St Padarn's Church, Llanbadarn Fawr

Saint Padarn's Church is a parish church of the Church in Wales, and the largest mediaeval church in mid-Wales. It is at Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth, in Ceredigion, Wales, United Kingdom.

Founded in the early sixth century, St Padarn's Church has gone through many changes, from a Welsh monastic centre (a ''clas''), a Benedictine priory, a ''clas'' again, a royal rectory, a church controlled by Chester's Vale Royal Abbey, and since 1538 a parish church under a vicar.

History

Although its origins are obscure, the site of the present ancient church has been used for Christian worship since it was settled in the early sixth century, probably by Saint Padarn,E.G. Bowen, ''A History of Llanbadarn Fawr'' (a limited edition published under auspices of the Ysgol Cwmpadarn Centenary Celebration Joint committee/Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1979). after whom it was named. Much of the early history of the church must remain speculative rather than definitive, due to the absence of documentary or archaeological evidence.Gerald Morgan, ''Ceredigion: A wealth of History'' (Gower, Llandysul, 2005), p. 99. However, there are certain elements which are reasonably clear.

Origins of the foundation in the sixth century

Whilst the exact date Saint Padarn founded the church is uncertain, it seems clear however that Llanbadarn Fawr was an early sixth-century foundation, a Celtic ''clas'' church. The church may have been the seat of an abbot or bishop during the years immediately following Saint Padarn, who was traditionally said to be its first bishopD. P. Kirby, "The Coming of Christianity" in J.L. Davies and D.P. Kirby (eds), ''Cardiganshire County History'' (Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, 1994), vol I, pp. 365–177, at pp. 370–1. (as a ''clas'' church, it was not a cathedral as we understand the term today, but closer to a collegiate church), nor did it necessarily possess any substantial buildings. It was one of the leading ''clasau'' of early Christian Wales, and the one we know most about, partly because of the significant role it played as a literary centre.

Saint Padarn

Very little is known of Saint Padarn (or Paternus to use his Latin name), and almost nothing with any degree of certainty; the earliest literary reference to him is by Rhygyfarch in about 1097. However, it is possible to construct a general outline of his life from the little that we do have.

Following the general custom of Europe in the late classical and early Middle Ages, he was popularly recognised after his death as a saint, along with several hundred other Welsh men and women. But the date and circumstances of the foundation of the church, and of Padarn's life were long forgotten when it was decided in the twelfth century that he should be commemorated in a ''Vita'' or Latin ''Life'', following the example of the ''Life of St David'' written at Llanbadarn about 1090. That in turn had followed a European tradition of writing such ''lives''. They are not biographies as we understand them today. Instead they were hagiographies, designed to elevate the saint's status as a holy person of miraculous achievements.

Traditionally Padarn was said to come originally from Brittany, but he may have come from south-east Wales. He was said to be both abbot and bishop (the distinction was not so great then as it later became) for many years, and from his base at what is now known as Llanbadarn Fawr (great or high church of St Padarn) he evangelised the neighbouring countryside.

Little more can be said of Padarn, though he later attracted the usual hagiography, the ''Vita Sancti Paternus'', which recounts many supposed details of his life. He may have been more closely associated with late Romano-British civilization than some other early British saints, as his dedications are apparently connected by Roman roads. Llanbadarn Fawr is reputed to be close to where the Roman road from North to South Wales (called Sarn Helen) crosses the river Rheidol. Sarn Helen passes close to Strata Florida and Llanddewi Brefi which, along with Llanbadarn Fawr, were the three most important ecclesiastic places in mediaeval Ceredigion.

According to tradition, Padarn continued to preside over his see for twenty-one years, during which time he was said to have erected a number of churches and founded several monasteries in the province or lordship of Ceredigion, later Cardiganshire (and in modern times once again known as Ceredigion), where he placed colonies of monks from the principal establishment at Llanbadarn Fawr. His preaching throughout west Wales was attested to in the Welsh Triads. At the end of that period, possibly being recalled to Brittany, where he was made bishop of Vannes (though it is more than likely that this was a distinct individual), he was succeeded as abbot of the church at Llanbadarn Fawr and bishop of the proto-diocese, which was subsequently called, after its first bishop, "Paternensis," by Cynog. It has been suggested that St Padarn himself may have been buried on Bardsey Island, the legendary "Island of 20,000 saints". But as with any detail of his life, we cannot be certain. Gildas's ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'' is, with Saint Patrick's somewhat earlier ''Confessio'', almost the only contemporary source for this period.

Padarn's ''Life''

The anonymous author tells us that Padarn's parents were nobly born Armoricans (Bretons), and that he sailed to Britain with 847 monks to settle and build a monastery. He established monasteries and churches throughout Ceredigion. The attempt of Maelgwn, king of Gwynedd, to ruin Padarn rebounds on him through a miracle, and he compensates Padarn with the gift of lands between the rivers Rheidol and Clarach. Saint Padarn is closely associated with Saint David and Saint Teilo in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in which the three are honoured by the Patriarch. Padarn was given a tunic – which later featured in the best known legend associated with him – and a staff. Most likely this account is fabricated, as are much of the details of the lives of the early saints, from a variety of sources, real and imagined.

In the most celebrated episode of the ''Vita Sancti Paternus'', King Arthur tries to steal St Padarn's tunic. King Arthur covets Padarn's tunic, and when he is refused, stamps the earth, at which Padarn calls on the earth to swallow him; it does so. Arthur has to beg forgiveness before he is released. This seems to borrow the story of a different Padarn, Padarn Redcoat, whose coat was one of the ''Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain'' (''Tri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Prydain''). This story takes place about a century before Saint Padarn; it is, however, important because of the link drawn between Saint Padarn and the Romano-British King Arthur, the legendary British leader of the late fifth and early sixth centuries.

There follow confusing episodes involving Brittany (sometimes called Letia). Padarn finally leaves for France, where he dies, but his remains are brought back and buried in Vannes. A final chapter tells how Padarn, David and Teilo divide south Wales into three episcopates, with Padarn as bishop of Ceredigion. Then, convinced by a miracle performed by Padarn, a local governor called Eithir is persuaded to give land between the rivers Rheidol and Paith to Padarn. The lands owned by Llanbadarn in the twelfth century were between the rivers Rheidol and Clarach. The Paith is a minor tributary of the River Ystwyth. The obscure figure of Eithyr is commemorated in the farm name of Llaneithr, which stands a mile east of Devil's Bridge near the river Mynach.This section owes much to Gerald Morgan; Gerald Morgan, ''Ceredigion: A wealth of History'' (Gower, Llandysul, 2005).

The ''Life'' is difficult to follow and extremely vague on any facts. Typically the author takes facts and traditions known to him and transfers them to the saint himself. Thus there was in the twelfth century a holy relic at Llanbadarn believed to have been Padarn's staff, Cyrwen, which could well be the origin of the place name Llangorwen. The writer obviously knew very little indeed about Padarn, except that he was seen as a contemporary of David and Teilo, who certainly lived during the sixth century.

We must live with our virtually complete ignorance of Padarn's life. It is fair to say, however, that if he had died at Llanbadarn there would have been a shrine, traditions of which would have survived for centuries; none are recorded. Therefore, we can see him as one of the more peripatetic of the missionaries of this period, who spent sufficient time in the Rheidol valley to attract a community of Christian men to him which was sufficiently strong to survive his departure. It could have been these followers in subsequent generations who would have established churches in the saint's name in mid-Wales (Llanbadarn Fynydd, Llanbadarn Garreg), and in Ceredigion (Llanbadarn Odwyn, Llanbadarn Trefeglwys lso known as Llanbadarn Fach, if he didn't establish them himself.

The see of Llanbadarn

Like so much else, this is hard to say, but the balance of historians' judgements is that there may well have been bishops based in Llanbadarn for a period, or even periods, in Celtic times. Church organisation in early medieval (pre-1100) Wales was flexible, and there were no fixed dioceses. The claim in Padarn's ''Life'' that he was bishop of Ceredigion reflects a tradition, but the actual area of the saint's influence was in north Ceredigion and what is now Radnorshire (mid-Powys). Ceredigion south of the river Wye was David country. Some time after this the church is said to have lost its episcopal privileges. The church is thought to have been annexed, after the dissolution of the see, to that of St David's; although as with much of the early history this is uncertain. Bishops at this time were, in Wales, rather more itinerant than they later became, and diocesan boundaries much more fluid than they were later. Gerald of Wales (Gerald de Barri, better known as Giraldus Cambrensis), reported that he had been told that the bishopric had been lost because at some time past Llanbadarn's bishop had been murdered and the church lands appropriated by his killers, the forerunners of the ''clas'' which held the church at the time of his visit in 1188.

The flourishing of Llanbadarn Fawr

The see, if such it may be called, appears to have existed for a century, if indeed it didn't come into existence in the years after Padarn himself. There is note of a bishop of Llanbadarn in the minutes of a synod held at Abberley, Worcestershire, in about the year 603, though this is an unreliable source. Reportedly, at this meeting, there was an unsuccessful attempt by the Archbishop of Canterbury, St Augustine of Canterbury, to persuade Celtic bishops – Llanbadarn Fawr was one of seven present – to submit to his authority. Certainly the reputation of Padarn and the wealth and influence of his ''clas'', ensured that the developing cultus of David did not prevail in northern Ceredigion, possibly in large part due to the extensive lands possessed by the ''clas'', apparently from the river Clarach to the river Rheidol. In some cases, as in the ''Life of Saint Padarn'', the ''Lives'' tell how the saint gains lands which as the time of writing were claimed by the saint's foundation as its endowment.

Even if much of the history of Saint Padarn and the early years of his church cannot be relied upon as accurate (and there is evidence that it conflates several near-contemporary individuals), there can be no doubt of his importance as one of the leading evangelists of Wales in the early sixth century, and the ongoing importance of his ''clas''.

The ''clas'' church remained important after 601, although the "Gwentian" version of the ''Brut y Tywysogion'' (''Chronicle of the Princes'') records that the diocese of Llanbadarn was ravaged by the Saxons in 720. It may have been this that led to the loss of its bishop, however this is very uncertain as the entry is probably a much later forgery by Iolo Morganwg. Traditionally, however, the loss of the episcopal status was as a result of the violent conduct of the inhabitants, who killed their bishop. According to this tradition, having offended a local leader in a feud, Idnertha, who was then bishop of Llanbadarn, was killed, and subsequently buried in Llanddewi Brefi. The date of this event is very unclear. Some sources have Idnertha as the bishop of Llanbadarn at the synod in 603, others have him as being killed by the Saxons 100 years later.

All we can be certain of is that, if there was a bishop of Llanbadarn in 601 – and possibly 720 – there appears to have been none in later years (though note the later use of the style "bishop" during Gerald of Wales's visit in 1188). But that did not diminish the power and influence of the ''clas'' at Llanbadarn Fawr. By the middle of the ninth century the ''clas'' was clearly the wealthiest in the province. The renowned Asser, scholar and adviser to Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, may have been educated at Llanbadarn Fawr. If this is correct it would be a strong indication that Llanbadarn's reputation for learning was well-founded.

The Later Celtic period and the dominance of Sulien and his family

Records become more certain by the tenth century. Violence was endemic in medieval Europe, not excepting Wales. During the tenth and eleventh centuries the coasts of Wales were frequently raided by the Vikings. In 987/988 the ''clas'' was destroyed by the Danes, but the worst to suffer was St David's, with attacks in 1073, 1080 and 1091. In 989 Maredudd ab Owain raised a poll tax to bribe the Danes to stay away from Llanbadarn (a tribute was levied of one penny for every man within his dominions, which, in Welsh, was called ''Glwmaen'', or the tribute of the black army). However, in 1038 the church was reduced to ashes by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, who wrested it from the hands of prince Hywel ab Edwin, whilst subjugating Ceredigion. The lands were ravaged and the area depopulated, though the ''clas'' survived. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn seems to have held the area until his death in 1063.

At this period the Llanbadarn community was dominated by Sulien (1011–91) and his remarkable family. Around 1055 Sulien, who was born into a family educated for many generations in the ''clas'' monastic school or college of Llanbadarn Fawr, returned there after five years study in Scotland and ten years study in Ireland (according to his son and biographer). After this time Llanbadarn Fawr became possibly the foremost place of learning in Wales. Sulien went on to be known as Sulien the Wise. He became the abbot of Llanbadarn Fawr and served as Bishop of St David's twice. Under his abbacy Llanbadarn Fawr's monastic library grew in size and importance; reputedly larger than those of Canterbury Cathedral and York Minster.

Later Sulien, now Bishop of St David's (he was bishop 1073–1078 and 1080–1086), himself took refuge at Llanbadarn Fawr from the Vikings who were raiding St David's. Many of the bishops were murdered by raiders and marauders, including Bishop Morgeneu I (also known as Morgenveth, Morgeney, Uregeneu) in 999 and Bishop Abraham (who had been newly elected to succeed Sulien) in 1080.

In the time of Sulien and his sons and grandsons the ''clas'' at Llanbadarn Fawr was an important ''scriptorium'' where texts were composed and copied. Rhygyfarch or Rhigyfarch, who was Sulien's eldest son, and may have succeeded him as bishop of St David's (after Sulien's second time in post), wrote, surely at his father's request, his ''Vita Davidis'' or ''Life of St David'' (later translated into Welsh as ''Buchedd Dewi'') c.1081 – c.1090. Clearly the book was intended to promote the restoration of the damaged see, especially in the face of the Norman challenge. Rhygyfarch and his brother Ieuan were both fine poets in Latin. Ieuan copied manuscripts and composed poetry (Ieuan also wrote, in Welsh, a verse to Padarn's staff Cyrwen).

At the same time, produced in Llanbadarn c.1079, the Ricemarch Psalter is one of only two surviving manuscripts certain to have been produced in Wales in the eleventh century.

Although the ''Brut y Tywysogion'' (''The Chronicle of the Princes''), a Latin chronicle of events, which survives in Welsh translations, may have been written at Strata Florida Abbey, it may have been kept in Llanbadarn in the eleventh century, due to Llanbadarn's ''scriptorium'' and its reputation as a centre of learning.

In the late eleventh century the church in Wales began to come under Norman influence, but Llanbadarn Fawr still essentially belonged to a Welsh world, that of an early Welsh ''clas'', with its hereditary succession to the abbacy and its married clerics. The Church in Wales only gradually came under the influence of the see of Canterbury (and so of Rome) and even more slowly under its control. Wider political events however were to accelerate this.

Llanbadarn and the Normans

The Normans arrived in Ceredigion in 1073–1074, and from the early twelfth century Norman political and ecclesiastical influence gradually increased, aided by the appointment, after 1115, of Norman bishops of St David's. In about the year 1106, Ithel and Madoc, who were in alliance with King Henry I, ravaged all the county of Cardigan, as Ceredigion was called by the Normans, with the exception of Llanbadarn Fawr and Llanddewi Brefi. Nevertheless, Llanbadarn Fawr suffered an attack upon its sanctuary, from which several of Owain ab Madoc's men, who had taken refuge there, were dragged out by force and put to death. But by this time, scarcely a generation after Rhygyfarch was writing his ''Life'' of St David, the ''clas'' had declined in its spiritual and pastoral life, and its political importance, although its financial position remained strong, due to the substantial revenues of its extensive lands.

In 1110, King Henry I took Cardigan from his appointee Owain ap Cadwgan, son of Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, ostensibly as punishment for a number of crimes including that of the rape and abduction of his cousin Nest, wife of Gerald de Windsor and ward of King Henry I. In turn Henry gave the Lordship of Cardigan (as the Normans called Ceredigion), including Cardigan Castle, to Gilbert fitz Richard, Earl of Clare,George Edward Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant'', Vol III, Ed. Vicary Gibbs (The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., London, 1913), p. 243. who imposed a string of castles through the lordship.

As potent as the military power of the Normans from the 1070s were the ideas and practices introduced into Wales, particularly in the sphere of ecclesiastical affairs; these were adopted and adapted by the native elites.

The short-lived Benedictine priory

Between 1111 and 1117 the ancient ''clas'' church was granted by Gilbert fitz Richard to St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester (a Benedictine house), as a cell or priory of St Peter's Abbey. This may have meant the construction of a stone church, perhaps the first on the site; a new tower and porch were built.Nora Kershew Chadwick, "Intellectual life in West Wales in the Last Days of the Celtic Church", in Nora K. Chadwick, Kathleen Hughes, Christopher Brooke and Kenneth Jackson (eds), ''Studies in the Early British Church'' (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1958), pp. 162–4, 177. It is not clear whether the Celtic monks and priests (married and single) were expelled, or whether they were joined by brethren of a new sort. A few years later, in 1141, Ewenny Priory, in the Vale of Glamorgan, was founded as a priory of St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester. As with Llanbadarn, there was a pre-existing church, in this case definitely one in stone, and probably dating from the 1120s, as it was consecrated 1126 by Bishop Urban of Llandaff.

The monks were in residence for scarcely twenty years. Llanbadarn would have been a simple or obedientiary priory, a dependency of the abbey. The superior of such a priory, who was subject to the abbot in everything, was called a "prior." These monasteries were satellites of the mother abbey. In light of earlier activities at Llanbadarn, it is worth noting that the forty-eighth rule of Saint Benedict prescribes extensive and habitual holy reading for the brethren. However, Benedictine monks were disallowed worldly possessions, thus necessitating the preservation and collection of sacred texts in monastic libraries for communal use. One of the key Benedictine practices was copying sacred texts, so it might be expected that the monks created a ''scriptorium'', if indeed one hadn't survived from the time of Sulien and his sons and grandsons.

Benedictine monastic life at Llanbadarn Fawr was short-lived. First the princes of Gwynedd and then those of Deheubarth expelled the Normans, driving the English monks away when they re-conquered Ceredigion in 1136, after a victory against the Normans at Crug Mawr, following the death of King Henry I in 1135.

Little is known of events over the next 45 years. However, it seems likely that the Celtic monks returned to their old ''clas''.

The restored ''clas'' in transition

The church seems to have been restored as a ''clas'' or re-founded as a college of secular priests (a collegiate church) before 1144, but the heyday of the ''clas'' churches had passed. Gloucester Abbey tried to recover the church in 1175 and again in 1251, and even appealed to the Pope, but without success. The ancient ''clas'' establishment seems to have re-emerged from the brief period of the priory, for mention occurs in the Welsh annals, in the year 1137, of the death of John (Ieuan), arch-priest or archdeacon of Llanbadarn, who could have been none other than Ieuan ap Sulien, of the great line of Sulien. In the twelfth century ''clas'' churches were led by an ''abod'' with clergy under an "archpresbyter" (''archoffeiriad'').

In the same record, in the year 1146, the death of Sulien ab Rhygyfarch, "a man of great knowledge, and one of the college of Llanbadarn", is noted. By this time, after the loss of the Gloucester link, the church was again in the hands of a lay abbot; the use of the title abbot did not mean that the church was an abbey.

But despite the continuity – or perhaps because of it – all was apparently not well. In 1188 Gerald of Wales accompanied Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury, on a tour of Wales, the primary object being a recruitment campaign for the Third Crusade, a secondary one to establish his authority over the whole Welsh church. Gerald's vivid account of the journey is the first great European travel book. Gerald visited Llanbadarn Fawr, and described the college of secular canons under a lay abbot (Ednowain "bishop of Llanbadarn"), in not especially flattering terms; it should be remembered that Gerald was a zealous reformer, critical of anything of which he disapproved, as he did of Llanbadarn: the abbot was described as "a certain old man, waxen old in iniquity". The account of his visit was subsequently published in the ''Itinerarium Cambriae'' (1191), and was followed by the ''Descriptio Cambriae'' in 1194.

Gerald tells us further that a Breton knight had come to the church for Mass and found a band of about twenty young men, all armed and equipped according to the local custom. He asked "which was the abbot, and they pointed out to him a man with a long spear in his hand, who was walking in front of the others". He then tells the story of the murder of a bishop of Llanbadarn, murdered by the predecessors of the present generation of clergy. We cannot be sure how much of this was true. But Gerald disapproved of married clergy (which had been declining generally though only finally abolished by Rome in the eleventh century and deplored in principle the inheritance of church office. But all he tells us of Llanbadarn is hearsay, apart from the name of the abbot. In any case, no move was made by Archbishop Baldwin in favour of reform: the Lord Rhys was with them, and they would not have wished to offend him. In any event, it would have been a matter for the Bishop of St David's, who was Peter de Leia. There is then no further information about Llanbadarn for nearly sixty years.

The decline of the ''clas'' or college

The Normans briefly returned to power in the 1160s, and before Rhys ap Gruffudd expelled them c.1189 they had begun the foundation of the Cistercian abbey at Strata Florida, carried on by Rhys. The Cistercians enjoyed great prestige in Wales, and Llanbadarn Fawr was eclipsed as a centre of Welsh culture. The monks took over the ''Chronicle of the Princes'' and began the copying of major Welsh manuscripts.

Welsh rule was briefly interrupted in 1211 when royal forces again seized Aberystwyth, but control was soon regained by the Welsh under the aegis of Llywelyn the Great, and so it remained until Welsh power collapsed in 1246. Between 1231 and 1247 the church was divided between Gloucester Abbey and St David's Cathedral, with the requirement of the provision of a vicarage (that is, a living for a vicar), but it had passed to the Crown by 1251. If there was a vicarage at the time of the taxatio, it was perhaps the individual rector who presented to it. King Henry III appropriated the advowson of the church, when he seized the lands of Maelgwn ap Maelgwn, called Maelgwn Fychan, the son of Maelgwn ap Rhys, possibly to help pay the construction costs of the new church, though the seizure was contrary to the Gloucester Abbey claims and Gilbert fitz Richard's charters. Henry III's officials controlled Aberystwyth, and it was probably then that the building of the present church began. That it was a royal project is suggested by the very size of the building. The advowson – or right of presentation – was to remain in the hands of the Crown from 1246 to 1360,

The church was now under a rector, who replaced the lay abbot; and any remaining priests of the ''clas'' and their '' abod'' were presumably expelled. If one accepts the evidence of the inquisition taken before Rhys ap Gruffydd, lieutenant of the Justiciar, at Llanfihangel Genau'r Glyn, 1 September 1326 (which conflicts with Gerald's account), as early as 1212 there were apparently only two monks (from St Peter's, Gloucester) in residence. However, it is difficult to see how they can have remained, in light of Welsh control of the area; possibly they had only arrived in 1211; we don't know whether there was a priest resident (one of the monks might have been a priest).

Despite the splendidly sized new building (albeit a plain one), the church declined in status as the college gradually died. It is possible that the community ceased in 1212, when the Gloucester monks were killed by the locals; we don't know whether they were replaced. Nor do we know whether the ''clas'' resumed after Llywelyn the Great retook the area. Community life probably ended with the appointment of a rector by King Henry III in 1246, although this latter is not conclusive; a college might be headed by a rector, although they were usually styled provost. There have been suggestions that there were one or more chantry chapels, which could suggest the presence of more than one priest.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the tithes were administered locally by a Welshman, Gwilym ap Gwrwared, who was probably grandfather of famed bard Dafydd.

The church was said to have been rebuilt, after serious fire damage, around 1257–1265, though whether this was a rebuilding, or a continuation of work commenced after 1246, is unclear. It is not inconceivable that the fire damage was caused when, in 1256, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, with a large army, seized Llanbadarn Fawr from Norman control. Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, son of King Henry III and brother of King Edward I, was Lord of Cardigan from 1265. Given the size of the church it is probable that construction took many years, even if it were not interrupted. If it commenced in 1246 it is quite conceivable that work was not complete until 1265, or later.

The rectors were almost all royal favourites or up-and-coming ecclesiastical leaders, who would have rarely visited the church. Perhaps the most notable of the rectors at this time was Antony Bek, who held the living from 1277 to 1284. He was brother to Thomas Bek, bishop of St David's 1280–93. Antony Bek became bishop of Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem, but was more noted as a warrior than for his piety.

Llanbadarn Fawr was the focus of the English forces assembled in south Wales against the insurrection of Rhys ab Meredydd in 1287. By this time the rector was invariably an absentee cleric; John de Camera, Rector 1329–1334 was also canon of St David's, Hereford and Abergwili, and was a government clerk. Then, as now, such a large and remote charge invited pluralism and non-residence. There was, at this time, a comparatively small amount in tithes, but the rector was nonetheless equivalent in substance to an abbot, owing to the ownership of extensive lands by Frankalmoin tenure.

From this period we also have the first record of a baptism, of William Knovill, son of John Knovill, King's Bailiff in Aberystwyth, in 1286. Doubtless the surviving twelfth century font was used.

The later mediaeval period and the end of conventual life

The college survived until it disappeared or was dissolved, certainly before 1361–1362, and probably as early as 1246 or even 1212 (as mentioned above).

In 1346 William Kilsby, rector, died, and King Edward III gave the advowson to his eldest son, the Black Prince. The latter made three presentations. One of these was to Thomas Bradwardine, later briefly Archbishop of Canterbury, who was rector of Llanbadarn Fawr 1347–1349.

The parish continued largely if not wholly a sinecure for its rector, with the work actually done by a resident vicar; in Bradwardine's case he was concurrently prebend and the dean of Lincoln, and chaplain and confessor

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