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Much of our information on the early history of Saint David comes from two sources: the 11th/12th century [[hagiography]] Buchedd Dewi (Life of David) of Rhigyfarch and the 12th-century writings of Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales). David was a descendant of the royal house of Cunedda. Rhigyfarch wrote that David was the son of ''Sanctus Rex Ceredigionis'', where ''Sanctus'' has been interpreted as a proper name and its owner honoured by Welsh Christians as '''Saint Sant'''. The Latin phrase itself translates as "a holy king of Ceredigion." The king of Ceredigion in the 510s was Gwyddno Garanhir, according to regional tradition. His title ''Garanhir'' ("crane legs"), certainly indicated spiritual accomplishment to the Druids who bestowed it. If the son of King Gwyddno, David was a grandson of King Ceredig, and a nephew of King Maelgwn of Gwynedd, and a brother of Elphin the successor to the Kingdom of Ceredigion and the foster-father and first patron of the bard Taliesin. Little is known of his mother, Non (honoured by Welsh Christians as '''Saint Non'''), though she is said to have been the daughter of a local chieftain - some versions of the meeting of Sant (or Gwyddno) and Non state that Sant forced himself upon Non.
David was born on a stormy night at or near Capel Non (Non's [[chapel]]) within a short walk of the present day city of Saint David's. The ruins of the medieval chapel are visible near the site, and a nearby well is still a site of pilgrimage. He was [[baptize|baptised]] by the Irish [[monk]] St. Elvis, and educated at the monastery of Hen Fynyw. After [[ordain|ordination]], David was taught by the elderly monk Paulinus, whose blindness the young David healed by making the sign of the cross over the monk's eyelids.
He became renowned as a teacher and preacher, founding [[monasticism|monasteries]] in Britain and Brittany (on the west coast of modern France), in a period when neighbouring tribal regions (that were to be united as England three hundred years later) were still mostly [[Paganism|pagan]]. He rose to a [[bishop]]ric, and presided over two [[synod]]s, as well as going on [[pilgrimage]]s to Jerusalem where he was anointed as a bishop by the [[patriarch]].
