ungracious enactment when coming from a sovereign who was himself a genuine Welshman by birth. Under the system of the Great Sessions justice was administered throughout the twelve counties of Wales for nearly three hundred years, and it was not until 1830 that this system of jurisdiction was abolished (not without some protest from Welsh members at Westminster), and the existing North and South Wales circuits were brought into being.
With the peaceful absorption of the Principality into the realm of the Tudor sovereigns, the subsequent course of Welsh history assumes mainly a religious and educational character. The influence of the Renaissance seems to have been tardy in penetrating into Wales itself, nor did the numerous ecclesiastical changes during the period of the Reformation cause any marked signs either of resentment or approval amongst the mass of the Welsh people, although some of the ancient Catholic customs lingered on obstinately. As early as the reign of Henry VIII. there were, however, to be found at court and in the universities a number of ardent and talented young Welshmen, adherents mostly of the reforming party in Church and State, who were destined to bring about a brilliant literary revival in their native land during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Of this distinguished band the most memorable names are those of Bishop Richard Davies (c. 1501–1581) and of William Salesbury, the squire-scholar of Llanrwst (c. 1520–c. 1600) in Denbighshire, who is commonly credited with the honour of having produced the first printed book in the Welsh language, a small volume of proverbs published in London about the year 1545. With the accession of Elizabeth a novel and vigorous ecclesiastical policy on truly national lines was now inaugurated in Wales itself, chiefly through the instrumentality of Richard Davies, nominated bishop of St Asaph in 1559 and translated thence to St Davids in 1561, who was mainly responsible for the act of parliament of 1563, commanding the bishops of St Davids, Llandaff, Bangor, St Asaph and Hereford to prepare with all speed for public use Welsh translations of the Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer. Of the five prelates thus named, Davies alone was competent to undertake the task, and for assistance in the work of translation he called upon his old friend and former neighbour, William Salesbury, who like the bishop was an excellent Greek and Hebrew scholar. The pair laboured with such diligence that before the close of the year 1567 the required translations of the Liturgy and the New Testament were published in London; the former being the exclusive work of the bishop, whilst the latter was principally the product of Salesbury's pen, although some portions of it were contributed by Bishop Davies and by Thomas Huet, or Hewett, preceptor of St Davids (d. 1591). Having accomplished so much in so small a space of time, the two friends were next engaged upon a translation of the Old Testament, but owing to a quarrel, the cause of which remains obscure, this interesting literary partnership was brought to an abrupt ending about 1570. The honour of presenting his countrymen with a complete Welsh version of the Bible was reserved for William Morgan (c. 1547–1604), vicar of Llanrhayader, in Denbighshire, and afterwards bishop successively of Llandaff and of St Asaph. For eight years Morgan was busied with his self-imposed task, being greatly encouraged thereto by Archbishop Whitgift, by Bishop William Hughes (d. 1600) of St Asaph, and by other leading dignitaries of the Church both in England and in Wales. In December 1588 the first complete Welsh Bible, commonly known as “Bishop Morgan's Bible,” Was issued from the royal press at Westminster under the patronage of queen and primate, about 800 copies being supplied for distribution amongst the parish churches of Wales. This famous editio princeps of the Welsh Bible, first and foremost of Welsh classics, was further supplemented under James I. by the Authorized Version, produced by Richard Parry (1560–1623), bishop of St Asaph, with the help of Dr John Davies of Mallwyd (1570–1644), the first great Welsh lexicographer. At the tercentenary of “Bishop Morgan's Bible” in 1888 a national movement of appreciation was set on foot amongst Welshmen of all denominations both at home and abroad, with the result that a memorial cross was erected in the cathedral close of St Asaph in order to perpetuate the names and national services of the eight leading Welsh translators of the Scriptures:—Bishops Davies, Morgan and Parry; William Salesbury; Thomas Huet; Dr Davies of Mallwyd; Archdeacon Edmund Prys (1541–1624), author of a popular Welsh metrical version of the Psalter; and Gabriel Goodman, dean of Westminster (1528–1601), a native of Ruthin, who greatly assisted Bishop Morgan in his task. Two circumstances attending the production of these Welsh translations should be noted:—(1) That the leaders of this remarkable religious, literary and educational revival within the Principality were chiefly natives of North Wales, where for many years St Asaph was regarded as the chief centre of Cambro-British intellectual life; and (2) that all these important works in the Welsh tongue were published of necessity in London, owing to the absence of an acknowledged capital, or any central city of importance in Wales itself.
It would be well-nigh impossible to exaggerate the services rendered to the ancient British tongue, and consequently to the national spirit of Wales, by these Elizabethan and Jacobean translations, issued in 1567, 1588 and 1620, which were able definitely to fix the standard of classical Welsh, and to embody the contending dialects of Gwynedd, Dyfed and Gwent for all time in one literary storehouse. But for this sudden revival of Cymric literature under the patronage of Elizabeth (for the obtaining of which Wales must ever owe a deep debt of gratitude to Bishop Richard Davies, “her second St David”), there is every reason to believe that the ancient language of the Principality must either have drifted into a number of corrupt dialects, as it then showed symptoms of doing, or else have tended to ultimate extinction, much as the Cornish tongue perished in the 17th century.
The growth of Puritanism in Wales was neither strong nor speedy, although the year 1588, which witnessed the appearance of Bishop Morgan's Bible, also gave birth to two fierce appeals to the parliament, urging a drastic Puritanical policy in Wales, from the pen of the celebrated John Penry, a native of Brecknockshire (1559–1593). Far more influential than Penry amongst the Welsh were Rhys Prichard (? 1579–1644), the famous vicar of Llandovery,[1] Carmarthenshire, and William Wroth (d. 1642), rector of Llanfaches, Monmouthshire. Of these two Puritan divines. Vicar Prichard, who was essentially orthodox in his behaviour, forms an interesting connecting link between the learned Elizabethan translators of the Bible and the great revivalists of the 18th century, and his moral rhymes in the vernacular, collected and printed after his death under the title of The Welshman's Candle (Canwyll y Cymry), still retain some degree of popularity amongst his countrymen. Although a strong opponent of Laud's and Charles's ecclesiastical policy, Prichard lived unmolested, and even rose to be chancellor of St Davids; but the indiscreet Wroth, “the founder and father of nonconformity in Wales,” being suspended in 1638 by Bishop Murray of Llandaff, founded a small community of Independents at Llanfaches, which is thus commonly accounted the first Nonconformist chapel in Wales. During the years prior to the Great Rebellion, however, in spite of the preaching and writings of Vicar Prichard, Wroth and others, the vast mass of Welshmen of all classes remained friendly to the High Church policy of Laud and staunch supporters of the king's prerogative. Nor were the effects of the great literary revival in Elizabeth's reign by any means exhausted, for at this time Wales undoubtedly possessed a large number of native divines that were at once active parish priests and excellent scholars, many of whom had been educated at Jesus College, Oxford, the Welsh college endowed by Dr Hugh Price (d. 1574) and founded under Elizabeth's patronage in 1573. So striking was the devotion shown throughout the Principality to the king, who fought his last disastrous campaign in the friendly counties of Wales and the Marches, that on the final victory of the parliament there was passed within a month of Charles's execution
- ↑ Sometimes known as vicar of Llandingat, his church being in that parish.
