Cadwgan (Bishop)

Cadwgan (also Cadwgan of Llandefai , Caducanus Bangoriensis or Martin ) († April 11, 1241 in Dore Abbey ) was a Welsh Cistercian . He was Bishop of Bangor from 1215 to 1235 or 1236 .

Origin and promotion to bishop

According to Gerald of Wales , with whom he was at odds, Cadwgan's father was Irish and his mother was Welsh. Allegedly, his father was a priest and known to be a passionate preacher. A brother of Cadwgan became a monk in Caerleon . Gerald and Cadwgan got into an argument in the Welsh Cistercian Abbey of Strata Florida Abbey when Gerald went to see the books he had kept in the monastery. When he was denied this, he blamed Cadwgan for it. According to Gerald, Cadwgan was later Abbot of Strata Florida, for which there is no other evidence. However, after December 1202, Cadwgan became abbot of Whitland Abbey in Carmarthenshire . Cadwgan himself claimed to be a relative of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth , the Prince of Gwyneed , who would assist him. However , he owed his election as bishop of the Welsh diocese of Bangor to the English King John Ohneland , who supported him from the end of 1214. Johann faced a powerful aristocratic opposition in England, and through Cadwagn's support he may have hoped that Prince Llywelyn would remain neutral in the conflict. So he allowed the Bangor Cathedral Chapter to elect a new bishop, recommending Cadwgan to them. On April 13, 1215, the king informed Archbishop Stephen Langton that Cadwgan had been elected as the new bishop. Archbishop Langton consecrated Cadwgan on June 21, 1215 in Staines in Middlesex as bishop.

Bishop of Bangor

Shortly after Cadwgan's consecration, there was an open war between the barons and the king in England . On November 12, 1216, shortly after the death of King John, Cadwgan was at the court of John's son and successor, Heinrich III. in Bristol . In September 1221 Cadwgan testified to a letter from Ragnvald , King of the Scottish Isles , to the Pope, in which Ragnvald offered the Isle of Man to the Pope as a fief. After the Agreement of Montgomery in October 1223, which ended an Anglo-Welsh war , Cadwgan supported officials of the English king who were to determine in Deheubarth the limits of the dominions of the Welsh allies of Llywelyn from Iorwerth. In 1234, Heinrich III. at Cadwgan's request, the English Justiciar of Ireland to allow the bishop's ship of Bangor to pass. This should bring grain from Ireland to Bangor to support the needy population there. Only a few documents from the diocese of Bangor have survived from Cadwgan's tenure, so that little is known of his activity as bishop. He sealed a document for the Cistercian monastery Combermere in Cheshire as bishop, monk and abbot.

Cadwgan authored several books. They should serve as practical theological guides and are shaped by both the European scholasticism of the time and Welsh culture. His writings include a collection of sermons, the book Speculum Christianorum , a treatise on penance, an interpretation of verse 7 of Psalm 17, and a collection of prayer.

Retreat to the monastery and death

In 1235 or 1236 he was allowed to step down as bishop and enter Dore Abbey in Herefordshire as a monk . As a former bishop, he obeyed the Abbot of Dore and renounced all of his possessions. He gave his books, horses and clothes to the monastery with the condition that the debts he owed to his nephew Cadwaladr for his services should be paid . Pope Gregory IX confirmed his resignation in 1236 and allowed the cathedral chapter to elect a new bishop. The remaining property of Cadwgan fell to the diocese to settle its debts. Until his death, Cadwgan lived as a monk in Dore, and in 1239 he was warned by the general chapter of the order to keep the order's command of silence and no longer to disrupt the peace with arguments.

Web links

• David Walker: Cadwgan (d.1241). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
Robert de Shrewsbury	Bishop of Bangor 1214-1235 or 1236	Hywel