A Notable Church

Notandum autem, quod haec ecclesia, sicut et aliae per Hiberniam et Walliam plures, abbatem laicum habet. Usus enim inolevit et prava consuetudo, ut viri in parochia potentes, primo tanquam oeconomi seu potius ecclesiarum patroni et defensores a clero constituti: postea processu temporis aucta cupidine totum sibi jus usurparent, et terras omnes cum exteriore possessione sibi impudenter appropriarent, solum altaria cum decimis et obventionibus clero relinquentes; et haec ipsa filiis suis clericis et cognatis assignantes. Tales itaque defensores seu potius ecclesiarum destructores abbates se vocari fecere, et tam nomen indebitum quam rem quoque sibi assignari praesumpsere. In hoc statu ecclesiam hanc invenimus capite destitutam, veteri quodam et inveterato dierum malorum, cui nomen Eden Oen filius Gwaithvoed, se abbatem gerente, et filiis ejusdem altari incumbentibus. Tempore tamen Regis Henrici Primi Anglorum potestate per Cambriam vigente, coenobium S. Petri Gloverniae, praedictam ecclesiam quiete possedit ; sed post obitum regis ejusdem, Anglis expulsis, monachi quoque sunt ejecti, et more praefato tam clerici interius quam laici exterius violenter intrusi. Contigit autem regnante Stephano, qui successit Henrico Primo, militem quendam de Armorica oriundum Britannia, peragratis regionibus multis, ut variarum gentium tam urbes quam mores discerneret, huc tandem forte fortuitu advectum esse; cum itaque die quodam festivo ad missae celebrationem adventum abbatis tam clerus quam populus expectaret, demum abbati venienti cum aliis occursans, vidit turbam juvenum venire circiter viginti more gentis expeditam, et armis munitam: cumque quaerenti, quisnam illorum abbas esset, virum quendam ostenderent cum lancea longa praecedentem: intuens in eum, et admirans ait: Nunquid alium habitum aliumve baculum abbas iste, quam illum, quem nunc praefert, habet? Responderunt, Nequaquam. At ille: Sat, inquit, hodie novitatis vidi, satque miraculi jam audivi. Et ab illa statim hora reversus finem labori posuit et explorationi. Jactat autem gens haec et generatio prava, episcopum quendam ecclesiae istius, quia cathedralis aliquando fuerat, a decessoribus suis interemptum; et hac praecipue allegatione in loco eodemjus sibi vendicant et proprietatem. Elegimus itaque has potius enormitates ad praesens sub dissimulatione transire, quam, nullo ibidem querimoniam deponente, gentem iniquam exasperare. Giraldus Cambrensis, Itinerarium Cambriae, Liber II Caput IV Source: Here, p45-46

It is notable that the church at Llanbardarn Fawr, like many others in Ireland and Wales, has a lay abbot, for a bad custom has prevailed among the clergy of appointing the most powerful men of a parish as stewards, or, rather, patrons and protectors of the churches, who later, with a growing desire for gain, have usurped all rights and insolently appropriated for themselves the possession of all the land, leaving only the altars, with their tenths and oblations, to the clergy, and even assigning these to their sons and other family members attached to the church. Such defenders, or rather destroyers, of the churches, have made themselves be called abbots and presumed to attach to themselves a title, as well as estates. In this condition, without a head, we found the church of Llanbadarn. A certain old man, grown old in wickedness, whose name was Edynwain son of Gwaithfoeth, was abbot and his sons officiated at the altar. But in the time of Henry the First, when the power of the English prevailed throughout Wales, the monastery of Saint Peter of Gloucester held peaceful possession of the church, until with the death of that king, the English were expelled and the monks driven off, and their places were taken by the violent intrusion of native clergy and laymen, as had formerly been the case. In the reign of Stephen, who succeeded Henry the First, a knight who had been born in Brittany and who had travelled in many lands out of a desire to see the cities and ways of living of various peoples, came by chance to this place, and on a certain feast day when the clergy and people were awaiting the arrival of the abbot with others for the celebration of Mass, looking on a crowd of about twenty youths nearing the church who were armed according to the manner of their people, he asked which one of them was the abbot and was shown that it was the man walking at the front bearing a long spear. Staring at him in amazement, he said: 'Does this abbot have no other garments or staff but the one he bears before him now?' They answered, 'Not at all.' And he said: 'I have certainly seen a novelty today and now I have heard of a wonder.' And at that hour he returned home and put an end to his labours and travelling. This wicked people and generation boasts that a certain bishop of this church, for it was once a cathedral, was murdered by his predecessors, and it is especially on this that they base their claims for right and possession. At the time, since no public complaint had been made, we chose to pass over their enormities, lest we exasperate a wicked people. Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales, Book 2, Chapter 4