of taboo. Great numbers flocked to Cungar from all quarters and the monastery became a flourishing centre. Desiring privacy, Cungar deserted the place, crossed the Severn into Glamorgan, and landed "in portu Camensi.” 1 He ascended a steep mountain hard by, and finding a clear fountain there, established himself and at once constructed a cemetery, always the first thing thought of by a Celtic founder. However, on the following night he dreamed that an angel bade him remove elsewhere, so he ascended another mountain at no great distance, and there constructed church and cemetery.

The cattleherd of the King of Morganwg finding him there, told his master that a hermit had settled on his land without leave, and the king, Paul, blinded by rage, went to the spot and rated him soundly and ordered him to leave. However, Cungar succeeded in assuaging his wrath, and Paul granted him the land he needed. Paul's successor Peibio tried to wrench it away again, but was deterred by threats of divine vengeance.

The fable of Cungar having been son of "an Emperor of Constantinople" springs from the writer of the legend having heard of his descent from Constantine the Blessed, who was actually his great-grandfather, and he mistook this Cornish Constantine for Constantine the Great, but was puzzled as to which of the Emperors was his father, as the name of Solomon did not occur in any such list, whereupon he wisely refrained from naming his father.

The date of the fall of Geraint is thought to have been about 522, consequently the period of his grandson would be about 590. A gross anachronism has been committed by the author of the Life in bringing him into relation with Ina, King of the West Saxons, and not of the Angles (688-728).

What drove Cyngar from Somersetshire was probably the gathering strength of the Saxons in that district after the battle of Deorham in 577. Congresbury is on the Yeo, with extensive marshes stretching to the west to the Bristol Channel, and completely open to attack from the side of Bath, which had fallen into the hands of the Saxons in the same year. This would be the true explanation of Cyngar flying to Morganwg, and not a sudden desire for solitude, as represented by the biographer. As a rule we may almost invariably be sure that the motive attributed to a Saint when he deserts his post is not that which actuated him in reality.

The site on which he settled in Morganwg is said to have been Llandaff, formerly Llangenys, but this is difficult to reconcile with other accounts. It is more probably Llandough-juxta-Cardiff, variously

1 Capgrave, ed. 1901, p. 251.

66

called Bangor Cyngar" and "Bangor Dochau," in the Coychurch MS. printed in the Iolo MSS., where we read (p. 114), “ Bangor Gyngar was made by Cyngar ab Geraint ab Erbin, and was destroyed by the pagan English, and afterwards was made anew by S. Dochau of the Côr of Illtyd, and called Bangor Dochau." Here the same Saint has been made into two, on account of his double name.

Another entry in the same MS. (p. 104) says that a Côr, now called Llangenys, was founded in Morganwg by Cyngar ab Arthwg (for Garthog) ab Ceredig ab Cunedda Wledig; but this again is a mistake.

In the Truman MS. (p. 116) we are told that "Cyngar ab Geraint ab Erbin, a Saint of the Côr of Garmon made a Côr at Llangenys which is called Llan Doche Fawr, and was destroyed by the pagan English, and S. Doche made a Côr in its place which was called Bangor Doche."

The Iolo MSS. vary considerably in the notices they contain of Docheu or Dochau. They state that he came over to Britain with Ffagan, in the time of Lucius (p. 101); with Dyfan (p. 220); with Garmon (p. 101); and with Cadfan (p. 103); but the compilers confounded him with Dochdwy, whose name is also spelt Dochwy.1 The statement that he refounded Bangor Cyngar places him later than Cyngar ab Geraint.

In the Book of Llan Dâv the abbot of Docunni, that is, of Llandough, is mentioned as one of the three chief abbots of the diocese of Llandaff. In the story of S. Cyngar in Capgrave, the King Paul is Paul Penychen, brother of Gwynllyw Filwr, who appears also as a hot-tempered rough man in the Life of S. Cadoc.

Peibio occurs in the Book of Llan Dâv, but as king of Erging, and certainly at an earlier date than Paul Penychen.2

Cyngar next comes under our notice in the Life of S. Cybi, as an old man. Cybi was his nephew. When Cybi was obliged to leave the south of Wales, he went to Ireland and took his uncle with him.3 Cyngar was then so aged that he was unable to eat solid food, and Cybi bought a cow for him, when he settled with S. Enda in Aran, that his uncle might have milk for his food. 4

This occasioned a quarrel with one of the clerics on Aran, as has already been related in the account of S. Cybi. This Saint, taking his uncle with him, left Ireland and crossed into Carnarvon, and

1 On p. 103 he is also confounded with Oudoceus.

2 He was son of Erb, and father of Efrddyl, mother of S. Dyfrig.

3 Consobrinus autem ejus Kengar erat senex." Cambro-British Saints, P. 184.

4" Cui Sanctus Kepius emit vaccam cum vitulo suo, qui alium cibum propter senectutem suam manducare non poterat." Ibid.

settled for a while in the promontory of Lleyn, but afterwards moved into Anglesey, where he founded a "Bangor" at Caer Gybi.

but at

In Anglesey Cyngar is esteemed a founder, at Llangefni, his advanced age he cannot have done more than settle into a cell. He does not seem to have remained long there. Whether he had to leave owing to the unpleasantness caused by the publication of the letter of Gildas, his nephew, with its attack on Maelgwn, or whether it was due to mere restlessness, we do not know, but he is said to have started on pilgrimage for Jerusalem. According to the Vita he died. at Jerusalem, and the body was brought back to Congresbury. But the Breton tradition, that he died at S. Congard, in Morbihan, on his way to Jerusalem, is more likely to be true.

Cyngar is patron of the parish of Hope, in Flintshire, which was formerly called in Welsh Llangyngar and Plwyf Cyngar. Edward Lluyd in his Itinerary, 1699, wrote under the parish—“ Their Wakes are on Gwyl Gyngar, viz. the Sunday after the 11th of November" (correctly the 7th); and he adds, "Ffynnon Gyngar [is] within a field of ye Chuch." Owing, no doubt, to a similarity of names, the patron of this parish is often said to be a S. Cynfarch. The Iolo MSS.3 state that Cynfarch ab Meirchion Gul "founded a church in Maelor, called Llangynfarch, which was destroyed by the pagan English at the time of the Battle of Perllan Bangor," in 613. By it is intended the church of Hope, but its real patron is Cyngar 4; and there is no authority whatever for regarding Cynfarch ab Meirchion as a Welsh Saint.

Under the name of Dochau he is patron of the two Glamorganshire Churches now called Llandough, but called formerly by the Welsh Llandocha Fawr (near Cardiff) and Llandocha Fach (near Cowbridge). The old name of the former appears from the Iolo MSS. documents to have been Llangenys, a name which seems to be otherwise unknown. There is a S. Gennis on the north-east coast of Cornwall.

The following occurs among the "Sayings of the Wise "

Hast thou heard the saying of S. Cyngar

To those who derided him?

5

In 711 King Ina re-established Cyngar's Abbey in Somersetshire, but dedicated it to the Holy Trinity.

A British see of Congresbury, transferred in 767 or later to Wells, by Daniel, the last British bishop, is mentioned on doubtful evidence.

1 Ynys Gyngar, below Portmadoc, and not far from Llangybi, is named after him. 2 See Arch. Camb., 1849, pp. 261-3. 3 P. 127.

Cyngar is given as its patron in two parish lists of the sixteenth century; Dr. J. G. Evans, Report on Welsh MSS., i, p. 915. 5 Iolo MSS., p. 252.

Cyngar is the patron of Badgworth, in Somersetshire.

In Cornwall S. Cyngar or Docwin's only foundation was at S. Kewe. In Bishop Stafford's Register the name is Sanctus Doquinus (1400), but also Landeho and Lan-dehoc (1412). In Domesday it is Lan-ehoc. In Bishop Bronescombe's Register (1259) it is Landeho. In Bishop. Grandisson's time it had become Lannowe. In Prynne's Records (iii, p. 718) the dedication is given as to Sancto Landoco. Nicolas Roscarrock, in his MS. Lives of the Saints, gives some interesting. traditions relative to S. Docwin's residence in S. Kewe parish. He was known there as S. Dawe, and the popular opinion was that he was a brother of S. Kewe. 'He was a vertuous preist and eremit, and lived in an ermitage in the parish of S. Kewe, in a place where I remember there stood a chappell still bearing his name. And they holde by tradition there that he was brother of S. Kewe, who coming to his cell to visit him, he would not receive her until such times as he sawe a wild Boare miraculously obaye her. After which time hee conversed. with her, who proved of such rare vertue and holiness as she was after her death reputed a Sainte, and the Church of the parish is dedicated to her. This S. Dawe is esteamed a Saint in Wales, where they kept a feast in his memorie the very same day which they were accustomed to doe in Cornwall, to witt, the 15th February. they call him Dochotwyr or Dogotwy."

But

The story as told at S. Kewe at the present day is that a great boar troubled the neighbourhood, and S. Kewe vowed to build a church. if the beast were slain. Five neighbouring parishes united to hunt it, and it was brought to bay and killed. Docwin lived at Lanowe, a farm about a mile from S. Kewe Church. In the stained glass of the windows is a black beast, actually the arms of the Cavall family of Trehaverick, Argent, a calf passant, sable (otherwise gules). And this is supposed to represent the black boar. The story is curious. as a faint reminiscence of the Hunting of the Twrch Trwyth.

The festival of Cyngar is November 7, which occurs in over a dozen Welsh Calendars from the late fifteenth century down. Browne Willis gives that date as the Wake-day at Hope, but March 7 at Llangefni, evidently through a mistake in the month. The Parish feast at S. Kewe is on July 25.

S. Cyngar had also a Chapel and Holy Well dedicated to him in Lanivet, where he was venerated as Ingunger, Saint Gungar or Gonger.

At S. Congard, in Morbihan, the feast is on May 12. A curious. feature there is that at the Pardon women get taken with a convulsive: affection, and bark like dogs.

1 Survey of Bangor, pp. 281, 359.

S. CYNGEN, Prince, Confessor

CYNGEN, Prince of Powys, to which he succeeded on the death of

Saintship entirely to two late "His church is in Shrewsbury."

his father Cadell, owes his title to documents printed in the Iolo MSS. 1 "He gave property and land to Bangor Fawr in Maelor; it was the foundation of the family of Cadell Deyrnllwg."

The Cognatio de Brychan of Cott. Vesp. A. xiv gives him as the son of Kenwaur Cadcathuc and the husband of Tudglid, daughter of Brychan, by whom he was the father of Cadell, Brochwel Ysgythrog, Ieuaf, Mawn, and Sannan.

The old line of the kings of Powys ended with Cyngen ab Cadell, who according to the Annales Cambria, died at Rome in 854, and the kingdom passed, through his sister, to Rhodri Mawr, King of Gwynedd. Their family is described as of Cegidfa, that is, Guilsfield, near Welshpool, and the encampment there of Gaer Fawr was probably their chief seat. It was the last Cyngen who set up the Pillar of Eliseg at Valle Crucis to the memory of his great-grandfather Eliseg.

The name Cyngen occurs as Cunocenni on the inscribed stone at Trallong, near Brecon; in Old Welsh it is Concen and Cincen.

S. CYNHAFAL, Confessor

CYNHAFAL was the son of S. Elgud ab Cadfarch ab Caradog Freichfras. There is some uncertainty as to the correct form of his mother's name, but it seems to have been Tubrawst, "descended from the Tuthlwyniaid."2

The only church dedicated to him is Llangynhafal, in the Vale of Clwyd. His Holy Well is in a field about a quarter of a mile from the church, close to Plâs Dolben. It is a large bath, arched over, with steps going down into it, and is in a good, clean condition. It was formerly famous for the cure of warts, which was "partly done by pricking them with a pin, and throwing it into the well." 3

1 Pp. 102, 120, 129.

2 Myv. Arch., p. 421; Iolo MSS., pp. 123, 145. "Tubrawst or tuthlwynaid (Peniarth MS. 74). Cynhafal is an uncommon Welsh name. There was a Cynhafal ab Argad, who figures in the Gododin and the Triads. The name is an adjective, meaning similar, like. We have the second element in Guor-haual (Book of Llan Dâv), and the Breton Wiu-hamal. The folk-etymologist will have it that the name Llangynhafal stands for Llan can' afal, that is The Church of the Hundred Apples," it being said that, at some remote period, the benefice was procured by a present of 100 apples to the bishop, in each of which was enclosed a golden guinea! 3 Arch. Camb., 1846, p. 54.