The imagery of saints was once commonplace in all churches in Wales, and by the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries painted and carved images of local and international saints would have been found on altars, screens, on the walls and in glazed windows of churches. Larger standing figures would have also been a feature of medieval…
Now published: the Latin Lives of Winefride, edited by David Callander Winefride is said to have been a nun and martyr who lived in seventh-century north-east Wales. A nobleman named Caradog, irate when Winefride resisted his advances, struck off her head with his sword. A spring burst forth where the head fell, beside a church…
A volume of essays containing a wealth of new research on different aspects of literature concerning saints in Wales, hagiography, poetry and genealogy. Seintiau Cymru, Sancti Cambrensis: Astudiaethau ar Seintiau Cymru, Studies in the Saints of Wales has been edited by David Parsons and Paul Russell, and is published by the University of Wales Centre…
A new book, Depicting St David, seeks to foster a better understanding of the images of St David in all their colour and variety. Images of St David can be found in many of the nation’s churches, mainly in the form of nineteenth and twentieth-century stained glass and sculpture. This book is the first to…
Two poems to St David now published Iolo Goch, Mawl i Ddewi Sant This long cywydd by one of the foremost poets of the fourteenth century is a clear indication of the national importance of the cult of St David. Iolo Goch was a poet from north-east Wales, and in stating his intention to undertake…
This is ‘Canu i Gadfan’ (a song for Cadfan), an extensive poem (178 lines) sung by Llywelyn Fardd about 1150. It is the earliest of three poems composed by twelfth-century Welsh poets to the saints: ’Canu Tylisio’ by Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr and ‘Canu i Ddewi’ by Gwynfardd Brycheiniog will appear shortly on the website. ‘Canu…
