Pappo Post Priten

ON ST. PAPPO POST PRITEN, CONFESSOR, IN WALES,

SIXTH CENTURY

Pappo Post Priten, confessor in Wales. (S.)

[1] On what day the memory of St. Pappo is appointed. St. Pappo, king and confessor, surnamed Post Priten [We have found the name and surname so written in cod. Harl. 3859, written, if our authors are to be believed, about the year 1100. This was edited, after W. F. Skene, by that man most learned in Welsh, J. Loth, Les Mabinogion, 2nd ed., vol. II (Paris, 1913), pp. 326–48. But in more recent times the name is scarcely ever written except Pabo; the surname, however, different writers present differently: Prydain, Prydein, Prydyn, Bryd-, etc. We have preferred to keep the older manner.], that is, in Latin, the pillar, mainstay, protection of Pretania [We say Pretania, for the word Priten, after the likeness of the Greek name τῶν Πρετανικῶν νήσων.. Cf. d'Arbois de Jubainville, L'Ile Pretanique, in Revue Celtique, vol. XIII (1892), pp. 398–403; with whom the distinguished Alfred Holder agreed, Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, vol. I (Leipzig, 1893), col. 552, and recently J. Loth in Revue Celtique, vol. XXVI (1915–16), p. 123. It is not for us to indicate the proper boundaries of the region of which King Pappo had been the protection; so uncertain is it both at what age this surname was added to the name Pappo and at what time the Welsh word Priten began to be used no longer of the whole British island but only of its northern part. Moreover, besides King Pappo, others too were distinguished by the surname Post Priten. Go to Baring-Gould and Fisher, The Lives of the British Saints, vol. I, p. 38, note 3, who cite two passages from the ancient poets. Very like this too is that surname Post Cad Ynys Prydein, that is, the pillar, mainstay, protection of the Pretanic island, which is read among the Triads of the Pretanic island in the Red Book of Hergest. J. Loth, Les Mabinogion, op. cit., p. 258 (the edition itself we do not have here at Brussels), and in The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, 2nd ed., p. 407, col. 2, no. 71. But the words Post Cenedl (ibid., p. 400, col. 1 and 2, no. 4) seem rather to be interpreted "fountain and origin of a race or nation". These things to show that the surname of St. Pappo, which is not unusual in poems, has value by sound rather than by sense.], is commemorated on the fifth day before the Ides of November both in the Welsh calendar which Edward Williams, otherwise by the bardic name Iolo Morganwg, says he copied from a manuscript codex of about the year 1500 Edw. Williams, Iolo Manuscripts, p. 152.; and in the calendars which are prefixed to some almanacs printed in Welsh in the 18th century; finally in the Llyfr Plygain, which was published twice, in the years 1618 and 1633, and in the work Allwyd neu Agoriad Paradwys i'r Cymrv, which was printed for the use of Catholics knowing Welsh at Liège in the year 1670 Baring-Gould and Fisher, op. cit., pp. 67, 68–69, 75; vol. IV, p. 39..

[2] His lineage, Of what stock he was the ancient Welsh genealogies show, which, if they had been edited according to critical norms [Whoever shall complete that work and make full indexes will have deserved excellently of Welsh hagiology.], would perhaps lead us safely enough to the very beginnings of the 5th century. And in very truth, of those saints whose Acts have perished, if they were ever written, the pedigree has for the most part been preserved to us, which, I rather think, is their whole history. We must try to make out something in so dark a forest.

which different people have derived differently, First, then, in the British Museum codex Harleian 3859, of which we have already spoken See above, note 1., it is related that Pappo was map Ceneu map Coyl Hen son of Ceneu son of Coel the Old [J. Loth, op. cit., p. 336. In Welsh map (or mab, ap, ab) signifies in Latin son. See for example the genealogies of the patriarchs in The History of Gruffydd ap Cynan, ed. Arthur Jones (Manchester, 1910), p. 104 (= Manchester University Publications, Historical Series, No. IX): Iaphet mab Noe Hen, mab Lamech, mab Mathusalem, etc.]. In this same source the ancestors of St. Pappo are listed by name up to the seventeenth generation. Which of these names are certain and which doubtful, it is not worth while to inquire [See J. Loth, op. cit., pp. 335–36. But if anyone desires to derive the origin of St. Pappo from the very first beginning of this world, let him compare what A. Jones published, loc. cit.].

2° In that very short but, as it seems, very ancient treatise Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd, "On the lineage of the men of the North": Pabo Post Prydein ab Arthwys ab Mar ab Keneu ab Coel Pabo Post Prydein son of Arthwys son of Mar son of Ceneu son of Coel [That treatise was first edited by W. F. Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. II, pp. 454–57. Since that work is not available to us at Brussels, we have used the French translation of J. Loth, op. cit., p. 349.].

3° From this there does not much differ the codex of Thomas Hopcin (about the year 1670), from which this excerpt is had among the Iolo Manuscripts: Pabo Post Prydain ab Arthwys ab Mor ab Morydd ab Ceneu ab Coel Godebawc [Pabo Post Prydain son of Arthwys son of Mor son of Morydd son of Ceneu son of Coel Godebawc] Iolo Manuscripts, p. 105, no. 109..

4° From the codex of Henry Rowland, otherwise Rowlands, a very well known writer of things done, and never done, in the island of Anglesey, or even more probably from his work Mona Antiqua Restaurata, Lewis Morris in the year 1760 copied out, among other things, the lineage of St. Pappo, which was printed from his transcript: Pabo post prydain ap Arthrwys ap Mar ap Ceneu ap Coel godhebog Pabo Post Prydain son of Arthrwys son of Mar son of Ceneu son of Coel Godhebog The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, ed. cit., p. 428, col. 2..

5° Finally, from the long book of Thomas Truman Iolo Morganwg copied out in the year 1783: Pabo Post Prydain (ap) Arthwys ap Mor ap Ceneu ap Coel Godebawc Pabo Post Prydain (son of) Arthwys son of Mor son of Ceneu son of Coel Godebawc Iolo Manuscripts, p. 126..

[3] it is restored. We confess that it is not clear to us from where Morydd crept into the third pedigree between Mar and Ceneu. Those who in more recent times have disputed about the lineages of the Welsh saints usually place a certain Morydd among the sons of Mar, inasmuch as he seems to have been a brother of Arthwys [Rice Rees, An Essay on the Welsh Saints, p. 103; Baring-Gould and Fisher, vol. I, p. 91.]. For the same as in the third pedigree is read in the stock of Gwrgi and Peredur, among the collectanea of Iolo Morganwg Iolo Manuscripts, p. 128.; but in the treatise Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd, of which we have already spoken, in the stock of the same Gwrgi and Peredur J. Loth, Les Mabinogion, vol. II, p. 348, n. V. both Mar and Morydd are omitted. Not dissimilar is what happened in the first pedigree of St. Pappo, although immediately, both before and after, with no interval, in the same treatise we meet Mar three times Ibid., n. III, IV and VI.. Since these things are so, saving the judgment of those who have thought or think otherwise, the truer pedigree seems to us the one which we wrote as number two, with which the fourth and fifth agree. That the same was the judgment both of the curious man Rice Rees and of the diligent explorers of Welsh antiquities S. Baring-Gould and J. Fisher is plain from the family pedigrees which they have constructed Ibid., and note 11.. But we have now lingered too long in an obscure and perplexed matter.

[4] At what age he lived, When St. Pappo lived can be gathered from the Annales Cambriae [Namely those which J. Loth edited from cod. Harl. 3859, after Egerton Phillimore, op. cit., pp. 370–82.], in which it is written

that in the year 595 Dunaud died ["Dunaud the king dies", J. Loth, op. cit., p. 373; in the manuscript codex of the royal Exchequer "Dunauut son of Pabo died", Henry Petrie, Monumenta Historica Britannica, vol. I (1848), p. 831.], the son of Pappo. Scarcely anything besides this indication of time has been handed down to memory about St. Pappo. Only these things Iolo Morganwg copied out from the long book of Thomas Truman See p. 144, note 6.: Pabo Post Prydain oedd frenin yn y Gogledd, what he did, ag efe a yrrwyd oi wlad gan y Gwyddyl Ffichti, ag a ddaeth i Gymru, lle y cafas Diroed gan Gyngen Deyrnllwg, mab Cadell Deyrnllwg, a chan ei fab ef Brochwel Ysgithrawc Iolo Manuscripts, pp. 126–27.. In Latin: Pabo Post Prydain was a king in the northern parts, who, when he had been driven from his kingdom by the Gaelic Picts, came into Wales; where he received lands from Cyngen Deyrnllwg, son of Cadel Deyrnllwg, and from his son (Cyngen's), Brochwel Ysgythrog. Understand that King Pappo, in what is now the far end of England, not far from the borders of Scotland (not, as it may seem to some, in northern Wales), was driven from his ancestral seat in an unlucky war by the Gaels or the Picts (it is uncertain to us, nor does it matter; but certainly by enemies other than those Germans, the Angles and Saxons). Cyngen received him in Wales, king of the region of Powys, which then seems to have been bounded by the rivers Severn and Conwy [We have expressed almost all these things from R. Rees, An Essay on the Welsh Saints, pp. 167–68.]. Whether St. Pappo then already had a wife and children, whether he experienced adversity and exile as a young man or an old one, no one has yet been able to find out. At length, weary of the cares of the world and of the kingdom, he took up a holier life, and with that purpose, as the noblemen of that age converted to piety were wont, founded very many monasteries in various places and marked them with his name. what monasteries he founded. It is worth noting that all the monasteries of St. Pappo that we know are situated not in Powys but in Gwynedd, which in Latin is called Venedotia; this region lies to the west of Powys. Monasteries of this kind are: Llanbabo on the island of Anglesey; it is about six miles to the south of Llanbadrig, which is a harbour on the northern shore of the island [Owen Jones, Cymru yn hanesyddol, vol. II (1875), p. 14. R. Rees notes, An Essay on the Welsh Saints, p. 168, note, that the church of Llanbabo is now subject to the church of Llanddeusant; this is dedicated to SS. Marcellus and Marcellinus, O. Jones, op. cit., p. 63, col. 1; cf. above, p. 6. But only after a long time did churches begin to be dedicated in Wales to foreign saints. Whence it is plain that something was changed in those days, so that the ancient church was made subject to the more recent. Yet we can hardly bring our mind to believe with the learned R. Rees that a chapel was built over the tomb long after the sixth century after Christ and dedicated to St. Pappo: for how could it happen that St. Pappo himself built no church, if indeed he himself inhabited the place? Moreover, that the relics were translated from Llanerchymedd to Llanbabo (see below) is much less probable.]. Llanbabo not far from the Lake of St. Padarn (Llyn Padarn) in the county of Carnarvon. Pabo hamlet, hill and station are places in the parish of Llangystenin, near Conway, in the same county ["Pabo hamlet, Hill and Station", Baring-Gould and Fisher, vol. IV, p. 38. There are those who think (Owen Jones, Cymru yn hanesyddol, vol. II, p. 393, col. 1) that St. Pappo, perhaps a little after entering on the religious life, lived there with St. Constantine the Blessed (Custennin Vendigaid; he gave the parish its name, Llangystenin). But those Welsh Constantines are so many and obscured by such thick darkness that we cannot settle the dispute. In Armorica too there are not a few place-names in which the word Pabu lies hidden; J. Loth presents a catalogue of these, Les noms des saints bretons, in Revue Celtique, vol. XXX (1909), p. 154. But since in those regions St. Tutgualus is commonly called Pabu, all these seem to be foreign to Pappo Post Priten. Cf. Baring-Gould and Fisher, op. cit., p. 38, note 2, and p. 274.].

[5] His wife's name. Some relate that his wife was Gwenasedd, daughter of Rhufon Rhyfoniog, son of Prince Cynneddaf [Which Rice Rees judges more consonant with the reckoning of the times, An Essay on the Welsh Saints, p. 125.]. Others, however, say that Gwenasedd married not St. Pappo but his son Sawyl, and perhaps more truly Iolo Manuscripts, p. 125.. For of her was born St. Asaph, whose father is named Sawyl in some documents of not contemptible antiquity, which Rice Rees did not yet know [Go to those whom Baring-Gould and Fisher mention, vol. I, p. 177, notes 2 and 3; vol. III, p. 182, note 4; vol. IV, p. 175. Yet it is far from certain that all these things are certain, cf. vol. I, p. 178.]. Traditions of the island of Anglesey. In the Rowland writings, of which we have spoken, it is read that St. Pappo was yr hynaf o seiniau Mon, that is, the oldest of the saints of the island of Anglesey [These, we judge, are from Rowland's Mona Antiqua Restaurata; but this book, in which we might look it up, is lacking.], where the name of King Pappo is still celebrated in the mouth of the people Baring-Gould and Fisher, vol. IV, p. 38.

[6] A sepulchral stone dug up. The bones of St. Pappo seem to have been laid in the village of Llanbabo, on the island of Anglesey, where, while a burial place was being dug, a sepulchral stone was unearthed [Lewis Morris (or Morus), an illustrious writer born on the island of Anglesey, has this: "There is a tradition at Llanbabo that Pabo and a son and daughter of his were buried in that churchyard, over against certain faces cut in stones to be seen to this day in the south wall of that church, and against one of theses faces Pabo's tombstone was by accident discovered in Charles II's time, as I was informed in 1730, or thereabouts." (Celtic Remains, pp. 339–41). The stone, which the digger had damaged with his pick (Owen Jones, Cymru yn hanesyddol, vol. II, p. 393, col. 1), was reproduced in a drawing first, unless we are mistaken, in the second edition of the Rowland work entitled Mona Antiqua Restaurata, in the year 1766; then most beautifully in Archaeologia Cambrensis, 4th Series, Vol. V (1874), facing p. 111; in J. O. Westwood, Lapidarium Walliae (1876–79), p. 193. Finally photographically, Baring-Gould and Fisher, vol. IV, facing p. 38.] six feet high Baring-Gould and Fisher, vol. IV, p. 39.. This stone was inserted into the inner wall of the church on the south of the nave. There are seen on it traces of letters, which a certain anonymous Welshman thought Lombardic Archaeologia Cambrensis, 6th Series, Vol. VIII (1908), p. 95.. Epitaph. The same learned man in the year 1870 seemed to himself to read them thus: HIC: JACET: PA////POST: PRUD: /////// Here lies Pa…, Post Prud… Ibid.. Another preferred: HIC JACET PABO PRUD CORPUS //// TE /// PRIMA Here lies Pabo Prud, the body … te … prima Owen Jones, Cymru yn hanesyddol, vol. II, p. 14, col. 2., another: HIC JACET PABO POST PRUD. CORPORS /// TE /// PRIMA Here lies Pabo Post Prud, corpors … te … prima Id., ibid., p. 392, col. 1.. From the image which was published in Archaeologia Cambrensis Ibid., 4th Series, Vol. V (1874), pp. 110–12. you would read not less probably: HIC: IACET: PA ///. POST: PRUD: UT ////////ET: MM//// Here lies Pa…, Post Prud…

[7] The effigy. The learned Matthew Holbeche refers the effigy carved on the stone to the times of Edward III, in whose reign, about the year 1350, the parish church was restored from the ground Archaeologia Cambrensis, 4th Series, Vol. V (1874), p. 112.: the craftsman, perhaps the same who carved the effigy of St. Iestyn in the church of Llaniestyn, on the same island of Anglesey Baring-Gould and Fisher, vol. IV, p. 39., represented a man clothed in a long robe, bearing a sceptre in his right hand, and bound his brow with a simple diadem marked with three lily flowers. And so at least from the middle of the 14th century St. Pappo was commonly believed to lie at Llanbabo. Whence this report arose and when is uncertain. It is certainly not favoured by the ditty in which St. Pappo is repeatedly said to rest with his wife at Llanerchymedd:

Yn Llanerch'medd ym Môn, do, Y claddwyd Brenin Pabo, A'r frenhines, deg ei gwedd, Ym mynwent Eglwys Ceidio [Baring-Gould and Fisher, op. cit., p. 39 and ibid. note 3; cf. Owen Jones, Cymru yn hanesyddol, vol. II, pp. 88–89. Baring-Gould and Fisher prefer to accept a somewhat different fourth line, so that it becomes: A'r frenhines, deg ei gwedd, Yn Llanerchmedd mae hono. In Latin: And the queen, of beautiful face, is in Llanerchymedd. This, however, pleases us less; for from the very sequence of the lines you would understand that the queen, buried not in the same place, lies with her husband. Eglwys Ceidio is a chapel subject to the church of Llanerchymedd.].

In Latin: In Llanerchymedd, on the island of Anglesey, King Pappo was buried, and the queen, of beautiful face, in the cemetery of Eglwys Ceidio.