John Gwynneth

;Origins and education

John Gwynneth was the son of Dafydd ap Llewelyn ap Ithel of Castellmarch, Llanengan, Llŷn, Caernarfonshire:According to Arthur Bulkeley, Dafydd was brother to Robert ap Llewelyn ap Ithel of Castellmarch, ancestor of Sir William Jones, knight (1566–1640). The relationship is explained by Professor A.H. Dodd, 'Jones, Sir William (1566–1640), judge',Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig (1959), [https://bywgraffiadur.cymru/article/c3-JONE-WIL-1566 online]. it was claimed that he was of the Welsh royal blood.Dom A. Hamilton, O.S.B. (ed.), The Chronicle of the English Augustinian Canonesses Regular of the Lateran, at St. Monica's in Louvain, 1548–1625, 2 vols (Sands & Co., Edinburgh/London 1904), I, [https://archive.org/details/TheChronicleOfTheEnglishAugustinianV1/page/n131 p. 81] (Internet Archive). Anthony à Wood remarks that he had great natural abilities but little or nothing to support him in his studies at Oxford University. He was therefore sponsored by a churchman ("an ecclesiastical Mecænas") who hoped that he would become a useful writer against the opponents of Roman Catholicism. Wood adds that in his youth he was well versed in polite literature, and later familiarized himself with the writings and arguments for and against the doctrines of Luther and Zwingli.A. à Wood, ed. P. Bliss, Athenae Oxonienses, with the Fasti, 3rd Edition with additions, 3 vols (F.C. & J. Rivington, etc., London/Oxford 1813–1817), I, [https://archive.org/details/athenaeoxoniense01wooduoft/page/n323 pp. 246-48] (Internet Archive).

However there is no record that he completed a bachelor's degree. From his declaration to the university made in 1531 (below), it appears that from around 1510 he was active in the composition and theory of polyphonic music. Since he became a secular priest, this experience was perhaps gained in Oxford and then or thereafter as a secular chaplain attached to a religious house possessing a choir, though he did not enter a formal order. In 1522, a clerk, he was owed £18 (an old debt) by the Abbey of St Albans.29 September 1522, item 2583, 'St Albans', in J.S. Brewer (ed.), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 3: 1519–1523 (HMSO London, 1867), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol3/pp1084-1101 pp. 1084–1101, at p. 1098] (British History Online). When still an acolyte he was collated, apparently by the Cluniac priory of St Andrew, Northampton,For which see 'Houses of Cluniac monks: The priory of St Andrew, Northampton', in R.M. Serjeantson and W.R.D. Adkins (eds), A History of the County of Northampton, Vol. 2 (VCH/HMSO London, 1906), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/northants/vol2/pp102-109 pp. 102-09] (British History Online). to the benefice of Stuchbury or Stotesbury (near Sulgrave), Northamptonshire in December 1528, which he held until his death.G. Baker, The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton (John Bowyer Nichols, London 1822–1830), I, [https://archive.org/details/HistoryAndAntiquitiesOfTheCountyOfNorthamptonBakerVol1/page/n693 p. 691] (Internet Archive). Stuchbury was attached to the College of All Hallows, Northampton,J. Caley (ed.), Valor Ecclesiasticus Temp. Henry VIII, IV (Commissioners, 1821), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7EfvuwaAb6MC&pg=PA320 p. 320] (Google). which had an important medieval choir.

;Musical composer

John Gwynneth is particularly noteworthy as an early Tudor composer of music.W.H. Grattan Flood, Early Tudor Composers (Oxford University Press/Humphrey Milford, London 1925), pp. 108-10. By December 1531 he had achieved a remarkable output, at which time he made a formal approach to the University of Oxford:

"John Gwynneth a secular priest, who had spent twelve years in the praxis and theory of music, and had composed all the responses of the whole year in division-song,I.e. polyphony, "in cantis chrispis aut fractis, ut aiunt", S. Harper, Music in Welsh Culture before 1650: a Study of the Principal Sources (Ashgate 2007/Routledge, London and New York 2016), [https://books.google.com/books?id=FzQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT304 pp. 283-84] (Google). and had published many masses in the said song, supplicated that these his labours might enable him to be admitted to the praxis of music. This being granted conditionally that he compose one mass against the act following, he supplicated again that whereas he had spent 20 years in the praxis and theory of music, and had published three masses of five parts, and five masses of four, as also certain symphonas, antiphonas, and divers songs for the use of the church, he might be admitted to proceed in the faculty of music; which desire of his being granted, conditionally that he pay to the university, on the day of his admission, 20 pence, he was forthwith licensed to proceed."A. à Wood, ed. P. Bliss, Fasti Oxonienses, or Annals of the University of Oxford, New Edition, Part I: 1500–1640, (F.C. & J. Rivington etc, London 1815), [https://books.google.com/books?id=U1ruEakGAKwC&pg=PA1531 p. 86] (Google)

Thus he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music.C.W. Boase, Register of the University of Oxford Vol. I: 1449–63; 1505–71 (Oxford Historical Society/Clarendon Press, Oxford 1885), [https://archive.org/details/registerofuniver01univuoft/page/166 p. 167] (Internet Archive){{cite DNB|wstitle= Gwynneth, John |volume= 23 |last= Cooper |first= Thompson |author-link= Thompson Cooper |pages= 407-408 |year= |short=1}} He was one of the composers whose work was included in the collection printed in 1530, called the "Book of XX Songes",See an introduction in J. Milsom, 'Songs and Society in Early Tudor London', in I. Fenlon (ed.), Early Music History, Vol. 17, Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music (Cambridge University Press 1997), pp. 282-85. of which only the volume of bass lines (Bassus) survives.'My Love mourneth' (commencing 'And I mankynd') in Book of XX Songes (1530), "Bassus", fols 30v [https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/c6584bb2-3d90-62b2-88a2-63f62493baa0/1/treenav.jsp?tempwn.b=close to 34v] (Royal Holloway digital). Text in E. Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols, 1400 to 1700 (Chatto & Windus, London 1910), [https://archive.org/details/ancientenglishch00rickuoft/page/140 pp. 140-42], 156 (Internet Archive). Thomas Morley, in his Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (1597), lists "Io. Guinneth" among the English practitioners whose works he has diligently perused, for finding the true use of the Moods.T. Morley, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke set downe in forme of a Dialogue (Peter Short, London 1597), [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A07753.0001.001/1:20?rgn=div1;view=fulltext List of Authorities] (Umich/eebo – Open).

;Family connections

John Gwynneth's sister Margaret was firstly the wife of Edward Awpart (AlporteNo doubt a representative of the Alport family of Cannock, Staffordshire.), citizen and Girdler of London in the parish of St Mary le Bow, who originated from Penkridge in Staffordshire. In 1524 Awpart took the lease on premises called "The Three Leggs" in St Mary le Bow from St Bartholomew's Priory.D.J. Keene and V. Harding, 'St. Mary le Bow 104/32', in Historical Gazetteer of London Before the Great Fire, Cheapside; Parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane, St Martin Pomary, St Mary Le Bow, St Mary Colechurch and St Pancras Soper Lane (Centre for Metropolitan History, London 1987), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-gazetteer-pre-fire/pp346-350 pp. 346-50], after note 6 (British History Online). The Awparts had five children, Elizabeth, Anne, Joan, Edward and Susan, who were all unmarried at the time of their father's death in 1532. By his will dated 24 June 1532 Awpart, who mentions a debt to his hostess at the "Viniarde in Andwarpe", appointed his widow and "Sir" John Gwynneth"Sir" is a usual title for a secular priest at this date, not denoting knighthood. his executors, making a gift of £6.13s.4d to John, and both were sworn to probate (John in person, Margaret by attorney) on 6 July 1532. In this will Awpart refers to his wife's mother by the name Joan White.Will of Edward Awpart, "Girdler" (mis-written "Gardener" in Discovery Catalogue of TNA (UK)) of London (P.C.C. 1532, Thower quire, m/film imgs 237-38): PROB 11/24/211 and PROB 11/24/220."White" is the English counterpart of the Welsh name "Gwyn". He appointed Thomas Marbury, Haberdasher, as Overseer, who in the same year, as executor to John Maltby, ran into difficulties with the Mercers' Company.A.F. Sutton, The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130–1578 (Ashgate, 2005/Routledge, Abingdon 2016), [https://books.google.com/books?id=epyoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT495 pt. 495] (Google).

Margaret Gwynneth then (by 1533) re-married to Stephen Vaughan, Governor of the Merchant Adventurers (1534) and royal agent and secretary in Antwerp. Vaughan in 1536 assumed the lease on "The Three Leggs", and, following the priory's dissolution, in 1540 it was granted by the Crown to him and Margaret for life, and in remainder to their male issue.Keene and Harding, Historical Gazetteer, [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-gazetteer-pre-fire/pp346-350 pp. 346-50] at notes 6-10 (British History Online).'379. Grants in December 1540, no. 44', in J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 16: 1540–1541 (HMSO, London 1898), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol16/pp162-178 pp. 175-76] (British History Online). Vaughan's sister Mawdlyn was the wife of the London Grocer William Pratt, after whose death in 1539Will of William Pratt, Grocer of London (P.C.C. 1539, Dyngeley quire). Not to be confused with the Draper of the same name and similar date. she married Pratt's well-travelled apprentice Thomas Lodge. Vaughan, who could call upon the help of Thomas Cromwell, found a place at Court for his wife Margaret as silkwoman in service to Anne Boleyn.R.M. Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII (Cambridge University Press 1991), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_iUIzcXV4toC&pg=PA136 p. 136] (Google).S.M. Felch (ed.), The Collected Works of Anne Vaughan Lock, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in conjunction with Renaissance English Text Society (Tempe, AZ, 1999), pp. xxv–xxvi. With him she had further children (Anne, Stephen and Jane), dying in 1544.M.K. Dale, 'Vaughan, Stephen (by 1502–49), of St. Mary-le-Bow, London', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1982), [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/vaughan-stephen-1502-49 History of Parliament online]. Marbury died in 1545,Will of Thomas Merbury, haberdasher (P.C.C. 1545, Pynnyng quire). leaving John Gwynneth with sole responsibility to administer the Awpart estate.

;Stoke sub Hamdon, and Luton – writing against Frith

File:StMarysLuton.jpg

The King presented Gwynneth to the collegiate church of Stoke sub Hamdon Priory, Somerset, in September 1534, at the Crown's disposal on the death of John Glyn.'Grants in September 1534: 3. John Gwynneth, clerk', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 7: 1534 (London 1883), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol7/pp462-475 p. 474] (British History Online). He published his first writings against the doctrines of John Frith, as The confutacyon of the fyrst parte of Frythes boke: with a dysputacyon before whether it be possyble for any heretike to know that hym selfe is one or not. And also an other, whether it be wors to denye directely more or lesse of the fayth. This was printed at St Albans in 1536,J. Ames, ed. W. Herbert, Typographical Antiquities, or, An Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of Printing in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 1 part 3 (London, 1785–1790), [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_s2C8MeKuXPwC/page/n127 pp. 1430–36] (Internet Archive). under the auspices of the last abbot,W. Wizeman (SJ), The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church (Ashgate, 2006/Routledge, London & New York 2017), [https://books.google.com/books?id=SmdQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 p. 39] (Google). three years after Frith's execution as a heretic. Gwynneth was presented to the vicariate of Luton, Bedfordshire ("the best preferment in the Abbey of St Albans") by Stephen Vaughan as assignee of Edward Awpart senior by grant of St Albans Abbey, in December 1537,Mayer and Walters, Correspondence of Reginald Pole, Biographical Companion, p. 236. where he continued his ministrations for twenty years, until around 1558.H. Cobbe, Luton Church – Historical and Descriptive (George Bell and Sons/F. Hockliffe, London/Luton 1899), [https://archive.org/details/lutonchurchhisto00cobbuoft/page/n199 pp. 173-85] (Internet Archive) and [https://archive.org/details/lutonchurchhist00cobbgoog/page/n295 p. 259]. A Catalogue of Gwynneth's works is at Appendix BI, [https://archive.org/details/lutonchurchhisto00cobbuoft/page/n663 pp. 612-16] (Internet Archive).

;Clynnog Fawr

In October 1537 Gwynneth was presented by the King to the provostship or rectory sine cura of Clynnog Fawr (in the Llŷn south of Caernarfon), with the chapels and church of Llangeinwen and Llangaffo (Anglesey), upon the death of Dr. William Glyn of Glynllifon.'Grants, October 1537: 29. John Gwynneth, clerk', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol. 12 Part 2: June–December 1537 (London, 1891), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol12/no2/pp345-355 p. 353] (British History Online). This Dr Glyn is not to be confused with the Bishop of Bangor of that name, who died in 1558. John Capon, Bishop of Bangor (1534–39), would not admit him, instituting instead Gregory Williamson, a child nephew of Thomas Cromwell's, to the living.Wood, ed. Bliss, Athenae Oxonienses, with the Fasti, I (1813), [https://archive.org/details/athenaeoxoniense01wooduoft/page/n323 pp. 246-47] (Internet Archive). Arthur Bulkeley, then Prebendary of Clynnog Fechan at Llangeinwen, had been displaced thereby at Cromwell's prompting.Wood, ed. Bliss, Athenae Oxonienses, with the Fasti, II (1815), [https://books.google.com/books?id=MxUTbAj-58kC&pg=PA681 pp. 767-68] (Google). Gwynneth brought a writ of quare impedit against Bishop Capon and Williamson, but in 1539 Capon was succeeded by John Bird (1539–41), and in July 1540 Cromwell fell. In October 1540 Archbishop Cranmer granted a dispensation to Gwynneth to occupy the perpetual vicarage of Enstone, Oxfordshire pending its transfer from the Diocese of Lincoln to that of Oxford in 1542.Clergy of the Church of England database, Dispensation Appointment Record ID: [http://db.theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/DisplayDispensation.jsp?CDBDispenID=3925 3925]; Location: (Parish) Church: Enstone, Location Record ID: [http://db.theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/locations/index.jsp?locUnitKey=1282 1189].

File:Eglwys Beuno Sant, Clynnog Fawr, south side.jpg

In July 1541 Gwynneth renewed his suit, now against Bird, who however was translated to Chester in August 1541. In October, during the vacancy in the see of Bangor, Gwynneth (described as "Magister", and "sacellanus" or royal chaplain) had himself instituted to Clynnog Fawr by the Commissary of the Archbishop of Canterbury.Church of England Clergy database, CCEd Appointment Evidence Record [http://db.theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/DisplayAppointment.jsp?CDBAppRedID=288881 ID: 288881]. Arthur Bulkeley became Bishop of Bangor in November 1541, but before he came into residence Gwynneth had obtained a judgement in default. There followed a great controversy between Gwynneth and Bulkeley'Petition of Bishop Bulkeley' (Bangor Cathedral Archives), in W. Hughes, Diocesan Histories: Bangor (S.P.C.K., London 1911), [https://archive.org/details/bangor00commgoog/page/n196 pp. 190-92] (Internet Archive). in the Court of Star Chamber,'Interrogatories: John Gwyneth', The National Archives (UK), ref. [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=-3190770&catln=7 E 321/46/205]. See also [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3977076 STAC 2/25/139]. and in 1543 Gwynneth won judgement in his favour.T. Hearne (ed.), Thomae Caii (Collegii Universitatis Regnante Elizabetha Magistri) Vindiciae Antiquitatis Academiae Oxoniensis contra Joannem Caium Cantabrigiensem, 2 vols (E theatro Sheldoniensis, Oxford 1733), II, p. 666.

Having thus asserted the King's right of patronage over that of the Bishop of Bangor, he then, on 21 January, 36 Henry VIII (1544/45) at St Mary le Bow, demised the Rectory of Clynnog Fawr to Dafydd ap Robert alias Gryffyth of Merthyr, Caernarfonshire, gent., for nine years, he paying John £57.14s.6d for each year that he occupied it.The National Archives (UK), Common Pleas, CP 40/1157, m. 509 front, [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/M/CP40no1157/aCP40no1157fronts/IMG_1043.htm AALT image 1043]. In the following year however, it became likely that the provostship would be subject to Crown resumption under the Act for Chantries. Vaughan appealed to Lord Paget on Gwynneth's behalf, explaining that he had spent 8 years in continual suit and expense in the law over it, at his personal cost of 500 marks.'26. Vaughan to Paget, 7 January 1546', in J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII Vol. 21 Part 1: January–August 1546, (London, 1908), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol21/no1/pp10-27 p. 13] (British History Online).

;St Peter, Westcheap

Meanwhile, on 19 September 1543, at the presentation of Thomas Audley (died 1544), he was instituted by Bishop Bonner to the rectory of St Peter, Westcheap in the city of London (historically a St Albans benefice).R. Newcourt, Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense (Benjamin Motte, for Baker, Tooke, Parker, Bowyer and Clements, London 1708), [https://books.google.com/books?id=9bNQAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA522 p. 522] (Google). The Louvain narrative states that he had formerly been curate there.Hamilton, Chronicle of St Monica's, [https://archive.org/details/TheChronicleOfTheEnglishAugustinianV1/page/n131 p. 81] (Internet Archive). At St Peter's he followed in the footsteps of Thomas Goodrich and Richard Gwent, both very advanced churchmen. He held this benefice through the reign of Edward VI (possibly with some interruption), and through that of Queen Mary. During Edward's reign the old Faringdon chantry was done away with, the church fraternity was dissolved, the rood was taken down, the altars were replaced with tables and the paraphernalia of the Catholic ritual were removed from St Peter's.W. Sparrow Simpson, 'On the parish of St. Peter Cheap, in the City of London, from 1392 to 1633', Journal of the British Archaeological Association Original Series vol. XXIV (1868), [https://archive.org/details/journalofbritish24brit/page/248 pp. 248-68], at pp. 250-51 (Internet Archive).

As the dissolution of the chantries proceeded, in March 1548 Sir Walter Mildmay, one of the two Surveyors-general of the Court of Augmentations, was appointed a commissioner for the sale of chantry lands. Gwynneth's first cousin, John Roberts of Castellmarch, was Sheriff of Caernarvonshire in that year, whose son Griffith ap John (sometime in the service of John Dudley, Earl Warwick) was appointed Constable of Conwy Castle in 1549.Dodd, 'Jones, Sir William', Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig.

;Executor and matchmaker

In October 1548 Gwynneth's niece Joan Awparte, Vaughan's stepdaughter, married Edward Myldemay,J.L. Chester and G.J. Armytage, Allegations for Marriage Licences issued from the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury at London 1542 to 1869, Harleian Society XXIV (1886), [https://archive.org/details/marriagelicence00chester/page/12 p. 13] (Internet Archive). elder brother of Sir Walter. The marriage was brief, for Edward, who had become citizen and Mercer in October 1541,H.A. St.J. Mildmay, A Brief Memoir of the Mildmay Family (John Lane, The Bodley Head/Private, London/New York 1913), [https://archive.org/details/briefmemoirofmil00mild/page/n25 p. 14] (Internet Archive). made his will on 22 March 1549, in which he gives "to Elizabeth Awparte, sister to my late wife Johanna, £20 which is owing me by my uncle the vicar of Luton." (Possibly this was money owing by Gwynneth upon the marriage settlement, since he, as the surviving executor of Edward Awparte senr, held the portions of the Awparte children until their age of 21 or else were married, a term now elapsing.Will of Edward Awparte, Girdler of London (P.C.C. 1532).) Myldemay makes gifts of various of his wife's effects: the will was proved by Sir Walter Mildmay on 3 April 1549.Will of Edwarde Myldemay, Gentleman of London (P.C.C. 1549, Populwell quire).

Stephen Vaughan made Gwynneth his executor at his death in December 1549, leaving him in charge of "The Three Leggs" in Westcheap with a room for his own lodgings and the management of the premises on behalf of Vaughan's daughters for the space of nine years. Vaughan's brother-in-law Thomas Lodge, husband of Mawdlyn (who died in 1548), and John Griffith were his overseers. (Lodge had of late conducted secret surveillance for Vaughan overseas.J. Gairdner and R.H. Brodie (eds), Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Vol XX Part 1: January–July 1545 (HMSO 1905), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no1/pp101-114 p. 107, item 250] (British History Online).) Gwynneth swore to probate on 26 February 1549/50.Will of Stephen Vaughan (P.C.C. 1550, Coode quire). 'Inquisition post mortem: Stephen Vaughan', in G.S. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitiones Post Mortem For the City of London, Part 1 (London 1896), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/abstract/no1/pp78-95 pp. 78–95] (British History Online). In that connection he had the task of delivering to Sir John Williams some £305 owing to the King from Vaughan's accounts as Under-Treasurer of the Tower Mint.J.R. Dasent (ed.), Acts of the Privy Council of England, New Series III: 1550–1552 (HMSO 1891), [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112119573936;view=1up;seq=348 p. 308] (Hathi Trust).

A notice of Gwynneth's niece Jane Vaughan, written upon family authority in 1632, states that Gwynneth was "a long time kept in prison when heresy came in", and thereafter arranged Jane's marriage to (Thomas) Wiseman,Hamilton, Chronicle of St Monica's, [https://archive.org/details/TheChronicleOfTheEnglishAugustinianV1/page/n131 p. 81] (Internet Archive). The source, derived from living tradition, is explicit that John Gwynneth was the uncle of Jane Wiseman the recusant. C. Walker, 'Wiseman [née Vaughan], Jane (d. 1610)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004) gives an incorrect parentage. (son of John Wiseman of Felsted, Essex (died 1559/60)Wizeman, The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church, p. 36. Parentage confused in S.M. Thorpe/R.J.W. Swales, 'Wiseman, John (by 1515–58), of Great Canfield, Essex', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1982), [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/wiseman-john-1515-58 History of Parliament Online].): if so this imprisonment may have been in the Edwardian period, as he barely survived into the time of Elizabeth, and the Wisemans' elder children were born during the 1550s.These connections and affiliations are fully demonstrated by G. Ford, Genealogical Findings from the Diary of Thomas Cartwright, Bishop of Chester (1634–1689), 2 vols (Queensland, 2013), I ({{ISBN|148255142X}}). See Will of John Wiseman of Felsted, Essex (P.C.C. 1560, Mellershe quire), PROB 11/43/74. Vaughan had entrusted to Gwynneth a dower of gold for the use of his children, for which, in 1551–52, they in their own names were obliged to sue the stepmother (now the wife of George Rolle of Stevenstone (d. 1552)A.D.K. Hawkyard, 'Rolle, George (by 1486–1552), of Stevenstone, Devon and London', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/rolle-george-1486-1552 History of Parliament Online]. His will was made 11 November 1552 and first proved on 9 February 1552/53: Will of George Rolle of Stevenstone, (P.C.C. 1553, Tashe quire), PROB 11/36/44 and PROB 11/36/183.) in the years immediately after their father's death:The National Archives (UK), Chancery: Vaughan v Rolles, ref. [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7500615 C 1/1319/9-11]. the suit was then continued with Gwynneth's support.The National Archives (UK), Chancery: Guyneth v Rolles, ref. [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7500616 C 1/1319/12-14]. ?See also John ?Guwill v. George Rolle and Margery [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9250536 C 4/120/88]. At this stage Jane Vaughan was unmarried, but her sister Anne was already married to Henry Locke, son of Sir William Lok.

;Marian apologist

The accession of Queen Mary and the aftermath of Wyatt's rebellion restored Gwynneth's doctrine. Gwynneth was at Luton on 23 July 1553 to deliver his sermon celebrating the return of a Catholic monarch, in which he did not fail to find a parallel in Mary's name with the cult of Mary, mother of Jesus so favoured in Tudor Catholicism (and so repudiated by the Edwardian Reformists).Wizeman, The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor's Church, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SmdQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA233 p. 233] (Google). It was soon published by John Cawood and found a ready circulation.J.N. King, 'The Account Book of a Marian Bookseller, 1553-4', British Library Journal (1987), [https://www.bl.uk/eblj/1987articles/pdf/article3.pdf pp. 33-57] (British Library pdf), at pp. 39, 42 (nos. 20 and 22). In April 1554 outside his church door in London, at the Cheapside Cross, the popular mood was expressed by the spectacle of a cat hanged on a scaffold, robed like a priest with its head shaved, its bound paws holding up a morsel representing the Sacrament.J. Foxe, The Actes and Monuments, 1563 edition, [https://www.johnfoxe.org/index.php?realm=text&gototype=&edition=1563&pageid=1069&anchor=cat#kw Book 5, p. 1069] ('John Foxe's Acts and Monuments online'): from City Records, Journal 16, fol. 285 b.

From the London press of Thomas Berthelet Gwynneth renewed his writings against Frith in enlarged editions, with {{Proper name|A manifeste detection of the notable falshed of that part of Iohn Frithes boke whiche he calleth his foundacion}},Full text at [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A02424.0001.001?view=toc Umich/eebo] (Open). and {{Proper name|A Declaration of the State wherein all Heretickes dooe leade their lives; and also of their continuall indever and propre fruictes}},Full text at [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A02423.0001.001?view=toc Umich/eebo] (Reserved: Login only). in 1554. The title page of the latter bore the text: "{{lang|en-emodeng|There is a waie, which semeth to a man streight, and yet the endes therof leaden to perdicion}}" (Proverbs, 16:25). The lease of nine years having expired, he brought action for a debt of £67.14s.6d against Dafydd Gryffyth owing for Clynnog Fawr,The National Archives (UK), Common Pleas CP 40/1157, m. 385 dorse, AALT image [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/M/CP40no1157/bCP40no1157dorses/IMG_0662.htm 662] (2nd entry), and [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/M/CP40no1157/aCP40no1157fronts/IMG_1043.htm m. 509 front] as above. and against various persons for tithes in Caernarfon and Anglesey.The National Archives (UK), Chancery, Guyneth v Vaghan, ref. [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7501647 C 1/1352/77-82]. Its chantry lands had passed into Crown hands.The National Archives (UK), Chancery: Cobham v ap Madocke, ref. [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7496874 C 1/1210/21-23].

;Restitutions

In 1555 there was a concerted effort to restore the fittings of St Peter's in Westcheap. Brick and stone altars were instated and re-dedicated, a new rood with St Mary and St John forming a Stabat Mater was acquired, and Father Howe was brought in to repair the organs with new springs and new tongues for the principals in the bass regals. The Easter Sepulchre was repaired, and a vigil was kept.Simpson, 'Parish of St Peter Cheap', [https://archive.org/details/journalofbritish24brit/page/256 at pp. 256-58], 264, 268. (Internet Archive). In his writings Gwynneth deplored the reformists' removal of the altar tables out of the chancel into the body of the church:Cooper, 'Gwynneth, John', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. masonry altars made this more difficult. The charges for the hallowing of the altars are itemized in the St Peter's accounts, including the small sum of 4d for a pound of frankincense.Simpson, Parish of St Peter Cheap, [https://archive.org/details/journalofbritish24brit/page/262 262] (Internet Archive). The 1556 accounts show the acquisition of a book of homilies, three large Processionals, three "greylls", an Antiphonary, and a Legendary, all very useful and necessary for the performance of the Roman ritual.Simpson, 'Parish of St Peter Cheap', p. 267.

In Luton in 1545 Gwynneth had acted as overseer in the will of Edward Crawley, one of his churchwardens. Crawley, with the consent of the parish, had sold off a silver pax, a silver-gilt pyx, and two double-gilt chalices belonging to the church for £15, which was to be "{{lang|en-emodeng|ymployed about the new makynge of an ile of the churche}}". This came to light in the Edwardian inventory of church goods, whereupon Crawley's brother took responsibility. In March 1556 the commissioners made a discretionary allowance of £8.6s.8d towards the repairs, on condition that Crawley spend the remainder on church ornaments by Midsummer, for which Gwynneth gave an undertaking to the Bishop of Ely. On 10 June he was able to report to the commissioners (William Berners, Thomas Mildmay and John Wiseman) that Crawley (at his own expense) had spent £5 on a cope and vestment of blue velvet and more than 20 nobles on a chalice.W. Austin, History of a Bedfordshire Family; being a History of the Crawleys of Nether Crawley (etc.) (Alston Rivers, Ltd., London 1911), [https://archive.org/details/historyofbedford00aust/page/n157 pp. 67-72] (Internet Archive), citing F.C. Eeles and J.E. Brown (eds), The Edwardian Inventories for Bedfordshire (Longmans, Green, London 1905), pp. 22, 27.

Vaughan's widow, having made a further marriage to Sir Leonard Chamberlayne of Woodstock, with him brought suit against Gwynneth claiming that he had withheld her share of Vaughan's estate. The parties agreed to arbitration, which found that Gwynneth, as executor, owed a further £500 over and above £500 which Dame Margery had already received. This was then reduced to £400 by taking into account £100 which she and George Rolle had taken upon a bond from the children's portions deposited for them by Gwynneth in the Chamber of London, and which had not been repaid. Gwynneth made a payment and was granted his release or acquittance by the arbitrators.

Chamberlayne, however, pressed his bill, and Gwynneth then brought the matter to a perfect issue. He objected that Rolle's bond was nothing to do with Chamberlayne's suit, had not been mentioned in arbitration, and was never a subject of dispute. He revealed and proved that he had paid the full £500 before receiving his acquittance. He thereby exonerated himself from any possible imputation that he had used the children's money to discharge what he owed to Dame Margery. Her obligation, on the other hand, still remained. By a final and definitive sentence in Chancery on 4 November 1556 he was completely discharged and awarded costs, and Chamberlayne's bill was dismissed.The National Archives (UK), Chancery, Pleadings: Chamberlayn v Guyneth, [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7501237 C 1/1339/16-20], and C 18/10/26; Final decree: Chamberlayne v Gwnyneth [sic, recte Gwyneth], ref. [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14514974 C 78/10/26], View original at AALT, images [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT7/C78/C78no10/IMG_0025.htm 0025] and [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT7/C78/C78no10/IMG_0026.htm 0026].

Gwynneth resigned from St Peter's, Westcheap before 19 November 1556, when his successor, Richard Smith, was presented by George Keynsham and George Wiseman under a concessionary advowson remaining from St Alban's Abbey, and instituted by Bonner.R. Newcourt, Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense (Benjamin Motte, for Baker, Tooke, Parker, Bowyer and Clements, London 1708), [https://books.google.com/books?id=9bNQAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA522 p. 522] (Google). His last publication A playne demonstration of Iohn Frithes lacke of witte and learnynge in his vnderstandynge of holie scripture and of the olde holy doctours, in the blessed sacrament of the aulter, printed by Thomas Powell in London, appeared in 1557.Full text at [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A02426.0001.001?view=toc Umich/eebo] (Open). His theological dialogues have been described as "excruciatingly pedantic".V. Westbrook and E. Evenden, Catholic Renewal and Protestant Resistance in Marian England (Routledge, Abingdon 2016), [https://books.google.com/books?id=w2CrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA160 p. 160] (Google).

;Death

Gwynneth appears to have died around the end of Queen Mary's reign: the death is placed before 1 December 1558 in Episcopal Registers.Mayer and Walters, Correspondence of Reginald Pole, Biographical Companion, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_daeDoWdQ0cC&pg=PA236 p. 236], citing Lincoln Record Office, Episcopal Register 28, fol. 147 recto; LI2, no. 653. He is described as deceased ("defunctus""...Johnis Gwinneth Clerici nuper vicarii de Luton diocesse Lincolnie provicieque Cantuarie defuncti", i.e., "...of John Gwynneth, clerk, late vicar of Luton in the diocese of Lincoln and the province of Canterbury, deceased".) in Hilary term 1558/59, when his administrators and next of kin ("proximi consanguinei"), his nephew Edward Awpart (jr) and his niece Elizabeth Awpart, wife of George Keynsham of Tempsford, Bedfordshire,High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, 1577–78. See Will of George Keynsham (P.C.C. 1592, Harrington quire), making Stephen Vaughan jnr his overseer. pressed a claim for debt of £40 against Sir Thomas Rotherham of Someries, Luton.L. Jack, 'Revd. John Gwinneth, c. 1510 – c. 1563', [http://www.gwinnett.me.uk/characters/revd-john-gwinneth-c-1510-to-c-1559 Gwinnett Family History website], reciting The National Archives, Common Pleas Ref: CP 40/1178 m.902 dorse, with transcript and translation by David Bethell. (Verified at [http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/Eliz/CP40no1178/bCP40no1178dorses/IMG_0738.htm AALT]). At Stuchbury his successor Laurence Washington entered the living (vacant by his death) in May 1559.Baker, History and Antiquities of Northampton, I, 691.

Two factors have been taken to suggest that he survived into the reign of Elizabeth.J.J. Jones, 'Gwynneth, John, (?1490-?1562), offeiriad Pabyddol a cherddor', Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig [https://bywgraffiadur.cymru/article/c-GWYN-JOH-1490? Online]. J.P.D. Cooper, 'Gwynneth [Gwynedd], John (d. 1560x63), composer and polemicist', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). One is the story of his imprisonment: the other is the late record of a suit brought in his name before the Star Chamber for the recovery of the possessions of "the late Dr Glyn" at Clynnog Fawr in Llanwnda and Llanfaglan.J.J. Jones, 'A Welsh Catholic controversialist', in Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical Society Vol. V part 2 (1938) [https://cylchgronau.llyfrgell.cymru/view/1226390/1227945/30#?xywh=-391%2C243%2C2943%2C2150 pp. 90-93] (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), citing I. ab O. Edwards, A Catalogue of Star Chamber Proceedings relating to Wales (1929), p. 31. If this refers to Dr William Glyn of Glynllifon, Gwynneth's predecessor at Clynnog Fawr (who died in 1537), the grounds of the suit need not post-date the death (in 1558) of the more famous Dr William Glyn, Bishop of Bangor.

As executor, Gwynneth had responsibility for the estates of the children of the two marriages of his sister Margaret Gwynneth (also called Margery), who died in 1544. By her first marriage, to Edward Awpart, Girdler of London (died 1532), her children were:

• Elizabeth Awpart, married (by Easter term 1557'Yorkshire Fines: 1557', in F. Collins (ed.), Feet of Fines of the Tudor Period [Yorks]: Part 1, 1486–1571 (Leeds, 1887), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/feet-of-fines-yorks/vol1/pp199-210 pp. 199-210] (British History Online).) George Keynsham of Bygrave, Hertfordshire and Tempsford, Bedfordshire (died 1593).Will of George Keynsham (P.C.C. 1592, Harrington quire). See Bedfordshire Records, ref. WY 1-444, [http://bedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk/Details/archive/110245966 "Admin/biog history"], (Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue).It is unclear if she is the same wife Elizabeth who survived George and married Francis Gill of London: 'Parishes: Tempsford', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Bedford, Vol. 2 (VCH/HMSO, London 1908), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol2/pp251-255 pp. 251-55] (British History Online).
• Ann Awpart, living 1532.
• Joan Awpart, married Edward Mildmay (elder brother of Sir Walter Mildmay) in 1548. Both died in 1548–1549.
• Edward Awpart, one of the signatories to the testimonial provided by the English Hospice in Rome for Thomas Sackville at the time of his visit to Rome in 1564.H.D.G., 'Four Papers Relative to the Visit of Thomas Sackville', Miscellanea II: Publications of the Catholic Record Society vol. 2 (Society/Arden Press, London 1906 [https://archive.org/details/miscellanea02cath/page/n17 pp. 1-4] and [https://archive.org/details/miscellanea02cath/page/n11 Frontispiece] (Internet Archive). In 1572 Sir Thomas Ragland raised a mortgage on lands in Glamorganshire from George Keynsham and Edward Alporte, which led to a suit in Chancery between Ragland and Keynsham in 1578.The National Archives (UK), Exchequer: refs. [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5922265 E 133/10/1565]; [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5922262 E 133/10/1562]; [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5921137 E 133/3/444] (Discovery Catalogue).
• Susan Awpart, living 1532.

By her second marriage, 1532–33, to Stephen Vaughan (died 1549), her children were:

• Anne Vaughan (1534 – c. 1590), poet, married (1: c. 1549) Henry Lock (a younger son of Sir William Lok), who died in 1571;Will of Henry Lok (P.C.C. 1571, Holney quire). (2: 1572) Edward Dering (died 1576); (3: 1576) Richard Prowse of Exeter. She was the author of A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (1560).S.M. Felch, 'The Exemplary Anne Vaughan Lock,' in J. Harris and E. Scott-Baumann, The Intellectual Culture of Puritan Women, 1558–1680 (Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2010), pp. 15-27.
• Stephen Vaughan (b. 1537 – will proved 1605), entered Gonville Hall, Cambridge, 1554; Inner Temple, 1564.J. and J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part 1 vol. 4 (Cambridge University Press, 1927), [https://archive.org/details/p1alumnicantabri04univuoft/page/294 p. 295] (Internet Archive) He married Jane, daughter of Richard Stroud (Strode), of (Old) Newnham, Devon.'Vaughan', in J.J. Howard (ed.), The Visitation of London, A.D. 1633, 1634, 1635, 2 Vols, Harleian Society XV, XVII (1880/1883), II, [https://archive.org/details/publicationshar08socigoog/page/n322 p. 309] (Internet Archive). Stephen was an overseer in the will of George Keynsham, 1593. They had three daughters and three sons, of whom the eldest, Stephen, was considered insane, having been "corrupted in religion".Lambeth Palace Library, MS 3470 (Fairhurst Papers), [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/f7a3f182-0e5e-4baa-97c5-40568372f133 fol. 113] (Discovery Catalogue). The youngest son, Rowland Vaughan, inherited.Will of Stephen Vaughan of St Mary without Bishopsgate (P.C.C. 1605, Hayes quire).
• Jane Vaughan (died c. 1610), recusant, married (by c. 1555) Thomas Wiseman, son of John Wiseman of Felsted.W.C. Metcalfe (ed.), The Visitations of Essex, 2 Vols, Harleian Society XIII-XIV (1878/1879), 'Wiseman (1) (1612)' at [https://archive.org/details/visitationsofess13metc/page/324 pp. 324-25]; 'Wiseman (1) (1634)' at [https://archive.org/details/visitationsofess13metc/page/526 pp. 526-28]. They had several children, including four sons (the heir being Sir William Wiseman), and four daughters of whom two became Abbess and Prioress of the Bridgettine house at Lisbon, and two were nuns at St Ursula's of Louvain. Jane was imprisoned and condemned for recusancy, but the sentence against her was remitted.See Hamilton, Chronicle of St Monica's, [https://archive.org/details/TheChronicleOfTheEnglishAugustinianV1/page/n131 p. 81] (Internet Archive); Ford, Genealogical Findings from the Diary of Thomas Cartwright, I.

File:John Herford, St Albans, printer's mark 1536.jpg

His works are:

• 'My Love mourneth,' music and words in a book, Bassus, beginning "In this boke are conteynyd xx songes", 1530, obl. 4to.Book of XX Songes (1530), "Bassus", fols 30v [https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/c6584bb2-3d90-62b2-88a2-63f62493baa0/1/treenav.jsp?tempwn.b=close to 34v] (Royal Holloway digital). Text in E. Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols, 1400 to 1700 (Chatto & Windus, London 1910), [https://archive.org/details/ancientenglishch00rickuoft/page/140 pp. 140-42], 156 (Internet Archive).
• The confutacyon of the fyrst parte of Frythes boke, with a disputacyon before, whether it be possyble for any heretike to know that hymselfe is one or not, And also another, whether it be wors to denye directely more or lesse of the fayth, St. Albans, 1536, 16mo.
• A brief Declaration of the notable Victory given of God to oure soueraygne lady, quene Marye, made in the church of Luton, 23 July, in the first yere of her gracious reign, London [1554], 16mo.
• A Declaration of the State wherein all Heretickes dooe leade their lives; and also of their continuall indever and propre fruictes, which beginneth in the 38 Chapiter, and so to thende of the Woorke, London, 1554, 4to.
• A Manifeste Detection of the notable falshed of that Part of Frythes boke which he termeth his Foundation, and bosteth it to be invincible, 2nd edition, London, 1554, 8vo.
• A Playne Demonstration of John Frithes lacke of witte and learnynge in his understandynge of holie Scripture, and of the olde holy doctours, in the Blessed Sacrament of the Aulter, newly set foorthe, London, 1557, 4to, written in the form of a dialogue.

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Category:Welsh religious writers

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Category:People from Llanengan

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