Saint Tysilio | |
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 | |
| Bishop | |
| Born | Late 6th century Powys, Wales |
| Died | 640 what is now Saint-Suliac, Brittany |
| Venerated in | Anglican Communion Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church |
| Canonized | Pre-congregation |
| Major shrine | Fons Tysilio holy well at Guilsfield |
| Feast | 8 November |
Saint Tysilio (also known as/confused with Saint Suliac; Latin : Tysilius, Suliacus; died 640 AD) was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar.
The 12th century poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr wrote "An Ode to Tysilio". [1] There is a genealogy of Tysilio in the Bonedd y Saint, and he is mentioned in the 14th century vita of Saint Beuno.
Although there is no extent vita of Tysilio, apparently in the 15th century some Breton clerics used details from the life of Tysilio to construct a legenda for their own Saint Suliac. [2] Thus, they indirectly preserved some information regarding Tysilio (and also caused some confusion between the two). [3]
"Suliau" has been used an alternate variation for Tysilio and has sometimes led to his being confused with the Cornish saint Sulien.
Tyslio was the second son of the reigning King of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, [4] and the maternal nephew of the great Abbot Dunod of Bangor Iscoed. He took part in the affairs of Wales during the distressful period at the opening of the 7th century.
Tysilio probably started his career in Trallwng Llywelyn (Welshpool) and afterwards took up residence in Meifod where he studied under Gwyddfarch. [5]
Around 630, Tysilio moved to an island in the Menai Strait, (now called Ynys Tysilio, where he established a hermitage, [4] and preached throughout Ynys Môn for the next seven years. He then returned to Meifod, where he talked the aging abbot out of making a pilgrimage to Rome. [6] Eventually, Tysilio succeeded Gwyddfarch as abbot. [7]
King Brochwel, who was fond of hunting, spent his summers in the Vale of Meifod. On his visits to Mathrafal, he often visited the shrine of Saint Gwyddfarch. Brochwel bestowed the bishopric of that part of his kingdom on his son, Tysilio.
He founded the second church in Meifod—the Eglwys Tysilio. His feast day, or gwyl-mabsant, was 8 November which was also the date of the patronal festival and "wakes" in the nearby parish of Guilsfield, where a holy well was dedicated to him—the Fons Tysilio.
Tysilio is traditionally said to be the original author of the Brut Tysilio, a variant of the Welsh chronicle Brut y Brenhinedd , [8] although Brynley F. Roberts has demonstrated that the Brut Tysilio originated around 1500 as an "amalgam" of earlier versions of the Brut y Brenhinedd, which itself derives from Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. [8]
Today Tysilio's name is remembered in several church and place names in Wales, including Llandysilio in Powys, [4] Llandissilio in Pembrokeshire, Llandysiliogogo in Ceredigion and Llantysilio in Denbighshire with Llantysilio Hall, a Grade II listed building.
It appears in the longest place name in the United Kingdom, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch , part of which (shown bold here) means "the Church of St. Tysilio". That name, however, is a late 19th-century invention for the burgeoning tourist industry in the area. [9]
Afallach is a man's name found in several medieval Welsh genealogies, where he is made the son of Beli Mawr. According to a medieval Welsh triad, Afallach was the father of the goddess Modron. The Welsh redactions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Brut y Brenhinedd, associate him with Ynys Afallach, which is substituted as the Welsh name for Geoffrey's Insula Avalonsis, but this is fanciful medieval etymology and it is more likely his name derives from the Welsh word afall "apple tree" ; from which, granted, the name of Avalon is also often thought to derive, so that the meaning of "Afallach" is associated but not necessarily directly. In the tale of Urien and Modron he is referred to by his daughter as the King of Annwn, therefore he may originally been cognate with Arawn or Gwyn or perhaps all three were once regional variants of the same Deity.
Nennius is a mythical prince of Britain at the time of Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain. His story appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136), a work whose contents are now considered largely fictional. In Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey's Historia he was called Nynniaw.
Meifod, formerly also written Meivod, is a small village, community and electoral ward seven miles (11 km) north-west of Welshpool in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales, on the A495 road and located in the valley of the River Vyrnwy. The River Banwy has a confluence with the Vyrnwy approximately two miles (3.2 km) to the west of the village. The village itself had a population of 317. The community includes the village of Bwlch-y-cibau and the hamlet of Allt-y-Main.
The Diocese of Saint Asaph is a diocese of the Church in Wales in north-east Wales, named after Saint Asaph, its second bishop.
Brochwel son of Cyngen, better known as Brochwel Ysgithrog, was a king of Powys in eastern Wales. The unusual epithet Ysgithrog has been translated as "of the canine teeth", "the fanged" or "of the tusk".
The Battle of Chester was a major victory for the Anglo-Saxons over the native Britons near the city of Chester, England in the early 7th century. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated a combined force from the Welsh kingdoms of Powys and Rhôs, and possibly from Mercia as well. It resulted in the deaths of Welsh leaders Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys and Cadwal Crysban of Rhôs. Circumstantial evidence suggests that King Iago of Gwynedd may have also been killed. Other sources state the battle may have been in 613 or even as early as 607 or 605 AD.
Church Island, also known as Llandysilio Island, is a small island in the Menai Strait on the shores of Anglesey to which it is attached by a short causeway that is reachable only on foot. The dominant feature of the island is with St Tysilio's Church, constructed in the 15th century, its churchyard, and a grade-II listed war memorial. The 20th-century bard Cynan is among several notable people buried in the churchyard. The Anglesey Coastal Path passes the head of the causeway.
Llan and its variants are a common element of Celtic placenames in the British Isles and Brittany, especially of Welsh toponymy. In Welsh the name of a local saint or a geomorphological description follows the Llan morpheme to form a single word: for example Llanfair is the parish or settlement around the church of St. Mair. Goidelic toponyms end in -lann.
Brenhinoedd y Saeson is the medieval title of a Middle Welsh annalistic chronicle. The name means 'the kings of the English'.
Llandysilio is a small village and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales.
Brynley Francis Roberts, known as Bryn Roberts, was a Welsh scholar and critic, who wrote significantly on the Welsh language and Celtic history. He was Professor of Welsh Language and Literature at the University of Wales, Swansea 1978–1985 and Librarian of the National Library of Wales in 1985–1994, then made editor of the Dictionary of Welsh Biography in 1987 and of Y Traethodydd in 1999. He was on the council of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion and involved in the Morfa Chapel, Aberystwyth, part of the Presbyterian Church of Wales. In 2011, he was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Brut y Brenhinedd is a collection of variant Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. About 60 versions survive, with the earliest dating to the mid-13th century. Adaptations of Geoffrey's Historia were extremely popular throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages, but the Brut proved especially influential in medieval Wales, where it was largely regarded as an accurate account of the early history of the Celtic Britons.
Lludd and Llefelys is a Middle Welsh prose tale written down in the 12th or 13th century; it was included in the Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century. It tells of the Welsh hero Lludd Llaw Eraint, best known as King Lud son of Heli in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and his brother Llefelys.
Walter of Oxford was a cleric and writer. He served as archdeacon of Oxford in the 12th century. Walter was a friend of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who claimed he got his chief source for the Historia Regum Britanniae from him.
Guilsfield is a village and local government community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. It lies beside Guilsfield Brook about three miles north of Welshpool. It is located on the B4392 road and a disused branch of the Montgomery Canal starts nearby. The community has an area of 30.01 km2 (11.59 sq mi) and had a population of 1,640 in 2001. rising to 1,727 in 2011. The community includes the villages of Burgedin and Groes-lwyd. The village itself had a population of about 1,220.
Bryneglwys is a village and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The village lies to the northeast of Corwen on a hill above a small river, Afon Morwynion, and is situated in the ancient commote of Iâl (Yale). The community covers an area of 9.45 square miles (24.5 km2) and extends to the top of Llantysilio Mountain. It had a population of 369 at the time of the 2011 census, an increase from 344 during the 2001 census.
Saint Aelhaiarn or Aelhaearn was a Welsh confessor and saint of the British Church. He was a disciple of Saint Beuno. His feast day was usually observed on 2 November, although it is sometimes recorded as the 1st and is no longer observed by either the Anglican or Catholic church in Wales.
St Tysilio's Church is a medieval church in the village of Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales. The current building dates from the early 15th century and underwent renovations in the 19th century. It was designated as a Grade II* listed building on 14 February 1967.
Gwyddfarch was a hermit and founder of a Celtic abbey at Meifod in Wales.
The Church of St Tysilio and St Mary is an active parish church in the village of Meifod, Powys, Wales. The village lies seven miles (11 km) north-west of Welshpool. The site has been a centre of Welsh Christianity since c.500 and the present, unusually large, churchyard forms part of what was an early clas settlement. The origins of the present church are of the 12th century. The dedications are to Tysilio and to Mary, mother of Jesus. Tysilio was a 6th/7th century Welsh noble and Bishop of St Asaph who reputedly founded an early church, the Eglwys Tysilio, at Meifod. The church is a Grade I listed building. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) considers Ss Tysilio and St Mary, "a display of Welsh Christianity through the centuries".
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