Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

FOURTH SERIES.—No. VII. JULY, 1871. WIGMOEE ABBEY. The history of this Abbey is so intimately connected with that of the Mortimers, one of whom founded the Abbey, and others enriched it, that it would seem neces¬ sary, first of all, to state what has come down to us of this distinguished family which played so important a part in the early history of our country; the last of them, Edmund Earl of March, having been declared by the Parliament, in the ninth of Richard II, heir to the crown, and Edward IV being immediately descended from it. But as so full an account of the Mortimers is to be met with in other writings, I shall confine myself here to the account given of this family by Dugdale in relating the history of the foundation of the Abbey, and add only such notices of the Mortimers as appear necessary to elucidate the subject. The statement of Dugdale with respect to the origin of the Abbey is as follows : " Hugh Mortimer, a noble and great man in the reign of King Stephen, made Oliver Merlimond his seneschall or steward, and gave him the town of Scobbedon (Shobdon), and to his son Eudo the parsonage of the church of Aylmendestree (Aymestry). There was then no church at Scobbedon, but only a chapel of St. Juliana; but Oliver built one there, and dedicated it to St. John the Evangelist. "Afterwards the said Oliver went a pilgrimage to St. James the Apostle at Compostela in Spain; and having been most chari¬ tably entertained, at his return, by the canons of St. Victor at 4th seb. vol. ii. 15