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Gildas
Sign in to saveAlso known as Gildas the Wise
Gildas (English pronunciation: , Breton: Gweltaz; ) – also known as , (in Middle Welsh texts and antiquarian works) and (Gildas the Wise) – was a 6th-century British monk best known for his religious polemic , which recounts the history of the Britons before and during the coming of the Saxons. He is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during the sub-Roman period, and was renowned for his Biblical knowledge and literary style. In his later life, he emigrated to Brittany, where he founded a monastery known as Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys.
OverviewAI-generated
Gildas was a male historian, writer, missionary, and monk who served as an abbot. Born in the Kingdom of Strathclyde and Cheshire, he was a citizen of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. He was a student of Illtud and wrote in Latin. Gildas is recognized as a Catholic saint with a feast day on January 29. He died on January 29, 570, on the Rhuys Peninsula.
His notable works include *Gildae, cui cognomentum est sapientis*, *Opus novum*, *Opera omnia*, *The story of the loss of Britain*, and *Rervm britannicarvm, id est Angliæ, Scotiæ, vicinarvmqve insvlarvm ac regionvm*. He is described in sources such as *The Nuttall Encyclopædia* and the *Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, OpenAlex, Open Library, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Saint.honorific prefix
- Saint
- Saint.name
- Gildas
- Saint.death_date
- 570 (traditional)
- Saint.feast_day
- 29 January
- Saint.venerated_in
- Eastern Orthodox ChurchRoman Catholic ChurchAnglican Communion
- Saint.image
- Statue St-Gildas 07082.jpg
- Saint.caption
- Statue of Saint Gildas near the village of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys (France).
- Saint.birth_place
- Kingdom of Strathclyde
- Saint.death_place
- Rhuys, Brittany
- Saint.titles
- Abbot
- Saint.attributes
- Monk holding a Celtic bell or writing in a book
- Saint.patronage
- Welsh historians; bell founders
- Saint.major_shrine
- Glastonbury Abbey (destroyed)Rhuys Church
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Kingdom of Strathclyde
- Place of birth
- Cheshire
- Place of death
- Rhuys Peninsula
- Occupation
- monk
- Position held
- abbot
- Languages spoken
- Latin
- Religion
- Catholic Church
- Student of
- Illtud
- Image
- Statue St-Gildas 07082.jpg
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Saint Gildas
- canonization status
- Catholic saint
- date of death
- 0570-01-29
- date of birth
- 0500-01-01
- described by source
- Pauly–Wissowa
- feast day
- January 29
- writing language
- Latin
- P12749
- Gerhard Stöck
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
13 sectionsContents
- Hagiography
- Birthplace
- Life
- Biographies
- ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae''
- Veneration
- Further traditions
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- External links
Gildas (English pronunciation: , Breton: Gweltaz; ) – also known as , (in Middle Welsh texts and antiquarian works) and (Gildas the Wise) – was a 6th-century British monk best known for his religious polemic , which recounts the history of the Britons before and during the coming of the Saxons. He is one of the best-documented figures of the Christian church in the British Isles during the sub-Roman period, and was renowned for his Biblical knowledge and literary style. In his later life, he emigrated to Brittany, where he founded a monastery known as Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys.
==Hagiography==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Gildas” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.