Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

time previous to the Saxon invasion of Britain, and about the mouth of the Loire these had been so numerous, that they had sent in 469 their King Riothimus with twelve thousand men to assist the Emperor Anthemius against the Visigoths. This is certain, that if there were Britons in large numbers in Armorica in 469, they must then have been settled there for some time previous.

It was not till the battle of Vouillé, fought in 507, that the Franks rendered themselves masters of Nantes. Gregory of Tours hints that the Britons of Armorica were independent under their kings, till after the death of Clovis, A.D. 511; after that they submitted to the overlordship of the Franks, and their chiefs no longer called themselves kings.2

The Greek historian Procopius says, that "the Franks, after their victory over the last representatives of the Roman authority in Gaul, were incapable of struggling alone against the Visigoths and Alaric, and they sought the friendship of the Armoricans, and made alliance with them." 3

The Lives of the early Breton Saints show that the British colonists were on excellent terms with the Frank kings, and that both chiefs and bishops and abbots sought from them confirmation of their titles to land.

In fact, the new settlers who spread through the country could not get on pleasantly with the Gallo-Roman citizens of Rennes, Nantes and Vannes. Magistrates and Bishops alike viewed them with disfavour, as having their own laws, their own customs and their own independent ecclesiastical organization. The British colonists would neither recognize the civil jurisdiction of the magistrates, nor the ecclesiastical authority of the bishops. The new-comers could expect no assistance from their native isle, where those who remained were engaged in deadly conflict with the Teutonic invaders, and they sought for some authority that would maintain them against the pretensions of the Gallo-Romans in the great towns. They sought and obtained what they required at the hands of the Frank kings in Paris. There does not exist a particle of evidence to show that they came into conflict with the Franks till the time of Canao of Vannes, who took up the cause of Chramm against his father in 560.

1 66 Quod conspiciens Anthemius imperator protinus solatia Britonum postulavit. Rex eorum Riothimus cum xii. millibus in Biturigas civitatem, Oceano e navibus egressus, susceptus est." Jornandes, De rebus Gothicis, xlv.

2" Chanao regnum ejus integrum accepit. Nam semper Britanni post mortem Clodovechis regis sub potestate Francorum fuerunt; et duces eorum, comites, non reges appellati sunt." Hist. Francorum, iv, 4.

3 De Bello Gothico, 1, 12.

The Franks made no attempt to occupy Armorica, they confirmed the Britons in their settlements and did not dispossess them.

The reason of the migration was most probably due to intestinal feud.

It has been said "Gallus Gallo lupus," and the same applies to all Celtic races. The subdivision of rights on the death of a prince led to fratricidal war, when the most headstrong and powerful of the brothers either murdered or expelled his brethren, usurped their tribal lands and rights, and reigned supreme.

The family of Emyr Llydaw migrated from Broweroc,1 that is to say from the modern department of Morbihan, where Weroc had usurped the sovereignty. But Cadfan himself probably came from Cornugallia, and thence Grallo had swept away all rivals and had there made himself supreme.

The great flight of the families of Emyr and of Eneas across the sea, we may conjecture, was to save themselves from massacre by these two masterful men, Weroc and Grallo.

Some of the party accompanying Cadfan were kinsmen. Padarn was son of Pedrwn, and therefore a first cousin on the mother's side. So was Tydecho, son of Amwn; so also Trunio, son of Dyfwng. Gwyndaf was his uncle; Sulien a first cousin, son of Hywel; Sadwrn was son of Bicanys brother of Emyr, Lleuddad son of Alan ab Emyr, and Maelrys was also a cousin, as son of Gwyddno.

On his arrival in Wales, Cadfan founded a church at Towyn, in Merioneth, land having been granted him by the king, one Cyngen, as also another, Llangadfan, in Montgomeryshire. Later on he became first abbot, penrhaith, or principal, as he is styled, of Bangor Gadfan in Enlli, or Bardsey Isle,2 at the instigation of Einion Frenin, prince of Lleyn in Carnarvonshire.

Bangor Gadfan soon became very celebrated, for we are told that there were there," a great many saints of the Welsh nation, whither they went after Bangor Fawr in Maelor had been destroyed by the pagan Saxons (607 or 613); and from the other Choirs a great many went also ; so many that Côr Gadfan at one time accommodated "20,000 saints. There were no cells there, but every one did as he chose; and after the 20,000 saints, Bardsey became a Choir with a cell of 500 saints." 4

3

The little island became the Insula Sanctorum or the Iona of Wales. It is called in the Book of Llan Dáv, " Roma Britanniæ," 5 and 20,000,

1 Iolo MSS., pp. 103, 133, give Graweg for Broweroc.
2 Iolo MSS., pp. 133, 145.
3 Ibid., p. 112.

4 Ibid., p. 151.

5 P. I.

we are told, lie buried there, to whose memory the late Lord Newborough, who owned the island, and who himself was buried on it, erected a monument. Quaint old Thomas Fuller thought "it more facile to find graves in Bardsey for so many saints, than saints for so many graves." 1 There are two mediaeval poems, in the cywydd metre, to the 20,000 Saints, the one by Hywel ab Dafydd ab Ieuan ab Rhys, and the other by Hywel ab Rheinallt. Taliessin, in his "Gorchan Maelderw," in the thirteenth century Book of Aneurin, says :

I do mutually wish for the repose of Enlli,

The fair aspect of which is filled with deep interest;

2

and the twelfth century poet Meilir, in his " Deathbed of the Bard," also fervently prayed that he might be laid "to rest in happiness on Enlli, which he called the "holy isle of the saints." 3

Owing to its sanctity and the danger often attending the voyage across, three pilgrimages thither were considered equal to a pilgrimage to Rome, ranking it as second to S. David's in this respect.

There is a somewhat long but obscure poem written in honour of S. Cadfan (Canu y Gaduan) by Llywelyn Fardd (fl. c. 1230-80).4 It is, however, in reality occupied principally with "Cadfan's high church near the shore of the blue sea," that is, the church of Towyn, which, he says, contained "three magnificent altars, famed for miracles." The first was that of the Blessed Virgin, the second that of S. Peter, and the third," given by hand from heaven," was that of S. Cadfan. This church S. Cadfan founded after a divine pattern, when he came thither from Llydaw. It was "the glory of Meirionydd;" and he praises its costly crozie., which had the power of "checking the enemy, and causing them to fall upon each other; " also its sanctuary; numbers, he says, fled to the " abbot " for protection; then its priests, its munificence, its relics, its choir and music; its marble and its miracles "constantly visible." He invokes God's protection and blessing upon it and all its possessions; and, in conclusion, eulogizes Cadfan and Lleuddad as guardians of Enlli. In course of the poem he speaks of Cadfan as “the guardian of battle," and as "a hero.” The Saint is commonly regarded as the patron of warriors, from which

1 Worthies, ed. 1840, iii, p. 528.

2 Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales, i, p. 416; ii, p. 98.

3

Ynys glan y glain," Myv. Arch., p. 142. Ynys Enlli probably stands for Ynys Fenlli (cf. Moel Fenlli).

4 Ibid., pp. 248-250.

5 44

Myn Bagyl Gadfan!" is quoted in Salisbury and Perri's Egluryn Ffraethineb, ed. 1807, p. 19.

we may suppose that he led a military life before he left Armorica. The fifteenth century poet, Lewis Glyn Cothi, in requesting the gift of a bow, compliments the subject of the poem with the epithet "mab Cadfan" (Cadfan's son).1

S. Cadfan is supposed to have had a preaching station on his route from Towyn to Llangadfan at Bryn yr Eglwys, near Abergynolwyn, a little to the north-east of Towyn. His memory is still preserved there in the names Pistyll Cadfan (his waterfall), Eisteddfa Gadfan (his seat), and Llwybr Cadfan (his path). This path or track, along which he is popularly said to have habitually travelled between Towyn and Llangadfan during his missionary labours, is still traced by the country people at various points on the route.2 Lewis Morris, in his Celtic Remains, mentions Buarth Gadfan (his enclosure) and Dol Gadfan (his meadow); but Cadfan was not an uncommon name, and one is therefore not justified in assuming that all these apply to the Saint.

A chapel dedicated to S. Cadfan stood at the north-east end of Towyn churchyard in 1620. The Holy Well of S. Cadfan lay a little below the church. It was much frequented for the cure of rheumatic, scrofulous, and cutaneous disorders. For the better accommodation of the public, it had been enclosed and made into two baths, each about six feet square, with four dressing-rooms attached, and placed under the charge of a caretaker. In 1894, the owners of the baths, finding that they did not pay, filled them up with stones, and converted the buildings into a coach-house and stables.

Ffynnon Gadfan at Llangadfan has been partially closed. It lay a short distance from the church, and was at one time covered with a building. The efficacy of its waters was in great repute. When the present road leading from Cann Office to the church had to be carried over the well, care was taken to construct an arch above it. One of the chapels in Llangathen church, Carmarthenshire, is called Capel Cadfan. There is a Llethr Codfan (his slope) in the parish.

The church of Towyn is a very interesting early Norman structure, a cross church with central tower. In its yard are four small menhirs marking off a quadrangular space. Graves are dense about it, but no interments are made within. Here, originally, stood the Cadfan stone, now removed to the church for preservation.

It is a pillar stone seven feet long and about ten inches wide on the two sides that are widest, the other two being considerably narrower.

1 Works, Oxford, 1837, p. 375.

2 For the traces of it see R. P. Morris, Cantref Meirionydd, Dolgelley, 1890, pp. 540-1; also for the well at Towyn on p. 552.

The inscription on it has been supposed, but wrongly, to be the earliest known specimen of early Welsh. It was deciphered by Williams ab Ithel as running

+CUNGEN CELEN ARTERUNC DUBUT MARCIAU,

and by him rendered "The body of Cyngen is on the side between where the marks will be," the marks being the four upright stones in the churchyard. The rest of the inscription he read

+TENGRUGCIMALTEDGUADGAN MARTH MOLT CLODE TUAR TRICET NITANAM,

and translated, "Beneath a similar mound is extended Cadfan, sad that it should enclose the praise of the earth. May he rest without blemish.” 1

The rendering has been generally disputed. Professor Rhys,2 indeed, but this seems the extreme of criticism, questions whether the whole inscription be genuine. The stone was copied and engraved by Lhuyd before 1709, and by Dr. Taylor in 1761, and engravings are given of it in Gough's Camden. As usual with these early copies they are not accurate.

It is not known for certain where S. Cadfan was buried. If the above reading of the inscription be in substance correct, then he was laid to rest at Towyn. But his body is also traditionally said to have reposed in Bardsey. He was succeeded by his cousin S. Lleuddad as abbot, and both are regarded as patrons of Bardsey.

His festival does not occur in any of the Welsh Calendars, but it is given as November 1 by Rees in his Essay on the Welsh Saints, and he is followed by Williams ab Ithel in his Calendar. Browne Willis gives the dedication of Llangadfan as All Saints, and adds, "They keep their Feast on All Saints' Day, and not on the Sunday following, as elsewhere."3 Bishop Maddox (1736-43), in his MS. book Z, in the Episcopal Library at S. Asaph, gives "Wake on All Sts Day." All Saints' Day is also given as the festival observed at Towyn.

Dafydd ab Gwilym, in the fourteenth century, uses the expression, "Myn Delw Gadfan a'i grôg!" ("By Cadfan's image and his cross!") He had, no doubt, in mind the statue at Towyn, under

Arch. Camb., 1850, pp. 96-7. See also Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., i, pp. 164-5.

2 Ibid., 1874, p. 243; no forger of the seventeenth century could have written the Irish for G.

3 Survey of S. Asaph, 1720, p. 293.

4 Works, 1789, p. 130.

« ForrigeFortsett »