LLANDAFF, ANCIENT SEE OF

Llandaff, Ancient See of, one of the four ancient Welsh dioceses, near Cardiff, Wales. Like other ancient churches of wales, Llandaff was founded by the missionary activity of Celtic monks of the 5th and 6th centuries. St. Oudoceus (d. c. 590), to whom with SS. Dubricius and Teilo the church was originally dedicated, is believed to have founded Llandaff. Though doubts have been expressed whether it was the seat of the pre-Norman bishops of Morgannwg (modern Glamorgan), there is good reason for thinking it an ancient foundation. But its early history is as much confused as illuminated by Liber Landavensis, a 12th-century compilation containing authentic material that purports to tell the history of the diocese but is perhaps chiefly concerned with validating the territorial and other claims of its post-Norman bishops. After the Norman Conquest Llandaff's boundaries were determined, not without bitter controversies, and covered most of the modern counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Cathedral dignitaries and capitular organization, archdeaconries, rural deaneries, parish boundaries, and Roman discipline were introduced at the same time. Urban of Llandaff (1107–33), first builder of the cathedral, was the first Welsh bishop to take the oath of canonical obedience to Canterbury. The fortunes of the see were closely controlled by the lords of Glamorgan until 1290, when Edward I asserted royal rights over it. Tension was created in the 14th century by conflict between the claims of the pope, who succeeded in providing many bishops, and those of the king and the almost invariably royal nominees. Much damaged during the Glyn Dwr Rebellion (1400–10), the see remained in poverty-stricken condition during the 15th century. It was valued at £144 in Valor Ecclesiasticus, but suffered heavy losses of its possessions under Bp. Anthony Kitchen (1545–63), the only Marian bishop to accept the Elizabethan settlement. Today Llandaff, as well as the Dioceses of Monmouth and Swanseand-Brecon, which were formed from it, is one of the six dioceses of the Church of Wales (see also st. asaph; st. davids).

Bibliography: A. Bibliography of the History of Wales (2d ed. Cardiff 1962). j. c. davies, Episcopal Acts Relating to Welsh Dioceses, 1066–1272, 2 v. (Cardiff 1946–48). e. t. davies, ed. The Story of the Church in Glamorgan, 560–1960 (London 1962). c. brooke, "The Archbishops of St. Davids, Llandaff and Caerleon–on–Isk," Studies in the Early British Church, ed. n. chadwick (Cambridge, England 1958) 201–242. g. williams, The Welsh Church from Conquest to Reformation (Cardiff 1962).

[g. williams]