GWENT, RICHARD (died 1543), archdeacon of London

the son of a Monmouthshire farmer. He was elected Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, in 1515. He specialized in law and became Doctor of both Canon and Civil Law. He practised as ecclesiastical advocate and was employed on behalf of queen Catherine in 1529. He also held a large number of church livings in plurality, and seems to have been appointed archdeacon of Brecon in 1534. He acted as archbishop's commissary when Cranmer made his metropolitan visitation in 1534. He was prolocutor of convocation in 1536, 1540, and 1541, and was one of those appointed to inquire into the validity of the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. Leland in his Encomia alludes to him as 'Richardus Ventanus juridicus' and speaks highly of his virtues and learning.

Author

• John James Jones, (1892 - 1957)

Sources

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Robert Williams, Enwogion Cymru. A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen (1852)

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Richard Gwent

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q7326125

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/