PREFACE
Since,therefore,St.David's is the head,and in times past was the metropolitan,city of Wales,though now,alas!retaining more of the NAME than of the OMEN,{120}yet I have not forborne to weep over the obsequies of our ancient and undoubted mother,to follow the mournful hearse,and to deplore with tearful sighs the ashes of our half-buried matron.I shall,therefore,endeavour briefly to declare to you in what manner,from whence,and from what period the pall was first brought to St.David's,and how it was taken away;how many prelates were invested with the pall;and how many were despoiled thereof;together with their respective names to this present day.
CHAPTER I
Of the see of Saint David's We are informed by the British histories,that Dubricius,archbishop of Caerleon,sensible of the infirmities of age,or rather being desirous of leading a life of contemplation,resigned his honours to David,who is said to have been uncle to king Arthur;and by his interest the see was translated to Menevia,although Caerleon,as we have observed in the first book,was much better adapted for the episcopal see.For Menevia is situated in a most remote corner of land upon the Irish ocean,the soil stony and barren,neither clothed with woods,distinguished by rivers,nor adorned by meadows,ever exposed to the winds and tempests,and continually subject to the hostile attacks of the Flemings on one side,and of the Welsh on the other.For the holy men who settled here,chose purposely such a retired habitation,that by avoiding the noise of the world,and preferring an heremitical to a pastoral life,they might more freely provide for "that part which shall not be taken away;"for David was remarkable for his sanctity and religion,as the history of his life will testify.Amongst the many miracles recorded of him,three appear to me the most worthy of admiration:his origin and conception;his pre-election thirty years before his birth;and what exceeds all,the sudden rising of the ground,at Brevy,under his feet while preaching,to the great astonishment of all the beholders.
Since the time of David,twenty-five archbishops presided over the see of Menevia,whose names are here subjoined:David,Cenauc,Eliud,who was also called Teilaus,Ceneu,Morwal,Haerunen,Elwaed,Gurnuen,Lendivord,Gorwysc,Cogan,Cledauc,Anian,Euloed,Ethelmen,Elauc,Malscoed,Sadermen,Catellus,Sulhaithnai,Nonis,Etwal,Asser,Arthuael,Sampson.In the time of Sampson,the pall was translated from Menevia in the following manner:a disorder called the yellow plague,and by the physicians the icteric passion,of which the people died in great numbers,raged throughout Wales,at the time when Sampson held the archiepiscopal see.Though a holy man,and fearless of death,he was prevailed upon,by the earnest intreaties of his people,to go on board a vessel,which was wafted,by a south wind,to Britannia Armorica,{121}where he and his attendants were safely landed.The see of Dol being at that time vacant,he was immediately elected bishop.Hence it came to pass,that on account of the pall which Sampson had brought thither with him,the succeeding bishops,even to our times,always retained it.
But during the presidency of the archbishop of Tours,this adventitious dignity ceased;yet our countrymen,through indolence or poverty,or rather owing to the arrival of the English into the island,and the frequent hostilities committed against them by the Saxons,lost their archiepiscopal honours.But until the entire subjugation of Wales by king Henry I.the Welsh bishops were always consecrated by the bishop of St.David's;and he was consecrated by his suffragans,without any profession or submission being made to any other church.
From the time of Sampson to that of king Henry I.nineteen bishops presided over this see:Ruelin,Rodherch,Elguin,Lunuerd,Nergu,Sulhidir,Eneuris,Morgeneu,who was the first bishop of St.David's who ate flesh,and was there killed by pirates;and he appeared to a certain bishop in Ireland on the night of his death,shewing his wounds,and saying,"Because I ate flesh,I am become flesh."Nathan,Ievan (who was bishop only one night),Argustel,Morgenueth,Ervin,Tramerin,Joseph,Bleithud,Sulghein,Abraham,Wilfred.