Introduction: the use of dedications

The works of E.G. Bowen on the distribution of dedications to Celtic saints and the role of the western seaways, despite their many controversial points, have not ceased to inspire scholarship. Indeed, in Cunliffe's recent work, Bowen's ‘western seaways’ have a new proponent. Bowen himself, especially in his later work, did accept that the surviving pattern of dedications and place-names reflects the latest extent of the cult, rather than (necessarily) the missionary activities of the saint and his followers, though he maintained that from a geographical perspective it was not a crucial distinction. He recognised the phenomenon of ‘re-culting’ of newer and more powerfully patronised saints eclipsing earlier local cults. In a lecture to the Friends of St Davids cathedral, later published as a monograph, Bowen also set out a narrative of St David that remains immensely influential. In this late work, written for a general audience, he presented a case in which, when standard hagiographic incidents and themes were taken out of Rhygyfarch's Life, an historically reliable core remained. According to this narrative, David was born in Ceredigion and first educated in the monastic life at Henfynyw (Vetus Rubus) under Guistilianus, then by Paulinus, somewhere in Carmarthenshire. From there, he and his followers moved about the countryside in the normal fashion of Celtic monks founding churches. After plotting the distribution of churches dedicated to St David, Bowen identified two main groups: a northern and a southern.