The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Book II
Chapter IV
Of the journey by Pont Stephen, the abbey of
Stratflur, Landewi Brevi, and Lhanpadarn Vawr
A sermon having been preached on the following morning at
Pont Stephen,139
by the archbishop and archdeacon, and also by two abbots of
the Cistercian order, John of Albadomus, and Sisillus of
Stratflur,140
who faithfully attended us in those parts, and as far as
North Wales, many persons were induced to take the cross. We
proceeded to Stratflur, where we passed the night. On the
following morning, having on our right the lofty mountains
of Moruge, which in Welsh are called Ellennith,141
we were met near the side of a wood by Cyneuric son of Rhys,
accompanied by a body of light-armed youths. This young man
was of a fair complexion, with curled hair, tall and
handsome; clothed only, according to the custom of his
country, with a thin cloak and inner garment, his legs and
feet, regardless of thorns and thistles were left bare; a
man, not adorned by art, but nature; bearing in his presence
an innate, not an acquired, dignity of manners. A sermon
having been preached to these three young men, Gruffydd,
Malgon, and Cyneuric, in the presence of their father,
prince Rhys, and the brothers disputing about taking the
cross, at length Malgon strictly promised that he would
accompany the archbishop to the king's court, and would obey
the king's and archbishop's counsel, unless prevented by
them. From thence we passed through Landewi Brevi,142
that is, the church of David of Brevi, situated on the
summit of that hill which had formerly risen up under his
feet whilst preaching, during the period of that celebrated
synod, when all the bishops, abbots, and clergy of Wales,
and many other persons, were collected thither on account of
the Pelagian heresy, which, although formerly exploded from
Britain by Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, had lately been
revived in these parts. At this place David was reluctantly
raised to the archbishopric, by the unanimous consent and
election of the whole assembly, who by loud acclamations
testified their admiration of so great a miracle. Dubricius
had a short time before resigned to him this honour in due
form at Caerleon, from which city the metropolitan see was
transferred to St. David's.
Having rested that night at
Lhanpadarn Vawr,143
or the church of Paternus the Great, we attracted many
persons to the service of Christ on the following morning.
It is remarkable that this church, like many others in Wales
and Ireland, has a lay abbot; for a bad custom has prevailed
amongst the clergy, of appointing the most powerful people
of a parish stewards, or, rather, patrons, of their
churches; who, in process of time, from a desire of gain,
have usurped the whole right, appropriating to their own use
the possession of all the lands, leaving only to the clergy
the altars, with their tenths and oblations, and assigning
even these to their sons and relations in the church. Such
defenders, or rather destroyers, of the church, have caused
themselves to be called abbots, and presumed to attribute to
themselves a title, as well as estates, to which they have
no just claim. In this state we found the church of
Lhanpadarn, without a head. A certain old man, waxen old in
iniquity (whose name was Eden Oen, son of Gwaithwoed), being
abbot, and his sons officiating at the altar. But in the
reign of king Henry I., when the authority of the English
prevailed in Wales, the monastery of St. Peter at Gloucester
held quiet possession of this church; but after his death,
the English being driven out, the monks were expelled from
their cloisters, and their places supplied by the same
violent intrusion of clergy and laity, which had formerly
been practised. It happened that in the reign of king
Stephen, who succeeded Henry I., a knight, born in Armorican
Britain, having travelled through many parts of the world,
from a desire of seeing different cities, and the manners of
their inhabitants, came by chance to Lhanpadarn. On a
certain feast-day, whilst both the clergy and people were
waiting for the arrival of the abbot to celebrate mass, he
perceived a body of young men, armed, according to the
custom of their country, approaching towards the church; and
on enquiring which of them was the abbot, they pointed out
to him a man walking foremost, with a long spear in his
hand. Gazing on him with amazement, he
asked, "If the abbot had not another habit, or a different
staff, from that which he now carried before him?" On their
answering, "No!" he replied, "I have seen indeed and heard
this day a wonderful novelty!" and from that hour he
returned home, and finished his labours and researches. This
wicked people boasts, that a certain bishop144
of their church (for it formerly was a cathedral) was
murdered by their predecessors; and on this account,
chiefly, they ground their claims of right and possession.
No public complaint having been made against their conduct,
we have thought it more prudent to pass over, for the
present, the enormities of this wicked race with
dissimulation, than exasperate them by a further
relation.
The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through
Wales
by Geraldus Cambrensis
Chapter III
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