SECTION XV.

The Welsh Saints from the Death of Cadwaladr A. D. 664 to the End of the Seventh Century, including those of uncertain date.

LITTLE is known of the history of this time, and it forms almost a blank in Welsh tradition. The nominal sovereigns of Wales were successively a son of Cadwaladr, named Idwal Iwrch, and Hywel ab Cadwal,* the latter of whom was succeeded by Rhodri Molwynog in 720.

The saints who may be assigned to this generation are:— Egryn, the son of Gwrydr Drwm ab Gwedrog of the line of Cadell Deyrnllug. He was the founder of Llanegryn, Merionethshire.

Cwyfen, the son of Brwyno Hên ab Dyfnog; a descendant of Caradog Fraichfras, and the founder of Llangwyfen, Denbighshire. Tudweiliog, Carnarvonshire, and Llangwyfen a chapel under Trefdraeth, Anglesey, are dedicated to him. His mother was Camell of Bodangharad in Coleion, Denbighshire. Festival, June 3.

"Baruck," a saint who is not mentioned in the Welsh accounts, but according to Cressy he was-"a Hermite, whose memory is celebrated in the Province of the Silures and region of Glamorgan. He lyes buried in the Isle of Barry, which took its name from him."- "In our Martyrologe,” adds that author, "This Holy Hermit Baruck is said to have sprung from the Noble Blood of the Brittains, and entring into a solitary strict course of life, he at this time (A. D. 700) attained to a life immortall." Festival, Nov. 29.

* Kyvoesi Myrdin. Myv. Archaiology, Vol. I. p. 140.

Degeman, in Latin Decumanus, a holy person, of whom Cressy says that he was "born of Noble parents in the SouthWestern parts of Wales, and forsaking his countrey the more freely to give himself to Mortification and devotion, he passed the river Severn upon a hurdle of rodds, and retired himself into a mountainous vast solitude covered with shrubbs and briars, where he spent his life in the repose of Contemplation, till in the end he was slain by a murderer."-According to Camden, he was murdered at a place called St. Decombe's in Somersetshire, where a church was afterwards raised to his memory. He is the patron saint of Rosecrowther in the county of Pembroke; and of Llandegeman, an extinct chapel in the parish of Llanfihangel Cwm Dû, Brecknockshire. He died A. D. 706, and has been commemorated on the twenty seventh of August.

*

The Primitive Church of Wales continued to maintain its existence, but the above are its last saints of whom any account has been preserved. In the latter part of the next century the Welsh were forced to adopt the Catholic computation of Easter, and thereby to join in communion with the church of Rome. Since that time, only five Welshmen have obtained the honours of sanctity, including Elfod or Elbodius, the prelate through whose exertions the change alluded to was effected. The other four were:-Sadyrnin, bishop of St. David's, who died A, D. 832; his name is borne by the church of Llansadyrnin in Carmarthenshire :-Cyfelach, bishop of Llandaff from about the year 880 to 927; he probably gave his name to the church of Llangyfelach, Glamorganshire, the original founder of which was St. David :-Caradog, a hermit of Haroldston East, Pembrokeshire, and patron saint of Lawrenny in that county; he was canonized by the Pope at the solicitation of Giraldus Cambrensis: +-Gwryd, a friar, who

*See page 66 of this Essay.

+ Wharton's Anglia Sacra, Vol. II.

The bishop who presided over the see of Llandaff was Oudoceus, of whom it was asserted in the middle ages, that he made an acknowledgement of submission to St. Augustin, archbishop of Canterbury, and received consecration at his hands ;* but the legend, for it deserves no better name, is so contrary to authentic history and inconsistent with the state of the Welsh Church for two centuries after the time of Oudoceus, that it does not require a serious refutation. Had the early Catholic writers of this island+ been able to prove that a Welsh bishop had submitted to Canterbury, they might have gained a political purpose and terminated an important ecclesiastical controversy; but they invariably describe the British Christians as holding no communion with the Anglo-Saxons, and celebrating the passover without fellowship with the Church of Christ. The memory of Oudoceus has been held in great reverence at Llandaff, where he has had the honour of ranking with Dubricius and Teilo as one of the patron saints of the cathedral. His commemoration is July 2.

Ceneu, the bishop of Menevia contemporary with Oudoceus, was the founder of Llangeneu, a church which once existed in Pembrokeshire, but the settlement of the Flemings in that county has obliterated all traces of its situation.§

Lleuddad, called also Llawddog, the son of Dingad ab Nudd Hael and Tefrian or Tonwy a daughter of Llewddyn Luyddog; he ended his days in the Isle of Bardsey, and is sometimes

*Liber Landavensis.

+ Aldhelm, Eddius, and Bede.

The first instance of submission to Canterbury, that can be authenticated, happened between the years 871 and 889, when Lwmbert or Hubert Sais, bishop of St. David's, and Cimeliauc or Cyfelach, bishop of Llandaff, were consecrated by Ethelred, its eighteenth archbishop. The second instance of submission on the part of the bishops of St. David's did not occur before the eleventh century.—Compare the Welsh Chronicles with the notes to the Latin edition of Godwin's Bishops.

§ It is noticed in the Laws of Hywel Dda. Myv. Archaiology, Vol. III.

confounded with Lleuddad, the companion of Cadfan, who was at least half a century older. The chapel of Llanllawddog under Abergwyli, Carmarthenshire, is dedicated to the son of Dingad, who was also the founder of Cenarth, and Penboir, Carmarthenshire, and Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire. Festival Jan. 15.

Baglan, a son of Dingad, was the saint to whom Llanfaglan under Llanwnda, Carnarvonshire, and Baglan under Aberafon, Glamorganshire, are dedicated.

Gwytherin ab Dingad, the founder of a church called Gwytherin in the county of Denbigh, at which place Gwenfrewi or St. Winefred was afterwards buried.

Tygwy ab Dingad, a saint to whom Llandygwy or Llandygwydd, Cardiganshire, is ascribed.

Tyfrîog, otherwise Tyfrydog, ab Dingad, the founder of Llandyfrîog in the county of Cardigan, which has also been called Llandyfrydog.

Eleri, daughter of Dingad, a saint who lived at Pennant in the parish of Gwytherin, Denbighshire.

Aelhaiarn, a son of Hygarfael ab Cyndrwyn of Llystinwennan in Caereinion, Montgomeryshire. He was the founder of Llanaelhaiarn, Merionethshire, and Cegidfa or Guilsfield in the county of Montgomery. Festival, Nov. 1.

Llwchaiarn, another son of Hygarfael; the patron saint of Llanllwchaiarn and Llanmerewig, Montgomeryshire, and of Llanychaiarn, and Llanllwchaiarn, Cardiganshire.* Festival, Jan. 11.

Cynhaiarn, brother of Llwchaiarn, a saint to whom Ynys Cynhaiarn, a chapel under Cruccaith, Carnarvonshire, is dedicated.

* Llanmerewig was formerly a chapel to Llanllwchaiarn, its neighbour; and Llanychaiarn, Cardiganshire, was subject to Llanbadarn Fawr in the same county.

Tyfrydog, the son of Arwystli Gloff ab Seithenin and Tywynwedd daughter of Amlawdd Wledig; he was the founder of Llandyfrydog, Anglesea. Festival, Jan. 1.

Twrnog or Teyrnog, brother of Tyfrydog; Llandyrnog, Denbighshire, is attributed to him.

Tudur, brother of Tyfrydog, a saint to whom Darowain, Montgomeryshire, is attributed. Mynyddyslwyn, Monmouthshire, is ascribed by Ecton to St. Tudur, but it is doubtful whether the same person is intended. Festival, Oct. 15.*

Dier or Diheufyr, a brother of Tyfrydog, and founder of Bodfari in Flintshire. He is called Deiferus in the legend of St. Winefred.

Marchell, a sister of Tyfrydog, the foundress of Ystrad Marchell in Montgomeryshire, where an abbey was afterwards built, called Strata Marcella. Capel Marchell under Llanrwst is called after her name.

Ufelwyn, or as he is styled in Latin, Ubilwynus, the son of Cennydd ab Aneurin y Coed Aur, was the founder of a church in Glamorganshire called Llanufelwyn; the situation of which seems to correspond with St. George's near Cardiff, as in the division of the county upon the settlement of the Normans, the lordship of St. George, which was granted by Robert Fitzhammon to John Fleming, is sometimes called the lordship of Llanufelwyn.† Ufelwyn succeeded St. Oudoceus as bishop of Llandaff.

Ffili, the son of Cennydd ab Gildas§ y Coed Aur; a saint

* The wake at Darowain is held eleven days afterwards. See page 240. † Myv. Archaiology, Vol. II. p. 526.

It is not known who was the successor of Ufelwyn, as, according to the Chronicle of Caradog, Aidan, the next bishop in Godwin's list, was slain by the Saxons in the year 720, a full century after the age of Ufelwyn; but the lists of bishops of Llandaff and St. David's are very corrupt between the sixth and ninth centuries.

§ "Gildas"-the same person as Aneurin in the notice of the preceding saint. See page 225.