We Do Not Hear That
Either Before Or After That Subjugation, Any Archbishop Of
Canterbury Ever Entered The Borders Of
Wales, except Baldwin, a monk
of the Cistercian order, abbot of Ford, and afterwards bishop of
Worcester, who traversed that
Rough, inaccessible, and remote
country with a laudable devotion for the service of the cross; and
as a token of investiture, celebrated mass in all the cathedral
churches. So that till lately the see of St. David's owed no
subjection to that of Canterbury, as may be seen in the English
History of Bede, who says that "Augustine, bishop of the Angles,
after the conversion of king Ethelfred and the English people,
called together the bishops of Wales on the confines of the West
Saxons, as legate of the apostolic see. When the seven bishops
{122} appeared, Augustine, sitting in his chair, with Roman pride,
did not rise up at their entrance. Observing his haughtiness (after
the example of a holy anchorite of their nation), they immediately
returned, and treated him and his statutes with contempt, publicly
proclaiming that they would not acknowledge him for their
archbishop; alleging, that if he now refused to rise up to us, how
much more will he hold us in contempt, if we submit to be subject to
him?" That there were at that time seven bishops in Wales, and now
only four, may be thus accounted for; because perhaps there were
formerly more cathedral churches in Wales than there are at present,
or the extent of Wales might have been greater.
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