Gower; and another choir at Senghenydd. The latter was destroyed by the Infidel, and the present castle stands on its site." Again: 1 Cenydd is given as the son of "Gildas ab y Caw, called Gildas y Coed Aur"; and, "S. Ffili ab Cennydd ab y Coed Aur. He is in Gower."

Once more: 2 "Ffili, son of Cennydd ab Aur y Coed Aur. His church is Rhos Ffili in Gower." This is Rhosilly, now dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Caerphilly is supposed to be called after this son of Cenydd.

Senghenydd is the name of the mountainous district, now represented by the hundred of Caerphilly, with the town and castle of that name on its southern frontier. It has been generally supposed to stand for Sant or Saint Cenydd, but its earlier forms make this derivation impossible. It occurs in the Book of Llan Dâv as Seghenid, and elsewhere under various forms, as Seghunit, Senghenith, Sainghenydd, etc. In Welsh historical writings it has often been confounded with Sein Henydd, the old name for Swansea Castle.

SS.Tudwg, Rhidian and Madog (his brother) were among the members of Cenydd's Choir at Llangenydd. In Brut y Tywysogion, under the year 986, we read, "this year the Black Danes came up the Severn Sea in fleets and landed in Gower, where they burned Côr Cennydd. and other of the churches." 3

Among the "Sayings of the Wise " is one attributed to S. Cenydd—4

Hast thou heard the saying of Cennydd,

The son of Aneurin the skilful bard?

None is free from anxiety but the good."
(Nid diofal ond dedwydd.)

To sum up what we derive from the Welsh authorities :-Cenydd was the son of Gildas, who is identified with Aneurin, but not the Aneurin composer of the Gododin. He was himself a married man, and the father of S. Ffili. From other entries we know the name of another of his sons, Ufelwy or Ufelwyn.5 He was, for a while, a member of the college of S. Illtyd, then of S. Catwg, and he was placed by S. David in charge of his foundation in Gower; but afterwards he became an independent founder of a monastic establishment, or

1 Iolo MSS., p. 137. 2 Ibid., p. 109.

Cennit occurs in a list of the Abbots of Llantwit Major printed in the appendix to Williams' History of Monmouthshire, 1796, p. 50. 3 Myv. Arch., p. 692.

4 Ibid., p. 254.

"

In four lists, pp. 109, 116, 142, Cenydd or Cennydd is given as a son of Caw," but this should be grandson, in the same way as several of the grandchildren of Brychan are called his sons and his daughters. In this "Saying" he is called son of Aneurin the Bard."

"

5 Iolo MSS., pp. 118, 137.

Bangor, at Llangenydd, now generally Llangennith, also in Gower. The ruins of a chapel of S. Cenydd, at the new village of Senghenydd, are still pointed out, and there is a Bryn Cenydd or Cynydd at Caerphilly.

It was probably somewhere about 520 that Gildas moved into Brittany and established himself at Ruys. Later, about 544-5, after he had launched his tract De excidio Britanniæ, there would seem to have been an exodus of his brothers and sons from Wales and Cornwall, to escape the vengeance of the princes assailed by him in that work.

Whether then, or later, we do not know, but at some time, both Cenydd and his sons seem to have been in Bro-weroc, in the neighbourhood of the settlements of Gildas, where they have left their mark.

In Brittany Cenydd is called Kinède, Kidi, Quidi, Guidec and Kihouet. His most important settlement was at Languidic,2 between Hennebont and Baud, at no great distance from his father's foundation at Castanec. There the name is variously written as Kintic, Guindic and Guidic. Here are five avenues of upright stones, like those at Carnac, now called "les soldats de S. Cornely," but probably originally attributed to S. Kinède, and the tradition is that as they pursued the Saint, he cursed them and they were turned to stone. In the parish are several early Celtic Christian lechs or tombstones, one of which bears an inscription. Also, in the same commune is a Kervili, Caer-ffili, bearing the name of one of the sons of Cenydd.3

S.Cenydd has a chapel in the parish of Ploumelin, close to his father's monastery of Locminé. It is picturesquely situated on a granite rock in a hamlet, and is in the flamboyant style, cruciform, with a bellturret to the north transept. A carved Calvary has fallen, and the remains strew the ground at the west end. Within is an early sixteenth century statue of the Saint as a hermit, bare-footed, holding a book in one hand and a staff in the other. A cowl is drawn over his head.

At Plaintel also, near Quintin, in Côtes du Nord, he is patron, and there is a château in the place called after him, Saint Quihouet, now transformed into a hospital. It was formerly a house of the Knights Templars. Here is shown a stone trough, supposed to have been S.

1 For the dates in the life of Gildas we must refer to our article on this Saint. 2 In 1160 Languidec was called Lankintic; in 1290 Languindic. Le Méné, Paroises du Diocèse de Vannes, 1892, i, p. 408.

3 Ibid., i, pp. 408-15. The lechs are sometimes menhirs with crosses and other Christian symbols cut on them; but often quite distinct, round-headed stones. On one in Languidec is the inscription, Crax Harenbiuib Fil Heranhal. See on the Lechs, De la Borderie, Hist. de Bretagne, ii, p. 520.

VOL. II.

I

Cenydd's bed, and frescoes represent his legend. Plaintel, again, is at no great distance from the Gildas settlements of Magoar and La Harmoye.

Near Loudéac, in the same department, is S. Caradec, and here is a chapel of S. Quidi, with his statue in it, representing him as an abbot, staff in hand, and holding in the other an open book.

Not far from S. Caradec is La Croix des Sept Chemins. The legend goes that seven brothers, SS. Gonery, Merhé, Connec, Derdanaon, Quidec, Geran and Joret embraced there, and separated to preach the Gospel throughout the land, and each founded a chapel in the direction that he took.

All the seven brothers had been brought up by a doe. In remembrance of this, annually, on the eve of the Pardon, in the chapel of S. Merhé in the parish of Kergrist-Neuillac (Morbihan) fresh straw is strewn in the porch, and the doe is supposed to pass the night there sleeping on it. This is an extension to others of the legend of S. Cenydd, nourished by the doe. Who S. Merhé or Mérec was is unknown; the name seems to be a corruption of Meurig. Connec may be Cynog; Geran is Geraint the great-grandfather of Cenydd; Gonery is known, but not Derdanaon nor Joret.

The sons of Cenydd have left some traces also in Brittany.

S. Cenydd is given in Nicolas Roscarrock's Calendar on August 1. This is the day also in Capgrave. The Pardon at S. Quidi is on the Sunday after August 1.

Garaby gives S. Kinède on August 1, and a short sketch of his life. Whytford on August 1, says: "In Englonde the feest of Saynt Kenede that was lame borne, and therefore he was cast in to a ryver whiche ryver caryed hym in to ye see, and ye see cast hym upon a rocke in to an ylelonde where he was fedde and brought up by an aūgel, and he was of singuler holynes and many wonderous myracles died in ye tyme of Saynt David."

S. Cenydd's body was translated, and his translation kept on June 27. William of Worcester says: 2 "Translatio Sancti Kenneth heremitæ die 3° post nativitatem Sancti Johannis Baptistæ; jacet apud ecclesiam villæ Sancti Keneth in Gowerland." But he tells us further that the Saint's relics were removed with those of SS. David and Teilo to North Wales. "Sanctus Davidicus de ecclesia Menevensi, Sanctus Thebaus (Teilo) de Llandaff sepultus. Sanctus Keneth de villa Keneth in Gowerland. Isti tres sancti et non plures sunt translati in North Wallia."

1 Oheix (R.), Les Saints inconnus, in Association Bretonne, 1880.
2 Itin., p. 116.