when a mere boy went into the wilderness and con- structed an oratory and a cell for himself and his young comrades. Whether Germanus were a native of Pleyben or of Plougastel-Saint- Germain we do not know. We may conjecture that at one or the other he made over his patrimony to the Church, and that then he went to Paris to obtain a confirmation of his grant from the Frank king. At a later period this was done by Paul of Leon, Tudwal, and Samson, and, indeed, by Brioc. Or the visit to Paris may have been undertaken, some time between 450 and 462, for the purpose of entering into closer relations with the Gallo-Roman Church. The Life of S. Brioc makes no mention of any sojourn in Armorica S. Germanus 6 7 at this period, and we can do no more than offer tlie suggestion that S. Gildas 8 5 effected a landing at Portsmouth ; and in a conflict slew a young British chieftain. In 508 Cerdic and Cynric were engaged in a battle with the Brits at Natan-leagh, slew a British king, and five thousand men with him. Natan-leagh is Netley, and the district as far as Gharford was then included in the Natan-leagh settlement. In 514 the West Saxons arrived with three ships and landed at Cerdic's Ore ; and Stuf and Whitgar, nephews of Cerdic, fought the Brits and put them to flight. " In 519 Cerdic and Cynric undertook the government of the West Sexe, and the same year they fought with the Brits at Cerdic's ford (Charford) ; and from that time forth the kingly family of the West ■Sexe have reigned." ^ The West Sexe were now compacted into one political organization. •No entries were made for 520-526 ; but in 527 we have, " In this year Cerdic and Cynric fought against the Brits at the place called Cerdic's- lea." . In 530 Cerdic and Cynric took possession of the Isle of Wight ; but not till 552, thirty-three years after that Cerdic became King of the West Saxons, was there any move westwards. Geography To understand the situation, it is necessary to take a of South survey of the southern portion of Hampshire, bounded and East On the north by Wiltshire and on the west by Dorset- Dorset, shire. A great half-moon of chalk hiUs extends from just above Ha vant in the east to Badbury Rings by Shapwick in the west, about four miles north of Wimbourne. The basin between these hills and the sea at Havant was occupied by the forest of Bere. At Portchester on Portsmouth harbour was the Roman station and town of Portus Magnus, from which a Roman road ran to Bitterne opposite Southampton, where was the town of Clausentum. Here the River Itchen enters the sea, having broken a way through the chalk ring ; at Redbridge the Anton or Teste also flows into the sea by Southampton, and the whole tract between the rivei^s from Eastleigh to Romsey was originally one .vast morass, out of which rose' tofts covered with trees. '1 ■ From Southampton Water to Wimbourne and the Stour was one immense region of forest, heath and marsh, so impenetrable that a traveller from Clausentum to Morionio or Poole would probably go round to Venta Belgarum, (Winchester), hence to Old Sarum, and then take the road south, afterwards called the Ackling Way. . ^ Saxon Chronicle, sub. ann. 86 Lives of the British Saints Now within the area enclosed by the great chalk half-moon is a lesser crescent, rising from 400 to 500 feet above the sea, also of chalk down, with its concavity towards Southampton. Beyond this is the basin of the Avon, flowing from Salisbury. The river formerly wandered among marshes, now drained, but periodically flooded, affording superior dairy farm land. At Charford a stretch of chalk hills from the east approaches the river, and contracts the area of morass. The Jutes and Saxons having made themselves masters of Natan- leagh or Netley, the district between the mouth of the Itchen and Portsmouth harbour, and having pillaged Portus Magnus and Clau- sentum, remained in occupation of this district for twenty-four years, and then made a further advance. They passed over the inner cres- cent of down, crossed the Avon at Charford, and there fought the Britons and defeated them, and most probably took possession of the strong entrenched camp of Whitsbury that commanded the ford, and spread over the whole of the region enclosed by the hoop of chalk downs from the vale of the Avon to that of the Stour by Wimbourne. A spur of chalk ridge strikes inward from the west, rising to 600 feet, and forms the Pentridge. South of this, from the Avon to the Stour, towards the sea, all was sandy barren waste and morass. West of Pentridge, in a hollow, a chalk valley unwatered by a stream, was Cranbourne Forest stretching its arms along the slopes of the hills and occupying all the land that was not fen, but having the bare down swelling above it ; -and that bare down was densely peopled by the Romano-Britons, who lived there mainly on their flocks, and who have literally strewn these downs with the remains of their dwellings clustered in villages and towns. Across these downs, straight as an arrow, and perfectly distinguishable to the present day, is the Ackling Street, coming from Old Sarum and striking for Badbury Rings, a junction point of several roads. This elevated chalk region was a Gwent. The forests that occupied the lowlands, the river basins — where the water spread, shifted its course, and formed deep morasses and lagoons — as also the heathery tracts strewn with swamps, were hardly inhabited at all, but popula- tion teemed on the downs. The researches of General Pitt Rivers have shown both how numerous they were, and also what was their condition of life before the Saxons swept them away. They had absorbed a considerable amount of Roman culture. Their wattle and mud houses were admirably drained, and were heated by rude hypocausts. They made use of Roman coins, Samian ware of thp finest quality, and pottery with green and yellow glaze, which was of MAP OF BOKERLY AND GRIM'S DYKES. S. Gildas 8 7 extreme rarity among the Romans. " They had chests of drawers in which they kept their goods, which were decorated with bronze bosses, and ornamented with tastefully designed handles of the same metal. They had vessels of glass, which implies a certain degree of luxury. They used tweezers for extracting thorns, bronze ear-picks, and even implements designed for cleaning the finger nails, and they played games of draughts ; a number of iron styli showed that they were able to read and write. . . . Some of their houses were painted on the inside, and warmed with flues in the Roman style. They were, per- haps, covered with Roman tegulse and imbrices, and others were cer- tainly roofed with tiles of Purbecke shale. They wore weU-formed bronze finger rings, set with stones or enamelled. They used bangles of bronze and Kimmeridge shale, and one brooch discovered was of the finest mosaic, such as could not easily be surpassed even in Italy at the present day. Also gilt and enamelled brooches, some of which were in the form of animals. They used bronze and white metal spoons ; and the number of highly ornate bronze and white metal fibulae showed that such tastefully decorated fastenings for their dresses must have been in common use." ^ They had their amphi- theatres for public entertainments ; they drew water from wells, sunk in one instance to the depth of i88 feet. Of images of the gods, of indications of paganism, these villages were barren, but there was no evidence that Christianity had taken hold of the occupants ; in- deed, the slovenly and irreverent manner in which they buried their dead in refuse heaps and ashpits shows that they had lost all sense of veneration for the departed, such as was so marked a feature in the people in the bronze age, and had not acquired any idea of the dignity of the human body such as comes in with Christianity. The AckUng Street runs straight as an arrow from Old Sarum to a point now caUed East Woodyates, and there makes a slight bend to the east ; and from this point drives directly, without a swerve, to Badbury Rings, that can be seen distinctly in the distance, with the road aiming at them. Here, in the opinion of General Pitt Rivers, stood the Romano- British town of Vindogladia, a centre and market to the numerous villages strewn on all the downs around. Here he unearthed a portion of a town. The exploration was never completed, and all that can be said is that here stood a considerable village or small town, in- habited by Romanized Britons, at the same time as the villages on the surrounding Gwent. Roman coins were discovered down to Honorius, 395-423, who withdrew the legions from Britain. 1 Excavations in Bokerly and Wansdyke, privately printed, 1892, iii, pp. 5-6. 8 8 Lives of the British Saints From Woodyates the Ackling Street runs over open down, rising some 340 to 390 feet above the sea. This down declines towards the west, where a broad waterless valley, once occupied by Cranborne Chase, separates it from the higher ridge, now tree-covered but for- merly bare, that is a continuation of the half-moon of chalk hills enclosing the basins of the Itchen, Anton, and Avon. This description has been necessary to explain what follows. The Gewissas, having crossed the Avon at Charford, made them- selves masters of the Gwent that culminates in Pentridge, and of the worthless morass south of it ; and they doubtless then sacked Vindo- gladia, if Woodyates may be regarded as occupying the site of that town. They were, however, in a bad strategical position, for the ring of high land that half encircled them was strongly defended by a chain of fortresses of prehistoric origin, but capable as ever of being utilized, aU within sight of one another : Badbury, Bugbury, Hod Hill, Ham- bledon, Melbury, Winklebury, Castle Ditches, Chiselbury, and Clear- bury Ring. And up the Avon stood the most redoubtable fortress in Southern Britain, Sorbiodunum (Old Sarum). One great advantage they had, however, obtained — a hold on the Ackling Street. Here, then, pent up in this half-hoop, if we may trust the Saxon CKronicle, the Gewissse remained inactive, save for the subjugation of the Isle of Wight, for thirty-three years, making no attempt to break out to the north or to the west. The Britons on the Isle of Wight now found themselves cut off from their countrymen by the Gewiss^, who occupied the mainland from Portsmouth to the River Avon, that enters the sea at Christ Church. We may be sure that they would not relish this isolation, and would escape with all their goods to that portion of the country still unoccu- pied by the "invaders ; and when we are informed that in 530 Cerdic and Cynric conquered the Isle of Wight, and slew many men at Wiht- garas-byrg (Carisbrooke) , we may feel confident that the island had already been to a large extent abandoned, and that the slaying was simply a massacre of such as remained. „ . , , Now it is certainly a remarkable fact that Cerdic and Period of Inactivity Cynric, who had landed in 495, and had been joined by. for thirty- fresh adventurers in 501 and 514, should have done nothing three vears ^ ^ ^t o ' to push forward their conquest from 519 to 552, when the Battle of Old Sarum was fought, followed by Barbury Hill in 556, marking an outburst of fresh activity. They did, indeed, consolidate their power in south Hampshire "^lid iS. Gildas 8 9 east Dorset by the Battle of Cerdic's Lea, the site of which has not been determined, and, by the conquest and occupation of the Isle of Wight ; but they made no attempt to break through the chain of forts that lay along the heights of the chalk hills to north and west, so far as we can ascertain from the entries in the Saxon Chronicle. How are we to account for this inactivity for thirty-three years ? Badbury. This has been explained by the great reverse of Mount Badon, which Roger of Wendover states was fought in 520. Roger is a very worthless authority on the early history of Britain, but on this point he may possibly enough be right. Henry of Huntingdon, a grave and , trustworthy historian, mentions the battle, and he sets it down as taking place after 519, and before 530. It is true that he quotes Nennius, whom he calls Gildas, but he must have had some grounds for placing the battle just after 519. The Annales Cambrice^ give the date of Mount Badon as 516, but the dates in the early portion of this work are not more than approximate. Now Gildas says that after this battle ensued a lull in the invasion lasting for a generation. There was such a lull, according to the Saxon CAromc/e, from 519 to 552, just thirty-three years, a generation, and at no other time in the latter part of the fifth or in the sixth century. We may ask, if the Battle of Mount Badon was productive of this arrest, whether it is iiot probable that its site would be somewhere on the then frontier of the Gewissse. And we have Badbury Hill that answers ■our requirements. Badbury is the southernmost point of the sweep of hill and fortresses. It rises some four miles north-west of Wim- bourne to a height of 327 feet, and is a sufficiently conspicuous object to give its name to a hundred. It is an entrenched hill, and the camp measures 1,800 feet long by 1,700 feet wide. There are three con- centric banks and ditches ; it is the point of junction of the Roman roads froin Old Sarum to Dorchester from Morionio, one leading to the junction of the Fosse Road and that from Old Sarum to Ad Axium. It is conceivable that the Gewissae, unable to . force their way to Old Sarum past Clearbury, and, fearing to leave their base exposed to a swoop down from Badbury on their settlements in south Hampshire, may have resolved on turning the flank of the Britons by taking Bad- bury, which was the key to the position, and which opened up to them Dorchester, Ilchestef, and the, Way to the Severn basin. That district from the Chilterns to the. Severn was the most pros- perous and richest in Britain, and may well ha,ve incited in them the lust of conquest and ,of plunder. .1 Y Cymmrodor, ix {1888), p. 154. 90 Lives of the British Satnts But two ways only were open to them, that by Old Sarum to Ad Axium, and that by Badbury and Dorchester. From Old Sarum they shrank. " Celt and Roman alike had seen the military value of the height from which the eye sweeps nowadays over the grassy meadows of the Avon to the arrowy spire of Salisbury ; and, admirable as the position was in itself, it had been strengthened at a vast cost of labour. The camp on the summit of the knoll was girt in by a trench hewn so deeply in the chalk that, from the inner side of it, the white face of the rampart rose a hundred feet high, while strong outworks protected the approaches to the fortress from the west and from the east. Arms must have been useless against such a stronghold as this." ^ Nor was Old Sarum alone ; less than three miles east of it was another very strong fortress, Figsbury, and Clearbury would have to be passed before Old Sarum was reached. Of the two doorways to the west, that by Badbury was certainly the easiest to force ; and it had this great advantage, that it could be attacked without exposing the base itself, defended by impassable morasses. No modern invader would hesitate for a moment as to which to choose. If, then, Mount Badon be Badbury, all seems clear. The West Saxons made a desperate attack on it in 520, and met with a crushing defeat which left them inactive for a generation, save only that they reduced the Isle of Wight. There is further evidence that for a long period they remained on the defensive only. Bokerly A very remarkable range of embankment and moat Dyke. extends from Boulsbury or Martin Wood, between Cran- borne and South Damerham, and stretching north-west over Blagden HiU descends to Martin Down, and reaches the Ackling Street pre- cisely at Woodyates, where that road makes its one and only deflection. It crosses the Roman Road, then curves south, and passing West Woodyates disappears in the direction of Garston Wood in tilled land. No further traces of it can be found till we come suddenly on it again above Gussage S. Andrew, on Thorney Down, where the modern road from Salisbury to Blandford cuts through it. Thence it can be traced for four miles, with breaks, to Launceston or Langstone Down, in Tarrant Monkton parish. Now these formidable entrenchments were obviously thrown up by a people occupying the Pentridge Gwent. The date at which thrown up can also be approximately determined, at least for that portion which crosses the Roman Road at Woodyates. ^ Green, The Making of England, 1897, i, p. 105. S. Gildas 9 1 Bokerly Dyke, the present boundary line between Dorset and Wilts, is an entrenchment in high relief, nearly four miles long, run- ning m a north-west and south-east direction across the old Roman road which runs from Sarum to Badbury. It hasa ditch on the north- east side of the rampart,^ proving that it was from this point the enemy was expected ... it everywhere occupied strong ground, if viewed from the standpoint of an enemy advancing to attack it from the north-east. It runs somewhat crookedly along the ground . . . this crookedness arose from the constructors availing themselves of hoUows as they secured the ground. It ran across the Gwent, or open downland, between the two great forests which existed at that time, and the remains of which still, or until quite lately, did exist on both flanks. On the south-east the Dyke terminated upon strong ground in Martin Wood, which may be considered as the survival of the Forest of Holt, and to have been formerly continuous with the New Forest. On the left it terminated in a part of the country which, within the memory of persons still living, was a part of Cranborne Chase Wood." ^ The Dyke, wherever it fails to be distinguishable, has either been ploughed down or else it stopped at a forest. And a forest in those early days, a tangle of briar and thorns and undergrowth, was emi- nently effective as a point on which to abut. It re-appears again where there was open down. General Pitt Rivers says further : " Bokerly entrenchment, dating beyond doubt as late as the departure of the Romans from Britain, cannot have been erected earlier than the year 520." It would appear to have been thrown up by men flush with the pillage of Romano-British towns, to such an extent are the banks peppered throughout with relics of that period and late Roman coins. That the Teutonic invaders did throw up dykes against the Britons is certain ; Offa's Dyke is evidence to that effect. One thing seems very evident. Those who threw up Bokerly Dyke — and in so doing they buried a portion of the Romano-British town at Woodyates, and heaped the bank with the debris of the houses — -were afraid of attack from the north and north-east, and took special care to guard against an enemy advancing along Ackling Street ; for here, where the Dyke crosses the Roman road, they threw up a double line of defences. The inner bank has been ploughed down, and the inner • General Pitt Rivers is here speaking of that portion of the Ditches which he explored. "^ Excavations in Bokerly and Wansdyke, privately printed, 1892, p. 9- 92 Lives of the British Saints moat filled ; but they were both revealed by the explorations of General Pitt Rivers. The dense forest of Cranborne, filling the dry valley from Wood- yates, Upwood, Handley, perhaps rendered a dyke there unnecessary ; perhaps the defence was continued by an abatis of trees. Above •Gussage S. Andrews a double bank and two moats re-appear crossing elevated down, and only ceasing where there is a valley formerly dense -with trees and brambles. They re-appear again on the Down by Tarrant Hinton. Beyond, further south, they cannot be traced, for here the Gwent comes to an end, and the defence, if continued, was continued by an abatis. It will be seen by the map that the frontier here was thrust considerably forward, somewhat north-west of Bad- bury. For what reason we are unable to say. Whether the Saxons by a daring rush had gained Badbury and ■were dislodged by the Britons and driven back, or whether they attacked Badbury and were repulsed, does not appear from the meagre notices we have of the Battle of Mount Badon — assuming that Badbury is Mount Badon. Gildas merely mentions the " obsession " of Mount Badon, without ■stating by whom it was besieged. Nennius is not more explicit. Geoffrey of Monmouth, who connects Mount Badon with a hill near JBath, makes Arthur and the Britons attack it, and drive the Saxons from it ; and though the authority of Geoffrey is naught, we suspect that what really took place was something of this sort. The Gewissas made a dash for Badbury and seized it. They could not, however, cross the Stour, the ford commanded by Spettisbury, nor move north, ihreatened by Hod Hill and Hambledon ; and Arthur with his Britons ■succeeded in driving back the Saxons from Badbury. Was Cerdic's-lea the country from Bokerly Dyke to the sea, now ■conquered and held by Cerdic, as formerly Natan-leagh had been con- quered and held ? We cannot say. It would seem, however, certain that Bokerly Dyke had been cast up by the Gewissae when they made "themselves masters of this portion of the land. - But there is further ■evidence. Grim's Running in parts parallel with it, describing a vast curve ^Y^^- stretching on the south from Whitsbury Common, and running almost due north to a point 380 feet above the sea, near Clear- -bury Camp, on the Gwent, is Grim's Dyke. From this point it turns and runs west, and at a mile and a quarter above Woodyates crosses Ihe Ackling Street. It then approaches Bokerly Dyke, and at a dis- tance of half a mile from it follows its direction in a sweep to the souths -and aims at a camp in the Chase. Whether the dykes that have been S. Gildas 9 3 examined in Cranborne Chase formed a portion of it cannot be deter- mined ; but it is probable that they did. tirim's Dyke, after aiming at the high ground of what is now Cran- borne Chase, but which was formerly open down densely strewn with Romano-British villages, probably followed what is now the line of demarcation of the county of Dorset to the wood above Farnham, where are camps, and along the elevated land over which now runs the^ high road from Blandford to Shaftesbury. But possibly no rampart was here needed. All this district was well protected by formidable camps. Bugbury, east of Blandford, is within sight of Badbury and Spettisbury, and has traces of a bank running from it, north and south. There are embankments all across this country ; but to solve their purpose and to connect them, demands careful examination by a local antiquary. Now Grim's Dyke has its moat fronting Bokerly Dyke, and was thrown up by a people who were at war with those who piled up Bokerly. Each nationality dreaded raids from the other. Grim's Dyke has not, unhappily, been explored, but those dykes in Rushmore that have been examined, and which apparently have some connexion with Grim's Dyke, show that they belong to the same period as Bokerly. " If Grim's Ditch ever was a defensive entrenchment," says General Pitt Rivers, " and of the same period as the Dyke, it must have been erected in opposition to the defenders of Bokerly Dyke, as the Ditch is on the south-east side facing the Dyke." ^ The ground behind the Grim's Ditch rises to a ridge of chalk, behind which on the north is the Valley of the Ebble, beyond which again rise other chalk downs. It was clearly desirable for those who would check the advance of an enemy enclosed within the half-moon to prevent them from acquiring this defensive rise of land, for if they got into the Valley of the Ebble the way to Old Sarum was open to them. Grim's Dyke is vastly inferior as a structure to Bokerly Dyke. The latter, near Woodyates, rose 17 feet above the bottom of the moat when excavated, and must originally have stood at least 3 feet higher. And Grim's Dyke was probably never anything like so high, and depended on the moat and palisade for defence rather than on the embankment. One other point must be noticed in connexion with Grim's Dyke, and that is, that it rests upon and stretches beyond Whitsbury ; so that either the Gewissse, when they gained the victory at Charford, did not secmre that fortress, or else it was wrested from them later by the Britons, if we admit that Grim's Dyke was thrown up by these ' Excavations in Bokerly and Wansdyke, p. 59. 94 Lives of the British Saints latter against the Saxons, who in like manner cast up Bokerly Dyke against the Britons. General Pitt Rivers says of Wansdyke, with which we are not con- cerned, and Bokerly Ditches, with which we are : " No reasonable man can ever again assert that either of these dykes are pre-Roman, or that Bokerly Dyke was erected previously to the time of the Em- peror Honorius ; that is to say, previously to the time when the Roman legions evacuated Britain." ^ With this evidence, what can be said but that the invading West Saxons entrenched themselves in the district of South Hampshire on purpose to maintain themselves there till they were strong enough to push north and west ? Their numbers cannot have been great ; a couple of thousand at the outside, but recruited by fresh arrivals from beyond the seas every summer. The evidence of Bokerly Dyke goes far to show that they remained on the defensive, without immediate prospect of a further advance. So only can we account for the labour expended on these entrench- ments. Mount ■'■^ ^^ certainly a confirmation of the theory first pro- Badon is pounded by Dr. Guest, that the Mount Badon of Gildas ^ "'^^' and Nennius was Badbury in Dorsetshire, that we find : — 1. That after 519-20 the West Saxons remained inactive for some thirty-three years, so far as not making any advance to north or west. 2. That they appear to have entrenched themselves in their newly acquired settlement, as if content for a while to remain on the defensive only. Both Dr. Freeman and Mr. Green have accepted the identification and the proposed date ; for here we have Badbury precisely where we might expect a battle to be fought, we have the British tradition that a battle was fought, and that the Britons gained the victory — a tradition substantiated by Gildas. And we have a period of peace and arrest in the onward sweep of the enemy following on this supposed battle in 520. When else was there such a lull ? Henry of Huntingdon admits that the site of Mount Badon, as of the other battles " described by Gildas," were not remembered. " In our times," he says, " the places are unknown." », . T, ., Nevertheless, Mount Badon has been supposed to be Not Bath. ^^ Bath. The Welsh iriediaeval writers fall into this mistake, though Bath is in a hole and Badon was a hill. Certainly had Bath been accepted in his time as the site of the battle, ' Excavations in Bokerly and Wansdyke, p. xiii. ROMAN ROADS FROM OLD SARUM AND BADBURY TO BATH. S. Gildas 9 5 ■nenry of Huntingdon would not have expressed himself as he does. Badbury is called in Saxon Baddanbyrig, and Leland describes Bathan Wood near Badbury. i That it was occupied by the Romano-British at the time when the Jutes and Saxons landed in Hampshire is almost certain ; for although -Badbury has not been explored, yet about it are being continually ■turned up relics of that period, of that same period as the rehcs found m Bokerly Dyke, coins of the later Roman emperors, Carausius, Clau- dius Gothicus, and Constantine II, as well as British coins, including one of Cunobelinus, bronze swords, fragments of Samian ware, and British fibul£e.2 That Mount Badon should be Bath is incredible. It would have been impossible for the Gewissse to have broken through the chain of camps that encircled them, and to have penetrated so far, till either Badbury or Old Sarum had fallen. The road west from ■Sarum is strongly guarded by a series of fortresses. Almost imme- diately in turning west from Old Sarum, along the Roman Road, begin -the formidable entrenchments in Grovely Wood, the Hamshill Ditches, the Kilbury Rings, Hanging Langford Camp, and Church End Ring. Then come the Stockton earthworks, all within ten miles of Sarum. We must further consider that the invaders were comparatively few, that they were foot fighters and not horsemen ; and to have raided over forty miles from their base is what they could not have thought ■of doing. They would have been enfolded and cut to pieces infallibly Ihad they done so. The Roman name for Bath was Aqua Soils. What the Celtic name ior it originally was we do not know.^ In mediaeval Welsh it was Badwn and Caer Vadon. The actual site of the battle having been forgotten, it was supposed by Geoffrey of Monmouth to have been fought at Bath ; and the text of Gildas was interpolated with the words " qui prope Sabrinum ostium habetur," after the words " obsessionis Badonici montis." But the paragraph is not found 'ra. the best MSS., and was not admitted into the edition of Gildas by Joscehn, London, 1568. We have no reason whatever for supposing that the name Badwn was given by the Welsh to the ruins of Aqu^ Solis till after the Saxons 1 Itin., iii, p. 55. 2 HutcMngs' History of Dorset, 3rd ed., by Shipp and Whitworth Hodson, 1868, p. 177. 2 In the Welsh Life of S. David, it is named Yr Enneint Twymyn, " the hot baths." Camden gives it the same name among the Britons, but also Caer Talladur, which he supposes is derived from Pallas or Minerva (Britannia, 1594, pp. 169, 170). Caer Baladr is really the old Welsh name for Shaftes- 'bury, paladr being a shaft or beam. See, however, Geoffrey's Brut, ed. Rhys ;and Evans, p. 64. 9 6 Lives of the British Saints had settled there, re-edified it, and called it Bathan-ceaster, of which Caer Vadon is a translation. The Welsh word iadd, a bath (which does duty also for the city- name) , is borrowed directly from the English ; and &fliii^OM,i a bath (as- well as the city-name) , is not Celtic. Applied to the town it is simply Bathonia borrowed. The Mons Badonicus of Gildas most certainly did not derive its- name from any Baths near it, but. the name was probably descriptive- of the hill. The bad or hadd entering into composition in Celtic names is not rare. There is a Baddon in Cornwall. It may be had, a boat, and may give the name to a dun or camp as bearing some resemblance to^ a vessel. Mr. Green's words concerning the period under consideration may well be quoted. " A fight at Charford on the Lower Avon in 519-: seems to mark the close of a conflict in which the provincials were driven from the woodlands whose shrunken remains meet us in the New Forest, and in which the whole district between the Andredsweald and the Lower Avon was secured for English holding. The success- at Charford was followed by the political organization of the Con- querors, and Cerdic and Cynric became kings of the West Saxons. Here, however, their success came to an end. Across the Avon the forest belt again thickened into a barrier that held the invaders at bay ; for when in the following year, 520, they clove their way through, it to the Valley of the Frome, eager perhaps for the sack of a city whose site is marked by our Dorchester, they were met by the Britons- at Badbury or Mount Badon, and thrown back in what after events- show to have been a crushing defeat. The border line of our Hamp- shire to the west still marks the point at which the progress of the. Gewissse was arrested by this overthrow, and how severe was the- check is shown by the long cessation of any advance in this quarter." ^ Summary From the Saxon Chronicle we learn : — of Argu- a. That from 449 to 577 there was but one period of; '"^" ■ tranquility, when encroachments were arrested, i.e. from 519 to 552, a generation. h. This was due to the road to Dorchester being blocked to the- advance of the Gewisss by the fortress of Badbury ; and that to- Cirencester and Bath by Old Sarum. ' The hadd and baddon quotations cited in Dr. Silvan Evans' Welsh Dictionary- s.vv., are all late ; and the Bath-names, Badd, Badd-wn, Baddon, and Caer Faddon, take us no further back than the Middle Ages, and are merely adapta- tions. ^ The Making of England, 1897, i, pp. 101-2. S. Gildas gy c. That it is probable they would have attempted the least formid- able of these, and that which would have turned the British flank ; and that a crushing reverse in doing so would account for the long period of inaction. From Gildas we learn : — a. That a battle was fought at Mount Badon, in which the Saxons were defeated. 6. That, consequent on this defeat, there ensued a period of at least thirty years of tranquility. From monumental evidence we learn : — a. That in Pentridge, west of the Avon, a people was cooped in for a period sufficiently long to allow them to erect enormous embank- ments. &. That over against these embankments, the people with whom they were at war threw up an opposed range of dykes. c. That the period when these embankments were cast up was subsequent to 520. d. That accordingly there is strong probability that these banks were cast up by the Saxons on one side, and by the Britons on the other. It would therefore appear as evident as possible, from the scanty materials in our possession, that it was the Battle of Mount Badon which produced the inaction of over thirty years, terminating in 552, and that this battle was fought shortly after 519 ; and, next, that the site of the battle was on the frontiers of the Gewissse, and Badbury answers to this requirement. We will now proceed to another point in our consideration of this very difficult investigation. Date of There are two other dates with which Gildas was inti- the Death mately connected. In his Increfatio he attacks with great ae gw"-asperity Maelgwn, King of Gwynedd. Now Maelgwn died at the outbreak of the Yellow Plague in 547. This is the date given in the Aunales Cambrice,^ and with it agree the Irish annals. Thus- the Four Masters give under 548, when its worst ravages were felt in Ireland : " The death of Ciaran of Clonmacnois, of Tighernach of Clones, of Mactail, of S. Colum, son of Crimthan, of Finan of Clonard, tutor of the Saints of Ireland. All died of the Plague of Cron-Chonaill. This was the first Buite Chonaill. All the saints died of it but Ciaran and Tighernach." Eochaid, son of Connlo, King of Ulster, also died then. 1 In the Vita Sti. Teiliavi we have {Book of Llan Ddv, p. 107), " Pestis ilia flava . . . traxit Mailconum regem Guenedoti^." VOL. III. H ■98 Lives of the British Sai7its Consequently Gildas must have written his Increpatio before 547, probably between 540 and 544. But he further says that a generation had sprung up since the Battle of Mount Badon, in the period of calm, and in security. Accordingly we cannot put the composition and publication of this work before 540, twenty years after Mount Badon. The eclipse in 538 and the further eclipse in 540 may have alarmed men's minds, and hurried on the publication. Summons '^^^ Second date is that of his summons to Ireland by by King King Ainmire, which is mentioned in the Life by the monk Ainmire. ^f j^^-^ Now Ainmire, according to the Four Masters, was king in 564, and was slain in 566. There is, indeed, a slight variation in the dates given. Ainmire did not become King de facto till 565, after the murder of Diarmidh, and his life is prolonged according to some authorities till 569. Now the Annales Camhrice give 565 as " Navigatio Gildae in Hyber- nia," and this exactly agrees with the date of Ainmire's becoming supreme king in Ireland. Thus the summons to Ireland took place proximately twenty-five years after the issue of the tract De Excidio Britanni'X. In the interim the long peace had been broken, Old Sarum, the most redoubtable fortress on the frontier, had fallen in 552. The Battle of Barbury Hill in 556 ^ made the West Saxons masters of the greater part of Wilt- shire. Berkshire was overrun, and the way up the Thames was open. Not only so, but the west was also open. Only London and Silchester remained in the hands of the Britons, and these next fell. Then, and then only, was the road clear from all difficulties of advance on Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester, and this advance was made in 577. Date of ^^ '^°^ arrive at that most difficult problem of all to Birth of be solved, the date of the birth of Gildas. And the diffi- ' ^^' culty springs out of the ambiguity of his own words. He says : " Ex eo tempore nunc cives, nunc hostes, vincebant . . . usque ad annum obsessionis Badonici montis . . . quique quadragesimus quartus (ut novi) orditur annus, mense jam uno emenso, qui et meae nativitatis est." This has been interpreted in two ways. 1 Beran-byrig has by some been supposed to be Banbury. But this is im- possible. The an in Beran is the Saxon genitive ending, and it would fall away, and the accented syllable Beranbyrig become Ber- or Bar-bury. Barbury was an important fortress on the Ridge Way. The advance into the Avon basin and that of the Severn could not be made till Barbury had fallen. S. Gil das g 9 First, Gildas reckoned forty-four years less a month to the siege of Mount Badon from the landing of the Jutes in Thanet. Secondly, Gildas reckoned that this time elapsed between the Badon victory and his writing the tract. Bede's ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ interpretation adopted by Bede, Interpre- ' ' quadragesimo circiter et quarto anno adventus eorum in tation. Britanniam." But if 520 be the true date of the Battle of Mount Badon, this would give 476 as that of the arrival of the three keels in Thanet, whereas the true date is nearer 449. The arrival of the " three keels " was certainly not long after the third consulship of jEtius (Agitio ter consuli) spoken of by Gildas, and this was in 446. It was in their dire distress at being abandoned by the Romans that the Britons appealed to the Jutes for aid. , Bede in his History says : "In the year of our Lord 449, Martian being made Emperor with Valentinian . . . ruled the empire seven years. Then the nation of the Angles or Saxons, being invited by the aforesaid king (Vortigern), arrived in Britain with three long sliips." ^ His date is not quite correct. Marcian was not proclaimed Emperor till 450. Elsewhere Bede gives the fourteenth year of the Emperor Maurice, i.e. 596, as " about the one hundred and fiftieth year " after the arrival of the Angles. This would give 446-7 ; but he only says " about a hundred and fifty years " before, so that we cannot pin him to an exact date in this passage.^ Again, Bede in his Chronicle gives the date as 453. But the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle gives 449. If we reckon forty-four years from the landing of the Saxons, we have as the date of Mount Badon 490 or 493, according as we accept 446 or 449 as the date of the arrival of the three keels. The Chronicon Britannicum,^ drawn up, or concluded, in 1356, gives Tinder 490, " Natus est S. Gildas. Hiis diebus Arturus fortis." But the same Chronicle gives 520 as the date of his arrival in Armorica, ■and as the Rhuis biographer says that he was aged thirty when he arrived, the date 490 was arrived at simply by deducting 30 from 520. The date 493 is adopted by De la Borderie.* But neither of these dates was followed by a period of peace ; on the contrary, they were followed by a series of disasters. The Jutes and Saxons were hacking their way through Sussex. In 491 fell Anderida, when the Teutonic invaders " slew all that were therein, nor was there thenceforth one Briton left." Moreover, at 1 Hist. EccL, i, c. 15 ; v, c. 24. ' Ibid., i, c. 23. ' Dom Morice, Preuves, 1742. * Revue Celtique, vi, pp. i-i lOO Lives of the British Saints this time Camulodunum fell, and the whole of the Saxon Shore was in the hands of the new arrivals. Then came the landing of the Angles and the destruction of Lindunum and Eburacum ; and, as we have already seen, the occupation of Hampshire by Jutes and Gewissae. The victory of Badon Hill therefore cannot have taken place in 490 or 493, as neither of these dates initiated a period of cessation from invasion and conquest. The victory of Ambrosius, to which Gildas also referred, was suc- ceeded by a time of alternate defeat and victory up to 520. And after 520 ensued a time of rest till 552. Now on looking at the text, it seems very doubtful whether Gildas. could have calculated the years, with a month out, from the first arrival of the Jutes in Thanet. Is it at all likely that there was an accurate record kept of the precise date as to a month of that landing ? Moreover, Gildas is referring immediately previous to his statement about Mount Badon, not to the landing of the enemy, but to the victory over them won by Ambrosius Aurelianus, and those whO' rallied about him. " Ne ad internicionem usque delerentur, duce Ambrosio Aureliano . . . vires capessunt, victores provocantes ad proelium ; quis victoria. Domino annuente, cessit." Then at once- he proceeds to say how that from this date (ex eo tempore) the chances- of war varied up to the obsession of Mount Badon. Ussher's "^^^ second solution proposed to the puzzle of Gildas is- Interpre- that forty-four years less a month elapsed between the ^ '°"' siege of Mount Badon and the writing of his book. This was Ussher's suggestion. 1. This also is the way in which Mommsen reads the passage : " For- tasse sic licebit tradita refingere : quique quadragesimus quartus [est' ab eo qui) orditur anmts wiense jam uno einenso, qui et inecB nativitatis est. Ita Gildas ait scribere se anno ab obsessione montis Badonicr itemque a nativitate sua quadragesimo quarto."^. But this presents insuperable difficulties. In the first place such a treatise as the De Excidio was not dashed off in a month. Its composition cannot be regarded as a fixed date. It is a laboured production, and Gildas tells us that he was for ten years and more thinking of it.^ In the next, if Mount Badon siege was in 520, this would bring the- composition to 564, and Maelgvvn Gwynedd died in 547. ■•- Britan. Eccl. Antiquitates, Dublin, 1639, i, p. 477. ^ Pertz, Mon. Germ. Hist., Chronica Minora, iii, p. 8. " " Silui, fateor, cum immenso cordis dolore . . . spacio bilustri temporis- vel eo amplius praetereuntis.' Ed. Williams, p. 2. S. Gildas I o I If the Z)e Excidio were written in 540, that would give 496 for the Battle of Mount Badon ; and certainly no continuous period of peace existed from that date to 540, for war was incessant from 496 to 520. Both explanations of the words of Gildas assume what certainly appears to be his meaning, that he was born in the year in which was fought the Battle of Mount Badon. Now if we accept this battle as having been fought in 520, at that time Gildas was abbot of Rhuis ; and his heart was hot within him at the scandals in the British race when he was aged ten to fifteen, and he wrote his tractate at the age of twenty to twenty-five. This is, of course, absurd, and so feeling it, to escape the difficulty, the Battle of Mount Badon has been thrust back to some date in the fifth century. But at no date in that century, and at none other in the sixth but 520, was there the beginning of a long period of inaction on the part of the Saxons and of peace to the Britons, lasting a generation. Finnian of Clonard, who died in 548, was in correspondence with Gildas relative to penitential discipline. The subject was a delicate one to handle, and could only be discussed by Finnian with a man well on in years. It is very probable that it was the publication of the De Excidio that induced Finnian to write to Gildas as a severe moralist, relative to the proposed Code. If so, then the age of Gildas would be sixty- six, supposing Finnian wrote in 542 ; an age quite suitable for the discussion of such questions as Finnian proposed. Proposed Having considered the difficulties encumbering the Interpre- interpretation of the forty-four years as offered by Bede ^ '°"' and Ussher, we venture to propose a third : that the forty- four years were reckoned between the two victories, that won by Aure- lius Ambrosius, and that won by Arthur at Mount Badon. Let us look again at the words of Gildas. " That they might not be utterly destroyed, they (the Britons) take up arms and challenge their victors to battle under Ambrosius Aurelianus. . . . To these men there came victory. From that time, the citizens were sometimes victorious, sometimes the enemy. . . . This continued up to the year Of the siege of Mount Badon, and of almost the last great slaughter inflicted upon the rascally crew. And this commences as the forty-fourth year, with one month now elapsed." Here we have two fixed dates, the victory of Aurelius and the victory at Mount Badon, between which was a see-saw of success and defeat. What we propose is that the forty-four years less a month appUes to this period of see-saw. And that, if the victory of Mount Badon took place in 520, that of Aurelius and the initiation of the see-saw occurred in 476. 10 2 Lives of the British Saints If this be allowed, then we will go further, and suggest that the passage, " It is also the year of my birth," refers, hot to the year of Mount Badon, but to that of the victory of Aurelius. The explanation proposed may do some violence to the words of Gildas, but in our opinion it offers the only practical solution to the difficulty. The whole passage is involved, and is rendered the more confused, by the introduction of the wretched moralizing of the writer, who explains the alternation in success thus : "In order that the Lord,, according to His wont, might try in this nation, the Israel of to-day, whether it loves Him or not." We would read the disputed passage thus : " Ambrosio Aureliano victoria Domino annuente cessit ; ex eo tempore nunc cives, nunc hostes, vincebant, usque ad annum obsessionis Badonici mentis, quique- quadragesimus quartus, ut novi, orditur annus, mense jam uno emenso- (ab anno victoria Ambrosii), qui et (annus) mese nativitatis est." This would give 476 as the date of the victory of AureHus and of the birth of Gildas, and it would make him aged sixty-four when he- wrote his book, if that were in 540, or sixty-eight if he wrote in 544. The dates would stand thus — 476. Victory of Aurelius and birth of Gildas. 520. Battle of Mount Badon. 540-4. Gildas writes the De Excidio. 547. Death of Maelgwn Gwynedd. 548. Death of Finnian of Clonard. 565. Gildas summoned to Ireland by Ainmire. 570. Death of Gildas, aged ninety-four. It is remarkable that the events of his life fall into place if this be- accepted. This we shall see in the sequel. Not only so, but it allows us to accept statements relative to Gildas that occur in the Life by Caradog of Llancarfan, in that of S. Cadoc and that of S. Brendan,, which otherwise must be rejected. Then once more the Welsh genealogies insist on Gildas having been a married man, and father of a family. One can see no reason for- invention in this case ; mediaeval authors suppressed such awkward facts when writing the Lives of the Saints, but one cannot conceive a reason for a genealogist inventing and giving currency to a fictitious statement that Gildas had sons and grandsons. But where are they to come in, if we make him born in 520 and die in 570 ? He could hardly have had a large family under the age of thirty-five, and that brings, us to 555, and the De Excidio was written certainly by an ecclesiastic in 540 or 544. In the Life of S. Brendan we are informed that he visited Gildas at Rhuis, and on his return to Ireland had an interview S. Gildas 103 with S. Brigid. Now Brigid died in February, 525 ; consequently Brendan visited Gildas at Rhuis in the winter of 523-4. We are ex- pressly told it was in winter. Brigid, moreover, had known Gildas at an earlier period, and he sent her a bell. As she died in 525, this cannot have been as the Rhuis biographer says, " in the time of Ainmericus, king over all Ireland ; " for Ainmire began his reign in 565, as we have already seen. But if Gildas had become acquainted with Brigid it must have been before 520,. and this again throws his birth back some way into the fifth century. We must accordingly conclude either that Mount Badon was fought in the latter part of the fifth century ; but this is impossible, as there was no period of a generation of tranquiUty, such as Gildas describes,, in any part of the fifth century ; or else we must accept the interpre- tation of the words of Gildas we have suggested, however strained it may appear. Having thus settled, as far as it is possible to settle, the date of the birth of Gildas, we shaU be able to proceed with his Life, and show how that, the date being conceded, we are able to fit into his life with- out violence the various incidents that are recorded connected with his career. II. The Life of Gildas. Gndas was born in Arecluta (the country " on the Clyde "), Ren- frewshire, according to Skene, and was the son of Caw, called by the Rhuis biographer Caunus, and by the other Nau. The Welsh genealogists give the pedigree as follows — Cystennin Gorneu or Fendigaid I I I I I Erbin S. Digain Ambrosms Constans I or Emrys 1 i Geraint S. Eloan i I I I Selyf Cado or Cador Caw S. Cyngar S. lestin Huail, S. Gildas, S. GaUgo S. Maelog S. Eugrad S. Peithien killed by d. 570 Arthur I i — i i i I S. Cenydd S. Gwynog S. Nwython S. Aidan or Maidoo S. Dolgan B. of Ferns, d. c. 625 1 1 S. Ufelwy S. Ffili I04 Lives of the British, Saints They name many other children of Caw, but in some cases sons, no doubt, stand for grandsons, or such as belonged to the family and tribe. In the Life of the Rhuis biographer, only four brothers and a sister are named. The second biographer, following Welsh genealogical tradition, says : " Nau, the King of Scotia . . . had twenty-four sons, victorious warriors." The genealogists, however, do not give the names of quite that number.^ The eldest son was Huail, called by the Rhuis monk Cuillus, " a very active man in war ; " another was Maelog, of Llowes ; Egreas is the Welsh Eugrad ; AUeccus, the Welsh Gallgo, and a sister, Peteova or Peteona, is in Welsh Peithien. Owing to the incursions of the Picts and Scots into Arecluta, Caw's sons were forced to abandon their native land and to fly to Wales, with the exception of Huail, who gathered about him those who re- mained of the fighting men, and lived a wild, piratical life. The author of the second Life hints that all the sons of Caw had been warriors in early days, doubtless Gildas included. But he fled with his brothers, except Huail, to Gwynedd, where they were well received by CadwaUon Lawhir, the king, and by his son Maelgwn. Cadwallon had expelled the Goidels out of Mona, and he gave to the sons of Caw lands in the island, where they accordingly settled. Probably it >vas in Arecluta that Gildas had married ; for the Welsh genealogies assure us that he had five children : Cenydd, Gwynog, Nwython, Maidoc or Aidan, and Dolgan. But perhaps about this time, or shortly after, he lost his wife, and resolved on embracing the ecclesiastical profession. He placed himself for his training under lUtyd at Llantwit. " Now, the blessed Gildas ... is entrusted by his parents to the charge of S. Hildutus, to be instructed by him." ^ This could not have been when the family was in Strathclyde ; it must have been later. And there is a mistake in what the biographer states as to his having been entrusted to S. Illtyd by his parents. He was a young man, not a boy, at the time. Among his companions were Samson and Paul. " Of these men, the most holy Samson was afterwards Archbishop of the Britons, whilst Paul presided as bishop over the Osissmi." The mention of Samson as archbishop indicates the lateness of the period at which this account was drawn up. The archbishopric was not founded till 848, and it must have taken more than a century for the ^ See ii, pp. 93-4. ^ Vita i™% p. 326. S. Gildas 105 fable to have grown up that Samson had ever exercised metropolitan jurisdiction. The Life of S. Paul gives Dewi, Samson and Gildas as the fellow- pupils of that Saint under Illtyd. And the same four are named in the Life of S. Illtyd. We must set aside as mere hagiographical rhetoric what the bio- grapher says : " From the fifteenth year of his age, through the whole period of the present life which he lived in this world, up to the very last day on which he was called by the Lord, it was only three times in the week, as we have learnt from a trustworthy source, that he took a most scanty food for his body. He buffeted his body with frequent fastings and with protracted vigils ... he withstood vices, while he struggled against the temptations of the devil, and tortured himself in resisting the pleasures of the body." This may be true enough of his mode of life after he had embraced the monastic discipline, but that cannot have been when he was fifteen, but rather when aged thirty or more. The Rhuis biographer probably knew nothing about Gildas having been a family man, but we cannot acquit Caradog, or whoever wrote the second Life. To him the genealogies were accessible. But it seemed more becoming to a saint not to admit this, and he therefore skimmed over this early episode, falsifying his facts to suit the ideas of the twelfth century. " Nau," says he, " the King of Scotia . . . had twenty-four sons, victorious warriors." Actually they had been beaten and driven into ignominious flight by the Picts. " One of these was named Gildas, whom his parents engaged in the study of literature. ... He eagerly and diUgently studied among his own people in the seven arts until he reached the age of youth, when, on becoming a young man, he speedily left the country." In the first Life we are informed that the youthful Gildas performed some miracles. As S. lUtyd " dwelt with his disciples in a narrow island, confined, and squalid with its arid soil," Gildas prayed, and " the island expanded in all directions, blossoming round with various flowers." We obtain an explanation of this from the Life of S. Illtyd (c. 13).' Ynys was a term applied not only to islands, but also to monastic colonies. At Llantwit lUtyd desired to reclaim the rich aUuvial soil between it and the sea, and set to work with his disciples to build a sea wall to enclose it, and thus extend rich pasture-land to enhance the territory of his ynys. The Rhuis biographer did not understand the early meaning given to the term, and so converted the circumstance io6 Lives of the British Saiitts into a miracle. He goes on to relate how that S. lUtyd sowed the island, but the sea birds destroyed his corn ; then Gildas, Samson and Paul drove them into a barn. The story appears m the Life of Paul, in that of Samson, and in that of Illtyd ; but in the two latter the miracle is attributed to Samson alone, in that of Paul to that saint. The biographer of Gildas had these Lives before him. He adopted the incident, and added the name of his hero. The Rhuis author adds that Gildas was at other schools beside that oflUtyd. "Cum plurimorum doctorum scholas peragrasset." He apparently went to Ireland, there to finish his monastic training. He was in Ireland when an event took place which recalled him to Britain. Huail was the only one of the brothers who did not embrace the ecclesiastical profession. He seems to have been a filibuster. " Hueil major natu belliger assiduus et miles famosissimus nuUi regi obedivit, nee etiam Arthuro. AfHigebat eundem, commovebat inter utrumque maximum furorem " iyita 2^^). He would often swoop down from Scotia, plunder and burn in Wales. The use of the term Scotia for Scotland is indicative of the late date at which this Life was drawn up. Clearly Huail had collected the remnant of his clansmen in Strathclyde, and carried on a wanton war of devastation against his own race, in place of assailing the scattered foes of the Britons, the Picts, and Goidels. A council of war was held in Minau — apparently Manaw, the Isle of Man — and he was surrounded there and killed.^ The Welsh traditionary story is different. According to that, Huail ventured to make love to a lady whom Arthur admired, and this led to Arthur having Huail's head hacked off on the Maen Huail, a stone still pointed out in S. Peter's Square, Ruthin.^ The slaying of Huail caused great offence. Gildas, who was at the time in Ireland, hastened to Wales to exact retribution. Several ecclesiastics intervened, and as a blood fine Arthur surrendered several parcels of land to the family of Caw, after which Gildas consented to give Arthur the Kiss of Peace. It is possible enough that the foundations made in Radnorshire by some of the brothers of Huail were on land thus, and then, granted in mulct for the execution. In Ireland Gildas had made the acquaintance of S. Brigid. It is 1 " A Scotia veniebat saepissime, incendia ponebat, praedas ducebat cum victoria ac laude. Unde rex universalis Britanniae audiens magnanimum juvenem talia fecisse et squalia facere persecutus est victorosissimum juvenem et optimum, ut aiebant et sperabant indigenae, futurum regem. In persecutione autem hostili et in conventu bellico in insula Minau interfecit juvenem pra^- datorem." Vita 2''", ed. Williams, p. 402. ^ See under S. Huail. xS^. Gildas 107 pretended by the Rhuis biographer that he went to North Britain, and did something there towards the conversion of the Picts. That he did revisit Strathclyde is possible enough. li ne had anything to do with the Picts we cannot say ; he has left no traces behind him of any spiritual work wrought there. The author of the second Life says that Gildas had brought from Ireland with him a beautiful and sweet-sounding bell ; and that he went with it to Nant Carfan, where he shewed it to S. Cadoc, who greatly admired it and wanted to buy it. Gildas refused, alleging that he was on his way to Rome, and purposed offering it "to the bishop of the Roman Church." Cadoc was forced to swallow his disappointment. However, when Gildas arrived in Rome, and the Pope knew that it had been greatly desired by Cadoc, he refused to accept it ; and on his return, Gildas made a present of it to the Abbot of Nant or Llan Carfan. This incident occurs also in the Life of S. Cadoc (c. 23). On his way back from Rome it was that Gildas landed on the Isle of Houat off the coast of Broweroc ; and after a brief sojourn there (" aliquamdiu "), crossed over to the mainland, to the long spit that, like a crab's claw encloses the inland sea of the Morbihan. That Isle of Houat was itself but a remaining fragment of the ancient coastline that ran from the spit of Quiberon to Le Croissic. Long before the historic period the sea had broken through and attacked another barrier, partly of sand dunes and partly of granite cHffs. Finding one weak spot, a fault in the granite, it had burst through that and formed the inland sea of the Morbihan enclosed between the tongues of land Of Locmariaquer and Sarzeau. Entering this lagoon, Gildas drew his boat to land, and ascending the peninsula of Sarzeau, lighted on an ancient camp, " quoddam castrum in Monte Reuvisii in prospectu maris," and there erected a monastery. ^ This took place, as we are assured by the Rhuis biographer, when he was aged thirty, and at the time when Childeric, son of Meroveus, was king of the Franks, a prince still pagan. ^ The Chronicon Britan- nicum gives the date 520.^ Now Childeric this cannot have been, 1 Vita I™", ed. Williams, p. 348. ^ " Childericus enim eo tempore Merovei fiKus gentilium errori deditus im- perabat Francis, quod ex gestis veterum prudens lector cognoscere potest." The biographer in these words seems to let us see he had been dipping into Gregory of Tours, but being at sea as to the true period of the Hfe of Gildas he misplaced his arrival at Rhuis by some forty to forty-fifty years. ' This chronicle was drawn up in 1356 ; Dom Morice, Memoires pour Servir, etc., 1742. I o 8 Lives of the British Saints for he died in 481, and was succeeded by Clovis, baptized in 496, who died in 511. Childebert succeeded, and reigned to 558. The king then must have been Childebert, and the biographer must have been very badly instructed in early Frank history to make such a blunder. He saw in the MS. before him a name Childe . . . probably with the last letters illegible, and concluded that this was Childeric, son of Meroveus. It is possible enough that in the early portion of his reign Childebert may have been a bad Christian, and some remark to this effect may have led the late biographer to say that the king was " gen- tilium errori deditus." Probably at this time Brendan paid a visit to Gildas, and was churlishly received, in the winter of 523-4. If Gildas were born in 476, then he made his first settlement at Rhuis in the autumn of 520. We are told that Gildas asked Brendan to undertake the supervision of his settlement, but that Brendan declined. This is intelligible enough. Gildas wanted to return to Britain ; he had with him but a handful of followers ; he was unknown as an ecclesiastical leader ; he probably contented himself with obtaining a concession of the old camp and some adjoining land from the Count, and then desired to revisit Britain that he might collect disciples for his monastery. So only can we reconcile the two accounts we have. The Rhuis bio- grapher says nothing of his visit to and residence at Glastonbury, and the author of the Vita 2^^^ passes lightly over all that took place in Armorica. Leaving Rhuis with some few of his followers, Gildas departed for Britain. Professor Hugh Williams is disposed to reject the whole account by the author of Vita 2^^ relative to the residence of Gildas at Glaston- bury after his return from the Continent. " All the sections in refer- ence to Glastonbury and Gildas' tarrying there can be no otherwise regarded than as a piece of literary fiction." But it is never well to reject traditions that are precise when recon- ciliation is possible. Caradog, or whoever wrote the Vita 2^^, says that Gildas was seven years abroad, before returning to Britain. If our reckoning be right, this would be from 527. " At the end of the seventh year he returned, with a large mass of volumes, to Greater Britain . . . and great numbers of scholars flocked to him from all parts." ^ Gildas had now a part to play, to qualify for a saint. This could only be done in one way, by undergoing austerities. ' Vita 2^, p. 394. This is difficult to reconcile with his meeting S. Finnian. S. Gildas 109 " It was his habit to go into a river at midnight, where he would remain unmoved until he had said the Lord's Prayer thrice. Having done this, he would repair to his oratory, and pray there on his knees unto the Divine Majesty until broad daylight. He was wont to sleep moderately, and to lie upon a stone, clothed with only a single garment. He used to eat without satisfying his wants, contented with his share of the heavenly reward." ^ On his return to Britain he went into " the district of Pepidiauc," now Dewisland, in Pembrokeshire, where he preached every Lord's Day in a church on the seashore. This is the Caermorfa of the Life of S. David by Giraldus, and here is supposed to have occurred the incident of his becoming mute because Non was present in the church, pregnant with David. ^ Unfortunately for the story, David is repre- sented as having been a fellow disciple of Gildas in the school of S. Illtyd, in the very early Life of S. Paul. Moreover, the same story is told of Bishop Ailbe, who baptized David, and was his kinsman. The purpose of his visit to Pebj'diog is obvious enough. There was the great monastery ruled by Paulinus, that sent so many missionaries to Ireland. He sought thence to glean some restless spirits who would attach themselves to himself and follow him to Armorica. From Pebydiog he went with Uke purpose to Llancarfan, where he propitiated Cadoc with the gift of the bell. " And Cadoc, abbot of the church of Nantcarfan, asked the teacher Gildas to superintend the studies of his schools for the space of one year." ^ Cadoc, in fact, wanted to absent himself and visit Scotland. Gildas consented, and whilst he was at Llancarfan, " he himself wrote out the work of the four Evangelists, a work that still remains in the church of S. Cadoc, covered all over with gold and silver." * " At the close of the year, and when the scholars were retiring from study, the saintly abbot Cadoc, and the excellent master Gildas, mutually agreed to repair to two islands, viz., Ronech and Echin. Cadoc landed in the one nearer to Wales, and Gildas in that which lies over against England." •' The author of Vita i^ pretends that the saints lived on the islands for seven years. But the Life of S. Cadoc says that the saint was wont to retire to the islets only for the season of Lent. " In the days 1 Vita 2da, p. 396. 2 Ihid., pp. 398, 400. " In tempore Trifini regis." Triphun, who was the son of Clotri, is mentioned also in the Life cf S. David, and the story of the silence of Gildas before the pregnant Non is told in the same Life. ' Ibid., pp. 404, 406. * Ihid., p. 406; see ii, p. 14. ^ Ihid., p. 406. 1 1 o Lives of the British Sai7its of Lent " he was there, but " on Palm Sunday he returned to Nant- carfan." ^ The author of Vita 2^^^ cannot state the truth when he makes Gildas occupy the islet for seven years. He seems to have mistaken what is said in the Life of S. Cadoc. In that Cadoc departs from his monas- tery for the north of Britain, and remains away seven years. In it Gildas arrives from Ireland with his bell, after the return of Cadoc from North Britain. Then follows the story of the bell, not told in the same words as in the Life of Gildas, but the same in its details. In the Life of S. Finnian of Clonard we read that he went to two holy men inhabiting the Isle of Echni.^ They are not named, but it is not improbable that these were Gildas and Cadoc. The date can be fixed fairly closely, for Finnian returned to Ireland before the death of Muirdach, King of the Hy Cinnselach, who died in 525, according to the most approved computation. A curious story is given in the Life of S. Finnian relative to his intercourse with Gildas whilst he was in Wales, but he doubtless re- visited Wales later. He went to Cill-muine, in Pebydiog, and there met Gildas and Cadoc and David, and found Gildas and David in vehement contest for supre- macy. It was decided that Cadoc should judge between them. Cadoc, however, was unwilling to offend either party, and he thrust the re- sponsibility on Finnian, who adjudged the supremacy to David.^ What would seem to be the basis of this story is that whilst Gildas was in Pebydiog he did endeavour to wrest from David his succession to the abbacy of Ty Gwyn or the Old Bush, but failed ; after which he visited Llancarfan. It was probably then that Gildas and Cadoc agreed to spend Lent on the two islets, Ronech and Echni. These are the Steep and Flat Holmes, in the Bristol Channel ; and on these alone in England are found the entire-leafed peony and the wild leek. It is supposed that these plants have lingered on there from the gardens of the ancient settlers in monastic days. Whilst on the Steep Holmes Gildas built himself a chapel and a cell, and is credited with having elicited a spring. He lived on birds' eggs and fish ; and occasionally visited Cadoc, who returned his visits.* ^ " Quadragesimalibus diebus consuevit Sanctus Cadocus manere in duabus insulis, videlicet, Barren et Echni ; in die vero Palmarum veniebat Nantcaruan, ibi expectans, et faciens Paschale servitium." Cambro-British Saints, p. 45. ^ Vita S. Finniani in Cod. Sal., col. 193. " Life of Finnian of Clonard in Book of Lismove, pp. 222-3. * Vita 2''^, p. 406. Confirmed by the " Life of S. Oudoceus " in Book of Llan Ddv, p. 138, but Echni is given for Ronech. Ronech means the Isle of " Seals " (raoel-ron) . aS*. Gildas III The islands had at last to be abandoned on account of the piratical incursions of the Northmen.^ From Llancarfan, Gildas went to Glastonbury. He had doubtless •collected some disciples in Pebydiog, and had added to the band some •of the pupils of Cadoc, who desired to see the world. Now he sought to swell the body by adherents gained at Glastonbury. At Glastonbury Gildas was well received. " He built a church there ... in which he fasted and prayed assiduously, clad in goats' hair, giving to all an irreproachable example of a good religious life." ^ Whilst Gildas was at Glastonbury a strange incident took place, according to the author of the second Life. At this time Melwas was king of what is now called Somerset ; he had carried off Gwenhwyfar or Guinevere, Arthur's queen. There- upon Arthur laid siege to Glastonbury, whither Melwas had retired, but was not able to effect much, " propter munitiones arundineti et fluminis ac paludis causa tutelffi ; " and Melwas retained Gwenhwyfar there for a whole year. Arthm: had convoked the levies of " Cornubia and Dibnenia," and the monks of the Holy Isle felt the inconvenience of the siege. The abbot, along with Gildas, interposed ; and Arthur, very unheroically, expressed himself ready to forgive and forget if his wife were sent back to him. Gwenhwyfar was accordingly returned to her husband, and the two princes met on good terms ; and in token of fraternal union visited together the church of Glastonbury.^ Geoffrey of Monmouth very rarely condescends to give a date to the events he relates. When he does, we may suspect that he had some authority for it. He says that Arthur died in 542.* The Annales Cambrics give the date as 537.^ But as they antedate the Battle of Mount Badon by four years, so here they may give a date -some five years too early. The Welsh chronicle in the Red Book of Hergesi makes an interval of twenty-two years between the victory of Mount Badon and the death of Arthur. ^ The Annales C amines make twenty-one years. Although very little reliance can be placed on the Welsh chronicle, and less still on Geoffrey of Monmouth, yet both ^ " Venerunt piratae de insulis Orcadibus, qui afdixerunt ilium raptis ab eo ■suis famulis servientibus et ductis in exilium cum spoliis et omnibus suae habita- ■tionis supellectilibus." Vita -z^^, p. 408. For all his asceticism, Gildas -u'as ■careful not to retire to solitude -without servants to -wait on him, and suitable furniture for his cell. ^ Ihid., p. 410. ' Ibid., pp. 408, 410. Melwas is the Meliaudes of the Romancers, who make him father of Tristan. * Hist. Reg. Brit., xi, c. 2. ^ Ed. PhilUmore in Y Cymmrodor, ix, p. 154. ' O Oes Gwrtheyrn in Bruts, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 404. 112 Lives of the British Saints witness, along with the Cambrian annals, to there having existed a tradition that Arthur survived the famous victory some twenty-one- or twenty-two years. There would accordingly be no anachronism in supposing that he and the chieftain of the Domnonii were at war about 530-534, the period during which we suppose that Gildas was. at Glastonbury. And it may be to this domestic broil that he alludes, when he says that during a generation after Mount Badon peace reigned, so far that the incursions of the enemy had ceased, but that it had been broken by civil broils, " Cessantibus licet externis bellis, sed non civilibus." The author of the second Life pretends that Gildas remained at Glastonbury, wrote his Epistle there, which he calls his History of the- Kings of Britain, and died there. We shall see, in the sequel, what perhaps gave rise to this idea. On the other hand, the monk of Rhuis knew nothing of the visit to Britain and residence at Glastonbury. Yet that Gildas should return after having obtained a concession of land on the Sarzeau peninsula, in order to collect a number of followers to fill the large monastery he had foiinded in Brittany can hardly be questioned. There is collateral evidence of Gildas having been in South Wales. In the lolo MSS. he is said to have founded Llanildas, afterwards called Y Wig Fawr (the Great Wood), in Glamorgan. ^ This is pro- bably Wick, subject to S. Bride's Major, which, however, Rees gives as dedicated to S. James. ^ That is no more than a Norman or English rededication. Moreover, Aidan or Maidoc, son of Gildas, was actually left in Pebydiog with S. David at an early age, as pupil. This shows that Gildas had been there, and that although the contention for the mastery had been sharp between them, it was patched up, and in token of reconciliation, Gildas committed his boy to be fostered and trained by David.^ Many of the brothers of Gildas were in Anglesey ; but he does not appear to have gone into Northern Wales. At length, after an absence of seven years, Gildas returned with a body of recruits to Rhuis, and the monastery was organised on an extensive scale. When the biographer speaks of the " Mountain of Reuvisium " he conveys to the mind an entirely false impression. Rhuis stands but a hundred feet above the Atlantic on a tableland that extends to Sarzeau, and thence declines gently to the sea. The spot is bleak and wind-swept, but towards the Morbihan is tree-grown and covered 1 P. 220. " Essay on Welsh Saints, p. 338. ^ See his Life, i, pp. 116-26. /S. Gildas 1^ I 3 with vineyards. This is the furthest point to the North where wine is made, and such as is made is little better than the poor native cider. Originally there was more timber, but not on the plateau. Towards the ocean the high, ground breaks down in precipitous cliffs, but further south-east the rocks give way, and the bay of Sucinio is formed, on which stands the castle of the ancient Dukes of Brittany. The whole of the coast has greatly altered since Gildas settled there, as the granite is soft and full of faults. The sea has gained on the land, and in places has completely changed the coastline. The monastery of Rhuis had its wood, and a church was erected in this part of the promontory. It was called Coetlann. Here, we are informed that Gildas destroyed a dragon, and to this day the fosse is pointed out in which it was supposed to have Iain. Gildas undoubtedly gained the favour of Weroc I, the Chief or Count of the British settlers who occupied all the country round Vannes. It was, perhaps, due to him that he obtained a concession at Cas- tennec on the Blavet. Here a finger of hill projects, and the river makes a loop round it. The sides are steep, and the summit was crowned by the old Roman town of Sulim, fallen, when Gildas settled there, into complete ruin. Here he established a small monastery, not among the ruins, but on the neck of land at a place called Castennec. With this establish- ment, a curious circumstance is associated. Among the wreckage of the old town was a granite image of Venus, stark naked, and by no means decent, standing 7 feet high, with a bandlet about the head on which are cut the letters IIT. Before it stood a huge granite basin. The image received religious worship, and we may well suppose that in accordance with their strong sense of the necessity of doing away with idols — and such an idol as this — Gildas and his disciple Budoc would throw it down. They did more, they buried it under the foundations of their monastery a little distance off. When the Northmen devastated the country in the tenth century, the establishment at Castennec was destroyed and was never again restored. But at a subsequent period, in digging among the rubbish heaps, the image was disclosed, set up, and at once received a revived cult. Those afflicted with gout and rheumatism rubbed their limbs against it, and made offerings to it ; women, after their confinements bathed in the stone basin before it ; and rites were celebrated in its honour characterised by gross indecency. The Bishop of Vannes thundered against it, and at last Count Pierre de Lannion removed it to his castle at Baud, and had it chiselled VOL. III. I 114 Lives of the British Saints ■over to render it a little more decorous. His chateau has disappeared, as has the Castennec monastery, as has the Roman city of Sulim, but the Venus of Quinipili still stands serene, looking out of her blank ■eyes, having witnessed the destruction of castle, monastery and town. 1 A path from where stood Castennec leads down to a combe through which trickles a tiny rill, then ascends a hillside to where stands a farm- house among ancient chestnut trees. From this, a rapid descent leads to the oratory of Gildas and his disciple Budoc under over- hanging granite rocks at the brink of the river, to which oratory they retired for Lent and at times when they desired solitude.^ Gildas built up a wall on the river face and so enclosed a space under the rock. There was a little water oozing out at the spot, -hardly a clear spring, as the biographer terms it, but affording sufficient ■drinking water. That Gildas was able to glaze the east window of his cell is recorded as something miraculous. The chapel is still where Gildas formed his oratory; it has been Tebuilt and restored, but preserves early features. The roof is a lean-to against the rock, the wall being run further out than in the time of Gildas. A mass of granite outside has been hewn into steps and a platform to serve as a pulpit. Within the oratory are two compartments ; the outer contains an altar to S. Budoc (Bieuzy), that within to S. Gildas. On the left side of the latter is a block of masonry and granite rock to serve as a table for the pain benit that is distributed to the pilgrims on the occasion of a Pardon. A slab of resonant diorite on a pedestal serves as a bell. It is struck with a pebble and rings at the Sanctus, Consecration, and Communion. It is traditionally attributed to Gildas. Against the wall is the inscription : Etat blamah hon doar sanel Un ermitagie peur mair-vet Beba vein glas hon doai eit cloh En hon chapel groeit en urroh. The Pardons are on January 29, and Whitsun Monday, but Mass "■ De la Borderie, Hist, de Bretagne, i, pp. 180-2 ; Baring-Gould, Brittany Xondon, 1901, pp. 45, 47-8. ' " Tunc denique construxit parvum oratorium super ripam fluminis Blaveti sub quadam eminenti rupe, ab occidente in orientem ipsam concavans rupem et ad latus ejus dextrum erigens parietem congruum fecit oratorium, sub quo de rupe emanare fecit fontem perlucidum." Vita i""", pp. 348, 350. (5? ^-vy-v^ FOUNDATIONS OF GILDAS AND HIS SONS AND GRANDSONS IN ARMORICA. S. Gildas 115 is also said in the chapel on the third Sunday in July, and on the fourth Sunday after Midsummer Day. The Blavet and its tributaries would seem to have been claimed by Gildas as a special field for operations. Possibly, he may have thought that he had some rights there. It is conceivable that his grandfather Geraint had been granted a domain there, for we find S. G^ran with its minihi or sanctuary higher up the river. His uncle Solomon or Selyf may also have been the saint and mart3n: commemor- ated at Guern, where is his martyrium^ We have, unhappily, no documentary evidence to connect these saints with Gildas. But it is certainly a remarkable coincidence that about the Blavet we should find the names of members of his family in a cluster. Fiuther down the river is Languidic, the Lan of Cenydd, the crippled son of Gildas, who has also a chapel at Plumelin. Gildas himself has a chapel at Malguenac, and a monastic settlement of his was at Locmine. This latter stood where is now Moreac, and not on the site of the present town. In 919, owing to the incursions of the Northmen, the monks of Rhuis, bearing the body of their founder, fled to Locmin6, where they were joined by the monks of that community, and all retired together to Berry, and remained at Bourg-Dieu or D^ols, tiU loio, when Rhuis, and after that, Locmine, were restored. Ten years after the departure of Gildas from Britain, he composed his book " in which he reproved five of the kings of that island who had been ensnared in various crimes and sins." ^ The book De Excidio BritannicR certainly appeared before 547, the year in which Maelgwn Gwynedd died of the Yellow Plague, probably in 544, twenty-four years after the Battle of Mount Badon, and before the peace came to an end. It produced effects which we shall now note. Gildas was the father of five children. Cenydd had been a member •of the college of Cadoc, but afterwards had settled in Gower. In his Increpatio Gildas had assailed Vortipore, King of Demetia. " Like the pard art thou in manners and wickedness of various colours, though thy head is now becoming grey ; upon a throne full •of guile, and from top to bottom defiled by various murders and adulteries, thou worthless son of a good king, as Manasseh of Heze- Mah." » Gower was not in Demetia, but it is possible enough that Vortipore 1 Not Solomon, King of Brittany, killed in 874, but an earlier king of the same name. See under S. Selyf. '^ Vita i'"^, p. 352. ' De Excidio, ed. Williams, p. 72. I 1 6 Lives of the British Saints may have had sufficient influence in it to make residence there no longer possible for Cenydd ; and it may have been on this account that'he migrated to Brittany and placed himself in his father's hands. Another son was Aidan, or Maidoc ; he had been placed with S. David ; and probably he also had to depart and shelter himself in Ireland. Of Dolgan we know nothing, and next to nothing of Nwython. But Gwynog had been settled in Powys, and he now' very probably, had to escape from the wrath of Cuneglas, prince, it would seem, of a district in North Wales, also violently abused by Gildas as " wallow- ing in the old fifth of thy wickedness, from the years of thy youth, thou bear, rider of many . . . despiser of God and contemner of His decree, thou Cuneglas (meaning, in the Roman tongue. Thou tawny butcher). . . . Why, in addition to innumerable lapses, dost thou, having driven away thy wife, cast thine eyes upon her dastardly sister, who is under a vow to God of perpetual chastity ? " Gwynog probably fled to Armorica, and it is just possible that he may be the Eunius who became Bishop of Vannes at a later period. Cenydd was a father of a family, arid there is evidence of his sons having also settled in the neighbourhood of Vannes and of the Blavet. Caffo, one of the brothers of Gildas, had been a disciple of S. Cybi in Mon. Probably on account of the insults cast at Maelgwn by Gildas, he was constrained to leave, but the shepherds of the King, resenting the outrage, killed him at Rhosfyr, now Newborough, and he is accounted one of the martyrs of Anglesey. Alleccus, or Gallgo, another, there is some reason to think, was con- strained to fly the resentment of Maelgwn, and take refuge in Ireland. Maelog, or Meilig, also had been in Mon, with Cybi. He apparently had also to escape, and finally settled at Llowes. It is not easy to read the "querulous epistle" of Gildas with patience. He has left unsaid so much that we desire to know, and has poured forth his denunciations in language so extravagant and venomous, as to disgust the reader. M. J. Loth says : — " There are heaps of contradictions, puerilities, ineptitudes of every kind in the work of this Jeremiah of the tenth class, whose ignorance, outsid3 the Scriptures, defies all comparison, and whose want of judgment betrays itself in incredible childishness." ^ The bird that befouls its own nest is accounted a very ill bird indeed. Yet it is perhaps due to the intemperate violence of the invective of Gildas against those of his own race and blood, that the work has been preserved. Saxons and English cherished the book, and were 1 Les mots Latins dans Us langues bnttoniques, Paris, 1892. S. Gildas „ 1 1 7 -able to produce it against the Welsh, as evidence of their vices and follies, given by one of themselves. In this sorry work, Gildas throws dirt at the princes of his native land, against his own cousin Constantine, against Maelgwn, the large-hearted benefactor of his family. He heaps abuse on the people from whom he sprung. He could see no heroism in the Britons when they rose against the Roman invaders. Boudica, whose daughters had been outraged, and herself scourged with rods by the Roman tribunes, was in no degree justified in resenting these infamies. She is to Gildas only a " deceitful lioness," and the Britons are " crafty foxes." He varies his metaphor, later on, to liken them to barndoor fowl under the trusty wings of the parent birds, the Romans. His own flesh and blood are cowards. " They present their backs, instead of their shields, to the pursuers, their necks to the sword, while chiU terror runs through their bones. They hold forth their hands to be bound like women ; so that it became a proverb and derision : The Britons are neither brave in war, nor faithful in peace." If, how- ever, they rise against their Imperial oppressors, they are " stiff- necked and stubborn-minded, ungrateful rebels." Throughout, Gildas shows himself to be Roman-minded. National independence he cannot away with. At the bottom of aU the disasters that befell Britain lay ingratitude to and severance from the Roman Empire. Aurelius Ambrosius is praised, but mainly because he was of noble Roman blood. When a prophet thunders so loudly against the vices of his race, one naturally desires to look home, at his own monastic household, and see if that was clean. A glance at the Penitential of Gildas suffices to show that the same abominations which were rampant in the British world, had found a lodging within the walls of his monastery, and had to be provided against. And when he assails his fellow countrymen as cowards, we ask what token of courage did Gildas show in denouncing the chiefs secular and ecclesiastical in his own neighbourhood at Rhuis, for their infamous lives ? His biographer maintains silence on this point, It must have been a satisfaction to Gildas that his old friend Cadoc should take it into his head also to come to Brittany, and to the same parts. But Cadoc was too discreet to settle close to the hot-tempered Gildas. He selected for himself a site very similar to that chosen by Gildas at Rhuis, at the edge of another inland sea, that of Etel. De la Villemarque gives " a tradition still circulating in Armorica," ^ relative to the meeting of these saints, and a dispute as to whether ' La Ligende Celtique, Paris, 1861, jjp. 201-4. I I 8 Lives of the British Saints Virgil had been saved. Unhappily, no statement made by De la Ville- marque, unless established on other authority, can be trusted, and it may well be questioned whether the Breton peasant would know anything about Virgil. The story has been told under S. Cadoc. ^ Gildas would appear to have been on very good terms with Conmore, Count of Poher, and regent of Domnonia. This Conmore was a bold, ambitious and unscrupulous man. On the death of Jonas, King of Domnonia, he seized the rule. He married the widow and assumed the regency for the young Judual, son of Jonas, who, however, mis- trusting his uncle, fled. The original caer or stronghold of Conmore had been Carhaix, the old Roman Vorganium, in an elevated bleak situation. Owing to the favour in which Gildas stood with him, Conmore surrendered to him Carnoet, near Carhaix, on still higher ground, dominating the place. The river Hieres flows through a lovely valley, between well-wooded and rocky hills ; and by the water stands the chapel of the -peniti of Gildas. Thence a road scrambles to the high ground on which stands the village of Carnoet, where a cluster of squalid cottages surrounds a bran-new and very ugly modern church. Beyond the village a way still mounts to the highest point of the ridge, that com- mands the country for many miles round, and looks down on Caihaix. Under the lea of this point, in a well-timbered nook, beside an oozing spring, lies the sixteenth century chapel of S. Gildas. The summit of the hill shooting above it is crowned by an earthwork. M. de la Borderie is mistaken in supposing this to be the remains of a monastic enclosure. " Sur un mamelon tres dominant existe une grande enceinte circulaire fermee de rejets de terre considerables et de fosses de sept metres de profondeur ; or, on le salt, les monasteres bretons primitifs de quelque importance devaient tonjours etre, comme ceux des Scots, clos d'un rampart de ce genre, soit que le fondateur I'elevat lui-meme, soit qu'U s'etablit (comme a Rhuis) dans un fort barbare on un camp romain preexistant." ^ The camp is of the tenth century, and is of Northman origin. There can be no mistake about it. It consists of a tump scooped out at top, with a loop bank at the side, forming a bass-court. Its counter- part may be seen on the Alun, below S. Davids. Excavations in such camps prove the period to which they belong. In the chapel is a stone sarcophagus, sunk in the floor, and regarded as having been the bed of the saint. On the Pardon in January, the peasants offer cocks and hens ; and in the North aisle are three ^ ii, p. 28. ^ Hist, de Bretagne, i, p. 440. S. Gildas 1 1 9> ranges of coops to contain the fowls, which cackle through Mass, and are sold afterwards, the proceeds going to the repair of the chapel. Conmore lost his wife, the widow of Jonas, and daughter of Budic II of CornouaiUe, and then asked the hand of Triphena, daughter of Weroc, Count of the British of Vannes. Weroc was now aged, and his son Macliau, well aware that on his father's death his brother Canao would endeavour to kill him, entered into negotiations with Conmore, to secure his support. Then it was that the Count of Poher and regent of Domnonia asked for the hand of Triphena. Count Weroc was reluctant to give his consent. He had gauged, the character of the man and mistrusted him. Thereupon Conmore turned to Gildas, and gained his advocacy.. The Rhuis biographer gives us the Breton tradition of his time. He says, " Conomerus made it his practice, as soon as he learnt that his wife had conceived, to put her to death at once. And when he had already done away with many women sprung from noble families, parents began to feel much saddened on this account, and to move further away from him."^ This is mere idle legend. History has recorded only one previous wife, and with her Conmore lived happily. ^ Gildas had not seen through the design of Conmore ; his vanity was flattered by being asked to further the suit of the Count, and he persuaded Weroc against his better judgment to give his daughter to the regent. As far as can be made out Conmore treated the lady with brutality and murdered her son Trechmor, probably by a former husband,, killing him at Carhaix. Thereupon Triphena fled from her husband and threw herself on the protection of her father. The whole story has been so transformed by fable, that it is dif&cult to arrive at the facts. Gildas heard of what had taken place whilst at Castennec, and he rushed off, crossed the Blavet and went to Camors, where was Conmore's castle, and taking a handful of earth, cast it against the wall, and cursed it and doubtless its master with it. ^ Then he hastened on to Weroc and found the runaway wife with him. He arranged that so soon as she gave birth to the child she bore in her womb, she should be received into a religious house for women, and that the child should be given to him. When this event took place, 1 Vita I"*, p. 354. ^ De la Borderie, Hist, de Bretagne, i, p. 401, note I. ' " Accepit plenum pugillum terrae et projecit super illam habitationem, quae statim Deo volente tota corruit." Vita 1"°", p. 360. I 2 o L,ives of the British Saints he himself baptized the child, a boy, gave to it his own name, and undertook to train it for the monastic profession. This is not the form in which the legend is told by the Rhuis biographer. According to him, both Gildas and Weroc knew the character of Conmore, and both were reluctant to allow the marriage. But Con- more insisted, and Weroc in a fright sent for Gildas, who then yielded, and promised that if Weroc would give his daughter to the Regent of Domnonia he himself would be responsible for her safety. When, after the marriage, Conmore perceived that Triphena was about to become a mother " he meditated killing her as had been his custom." She, fearing for her life, ran away. " When her wicked husband learnt this, he was incensed with greater anger, and pursued her. Having found her on the road-side, hiding under some leaves — for she was wearied by her journey — ^he drew out his sword, cut off her head, and then returned home." ^ Hearing of what had taken place, Gildas went to the place " where lay the lifeless corpse of the murdered woman with her offspring in her womb . . . prayed, and then took the head and fastened it on to the trunk of the body . . . and forthwith she arose whole." ^ When the son was born, Gildas had the child baptized, and this ' ' son also was distinguished for his virtues and miracles, and completed with a blessed end the saintly life he had led. Now the Bretons, in order to distinguish him from the other S. Gildas, do not call him Gildas but Trechmorus." The Rhuis biographer does not relate the martyrdom of this Trech- mor by his father. Such, however, is the constant tradition.^ The whole story is impossible as well as absurd. If Conmore did kill a child of Triphena, it must have been a son by a former husband, as his fall ensued very shortly aiter the flight of Triphena. If Triphena had a son named Gildas, he disappears totally from Breton history, and it is possible that he may have gone from dis- tracted Brittany to Glastonbury, settled and died there, and thus may have given occasion to the mistake into which the author of the Second Life has fallen, in making the historian to be buried at Glastonbury. Trechmor is said to have suffered decapitation at Carhaix, the residence of Conmore. He is the patron of the place, and is represented 1 Ihid., p. 358. = Ihid., p. 360. . - ^ Actfi Sti, Trechmori, Bibl. Nat. Fran9ais MS. 22321, p. 870; and Ancient Breviary of Quimper. Lobiueau, Vies des SS.de Bretagne.ed. 1836, pp. 298-300 ; Garaby, p. 300. *S'. Gildas 12 1 at the west end of the church, above the principal doorway, as a young man of about twenty-one, holding his head in his hands. Trechmor cannot have been identical with the younger Gildas, but was a distinct personage, older than the godson of Gildas by many years. The younger Gildas was born about 550, and Conmore was killed in 555, so that he cannot have put his son by Triphena to death as a young man. The only explanation of the story that can be adopted is that Conmore married Triphena, who was a widow with a grown-up son, Trechmor, and that Conmore, finding Trechmor stand in his way, as he had Judual, sought his life and succeeded in killing him, whereas he had failed in the case of Judual. Count Weroc died shortly after the return of his daughter (550) ; whereupon Canao, the Conober of Gregory of Tours, murdered three of his brothers, and Macliau fled to Conmore, but after a while stole back, threw himself into Vannes, and got himself elected bishop. Meanwhile, Conmore had got embroiled with the saints of Leon and Domnonia. A conjuration against the Regent was the result, and we may be sure that Gildas, flaming with mortified vanity and resentment, threw himself into it, heart and soul. Conmore fell in a battle fought on the slopes of the Monts d'Arrec in. 555- An Abbey du Relecq (of the Bones) was erected on the site by Judual and S. Paul of Leon. Gildas unquestionably had taken an energetic part in the con- juration against Conmore, and he expected to be rewarded, as were the other saints who had excommunicated and cursed the Regent from the top of Menes Bre. Nor was he disappointed. We may attribute to this period the foundations in Domnonia. He made a settlement at Laniscat near Corlay and Quintin. " Here," says De la Borderie, " not only is Gildas the patron of the parish, and the church covered with paintings representing his history, but in the commune are likewise a chapel dedicated to him, and a cave, of which tradition tells, that he was wont to retire to it, after having preached throughout the neighbourhood ; and there he was wont to sleep on a stone shaped like a bed, which is still to be seen in the cave, and to which processions were made in his honour, to the end of the seventeenth century." ^ In this region we have La Harmoye, of which Gildas is patron, as also Magoar ; and at Plaintel his son Cenydd was installed. His monasteries of Rhuis, Castennec and Looming possessed that in- dispensable adjunct to a monastic institution, a barren island to which the abbot and the more devout might retreat for perfect solitude ; not }■ Hist, de Bretagne, i, p. 439. 12 2 Lives of the British Saints so his Domnonian colony. He accordingly sought one out. Striking due north, he halted at Tonquedec, and was there sufficiently long to leave a lasting impress. It was a halfway house. His chapel is there, with his story represented in a series of panels. But his object was the sea, the tossing "wine-dark" sea, and he pushed on to Port B anc, on the north coast, a little west of Treguier. Port Blanc is known to us as the place whence sailed the Breton auxiliaries of Henry Bolingbroke. 1' The coast is rugged, and the sea is thick strewn with an archipelago of islets. The largest isle is that of S. Gildas ; that he coveted, asked for and was given, and it now bears his name. Granite rocks start abruptly out of the green sward, and on the side towards the mainland, away from the sea-gales, timber grows. Here is a dolmen that is called the Bed of Gildas, and a chapel marks the site of his oratory. Affairs in Broweroc were not to his mind. Canao, who had mur- dered his brothers, gave shelter to Chramm, son of Clothair, King of Soissons. Chramm had rebelled against his father, and having lost his uncle and ally, Childebert, in 558, fled from the resentment of his father for shelter in Broweroc. Canao took up arms on his behalf, assumed the offensive, invaded the Franco-Gallic marches, and committed great ravages. Clothair raised a large army and met the Bretons. An engagement ensued, and Canao was defeated and slain, 560. Chramm fled, was about to take boat and leave the land, when he remembered that his wife and daughters were in a fisherman's cabin on the shore. He returned to fetch them away and was cap- tured. By his father's orders he was strangled with a kerchief, and fire was heaped round the hut, and the poor women within were burned to death. Where was Gildas all this while ? These horrors cannot have been enacted far from Vannes. We do not hear that he issued from his secure monastery to lift a voice to protest against such deeds of barbarism. No sooner was Canao dead, than Macliau, who had been Bishop of Vannes, assumed the temporal Countship along with the spiritual rule over Broweroc, and recalled his wife and children. Macliau had entered into a solemn contract with Budic H of Cor- nouaille to guarantee the safety of their respective children. No sooner was Budic dead, circa 570, than Macliau broke his oath, invaded Cornouaille, and wrested it from Tewdrig, son of Budic The young prince concealed himself, collected followers, and awaited ' Richard II, Act ii, sc. i. S. Gildas 123 his opportunity. Macliau had been excommunicated by the other bishops, but that concerned him not. In 577 Tewdrig emerged from his conceahnent, fell unawares on Machau, and slew him and one of his sons who was with him. The spiritual condition of Broweroc at the period whilst Machau was bishop must have been in a most unsatisfactory condition ; there were but Gildas and his monks in the diocese to hold aloft the lamp of religion. It is certainly surprising that not a word of reproach spoken against these perfidious princes and their renegade bishop should have been recorded as having been spoken, not a line of condemnation has come down to us, not even the notice that Gildas put pen to paper to rebuke them. But they were near at hand to avenge an insult, and with Gildas discretion was the better part of valour. He could pour forth scurrility and abuse on princes too far away to touch his skin, but he was silent before those who could injure him or his monas- teries. Before 549 Finnian of Clonard, whom Gildas had met in Wales, was in correspondence with him relative to a penitential code ; and Gildas had kept up his interest in Ireland. King Ainmire, 565, invited him over to restore religion in Erin,^ and the revival that actually took place has been attributed to him in concert with Cadoc and David. David himself did not visit the island, but he trained men to act there as evangelists. Cadoc and Gildas, however, worked there in person. The Rhuis biographer has bungled sadly over this second visit to Ireland, made when Gildas was very old. He confounds it with the early visit, from which he was recalled by the murder of his brother Huail, and from which it was separated by something like fifty years. The date of this visit to Ireland can be fixed with some certainty. Ainmire became supreme King only in 564, and the Annales Cambrice give 565 as the date of the Navigation of Gildas into Ireland. The lapse of the Irish from their first faith has been hotly contested, ^ and yet it is exceedingly probable. It would be but in accordance with human nature that there should have been a reaction, and it agrees with the experience of missionaries in all ages. The rapid conversion of the Irish had been superficial, a relapse was inevitable. 1 " Eo tempore regnabat Ainmericus rex per totam Hiberniam, qui et ipse misit ad beatum Gildam rogans, ut ad se veniret," etc. Vita i"™*, pp. 338-40. The date of Aiumire's death is uncertain. The Annals of Ulster give 568 and S7S ; the Chron. Scott. 569 ; Inisfallen 561 ; Four Masters 566. ^ Zimmer, Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland, London, 1902. 12 4 Lives of the British Saints S. Patrick's policy had been that of gaining the outward adherence of the adult members of a clan, tolerating old superstitions, and reserv- ing to himself to carry the true principles of the faith into the hearts, and to mould the minds of the people. " Adhesion to Christianity, which was in a great measure only the attachment of a clan to its chieftain, and in which Pagan usages, under a Christian name, were of necessity tolerated, could not, in the nature of things, be very lasting." 1 Ainmire desired Gildas to remain in Ireland. He declined to do this, but " he went about all the territories of the Hibernians, and restored the churches, instructed the whole body of the clergy in the Catholic Faith, that they might worship the Holy Trinity . . . and drove away from them hereticalconceits with their authors." ^ This is the exaggeration of a biographer who wrote several centuries later. He did something, no doubt, but not much. He built monasteries, ■and furnished the churches with a form of Mass as said at Rhuis.^ But, whatever success he gained in Ireland, his visit there must have been sad. S. Brigid, to whom he had given a bell, was dead ; so was his friend Finnian of Clonard. He himself was old and weary, and he did not remain long in Ireland. He returned to Armorica, feeling that his end was approaching, and he departed from the monas- tery of Rhuis to die in peace in the island of Houat. The Rhuis biographer gives a lengthy harangue addressed by Gildas from his death-bed to the monks, but as the writer lived something like seven centuries later, he doubtless excogitated it himself. The last request made by Gildas was that his body might be placed in a boat and committed to the waves. It perhaps shows a lingering in his mind of the pagan idea of shipping the dead to the Isles of the Blessed beneath the setting sun. His wish was complied with, but the people from Cornugallia, in their greed for relics, pursued it in boats. However, before they could reach the drifting coracle, a wave upset it ; and the body sank.* Three months later, a corpse was washed ashore on the sands of the Httle bay of Crouesty by Arzon, which may or may not have been that of the Saint. After three months' immersion and knocking against the cliffs and among the reefs, it must have been totally 1 Dr. Todd, S. Patrick, 1864, p. 503. ' Vita i"^, p. 342. • " Hii ritum celebrandi Missam acceperunt a Sanctis viris de Britannia, scilicet a Sancto David et Sancto Gildaet Sancto Doco." De Tribus Ordinibus SS. Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., ii, p. 293 ; ActaSS. Hib. in Cod. Sal., col. 162. * " Sed hi qui de Cornugallia venerant, qui plures erant, conabantur eum tollere et in 'patriam suam transferre." Vita i°", p. 368. S. Gildas 125 unrecognizable, if it were that of Gildas. And be it remembered, that he died in January, and this body was not found till May, so that it had been exposed to winter and spring storms. However, the monks of Rhuis were easily satisfied ; they assumed that this was the corpse of their late abbot, and they conveyed it to their church and buried it there. Gildas died on January 29, and the body that passed as his was found on May 11. The Annales Cambrice give as the date of his death, 570, so do those of Tighernach. Those of Ulster give 569, but as these Annals are a year in arrear through the early portion, this gives the same date. The Annals of InisfaUen give 567. The Rhuis author does not give us the date, nor the age of Gildas when he died. He merely says that he was ' ' senex et plenus dierum. ' ' ^ If our calculation be correct, he was aged 94 years. In Brittany, relying on the entry in the Chronicon Britannicum , that he was born in 490, it is assumed that his age when he died was 80. The points given in the Life by the Monk of Rhuis are these : — Gildas was aged 30 when he arrived first in Houat over against Rhuis : " Sanctus igitur Gildas triginta habens annos venit ad quandam insulam, quae in Reuvisii pagi prospectu sita est." The date given in the Chronicon Britannicum is 520. He remained seven years in Armorica and then returned to Britain : — " Transfretavit mare Gallicum, et civitatibus Galliee remansit stUdens optime spatio vii annorum et in termino septimi anni cum magna mole diversorum voluminum remeavit ad major em Brit-, tanniam." This we get from the Second Life, attributed to Caradog of Llancarfan. The Rhuis biographer did not consider how ab- surd it was to suppose that Ainmire should have invited over a young man under thirty years of age to renovate Christianity in Ireland. He makes Ainmire, who came to the throne in 565, a con- temporary of S. Brigid, who died in 525. What can be more obvious than that he has confounded together the two visits of Gildas to Ireland, the first in 510-2, the second in 565. We venture to suggest the following chronology of the Life of Gildas, by which the only statement rejected is that of the Rhuis biographer, who says that he was aged thirty when he settled at Rhuis. Gildas, bom in Arecluta, the year of the victory of Ambfosius 476 The sons of Caw take refuge in Gwynedd from the Picts and Scots, and are granted lands in Mon by Cadwallon Lawhir c. 506 Vita I""*, p: 36S. 12 6 Lives of the British Saints Gildas loses his wife, and embraces the religious profession under S. Illtyd ....... c. 507 Gildas leaves S. Illtyd and goes to Ireland, where he makes acquaintance with S. Brigid . . . . . c. 510 Gildas recalled from Ireland by the slaying of Huail by Arthur c. 512 Lands granted in blood fine by Arthur to the family of Caw. The Battle of Mount Badon. Gildas goes to Rome, and on his way back lands at Rhuis, and obtains a grant of land there ......... 520 Is visited at Rhuis by S. Brendan . . . winter of 523-4 Returns to Britain to obtain recruits. Meets S. Finnian in Pepidiauc, CBt. $1 Takes charge of Llancarfan for a twelvemonth Goes to Glastonbury . ..... After seven years in Britain he returns to Rhus, Nose, lip, face, temple. For chin, beard, eyebrows, ears. Cheeks, lower cheeks, internasal, nostrils. For the pupils, irides, eyelashes, eyelids. Chin, breathing, cheeks, jaws, Fq- teeth, tongue, mouth, throat. Uvula, windpipe, root of tongue, nape. For the middle of the head, for cartilage. Neck — thou kind One, be near for defence," and so on, no part of the body is forgotten. This extraordinary prayer was taken to Ireland, and tradition attached to it that to any man who should repeat it frequently, seven additional years would be added to his life, and a third portion of his sins would be blotted out. Nor would the man die on the day that he repeated it. The Lorica of Gildas belongs to a class of compositions that were little better than magical charms ; of which the Deer's Cry of S. Patrick is another example, as is also the hymn Sen De. by S. Colman mac Ui Cluasaig, composed on account of the pestilence in 697. For a critical consideration of the Lorica and of the question whether it were composed by Gildas, see Professor Williams' Gildas, pp. 289-303. The fragments of letters of Gildas give us a higher opinion of him than do his hateful Increpatio or his absurd Lorica. In them are words full of real charity and liberality. In one he argues strongly against narrowness and self-righteousness in those who hold them- selves aloof from others who are imperfect and even evil. "Aaron did not cast away the table of the priest of the idols of Midian. Moses also entered into hospitality and peaceful entertainment with Jethro. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not avoid the feasts of publicans, so that He might save aU sinners and harlots." " Abstinence from animal food without love is profitless. Better, therefore, are they that fast without display, and do not fast exces- sively from what God has created, but anxiously preserve a clean heart within." " Many," says he, " eat bread by measure, but boast thereof beyond measure ; whilst using water, they drink the VOL. ni. K 130 Lives of the British Saints cup of hate ; they simultaneously enjoy dry dishes and back-biting." "When a ship is wrecked, who can swim let him swim." He recommends gentle rebuke of evil doers ! Had he learned by experience that his venomous Increpatio had done much harm and little good ? " Miriam is condemned with leprosy, because she agreed with Aaron in blaming Moses on account of his Ethiopian wife. This we should fear when we disparage good princes on account of moderate faults." "To the wise man truth shines from whatsoever mouth it has issued." Giraldus Cambrensis has an explanation of the fact that no mention is made of the great deeds of King Arthur in his History. He says : " De GUda vero qui adeo in gentem suam acriter invehitur, dicunt Britones, quod propter fratrem suum Albanise principem, quem rex Arthurus occiderat offensus h^c scripsit. Unde et libros egregios quos de Gestis Arthuri et gentis suae laudibus multos scripserat, audita fratris sui nece omnes, ut asserunt, in mare projecit. Cujus rei causa nihil de tanto principe in scriptis authenticis expressum invenies." ^ Gildas is commemorated in the Diptychs in the Stowe Missal.'^ S. GISTLIANUS, see S. GWESTLAN S. GLASSOG The lolo MSS. genealogies give two saints of this name, for whom they are the sole authority. (i) Glassawg, the son of Coedwallawn, and fifth in descent from Bran Fendigaid, a pedigree as mythical as could well be. It is added that he lies buried in Gwynedd, and that the church dedicated to him is Llanynglassawg. He was the father of Glas, the father of S. Mabon Wyn.3 (2) Glassawg, the son of Glassar ab Geraint ab Nynnio ab Cyn- ddilig ab Nwython ab Gildas ab Caw. He was bishop at Caer Gybi, •or Holyhead, and had a church dedicated to him in Arllechwedd, in the neighbourhood of Bangor. He bestowed lands upon Bangor DeinioL* ^ De Illaudabilibus WallicB, prol. ^ Warren, Liturgy of the Celtic Church, p. 240. ' P. 136. The Glesius mentioned in the boundary of S. Bride's-super-Ely, Glamorganshire {Book of Llan Ddv, p. 263), is now the Glasswg. * loh MSS. pp. 139-40. iS. Glywys Cerii,yw 131 One saint only is intended — the pedigrees having been mamifac- "tiired — and he clearly owes his existence to S. Tegai's entry in the older Bonedds, which in Eajoi MS. i6 runs, " Tegai ym Maes Llan ■Glassog yn Arllechwedd," and in Hanesyn Hen (p. 115), " Tygai y JVIeisyn Glassog." Llandegai is meant. S. GLYWYS CERNYW, Martyr Glywys Cernyw, or " the Cornishman," was son of Gwynllyw Filwr -ah Glywys abTegid ab CadeU Ddyrnllug, by Gwladys, daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog. He was thus a brother of the great S. Catwg, or Cadoc.^ He is mentioned as " an honoured saint." ^ To him is said to have been formerly dedicated the church of Coed Cernyv;, " the Cornishman's Wood," now Coedkernew (All Saints), in Monmouthshire. He appears to have died a mart}^, for a Merthir Gliuis is mentioned in the Book of Llan Ddv,^ the name of which is believed to be preserved in Clivis, in Newton Nottage, Glamorgan- shire. The Cornish S. Gluvias, of whom nothing is known, is probably the same as Gljrwys. There was a chapel in the valley of Lanherne, and the farm by it is called Gluvian, which seems to point out that the chapel bore the same dedication as the parish church of Gluvias. In Domesday, however, this latter is called San Guilant, and in the Exeter transcript Sain Guilant. Gluvias is certainly quite out of the region occupied by the Brecknock-Gwentian settlers, but as GljAvys belonged to a later generation, and did not probably come into Corn- wall tiU the settlement in the North was a fait accompli, and the excite- ment and resentment caused by the invasion had somewhat abated, this may explain his church being found on the Fal. The Feast is on the first Sunday in May. He is not commemorated in the Welsh calendars. A S. Cleuzen is patron of a parish in the diocese of Treguier near Pon- trieux.* He has been displaced to make way for S.Cletus, Pope. Glywys may have become Glewz and then Cleuzen, with the suffix. But 1 Peniarth MS. 178 ; lolo MSS., p. 130 ; Myv. Arch., p. 426. The name is Xatinized Gluiguis, Gliuisus, etc. 2 Peniarth MS. 178, p. 23. ^ Pp. 225, 412. "* Lobineau, Vies des Saints de Bretagne, ed. 1836, i, p. xlv. 132 Lives of the British Saints without further evidence nothing can be concluded towards the identi- fication. The cult of S. Cadoc, brother of Glywys, is, however, in. force in the parish, where he has a chapel. Glywys's grandfather, Glywys ab Tegid, is in one passage in the- lolo MS5.1 said to have founded the church of Machen (now S. Michael),, in Monmouthshire. But there is no evidence for his sainthood. This- Glywys gave name to the principality of Glywysing, which included approximately the district between the lower courses of the Usk and the Towy, and was not quite conterminous with the Morganwg of later times. "- In the preface to the Life of S. Cadoc ^ he is stated to^ have had ten children, among whom Glywysing was apportioned,, but Pedrog " gave up a transitory for a perpetual inheritance," and left for Cornwall. S. GNAWAN, Confessor A DISCIPLE of S. Cadoc, from Ireland, was so called. * When Cadoc returned from Ireland he brought with him " a large company of Irish and British clerics, among whom were the religious and very- learned men, Finian, Macmoil, and Gnauan, said to be the most cele- brated and skilful of all the British disciples." Later on, when Cadoc " saw the wicked acts of his father ... he- sent faithful messengers of his disciples, Finnian, Gnauan, and EUi,, that they might convert him from the errors of his malice and wicked- ness, and dispose him to divine obedience." Manorowen (B.V.M.), Pembrokeshire, possibly takes its name from Gnauan. It is locally called Manernawan by the old Welsh- speaking inhabitants.^ "This is very probably the person meant by the ' Mynach Naomon ' (or Nawmon) mentioned in the mythical! Red 5ooA Triad No. 11 ; ^ and in Trioedd y Meirch [Peniarth MS. 16).. The same element, -nawan, seems to occur in Kilnawan in the parish, of Llanboidy." ' There is a Kilawen at S. Issell's, near Tenby. A " Gnouan abbas altaris Catoci," at Llancarfan, occurs among the signatories to a grant in the Book of Llan Ddv.^ He was contem- ^ P. 148. In Jesus College MS. 20 he is given a different pedigree. ^ Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, p. 208. ^ Cambro-British Saints, p. 22. In the Life of S. Gwynllyw, ibid., p. 145^ Glywysing is divided among seven brothers. ^ Cambro-British Saints, pp. 36, 85. •'- In the parish list in Peniarth MS. 147 (c. 1566) it is Maner nawon. '' Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 301. ' Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, pp. 290-1. ' P. 180. S. Goleu 133 porary with Bishop Berthwyn, the successor, it would appear, of Oudoceus. S. GOFOR, Hermit The genealogy of this saint is not given, but his name is entered in the lolo MSS.} with Gwarwg and others, as one of the saints of Gwent, from which we are to infer that he is, or rather was, the patron of the church of Llanover (now S. Bartholomew), in Monmouthshire. His cell there is pointed out ; and he is " believed to have been buried Tinder a ponderous tombstone, on which is carved an ancient British cross, laid in the doorway of the church of his name within the front porch. In the grounds at Llanover is the Ffynnon Over and its eight surrounding wells, all flowing different ways, but uniting in a bath." ^ His festival, Gwyl Ofor, is given on May 9 in the lolo MSS. calendar. So much for Gofor. The old forms of the name Llanover, however, ■distinctly point to a personal name being involved, which we might write to-day Myfor. Llanover occurs in the Book of Llan Ddv ^ as Lanmouor, and elsewhere under similar forms.* The old forms of the name of Merthjn: Mawr, Glamorganshire, which appear in the Book of Llan Ddv as Merthir Mimor, Myuor, Mouor, etc., point to the same name. S. GOLEU, Virgin Goleu was one of the unmarried daughters of Brychan Brycheiniog. In the Cognatio of Cott. Vesp. A. xiv her name is entered, " Goleu . in Lan eschin," and in that of Cott. Domitian i, " Gloyv in Lann heskjm." Peniarth MSS. 131 (fifteenth century) and 75 (sixteenth century) give, " Goleu in Llanhesgyn in Gwent." In the Jesus College > Pp. 144, 549. ^ Nicholas, A nnals and A ntiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales, London, 187s, ii, p. 782. Others give the number of springs as seven and nine. Tegid wrote some- verses to the well, Gwaith, 1859. p. 90. After this well a well in Kensington Gardens was named S. Govor's Well. The late Lady Llanover, in her book. Good Cookery, London, 1867, feigns to have derived her recipes and knowledge of Welsh cookery from the Hermit of S. Cover's Cell, who Hved in the eighteenth century " in a house cut out of a rock adjoining the cell and opposite the well of S. Gover." ^ P. 321. * Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, p. 301. 134 Lives of the British Saints MS. 20 her name is omitted. In the later genealogies ^ her name- usually occurs as Goleuddydd, and the church of which she is patron is said to be in Gwent, but its situation is not known. ^ A Goleuddydd is mentioned in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen. She was the daughter of Amlawdd Wledig, and wife of Cilydd ab- Celyddon. S. GONANT, Hermit, Confessor Otherwise called Gomond. He was a hermit at Roche, where the parish church is dedicated to him. The popular tradition is that he was a leper, who lived in the hermitage on a rock, and was- daily attended by his daughter, who brought him meat and other necessaries. He had a well cut in the rock whence he drank. The date at which he lived is unknown. His feast is on the Sunday before the second Thursday in June.. S. GONERY, Priest, Confessor GoNERi, or Gonnery, was a native of Britain, who migrated to Armorica. What his original British name was is difficult to dis- cover. There was a Gwynoro, son of Cynyr Farfwyn, one of the five saints, who, according to tradition, were born at one birth. There is no further record of Gwynoro in Wales, but he and his brothers are commemorated at Llanpumsaint, Carmarthenshire, and formerly at the now extinct chapel of Pumsaint, in Cynwyl Gaio, in the same county. Whether Gonery be this Gwynoro is impossible to say. Gonery is rendered Vener in Breton, as is also Gwethenoc, and as- is likewise Fingar, in Cornish, Gwinear. The material for the Life of S. Gonery is not abundant. Albert: le Grand has given his story from a MS. Legendarium formerly in the church of Plougrescent, from the Proper of Vannes, and from the ancient Treguier Breviary. 1 Peniarth MSS., 178, 187; lolo MSS., pp. iii, i2o, 140; Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 425. 2 See Cambro-British Saints, p. 607. Hesgyn or hesgen, " a marsh," occurs- in a number of place-names ; Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, p. 350 ; Record of Caer- narvon, 1838, pp. 103, 200. aS*. Gonery 135 In the collection of the Blancs Manteaux Bibl. Nat. Paris, MSS. Franf. 22231,15 a copy from the Life in the Legendarium of Treguier. This has been printed by the Abbe Lucas, in Revue historique de I'Ouest, 1888, and apart, Lafolye, Vannes. It is divided into nine lessons. The Bollandists endeavoured to obtain a copy of the Life possessed,, in the time of Albert le Grand, by the church of Plougrescent, but in vain. " Frustra legendam latinam expectarunt majores nostri, frustra ego ipsam speram hodie," Acta SS. Boll. Jul. T. iv, p. 422. The Life desired by the Bollandists was in all probability the same that the Abbe Lucas has published from the MS. in the Blancs Man- teaux. That publication is not very correct. There are in it several slips that have been pointed out by De la Borderie, in the same Revue hist, de I'Ouest, 1888, pp. 243-57, together with a critique on the docu- ment. The Vita published is certainly later than the twelfth century. It speaks of a seneschal of the chateau of Rohan, which was not con- structed till the twelfth century ; and there is reference to the fable of Cynan Meiriadog, as given by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is very deficient in precise details relative to the family of the saint, and to whence he came and where he landed. One incident, that of his trouble with Alvandus, is expanded to a prodigious length, and is based, as the author tells us, on the gesta, the " gestes " of Alvandus,, a romance or popular ballad. As in the case of all such manufactured biographies, where material was scarce, it is stuffed with pious reflec- tions and descriptions. The Abbe Lucas has further published in the same Revue a Breton ballad of S. Gonery, but this is not earlier than the seventeenth century. It is founded on the Vita, but adds one particular, that Gonery was a fellow disciple with S. Tudwal, and that he induced Tudwal to sail with him from Britain to Armorica.^ Whence this detail was culled, whether from a lection in the church of Plougrescent for the Saint's day, or whether it was due to a con- jecture because Plougrescent is near S. Tudwal's church at Treguier, we cannot tell. No weight can be attached to such a statement. Tudwal landed on the coast of Leon above Brest, and Gonery appar- ently to the south, in Broweroc (Morbihan). Gonery was a native of Britain. He left his native land and migrated 1 " Gant Tual eun he vanati Eon manac'h Sant Koneri. * * * Kerkent sant Tual a zentaz Ha gant Koneri a devaz Gant Koneri ha kalz ous penn Ouz penn tre-ugent'nu eur vandan." 136 Lives of the British Saints to Brittany, " ad Minorem Britanniam applicuit." " Gonerius Britannia venit in Armoricam." He landed somewhere — not specified — in Broweroc, and went up country into the forest of Brecillien to Brenguilli, near Rohan. 1 This place in 1265 was a tref in the vast parish of Noyala.^ Probably an ancient road crossed the forest from the Roman town of Sulim, now Castannec, to Corseult, and if so then the settlement of Gonery was on this highway. The whole of the upper waters of the Blavet seem to have been taken possession of by British Saints. At the time that Gonery settled at this place, there lived a rough- tempered chief of the name of Alvandus at Noyala.^ As he was returning from hunting one day he passed the cell * of Gonery, and saluted him courteously, but the hermit was engaged on his office, and made no response. Alvandus rode on, highly incensed, and muttered threats against a man who had settled on his land without leave, and who had not the good manners to acknowledge his greeting. Some of his servants, hearing this, fell behind, and thrashed Gonery with their whips and sticks, and beat him with their fists. The steward of Alvandus, afraid that they might serve the hermit too severely, went back to the cell, and found that he had fallen, and that two of his ribs were broken. He threatened the over-officious domestics, and obliged them to desist from further ill treatment. Then he hastened to his master, and represented to him the condition in which Gonery lay. Alvandus, who was a good-hearted man, if a little hot-tempered, was greatly concerned, and went himself to the cell and offered to take the battered and suffering hermit home with him, and have him properly attended to there. But Gonery declined this, and Alvandus then readily gave him the patch of land about his cell to clear and cultivate. After that, he frequently visited the saint and listened respectfully to his instructions. Gonery had a pleasing exterior. ^ The story went that one day as Gonery was celebrating mass for a marriage, the stone altar slab at which he stood snapped with a loud report, but happily the two portions did not fall. The altar slab rested on a single central support, and was long afterwards shown as miraculously stayed up although cracked. After a while Gonery 1 " A castro Rohani per spacium duorum millium fere distat." ^ Le Mene, Paroisses de Vannes, ii, p. 382. ^ " Alvandus erat sevissimus Christianus, manu atrox in potentes, ferox in mites, in populum depopulatus." * " In hoc loco sibi casam edificans quas casa usque in hodiernum diem in ecclesiam est conversa." ' " Corpore magnus, membris robustus, vultu plaudus, risu jucundus." S. Gonery 137 quitted the iorest of Brenguilli, and made his way to the north coast at Plougrescent, near Treguier, and there he died and was buried. The parish church at Plougrescent has been rebuilt, but the most interesting chapel of S. Gonery remains. It possesses a superb fif- teenth century painted ceiling. At the west end, under the tower, on one side is what is supposed to have been the stone boat in which Gonery crossed.over to Brittany. It is an ancient, very rude sarcophagus. On the further side of the chapel is his tomb. The peasants creep into it, and take out a little dust which is tied up in a rag, and conveyed to those sick with fever, and it is supposed to heal them. Then these little parcels are returned to the church. At the east end of the chancel are two statues, one of S. Gonery habited as a priest, in chasuble, with arms extended, and with a wreath of roses on his head. The other statue represents his mother, who is traditionally held to have crossed over with him. She is habited as a queen, as she was of royal descent. The local tradition is that her name was Elebouban, and she is so named in the Breton ballad of S. Gonery. Garaby gives as her day May 23. Not only is the " holy soil " employed as a febrifuge, but also the " water of S. Gonery." The priest blesses water into which the relics of the saint have been dipped, according to a form that has received episcopal approval. S. Gonery is invoked by the sailors of the coast, who have great confidence in his protection. They argue that if he crossed the Channel safely in a stone boat, he can assuredly secure their safety in a vessel of wood. Albert le Grand gives this saint on April 4. The Bishop of Treguier in 1514 ordered that his feast should be celebrated on the first Tues- day in April, but in 1770 it was transferred to April 7 (Brev. Trecor. 1770 ; Brev. Corisop. 1783). But the Breviary of Quimper of 1589, on July 19 ; and in the MS. Treguier Legendarium of the fifteenth century on July 18, as also La the various Breviaries, 1630, 1652, 1660. According to the Acts of the saint he died on July 18. The Pardon at Plougrescent is on the fourth Sunday in July. S. Gonery is patron of the parish that bears his name near Pontivy, also of Plougrescent, and of S. Connec, near S. Gonery. He has chapels at Hemoustoir, Langoat, Lanvellec, Locarn, Ploezal, and Plougras. At the latter is a statue of the saint bare-headed and long-robed, over which is cast a mantle. His right hand holds a staff, his left an open book. 138 Lives of the British Saints S. Elebouban, his mother, receives a still vigorous cult, especially in the islet of Loaven, off Plougrescent, where are the ruins of an ancient chapel that was dedicated to her. Around it are remains of dwellings, and among them traces of a village oven ; and to the chapel is attached an ancient disused cemetery. In the gable of the chapel is a niche that contains the statue of the holy woman, behind folding shutters. She is represented crowned and holding a book. A procession is made to this chapel on the Monday in Rogation Week, carrying the head of S. Gonery. If the weather be stormy and the passage dangerous, the pilgrimage is postponed to the follow- ing Thursday. On reaching the isle, a hymn of Holy Matrons is sung, and then come special prayers. Women visit the isle from the begin- ning of summer, taking their little children with them, to invoke the aid of S. Elebouban to make them strong on their legs. ^ S. GORFYW, see S. GWRFYW S. GOUEZNOU, see S. GWYDDNO S. GOULVEN, Bishop, Confessor Although this saint was not born in Britain, his parents emigrated from our island, and he was born shortly after their arrival in Leon. It is accordingly permissible to include him in this work. The Life is found in a copy made of the ancient Vita by Breton Benedictines in the seventeenth century, and is contained in the twenty-eighth volume of the collection of the Blancs Manteaux now in the Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. Frangais 22321 ; from which it was printed by A. de la Borderie in Memoires de la Soc. d'Emidation des Cotes du Nord, T. xxix., and published separately?, Rennes, 1892. Another, by Albert le Grand, in his Vies des Saints de Bretagne, was derived from MSS. in the Cathedral archives of Leon, and the ancient Breviaries of Quimper, and the Proprium Sanctorum of Rennes. This was, however, founded on the Life published byDe la Borderie. A Vita is also given in the Acta SS. Boll. Jul., I, pp. 127-9, derived from one printed in Gonon ; VitcB Patrum Occidentis, Lyons, 1625, lib. ii, p. 85. The Life first mentioned served as the basis of the Lections in the Breviary and of the other Lives, and is the only one '■ Garaby, Vies des Saints de Bretagne, 1839, pp. 457-8. S. Goulven 139 that need concern us. It is not ancient, as it was composed after 1 186 ; for it contains an account of a miracle then performed. There are other indications to the same effect which have been pointed out by M. de la Borderie. The author was almost certainly a native of Goulven in Leon, as he exhibits acquaintance with the localities to a remarkable degree. He was an honest writer ; for he says that he can relate nothing par- ticular of what Goulven did as Bishop, because he could find no written records, or any relation of what he then did that was worthy of con- fidence, " Quia ad nos nee scripto authentico nee recta relatione per venit." Owing to a mention in the Life of relations between Goulven and Count Even, and the repulse of Danes and Northmen, Dom Lobineau supposed that the saint lived in the tenth century. But it is possible enough that there was an earlier Even, who gave his name to Lesneven (Aula Eveni) ; and the author may have mistaken earlier pirates for those who created such devastation in the tenth century. That Goulven was in relation with S. Paul of Leon, and succeeded him, can scarcely be doubted. Glaudan, a native of Britain, left his country along with his wife, Gologwen, who was expecting shortly to become a mother. They arrived in Letavia, and their boat entered what is now the Anse de Goulven, a broad shallow bay, left dry at low tide, and sheltered from the rolling billows by a sandy spur on which now stands the village of Plouneour-Trez. ^ They found the country covered with dense forest. Glaudan arrived only just in time, for his wife was taken with the pangs of maternity. He brought her ashore, as the evening fell, and then hastened in quest of shelter for her head. There was a colonist settled there, but when asked to receive the poor woman, he chur- lishly refused. Glaudan conducted Gologwen to a place on high ground called Odena, and which still bears the name Maner an Odena, where she gave birth to a man-child. There was no spring near, but a rustic living in a cottage hard by gave Glaudan a pail (cadum) , in which he might bring water from the nearest source, and he pointed out to Glaudan the path that led to the spring. Glaudan set the pail on his shoulder and went in quest of water, but the night was falling, the track lay among dense bushes, and was ^ " Glaudanus, relictis Britonibus transmarinis inter quos oriundus extiterat, mare transito, venit in partes Letanise, qus est pars Armorica; sive Britannia; minoris, cum Gologuena uxore sua praegnante." For Letania should be read Letavia, and Letavia was not a part of Armorica ; it included tlie whole. The name Goulven is probably the same as the Guollguinn of the Book of Llan Ddv (index, p. 402). 140 Lives of the British Saints much overgrown, and he lost his way. Finally, he got back to his wife, but without water. Discouraged and distressed, he prayed to God, and thereupon a spring gushed forth, and he was able with the limpid water thus miraculously provided, to furnish his wife with the water she required. The spring, which is seven minutes walk from Odena, still flows, and bears to this day the name of the Fontaine de S. Goulven. Putting aside 'the miraculous element in the story, we see that this actually was the spring to which the rustic had directed Glaudan with his pail. The Life goes on to say that considering the sacredness of the spring, and that the water ought not to be employed for common purposes, they dug in another spot and found another source. This probably means that this was done very much later ; or else that the rustic demurred to Glaudan employing the spring daily, and forced him to sink a well for himself. Both springs are shown in the hamlet of Kerouchen, or Kerouchic, west of the village of S. Goulven. " The holy-well is surrounded by a wall of cut stones. The other, the profane spring, is eight feet distant outside the enclosure." ^ There was a colonist named Gothian,^ rich and fearing God, who lived hard by at Ker-Gozian on a height now called le Vieux Chatel, about seven minutes walk from the Holy Well. Hearing of the arrival of the colonists, and of the distress in which they were, he at once took care that they should be supplied with the necessaries of life. He, moreover, stood godfather to the child, and as he was himself without issue, he adopted the boy, to whom the name of Goulven was given. He sent him to school, where we are not informed, and the little fellow being bright, made great progress with his studies. That Glaudan and Gologwen were of good family, and that they bad already kindred in the country, is probable. On their death Ihey were buried with their kin, " parentibus ejus defunctis et ad patres suos appositis," and Goulven embraced the monastic life, •contrary to the wishes of his foster-father Gothian, who had designed him as his successor. Goulven did not go far away ; he selected a ■spot near where he had been born, still called Le Desert, but which was overgrown with brambles. Here he erected a cabin as his feniti, and allowed no woman to approach it, and he erected a chapel or ■oratory at Odena, where he had first seen the light. Goulven left his cabin only once a day, and then he walked ^ Kerdanet, in his edition of Albert le Grand, 1837, pp. 368-9. ^ " Godianus, vir dives ac timens Deum de cujus nomine usque ad hodiemum •diem Villa Godiani vocata est." It has lost the name no^w, but it -was called Kergozian as late as 1497. Kerdanet, ibid., p. 369. aS*. Gouhen 141 round his little domain, his miniti, and planted three crosses at inter- vals, which bore long the name of the Stations of S. Goulven. As a companion he had a disciple named Maden. Many came to the saint tor mstruction, for heahng, and some took refuge within his sanc- tuar}-, which he surrounded with a ditch and mound. One day a peasant named Joncor, in Plouneour-Trez, found a mass of gold when ploughing, probably some prehistoric torques, and sending for Maden, bade him take the treasure to his master. Goulven received the gold and made of it three bells, one he gave to his own church, and one to that of Lesneven ; the third he reserved, and it finally came to Rennes. He also made of the gold a chalice and three crosses.^ At this period there ruled in Leon a chieftain named Ewen, or John, who had his Lis or Court at Lesneven (Lis-an-Even) . A band of Saxon pirates landed on the coast and began to ravage Leon. Ewen sought the saint, desired his prayers, and then fell on the marauders and drove them to the coast and cut them to pieces. ^ The biographer has confounded this Ewen with another who hved in the tenth century, and the pirates he also supposes to have been Northmen. There is no reason to doubt that there was a chief of the not uncommon name of John, who immediately succeeded Withur, and who gave his name to Lesneven. From the Life of S. Melor we know that there had been inroads of the Saxons, who are there called Frixones, about this period.^ Goulven was on intimate terms with Paulus Aurelianus, the Bishop of Leon, and on the death of that saint was chosen to succeed him. But he was wholly unfitted for the office, having spent his days in solitude, and after a very brief episcopate, he fled from his charge into the country of the Reddones, and settled at S. Didier, a com- ^ In the legend, Goulven sends Maden to Joncor to ask him to give him some- thing. Joncor is ploughing, and he takes up handfuls of earth and puts them into Maden's lap to take to his master. As he carries them, the earth is trans- formed into gold. ^ " Temporibus ilHs, insulani piratas Daci et Normani . . . Multas provincias et maxime Britanniam nostram Armoricam infestabant cum igitur quadam vice, navigio adducti, Letaniam {? Letaviam) quae nunc est Leonia — in manu valida intra vissent . . . comes Evenus qui cognominatus est Magnus, cujus sedes erat in oppido quod ab ejus nomine Lesnevenum, quasi Aula Eveni, usque in diem dicitur hodiernum, collectis militibus et peditibus Christianis, praedictis paganis congredi affectabat," p. 220. ^ " Is (Jan Reith) post desolationem Frixonum et Corsoldi ducis nostram adieus desertam Comugalliam," etc. Vita S. Melori in Anal. Boll., T.V. (1886), p. 166. This was at an earlier period, but these raids probably continued for over a century. The second Count Even made a grant to the monastery of S. "SVin- ■waloe in 955. Cart. Landevennec, ed. De la Borderie, p. 163. 142 Lives of the British Saints muneof Chateaubourg in Die et Vilaine. "In this parish are pre- served reminiscences of S. Goulven, Bishop of Leon, who retired there into solitude and died as a liermit, about the year 600. . . To this day a wood near the ancient manor of Motte-Merioal bears the name of the Bois de S. Goulven ; the ditches are shown, not now very deep, which enclosed what is called the Garden of S. Goulven ; there stood an old cross lately replaced by one of granite. Finally, on the fringe of the wood, in the field des Brousses, are an old well and the oven of S. Goulven. The hovel occupied formerly by the pious hermit must, accordingly, have been alongside of these ruins, but the site is no longer pointed out. Nor is there any traditional record as to where stood a chapel on this spot. However, annually the parish of S. Didier assembles at the foot of the above-mentioned cross and celebrates on July 6 the feast of S. Goulven, who sanctified this wood." ■"• The Life of S. Goulven was drawn up late, in the twelfth century, and contains some anachronisms, as the introduction of " Count " Even, who lived in the tenth century. But in its broad outlines it may be trusted, as founded on fairly trustworthy tradition. The blunders have been pointed out by De la Borderie. Paul of Leon died about 570. We may suspect that Goulven was a kinsman, or else he was hardly likely to have been chosen to replace him. The holding of the headship of a monastery in the hands of a kinsman, one of the same blood, had not died out in Brittany at so early a period. " The communities were composed of actual or reputed relations, all related, in a very near degree, by a real descent from a common ancestor, that is, the heads of the different households which made up the community, whether tribe, village, or family, were all closely related to each other. If a man did not come within the prescribed limit of relationship he did not belong to the community, but was a stranger ; and, as a stranger, he was 'prima jade an enemy, and therefore a person to be knocked on the head at the earliest possible opportunity." ^ This was true largely of the religious communities. Strangers and refugees were received into the sacred tribe of the saint, but had no right to succession to the headship of the community. That must go to one of the blood-relations of the saint. It is consequently not credible that Goulven could have been chosen to be bishop and abbot unless he belonged to the family of Paul by blood relationship. In the Life published by De la Borderie, Goulven is said to have 1 De Corson, PouilU Hist, de I'ArchevecM de Rennes, iii, pp. 717-8. ^ Willis Bund, The Celtic Church of Wales, London, 1897, P- 55» /S. Govan 143 ■died in the year 500. Early Lives never give the date of the year, solely of the month. Paul of Leon survived the elevation of Judual to the throne of Domnonia but a few years, and can hardly have died later than 570. We may place the accession of Goulven to the episcopal throne then. That he remained long bishop is improbable, as nothing is recorded •of his episcopal acts, and he was immediately followed by Tenenan. Goulven is patron of the parish that bears his name. A holy well a little way out of the village has an enclosed space and tank before it ; and on one side a stone bath in which the infirm were placed and water from the well poured over them. But the practice has been abandoned within the memory of man. He is also patron of Goulien, near Pontcroix, in Finistere ; he has chapels as well at Caurel, Lan- vellec near Plouaret in Cotes du Nord, and at Henvic. He is second patron of S. Didier in Ille et Vilaine, where he died ; also of Locmaria- Plouzane and Plouezoch. His day is July i in the MS. Missal of Treguier of the fifteenth century, in the Breviary of Dol, 1519, and in Albert le Grand. But July 7 in the Leon Breviary of 1736. And July 8 in the Quimper Breviary of 1835, and in the Breviary of Rennes of 1627. At Goulven his fete is on July i, and this is his day in Roscarrock's Calendar. There is a statue of him as a bishop at Goul- ven, and one above his holy well, as a Bishop without any distin- ^ishing attribute. He is invoked against fever and for maladies to cattle. There is a chapel bearing his name, under the form of Gelvin, in S. Sithney parish, Cornwall. [Register of B. Stafford, 1398, p. 225). S. GOVAN, Abbot, Confessor There is a chapel of S. Govan, or, as now called, S. Gowan, on the south coast of Pembrokeshire, and the saint has given his name to the bold headland of contorted rock that shoots 160 feet above the sea. The head is traversed by a fissure, narrow and deep, between limestone crags, and accessible by a flight of rude steps. The chapel is built across the chasm, and is of a very early and rude character. There can be little doubt as to who this Govan was, i.e., Gobhan, the disciple of S. Ailbe, known as S. Ailfyw, or Elfyw, in Welsh. The name is common in the Irish Martyrologies, and it is difficult always to distinguish the saints of that name one from another. The name means "a smith," whence Gobannium (Abergavenny), "a smithy." 144 Lives of the British Saints Gobhan, also called Mogopoc, was S. Ailbe'scook. Gobhan was of the clan of the Hy Cinnselach. As the Saintly Master desired to- have a correct form of the order of the Mass, he sent his disciples Lugich and Cailcenn to Rome, and his cook along with them. As they were about to start, the three said to Ailbe, " Promise us that we shall all return safe and sound to Ireland." " I promise it," answered Ailbe. On board ship Gobhan was so sea-sick that he thought he must die, and the rest really believed his end was at hand. What to da without their cook they did not know, and they thought, moreover, that the promise of Ailbe would fail. From exhaustion Gobhan fell into fits of fainting and utter prostration. But after a while he rallied,, and said to his fellow travellers : " You have been guzzling on this voyage, and not fasting, as was seemly, and that upset me." ^ Gobhan afterwards, having returned from Rome, became Abbot of Dairinis in his native country of the Hy Cinnselach, or Wexford. There was a Gobhan — possibly the same — who was for a while- disciple of S. Senan of Iniscathy, and he is said to have been brother of S. Setna. Ailbe died 527-31, ^ and Gobhan may have- gone to Senan after his death. But he is certainly to be distinguished from a namesake, " the father of a thousand monks," who settled in Ulster, although Colgan supposed there might be identity. According to local tradition, S. Govan spent his last years in retreat on the headland in Pembrokeshire that bears his name. Within his chapel there is a " wishing place," a fissure in the rock just large- enough to hold one person. Whoever, seated in it, forms his wish,, with full confidence in the merits of S. Govan, and turns himself about each time that he repeats it, is certain to have his desire accomplished. Tradition has it that S. Govan concealed himself in this recess from, pirates, and the rock closed about him, and, when they were gone,, opened to allow his exit. A little below the chapel is his Holy Well, covered by a rude roof,, now almost dry, whither patients were wont to repair to drink of the miraculous water. But the healing influence of the saint^s merits- attaches as well to a deposit of red clay lodged in an angle of the cliff, due to decomposition of the rock. " The lame and blind pil- grims are still conveyed by their friends down the rude steps chiselled by the holy man, and, after being anointed with a poultice formed of 1 Vita S''. Albei in Salam. Cod., col. 255. In the original Gobhan actually dies, but revives and rebukes the others for eating and not fasting. 2 Chron. Scottorum gives the later date. See under S. Ailbe, i, p. 135. S. Govan 145 the moist clay, are left there for several hours to bask under the summer's sun." The chapel is of the simplest form, consisting of a nave 20 feet bj^ 12 feet. It has a stone altar and a small tower, and is approached by a long flight of fifty-two steps, which, according to the popular story, cannot be counted by any one both ways alike. ^ The tale is told that a silver bell hung above the chapel. This was stolen by pirates, but a tempest arose and the vessel was wrecked, but the bell was conveyed by angelic hands to the side of the well, where it was entombed in a rock, which on being struck gives a metallic sound.^ Govan's name cannot be perpetuated, as is generally supposed, in the Monmouthshire church-name Llangofen.^ S. Govan or Gobhan's Day is March 26, according to the Martyr- ologies of O'Gorman, and Donegal. He is possibly known in Brittany as S. Gavan, at Plouguerneau, in Finistere, in a thoroughly Irish colonised district. There was another saint of the same name, who belonged to a later generation, and who was a disciple of S. Fursa or Fursey.* He had two brothers, Algeis and Etto, whom S. Fursey ordained priests along with Gobhan. They beheld the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to them in vision by night and said to them, " Come unto Me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." Next day, being Sunday, they sought their master, and told him what had occurred, and how they had aU seen the same vision, and heard the same words, and that, having taken counsel together, and remembering the words of Christ, " Unless a man forsake father and mother, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple," they had resolved to set forth on pilgrimage. Fursey, on hearing this, was glad, and gave thanks to God ; but, smiling, said, " Certainly ye shall not go, unless I accompany you." He then called to him his two brothers, Ultan and Foillan, and said, "Do ye desire to serve Christ along with me ? " They replied, "Whither thou goest, there will we go also." So Fursey and the rest departed from Ireland, taking ship for Britain. And after .1 Fenton, PemhrokesUre, ed. 181 1, pp. 414-6, ed. 1903, pp. 226-7; Tour in Quest of Genealogy through several parts of Wales, etc., by a Barrister, London, 1811, pp. 88-90; Arch. Camb., 1880, p. 338. * Bye-Gones, second series, vol. vi, p. 278. ' ii, p. 202. His name enters into the Uuor-govan of the Cartulary of Re- don. * Colgan, Acta SS., Hit., Appendix ad Acta S. Furstsi, c. vi, p. 96. VOL. III. L 146 Lives of the British Saints having been for awhile among the East Saxons, they departed for Gaul. Gobhan travelled along with Fursey to Corbeny in the department of Aisne, about sixteen miles south-east of Laon, on the way to Rheims. Here he and a band of brethren separated, after giving each other the kiss of peace, and each chose his own field for labour. Gobhan repaired to Laon and spent some time in the church of S. Vincent, which had been founded by Queen Brunehild after the death of Sigi- bert in 580. Desirous of making a new establishment, Gobhan, accompanied by a single disciple, penetrated to a place in the ancient forest of Vosage (Vosaga sylva, Vosagum foreste), which was haunted by wild beasts, and where he discovered an old fortress on the summit of a steep rock now called Le Mont de I'Hermitage. There, wearied with his journey, he lay down ; folding his hood under his head for a pillow, and planting his staff in the ground, he bade his disciple watch whilst he slept. Singing in his sleep, he chanted the psalm, " Lord, remember David and all his trouble ; how he sware unto the Lord : and vowed a vow unto the Almighty God of Jacob ; I will not come within the tabernacle of mine house : nor climb up into my bed ; I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor mine eyelids to slumber : neither the temples of my head to take any rest ; until I find out a place for the temple of the Lord : an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of the same at Ephrata : and found it in the wood." And then opening his eyes, he saw that a sparkling rill had broken out of the ground where he had set his staff, and he resolved on there setting up his rest for ever. He went to Laon to Clothair II, and asked him to grant the site to him. This the king did, and thenceforth this portion of the forest has borne the name of the Forest of S. Goban. He now set to work to construct a monastery, and to build a church. The people thereabouts were wild and stubborn, and Gobhan could not make much way with them. He interceded in prayer for the natives, praying, " Take away, O Lord, their guilt from them, or else take away my life." In a vision of the night, the Lord spoke to him, and told him that barbarians more savage than the Vandals, were coming out of the North, and that he would fall by their swords. Soon after a horde of invaders swept over the district, laying it waste, and, penetrating to his monastery, cut off his head. He was buried in the church afterwards called by his name. On the wall is inscribed : "0 Gobane gratiam impetres et gloriam his qui tibi serviant," these being the closing lines of a sequence that gives a S. Gredfyw 147 summary of his life. His day is June 20.^ As far as can be judged, the date of his death was in 648. Miss Margaret Stokes gives an interesting account of a visit to S. Goban near Laon.^ " We reached the Hermitage at last ; I found that it had been occupied by a monk even within last century. It stands, as it were, on a tiny island in the middle of a pond filled with those little scarlet gold-fish which shoot like flame through the green depths of the forest mirrored in the water. . . . When I first saw the cave I was almost tempted to believe that it was a dolmen, but its vast size rendered that impossible. The chamber underneath the enormous rock which forms the roof, measures 10 feet 11 inches wide, and 13 feet in depth. Then three little cells, or closets, open at the back. It would be easy, by filling up the small open space behind, and by fixing a door and wooden plank in the front, to make this cave quite air-tight." Near the Calvary at S. Goban is shown a large stone with a hollow in it, supposed to have been made by the saint's head, when he used the block for a pillow. In the parish church are the relics of S. Gobhan, and a statue, as also an interesting sculpture as bas-relief in the retable, representing the life and martyrdom of the saint. Miss Stokes gives a representation of one compartment of the retable, showing Gobhan seated reading near his forest cell. As Gobhan left East Anglia about 634, and Ireland some ten years •earlier, he can hardly have been born before 578; this saint cannot, therefore, possibly be the same as the Gobhan who was cook to S. Ailbe, who died about 530, and the disciple of Senan of Iniscathy, which latter died about 568. There is nothing to lead us to suppose that Gobhan, disciple of S. Fursey, ever was in Pembrokeshire, but there is a probability that his earlier namesake may have been there, as S. Ailbe waT a native of Menevia and had his church, S. Elvis, now a ruin, at Solva. S. GREDFYW, Confessor The pedigree of " Gredfyw of Llanllyfni " is known to occur in but few MSS., e.g. CarAif MS. 5 (1527) and Hanesyn Hen (Cardiff MS. 25), p. 115, where he is given as the son of Ithel Hael of Llydaw, and the 1 Acta SS. Boll., Jun. iv, pp. 23-5. " Three Months in the Forests of France, London, 1893, pp. 217-23. 148 Lives of the British Saints brother of Tegai, Gredifael, Llechid, and others. " Gredfiw of Llan- llyfni," without pedigree, is given by Lewis Morris from one of the MSS. used by him in the compilation of his so-called alphabetical Bonedd y Saints The name of the patron of Llanllyfni is usually written Rhedyw, but this is an error due to not taking into account the initial mutation. ^ Llanllyfni is in Carnarvonshire, and it is there alone that he seems to have left his name, indicating it as the scene of his labours. The parish derives its name from the river. Ffynnon Redyw, his Holy Well, formerly enclosed within a small rectangular building, supplied the water for baptism.^ His shrine, popularly called Bedd Rhedyw, was, until a restoration of the church in the latter part of the eighteenth century, to be seen behind the altar, rising about two feet above the level of the floor ; and outside the church, above the window of Capel Eithinog, is his effigy now very much defaced, which used to be held in great veneration. Opposite the effigy is a stone, now built into the churchyard wall, on which his devotees used to kneel before the effigy, and on which are said to be visible the impress of their knees. There is a local tradition that the saint dwelt at a house in the parish called Eisteddf a Redyw (his seat) , and the remains of his chair are still shown there. The print of his horse's hoof, and the mark of his thumb on a stone near it, are also shown. There is besides a cottage in the parish called Tyddyn Rhedyw.* " The wake is holden on July 6, when a considerable number of persons assemble together to buy harvest implements, horses, and cattle." 5 Others give Gwyl Redyw on November 11.' It does not occur in any of the calendars. S. GREDIFAEL, Confessor Gredifael, Gradifael, or Gredifel, was one of the sons of Ithel Hael of Llydaw,' who migrated to Wales in the second half of the fifth ^ Myv. Arch., p. 426. ^ Ridicus, S. Garmon's father, is irregularly given as Rhedyw in the lolo MSS., and he is once actually styled "saint" (p. 131). Gredfyw would be liable to be reduced to Gredyw, which is the form in Cardiff MS. 5. ^ Arch. Camb., 1847, p. 209. * Ambrose, Hynafiaethau, etc., Nant NantUe, Penygroes, 1872, pp. 16-7 ; Y Gwladgarwr, 1838, p. 44; Lewis, Topog. Diet, of Wales, s.v. Llanllyfni; Cymru, November, 1895, P- 226. ^ Carlisle, Topog. Diet, of Wales, 181 1, s.v. Llanllyfni. ' Browne Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 273 ; Cambrian Register, 1818, iii, p. 224. ' Hanesyn Hhi, p. 115 ; Myv. Arch., p. 426 ; lolo MSS., pp. 112, 114, 133. Cynddelw (twelfth century), in his Ode to S. Tyssilio, seems to connect him with iS. Greit 1/j.g century. He and his favourite brother Fflewyn, we are told in the lolo MSS. — but the statements are utterly unhistorical — were " saints of Cor y Ty Gwyn ar Daf, in Dyfed, where they were with S. Pawl of Cor Illtyd, superintending a Bangor," the foundation of which is also attributed to the three. The two brothers certainly founded a church each in Anglesey. Gredifael founded Penmynydd church, sometimes called Llaiu-edifael. His shrine, Bedd Gredifael is in the little chapel, Capel Gredifael, in the church. It was formerly believed that if a person subject to fits lay for a night on Bedd Gredifael he would be cured of them. Ffynnon Redifael is in Cae Gredifael, near the church. Its water cured warts, which were first pricked with a pin until they bled and then washed in the well. Some half a dozen Welsh calendars, and among them the earlier ones, have his festival entered against November 13 ; two have it against the 14th ; and one against the 22nd. Browne Willis ■■■ gives the 13th, but Nicolas Owen ^ and Angharad Llwyd ^ the 30th. He is included by Dafydd Nanmor in his list of the hundred or more saints to whose guardianship he commits Henry VII.* S. GREIT, Confessor In the Life of S. Elgar, the Bardsey hermit, in the Book of Llan Ddv, written from the account given by him to Caradog, probably of Llancarfan (died c. 1147), reference is made to one Greit or Graid, who is mentioned as a confessor. The hermit related how Dubricius, Deiniol, Padarn, and many another saint, who had been buried in Bardsey, constantly administered, in " the likeness of corporeal sub- stance," to his wants, and how one of them advised him one day to go to the grave of the confessor Greit, near to which, on a stone, God would send him every third morning a fish wherewith to sustain him- self ; but of this diet he by and by grew weary. ^ Nothing is known of Greit, other than that he was one of the 20,000 saints buried in Bardsey. Meifod, Montgomeryshire, where he is credited with having performed a miracle {Myn. Arch., p. 179). He is also mentioned in a poem by Gruffydd ab Meredydd {early fourteenth century), " Pawl pedyr gradivel y del oedv " (Red Book of Hergest, col. 1203 ; Myv. Arch., p. 297). Gradifel was also a district name iGorchestion Beirdd Cymru, 2nd ed., p. 157). ' Bangor, 1721, p. 282. ^ Hist. Anglesey. 177$, V- 5^- ' Hist. Anglesey, 1833, p. 328- * lolo MSS. r. 314. ' P. 3. See under S. Elg.a.r, ii, p. 434. 150 Lives of the British Saints Two or more persons of the name occur, one, the son of Hoevvgi, in the Gododin, and another, the son of Eri, in Culhwch and Olwen. These were probably considerably earlier. S. GRWST, Confessor GwRWST, Gorwst, or Grwst, was the son of Gwaith Hengaer, des- cended from Coel Hen (Godebog) through Urien Rheged. His mother was Euronwy, daughter of Clydno Eiddyn.^ He is the patron of Llanrwst, in Denbighshire, in which parish is also his " Cataract," Rhaiadr Rwst. There was formerly in the church, " a wooden Image of this Saint in y" Breod (? Rood) loft." ^ His festival, Gwyl Rwst, occurs on December i in a good many of the Welsh calendars. A fair used to be held at Llanrwst on the eve of his festival, O.S., and is still held on December 11. This accounts for the dedication of the church being sometimes given as to S. Andrew.* The name of " Sanctus Grwst " occurs with SS. Daniel and Trillo, among the signatories to the grant by'Maelgwn Gwynedd to S. Kentigern. * S. GUDWAL, Bishop, Confessor The Life of S. Gudwal is a recomposition of a much more ancient biography, by a monk of Blandinberg. The Life exhibits a remarkable ^ Peninrih MSS. 16 and 45 ; Hafod MS. 16 ; Hanesyn Hen, p. 113 ; Myv. Arch., p. 425, etc. In the Bonedd in Peniavth MS. 12, where his mother's name is wrongly given as Creirwy, he is called Gwrwst Letlwm, "the half bare," but this was the name of an ancestor, the grandson of Coel. Grwst is in Old-Welsh Gurgust, the literal equivalent of the Irish Fergus = Viro-gustus. The name occurs also in Pictish and Old-Breton. There are two streams in Carmarthen- shire bearing the purely Irish form Fferws, i.e. Fergus. In the Taxatio of 1291, p. 287, Llanrwst is given as Lanwrvst. As a common noun Gwrwst means the cramp. The name is to be distinguished from that of Gwrgwest or Gwrwest, daughter of Ceneu, which, however, is matched by the Breton Gourvest or Gurvest of Plou-gourvest, in Finistere. ^ Bp. Maddox's (1736-43) MS. Z, in the Episcopal Library, S. Asaph. ' Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 364. December i is entered as his day in the calen- dars prefixed to the Welsh Prayer Book and New Testament of 1567, and Bibles of 1588 and 1620. In a sixteenth century Ust of Welsh fairs [Cardiff MS. 11) we have, " Ffair yn llan Rwst gwyl ondras." * Red Book of S. Asaph, p. 118, in the Episcopal Library, S. Asaph. S, Gudwal 151 knowledge of the localities, such as could only have been acquired by one living on the spot ; but along with this occur grotesque blunders, where the Flemish monk who recomposed the Life endeavoured to improve what he found in the text, and by so doing fell into error. This Life is found in the Acta SS. Boll. Jun. i, pp. 729-42 ; a critique thereon in vi, pp. 84-7. The same, abridged by John of Tynemouth, in Capgrave's Nova Legenda AnglicB, but with the addition of a few miracles. The reHcs of the saint were conveyed to Blandinberg near Ghent in or shortly after 919, to preserve them from the ravages of the North- men. With them was doubtless brought the original Vita. This was laid under contribution by a monk of Blandinberg, who was also the author of a sermon on the Translation of the saint. As in this latter there is an allusion to the death of Gilbert, abbot of Blandinberg, which took place in 1138, we may place this Life as a composition of the middle of the twelfth century. Much confusion has been occa- sioned by the identification of Gudwal with a totally distinct per- sonage, Gurwal, Bishop of Aleth. Albert le Grand gives the Life of S. Gxrrwal taken from the old Legendarium in MS. of the diocese of S. Malo, and in this there is not a trace of the fusion ; but in the later Breviary of S. Malo, the two have been identified. On account of the devastation wrought by the Saxons, and the ravages of plague, a great exodus took place from Britain. ^ Cadoc was one of those who fled from the Yellow Plague in 547, and we may assume that he took Gudwal with him. When in Brittany, Cadoc founded a monastery on an islet in the Sea of Etel near Belz. After a while he departed, and committed the charge of his settlement to a monk Cadwaladr. We may suppose that Gudwal was at the time too young and inexperienced to assume the headship. The Isle of S. Cadou is very small, too small for it to be possible for a large community to subsist on it, whereas over against it is another of considerable extent, now occupied by farms. The biographer says that Gudwal elected this larger island to which to retreat, and that he carried off with him a hundred and eighty-eight of the brethren. He says that he went thither for retirement ; but that cannot have been a private retreat, when he had such a number of monks with him. It looks rather as if there had been a schism in the community. According to local tradition, Gudwal disembarked on the promontory of Plec, which the author of the Life calls Plecit. Here to this day is 1 "Sanctus Gudwalus Britanniae finibus ortus, ex nofcili prosap'a : r]n9. tempu.s nativitatis erat quo se mucro furoris domini a terra ilia suspendit ; quam eo usque gladio, fame, et peste afflixit." 152 Lives of the British Saints pointed out the hillock, called Verdon, on which the new settlement was made, and whereon he elicited a spring by striking the soil with his staff. Here stands now a chapel dedicated to S. Brigid, and near it a hch bearing the inscription lAOU.^ On slightly rising ground in the long peninsula, that was then an island, Gudwal planted his caer, his stockaded residence, and a farm- house that recalls him in its name Kergoal, now occupies the site. But the bustle and distraction of the place was too much for Gudwal. Going to the extremity of Le Plec he looked across an arm of the still island sea, and his eye rested on a nook on another island that took his fancy. The inland sea of Etel is in shape like an octopus, with its long, writhing arms extended on every side. The island that now arrested the imagination of Gudwal was one of promontories and bays, and in the depth of one of these bays he planted his place of retreat, Locoal. The land was covered with oak trees. The Blandinberg monk misunderstood the text of the Life he recom- posed, in which the spur of land called Le Plec had been noticed for its length, and it is in fact six miles long. But he took the passage to mean its elevation, and so has converted the low gravelly strip of land into a prodigious cliff ; and knowing nothing of the composition ■of the subsoil, which is granite, he has made this imaginary cliff to be of marble. 2 The author of the Life says that Gudwal contrived an ingenious apparatus (machina) to keep out the tide, and that he em- ployed the monks in raising dykes, and that he established a water mill, probably turned by the outrush of the tidal waters. The embankment was miraculously constructed, according to the Blandinberg monk, as a protection against the furious billows of the ocean. But the sea of Etel ripples under the breeze, the tide enters through a narrow mouth, and never can be lashed into anything more serious than wavelets. Many stories are told of the saint, borrowed from various sources, as that he plucked a thorn out of the foot of a wolf that approached him limping, asking with pleading eyes to be relieved. The old tale of Androcles revived, told also of one of the saints of the Syrian desert. How long Gudwal lived at Plec, with occasional retreats in Lent and for rest at Locoal we are not told, but after a time he wearied of his residence there, and departed to the fringe of the forest of Camors. This Ues to the south of the Tarun, a confluent of the Blavet. Here '■ De la Borderie, Hist, de Bretagne, i. p. 493. ^ " Rupem vastam prominentem, instar habitabilis insulse . . . banc erga marmoreae soliditate innitentem, cum mari in gyro concludebat, nullo inter se compugnantium fluctuum turbine quassat." Acta SS. Boll., Jun. i, p. 730. S. Gudwal 153 resided a chief who had migrated to Cornouaille (in Cornuviam)/ on account of the discord that reigned in his native land. His name is ^iven as Mevor. He probably occupied the old fortress that had belonged there to Conmore. Gudwal sent a deputation to him to ask permission to settle on his land. This was granted, and he formed a colony at Locoal in what since 1790 has been the commune of Camors, at a distance of three kilometres to the south of the present parish church. Here Gudwal collected about him two hundred monks, and here he died. His body was taken back to his former retreat on the Sea of Etel, and there it remained till the ravages of the Northmen at the beginning of the tenth century compelled the monks to abandon the place, and fly with it to Blandinberg in Flanders. An outrageous story is told of his relics by his biographer. In the year 1043, when the body was being borne processionally round the church on his festival, the figure of Christ on the rood suddenly, with a loud report, wrenched out the nails that held the hands, and turning about, respectfully [humilHer) bowed to the body of the saint. S. Gudwal's Day in the Brev. Venet.,1586, and the Vannes Missal of 1530 is June 6 ; as Gurval he occurs in the Vannes Breviary of 1583 and that of 1609. In the fifteenth century MS. calendar of S. Meen on June 7. Whytford has on June 6, " the feest of Saynt Good- wale, a bisshope borne of y^ noble blode of Englonde, that for synguler perfeccyon resygned his mytre and dwelled upon a desolate rocke where he buylded a monastery, and by miracle had there a well of quycke water, and there he gadered clxxxviii monkes ; and because the rome was lytell he went unto the see at the lowest ebbe and charged the see in the name of our Lorde it shold kepe that place and never flowe nearer the monastery, and so had y^ groude for ever ; he heled the seke, reysed ye deed, with many other myracles, and had ravelacios ■of augels." He is entered also in Nicolas Roscarrock's calendar on the same day. A tomb was erected over his grave in Locoal church in 1666, with a figure of the saint on it. But in 1878 the original tomb of the saint is thought to have been found below the floor of the church. No church was founded by the saint in Wales or in Cornwall. The sup- position that Gulval in the latter has him for patron is erroneous. Gudwal is invoked in the tenth century Celtic Litany in the hbrary 1 He had entered Cornouailie. To reach him the messengers were obhged to traverse a vast forest. The BoUandists mistook Cornuvia for Cornwall, and supposed that Gulval by Penzance was founded by S. Gudwal. Comubia is, however, clearly the kingdom of Comubia in Armorica. 154 Lives of the British Saints of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury, as Guidguale.^ In that pub- lished by Mabillon from a MS. at Rheims, as Goidwal ; ^ and in that of S. Vougai as Guidguale. De la Villemarque read Guitgual.* Gud- wal is shortened in Breton into Goal. He has a chapel at Calan in the parish of Brech, Morbihan, also at Ploemel and Pluvigner and Ste. Helene in the same department. S. GUENOLE, see S. WINWALOE. S. GUERNABUI, Priest, Confessor A DISCIPLE of S. Dyfrig, a cleric ; * he was appointed princeps or head of the monastic settlement at Garth Benni.^ Pepiau, son of Erb, King of Erging, granted Mainaur Garth Benni " usque ad paludem nigrum inter silvam et campum et aquam et jacu- lum Constantini regis socri sui, trans Guy amnem " to God and Dubri- cius, and delivered it into the hand of Junapeius.* This is identified as Welsh Bicknor, enfolded by the Wye. What is meant by the " jaculum Constantini regis " is difficult to conjecture, but perhaps it was an upright menhir bearing that name. Guernabui is mentioned as having had an alummis named Gur- guare,'' probably a disciple intended to succeed him in the rule of Garth Benni. He appears to have been associated with Aidan the bishop at the granting of Mafurn by Cinuin, son of Pepiau ; ^ and at the grant by Athruis, King of Gwent, to Bishop Comeregius ; aregrant after devastation, of Lann Cinmarch, Lann Deui, Lann Junabui, and other churches, he appears as Guernapui Gurit Penni, i.e. of Garth- benni, and his disciple Gurguare as of Lann Enniaun, or Llandogo, in Monmouthshire.' Guernabui does not appear to have been a founder, nor to have received any cult. ^ Revue Celtique, 1888, p. 88. ^ Vetera Analecta, 1723, ii, p. 669. ^ Vies des Saints de Bretagne, par Alb. le Grand, ed. 1901, pp. 225-6. * Book of Llan Ddv, pp. 75, yy, 80. His name to-day would appear as Gwerna- bwy. For the second element-&MJ, see under S. Gwenabwy. ' Ibid., p. 164. " Ibid., p. 72. ' Ibid., p. 164. * Ibid., pp. 162-3. * Ibid., pp. 165-6. S. Guorboe [55 S. GUNDLEUS, see S. GWYNLLYW S. GUNGUARUI, see S. ^-SNKSyN and S. WINWALOE S. GUNUINUS, Confessor . GuNUiNus, or Gunuiu, was a disciple of S. Dubricius.^ As Gun- nuinus (otherwise Gunnbiu) Magister he occurs as one of the leading clergy that took part in the election of Oudoceus as Bishop of Llandaff, and were afterwards present at his consecration at Canterbury. ^ He signed two grants to Bishop Berthguin as Gunuiu Lector.* He cannot be identified with the Guinnius that came over with S. Padarn from Brittany to Llanbadarn, and was one of the four Auces whom he placed over the churches he had founded in Cere- digion.* S. GUORBOE, Confessor The little that we know of this saint is to be found in the Book of Llan Ddv. There a grant occurs ^ in which Guoruodu, King of Erging, gave to Bishop Uvelviu an uncia of land, " in the midst of which he erected a building in honour of the Holy Trinity, and there placed his priest Guoruoe," to perform the offices of the church, which was named Lann Guorboe from its first priest-in-charge — a good illustra- tion of the mode of Welsh church " dedication " during the earliest period. The church has been identified, but wrongly, with Garway, in Herefordshire. It is said to be in campo Malochu,^ some distance to the north of Garway. Two later grants, to Bishops Junapeius and Comeregius, are witnessed by " Elhearn Abbas Lann Guorboe." ' Guoruoe, or Guruoe, was clerical witness to two grants in Erging to Bishop Grecielis.* Possibly the persons are not identical. The name would to-day assume the form Gwrfwy or Gorfwy, as would also the Herefordshire river-name Guormui, or Gurmuy,' now known in English as the Worm. 1 Book of Llan Ddv, p. 80, The name would be to-day Gwynfyw. 2 Ibid., pp. 131-2, 140. ' lUd., pp. 182, 189. * Cambro-Briiish Saints, p. 191. 5 P. 162. ' Ibid., p. 165, and see i, p. :09, ii, p. 414 of this work. ' Ibid., pp. 164, 166. * Ibid., p. 170. ' Ibid., pp. 43, 134-5. Gwi-fwy is to be distinguished from Gwrfyw (Gurbiu), 156 Lives of the British Saints S. GUORDOCUI, Abbot, Confessor GuORDOCui was a disciple of S. Dubricius,^ and appears as a witness in two grants made to that saint. ^ Later he is given as abbot ot Llanddewi or Dewchurch, in Herefordshire.^ He must have lived on to the times of Athruis, King of Gwent, son of Mouric, and father of Morcant, for he was one of the witnesses of the regranting of a number of the Dubricius churches to Comeregius, the bishop. But that Comeregius was ever bishop of Llandaff is more than doubtful. Later all the churches granted to him fell under the hand of the Bishop of Llandaff, and then it was feigned that he had been the eighth prelate in that see.* The date of the death of Morcant is probably 663. This is given in the Annales Cambrics, but the Morcant there specified is not spoken of as son of Athruis, so that we cannot be certain. If this be Morcant son of Athruis, usually known as Morgan Mwynfawr, then the date of Athruis would be early in the seventh century. Guordocui would in modern Welsh be Gwrddogwy. S. GUORVAN, Bishop, Confessor A DISCIPLE of S. Dyfrig,5 who witnessed a number of grants to him. His name takes several forms, as Gurvan, Gorvan, and Guoren. As bishop he is named as present when Teudur, son of Rein, and Elgistil, son of August, Kings of Brycheiniog, swore to keep the peace on the altar of S. Dyfrig and the Holy Gospels. After that Teudur slew Elgistil, and was excommunicated by Gurvan and his clergy, who stripped the altar, and laid the crosses on the ground, along with the relics of the saints. Teudur submitted, and paid compensation for his crime by surrendering Lann Mihacgel Tref Ceriau, in Brecknock- shire. ^ The grant has been modernised. There were no churches dedicated to S. Michael before 718,' in Wales, and the compiler of the Book of Llan Ddv altered the ancient name to that by which the place was Icnown in his own day. The church in question has been supposed to he Llanfihangel Tal y Llyn, in Brecknockshire. The same compiler converted Guorvan into the tenth bishop of Llandaff.^ With Llandaff he probably never had anything to do. In the lolo MSS. ^ it is stated that Bishop Gwrfan of Llandaff 1 Book of Llan Ddv, p. 80. ^ Ibid., pp. 75, yy. ^ Ibid., pp. 164, 166. * Ibid., pp. 303, 311. = Ibid., p. 80 « Ibid. pp. 167-8. ' Annales CainbHis, s.a. * Book of Llan Ddv, pp. 303, 311. ' P. 221. S. Guron 157 founded Llansanffraid Fawr, or S. Bride's Major, and the church of Drenewydd Ynottais, or Newton Nottage (now dedicated to S. John Baptist), both in Glamorganshire. S. GURHAUAL, Abbot, Confessor GuRHAUAL, or, as his name is also spelt, Guorhauarn and Gurthauar was " Abbas Ilduti," i.e. Abbot of Llantwit, who was one of the three great abbots of the Diocese of Llandaff. His name occurs as witness to a number of grants in the Book of Llan Ddv during the episcopates of Oudoceus, Berthguin, and Trichan.i S. GURMAET, Confessor A DISCIPLE first of S. Dubricius and afterwards of S. Teilo,^ and patron of Lann Guruaet,^ now Llandeilo 'r Fan, on the Mawen, in Brecknockshire, and also of S. Wormet,* somewhere near Chepstow and Tintern, possibly where stands Howick at present. His name would appear in modern Welsh as Gwrfaed. S, GURON, Hermit, Confessor Leland gives among extracts from the Cartulary of Bodmin, in Cornwall, 5 " Bosmana, id est, mansio monachorum in valle, ubi S. Guronus solitarie degens in parvo tugurio, quod relinquens tradidit S. Petroco." It is probable that Goran in the Deanery of S. Austell was the place to which he retired. He had a chapel at Bodmin, and also at Gorran Haven. The episcopal estate at Goran is called Polgorran. S. Goran ^ See index to Book of Llan Ddv, p. 403. The name occurs as Guorhaual on p. 202, and in Brittany as Uurhamal. For the element-haual, see ii, p. 254. ^ Book of Llan Ddv, p. 115. ' Ibid., pp. 154, 255. * Ibid., p. 323, in the fourteenth century Synodalia. ° Collect, i, p. 75. 158 Lives of the British Saints is called Gorronus in Bishop Brantyngham's Register, 1270, and Goranus in those of 1271 and 1272. According to William of Worcester, he was commemorated in the Bodmin Antiphonary as Woronocus on April 7. His Holy Well is in the churchyard at Bodmin, on the south-west side of the parish church. The village Feast at S. Goran is on Low Sunday. Nicolas Roscarrock conjecturally identifies him with Gwron ab Cunedda.i S. GURTHIERN, Confessor The authority for this saint is a Life in the Cartulary of Quimperle, published by Leon Maitre and Paul de Berthou, Paris, Le Chevalier, 1896, pp. 3-7. It is a document of very slender historic value. It opens with a pedigree of Gurthiern, whom it makes son of Bonus, son of Gloui, son of Abros, son of Dos, son of Jacob, son of Genethan, son of Judgual, son of Beli, son of Outham the Old, son of Maximian (Maximus), son of Constantius, son of Constantine the Great. Bonus is given by Nennius as the son of Gloiu, and brother of Gui- tolin, who was grandfather of Gwrtheyrn, the recreant Vortigern. But all the earlier pedigree above Gloui is fictitious. Gloui is the Gloiu who is said to have built, and given his name to, Caer Loew, or Gloucester [Jesus College MS. 20). The author also gives the maternal ancestry of Gurthiern. His mother was Denoi, daughter of Lidin, King of all Britain. Clearly Tenoi is meant, daughter of Lleuddun Luyddog. She was married to Dingad ab Nudd Hael. The pedigree would stand thus : — Gloiu ^1 Guitolin Bonus = Tenoi = Dingad I I I I I I Guitaul S. Gurthiern S. Lleuddad S. Baglan And others I Gwrtheyrn Gwrtheneu, d. c. 464 There is some chronological blunder in Nennius, in making Gwrthejnrn grandson of Guitolin. In fact, his pedigree cannot be trusted at all. The Life goes on to say that Outham the Old was father of two ' See ii, p. 191. S. Gurthiern 159 sons, Beli and Kenan (Meiriadog), and so identifies him with Eudaf Hen, the father of Helen or Elen, wife of Maximus. ^ This will suffice io show how worthless the genealogy in the Life is. Gurthiern was ■engaged when a young man in a contest, in which he killed his sister's ■son, and, filled with compunction, he retired from the world into a valley " in the northern part of Britain." There he spent a year, .after which, attended by two servants, he departed, and meeting a woman who was carrying a human head, he asked her what she was about. She replied that her son had been decapitated, and that as she could not carry away his body, she was conveying his head to his tomb, " ad monumentum ejus." Gurthiern then miraculously restored the dead man to life, having first replaced the head on his neck. Then he departed to the neighbourhood of the River Tamar, where he and his followers resided for a long time.^ An angel appeared to him, and bade him enter a vessel ^ which he would see floating on the sea. This he did, and was wafted to a cer- tain island off the coast of Armorica, the Isle of Groix, where he re- mained till he received another call to depart to the place prepared for him, named Anaurot (Quimperle), where he remained to the end ■of his days. The writer of this Life informs us that he obtained his material from a certain faithful layman named Juthael, son of Aidan. In addition, we have a document narrating how that in or about 1037 the relics of Gurthiern were discovered in the Isle of Groix. In this document, Gurthiern is entitled " Rex Anglorum," and is made a contemporary of Grallo, King of Cornouaille (470-505), and of Weroc, Count of Vannes (500-550). It makes Grallo the donor to him of Anaurot or Quimperle ; and it further states that at a time when the crops were ravaged by insects, Goeroc (Weroc) sent to Gurthiern an embassy consisting of three men, Guedgual, Catuoth and Cadur, to solicit his aid. The saint blessed some water and bade that the crops afflicted should be sprinkled with it, which done the insects disappeared. In return for this, Weroc granted to him 1 " Ipse Kenan tenuit principatum quando perexerunt Britones ad Romam. Illic tenuerunt Leticiam " (Llydaw). The genealogy further makes Anna ■ cousin of the B. V. Mary, to have been wife of Outham, -who was son of Maxi- mus, killed in 388 1 Gloiu as a man's name is well attested ; three are indexed an the Book of Llan DAv. 2 " Exierunt ad ripam fluminis quod dicitur Tamar, et ibi manserunt long -tempore." . ,, » " Aspicite mare cotidie et veniet ad vos vas in quod intrabitis. i6o Lives of the British Saints the plon of Kervignac on the Blavet, in Morbihan. The name by which Gurthiern is known to the Bretons is Gonlay or Gondle. Where he tarried on the Tamar can only be matter of conjecture. Poughill, near Stratton, near, but not on the Tamar, is dedicated to S. Olaf. It is possible enough that a king saint such as Olaf may- have been substituted for a British royal saint with a name unpro- nounceable by Enghsh mouths. The Feast of Gurthiern was observed in Brittany in the diocese of Quimper on June 29, but was transferred to July 3, on account of its- incidence on the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul. There is a statue of S. Gurthiern in his chapel on the He de Groix,. representing him as an aged hermit, in long habit, bareheaded, and holding a staff. The name Gurthiern is the same as Gwrtheyrn or Vortigern. Usu-- ally, and in calendars and liturgically, the saint is called Gunthiern.. S. GURUID In the Book of Llan Ddv ^ occurs the grant of Meurig, King of Mor- ganwg, to Bishop Oudoceus, of Ecclesia Guruid, which seems to be^ the Llan Irwydd of the Myvyrian Parish -list, ^ where it is entered between the parishes of Llangoven and Llanfihangel Tor y Mynydd,. in Monmouthshire. Guruid is presumably the name of a Welsh saint,, but of him nothing is known. S. GURVAN, Hermit All that we know of Gurvan occurs in the Life of S. Clydog, and'. a grant in the Book of Llan Ddv.^ He, his brother Lybiau (Llibio),. and his sister's son, Cinuur (Cynfwr), left Penychen, one of the ancient cantrefs of Central Glamorgan, owing to some dispute, and settled at Clodock, on the River Monnow, in Herefordshire, and there led an_ eremitical and solitary life. " With the advice and assistance of the- 1 P. 143- ^ Myv. Arch., p. 749. It does not occur in the same list in Dr. GwenogvryA> Evans' Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 919, Llan Issen being substituted for it. ' Pp. 194-S ; see ii, pp. 154, 245, of this work. S, Gurwa/ 1 6 1 Bishop of Llandaff, they built an improved church " on the spot, and Pennbargaut, King of Morganwg, made a grant to it of lands on both sides the Monnow. These three hermits were " the first inhabitants and cultivators of the place after the martyrdom of Clydog." Cinuur had four sons. Ithel, son of Morgan, King of Glywysing, subsequently made a grant of the territory to Bishop Berthguin of Llandaff. S. GURWAL, Bishop, Confessor The authorities for S. Gurwal are : a Life in three lections in the Breviary of S. Malo, 1517 and 1537, Acta SS. Boll. Junii i, p. 727 ; also a Life in Albert Le Grand's Collection, from a Legendarium in MS. of ,the church of S. Malo, now lost. There is a Life in MS. Bibl. Nat., Paris, MS. Fran9ais 22321, p. 776. S. Gurwal was a native of Britain, and almost certainly related to- S. Machu (Malo) and to S. Samson. He is said to have led a religious life from early childhood, and to have been a disciple of S. Brendan, and then to have founded a monastery of which he became abbot. The introduction of S. Brendan is due to his history having been vitiated by the interpolated Life of S. Machu, who was said to have been educated at Llancarfan by Brendan, who was its abbot. Bren- dan never was abbot there ; after Cadoc came EUi, and the names of the successors are known through the Book of Llan Ddv and the car- tulary that follows the Life of S. Cadoc. When Machu retired to Saintes, about the year 614 or 615, he informed his monks that he had designated Guirwal to be his successor, no doubt because he was nearest of kin. On the death of Malo in or about 621 Gurwal was visited by a dele- gation from Aleth, and he reluctantly consented to leave Wales and accompany them to Armorica. He remained over the see but a year and a few months, and then resigned in 622 or 623. He probably found himself incompetent as a bishop. He then retired to Gwern, now called Guer, in the forest of BrecUien, near Ploermel in the diocese of S. Malo, formerly, now included in that of Vannes. There he remained till he died. The parish church there is dedicated to him. The site of his re- treat is I'Abbaye, now a hamlet. An ancient building remains there with round-headed windows, and walls of herring-bone masonry., VOL. in M 1 62 Lives of the British Saints ^' Cela sent, k n'en point douter, I'art remain en decadence, ou le roman primitif ; cest un debris curieux et rare, qui merite d'etre re- ligieusement conserve." ^ S. Gurwal is given in the MS. Missal of S. Malo of the fifteenth cen- tury on June 12, but in the S. Malo Breviary of 1537 on June 6, the same day as S. Gudwal, with whom he is often confounded, but with whom he has no connexion. The S. Malo Breviary of 1627 on June 6. Under the name of Gurguaer or Gurguall, he is invoked in the eleventh century Litany published by D'Arbois de Jubainville.^ It is difficult to discover his name in Gwent, where it should be sought. 3 S. GUYER or GUIER, Hermit, Confessor When S. Neot came to the place now called after him, he found a cell that had been occupied previously by a venerable hermit, named Guier, and he took up his residence in it. Nothing is known about him. Nicolas Roscarrock enters on May 7, " Deposition of S. Wier, Con- fessor." A chapel was dedicated to him at S. Neot. S. GWAINERTH, Hermit, Confessor . Of this saint we know but little. His church, Lann Sant Guainerth, is mentioned in the Book of Llan Ddv * as one of the churches in Erging belonging to that see. It is now known as S. Weonard's, on the old coach-road from Hereford to Monmouth. The Welsh form of the church-name is somewhat unusual. It was not the practice among the Welsh to " style " a purely Welsh saint. The saint is said to have been a hermit, who sought retirement Jiere, and was formerly represented as an old man sustaining a book ^ Rosenzweig in Bulletin politique, 1872, p. 142. * Revue Celtique, iii, p. 449 ; xi, pp. 136, 143. , ' In Revue de Bretagne, Dec, 1909, M. de Calan maintains the identity of Gudwal with. Gurwal, but this M. Loth, a better authority, will not admit. * Pp. 275—7. It is to be distinguished from Lan Waynarth, now Llanwenarth, on the Usk, in Monmouthshire: S. Gwarthan 163 a.nd with an ox in the painted glass that adorned the north chancel window of the church. ^ S. GWALEHES, Hermit, Confessor All we know of this saint is to be found in the Life of S. Cadoc ^ '{Cotton Vesp. A. xiv). His name is written in the MS. Gualehes, -Gualees and Walees. One day Cadoc sailed with his two disciples, Earruc and Gwalehes, from the island of Echni (the Flat Holmes) to the island of Barry, both in the Bristol Channel. On landing he asked them for his enchiridion, or manual. They repli-ed that they Jiad lost it on the Flat Holmes. In a fury he ordered them to re-embark and recover it, and cursed them that they might never return. They Tvent on their errand and found the book, and started on their return journey. Cadoc was sitting on a hill-top in the island awaiting their return, and saw in the distance their boat suddenly overturn, and both men drowned. Barruc's body was cast on Barry Island, and buried there, but that of Gwalehes " was carried by the sea to the island of Echni, and there buried." The manual was afterwards found inside a salmon caught by his attendants for Cadoc'S dinner, "free from all injury by water." Gwalehes is mentioned by Camden, who says that he was a disciple of Barruc, as he learned from an ancient monument in Llandaff Cathedral, but gives no copy of the inscription. Last century a tombstone was found on the Flat Holmes, conjectured to be that of the saint, but simply bore a cross. ^ S. GWARTHAN, Martyr Gwarthan was the son of Dunawd ab Pabo Post Prydyn, and "brother of SS. Deiniol and Cynwyl. His mother was Dwywai, daughter •of Lleenog. His title to saintship, which is somewhat doubtful, ^ Arch. Camb., 1855, p. 161 ; 1861, p. 116. Kerslake, in his Saint Richard, 1890, p. 33, makes a mistake when he identifies Gwainerth with S. Fingar pr Gwinear. ^ ' Cambro-British Saints, pp. 63-4. The Isle of Gresholm, off the coast of Pembrokeshire, is called in Welsh Gwales. ^ Ibid., p. 357. 164 Lives of the British Saints rests entirely upon the late documents in the lolo MSS^ He and his brothers are there credited with having had a share in the establish- ing of Bangor Iscoed. Previously the three were " disciples " at Llancarfan, where Gwarthan was Cadoc's periglawr or confessor, and it was Cadoc that sent them to " superintend " the Bangor. He was " killed by the pagan Saxons in their wars in the North. His church is Llanwarthen,^ in the Vale of Clwyd." There is no trace whatever to-day of a church of the name in the Vale. He was a warrior, and appears to have fallen in the battle of Catraeth. He is mentioned in the Gododm as " Guarchan, son of Dwywei, of gallant bravery." * S. GWARW Some late writers * mention Gwarw or Gwarwg as a saint of Gwent, by whom is meant the patron of the church still called by the Welsh Llanwarw,^ but by the English, Wonastow, near Monmouth. It is usually given to-day as dedicated to S. Gwyno or Wonnow. Its real patron, however, is the well-known S. Winwaloe. In the Book of Llan Ddv ^ the church is called Lann Gunguarui, which occurs later as Wonwarrowstow, Wonwarestowe, etc. Gwarw represents-guarui. The English would appear to have preserved the first, and the Welsk the last part of the name.' See further under S. Winwaloe. S. GWAWR, Matron All the authorities, both early and late, agree in the few particulars there are respecting this saint.^ She was a daughter of Brychan. 1 Pp. 126, 129, 1 50-1 ; and ii, pp. 275, 326, of this work. 2 " Lanwarthan " is the spelling of a submanor name of Narberth in a charter- of 141 3-4 (Edw. Owen, Catal. of MSS. relating to Wales in Brit.Mus., p. 626). ' Skene, Four Ancient Books, ii, p. 91 ; i, p. 407. Stephens, in his Gododin,: makes Gwarthan succeed his father in his patrimony of Gododin (see the index, p. 412). « E.g. lolo MSS., p. 144. ^ Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 919 ; Myv. Arch., p. 749. It: occurs also as Llanwarwg. * P. 201. ' Y Cymmrodor, xi, p. 85. ' Cognatio de Brychan', Cambro-British Saints, p. 271 ; Myv. Arch., pp. 4I9>. /S. Gweirydd 165 ■Brycheiniog, and became the wife of Elidyr Lydanwyn and mother -of the well-known bard Llywarch Hen. Elidyr was a prince of the Northern Brythons, of the race of Coel Hen, and Llywarch's patrimony we learn, was Argoed Llwyfain, which Skene locates on the river Leven.'"- The Progenies Keredic and the pedigrees in Jesus College MS. 20 give a Gwawr who was daughter of Ceredig ab Cunedda Wledig and mother of Gwynllyw, the father of S. Cadoc ; but elsewhere she is Gwawl. The former document mentions also a Pedyr Lanwaur who was nephew to Gwawr. Lanwaur here may stand for either Llan Wawr or Llan Fawr, but the exact situation of the church and whether this Gwawr may be regarded as its foundress, are questions which cannot be satisfactorily determined.^ S. GWAWRDDYDD, Matron GwAWRDDYDD is given as one of the reputed daughters of Brychan, but her name occurs only in the late lists of his children. ^ According to these she was the wife of Cadell Deyrnllwg, and mother of Cyngen ; but she has clearly been confounded with Tudglid, the wife of Cyngen, and mother of Cadell. She is sometimes said to have been a saint in Merionethshire, in particular at Towyn.* Gwenddydd, another reputed daughter of Brychan, is connected with Towyn, and so is Cerdech, another daughter. See under both names. S. GWDDYN, see S. GWYDDYN S. GWEIRYDD, King, Confessor All that we know of this saint, whose title to a place among the Welsh saints is extremely doubtful, is to be found in a document 426 ; lolo MSS., pp. Ill, 120, 140. Gwawr, and also Gwawrddydd, are names for Aurora and the dawn. ' Four Ancient Books, ii. p. 413. * See, however, Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, pp. 469-70. » Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 426 ; lolo MSS., pp. iii, 120, 140. Geoffrey of Mon- mouth gives a Gwawrddydd, daughter of Efrog. * Peniarth MS. 178 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 270. r 6 6 Lives of the British Saints printed in the lolo MSS. ^ from a MS. circa 1580, which gives the- " Names and Genealogy of the Kings of Glamorgan from Morgan Mwynfawr to lestyn ab Gwrgan," wherein it is stated, " Gweirydd ab Brochfael was a wise, but unfortunate king ; for diseases and rough, ungenial seasons had greatly damaged the country ; being the calamitous consequences of wickedness that occurred in his age ; and which emanated from a prevalent recourse to depravity, ille- gality, and impious abominations. He built the church of Llan- weirydd, which is now called Y Caerau, where he had a mansion, although he held his court at Cardiff." Gweirydd was the sixth in descent from Morgan Mwynfawr, who died circa 665. He must, therefore, have lived about the latter part of the ninth century. He was succeeded by his son Arthfael. Caerau Church, in Glamorganshire, is now dedicated to S. Mary., It goes without saying that the name Caerau (the Fortifications),, by which alone the place is to-day known, is considerably older than Llanweirydd. S. GWEN of Cornwall, Matron GwEN, daughter of Cynyr of Caer Gawch, and sister of S. Non, was- married to Solomon or Selyf , King of Cornwall, and became the mother of S. Cybi. 2 Nothing is recorded of her. She must have received her sister in Cornwall, and obtained for her an extensive grant of land. And she herself founded a church, now called S. Wenn. Selyf is thought to have fallen early, in Armorica, to which he had gone, as the first settlers regarded themselves as still under the rule of their princes in Britain, and made domain lands for them in their new colony, and Selyf is said to have been murdered by pagans there. But the authorities for this are untrustworthy. A S. Gwenne or Candide is venerated in Brittany in the diocese of Vannes, but it is doubtful if this be Gwen the wife of Selyf. She is 1 Pp. 12-17. Geoffrey of Monmouth mentions a Gweirydd, Bruts, pp. 94-8, who in the Latin text occurs as Arviragus. The name is met with also in the Record of Caernarvon, p. 60. For a Glamorgan aged hermit of the name, who dwelt in a cave underground, and was regarded as a sorcerer, see Sir J. Rhys, Celtic Folklore, p. 189. The name is distinct from Gwerydd. ' Hanesyn HSn, p. 109 ; .Myv. Arch., p. 421. Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 119 gives Gwen, daughter of Tewdwr Mawr, as mother of S. Elian, but it is a mis- reading for Cenaf or Cena. /S. Gwen 167 commemorated there on October 3, according to Garaby, but this is Gwen Teirbron, and his authority is not great. The Feast of S. Wenn is on October 18. Oengus in his Felire has on October 3, " Candida, a happy sun " ; but Gorman has, " Candidus, a chaste man." On this day in the Roman Martyrology is Candidus, a Martyr at Rome. He does not appear in Usuardus, but in Bede's additions ; and in some of the versions of the Martyrology of S. Jerome is Candida or Candidus. On the strength of this doubtful martyr, and of doubtful sex, Gwen has been given this day. S. Gwen daughter of Cynyr has received no cult in Wales. Dedications to her in Devon and Cornwall are : — ■ The parish church of S. Wenn, and that of Morval. A ruined chapel at S. Kew, and another at Hartland (Bp. Stafford's Register, 1400). At S. Wenn in S. Kew is a very early rude cross. The parish church of S. Wenn is called Ecclesia Sts Wennse in the Registers of Bishop Bronescombe, 1260 ; Bishop Grandisson, 1329 ; Bishop Brantynghame, 1371. There is an entry in William of Worcester of a S. Candida or Whyte which is a translation of the name given, at " Whyte-chyrche per [not filled in) miliaria de Cherde, et dedicata die Pentecosten," and here reposed her body. It has been supposed that the name originates from a mistake. When the first stone churches were erected, they were whitewashed, and so acquired the names of Whitchurches. But when this practice became obsolete, then some other reason was sought to explain the name, and it was assumed that a S. White or Candida was the patron- ess. Whitchurch-Canonicorum, near Lyme-Regis in Dorset is placed under the two-fold dedication of S. Candida and S. Cross. There is also a Whitchurch-cum-Felton near Bristol. The existing church is dedicated to S. Gregory, but was formerly considered to have been under the patronage of S. Candida. But see what is said hereon under S. Gwen Teirbron. S. Candida, a Roman martjn:, was commemorated on August 29. Another Candida martyr in Africa on January 5, and another martyr also in Africa on March 9. AS. Candida martyr at Alexandria on March 21, and one of the same name at Carthage on September 20. A S. Guen or Candida is culted at Scaer in Finistere, and it is sup- posed that she is identical with S. Ninoca ; but this is doubtful. She is there represented as an abbess, and an abundant holy well bears her name. 1 6 8 Liwes of the British Saints S. GWEN of Talgarth, Matron GwEN was a daughter of Brychan according to both the early and the late lists of his children.^ She founded the church of Talgarth, in Breconshire, where, according to the lolo MSS.^ she was " killed by the pagan Saxons." In the Cognatio she is unmatched, but other accounts give her as the wife of LIjtt Merini, and mother of Caradog Freichfras. Clodfaith, a reputed daughter of Brychan, is also said to have been a saint at Talgarth, as well as in Emlyn.^ Browne Willis * and others enter Gwendeline against Talgarth, but its true dedication is to Gwen. S. GWEN TEIRBRON, Matron This saint was the daughter of Emyr Llydaw, a grand-daughter of Aldor, an early chief in Armorica, who had his headquarters where is now Castelaudren. She was married to Eneas Lydewig, probably in Armorica, and became the mother of S. Cadfan. ■' She was left a widow, and then married Fracan, cousin of Cador or Cado, Duke of Cornwall, and with him migrated back to Armorica, They had two children, Jacob or James and Gwethenoc ; and, after arriving in Brittany, two more, Winwaloe and Cleirve. Owing to her having been twice married, and having a family by each husband, she was called Teirbron, or the Three-breasted ; and the author of the Life of S. Winwaloe, Wurdistan, states that she actually had this conformation.® But there is nothing of this in the Life of her other sons, SS. James and Gwethenoc. In like manner, a woman who was thrice married, and had a family by each husband was called Four- breasted.' ' Cognatio de Brychan ; Jesus College MS. 20 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 270 ; lolo MSS., pp. Ill, 140; Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 426. " P. 120. ' ii, p. 151. * Parochiale Anglicanum, 1733, p. 182. Jones, in his Brecknockshire, ed. 1898, p. 473, thought it should be to Gwenfrewi, as also the church of Vaynor {supposed to be to Gwendeline), in the same county. '■ Myv. Arch., p. 425 ; lolo MSS., p. 112. There is an account of her in Arch. Camb., 1864, pp. 40-3, where is also an illustration of the statue in the chapel of S. Venec. " " Parente eorundem (sc. Uueithnoci et Jacobi) Alba (Gwen) nomine, quas cognominatur Trimammis, eo quod ternas, sequato numero natorum, habuit mammas." Vita Sti, Winwaloei in Cart. Landeven, p. 9. ' Deirinell, mother of SS. Domangart and Mura, was called Four-Breasted, because she reared three families, a pair of breasts being allowed only to the first family. ''.If ^ STATUE OF GWEN TEIRBRON AND HER SONS, WINWALOE, GWETHENOC AND JAMES. In the Chapel of S. Venec. S. Gwen Teirbron 169 m As related to the ruling family, she was granted tracts of land „. Domnonia, one, now called Pleguien, is near Lanvollon in Goello. In^ the church there she is represented seated, with three breasts, a ■child in each arm, and another lying at her feet. The cure being some- what ashamed of the statue has relegated it to the tower. The Pardon there is on the Sunday in the Octave of S. Anne. She also had a settlement in Kemenet lUi, at Plouguin near Plou- dalmezeau. In the chapel of the chateau of Lisguen in the parish, is an altar painting representing her, and Fracan, and S. Winwaloe. Her third breast is there ingeniously disguised as a broad gold brooch. In the park are remains of a chapel of S. Winwaloe. A third settlement was at S. Guen in Cotes du Nord, near Mur. She has, however, been abandoned as patroness for a S. Guenin, Bishop of Vannes. But that the place was originally a -plou of hers would appear from there having been in the parish a chapel of S. Fracan. Between Quimper and Chateaulin is the chapel of S. Venec, in the parish of Brasparts. In this chapel is a statue of her, three-breasted, and with her three sons by Fracan, James, Gwethenoc and Winwaloe. Also another statue, of a saint in armour, probably Cadfan, who has a chapel in the parish. More statues of the Three-breasted Gwens existed, but they have been got rid of by the cures, who have buried them, regarding them as somewhat outrageous and not conducive to devotion. ' Nursing mothers offer to her a distaff and flax, to secure the desired quantity of milk. Garaby gives October 3 as the day of commemoration of S. Gwen, but see what has been said thereon in the preceding article but one. Nicolas Roscarrock gives June i. For further particulars see S. Fracan. The church of Whitchurch-Canonicorum in Dorset is dedicated to S. Candida or White ; and in it is the shrine of the saint in the transept. Beneath the east window is the recessed tomb of the saint. The monu- ment consists of two parts. The lower part is composed of an old thirteenth-century base brought from some other place and rebuilt in its present position. There are openings, three in number, beneath the tomb for the insertion of handkerchiefs, etc., to touch the shrine. On the top of this old base is a plain fourteenth-century coffin, covered with a Purbeck marble slab. This coffin was opened by the Reverend Sir Wilham Palmer, in 1848, and found to contain a stone box in which were some bones, the supposed relics of S. Candida. The monu- 1 Bulletin de la Soc. Arch, de FinisUre, ii (1874-5), p. 104. I 7 o Lives of the British Saints ment is locally known as the " shrine of S. Candida." In 1899 there was a dangerous settlement of the walls of the north transept owing to the sinkage of the clay soil, and in March 1900 an ominous fissure appeared. The work of underpinning the walls and putting in a foundation of cement, was carried out by the then Vicar, the Rev. Charles Druit. It was during the execution of this work that the re-discovery of the relics was made. The broken end of the coffin having been withdrawn from under the Purbeck marble slab, there was seen within the end of a leaden casket of eight inches square, and on it, cast in raised letters on the lead, was the following inscription of the twelfth or early thirteenth century : — CT. Reliqe See. W. Further examination showed that the floor of the coffin was covered with dust and many fragments of bone, wood, and lead, including two perfectly sound teeth, one molar and one incisor. The reliquary itself, on being carefully drawn out, was seen to contain a large num- ber of bones, presumably those of a small woman of about forty years of age. These were not disturbed in their resting-place, but one of the thigh bones which lay uppermost was measured, and was found to be 13 J inches long. The larger fragments found on the floor of the coffin were placed with the rest of the bones in the reliquary, and all the smaller fragments and dust were reverently collected into a small metal box and placed within the coffin. The lead reliquary had been found torn, but on one side that was uninjured was found, cast in raised letters, the following inscription : — ^ Hie. Requesct Rliqe, See. Wite. All the relics were carefully replaced in the stone coffin, the broken end being securely cemented in its place. Now, who was this S. Candida, or White ? The Church of Whitchurch-Canonicorum was founded by King Alfred. In 919-920, Matuedoi, Count of Poher, " cum ingenti multi- tudine Britonum," fled from Brittany to England, carrying with them the relics of their saints. They were kindly received by Athelstan, who was not then king, and he located them in various places, mainly, probably, on the south coast and in Cornwall, where they might be among those speaking the same tongue. At Wareham in Dorset have been found inscribed stones bearing British names, but in a Breton form, and similar, if not identical, with forms found in Breton cartu- laries of the ninth and tenth centuries. It has been conjectured that these are monuments of some of these Breton refugees. ■■■ ' McClure, British Place-names, S.P.C.K., 1910, p. 161. iS. Gwenabwy I Now we know that Athelstan gave relics of various Breton saints to churches in Wessex, and it is by no means unlikely that he thus en- dowed the church of Whitchurch, founded by his grandfather, with the bones of S. Gwen, the mother of such illustrious saints as S. Cadfan and S. Winwaloe, and which the Breton refugees would certainly carry away with them to save them from the depredations of the North- men. Athelstan might be the more led to give the body of S. Gwen to Whitchurch, because of the name, Gwen being white in English. In Brittany she is variously called S. Candide and S. Blanche. Accord- ing to the legend there told, she was carried off by English pirates to London, but she climbed down the side of the ship and walked back to Brittany over the water, but not tiU one of the pirates with an axe had chopped off two of her fingers. ^ In the legend she is not regarded as a virgin, but as a mother of several sons. In the legend there is mani- fest confusion. There is a reminiscence of the pirates, but she is made to be carried off by them, instead of her body being taken away from them. And she is represented as conveyed to England ; which prob- ably was true of her body. On the Church of Whitchurch are sculp- tured representations of a ship, a pike, and an axe, as well as of the water-avens, and conceivably the ship and pike may bear some refer- ence to the pirates, and the axe to the mutilation of her hand in the popular legend, whilst the water-avens would symbolise her name. What helps to make the conjecture more probable, that the Candida of Whitchurch is S. Gwen Teirbron, is that Scaer, the church of which is dedicated to her under the name of Candida, was in the county of Poher. S. GWENABWY, Matron GwENABWY or Gwenafwy was one of the reputed daughters of Caw, and is said to have a church dedicated to her in Anglesey, where she lies buried. 2 No church is dedicated to her in Anglesey or Wales to- day ; but we may probably regard her as the foundress of Gwennap in Cornwall, which has as patroness S. Weneppa. Bishop Brones- 1 Sebillot (P.), Petite Lis^ende DorSe de la Haute-Bretagne, Nantes, 189-. 2 Peniarth MS. 75 ; lolo MSS., pp. 117. i43- The second element of the name, -pui, mutated into -hui, -bwy, occurring also in Guorapui (-abui), Gwernabwy, Junabui (Latinized Junapeius), Rhonabwy, etc., is the Early Goidelic genitive poi, " of a son, or boy, or descendant." Sir J. Rhys, Celtae and Galh, 1905, p. 43- 172 Lives of the British Saints combe's Register, 1226, gives, " Ecclesia Sanctas Weneppas." So also in the Taxation of Pope Nicolas IV, 1288-91, and the Registers of Bishop Grandisson, 1342, 13,49, Bishop Stapeldon, 1310, and Bishop Brantyngham, 1377, 1392. If the S. Winnow on the Foye River be a foundation of Gwynog, son of Gildas, which is uncertain, then Gwenabwy had a nephew in Cornwall. What is more certain is that she had there her great- nephews, Ffili and Eval. According to the story of Culhwch and Olwen she was married to Llwyddeu, son of Nwython, and had a son, Gwydre, whom " Huail his uncle stabbed ; and there was hatred between Huail and Arthur because of the wound." ^ Gwenabwy was also the name of a chieftain, the son of Gwen, who figures in the Gododin. " Equal to twelve " was he. Gwynabwy occurs as a lay witness in the Book of Llan Ddv.'^ S. GWENAEL, Abbot, Confessor Although Gwenael is a Saint only doubtfully known in Wales, yet he has left faint traces of his presence in Cornwall, and we know from his Life that he spent some years in Britain and in Ireland, where he is said to have founded two monasteries. It is accordingly advisable to give an account of him. The authorities for his story are as follows : — 1. A Life composed in the tenth century, before the translation of liis body to Paris under Hugh Capet, about the year 950. Of this two MSS. are extant, one in the Bibliotheque royale at Brussels, No. 8,931, the other, divided into nine Lections was in the Library at Corbeil, but is now lost, yet a copy exists made by John Baptist Macculdus, S. J., in 1635. This Life has been published by the Bollandists, Acta SS. Nov. 3, I, pp. 674-8. 2. A second Life by Guido de Castris, Abbot of S. Denys, in the thirteenth century, published by Menardus, lib. ii, p. 368. 3. A life by Albert le Grand in his Vies des Saints Bretons, derived from the Breviaries of Leon, Vannes and Quimper. He also used the Life composed in the tenth century. Gwenael was son of Romelius, Count {comes) in Brittany, and of Letitia his wife. At his baptism he was given his name, which ^ Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 109. ' P. 122. *S'. Gwenael 173 signifies "The White Angel." One day, when Gwenael was quite a child, S. Winwaloe accompanied Romelius on his way from one of his cells to his abbey of Landevennec. Albert le Grand says that the place was Quimper, and that Winwaloe had come there to visit S. Corentine, but this is wholly unsupported by the texts we possess. Something bright and pleasant in the face of the little lad attracted Winwaloe's attention, and he said to him, " Would you like, my boy, to follow me to my monastery and there serve God continually ? " " I would desire nothing better," answered the child, and without a word to his parents, he followed the Abbot to Landevennec. Albert le Grand gives fuller details, which we have quoted in the Life of S. Winwaloe. Albert says that Gwenael was seven years old when he went to Landevennec, and that he remained there three years before he was invested with the monastic habit, and he was forty-three years in Landevennec before Winwaloe died. There is nothing of this in the Vita i"'", but we cannot suppose that Albert le Grand invented these very precise statements. He was a conscientious compiler ; he added flourishes of his own, but did not manufacture facts. ^ The Vita i™" says that when Winwaloe was dying, his monks urged him to nominate a successor, and he indicated Gwenael as the most suitable to fill his room. The early Life, on the contrary, implies that Gwenael was scarcely out of his noviciate when appointed abbot. ^ This is incredible, and we are more disposed to accept the statement of le Grand based on some text that has not come down to us. Gwenael remained in charge of Landevennec for seven years, ^ and then he betook himself to Britain and to Ireland, attended by twelve monks. He founded one large monastery in Britain, and another in Ireland, and fifty congregations of pious men placed themselves undef his direction.* At last he resolved on returning, after four years spent in Britain and Ireland,^ and he took back with him fifty monks. ' He relied on the Quimper Breviary. " Vix septennis," say the Vannes Breviary and that of Quimper. " Decennis habitum religionis indutus," Brev. Quimper. ' " Beatus Guenailus in his verbis aggressus est : Quo sensu, pater, qua ratione, quo consilio, maturis juvenem sapientibus imprudentem, exercitatis neophytum et rudem vis praeponere ? Necdum subesse didici, etpraeesse jam cogor ; nec- dum monachum feci, et in abbatem eligor ? ImbeciUibus humeris imponitur regiminis onus, cui frequentissime succumbunt ipsi fortiores ? " Vital""', Acta SS. Nov. i, p. 675. ' " Septem annos integros . . . praefuit." Ibid. ; and again, " Septem annis expletis . . . disgrediehs." * " Monasteria duo, alterum in Brittannia, alterum in Scotia construxit.' " Quinquagenta coenobiorum conventus , . . patrocinio famuh Dei sese com- miserunt." Jbid, p. 676. = Albert le Grand. 174 Lives of the British Saints Gwenael arrived in Cornubia (Cornouaille) in the reign of Rigomalus, who received liim and his monks favourably. Rigomalus looks like a tenth-century version of Rigmael ; but no such prince is known. There was a Righael or Rivol, who was the murderer of his brother Meliau and of his nephew Melor, and the Life in Albert le Grand calls him by the name. The author of Vita i™ calls this prince, " Vir honestate, justitiaque prseclarus, qui et eandem (Cornubiam) tam moribus quam legibus venustavit." But hagiographers painted princes in fair colours if they were large benefactors, and blackened them if otherwise, regardless of their moral qualities. It is, however, reasonable to set down this laudation of Rivol to the ignorance of the biographer, who added the flourish to fill out a sentence, concluding that the prince was all that could have been desired because he received Gwenael well. In Cornubia the saint now founded three monasteries, after which he departed to the Isle of Groix, where he remained for several years and made monastic settlements on it. Again a spirit of restlessness came over him, and he left the island and settled on the mainland in the county of Vannes, wherehe drove away a wolf with her cubs, and elicited a spring of water. Once, when on his way to the monastery of " Chaloteti," a stag that was being pursued fled for protection to him from the hunters, and this led to a meeting with Count Weroc, who forthwith made to him a grant of two vills. At length, full of days, and worn with labours, Gwenael died on November 3. We find a different account of his movements in Albert le Grand. On leaving Britain, Gwenael and his party landed on the Isle of Groix, and not after a course of foundation-making in Cornubia, as the first biographer intimates. He did not remain some years on the isle, but a few days only, and then went on by boat to Landevennec, where he was received with great joy,""- and where he remained for the space of three years. ^ Then only did he visit Rivol or Rualo ^ as called in the Breviary lessons, and remained in Cornubia for some — as we learn by the sequel — six years, and after that migrated into the territory of Vannes. ^ " Hinc ad suum coenobium perrexit, ubi incredibili omnium religiosorum laetitia exceptus est." Brev. . Quimper. ^ " Monasterium. Landevenecense, cui sex festituit, triennio . . . inhabi- tant." Ibid. ' " Hinc ad locum Corisopitensis agri desertum profectus, novum in territorio, a comite Rualone date, monasterium erexit." Ibid. S. Gwenael 175 He had not been there nine months before he encountered Weroc the ■Count, who made a grant of lands to him. Then he returned to Lande- vennec, and remained there for four years till his death, which took place when he was seventy-five according to one account, seventy ■according to another. ^ It will be seen that there is a precision as to dates of his life which lacks in the Vita i""", and that the order of events is reasonable and probable, whereas that in the First Life is quite unmeaning. This latter ■does not make Gwenael return to Landevennec at all after his return from Britain and Ireland. In the Vita 2''" we have him make this abbey his headquarters from which he undertakes diversions so as to secure fresh sites for cells to his monastery. The Vita i""* seems to have been composed by some one unac- quainted with the localities, and who was furnished with scraps of biographical matter that were not in chronological order. He makes his hero found several monasteries in the Isle of Groix, which is six miles long and two broad, and which could not have supported so many similar institutions. Where " Chaloteti " can be, it is perhaps vain to ask. The biographer blundered over a name which he did not understand, or misread. He avoids precise statements as to the periods in the Life of Gwenael, such as are given with much exactitude in the Vita 2,^", and he is also vague as to the localities where he settled temporarily. On the other hand, he makes up for exact historical matter by much rhetorical adornment, a common trick with biographers deficient in matter. The Life by Albert Le Grand, based on the Acts in the Breviaries, seems to us a far more reliable guide than that printed in the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists. The chronology of Gwenael's Life according to the Vita 2''" is as follows : — • Gwenael, aged seven, follows Winwaloe. Assumes the habit Becomes abbot at the age of Departs for Britain Returns to Landevennec Retires to a solitude in Cornubia Leaves for Vannes Returns to Landevennec Dies ..... aged 10 years. SO 57 61 64 70 71 75 But when we come to fix the dates we encounter numerous diffi- culties. Kerdanet's note to Albert le Grand, ed. 1837. 176 Lives of the British Saints Three years after his return from Britain, he is brought into rela- tions with Rivol, Prince of Cornouaille. The date of this prince is- given with some approacli to exactitude by De la Borderie as 538-544. When aged seventy, he goes into the territory of Vannes, where he meets with the Count Weroc who makes to him a grant of lands. There were two of the name, the elder died in 550 as nearly as can, be judged. He was at once succeeded by his son Canao, who murdered, three of his brothers, and would have murdered a fourth, Macliau, but for the interposition of S. Felix, Bishop of Nantes. MacUau swore to submit to his brother, then broke his oath, raised a party, took up arms,. was defeated by Canao, and flew for refuge to Conmore, Regent of Domnonia. Canao fell in 560, but before that, Macliau had slipped into the city of Vannes, got himself elected and consecrated Bishop, and maintained himself there in defiance of his brother. On the death of Canao, Macliau seized on the county, and ruled. Broweroc as Count and Vannes as Bishop. He was killed in 577 and then his son Weroc II succeeded and ruled till about 594. Consequently, if we take 544 as the date when Gwenael received grants from Rivol, we have 550 as the date when he encountered Weroc, but this cannot have been Weroc I , who died about this date ;: and Weroc II was not count till twenty-seven years later. This, presents a difficulty that can only be got over by supposing that Macliau had his domain about the place where Gwenael settled,, and that his son as a youth hunted there and met the saint and. prevailed on his father to concede to the saint certain trefs ; that this took place during the temporary reconciliation between Macliau. and Canao, and that, further, the biographer has given to Weroc the title of Count before he had any right to it. That this assumption is not destitute of probability may be gathered from the precipitate return of Gwenael to Landevennec shortly after having received the promise of the two estates. We might have ex- pected that he would have remained in Broweroc to consolidate his. foundation there ; instead of that, he remained in the district in all but nine months and left it never to go there again. Hostilities- broke out between Macliau and Canao immediately after the donation had been made. Macliau was defeated and fled for his life, and any grant he or his son had made was no longer effective. But later, after Canao's death and that of Gwenael, the disciples of the saint probably reminded Weroc of his undertaking, and when he actually was Count, he may have confirmed it to the representatives of Gwenael ; and thus,, the biographer was led to antedate his title. We come next to a much more difficult problem, that concerning the- S. Gwenael 177 date of the death of Winwaloe, and the succession of Gwenael to the abbacy of Landevennec. Winwaloe died on Wednesday in the first week in Lent, which fell that year on March 3.1 The fast of Lent among the Celts began, as in the Church of Milan, not on Ash Wednesday, but on the Monday after the First Sunday. ^ Moreover, had Wurdistan, the biographer of Winwaloe, meant Ash Wednesday, he would have said, " Wednesday, the first day of Lent," and not, " March 3, the fourth day in the first week of Lent." We might suppose that in the sixth century, the Church in Armorica observed the Celtic computation and not the Roman. Now by the Celtic reckoning, the only years in which Easter Day fell on April 11, and Wednesday in the first week in Lent on March 3, were 499, 583 and 594. The first date is too early, and the others too late. But did the Church in Brittany in the sixth century observe the Celtic reckoning for Easter ? It is true that many Celtic usages re- mained in force in that Church till late. In 818 the Emperor Louis the Pious, having defeated Morvan, the Breton prince, received Matmonoc, abbot of Landevennec, and inquired of him what were the peculiar customs in the Breton monasteries. The abbot informed him that they followed the usages of the Scots or Irish. Thereupon Louis issued an order addressed to all the monasteries in Brittany, requiring the abandonment of the Celtic tonsure, and such other customs as were peculiar, and the acceptance of the rule of S. Benedict.^ ^ Sanctus ergo Wingualoeus . . . quinto nonas Martias, quarta feria in prima quadragesimas hebdomada integer et corpore et mente obiit." Vita S. Winwaloei auct. Wurdistan, Anal. Boll. T. vii (1888), pp. 248-9. ' The ,four days before the first Sunday in Lent were not added to the fast of Lent till after the time of Gregory the Great, at the close of the sixth century. In his sixteenth Homily on the Gospels, he says : " There are from this day (the first Sunday in Lent) to the joyous feast of Easter, six weeks, that is, forty- two days. As we do not fast on the six Sundays, there are but thirty-six fasting days . . . which we offer to God as the tithe of the year." But from the sixth century on, sporadically the four days were added, here and there in the Western Church, but their observance as part of the fast of Lent was not made obligatory till Urban II in the Council of Beneventum, 1091, enjoined their observance. They never have been, and are not to this day, observed in the Church of Milan. The alteration was not made in Scotland till Margaret, a Saxon princess, married to King Malcolm III, a.d. 1069, promoted a religious change, to bring the Scot- tish Church into uniformity with that of Rome. Warren, The Liturgy of the Celtic Church, London, 1881, p. 7; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen Lexikon, 1886, iv, p. 1,261 ; Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year (trs. L. Shepherd), Dublin,^ 1876, Septuagesima, p. 2. ' " Hludowicus imperator Augustus omnibus episcopis et universo ordini ecclesiastico Britannise . . . cognoscentes quomodo ab Scotis sive de conversa- tione sive de tonsione capitum accepissent dum ordo totius sanctae apostolicae atque Romanae Ecclesiae aliter se habere dinoscitur . . Et ideo jussimusutet VOL. III. N 178 Lives of the British Saints The ordinance is remarkable in this, that it does not mention and make a point of the observance of Easter at a different time from the Franko-Roman Church, which it certainly would have done had the Breton Church varied from the Latin in this particular, at the time. Further, it is noticeable that there is absolutely no trace of contro- versy on this burning question, which agitated men's minds and excited such strong feeling in England, Wales and Ireland. This must have been due to the acquiescence, at an early period, of the Breton Church in the revised computation followed by the Frank Church.^ When we consider the intimate relations in which the Breton saints were with the Frank princes and bishops, we maj/ be confident that the question as to the time when Easter was to be celebrated was not a mooted point between them. S. Albinus, a native of Broweroc, became Bishop of Angers, beyond the Breton pale ; S. Samson of Dol had a monastery, Penitale in the diocese of Paris, and he was on the most intimate terms with its bishop, Germanus ; the position would have been strained had they observed Easter at different times. Nantes, Rennes, Vannes were in a country overflowed by British colonists ; in these anciently established dioceses the Roman computation was observed, but we hear of no jar on account of the colonists observing the Paschal solemnity at a different time. Paul of Leon visited Childebert at Paris to receive confirmation of the grant of land made to him by Count Withur of Leon. Childebert consented on condition that Paul was consecrated bishop ; we may be sure he would have insisted as well on conformity to the Roman usage with regard to the celebration of Easter. It would accordingly appear most probable that the Breton Church from the first acquiesced in the change. The impossibiUty of making Winwaloe's death agree with the Celtic computation renders it certain that this was so at Landevennec. The Roman Easter, in the sixth century, fell on April 11, in the years 510, 521, 532 ; and the last of these is the only date that can be reconciled with the particulars as given in the Life of Gwenael. We are now able to determine the dates in this Life with some approach to accuracy. S. Gwenael was born in the year ...... 482 He followed Winwaloe to Landevennec . . . . .489 juxta regulam Sti. Benedict! patris viverent, et de tonsura capitis juxta taxatum modum cum sanctje Romanae Ecclesias . . . concordent unitate." Cart. Land,., ed. De la Borderie, Rennes, 1888, pp. 75-6. * " Leur contact avec I'eglise gallo- franke puissamment organisee parait avoir de bonne heure modifie ces coutumes speciales, du moin sur le point le plus essentiel, I'epoque de la celebration de la Paque. II n'y eut jamais a cet egard de dissidence entre les Bretons de I'Armorique et leurs voisins de la Gaule, du moins, on n'en trouve nulle. trace." De la Borderie, Hist, de Bretagne, ii. p. 26/I. S. Gwenael 179 He received the monastic habit, aged ten S. Winwaloe died, and Gwenael succeeded as abbot Gwenael departed for Britain and Ireland After four years absence he returned Made foundations in Cornubia .... Departed for Broweroc, where he remained nine months Returned the same or succeeding year to Landevennec Died at Landevennec, aged seventy-five 492 532 539 543 546 552 553 557 We will now consider the various epochs in the life of Gwenael in more detail. He was a native of Languenoc in the parish of Lanrivoare inL^on. This we learn from one of the charters of the Cartularyof Landevennec which calls Languenoc, " Hereditas Sancti Uuenhaeli, qui primus post Sanctum Uuingualoeum abbas fuit" (No. 39). A local tradition, however, makes Ergue-Gaberic near Quimper the place where he was born. Such a tradition is not, perhaps, worth very much, but it is possible enough that, though his patrimony may have been in Leon he may have been born elswehere. Languenoc is now Lanvenec on a confluent of the river Aber Ildut, that takes its name from S. Illtyd. We may dismiss the story in Vita 1"" that Gwenael was appointed abbot whilst a boy in his teens, and accept that of Vita ■f' which states that he had been an inmate of the abbey of Landevennec for forty- three years when Winwaloe died, and that he succeeded him as abbot. He remained in that monastery for seven years and then went about in Cornubia founding churches. Landevennec at the time was probably included in the County of Poucaer, of which Conmore was chief, though owing some sort of allegiance to the King of Cornubia. Grallo,who had favoured Winwaloe, died, according to De la Borderie, between 475 and 505 ; according to Dom Plaine, between 500 and 520.^ The history of the period that ensues is confused. The Cartularies of Landevennec and Quimper and Quimperle give as his successors, Daniel Dremrud, and then Budic and Maxenri, two brothers. But from the Life of S. Melor we find that his father Meliau was king for seven years till assassinated by his brother Rivol. It is not however clear that this was in Cornubia and not in Leon. Rivol usurped authority, however, in Cornubia, and he occurs in the Life of Gwenael as a favourer of the saint. There is no mention of any prince in the Life of Gwenael before his meeting with Rivol. Before that he had gone, in 539, to Britain and Ireland, where he founded two monasteries, and undertook the supervision of fifty others. There are no traces of Gwenael's work left in Ireland, but in Wales is • Dom Plaine. Grallon le Grand. I 8 o Lives of the British Saints S. Twinells, a corruption of S. Winells, the prosthetic t belonging to the word " Saint." William of Worcester says of the place and saint, " Sanctus Wymocus [sic] Anglice Seynt Wynelle, confessor, distat a Pembroke per ii miliaria."^ In \heTaxatio of 1291, p. 275,00!. 2, the church appears as Ecclesia Sandi Winnoci," and in the Valor of 1535 ^ as " Vicaria de Sancto Wynoco." We should be inclined to accept the popular name, rather than that given in the official documents, the writers of which may have been guided by their acquaintance with the more famous S. Winoc, and have supposed that Winel was a corruption of that name. Phonetic- ally it is not possible to deduce Winel from Winoc. In Cornwall there is also a S. Wynol, a chapel in the parish of S. Germans. There were Winwaloe settlements in Devon and Cornwall, probably affiliated to Landevennec, and it is probable that these are the estabHshments over which Gwenael exercised some supervision. On his return from Britain, Gwenael landed in the Isle of Groix, where, however, he remained but a few days, and then by boat went to Landevennec, where he was joyfully received. After three years exercising the office of abbot, he went, in 546, into Cornouaille to found subsidiary houses and cells. There it was that he was so favourably received by Rivol. In the Cartulary of Landevennec are no charters bearing that prince's name, as a donor of land to the abbey, but there are several grants made by Budic. This prince had been driven into Wales by a dynastic quarrel. Probably he and Meliau were grand- sons of Grallo, and in the struggle for the mastery Meliau got the upper hand and Budic was expelled. According to the Life of S. Oudoceus, Budic, a native of CornugaUia or Armorican Cornubia, was forced to leave his country, and he took refuge in Dyfed where he married Anaumed, sister of S. Teilo. After a while messages from his principality announced the death of the usiu'per , and they invited him to return. This he did, and his son Oudo- ceus was born in Armorica. The return of Budic was after the death of Rivol about 544 or 545, which is about the time when, according to the Life of S. Gwenael, that saint had relations with Rivol. It is possible that these relations began with the usurper and continued with Budic, who certainly made grants to Landevennec. In, or about, 552 Gwenael went into Broweroc. What his founda- tions were in Cornouaille can only be conjectured. He is patron of Ergue-Gaberic where he is supposed to have been born, of Bolazec near Huelgoat, and of Plougonvelen near S. Renan in Leon, and these • ^ Itin., p. 163. ^ ,:v, p. 384. S. Gwenael i 8 i may represent his settlements during the yeaxs 546-552. The activity shown at this period points to Landevennec having somewhat dedined in importance and in recruits, and to his having endeavoured by the formation of branch houses to supply the mother-house with addi- tional members. It was apparently for the same purpose that he essayed his fortunes in Broweroc. There he settled in the present parish of Caudan, near Lorient, on a creek of the river Blavet. Here, at Locunel (Locus S. Gwenaeli) he met with Weroc son of Meliau. Near the chapel is a lech, or early Christian tombstone. On the other side of the water is a chapel of S. Gwenael and near it another lech. In later times, after the devastation by the Northmen, and the res- toration after their expulsion, it became a priory under S. Gildas de Rhuis. - t The saintly abbot died at Landevennec and was buried there, but in 857 Nominee visited the abbey, and carried off the body of Gwenael to Vannes, and it was laid on the epistle side of the choir. In 913 or 914 the Northmen destroyed Landevennec and ravaged the whole coast. The body of Gwenael was transferred for safety to Cor- beil near Paris, where it was torn from its shrine and burnt at the Revolution. In Brittany Gwenael is variously called Guinel, and Vinol and Wynol. The churches of which he is patron have been already named. At Treguidel in Cotes du Nord is a late seventeenth-century statue of him in the chapel of S. Pabu, representing him mitred, with cope and stole, and arms extended ; one formerly held a crosier. At Plougonvelen is a retable, on which Gwenael is represented as a monk, and Count Weroc, with plumed hat and arquebuse, approaches him. At Pouldergat is his Holy Well, that is much frequented by such as suffer from rheumatism. He has and had numerous chapels in Finistere and Morbihan. His Pardons are on the Monday in Whitsun week, and on the last Sundays in August and November. The day of S. Gwenael is, however, November 3. Albert le Grand, MS. Missal of Treguier, fifteenth century, Brev. Corisop., 1701, 1789; but transferred to November 9, Brev. Corisop., 1835, Brev.Venet., 1589, Miss. Venet., 1530 ; Brev. Leon, 1516. He occurs in Whytford as Gwenady. In the Auciuaria Usuardi as Guinaldi. I 8 2 Lives of the British Saints S. GWENAN, Virgin The authorities for this saint are quite late.^ They represent her to be the daughter of Brynach Wyddel by Corth or Cymorth, a sup- posed daughter of Brychan. Brynach was Brychan's confessor, and he had two other daughters, Mwynen or Mwynwen and Gwenlliw. Gwenan was the name borne by King Arthur's favourite ship, which was wrecked in Bardsey race or sound, between that isle and the main- land, whence called Cas Wenan, Gwenan's Aversion. ^ S. GWENASEDD, Matron GwENASEDD, Or Gwenaseth, is entered in the lolo MSS.^ among the Welsh Saints. She was the daughter of Rhiain or Rhain of Rhieinwg, according to the oldest copies of Bonedd y Saint, but accord- ing to the late pedigrees, of Rhufawn, otherwise Rhun Hael, the son of Cunedda Wledig, who, on the partition of Wales after the expulsion of the Goidels by the Sons of Cunedda, received as his share the cantref of Rhufoniog (called after him), in North Denbighshire. She was the wife of Sawyl Benisel (incorrectly Benuchel), the son of Pabo Post Prydyn, by whom she became the mother of S. Asaph.* No churches are known to be dedicated to her ; in fact, the authority for her as. a saint is of the feeblest. The forrn Guynnassed, or Gwynasedd, also occurs, and a district name, Lleudir Gwynasedd, which was situated " where the Lliw enters the Llwchwr," i.e. , near Loughor, in Gower. ^ The name seems to mean "White-spear." ^ lo'lo MSS., pp. 121, 141 ; Myv. Arch., p. 428. The name of Gildas's son Gwynog, is wrongly spelt Guenan in Hafod MS. 16 (Myv. Arch., p. 416). For the Carnarvonshire legend of Gwenan, one of the three sisters of Arianrhod, see'Sir J. Rhys, Celtic Folklore, pp. 207-10. The Breton equivalent Guenan occurs in Lanvenan (Finistdre) and Penvenan (C6tes-du-Nord). ^ Additional MSS. 14,866, and 14,903 ; cf. Peniarth MS. 216, p. 59. ' P. 125, but she is wrongly made to be the wife of Pabo. * Harleian MS. 3859 ; Peniarth MSS., 12, 16, 4; ; Hafod MS. 16 ; Hanesyn Hen, p. 113 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 266 ; Myv. Arch., pp. 417-8 ; lolo MSS., p. 122, 128. Probably the Rhufawn who gave his- name to Rhufoniog was not a son of Cunedda. ' Skene, Four Ancient Boohs, ii, pp. 32, 95. S. Gwenddydd i 8 3 S. GWENDDOLEU I The./oZo MSS. include Gwenddoleu, the son of Ceidio ab Arthwys, as well as his two brothers, Nudd and Cof/arhong the Welsh saints, and add that they were saints of Bangor lUtyd, at Llantwit.i But there is no ground whatever for regarding Gwenddoleu as a Welsh saint ; ^ he was simply a warrior, and feU at the battle of Arderydd, now Arthuret in Liddesdale, in 573. According to the Triads he was head of one of the three " Faithful Hosts of Britain," and his men main- tained the war at Arderydd for six weeks after he was slain. ^ In another Triad he is designated one of the three " Battle-bulls of Britain." ^ At Arthuret are a place and stream called Carwinlaw or Carwinelow, and in the mediaeval surveys of the Forest of Liddel, Caerwyndlo.* The name is that of the stronghold Caer Wenddoleu, called after this chieftain. S. GWENDDYDD Gwenddydd was one of the reputed daughters of Brychan. Her name does not occur in the Cognatio de Brychan, only in the late Usts of his children. ^ She is said to have been asaint atTowyn, in Merioneth- shire ; ^ but the same is also said of her sister Gwawrddydd, which leads one to suppose that the same saint is intended, and both names bear rather similar meanings — the morning star and the dawn. Another daughter of Brychan, Cerdech, is associated with Towyn in the Cog- natio. See under the two names. In Peniarth MS. 178 (sixteenth century), p. 24, it is stated that she was the wife of Cynfor, and mother of, among others, Cadell Deyrnllwg and Brochwel Ysgythrog ; but this confuses her with another daughter of Brychan, Tudglid, the wife of Cyngen ab Cynfor Cadgathwg, and mother of Cadell and others. 1 Pp. 106, 128 ; cf. Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd [Peniarth MS. 45). = Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 305. ' Myv. Arch., p. 389. For a " saying " attributed to him, see ibid., p. 130. His chessboard was one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain. * Bye-Gones, 1889-90, p. 483 ; Skene, Four Ancient Books, i, p. 66. 5 Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 120; Harleian MS. 4181, f. 266 (but omitted as printed in Cambro-British Saints, p. 271, no. 65) ; Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 425 ; Jolo MSS., pp. Ill, 120, 140. « Peniarth MSS. 131 (fifteenth century) and 75 (sixteenth century). . 184 Lives of the British Saints No churches are mentioned as being dedicated to her, but Capel Gwenddydd was one of the now extinct pilgrimage chapels in the parish of Nevern, Pembrokeshire, that were used for solemn processions on Holy Days.^ There was also a Gwenddydd, the sister of Myrddin. S. GWENFAEL In the lolo MSS.^ is entered, without pedigree, Gwenfael as a saint in Brecknockshire. It is not stated what church the saint is intended to be patron of, but we suspect it is Llanllywenfel {Peniarth MS. 147), in the cantref of Buallt, now generally spelt Llanlleonfel. The church to-day is not given any dedication. The name Gwenfael or Gwynfael occurs on two early inscribed stones, the one in South Wales and the other in North Wales, (i) " Vendu- magli Hie Jacit," at Llanillterne, near Llandaff ; and (2) " Vinne- magli Fili Senemagli," at Gwytherin, Denbighshire. ^ It is not impossible that the name Gwenfyl or Gwenful, borne by a reputed daughter of Brychan, may be the same as Gwenfael. There is a parish called Loquenvel, i.e. Loc-Guenvael, in Cotes du Nord, Brittany. S. GWENFAEN, Virgin GwENFAEN was the daughter of Paul Hen, variously said to be ' ' of Manaw " — by which, no doubt, is meant the Manaw on the Firth of Forth — and " of the North." Her brothers were Peulan, the patron of Llanbeulan in Anglesey, and Gwyngeneu, to whom was dedicated the now extinct Capel Gwyngeneu in Holyhead parish.* The only dedication to Gwenfaen is the church, formerly called Llanwenfaen, but now Rhoscolyn, in Anglesey, near the foundations of her two brothers. The site of her original church is still pointed out. ' Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, p. 509. ^ P. 144. ' Sir J. Rhys, Welsh Philology, 1879, pp. 372, 385. * Peniarth MS. 75 (" Pevl Hen o Vanaw ") ; Myv. Arch., pp. 426, 429. Their mother is said to have been " Angad Coleion," which looks like a corruption of the " (Bod) Angharad in Coleigion (or Coleion)," near Ruthin, of the Hafod BoneM {Myv. Arch., p. 416, Cambro-British Saints, p. 268), See ii, p. 201. S. Gwenfrensoi 185 Nothing is known of her history. Her Holy Well stiU exists on -Rhoscolyn Head, in form oblong, after the fashion of a bath, and is constructed of slabs of stone, and is roughly paved. The water is about four feet below the present level of the surrounding ground. At the western end the walling is cut through by a small aperture, through which the bather passed down a flight of three steps into the water. Two triangular seats have been let into each corner of this western end for waiting devotees, and are still in situ. The well chamber does not appear to have been covered over. The water flows in from a spring outside the eastern end of the bath, and escapes by a small conduit beneath one of the steps at the western end. It is received in a small artificial basin, after filling which, it loses itself in the sea at a spot called Perth y Saint, " the Saints' Haven." Lewis Morris, the well-known antiquary of the eighteenth century, resided for some years at Holyhead, and in one of his poems he men- tions this well, and from it we learn that it was used as a charm against mental disorders, and two white spar pebbles were cast in as an obla- tion, or perhaps for the sake of divination.^ Gwenfaen's Festival occurs on November 4 in the Calendar in Peniarth MS. 186, and on the 5th in that in John Edwards of Chirk- land's Grammar, 148 1 (See Gwenvavn). The latter day is also given by JBrowne Willis ^ and Nicolas Owen.* A Gwenfoe occurs in the lolo MSS. calendar on November 3. Gwenfo {Peniarth MS. 147, Cardiff MS. 14), is the name of a parish known now as Wenvoe (S. Mary), near Cardiff. S. GWENFREWI, or WINEFRED, Virgin, Martyr The authorities for the Life of this saint are not of a good quality. She died in the seventh century, and the earliest Life of her that exists is the anonymous Vita Sanctce Wenefredce in the Cotton MS. in the British Museum, Claudius A. v. (of the end of the twelfth century), published rather inaccurately by Rees in the Cambro-British Saints, pp. 198-209, and correctly by the BoUandists in the Acta Sanctorum, November 3, i, pp. 702-8. This Life has an appendix of miracles, certainly not earlier than the twelfth century ; but the Life itself may be somewhat earlier. 1 Edward Owen, " Holyhead Antiquities," in North Wales Chronicle, Sep- tember 19, 1903. * Survey of Bangor, 1721, p. 279. ^ Hist. Anglesey, 177s, p. 58. I 8 6 Lives of the British Saints The appendix speaks of the time " post expulsionem Francorum a tota Venedotia," which refers to the driving of the Normans out of Gwynedd in 1135. This Life was very probably written by a monk of the neighbour- ing monastery of Basingwerk. It speaks of her body as being still at Gwytherin. The Vita 7,^'^, by Robert, Prior of Shrewsbury, was written some time between 1140 and 1167, when he died. Of this three MS. copies exist, one in the Bodleian Library, Laud Miscell. 114 (possibly the original) ; a second in Trinity College Library, Cambridge, O.4.42 ; and a third in the Royal Library, Brussels, 8072, which was formerly in the Bodleian. From these it has been printed in the Acta SS. of the Bollandists, November 3, i, pp. 708-26. Robert had not seen the first Life, as is evident from his prologue. He drew his material partly from written matter that came into his hands, and partly from oral tradition. In dedicating his work to Guarin, abbot of Worcester, he says, " Tibi nuperimam digestam beatse virginis Wenefredse vitam direxi, quam partim per schedulas in ecclesiis patrise in qua deguisse cognoscitur coUegi, partim quorum- dam sacerdotum relationibus addidici, quos et antiquitas veneranda commendabat et quorum verbis fidem adhibere ipse religionis habitus compeUebat." He probably means by the written material the Legendaria of the churches of Basingwerk and Gwytherin. His is much the fuller Life ; but the facts in both are few, and are, especially in Robert's, mixed up with much frothy declamation and exhortation. All later Lives are worthless, as a metrical story of her by Peter Langtoft, ed. Hearne, i, p. cxcvi, and reprinted in Analecta Bolland- iana, vi, p. 305 ; and a condensation of the Life by Robert and the Vita i'"" by John of Tynemouth (in Cotton MS. Tiberius E. i), printed in Capgrave's Nova Legenda Anglice. The Lyfe of Si. Wenefreide, written in 1401, is from the Vita x'"", at least mainly. A version of the Vita 2'*", with amplifications of no value, was published " permissu superiorum " in 1633, at S. Omer, by J(ohn) F(alconer), S.J., and republished, with some hostile com- ments, by William Fleetwood, Bishop of S. Asaph (London, 1713). The nine Lections in the Sarum Breviary were taken, almost word for word, from the Life by Robert of Shrewsbury. There is mention of S. Winefred, and an abstract of her story, in the fourteenth century Buchedd Beuno. ^ It does not appear to be derived from either of the Latin Lives. 1 Llyvyr Agkyr Llandewivrevi, ed. J. Morris Jones and Rhys, 1894, pp. 122-3 >' Cambro-British Saints', ^-g. 16-17. jS. Gwen/rewi 187 Several copies of her Life in Welsh exist : e.g., in Peniarth MS 27, part ii (fifteenth century), and Llanstephan MS. 34 (sixteenth century). They appear to be translations, in part at any rate, of the Life by Prior Robert. The Franciscan friar and bard, Tudiir Aled {flor. c. 1480-1530), wrote a cywydd in her honour,^ in which her legend and posthumous miracles are set forth. There is another short cywydd, sometimes attributed to lolo Goch, Glyndwr's laureate ; ^ and another by leuan Brydydd Hir in P anion MS. 42. There is no reference to her in Bede, WiUiam of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, Florence of Worcester, Matthew of Westminster, or, in fact, in any of the early English historians. Bede was pro- foimdly ignorant of British matters, and that the later writers should not aUude to her, mainly concerned as they were with English history, is not surprising. What is niore difficult to account for is the silence of Nennius, Geof- frey of Monmouth, and Giraldus Cambrensis. But Nennius says nothing, or next to nothing, about ecclesiastical matters. Geoffrey of Monmouth was not Bishop of S. Asaph till after he had published his fabulous History of the Britons ; Giraldus, although he stayed the night at Basingwerk Abbey, a little over a mile from Holywell, and wrote his Itinerary and his Description of Wales, is silent relative to S. Winefred ; although he wrote later than did Robert of Shrews bury, yet nothing can be concluded against the cult of S. Winefred at Holywell from his silence. Curiously enough, she is not entered in the Calendar of Welsh Saints in Cotton MS. Vesp. A. xiv, of the early thirteenth century. The MS. of Vita i"^ has written against it, in Claudius A. v, " Per Elerium Britaiium Monachum, An" 660," in a seventeenth cen- tury hand, to which is further added, " aut Robertum Salopiaensem an" 1140, ut vir quidam eruditus meUus docet." The first hand is that of Thomas (or Robert) James, Librarian of Oxford, and the latter is that of Thomas Smith ; but this latter made a sad blunder in supposing it to be identical with the Life by Robert of Shrewsbury. It has been objected that there is no notice of S. Winefred in Domes- day ; but Domesday takes account of the manors, which are the units of composition, and not of the churches, with which its compilers had no concern. Its " Weltune " may be Hol3rweU, which is called Tre- ffynnon, " Well-town," by the Welsh. The EngUsh name Holywell i It lias been several times printed. For a copy, collated with some half a dozen MSS., see Bye-Gones, Oswestry, 1874-5, PP- 290-1. "2 Gwaith I~ G., ed. Ashton, 1896, pp. 600-3. I 8 8 Lives of the British Saints seems to occur for the first time in a grant of 1093 (as " Haliwel "), and next in one of 1150. Gwenfrewi's name does not occur in any early Welsh pedigrees of saints. She cannot have belonged to a royal family. This agrees with the account in her Life, which certainly represents her as the daughter of a man of some means, but not as wealthy and noble. Her father was Teuyth, the son of Eylud, who lived in Tegeingl (the greater part of modern Flintshire). He is described as a " valiant soldier ; " but the Vita 2'*" makes him a powerful chieftain in the country, second only to King Eliuth.'^ No such a king in Tegeingl is known from other sources ; but a petty king in a province of Gwy- nedd may well have escaped notice by historians, and the historical records of Wales at this period are meagre in the extreme. His wife's name is only known to us through some late pedigrees. She was Gwenlo, the daughter of Bugi, the father also of Beuno.^ Winefred was their only child. Beuno came to Tegeingl and lodged with Teuyth, his brother-in- law, who asked him to train his daughter for Heaven. This her uncle consented to do, but stipulated that he should have in return a grant of lands. Teuyth was not able to give him this without the consent of the king ; so he went to Eliuth, who demurred to the request, as separating the land from the common land of the tribe. ^ However, he finally consented to the surrender of one villa or tref, " Abeluyc," out of the three that he possessed ; and on this Beuno built a cell and chapel. This was at Sychnant, the " Dry Valley," the chapel being probably on the site of the present parish church. One Sunday, whilst Teuyth and his wife were at Mass, Caradog, the son of Alauc (Vita i™) or Alan [Vita 2"^") , a youth of royal blood, was out hunting, and feeling hot and thirsty, he halted at the cottage of Teuyth, and went in to ask for something to drink. He found the beautiful Winefred alone there, and being a young man of ungovern- able passions, and without scruple, attempted familiarities. Winefred 1 Vita i"", " Teuyth Eylud filius." Vita 2''", " Theuith, filius unius summi atque excellentissimi senatoris et a rege secundi, Eliuth nomine." The Life of S. Beuno calls him, " Temic, son of Eliud." In Winefred's Welsh Life he is given as Tybyt and Tyuyt, and in the pedigrees mentioned in the next note, Tyvid and Tyfyd. The name occurs elsewhere — as Temit, a donor to Llancar- fan, in the cartulary appended to Vita S. Cadoci, § 58 ; and as Tyvit and Tyvyt in the Record of Caernarvon, 1838, pp. 262, 265, 280. 2 Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 119, " Gwen vrewy verch dyvid o wenlo verch Jnsi vrenin Powys J mam " ; so in Llanstephan M S . 81 (eighteenth century). Jnsi= Bugi. ' " Nequaquam mihi vel tibi sortitur tuum sequestrare rus a provinciae com- munione, ne sibi sit inutile vel meae necessitati." Vita t"'", c. 2. S. Gwenfrewi 189 ran trom him through the door into the inner room, pretending that she was going to put on her Sunday gown, and, opening the back door of the house, fled down the valley to the little chapel of S. Beuno. Caradog, finding that the girl did not return, jumped on his horse and pxu-sued her. He caught her up at the chapel door, and then in a rage cut off her head with his broad-sword. Where the head fell the rock opened and a spring bubbled up. S. Beuno rushed to the chapel door, and so roundly cursed Caradog that he melted away "Uke wax before the fire." Then he set on Winefred's head, and she recovered, but always retained a scar.i This occurrence took place on June 22. In commemoration of the miracle, when Beuno left, Winefred undertook to send him a habit {casula) of her own weaving every year in gratitude. Higden has preserved a tradition of Caradog's descendants which has been thus Englished by Trevisa 2 — He J'at dede J'at dede, Ha]? sorwe on his sede ; His children at alle stoundes BerkeJ' as whelpes of houndes. For J'y pray J'at mayde grace Rijt at Tpat welle place, Op'iT in Schroysbury strete ; Pere jPat mayde reste]? swete. The name of his father, Alauc, is supposed to survive in Penardd Halawg,3 now Penar-lag, the Welsh name of Hawarden. Beuno some little time later departed for Clynnog, from some unexplained cause. In a few years Winefred also left, and went first to Bodfari, where was a hermit, S. Deifer, who sent her on to S. Sadwrn at Henllan ; but he did not want to be troubled with her, and sent her to S. Eleri at Gwytherin, who placed her under the super- vision of his mother, Theonia, and on the death of Theonia she became superior over the virgins the latter had ruled. The Vita 1""' says she went on pilgrimage to Rome, and says nothing of her journey to Gwytherin and her interviews with Deifer and Sadwrn.* On her return a council of British bishops was held, ^ Fuller, in his usual quaint manner, observes, " If the tip of his tongue who first told, and the top of his fingers who first wrote, this damnable lie, had been cut off, and had they both been sent to attend their cure at the shrine of S. Beuno, certainly they would have been more wary afterwards how they reported or recorded such improbable untruths." Worthies, ed. 1840, iii, p. 538. Beuno is credited with having raised six persons in all from the dead. ^ Polychronicon, ed. Babington, 1865, i, p. 428. Cf. Peniarth MS. 163, " Ef a vydd plant oi lin Ef yn kyvarth val kwn hyd pann ddelwjoit yno [Holywell] i offrwm nev i mwythic." ' " Pennardd Alavc " is given as a variant reading in Brut y Tywysogion, Rolls ed., p. 372, from the Book of Basingwerk (Gutyn Owain). The name seems to mean " Alog's Hill." * " Eo tempore, ut memorant, Romam petiit, visitandi causa sanctorum apostolorum loca, ut ibi in prassentia reliquiarum sanctorum, se totam Deo devote offeret," c. 9. I 9 o Lives of the British Saints which she attended, where a canon was passed requiring those saints who lived dispersed to congregate in monasteries.^ . According to the Vita 2^ she founded a convent of virgins at Beuno's church in HoljAvell, and remained there after his departure for seven years, until his death. She was constituted superior over eleven virgins at Gwytherin, and there she died, and was buried by S. Eleri,^ having survived her decollation fifteen years. Her relics were translated with great pomp to the Abbey at Shrewsbury in 1138.2 At the Dissolution her shrine was rifled of its contents, and only one portion of her relics, a finger, it is alleged, escaped destruction. We come now to a consideration of some of the difficulties that occur in the story, and make it impossible to accept it, without con- siderable deductions. The initial difficulty is with her name, in Welsh Gwenfrewi, which is suspiciously descriptive of the Holy Well. Some writers have regarded it as being equivalent to Gwenffrwd, a some- what common brook-name in South Wales, meaning " a Fair or Clear Brook ; " but this cannot be admitted. Her name is Gwenfrewi, and is matched by the Coll ab Coll-frewi of the Triads. It was not her original name. To quote her Welsh Life in Llanstephan MS. 34, " The people of that country say that her name at first was Brewy, and that it was on account of the white thread round her neck that she became called Gwenn Vrewy ; " * that is, from her decollation. But it should be remembered that Gwyn or Gwen was not an uncom- mon prefix and affix in the case of Welsh saints' names. There is no notice of the change of name in the Vita i*"", but we are told that she was generally known as " Candida Wenefreda." It is popularly assumed that Winefred is the English form of the Welsh Gwenfrewi ; but it would be quite impossible to philologically 1 " In diebus illis, totius Britanniae sancti ad synodum Wenefredi conciona- bantur. Ad quam cum aliis Sanctis etiam beata Wenefreda ascendit. Ibidem- que omnibus ritu synodali religiose institutis, videlicet, ut sancti qui antea disparati singillatim vivebant, nuUam habentes regulam nisi voluntatem ; postea gregatim convenirent in locis ad hoc congruis, et eorum conversationem sub prioribus provectis sibi praefectis emendarent." Ibid. - Vita I""" states that she was buried on June 24, and Vita 2''" that she died on November 2. Edward Lhuyd, in his Itinerary, 1699, gives a sketch of her tombstone in Capel Gwenfrewi at Gwytherin, and also of her arch or shrine in the church. ' A portion of her shrine is still in the abbey, by one of the north-west pillars. Her great bell there was famous for its fine tone. It weighed 35 cwts., and required four men to ring it. It was broken in 1730, and sold. * Cf. of the well, " Fons martyris trium dierum spatio lacteo liquore emanare visus est," Vita 2^"-, c. 26. The name of one of the three villis owned by Teuyth was Gwenffynnon, " the White or Fair Well." This may have been the original name of the well. aS*. Gwenfrewi 191 squaxe the names. As a matter of fact, there is no relationship what- ever between them. Gwenfrewi has been simply guessed into the purely EngUsh name Winefred, earlier Winefridu, compounded of ^ine, "a friend," and fridu, "peace." i The story of the head being cut off is a commonplace in Celtic liagiography. S. Sidwell and her sister, S. Jutwara, whom we equate ■with the Breton S. Aude, had their heads cut off ; so had S. Noyala or Newlyna; so had a daughter of Ynyr Gwent, S. Tegiwg, whose lead also S. Beuno put on ; so had the carpenter who married Tegiwg, -with the same results ; and there are many more instances. What really happened was probably no more than this, that Wine- fred ran away from Caradog, he overtook her, and in the straggle ■she was wounded by him in the throat, but was easily cured by her mother and Beuno. As to the fountain springing up on the spot, that also is a common- place in Celtic legend. The damsel whose head was cut off in the hazel brake by the wife of Boia, in the Life of S. David, gave occasion to a miraculous spring rising where her head fell. It was the same -with S. Jutwara, and with S. Tegiwg and S. Noyala. The spring of Holywell is remarkable for the volume of water that .:gushes forth, and doubtless was in veneration in pre-Christian times. That Beuno had his chapel near it is probable enough, and also probably employed it as a baptistery. He may have regenerated "Winefred in it. The red ferruginous veins in the stones of the well, and the crimson Muscus subrubeus or (Lin.) Byssus iolithus found growing on them in the water, was easily supposed to be the blood of the martyr miracu- lously reproduced in testimony to the truth of the story. ^ 1 See Prof. Skeat, " The Corrupt Spelling of Old English Names," in The Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Communications, vol. xiii (1908). ^ It is said in Vita i""' of the ■well, " Cujus lapides usque in hodiernum diem, ■utpote in die prima, sanguinolenti videntur ; massa etiam utthus odorat." In Vita 2*2, " Et quoniam de corpore in decensu devexi montis jacente multus -efiusus sanguis, lapides aspergine ipsius infecti tarn in fontis scaturigine quam in rivo illius seu in amborum margine passim jacebant ; et, quod dictu vel auditu mirabile est, lapides illi conspersi sanguine adhuc pristinam conspersioncm retinent. Nam sunt quasi coagulato cruore perfusi . . . muscicula vero, quae •eisdem lapidibus adhasret, quasi thus redolet." The ■violet-scented moss clinging to the side of the -well is Jungermannia as- plenioides, and is found in many other -wells, as are also pebbles streaked -with Ted. The moss is popularly kno-wn as S. -Winefred's Hair. In Peniarth MS. a 18, p. 693, it is called " G-weryd G-wenbhre-wy." Drayton in his Polyolbion, .2nd part, 1622, p. 59, refers to it : — " her mosse most s^weet and rare. Against infectious damps for Pomander to ■weare." 192 Lives of the British Saints The following occurs in Cardiff MS. 50, of the sixteenth century : — " The Mosse y* groweth vppon Stones w'hin yt ys very sweete of odour and smeU, whereof there bee Garlandes made and caryed many myles for y** rarenes of the matter. Yt ys sayde that Stones, Wands- or handkercherffs cast into yt do gather as yt were redd spottes of the Colour of blood." Count de Montalembert says : " At the spot where the head of this, martyr of modesty struck the soil, there sprung up an abundant, fountain, which is still frequented, and even venerated, by a popula- tion divided into twenty different sects, but animated by one common hatred for Catholic truth. This fountain has given its name to the town of Holywell. Its source is covered by a fine Gothic porch of three arches, under which it forms a vast basin, where, from morning' to evening, the sick and infirm of a region ravaged by heresy, come to bathe, with a strange confidence in the miraculous virtue of these- icy waters." The source had, of course, flowed for thousands of years before Winefred existed. From Holywell Winefred migrated to Gwytherin, where she had a. monastery, and died. With regard to Deifer, Sadwrn, and Eleri we have dealt with them elsewhere, under their respective names. Of the conclave of prelates passing the canon for collecting the hermits into communities we know nothing. There was indeed a. Council held at York in 660, in which S. Cedd was consecrated by two British bishops, but it is most unlikely that this conclave cani have been attended by S. Winefred. We come now to the chronology of her Life. We are told that she was a young girl when Cadfan was king.'- Cadfan, whose tombstone is at Llangadwaladr, in Anglesey, is gener- ally held to have died about 630, and this is about the date of Beuno's departure to Clynnog, which was in the reign of Cadwallon,. his son. 2 The Vita 2'^" says that Winefred remained seven years at Holywell after the departure of Beuno, i.e. to 637, when she went to Gwy- therin. She did not live to an advanced age, for S. Eleri outhvcd her and buried her, and we may put her death as occurring about 650-60. On the whole, we are not justified in rejecting the broad outline- * Vita i"", c. I, " In diebus agitur quibus Catuanus super Venedociae provin- ci^.s reguabat," etc. ^ " A gwedy mar-w Katuan yd aeth Beuno y ym-welet a Chad-walla-wn vab> Catuan oed vrenhin gwedy Catuan." Buchedd Beuno in Llyvyr Agkyr, p. 123.. S. Gwenfrewi 193 of the story of S. Winefred because of the fabulous and adventitious matter that has grown about it, and we are disposed to regard her relations with Deifer, Sadwrn and Eleri, and her residence at Gw3rtherin, as the most certain points in her story. That as a young girl she was solicited by a certain young cub of a noble, that she resisted him, and that she was scratched in the scuffle with him is aU that can be admitted ; out of that a huge overgrowth of fable has arisen. Archbishop Arundel, in 1398, and Archbishop Chicheley, in 1415,^ ordered the celebration of her festival, with nine lessons from her legend, and it was then introduced into the Sarum Breviary. Before that her name occurs in no calendars ; afterwards it was introduced frequently. She has two commemorations — June 22, that of her decollation or martyrdom, and November 3, that of her second death and, after- wards, her translation. The latter is her principal festival. The two days occur in a good many Welsh calendars from the fifteenth century. A few calendars give Gwenfrewi against September 19 and 20. It is somewhat remarkable that there are, or have been, but very few churches in Wales dedicated to S. Winefred. The parish church of Holywell was originally dedicated to her (with festival on Novem- ber 3), but apparently from the eighteenth century it has been dedi- cated to S. James the Apostle. The chapel over the Well is still dedi- cated to her. At Gwytherin, within a few yards of the church, on the south side, and within the churchyard, stood Capel Gwenfrewi, until, as stated in its Terrier of 1749, it was " some years agoe demolish'd by one Edwards lately Rector of the Parish." The modern parish church of Penrhiwceiber, and a church in the parish of S. Fagan (Aber- dare), both in Glamorgan, are dedicated to her. She is not, how- ever, the patron of Vaynor, in Breconshire, as sometimes given. There is a S. Winefred's Well at Woolston, in the parish of West Felton, Salop — a cruciform bath, with a cottage, evidently a chapel formerly, above it, as at Holjrwell. The spot is supposed to have been one of the resting places for her relics on their way to Shrewsbury. In Devon there are Manaton and Branscombe, the latter having changed its patron, probably after 1415, from S. Branwalader to S. Winefred. Kingston-on-Soar and Screveten, in Nottingham, and Stainton, in Yorkshire, have her as patron, unless it is a mistake for 1 Wilkins, Concilia, iii, pp. 234, 376.' The collects, in Welsh, for the two commemorations may be found in Allwydd Paradwys, Liege, 1670, pp. 361, 373- " Caniad Gwenfrewi " is given as the name of an old Welsh air. Myv. Arch. p. I.075- VOL. III. ° 194 Lives of the British Saints S. Wilfrid. The modern church of Bickley, in Cheshire, is dedicated to her. The parish of Holywell, in the city of Oxford, is so named from the Well of SS. Winefred and Margaret, near the church. In the legend, S. Winefred is said to have sent annually the habit she had woven for S. Beuno on a stone in the well,i where " the parcel was not wetted by the water, and the stream carried it, dry and uninjured, down into the broad estuary of the River Dee. All that day and the following night it was borne forward by the waves, and in the morning was cast on the shore close to the spot where Beuno had fixed his habitation. In the morning, when Beuno came out of the church, he stood for some time on the shore, admiring the expanse of waters and watching the ebb of the tide, when his eye was caught by the folded cloth left on the shore by the retreating waves. He went forward and raised it, unfolded the cloth wrapped round it, and found the cloak unharmed by the waves ; even the outer cloth was perfectly dry." ^ And that after a voyage of some sixty miles or more ! The WeU of S. Winefred, issuing from the upper beds of the chert, is a really singular phenomenon on account of the enormous quan- tity of water it yields. It is the most copious natural spring in Britain, and is justly regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. The stream formed by the fountain, formerly called by the Welsh Afon Wenfrewi, runs with a rapid course to the sea, which it reaches in a little over a mile. Dr. Johnson, who passed through Holjrwell in 1774, notes in his Diary that it then turned no fewer than nineteen mills. An analysis of the water shows that " there is nothing remarkable in its composition, as regards either the quantity or the quality of the substances dissolved in it, excepting perhaps its freedom from organic matter." ^ " Its peculiarities are that it never freezes, although intensely cold, and scarcely ever varies in the supply of water, the only difference after wet weather being a considerable ^ Vita 1^, " Kalendis Mail, venit beata virgo cum pluribus aliis ad fontem in quo pra^cepto viri dei munus suum depositura erat ; acceptamque casulam albo prius mantili involvit ; sicque in medio lontis eam deposuit ; se dicens fontis ministerio hanc beato viro Beunoo dirigere. Et ecce, mirabile dictu, . . . pauniculus ille quo casula involvebaturnullamlesionem ab aqua patiebatur nee vel minimam. aquae infusionem sentiebat, etc." With the story compare that of Brigid, the daughter of Cii Cathrach, sending a chasuble to S. Senan, which she sent to Inis Cathaig in a basket, placing it on the Shannon. Lives of Saints from the Booh of Lismore, ed. Dr. Wh. Stokes, i8go, pp. 218-9. The large stone now in the bath, near the steps, is known as S. Beuno's Stone, and regarded as a wishing stone. ... ' The Life of Saint Winefride, edited by Thomas Swift, S.J., Holywell, S. Winef ride's Presb3rtery, 1900, p. 36. ' Barrat in Quart. Journ. Chem. Soc, xii (i860), p. 52. S. GWENFREWI. From 1 5 E.g., lolo MSS., pp. Ill, 140; Myv. Arch., p. 419. 2 So also Myv. Arch., p. 426. ' P. 120. * Camhro-British Saints, p. 607. 5 This seems to be the only Brychan list in which the name occurs. Heilin or Heilyn is not a rare name. At an early period there was a Heilin, son of Gwyddno, and a Heilin, son of Llywarch Hen (Skene, Four Ancient Books, ii, pp. 56, 266; of. p. 155). " Arch. Camb., 1849, p. 265. ' Ibid., 1896, p. 140. S. He/an 253 William of Worcester gives Helye as one of the children of Brychan who migrated to Cornwall, and founded a church there. He gives this saint as the twentieth child, and again as twenty-third Adwen Helye. Evidently HeiHn is intended. Leland, in his list, gives Adwen as twenty-second and Helic as twenty-third, but he gives Delic as the fifth, which is the Delyan of WiUiam of Worcester. Delyan is probably Endelion, and Helye seems to have been sup- posed to have founded Egloshayle, but the name signifies no more than the church on the salt marshes. Nicolas Roscarrock gives him as Helim.^ S. HELAN, Priest, Confessor According to Leland, there was a Helena of the company of S. Briaca. He probably meant Helen or Helan, the brother of Germoe or German, who was one of her companions as well. The party of seven brothers with their three sisters, after having left some traces in Cornwall, crossed to vVrmorica, and landed probably in the estuary of the Ranee, from which they proceeded up the river, founding churches on their way ; and finally reached Rheims in the time of S. Remigius {see under SS. Achebran and German MacGuill). By the Ranee S. Helan founded Lanhelen and S. Helen, the former in Ille-et-Vilaine, the latter in Cotes du Nord, but they are adjoining villages. In the east window of S. Helen the saint is represented habited as a bishop in fifteenth century glass, giving his benediction to a field of spring corn. Very little is known of the saint's life, beyond the mention by Flodoard. But his office from the Rheims Breviary is given by the Bollandists in the Ada SS. for October 7, iii, pp. 903-5. The brothers must have remained some time on the Ranee and in its neighbourhood, as there are several churches there that bear their names. S. Ailbe, returning to Ireland through Gaul, encountered them, and, as his Acts relate, settled them in a monastery there. The legend is this. Arriving in this region he found the river dried up, and, pity- ing the people, he struck a rock with his staff four times, whereupon four streams gushed forth from it which, flowing in different directions, watered the whole province,^ " In ilia autem regione magnum edifi- cavit monasterium, in quo reliquit filios Guill." If the map be looked • See i, pp. 313, 318-20. " Acta SS. Hibern. in Cod. Sal., col. 244. 2 54 Lives of the British Saints at in vol. i, p. io6, it will be seen that four or even five rivers rise from the same elevated ground near S. Aubin du Cormier, in lUe-et- Vilaine ; these are the lUet, the Chevre, the Veuvre, and the lUe. The Couesnon rises more to the east. The monastery founded by S. Ailbe must have been situated in this district. After having tarried some time in the district, the seven brothers and their sisters moved on to Rheims, where they were well received by S. Remigius, and Helan settled at Bucciolus, near Biscuil, sur- rounded by pleasant meadows, near the Marne. Here he lived for many years instructing the people in the Faith, and here he is supposed to have died and been buried. He is com- memorated on October 7 in the Mart5n-ology of SS. Timothy and Apol- linaris, Rheims, and in that of Molanus ; and he has been introduced into the modern Roman Martjrrology. In the Irish Martyrologies of TaUaght, Donegal, and O'Gorman he is entered, as a priest, on October 8, and Chellan or Ceallan was doubtless the Irish form of his name. In the Martyrology published by Molanus : " In pago Remensi, vico, qui vocatur Busciolus, depositio Sancti Helani, presbyteri et confessoris." A S. Helen, Bishop of that see, is imagined, but his name occurs in no authentic list of the bishops. There are several chapels in West Cornwall dedicated to S. Helen, one at S. Just in Penwith, and one in Burian. One also in Landewed- nack, and another in Ruan Major. One also is mentioned in Bishop Stafford's Register, at Ingleby, in Crantock parish. S. Helen, of Scilly, is a modern corruption of S. lUid ; and we cannot be sure that some confusion may not have arisen respecting the others. S. HELEDD, Virgin. In Monmouthshire there is a church called LlanhiUeth, dedicated to S. lUtyd. In parish lists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the name is spelt Llan-hyledd, -hiledd, with, in one MS., vorwyn, " virgin," added. ^ The Llan Helet of the Englynion y Beddau ^ '■ Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 920 ; Myv. Arch., p. 749. Coxe, Monmouthshire, 1801, p. 253, imagined the church to be dedicated to a S. Ithel. Yr Heledd Wen and Yr Heledd Ddu are respectively the Welsh names of Nantwich and Northwich in Cheshire. " Gyru halen i'r Heledd," to send salt to the Wiches, is a proverbial saying. Heledd means a brine or salt pit. 2 Black Book of Carmarthen, ed. Evans, p. 64; Skene, Four Ancient Books, ii, p. 29. S. Helen 255 woTold appear to be the same name. Heledd is rare as a personal name,^ and we are probably right in assuming that Hiledd is a variant form. The Welsh saintly genealogies know nothing of a saint of this name, but Cyndrwyn, the grandfather of SS. Aelhaiarn, Cyn- haiarn and Llwchaiarn, had a daughter so called. Cyndrwyn lived towards the close of the fifth century, and was prince of that part of ancient Powys which included the Vale of the Severn about Shrews- bury. He is said to have been of Llystinwynnan, in Caereinion, now represented by Llysyn, in Llanerfyl, Montgomeryshire. He was the father of the celebrated Cynddylan and seven other sons, most of whom, if not all, were killed in the wars with the Saxons. He had also nine daughters. Their names are recorded in the elegy by Llywarch Hen on the death of Cynddylan, Heledd being twice men- tioned by name. 2 Among the " Sayings of the Wise " triplets occurs the following ^ : — Hast thou heard the saying of Heledd, The daughter of Cyndrwyn, of extensive wealth ? " Prosperity cannot come of pride " (Ni eUir llwydd o falchedd). The " saying " differs in the " Stanzas of the Hearing " * : — "It is not conferring a benefit that causes poverty " (Nid rhoddi da a wna dlodedd). Whether Llanhilleth takes its name from her it would be difficult to say. S. HELEN or ELEN, Queen, Widow Much difficulty exists relative to this Saint, on account of her having been confounded with Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. The latter was erroneously supposed to have been a daughter of Coel, a British king, whereas, actually, she was a native of Drepanum, in Asia Minor, and is said to have been there a sfabularia, or female ostler, whom Constantius Chlorus took as his concubine or wife — it is not easy to say which. 1 In one of the Triads (e.g., in Mabinogion, p. 306) Heledd is given as a man's name apparently, despite the footnote in Myv. Arch., p. 392. ^ Skene, ut supra, ii, p. 288. 3 lolo MSS., p. 254. * Myv. Arch., p. 128. 256 Lives of the British Saints Helen, or as in Welsh, Elen, the British Princess, was the daughter of Eudaf ab Caradog,^ and is generally known in Welsh tradition as Elen Luyddog,^ or Elen of the Hosts. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia has two Elens, which have been confounded. One he makes to be daughter of Coel, who in the Latin text is called " Coel dux Kaercolvin, id est Colecestrise " (v, c. 6), but in the Welsh text, " Koel jarll Kaer Loyw," or Earl of Gloucester, and the same text adds of Elen, " a honno uu Elen Luydawc," ^ identifying her with the daugh- ter of Eudaf, words, however, which have nothing equivalent to them in the Latin. This Elen he also makes mother of Constantine — and the Welsh legend attributing the Invention of the Cross to Elen Luy- ddog is complete. But it should be mentioned that " Helen Luicdauc " is given as the mother of Constantine, and credited with the Invention, in the Old Welsh pedigrees in Harleian MS. 3859, a MS. of circa iioo, but containing pedigrees which were collected, it is believed, in the tenth century. He gives the other Helen's father, in the Latin, as " Octavius dux Wisseorum," and, in the Welsh, as " Eudaf jarll Ergig ac Euas," names which it would not be possible to equate ; and he locates her father, not at Carnarvon, but in Herefordshire, or (so San Marte) in Essex. By the former Elen is meant S. Helena, and by the latter Elen of Carnarvon. The epithet " Lluyddog " has become applied to both ; properly it can belong to the latter only. No doubt the genuine Welsh tradition about Elen Luyddog is that contained in the Welsh saga. The Dream of Maxen the Gwledig.'^ There Eudaf and Elen are associated with Caer Aber Sain, i.e., Segontium, the old Roman town of Carnarvon. She had been seen in a dream, as a maiden of transcendent beauty, by the Roman Emperor Clemens Maximus, called in Welsh Maxen Wledig, and he comes hither with his army to make her Empress of Rome. He remained in the island so long that the Romans made an emperor in his stead. He and Elen, and her two brothers Cynan and Adeon, set out for Rome and take it by storm. Maxen, being re-instated, allowed his brothers-in-law and their hosts to settle wherever they chose. Adeon returned to Britain, while Cynan reduced Brittany and settled there. Greoffrey makes Cynan, whom he calls Cynan Meiriadog, to be Elen's cousin. ■■ Peniarth MSS. 12 and 45 ; Hafod MS. 16, etc. The classical Helena is called in ihe Welsh translation of Dares Phrygius Elen Fanog, Elen with the Love-spot. 2 The epithet Lluyddog is applied also to Lleuddun, Llyr, and Yrp, more especially in the Triads. ' Bruts, ed. Rhys and Evans, pp. 107-8. ■* Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, pp. 82-92. For the mythical treatment of the story see Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 161-7, where other Elens are also mentioned. S. Helen 257 Clemens Maximus was raised to the purple by the legions in Britain in 383. He was a Spaniard, and had acquired great reputation under Theodosius, in the war against the Picts and Scots (368). He was a humane and good ruler, who showed favour to the native Britons. Unfortunately for himself and for Britain, Maximus did not content himself with establishing himself as King in Britain, but aspired to be Emperor of Rome. He assembled a large army of Britons, prepared a fleet, and crossed the channel. His wife's brother Cynan threw in his lot with him, and led to his assistance the flower of the native youth. On reaching Gallic soil, Maximus was joined by the troops there placed, and he proceeded to attack the feeble Emperor Gratian, then in Paris. Gratian fled with three hundred cavalry, with intent to join his brother, Theodosius the Younger, in Italy. On his way, he found the gates of every city closed against him, till he reached Lyons, where he was treacherously detained by the governor, till the arrival of Andragathius, general of the cavalry of Maximus, when he was assassinated. His death was followed by that of Melobaudes, King of the Franks, but these were the sole victims, and Maximus was able to boast that his hands were unstained by Roman blood, except that which had been shed in battle. Theodosius now agreed to resign to Maximus the possession of the countries beyond the Alps ; nevertheless in his heart he was resolved on revenge. Gildas poiors a flood of abuse over Maximus. He says : — •" The island retained the Roman name, but not the morals and law ; nay, rather, casting forth a shoot of its own planting, it sends out Maximus to the two Gauls, accompanied by a great crowd of followers, with an emperor's ensigns in addition, which he never worthily bore nor legitimately, but as one elected after the manner of a tyrant and amid a turbulent soldiery. This man, through cunning art rather than by valour, first attaches to his guilty rule certain neighbouring countries or provinces against the Roman power, by nets of perjury and falsehood. He then extends one wing to Spain, the other to Italy, fixing the throne of his iniquitous empire at Treves, and raged with such madness against his lords that he drove two legitimate em- perors, the one from Rome, the other from a most pious life. Though fortified by hazardous deeds of so dangerous a character, it was not long ere he lost his accursed head at Aquileia : he who had, in a way, cut off the crowned heads of the empire of the whole world." ^ Gildas says nothing of Helen anywhere. 1 Gildas, ed. Hugh Williams, p. 31. VOL. III. S 258 Lives of the British Saints Maximus had established himself at Treves as the capital of his portion of the Empire, and doubtless Helen was there with him. The tradition at Treves is that the present Cathedral was the palace of the Empress Helena, which she gave up to the Church. To this day it bears evidence of having been adapted from a domestic purpose to sacred usages. The atrium, open to the sky, was only domed over comparatively late in Mediaeval times. At Treves, however, Helen the British Princess, wife of Maximus, has been confounded with Helena the mother of Constantine ; and there is no historical evidence for asserting that the more famous Helena was ever there, and this misconception has been made to serve as a basis for the origin of the " Holy Coat," shown as a relic in the Cathedral. Maximus soon became dissatisfied with the government of half the Empire of the West, and resolved on the conquest of ItalJ^ He accordingly collected an army, and marched into Italy. He entered Milan in triumph, but was defeated, and lost his life at Aquileia, in 388. His followers were dispersed and Cynan and his Britons never again saw their native land. " Britain," says Gildas, " is robbed of all her armed soldiery, of her military supplies, of her rulers, cruel though they were, and of her vigorous youth, who followed the foot- steps of the above-mentioned tyrant, and never returned." - But he says nothing of the populating of Brittany by Maximus's soldiers. To Welsh tradition Helen is much better known as the great road- maker than as a saint. The latter role she has probably entirely derived from her namesake. In Maxen's Dream it is said, " Elen bethought her to make high-roads from one town to another through- out the Island of Britain. And the roads were made. And for this cause are they called the roads of Elen Luyddog." ^ Roman roads and old mountain tracks are still most commonly called in Wales Sarn Elen (often Helen), Ffordd Elen, and Llwybr Elen, meaning respectively Elen's Causeway, Road, and Path. For instance, Sarn Elen, running through the site of Beddau Gwyr Ardudwy, near Fes- tiniog, and another south of Dolwyddelan, and the old road or track, Llwybr Elen, or fuller, Llwybr Cam Elen, between Llandderfel and Llangynog. The site of Caer Elen, near Llanfihangel yn Nhowyn, Anglesey, is on the old Roman road to Holyhead. The spignel or baldmoney (meum) is called in Welsh Ffenigl Elen Luyddog (her fennel), or Amranwen Elen Luyddog (her whitewort]. In the Triads she is simply " Mistress of the Hosts " (Lluyddog). One of the three expeditions, called "The Three Silver Hosts," that 1 Gildas, ed. H. Williams, p. 33. ^ Mabinogion, p. 89. S. Helen 259 left these shores and never returned, was that which went with Elen Luyddog and her brother Cynan.^ Local tradition says that she once led an army along Ffordd Elen to Snowdon, and whilst passing through Cwm Croesor her youngest son (who is not named) was killed with an arrow by the giant Cidwm. There is a Ffynnon Elen there. Elen was the mother by Maxen of Owain Finddu, Ednyfed, Peblig {of Llanbeblig, Carnarvon), Cystenin and Gwythyr, all of whom are in the later genealogies entered as saints.^ Other sons of Maxen were Anhun (Antonius) and Dimet. There are but few churches in Wales dedicated to S. Helen or Elen, and it is doubtful whether they are dedicated to Elen Luyddog or to the mother of Constantine. There is a Llanelen in Monmouth- shire (called " Eccl. de Sancta Elena " in the Norwich Taxatio, 1254), and a now extinct Llanelen in the parish of Llanrhidian, in West Gower. Bletherston, in Pembrokeshire, now dedicated to S. Mary, is called in Welsh Tref Elen, and there is an Elen's Well in Llawhaden parish {of which Bletherston is a chapelry), which makes it probable that the church originally bore this dedication. Eglwys Ilan, in Glamorgan- shire, and Tref Ilan, in Cardiganshire, are sometimes doubtfully ascribed to her. There is a Ffynnon S. Elen, near Yr Hen Waliau, at Carnarvon, and by it were formerly to be seen the remains of a small chapel. 3 Coed Helen, near the same town, is a modern corrup- tion of the old name Coed Alun. A villa named " Lanelen," with land held of " Sea Elena," is mentioned in the Record of Caernarvon^ as in the commote of Twrcelyn, Anglesey. In Cornwall and Devon there are the following Helen dedications : — The Parish Church of Helland (Lan Helen). The Parish Church of Paracombe (N. Devon). The Parish Church of Abbotsham (N. Devon). A Chapel at Davidstowe, licensed by Bishop Lacy, August 30, 1443. A Chapel on Lundy Isle. The chapels in the Land's End and Lizard districts bearing her name were probably named after Bishop Helen or Helan and not after Helena. In the Tavistock Calendar, " Sancta Elena, regina," was com- memorated on August 25. The Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, was not introduced into Calendars tiU comparatively modern times, on August 18. Her ' E.g., Peniarth MS. 45 (Skene. Four Ancient Books, ii, p. 462). - lolo MSS., pp. 113, 138. 2 John Ray, among others, mentions it in his Itinerary of 1662, Select ■ Remains, London, 1760, p. 228. ^ London, 1838, p. 67. 2 6o Lives of the British Saints name is not found in any ancient Latin Martyrologies, nor in the Exeter Calendar of the twelfth century, nor in that of Bishop Grandisson. But she is inserted in Capgrave's Nova Legenda, compiled in 145© and published in 1516, in Whytford's Martiloge, 1526, in Wilson's Martyrologies, 1608 and 1640, and in seven or eight Welsh Calendars of the sixteenth century. There was a " Helena, virgo," commemorated in a Dol Calendar of the fifteenth century, and the Welsh Calendars in the lolo MSS. and Prymer of 1618, on May 22, and in the modern Roman Martyr- ology, as of Auxerre, on this day ; there were two more, one at Troyes, the other at Argis, commemorated on May 4, but of them also nothing is known. William of Worcester says that " S*^ Elena, mater Constantini imperatoris," was commemorated in the Church at Launceston, but does not give the day. This shows that in the fifteenth century the cult of S. Helen, wife of Maximus, had been transferred to the widow of Constantius Chlorus. The Church of S. Helen's, Bishopsgate Street, London, was a founda- tion of the thirteenth century, and the dedication is to the mother of Constantine. At this period, the fable of her having been a British princess was accepted. S. Helen was a popular saint in Cheshire, where several churches are dedicated to her. At Paracombe, the Revel with fair is held on August 18. At Abbotsham, the Feast is observed on the Sunday after Midsummer Day. At Helland, the Feast is kept on the first Sunday in October. S. HELICGUID, see S. ELICGUID S. HELIE or HELYE, see S. HEILIN S. HELIG Some of the late genealogical lists ^ include Helig ab Glanog among the Welsh saints ; actually he was the father of three Welsh saints, and the account we have of him in a well-known legend scarcely entitles him to that distinction. Our notice of him shall therefore be brief. 1 Myv. Arch., p. 426 ; lolo MSS., pp. 124, 147 ; also Rees, Welsh Saints p. 298. iS. Helig 261 The three saints, Boda, Gwynin, and Brothen are in the older pedi- grees 1 given as sons of Glanog ab Hehg Foel, of Tyno HeHg. The later ones ^ transpose the names Glanog and Helig, so that the latter becomes their father and not grandfather. They also ascribe to him five, six, and even twelve sons. Helig is almost invariably mentioned — as is also Gwyddno of Cantre'r Gwaelod — as the man " whose territory the sea over-ran." Tyno Hehg, or Helig's Dale,^ was a low-lying tract of land on the north coast of Carnarvonshire, stretching from Puf&n Island to Pen- maenmawr. Traeth Lafan, or the Lavan Sands, of to-day forms a part of it. Tradition fixes the spot where Llys Helig, Helig's Palace, stood about midway between Penmaenmawr and the Great Orme's Head, over against the hill, Trwyn y Wylfa (neither this name nor Traeth Lafan have an3rthing to do with the " weeping " after the inundation, as is popularly supposed). The neighbouring sailors still affirm that they can trace in calm weather its ruins in the waters below.* Sir John W3mn of Gwydir, in a tract written between 1621 and 1626, gives an account of Helig and the inundation that befell his " moste delicate fruytfuUe and pleasant vale," in which stood his " chieffest pallace . . . the ruynes wherof is nowe to bee scene uppon a grownd ebbe some two myles within the sea directly over against Trevyn yr Wylva . . . unto which hyll Helyg ap Glannog and his people did runn upp to save themsealves, beynge endaungered with the sudden breakynge in of the sea uppon them, and there saved there lyves . . . wryngynge there handes tog5rther, made a greate outcry bewaylinge there misfortune and call3mg unto God for mercy, the poynt of which hill to this day is called Trwyn (r) Wylfa, that is to say the poynt of the dolefull hill or the mowrnynge hill." He adds, " Helig ap Glan- nog hadd another manor house att Pullheli, the ruyns wherof is to bee scene neere unto the house of Owen Madrjm on the right hand as you 1 Peniarth MS. 16 and Hafod MS. 16. ^ Hanesyn Hin, pp. 35, 118 ; Cardiff MS. 5, pp. 118-9 ; lolo MSS., pp. 42, 106, etc., and the references in note i. 3 For the use of tyno (in the Book of Llan Ddv, tnou, tonou) in Breton place- names see Loth, Chrestomathie Bretonne, Paris, 1890, p. 167. Traeth Lafan is pleonastic, traeth being prefixed when the meaning of llafan, shore, strand, had been lost. '■ The " ruins " have been inspected on several occasions, e.g., in 1864 (Owen Jones, Cymru, i, p. 627), and between 1906 and 1909, but with small results. Mr. Wm. Ashton (Battle of Land and Sea, 2nd ed., 1909, pp. 183-7), who visited them, under favourable conditions, in September, 1908, reports that he observed several perfectly straight lines of tumbled remains of walls, with rectangular corners, and calculated the entire ruin to be from 400 to 5,00 yards in circum- ference. J 262 Lives of the British Saints goe out of the towne towardes Abererch ; this towne was called Pull- helig, and of late PuUheU." ^ The popular version of the story is of a different cast. This relates that the calamity had been foretold as a judgment upon Helig for his wickedness four generations before it came about. As he was riding through his territory one evening he heard the voice of an invisible follower warning him, " Vengeance is coming, is coming ! " (Dial a ddaw ! Dial a ddaw ! ). He asked excitedly, " When ? " The answer came, " In the time of thy grandchildren, great grandchildren,, and their children." HeUg probably calmed himself with the thought that thus it would not happen in his lifetime. But on the occasion of a great feast held at the palace, and when the family down to the fifth generation were present taking part in the festivities, the butler noticed when going to the cellar to draw more drink for the revel- lers that the water was forcing its way in. He had time only to warn the harper of the danger, when all the others, in the midst of their carousing, were overwhelmed by the flood. ^ Helig's father, Glannog, has given his name to Ynys Glannog (or Lannog), the old name of Pufhn Island. It occurs as Insula Glan- nauc under the year 629 in the Annales Cambrics. Giraldus Cam- brensis^ thought the name Enis Lannach (or Lenach) meant "the ecclesiastical island, because many bodies of saints are deposited there, and no woman is suffered to enter it." S. HENWG, Confessor This saint's name does not occur so much as once in any of the saintly pedigrees, and all that is known of him is to be found in some 1 An Ancient Survey of Pen Maen Mawr, Llanfairfechan, 1906, pp. 8-1 1. The tract is printed also in Cambrian Quart. Mag., iii (1831), pp. 39-48, and Arch. Camb., 1861, pp. 140-55. For some interesting details relating to Helig see Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, pp. 454-5. Sir J. Wynn calls Tyno Helig by the name of Cantre'r Gwaelod, which was borne by the land now under Cardigan Bay. 2 Y Traethodydd, 1859, pp. 159-160 ; Y Brython, 1863, pp. 393-4. For an amplified version see Cymru Fu, Wrexham, pp. 244-7. Lady Marshall founded upon it her poem, Helig's Warning," KCym.iic'Legen&ott'iie Seventh Century," London, 1854. For a Welsh libretto on the legend see Odlau Cdn, by Robert Bryan, 1901, pp. 153-93- 3 Itin. Camb., ii, c. 7. He evidently took the second part of the name as a. derivative of llan. ^S*. Henwyn 263 notices of Taliessin in the lolo MSS.^ "The Chief of the Bards " is therein said to have been the son of S. Henwg (or Einwg Hen) of Caerleon on Usk, the son of Ffiwch Lawdrwm ab Cynin ab Cynfar (or Cynfarch) ab Clydog Sant of Euas — on to Bran ab Llyr. One of the notices mentions him as Henwg Fardd (the Bard) of S. Catwg's Cor at Llancarfan, whilst another assures us that " Taliessin, Chief of the Bards, founded the church of Llanhenwg at Caerleon on Usk in memory of his father, named S. Henwg, who went to Rome to Cystennin Fendigaid to bring SS. Garraon and Bleiddan to Britain to ameliorate the Faith and renew Baptism." There is, of course, no truth whatever in, at any rate, the latter extravagant statement. Llanhenwg, or Llanhynwg, now written Llanhenog or Llanhennock, is situated a short distance to the N.E. of Caerleon, and its present dedication is S. John Baptist. ^ The tower was huge and lofty, but is now no more ; only a few stones remain.^ Tennyson refers to it in his Enid — Now thrice that morning Guinevere had climb'd The Giant Tower, from whose high crest, they say, Men saw the goodly hills of Somerset, And white sails flying on the yellow sea. An early memorial stone, now at Cefn Amwlch, Carnarvonshire, but formerly at Gors, near Aberdaron, bears the following inscription : — SENACVS PRSB HIC lACIT CVM MVLTITVDNEM FRATRVM (Here lies the priest Senacus with many of the brethren). Senacus was a Goidelic name which appears in Irish as Senach, Seanach, and in Welsh as Henog.* It can hardly be that the patron saint of Llan- henwg is intended. S. HENWYN, Confessor In the pedigrees of Welsh saints in the thirteenth century Peniarth MSS. 16 and 45, Henwyn is said to have been the son of Gwyndaf Hen of Llydaw, and periglawr or confessor to Cadfan (his cousin) 1 Pp. 71-3, 79 ; cf. p. 144. Lady Llanover in her Good Cookery, London, -[867, p. I, names him as one of " the three primitive Saints of Gwent," the other two being Gover and Gwarwg. Henog is the name of a brook which falls into the Irfon at Llanwrtyd. For -wg and -og see ii, p. 40. 2 B. Willis, Paroch. Anglic, 1733, p. 206. 3 Papers relating to the History of Monmouthshire, 1886, pp. 57-8. ^ Sir J. Rhys, Y Cymmrodor, xviii (1905), pp. 92-3. 264 Lives of the British Saints and the saints that were contemporaries with them in Enlli.i In the later genealogies his name occurs under a variety of forms, Hewnin, Hefnin, Hefin, Honwyn, Howyn, Hewyn, and Hjrwyn. The last is the form most frequently met with to-day. S. Gwyndaf's wife, and the mother of S. Meugant — and it may be supposed also of Henwyn — was Gwenonwy, daughter of Meurig ab Tewdrig, King of Morganwg. Henwyn's father and brother lie buried in Enlli. In the late lolo MSS.^ it is stated that he was a saint or monk of Cor Illtyd at Llantwit, and that he afterwards became a bishop in Enlli. In Buchedd Llawddog we are told that that saint, who had aban- doned his title to succeed his father Dingad as King, used to retire daily to some secret place for private meditation and prayer. His brother Baglan, to gratify his curiosity, one day requested Henwyn to take with him his hand-bell and follow Llawddog to his retreat, that he might know where he went. In the Cywydd to Llawddog by Lewis Glyn Cothi, " Henwyn with his holy bell " is again mentioned, and it would appear from it that this incident took place at Llanfaglan, in Carnarvonshire, and that Henwyn was instrumental in inducing Llawddog to migrate to Bardsey, where he afterwards became abbot in succession to Cadfan. Henwyn is the patron of Aberdaron, at the extreme end of the Lleyn promontory, whence pUgrims generally crossed over to Bardsey. Aberdaron Old Church has been replaced by another about half a mile off. The saints, or pilgrims, used to meet at a large stone here, called AUor Hywyn, for prayer. The " Altar " no longer exists, having been blasted many years ago. Ffynnon Saint is close to where it stood. His festival day is not entered in any of the Calendars, but the wakes at Aberdaron are said to have been on January i or 6,^ In an obscure poem in the thirteenth century Book of Taliessin, containing allusions to a number of celebrated horses of Welsh legend, occurs the following : — The good Henwyn brought tidings from Hiraddug. * There was formerly in Bristol, in the very centre of the city, a church ' Also Hanesyn Hen, p. 114. In the copy of the Bonedd in Hafod MS. 16 (circa 1400) his name is spelt Hennen. It is Henwyn in lolo MSS., p. 103. As " Hywyn, in Aberdaron " he is entered among the children of Ithel Hael in Hanesyn H^n, p. 115. There is a Bod Hywyn in the parish of Llanegryn, and over against it, in the adjoining parish of Llangelynin, a Bod Gadfan. 2 lolo MSS., p. 132. 3 Willis, Survey of Bangor, 1721, p. 274; Cambrian Register, iii (1818), p. 224; Cathrall, N. Wales, 1828, ii, p. 118. ' Skene, Four Ancient Books, ii, p. 176. Geoffrey of Monmouth [Bruts, p. 69) mentions Henwyn (Henuinus), Earl of Cornwall. S. Herbauld 265 of S. Ewen, now covered by the Council House. At Gloucester and at Hereford were also churches of S. Ewen, destroyed at the Great Rebellion, as they stood outside the walls. An extinct church of S. Owen or Ewen was in Chepstow, now con- verted into two dwelling-houses. Just within the mouth of the Wye, on the left or the EngUsh shore, at the southern extremity of Offa's Dyke, is an ancient landing-place, caUed in the Ordnance Survey " Hewan's Rock," but in an inquiry by a Court of Survey in 1641 called " Ewen's Rock." It has been suggested that these are dedications to S. Hywyn ; 1 but it is very doubtful. S. HERBAULD, or HERBOT, Hermit, Confessor " Among the saints of Brittany," says Canon Thomas, " none has a more extended cult than S. Herbot or Herbauld, and yet, although the peasants offer him their butter, and recommend to him their cows, they know nothing of his life." ^ His Life was preserved in his church at Berrien, in Cornouaille, till between 1340 and 1350, but perished during the wars of Blois and Montfort, when the English pillaged the church. However, a Life existed there in MS. before the French Revolution, based on oral tradition, and the BoUandists obtained a copy of it and published it in the sixth volume of the Acta Sanctorum for June. It is not an ancient account, and was written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Therein he is said to have been a native of Britain, who crossed the sea into Armorica. The period is not stated, but it was, we may suppose, at the time of the great migration in the fifth or sixth century. He is said to have settled at Berrien on the southern slope of the chain of the Monts d'Arree, but the women were angry with him because he drew men away from the work of the fields to hear his sermons, and they stole his linen which he hung on the hedge after a wash. One day they pelted him with stones. He was so angry that he cursed Berrien that it should thenceforth produce little else but stones. According to a proverb, there are four things the Almighty cannot do, level Brazpartz, clear Plouye of fern, rid Berrien of stones, and make the girls of Poullaouen steady. ^ Thos. Kerslake, S. Ewen, Bristol, 1875, pp. 2-5. ^ Vies des Saints de Bvetagne, by Albert le Grand, ed. 1901, p. 663. '■ ' 2 66 Lives of the British Saints Leaving Berrien he came to Nank and asked a farmer there to lend liim a pair of oxen for ploughing. The man replied, he had none to spare. So Herbot cursed Nank that thenceforth it should produce only good-for-nothing cattle. Coming to Rusquec he met with a better reception. A farmer there bade him take from his herd what oxen he chose. Herbot selected two that were white. He harnessed these with the bark of a willow to a bough of a tree, from which he had not stripped the leaves, and thus ploughed his land. Afterwards the two white oxen would not leave him ; but always, even after his death, were to be found at nightfall couched by the porch of his chapel. Any men needing their ser\'ices had only to borrow them of S. Herbot at night and return them before daybreak. On one occasion, however, a grasping farmer did not restore them, but locked them into his shed. Thenceforth they have been no longer at the service of men, though it is said that sometimes they are still visible at night couched by the porch of S. Herbot. When S. Herbot had built his oratory he asked for slates to roof it. "Yes," said the man, " if you will chip the slates for me." S. Herbot took off his cap, placed the slates on it and trimmed them thus, giving the slates a perfect shape and doing his cap no harm. S. Herbot is reckoned one of the richest saints in Brittany. To him are offered cows' tails ; some ten or a dozen of these may be seen suspended on the left-hand side of his altar. The sale of the hair of the tails offered amounts in the year to a good sum, as m.any as 1, 800 lb. of hair being given, and this sells at from 80 c. to i fr. 25 c. per lb. Pilgrims arrive in the month of May. Mondays and Fridays are the days preferred. The cattle are driven round the church, then led to the Holy Well, where they are allowed to drink, and whence also bottles of water are taken for use at home in the event of the cattle falling ill. The chapel of S. Herbot is near Huelgoet, but in the parish of Loqeffret. It is beautifully situated among beech trees in a valley, at the foot of bleak hills, and a stream comes brawling down in a pretty cascade near by. The chapel of the saint is actually a large church. A few houses about it are converted, during the Pardon, into as many hostelries, and the ample stables and sheds receive the cattle that have come to offer their tails to the saint. The church possesses a fine square tower without spire or pinnacles. The date is 1516. The west front is fine. Throughout, the carving of the granite is admirable, the foliage is treated with great boldness. S. Hi a 267 On the south is a deep porch also well sculptured, with the aposdes within, and twenty-four httle statues in the arcade of the entrance. The date of the porch is 1498. The apse is flamboyant like the rest of the church, but the buttresses are later additions in 1618 and 1619. The interior is adorned with a beautiful renaissance screen and re- turned stalls, but no roodloft. On the west face the twelve apostles, on that inside the minor prophets and the sibyls. In the chancel is the tomb of the Saint. It is a work of the fifteenth century. There are some old stained-glass windows. That on the south at the east end represents S. Yves between a rich man and a poor suitor. The date is 1556. The central window contains the story of the Passion, that on the north, S. Laurence on the gridiron. The date 1556, which is also probably that of the central window. Outside the screen are two altars piled up with the cows' tails offered to the Saint. Formerly they were hung about the sanctuary. There is a little ossuary on the west side of the porch. In the Breton Litanies of the ninth and tenth centuries, is the name Hoiarnbiu, but it has no relation to Herbot.^ The Bollandists give June 17 as the day of S. Herbot, but solely because that is the day of Huarve or Huerve. He seems to have had a chapel at Marazion in Cornwall, under the name of Ervetus (B. Stafford's Register, licensed 1397). In Brittany he has many chapels, mainly in Finistere. He is specially invoked against maladies to oxen and cows. He is represented on his tomb in monastic garb, with long hair and beard, the right hand resting on a staff, a book suspended from his girdle. Also with staff, holding an open book, and with bare feet, in the south porch. Another statue over the western entrance. An- other as an old man bareheaded and barefooted, with an ox at his feet ; a statue of the sixteenth century at Guipavas. A good statue of the fifteenth century at Scaer. S. HIA, Virgin This was one of the Irish settlers in Penwith, Cornwall. Accord- ing to Leland she " was a nobleman's daughter and a disciple of S. Barricius," i.e. Finbar. He adds that she came with S. Elwyn, and that " one Dinan, a great lord in Cornewaul made a church at Pen- dinas at the request of la, as it is written in S. le's legend." ^ Loth, hes noms des saints bretons, Paris, 1910, p. 61. 2 68 Lives of the British Saints Unhappily the legends of both S. Hia and S. Elwyn are lost. Dinan is certainly not the name of the lord, but a word which occurs especially in place-names, meaning " a little fortress." William of Worcester gives us the additional information that she was the sister of S. Euny and of S. Ere. Now Ere, the foster father of S. Ita and S. Brendan, died in 514. According to the glossator on Oengus he was the father of Eoghain or Euny, but was probably only his spiritual father, as there is an- other account of Euny's parentage.'- Eoghain of Ardstraw died about 570. S. Barr or Finbar is difficult to fix. If, as is stated in his Life, he was acquainted with S. Senan, who died in 544, then we may put his death as taking place about 550. Now, it is interesting to find that he did have religious women under his direction, and that one of the foundations in Ireland by a disciple of his was Cill la, afterwards occupied by Bishop Lidheadhan or Livan. In one of the Lives of S. Barr, a number of women are mentioned as having been under his direction, but they are nearly all spoken of not by name, but as daughters of so-and-so. One named is Her, and with her Brigid. It is probable that this Her is a mistake of the copyist for Hei, and that she was the foundress of Cill-Ia, and identical with the S. Hia who came to Cornwall. According to the story given by Anselm, Hia resolved to be of the party of Fingar and Piala, but they left Ireland without her. Thereupon she went after them floating upon a leaf, and arrived in Cornwall before them. The myth of the leaf is due to a confusion between her and Hia or Bega, the foundress of S. Bees. This latter is said to have been wafted over on a sod of grass. What is true in the story is that Hia was one of the earlier settlers in West Cornwall, before the arrival of the swarm under Fingar. When this second body of Irish arrived, we are told by Anselm, the author of the legend of Fingar, that they found " quoddam habita- culum non longe a litore ... in quo Virgo quaedam sancta manebat inclusa ; et nolens S. Guingnerus eam inquietare, salutata virgine, ad aliimi locum transiere pransuri." Fingar and his party landed in Hayle mouth, and went to Hia's settlement hard by ; she is the " virgo sancta." But she was ill- pleased at this arrival of fresh colonists and declined to have anything to do with them. This is the probable meaning of the story as given by Anselm. 1 4 According to William of Worcester she died and was laid at what is now called S. Ives. This is likely enough, for she has left no cult in ' Filire of Oengus, ed. Whitley Stokes, pp. cxxxii, clxvii. S. Hoedloyw 269 Ireland, nor have several of Barr's disciples, which leads to the surmise that many migrated. The name Hia is, of course, identical with that of Hieu, who received the habit from S. Aidan, and was placed at Hartlepool, but she belongs to a later date. Hia had a church, not only at Pendinas, but also at Camborne. Her feast, according to William of Worcester, was on February 3. It is still so kept at S. Ives, but at Camborne on October 22. S. Hia's Well, called Venton Eia (Ffynnon la), is on the cliff under the village of Ayr, overlooking Porthmeor. It was formerly held in reverence, but has, of late, degenerated into a " wishing well." The spring is under the walls of the new cemetery, and it is doubtful whether the water be now uncontaminated. There is a representation of S. Hia on the churchyard cross, and she, with S. Levan and S. Senan, are in a window of the church erected in 1886. In 1409 some parishioners of Lelant complained that they were so distant from their Parish Church, that they found great difficulty in attending service ; and they prayed that the chapels of S. Trewen- noc. Confessor, and S. Ya, the Virgin, which they had rebuilt at their own cost might be dedicated, and provided with fonts and cemeteries. Bulls from Popes Alexander V and John XXIII were procured, and the chapels were consecrated on October 9, 1411. S. Hia should be represented, clothed in white wool, as an Irish Abbess, with a white veil, and holding a leaf.^ S. HOEDLOYW, Confessor Hoedloyw was one of the sons of Seithenin, King of Maes Gwy- ddno, whose territory was inundated by the sea, and now lies beneath Cardigan Bay. After the catastrophe Seithenin's sons all became ^ The passage relative to her voyage on the leaf runs as follows in Anselm's account of S. Fingar: — " Paullulum jam. altius navigando a terra discesserant, cum ecce virgo quaedam, nomine Hya, nobili sanguine procreata, pervenit ad littus, felici sanctorum cupiens adunari coUegio : cernensque procul a litore jam remotos, nimio anxiabatur dolore ; et fixis in terra genibus, manus et oculos ad sublimia erigens, mente consilium e coelo flagitabat devota. Et modicum inferius relaxans obtutum, contemplatur super aquas folium parvum ; et protensa virga, quam manu gestabat, tangens illud, volebat probare an mergeretur. Et ecce sub oculis ejus coepit crescere et dilatari, ita ut dubitare non posset a Deo illud obsequium missum. Et fide fortis folium audaciter conscendens, mirabiliter Dei virtute prelata, alterum socios prsevenit ad littus." Vita S. Fingari in Acta SS., Mart, iii, p. 456. 270 Lives of the British Saints saints or monks of Bangor on Dee. But all that is known of Hoedloyw is contained in one entry in the lolo MSS.^ Among his brothers was Gwynhoedl. S. HOERGNOUE, Confessor Is invoked in the Celtic Litany of the tenth century in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. ^ In that of S. Vougai he is called Huarneue.^ But De la Villemarque thought he read Huarve. The writing is faint, and the document greatly injured by damp.* In the list come Hoeiardone, who was bishop of Leon, Hoergnoue, and Hoiarnuine, whom M. J. Loth equates with Isserninus. He is of opinion that this Hoergnoue is the patron of Lan-Houarneau, and that he is distinct from Hoeiarnbiu ^ or Hoarve, the popular blind saint. This, however, is inadmissible. Hoarve was certainly the founder of Lanhouarneau ; and no trace of a tradition exists as to another saint of a similar name who can have been confounded with him, as supposed by M. Loth. S. HOERNBIU, or HUERVE, Exorcist, Confessor This Saint is invoked in the Litany of the eleventh century pub- lished by M. D'Arbois de Jubainville,^ and also, if De la Villemarque's reading be allowed, in that of S. Vougai as well, as Huarve.' The name has gone through many forms, Hoearnveo, Hwrveo, Houarve, Herve and Harve.'' He is one of the most popular saints in Cornouaille and Leon. ' P. 141. With the name compare Hoitliw and Hoydelew in the Record of Caernarvon, pp. 4, 22, 59, no, and Hoedlyw in the Bruts, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 302. 2 Revue Celtique, ix, p. 88. 3 A. le Grand, Vies des SS. Bretagne, new ed., 1901, p. 227. ■* Bulletin de la Soc. Arch, de Finistire, 1890, p. 20 seq. ^ Revue Celtique, xi, p. 144. ° Revue Celtique, iii, p. 449. ' Le Grand, Vies des SS. Bretagne, new ed. 1901, p. 226. ' De la Borderie, Saint Hervi, gives the various forms assumed by the Saint's name, pp. 254-5. aS*. Hoernbiu 271 ■I ne Life of the Saint was transcribed in the seventeenth century by the Breton Benedictines, for their collection now called that of the Blancs-Manteaux, which is in the Bibliotheque Nat. of Paris. They made their copy from three sources : — , I. The Lectionary of Tr^guier. 2. The Breviary of Leon. 3. A MS. in the abbey of S. Vincent du Mans. Moreover, the Pere du Paz, who made the transcript, collated the Lives with other MSS. to which he had access, and has noted the varia- tions. This has been published by De la Borderie, Saint Herve., Rennes, 1892, with critical examination and notes. Secondly, we have the Life in Albert le Grand's collection, based on the Legendaria of Nantes and Leon and of Folgoet ; also on the Breviaries of Leon, Quimper and Nantes ; also on a Life in MS. broken up into lections with hymns and anthems, formerly preserved at le Faouet. The Life of S. Herve has also been dealt with by Dom Plaine in Revue de I'Ouest, Rennes, 1893, published separately. Dom Plaine is of no weight as a critic. The Life of the Saint in De la Villemarque's La Legende Celtique, Paris, 1859, pp. 318-329, is utterly worthless. It is based on forged ballads, of which a great number appeared under the auspices of De la Villemarque. The ancient Life, according to De la Borderie, is of the thirteenth century, but his grounds for basing this opinion are slender. In the Life he is said to have been buried in a shrine made strong with plates of iron and lead. De la Borderie says that wooden cof&ns only came into use in the twelfth century. But that oaks were scooped out and employed as coffins from a very early period is certain. Stone sarcophagi were indeed employed for all great men, temporal or sacred. But in Brittany there may have been some difficulty in digging one out of granite — no other stone was available — and the earlier use of an oak block sawn in half or dug out may have continued. However, the character of the Life, its prolixity, the introduction of dialogue, its affectations, show that it is late. Nevertheless it certainly contains some early traditions quite inconsistent with the ideas prevalent in Medieeval cloisters. The redactor took great liberties with his story and doctored it up to suit his idea of what ought to have taken place. We shall attempt an analysis and point out the alterations made by the redactor. Although Huerve never was in Britain, yet he was the son of a 272 Lives of the British Saints British bard, and his Life is a valuable contribution towards Celtic hagiography. De la Borderie arbitrarily distinguishes between what he conceives to be ancient and what modern elements in the text. We shall not follow his division ; but it may be pointed out that portions of the Life seem to belong to an earlier text, as the style is ruder and the structure is obscure. Hoarvian was a Briton and a bard, who crossed the seas ^ and visited the Court of Childebert at Paris, where he delighted the cour- tiers by singing his own ballads, to melodies of his own composition. ^ At length the desire came on him to revisit Britain, but he desired first of all to see his countrymen settled in Armorica. Childebert loaded Hoarvian with presents, gave him a letter to Conmore, who was his viceroy in Armorica, ordering him to prepare for the bard a boat to carry him over to his native isle. " Short is the passage between our Domnonia and further Britain," ^ says the author. The King further gave instructions that Hoarvian should be lodged on his journey in the Royal villes on the way.* Here we have the early and genuine record ; but when the mon- astic biographer tells us that as a bard in kings' courts, he was a great giver of alms, assiduous in prayer and vigils and " ab omni mixtione muliebri semper sejunctus," he is putting his own colours on the picture. He arrived at the castle of Conmore, who was then in Leon, and rode about with him, and doubtless amused him with his harp and songs at night. One day as they were out together, they lighted on a spring and saw there a singing girl (qusedam psalmista puella), whose good looks, and possibly her voice, charmed Hoarvian ; he asked her name, and learned that it was Rivanon, that she lived with her brother Rigur, and that her parents were dead. The chief of their plou was Maltot. Hoarvian urged Conmore to obtain the girl for him to be his wife ; the brother and the chief gave their consent, the girl herself does not seem to have been consulted, and the same night they were mar- ried. There was no losing time between love-making and wedlock in those days, apparently. ^ This is not stated at the outset, but later on. ^ " Hie, magnae industrias plurimarumque linguarum peritus, sed cantor figmentarius : novos enim fingebat cantus rythmicis compositionibus, quibus imponebat neumatum modos antea inauditos." Saint Hervi, p. 256. ^ " Brevis est transitus maris inter nostram Domnoniamet ulteriorem Britan- niam." Ibid. ' " Qui dum abiret per regias sedes," etc. Ibid. S. Hoernbiu 273 ine spot where Hoarvian had met Rivanon was Landouzan, a tr&f of Drenec near Plabennec in L6on. . -"^^^^ morning Rivanori cursed the child that would be conceived m her womb, that it should never see the light.i Hoarvian was greatly shocked at this outburst ; but the curse had been uttered and could not be recalled. When the child was born, he was named Hoernbiu or Hoarve, and he was born bhnd. Rivanon hated her chUd ; however, she reared it to the age of seven. All this portion of the story seemed so inhuman and horrible that the compilers of the Lectionary of Treguier cut it clean away. The redactor touched it up, and gave it an aspect not quite so savage. He says that Hoarvian had no idea of marrying, indeed had vowed celibacy ; but an angel appeared to him in a dream and foretold that he would find a girl by a spring, named Rivanon, and that it was the Divine will that he should marry her, and beget a son who would be a great saint. ^ This smacks of the monastery. The truth was that Hoarvian fell in love with the girl and married her, against her wishes, and this occasioned the explosion of rage and resentment which caused her to curse her unborn child. The im- precation was omitted by Albert le Grand and by De la Villemarque from their versions of the story. It scandahzed them as it did the compilers of the Treguier Breviary. Both assert what is not said in the Life, that the damsel had also been visited by an angel before- hand, ordering her to marry the bard. But even De la Borderie reads into the story what he is hardly justified in doing. " La passion ardente et absolue de la virginite nous raporte aux premiers ages duchristianisme." Rivanon, we have no reason to suppose, resented being married, only she objected to being married without her consent to a, perhaps, aged bard. He goes on upon his assumption, " la vengeance impitoyable du voeu viole " — we have no hint given us that she had made a vow of chastity — " exercee pas la mere meme sur son fils, pauvre enfant innocent encore i naitre, est un trait de ferocite qui sent I'antique barbarie. Et cela est si vrai que, saufe cette premiere version de la Vie de S. Herve, on ne trouve ce trait nulle part. Tous les legendaires de datte pos- ' " Si in me genuisti filium, cunctipotentem deprecor Deum ut non videat lumen humanum. At ille : O mulier, quam ingens commissum suae soboli matrem tain destestabile detrementum imprecari ! " Saint Hevvi , p. 258. ^ " Vult Deus ut filium habeatis electum Sibi . . . non est execrabilis con- cubitus, ex quo editus fuerit filius saluti plurimorum in Eetemum prof u turns. O quam bonum semen et quam preciosum, quod nunquam desinet Domino facere fructum." Ihid., p. 257. VOL. III. T 2 74 Lives of the British Saints terieures out recule devant I'odieuse de ce fait ; une mere, par res- sentiment, infligeant au fils qu'elle porte dans ses flancs ime infirmite cruelle ; la cecite de saint Herve ayant pour cause la volontd et la vengeance de sa mere — et cependant cette mere tenue pour sainte ! " The author of the Life gives no motive for the curse. De la Borderie supposes one — a previous vow of virginity. Happily we can compare the procedure of a modern redactor with the old monastic recomposer of the Acts of S. Huerve. This modern redactor is De la Villemarque, and he is the worse offender of the two. He makes Hoarvian a disciple of S. Cadoc, and quotes the lessons given by S. Cadoc to a pupil, Ystudfach, recorded in the Myvyrian Archaiology } as actually delivered to Hoarvian. He does more. He forges a song sung by Rivanon at the fountain as that heard by the bard when he became enamoured of her. " Although I be, alas, but a simple iris at the water's edge, I am called the Little Queen," and so on ; and he gives a dialogue held with " the Frank count " — he did not recognize Conmore — as contained in a popular Breton poem. He describes from another ballad, manufactured by himself, the banquet at the wedding. He makes Huerve born three years after the marriage, and Hoarvian to die two years later, and then introduces another fictitious ballad, as the address of Rivanon to her son, and gives the pretended original among the Pieces Justifica- tives. If a man who set up to be a scholar, and was held to be honourable, could thus try to impose on his generation, in the nineteenth century, there is some excuse ior the hagiographers in the thirteenth plajdng the same tricks. This barbaric incident certainly belonged to the earliest Life of the Saint which was re-edited in the thirteenth century, or later. There are other indications of antiquity. The commendation of the bard by Childebert to be lodged in the royal viUes on the way, and the men- tion of the spring being beside the via regalis ; this was the old Roman road that led from Vorganium (Carhaix) to Aber Vrac'h, and which in the Middle Ages had certainly fallen into disuse. So also is the description of the negotiation of the marriage with the chief of the flou or tribe to which Rivanon belonged. Huerve was born at Lann Rigur, now Lann'oul in the parish of Plouzevede, but he was brought up by his mother at Caeran, now Queran, in Treflaouenau, near Plouzevede. How this came about is not very easy to discover, as this district is far from the place where Rivanon was married. The idea may have arisen from the fact that » P. 780. S. Hoernbiu 275 a scooped out " cradle " was preserved as a relic at Caeran, probably the original tomb of the saint. ^ All his early life seems to have been passed further west. Rigur, brother of Rivanon, is supposed to be the same as Rivor, founder of Lanrivoare, where he is repre- sented as a priest. We hear no more of Hoarvian. His relations with Rivanon were strained, and he probably abandoned her, and returned to Britain. From a very early age Huerve wandered about as a beggar, with another boy as his guide, whose name is variously given as Guurihuran and Wiuharan, and in late times Guiharan. As they passed through a village, the peasants who were at their dinner, charitably gave the blind boy some cakes, ^ and Huerve, seated on a stone, sent his guide to collect alms. Whilst thus seated, a fit of sneezing came on, and one of his milk teeth fell out, and he put it on the stone. The inhabitants of the village saw it blaze like a lamp and increase in splendour till it became a globe of fire radia- ting light in all directions.^ So as not to frighten the people, Gui- haran picked up the tooth and carried it off. The luminous tooth is a mythologic feature imported into the story. The Harpies had a shining tooth between them, and Odin's horse had one golden tooth inscribed with runes. In the Legend of S. Patrick his tooth plays a part. " One day as he was washing his hands in a ford, a tooth fell out of his head into the ford. Patrick went on the hill to the north of the ford, and sends to seek the tooth, and straightway the tooth shone in the ford like a sun." * Another day the two boys were traversing a village, when a group of Uttle shepherd children yelled after Huerve, " Where are you off to, little blind boy ? " No gross insult, but enough to enrage Huerve, who turned and cursed them that they should ever be stunted in their growth, in fact be dwarfs. ^ Some little time after, passing by the same spot, Huerve struck his foot against a stone and hurt it, whereupon he cursed all the stones of the place that neither iron nor steel should be able to cut them.* The vindictive character of the Saint dominates his whole history, and is very Celtic in appearance ; but it must be remembered that in the Apocryphal Gospel of the Infancy, the same vindictive char- acter is attributed to our Lord. 1 "Ubi ante fores ecclesias ejus adhuc exprimitur lectulus." Saint Hervi, P- 258. 2 " Occurerunt sibL incote afferentes ex sua farina caritatis amore cibaria. Ibid., p. 259. •' Ibid., p. 259. * Tripartite Life, ed. Stokes, i, p. I97- ' Saint Hervd, p. 260. " Ibid., p. 260. 276 Lives of the British Saints One day when Huerve was a full grown man, a British tiern or chief of a plou, named Mallo, was robbed by a couple of his serfs, who fied to the coast to take boat, and escape beyond the seas. Mallo went after them, and passed where Huerve was in too great haste to salute him. Huerve cursed him, a storm came on and drove the tiern back, and he was constrained to offer an apology.^ We shall meet with another instance further on. The story of the cursing of the children and of the stones looks like a late local legend imported into the Life, and of no more value than that of the men of Stroud having been cursed by S. Thomas a Becket to ever after grow tails, because they had docked his horse. At the age of seven, Huerve went to a saintly monk named Har- thian or Arthian, whom Albert le Grand calls Martianus, and re- mained with him till he was fourteen, learning grammar and the eccle- siastical chant. Then he departed to a kinsman (consobrinus) S. Urphoed, in the land of Ach. He asked Urphoed where his mother was, she having retired from the world to lead an eremitical life. Urphoed replied that he did not know, but if Huerve would occupy his cell, and the guide, Guiharan, would attend to his farm and harrow the ground with the ass, he would depart in quest of her. The MS. of S. Vincent du Mans adds, that Urphoed told him she had taken with her a little maid, named Christina.^ After some search, Urphoed found Rivanon, and she consented to see her son. Meanwhile, a wolf had carried off the ass and eaten it. Huerve prayed, and the beast came to him and submitted to the yoke and did all the farm work hitherto performed by the ass. Much the same story is told of S. Malo and of S. Thegonnec. Urphoed now returned and informed Huerve of where his mother was to be found, and added that she was in failing health. The youth then departed and saw her, and she begged him to revisit her when she was at the point of death, and that he might be within reach, she bade him request Urphoed to abandon his cell to him. Huerve did so, and Urphoed obligingly departed into the forest of Duna, that once covered Bourgblanc, near Plabennec, and much country round. Huerve now occupied the old cell " cum suis familiaribus et manci- piis," so that he seems already to have been gathering a party about him.* When Rivanon was dying, Huerve was with her, and administered ^ Saint Herv6, pp. 266-7. ' Ibid., p. 261, note. ^ Ibid., p. 262. S. Hoernbiu '^11 to her the last Communion. He was only a layman at the time, and it must have been entrusted to him by a priest to convey to her.^ After having buried his mother, he remained for three years in the cell Urphoed had surrendered to him, and he had many scholars who came to him. Then he considered it his duty to inquire after Urphoed, and he went ui quest of him, but found him dead, buried in his cell, which had fallen into ruins. He next visited S. Hoardun, Bishop of L^on, who ordained him exorcist, and wandered about taking with him Christina, his mother's niece and companion. His scholars accompanied him wherever he went, so, we are assured, did the wolf.^ At last he resolved on making a permanent settlement, and decided on planting himself by the stream Lyssem, the present La Heche, that separates the parishes of Lanhouarneau and Ploune venter. He arrived here when the crops were green, and demanded of the owner of a field, named Innoc, to surrender part of it to him. The man demurred ; however he consented at last, and Huerve cut down the green corn where he purposed constructing his monastery. At har- vest, the remainder of the crop yielded a double quantity. The place has since been called Lanhouarneau. In or about the year 550 a great conjuration was formed against Conmore, regent of Domnonia. At the bottom of it was S. Samson, but certainly also Gildas was influential in the matter, for he hated Conmore with a deadly hate. Probably also Budoc H was in it, worked up by S. Teilo, acting as a messenger from Samson. The object aimed at by the conspirators was the destruction of Conmore, and the elevation of Judual or Juthael, son of Jonas, to the throne of Domnonia and Leon. , In order to strike terror into the mind of Conmore, and to impress on the minds of the people a conviction that he was predestined to defeat and death, a convocation was summoned to meet on the Menez Bre, a rounded hill only some 700 feet high, but the most conspicuous in the district, as standing by itself. The author of his Life de- scribes the gathering as "an assembly of bishops and people for the excommunication of Conomerus, prefect of the king." ^ It was probably a gathering of saints to curse him, after the manner * " Hoarveus matrem adhuc viventem adiit, cui sanctum viaticum praebuit." Saint Hervei., p. 263. 2 " Inde perrexit (Hoarveus) cum discipulis et praevio atque Cristina nomine, genetricis nepta et ancilla." Ibid. p. 264, note. ^ " Conventus prssulum ac populorum, ut excommunicarent pra;fectum regis Conomerum." Ibid., p. 269. 278 Lives of the British Saints usual among Celtic bards, who ascended a hill, and standing back to back looking every way, and stabbing in the air with thorns, uttered a curse which must inevitably bring destruction on him against whom it was launched. Huerve, who was only an exorcist, was summoned to it, and almost certainly Gildas, who was but a priest. Huerve, impeded by his infirmity, arrived late, and the assembly waited for him twenty-four hours. When he appeared, ill-formed and covered with rags, one in the gathering exclaimed, " What, have we been kept all day for this little blind fellow ? " The remark was not courteous, but Huerve took it in great dudgeon and cursed the man.i Thereupon he fell down, his face covered with blood and blinded. At the interposition of the bishops present, Huerve restored sight to the man, by washing his face in water from a spring he miracu- lously called into existence on the hill. If we translate this out of the language of a monastic hagiographer, it comes to this — Huerve was late, one of those present found fault with him. This the blind man resented and knocked the man down, by a blow in the face that drenched him in blood. However,, when the feUow had washed the blood away, he was all right. A chapel was erected on the hill to commemorate the miracle, and it still stands there, and the spring is still shown. A curious story follows. Huerve returned from Menez Bre with Bishop Hoardon, and the bishop expressed his wish that he could look into heaven and see its glories. Then Huerve prayed and lo ! heaven was opened, and he saw the celestial orders there. Then said Huerve, " I wUl teU you all their names." ^ Then Huerve chanted the hymn of Miriam Cantemus Domino, that occurs in the Irish Liber Hymnorum, as one employed in the monastic offices. It was appropriate to the destruction of Conmore, the new Pharaoh. But Huerve added thereto, giving in order the names of all those in heaven beheld by the bishop.^ The writer adds the remark, " Recitabat carmen : Cantemus Domino. Quod, quamvis sit vulgariter editum a prsedecessoribus Sanctis, est vener- abiliter autenticum." By which he probably means that the hymn 1 " Cur me detrahis ? Detrimentum luminis quod patior patiaris." Sainf Hervi, p. 269 2 " Aspice sursum, Coelestium enim spirituunx personas et nomina vobis revelabo." Ibid., p. 271. 3 " Apertum est igitur super eos coelum, etviderunt omnes choros coelestium civium, discernentes quosque ordines angelonim atque singulos ordines patriarch- arum, prophetarum, apostolorum, martyrum, confess^orum atque virginum, audientes suaves melodias eorum." Ibid., p. 271. S. Hoernbiu 279 of Miriam, with the addition in the vernacular, was of old, but that nevertheless it was — or the Cantemus Domino was — an accepted eccle- siastical canticle. But it is not specifically stated that Huerve did make an addition to the hymn. Nothing of the kind exists in Breton at this day except one on the celestial hierarchy and the saints by Michel de Nobletz (1577-1654), which some have supposed to be a recast of the earUer ballad-hymn. But before we can accept this we must first be satisfied that Huerve did more than chant the Cantemus Domino of the Celtic Church in the vernacular. One day a fox carried off one of his hens. He addressed himself to prayer, and Reynard returned and delivered up the hen unhurt, to the admiration of S. Hoardon and of Guiharan, " his inseparable companion." At their desire the prayer he had made was written down, and served for centuries after as a sort of charm against the incursions of foxes into poultry yards. "• He visited the monastery of S. Majan, at Loc Maljan in Plouguin, near Ploudalmezeau, and Majan presented to him all his monks and disciples. Amongst these was one whose name Huerve asked. The man replied : " My name is Huccan, and I am an Irishman, and a blacksmith and carpenter. I am also a mason. Also a skilful sailor ; in a word, I can do anything with my hands." " Very well," said Huerve, " make the sign of the cross on the ground and worship it." Huccan hesitated. Thereupon the blind saint ordered him to reveal who and what he really was. And Huccan was compelled to admit that he was an unclean spirit. Then Huerve ordered the man to be bound and led to S. Goueznou, the brother of Majan. This was done, and the three abbots decided to throw Huccan over the rocks into the sea. From that time the rock has been haunted, as the author informs us. The incident has been softened down by the late biographer. What really occurred was the execution of a troublesome Irishman, who was a scandal to the monastery of S. Majan. To disguise this the biographer repre- sents him as a devil. As Huerve was now growing old, he announced to S. Hoardon that he would shortly die. When Christina " nonna et consobrinus ejus " heard that, she made petition of him that she might be allowed to die at the same time. On the sixth day of his last sickness, he was 1 " Quam ipsi, nee mora, scriptam posteris reliquerunt. Quoniam saepe sa;pius, nostris enim temporibus, per hanc fures produntur ; vel furta negaji nequeunt, aut reperiuntur. Conludium sancti Hoarvei ipsa nuncupata." Saint HervS, pp. 271-2. 2 8 o Lives of the British Saints visited by Hoardon, and after receiving his benediction, expired. At the same time Christina sank beside the bed and died. At the death of S. Huerve were present the bishop Hoardon and the three abbots, Conogan, Majan and Mornrod. Conogan or Guenogan became afterwards Bishop of Quimper. Mornrod cannot be traced. Huerve died on June 17. We know the period at which Huerve Hved, but not the date of his death. Conogan was not yet bishop. He is known to us by a grant made by him to S. Winwaloe, and a pact between them. Win- waloe died in 532. The revolt against Conmore was in 550, and he fell in 555- Unhappily we have no data for fixing the period of Hoardon. S. Huerve was buried at Lanhouarneau. In 878 his body was taken to the Castle of Brest to save it from the devastations of the Northmen. It remained there till 1002, when Geoffrey, Duke of Brit- tany, made a present of it to his confessor, Herve, Bishop of Nantes, who placed it in his cathedral. These relics were lost at the Revolu- tion. At Rennes, however, it is supposed that the skull is preserved. He is patron of Faouet-LanvoUon, of Lanhouarneau, of Malestroit, of Ploare, of Saint-Herve, etc., and has chapels in a great many places. The statues and representations of S. Huerve are numerous. There is one, a statue of the seventeenth century, at Guimiliau, where he is represented with his wolf. Another at Lampaul- Guimiliau, accom- panied by his little companion, Guiharan, and the wolf at his feet with the harness of the ass upon him. One at Kerlaz near Douarnenez, very rude but realistic. He is shown with his eyes open, Guiharan at his side with a whip, leading the wolf. At Loc Melar near Landivisiau is a side altar with a painting above it of the eighteenth century, very faded ; in the centre is the saint conducted by his boy guide. On each side are compartments repre- senting scenes in his life. i. The Saint, on Menez Bre, eliciting a spring. 2. Huerve with S. Paul of Leon in place of S. Hoardon, with heaven open above. 3. The saint led by Guiharan, and a ladder up which his mother's soul is mounting to heaven. 4. The wolf drawing a cart, under the conduct of Guiharan. To S. Huerve are attributed certain sayings. 1. Guell eo diski mabik bihaix Better teach a child Eged dastum madou d'eghan. Than store wealth for him. 2. An den iaouank en diegi The idle youth A zastum poan var benn kozni. Collects trouble for age. 3. An neb a zizeut ouz ar stur Who will not obey the helm Ouz ar garrek a zento sur."- Will fall on a sandbank ' A. le Grand, Vies des SS. de Bretagne, new ed., 1901, p. 245. S. HUERVfe WITH HIS WOLF AND GUIHARAN. Statue formerly in the Church of Kerlaz, near Douarnenez. S. Hoier7iin 281 In the MS. Trdguier Missal of the fifteenth century, the L^on Breviary ^^ 1736, that of Quimper, 1835, that of Leon, 1736, that of Redon, 1627, and in the Treguier Breviary of S. Yves of the thirteenth century, he IS commemorated on June 17. o. Huerve is invoked for sore eyes. At Marazion in Cornwall was a chapel of S. Ervet (B. Stafford's Register, Ucensed 1397). It is uncertain whether by Ervet is meant Huervetus or S. Herbotius. A story is told of S. Huerve that he silenced the croaking of frogs in a marsh ; much the same is told of S. Bruno. On this De la Ville- marque remarks, " Or, par une espece de prodige de la tradition, un chant populaire, intitule les Vepres des grenouilles, est venu jusqu'a nous, et il est I'oeuvre des bardes paiens d'Armorique, representes dans les recits populaires pieux sous la figure grotesque de ces bestioles croassantes : il offre un resume des doctrines druidiques du iv^ siecle, et il a paru si necessaire de le detruire aux premiers missionnaires Chretiens, qu'ils en ont fait une contre-partie latine et chretienne." ^ Now this Vesper of the Frogs is none other than the " Sing a Song of One, O ! " sung throughout Europe, and sung also by Jewish chil- dren. 2 M. de la Villemarque published this song in his Barzas-Breiz in 1839. He himself composed and introduced a line into it, to signify that this was a lesson given by a Druid to his pupils. M. Luzel has col- lected the same song in Brittany, in many places, and has shown that no such a line exists in any version he has found. ^ S. HOIERNIN, Confessor In the Celtic Litany in the Dean and Chapter Library at Salisbury this saint is invoked.* M. J. Loth says: " S. Isarninos, Iserninos, as eisarno-, isarno-, has given hoiarn, houarn, iron ; Iserninos has given Hoiernin (more regu- lar than Hoeiarnin), Houernin, in the Cartulary of Redon 860- 866, Huemin in 833, to-day Pluherlin, Morbihan ; also Saint Hernin in Cornouailles, and Les-Hernin, 1411, Treff-leshernin, 1436, a tref of Seghen, Morbihan (Rosenzweig Did. top.) ; transformed by the Romanomania of our clergy into Saint Germain, but it was pronounced Lesernin." * 1 La Ligende Celtique, 1864, p. 277. 2 Qjj the distribution of this song see Baring-Gould's Songs of the West, London, Methuen 1892, PP- xxxv-vi. 3 Luzel (F M.), Sonniou Breiz-Izel, Paris, Bouillon, 1890. 1 Revue Celtique. ix, p. 88. ' Ibid., xi, p. 144- 282 Lives of the British Saints Albert le Grand gives a meagre account of this Saint, based on a MS. preserved at Loc-harn.^ According to him, this Saint whose name has gone through so much change, was a native of Britain, who crossed over and settled in the parish of Desault near Carhaix. The chief at Quelen promised that he should have as much land as he could enclose in a single day. He took his staff, trailed it behind him and paced along. And the staff not only drew a furrow but made a deep trench and threw up a bank, and Hoiernin enclosed a considerable area by this means. Much the same story is told of other saints, as Goueznou and Brioc. Here Hoiernin lived till his death, and he was buried in his oratory. The place was ravaged in the war between Conmore and Judicael, and remained desolate till another Count of Poher, named also Conmore, was hunting in the region, when a stag he was pursuing fled to the tomb of the Saint for refuge, and there the hounds would not touch it He accordingly ordered a church to be built on the spot. Mate- rials were collected, when lo ! the birds were found to have gathered twigs and leaves and to have built up a little dome with them over the tomb. Locarn is near Mael-Carhaix in Cotes du Nord. A bust and relics are preserved in the church. There is a Holy Well surmounted by a thirteenth century statue of the saint in monastic habit, holding a book. At Saint Hernin near Carhaix, in Finistere, but in the same district, is another statue of him. Although Albert le Grand speaks of two Counts of Poher named Conmore, there was but one ; the erection of the church over the tomb must have occurred before 550, probably some years previously, as during the period just preceding, Conmore was quarrelling with the saints, and not at all disposed to build chapels. This throws back the date of S. Hoiernin. We cannot, however, identify him with S. Isserninus the companion of S. Patrick, for Albert le Grand speaks of him as a Briton, and had his Hernin been the helper of the Apostle of Ireland, he would not have failed to have found this recorded in his Acts. Hoiernin died on the first Monday in May ; but his day is given by Albert le Grand and Lobineau on November 2. Iserninus is called by the Irish Fith. " Llanyhern3m " is mentioned as a chapel under Llanegwad, Car- marthenshire, in the inventories of Church goods taken by the Com- missioners in 1552-3. 1 Vies des SS. de Bretagne, new ed., 1901, pp. 553-4- S. Muail 283 S. HUAIL, Prince, Martyr HUAIL is called Cuillus in the Life of Gildas, by the Monk of Rhuis.» He was son of Caw ab Geraint ab Erbin, known as Caw of Prydyn. He was obliged to fly with the rest of his family from the North, owing to the incursions and devastations of the Picts and Scots, and was well received by Maelgwn Gwynedd. It is possible that in a fit of disgust at being compelled to leave his territories, and in a sudden caprice for religion, he may have accom- panied Gildas, his brother, to Brittany, and lived for a while as a recluse on the Blavet. At Mekand, a couple of miles below the grotto into which Gildas retreated, is another grotto to which one Rivallo or Rivalain (Rig-huail) is said to have withdrawn. The cave is at the confluence of the Sarre with the Blavet, and is about ten feet deep. Here is an image of the saint, and hither in times of dry weather the villagers come in procession to obtain rain, by the intercession of the Saint. Near by also is a settlement of the nephew of Huail, S. Cenydd, locally called Kihouet or Quidi. If this be the same, he soon wearied of the Ufe of an anchorite and returned to Britain. In the lolo MSS. ^ he is said to have been a saint of Llancarfan, and to have founded a church in Ewyas, Herefordshire. The story of the manner in which he lost his life is given by Edward Jones, in his Bardic Museum,^ on the authority of Edward Lhuyd, who derived it from a Welsh MS. in the handwriting of John Jones, of Gelli Lyfdy, dated June 27, 1611. It is accordingly merely a legend and of no historic worth. Huail, was so imprudent as to court a lady of whom Arthur was enamoured. The King's suspicions having been aroused, and his jealousy excited, he armed himself secretly, and resolved on observing the movements of his rival. Having watched him going to the lady's house, some angry words passed between them, and they fought. After a sharp combat, HuaU got the better of Arthur, and wounded him in the thigh, whereupon the combat ceased, and they were recon- ^ Ed. Hugh Williams, p. 324. " Caunus ejus genitor et alios quatuor fertur habuisse filios, Cuillum videlicet valde strenuum in armis virum." His name is given as Hywel by John of Tynemouth and others. It is a somewhat rare name, but was borne by a few others, e.g. (as Hueil), in the Book of Llan Ddv,. p. 274, and the Record of Caernarvon, p. 102. 2 P. 117. 3 London, 1802, p. 22 ; Peter Roberts, Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, i8ii pp. 360-1. Lhuyd (Parochialia, supplement to Arch. Camb. for 1909, p. 146) mentions the stone thus under Ruthin: "Maen Heol is a flat Stone in y" middle of the street " ; but the stone is neither flat nor in the middle of the Street. 284 Lives of the British Saints died, but with the proviso that Huail should never mention the matter, under penalty of losing his head. Arthur retired to his palace, which was then at Caerwys, in Flint- shire, to be cured of his wound. He recovered, but ever after limped a little. A short time after his recovery, Arthur fell in love with a lady at Ruthin, in Denbighshire, and, in order the more frequently to enjoy her society, he disguised himself in female attire. One day he was dancing with this lady, thus disguised, when HuaU happened to see him. He recognized him by the lameness, and said, " This dancing might do very well but for the thigh." Arthur overheard the remark. He withdrew from the dance, and in a fury ordered Huail to be be- headed on a stone called Maen Huail, still standing in S. Peter's Square, Ruthin. There was some other cause for disagreement, according to the story of Culhwch and Olwen in the Mabinogion} Huail had stabbed his nephew Gwydre, son of Gwenabwy his sister and of Llwydeu, " and hatred was between Huail and Arthur because of the wound." In the same story it is said that " he never yet made a request at the hand of any lord." ^ The Rhuis author of the Life of Gildas says that " Cuillus, a very active man of war, after his father's death, succeeded him on the throne." The author of the other Life, supposed to be Caradog of Llancarfan, says : " Huail, the elder brother, an active warrior and most distinguished soldier, submitted to no king, not even to Arthur. He used to harass the latter, and to provoke the greatest anger between them both. He would often swoop down from Scotland, set up con- flagrations, and carry off spoUs with victory and renown. In conse- quence, the King of all Britain, on hearing that the high-spirited youth had done such things and was doing similar things, pursued the victorious and excellent youth, who, as the inhabitants used to assert and hope, was destined to become king. In the hostile pursuit and council of war held in the island of Minau (Man), he killed the young plunderer. After that murder the victorious Arthur returned, rejoicing greatly that he had overcome his bravest enemy. GUdas, the historian of the Britons, who was staying in Ireland directing studies and preaching in the city of Armagh, heard that his brother had been slain by Arthur. He was grieved at hearing the news, wept with lamentation, as a dear brother for a dear brother." Gildas at once hastened to Wales, full of resentment and desirous of revenge. " When King Arthur and the chief bishops and abbots of all Britain ' Ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 109. ' Ibid., p. 107. S. Hunydd 285 heard of the arrival of Gildas the Wise, large numbers from among the clergy and people gathered together to reconcile Arthur for the above-mentioned murder." ^ Arthur was obliged to pay blood- money, after which Gildas gave him the Kiss of Peace. Apparently the Prince Huail was a vulgar marauder, who richly de- served his fate. Arthur was perfectly justified in executing him for his depredations. He is distinguished in the thirteenth century Triads of Arthur and, his Warriors^ as one of " the Three Diademed Battle-chiefs {Taleithiog Cad) of the Isle of Britain " ; and among the " Sajnngs of the Wise " and the " Stanzas of the Hearing " occurs the following : — ^ Hast thou heard the saying of Huail, Son of Caw, the cautious reasoner ? " Often will a curse drop out of the bosom." (Mynych y syrth mefl o gesail.) S. HUNYDD, Matron This was one of the married daughters of Brychan. Her name is thus entered in the Vespasian Cognatio — " Hunyd, que iacet sub petra Meltheu, que fuit uxor Tudual flaui, mater Cunin cof (i. me- morie)." In the Domitian Cognatio she is called Ninctis (for Nunidis), whilst in Jesus College MS. 20 she occurs as Goleudyd. In the later genealogies her name, through a misreading, is given as Nefydd, and she is said to have been a saint at the place called Llech Gelyddon in Prydyn, i.e. Pictland.* There seems to be no ground for identifying her husband, Tudwal Befr, with Tudwal, Saint and Bishop, who is nowhere given the epithet Pefr, "the Fair." Her son, Cynin, is regarded as the patron of Llangynin, in Carmar- thenshire. There is a township of the parish of Cilcain, Flintshire, whose correct spelling would appear to be Llystin Hunydd. The locality of " The Stone of Meltheu " (Mellte) is not known ; probably it was in South Wales, where Mellte is a Breconshire river-name, and the parish-name, Bedwellty, in Monmouthshire, means " Mellte's- House." ' Vita 2^'-, ed. Hugh Williams, pp. 400-5. * Peniarth MS. 45 ; Skene, Four Ancient Books, ii, p. 458. 3 lolo MSB., p. 253, cf. p. 157 ; Myv. Arch., p. 128. * Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 428. Hunydd was not a particularly rare name. See the Record of Caernarvon, p. 320 (index). 2 86 Lives of the British Saints S. HUUI, Confessor In the grant by Caradog.the son of Rhiwallon, of " Villa Gunhucc, in Guartha Cum," to the Church of Llandaff, in the time of Bishop Her- wald (consecrated 1056), mention is made of " the four saints of Llan- gwm, Mirgint, Cinficc, Huui and Eruen." ^ There are two Hangwms in Monmouthshire — Llangwm Ucha and Isa, which form one benefice, the churches of which are to-day dedicated to S. Jerome and S. John respectively. This seems to be the only mention we have of Huui. It has been suggested ^ that his name may possibly survive in that of the parish of Pen-how (S. John Baptist), Monmouthshire. S. HYCHAN, Martyr Hychan was one of the reputed sons of Brychan. His name does not occur in the Cognatio, only in the late lists of Brychan's chil- dren. ^ He is patron of the little church of Llanychan, in the Vale of Clwyd. There is a tradition at Llandebie, Carmarthenshire, that Hychan was slain by the pagan Irish on a field there near the station, called Rhandir Hychan (his share-land or inheritance), but now, colloquially, Cae Henry Fychan. Llandebie Church is dedicated to Brychan's daughter, Tybie, who met with a similar death here, and the tradition states that the Hychan of the field-name was her brother. Llan-hychan (or -ychan), somewhere in Carmarthenshire, is given in old Welsh almanacks as the name of a place where a fair was held, Old Style, on the second day after Michaelmas, i.e. October i. It has long since been discontinued ; but it occurs in an almanack for 1775, and possibly in later ones, on October 12. Browne Willis * gives Hychan's Festival on August 8. S. HYDROC, Hermit, Confessor Of Lanhydrock, in Cornwall,William of Worcester says that " Sanctus Ydrocus " was a hermit, and that his day, according to the Bodmin ' Book of Llan Ddv, p. 274. 2 Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, p. 276. ' Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 426; lolo MSS., pp. iii, 119, 140. With the name Hychan compare that of S. Ehan or Ahan, in Iffendic and Parthenay, Brittany. gor, 1721, p. 327. S. Hydroc 287 Calendar, was May 5. The name leads to the supposition that he was of Irish origin ; it occurs in Irish Martyrologies as Huydhran, and this is the same name as Odran. ^w is a diminutive employed arbitrarily with oc. We suspect that Hydroc is theOdrhanwho was brother of S. Medran or Madron, disciple of S. Ciaran of Saighir. (See under S. Madron.) In the Irish Calendars his day is October 2, but also May 8 ; on the latter day as a Bishop. We may equate the Huydhran or Odran of May 8 with Hydroc, May 5. It is possible that WiUiam of Worcester wrote viii, which has been incorrectly printed by Nasmith as v. When Colgan wrote his Acta Sanctorum HihernicB, an ancient Irish Life of S. Odran was in existence, and he purposed giving this later ; but imhappily Colgan did not continue his collection beyond the last day of March, and since his time, the ancient Life has been lost.^ All we know of him is that he and his brother Medran were sons of MacCraith, son of Frochall, and that they were natives of Littir, now Latteragh, in Tipperary.^ The two brothers, as boys, set off on their travels and visited S. Ciaran of Saighir. There S. Medran desired to remain, and place himself under the teaching of this illus- trious saint. Odran was much annoyed, and remonstrated with his brother, that this was a breach of their engagement. They referred the matter to Ciaran, who took a candle that had just been extin- guished, put it in Medran's hand, and bade him blow on the smoulder- ing wick. If it flamed, he was to remain. If it refused to do so, he was to go on with Odran. The wick, on being blown on, burst into flame, and Odran had to depart alone. As he left Ciaran said to him : " Hear me, brother Odran, I assure you that although you may wander far and wide, you will die in your native place of Littir." ^ Odran was one of the disciples of Senan, who assisted to bury him at Iniscathy.* After many travels, Odran did finally come back to Ireland and buUt a great monastery at Littir, and there he died, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, in 548. His day in the Martyrology of Tallaght is October 2, but also as Bishop on May 8 ; on the same day in the Martyrology of Donegal. As the name is not uncommon, ^ it is not possible to say whether 1 Colgan, Ada SS. Hib., Vita S. Kierani, p. 461, and note i, p. 463- 2 Ibid., p. 465- 3 Irish Life of S. Ciaran, ed. Mulcahy, Dublin, 1895, pp. 44-5. * Book of Lismore, p. 221. •, ^ e /- 1 5 There was an Odran, S. Patrick's charioteer ; another a pupil of S. Colum- ciUe; another a disciple of S. Columba of Tir-da-glas; another the father of S. Mochua. 2 8 8 Lives of the British Saints these were the same or different saints. He seems to have been re- garded as a tutelar saint of Waterford, and has a Holy Well, Tobar- Odran,near the churchyard of Kilkeiran (Cill-Ciaran) in the parish of Castlejordan.'- As Ciaran is the Cornish S. Piran, it is not impossible that Odran migrated with him to Cornwall, and that he may be the Cornish Saint Hydroc of Lanhydrock. The fact that the feast there should be on May 5, and his day in Ireland May 8, seems to favour the supposition. S. HYLDREN, Bishop, Confessor Lansallos church, in Cornwall, is dedicated, according to Bishop Bytton's Register, to Sta. Ildierna ; and in Bishop Stapeldon's Regis- ter the patron is also given (1320) as Sta. Ildierna. However, William of Worcester says, " Sanctus Hyldren, episcopus, jacet in parochia Lansalux juxta parochiam Lanteglys ; ejus festum agitur primo die Februarii, id est Vigilia Purificationis Beatse Marise ;" and Nicolas Roscarrock enters him on February i in his Calendar as S. Ildierne. Ecton, in his Thesaurus, gives S. Alwys as the patron. There was a Welsh S. Elldeyrn, brother of the infamous Vortigern, to whom is dedicated the church of Llanillterne, under S. Pagans, in Glamor- ganshire. His nephew, Edeyrn, crossed into Brittany, where he has left a mark. It is possible that EUdeyrn may also have quitted Wales, where after the disgrace and ruin of his brother he could not well remain, and settled in Cornwall. S, HYWEL, Knight, Confessor Hywel was son of Emyr Llydaw, and with the rest of his brothers he was forced to fly from Armorica, on account of a family struggle for the supremacy. It has been supposed that they were expelled, or expatriated themselves, to save their throats from being cut by Grallo. But nothing can be said on this subject which is not pure conjecture. The sole authority for Hywel as a Welsh saint is an entry in the seventeenth century Llansannor Achau'r Saint printed in the Iolo> • O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish SS., x, p. 17. S. Iddew 289 M5S.1 In this MS. he is called Hywel Faig or Farchog, and is said to have been the father of Derfel Gadarn, Dwyfael or Dwywai, Arthfael, and Hywel Fychan, all saints. It states that he hes buried at Cor Illtyd, Llantwit Major. In the Triads and the Mabinogion tales he appears as a knight of King Arthur's court, which accounts for his epithet Marchog. In the Triads he is mentioned as one of the three " Royal knights " of the Court, who, invincible in battle, were yet so remarkable for their amiable manners and gentle speech that no one could refuse or deny them anything they asked. ^ In Geraint and Enid he is one of the knights of the court that went with Geraint to Cornwall. 3 He is esteemed the patron of Llanhowell, under Llandeloy, Pem- brokeshire, and also, it would appear, of the Monmouthshire church spelt Llanhowel in sixteenth century parish lists,* but to-day Llan- llowell, and said to be dedicated to S. Llywel. Browne Willis * gives it as dedicated to S. Hoel, with Festival on October 3.1. Breton tradition makes Hywel the husband of Alma Pompsea, mother of S. Tudwal. There is no documentary evidence that this was so. In the Welsh pedigrees he is made the father of Hywel Fychan, so that he would be Hywel Fawr, or the Elder, and the Bretons designate him as Hoel le Grand, or Hoel Meur. They make Hywel Fychan have to wife a daughter of Maelgwn Gwynedd. He has been laid hold of by the romancers, Geoffrey of Monmouth and Wace, and converted into a gallant prince of Armorica who as- sisted Arthur in his wars against the Romans. It is doubtful if he ever set foot again in Armorica, after having fled from it in his youth- S. HYWGI, see S. BUGI S. HYWYN, see S. HENWYN S. IDAN, see S. NIDAN S. IDDEW, Confessor In the Myvyrian Archaiology ^ is entered, as a saint, Iddew Corn Brydain, the son of Cawrdaf ab Caradog Freichfras. In the lolo MSS.'' ' P. 132. 2 Myv. Arch., pp. 393, 411, 4I3- 3 Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 265. In the Dream of Rhonabwy he is one of Arthur's " Counsellors," ibid., p. 159. ^ J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 920 ; Myv. Arch., p. 750. ^ Parochiale Anglicanum, lya. P- 176. ° P. 426. ' P. 123. VOL. III. TJ 290 Lives of the British Saints the same entry occurs as Iddawg Corn Prydain, the son of Caradog Freichfras. The latter incorrect form renders him Hable to be con- founded with Iddawg Cordd Prydain, the son of Mynio, one of Arthur's men, who, by his treachery, brought about the fatal battle of Camlan. He figures in the Dream of Rhonabwy. Iddew was the brother of Cathan and Medrod. S. IDDON, King, Confessor Rees 1 gives as a Welsh saint Iddon, the son of Ynyr Gwent, and brother of SS. Ceidio, Cynheiddon, and Tegiwg. His mother was S. Madrun, the daughter of Vortimer. The genealogies of the Welsh saints do not recognize him as a saint. Yn37r was succeeded by Iddon as King of Gwent, and several grants of land were made by him to the Church of Llandaff. Llanarth, Llan- tilio Pertholey, and Llantilio Crossenny, in Monmouthshire, were given during the episcopate of Teilo, the last-named being a grant in grati1.ude for a victory over the Saxons in answer to Teilo's prayer. Llangoed, the situation of which is not known, was another grant made in the time of Bishop Arwystl.^ Iddon was a good king, but Rees, it would seem, was the first to include him among the Welsh saints. He is mentioned in the Life •of S. Beuno ^ as having gone to Gw5medd to that Saint in quest of his sister, Tegiwg, who had eloped with a labourer. He killed the man at Aberffraw, in Anglesey, but Beuno raised him to hfe again. There is a Tre Iddon, above Llyn Coron, not far from Aberffraw.* No churches are mentioned as being dedicated to Iddon. Bettws Wyrion Iddon, " the Bede-house of the Grandsons of Iddon," the old name of Bettws y Coed, is late comparatively, and cannot be regarded as referring to him. The early form of Iddon was ludon,^ which was also the Breton form, later luzon, and is the name of a saint or saints in Brittany, where there are several dedications under the name, viz., Lannion, in Gourin, Morbihan, which occurs in the Cart, de Quim-perU as Lan- iuzon ; Lannion, in C6tes-du-Nord ; Lannuzon, in Scrignac, Finistere ; and Loquion, in Gestel.- 1 Welsh Saints, pp. 233-4. ^ Booh of Llan Ddv, pp. 121-4, 166-7. 3 Lyfr Ancr, p. 125 ; Cambyo-British Saints, p. 19. * It should be stated that Iddon was by no means an uncommon name ; see, e.g., the Record of Caernarvon, p. 323 (index). Crogen Iddon is the name of one of the townships of Llangollen. ^ See Book of Llan Ddv, p. 407 (index). aS*. Idunet 291 S. IDLOES, Confessor Idloes, the patron of Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire, was the son of Gwyddnabi ab Llawfrodedd Farfog.^ Very little is known of him. One Achau'r Saint 2 gives him a daughter named Meddvyth, of whom see under S. Meddwid. His festival, September 6, occurs in the lolo MSS. calendar and in the Pr3Tners of 1618 and 1633. A fair was formerly held (O.S.) at Llanidloes on the first Saturday in September. His Holy Well, Ffjmnon Idloes, was situated on the Lower Green, now Hafren Street. lolo Goch,^ Owen Glyndwr's laureate, invokes his protection in a poem, and Lewis Glyn Cothi,* in the next century, says of one of his subjects — He was an aged knight, of good morals, Like Sadwru or Idloes. Among the " Sayings of the Wise " triplets occurs the following : — ^ Hast thou heard the saying of old Idloes, A peaceful man, amiable in his life ? " The best quality is that of maintaining morals;" (Goreu cynueddf yw cadw moes).' In the " Stanzas of the Hearing " ^ the " saying " differs slightly : — " The best prosperity is the maintaining of morals." (Goreu cynnj'dd cadw moes). S. IDUNET, Confessor In the Celtic Litany of the tenth century from the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury, published by Canon Warren,' S. Ediunete is invoked ; in that published by Mabillon, he is called Idunete.8 '■ Hafod MS. 16 ; Hanesyn Hin, pp. 3y, 120 ; Myv. Arch., p. 426 ; Cambro- British Saints, p. 268. His grandfather, Llawfrodedd Farfog (Farchog in a few rather late MSS.), is celebrated in Welsh legend. He was one of " the Three Tribe-Herdsmen of the Isle of Britain " ; he tended the kine of Nudd Hael, in whose herd were 21,000 milch cows {Myv. Arch., p. 408). His own cow, Cornillo, was one of " the Three Chief Cows " of the Island {Peniarth MS. 16) ; whilst his knife was one of " the Thirteen Treasures " of the Island ; it would " serve four and twenty men at meat all at once " {Y Brython, i860, P- 372). 2 Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 118; Llanstephan MS. 81, p. z. 3 Gweithiau /.G., ed. Ashton, p. 533. ' Gwaith L.G.C., p. 332. ^ lolo MSS., p. 251. « Myv. Arch., p. 127. ' Revue Celtique, ix (1888), p. 88. ■* Vetera Analecta (ed. 1723), ii, p. 669. 292 Lives of the British Saints A Life of the Saint is in the Cartulary of Landevenec, at what date composed there is nothing to show.^ The Vita is curious, for up to a certain point it calls the Saint Idiunet, and thenceforth Ethbin. Capgrave, in his Nova Legenda, gives John of Tynemouth's con- densation of the Life. He calls the Saint throughout Egbinus, and does not once use the name Idunet. M. J. Loth considers that two distinct saints were confounded to- gether. 2 But we are rather disposed to think that the Life as a whole belongs to an Ethbin, but was clumsily adapted by the compiler of the Cartulary of Landevenec to make it apply to Idunet. Idunet was a genuine personage. He occurs in the Cartulary of Landevenec as a brother of S. Winwaloe, " non post multum tempus sanctus Uuingualoeus iter edidit ad fratrem suum Edunetum," who lived near what is now Chateaulin, but was then known as Castel- Nin.^ " jEdunetus occurrit sancto Uuingualoseo ridens cum ve- nientem ad se, et seipsum sancto Dei commendavit, id est, corpus et animam et spiritum et omnia quse habebat, et terras quas Graalonus rex sibi dedit." In the Life of S. Winwaloe no mention whatever is made of this brother, and it is impossible to accept this record as sufficient auth- ority for making Idunet a son of Gwen Teirbron. Idunet had no Life, and the monks of Landevenec, lacking one, took that of a different saint, Ethbin, who was associated with a totally different Winwaloe, a monk of Taurac, and adapted it to their purpose, but so clumsily, that in part of the narrative they substituted the name Idunet for Ethbin, but not throughout. John of Tynemouth possessed, not the Landevenec manipulated Life, but the original Vita of S. Ethbin, and he does not speak of the saint as having borne the other name of Idunet. How clumsy the work was may be judged-, moreover, by this. In the Vita the parents of Idunet are named, Eutius and Eula ; and nevertheless in the Cartulary he is given as " brother " of Winwaloe, son of Fracan and Gwen Teirbron. We are disposed to think that Idunet was a kinsman, possibly a half-brother of Winwaloe, who lived where is now Chateaulin, and that the Vita in the Cartulary has nothing whatever to do with him.. See S. Ethbin. '1 He is patron of ChateauUn, where his pardon is on the fifth Sunday after Easter ; of Pluzunet (Plou-Iduneti), near Plouaret, C6tes-du- Nord ; of Tregourez, near Chateauneuf, Finistere ; and he has chapels ^ Cart, de Landevenec, ed. De la Borderie, Rennes, 1888, pp. 137-41 ; ^<^tct SS. Boll., October, viii, pp 487-8. 2 Revue Celtique, xi (1S90), p. 141. ^ Cart, de Landevenec, ed. De la Borderie, p. 145. * ii, pp. 466-7. -5*. lestyn 293 ■ Revue Celtique, xi, pp. 136 141. , 2 Peniarth MSS. 12, 16 ; Hanesyn Hen, pp. lOg, 121 ; Camhro-British Saints, p. 270; Myv. Arch., pp. 421, 427; lolo MSS., pp. loi, 116, 136. The name lestyn is the Latin Justinus. In Breton it is lostin and lestin. There is a Ker-istin in Marzan, Morbihan. In the Taxatio of 1254 Llaniestyn, Anglesey, is entered as " Ecc'a de Lanyustin." Eastington, a manor in the parish of Rhoscrowther, Pembrokeshire, was formerly called lestynton. ' Arch. Camb., 1847, PP- 324-5. At p. 289 there is an engraving of the effigy. For a description see ibid., 1874, pp. 217-24 ; also Westwood, Lapidarium W allies., 1876-9, p, 196. 2 94 Lives of the British Saints He may have been the founder of S. Just-in-Roseland, in Cornwall, a part peculiarly affected by the royal Domnonian family, and not far from S. Gerran's, his father's church, and Dingerein, the royal palace. But if so he has been supplanted by a Justin or Just in the Roman Calendar ; it is impossible to say by which. There are in that Calendar twenty-three Justs and seven Justins. He was probably forced to quit Cornwall at the same time as Cybi, in consequence of the dynastic conflict hinted at in the Life of S. Cybi, when Constantine made himself king. It is possible that he may be the Justin whom we meet with in Brittany at Plestin (Plou-Iestin). He had occupied a cell there, but left on pilgrimage. Whilst he was absent, an Irish colonist, EfQam, arrived and took possession of his cell. When he returned he found his ceU occupied and the land around it appropriated by the Irishman. According to a local legend, the controversy as to the right to the habitation was settled amicably between them by this means. Each seated himself within the cabin, and they waited to see on whose face the setting sun would shine through the tiny window. Presently the declining orb broke from its envelope of cloud, and sent a golden ray in through the opening and irradiated the countenance of Effiam. Thereupon Justin arose, saluted him, and seizing his staff, departed." They would seem, however, to have compromised matters. It was arranged that Efflam should rule the ecclesiastical, and Justin the secular community. This is obscurely related by the biographer of Effiam, a late writer, who did not comprehend the tribal arrangements in vogue at an earlier period. What he says is that Justin gave his name to the plou or flehs, and that Efflam took the headship of the lann ; and that they agreed to live at some distance apart. The place where Justin settled is now by contraction called Plestin (Plou-Iestin), and in the church S. Justin is represented as a priest. The festival of S. lestyn does not occur in any of the Welsh Calendars. Festivals were held at Llaniestyn, Anglesey, on April 12 and October 10, and at Llaniestyn, Carnarvonshire, on October 10.* The day on which he is said to be commemorated in Brittany is April 19 ; ^ but churches bearing his name have been transferred to S. Just, Bishop of Lyons, who died in 390, and whose day is September 2. The feast at S. Just-in-Roseland is August 14. If we deduct eleven ^ Le Braz in Annales de Bretagne, T. xi, p. 184. 2 Willis, Survey of Bangor, 1721, pp. 275, 282 ; Cambrian Register, iii (1818), p. 224. Nicolas Owen, Hist, of Anglesey, 1775, p. 58, gives April 15. 3 Kerviler and De la Borderie, but neither gives his authorities ; both apparently follow Garaby. The Pardon is on the Fifth Sunday after Easter. /S. leuan Gwas Padrig 295 days we have August 3. There is no Just or Justin commemorated in the Roman Calendar on either of these days. A Iest3m ab Caden (Cadan, or Cadfan) ab Cynan ab Eudaf ab Cara- dog ab Bran Fendigaid is in late genealogies ^ represented as having been a saint, some generations earlier than the son of Geraint, but his existence is very doubtful. They are given the same ancestry. S. lEUAN GWAS PADRIG, Monk, Confessor This minor Welsh saint has been more fortunate than many of the more important ones, for we have had preserved for us his Life, in Welsh. There is a copy of Buchedd leuan Gwas Padrig in Llan- stepkan MS. 34, written in the sixteenth century, and another in MS. 104, written in the following century, in the same collection. The Life, however, as we have it, cannot be much, if any, earher than the sixteenth century. It has never been pubhshed. leuan ^ ab Tudur ab Ehdan ab Owain Fychan ab Owain ab Edwin Frenin was bom in Llwyn, a township of the commote of Ceiomeirch, or Cinmerch,^ now l3mig within the parish of Llanrhaiadr, near Den- bigh. He was a disciple of S. Patrick : hence his epithet Gwas Padrig, " the servant of Patrick," which, as a personal name, Anghcised to Gos- patrick or Cospatrick, was borne by the well-known eleventh century Earl of Northumberland. With it compare the Strathclyde names Quos-Cuthbert, Cos-Mungo, and Cos-Oswald. A number of Welsh- men in early and mediaeval times bore names thus formed, among them Gwas Dwyw (Duw), Gwas Crist, Gwas Mair, Gwas Mihangel, GwcLS Dewi, Gwas TeUo, and Gwas Sant Ffraid. They are transla- tions or imitations of a well-known Goidehc formxila, probably of pre- ' Myv. Arch, p. 427; lolo MSS., p. 118, cf. pp. loi, 116. 2 Sometimes he is called Ifan or Evan. leuan, lefan, Ifan, Iwan, and loan are all Welsh forms for John. Evan Evans is none other than John Jones, only less Anghcised. leuan's pedigree cannot be genuine. His father's name is also given as LlyTvelyn ; thus the entry in Llanstephan MS. 187 (c. 1634), p. 237, "Euan ap llywelyn, gwas Patrig, fanach, sant Cerig yDridion, ar Uwyn yngeinnech." He is associated with S. Mary Magdalene in a cywydd written in her honour by Gutyn Ceiriog, of which copies occur in Llanover MS. B. i, fo. 63a (c. 1670), and Cardiff MS. 26, p. 99. ' For its boundaries and extent see WiUiams, Records of Denbigh, Wrexham, i860, pp. 46-7. At p. 58 is mentioned " Gavel Waspatrik " as being in Denbigh. Quimerch, which occurs in Breton charters as Ecclesia de Keynmerch, Keinmerh, and Keymerch, is near Chateaulin, in Finistere. 296 Lives of the British Sai7its Celtic origin. Gwas Padrig is represented in Ireland by Mael-Phatraic (now Mulpatrick), meaning, literally, " the tonsured man (or devotee) of Patrick," and in Scotland by Gille-Patraic, " the servant of Pa- trick." Compare also Mael-Brighde and Gille-Brighde, "the servant of Brigid." The formula implies that the person so named was under the charge, or was born on the day (or some other connexion) of that particular saint. According to his Life, leuan was a worker of miracles ; but those recorded are stock instances, and have been often attributed to others. He wrought his first miracle, when a boy of twelve, by killing an infuriate adder that was aiming at a drainer, and he had his prayer granted that " there should never till Doomsday be seen an adder in that land," and, moreover, no " venomous vermin " should ever hurt those who offered to leuan. One season the crows and other birds devastated his father's and other persons' crops to such an extent that he was moved to " drive them all before him into his father's barn." Tudur was so impressed with the youth's performances that he sent him with his blessing to Menevia to become a disciple of S. Patrick. He was there for some time, and when the great Apostle, in obedience to the warning voice, left Wales for Ireland, leuan also with others accompanied him. But leuan was not destined to remain in Ireland long. One day S. Patrick, whilst preparing to say Mass, sent his Welsh disciple to fetch fire. leuan went to the cook, and returned with the glowing embers in his lap, without his garment having been even singed. S. Patrick, in compassion for the Welsh, that they should not be deprived of having so great a wonder-worker in their midst, requested him to return to his native country. leuan bade his master farewell and went down to the shore, but could find no means of embarking. In his perplexity he prayed, and saw a blue slab floating on the surface of the water towards him ; and on this he safely landed on the coast of Anglesey. He now felt very thirsty ; he thrust the point of his staff into the ground, and forthwith bubbled up a crystal spring. " From thence he came to Llwyn in Ceinmeirch — to his own patrimony — and contemplated making a cell there for prayer to God. He has in Llwjm thirteen wells." 1 An angel, however, told him not to erect his cell there but to proceed southwards until he ' spied a roebuck, and on the spot he saw it rise there to establish his cell. "And he came to the place that is called Cerrig y Drudion, ^ An Artesian well, sunk in 1906 at Llwyn Isa, about two miles from Denbigh, provides the town with an abundant supply of the purest water. S. leuan Gwas Padrig 297 and there built he his cell, where is a church dedicated to leuan Gwas Padrig and Mary Magdalene." The church is now regarded as dedicated to S. Mary Magdalene i alone, and the Gwyl Mabsant or wake followed her festival, July 22. Ffynnon Fair Fadlen is near the church, but her earlier well was in Caeau Tudur. Edward Lhuyd (i6gg) gives an interesting early MS. note from the Parish Register, which shows that Gwas Padrig was, previously to the Reformation, represented in stained glass in the chancel window of Cerrig Church, but the glass has long since disappeared. " levan ap Llewelyn of Kinmeirch surnamed Gwas Patrick as written by his picture at y'^ east end of Kaer y Drydion written A°. 1504. Evanus Patricius animarum confessor was y'^ ist founder of y° Ch : of K. y Druidion in y*" year of our Lord 440 and dedicated it to M : Magdalen. It was afterwards repair 'd and augmented A°. 1503." Lhuyd men- tions his Holy Well, Ffynnon Gwas Padrig, as possessing very cold water, which cured swelling in the knees, etc. ; and another well, Ffjmnon y Brawd, the Friar's Well, which removed warts, etc. In the terrier of 163,1 are named as part of the glebe, Bryn y Saint, and Erw'r Saint. By a deed dated 1506, in consideration of the small income of the benefice, certain messuages and tenements were added, " ad laudem Dei et Sanctas Marise Magdalenae ac Sancti leuan nuncupati Gwas- batryc vanagh patroni ibidem." ^ From the fact that his Life brings him to Anglesey leuan may be one of the patrons of Llantrisant in that island. Browne Willis ' gives that church as dedicated to the three saints, Sannan, June 13, Afan (sometimes spelt Afran), December 17, and leuan or John, August 29. The last date is the festival of the Decollation of S. John Baptist, but it is hardly possible that by this leuan is meant the Bap- tist. The parish is • situated on the side of the island that leuan would be likely to land, and not far from the coast. Nothing further seems to be known of leuan Gwas Padrig. Several clergy named louan (O. Welsh for leuan) occur in the Book of Llan Ddv. Louan, more correctly perhaps louan, was one of " the learned men and doctors that flocked to Dubricius for study," * and this same disciple was probably the clerical witness to several grants by King Pepiau of Erging to the church of Llandaff. 1 B. Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 364. 2 MS. D, fo. xxxiv b, in the Episcopal Library, S. Asaph. ^ Bangor, p. 279. * Book of Llan Ddv, p. 80. 298 Lives of the British Saints One of the " Sayings of the Wise " triplets runs ^ :— Hast thou heard the saying of Ifan, Brother in the Faith to Catwg of Llancarfan ? " A grain of sand sliines its destined best " (Tywynid graienyn ei ran). S. IFOR, Bishop, Confessor Ifor is said to have been the son of Tudwal (Saint and Bishop), the son of Corinwr, of the mythical line of Bran Fendigaid. He was a bishop, but we are not told of what see, and the founder of a church in England. 2 He was not a son of Hunydd (Nefydd), daughter of Brychan, as has been assumed. ^ He is not known to the earlier authorities ; and in all probability by him is intended the " Eborius Episcopus de civitate Eboracensi provincia Britannia," * who was present at the Council of Aries, 3,14. Ifor is one of the many saints, mainly Welsh, to whose guardianship a poet in an Ode to Henry VII commits that king. •" Giraldus Cambrensis ^ mentions the entire expulsion of rats from Ferns by the curse of S. Yvorus, bishop, " whose books they had probably gnawed." This was Ibhar, bishop of Beg-Eire, Begery Island, in Wexford Haven, who died in 500 or 505, and is com- memorated on April 23. S. ILAN, Bishop, Martyr But little is known of this saint. He is the patron of Eglwys Ilan, in Glamorganshire, which is caUed Merthir Ilan, that is, the martyrium of Ilan, in the Book of Llan Ddv.^ Sometimes the church is given as dedicated to S. Helen,^ and even to S. Elian. In the Taxatio of 1254 the church occurs as Eglisulan, in that of 1291 as Eglishilan, and in the Valor of 1535,' as Egloysyland. Trefilan, in Cardiganshire, usually regarded as dedicated to S. Hilary, bears Han's name. A late, untrustworthy list i" of the early bishops of Llandaff includes Ilan. 1 lolo MSS., p. 254; cf. Myv. Arch., p. 859. 2 lolo MSS., pp. 116, 136. 2 Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 148. 4 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., i, p. 7. '^ lolo MSS., p. 314- « Topog. Hibern., Dist. ii, c. 22 (Opera, v, p. 120, ed. Dimock, 1867). ' Pp. 32, 44. ' WiUis, Llandaff, 1719. append., p. i. •> iv, p. 350. Elan and Ylan are also met with. For the substitution of Llan and Eglwys for Merthyr see Cymmrodorion Transactions, 1906-7, pp. 85-6. 1° Liber Landavensis, p. 623. S. liar 299 There is a Bod Ilan in Llanfihangel y Pennant, Merionethshire ; and S. Ilan is the name of a castle near S. Brieuc, C6tes-du-Nord. S. ILAR, Martyr The late documents printed in the lolo MSS. give two Welsh saints of this name. One/ an liar who came to this island with Cadfan, and has a church dedicated to him in Glamorganshire, by which is evidently meant S. Hilary, near Cowbridge. It is, however, dedicated to S. Hilary. The other,^ liar, son of Nudd Hael, by whom, of course, is intended Eleri, the son of Dingad ab Nudd Hael, the Elerius of the Life of S. Winefred by Prior Robert of Shrewsbury, and the patron of Gw3d;herin, Denbighshire. liar is the Welsh form of the Latin Hilarus, just as Eleri is of Hilarius. These two Welsh saints are constantly confounded with the great S. Hilary of Poictiers, as is also Elian Geimiad. The only church that can, with any degree of certainty, be said to be dedicated to liar is Llanilar, in Cardiganshire, with which he is associated under the name liar Bysgotwr,* or the Fisherman. But this church is also claimed for S. Hilary.* The Welsh Calendars give the festival of S. liar in January, but are rather undecided as regards the day, the 13th, 14th, and 15th being assigned him.^ Similarly, though the festival of S. Hilary should be on January 13, the day on which he died, as in the Anglican Calendar, the 14th is that marked in the Roman Calendar, the alteration being made that the day might not interfere with the Octave of the Epiphany. In the sixteenth century Demetian Calendar (S), which gives liar on the 15th, he is called liar Ferthjn:, or the Martyr, with the addition, " or rather Droedwyn," that is, " the White-footed." Lewis Glyn Cothi,® in the fifteenth century, invokes his protection 1 P. 108. 2 p. i3g. 3 Myv. Arch. p. 426. * B. WiUis, Parochiale Anglic, 1733, p. 195. The Glamorganshire church is given as " Ecclesia S. Hilarii " in the Book of Llan Ddv, see index. The following are some of the sixteenth century Welsh spellings for it, " Sain tilari," " Saint y lari," " Sain Hilari (or Eleri) " ; Dr J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, pp. 827, 919 = See i, p. 70. By " Gwyl Seint liar " in Brut y Tywysogion (ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 349) is clearly meant the Festival of S Hilary. « Gmaith L.G.C., 1837, pp. 88, 337. So also in the Ode to Henry VII, lolo MSS., p. 314. In " Cywydd y Pryns Arthur " by Dafydd Llwyd, in Llanover MS. B. i, fo. 336, occurs the couplet — llavj- vaeno drosto rag drwg ag jlar rag drwg olwg. 300 Lives of the British Saints for the subject of one of his poems, and alludes to his festival as " Gwyl liar hael a'i loer hir," " the Festival of the generous liar with his long moon." SS. Hid and Ilud Ilud is entered as one of the unmarried daughters ^ of Brychan in the Vespasian Cognatio, but she is not in the Domitian copy. The name would now be Iludd. In the list of his children in Jesus College MS. 20 the name was miscopied by the fifteenth century scribe as Llttd, and he adds that she is commemorated " yn Ruthun ygwlat Vorgant," that is, in Rhuthyn, the manor and commote of the name in the Vale of Glamorgan, embracing the parish of Llanilid, which the scribe evi- dently implied derived its name from her. He seems to be the sole authority for the association, and though the Church of Llanilid may have been originally dedicated to her, it certainly at an early date came to be regarded as under the invocation of S. Julitta and her son, the child-martyr S. Cyriacus. Its full Welsh designation has always been, " Llanilid a Churig," as for instance in the parish list, circa 1566, in Peniarth MS. 147. In the Taxatio of 1254 it is called " Ecclesia Sancte Julite," and this, or something similar, has been the prevalent form in Latin documents.^ For Hid = Julitta see further under that name. In " The Genealogy of lestyn ab Gwrgant," the eleventh century prince of Glamorgan, we are told that Eurgain, wife, as supposed, of the historical Caratacus or Caradog, sent for S. Hid, " of the land of Israel," from Rome to Britain, to assist her in the conversion of the Welsh. " This Hid is called, in the lections of his Life, S. Joseph of Arimathsea. He became the principal teacher of the Christian Faith to the Welsh, and introduced good order into Cor Eurgain, which she had established for twelve saints, near the church now called Llantwit." He afterwards went to Glastonbury, " where he died and was buried, and Ina, king of that country, raised a large church over his grave." ^ 1 It occurs as the name of a layman in the Book of Llan Ddv, p. 149. 2 In a will of 1690 it is called" Saint Juliet's " ; G. T. Clark, LimftMi Patvum Morganics, 1886, p. 393. 3 lolo MSS., p. 7 ; cf. p. 219. Joseph of Arimathsea is called Hid also in the Cywydd to S. Mary Magdalene by Gutyn Ceiriog, referred to under S. Ieuan GWAS Padrig. s. I Hog 301 We are further told that S. IHd, " a man of Israel," came hither with Bran Fendigaid from Rome, that he converted many of the Welsh to Christianity, Caradog and Eurgain among them, and that he is the patron of Llanilid in Gwent.^ A house in that parish, called Tre Bran, is supposed to confirm the connexion of this " man of Israel," that is, Joseph of Arimathsea, with the place. The following occurs among the " Sayings of the Wise " ^ : — Hast thou heard the saying of S. lUd, One come from the race of Israel ? " There is no madness like extreme anger " (Nid ynfydrwydd ond trallid). This saint can only be regarded as " a man of straw," being the creation of some of the late mediaeval Glamorgan antiquaries, who were familiar with the legend of the Holy Grail, most probably through Walter Mapes. S. ILLID, Bishop, Confessor According to William of Worcester, Illid, Hid, or Elidius, a Bishop, reposed in one of the isles of Scilly. Elsewhere he calls the island " Insula Seynt Lyde (fuit fill us regis) . " Leland says : " Saynt Lide's Isle, wher in tj/mes past at her Sepulchre was grete superstition." ^ Either her is a misprint for his, or else Leland confounded Lyde of Scilly with Lidgy of Egloscruc or S. Issey. William of Worcester says that his day in the Tavistock Calendar was August 8. As the Abbey of Tavistock had a cell in Scilly, its calendar is likely to be correct in describing him as a Bishop. S. ILLOG, Confessor The genealogies know nothing of this Welsh Saint, but his festival, August 8, entered as " Gwyl Illog yn Hirnant " occurs in a good number of the earlier Welsh Calendars. In the Calendar in Additional MS. 14,882, written in 1591, the entry is " g. Illoe abban sant," 1 lolo MSS., pp. 100, lis, 135. 149-50. Cyndaf was likewise "a man of Israel." 2 Ibid., p. 255. ' Itin., iii, 9. 3 o 2 Lives of the British Saints which includes apparently one of the two Irish Saints of the name Abban. He is patron of the little church of Hirnant, in Montgomery- shire. His holy well, Ffynnon lUog, once much resorted to for its mineral properties, is near the church, and a tumulus on an eminence, called Carnedd lUog, is supposed to cover his remains. Here also are Gwely lUog, his Bed, and a brook, Aber lUog. Browne Willis ^ gives the dedication of Coychurch, in Glamorgan, as to Illog, but this church, called in Welsh Llangrallo, is dedicated to S. Crallo. S. ILLOGAN, Priest, Confessor The Church of lUogan, near Redruth, in Cornwall, is dedicated to a saint of this name. In Bishop Bytton's Register, the designation is " Ecclesia Sti. Elugani," also YUugani, 13,09-10. So also in the Register of Bishop Stapeldon, 13,07-8. In that of Bishop Stafford, the church is that of " Sancti lUogani de Logan," and " Sancti lUogani alias Illugani," 1397-1403 ; but in the latter year, also " Seynt Luganus." In that of Bishop Grandisson, 1352, " Sancti lUogani," also 1360 and 1366. So also in those of Bishop Brantyngham, 1374, 1382, 1383. S. Illogan may be the same as the Illog of the Welsh Calendars, and Illogan Parish is probably the Landhillok of the Blanchminster Manumissions. 2 The -an of Illogan is a diminutive. There is no record of the parentage of Illog in the Welsh pedigrees, and it is there- fore possible that he may not have been a native. It will not do to insist on Illog and Illogan being identical. The Feast at Illogan seems against this, as it is on October 18, whereas S. lUog's day is August 8. But what does seem possible is that Illogan is the same as the Irish lUadhan or loUadhan, a native of that part of Southern Ireland which poured so many saints into Cornwall. His father was Cormac, King of Leinster. His aunts, Feidhlem and Mer- gain, had been baptized by S. Patrick, as had also his grandfather, Ailill, King of Leinster, at Naas, in 460. After the death of Cormac, his son, Cairbre the Black, succeeded, reigned eleven years and died in 546. Illadhan's sisters were Eithni and Derchartain, whom we are dis- posed to identify with Stithiana of Stythians and Derve of Camborne. 1 Survey of Llandaff, 1719, append., p. 3 ; Paroch. Anglic, 1733, p. 200. ^ Goulding, Blanchminster Charity Records, 1898. S. Illtyd 303 lUadhan was a priest at Desert lUadhan, now Castle Dillon ; he was married, and was the father of S. Criotan or Credan, disciple of S. Petrock. He belongs to a later date than that of the great migra- tion, and his settlement in Cornwall must have been due to some other cause, if we may equate Illogan with Illadhan. In 543 occurred the plague called the Blefed, and this was followed in 547 by the terrible Yehow Death, or Cron Chonaill, that raged till 550. It swept Wales as well as Ireland. Many Saints fled across the sea with their disciples and famihes, under the impression that they would escape infection if they put a tract of sea between them and the afflicted region. This may have been the occasion of the migra- tion of S. Illadhan. That he went further is possible. A certain EUocan had a cell in the forest that occupied the centre of Armorica. When Judicael was king, one Laurus, a British monk, asked for a site, and Morona, wife of Judicael, obtained that EUocan should be turned out, and his foundation given to the new and more favoured saint. ^ Judicael came to the throne in 610. It is possible that this EUocan may be the same as Illogan, but if so he must have been advanced in age. He can hardly have remained in Brittany, as he received no cult there. UnhappUy, no Life of this Saint has come down to us. In Ireland he is known only as having been in priest's orders, and having led an eremitical life where is now Castle Dillon. That he died there we do not know. William of Worcester says that he was informed by the Dominicans of Truro that S. lUogan's body rested in the church that bears his name. In Illogan was a chapel at Selligan (S. lUogan) that may have been his ancient cell. He had a chapel, according to Lysons, at South Pool in Hartland. It may, however, be doubted if the lUocan or Helligan there be the same. S. loUadhan is commemorated in Ireland on February 2 ; but is not included in the Calendar of Oengus. Gorman designates him as " venerable, great-faced." S. ILLTYD, Abbot, Confessor The Life, the sole Life that we have of this remarkable man, is extant in three MSS. : — (i) In Cotton. Vespasian A. xiv, ff. 43&-52, of the early thirteenth century, printed in Cambro-Bvitish Saints, 1 Mabillon, Acta SS. O.S.B., viii, c. 64; Vita S. Lanri in Bibl. Nat. Paris MS Frangais, Blancs Manteaux xxxviii. 304 Lives of the British Saints pp. 158-182 ; (2) in Cotton. Tiberius E. i, part ii, ft. 101-1026 ; and (3) in Bodl. Tanner 15, f. 34. The two latter are John of Tynemouth's- abridgment of the first. This has been printed in Capgrave's Nova Legenda Anglim. ed. Horstman, 1901, pp. 52-6. Lobineau, however, in his Vies des Saints de Bretagne, has composed a Life, derived mainly from Capgrave, but also from the ancient Breviaries of Leon and Dol. The Life is a late composition. It mentions Robert Fitzhamon (died 1107) as ruling over Glamorgan ; but it was written before the appearance of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fabulous History, ior it makes. Dubricius Bishop of Llandaff, and not Archbishop of Caerleon. Arthur is indeed spoken of as " a great conqueror," but there is nothing in the story about his extraordinary achievements. Into the narrative have been taken portions from the Life of S. Samson, but he is not made an Archbishop of Dol. The writer mistakes Samson, Abbot of Llantwit, who was buried there and had an inscribed cross, with Samson of Dol, who lived three hundred years earlier, and fabricates a legend to explain the existence of his body and stone at Llantwit. The Life of S. Cadoc was also laid under contribution. Nevertheless, the Vita S. Iltnti is doubtless based on an earlier Life, which has been expanded with the additions aforementioned, and with traditional incidents. Much perplexity has arisen relative to the date at which Illtyd lived,, on account of the statement made that he was appointed head of Caerworgorn by S. Germanus of Auxerre. It is impossible to reconcile this with his date as Master of Saints, Gildas, Samson, and Paul. But this difficulty partly vanishes if we accept the Germanus in question as having been the Armorican, who became Bishop of Man, and not the Auxerre Saint of the same name. But Germanus cannot have appointed Illtyd to Caerworgorn, as he died before Illtyd was converted. The mistake springs out of the fact of Illtyd having been in early life a pupil of Germanus. Illtyd was a native of Letavia, i.e. Armorica, or Lesser Britain. Among those who fled from Britain and settled in Lesser Britain was one Bicanus, of noble birth and military prowess. He was married to Rieinguhd, daughter of Anblaud, King of Britain. ^ Amlawdd Wledig, as we know from Welsh sources, was married to Gwen, daughter of 1 " Bicanus, miles famosissimus, illustris genere, et in armis militaribus Tantus vir eximie nobilitatis voluit uxorare et hereditari ex filis, velle com- plevit, uxorem ducens filiam Anblaud, Brittannie regis Rieingulid ; haec vocata voce Brittannica, quando latinetur, sonat hoc regina pudica." Cambro-British Saints, p. 158. In the Nova Legenda her name is spelt Rieinguilida. In modern Welsh the name would be represented by the component words rhiain or rhian and gwyl or gwylaidd, with the meaning of " a modest lady." S. Illtyd 305 Cunedda Wledig, and was the father of Eigyr or Igerna, and grandfather of Arthur. Rieingulid had as sisters Gwyar, the wife of Geraint ab Erbin, and Tywanwedd, the wife of Hawystl Gloff. One pedigree makes Bicanus the son of Aldor, and brother of Emyr Llydaw, but according to another account Aldor was the father of Rieingulid. ^ In either case, Germanus the Armorican would be their uncle, and Illtyd his great-nephew. lUtyd ^ was the fruit of the union, and he had as brother S. Sadwrn. He was educated in " the seven sciences " by Germanus, and was N\TLth him for awhile in Paris, and had Brioc as his fellow pupil. ^ But he had no desire to embrace the monastic Hfe, and, leaving the Contin- ent, he crossed the sea and served under King Arthur, who, according to one account, was his first cousin,* and this is borne out by the Welsh pedigrees. He married a wife, Trynihid, a virtuous woman. After awhile he quitted Arthur, and attached himself to Poulentus, King of Glamorgan. This was Paul of Penychen — a cantref in Mid- Glamorgan — ^uncle of S. Cadoc, and brother of Gwynll5rw, King of GwynUywg, between the Usk and Rumney rivers. One day he was out with a party of the retainers of Paul, when they rudely demanded food of S. Cadoc, which, after some demur, he granted to them. The story is told much more fully in the Life of S. Cadoc. The men were out hawking, and were fiftyin number. Cadoc gave them twenty wheaten loaves, a barrel of ale, and a pig, which they roasted for their dinner. lUtyd had strayed from the party, and was not privy to their violence. Misfortune befell the fowlers, for they were engulfed, doubtless got into a morass, and some, if not all, losttheir ' In the lolo MSS., pp. 113, 131, 148, the confusion is carried still further. 2 His name occurs under a variety of forms — Iltutus, Ildutus, Hildutus, Eldutus, Ulltyd. Illtyd, lUtud, EUtyd, etc. In the grant of Pembrey church to the Abbey of Sherboume he is called Elthut (Dugdale, Monast., ed. 1846, iv, p. 63). According to his biographer he was named Iltutus because " he (ille) was safe (tutus) from every sin." lolo Morganwg, in Llanover MS. 2, p. 93, observes that it " is a name still pretty common in the Parish of Lantwit, particularly in the antient Family there of the NichoUs, who generally give that name to the eldest son (and whom I suppose to be descendants of this Saint) ! " The form Iltyd is an Anglicized^speUing. Iltutus occurs among the " Archbishops " of London. In Llantwit the first syllable of the name has been elided. Illtyd Farchog is made to bear arms — " Arg., 3 masts, 3 tops of castles or and 6 darts or ; " Llyfr Baglan, ed. Bradney, London, 1910, p. 309. ^ Vita S. Brioci, ed. Plaine, c. 9. He is mentioned in the Vita S. Samsonis (Book of Llan Ddv, p. 10) as " Abbas Ildutus Sancti Germani discipulus humana at divina peritus." * " Audiens interea mUes magnificus Arthurii regis sui consobrini magnifi- centiam," etc., Cambro-British Saints, p. 159. Illtyd is frequently called in Welsh Illtyd Farchog, i.e. the Knight. VOL. III. X 306 Lives of the British Saints lives. ^ This has been magnified into the earth opening her mouth, and swallowing them all up. lUtyd was so thankful for his preservation from being smothered in the festering slime that he went to Cadoc and asked his direction. Cadoc advised him to assume the clerical tonsure and abandon the military profession, and he resolved on following this recommendation. His early training under Germanus had left a deep trace on his mind, that had for a while been co\ ered over, but which now revealed itself as ineradicable. The narrative of the Conversion of S. Illtyd as given in the two Lives introduces a chronological difficulty that must be solved. As it stands it is out of perspective with the whole chronology of the Life of S. Cadoc, for how is it possible that Illtyd, who, as a child indeed was with Germanus the Armorican, who died in 474, can have been converted by Cadoc, who died in or about 577 ? The story of the conversion is in its earliest form in the Life of S. Illtyd, and was thence taken into the Life of S. Cadoc. It will be seen at once that this story is a reduplication of that of Cadoc and the warriors of Sawyl Benuchel ; but with the introduction into it of the episode of lUtyd's conversion. We would suggest that there is a basis of fact in the story. Illtyd, who at the time was in the service of Paul of Penychen, was hunting, when some of his party got engulfed in a morass and perished. This so affected the mind of Illtyd that he resolved on renouncing the world. Now the author of the Life of S. Illtyd had heard the tradition of Cadoc and Sawyl Benuchel and the swallowing up of his soldiers, and he assumed that the two incidents were the same. He corrected, as he thought, the name of the chief from Sawyl to Paul, and — being ignor- ant of chronology — took for granted that Cadoc was then at Nant- carfan. The author of the Life of S. Cadoc read this story in the Life of S. Illtyd and transferred it to his Life, unconscious that it was but a cooking up of his hero's experiences with Sawyl. As a matter of fact, when Illtyd was converted, Cadoc can hardly have been born, or at all events, have been more than an infant. The only other way of escape from the difficulty is by assuming that there was an earlier Cadoc, but, as we have shown, ^ of that there is no evidence. Illtyd, accordingly, withdrew from the service of Paul of Penychen, and went, " accompanied by his wife and attendants," to the banks of the Nadauan, i.e., the Dawon or Thaw, in South Glamorgan, " and it being summer-time, he constructed a covering of reeds, that it might ^ Cambro-British Saints, pp. 45-6. ' ii, pp. 12-14. S. Illtyd 307 not rain upon their beds ; and while their horses were depastured in the meadows, they slept the night away, their eyes being heavy." During the night, Illtyd brooded over what had been advised by Cadoc, and a dream served to confirm his resolution. He had shrunk from speaking to his wife of his change of purpose, but now he determined to speak out. At dawn he roused her from sleep, and told her to leave the hut and look after the horses. " She departed naked, with dishevelled hair, that she might see after them." The wind was high in the raw early morning, and the unhappy woman's hair was blown about. Presently she returned with the information that the horses had not strayed, and, shivering with cold, she attempted to get into bed again. But, to her disgust, Illtyd roughly told her to remain where she was ; he threw her garments to her, and bade her dress and be gone. The poor woman clothed herself and sat down, sobbing, at his side. But steeled against all kindly and pitiful feelings, he announced to her his intention of quitting her for ever ; and, resolute in his purpose, he dressed himself and departed for the Hodnant, a pleasant dip, shallow among low hills, and watered by a tiny stream. It was well-wooded, and seemed to him a suitable spot for a retreat. Having made up his mind to settle there, he went to S. Dubricius, and before him he was shaved and assumed the monastic habit. Then he returned to Hodnant, and Dubricius marked out for him the bounds of a burial place, and in the midst of this Illtyd erected a church of stone and surrounded the whole with a quadrangular ditch. ^ Here he lived an ascetic life, bathing every morning in cold water, and rising to prayers in the midst of the night. Hodnant, which the biographer interprets as signifying " The Fruit- ful Valley" {yallis Prospera),'^ lies in a sheltered hollow, but commands the low level country that stretches to the Severn Sea. Above it stands a height crowned by an ancient camp now called the Castle Ditches. " Every spring-time glowing masses of golden gorse, while in autumn the red and yellow of the bracken, and the olive-green of countless blades of grass " make of it " a miracle of colour. We hear the dull boom, boom, boom, of the angry waves as they break on those ^ " Constniens in primis illico habitaculum, presule Dubricio designante cemiterii modum, et in medio . . . oratorii f undamentum. His designatis fundavit ecclesiam munimine fapideo facto, et quadrangiilari super ambientem fossam." Camhro-British Saints, pp. 163-4. ^ There is a Hodnant also at S. David's, and another in the parish of BrjTigwyn, Radnorshire. The name would now be more regularly Hoddnant. The hagiographer treated the name as being compounded, apparently, of hawdd, hodd-io, and nant. 3o8 Lives of the British Saints foam-fringed cliffs which guard the coast to east and west of Castle Ditches, just as they were heard by those men who lived, laboured, and taught here centuries ago. We see the white gulls circle round the cliffs as if they were never weary of being on the wing ; we see the blue dome above us with the great clouds sailing majestically across ; we see the ever-restless, ever-changing ocean, now blue, now purple, now a mass of molten gold at sunset. All these things we see to-day, and they gladden our hearts just as they gladdened the heart of lUtyd when he rested from his journey, and ' the delightsome place pleased him well.' " ^ But Hodnant, or rather some part hard by, had, according to some late documents printed in the lolo MSS., been previously occupied by a School for Saints, called by the various names, Caer Worgorn, Cor Tewdws,^ and Cor Eurgain.^ Some writers have located the Romano-British city of Bomium or Bovium at Llantwit * while others suppose it to have been at the village of Boverton, a mile to the S.E., or at Cowbridge. But the college had been destroyed by the Gwyddyl pirates, and when lUtyd settled there all was desolate. That he was appointed over the college of Caer Worgorn by Germanus of Auxerre is an error. His old master, the Armorican, may very possibly have had something to do with its regulation, but we cannot admit that he founded Llantwit, and placed Illtyd over it.^ If we may trust the lolo MSS.,^ Illtyd's congregation grew rapidly, and at one time numbered three thousand " saints " or monks. Laus perennis was kept up without cessation night and day.' It is stated in the Book of Llan Dav ^ that Illtyd was made abbot of Llantwit by S. Dubricius, who, we are further informed, " visited the residence of the blessed Illtyd, in the season of Lent, that he might correct what wanted amendment, and confirm what should be ob- served." ^ It does not, however, appear that Celtic bishops had any jurisdiction over the monasteries within their dioceses. ' Fryer (A. C), Llantwit Major, London, 1893, pp. 9-10. Leland, Collectanea, 1774, iv, p. 93, gives the following tradition : " Est etiam in ilia regione quidam locus, vocatus vulgariter locus Scti. Iltuti, cujus precibus, ut fertur, obtinuit a domino, ut nullum animal venenosum infra prascinctum illius parochiae esset, nee ut animal hue usque visum est aliquod vivum, mortuum tamen dicitur iUic." ^ The site of Cor Tewdws is marked on the Ordnance Map in a field to the north of the church, where the foundations of early buildings have been discovered. See Rodger (J. W.), The Ecclesiastical Buildings of Llantwit Major (illustrated), Cardiff, igo6. ^ ii, pp. 416-7. * For the discovery of Roman remains in the neighbourhood of Llantwit, see Arch. Camb., 1888, pp. 413-7 ; 1894, pp. 253-5. * i". PP- 62-3. ' Pp. 144, 149-51 ' Myv. Arch., -p. 408. ' P. 71. ' Vita S. Dubricii in ibid., p. 81. S. Illtyd 309 One day Meirchion, King of Glamorgan, was hunting, when a fawn he was pursuing fled for refuge to the cell of Illtyd, and the King, on entering, saw the panting beast crouched at the feet of the abbot. He did not venture to kill it, and Illtyd pacified Meirchion by the offer of a meal, as he was hungry after his sport. The King, however, grumbled at what was given to him, broiled fish, without bread and salt, and water from the spring. However, he satisfied his cravings thereon, and then lay down to sleep. On waking he was in a better temper, and confirmed Illtyd in his holding of the Hodnant valley as his own, and granted that he should make of it a tribal school. ^ Illtyd kept the fawn with him and tamed it to draw wood and do other light domes- tic tasks. The incident took place at an early period, before he had many disciples. When he had security of tenure, disciples flowed to him from every quarter, among them men of good family. " He cultivated the land, he sowed and reaped, and lived by his labour. He had labouring men to till the soil [operarios cultores) in the fields. Seed multiplied, and toil met with abundant reward. .... He had a hundred in his family, as many workmen and clerics, and poor, a hundred of whom he fed daily at his board." ^ He had as scholars Samson, Paul (of Leon), Gildas and David.^ He was accordingly the first great Teacher of Saints in Wales. He is thought to have had, at one time, under him Maelgwn, after- wards King of Gwynedd. Gildas, in his Increpatio, says to this prince, " Warnings are certainly not wanting to thee, since thou hast had as instructor the refined teacher of almost the whole of Britain." * He does not name Illtyd, but he very possibly may speak of him. Then Maelgwn and he would have been fellow-pupils, and Gildas spoke from his own knowledge when he described the excitement and pleasure among the godly caused by Maelgwn's conversion, or the hopes it inspired. 1 " Vestrum gimnasium erit venerabile, tributarii tibi servient et omnes indigenae." Cambro-British Saints, p. 167. According to the local tradition, lUtyd's " Golden Stag " is buried here somewhere, with his feet to the west, and when discovered great prosperity will come to Llantwit. 2 Ibid. 3 In the Life of Paul the same are mentioned, but in that of Gildas David is omitted. Strangely, the former Life identifies lUtyd's monastery with a small island on the borders of Demetia, which was once called after Pyrus, but at the time of writing after Illtyd. This would be Caldey Island, known in Welsh as Ynys Vyx (or 65^:). On the difficulty raised, see Gildas, ed. H. Williams, pp. 332-4 ; and for the inscribed stone on Caldey, on which it has been suggested lUtyd's name occurs, see Y Cymmrodor, xviii (1905), pp. 56-7, and Arch. Camb., 1908, pp. 247-9 ; 1910, pp. 332-4. * Gildas, ed. H. Williams, p. 82. 3 I o Lives of the British Saints The property of Illtyd increased largely, and he was ordained priest. Hard by, as already stated, had been the Romano-British city of Bovium, and the Roman settlers had banked out the Severn tides from the rich alluvial lands along the coast. But the sea-wall had given way : it had been neglected and left unrepaired, so that the high tides overflowed. Illtyd employed his pupils and workmen in restoring the banks with stone and clay.^ But his first attempts were doomed to failure ; three times did he repair the walls, and as often did the strong tides, driven before a west wind, crumble his banks away. For awhile his heart failed, and he meditated abandoning the flats. But he recovered from his temporary discouragement, and a fourth attempt proved successful. In the meantime, his poor deserted wife, Trynihid, had been living in involuntary widowhood, in a little retreat, where she spent her time in good works. " She prayed constantly, she was found blameless and irreprehensible in her conversation, and lived devoutly, comfort- ing innumerable widows and poor nuns in their vocation." At length an irresistible longing came over her to see her husband again ; and, leaving her retreat, she sought him out. On reaching Llantwit, she saw a man working in the fields, lean, and with a dirty face, and, going up to him, recognized Illtyd. In her delight at meet- ing him once more she spoke and endeavoured to engage him in con- versation ; but he turned his back on her, and refused to speak and to answer her questions. He denied her the common kindness of a hos- pitable lodging, and she went away sorrowful, " looking as pale as if she had suffered from a fever." ^ And they never met again. King Meirchion had a steward named Cyflym, who grievously annoyed Illtyd. He grudged his tenure of the rich pasture land by the Severn without paying tax to the King, and took every occasion that offered to vex the Saint. At length the annoyance became so intolerable that Illtyd left, and spent rather over a twelvemonth in a cave at Lingarthic, on the river Ewenny, famous for its gwyniad, a salmon-like fish of delicious flavour, deriving its name from the silvery brightness of its scales. 1 " Operatus est immensam fossam limo et lapidibus mixtam, quam retruderet irruentem undam, qu;e solebat fluctuare ultra mensuram." Cambro-Bntish Saints, p. i68. 2 " Interea visitare voluit Sanctum Iltutum, et iter capiens visitavit, ubi operosum vidit fossorem per assidua fossura, lutulentum per faciem, macies- quoque tenuaverat faciei superficiem ; inquisivit ab eo suave colloquium, displicuit inquisitio audienti, inquisitus nullum reddidit responsum. . . . Reversa est postea sic ante, nevis et pallore contexta, ac veluti febrieitans pallida.'" Ibid., p. 172. S. Illtyd 311 Illtyd had not gone to a great distance, but he remained concealed there, near the old Roman road ; and probably Ewenny Priory after- wards, early in the twelfth century, 1 sprang up on the site hallowed by his temporary stay. WhUst there he was one day sunning himself outside his cave, and watching the travellers who went by to the bridge over the Ewenny and Ogmore, when he heard the tinkle of a little bell, and presently a man came in sight who carried in his hand one of those bronze angular beUs common in Celtic lands, and it shone in the sun like gold. A bell exercised a peculiar fascination on a Celtic Saint, and he hasted to the man to look at what he carried, and sound it himself. His eyes sparkled with delight, and his ears drank in the rich tones of the bell with pleasure. He inquired whether it were for sale. " Oh, no," replied the man, " I am taking it to David in Menevia. It has been fashioned by his fellow pupil, and your old disciple, GUdas, and he sends it to David as a present." Reluctantly the Saint surrendered the bell, and the man went on his way. But when David heard the story, and knew that Illtyd had handled the bell and delighted in it, " Go," said he, " take it to my old master from me. He shall possess it." ^ After a year's retirement Illtyd returned to his monastery. The steward Cyfljnn was now dead, but his successor, Cefygid, was even worse disposed, and this man exercised great influence over Meirchion, and embittered him against the abbot, so that, sorrowfully, lUtyd had to retire once more from his charge, and returned to his cave by the Ewenny, where he now spent three years. On the death of the second steward, who perished miserably in cross- ing a swamp, he returned to Llantwit, and thenceforth remained unmolested. Hearing that a famine was afflicting his native Armorica, as there was abundance of corn in his granaries Illtyd ordered vessels to be laden with as much as could be gathered together, and, along with these corn-ships, he sailed for Brittany. The biographer says that he desired to visit Monte Tumba, in Normandy, and the Church of S. Michael thereon, but this is an anachronism, as the supposed apparition of the Archangel there did not take place till about 710, when Autbert, Bishop of Avranches, pretended to have seen the vision, and erected the Church. * Turbervill, Ewenny Priory, London, 1901, p. 35. 2 Cambro-British Saints, p. 175. An ancient buUding at Llantwit, now used as the town-haU, has in its belfry a bell inscribed, " Sancte Iltute, ora pro nobis." The local tradition declares, but mistakenly, this bell to be the original bell of the Saint. Edgar, when he invaded Glamorgan, carried his bell off, but after- wards restored it. . 312 Lives of the British Saints Actually, Illtyd, we may be confident, landed in Leon, in the Aber- Ildut, that bears his name to the present day, and he founded a church near the mouth, Lanildut. But he probably did not stay there, as no other traces of him are found in this neighbourhood. He put off with his corn-ships again, and, coasting round the north of Leon, entered the Jaudy, and floated up with the tide as far as La Roche Derrien. From this point inland he has left several indications of his presence. What the natives specially needed at the time was seed-corn, and with this he provided them. Their gratitude was great, and they urged him to remain in his native land. This, however, he was unwilling to do, and after having dis- charged the contents of his vessels, remaining perhaps over a couple of winters, possibly even longer, he returned to Glamorgan. This expedition to Armorica was purposed for some further object than relieving the temporary needs of the people. The whole of the peninsula was being rapidly colonised by settlers from Britain, and Illtyd visited it to see whether there was a prospect there of founding daughter-houses to Llantwit. That he went into Cornugallia, or Cornouaille, appears certain, as near Guemene, now in Morbihan, is a plon that bears his name, and a ■plou implies the foundation of an eccesiastical or secular tribe. This is PloUdut, now Ploerdut, and he is still culted there as patron. More- over, in the Monts d' Aree is his peniti, or place of retreat from monastic cares, Loc-Ildut inSizun. Half-way between the flous.nd the peniti is Pleyben, a foundation of his great-uncle Germanus. At last he resolved on returning to Glamorgan, greatly to the regret of the people of Letavia. " The citizens wished him not to go back, but to remain in that country ; yet he would not stay there although so greatly desired, and he chose to dwell in Britain, although an exile from his paternal ancestors." When well advanced in age, he became, however, impatient to be back in the land of his birth, and to lay his bones there. Accordingly, he again embarked, and landed in the Bay of Mont S. Michel. He died, if we may trust the biography, at Dol. But Dol had not at that time been founded by Samson, who was in Cornwall when the news reached him of the decease of his old master. ^ The story as told in the Second Life of S. Samson is this : Whilst Samson was in his monastery, apparently at SouthUl, in Cornwall, a disciple of S. Illtyd came to him, who had himself formerly been a pupil of Samson. The latter asked him how it fared with S. Illtyd, and whether he was still alive. ' Vita zda S. Samsonis, ed. Plaine, c. i8. S. Illtyd 313 The monk replied that Illtyd had been ill and failing, when there ■came to him two abbots to visit him, one named Isanus, and the other Athoclus. When he saw them, the old man said to them, " I rejoice exceedingly to behold you, my brothers, for the time of my departure draweth nigh, and my soul will soon rest with Christ. But, brethren, be comforted, for the time of your own departure is not far distant. At the third watch of the night, I, in your presence, shall be borne to heaven by the hands of angels, and brother Isanus shall see the angels in the form of golden angels carrying my soul away. And on the fifteenth day following brother Athoclus shall pass to his rest, and you, Isanus, shall in like manner behold his soul borne away by angels as eagles having feathers of lead. And after forty days shall Isanus finish his course and go to Christ. But you, brother Atoclius (else- where Athoclus), loved much the things of this world. On account of your avarice the angels will have leaden instead of golden wings. But you are clean, because you have lived a saintly life from your infancy, only you are weighed down by your money-greed. God, however, will purge this out of you." And as Illtyd had foretold, continued the monk, so was it. At the third watch of the night the old man passed away, and Isanus had a vision of his spirit being borne to heaven amid hymns, and attend- ant crowds of angels. But as to the two abbots, Athoclus and Isanus, it was with them as Illtyd had prophesied. Athoclus accordingly must have died on November 21 ; Isanus, however, on December 16. When Samson heard of the death of his old master, he said, " The soul of my venerable teacher Illtyd is now in possession of eternal life, where death never comes and has no power to hurt. Blessed is that life in which death fears the dead." Whence the two abbots came we are not told, nor, what is more to the point, where Illtyd was when he died. The monk who reported his decease may have come from Brittany or from Wales. Isan is known as having been a saint of the college of Illtyd, and as the founder of Llanishen, in Glamorganshire, and of Llanishen, in Monmouthshire. Athoclus, or Atoclius, cannot be traced. He is as unknown to the Bretons as to the Welsh. Perhaps his avarice stood in the way of popular canonization. The death of Illtyd must have taken place before 546, which is the latest date to which can be attributed the passage of Samson into Armorica. It took place some time between 527 and 537, on November 6.^ 1 In the lolo MSS., p. 103, it is stated that he was succeeded in the abbacy by Peirio, the son of Caw ; but he is clearly confounded with Pirus, head of Caldey. 314 Lives of the British Saints Germanus was probably in Wales in 462, but if he visited lUtyd it must have been several years later. Arthur, lUtyd's cousin, is supposed to have fallen in 537. Germanus, his master, died in 474. His pupil Gildas deceased in 570 ; Paul in or about 567 ; Samson about 565. There is no mention in the Life of S. lUtyd of the Yellow Plague which broke out in 547, but the deaths so quickly following each other of Isan and Athoclus may possibly have been due to that. There is a Welsh tradition that lUtyd died in Breconshire, where is the Bedd Gwyl Illtyd. At Llantwit is the very interesting inscribed stone of Illtyd, erected by one Samson, the King, and covered with beautiful Celtic interlaced work. The inscription on it runs : + iltuti : samson regis : Samuel + EBiSAR + ; and on the reverse : + samson posuit hang CRUCEM + PRO ANMiA Eius +.^ It belongs to a period a century or two later than Illtyd. The memory of Illtyd is honoured by the Welsh on account of his having introduced among them an improved method of ploughing. Before his time they were accustomed to cultivate the ground with the mattock and the over-treading plough {aradr arsang), implements which the compiler of a Triad ^ upon husbandry observes were still in use among the Irish. In another Triad ^ he is said to have been one of " the three Knights of the Court of Arthur who kept the Greal " (the Holy Grail), the other two being S. Cadoc and Peredur Mr. Ernest Rhys, in an article entitled, " AKnight of the Sangreal," * observes : " S. David's not excepted, I know of no vOlage or town that has quite as individual an air of antiquity under antiquity as Llantwit Major still wears. You cannot turn anywhere but some decorative angle of a wall, or half-obliterated foundation, or garden returned to nature and wildness, offers you the clue that you would give your whole bookshelf of antiquity to be able to take. However, it is still your romance-books that must help you to disinter this Pompeii of the Saints and the original knights-errant. Their dis- tinctive scenery, their interest of place, their succession of hermit- cwm, forest waste, and miraculous seaside bringing strange vessels to land, recur at every step through the confines of the ancient demesne of Illtyd. If you leave the point in the graveyard, near the old cross, where his wheel-cross stood, and climb the bank above the Hodnant 1 For the inscribed and sculptured stones at Llantwit, see Mr. Romilly Allen's paper in Arch. Camb., 1889, pp. 118-26, and Sir J. Ehys's, ibid., 1899, pp. 147-55 (both illustrated). 2 Myv. Arch., p. 406. 3 Ibid., p. 411. ■* Nineteenth Century and After, Jan., 1904, pp. 90-7. S. Illtyd 315 to the old gatehouse, and the columbarium, you cross a grass meadow then, which is full of buried traces of the grange and outer walls and buildings of his mediaeval successors. Then you can cross it to the traditional road through Colhugh to the sea, where the brook flows out through the smooth pastures haunted by the sea-mews and so often fondly described by the old poets and romancers, to a sea-coast, wild and rarely rock-buHt, and pierced with innumerable caverns. There is the very seaside of the Grail histories. ... If you look behind the histories of the Sangreal you find a scenery very hke that of the Llan- twit region, and a disappearing figure of a knight very like that of ' lUtyd Farchog.' " A great number of churches are dedicated to Illtyd in Wales — Llantwit Major (LlaniUtyd Fawr), Newcastle, Llanharry, Llantrithyd, Llantrisant (with SS. Gwyno and Tyfodwg), Llantwit Vardre (Llan- iUtyd Faerdre, formerly one of the five capella under Llantrisant), Llantwit-juxta-Neath (LlaniUtyd Fach, or Glyn Nedd), under Neath, Oxwich, Ilston (contracted from Iltwitston, formerly called Llan- iUtyd Gwjn:), all in Glamorganshire ; LlanhUleth, in Monmouthshire ; Pembrey, in Carmarthenshire ; Llantood (the Llantwyd of the Valor of 1535), under S. Dogmael's, in Pembrokeshire ; LlaniUtyd (otherwise lUtyd), and Llanhamlach (with S. Peter), in Breconshire ; and Llan- eUtyd,^ in Merionethshire. A sepulchral slab was discovered in the nave of Oxwich Church in 1891, bearing an inscription which has been read thus : " Hie jacet Hvgo Qvondam Rector Ecce J[ltvti] S[ancti] Pivs " ^, which con- firms the dedication of the Church to S. lUtyd. Near the Breconshire LlaniUtyd Church (situated on Mynydd lUtyd, and originally in the parish of Devynock) is the Bedd Gwyl lUtyd mentioned above. Tradition has it that he lived, died, and was^ buried in this hamlet. The Bedd is a small tumulus within a much- destroyed rectangular enclosure, near a pool on the mountain. It is said to have received the name, " the Grave of S. lUtyd's Festival," from its having been a custom to watch there formerly on the Vigil of the Saint's day. ^ Ty Illtyd (his House) is the name of a well-known cromlech, or cham- bered cairn, on a hiUock on Manest Farm, in the parish of Llanham- ' There can be no doubt as to the dedication of this church to the great- Teacher of Saints. Edward Lluyd, in his notes {1699) on the parish, says, " Of Elltyd they have no more to say than that he was Elldyd Farchog." The parish- name is spelt " Llanvlltvd " and " Llaunvlldit " in the Record of Caernarvon^ pp. 200, 277, and " Llanilltid " on the chalice (i 591-2). ^ Davies (J. D.), West Gower, pt. iv (1894), pp. 130-1 (sketched). 3 Jones (Theo.), Breconshire, ed. 1898, p. 501 ; Arch. Camb., 1853, p. 326. 3 1 6 Lives of the British Saints lach, about four miles from Brecon. The chamber has been denuded of the cairn which once covered it, exposing the large flat slabs of stone forming the sides and roof. It received its appellation from a popular idea that the saint had made it liis hermitage. There are several small incised crosses carved on the slabs. ^ There formerly stood within a few paces of it a stone called Maen lUtyd, and a little distance off is Ffynnon lUtyd, the stream of which divides the parish from Llansantffraid. At Llanwonno, in Glamorganshire, is another Ffynnon Illtyd. S. lUtyd's Well at Llandridian, in Gower (apparently Llanrhidian), is said to have given forth a copious stream of milk in 1185.^ There is a poem extant written in his honour by Lewys Morganwg ^ (flor. c. 1460— 1520). It is for the most part a versification of the Latin Life. Of his life on the bank of the Hodnant it says : — The fasting and penance of his faith Would he, bare-headed, daily undergo ; And each night, in a cold spring, Would he remain naked a whole hour. He cultivated his own land, and the sea once overflowed it ; but — The sea did he so manfully, With his staff, compel to retreat, ' That the tide would not ascend the Dawon Where his staff had been placed. The Meirchiaunus, or Meirchion (i.e., Marcianus) of the Vita is here called Marsianws, according to the later pronunciation. One of the " Sayings of the Wise " triplets runs * : — Hast thou heard the saying of Illtyd, The studious, golden torqued knight, " Whoso doeth evil, evil betide him." (A wnel ddrwg drwg a'i dylud). In Cornwall there are but faint traces of Illtyd. A chapel dedicated to him formerly existed at S. Dominick.^ 1 Westwood, Lapidarium Wallics, p. 67 ; Arch. Camb., 1867, pp. 347-55 .(illustrated in both) ; ibid., 1903, p. 173 ; Jones (Theo.), ut supra, p. 452. Giral- dus Cambrensis, Itin. Camb., i, c. 2, records the tradition that Illtyd " led the life of a hermit " here. With the name Ty Illtyd compare the Breton dolmen- name, Ty Sant Heleau, " S. Teilo's House," at Landeleau, in Finistere. 2 Annales de Margan in Annates Monastici, Rolls, 1864, i, p. 18. There is a "" S. lUtyd's Brook " somewhere near Neath ; Birch, Neath Abbey, p. 250. ' Printed in lolo MSS., pp. 292-5. The MS. from which it was taken is Ltanover MS. B. i (c. 1670), where it occurs at ff. 6oa-6ib. There is a copy also in Ltanstephan MS. 47 (c. 1630). ^ loto MSS., p. 252. 5 Oliver, Monasticon Dioc. Ex., p. 438. S. ILLTYD. Statue at Locildnt, Sizun. S. Illtyd 317 •In Brittany he is patron of Landebaeron, in C6tes-du-Nord, where a portion of his skull is preserved ; of Coadout, and Trogueris, and S. Ideuc ; and in Finistere of Lanildut. He has also chapels at Loc- Ildut, in Sizun, and he is honoured in the Lande of Plouguiel. There is a fifteenth century statue of him at Loc-Ildut. At Coadout is a dolmen, destroyed in 1863, except for three stones, one of which is much polished. On this, according to local tradition, S. Illtyd and S. Brioc were wont to meet and pray together, and it contains hollows supposed to have been worn by his knees. To him is also dedicated S. Ideuc, Ille-et-Vilaine.i The day on which Illtyd died was November 6. His festival, strange to say, occurs in but few Welsh calendars. It is in those in Cotton. Vesp. A. xiv, RndAllwydd Paradwys (1670) and in Nicolas Roscarrock, on November 6. Whytford, on the same day, has, " In Englond y'^ feest of Saynt Yltute, cosyn vnto Kyng Arthur & a seculer knyght, that forsoke aU y^ worldly pompe & was a religyous man, of hygh per- feccyon & many myracles." In the fifteenth century MS. Missal of Treguier and the Breviary of Leon, 15 16, on November 7 ; but in the Quimper Breviary of 1835 on November 6. In the Leon Breviary 1736, on November 14 ; and in an unofficial Heures Bretonnes, of the sixteenth century, on November 6. Browne WiUis ^ gives the same day for his festival at Llanelltyd, Merionethshire. Edward Lhuyd, however, says that they kept their Gwyl Mahsant there on S. Stephen's Day. The dates in the Life of S. Illtyd can only be fixed conjecturally. He was bom about the year ...... 450 He became disciple of Germanus of Armorica about . . 460 Left him when Germanus returned to Britain . . circa 462 Became a knight and married . . . . . ,, 47^ Was converted by S. Cadoc and founded Llantwit . ,, 476 Retired to the banks of the Ewenny, and Samson made abbot provisionally . . . . . . . 5 21 Returned to Llantwit and Samson left . . . 525 Died aged between yy and 87 .... ■ 527-537 S. lUtyd is invoked in the Celtic Calendar of the tenth century in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. ^ 1 De Corson, PouilU de Rennes, vi, p. 80. In eleventh and twelfth centuries, Eccl. Sti. Idoci. 2 Survey of Bangor, 1721, p. 277. 3 Revue Celtique, 1888, p. 88. 3 I 8 Lives of the British Saints S. INA It is usual to regard the church of Llanina, in Cardiganshire, as dedicated to the famous warrior, legislator, and ecclesiastical benefac- tor, Ina, Ine, or Ini, King of the West Saxons, who died at Rome about 727, but apart from his fame we can find no ground for its dedi- cation to him. Indeed, there is an antecedent improbability in a Saxon King's having a dedication in so purely Welsh a district. According to the Progenies Keredic in Cotton. MS. Vesp. A xiv, Ceredig ab Cunedda Wledig had a daughter named Ina. Her name, it is true, does not occur in the genealogies of the Welsh Saints, but she belonged to a great saintly tribe, and her father was allotted Ceredigion, in which Llanina is situated, on the conquest of Wales by the sons of Cunedda. It is more than probable that the church is dedicated to her. In the Demetian Calendar (S) February i is entered as the festival of Ina Farchog, or the Knight, and Browne Willis ^ gives the same day for the parish feast at Llanina. The West Saxon King, however, is com- memorated on February 6 ; but his reputation, no doubt, accounts for the appellation. " Offeringes in the name of devoc'on " were made to S. Ina at Llanina Church in the latter part of the sixteenth century.^ In the sea, not far from the church, is a rock called Carreg or Craig Ina. The name Ina is rather rare, but we have it in Llwyn Ina, Ina's Forest, which is mentioned in a Glamorgan grant in the Book of Llan Ddv,^ and in Gwaun Ina, Ina's Meadow, in the parish of Llangwyfan, Denbighshire. S. INDRACT, Martyr The story as given by Wilham of Malmesbury is to this effect : — Indract was the son of an Irish King, and he, with his sister Dominica, and nine companions, started on a pilgrimage across the sea. They got as far as the mouth of the Tamar, where they settled, and hved together for some time in prayer and strictness of hfe. Indract planted his staff in the ground, and it took root, and became a mighty oak. 1 ParochiaU Anglic, 1733, p. 194. So also Meyrick in his Cardiganshire, 1808, p. 46. " HarUian MS. 6998, fo. 19. = P. 258. On p. 127 Ina occurs as the name of a layman. S. Indract 319 He also made a pond, from which he daily drew fish, probably salmon, for his little community. One day he discovered that a member of his society had privily carried off a fish for his private consumption, in addition to the regular meals. After this the supply failed, and Indract deemed it advisable to leave. What apparently took place was a quarrel among the members over the weir in the Tamar, which grew so hot that the con- gregation separated into factions, and one under Indract left. He went on to Rome, visited the tombs of the apostles, and then retraced his steps, and in course of time reached the neighbourhood of Glaston- bury. The little party lodged at Shapwick, when one of the officials of King Ina, named Horsa, supposing that the pilgrims had money, fell on them by night, murdered the entire party, and carried off whatever he could lay hands on. King Ina at the time had his court at " Pedrot." Being unable to •sleep during the night, he went forth, and saw a column of light stand- ing over Shapwick. Probably Horsa had set fire to the cottage of "wattles in which were his victims. Next day Ina heard of the tragedy and ordered the removal of the bodies to Glastonbury, which he was refounding. Whether the mur- derer was punished we are not told. According to this legend the €vent took place about 710. There are difficulties in the story. How could the early part of the bistory of the slaughtered men become known, as all had been mas- sacred ? No such a person as Indract, son of a King in Ireland, is known in Irish history. The name is, however, found as that of the twenty- first abbot of lona, who was in office in 849, in which year he trans- ported the relics of S. Columba to Ireland.^ The Annals of Ulster state that he was killed by the Saxons on March 12, 854. ^ We are not informed where he was slain, and it is probable that this is the Indract ■of William of Malmesbury's legend. Nothing more likely than that after having been abbot for a while, the desire came on him to visit the holy sites, and that for this purpose he traversed Wessex, and halted in Cornwall, where the British tongue was spoken. The massacre cannot bave been complete ; some of the pilgrims must have escaped, and the matter was brought to the ears, not of Ina, but of Ethelwulf , the father •of Alfred the Great. ' Reeves, S. Columba, Edinburgh, 1874. 2 Annals of the Four Masters in 852 ; Annals of Inis fallen, 840. The Irish form •of the name is Indreachtach Hy Finachtain. It is thought that he was at one ■time Abbot of Londonderry. 320 Lives of the British Saints That Indract did visit Cornwall is shown by the church of Landrake- bearing his name (Lan Indract) , and by the existence of his chapel and holy wellat Halton, in his sister's foundation, S.Dominick on the Tamar> Some fragments of the chapel remain with fine ilex trees by it, conceiv- ably scions of that tree which William of Malmesbury tells us existed, in his day, and was held to have originated out of the staff of the saint. The Holy Well is in good order, and, though possessing no architectural beauty, is picturesquely situated under a large cherry tree. The water- is of excellent quality and is unfailing. Water for baptisms in S. Dominick is drawn from this well, although situated at a consider- able distance from the parish church. Dr. Oliver gives the chapel as dedicated to S. Ilduict.^ This is one of his many blunders. The MS. of Bishop Stafford's Register, from, which he drew his information, gives the chapel as that " Sancti. Ildracti." Ildract is, of course, Indract (March 6, 1418-9), but in this, entry the mistake is made by the Registrar of making the Saint a Confessor instead of a Martyr. Landrake in Bishop Stapeldon's Register, 1327, is Lanracke. In Domesday itis'Ricca.n. It is now popularly called Larrick. The church, is supposed to be dedicated to S. Peter, and the village feast is held on. June 29, S. Peter's day. The name, however, and the situation, near S. Dominick, favour the idea that it was a foundation of S. Indract. The day of SS. Indract and Dominica, according to Whytford and. Wilson, is May 8. William of Worcester ^ says, " Sanctus Indractus- martir et confessor die 8 Mali, jacet apud Shepton per 5 milaria de- Glastynbery cum sociis suis centum martiribus." The Bollandists give February 5, on the worthless authority of Challoner. But May 8 is the day in the Altemps thirteenth century Martyrology, and in the fifteenth century Norwich Martyrology [Cotton. MS. Julius B vii), and in Capgrave. In Art, Indract should be figured as a pilgrim with a salmon in his- hand, and a staff that is putting forth oak leaves. S. lOUGUIL, or lOUIL, see S. LLYWEL S. ISAN, Abbot, Confessor The parentage of this Saint is not known. In the lolo MSS. ^ he; is said to have been a Saint or monk of Bangor Dltyd, i.e., Llantwit.. ' MonasHcon Exon., p. 438. ^ Itin., p. 150. ' P. 107. S. Isho 321 He is very probably the abbot Isanus, who, with another abbot, paid a visit to S. Illtyd just before his death. 1 See under S. Illtyd. Isan is beheved to be the patron of Llanisea or Llanishen, in Glamor- ganshire. A church of the same name in Monmouthshire is also prob- ably dedicated to him. It is given in the Booh of Llan Ddv 2 as Lann Yssan, and also as Lann Nissien. The Norman ecclesiastics read into the name that of Dionysius or Denis. In a Tintern charter the Mon- mouthshire church occurs as " the Church of Dionysius of Lanissan " ; whilst the Glamorgan one is probably the " Capella de Sancti Dionysii " {sic) of the Tewkesbury charter of 1180. It is said that there are re- mains of a Capel Denis in the latter parish, which may mark an earlier site of the church. ^ Browne Willis gives both churches as dedicated to S. Denis,* but he does not assign a festival day. Most probably the Apostle and Patron of France, on October g, is intended. A Lann Issan or Yssan, in the Hundred of Roose, Pembrokeshire, was claimed by the Bishops of Llandaff as belonging to that see.^ This church, however, is identified with S. Ishmael's. Isan's festival is not entered in the Welsh calendars. Abbot Isan died on December 16. S. ISHO, or ISSUI, Martyr This saint is the patron of Patrishow or Patricio, subject to Llanbedr Ystradyw, in Breconshire. The earliest form under which the church name occurs is Merthir Issiu, in the twelfth centuryUoo^ of Llan Ddv,^ which records its consecration by Bishop Herewald (1056-1103) ; but in more recent times it was called Pertrissw [Peniarth MS. 147), Partrisw (Myy. ylycA.),andLlanysho (1553), among other forms. The remote, curious little church, with its three stone altars, is of very great ecclesiological interest.' ' Vita 2da S. Samsonis, ed. Plaine, c. 18 ; Mabillon, Acta SS. (O.S.B.), i, p. 168. 2 Pp. 241-2, 321. The name, with, the honorific prefix to or ty, seems tD be the Tinysan or Tanasan of the same work (see index, p. 420). The Mabinogi of Branwen mentions Nissien and Efnissien, the two half-brothers of Bran Fendigaid. ' Green, Churches of Llandaff, Aberdare, 1907, pp. 52, 150-1 ; Cardiff Records, V, pp. 368, 523. * Paroch. Anglic, p. 206 ; Llandaff, append., p. 2. = Book of Llan Ddv, pp. 56, 62, 124, 255, 287. " P. 279. ' It has been described and illustrated in Arch. Camb. for 1902, pp. 98-102, and 1904, pp. 49-64 ; a'so in " A Short Account of the Church of ishow the Martyr," 1907, by Mr. R. Baker-Gabb. VOL. III. "■- •' Y 322 Lives of the British Saints There can be very little doubt, we think, that the first part of the parish-name stands for Merthyr, but the change of initial m io p in Welsh is very unusual.^ As for the Saint's name, the Book of Llan Ddv spelling, Issiu, must be for Issui, which would naturally become Isswy, Isso, and Isho. Common spellings of the name are Ishow and Ishaw, but more correctly it should be Isho. There is no record whatever as to Isho's parentage ; and the only name that suggests itself to us for a possible equation is that of Yse, whom William of Worcester and Leland ^ give as one of the children of Brychan, and by whom is evidently intended the patron of S. Issey, Mevagissey (i.e. SS. Meva and Issey), in Cornwall. But the early Episcopal Registers give Ida or Itha, an Irish saint, as patroness of S. Issey, which name seems to be a corruption of S. Itha. See under that Saint's name. The little that is known of Isho is derived from the local tradition, which we give in the words of Theophilus Jones, the historian of the county : 3 " It is stated that he was a holy man, who led a religious life in this retired spot and his little oratory upon the bank of a small rivulet called Nant Mair, or Mary's Brook, which runs at the bottom of the hill on which the church is built ; that having long lived in high estimation among the natives, whom he instructed in the principles of Christianity, he was at length murdered by an ungrateful traveller who had been hospitably received and entertained by him in his humble cell. A small cavity scooped out in the side of a bank, and walled with stone, but open in front, is still pointed out as the chapel, or as others say, the well of Saint Ishaw ; if either, it was the latter, as the space is by no means calculated for the offices of a chapel, and besides in the back, close to the ground, is an aperture evidently intended for the admission of water. In the walls are several small niches, formed, apparently, for the reception of oblations from pious votaries." Richard Fenton, who visited Patrishow in 1804, wrote in his diary : * " Below the church saw the sainted well of Ishaw, being a very scanty ' A converse instance occurs to us in Postyn, the old form of the name of a township of Llansannan, which has been altered, by fa'se analogy, to Mostyn. The interchange of m and J inWe'sh is, however, quite common ; maban — baban, menyw — benyw, etc. Possibly Merth'risho first became Bartrisho, and the B was afterwards provected, as in Potfari for Bodfari, etc. 2 See i, pp. 318-9. M. J. Loth, in Revue Celtique, xxix. (igo8),p. 307, suggests that Issiu may have been the same as the Breton Saint Igeau of Pligeau, which is very improbable. Browne Wilis's dedicaton of the church to S. Patricius (Paroch. Anglic, p. 181) is, of course, a mere guess. ^ Breconshire, ed. i8g8, p. 377. The first edition of this worlc appeared in three parts in 1805-9. * Theophilus Jones : his Life, etc., ed. Edwin Davies, Brecon, 1905, p. 145. S. Ismael 323 oozing of water, to which, however, was formerly attributed great virtue, as within the building that encloses it there are little niches to hold the vessels drank out of and the offerings they left behind." It is a httle rectangular well, walled in on three sides, and arched over. Willis, as quoted by Theophilus Jones, says that the festival day of Isho was October 30, and this is the day Rees gives. ^ S. ISMAEL, Bishop, Confessor According to the Life of S. Oudoceus ^ Ismael was the son of Budic or Buddig, the son of Cybrdan, of CornugaUia or Cornouaille. Budic was forced by some dynastic revolution to quit his native country, and he " came with his fleet to the region of Dyfed in the time of Aircol Lawhir, who was King thereof." He was hospitably received, and making his abode in Dyfed, he married Anauved, daughter of Ensic or Usyllt ab Hydwn Dwn (the father also of S. Teilo) by Guenhaf, daughter of Livonui. The children by the marriage were SS. Ismael, Tyfei, and Oudoceus (Euddogwy). After some years had elapsed ambassadors came to Budic from Cornouaille announcing the death of the king, and that the people, wishing to elect a successor of " the royal progeny," had in council made choice of him, and were desirous that he should immediately undertake the government. The proposal was accepted, and Budic, taking with him his wife and family, returned to his native land, and established his dominion over the whole of Armorica, " which in his time extended as far as the Alps." Ismael has nothing to do with the Jewish name Ishmael. It is a fossUized Old-Welsh form, and would now have been Ysfael, which actually occurs as the name of a stream in Llanddarog, near Carmar- then. It is found in a stiU older form as Osmail, the name of one of the sons of Cunedda Wledig, which appears in the Life of S. Carannog ^ as Ismael. Ismael and his brothers returned to Wales. He is mentioned in the Life of S. David * as a disciple of that Saint, and was with him in Hod- nant, founding his monastery, when he was encountered by Boia. * Welsh Saints, p. 308. ^ Book of Llan Ddv, p. 130. For other Ismael names, see its index, p. 406. The Welsh pedigrees know nothing of Ismael. ' Cambro-Bntish Saints, p. 10 1 ; Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, p. 296. * Cambro-British Saints, p. 124; Giraldus, Opera, iii, p. 387. 324 Lives of the British Saints From the Life of S. Teilo ^ we also learn that the three brothers were disciples of Dubricius, and subsequently of Teilo. On the decease of David, Teilo consecrated his nephew bishop, and " sent him to take charge of the church of Menevia." All the churches dedicated to S. Ismael are situated in Pembroke- shire, with the exception of Llanishmael or S. Ishmael's, near Kidwelly, in Carmarthenshire. In Pembrokeshire there are Camrose, Rose- market, S. Ishmael's in Roose (under Hasguard), and Uzmaston. To him is also very probably dedicated Haroldston S. Issel's (or East) in the same country. The S. Issel's here stands apparently for S. Ismel's. The Issel, patron of S. Issell's near Tenby (called in Welsh Llan or Eglwys Usyllt), is, however, Usyllt, the father of S. Teilo.2 S. Ishmael's in Roose was formerly known in Welsh as Llan (or Eglwys) Ysmael. As Eglwys Ysmael it is given as one of " the Seven Bishop's Houses in Dyfed ; " and it is laid down that " the abbot of Ysmael should be graduated in literary degrees." ^ In the Book of Llan Ddv * Lann Yssan or Issan occurs among the possessions of the' Bishops of Llandaff in Roose. There can be no doubt that by it is meant S. Ishmael's. With Isan and Ismael may be compared the fuller forms of the names of SS. Cadoc and Brioc. The festival of S. Ismael, June 16, seems to occur only in the Calendar in Cotton. MS. Vesp. A. xiv. Browne Willis ^ gives June 25 as his festival day at Uzmaston. S. ISSEL, see S. USYLLT S. ITHA, or ITA, Virgin, Abbess This very remarkable woman was the Brigid of Munster, and the spread of her cult in Devon and Cornwall shows that there must have been communities of women in ancient Dumnonia under her rule, and affiliated to the mother-house at Killeedy. This leads to the sur- mise that a migration of the Hy Connaill may have led to a settlement ' Book of Llan Ddv, p. 115. ^ Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, pp. 307-8. ' Aneurin Owen, Welsh Laws, Rolls, 1841 (folio), p. 273. On p. 794 it is " Lan Yssan in Ros." Cf. the Record of Caernarvon, p. 189, " Sci Ismahelis ". Giraldus, Itin. Camb., i, c. 11, speaks of S. Caradog's religious life " apud Sanctum Hysmaelem in Rosensi provincia." * Pp. 56, 62, 124, 255. " Paroch. Anglic, 1733, p. 177- aS*. Itha 325 in these parts, a surmise strengthened by the fact of inscribed stones bearing Kerry names being found in Devon. According to Wilham of Worcester, the body of S. Ida lay at S. Issey, and he adds that she was a martyr. It is probable that this fifteenth century writer made hasty notes only during his flying visit to Cornwall, and that he fell into an error through carelessness in calling her a mart5n:. That presumed relics of S. Issey may have been shown at S. Issey is probable enough, but it is not probable that they were genuine. In the Monasticon Dr. Oliver was guilty of a mistake. He misread, or misunderstood. Bishop Stafford's entry relative to Egloscruc, or S. Issey, and supposed that it referred to Egloskerry, and accordingly made SS. Ida and Lidy patronesses of the latter church, and, further, blundered in making S. Filius patron of S. Issey, in place of Philleigh, which was anciently Eglosros. He has been followed by Mr. Cope- land Borlase, who had not the means of discovering the errors. These have been pointed out by Prebendary Hingeston-Randolph in his edition of Bishop Stafford's Register, p. 316. In Bishop Bronescombe's Register for 1259 (p. 250), S. Issey is indicated as dedicated to S. Ida. In Bishop Grandisson's Register the church is "Sancte Ide," 1330, 1334, 1354 ; " S'* Ida," 1362. The church when visited by the Bishop in 1331 possessed an " Antiphonarium, cum Legenda ; " also " Legenda Sanc- torum competens prasterquam in principio, quod est corruptum." Ecton in his Thesaurus gives S. Esye als. Issye als. Ithy als. Eglescrook. Ida is the Latin form of Itha. Itha became corrupted into Ithey, and then into Issey. The Manor, however, retained the title unchanged as S. Ide, and extended through a part of the parish and also into those of Little Petherick, S. Ervan, S. Breock, Padstow, and Mawgan. Near the church of Little Petherick, in Lysons' time, were the ruins of a chapel of S. Ida. S. Teath, pronounced S. Teth, is another corruption of S. Itha. MS. Lives of S. Ita exist in the Bodleian Library, Rawlins, B. 505, pp. 164-70 ; and in the so-called Codex Kilkenniensis in Bishop Marsh's Library, Dublin, foil. 110-3. Colgan has published a Life in Acta SS. Hibern., Vita S. Itce sive Midce, Jan. 16, and this has been reproduced in the Acta SS. Boll., i. pp. 1062-8. She is mentioned in the Life of S. Brendan of Clonfert, and in that of S. Aidan or Moedoc, etc. Itha was a daughter of the royal house of the Deisi, who had been expelled from Meath in the third century by Cormac Mac Airt, and obliged to find new homes. One portion of the tribe, under Eochaid, 326 Lives of the British Saints crossed into South Wales and settled there, but another migrated to the South of Ireland and occupied the present county of Waterford. Itha was the child of Cenfoelad Mac Cormac, and of Necht, and was lineally descended from Conn of the Hundred Battles, King of Ireland 123-57- Her birth took place about 480, and as her parents were Christians, she was baptised, and given the name of Dairdre, which was Latinized into Dorothea. She acquired the nick-name of Ith later, on account of her " thirst " for the living water of heavenly truth. She had two sisters whose names have been preserved : Necht, who married Beoan, and became the mother of S. Mochoemog or Pulcherius ; and Fina, who is numbered among the Saints. In the Life of S. Fintan of Dunbleisc (Doone in Limerick) we are told that his mother's sister was S. Fina, but his mother and Fina are said to have been daughters of Artgail. From an early age Itha had made up her mind to embrace the monas- tic life. This was not at all in accordance with her father's purpose, who had made arrangements for her marriage. When Itha learned his intentions, she refused food, and " fasted against " her own father, who was by this means compelled to give way.-"- She then received the veil at some church not specified, in the pre- sent county of Waterford, and departed into the territory of the Hy Luachra or Hy Connaill, that is to say, into the present county of Limerick, where she settled under the slopes of the Mullaghareick chain, at a place called Cluain-Credhail, that is now known as Killeedy, or the Cell of Ida. She had several devout women as companions, and there she formed a college. The Life passes abruptly from the early days of Itha, and her taking the veil, to when she is an Abbess at Killeedy, but from an incident that occurs in the narrative we conclude that for a while she had been under the Abbess Cainreach at Clonburren, in Roscommon. The incident is as follows : — One day Aengus, Abbot of Clonmacnois, sent a priest to celebrate the Eucharist and communicate the congregation of S. Itha. After- wards the holy woman bade her disciples fold up and pack the vest- ments in which the priest had celebrated, and send them with his bag- gage as a present to Clonmacnois. The priest demurred ; he had been instructed by his Abbot to receive nothing in return for the service rendered. Then Itha quieted his scruples by saying, " Long ago, your Abbot Aengus visited the convent of the holy virgin Chinreach. I was there at the time. Chinreach washed the feet of Aengus, and wiped » Colgan, Acta SS. Hibern., Vita S. Ita, c. iv, p. 66. S. Itha 327 them with a towel. I at the time was by, kneeling and holding part of the towel, and I helped to dry his feet. Tell him that. He will be pleased, and not reject the little present now offered with all my heart." This is the sole intimation that we have of Itha having passed any time with S. Cainreach of Clonburren, who is meant by Chinreach.^ The district occupied by the Hy Connaill Gabhra, among whom Itha made her abode, comprised the baronies of Conello and Glenquin. She must have been invited thither, as the chief of the clan at once gave her lands, and would have granted her more, but she refused to receive them. She needed sufficient to maintain her establishment in neces- saries but not in wealth. The Hy Connaill chose her to be their tribal Saint, to bless their undertakings, and to curse their enemies, as well as to undertake the education of their daughters. To impress the imaginations of the rude natives, she had recourse to great austerities, and acquired the repute of being able to perform miracles, and to have the gift of prophecy. Among those who lived with her was her sister Necht. Itha had engaged a skilful carpenter, Beoan, to construct a church for her, and she soon perceived that a flirtation was in progress between the artificer and Necht. Like a sensible woman, she at once favoured the mutual attachment, having satisfied herself that her sister had no vocation for the monastic life, and she saw that they were married respectably. ^ Itha was resolved not to yield to the temptation of making the com- munity wealthy, and she constantly refused presents made to it. One day when a rich man pressed gold into her hands, she rejected it, and sent for water wherewith to wash off the soil of filthy lucre. " What ought I to do with the money ? " asked the man. " Use it aright," was her reply. " Gold may help you to make a display, or, on the other hand, to relieve distress." * She maintained an affectionate regard for S. Ere, who placed the little Brendan with her to be nursed, till he was five or six years old. Bren- dan remained warmly attached to his foster-mother, and consulted her in his difficulties. One day, when she was an old woman and he in vigorous manhood, he asked her what three things, in her opinion, were most pleasing to God. She promptly repHed, " Resignation to the Divine will, simphcity, and largeheartedness." " And what," asked Brendan further, " is most hateful to God ? " " Churlishness, a love of evil, and greed after gain," was her reply.* There was another community of rehgious women at no great 1 Colgan, Ada SS. Hibern., Vita S. Itcs, c. xvii. = Ibid., c. XV. Their child wa^ S. Mochoemog or Pulcherius. ' Ibid., c. xviii. * Ibid., c. xix. 328 Lives of the British Saints distance. This society was thrown into confusion by the fact of a theft having taken place among the maidens, and suspicion rested on one of them, who steadfastly protested her innocence. The superior, unable to get at the bottom of the mystery, proposed that all should go to Killeedy and visit S. Itha. This they accordingly did, and on arriving kissed the saint, with the exception of the girl who was accused of the theft, and who shyly held back. Itha fixed her eyes intently on her and said " Kiss me, my child, your face proclaims your innocence." She then privately informed the superior that her suspicions rested on a bold, pert girl, who had already got into trouble about some other matter. On investigation, the stolen article was found in the possession of her whom Itha had indicated. ^ A widow named Rethna lived somewhere in the plain of the Liffey, near Kildare. She had a daughter in a condition of chronic ill-health. She consulted her foster-son, S. Colman of Oughval, and both agreed to ask Itha to cure the girl. On their arrival at Killeedy, Itha was not a little embarrassed by the petition. She, however, extricated herself from the difficulty with dexterity. She replied that, cer- tainly, she could heal the patient, if desired, but informed the mother that the damnation of her daughter was assured, were she restored to robust health, whereas the girl was certain to inherit heaven if she continued infirm.- The choice was left to Rethna, who could hardly do other than accept eternal blessedness with its concomitant disadvantage in this life. By this means Itha was released from the risk of attempting, and failing in the attempt, to work a miracle. One of her community deserted and wandered about the country, and finally became servant to a Druid in Connaught. Itha did not forget the girl ; she continued to be anxious about her, and induced S. Brendan to find out where she was, and then to induce the King of Connaught to effect her liberation. This he did, and she received back with compassion the runaway, together with a child she had borne. ^ It was by her advice that Brendan took ship and sailed in quest of the Isles of the Blessed, and probably discovered Madeira and the Canaries ; and it was she who recommended him, when about to undertake a second voyage, to abandon the use of wicker- work boats covered \vith hides, and to make vessels of oak planks. Her uncle died in the Nandesii country. She sent for his eight sons, and told them that their father was in Hell, but she would get him out, if they would each for a year give bread and butter or a sandwich and a candle daily to as many poor folk. At the end of a twelvemonth they returned. '' He is out to his middle," said ' Colgan, Acta SS. Hibern., Vita S. ItcB, c. xxiv. ^ Ibid.., c. xxxi. S. Itha 329 Itha, " go on in the same way another year." They did so and came again. " He is out now wholly," she said, " but stark naked. To clothe him decently you must go on with your alms for a third year." 1 A hymn to the infant Jesus is attributed to her by the Scholiast on the Felire of Oengus. It may be rendered thus :— Jesuskin, whom I adore, Nursed by me in little cell, Clerk may come with richest store, I have Christ, and all is well. Nursling rocked by me at home, Nursling of no vulgar clown, Jesus with the host of heaven To my bosom cometh down. Jesuskin of heavenly birth, Endless good, of Hebrew maid, Nobler than a Clerk of Earth, Lowly on my lap is laid. ■■ Sons of Princes, sons of Kings Though they to my country come. Not from them make I demands I Jesus is my rest, my home. Sing in chorus, damsels pure. Greatest tribute is his due. High in heaven his Throne endure. Though he comes to me and you.^ One day a basket was found suspended to a cross near the con- vent, and in it was a newly-born babe. It was taken in, baptised and nursed by St. Itha. Afterwards it was discovered that the child was one born to Fiachna, King of West Munster. The origin of the infant was so scandalous that at first it was proposed to kill it, but instead it was committed in the manner aforesaid to the charge of Itha. As it was found in a basket [cummain) , the name given the child was Cummin ; he grew up and was educated to the ecclesiastical profession, and is known as S. Cummin the Tall. He was the author of a hymn in honour of the Apostles, included in the Irish Liber Hymnorum. ^ The chronology of S. Cummin, however, shows that, although he may have been left at Killeedy as described, it cannot have been during the lifetime of S. Itha. ' Colgan, Ada SS. Hibern., Vita S. Itts, c. xxx. 2 A literal translation in Whitley Stokes' Filire of Oengus, p. xxxv. One verse is obscure, and is omitted above. ' Liber Hymnorum, ii, p. 9. 3 3<^ Lives of the British Saints The hymn attributed to her served as a basis for the invention of a story that she had prayed, and was given the infant Jesus to nurse on her lap. Similar stories have been told of other Saints, as S. Catherine of Alexandria, S. Frances of Rome, S. Catherine of Bologna, S. Rose of Lima ; also of S. Anthony of Padua and S.Nicholas Tolentino. All grew out of a saying of Christ (S. Matt. xxv. 40). As already said, the clan of Hy Connaill held her in the highest reverence, along with S. Senan. The Vita says " tota gens Huaconaill Sanctam tam n matronem suam hie et in future accepit," and, " Sancta Virgo, eandem gentem et terram suam multis benedictionibus bene- dixit." When it went to war with another tribe, the Cinraidh Luachra, or the Corca Duibhne, her aid was invoked to curse the eneriiy. As the campaigns proved successful, her hold on the respect and affections of the clan became doubly secure. In her old age she was afflicted with cancer.^ This has been repre- sented by legend as her suffering from a beetle that devoured her sides and grew to the size of a pig. Her last illness was most pain- ful, but was borne with extraordinary patience. Before her death she blessed not her own community only, but also the clergy of the tribe to which she was attached. She died on January 15, 569 or 570. This is her day in the Mar- tyrologies. In the Salisbury Calendar, on January 15, as " S. Doro- thea, also called Sith." Whytford gives her on January 15, as " Saynt Dorythy, that by an other name is called Saynt Syth." Wilson says on January 25, a mistake for January 15, " Eodem die in Cornwallia depositio S. Ithse, genere Hibernicse, sanctitatis et miraculis clarae, in qua regione aliquot fana, aliaque monumenta in ejus honorem erecta, extant." In the Christ Church, Dublin, Martyrology, she is entered on May 13, " Eodem die Sanctse Sithe, Virginis," but these words are added in the margin in a hand of the sixteenth century. In the Calendar prefixed to the Chained Book of the Corporation of DubUn, on this same day, " Sancta Sitha, Virgo." In a MS. Bre- viary of the fifteenth century in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, on the same day, " Site Virginis ix lect." She is, however, every- where else set down on January 13. She is also called Mita, Mida and Mide, a contraction of Mo-Ita, My Ita. In an Indulgence granted by Bishop Stafford, October 18, 1399, ' The Irish word is Daol. Colgan renders it vermis ; Dr. Todd, a cockchafer. There can be little doubt that what is meant is cancer. S. Itha 331 to such as should pray for the soul of the Lady Matilda Chyverston, he speaks of the church of Egloscruc, " Sanctorum Idi et Lidi, Mar- tirorum," a clerical error. In another document, however, in 1400, the vicarage is described as that of " Sancte Ida, alias Egloscruk." But Bishop Brantyngham, April 26, 1382, makes the same blunder, calling the church that " Sanctorum Ide et Lydi de Egloscruk," but in 1383 correctly, " Sanctarum Ide et Lide " ; and Bishop Grandis- son invariably so, 1330, 1334, 1333, 1362. S. Itha can be regarded as a martyr only in consideration of her painful final illness. The question may be raised, how comes it that we have dedica- tions to her, or foundations bearing her name, in Devon and Corn- wall ? Probably S. Petroc had something to do with this. S. Dagan, who was a disciple of S. Petroc and of S. Pulcherius, was nephew of S. Itha. Petroc, who had been trained in Ireland, when settling in Cornwall, would wish to establish communities for women there, and he would almost certainly send to Ireland for some trained in the great female schools there to undertake a similar work in Dum- nonia. Dedications to S. Itha are : — The parish church of S. Issey. Ecton gives Issye alias Ithy. The parish church of Mevagissey, according to Ecton, is dedicated conjointly to S. Mewan and S. Issey. The parish church of S. Teath. The parish church of Ide, near Exeter. A ruined chapel in Little Petherick. A ruined chapel in Helsborough Camp, Michaelstow, where she is known as S. Sith. The farm adjoining Gulval is Landithey, so that it would seem probable that this was originally a foundation of S. Itha, but settled in afterwards by S. Wulvella, and the church is now dedicated to her in place of Itha. S. Issey Feast is on the Sunday nearest to November 20. S. Teath Fairs are on the last Tuesday in February and the first Tuesday in July. Anciently her feast was May i, says Nicolas Roscarrock. As S. Tethi or Etich, Virgin, Roscarrock enters her feast as the Saturday after the Epiphany, which comes near to the day of S. Itha in the Irish Martyrologies. In Art she should be represented in white as an Irish Abbess, with a beetle or crab at her side, or with an angel bearing loaves, as it was fabled that she was fed with bread from heaven. 3 32 Lives of the British Saints S. IVE of S. Ive's Bay, See S. HIA S. JAMES, Abbot, Confessor James, Jacob, or Jacut, Gwethenoc, and Winwaloe were all three sons of Fracan, a cousin of Cado, Duke of Cornwall. Their mother was Gwen of the Three Breasts, who had been pre- viously married to Eneas Lydewig, and by him had become the mother of S. Cadfan. The story goes that Gwen actually had three breasts, and that the three brothers were born and suckled together. There was a daughter as well, but, as the author of the Life of S. Winwaloe says, " she did not count," and no special breast was provided by nature for her. This nonsense springs out of a misunderstanding. A woman M-as called three or four breasted, if she had been married more than once, and had reared a family by each husband. This fabulous matter disappears from the Life of SS. James and Gwethenoc, recovered by the Pere de Smedt from a MS. in the National Library at Paris {Catalogus Codicum HagiograpMcorum Latin., 1889, T. i, pp. 578- 82). This begins thus : " Fuit in occiduis Britannici territorii partibus vir quidam opulentus et inter convicaneos suos nomina- tissimus, Fraganus nomine, habens conjugem coaequibilem, lingua patria Guen appellatam, quod Latine sonat Candida. Quibus divina pietas trium sobolem filiorum largita est, quorum duos gemellos uterus profudit in lucem, tertium vero delude parturivit, his duobus, juniorem. Gemelli quidam alter Gwethenocus, alter Jacobus, tertius autem appellatus est Wingualoeus." According to this, the family belonged to the West of Britain and Gwethenoc and James were twins, Winwaloe being born somewhat later. The Life of S. Winwaloe is more explicit. After describing the ravages of the Saxons, and the great plague which devastated Britain (446-7) , it goes on to mention the flight of many of the natives to Armorica. " Inter quos autem fuit vir quidam illustris — nomine Fracanus, Catovii (Cadoi) regis Britannici, viri secundum saeculum famosissimi, consobrinus. . . . Cujus etiam prsedicti regis erat terra Nominse (Dumnoniae)." ^ Gwen Teirbron was the sister of Amwn Ddu, the father of S. Sam- son ; also of Pedrwn, father of S. Padarn. She was first cousin to S. lUtyd. This being so, it is quite impossible that the plague des- cribed in the Life of S. Winwaloe should be the Yellow Death, which raged from 547 to 550 ; but must be that earlier plague spoken of 1 Vita Sti. Winwaloei in Cart. Landevenec, Rennes, 1888, c. ii. S. Jaoua 333 by Gildas, and which swept the island in the fifth century. The writer refers by name to Gildas, and the whole passage is probably taken from him. For the history of S. James we must refer to what has been already said under S. Gwethenoc. That the two brothers left Brittany and visited their native Corn- wall is probable ; for we have a foundation of S. Gwethenoc at Lewan- nick, and this is near the Winwaloe foundations of Tresmere and Tremaine, and the Jacobstow foundation is not far distant from these latter. Hard by was the great Petherwin district of their cousin S. Padam, and S. Samson's was at Southill. At S. Breward were an ancient chapel and a cemetery of S. James. Bones are still found there, and this seems to indicate that it was once an ecclesiastical centre of some importance. A mere chapelry would not have a graveyard around it. There were chapels dedicated to S. James at Camborne, at BoUa- size in Braddock, at Goldsithney in Perran-uthnoe, but it is not possible, without knowing the date when they were founded, to say whether they are to be attributed to one of the Apostles of the name, or to the brother of S. \A''inwaloe. The Calendars of S. Meen and S. Malo give as his day February 8, but the Calendar of the diocese of S. Brieuc gives June 3. The two brothers are, however, sometimes coupled with S. Winwaloe, and commemorated on March 3. Albert le Grand gives February 8, which is no doubt the correct day. In Brittany he is patron of S. Jacut-du-Mene, S. Jacut-sur- Mer, S. Jacut-sur-Aro. In Art, James should be represented as an Abbot with a ship in his hand, and a star above his head, to show that he and his brother have inherited the attributes of the Dioscuri. S. JAOUA or JOEVIN, Bishop, Confessor The authority for the Life of this saint, the nephew of Paulus Aurelianus, is the lections of the Breviary of Leon, printed in the Acta SS. Boll., Mart, i, p. 139 ; also a Life by Albert le Grand based on the same Breviary lessons, and on the MS. collections made by Yves le Grand, in the fifteenth century, and which contained all he could gather relative to the early history of the Church of Leon. 3 34 Lives of the British Saints Jaoua was born in Glamorgan, in the cantref of Penychen, and was son of the married sister Of S. Paul. At an early age the boy was sent by his uncle to be educated. After this was complete, he returned to his parents. When, however, he heard that Paul had crossed into Armorica he resolved on following him, and took boat. A furious gale broke on the vessel as it drew towards the west coast of Finistere, and it was driven south, and happily entered the harbour of Brest and ran up the river of Faou. He and his shipmates went on shore at Landevenec, where they were well received by Judoval, the Abbot ; and there Jaoua remained as a simple monk till he was ordained priest. Then Judoval sent him to Brasparts, near Pleyben, on the slopes of the Monts d'Arree, where a good deal of paganism still lingered among the primitive population. At Faou, at the head of the long creek that runs east from the Rade de Brest, lived a chief who did not at all relish the advent of the monks, and although doubtless a British colonist, he was averse to their settling in the land and securing large tracts of land. Hearing, one day, that Jaoua and his abbot Judoval, as well as another abbot, Tadec by name, were to meet at a place now called Daoulas, he went there with some of his armed men, burst in the door of the church, cut down Tadec at the altar, and pursued Judoval and Jaoua as they fled. He caught up the elder, and slew him ; but Jaoua had younger legs, and he made good his escape and took refuge at Brasparts. The Legend relates that a dragon came out of the water and devas- tated Le Faou ; what is probably true is that the indignant monks of Landevenec appealed to Budic, King of Cornouaille, and he threa- tened the chief with condign punishment, unless he made amends and paid blood-money. He accordingly submitted, and gave up a bit of land where the murders had been committed, and where was then founded the abbey of Daou-Gloas (the Two Murders) ; and S. Jaoua became first abbot. However, Jaoua found this no bed of roses ; he was so harassed, whether by recalcitrant monks, or by secret opposition from the chief, that he threw up his charge, placing over the community a nephew of the chief, named Tusvean, and went to Leon to his uncle, who at once resigned the bishopric and abbey, and appointed his nephew in his room, that he might retire to the Isle of Batz. Jaoua summoned to him a disciple named Kenan and ordained him priest, and sent him to Ploucerneau. As the harvest failed at Daoulas, it was at once concluded that this was due to the bad treatment shown to Jaoua, and he was entreated S. Julitta 335 to return and bless the place and remove the ban he was supposed to have cast on it. He consented. On his way back he revisited Brasparts, where he was attacked by fever. However, he was im- patient to be back, and pushed on, crossed the range of the Monts d'Arree and the river Elorn, and died at Plouvien, near Plabennec. He died on March 2, after having been bishop of Leon for a year only. His body was laid in a tomb, over which a sepulchral monument with his figure on it was raised in 1646, but it is in a pretty, late Flam- boyant chapel of 1567. Jaoua died about the year 568. He is commemorated on March 2, MS. Breviary of Treguier, fifteenth century ; the Breviary of Leon, 15 16, 1736 ; in Les Heures Bretonnes du XV^ Cent.; and Breviaries of Quimper and S. Majo. S. JARMEN, see S. FEBRIC S. JUDNOU, Abbot, Confessor JuDNOU was a disciple of S. Dubricius,^ and was abbot of Bolgros.^ This is supposed to occupy a site on Belli-moor, in Madley, Hereford- shire, the native place of Dubricius in Ynys Efrddyl. It must have been devastated by the Saxons and never restored. S. JULITTA, Widow The Saint Juhtta of Tarsus, and her son Cyriacus, have assumed undue prominence in Cornwall. Julitta of Tarsus has displaced local saints. Those whom she has supplanted are : — (i) Ilud, daugh- ter of Brychan ; (2) Juhtta, mother of S. Paternus ; and (3) Jutwara ■or Aude. 1. S. Juhot of North Cornwall is probably Ilud, given in the Cognatio as one of the unmarried daughters of Brychan, and whom Leland renders Juliana. Hid is the Welsh form of Julitta. The feast at S. Juhot's is on the nearest Sunday to June 29. 2. The mother of S. Paternus of Avranches was nanied Julitta. The mother of S. Paternus or Padarn, of Llanbadarn Fawr, was named Gwen. But the legends of the two saints got intermixed, I Book of Llan Duv, p. 80. * Ibid., pp. 164, 166. 3 3^ Lives of the British Saints and Padarn was identified not only with Paternus of Avranches, but also with Paternus of Vannes. Then the name of Julitta was taken over in place of Gwen as that of the mother of Padarn.^ The mother of Padarn was married to Pedrwn, son of Emyr Llydaw. In consequence of a family revolution, Pedrwn and several of his brothers were obliged to fly to Britain from Armorica, and Pedrwn went on to Ireland, where he embraced the monastic life. Gwen-Julitta was left in Armorica with her infant son. One day she had laid in the window the cloth, out of which she purposed fashioning a garment for her boy, when an eagle swooped down, carried it off, and employed it as a lining for his nest. At the end of a twelve-month, the cloth was recovered, practically uninjured, and was put to the use for which originally intended. Forty years passed. One day Padarn asked his mother why he so often saw tears in her eyes, and when she told him that her heart ached to see her husband again, he resolved on going in quest of his father. He departed to Britain, and then crossed into Ireland, where he discovered Pedrwn, but was unable to induce him to go back to his wife. It is possible — we can hardly venture to say more — that some of the Julitta foundations in Cornwall may have been originally sta- tions of the mother of S. Padarn. He is likely to have provided for his mother's comforts ; and it was in accordance with Celtic usage for a Saint to plant his mother near him to form a monastic school for girls. The chapel at Tintagel, now in ruins, but still with its altar, is said by Leland to have been dedicated to S. Ulitte, or Uliane. In Wales, the churches of S. Curig have been transferred to S. Cyriacus, and this boy-saint has carried with him the name of his mother Julitta, as they are rarely culted apart. For the Juhtta dedications in Wales see under S. Curig. S. JULIUS, Martyr, see S. AARON S. JUNABUI or JUNAPEIUS, Abbot, Confessor He was one of the disciples of S. Dubricius, and was his cousin {consohrinus) ." 1 Albert Le Grand makes the mother of S. Paternus of Vannes to be Gwen- JuUtta. 2 Book of Llan Ddv, pp. 72, 80. His name is written a'.so Junapius, Lunapeius, and Hunapui. For the element -put, see under S. Gwenaewy. aS*. Juncus 3 37 He founded a church at Lann Loudeu, now Llanloudy, in Here- fordshire. The grant was made byGurcant, son of Cinuin, King of Erging.i Another foundation was Lann Budgualan, now Balling- ham, on the bank of the Wye. The grant was also by Gurcant, " sedens super sepulchrum patris sui et pro anima illius." ^ Pre- sumably it was originally dedicated to S. Budgualan, but now to S. Dubricius. His main foundation , however, would seem to have been Lann Junabui, which has been identified with Bredwardine,^ but it might well be Llandinabo, assuming that the present church, which is nearly two miles from the Wye, does not occupy the site of the old monastic foundation. Hoarwithy at Llandinabo might stand for the guduit [gwyddfid) ," honey suckles," in the Lann Junabui boundary.* Llandinabo, which is dedication-less, may be regarded as the only church dedicated to him now. Junabui must have been one of those who were driven from their foundations, either by the Yellow Plague, or by the Saxon devas- tations, after 577, for he appears in association with S. Teilo.^ He is described at first, under Dubricius, as a priest, but later as bishop of Llandaff,® its supposed seventh bishop. S. JUNANAU, Confessor JuNANAU is invoked in the tenth century Celtic Calendar in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury.' M. J. Loth supposes him to be the S. Junan who had formerly a chapel in Riantec, near Purt S. Louis, in Morbihan, named in 1473.' Another chapel of the same Saint, named in 1184, " au detriment du nom du malheureux saint," has become S. Aignan, near Pontivy, where he has a chapel beside the parish church, named S. Ignaw,. transferred to S. Ignatius.* In the Life of S. Samson the name that occurs as Winian in one version has Junavius in another. But this cannot be Junan. S. JUNCUS, Confessor Juncus is stated in Nasmith's edition of the Itinerary of William of Worcester to he at Pelynt in Cornwall. In the original MS. the, name is not Juncus but Itlaw. 1 Book of Llan Ddv. p. 163. ^ xUd.. p. 164. = Ibid., pp. 73. 364. ■• Ibid., p. 73 ; Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, p. 273 5 Ibid', p. 115. ° ^^i<^- PP- i<53-5- ' Revue Celtique, 1888, p. 82. » Ibid., 1890, p. I45- VOL. III. 338 Lives of the British Saiitts S. JUST, Priest, Confessor S. Just in Penwith is a different person from S. Just in Roseland, as the Land's End district was exclusively settled ecclesiastically by Irish, the only exceptions being the intrusive foundations of S. Paul, Gulval, and Towednack. Just is said to have been a son of Fergus, descended fromBrtasal Breedach, grandson of Cathair Mor, King of Leinster. He lived at the same time as Dunlang, King of Leinster, who died before 460, and as lollain, his successor, who was baptised at Naas by S. Patrick. S. Patrick took him into his missionary band, and ordained him deacon.^ The glossator on the Calendar of Oengus says of him : " The Deacon Justinus, i.e. Deacon Just, of Fidarta. It was he who baptised Ciaran of Cluain (Clonmacnois) , and of France was he, ut quidem putant." But against this hesitating opinion we may set his recorded pedigree. It is, however, very probable that he went to Gaul for his ecclesiastical education. It is possible enough that there may have been two of the same name, and at the same period, one at Fidarta, and the. other at Ardbraccan ; but it is more likely that, as Just had a roving com- mission, he founded both these churches. Fidarta, where S. Patrick placed him, at all events for a time, is Fuerty, in Roscommon, which was in the old territory of the Hy Many. S. Patrick left his book of ritual and of baptism with him. He was the preceptor of Ciaran of Saighir, and in his old age he bap- tised the other Ciaran, the wheelwright's son. Unfortunately no Life of this Saint has been preserved. Although known as Patrick's Deacon, there is no reason to suppose that he was not advanced later to priest's orders. William of Worcester calls S. Just a martyr, but this is because the true S. Just of Penwith had been supplanted by a namesake who did suffer for the Faith, and who was in the Roman Calendar. At S. Just, the feast varies from October 30 to November 8. The rule seems to be that its observance is guided by the Sunday preceding the nearest Wednesday in November which will give seven clear Sundays to Christmas. Just, or Justin, Patrick's Deacon, is commemorated in the Irish Calendars on May 5- We find a S. Just, under the form Ust, in Wales, as the original patron (with Dyfnig) of Llanwrin, in Montgomeryshire, and of the 1 Tripartite Life, pp. 104, 305, 318. S. Justinian 339 extinct chapel of Llanust, near Fishguard. He is said to have come from Armorica with Cadfan. S. JUSTINIAN, Hermit, Martyr The authority for this Life is a Vita by John of Tynemouth in Cotton. MS. Tiberius E. i. pt. ii, ff. 1256-1266, printed in Capgrave's Nova Legenda AnglicB, ed. 1901 ii, pp. 93-5. He probably copied or con- densed it from one found at S. David's, when he was on his tour through England and Wales collecting material for his works, the Marti- logium and Sanctilogium, which were taken into Capgrave's book. It has been reprinted in Acta SS. Boll. August 23, iv. pp. 635-6. Justinian was a native of Brittany,'- who came over to Wales in the sixth century, and landed on Ramsey Island, then called Limeneia, after a brief sojourn in a territory called Chormeum. He found on the island a certain Honorius, son of King Thefriauc, or Tyfriog, with his sister and her maid, who were there leading an eremitical life. Honorius respected the superior age and virtues of the newly arrived Justinian, and offered him the hospitality of his ceU. " I will accept it," said the stranger, " if you will turn out your sister and her maid, and make them keep their distance." A requi- sition this, which we are informed, provoked much irreverent derision. ^ " That I may enjoy your agreeable conversation," replied Honorius, " I will pack them off." And this ungallant, but not injudicious, condition made by Justinian was carried into effect. The sister and her maid were dismissed " in longinquas regiones." A good many disciples came over to Ramsey and placed them- selves under the direction of Justinian. S. David now sent for him, and so admired his sanctity that he made him his " soul-friend," or confessor, and adviser in spiritual matters, so that he must have been a priest. David not only sanctioned his residence on the island, but also accorded him a site on the mainland for his disciples. The bare rocky isle of Ramsey lies off the coast of Treginnis, the southern horn of the headland on which stands S. David's. It is a mile and 1 " Sanctus Justinianus ex nobilissima Britannie Minoris prosapia originem ■duxit." Ptolemy, in his Geography, ii, c. 2, calls Ramsey Ai/ii/ou ip-qixoi. Its Welsh name is Ynys yr Hjnrddod, which is the equivalent in meaning to Ramsey. 2 '' Petitioni tiie assentirem, si soror tua cum sua pedissequa cubiculum Ihabeat a nobis remotum. Quod quibusdam incredulis vertebatur in derisum." 340 Lives of the British Saints three-quarters long by one. mile broad, and rises to two hills, Carrt Ysgubor, 300 feet above the sea, and Carn Llundain, rising 446 feet, each surmounted by ancient cairns. It has two little ports on the land side, and is separated from Treginnis by a dangerous channel, rather over a mile across, but narrowing to the south. In the mid channel is a rock, the Horse, about which the sea swirls and breaks into foam. The tide sweeps through the channel like a mill-race, and except in calm weather the crossing to the island cannot be attemp- ted. The red Cambrian rocks rise precipitously out of the ocean on all sides, gorgeous in the evening sun as they stand up out of the emerald water, fringed with foam. Only at the two little harbours do they stoop to a lap of sand, and allow a boat to run ashore. On the ocean side, however, to the west, is a beach, but it is frowned down on by the cliffs. Probably on the grassy sweep where now stands a little farm above the Road Isaf, stood the tiny monastery of Justinian, with the docile Honorius under him. The same incident is told of him as of Gildas. One day a boat entered the bay, manned by five men, who came to announce to him that his friend David was dangerously iU and desired his atten- dance. Justinian at once, without hesitation, entered the boat, and the rowers thrust off. But when they were half-way across, Justinian saw by the expression of their faces that they purposed mischief, and he began to chant the psalm, " Deus in adjutorium." So soon as he reached the second verse, " Confundantur et revereantur qui quaerunt animam meam," they were transformed to devils, and flew away in the shape of crows. Then a stone rose up out of the water, and Justinian mounting it was carried over to the mainland, and on reaching the monastery of David, found that saint hearty and well. On the island itself, Justinian had three serfs, whom he kept dili- gently employed on farming operations aftd fishing. Weary of his strict discipline they conspired to kill him, and falling on him one day, cut off his head.i Then Justinian, rising up, took his head in his hands, and walking over the water, crossed the sound to the little harbour on the main- land, and there laid his head down. There he was buried, and a chapel was erected on the spot, and the little harbour still bears his ' Drayton, in Ms Polyolbion (1622, pt. ii, 24th song), is not quite correct: — " lustinian, as that man a Sainted place deseru'd, "Who still to feed his soule, his sinful! body steru'd : And for that height in zeale, whereto he did attaine. There by his fellow Monkes most cruelly was slaine." S. Justinian 341 name, Forth Stinan. S. David translated his body to a new tomb m his own church, in which he was subsequently buried himself. One is inclined to ask, Where was the faithful Honorius all this while? There is something kept back by the narrator. We may suspect that jealousy had sprung up, and that the attempt to drown Justinian, and, finally his murder, were due to this ; and that, con- ceivably, Honorius was at the bottom of it. Certainly Honorius drops in a remarkable manner out of the story and has not received honours, usually so liberally accorded, as a saint. The murderers were smitten with leprosy, and withdrew to an isolated rock which still bears the name of Gwahan-garreg, " the Leper's Rock," where they passed the rest of their days in penitence. This is the legendary interpretation of the name, which, with greater probabiUty, means " the Dividing Rock." It Hes near the middle of the Sound, and " divides " the current. Capel Stinan is placed immediately over the cliffs which shelter the Uttle harbour of Forth Stinan. It is over a mile from S. David's, to the west. " Here those who frequented the Island of Ramsey were wont to put up their prayers for a safe passage over the dan- gerous fretum that separated it from the main, or to return thanks for their preservation after a prosperous voyage." ^ The present structure, a beautiful ruin, is attributed to Bishop Vaughan. There is a well by it. There were formerly two chapels on Ramsey Island, Capel Stinan and Capel Dyfanog, the one to the south and the other to the north ■of the little island. Each had a fine spring of pure water running by it. 2 The island was sometimes called Ynys Dyfanog, from the latter saint. Fenton ^ quotes a Welsh distich alluding to the neigh- bourship of these two saints in Ramsey, " Stinan a Devanog, Dau anwyl gymmydog " (Justinian and Dyfanog, Two dear neighbours). Where Justinian's head fell in Ramsey a spring miraculously sprang up, which became celebrated for its cures. To Justinian is dedicated the church of Llanstinan, near Fishguard. The festival of Justinian, December 5, is given in the Calendars in Cotton. MS. Vesp. A. xiv. and Additional MS. 14, 886, and by William of Worcester and Nicolas Roscarrock. On the same day by Whytford : " In Wales at the mynster of saynt ^ Fenton, Pembrokeshire, 181 r, p. 113 ; Basil Jones and Freeman, 5. David's, 1856, pp. 224-6. The form Stinan comes from Justinanus, which is Capgrave's spelling of the Saint's name. 2 Browne Willis, S. David's, 1717, p. 59. •^ Pembrokeshire, p. 123 ; cf., Camden's Britannia, ed. 1722, ii. 763. 342 Lives of the British Saints David the feast of saynt lustiniane a bysshop & martyr, borne of the noble blode of the lesse brytayne, and for Chryst he forsoke his countree and kynne, & was ledde by an aQgell in to many coutrees, where he euer dyd many myracles, & at the last he came vnto saynt David & was his dayly ghostly fader, where his own servautes by- cause he rebuked theyr synnes stroke of his heed, & bare it ouer the see, & the people folowed as though it had ben the drye lande vnto- they came where now he lyeth full of myracles." Also Wilson in his Martyrologe of 1608, and 1640, on the same day. The Bollandists,. Cressy, and Rees,^ however, give his day as August 23. S. JUTWARA, see-S. AUDE S. KEA, see S. CYNAN (Kenan) S. KENTIGERN, see S. CYNDEYRN S. KERIAN or KIERAN, see S. CIARAN S. KEWE, see S. CIWA S. KEYNE, see S. CAIN S. LAURUS, see S. LEUBRI S. LEONORE, Bishop, Confessor The authorities for the Life of this Saint are a Vita beginning " Fuit vir quidam," in the Bibl. Nat. at Paris, MS. Lai. 5317, of which De Smedt has given extracts in Catalogus Codicum hagiographicorum bibl. lat. in Bibliotheca nationali Parisiensi, ii, pp. 153 et seq. A M S. Life, formerly in the Bibliotheque S. Germain, from which the Bollan- dists printed- the Life in Acta SS., July i, i, pp. 118-25, is no longer to be found. There was also a Life of S. Leonore in the Library at Arras,, that had been seen by the Bollandists. ^^''^ j S. Leonore, or Lunaire, was a native of South Wales. His father was. called Beteloc, which is probably a misscript for Hoeloc. His mother's name was Alma Pompeia, who is almost certainly the same as the Alma who was mother of S. Tudwal. At the age of five he was sent to S. Illtyd to be trained for the ecclesi- 1 Welsh Saints, p. 319. S. Leonore 343 astical profession. His brilliant abilities, according to the author of the Life, who indulges in extravagance, induced S. Dubricius to conse- crate him bishop when he was aged but fifteen years. This absurdity is probably due to a copyist who omitted xx from xxxv. Then he resolved on going to Brittany, and he left Wales in a boat that was navigated by three men in white raiment. He had with him seventy- two disciples, 1 and many servants. The three mysterious white- vested mariners managed the vessel, one stood midships, one at the prow, and the third held the rudder. A furious storm swept the sea, and the voyagers were compelled to cast everything overboard, down to the stone altar-slab of S. Leonore. At length Armorica was reached. As they landed, Leonore saw two white doves raise his altar out of the sea, and bring it to him. On disembarkation, the three white-raimented mariners vanished. The immigrants had come ashore in a sandy bay, backed by sand- hills, sheltered on the west by the rocky point of DecoUe, a httle west of the now fashionable watering-place of Dinard. Here a feeble stream, the Crevelon, empties itself into the sea. At the period, forest covered the country, and the trees, though bent away from the sea, nearly approached the coast. The httle band set to work to cut down the timber and to construct habitations. When, however, they looked for seed-corn among their stores, they found to their dismay that it had been cast overboard in the storm. The story goes that Leonore knelt in prayer. Then one of his monks spied a robin redbreast perched on a stump, with an ear of corn in its beak, which the bird, when scared, let fall. The grain was sown and carefully harvested, re-sown next year, and so on, till from the ear of robin redbreast sprang the cornfields of the monastery. In the mean- while the colony subsisted on fish and milk, and the wild birds and beasts that they snared. At this time Childebert was king of the Franks, and he extended his rule over Armorica ; but a British settler, Riguald, or Righuel, or Hoel the king, had estabhshed himself in Domnonia, and exercised rule over the settlers. ^ He was a kinsman of Leonore, and came as well from Glamorgan. He would seem to have been Leonore's uncle, brother of his mother, if we admit the identity of Alma Pompeia with Alma, mother of Tudwal. Much about this time Tudwal also 1 This number is not to be accepted literally. Tudwal is said to have brought over precisely the same number, which is taken from that of Christ's disciples. 2 " Fuit vir unus in Britannia ultra mare, nomine Rigaldus, qui in nostra provincia venit citra mare habitare provincia, qui dux fuit Britonum ultra et citra mare usque ad mortem." Vita, in De Smedt, Catalog, cod. Parisiis. 344 Lives of the British Saints arrived from South Wales, bringing with him his mother and, accor- ing to tradition, his sister Sceva ; but he and they settled further to the west ; and Brioc, also a kinsman by marriage, landed in the estuary of the Gouet. Leonore's little colony worked hard, clearing the ground for agri- cultural occupations, but was perplexed how to deal with the logs they had felled. With much labour they rolled them into the bed of the little stream, which they choked with them, but, happily, heavy rains swelled the petulant Crevelon into a torrent, and it swept the encum- brance into the sea,^ where the tide carried the logs about, like ducks swimming in the water. ^ The stumps they destroyed with fire. The work of settlement exhausted the colonists, they became sulky and murmured, and formed a plot to desert Leonora and seek a more favourable site elsewhere. But he got wind of it, and by expostula- tions and persuasion appeased the malcontents. The biographer says that he managed to secure a dozen big stags {cervos grandissimos) and trained them to bear the yoke, to plough and draw burdens. The story need not be dismissed as pure fiction. It is possible enough that such beasts, if caught young, might be rendered docUe, and the ploughing required of them would be merely the drawing over the soil of a forked stick to lightly scratch the surface. When the seed had multiplied sufficiently for a real sowing of a harvest field, the occasion was celebrated as one of great rejoicing. Leonore led the way to the field, followed by all the brethren from the oldest down to the youngest. ^ One day, after labour in the fields, Leonore was leaning on his staff, when he observed something glittering in the soil thrown up by the moles. He dug at the spot and unearthed a gold statue of a ram, a relic of the Gallo-Roman occupation. " Gold is for kings and not for priests," said he, and laid the curious object aside for use should need for it arise later.* ' " Repererunt totam silvam in mari funditus jactam, et nichil in eodem campo remansit nee spinarum neque tribulorum aliquid quod impedimentum fecisset sarculo nee aratro." Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat., 5317. ^ " Viderunt natantem sUvam et coagitatam super mare, sieut anseres flante vento in flumine." Ibid. ' " Leonorus sparsit in eampum semen primus, et post eum omnes fratres illius, senes similiter cum junioribus, eeperunt eampum seminare." Ibid. * " Quadam die, cum vellet scire qualiter messis proficeret, sumptis tribus diseipulis, ad agrum vadit. Dum autem in capite campi super baculum requies- ceret, apparuit forma aurei arietis in terra, quem talpaa, ex more fodiendo terram in circuitu, diseooperuerant. Quo extracto a loco, ait : Aurum eonvenit regibus, non sacerdotibus." Vita S. Leonor. ex MS. Aiyeb., Acta SS. Boll., Jul. i, p. 121. aS*. Leonore 345 And, indeed, bad times came on. Righuel died, and the power over Domnonia fell into the hands of Conmore, Count of Poher, who ob- tained from Childebert the office of vicegerent in Brittany. Jonas, the Domnonian king, died, and Conmore at once married the widow. Here the author of the Life makes a curious blunder. He confounds Jonas with Righuel.i The widow of Jonas had a son, Judual, by her first husband, and he accompanied her to her new home. One night she dreamed that the men of Brittany came to her son, seated on a moun- tain top, and put their staves into his hand. She had the indiscretion to communicate her dream to Conmore, who interpreted it as signifying his own death, and the accession of Judual in his place ; and bursting into a fury, he declared that it was his wife's design to accomplish his death for the sake of her son's advancement. The woman, in alarm, sent Judual to take sanctuary with S. Leonore ; but the Abbot, not feeling confident that the Regent would respect the rights of sanctuary, and learning that he was approaching, thrust the boy on board ship, and sent him off to sea. Conmore, at the time when this took place, was probably at Monte- fUant, to the west of the old Roman city of Corseul. It is a fortress planted on a point of land with a valley on each side, and accessible only by an isthmus to the south. In later times a mediaeval castle was erected there, but the prehistoric camp, which was that in all likelihood utilized by Conmore, remains intact. When Conmore heard that Judual had fled to Leonore, he was further incensed, pursued him to the monastery, and peremptorily demanded the surrender of the refugee. " He is yonder," replied Leonore, pointing to a white sail in the offing. Conmore, furious, struck Leonore full in the face with his fist, and retired wrathful and discouraged. What he feared had, in fact, taken place, Judual had sought refuge with Childebert. Conmore at once sent a deputation to the Frank king to urge his own claims, and to prepossess him against the British prince. His representations induced Childebert to keep Judual at Paris under restraint. Leonore, redoubting the violence of the Regent, himself now took the road to Paris. He was well received, the more so as he produced the golden ram that he had found, and presented it to the king, whose jewellers estimated the value as, in present money, :^3,6oo. Childe- 1 " Mortuo autem Rigaldo remansit uxor ejus cum suo filio, nomine Jugualus." Bib. Nat. MS. Lat. 537. Judual was son of Jonas, not of Righuel ; Jonas was grandson of Righuel or Rivold, but probably succeeded him immediately. 34^ Lives of the British Saints bert was lavish in his promises. " I desire nothing," said the Abbot, " save the value of the ram in land, and security of tenure. The dis- trict was a wilderness. We have cleared and tilled it, and it is but just that we should be allowed to occupy it without hindrance." " Go to the top of the hill nearest to your monastery," said the king, " and ring your bell. The land is yours so far as the sound of the bell reaches." Thus secured against molestation, Leonore returned to his settlement, where Conmore did not venture to interfere with him. Judual was equally successful. As we have seen, he had been per- secuted by Conmore, and had betaken himself to Paris to solicit pro- tection, which had been guaranteed to him by Childebert. But the saintly brothers, if brothers they were, were thorns in the side of the Regent. They fomented discontent ; and prepared the ground for the rising under the skilful leadership of Samson, who brought Judual back from Paris, a rising that ended in the defeat and death of Conmore in 555. Leonore did not long survive the accession of Judual to the throne ; he died at the age of fifty-one about the year 606, and was buried in his monastery, the site of which bears his name, altered into S. Lunaire. His tomb is in the old parish church, which has happily escaped destruction, when a pretentious and ugly modern church was erected at a little distance from it. Probably the sarcophagus, which is rude, is the original tomb, b'ut over this has been placed a monumental effigy, in the fifteenth century, representing the Saint as a bishop. On his breast is figured a dove bearing his portable altar. In the ancient Breviary of Leon his day is given as July i. So also the Vannes Missal of 1530, and the MS. fifteenth century Breviary of S. Meen. So likewise the Paris Breviary till 1607, when the observ- ance of his day was suppressed. In the Dol Breviary of 1769, the commemoration was transferred to February 16. At Coutance it was transferred to July 3. The translation of the Saint's relics to Beaumont-sur-Oise, which took place in the tenth century, is commemorated in the S. Malo Missal of 1609 on October 13. .S LEUBRI or LAURUS, Abbot, Confessor Leubri is invoked in the Celtic Litany of the tenth century published by D'Arbois de Jubainville. ^ He is not included in the other Celtic * Revue Celtique, iii, p. 449. S. Leubri 347 Litanies, published by Warren, Mabillon, and that in the Missal of S. Vougai. M. J. Loth supposes that this Leubri is S. Lery,i who receives a cult in Domnonia, and whose name has been Latinized into Laurus. The original Life existed in a MS. Breviary of the Abbey of Montfort in lUe-et-Vilaine, that had belonged to the church of S. Lery. A copy of this is in the Blancs-Manteaux Collection, Bibl. Nat., Paris, MSS. Frangais, xxxviii. See also Acta SS. Boll., Sept. viii, pp. 692-7, and Lobineau, Vies des Saints de Bretagne, ed. Tresvaux, Paris, 1836, ii, pp. 85-94. Lobineau made a curious mistake. He says : " On a quelque sujet de croire qu'il etait de Broiierech, c'est-a-dire du pays de Vannes," and he has been followed by De la Borderie.^ But for this there is no authority. He is said to have been a man of noble origin, and to have crossed over from Britain, and to have landed at Aleth in the reign of Judicael, 610-40. Whoever Lery was, when he arrived he went up country into the dense and extensive forest of Brecilien, where Judicael had a hunting lodge at Gael, and after acquiring the favour of the Queen, Morona, he asked the prince to give him lands on which to settle. The most economical way of satisfying him, was by turning another saint out of his nest and offering it to the new-comer. There was such a saint, EUocan, living on the Doneff, that feeds the pretty lake du Due above Ploermel. He received notice to quit, and then his cell and lands were made over to Lery. Disciples gathered round him, and he ministered to the spiritual needs of the settlers in the stray clearings of the forest, but devoted his special attention to the people of the region round Aleth. He is said to have succeded in converting from idolatry some of the original natives. He maintained the favour of Judicael till that prince abdi- cated, in or about 640, and retired into a monastery. Lery died at an advanced age in his monastery on September 30, and was placed in a stone cof&n he had brought with him from Britain. At the time of the incursion of the Northmen, his body was trans- lated to Tours. S. Laurus is entered in the ancient calendar of S. Meen on September 30. The tomb is at S. Lery, but is a structure of the fifteenth century. On it the saint is represented in monastic habit, a crosier under the left arm, holding a book in both hands, his feet resting on a dog. Above the tomb is a wooden bas-relief of the sixteenth century representing the death of the saint, his funeral and exaltation. 1 Revw Celtique, xi, p. 146 ^ Hist, de Bretagne, i, p. 484. 34^ Lives of the British Saints S. LEUTIERN or LUGHTIERN, Bishop, Confessor Invoked in the Celtic tenth century Litany in the Library of the Dean and Chapter at Salisbury/ and as Loutiern in that published by Mabillon.2 He is probably the Lughtiern who was abbot of Ennisty- mon in County Clare. Little is known of him. He is commemorated on April 28, in several Irish Martyrologies, as those of Tallaght, Donegal and O'Gorman. In the gloss on that of Oengus is — - Christopher, with Cronan, Lughtiern with starkness, On his feast, without vainglory Went many soldiers to martyrdom.' Brigh, daughter of Forannan, son of Conall, was his mother, and his father seems to have been Cutrita. Lughtiern was disciple of S. Ruadhan of Lothra. He was abbot of Ennistymon, and, along with S. Lasrean of Druim Liag, paid a visit to S. Ita, and remained three days with her, after which, having received her blessing, they returned home.* No Life of this Saint exists. As S. Ita died in 570, and he was her contemporary, we must set him down as flourishing at the end of the sixth century. He would seem to have gone to Brittany, if the Leuthern be the same whose relics were carried to Paris by Salvator, Bishop of Aleth, in 965, on account of the ravages caused by the Northmen. Hugh Capet, in the time of Lothair, transported them to the church of S. Bartholomew in Paris. ^ As there was a monastic establishment, founded by S. Brendan, in Cesambre, off Aleth, and as several Irish saints did settle on the Ranee and at its source, it is possible enough that this saint did visit Brittany and die there. Garaby very confidently identifies the two. He says : " The Lord desiring to open a vaster field for the labours of His servant, Louthiern was consecrated Bishop in Britain. ... He passed into Armorica. There he spent the rest of his life ... in the neighbourhood of S. Malo." ^ But he gives no authority for the statement. "> Revue Celtique, ix, p. 88. 2 Vetera Analecta, 1723, ii, p. 669. ' Filire of CEngus, ed. Stokes, 1871, p. Ixxvii. ^ Colgan, Acta SS. Hibern., i, p. 70. * Duchesne, Script. Hist. Franc, iii, p. 344. " Vies des SS. et Bienheureux de Bretagne, 1839, pp. 444-5. S. Levan 349 S, LEVAN, Priest, Confessor b. Levan's Church, in Cornwall, is in the district colonized by Irish settlers, and he is not unknown to the Irish. We must reject as untenable the assertion made by Dr. Oliver, and others after him, that Levan is Livinus, apostle of the Frisians, who died in 773, concerning whom a Life was forged in the eleventh century. Levan is the Irish Loebhan. He was a saint at Killevan in Clonfert and Kilmore, where are three chapels dedicated to him. Killevan was his monastic foundation. In the Egerton MS. list of the four and twenty persons in holy orders who were with S. Patrick, he is classed as one of his smiths. " Mac Cecht (Laeban) of Domnach Laeban — it is he that made the [bell called] Findfardech," which means " the sweet-toned." Colgan also held that Loebhan and Mac Cecht (son of a plough) are one and the same. But in the list of S. Patrick's household in the ZeaJAa;' iJreac he is dis- tinguished from Mac Cecht, erroneously we think. As so very Uttle is known of him in Ireland — so completely does he disappear from among the disciples of the Apostle, — we may suspect that he, like Carannog, left him, and that, moreover, at an early period in Loebhan' s career. We hear of a Loevan or Loenan as associated with Paul of Leon when he left Wales and came to Brittany. But whether this be the same we cannot be sure. He accompanied S. Tudwal to Paris, with eleven other disciples. On that occasion, as none of these Celtic monks could speak the Frank tongue, they asked S. Albinus of Angers to serve as their interpreter. The object of Paul and Tudwal going to the Frank King, Childebert, was to obtain a confirmation of their several grants of land. S. Albinus, or Aubin, was a native of Vannes, and therefore able to speak the British tongue. In 538-40 Conmore usurped the regency of Domnonia, and it was then that Tudwal and Paul visited Childebert. This same Loevan or Levan wrote the Life of S. Tudwal, a Life that is still extant, 1 that was originally written in Irish. Tudwal died in or about 553 or 559. The probable date for the death of S. Patrick is 493.2 We cannot say at what time in his apostohc work Levan was with him ; perhaps late, and then only for a short while. There is, however, a difficulty in reconcihng the dates, and if the Patrician Loebhan be the same as the 1 De la Borderie, Saint Tudual, Textes destrois Vies, Vital ma, Mimoires de la Soc. Archiol. des C6tes-du-Nord, 2nd ser., T. ii, p. 84. ^ Shearman, Loca Patriciana, Dublin, 1882, p. 451. 3 5 o Lives of the British Saints Loevan who wrote in Irish the Life of Tudwal, he must have lived to an advanced age. In Ireland, S. Loebhan, of Ath-eguis, occurs in the Martyrologies on June I,'- but the place cannot be identified ; and the name without indication of place, on August 9. As in Brittany his Pardon is observed on the second Sunday in August, this seems to identify Loevan with the Loebhan on August 9. At S. Levan in Penwith, the feast is observed on October 15. Loevan or Loenan, the associate of S. Paul, founded Treflaouenan in the diocese of Leon, and as a companion of S. Tudwal he has a chapel at Ploulech in Treguier. He has also a chapel at Plounevez-Moedec. Probably Porthleven in Cornwall had originally a chapel bearing his name. Dr. Borlase visited the church of S. Levan in 1740, and says ^ : — " Whilst we were at dinner at the inn, it was very pleasant to hear the good old woman, our landlady, talk of S. Levin, his cursing the name Johannah, his taking the same two fishes twice following, his entertain- ing his sister, Manaccan ; and as a confirmation of everything we were desir'd at our departure to observe his walk, the stone he fish'd upon, with some other particulars of like importance." The original oratory and the holy well of the Saint were on the edge of the cliff, a little below the church. Some remains of the well may yet be seen. In the church, on one of the bench-ends, he is represented with a cap, in which is a pilgrim's scallop, in a mantle ; and in one hand a knotted rope, in the other a book. In Art, he should be represented with a bell and a smith's tool. At Ploulech, in Brittany, he is figured as an abbot, bare headed, a staff in one hand and an open book in the other. At Tredarzec as a bishop. He is invoked on behalf of rickety children. His feast is kept on the 2nd Sunday in September. He is perhaps invoked as Loviau or Lovian in the eleventh century Celtic Litany published by M. D'Arbois de Jubainville. M. J. Loth says : " Le nom de ce saint vane entre Leviavus et Levianus." When the relics of so many Breton Saints were being carried away from the coast because of the devastations of the Northmen, in the tenth century, among those transported to a place of greater security were the relics of Leviavi Episcopi.^ Loviau is perhaps a misreading for Lovian or Levian. 1 Martyrologies of Tallaght, of O'Gorman, of Donegal, and of Cathal McGuire. ' MS. Par. Mem., p. 4, No. 3. ^ Duchesne, Script. Hist. Franc, iii, p. 344. S. Lily 351 S. LIBIAU, Hermit What is known of this saint, whose name would now be Lhbio, is to be found in the Life of S. Clydog, and a grant in the Book of Llan Ddv} He, his brother Gurvan, and their sister's son, Cinvur, left, through some dispute, their native cantref of Penychen, in Mid- Glamorgan, and settled down to an eremitical life at Merthyr Clydog or Clodock, in Herefordshire, on the banks of the Monnow, where, " with the advice and assistance of the bishop of Llandaff, they built an improved church." They were granted lands, on both sides of the Monnow, to their church by Pennbargaut, King of Morganwg. The three hermits were " the first inhabitants and cultivators of the place after the martyrdom of Clydog." Ithel, the son of Morgan, King of Glywysing, subsequently made a grant of their territory to the church of Llandaff in the time of Bishop Berthguin. Lech Lybiau, Libiau's Stone, is mentioned in the description of the boundary of Mathern, in Monmouthshire. ^ Libiau was the name of the 24th reputed Bishop of Llandaff. ^ He died in 929. For the Anglesey saint of the name see under S. Llibio. S. LILY, Confessor Browne Willis, in his Survey of the Cathedral Church of S. David's,'^ 1717, appears to be the sole authority for this saint, whom he calls Lily Gwas Dewi, S. David's Servant.^ After alluding to the obser- vance at S. David's of the Festivals of S. David on March i, S. Non (his mother) on the 2nd, and S. Lily (his servant) on the 3rd, he says : " There is a tradition still preserved among the old people of the place, that within these hundred years, or not much earlier, at least many years after the Reformation, these two saints, S. Nun and S. Lily, had as much honour paid them by the country people, as S. David himself ; and if any of them had been known to work upon any of those days, it would have been esteemed as a very heinous offence. Now only S. David's Day is observed." 1 Pp. 194-5. ^ Ibid., pp. 142, 369. ' Ibid., pp. 303, 312. * Pp. 36, Si. ^ For this use of Gwas see under S. Ieuan Gwas Padrig. 352 Lives of the British Saints Later writers speak of him as a beloved disciple and constant atten- dant on S. David, and say that there was a chapel dedicated to him at S. David's. But we possess no authentic information about him. His festival day is not entered in as much as one Welsh calendar. S. LUCIA, see S. LLEUCI S. LUCIUS, King, Confessor Bede, in his Chronicle, written about 725, says : — " A. 161-180. M. Antoninus Verus cum fratre Aurelio Commode annos decern, mensis unum, etc. . . . Defuncto Commodo fratre, Antoninum Commodum filium suum consortem regni facit, etc. . . . Lucius Britannise rex missa ad Eleutherum Romse episcopum epistola ut Christianus efficiatur, impetrat." By M. Antoninus Verus Bede means M. Aelius Aurelius Antoninus Verus, commonly known as Marcus Aurelius. He was emperor from 161 to 180. By Aurelius Commodus he means Lucius Ceionius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Verus, commonly known as Lucius Verus. He was co- regent with Marcus Aurelius from 161 to 169. According to Bede in his Chronicle, the message of Lucius arrived when Lucius Verus was dead, i.e., after 169 and before 180. Eleu- therius was bishop of Rome from I7|- to 192, consequently the alleged letter and deputation from Britain arrived between the years 175 and 180. But Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, written in 731 says, (i. 4) : " A. ab Incarn. Domini 156 M. Antonius Verus decimus quartus ab Augusto regnum cum Aurelio fratre suscepit. Quorum tem- poribus quum Eleutherius vir sanctus pontificatus Romae ecclesiae preecesset, misit ad eum Lucius Britanniarum rex epistolam ob-' secrans ut per ejus mandatum Christianus efficeretur, et mox effectum piffi postulationis effectus est. Susceptamque fidem Britanni usque in tempora Diocletiani principis inviolatam integramque quieta in pace servabant." Here Bede makes the mission of Lucius take place before 169 when Lucius Verus died. He further gives a date for the accession of Marcus Aurelius which is wrong, 136 instead of 161. Now as Lucius Verus died before Eleutherius became pope, he has obviously fallen into chronological error. S. Lucius 3 53 -But at the end. of his History, Bede gives a chronological summary (v. 24), and in that summary he writes : — " A. Dom. Incarn. 167 i-leutherius Romae praesul factus xv annis ecclesiam gloriosissime rexit : GUI literas rex Britannise Lucius mittens, ut Christianus efficeretur petiit et impetravit." Here he gives a wrong date for Eleutherius, he puts him some seven years too early. In 167 Soter was bishop of Rome. The reason of the discrepancy is that in his Chronicle Bede followed the com- putation of the Eusebian-Hieronyman Chronicle, De temporunu ratione, whereas in his History he followed the dates given by Orosius, and then, in Ms Epitome at the end, reverted to the authority of Eusebius- Jerome. But neither of his authorities mentioned the deputation of Lucius. He had got hold of the statement that Lucius, King of Britain, sent a letter to Eleutherius, and he tried to fit it into his history as best he might, and that was clumsily and unchronologically. Bede drew his information concerning Lucius and his embassy solely from the Catalogue of the Bishops of Rome, which he quotes almost verbatim. Now of the early Catalogues there are two. Of these the first contains a list of eighteen bishops from S. Peter to Urban (222-230), and this was continued to about 354, during the pontificate of Liberius. In it the message of Lucius is not mentioned at all. The entry under Eleutherius is : " Eleutherius annis (desunt) fuit temporibus Antonini et Commodi, a consulatu Veri et Erenniani usque Paterno et Bradno (191)." ^ That is all. The second Catalogue is the so-called Felician Catalogue, because it closes with Fehx III (IV). This, however, is held not to be an original Liter Pontificalis, but an extract from it. It was drawn up between 483 and 492. This contains the passage under the head of Eleutherius : — " Hie accepit epistolam a Lucio Britannio rege ut Christianus ef&ceretur per ejus mandatum." ^ Now it is worthy of remark that, on the face of it, the paragraph has all the appearance of an interpolation. The form of all the entries of the early pontiffs is this formulary : N., natione . . .. ^ There is a blunder here. Alfidius Herennianus was consul in 171 and then not in conjunction with Lucius Verus, but with T. Statilius Severus. M. Keren- nius Secundus was consul in 183 along with the Emperor Commodus. The Liberian Catalogue, drawn up by Furius Dionysius Filocalus, scribe to Pope Damasus, is printed by Mommsen, Ueber den Chronographen von '3 S4, in Abhand- lungen d. Koniglicher Acadam. von Sachsen, Leipzig, 1850, i, pp. 547 et seq> Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, Paris, 1886, i, pp. 2-12 , ^ Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, i, pp. S8, 136. VOL. III. -'^ A 3 54 Lives of the British Saints «x patre . . . sedit annos . . . menses . . . dies . . . Fuit autem temporibus . . . Augusti, a consulatu . . . usque ad consulatum . . . Hie constituit . . . Hie fecit ordinationes ... in urbe Roma per mens, decembr., presbiteros . . . diaconos . . . episcopos per diversa loca numero . . . qui etiam sepultus est . . . et cessavit cpiscopatus dies. . . ." No details about transactions abroad. Moreover, we have no earlier MSS. of this Felician Catalogue than ■one of the ninth century. The Liber Pontificalis was drawn up at various periods, and was amplified as it proceeded through its several editions. It has been ■erroneously attributed to Anastasius Bibliothecarius. All the earlier portion was given its present shape in the sixth century. This has the entry under Eleutherius exactly as in the Felician Catalogue. In the first place, it may be noted how almost absurd it was to make a King of Britain at the time when M. Aurelius was Emperor, and Britain was a portion of the Empire. No writer of a notice at the time could have so described a Lucius, if he ever existed, and was a petty chieftain in Britain. It was not till after the Roman hold on Britain ceased in 410 that kingship began to reappear in the island. Moreover, had the Britons desired Christian missionaries and bishops, they would have sent into Gaul for them in all prob- .ability. The next point to consider is, how and when this passage was inserted in the Liber Pontificalis. It is clear that Bede knew no more about Lucius and his embassy, and its results, than what he got from the text of the Catalogue he had before him. Gildas, who wrote his book about 540, knew nothing of Lucius, or lie would assuredly have mentioned him and his delegation to Eleu- therius and the results, the conversion and baptism of the British people. Pope Gregory knew nothing about it when in 597 he wrote his long answer to a series of questions propounded to him by Augustine. Augustine had asked : " How are we to deal with the bishops of ■Gaul and Britain ? " Gregory replied very fully relative to the ■Gallic prelates, Augustine was to exercise no jurisdiction over them, and he gives his reasons. " But as for all the bishops of Britain, -we commit them to your care, that the unlearned may be taught, the weak strengthened by persuasion, and the perverse corrected by authority." 1 Now, had Gregory known of the conversion of Britain by legates 1 Bede, Hisl. Eccl., i, c. 27. iS. Lucius 3 55 from Rome with the authority of Eleutherius, he would have men- tioned this as showing that the British Church was a daughter of the Church of Rome, that its Bishops derived orders and jurisdiction from the Chair of Peter, and that therefore he, Gregory, had a right to the oversight of that Church, and to the ordering of its affairs. But he did nothing of the sort. It was, again, quite possible for Gregory to allude effectively to the same topic in the letter to King Ethelbert in 60 1, but not by a word does he intimate that he knew anything of the story.^ Bede does not record the discussion between Augustine and the recalcitrant British Bishops at the " Oak." Nor does he give us the letter of Laurentius his successor to the British Bishops, though he does furnish us with that to the Irish Bishops and abbots. We ■are consequently unable to draw any conclusions therefrom. In 664 was held the assembly at Whitby, when the Celtic Church in Northumbria stubbornly resisted Wilfrid, who desired to force on it the observance of the Roman computation for Easter. Bishop Colman, who spoke for the Celtic usage, appealed to tradition. "" The Easter I keep, I received from my elders who sent me bishop Iiither ; all our forefathers, men beloved of God, are known to have Tsept it after the same manner ; and that the same may not seem ■contemptible to any or deserving of rejection, it is the same which S. John the Evangelist, with all the Churches over which he presided, is recorded to have observed." ^ What a strong and crushing weapon would Colman have employed Iiad he known of the Lucius story ! He would have been able to say : ■" The British Church, and that of the Scots through the Church in Britain, received its rule for the celebration of Easter through those bishops sent by Eleutherius at the demand of Lucius. We have kept the tradition ; it is you who have altered your computation." The contention would have been unanswerable, at all events by Wilfrid ; for up to the Council of Nicasa the practice of the British harmonized with that of the entire Western Church, and the most ancient Roman table for Easter tallies precisely with the British Easter, and it was not till 525 that Rome accepted the calculation of Dionysius Exiguus. ^ In 680 a Council was held at Heathfield, under Archbishop Theodore, and S. Aldhelm was instructed to write an epistle to the Britons of Domnonia to urge them to submit to Rome. " Quid prosunt bonorum ■operum emolumenta," he asked, " si extra Catholicam gerantur ^ Bede, Hist. Eccl., i, c. 32. * Ibid., iii, c. 25. ^ Haddan & Stubbs, Councils, i, p. 1 52. 3 5^ Lives of the British Saints ecclesiam ? " He could not have written this had he supposed that the British Church had been founded by Papal legates. Aldhelm let slip no argument by means of which he hoped to induce the stubborn British Church to submit to the Latin Church. He would certainly have appealed to the story of Lucius, had he known it.J- Some forty years later, Bede mentions the mission sent by Pope Eleutherius and the conversion of Britain. Surely had Gildas, S. Gregory, S. Augustine, S. Laurence, S. Colman, and S. Aldhelm known anything of this alleged mission, with its splendid results, they would one and all have harped upon it. When the earlier portion of the Saxon Chronicle was drawn up,., probably at the instigation of Archbishop Plegmund in 891, the passage from Bede's Ecclesiastical History was taken into it verbatim^ but with the date 167 from his Epitome at the end. The earliest British testimony to the story is that of Nennius who compiled his History in or about 796, using for basis an earlier Volumen Brittanice, composed in the seventh century. The story of Lucius and his embassy was, however, in the text used by Gilla Coemgin when he made his translation into Irish in or about 1071., However, it does not occur in the earliest extant MS. of the Historia Britonum, the Chartres Codex. It is therefore probably an addition,, and it is an ignorant , addition. It runs thus — "Post clxvii annos post adventum Christi Lucius Brittannicus rex cum omnibus regulis totius Brittannicas gentis baptismum suscepit missa legatione ab' imperatore Romanorum et a papa Romano Eucharisto." ^ The idea of a persecuting Emperor Marcus Aurelius combining, with the Pope to get Britain converted, is absurd. Nennius has.' taken the date 167 from Bede, he has amplified the text and misread the name of the Pope. There never was an Eucharistus, and Evaristus was bishop of Rome about 100-9. Gilla Coemgin, the translator into Irish, altered the name to Eleutherius. We need not concern ourselves further with Nennius. From the silence of all those engaged in controversy in Britain down to Aldhelm we may fairly conclude that the story of Lucius, was unknown in Britain, and in Rome till after 680, and that it was invented and forced fraudulently into the Liher Pontificalis after that date. There are no earlier MSS. of the Liber Pontificalis than the seventh century. The earliest is after 685. It was done with a^ deliberate purpose, to furnish the Papal See with a claim to authority over the British Church. It did not origi- ' S. Aldhelmi Opera, London, 1842, in vol. i of Patres Ecclesi^ Anglicancs. ." Nennius, ed. Mommsen, p. 164. - S. Lucius 3 57 nate in Britain, but at Rome, where such manufacture was by no means uncommon. The Roman story is copied into the Boo^ of LlanDdv, a compilation of the twelfth century. " In the year of Our Lord 156, Lucius, King of the Britons, sent his legates, Elfan and Medwyn, to Eleutherius, twelfth pope on the Apostolic Throne, imploring that, according to his admonition, he might be made a Christian," etc.i William of Malmesbury adds that the Roman Missionaries, Phaganus and Deruvanus, went to Glastonbury. Geoffrey of Monmouth gives the final touches to the fable. Accor- ding to him, Lucius, King of Britain, appealed by letter to Eleutherius the Pope, and by solemn decree converted all the heathen temples throughout his realm into Christian churches, and transformed the ■sees of twenty-eight flamens and three arch-flamens into as many bishoprics and archbishoprics. Faganus and Duvanus were the bishops sent by Eleutherius to convert the British. After having seen all Britain made Christian, the great King Lucius died childless at Gloucester in 156. The next step in forgery was the composition of the rescript of Pope Eleutherius to Lucius : " anno centissimo sexagessimo nono a passione Christi (i.e. 202), scripsit Dominus Eleutherius Papa Lucio Regi Britanniae ad correctionem {al. petitionem) Regis et Procerum regni Britannias." The letter is as follows : — " Petistis a nobis leges Romanas et Caesaris vobis transmitti, quibus in regno Britanniae uti voluistis. Leges Romanas et Caesaris ■semper reprobare possumus, legem Dei nequaquam. Suscepistis enim Tiuper miseratione divina in regno Britanniae legem et fidem Christi. Habetis penes vos in regno utramque paginam. Ex illis Dei gratia per consilium regni vestri sume legem, et per illam Dei patientia vestrum rege Britanniae regnum. Vicarius vero Dei estis in regno . . . Gentes vero regni Britanniae et populi vestri sunt ; quos divisos debetis in unum ad concordiam et pacem et ad fidem et ad legem Christi et ad Sanctam Ecclesiam congregare, revocare, fovere, manu tenere protegere, regere, et ab injuriosis et malitiosis et ab inimicis semper defendere. . . . Rex dicitur a regendo, non a regno. Rex eris dum bene regis : quod nisi feceris nomen Regis non in te constabit, ■et nomen Regis perdes, quod absit. Det vobis omnipotens Deus regnum Britanniae sic regere ut possitis cum eo regnare in aeternum, cujus vicarius estis in regno praedicto." This forged rescript was taken into the laws of Edward the Con- iessor, and on the strength of it, Edward claimed the title of Vicar 1 P. 68 ; cf. p. 26. 35^ Lives of the British Saints of God in England. " Rex autem quia Vicarius summi Regis est, ad hoc est constitutus, ut regnum terrenum, et populum Domini, et super omnia sanctam ejus veneretur ecclesiam, et regat, et ab injuriosis defendat, et maleficos ab ea evellat." ^ There can be Uttle doubt that this formed the basis of the pre- tensions of Henry VIII to be Supreme Head in Church as well as State in England. Another forgery was an epistle from S. Patrick, pretending to have been written about 434, in Glastonbury, in which is given a list of the names of the clerics sent by Eleutherius to Lucius. The names, beside Phaganus and Deruvanus, are Brumbam, Hyregaam, Brenwal, Wencreth, Brantcommeweng, Adelwared, Loyor, Wellias, Brenden, Swelwes, Hinloernius and Hin. It will be noticed that Saxon names are given among some affected to resemble British names. Patrick also has with him " Irish brothers " Arnulf and Ogmar, " qui mecum venerant de Ybernia." It is a composition of the twelfth century. ^ As Schoell well says of the legend of Lucius : " Jam nihil, ut opinor obstat, quo minus hanc fabulam qua ad recipiendam Pontificis Romani auctoritatem inducerentur Britones, inventam esse post Augustini adventum censeamus." ^ Duchesne has made an effort to remove the discredit that attaches to the fable, but it is wholly vain * ; that it is a fable he is compelled to admit. There have circulated other fables relative to Lucius, as that he was baptised by S. Timothy. A homily of the ninth century in the Library of S. Gall gives the following story. S. Paul sent his disciple Timothy into Gaul. Encouraged thereto by a Gaulish king,, Timothy pushed on into Britain, where King Lucius ruled over a. pagan people. Lucius summoned Timothy before him, believed,, and was converted and baptised along with his family and a great number of his subjects. Later, he resolved on leaving his kingdom, and preaching the Gospel elsewhere. He passed through Gaul, and visited Augsburg, where he was well received by the patrician Cam- pesterius, and founded the first Christian community in that city. 1 \JssheT, Bntannicarum Eccl. Antiquitates.'D-ahlm., i6z9, ^.VV- 102-3. Ussher quotes with approval the judgment on this epistle by Bishop Godwin of Hereford I " De hac Epistola si me oporteat Sententiam ferre ; non nimis profecto sapere seculum Eleutherianum confitendum reor." ' San-Marte, Gottfried von Monmouth Historia Regum Brit., Halle, 1854,. pp. 272-3. 3 De EcclesiastictB Britonum . . . histories fontibus, BerHn, 185 1, p. 24. * Revue Celtigue, vi, pp. 49I-.3- S. Lucius 3 59 Then he went on into the Rhetian Alps. After fasting and praying for seven days, on the eighth he began to preach. When he learned that in the Masswald, or forest, were uroxen that were adored by the natives as gods, the Saint went thither and converted many heathen. Those who did not believe threw him into a pit and would have stoned him, but he was miraculously delivered. Then the savage uroxen came up and licked his feet. When this was rumoured in the town of Chur or Coire, the people came forth to meet him with torches and hymns. Here the homily breaks off, and we learn nothing relative to his death. This story was taken into the Breviarium. Curiense, printed in 1490, and was read on the feast of the Saint till 1646. To the story was added that Lucius after his conversion had sent a deputation to Pope Eleutherius to furnish missioners for the conversion of the British. In 1646, the Church of Chur accepted the Roman Breviary, and lections from Geoffrey of Monmouth ( ! !), but with additions from the Chur story ; and Lucius, who had hitherto been culted as a confessor, was thenceforth exalted into a martyr. Notker Balbulus, d. 912, inserted Lucius as a British king who came to Chur, in his Martyrology, but not without giving hint that he mistrusted the legend. In the sixteenth century the story got expanded and altered. It was said that this Lucius was the Lucius of Cyrene mentioned in the Acts xiii. i ; also that the saint was stoned in the castle of Martiola,, where now stands the cathedral. Peter de Natalibus (d. before 1406) says : Lucius the blessed Confessor was a King of Britain ; he was baptised by Timothy, the disciple of S. Paul ; who having set his realm in order and tranquiUty ; having abandoned the vanities of this world ; and many having been converted to God through his agency, travelled through Augs- burg and arrived at Chur, following the example of many seekers after perfection, and died on December 3, in peace." ^ But according to the Gesta Treverorum he was baptised by one Marcellus. There was a Marcellus, Bishop of Tongres, about 250, according to the Ust drawn up by Hubert of Liege in the eighth cen- tury — he was probably the same as the supposed Bishop at Li6ge about the same time. At Chur is shown the Luciuslochlein, into which Lucius and his sister Emerita retreated. She was seized by the pagans and burned to death at Trimmis. The cave of S. Lucius hes about half an hour's walk from the town 1 Catalogus Sanctorum, i, c. 24. 360 Lives of the British Saints of Chur, high up, and Mass is said in it once a month. A small trickle of water in it is used by pilgrims as a cure for sore eyes.^ Thackeray, in the first of his Roundabout Papers, speaks of the statue of S. Lucius at Coire. " In the Cathedral — his statue appears sur- rounded by other sainted persons of his family. With tight red breeches, a Roman habit, a curly brown beard, and a neat little gilt crown and sceptre, he stands, a very comely and cheerful image." Stow in his Chronicle says that the Church of S. Peter, Cornhill, London, was founded by S. Lucius, and he gives an inscription in that church testifying to this. Stow says " he was after some chronicle buried in London and after some chronicle buried at Glowcester." ^ Gloucester to-day claims his tomb. Lucius of Britain, who sent a delegation to Eleutherius, is a purely mythical personage. Professor Harnack by his recent brilliant discovery, has shown that the mission must have been from Eleutherius to Britium of the Edessenes, between 174 and 179, when Lucius Aelius Septimius Megas Abgarus IX was King of Britium.^ We will now come to the form the legend assumed in Welsh. This is not a long-drawn story of many details. Moreover, it is confined to one corner only of Wales — to a small district with Llandaff as its centre ; and it is here that the few threads of the legend were woven. Glamorganshire has proved fertile soil for the growth of these Christian- izing legends. Those associated with Bran and members of his family we have already noticed. Setting aside Geoffrey of Monmouth's Welsh Brut — a powerful factor in its formation — the legend is principally contained in the lolo MSS. and the later Triads, and is, consequently, of very late date. Lucius is therein said to have been the son of Coel ab Cyllin Sant ab Caradog ab Bran Fendigaid, a mythical enough ancestry. This differs from the pedigree in Geoffrey's Brut, which makes him the son of Coel ab Meurig ab Gweirydd Adarwenidawg ab Cynfelyn ab Teneuan ab Lludd ab Beli Mawr, and so on up to Prydain ab Aedd Mawr, the first monarch of the Isle of Britain. His name is given under various forms, which are merely Welsh renderings of the Latin name — Lleufer Mawr, Lleurwg or Lleirwg, and Lies.* The first form is explained by Nen- ^ Burgener, Die Wallfartsorte d. Schweiz, Zurich, 1867, i, p. 314. ^ For his association with London, see especially the note in Bp. Browne (of Bristol), The Christian Church in these Islands before the coming of Augustine, 1899, pp. 59-61. ^ Sitzungsberichte d. k. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, rg Mai, 1904; re- ferred to in y Cymmrodor, xxi (1908), p. 95. The origin and growth of the myth have been lately dealt with in the Analecta BoUandiana, 1905, p. 393, and in the English Historical Review, xxii (1907), pp. 767-70. * Lleufer means literally " light-bearer," like Lucifer and Phosphorus. We S. Lucius 361 nius, . " Lucius agnomine Lleuer Maur, id est, Magni-Splendoris." He is mentioned as " King of the Island of Britain, who Hved at Llan- daff. 2 Having conceived a desire to en:ibrace the Christian faith, he applied to Rome for teachers, and Eleutherius sent him Elfan, Medwy, Dyfan, and Ffagan.^ According to other accounts, the messengers sent by Lucius were Elfan and Medwy, and the Roman emissaries Dyfan and Ffagan. A chronicle * states : " Lies, also called Lleirwg Sant and Lleufer Mawr, sent for godly men from Rome to teach the Faith in Christ to the Welsh nation. He it was that first erected a church at Llandaff, and placed bishops therein, to administer Baptism to the Welsh nation. This was the first of our churches, and the most exalted in privileges. He also instituted schools there to teach the Faith in Christ, and a knowledge of Welsh books." Again, " Lleufer Mawr gave property to Cor Eurgain (called after him Bangor Lleufer Sant) for 100 saints. He was the first king that established national order and law for the Faith in Christ, and he founded three sees, viz., Llandaff, Caerwyryl, and Caerfelyn." ^ Again, " Lies ab Coel founded Llandaff, and the Rhath Fawr (appar- ently Roath, now a suburb of Cardiff), and many others of which the names are now not known." ^ The two earlier series of the Triads know nothing of him, but he is mentioned in two Triads in the Third Series, of about the sixteenth century, wherein it is added that it was he who " first gave lands," and " bestowed the privilege of country and nation, judicial power and validity of oath, upon such as were of the Faith in Christ " ; and on this account he is distinguished as one of the three " Blessed Kings (Men- wedigion Teyrnedd) of the Isle of Britain." ' have the O. Welsh form in the louber of the alphabet attributed to Nemnivus in a Bodleian MS. of the ninth century. Lleurwg is derived from lleuer. We should have expected Lucius to have assumed in Welsh, at an early period, the form Lluc, later Llug, just as lucerna, borrowed early, yielded llugorn, but, as a late borrowing, Uusern. The equation Lucius = Lies ab Coel occurs for the first time in Geoffrey's Welsh Brut, in the fourteenth century Red Book of Hergest, where the Emperor Lucius Tiberius also appears as Lies. But, as Sir J. Rhys has pointed out to us, Lies from Lucius cannot be a direct Welsh borrowing. The Irish Uss, Us, meaning " light " (the exact equivalent of the Welsh llewych), is applied to Lucius in the Martyrology of Oengus (ed. Stokes), where, on March 4, we have " Lucius les laindrech," " Lucius, a lucid light ! " Lies = Lucius has, therefore, been derived through an Irish source, and that not a very early one. It is a name of rare occurrence in Welsh ; the only other instance that we know of is in the Bleddyn ab Cynf yn pedigree in Mostyn MS. 1 1 7 (of the thirteenth century) and Cardiff MS. 25, p. 71- 1 Hist. Brit., c. 18. ' lolo MSS., p.. I49- ' Ibid, p. 115. i Ibid, p. 38 ; cf. pp. 40, 100. s Ibid, p. 149. ° Ibid, p. 220. ' Myv. Arch., pp. 404, 407. . 362 Lives of the British Saints One of " The Stanzas of the Achievements " 1 informs us that — The acMevement of Lleirwg, the meek chieftain. The son of Coel ab Cyllin the eloquent, "Was the forming of books, and the medium of learning. To S. Lleirwg was formerly dedicated the church of Llanleirwg, later, Llaneirwg, 2 in Monmouthshire. It is now known as S. Mellon's, and the church in Latin documents has been called the church of S. Melanus since at least the thirteenth century. The parish church of the recently formed {1886) parish of Hirwain, in Glamorganshire, is dedicated to S. Lleurwg. Attesting the apparent truth of the Lucius legend, there are, besides Llanleirwg, not far from Llandaff, ancient parish churches dedicated to three out of the four Christian teachers mentioned, viz., Dyfan, Ffagan, and Medwy. Elf an, who always pairs with Medwy, appears never to have had any dedication. We have Dyfan at Merthyr Dovan, Ffagan at S. Pagan's, and Medwy at Michaelston-y-Vedw, formerly Llanfedwy, the church of which was burnt down in the eleventh century, and was never rebuilt, but Llanfedw has survived as township- name. In this group Lleirwg and Medwy had, after the Norman Con- quest, to make way for Mellon and the Archangel, which shows that their churches belonged to a fairly early period. The Llandaff tradition would meet with little or no consideration but for this little cluster of dedications in the neighbourhood, of which none occur elsewhere. For all that, there can hardly be a doubt that these dedications represent perfectly historical persons, who, however, lived some four centuries, more or less, later than the second. The legend- mongers found in the locality certain dedication-names, which they guessed, from their similarity only, to be those in the story, and took them over, and amplified the legend to what we find it in those sixteenth and seventeenth century documents, more especially in the lolo MSS. The common centaury is called, among other names, in Welsh, Llysiau Lleurwg,^ which also occurs as Llysiau yBleurwg; but they are " book " names for the plant. S. LUDGVAN, Abbot, Confessor The parish of Ludgvan, near Penzance, in Cornwall, appears in Domesday as Luduham. In the Exeter Transcript as Luduam. In 1 lolo MSS., p. 263. 2 Llan Leirwo, Peniarth MS. 133, of 1550 ; Llan Lirwg, Peniarth MS. 147, c. 1566; Llan Leirwg, Jesus College MS. 13, of seventeenth century, and Myv. Arch., p. 750. For the loss of II in Llaneirwg, cf. the Radnorshire Llanyre for Llanllyr. ' Meddygon Myddfai, Llandovery, 1861, p. 204. S. Liudgvan 363 the Episcopal Registers as Ludewan (Stapeldon 1324, Grandisson 1330), or as dedicated to Sanctus Ludwanus (Bytton 1312, Stapeldon 1312, 1318.) Ecclesia Sti. Ludowanni, Brantyngham, 1382 ; Ludvoni, also 1382 ; Sancti Ludvone, 1383. This settles the sex of the Saint. Mr. Copeland Borlase suggested that Ludgvan stands for Llan Ddwynwen, and was named after one of the daughters of Brychan. This is quite inadmissible. Ludgvan is apparently Lithgean of Clonmore. His feast in the Calendar of Tallaght is on January 16, and the Ludgvan feast is ob- served in the week of the festival of the Conversion of S. Paul, January 25. Add eleven days to January 16, required to obtain Ludgvan feast O.S ., and we have S. Lithgean's day, January 27. Of S. Lithgean not much is known. He was the son of Laignech, descended from Cucorb, King of Leinster, and belonged to the clan of the Hy Cormaic, who occupied the country west of the Wicklow moun- tains on the borders of Wicklow and Kildare. The family cemetery is at Killeen Cormac, between Dunlavin and Ballitore, and is known to archeeologists as having }delded several Ogham inscriptions. His mother, Melda or Bronfin, was sister to S. Ibar, and he was related to S. Cuach,Ciaran's foster-mother ,whom we have identified with S. Kewe, and S. Ladoca.^ She was buried in the family cemetery at Killeen. More remotely, he was related to S. Fiacc of Sletty, the Cornish Feock. Lithgean had six brothers, all saints, but the most important of them was S. Abban, of Killabban. The manner in which the whole family entered religion seems to point to its having been involved in the banishment of the Chu Clan for having embraced Christianity, and to its being allowed to return on condition that the members em- braced the ecclesiastical profession. We find a Lithgean also spoken of as brother of S. Achebran or Kevern and a son of Bochra. We must not take the title of son or brother too strictly. Whether these be the same or different persons, we have no means of judging. S. Lithgean had a foundation at Clonmore in the territory of the Hy Failghe or Ophaly, but it cannot now be identified. He probably moved to Cornwall about the same time as the rest from Ossory and Wexford, for he belongs to that period. If the Clon- more, where S. Lithgean was, be the Clonmore near Seir Ciaran in the barony of Ballybritt, then he must have been a neighbour and intimate with S. Ciaran, and have been in close touch with his cousin S. Cuach. It is most probable that the same political reasons which induced so many to leave the south-east of Ireland operated on Lithgean. Lithgean is not to be confounded with Laidhgean, of Clonfert Molua, 1 Colgan, Acta SS. Hibern, xvi, Martii, Appendix ad Acta S. Abbani, c. iii, p. 626. 364 Lives of the British Saints who belongs to a much later period. This latter is, however, an inter- esting personage as preserver of a crude Latin hymn by Gildas, which he took to Ireland, and which is preserved, and is the only early speci- men we have of Welsh hymnody. It has been pubhshed by Stokes in his Old-Irish Glosses. The local tradition at Ludgvan is that the holy abbot brought a stream of water, from its source at a distance, to flow under the church- yard wall ; and it was held that a child baptized in S. Ludgvan' s water is miraculously enabled to respond at its own baptism. The stream still flows, and supplies the village with drinking water. S. LUGHTIERN, see S. LEUTIERN S. LUNAPEIUS, see S. JUNABUI S. LUPUS, Bishop, Confessor The authorities for the Life of S. Lupus are : — A Letter of Sidonius ApoUinaris [Lib. vi, ep. i) to S. Lupus, and mention in other of his letters. A Life of the Saint written by some one who was acquainted with his disciples, in .dcteSS. Boll., Julii v, pp. 72-82. A second, and larger Life, written at the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century. This cannot be trusted ; Acta SS. Boll. Julii v., pp. 69-72. A letter, purporting to have been written by S. Lupus to Sidonius ApoUinaris, was forged by J. Vignier ; see Havet, Questions Merovin- giennes, ii, in Bibliotheque de I'Ecole desChartes, xlvi (1885), pp. 252-3. S. Lupus was born at Tulle in Gaul, about the year 383, and was the son of Epirichius, a nobleman. He married Pimeniola, sister of S. Hilary of Aries, and spent seven years with her in great love and happi- ness. Then he retired to the island of Lerins, and placed himself under the direction of S. Honoratus. What became of his wife is not stated. When S. Honoratus was made Bishop of Aries, he went to Macon, in Burgundy, to dispose of an estate he possessed there, and was prepar- ing to return, when he was met by the deputies of the church of Troyes, which had just lost its bishop, 426, to announce to him that he had been elected to the episcopal throne of that Church. [': In an assembly held at Aries in 429, it was decided to send S. Ger- manus of Auxerre and S. Lupus of Troyes to Britain to oppose the Pelagian heresy, which had greatly spread in the island. The history of that mission has been related in the Life of S. Germanus. aS*. Lythan 365 Lupus and Germanus remained only about a year in Britain, and then returned. Lupus saved Troyes from being sacked by Attila, king of tlie Huns, when Gaul was overrun by the barbarian horde, and he died in 479. S. Lupus was a student with a fine hbrary, and Sidonius ApoUinaris held his literary judgment in high esteem. His eloquence seemed to his contemporaries to recall the golden age of GaUic rhetoric. ^ It was probably stilted and full of pedantry, for so only could it have met with the approval of such a man. Lupus's name was at some late period rendered Bleiddian, or Bleid- dan, in Welsh, and two churches in Glamorganshire are usually regarded as having been founded by him under that name, viz., Llanfleiddian Fawr, or Llanblethian, and Llanfleiddian Fach, or S. Lythan's. But there are difficulties in the way of these churches having been named after him ; and, moreover, there is no evidence that either Lupus or his companion Germanus ever set foot in Wales. See what has been said under S. Bleiddian and S. Lythan. Whether, on his way home, Lupus halted in Goelo, in Armorica, we are unable to say, but it is remarkable that he should have a cult there ; he is patron of Lanloup, and has several chapels. A fine four- teenth century statue of him is in the church of Pontrieux. His day in the Roman Martyrology, and in those ofBede, Hrabanus, Ado, Notker, Wandelbert, etc., is July 29. S. LYTHAN, Confessor Ithel, the son of Athrwys, King of Morganwg, made a grant of Ecclesia Ehdon to the Church of Llandaff during the episcopate of S. Oudoceus. ^ This is to-day S. Lythan's, a few miles from Cardiff. In the later additions to the Book of Llan Dav,^ the church is called Ecclesia de Sancto Lythano (or Lithane); so also in the Taxatio of 1254, and that of 1291, but in the latter the name is printed Lythano, an error for Lythano. The inscription on the Elizabethan paten belonging to the Church reads, ^ saincte lethyans 1577. In the parish boundary, as described in the grant, is mentioned Hen Lotre Elidon ; and Lum Elidon also occurs.* The latter, as Llwyn Elyddon (or Elyddan), survived late as the parish-name. 1 Sidon., Epist. viii,, n, §2. ^ Book of Llan Ddv, pp. 157-8 ; ci. pp. 31, 90. 3 Pp. 283, 340. ■ ' Ibid,' pp. 32, 44. 366 Lives of the British Saints The parish is also known as Llanfleiddian Fach, to distinguish it from Llanfleiddian Fawr (Llanblethian), near Cowbridge. The latter, now dedicated to S. John Baptist, is called in various parish-lists of circa 1566-1606, Llan-Liddan, -Leiddan, and -Elidan.^ The same name is clearly involved, which would to-day be Elyddon, liable to become Elyddan. Neither church can, therefore, be dedicated to S. Bleiddian or Bleiddan, which it has been the custom to regard as the Welsh form of the name of S. Lupus of Troyes. Of Elyddon or Lythan we know nothing, but he probably lived a century or more later than did Lupus. See also under S. Bleiddian and S. Lupus. Browne Willis ^ gives September i as the feast day at S. Lythan's, but this is the festival of S. Lupus, Archbishop of Sens, who died in 623. S. LLAMINED ANGEL The sole authority for this saint is an entry in a MS. of, apparently, the seventeenth century, printed in the lolo MSS.^ The name is sometimes written Lleminod (or Llyminod) Angel. Possibly the com- piler was led away by his epithet to include him. He was the son of Pasgen ab Urien Rheged, and brother of S. Gwrfyw. The Venedotian Tribes of CoUwyn ab Tangno and Marchweithian traced their descent through him. S. LLAWDDEN, see S. LLEUDDUN S. LLAWDDOG, see S. LLEUDDAD S. LLECHEU, Confessor Llecheu occurs in the late lists of Brychan's children as a son of his.* He is said to have a church dedicated to him at Llanllecheu, inEwyas — now mainly included in Herefordshire — which has not been identified. He is also connected with Llangan, or Tregaian, in Anglesey.^ In Peniarih MS. 178 (sixteenth century) it is stated that he was a saint at 1 Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 919. S. Lythan's is not entered in these lists, but lolo Morganwg inserted it as Llanfleiddan Fach in that in Myv. Arch., p. 748. ' Llandaff, 1719, append., p. 2 ; Paroch. Anglic, 1733, p. 199. 3 P. 128. * lolo MSS., pp. Ill, 119, 140; Myv. Arch., p. 419- ^ Myv. Arch., p. 427. iS. Lleuci 367 lalyllechau, meaning Talley, in Carmarthenshire ; but this can only be an ignorant guess. Uacheu, or Llecheu, was the name of a son of King Arthur, who was slain at the battle of Llongborth, and is celebrated in the Triads. S. LLECHID, Virgin Llechid was the daughter — the only daughter, apparently — of Ithel Hael of Llydaw, and the sister of SS. Tegai and Trillo, who came hither from Armorica with Cadfan.i She is the patroness of Llanllechid, in Carnarvonshire, adjoining which is Llandegai. Capel Llechid, called also Yr Hen Eglwys, on Plas Ucha, in the parish, no longer exists. Legend says that the stones brought to it in the day-time were mysteri- ously carried away in the night to the spot whereon Llanllechid Church now stands, a distance of about a mile. In 1780 the chapel was fairly complete, and some remains of it were to be seen until within recent years. Near its site are two fields called Cae'r Capel and Cae'r Bettws. Ffynnon Llechid, the saint's Well, still flows hard by, and is behaved to possess curative properties. Many persons troubled with scrofula and kindred diseases used to repair to it. " So great was their faith in it that persons would call for a drink of its water when at the point of death." ^ Lewis Glyn Cothi, in the fifteenth century, swears by the saint's shrine, " myn bedd Llechid ! " * Llechid's festival is entered on December i in the Calendars in the Grammar of John Edwards of Chirkland, 148 1, the lolo MSS., and the Prymers of 1618 and 1633 ; but as the 2nd in Browne Wilhs,* the Camhrian Register,^ and a number of Welsh Almanacks from 1692 onwards. Nicolas Roscarrock gives November i. S. LLEIAN, see S. LLUAN S. LLEUCI, Virgin, Martyr There are two churches in Cardiganshire, and one in Carmarthen- shire, which are regarded as being dedicated to S. Lucia, but of whom 1 Peniarth MSS. 12, 16, and 45 ; Hafod MS. 16 ; Cardiff MSS. 5 and 25 , Myv. Arch., p. 427 ; lolo MSS., pp. 104, 112, 133. 2 Myrddin Fardd, Lien Gwerin Sir Caernarfon, 1909, p. 169. 8 Works. Oxford, 1837, p. 183. * Bangor. 1721, p. 273. 5 Vol. iii (1818), p. 222. 368 Lives of the British Saints nothing is known. These are Bettws Leiki and Llanwnen, in the former county, and Abernant in the latter. It is quite evident that they are not early dedications, but of the Middle Ages. The first-named was formerly known as Capel Bettws Leuci, and served a district in the extensive parish of Llanddewi Brefi, which has since been made into a separate parish. Llanwnen, which is now sometimes given as dedicated to " S. Lucia or S. Gwynen," is ascribed by Browne Willis and Meyrick to S. Lucia alone, with festival on December 13. But the festival of S. Gwynen also fell on the same day, and it is clear that she has been merely supplanted by S. Lucia in the dedication, most probably on a re- building of the church. Lleuci, or Lleucu, is generally taken to be the Welsh assimilation of the name Lucia, but if so, it is not quite rule-right. The name would have to be a fairly early borrowing, before the c had become the sibi- lant it is in Lucy. But who may this Lucia or Lleuci have been ? We are disposed to identify her with the Lucia who was one of the numer- ous companions of the famous British virgin and martyr, S. Ursula, who, with her Eleven Thousand Virgins, was culted at Llanygwyryfon and, the now extinct, Capel Santesau, in the parish of Llanwenog, both in Cardiganshire. Llanwrlen adjoins Llanwenog ; and, moreover, in the contiguous parish of Llanybyther a large fair was held on their festival, October 21, O.S., and is still held on All Saints' Day and its Eve, which is popularly known as Ffair Santesau. Of this Lucia we have no information ^ beyond that she is stated to have suffered martyrdom, with S. Ursula and her fabulous maiden host, at Cologne in the fifth century, at the hands of the Huns. Her festival at Cologne is November 23.2 In the Welsh Life of S. Ursula in Peniarth MS. 182 (c. 1514) " Lucia Vorwyn " is given among the eleven virgin saints whose names are mentioned.^ December 13 is the festival of S. Lucia, the young Sicihan saint, S. Lucy of Syracuse, who was martyred during the Diocletian persecu- tion, 303. Two churches in England are believed to be dedicated to her, Upton Magna, in Shropshire, and Dembleby, in Lincolnshire. She would have been more likely to receive a cult in England than in Wales. 1 It has been suggested that she was, perhaps, " Lucia the Happy " of the Filire of Oengus (Smith and Wace, Diet, of Christian Biography, iii, p. 744). But this was none other than the Lucia of Syracuse : " Lucia with splendour, whom thousands moved not." See the Filire, edited by Dr. Whitley Stokes (H. Bradshaw Society), 1905, pp. 59, 68, 260, and the index. 2 Stanton^ Menology, 1887, p. 510. ' Pp. 281, 290. /S. Lileuddad ab Dingad 3^9 S. LLEUDDAD AB ALAN, Confessor There were two Saints bearing the name Lleuddad, the one of Armorica, and the other of Wales, and the two have been confounded together. The earher pedigrees know nothing of the Armorican, Lleuddad Llydaw, as he is sometimes called. He was the son of Alan Fyrgan ab Emyr Llydaw, and, with many others, accom- panied his cousin, S. Cadfan, to Wales, i He was brother to SS. Llonio and Llyfab. The lolo MSS. make him a saint, or monk, of Bangor Illtyd, at Llantwit, and afterwards bishop in Bardsey. Rees ^ says thatafterthedeathof Cadfan, the first abbot of Bardsey, Lleuddad was appointed his successor. But this entirely confuses him with the Welsh Lleuddad, whose Life leaves no room for doubt upon the matter. He may, however, have gone with Cadfan to Bardsey. S. LLEUDDAD AB DINGAD, Abbot, Confessor This, the Welsh Lleuddad, was the son of Dingad ab Nudd Hael, of the race of Maxen Wledig, by Tenoi, daughter of Lleuddun Luyddog, of Dinas Eiddyn in the North.' He was thus a cousin to SS. Kentigern ' MS. 5 (1527), p. 117 ; lolo MSS., p. 133 (on p. 145 he is given as son of Hjrwel ab Emyr Llydaw) ; Myv. Arch., pp. 427, 430. For his father, Alan, see i, pp. 136-7. ' Welsh Saints, p. 221. ^ Peniarth MSS. 12, 16, 45 ; Hafod MS. 16 ; Myv. Arch., pp. 423, 427 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 266 ; lolo MSS., pp. 103, 113, 139. On p. 145 of the last work he is called Lleuddad Gwent ; and at the other references it is stated that he and his brothers were saints of Llancarfan, who went in a body with Dyfrig to Bardsey. His name occurs under a variety of forms, but it is usually Llawddog or Llowddog in popular speech in South Wales, and Leuddad in North Wales, or rather in Lle}m. Lewis Gljm Cothi combines both in a couplet in his cywydd to Mm : — " Llowddog, fy Uw a oddef, Lleuddad ap Dingad yw ef," In the Saint's Buchedd his name is given as Llowddoc and Llewddoc, but in the pedigrees always Lleuddad. Giraldus wrote it Leudocus ; but the name is, usually Latinized Laudatus. The two fifteenth century bards, Hywel ab Dafydd and Thomas Celli, in their Cywyddau i'r Ugain Mil Saint, call him " Llewdad Iwydwyn " and " Llewdad Ian " ; and lolo Goch (Gweithiau, ed. Ashton, p. 389), " Lleudad llwyd." The parish-name, Llanllawddog, was formerly sometimes spelt Llanllaweddog and Llanllywyddog. The names of two lay witnesses in the Book of Llan Ddv, Loudoc (p. 237), and Loudoce (p. 150), would now regularly become Lleuddog and Lleuddogwy. Sir J. Rhys thinks Lou-doc, later Lleu-ddog, to have been a real name made up of Lou-, later Lieu- = Irish Lug, gen. Logo (later Logo) , meaning the god Lug, and perhaps ultimately a hero or champion in a wider sense ; and -doc, as in Doc-mail, later Dog-mael, Dog-wel. He regards Lleu- ddad as another genuine compound, to which there should correspond in Irish VOL. III. B B 3 7 o Lives of the British Saints and Beuno. He had as brothers SS. Baglan, Eleri, Tegwy, and Tyfriog or Tyfrydog. His Life, Buchedd Llewddog Sant, occurs in Llansiephan MS. 34 (late sixteenth century), and there is a copy of it in MS. 104 (early seventeenth century), in the same collection. We give here the substance of his legend. Dingad ab Nudd Hael, King of Bryn Buga, or Usk, was the father of twelve children, 1 all of whom served God. Llewddog declined his father's kingdom, and joined his eldest brother, Baglan, in leading a rehgious life, apparently in Carnarvonshire. He would continually disappear to some secret place for closer communion with God, for which he was wrongly aspersed by his brothers. Baglan bade Henwyn to take a bell with him and find out where he went. We next find him landed in " the Island of the Saints." ^ He was an entire stranger there, and Cadfan peremptorily told him that if he did not mean to stay he must clear out. Llewddog accordingly became a monk or canon of the Augustinian Order. ^ This, of course, is a gross anachronism ; and Bardsey was Benedictine. When Cadfan felt the approach of death he " bade the community to take Llewddog for their abbot after him. Llewddog and his monks buried Cadfan, and he thereupon became abbot. The bishops of Wales were filled with envy towards him ; and he joined their pastoral staffs into one staff at the place now called Bryn y Baglau (the Hill of the Pastoral Staffs). Then came Llewddog, with his bell in his hand and his canons, and made the sign of the Cross over them, and they became disunited. From thence he went to a spot where was a well, and took a bowl of milk and threw it into the well. Then he separated the milk from the water, which the others were not able to do. Whereupon the bishops were convinced that he was greater than they, and each of them gave him a portion of his land." * Llewddog, now secure in the abbacy, " worked miracles like one of the Apostles " to the end of his days, when an angel appeared to him Lug-daih, meaning he " of the colour or complexion of Lug." Mr. Egerton Philli- more, for eti = later aw, compares Breudi, the old form of Brawdy, and Leureni, the old form of Lawrenny, which latter he thinks comes from Laurent-ius or Laud- ent-his, the two names being doubtless convertible. ' Even the later genealogies do not give him as many. ^ According to the cywydd by Hjrwel ab Dafydd, the saints in Bardsey sent him a request to come and preside over them. ' So Lewis Glyn Cothi. We are to infer from a grant of indulgence, dated 1286, that Bardsey was the earliest " domus religiosa de tota Wallia " (Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., i, p. 584). * Hywel ab Dafydd says that the staffs grew on the hill into one leafy tree, which, on Llewddog's prayer, were once more separated ; but he does not say ■that they were the staffs of bishops. S. JLleuddad ab Dingad 371 and summoned him to Heaven. " Take whoever of thy monks thou choosest with thee," said the angel. " Then called he his canons before him, and said unto them, ' He that desireth to come with me shall come.' And they said, ' We will all come with thee.' ' Not so,' said Llewddog, ' the eldest only shall come with me ; the rest must here remain serving God.' " Three requests did Llewddog make of the angel. First, that his canons should die from eldest to eldest, whilst they kept the com- mandments of God. Secondly, that the soul of any person buried within that island should not go to hell. Thirdly, that so might it also happen unto him that should maintain the privileges of the island." The three requests were granted him. On his death-bed he had a glimpse of the Beatific Vision. " And they heard the voice of the Most High God bidding him come, and saying, ' It is time that thou come to the feast with thy brethren, Llewddog, to the place where thou art bidden.' " And with that he passed hence. The fifteenth century bard, Lewis Glyn Cothi, also wrote a short cywydd, or poem, in his honour. ^ It closely follows the prose Life, and ends by invoking Llowddog's blessing upon his territory (that chain of parishes) and upon his people ; upon every yoke, and plough, and harrow ; upon every ridge and furrow ; and upon every seed- corn and tree. Giraldus, in the twelfth century, knew something of the tradition about Llewddog's first request, for he says ^ that Bardsey, probably " from some miracle obtained by the merits of the saints, has this wonderful peculiarity, that the oldest people die first." This privilege of dying according to seniority is recorded by Higden, whose Latin doggerel was thus Englished by Trevisa : — ^ At Nemyn in NorJ> Wales A litel ilond ]?ere is, Jiat hatte Bardeseie ; Menkes wone]? )>ere alweie : Men lyuej> so longe in ]7at hurste, ]?at J)e eldest deijej" furst. A late MS. memorandum tells us something more ; how each oldest canon would watch diligently for " the hour the thief of this life would come " ; how " God, Who is ever faithful, kept His covenant inviolate, until the monks ceased to lead a religious life, and wickedly profaned His sanctuary ; " and how thereafter each one had, irres- ' There are copies of it in Llanstephan MS. y (sixteenth century), and Addi- tional MS. 14,871 (written in 1617). ' Itin. Camb., ii, c. 6. ^ Higden, Polychronicon, ed. Babington, 1865, i, pp. 416, 418. 3 72 Lives of the British Saints pective of age, to obey the uncertain call of death Uke other mortals. Religion has now ceased there, and ceased has the wonder too.^ In Peniarth MS. 223, in the autograph of Sir Thomas Williams, of Trefriw, is given, written in 1602, in Latin, Welsh, and Enghsh, " the syme of the Indulgences w"^*^ Laudatus & his successors ob- teined of the supreme Bishopes of the Church of Rome, [which] ar graunted to all peregrines or pilgrimes & benefactors visiting godly & devoutlie " the Island of Bardsey "by reason of y*^ hardnes of saylinge & passage to the Jsle." They are assured that if any of them " should die by the waye they should not be damned." One of the indulgences is the following: "For euery tyme y'j pilgrimes shall goe about the churchyard of the xx"" thousand Sainctes, & ther in eu'y wyndowe shall say o"^ Lordes prayer they shall obteine of o' Lord mercifully a thousand & fyve hundreth yeeres." We are told that " when the feste of James thap'le & the teste of Sancte LaudatustheAbbate are celebrated vpon one & the selfsame Sondaye then . . . that yeere is cofirmed a Jubilee by the Apostolical aucthori- tie in the same Jlande." The feast of Lleuddad, however, is some six months earlier in the year than that of the Apostle. Three pilgrimages to Bardsey were believed to be of equal merit with one to Rome. The late Lord Newborough in 1890 erected a cross in the centre of the graveyard to the memory of the 20,000 Saints buried there. ^ =■ This note, we believe, has never been pubUshed. We therefore append here an exact copy of it as it occurs in Additional MS. 19,712, fo. 216 (1592) : — " Bardeseya. — Notet hie lector quoddam et mirabile et Sanctum & inter Mirabilia Wallie in Cronicis annotatum : ad primam autem Monasterii huius Insule fundacionem. dominus ipse deus qui peticiones cordis Justorum implet. ad deprecatum Sancti Laudati primi abbatis eiusdem Monasterii iniuit pactum cum ipso sancto. Statuitque ei et miraculose confirmauit sibi et successoribus suis claustratibus ibidem sancte et religiose victuris in perpetuum : Certum et priscitum ordinem et successum (mirabile dictu) seriatim moriend : videlicet quod eorum maior natu : vel etate grandeuior priusquam eorum etate minor hac luce discederet Sic autem poma prius nascentia, priusque ex tempore soils ardoribus maturata, Prius ab arboribus vindemiatur. Hoc mortis instinctu premonitus ipse maturior etate huius loci quisque canonicus vigillaret utique. qua hora fur huius vite venturus esset. vt omni hora preparatus a corporis ergastulo, fratri- bus valedicens eis in celum prevolaret. Istudque pactum ipse fidelis deus (vt quondam israelitis) irruptum seruauit donect claustrales predicti, religiose viuere desierunt, et sanctuarium dei ibidem stupro et sceleribus nefande prophanarunt. Ob id qu'dem hodie rupto dei federe. nunc minor : nunc maior, nunc eorum m.edius etate, incerta morte, incerto mortis tempore communi mortis Jure, hac vita defungitur, Cessauit qui religio et vita monachalis : cessauit et miraculum. Tu autem domine miserere nostri." ^ Its west, north, and south sides bear respectively the following inscrip- tions : — S. Lileuddad ah Dingad 373 SS. Cadfan and Lleuddad have been esteemed the patrons of Bardsey Island. ^ There are four churches dedicated to S. Llawddog, viz., Cilgerran, in Pembrokeshire, and Cenarth, Penboyr, and Llanllawddog, in Carmarthenshire. They stretch eastwards of Cilgerran almost in a straight line, and cover an extensive district. The present dedication of Cilgerran is to S. Lawrence, which was changed, as in other instances, by the Normans, who probably chose S. Lawrence because his name somewhat resembled that of S. Llawddog. ^ On the border of the parish lies Cwm Llawddog (his Dingle) through which the brook Morgeneu runs, and his Holy Well, with a farm called from it, Ffynnon Llawddog, are in the adjoining parish of Bridell. A spot below Castle Malgwyn is called Pant Llawddog (his Hollow). Giraldus Cambrensis^ refers to , tiie rock at Cenarth Mawr (i.e. Cenarth), that had been hollowed out by Llawddog's own hands as a cave- dwelhng, and adds that the church there dedicated to him,* the mill, bridge, fishery, and an orchard with a delightful garden, all stand together on a small plot of ground. At Penboyr, in a field to the south-east of the church, stands Tomen Llawddog, known also as Tomen MaesUan, a moated mound of about 120 yards in circumference, which is one of the highest altitudes in this part of the county, and ■commands a fine view. Ffynnon Lawddog is in a wood called Bron Llawddog, near the church. In Lleyn, Lleuddad's memory is perpetuated by Gerddi Lleuddad '(his Gardens), in Bardsey, Ogof Lleuddad (his Cave) at Aberdaron, " Respect the Remains of 20,000 Saints buried near this spot " ; " In hoc loco xequiescant in pace " ; " Safe in this Island, Where each saint would be. How wilt thou smile Upon Life's stormy sea ? " 1 They are so associated in a poem by the thirteenth century bard Llywelyn Fardd [Myv. Arch., pp. 248-50). 2 S. Lawrence Fair here, held on August 21 (now two days earlier), was at one time the most important cattle fair in Dyfed. Llawddog is now forgotten except in the topography (J. R. Phillips, History of Cilgerran, 1867). ' " Habet [Teivi] et piscariam copiosam juxta Kilgarran, in summitate rupis ■cujusdam, Sancti Leudoci manibus olim exsculptam, in loco qui dicitur Kenarth- maur \al. Kanartmaur) . . . Stant autem simul, in angusto scilicet terras ar- pento, ecclesia sancti illius, molendinum, cum ponte et piscaria, et -pomerium cum horto delectabili." Itin. Camb., ii, c. 3 [Opera, vi, p. 114). * It appears that in the Statute Book of the Diocese of S. Davids, temp. Bishop lorwerth alias Gervase (12 15-31), Cenarth Church is mentioned as " Ecclesia Sti. Xudoci et Novem Sanctorum de Canarlmawr " (Theo. Jones, Breconshire, ed. 1898, p. 492.) This designation opens up an interesting question, for which see -what has been said by one of the authors in the Cymmrodorion Transactions for 1906-7, pp. 102-5. 3 74 Lives of the British Saints and Ffynnon Leuddad (his Holy Well), on Carrog in the parish of Bryncroes. This is a walled well, of about four feet square, and was formerly in high repute for its cure of every manner of ailment in the case of both man and beast. The festival of S. Lleuddad is given as January 15 in the Calendar in the Prymer of 1633, and by Browne WilUs,^ but as the 21st in the calendar in Additional MS. 14,886 (1643—4). The day observed at Cilgerran was August 10, the festival of S. Lawrence, on which a fair was held, O.S., and is still held on the igth and 20th. There occurs among the " Sayings of the Wise " the following — : 2 Hast thou heard the saying of Lleuddad, For the instruction of a morose man ? " Friendless is every loveless person." (Digared pob digariad.) S. LLEUDDUN, King, Confessor Among the many Welsh and other saints whose protection is in- voked in a poem ^ for Henry VII is named Llowdden, who must be the " S. Llawdden, of Ynys Eiddin, in the North," who is entered twice in the lolo MSS.'^ as a Welsh Saint. This seems to be all the evidence for so regarding him ; but though his own saintship is doubt- ful, he was the grandfather of several eminent Saints. Llawdden occurs also in the Life of S. Beuno ^ as that Saint's grandfather. The person meant is, more correctly, Lleuddun Luyddog (" of the Hosts "), of Dinas Eiddyn, in the North, that is, Edinburgh. He is the Leudonus of the old fragmentary Life of S. Kentigern, and the eponymus of Lleudduniawn, or Leudonia, the Lothians of to-day.' He appears as Llew in Geoffrey's Brut, where it is stated that King Arthur gave the districts in the North that he had wrested from the Saxons to three brothers, Urien (of Rheged), Llew and Arawn. Llew had Lodoneis, that is, the Lothians. In the earlier Life of S. Kentigern he is also called Lothus, and is said to have been a " vir semipaganus," and King of the Picts. Lleuddun was the son of Cynfarch Gul ab Meirchidn, by Nyfain, daughter of Brychan, and the father of Denyw, or Denw,, the mother 1 ParochiaU Anglic, 1733, pp. 189, 192. 2 lolo MSS., p. 358. ^ lolo MSS., p. 314. * Pp. 128, 145. * Cambro-British Saints, p. 13. " Y Cymmrodor, xi, p. 51. S. Llibio 3 75 of S. Kentigem ; of Tenoi, the mother of SS. Lleuddad, Baglan, and others ; and of Perferen or Beren, the mother of S. Beuno.^ According to Geoffrey's Brut he was also by Anna, Arthur's sister, the father of the celebrated Medrod and Gwalchmai, the Modred and Gawain of the Romances. Lleuddun is said to have been buried near Dunpender Law, in East Lothian. S. LLEUFER or LLEURWG, see S. LUCIUS S. LLIBIO, Monk, Confessor Llibio was, according to the lolo MSS.,^ one of the many sons of Seithenin, King of the Plain of Gwyddno, whose land was overflowed by the sea and now hes in Cardigan Bay ; and they became saints or monks in Bangor-on-Dee. But if the same person is meant, he was a disciple of S. Cybi, for he is mentioned as having accompanied him with nine others when he left Cornwall.* Along with Cybi he went to Aran, to S. Enda, and remained there four years. Llibio is mentioned in the Life of S. Enda as being his disciple on Aran, but the Irish account makes him brother of Enda. The Sanctilogium Genealogicum makes Conall the Red and Aibfinn the parents of both Enda and Llibio.* From Ireland Lhbio returned with Cybi to Britain and settled with him in Anglesey, where he founded the church of Llanllibio. The church is now extinct, and the small parish which it served has been annexed to Llantrisant. The festival of S. Lhbio is on February 28, which is entered as his day in a good many of the Welsh calendars from the fifteenth century onwards, as well as by Browne Willis, Nicolas Owen, Angharad Llwyd, and others. In a short poem, Teulu Cybi Sant,^ he is mentioned among the dozen " seamen " who formed that Saint's " family," and who were nearly all Saints connected with Anglesey. For the Llandaff hermit-saint of the name see under S. Libiau. 1 Peniarth MSS. 12, 16, 45 ; Hafod MS. 16, etc. ^ P. 141 ; cf. p. 144. ' Cambro-British Saints, p. 183. ^ Colgan, Ada SS. Hihern., i. p. 712. ^ gg _ Peniarth MS. 225, p. 130. 3 7^ L^'^ss of the British Saints S. LLIDNERTH, Confessor In two of the seventeenth century MSS. of saintly pedigrees printed in the lolo MSS.^ Lhdnerth is entered as a Saint, the son of Nudd Hael, of the race of Maxen Wledig, and brother of Dingad ; but the earher pedigrees know nothing of him. No churches are named as being dedicated to him. ' We find, however, a S. Llidnerth, or rather Lidnerth, mentioned elsewhere. The sixteenth century Glamorgan bard, Thomas ab leuan ab Rhys, refers to a saint of the name in several of his poems that are preserved in Llanover MS. B. 23 ; thus, " Saint Lidnerth," "Lidnerth Abad," " Tir Lidnerth," and " Plwyf Lidnerth." From these expressions we gather that he was a non- Welsh saint, because he is " styled " ; that he was an abbot ; and that he was the patron of a certain parish. Several of the Welsh calendars also enter a Saint of similar name against June 19, and he is always " styled." The calendar in the Prymer of 1546 gives him as Lednerth ; those in Mosiyn MS. 88 and Peniarth MS. 172 as Lednart ; that in Llanste-phan MS. 117 as Ledy- nart ; those in Peniarth MSS. 27 and 186 as Leonart ; and Welsh almanacks of 1729 and 1763 as Leonard. This leaves no room for doubt as to the Saint disguised under the Welsh-looking form, Lid- nerth. ^ There were only two abbots bearing the name Leonard that we know of, and both were of the sixth century ; S. Leonard, abbot of Vendoeuvre, commemorated on October 15 ; and S. Leojiard the Hermit, who became abbot of Noblac, near Limoges, and is com- memorated on November 6. No S. Leonard seems to be commemo- rated in June. The latter named is the Leonard who, under Norman influence, obtained such popularity in England, where there are dedicated to him over 150 churches, all of pre-Reformation date, and distributed over 33 counties. The Glamorgan parish of which he was patron is Newcastle, near Bridgend, now dedicated to S. Illtyd, but there can be no doubt as to S. Leonard having been its former patron.^ He was not a particularly favourite Saint with the Welsh as far as dedications go. 1 Pp. 113, 139. 2 Leonard is sometimes found spelt Leothenard, and Lithenard (Husenbeth, Emblems of Saints, 1882, p. xii). ' G. T. Clark, Cartes, i, p. 21 ; ii, p. 332 ; Birch, Margam Abbey, p. 193 ; Penrice and Margam MSS., i, p. 60. S. Llonio 3 77 S. LLONIO, Confessor Llonio Lawhir, or Long-i'-the-Arm, was the son of Alan Fyrgan ■ab 'E.mjc Llydaw, and brother of SS. Lleuddad and Llyfab.i He was a native of Armorica and came over to Wales with Cadfan and his company. His father also left Armorica, for, according to the " Triads of Arthur and his Warriors," ^ one of the " Three Disloyal Hosts [Aniweir Deulu) 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, where he was slain" (in 537). An Ode, Owdl Llonio Sunt, written in his honour by Huw Arwystli, who flourished in the sixteenth century, occurs in Llanstephan MS. 53, written circa 1647. It was whilst sleeping one May Eve in Llonio's Church at Llandinam, in Montgomeryshire, when on his travels, that the " poor despised cripple " became endowed with the divine afflatus of poesy. He begins the ode by exhorting Llonio's " parish- ioners " to invoke their Saint's good offices in the hour of death and in the day of Judgment, and then proceeds with the legend. A Latin chronicle, he says, recorded that Llonio had in early life assisted his father Alan in fighting the " Pagans " with great slaughter. After that he became " a righteous confessor." The " crowned one " left Llydaw for Wales, seeking the Kingdom of Heaven, and settled on " a delightsome hill on the verdant bank of the Severn," at Llandinam.^ Gwrai (no doubt the son of Gildas, and patron of the neighbouring parish of Penstrowed) granted him land as far as the cock-crow travelled in circumference ; and he proceeded to light a fire, to denote possession, but was met with opposition from the inhabitants. It nothing availed ; and " Maelgwyn Hir " (prob- ably Maelgwn Gwynedd) further conceded to him a tract of land extending along the Severn down to Abermule. Of this he granted a small portion {tyddyn) to Gwrai, and set the bounds of the remainder for his sanctuary. Here he long remained. The bard concludes by singing the glories of pleasant Llonio-land. Might he there abide while joy and love endured. According to the lolo MSS. Llonio was a saint or monk of Bangor Illtyd and afterwards of Bardsey, and was at one time periglawr or confessor to Bishop Padarn at Llanbadarn Fawr. The only church 1 Peniatth MS. 45 ; Hafod MS. 16 ; Cardiff MS. 25, pp. 37, 120 ; Myv. Arch.. p. 427; Cambro-British Saints, p. 268; lolo MSS., pp. 102, 106, 112, 132-3. Possibly the Cardiganshire place-name Llanio bears no relation to Llonio. 2 Peniarth MS. 45. ' The dinam of the name seems to be the same as the Breton place-name Dinan, " a little fortress." Cf. Dinam in Llangaffo, Anglesey, and Llysdinam, near Newbridge-on-Wye. 3 7^ Li'^ss of the British Saints known for certain to be dedicated to him is Llandinam. The church of Aberhafesp, in the neighbourhood, is sometimes ascribed to him, but generally to Gwynog, son of Gildas. In support of its dedication to Llonio may be mentioned Maelgwn's grant, and the fact that the parish was originally " a part of the wide ecclesiastical district which owned Llandinam as the mother church," ^ as evidenced by the Taxationes of 1254 and 1291. Another church sometimes said to be dedicated to him is Llanllwni in Carmarthenshire, but this is merely a supposition. The festival of S. Llonio does not occur in any of the Welsh Calendars, but Browne WiUis says 2 that the " Llandinam feast follows March i." According to the lolo MSS.^ Llonio hes buried in Bardsey ; and Lewis Glyn Cothi, in the fifteenth century, swears by his shrine, " myn bedd Lloniaw ! " * Llonnyo occurs as a place-name in the Welsh Laws,^ and has been supposed to be Lanion near Pembroke. By the same place is in- tended the Llonyon of the Gwrddfeichiaid Triad. In the catalogue of Brychan's children in Peniartk MS. 75 (sixteenth century) a Llonio is given as a son of his. S. LLORCAN WYDDEL, Martyr The church of Llanllugan, Montgomeryshire, situated in that exten- sive district of which Meifod was the head, is generally supposed to have been founded by S. Tyssilio, and is included among the Tyssilio churches by Cynddelw {flor. c. 1150-1200) in his poem, Canu Tyssil- Llann a wnaetli ae lauvaeth lovlen Llann Uugym llogaut offerenn. (A church he raised with his fostering hand, Llanllugyrn, with a chancel for Mass.) This is the earliest spelhng of the name that we know of. By the thirteenth century the r had dropped out. To treat Llugyrn as a common noun, and render the name, " The Church of the War-horns," as has been done, would be absurd. In our opinion, Llugyrn is simply 1 Archdeacon Thomas, Hisl. of Diocese of S. Asaph, i (1908), p. 507. » Smvey of S. Asaph, 1720, p. 290. ' P. 133. * Works, 1837, p. 490. ' Ed. 1841, folio, p. 544. « Myv. Arch., p. 178 ; Red Book of Hergest, col. 1165. S. Llorcan Wyddel 370 the Welsh assimilation of the Irish name Lorcan. i Metathesis is com- mon enough in Welsh ; tangnefedd — tangneddyf, sallwyy—llaswyr, etc. The person meant is, we believe, none other than the Llorcan Wyddel, or the Goidel, who occurs in two MSS. of the sixteenth century (Peniarih MS. 75 and Additional MS. 31,055) as the first named of six persons reputed to have been raised from the dead by S. Beuno, and is referred to as a " Scot," or Irishman, in that Saint's Welsh Life.2 When Beuno heard the voice of the hare-hunting Saxon on the other side of the Severn he left Berriew with his disciples, and came to Meifod, where they remained with S. Tyssiho for forty days, and then moved on to King Cynan ab Brochwel, who gave Beuno Gwyddel- wern, in Merionethshire, " a place which received its name from the Scot whom Beuno raised there from the dead, whose wife had been the cause of his death. There Beuno erected a church," and afterwards left for Holywell. The legend takes Gwyddelwern to mean the Goidel's Marsh, or, possibly, his Alder-grove. ^ The church is, and always has been, dedicated to S. Beuno. When afterwards Llanllugan passed into the possession of the Church of Meifod it became, according to the well-known Welsh custom, a Tyssiho dedication, though still retaining Llorcan's name. As illus- trating herein Cynddelw's poem might be mentioned the similar one by Gwynfardd, in which are enumerated the various churches in the thir- teenth century that " Dewi was the owner " or, that is, were dedicated to him, among which are such churches as Llangadock and Llangy- felach. When Llanllugan, some time between 1170 and 1188, became a community for women of the Cistercian Order, in connexion with Strata Marcella, it was re-dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, after the practice of that Order.* It is by no means improbable that to Llorcan Wyddel is also dedi- cated the church of the'adjoining parish of Llanwyddelan, for we know ^ It was a fairly common Irish name, and is sometimes found Latinized?as Laurentius. For instance, the name, in Irish, of S. Laurence O'Toole (d. 1180), the first archbishop of Dublin, was Lorcan XJa Tuathail. Pen Llarcan occurs as a man's name in the Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 112. Ysgorlygan, or Scorlegan, is a tenement-name in the parish of Llangynhafal, Denbighshire. 2 Llyvyr Agkyr LI., ed. Morris Jones and Rhys, p. 121 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. IS. ' Dr. Owen Pughe, in his Welsh Dictionary, renders it, " a moor or meadow overgrown with bushes." ' Archdeacon Thomas, Hist, of Bio. of S. Asaph, i (1908), p. 484- Dafydd ab Gwiljmi in one of his poems (No. xi of his published works), after a passing allu- sion to " merched Mair " (nuns), says : — " Dewis lun, dos y Lan falch. Llugan lie mae rhai lliwgalch." 380 Lives of the British Saints nothing of the parentage or history of Gwyddelan, and his name, Hke the Gwyddelyn of the " Triads of Arthur and his Warriors," simply means " the little Irishman." We may mention, as affording some corroboration, that an especial characteristic of churches dedicated to disciples of S. Beuno is that they are constantly found in the vicinity of churches founded by their master, as shown by the situation of the ■churches of Aelhaiarn (his "acolyte"), Cynhaiarn, Llwchaiarn, and Twrog (his "amanuensis"). In the same district as Llanwyddelan and Llanllugan we have the two Beuno churches of Berriew and Bettws Cedewain. Aelhaiarn was another person raised to life by Beuno, and had for- merly a church dedicated to him at Llanaelhaiarn, the small parish of which has, for nearly four centuries, been annexed to Gwyddelwern. Guilsfield Church, in Montgomeryshire, was originally dedicated to Aelhaiarn, but, from its association with Meifod, has come to be re- garded as under the invocation of Tyssilio. Browne Willis 1 says of Llanllugan that its dedication is not known, " no Feast being kept here." The festival of Gwyddelan is August 22. S. LLUAN, Matron Lluan, whose name occurs in the later documents as Lleian, was a daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog.^ She became the wife of Gafran ab T)yfnwal Hen, who died in 558, by whom she was the mother of the celebrated Aidan mac Gabran of the Irish annals, known to Welsh tradition as Aeddan Fradog, or the Treacherous. Aidan was made King of the Dalriad Scots of Argyle by S. Columba in 574, being the first independent King of the Scots. He was an enterprising and aggressive king, for we find him making an expedition to the Orkneys in 579 and to Man in 582. He died in 606. In the Welsh Triads ^ he is branded as one of " the Three Arrant Traitors of the Isle of Britain," because he deserted his own countrymen and went over to the Saxons. The others were Gwrgi Garwlwyd and Medrod ; and the three were "the cause, it is said, of the Welsh losing the sovereignty of the Isle. ' Bangor, 172 1, p. 360. ^ Cpgnatio de Brychan in Vesp. A. xiv and Domitian i ; Jesus College MS. 20 ; IPeniarth MS. 75 ; Myv. Arch., p. 427 ; lolo MSS., pp. iii, 120, 138, 140. Her name as spelt Ueian means a nun, or titmouse. In Peniarth MS. 178, p. 24, she is called Gwenllian. Frequently, in M^elsh, Gafran is made to be son of Aeddan. The names are found first inverted, we believe, in the thirteenth century Bonedd ■Gwyr y Gogledd.. ^ Myv. Arch., p. 405 ; cf. pp. 391, 406. S. Llwchaiarn 381 Lluan was the patroness of Capel Llanlluan ^ (or-lleian), the chapel formerly of a hamlet in the parish of Llanarthney, Carmarthenshire, but since detached and formed into a separate parish under the name Gorslas, with its church dedicated to her. Her sister Tybieu is patroness of the adjoining parish of Llandebie. S. LLUDD, see S. ILUD S. LLWCHAIARN, Confessor. Llwchaiarn was the son of Caranfael ab Cyndrwyn, of Llystin- wynnan, in the commote of Caereinion, in Powys,^ and the brother of SS. Aelhaiarn and Cynhaiarn. His name stands always second in order in the earlier Bonedds. He is therein stated to be a Saint " in Cedewain," represented in part by the present rural deanery of the name, in Montgomeryshire, where two of the churches dedicated to him are located. He belonged to a royal and illustrious family. His grandfather, Cyndrwyn, was prince of that part of ancient Powys which included the valley of the Severn above Shrewsbury. Cyndrwyn.had a number of children, one of whom was the valorous Cynddylan, who succeeded him in his principality. All his sons, it seems, and among them Caranfael, were slain whilst defending the town of Tren against the Saxons. Caranfael's three sons, deprived of their patrimony, thereupon embraced the religious life, like so many others of the ^^'elsh Saints under similar circumstances. The lolo MSS. state that Llwchaiarn was a Saint or monk of Bangor Dunod, that is, Bangor Iscoed, on the banks of the Dee. He hved in the early part of the seventh century. His legend is told in a somewhat obscure poem, entitled Cywydd Llwchaiarn, Filwr a Sant, o Lamyrewig (a poem to Llwchaiarn, 1 It is so spelt in the Black Book of S. David's (1326), ed. Willis Bund, 1902, pp. 244, 256. 2 Peniatth MSS. 12, 16, 45 ; Hafod MS. 16; Cardiff MS. 25, p. 34; Myv. Arch., pp. 421-2, 424-5, 427 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 267 ; lolo MSS., p. 104. The name Llwchaiarn means " Iron Dust," and it is curious that " iron " should enter as a component part into the names of the three brothers. The father's name occurs under a variety of forms. The earlier Bonedds give Hygar- fael, but this is shown to be a corruption of Caranfael (Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, pp. 474-5). It stands for an early Carantomaglos. Llystinwynnan (or -wennan) is now probably represented by the township of Llysin, in the pai ish of Llanerfyl. 382 Lives of the British Saints warrior and saint, of Llamyrewig) , which occurs, among other MSS., in Peniarth MS. 100 (sixteenth century) and Llanstephan MS. 167 (early seventeenth century). It was composed by a local poet, Sion Ceri, in the early part of the sixteenth century. He says the Saint was a son of Cynfael.^ and first cousin to S. Beuno. At Llamyrewig, one of the Montgomeryshire churches dedicated to him, and celebrated for the miracles wrought there, was his statue in a niche, vested in episcopal habits, with hand up- raised in blessing ; and here too, it would appear, lies buried " the blessed Llwchaiarn, the impetuous lion." When first he set foot here he heard the ringing of bells on a hill on the banks of the Severn, and on its ridge, overlooking the valley, he erected a church. Here he prayed in a hair-shirt nine months and nine days, kneeling on a cold stone, till his knees were bruised. He was granted nine petitions, three of which, the bard says, were for the special benefit of his people. He next speaks of him as " a great de- hverer, a saintly warrior like unto gallant S. George," who also, like him, slew a dragon single-handed. With his pastoral staff he caused a hind to leap into a pool, without destroying which his people could not live. 2 He had two altars, that is, two churches, in the Severn Valley, at which great offerings continued to be made, and his territory, as a sanctuary, was not inferior to Bardsey.^ There are two churches dedicated to Llwchaiarn in Montgomery- shire, Llanllwchaiarn, and Llanmerewig, which represent adjoining parishes. The area of Llanmerewig is small, under a thousand acres, and its one township was formerly known as Llanllwchaiarn Isa. Llwchaiarn is the patron also of two churches in Cardiganshire, Llan- llwchaiarn and Llanychaiarn, which latter was formerly also called Llanllwchaiarn. Both are on Cardigan Bay. The Saint's missionary labours were, it would seem, confined to these two counties. We may gather that Llwchaiarn, like Aelhaiarn, was a disciple of Abbot Beuno, to whom are dedicated the neighbouring churches of Bettws and Berriew. Aelhaiarn is also associated with Montgomery- shire, as founder of Guilsfield church, which is not far distant from his brother's churches. 1 This is one of the forms of his father's name.1 " Llwchaiarn having been a bishop was probably a " flourish" of the mediaeval sculptor, unless he is to be regarded as bishop over his own llans, as was not infrequently the case. 2 Whence the parish-name, Llam yr Ewig, the Hind's Leap, which appears earliest in the Taxatio of 1254, under the form Lamerewic. It is now generally written Llanmerewig, out of which an apocryphal Welsh saint has been squeezed ere this. There is a Llam yr Ewig also in Carnarvonshire, and another in Merioneth- shire, as well as a Llam y Carw in Anglesey. ' Lewis Morris gives a brief summary oithe cywyddm'ias Celtic Remains, ■p. 278. S. Llwyddog 383 Llwchaiarn's festival is entered as January 11 in the Mo MSS. calendar and in the Demetian calendar (S), but as the 12th in the calen- dars in Mostyn MS. 88, Peniarth MSS. 187 and 219, the lolo MSS. (again), and the Welsh Prymers of 1546, 1618, and 1633. Browne Willis ^ also gives the 12th as his feast in the two Montgomeryshire parishes, and the same date is entered as his day in Welsh almanacks of the eigh- teenth century. The earlier and most numerous calendars thus favour -the i2th as his festival. Bishop Maddox (1736-43) in his MS. Book Z, in the Episcopal Library at S. Asaph, has under Llanmerewig, " to S. Merewitiz. Wake Sunday after twelvth day." S. LLWNI, Confessor. The genealogies of the Welsh Saints know nothing of this Saint. He is the patron of Llanllwni, Carmarthenshire, in the Teifi Valley. In the Valor of i535 ^ the parish-name is spelt Llanllony, and in a parish- list of 1590-1,^ Llanllowni. The church has been conjectured to be dedicated to S. Llonio, and sometimes to S. Luke. Byarth Llwni, his Cattle-fold, is mentioned in Mostyn MS. 134, a name with which may be compared Buarth Caron, and Buches Tydecho. The Saint's festival, Gwyl Lwni, occurs only in the Demetian Calendar (S), where it is entered against August 11. The only Saint whose name approaches Llwni commemorated then that we know of is Leonis, martyr at Augsburgh, or more probably at Rome, ■on August 12. There is a Gwyl Lwni Bab (Pope) entered against September 16 in the Calendar in Additional MS. 14,886 (1643—4). S. LLWYDDOG, Confessor This Saint's name does not occur in the Welsh saintly genealogies, "but he is invoked as one of the Saints of Anglesey in a poem written .circa 1600 ; * and in an Ode to King Henry VII the bard commits the King to the guardianship of Llwyddog, among a hundred or more Saints, mostly Welsh.^ Some have supposed him to be the patron of Llanychllwydog or 1 Survey of Bangor, 1721, p. 361. 2 iv. p. 411. » Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 917- * Yr Haul, 1882, p. 561. With the name cf. Gwen-llwyddog or -Uwyfo, and Hafod Lwyddog or Lwyfog. ^ lolo MSS., p. 314. n 84 Lwes of the British Saints Llanerchllwyddog, under Llanllawer, in Pembrokeshire, but the church appears in old parish-hsts as Llanachlwydo or Llanychlwydo ; ^ and it is generally regarded as being dedicated to S. David. Llwyddog is- locally reputed to have been martyred here, or, according to another account, treacherously murdered whilst pursuing the chase, and tO' have been buried in the churchyard, where are two upright stones, commonly said to denote his grave. ^ Fenton, however, states that they mark the grave of S. Clydog, also conjectured, from the church- name, to be the patron.^ Beyond his connexion with Anglesey nothing seems to be really known about this Saint. One of the " Verses of the Graves " in the twelfth century Black Book of Carmarthen- runs : — * The graves on the Long Mountain ( ? the Longmynd) , Well do multitudes know them — The grave of Gwrien famed in war, And Llwyddog, son of Llywelydd. Llwydawc Gouynnyat was the name of a young boar which figures, in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, in the Twrch Trwyth Hunt, and was. killed at Ystrad Yw, in Breconshire. S. LLWYDIAN The Welsh saintly genealogies know nothing of a saint of this name^ and there is the greatest probability possible that he never existed. The name is spelt Llwydian and Llwydion, and he is usually regarded as the patron of Heneglwys, in Anglesey, which is also sometimes called Llan y Saint Llwydion,^ meaning the Church of the Blessed Saints, out of which has clearly been evolved the Saint's name. In a poem, written circa 1600, in which a number of Anglesey Saints are invoked,. occurs the couplet : — ^ Y Saint Llwydion tra del oof, Trewalchmai rhof yn nesaf. The church was also known as Eglwys Gorbre Sant, Corbre or Cairbre- being most probably its original patron.'' Browne Willis ^ gives Heneglwys as dedicated to S. Llwydion, with, festival on November 19. ' Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 916 ; Myv. Arch., p. 745. ^ Arch. Camb., 1865, pp. 182—3 ; Westwood, Lapidarium Wallice, p. 122. ' Pembrokeshire, i8ri, p. 570. * Ed. Dr. J. G. Evans, 1906, p. 66. * Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 912. Llanllwydan (or -en) is th& name of a township of Llanfihangel y Pennant, Merioneth. « Yr Haul, 1882, p. 561. ' ii, pp. 180-1. " Bangor, 1721, p. 281. S. Llyfab 385 S. LLWYFO In the lolo MSS.'^ is entered a S. Llwyfo, by whom is evidently intended the Gwenhwyfo of the Myvyrian Archaiology.^ See under that saint's name (p. 197.) S. LLYDDGEN In the hst of Welsh parishes in Peniarth MS. 147 {circa 1566) is given under " Swydd Gydweli," Carmarthenshire, a parish (really a chapelry) called Llanllyddgen. In the parish-hst in the Myvyrian Archaiology it is Llan Hyddgen. The chapelry was in the parish of Llangyndeyrn, and in the inventory of church goods taken by the Com- missioners in 1552-3 it is given under that parish as " Saynt Lethgen is chaple." ^ Of the Saint nothing appears to be known. S. LLYFAB, Confessor This Saint's name is written Llyvab and Llyuab in the pedigrees in Peniarth MSS. 16, 45 and 182, Lleuab in Hafod MS. 16, Llyfab and Lefab in Cardiff MS. 25 (pp. 26, 114), and Llynab and Llyfab in the lolo MSS. The name, under the incorrect spelling Llynab, has been equated with the Lunapeius of the Book of Llan Ddv, a misscript for Iunapeius=Iunape= lunabui. Llyfab was a son of Alan Fyrgan ab Emyr Llydaw, a brother of SS. Lleuddad and Llonio, and cousin of S. Cadfan, with whom, in company with many others, he came over from Brittany. According to fhelolo MSS.^ these" learned persons became Saints in the Bangors of lUtyd and Catwg, but went with Cadfan as Saints to Bardsey. Their churches are in Gwynedd, where they lived in great piety and holiness." Llyfab was " a bishop in Cor Illtyd, and archbishop of Llandaff " (confusing him with lunabui). Of this probably the only correct statement is that Llyfab went to Bardsey. ' P. 144. 2 p_ 42g_ ^ The correct reading of the inventory is Lethgen (Evans, Church Plate of Carmarthenshire, 1907, p. 122) and not Dethgen, as given by us, ii, p. 393. * Pp. 103, 112, 132, 134, 14s ; cf. Myv. Arch., p. 427. VOL. III. ' C C 386 Lives of the British Sai?its S. LLYR, Virgin Llyr Forwyn, or the Virgin, is nowhere entered in the Welsh saintly genealogies. Rees^ gives a Llyr who was a son of Brochwel Ysgythrog, and there were several men who bore the name. Llyr the Virgin is known to us only through the Demetian Calendar (S) which gives the festival of Llvr Forwyn (as in the Cwrtmawr MS . 44 copy), and of Vrw (Urw) Forwyn, on October 21. It has also, on the same day, the Eleven Thousand Virgins. To Llyr the Virgin (rather than to Llyr Merini) is dedicated the li ttle Radnorshire church of Llanllyr yn Rhos, as it is given in the parish-list in Peniarih MS. 147, circa 1566. The name was reduced to Llanur, and is now generally written Llanyre, and sometimes even in such corrupted form as Llanhir. With the treatment of the name may be compared Llanleirwg, which later became Llaneirwg, and has now been supplanted by the name S. Mellon's. Browne Wilhs,^ however, gives All Saints as the dedication of Llanyre. There was another Llanllyr formerly, near Talsarn, in the Vale of, Aeron, Cardiganshire. The name, now generally spelt Llanllear, is retained by a gentleman's residence. Leland^ thus refers to the medieeval nunnery there, " Llan Clere [with Clere corrected overline to Lleyr] a Nunnery of White Nunnes in Cairdiganshire apon the Brook of Ayron. It was a Celle of Stratflur." S. LLYR MERINI One late pedigree document printed in the lolo MSS.^ includes Llyr Merini among the Welsh Saints, and attributes to him the church of Llanllyr in Gwrtheyrnion (in Radnorshire), another in Dyfed, and another in Cardiganshire. This is the only evidence there is for him as a Saint. He has been confounded with Llyr the Virgin. The lolo AISS., on the same page, make him the son of Einion Yrth ab Cunedda Wledig and the son of Meirchion Gul ab Gorwst Ledlwm. Skene ^ identifies him with Masguic Clop, brother of Meirchion Gul, and gives him for son Lleenog as well as Caradog Freichfras. The 1 Welsh Saints, p. 161 ; Myv. Arch., p. 57. ' ParochiaU Anglic, 1733, p. 185. ^ Itin., V, fo. 13 ; Dugdale, Monasticon, v, p. 632 ; Taxaiio of I2gi, p. 276. '■ P. 123, With his epithet cf. the Marini-latio of the inscribed stone at Lland- yssilio, Pemb. It is of the same origin and meaning, apparently, as the Latin marinus. ^ Four Ancient Books, i, p. 168. /S. Llywel 387 sons of Einion Yrth usually named are Cadwallon Lawhir and Owain Danwyn ; but some late pedigrees name also Llyr. In Buchedd Collen, Llyr is stated to have been " married to Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Oxford," and Lhuyd 1 adds that he was " Earl of Henffordd " (Hereford). Other late accounts make him the husband of Gwen, daughter of Brychan, and of Tywanwedd, daughter of Amlawdd Wledig. Besides Llyr Merini, we have Llyr Llediaith, Llyr Luyddog, Llyr ab Bleiddut, and others. The name Llyr is better known in Welsh as that of the god of the sea, or, in the bards, of the sea itself. It occurs in Irish as Ler and Lir.^ S. LLYWEL, Confessor Llywel' s name does not occur in any of the pedigrees of the Welsh Saints, but in the Book of Llan Ddv^ is given a louguil, louhil, or luhil as the name of a disciple, first of Dubricius, and afterwards of Teilo. There can hardly be a doubt that the intial letter of the name is a scribal error for L, with which may be compared the Louan of the same scribe written in error for louan. Louguil was the original patron of the Church of Llywel, in Breconshire, which adjoins Lann Guruaet, now Llandeilo'r Fan, a foundation of a fellow disciple, Gurmaet. The church is now regarded as being dedicated to SS. David, Teilo, and Llywel. In the thirteenth century it was called " Ecclesia Trium Sanctorum deLuel." * Gwynfardd in hispoem^ includes it among the Dewi churches. Llanllowell, in Monmouthshire, is also given as ■dedicated to Llywel. It occurs as Lanlouel in the Taxatio of 1254, but as Llanhowel in parish-lists of later date.^ louguil, and another disciple, Fidelis, were sent by S. Teilo to the •court of Aircol Lawhir, King of Dyfed, to avert death by poisoning, and the two witness the grant the King made to the Saint as a thank- offering.' ^ Payochialia, 1909, p. 12. A Triad makes Llyr the possessor of one of the Tri Charw (or Tharw) Ellyll of Britain ; Mabinogion, p. 305 ; Myv. Arch., p. 409. He is mentioned in one of the Englynion y Gorugiau in the lolo MSS., p. 264. I ' For the Llyr names see Owen's Pembrokeshne, ii, pp. 458-9. ' ' Pp. 115, 126—7. I ^ Theo. Jones, Breconshire, ed. 1898, p. 492. Giraldus, Opera, iii, p. 199, spells the parish-name Luel. Llywel is also the name of the commote ; Bruts, ed. Rhvs and Evans, p. 410. * Myv. Arch., p. 194. » Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, 920 ; Myv. Arch, p. 750. See under S. Hywel. Lanlouel in the fourteenth century additions to the Book of Llan Ddv, p. 321. There is a Lanlouel at Pleyben, in Finistere. ' Ibid., pp. 126-7. 388 Lives of the British Saints S. LLYWELYN, Confessor This saint, generally called in Welsh Llywelyn o'r Trallwng, was the son of S. Tegonwyab Teon ab Gwineu Deufreuddwyd.^ SomeMSS., of less authority, make him the son of Bleiddud ab Tegonwy . ^ He was- the father of S. Gwrnerth, who is usuaUy coupled with him, and also- (according to the lolo MSS.) of a S. Gwyddfarch, and brother of S. Mabon. . He is said to have been a Saint of Bardsey. He is best known as the founder of a small religious community at Trallwng or Trallwm (meaning a quagmire), short for Trallwng Llywelyn or Trallwng Co ch ym Mhowys, now known as Welshpool. Llanstephan MS. 187 {circa 1634), p. 230, gives him as the son of Einion ab Bleuddud ab Tegonwy ab Theon Gegidfa (i.e., Guilsfield, near Welshpool), and adds, " Rhodri Mawr's daughter was his mother, Llywelyn Sant was the captain (penietdu) of Rhodri's bodyguard." This puts Llywelyn, who is believed to have lived in the sixth century, on into the ninth century, for Rhodri was slain by the Mercian army in Anglesey in 877. In the fourteenth century Red Book of Hergest is preserved a religious dialogue in verse, supposed to have been composed by S. TyssiUo, and entitled, " The Colloquy of Llywelyn and Gwrnerth." ^ In its present form, however, it cannot be much older than the MS. in which it is found. For particulars as to this see under S. Gwrnerth. ' Cynfelyn ab Bleiddud ab Meirion, of the family of Cunedda Wledig, is said to have founded a church at Welshpool, probably a little before Llywelyn's time ; * but Llywelyn and Gwrnerth may be regarded as having been for centuries the patron saints of Welshpool. The present parish church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The site of their church or chapel has been definitely fixed at the corner of Clerk's Lane and Salop Road, and about two hundred yards east of S. Mary's Church. The field below it is mentioned as " Maes dan Gapell Sainte Lleu'n " in the will of Hywel ab leuan, of Pool, August 27, 1545 ; and again, as " maes dan y Cappell," in that of Gil- bert Jones of Pool, January 11, 1616— 7. The church was destroyed by fire on Christmas Day, 1659, and a drawing of the now demoUshed " Old Church " is in the Museum of the Powysland Club at Welshpool,, and has been reproduced by Mr. Robert Owen in his Welsh-Pool and Powys-Land, 1894, from which we derive the foregoing information. 1 Peniarth MSS. 12, 16, and]]45 ; Hafod'MS. 16 ; Llanstephan MS. 28,''p. 72 ,-. Cambro-British Saints, p. 267 ; lolo MSS., pp. 104, 129. The name probably represents an early Lugubelinos. ^ Peniarth MS. 74, p. 35 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 271 ; Myv. Arch., p. 427. ' Col. 1,026 ; Skene, Four Ancient Books, ii, pp. 237-41. . ■* ii, p, 243. aS*. Liywes 389 Llywelyn and Gwrnerth are commemorated together on April 7 in most of the Welsh calendars from the fifteenth century. From them the speedwell is called in Welsh both Llysiau Llywelyn (whence its English name fluellen) and Gwrnerth. The protection of Llywelyn, among many other Welsh Saints, is invoked in a poem for Henry VII. ^ There is a small, but powerful, spring on Cae'r Gors, in the parish of Llangybi, Carnarvonshire, called Ffynnon Llywelyn, which was considered beneficial for the King's 'evil ; but probably it was not named after this Saint. S. LLYWEN, Confessor Llywen, or Llewen, was one of the many kinsmen of S. Cadfan, descended from Emyr Llydaw, that came with him from Brittany to Wales. 2 The late pedigrees printed in the lolo MSS. state that he was one of the " Sainta and learned men that were, with Cadfan, brought to this IslandbyGarmon, who were Saints in the Bangors of Illtydand Catwg, but went as Saints with Cadfan to Bardsey ; " ^ who, again, had "" their churches in Gwynedd, where they lived in great piety and holi- ness of hfe." * These statements are unsupported from other sources. There is no church known as dedicated to Llywen in Gwynedd or ■elsewhere. Llewin is a place mentioned in the Englynion y Beddau.^ The LUwen is a brook which runs into the Ystrad at Nantglyn, near Denbigh ; and with the name may be compared that of Llyn Llywenan, in Anglesey. S. LLYWES, Confessor Nothing is known of this Saint beyond the fact that the church of Xlywes, or Llowes, in Radnorshire, takes its name from him, which •church, in the Book of Llan Dav, * is called Podum Liuhess, and Lann Meilic ha Lyguess, " the church of SS. MeiUg and Liywes." The name is spelt Locheis by Giraldus.' He is mentioned under the form Lyuhes in the Life of S. Gildas by the Monk of Rhuis * as having been joined by :S. Maelog or Meihg " in the district of Elmail," i.e., at Llowes. ^ lolo MSS., p. 314. 2 lAyweii in Peniarth MS. 45 (in Peniarth MS. 16 the name is omitted), Llewen in Hafod MS. 16 and Lewyn in Cardiff MS. 25, p. 114 ; cf. also Myv. Arch., pp. .427, 430. The name is apparently the first element of Llywenfel, in the Brecon- shire church-name Llanlleonfel. 3 P. 103. ^Ibid.,-p-p. 112, 134. In these documents the name is spelt Llewin ■and Llywyn. ' Black Book of Carmarthen, ed. Evans, 1906, p. 68. « Pp. 149, 255. ' Opera, i, pp. 89, 175. * Ed. Dr. Hugh Williams, p. 326. 390 Lives of the British Saints S. MABENNA, Virgin, Abbess This Saint was one of the many daughters, or grand-daughters, of Brychan, who sought their fortunes in north-east Cornwall when expelled from Brecknockshire by the invaders from the north. She is not named in the Welsh lists, but is given in Leland's Itinerary and by William of Worcester.^ The only church dedicated to her is S. Mabyn, on a wind swept hill, but with pleasant wooded vales in the folds of the upland country. The church tower is fine and serves as a landmark. Unquestionably, the Saint did not plant herself on this bleak emi- nence, but made her cell in one of the combes that dip to the Alan or the Camel, probably at Treveglos (Tref-Eglwys), where is a holy well, a quarter of a mile north of the village. The place is better known now as Paul's Ground, from a family of the name of Paul having resided there in former times. There were formerly chapels at Colquite, Helligan, and Trevesquite. Nicolas Roscarrock, who gives as her day November i8, says : " There used to be a hymn sung of her, signifying she had twenty brothers and sisters, whereof S. Endelient and S. Miniver were two." The parish fair at S. Mabyn is on or about February 15. S. Mabenna is represented crowned, and bearing a palm in one hand and a book in the other, in the Wives' Window at S. Neot. Mr. Copeland Borlase ^ assumed somewhat recklessly that the church was named after Mabon, the brother of S. Teilo. But the Episcopal Registers — Bronescombe, 1266, Bytton, 1317, Stapeldon, 1317, Stafford, 1415, Grandisson, 1330, 1340, 1362, etc. — with one accord, make the Saint a female ; and the testimony of the S. Neot window is conclusive. S. MABLE, Virgin Mable is mentioned in the lolo MSS.^ as a Saint in Gwent, but without pedigree. Nothing is known about the Saint's history beyond the fact that the church of Llanvapley, in Monmouthshire, is under her invocation. ' i, p. 319. 2 The Age of the Saints, 1893, p. 149. ^ P. 144. Cefn Mabley is the name of a well-known mansion on the Rumney in Glamorgan. A Welsh proverb advises, " Na chais bod yn Fabli cyn bod yn Lleucu." There is a variant of it, " Ceisio bod yn Lleucu cyn bod yn Fabli." S. MABENNA. Stained Glass, S. Neot. S. Mabon 391 S. MABON, Confessor The lolo MSS. — the sole authority — mention three distinct saints of the name Mabon, which it will be well to treat under one article. I. Mabon, the brother of S. Teilo, and son of Usyllt (Ensic or Enllech) ab Hydwn Dwn ab Ceredig ab Cunedda Wledig. He had a sister, Anauved, who was' the mother of SS. Oudoceus, Ismael and Tyfei.^ Mabon, like Teilo, was, we may assume, bom in Pembroke- shire. II. Mabon, the son of Tegonwy ab Teon, and brother of S. Llywelyn of Welshpool. 2 III. Mabon Wyn, called also Mabon Hen, the son of Glas ab Glassog,. of the race of Bran Fendigaid.^ His grandfather is connected with Gw3medd. The pedigree of this Mabon is altogether mythical. A late catalogue gives a Mabon as one of the " Bishops of Glamorgan alias Kenffig." * The lolo MSS. ascribe the church of Llanfabon, in Glamorgan, to each of the three Saints ; most probably it received its name from the brother of S. Teilo. It is therein further stated ^ that " Maenarch, Earl of Hereford, built the Church of Gelligaer, and that of Llanfabon, in honourable memory of Mabon Sant." Browne WiUis,^ unaccountably, gives the church as dedicated to S. Constantine. The dedication of the Church of Rhiw Fabon (Mabon's Ascent), or Ruabon,' in Denbighshire, is attributed to the brother of S. Teilo as well as to the brother of S. Ll5rwelyn ; most probably to the latter. It is now under the invocation of the B.V.M. ; festival, that of the Assumption. Llanfaban was the name of a chapel, now extinct, on the Alaw, in Anglesey. In the parish of Llandeilo Fawr, Carmarthenshire, are two manors, called respectively Maenor Deilo and Maenor Fabon, the latter of which, as the name of a gentleman's residence, is now generally spelt Manoravon. The name points to the presence of Mabon in the district, associated with his brother. 1 P. 107 ; cf. Vita S. Oudocei in Book of Llan Ddv, p. 130. Mabon was a fairly common name formerly. A cleric of the name signs a grant to Llandaff, emp. Bp. Catguaret (ibid., p. 209). A Mabon was bishop of Leon ; and there is a Ker-mabon in Morbihan. Peniarih MS. 118 gives it as the name of one of the four " Giants " of Llansawyl, in Carmarthenshire. • 2 lolo MSS., p. 129. ' Ibid., pp. 116, 136. ■ ■* Ibid., p. 361 ; Liber Landavensis, 1840, p. 625. ^ P. 148. " Llandaff, 1719, append., p. i ; Paroch.' Angl.. 1733, p. 198. We have not been able to identify Llanfabon y Fro, Glamorgan ; possibly it is Gileston (S. Giles). ' For the loss of the F cf. Bodorgan, Llanor, Llanol, etc. A proverb says, " Gwrach a vydd marw ettoyn Rhiw Vabon " (Myv. Arch., p. 848), " A witch, will die yet in Ruabon." 392 Lives of the British Saints The following is one of the " Sayings of the Wise " triplets : — ^ Hast thou heard the saying of Mabon, Whilst giving instruction to his sons ? " There is no searcher of the heart but God." Ond Duw nid chwiliwr calon). This Mabon was in all probability S. Teilo's brother. The name Mabon means a boy, or youth ; in Old Welsh it would be Maponos, which, as Apollo Maponos, occurs as the name of the Celtic sun-god, in whose honour three inscriptions have been discovered in the north of England. He is probably to be identified with the Mabon ab Modron of the story of Culhwch and Olwen. Sir J. Rhys - remarks of the Mabon Saints, " It is quite possible that one or another of them is simply Apollo Maponos in a Christian garb." S. MACHES or MACHUTA, Virgin, Martyr The following notice of this Saint appears in the lolo MSS.:^ " S. Maches, at Merthyr Maches, where she was slain, was a daughter of Gwynllyw ab Glywys ab Tegid, and sister to Catwg of Llancarfan. S. Maches gave alms to every poor person who asked it ; and a pagan Saxon, in the guise of a beggar, went to the place where he knew she gave alms, and stabbed her in the breast with a knife." Her father, Gwynllyw Filwr, was regulus of Gwynllywg, the district lying between the Usk and Rumney rivers, and was married to Gwladys, daughter of Brychan, by whom he had a large family. The place at which she suffered martyrdom is now known as Llan- vaches, near Caerwent, in Monmouthshire, but the church is usually said to be dedicated to S. Dubricius. The grant to Llandaff of Merthyr Maches, made during the episcopate of Catguaret, the reputed seven- teenth bishop, occurs in the Book of Llan Ddv. * The virgin martyr Machuta, mentioned in the Life of S. Tathan,^ is, no doubt, to be identified with S. Maches, though the story of her death is differently related. It is not stated whose daughter she was. She shepherded a flock of sheep, and a couple of thieves were desirous 1 lolo MSS., p. 255. 2 Celtic Britain, 1904, p. 308. ' P. 131. * P. 211. Tomos Derllysg, in a poem to S. Margaret [Llanover MS., B. i, fo. 59 a), associates that Saint with Llanvaches : — " Llyma verch lie mae i vedd Llann vaches llaian vychedd." ' Vita S. Tathei, ed. H. Idris Bell, Bangor, 1909, pp. lo-ii; Cambro-Bntish Saints, pp. 261-2. With the name of. Machutus = Malo. S. Macmoil 393 to steal a fine three-year-old ram belonging to it, but were unable to effect their purpose without her knowledge. One day they constrained her to enter with her flock into a forest, and there they smote off her head, so that it might not be made known who had committed the theft. S. Tathan hearing of this was much grieved ; but the two thieves, struck with compunction, came to him and confessed all. They described the place of murder, and on the spot Tathan raised a church in her honour. He caused her body to be " borne unto Caer- went, and it was buried there in the floor of the church." S. MACHRAITH, Confessor Nothing is known of the parentage of Machraith, Machraeth or Machreth,! and next to nothing of his history. There are two churches dedicated to him, Llanfachraith, in Anglesey, and another of the same name in Merionethshire. Cell Fachraith, his cell, is in Cwm yx Eglwys, above the churcli of Llanfachraith, Merionethshire, and a neighbouring farm derives its name from it. It is traditionally said that S. Gwynog once visited Machraith here, when he caused a crystal spring of healing properties to issue forth near the church, over which Capel Gw3mog was after- wards raised. The well is still known as Ff}mnon y Capel. ^ Browne Wilhs ^ gives his festival as January i, and renders the church-name " Fanum Sancti Macariti." S. MACHU, MACHUTUS, or MACLOVIUS, see S. MALO S. MACMOIL, Abbot, Confessor We have identified this Saint * with the great Irish abbot, S. Cain- nech (iii Welsh, Cennech), better known as S. Canice. He was named 1 The correct spelling is Machraith or Machreth. It occurs in Myv. Arch. p. 284, under the mediaeval form Machreith. Leland, Collect., 1774, iv, p. 87, identifies the name with Macharius. There is an English Lake-district surname, Mackreth, but there is nothing to show that it is in any way related to Mackraith. 2 Taliesin, Ruthin, 1859, p. 136. 3 Bangor, 1721, pp. 277, 279. So also Nicolas Owen, Hist, of Anglesey, 1775, p. 59. ' See ii, pp. 56-61. 394 Lives of the British Saints Mac Moil from his mother Mell, or Melda. He is mentioned in the Life of S. Cadoc, whose disciple he was, and one of his favourite ones. We add here the few Welsh particulars relating to him under the name Macmoil. At the rebuilding of the monastery at Llancarfan.i Cadoc sent all the monks and others, excepting the two youths, Finian and Mac- moil, to fetch timber for the work. These two he allowed to go on with their studies. But the steward, the cook, and the sexton, observ- ing that they had not gone with the others, roundly rated them for " eating the bread of idleness." The youths were at the time reading a book called Coh Cadduc, " Cadoc's Memory." This they left open, and ran and tamed a couple of stags, which " brought home a great beam fastened to their yoke, which four powerful oxen could scarcely draw." Cadoc, on being told, cursed the three men for their officious - ness.^ Cadoc made a present to Macmoil of one of the three stone altars in his monastery which he had received from Jerusalem ; ^ and, further, built for him a church, " walled securely," so that " therein he might be entertained when he should go to Gwent and return thence ; and he ordained Macmoil prior therein." * This church is known to be the capella on Cefn Mamoel, in the parish of Bedwellty, Monmouth- shire. It is called in a record of 1101-7, " Ecclesia de Massmoil," ^ and is probably commemorated by a house close by Pentre Mamoel, called Ty'r Capel. S. MADOG AB GILDAS, Bishop, Confessor This Saint is identical with Aidan, son of Gildas ab Caw, with whom we have already dealt.® A confusion has arisen in the genealo- gies, owing to his name having the two forms of Aidan and Madog.' 1 Camhro-British Saints, p. 38. His name is written Macmoil and Mac Moilus. Brut y Tywysogion, s.a. 1070, records the slaughter of " Macmael Nimbo, the most renowned, and most powerful king of the Goidels." 2 A similar story occurs in Vita S. Maidoci in Colgan, Acta SS., p. 209. ' Cambro-British Saints, p. 42. * Ibid., p. 88. 5 Ibid., p. 385. In a carta, c. 1102, printed in G. T. Clark, Cartes, i, p. 2, it occurs as " Ecclesia de Mapmoil." The name is sometimes spelt Mamhole. " i, pp. 116-26. Madog, i.e. Maedoc, stands for Mo-Aed-oc, in accordance with a well-known method of forming Irish pet names. Cf. Mocholmoc for' Col- man ; Moronoc for Ronan, etc. ' His pedigree occurs only in the lolo MSS., pp. 83, 108, 137, 146, 156. He is stated to have been a saint of his brother Cenydd's Cdr, at Llangenydd. He is the Maidocus mentioned in the Life of S. Teilo {Book of Llan Ddv, p. loi). -^S*. Madog Morfryn 395 Aidan is given as son of Caw, and Madog as son of Gildas, and therefore grandson of Caw. There are dedicated to the Saint, under the name Madog, the churches of Llanmadoc, in West Gower, and Haroldston West, and Nolton, in Pembrokeshire. To these must be added the now extinct Llan- fadog, in the parish of Llansantffraid Cwmdeuddwr (for short, Cwm- toyddwr), Radnorshire. It is mentioned in the Harley MS. 1249, as " Capella Sancti Madoci," in an agreement, dated 1339, between Bishop Gower, of S. David's, and the Abbot of Strata Florida. 1 It stood on the banks of the Elan, on a farm called Llanfadog, where are still some mounds which mark its site. Near it are Nant Madog and Coed y Mynach. Browne Willis 2 ascribes to Madog also Llan- badoc, in Monmouthshire, but the early spelhngs of the name point to a S. Padoc. Possibly Kilmadock, in Scotland, is dedicated to a Welsh S. Madog ; ^ maybe a pupil of S. Kentigern, at Llanelwy, who accompanied him north. There is a Ffynnon Fadog in Llanfair Caereinion, and another in Llanddoged, in North Wales. The Gwyl Mabsant, or Patronal Festival, is observed at Llanmadoc on November 12. One feature of it " was, and is still, a particular sort of pie, made of chopped mutton and currants. According to an old Gower custom, every farmer endeavoured to sow his wheat on or before Llanmadoc Mabsant, for the old people used to say that whatever was sown after then would lie in the ground forty days before it began to spring." * S. MADOG AB OWAIN, Confessor Of this Saint nothing further is known, except that he was son of Owain Finddu ab Macsen Wledig ; ^ indeed the evidence for his saintship is of the feeblest possible. Owain, his father, was the prince who repudiated the taxes hitherto paid to the Roman exchequer. S. MADOG MORFRYN, Confessor This Madog was son of Morydd ab Mor ab Ceneu ab Coel, and was * S. W. Williams, Strata Florida, London, 1889, p. 158 ; Jonathan Williams, Radnorshire, ed. 1905, Brecon, p. 137. ^ Paroch. Anglic, 1733, p. 206. In the Taxatio of 1254 it is spelt Lanmadok. 3 Skene, Celtic Scotland, ed. 1887, ii, p. 193. ■* J. D. Davies, West Gower, Swansea, Pt. ii (1879), p. 7. See p. 66 for a des- cription and illustration of an ancient quadrangular bell ploughed up in a field in Llanmadoc. ° lolo MSS., pp. 113. 138. 396 Lives of the British Saints ofLlantwit Major. The sole authority for him as a Welsh Saint is a late document printed in the lolo MSS}- He was the father of the bard, Myrddin Wyllt. According to a Triad in the Third Series, ^ MadogMorfryn, " in C6r lUtyd," was one of the three " Holy Bachelors (Gwynfebydd) of the Isle of Britain," the other two being SS. Catwg and Deiniol, and the three were bards. The son of Morydd we may certainly include among the apocryphal Saints. S. MADOG the Pilgrim, Confessor Madog, called by the Irish Matoc Ailither, or the Pilgrim, was of British parentage. His father was a Welsh prince. His mother was Deichter, daughter of Muircadhach Mainderg, King of Uladh, who died in 470.^ Madog's brother was Bishop Sanctan. Madog was the first to come to Ireland, and he settled in an island called after him in the Lake of Templeport, County Leitrim. Thither came Sanctan, from Clonard, and during his journey is supposed to have composed a hymn that is found in the Liber Hymnorum, the recitation of which was supposed by him to preserve him from all dangers, and to ensure his being favourably received by his brother into his Com- munity.* The father of Madog and Sanctan was Sawyl Benisel,^ but which of the princes of this name we are unable to say. One of that name was the father of S. Asaph, and brother of Arddun, the wife of Bro- chwel Ysgythrog, who died about 610 ; consequently this Sawyl cannot have been the father of Sanctan and Madog. Matoc Ailither is commemorated on April 25 in the Martyrologies of Donegal, Tallaght, and O'Gorman. S. MADRON, Abbot, Confessor In Bishop Bronescombe's Register, 1276, the patron of S. Madron, in Cornwall, is called Maternus. In Stapeldon's Register, 1309, he ' P. 127. 2 Myv. Arch., p. 409. ^ Filire of Oengus, ed. Stokes, p. Ixxxv. * Liber Hymnorum, ed. H. Bradshaw Society, ii, p. 47. s In FSlire of Oengus, p. Ixxxv, " Mac do Samuel chendisel." Samuel = Sawyl. S. Madron 397 ]s Madernus ; so also in Grandisson's, 1344, 1349, 1363 ; and in Stafford's, 1407. The object of the Bishops of Exeter was to transform a local saint of the Celtic Church into one who had a place in the Roman Calendar. So at S. Madron, they converted the original founder into Maternus, Bishop of Treves, a reputed disciple of S. Peter, but actually belonging to the third century. Madron, however, is the Irish Medran, a fa- vourite pupil of S. Ciaran of Saighir. Medran and his brother Odran were natives of Muskerry, and came as boys, of from ten to fourteen, to Ciaran to consult him relative to a pilgrimage they had desired to undertake. When, however, Medran saw the venerable abbot, a waft of common sense came over him, and he thought it would be a much better course for him and his brother to remain with Ciaran, and enter into his school. When Medran proposed this to Odran, the latter was indignant. " This," said he, " is not according to the agreement wherewith we started from home." Then Odran, turning to Ciaran, said, " I pray you, do not back up my brother against me." " The Lord judge between you both," said the Abbot. " Let Medran hold a lantern in his hand, and blow at the wick ; if it kindles, then he shall stay with me." Then, according to the story, the candle flamed up, and Medran attached himself to Ciaran.^ This method of determining a course, by breathing on the still-smouldering snuff of a recently extinguished light, occurs in other stories. Odran went on his way sorrowful, and travelled far, but eventually returned, and is probably the Saint of Lanhydroc. The name Odr, or Huydr, takes after it indiscriminately the diminutive an or oc, and becomes either Odran or Hydroc, like Aedh, which becomes Aedan or Mo-Aedoc. The Irish have no record of the death of Medran. It is therefore probable that he accompanied his master to Cornwall, .and there continued till he died. His name occurs in the Irish Martyrologies on June 6.^ He is not to be confounded with another saint of the same name, who was a disciple of S. Comgall, and is commemorated on September 15 in the Scottish Calendars. The Feast at S. Madron is on May 17, which is the day following the commemoration of his brother Odran. 1 Beatha Ciarain Saighre, ed. Mulcahy, Dublin, 1895, c. xxx. 2 Marl. Donegal, and Duald MacFirbiss. 39^ Lives of the British Saints The two boys came to Ciajran about 480.1 We may suppose that Madron died about 540. ^ S. Madron's Well was formerly famous for the miraculous cures supposed to be effected by the water. At the present time the people go in crowds to the well on the first Sunday in May, when the Wes- leyans hold a service there, and a sermon is preached, after which divination goes on by dropping pins, pebbles, and little crosses of rush- pith into the water. S. Madron should be represented as an abbot holding a lighted lamp or lantern. S. MADRUN, Widow Madrun, or Madryn, was the daughter of Vortimer, or Gwrthefyr Fendigaid,^ and wife of Ynyr Gwent, regulus of that portion of Mon- mouthshire which lies on the east side of the Usk. Its capital was Caerwent. Her sister Anne was married to Cynyr, of Caer Gawch, and mother of S. Non. Madrun had as children, Ceidio, Iddon, Cyn- heiddon, and Tegiwg. According to other accounts she was some- time also married to Gwgon Gwron, by whom she was the mother of S. Cedwyn.* Her daughter Tegiwg fell in love with a young carpenter engaged in building a palace for her father. The king was vastly incensed, but the girl was headstrong, and the parents had to give way. The carpenter, however, was not so amorous as Tegiwg, or felt overwhelmed with the honour, and being ashamed, we are told, at having only a humble home to which to conduct her, he cut off her head and left her. But S. Beuno raised her to life again. The young wife then retired from the world and embraced the religious life.^ Ynyr received S. Tathan, an Irish Saint, and settled him at Caer- went, where he formed a college, and became the ecclesiastical director to the king and his family.* Tathan's holy life and teaching must have deeply impressed Madrun. ^ Rev. J. Hogan, S. Ciaran, Patron of Ossory, Kilkenny, 1876, p. 164, puts the date as 462 or 463, but he labours to make Ciaran a pre-Patrician bishop. 2 The Four Masters give 548 as the date of the death of his brother Odran. ' Peniarth MSS. 16 and 45 ; Hafod MS. 16 ; Cambro-British Saints, pp. 268, 271 ; lolo MSS., pp. 129, 138 ; Myv. Arch., pp. 422-3. The name represents the Latin Matronia. '' See ii, p. 98. = Llyfr Ancr, p. 125; Cambro-British Saints, -p. i Vita B, c. 90. 2 Vita A, c. 61. ' Ihid., c. 91. * " Obviavit ei vir malignus qui irridebat eum et dicebat eum non causa orationis sed causa mulieris ambulare. Et exuens eum pallio suo, et minans cum fuste quam in manu gerebat, et exiens ad domum tulit pallium ejus secum posuit super se dormiens et super uxorem et super filiam suam . . . mane et cito pallium viri Dei ad ilium missum est. Et accepit ille et pauperi tribuit, estimans non esse dignum illud vestimentum, quod fuerat super rusticos homines, indui se." Ihid., c. 79. . t 426 Lives of the British Saints One chieftain was a cause of trouble to S. Malo, as he had married a woman within the prohibited degrees. S. Malo gave him no rest, denounced him, expostulated, threatened him. One day at table, some of those present spoke of the persistence of the bishop against the marriage. " If I had him here," said the chief, " I would box his ears." However, in time the man gave way, did penance and turned his wife adrift ; very probably having tired of her, and cast his eye on another comely woman. ^ The miracles wrought by S. Malo are of the stereotyped kind ; only one or two beside that of Corseul are of any interest. A man had an attack of what we should call English cholera, and was in a very bad way (dejectis pene vitalibus) ; he sent to implore S. Malo to send him the eulogies, i.e., bread presented for the Sacrifice and blessed, but not consecrated. Malo sent him some, and the man was healed. 2 A man was linked to a wife, who, for six years, had not talked and let him hear the clack of her tongue. Instead of rejoicing in such a privilege, he went to S. Malo and entreated him to cure his wife. The Saint put his fingers into her mouth and healed her. We are not told the sequel, whether the husband remained pleased with the result, or whether he rued it. S. Malo paid a visit to S. Columbanus at Luxeuil, and remained with him some days, discussing Scripture and enjoying congenial society. He soon after had the pleasure of greeting a settler from Wales, though not from the same part as himself. This was Tyssilio or Suliau, flying from the vexations caused by his widowed sister-in- law, who sought to marry him. Suliau came ashore at Aleth, and was advised by Malo to take up his abode in the isle of Aaron, and this he did for awhile, but desiring retirement greater than he could obtain there, and perhaps not caring to be so near Malo, and subject to his temper and interference, he retired up the Ranee to the spot which now bears his name.^ The prince Haeloc had begun his career by violence.* He had menaced the monastery of Raus, founded by S. Malo, and had perhaps actually destroyed it. He had violated the sanctuary of S. Meven in Gael. But in course of time he came to sec that it was to his interest 1 Vita A, cc. 88, 89. 2 Ibid., c. 86. ' Life in Albert le Grand, Vies des Saints, ed. 1901, p. 484, from a Life now lost that was preserved in the Church of S. Suliau-sur- Ranee. * As already noticed, in the copy of Bill extant, the name is Rethwal. But this is a slip of the copyist. The name Rethwal is given in the ensuing chapters as that of the nutritor of the prince. The Saintes biographer calls the prince Haeloc, and the Marmoutier abridgement of Bill has Haeloc in this place and not Rethwal. De la Borderie, Hist, de Bretagne, i, p. 472. aS*. Malo 427 to be on good terms with the Saints. They wielded immense power, and he had before his eyes the instance of Conraore, routed and slain through their machinations. Bili pretends that Haeloc was converted by the exhortations of Malo. That may or may not have been the case. Anyhow, he no longer openly menaced him. He died about the year 614, and at once ensued a period of anarchy. Judicael had been shorn and made a monk malgre lui ; and now he cast aside his cowl, let his hair grow, assumed the crown, and looked about for a wife. According to the anonymous Life, " After the death of Haeloc, the duke who had protected the blessed bishop Machlovus with all honour, there rose up a generation opposed to the holy man, burning with envy and treachery, because the man of God had got into his grip a large extent of land, granted to him and to God by the faithful. And they declared that the bishop Machlovus, he and his, had laid their hahds on the whole country, and that nothing was left for themselves and their children in the future." ^ That S. Malo had been intolerably grasping seems evident. He now encountered insult and abuse wherever he went ; his monks and serfs were attacked and beaten and his estates pillaged. The Alethans made no secret of their desire to be rid of him.^ 'Although he affected to disregard the reproaches cast at him, he became vastly irritated, the more so as he was conscious that he had provoked resent- ment by his rapacity. Bili admits that he was as cordially detested by some as he was loved by others ; and we are not bound to believe Bili, that it was the wicked people only who hated him. His impetu- osity of temper, and his rough tongue, had provoked much prejudice, and his insatiable rapacity had irritated most of the people. At length he thoroughly embroiled himself with his diocesans. The discord grew so great that Malo resolved on leaving Aleth alto- gether. But he did not withdraw graciously. He had a ship prepared, and taking with him thirty-three companions, embarked, and, as a parting farewell, hurled excommunication and his curse on diocese and diocesans.* ' " Post mortem Hailoc ducis Britanniae, qui beatum antistitem Machlovum. cum omni honore custodivit dum diu vixit, surrexit impia generatio ipsius provinciae adversus sanctum virum, invidia omnique dole ardentes pro eo quod homo Dei tantam possideret terram a fidelibus Deo sibique largitam." Vita A, c. 21. 2 " Aiebant namque inter se prssulem Machlovum totam possidere patriam, nihilque sibi neque filiis suis crastino tempore residere unde valeant vivere. . . . Homines suos graviter cedebant cunctaque sua vastabant, cupientes sanctum fugere regnumque illud penitus deserere." Ibid. 3 " Vir Dei, beatissimus Machu, sceleratorum hominum non sufierens angus- 428 Lives of the British Saints Among those who accompanied him were seven whom he had brought with him from Wales, and were of his own age. Male skirted the north coast of Brittany, doubled the point of Finisterre, putting into ports on his way, and founding monastic cells, in which he left some of his disciples ; and in course of time arrived at the little island of Aix, opposite where is now La Rochelle, and there for a while he remained. The bishop of Saintes at this time was Leontius, and Malo deemed it expedient' to visit him. He found Leontius in the island of Eura, now Ayre, over against Marennes. He was well received, and Leontius gave up for his use a church " in villam quae dicitur Brea, quae est in parochia Santonicse civitatis " ; probably Burie, a few miles from Safntes. Malo accordingly moved thither, and a happy accident occurring on the third day after his arrival, predisposed the people in his favour. A little boy, going to a well with a pitcher, fell in, and was drawn out insensible. Malo having spent the greater part of his life by the sea, knew how those should be treated who were half-drowned, and by his attention and through his experience, the child was brought round ; and the simple people thought that he had performed a miracle. There is a fashion in religion as in everything else, and a rush was now made to Brea to see the bishop and induce him to attempt cures. Malo was troubled by the concourse, and retreated to Mancras, near Saujon, where the flat sandy land is covered with forest. After Malo had been away from his diocese nearly seven years, a deputation from Aleth arrived to entreat his return. The land had suffered from drought, affecting the crops, and it occurred to the people that this was probably due to the imprecations called down on them and the land by the prelate, and that it would be advisable to bring him back to withdraw his curse.^ He could not in decency refuse, and so started on his return. No sooner did he approach the Ranee than the rain came down in torrents. Crowds came forth from Aleth to receive him with demonstrations, of respect and joy, and he solemnly revoked his curses. Malo was now urged to remain, but after a visit to his favourite retreat at Aaron, tias, a perniciosis contactibus mundi se subtraliens, maledicto excommunicato populo," etc. Vita B, c. 92. 1 " Ex Britannia missi a rege et a senioribus populi ad eum accesserunt, rogantes ut ad terram hominesque, quos excommanicans maledixerat, illuc iterum pergeret ut, unde maledictionem sua perfidia acceperant, inde per oris ejus eloquium benedictionem recipere merentur." Ihid., c. loi. " Venerunt ad . . . pastorem quidam viri a tota regione Britannia missi, preces omnigenas offerentes quatenus sua reversione et benedictione recrearet sui patriam male perditam ob sui maledictionem, quam irato animo effudit tarn super terram quam super habitatores ejus." Vita A, c. 28. S, Malo 429 he declared his intention of returning to the Saintonge. Great was the regret expressed, and perhaps felt, and the old man started on his way back. But at his age he could hardly endure much travelling, and he broke down at Archingeay, near S. Jean d'Angely, a day's journey from Saintes ; he took to his bed and died there on Sunday, November 15, after three days' illness.^ Leontius, on hearing of his death, hastened to Archingeay, and carried off the body to Pardina, outside the walls of Saintes, now the faubourg Saint Macoult, where he erected a basilica over his remains. This was destroyed in the wars of the fifteenth century, but a little chapel dedicated to S. Malo has been recently erected on the site. On considering the quality and value of the two Lives of the Saint that we possess, it can hardly be doubted but that they paint a per- sonality of much force of character and great individuality. They differ from those banal Lives composed in the cloister, which present for our admiration but a shadow of a man without characteristic traits. Malo himself stands out on the canvas painted from life, and although the picture has suffered much from daubing and re- touching in later times, yet the vigorous outlines remain unaffected. We come now to a difficult problem, the chronology of the Saint's Life. The first date to fix is that of his death. He died on November 15. In order that this day should fall on a Sunday, the year must have had for its dominical letter D or ED. The year 621 has D as its dominical. He was buried by Leontius, Bishop of Saintes, who attended the Synod of Rheims in 625. His predecessor Audobert attended the Synod of Paris in 614. Venantius Fortunatus, who died in 600, wrote a hymn (i. 3) on the reconstruction by Leontius of the Church of S. Eutropius at Saintes. Leontius must have done this before he became bishop. Bill says, and so does the Sainteg biographer, that Malo died at the age of one hundred and thirty-three years. But such a length of life is clearly impossible. Thirty-three is a number affected in his Life. Malo was given thirtj^-three lads at Llancarfan to attend him ; and the same number of disciples accompanied him when he left Aleth. Moreover, of these thirty-three, seven were of the same age as himself, so that we are given to suppose that eight lived to this prodigiously advanced age, which is absurd. Now, Malo had been not quite seven years in voluntary banishment when the deputa- tion arrived to recall him to Aleth. He remained there but for a brief period, and then hurried back in the same year to the Saintonge. 1 " Terrae vero matri redidit corpus humandum, septimo decimo Kalendas Decembris," Vita A. " Dominica nocte," Vita B. 43*^ Lives of the British Saints This gives us the date 614-5 for his departure from Aleth in banish- ment. This was just after the death of Haeloc, which is supposed to have taken place in 613 or 614. The arrival of Tyssilio, and his welcome by Malo, must have occurred very shortly before he left. In 600 Columbanus was driven from Luxeuil by Brunehild ; conse- quently Male's visit to him took place before that date. The Paschal meeting of Malo and Conmore cannot be fixed later than 555. Malo had been forty years bishop of Aleth before he abandoned his see, and that gives 574—5 as the date when his monastic settlement was transformed by Judual into an ' episcopal see. He was forty years old, says Bill, when he arrived at Cesambre, ut dicUnr. Now his arrival there was probably in 547, flying from the Yellow Plague ; but he cannot have been forty years old ; indeed, his biographers represent him as a young man, disobeying his parents, when he quitted Llancarfan for Brittany. If we suppose that he was then a recently ordained priest, this gives him an age under a hundred years. If he were young when he left, after the cessation of the Yellow Plague in 550, when Teilo and so many other Saints returned to Wales, he may have gone back with them, and then been ordained priest at Llancarfan. He returned to Aleth after that, when aged forty, and made a second halt at Cesambre. With regard to his consecration as bishop, the anonymous bio- grapher makes Malo undertake two voyages, and fixes his consecration as bishop after the first. We may well suppose that he made more than two visits to Gwent. He had a foundation there, S. Maughan's, and he would need recruits for his Alethan houses. When Judual elevated Aleth into an episcopal seat, he may have gone back to Gwent to be consecrated. There is still a difficulty to be surmounted. He was cousin to S. Samson. Now the Saintes biographer says that his mother Dervela was aged sixty-six when she bore him. Here, again, we have the thirty-three, and this time doubled. Bill states her age as forty. No trust can be placed in either statement. Dervela may have been the youngest sister of the family. The date of Samson's death we do not know, but it was some years after 556 or 557. It was probably about 565. But this makes an interval of fifty-six years between two men of the same generation. An alternative date assigned for the death of Samson is 576, reducing the time to forty-six years. But we cannot rely on the parentage of Malo. The Welsh give as his father Caradog, son (correctly father) of Ynyr Gwent, whereas the Saintes biographer makes him son of Gwent, meaning, apparently. S. Malo 431 Ynyr Gwent ; and in the Life of S. Tathan, as already shown, Ynyr is represented, not as the father, but as the son of Caradog. It is remarkable that, although Malo lived so near Dol, there is no mention in either Life of his associating with his kinsman, Samson. Reference has been already made to Leland's notes from a copy of Bili, that he saw, but which is now lost. Leland's notes are as follows : — " Machutus venit ad Corsult, ubi juvenem defunctum vitee restituit. Cunmor dux tunc temporis Domnonicae regionis. * Una die, petierunt palatium Philiberti regis — 7 Britonum episcopi, videlicet Sampson, Machu, Paternus, Courenti- nus, Paulus Ninanus (Aurelianus), Fabu (Pabu) Tutuallus, Briomelius. * Lupercus quidam paenitentiam a Machuto coram Filiberto rege accepit, et terras suas dedit sedi S. Machuti. * Machutus Romam petiit. * Canalchus insula, nunc S. Machuti. Machutus venit ad Leontium episcopum fugiens a suis, quos propter scelera maledictione mulctaverat." And after the last chapter of Bili in the Second Book, with which the MS. as we now have it concludes, Leland adds : — * " Tathu, frater S. Machutis, cui altare consecratum fuit in mon- asterio de Nantcarvan, sito in patria qua natus fuit S. Machutus. * Alanus, dux Britonum. * Guormhelm comes in Cornavia. * Ego Bili episcopus, etc." The " Bili episcopus " must be either an addition or be due to a re-edition of the Life by Bili when he became bishop of Vannes, if the Bili, Bishop of Vannes 890—910, be the same person. The paragraphs to which an asterisk is attached refer to passages not found in the extant MSS. of Bill's Life of Malo. Philibert stands for Childebert II. The visit to Rome was an insertion at a time when it was deemed advisable to make the Celtic Saints enter into relations with the Holy See, so as to clear them from the imputation •of schism. This was also in the copy from which John of Tynemouth made his compendium ; and he goes on to relate how that Malo, •seeing captives and boys for sale in the market at Rome, bought them and baptised them ; and how that, on his way back to Aleth by sea, his ship was overtaken by a storm, whereupon S. Peter appeared, and encouraged Malo with assurance that he should not be wrecked. This is an adaptation from Acts xxvii. 23, 24. There is another miracle about bread in John of Tynemouth, that is not to be found in extant copies of Bill's Life. We see, accordingly, 43 2 Lives of the British Saints that this Life has gone through amplifications and curtailments ; it certainly has undergone as well notable falsifications. As to the visit of Samson, Malo, Padarn, Corentine, Paul of Leon, Pabu Tudwal, and Brioc, it is impossible to admit that they all attended on Childebert the same day or year. M. de la Borderie says, " Pro- bablement Leland a mal compris Bili, dont les phrases, les constructions sont souvent — on pent le voir — fort embrouillees. Bili . . . avait cru devoir rappeler que tons les fondateurs des eveches bretons etaient alles comme Malo, visiter ce prince, et grace aux obscurites du style, Leland a compris (a tort) qu'ils s'agissait la d'une visite actuelle, simultanee de ces sept apotres." ^ Childebert died in 558, and probably Malo went to Paris immediately after the fall of Conmore to receive the confirmation of the grants made to him by Judual." We would suggest a scheme of chronology of the Life of S. Malo, but the only date that is certain is that of his death. S. Malo born ..... not earlier than 525 ,, quits Wales on the outbreak of the Yellow Plague 547 returns to Wales, and is ordained priest . c. 550 revisits Armorica and settles at Aaron . c. 552 The Paschal Celebration before Conmore at Corseul, March 28 555 Defeat and death of Conmore, and elevation of Judualclose of 555 S. Malo goes to Paris to have the grants of lands confirmed c. 556 goes to Llancarfan to obtain assistants . c. 557 Judual transforms the monastery of Aleth into a See, and S. Malo consecrated in Wales . . . . c. 578 Visit to Luxeuil ...... belore 600 Death of Judual and usurpation of Haeloc . . c. 605 Arrival at Aleth of S. Tyssilio . . . . c. 610 Death of Haeloc, succeeded by a period of anarchy . c. 614 S. Malo deserts Aleth and settles near Saintes . . .615 Revisits Aleth, and dies on his way back to Saintes Nov. 15 62 1 S. Machu, Machutes, Machlovus, Maclovius, or Malo is in most Calendars on November 15 ; as the Sarum, 1521, that of the Preces Privatee, 1564, that of the Book of Common Prayer, the York, Hereford, Exeter, Oxford, Wells, Ely, etc.. Calendars. An English Calendar in Saxon characters, tenth or early eleventh centuries ; also in all the Breton Calendars, and in the Roman Martyrology. So, too, as Machudd, Mechyll, or Mechell, in some Welsh Calendars, from the fifteenth century, and those prefixed to the earlier editions of the Welsh Prayer Book and Bible. The Translation of S. Malo on July 11 ; MS. Missal of S. Malo, fifteenth century, and Breviaries of S. Malo, 1537 and 1627. ^ Bulletin de la Soc. arch, d'llle et Vilaine, xvi (1884), p. 308. ^ The name Philibert for Childebert is used pretty freely. In the account of the recovery of the relics of S. Malo by the people "of Aleth, recourse is had to Philibert — perhaps the Childebert 695-711. S. Malo 43 3 S. Malo is patron of numerous churches in Brittany. In Normandy, Picardy, Artois, Champagne, and the Isle of France he has churches- dedicated to him. In a grant of several churches to the Church of Llandaff by Morgan Hen (d. c. 974), King of Morganwg, are mentioned two Monmouth- shire churches, " Lann Liuit Machumur," and " Lann Vannar de Machumur." "^ Machumur stands for Machu Mawr, i.e., S. Malo the Great. These two adjoining churches were dedicated to him. Llanlliwyd or Llanllwyd, now extinct, was at one time a chapel under Llanvannar (now corrupted into Llanvaenor). To Malo is also dedi- cated the neighbouring church of S. Maughans. This and Llanvaenor are to-day under Llangattock-Vibon-Avel. S. Maughans is called in the Book of Llan Ddv, Lann Mocha (or Bocha),^ and Ecclesia de S. Machuto.3 As already mentioned, Malo's name appears in Welsh also as Mechyll, or Mechell, and under this form he is the patron of Llanfechell, in Anglesey.* Browne WiUis ^ gives its dedication as " S. Machutus alias S. Mechell. November 15." The Welsh genealogies, however, give Mechyll a totally different pedigree ; they make him the son of Echwys ab Gwyn Gohoew.^ His legend, in the abbreviated form known to the Welsh, agrees generally with that of the VUcb. There is a poem, Cywydd i Fechell Sant, written in his honour by an anonymous bard, which occurs (but a little imperfect) in Llanstephan MS. 125,^ of the middle of the seven- teenth century. In it the panegyrist addresses the Saint as the son of Gwyn Gohoyw, of Llydaw, and of the royal line of Lludd ab 1 Book of Llan Ddv, pp, 240-1. The original saint of Lann Vannar was very probably the " Banugar Sacerdos " whose name occurs on p. 228. 2 Pp. 74, 171-2, 264-5, 272. ^ Ibid., p. 320. In the Taxatio of 1254 it occurs under the same name. In the parish Ust, c. 1566, in Peniarth MS. 147, as Llan vocha. * In the Rscord of Caernarvon, p. 62, occurs the following relating to Llan- fechell — " Lanvighel cu' HameV de Botenol. Ead'm villa sim'l' cu' hamel' p'dicta tenet' de S'c'o Machuto." ' Bangor, p. 280. A fair was held there on November 14, O.S. ; latterly on the 25th. Mynydd Mechell is in the parish. ' Hafod MS. 16 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 268. In Cardiff MS. 25, he is entered twice — as son of Echwys ab Gohoyu, and son of Ethnwys ab Gwynn Goho3rw. One of the MSS. quoted in the Myv. Arch., p. 427, gives the name of his great-grandfather — Cynfarwy, of Cornwall. They give various corrupt forms for his father's name, such as Echwydd, Cochwyl, and Mochwys. He is unknown to the lolo MSS. genealogies, but it is stated on p. 151 that his college. Cor Mechell, in Anglesey, was for a hundred Saints. In late documents Mar- chell, daughter of Brychan, occurs as Mechell and Mechyll. ' For a modern Cywydd S. Mechell see Hugh Owen, Yr Hynafiaethydd, Amlwch, 1890, pp. 65-6. VOL. III. F F 434 Lives of the British Saints Beli, who is credited with having given name to Caer Ludd, or London, and Ludgate. " He uttered naught in the cradle save the names of Christ, and he was instructed as he grew up by the One God and S. Brenda " (i.e., S. Brendan). His hfe was once miraculously preserved by " land being placed under him," whilst he peacefully slept on the tempestuous sea. He raised to life a giant whose body had long lain in the grave, his soul the while in hell [vfferndan), and, baptising him, " converted his heart into a well of faith." Thieves he turned into stone, and Maelgwn's men and greyhounds, that had acted " foolishly," he put to death. " The lord of the luckless crew he, in his wrath, struck with blindness," who, on his sight being restored, gave the Saint " a free gift of land and strong men." The tract, now the parish of Llanfechell, was circumscribed by a hare, divinely aided in its course. The live coals that were meant to injure him he carried in his bosom unhurt. The author concludes by invoking the Saint to cure, from his grave, all sick persons, the maimed, and the blind. " A Paradise is his church, the dwelling-place of heaven's good grace ; it was a stone structure when he returned to it from the seas, from fair Manaw." It had a statue of him, vested as bishop, in a golden cope. The poem gives us to understand that he was buried at Llanfechell. It has also been supposed that he lies buried in the churchyard of Penrhos Lligwy, in another part of the island, where is a stone bearing the inscription : " Hie Jacit Maccudecceti." ^ Needless to say, it does not commemorate Mechell. S. MANACCA, Virgin, Abbess The church of Manaccan or Minster, in Cornwall, was formerly a monastic establishment, probably, at its first institution, for women. Manacca, according to popular tradition, was either sister or nurse to S. Levan. In Bishop Stapeldon's Register, 1308, the church is called " Ecclesia Stse Manacae in Menstre." No Minster would be without a founder, but, it is not easy to discover who the founder, or rather foundress, here was. That she was Irish appears from the situation of the church, and frora the tradition associating her with S. Levan. And, if there be 1 Cf. the " Maccodecheti " on a stone now at Tavistock. S. MANCUS. Stained Glass, S. Neot. S. Mar can 435 any reliance to be placed on this tradition, then she belonged to the close of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries. The name Manacca is the same as Monaca, in Irish Midnach, Mid- hnech, or Midnat. Now we do find that there was such a person placed by S. Patrick in a hermitage called Disert Patraic, where was a holy fountain, in the West of Ireland. Her principal church seems to have been Kil- lucan, the situation of which is not determined. A statement is made by one Irish author that she was a child of Darerca, sister of S. Patrick. But we can obtain nothing approaching to certainty relative to S. Manacca. It is possible enough that Manac- can means no more than Minster, a monastic establishment. The day of S. Midhnach is August 4 or November 18 in the Martyrologies of Tallaght and O'Gorman. Manaccan feast is on October 14. S. MANACCUS, or MANCUS, Bishop, Confessor Lanreath church, in Cornwall, is dedicated to S. Monach or Manac- cus. William of Worcester says that he was a bishop, and that his body reposed at Lanreath. Lanlivery, in the same county, is said to be dedicated to him in conjunction with S. Dunstan. In Bishop Stafford's Register his name is given as Managhan. He was probably Irish. Lanreath Feast is now observed on August 3, although, according to William of Worcester, the commemoration formerly was on the Thursday after Whit- Sunday. In the Young Women's Window, at S. Neot, he is represented in episcopal vestments. S. MANCEN, see S. MAWGAN S. MARCAN, Priest, Confessor The only things we know relative to this Saint are derived from the Life of S. Brioc, and these are few. When Brioc was dying " a certain Marcan, a priest, filled with religious fear of God," had a vision. He beheld four angels, like eagles, with fiery wings, carrying away the soul of Brioc in form like a dove. 43 6 Lives of the British Saints A MS. at Rouen not noticed by Dom Plaine, who has pubhshed the Vita Brioci, and is of the twelfth century, contains fragments of a metrical Life of Brioc, apparently by Peter, a clerk of Angers. This work, that is based on a much more ancient biography of the Saint, says that Marcan came from Ceretica, Ceredigion, and was therefore a compatriot of Brioc. None of the Breton dioceses, except that of Dol, commemorates Marcan ; we may therefore suppose that he settled there, and in fact there is a small parish in the diocese that bears his name as patron, Saint-Marcan. His day is May 21, according to the Dol Missal of 1502. Some local legends relative to him are given by the Abbe Duine in his Notes sur les Saints Bretons.'^ S. Marcan is represented in the church near Dol, which takes its name from him, as a priest in stole and chasuble, a book in one hand, and the other hand raised in benediction. At the base is an ass being devoured by a wolf. In Welsh his name would become Marchan, which was once fairly common. There is a place called Llanmerchan, or Llanmarchan, in the parish of Llanychllwyddog, Pembrokeshire, where was at one time a pilgrimage chapel, ^ no doubt dedicated to Marcan. Marcan was the Old- Welsh form ^ of Margam, in Glamorgan, once the name of a considerably larger area than that of the present parish. In the Vita S. Cadoci * Marcan is mentioned as one of the nine divisions of Gljrwysing, deriving its name from an eponymous Mar, son of Glywys. Later, it frequently occurs as Morgan, and is sometimes confounded with Glamorgan. S. MARCHELL, Matron The Welsh Marchell represents two Latin names, Marcellus and Marcella, which has led to considerable confusion among late writers. Welsh hagiology, however, knows only of three female saints of the name. The first in point of time was Marchell, daughter ofTewdrig ab • Hermine, T. xxxi (1904), pp. 49-51 ; T. xxxiii, pp. 83-7. 3 Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, pp. 346, 509. Marcan was also an Irish name. There was a Marcan king of the Deisi, who is mentioned in the Life of S. Findchua of Bri-Gobann, in the Book of Lismore. ^ Book of Llan Ddv, p. 224. For some Marchan names see the index, p. 411. * Cambro-British Saints, p. 20. S. Marchell 437 Teithfall, king of that district which was afterwards called (from her son) Brycheiniog, the Brecknockshire of to-day minus the Hundred of Builth. She was the wife of Anlach, " Rex Hibernise," by whom she became the mother of the " mysterious " Brychan. Her legend is told in the Cognatio de Brychan, for which see under S. Brychan.^ After her is named Caer Farchell, now a farm in the parish of S. David's. She sailed hence, from Forth Mawr, with her lOO men to Ireland. The lolo MSS. ^ are the sole authority for her as a Saint. S. MARCHELL, Matron This Marchell was grand-daughter of the foregoing Marchell, being the daughter of Brychan. In the Cognatio and other early documents, her name is always written Marchel or Marchell, but in the later ones generally, Mechell, orMechyll,^ through not observing the contraction mark. She was the wife of Gwrin Farfdrwch (with the Truncated Beard), the sixth century regttlus of Meirionydd, a descendant, through Meirion, of Cunedda Wledig. No churches are known to be dedicated to her. S. MARCHELL, Virgin The virgin Marchell was the daughter of Hawystl Gloff and Tywan- wedd, daughter of Amlawdd Wledig. She was sister to SS. Teyrnog, Deifer, Tyfrydog, and Tudur,* all Saints, according to the lolo MSS.^ of Bangor Iscoed until its destruction, when they went, with others, in a body to Bardsey. Marchell is patroness of Whitchurch, or Eglwys Wen, the old parish church of Denbigh, anciently called Llanfarchell, by which name the parish of Denbigh was also known down to the fourteenth century 1 I, p. 304. 2 p. 118. ' Peniarth MS. y$ (sixteenth century) ; Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 427 ; lolo MSS., pp. Ill, 140. Late documents also convert her husband's name into Gwrgant and Cynyr. 4 Peniarth MSS. 16, 45; Hafod MS. 16; Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 118; Mostyn MS. 144, p. 329 ; Cambro-Briiish Saints, p. 271 ; Myv. Arch., p. 427. Cardiff MS. 25, p. 118, mentions her as " y santes yssydd rhwng Dinbych a Chlwyd," but the pedigree given is wrong ; of. also'7o/o MSS., p. 124. * P. 142, 43 8 Lives of the British Saints and later. 1 Her brothers, Teyrnog and Deifer, are patrons of the adjoining parishes of Llandyrnog and Bodfari. The two brothers and sister, we may believe, settled in the Vale of Clwyd to lead an eremitical life, and had their cells on the very spots where those parish churches to-day stand ; whilst their two other brothers settled in Anglesey and Montgomeryshire. There was a trio of Saints of the same family, who similarly established themselves near each other, in Anglesey, two sons and a daughter of Caw, viz., Eugrad, Gallgo, and Peithian, as we learn from the Life of S. Gildas, by the Monk of Rhuis. There is a figure of " Sea Marcella," in fifteenth century glass, in the handsome chancel window of Llandyrnog Church. She is holding a closed book in her right hand, and a palm branch in her left. Edward Lhuyd, in his topographical notes (1699), says: " Ffynnon Fachell [sic) near Whitch : which is thought to be y° Saint's Well." It is now dried up, but is remembered as a well. Lhuyd also mentions, among " the Chappels formerly in y" Parish of Llanrwst, Capel Marchelh in y^ Township of Ty brith isa." The chapel, of which there is nothing now to be seen, is believed to have been at Rhyd Lanfair, and is supposed to have been dedicated to this Saint. It has been also suggested, but very doubtfully, that she gave name to the commote of Ystrad Marchell, " the Vale of Marchell," in the neighbourhood of Welshpool, where the Cistercian Abbey of Strata Marcella (a Latinization of the Welsh name) was founded in the twelfth century, by Owain Cyfeiliog. The Lordship of Ystrad Marchell embraced a somewhat large area, but the name is now borne by a manor only a little more in extent than the parish of GuUsfield. The church of Marchwiel, in Denbighshire, is sometimes said to be dedicated to S. Marcella, on September 5,^ a mistake for Marcellus, on the 4th, the second century martyr at Chalons-sur-Saone ; and at other times to S. Marcellus, on October 7, an apocryphal first century Roman martyr ; but there can be no doubt whatever that the church is dedicated to S. Deiniol, and that the Marchell dedication has been simply guessed from the parish name, which, in full, was formerly " Plwyf y Marchwiail." ^ The two Marchell festivals that occur in Welsh Calendars are those of Marcellus Saints. ^ " Llanvarcell," Taxatio of 1254 '• " La-ndwarchell," Taxaiio of 1291 ; " Rec- toria de Saynt Marcelle," Valor of 1535, vi, p. xxxix. 2 Browne Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 363. Whitchurch he gives, p. 364, as dedicated to S. Marcellus, on January 16, an early fourth century Pope. ' J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, pp. 33, 914. March-wiail means Saplings. In such compounds as march-fieri , march-redyn, march-ysgall, etc., march implies something of a larger growth or kind than the ordinary. S. MARCHELL. From i$th century Glass in Llandyrnog Church. S. Martin 439 S. MARTHAERUN, Confessor This Saint was one of the sons of Brychan. His name is not entered m the Vespasian version of the Cognatio, but in the Domitian he is nientioned as " Marthaerun apud Keueilauc," and in Jesus College MS. 20 as " Marcharairjun (or Marcharanhun) ygkeueilyawc." Cy- feiliog is a commote of Montgomeryshire, which has Machynlleth as its principal town, and its name is preserved in that of the Deanery wherein that town is situated. The name Marthaerun has clearly nothing to do with Mathafarn, in the parish of Llanwrin, which is in Cyfeiliog. In late documents the name is given as Mathaiarn,^ and it is stated in a MS.^ compiled 1578— 1609, and in another ^ compiled or transcribed about 1670, that he " lies buried in Ceredigion," a copyist's blunder, of course, for Cyfeiliog ; but it was left to Meyrick * and others to convert Ceredigion into the town ofSCardigan, known earlier, and still in Welsh, as Aberteifi. S. MARTIN, Priest, Confessor S. Martin in Meneage, Cornwall, is in the midst of Irish foundations, and it is possible that it may have been founded by the Irish Martin from Ossory. This man was only Irish so far that he laboured in Ireland, and belonged to S. Patrick's mission, but he was a native of Britain. In the Homily on S. Patrick in the Lebar Brecc we read, " Patrick went into Ossory and founded churches and cloisters there " (this was in 474) ; " and he said that there would be nobles and clerics of the men of Ossory, and that no province would prevail against them so long as they should bide as Patrick willed. Patrick afterwards, bidding them farewell, left with them Martin, an Elder, and a party of his people, where is at this day Martharthech in Mag Raigne." ^ Martharthech is the cemetery consecrated for the interment of the Middle Ossorian plain-dwellers, in the barony of Kells, co. Kilkenny. Martin, accordingly, had the shaping of the church in Mid-Ossory. He did not, however, confine himself to this part of the kingdom, but also founded churches in Inverk and in Upper Ossory. 1 Also as Mathayarn, Mathaearn, Mathaern ; Myv.Arch., pp. 419,427; lolo MSS., pp. III. 140- 2 Myv. Arch., p. 427- ■ ' ^°^° MSS., p. 119. • . * Cardiganshire, 1808, p. iii. ^ Tripartite Life, ii, p. 469. 44^ Lives of the British Saiiits Ciaran, who was at Saighir, held him in the highest respect. From the fact that he himself belonged to the expelled royal family, and that Ossory was in the hands of conquerors, who regarded him with mistrust, he was not able to travel about in Ossory, and was glad of the assistance of Martin, who, as a foreigner, was not looked on with suspicion. So highly indeed did Ciaran appreciate him, that he made Martin promise that, when they died, they should repose side by side. Eventually Martin retired to Torry Isle (Tor Inis), off Donegal, and there died. A copy of the Gospels that he valued highly was laid on his breast when he was buried. S. Columba, of Hy, visited Tor Inis, opened the tomb, and carried off the sacred volume.^ Great confusion has sprung up between Martin, the Patrician missionary, and Martin of Tours, that was furthered by the fact of the former being of Tor Inis and the latter of the " Turones." For instance, in the Life of S. Senan we are told that he visited Tours to converse with Martin, and he found the latter incessantly engaged upon a Gospel that he was transcribing. Then said Senan, " I would that these diligent hands of yours should minister the Eucharist to me on the day of my decease." " They shall indeed do it," replied Martin. Then the two men swore brotherhood, and, in token of affection, Martin presented Senan with the book of the Gospels he had been copying.^ Some years later, when Senan lay adying, " The angels of God uplifted Martin from Tours, in a heavenly cloud, and set him down in the place where Senan was biding, and he gave him Communion and Sacrifice." After which Martin was carried back to Tours in the same way.^ Now, as Martin of Tours died about 397, and Senan was born about 480, this is clearly impossible. The late redactor of the Life found in his original text that Senan had made friends with Martin of Tor Inis, who gave him a Gospel and ministered the Com- munion to him, and he jumped to the conclusion that this must have been Martin of Tours, and then he put in the above miraculous touches. That Martin, who was a Briton, may have accompanied S. Ciaran to Cornwall is not improbable, and it is possible that the church of S. Martin in Meneage may be a foundation of this Martin. The Feast there is on November 14, six days after the day on which Martin, the Patrician Missionary, is commemorated at Temple-Marten in Ireland, but also three days after the Feast of Martin of Tours. At Temple- Marten, near Kilkenny, is a holy well of the Saint. ^ Book of Lismore, Anecdota Oxon., 1890, p. 175. 2 Ibid., p. 208. ^ Ibid., p. 221. S. Mawes or Maudetus 441 S. MARUAN, Abbot, Confessor Maruan is said by Leland to have been one of the company that arrived in Cornwall from Ireland with SS. Senan, Breaca, etc. Maruan is either a mistake by Leland, or of the printer, for j\Io- ruan. The Saint is no other than S. Ruan, or Rumon (sjeS. Ruan). S. MATHAIARN, see S. MARTHAERUN S. MAWES or MAUDETUS, Abbot, Confessor The authorities for the Life of this Saint are as follows : — 1. A Life that was employed in the Breviaries of Treguier and Leon. Both have been lost, but a copy was made by the Breton Benedictines of the seventeenth century, which is now contained in a thick volume in the Bibliotheque Nationale, at Paris, MS. Fr. 22321. It has been printed by M. de la Borderie in Memoires de la Soc. d'Emulation des Cotes du Nord, T. xxviii, pp. 202—9 ; and also as a separate brochure, Rennes, 1891. This Life is composed of snippets for Lections in the Breviary. Pope Pius V (1566—72) ordered that there should be only three his- torical lessons in the Office of a Saint. The rest should be from Holy Scripture. Before that it had been felt that more place should be given to what was edifying and less to legendary fable, and this Life of S. Maudetus was curtailed from nine to eight lessons, the seventh being from S. Matthew, xxv. The Life as given in the Lections bears manifest tokens of the scissors. It jumps abruptly from the departure of Modez from Ireland to his settlement on the He Modez. It gives two episodes connected with his disciples Bothmael and Tudy at full bulk, and leaves the main narrative incomplete with maimed head and no tail at aU, for it does not mention the death of the Saint. Moreover, the introduction of lections from the Gospels necessitated considerable ■excisions, and so the Life of the Saint was mutilated. This Life is in the main a very early composition, but to it is tacked •on an episode concerning Duke Hoel of Brittany, that was written at the end of the eleventh century. 2. A second Life of the Saint, in this called Mandetus, is from the Chapter Library of Orleans, and is now in the Town Library, No. 330. It has likewise been printed by De la Borderie, in the same work. 44-2 Lives of the British Saints This Life at Orleans owes its existence to the rehcs of S. Maudetus having been transported thither in the tenth century, when with them went the original Vita of the Saint. But in the thirteenth century, or perhaps a little earlier, it was recomposed, to put it into more polished shape. Happily this was done without excision of whole passages and incidents. It reproduces in portions the original text, which is found in the Vita ima. This is a consecutive narration, but it labours under the disadvantage of having interpolated into it a commonplace fiction of Maudetus being offered the crown of Ireland, and a beautiful girl as wife, and praying God to afflict him with leprosj? ; his prayer heard, the Irish refuse him as king and the damsel declines to accept him as a husband. After that he recovers his former beauty. This is a hackneyed fable, and occurs also in the Legend of S. Fingar. The Second Life is not treated by M. de la Borderie with his wonted literary acumen. He regards everything in it that is not found in the First as a late interpolation. The First Life, as already stated, consists of scraps only. The Second Life is a later composition than the First, but it is a re- writ- ing in what the author considered as better style of the material found in the First Life, that he had before it was mutilated to convert it into Breviary Lessons. The original Life, which served as basis for both, was undoubtedly composed in Brittany, and the re-writer of the Second Life has kept all the local allusions and names. He gives the name of the estuary where Maudetus landed, " ad portum qui dicitur Banniged in Britannico, Latine vero Portus Benedictus." He relates how Maudetus settled at Lesheluan. He names the ruling chief ; he says that he granted Lesvanalec to Maudetus. All this is no interpolation of the Orleans scribe ; he found it in his original text. Moreover, his Vita is continuous, with no gaps, whereas, as already said, what we possess of Vita ima is mere scrap work, ser- viceable enough for Lections in the Breviaries of Treguier and Leon, but very imperfect as history. The Second Life contains, in brief, it is true, an account of the death of the Saint. That in the recomposition the story has lost some freshness is not to be doubted, but without it, we should have but a very scrappy knowledge of the Life of Maudetus. One of M. de la Borderie's arguments in depreciation of the Vita 2da fails, and the facts tell in its favour. He says, of an account of an invasion of the minihi or sanctuary of the Saint by Treguier robbers, " Aucun trait de la physionomie de saint Maudez ; son caractere est la, au contraire, entierement defigure, calomnie. Ce rude Moine, qui s'exile de son pays d'origine, qui evangelisa tout le nord de S. Mawes or Maudetus 443 I'Armorique et se retire ensuite avec quelques disciples, poury vivre et mourir, dans une lie sauvage, sterile, separee du reste du monde par des courants perilleux et des greves perfides, — voila qu'on nous le represente comme un abbe de basse epoque, brule de la soif d'augmenter le patrimoine du crucifix, c'est a dire, en bon fran9ais, les biens de son couvent." If M. de la Borderie had known anything of the character of the Irish Saints, he would have been aware that this was their dominant passion. Not, indeed, that they were ambi- tious on their own account ; they were above that sort of vulgar greed ; but because it was essential to their existence as evangelisers of the country to maintain the inviolability of their sanctuaries, and the safety of those who belonged to their tribe. " Unter den Krumstab ist gut leben," was a German maxim, and this applied far more freely in Celtic lands in the fifth and sixth centuries than in later Mediaeval times. The redactor at Orleans has, doubtless, given a more modern tinge to the story, but he has maintained the essential elements most carefully. 3. A Third Life is in the fifteenth century MS. Breviary of Tr6guier in the Petit Seminaire of that town. It has likewise been printed by De la Borderie, pp. 225—7. I* is of no additional value, as it gives the Life in six lessons, extracts verhatim from the First Life. 4. To these may be added a Life in the Leon Breviary, printed in 1705, an amalgam of the Second and Third Lives, with a few additions. The Life of S. Modez in Albert Le Grand's Collection is made up from the Treguier and Leon and Orleans Breviary Lives. According to the Lives, Maudetus, also called in the Breviary of Orleans Mandetus, was born in Ii^eland, of royal race. His father's name was Ercleus, and that of his mother, Gentusa or Getusa. The pair had ten children, and as Maudetus was the tenth, he was given up to religion. The Irish martyrologists have a Moduit in their Calendars ; he was of Cill Moduit, and of the Hy Many of Roscommon. But this cannot be the same. Connaught sent no Saints to Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. Those who did come to settle were all from Leinster and Munster. It is possible that by Ercleus may be meant Ere, son of Ercadh, and grandfather of Mac Dairre, of the Hy Bairrche. We know that the sons of Mac Dairre were expelled their country by Crimthan, King of the Hy Cinnselach, and some of them went abroad. The period would agree fairly with the departure of Maudetus from Ireland, but he cannot have been the son, but the great-grandson, of Ere, if he were one of the Hy Bairrche. 444 Lives of the British Saints The reason of Maudetus leaving Ireland may have been the breaking out of the Yellow Plague there, 547—550, which swept away his father, mother and brothers. When the hagiographers represent a Saint as leaving his country for the love of God, we are generally justified in looking for another reason, compulsion, either by some political convulsion, or fright caused by plague. The biographers say nothing of a visit to Cornwall, but there he must have been, for he made a foundation on the creek of the Fal estuary where is now S. Mawes. Leland says : " Scant a quarter of a mile from the castel on the same side, upper into the land, is a praty village or fischartown with a pere, caulled S. Maw's ; and there is a chapelle of hym, and his chaire of stone a little without, and his welle. They caulle this Sainct there S. Nat ... he was a bishop in Britain, and (was) paintid as a scholemaster." 1 This would seem to imply that he was represented seated in his chair, with his pupils before him. These pupils, as we learn from the Vita, were Bothmael and Tudy. Unfortunately in the reconstruction of the sea wall and pier, some years ago, the Chair of stone was built in, and is now no longer to be seen, but the Well remains, with a pointed arch, and the water for the little town is drawn from it.^ From Cornwall Maudetus or Mawes crossed over into Armorica. The Second Life says that he landed in the Portus Benedictus, or Porz Beniguet, the entrance of the Treguier river, and that he brought with him his disciples Bothmael and Tudy. For a while they settled at Lesheluan, now Lesouan, near the port. This is probable enough. And here they received authorization to settle from Deroc, the prince of Leon, whom the Life calls Daeg. This was most assuredly in the original Life which served as the basis of the Orleans redaction. It is not in the First Life, which was cut down to serve for nine Breviary lections. No Orleans redactor would have known the localities. And his ignorance of the history of Brittany is shown in the misreading of the name of Deroc. Deroc was the son of Righuel, who had constituted himself Prince of Domnonia, and who received S. Brioc on his arrival. We learn from the Life of S. Leonore that Deroc was at this time ruling in Leon, with, probably, the consent of his father, who lived at Lishelion, on the Anse d'lfignac. 3 He was granted a site at Lesvanalec, near ' Itin., iii, 30. 2 Quiller-Couch [The Holy Wells of Cornwall, 1894), did not see the wel], and mistook another in private grounds for that of the Saint, and they give an illus- tration of the well that was not his. ■■' De la Borderie regards this as an invention of the Orleans redactor. We S. Mawes oj^ Maudetus 445 the harbour. Maudetus soon gathered about him a number of ad- herents,^ and he resolved on seeking a more quiet retreat, where he could train his disciples more at leisure. There was an island off the coast at the mouth of the Trieux, in the archipelago of Brehat, where the tide at fall retires to a great distance, leaving miles of sand, broken by rocks that bristle out of it, with pools about them formed by the swirl of the retreating currents. It was reported to be infested with serpents and venomous insects. To clear the soil of these, Maudetus set fire to the dry grass that covered the surface,^ and then he crossed over with his disciples to it, and they constructed a series of separate cells, and a church of stone. Shortly before crossing over, an incident occurred of a serious nature that called for the interposition of the Saint. Two of Deroc's sons had been playing with bows and arrows, and by inadvertence one of them shot his brother in the head and killed him. The boy was so frightened that he ran away and concealed himself in the woods. Deroc was wild with regret and rage, and in his fury might have beat the survivor to death, had not Maudetus interposed, and by degrees appeased his wrath, by representing the matter as the result of an accident. At last, when the father had come to view the matter in a calmer light, Maudetus communicated with the lurking boy, and he came forth from his hiding-place. ^ Maudetus was wont to take a seat in the open air, where he had a chair, and there to instruct his pupils. Now it so happened that a great seal was wont to disport itself in the water near the isle, and the bobbing about of the great black head with its strangely human eyes distracted the attention of those he was instructing. This happened so frequently that the patience of the abbot was exhausted, and taking up a stone, he flung it at the seal, with such good aim that he hit it on the head ; and thenceforth the beast troubled him in his lessons no more. The biographer supposed it was' not a real animal, but a demon such as the people called a Tuthe ; that is, our Deuce.* cannot agree with this view. The fragmentary nature of this part of Vita ima is marked ; and, as observed above, the passage shows acquaintance with the locahties. ' " Magna popuH caterva comitatus qui salubribus ipsius sermonibus obtem- perabat," etc. Vita una, c. 5. 2 " Frutecta et vermes omnes vis incendii usque ad interiora radicum in ciner- em convertit." Vita 2da, c. 15. ^ Ibid., cc. 12, 13. The biographer of course makes Mawes resuscitate the dead boy. That is his addition and invention. * " Quidam daemon quem Britones Tuthe appellant coram eis apparuit in specie marine belluae," Vita una, cc. 11, 12. " Deemones quos Dusios Galli nuncupant," says S. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, xv, 23. 44 6 Lives of the British Saints One day the fire on the island had become extinct, and Maudetus sent his disciple Bothmael across to the mainland to fetch live char- coal. He went to a woman, who only consented to let him have it if he would carry the coals in the lap of his habit. This Bothmael did, and his habit was unsinged. What made this more wonderful was that the tide overtook him as he was on his way back over the sands, and he was forced to take refuge on one of the rocks that rise above the reach of the water except in a storm. The story of carrying live coals in the lap is sufficiently common ; it is reproduced in a great many Lives. It has been transferred from Bothmael to Tudy ; it is told of S. Cadoc, and of S. Asaph and S. Caffo. It is not to be rejected lightly. There is a basis of truth in it, and it may well have happened to many. A fire had to be kept in, for if it went out, it was no easy matter to rekindle it. When extinguished by neglect or accident, a pupil would be sent to where was the nearest fire to ask for coals. He would probably take with him a pot to contain the glowing embers, and this pot he would carry with considerable precaution in his lap. If it did not upset on his way and burn his garment, the master would probably congratulate him on his having escaped damaging his gabardine, and this easily grew into being considered a marvel and a miracle. On the mainland Maudetus had a church, now Lan Modez, which the biographer latinizes into Landa Maudeti. The people were much harassed by some ruffians, a piratical band which broke into their houses, robbed, and carried away their goods. In their distress they cried to their Saint to help them. The day was one of sweltering heat, and the robbers had greatly exerted themselves, and were thirsty. They went to the nearest well for a drink. Then their leader, too indolent to descend from his horse, stooped from his saddle, and endeavoured to fill a drinking vessel from the spring, when, what with the heat and with this action, apoplexy ensued and he dropped dead on the ground. The rogues were alarmed, abandoned their booty, and retired. The people who had been plundered attributed their relief to S. Maudetus ; and the biographer, to make the story more marvellous, fabled that fire leaped out of the spring and burnt the fellow.^ The First Life ends abruptly after telling us the story of Bothmael ' " Praedicti prsedones calore solis ferventes, siti mirabili coacti, quendam de armigeris ad fontem praedicti sancti, qui prope erat, propter aquam, ut sitim nimiam extinguerent, celeriter transmiserunt. Qui dum ad fontem perveniret et ab equo suo se inclinaret ut cadum suum de aqua impleret, statim, virtute divina cooperante . . . ignis mirabilis de fonte coram omnibus super eum prosiliit," etc. Vita una, cc. 13, 14. S. MAWES. Statue at ErgiU-Gaberic. S. Mawes or Maudetus 447 fetching fire from the mainland, but the Second says that Maudetus died on the fourteenth of the Calends of December (November i8). In the Life we are told that he crossed over in the days of Childebert, 507—48. This agrees with the date of the breaking out of the Yellow Plague, 547. As we are not told the age of Maudetus when he died, we do not know the exact date. It would be towards the end of the sixth century. Local tradition has added to the story of the Saint. He is said at Henvic, in Cotes du Nord, to have brought over from Ireland his sister, whom they call Juvetta, in Breton Hulven. On a mediaeval diptych are statues of S. Modez, as he is called in Brittany, and S. Juvetta ; also four bas-reliefs representing severally the story of S. Modez and that of his sister. The first give S. Modez healing the sick, receiving his father's blessing, casting out a devil, and restoring sight to the blind, blessing his disciples, and dying. The four others exhibit S. Juvetta restoring life to the dead, healing maniacs, giving sight to the blind, driving away the wild birds from a field of corn. In Cornwall, the only dedication to him is S. Mawes ; his chair and well there have been already mentioned. In Brittany something like sixty churches and chapels have been •erected to his honour. The list of these is given in the new edition of Albert le Grand's Vies dts Saints, in additional notes by Canon Thomas. Earth taken from the He S. Modez, and dust from below his statue, are regarded as a vermifuge. At Edern so much earth has been scooped from under the stone altar in his ancient chapel, that the altar itself has collapsed. He is usually represented as a mitred abbot with staff. There is, however, a good early statue of him at Pencran near Landerneau, in which he wears no mitre, but a shaven head, and bears in his right hand a book, in the left a staff with octagonal knobbed head. At Plogonnec, near Quimper, is a triptych, on which Various scenes of his life are represented in bas-relief. On the highest point of the He S. Modez is a sort of beehive hut, but large, and this is kept in constant repair as a sea-mark. It is commonly •called Le Forn de S. Modez, or the Saint's Oven ^ Near it are traces •of another circular habitation. The extension of the cult of the Saint, and the numerous churches placed under his invocation, seem 1 De la Borderie, Hisf. de Bretagne, i, p. 392. It must be admitted that it closely resembles a mediaeval dove-cot. It deserves to be examined, to ascertain •whether it was not really such. 44 8 Lives of the British Saints to indicate that he did not remain always in his islet, but travelled about in Domnonia and Cornouaille, on mission work. In estimating his epoch we have only a few data to go by. We are told in his Life that he arrived in Brittany during the reign of Childebert, King of the Franks, that is, between 511 and 558. It was probably early in that reign, for his disciple Tudy passed from him into the monastery of Landevenec under S. Winwaloe. In the Second Life, to which we are inclined to attribute more value than does M. de la Borderie, he is brought into association with Deroc, the son of Righuel, or Rhiwal, who ruled in Domnonia from, about 515 to 520. This Deroc, as we judge from the Life of S. Tudwal, exercised some sort of authority in Leon during the lifetime of his father, whom he succeeded in Domnonia in or about 520, and ruled till about 535. Whether the Pagi of Castell, Treguier and Goelo were ever included in Leon we do not know, but they formed a portion of the old region occupied by the Curiosoliti. Accordingly we dare not say whether the intercourse between Maudetus and Deroc took place whilst he was prince or regent in Leon, or after he was king or chief in Domnonia. There is not any allusion in the Lives to the troubles occasioned by the usurpation of Conmore in 540 to his death in 555. a-nd we may therefore judge that Maudetus died in the first half of the sixth century, perhaps about the time when died Deroc. There is now no Feast at S. Mawes. In Bishop Brantyngham's Register, S. Mawes is entered as Capella Sti Mawdeti, 1381. In Brittany his day is November 18, Breviary of Vannes, 1586, 1589 ; Breviary of S. Male, 1537 ; Breviary of Leon, 1516 ; Missal of Leon, 1526 ; Breviary of Dol, 1519 ; Albert le Grand, and Lobineau. But November 16, Breviary of Treguier, 1779 ; Breviary of Quimper, 1783 and 1835. November 27 in the Leon Breviary of 1736, and that of Dol, 1775. Gautier du Mottai says : " Saint Maudez, ainsi qu'on pent en juger par le nombre des oratoires qui lui sont dedies, est le saint dont le culte est le plus repandu en Bretagne, apres celui de Saint Yves." "■ S. Maudez or Modez is invoked against boils, and is offered a handful of slaters' nails, which must not be counted. His chapel at Trebry, Cotes du Nord, is near a dolmen that bears his name. The Pardon there is on Trinity Sunday. Near it is his Holy Well. 2 ' Iconog. Bretonne, p. 233. 2 Sebillot, Petite Ligende dorie de la Haute Bretagne, Nantes, 1897, pp. 72-3. S. Mawgan 449 The stone boat in which S. Maudez crossed over the sea to Brittany is shown at Lanhiron on the Quimper river. His spring whence a flame issued to consume the freebooter is shown, and is supposed still at certain times to emit flames. A cave is also shown where he spent much time in retreat ; in it is his bed, Gwele-sant-Modez, which is visited every year by pilgrims on the occasion of the Pardon. Every sailor is bound once in his life to visit the island of S. Modez under pain of risking shipwreck. ^ At Banalec, in Finistere, in the chapel of Locmarzin, is a statue of S. Maudez, and beneath it a hole about a foot in depth, formed by pilgrims who take thence pinches of dust or earth to put on their feet when inflamed, or to preserve them from inflammation.^ S. MAWGAN, Abbot, Confessor There were several Saints who bore names very similar to that of this Saint, but there are two alone between whom we have to decide which is the Saint who came to Cornwall. One of these is Maucan, Mancen, Manchan, or Monin, son of Dubh- tach, chief bard to King Laoghaire. The other is Meugant, son of Gwyndaf Hen, first cousin to S. Samson. His mother was Gwenonwy, a sister of Anna, mother of S. Samson, and his father was brother to Amwn Ddu, father of S. Samson. The Cornish Mawgan is most probably the former, because his settlement in Meneage is among the Irish colonists, and that in Pyder is almost in connexion with the chain along North Cornwall, within a few miles of Perranzabuloe and Crantock. Another reason for the identification is that the Feast of S. Mawgan in Meneage is on the same day as that of the Irish Saint. There can be no question as to which was the more important man of the two. The cousin of S. Samson lived at a later period ; he died about the middle of the sixth century. Maucan or Mancen, the Irish Saint, belonged to a family of pro- fessional bards, and, as already said, his father was the poet attached to the person of Laoghaire, the High- King of Ireland. Dubhtach must have known something about Christianity before the arrival of Patrick, for, from the first, he warmly seconded the * De Cerny, Contes et LSgendes de Breiagne, Paris, 1899, pp. 15-22. 2 Bulletin de la Commission Dioc. de Quimper, 1902, p. 282. VOL. III. G G 45 o Lives of the British Saints Apostle, who entertained the highest opinion of the poet, and consulted him in many of his difficulties. Dubhtach contributed largely to the success of S. Patrick, in that he had the ear of the king, and that he was a man of wisdom and prudence. He used his best endeavours to disarm opposition to the progress of the Gospel, and Ireland has never thoroughly recognized how much she has owed to his good offices. At the same time that Dubhtach was baptised, 447, his son Maucan was received into the Church. When S. Patrick went into Tirawley, in Mayo, he converted the seven sons of the king, Amalghaid, or Awley, on which occasion twelve thousand persons followed the example of their chiefs. This abundant ingathering demanded a corresponding supply of labourers, and S. Patrick placed over them this same Maucan " surnamed The Master, a holy man, well read in the Scriptures, and a teacher of faith and doctrine." These epithets do not apply to him at this period, but describe the Maucan who was left in Tirawley, as he was after- wards well known as " The Master " — a great teacher of theology. The Apostle of Ireland crossed between Waterford and Porth Mawr, in Pembrokeshire, about 468. In the Life of S. David we are told that the Apostle took a great fancy to the spot, where he could sit on a rock, afterwards called " The Chair of S. Patrick," and watch the summer sun go down in amber and gold behind the' mountains of distant Waterford. He would have liked to remain there, but felt that the good work he had begun must be carried on and com- pleted ; and he went back to his duties. However, he seems to have fixed on this spot, within sight of Ireland, as a suitable site for a nursery of missionaries for Munster and Leinster. Over this establish- ment he placed Maucan. ^ In like manner, for Ulster and the whole North, a collegiate establishment was founded at Candida Casa, or Whitherne, in Galloway, over which S. Ninian presided. The house in Wales was Ty Gwyn (the White House), or " The Old Bush." Ty Gwyn is situated above Porth Mawr, and about two miles from S. Davids. It stands on the south slope of Carn Llidi, the purple rocks above it springing out of the heath, with here and there a gorse bush, like a puff of flame breaking out of the crannies of the rock. Below it, near the sea, are the foundations of S. Patrick's chapel, on the site of his embarkation. The foundations of the church at Ty Gwyn, the cradle of Christianity 1 Rhygyfarch, Camhfo-Bntish Saints, p. 117, calls him Maucannus. Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson, in Y Cymmrodov, xxi (1908), pp. 92-3, identifies Maucannus with S. Mawgan. ... S. Mawgan 451 among the Southern Irish, are trodden under foot by sheep and oxen, that wander over the wide cemetery where lie thick, in narrow coffins of unshaped stones, the bodies of the first inmates of that earliest Mission College in Britain. When we visited the spot in 1898, the farmer had torn up the grave-slabs of the tombs in the cattle-yard, and the drainage of his cow-stalls and pig-styes soaked into the places where the bodies of ancient fathers of the British and Irish Churches had crumbled to dust.^ Much confusion has arisen between the White House in Menevia and the Candida Casa in Galloway, as the names are the same, and those also of their first presidents are also similar. For Maucan is also called Ninnio, and Ninian was the head of Candida Casa. Inci- dents connected with one establishment have been transferred to the other. Another cause of confusion has been that Ty Gwyn has been supposed to be the same as the monastery of Ty Gwyn ar Daf, or Whitland, which, however, was not founded till Norman times. Let us now take in order the incidents in the life of S. Maucan. His conversion and baptism took place presumedly in 447. He was placed in charge of the new converts in Tirawley in 455. About 463 he was recalled and sent with his kinsman S. Fiacc to evangelize their relatives the Hy Cinnselach in Wexford. He went thence very shortly after to South Wales to organize the college of Ty Gwyn. In the Collections of Tirechan he is' called Manchan, and in Lives of the Irish Saints he figures as Nennio and Ninidh. There can be no doubt as to these names belonging to the same person. There is but one incident recorded relative to his work among the Hy Cinnselach. S. Fiacc of Sletty had a bad leg. S. Patrick heard of it, and sent him a chariot and a pair of horses, to enable him to get about. This aroused the jealousy of Sechnall (Secundinus) , another of his missionaries, and he scolded Patrick soundly as giving way to partiality. But after he became cool, Sechnall repented ; he had intercepted the present, and he sent it to Maucan, and begged him to forward it to Fiacc. This Maucan did, with an apology ; but Fiacc, too charitable to receive a gift that had caused heart-burnings, restored chariot and horses to Patrick, and refused to use them. ^ Maucan is called variously " The Master," as the great trainer of Saints, and " The Bard," as a member of an hereditary family of poets. ' Mrs. Dawson, in ArchiBologia Camhrensis, 1898, pp. 1-20, conclusively proves this to be the site of the Ty Gwyn the nursery of Saints and Missionaries. She wrote the article without being aware of the extensive remains of this early Christian cemetery, or that the foundations of the old church remain. 3 Additions to Tirechan's .Collections, Tripaytite Life, ii, p. 347. ■ 45^ Lives of the British Saints To him, but hesitatingly, is attributed a Latin hymn on the occasion of a plague. Parce domine peccantibus Ignosce penitentibus Miserere nobis rogantibus Salvator omnium Christe Respice in nos Jesu, et miserere.' We next hear of him at Ty Gwyn, or Rosnat. He is named as its master in the Lives of the Saints who were his pupils. In the Life of S. Tighernach the monastery is called " Monas- terium Rosnacense, alio nomine Alba," ^ and in the Life of S. Eoghain we are expressly told that " Sanctus et sapiens Nennio, qui Mancennus dicitur, de Rosnacensi monasterio," ^ received him and Tighernach. Another name by which the establishment was known was " Mon- asterium Magnum." It was one of those double houses that after- wards became common, and were introduced among the Northumbrians from Hy. The arrangement had great practical disadvantages. For how long Maucan governed the college we have no means of saying. He was succeeded by Paulinus, who had been for a while his disciple. It is remarkable that no date is given by the Irish annalists for the death of a man of so great importance, and this leads us to suppose that he died out of Ireland. He is identified by Mr. Shearman {Loca Patriciana) with the Irish professor who carried into Armorica the Book of Cuilmenn. As no other copy existed in the island, a deputation was sent by the chief poet, in 580, to Brittany to recover it. This is probable enough. Maucan is venerated in Brittany as a founder of La Meaugon. It is also likely that an institution such as Ty Gwyn should have branches in Cornwall and in Armorica, as places for recruiting students and missionaries for the work undertaken by the mother-house. The feast at Mawgan in Meneage is June 18. The day of the Saint's Pardon at La Meaugon is June 19. The feast at Mawgan in Pyder is July 25. This is the day of his commemoration in the Irish Calendars as Ninnio the Aged. There is in these Calendars a second commemo- ration as Mancen the Wise, on January 2. He is included in the Exeter Litany of the tenth century as Sanctus Maucan, and is placed between S. Winnow and S. Gildas. The churches in Cornwall dedicated to S. Mawgan are but the two, one in Meneage and the other in Pyder. That in Brittany, Lan >■ Liber Hymnorum, Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898, p. 24. 2 Vitce SS. Hib. in Cod. Salam., col. 213. ^ Ibid., col. 915. S. MAWGAN. Stained Glass at La Meaugon. S. Mawnan 453 Meaugon, now La Meaugon, is in the narrow rocky valley of the Gouet, near S. Brieuc. There is also S. Maugean in Ille et Vilaine ; and possibly we have the name in the Lomogan of Ste. Seve, in Cotes du Nord. But see also under Meugan In Art S. Mawgan should be represented in black habit, with a book and a staff, and with his foot on a harp, as indicating that he had abandoned the hereditary profession of bard for the Christian ministry and as teacher. At La Meaugon he is represented in stained glass, of the fifteenth century, vested in chasuble, and holding in his hands a pyx. S. MAWNAN, Bishop, Confessor This Saint has given his name to a parish in Cornwall. In Bishop Quivil's Register, 1281, he is called Sanctus Maunanus. In that of Bishop Grandisson, 1328, Robert Flammanke is called Rector of S. Maunany, but in the same year, in another document. Rector Sancti Maunani. So called in 1347, 1348, 1350, and 1361 ; also in the Taxatio of 1291, in the Registers of Bishop Brantyngham, 1381 and 1391 ; and in that of Bishop Stafford, 1398. Mawnan is the softened Brythonic form of the Goidelic Magnenn. The Feast of S. Magnenn of Kilmainham is observed on December 18, and that of S. Mawnan on December 26. At the re-dedication of the Church in the fifteenth century, it was given a second patron, according to the practice of the Bishops of Exeter, who endeavoured by this means to displace the old Celtic Saints." The new patron was S. Stephen, and the feast was then doubtless transferred to his Day, which coming immediately after Christmas, was near enough to the old feast not to wound the sus- ceptibilities of the Mawnan people, and it obviated the unsuitablity of keeping the Patronal Feast during Advent. Mawnan is in the district colonized by the Irish ; and although we do not know that S. Magnenn was in Cornwall, yet it is by no means improbable that he did visit it and had there a branch establish- ment, as he was a notable traveller. Magnenn or Maignenn was one of four brothers, sons of Aedh, and was an intimate friend of S. Findchu of Kilgoban, S. Loman of Lough Owel, and of S. Finnian of Moville. He was ordained Bishop, and when at home was at Kilmainham, but he was of a restless disposition, and was incessantly on the move 454 Lives of the British Saints accompanied by twenty-seven clerics, a peripatetic school, like that of the bards. He visited Diarmid, son of Fergus, King of Ireland (544-65), and preached vigorously before him on the terrors of hell, and so fright- ened many of his hearers, that thirty of the court abandoned the world and became monks. The King, moreover, was so panic-struck that, to make his peace with God and the Saint, he granted him " a scruple on every nose, and an ounce of gold for every chieftain's daughter on her marriage." Magnenn had a favourite \ am that attended him on his missionary tours, and the Saint was wont to fasten his book of prayers round the neck of the beast, and make it carry the volume for him. One day a thief stole and killed the ram. Magnenn found out who was the culprit and went to his house, where he cursed him that his eyes should go blind, and his belly swell till he burst. The man was so teriified that he admitted he had killed and partly eaten the pet ram, and offered to do penance. S. Magnenn paid a visit to S. Molaiss of Leighlin, who was wont, like an Indian fakir, to lie on the ground upon his face, with his arms and legs extended, and to howl. He was covered with thirty sores, and was enclosed in a narrow hovel. Magnenn asked him why he lived such a horrible life, and Molaiss replied that " his sinfulness like a flame pervaded his body," and that he lived in this manner to extirpate his sins. Magnenn enjoyed the privilege of solemnly burying the fellow. He also paid a visit to an equally nasty Saint, Findchu of Kilgoban. " It was this Findchu who often times occupied a stone cell somewhat higher than his own stature, with a stone overhead and one underfoot,, and two iron crooks, one on each side of the cell ; on those he was wont to place his armpits so that neither did his head touch the stone above, nor his feet the flag beneath. He was wont also to lie for the first night in the grave with every corpse that was buried in the church- yard." Magnenn seems to have relished visiting these monsters of asceticiEm., Another whom he favoured was Maelruan of Tallaght, whom he found in a well, up to his chin in water, lustily chanting the entire Psalter.. When Maelruan got out, he took a brooch from his hairy habit and smote himself on the breast with it, and then invited his visitor to observe that from the wound made by the pin of the brooch, a liquid exuded that was pale in colour and not red like wholesome bloody " and that," said Maelruan, "is token that there remains very little pride in me." S. Mawnan 4. 5 5 Magnenn was so impressed, that he begged the Saint to hear his confession. Maelruan hesitated. " Do you exercise yourself in any manual labour ? " he asked. Magnenn was forced to confess that he did not. His time was occupied in saying his Offices, and in wandering about the country. Maelruan then bluntly told him that he could not and would not minister reconciliation to a man who did not work for his daily bread, but lived on alms. The visitor then humbly entreated the ascetic to give him at least some spiritual counsel. This Maelruan did in these words : " Weep for the sins of your friends and neighbours as though they were your own. Set your affections on God and things above, and not on persons and things below. Meditate on Mary, Mother of Glory, on the Twelve Major Prophets, on John the Baptist,' and the Minor Prophets, together with Habaccuc. Think on the Four Gospels, the Twelve Apostles, and the Eleven Disciples, on the band of youths that attend on the King Eternal, the token of their service being a cross of gold on their foreheads, and a silver cross on their backs. Meditate on the. Nine Angelic Orders, and on the bliss of the Heavenly City." Maelruan then promised Magnenn that his fire should be as cele- brated at Kilmainham as were the two other famous fires in Ireland, that is to say, those kept perpetually burning at Kildare. Magnenn seems to have been inspired to imitate these austerities, and he allowed his body to become a prey to vermin. But one day he met S. Fursey, and the two Saints began to talk of their mutual discomforts. Fursey said that he was much bothered with dysentery. " If you will take my vermin, I will take your dj'sentery, and so ex- change troubles," said Magnenn ; and we are gravely assured that the Saints did thus pass over their afflictions to one another.^ On one occasion, when wandering over the bogs and hills, S. Mag- nenn lost his way ; night and rain came on, and no house was in sight. So he planted his staff in the earth, and he and his disciples attached their cloaks to it, spread them out, and all huddled underneath this extemporised tent, and spent in it a most miserable night. He, like most other Irish Saints, maintained a leper. His leper was a woman, and for her support he gave her a cow. A robber stole the cow. Thereupon Magnenn and his clergy excommunicated the thief with bell and book. Magnenn so roundly cursed the man, that some of his clergy interposed, and entreated the Saint at least to allow the wretch a nook in Heaven, however much he might afflict him with cramps and blains on earth. But Magnenn was inexorable. " Rather," said he, " so great is my indignation, that I seek to rouse ' Vita S. Cuannathei in Cod. Salam., col. 936. 45 6 Lives of the British Saitits God's anger to increase the everlasting torment of the man hereafter." Then he burst forth into maledictions against such as should violate his privileges and sanctuary. " I curse them that they may lose the sight of their eyes, that they may die violent deaths, and that the gates of the Heavenly City may be shut in their faces." Magnenn is also credited with having uttered a prophecy, which, it is the conviction of many, has been fulfilled. " A time shall come when girls shall be pert and tart of tongue ; when there will be grumbling and discontent among the lower classes ; when there will be lack of reverence to elders ; when churches will be slackly attended ; and when women shall exercise wiles." Magnenn is said to have studiously shunned the society and favour of kings, and to have interposed when he heard of war breaking out. He had a faculty of discerning the spirit of a man, after he had been three hours in his company, and deciding whether he was a sincerely good man or a hj'pocrite. He could give good advice. One day he said, " Of all the absurd things I ever saw, was an old fellow haranguing his sons on virtue, when the rogue himself never exercised the least self-restraint." He was himself unmarried, and was strongly opposed to clerical marriage, and said some hard things, and even extravagant things, thereon. Being such a rambler himself, he was able to give good advice relative to pilgrimages. He declared that the wish to visit a holy spot sufficed, if so be that he who desired to undertake the journey was detained by domestic duties. He strongly condemned those who proposed to themselves pilgrimages with the object of shaking off religious responsibilities and moral discipline such as they had exercised, but found irksome, at home. It is quite possible that some of the extravagances attributed to Magnenn are due to the invention of the biographer of Kilmainham, who imagined the curses, so as to deter the violent from laying hands on the property of the monastery. So many of his sayings exhibit sound sense and real piety, that we are inclined to doubt the genuineness of such as breathe a different spirit. The authority for the brief notice here given is an Irish Life published in the Silva Gadelica, that is unfortunately incomplete, consequently we do not know the particulars concerning the close of his life. Nor can we fix, with any confidence, the date of his death. Magnenn was a friend of S. Fursey before the latter left Ireland, which was in the reign of Sigebert of the East Saxons, in or about 637. He was also a friend of S. Findchu, who was a contemporary of S. Medan 457 Cairbre Crom, King of Munster, who died in 571 ; but Findchu was certainly older than Magnenn. The Maelruan he visited was not Maelruan of Tallaght, who died in 782, but Maelruan of Druim Raithe, in West Meath, who lived earlier. He is also spoken of as visiting Diarmid, King of all Ireland (544-65) ; so that probably Magnenn lived in the latter part of the sixth century, and died about 638. The story of his taking dysentery after a visit to S. Furseymay mean that he was prostrated after that visit, and died of it. The only dedication to Magnenn in Cornwall is S. Mawnan. The church was given a secondary dedication to S. Stephen, and this may account for the transference of the Feast to December 26. It lies at the mouth of the Helford river, close to the sea, over against S. Anthony, with its camp on Dinas Head. The church is mainly Perpendicular, and has the remains of a fine screen with painted figures of Saints on it. There was a sanctuary attached to Mawnan Church, called the Lawn or Llan. At the extremity of the point is a rock called Mawnan's Chair. The Church is situated in a circular enclosure, probably the original bank of the monastery, and in the " Lawn " is a Holy Well. S. MECHELL, see S. MALO S. MECHYDD, Confessor In one entry in the lolo MSS.'^ Mechydd ab Sanddef Bryd Angel ab Llywarch Hen is given as a Welsh Saint. There is a mistake here, for Mechydd was not a grandson of Llywarch, but one of his twenty- four sons. He is mentioned in two poems in the twelfth century Black Book of Carmarthen,^ wherein his steeds and his death are re- ferred to, and it is added in the last verse of the first poem : — Mechydd, the son of Llywarch, the undaunted chief, Fine and fair was his robe of the colour of the swan. The first that fastened a horse by the bridle. He was a warrior and not a Saint. S. MEDAN, Monk, Confessor One of the disciples of S. Petrock, whose body, according to Leland, reposed at Bodmin.^ It is just possible that he may be the same ^ P. 128 ; Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 280. 2 Ed. Evans, 1906, pp. 93, 108. ' Collect., i, p. 10. 4- 5 8 Lives of the British Saints as Mydan, grandson of Urien Rheged, and a disciple of S. Cadoc This latter Saint visited Cornwall, and may have left Mydan there. S. MEDDWID, or MEDWIDA, Virgin A FESTIVAL, entered against August 27 as " Gwyl Feddwid," occurs in the Calendars in Peniarth MSS. 187 and 219, the lolo MSS., and the Prymers of 1618 and 1633 (the last as Foddwid). The name is in a mutated form, and can only stand for either Beddwid or Meddwid. In a will, dated 1530, a cleric of Bangor Diocese directs his body to be buried " in ecclesia Sancte Medwide Virginis," ^ which is identified with the parish church of Clocaenog, in Denbighshire. Down to 1859 it was in the Diocese of Bangor, but is now in that of S. Asaph. Browne Willis ^ gives the church as dedicated to S. Vodhyd, with festival on August 27, and other spellings of the name are Foddyd, and Foddhyd. Sometimes the church is said to be dedicated to an imagi- nary S. Caenog,^ and also to S. TriUo, but it is perfectly clear that its real patron is Medwida, Meddwid, or Meddwyd. The Welsh accounts know nothing of a Saint under that form, but we think she is none other than the Meddvyth of an entry in a Genealogy of the Welsh Saints which occurs in Cardiff MS. 5 (p. 118), written in 1527, and in Llanstephan MS. 81 (p. 2), in the auto- graph of Moses Williams (d. 1742), which runs, "Meddvyth verch Jdlos vab Uawvrodedd varchawc." This is the only record of her name that we know of. Her father, S. Idloes, who is patron of Llan- idloes, in Montgomeryshire, was, correctly, the son of Gwyddnabi, who was again the son of Llawfrodedd Farfog. S. MEDROD Medrod's title to be regarded as a Welsh Saint rests entirely <>n one entry iii the lolo MSS.^ He was the son of S. Cawrdaf ab Caradcg 1 Arch. Camh., 1876, p. 221. 2 Bangor, 1721, pp. 278, 327. In a register at Clocaenog of moneys collected on briefs and otherwise is entered the following — " Collected to Jo°. Robert Parish Clark of Clocaenog on Clocaenog Wakes viz. 27° Die Aug. 1710 the smn of 4s. in y' Morning and 8d. in y^ afternoon." The nearest approach to this Saint that we find in the Irish Martyrologies is Feidhilmidh mac Crimthain, who is commemorated on August 28. ^ ii, p. 49. * P. 123 ; Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 280. A proverb, formerly current in Gla- morgan, plays upon the name, " Medrod-mab Angen yw'r Athraw Ysgol goreu'n y byd." aS^. Meigan 459 Freichfras, the brother of S. Cathan, and the father of S. Dyfnog. He is not to be confounded with the better known, but dishonourable, Medrod or Modred, nephew of King Arthur. S. MEDWY, Confessor Medwy, in Latin Medwinus, belongs, with Elfan, Dyfan, and Ffagan, to the group of persons who figure in the Lucius legend. The only Achau'r Saint that include Medwy are the three late Gla- morgan copies printed in the lolo MSS.'^ He was, we are told, " a messenger for Lleurwg (Lucius) to Pope Eleutherius, and was made a bishop in Rome ; " and was subsequently bishop at Llanfedwy, in Glamorgan, of which he was patron. Llanvedw is now the township name of the Glamorgan part of the parish of Michaelston-j?-Vedw. The church is extinct, having been burnt down in the wars of lestyn ab Gwrgant in the eleventh century, and was never rebuilt." The churches in the neighbourhood of Llandaff dedicated to the reputed messengers of Lucius and evangelizers of Britain probably owe their dedications to genuine Welsh Saints, of a later age than the second century, whose names have been pressed into the legend. Medwy's festival does not occur in any early Welsh Calendar, but January i is mentioned as his day.^ See further what has been said under the names of the trio usually associated with Medwy. S. MEIGAN, Confessor Meigan was, according to the lolo MSS.,^ the son of Goronwy of Gwareddog, or Gwredog (in Arfon), who, with his brothers Padrig, Cyffyllog, and Garmon, was a Saint of Cor Beuno at Clynnog, in Carnarvonshire. Nothing further seems to be known of him ; indeed, the authority for him is not above suspicion. Meigan, no doubt, stands for Meugant. 1 Pp. 100, 115, 135. 2 Ibid., p. 220. This seems to have been in 1069, when the battle mentioned as " Gwaith Llanfedwy " was fought ; Gweniian Chronicle, p. 60. {Suppl. to Arch. Camb., 1863). " Rees, Welsh Saints, p. 86. * Pp. 143-4- 460 Lives of the British Saints SS. MEIGIR and MEILIR In a passage in a document relating to Cunedda and the partition of Wales among his sons, printed in the lolo MSS.,^ which has been unaccountably foisted among the saintly genealogies, we read : " Cynir, Meilir, and Meigir, the sons of Gwron ab Cunedda Wledig, went with CaswaUon Lawhir, their cousin, to expel the Goidels and Picts from the Island of Anglesey, whither they had fled from the sons of Cunedda, and had established themselves in that Island. After furious fighting they drove the Goidels out of Anglesey, and Caswallon Lawhir slew Serigi the Goidel there with his own hand." This is the only reference to Meigir and Meilir that may be adduced in favour of including them among the Welsh Saints ; but the passage is an unwarranted interpolation. Meilyr or Meilir is the later Welsh form for Maglorius. Besides being a man's name, it is also the name of a tributary of the Arth, in Cardiganshire. Meilir is given by mistake in one entry in the lolo MSS.^ for Maelrys, the son of Gwyddno ab Emyr Llydaw. In the Calendar in the Welsh Prymer of 1546 Meilir is given against November 12, now in error for Meilic, later Meilig. The church of Llysyfran, Pembrokeshire, is usually given as dedi- cated to a S. Meilir, but of him nothing is known, unless we assume that by him Maglorious is intended. S. MEILIG, see S. MAELOG S. MEIRION, Confessor Meirion, the Saint, was son of Owain Danwyn ab Einion Yrth ab Cunedda Wledig.^ The older pedigrees usually describe him as a Saint " in the Cantref," but that in Hafod MS. 16 as " in Merthyr Meirion, m the Cantref of the sons of Owain Danwyn," etc., i.e., Dunoding. By Merthyr Meirion is meant Criccieth Church, form- mer known as Merthyr, and now dedicated to S. Catherine. He was the brother of SS. Einion Frenin and Seiriol. His name in the later documents is sometimes written Meirian. The only other known dedication to him is that of the chapel of Llan- feirion or Llanfeirian, in the parish of Llangadwaladr, Anglesey. It is ^ Pp. 122-3 ; Rees, Welsh Saints, pp. 165-6. 2 P. 133 ; Rees, op. cit., p. 222. ' Peniarth MSS. 12, 16, 45 ; Hafod MS. 16 ; Myv. Arch., pp. 424, 427 ; Cambro-Byitish Saints, p. 266 ; lolo MSS., pp. 102, 125 (on pp. no, 124, he is said to have been son of Einion Yrth). Meirion is the Latin Marianus borrowed. It occurs in Breton as Merion. SS. Me/j Melchu^ and Muinis 461 believed to have been originally a parish church. It was allowed to go to ruins in the eighteenth century, and has not been since restored. Tudur Aled, in an elegy, mentions " plwyf Meirian." ^ The festival of Meirian occurs in the calendar in the Grammar of John Edwards of Chirkland on February 4, but Browne Willis ^ gives it under Llanfeirian as on the 3rd. Meirion, the son of Tybion ab Cunedda, is in one passage in the lolo M5S.^ included among the Welsh Saints, but the foisted document in which it occurs is not of a hagiological character. His father Tybion, having been slain in battle, the cantref which should have been allotted to him on the Cuneddan conquest of Wales was bestowed upon Meirion — hence Meirionydd, Merioneth. SS. MEL, MELCHU, and MUINIS, Bishops, Confessors These were Britons who assisted S. Patrick in his work in Ireland- It has been supposed that Melchu is but another form of the name Mel, and that these were identical, for both are represented as Bishops of Ardagh, and both are commemorated on the same day, and as nothing is related of Melchu apart from Mel. But he is probably Maelog, who had a church not far from Kilkenny, in which town his brothers Mel and Rioc had foundations. They are represented as sons of Conis and Darerca, and nephews of the Apostle of Ireland, but small confidence can be placed in the late genealogists who elaborated pedigrees of the family of Patrick.* That they were Britons who laboured with him need not be ques- tioned. Mel and Melchu are spoken of as Bishops from Britain in the Life of S. Brigid. Mel settled or was placed at Ardagh, where he formed a monastery, and ruled as abbot and bishop. He confirmed S. Brigid and bestowed the veil upon her. He occasioned some trouble to S. Patrick, for he was accused to him of undue intimacy with Lupait, Patrick's sister, and his own 1 Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru, 2nd ed., pp. 226-7 ; cf. the parish list in Peni- arth MS. 147. 2 Bangor, 1721, p. 280; Paroch. AngL, 1733, p. 215. ' P. 122. There was also a Meirion ab Ceredig ab Cunedda {Jesus College MS. 20). * Chrouolog. Tract in Lebar Brecc, in Tripartite Life, ed. Stokes, ii, p. 551 ; i, P- 83. 462 Lives of the British Saints aunt, if it be true that he was son of Darerca. They lived in the same house, and there was much unpleasant talk about it, and the priests appealed to Patrick to put a stop to the scandal. Patrick came to Ardagh. Mel, alarmed at his coming, pretended to be out of his wits, and went fishing between the furrows of a ploughed field, that had been drenched by heavy rain. " Fishing for salmon in ploughed land ! " exclaimed Patrick ; " God helps not an idiot." ^ He made arrangements that thenceforth men and women should live apart in the monasteries. We know little if anything more of S. Mel. Lupait is said to have cleared herself of the charge brought against her by carrying hot coals in her lap. But on another occasion, apparently, it was other- wise. " Patrick was enraged with his sister, namely Lupait, for the sin of lust she had committed, so that she became pregnant. When Patrick came to the church from the east, Lupait went to meet him, and cast herself down on her knees before the chariot. ' Drive over her,' said Patrick. The chariot went over her thrice, for she still would come in front of it. Wherefore she there went to heaven at the Ferta, and she was afterwards buried by Patrick, and her requiem was sung." ^ Whether these are mere idle legends, or are based on facts, we have no means of judging. The best authority for Mel is to be found in the Collections of Tirechan, and he merely states : " Et venit per flumen Ethne in duas Tethbias et ordinavit Melum episcopum." ^ A curious story is told in the gloss on the Felire of Oengus, that when Mel was veiling S. Brigid, he blundered, and in place of reading the of&ce for consecrating a virgin, read that ordaining her a bishop.* Of Bishop Muinis or Munis still less is known or told. He left his crozier behind, hanging on a branch, one day, and when he lamented this to Patrick, lo ! it was found before them, hanging to another branch. Then Patrick exchanged croziers with him.^ He was sent by Patrick to Rome to fetch relics, and, being of a forgetful memory, left them behind him one night in a hollow elm, and never recovered them.^ He was appointed bishop in Forgney in the county of Longford. Bishop Mel is commemorated in the Irish Calendars on February 6. ^ Chronolog. Tract in Lehar Brecc, in Tripartite Life, ed. Stokes, i, p. 89. 3 Ibid., i, p. 235. ' Ibid., ii, p. 310. ^ Filire of Oengus, ed. Stokes, p. Ixviii. ^ Tripartite Life, i, p. 83. " Ibid., i, p. 85. S. Melangell 463 The Annals of Ulster give as the date of his death 488, according to Ussher. He and Melchu, Munis and Rioc are commemorated on this day in the Sarum Calendar ; but Munis is entered in the Irish Martyrologies on December 18. S. MELANGELL, Virgin, Abbess Melangell is in her Latin legend called Monacella,^ a name which is under either form, we believe, unique. She is identified with the Melangell who is entered in the Welsh pedigrees as either a daughter or a grand-daughter of Tudwal Tudclud, of the race of Maxen \Medig. The earlier, as well as the most authentic, pedigrees ^ make her his grand-daughter, her father's name being variously written Cyfelch, Cyfwlch, Cynwalch, and Ricwlff ; but they agree in giving her mother's name as Ethni Wyddeles. Tudwal was father also of Rhydderch Hael, who won the battle of Arderydd in 573. Melangell would, most probably, be his niece. Her legend, Hisioria Diva Monacellce, has been published in the Archceologia Cambrensis for 1848,^ from a transcript made in 1640 from a MS. of at least the sixteenth century, in the Wynnstay Library, which was destroyed by fire in 1858. Also in Edward Lhuyd's Paro- chialia, from a Llanfyllin MS.* It is believed to have been written by Matthew of Westminster ; it is in any case late. Her legend relates that she was the daughter of King lowchel of ' We cannot explain how the form Monacella came to be regarded as the Latin equivalent for the Welsh Melangell. Possibly the latter stands for Myn-Angell = Mon-Acella (imperfectly written for Ancella) ; or, the Latin may have been made out of the Welsh name by some one desirous of bringing in such a word ais monac(h)a, a nun. There is a stream called Nant yr Angell in the neighbour- hood, and another Angell in the Dovey Valley. 2 Hafod MS. 16 ; Cardiff MS. 25, pp. 37, 120 ; Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 118; Myv. Arch., pp. 420, 428; lolo MSS., pp. 113, I39- For Tudwal as her father, Peniarth MS. 74 (sixteenth century) ; Myv. Arch., p. 428. In Hafod MS. 16 {Myv. Arch., p. 416 ; Cambro-British Saints, p. 268) the pedi- grees of Collen and Melangell are made to run in a manner that has led to no little confusion, Melangell becoming the wife of Pedrwn, and mother of Collen. For the name Ethni, see ii, p. 157. 3 Pp. 139-41- , . * Supplement, pp. 130-2, to Arch. Camb., 1909. There is a copy also m Gwallter Mechain's Miscellanies, i, pp. 63-8, in the National Library of Wales, and fragments in Cardiff MS. 50, and HarUian MS. 2059. 464 Lives of the British Saints Ireland,^ who desired to marry her to a certain Irish nobleman ; but she had vowed cehbacy. She fled from her father's dominions, and secreted herself among the hills of Pennant (called after her Pennant Melangell), in Montgomeryshire, within the principality of Powys, where she lived for fifteen years without seeing the face of man, " serv- ing God and the spotless Virgin." One day in the year 604, as we are told, Brochwel Ysgythrog, prince of Powys, being a-hare-hunting, pursued his game till he came to a great thicket, within which he was amazed to find a virgin of surpassing beauty engaged in deep devotion, with the hare he had been pursuing under the folds of her garments, boldly facing the hounds. He shouted to them, " Catch her, little dogs, catch her ! " But the more he urged them on the further they retired, howling. ^ In answer to Brochwel's questioning she told him her history. " Because," said he, "it hath pleased the supreme and almighty God, for thy merits, to give safety to this little wild hare, I give and present unto thee these my lands for the service of God, to be a perpetual asylum, refuge, and defence, in honour of thy name ' — assigning to her the spot as a sanctuary for ever. Here she spent thirty-seven years of her life in solitude, and the hares had become so tame that they " were in a state of familiarity about her every day throughout her long life." She gathered around her a convent of virgins, with herself as head, and the privileges that were granted by Brochwel were maintained by his successors in the principality of Powys. Some time after her death a certain man named Elisse came to Pennant with the intention of violating the nuns, but he met with a well-deserved death. The only church dedicated to her is that of Pennant Melangell, which is situated in a secluded but very beautiful valley. It was replaced in 1855 by a new and more central parish church at Penybont, dedicated to S. Thomas. In 1878 S. Melangell's was annexed to Llangynog. Pennant became famous as a safe asylum for the oppressed, and also as a nunnery, but how long it so continued cannot be determined. Among the items returned in the Valor of 1535 ^ we have " Oblacion' ad reliquias — Ivjs. v\r\i.," that is, the average ' " Regis lowchel de Hibernia " (Wynnstay MS.) ; " Regis de lowchel de Hybernia " (Llanfyllin MS.). Her father was, more piroperly, a Scotus of North Britain. 2 Pennant, in his account, Tours in Wales, ed. 1883, iii, pp. 163-4, adds here, " Even when the huntsman blew his horn it stuck to his lips," which, no doubt, formed part of the original legend. " iv, p. 451. S. Melangell 465 offerings at her shrine in the small rectangular chapel or oratory adjoin- ing the east end of the chancel, still called Cell y Bedd, the Cell of the Shrine. This has a door and a window, but no entrance in to the church. There are portions of the carved stone work of the shrine built into the porch and south wall of the church and the lych-gate. Her relics have long since disappeared. The principal object of interest in the church is the carved woodwork representing Melangell's " tale humane," now affixed to the front- of the west gallery, but originally it formed a cornice or frieze on the old rood loft or the screen which divides the church into nave and chancel. It consists of six compartments : (i) Brochwel, on horseback, with both arms extended, and brandishing a sword in his right hand ; (2) the huntsman, kneeling on one knee, with the horn raised to his lips ; (3) S. Melangell, seated on a red cushion and represented as an abbess — her right hand slightly raised, and her left hand grasping a foliated crozier ; (4) a hunted hare, crouching or scuttling towards the figure of the Saint ; (5) a greyhound in pursuit ; (6) a dog.^ Melangell properly became the patroness of hares, which were popularly called Wyn Melangell, her Lambs, and so strong a super- stition used to prevail that no person would kill a hare in the parish ; and it was even firmly believed that if any one cried," Duw a Melangell a'th gadwo ! " " God and Melangell preserve thee ! " after a hunted hare, it would surely escape.^ Gwely Melangell, her hard Bed, is shown in the cleft of a rock called Craig y Gwely on the opposite side of the valley, about quarter of a mile to the south of the church. Melangell's festival occurs as January 31 in Peniarth MSS. 186, 187, 219, Mosiyn MS. 88, Additional MS. 14,882, the lolo MSS., ' For a detailed and illustrated description of the church, the screen, and the shrine (restored), see Thomas, Hist, of Dio. of S. Asaph, ii (1910), pp. 260-5 ; Arch. Camb., 1848, pp. 137-42, 324-8 ; 1894, pp. 139-51 ; 1903. PP- 109-13 > Montgomeryshire Collections, xii, pp. 53-80 ; J. C. Wall, Shrines of British Saints, 1905, pp. 48-9. The following is found written in the oldest parish register, and was probably once current in the parish — " Mil engyl a Melangell, Trechant lu fyddin y Fall " (a thousand angels and Melangell shall triumph over the whole host of the Devil). It is elsewhere given in a slightly different form, " Engyl a ffon Melangell, Trechant flin fyddin y Fall " (the angels and Melangell's staff shall triumph over the vexatious host of the Devil). She seems to be confounded with the Archangel. 2 The parishioners of Pennant are nicknamed " Ysgyfarnogod " (hares). The sacred character of the hare among the Celts is indicated by the story ot Boudica loosing one from her robe in ofder to observe its movements as an omen (Dion Cassius, Ixii, c. 3 ; cf. Csesar, v, c. 12). S. Brendan provided an asylum for hares, as well as stags and wild boars. Cf. also the incident of the chased hare in the Life of S. Anselm. vol. in. HH 466 Lives of the British Saints and Nicolas Roscarrock ; as May 4 in Peniarth MS. 187, the lolo MSS., the Pr5nner of 1633, Allwydd Paradwys, and Nicolas Roscarrock ; and as May 27 in Peniarth MSS. 27 (pt. i), 172, 186, 187, 191, 192, 219, Jestis College MS. 141, Mostyn MS. 88, Llanstephan MSS. 117, 181, Additional MS. 14,882, the lolo MSS., and the Prymers of 1546, 1618, and 1633. At Pennant Melangell her festival was observed on May 27. On January 31 she may have been confounded with S. Marcella, and on May 4 very probably with S. Monica. S, MELERI, Matron Meleri was, according to both versions of the Cognatio de Brychan' a daughter of Brychan, who married Ceredig ab Cunedda Wledig' and became the mother of Sant, the father of S. David. John of Tynemouth says that she was Brychan's second daughter. 1 In the later genealogies she is always called Eleri,^ due to the rubricator not having filled in the initial letter of the name in the copy from which they emanated. Nothing more seems to be known about her. S. MELLONIUS, Bishop, Confessor Mellonius, Bishop of Rouen, is said to have been a native of Cardiff, and to have been born about the year 257. Unhappily, however, the material for his Life is of very poor quality. The Vita was written in the seventeenth century by Dom F. Pommeraye, O.S.B., from earlier material, but none very reliable, or very ancient. Acta SS. Boll., October 22, ix, 570—4. Mellonius was selected to carry the British tribute to Rome, being at that time a pagan. On reaching the Eternal City he offered sacrifice to Mars. But making acquaintance with Pope Stephen I he was ' Nova Legenda, ed. Horstman, 1901, ii, p. 103. She is not so given in the Cognatio. ' Jesus College MS. 20; Peniarth MS. 75 (i6th cent.) ; Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 425; Cambro-British Saints, p. 271; lolo MSS., pp. iii, 120, 140. Mr. Egerton Phillimore points out that the names Meleri and Teleri (of Aber TUeri) are derived from Hilaria, with the common honorific or endearing prefixes mo and to. S. Mel or 467 converted, and on his way home stopped at Rouen, having been greatly assisted on the road by a walking-stick kindly furnished him by an angel. At Rouen he preached to crowds. A youth named Prascordius climbed on to a roof the better to hear him, but tumbled down and was killed. Mellonius prostrated himself on the body and revived him. This incident is appropriated from the Acts of the Apostles. Mellonius became first bishop of Rouen, and governed the church there for fifty-one years, and died in 311. The Life is stuffed with absurd stories of miracles of no interest to any one. As may be judged, it is practically worthless historically. All that we can predicate concerning Mellonius is that he was bishop of Rouen, and that possibly he came from Cardiff. He is the patron of S. Mellon's, in Welsh Llaneirwg,^ four and a half miles east of Cardiff. Probably the dedication was due to the Norman conquerors of Morganwg. In the Taxatio of 1254 the church is called " Eccl. Scti. Melani." In that of 1291," Eccl'ie [sic) de Sco Melano." In the Valor 1535,2 " Eccl'ia P'o'*^ Sancti Melani." Rees =» gievs him from Cressy as Mello, Mallo, Melanius, or Melonius, a Briton. Browne Willis * gives his festival at S. Mellon's as October 10. There is a farm called Pont Melon in the parish of Llandaff. A modem figure of him is in the east window of Roath Church, Cardiff. S. Melon is the name of a parish in Leon. It is very questionable whether S. Mellion and S. Mullyon, in Cornwall, and the chapel of Lamellion, in Liskeard, be dedicated to S. Mellion of Rouen, and not to S. Melanius of Rennes. Melanius was a much more genuine personage than Mellion. He assisted at the Council of Orleans in 511, and died between the years 530 and 535. The introduction of his name into Cornwall was probably due to the settlement there by Athelstan of refugee Bretons from the inroads of the Northmen. They brought the bodies of their Saints with them. S. MELOR, Martyr The authorities for S. Melor, and for his father S. Meliau, or Melyan, are these. I. A Life, supposed to have been written before 849, but this is 1 For a very fanciful explanation of this name — " derived from his swarthy complexion " — see Coxe, Monmouthshire, 1801, p. 61. 2 iv, p. 363. ^ Welsh Saints, p. 316. * Llandaff, 17I9. append., p. 8 ; Paroch. Angl., 1733, p. 205. 468 Lives of the British Saints questionable, published in Analecta Bollandiana by Dom Plaine, v (1886), pp. 166-85. 2. A Life by John of Tynemouth in Capgrave's Nova Legenda An glim. 3. A short Life in MS. Reg. 8, C. vii, of the thirteenth century, pubhshed in Horstman's new edition of the Nova Legenda, Oxford, 1901, i, p. XXV. 4. A Life in Grandisson's Legendarium for the Church of Exeter, still in MS. in the Chapter Library, Exeter. This was drawn up in 1366. Great difference of opinion has reigned relative to the date at which S. Melor lived. The Bollandists, who reprinted, the Life from Cap- grave, Acta SS., January i, 136-7, supposed his date was 411 ; Lobi- neau put him as late as 798 ; but since the publication of his complete Acts by Dom Plaine, very little doubt can exist as to his period, which is fixed by the mention therein of Conmore, Regent of Domnonia, with whom he found refuge. According to the pedigree of the princes of Cornouaille, in Armorica,'^ lan-Reith, a noble Briton, migrated to that peninsula, and estabhshed himself in Cornu-Gallia. He was succeeded by his son Daniel, and Daniel bj' his son Budcc L Budoc died, according to De la Borderie's reckoning, about 530. According to the Life of S. Melor he left twO' sons, Meliau and Rivold. But it seems that there must have been three, of whom one was named Budoc, who, however, did not imme- diately succeed his father, but had to fly for his life to South Wales, as there was a struggle between contending factions, and the Cartu- laries of Quimper and Landevenec give Grallo Plain and Concar Choevoc as princes between Budcc I and Budoc IL^ Meliau, perhaps, had his residence at Plounevez-Porzay, near Quimper, during his. father's life, as tradition asserts, and as the church there claims him as patron. But after the death of Budcc I he secured the chiefdcm of Leon. The Life of S. Melor does not assert that Meliau succeeded his father in Cornouaille as King, but that he held the " ducatum " for seven years, during which time no rain fell, " in ipso regno," nor ' Dom Morice, Mtmoires pour servir de preuves, etc., Paris, 1742 ; and Cart, of Quimper in Bulletin de la Commission diocisaine, ed. Peyron, Quimper, 1901 • Cart, of Landevenec, ed. De la Borderie, Rennes, 1888. 2 " Quidam nobilis apud transmarinos extitit, cui cognomen erat Lex vet Reguli vir quidam genera regius, terra, familis, opibus admodum opulentus- ... Is post desolationem Frixonum et Corsoldi ducis, nostram adcns disertam Cornugilliam, (parata) classe, mare cum maximo apparatu transmisit, regnum, accep't, liabitavit, excoluit. Post ejus dccessum Daniel filius ejus regnunx tenuit ; cui successit filius Budc ; huic vero duo existere filii, KcLavus vide- licet et Rivodius." Vita S. Melori, ed. Plaine, p. i65. S. Me lor 469 snow, but the land yielded her increase in abundance. But the author adds that Meliau held the rule " in regno post patrem " for these seven years. This, however, may mean no more than that under Budoc I Leon had been subject to him as weU as Cornouaille. The documents available for the determination of the history of this period are so scanty that we are driven to conjecture. What makes the suggestion probable is the absence of the name of Meliau from the lists of the princes of Cornouaille, and the presence in Leon of traces of his presence there, as Guic-Miliau (Vicus Melovii), now Lampaul-Guimiliau, near the Elorn, and at Ploumiliau (Plebs Melovii), near Plestin, now included in Cotes du Nord, and an He de Miliau, off the coast, and Trebeurdin, of which he is patron. His headquarters would seem to have been on the Elorn, where two important parishes bear his name. Meliau took to himself a wife from Domnonia, named Aurilia, daughter of Judoc, whom the biographer apparently confounds with the Count of Domnonia who lived in 640, but who was a petty chief of the same name. Rivold, Meliau's brother, did not get a share of the father's principality, or if he did, desired more, and, in a colloquy with Meliau, treacherously stabbed him, and seized on his domain and rule. Meliau is accounted a martyr, and receives a cult on October 25. Meliau fell about 537, leaving an only son Melor (Melior). Rivold seized on the lad, and would have put him to death but for the inter- vention of some of the chiefs. He therefore contented himself with cutting of£ his right hand and left foot, so as to incapacitate him from becoming a pretender to the throne, as, according to Celtic usage, no one with a bodily defect was eligible. The affection of the attendants for the young prince led them to ■get a sUver hand and brazen foot fitted to the stumps, and, so says the legend. Divine power was manifested, in that the boy was able to employ these metal members as though they were flesh and bone. For precaution, the boy was sent to Quimper, and placed in the monas- tery founded by S. Corentine. Now it fell out, one day, that Melor and other boys were nutting in a wood, and his comrades made their little piles of hazel nuts, and brought them to Melor, who received them into his silver hand. More- over, when he returned home, to the amazement of the good folk in the street, they saw his silver hand passed through the grating of the door, as he cast away the nut-shells he had broken to get at the kernels. One day he was playing with a toy catapult, and shot his bolt, which came down on a stone and penetrated it. When he withdrew 4 7 o Lives of the Br itish Saints the bolt a spring gushed forth, and the spring is shown to this day at Meilars, near Pont-Croix, in Finistere, west of Quimper. The tidings of these wonders having reached Rivold, he sent for Cerialtan, the foster-father of Melor, and promised him that if he would make away with the lad, he would give him as much land as he could see: from the top of Mount Coc.^ Cerialtan's greed was excited, and he confided the proposal to his wife. She was horror-struck, and resolved on saving the boy. Whilst her husband was absent, she fled with Melor to Domnonia, and took refuge with the regent Conmore, whose wife was a daughter of Budoc; I, and therefore aunt to Melor. They found shelter in the Castellum Bocciduum, which De la Borderie conjectures to have been Beuzit^ west of Lanmeur, where considerable remains of a caer may still be seen. Rivold was incensed, but he did not dare to complain to the powerful and masterful regent. He therefore urged Cerialtan to use- guile, entice the boy away, and cut off his head. Cerialtan, accordingly, went to Beuzit, and took with him his son Justan, who had been a play-fellow of Melor, and to whom he was attached. The treacherous foster-father persuaded the prince of his good intentions. Melor and Justan were placed to sleep in one bed. During the night Cerialtan stole into the room, and murdered the prince as he slept. Then, rousing Justan, he fled with him ; but as- they were leaving the castle, by climbing over the wall, Justan's. foot caught, and he fell and was killed. Cerialtan, however, pushed on till he reached a place called Kerlean, near Carhaix, when exhausted and parched with thirst, he halted, and putting down the head of Melor, which he carried of£ with him, he exclaimed, " Confounded be I ! I have lost my son, and now am myself perishing for water." Thereupon the dead head spoke ; " Cerialtan, drive thy staff into the soil, and water will spring up." Much astonished, the murderer complied ; whereupon a spring boiled up ; more than that, the staff took root, threw out branches, and in time became a great tree. On reaching the residence of Rivold, Cerialtan delivered up the head,, and demanded the price of his crime. The prince thereupon put out the eyes of the murderer, led him to the top of Mount Coc, and. bade him take as much land as he could see. Such is the legend in its complete form. That in the Legendarium of Bishop Grandisson confounds Cornouaille with Cornwall and Armorican Domnonia with Devon. " Sanctus Melorus, Melani Cornubiae regis filius, cum esset septem annorum, ^ Or Seoc. This cannot have been the Menez Horn, as has been supposed^ as that was out of Conmore's district. S. Me/or 471 orbatus est patre. Genetrix autem illius erat de Devonia regione, Haurilla nomine, ex Rivoldi comitis stemmate, qui a transmarinis partibus quondam advenerat." John of Tynemouth says : " Fuit enim beatus Melorus de nobili Britannorum genere, cujus pater Meli- anus ducatmn Cornubiae tenuit . . . Rivoldus veniens, Melianum fratrem suum occidit, et pro illo regno cepit," and does not mention the name of Melor's mother. The legend is mixed up with fable, but contains a basis of historic fact. The Melor of Brittany has acquired the silver hand of Nuada, King of the Tuatha De Danann of Irish Mythology. What is probably fact is that Rivold mutilated his nephew, and that the amputated members were replaced by some rude make- shifts, which he was able to employ after a fashion, and that eventually he was murdered. The date of his death was about 544, when he was aged four- teen. Conmore, we may be quite sure, used the occasion to extend his authority over Leon, which thenceforth was incorporated in Domnonia, and ceased to be attached to Cornouaille, and it was in Leon, at Plou- neour-Nevez, that the battle was fought in 555 in which he lost his life, and Judual became king over both Domnonia and Leon. Popular tradition has improved the legend. In Brittany it attaches to every stage of the fiight of Melor from his uncle. His estates are said to have been at Lanmeur, between Lannion and Morlaix, in Domnonia. Between Carhaix and Lanmeur, according to the legend, when he was pursued, the earth sank and formed a hollow, in which he concealed himself. This is still shown, and called Guele San Velar, or the Bed of S. Melor. A chapel was built over the spot. Thence he pushed on in the direction of Boiseon, but was overtaken by night and took refuge at a farm in Plouigneau, now called Gouer Velar, or the Rivulet of Melor. On leaving the farm next morning, without his breakfast, he ascended a hiU and fainted from exhaustion, where now stands a small chapel dedicated to him at Coat-sao-beU (the Wood of the Long Ascent). Thence he pushed on to Boiseon. Thither Cerialtan came and carried him off to Lanmeur, where he stabbed him at a spot near the parish church, which is pointed out as the scene of the murder Indeed, even a room in the old wooden house is called Cambr-ar-Sant, or the Chamber of the Saint. Tradition is so minute in its particulars relative to the localities, that it is difficult to doubt that S. Melor' belongs to Brittany and not to Cornwall. In the Church of Lanmeur in Finistere is a crypt, very early, with rude carvings, probably of the tenth century, perhaps even earlier. 472 Lives of the British Saints in which it is supposed that the martyred prince was buried. In tliis crypt is his Holy Well. The only grounds for associating his father Meliau or Melyan with Cornwall are the statements in Grandisson's Legendarium, and in John of Tynemouth. As also, that in the parish of Par is a Lanmelin, and hard by a Merthyr. S. Mellion can not be regarded as dedi- cated to the father of Melor, almost certainly S. Melanius of Rennes is patron. Melor is venerated at Mylor, in Cornwall, where tra- dition says he was murdered. The Feast Day there is on October 25, which is the day of Meliau or Melyan, the father. Linldnhorne is also dedicated to him. Here also is a Holy Well in admirable preservation, but Mylor is more probably S. Maglorious. Mylor Church is interesting on account of its Norman doorway and very early crosses, one of which is traditionally held to mark the site of S. Melor 's grave. ^ The document known as the Translatio S. Maglorii informs us that, on account of the ravages of the Northmen, the body of S. Melor was translated from Lanmeur, between 875 and 878, to Lehon ; but between 910 and 913 the relics were carried thence, probably when Mathuedoi and a large number of Bretons fled to the protection of Edward the Elder and Athelstan, and the body of S. Melor was taken to Amesbury, in Wiltshire. The abbey church of Amesbury is dedi- cated to SS. Mary and Melor. The Feast of S. Melor in Bishop Grandisson's Calendar is October i. This is also the day in the Sarum Breviary, and in a Norwich Martyr- ology of the fifteenth century. Cressy in his Church History of Brittany, Rouen, 1668, gives as his day August 28, which was the day of the Feast at Mylor, till changed to October 25. In the Quimper Breviary of 1642, 1701, 1835, he is entered on October 2. This also is the day given by Albert le Grand and by Lobineau. On October i, however, in the S. Malo Breviary of 1537, and Missal of 1609. Wilson, in his English Mart5'rology, arbitrarily inserted him on January 3, but with an asterisk to indicate that he had no authority for the day, and he has been followed by the Bollandists. In Brittany he is patron of Lanmeur, Loc-Melar, Meilars, in Finistere, and of Tremelior, in Cotes du Nord, near Chatelaudren and of S. Meloir des Ondes in lUe et Vilaine ; also of numerous chapels. In the crypt of Lanmeur is his statuette, of the fourteenth century, 1 Mylor Church, by W. Jago, in Journal of the R. Institution of Cornwall. iii (1868-79), p. 164. S. Melyd 473 representing him in a long robe, covered with a royal mantle, wearing a crown, and holding in his right hand the left which has been cut off. In Loc-Melar, he is represented crowned, with alb, dalmatic, and a royal mantle, holding an amputated hand in his right, and a palm branch in his left. The statue is of the seventeenth century. Here also are some bas-reliefs, painted, representing his legend. Perhaps a better sjnmbol would be a bunch of hazel-nuts held in his silver right hand. We append the Life from Bishop Grandisson's Legendarium, ii, fo. 154 (1366), as it has been hitherto unpublished. r , Q , , ■] fill translacione Sanctorum confessorum remigii et vedasti '■'I pontificum et bavonis pontificis [nine lessons]. Sanctus melorus, meliani cornubie regis filius : cum asset septem annorum orbatus est patre. Genitrix autem illius erat de devonia one, de' Sa^ncto regione, haurilla nomine ex rivoldi comitis stemmate : qui a trans- Meloro martire marinis partibus quondam advenerat. Hunc itaque melorum ^'^'^'° '"■'"'■ scelestissimus pervasor regni fratricidaque nephandissimus rivoldus compre- hensum : deduxit inter primates in cornubie concilium redempnandum. Erant quippe in eorum conventu episcoporum nonnuUi : innumerabiles vero clerici ac ephebatorum cohortes. Moliente itaque rivoldo nepotem suum melorum perimere : non permiserunt proceres terre. Nee eum tamen revertere poterant ad sinum pietatis. Tunc proehdolor absciditur sancto meloro manus dextera : pes eciam levus cesus est ab ipso maligno patruo suo. Insitaque est '^'^^° ^ ' sancto meloro manus argentea : pes eciam eneus : pro carneis. O quam inso- litum et dampnosum omnimodis est tale commercium : pro manus vel pedis came commutare est sive argentum. Manet tamen omnibus mirabile nulli sanctorum conferendum : quod peritissimorum narracione virorum compertum est. Adeo siquidem manus sancti melori argentea crescebat et pes eneus : quemadmodum solent in reliquis pueris naturalia carnis excrescere membra. Nutritus est sane in cenobio sancti corentini : donee corpore adultus bonisque actibus ornatus mira patraret opera per reliquas iam notus provincias. Cumque de meloro tam sancta fama per vicinas quasque divul- garetur provincias et ad malivolum rivoldum patruum eius diver- °"^'^'° ^■' tisset : invidere cepit suo nepoti et dolo diem mortis eius moliri. Dum vero intra se diucius volveret quomodo hoc nephas perageret : nutu stimulatus diaboli invitavit beatissimi nutritorem melori ut secum pranderet. Quod ipse facere : nequaquam distulit. Interea : illis prandentibus de sancto meloro cepit habere colloquium dicens. Si perimeris clientem tuum melorum faciam te auri argentique ditissimum. Hec autem dicebat quia si voluisset eum palam interimere metuebat ne sui eum milites eruerent. Ideoque ; clam volebat eum interfici. Quod audiens uxor nutricii : puerum secrete ad amitam suam misit. Hoc intelligens nutricius illuc proficissitur : et quasi alumpnum suum visitaturus hospicium secum suscepit. Utrosque ergo : recepit lectus unus. Set cum dormisset puer : ille surrexit et decoUavit eum. S, MELYD, Archbishop, Confessor Melyd cannot properly be regarded as a Welsh Saint, but he is included as such in one of the late documents printed in fhtloloMSS.,^ " P. 136. 474 Lives of the British Saints where it is stated that he was son of Cynfelydd, of the family of Bran Fendigaid, and that his church is in London, where he was bishop. Elsewhere in the genealogies of the Welsh Saints he is simply entered as " bishop of London, a man from the country of Rome." ^ By him is intended Mellitus, an abbot of Rome, who was sent, with Justus, and others, by Gregory to England in 6oi to assist S. Augustine in his mission, by whom he was consecrated first bishop of London in 604. In 619 he become archbishop of Canterbury, and died in 624. The only church in Wales that is claimed to be dedicated to Melyd is that of Meliden, in Flintshire, a name which stands, apparently, for Melid-ton, but it is generally called in Welsh Gallt Melyd, ^Melyd's Slope. Edward Lhuyd, in 1699, entered under the parish, " Ffynnon Velid in Galltfelid township." Melyd's festival is given in the Welsh MS. additions to the Calendar in a copy of the Preces Privates, 1573, in S. Beuno's (Jesuit) College Library, as May 9. So Edward Lhuyd, and Bishop Maddox in Book Z, in the Episcopal Library, S. Asaph. The festival of Melydyh is entered in the Calendar in Llanstephan MS. 117 on the same day. The festival of Mellitus, however, is on April 24. S. MENEFRIDA or MINVER, Virgin, Abbess Menefrida is the Latin form of the name. She is reckoned by Leland and WiUiam of, Worcester among the daughters of Brychan who settled in north-east Cornwall. She was, however, his grand- daughter, if she be equated with Mwynen, daughter of Brynach, by Corth, daughter of Brychan.^ As shaU be shown under S. Merryn, there is reason for holding the latter to be the same Saint as Minver ; and also probably the same as the Irish Monynna. See further under S. MoRWENNA. According to the Bodmin Antiphonary, S. Menefrida's Day was November 24. Nicolas Roscarrock says of her that the present church is distant half a mile from where she was wont to live, " and at this daye is called Tredresick, where in my time I remember there stode a chapeU ^ Llanstephan MS. 81, p. 3; Cardiff MS. 5 (1527), p. 119; Cambro-British Saints, p. 270. 2 In the Taxatio of 1291, pp. 287-8, it is AUt Meliden (or Melydyn). 3 ii, pp. 218-9, 256-7. The ver in the name stands for verch, virgin. S. Merin 475 also dedicated to her, by less than two miles from the place where her sister S. Endelient lived ; and there is also a well of her name, where it is sade the Ghostlye Adversarie coming to molest her, she was combing her head by the said well, she flinging the combe at him enforced him to flye, who left a note behinde him in a place called at this daye Topalundy, where on the topp of a rounde high hiU, there is a straunge . deepe Hoale (as men there have by Tradition) there made by the devile in avoyding S. Menfre." He gives November 23 instead of 24th, as her day. She was not sister, but niece of S. Ende- lienta. Her well is near the Church of S. Minver, near Padstow, and the water from it is always used for baptisms. The hole Topalundy is probably Lundy Hole near the sea. It is an old cave, the top of which has fallen in. Mynwer, or Minwear, is the name of a parish in Pembrokeshire, now subject to Slebech ; and lower down, in the parish of S. Florence, is a place called Minerton. It is just possible that we have here the name Minver, and that Minwear Church, which has now no dedication, was dedicated to this Saint. ^ S. MERCHGUINUS, Confessor Merchguinus was a disciple of S. Dubricius, who is named in his Life ^ as among the many " learned men and doctors who flocked to him for study." He is probably the Merchguinus, or Merchui, mentioned in the Life of S. Oudoceus ^ as prominent among the clergy and others who chose that Saint to be bishop of Llandaff in succession to Teilo, and went with him to his consecration at Canterbury. 1 vj A king Merchguinus, the son of Gliuis, and a clerical witness of the same name, occur in a grant to the Church of Llandaff.* They were contemporary with Dubricius. S, MERIN, Confessor Merin was the son of Seithenin Frenhin, of Maes Gwyddno, whose territory was submerged by the sea, and now lies under Cardigan ' Owen, Pembrokeshire, ii, p. 348. 2 Book of Llan Ddv, p. 80. = Ibid., pp. 131-2. « Ibid., p. 76. 47 6 Lives of the British Saints Bay. He was brother to SS. Tudclyd, Gwynhoedl, Tudno, and Senewyr.i The bonedd in Peniarth MS. 45 gives his name as Meirin, and the later documents ^ as Meiryn, Merini, and Myrini. He and his brothers are in the latter stated to have become, on losing their possessions, Saints or monks of Bangor-on-Dee. Merin is patron of the little parish of Bodferin, in Carnarvonshire, near which is the foundation of his brother, Gwynhoedl. His festival, which does not occur in any of the Calendars, was observed here on January 6.^ The parish is a very small one. It runs for about a mile along the coast, and is a little more in breadth, with a population in 1901 of 49 souls. Only the foundations of its old parish church, which was subject to Llaniestyn, now remain. In 1900 was conse- crated the new church of S. Merin, at a distance of over a mile, within the parish of Aberdaron. The newly constituted parish includes Bodferin, and parts of Aberdaron and Bryncroes. There is a small creek in the parish called Forth Ferin, and the brook Rhyd Merin forms part of the parish boundary.* It is stated in one of the late documents in the lolo MSS.^ that Meiryn ab Myrini ab Saethenin had a church dedicated to him in Gwaen Llwg (Gwynllywg). Meiryn, between Newport and Cardiff, is intended, which is called in the Book of Llan Ddv ^ Maerun, and in English Marshfield ; but it would be impossible to equate the names Meiryn and Merin. Llanvetherin, or Llanverin, in Monmouthshire, is commonly supposed to be dedicated to him. Its correct dedication, however, is S. Gwytherin. A S. Merin is culted in Brittany at Lanmerin, in the diocese of Treguier, where the Fardon is on the 3rd Sunday after Easter. Ker- viler gives as his day April 4, as does also Gautier du Mottai, but without stating their authority. A statue of him at Lanmerin, of the sixteenth century, represents him in rochet and cope, his head bare, and a book in his hands. No record exists as to who he was. A sixth century bishop, S. Merinus, is known to Scotland, with festival on September 15. The church of Faisley was formerly dedi 1 Peniarth MSS. 16, 45 ; Hafod MS. 16. Merin is the Latin name Marinus borrowed. It was borne by several persons at an early period, and is the name to-day of at least two streams (besides that at Bodferin), one a tributary of the Mynach, near Aberystwyth, and the other of the Dovey, near Machynlleth. 2 Myv. Arch., pp. 419, 428; lolo MSS., pp. 105-6, 141-2. In Cardiff MS. 25. P- 35, it is spelt Merfyn. ' Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 275 ; Cambrian Register, iii (1818), p. 224. '' Hanes Eglwysi a Phlwyfi Lleyn, ed. Davies, Pwllheli, 1910, pp. 174-7. For the legend respecting the foundation of the old church, see Myrddin Fardd, Lien Gwerin Sir Caernarfon, 1909, pp. 207-8. ^ P. 106. ^ Index, p. 411. S. Meubred or My bard 477 cated to him and SS. Milburga and James. His Acts are in the Bre- viary of Aberdeen.! S. MERNOG, Bishop, Confessor In a Hst of church founders in Glamorgan, given in the lolo MSS., is entered, " Llanfernog, S. Mernog, of Cor Dochwy," i.e. Llandough, near Cardiff. Mernog's name does not occur in any of the Welsh saintly pedigrees, but by him is no doubt meant Mernoc, or Marnoc, son of Barurchus, who is mentioned in the Life of S. Brendan,^ and is identified in the Irish Calendars with S. Ernan. Mernoc is com- memorated on October 25 at Kilmarnock, in Scotland, where he had a cell, and where he died. The Aberdeen Breviary gives a collect for him. Llanfernog is in all probability intended for the original form of Lavemock, subject to Penarth, the church of which is dedicated to S. Lawrence. Its real Welsh form is, however, Llywernog,* which does not appear to embody Mernog's name. S. MERRYN, Virgin, Abbess In the Episcopal Registers, Bronescombe, 1259, 1274 ; Grandiscon, 1332, 1338, 1349, 1351, 1362 ; Stafford, 1395, 1396, etc., the church bearing the name of this Saint in Cornwall is called that of Sta. Marina. A Saint so called was a Bithynian damsel who went into a monastery of men, dressed in male clothes. She is given two commemorations in the Roman Martyrology, on June 18, and December 4. The Feast at S. Merryn is on July 7, or the Sunday nearest, and this agrees with neither of the days of commemoration of S. Marina. It does, however, approximate to that of S. Morwenna, which is July 6. Merryn is, apparently, a corruption of Morwen, and Nicolas Roscarrock says, " I have heard S. Morwenna spoken of as S. Merina of S. Merrin." See on under S. Monynna. S. MEUBRED, or MYBARD, Hermit, Martyr According to William of Worcester, Mybard was son of a King' of Ireland, and was also called Colrog. He ' settled at Cardinham ' Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, Edinb., 1872, pp. 397-8. ^ P. 221. ' Cambro-British Saints, pp. 251, 253. * Myv. Arch., p. 74S. 4 7 8 Lives of the British Saints near Bodmin, in Cornwall, as a hermit, where he was murdered. His companions were Mannach, or Mancus, and WyUow. Morbred was the name of a Saint, a contemporary of S. Win- waloe, of Landevennec ; and the name occurs in the Cartulary of Landevennec, but in one of the forged deeds. " Haec descriptio declarat quod Sanctus Morbretus habuit colloquium apud sanctum Uuingualoem, cui et seipsum et beneficium, quod eidem sancto Mor- breto dedit Euenus comes qui dictus est Magnus, et omnia quae habuit, perpetualiter, ut ilium apud Deum haberet intercessorem, commendavit." ^ This is dated March 31, 955. Either Morbred lived in the tenth century, and his commendation of his land was made, not to S. Win- waloe personally, but to his monastery, or else there is a gross anach- ronism. The settlement of S. Morbred made over to Landevennec was Lanrivoare, south of Ploudalmezeau, in Finistere. In the diocese of Quimper, at Ploumodiern, is a hamlet with a chapel called Loc-Mybrit, and he is said by tradition to have for a while led there an eremitical life. If Morbred or Mybrit were a contemporary of S. Winwaloe, he might possibly enough, after resigning his settlement at Lanrivoare, have gone to Cornwall, and there died. But this is not likely if he lived in the tenth century. Meubred is represented in one of the windows of S. Neot, carrying one head, and wearing a yeUow cap on the head, which is on his shoulder. The inscription is, " Sancte Mabarde ora pro nobis." His Feast at Cardinham is on the Thursday before Pentecost. The name Meuprit (in the Irish, Mepric) occurs in Nennius in the genealogy of Fernmail, King of Gworthigirniaun ; and is also found on the PhiUack stone in Cornwall, " Clotuali Fill Mobratti," unless the last word be read "Mogratti." S. MEUGAN, Confessor Meugant, Meugan, or Meigan, was the son of Gwyndaf Hen ab Emyr Llydaw, by Gwenonwy, daughter of Meurig ab Tewdrig, king of Morganwg. He was brother to S. Henwyn, or Hywyn. He does not appear to be included in any pedigrees but those in the lolo MSS. These state ^ that he was a Saint or monk of Cor lUtyd, at Llantwit, and afterwards of Cor Dyfrig, at Caerleon-on-Usk. In his old age 1 Carl. Landevennec, Rennes, 1888, p. 163. 2 lolo MSS., p. 132. In Old-Welsh his name would have been Moucant. Maucant, son of Pascent, occurs in the genealogies in Harleian MS. 3859 [c. S. MYBARD. From Stained Glass, S. Neot. iS. Meugan 479 he retired to Bardsey, where he lies buried. He thus followed closely in his father's steps. The latter was his superior at Caerleon. It is further said of him ^ that he had a college, Cor Meugant, on the banks of the Wye, which was one of a number of Corau, containing in all 2,000 Saints, that Dyfrig presided over as -penrhaith or principal. The authorities for these statements, it must be remembered, are late. We know very little of Meugan ; but he must have had a somewhat extensive cult in Wales, judging by the impress his name has left on the topography. In Anglesey, the now extinct Capel Meugan stood in a field near Has Meugan, in the parish of Llandegfan. The chapel gradually fell to decay after the founding of the Chantry of our Lady of Beau- maris. Here his festival was observed on September 25.^ Gorsedd Meugan, Dinas Meugan, as well as Plas Meugan (modern) are in the parish. In Denbighshire there is dedicated to him the quaint little church of Llanrhydd (the Red Church), now under Ruthin, but originaUy its mother church. ^ Llanfigan, in Breconshire, is under his invocation. In the Taxaiio of 1291 it is called " Eccl'ia de S'c'o Mengano." It is in Pembrokeshire, however, that he has left most traces, especi- ally in the Deanery of Kemes, in the north-east. He had formerly a chapel in the parish of Llanfair Nant Gwyn, known as S. Meugan's in Kemes. It was pulled down in 1592 by order of the Privy Council, because of the "superstitious pilgrimages" to his shrine.* There was once a Capel Meugan in the parish of Bridell, in the same Deanery, which is mentioned as a pilgrimage chapel, being used for solemn pro- cessions on holy days.^ There are places called Trevigan, in Llanrian, 1 1 00). It is not improbable that the name is the same as that of the Cornish S. Mawgan. It is the Maucannus of the Life of S. David. Cf. also Lo-Mogan in Sainte-Seve, C6tes-de-Nord. • P. 151. 2 Richard Llwyd, Poetical Works, London, 1837, pp. 24-5, note, where he is also referred to in verse as " the lonely Hermit " ; cf. the " Miganus heremita," under Llandegfan, in Leland, Collect., 1774, iv, p. 89. ' Pant Meugan, divided into Pant Meugan Ucha and Isa, occurs in the Ruthin Castle Papers as the name, in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, of a tract of land lying in the adjoining parish of Llanfwrog. It is mentioned also in two Peniarth MSS. [Report, i, pp. 845, 973). Tir Meugan, at Bathafarn, is mentioned as boundary land in an account of the perambulation, in 1810, of the adjoining parish of Llanfair [Llanfair Papers). For an account of the Llanrhydd Wakes, on September 25, see Edw. Pugh, Cambria Depicta, London, 1816, pp. 437-9. Bodeugan, one of the townships of S. Asaph parish, probably stands for Bod Feugan ; for the elision of the F cf. Bodeilir, Bodeurig, Bodorgan, Boduan, etc. *,Dr. Henry Owen in Pembrokeshire Antiquities, Solva, 1897, p. 54. ^ Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, p. 509. 480 Lives of the British Saints and Llanfoygan and Pistyll Moygan, near Pant y Deri, in the same county. A great fair, called Ffair Feugan, was held at Eglwys Wrw on the Monday after Martinmas, O.S., and is still held on the Monday after November 22. Another Ffair Feugan was held at S. Dogmael's ; both in the Deanery of Kemes.^ His father has also a dedication in the same county at Llanwnda, as well as another in Carnarvonshire. S. Maughan's, in Monmouthshire, which is called Lann Mocha, and Ecclesia de S. Machuto in the Book of Llan Ddv, is dedicated to S. Malo, and not to S. Meugan, as is sometimes stated. There is a Kilvigan, or Cilfygan, west of the town of Usk, which probably peipetuates the name. There are several Meugan festivals in the Welsh Calendars. Feb- ruary 14 (festival of Manchan, abbot of Mohill, co. Leitrim), in that in Mostyn MS. 88 ; April 24 in Llansiephan MS. 117 ; September 25 in Pentarth MSS. 27 (pt. i), 172, 186, 187, and 219, Mostyn MS. 88, Llansiephan MS. 181, the lolo MSS., Allwydd Paradwys, and the Prymers of 1546, 1618, and 1633 ; September 26 in Jesus College MS. 141, and Additional MS. 14,882 ; November 15 in the Demetian Calendar (as Bishop and Confessor) ; and November 18 in Llansiephan MS. 181, with the words added, " fiair gapel feygan." Browne Willis ^ gives the festival at Llandegfan and Llanrhydd as September 25. It is worthy of note that S. Mwrog, whose festival falls on the previous day, is patron of Llanfwrog, adjoining Ruthin and Llanrhydd, and also of another parish of the name in Anglesey. There is in the twelfth century Black Book of Carmarthen ^ a poem that is sometimes attributed to Meugant, who has been supposed to be the Saint, but on what authority it does not appear. It is almost entirely composed of unconnected rhyming adages, most of which may be found in collections of Welsh proverbs. The conclusion of the poem is wanting. Two other poems are attributed to Meugant in the Myvyrian Archaiology.'^ The first is an elegy on Cynddylan, which Stephens believed " has the marks of genuineness," but the other he regarded as " not older than the Norman Conquest." ' One of the " Sayings of the Wise " triplets runs : — ^ ' Owen's Pembrokeshire, i, pp. 100, 143. 2 Bangor, 1721, pp. 278, 281 ; but September 23, no doubt by mistake, at LJanfigan, Breconshire, Paroch. Angl., 1733, p. 182. ' Kd. Evans, 1906, pp. 7-8. * Pp. 1 2 1-3. The latter part of the second poem is given again on p. 134. ' Literature of the Kymry, 1876, pp. 283-5. " lolo MSS., p. 252. The triplet occurs also among the " Stanzas of the Hearing " in Myv. Arch., p. 128, but with the addition of Pob before Enwir. S. Meurig 481 Hast thou heard the saying of Meugant At parting from his enemy : " The children of the wicked are evil spoken of." (Enwir difenwir ei blant). GeofErey of Monmouth says ^ that a certain Meugant (Mauganius) was made bishop of Caer Fuddai, or Silchester, in Hampshire, by King Arthur, but assuming that he is not apocryphal, it is very im- probable that he is the same person as Meugant ab Gwyndaf . GeofErey also introduces a Meugant Ddewin, " the Magician " (Maugantius) , into the legendary history of Vortigern as having been consulted by the king respecting the birth of Myrddin.^ Meugan may have been the holy man Moucan, or Maucan, mentioned in the Life of S. Cadoc ^ as intervening to obtain a reconcili- ation between that Saint and Maelgwn. S. MEUGANT HEN Meugant (or Meigent) Hen, or " the Elder," is said to have been son of Cyndaf Sant, " a man of Israel," meaning probably a converted Jew.* Cyndaf is stated to have accompanied the mythical Bran Fendigaid to Britain in the first century. Meugant's existence is equally questionable with his father's.^ S. MEURIG, King, Confessor Meurig ab Tewdrig ab Teithfall, King of Morganwg, has been numbered among the Saints as a great benefactor to the Church. Almost all that we know of him is from the Booh of Llan Ddv, in which his name occurs repeatedly as making grants to S. Teilo and to the church of Llandaff. His father, Tewdrig, resigned the rule into the hands of his son 1 Red Book Bruts, ed. Rhys and Evans, p. 204 ; Hist. Brit., ix, c. 15. Leland, Itin., iv, p. 144, mentions " sedes S. Maugani." 2 Ibid., pp. 142-3 ; vi. c. 18. Lewis Glyn Cothi {Works, p. 143) refers to him : — " Mai Meigant pan gant a'i gyrn Araith dda i Wrtheyrn." 3 Cambro-British Saints, pp. 94-6- * lolo MSS , p. 102 ; Myv. Arch., p. 427. For another Saint of the same name see S. Meigan ; and for " Meugant Hen, of Caerleon-on-Usk," one of the " Baptismal Bards of the Isle of Britain," see lolo MSS., p. 79. ^ ii, pp. 229-30. Vol. III.- •■ ■ I I 482 Lives of the British Saints and retired to lead a hermit's life at Tint ern, where he fell fighting against the Saxons. Meurig had his body conveyed to Mathern, buried there, and made a grant of the land about the Mariyrium to S. Oudoceus.^ He founded Llandaff not, as is pretended, as a monastery for S. Dubricius, but for Teilo. And the manner in which he dedicated it is described. He carried the Gospels on his back, and, with the clerks going before carrying crosses, he paced round the territory thus made over to the Church. The twelfth century compiler of the Book of Llan Ddv pretends, and no doubt believed, that he thus made the circuit of the whole diocese of Llandaff.^ He was married to Onbraust, daughter of Gurcant Mawr,^ king of Erging, and had by her four sons, Athruis, Idnerth, Frioc and Comereg, and daughters, Anna, married to Amwn Ddu, Afrella, married to Umbrafel, and Gwenonwy, married to Gwyndaf Hen. In his old age all the portion of the kingdom west of the Towy was wrenched from him, and formed into a separate kingdom.* The incursions of the Hwiccas into Ewyas and Erging had devas- tated it, and desolated the monasteries of Dubricius. The compiler of the Book of Llan Ddv pretends that he thereupon gave these sites to the Church of Llandaff, but it may be doubted whether this grant was made by him or by his son. The probable date of this inroad was 577, and Meurig can hardly have lived to so late a period. He must have died some thirty or more years before. He made a grant of Llancillo, in Herefordshire, to Bishop Ufelwy,^ which was after- wards swept into the possession of the Church of Llandaff. Meurig was buried at LlandafE.^ He was not what can be considered a saintly character, for after having solemnly sworn with one Cynvetu over the relics of the saints to keep peace together, Meurig treacherously slew Cynvetu. There- upon Oudoceus summoned the great abbots of Llancarfan, Llantwit, and Llandough, and excommunicated the king, and at the same time placed an interdict on the land. This last statement is certainly false. They also solemnly cursed the king. " May his days be few, and let his children be orphans, and his wife a widow." The king remained excommunicate for two years and more, and then bought his absolution by making over to Llandaff four vills. At this time he was an old man, for among the witnesses is his grandson Morgan.' ' Book of Llan Ddv, pp. 141-2. Meurig is the Latin name Mauri cius. It also occurs as a brook name. 2 Ibid., p. 71. 2 Ibid., pp. 132, 140. * Ibid., p. 133. ' Ibid., p. 160. « Ibid., p. 149. ' Ibid., p. 147. S. Meuthi 483 In one document in the lolo MSS?- he is said to have been killed by the Goidels in Ceredigion, where, it is added, a church was dedicated to him, by which is probably intended that of Ystrad Meurig ; but the two statements are manifestly not true. In another document he is given as the founder of Llanfair Misgyn, in Glamorgan.^ A memorandum further states ^ : " Meurig, King of Glamorgan, gave, at his baptism, lands to God and to S. Teilo, and to the bishops of LlandafE for ever, namely, territorial lands and privileges. And from this it became customary to give lands to God and the Saints upon baptism." One other document in the lolo MSS. gives another Meurig as a Welsh Saint in the following two passages : — * " Meurig, King of Dyfed, the son of Gwrthelin ab Eudaf ab Flaws Hen, King of Dyfed, the son of Gwrtherin, a prince of Rome, who expelled the Goidels from Dyfed and Gower." " Meurig, King of Dyfed, was one of the four Kings who bore the Golden Sword before the Emperor Arthur, on the Three Principal Festivals, and on every festival and feast of rejoicing and dignity." He is apocryphal as a Saint, but Cynyr of Caer Gawch, S. David's grandfather, is also traced up to the same " prince of Rome." There is a place called Llanfeirig in the parish of Ceirchiog (annexed to Llechylched), in Anglesey. S. MEUTHI, Abbot, Confessor In the Harley Charter 75. A. 19, of the time of Bishop Henry of LlandafE, 1193-1218, is notified the confirmation of certain lands at Llanfeithin to Margam Abbey, and it is stated that one acre was " to help in building the chapel to the honour of S. Meuthin " there. ^ Llanfeuthin, otherwise Llanfeithin and Llanoethin, is an extra- parochial district (of 433 acres) within the parish of Llancarfan, Glamorganshire, deriving its name from S. Meuthi or Meuthin. It is situated close to Cadoc's monastery, and he is the Meuthi of the Life of that Saint, who was baptised by him. He was " a religious Irishman '■ P. 136. ^ Ibid., p. 221. P., 153. On p. 10 it is stated that he gave lands also to Llantwit ; and on p. 139 that he was father of Pawl, or Paulinus, of Ty Gwyn. * Jbid., pp. 141-2. ^ X)e Gray Birch, Penrice and Margam'Abbey MSS,, .1893, i) P- '4 J Margam Abbey, 1897, pp. 127-8, 393 ; Clark, CartcB, i, pp. 44," 49-50. ' "' 484 Lives of the British Saints who was a hermit, and devoutly served God." When Cadoc was seven years of age he was placed with Meuthi to be instructed, and remained with him twelve years. ^ In the Life of S. Tathan that Saint is made to perform Meuthi's part. The two names represent, in fact, but one person, Meuthi being the " pet " form. See further under S. Tathan. S. MEVEN, Abbot, Confessor The Life of S. Me wan, Mevan, or Meven has been published in the Analeda Bollandimia, iii (1884), pp. 142-80, byDom Plaine, O.S.B. This was composed, not by a writer of the period of Charles Martel (720-50), as supposed by Dom Plaine, but much later. M. Lot concludes not earlier than the end of the ninth century. ^ Mgr. Duchesne considers this Life as of the eleventh century ^. There is, as well, a portion of a Life in the Dol Breviary of 1519, published by the Abbe F. Duine, in Saints de Broceliande, i. Saint Meen, Rennes, 1904, that appeared in the Annates de Bretagne, January, 1904. Albert le Grand, in his Vies des SS. de Bretagne, gave a Life of S. Meven, and the BoUandists, not having an original text, translated the Life by Albert le Grand into Latin and published it in the Acta SS., Jun. IV, pp. 101-4. Albert le Grand derived his Life from the Breviaries of Leon and S. Malo, and the Proprium Sanctorum of the Diocese of Rennes. Meven, also called Conaid, was born in Gwent. His father, Gerascen or Geraint, was of Erging,-* or Archenfield, and of the race of Cadell Deyrnllwg.^ The mother of Meven was, apparently, a sister of S. Samson. This is not stated in the Life, but Meven is said to have been a kinsman of Samson (propinquus non solam genere sed etiam vicinio). Samson's sister is described in no complimentary terms in the Life of this latter 1 Cambro-British Saints, pp. 25-8. ^ Annales de Bretagne, x, p. 75, note I. According to M. Lot the name comes from maw, a servant. ^ Les anciens catalog, ipisc, de la province de Tours, Paris, 1890, p. 94, note 2. ■* The biographer calls it " Orcheus pagus in Guentia provincia." He prob- ably wrote Orchen for Erging, but a copyist altered it. The text is in a MS. of the sixteenth century. ' iii, p. ;o. 1 . , . - iS, Meven 485 Saint, as one given up to the world and its pleasures.^ This means no more than that she was indisposed to embrace the religious pro- fession. When Samson left Wales for Armorica, Meven probably accom- panied him, taking with him his friend AusteU, and both tarried with Samson in Cornwall. Our grounds for supposing this is that there are churches bearing the dedication of Meven at S. Mewan and Mevagissey, at no great distance from S. Samson's foundation at Golant, and Austell founded one that still bears his name. Meven had also a place of solitary retreat where stands still his Holy Well and Chapel, at Menacuddle, i.e., the cuddigl (cell or retreat) of Meven, in a pic- turesque glen, by the side of a stream near S. Austell. When, however, Samson crossed into Armorica, Meven and his friend Austell accompanied him. Samson settled at Dol, about the year 550.2 jjg g^^ ^^^^ employed Meven to agitate against Conmore, the usurper of Domnonia.^ In order to draw Weroch, Count of Bro- Weroch, into the conspiracy, he despatched Meven across the great central forest which the British colonists called Trecoet, or Brecihen. On his way, Meven came on a clearing that had been made by a British settler called Caduon, or Cadfan, who, having no children proposed to Meven to settle at a suitable distance, and found a Ian, and he, on his part, undertook to make over his plou, on his death, to Meven, so that all his lands and its colonists over whom he exercised jurisdiction should pass eventually under the authority of Meven as its secular and ecclesiastical chief. To this Meven consented, and this originated the abbey of S. Meen in Montfort. With the assistance of Samson, Judual, the rightful heir to Domnonia, defeated and killed Conmore. On the death of Judual he was succeeded by his son Juthael, who died about the year 608, when the third son of Juthael, named Hoeloc, usurped the throne, and his foster-father Rethwal murdered all the brothers of Hoeloc on whom he could lay his hands. The eldest, Judicael, to save his throat, took sanctuary with S. Meven, who shaved his head and put on him the monastic habit. Hoeloc had a residence in Goelo, as that portion of Brittany was called, where was the abbey of S. Meven. One day, as Meven was passing under its walls, he heard the lamentations of a servant of the 1 " Ista pusilla ... ad mundanas voluptates data est." Vita S. Samsonis in'Mabillon, Acta SS.O.S.B., saec. i, p. 162. 2 " Dol — cujns nomen, ut aiunt, a quodam eventu Dolis dicitur." If the author had been a Briton he would have known that Dol signifies a fruitful bottom or meadow by the water. ' " Ad Guerocum comitem ut . . . sibi auxilium ferret, beatum Conaidum transmittere decrevit." 486 Lives of the British Saints prince who was in a dungeon under sentence of death. MevenTat once thrust his way to the presence of the tyrant, and implored pardon for the wretch ; but Hoeloc angrily turned him out of his caer or house. However, perhaps by the connivance of the gaoler, the man was allowed to escape, and he fled for sanctuary to S. Meven. Hoeloc was highly incensed, and went to the monastery and demanded that his servant should be surrendered. When Meven refused, the tyrant violated the sanctuary, and carried the man away. As, however, the horse he rode soon after stumbled and threw the prince, who broke his thigh, in a panic Hoeloc, regarding this as a " judgment " on him for breaking sanctuary, released the prisoner, and made his peace with the abbot. Hoeloc then lived on better terms with the ecclesiastics, and favoured S. Male, who was a kinsman of S. Meven, though at first he had treated him badly. The story is told — a sufficiently hackneyed one — of Meven having delivered the neighbourhood from a dragon that lived by the river Loyre. He passed his stole round the beast, and led it to the bank of the river, into which he precipitated it. This is only a figurative way of saying that he tamed Hoeloc. The account of the death of the Saint, and of his words to S. Austell, has already been given. ^ He died in or about 611. His day is June 21 in almost all the Brittany Calendars, but the fifteenth century missal of S. Malo gives June 19. The feast at Meva- gissey is on June 29 ; at S. Mewan five weeks before Christmas. In Cornwall he is patron of S. Mewan and Mevagissey, and had a chapel in S. Austell. In the Taxatio of 1291, S. Mewan is S. Mawan ; in the Register of Bishop Brantyngham, 1370, Eccl. S*' Mewani ; so also in that of Bishop Stafford, 1403-4, In Brittany he is patron of S. Meen, of Cancale, of Plelan, of S. Meen-Ploudaniel, of Tremeven, Lanvallay, Lesneven, etc. He is represented in a statue at Lanvallay, as bald, habited in a long mantle, holding a crozier in his right hand, and a book in his left. His tomb is at S. Meen, with a statue over it of the fourteenth century. S. MINVER, see S. MENEFRIDA S. MIRGINT, Confessor In the grant by Caradog, son of Rhiwallon, of " Villa Gunhucc in Guartha Cum," to the Church of LlandafE, in the time of Bishop • i, p. tSq. S. Moling . 487 Herwald, who was consecrated in 1056, mention is made of " the four saints of Llangwm, Mirgint, Cinficc, Huui, and Eruen." 1 There are two Llangwms in Monmouthshire, Llangwm Ucha and Isa, forming one benefice, the churches of which are to-day dedicated to S. Jerome and S. John respectively. Mirgint's name does not appear to occur anywhere else. S. MODDWID, see S. MEDDWID S. MOLING, Bishop, Confessor Moling, in Welsh, Mylling or Myllin, was a famed ecclesiastic and politician of the seventh century. Several MS. Lives of him exist. One, that appears to have been a panegyric on his festival, is in the so called Codex Kilkennunsis , in Bishop Marsh's Library, Dublin. Of this an English translation has been published by Patrick O'Leary, " With Notes and Traditions," Dublin, 1887. A Latin Life from the Salamanca Codex is given in Ada SS. Hiherniee, Edinburgh, 1888, pp. 819-26 ; the same in Acta SS. Boll., June, IH, pp. 408-10. His Irish " Birth and Life " occurs in three MSS. (i) The so- caUed Liber Flavus Fergussiorum, a vellum of the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century, now in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy. (2) The Brussels MS. 4190-4200, written by Michael O'Clery in 1628-9. (3) The Brussels MS. 5301. The Irish text of the first two MSS. has been edited, with translation, by Dr. Whitley Stokes, in the Revue Celtique, xxvii (1906), pp. 257-305 ; xxviii, p. 70. There is a full Life of the Saint in O'Hanlon's Lives of the Lrish Saints, vi, pp. 691-724 ; and a compendium in Bishop Comerford's Collections relating to the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, iii, pp. 305-9. S. Moling's father was called Faolain, and he was descended from Cathair Mor, monarch of Ireland, and seventh in descent from a brother of Crimthan Cas, the first Christian king of Leinster. The father had been a brugaidh, or farmer, at Luachair, now Sheve Lougher, a wild upland district near Castle Island, in Kerry, who settled finally in the country of the Hy Cinnselach, on the river Barrow, and there probably MoUng was born, though the Ossorians suppose that the place of his birth was at MuUennakill, in the parish of Jerpoint West 1 Book of Llan Ddv, p. 274. 488 Lives of the British Saints some four miles north-west of Roscommon. He embraced the rehgious Ufe at an early age, and founded a monastery at Ross Bruic, Badger Wood, on the Barrow, then called Tech Moling, and now S. Mullins, in the county of Carlow. His baptismal name had been Daircell or Taircheall, but he is commonly known as Mohng Luachra. For awhile he was at Glendalough, and then was appointed Bishop of Ferns, co. Wexford. There he laboured with his own hands to conduct a stream of water for the distance of a mile to his episcopal residence. This occupied him for seven years, and he prayed that thencefoith all who should paddle in this stream, walking up it against the current, should have their sins remitted, and should secure eternal life in Heaven. A great number of miracles are attributed to him, most of them absurd. We do not give his Life at any length, because there is no certainty that Moling ever visited Britain, though according to the Dubhn copy of the Annals of Tighernach, he died in Britain. This, however, is not the account given in his Lives. Moling Luachra was largely instrumental in the abandonment of the hated Boromha tribute imposed on the men of Leinster, which had been a fertile source of insurrection and bloodshed. He contrived its remission by trickery. He had been sent on a mission to King Fianachta " the Festive " (673-95) from Leinster to complain of the hardship of the tribute. Much opposition was raised to his request, and, as the king hesitated, " Grant me, O king, that this question be not again raised tiU luan." To this Fianachta consented, supposing that it was merely postponed till Monday. But luan has a double signification ; it means Dooms- day as well as Monday. The celebrated Adamnan bitterly reproached the king for allowing himself to be outwitted by Moling. The story is told that Fianachta, repenting of having yielded, sent men after Moling and his clerics as they were leaving for Leinster. Moling proceeded thundering forth a hymn of his own composition in praise of holy Virgins, beginning with S. Brigid, and winding up with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a sudden drift of fog came over the hillside, and threw out those who were in pursuit. A very curious Irish poem in praise of S. Moling is attributed to the Devil, who visited the Saint, and asked for his blessing. This Moling declined to give him. "Well then," said Satan, " curse me roundly." " Why should I do that ? " inquired the Saint. " Be- cause, if you cursed, the curse would recoil on and cleave to your own lips." Then the Evil One asked for advice. Moling replied, "Kneel in prayer." "That is beyond my powers," replied Satan, aS*. Moling 489 " for my knees bend backward." " Then I can do nothing for you," said Moling. But Satan, thereupon, composed and intoned a hymn in praise of hohness. He is pure gold, he is a heaven round the sun. He is a vessel of silver full of wine. He is an angel, he is the wisdom of saints. Such is he who doeth the will of the King. He is a bird round which closes a trap. He is a leaky vessel in dangerous peril, He is an empty bowl, he is a withered tree. Such is he who doeth not the will of the King. He is a sweet branch in full bloom. He is a goblet filled with honey, He is a precious stone very choice. Such is he who doeth the will of God's Son in heaven. He is a blind nut, wherein is no profit, He is stinking rottenness, he is a withered tree. He is a wild apple branch that blossoms not , Such is he who doeth not the will of the King. and SO on. The whole story and the hymn are in the Book of Leinster. In his old age, Moling retired from Ferns to Tech Moling, and he died on June 17, in the year 696. ^ An odd story of S. Moling getting into S. Aidan's bed, and being seized with cramps for so doing, is told in the Life of that Saint. ^ If he was denied rest in S. Aidan's bed, he at all events occupied his seat at Ferns. Moling is usually regarded as one of the four prophets of Ireland. The Evangelistarium of S. Moling, fragments of a copy of the Gospels in its case or shrine, is preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The church of Llanfyllin, in Montgomeryshire, is dedicated to S. Moling, or Myllin. It is not easy to account for the dedication, inasmuch as there is no evidence that he ever visited Wales. There is a holy well of his in the parish, called Ffynnon Fyllin, and Ff3?nnon Coed Llan. It is on the left side of the by-road leading from the Rectory to the summit of Coed Llan. The Irish and Welsh Calendars agree in giving his day on June ij. Whytford, in his Addicyons to the Martiloge, under that day, says : " In yrelond the feest of saynt Molyng, a bysshop of synguler sanctite, & had reuelacyon of augels, & he reysed a kynges sone to lyfe ^ The Annals of Clonmacnois -place his demise a.t 692 ; the Chronicon Scoiiorum at 693 ; the Annals of the Four Masters at 696, which is also the date given by the Annals of Tighernach. Duald Mac Firbis accepted this latter date as correct. 2 Cambro-British Saints, pp. 249-250 ; seeY Cymmrodor, xiii, p. 92. 49° Lives of the British Sai72ts and cured the blynde & defe, dombe & lame, lepres & dyuerse infyrmytees & many grate myracles." A fair was held at LlanfyUin on June 17, O.S., and is still held on the 28th. 1 Dafydd ab Gwilym,^ in the fourteenth century, makes use of the expression, " Myn Myllin nef ! " S. MONACELLA, see S. MELANGELL S. MONYNNA, Virgin, Abbess Few Lives of Saints present greater difficulties than that of Monenna or Monynna, for she has been confounded with Modwenna of Burton- on-Trent. But this is not all. There were two Monynnas, one in the North of Ireland, the other in the South, who lived at different periods ; and there were, as well, two Modwennas, also separated from one another by a considerable tract of time. Yet all four have been run into one. The Life that we have has been attributed to one Concubran, who died in 1082. It is printed in the Acta SS. Boll., Jul. II, pp. 297- 312. It exists in MS. in the British Museum, Cotton MS. Cleopatra A. ii, a MS. of the eleventh century. Another version was by Geoffrey of Burton, and this is in Royal MS. 15. B. iv, of the thirteenth century. John of Tynemouth condensed them in a Life that is printed in Cap- grave's Nova Legenda AnglicB. An Irish Life, or rather a Life in Latin written in Ireland, of Monynna alias Darerca, is in the Acta SS. Hiher- nice in Coi. Sal., coll. 165-88. This confounds the two Monynnas, but does not confound with them Modwenna of Burton. We will take the Modwennas first. I. Modwenna was an Irish Abbess who was visited in Ireland by Alfrid, son of Oswy, in 670, when he fled to Ireland, and, as Bede informs us, remained there for some time. Afterwards Modwenna crossed into Northumbria, and Alfrid, who was King in 685, placed her over the monastery founded by S. Hilda at Whitby, and com- mitted to her charge his sister, Elfleda. After a brief stay, she returned to Ireland, but hearing that her brother, Ronan, was labourmg in ' For an account of the observance latterly of the Gwyl Mabsant, see Golud yv Oes, Carnarvon, i (1863), p. 510. The river Cain is called Myllon above Llan- fylUn. ^ Barddoniaeth, ed. 1789, p. 37. aS*. Monynna 4.91 Scotland, she sent some of her spiritual daughters there to assist him in his work. The probable date of her death would be circa 695. 2. Modwenna, abbess of Burton-on-Trent, was the instructress of S. Edith of Polesworth. Edith was the sister of Athelstan, and great- aunt of Edith of Wilton, who died in 984 ; and the death of her great- aunt, widow of Sithric of Northumbria, took place about 954. We may accordingly calculate that the death of Modwenna fell at the close of the ninth century, or early in the tenth.^ 3. Monynna, daughter of Mochta, of the diocese of Armagh, received the veil from S. Patrick. Her principal house was Pochard, naar Dundalk. According to the Annals of Ulster she died in 518 ; accord- ing to those of the Four Masters, in 517, in the reign of Murchertach Mac Earca, who ruled from 508 to 533. The Chronicon Scotorum gives 514 as the date of death. 4. Monjmna, disciple of S. Ibar, cannot have been the same as the preceding, for her sphere of work was in the South of Ireland, whereas her name-sake was active as a founder in the North. She lived later than Monynna, daughter of Mochta. What makes the confusion worse confounded is that Monynna is not a proper name. It is Mo-nin, " my dear nun," a term of endear- ment given to a spiritual mother, and consequently applied to others. Thus there was a Monjmna who attended the Synod of Easdra, which took place before the banishment of S. Columcille in 563, or, more probably, after that of Drumceatt, in 590.2 The confusion caused by the identification of the two Monynnas led to the attempt to explain it by giving to Monynna a life lasting to the age of 180. The explanation of the name Monynna is given in the Felire of Oengus : " Moninne, i.e., ' My-mindach ' the nuns used to call her. and of Ui-Echach of Ulster was she, i.e., Moninne, daughter of Mochta, son of Lilach, son of Lugaid, son of Rossa, son of Imchad, son of Fedlimid, son of Cas, son of Fiachra Araide, son of Oengus Goibniu ; as a poet said : — Nine score years together. According to rule, without warmth, Without folly, without crime, without fault, Was the age of Moninne. 1 Geoffrey of Burton mistakes Alfrid of Northumbria, who visited Ireland in 670, with Alfred the Great, who reigned from 871 to 901 ; and identifies Elfleda, the sister of Alfrid, who was Abbess of Whitby, and died in 715, with Edith of Polesworth, grand-daughter of Alfred the Great, who must have died about 954. 2 Vita Sti, Ferannani in Colgan, Acta SS. Hibern., cap. vii, pp. 337, 339. 492 Lives of the British Saints Since she took a girdle on her body, It is according to knowledge of her that I hear She ate not her fill of food, Monnine of Slieve Gullion. " Moninne of Slieve Gullion, and Sarbile was her name previously, or Darerca was her name at first. But a certain poet fasted with her, and the first thing he said (after being miraculously cured of his dumbness) was Ninnin. Hence the nun was called Mo-ninde, and the poet himself Nine-ecis. Mo-nine quasi Monanna the nuns used to call her. A sister of Mary (was she) for she was a virgin, even as Mary." i What appears clearly enough from the above is that there were two Monynnas, one whose original name was Darerca, and this was the daughter of Mochta ; there was also another named Sarbile or Orbilia, as she appears in the Vita MoninncB alias Darercce. Of the parentage of the latter nothing is recorded, but she occurs as Sarbhil in the Martyrologies of Tallaght and Donegal on September 4, and as of Pochard ; consequently she must have succeeded Monynna alias Darerca in the charge of this house of hers in Louth ; and it is possible enough that she also may have acquired the affectionate dejignation of " my dear nun " given to her mistress and predecessor. She it is, perhaps, who attended the Synod of Easdra, if it occurred at the earlier date to which it is attributed. But she, again, is distinct from the Leinster Monynna. Of the first Monynna, the outlines of her Life come out clearlj' enough. Her pedigree was well known, and distinguished, and her family held a position of importance in the neighbourhood of Armagh. When S. Patrick visited that part of Ireland, she was baptized by him, and confirmed by him, and from him received the veil ; and she is reckoned among his disciples.^ Under his direction she remained for some time, and then he committed her to the charge of a priest living near her father's home, in proximity to Armagh, that she might learn the Psalter. In course of time she founded a monastic establishment at Pochard, near Dundalk, in the County of Louth. But after a while she left it and went to Slieve Cuillin or Gullion, as it is now called, and her cill there now bears the name of Killevy. It is situated in a wild spot on the mountains, near a loch that has traditions associated with Pionn Mac Cumhall and his people. And here she died in 57:7 or 518. 1 Filire of Oengus, ed. Whitley Stokes, p. cxvi. ^ Trias Thaumjlurga, append, v, ad Acta S. Patri;ii, cap. xxiii, p. 27c. S. Monynna 493 A Monynna was venerated in Scotland, the sister of S. Ronan ; and she is said to have died at Longfortin. This is the Modwenna No. i.i In dealing with the Life of Monynna of Leinster, we must put aside all that appertains to the two Modwennas. This is easy enough. Then we have to disentangle the Acts of the Northern and Southern Monynnas, which is not so eas}^ The Life in the Salamanca Codex has in it nothing about Modwenna. Monynna alias Darerca associated with herself eight virgins, and a widow who joined her, along with her little son, Lugaid byname, who afterwards became a bishop.^ She placed herself under the direction of S. Ibar, of Begery, in Wexford Harbour. Hearing of the virtues of S. Brigid, Monynna visited her, and re- mained with her for a while at Kildare. Then she returned to Ibar, who commended to her charge a girl of whom he had formed a high opinion. Monynna, however, with a woman's eye, saw through her at once, and said to the bishop, " I have a shrewd notion that this young woman and I will never agree, and that in the end one of us will have to go." In fact, after some years, this girl headed a faction in the convent against Monynna, that led to the expulsion of the abbess, with fifty of her nuns, who clave to her. When thus turned out of her own house, Monynna went back to Brigid. As she died in 503, and Brigid in 525, this Leinster Monynna was beginning her monastic education when her name-sake in the North of Ireland was drawing to the end of her days. The occasion of the revolt in the monastery was, apparently, due to the too great strictness of Monynna's rule, for we are told that, whilst she was lavish to strangers and beggars, she half-starved the sisters, so that Ibar was constrained to interfere. Indeed, she allowed them to eat " only raw herbs, tree-bark, and roots." One day a pig-driver lost his herd, and by her instrumentality they were found, whereupon he offered her one of the swine for a meal. She refused it, and we may conjecture that the prospect of a good dinner off pork, thus denied them, caused the final explosion of ill- will that led to her being driven out of her own monastery. In the Life the two Monynnas are so mixed up that it is not always possible to distinguish the incidents connected with each. The author goes on to say that she had a monastery at Kilslieve-CuiUin, in Armagh, but this certainly belongs to the other Saint of the same * Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish SS., pp. 404-7 2 But this may pertain to the Ulster Monynna. Lugaid became a Bishop near Carlingford. 494 Lives of the British Saints name ; and then follows a story which most probably belongs to the second. Some bishops were on their way to visit her, when they were waylaid by a band of freebooters, under one Glunelach, or Glun- sealach, and murdered. Monynna heard of this and went with her nuns to recover the bodies. When encountering the robber and murderer, she reprimanded him with such severity that he was fright- ened. That night he had a dream. He thought Heaven was opened and that Monynna pointed out to him a throne set in a flowery meadow, and told him that it might be his if he repented. Next day Glunsealach and his nephew, Aelfinn or Alfin, came to Monynna, and begged to be instructed in the way of God. She sent them to S. Coemgen of Glendalough, who baptized them, and both led thenceforth such holy lives that Glunsealach was elevated to the episcopate, and he and Alfin were numbered with the Saints, and are commemorated on June 3, along with their master Coemgen. Now, as S. Coemgen, or Kevin, died in 618 or 619, it is clear that the conversion cannot have been effected by Monynna of Pochard who died a century earlier. Moreover, a Saint in Armagh would hardly have committed her proselyte to a Saint in the South of Ireland ; and that her convent was at no great distance from Glendalough appears from the tale, which is sufficiently curious and characteristic to be told more at large. Monynna had taken Glunsealach and his nephew into the convent, where they lived "literas discentes et cum virginibus cohabitantes." Now, it came to the ears of Coemgen that Monjmna had promised to her reclaimed highwayman that she would take away the throne in Heaven ordained for Coemgen, and give it to him.^ When this story reached Coemgen, who had now been seven years hving an eremitical life at Glendalough, he was full of rage, and armed his monks and servants, and they went to the convent with full purpose to burn it down, and kill Monynna and her nuns, and above all Glun- sealach. Monynna heard that they were coming, and, at the head of her spiritual daughters, went to meet the irate Saint, and to pacify him, which after a while she succeeded in doing ; and then she gave up to his charge the converted murderer and his nephew, that their perfecting might be done by Coemgen, and so redound to his credit.^ 1 Vita by John of Tynemouth in Capgrave, Nova Legenda A ngUcB. ^ " What avail my seven years of irigorous life in the desert, my vigils, sighs and moans, the nettles, mallows and wild herbs, raw, that I have eaten, the bark of trees and roots and wild fruit ... if my mansion in Heaven is to be taken from me by Modwenna, and given to a robber ? " The author, however, S. Monynna 495 Then she conducted Coemgen and his fellows to a tank she had formed, and to which was led a stream of tepid water. " There," said she, " off with your clothes and get in, and wash off your nasty temper." The biographer goes on to say that Monynna went about founding reHgious houses in all directions, which provoked a good deal of ridicule in some, but to which of the abbesses of the same name this applies we do not know. The Life by Concubran and that by Geoffrey of Burton now drift away to Modwenna, and are quite regardless of chronology. Monynna is made a contemporary of Congal or Conald II, who reigned at the close of the seventh century, or of Congal III, who was slain in 956. Also, King Alfred the Great, when a prince, comes to Ireland to be miraculously cured by her of a grievous infirmity ; and then she goes to England, and is given Edith of Polesworth to be her pupil. The Life in the Salamanca Codex is free from this absurdity. It says that she founded her monastery at a place called " Caput Litoris," a four days' journey from Kildare, but this applies to the Saint of Fo chard. Desiring a good Rule of Life, she sent one of her maidens. Brig or Brignat, across to Rosnat or Cill-Muine (S. David's), to obtain thence the best monastic regulations. One night, when the sisters had risen for Matins, and were about to commence the Psalms, Monynna stopped them. "Know," said she, " that our prayers hover about in the roof and cannot rise. That is due to one of you having committed a fault." After a long silence, one of the sisters, a widow, rose and said : " It is true. I am to blame. I suffer from cold feet, and so a man I know gave me a pair of wooUen stockings, and I am wearing them." Monynna ordered them there and then to be stripped off and thrown into the river, after which the arrested prayers were able to get through the roof.i As the time of Monynna's death drew on, the faithful Brig or Brignat was wont to watch at her cell, and she saw two swans fly away from it. She mentioned this to her mistress, who was very angry at her prying, and foretold that in consequence she would become blind. The Salamanca Life says that in her last moments Monynna was ministered makes this a suggestion of the Devil. Rather, it was what Coemgen said to himself. 1 " Duos sotulares a quodam viro . . . confiteor me recipesse, et oblivione iretardente, licentiam vestram non habui ; quos propter frigus in pedibus porto " Cod. Sal., col. 181. 49 6 Lives of the British Saints to by her old director S. Ibar, whom it calls Herbeus ; but this is impossible, as Ibar died in 503. We come now to the question whether she be the same as the Mwynen represented to be a daughter of the Irishman Brynach, and his wife Corth, daughter of Brychan.i It is possible. The Brychan family had many connexions with precisely that part of Ireland whei;e she lived. According to the Tract on the Mothers of the Saints, Mogoroc, Abbot of Delgany, in Wicklow, was a son of Brychan ; Cynog was also for a while in Ireland, also in Wicklow ; Mobeoc and Cairbre, other sons, were in Wexford ; so was another, EUoc by name, and a daughter, Cairine, was in Wexford. ^ This points to established and close intercourse between the family of Brychan and South Ireland ; and this same family occupied the North-east of Cornwall. Mwynen's brother (or uncle), Berwyn, is expressly said to have settled in Cornwall, where he was murdered, and Nicolas Roscarrock assures us that this Berwyn is the Bruer of S. Breward, and that the place of his martyrdom was shown in his day (1549-1634). Considering the connexion, it is probable that the Brychan clan in Wales would desire to have there one of their own family to organize the education of the daughters of the colony, and who so suitable ? Of direct evidence there is none. At the best we have but a pre- sumption. But the Irish authorities teU us nothing of the family of Monynna of Leinster. The foundations in Cornwall — not necessarily made by Monynna in person, but by disciples, and affiliated to her head house, and under her rule, would be Morwenstow, Marhamchurch, perhaps S. Minver, and S. Merryn. The following tradition relative to S. Morwenna is in a MS. at Portledge, of about 1610. " Morwinstow its name is fromS. Moorin. The tradition is that, when the parishioners were about to build their church, this Saint went down under a cliff, and chose a stone for the font, which she brought up upon her head. In her way, being weary, she laid down the stone, and rested herself, out of which place sprang a well, from thence called S. Moorwin's Well. Then she took it up and carried it to the place where now the church standeth. The parishioners had begun their church in another place, and there did convey this stone, but what was built by day was pulled down by ' See under S. Mwynen, further on. 2 Shearman, Loca Patriciana, Table VIII. Colgan, Acta SS. Hibern., p. 311. Colgan attributes the tract to Oengus ; it was probably by Mac Firbiss. S. Mor 497 night, and the materials carried to this place ; whereupon they forbore and built it in the place they were directed to by a wonder." i The day of S. Morwenna, Modwenna, or Monynna is July 5. She is entered on this day in a Calendar of Reading Abbey (1220-46), Cotton MS. Vesp. E. v ; also in a Calendar of the thirteenth or four- teenth century, Additional MS. 27,866 ; and in both editions of Wilson's Mariyrologie. Also in Whytford, who gives both July 5 and September 9. In the Irish Calendars, those of Tallaght, O'Gorman, Cashel, Donegal, and the Drummond Calendar, on July 6, as Monynna of Slieve Cuillin, now Killevy, in Armagh. The feast at S. Merryn is on July y.'^ That at Marhamchurch is on August 12. At Morwenstow on June 24, as both the Church and Holy Well were withdrawn from S. Morwenna, and placed under the patronage of S. John Baptist. The feast at S. Minver, according to William of Worcester, is on November 24. Roscarrock says November 23- At Morwenstow Church is a fresco representing the Saint as a nun, with one hand raised in benediction, and the other holding something indistinguishable, in her hand, to her breast. In Art she could be appropriately figured as an Irish Abbess in white, and with a swan at her side. S. MOR, Confessor Three persons of this name have been supposed to be Welsh Saints, but the authorities are late. 1. Mor, son of Ceneu ab Coel.^ He was the father of Arthwys, and also, according to the late genealogies, of S. Cynllo. 2. Mor, son of Pasgen ab Urien Rheged, and brother of Gwrfyw and Llamined (or Lleminod) Angel. He is said to have been buried in Bardsey.* 3. A Mor mentioned in a hagiological note, of late date, in the lolo MSS.^ : " Mor ab Morien brought (liither) Baptism and Faith (i.e., the Christian ReUgion), but would not bring Baptism into Gwynedd. 1 Transactions of the Exeter Dioc. Arch. Sac, i, pt. 2, Second Series, p. 216. 3 Nicolas Roscarroclc says that in his day he heard S. Merryn or Marina called Morwenna. 3 lolo MSS., p. 126. In Bonedd Cwyr y Gogledd in Peniarth MS. 45 he occurs as Mar ; cf. the Mar of Margam, Cambro-British Saints, p. 22. * lolo MSS., pp. 128, 145. ^ Pp. 146, 263-4. VOL. III. K K 49 8 Lives of the British Saints The first that did so was Gwydion ab Don. . . . Mor afterwards went to Rome and Jerusalem." The last named may be at once dismissed ; his association with the Culture Hero, is, to say the least, unfortunate. The other two, though genuine as regards their existence and their pedigrees, do not occur as Saints in any early Bonedd y Saint, the sole authority for them being the lolo MSS. There was undoubtedly a Saint of the name, but nothing authentic is known of his origin. ^ His protection, with that of many other Saints, is invoked in an ode for Henry VII ; ^ and Lewis Glyn Cothi,* about the same time, also invokes his protection for the subject of one of his eulogies. His festival does not occur in any of the Welsh Calendars, but it is mentioned as Gwyl For, without date, several times in the late additions to the Laws of Hywel Dda.* The name Mor, though not common, was by no means rare in early Welsh history. There are three churches that are doubtfully attributed to Mor as patron. In the case of two he is usually coupled with another Saint, in fact, their true patrons. They are Llanfor, in Penllyn, Merionethshire, Llannor, in Lleyn, Carnarvonshire, and Llanynys, in Denbighshire. Rees assigns the three to Mor ab Ceneu, associating with him Deiniol in the dedication of Llanfor,^ and Saeran in that of Llanynys. * The latter is, with much more probability, attributed ' to Saeran alone ; and there can be no manner of doubt as to the dedication of Llanfor to Deiniol. Of this there is sufficient evidence. As supplementing what has been already said,® may be cited the references in elegies by three bards of the early sixteenth century to parishioners who were buried at Llanfor. Lewys Mon, in his elegy to Rhys Llwyd, of Gydros, mentions " Eglwys Deinioel " as his place ■of sepulture ; Tudur Aled, in his to Wiliam ab Morys, of Rhiwaedog, says that he was buried " dan weryd Deinioel " ; and similarly Rhys Cain, in his to Elsbeth Owain, of Rhiwaedog, " mewn gweryd Dei- nioel." The true dedication of Llannor is the Holy Cross, September The error, in the case of Llanfor and Llannor, is, on the face of it, comparatively recent. Mor has been simply read into the two names. The early forms of both would now appear as Llan Fawr — as one word becoming Llanfor (cf. Dolfor, Trefor, Nanmor, etc.). In the Taxatio '■ See under S. Magnus ; Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, p. 470. 2 lolo MSS., p. 314. 3 Gwaith, 1837, p. 88. * Ed. Aneurin Owen, folio, pp. 522, 686, 700. ^ Welsh Saints, 1836, pp. 117-8, 341. s Ibid., pp. 118, 271, 334. ' E.g., Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 278. * ii, p. 330. ^ Willis, Bangor, p. 275. S. Moran or JVLoderan 499 of 1254 Llannor occurs as " Lan Vaur " ; in that of 1291 as " Llan- vawr " ; 1 and Llanfor in the latter as " Lan vaur." The name means " The Large Church," but neither church could be described as " large " now. As appHed to Llanfor, mawr may have had reference to the large size of the original parish, and, as well might be assumed, of its church also in the early Middle Age. Until the middle of last century, when three parishes were carved out of it, Llanfor was a very extensive parish, embracing an area of over 20,000 acres. Llannor at one time included also Pwllheli. S. MORAN or MODERAN, Bishop, Confessor The parish church of Lamorran (Lan-Moran), in Cornwall, is dedi- cated to this Saint. The district is one of irregular settlements. In Brittany S. Moran is known and venerated. Nicolas Roscarrock calls him Moran or Morwene, and says that his day as observed at Lamorran was the Tuesday before All Saints' Day. This is about the time in which he is commemorated in the Roman and GaUican Martyrologies, October 22. Moran's or Moderan's Life by an anonymous writer has been pub- lished by Dom Plaine in Studien u. Mittheilungen aus dem Benedict. u.d. Cisterc. Orden, Jahrg. viii, 1887, pp. 196-201. See also Mabillon, Acta SS. O.S.B., ssec. iii, i, pp. 517-21. Mention is also made of the Saint by Flodoard. Moran was son of the Count of Tornacis. He was destined for the church, and brought up by Desiderius, Bishop of Rennes. The story goes, that his father went to Britain, and there fell desperately in love with a young and noble maiden. He determined to marry her, keeping back the fact that he had a wife in Gaul, and to remain the rest of his days in her native island. But the night before the marriage Moran appeared to his father, and gave him so severe a lecture on his conduct, and on the immorality of persuading a maiden to marriage when his wife was alive, that the Count ran away from his intended bride, and sneaked back to Brittany. He probably trusted that the news of his adventure would not reach Tornacis, and the ears of his wife. But he was undeceived ; his son had revealed his father's > So to a late period, especially in poetry ; e.g., " Llanfawr yn Ll^n " (1649), in Cefn Cock MSS., 1899, p. 17. For the elision of / see under S. Mabon. The name is the same as the Breton Lanveur. 500 Lives of the British Saints delinquency, which was an unworthy and ungenerous proceeding, and the Count's hfe thenceforth at home was anything but peaceful. In the reign of Chilperic Moran was made Bishop of Rennes. Amelo, Count of Rennes, was a thorn in his side, vexing the Church with his exactions and violence, and Moran, to escape these annoyances, or from motives of piety, resolved on absenting himself from his sej for awhile, on the plea of a pilgrimage to Rome. He passed through Rheims, where the treasurer of the church gratified him with some choice rehcs — a portion of the stole, horsehair shirt, and handkerchief of S. Remigius. He continued his route to Rome, and crossed Monte Bardone, one of the Apennines near Parma. There he made the vow that, should he reach Rome in safety, he would spend the rest of his days on this charming spot. As the major portion of his journey and most of its perils were passed, it is pretty clear that he had made up his mind to remain there, and not return to the dull country of Rennes, and the vexations of an insolent Count. On his way back from Rome, having happily accomplished his journey in safety, he found that his legs inexorably refused to move into the plain below the mountains, and only when he communicated to his companions his intention of settling there did they regain their flexibility and power of locomotion. He seems to have reconsidered the matter, and seen that it was absolutely necessary for him to return to Rennes and formally resign his bishopric. This he therefore did. He gave up his office into the hands of his grand vicar, Aunscand, who was consecrated in his room, and then he hastened back to Monte Bardone, and built on its slopes a monastery called Berzetto. He died there about the year 730, and was buried on the left hand of the altar. Flodoard gives another version of the story. Moran forgot his relics, and left them hanging on the branches of a leafy oak. On his road he remembered them, and sent back a clerk named Wulfhad for them ; but the clerk could not reach them, for the bough lifted them into the air, high over his head. The bishop then returned, but he could not recover his relics till he had made a vow to leave a portion of them there in a little chapel dedicated to S. Abundius. Luitprand, King of the Lombards, hearing of the miracle, gave him lands on Monte Bardone in honour of S. Remigius. The district in which Lamorran is situated is between two creeks of the Fal, and has near by dedications to S. Clement, and S. Cornelius, to the Irish S. Feacc, and the Cornish S. Cubi (Cybi). The explanation of the existence near Truro of a dedication to a peculiarly uninteresting Breton Saint is to be found in the migration of the Bretons to cur island. Rennes was not included in Brittany till after the conquects S. Mordaf ^ o I of Nominoe in 846-50. The border land or marches were ravaged remorselessly by Franks and Bretons indiscriminately, and it is quite possible that some of the inhabitants of these marches then abandoned their homes ; but the great exodus took place later, and was due to the incursions of the Northmen. " The Danes and Northmen burnt the towns, the castles, the churches, the monasteries, the houses, ravaged the country , desolated Brittany through its length and breadth, till they had reduced the whole land to a sohtude, to one vast desert. Then it was that the bodies of the Saints were taken out cf the land." ^ Another chronicler says : "As the pirates by the permission of the Almighty devastated the whole of Brittany and reduced it to servitude, the inhabitants, overwhelmed by the invaders, abandoned their homes, and found places of refuge in other lands, but carried away with them the precious relics of the Saints." ^ The Nantes Chronicler says : " At this time (i.e., at the beginning of the invasion of 919) Mathuedoi, Count of Poher, escaped to Athelstan, King of England, with a crowd of Bretons (cum ingenti multitudine Britonum), and with his son, Alan, whom he had of the daughter of Duke Alan the Great, and who later was called Barbetorte. King Athelstan had before held this son at the font, and because of this spiritual tie, was greatly attached to him." ^ There is an inaccuracy in this. Athelstan was not king in 919 or 920 ; but the fact that Mathuedoi and crowds of fugitives went to Britain is not disturbed by this sUp. We may suspect that the introduction of the cult, and the founda- tion of a church to S. Moran, was due to these refugees, who would more readily go to a Celtic part of Britain than any other. S. Moran or Moderan is given by Albert le Grand on October 22 ; also in the Rennes Breviaiy of 1627 ; also in Saussaye's Galilean Martyrology. But on May 13 in the thirteenth century Breviaiy of S. Yves, at Treguier, and on May 16 in the MS. Breviary of S. Me- lanius, at Rennes, due apparently to a translation of relics. S. MORDAF Mordaf, generally called Mordaf Hael, or the Generous, has been included among the Welsh Saints in two late documents printed in 1 Vet. Coll. MS. De rehus Bntannice in De la Borderie, Kist. de Bretagnc T, ii, p. 356. 2 Ibid., p. 357. ^ Chron. Namn., ed. Merlet, pp. 82-3. 502 Lives of the British Saints the lolo MSS.} but without any authority whatever. He was the son of Serfan ab Cedig ab Dyfnwal Hen,^ and one of the " Men of the North," who were warriors. In the chapter headed " The Privileges of Arfon " in the Venedotian Code of the Welsh Laws,^ we are told that he, with Clydno Eiddin, Nudd Hael, and Rhydderch Hael — all northern chieftains — invaded Arfon, in the time of Rhun ab Maelgwn Gwynedd, to avenge the death of Elidyr Mwynfawr, another of the " Men of the North," and devastated Arfon. He is celebrated in the Triads,'^ with Rhydderch and Nudd, as one of the " Three Generous Ones of the Isle of Britain." There is no evidence that he at any time devoted himself to religion. The compilers of the lolo Achau'r Saint probably thought that the inclusion of Mordaf would account for the name Llanforda, now borne by one of the townships of Oswestry, where is also a brook, Morda. Leland ^ says, " Morda risith in a hiUe cauUid Llanvarda wher was a chirch now decaid." Llanfordaf simply means "the Church on the Mordaf brook." There is nothing unusual in a river bearing a man's name ; in fact, it is a common characteristic of the names of Welsh rivers, especially brooks. " Lanvorda " was a chapel formerly in the parish of Llanedern, near Cardiff, which is mentioned in a document of 1393, and also in one of 1236 as " Lanbordan." Another " Lambordan," mentioned in 1392, was at Coed y Gores, in the parish of Roath, Cardiff ; it is now a cottage called Ty'r Capel. There is a place of the same name in the parish of Llangattock Feibion Afel, near Monmouth.^ S. MORDEYRN, Confessor The cywydd in praise of Mordeyxn, " an honoured Saint in Nant- glyn," by the sixteenth century bard Dafydd ab Llywelyn ab Madog,'' 1 Pp. 106, 138. For a " saying " attributed to him, see ibid., p. 253. 2 Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd. Mordaf is a somewhat rare name. It was borne by the blind man in Hanes Taliessin, and by the Bishop of Bangor who accom- panied Hywel Dda to Rome for the confirmation of his Laws. ^ Ed. Aneurin Owen, folio, p. 50. * Myv. Arch., pp. 389, 397, 404^ ^ J tin., V, fo. 40. 8 Cardiff Records, i, pp. loi, 156 ; ii, p. 14 ; v, p. 386 ; Annates ' Monasticit ed. Luard, i, p. 100. ' There are copies of the panegyric in at least four seventeenth century MSS. — Cardiff MS. 23, p. 252 ; Llanstephan MS. 167, p. 339 ; Additional MS. 12, 230, p. 240; HafodMS. 10, fo. 34 (fragmentary). There is a summary of it in Lewis Morris, Celtic Remains, pp. 315-6. Dafydd ab Gwilym in two of his poems, (ed. 1789, pp. 418, 448) alludes to Mordeyrn. S. Mordeyrn 503. seems to contain all that is known of him. His name is not entered in a single Bonedd or Achau y Saint. The bard informs us that he was a king's son, " the offspring of blessed Edeyrn," a grandson of Cu^edda Wledig, and " of the same blood " as S. David. This makes him the son of Edeyrn (or rather, Edern) ab Cunedda, who, n the Cuneddan Conquest of Wales, is credited with having received as his share the district of Edeyrnion, in North-east Merionethshire. Mordeyrn served God from his youth up. When many of his kin of the twenty thousand Saints went to Bardsey, a causeway rose out of the sea for their passage, but Mordeyrn crossed thither to them on his golden-maned steed without wetting so much as a hoof ; hence his name, " the Sovereign of the Sea." This " leader and confessor of the Faith " afterwards returned to his home in the vale of Nantglyn, where he has "a befitting house (church), with ornate Sacrifice." Here, where he died, is his shrine, as well as his beautiful image, which imparted health to all sick folk. His devotees he rid of every affliction, and such as resorted to him for their cattle had them preserved from disease for a whole year. They came laden with " oblations of fine wax and gold." Might he ever defend his people from all harm and ill, and finally bring them all safe to heaven ! His festival is not given in any of the Welsh Calendars, but in the MS. additions to the Calendar in a copy of the Preces PrivatcB of 1573 in the S. Beuno's (Jesuit) College Library there is entered against July 25, " G. mab. Na'tglyn," the Feast of the Patron of Nantglyn. Edward Lhuyd says that " his Feast (is) y^ First Sund : after St. James's." The only parish of which Mordeyrn is known to have been patron is Nantglyn, near Denbigh. The old Capel Mordeyrn has long since disappeared. The present parish church is dedicated to S. James the Apostle, whose festival day is the same as Mordeyrn 's, which accounts for the ousting of the native Saint. The chapel was situated about a quarter of a mile from the church, on a part of Clasmor farm. Le- land ^ writes of it, " There is a ChapeUe by a Paroch Chirch in a Place caullid corruptely NancUn for Nantglin by Astrat-brooke, where as divers Sainctes were of auncient Tyme buried." Lhuyd, 1699, says that its foundations were to be seen in his time, and adds that the people there were " accustomed to sell turf [gweryd, terra) out of the chapel for the cure of diseases on cattle." He also mentions Ffynnon Fordeyrn, his Holy Well.^ 1 Ilin., iv, fo. 46. s ParocMalia, pp. 151-2, Suppl. to Arch. Camh., 1909. He observes of Nant- glyn Sanctorum, " It was a sanctuary, they say." 504 Lives of the British Saints The two ancient townships of the parish were named Nantglyn Canon and Nantglyn Sanctorum. What Leland says has, no doubt, reference to the latter ; and the bridge over the brook is called Pont Rhyd y Saint. The former township took its name from Canon (or Cynon) ab Llywarch, whose progenies was located there. ^ S. MORFAEL In a brief chronicle, printed in the lolo MSS.,^ entitled the " Periods of Oral Tradition and Chronology," but which is utterly unreliable, we are told that the mythical Llyr Llediaith " drove the Goidels out of his country . . . and made a caer on the banks of the river Loughor, which he called Dinmorfael, from the name of his dearest daughter, who died there. He subsequently erected there a church which was called Llanmorfael, but now its name is Loughor Castle." We should have expected it to appear as Llanforfael. The Bonedd or Achan y Saint know nothing of a Morfael as Saint, but there was once a church that bore the name. One of the " Verses of the Graves " in the twelfth century Black Book of Carmarthen ^ informs us that — The grave of Owain ab XJrien (Rheged) is in a secluded part of the world- Under the sod of Llan Morfael. Morfael was also a man's name. It occurs in the Old-Welsh pedi- grees in Harleian MS. 3859 as Mormayl. It was the name of a son of Cyndrwyn, and of an early bishop of S. David's. S. MORHAIARN, Confessor Of Morhaiarn absolutely notliing appears to be known beyond the fact that he is patron of Trewalchmai, subject to Heneglwys, in Angle- sey,* and that his festival was observed there on All Saints' Day.^ 1 Seebohm, Tribal System in Wales, 1904, append. B {Extent of Denbigh, 1335)- 2 P. 38. ^ Ed. Evans, 1906, p. 64 ; Skene, ii, p. 29. Stephens, Literature of the Kymry, 1876, p. 184, thought it was in Pembrokeshire, east of Fishguard. " J. Gwenogvryn Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 912. With the name compare the Breton Morhuarn. " Browne Willis, Bangor, 1721, p. 281 ; Nicolas Owen, History of Anglesey, 1775. P- 57- S. Mwrog ^05 S. MORWENNA, see S. MONYNNA S. MWCHWDW There were some years ago the remains of a chapel, dedicated to this Saint, on an eminence some three-quarters of a mile south of Parys Mountain— towards its western end— in the parish of Rhosybol, Anglesey. There is nothing to be seen of it to-day. But the tenant farmer in ploughing the field comes across' its foundations ; and a tombstone, which now does duty as a door-step to a house in the parish, is believed to have come from the cemetery which the chapel is known to have had. The Saint's name occurs under various spellings, but oftenest as Bwchwdw and Mwchwdw, and the chapel is generally known as Bettws Bwchwdw. Leland ^ gives it as " Bettws Machwdo ; " and in a parish-list of 1590-1 ^ it occurs as " LI. vochwdw." Nothing is known locally of the Saint. S. MWROG, Confessor This Saint's name does not occur in any copy of the Welsh saintly pedigrees. Two parish churches are, or were, under his invocation. One, the more important church, is Llanfwrog, Denbighshire, on the outskirts of the town of Ruthin, but which has for many centuries, no doubt at some re-building, been re-dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Above the church is a field called, in the terrier of 1672, Bryn Mwrog, which forms part of the glebe. ^ The other church is Llanfwrog, under Llanfaethlu, in Anglesey. There is a tradition that there was formerly a small chapel, dedicated to him, in a field called Mynwent Mwrog, on Cefnglas Farm, about a mUe from this church, but not a vestige of it now remains. It has been supposed,* but quite wrongly, that Bodwrog Church, under Llandrygarn, also in Anglesey, is dedicated to him, and not to Twrog. Festival days in two different months are given him — in January, 1 Collect., 1774, iv, p. 88. 2 J. Gwenogvryn Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 912. For Bettws ( = Bead-house) becoming Llan, cf. Bettws Cadwaladr, now Llangadwaladr, in Denbighshire. ' " Bryn y Golwg (the Hill of the View) was the name formerly of the spot where Llanfwrog Church now stands " — Peniavth MSS. 134, 176 ; Cardiff MS. 1 5. « Lewis Morris, Celtic Remains, pp. 41, 321. 5 o 6 Lives of the British Saints but unknown to the calendars, and in September. Browne Willis ' gives January 6 for Anglesey, and the i6th for Denbighshire ; Rees,^ the 6th and 15th. Possibly he has been mistaken for S. Maurus founder and abbot of Glanfeuil or S. Maur-sur-Loire, on January 15. September 23 is his festival in the Welsh MS. additions to the calendar in a copy of the Preces Privatce, 1573, in S. Beuno's (Jesuit) College Library ; the 24th in the Calendars in Peniarth MSS. 27 (pt. i), 172, 186, 187, 219, Jesus College MSS. 22, 141, Mostyn MS. 88, Llanstefhan MSS. 117, 181, the lolo MSS., and the Welsh Prymer of 1546 ; and the 25th in Additional MS. 14,882. These calendars, almost unanimously, give the 24th as his day ; and the festival of the neighbouring S. Meugan at Llanrhydd, Ruthin, on the 25th, would favour that date. There is a poem written in his honour, Cywydd i Fwrog Sunt, to be found in Llanstephan MS. 167, of the end of the seventeenth century, by an unknown bard, but it contains no particulars of his hfe.^ He is " a crosiered shepherd in his choir, supreme, like a Beuno of Ruthin " ; and we have related his posthumous miracles in the cure of the sick and the blind and the lame. William of Worcester * says that he reposes at Ruthin. " Mwrog haeldeg " (the bounteous-fair) is men- tioned among the dozen " seamen " who formed S. Cybi's " family," and who are nearly all associated as Saints with Anglesey.^ Lewis Glyn Cothi invokes his protection for the subject of one of his poems, and in another poem exclaims, " Myn delw Fwrog Wyn ! " (By the Blessed Mwrog's image !).^ His name occurs twice in an ode to King Henry VH,' wherein the poet invokes the protection and aid of a great number of Saints for that king. A Ffynnon Fwrog is mentioned as being near Llansannan, and Cae Mwrog is the name of a parcel of land belonging to a LlanfyUin charity. There was a S. Moroc, Bishop and Confessor, in Scotland, whose festival is November 8. His church and sepulchre (Maworrock) are stated in the Martyrology of Aberdeen to be at Lekraw, near Stirling. At Dowally, near Dunkeld, is a place called Kilmorick, and a Kil- morack in Inverness-shire. ^ 1 Bangor, 1721, pp. 278, 280. Nicolas Owen, Hist, of Anglesey, 1775, p. 59, gives the 6tli for the Anglesey parish. 2 Welsh Saints, p. 308. ^ It is probably this poem that is referred to in Myv. Arch., p. 428. * Itin., p. 119. ° Their names are given in a short poem, Teulu Cybi Sant, which occurs in Peniarth MS. 225, Mostyn MS. no, and elsewhere. « Gwaith, 1837, pp. 53. 96. ' lolo MSS., pp. 313-5. * Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, 1872, p. 414, S. My for 507 S. MWYNEN or MWYNWEN, Virgin MwYNEN and Mwynwen represent one person. In the Myvyrian Archaiology'^ she is made, as Mwynen, to be a daughter of Brychan, but in the lolo MSS.,^ as Mwynen and Mwynwen, his grand-daughter, being the daughter of Brynach Wyddel by Brychan 's daughter Corth or Cymorth, and she is there further said to be the sister of Gerwyn, Gwenan, and Gwenlliw. The early Brychan Hsts know nothing of her or of her mother. See S. MoNYNNA. S. MYBARD, see S. MEUBRED S. MYDAN, Confessor The sole authority for this Saint is an entry in the lolo MSS.,^ where he is stated to have been the son of Pasgen ab Urien Rheged, and a Saint of Cor Catwg, at Llancarfan. He had a brother, S. Gwrfyw, who was the father of S. Nidan. It is quite possible that Mydan is a misreading for Nidan, with the father's name dropped out, as not infrequently the case in late documents. See, however, under S. Medan. S. MYFOR, Confessor The early forms of the Monmouthshire Church-name, Llanover, clearly suggest, as the name of the Saint involved, a form which might appear in modern spelling as Myfor. The church is now dedicated to S. Bartholomew, but it has been generally supposed that its original patron was a hermit named Gofor or Gover. See what has been said of the church-name and the Saint under S. GoFOR (p. 133). The Mawy of Merthyr Mawr * (now dedicated to S. Teilo), in Glamorgan- shire, is a corruption of the Myfor name. It should be stated that Merthyr does not appear to have borne in Wales the same meaning as the Latin Martyrium, but probably meant, as in Ireland, a cemetery » P. 428. ^ Pp- 121, 141. » p. 102, * For the Book of Llan Ddv forms of the name see the references in its index, p. 412. 5o8 Lives of the British Saints which had been sanctified by the relics (in Irish, martre) of a Saint, in this case Myfor, with perhaps a small chapel ; so that it does not follow that the Saint was a martyr. Myfor is a rare name. Sir John Rhys suggests ^ that the doubtful reading, Mavorius, of an inscribed stone at Kirkmadrine, Wigtown- shire, may perhaps be related to it. S. MYGNACH The sole authority for Mygnach as a Saint is the lolo MSS., where occur the two following entries : " Mygnach, the son of Mydno, of Caer Seon, was registrar of Cor Cybi. He was a Saint at Caer Gybi, in Anglesey, and afterwards principal of that Cor." ^ " S. Mygnach, of Caer Leon, the son of Mydno ab Gwron ab Arch ab Gwrddyled ab Eginir ab Owain Finddu ab Macsen Wledig." ^ By Caer Seon is, no doubt, meant the Roman fortress Segontium, near Carnarvon. The same work contains the following notice, with, it would appear, a reference to Mygnach : " The three Chief Bards of Maelgwn Gwy- nedd, who were also the three primitive Chief Bards of Gwynedd, were Mynach ab Nywmon {al. ab Mydnaw), the son of the King of Ore (Orkney), Unhwch Unarchen, and Maeldaf ab Unhwch ; but Taliessin, Chief of the Bards, acquired superiority over these three, by releasing Elphin ab Gwyddno from the prison of Maelgwn Gwynedd, where he was confined under thirteen locks." * Mygnach may have been a Saint for allwe know, but he was certainly 1 bard. In the twelfth century Black Book of Carmarthen ^ occurs 1 dialogue in verse, which is entitled in the Myvyrian text,^ " A Dialogue between Ugnach ab Mydno, of Caer Seon, and Taliessin, of "aer Deganwy." It is of a purely secular character, and represents Ugnach or Mygnach as lord of a dinas, or stronghold, near Carnarvon. Taliessin addresses him as " the most a;filuent in riches," and invokes ' a blessing upon his throne." A Mygnach Gor, or the Dwarf, is recorded in the Triads ' as having I daughter named Fflur, who was carried away by the Romans, an ncident which, it is alleged, led to the invasion of Britain under fulius Caesar. 1 Y Cymmrodov, xviii (1905), p. 36. 2 P. 109. 3 p_ i3g_ I -p y3_ ^ Ed. Evans, 1906, pp. 101-2 ; Skene, ii, pp. 56-7. ^ P. 44. ' Myv. Arch,, pp. 392-3, 399, 410. S. Mynno 509 S. MYLLIN, see S. MOLING S. MYNNO, Confessor This is the now-forgotten patron Saint of Moylgrove (in Welsh, Tre Wyddel), Pembrokeshire, which is to-day given, but doubtfully, S. Andrew as its patron.^ In the Vairdre Book, under the parish, we find : ^ " the said stang of grownd w'^'' was geven to the churche for the said tithe w"'' stange is called slanged mynno vzd such a saintes stang." In composition with Llan the name would be liable to be modified into Wynno. 1 Lewis, Topog. Diet. (1833), and Diocesan Calendar; Browne Willis, to S. David ; Rice Rees, no dedication. 2 Owen's Pembrokeshire, ii, p. 307. END OF VOL III