IORWERTH (or GERVASE), abbot of Talley and bishop of S. Davids,(1215-1229).

His election as bishop (he was consecrated at Staines on 21 June 1215, a few days after the sealing of Magna Carta) was a victory for native sentiment in the long struggle over the status of S. Davids, and a triumph of policy for Llywelyn the Great. A man of worthy character and a pure Welshman by birth (though nothing is known about his origins), he was not unmindful of the duties imposed upon him by his oaths to the Crown and Canterbury, being present at royal councils and mediating between Welsh and English even at the risk of incurring the displeasure of the chronicler of his old house at Talley. During the episcopate the abbey, however, added considerably to its wealth through appropriations conceded by Iorwerth. He also left a deep impression on his diocese by reforming the constitution of the chapter and re-building portions of the cathedral.

Author

• Professor Thomas Jones Pierce, (1905 - 1964)

Sources

• Giraldi Cambrensis Opera (1861–91), iii, 361-4
• J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (London 1911), Vol. I
• J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (London 1911), Vol. II
• E. J. Newell, A History of the Welsh Church to the Dissolution of the Monasteries (London 1895)
• W. B. Jones and Edward Augustus Freeman, The History and Antiquities of St. David's (1856)

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Iorwerth

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q16206572

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/