Tysilio


Unidentified Saint, late fifteenth century, Church of St Mary, Beaumaris

Feast Day: Anhysbys/unknown

8 November

Texts

Places

The main concentration of place-name or church and well dedications associated with Tysilio is found in northern Powys, not far from the cult-centre at Meifod.

There is great uncertainty as to whether Tysul and Sulien should be equated with Tysilio; the place-names and dedications of these saints are not included here, and must make us question whether other outliers away from Meifod, included here, on Anglesey, in Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Herefordshire should belong to the same Tysilio.

Llandysilio on Anglesey and Llangammarch are linked to Tysilio of Meifod in medieval literature, notably the Canu Tysilio Sant, but these associations may perhaps be regarded as possessions of Meifod.

  Church
Dedication		  Well   Placename Landscape
feature		 Modern Text

2. Church of St Tysilio, Sellack, (Dedication) Details
3. Church of St Tysilio, Bryneglwys, (Dedication) Details
4. Church of St Tysilio, Llandissilio, (Dedication) Details
5. Church of St Tysilio, Llandysilio, (Dedication) Details
6. Church of St Tysilio, Llandysilio, (Dedication) Details
7. Church of St Tysilio, Llandysiliogogo, (Dedication) Details
8. Church of St Tysilio, Llantysilio, (Dedication) Details
9. Church of St Tysilio and St Mary, Meifod, (Dedication) Details
1. Church of St Cadmarch, Llangammarch Wells, (Text) Details
11. Ffynnon Dysilio, Trefonen, (Well) Details
12. St Tysilio's Well, Bryneglwys, (Well) Details
13. Llandissilio, Llandissilio, (Placename) Details
14. Llandysilio, Llandysilio, (Placename) Details
15. Llandysilio, Llandysilio, (Placename) Details
16. Llantysilio, Llantysilio, (Placename) Details
17. Llandysiliogogo, Llandysiliogogo, (Placename) Details
18. St Tyssilio's Spout, Welshpool, (Well) Details


Online sources

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Further reading

S. Baring-Gould and John Fisher The Lives of the British Saints (London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1913), 296⁠–305    View online

David Farmer The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 428

Elissa Henken Traditions of the Welsh Saints (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1987), 269⁠–73, 368

K.M. Evans A Book of Welsh Saints (Penarth: Church in Wales Publications, 1967), 65⁠–6

David E. Thornton 'Tysilio (fl. c.600)' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)    View online

Images

There are no known surviving medieval images of Tysilio, although an image of the saint was formerly found with that of Gwyddfarch in the east window of the church at Meifod. Modern images of the saint are no earlier than the later nineteenth century, and a handful of depictions of the saint in stained glass are found in or near churches that were dedicated to him, although not at Meifod.

A nineteenth-century window depicting the saint at the Church of St Peter, Lampeter, shows him as 'Prince and Bard', and the saint is shown at his writing desk in the Church of St Mary, Menai Bridge, near the medieval site of the church at Llantysilio, with his harp and mitre at his feet.

A window of 1972 by Trena Cox at the Church of St Tysilio, Llandysilio, near Llangollen (Llandysilio-yn-Iâl) includes fives scenes from the Life of Tysilio.

View images of Tysilio on the Stained Glass in Wales website