Welsh Journals

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES IN GLAMORGAN1 THE chapter-house of Margam Abbey, with its exquisitely foliated capitals and delicately arched ribs, was one of the superlative architectural achievements of the religious orders in medieval Wales. On 20 June 1536, it was the scene of the first step in transferring the Glamorgan monasteries to the possession of the Crown. A group of half a dozen men-an auditor, a receiver, and a clerk, together with two or three of the local gentry-were bringing to an end some four hundred years of monastic history in Glamorgan. Not much greater a span of time separates us from the dissolvers than separated them from the founders. As far as is known, this ending of what had been an auspicious chapter in Glamorgan's religious history caused no upheaval or serious protest. There is no surviving record that a voice was raised, or a hand lifted, on behalf of these once influential houses. Indeed, if the reactions of the leading Glamorgan poet are at all typical, there were some who rejoiced at seeing the monasteries go. This poet, Lewis Morgannwg, had once extolled the virtues of Neath Abbey in the most mellifluous verses. After the Dissolution, however, he hailed Henry VIII as a 'prince ever to be remembered' for his masterly handling of the religious issue and especially for his suppression of the 'false religious orders'. It might, at first sight, seem all very odd and puzzling that the monks could at this time command so little support and loyalty from a laity to whose forebears the houses of religion had meant so much. It was certainly not for lack of sympathy with traditional ways; for when a popular shrine like that of the B.V.M. at Pen-rhys was to be destroyed, serious trouble was expected,3 and later in the century Glamorgan produced more than its share of Catholic recusants.4 Yet the monasteries, as far as can be judged, found no such stalwart supporters. 1 The substance of this article was delivered as a lecture at Port Talbot in October 1965 in memory of my young colleague, William Greenway, who died at the tragically early age of 28. The last piece of research on which he was engaged was a history of the medieval church in Glamorgan, which we were to have written jointly. Some of the results of my share of that work, in which I was so sadly deprived of his collaboration, were embodied in the lecture. 8 See Glanmor Williams, The Welsh Church from Conquest to Reformation (1962). PP. 393-4. 545-6. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII-hereinafter referred to as L. and P. (23 vols., R. P.. London, 1862-1932). XIII. ii. 345. 4 For details, see F. H. Pugh, 'Glamorgan Recusants. 1577-1611', S. Wales and Mon. Rec. Soc.. Ill (1954). 49-67.