The Historia Divae Monacellae is the medieval Latin hagiography of Melangell (Latin: Monacella), an early medieval Welsh saint whose cult is centered at St Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell. The Historia chronicles the legendary life of Melangell, a consecrated virgin and hermit in the forest of Powys, and her encounter with a prince who grants her land as a sanctuary after she supernaturally protected a hare from his hunting dogs.
The Historia's authorship is subject to debate, but it was probably composed at some point in the late Middle Ages and was based on previous literature and local folklore. Several manuscripts survive, three of which are complete. Various interpretations of the Historia have been put forth, such as it being written to defend Pennant Melangell's sanctuary rights. Others have analysed the Historia as a cautionary tale for men seeking to harm virgins, or as reflecting the anchoritic tradition.
Synopsis
editA prince of Powys and Earl of Chester named Brochwel Ysgithrog, while on a hunting trip to Pennant in AD 604,[a] was pursuing a hare with his dogs. He came upon a large bramble, in which a virgin was praying with the hare under her hem. Brochwel urged his dogs to catch the hare, but they retreated in fear. He asked the virgin how long she had lived on his land and where she came from, and she replied that she was a princess of an Irish kingdom called Iowchel[b] and had lived there alone as a consecrated virgin for 15 years after fleeing an arranged marriage.[3]
After learning Melangell's background, Brochwel granted her the land she was living on, and declared it a perpetual sanctuary and promised protection from hunters. Melangell lived in solitude at Pennant for another 37 years, and the wild hares were tame to her, even performing intercessory miracles. Brochwel's successors continued to affirm the right of sanctuary at Pennant, and Melangell established virgins in the area. After Melangell's death, someone named Elise attempted to violate the virgins, and died suddenly and wretchedly.[4]
Textual history
editThe Historia is the oldest and most thorough account of Melangell's life and the founding of Pennant Melangell. It is a rare example of a Latin hagiography for a female Welsh saint; Winifred is the only other female Welsh saint attested in pre-Reformation sources with surviving Latin hagiography.[5]
The historian Huw Pryce argues that the story undoubtedly derives from local tradition, and the account of hares performing miracles may reflect popular folklore. The early-15th-century female effigy, possibly depicting Melangell, and the late-15th-century rood screen at St Melangell's Church illustrating Melangell and the hare may be indicative of the legend predating the composition of the Historia. The identification of Melangell's home as Iowchel, mentions of free abbots at Pennant Melangell, and the otherwise-unattested names Tambryd, Curmylk, and Durres claudus suggest that the author had access to local sources and information.[6] Pryce also contends that the author drew on earlier literature, such as the Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth; the character of Brochwel is probably derived from Brochfael, described as the earl of Chester by Geoffrey, and later identified with Brochwel Ysgithrog by Welsh translators of Geoffrey. Pryce also suggests familiarity with Bede due to the appearance of AD 604, and Gerald of Wales due to the identification of Pengwern with Shrewsbury.[7] The historian David Stephenson, building upon Pryce's suggestion that the Historia is derived from an earlier text, identifies the character of Elise as Elise ap Madog, a son of the 12th-century king of Powys Madog ap Maredudd. Elise ap Madog was a prominent figure in late 12th-century and early 13th-century Powys and a benefactor to the Cistercians, who had a reputation for threatening ecclesiastical neighbors' land. Elise ap Madog may have been viewed as a threat by older ecclesiastical foundations in Powys, and the sudden death of Elise in the Historia may be an allegory for Elise ap Madog being stripped of his lands by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth.[8]
Ralegh Radford and W. J. Hemp argued in 1959 that the Historia was mostly written in the 14th or 15th century, and later glossed and added to by antiquarians after the Reformation.[9] According to Pryce, the prose style and references to the College of St Chad in Shrewsbury, which was dissolved in 1548, point to a pre-Reformation date, while the use of the word divus to describe Melangell indicates that it was composed no earlier than the late 15th century.[7] Considering that the author used local sources, the Historia was probably written in Pennant Melangell or somewhere in its vicinity.[10]
Manuscripts
editThe original manuscript has been lost. However, Pryce lists five surviving manuscript copies of the Historia, dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, as well as one 1848 copy of a now-lost 17th-century manuscript. Three of the manuscripts are complete, and the two earliest ones are fragmentary.[11] The text of each transcription of the Historia is slightly different, although it is evident that all surviving versions originate with a single source text. The discrepancies between the manuscripts are not substantive, but probably derive from a combination of scribal error and editorial liberties on the part of the scribes.[12] The various antiquarians associated with each of the manuscripts generally lived in or near Powys, which suggests that the Historia was circulating in the area from at least the late 16th century.[13]
| Manuscript | Date | Scribe | Location | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff 3.11, p.1 | c. 1561–1580 | David Powel | Cardiff Central Library | Incomplete, containing the final third of the text | [14] |
| Harley MS 2059, fo. 111 | Late 16th–early 17th century | Laurence Bostock | British Library | Incomplete due to damage | [15] |
| NLW 3108B, fos. 76–77 | Late 17th century | Thomas Sebastian Price | National Library of Wales | [15] | |
| NLW 1506C, part iii, pp. 38–41 | c. 1700 | Unidentified | National Library of Wales | Copied from Price's manuscript | [11] |
| NLW 1641B i, pp. 63–68 | c. 18th–19th century | Gwallter Mechain | National Library of Wales | [16] | |
| NLW 35B | before 1759 | John Owen | National Library of Wales | Incomplete copy of a transcript by William Morris. Not mentioned in Pryce 1994 | [17] |
Thematic analysis
editWhile the Historia provides no contemporary evidence of Melangell's existence, it provides insight into her highly-localised cult in the Middle Ages, which may have existed for centuries prior to written testimony.[18] Pryce analyses the purpose of the Historia as affirming the sanctuary status of Pennant Melangell. The theme of sanctuary is also found in other medieval Latin Lives, such as those of Cadoc and David, and the right of sanctuary was first defined in Welsh law in the late 12th century. The Historia may have been partially derived from a 13th-century text seeking to defend Welsh churches' right of sanctuary, at a time when local princes were attempting to curb it. Again in the 15th century, Welsh churches were seeking confirmations of their sanctuary rights due to violations by local rulers, and the Historia may have been composed in response to this context. Pryce also suggests that the text was not written to promote Melangell's ecclesiastical cult, as it makes no mention of her relics, but rather in the interests of the lay abbots of Pennant Melangell.[19]
According to Jane Cartwright, a professor at University of Wales Trinity Saint David, a moral lesson of the Historia is that divine retribution awaits those who attempt to violate consecrated virgins. Cartwright also compares the legend of Melangell to that of Winifred and Eluned, as well as other female Welsh saints who were subject to sexual violence while Melangell and her nuns were spared.[20] Cartwright also compares Melangell's hagiography to Welsh legends about Mary Magdalene, both of whom spend long periods as hermits in the woods. In both traditions, men who approach them are struck by their holiness.[21] While Cartwright analyses Melangell as a nun, the historian Liz Herbert McAvoy argues that the Historia reflects the anchoritic tradition and she compares Melangell to Christina of Markyate, an English anchoress who also fled an arranged marriage.[22]
Notes
edit- ^ The identification of this Brochwel with Brochwel Ysgithrog is unlikely to be historical, as with the listings of his successors later in the text. Likewise, the Historia gives a date of 604, but this date is suspect due to its likely origin in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica.[1]
- ^ Iowchel is not a known historical kingdom, but may be an anachronistic reference to Youghal, a town founded in the 13th century in County Cork.[2]
References
edit- ^ Ralegh Radford & Hemp 1959, p. 83
- ^ Pryce 1994, p. 29
- ^ Pryce 1994, pp. 39–40
- ^ Pryce 1994, p. 40
- ^ Pryce 1994, p. 23
- ^ Pryce 1994, pp. 29–30
- ^ a b Pryce 1994, p. 28
- ^ Stephenson 2017, pp. 3–5
- ^ Ralegh Radford & Hemp 1959, p. 82
- ^ Pryce 1994, p. 30
- ^ a b Pryce 1994, pp. 24–25
- ^ Pryce 1994, pp. 25–26
- ^ Pryce 1994, p. 25
- ^ Huws 2022, pp. 559–560
- ^ a b Pryce 1994, p. 24
- ^ Huws 2022, pp. 158–159
- ^ Huws 2022, page number not provided.
- ^ Pryce 1994, pp. 33–34
- ^ Pryce 1994, pp. 31–32
- ^ Cartwright 2002, p. 7
- ^ Cartwright 2013, pp. 59–60
- ^ Herbert McAvoy 2010, p. 211
Bibliography
edit- Cartwright, Jane (2002). "Dead Virgins: Feminine Sanctity in Medieval Wales". Medium Ævum. 71 (1): 1–28. doi:10.2307/43630386. ISSN 0025-8385. JSTOR 43630386.
- Cartwright, Jane (2013). Mary Magdalene and Her Sister Martha: An Edition and Translation of the Medieval Welsh Lives. The Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 9780813221892.
- Herbert McAvoy, Liz (2010). "Anchorites and medieval Wales". Anchoritic Traditions of Medieval Europe. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 195–216. doi:10.1515/9781846157868. ISBN 9781846157868.
- Huws, Daniel (2022). A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes c.800–c.1800. National Library of Wales. ISBN 9781862251212. (offline)
- Pryce, Huw (1994). "A New Edition of Historia Divae Monacellae". Montgomeryshire Collections. 82: 23–40. hdl:10107/1271085.
- Ralegh Radford, C. A.; Hemp, W. J. (1959). "Pennant Melangell: The Church and the Shrine". Archaeologia Cambrensis. 108: 81–113. hdl:10107/4742843.
- Stephenson, David (2017). "A Possible Date for the Origins of the Historia Divae Monacellae". Montgomeryshire Collections. 105: 1–6. ISSN 0144-0071. (offline)
Further reading
edit- Cartwright, Jane (2008). Feminine Sanctity and Spirituality in Medieval Wales. Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages. University of Wales Press. ISBN 9780708319994.