Stained_Glass_kneeling_abbess_at_Llanllugan_church

Llanllugan Abbey was a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Cistercian nuns Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order of the Catholic Church. History The Cistercian Order was initially a male order. Cistercian female monasteries began to appear by 1125. The first Cistercian monastery ...

located at Llanllugan,

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Wales. It was one of only two Cistercian women's monasteries in Wales. Maredudd ap Rhobert, Lord of

Cedewain Cedewain (or Cydewain) was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys. It possibly consisted of the commotes (''cymydau'') of Cynan, Hafren and Uwch Hanes. Other sources give the commotes as Cedewain, Eginlle and Ceri. It lay at the south of the ...

, issued an early charter to Llanllugan nunnery probably in the early thirteenth century. The charter provided the nuns with their core estates in the township of Llanllugan between the two streams of the Rhiw. The abbey's other estates include Hydan grange in Castle Caereinion and Cowney in Llangadfan. Llanllugan also received income from appropriated churches: the rectory of

Llanfair Caereinion Llanfair Caereinion () is a market town and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales upon the River Banwy (also known as the River Einion), around 8 miles west of Welshpool. In 2011 the ward had a population of 1,810; the town itself had a p ...

was granted by Bishop Hugh of

St Asaph St Asaph (; "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population ...

in 1239 and Llanllwchairan by Bishop Anian of St Asaph in 1263. It was founded as a dependency of the Cistercian

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s at the Abbey of

Strata Marcella The Abbey of Strata Marcella () was a medieval Cistercian monastery situated at Ystrad Marchell (''Strata Marcella'' being the Latinised form of the Welsh name) on the west bank of the River Severn near Welshpool, Powys, Wales. Founding The ab ...

. The Princes of Wales founded a number of Cistercian monasteries in that period, which were independent of the ones founded in

Norman England The territory today known as England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk have indicated.; "Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk" (2014). B ...

. As a result, these houses were nominally allied with the native Welsh nobility. The abbey is famous in

Welsh literature Welsh literature is any literature originating from Wales or by Welsh writers: *Welsh-language literature Welsh-language literature () has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in a ...

from a poem by the leading poet

Dafydd ap Gwilym Dafydd ap Gwilym ( 1315/1320 – 1350/1370) is regarded as one of the leading Welsh poets and among the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages. Dafydd’s poetry also offers a unique window into the transcultural movement of cultural pract ...

entitled ''Cyrchu Lleian'' ().Rachel Bromwich, ''Selected Poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym'', Penguin, 1985, , p 53 In the poem, Dafydd implores his anonymous messenger to travel to "proud Llanllugan" and entice one of the nuns from the convent to the forest grove. It has been suggested that the abbey was small: only four nuns and an abbess were recorded in 1377. Dafydd's poem (written before the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

) suggests there were some 60 nuns at that time; however, that figure should be taken as poetic license, as the two Welsh communities of Cistercian nuns rarely seem to have had more than a dozen members each. The former monastery church survives as the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of Llanllugan. However, the site of the abbey buildings remains uncertain: they might have been in a meadow 200 metres to the south of the church.

Notes

External links

*CPAT "Montgomeryshire Churches Survey

{{coord, 52.61064, N, 3.39294, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Cistercian nunneries in Wales History of Powys Grade II* listed churches in Powys Catholic Church in Wales Christian monasteries in Wales Christian monasteries established in the 1180s 12th-century establishments in Wales