Gerald of Wales, who was proud of all his literary output, was clearly particularly proud of the Gemma Ecclesiastica. With typically false self-deprecation he wrote in the preface that if perhaps the work should cross the Anglo-Welsh border and fall into the hands of the great, and be seen by the eyes of the learned, he would prefer that they read what they knew already than that his Welsh readership should be deprived. And in a famous passage in his autobiography he tells how when he visited Rome in 1199 he presented Pope Innocent III with six of his books – libros rather than libras (pounds) – and that the pope kept all the volumes at his bedside for about a month before distributing five of them to five of his cardinals who requested them, but he would not allow himself to be parted from the Gemma, which he loved above all the rest. By reciting Innocent’s approbation it is as if Gerald was granting himself an imprimatur from the greatest of all medieval reforming popes. Yet, compared with many other of Gerald’s works, notably the topographical, historical and autobiographical ones, the Gemma has received little attention from commentators. It was edited, and published in 1862, in the Rolls Series by J. S. Brewer who provided a lengthy introduction, and a translation with introduction by John Hagen appeared in 1979 as The Jewel of the Church. As is the case with a work which can in many ways be seen as its sister volume, the Speculum ecclesie, there have been no major studies of the Gemma. Though it was apparently little read, when set within the context of Paris-inspired developments in pastoral theology, it is an important indicator of reforming preoccupations at a time of unprecedented concern for the spiritual wellbeing of clergy and laity alike, as typified in England by Thomas of Chobham’s Summa Confessorum.

The Gemma is the earliest of a trio of explicitly didactic works that also include the De principis instructione and the Speculum ecclesie. It is probably to be dated to c. 1197 and the De principis instructione to some time before c. 1217; the Speculum was not completed till 1219 at the earliest.

In the ‘Pennal’ letter of 1406 Owain Glyn D¤r set out his programme for the creation of an independent Welsh church. Among this manifesto's clauses was the call for the immediate end to appropriation of Welsh parishes to English religious houses and for their advowsons to be restored to the original patrons. Though there was undoubtedly widespread contemporary concern, by no means confined to Wales, at the acceleration of appropriations by monasteries as a response to economic pressures, particularly during the second half of the fourteenth century, and though appropriations within Wales were certainly not limited to English abbeys, Owain's complaint reflected a discontent whose roots are found nearly three centuries earlier as English and Norman monasteries began their colonization of the Welsh Church.

In 1119 Bishop Urban of Llandaf wrote to Pope Calixtus II complaining of the sad state of his diocese and asking for papal support in its defence. He described the depredations that had commenced during his predecessor Herewald's episcopate: he went on to blame the neighbouring bishops of Hereford and St Davids, and attributed the despoliation to ‘lay power and monastic invasion’ (‘tam laicali potestate quam monachorum invasione’). The papal response was almost immediate; in October 1119 Calixtus issued five bulls in favour of Llandaf, taking the see under papal protection. One ordered thirteen named lords in the diocese to restore what they had seized. This list is a roll-call of the great men of the new settlement. But one name is conspicuous by its absence. No mention is made of the greatest magnate of them all, Earl Robert of Gloucester, who had been granted the lordship of Glamorgan, previously held by Robert fitzHamo, some time following Robert's marriage to Mabel, fitzHamo's daughter, in 1107. It has recently been pointed out that the interests of most of those lords named in 1119 lay predominantly outside Glamorgan. They could therefore be seen as peripheral to the Llandaf heartland. However, in 1126 a concord was made between Bishop Urban of Llandaf and Earl Robert. In return for Robert's confirmation of specific lands and rights to Urban securing the integrity of his demesne at Llandaf Urban agreed to waive all claims against the earl's tenants for any lands they had seized. The agreement's witnesses testify to its solemnity and status.

Introduction

There have been two major technological breakthroughs in the last 20 years. One has been in the power, speed and cost of computers and the second has been in the basic knowledge, sequencing abilities and technologies of molecular biology. Both areas are rapidly leading to major new innovations and are changing our daily lives. Many of the changes are unforeseen and many affect our lives in ways that were not anticipated and may not even be recognized as having anything to do with these advances.

To give but one such example of events that are shaping our lives I need only consider what happens every time that I go to the grocery store. At the check-out line, the clerk will ask me for my AIRMILES card and will “swipe” it through a scanner after ringing in my purchases. When I go to the department store, I will be asked if I subscribe to AIRMILES and if so, to supply the card so that they may record my purchases. Anytime that I go to the local hardware store, to the drugstore, to the shoe store to the garden supply store, … it seems, when I go to most any store they ask me for my AIRMILES card.