Religion and Society in the Diocese of St Davids 1485–2011 eds. by William Gibson and John Morgan-Guy (review)

This volume on the Welsh diocese of St Davids is the first since the diocesan history written by W. L. Bevan in the nineteenth century. It comprises eight essays, arranged chronologically, each examining the cultural, social, and religious changes of different historical periods within the diocese.

The first two essays, both contributed by John Morgan-Guy, will be of particular interest to readers of Parergon. Morgan-Guy corrects previous assumptions about a uniformly moribund diocese and argues that lay interest in the parish churches was strong. This can be seen, for instance, in the intricate screens and rood lofts built in the early 1500s in churches at Patrishow, Llanfilo, and Llannano. By contrast, monasticism in St Davids was characterised by weak discipline, lax oversight, and resistance to reform, with only one out of eighteen religious houses having more than ten inhabitants by the 1530s. Few maintained strong connections with their local communities, as lay people had turned instead to parish priests, chaplains, and friars for services and prayers.

In the second essay, Morgan-Guy moves to the period of the Reformation (1553–1660), where the implications of Mary’s and Elizabeth’s reigns are fully analysed, particularly in relation to linguistic barriers. In 1553, few parish priests were educated and, in the diocese’s rural parts, most spoke Welsh. With the introduction of a Welsh Book of Common Prayer in 1567, it was hoped that these Welsh-speaking areas might engage better with the new Elizabethan religion. Infiltration was patchy and slow, though addressed to some extent by the linguistically clearer version that appeared in 1599. According to Morgan-Guy, the diocese was neither a ‘hotbed of recusancy’ nor a ‘notable focus of dissent’ at this time (p. 58).

Later chapters draw out religious ideas and cultural aspects in later centuries, including the shared identity of St David’s day and the role of the bishop, which is the major concern of the last two contributions. This edited collection is excellent, well introduced, and although there is no cumulative bibliography, it is well referenced throughout.