Display person: --select--Abbesses of Llanllugan Abbesses of Llanll?r Abbots of Bardsey Abbots of Basingwerk Abbots of Conwy Abbots of Cwmhir Abbots of Cymer Abbots of Grace Dieu Abbots of Llantarnam Abbots of Margam Abbots of Neath Abbots of St Dogmaels Abbots of Strata Florida Abbots of Strata Marcella Abbots of Talley Abbots of Tintern Abbots of Valle Crucis Abbots of Whitland Adam de la Rupe (Roche) Adam of Orleton Adam of Usk Agnes (Nest) Arnulf of Montgomery Bernard Bernard of Neufmarché; Newmarket; Newmarch Buckingham Cadell ap Gruffudd Cadwallon ap Madog Cadwgan Clement Dafydd ab Owain Dafydd ap Gwilym Dafydd ap Llywelyn de Bohun (Bohun) de Bohun, Henry de Braose (Braose) Edmund Grey Edmund Mortimer Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond Edmund, first earl of Lancaster (Edmund Crouchback) Edward I Edward II Edward III, king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine Edward Stradling, sheriff of Glamorgan Elizabeth de Burgh; Elizabeth de Clare Enoch Geoffrey of Henlaw Gerald of Wales; Giraldus Cambrensis Geva de Burci Gilbert de Clare, seventh earl of Gloucester and sixth earl of Hereford Gilbert fitz Richard; Gilbert de Clare; Gilbert of Tonbridge; Gilbert fitz Richard Gilbert, abbot of Margam (1203-1213) Gruffudd ap Cynan Gruffudd ap Llywelyn Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn Guto'r Glyn Gutun Owain; Gruffudd ap Huw ab Owain Gwladus (Gwladys) Hamelin de Barham; Hamelin de Ballon (Balun / Baeluns) Henry de Beaumont (Newburgh) Henry Fitzroy Henry I Henry II Henry III Henry IV; Henry Bolingbroke Henry of Lancaster [Henry of Grosmont], first duke of Lancaster Henry V Henry VI, king of England Henry VIII Hervey Hugh de Lacy Hugh Despenser (the Younger) Hugh, second earl of Stafford Hywel ab Iorwerth Hywel ap Gruffudd Iorwerth (Gervase), abbot of Talley and bishop of St David's Isabella, queen of England and countess of Gloucester John (Lackland) John Grey John Leland John of Hastings John of Monmouth John Pecham; Peckam; Peckham Lewis Môn Llywelyn ab Iorwerth; Llywelyn Fawr Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn Bren; Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ap Rhys Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor Maredudd ap Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd Maredudd ap Rhobert Maurice de Londres Morgan ab Owain Morgan ap Caradog Owain Brogyntyn (Oenus de Porchinton) Owain Cyfeiliog; Owain ap Gruffudd Owain Glyn D?r; Owen Glendower; Owain ap Gruffudd Fychan Payn de Turbervill Payne de Chaworth Peter fitz Herbert Prioresses of Llanll?r Prioresses of Usk Priors of Pill Priors of Abergavenny Priors of Bassaleg Priors of Beddgelert Priors of Brecon Priors of Caldey Priors of Cardiff Priors of Cardigan Priors of Carmarthen (Augustinian) Priors of Carmarthen (Benedictine) Priors of Chepstow Priors of Ewenny Priors of Goldcliff Priors of Haverfordwest Priors of Kidwelly Priors of Llanbadarn Fawr Priors of Llandovery Priors of Llangennith Priors of Llangua Priors of Llanthony Prima Priors of Malpas Priors of Monmouth Priors of Pembroke Priors of Penmon Priors of Puffin Island Priors of Ruthin Priors of St Clears Priors of St Tudwal's Island Ranulf de Gernon; Ranulph de Gernon Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd Rhys ap Gruffudd Rhys ap Maredudd Rhys ap Thomas Richard de Clare Richard de Clare; Richard fiz Gilbert Richard de Granville (Grainville), baron Richard fitz Alan; Richard (II) Richard fitz Pons Richard II Richard III Richard Marshal Richard Neville, sixteenth earl of Warwick and sixth earl of Salisbury Richard of York Robert Robert Béthune Robert de Chandos Robert fitz Hamo; Robert fitz Haimon Robert fitz Martin Robert fitz Richard (Robert of Haverford), lord of Haverfordwest Robert fitz Stephen Robert of Hay Roger (II) de Mortimer Roger Bigod IV Roger fitz Miles Roger le Poer Stafford Thomas Pennant Tudur Aled Walter de Clare; Walter Fitz Richard Walter de Lacy Walter of St Dogmaels Wihenoc of Monmouth (de Monemue) William (I) the Conqueror William (second) earl of Gloucester William ap Thomas William de Braose (Briouze) William fitz Osbern William Freney William Herbert William Marshal William Marshal the Younger, fifth earl of Pembroke William of Worcester; William of Worcestre; William Botoner William of Wycombe (Wycumbe) Winebald de Baeluns (Ballon; Balun)

Enoch , founding abbot of Strata Marcella

Active: c. 1170   

According to Gerald of Wales, Enoch founded a community of nuns at Llansanffraid and subsequently engaged in an illicit affair with one of the nuns who duly became pregnant. Enoch later repented of his wrongdoings. Gerald's account of Enoch's antics cannot be wholly relied upon and he may simply have intended the story to serve as a warning of the perils involved in looking after a female community; or he may have wished to entertain (Cartwright).

Gerald of Wales records the 'downfall' of an abbot (Enoch) in three of his works - the Speculum Ecclesiae, the Gemma Ecclesiastica and the Journey through Wales. Each of the versions varies and as Jane Cartwright argues, these discrepancies and inconsistencies undermine our confidence in Gerald 'as an historically rigorous record.'
The following account of Enoch's activities is given in the Gemma Ecclesiastica:

'There is a story about an abbot Enoch who gathered together in Wales during our own time a group of virgins for the service of Christ. He at length succumbed to temptations and made many of the virgins in the convent pregnant. Finally, he ran around in a comical manner, throwing off the religious habit, and fled with one of the nuns. After he had spent many years in the service of the devil, he at last returned to his Order and the mother-house from which he had fled. The monastery [he returned to] was called Whitland. He was taken back, not without great compunction, and performed his penance with fitting devotion, according to the rigors of the Cistercian rule.'
[trans. J. J. Hagen]

Sites associated with this person

, (founder)

Strata Marcella Abbey, Powys (abbot)

Bibliographical sources

Printed sources

Cartwright, Jane, Feminine Sanctity and Spirituality in Medieval Wales (University of Wales Press: Cardiff, 2008) pp. 263-266

Cartwright, Jane, 'Abbess Annes and the ape', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches ed. Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 191-207

Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales / The Description of Wales (Harmondsworth, 1978)

Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), The Jewel of the Church, a translation of Gemma Ecclesiastica (Lugduni Bavatorum: Leiden, 1979)

Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), Giraldi Cambresensis Opera, Rolls Series, 21, 8 vols, ed. J. S. Brewer, J. F. Dimock and G. F. Warner (London, 1861-1891) vol. 2, p. 248; vol. 4, pp. 168–169; vol. 6, p. 59

Kerr, Julie E., Life in the Medieval Cloister (Continuum: London and New York, 2009) p. 141