It Is Remarkable That This Church,
Like Many Others In Wales And Ireland, Has A Lay Abbot; For A Bad
Custom has prevailed amongst the clergy, of appointing the most
powerful people of a parish stewards, or, rather, patrons, of
Their
churches; who, in process of time, from a desire of gain, have
usurped the whole right, appropriating to their own use the
possession of all the lands, leaving only to the clergy the altars,
with their tenths and oblations, and assigning even these to their
sons and relations in the church. Such defenders, or rather
destroyers, of the church, have caused themselves to be called
abbots, and presumed to attribute to themselves a title, as well as
estates, to which they have no just claim. In this state we found
the church of Lhanpadarn, without a head. A certain old man, waxen
old in iniquity (whose name was Eden Oen, son of Gwaithwoed), being
abbot, and his sons officiating at the altar. But in the reign of
king Henry I., when the authority of the English prevailed in Wales,
the monastery of St. Peter at Gloucester held quiet possession of
this church; but after his death, the English being driven out, the
monks were expelled from their cloisters, and their places supplied
by the same violent intrusion of clergy and laity, which had
formerly been practised. It happened that in the reign of king
Stephen, who succeeded Henry I., a knight, born in Armorican
Britain, having travelled through many parts of the world, from a
desire of seeing different cities, and the manners of their
inhabitants, came by chance to Lhanpadarn. On a certain feast-day,
whilst both the clergy and people were waiting for the arrival of
the abbot to celebrate mass, he perceived a body of young men,
armed, according to the custom of their country, approaching towards
the church; and on enquiring which of them was the abbot, they
pointed out to him a man walking foremost, with a long spear in his
hand. Gazing on him with amazement, he asked, "If the abbot had not
another habit, or a different staff, from that which he now carried
before him?" On their answering, "No!" he replied, "I have seen
indeed and heard this day a wonderful novelty!" and from that hour
he returned home, and finished his labours and researches. This
wicked people boasts, that a certain bishop {144} of their church
(for it formerly was a cathedral) was murdered by their
predecessors; and on this account, chiefly, they ground their claims
of right and possession. No public complaint having been made
against their conduct, we have thought it more prudent to pass over,
for the present, the enormities of this wicked race with
dissimulation, than exasperate them by a further relation.
CHAPTER V
Of the river Devi, and the land of the sons of Conan
Approaching to the river Devi, {145} which divides North and South
Wales, the bishop of St. David's, and Rhys the son of Gruffydd, who
with a liberality peculiarly praiseworthy in so illustrious a
prince, had accompanied us from the castle of Aberteivi, throughout
all Cardiganshire, to this place, returned home. Having crossed the
river in a boat, and quitted the diocese of St. David's, we entered
the land of the sons of Conan, or Merionyth, the first province of
Venedotia on that side of the country, and belonging to the
bishopric of Bangor. {146} We slept that night at Towyn. Early
next morning, Gruffydd son of Conan {147} came to meet us, humbly
and devoutly asking pardon for having so long delayed his attention
to the archbishop. On the same day, we ferried over the bifurcate
river Maw, {148} where Malgo, son of Rhys, who had attached himself
to the archbishop, as a companion to the king's court, discovered a
ford near the sea. That night we lay at Llanvair, {149} that is the
church of St. Mary, in the province of Ardudwy. {150} This
territory of Conan, and particularly Merionyth, is the rudest and
roughest district of all Wales; the ridges of its mountains are very
high and narrow, terminating in sharp peaks, and so irregularly
jumbled together, that if the shepherds conversing or disputing with
each other from their summits, should agree to meet, they could
scarcely effect their purpose in the course of the whole day. The
lances of this country are very long; for as South Wales excels in
the use of the bow, so North Wales is distinguished for its skill in
the lance; insomuch that an iron coat of mail will not resist the
stroke of a lance thrown at a small distance. The next morning, the
youngest son of Conan, named Meredyth, met us at the passage of a
bridge, attended by his people, where many persons were signed with
the cross; amongst whom was a fine young man of his suite, and one
of his intimate friends; and Meredyth, observing that the cloak, on
which the cross was to be sewed, appeared of too thin and of too
common a texture, with a flood of tears, threw him down his own.
CHAPTER VI
Passage of Traeth Mawr and Traeth Bachan, and of Nevyn, Carnarvon,
and Bangor
We continued our journey over the Traeth Mawr, {151} and Traeth
Bachan, {152} that is, the greater and the smaller arm of the sea,
where two stone castles have newly been erected; one called
Deudraeth, belonging to the sons of Conan, situated in Evionyth,
towards the northern mountains; the other named Carn Madryn, the
property of the sons of Owen, built on the other side of the river
towards the sea, on the head-land Lleyn. {153} Traeth, in the Welsh
language, signifies a tract of sand flooded by the tides, and left
bare when the sea ebbs. We had before passed over the noted rivers,
the Dissenith, {154} between the Maw and Traeth Mawr, and the
Arthro, between the Traeth Mawr and Traeth Bachan. We slept that
night at Nevyn, on the eve of Palm Sunday, where the archdeacon,
after long inquiry and research, is said to have found Merlin
Sylvestris.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 33 of 53
Words from 33363 to 34388
of 54608
