Clas (Wales)

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Clas ( Welsh pl : clasau ) was the name of a native-style church in early medieval Wales . In contrast to later Norman monasteries, which usually consisted of a church as the main building and other smaller outbuildings such as cloisters and kitchens, a clas was usually a single building. It was maintained by a community of clerics and run by an abod . Clasau were independent and administered on site.

After the Norman conquest of Wales in the late 11th century, many of the Clasau in south Wales became branches of religious houses in England . As a result, some Clasau became part of the Benedictine or Augustine orders, or were overbuilt by Norman churches in the following centuries.

Clasau in Wales

A map of Clasau, which could be reconstructed from Welsh document sources, was drawn up in 1951 by William Rees . Wendy Davies has identified 36 monasteries or Clasau from the period between 700 and 900 in her study on the Book of Llandaff ( English The Llandaff Charters , Latin Liber Landavensis ; Welsh Llyfr Llandaf ). These are mainly in the Diocese of Llandaff . It also describes a further 38 "ecclesiae", some of which were used monastically. Davies suspects that accordingly about 50 Clasau passed. If one extrapolates these numbers and takes into account that there may also have been some Clasau outside the boundaries of Wales (in the Welsh Marches), one can estimate that around 150–200 Clasau existed. Many of these early Clasau were given as benefices to the monasteries, particularly those of the Cistercians founded by the Normans and the Welsh Princes .

Places that probably owned a clas

The following locations in Wales and the Welsh Marches were likely former locations of Clasau:

  • Aberdaron
  • Abergele , today: St Michael's Church
  • Bangor , St. Deiniol's Clas , today: Bangor Cathedral .
  • Bangor-on-Dee
  • Beddgelert became an Augustinian monastery
  • St Beuno's Church, Berriew, Montgomeryshire . Founded by St. Beuno († c. 640 AD), a Celtic Saint . A hagiography has come down to us that tells that he was born there near the River Severn and was sent to teach with St. Tangusius / Tatheus in the Roman settlement of Caerwent near Newport. He received land in Aberhiew (Berriew) from Mawn ap Brochwel , a descendant of Brochwel Ysgithrog . There he founded his clas . Miracles and other church plantings in Powys and north-east Wales are attributed to him before moving to Clynnog Fawr in Caernarfonshire where he founded the monastery at Clynnog Fawr. The church stands in an almost circular cemetery and was used by the Cistercian Abbey Strata Marcella in the Middle Ages .
  • Bettws Cedewain , Montgomeryshire . According to tradition, the church was founded by St Beuno in the 6th century and its almost oval churchyard could actually indicate that it dates from the early Middle Ages. With Rectory and Vicarage it was recorded as Eccli'a de Bethus in the Norwich Taxation of 1254 and as Ecclesia de Bethys with a value of £ 5 in the Lincoln Taxation of 1291. Between 1254 and 1272 it became the property of the Cistercian Abbey of Strata Marcella, where it remained until it was dissolved .
  • Caer Gybi , on the site of St Cybi's Church at Holyhead , Anglesey (= Welsh Caergybi, Ynys Môn ).
  • Clynnog Fawr , on the site of today's St Beuno's Church
  • Corwen
  • Coychurch , on the site of today's St. Crallo's Church
  • Glasbury , whose name goes back to the Clas
  • Henllan
  • Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion, one of the most important clas of early Christian Wales
  • Llancarfan , attributed to St. Cadog
  • Llandeilo , founded by St Teilo
  • Llanddewibrefi
  • Llanelwy ( St Asaph ), Denbighshire . Legend has it that it was founded by St Kentigern and his successor, Saint Asaph (Asaf / Asa), today the Parish Church of St Kentigern and St Asa stands on the site .
  • Llanllwchaiarn , Montgomeryshire . The church is dedicated to St Llwchaiarn and goes back to an early foundation. However, there is no evidence of the design of the churchyard. In the Middle Ages it was one of the benefices of the Llanllurgan- Nunnery. It is believed that it could have been a clas , but alternatively it could have been a Chapelry des Clas of Llanmerewig . It is said that Llanlwchaiarn was a cousin of St Beuno , who founded the clas in nearby Berriew , but that information comes from a late source, Sion Ceri , a local 16th century poet.
  • Penmon , St Seiriol's Clas
  • Tywyn , on the site of today's St Cadfan's Church

See also

literature

  • Peter C. Bartrum: A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about AD 1000. National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 1993, ISBN 0-907158-73-0 .
  • Emrys George Bowen: The settlements of the Celtic Saints in Wales. [With maps, plans and a bibliography] . University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1954, OCLC 877583223 .
  • William Rees: An Historical Atlas of Wales. From Early to Modern Times. Faber and Faber, London 1951, OCLC 174165096 .
  • Wendy Davies: Wales in the early Middle Ages . Leicester University Press, Leicester 1982, OCLC 278157562 .
  • John Reuben Davies: The Book of Llandaf and the Norman church in Wales . The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk / Rochester, NY 2003, ISBN 1-84383-024-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Davies , Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines, Peredur I. Lynch: The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales . University of Wales Press, Cardiff, Wales 2008, ISBN 978-1-84972-709-9 , pp. 147 .
  2. ^ William Rees: An Historical Atlas of Wales. From Early to Modern Times. 2nd Edition. Faber and Faber, London 1951, OCLC 174165096 , Pl. 27:24 .
  3. ↑ Wendy Davies: The Llandaff Charters . National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 1979, ISBN 0-901833-88-6 .
  4. ↑ Wendy Davies: Wales in the early Middle Ages . 1982, p. 143-144 , Fig. 50 with a list .
  5. ↑ Wendy Davies: Wales in the early Middle Ages . 1982, Fig. 49 “well evidenced religious foundations of early Wales” .
  6. ↑ Wade Evans: Beuno Sant. In: Archaeologia Cambrensis. 1930, pp. 315-322.
  7. ^ Peter C. Bartrum: A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about AD 1000. National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 1993, ISBN 0-907158-73-0 , pp. 42-44 .
  8. ^ A b David Henry Williams: Atlas of Cistercian lands in Wales . University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1990, ISBN 0-7083-1007-9 , pp. 6 .
  9. ^ Early Christianity in Wales . BBC Wales. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  10. ↑ HN Oliver: Llanllwchaiarn: Church and Parish. Newtown 2000, pp. 4-5.
  11. ^ Peter C. Bartrum: A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about AD 1000. National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 1993, ISBN 0-907158-73-0 , pp. 419 .