LEWIS, HUGH (1562 - 1634), cleric, author, poet
Date of birth: 1562
Date of death: 1634
Spouse: Ellen Lewis
Child: William ap Hugh Lewis
Child: Morgan ap Hugh Lewis
Parent: Agnes Foxwist
Parent: Lewis ap William ap William
Gender: Male
Occupation: cleric, author, poet
Area of activity: Literature and Writing; Poetry; Religion
Author: William Gilbert Williams
His forbears were bondsmen of the township of Bodellog near Caernarvon. His great-grandfather was known as William of Bodellog whose son William ap William married Margaret Bennett and had three sons - Ieuan, Rhys, and Lewis. This Lewis married Agnes, daughter of William Foxwist of Prysgol, a member of the lower gentry. Of this marriage four sons were born - Hugh, Griffith, Richard and John. Hugh Lewis the eldest, was given educational advantages that enabled him to enter All Souls' College, Oxford, 10 August 1582, ' aet. 20'; he graduated from Hart Hall in January 1586/7. It appears that during his Oxford days his interest in Welsh letters was intensified; he acquired a sound knowledge of Welsh metrics and became known as a poet of repute. For some years his career cannot be traced, but during that period he had been occupied in translating a treatise by Otto Werdmüller of Zurich which had been rendered into English, 1550, by Miles Coverdale under the title A Spyrytuall and moost Precious Pearle teaching all Men to Loue and Imbrace ye Crosse. The Welsh version bore the title Perl mewn Adfyd and was first published in 1595. A reprint of this book was edited by W. J. Gruffydd, 1929. Hugh Lewis published the book from a desire to assist in the moral uplift of his country and to foster the use of his native language. In 1598 he obtained the rectory of Llanddeiniolen; ten years later he became chancellor of Bangor cathedral, and in 1623 succeeded the renowned Edmund Prys as rector of Ffestiniog and Maentwrog. In 1612 he erected a mansion upon the site of his old home at Bodellog and resided here until his death, which occurred before 6 November 1634, the date on which his successor as chancellor was instituted. By his marriage with Ellen vch Rhytherch he had two sons, Morgan ap Hugh Lewis and William ap Hugh Lewis. Ellen died in April 1634; she and her husband were buried in Llanwnda.
Author
- William Gilbert Williams, (1874 - 1966)
- J. E. Griffith, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families (1914), 123
- Foster, Alumni Oxonienses: the members of the University of Oxford
- W. J. Gruffydd, introduction to Perl mewn Adfyd (1595, 1929), 1929
- Caernarvonshire Historical Society Transactions, 1944.
Sources
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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