Davids
Davids [1]
ST., an episcopal city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It has been the seat of a bishopric since about 519, when St. David (q.v.) transferred the archbishop's see to St. David's (before called Mynyw, and by the Romans Menevia) from Caerleon. It was in the Middle Ages a large city — the great resort of pilgrims to St. David's shrine; it is now a small village, with only a few good houses besides those of the clergy. It has a fine cathedral, and splendid remains of religious houses, episcopal palace, and St. Mary's College (founded by John of Gaunt), within a high embattled wall nearly a mile in circuit. The cathedral, founded in 1180, on the site of the monastery of St. David, is cruciform. Its dimensions, in the interior, are as follows: length, 290 feet; breadth, 76; nave, 124 choir, 80; transept, 120; central tower, 127 feet high. Among the former bishops may be named Laud, Bull, South, and Horsley. The present incumbent (1868) of the see is Connop Thirlwall, the historian of Greece. The cathedral establishment includes a bishop, a dean, four canons, five vicars choral, and other officers residentiary, with four archdeacons, and 12 prebendaries, or honorary canons, nonresident.
