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Saint Tewdrig | |
|---|---|
| Born | sixth century |
| Died | near Tintern, Wales |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholicism |
| Major shrine | Church of St Tewdrig, Mathern |
| Feast | April 1 |
Tewdrig or Tewdrig ap Teithfallt (fl. sixth century) was a king of the post-Roman Kingdom of Glywysing. He abdicated in favour of his son Meurig and retired to live a hermitical life, but was recalled to lead his son's army against an intruding Saxon force. He won the battle, but was mortally wounded.
The context of the battle is one of Britons versus invading Saxons, without explicit religious overtones. However, since Tewdrig held to a religious lifestyle and was killed while defeinding a Christian kingdom against pagans (ie, the Saxons), by the standards of that day Tewdrig is considered to be a martyr and a saint. The Latin form of his name is given as Theodoric[1] and his feast day is April 1.[2] Tewdrig's name occurs frequently in the genealogies of South Wales, but the only substantive information about the person comes from the twelfth century Book of Llandaff.
Tewdrig's story
While king of Glywysing, Tewdrig ap Teithfallt had been a patron of the Church at Llandaff, with a history of success in battle. At some point in his reign, he abdicated in favour of his son Meurig in order to live a hermitical life at Tintern, a rocky place near the ford across the River Wye. However, when a Saxon threat to the kingdom emerged, he returned to lead a defence. He was successful, but at a battle or skirmish at the ford (called Rhyd Tintern), he was mortally wounded. He asked to be taken to Ynys Echni (called Flat Holm in English) for burial, but got no further than Mathern, where he languished briefly and died. King Meurig built a church on the spot and buried his father's body there, giving the surrounding land to the Bishops of Llandaff. The place became known as Merthyr Tewdrig ("the burial-place of Tewdrig"), which evolved into the name Mathern. Tewdrig's defence of his homeland was said to be sufficiently decisive that the Saxons would not dare to invade again for thirty years.
There is a minor hagiographic element in this story from the Book of Llandaff. On returning to secular service due to military necessity, Tewdrig is given the prophesy that he will be successful but will be mortally wounded; that a vehicle pulled by two stags, yoked, will appear and carry him towards his destination of Ynys Echni, but that he will die in peace three days after the battle. The mention of stags is a recurring theme in Welsh tradition.
Tewdrig's father, Teithfallt, had also been a king, and the Book of Llandaff notes that during his reign the Saxons had devastated the border regions, chiefly to the northwest near Hereford (ie, in the historical Kingdom of Ergyng), and also along the River Wye. Tewdrig's battle was a continuation of the ongoing warfare between the Britons and the intruding Saxons.
Sources of information
Preliminary notice
Ancient custom and law held that property was divided among the surviving heirs of a decedent, and this applied no less to royalty than to everyone else. Consequently, on the death of a king, the land of the kingdom would be divided among the king's heirs, and new kingdoms would emerge. This continual rearrangement makes the determination of the scope and borders of ancient kingdoms a speculative effort at best. The Book of Llandaff places Tewdrig's story in the territory of the historical Kingdom of Gwent (the southeastern part of modern Monmouthshire). That kingdom's ancient history is intertwined with the history of the adjacent Kingdom of Glywysing.
The Book of Llandaff
The Book of Llandaff was written c. 1125, at a time when the bishopric at Llandaff was struggling against the competing bishoprics at Saint David's and Hereford. The book was written specifically to justify the claims of Llandaff, and Tewdrig's story provides the reason why Meurig ap Tewdrig donated the lands near Mathern to the see of Llandaff.
Historical sources
A number of sources, such as Ussher's Brittanicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates[3] (1639), cite Bishop Godwin's 1615 account of the medieval church at Mathern. Godwin said that he discovered a stone coffin by the altar in the church, containing the saint's bones, and that the skull was badly fractured. This is not inconsistent with the Book of Llandaff's account of Tewdrig's mortal wound and burial at Mathern. Ussher also repeats the account of the Book of Llandaff.
Tewdrig is not mentioned by Nennius in the Historia Brittonum (c. 850).[4] Lloyd's History of Wales (1911) mentions the Book of Llandaff's account of Tewdrig's combat at the crossing of the Wye, and notes that Merthyr Tewdrig is now called Mathern, but adds nothing further.[5] Nedelec's History of the Early Cambro-British Christians (1879) retells the story from the Book of Llandaff, adding a number of unattributed details which are colorful but inconsequential.[6] Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons (1799) repeats the accounts of the Book of Llandaff and Bishop Godwin (citing Ussher as the source), but then adds that the Saxons in question were those of Wessex, led by Ceolwulf.[7] No authority is provided for this claim.
The Iolo Manuscripts
References
Bibliography
- Morris, A. (1907), Glamorgan, Newport: John E. Southall
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Rees, Rice (1836), An Essay on the Welsh Saints, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, Rees
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - Rees, William Jenkins (1840), The Liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo, Llandovery: William Rees
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) — from MSS. in the Libraries of Hengwrt, and of Jesus College (English translation) - Williams, Edward (c. 1810), Williams (ab Iolo), Taliesin (ed.), Iolo Manuscripts, Llandovery: William Rees (published 1848)
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help)
Citations
- ^ Löffler, Klemens (1912), "Tewdrig", in Herbermann, Charles George (ed.), The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. XIV, New York: The Encyclopedia Press (published 1913), p. 542
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Owen, Robert (1880), "April 1", Sanctorale Catholicum or Book of Saints, London: C. Kegan Paul & Co, p. 169
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Ussher, James (1639), Elrington, Charles Richard (ed.), The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, D.D., vol. VI, Dublin: Hodges and Smith (published 1847), p. 82
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help) - ^ Nennius (c. 850), Gunn, W. (ed.), Historia Brittonum, London: John and Arthur Arch (published 1819)
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help) - ^ Lloyd, John Edward (1911), A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, vol. I (2nd ed.), London: Longmans, Green, and Co (published 1912)
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Nedelec, Louis (1879), Cambria Sacra, or The History of the Early Cambro-British Christians, London: Burns and Oates
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Turner, Sharon (1799), The History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. I (Seventh ed.), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans (published 1852), pp. 285–86
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|year=/|date=mismatch (help)
Informational notes