Editing St Davids (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:Men hir (standing stone) near Capel y Santes Non, Tyddewi, Sir Benfro - St Non's Chapel, St Davids, Wales 41.jpg|thumb|The landscape around St Davids is scattered with ancient monuments, such as this [[Menhir]] near St Non's chapel.]]
Although the surrounding landscape is home to a number of [[Palaeolithic]], [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]] sites, documentary<ref>Only one or two names in [[Ptolemy]]'s [[Geographia]] have been linked to the whole county.{{cite web |last1=Merrony |first1=Mark |title=Some Thoughts on the Romanization of Pembrokeshire |url=https://www.pembrokeshirehistoricalsociety.co.uk/thoughts-romanization-pembrokeshire/ |website=Pembrokeshire Historical Society Cymdeithas Hanesyddol Sir Penfro |date=10 November 2019 |access-date=18 July 2022}}</ref> and archaeological evidence suggests that Pembrokeshire was not heavily occupied by the [[Roman people|Romans]]. Following the [[Roman withdrawal from Britain]], the area that would become St Davids was known in [[Ecclesiastical Latin]] as ''Meneva'' or ''Menevia'' and in [[Welsh language|Welsh]] as ''Mynyw''. Some medieval texts state that the area was home to a cell, church or monastery founded by [[Saint Patrick]] around the year 470 AD, years before the birth of Saint David.<ref name="cyclopaedia">{{Cite journal |last=Anon |year=1837 |title=David's, St. |journal=The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge |publisher=Charles Knight and Co. |location=London |volume=7–8 |pages=317 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8dPAAAAMAAJ&q=pilgrimage+to+st+davids&pg=RA1-PA317 |access-date=21 June 2012}}</ref>

===Age of David===
[[File:River Alun-Afon Alun from the footbridge - geograph.org.uk - 1502526.jpg |thumb|The [[River Alun, Pembrokeshire|Afon Alun]] in modern times, where Saint David founded his church and monastery]]
David is said to have been born to [[Saint Non]] around 500 AD, at the place where the [[Chapel of St Non]] now stands. He was baptised by [[Ailbe of Emly|Saint Elvis]] at [[Porthclais]], and was brought up by his mother at [[Llanon]]. He may also have been educated at the [[Whitesands Bay (Pembrokeshire)|"Ty Gwyn"]], Whitesands by [[Paul Aurelian|Saint Paulinus]]. David is thought to have founded an earlier community somewhere to the west of modern St Davids, before establishing a new church and [[Monastery of Saint David, Wales|monastery]] at a place then known as "Glyn Rhosyn" on the banks of the [[River Alun, Pembrokeshire|Afon Alun]] (where the current Cathedral now stands).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sucs.org/~rhys/stdavid.html |title=Saint David and Saint David's Day |last=Jones |first=Rhys James |date=28 February 1994 |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607024933/http://sucs.org/~rhys/stdavid.html |archive-date=7 June 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During his life, David gained great fame throughout the [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic church]] and was a key figure in the fight against the [[Pelagianism|Pelagian Heresy]]. At the [[Synod of Brefi]] in 545 AD, Saint [[Dubricius]] (who held two Bishoprics, Caerleon and [[Bishop of Llandaff|Llandaff]]) is said to have freely given David the ancient [[Metropolitan See]] of Caerleon.<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle= St. David |volume= 4 |last= Toke |first= Leslie Alexander St. Lawrence |author-link= |short=1}}</ref> It is also implied that in transferring the See from Caerleon, David also transferred an important royal court. The [[Welsh Triads]] name "Mynyw" as the seat of "one of the three Tribal Thrones of the island of Britain" (the other courts being [[Celliwig]] and [[Pen Rhionydd]]). The entry states that the court had [[King Arthur|Arthur]] as Chief Prince, "Dewi" as the Chief Bishop, and "[[Maelgwn Gwynedd]]" as Chief Elder.<ref>Rachel Bromwich (editor and translator), ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads'', second edition (Cardiff: University of Wales, 1978), Triad 1.</ref> Indeed, [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] would describe David as "The pious archbishop of Legions, at the city of Menevia" (Caerleon's name in both Welsh and Latin means "The city of Legions").<ref name=Toke>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05179a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Dubric|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

=== Medieval pilgrim site ===
The monastery would become known as ''Tyddewi'' (House of David) and was a famous centre of [[pilgrimage]] early in its history, attracting both foreign pilgrims of status and numerous [[Viking]] attacks by the ninth century. Its scholastic community was also famous throughout the Celtic world and in [[Anglo-Saxon England]]. When [[Alfred the Great]] wanted to establish a centre of learning at his court, he requested [[Asserius Menevensis]], (Asser of St Davids) to join them. At that time, Asser had lived all his life at St Davids, being raised, [[tonsure]]d, trained and ordained there. Yet Alfred's desire to secure his service was such that he acquiesced to a number of delays and requests before finally agreeing that Asser could split his time between Alfred's court and St David's.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Asser |first1=John |title=Alfred the Great : Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources |date=2004 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=9780141909424}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Keynes & Lapidge |title=Alfred the Great |pages=93–94}}</ref>

The cult of Saint David was actively encouraged by the cathedral's pre-Norman Bishops, especially [[Sulien]] and [[Rhygyfarch|Rhigyfarch]], who would write ''Vita sancti Davidis episcopi'', the standard [[Hagiography|Vita]] of the saint.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howlett |first1=David |editor1-last=Gameson |editor1-first=Richard |title='Rhygyfarch ap Sulien and Ieuan ap Sulien', in [[The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain]], Volume 1: c. 400-1100 |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=701–706}}</ref>

[[File:Speed St David's insert.jpg|thumb|St Davids depicted on Speed's 1610 map of Wales]]
As the [[Normans advanced into Pembrokeshire]], the city became a [[Welsh Marches|marcher]] borough, and the new [[hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] was named "[[Dewisland]]". The cathedral was rebuilt during the Norman era and much of the earliest sections that are still extant, date back to the twelfth century. However, it is thought that this cathedral would have followed the layout of medieval structure and it continued to host its many ancient relics, including the remains of David.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Driver |first1=Toby |title=Pembrokeshire : historic landscapes from the air |date=2008 |publisher=Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru/Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales |location=Aberystwyth |isbn=9781871184334 |edition=Rev |chapter=4 |quote=The westernmost peninsula of Pembrokeshire is dominated by the city and cathedral close of St Davids, spiritual home of the patron saint of Wales, which has stood as a place of religious sanctity and pilgrimage for well over a millennium. In medieval times it was said that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equal to one to Rome. The site of St David's original early Christian community, thought to have lain west of the city, has long been lost to history and archaeology and has passed into the realms of legend. This early community was short-lived, however, and was soon moved inland to the banks of the River Alun where the cathedral stands today. By the ninth century St Davids or Menevia was a famous Welsh monastery and a cult centre for followers of the famous saint. While the earliest sections of the cathedral date back only to the twelfth century, it is thought likely that the layout of the medieval cathedral close wall may have followed the line of the pre-existing religious enclosure.}}</ref>

At its height, the city was visited by many [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrims]], including noblemen and kings such as [[William the Conqueror]] in 1081,<ref>{{cite book|first=David |last=Walker|title=Medieval Wales|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=1990|url=https://www-cambridge-org/core/books/medieval-wales/normans-in-wales/B63F038627BD6C8C6826A33A1573DC76|url-access=subscription|p=24}}</ref> [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] in 1171, and [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] and [[Eleanor of Castile|Queen Eleanor]] in 1284.<ref name="cyclopaedia" /> [[Pope Calixtus II]] decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to [[Rome]] ("''Roma semel quantum dat bis Menevia tantum''"). The monastery became a Cathedral in the twelfth Century.<ref name=day /> This allowed a vast income to be raised from visiting pilgrims in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name=day>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927230659/http://www.history.uk.com/history/st-davids-day-pembrokeshire-st-davi/|title=St David's day, Pembrokeshire |archive-date=2011-09-27|url=http://www.history.uk.com/history/st-davids-day-pembrokeshire-st-davi/|website=History.UK.com|date = 16 February 2003|access-date=18 May 2025}}</ref>

===Decline===
The [[Reformation]] saw both the income and importance of St Davids begin to fade as pilgrimages fell out of favour; this was exacerbated by the appointment of a number of English Bishops who were seemingly less concerned with the welfare of the cathedral or the city. Perhaps most infamously, [[Bishop of St David's|Bishop]] [[William Barlow (bishop of Chichester)|William Barlow]] sold the lead from the roof of the Bishop's Palace in 1536, beginning a long period of neglect for St Davids.<ref>{{cite book |author=Boden, Anthony |title=Thomas Tomkins: the last Elizabethan |publisher=Ashgate Pub. Co |location=Aldershot |year=2005 |pages=18 |isbn=0-7546-5118-5}}</ref>

Barlow had the Bishop's chief residence moved to [[Abergwili]], [[Carmarthenshire]] in 1542 and St Davids continued to decline. In 1603, the antiquarian [[George Owen of Henllys|George Owen]] described the city as one of five Pembrokeshire boroughs overseen by a [[portreeve]].<ref>George Owen, ''The Description of Penbrokshire by George Owen of Henllys Lord of Kemes'', Henry Owen, ed., London, 1892.</ref> The seventeenth century, saw two separate bishops apply for licences to demolish some of the city's ancient buildings, and the Bishop's palace was now considered "beyond repair".<ref>{{Coflein|num=21633 |desc=St Davids Bishops Palace |date=2008-10-27 |access-date=2013-05-18}}</ref>

By the 19th century, only the Cathedral itself seemed to retain the city's former glory, as described in the ''[[Penny Cyclopaedia]]'':<ref name="cyclopaedia"/>
<blockquote>
At present its appearance is that of a poor village, the houses, excepting those of the clergy, being in a ruinous state. The locality is lonely, and the neighbouring district wild and unimproved; but it is still an interesting place as the seat of a large episcopal see, with a fine cathedral and the remains of other magnificent religious edifices.
</blockquote>

===Modern city===
[[File:St Davids 1971 - geograph.org.uk - 2806125.jpg|thumb|Cross Square, St Davids in 1971]]
The unique nature of the cathedral and the city was evident as late as the twentieth century. Following the [[disestablishment]] of the [[Church in Wales]] in 1920, the Cathedral Close was allowed to operate as its own civil parish, separate from that of the adjacent city for the next 50 years.

With better transport links and the advent of tourism, the city prospered once more in the later twentieth century, with the city's 210 [[listed building]]s making it a destination for walkers, tourists and modern pilgrims.<ref name="britishlistedbuildings.co.uk">{{Cite web|title=British Listed Buildings: St David's and the Cathedral Close|url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wales/st-davids-and-the-cathedral-close-pembrokeshire#.YDeFTHf7SqA|access-date=25 February 2021}}</ref> Many of the ancient buildings, including the [[St Davids Bishops Palace|Bishop's Palace]], are today maintained by [[Cadw]] and open to the public.<ref>{{cite web |title=St Davids Bishop's Palace |url=https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/st-davids-bishops-palace |access-date=8 August 2022}}</ref>