Dictionary of Welsh Biography

SULIEN (1011 - 1091), teacher and Bishop of St David's again from 1080 to 1085, being succeeded by Wilfrid, the last independent bishop of S. Davids. Sulien died in 1091, aged 80, renowned for his wisdom and scholarly attainments. He personally guided the education of his four sons, Rhygyfarch, ARTHEN, DANIEL, and IEUAN, and the literary importance and influence of what may be called the school of Sulien is well marked. Ieuan, archpresbyter of Llanbadarn
RHYGYFARCH (1056/7 - 1099) He was the eldest of the four sons of the learned Sulien, his father being a native of Llanbadarn-fawr and twice bishop of S. Davids. Apart from the fact of his belonging to a clerical family of good birth, little if anything is known about his life. His only teacher, it is said, was his father. Very probably he was a priest at S. Davids (not bishop, as Annales Cambriae, MS. C, states). Among his
ABRAHAM (d. 1080), bishop of S. Davids Abraham succeeded to the see on the resignation of Sulien in 1078. According to MS. C of Ann. C., he was murdered by the 'gentiles' who ravaged S. Davids in 1080. The inscribed memorial cross of his sons, Hedd and Isaac, was discovered in the cathedral in 1891.
WILFRE, bishop Bishop of S. Davids from 1085 (after the death of Sulien) until 1115, the last independent bishop of that diocese; he was a Welshman, despite his foreign name. He threw in his lot with the Welsh in 1096 when they rose against the Normans in Dyfed, and in revenge Gerald of Pembroke ravaged his Pebidiog lands in 1097 - according to Gerald the Welshman, Wilfre himself was imprisoned for twenty days
CARADOG ap GRUFFYDD ap RHYDDERCH (d. 1081) third and more formidable opponent appeared in Rhys ap Tewdwr in 1081. Thus the stage was set for the famous battle of Mynydd Carn fought somewhere in northern Dyfed, where Rhys, fortified by the approval of bishop Sulien of S. Davids and with the help of Gruffudd ap Cynan, inflicted a crushing defeat upon Caradog and his northern allies. Caradog is no more heard of; he left a son, Owain, on whom see
DEWI Saint , founder and abbot-bishop of S. Davids, and patron saint of Wales Book of Taliesin, 13) early in the 10th century, as the spiritual leader of the Welsh against the English. His 'Life' was written by Rhygyfarch, son of Sulien, bishop of S. Davids c. 1090, and this is the source of every 'story' of his life. Rhygyfarch states that he made use of ancient records at S. Davids, some of them in the saint's own hand, but the contents of the 'Life' consist of a mixture of

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