Welsh Journals

THE CULT OF THOMAS BECKET AND THE WELSH MARCHES R. W. D. FENN The Brut y Tywysogydn, seldom given to enthusiastic comment, recorded for its Welsh readers the death of Thomas Becket in 1170 as one of 'a man of great piety and saintliness and righteousness.' This is almost extravagant language for the Brut, but it was an enthusiasm shared by Christendom at large. Thomas was canonized in 1173 and the first church built in his honour was consecrated in 1178. "Nothing is more striking than the almost instantaneous birth of the cult of St. Thomas. And the cult grew and prospered: antiphons were composed and sung in his honour: miracles in plenty were attributed to him, and representations of him appear in every medium, in every European country, in every age until the Reformation, when the Protestant iconoclasts, especially in England, did what they could to obliterate his memory."1 It is difficult, however, to measure the popularity of Becket's cult in Wales and the Marches. Dedications are often uncertain, for in 1538 Henry VIII proclaimed that Becket's death was 'untruely called martyrdom' and that there appeared 'nothing in his life whereby he shud be called a sainct.' He was decanonized and then referred to as no more than 'bysshop Becket'. His images and pictures were to be removed and his festivals no more observed. His name was to be erased from calendars and prayer books. Frances Arnold-Forster, whose Studies in Church Dedications included only Monmouthshire of the Welsh counties, concluded that 'it is more than probable that the great majority of the pre-Reformation churches dedicated to 'S Thomas', even some of those that are now designated'S Thomas the Apostle' were originally intended for S Thomas of Canterbury and changed their patron in the time of Henry VIII.12 She also argued that references to Thomas the martyr 'always in the language of the Middle Ages signifies Becket.'3 But that this is by no means an infallible rule is illustrated by Keith Williams-Jones in his important study of 'Thomas Becket and Wales' in which he cites the example of St Mary's Church, Cardiff.4 G. T. Clarke's Cartae et munimenta de Glamorgan pertinent includes a charter granted to the church of St. Mary and the blessed Martyr Thomas in Cardiff in 1147-48 by William, Earl of Gloucester, some twenty years before Becket's death. Moreover, loyal- ties to one's patron saint could become very confused at the Reformation, especially if the saint concerned happened to be Becket. Thus, the Valor Ecclesiasticus in 1535 described the parish church of St Dogmael's in Dyfed as being dedicated to St Thomas the Apostle, whereas the minister's accounts of the same period describe the church as dedicated to Thomas Becket.5 Confusion is further confounded by the scholars themselves. So, whilst neither Wade-Evans in his Parochiale Wallicanum6 nor Rice Rees in his Essay on the Welsh Saints7 record any dedications to Becket in the diocese of St Asaph, Mr Williams-Jones thinks Flintshire in that diocese probably had two in the Middle Ages.8 On the other hand, Mr Williams-