OF THE JOURNEY BY PONT STEPHEN, THE ABBEY OF STRATFLUR, LANDEWI BREVI,
AND LHANPADARN VAWR
A SERMON having been preached on the following morning at Pont Stephen,
{109c} by the archbishop and archdeacon, and also by two abbots of the
Cistercian order, John of Albadomus, and Sisillus of Stratflur, {109d}
who faithfully attended us in those parts, and as far as North Wales,
many persons were induced to take the cross. We proceeded to Stratflur,
where we passed the night. On the following morning, having on our right
the lofty mountains of Moruge, which in Welsh are called Ellennith,
{110a} we were met near the side of a wood by Cyneuric son of Rhys,
accompanied by a body of light-armed youths. This young man was of a
fair complexion, with curled hair, tall and handsome; clothed only,
according to the custom of his country, with a thin cloak and inner
garment, his legs and feet, regardless of thorns and thistles were left
bare; a man, not adorned by art, but nature; bearing in his presence an
innate, not an acquired, dignity of manners. A sermon having been
preached to these three young men, Gruffydd, Malgon, and Cyneuric, in the
presence of their father, prince Rhys, and the brothers disputing about
taking the cross, at length Malgon strictly promised that he would
accompany the archbishop to the king’s court, and would obey the king’s
and archbishop’s counsel, unless prevented by them. From thence we
passed through Landewi Brevi, {110b} that is, the church of David of
Brevi, situated on the summit of that hill which had formerly risen up
under his feet whilst preaching, during the period of that celebrated
synod, when all the bishops, abbots, and clergy of Wales, and many other
persons, were collected thither on account of the Pelagian heresy, which,
although formerly exploded from Britain by Germanus, bishop of Auxerre,
had lately been revived in these parts. At this place David was
reluctantly raised to the archbishopric, by the unanimous consent and
election of the whole assembly, who by loud acclamations testified their
admiration of so great a miracle. Dubricius had a short time before
resigned to him this honour in due form at Caerleon, from which city the
metropolitan see was transferred to St. David’s.
Having rested that night at Lhanpadarn Vawr, {111} or the church of
Paternus the Great, we attracted many persons to the service of Christ on
the following morning. 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 {112}
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.