Monastic Wales.








Event detail for site: Llanbadarn Fawr

1188: Visit

Gerald of Wales and Archbishop Baldwin stayed at the former priory while preaching the Crusade through Wales.

Gerald remarked on the decline of the house that had been reformed briefly during Henry I’s reign (1100-35) but had declined when the Welsh regained control of the area and replaced the monks of St Peter’s, Gloucester, with laymen. He explained that the priory was now run as a ‘family concern’ with a layman as abbot: ‘an old man called Ednywain ap Gweithfoed, who had grown grey in iniquity’ and whose sons officiated as priests at the altars.

People associated with this event

Gerald of Wales; Giraldus Cambrensis , archdeacon of Brecon (visitor)

Bibliographical sources

Printed sources

Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales / The Description of Wales (Harmondsworth, 1978) pp. 13, 26, 30, 32, 35, 179-81

Other events in the history of this site

c.1111: Foundation - Llanbadarn Fawr was re-founded by Gilbert fitz Richard who granted the ancient 'clas' church of St Paternus (Padern) to St Peter's, Gloucester, to establish a cell. [2 sources]
c.1135: Dissolution - When the Welsh re-conquered Ceredigan / Cardigan they drove the Gloucester monks away. As Gerald of Wales writes,

'In the reign of King Henry I, when the English were still in control of Wales, St Peter's monastery in Gloucester administered this church in peace and tranquillity. After Henry's death the English were driven out and the monks expelled. As I have explained laymen took forcible possession of the church and brought in their own clergy.'
[Gerald of Wales, Journey through Wales, pp. 179-80] [4 sources]
1188: Visit - Gerald of Wales and Archbishop Baldwin stayed at the former priory while preaching the Crusade through Wales. [1 sources]
 
Graphic.