ON SS. GWINOCUS AND COMPANIONS: GWINOCUS, VENERATED AS A BISHOP, HIS FATHER ANEURIN OR GILDAS, HIS BROTHERS CENNYDD, MADOG, DOLGAN, AND NWYTHON, HIS SISTER DOLGAR, AND HIS COUSIN GARCI, IN WALES,
IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.
COLLECTION.
Gwinocus, bishop, confessor in Wales, a brother. (S.)
Aneurin or Gildas, confessor in Wales, a brother. (S.)
Cennydd, confessor in Wales, a brother. (S.)
Madog, confessor in Wales, a brother. (S.)
Dolgan, confessor in Wales, a brother. (S.)
Dolgar, confessor in Wales, a brother. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
§ single. Whether St. Aneurin or Gildas, the father of St. Gwinocus, is the same as St. Gildas the Wise. His military deeds, poems, religious life and bloody death. The religious life and cult of his sons.
[1] Gwinocus, also Gwynnoc In Rice Rees, Essay on Welsh saints, p. 257., Gwynog, Gwynawc, The genealogical tree of St. Gwinocus. Guynnauc, Gwnnog, Gwynnawg and Gwyngawr Bonedd y saint, in Myvyrian archaiology, vol. II, p. 44., is said to be venerated on this day in the English Martyrology according to Willis Memorial of ancient british piety, supp., p. 27. and in the Essay on the saints of Wales of Rees Essay, etc. p. 258.. He belongs, after the manner of the Welsh saints, to a chosen race, consisting almost wholly of saints; of which take the scheme, gathered from Rees Essay, etc., p. 224 and following, 257 and 258.:
Besides St. Aneurin many more sons are ascribed to Caw, most of them reckoned among the number of the saints, or at least whose names serve as titles of sacred buildings and parishes in Wales. But either several men by the name of Caw must have been prominent among the Welsh, or the genealogical monuments on which these things rest are not to be trusted: for who would ascribe a troop of thirty and more children to one father on no better authorities? But that there is no easy departing from the Welsh genealogies we have elsewhere already taught Acta SS., vol. X of October, p. 763.; it remains, then, that several men named Caw be admitted.
[2] [He had as grandfather Caw, who crossed from the northern parts to the isle of Anglesey;] Caw, grandfather of St. Gwinocus, is called in the Bonedd y Saint or Genealogy of the saints of Britain Myvyrian archaiology, vol. II, pp. 31 and 44. prince of Cwm Cawlwyd or Cowllwg, a petty northern kingdom: which would have to be called the same as Arecluta, now Strathclyde, in Scotland, if it were sufficiently established that this Caw is the same as Caunus, father of the most celebrated St. Gildas the Wise, abbot of Rhuys in Lesser Britain; but on that matter below. According to the genealogy named Achau y Saint, he was expelled from his dominion by the Gwyddyl Ffichti; whom Rees has interpreted to be the Picts and Scots Essay, etc. p. 224.. Wherefore with his family he landed at the island of Mona, commonly Anglesey; where, certain lands having been bestowed by Maelgwn Gwynedd, he fixed his seat in Twrcelyn; from which some of his sons are said to have received lands in Siluria from Arthur. His name is inscribed in one codex of the catalogue of saints, namely the Bonedd y Saint Llyfr Bodeulwyn, in Myvyrian archaiology, vol. II, p. 31.; and his children are said to have constituted the third holy family among the Britons Ibid., p. 29.; which honour however is attributed in the Triads to Bran, son of Llyr Cf. R. Rees, Essay, pp. 224 and 225..
[3] [his father St. Aneurin, also called Gildas; whom some would have to be St. Gildas the Wise:] Concerning the father of St. Gwinocus there is much greater difficulty. He is called Gildas in various manuscript codices of the Bonedd y Saint; but two learned Welshmen, Edward Williams and Owen Pughe, with whom Rees agrees Ibid., pp. 225 and 226., have taught in the Cambrian Biography that this Gildas is the same as the abbot of Rhuys, and that he is called by another name Aneurin; that, namely, Gildas is a Saxon word which signifies the same as Aneurin in Welsh, and that the custom of turning names from one language into another, especially among ecclesiastics, has been observed by many; that moreover in old books now Aneurin, now Gildas comes among the children of Caw, but never both together; that there is read besides sometimes Gildas y Coed Aur, sometimes Aneurin y Coed Aur; and finally that Cennydd is the son and Ufelwyn the grandson of Aneurin. And that that Gildas is none other than St. Gildas the Wise they make out from this, that the father of the latter is called by Capgrave Cau or Can; and Caunus in the Life of the son, both according to the codex of Fleury, edited by Jean du Bois in the Bibliotheca Floriacensis, and according to that of Rhuys, which lit the way for Mabillon in the first century of the saints of the order of St. Benedict; and Nau by Caradoc of Llancarfan; moreover that the father of St. Gildas of Rhuys also first lived in the northern parts Ibid., place cited.. On which we shall observe these few things: that it cannot be denied that Aneurin and Gildas are the same name, and that it is really wonderful that two or more men of the same name, passing from the northern to the southern parts, should have a father called Caw; for it is manifest that that also was the name of the father of St. Gildas of Rhuys. Yet there is no one who does not know that things of that kind sometimes happen; so that from that conformity, especially since many things stand in the way, a firm argument cannot be made.
[4] [but it is shown that there were several Gildases, distinguished men, and likewise several men named Caw; and that those two Gildases cannot be fused into one.] And indeed that there were several very illustrious Gildases or Gildasii among the Britons has been shown by almost all who have spoken of St. Gildas of Rhuys [Cf. Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, p. 176; Bolland, Acta SS., vol. II of January, p. 953; Mabillon, Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, century I, p. 138.]; nor can doubt be raised on this matter, although there is not complete agreement in distinguishing those men; but this comes to be observed, that it does not seem to have been a name, but a surname or title, granted with such facility to religious and learned men in Ireland and Wales that the distinguished O'Conor reports that at least thousands were given it [Script. rerum Hibern., vol. I, p. 198. Cf. Algernon Herbert, Irish version of Nennius, p. 1.]. That there were likewise several men named Caw is shown even from this, that in the Life of St. Gildas of Rhuys, which was written in Lesser Britain, only four brothers are assigned to him, namely Cuillus, also Hywel or Hoel, Mailocus, Allaecus and Egreas, with one sister Pereona; on the contrary, if that Caw, who is read in the Genealogies of the saints, is one man, it must be agreed with Caradoc of Llancarfan In Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, p. 179. and Capgrave Ibid., p. 177 or 178., who, interpreting the Genealogies of one father, wrote that Canus or Cauus begot twenty-four sons by his queen; to whom are to be added five sisters, namely Cwyllog, Cain, Gwenafwy, Peillan and Peithien, Pereona being omitted. Indeed the Life of St. Gildas, which came from the monastery of Rhuys, was not written before the opening of the 11th century; but to one reading it is clear that it was gathered from old monuments; and certainly in attributing six children to Caw it is more worthy of credit than Capgrave and Caradoc: nor is it to be thought that the Genealogies were less valued or more carelessly kept in Armorican Britain than in Wales. Add finally that Rees concedes with both hands Essay on Welsh saints, p. 225 and following. that what is reported of St. Gildas of Rhuys, either in the Rhuys Life according to the Armorican documents, or in the writings of Capgrave and Caradoc according to the Welsh books, plainly does not agree with the deeds of St. Aneurin or Gildas, son of Caw of Cowllwg. It remains, then, that we admit two men named Gildas, sons of Caw, born of different fathers. For it does not please (as the distinguished Hersart de la Villemarqué would have it Poèmes des Bardes bretons du VIe siècle, p. LIII.) that St. Gildas and St. Aneurin were brothers, sons of one Caw, since we should be led to ascribe to Caw, besides five or six daughters, twenty-four sons; which, although it was the lot of the contemporary bard or seer Llywarch the Old Ibid., pp. LXIII and LXIX., yet is not to be extended to others without most certain testimonies.
[5] [St. Aneurin or Gildas, first a soldier and a notable Welsh poet, after the battle of Catraeth, which he sang,] So St. Aneurin or Gildas, son of Caw of Cowllwg, was present at the battle of Cattraeth, rather Caltraeth, fought against the Saxons, Picts and Scots, and he illustrated that disaster in a Welsh poem, which is called Godolin from the region of the Clyde, of which the author was lord, and was first published in the Welsh Archaeology Myvyrian archaiology, vol. I, pp. 1–14; 581–584.. For all the petty kings from the Solway Firth to Loch Lomond and from the mouth of the Forth to the mouth of the Clyde (within which boundaries almost the whole of southern or lower Scotland is contained) had come together, to protect their homeland from the approaching army of the Picts, Scots, Logrians and Anglo-Saxons of Deira or Dairadia and of Bernicia: for they were advancing from the north along the shores of both seas, to cross the rampart once erected by the Romans against the Caledonians between Dumbarton and Edinburgh. There were there eighteen forts, capable of holding four troops of cavalry and fourteen cohorts, ten thousand men in all. These were occupied by the confederate British princes, adorned with golden torques, three hundred and sixty-three in number, under the command of Menezoko, king of Edinburgh. The assault and defence lasted seven days, especially at the fort of Caltraeth. At first the fortune of war favoured the Britons, and there were slain the king of the Scots and Ida, widow of the king of the Anglo-Saxons. But those who by day fought most vigorously passed the night, by a fault of their race, drinking wine and beer from golden cups. Which turned out for them as ill as could be. For when, again overcome with drink, they were snoring on the ground, the enemy fell upon them. They at once seized their arms and went out to meet them. But in vain; for they were not so masters of themselves as to allow themselves to be restrained by military discipline. Their valour and audacity, then, availed nothing; and all were slain and only three escaped the fury of the swords, Aeron and Cynon Dayorawd, both hounds of war, and I, says St. Aneurin Ibid., p. 4., who owe this reward to my blessed muse, rescued from the waves of blood; yet captured and thrown into the prison of the fort, and loaded with iron chains Ibid., p. 7.: from which he was at some time released by the labour of Ceneu, son of Llywarch Hen, or Llywarch the Old; whom we have already said was then a most celebrated seer or bard. Concerning the time and place of this battle there is no agreement among the learned; some have wished it to have been fought in the year 472, while Hengist was still alive: but the author of this opinion, Edward Davies Mythology and Rites of the british Druids, p. 317., was forced to concede that the poem Godolin was not written before the year 510; running besides into innumerable other difficulties. Most, then, judge that the contest is to be referred to about the middle of the 6th century and that Caltraeth was situated in the northern parts, since soldiers of Deira and Bernicia are read to have been present at the battle Cf. Sharon Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. I, p. 182 and following.. Yet the distinguished Hersart de la Villemarqué seems to me to have shown Poèmes des Bardes bretons du VIe siècle, p. 238 and following. that this slaughter was accomplished between the years 572 and 580, on the bank of the stream Calder, not far from Dumbarton, near the former Roman Wall; and Ferdinand Walter agrees Das alte Wales, p. 302.. That St. Aneurin should have followed this disaster of his people with a poem may seem wonderful; but he seems to have proposed this to himself, to teach that valour was not lacking to the Britons; but that the battle was unexpected, and that so many heroes fell for this reason, that on account of drunkenness they had kept no order and discipline.
[6] and renowned for other poems and for the praise of an inspired man, To military praise, then, St. Aneurin joined poetic; who is the author also of another poem, namely Englynion y Misoedd or Odes of the Months Myvyrian archaiology, vol. I, pp. 14–17., in which are contained precepts and reflections on morals. And the praise of these writings was so great in former times that he was reckoned among the chief British poets, on the testimony of Nennius, a writer of the 11th century [Algernon Herbert, Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, pp. 2 and 3.]: Then, he says Hist. Britonum, ch. 32; Cf. Walter, das alte Wales, p. 301., Talhaern Cataguen was renowned in poetry and Neirin (Aneurin), and Taliessin and Bluchhard and
Cian, who is called Guenith Guaut, were renowned together at one time in British poetry. With these agrees the testimony of Taliessin himself, who says Villemarqué, Poèmes des Bardes bretons, p. LIII.: The same celebrity is ours, Aneurin the panegyrist and inspired, and mine Taliessin from the lake of Keirionez; and between these was a sincere friendship, so that in turn St. Aneurin wrote Ibid., p. cited.: I Aneurin know what Taliessin knows, who is one spirit with me. And as to St. Aneurin being called inspired, it seems possible to explain this from chapter XVI of the Description of Wales; which is a work of Giraldus Cambrensis, a writer of the 12th century: There are, he says Camden's edition, Frankfurt, pp. 892 and 893., also among this people of Wales, what you will not find elsewhere, some men whom they call Awenydhyon, as if led by the mind. These, when consulted on some ambiguous matter, at once roaring in spirit are as it were rapt out of themselves, and become as if possessed. Nor yet do they immediately set forth what is desired: but through many windings among the various discourses with which they flow, rather trifling and vain than consistent with themselves, yet all adorned, at last in some turn of a word he who skilfully watches for the response will receive what he seeks, set out clearly: and so at length they are aroused by others from this ecstasy as from a heavy sleep, and are compelled as if by a certain violence to return to themselves. Where you will find two things to be noted also, that after the response they do not usually return from this kind of madness unless violently aroused and recalled, and that on returning to themselves they will recall to memory nothing of all those things which have sometimes been uttered by them. Whence if perhaps they should have to speak on this matter again when consulted by another, they will announce it in altogether other and strange words, perhaps as spirits sometimes speak through the frenzied and possessed as through the ignorant. And these gifts are usually poured into them for the most part in sleep through visions. For to some it seems that either sweet milk or honey is poured into their mouth; to others also that a written sheet is placed on their mouth; and at once arising they publicly profess that they have received this grace … And they make among their prophecies invocations to the living and true God and to the holy Trinity, that they may not be hindered by the deserts of their sins from finding the truth. In which things what is owed to the truth of things, what to fancy, this is not the place to weigh.
[7] he withdrew into the monastery of Llancarfan of St. Cadoc, himself a poet; When he had come out of prison a free man, he seems to have crossed into south Wales; where he is found to have professed the monastic life in the county of Glamorgan, in the parish of Llancarfan or rather in Llanfeithin; which names are used indiscriminately, as the container for the contained. Whether St. Germanus of Auxerre or St. Dubricius, bishop of Llandaff, founded this ascetery is not agreed R. Rees, Essay, etc. p. 176.; but its first abbot was St. Cadoc, also called Cattwg, son of Gwynllyw Filwr, omitted by our predecessors both at the 24th of January and at the 24th of February, at which days I find him inscribed in calendars. St. Aneurin could not but love the fellowship of this man, since he also cultivated Welsh poetry, of which the Welsh Archaeology Myvyrian archaiology, vol. III, pp. 1–99. contains notable specimens on moral precepts, and so excelled in prudence that he gained the surname of Wise, Ddoeth. Rees has touched on his life Essay, etc. p. 176 and following.; a little more is had in the preface to volume III of the Welsh Archaeology and in the Cambrian Biography. Other bards also were staying then at Llancarfan; which was at that time the chief seminary of sacred and profane doctrine. There Aneurin led a holy life; and he ended his life, slain by a murderer named Edin with a blow of an axe Ibid., p. 225. Cf. Villemarqué, Poèmes des bardes bretons, p. LXII..
[8] [whither St. Gwinocus his son followed him: the churches dedicated to him; a painted image still existing.] But that we may at length come to the children of St. Aneurin or Gildas, in the first place St. Gwinocus is to be illustrated, for whose sake we have slipped into those rough places. He followed his father into the college of St. Cadoc at Llancarfan Ibid., p. 257.; and there he lived so holily that his name was given to several parishes. Yet concerning the first it is not altogether established. For there are in Wales three parishes named Llan Trisaint, or Temple of the three saints; the first, which is situated on the island of Mona, commonly Anglesey, is said to have as patrons [Carlisle, Topogr. diction. of Wales, under Llantrisaint; R. Rees, Essay, etc. p. 324.] SS. Sanan, venerated on the 1st day of March Ibid., p. 240. or the 13th of June Memorial, etc. supp., p. 18., Afran and Jeuan; to the second, in the county of Glamorgan, there are assigned as patrons by Carlisle Topogr. dict. of Wales, under Llantrisaint. SS. Iddog, Dyfaenog and Menw, by Rees Essay, etc. p. 337. SS. Illtyd, Tyfodwg and Gwynno; and to the third, which Carlisle has omitted, in Monmouth, SS. Peter, Paul and John Ibid., p. 344.: a thing much praised among the Welsh, to whom everything threefold is perfect. But, to let that go, it is clear from these things that there is no agreement between Carlisle and Rees about the patrons of Llan Trisaint in Glamorgan: unless perhaps only the forms of the names are different. But formerly among the five chapels with which that parish was adorned, one was called from the name of St. Gwinocus Llangwynno Ibid., pp. 257 and 337.; now it has perished with most of the others Cf. Carlisle, under Llan Trisaint.. Rees also reports Essay, pp. 257 and 325. that St. Gwinocus is patron in Faenor or Y Faenor, in the county of Brecknock; but, unless again some small chapel existed, now pulled down, Carlisle again objects Dict. of Wales, Glossary under Gwenfrewi, and under Faenor., reporting that this honour is paid there to St. Winefred, in Welsh Gwenfrewi Essay, p. 295.. We have more certain things about Llanwnog in the county of Montgomery, formerly the station of the seventh victorious legion, as is established from stone inscriptions. All agree that St. Gwinocus is the patron of this place; as is attested not only by the name of the parish, but by the very image of the blessed man, painted in a window above the altar; in which he is presented crowned with an episcopal mitre and clothed in the whole pontifical vesture and holding a pastoral staff in his hand; at his feet, written in old English letters, is this brief prayer: St. Gwinocus, on whose soul may God be merciful. Amen [Ibid., p. 257, according to vol. I of the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine; and Carlisle, Topog. dict. of Wales, under Llanwnog.]. On which form of invocation let the theologians and liturgists be consulted, where they explain certain old Eastern books, in which God is asked to have mercy on the Blessed Virgin Mary and other saints. This little prayer, namely, rests on the theological position that the souls of the saints, although they enjoy the sight of God, yet are not wholly blessed, because they long for conjunction with their body, with which they were created and constitute one person; which they desire to be restored, impelled by the forces of nature.
[9] The lot and cult of his brothers, sister and cousin. SS. Cennydd, Dolgan and Nwython, brothers of St. Gwinocus and sons of St. Aneurin or Gildas, betook themselves also to the monastery of St. Cadoc. St. Cennydd is said not to have remained there; but to have betaken himself to Gowerland, a district of the county of Glamorgan, where he himself instituted a monastic college; from which there afterwards arose the parish which from his name is called Llangennydd. Thither further betook themselves, having embraced the religious ascesis, the brother of St. Cennydd, St. Madog, and his cousin by another brother Cewydd, St. Garci. Both advanced in sanctity, so that from the name of the former a neighbouring parish is called Llanfadog or Llan Madog R. Rees, Essay etc. p. 257; Carlisle, under Llan Madog.. St. Garci also is read to have been honoured with a church in Glamorgan Cambrian Biography, in R. Rees, p. 258.; but among the parishes of this county I find nothing of the kind R. Rees, Essay etc., p. 335 and following.. At Llangennydd, the religious society of St. Cennydd having long since ceased, in the reign of King Stephen there was instituted by Roger de Beaumont the priory of Langineth or of Longineth, dependent on the abbey of St. Taurinus of Évreux; which bond in the year 1441 was broken by King Henry VI (as he did in almost all the other alien priories) and the benefice granted to All Souls College at Oxford. Its patron was called St. Kennedus, none other than St. Cennydd [Monasticum anglicanum, vol. VII, p. 1047. Cf. Wood, History of the colleges and halls of Oxford, p. 261.]. St. Cennydd is read also to have communicated his name Carlisle, under Caerphilly. to a district of Glamorgan, named Seinghennydd, Senghenydd and Caerphilly; but so far no sacred building has been found in this tract dedicated to him R. Rees, Essay etc., p. 257.. Of St. Dolgan and Nwython, who we have said withdrew into the monastery of St. Cadoc and we do not know to have gone out, we have scarcely anything. He who at the beginning of this century published the Bonedd y Saint in volume II of the Welsh Archaeology Myvyrian archaiology, vol. II, p. 49. added to the name of St. Nwython, also called Noethan, Noethen and Nothon, that near the parish of Englwys Llangwm Dinmael, that is, the Church of the parish of the temple of the valley of Dinmael, formerly a petty king there, there then still existed chapels of St. Gwinocus and Noethan, but converted into a mill and an oven; and the palace of Dinmael, Llys Dinmael, had become a ruinous house. Of St. Dolgar, sister of St. Gwinocus, I have found nothing else, except that her name is read in the Bonedd y Saint Myvyrian, Archaiology, vol. II, p. 39. or Genealogy of the saints. Which is some sort of indication of ecclesiastical cult. We abstain from St. Tydecho; who indeed in the Salisbury codex of the Bonedd y Saint Ibid., p. 55. is called the son of Gildas, son of Caw; but in all others Ibid., p. 94. Cf. p. 24. the son of Amwn Ddu.