But there was another dispute. Were the four old Welsh bishoprics—Bangor, St Asaph, St David's, Llandaff—to be subject to the English archbishop of Canterbury, or to have an archbishopric of their own at St David's? By 1200 the Welsh bishoprics were subject to the English archbishop, and Giraldus Cambrensis came too late to save them.
But through all these disputes the Church was gaining strength.Churches were being built everywhere. Up to 700 they were called after the name of their founder; between 700 and 1000 they were generally dedicated to the archangel Michael—there are several Llanvihangels[1] in Wales; after 1000 new churches were dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Christ—we have many Llanvairs.[2]
Times of civil strife, or of popular indifference, came over and over again; and the old paganism tried to reassert itself. And time after time the name of Christ was sounded again by men who thought they had seen Him. In the twelfth century the Cistercian monk came to say that the world was bad, that prayer saved the soul,
