Caradoc of Llancarfan ( Welsh: ''Caradog o Lancarfan'') was a Welsh cleric and author associated with Llancarfan in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in the 12th century. He is generally seen as the author of a ''Life of

Gildas Gildas (English pronunciation: , Breton language, Breton: ''Gweltaz''; ) — also known as Gildas Badonicus, Gildas fab Caw (in Middle Welsh texts and antiquarian works) and ''Gildas Sapiens'' (Gildas the Wise) — was a 6th-century Britons (h ...

'' and a ''Life of Saint Cadog'', in

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Dates and ascriptions

Caradoc was a contemporary of

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

, author of the ''

Historia Regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

'', at the end of which he refers to Caradoc as writing a continuation to cover the period from 689 to his own time. This must be the chronicle '' Brut y Tywysogion'', although no extant medieval copy mentions Caradoc as its author. The date of the ''Life of Gildas'' is estimated at 1130–1150. Its author shows familiarity with the abbey at

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, which has been taken as suggesting that he may have relocated there from Llancarfan. Caradoc's version of the ''Life of Saint Cadog'' (Cadog being the founder of the ''clas'' at Llancarfan) is included in a manuscript held at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, along with the ''Life of Gildas'', at the end of which the author identifies himself, in a Latin

couplet In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...

, as also being the author of the second ''Life''. The life of Cadog includes

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

as a major character. The 16th-century Welsh antiquary David Powel claimed his '' Historie of Cambria'' as a continuation of this chronicle. At the end of the 18th century, Iolo Morganwg wrote what he claimed was Caradoc's lost chronicle, ''Brut Aberpergwm''. Published in '' The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales'', this became one of the most best known of Iolo's numerous literary and antiquarian forgeries, which give the Morgannwg (

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

) a central place in early and medieval Welsh history. J. S. P. Tatlock, in a 1938 article, throws doubt on the accounts of Caradoc of Llancarfan by T. F. Tout in the original ''The Dictionary of National Biography'', and by Sir

John Edward Lloyd Sir John Edward Lloyd (5 May 1861 – 20 June 1947) was a Welsh historian. Early life and eduction John Edward Lloyd was born in Liverpool on 5 May 1861. He was educated in the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (which later become ...

in the ''

Dictionary of Welsh Biography The ''Dictionary of Welsh Biography'' (DWB) (also ''The Dictionary of Welsh Biography Down to 1940'' and ''The Dictionary of Welsh Biography, 1941 to 1970'') is a biographical dictionary of Welsh people who have made a significant contribution to ...

'', saying that "even the late Professor Tout devotes most of his account... to statements certainly groundless, uses worthless authorities, and ignores or distorts the implications of what is reliably known."

References

Bibliography

* *Hugh Williams, translator, ''Two Lives of Gildas by a monk of Ruys and Caradoc of Llancarfan'', first published in Cymmrodorion Record Series, 1899. Facsimile reprint by Llanerch Publishers, Felinfach, 1990 {{Authority control 12th-century deaths 12th-century writers in Latin Writers of Arthurian literature Christian hagiographers Year of birth unknown 12th-century Welsh writers