UNIVER SITY COLLEGE OF SWANSEA

EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES

InauguralLecture of the Professor of Education delivered at the College on 2 December r947 by PROFESSOR EVAN J. JONES M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A.

- . --' . immed­ brarian, t date UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SWANSEA

EDUCATION IN WALES DURING TH·E MIDDLE AGES

Inaugural Lecture of the Professor of Education delivered at the College on 2 December I947 by

PROFESSOR EVAN J. JONES M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A.

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LIBRARY. EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES J\T the beginning of the last century the people of fi Britain realized that it was possible for all its chil­ dren to be given instruction in schools, and in time the word schooling acquired a definite significance. Syste­ matic instruction within the school walls tended to displace other forms of learning; an4 it is one of the merits of the Education Act of 1944that it has re-affirmed the impor­ tance of extra-curricular activities, and has shown how important is the contribution that can be made by societies and clubs to the well-being of our young people. It is only by clearly distinguishing between education and learningthat the comprehensiveness of the 1944Act can be fully appreciated. We must not forget, however, that never has the \ importance of informaland non-institutionalized educa­ tion been completely ignored: indeed, it is only by care­ fully assessing the quality of this informal education that we can fully understand the cultural life of Wales during the Middle Ages. If we fix our standards in terms of the number and the size of schools and colleges, we shall have a very inadequate picture. A knowledge of educa­ tional charters will naturally be necessary for our study; but even more instructive will be our study of social conditions, which may actually explain the presence or the absence of schools at any given period, and account for the character of schools which did exist. Our first task, in order to have a clear picture of the educational standards in Wales during the Middle Ages, will be to ascertain the needs and aspirations of the people themselves. Of course, medieval society in all PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN countries had much in common; but there were certain DURING THE MIDDLE AGES S 4 EDUCATION IN WALES s e ea n too Consider the following two distinctly Welsh features which have too frequently been mu t b cl rly u ders d. 1 es e st o s a Welsh petition was ignored, and these will prove indispensable to our study. pictur . Th fir sh w how e e e a l a ent i t e reign of Henry IV. Parlia­ When Archbishop Peckham visited St. Davids in 1284, r j ct d by P r i m n h t as e te eal s athetically with the dis­ he suggested that Welsh youths should be removed from men w requ s d to d ymp te e e e l of Owen Glyn Dwr: the Wales to England for their education, because the clergy con nt d W lshm n, fo lowers l ve a lia en was that it was not concerned were incompetent to give proper instruction. 2. He further rep y gi n by P r m t se a e e as ('se de illis scurris nudi­ suggested that the Welsh should be induced to live in with tho b r foot d r cals a e at there were barefooted people towns in order to benefit from the humanizing influence pedibus non cur r '). Th les t e e a e o doubt, and there were surely of society. He did recognize, however, that the Welsh in Wa h r c n b n a ls a e s el ewhere; but Owen Glyn Dwr and had a distinctive character. The implied faults dis­ r sca in W l s a s l e e e ot barefooted rascals. Our second covered by the archbishop and his suggested remedies his fol ow rs w r n e s al lyn Dwr, and it has been given to us must be judged, as it were, from within the Welsh people pictur i so of G themselves. Were there any standards other than those by Shakespeare. For I was train'd up in an English court adopted by the archbishop, by which we should judge Where, being but young, I fram' d to the harp the Welsh youth? Were there no traces of the former Many an English ditty, lovely well, brilliant school of Rhygyfarch and of Sulien Ddoeth left And gave the tongue an helpful ornament. I Henry IV. at St. Davids? Were the archbishop's standards and This picture is distinctly favourable to Glyn Dwr, for remedies the right ones? The descendants of the English [says Professor Gruffydd], who he was undoubtedly 'a worthy gentleman, exceedingly had come to Wales to keep it in order, became more Welsh than well read'. But the picture has been put, as it were, in the the Welsh themselves: by the time of Elizabeth, or earlier, the wrong frame. 1 Glyn Dwr could play the harp, he could old Welsh culture had completely absorbed them: Salesbury and sing English ditties: he had learned much at the Inns Middleton, Stradling and Burkinshaw, Puleston and Thelwell of Court in London where he had lived with the gallants were inordinately proud of their Welsh blood and of their Welsh of his day: but no mention is made by Shakespeare of the language and culture.3 culture of the people of Glyndyfrdwy and Sycharth, and The difference between foreign and native assessment the early training of his own people has been completely ' It would be foolish, however, to assume that a nation can be indicted ignored. Glyn Dwr was first and foremost a Welsh gentle­ ' as G.G. Coulton would like to do, when he says 'Hereford diocese was man, proud of his stock, loyal to his own native culture. 2 of course, considerably influenced by "wild Wales", and this report is th� worst I know .. .' Medieval Panorama, p. 176. 1 2 'It has been said of history that it consists of small truths and great The rst official visitatio?- of Welsh dioceses ever held by an English � _ _ untruths, and it would be possible to cite histories which, while remaining me�ropohtan. In his ln1unct:wns he ordered the application of the law of faithful to historical standards of truth in matters of dates and accurate celibacy of the clergy, and demanded that the Welsh dress like those in use of sources, have nevertheless given a wholly false view of the real Englan d, that church services be performed at canonical hours, that forces behind the events which they were describing.' Religion in Educa- members of the cathedral live near their cathedral, that portionary _ tion, xv. iii. 85. �hurches be ab?hshed; adequate stipends be provided for vicars deputiz­ 2 See Iolo Goch's poems to Glyn Dwr (lolo Goch ac Eraill, XIII, mg for non-resident rectors and canons, and schools set up on the English XIV, XV). model. See Haddan and Stubbs, i. 569. Owen Glyn Dwr was a student of law at Westminster (see Annales 3 Dafydd ap Gwilym, pp. u, 13, Welsh Univ. Press. 6 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 7 Medieval Wales, like England, was a land of contrasts, Yet, as Salzman, in English Lifein the Middle Ages, p. 34, with its nobility and the landowning gentry, its noble says, er t e prelates and abbots, on the one hand, and on the other Even with the peasantry, although the greater numb of h m e a t h c t e el ed, hand the wretched peasant who was frequently little were unfree, bound down to th m nor o w i h h y b ong e ac ca l e e their lord, in actual practice th y better than a serf. In one respect, however, the Welsh and pr ti l y th prop rty of e h le e h le al right, were better off than in th ory. W i th y ad no g were different from the English, for the language of the s he d beyond protection for their lives and limbs, again t t ir lor , native e e s e s s ee e e ards ll er gentry remain d W l h, and th erf and hi lord they were practically on a level with fr m n as r g a p ­ c dera i e respected the traditional tongue, though English and sons but their lord, and even his power was onsi bly l mit d Anglo-Norman were frequently heard and spoken. by custom. Besides the Norman boroughs, such as Caernarvon and Con­ Inside the classes themselves, privilege was associated way, where the shy monoglot Welsh peasant went to buy and sell, with duty, and Welsh writings testify that in theory at there were other places of assembly which played a much more le t ee e t et important part in his life, namely, the churches and 'kirk' towns.1 as fr dom and responsibility w nt og her. It is therefore a difficult task to present a complete The life of the villein could be very miserable : Pro­ picture of a 'tidy' educational system in Wales during essor Gruffydd says that f the Middle Ages. The better classes had opportunities th condition of the villein class was never worse than during the � for acquiring education and assimilating cultures of other Middle Ages. They had no more right to their personal freedom s e s e s e than had their master's cattle. In the reign of Henry VI Ednyfed land , wher a for th poorer classes a chool l arningfor Fychan of Rhandir Gadog in Anglesey sold seven peasants and vocation or profession was possible only in exceptional their children and their children's children yet unborn to William Y. circumstances, and this was mainly the concern of the. ap Gruffydd of Porthamal.2 church authorities . 1 And the poet Tudur Aled maintained that it was the churl's task to provide wealth for his elegant master.3 THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION Hen. IV, p. 333), probably at the end of the reign of Edward III. Accord­ The education imparted by the Church was naturally ing to one account he was a student for seven years. Fortescue, De Laudi­ similar in all countries. Wales was a part of the Catholic bus Legum Angliae, cap. xlix (see Owen Glendower, Oxford, 1931, p. 20), t s t t e t says that 't�e Inns of court had become a kind of upper-class university, world: i wa in direct communica ion wi h th Con i­ too expensive for any but the well-to-do, and providing an education nent, and the influence of Rome was directly felt in Wales �hich was more social than professional'. GruffuddFychan was resolved, 2 1t would appear, that his heir should lack nothing in this respect and in as in other countries. Naturally, therefore, the findings point of fact, it does not seem that Owen in any particular fell sho�of the ' There are three arts which a villein may not teach his son without his social standard of his age and class. Lincoln's Inn was founded c. 1310: the Temple was sold to students of Common Law in the reign of lord's permission, scholarship, bardism, and smith-craft; because if his Edward III. These students had come out of Thavies' Inn in Holbom. lord permits the scholar to wear a tonsure, or a smith to enter a smithy, Wat Tyler burned it and the records in 1383. or a bard to sing, then no one can afterwards enslave them. For an account of the education of the sons of the nobility in England, Teir keluydyt nys dysc tayawc y vab heb ganhat y arglwyd, yscol­ heictawt, a bardoniaeth, a gofanaeth. Kanys o diodef y arglwyd hyt pan see A. W. Parry, Education in the Middle Ages, 1920 (Univ. Tutor. Press), pp. Il7 ff. rother corun y yscolheick, neu yny et gofyn y efeil, neu vard wrth Y gerd, ' Dafydd ap Gwilym. 2 Llenyddiaeth Cymru, p. 25 (translated). ny eill neb eu keithiwaw gwedy hynny. Laws of Hywel Dda. 2 Bishop Adam of Bangor, who had been a Canon of Paris, was present 3 Mae carliaid, macwy irlan, I gasglu aur i'r gwas gHln. at the Lateran Council. He was also present at the Westminster Council. DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 9

8 EDUCATION IN WALES 1 o church dignitaries in Wales, Compostella. Many f the actively engaged in the of the Papal Councils, such as those of the Lateran Welshmen and foreigners, were reference has already been Council of 1179, for example, were noted by the clergy affairs of the Catholic Church: at the Lateran of Wales, and it may be assumed that the type of educa­ made to the presence of Bishop Adam Robert Grossetete, Bishop tion that was ,sponsored by the Vatican was adopted in Council. It may be added that and teacher, numbered Wales. There were, however, certain features in the of Lincoln, that eminent scholar o Wallensis, a remarkable education provided by the Church in Wales which were among his pupils Th mas of Lincoln and after­ peculiarly Welsh in character. scholar, who became Archdeacon Thomas was reader The Council of the Lateran (u79) decreed that every wards Bishop of St. Davids. This before he became cathedral should provide free schools for clerks and for to the Franciscan school at Oxford n ohn Wallensis (d. 1285), the poor. Archdeacon of Lincoln. Agai , J of a number of books of author of Arbor Vitae and De Magistris doctor of the Univer­ sermons and philosophical works, a Et ne aliquid exigatur pro licentia docendi. was a teacher at Grossetete's school in magistro de beneficio, qui sity of Paris, Ecclesia cathedralis providere debet 2 et alios pauperes gratis doceat: et . Oxford. clericos eiusdem ecclesiae our study of the schools spon- docendi aut interdicens idoneum ad docendum Before we proceed to vendens licentiam o made 1 reference sh uld be beneficio privetur. sored by the Church in Wales, time. Professor to the standard of book-learning at this o that this decree s) There is no direct evidence t show (The Literacy of the Medieval English King n to suppose Galbraith obeyed in Wales, but there is o reason did not read and was maintained that 'the medieval potentate At the Council of Westminster it nor the wish, that it was ignored. write, because he had neither the need that social was decreed that having others .to do these things for him; or any other relation dignitatem (a) if any priest wishes to send his nephew n reading and writing infra to us to prejudice re dered to be taught in the churches which are entrusted and Dafydd ap 1 Gruffudd Gryg visited Compostella, The poet I and his govern, we grant this most willingly, there and also to Rome. In 1284 Edward towns and teach little Gwilym possibly went (b) priests shall keep schools in these Eleanor went on a pilgrimage to St. Davids. queen ap Si6n of Kilvay near boys gratis, Note Lewis Glyn Cothi's ode to Dafydd Rome, and his poem to Gruffudd a school of schoolmasters in their Swansea, who went on a pilgrimage to (c) priests ought to have a pilgrim to Compostella. his little Rhys ab Ieuan of Branas, who went as and if any devout person wishes to entrust ap Rome, and in a poem houses, Morgannwg went on a pilgrimage to ought to receive them Lewys he had audience ones to them for instruction, they he describes what he saw there and how 2 recording this willingly, and teach them kindly .... with the Pope. Llawen wyf a'm lliw yn wael, The n n Yn Rhyfain er fy nhrafael Welsh people, the laity, were i commu ication on a pilgrimage to ap Hywel ab Ieuan ap Gronwy also went with religious and educational movements on the Con­ Llywelyn during the last half of the fifteenth century. Rome of the Continent, tinent: like Catholics of other nations they went on 2 There is no room to doubt that the Studia Generalia were regularly visited by and the schools of Oxford and Cambridge, pilgrimages to Rome and to the church of Santiago da teacher of divinity in students from Wales. Thomas Wallensis was a ' See Leach, Educational Charters, p. 123. Paris in 1238. 2 See ibid., pp. 140, 141. AZ IO EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES II for the noble class, and that in any case they are no neces­ office, the scolasticus (ysgolhaig), also recognized as magi­ sary index to the level of education.' 'Literacy', says ster scolarum. He was given charge of all the education of Coulton, 'in the ordinary medieval sense, i.e. the know­ the diocese; he gave lectures in the theological school ledge of Latin, was not necessarily education as under­ of the cathedral, and, presumably, gave permission for stood nowadays.'1 Here are two important facts which others to teach in schools. Sometimes these teachers apply generally to the Middle Ages, but the members of charged fees, but in a synod held at Westminster, rr38, · the upper classes in Wales were frequently skilled in the this was forbidden. As need arose for teachers to give poetic art, able to read and write, jealous of their native instruction to older people, including clergy who were tongue; and the dignitaries of the Church, though skilled found by archdeacons in their visitations to be insuffi­ in the Latin of the Church, were not unmindful of the ciently educated, chancellors saw an opportunity for blandishments of their own language and literature. imposing a charge for _licence to teach in cathedral Whenever we deal with literacy in Wales, we must not schools and in schools attached to the larger churches. lose sight of the importance of the native language in This practice was condemned by synods and councils. the life of the people, because Welsh was a respected We ... command your brotherhood ...plainly ordering that language having a dignified position in the life of all whatever fit and learned persons wish to keep schools of literature classes. shall be allowed to keep schools without any molestation or exac­ tion, lest learning, which ought to be freely given to all, should THE EARLY EDUCATION OF CHILDREN henceforth seem to be exposed for sale at a price.1 Documentary evidence regarding the education of the 2 It was naturally the task of the parish priest to see to young in the Middle Ages is very scanty. We learn, the education of children. The scheme was not an however, from a canon law, dated c. u6o, that fees were ambitious one, and according to the Statute of Win- not to be charged for licence to teach. Pope Alexander chester, 1295, III (u59-81) commenting on this, said : rectors and vicars and parish priests are warned to teach children Strictly prohibit for the future any exaction or promise of any­ of the parishes to know the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Saluta­ thing from anyone in your diocese [?Winchester, ?Vienne] for tion of the Blessed Virgin. . . . Let the boys' parents also be licence to teach. If, however, anything shall have been paid or induced to let their boys when they have learned to read the promised, you shall cause the promise to be released, and that psalter, learn singing also, so that after they have learned higher which has been paid returned without any appeal; knowing that subjects they may not be compelled to return to this, nor, as being 3 it was written, 'Freely ye have received, freely give' . ignorant of this, be always less fit for divine service. 2

This decision affected also teachers of more advanced 1 Ibid., p. 121. subjects. The chancellor of a diocese replaced an older 2 Ibid., pp. 233, 235. Dafydd Ddu Hiraddug, to whom has been attributed the composition of an early Welsh bardic grammar, is credited 1 See Coulton, Medieval Panorama, p. 226. with the Welsh translation of the Offi cium Beatae Mariae (see Myfyrian 2 The records of the Church in Wales are very scanty for the pre­ Archaeology, pp. 367 ff.). The Te Deum of this Officium is elsewhere Reformation period, and do not begin to be numerous until the seven­ attributed to Ieuan ap Rhydderch (c. 1430-70). The Ave Maria in its teenth century (see 'Records of the Church in Wales', by J. Conway Welsh form read: Henpych gwell, Fair, cyflawn o rad, Duw gyd a thi: Davies, National Library of Wales Journal, iv. (1905), 1-34). bendigaid wyt ym mhlith y gwragedd, a bendigedig yw ffrwyth dy groth 3 Leach, Educational Charters, p. u9. di, Iesu. 12 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 13 Chaucer, who was contemporary with Glyn Dwr, a native of Lincoln, and Prebend of the cathedral, be­ chose as his type of parochial clergy a man who came Bishop of St. Davids, and in I 348 he called upon wayted after no pompe and reverence the chancellor of the diocese to fulfil the duties of his Ne maked him a spyced conscience, office by delivering lectures in divinity at St. Davids. 1 But Cristes lore and his apostles twelve He taughte, but first he folwed it himselve. This instruction was in keeping with the recommenda­ tions of the Lateran Council : And his 'clerk of Oxenford' was one of whom he could In every cathedral or other church of sufficientmeans a master say ought to be elected by the prelates of the chapter, and the income Souninge in moral vertu was his speche. of a prebend assigned to him and in every metropolitan church And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche. a theologian ought to be elected. And if the church is not rich enough to provide a grammarian and theologian, it shall provide The boys in the parish schools were taught to sing for the theologian out of the' revenues of the church, and cause Latin hymns and songs, not necessarily understanding provision to be made for the grammarian in some church of his their meaning, and they learned to read, and possibly city or diocese. to write.1 Educational facilities were not plentiful in Wales ; nor The Chapter Acts of Lincoln ( 1305) give us an account is it likely that prelates and clergy were uniformly keen of the control of song schools. to impart knowledge. 2 Our danger is to assume that there Be it remembered that on Saturday immediately following the were no facilities at all. The Black Book of St. Davids, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, all the parish clerks of the churches of the city of Lincoln were teaching boys in the churches written about 1280, gives us full information about the to sing ; and being present in the Chapter before masters Robert lands and property held by the Church in the diocese; de Lacy and William of Thornton, who charged them that they but, unfortunately, references to schools and to school­ had held adulterine schools to the prejudice of the liberty of the masters are completely lacking. We are told, however, mother church, they firmly denied that they were keeping any that there were 67 capellani in the diocese, and of these schools in their churches, or teaching boys to sing ; but they could 27 are named. There were song schools at St. Davids, not deny that they had never done so. Therefore the said masters, :Robert and William, made them swear, holding the most holy Llandaff, St. Asaph, Bangor, Ruthin, Llangadog, Aber­ -Gospels, that they would not henceforth keep any adulterine gwili, Brecon, Wrexham. Leach (English Schools at the schools in the churches, nor teach boys songs or music without Reformation) notes that a school for beginners was kept licence from the [song] master. 2 at Brecon by the chaplain of the college there. The It is a fact worth recording that there were definite Chantry of St. Davids near the cathedral at St. Davids links between Lincoln and Wales during the thirteenth had in 1365 a master, 7 chaplains, and 2 choristers : the and fourteenth centuries. Bishop Beck of St. Davids collegiate church at Abergwili (1283) had 21 prebends,

1 (1280) was a Lincolnshire man; John Thoresby, also Bishop Thoresby had been King's Proctor at Rome, Master of the 1 vy Norman-French displaced English as the language into which Latin Rolls, and Keeper of the Pri Seal before his consecration as bishop. would be translated, in English schools, until the middle of the fourteenth He afterwards became Archbishop of York. He was one of the most learned of his day. century. Welsh was not thus displaced. • Leach, Educational Charters, pp. 233, 235. • For a decidedly gloomy picture of life in the Middle Ages the reader should consult the works of G. G. Coulton. ------·-

14 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 15 priests, deacons, and subdeacons, and the collegiate fortunately for a generation or so after the Reformation, is church of Llanddewi Brefi (1287) had 13 prebends. overwhelming.' He condescends to admit, however, that These collegiate churches were secular, not monastic· there were tw o distinct categories of parish clergy. On the one and they were usually served by a dean and chapter'. hand were the beneficed clergy who belonged generally to the rich and influential classes, and of whom about 75 per cent had Designed for continual worship (perpetual adoration), been presented with livings, not only before they had taken holy 1 they were ideal centres for study and instruction. orders, but even in their youth or boyhood. The first act of such From parish, chantry, and song schools, and from the clerics, on receiving their benefices, was often to go to the univer­ tuition of parish priests or other clerics, pupils could sity. On the other hand were the poor curates, clergy of poor o e e proceed to higher education. There are some historians lineage, wh might not have studied, but who gen rally wer who have deprecated the action of bishops in diverting doomed to vegetate on the lowest wages, while the fruits of their parishes were mainly consumed by absentees. stipends of parish priests and using them to support collegiate churches, because much good work might have According to Coulton's account, the ·more fortunately been done in parishes which, by this change, were too placed clerics did enjoy higher education. often without any spiritual help. Even more serious was Not only did many students stay for a lengthy period the transference of parish monies to monastic institu­ at the universities, but they frequently returned at inter­ tions. The influence of a collegiate church was not as vals to qualify for higher degrees. After a period of study great as that of many parish priests, though the standard lasting three or four years, a student qualified for the of scholarship in the collegiate church would naturally degree of baccalaureus artium, and after another three tend to be high. years of study he qualifiedfo r the degree of magister. To A boy taught by a parish priest would study his ele­ obtain the ius docendi a further course of study was pre­ mentary Latin grammar, Priscian or Donatus, and then scribed. Other degrees awarded for still further study would be introduced to the rudiments of the Trivium as were those of bacca la ureus and doctor legum, and the a prelude to the study of the Seven Liberal Arts.2 He crowning glory of the academic scholar was the acquisi­ would later carry on his studies perhaps in one of the tion of the doctorate of both Canon and Civil Laws 1 Studia Generalia, or as a monk he might study in an (doctor utriusque iuris). The disputations for these de­ abbey or monastery. Coulton paints a gloomy picture of grees were conducted in Latin. Scholars, though they education in the Middle Ages. He says,3 'The evidence were in later life lawyers, politicians, doctors, and pre­ of clerical ignorance all through the Middle Ages, and, un- lates, were generally clerics. It is noteworthy that at 1 ' Browne-Willis, Survey of St. Asaph, p. 62, notes that Leoline de For a description of the Oxford curriculum in 1267 see H. Anstey, 1. 34 (Rolls Series, 1868), and Leach, Bromfield, when bishop, 1310, arranged for the support of four vicars Munimenta Academica Oxon. Educa- choral and four canons, and 'made orders for singing and other services tional Charters, p. 190. in the church'. Lewis ab Ieuan, known as Bishop Byford, was trained at the Roman 2 court. He was Bachelor of Civil Law. Archdeacon GriffithYonge, B.C.L. _ Thi� consisted of trivium-grammar, dialectic, rhetoric; quadrivium­ anthmet1c, geometry, music, astronomy. The course led on to the study and B.Can.L. (? D.Can.L. in 1402) was Glyn Dwr's chancellor and ambas­ sador to the French king in 1405. of theology. The seven liberal arts were known in Welsh as Y saith gelfyddyd. Adam of Usk, historian and ecclesiastical lawyer, was B.Can.L. 3 Bishop Trevor of St. Asaph (d. 1410) was doctor utriusque iuris, and 'Pre-reformation Religious Education', Contemporary Review, Oct. 1906, and reprinted in Ten Medieval Studies, 1930, pp. 109 ff. a notary. 16 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 17 Oxford and Paris masters and scholars alike 'were all the well-known faults of the monastic system towards clerks, possessing the tonsure and wearing the clerical the end of the Middle Ages, it demands an honourable garb, though not necessarily even in minor orders. They mention in the history of Welsh education. 1 The monks could thus claim the privileges of ecclesiastical jurisdic­ were historians, authors of many theological and philo­ tion.' 1 We have already noticed that John Thoresby was sophical works, translators into Welsh from French and a diplomat before he became Bishop of St. Davids. Latin: and by their labours as copyists we have such Specialization, in our modern sense of the term, was not books at our disposal as The Black Book of Caermq,rthen, a feature of the Middle Ages. The university naturally the Annales de Margan, The Black Book of Chirk, The the at recognized the wisdom of learning French, and ability to two cells in Wales, one at Ysbyty Ifan in north Wales, and other hold lay-courts and to plead in French was demanded of Slebech in Pembrokeshire. served as parish churches and as the monks' those who sought the office of notary.2 Several priory churches church, as, for instance, the churches of Ewenny, Brecon, Monkton, and Ruthin. MONASTICISM IN WALES In pre-Norman Wales there was a system of mother churches which corresponded with the cantref system in the secular government. They Wales was rich in monastic houses, and throughout the were generally of monastic origin, served by an abbot and canons (claswyr). and married: there were among them Middle Ages the Welsh poets were pleased to compose These claswyr might be laymen churches were served by com­ 3 priests for priestly duties. Lesser clas their eulogies to the abbots and the priors. In spite of munities. The survivors of the mother church system were the portionary which archbishop Peckham sought to abolish. Abergwili and 1 R. S. Rait, Camb. Univ.Press, p.47 . churches, Life in the Medieval University, became collegiate churches, and although Clynnog Fawr 2 Ibid. p. I 36. Llanddewibrefi ' Holyhead, the ancient abbeys of Beuno and Cybi, were refounded as Bishop Trevor of St. Asaph was a notary as well as a doctor of Civil and churches with provost and canons we know next to nothing and Canon Laws. collegiate about their history. �glo-N?rman was the language of the aristocracy, of the court, and, ' Siem Cent criticizes the monks and the friars for forsaking their old until the reign of Henry IV, the language of Parliament. vows. 3 The Benedictines, or Black Monks, followed the rule of St. Benedict Y myneich aml eu mwnai (529). When Odo the Abbot of Cluny in Burgundy modified the rule of Muriau teg, mawr yw eu tai. St. Benedict he founded the order of Cluniacs. Odo gave pride of place Breisgion ynt ar eu brasgig, to mental activity, and the reformed Benedictines were held to be refined Breisgion difeinyddion dig. and scholarly. There was a Cluniac cell at Malpas, near Newport, and A'r brodyr pregethwyr gynt one at St. Clears. Since these houses were all under the rule of Cluny, A oeddynt heb dda iddynt, they were regarded as foreign cells. It is noteworthy that they were established in the vicinity of Norman castles, e.g. Chepstow, Aber­ gavenny, Monmouth, Basaleg, Usk (nunnery), Brecon, Ewenny, Cardigan Cryfion ynt yn eu crefydd, Caldy (? Tironian), Kidwelly, Monkton, St. Dogmaels. The Cistercians' Cryfion ddiffoddyddion ffydd. or White Monks, were the followers of St. Bernard (1115), but the orde; We cannot fully estimate the extent of our losses of manuscripts caused was actually first founded by Robert de Moleme in 1098. This order was by warfare, destruction of buildings, &c. After the dissolutions of the monasteries many manuscripts went into the ownership of laymen, but v�ry popular in Wales : the outlook of the Cistercians was more in keeping with that of the Welsh people than was that of the Benedictines. There some were irretrievably lost. It is remarkable that so much has survived. were Cistercian cells at Whitland, Strata Florida, Strata Marcella, Cwm Lewis Dwnn at the beginning of his book of genealogies acknowledges Hir, Cymmer, Aberconway, Valle Crucis, Milford, Tintern Neath his debt to the records which he had consulted at the homes of the gentry, and he admits that they were collected and written by abbots and priers Basingwerk, Llansantffraid (nunnery) nr. Aberystwyth, Marga�, Talle/ There were also in Wales a few Austinian canonries ( e.g. at Carmarthen, of the religious houses of Glamorgan. Haverfordwest, Llanthony, Bedd Gelert). These Augustinians claimed Towards the middle of the fourteenth century it became customary for to be followers of St. Augustine of Hippo : they combined the rule of professional poets to make transcriptions of important works, and patrons of poets engaged them to make these copies. monasticism with the duties of the parish priest. The Hospitallers had A3 18 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 19 Bruts, &c. Gutun Owain maintained that the monks of Conway and those of Strata Florida compared their EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IN THE MONASTERIES chronicles once every three years. When Giraldus Cam­ It is unlikely that arrangements were made in monastic brensis left for Rome he deposited his manuscripts for houses to give systematic instruction to children, as was safe keeping at Strata Florida. done in the early British monasteries; but it seems very These monastic houses served as medieval inns, clubs, likely that monks acted as tutors to children when re­ and distributing houses for news of current events. The quested to do so. The clergy of the collegiate churche; monks were certainly not cut off from the affairs of and the Austinian canons probably undertook the work the world around them. Some of these were cells of of teaching children. foreign houses; others, especially the Cistercian Abbeys, were distinctly Welsh in spirit. 1 The abbots of these MUSIC houses, themselves interested in Welsh literature, and From the testimonies of th� poets we may assume that themselves descended from noble Welsh families, wel­ music was fairly well cultivated in the monastic houses comed poets to stay with them, and they encouraged and in the larger churches. · The poet Gruffudd Gryg them in their calling. The poets, in turn, paid for their describes how the people greeted the installation of an hospitality by composing their eulogistic poems. Thus organ in the cathedral of Bangor. This took place at the Dafydd Nanmor praised Strata Florida, Guto'r Glyn end of the fourteenth century: his contemporary, the praised the Abbot of Gloucester and the Abbot of Valle poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, was also present. Dafydd Nan­ Crucis, Lewis Glyn Cothi praised Caermarthen priory. mor (c. 1460) describes the restoration of the organ at Poets often retired to abbeys to end their days. Guto'r Strata Florida by Abbot Morgan. Guto'r Glyn finds Glyn in his old age suffered from blindness and in his a minster of singers in the abbey of Strata Florida. period of trial he found a friend in the Abbot of Valle Mwstr anant, meistr awenydd Crucis. 2 Guto had such a high opinion of the churchmen We have already noticed that Leo line de Bromfield, as and abbots, to whom he sang eulogies, that a contem­ Bishop of St. Asaph, had arranged for the support of four porary poet criticized him as a flatterer of clerics. vicars choral in the cathedral, and that he 'made orders Guto, gwenieithio, a wna 1 0 chwant cael ariant clera. for singing and other services in the church'. Shortly Enwi angor dan gorun before the Dissolution of the Monasteries the poet Lewis Ei Nudd hael, ni weddai hyn. Morgannwg, in his eulogy of Neath Abbey, maintained ' e.g. Strata Florida, Abbey Cwm Hir, Neath, Talley, Whitland, Strata that his greatest joy was to walk in the cloisters, feast Marcella, Aberconway, Valle Crucis, Tintern, Cymmer near Dolgelley. In time many of the foreign cells became patrons of Welsh learning, and 1 Gutun Owain has a reference to the choir of singers at Valle Crucis their priors were frequently Welshmen. and to the beauty of the choir buildings. 2 Gutun Owain was keenly interested in the abbeys of Basingwerk and Aur fynychle yw'r fynachlog Valle Crucis, and Iorwerth Fynglwyd (d. 1527) sang to the glories of A'i chor sy well na Chaersallog : Margam. Iorwerth looked upon Margam as the happy retreat of the A drud doriadau poets, especially when, during the years 1500-7, the Abbot Dafydd was Y dail a'r delwau head of the institution. A lleisiau lliosog. cc

20 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 21 his eyes on the beauty of the architecture and listen to ally, and before the year 1 354 there was a competent the sweet singing of the monks: teacher in thirty out of the forty Franciscan houses in Y clych a'r menych a'r mwynion foliant Britain. The university of Paris complained bitterly of Mynych ogoniant mynaich gwynion. ,. the lack of students there, and attributed this to the Music, being one of the subjects of the Quadrivium, was l popularity of the friar teachers. r studied by many, and the ability to take part in the church Thus, education in Wales during the Middle Ages, in so far as it was sponsored by the Church, was very much services was a special qualification, as seen in the Statute _ of Winchester, 1295, where we read that boys were to hk� what was found in other districts-the parish priest be encouraged to read the psalter and learn music early. actmg as teacher in his school and as a private tutor when occasion arose, the monk and the canons, the friars, the THE FRIARS masters of schools attached to large churches, all contri­ No study of education in Wales at this time would be buted their share. Further education was possible in the complete without reference to the friars. The preaching monasteries for those who wished to take vows, in colle­ friars or Dominicans came into Britain in 1221. They giate schools, and at universities. But the virility of the landed with their leader Gilbert de Fraxineto, twelve in Welsh language naturally had a profound effect on all number, somewhere near Canterbury and proceeded to these Welsh institutions, and the prose writings, both Oxford, where they settled. The bishops of Wales soon 1 religious and secular, which were composed and tran­ included Dominicans among their number. The Fran­ scribed by ecclesiastics, and the testimonies of the poets ciscans or Minorites were exceedingly popular in Wales, to their scholarship and love of learning, give us a fairly and their popularity may be appreciated when we re­ • adequate picture of the importance of church education member that it was they who kept alive the popular during this period. 2 interest in the fate of Richard II after his deposition, and that they helped greatly to fan the flame of patriotism 1 The Benedictines had houses in Bangor, Rhuddlan, Brecon, Haver­ 2 fordwest, Cardiff. The Franciscans had houses in Cardiff Carmarthen during the rebellion of Glyn Dwr. The Franciscans ' ' Llanfaes. contributed much to early university education gener- T�e C�rmelite friars, or White friars, had a house in Denbigh, and the. 1 e.g. Hywel ab Ednyfed, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1240; Brian II, Bishop Austm fnars one at Newport. See 'The Friaries in Wales', Arch. Camb. of St. Asaph, 1268, known as the Black Friar of Nannau (YBrawd Du o VI series, xiv. 323. 1390. 2 Giraldus Car:ibrensis was taught by his uncle David Fitzgerald, Nannau); Alexander Bache, Bishop of St. Asaph, Bishop Anian of _ St.Asaph was confessor to Edward I: he was temporarily deprived of his Bishop of St.Davids, and later he went to Gloucester and Paris. In his bishopric because of his pro-Welsh tendencies. After the burning of his Ge'!1ma Ecclesiastica he condemns the ignorance of the clergy, stating that cathedral in 1282, he sought in vain to be allowed to transfer the see to their lack of knowledge of Latin made them incapable of taking the church Rhuddlan. services worthily. Was his condemnation somewhat too severe ? See 2 The heavy penalties imposed by Henry IV upon the Minorites Gemma Ecclesiastica, D. II, cap. xxxv, xxxvi (Rolls Series, 1862). testify to their loyalty to the Welsh cause under Glyn Dwr. It is related Non solum autem in minoribus sacerdotibus, sed etiam in maioribus abb tib s scilicet, p ioribus, magnis ecclesiarum decanis, episcopis, e; that when the books of the Grey Friars at Cardiff were burned in the � :1 _ � castle by Glyn Dwr's followers, they were told that they had no one to arch1ep1scop1s tales mterdum defectus invenies. Audivi auribus meis blame but themselves; for they should have known that Glyn Dwr would quendam abbatem verba Domini ad mulierem Samaritanam sic recitan­ have spared the friary. tem: 'Quinque viros habuisti, et qui nunc "habes non est tuum vir".' Et For skill in school divinity the Franciscans beat all other orders quite iterum cuidam clerico pauperi Hibernico eleemosynam petenti, sic respon­ out of distance. (Fuller, Church History.) dentem audivi: 'Ubi sunt vaccas tuas?' 22 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 23

THE EDUCATION OF A GENTLEMAN but Reason that dwells in man is immortal. This school We shall now proceed to an examination of the educa­ was known in the Middle Ages as the Nominalists, since tional ideals of medieval Wales. The chief of the merits universals were to them just names. There was a third of medieval education, as Monroe has well expressed it, interpretation given by Peter Abelard, who maintained was its unity. 'There was an internal unity possessed by that universals are dependent upon phenomenal form, the intellectual life itself; there was an external unity of except when they are conceptions existing in the divine the intellectual life in connection with the religious, the mind before the creation of the phenomenal form. This ecclesiastical, the artistic, the political, the economical, view is known as Conceptualism. The schoolmen were the social aspects of life. This unity was found in the also much influenced by the question, whether there dominant religious thought.' 1 were two types of knowledge, natural knowledge and theological knowledge. In •other words, can we know by Nominalism and Realism light of reason and by light of revelation ? When Moslem philosophers in the ninth and tenth Mr. Saunders Lewis, in his scholarly treatment of the centuries brought back to Europe the teachings of the realism of the medieval Welsh grammarian, Einion Offei­ philosopher Aristotle, which had been taken to them after riad, says that: the closing down of the Athenian schools of philosophy To understand the poetry of any period in the middle ages we by the Emperor J ustinian, a great force was set free in must remember the synthetic nature of the mind of the period, Christendom. Avicenna (980-1037) gave prominence to and also the close connection between every branch of knowledge. Poetry could not be justified unless it had a worth which was the question of the ultimate value of the universal and • philosophically demonstrable. 'We must know how we are to the particulars subsumed under it. This problem was praise every thing (res) that is mentioned in song, and we must taken up seriously, and the implications of the answers know what things (res) deserve to be sung to.' This was the were far-reaching. The orthodox schoolmen believed new and valuable contribution which Einion Offeiriad made to that ideas, concepts, universals, constituted the only reality Welsh literature about the year 1322.1 (res), following the teaching of Plato, and they were Mr. Lewis suggests that Einion was taught at one of known as realists. To them general concepts were arche­ the Cistercian schools in Wales. It seems unlikely that types in the divine reason, and the phenomenal exis­ he went to Oxford, where realism was already giving way tences and the species were mere copies of the thoughts of to nominalism. And Einion was clearly a realist. From the Deity. Another school of thought, influenced by the time of Grossetete Oxford had favoured nominalism, Averroes' commentaries on Aristotle, maintained that and had Einion been a student at Oxford, he would have matter is eternal,that ideas and universals are just names, been contemporary with William of Occam (1312-18), though valuable. Matter contains fo rms which transform the invincible doctor, z who attacked the entire realist it into its finalstates under the influenceof higher forms, ' Braslun o Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg, eh. iv. This is an invaluable or, in the last resort, of God. The soul of man is insepar­ chapter to students of Welsh education. For a full treatment of Einion's grammar, and other grammars, see Gramadegau'r Penceirddiaid. able from his brain, says Averroes, and it perishes with it; Of feiriad = priest. 1 Text Book in the History of Education (1909), p. 328. • William of Occam held that what was true for natural knowledge 24 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 25 system, and who repudiated any attempt to harmonize inherent difficulties in the realistic interpretation. Ever theology with philosophy or faith with natural knowledge. since Robert Grossetete had begun his school at Oxford, When Einion prepared his grammar for the poets, he nominalism had threatened the claims of realism. Grosse­ made it plain that it was the poet's task to sing in praise tete was one of the encyclopaedic thinkers of the world : of reality (res), and Roger Bacon maintained that he (a) since nothing that is evil can be a reality (res) for employed himself in the scientific questions which Aristotle had evil is a nihil; therefore poetry can treat only of what treated, and he knew and described the questions with which the is good. If the poet cannot speak well of the subject books of Aristotle deal, a hundred thousand times better than they 1 of his muse, he must be silent. Silence gives its can be understood from the perverse translations of that author. own message. The highest good is God Himself, Yet Grossetete favoured a modifiedrealism, and would the almighty creator and the spiritual father of ascribe an obj ective rea:lity to universal notions. To all creatures. Nothing exists that was not originally Grossetete's school came such scholars as Adam Marsh, in the mind of the God, i.e. in the eternal ideas. 1 Duns Scotus, William of Occam, John Wallensis, and (b) Whenever the poet describes or praises, he does so Thomas Wallensis. Scotus was a moderate realist, but sub aeternitatis sp ecie. 'A nobleman is praised for Occam was a thorough-going nominalist, who insisted that his bravery and strength and military qualities, his it was possible to study logic and all forms of human good appearance and his fine stock, his gentleness (natural) knowledge without reference to metaphysics and liberality and wisdom ....' The poet sees the and theology. Occam's work encouraged scientific re­ ideal nobleman, the ideal abbot, the ideal lady : these search, and at Oxford great advances were made in the are realities in the mind of the Creator, and he will scientia experimentalis. approach this as nearly as possible in his verse. The poet Ieuan ap Rhydderch had been to Oxford, and (c) All realities can be classified, beginning with the he was proud of his knowledge of the sciences, and, with­ summum genus and proceeding downward to the out minimizing the value of ideals as taught by Einion, sp ecies and still further to the infimae sp ecies, which he sees the importance of the world of human experience. cannot be divided any further. His use of the pronoun I illustrates this. (I learned ...I This realism was in general accord ·with the views of knew . . . I have proved . . . I understood . . . I have the poets, and it suited their system, since they were the read ... I have studied ...I have had ...I have kept.) interpreters of social life, and it fell to their lot in their Another poet, who was very concernedwith the world as sphere to inspire and to lead, as surely as the priest in his he found it, was Sion Cent. Tradition has made him sphere. But scholars could not be indifferent to the a magician and a scholar who had obtained a doctor's degree : it is not yet possible to disentangle the many (science and philosophy) might be quite false in theology, and the revelation of theology is supreme. legends that have grown up around him, but there is 1 Ni phryda neb i'r drwg. every reason to accept the belief that he was a scholar, Ni ddyly prydydd vod yn oganwr a gwneuthur sswydd klerwr, kans sswydd prydydd yw moli. Ni ddyly oganu neb nes no'i brofi dair gwaith , 1 Compendium Studii, ed. Brewer, p. 69, quoted from Robert Grossetete, ond tewi a'i voli a ddichon. See Braslun, p. 61. Stevenson, Macmillan, 1909, p. 42. 26 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 27 and that he prized highly the right of man to study facts of patrons in the manner of a Pindar. No poet, however, as they occurred, and that he had faith in the scientia would dare attribute to a patron qualities which he did experimentalis. 1 He maintained that it was his duty as not possess. a poet to study the world around him, for suffering was When Guto'r Glyn had occasion to reply to Hywel something real, pain was as much a reality as pleasure. Dafi, who had accused him of over-praising a friend, he

Astudio'dd wyf, was didwyll, did not deny the charge, but justified his action. He Ystad y 6yd, astud bwyll; claimed the right to describe in fair words his patron's Astud boen, ystod benyd,­ qualities, buthe did not mislead. He asks, 'What is flattery ystad bardd astudio byd. but fair speech ?' 1 Astrus erioed mewn ystryw Ystyr y 6yd, ynfyd yw. Ni cheisiaf o chanaf chwaith, Llawn dialedd, llawn dolur, Wedi gwin wadu gweniaith: Llawn llid, llawn gofid o gur.2 Minnau'n dyst, ni mynnwn dwyll Mewn gweniaith, myn y gannwyll. Thus scholasticism, dealing with the problem of fusion of philosophy and theology, finding its expression in Beth yw gweniaith ond iaith deg ? systematized forms of learning, found expression in 0 thraethir y gwir a'r gau, Y gair tecaf yw'r gorau. Wales in the work of Einion, a realist, on the one hand, Ni thraethir y gwir i gyd and in the works of people like Sic,n Cent and Ieuan ap Yn llyfr, nac yn unlle hefyd. Rhydderch, nominalists, on the other. It was Einion's advice to the poet to lqok for the good The poet's reluctance to praise a patron would be . _ immediately noted by his hearers, and Guto'r Glyn im­ m his patron. The teacher should be praised for his plies this when he tells Harri Gruffydd of E as that 'it wisdom, his eloquence, his skill in the laws, his native wy is difficult to praise a hard hearted man'. ability, his mastery of the arts, his prowess in debates, his gentleness and good breeding, his liberality and good Mwy nid hawdd, er amnaid teg, manners, his amiability, and other praiseworthy quali­ Moli gwr fal y garreg. Cloi dy dda, caledu'dd wyd ties.3 This does not mean that the poet should be en­ Caledach no'r clo ydwyd. couraged to flatter his patron. Later poets adopted a device known as exaggeration (gormodaeth), and it \ Our reading of the works of the poets will impress seems that, when the philosophical implications of Ein­ upon us an important fact, that responsibility was always �on's classification of virtues and merits were less cogent, inherent in opportunity. In this they were exponents of 1t became natural to put into high relief the good qualities an important tenet of the Middle Ages. It therefore naturally followed that the poet looked for definitevirtues 2 � See Braslun, pp. 104 ff. lolo Goch ac Eraill, p. 271. in people of different walks of life. Every class had its �thrawon a volir o doethineb, a chymendawt, a goruchelder kyfre1theu, a chanon, a dyfndereth rylithyr, achelvydodeu, a budugolyaeth special duties to perform, and virtues were discernible yn amryssoneu, ac adfwynder, a thegwch, a boned, a haelyoni, a devodeu da, a hegarwch, a phetheu eraill kanmoledic. Gramadegau'r Penceirddiaid, in their fulfilment. The squire, though perhaps .not a p. 15. ' Beth yw gweniaith ond iaith deg? 28 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 29 man of learning, would be interested in the learning of Dafydd Nanmor describes one Rhys ap Llywelyn ap others; he would be a patron of learning, interested in Cadwgan as an orator, who was wise like Solomon, fluent the purity and elegance of the Welsh language and its like Gwalchmai, and one whose judgement was pro­ literature. Acquainted with the laws of chivalry, he verbial. His scholarship was evident to all. would not transgress the laws of hospitality. Dan i ddaint erioed ni ddoeth Thus, from the many references which we find in the Ar i ene air anoeth, poets to the accomplishments and virtues of people of Mwy no ffebai, Gwalchmai gwydd, all walks of life, we can build up an adequate educational Dafod Sele ap Dafydd. theory for Wales in the Middle Ages. Y fo a rydd o gyfrwyddyd Ar y bar i wyr y byd. HOSPITALITY I roi barn dihareb yw; Ar ddadl kyfarwydd ydyw. To live a full life attention must be paid to the claims Drwy synnwyr i gwyr i gyd of hospitality. When we are hospitable we must not look Veddwl y saith gelfyddyd.1 for rewards in return: the act itself brings its own reward. He was also a true son of the church. Pair rannu, er nas prynan, Karu Duw may, kariad mawr, Bwyd i'r byd o'i bedwar ban. Yr Eglwys a'i beriglawr: Ef a borthai y'w dai da Wledd Rys luoedd yr Asia. Llyna wr, os llawen neb, Llawen i wen a'i wyneb. Myn Garmon, digon o dal The virtues of the ecclesiastic were different,for they A hair Duw, heh roi dial.1 embraced sanctity, wisdom, knowledge, hospitality, and Houses of such hospitable people were the frequent a sense of duty towards his institution. Guto'r Glyn meeting-places of the poets. Iolo Goch found Sycharth, the in his praise of the Abbot of Strata Marcella refers to the home of Glyn Dwr, such a centre of learningand culture. abbot's wisdom and his knowledge of the arts. I'w lys yn ddyfrys ydd af, Ei enau doeth a'i wen deg O'r deucant odidocaf: A dry'r mydr drwy rymadeg. Llys barwn, lle syberwyd, Lle daw beirdd am!, lle da byd. Ieuan Deulwyn also praised Dafydd, the Abbot of Strata Florida, as a Latin scholar The poet would naturally be delighted to find that his Er hen fu air o'i hen fo [Er pan] patron was a man of learning and genuinely interested I bu Ladin heb lwydo in literature. 2 And there were many such among the · Diachos oedd Rydychen gentry, many of whom were themselves no mean poets. · Am fod art ym Meifod wen.

1 Dafydd Nanmor, to Rhys ap Maredudd of Towyn, who, so says the 1 This Rhys knew the contents of the liberal arts. One is reminded of poet, had the best table of all from Dover to Anglesey. 2 the claims of many these days to know subjects through reading reviews lolo Goch has a delightful description of life in the bishop's palace at and digests. St. Ashph, when he spent some time there at the invitation of Bishop Cf. Fo wyr yn gall famu i gyd Trevor. Foddion y saith gelfyddyd. Wm. Llyn, JO

1 t and ladies of the court. In he t a e o poe 's pr s f t abb t a ! he o 's m stery o n n standard of scholarship f Lati a d of the high Places were reserved at Strata Flo a t at court for these poets, and their ent rid , hat made Oxford e for stu? s, we have unnec ssary an example of poetic a on rights and privileges a at b ex ggerati , which were jealously guarded. preci ed y the poet's a was full r he rers. The implica on a t e a bot a a u ti of the p ssage is t a l_, w s c ltured scholar n t h � It was the pencerdd's prerogative to sit on the left of the a d hat there a n o b edling the high tan a o w s o d u t regardin s d rd f learning a e a g · (the heir). He had his land free, uan t th bbey. and he was the first to sing in the I Deulwyn (c. e � 1480) sp aks of Dafydd, bo a o a n Ab t of Maenan a a 1 L tm sch l r a d an a t n s The a e at n n a u hority o canon law: ' se l ws wer compiled Whitla d (Ty Gwy r Daf) in the tent o a o e o Lie cyntaf h century. The ldest m nuscript, h wev r, dates fr m the beginning yw'r meistr Dafydd t of the hirteenth, an n no n a o a rm o Llwyd yn rhoi d it was ot k w what w s the rigin l fo f the Lladin yn rhydd : a t a o ba J ws. I is cle r, h wever, that in the days of Hywel a e A d, may bywyd y n nd during th Mo (ym Mon) o n nt n b on foll wi g ce uries Welsh was a la guage rich in legal and a A er K wy, brig kanon. technic l terms, a o e n o a t o Guto'r Glyn nd c uld be us d to express u equiv c lly he m st complicated is lavish in his a a _ pr ises to D fydd n o legal problems of the day. e a e o Vicar of Llanrhaea Kyffi f Llangedwy n Ther were skilled l wy rs am ng the laymen dr ym Mochnan a n t. He w s a doctor of Jaws: ' a d the clergy. We read in the introduction to the laws : Llyma t ta eurwr lien eiriau, 'He herefore kes six men from every commote in Wales, and brings Llawe e o a n e r o ddysg yn Ile'r ddau ; th m t Whitl nd, a d there w re present those who held croziers in Dysgu t a u 'r gyfrai h a'r ieithoedd W les, incl ding archbishops and bishops and abbots and good teachers; A dysgu a a n o t a e rt ei d sg oedd: a d f h t numb r twelve of the wisest laics were chosen and one wisest A chwynn n u sifl a chanon scholar who was amed Blegywryd, to make good laws, and to do away Chwilio'r a haw!, a chloi a; hon. with the b d ones... .' This was the period when Asser visited the court of King Alfred. 32 EDUCATION IN WALES hall. He received a gift at every wedding at which, presumably, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 33 he sang his verses. A bard When Gwydion and his friend Gilfaethwy went to the becomes a pencerdd after he has won a chair. allowed No one is court of Pryderi, they went in the guise of bards. They to solicjt within the pencerdd's jurisdiction permission, without his were asked for a tale, and G dion said, 'Lord, we have unless the poet who solicits is of a neighbouring wy country (gorwlad). a custom that the first night we come to a great man, the When the King 1 expresses a wish to hear a song, the tale is told by a pencerdd.' is to sing two songs pencerdd about God and a third about the chieftains. When poets attached themselves to the houses of the vVhen the queen desires to hear a song in her chamber, the bardd lesser nobility and gentry, after the disappearance of the teulu will sing to her three songs, softly, lest the hall be disturbed. The bardd sings princes, regulations controlling bardism were modified. teulu after the pencerdd. He sits next to chief of the household, the These poets accepted invitations from hosts in various and receives a harp from the king and a gold ring from the pencerdd queen, when he is granted his office.1 parts of Wales. The distin�tion between the and Reciters ( Y Cyfarwyddia id) the bardd teulu naturally disappeared, and a new class of poets grew up,Z people ·who were possibly influenced Long before the coming of the Normans there was 1 a class of people in Wales who Vide Math, son of Mathonwy. In this tale we read that 'Gwydion was had much in common with the the poets, but whose best reciter in the world, and that night he diverted the court with special officewas to recite traditional pleasant conversation and with tales'. In Owein and Lunet we find the tales. Unfortunately following passage: 'I would have the pleasantest conversation that he these tales have not survived in the form in which promised me', said Cai. 'My man,' said Cynon, 'it would be fairer for they were recited in those days. They you to do first what Arthur promised, and then we will tell you the best possibly consisted story we know.' ... 'Now', said Cai, 'you should pay me my story.' of prose versions interspersed with poetic dialogue. The 'Cynon,' said Owein, 'pay Cai his story.' 'Truly', said Owein, 'you are narrators were classed as bards older than I am, and a better teller of tales, and you have seen more and, as Professor Parry maintains, poets were not only marvellous things ... .' 'Do you begin', said Owein, 'with the rarest skilled in archaic verse that you know.' recalling a long literary tradition, 2 These poets, known as Y adopted a circuit as travelling min­ but were also skilled gler, in recitation of tales, which were strels, and they put up at the homes of their patrons. We have many expressed in modern style and examples of what is called the clera poem in which the poet describes reflected the vitality of a his journeyings, his yearning to see his friend, the munificence of his living language. The two styles were kept quite host, &c. Note how Lewis Glyn Cothi began his ode to Maredudd ap 1 distinct. z Dy!yet y pencerd yw Morgan ap Sir Dafydd Garn: eisted ar gled yr etling. Y tir a geiff Ef a dyly kanu yn gyntaf yn yn ryd. y neuad. Kyfarws neithawr a geiff Mi af, cyn yr haf, fy rhan fu rhedeg pedeir ar hugeint y nyd amgen gan pop morwyn pan wrhao.. .. At Fredudd ap Morgan; Sef vyd penkerd y bard pan enillo Minnau gaf yma'n gyfan kadeir. Ny eill neb bard erchi dim hyt y bo y penkeirdyaeth ef, heb y ganhat, onyt bard gorwlat vyd. Mwy o aur fath no thalm o'r Fan. Pan vynho y brenhin gerd oe gwarandaw, kanet y pencerd deu ganu ymod Untrained minstrels were classed as vagabonds, and they are disparagingly duw, ar trydyd·or penaetheu. Pan vynho y vrenhines gerd oe gwarandaw termed y yn y hystavell, kanet y bard cler dom. teulu tri chanu yn disson rac Ar eil kanu tervyscu y llys.. •. Clerwyr travelled to north and south Wales, and relied upon the dignity a gan yn y neuad, kanys y pencerd yd eisted yr a dechreu. Eil nessaf of their profession and the pride of the nobility in their stock and in the penteulu. Telyn a geiffy gan y brenhin, y vrenhines a modrwy eur y gan traditions of Wales for the good fellowship that prevailed. Many of these pan rother y swyd idaw 2 ...• members of the gentry were themselves scholars and poets. We need Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg, p. 12. Yng nghymdeithas hen oesoedd Gymreig yr mention only a few examples, such as leuan Llwyd ab Ieuan of Dyffryn yr oedd gwr a wyddai chwedlau hwyliog ac a allai eu hadrodd yn Aeron and his son Rhydderch; and Hopcyn ap Thomas of Ynystawe in ar goedd llys lawn mor dderbyniol a bardd. Yr enw arnooedd the fourteenth century. They were poets and teachers and patrons of cyfarV.Jydd, a chyfarwyddyd y gelwid ei chwedlau. learning. These bards, naturally, did not travel as clerwyr. Le"'.is G!yn Cothi mentions such poets as patrons of learning, possessors of ltbranes, 34 EDUCATION IN WALES by the clerici vagantes, DURING THE and who perhaps were urged to MIDDLE AGES become wandering poets by the the tavern and fair 35 success of the wander­ by wandering minstrels, and who, ing friars and the joculatores. neglecting the The verse composed by traditional ode (awdl), made folk poetry these poets was possibly influenced inside the framework by the serenade, the of the cywydd an essential part of aubade, and pastourelle of Welsh verse. the trouveres. As they went But the Middle Ages did not welcome from place to place they were change whole-heartedly, naturally influencedby the and the claims of tradition were social life which they enjoyed ever strong. 1 The in the houses of their influence of the past, the ideals of patrons, and they collected Church, which the and distributed information. ever prized security and continuity, The master-poet of this checked this class was Dafydd ap Gwilym, change, and in course of time the who made use of the favoured topics popular poetry of his day, sung in by the poets tended to become standardized and in whose homes it stereotyped, and, though was a joy to spend a night in literary there were notable excep­ ap Rhys of Aberpergwm discussions. Sion tions, always opened his doors the subjects generaUy ab leuan of Caerleon to scholars, Trahaearn favoured by the poets re­ was a scholar of repute and owner called to Rhydderch ap Rhys of a good library, mind the poems of the ap Llywelyn Voethus of earlier period and dealt a scholar and Cethiniog was not only with patron of learning, but also an marriages, deaths, births, Note how authority upon husbandry. requests for gifts, praises Guto'r Glyn describes the pleasant of his patron time which he spent with virtues of persons and districts, Rhys ap Siancyn of Glyn Neath, and religious topics. books which as they read together the his patron possessed, the books of pedigrees, Chronicles, Lives of the Saints, triads and narratives, and the THE SCHOOLS OF Je irdd. poems of the Gogyn­ THE POETS A pencerdd was allowed to train pupils Af a gwawd, heb ofwy gwg, in bardism : this was one of his privileges. 2 Efrawg yt o fro Gatwg. When the pupils had mastered Od af, mi a gaf gyfedd, all the rules of prosody Blaen and had satisfactorily studied gwin o Fwlaen neu fedd. 1 Naturally there were Caf roddi cyfarwyddyd literati who looked askance at these and who would not willingly innovations, Ym dros ben am deiroes byd. accept the introduction of the the topics favoured by the new cywyddand Brud fa) y bwriwyd efo, school. The poet Casnod Llwyd ab Ieuan of Dyffryn yn praised Ieuan A'r cronicl, eiriau cryno; Aeron because he would not forsake for the an the awdl Buchedd seiniau ni cywydd, d because he clung tenaciously bechynt, type of verse. to the traditional Bonedd Owain Gwynedd gynt; Bwrw rhij, ti a'th burawr, Llyw a'm dysgawdd hawdd hoddyaw Rhys, Nid gerdd berffaith Brenhinedd bro fa) sothach - iaith beirdd caith ein hynys, Caeo, Caeaw. Dwyn ar according to Casnodyn, fyfyrdod ein dau was a district that favoured poetry. Iolo Goch this new Drioedd ac ystoriau seems to belong as much to the Dysgu newer school older school as to the ym (llyna dasg iawn!) of the cy wydd. Dalm 'Y mae gwaith Iolo Goch mawr o odlau Meiriawn. yn perthyn i ysgol y gogynfeirdd Clybod beirdd y cywydd' ac i ysgol a gwybod o gwbl (Joto Goch ac p. xx See Erai/l, l iv). Gwawd Cynddelw, gwead Sir Idris Bell's translations of Dafydd ceinddwbl. p. 241. ap Gwilym's poems in the Interest in history Cy mmrodorion Transactions, and (ystoriau) is also recorded by Lewis Professor Sir Ifor Williams's article, Glyn Cothi: 'Dafydd ap Gwilym a'r Glfr', in Tri ffr wythlawn gerddor 2 the Transactions, 1913-14, a ragorant; In the Eisteddfod pp. 145-6. Un yw bardd Roll of Caerwys, 1524, it is ei hun, ac a henwant; Statute of Gruffudd stated that, 'when the Ail yw stori:awr ap Cynan was composed, the ac a alwant; gentle folk were youngest sons of the Trydydd teuluwr ordained bards; and since it was cywydd, os cant: that they were so infrequently found A'r tri hyn endowed with poetic gifts, and a'u ffyn ar ffyniant art, it in order to preserve the Aur dewin was decided to put under a lawful a gwin gan !in Godwin a gant. poetic teacher any man who had the p. 78. gift and intelligence and understanding T. G to master the art' (see wynn Jones, Tudur Aled, p. xiii, n.). 36 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 37 the topics contained in the courses prescribed, they in allotted according to grades. Poets fr turn enjoyed the emoluments equently met and of bardism. It would seem discussed rules of prosody, and on occasions that there was a close friendship they criti­ between teacher and cized each other in verse (cywyddau 1 pupil.I ymryson). About 1450 poets came The course together at Carmarthen to prescribed was by no means an easy one; discuss rules of prosody, it lasted and another meeting was held nine years and progress was recorded in grades at Caerwys in 1523. (graddau). • The meetings of poets were called Unfortunately, we do not now possess the eisteddfo dau. full details of the courses and of the gradings ; but it is Most of the bardic lore was committed known that promotion to memory by frequently took place on festive the pupils, but after making oc asion , the necessary progress they � � especially at wedding festivities neithiorau 2 would be ( ). allowed to make their own text-books. 2 It 1s qmte likely that even Our the topics dealt with were libraries still bear witness to the indefatigable 1 Note the tenderness of efforts of the poet when he composed his elegies the Welsh his teachers. to poets in copying ·pedigrees, heraldic treatises, Bwrw Dafydd gelfydd dan gor, descriptions of churches, &c. 3 Bwrw ddoe'n unmeistr, bardd Nanmor Gruffudd . . . . ap Cynan is associated with a bardic eistedd­ Gwae fi'n unig, f'awenydd, fod at the beginning of the twelfth 0 century and, according aros awr ar y sydd. to the so-called Statute of F'ewythr o waed, f'athro oedd, Gruffuddap Cynan, there were Fynwes gwawd, fy nysg the following grades ydoedd. T.A. to Dafydd ab Edmwnd. of poets : Diryfedd uwch graenfedd gro I. Disgybl Ysbas (an ungraded pupil). I'm feithrin deigr am f'athro. Rhys Goch ru 2. to G ffydd Llwyd. Disgybl Ysbas Graddol Dwr a wylais d (a pupil admitted to the rwy wyliad lowest Dafnau tawch wedi f'un tad; grade. He has mastered five of the metres.) Duw a ddug, ni adawdd waisg, 3. Disgybl Disgyblaidd Dyn (a pupil who has mastered newyddfrau, deunyd_dfraisg twelve . . . . of the metres). Prydfardd braisg, 4. parodfardd brau, Disgybl Penceirddaidd (one who has Prydlwybr digwmpar odlau. mastered the Lewys Morgannwg to Tudur Aled. rules of grammar and twenty-one Teachers were sometimes relatives. metres). Tudur Aled called Dafydd ab 5. Pencerdd Edmwnd his uncle by blood (master-poet who has mastered all the F'ewythr o waed, f'athro oedd. metres and the rules of cynghanedd). �he wor� ewythr (uncle) was not infrequently used by poets when pencerdd ring to friends or patrons. refer­ A acknowledged his debt 2 to those who had Note �udur Aled's description of his first 1 Note school. promotion in the bardic the cywyddau ymryson of Dafydd This took place at a in ap Gwilym and Gruffudd neithior the home of Dafydd ab Ithel Fychan G7g, Richard ap Rhys Brydydd and of Tegeingl. Ierwerth Fynglwyd, &c. Is there not a danger that we to-day neglect memory-work because Pob awenydd, pob ynys, we have too easy access to books 3 of reference ? Penceirddiaid lonaid i lys; • Note how Dafydd ab Edmwnd and Gwilym Tew sought to Cefais aur hwn, cof sy rhawg, tize the rules of prosody. systema­ Car tlawd, o'r cwrt dyledawg; The grammars of the penceirddiaid have been collected in Cyntaf neuadd y'm graddwyd Gramadegau'r Pencei ddiaid. �ee also Cerdd and � Dafod T. Parry, 'Statud Gruffudd ap Fu oror llys f'eryr llwyd; Cynan (Bulletin, v. 25); T. Gwynn Am dri chof y'm dyrchafodd Jones, 'Bardism and Romance' (Cymm. Transactions, 1913-14); Tudur Yn Neithior hwn, il thair rhodd. T.Parry, Aled(Welsh Univ. Press, 1926); Ha nes Llenyddiaeth, eh. vi. 38 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 39 taught him, and the dignity of an athro was enhanced by how. 1 He then proceeded with his studies as a sophister, the attainments of his pupils. during which period he read his Latin Bible and studied The course prescribed for pupils was standardized be­ chronicles and the subjects of the quadrivium. 2 He also mastered French, which he held to be a charming lan­ fore the end of the sixteenth century, and it consisted of a study of the following topics: guage. His studies included the reading of Aristotle and (a) rules of prosody, composition of the cywydd, Ptolemy (probably the Theorica Planetorum and the englyn, and awdl; Almagest), and he was very proud of his progress in the use of the astrolabe. He claims to have acquired some (b) a knowledge of pedigrees, heraldry, extent of pro­ perty, &c. ; knowledge of alchemy and the black arts and that he had an acquaintance with civil law.J (c) ancient poetry, narratives, modern poetry. Tri pheth a berthyn ar wr wrth gerdd davawd: kerdd, a chof, After enumerating his academic attainments, Ieuan a chyfarwyddyd. proceeds to describe his other skills.4 He claims to have Tair kaink yssydd ar gerdd davawd: kywyddau, ynglynion ac ' Was he taught at the collegiate school of Llanddewibrefi or did he get tuition from the monks of Strata Florida ? His home was near Cardigan. owdlau 2 Tri chof yssydd: iachau, arfau a Randiroedd The quadrivium was of much less importance than the imposing names of subjects imply. Geometry and music received comparatively Tri chyfarwyddyd yssydd : hengerdd, ystoriau a barddoniaeth. little attention, and arithmetic and astronomy were at first employed mainly forthe finding of the date of Easter; but the introduction of mathe­ We have now a fair picture of the educated gentleman matical learning from Arabian sources in the thirteenth century greatly of Wales during the Middle Ages. It is a significant fact increased the scope and the importance of geometry and arithmetic, and brought in the study of algebra. that the philosophy of the poets of Wales made it possible 3 Yn gyntaf, oleuaf lwybr for them, in theory at least, to anticipate by a century the Yn ieuanc, anian ewybr, views of Castiglione, the author of ll Cortegiano, who gave Dysgais yn brif dda drahydr Dysg deg, ramadeg a'i mydr. to the world of the Renaissance his picture of the ideal Cyfarwydd ... courtier. When Ieuan ap Rhydderch, at the end of the wyf yn y Bibi. fourteenth centu , wrote his boastful poem (Cywydd Gwn, dysgais, profais y prig ry Yn gryno pob iawn gronig. yFost), he undertook to enumerate truthfully all his Dysgais yr eang Ffrangeg; accomplishments. 1 There are some passages in the poem Doeth yw ei dysg, da iaith deg. . . . the meaning of which is not quite clear, but the general Gwn beth ddorwn byth eres, theme is plain. Anial yw er na wna Jes, It appears that Ieuan had received a good early educa­ Rhod y dynghedfen a'i rhan, A rhyw igmars a rhagman tion: he was introduced to the subjects of the trivium ig mars = necromancy. rhagman, cf. raggeman. when quite young, but we are not told where, or Trown bellach, try yn bwyllig 1 He says that he was urged to write the poem after recalling another Tra doeth, ni myn un tro dig, poem written in the twelfth century, called The Accomplishments of Hy wel At gerddau ddeau ddiasw, A champau a moesau masw. ab Owain (Gorhoffedd Hy wel ab Owain). This Hywel died in I 170 (see 'leuan ap Rhydderch', B.B.C.S. rv. i. 18). Lewis Glyn Cothi has a fine description of a tournament held at Aber­ I ddangos, myfrglos maw!, marlais by the sons of Thomas ap Gruffudd ap Nicholas. L.G.C., p. 167. Ei ragorau, ri gwrawl. See also Dafydd Nanmor to Rhys of Towyn (D.N., p. 13). 40 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 4x mastered the rules of prosody and to be able to sing to The accomplishments of a Welsh gentleman in the the harp. He is also skilled in chess, backgammon, and Middle Ages were twenty-four in number, and they were dice games. A skilled athlete, he can shoot as well as the thus classified : archers of Southwark, he can hurl the discus and the (a) manly skill: javelin, and he is a good runner and swimmer. It is not i. running, feats of strength, jumping, swimming, strange, therefore, that he demands the respect of his wrestling, riding; peers, and that he has held many offices. Life has been 11. the use of weapons, viz. shooting, two-handed pleasant to him : he has enjoyed wealth, the smiles of sword, sword and buckler, javelin ; ladies, the exhilaration of hunting, and the kindly fellow­ (b) youthful pastimes : greyhound-hunting, fishing, ship of the festivities. He has been granted all these bless­ hawking; ings, and they are necessary to his full life. But all this does (c) domestic attainments; viz. bardism, elocution, not dim his eye to the beauty of his beloved church at reading Welsh, singing to the harp, heraldry, Llanddewibrefi1 and of the unalloyed charm of righteous playing the harp, illustration ; living, and, when the time comes for him to die, he hopes (d) indoor games, viz. chess, backgammon, dice games, to be laid to rest in the consecrated ground of his church. and ability to tune the harp. 1 This poem may be interpreted as an expression of Scriptures, and was what the poet considered to be the comp lete Christian Ieuan's idea of the education of a gentleman. He de­ gentleman. scribes himself, though with lavish praise probably, and Trahaeam ab leuan of Caer!eon was a wealthy and accomplished scholar, and one who loved to see everything around him elegant and in from the poem we can form our picture of the ideal the best taste, and all his friends happy. gentleman scholar. That there were many people in Dy gwpwrt, dy gwrt, sy gyrtiaidd, Dy ddysg sydd amlach no'r gwrysg a'u gwraidd; Wales who had several, if not all, of Ieuan's accomplish­ Dy lyfrau (eto'n Gymri:iaidd), ysgol ments, may be proved from eulogies, some of which have Wrth reol, ydynt wir athrawaidd. L.G.C., p. 97. 2 Owain ap Thomas ap Thomas Fychan of Cethiniog was a comely man, already been mentioned. skilled in games. Cefais einioes mewn cyfoeth, Mi a af i droi'n y cwrt main, Cof digriflawn, cyflawn, coeth. A'r ddaear ydd a Owain; Caf, a deuaf o'r diwedd, Ac ar ei ol, i Gaer Wen, Cyflawn rad, i wlad y wledd. Ac weithiau i Lan Gathen. Caifffy nghorff yn fy ngorffen Edrych arno ef: hevyd Coffhau'r pridd mewn y coffrpren, Ar y bar yn gadaw'r byd. Yng nghclr eglur mur i mi Ar redeg gorau ydyw, Yn Lian wiw Ddoewan Ddewi. Ar vaen ac ar vwa yw. L.G.C., p. 213. 1 Yng nghlas Mair ddwysair ddiseml, Y pedair camp ar hugain. Yng nghalchfedd diomedd demi, O'r pedair camp ar hugain, deg gwrol gamp y sydd, nid amgen o hyny A'r nef ddwyre lie Ilawen, chwech o rym corff,val hyn : A'r naid i'r enaid. Amen. cryvder, rhedeg, neidiaw, noviaw, ymavael, marchogaeth, a phedwar 2 Owain Fychan of Llanbrynmair was skilled in music. o rym arvau, nid amgen: Brawd yw'n medru tant saethu, chwareu a chledd deuddwm, chwareu a chledd a bwcled, I gyweirdeb a'i gyweirdant. L.G.C., p. 447. chwareu a ffon ddwybig, Rhydderch ap Rhys ap Llywelyn Voethus was a person of great wealth, a deg mabolgamp a sydd, ac o hyny tair helwriaeth, nid amgen: the owner of many mansions. He was well read and well versed in the hela a milgi, hela pysg, hela ederyn. 42 EDUCATION IN WALES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 43 These, then, were the accomplishments of a Welsh The oppressive measures of Henry IV did not drive gentleman : add to them a knowledge of French and the Welsh people to deny their nationhood: that was Latin, and an appreciation of all that was best in Welsh done more effectively by the enticements of the Tudors. literature, then we have the accomplishments of the 1 gentleman scholar. UNIVERSITI ES FOR WALES UNDER GLYN DWR The poet not only recorded these attainments; he was When the Welsh scholar went to Oxford or Cambridge in a measure responsible for stimulating the ruling classes or to the universities on the Continent in search of know­ to maintain the standards ideally portrayed by Einion 2 ledge, he went not as a Welsh-speaking Welshman, but Offeiriad and his school. We have seen how the poet as a scholar, a citizen of the world of scholarship. He and his patron could discuss social, political, and reli­ would belong to one of the 'nations' for government gious topics. In the homes of the gentry, during the purposes, but his language was Latin and the scholastic frequent festivities, in times of prosperity or crises, con­ aims were mainly decided for him by his Mother Church. versation would turn about social, national, and even Yet he never ceased to be a Welshman. To-day a Welsh international affairs. Professor Gruffydd rightly main­ student can acquire his learning most expeditiously by tained that it is not too much to claim that no society had claiming as little as possible for himself as a Welshman, 3 a more cultured ruling class than Wales at this time. and by adopting the standards of the university to which saith teuluaidd o'r mabolgampau sydd, sev ynt: he may be attached. barddoniaeth, canu telyn, darllen Cymraeg, canu cywydd gan dant, Owen Glyn Dwr requested a faculty from Pope Bene­ canu cywydd pedwar ac acenu, portreiaw, herodraeth, pedair o'r campau sydd val hyn: dict XIII to found two universities in Wales, one in the chwareu gwyddbwyll, chwareu tawlbwrdd, chwareu ffristial, cyweir­ north and the other in the south. Had these been founded iaw telyn. 1 Many poets like Ieuan ap Rhydderch had been a� a university. Ieuan it would not have been at all difficult to findteachers for 1 ap Hywel ap Swrdwal had been at Oxford. He died young. them, since the language of scholarship would be Latin. Dig wyf am dewi gofeg Yn pen yn Rhydychen deg. life of WesternEurope, and it is only when we realize this, and the possi­ 2 Even though a pencerdd died, his song was immortal. bility of development as a free nation, that we see the effect of the Tudor Mawr yw'r pwnc, os marw'r pencerdd, policy in Wales in its proper light. For afterwards English culture came Mair a'i gwyr na bydd marw'r gerdd. lolo Goch to LI. Goch. to be regarded as the only kind of culture that was possible, and intelligent 3 Nid gormod maentumio na bu gan unrhyw wlad bendefigaeth fwy Welshmen looked upon Welsh as a mere patois, and upon pre-Tudor diwylliedig nag a oedd gan Gymru yn yr oes hon. Wales as a land of barbarians. 1 Note the findings of the report on We lsh in Education and Life , p.20. Professor T. Parry says that apparently hardly any influence of the The intellectual activity of medieval Wales, under the bardic and outside world is reflected in the works of the bards. One of the most monastic systems, can only be realized by those who are familiar with notable characters in English civilization in the fifteenth century was the contents of our manuscripts of that period, and the transcripts that Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, one of the heralds of the Renaissance in were made later. these islands, a man who collected a good library and who communicated There were treatises in Welsh on theology, philosophy, astrology, constantly with the chief humanists in Italy, and who knew some of them botany, and medicine: there were Welsh versions of Greek and Latin personally. Humphrey was Justice of south and north Wales, and he spent authors, and abundant references to the heroes of classical and romantic a fair amount of time in Wales during the years 1420-45, and one of his epics are to be found in the works of the fifteenth-century bards: there intimate friends was Gruffudd ap Nicholas of Dynevor. Yet, according were translations of the romances that were popular in France and Italy. to Professor Parry, when Gruffudd became patron of the Carmarthen It is no exaggeration to say that Wales participated in the intellectual Eisteddfod in 1450, he did not mention the wonderful treasures which were EDUCATION IN WALES 44 DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 45 The vernacular was not used in the medieval univer­ university ? What interpretation would he have given to sities: French was forbidden in the schools of Paris, and Ap Gwilym's whimsical description of his own funeral ? English at Oxford and Cambridge. It is tempting to An altar such as summer weaves, attempt to picture what would have been the influence Enchancelled in the lattice leaves, of a national university upon the Wales which we have Above a fair mosaic floor: described, that Wales which, in due course, would have And friars that know poesy, welcomed the enthusiasm of the New Learning. What Grey masters of Latinity, would have been the result of the combined influence of Reading from leaf books over me, With grammar right and quantity; foreign and native teachers ? How would an academic And, singing requiems all the day, Dafydd ap Gwilym have inspired his students, and with The unmatch'd organ of the hay, what blend of scholarship and poetic inspiration would And many a tuneful greenwood bell a professor of literature have used the scholarship of the Shall chant o'er me its passing knell.1 discovered in the Latin literature on the Continent or how his friend The spirit of Dafydd ap Gwilym, working a miracle in the Duke was receiving copies of everything new from his friends in Italy. The chief concern of Gruffydd, says Professor Parry, was to rearrange the a medieval Welsh university! But it was not to be. poetic metres and to give prizes for vocal and string music; and as far as 1 culture was concerned, Wales in the fifteenth century was extremely Translated by Professor Gruffydd. conservative in spite of its observance of changes in the world. It con­ fined its interest only within the problems of wretched politics. Professor Parry's statement is somewhat misleading, because we are not told that even in England the conservative element, characteristic of medievalism, prevailed long after Duke Humphrey's day. England was not seriously influenced by the Duke's interest in Latin and Greek cul­ ture. To quote from Lewis Einstein's The Italian Renaissance in England (Macmillan, 1902), 'In the early years of the 15th century when the lowest depths of intellectual torpor had been reached in England, the effects of a single man were to bring a great change, and introduce new rays of light. ' In Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, son of Henry IV, and in the cultivated circle of his friends, the intellectual hopes of his country were centred' (p. 3). 'Duke Humphrey had studied in his youth at Balliol and in after years the devotion he showed his university was to be his noblest trait. Oxford about that time had sunk to her lowest level. Scholasticism was dominant, but her reputation even in those studies was behind that of Paris' (p. 3). 'The fifteenth century was already nearing the end with the new learning in England still in its infancy. Its growth, although slow, had nevertheless been constant during the fifty years before Oxford began to emerge from medievalism. In the face of many difficulties there had been a steady movement in the direction of progress . . .' (p. 29). 'With the work of three Oxford friends, Thomas Linacre, William Grocyn and Thomas Latimer, modem English scholarship really began .. .' (p. 30). It is not surprising that the new learning was outside the scope of the Carmarthen discussions. Is it possible that the author of Cywydd y F6st, himself related to Gruffudd ap Nicholas, had actually met the Duke Humphrey?

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