Nobis (bishop)

Nobis or Novis[1] (Welsh: Nyfys;[2] fl. c. 840) is traditionally considered to have been a bishop of Meneva (modern St Davids) in the medieval Welsh kingdom of Dyfed.

The arrival of a bishop is noted by the Annals of Wales,[3] which Phillimore's reconstruction places in AD 840.[4] Asser counts "Archbishop Nobis" as a relative[5] and Gerald of Wales and other sources later include him on their bishop lists for the see.[1] However, actual Latin of the Welsh annals read:

Nobis episcopus inminiu regnavit

in the A text[4] and

Nouus episcopatum suscepit

in the B text.[6] Either could describe the arrival of a bishop named "Nyfys",[2] but the Latin can also be read directly as "Our bishop reigned in Meneva" (Old Welsh: Miniu) and "A new bishop arrived". Similarly, the Latin of Asser's Life of King Alfred could be rendered "our bishop, my relative".[7] For the year 840, the Welsh Chronicle of the Princes (Brut y Tywysogion) notes only that "The Bishop of Meneva died"[8][9] but goes on to mention that "Einion, of Noble Descent, bishop of Meneva, died" in AD 871.[10][11] This Bishop Einion passes unmentioned in Gerald or sources derived from him.

  1. ^ a b Gerald of Wales. Itinerarium Kambriae, II.i. Accessed 13 Feb 2013. (in Latin)
  2. ^ a b Evans, John & al. St David of Wales: Cult, Church, and Nation, p. 299. Boydell Press, 2007. Accessed 13 Feb 2013.
  3. ^ The Annals of Wales (B Text), p. 10.
  4. ^ a b Phillimore, Egerton. Y Cymmrodor 9 (1888), pp. 141–83. (excerpt) (in Latin)
  5. ^ Asser. Life of King Alfred, §79.
  6. ^ Annales Cambriae [The Annals of Wales] (B text), p. 10. (in Latin)
  7. ^ Latin: nobis archiepiscopum, propinquum meum... — Asserius. De rebus gestis Ælfredi ("Life of King Alfred"), §79. Accessed 13 Feb 2013. (in Latin)
  8. ^ Brut y Tywysogion, p. 13.
  9. ^ Welsh: Oed Crist 840, y bu farw esgob Mynyw. — Brut, p. 12. (in Welsh)
  10. ^ Brut, p. 15.
  11. ^ Welsh: Oed Crist 871, bu farw Einion Fonheddig escob Mynyw... — Brut, p. 14. (in Welsh)