ARWYSTLI

(d. 1185)

1 St Michael's church, Trefeglwys

Notification [that he has received] under his protection the monasterium founded in the township called Trefeglwys to the honour of God and St Michael [and all the land called] Bryn Bedwyn, with the consent and gift of the heirs, namely Ednyfed, Iago and Bleddrws, from the ditch of the cemetery to the Gleiniant, and in addition from his own patrimony [the land of Tregymer] from the cross as far as the Gleiniant and Maes Ysgor-fawr near Nant Carno, free of all claim and without render as a refuge for all who have fled to the aforesaid church or to places pertaining to it. May whoever violates the refuge of the aforesaid church incur the wrath of God and all the saints. Witnesses.

[1143 × 1151]

B = Cardiff County and City Library MS 3.11, pp. 3–4 (incomplete). s. xvi.

C = Oxford, Bodleian Library, Dugdale MS 39, fo. 100v (incomplete). c.1583.

Pd. from B, Pryce, 'Church of Trefeglwys', 52–3 (and trans.); from a Wynnstay MS dated 1640 destroyed in 1858, Williams, 'Wynnstay MSS.', 331.

Cd., H, no. 2.

Heuel rex Arguestli omnibus filiis sancte ecclesie tam modernis quam futuris salutem. Notum sit vobis omnibus [quod ego] monasterium constitutum in villa que dicitur Trefeglus ad honorem Dei et Sancti Mich(ael)is [et totam terram que vocatur] Bren Betguin, ex consensu et dono heredum, scilicet Idneuet, Iaco, Bledrus, a fossa cimiterii usque ad Gelmant, et insuper de feodo meo proprio [terram de Trefgymer] a cruce usque ad Gelmant et Maes Scoruaur iuxta Nant Carno, in mea defensione [suscepi] absque omni calumpnia libere et quiete sine redditu ad refugium omnibus quicunque confugerint ad predictam ecclesiam vel ad loca pertinentia ad eam. Et quicunque predicte ecclesie refugium violaverit iram Dei et omnium sanctorum incurrat. His testibus scilicet: Catel rege Sudgualie etc.

The conjectural readings are mostly those of Pryce, 'Church of Trefeglwys', which provides a full discussion of this charter and argues (at 28–33) that the early modern copies, though abbreviated, derive from an authentic document issued on behalf of Hywel ab Ieuaf.

The dating limits are set by the presence in the witness list of Cadell ap Gruffudd, king of Deheubarth from 1143 but probably incapacitated after he was badly injured by Normans from Tenby in 1151 (BT, Pen20Tr, 58; BT, RBH, 130–3; HW, ii. 502–3). The Peniarth 20 version of the Brut says that Cadell set off on his pilgrimage 'around the calends of winter', i.e. 1 November; Annales Cambriae assign the pilgrimage to 1157=1156, after the death of Maredudd in 1155 (BT, Pen20Tr, 178; AC, 46). For the