Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/413



They ruled among themselves over seven 'pagi' of the land of Morgan, part of which got to be called Gwenllwg, from Gwynllyw. The biographer of Gwynllyw dwells with rapture on the virtuous, prosperous, and peaceful rule of his hero, but the life of St. Cadoc represents him as violent and wicked, and the maintainer of robbers.

Gwynllyw is said to have married Gwladys, a daughter of the saintly Brychan of Brecheiniog. The would-be rationalisers of the lives of the Welsh saints profess that she must have been Brychan's granddaughter, to make the story fit in with their somewhat arbitrary and fanciful chronology. The 'Life of St. Cadoc' tells a picturesque story how Gwynllyw stole his wife from her father's court, but the wedding is a much more commonplace affair in the 'Life of Gwynllyw.' Their eldest son was Cadoc the Wise [q. v.], who became a famous saint. At last Cadoc's exhortations led Gwynllyw and Gwladys to give up their royal state and dwell in separate cells as hermits, performing the severest penances, and supporting themselves entirely by their own labour. They were frequently visited by St. Cadoc. The place of Gwynllyw's retirement was a certain hill above a river, a fruitful place, with a fair prospect of sea-coast, woods, and fields. There he built a church with boards and rods, and there he was buried. His last sickness was cheered by a visit from his son Cadoc and from Dubricius [q. v.], the bishop of Llandaff. The miracles worked at his tomb made it a famous place of pilgrimage. It is generally supposed to be the site of St. Woolos Church, the mother church of Newport-on-Usk. The feast day of St. Gwynllyw is 29 March, the reputed day of his death.

A less famous Gwynllyw or Gwynlleu was the descendant of Cunedda and the reputed founder of Nantcwnlle Church in Cardiganshire (, Welsh Saints, p. 261). He is also to be distinguished from the female St. Gwenlliw, the daughter of Brynach or Brychan (ib. p. 142).

[The chief authority for Gwynllyw's life is the Vita Sancti Gundlei Regis, printed (with an English translation) from the twelfth-century Cott. MS. Vesp. A. xiv., in W. J. Rees's Lives of the Cambro-British Saints, pp. 145-57 (Welsh MSS. Sec.) It has been collated with the thirteenth-century Cott. MS. Titus D. xxii. Other and often contradictory references are made in the Vita Sancti Cadoci, also published in Rees. A more critical edition of these lives is promised by Mr. Phillimore. There is another short life, plainly based on the Vita Gundlei (Cott. MS. Tib. E. 1, and Tanner MS. 15), printed in Capgrave's Nov. Leg. Angl. and the Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum, xxix March, iii. 784. See also Prof. R. Rees's Welsh Saints, p. 170; Dict. of Christian. Biography; Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscript Materials, i. 87-9.]  GWYNN, GWYN, or GWYNNE, JOHN (d. 1786), architect, was born 'of a respectable family' in Shrewsbury, probably in the parish of St. Chad's, but the year of his birth is not known. He is said to have left his native town in early childhood. He does not seem to have been educated as an architect. In 1760 he was described as 'till of late of another profession' (Observations on Bridge Building, p. 22). He became known in London as early as 1734, as a writer on art and a draughtsman. In 1749 (3 Oct.) he published 'A Plan for Rebuilding the City of London after the great fire in 1666; designed by that great architect, Sir Christopher Wren,' engraved by E. Rooker (, Parentalia, p. 267, plans published by the Soc. Antiq. Lond. 1748), and in 1755 (27 May) a large plate of the 'Transverse Section of St. Paul's Cathedral, decorated according to the original intention of Sir Christopher Wren,' also engraved by E. Rooker and dedicated to the Prince of Wales (as to the source of his information see, History of the Three Cathedrals, p. 149, and , London and Westminster Improved, p. 42). In this he was assisted by S. Wale, afterwards R.A., who supplied the figures. When taking measurements for the drawing on the top of the dome, Gwynn is said to have missed his footing and slipped down some distance till arrested by a projecting piece of lead, where he remained till assistance was rendered (, Plan of London, 1823, p. 21). The late was reissued in 1801. Gwynn and Wale resided in Little Court, Castle Street, Leicester Fields, and worked much together. Gwynn provided architectural backgrounds for his friend's designs, and received, it is said, help from Wale in his literary work. In 1758 (26 June) they published a plan of St. Paul's Cathedral, engraved by John Green, on which the dimensions are carefully figured. They also prepared an elevation of the cathedral, which Lowry began to engrave, but never finished. About 1755 Gwynn declined the appointment of instructor in architecture to the Prince of Wales (afterwards George III). William Chambers [q. v.], just returned from Italy, received the post. Gwynn desired the establishment of schools of art (see his Essay on Design and London and Westminster Improved), and in 1755 was a member of the committee formed for creating a 'Royal Academy of London for the improvement of painting, sculpture,