MORGAN, William (1544/5-1604)

A native of Dolwyddelan, Caernarvonshire, Morgan was described by the local landowner, Sir John Wynn^‡ of Gwydir, as being ‘born of the race of the bondmen of that township, servants … to the house of Gwydir, where he was brought up in learning’. Morgan subsequently attended Westminster School and St John’s College, Cambridge, where he honed skills in Greek and Hebrew which served him well as a translator. Wynn claimed to have secured Morgan his first preferment in 1572, as vicar of the Cardiganshire parish which included the town of Aberystwyth. However, given Wynn’s youth at the time, it was probably his father, Maurice Wynn^‡, who approached Richard Davies, bishop of St Davids and himself a Caernarvonshire native.18 Wynn, 63; G. Williams, Wales and the Reformation, 342-5.

It seems likely that Bishop Davies employed Morgan, who continued to reside at St John’s, to help him translate the Bible into Welsh, a task he was then undertaking with William Salesbury. In 1575 Morgan was transferred to St Asaph diocese, where the new bishop, William Hughes^† (another Johnian), secured him several livings in commendam. These positions subsidized the Welsh translation of the Bible, a project encouraged by John Whitgift^†, then bishop of Worcester and vice president of the council in the Marches (later archbishop of Canterbury), which was published in 1588. Sir John Wynn subsequently accused Morgan of claiming the credit for work done by Davies and Salesbury, both of whom were now dead, but the charge was probably unjust, as Morgan freely acknowledged the help of several other collaborators, including two more Johnians, Edmund Price, archdeacon of Merioneth, and Richard Vaughan^*, subsequently bishop of London. The impact of Morgan’s translation of the Bible on the Welsh church was immense. Widely praised at the time by the bards, a corrected version, seen to press in 1620 by Richard Parry^*, Morgan’s successor at St Asaph, remained in use until recent times.19 W. Morgan and R. Parry, Y Bibl Cyssegr-Lan (1620), ded. by Morgan; Williams, 338-60; Wynn, 66; G. Williams, ‘William Morgan’s Bible and the Cambridge Connection’, Welsh Hist. Rev. xiv. 363-79.

Morgan was rewarded for his efforts in 1595 with the see of Llandaff, at the nomination of Archbishop Whitgift and Thomas Sackville^*, Lord Buckhurst (later 1st earl of Dorset). During his tenure at Llandaff Morgan translated the Prayer Book into Welsh, published in 1599, which probably helped secure his promotion to St Asaph, in 1601. On this occasion Whitgift helped him to see off a challenge from George Lloyd^*, bishop of Sodor and Man (later bishop of Chester).20 P. Yorke, Royal Tribes of Wales ed. R. Williams, 140; Cal. Wynn Pprs. 39; HMC Hatfield, xi. 232; B. Usher, Ld. Burghley and Episcopacy, 1577-1603, pp. 139, 147. Both dioceses were poor, but at St Asaph the bishop was at least allowed to hold the archdeaconry in commendam, raising Morgan’s annual income to around £260.

At Llandaff, an area where Catholics wielded substantial influence, Morgan had a reputation for the vigorous prosecution of recusants; he continued this policy at St Asaph, indicting 65 recusants at the Denbighshire great sessions in 1602.21 G.M. Griffiths, ‘Glimpses of Denb. in the Recs. of the Ct. of Great Sessions’, Trans. Denb. Hist. Soc. xxii. 104. Shortly after his arrival at St Asaph, Morgan offered Sir John Wynn a preferential lease of half the rectory of Llangwstenyn, Denbighshire, which raised the latter’s expectation that the new bishop would allow him to profit from tithe revenues. However, early in 1604, when Morgan was pressed for a lease of the tithes of Llanrwst, Denbighshire (the parish in which Wynn’s own house lay), the bishop protested that ‘so many chips have been already taken from the church, that it is ready to fall’. Wynn’s son-in-law Roger Mostyn^‡ claimed that Morgan’s change of policy reflected the fact that the bishop intended to add Llanrwst to his own commendam. It seems more likely, however, that Morgan was affronted by Wynn’s insistence that he should receive a lease for three lives at a substantial discount.22 Cal. Wynn Pprs. 40; Yorke, 134-9; NLW, 9052E/269; J.G. Jones, ‘Bp. William Morgan’s Dispute with John Wynn of Gwydir in 1603-4’, Jnl. Hist. Soc. of the Church in Wales, xxii. 49-66.

On 30 Mar. 1603 news of King James’s accession arrived at Denbigh, whereupon Morgan translated the proclamation into Welsh for the benefit of the townsmen. In the following year Parliament met. Morgan attended most of the opening six weeks of the session, but left no recorded trace upon its proceedings. He missed the majority of the latter half of the session, during which time he granted his proxy to Francis Godwin^*, his successor at Llandaff. The hopes Morgan expressed to Wynn that the session would bring forth legislation to prevent lay spoliation of ecclesiastical livings proved to be mistaken.23 NLW, Plas Nantglyn 1, p. 57; Yorke, 135.

In a final letter, written in July 1604, Morgan acknowledged that Wynn would enjoy half the tithes of Llangwstenyn at a discounted rate, and signed himself ‘your sickly neighbour’. He died on 10 Sept. 1604, and was buried at St Asaph, where his grave was marked by a black stone inscribed with his initials. No will or letters of administration has been found, but an Exchequer commission was later issued to collect from his estate arrears of the second instalment of the third clerical subsidy of 1601, which fell due shortly before his death. This revealed a modest personal estate of only £110, but also debts and rents amounting to almost £80, with further sums due for spiritual revenues and the clerical subsidies.24 Yorke, 142; E178/254; J. Berlatsky, ‘Elizabethan Episcopate: Patterns of Life and Expenditure’, Princes and Paupers in the Eng. Church ed. R. O’Day and F. Heal, 117. His wife was buried at Oswestry in January 1606, whereupon his estate was presumably inherited by his son.25 Oxford DNB, xxxix. 154.