ABSTRACT
The cult of St Eiluned is much more fully documented than the Saint herself, being described in two sources, of the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. Before examining the practices recorded by Gerald, it is necessary to note one further piece of twelfth-century evidence. The natural reaction to the Brychan documents is to dismiss them with total scepticism, but one fact must give one pause, namely, that archaeological evidence supports Irish connections with Brycheiniog—Brecknock has a higher proportion of Ogam inscribed early Christian stones than any other Welsh shire except Pembroke. One of the most striking features of the Eiluned cult was its persistence to the end of the Middle Ages, and it may indeed have spread out from its original site at Brecon. Worcestre states that the Saint’s body was preserved at Usk, where a house of Benedictine nuns was founded in 1236.
