It’s been a year of years to remember

Working in the middle of 1400 years of history and worship, there’s always an anniversary or two to mark, as Mari James, St Davids Cathedral Library Development Officer, reminds us.

2023 has been the 900th anniversary of the international recognition of St Davids as a destination for pilgrimage. In 1123 Pope Calixtus II declared that two pilgrimages to St Davids had the same “advantage of benediction“ of one pilgrimage to Rome. So, it has been appropriate that in 2023 we have again been welcoming back pilgrims and visitors from all over the world. Many have had time to follow up their own lines of research. We have, consequently, been dealing with many and varied enquiries in the Cathedral Library.

2023 also marked the 800th anniversary of the death of 12th century prolific writer, cleric and canon lawyer, Gerald of Wales. Gerald wrote in Latin under the name of Giraldus Cambrensis. It is still not really known how much Gerald wrote and some of his works are still coming to light and being produced in English, which gives them a much wider audience.

The best known of his works is his itinerary of his journey around Wales with Archbishop Baldwin to recruit for the third Crusade. This is now widely recognised as a classic and Gerald would surely approve that, 800 years later, his account is available in the shop of his Cathedral. We know from his account that they were in St Davids for three days in March 1188.

The other story many people know of Gerald is how he was blocked from being Bishop of St Davids by English and Norman Kings, and how he took his case three times to the Papal Court in Rome. As expected, he wrote about it all at some length - in Latin. We have been extremely fortunate in this anniversary year that Professor Norman Doe of Cardiff University has translated Gerald’s robust account and dramatised it as Thrice to Rome. This work received its world premiere in October 2023, during Libraries Week, in the quire of St Davids Cathedral. Hearing and seeing Gerald’s words come to life in the Cathedral he knew, across the presbytery from his tomb effigy, was quite an event.

The Cathedral Library will be repeating the production on Saturday 23rd March 2024. Look out on our EventBrite page to book tickets. We are also delighted that it will be produced in London, at Middle Temple, during St Davids Week at the beginning of March.