lously produced twenty-four springs to assuage his insatiable thirst within the one mile he traversed.1 Arrived at last at his destination, he built himself a hut of woven osiers and roofed it with reeds. Here he was joined by a man who offered himself as his servant. One day, nine robbers who infested the district, said to one another, There is a holy man here who instructs all, and is very good-natured; let us see what can be got from him." 2 Now So they visited Keneth, and he hospitably entertained them. the men had left their spears outside, and Keneth's servant, coveting one, stole it, and when the robber asked for his lance, swore that he had not seen it. Bring out the bosom-shaped bell, and I will take oath on that." When the man had so forsworn himself he went mad, and ran away to Menevia, "where, at the time, David had his seat," and there inhabited remote localities, living like a wild beast, till the hair of his body completely clothed him. At the end of seven years, Keneth prayed for his restoration, and the man returned to his service. a sincere penitent. Now it fell out that Morgan, prince of Glamorgan, 3 came on a raid and swept together much plunder in the region where was Keneth. The hermit thereupon sent his servant with the womanbreasted bell to demand a share of the spoil. He met with a refusal and abuse. Then the plunderers began to quarrel among themselves over the division of the spoil, came to blows, and many were killed. Morgan, attributing this disaster to the offence given to Keneth and disregard of the sanctity of his bell, went to him and offered compensation. He took him up a height and bade him accept as much ground as he desired. Keneth selected a certain amount up to a certain river, and this was granted to him for ever. It fell out that David, Teilo and Padarn were on their way, summoning the abbots and bishops of Wales to the Council of Llanddewi Brefi, and were hospitably received by Keneth. David requested him to attend the synod. "Observe my leg, I am a cripple, how can I go?" answered Keneth. Then David prayed, and Keneth's contracted leg was relaxed, so that he could walk as any other man. This did not please Keneth, and he prayed, and at once up went his limb as before and the calf once again 1 Locus est denso arundinum tegmine circumseptus, quasi miliario uno distans. . . Carpens igitur sanctus viam . . . antequam ad locum ab angelo designatum devenisset, in locis ubi lassatus membra quiete fovebat, fontes viginti quatuor tellus in planiciem decurrentes eduxit." 3 " Clocula mamillata." Quidam princeps nomine Morgantius terram, que nunc Glamorgantia dicitur, et terras affines usque fluvium Waiam suo habebat dominio.” adhered to his thigh. Consequently he did not attend the Council of Brefi. With this the story ends abruptly; John of Tynemouth only adding that Keneth died on the Kalends of August. There are several points in this wonderful story that require consideration. I. The father is called Dihoc, prince of Letavia, i.e. Brittany. Possibly Deroc is meant. This was the name of the father of Rhiwal, the first who established a principality in Domnonia, and who received S. Brioc. Rhiwal's son was also named Deroc, and he is supposed to have ruled from 520 to 533.1 Dom Morice, however, but he is of no authority in such matters, conjectures that Dihoc stands for Dinot, son of Budic, who married Anauved, and thus was brother of S. Oudoceus and S. Ismael, the disciple of S. David. That there existed such a Dinot is doubtful. He seems to have been thrust into the pedigree to serve as a hook upon which might be hung the fable of S. Ursula, as her father is called Dinothus (or Nothus), of which the Welsh form is Dunawd. 2. King Arthur is said to have been holding his court at Goyr; the place was apparently Aber Llychwr (hodie Lougher), the old Roman station Leucarum, said by tradition to have been the principal seat of Urien Rheged and his son Owen.3 3. The child, when born, was cast into a stream-probably the Lliw is meant which carried it into the Lothur (Llwchwr), and thence into the sea, which swept the cradle up on the isle Henisweryn. There can hardly be a doubt that by Henisweryn the Worm's Head Island is intended. It is explained as meaning in Latin insula turbæ. The name, however, is evidently compounded of Ynys and Gweryn, and the writer in his explanation took gwerin, i.e. turba, for gweryn, the worm or bot that breeds in the backs of cattle. It is also called in Welsh Pen y Pyrod, from pwr, a worm. Worm's Head, like Orme's Head, is to be derived from the Norse ormr, a worm or serpent, and is a rough translation of the Welsh name for the headland. The old 1 De la Borderie, Hist. de Bretagne, i, p. 580. 2 In the pedigree, Hist. Eccl. et Civile de Bretagne, Paris, 1750, also given by Deric and followed by Garaby. Trésvaux, in his additions to Lobineau, Les Saints de Bretagne, 1836, hesitates as to whether S. Quidi be Cenydd or Quinidius, Bishop of Vaison, d. 378. But how could the cult of a merely local Provençal saint come to Brittany? 3 The Description of Pembrokeshire, by George Owen, edited by Henry Owen, D.C.L., where is a note (i, pp. 233-4) by Egerton Phillimore. A place called Cae'r Gynydd, possibly for Caer Gynydd, at Waunarlwydd, a few miles from Loughor, may preserve the name of the place where the saint was traditionally born. maps of Kip and Speed give a chapel of S. Kinetus near Worm's Head. The Burry Holmes, a little to the north, have also been suggested for Ynys Weryn. 4. The name in John of Tynemouth's Life is Kynedus, Kinedus and Kenedus. Llangenydd occurs in the Book of Llan Dâv as Lann Cinith (p. 279). William of Worcester, in his Itinerary (p. 116), calls the Saint Sanctus Keneth." Cenydd is a dialectic variant, like cebydd for cybydd, and Keneth is a mere English corruption.1 5. The story of the thieving disciple is made up from that of Elisha and Gehazi, and the madness of Nebuchadnezzar. 6. Morgan, King of Morganwg and Glywysing, is certainly an historical character. He murdered his uncle Frioc,2 and had to expiate his crime by making grants to ecclesiastical foundations. His name occurs several times in the Book of Llan Dâv and in the Life of S. Cadoc. The legend unfortunately breaks off precisely where the fabulous matter might be supposed to end, and history to begin, with the foundation of a monastic settlement in Gower. Turning from this childish nonsense, we come to the more reliable information supplied by the Welsh genealogies. In reference to the Maen Cetti on Cefn y Bryn in Gower, split by the sword of S. David, the Iolo MSS.3 relate: "There is a church near, called Llanddewi, where they say the Saint was confessor, before he was consecrated bishop; and it is the oldest church in Gower. When, moreover, he became a bishop in Caerleon on Usk, he placed a man named Cenydd ab Aneurin ab y Caw in his stead at Llanddewi, and that Cenydd erected a church called Llangennydd. A brother of his named Madog erected the church of Llanmadog" (now Llanmadock, in the same deanery of West Gower). Again: "Cenydd ab Gildas y Coed Aur ab y Caw Cawlwyd. His churches are Senghenydd (i.e. Caerphilly) in Glamorgan, where he founded a Choir, and there the castle of Senghenydd was afterwards erected. Another church of his is Llangenydd in Gower." Again: 6" S. Cenydd ab Gildas y Coed Aur founded a Bangor at Llangennydd in Gower, and another in Senghennydd which was destroyed by the pagan English." Again: "The sons of S. Gildas ab y Caw, called Euryn y Coed Aur— Nwython, Dolgan, Cennydd, Gwynnaw, they were saints in the Choir of Illtyd (Llantwit Major), and in that of Catwg (Llancarfan), their kinsman. Cenydd founded a church and choir at Llangenydd in 1 Owen, Pembrokeshire, i, p. 233. 3 P. 83. s Ibid., p. 114. 4 For Madog, see under S. AIDAN. 2 Book of Llan Dâv, p. 152. 7 Ibid., p. 117. 1 Gower; and another choir at Senghenydd. The latter was destroyed by the Infidel, and the present castle stands on its site." Again: 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—1 Hast thou heard the saying of Cennydd, The son of Aneurin the skilful bard? None is free from anxiety but the good." 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. |