Welsh Journals

The Last Days of Margam Abbey Glanmor Williams In the year 1997 we commemorate the 850th anniversary of the founding of Margam Abbey in 1147. If you were asked what sort of mental picture you have of the abbey in medieval times, your answer might very well go something like this. That you like to think of it as a cluster of beautiful buildings housing a company of men dedicated wholly to the religious life. A shining beacon in an atmosphere that was often dark and dangerous. A power-house of worship and spirituality in a world commonly barbaric and warlike. A notable cradle of learning and study, devoted to the compilation and preservation of manuscripts of great importance to mankind. Furthermore, you might go on to say that it was a place which combined all this religious and cultural devotion with outstanding economic and social leadership and example. That its monks were illustrious pioneers in advanced agriculture and high-grade wool production. That they even led the way in early industry, in iron and coal production. That they were patrons of some of the finest architecture seen anywhere in South Wales. That they set a conspicuous example in providing hospitality and accommodation for travellers and pilgrims, offered medical attention for the sick and infirm, and charity for the poor and needy. In short, that Margam was a microcosm of all that was best in the Cistercian ideal.1 And, of course, if you said all this, you would be right; for much of the course of its history, Margam was like that. But pause there for a moment to consider the implications of this short extract from a letter written to the pope: 'Margam Abbey is utterly destroyed, so that its abbot and monks are obliged to wander around like so many vagabonds'. What do you make of that? You may possibly guess that this letter comes from the year 1536, when King Henry VIII dissolved Margam along with many other monasteries. But it doesn't; it is to be dated over one hundred and twenty years earlier and belongs to the year 1412.2 The truth is that