Mawgan

Mawgan and Meugan (also Meigant) (Latin: Mauganus) are names referring to either one or two Brythonic saints who flourished in the 5th or 6th century.

Not to be confused with St Mawgan.

Both names are widely attested in place-names and church dedications, "Mawgan" in Cornwall and Brittany and "Meugan" in Wales, but it is uncertain whether the names refer to one and the same person. The parishes of St Mawgan and Mawgan-in-Meneage in Cornwall derive their names from St Mauganus.[1] There is also a St Machan in West Lothian (Scotland), as shown by the place-name Ecclesmachan, but again this may be a distinct figure.

No hagiographical Life survives for Mawgan or Meugan, but figures bearing Latinised versions of either of these names appear in the Lives of St Cadog and St David. A saint called Maucan or Moucan features in an episode of the late 11th-century Life of Cadog, in which he arbitrates a quarrel between Cadog and Maelgwn, king of Gwynedd. A Life of St David, also of the late 11th century, refers to a monastery of Mawgan (Maucannus). The "Mostyn Manuscript No. 88", in the National Library of Wales, records several "Meugan" festivals, including Manchan of Mohill.[2]

Later still, Meugan is mentioned in the Welsh genealogical collection known as Bonedd y Saint, which detail the lineages of Welsh saints. The relevant section has been dated to c. 1510.

See also

References

Citations
  1. Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 155-56
  2. Baring-Gould, Fisher 1907, pp. 480.

Primary sources
  • Broun, Dauvit (2004). "Mawgan (fl. 5th–6th cent.)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 21 April 2010.

Secondary sources

Further reading
  • Wade-Evans, A. W. (1923). Life of St David. London. pp. 58–62.
  • Bowen, E. G. (1977) [1969]. Saints, Seaways, and Settlements in the Celtic Lands (2nd ed.). Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-900768-30-4.
  • Miller, Molly (1979). The Saints of Gwynedd. Studies in Celtic History 1. London: Boydell. ISBN 0-85115-114-0.
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