conform to the religious observances of their neighbours, and the mean period of their establishment may, for various reasons, be assigned to the time from A. D. 800 to 850. Shortly before this period, it is recorded that the affairs of the Church made unusual progress. Charlemagne had es'tablished the civil obligation of tithes over his dominions in France, Germany, and Italy; and a similar ordinance had been passed by Offa in England. It is probable that the example of these might so far have had effect upon the people of Wales, as to cause generally the erection of churches in places not yet supplied with them, and to assign for their maintenance the tithes of lands not appropriated by previous endowments. This notion, though highly probable, is only a supposition; but it is recorded, that in the latter part of the eighth century the Welsh were brought gradually into communion with the Church of Rome, for during the time the primitive founders flourished the British Church was independent. The first public act, which acknowledged a submission to the Papal See, has been thought to have been the resignation of Lis kingdom by Cadwaladr, that he might make a pilgrimage to the eternal city, where it is said he died in 688. But great obscurity seems to hang over the accounts of this performance; and as this, and other actions in the life of that Prince, are related in almost the same words of his contemporary, Ceadwalla, King of the West Saxons, who died at Rome in that year, there is reason to believe that the monkish historians* have confounded the one with the other. It is clear, however, that the Welsh did not conform to the Romish time of the celebration of Easter till the year 755. The Britons had been accustomed to calculate this festival from a cycle, according to which it was generally held a week earlier than it was observed at Rome; and the subject, though trifling in itself, was considered to be of such importance that it was made the test

* Walter de Mapes, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and their followers.

of difference, and those who refused to adopt the Romish computation were deemed without the pale of the Catholic Church.* In 755, Elfod, or Elbodius, became Archbishop of Bangor. A modern writert states that he was appointed by the Pope; and though the assertion is not supported by a reference to authority, the circumstance is by no means improbable. Upon his accession, he induced the people of North Wales to adopt. the Romish cycle. The Bishops of South Wales, however, refused to comply; in consequence of which the Saxons invaded their country, and a battle was fought at a place called Coed Marchan, in which the Welsh gained an honourable victory. What further measures were taken is not recorded, but in 777 the time of Easter was altered in South Wales.§ In this state it appears to have continued until the death of Elbodius in 809, when the South-Welsh Bishops refused to acknowledge the authority of his successor. The controversy of the celebration of Easter was again renewed, and though it is not stated how soon it subsided into compliance with the Romish computation, there is reason to suppose that the Welsh were still slow to surrender their ancient custom.

Those Welsh Chronicles, which are generally deemed authentic, commence about A. D. 700; and it is to be regretted,

Bede's Eccl. Hist. passim.

+ Warrington; in his account of the Church at the end of the "History of Wales."

Brut y Tywysogion, or Chronicle of the Princes, the second copy, Archaiology of Wales, Vol. II. page 473.

§ Archaiology of Wales, Vol. II. p. 474.

|| Ibid. Vol. II. pp. 474, 475.

The following is extracted from Hughes's Hora Britannica.—“ We find in the Greek life of St. Chrysostom, that certain clergymen, who dwelt in the isles of the ocean, repaired from the utmost borders of the habitable world to Constantinople, in the days of Methodius, (who was

that, for the first century after their commencement, they are so brief that they afford but few data for tracing the progress of superstition. But the introduction of the custom of dedicating churches to Saints, after the Catholic method, would Pe have been so remarkable an innovation that it could hardly pass unobserved. Accordingly, in two of these Chronicles, the following curious notices occur. In Brut y Tywysogion, or the Chronicle of the Princes, it is stated that between A. D. 710 and 720 "a church of Llanfihangel was consecrated;" and in Brut y Saeson, or the Chronicle of the Saxons, it is said "in 717 was consecrated a church of Michael."* Neither of the Chronicles offers any further explanation, but as there is no church of St. Michael in Wales of eminence sufficient to deserve this special notice, the most rational interpretation of the record is, that the church alluded to was the first, in the Principality, dedicated to the Archangel, and the date alleged occurs at a time when such a circumstance might reasonably be expected.

It must not, however, be denied that in the works of Bards who flourished before A. D. 700, some traces may be found of the corruptions of Christianity; for to state, that the Welsh Church was entirely free from them, would be an assertion which it would be impossible to maintain. But these traces are slight. Allusions to religious subjects are very frequent, and it would appear that some respect was paid to the memory of Saints; but on the supposition that all the

patriarch there, from the year 842 to 847,) to enquire of certain ecclestical traditions, and the perfect and exact computation of Easter. It is to be inferred from hence, that as there can be no doubt that the British isles are referred to, that the disputes respecting Easter were not yet laid to rest; and that our Britons, not being satisfied with the determination of the Pope of Rome, resorted to the decision of the bishop of Constantinople." (Vol. II. p. 317.)

Archaiology of Wales, Vol. II. p. 300. + Ibid. Vol. II. p. 471.

poems ascribed to that age are genuine,* a point which is more than questionable, the intercession of Saints is noticed only three times; namely, once respectively in two compo sitions which an ancient MS. attributes, with an expression of doubt, to Taliesin; and the third instance occurs in a poem, ascribed in the Archaiology of Wales to the same author, but since acknowledged to be modern.† The oldest composition, in which the Welsh Saints are spoken of superstitiously, is attributed to Golyddan, a contemporary of Cadwaladr, near the close of the period in question.

The dedication of churches to St. Michael, doubtless, led the way to the erection of others in honour of St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles, which were founded as occasions required them until modern times. In arranging the latter, those, which from the nature of their endowments show that they have some claim for consideration on the score of antiquity, may be ranked in the same class with the former; and the list may also include those dedicated to St. John the Baptist, St. Stephen, and St. Mary Magdalene, as well as the older churches of St. Mary the Virgin. But the churches

* The number in the Archaiology of Wales is upwards of a hundred, and those which are spurious may be distinguished from the rest by the modern style in which they are written.

The acknowledgment is made by one of the editors of the Archaiology, who thus explains the rule observed during its publication.

"The editors of the Myvyrian Archaiology were bound to give to the world all the pieces, whatever their origin, which were ascribed to the poets whose works were comprised in that collection, leaving it to the critic to elucidate the various styles, and pronounce upon the authenticity of the productions-this department was not within the scope of their undertaking." (Dr. Owen Pughe, in the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, Vol. V. p. 109 & 204.) The first two poems, alluded to above, are inserted in the Archaiology, Vol. I. pp. 76-77 and 169-170, and the last in p. 83 of the same Volume.

The time when the dedication of churches to the Virgin first commenced in Wales cannot be ascertained; but the earliest instance upon

dedicated to the Apostles, in Wales, are not many; and of those enumerated by Ecton, nearly one half can be shown to have had Welsh Saints for their original founders.

The mean period of the erection of churches of the last foundation is the twelfth century. To this class belong, besides the remainder of the Apostolic churches, all such as are dedicated to inferior Saints of the Roman Catholic Calendar, such as St. Nicholas, St. Lawrence, &c. which were erected principally by foreign adventurers. But the great preponderance at this period of churches dedicated to St. Mary, may in some degree be attributed to the Cistercian monks, whose order was the most prevalent in Wales; and it was a rule of the fraternity that their religious houses should be dedicated to the Virgin.t

As formal dedication in honour of Saints was not the original custom of the Welsh, the question which remains is, the era of those chapels which have been built in honour of natives of Wales; that they are ancient may be shown from the fact that the great majority of them are parochial, and few of them are subject to churches dedicated to the Apostles and other Saints whose homage was introduced at a later period. When the Welsh began to honour Saints after the Catholic method, they would naturally direct their attention to those who deserved that respect among their own countrymen. But it appears to have been under certain limitations; and compared with the Apostles, and other celebrated names, the holy men

record is that of a church, near the Cathedral of Bangor, which was founded, in honour of St. Mary, in A. D. 973, by Edgar, King of England. (Wynne's History of Wales,-Beauties of North Wales, p. 443.)

An examination of the poems of the Welsh Bards, in the order in which they stand in the Myvyrian Archaiology, will show that St. Mary began to receive distinguished attention about A. D. 1200, which preeminence appears to have continued until the Reformation. Vol. I. pp. 315, 324.

+Tanner's Notitia Monastica.