Welsh Journals

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THE MONASTIC ECONOMY OF THE CISTERCIANS AT STRATA FLORIDA.! (MAP I. 6.) IT has frequently been asserted that the Cistercian Order found great favour among the Welsh people by the manner in which it interested itself in their social and political aspirations. Not one of the Houses in Wales could rival Strata Florida in this respect. Nearly all the abbots have Welsh names and it was the burial place of most of the native princes of South Wales. This House was punished severely by Edward I for harbouring the rebellious Welsh chieftains during his campaigns in North Wales. On the literary side, too, Strata Florida demonstrated its Welsh patriotism by compiling Brut y Tywysogion and part of the Annales Cambriae. In view of this general interest in Welsh affairs it is significant that, as yet, little attention has been given to the manner in which the Cistercian monks integrated the economy of their monasteries with that of the Welsh pastoral communities of the Middle Ages. The traditional economy of the Welsh peasantry is clearly outlined in the Welsh Laws. It was a transhumant pastoral economy in the first instance, in which the farmers together with their families and flocks and herds migrated seasonally from the Hendre or lowlying settlement in winter to the Hafod or summer dwelling on the upper hill-slopes in summer time. An economy of this character still exists in many mountainous parts of Europe and, indeed, when we consider the tacking of sheep at the present time in Wales we are undoubtedly considering one aspect, at least, of the survival of this economy into our own time, although the shepherd himself and his family have long since remained settled in one spot. The medieval records of Strata Florida show that it was well endowed with lands at the hands of the Welsh Princes. These lands are widely scattered and are found in the counties of Cardigan, Brecon, Carmarthen, Montgomery, and Radnor (see Map I. 6). The actual properties themselves are referred to as granges. They were large estates made up of a number of contiguous tenements grouped together and separated from other granges by well defined boundaries. They were of very unequal size and the lands which composed them were also, apparently, of very unequal agricultural value. Some granges were mountainous and incapable of cultivation-fit only for sheep, 1An address given at Strata Florida, 26 June 1948.