Besides these biographies there are some scanty notices of St. David, in The Antiquities of Glastonbury, by William of Malmesbury, and his Book upon Bishops; and also in a chronicle of St. David's entitled Annales Menevenses, quoted by Professor Rees. Lastly, there is extant, and printed in the Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, a curious poem, written in South Wales by Gwynvardd Brycheiniog, in the twelfth century, in which several churches are named as dedicated to St. David, and as possessing some of his relics. The principal portion of these were removed from St. David's to Glastonbury, with the view to their protection from an invading enemy, in the reign of Edgar, A.D. 962. The precise dates of the birth and death of St. David cannot be fixed with certainty, but the former was in or about the year A.D. 462. The first Council took place in 517, or perhaps earlier, in 512; and the second, called "Victory", at Caerleon, in 519. The death of St. Dubricius is fixed by Professor Rees in the year 522, who also considers that St. David did not live beyond the age of eighty-two. It is historically certain that St. Dubricius resigned the Archbishopric of Caerleon in favour of St. David, and retired to end his days in Bardsey Island. St. David was himself succeeded in the Archbishopric of Caerleon by St. Teilo, who removed the See to Llandaff, as St. David had removed it to Menevia. From his time to the Norman Conquest, however, the question of the primacy of this See over the other Welsh dioceses has been surrounded with a certain halo of uncertainty, which subsequent investigations have failed entirely to dispel. Three Canons of St. David, printed by Messrs. Haddan and Stubbs, have been preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. One of these prescribes penance to those who should have broken their fast before ministering at the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar. It does not appear to have been hitherto determined with certainty, whether any connection existed between the custom of wearing a leek on St. David's Day, and the Saint himself. Probably there is none. It originated, as is commonly believed, in the plant being plucked, and placed in their caps, by some Welshmen during a battle with their own countrymen, to distinguish them from the enemy. It has been asserted that the plant was not the ordinary gardenleek, but one which is found growing wild in great quantity in certain localities, one on the river Wye, near Monmouth. Among the stanzas entitled "Englynion y Clywed", containing each a saying ascribed to a Saint or a Bard, is this of St. David: "A glywaist di a gânt Dewi, Gwr llwyd, llydan ei deithi, "Hast thou heard what St. David sang? The blessed man of wide perfections? St. David, though manifestly venerated as a Saint by his countrymen from the time of his death, and even during his life, was not canonised authoritatively by the Church until A.D. 1120, in the reign of Pope Callixtus II. The Biographies of Ricemarchus and Giraldus may, with great probability, be regarded as preliminary to that event, and as intended to furnish a basis for the act of canonisation, by gathering up all the facts that were known to history and tradition respecting him. St. David's, called by the Welsh Tŷ Ddewi, or House of David, was formerly a celebrated place of pilgrimage. Stones, marked with sculptured crosses, were set at convenient intervals on the road leading thither, along the heights above the sea from Fisgard, both as guides to the traveller, and as stations for prayer during the journey. Three royal person ages are named in history as having visited it in pilgrimage, -William the Conqueror, Henry II, and Edward I, besides innumerable votaries from this as well as from foreign countries. Special privileges would seem to have been attached by the Church to this pilgrimage, as intimated by the saying: "Roma semel quantum, dat bis Menevia tantum," meaning that by going twice to St. David's as much spiritual profit might be gained as by going once to Rome. SELECTION OF WELSH POETRY, BY IAGO AB DEWI.1 [I.] CYWYDD YR OEN.2 [P. 1.] Y llwdn gwiriawn teg rhawnllaes Llonydd o fynydd i faes Lledneif gamp lliw dawnuf galch Llyweth fel y droell ewyn Llarieidd gorph lliw ireidd gwyn Lliwus Oen tyrf lles ein tir Dy groen yn deg a ranan A th gig yw danteith y gwan O th golydd llawenydd llu Ni gawn danneu i ganu Dy Afu nid yw ofer Dy gyrn na th escyrn na th fêr Na th draed na th waed ni th wedir Na th Galon na th gaul yn wir. 5 10 15 [P. 2.] Heb law bod ynod Oenyn Sy dda er llefhad i ddyn 20 "Iago (ab Dewi), an able poet and antiquary of Blaen Gwili in Caermarthenshire, who died in 1722. His compositions are preserved in manuscript.-Williams' Biographical Dictionary. This "Selection" is printed from a manuscript, the property of Aneurin Rees, Esq., of Tonn. It is a small (duodecimo) volume, and is written in a most careful, neat hand. 2 Cywydd to The Lamb'." Gwar o th gwrs goreu 'i th gaid Nid rhaid am ddiniwaidrwydd A Chariad nid treifiad trwch I roi addyfe oreu-ddawn Ddiofn wedd i fyw n iawn. Chwenychwn o chawn jechyd 25 30 1 In MS. written in right margin, with a thick dotted line underneath. |