Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Wednesday 1 March 2023

St David’s Day


Today is St David’s Day, so special greetings to my Welsh friends and readers.

As a boy and teenager I spent many happy spring and summer holidays on the coast of North Wales, exploring the hinterland and its rich history - Roman remains, Arthurian legend, early Christian sites, Princely Gwynedd, Edwardian castles and towns, the era of Glyndŵr and the Wars of the Roses, recusant and Civil War sites, and Victorian seaside culture, and more besides. 

The last such holiday was in 1969, the year the present King had his Investiture as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon/Caernarfon. I very much regret, indeed deplore, that there are not plans for a similar, if necessarily different, ceremony for the new Prince of Wales - whose Letters Patent of creation recently received the Great Seal. Such an occasion can be, could be, truly national, as indeed was the concept in 1969. It is only divisive to those who want it to be. As His Majesty indicated in his accession address to the Sennedd the Princely title antedates the Edwardian conquest of Gwynedd, and the bestowal of the title on the future King Edward II. Wales as it is defined today is bigger than the territory ruled by the House of Aberffaw at their zenith. That fact may explain why there are so many different, often very different, Welsh identities. They can and should complement each other, not be points of fracture.

In more recent years I have visited St David’s itself along with Pembroke, parts of Mid-Wales, and returned three times on pilgrimage to that remarkable survival St Winefride’s Well at Holywell. I have no known Welsh ancestry but Wales is very much part of my life, and I have several valued Welsh friends.

The BBC News website has a useful introduction to the life of St David at St David: Ten things to know about the patron saint of Wales

The same website has a piece from 2019 about the history of the Welsh flag, which can be seen at Wales history: Why is the red dragon on the Welsh flag?

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus.

May St David continue to pray for Wales and for the Welsh.


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