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identification with Aneurin the Bard. The Gododin describes the Battle of Catraeth, which Stephens takes to have been that of Aegesanstane or Daegstan, which took place in 600 or 603.1 Skene, however, would divide the poem into two, the first part alone relating to the battle of Catraeth, which he identifies with the "bellum Miathorum" of Adamnan, and gives 586-603 as its date. The second part contains an allusion to the death of Dyfnwal Frych or Domnall Brecc, king of the Dalriadic Scots, who was slain at the Battle of Strathcarron in 642, and which the bard witnessed. He regards this second part as a continuation of the original Gododin by a pseudoAneurin.2 Out of the 363 "golden-torqued warriors" that fought at Catraeth only three escaped with their lives, says the author, besides himself.

The Welsh Triads state that Aneurin the Bard was treacherously killed by Eiddyn ab Einygan, who dealt him on the head one of "the three atrocious axe-strokes of the Isle of Britain "; 3 whereas AneurinGildas died in his bed at Ruys in Brittany.

3

We therefore conclude that Aneurin ab Caw and Gildas ab Caw are one and the same person; but that Aneurin the Bard, of whose pedigree the Welsh know nothing, lived considerably later.

There are no churches dedicated to him under the name Aneurin. See further under S. GILDAS.

S. ANNA, or ANNE, Widow, Abbess

THERE are four Annas mentioned in the Welsh pedigrees:-(1) Anna, daughter of Uthyr Bendragon. (2) Anna, daughter of Meurig ab Tewdrig. (3) Anna, daughter of Vortimer the Blessed. (4) Anna, daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog.1

Some authorities make Anna, daughter of Uthyr Bendragon, to have been the mother of Cynyr of Caer Gawch, and afterwards wife of Amwn Ddu, and mother of S. Samson. Another makes her wife first to Amwn

and then to Cynyr.5

1 Gododin, p. 42.

2 Four Ancient Books of Wales, ii, pp. 359-70.

3 Ibid., ii, p. 463; Myv. Arch., pp. 390, 405.

4 Iolo MSS., p. 140. This Anna must be a scribe's blunder.

5 Myv. Arch., p. 423; Iolo MSS., pp. 107, 141. She is also, on the same page.

Isaid to have been the mother of S. David.

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Another, again,1 makes Anna, daughter of Meurig ab Tewdrig, the wife of Amwn, and the same says that the wife of Cynyr was Anna, daughter of Gwrthefyr Fendigaid, or Vortimer.2

The Life of S. Samson says only that Anna, the wife of Amwn, was "of the province of Dementia (al. Deventia) which adjoins that of Demetia." The Vita 2da (of S. Samson) says " de Venetia provincia," and the Vita gia gives this name as "Methiana."

It is clear that there has been confusion between three Annas, and that Cynyr's father married Anna, daughter of Uthyr, and that Cynyr married another Anna, daughter of Vortimer. Whereas Amwn married a different Anna, the daughter of Meurig, and some of her sisters were the wives of the brothers of Amwn.

What we know of the second Anne is derived from the lives of S. Samson, and our best authority is the First Life, written in the seventh century, published by Mabillon (Acta SS. Ord. S. Benedicti., Sæc., i, p. 165), and by the Bollandists (July 6). Afrella was a younger sister, and was married to Umbrafel, brother of Amwn the Black. She was the mother of three sons, born before Anne had any child. Amwn and his wife were in sore trouble at being without offspring. But one day, when in church, they heard a discourse upon the merits and powers of a certain scholar (librarius) in the North, to whom great numbers resorted. So Amwn and his wife started to consult him, with presents in their hands, just as now Hindoos might journey to some famous fakir. After a toilsome bit of travel they reached the place where the renowned man was, and found him in the midst of a throng of suppliants, some deriving healing, some requiring discovery of objects that had been lost, some benedictions on a new undertaking, some a forcible curse pronounced against an enemy. They told the great man that they desired to have a son, whereupon the "Librarius" advised Amwn to make a rod of silver as tall as his wife, and give it as alms for his soul and for that of Anna. Amwn promptly declared that he would give three such rods. The medicine man then bade them retire into his "hospitium." These rods of metal of a man's height meet us again in the legend of S. Brioc; and should apparently be brought into connection with the stones, each set up pro anima sua, which are found in Celtic countries.

In course of time Anne bore a son, and he was named Samson. From his birth, Anne urged her husband to dedicate him to the Lord —at least so says the "Life "--but this seems to be an adaptation of the story of Hannah and the child Samuel. Amwn was unwilling to

VOL. I.

1 Iolo MSS., p. 132.

2 Ibid., p. 129.

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consent. Having got a son, he resolved on keeping him, but his reluctance was overcome when other children followed.

That Samson was a child of their old age is improbable; the statement is an importation from the history of the birth of the Biblical Samson. For his education, Samson was entrusted to S. Illtyd, and he remained at college till Amwn was very ill, and sent for his son.

Amwn recovered, and at the instigation of Samson both he and his brother Umbrafel were tonsured; and their respective wives, Anna and Afrella, received consecration as widows. Samson then dismissed the two latter into different parts to found monasteries and to build churches.

His mother was especially fervent in accepting his commission. She is reported to have answered: "Not only do I desire, and lovingly embrace the charge laid on me, but I require of Almighty God, to Whom you have dedicated me, that you shall consecrate the monasteries and churches you bid me construct."

To this Samson cheerfully consented. As to his father and uncle, he found them a little rough and intractable, therefore he took them away with him, so as to superintend their training.

Samson next determined on seeking a vast desert" near the Severn. There he remained awhile, till he was consecrated bishop, when he resolved on quitting Wales. He took his course round the Bristol Channel,1 visiting his mother and aunt on the way and dedicating their churches. That of S. Anne was probably Oxenhall, on a confluent of the Severn. It is now in Gloucestershire. We know nothing further about Anne, whether she ended her days in her native land, or followed her son into Cornwall, and further into Brittany.. Nor have we any means of determining the day of commemoration of S. Anne.

The cult of Anne, reputed mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, came into fashion at the beginning of the fifteenth century. It was almost unknown till the fifteenth century, when she was brought into prominence by the mooting of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. The name Anne is taken from an Apocryphal Gospel, the Protevangelium of S. James, of no authority whatever. The earliest known representation of S. Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin, in Northern. Europe, is on a seal of 1351 belonging to a convent in Westphalia.2

1 Citra Sabrinum mare," Vita ima; "circa Habrinum mare," Vita 2da. 2 Vincens (Ch.), De l'iconographie de S. Anne, Paris, Chaix, 1892. Schmitz, "Die Anna-Bilder," in der Katholik, tome vii (1893). Schaumkell (E.), Der Cult der H. Anna, Freiburg-im-Baden, Mohr, 1893; Acta SS., Jul., tome vii, PP. 233-9.

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