Glasgow
-St Mungo and the Glasgow coat of arms
-St Mungo`s early life

The Scotland Guide
www.scotland-guide.co.uk
© David Williams

41

A twelfth-century biography of Mungo was compiled by Jocelin, a monk from Furness Abbey, but there are many conflicting stories about his life which are very difficult to resolve. Mungo may have been born around 530, the son of Princess Thenew, but the identity of his father is not known. It is said his mother believed that Mungo had no earthly father but another story claims that she was raped by Prince Ewen, the son of the king of Cumbria. Her father, Loth the king of Lothian, was horrified by the pregnancy and he had her thrown off the top of Traprain Law, a prominent hill in East Lothian. She survived this ordeal so she was cast adrift in the Firth of Forth in a flimsy coracle. Eventually she came ashore at Culross in Fife, where she subsequently gave birth, and was taken in by St Serf who christened the child Kyentyern which is today spelled Kentigern. Some sources claim that St Serf gave him the pet name Mungo, which means "Dear one", while others state that it was the people of Glasgow who called him this out of their affection for him.

This article is based on the guidebook "The Glasgow Guide".

This statue of St Mungo is at the rear of the city`s main museum, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The sculpture is entitled St Mungo as the Patron of Art and Music and it shows him as the Bishop of Glasgow, flanked by females representing Art and Music.
Next St Mungo article:
St Mungo in Culross
List of St Mungo articles:
St Mungo and the Glasgow coat of arms

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