SULIEN, ' Sulgenus ', surnamed ' The Wise '; 1011 - 1091, teacher and Bishop of St David's

Born at Llanbadarn-fawr of a good (and probably clerical) family. After lengthy instruction in Welsh, Scottish (for five years), and Irish (for thirteen years) schools, he returned to his native Ceredigion and won great fame for his teaching and learning (see below for the Latin manuscripts written under his inspiration). In later life he was chosen bishop of S. Davids from 1072/3 to 1078, and again from 1080 to 1085, being succeeded by Wilfrid, the last independent bishop of S. Davids. Sulien died in 1091, aged 80, renowned for his wisdom and scholarly attainments. He personally guided the education of his four sons, Rhygyfarch, ARTHEN, DANIEL, and IEUAN, and the literary importance and influence of what may be called the school of Sulien is well marked. Ieuan, archpresbyter of Llanbadarn, died in 1137, leaving, along with some illuminations in a manuscript of Jerome, an extant autograph of the ' De Trinitate ' of Augustine, which contains a short Latin poem by the copyist about Sulien and his family on the fly-leaves. Nothing is known of Arthen, but probably the scholar HENRY AB ARTHEN (died 1163) was his son, DANIEL (died 1127), became archdeacon of Powys, and his son CYDIFOR (died 1163) became archdeacon of Cardigan.

Author

• Professor William Hopkin Davies

Sources

• Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland, i, 663-7
• J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (London 1911), ii, 459-61
• J. Williams (ed.), Annales Cambriae (1860)
• Brut y Tywysogion
• Lindsay, Early Welsh Script (Oxford 1912)

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Sulien

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q7636261

Published date: 1959

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