Massacre at Bangor-is-y-coed near Wrexham - North Wales.

If the account of the Welsh historian Theophilus Evans is to be believed, then Augustine was no saint. He is commonly credited with bringing Christianity to the Saxons in Britain, but when he went to Wales he encouraged the Saxon army to carry out a massacre of 1200 monks and scholars at Bangor-is-y-coed near Wrexham.
Note: This Augustine is not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430).

Christianity arrived in Britain during the first century AD. The notation that Augustine brought Christianity to Britain is pure myth. He came here as the representative of the Pope and persuaded the Saxon kings to submit to Rome. There were mass baptisms all over the country as the Saxon people followed the example of their leaders. Then in 601 he went to Wales, expecting the same success, but was disappointed. The Welsh already had the true faith, given to them by the early church, and they did not need any new innovations from Rome.

Augustine demanded that the Britons should accept all the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, although he offered them time to do it in piecemeal fashion, without converting to Roman Catholicism all at once. When they refused, he instigated the Saxon army to attack the monastery at Bangor-is-y-coed, killing 1200 monks and scholars.

The story so far is well known among British historians,but the monastery was not at Bangor on the Menai Strait near Anglesey as some people might suppose. It was at a relatively small and insignificant place called Bangor-is-y-coed, about 5 miles south-east of Wrexham, just on the Welsh side of the border with England.This important point of detail is given to us by Theophilus Evans (1694-1767) in his "Drychy Prif Oesoedd" which was later translated into English under the title "A View of the Primitive Ages".

Theophilus Evans first mentions Bangor-is-y-coed in connection with an issue that has nothing to do with the massacre of the monks, but it is important to mention it here because he makes a clear distinction between the two Bangors. There was an abbot called Morgan who went to Italy and changed his name to Pelagius. He made himself famous by preaching a doctrine which became known as the "Pelagian Heresy".

He maintained that salvation is not entirely the work of the grace of God within the heart of the sinner who repents, but it also depends on free choice, so that the person must work together with God, and is at perfect liberty to accept salvation or else reject it and perish forever. This doctrine is now known as "Arminianism", and the alternative doctrine which emphasises the sovereign grace of God is called "Calvinism".

Pelagius received his education at the college of Bangor-is-coed, where he became a monk, and afterwards an abbot. This institution may properly be denominated the mother of all learning. It is not the same Bangor which is now in Caernarvonshire, and the seat of the bishopric which bears that name; but Bangor in Flintshire, on the river Dee, about twelve miles from Chester. In former times there was a very extensive monastery at this place. In addition to the students who were learning the sciences, there were 2400 religious persons who read the service in rotation, a hundred at a time, every hour in the twenty-four; so that the worship of God was continued by day and night throughout the year. [Vide Manuscript Hengwrt].