| Corpus Refs: | Huebner/1876:35 Macalister/1945:334 Nash-Williams/1950:54 Rhys/1905:25 |
| Site: | LFIC1 |
| Discovery: | first mentioned, 1773 Barrington, D. |
| History: | Westwood/1876, 55: `In the year 1830 the inscribed stone here figured was built into the south wall of the church of Llanfihangel-Cwm-du, and close to it a brass plate was affixed in the wall with the following inscription: CATACUS hic jace[i]t filius Tegernacus. Here lies Cattoc the son of Teyrnoc.
This stone was removed from a field called Tir Gwenlli, about a mile S.S.W. of this church of St. Michael, Cwm-du, and placed in this buttress for preservation by the Rev. T. Price, vicar, A.D. 1830, having been presented to him for that purpose by the owner, the Rev. T. Lewis. Its original site is not known. This fact is detailed in the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, vol. v. p. 519. The stone had however been previously noticed by Daines Barrington in the Archaeologia for 1773, by whom it is stated to have formerly stood at the Gaer (Pen-y-Gaer or Pentre Gaer) near Cwm-du and in Gough's Camden, iii. p. 103...Thence it was badly copied by Jones in his `Brecknockshire,' ii. pl. 12, fig. 1, and p. 499, and it is also noticed by Payne in the Archaeologia Scotica, iii. 1831, p. 98.' Rhys/1905, 49: `The stone was found in the neighbourhood, and inserted for preservation in the buttress of the church wall'. Macalister/1945, 322, repeats the information on the brass plate. |
| Geology: | |
| Dimensions: | 1.63 x 0.56 x 0.0 (converted from Macalister/1945) |
| Setting: | in struct |
| Location: | other Macalister/1945, 322: `This stone is now embedded in a buttress on the S. side of the church'. Nash-Williams/1950, 74: `Built into buttress on S. side of church'. |
| Form: | plain Macalister/1945, 322: `Exposed face...tapering downward to a point'. Nash-Williams/1950, 74: `Rough pillar- stone'. |
| Condition: | complete , good |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | none |
| Decorations: | no other decoration |
| Westwood, J.O. (1871): | C{A}T{A}CVSHICI{A}CIT | FILIVSTEGER{N}ACVS Expansion: CATACUS HIC IACIT FILIVS TEGERNACVS Translation: Here lies Cattoc (PN) the son of Teynoc (PN) Westwood/1871 261--62 concise discussion Westwood/1876 55 concise discussion |
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | C{A}T{A}CVSHICI{A}CIT | FILIVSTEGER{N}ACVS Expansion: CATACUS HIC IACIT FILIVS TEGERNACVS Macalister/1945 322 reading only |
| Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950): | C{A}T{A}CVSHICI{A}CIT | FILIVSTEGER{N}ACVS Expansion: CATACUS HIC IACIT FILIVS TEGERNACVS Translation: Catacus (PN) lies here, son (of) Tegernacus (PN). Nash-Williams/1950 74 concise discussion |
| Orientation: | vertical indeterminate |
| Position: | n/a ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated Westwood/1876, 55: `The inscription measures about 40 inches by 10'. (Repeats Westwood/1871, 261.) Nash-Williams/1950, 74: `...inscription in two lines reading vertically upwards (?)'. |
| Incision: | inc Macalister/1945, 322: `...pocked and rubbed smooth'. Nash-Williams/1950, 74: `...coarsely but neatly picked'. |
| Date: | 566 - 633 (Nash-Williams/1950) Nash-Williams/1950, 74: `Late 6th-early 7th century A.D.' 600 - 799 (Huebner/1876) Rhys/1905, 50: `Huebner places the inscription in his third period, namely the seventh and eighth centuries.' |
| Language: | Latin (rcaps) |
| Ling. Notes: | Westwood/1876, 56: ` From the situation where this stone occurs it might be supposed that we have here the memorial of Cattwg Ddoeth, or the Wise, the founder of many churches in Glamorganshire, Brecknockshire, and Monmouthshire, including that of Llangattock close to Crickhowell, very near to Cwm-du itself: but that celebrated man is recorded to have been the son of Gwynllyw Filwr, whereas on this stone Catacus is recorded as the son of Tegernacus. It is however worthy of notice, with reference to the name of Catuc's father, that this stone was removed from a field called Tir Gwenlli, as above stated, and further that this Tegernacus may be identical with the person of the same name upon the Capel Brithdir stone (ante, Pl. XXIV). Several other persons of the name of Teyrnog, or Twrnog, or Tyrnog, are recorded among the Welsh saints (Rees, pp. 211, 276), but they are considered by Mr. Stephens (Arch. Camb., 3rd Ser., vol. viii. p. 130) to be different persons.' (This is a repeat of Westwood/1871, 262.) Rhys/1905, 49--50: `The adjective tegernacus meant kingly or princely, and it was borrowed from Celtic in order to indicate the rank of the deceased, for which Latin may be supposed to have supplied no exact equivalent. We have it also on the Llangwarren Stone in Pembrokeshire...'. Rhys goes on to discuss the metre of the inscription. |
| Palaeography: | Westwood/1876, 55--56: `the letters being very irregular in size, and from 2 1/2 to 5 inches in height. They are a curious mixture of capitals and minuscules, several of them being of unusual shape, the C throughout being of the angulated form, the A in the top line with the two oblique strokes extended and crossing above the top of the letter like X, and with the cross stroke angulated. The T throughout is of the minuscule form, the S always written of a very large size, the H minuscule-shaped, the F almost cursive, the E square capitals, the G minuscule-shaped with a strong cross top bar, the R of the Anglo-Saxon minuscule form, the N like H, and the A in the second line truncate at the top and with the cross bar straight.' (Repeats Westwood/1871, 261--62.) Rhys/1905, 49: `The lettering is a mixture of minuscule and majuscule forms ... The c is of the square kind, and the n approaches the form of an h.' Macalister/1945, 322: `the letters are in good condition, and though they are fantastic in shape and badly aligned, the reading is quite clear.' Nash-Williams/1950, 74: `Mixed Roman capitals and half-uncials (F, G, H, N, R, T), coarsely but neatly picked in good style. The A's in l. 1 have the angular cross-bar and a forked serif at the top, in the Greek tradition. The C's are angular.[1] The V's have a forked serif at the bottom. The ends of some of the other letters are clubbed or slightly forked. The final S in 1. 2 is reversed. `[1] The 'square' C is a late form,characteristic of the 6th and 7th centuries in Gaul and Spain. CEL, p. 13; ECGA, p. 24.' |
| Legibility: | good CISP: Legibility is good as all authorities agree on a reading. |
| Lines: | 2 |
| Carving errors: | n |
| Doubtful: | no |