St Pedrog and the Spear

Plotting Camlann: Letters from the Dead




The Welsh antiquary Evan Evans (1731-1788) included “St Petrog, from the strength of his spear” in his list of the seven who escaped from Camlan. Rachel Bromwich considers Evans's text to be a copy of Lewis Morris's copy of 17th century manuscript Peniarth 185 which in turn would appear to be based on an earlier Welsh tradition.

A tradition of Pedrog’s presence at the Battle of Camlan by Dafydd Nantmoor (or Nanmor), a prominent Gwynedd poet who flourished in the last half of the 15th century, is the earliest account of the saint fighting with Arthur at Camlan.

St Pedrog’s spear was kept at Llanbedrog church on the Lleyn Peninsula and last seen in 1535. This spear was said to be the very same that Pedrog wielded in the battle at Camlan.

Three churches are dedicated to St Pedrog in Wales; in addition to Llanbedrog, he is also the patron saint at St. Petrox near Pembroke and Y Ferwig near Cardigan.

In Dafydd Nantmoor’s 15th century poem he calls on the saint for help in driving away some sand dunes that were threatening Y Ferwig (Verwick), a small town on the Cardiganshire coast. Here he is described as possessing a famous spear and one of seven who survived Camlan. After Arthur’s fateful last battle Pedrog turned away from war and became a monk at Y Ferwig:

"In Camlan there were seven men of the Britons who escaped from the field, without being slain by either side, One of them is a saint because of his spear; Pedrog was renowned with his weapon at the death of Arthur. He was a crowned  king's son, from the ancient kings of Cornwall. He served (and will serve) the Trinity after that day, above Dover, and (he) gave a vow never more to employ worldly weapons. Then he came to y Verwig, the place where he awaits his death-day." [Rachel Bromwich, TYP p.482]

It is of some interest that the poem claims Pedrog came from an ancient line of Cornish kings, which probably is the reason for the confusion with St Petroc of Cornwall. The later Latin Life’s of Saint Petroc, none earlier than the 12th century, all place the Saint in Cornwall in the 6th century, where over 18 churches are dedicated to him. Indeed he is Cornwall’s most famous saint.

The Cornish tradition claims Petroc came from South Wales, landing at Haylemouth and founded a monastery at Padstow (Petroc’s Stow). Some sources claim he spent twenty years in Ireland before arriving in Cornwall. He later lived as a hermit on Bodmin Moor, where he built a monastery for his followers. On his death, around 564, he was buried at Padstow which became the centre of his cult. Exeter and Glastonbury also claimed his relics. Around 1,000 AD, his relics were translated to Bodmin. In 1177 Petroc’s relics were stolen and taken to Saint-Méen (St Meven) in Brittany. At the intervention of king Henry II the saint’s relics were restored to Bodmin but a rib was left at Saint-Méen. At Bodmin, Petroc’s relics were placed in an ivory reliquary. This was hidden during the Reformation but found in the 19th century above the porch of the Bodmin church; today his skull remains in the parish church. Today it is recognised as one of the finest reliquaries in England, made by excellent Sicillian-Islamic craftsmanship.

Reliquary of St Petroc, Bodmin

Cornish Saint or Welsh Warrior?
Apart from the Vitae produced by his Cornish followers, St Petroc only appears in one other Vita. In the Preface to Lifris of Llancarfan's Life of Cadog (Vita I Cadoci), Petroc is one of ten sons of Glywys, grandfather to St Cadog. Nine of these sons are kings of the regions within Glywysing, the ancient kingdom of South-East Wales centred on Glamorgan. One of his sons was known as Gwynllyw the warrior.

St Petroc, Bodmin

The 12th century Gotha manuscript shows Gwynllyw as the brother of Petroc and Cadog's father. This genealogy agrees with the Vita Cadoci which shows Petroc as Cadog's uncle. St Cadog is said to have been born around 497; Petroc, as his uncle, would have been of the previous generation.

Gwynllyw (Woolos the Warrior) was King of Gwynllwg in South Wales and is the legendary founder and patron saint of the City of Newport, living around 450 – 500 AD. According to medieval tradition he was a feared warlord and raider who knew King Arthur, but later renounced war and found religion and became a hermit founding St Woolos Cathedral in Newport.

St Petroc of Cornwall is never associated with Camlann, or typically a spear, indeed his icon is often a wolf, or a stag that he rescued from a cruel huntsman. It would appear that in the tale of the seven who escaped from Camlan, St Petroc of Cornwall has here been confused with Petroc Baladrddellt (also known as Pedrog, or Pedrogl Paladrddellt), son of Clemen ap Bledric, a 7th century king of Dumnonia (south-west England comprising Devon and Cornwall), who ruled after his father Bledric ap Custennin who, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, was killed at the Battle of Bangor Orchard (Chester) around 613 – 616. As St Petroc of Cornwall died around 564 he could not have been the son of Clemen ap Bledric.

Pedrog Baladrddellt (Petroc Splintered-Spear) would have succeeded to the throne of Dumnonia after his father died, probably around 630. According to the Bonedd y Saint Pedrog Paladrddellt was a saintly man, who is said to have died at Y Ferwig in Ceredigion, as  Dafydd Nantmoor recalls.

In Welsh tradition Pedrog Paladrddellt is listed as one of “The Three Just Knights of the Realm” having dedicated himself to preserving the justice by the law of arms, in the list known as The Twenty-Four Knights of King Arthur's Court. The 15th century account of Dafydd Nantmoor is clearly evidence of an older oral tradition in Wales; it is likely that the epithet "Splintered-Spear" inspired the Welsh tradition that Petroc was one of the seven survivors of Camlann. After the battle he renounced warfare for the religious life.

Churches in Wales dedicated to St Pedrog

Clearly the saint's spear was known from South Wales to North Wales; apart from Nantmoor's poem it is referenced nine other times in later Welsh poetry, and emphasised his military prowess; without doubt the reason for his attachment to Camlan. The Welsh tradition seemingly isolated from the Cornish and Breton cult sites of St Petroc.

Quoting Wade-Evans, Peter Bartrum has argued that “Clemens is a corruption of Glywys” based on the Cornish tradition being preserved in a Welsh context, as Glywys Cornubiensis or Glywys Kerniw as Petroc's father. But the chronology does not support this; Pedrog Baladrddellt and St Petroc of Cornwall are separated by nearly a hundred years and clearly not the same individual.


Next: Saint Derfel



Sources:
Rachel Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, 4th Edition, UWP, 2017.
PC Bartrum, A Classical Welsh Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000, online at The National Library of Wales 
Karen Jankulak, The Medieval Cult of St Petroc, Boydell Press, 2000.

* * *