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particulars may be added, from the Cambrian Biography, that he married Gwenaseth, daughter of Rhufon of Rhufoniog; which is more consistent with chronology than the statement of others who assert that Gwenaseth was the wife of Sawyl, his son.* Pabo is considered to be the founder of Llanbabo in Anglesey,† where a stone still remains, bearing his effigy, with the following inscription,-HIC JACET PABO POST PRUD CORPORS......TE......PRIMA. The author of Mona Antiqua is of opinion that he was the earliest saint in that island, though it is clear from other authorities that some of the children of Brychan must have preceded him. His commemoration is November 9.

Talhaiarn, the son of Garthwys of the line of Coel, was a celebrated bard and saint of the congregation of Cattwg. "He composed a prayer which has always been the formula used in the Gorsedd Morganwg or Session of the bards of Glamorgan." His residence was originally at Caerleon, where he was chaplain to Emrys Wledig or Ambrosius, king of Britain; but when that prince was slain, he lived as a hermit at a place in Denbighshire since called Llanfair Talhaiarn, where a church was founded and dedicated to him in conjunction with the Virgin Mary.

In another branch of the family of Coel, occurs the name of Cynfarch Oer, a chieftain of North Britain; but who afterwards became a saint in Wales. He is said to have been the

* Cambrian Biography, voce Gwenaseth; and "Asaph" in Bonedd y Saint, Myv. Archaiology, Vol. II.

+ As Llanbabo is now a chapel subject to Llanddeusant, it must be supposed that some change has taken place in the relative condition of these edifices if Pabo was the founder of the first of them. It is possible, however, that the chapel was built over his grave at a later period, and dedicated to him. The stone monument alluded to was discovered, in the reign of Charles the Second, by the sexton while digging a grave; and an engraving of it is given in Rowlands's Mona Antiqua, Second Edition. † Cambrian Biography.

founder of Llangynfarch in Maelor, Flintshire, which was destroyed by the Saxons in the battle of Bangor Orchard A. D. 603 ;* and he is associated with the Virgin Mary as the patron of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd,† Denbighshire. His wife was Nefyn, a grand-daughter of Brychan, by whom he was the father of Urien Rheged.

Llyr Merini, of the line of Coel and father of Caradog Fraich Fras, is classed among the saints. Llanllyr, now called Llanyre, a chapel to Nantmel in Radnorshire; and Llanllyr, formerly a nunnery in Cardiganshire, are dedicated either to him, or to another saint of the name of Llyr, a virgin, whose commemoration was kept Oct. 21. Llyr Merini married Gwen, a grand-daughter of Brychan.

The last saint to be mentioned, of the line of Coel, was Madog Morfryn, whose life must have extended into the following century. He was a member of the congregation or monastery of Illtyd, where he is said to have distinguished himself as a teacher; but he is more generally known as the father of the bard, Myrddin Wyllt.

In the line of Cystennyn Gorneu occurs Geraint ab Erbin, a chieftain of Dyfnaint or Devon, who is called a saint. It does not appear how he merited the distinction; for he was not an ecclesiastic, and it is recorded that he fell fighting at the head of his men in the following century. It is said that there was a church dedicated to him at Caerffawydd or Hereford. An elegy to his memory by Llywarch Hên is published in the Myvyrian Archaiology; and the following passage, according to "Owen's Translation," describes his death :

IN Llongborth I saw hard toiling

Amidst the stones, ravens feasting on entrails,
And on the chieftain's brow a crimson gash.

*.Cambrian Biography.

† Bonedd y Saint, Myv. Archaiology. Qu. Is not St. Kinemark's, Monmouthshire, dedicated to Cynfarch?

Triad 98, Third Series.

W

In Llongborth I saw a confused conflict,
Men striving together and blood to the knees,
From the assault of the great son of Erbin.

At Llongborth was Geraint slain,

A strenuous warrior from the woodland of Dyfnaint,
Slaughtering his foes as he fell.

Ysgin ab Erbin, brother of the preceding, is mentioned in Bonedd y Saint; and to him, perhaps, the name of Llanhesgin, Monmouthshire, may be traced.

To this generation belongs Gwynllyw Filwr, the son of Glywys ab Tegid ab Cadell, and chieftain of Gwynllwg or Gwentloog in Monmouthshire, which is supposed to take its name from him. He is called by the Latin writers of the middle ages St. Gundleus, and according to John of Teignmouth he was the eldest of seven brothers, who, in compliance with the custom of gavel-kind, divided the territories of their father between them, the six younger paying homage to Gwynllyw as the elder. He married Gwladus, a grand-daughter of Brychan; and was the father of a large family of children, most of whom resigned their temporal possessions and embraced a life of religion. From the epithet attached to his name it may be judged that he was originally a warrior, but in course of time he surrendered his dominions to his son Cattwg, and built a church where he passed the remainder of his life in great abstinence and devotion.* The church alluded to is supposed to be that of Newport, Monmouthshire, situated in the hundred of Gwentloog, and dedicated to him under the name of St. Woolos. His festival was held on the twenty ninth of March.

All the family of Brychan for obvious reasons were described in the last generation, except Dyfrig or St. Dubricius,

"Regno Cadoco filio suo commendato, Ecclesiam construxit, ibique in magnâ abstinentiâ et vitæ sanctimoniâ vivere cœpit."-Johannes Tinmuthensis, apud Usher.

who for his celebrity deserved a more particular notice. Two localities rather ill defined contend for the honour of his birth, namely the banks of the Gwain near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire,* and the banks of the Wye in Herefordshire. On the part of the former it has been contended that he has been called "Dyfrig of Langweyn, Gwaynianus, and Vaginensis," -vagina being the Latin translation of the Welsh name “Gwain.” On behalf of the latter, the Life of Dubricius by John of Teignmouth, and another by Benedict of Gloucester,† affirm, that he was born at Miserbdil on the Wye, and that the name was afterwards changed by Dubricius to Mochros: The claims of either place would be equally consistent with the idea that he was a grandson of Brychan, but the Welsh genealogies are silent upon the subject. The weight of evidence is in favour of the latter, as there happen to be in a part of Herefordshire, called Erchenfield, a church (Whitchurch) and two chapels (Ballingham and Hentland, subject to Lugwardine,) which are dedicated to Dubricius, all of which are situated near the Wye. While in Pembrokeshire there is not a single church which bears the name of the saint. As for the translation of Gwain into Vagina, it should not be forgotten that the Latin name of the Wye was "Vaga," from which in the corrupt state of the Latin language there would be no difficulty in forming the adjective Vaginensis. John of Teignmouth says that his mother was Eurdila,§ the daughter of Peiban, a certain regulus of Cambria, but that his father's name was unknown. One of the Warwick chroniclers says that his father was a king of Erging or Erchenfield, by name

*Cambrian Register, Vol. II. p. 202.

+ Benedict was a monk of Gloucester, and his Life of St. Dubricius, written about A. D. 1120, is published in Wharton's Anglia Sacra.

Qu. Is not St. Devereux, Herefordshire, a Norman rendering of Dubricius?

§ Eurddyl,

Pepiau ;* and an old commentator upon the Book of Llandaff asserts that the same statement originally appeared in that document, but that a later hand, wishing to make a correction, had mutilated the manuscript. If these authorities can be depended upon, the unknown person is discovered, for Pabiali, the son of Brychan, is also called Papai; and the hypothesis that Dyfrig was a grandson of Brychan is satisfactorily explained. It is said that he founded a college at Henllan on the Wye, where he remained seven years before he removed to Mochros on the same river; and in support of the assertion it may be said that Hentland in Erchenfield, where on a farm called Lanfrother traces of former importance were lately remaining, is dedicated to St. Dubricius. The other place is supposed to be Moccas, in the same district and not many miles distant. John of Teignmouth gives a list of his most distinguished disciples at Henllan, which it is needless to transcribe as it is not chronologically correct. According to Achau y Saint he was consecrated bishop of Llandaff by St. Germanus, which can hardly be admitted, for Germanus died A. D. 448, and Dubricius was living in 520, so that he must have held his episcopal honours for the improbable period of seventy years. The utmost that can be granted is to suppose with Archbishop Usher, that he was appointed bishop of Llandaff about A. 1). 470, which however is rather too early; and that he was raised by Ambrosius to the archbishoprick of Caerleon, upon the death of Tremounus or Tremorinus, in 490.+

*Usher de Primordiis, Cap. XIII.

† De Ju e et Fundatione Landavensis Ecclesiæ a Registro Landavensi. "Supra dicius rex Ergic, Peipiau nomine, fuit pater Sancti Dubricii; prout habetur in Chronicis apud Collegium de Warwick; et supra nomen dicti Regis patris Sancti Dubricii prius rectè scribebatur antiquâ manu, et quidam novellus voluit corrigere, sed scripturam antiquam corripuit et malefecit." (Additamentum recentius.) Wharton's Anglia Sacra.

Usher de Primordiis, Cap. V. et Index Chronologicus.

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