Introduction

Andrew was an apostle and a martyr who lived in the first century AD. He is the brother of Simon Peter and he was a disciple of John the Baptist before he became one of Christ’s apostles. He is the fourth in the list of apostles given in John 12.20–2. There is an ancient tradition that associates him with Greece, claiming that he preached the Gospel in Patras. He was crucified at Patras on an X-shaped cross on 30 November, sometime during the second half of the first century.

One of the earliest sources to record his history is Acta Andreae:a second- or third-century text that became part of the New Testament apocrypha. This tells how Andrew travelled all over the world to preach the Gospel, how he performed all sorts of miracles and how he experienced a martyr’s death. It seems that Latin and English authors used this text as one of their sources to write their versions of the Life of the saint (such as the Legenda aurea, Festial and The Scottish Legendary, see Salih 2006: 58); however, other traditions – which had developed quickly around his cult – were also used. One of these traditions was how his relics were transported to Scotland during the eighth century. According to this legend, a man called St Rule or Regulus had a vision that he should transport Andrew’s bones from Patras to Scotland. He travelled by sea to Scotland and landed on the west coast. There, at St Andrews, a church dedicated to the saint was built. By the eleventh century, this story about Andrew’s supposed relics had spread very quickly and this small town (originally called Kinrymont) became a great religious centre and an important destination for pilgrims (Taylor 2009: 408). As a result, Andrew was chosen as the patron saint of Scotland (see further Lamont 1997: 2 and Gruffydd 2006: 12).

Although Greece and the eastern countries are important places in the history of the saint, his cult had spread to the west from as early as the seventh century, with the first church dedicated to him in England in 637. In Wales, Saint Andras (St. Andrew’s Major) in Glamorgan and Llanandras (Presteigne) in Radnorshire were named after him (Richards 1998: 131). Andrew is often depicted with the Latin cross, ‘The Cross of St Andrew’, in art: a white cross on a blue background which also represents Scotland on the United Kingdom flag. He is referred to in Medieval Welsh poetry as one of the apostles (see GDID 10.1; DG.net 4.26; GSH 6.10; GG.net 19.8) and sometimes the poets refers to his crucifixion on this unique cross (see GC 7.92; Bl BGCC 31.16a–c; Bl BGCC331).

As explained in the note at the end of the Life in Pen 225, the Welsh Life is incomplete and this is evident when comparing it to his Life in other languages. In the Legenda aurea, for example, there is an introduction that explains Andrew’s relationship with Christ and the other apostles before listing the six miracles performed by him (LA 12–33, GL 13–21). Then, there is an explanation of how he was killed on an X-shaped cross before recounting more miracles associated with his tomb. Next comes the story about the bishop who is seduced by the devil in the form of a beautiful woman, before ending with a tale about a piece of land that belonged to a church dedicated to the saint. There is no mention of how Andrew came to Scotland in his Latin vita.

Indeed, the content of the Welsh Life seems more closely related to the Middle English version by John Mirk in his Festial (Erbe 1905: 6–11). However, it is possible that the source for the Welsh version was also incomplete, and, moreover, inaccurate as some personal names are mis-spelled. The first section is lost and the Life opens with the miracles performed by Andrew. But only a few of them are included, namely the ones also found in the Festial. First, we have the story of how Andrew helped an old man named Iurancolus; second, the story of how Andrew helped a young man wrongly accused of raping his mother; third, the story of how Andrew overcomes seven demons in the form of dogs; fourth, how Andrew restored the life of a young man killed by demons; fifth, how Andrew revived forty Christians who had drowned. Afterwards, summarized in a couple of sentences we have an account of the beginning of the saint’s martyrdom (§5). It is noted that Andrew went to Antioch and converted many Christians there, including the wife of a chief counsellor called Antirias. After a short dialogue between Antirias and Andrew, the section ends omitting the account of how Andrew was actually killed.

The next section (§6–§7) is the most detailed section in the Life, namely, the story of a young woman visiting a bishop at his palace. However, the visitor is not who she claims to be; she is the devil disguised as a young, beautiful woman. The devil’s intention is to deceive the bishop by attempting to allure him into sleeping with the woman, but they are disturbed by someone knocking on the door. The visitor is a pilgrim, and afterwards it is revealed that he is Andrew in disguise. The woman tells the bishop not to open the door to the pilgrim until he gives adequate answers to some challenging questions about Christianity. According to the woman, the pilgrim is unsuccessful in his first two answers but in his answer to the third question, the pilgrim reveals that the woman is actually a devil in the guise of a woman. Although this account occurs in the Legenda aurea and the Festial, it is unclear from where it originates. There are similar tales in other Lives, such as the Latin version of the ‘Life of Bartholomew the Apostle’ as well as other medieval romances and secular texts. The significance of such a tale is to underline the importance of avoiding lust. On one hand, we have the bishop who represents the chaste life – but a life open to temptations – and, on the other hand, the devil (disguised as a woman) who represents carnal desires. This is not the only episode about sexuality in the life of St Andrew: for example in the first story, Iurancolus visited prostitutes and, in the second story, the mother tried to sleep with her own son. The same theme appears in the story about Antirias which has been cut short in the Welsh Life. Antirias’s main cause of anger towards Andrew is that the saint had persuaded Antirias’s wife to lead a spiritual life and thereafter she had refused to sleep with her husband.