Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

been restored, and the Pardon reinstituted, and is held on September 28. Unhappily, the painted series on the roof has disappeared. S. Cadou in the Sizun district has been transferred to S. Cadoc from S. Cadfan, its original patron, as it lies in that part of the country where are the foundations of this saint. So also has Poullan been transferred to S. Cadoc, and the statue of Cadfan relegated to the garden of the presbytery, and S. Cadoc with palm-branch erected. near the high altar. It is supposed that S. Cast, in Côtes du Nord, has Cadoc as its patron, but this is more than doubtful.

The day of S. Cadoc in the Altemps Martyrology (end of thirteenth century) and in a Norwich Martyrology of the fifteenth century (Cotton MS. Julius B. vii) is January 23; so also a Worcester Calendar of the fifteenth century (Harl. MS. 7398). The Calendars of the Welsh Saints in the early thirteenth century, Cotton MS. Vesp. A. xiv, the Addl. MS. 14,886, Iolo MSS., Peniarth MSS. 60 and 219, Hafod MS. 8, the Prymers of 1618 and 1633, Allwydd Paradwys (1670), and in fact all the Welsh Calendars, give January 24. At Padstow, in Cornwall, near which are his chapel and well, also formerly on January 24. gives February 24, but this is a slip. S. Cadoc on November I. Lobineau on September 21, the Vannes Breviaries of 1660 and 1757 also September 21. In the Quimper Breviaries up to 1838, September 21, then transferred to September 23. Whytford gives him as Saynt Codoke on January 24; Nicolas Roscarrock on the same day-"S. Cadoc, Cathmael or Sophias, Bishop and Martyr" and the Exeter Martyrology.

Rees in his Welsh Saints
Albert le Grand gives

The Welsh accounts invariably ascribe the foundation of Llancarfan to Garmon, and they add that Dyfrig was its first Abbot, and that when he became Bishop of Llandaff he was succeeded by Catwg or Cadoc. This does not accord with the Vita.

Tradition has it that Dyfrig was so devoted to Catwg that he made him his companion always in his travels, and that he continued to reside at Garnllwyd, near Llanfeithin. This does not appear to have been the case, for he usually resided at Ynys Byr or one of his other monasteries.

Llancarfan formed one of the three great Bangors or monastic establishments within the Diocese of Llandaff. The brotherhood numbered at one time as many as 2,000, and among them were Catwg's own brothers, Bugi and Cynfyw, and the brothers, as well as sons, of Gildas. The close connexion between Llancarfan and Ireland, which began with Catwg, was continued for a long time by his successors; and it is very probable that the ninth century Welsh MS., the

Juvencus Codex, now in the Cambridge University Library, which contains entries relating to Bishops of Armagh, belonged originally to the monastery of Llancarfan.1

The late Welsh Triads connect Catwg with King Arthur's Court, and they assert that he was one of its three "knights of upright judgment," "chaste knights," "wise chief counsellors," "wise bards," as well as one of the three knights that kept the Holy Grail," 2 and one of the three "holy bachelors" (gwynfebydd) of the Isle of Britain.3

[ocr errors]

A cywydd poem written in his honour by Rhisiart ab Rhys of Llancarfan (flor. c. 1480-1520) is printed in the Iolo MSS., but it is evidently imperfect. It recounts chiefly his miracles.

It is somewhat remarkable that, though the name bestowed on him by the angel, according to the legend, was Cathmail, this name should have been generally abandoned for Catwg or Cadog. Cathmail is an Irish form, and was the name with which the Irish hermit baptized him.5 It would now assume in Welsh the form Cadfael, and means literally "a war-prince or battle-hero." Cadog is a diminutive, cut down from Cadfael, and appears under the early form Catacus on the Llanfihangel Cwm Du inscribed stone.

The epithet Doeth, "wise," as applied to Catwg is comparatively late. The earliest genealogies, those for instance in the thirteenth century Peniarth MSS. 16 and 45, know him only as "Cadwc Sant ab Gwynlliw ab Gliwis ab Tegit ab Cadell of Llan gadwc in Gwent." The earliest date that we have been able to find for the epithet is the latter part of the seventeenth century, when the confusion between him and Cato the philosopher had become established. The confusion was due to a similarity in name, just as the name Beneventum led to his being confounded with S. Sophias.

6

1 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, etc., i, p. 198.

2 It has been supposed that he was the original of Sir Galahad.

3 Myv. Arch., pp. 409, 411, 755.

Abbas

Pp. 301-2. Copies of it occur in Llanstephan MSS. 47 and 164. In the Book of Llan Dáv, p. 131, the Abbot of Llancarfan is called " Catmaili" (-Catoci). Cadoc is usually called by this name in Irish hagiology. See, e.g., the Life of S. Finnian of Clonard in Colgan's Acta SS. Hib., i, p. 393, where will be found a remarkable legend of the miraculous drying up of the lake on whose site Llancarfan and Melboc or Melboi were to stand. The Breton forms of his name are Cado, Cazou, and Cazout, but the Welsh form appears in the name Pleucadeuc. The Vita states (p. 69) that the Bretons called him Catbodu, which would now be Cadfoddw in Welsh. (See Mr. Phillimore's note in Y Cymmrodor, xi, p. 92.) The -og and -wg (for earlier -auc and -uc) of Cadog and Catwg seem to be merely variants; cf. such forms as Cinauc and Cinuc, and Matauc and Matuc, in the Book of Llan Dâv, pp. 408, 411 (index).

Myv. Arch., pp. 751-6.

Cato was a very popular author in the Middle Ages with the Welsh, as with other western European nations. "The Book of Cado or Cato" is mentioned in the Red Book of Hergest 1 and the Iolo MSS. "Sayings of the Wise," 2 and in one of the Triads in the former he is said to have been one of the three men who "received the wisdom of Adam." 3 In Welsh MSS. of the early fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries in the Peniarth and other collections he is called Cadw Hên or Ddoeth, and the name also occurs in an oblique case as Cattwn Ddoeth, with which Catwg was easily confounded.

A considerable portion of the Myvyrian Archaiology is taken up with what is called "the Wisdom of the Welsh," and a large section of it a is comprised of "The Book called Y Gwyddfardd Cyfarwydd, which Catwg Ddoeth composed." It is printed from a transcript of copies made about 1670-80. The collection embraces aphorisms, proverbs, philosophy, and triads of an ethical nature, numbering in all 190 pieces of varying length, in prose and verse, each subscribed "Catwg Ddoeth composed it." 5 A good portion of them is thrown into syllogistic form, and the ideas are often pantheistic and gnostic. The phraseology and the general sentiments and terms employed are late mediæval.

Copies of these apothegms are to be found in a number of MSS.6 of especially the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but they are always attributed to Cato, Cadw, or Cattwn Hên or Ddoeth. It will be found on comparing the Myvyrian "Wisdom" (which has been supposed to comprise a system of philosophy) with these MSS., that the whole is merely a patchwork of Welsh renderings or developments of the well-known Disticha or Dicta Catonis, so popular in Western Europe from as early as the eighth century. The aphorisms are nowhere referred to Cadoc in the Vita, nor even mentioned; nor does he therein appear to have been in the habit of uttering anything so remarkable as to justify his being at any time assigned the rôle of a Welsh doctor." The following is ascribed to him in the "Sayings of the Wise " printed in the Iolo MSS. :

1 Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales, ii, p. 226.
2 P. 252.
3 Y Cymmrodor, iii, p. 53.

8

4 Pp. 756-811.

5 For a translation of a considerable number of them see the Cambrian Register, vol. iii; also into French in the Revue Celtique, 1878, iii, 419–442.

6 The earliest is Peniarth MS. 3, written c. 1300 ("The Counsels of Cadw Hên, or the Elder, to Cadw the Younger "), and copies, of the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, occur in Peniarth MSS. 27, 88, 94; Cardiff MSS. 6, 18, etc. ' De la Villemarqué has devoted a chapter to the wisdom of Cadoc, based on these aphorisms.

8 P. 252.

Hast thou heard the saying of Catwg

The Wise, the son of Gwynllyw, of Essyllwg (Siluria) ?
"Let the heart be where the appearance is."

(Bid galon lle bo golwg.)

In the same volume1 are a number of fables, each with a moral, which are attributed to him. This late reputation for wisdom grew to such an extent that every saying or proverb was at last ascribed to him.

Cadoc is invoked in the tenth century Litany published by Warren as Catoce.2

S. CADROD, of Calchfynydd, Prince, Confessor

CADRAWD, or Cadrod, of Calchfynydd, was a son of Cynwyd Cynwydion, of the line of Coel Godebog, and the brother of Clydno Eiddyn, Cynan Genhir, and Cynfelyn Drwsgl. The Iolo MSS.3 make them all disciples of S. Cadoc at Llancarfan. According to the Cognatio de Brychan, Cadrod was the husband of Gwrygon Goddheu, daughter of Brychan, who is called in the later genealogies Gwrgon. He was lord of Calchfynydd, which is identified in the Iolo MSS.5 with Dunstable. In the sixteenth century Peniarth MS. 135 he is designated “Earl of Dunstable and Lord of Hampshire (Swydd Hantwn). Skene, however, thought it was Kelso, in Roxburghshire, which is more probable. The name means the Lime or Chalk Mountain.

6

Among the "Sayings of the Wise "7 occurs the following

1 P. 154.

Hast thou heard the saying of Cadrod,

Of Calchfynydd, of great meditation?

"The best woman is the woman without a tongue."

(Goreu gwraig gwraig heb dafawd.)

3 Pp. 105, 128.

2 Revue Celtique, 1888, p. 88.

4 Sometimes, e.g., Peniarth MS. 131 (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries), Cadrod's wife is said to have been a daughter of Brychan named Gwenfrewi.

5 P. 120.

6 Four Ancient Books of Wales, i, p. 172; ii, p. 406.

7 Iolo MSS., p. 257.

S. CADWALADR FENDIGAID, King, Confessor

CADWALADR, Son of Cadwallon ab Cadfan, was the last of the Welsh princes who assumed the title of Gwledig or chief sovereign of Britain.1 Cadwallon had been defeated by Edwin, when young, and he had fled to Ireland. Returning to Britain, he assumed the title of king, and defended the title in a series of battles. The Welsh of Gwynedd and Powys rallied to his flag in large numbers, and going to the assistance of Penda, he completely defeated Edwin at Heathfield in 633. For a while Cadwallon overpowered the Northumbrians, and proceeded to devastate the whole region. "Cadwalla," says Bede, "though he bore the name and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition and behaviour, that he neither spared the female sex nor the innocent age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to torturing deaths, ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race of the English within the borders of Britain. Nor did he pay any respect to the Christian religion which had newly taken root among them; it being to this day the custom of the Britons not to pay any regard to the faith and religion of the English, nor to correspond with them any more than with pagans." 2

The sons of Ethelfrid attempted to retrieve the fortunes of Deira, but Cadwallon encountered them, defeated and slew them both, in 635. But Oswald placed himself at the head of a small and resolute band and continued the struggle, and finally met Cadwallon in a pitched battle at Heaven's Field, and gained a complete victory. Cadwallon, the last hero of the British race-victor, according to the Welsh tradition, in fourteen battles and in sixty skirmishes-perished in the defeat. The Britons evacuated Northumbria, never to return, and withdrew behind the Severn.

Cadwaladr, the son of Cadwallon, now headed the Britons. He is said to have led the Welsh against Oswiu, but his lack of courage brought on him a nickname-Cadomedd (battle-shunner)—instead of Cadafael (battle-seizer), with which he was first greeted.3

In 658 Cenwalh, King of the West Saxons, brought against him a powerful army, and a battle was fought at Peonne in Somersetshire, when the Britons were routed with terrible slaughter, and were pursued as far as Pedrida, on the river Parret. Cadwaladr was ill-suited to

1 With him Geoffrey's Brut appropriately terminates. Iwrch. The name Cadwaladr means "battle-ruler."

2 Hist. Eccl., ii, 20.

3 Nennius, c. 65; Rhys, Celtic Britain, 3rd ed., pp. 134-5.

His son was Idwal

7

« ForrigeFortsett »