¹ Nau, king of Scotia, was the noblest among the kings of the north. He had twenty-four sons, all victorious warriors. One of these was called Gildas, whom his parents committed to the study of letters. He was a boy of good natural disposition, devoted to learning and distinguished for his abilities. Whatever he heard from his teacher he repeated with the greatest care, and forgetfulness did him no harm. He studied eagerly and diligently among his own people in the seven arts until he reached youth; and then, on attaining young manhood, he quickly departed from his native land.

² He crossed the Gallic Sea and remained for seven years studying with distinction in the cities of Gaul. At the end of the seventh year he returned to Greater Britain, bringing with him a great abundance of books. When the fame of this illustrious stranger became known, large numbers of scholars flocked to him from all regions. They heard him expounding, with the utmost acuity, the science of the seven rules of discipline, by which men, through the office of a master, are led from discipleship to mastery.

³ The religious devotion of this most wise teacher was so magnified and extolled by the inhabitants of Britain that no equal to him was found, nor indeed could be found, on account of his surpassing merits. He was accustomed to fast like the hermit Antony. Most steadfastly devoted to religion, he prayed clad in a goatskin. Whatever was given to him he immediately distributed to the poor. He abstained from milk and honey; flesh was abhorrent to him. Fresh-water herbs were his preferred fare; he ate barley bread mixed with ashes and drank spring water daily. He made no use of the bath, a practice much favoured by that nation. His face was marked by thinness, and he appeared like one afflicted by a most severe fever.

⁴ It was his custom to enter the river at midnight, where he remained unmoving until he had recited the Lord’s Prayer three times [Matthew 6:9–13]. When this was done, he withdrew to his oratory and there, kneeling, prayed to the divine majesty until broad daylight. He slept sparingly, lying upon a stone and clothed only in a single garment. He ate without satisfying bodily appetite, content with his portion of the heavenly reward; for the desire of his heart was set upon rewards that are heavenly.

⁵ He warned men to despise and urged them to scorn things that are merely transitory. He was the most renowned preacher throughout the three kingdoms of Britain. Kings feared him as one worthy of fear, and, having heard his persuasive preaching, obeyed him. In the time of King Trifinus, he preached every Lord’s Day [Revelation 1:10] in his church by the sea-shore, in the district of Pepidiauc, before an innumerable multitude of listeners. On one occasion, when he had only just begun to preach, the words of the sermon were restrained within the preacher himself, and the people were struck with amazement at this marvellous silence. When he perceived this, Gildas ordered all who were present to go out, so that he might discover whether this hindrance to the divine preaching was caused by any one of them; yet even after their withdrawal he was still unable to preach.

⁶ He then asked whether there was any man or woman hiding in the church. Nonnita, who was with child and destined to become the mother of the most holy boy Dewi, answered him: “I, Nonnita, am staying here between the wall and the door, unwilling to mingle with the crowd.” When he heard this, he told her to go out; and after she had gone out, he summoned the people again. They were called and came to listen to the preaching of the Gospel [Mark 1:14–15]. At the close of the sermon, he asked the angel of God the meaning of this matter, namely why, when he had begun to preach, he had been unable to continue to the end. And the angel revealed the matter to him in these words: “Nonnita, a holy woman, remains in the church, who is now with child and is destined, by great grace, to give birth to a boy, for whose sake you could not preach, the divine power restraining your speech. The boy who is to come will be of greater grace: no one in these regions will be his equal. To him I shall leave this part of the country: he will swiftly grow and flourish from one stage of life to another. For an angel, the messenger of God, has declared this to me as my true destiny.”

⁷ From this it came about that the most holy preacher Gildas crossed over to Ireland, where he converted a great multitude of people to the Catholic faith. Saint Gildas was a contemporary of Arthur, king of the whole of Britain, whom he loved deeply and whom he always wished to obey. Nevertheless, his twenty-three brothers continually rose up against the aforementioned king, in rebellion, refusing to acknowledge him as their lord; and they often routed him and drove him from forest and battlefield.

⁸ Hueil, the eldest brother, a vigorous warrior and a most distinguished soldier, submitted to no king, not even to Arthur. He habitually harassed him and provoked the greatest anger between them both. He would often descend suddenly from Scotland, kindle fires, and carry off plunder with victory and renown. As a result, the king of all Britain, hearing that this high-spirited young man had committed such deeds and continued to commit similar ones, pursued the victorious and excellent youth, who, as the inhabitants were accustomed to say and hope, was destined to become king.

⁹ In the hostile pursuit and the council of war held on the island of Minau, he killed the young raider. After the killing, Arthur returned victorious, rejoicing greatly that he had overcome his bravest enemy.

¹⁰ Gildas, historian of the Britons, who was at that time staying in Ireland, directing studies and preaching in the city of Armagh, heard that his brother had been slain by King Arthur. He was grieved when he heard the news and wept with lamentation, as one dear brother for another. He prayed daily for his brother’s soul; and moreover he prayed also for Arthur, his brother’s persecutor and killer, fulfilling the apostolic commandment which says: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you [Luke 6:27].

¹¹ Meanwhile, the most holy Gildas, the venerable historian, came to Britain, bringing with him a very beautiful bell of sweet sound, which he had vowed to offer as a gift to the Bishop of the Roman Church. He spent the night as an honoured guest of the venerable abbot Cadocus at Nant Carban. Cadocus drew his attention to the bell, and after pointing it out handled it; having handled it, he wished to buy it for a great price, but its owner would not sell it.

¹² When Arthur, together with the chief bishops and abbots of all Britain, heard of the arrival of Gildas the Wise, great numbers from among both clergy and people gathered together in order to reconcile Arthur for the aforementioned killing. But Gildas, as he had done when he first heard of his brother’s death, showed courtesy towards his enemy: he kissed him while praying for forgiveness, and with a most tender heart blessed him, as Arthur in turn kissed him.

¹³ When this had been done, King Arthur, in grief and tears, accepted the penance imposed by the bishops who were present, and thereafter pursued an amended course of life, as far as he was able, until the end of his days.

¹⁴ Then the illustrious Gildas, a man devoted to peace and to the Catholic faith, travelled to Rome and presented the aforementioned bell to the Bishop of the Roman Church. But when the bell was shaken by the bishop’s hands, it gave forth no sound. Seeing this, the bishop said to him: “O man beloved of God and of men, tell me what happened to you on your journey when you came to make this offering.”

¹⁵ Gildas then revealed that the most holy Cadoc, abbot of the church of Nancarvan, had wished to buy the bell, but that he had refused to sell what he had vowed to offer to the apostle Peter. When the Apostolic bishop heard this, he said: “I know the venerable abbot Cadoc, who has visited this city seven times and Jerusalem three times, amid countless dangers and unceasing toil. I consent that, if he comes again and wishes to possess it, you may give it to him; for, by reason of this present miracle, it has been decreed that he should have it.”

¹⁶ Accordingly, Gildas took back the bell after it had been blessed and returned; and he brought it back and bestowed it freely upon Saint Cadoc. When it was received into the abbot’s hands and struck, it immediately gave forth a sound, to the astonishment of all. Thereafter it remained as an asylum for all who bore it throughout the whole of Gwalia; and whoever swore falsely throughout that land was deprived of his tongue, or else an evildoer would at once confess the crime.

¹⁷ Cadoc, abbot of the church of Nancarban (also called Llancarfan), asked the teacher Gildas to oversee the studies of his schools for the space of one year; and when he was asked, he directed them with the greatest benefit, receiving no payment from the scholars other than the prayers of the clergy and the students.

¹⁸ While there, he himself wrote out the work of the four Evangelists, a book which still remains in the church of Saint Cadoc, covered throughout with gold and silver in honour of God, of the holy author, and of the Gospels. The inhabitants of Wales hold this volume to be their most precious possession in the taking of oaths. Nor do they dare to open it in order to look into it, nor to confirm peace or friendship between hostile parties, unless it is present and expressly placed there for that purpose.

¹⁹ At the end of the year, when the scholars were withdrawing from their studies, the saintly abbot Cadoc and the excellent teacher Gildas agreed together to withdraw to two islands, namely Ronech and Echin. Cadoc landed on the island nearer to Wales, and Gildas on the one lying opposite England. They were unwilling to be hindered in the offices of the Church by the coming and going of people; and for this reason they could devise no better plan than to leave the valley of Carvan and seek the seclusion of an island.

²⁰ There Gildas founded an oratory in honour of the holy and indivisible Trinity, and near it was his small chamber. Yet it was not there that he slept; rather, on a steep cliff he laid himself upon a stone, where he remained until midnight, watching and praying to Almighty God. After this he would enter the church, utterly numbed by the cold; but for God’s sake the cold was sweet and bearable to him. He would catch small fish in a net and take eggs from birds’ nests, and on this fare, which was sufficient for his sustenance, he lived. Each would visit the other, and this manner of life endured for the space of seven years.

²¹ The supreme Creator, seeing that his chosen servant Gildas had no постоян supply of water beyond the drops of rain which fell upon the stones and were gathered as they trickled down, caused a stream to flow forth from a steep cliff. It flowed out then, and it flows still, and it will remain constant without exhaustion.

²² While Saint Gildas thus persevered, devoting himself to fasting and prayer, pirates came from the islands of Orcades. They harassed him by seizing his servants while they were engaged in their duties, carrying them off into exile together with plunder and all the furnishings of their dwelling. Being deeply distressed by this, he could no longer remain there. He left the island, embarked in a small vessel, and in great sorrow made his way to Glastonia, at the time when King Melvas was ruling in the Summer Country.

²³ e was received with great kindness by the abbot of Glastonia, and he instructed the brethren and the scattered people, sowing the precious seed of heavenly teaching. It was there that he wrote the history of the kings of Britain. Glastonia, that is, the Glassy City, which takes its name from glass, is a city whose name was originally derived from the British tongue.

²⁴ It was besieged by the tyrant Arthur with an innumerable host on account of his wife Gwenhwyfar, whom the aforementioned wicked king had violated and carried off, and brought there for protection, relying on the asylum afforded by its impregnable position, defended by thickets of reeds, river, and marsh. The rebellious king had sought the queen throughout the course of a whole year, and at last learned that she remained there. Then he summoned the armies of the whole of Cornubia and Dibneria; and war was prepared between the enemies.

²⁵ When he saw this, the abbot of Glastonia, accompanied by the clergy and Gildas the Wise, placed himself between the opposing armies and, in a peaceable manner, urged his king, Melvas (also called Melwas or Melegant), to restore the abducted lady. Accordingly, she who was to be restored was restored in peace and goodwill.

²⁶ When these things had been accomplished, the two kings bestowed upon the abbot a gift of many estates. They then came to visit the temple of Saint Mary and to pray there, while the abbot, in return for the peace they had secured and the benefits they had conferred—and were yet to confer more abundantly—confirmed the beloved bond of brotherhood.

²⁷ Thereafter the kings were reconciled, solemnly promising to obey the most venerable abbot of Glastonia, and never to violate that most sacred place, nor even the districts adjoining the abbot’s seat.

²⁸ When he had obtained permission from the abbot of Glastonia, together with his clergy and people, the most devout Gildas desired to live the life of a hermit on the bank of a river near Glastonia, and he duly achieved his purpose. There he built a church in the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, in which he devoted himself diligently to fasting and prayer, clothed in goats’ hair, and offering to all an irreproachable example of a godly religious life.

²⁹ Holy men from distant parts of Britain would come to visit him, and, having received his counsel and exhortation, they would return home and cherish with delight the encouragement and guidance they had heard from him.

³⁰ At last he fell ill and was weighed down by sickness. He summoned the abbot of Glastonia to him and, with great devotion, asked that, when the end of his life should come, his body might be carried to the abbey of Glastonia, which he loved deeply. When the abbot promised to fulfil his request, grieving at what he had heard and shedding many tears, Saint Gildas, now gravely ill, passed away, while many looked on and saw an angelic radiance surrounding his fragrant body, and angels attending his soul.

³¹ After the sorrowful words of commemoration had been spoken, his body, light indeed, was borne by the brethren into the abbey; and amid loud lamentation, and with funeral rites most fitting, he was buried in the midst of the pavement of the church of Saint Mary. And his soul rested, rests, and will rest, in heavenly peace. Amen.

³² Glastonia was formerly called Ynisgutrin, and is still so called by the British inhabitants. Ynis in the British language corresponds to insula in Latin, and gutrin means “made of glass”. But after the coming of the English and the expulsion of the Britons—that is, the Welsh—it received a new name, Glastigberi, formed from the earlier name: English glass, Latin vitrum, and beria, meaning a city; hence Glastinberia, that is, the City of Glass.

³³ These are the words of Caradoc of Nancarban:
Let whoever reads correct, if need be; such is the author’s will.